The scent of man filled her nostrils, and she refused to turn around when she felt his presence behind her. Her entire body began to vibrate as if it only reacted to the frequency of his. “Ready?” he asked, and she nodded, ignoring the heat from his body as he lifted her to the ladder.
It pulled down with a slight squeak, and she began to climb. “You don’t need to come with me.”
“Yes, I do. You’ve been missing for nearly a month. I’m not letting you out of my sight until you tell me what’s going on.”
They climbed the rest of the way in silence until she got to her landing. “Are you fucking kidding me?” She cussed at the cardboard taped over her window. “They stole my damn keys; why did they have to break my window?”
“Yeah, that was me.”
She shot him a glare, and he shrugged. “You were missing, your place was tossed, and Mikel and I were worried.”
“So, Mikel was part of the breaking and entering, too, huh?”
“Hey, cop, remember? I had plausible cause.”
Jemma rolled her eyes and pulled the cardboard down to step into her trashed apartment. “Those assholes,” she muttered as she looked over the destruction that was her home for the last three years. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. They were only things, I can replace them. The important thing is that I’m alive.
She headed for the bathroom, Caid on her heels. “Since you’re insisting on being here, can you help me with this?” She pointed to the mirror, and he nodded.
She flipped the mirror holders down, and they heaved the large bathroom mirror down. “What the hell is that?” Caid asked, pointing to a hole in the wall where a string was thumbtacked.
“My security net.” She pulled the string up, and a flash drive came out.
“Who the hell are you, Jemma?” He stared at her stunned just as the front door was kicked in. Caid pulled his weapon out just as Jemma did.
“Go,” she whispered. “They won’t kill me, but they won’t hesitate with you.”
“I’m not letting you shield me.”
“Don’t be a stubborn ass, Caid. They won’t shoot me, trust me.”
She shoved him out and blocked his body with hers as they ran to the fire escape.
“If it isn’t little sapling. I knew you’d be stupid enough to come back here.”
“But not stupid enough to stay,” she said and climbed out after Caid. “No! Don’t go down, go up.”
“To the roof?”
“Just trust me, will you? I’ve planned for this.”
He headed up the fire escape, and blood pounding in her ears, Jemma followed him. She heard the yelling behind her, but she willed herself to stay calm. It was strange. She would have panic attacks over nightmares and being out after dark, but when it came to survival, her adrenaline pushed her though it.
“Come on.” She tucked the gun back into her waistband and jumped over the small gap to the next roof. She turned to see Caid staring at her, but to his credit, he only hesitated for a second before following her.
The close proximity of the other buildings had been why she’d chosen this area of the city to live. It was her backup plan had her father and his men ever found her. Three years she had been prepared for this, and now that it was here, she found herself already missing the tiny apartment with her books and premade salads.
They continued running and jumping until she reached where the buildings were slightly more apart. Then she climbed down a fire escape and onto the busy street.
“We have to keep moving,” she said and walked toward the sidewalk.
“To where exactly?”
“We need to leave the city, possibly the state.” She kept looking behind them until Caid pulled her into a small diner.
“Two please,” he said with a smile to the waitress.
“What the hell are you doing?” Jemma growled through her teeth.
“You’re going to tell me what the hell is going on, little sapling.”
The nickname sent chills up her spine. “Please don’t ever call me that again.”
Caid noted the way her face paled, and he placed his hand on the small of her back. “Then you can take the time to tell me just what I’ve gotten myself wrapped up in.”
“Right this way,” the waitress said with a smile, and they followed her to a booth near the window.
“Actually, can we have some privacy?” Caid wrapped his arm around Jemma and without thinking she leaned into him.
The waitress looked Caid up and down, and Jemma felt a stab of jealousy. “Of course. Right this way, sir.”
This time, she led them to a small booth at the very back of the restaurant. Jemma was already looking for possible exit routes, and was grateful it was near an emergency exit.
“Now what can I get you?”
“I’d like a coffee to start.” Caid smiled.
Jemma nodded. “Same, please.”
“You got it.”
Once the waitress was out of ear shot, Caid turned back to Jemma. “So who’s after you?”
Not wanting to waste time, she decided to go ahead and answer any questions he had --within reason. “Liam Charmont, but I believe you cops call him The Runner.”
10
Caid’s jaw fell slightly open, and he stared at her. She continued to watch him, and had she not been scared for her life right now, she might have laughed at his stunned expression.
“You’re telling me that one of the most wanted men in the world is after you? One who, up until this exact moment, had kept his name hidden?”
Jemma nodded slowly.
“Why in the hell would he be after you?”
“Because I have something of his.” She pulled the thumb drive out of her pocket and put it on the table.
“What exactly is on that?”
“The names of his associates as well as all his business transactions -- as he calls them -- up to three years ago.”
Caid couldn’t do anything but stare.
“Here you two go.” The waitress approached and set their coffees down. “Anything to eat?”
“We need just a few minutes,” Caid said with a smile, and the waitress left.
“How did you get that?”
“I took it when I left.”
“Why were you with him?”
“I--” Jemma stopped, and against her best judgment, lied. “I used to work with him, before I knew exactly what it was he was doing.”
Caid leaned back in the booth and stared at her. “Why not go to the police?”
Jemma scoffed. “The police and FBI haven’t done shit for me over the years. They got someone I cared for killed because of the corrupted agents working for them.”
“You have to help me.”
“Excuse me?”
“Jemma, I’ve been tracking The Runner for years. Anytime I get close to learning something, my source gets killed. Please, I promise I’ll keep you safe.”
“Promises from the FBI don’t carry much weight with me.”
“I’m not promising you as the FBI, I’m promising you as Caid.”
Tears burned at the back of her eyes, but she shook her head. “They will kill you, Caid. If it wasn’t for me, you’d already be dead.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“The Runner’s muscle saw me leaving the gym with you. Charmont told me he was going to kill you and made me promise if I complied with what he wanted he would leave you alive.”
“That must have been what Sandoval meant.”
Jemma’s back straightened. “Cooper Sandoval?”
“I take it you know him?”
“He-- he’s alive?”
“Was the last time I saw him. He’s currently sitting in a cell.”
Jemma’s heart threatened to pound out of her chest. She thought she had killed him. How had he survived? Cooper had always been her father’s favored pet. He had trained him personally and let the asshole get away with anything and everything. If Coope
r had survived the knife she stabbed him with, she seriously doubted her father would have sent him to an FBI agent’s house, which meant the jackass had gone himself. Just as he had that night to her room.
“You all right? Did he mean something to you?”
Caid’s comment had Jemma coming back to reality. “The only thing that means to me is I didn’t succeed in jamming the knife all the way into that bastard’s brain.”
“Wait, you did that to his eye?”
“Yeah. He attacked me; it was purely self-defense.”
“I’m not judging over here. He tried to kill me.” He tossed a couple dollar bills on the table. “We need to get to the bureau. Pax needs to know about this.”
“I’m not going to the FBI.”
“Jemma, please just let me protect you. What are your plans? Just being on the run for the rest of your life? Or do you want to actually do something and help me take down this son of a bitch?”
“Even if it means we both die? Because that’s how this is going to end, Caid. He has an entire army on his side, not to mention countless dirty cops.”
“We won’t die, Jemma.”
“You don’t understand, Caid, he won’t just come after us. He will come for your family, for every single person you care about until you have no will to live. He doesn’t just kill those who wrong him, he makes them suffer.”
Caid ground his teeth together. “Let me worry about that. Are you going to help me?”
Jemma studied him. She remembered first running into his hard chest, how he sparred with her for four hours because she needed the release.. If she was going to trust anyone in this fucked-up mess, she supposed she couldn’t do better than Caid King.
“Fine.” She stood. “But if you die, I’m not feeling guilty about it.”
“Wouldn’t expect you too.” He smiled, and Jemma had to look away.
He stood and pulled her against his chest. Jemma’s body went rigid for a moment. When was the last time she was hugged? “Thank you for helping me, Jemma. I’m glad you aren’t dead.”
She laughed at that, and he released her. “I’m pretty glad I’m not dead too.”
He smiled. “Wait, what was with the sapling comment?” he asked as they headed out to the street.
“Just an old nickname. Liam has a willow tree on his property, and I used to sit out there sometimes. They called me sapling because I was the youngest.” She didn’t mention that her mother nicknamed her that when she was born because that was when Liam planted the tree.
Caid watched as Jemma headed for the front door. She looked . . . different than she had the two times he’d seen her before. Those times she was coiled, as if she were ready for an attack she knew was coming -- which it had been, he reminded himself. Tonight she looked as if that coil was stretched beyond its ability to spring back into place. She looked . . . broken.
They stepped onto the street, and Caid wrapped his arm around her to keep her close. If it bothered her, she didn’t say anything. To anyone looking at them, they seemed as if they were another pair of lovers out to take in the city at night. No one would have guessed they were on the brink of a war that might end with them both in bags.
When they reached the doors of the FBI building, he sensed her body stiffen again.
He stopped and faced her. “You okay?”
“Does it matter?”
“It does to me.”
“Caid, let’s just get this over with.” She started to walk in, but Caid stopped her. “Wait, give me your gun.”
“No.”
“You cannot carry that in there; I, however, can. Please give me your firearm.” She continued to stare at him. “Please just trust me, Jemma. I will keep you safe.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about,” she grumbled, but handed him her firearm. He tucked it into his waistband, and they walked into the building.
He showed his ID to security, and Jemma did the same with the passport she had picked up at the train station on her way back into the city.
After looking her over for weapons, the guard waved her through, and she joined Caid on the other side of the barrier.
“See?” he asked smugly.
“Yeah, yeah, Agent King.”
“Fuck,” Caid groaned when he saw Jameson walking past him.
“King,” Jameson growled and then eyed Jemma suspiciously.
“Keep your fucking eyes to yourself,” Caid warned, and Jameson smiled.
“Hi, I'm Agent Henry Jameson, Caid’s old partner.” He stuck his hand out, but Jemma just stared at it.
When he continued holding it out and looking her up and down, she smirked. “I understand you’re used to getting your way when it comes to Caid’s significant others, but I promise you, your luck has run out,” she sassed and walked past him.
Caid smiled at Jameson’s shocked expression, and then jogged to catch up with Jemma. “How did you know that was him?”
“When we sparred, you said your ex ran off with your ex-partner. I made a lucky guess.”
“You remembered that?” Shit, he hadn’t even remembered he’d told her.
“I have a really good memory.”
“I can see that.”
They stepped onto the elevator and continued the rest of the way in silence. Caid wondered what she was thinking about; was she scared? Or just ready for this to all be over?
“Hey, King, what is it?” Pax asked when he stepped into her office. He wasn’t surprised she was still here. He had his bets she lived in the building. “Ahh, Miss Jemma Saige.”
Jemma shot Caid a look, and he shrugged. “I told you I was looking for you.” To Pax, he stated, “We’ve got something to tell you,” and closed the door behind them. “Jemma, this is my boss, Special Agent in Charge Melanie Pax.”
Jemma didn’t say a word, just stood inside the office like a statue, so Caid took it upon himself to speak for them both.
“The Runner is after Jemma,” he enlightened Pax, and her eyes widened.
“Why?”
“Because she used to work for him. Look at this.” He set the thumb drive down on the desk.
“That is?”
“Evidence, and enough of it to take Liam Charmont down for good.”
“So, we have a name.” Pax studied Jemma. “And just how did you come into contact with this information, Miss Saige?”
Jemma didn’t say a word, she simply stared at Caid’s boss as if she were her enemy.
“I told you, she used to work with him.”
“Interesting.” Pax studied her for a moment, and then palmed the drive. “Go on in your office and take her statement and then get her to a safe house. I’ll call as soon as I have a look at this.” She gestured to the thumb drive. Her phone rang. “Pax.” She dismissed him, and Caid and Jemma made their way down to his office.
Caid took a seat behind the desk, and she sat across from him.
“So, you’re a big wig, huh? Top agent or something?” Jemma asked as she eyed the accommodations on his wall.
“Something like that.” He pulled out a pen and some paper and started writing down what he did know. “Your actual name is Jemma Saige?”
“Yes.”
“But Charmont refers to you as ‘sapling’.”
“Sometimes.”
“What’s your date of birth?”
“Does that really matter?”
“Yes, I need to make sure I have everything documented.”
Jemma ground her teeth together. “May nineteenth, nineteen eighty-nine.”
“Okay, and what was your relationship with Liam Charmont?”
“I was held captive in his house from the time I was nine years old.”
Caid couldn’t hide the anger on his face or in his voice. What had she suffered at the hands of that asshole?
“Were you harmed?”
“Not physically.”
“Until the night Cooper Sandoval attacked you.”
“Yes.”
“What
can you tell me about Liam Charmont’s business dealings?”
“He runs drugs in and out of the country in shipping containers. He also deals in the trafficking of people.”
“You’ve seen this first hand?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“Do you have any physical proof?”
“Just that thumb drive you gave your boss.”
“Anything else you can tell me?”
“I can give you the address of his estate.”
Caid slid the sheet of paper and pen over to her, and she wrote it down then passed it back. “Am I done here?”
“Yeah, we can call it a night. Main thing I wanted to do was deliver that drive.” He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a set of keys. “Spares for another vehicle since mine is still at your apartment.”
They stood and walked back into the hall and toward Pax’s office. The lights were off and her door shut, so they continued to the elevator.
“Am I free to go now?”
“Sure, as long as you stay near me.”
“Caid, I can take care of myself.”
“Nonnegotiable. You are in my protection now.”
“This is unbelievable. You’re going to get us both killed.”
“I’m taking you to a safe house, one that only a handful of agents know about. We will be fine there.”
“Whatever you say, Agent King, since you know best.”
Caid ignored her remark and led her to a dark sedan in the FBI’s parking garage. They climbed in, and Caid pulled out onto the dark street.
They drove in silence, with Caid staring out through the windshield while also checking the space behind them to make sure they weren’t being followed. If he’d had to guess, he would be willing to bet Jemma was checking the side view mirror as well, although it seemed like she was only staring out at the lights as they passed them by.
Jemma Saige didn’t seem like someone who was caught off guard very often. How was it he had managed to run into the first real witness in years at a gym? How incredibly coincidental was that?
11
They drove for just over two hours before Caid finally pulled into the driveway of a small house. Jemma leaned against the window to get a closer look. It was surrounded by tall trees, and was completely isolated from anything else in the area. That could prove to be both a good and bad thing, she thought to herself.
The Runner's Daughter Page 6
