by H. L. Wegley
“Carr, here.”
“It’s Blade. I need to brief you on some new developments.”
“Things aren’t … slipping out of control out west, are they?”
“No, sir. Not out of control, but the scope of this mission keeps expanding.”
“Don’t tell me she contacted law enforcement.”
“No, sir. And if she does, we might be able to turn that to our advantage. But our little saint has gone elsewhere. Twice. But I’m—let me back up and brief you properly.”
“Please do, Sikes.”
“All six of us are here now. I sent three members of the team to check out Saint’s apartment in Madras and to line up air support in case we need that. The two younger guys came with me to Bend.”
“I take it she isn’t in either place.”
“We found that she stayed in a cheap motel in Bend, but she checked out at about 7:00 a.m. We think she went to the OSU-Cascades campus.”
“Of course, she would go to a college campus. She needs new ID.”
“Right. Like her name suggests, a saint like her wouldn’t know who to contact for professional quality ID, the stuff that costs a few grand. But she did slip up at the motel. Used a burner app on her smart phone to try to contact Lex James.”
“James the media mouthpiece. That’s just what we need. But, before she shoots off her mouth to him, she’ll have to meet with James to gain his trust and get him to cooperate.”
“And that’s why the three of us just pulled out onto Highway 97 headed for Terrebonne, Lex James’s home. It shouldn’t be much longer now. The only question is what to do with the intruder, Mr. James.”
Another person who might know too much. Gemma Saint’s murder could be attributed to violations in WITSEC. But danger to Carr from this operation rose exponentially with the body count. Killing Mr. James wasn’t Max’s preference. But, if Gemma had already briefed him …
“He’s made a lot of enemies with his investigative reporting. It would be too bad if one of them sought revenge, wouldn’t it?”
Chapter 6
With Gemma beside him and the boys in the back, Lex pulled out of his dusty driveway and drove his SUV north on Southwest River Road.
It looked like Gemma had started to back out of his driveway, taking her mysterious story with her. But she stopped and pulled into his garage.
Now, Gemma stared down the highway while she chewed on a fingernail. It was the first sign of worry about her safety that Lex had seen.
Many people would be coming unglued if highly skilled government agents were coming to kill them. Seeing her composure, he and the boys being drawn to Gemma, and being completely comfortable around her—these proved that they had connected within moments of meeting. In Lex’s experience, that kind of connection was usually a spiritual bond between believers.
It was worth a shot. “Gemma, are you a praying person?”
She pulled her finger from her mouth and rested her hand on the console between them. “What are you really asking me, Mr. James? Are you going to start preaching to me if I’m not?” Her coy smile tweaked the corners of her mouth.
“No. But are you?”
“Lex, I know about your faith. It’s common knowledge because you write about it. That’s part of the reason I came to you for help. You and I pray to the same Heavenly Father through the same mediator, His Son. Does that answer your question?”
“Yeah. It does.” He noted the inviting hand laying palms-up on the console.
The SUV’s tires thumped when they hit the reflectors on the centerline of the road. Lex, instinctively, yanked the vehicle back into the center of the lane.
Gemma gave him a strange glance that he couldn’t read.
Regardless, it made him feel like the proverbial kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He needed to keep his eyes on the road, not on Gemma.
“How far is it to this place?”
“It’s a looong, long way.” Josh’s voice came from the back seat.
Lex shook his head. “It’s about fifteen minutes, Gemma.”
“But he said—”
“When you’re four, and you can’t wait to see your cousin, it’s an eternity.”
Gemma gave him a squinty-eyed frown. “Cousin? Is that a good idea, leaving the boys with relatives. They might …”
“They’ll be fine,” Lex said. “The Daniels are only shirt-tail relatives through a couple of marriages. It’s not likely anyone would make the connection. Then there is that other thing …”
“I hope it’s a good thing, because I still feel like I’m—”
“It’s a good thing. Don’t worry about it.” How should he tell her this? “Gemma, the person Josh and Caleb will be staying with is … good with guns. Besides, it’s someone no one in their right mind will mess with unless they have a death wish.”
“Sounds like a modern-day gunslinger.”
“Not exactly. She’s KC Banning. Now KC Daniels.”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
Lex shook his head.
“Lex, she was my hero when I was in high school. KC and Brock both were.”
“Then you realize that anyone who bothers KC would have the military, law enforcement, and three-hundred million Americans after them. A lynch party of that size will keep the boys safe.” He paused. “But back to the subject at hand, Gemma Saint. How did you learn some rogue FBI agents were coming after you?”
“Marshall Cottrell’s text message and then a short phone call with him—a call during which they shot him.”
Lex glanced at Gemma.
The lines of stress etched on her face betrayed feelings she seemed to keep hidden most of the time.
“When and where did this happen?”
“Near Denver about thirty-six hours ago. 11:04 p.m. on the Fourth of July, to be exact.”
It was enough time to fly or even drive to Central Oregon. “So they are likely in this area searching for you?”
“You can count on it.” Gemma’s finger went back to her mouth and her chewing resumed.
One thing could allow the danger to reach them, quickly. Lex needed to assess that likelihood. “Gemma … is there any way they might have connected you with me?”
Gemma nodded but didn’t say anything.
“I really need to know. This is important.” Why was she reluctant to tell him?
“I—I emailed you last night. Well, I tried to.”
“Do you mean you sent a message to the email address on my web site?”
“Yes. But, like I told you before, you didn’t reply and so I got your home address and … you know the rest.”
“Yeah. I’d forgotten that you mentioned it right after you stumbled into my house.”
“Too bad you didn’t forget the stumbling … and all the bumbling.”
“Maybe I didn’t want to forget.” Had he said those words or just thought them.
Gemma looked away, out the passenger side window.
Was she blushing or angry?
Tread softly, dude. She might have a temper, or …
Lex was hoping for or, but he had no business doing so. Keeping Gemma safe kept morphing into thoughts about keeping Gemma. As enticing as those thoughts were, they would only endanger her.
“Back to the email you sent.”
“What about it?”
“Gemma, the FBI has a unit that intercepts Internet and cell phone communications for themselves, NSA and other government agencies.”
“The FBI? I thought NSA did that.”
“No, but the FBI doesn’t exactly advertise that fact. It’s easier to let NSA take the heat whenever a controversy arises.” He paused. “But, if they found your email and used the IP addresses to see who you were contacting, they would find TAM’s email server. So …”
She looked his way. Her dark brown eyes had widened. “If they didn’t find you at your office, they might come by your house.”
“Exactly. After we drop off Josh and Caleb,
we need to find somewhere to lay low until we decide how to use your story to protect you while we nail the bad guys.”
“Exactly.” Gemma looked his way and the corner of her mouth curled upward. “You wouldn’t be, uh, a little like Josh and Caleb, would you?”
“No way. Uncalex don’t have two hundred. But he’s purty smart anyway.”
“Josh, would you please keep your two hundred to yourself. Gemma and I need to talk.” He steered around a sharp turn in the road, then glanced her way. “I’ve been accused of a lot of things, some really nasty stuff by the radical left, but never of being like Josh and Caleb.”
Gemma gave him her coy smile again. “IQs of two hundred? Maybe I should be asking them for advice.”
Two could play the coy game. Or was this called flirting?
If this wasn’t a dangerous situation, flirting with Gemma Saint would be at the top of his to do list. “Asking Josh and Caleb for advice? Hmmm. Feel free, Gemma.”
Gemma’s mouth opened. But her surprised look morphed back to her coy smile. “Josh, Caleb, does your uncle have a girlfriend?”
No reply.
Gemma turned her head and looked into the back seat. “Well does he?”
“Uh … not no more.” Caleb’s voice.
“Don’t tell her that, Cabe. You’ll scare her off.” Josh had whispered the words, barely audible over the road noise.
Lex blew out a sharp sigh. “Don’t tell her what? Do you mean what you two did to run off Melissa?”
Silence.
Lex waited.
“We’re sorry, Uncalex.”
There was a lot more to the story about Melissa, but this was not the time to tell it. Maybe he could share part of the story for Gemma’s sake.
Sure, dude. All for Gemma’s sake.
This was not the time for listening to obnoxious voices inside his head. “Well I’m not sorry. Melissa had her nose so high in the air she might have drowned if we lived on the other side of the mountains.”
Josh and Caleb giggled and whispered.
Gemma studied Lex’s face as he drove down Quail Road. She must have liked what she saw, because she was smiling too.
Lex’s amygdala, or whatever they called that threat-response area of the brain had started screaming at him. There was way too much distraction here for their precarious situation.
Did Gemma realize that too? He glanced her way.
Maybe. Her smile had quickly faded.
She had a beautiful smile and the boys thought she was beautiful, like their mother.
Lex’s sister was beautiful, but Gemma had a unique quality. If she walked out onto the stage at a beauty pageant, she might not be the first to catch the judges’ eyes. But no matter how Lex looked at Gemma, or how he scrutinized what he saw, there wasn’t a single thing about her that wasn’t attractive.
Aside from the nail chewing, Gemma was as close to perfect as he’d ever seen. Well, perfect for Lex James.
However, he’d learned that looks often covered up a lot of deeper flaws inside a person, flaws that quickly detracted from outward beauty, flaws that meant you could never trust that person. Lex had a word for such flaws, Melissa.
He glanced at Gemma again.
She brushed what looked like a tear from one cheek.
Gemma probably had a horde of fears and insecurities waging a fierce war inside.
Enough on the enigma of Gemma Saint. Lex James needed to get his act together or he could get this woman and himself killed.
It was time to return to being the news editor of The American Motto. And time for Lex to make a vow, the same vow he had made for the boys when they came under his care.
He would die before letting anyone harm this innocent young woman.
After seeing her brushing away tears, he needed to tell Gemma that he was committed to her safety. She needed to know he was all in and would not desert her.
He would tell her as soon as he dropped off the boys at KC’s house. Maybe that would stop her tears.
But how could he stop the immediate danger? Lex hadn’t come up with a good plan. He shot a silent prayer heavenward and waited.
It was quiet in his SUV.
Five minutes later, still no answer.
Maybe this was one of those times that he hated, times when one simply had to trust God and wait for Him to direct a person’s path. Times where Lex had to take a step into the unknown and expect that there would be a place for his next foot to come down without Lex stumbling, without Lex falling, without Lex getting Gemma Saint killed.
* * *
Gemma glanced at the street sign when they turned onto a road that skirted a cliff. Rim Road. She looked beyond the rim at the plateau below. So this was Crooked River Ranch.
In normal times, she would've gazed in awe at the green oasis of the golf course below and the miniature Grand Canyon beyond that. But the threat to her, and now to Lex, had drained away her stubborn stoicism.
Maybe Lex hadn't seen her tears, though she suspected he had. Gemma hated to show her weakness. She was not a weak person, but the last thirty-six hours had left her feeling alone and vulnerable.
Lex's hand curled around hers and held it where she had left it on the console.
Maybe she had subconsciously made it available. Regardless, strength and comfort flowed into Gemma, giving her enough of both to continue her fight for life and justice.
“Are you okay, Gemma?”
“I am now. Sometimes we need a reminder that we’re not alone. Thanks.”
“My pleasure.”
“My pleasure? Did you put yourself through college working at Chick-fil-A?”
“No. Had a full ride swimming scholarship.”
“Yeah. And Uncalex can stay underwater so long you think he's gonna drown.”
Gemma shook her head. “Not me. If I go under the water, I know I'm going to drown. Gives me claustrophobia.”
Lex looked her way, scanning her from the floorboard up. “You look in pretty good shape to me. What you do for exercise?”
That Lex James had just checked her out and evidently approved of what he saw, turned a swarm of butterflies loose in her stomach. She had never had that reaction to any guy. Even worse was the fact that such feelings were entirely inappropriate for someone being hunted by FBI agents.
Lex turned off the road and drove down a gravel driveway lined with juniper trees. Ahead of them, stood a two-story log house near the rim of the canyon.
“Got your squirt gun, Cabe?” Josh said. “
“Yeah. We're gonna have a squirt gun war with Benjie.”
“That's fine,” Lex said. “But no squirting in KC’s house. And I want you to mind her. Don't give her any trouble or you'll have to answer to me when Gemma and I get back.”
Josh and Caleb had a short discussion in what sounded like a foreign language. Josh leaned forward in his seat. “You hafta’ bring Gemma back, Uncalex.”
“So I have to?” He shook his head. “Well, you both hafta’ mind KC.”
“We'll mind,” Josh said. “Aunt Kace has red hair. You don't ever wanna make her mad.”
“The voice of experience.” Lex looked at Gemma and grinned. “Come on let’s introduce you to KC, then you and I need to get out of Dodge.”
Strange relational forces seemed to be racing toward some mysterious climax. At the center, were two little geniuses who had staked a claim on Gemma Saint. But that was ridiculous. She needed to concentrate on staying alive. “Where were you thinking of hiding out, Lex?”
“Someplace where there are a lot of people and high-speed Internet access.”
“Like?”
“I'm still working on that.” He stopped the SUV in front of the log house.
The large wooden door swung open and a slender woman stepped out followed by a boy a year or two older than the twins.
Caleb and Josh had already unbuckled and were climbing out of the car by the time the Gemma opened her door.
The boys ran to meet
their cousin and the three disappeared through the front door.
Gemma followed Lex to the porch where KC stood.
“Thanks, KC. I owe you a big one.” He turned toward Gemma. “This is Gemma Saint.”
Gemma offered her hand.
KC took it but held onto it. “Good to meet you, Gemma. I've been reading about you since Lex called me. After Marshall McDowell's trial, all mention of you stops.”
“That's when I entered witness protection.”
“So the DOJ used you, then put you in WITSEC? It doesn't make sense. I think there's a dead skunk in the RFK Building … or maybe across the street.”
Gemma nodded. “And that's an odor you would be familiar with.”
KC grinned but it soon disappeared. She squeezed Gemma’s hand then released it. “I'll be praying for you two. Brock will too, as soon as I can reach him. He's on a road trip until the All-Star Game.”
“I hope the odor back there doesn't affect his pitching,” Lex said
“Me too,” KC said. “Nationals Park isn't that far away from the Capitol. I decided to stay home with Benjie this year. It's a long trip and we don't even know if Brock will get to close.”
“We need to go. We'll contact you at this e-mail address.” Lex handed KC a slip of paper. “It's an account I had set up for me to communicate with informants who want to remain anonymous. My messages will be in the draft folder. You can edit the draft to respond.”
“Got it. And I'll take good care of the boys. They’ll be occupied, playing with Benjie. You take care too.”
Gemma’s gaze met KC’s and locked there. The transaction between them completed in that moment, a transaction of mutual concern and understanding. KC had been where Gemma now stood, with a corrupt and powerful person wanting to eliminate her.
KC knew the fear and the uncertainty of looking at her future and seeing only question marks.
Gemma gave KC a quick hug.
Lex hooked Gemma's arm and they strode back to the SUV, while giggles and high-pitched squeals of little boys sounded from the open door.
Lex and Gemma buckled in. He turned the SUV around and headed down the driveway toward Rim Road.
“She's beautiful, Lex. With all that red hair and freckles, she looks like an Irish princess.”
Lex stopped at the end of the driveway and checked for traffic. “Yeah. Brock’s a lucky man. Guess I should say blessed. Wish I could be blessed like that.” Lex looked her way and didn't stop looking until she met his intense gaze.