Charlotte turned and waited for him under the breezeway as he crossed the parking lot. She huddled deep into her suit jacket.
“You should have worn your winter coat.” Jesus. He sounded like her father.
“I brought it with me. It’s in the back of the Suburban.”
“Want me to fetch it?” He stopped walking.
“I’m fine. We’re nearly at the door.” She smiled at him, her nose a little red due to the sharp wind coming off the Cascades. He clamped down on the desire to wrap a warming arm around her shoulders. At this rate, she’d be filing a harassment complaint before they reached the forty-eight-hour mark.
Inside the hospital, two people sat in the waiting room that was peacefully quiet and free of TV screens. It had a large fireplace at one end. The distinctly patterned chairs were a little busy for his taste, but the whole scene had a restful vibe he hadn’t observed in many hospitals. He looked up at the signs to indicate the wards, but Charlotte was already cross-examining a nurse behind the admissions desk. The counter was positioned in front of an impressive display of wormy maple that clad an entire wall.
An aging security guard who looked bored to tears sat off to one side. Novak flashed the guy his badge and gave him a nod. The man straightened and scanned the waiting area as if reminded he had an important role here although maybe not right now.
Charlotte breezed past him. “Come on. Stop intimidating people.”
He frowned and then caught up. “I don’t intimidate people.”
She snorted.
“I don’t intimidate you.”
She looked at him thoughtfully as a smile curled one side of her lips. A dimple flirted with her cheek. “You’re right, you don’t. But then I’m also an FBI Supervisory Special Agent and not that easy to intimidate.”
He fought a snigger. Charlotte couldn’t intimidate a kitten, although she had kicked that guy’s ass yesterday. He would have loved to have seen that.
“How come you joined the FBI, anyway?” he asked.
They reached the elevator, and Charlotte pressed the button for the third floor. No one else was in the car.
“I wanted to help people.” She shrugged.
“Why not become a shrink or a doctor if you were interested in psychology?”
“I considered it,” she admitted, tying her hair back into a ponytail with relaxed, economical movements. “But I craved action too. I mean, having a clinic and patients is a noble endeavor, but I wanted to work on the sharp end. See if I could stop offenders before they committed crimes, or before they made them worse. That’s how I ended up at CNU. What about you?”
The elevator arrived.
“I’ll tell you later.”
“I look forward to hearing it.” Charlotte sent him a smile that made him distinctly uncomfortable. No way were they having that conversation this side of ever.
They arrived at the nurse’s desk and before Charlotte could speak, he leaned over and gave the nurse his best smile. “Here to see Federal Wildlife Officer Bob Jones?”
The woman’s eyes glinted. “Are you a relative?”
He flashed his badge and deepened his smile. “We wanted to check on how he’s doing.”
“I’ll go see. It’ll be nice for him to have some visitors.”
She meant for them to stay near the desk, but he and Charlotte ambled slowly in the direction she headed off in. He spotted the guard on the door—to keep the press away from the poor guy—and immediately knew where Bob Jones was.
The deputy stirred as they got closer. He came to his feet and checked their IDs thoroughly. Novak realized that the guard was positioned between the injured sheriff’s deputy and the injured wildlife officer.
“How’s the other guy doing?” He pointed at the sick man surrounded by a thousand Get Well cards and balloons.
“Lost his spleen and broke his wrist in two places. He’s gonna make it though. He’s a great guy.”
Novak grimaced. It would be a long journey back to recovery.
The nurse came out of Bob Jones’s room and gave them a small smile. “You can see him now. He’s awake.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Novak waved Charlotte ahead of him. There were cards here too, but not as many as next door. Jones wasn’t married and had no kids, apparently.
He was sitting up in bed wearing an unbuttoned pajama top over a thick white bandage. He looked a hell of a lot better than the last time Novak had seen him.
“Officer Jones?” Charlotte asked.
The man in the bed looked her up and down. Novak didn’t know if he was checking her out or naturally suspicious.
“I’m Supervisory Special Agent Charlotte Blood from the FBI and this here is SSA Payne Novak. We are both so glad to see you making such a fast recovery.”
The man grunted and raised his voice to reach outside the room. “No thanks to the local sheriff’s department. Left me to bleed out like a stuck pig.”
Charlotte blinked.
The deputy out in the hallway didn’t turn around but raised his voice to answer back. “Would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for those pesky FBI agents.”
Bob Jones barked out a laugh then gripped his chest as if in pain.
“No way was I stripping off naked to go get ya,” the deputy added.
“Thank God,” Jones replied.
“Actually, it was—” Charlotte began.
“Great you were moved out of the ICU so quickly. The surgeon must be happy with your progress.” Novak spoke over Charlotte and winced a little at her annoyed expression, but he didn’t want her to tell Bob Jones that he was the one who’d rescued him. He hadn’t done it for glory.
“Yeah.” Jones looked between the pair of them. “Bullet went straight through and missed all major blood vessels. Doc says a half centimeter left or right, and I’d never have survived.”
“Well, I am very glad you are making such a full recovery.” Charlotte beamed enthusiastically.
“I’m not saying it doesn’t hurt.” Bob Jones grumbled as he rubbed his chest. “Hurts like a you know what. But I’m damn grateful to the man who carried me out of there. Saved my life.”
Charlotte opened her mouth, and Novak cut her off again. Hopefully, she’d get the message before he pissed her off for good.
“I’m sure whoever it was was simply doing his job and will be gratified to know you are recovering.”
“Officer Jones.” Charlotte gave Novak a broad smile, finally receiving the message. “We’re wondering if you can tell us what happened on Wednesday morning?”
“I already gave a statement to an investigator.”
“I understand.” Charlotte sat close the bed, not touching Jones but somehow offering comfort with her presence. “I know it’s difficult, but you might remember something else that might prove helpful.”
Novak went over to stare out the window.
Jones scratched his head. “What do you want to know?”
“Talk me through what you remember.”
“I got information about a cougar stalking someone up on Eagle Mountain.”
“What time was that?” Charlotte asked, making a note in her book.
“I don’t remember exactly. Maybe eight AM?”
“Was the call to your cell or your radio?”
He frowned at her. “Neither. Someone flagged me down when I arrived in the parking lot. A hiker who’d just come off the trail. Knocked on my window.” He grimaced as he shifted position. “Told me a cougar had followed him for a few hundred yards and looked like it was ready to attack. Hiker scared it off by making a lot of noise and brandishing a walking stick. Didn’t want to make an official report and refused to give his name. I decided to go look for any evidence he was telling the truth as opposed to jerking my chain. It was a potential problem with the camp being nearby.”
Charlotte’s voice rose. “Do you remember anything about this man at all? Any part of the license plate?”
Jones rubbed
his eyebrow. “Car was a silver sedan with California plates. Younger fellow. Maybe twenty-five. Medium height, light build, brown hair.”
Mr. Average.
Great.
Charlotte curbed her obvious excitement. “What happened then? Did you see him leave?”
Bob shook his head. “I don’t remember. I went to check it out. Hiked up the path to the top of the ridge. I came to a clearing where I saw a young man acting furtively in the trees.”
“Furtively?”
“Creeping about and bending over.”
“And…” Charlotte encouraged.
“When I got a better look, I see him with his hand on the neck of a woman who was lying on the ground.” Jones scratched his head. “I hollered at him to move away. He looked up and pulled a gun on me. Then he ran. I gave chase then, when I get to within sight of the walls, someone shot me.”
“Did you fire your weapon then?” Novak asked.
Jones looked at him, eyes narrowed. “I did, but I didn’t hit anything. I was already falling to the ground at that point.” Jones let out a gusty sigh. “I must have passed out and then woke up again when that idiot Lasalle showed up with his damn posse for a shootout that was straight out of the Wild West. They was shooting everything that moved. I froze, which I guess is pretty cowardly.”
“No one thinks you are a coward, Officer Jones. People are relieved you survived,” Charlotte assured him.
Bob Jones swallowed tightly. “I appreciate that. I think I passed out again after that. It got so cold, felt like I was in a meat locker. I thought I was dead until the FBI agent started dragging me out of there.”
“It was an incredibly brave act by the agent involved,” Charlotte said, turning to meet Novak’s gaze.
He looked away and refrained from rolling his eyes. He hadn’t been brave, he’d been doing something that was ingrained in his ideology. No man left behind. And she hadn’t been so impressed at the time, otherwise, they wouldn’t be stuck shadowing one another.
“I don’t remember much else except waking up in the ICU after surgery.”
“Did you recognize the young man in the woods?”
Bob Jones nodded. “Sure. I didn’t know him personally, but I’ve seen him around. TJ Harrison.”
Novak pulled up a picture of TJ on his cell from the DMV. “This him?”
“Yup,” Bob Jones agreed. Shifting uncomfortably.
“You ever see the girl before?”
“Before that morning nope. I didn’t recognize her.”
“Did you touch the body?” Charlotte asked.
“I might have checked for a pulse real quick. It all happened so fast. I didn’t want him to get away.”
“You know anyone in the compound?”
Bob Jones tried to sit up, and Novak watched Charlotte help him adjust the pillows.
“In passing. Like I said, I’ve seen them around. Probably even shared a joke with some of them at the bar from time to time, but I wouldn’t say I know anyone there.”
“Tom Harrison says you shot at his son while he was running away,” Novak said.
“Bullshit.”
“It’s easy to get confused in combat situations,” Charlotte assured him. “But are you absolutely sure they fired first?”
Charlotte was correct. Joe Public expected picture perfect recollections of these events, not understanding how the brain worked during extreme situations.
“I wouldn’t shoot someone in the back, even if he did murder an innocent woman.” Jones’s face was pasty white, and sweat began to gleam on his brow. He yawned widely. “Sorry. I can’t believe how tired I feel.”
“You’ve been a great help. We appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. Please continue to rest and recover.” Charlotte patted the man’s hand and stood to leave, placing her card on the bedside table. “Feel free to reach out if you remember anything else, Officer Jones. Even the smallest detail.”
They said their goodbyes. When they were standing in the doorway, Jones said loudly, “I want to come to your headquarters and shake the hand of the man who saved my life.”
“No problem.” Novak nodded and hauled Charlotte away before she could give him away. He let go of her arm halfway down the corridor.
“Why didn’t you admit it was you who carried him out of the woods and save the guy a trip?”
Because it was embarrassing? “Let him recover in peace.”
“He’ll find out eventually.”
“Hopefully, I’ll be long gone by then.”
Charlotte looked up at him. Her eyes almost violet in the bright sunlit corridor. Her lips pressed together. “Hopefully, we both will be.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Charlotte waved up at the FBI techs who were fabricating the reconstruction of Harrison’s fortress in a massive unused hangar at the secret military base northeast of Colville where they’d landed less than two full days ago. The structure was monstrous and looked like an Iron Age fort or something from a Mad Max set.
“Is it really that big beneath the surface?”
“According to the blueprints.” Novak was walking quickly around the base. The whole thing was being constructed mainly of scaffolding and wood for the purposes of speed. “We have to assume Harrison modified it in some ways but not the basic layout. Outer walls are three feet thick, reinforced concrete.”
“Well, that might be an issue,” she said dryly.
Novak chuckled, and she felt that little shot of delight that she’d made him laugh again. He was so much more fun than she’d given him credit for in the beginning. It was almost as if he kept the lighter parts of his personality a secret. In the past, she’d only seen the domineering, tactical commander, but it wasn’t like they spent time together outside of work, and they were usually on opposing sides of any argument.
They reached the model of what had been the secret tunnel, and guilt ate her up once more.
Novak pointed to it and raised his voice so the FBI techs could hear him. “Forget about this part. He demolished it with explosives.”
One guy looked up. “What about using earth moving equipment to expose the entrance?”
“Perhaps. But the guy said he’d blow the lot if he sees or hears us approach, which pretty much rules out bulldozers.”
“Well, fuck,” the tech said. “What’s the plan?”
Novak slid a glance at her as if uncertain of her reaction. “We’re trying to figure out if he has explosives already in place or not.”
Because if explosives weren’t already in place, it might be preferable to launch a preemptive strike. Before Tom Harrison rigged the whole place to blow and killed everyone inside.
She shook her head. “I can’t believe they’ll sit by and let him wire the place.”
Novak shrugged. “Maybe they don’t know about the threat. Maybe he’s bluffing. Or maybe they’ve all drunk the Kool Aid. End of days and all that. Kill themselves before the government does it for them and get ahead in the queue for the second coming of Christ.”
Charlotte pressed her lips together. The idea of children being involved made her stomach churn even worse than normal. They’d hopefully obtain more information if they could move the drone closer to the action and pick up some valuable intel.
“Where’d he get the explosives?”
“Good question.” Novak rolled his shoulders. She’d pulled on her down jacket, but he hadn’t bothered and didn’t appear cold. The guy must have antifreeze in his veins. “But a man like that, I bet he has plenty of connections for ordinance.”
She and Novak moved through one section where the boards weren’t properly installed yet. The upper story soared above them.
“According to the women who left the bunker, the main canteen area is over there.” Novak pointed to the other side of the structure. He strode down the wooden corridors and pointed to empty doorways. “These rooms belong to the Harrison family. They have an entire third of the lower level to themselves, and no one else is
supposed to go near their space. I bet that seeds a little resentment when there are almost forty people sharing the other living quarters.”
“Especially when people get sick or babies start crying at night.”
Novak grunted. “Why’d they all start arriving there anyway? Some sort of prophesy I don’t know about?”
“I think it’s more a case of economic hardship from what Agent Truman has been able to piece together.” Charlotte didn’t miss the narrowing of Novak’s gaze when she mentioned the devilishly good-looking agent. Interesting. “First folks arrived on Harrison’s doorstep during the housing crash. Apparently, they’d lost their homes and Harrison’s late wife didn’t have the heart to turn them away. I suspect that when Harrison started accepting people into his bunker, others decided to take advantage of the isolation and protection it offered.”
“Looks like the act of charity might backfire.”
They walked the entire circumference, then Novak hauled himself up onto the upper level without bothering with the ladder.
Charlotte allowed herself a moment of admiration for the sheer perfection of a man at the peak of physical condition. She might be fit, but there was no way she could lift herself up using her fingertips. She spotted the closest ladder and climbed up to find Novak waiting for her at the top. He was grinning, a twinkle in his blue-green eyes making him look like a naughty schoolboy and almost irresistible.
Almost.
Her mouth went dry. Somehow, over the last two days, she had managed to become seriously attracted to this man. Whereas before she’d thought him gruff and uncommunicative, now she realized he was quiet and thoughtful but tended to wear a scowl as his default expression. And whereas she’d once considered him rugged, now she realized he was jacked.
She went to step away from the reaction she was having to him, but he grabbed her and pulled her against his chest.
“Careful,” he warned.
She looked down and realized she’d almost stepped through a gap in the wood. She sucked in a quick breath, trying to ignore the palpitations of her heart at both the danger and the feel of his arms wrapped around her.
Cold Wicked Lies: A gripping romantic thriller that will have you hooked (Cold Justice - Crossfire Book 3) Page 18
