Christmas Witness Protection (Protected Identities Book 1)

by Maggie K. Black

  Why was Holly thinking about them now?

  She opened her eyes, but all she could see was cold and snowy gray, so she closed them again. Somehow, for now, keeping them closed was easier on her head.

  “Does this mean we can talk seriously about Caleb and selling the gym?” Anne asked.

  Who was Caleb? And what gym?

  “Look, I’m not going to promise anything,” Noah said, “at all. Except that we can talk. Okay?”

  “Deal,” Anne said, and it was like Holly could hear an invisible handshake in her voice. “But we are going to talk.”

  “Heard that,” Noah said, and Holly had the distinct impression that whoever Caleb was and whatever the gym situation was about, it was a conversation Noah didn’t much want to have. “What can I do to help Holly until I get there?”

  “Drive safely,” Anne said. “As slowly and carefully as you can. Talk to her, keep her calm and assure her everything’s going to be okay. How far out are you?”

  “Half an hour,” Noah said. “Not even. Maybe twenty minutes.”

  “I’ll have Lizzy’s room ready for her,” Anne said. “She just turned four and thankfully is already in a full-size bed. Plus Lizzy will be thrilled to have a sleep over in my room.”

  “We’re not going to be staying that long,” Noah said. “Just long enough for you to look at her. Then we’re going to meet the rest of the team at the safe house.”

  There was a pause. “But we are going to talk about Caleb,” Anne said.

  “Yeah, we’ll talk.”

  A few awkward pleasantries later and the call ended. Then Noah phoned first Liam and then Mack and Jess and informed them he was taking a detour but would meet up with them later in the Brampton safe house. Apparently, the Imposters had gone dark and panic was starting to spread through the RCMP ranks about the upcoming auction of the stolen witness protection files. Those calls ended, too, and a cold, uncomfortable silence spread between them, punctuated only by the rattle of a now loose fender, the purr of the engine and the squeak of the tires on the snowy ground.

  Help me, Lord. I’ve never felt so useless. I hate everything about this. Hundreds of people’s lives are in danger. Their lives are about to be auctioned off to criminals intent on hurting them. And there’s nothing I can do to stop it.

  Desperation filled Holly’s core. It was like she’d fallen down a deep dark hole with no light and no way out. What if she never remembered the Imposters’ faces?

  “So, we’re going to Dr. Anne Reed’s house,” Noah said finally, after a long silence. “It’s just outside Keswick. It’s a small and really beautiful little community the southern edge of Lake Simcoe. She lives in this tiny farmhouse in the middle of nowhere about a ten minutes’ drive from town.”

  Holly wasn’t sure if Noah knew she was listening, if he was following Anne’s advice or if he just wanted to break the silence. But there was something comforting about his voice and she held on to the sound like a lifeline.

  “Really remote place,” he added. “As Seth mentioned back at the loft, once they stop chasing red herrings and figure out you’re with me they’ll start digging into my entire life. But for now, the estranged wife of my former foster brother isn’t anywhere near the top of their hit list. Especially if they haven’t identified me yet. Plus, as Seth mentioned, he has a trace running on her so if anything shady pops up he’ll let us know, especially once I let him know that’s where we’re headed.”

  Yeah, she remembered that.

  “The place has got terrific lines of sight,” he added. “And the Imposters have always been big on disguises and stealth, so it’s not like the two of them are likely to storm a farmhouse. It’s not their style. We’ll be a lot safer with her than heading to a hospital. Anne can check you out and give her advice, you can rest, we can regroup and then head to the safe house to meet up with the rest of the team.”

  She tried to nod, but nodding hurt, so instead she murmured something she hoped sounded vaguely affirmative. But she couldn’t tell if he could he could hear her over the sound of the truck.

  “So, Anne is like a sister to me,” he said, after a long moment. “Her kids, Drew and Lizzy, actually call me Uncle Nah, which is short for Uncle No-Nah, because of their dad, Caleb. But she and I aren’t related in any way that leaves a paper trail. At least not the kind that anyone who doesn’t know me really well would think to look for.”

  He had no idea how much just the simple sound of his voice mattered to her, to hear something beyond her own panicked thoughts rattling around inside her skull. He likely had no idea she was listening. But there was this quality to his voice. It was very solid and very strong, and something she could hold on to. It was something she could use to get out of this hole.

  “Okay, I’m telling this all wrong,” Noah said, after another long moment. “I grew up in Alberta. I’m technically an only child—like you, according to your file. But my parents had been fostering children before I was born. They’d come and live in our home for days, weeks, months, sometimes even years. It all depended on the situation. In one way I’m an only child, but in another I had twenty-two temporary brothers and sisters, growing up.”

  And she’d had a pretty stable family but moved nineteen times. So it was totally different, and on some level she could relate to the idea of constant change. He paused for a long moment and she found herself missing the sound of his voice.

  “Caleb moved in when I was twelve and lived with us until he was nineteen,” Noah finally continued. “He was two years older than me, but in a way it was like he was a younger brother. He had a lot of problems with impulse control.”

  Okay, and where was Caleb now? She could only guess, from the fact that Noah hadn’t said anything about seeing him, that he no longer lived with Anne.

  “Now, I have no clue what Anne ever saw in him,” he said, “or why she’s taken him back so very many times. But I always got the impression her home life was really rough. Her father was a real piece of work and for all his other problems Caleb wouldn’t even swing at a fly. Anyway, she and Caleb started dating when he was sixteen and she was seventeen. Then they discovered she was pregnant. Eighteen, brilliant, straight-A student, full scholarship to medical school, and pregnant by my high school dropout brother, who’d already been caught twice for shoplifting.” He laughed. “I didn’t get it. I never have with those two.”

  “Maybe it’s love,” Holly said. Like her mom and dad. The kind of reckless love people lost themselves in. The kind she’d never let herself succumb to.

  Even though she’d felt the words slip from her lips, she wasn’t sure she’d spoken them out loud until she felt Noah brush his hand across her arm and heard the joy in his voice. “You’re awake!”

  She tried to nod, then winced.

  “Yeah,” she said. “Somewhat.”

  “You should’ve told me you had a brain injury,” he said.

  “Potential, mild injury,” she corrected. But he wasn’t wrong, and she would’ve if she’d known how badly it was going to hit her. “But I thought I could push through and handle it.”

  And she had, to an extent, right up until she’d dropped his gun.

  There was a longer pause, and she opened her eyes. The sky was pale gray outside, as bright as she imagined the winter’s day was going to get. Fields and trees spread in every direction, the emptiness and long expanses of white the exact opposite of the world they’d left behind. Noah was staring straight ahead, out the windshield, with his hands on the steering wheel at exactly ten and two.

  “I’m really sorry about your gun.” She winced. “I still can’t believe I did that. And that I didn’t tell you.”

  “It’s okay,” Noah said. “You’re dealing with something. Consider it over.”

  Yeah, okay, but that she was dealing with something didn’t change the fact that she wished she’d handled it
differently. Worry creased the rugged lines of Noah’s face. She wondered if it was about her, the auction or the story about his family. She imagined it was all the above.

  “What happened to Anne and Caleb?” she asked. “Are they still together?”

  He hesitated. She watched as his lips parted, hung open a moment and then closed again. Maybe he’d just been using the fact that she was there as an excuse to talk to himself.

  “Long story,” he said eventually, without answering her question at all. “How’s your head?”

  “It’s sore,” she admitted. “But it feels a lot better than when I was trying to lean backward out of a truck into flashing lights and sirens. Roller coasters are going to be a breeze after this.”

  “Well, you’ll see Anne soon enough,” he said, “and she’ll be able to give us a better idea of what’s going on with your head.”

  Holly nodded, so did he, and for a long moment she watched as snow-covered fields and trees streamed past them.

  “You should’ve told me,” he repeated eventually. “You really should have.”

  “I know,” she said.

  Of course, if she’d known how bad it was going to be, she would have. She was a soldier, and yeah, she was stubborn, but she wasn’t an idiot. In fact, she had tried to tell him earlier, in the loft, when she’d started admitting she couldn’t remember the Imposters’ faces—right before he’d made her feel like he wasn’t taking her seriously, and she’d accused him of coddling her. And then any thought of telling him about her injury had gone right out the window—and so had she, literally—in some strong-willed drive to show him she was strong. And why? Because she was trying to prove to herself she didn’t have a concussion? Because the fact that she’d fit so comfortably into his arms made her feel vulnerable and strange?

  “I think falling in love makes people do stupid and foolish things,” she said, “and I’ve never believed in love at first sight. My parents fell head over heels for each other when they met, and were engaged within days. Now they’re separated. They split up within days of my entering basic training.”

  Noah turned and gaped at her. “Where did that come from?”

  She wasn’t quite sure. Maybe the concussion was impacting her inner filter. Or the fact that Seth had applied for a fake wedding license in her name had reminded her of them.

  “You were talking about Caleb and Anne,” she said. “You told me they’d fallen in love as teenagers, had two kids together, but from the way you were talking it sounds like they’re not together now. Reminded me of my parents. They’re technically not divorced, but not together, either.”

  “Huh,” he said. Again, it wasn’t an answer. A smattering of buildings came into view. There were small independent stores, a mill of some sort and scattered farms, with fields in between. “I don’t know if Caleb and Anne still consider themselves together. I’m guessing she does and he doesn’t, but I don’t really know. They got married when Drew was a baby. Her parents disowned her, but she had some money her grandparents had left her in savings bonds and was able to use the money to keep them afloat while she went through university. They moved to Ontario and she became a doctor. Drew is almost eighteen now and Lizzy is four. Caleb is currently a long-haul truck driver and away for weeks and months at a time. I don’t think you’ll meet him.”

  And while she suspected that was all Noah was going to say for now, something in his tone made her think of the way the sky rumbles before a storm.

  His phone buzzed with a text. Noah glanced at the screen and let out a sigh so pained it was like she could feel it move through her.

  “That was Liam,” he said. “The Brampton safe house has been compromised. He and Seth are now on the run.”

  SEVEN

  On the run? But if they couldn’t go to the safe house, where could they go?

  “How was it compromised?” she asked. “And where are we going to meet up with everyone now?”

  “I don’t know,” Noah said. He shook his head. “They’re scrambling to find somewhere else. He sent me a quick text. Hopefully, he’ll be able to get someplace safe and call me back soon.”

  “But how did the Imposters know where Liam and Seth were heading?” she pressed.

  Noah shrugged. “It’s possible Snitch5751 supplied them with locations of Toronto-area safe houses. Or it was in the information they stole from Elias’s devices.”

  Suspicion brushed her spine. “Or somebody told them. How much do you trust Mack, Jess and Liam? Is it possible one of them is Snitch5751? Or compromised?”

  Something flickered in Noah’s eyes, a hesitation, like there was something he still hadn’t told her. Then the look hardened to resolve. “No, I know them and trust them with my life. Someone in law enforcement may have helped the Imposters, but not one of them. Not Seth, either.”

  But how could he be so sure? Questions rattled in her mind, even as Noah started to slow the vehicle to turn and put on his indicator light. She looked up at the farmhouse. It sat alone, high up on a small hill, with what looked like excellent lines of sight in all directions. The house was three stories high, with peeling white paint and a green roof that seemed to be missing a few shingles. A trio of snowmen in mismatched scarves and hats, with crooked pebble smiles, greeted them with outstretched stick arms.

  Noah parked the truck, then walked around and opened her door. He didn’t offer her his arm, not explicitly, but as she slid from the truck and her boots hit the snow, she found herself reaching for it. He let her take it and she felt the strength of his muscles under her hand. He reached past her and closed the truck door.

  “Okay,” he said. “Let’s do this.”

  They walked together across the snowy ground. The front door opened before they reached the porch. A woman stood on the doorstep, tall and willowy, in blue jeans and a voluminous white sweater with the sleeves pushed up past her elbows. Her pale blond hair was tied back in a bun. And if Holly hadn’t heard her story, and so knew she was in her mid-to late-thirties, she would’ve imagined her to be a lot younger.

  Anne’s hands snapped to her hips as her gaze ran over Noah, with a look that seemed very sisterly, and a concerned one at that. Then her attention flittered to Holly’s grasp on Noah’s arm.

  “I’m Anne. You must be Holly.” She gestured in welcome. “Come on in.”

  “Thank you.” Holly detangled herself from Noah’s arm and followed her into the house. A large living room lay to her left, filled with a huge, real Christmas tree bedecked with homemade ornaments. Ahead of her, a wide wooden staircase led up to the second floor. She caught a glimpse of a young man at the top who she guessed was Drew. He was as willowy and thin as his mother, with a mop of jet-black hair. A small girl with blond curls peeked out from around his knees, likely Lizzy. Noah waved. The little girl waved back. The youth bent and whispered something in her ear, then took her by the hand and gently led her out of sight.

  “I’ve asked them to give us some privacy while I got Holly settled,” Anne told Noah, “and promised them their Uncle Nah would be up to say hi as soon as I made sure his friend was okay.” Then she turned to Holly. “You can lie down in the den for now. I’ll join you in a sec. I just want to talk to Noah for a moment.”

  She gestured to a door to her right, and Holly glanced through. Tall shelves of obviously well-read books lined the walls. A brightly colored quilt draped across the battered leather couch.

  “You need a hand?” Noah asked.

  “No, it’s okay. I’ve got it.” Holly shrugged her coat off into Noah’s waiting hands. But as she leaned down to untie her boots, she felt her head begin to swim.

  “Everything okay?” he asked, when she straightened again.

  “Actually, bending down like that was making me dizzy...”

  “Here, let me.” He sank to one knee and untied the laces of her boots. She looked down at him. His hair
was wet and tousled from the snow. His face was flushed. And as his gray eyes glanced up at her face, an inescapable thought made her heart skip a beat.

  She was attracted to him. Very much so, judging by the odd fluttering in her chest.

  No, it had to be the combination of adrenaline and the knock to her head. She’d never been one to have crushes on guys, and this was the worst possible time and place for such a thing. The idea of starting up a romantic relationship with Noah was laughable. It was inappropriate for starters, considering he was a witness protection officer and she was a witness. It could be weeks before she’d be out of witness protection and then, as soon as testifying at the inquiry was done, she’d be deploying back overseas. There was no way she’d give up her career to stay in Canada and be with a man. And no way she’d ever ask him to give up his career to follow her.

  And yet, from the strength of character shown in how he’d dealt with everything today, to the curve of his mouth as he smiled, there was something about him that everything inside her was ridiculously drawn to. And when his fingertips brushed her calves as he helped her out of her boots, there was no denying the shiver that ran across her skin.

  Help me, Lord. I’m losing my mind.

  “Thank you,” she said, without meeting his eye.

  She walked into the study, feeling Noah’s gaze follow her like a sunbeam on her back. She let the door swing shut, lay down on the couch and pulled the blanket over her. She closed her eyes.