Code of Valor

by Lynette Eason

  Emily gave a light snort. “No kidding.”

  Derek shot a look at Linc. “Guess you’re going to want to get involved in this one.”

  Linc raised a brow. “I only get involved when I’m invited to do so.”

  “I think this case may be one where you can invite yourself,” Derek said. “Someone just tried to blow up your big brother and you’re saying you’re not interested in being a part of the team that catches them?”

  “Well, sure, but—”

  “Wait a minute,” Emily said. “What are you talking about? Why would someone invite you to the investigation? You’re a detective like Brady?”

  Derek shook his head. “He’s FBI.”

  “Oh.”

  “Look,” Derek said, leaning forward. “You were kidnapped, thrown into a trunk, and the man in the boat most likely would have killed you had Brady not intervened.”

  “Yes.”

  “Right, so it’s only fitting that Linc step in and help figure that out.”

  “No,” Linc said.

  “Yes,” his brother insisted.

  “How many times do I have to say it? She was kidnapped in Sicily. If the local police want some help, then fine, but I’m not going in and asking for them to hand me the case. You know as well as I do that’s not how it works. We only step in—”

  She let them argue and turned her attention to Brady. He was watching his brothers with a partly amused, partly irritated expression. There was no doubt they were related. The three of them could almost pass for triplets except for the subtle differences. Linc was taller than Brady and Derek, a little stockier through the shoulders.

  But to her, Brady was just about perfect. He’d saved her life and she supposed that might sway her emotions a bit. He could easily be her hero. A man she could seriously fall for if she’d let herself. Which she wouldn’t. For various reasons she refused to think about at the moment. She slipped over to him. “Are they always like this?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh.”

  She turned to Derek and cut him off midsentence. “What area of law enforcement are you in?”

  “I’m—uh—with OCN—organized crime and narcotics. But I also do a lot of undercover stuff. And SWAT. Mostly SWAT lately.”

  “It’s a family business then.”

  The corners of Brady’s lips lifted slightly. “You could say that.”

  Her eyes widened. “Wait a minute. St. John. Is the chief of police your mother?”

  “Guilty,” Brady said.

  Before she could respond, Officer Schaffer stepped into the room carrying several evidence bags in his gloved hands. “All right, I think we’ve gotten everything we can. Found a ski mask.”

  “I pulled it off of him,” Emily said.

  “Good job. I know you said he was wearing gloves, but we dusted for prints just in case. I’ve also contacted the owners and they’ll be on the way in the morning to assess the damage, give us their prints to rule out, and file an insurance report.”

  Officer Hansen took the bags from him and noted the change of custody on the log. “I’ll just put these in the car. We’ll have to send them off to the lab and it’ll take a while to get anything back. If the DNA’s in the system and we get a match, we’ll know who we’re after. If not, then I’m afraid your guy may be long gone.”

  “No,” she said softly, “he might be gone for the moment, but he’ll be back.” The men fell quiet and Emily sucked in a deep breath. “Any news on the officer who responded to the call before they blew up the cabin?” she asked.

  “Last I heard he was on the way to the hospital. Not sure of his status at the moment, but he was alive when they got to him.”

  “I’m so very glad to hear that. What about the cabin and the other homes near it?” she asked.

  “Firefighters are on the scene and making sure it doesn’t spread to any of those. It’s probably too late, but we’ve got teams looking for the boat in case he ditched it and questioning anyone we can find who might have seen something.”

  “Excellent,” Brady said. “Sounds like you’ve got it all under control. Thank you.”

  “Sure thing. Now it’s time to vacate the premises,” Schaffer said.

  Linc nodded. “One more question for Emily.”

  She turned. “Yes?”

  “You were kidnapped as you were coming out of the bank.”

  “Right.”

  “Where did they snatch you?”

  “On a side street. I was parallel parked against the curb. No garage.”

  “Any security cameras?”

  “Yes, of course. On the streetlamps, I think.”

  “I can see if our tech person, Annie, can get the footage. And we need to bring in the Sicily police on this so they can start looking for whoever nabbed you.”

  “You will?” Brady asked. “I thought you were going to stay out of it and let the Sicily guys handle it.”

  Linc scowled. “Just trying to be helpful. Now, get the woman’s statement and stop being annoying.”

  Emily couldn’t believe she felt a smile pulling at her lips. “What do I need to do?”

  “You just have to tell your story while one of us writes it down. Or you can write it yourself and we’ll witness it.”

  “I can do that.”

  “As soon as we find a safe place for you,” Brady said.

  Emily drew in a shaky breath. “A safe place. That would be nice. I’m pretty sure that’s not going to be home, though.”

  6

  Brady raised a brow. “I’m pretty sure I would agree with that. At least not without protection. We’ll make sure you have that.”

  “We will?” Derek asked. Brady scowled at his younger brother and Derek held up a hand. “We will.”

  “No, no,” Emily said. “I don’t want to put you out.”

  “You’re not putting us out,” Brady said.

  “Absolutely not,” Derek agreed. “I wasn’t protesting, I was just surprised he was offering. He’s not usually so quick to do something like that.”

  Brady snorted. “Thanks, Derek.”

  His brother flushed. “That’s not what I meant. You’re a nice guy who likes to help people. I just meant you’re not an impulsive kind of guy. You usually take thirty minutes to order at a restaurant because you think through each choice on the menu. Offering protection for someone you just met is so out of—” Linc punched him in the arm. Derek winced and glared at his brother. “What’d you do that for?”

  “Shut up,” Linc said.

  Brady shot Derek a dark look but could feel the heat climbing into his cheeks because he didn’t have a good argument. “Yeah, good time to stop talking. Why don’t you go call Elaine or something? Come on, let’s go.”

  They loaded into Linc’s King Cab pickup. “Who’s Elaine?” Emily asked.

  “Derek’s on-again, off-again fiancée.”

  “Ouch. Which one’s afraid of commitment?”

  “Elaine. Surprisingly enough.”

  “So are they on or off right now?”

  “On. I think.”

  Linc drove them back to the smoldering cabin and Brady climbed out, wincing at the sight of the blackened shell. “So much for returning it the same way I found it,” he muttered.

  Firefighters continued to monitor the area, making sure the fire was truly out. He flashed his badge and his brothers did the same.

  Allowed access to the area, Brady led Emily to his truck. She reached for the passenger door handle, but he laid his hand on top of hers to stop her. “Let me have a look first.” His hand lingered a second longer than he’d intended, triggering the thought that he liked her. A lot.

  You don’t know her. Keep her safe and move on. Just like you should have done with Krystal. It was a good plan. He just hoped he stuck to it.

  The side of the truck facing the cabin had been scorched but, other than that, looked like it had survived relatively unharmed. “My dive gear.”

  He moved quickly t
o the storage box that ran the width of the truck behind the window and spun the combination lock. Inside, he found his gear untouched and apparently unharmed. Relief pounded him and he was grateful he’d put it back into the box once he’d finished diving instead of leaving it in the cabin bedroom. But it was habit. Always be prepared for a call no matter what. Thankfully, that had paid off tonight.

  Further inspection showed the contents of his glove compartment had been scattered over the front seat. Using the hem of his shirt, he opened the door.

  Linc stepped up beside him. “They searched your truck.”

  “Just the glove compartment.”

  “Looking for your address,” Linc said.

  “No doubt.”

  “They find it?”

  “I don’t know. Registration card is still here, but they could have snapped a picture of it.” He raked a hand through his hair. “The fact that they left everything out on the seat means they don’t care if I know they now know where I live.”

  “Not just you, but Ruthie and me too,” Derek said.

  “And considering these guys like to play with explosives, I’m not real comfortable with that,” Linc said.

  “I’m going to put Ruthie on notice that she’s not to go home until we have coverage on the house,” Derek said. “I’ll arrange that too.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Emily said. “This is my fault you all got dragged into this.”

  Brady turned to find Emily with tears swimming in her eyes, deepening them into a shade of purple he couldn’t quite name. “Aw, Emily. Don’t.” He pulled her into a loose hug. She stiffened and he almost lowered his arms. After all, they’d just met a few hours ago. It felt like longer than that. Then she wilted and dropped her head to his shoulder. “It’s going to be okay,” he said. “Don’t forget that the guy shot at me. I have a bit of a personal stake in this as well.”

  “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

  “Maybe a little, but I still mean it.”

  A tiny laugh escaped her. At least he thought it was a laugh. Whatever it was, it seemed to lighten her burden slightly. He’d take it. He caught Linc watching and the speculative, albeit slightly worried, look in his brother’s eyes had him giving a mental grimace. He rolled his eyes and Linc simply raised a brow.

  Emily stepped back and swiped the tears. Then lifted her chin, narrowed her eyes, and gave a sharp nod. “All right, if these guys want to play dirty, then that’s what we’ll do. Tell me what I can do to help.”

  The change that swept over her made him blink. The helpless victim was gone. A woman with focus in her gaze and determination in her stance now faced him.

  “Um . . . okay. What just happened? It’s like you went through some weird mutant transformation. What do you know about fighting dirty anyway?”

  She let out a short, humorless laugh. “As a teen, I lived on the streets for a year and managed to survive. Part of that survival involved fighting dirty. The other part was pushing down emotions that aren’t productive for survival, because being perceived as weak can have really bad consequences. Fighting these guys is going to require much of the same skill set, I would suspect.”

  Brady’s jaw dropped a fraction and Derek stared while Linc’s brows rose. Then his brothers turned their gazes to him.

  Brady cleared his throat. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to keep you safe and you won’t have to do much of the fighting. Now, stand back while I check for anything that might go boom.” When he found nothing that concerned him, he helped her into the front of his truck and handed her the keys. “Start it up and get the heat going if you want to.”

  He shut the door, heard the engine growl to life, and turned back to Linc and Derek. “Okay, that was interesting, and I have even more questions that I want to ask her.”

  “Be careful,” Derek said, “you might not like the answers.”

  “I’m a big boy, I can handle it,” he said. A glance at Emily’s firm jaw and narrowed eyes had him amending that. “Maybe. That being said, I still want you on my side and at my back. I want y’all on this investigation with me.”

  Linc hesitated. “Not that I’m not willing, but you guys and the Columbia police department are more than capable of handling this without FBI input. The kidnapping took place in Sicily, so that’s where the investigation is going to start. Since you know so many of the cops over there, you shouldn’t have any trouble working it.”

  “I do know the cops in Sicily,” Brady said. “They’re not going to mind if I butt in.”

  “Nope. But they will think you’re crazy,” Derek said. “Every detective on the force is overworked.”

  “I know, but this is something I have to do.”

  “Then they’ll probably hand the case to you on a silver platter,” Linc said. “I’d check with your captain, though.”

  “Of course.”

  Derek shrugged. “I’ll do what I can to help. OCN is busier than ever and it took a lot of negotiating to get the next few days off so we could come babysit you.”

  “Babysit me?” He laughed. “Seriously? So, that’s what you guys were doing so close to the cabin and how you got there so fast?”

  “Guilty,” Linc said. “But, I have to admit, I was looking forward to it.”

  “Yeah, me too.” Derek sighed. “But now we’ve got an attempted murder to figure out.”

  “If you count arson,” Brady said, “it’s essentially another attempted murder.”

  Linc nodded. “And Emily’s kidnapping. As soon as I hear something back on the security footage, I’ll pass it on to the locals and they can take it from there.”

  “Right. Keep telling yourself that.”

  Derek laughed and Linc scowled. Brady sobered. “It’s about to get busy, boys,” he said. “But first order of business is to get me a phone. Mine is fried to a crisp.”

  “I need one too,” Emily said.

  He looked over to find she’d rolled the window down. “We’ll get you one,” he said.

  “I’m afraid I don’t have any money or anything on me. Most of my belongings were in my purse when I was snatched.”

  “We’ll take care of everything,” Brady said and headed for the driver’s door. “Ready when y’all are.”

  Emily rode in the passenger seat of Brady’s truck while Derek and Linc followed. The events of the last few weeks blipped across the screen of her mind. It had all started with seeing Jeremy Hightower walk into the bank and into her boss’s office. Pure rage and a white-hot hate had nearly taken her to her knees. The emotions had shocked her, as she’d thought she’d come so far in putting him out of her mind—her life. Guess not.

  “What are you thinking about?”

  She jerked at Brady’s question then cleared her throat. “A lot of stuff. Why?”

  “You looked really intense.”

  “I was just thinking how life can be so fickle. That just when you think you have it mostly figured out, it throws you a curve ball that takes you by surprise and before you can react, you get slammed right between the eyes. Or taken down at the knees. Either way, it’s not good.”

  “I was right. That’s intense. Is that what the kidnapping did to you?”

  “No, that happened a couple of weeks before the kidnapping.”

  He slid her a sideways glance. “You’ve had a rough time of it lately, sounds like.”

  “I’ll admit I’ve had better weeks.” She tugged on the sleeves of the too-large sweatshirt and let the cuffs cover her fingertips. Then stopped and pushed them back to her wrists. She would not revert to behavior she’d overcome years ago.

  “So, what happened before the kidnapping?”

  “I saw someone I haven’t seen in a long time.”

  “And?”

  “I didn’t know he was back in town and it was a shock to see him. Especially walking into my bank.”

  “A shock, huh?”

  “Yes.” She frowned. “Why?”

  “You didn’t say ‘surpri
se.’ In this instance, shock has bad connotations here. So, I’m deducing that he hurt you once upon a time.”

  Emily sucked in a breath. “That’s just scary.”

  “It’s my job. Sometimes I’m wrong, but not often.”

  “Well, don’t do that anymore, it’s creepy.”

  “Does he have something to do with those scars on your arms?”

  She fell silent. Then rubbed her forehead. “Yes,” she finally said.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Me, too.” She sighed and gave a small shrug. “It was years ago. I’ve done a lot of healing since then.” And a lot of helping other teens just like the one she’d once been. She’d told her story many times over in an attempt to encourage others that they, too, could overcome whatever bad stuff life handed them. But for some reason, she didn’t want to tell Brady.

  He glanced at her. “I’m glad.”

  She shot him a faint smile. “Thanks.”

  “How are your wrists?”

  “They sting, but they’re fine. How’s your knee?”

  “Sore, but at least it’s my left one and I can drive.”

  “This is some pretty stilted conversation. What is it that you really want to ask me?”

  He raised a brow. “You’re kind of good at reading between the lines yourself, aren’t you?”

  “Call it survival instinct.”

  “I want to hear about that later.” Fingers tapping the wheel, he pursed his lips and shook his head. “For now, tell me what happened the day your past walked into your bank.”

  “You’re not going to let that go, are you?”

  “Not if it will help us figure out if it had something to do with you—and me—almost getting killed.”

  She groaned. Did she even want to get into it? Then again, her past walking into her bank—as Brady put it—was the reason she’d found the whole suspicious money trail in the first place. “His name is Jeremy Hightower. I went to high school with him. Basically he was a jerk to the nth degree and I never wanted to have anything to do with him ever again. And didn’t think I’d have to when I heard he went to college out west.”

  “Ouch. High school bully?”

  “To put it mildly. Anyway, when he came into the bank, he had a meeting with my boss, Calvin Swift. He went straight to Calvin’s office, so he didn’t see me cowering in the corner.”