Dead End

by Lisa Phillips

  “Why later?”

  “My heart might have calmed down enough by then that I’ll be able to handle it.”

  Nina smiled. “I doubt that’s true. You seem to be able to handle anything.” And at this point, that was probably a very good thing. Hopefully, even with all this trouble, Wyatt wouldn’t decide that enough was enough and let her go. He could choose at any moment to walk away and leave her to deal with Mr. Thomas.

  Or worse, stick around to help when she knew it was only because it was the right thing to do. Not because he wanted to, out of care for her.

  “That thought seemed like it was even worse.” He leaned closer and touched his lips to her forehead. “I’d tell you not to worry, but worrying is probably a solid plan at this point.”

  Nina couldn’t laugh, but her quick exhale said enough.

  “I’m right here with you, okay?”

  She nodded.

  “You’re okay. I’m okay. We survived today. Abe Turnel and his family will be safe.”

  The plane swerved a little but left the ground. Parker yelled, “Seriously? Seat belts, people!”

  Nina smiled and they both sat quickly to buckle up. Her brain spun with questions, the foremost of which she spoke aloud. “How did he know where we were?”

  “Followed us somehow. Tracked our phones. If he’s a former CIA agent he knows enough tricks to keep us in his sights.”

  “We’re supposed to be getting ahead of him. Playing offense. It was a good idea. Did it turn around and bite us back?”

  He didn’t answer for a minute. “Abe will hopefully see it differently despite what we risked. If we catch Steve Adams, that is.”

  “You seem so sure.” Nina picked at a thread on the hem of her sweater. “So certain we’re going to catch him.” She glanced up. “What was it you said outside the courthouse...‘I saw your life flash before my eyes’?”

  He nodded.

  “That happened to me just now.” And despite the fact that she thought Wyatt was their best shot at drawing out Steve Adams, that didn’t mean she wanted anything to happen to him. If there was a better way, she’d have to think of it. Otherwise they didn’t have a whole lot of options left.

  “I understand.” Wyatt’s eyes darkened. “Things are happening neither of us expected. We care about each other...” He waited, so she nodded her agreement. “I knew I liked you, but this is more than that. Do you get what I’m saying?”

  “Yes.” It was more than just affection for her, too. “But it’s not like anything’s going to happen.”

  His brow twitched for a second. “Why not?” He looked confused, hurt even. Oh, no.

  Nina swallowed. “We’re friends, and I love that. But, well. It’s just that...”

  “Way to let me down gently.” He shifted back against his chair.

  “Wyatt—” She didn’t even know what to say. Why was he surprised? The desire to right the wrong done to her father had consumed her life for years but never produced a result. She’d never had the downtime before now to try and obtain her mom’s file even. Now she finally had his real name, and with that came the chance to find him. To bring this merciless killer to justice.

  “I just can’t think about a relationship right now. I’ve been all about the hunt for Steve Adams for so long there’s nothing else in my life. I already have to get this wrapped up before school starts in a couple of weeks. Then I’ll be shaping young college minds, and a relationship will be a completely different thing.”

  She’d tried to lighten things, but from the look on his face it wasn’t working. “Wyatt, I just haven’t even considered—” was she really going to have to say it? “—romance. Not once, not really.” She was a CIA agent. Who had time for emotional ties, dates, hand-holding and kisses? Before Wyatt, none of those things had ever been a priority.

  He was the first man who had ever made her think about any of that. Why is that, Lord? Maybe after Steve Adams was brought in they could go for coffee. Have dinner. Explore what was between them.

  “Wyatt—”

  He put one earbud in, then the other and shut his eyes. “I’m going to try to nap on the way back.”

  * * *

  Wyatt didn’t pull his earbuds out until they landed. Even then he was quiet on the drive to the office. Yeah, he was shutting her out, but what else was he supposed to do? Here he was growing closer to Nina, seeing her as more than a friend, navigating those fledgling feelings of attraction, and she had straight up said to his face that she hadn’t even considered him and romance in the same sentence.

  Talk about a slap in the face.

  Now he had to regroup. He had seriously thought that something was happening between them. He’d been interested and excited about where it was going. But Nina evidently was still only focused on bringing in Mr. Thomas—too focused, if he had any say in it. The hunt had consumed her to the point she didn’t even see what was right in front of her.

  Wyatt scanned the underground parking lot as they walked through. Jonah had asked them to check in, probably to reassure himself that they were both fine. There had been a whole lot of near misses the past few days. Wyatt was getting kind of tired of skimming the edge of danger.

  If her God was protecting her—and by association, Wyatt—that was all well and good. But what about everyone else? There were some questions that never got answers. He hadn’t been a homicide detective without learning that. Some mysteries weren’t meant to be solved. But if he was going to put his trust in a God he couldn’t see or hear, then Wyatt was going to have to get his answers from somewhere.

  Maybe he could sit down with Parker when they had a minute and ask him some questions about why he believed in God. He’d seen the change in his friend, the peace and joy that hadn’t been there before. Wyatt knew it wasn’t all about Sienna. There had to be something to Parker’s having become a Christian or else there wouldn’t have been this definite, lasting change in Parker’s life that he’d seen unfold.

  Back at the office, Nina held back to let him go through the door first. Wyatt swiped his key card and signed her in with the duty marshal. Jonah spotted them and strode across the room with that face that meant he had something to say. Wyatt could use a distraction.

  “What’s up, boss?”

  Jonah lifted his chin. He gave Nina an actual smile, though it was distracted. “Mason Pierce is here.”

  Wyatt glanced at Nina, who said, “Emily’s father.”

  That was when Wyatt noticed the suited African-American man across the room. Mason Pierce stood in the waiting area outside Jonah’s office. His tie had been loosened, and his sleeves rolled up to reveal a tattoo on the inside of his right arm. Wherever he had put his jacket, it wasn’t here. Pierce had the look of someone who had traveled all day and was anxious for coffee and a shower, and then bed. Even though it wasn’t lunchtime yet.

  Wyatt would guess he’d come in the night before on a red-eye flight.

  Jonah introduced them, and Mason shook his hand hard enough that Wyatt’s hand nearly collapsed in on itself. “Good to meet you.” He was far more solicitous with Nina. “Thank you. Both of you. For taking care of Emily and my mother-in-law. I appreciate it.”

  “Of course.” Nina gave him the smile she’d given to Wyatt the day before. The smile that said, Talking to you is the only thing I want to be doing right now. He’d figured that boded well for the two of them. That she valued his company.

  Evidently it was just her being polite.

  Still, that wasn’t the only thing swirling in his head. “You were deployed, weren’t you? You got back pretty fast. It’s been less than forty-eight hours.”

  He didn’t back down. Mason Pierce had nothing to hide. “I actually wasn’t deployed the last month. I’ve been in DC. Interviewing with the Secret Service.” He shrugged a shoulder. “G
onna need something to do after I retire from the army. I didn’t tell Theresa or Emily about it in case it doesn’t pan out. They want all this cleared up before they’ll move forward.” Pierce lifted one eyebrow. “That good enough for you, or do you have more questions before I can go see my daughter?”

  Jonah chuckled. “I’ll call ahead. We have to check your credentials, get you clearance with the marshals watching them. It’ll take time, but we’ll get you there before end of day.”

  Pierce sighed. “Got it.”

  Nina said, “We can take him over there.”

  Wyatt had to shake his head. “It’s not that simple. Even if we get authorization, Steve Adams followed us to Montana today. There’s no way we can go anywhere near Emily.”

  “But he can’t be back already. We left right away. Where was his plane?”

  Jonah chimed in. “The cops reported in that Bridget heard no more shots after you boarded the plane, and Abe is a little bruised but otherwise fine.”

  Nina motioned to Jonah. “See. He wasn’t hiding a helicopter or another plane. He’d have to have driven a ways, and then flown back here. He isn’t going to know where we’re going to be for a while.”

  “You’re talking about a career CIA agent,” Wyatt said. “You of all people should know that means he has skills and resources we cannot discount. What if he’s tracking both our phones?”

  Nina paled.

  “We can’t assume he hasn’t found his way back to Oregon by now. We can’t assume anything about this man until we’re the ones tracking him.”

  She bit her lip, but nodded. “We need a plan, then.”

  Wyatt didn’t want to put a damper on her desire to see Emily and her father reunited. Nina slumped in a chair while they waited through the procedural aspects of getting Mason Pierce in to see his daughter.

  Finally Wyatt got a call. “Yes. Thank you.” He hung up. “Mason Pierce!” When he looked up, Wyatt motioned Mason over to his desk. The man had been napping in the same chair he’d been sitting in when they’d arrived, but didn’t seem to mind being disturbed. “We’re good to go.”

  He said to Nina, “Emily wants you there, too. She needs to tell you something.”

  “Okay,” Nina said.

  Wyatt gave Mason the address, and Mason left first. Nina and Wyatt both left their phones at the office. They also changed clothes, donning what were essentially disguises that would at least throw off Steve Adams. Wyatt extended their drive to the safe house to just over an hour since it was only twenty minutes away. Going around and around in circles had a point sometimes, and today it hopefully helped them lose Steve Adams. If the man had managed to tail them.

  Wyatt pulled up around the corner, a prayer on the tip of his tongue. Sometimes the only thing that made the difference between a person being safe and being a victim was the uncontrollable. If there was a God who would keep Emily Pierce safe, Wyatt was willing to ask Him for help.

  The marshal outside emerged from the cover of bushes, saw Wyatt and lifted his chin. “Mason is inside.”

  The marshal in the house showed them to the kitchen, where Theresa was drying dishes with a towel. She set the mug down and held the towel in her hands, her eyes red like she’d been crying. “Mason is upstairs trying to talk to Emily. The girl hasn’t said one word to me all day.” She shook her head. “I just don’t want to believe she’s becoming a teenager. Not yet. Maybe you’ll help.”

  Nina nodded.

  Wyatt climbed the stairs after her, not willing to let Nina out of his sight. He hung back in the hall and realized what the noise was. Emily was crying. The preteen looked up from her dad’s shoulder and saw Nina. Wyatt saw her face and knew right away that Theresa was correct. Something was not right.

  “He was here,” Emily said.

  “What?” Nina shook her head.

  “Mr. Thomas. He was here.”

  FIFTEEN

  Nina crouched in front of Emily while her father wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Their greeting had been warm enough, but clearly there was distance between them. Still, that was something Mason Pierce was going to have to figure out. Though Nina figured it was likely the reason for this move to work permanently stateside. But before their family could master that hurdle, Nina had to bring Steve Adams down.

  Otherwise he would torment this girl for the rest of her life.

  Emily pressed her lips together. “It was last night. Just after three, because that alarm clock they gave me is so bright it lights up the room, so it was the first thing I saw.” She paused. “I don’t know what woke me, but he was there. Standing in the corner. Just watching me.” She pointed to a dresser, where Nina imagined the man had perched on the surface and waited.

  But for what? While Nina had been resting at Wyatt’s, unknown, Steve Adams had been here. They’d gone to Montana and come back, and she hadn’t said anything. They couldn’t assume Mr. Thomas was idle, not when he took every opportunity to move.

  Mason shifted. “Did he touch you?”

  Emily glanced at her father, a slight frown on her face. “No. He stayed over there. We just talked, and then he walked out the door.”

  Nina exhaled. This was unreal. She glanced at Wyatt, who stood in the doorway, a door Steve Adams had walked out of. Wyatt nodded. He understood what she was feeling. That the man should never ever have been able to get in this house. Protective custody. What were they supposed to do when nowhere was safe for this girl?

  Nina turned back to her. “What did you talk about?”

  “He told me a story. About a curious little mouse that was free to play all she wanted, but she was hungry for cheese so badly that she got all of her little mouse friends killed.” Emily’s mouth curled. “It wasn’t a very good story. But he seemed to think it was important.”

  Nina nodded. “It was.” She squeezed Emily’s hand. “Did he say anything else?”

  Emily shrugged. “Not really.”

  “Nothing about coming back?” Nina saw Mason glance at her as he picked up on the fact her question was significant.

  “No. He didn’t say that. It was more like he wanted to pass you a message, but I don’t really know what it was.”

  “That’s okay, I understand it,” Nina told her. “You did great.” She was about to get up when Mason spoke.

  “Why didn’t you tell Gramma or one of the marshals that he was here?” He clearly wanted to downplay his concern, but it was there. A father’s heart of love for his daughter even though their relationship had been characterized by the physical distance of his deployment.

  “He walked out the door,” Emily said. “How could he do that unless one of them let him in and out? I was scared. I thought Mr. Thomas must be friends with one of the marshals or something. How else did he just leave without anyone stopping him?”

  Nina explained his history as a CIA agent, and what that meant for his skills at covert operations. He could certainly break into and out of a house without anyone knowing. But he shouldn’t have even known where Emily and Theresa were.

  Mason turned to Wyatt. “How did this happen?”

  Wyatt didn’t react, even under the pressure of the soldier’s stare. “That is a very good question. One I will find an answer to.”

  “He could have killed her—” Mason’s voice broke. “Hurt her.”

  Nina still had Emily’s hand in hers. She could see the girl grow concerned over her father’s reaction, so she squeezed her hand again. “I don’t know. We’re tougher than we look. Right, Em?”

  The girl cracked a smile. Her voice was small, but she lifted her chin. “Right.”

  “Nothing about this is right,” Mason said. “Not one thing.”

  Nina stood and tugged on Emily’s hand. “Why don’t you run downstairs and see what your Gramma is doing?”

&nb
sp; “I know you just want to talk about me while I’m not here.” She stood up. “But whatever. I don’t want to talk about Mr. Thomas anyway.” Her gaze zeroed in on Nina. “I want to go home.”

  Nina said, “I’m working on that.”

  “Whatever.” The girl left.

  Mason linked his fingers behind his head and squeezed his eyes shut.

  “Look, I know how you feel.” Wyatt stepped forward.

  The soldier shook his head. “You have kids?”

  “No.”

  “Then you can’t know how I feel. There’s no way.”

  Wyatt sighed.

  Nina took a step closer to Mason, but he cut her off before she could speak. “They’re done here. I don’t care how ‘safe’ you deem them. He got in here.”

  Wyatt’s eyes were dark. “We’ll definitely be moving them, of course. But we’ll also figure out how this happened.”

  “You had better.” Mason paused. To let his words sink in? “Now we finish this. You know what that message was, right? About the ‘little mouse.’”

  Nina nodded. “That’s what Steve Adams called me when I was a little girl. Before he killed my mother.” She glanced at Wyatt. “Now we need a plan to draw him out. That’s what I’m thinking we need to do. Lay a trap for him, and when he shows up—” She clapped. “Snap it shut.” Both men nodded, but neither spoke, so Nina said, “All we need is someone to be bait whom he wants strongly enough to get his attention. Make him come to us.”

  “No.” Wyatt started to say more, but Mason cut him off before he could finish his thought.

  “How about you?” Emily’s father folded his arms, his hard stare directed at Nina. “So eager to catch him, I’m guessing I’m not good enough bait for that. We can try, and I’d do it just for the chance to get face-to-face with this guy. But I don’t see you jumping at the chance to do this. Seems more like you want the marshal here to do it for you.”

  “Of course I’m going to be the bait,” Wyatt said.

  She shuddered just hearing the words. “No, you aren’t. If anyone is going to be bait, it’s me.”