Reunion Mission (Rangers Under Fire)

by Virginia Vaughan

  “Then why did you leave me? You left me alone, Matt. You broke my heart and that hurt so much more than my physical injuries ever did.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I was young and scared, but I’m here now, Claire. I should have fought harder when you wouldn’t see me. I should have waited it out.”

  “What do you mean that I wouldn’t see you? You never came to the hospital, not even once. My father told me so.”

  “Your father told me you didn’t want to see me.”

  What was he talking about? “I never said that. I cried for weeks because you didn’t come.”

  His expression hardened and he rubbed his face. “I should have known. He kept me from seeing you.”

  She shook her head, dismayed but not surprised at her father’s actions. Yet she also knew they couldn’t blame him for his behavior.

  “Now that we know the truth, can we put that behind us, Claire? Can you ever forgive me? Can we go back to the way it used to be between us before that terrible night?”

  She stared out at the water and thought about what he was asking. A part of her longed to go backward in time and recapture the love they’d once shared, but another part of her couldn’t put the past completely at rest. “The first time you told me you loved me we were sitting on that rock over there, remember?” She pointed to a cluster of rocks along the bank of the lake.

  “I remember.”

  “I can’t stop going places that bring back memories. If I did, I would never leave my house. Everywhere I go in Lakeshore, I remember you. I remember some distant moment that I told myself I’d forgotten. And since you’ve come back, a hundred more memories are flooding through my mind every moment of every day.”

  They’d picnicked on a blanket here under the stars, holding hands and planning their life together.

  “I thought you said it didn’t bother you. You said you’d walked the halls and the hangouts and you’d moved past it.”

  She glared at him for throwing her own words back at her. “Well, it does bother me, Matt.”

  He was behind her before she realized it, caressing her arms and pulling her toward him. “It bothers me, too. There’s not a place in this town that doesn’t remind me of you, Claire. Of us.”

  She turned and was in his arms and his lips found hers and her heart soared. In his arms was the only place she wanted to be, the only place she’d ever wanted to be. Yet she pushed away from him, shaking her head. “I can’t do it. I can’t go through that again.”

  “Go through what again?”

  “I forgive you for leaving me, Matt. I know you’re not the same person you were back then. But I’m not that same girl I was, either. I’ve been through too much. I just can’t risk getting hurt that way again.”

  She hurried away from him, heading back to the car.

  It was hard walking away from him, refusing him when he was opening his heart to her. But she felt she was making the right decision.

  Their time together had ended long ago.

  EIGHT

  Despite what was going on with Jessica and with Claire’s suspension, Claire was thankful Alisa was gracious enough to invite her to the bridal shower being held at the Ross home Sunday afternoon. Not only was it better than sitting alone in her room while Matt went with the rest of the men involved in the wedding to get fitted for tuxedos, but she was glad to see a true love unfolding. She was happy for Alisa, even though seeing her that way made Claire’s heart ache for what might have been between her and Matt.

  She helped Mama Ross set up the punch and cake and hang the decorations, then enjoyed the conversation and companionship of the other women who arrived. Claire found it simple and normal to have something nice to think about for a while and it helped, if only briefly, to take her mind off her own problems. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt as if she belonged more than she did today. Alisa and the Ross family had surely welcomed her in just as they had ten years earlier.

  Claire heard someone calling her name and looked up to see Preston standing in the doorway beside Mama Ross.

  “Detective Ware would like to speak with you, Claire,” she said.

  He motioned for her to join him in the kitchen.

  “Thank you,” Claire told her. She walked into the kitchen. “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

  “I’m just checking up on you.”

  “I’m okay. I’m trying to keep my mind off my troubles today and enjoy spending time with Alisa and her friends and family. For a few hours anyway, I can pretend everything is normal in my life.”

  A ding on her phone indicated a text message. “That’s probably Matt checking up on me, too,” she said. “He had to go across town with the rest of the men for tux fitting.” She took out her phone and opened her message.

  It wasn’t from Matt.

  This is Jessica. I need your help, Miss Kendall. Can you come get me?

  Her initial excitement at hearing from Jessica was tempered with worry. “It’s from Jessica. She’s in trouble.”

  Claire texted her back. Where are you? Are you okay?

  I’m at the school. Can you come get me?

  “We have to help her,” Claire said, but Preston was already shaking his head.

  “The last time you received a text message like that from a student, you found Luke dead and became the killer’s next target. Then I had to arrest you. How can you be sure this isn’t another trap?”

  “I can’t. But I also can’t ignore her cry for help, can I?”

  Preston raked a hand over his face. “I’ll go. You stay here and I’ll call you when I find Jessica. Okay?”

  She agreed. It seemed a logical solution. However, a half hour later when she still hadn’t heard from Preston, she grew worried.

  She tried to call Preston, but he didn’t respond. Finally, she texted Jessica again asking if Preston had arrived.

  Again, she received the same type of frantic text from Jessica.

  Please help me, Miss Kendall. I’m scared.

  Claire hesitated. Preston was right. The last time she’d gotten a text like this from a student, she’d found Luke dead. Matt had assured her that Luke had been dead too long to have sent that text. Was this another trap? How could she be sure this was Jessica and not someone who’d harmed the girl and taken her phone? And where was Preston and why wasn’t he answering his phone?

  She quickly hit the call button. She wasn’t going there until she heard Jessica’s voice. When it went straight to voice mail, she texted back that she wasn’t coming until she could speak to Jessica to ensure it was her and not a trap.

  She dialed again and this time Jessica’s raspy voice answered after the second ring. “Miss Kendall?”

  Claire was thankful to hear the girl’s voice. “Jessica? Are you all right?”

  Her answer was interrupted when a male voice pulled the phone from her. “She’s fine...for now.”

  Claire thought she recognized that voice, but she couldn’t be sure. Anger bit through her. “Who is this? If you hurt her—”

  “It’s not her I want, Claire, and I think you know that. There’s a car parked outside. Stay on the phone with me as you walk out and get into it. Don’t speak to anyone. Don’t alert anyone. If you do, I’ll put a bullet in Jessica’s head and you can have two students’ deaths on your hand.”

  She definitely recognized his voice now. It was Principal Spencer. “Don’t hurt her,” Claire told him. “I’ll do as you say.”

  Claire sucked in a breath, then sneaked out the back door. A beige sedan was parked at the curb and Claire spotted Ryan leaning against it.

  She approached him, disappointed that her suspicions were true and he had filled Luke’s shoes. But had Luke ever kidnapped someone or threatened to kill them? Ryan sheepishly hel
d out his hand for her phone.

  “Why are you doing this?” she asked him.

  “I have no choice,” he told her, then took the phone and let the caller know they were on their way.

  Claire knew she should remain quiet as he drove, but she couldn’t let Ryan go down this path without trying to reason with him. He was only a boy—a boy who was in way over his head in criminal activity.

  “You don’t have to do this, Ryan. You can still get out of this. Let me call my friend Matt. He’s a DEA agent.”

  “He can’t help me, Miss Kendall. No one can. They killed Luke. They’ll kill me, too.”

  “Ryan, did you hurt Jessica?”

  “No.” He seemed insulted that she would even suggest such a thing.

  “What about me? Someone has been trying to kill me. Was that you?”

  “No. I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

  She understood. He’d started this venture as a fun activity for the popularity and possibly the money, but it had turned darker faster than he’d ever thought it could. Unfortunately for Ryan, it was only going to get worse for him if he continued to be involved with the drug ring.

  “You may not want to, but what will you do when they insist? When they threaten to kill you? Who would you harm to save your own life?”

  He gripped the steering wheel, but she could see the wheels turning in his head. “I don’t know,” he admitted, “but it’s too late for me.” He pulled into the school parking lot and stopped the car by the southwest doors. “They’re waiting for us in your old classroom.”

  He took her arm and led her down the hall. The school was still and quiet as they approached her classroom. The crime scene tape had been pulled off and the overhead light was on. As they reached the door, Claire spotted Jessica perched on top of a desk. “Jessica!” she cried, rushing into the room and hugging the girl.

  Jessica clung to her. “I’m so sorry, Miss Kendall. I was so scared.”

  “I know, but it’s going to be okay. We’re going to get out of this.”

  “Don’t be too sure about that,” a male voice stated behind them. Principal Spencer stepped from the corner, essentially blocking their only escape route. She remembered another time he’d crouched in the corner lying in wait for her. The day he’d murdered Luke. She was sure now it had been Spencer who’d killed him. Ryan might have stepped in for Luke, but Claire could see he hadn’t yet graduated to violence.

  Spencer held a gun in his hand pointed at them. Ryan handed him Claire’s cell phone, then walked out as Spencer quickly pocketed the phone. “So happy you could join us, Claire.”

  Gone was the pleasant, concerned man she’d thought she knew.

  What had happened to Preston? Had Spencer caught him snooping around the school and hurt him—or worse? She hugged Jessica tighter against her, wishing she’d been able to alert Matt to her predicament. He would return from the tux shop not knowing where she’d gone. By the time he realized something was wrong, would it be too late for her and Jessica?

  * * *

  Matt was antsy. He didn’t like leaving Claire for this long. He didn’t like being out of touch with her. He tried her phone several times, then dialed the house phone. His mother answered, and when he asked to speak to Claire, her voice faltered.

  “I’m not sure where she is right now. She was just here. I’ll have her call you back.”

  He tried her cell phone again, and each time it went to voice mail, his worry grew. “I have to go,” he told his father.

  “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  “It’s Claire. She’s not answering. I’ll meet you all back at the house.”

  He took off and jumped into the car, not caring that his family probably thought he was nuts. He had no reason to suspect anything was wrong, but it didn’t strike him as right that she wasn’t responding to his calls or texts. Something had happened. He felt it in his gut.

  It was at least forty-five minutes back to the house from the tux shop and he continued dialing Claire’s phone and continued to get the voice mail.

  Each minute that he didn’t hear anything felt like an hour. He buzzed through town, laying on his horn and whizzing around cars on the interstate. He had to reach her. If something had happened to her...

  He shook that thought away. He couldn’t dwell on it. He couldn’t go there. What he wouldn’t give right now to have her call him and tell him he was overreacting or that her phone hadn’t held a charge.

  His phone rang and Matt’s heart jumped into his throat until he saw it was Preston calling, not Claire.

  “We have a problem,” Preston told him. “Claire received a text message from Jessica asking her to come get her.”

  Matt’s heart clenched. It had to be a trap. “And she went.” It wasn’t a question. He already knew. If Jessica was in trouble, Claire wasn’t the type to sit around and wait for help to arrive.

  “I told her to let me handle it, but I guess she didn’t listen. I went to the school and couldn’t find her. By the time I got back to your folks’ house, Claire was gone. I traced her cell phone to an abandoned factory on the outskirts of town. She must have gotten another text from Jessica and gone after her.”

  “I’m ten minutes out,” Matt said when Preston told him the location.

  “I’m already on my way,” Preston added. “I’ll meet you there.”

  Matt hung up and said a prayer that God would keep Claire safe until he could get to her.

  * * *

  “I’m sorry,” Jessica told her as they huddled together while Principal Spencer paced from one side of the room to the other, the gun ever present in his hand. “He’s the one who sent that text to you.” She choked over the words. “He really is the one who killed Luke.”

  Claire had already figured all that out. She’d walked into Principal Spencer’s trap twice now and she didn’t like being played for a fool. It sickened her to know that a professional educator, someone who was supposed to be looking out for the well-being of his students, was not only involved with selling drugs to those students, but had also killed one and kidnapped another and framed Claire for murder. Principal Spencer’s list of atrocities was growing every moment. Would he hesitate to kill her and Jessica, too? She doubted it.

  He seemed anxious as he paced back and forth in the room, the gun remaining gripped in his hand. Was he realizing the trouble he was in? Maybe she could talk some sense into him.

  “You won’t get away with this,” Claire warned him. “Matt will come for me and so will Preston. If you do anything to hurt us, you’ll have to answer to them.”

  He shook his head as if he didn’t care and only continued the pacing.

  Maybe she should try reasoning with him. He had once aspired to help kids, not to injure them. Perhaps some part of him still did. “Bill, I know you don’t want to hurt Jessica. Things have just gotten out of hand. I’m sure if you put the gun down and release us, we can figure a way out of this.”

  He ignored her, checking his watch again. Was he waiting for something to happen? For someone?

  Claire hugged Jessica to her protectively. “We’re going to be fine,” she told the girl. She wished Matt were here. She wished she’d called or texted him before she’d come. Would he somehow figure out where she was and what had happened?

  Mostly, she watched Principal Spencer pace and tried to remain calm by remembering that they weren’t alone. God was watching out for them and He would surely send help.

  * * *

  Matt keyed the address Preston gave him into his GPS and followed the instructions. He spotted Preston’s unmarked car parked to the side of what looked like an abandoned building in a seedier part of town. He pulled up beside it and cut the engine, getting out to meet him.

  “This is where Claire came to meet Jessica? What is
this place?”

  “The old garment factory. It’s been abandoned since they went out of business years ago. Jessica’s probably been squatting here since she vanished, hiding out.”

  Matt shared Preston’s trepidation after seeing this building. Why would Claire have come to this place alone? She should have waited for one of them to go with her. He prayed she was safe, but pulled his weapon in case she wasn’t.

  “Where’s Claire’s car?”

  “I don’t know, but her cell phone is pinging from inside. She’s definitely in there.” He pulled out his weapon and kept it in his hand, prepared for anything.

  Matt did the same, but he felt he owed Preston something for all they’d been through. “Thanks for looking out for Claire.”

  Preston met his eye. “I told you when we met that I would do anything for Claire. I meant it.”

  Matt couldn’t help being glad Claire had a friend like Preston.

  They stopped at the front of the building and Preston stepped aside so Matt could enter first. He raised his weapon and scanned the long building. He heard Preston behind him.

  “It’s empty,” he said.

  They moved the length of the building, then Preston pointed to a door. Matt opened it and they rushed inside.

  The main room had tables lined up along with makeshift drug paraphernalia, but no one was inside. Matt gazed at the instruments. “Looks like a drug house that’s been abandoned recently.

  Preston motioned toward another door. “I’ll cover you.”

  Matt returned his gun to its holster and used both hands to pull open the large metal doors as Preston trained his gun on the opening, ready for anything. The enclosed room was dark but Matt shined a light down into the basement. It, too, was empty. This place was a dead end. Whoever had been here was long gone, but did that include Claire and Jessica? Had she convinced the girl to leave with her? That explained why her car wasn’t here, but not why her phone was pinging here or why she wasn’t answering his calls.

  “Nothing,” he said.

  “I wouldn’t say that,” Preston told him.