“I didn’t let her do anything!” Noah said. “I couldn’t stop that woman from ‘exerting herself’ if I tried!”
“You should have—”
“She climbed out a window onto a ledge three stories off the ground, in a snowstorm!” he retorted, exasperation mixing with something like awe in his voice. For a second his words seemed to hang in the air. Then he laughed, as if he’d suddenly heard what he was saying. “And then, like that wasn’t enough, she insisted she could climb up a wall onto a roof without my help. She’s...she’s impossible.”
“Sounds like she’s good for you,” Anne said. “Someone falls into your life who stubbornly won’t let you save her?”
“I don’t see how that’s good for me!” Noah’s voice rose.
Then their voices dropped again, just low enough that she could hear them talking, but couldn’t make any words out clearly.
Who did Noah think he was, to call her impossible? He had absolutely no idea who she was, what she’d been through or what she was capable of. And he never would.
“When are we going to talk about Caleb?” Anne’s voice floated back in range. “I have a potential buyer for the gym.”
“And I’ve told you I’m not going to sell it.” Noah’s voice was back, too. “We’ll figure something else out. I promise. Just not that.” Rock-and-roll music played. Noah’s phone was ringing. “One second, I have to check in with my team. Then as soon as they confirm the details, we’ll get back on the road.”
“You’re not taking her anywhere!” Anne’s voice rose.
“With all due respect, you don’t understand—” Noah started.
“I’m a doctor, and she’s my patient,” Anne cut him off. “So make yourself comfortable.”
“I’m telling you right now, she won’t agree to rest,” Noah said.
Anne didn’t even answer. Instead, she pushed through the door into the study. Holly sat up.
“How are you feeling?” Anne asked.
“Impossible, apparently,” she answered. “And don’t worry, I’m not about to run off into some hail of bullets just to spite him.”
“But you’re tempted to?” Something twinkled in Anne’s eyes.
“Just a little,” Holly admitted.
Anne chuckled, then grabbed a chair, pulled it over and sat. “Noah is the most stubborn man I know. Especially when he’s trying to solve everyone else’s problems instead of focusing on his own. But his heart is always in the right place. Now, let’s check you out.”
She ran smoothly and professionally through a series of tests, from checking Holly’s eyes to some simple coordination and word games. Even before she gave her verdict Holly could tell she was sluggish. It was like she’d been running on adrenaline and fear, and now that it was done she could feel her body wanting to shut down. Resignation swept over her, reminding her of the looks she’d seen in injured soldiers the moment they gave up fighting to survive, and realized it was time to switch to the hard work of getting better. “Let me guess. I’ve got a concussion.”
“Certainly looks that way,” Anne said.
Holly lay back against the pillow. Well, God, now what?
“Thankfully, it seems to be pretty minor,” Anne stated. “Your pupils are the same size and you’ve got no major lag in response time. Your verbal response time is slow, but your language skills are still coherent. You just need rest. I’m going to suggest you spend three days here, resting completely for the first twenty-four hours, and then if you’re up to it you can move to a new safe house.”
“But you have kids!” Holly sat up. “I’m a witness in a federal parliamentary inquiry. Plus, I have criminals after me.”
“It’s okay.” Anne gently pushed her back against the couch. “This isn’t my first rodeo.” There was an edge to her voice, strong like tempered steel, that reminded Holly of what Noah had said about Anne’s childhood. “I’m not in the habit of throwing people who need help to the wolves. Noah will sit up and keep guard at night. And while this house may be old, it has a state-of-the-art security system, reinforced locks on all the doors and windows, and a passage from the cold cellar that leads to the barn out back. Lizzy will sleep in my room and go to work with me during the day. She won’t leave my sight. Drew is almost eighteen and better in a crisis than most adults I know. Plus, he’s a crack shot with a gun, as am I, if it comes to that. But it won’t. Because nothing Noah’s told me about the people after you leads us to think they’re about to storm a farmhouse.”
“True,” Holly admitted. “But they might set fire to Drew’s school or your practice and show up dressed as firefighters.”
“Okay,” Anne said. “When you know your enemy, you can prepare against that.”
That was very true. Again, Holly wondered what kind of enemies Anne had faced in her life. Considering the type of cyber terrorists the Imposters were, and with the amount of time and energy it would take to process the data they’d stolen from Elias and prepare it for the online auction on Christmas Eve, it was more likely they’d wait and watch, like trappers, for Holly to reemerge.
“Okay,” she said, “but at the first sign of trouble, we’re going to leave. No argument.”
“Or I’ll take the kids and go,” Anne said. “Either way, we’ll wait and see. I’ll watch you carefully over the next couple of days for signs of any major complications. If something worsens, I’m going to insist on taking you to the hospital. But for now, I’m prescribing twenty-four hours of strict bed rest, followed by another forty-eight of easing you back into normal life.”
Right. It felt like the entire world was on fire. Prosecutors had to be questioning where their star witness had gone. RCMP had to have started letting hundreds of witnesses know their new identities were about to be auctioned off, giving them days to pack up and run. And here Holly was going to be lying around in the dark, not helping, not fighting and doing absolutely nothing. She was vaguely aware of Anne saying something comforting and leaving the room. But the frustration that burned inside her was so strong she could barely hear her.
What’s happening to my life, Lord? I did everything right. I served my country honorably. I stepped up to testify against General Bertie. Why is this happening to me?
She lay back on the couch, feeling her hands ball into fists. There was a soft rap on the door. She looked up as Noah leaned through the doorway. “Can I come in?”
“Sure.” She shifted to make room for him. “I’m really sorry about all this.”
“I know,” he said. “And you can stop apologizing at any time. I mean, it’s no fun for me to stay annoyed at someone who’s this miserable.”
Despite herself, a laugh slipped from her lips. He sat down beside her on the couch. It sagged as his weight shifted the pillow, and she found her shoulder bumping against his.
“I’m sorry,” she said again.
“It’s fine.” He raised his arm and stretched it across the top of the couch, making more room for her. “I don’t mind if you lean against me. Just stretch in whatever way you need to be comfortable. Believe me, I’ve been crammed into smaller spaces with Liam and Mack than this.”
Yeah, but this man had no idea she was attracted to him.
“Either that or I sit on the floor,” Noah offered.
“No, it’s cool, thank you,” she said quickly. She shifted her position again and felt the strength of his forearm against her shoulder. It was strong, solid and soft all at once. The smell of him filled her senses. It was a warm and outdoorsy smell, like cocoa at night by a bonfire.
“I’m sure you’ve fought way harder battles than this before,” he said.
“Than lying around in the dark doing nothing?”
“Than overcoming and fighting your own instincts,” he said. “Believe me, I know that sometimes the hardest thing is doing nothing.”
She wanted to ask him
what he’d meant by that. Instead she said, “Status update?”
“Lizzy said you’re pretty and asked me if I’m going to marry you,” Noah said. She felt a flush rushing to her cheeks. “Also, nobody made it to the safe house.”
He shifted and somehow his arm seemed to move even closer. It was way more distracting than it had any right to be. “When Liam and Seth got there, three police cars were parked outside and cops were searching the place. Apparently someone reported it as a drug operation.”
“How did they know which safe house you’d be trying to take me to?”
“They didn’t,” Noah said. “Apparently various threats were called in at various locations to local police in the area. Anywhere within an hour’s drive of Toronto. We’re talking fires, break-ins, children in danger, medical emergencies—dozens of false alarms. Authorities across the province are scrambling, trying to figure out who’s placing so many nuisance calls. It’s the biggest single waste of law enforcement time in provincial history.”
“It’s smart,” Holly said, “using law enforcement to try and flush us out. And since there’s no way to know where the Imposters are, it keeps me from going to get help.”
“It gets better, or worse, depending on your perspective,” Noah said. “Jess had the bright idea of checking herself into the hospital, considering she’s already wearing your jacket, and so anyone following her might think she’s you. Mack took her to an emergency room in Mississauga, still in that wig Seth gave her, and checked her in under ‘Hildy Ashes.’ Within ten minutes a nurse came over and offered to take her to a private room. According to Seth, our hacker friend the Wraith had planted an emergency alert in the computer system of every hospital in southern Ontario reporting that someone with a name similar to yours has a very contagious disease and would need to be quarantined. Needless to say they got out of there.”
“Wow,” Holly said.
“You sound almost impressed.”
“I just appreciate the Imposters’ tactics,” she said. “There are only two of them. Two! One that’s the tech genius and one that’s the heavy. It’s incredibly difficult for two people to take on something huge, especially while staying hidden, and hiring mercenaries to do your dirty work for you is risky.” She thought back to the three criminals someone had hired to threaten her out of testifying against General Bertie, subsequently driving her into witness protection. “So, they resort to guerrilla tactics and urban terrorism. Police aren’t equipped to handle it.”
“Well, it’s pushing us to accelerate our countertactics and proceed without debriefing,” Noah said. “Liam’s taking Seth to a new location now. Not a witness protection safe house, mind you, but somewhere only Seth knows. Then he’s going to start pulling on threads within the police to see what he can find. Jess is preparing to go back into work tomorrow morning, and Mack’s already gone underground to see what he can sniff out through criminal sources.”
Yeah, she’d heard all that back at the loft, but now that her head felt clearer it made even less sense. “But what about the cases they’re assigned to? What about their regular work?” She blinked as something Elias had said suddenly twigged at the back of her brain. “Hang on, I think before he died Elias said you weren’t even cleared to work.”
Was that true? It couldn’t be! How could she possibly forget something like that, even temporarily? Yet, as she watched, Noah sighed and pulled his arm away.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” he murmured. “Something I should’ve told you a few hours ago.”
No. She shook her head. No, he wouldn’t have kept anything important like that from her. She’d trusted him. She’d let him bring her here.
“Elias was right,” she said. “You are on leave. I apologized to you, like, six times for not telling you about the concussion, and you kept that from me?”
“I’m not on leave—” Noah started.
She cut him off. “Then what did he mean—”
“It’s complicated—”
“Not good enough!” She heard her voice rise. “You asked me to trust you with my life.”
“I was offered a really big promotion a week ago,” Noah said. “A desk job in Ottawa coordinating a team of officers and protecting very high level federal witnesses. But it required a higher level of security clearance than I currently have. And I don’t want to apply for that right now because it means the feds go poking around, doing a deep dive into your life, looking for any potential vulnerabilities. So my boss suggested I use up the month of holiday time I’ve been banking to think it through.”
She blinked. “So, you’re on vacation?”
“Yup.” A wry smile battled the frustration in his eyes. “This is how I’m spending my Christmas vacation. Everyone I pulled together to help me is off active duty for one reason or another. Liam was beaten into a coma last summer when his cover was blown and he’s still on medical leave until March. Mack was suspended for six months for some personal reason he hasn’t told me the details of. And Jess was given the choice of a six-week suspension or human resources training following something that happened to her in the past. She’d taken the suspension, but now she’s going back in tomorrow and biting the bullet, in order to be our ears and eyes on the inside. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you all this earlier, but I didn’t know how you’d react, and things have kind of been crazy ever since you and I met.”
Yeah, she could agree with that. She sat back on the couch and looked at him for a long moment. “So, you assembled a team of rogue RCMP agents to take down a pair of urban terrorists, root out a snitch in law enforcement and stop criminals from buying hundreds of witness protection identities.”
“I did.” He crossed his arms and something fierce flashed like fire in his eyes. “I also have a former criminal hacker on my team. And hopefully, a military corporal who, unless she turns herself in at an RCMP station fairly soon, people are going to assume is either dead or has walked away from witness protection.”
Now he told her. She eyed him thoughtfully.
He was every bit as stubborn, strong-willed and crazy as she was.
“So you’re saying that if I don’t report in to RCMP witness protection and get assigned to a new officer, they’re just going to think I ditched police protection?” she clarified.
“Yeah,” he said. “Happens all the time. People just disappear from the witness protection system. Thanks to Seth’s fake trail of bread crumbs, they’ll think you ran off to elope with a Mr. Smith, rent an apartment in Vancouver and travel to England.”
Was he trying to be funny?
“You should’ve told me all this before,” she said.
His chin rose. “I know.”
Then she reached for his hand. His arms unfolded and he enveloped her palm in his.
“I’m in,” she said. “Just don’t ever sideline me or keep anything from me ever again.”
“Deal.” He shook her hand, then released it. “And there’s one more major piece of the puzzle Seth’s looking into. He thinks Snitch5751 is also the person who hired those three criminals who attacked you and drove you into witness protection.”
* * *
He watched as her eyes widened. Fear washed over her features and both her hands began to shake. He reached out, but she didn’t let him take them. “You’re saying those three men who attacked me were hired by the same guy who gave the Imposters the information they needed to kill Elias and steal the witness protection files?”
“That’s Seth’s working theory,” Noah said. “He might not be right.”
“Every single life that’s being threatened by this auction has been because of me!” Her voice rose. “Every vulnerable witness whose secret identity is now on the chopping block to the highest bidder is because I agreed to testify against General Bertie about some missing weapons on the other side of the world.”
She was s
haking so hard now she was shivering. And Noah wanted more than anything to wrap his arms around her and tell her no, it wasn’t possible, no, it couldn’t be true.
“Maybe!” he said. “I don’t know. It’s what Seth thinks happened.”
He stretched his hands out, palms up, willing her to take them. She slowly complied, sliding her hands into his. He wrapped his fingers around hers, and they held each other like survivors ready to pull one another up a cliff.
“Maybe Snitch5751 is more than one person,” he suggested. “Maybe he hoped those men would kill you, and when that didn’t work he used the Imposters to come after you in exchange for the files. Maybe a different criminal found the first criminal’s signal and used it to mask their identity. We can’t know.” He pulled her in closer, wishing he could hold her against his chest and wrap his arms around her. “But we’ll find out. We’ll stop that auction, we’ll save the witnesses and you’ll testify before the inquiry about Bertie’s crimes. I promise.”
“Okay.” And as her green eyes looked into his, he could tell she believed him. He just prayed he wouldn’t let her down.
Anne knocked on the door just then to let them know Lizzy’s room was ready if Holly wanted to lie down.
And Noah found himself spending the next three days playing with Lizzy, looking over Drew’s film school portfolio’s sketches and designs for special effect movie makeup and creature design, maneuvering his way around the difficult conversations Anne still wanted to have about Caleb, coordinating with his team remotely whenever possible and waiting as Holly rested and healed.
The work and family parts of the equation were fairly simple. Despite their best efforts, Liam and Mack seemed to be hitting nothing but false leads and dead ends. Jess reported that while the RCMP had their best officers on it, none seemed closer to finding the Imposters, and were focusing their energies on warning witnesses as they scrambled to find them new homes and identities on short notice. Seth confirmed that while the Imposters were lying low in the real world, they were busy online promoting their evil and despicable upcoming auction to every lowlife in the dark web world.
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