Witness Protection Unraveled (Protected Identities Book 3)

by Maggie K. Black

  He ran his hand over the back of his head, spreading even more dirt through his dusty hair. “You know I’d do it. I’d put my life on the line to stop the Chimera and save you.”

  “But Willow and Dominic need you,” Jess said. “Patricia will need you, too, when she wakes up. You have a life and a family here.” And she had no one depending on her.

  Travis nodded and went back to chipping away at the wall.

  She could hear thunder faintly rumbling in the distance now, mingling with the sound of water trickling. More rain was coming.

  “Even if it wasn’t for the kids,” Travis continued, “it would still be wrong for me to be your handler.”

  “Because of your history with the Chimera?” she asked.

  “No, because I’d be emotionally compromised.” Travis turned around and looked at her full-on in the eyes. “I have feelings for you, Jess. Real, strong, deep feelings. I have for a really long time, longer than I can remember.”

  She felt her lips part. But his hands raised palms-up before she could speak.

  “And no,” he added, “I’m not about to stand around here in some creepy criminal’s dungeon trying to analyze what kinds of feelings they are and what that could mean for us. So, please don’t ask me that. Because it won’t matter to what happens next. The courses of our lives are set. And we’ve got more important things to worry about than what kinds of emotions two people, who once worked together, once felt. Just know that they were real and they never went away, no matter how much time we’ve spent apart.”

  He took a step back and her phone light illuminated the hole. It was now three feet wide.

  “Now, do you want to go first or second?” he asked.

  She swallowed hard, feeling all the words he’d just spoken pile up unacknowledged around them like the cast-off pieces of brick surrounding them on the floor.

  “You go first,” she said, finally. “I’m the one with a gun.”

  “My thoughts, too,” Travis said. “See you on the other side.”

  An uncertain smile crossed his lips, which she suspected had far more to do with what he’d just admitted than whatever lay on the other side. He turned and crawled through.

  Jess waited and prayed, watching his torso then his legs and finally his boots disappear through the hole. There was silence for a breath. Then Travis’s face appeared in the opening.

  “Okay,” he said. “We’re good.”

  She passed him the phones and edged her way into the small, square room. There was a metal door without a doorknob on their side. The walls were made of concrete and there was a window set high above in one of them. She could hear the heavy rain beating against the pane.

  “I’ll hoist you up,” Travis said, his hands brushing her forearms. Then she felt him push the keys to his truck into her hand. “You can climb up onto my shoulders. Hopefully you’ll be able to get the window open, but if not, there are plenty of broken bricks lying around. Get out, call Seth, and get help. Get to the kids and make sure they’re okay, and then come back for me.”

  “No.” Her head shook. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not leaving without you. You can pile up bricks to make a stool. I’ll find some big rocks and toss them down to you. I’ll search the vehicle for rope or something. I’m not leaving you here and I’m not going anywhere without you.”

  “Jess,” Travis pointed out, “there’s a criminal on the loose, who kidnapped us and threw us in a cellar.”

  “Yeah, I know.” She tossed her hair around her shoulders. “And again, I’m not about to leave you down here, in a hole, to face him alone. I’m...”

  She swallowed hard, feeling a dozen words she’d never dreamed admitting to herself, let alone blurting out to him, cross her heart and mind.

  “I’m emotionally compromised, too, Travis,” she said. “I have been for a lot longer than I’d like to admit. So I’m not about to just take off and leave you. We do this together and we don’t split up. Got it?”

  For a long moment they just stood there, face-to-face, not saying anything. She could hear their breaths echoing around them in the gloom, the rain beating down on the window above them and thunder rumbling in the distance.

  Then Travis’s hands reached up and brushed the sides of Jess’s face.

  “I was never good enough for you,” he said. His voice grew husky in his throat. “And even if I’m a better man now, it’s too late for us with whatever it is we think we’re feeling.”

  “I know.” Jess nodded. “But I’m still not about to save myself and leave here without you.”

  “I get that.” Travis lowered his face to hers, she raised hers to his and their lips met. They kissed, sliding their arms around each other and hugging for one long moment like they never wanted to let go. Then, without a word, Travis swept her up into his arms and lifted her high above his head. Her heart pounded in her chest. Her toes brushed against his shoulders. His hands steadied her legs.

  She reached for the window, pulled the latch back so hard it snapped off in her hands. Using it like a lever, she forced the window open. Rain lashed against her face. Wind howled in toward her. Then she felt Travis grab her feet and raise her high above his head. She slithered through the window and crawled out onto the grass.

  “Hang on,” she called down. “I’ll get you out of there.”

  A twig cracked to her right. She scrambled to her knees. A man in a red plaid shirt and jeans stood over her. There was a rifle in his hand. The flashlight in the other shone in her eyes.

  “Travis!” she shouted, reaching for her weapon as she rose. “Stay down!”

  “Jessica?” The voice was male, strong and young. “Don’t shoot! I’m... I’m Nick Henry. Liam sent me!”

  The pool of light dropped to the ground by her side. The young man was in his early to mid twenties, she guessed, with earnest eyes and trim blond hair.

  Her grasp tightened on her weapon. “Show me your badge!” she demanded.

  “No badge, ma’am,” Nick said. “I’m not law enforcement. I’m just a random guy who got a call from an old buddy I owed a favor to, asking me to drop by a property and make sure everyone was safe.”

  Right. And she was the Queen of England. Whoever Nick Henry was, he was someone she’d never heard Liam mention before but apparently felt confident calling in an emergency.

  “Liam told me to tell you that the children and Seth are safe,” Nick added, rain pouring down his face. “That there’s no change in Patricia’s condition or any sign of trouble at the hospital. Also, Liam’s sorry he forgot to water your plants on the office windowsill.”

  Yeah, that sounded like Liam.

  “If you know Liam, what’s the name of his cat?” she asked.

  “That’s a trick question,” Nick said. “Liam’s convinced all cats have something against him. He also told me that he and Seth made the call to let Willow perform in the school concert, figuring it was safer and less suspicious than trying to take the kids anywhere. But it starts in forty-five minutes and if you and Travis don’t make it in time, you’ll be in major trouble.”

  Yeah, that sounded about right, too. She dropped the weapon and stretched out her hand. “Nice to meet you,” she said.

  “Likewise.” He shook it.

  Was he a cop? A detective? His bearing definitely exuded authority and responsibility.

  “I hope that popping by to help us out didn’t cause too big a problem in whatever else you’ve got going on,” Jess said.

  “No problem,” Nick told her. “I’d do anything for Liam. He saved my life once.”

  Yeah, a lot of people felt that way about him.

  “You got rope?” she asked. “We’ve got to get Travis out of the basement, and since the window seems safe and the house seemed booby-trapped, it’s the safest way to do it.”

  He nodded. “In my truck.” />
  “Good,” she said then asked, “I take it there are no hostiles on the property?”

  Nick shook his head. “No, ma’am,” he said. “But we’ve got what looks like a dead body.”

  * * *

  Eight minutes later, Travis stood beside Jess and Nick in the doorway of the dilapidated house and watched as an orange-clad figure in a silver respirator mask swung back and forth, suspended by a rope from the ceiling.

  He glanced at the young man Liam had sent to find them when they’d gone dark, who’d helped haul him out of the basement window.

  “You tried to identify the body?” Travis asked.

  “No, sir.” Nick shook his head. “I’d been here less than five minutes before I found you both. I found the door open, called Liam, did a perimeter search and found Jess almost immediately. I could tell by the angle of the man’s neck that if he had been alive, he was now dead, and from his build that he wasn’t either of the people I’d been sent here to find. I imagine you’d like to be gone by the time police get here?”

  “Yes, thank you,” Travis said. “It will all depend on whether we’re dealing with a suicide or a murder.”

  Sometimes it felt like he was holding on to his secret identity by a thread. But with God’s help, Travis was going to cling to it as long as he could. As for Nick, was he RCMP? Ontario Provincial Police?

  No, that didn’t quite seem to fit.

  Travis crossed his arms. “You’re military, aren’t you?” Travis asked.

  Nick nodded. “Yup, but I grew up with two older brothers who do what you do for a living, so I’m very used to the drill.”

  A military man who’d grown up with undercover detectives? Interesting. He’d come across a couple of incredible “Detective Henrys” before and wondered if this young man was related to them. Although, if he was, he’d probably know his brothers’ work well enough to deny it.

  “And what exactly is it that you think I do?” Travis knew he shouldn’t pry but couldn’t help himself.

  “I have no idea,” Nick said cheerfully.

  Sounded about right. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Travis was suddenly and unexpectedly reminded of one of the things he had enjoyed, very much, about being a cop that he’d forgotten. He missed the camaraderie, especially in undercover work, among strangers who came together to have each other’s backs and save lives. He’d been so hard on Jess’s team and now he shuddered to think where he would’ve been without them.

  “Looks like the place is booby-trapped,” Travis said. He glanced over to Jess, who was now standing on the only dry patch of the porch, on a group video chat with Seth and Liam. “I’m going to check the body.”

  Jess nodded. “Stay safe.”

  Travis took the high-powered flashlight that Nick offered him and started slowly across the floor, sweeping light over every corner as he went. Now that he knew what he was looking for, it was all so simple to see. There was a trip wire, a pulley system, the trap door, plus a few other suspiciously uneven floor tiles or loose wires that he was careful to avoid. Whoever had been using this abandoned house to collect Shiny Man packages had certainly made sure it was rigged to trap or kill anyone poking around inside it.

  He crossed the floor gingerly, reached the body and pulled the mask back. Sadness swelled deep inside his heart.

  It was Braden Garrett.

  Their prime suspect. Cleo’s ex-boyfriend—whom she’d said had been harassing her and whom the chief of police was going to help her file a protective order against—was now dead.

  He peeled back the corner of the man’s right glove. Sure enough, he could see Jess’s self-defense bite marks from the night before on his wrist.

  So, the Shiny Man who’d ambushed Patricia, attacked him in his apartment and tried to drug and kidnap Jess in the woods was dead.

  By what looked like suicide.

  His detective’s gaze swept over the man’s features and then he leaned in and sniffed the sickly sweet scent that was faint but unmistakable.

  No, Travis didn’t believe Braden had taken his own life for an instant.

  He glanced back, Jess’s eyes met his and, even without him saying a word, her eyes widened and her fingers rose to her lips.

  “Victim is Braden Garrett,” he said. His head shook slowly as he walked back across the floor toward her. “My guess, based on a preliminary glance of skin color and bruising pattern, is that he was sedated, most likely with chloroform judging by the smell, and then had his neck broken. Didn’t suffer, had absolutely no idea what was happening to him, and died in his sleep.”

  And despite his criminal record and being an all-around not great guy, who clearly scared his ex-girlfriend, he was still a human being whose life someone had taken from him. Anger crashed over Travis, engulfing the sorrow.

  “Call Liam and tell him to get someone we trust on this,” he said to Nick. “Make sure whoever he calls knows that a former RCMP detective has suspicions it’s a homicide disguised to look like a suicide and to take a close look at the evidence. Local police will definitely need to be looped in on this, too. District Police Chief Peters of Kilpatrick was already in the process of helping the dead man’s former girlfriend obtain a protective order. I don’t trust Peters as far as I can chuck him, but he needs to know.”

  Travis stepped out onto the porch and walked over to Jess and Nick.

  “Wrist injury indicates he’s probably the man who attacked Jess outside the farmhouse last night,” Travis added “I don’t know who killed him, or why, but I don’t believe this is over. I just... My gut tells me this isn’t over.”

  “Understood,” Nick said. He took out his phone, dialed and was talking to someone almost instantly.

  Travis leaned toward Jess. “Do you think we can trust him to secure the crime scene?”

  “I think the fact Liam trusted him enough to call him is good enough for me,” Jess said. She glanced at her phone. “Liam already has a team of people on the way to secure the scene now, and we have half an hour to get to Willow’s concert performance. Seth says he’ll pick Dominic up from the nursery and save us seats.”

  Travis’s head spun. His brain had whiplash from trying to be too many people at once. They might’ve just survived a trap, dug their way out of a dungeon and uncovered a body, but Willow would never forgive him if he missed her playing the triangle.

  “Yeah, we got to go,” Travis said. He turned to Nick, who was now on a video call with Liam. “Thank you for your help. Both of you.” He nodded to Liam on the screen, who nodded back. “Thank you for coming to our rescue.”

  “I’m just a soldier who got lost, happened upon a body and called the cops to handle it,” Nick said with a smile as he stepped forward, keeping his phone screen tilted so Liam could stay in the conversation.

  Travis shook Nick’s hand, hoping he’d meet the man again one day in the future.

  “I’ll take care of it,” Liam said. “We’ve already got people en route. It’s all good.”

  “Thank you,” Travis said again. “I owe you one.” Probably several more than one.

  Liam nodded.

  Travis jogged to his truck, Jess one step beside him.

  “How long have we got?” he asked.

  “Twenty-eight minutes,” she said. “Fortunately, Seth says he told Alvin that we were running a bit late and he agreed to try to push it. Not that Alvin is running the show, but he can always make the kids walk slow.”

  Travis was thankful for that. He opened his door and climbed inside.

  “Any idea what cover story Seth gave Alvin?” Travis asked.

  Jess climbed in on the passenger’s side and did up her seat belt.

  “Seth told Alvin that you and I went for a long romantic hike to see about rekindling our romantic relationship, got caught in the rain and had to take shelter somewhere with no cell pho
ne reception service.”

  Travis chuckled and made a mental note to thank Seth for that.

  Jess pulled her sun visor down and looked at herself in the mirror. She frowned.

  “Well, at least that will make it easier to explain why we showed up at the school concert looking like I was just dredged from a pond,” she quipped.

  Travis reached across the center console and grabbed her hand.

  “You’re beautiful,” he said. “You were always beautiful, back in the day, but now you’re more gorgeous than ever.”

  “You’ve seen me in party dresses and ball gowns,” she said. “For our undercover sting at the ambassador’s gala in Ottawa, I had a hairdresser, makeup artist and fashion designer. And you wait to tell me I’m pretty until I’m soaked?”

  “I waited until after we’d both blurted out something about feelings,” he said.

  And with the reminder of how short life was, he was going to grasp every moment he could.

  Jess didn’t answer. She just looped her fingers through his and held his hand tightly. And despite everything that was happening, there was an odd lightness in his chest, like he’d been carrying an invisible weight and had somehow, finally, been able to let it go. His heart was still so heavy. There’d been no improvement with Patricia’s condition and right now police investigators would be going over the scene of the abandoned house, alerting Braden Garrett’s family of his death and investigating his murder.

  In less than twenty-four hours, Jess would be leaving his life to go undercover to face a ruthless criminal and he had no idea if he’d ever see her again. And yet, somehow, the fact that he’d admitted having feelings for her and was now holding her hand, made the incredible heaviness surrounding him a little bit easier to take.

  After a while, Jess pulled her hand from his and busied herself with checking in with Liam and Seth. Seemed the RCMP team had arrived at the crime scene. A car with a broken headlight that had been registered to Braden Garrett had been found hidden in the woods not far from the house. It matched the description of the one that had followed them the night before.