Both went down to the ground.
All the air whooshed out of her as the man grunted at the impact.
Carly didn’t have time to waste.
The man wasn’t just bigger than her, he had the upper hand. One of those things she couldn’t change, the other she absolutely had to.
In two fluid movements she brought her knees and feet up and kicked up like a jackrabbit against his gut. Then used her hands to go for his face.
Her target was his eyes.
What she got instead was a few seconds of tangled limbs, grunts of struggle on both parts, and pain.
The force of her kick shifted him off of her but not before he pushed her hands away and angered her open wound on her forearm.
If she had had any breath left in her, she would have yelled at how it stung.
Instead she used the shift in the man’s body to roll out from under him.
It was a move not without its consequences.
The man reached out and grabbed her jacket. Carly heard Max yelling out through the phone but all of her focus snapped back to her assailant the moment he used his new hold to start dragging her backward. Mud wet her face and chest. Pain from their first encounter in the basement merged with new pain.
Carly needed to end the fight now or it would be ended for her.
Using the same principle that had gotten her to the ground in the first place, Carly stopped trying to get away from the man and instead created her own momentum to use against him. She rolled back into him, knocking him flat against the ground until she was on top of him.
More pain shot through her as her knuckles hit his jaw.
Knocking him unconscious was her best bet.
Too bad she’d only brought her fists to a gun fight. Her gun had slipped again from her hands when he’d come after her.
Carly threw herself to the side half a second before the man pulled a gun and shot. Her ears rang from the sharp crack cutting the air, but she’d managed to roll out of his aim.
As Carly scrambled to her feet, he pointed the gun at her again.
She didn’t have time to be surprised that he didn’t pull the trigger. He struggled to stand, weapon trained on her.
What had started with close combat had turned into two people six feet apart with a gun between them.
“You know, I—I didn’t want to have to kill a federal agent,” he said, not at all in a cruising calm tone. He sounded frantic, unsure. “But—but I’m not above it, either.”
Carly raised her hands up, trying to make herself seem helpless. Which, given the lack of distance between them and the steady hand he was aiming with, wasn’t too much of a stretch to believe.
“The penalty for shooting an agent is pretty steep. Don’t be foolish now. Who are you?” she couldn’t help but ask. “Because I’m pretty sure you aren’t David Lapp.”
Not only was he at least in his mid-thirties, the man had a shaved head, dark stubble across his face and, if the last half hour had proven anything, he was no stranger to violence. Sure, David had been exiled and was no longer a part of the Amish world, but doing such a hard one-eighty from that pacifist culture didn’t seem to match the, admittedly, limited information they had on him.
The man motioned with the gun to turn around.
Carly’s stomach tightened as she repeated the question and ignored the unspoken command.
“Who are you?”
That feeling of dread strengthened as the man smiled.
Not an ounce of it was good.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
He readjusted his aim to her head.
“I don’t know what trouble you’re in, but you’re making it a hell of a lot worse. You don’t need to do this,” she tried.
“I know but it’s easier than running.” He wagged the gun at her again. “Turn around and get on your knees.”
Carly had been here before. Well not exactly here, but in a situation where her life was a breath away from no longer being her life.
Being killed in the line of duty was always a possibility in what she did. Part of that truth was learning acceptance that a dangerous job could have a violent and unfortunate end.
But in that moment Carly didn’t find even the hint of acceptance in her. There was no defeat, either.
Nope.
She was going to follow directions but try to keep him talking. Long enough for Max to show up. Or whatever backup Aria managed to get—if they could find them here in the forest.
And if she thought stalling wasn’t going to work, she was going to last-ditch effort her way backward into him.
Another tussle on the ground among the mud and blood.
Because Carly wasn’t leaving Potter’s Creak without finding justice for the livelihoods that had been destroyed. The lives that had been taken.
And for whatever had gone on in David Lapp’s basement.
She had a job to do.
Dying in the woods in Amish country wasn’t how she was going to meet her end.
Not if she could help it.
“Where is David Lapp?” she repeated as her knees settled into the ground. “If you’re going to kill me then at least do me the courtesy of telling me that.”
The man laughed, bitterness in the sound.
“I don’t owe you anything, lady.”
Carly didn’t have time to worry that the man wasn’t a talker. That he wasn’t going to take her stall. That Max still wasn’t there.
She also didn’t have time to employ her Hail Mary attempt to disarm him or get away.
Or at least manage to take a bullet but miss a fatal hit.
The moment the last of the word lady left his mouth, a noise so loud and foreign that she didn’t know how to react filled the morning air around her.
Carly put her hands down and whirled around.
Then, promptly, let her jaw fall open in surprise.
The man who had been about to kill her crumpled to the ground.
Next to him was another man.
Holding a shovel, blood now on the metal.
“Noah?”
Noah Miller was still holding his makeshift weapon like a baseball bat and breathing fast. His green eyes were wide and searching.
Searching her.
“Are you okay?” he asked in a rush.
Carly hurried to the fallen gun and scooped it up. She took a few steps back and trained its aim down on her attacker. When he didn’t move a breath, she squatted down to check for a pulse. His body was completely slack, but it was there.
“I’m okay,” she said, back to standing and still ready to shoot if needed.
“Are you sure?” Noah’s tone dipped low. A quiet man until he wanted answers. “You’re bleeding.”
Carly was wet in places from mud, blood and sweat and she couldn’t quite figure out which was which at this point. Plus, there was a pounding and stinging that accompanied several parts of her body.
But, all in all, she felt okay.
Nothing a shower, some soap and a glass of wine couldn’t fix. Hell, maybe even a shot of whiskey. After her jaunt through the woods, she felt like she deserved it.
“I’m good.”
Noah didn’t seem to buy it. He looked so odd with his cowboy hat and weaponized shovel.
But he also looked so good. So, so good.
Whether that was because of his hardened jaw, the unsaid promise that he was willing to fight again if he had to, or the sheer fact that he’d just saved her life, Carly didn’t know.
His look of focus switched gears to a gaze Carly understood.
Now that the danger was over, he wanted answers.
“Who is he?” he asked. “And why are you out here? Someone from your team called my cell, asking if I knew where you could be.”
&
nbsp; Carly was trying to get her breathing back to normal. Her fatigue was starting to catch up with her. She motioned with her head to the direction she’d run from. Though she had no idea if that’s where she’d actually started.
“We went to David Lapp’s house to talk to him. He wasn’t there but we found him.” She looked to the man on the ground. “He attacked me and ran into the woods. Max and I pursued. Aria called for help.” Carly stopped herself. “Wait. Why are you here? And with a shovel?”
Noah lowered his weapon but didn’t put it down.
“I was getting something from my storage shed and saw some blood on the ground. I followed the trail to the tree line and then heard a gunshot.” He nodded to his right. “My property line is about a hundred yards that way.”
The way he said it, the way he looked—eyes wild with worry—touched her. He’d been concerned. About her. Carly couldn’t help but give him a small smile.
“And so you ran toward the gunshot with a shovel?”
Noah shrugged.
“It’s the only thing I had so I made it work.”
She glanced back down at her attacker.
“You certainly did.”
A rustling sound pulled their attention back toward his farm. Carly redirected her gaze. Out of her periphery, she saw Noah raise his shovel again. A few seconds later a woman with gray hair and a shotgun ran into view.
“Don’t shoot!”
Noah dropped the shovel and put his hands out, taking two long strides to get between them.
“Carly, this is Gina. She works for me,” he rushed to say. “Gina, this is Carly. She’s one of the FBI agents.”
The woman, Gina, didn’t immediately lower her weapon.
“I heard a gunshot,” she said, suspicion clear in her voice.
“It was him.” Noah moved so she could see the man on the ground. Then she narrowed her eyes at Carly. “I’m okay, Gina,” Noah added. “Put down the gun.”
This time the woman listened. She didn’t let it go, but she rested it against her leg.
“Federal agent, don’t move!”
Another voice entered the area.
Max emerged, gun aimed.
Now Carly had to step in.
“They’re good, Max! You can lower your weapon.”
Max took a beat to look around, then listened.
Which was good considering Gina seemed ready to shoot them both.
For a moment no one spoke.
Carly took a deep breath and let it out.
It hurt.
She hurt.
But pain wasn’t one of her problems right now.
What they’d found at David Lapp’s house was.
Carly met Noah’s gaze.
“Well, this might not be the time, but before we started a foot chase with this one here I was about to come find you.”
Noah’s brow slid up.
It only highlighted how attractive the man was no matter the emotion he was showing.
“Why?”
“Because we need your help.” Carly let out another breath. “Because I need your help.”
* * *
NOW CARLY WAS back in the basement, absently massaging the bandage over the cut along her arm while drops of water soaked into the back of her shirt. All pain had reverted to a dull throb in the time it took for the local authorities to converge at the back of Noah’s property to secure their alive, but unconscious, runner. EMS had shown up in the woods just as Carly’s patience had petered out, but she’d sat there while they’d washed her cut, bandaged it and suggested she go to the hospital to get herself checked out.
Apparently she hadn’t been a pleasant sight to look at.
Blood, mud and bruises.
Not the best combination to be sporting when you were trying to convince your team that you were fine.
Noah ended up being the only person out there who kept his opinion on what she should and shouldn’t do to himself. Yet, she’d seen how his gaze kept flitting over to her during their wait. Aside from that, he kept his conversation with his staff member, Gina Tuckett, quiet and private. The older woman still had her shotgun against her leg when Carly was okayed to leave.
She tried not to be ungrateful for the care—it wasn’t their fault that the man had given her a good beating—but she had been nothing but anxious as each TCD member had gone back to the Lapp house to dig deeper.
Then it was just her, and she’d had eyes for only Noah.
The team needed his help.
She needed his help. More than the perfunctory aid he’d given so far.
However, before she’d even gotten a word off to try to persuade him, Noah had spoken first.
“What do you need me to do?”
Now he was standing next to her in the Lapp basement, clearly as shocked as the rest of them had been.
A chair was sitting up in the center of the space.
But it wasn’t a normal chair.
Not at all.
This one was metal and bolted to the ground.
If that wasn’t enough to be concerning, the thick blood-covered rope attached to it was.
And that was saying nothing of the dried stain on the concrete beneath the chair.
“What has David been up to?” Noah asked after taking the scene in. “Did he do this or was it done to him?”
Carly shook her head.
“Sadly, you’re as up to speed as I am at the moment. When we first came in to clear the house I was barely a step off the stairs before Broad-Shoulders-and-no-Chill came at me. We’re still trying to identify him.” She motioned for Noah to follow her back to the first floor. “Can you tell me if you recognize or see anything that might have a connection to the community or why David was exiled? Or maybe where he might be?”
If he wasn’t a victim.
“I can look but, again, I didn’t know David even lived here until yesterday.”
Carly passed him an extra pair of latex gloves and together they went to every room in the house. He was gentle the few times he moved or picked something up, much to Carly’s appreciation, but was quiet through his entire search. It gave Carly time to build her own theory.
Something she shared when they met the rest of her team outside by the front steps.
“We are in the uncomfortable position of knowing almost nothing, but I think it’s a good bet to think that David Lapp is either in trouble or up to absolutely no good. My gut says that it’s the former and we need to find him ASAP.” She nodded to Noah. “We’re going to go talk to his family and depending on what they say, follow up with the Zook family, too. Selena, do you think you and Blanca could look around here? See if you can find something we’ve missed?”
“Can do.” Selena thumbed back to the SUV she and Axel had been driving. “Blanca’s asleep in the car right now.”
“Good. Axel, stick to the house and see if you can’t try to build some kind of profile we can use to give us a better idea of who’s been living here and what they might have been doing in the basement. I’ve already talked to Rihanna and she’s going to let us know when she finds out who our Sleeping Beauty is and when he’s ready to be questioned, whichever comes first.”
This was the part that Carly didn’t like about being the agent in charge—the uncertainty of whether or not she was making the right call. Especially given her limited information. But not doing anything could be a lot worse than doing the wrong thing sometimes and, when there was a deadly toxin at play, time was everything. So she trusted her first instinct with her last two team members.
“Until we have evidence, we can’t assume the David Lapp angle, as strange as it is, is connected to the anthrax attacks. So Aria and Max, I need you to stay with our original case and keep looking into where it could be purchased and how it could be transported into the
community without raising suspicion. That might get easier if we get some valuable info back from the labs I sent samples to or the folks at the CDC. But that takes time, and you can pursue other channels. I’ve already talked to Opaline and she’s deep diving on several different angles with Alana’s and Amanda’s help.” Carly took a small breath. The movement hurt the side of her face where she’d been sucker punched by the man twice her size. She didn’t know what stung more, the fact that he’d surprised her or the busted lip he’d also caused. “Everyone good?”
The team nodded in unison, each expression turning to pure focus on their tasks. There were no jokes anymore. No teasing or levity. Carly knew half of that was because of how bad she assumed she looked, while the other half was the image of the chair in the basement.
“Good. Everyone keep their phones on and stay alert.”
They disbanded without another word.
Noah seemed to also be on the same wavelength. He walked ahead to his truck and had the passenger’s-side door open for her before Carly was near it. He didn’t say a word until they were headed down the drive to the main road.
“I don’t want you to take this the wrong way but it might be easier to get the families talking if you...clean up a little.”
Carly would have absolutely taken offense had it been any other situation, but she realized he was right. Her jacket might survive with a good washing and a strategic stitching at the arm but for now it was covered in mud.
Which might not have been all that bad had her face and hair not matched it.
Still, time wasn’t on their side.
“The bed-and-breakfast is on the other side of town. I don’t want to waste valuable time just so I can go wash my face.”
“I was actually going to suggest my place. It’s just down the road. And I promise no Gina with a shotgun this go around.”
Carly couldn’t help but feel a little thrill of intrigue pulling at her. She ignored it for the sensible call.
“If you don’t mind, that would work for me.”
Noah turned left on the road.
“I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t want you to accept.”
It was a normal, polite sentiment, yet Carly appreciated it more than she should have.
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