by Linzi Baxter
Director Westblack wanted my assistance, because an employee in the FBI leaked information. The agent had been doing it for years. One of the analysts had figured it out while combing through the information Addie had taken from HUE Enterprise.
I wasn’t too surprised. There were a lot of good agents, but sometimes money made them do the wrong thing. “Did they find the agent yet?”
“They have a task force looking for him…” Brock paused, and I heard typing on the other end. “Addie’s mother wants her to get them a plane for Russia.”
The second she left the house, it would make the mission even more difficult. “I’m five minutes away.”
“If you make a right before the main road to the house, there's a service road out back, and nobody will see you coming.”
“Are you able to pull satellite feed and see if there are more people around the house?”
If she was paying FBI agents, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d brought someone with her.
“I pulled up the feed the second I received the message from Addie. Nothing is out of the ordinary. One car parked out front, and it’s registered to Blair Hue. Addie mentioned something about her mother being unhinged.”
I couldn’t help but snort. The lady was crazy when we talked to her at HUE Enterprise.
“CJ’s started doing some digging.” Antonio let out a sigh. “He was able to find old medical records on her. She was seeing the same doctor as Vincent back when she left her husband.”
It wouldn’t be uncommon to see a therapist when she had phobias. “What does that have to do with what we are dealing with?”
“Blair has multiple personalities, and the doctor wanted to commit her to the hospital because one of her personalities is crazy. I know that isn’t the medical term. Addie’s dad agreed with the doctor and signed all the paperwork. The day she was supposed to be checked in, she ran off, and Addie’s dad never looked for her. I assume he didn’t want to deal with the mental problems.”
I pulled down the side street and parked on the backside of the house. All the lights were on in the living room, but the shades were drawn so I couldn’t see into the house. “I’m heading in.”
Antonio sighed. “The cops are ten minutes out. I know if Kat was in that house, I would do the same, but you should wait.” I snorted and hung up the phone.
If Antonio’s wife was in the house, anyone who entered would be dead.
I was moving along the back shrubs to the house. When I reached the back patio, I climbed the stairs and worked myself along the wall. My hand gripped the back patio door, and it was locked. Carefully, I placed the key in the deadbolt. The sound of the lock disengaging seemed loud. I waited a few seconds before I pulled open the door.
A gunshot echoed, followed by the sound of broken glass. Addie screamed. My heart stopped.
Without using any of my tactical training, I rushed into the living room. My gun was drawn and pointed at Blair. She was standing with an arm around Addie and the gun to her head.
Blair kicked at Axel, and the dog nipped back. “Get him to move, or the next bullet will go through your dog.”
Tears streamed down Addie’s face. From the far-off look in her eyes, she’d curled into herself.
“Put the gun down,” I bit out. “We can work this out, and nobody will get hurt.”
“They're coming for me. I know it. I should’ve killed her when I had the chance. Instead, I listened to Blair, and she talked me out of it, but I’m not going to listen to her anymore. She doesn’t know what’s best for us. I’m the one who took care of us and made sure we had money.”
I took a step forward. “Let Addie go, and nobody will come for you.”
“Fuck you!” she snapped. “I hear them. They're coming.”
Blair shoved the gun against Addie’s head, and she let out a groan.
“I have friends in the FBI. If you let me, I can call and make sure they don’t come for you.”
She looked over her shoulder at the door. “It’s not the FBI that is looking for me. The government has a secret agency, and they know how powerful I am. They’re trying to ruin me because they want my contacts.”
“Remember the other day? I mentioned I know the president. How about I get him on the phone, and he can make sure to call off the secret agency?”
Blair pushed Addie to the ground, and she flew forward, hitting her head on the end table. Axel rushed to her side, but Blair still had her gun trained on Addie. Even with the open shot, I was worried about taking it. The crazed woman had her finger on the trigger.
I breathed a little sigh when I saw Addie reach out and run her fingers through Axel's coat.
“How do I know you’re not going to try to trick me like my daughter did? She said she could clear my info from the internet and make me untraceable, but I Googled myself, and everything is still there. Lies. She’s no better than her good-for-nothing father.”
Blair paced back and forth. Her gun left Addie for a second, and I used that moment to take my shot. The bullet went through her arm holding the gun and it clattered to the ground. She screamed in pain.
I rushed across the room and grabbed the gun from the floor. Not wanting to leave Addie alone in the room with Blair, I pulled the rope holding the drapes up off the wall and walked back to where Blair was screaming in pain.
“You’re going to live.” I wrapped the rope around her legs and tied them to her arm. My goal was to wound her, not kill her, so I grabbed another strap from the curtain and tied it around the wound. She lay on the floor, crying and whimpering, but I needed to tend to Addie.
“Addie,” I said softly, pulling her into a sitting position. “I need you to come back to me. She’s not going to hurt you any longer.”
She stared past me to her mother. Axel placed his head on her lap and let out a whine. When I said her name again, she didn’t look at me. I held her chin in my hands and had her look me in the eyes. “Come on, Addie. You're safe now.”
Addie blinked a couple times. “She set the FBI up.”
“We already knew that going into the raid. That was one of the reasons I was assisting. Before you say anything, I know I should’ve told you. I didn’t, and I can’t change the past, but now your mom is going to get the help she needs.”
Blair kicked and screamed on the floor. Police sirens sounded outside a couple minutes before the front door opened, and six armed uniformed men stormed through the house.
“Are you guys okay?”
“Yes, she needs medical care and to be taken into custody.”
The officer talked into his radio, and two paramedics came into the house.
Addie’s mom glared at us. “How could you let someone do this to your own mom?”
“You haven’t been my mom for years.”
The paramedics wheeled Blair out of the room, and she screamed until they had her out the front door.
For the next hour, we gave our statements. The police wrote down everything. Charles Westblack called and spoke to the officer in charge.
Now that everyone was gone, I walked back into the living room with a glass of wine. Addie sat on the couch with Axel at her feet, her eyes looking past me.
“Addie? Talk to me.”
“My mom put you in danger.”
Every mission I was on put me in danger. I didn’t like the pained expression she held as she wrung her hands. She had no control over how crazy her family was.
I walked over and sat on the couch next to her. She moved away, putting distance between us. When she’d come out of her attack and her mom was gone, she hugged me. Now she was acting like she wanted to be anywhere except in the same room.
She’d only suffered a bump on the head, and the paramedics had cleaned the wound and bandaged it. Her eye would turn yellow with a mix of purple in the next few days, but they’d said she didn’t have a concussion.
“Talk to me, Addie. Why the sudden cold shoulder?”
“I can’t do this.” A tear sl
id down her cheek, and she wiped it away.
I put my hands in my pockets, keeping me from reaching out to wrap my arms around her and pulling her into me. “Can’t do what?”
“Us. You made me think I could be on my own. You bought me a dog because you want me to be someone I’m not. I don’t like leaving the house. This whole trip was a big mistake. I should’ve never had you drive me back.”
Her words were like a slap to the face. “I bought you Axel to make you feel safe. I’ve never once tried to make you do something you didn’t want to do. Where the fuck is this all coming from?”
“I was supposed to go to Florida and home.” She scrambled off the couch. My hand reached out to grab her, and she dodged it. Axel got up and followed her. “Not fall for someone who wants me to go home and not look back.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I heard you on the phone,” Addie growled.
After the police left, I talked to Antonio about everything. He mentioned it might be best to bring Addie back to Fort Lauderdale. I told him it was for the best if she went home for now. She hadn’t caught the last of my conversation when I asked to stay up in Boston. I wanted to be with her and have her safe.
“If that is what you truly think of me after what we’ve had the last week, then I guess we cut this off now.”
She nodded and picked up her phone as Axel trotted next to her.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m catching a flight and leaving.”
I ran my hand through my hair and let out a sigh. “I’ll drive you home tomorrow, Addie.”
She glanced down at her phone. “A car will be here in five minutes.”
“You’re really going to leave us like this?”
“Like you said a second ago, why not cut ties now?” She turned and walked out the door.
21
ADDIE
I was on my third pint of ice cream when I heard the front doorknob jiggle, followed by a loud knock.
Axel’s ears perked, and he stood next to me as I walked to the front door. I called George on my way to the airport to tell him I was keeping Axel. We made arrangements for him to fly to Boston to help make sure I was taking care of my baby. George came a couple days after I arrived in Boston. He spent three days working with me and my dog.
My heart rate spiked every time someone knocked on the door. I’d put a bat next to the door when I got home from DC, and my team no longer just walked in. The other day, the UPS driver had pounded like someone was after him with a knife, and I sat frozen in place for ten minutes before I went to the door and found an Amazon package.
I glanced through the peephole, and Lena was holding an iced coffee in my view. I flipped the deadbolt and pulled open the door. The crisp fall breeze sent a chill down my spine.
“Let me in. I think it’s going to snow soon,” Lena grumbled as she shouldered her way into the house. Cruz followed her in, a smile on his face.
I still wasn’t used to the two of them dating. When they first told me, I’d burst out laughing. They’d both hid their mutual attraction, but after a near-death experience on the plane and a drive across the US, they found each other. Even though I’d given up on love and happiness, I was excited for them.
“It’s Saturday. Shouldn’t you guys be on a date or something and not bugging me?”
Cruz raised a brow. “Well, I wanted to stay in bed and have sex, but Lena wanted to make sure you didn’t eat another pint of ice cream.” He pointed to the pint on my computer desk. “Looks like we're too late.”
I flipped him off. One good thing about Axel was he didn’t judge what I ate or the fact that I hadn’t showered in a few days. These were all normal things for someone with a broken heart to do.
“Cruz,” Lena growled. “He’s kidding, we both wanted to come to check on you.”
“We talked on the phone every day this week,” I countered, glaring at both of them.
“You mean, the conversations where you barked orders and could barely say hi to us?”
My team didn’t deserve for me to be rude to them. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “It’s not you guys’ fault I’m in a bad mood.”
“No, but what are we going to do to fix it?”
Nothing could make the hurt go away. “I need time.”
“Or we could move to Fort Lauderdale,” Lena said, totally serious.
“I’m not going to make you guys uproot your life for me. Furthermore, Abe doesn’t want to be with me.”
“You both are being stubborn. Antonio is sick of Abe walking around like someone took his favorite toy.”
I’d dodged calls from Brock and my brother. I figured Abe was back at the club, finding himself a new sub already. “He hasn’t tried to call me.”
Lena rolled her eyes. “Have you picked up the phone and tried to call him?” She held up her hand. “You don’t need to answer that. I already know you haven’t. Instead, you both are pouting and making the people around you miserable.”
We normally met at my house Friday afternoons for a happy hour and to talk about the week. I’d sent Lena and Cruz a text telling them I didn’t feel good. It wasn’t a complete lie. My stomach hurt from the amount of ice cream and candy I’d ate.
Now they were sitting here, and it was harder to hide how depressed I was. “It’s not like we could make it work. I live in Boston. It’s better off we ended it before my heart got ripped out.”
“Clearly, you’re not heartbroken,” Cruz said dryly.
“Ignore him,” Lena huffed. “We discussed it on the plane, and I mentioned it earlier. Let’s move to Fort Lauderdale.”
“Really?” I worried about showing up down there and Abe wanting nothing to do with me. There was nothing left for me in Boston, and I was ready for a fresh start.
“Yes, really,” Cruz sighed. “Lena and I are ready for a change. I’m sure we can find cases down in Fort Lauderdale, and if not, Brock and Antonio always have openings. The snow is getting old, and you’re no longer looking for the crazy-ass mom.”
I’d made enough money over the years to take a break from work for a while, whether or not we had cases. Brock had offered me a job a year ago and said he had jobs for Lena and Cruz, as well.
Would Abe be upset if I worked for Brock? I wished I had the nerve to pick up the phone and call him. I’d dialed his number a few times then cleared the screen before hitting Send. “What about your mom, Lena? You have a nurse here who can help you?”
“She wants to go. The winters are hard for her, and the doctor says the warmer temps would be good. You’re the only one holding back. Now that we kind of have you in a mindset to move, you want to tell me why you ran?”
“I didn’t run.”
Cruz barked out a laugh. “So you’re telling me he drove you to the airport and put you on a plane and sent you back here? Because the guy I saw carry you off the plane did not look like someone who would drop you off at the airport.”
“I thought so, but I heard him on the phone talking to his boss. He said he didn’t want me in Fort Lauderdale.”
“Did you confront him?”
I ran my hair through Axel’s fur. “Yes. I told him I heard his conversation and was mad he didn’t want me to go to Fort Lauderdale. He accused me of not trusting him or believing in him.”
“To me, it sounds like you wounded his ego,” Cruz said. “I also bet you didn’t hear the whole conversation.”
“I bet Cruz is right. A guy doesn’t buy a friend a ten-thousand-dollar dog.”
I let out a sigh. “Believe me, I’ve run the conversation through my head a million times. Yes, he looked hurt by my words, but I was hurt by his. On top of everything, my mother held me at gunpoint, and I wasn’t thinking straight. My head hurt from the fall.”
“You shouldn’t have run,” Lena said.
“I can’t go back and change the past.” I wouldn’t know how he felt until I called him or got the courage to go back to Flori
da.
I wasn’t a normal person. I barely left the house. Since being back home, I’d found a way to put Axel on a leash, so I didn’t have to leave the house. But I wanted more out of life. I wanted to go to a restaurant or out with friends. Abe deserved a better person who would try instead of using a phobia as a crutch.
“I need to work on me before anything else. Axel is the first step. He makes me feel safe out in the world. But Abe deserves someone who can be by his side and not have to worry if I will have a goddamn panic attack any moment.”
“He liked you the way you are,” Cruz said.
I shook my head. “But he doesn’t deserve someone who won’t try. I’m not saying I’m going to start going to clubs or skydiving. Getting my own groceries should be something I can handle.”
“We can help,” Lena said.
“I know, but I need to do this for me. On Monday, I have an appointment with my therapist. I’m going to ask her to help me with my meds. I haven’t been taking them because I never left my house much, and they made me feel tired.”
“So does this mean I can look for places in Florida?” Lena blushed. “Because I already found one and was really hoping that you would be on the same page. The first night after the planning uncertainty and we talked. You sounded so happy, and we want you to be happy.”
I just shook my head. “I’ll give Brock a call later and see if he can take us on.”
“How about now?” Lena countered.
There was no way I was going to say no. I pulled out my phone and put it on speaker. The phone rang a couple times before Brock answered.
Sound of his fingers clicking in the background came through the phone. “So you are alive.”
“Of course, I am. Didn’t John’s lackey report back?” I laughed.
My brother had a guy deliver me fresh fruit on a weekly basis. John said it was to keep supporting local farmers. I knew it was his way of getting a report on me, because the man who dropped off the fruit wasn’t a farmer. I’d taken a picture when he wasn’t looking and run it through a facial recantation software. Carter Renaldas worked for the sheriff’s office. He’d also served as a Navy SEAL at the same time my brother had.
