Lynette’s scowl deepened. “I suppose I could take books out to the parking lot and have some of our Book Lover’s celebrations outside.”
“I’m sorry, Lynette. We’ll need you to vacate the premises and keep it as is. If something has gone awry here, we’ll need to check the place for evidence.”
“We’ll get out of your hair as quickly as we can.” Smiling, the officer gently clapped Lynette on the shoulder.
I wasn’t as sure about that, but I wasn’t about to argue. I didn’t want to give up any clues to who might’ve taken Archer, where he might have gone unless I was sure he didn’t disappear from inside the library.
Just as I reached the door, my phone rang. Pulling it out, I let out a deep breath when I saw who was calling. Lieutenant Parsons’s name filled the screen. I waved the cops over, then answered the call on speaker.
“Parsons? If you’re calling about Archer, I told you, I lost him.”
“Oh, Veronica, let’s not play dumb. I know you found him, which is why I’m wiring your reward now. You did exactly what I needed you to. I don’t know what you think you found out that made you doubt me, but he’s in good hands now.” He paused a second before adding, “I have to say, I thought you were more professional than this. But it doesn’t matter how you landed him. If spreading your legs is what it took, I’m not complaining.”
Oh God. How long had he been watching me? How much did he know? I closed my eyes, willing myself to stay calm, to keep my voice even—even though my stomach was in knots and the worst possible scenarios were running through my head.
“Oh? You have him? What flight are you on back to Chicago? I’ll meet you at the airport, fly back with you.”
“I’ve got a detour to make. It’ll probably be a couple of days before I make it back to the city. But you shouldn’t worry about Archer anymore. Trust me, he’s right where he needs to be. And you’re a wealthy woman.”
I didn’t want to think about where the money came from; it clearly wasn’t bounty funds.
“Maybe we’ll meet up in Chicago when you’re back in town, get lunch or something. I should properly thank you for giving me such a lucrative assignment.”
“Sure. I could think of a few things you could do to repay me.” Parsons hung up, and my stomach dropped, my legs trembled, and bile rose up in my throat.
Officer Langley’s arms wrapped around me and supported me, keeping me from hitting the ground.
“Okay, I don’t think we need to hear the audio from your devices to believe you, but we should still get them and take a listen. Maybe there’s something on the footage that will give us a place to start. I think it’s safe to assume he’s probably not going to Chicago, but that leaves a lot of the world to search. Did Daniel… I mean Archer give you any indication of where he was from before coming here? Or who his handler was?”
“I think his handler’s number was in his cell, but even if we had the phone, I doubt Archer was stupid enough to label the contact WITSEC. I’ve already called a friend in the FBI, but he won’t give me any information.” And then I remembered the conversation I’d overheard. “Richards! His handler’s name might be Richards. I heard him talking to Richards about being followed.”
“Okay. Union, can you go with Ms. Neptune to her room and get the footage for her audio device? I’m going to go back to the station and talk with the Captain, see if we need to call in the FBI.” He turned back to me and smiled softly. “I can’t tell you not to worry, but I want you to know Officer Union and I will do everything we can to find Mr. Janson.”
I nodded even though it felt like an empty gesture. They could do everything in their power, so could I, and Archer could still end up disappearing forever.
I couldn’t help feeling like this was all my fault. If I hadn’t been so determined to hunt him down, to earn a quick payday, Archer wouldn’t have been found. Parsons could barely find his ass when he was sitting on it—he wouldn’t have been able to track down Archer. Archer would be safe.
And I wouldn’t have to know what it felt like to be the cause of my own damn heartbreak.
Officer Union took my keys when it seemed clear I wasn’t going to be able to operate the vehicle safely and drove us back to my hotel in silence. I appreciated the cop didn’t try to offer platitudes or assurances. It made me respect the woman even more.
The entire drive, I couldn’t get the idea of Archer being tortured or killed out of my head. My thoughts ran rampant with images of ways he could be getting hurt even as we drove—each one more gruesome than the last.
As Officer Union pulled up to the hotel, she turned and looked at me.
“Okay, Ms. Neptune, I know this probably isn’t going to be easy for you, but I need you to try to remain calm in this. It’s not going to do anyone any good if you lose your cool while we’re listening.”
I swallowed hard, trying to regain a professional demeanor, but I couldn’t think of this as just another case, no matter how badly I wanted to. This wasn’t just a missing person.
This was Archer. A man who, despite my best efforts, I was pretty sure I’d already fallen hard for.
16
ARCHER
I couldn’t decide if the fact they weren’t trying to bind me or cover my eyes was a good thing. Clearly, Bonnie Macchio had developed an entire false relationship in her head, and the longer I played into it, the more I made her believe there could be something there, the longer I figured I had to live.
“Where are we headed?” All I’d been able to determine so far was we were on the highway out of Jubilee Falls, and I thought we were headed north. It had been hard to watch the street signs though with Bonnie constantly trying to paw at me.
“Don’t you worry, baby, I’ll take good care of you. You just have to lie back and enjoy the ride.” The tone in her voice sounded like she had more than a car trip in mind. The look of determination and what I assumed was supposed to be seduction in her eyes didn’t ease my thoughts.
“Come on, Bonnie, you can tell me. Who am I going to tell?” I grinned at her, half-trying to give her the same seductive look she was shooting at me. I didn’t think it was coming off well until I thought about Veronica. I didn’t have any problem imagining seducing that blonde, but the one to my left was a whole different story.
Bonnie leaned close, whispering in my ear. “Somewhere no one will ever be able to take you away from me again, lover.”
Her thick coating of perfume made my stomach turn, but there was nowhere for me to go to get any respite. The closer she moved to me, the more she invaded my space, the more nauseous I became until I was certain I was about to throw up.
“I need a bathroom. Quick.”
“We’ll be to the airstrip soon. Hold it,” Parsons barked at me, making me want to punch him.
“You want me puking in the back of this Yukon, that’s your choice.” I tried in vain to get the window down, but the button did nothing to make the glass move. Parsons must’ve had the safety locks on. Maybe the guy had more than half a brain cell after all.
“Oh, no, baby, are you sick?” Bonnie moved closer into my space again.
I was half-tempted to retch, just to see if it would make her recoil or if she really was delusional enough to risk getting puked on to be near me.
“Please, Bonnie, can’t we stop for a few minutes?” I hoped I looked as pathetic as I sounded.
“It’s just a little while longer.” She leaned forward, her breasts brushing against my arm, smiling as she pushed my hair back from my forehead. “Do you want to lay your head in my lap until we get there? It might help.”
“Maybe we could roll down my window some? Get some fresh air in here.”
“Of course.” She leaned forward and smacked Parsons in the arm. “Roll down his window. What’s your problem?”
A moment later, the glass slid down just a few inches. Not enough for me to get out of the car if we slowed down but enough to clear some of the offensive perfume from my nose.
And it gave me time to think.
We were headed to an airstrip, not the airport in Omaha. How on earth was I going to alert Veronica or Agent Richards where to find me? Bonnie probably paid off everyone at the strip, and I doubted the pilot or any of the other crew would be willing to help me.
After another half an hour, the car stopped.
Parsons glared at me before he got out of the front seat. I tried to open the door, but I didn’t hold much hope that it would actually open. Parsons let Bonnie out first, holding her hand out to help her down. The other goon, the one I didn’t have a name for, opened my door, brandishing a handgun as he pointed me toward the plane.
Great, now there were firearms involved.
I dragged my feet as I walked toward the small private jet. If I got on board that thing, I doubted I’d have any chance of getting away from Bonnie. I couldn’t stomach the idea of being her boy toy until she got sick of me and arranged to have me locked up or killed, just like her current husband.
In an instant, I turned off my path and ran for the brush lining the runway.
“Keep running, and I won’t hesitate to shoot you in the back of the head,” Parsons’s voice rang out loudly.
Stopping in my tracks, I squatted down and heaved, my stomach roiling as I waited for the impending death. A quick bullet through my skull would’ve been less painful than a life of faked love and missing the one woman I really wanted to be with.
The heavy footfalls coming up behind me did nothing to ease my mind.
“Get up.”
Tension filled my shoulders, my leg muscles tightened, and my hands balled into fists. Parsons was solidly built, not as soft around the middle as some cops who had been in the business for a while, but I was taller, and I bet I was stronger and faster too. I hoped my bet was right. Otherwise, I really was looking at a bullet in the back of my head.
I waited until he was nearly on top of me before springing into action.
Parsons moved quickly but not fast enough. I collided with him, slamming my shoulder into his gut as he tried to counter. He tumbled to the side as I shifted, regaining my footing.
“I’m not getting on that plane.”
Parsons lunged again. I swung my fist into his jaw as I sidestepped out of his way. My knuckles screamed as they slammed into bone, but I couldn’t stop. No matter how much pain I was in, I had to make sure he got knocked out first. I needed it to be quick before the other goon or Bonnie realized what was going on. I took every piece of boxing knowledge I had in my bank and tried to get my out-of-practice body to cooperate with me.
Parsons attacked. His face looked distorted, and I was fairly certain I’d dislocated his jaw. He moved like a crazed gorilla, charging at me with a singular purpose, without finesse or style. It was all too easy to step out of his path.
I danced out of his way, catching him under the armpit as I spun around, pinning his back against my chest as I grabbed his other arm. I yanked his arm up, wrenching the shoulder, applying pressure as I wrapped my forearm under his chin, pulling in toward my chest.
Parsons reacted to his airway being cut off, thrashing about like a wild man, clawing at my arms. He fought hard, but I had a lot more to lose in this fight, and I wasn’t going to give up easily. I needed him to pass out. I needed him on the ground. Then I could deal with the other one.
As Parsons started to go limp in my arms, I scanned the area, looking for civilians, anyone watching, anyone who could make my getaway harder. Bonnie and the other man were still too close for comfort, but they didn’t seem too interested in me.
Yet.
Parsons finally collapsed, dead weight in my arms. I lowered him as gingerly to the ground as I dared. I didn’t need him making a thud loud enough to draw attention.
Grabbing his gun and his keys, I tip-toed toward the SUV, wondering if there was any hope of getting inside and firing it up before I was thwarted. I didn’t have to wonder long. Bonnie’s shout was shrill, like the seagull from The Little Mermaid when he tried to sing.
“Stop him!”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I took off at a full sprint. If I could just get into the SUV, I’d have a fighting chance.
The muffled pop of a bullet fired through a suppressor made me flinch, but I couldn’t stop running. The hissing of air out of one tire, then a second, deflated me faster than the back end of the car, sinking toward the ground.
There was no way I could use the car to get out now.
Instead, I put it between us, using the large SUV as a shield. The gun I’d pulled off Parsons looked like a TV cop gun. I’d handled a few guns in my time, but not a lot. I checked it over. Safety, check. Bullet in the barrel, check. I flipped the safety off before I attempted to look around the SUV.
Bonnie was using the man as a human shield—size-wise, he might as well have been. I could barely see her behind him.
“Archer, baby, this is silly. I know you’re nervous, but you can’t deny the love we have. Just come on out. We’ll get on the plane, and I’ll make you forget all about the world before you and me.”
I cringed. Bonnie was a woman who knew how to get what she wanted, and she wasn’t afraid to crush anyone who got in her way. If I didn’t get on that plane with her, I had no doubt I’d end up so far gone, they’d never find my body.
Carefully, I leaned out from around the car, firing off a couple of shots toward the duo. I didn’t dare spend too much time aiming, but I didn’t expect my bullets to hit their target. All I hoped for was I could at least hold them off until a miracle happened or somehow, split them apart long enough to take them on, one-by-one.
No more shots were fired, and I tentatively took another look around the car. Bonnie was arguing with the guy, both of them exposed. If I could manage to line up even one good shot, it’d just be me and one other person, and I’d have a fighting chance.
But I was a fighter, hand-to-hand, none of this from-a-distance shooting. I took a deep breath and lined up a shot. The guy was a bigger target, and with the way Bonnie was flailing about, I doubted I could hit her—even if shooting her would’ve probably been better for me in the long run.
One second passed. Two.
Then I fired.
It didn’t take long for the bullet to reach the two arguing, but as it tore into his chest, it seemed like everything slowed to a near-stop.
The shouting changed from anger to a shrill shriek, and the guy crumpled, grasping at his chest, trying to stop the inevitable. I couldn’t be sure if it was fatal or if it would be quick. At that moment, I didn’t really care.
Bonnie wheeled around on her heel, and even from the distance, I could see the rage distorting her face—the usually poised, overly made-up face contorted in anger scarier than any demon portrayed on screen.
“That’s it!” she screeched at me, stomping across the tarmac toward me. “I’ve tried to play nice. I let you have your affair with the little blonde whore. I wasn’t going to hold it against you, but you are getting on that plane. Now!”
It was almost comical, her thinking she could somehow overpower me and force me onto the plane, but I couldn’t be sure if she had anyone else watching us, if there were other men with guns, just waiting in the shadows.
“Bonnie, I’m not going anywhere with you. I’m going back to Jubilee Falls. Or I’m disappearing through WITSEC again. I didn’t put your husband away so we could be together. I don’t like you. I’ve never liked you.”
“Oh, bullshit.” She grabbed me, stronger than she looked and crushed her lips against mine as if, somehow, I’d melt at the touch of her lips.
I shoved her away, too hard, probably, but I didn’t care as she teetered on her stilettos and fell to the ground.
“Don’t fucking touch me.”
She pushed herself back to her feet, but I could tell she’d scraped her hands and knees in the fall. I tried to ignore the little feeling of glee that I’d made her bleed.
“You can act all high an
d mighty, all holier than thou all you want, but I know men like you, Archer. You’ll give me what I want because I can give you what you want. You don’t want to be some small-town librarian with snot-nosed brats tugging at your ankles all day long. You’re too big for small-time, baby. All you need is the right woman to put you in your place. You’d look good on the throne.” Her voice dropped to a ‘trying-to-seduce’ range. She leaned forward, giving me a “better” view of her cleavage as if it wasn’t already spilling out of her top.
“You know nothing about me. Less than nothing if you think for one second I’d want to be your front man for criminal activity. All you want is another fall guy, someone else to take the heat if you get sloppy.” God, why hadn’t I thought to grab Parsons’s cell phone? Veronica’s number would’ve been in it. I could’ve called my handler too—anyone to save me from this shit.
Bonnie launched herself at me then, no longer dainty or seductive, full-on harpy bitch, claws out. I braced myself for impact. I didn’t want to hit a woman, but I hardly felt like she counted as one—now she was an adversary, an opponent who would do anything to win the fight, just like I’d have to if I wanted to stay alive. I caught her easily, deflecting her back off me with an easy move, then put my fists up, ready for a fight.
She charged again, swinging her hands wildly, trying to claw at my face.
I deflected the first hand but took the second in my cheek as I swung out and hit her. The crunch of bone and cartilage giving way almost definitely meant a broken nose. It would’ve stopped most guys I knew, but Bonnie barely flinched.
She swung again quickly, this time with fists. She uppercut into my chin, sending my head recoiling back, my teeth slamming into my lip, the coppery taste of blood filling my mouth.
I spat red fluid onto the tarmac and grabbed her by the hair, tugging her away from me as she tried to punch again. My heart was pounding as she lunged again, slamming her forehead into my face. My vision blurred, stars dancing around the peripheral edges as more blood poured down my chin. I probably had a broken nose now too, but I couldn’t stop, not with the psycho rage monster on the attack again.
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