“I drank three cups of coffee.” He nodded to the evidence at her feet. “I couldn’t sleep if I wanted to.”
“Where’s mine?”
“The two in the cup holder.”
She tried the first one and found it hot. “It’s fresh.”
“Made another stop. For a different reason than just the coffee.” His lips quirked. “But since it was there, I got you some.”
“Thank you.” Once she’d worked her way through half the cup, the caffeine hit her system and, combined with the sleep, she felt like a new person. Except for the itchy stitches in her back. “I’ll drive home.”
“We’ll worry about that later. The cabin is a hike up that hill. I didn’t want to give her a heads-up we were coming. You up for it?”
“Of course. First, scratch my back over the stitches and reapply the cream, will you? They’re driving me nuts.”
He did so without hesitation and Allie again realized how much she’d missed him. Missed his touch. Missed them. Even though she’d fought so hard against the whole dating, falling-in-love thing.
Because for now, it wasn’t to be. And, depending on a lot of things, might not be meant to be ever. Ignoring the sharp pang of regret, she pulled away from him. “Thanks. I’m ready when you are.”
“Let’s go.”
Allie stepped out of the truck and shut the door with a soft click. She checked her weapon, then slid it into her holster. Together, she and Linc walked up the asphalt drive to the cabin at the top. This one sat on more acreage and was infinitely more isolated than the others they’d passed on their way up. Probably why Gerard had chosen it.
The moon cast enough light to make her nervous. There was no good way to approach without stepping into the open. Most likely another reason for Gerard’s choice.
What if she was wrong? Then what?
“My shoulders are itching,” she said softly.
“I thought your teeth itched.”
“Those, too, but mostly the stitches.” Her eyes skimmed the cabin. Lights off, except for a faint glow that came from the back.
“My nerves are twitchy too, but I’m not sure why. It makes me think of the time someone tried to blow up Brady and Emily.”
She’d heard that story. Emily had a killer on her trail—in somewhat the same circumstances Allie now found herself—and Brady had stumbled onto the attempt on Emily’s life and rescued her. Only to go on the run. “Well, Emily didn’t know who was after her. I do, so hopefully that makes things a little easier.”
“Who knows about this place besides Gerard and Daria?”
“No one,” she said. “At least I don’t think so.”
“Are you sure about that? What about Nevsky?”
“Well . . . no.” She paused. “I take that back. I guess it’s possible. I mean, I suppose Gerard could have felt obligated to let Nevsky know where he was taking the man’s daughter, but . . .” She shrugged and stopped walking now that they were right on the edge of the property with no real cover in sight. “Gerard could have let him know, even if Nevsky didn’t care,” she finally said. “Just because Nevsky’s such a control freak.”
“So, you might need to hide out a bit while I do some recon.”
“I’m still in disguise. Let’s just take it one step at a time.”
He didn’t like it, she could tell, but wouldn’t argue with her. “Do you see any cameras?” he asked.
“No. You?”
“No, but that doesn’t mean they’re not there.”
“I’m aware, but I think we have to chance it.” She walked closer to the cabin, her nerves quivering. First, they walked the perimeter, watching for trip wires or booby traps, and cameras.
She saw nothing.
With Linc so close behind her, his back to hers, she could feel the heat radiating from him. She took comfort from it, silently admitting that she was extremely glad she wasn’t doing this on her own.
The asphalt drive circled the home. Beginning in the front, it led to the full-length porch and branched off to continue down the side of the house and around the back to the opposite side and connecting back to the main entrance.
After the first lap around the cabin following the drive, she slipped behind a large shrub to gain access to the window nearest the front door. Linc joined her. She tried to see through the blinds but could only make out a sliver of a blue couch against the far wall. What she wouldn’t give for some of the Bureau’s equipment that she’d never take for granted again. She placed gloved hands on the window pane and pushed. Locked.
“Next one,” she whispered.
Linc stayed between the shrubs and the side of the house as he moved over to the one she pointed to and tried to peer inside. He shook his head.
At the last window, once again, they couldn’t see in, but it was unlocked.
Allie waited while Linc slid the window open just enough to stick a finger inside and shift the blinds slightly. He motioned for her to take a look.
While her view was limited, it was better than the first. In the dim glow of the night-light, she could make out the kitchen to her right and the living area to her left. Two glasses on the kitchen bar, two plates in the drying rack next to the sink. Allie pulled back. “Someone’s here,” she whispered. “Two someones, it looks like.”
“No cars in the drive,” he said.
“And if someone was staying here—” The low rumble of an engine caught her attention. “You hear that?”
“Yeah.”
The crunch of tires against the asphalt crept closer. “No headlights,” Linc murmured. “I don’t like that.”
“Me neither.”
“If we move away from this window, we’re going to be sitting ducks for whoever’s coming up the drive.”
Allie shoved the window open, found the cord, and pulled the blinds open. “Hurry. Inside.” She hauled herself over the sill and into the room, then scrambled out of the way as Linc landed beside her. Linc shut the window and locked it. Then closed the blinds. Quiet echoed around them.
“I’ll keep an eye on our visitors,” he whispered. “You see if Daria’s here.”
Allie headed for the back of the cabin, grateful it was only one level. She’d use the term “cabin” loosely, though. Cabin implied rustic and small. This wasn’t either. It had all the comforts of home, and she could see why Gerard liked to escape here. And Daria. At first, she’d been concerned about the relationship between the forty-year-old bodyguard and the seventeen-year-old girl, but once she’d been around them for an extended period of time, she realized Gerard looked at his charge as something between a daughter and his duty. Maybe even a little sister. Either way, she’d been relieved there hadn’t been anything inappropriate between the two.
The investigation into Gerard’s background had shown him estranged from his fifteen-year-old daughter, so Daria could have simply been a substitute for his own child.
Allie cleared the first bedroom and en suite bath and quickly moved to the second one next door. Also clear. In the media room, the French doors led to a deck off the back of the house. It dropped straight down into the woods below it. From there, she moved to the master across the hall and stopped at the open door.
Inside, someone lay sleeping in the king-size bed.
14
Allie’s smothered gasp reached him and set the hair on the back of his neck on end. “Allie?”
“I’m fine. Someone’s in the bed. I’m going to see who it is.” He had to strain to hear her barely there whisper. He checked through the blinds one more time. The car had stopped just beyond the edge of the property, and the driver sat behind the wheel, not moving.
Just watching.
But watching what? The house. Monitoring. Calculating.
“Allie?”
No answer.
“Allie,” he hissed a little louder.
A tap came over the COMMS and his heart slowed a fraction. Allie letting him know she was okay but couldn’t talk. “There�
��s a guy in the car,” he said. “At least I think it’s a guy. Can’t really tell. And right now, he’s just sitting there.”
“I’m back in the hallway.”
“Who’s in the bed?”
“The ugly duckling.”
“Huh?”
“A bunch of feather pillows made to look like someone was sleeping.”
“That’s an old trick.”
“But effective.” She gave a disgusted grunt. “And I fell for it.”
“You’re not the first.” Linc glanced out the window once more, making sure not to move the blinds in a way that the guy would notice. “Where are you now?”
“Continuing the search. If she’s here, she’s well hidden.” Allie’s voice was once again so low he had to strain to hear it. The guy in the car opened his door and got out. He was dressed in black. Linc caught a glimpse of his profile for a brief second before he pulled a ski mask over his head. “Allie, this isn’t good. He’s heading this way. If Daria’s here, we’ve got to find her. Fast.”
She stepped back into the den. “She’s not here. She may have been earlier, but she’s gone now.”
“Who or what tipped her off?”
“I don’t have a clue. You think he’s after her?”
“Has to be. It’s not you. You’re dead, remember? Nevsky probably sent him to grab her.”
“But how did he know she was here?” she asked. “To come at this exact moment? To this place?”
“That’s a very good question.”
A loud thud came from the back of the house, and Linc jerked his gaze from the man heading their way to the ceiling. “The attic.”
Allie bolted. Linc stayed to watch the approaching figure, who checked the weapon he held in his left hand.
A loud dong sounded and Linc jerked.
“What was that?” Allie asked.
“Gerard’s alarm system and what tipped Daria off that we were here. As soon as we crossed a certain point on the property, she was alerted.”
“Scared me to death,” she muttered.
Linc pulled his phone from the clip on his belt and dialed 911. No way was he not calling for backup.
Allie approached the attic door with caution, but also with haste. The string dangled from the ceiling. She’d almost pulled it down earlier, then decided it would have been too hard for Daria to pull it back up. Maybe she’d ignored her own advice and underestimated the girl.
“He’s approaching, Allie,” Linc said. “I’ve called for backup.”
“I heard.”
“Yeah, but what you didn’t hear was that they’re at least ten minutes out.” He sighed. “Brady and Izzy would kill me if they were to hear that call.”
“They won’t. They’re two hours away.”
“Exactly. I’m wishing they were here. I’d be willing to make the sacrifice,” he muttered, “rather than deal with cops I don’t know.”
But if she happened to be seen by one of the local cops, no one would recognize her. “Where’s our intruder?”
“Thanks to all the windows in this place, it’s not too hard to keep eyes on him. Right now he’s headed around toward the back of the house. We’re running out of time, Allie. He’s doing recon, but soon he’s going to try to find a way in.”
“Of course he is.”
Allie had pulled the attic stairs down, staying well out of the way of the opening in case Daria was armed. The girl knew how to shoot and shoot well, but she was still seventeen and probably scared to death. She might shoot first and ask questions later.
“Daria?” Allie called softly. “You up there?”
No answer.
Of course, it could be someone—or something—else that had made that noise. “Hey, I’m friendly, okay? I’m looking for my friend Daria. Is that you up there?”
Silence. She supposed she could be talking to squirrels. Or rats.
Allie shuddered, bit her lip, and started climbing the wooden steps. When she reached the top, she glanced around the dimly lit space. The moon filtered through the window opposite her, giving the area a creepy, shadowy appearance—and feel. “Daria? Please, honey, if it’s you, say something. I know your father’s after you and you’re scared. Let me help you.”
A clatter straight ahead of her to the right of the window. Allie hefted herself up and onto the wooden flooring of the attic. Tension threaded the muscles of her shoulders, up the back of her neck, and into the base of her skull.
She was going on the assumption it was Daria, but what if it wasn’t? Her eyes landed on the object to her right. Daria’s backpack.
“Allie?” Linc’s voice in her ear.
“Yeah?”
“What’s going on?”
“I think she’s up here,” she whispered, letting her eyes probe the shadows. “But she won’t come out and I don’t know why. What about you?”
“I’m watching him. I think he’s trying to decide if she’s here or not. He did his perimeter check and now he’s looking for a way in. And he’s going to find one shortly . . . or simply break a window.”
Allie stepped over to retrieve the backpack when a hard hand landed in the middle of her back and sent her stumbling forward to slam her forehead against one of the roof’s rafters. Stars spun and she went to her knees, head protesting this next round of abuse so soon after the explosion.
Someone scrambled down the steps behind her, and Allie whirled, hands grabbing. Her fingers raked the back of the person’s shirt before the figure disappeared down the steps. But she caught a glimpse of the familiar high ponytail. “Daria, stop. Please!”
The girl never hesitated. Dizziness kept Allie on her knees.
“Allie? I heard a thud, you okay?” Linc asked.
“You see her?”
“No. I’m in the kitchen keeping an eye on our guy and wondering where our backup is.”
“She just went down the attic steps and bolted. Stop her.” Allie gritted her teeth against the spinning and clambered down the stairs after Daria just in time to see her open the front door. “Daria! No!”
Linc raced from the kitchen and dove for the girl as she hesitated for a fraction of a second at Allie’s shout. His hand snagged her ankle and she went down. Daria landed on the floor with a thud. Linc kept his hold on her ankle with his right hand. In one move, he pulled her out of the open doorway, then reached to slam the door with his left.
Three bullets splintered the wood as the door swung on the hinges. The fourth whizzed above them. Daria lay on the floor and covered her head. Linc finally managed to get the door fully shut and locked. He spun back to Daria, who scrambled to her knees.
Another hail of bullets shattered the windows on the front. Linc returned fire and Allie rolled to her feet to go after Daria, who’d raced toward the back of the house. “Daria! Stop! Why are you running?”
“Because you’re a traitor! Leave me alone!”
Then she was at the French doors leading out of the media room. With a quick twist, she had the dead bolt released and the doors open. Where did she think she was going? The doors led to the deck that had no stairs. But knowing Daria, she had a way down. Allie followed.
Traitor? Why would she think that?
Daria had tossed a rope over the side and was going down faster than a monkey. Allie almost yelled at the girl, but she wasn’t listening and Allie didn’t know who else was in the vicinity. “Linc, she went over the side of the deck.” Daria no doubt planned to disappear into the wooded area at the bottom. “I’m going after her.”
“Coming around the side of the house behind the shooter.”
When Daria dropped to the ground, she disappeared into the trees two feet behind her.
Allie gripped the rope and swung over the railing just in time to see the shooter hot on the trail of Daria. “Hey! Up here!”
He never paused. She let herself down using her feet against the wooden post to control her descent just like Daria had done. No doubt Gerard had set that up for her. At the bot
tom, Allie darted into the woods and ducked behind a large tree. Listening.
Footsteps behind her. Linc. She went after Daria and the determined killer, with Linc right behind her.
Fear for Daria spurred her faster. She could hear footsteps up ahead of her. Please let me be in time. Don’t let him kill her.
Allie heard the sirens in the distance, but knew they’d never catch up to them in time—even if they could find them.
“I’m going to see if I can cut him off,” Linc said. “Try to get between him and Daria.” He swerved to the right and stumbled through the undergrowth. Trying to run on the downward-sloping hill while dodging trees and limbs in the moonlight was actually a painful exercise.
Allie ducked under the next large limb and caught a glimpse of the two figures ahead. The trees had become less dense in this area, which allowed more of the moon’s light to penetrate. That was great for her visual, but it also put a big bull’s-eye on Daria’s back.
Her attacker paused, lifted his weapon, and took aim.
Linc burst through the tree line to see the man stop and lift his weapon. “FBI! Put your gun down!” Linc held his weapon on the man, who hesitated but didn’t move to drop his gun. “Put it down! Now!”
And then the man was on the ground.
Still gripping his gun.
Allie had tackled him from a full-speed run, slamming into his back and taking him down.
He lay there stunned, and Linc, holding his weapon on him, raced forward, his intent to stomp on the man’s wrist and get the gun. But before he reached him, the guy bucked, dislodging the knee Allie had against his back. She tumbled to her side with a yell.
Like a cat, the guy bolted to both feet in one smooth ninja move and spun his weapon toward Allie. Linc fired. The guy grunted, whirled, and disappeared into the trees.
“Go after Daria,” she said. “I’m going after him.”
Linc was already moving to apprehend the shooter, but Allie bolted past him. “Allie!” He thought he’d hit the guy, but if he had a bullet in him, it wasn’t slowing him down. With a low growl, Linc spun and darted in the direction Daria had disappeared. His heart thundered and he wished he’d been quicker to go after the shooter, because while Allie could handle herself, she was still at a distinct disadvantage. Then again, maybe Linc had evened the odds a bit if he’d hit the guy. But what if he hadn’t?
Vow of Justice Page 13
