by Susan Stoker
She’d made a colossal mistake in calling Brown the night she’d gotten back to town and seen that news clip, but at the time, she’d thought it was the best course of action. She should’ve known she couldn’t trust him. Hadn’t she been shown time and time again that she couldn’t trust anyone?
You can trust Gage.
The words instantly popped into her head.
She wanted to deny them, tell her silly psyche that she didn’t even know the man. There was no way she could literally trust him with her life.
But hadn’t she already done that? In Africa, she’d thought she was two minutes away from being raped and killed by the protestors, but then he was there, taking her to safety. Two seconds in his company and Kinley had felt a comfort she’d never known in her life.
That was part of the reason she’d not responded when he’d contacted her after that trip. She’d been scared of how much she liked him. Respected him. If he ended up being like all the other people in her life who had blown her off, it would be excruciating.
But he’d proven in Paris that he was a good man. That he could be a good friend…if she let him in. But was it fair to bring this to his doorstep? To show up and be like, “Hi! I saw a serial killer with his latest victim and now he wants to kill me.”
No, it wasn’t fair in the least.
She’d head north, then west. Go to South Dakota maybe, it seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, and that’s what she needed right now, to hide out until she could contact the FBI or someone. Small-town cops wouldn’t believe her, but maybe someone in the FBI would. Or at the very least, they would investigate her accusation that Drake Stryker and Walter Brown were somehow involved in The Alleyway Strangler case.
Shaking her head, Kinley knew her situation was next to impossible. No one would believe her. Hell, she could hardly believe it herself.
The longer Kinley sat on her kitchen floor, waiting for the sun to set so she could escape under the cover of darkness, the more fearful she got. Whoever had tried to kill her would try again. He probably knew where she lived, and Brown clearly had contacts who were skilled with computers. What chance did she have?
Not much of one, but she hadn’t survived what life had thrown at her thus far only to give up now. For the most part, her foster homes weren’t abusive, but there had been one or two that had made her think she might not make it out. But she had.
She’s survived those, and hopefully, she could survive this too.
Taking a deep breath, Kinley slowly found her resolve. She’d never liked Walter Brown much. Had overlooked the affairs he had while on trips, had put up with his arrogance and bad temper and taking credit for her research and ideas. But she never would’ve thought he could stoop as low as this.
Slowly getting to her feet, Kinley went into the bathroom and cleaned up the gash on her chin. It had stopped bleeding long ago, and she’d been so intent on packing and getting ready to leave she’d forgotten about it until now. The cut itself wasn’t too bad, and she didn’t think she needed stitches…not that she’d be able to take the time to visit an emergency room even if she did. She put a butterfly bandage on her chin, and even though it looked strange, she didn’t care.
She went back into her kitchen and methodically emptied out her fridge of anything that might spoil. Thankful that she’d decided to go to the grocery store later that week, so she didn’t have too much to waste, Kinley cooked the chicken she’d planned to eat for dinner that evening.
Now that her initial fear had faded, she could actually think a little rationally. She’d take as much food as she could carry, along with her duffle bag, and stop by an ATM on the way out of town. She wouldn’t be able to get out a ton of cash, but tomorrow, she’d stop by a branch of her bank and empty her savings.
Then she’d drive as long and as far as she could, using only cash for food and gas. When she got to a town where she felt she was relatively safe, she’d consider contacting someone in law enforcement about what she’d seen. She’d pick up one of those throwaway phones that couldn’t be traced.
For just a moment, Kinley thought once more about getting in touch with Gage. She’d memorized his email, phone, and even his address, as if she was an adolescent girl with her first crush.
Gage would know how to help her, she had no doubt, but the last thing she wanted was the person who’d tried to kill her going after him.
She hated that if he contacted her, she wouldn’t be responding—again. He’d think she was ghosting him once more, even when she’d promised not to.
But not getting in touch was for his own safety. She wouldn’t knowingly put him in danger. Maybe after she’d been gone from DC for a while, and felt safer, she could reach out. Apologize for not responding. Again. She could tell him she’d lost her phone, which wouldn’t exactly be a lie.
Feeling as if she’d lost something precious, Kinley pushed the thought down and concentrated on cleaning out her kitchen. Gage Haskins was better off without her.
Once the weird foster kid, always the weird foster kid.
Lefty sighed when he looked at his phone and didn’t see any messages from Kinley. He knew Grover had told him to give Kinley time, to not give up on her, but he didn’t like the way her ghosting him, again, made him feel. It had been a week, and he still hadn’t heard from her. She’d told him that it might take her a while to respond, but a week seemed excessive. He was trying to be patient, but it was difficult. Lefty had tried to call her a few times but the phone didn’t even ring, just went straight to voice mail. He’d texted and emailed, asking how she was and letting her know he was thinking about her, to no avail.
And to top off his shitty week, he’d just found out that he and the rest of the team were being sent on a mission. He desperately wanted to let Kinley know that he’d be out of pocket for a while…but it seemed as if she’d ghosted him once again. It was frustrating and irritating at the same time.
He’d thought he’d broken through the shields she had up, but apparently not. Maybe working in DC and around politicians had made her a better liar than he’d expected.
“What’s wrong?” Trigger asked as they packed the last of the gear into the plane they’d be leaving on in a matter of hours.
“Nothing.”
“She hasn’t returned your messages?”
Lefty sighed. “No.”
“Maybe she—”
Lefty held up a hand, stopping his friend’s words. “Once, I can forgive. Twice? When she swore that she wouldn’t ghost me again?” He shook his head. “I’m done. I can’t do this. Long-distance friendships are hard enough without me having to do all the work. She should’ve just told me she wasn’t interested in being my friend. I can take a hint.”
“Kinley didn’t strike me as the kind of woman to be so heartless.”
“Me either,” Lefty said with a shrug. Her silence hurt. A lot. After their day spent together in Paris, he’d thought for sure he’d hear from her. That they might be able to start some sort of relationship, even an unconventional long-distance one. But her silence spoke volumes.
“Come on,” Trigger said, slapping him on the back. “Once we’re knee deep in this mission, you’ll forget about her.”
Lefty nodded. A hard, dangerous mission was just what he needed to put Kinley out of his mind…for good.
Chapter Six
Kinley sat in her car and stared up at the apartment building and debated whether or not to go up to Gage’s door and knock.
Again.
She’d been sitting in the parking lot of his apartment complex for two days.
When she’d left Washington, DC, ten days ago, she’d planned on heading to South Dakota or somewhere in the northwest. She got five thousand dollars out of her bank account, and headed west. She stopped at crappy motels along the way, feeling unsafe and on the edge. Then one day, after making it all the way to Colorado, she found herself turning south. She spent the night in Denver. Then Pueblo. Then Santa Fe, and before she k
new it, she was driving back east. Toward Texas. Killeen, Texas, specifically.
Being here was stupid.
It was crazy.
And yet, here she was.
She hadn’t been able to get Gage out of her mind, and the more she thought about it, the more she realized that he’d probably have connections who could help her. She knew going to him would put in him in danger, because if someone was following her, or found out where she was, they’d assume she’d told him what was going on. So she needed to either leave right now and do what she’d originally planned, or suck it up and trust Gage.
She was going to go out on a limb and tell him everything.
But she hadn’t expected him to be gone. She should’ve at least considered the possibility. She knew he was Delta Force. Knew he was sent out on a moment’s notice. He’d told her as much. Kinley wondered if he’d messaged her again. If he’d tried to let her know.
Guilt crept in once more. She hated not knowing if he’d tried to get in touch, but hated even more knowing that, if he had, he probably thought she was a colossal bitch for not returning his messages.
And now she was sitting in the parking lot of his apartment complex like a stalker. But she literally had nowhere else to go. She’d slept in her car for most of the last ten days, and she was dirty and smelly. Her belly gurgled, protesting the lack of food Kinley had given it lately. It was nine in the morning, and Kinley had hoped that she’d be able to catch Gage, but that hadn’t been the case. He still wasn’t home.
She could easily start driving aimlessly again, but her resolve had grown. She didn’t want to let Stryker—or Brown, if he was involved—get away with what he’d done. If he truly was The Alleyway Strangler, he needed to be stopped. And right now, she was in the best position to make that happen.
She didn’t want anyone else to suffer at his hands.
But she was also scared. She could still feel that hand on her back, trying to push her into the path of the oncoming train. She’d been lucky to come out of that with only a cut on her chin.
Kinley was deep in thought, so when someone knocked on her driver’s-side window unexpectedly, she let out a screech and did her best to crawl into the passenger seat and away from the person she knew was about to come through her window and kill her.
She had her butt on the other seat and was readying to open the door and run when she looked up and met a pair of remorseful green eyes. The blonde woman on the other side of the door took a giant step back and held up her hands, showing her she was unarmed.
“I’m sorry, so sorry!” the woman said. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just worried about you and wanted to make sure you were all right.”
Feeling her heart beating a million miles an hour, Kinley forced herself to take a deep breath. Shit, she was going to die of a heart attack before Stryker’s goon could find her to finish her off.
Embarrassed at her over-the-top reaction, Kinley scooted the rest of the way into the passenger seat, then opened the door and climbed out. She might be flustered by the woman showing up out of the blue like she had, but she wasn’t an idiot. She wasn’t going to step right into the woman’s clutches if she was up to no good.
“I really am sorry,” the other woman said. “I thought you saw me walk up. My name is Gillian. Gillian Romano, and I live in this complex with my boyfriend. I saw you parked here yesterday too, but I didn’t think anything about it until I saw you knocking on our friend’s door this morning. Lefty’s not here.”
Kinley was confused for a second. Who was Lefty? Then she remembered that it was Gage’s silly nickname.
Her stomach dropped. She knew he wasn’t there, but for some reason, hearing it confirmed made her shitty situation all the more awful. “Do you know when he’ll be back?” Kinley asked.
Gillian shrugged apologetically. “Sorry, no. I also couldn’t help but notice that you slept out here last night. Do you…do you want to come up and have some breakfast with me?”
Kinley could only stare at the other woman in disbelief. She was pretty. Her blonde hair was squeaky clean and shining. She wore a pair of jeans, as well as a T-shirt with a basset hound wearing sunglasses.
“You don’t know me,” Kinley blurted. “Why in the world would you invite me into your apartment? Is your boyfriend there?” she asked suspiciously. She’d heard about women luring other females into a trap, allowing their significant others to then rob and sometimes do even worse things to the victims.
“No, Walker’s not here. He’s with Lefty.”
“Does your boyfriend have a nickname?” Kinley asked, realization dawning.
Gillian tilted her head and studied her, as if she was contemplating whether or not to answer. Finally, she said, “Trigger.”
“I know him,” Kinley told Gillian with a small smile, feeling relieved.
“You do?”
Kinley nodded. “Tall. Black hair. Swimmer’s shoulders.”
“That’s Walker. I’m sorry, what was your name?” Gillian asked, sounding a bit suspicious herself now.
“Kinley.”
“Kinley…? Oh! Walker told me that Lefty’s been talking about a woman named Kinley. That must be you!”
It was Kinley’s turn to be surprised. “He’s talked about me?”
“Well, not to me, but if you met Lefty and my boyfriend, then you know how close they are. You don’t know me, but I assure you, I’m completely harmless.”
“Oh…um…okay.” Gillian wasn’t sure what to think of the other woman. She seemed to be sincere, and she did seem to know Gage, but she wasn’t sure she should really trust anyone. Anyone but Gage, that was.
“After you knocked on Lefty’s door, then slept out here in your car, I had to come down,” Gillian said. “To be honest, Walker wouldn’t be happy with me; he doesn’t even like me taking an Uber. But I’m a pretty good judge of character…one recent misjudgment notwithstanding. I saw you down here yesterday, and last night, and I felt bad. As I said, I don’t know when Lefty will get back, but I can offer you an ear over breakfast if you want.”
Kinley wanted to refuse. Wanted to politely decline and be on her way. But something about the other woman made it almost impossible. Gillian was open and friendly, and that was something Kinley hadn’t experienced much of in the last two weeks.
She nodded tentatively.
“Great! Grab whatever you need. I work from home, and honestly, I’m going a bit stir crazy. I like being by myself, but I’m also used to being around people too…which I realize makes no sense. I’m an event planner, and I’m between events right now, and I’d be happy for the company.”
Kinley had never met someone like Gillian. She was outgoing and welcoming and made her long for something she’d never had…someone to talk to about her troubles.
She reached into the backseat and pulled out her duffle bag. She wasn’t going to leave it behind, just in case Gillian had ulterior motives. She grabbed her keys and locked her Corolla and followed Gillian up the stairs.
“I moved into this complex with Walker a few months ago,” Gillian said. “He had a small apartment that didn’t really fit all our stuff. Now I feel absolutely spoiled by three bedrooms. Of course, Walker’s already talking about finding a house, but I’m not ready for that yet. We found this place because Lefty already lived here. He talked to the manager when a place opened up, and I think he and Walker have really enjoyed living near each other. Of course, it gives me some space as well. When Walker overwhelms me with his protectiveness, I tell him to go visit with Lefty and give me some peace and quiet.”
Gillian chuckled, and Kinley couldn’t help but return her smile.
They walked up the stairs together, and Gillian opened her door and led the way inside. For a second, Kinley considered wildly if this could be a trap. The person who was hired to kill her might’ve somehow followed her, and was using Gillian as a lure…but she dismissed the thought immediately. She had a feeling whoever had pushed her in DC wouldn’t b
other with such elaborate subterfuge. He’d simply pull out a gun and shoot next time.
Besides, if anyone was following her, they’d had ample opportunity to kill her during the long drive, anytime she’d been forced to pull over and rest for a few hours before hitting the road again.
Kinley placed her bag by the sofa Gillian gestured to before she sat.
“Can I get you something to drink? I put biscuits in the oven before I went downstairs to see if you wanted to join me. I can whip up some eggs too, if you want. Or I’ve got oatmeal and fruit.”
Kinley felt her eyes fill with tears, and she desperately tried to hold them back. After ten days of being on the run and sleeping in her car and doing whatever she could to stay under the radar so she wouldn’t be found, the simple offer of something to eat and drink had pushed her over the edge.
She turned her head and bit her lip to try to control herself, but it didn’t work. Two tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Kinley? If none of those options sound good, I can—oh!” Gillian’s words abruptly cut off as she finally realized how upset her houseguest was.
Without a word, the other woman came over to the sofa, sat down, and pulled Kinley into her embrace.
Kinley wasn’t a cuddler. Wasn’t used to being touched. She couldn’t even remember the last time someone had given her a hug. But this stranger, a woman she’d only met a few minutes ago, was showing her more compassion and genuine affection than she’d experienced in a very long time.
It was too much for Kinley to take. Normally, she could’ve gotten herself under control and managed to stop her tears, but not now.
She held on to Gillian as if they’d been friends forever and cried. Cried because she was scared. Cried because someone had tried to kill her. Cried because she’d lost the job she’d had for years. Cried because she had no idea what she was going to do next. Cried for the poor teenager in Paris who’d been killed.
And she cried because she knew, deep down, that Gage had been upset and probably pissed when he hadn’t heard from her after she’d promised to keep in touch.