Rainey had an answer, “Leave the four guys you have here now. Make sure that at least two of them go with Katie, everywhere, even to school. JW is too much of a threat for this guy. He doesn’t get off on playing doctor with men. I really think they would be safer, if I wasn’t with them.”
“Will you stay here one more evening, until I can get my guys set up in the woods around your place? We’re going to want to video all the activity coming and going, even from the boat dock day and night. I need time to get the equipment here,” Danny said, without any more argument.
He had to know Rainey was right. He knew it when he barged in here this morning. He needed to hear her say it. If the Wilson’s were not targets, then they would just get in the way of catching this guy. They were the killer’s distraction. If they were removed, he would have to come after Rainey directly. Rainey did not mind spending another night with Katie, and she would be glad to have Katie out of the crosshairs of this maniac when Rainey finally went home. She wanted him to stay as far away from Katie as possible. Rainey had to believe she was right. Katie was safer with the other agents, than being guarded by his real target.
Danny and Rainey talked a few minutes more about the set up at her place. She told him where the best angles and vantage points were. Danny asked for Mackie’s number, so he could call him to help with the local traffic, maybe turn the boaters away for a day.
“We don’t want to be seen,” he said.
Rainey told him, “He can say it’s rented to a private party. My dad used to do that sometimes.” She handed him Mackie’s number, having written it on a sticky note, from a pad lying by the phone.
Danny tucked the note in his shirt pocket. “You know I didn’t really think it was you,” he said.
Rainey questioned him with her eyes.
He continued, “I never thought you were the one who contacted the media. I had to ask.”
Rainey was sorry she said those things about him being the leak. She knew he must have had some real pressure from up high to make sure it was not her.
“What, do the guys at Quantico think I’ve cooked this whole thing up as an attempt to draw attention to myself?” Rainey asked.
“Yeah, something like that,” Danny replied.
She was more sad than angry, when she said, “Those fucking assholes don’t have a clue, do they?”
“Nope, not a one,” Danny said, matter-of-factly.
The crash of glass breaking and raised voices sent Danny and Rainey, guns drawn, running to the kitchen. They met two of the new agents in the hall, giving the slow down hand sign, indicating that everything was okay.
Rainey heard Katie yell, “I know you did it, you sick bastard.”
When Rainey made it into the kitchen there was a cup in pieces and coffee flowing down the wall, near where JW had been standing. JW had backed across the room and one of the agents was trying to prevent Katie from getting to him.
“Whoa, what’s going on?” Rainey said.
“He did it, Rainey. He’s the one,” Katie said, making another attempt to get to her husband.
Rainey stepped in between the agent and Katie, doing a dance back and forth in front of JW.
“Katie, calm down. Talk to me,” Rainey said. “Tell me what you think he’s done.”
JW answered for her, “Your girlfriend thinks I called the media. That I’ve tried to spin this thing somehow.”
The word girlfriend stung a little. Because of the sexual attraction she was now feeling for Katie, a simple word she had used last week had taken on a whole new context. She tried briefly to determine which one he meant, but then quickly got back to the matter at hand.
“Katie, JW didn’t leak that story. He couldn’t have. There is no way he could have known some of the things written in that story,” Rainey said. “The Y-Man is the leak.”
Katie looked puzzled. “Why would he do that? Why would he want everyone to know he’s out there?”
“Because he gets off on the attention,” Rainey answered.
“Aren’t you going to apologize to me, now?” JW asked, and Rainey wished he had not.
Katie lashed at him, “Oh, shut up! You know you’re glad he did it. You would have done it yourself, if he hadn’t. Tell me you didn’t count the number of times your name was mentioned.”
JW threw his hands up, saying, “There’s just no winning with you.”
Katie was not finished. “That’s right. It’s about time you gave up, don’t you think?”
Rainey wanted to separate these two and was so relieved when JW said he had an early tee time. JW took one of the new agents as a fourth, after giving him a polo shirt and assuring him, he would get him clubs and shoes, at the pro shop. Danny reminded the agent to return the borrowed merchandise, before returning to the house. JW said he would just donate them to a charity auction, assuring Rainey they would end up in a Republican fundraising raffle. Whatever was going to happen to the clubs and shoes, she was so glad when JW finally left.
Danny followed shortly behind him, heading off to coordinate the move to Rainey’s house. Katie had dismissed herself, after telling everyone there were fruit slices and bagels for breakfast, then returned upstairs. Rainey cleaned up the mess from the shattered coffee cup. Rainey told the agent not to bother, when he was about to follow her, as she started up the stairs. She felt his services would be more useful downstairs, since there were no entrances up there. He was young and did as he was told. Rainey went to Katie’s door and knocked.
“It’s Rainey, Katie. May I come in?”
Soft steps hurried toward the door and the latch threw. Rainey heard the soft steps move away from the door again. She slowly opened the door. Rainey latched the door behind her. She found Katie face down in her pillows.
“It’s okay, he’s gone,” Rainey offered, as a way to help ease Katie’s hurt.
“Oh, fuck him!” was the muffled sound out of the pillows.
“I’ve got to say, you two have a strange way of communicating,” Rainey said.
Katie did not say anything.
Rainey tried again, “You know, I’ll listen, if you need to get something off your chest.”
Rainey was not expecting what came next. Katie sat up and turned to Rainey.
“I’m not crying because of JW. I’m crying for what that madman did to you, and then to tell everyone what he did in the paper. How could they print that?” Katie cried, as the tears fell and slid down her cheeks.
Rainey sat silently in shock. Somehow, she had transferred, to Katie, all the hurt and indignation she felt, when Rainey herself had read the article. She did not know how to react or have time.
“How can you sit there, so calmly?” Katie ranted.
Finally, something Rainey knew the answer to. “I have to, Katie, if I want to survive.”
Katie arms flew around Rainey and she cried into her shoulder, “I’m so sorry, so sorry.”
Rainey put her arms around Katie and could not resist pulling her closer. For Rainey, the next few moments went by in slow motion. Rainey felt Katie push back against her arms, pulling away from her. She had done the wrong thing. Katie did not want her to hold her tightly. She did not do it consciously, it just happened. Now, what was Katie thinking had just happened? Rainey let her arms fall down by Katie’s sides.
Instead of running from the room in terror, Katie pulled back until her face was inches from Rainey’s. She stared into Rainey’s eyes, as if searching for something. Rainey held her gaze, seeking her own answers, in the other woman’s eyes. What was happening to them? Why was this happening to two straight women, who barely knew each other? Rainey had no answer to the questions being asked by Katie’s expression, she did not know the answers to her own. But then, all of Rainey’s questions vanished from her thoughts. Katie placed her right hand behind Rainey’s head and pulled her down softly to her waiting lips.
Rainey had never felt a sweeter kiss. She closed her eyes and felt herself kissing Katie back, in almost
an out of body experience. The room began to swim around her and desire tightened in her chest. Her arms found Katie’s body again and pulled her tightly to her. The breath caught in both of their chests, when what started so sweetly, quickly became a long deep kiss. Neither woman could control the soft sounds emanating from their throats, the sounds of want and need.
Katie slid the shoulder holster from Rainey’s shoulders and began falling back onto the bed, pulling Rainey down on top of her. Rainey fell into Katie’s arms and kissed a woman, as if she wanted to make love to her, for the first time in her life. It did not feel funny or weird. It felt as natural as coming home, after a long journey. Katie’s body felt warm underneath Rainey. She felt Katie arch into her, causing a longing between her legs, something she thought she would never feel again. Rainey was alive, from end to end, with feelings and emotions she had not thought she would remember.
Katie began to move under her, sending shock waves through her body. Then a single thought flashed through her mind. Rainey stopped. She pulled away from Katie and stood up. She crossed to the window, peering outside.
Katie sat up in the bed. “Rainey?”
Rainey did not look away from the window. Instead, she stared out into the sunlit backyard and spoke softly, “Katie, I can’t do this.”
“Why? I thought it was what you…what we wanted,” Katie said. She seemed confused by Rainey’s reaction.
Rainey stared straight ahead, trying to get control back. Her eyes burned as she fought back tears.
“Rainey, turn around,” Katie said, softly.
Katie got off the bed and walked to Rainey. Rainey slowly turned to her. Katie saw the tears welling in Rainey’s eyes. She reached out to Rainey.
“Talk to me, Rainey. I need to understand.”
The damn broke and the tears flowed from Rainey’s eyes, not in torrents, but in slow falling raindrops from her lower lids.
Rainey spoke softly, because if she tried to speak normally, she would lose more control, “He just keeps taking things from me,” she paused, “and... and because of that, I can’t let this happen between us.”
“Why, what does he have to do with us?” Katie asked.
“I can’t be distracted, it could wind up killing us both,” Rainey answered her.
Katie was undeterred, “Don’t let him do this to you.”
“Katie, he’s already done it. I can’t put your life at risk. Don’t you understand that?”
Katie put her hands on her hips and said, “How would I be in any more danger than I am already?”
Rainey had to tell her, “Danny and I think he’s now switched targets, to me solely. I have to distance myself from you and JW, to keep you safe.”
“What about you? Where are you going?” Katie looked frightened.
“I’m going back to the cottage.”
“When?” Katie asked.
“Tomorrow afternoon.”
“You’re going to leave me alone? I thought we were in this together,” Katie said, her hands back on her hips.
“Katie, I’m not leaving you alone. The agents will still be here with you. They’re going to stay with you until this is over.”
“Rainey Bell, you are not going out to that house alone,” Katie was adamant.
“I won’t be alone, either. I’ll be protected,” Rainey tried to explain.
“You are setting yourself up as bait.” Katie was aghast and then incensed, “That is insane. Haven’t you given enough to the investigation?”
Rainey felt herself flush with anger, it was not aimed at Katie, but at him, “I will give every last breath of my being to send this son of a bitch straight to hell, if that’s what it takes.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Katie said.
The color from Katie’s face drained. She took several shaky steps back and dropped into the armchair. The implications of what Rainey had just said were written in Katie’s expression. Rainey felt her chest tighten. She had hurt Katie without meaning to, unable to see past her own rage, at the affect her actions had on the emotions of others. Rainey moved to Katie and knelt down on the floor, in front of the chair. She looked into Katie’s face and listened, as her mind raced with thoughts, so many, she couldn’t stop one long enough to reflect on it.
Rainey did not think about what she said next, she just let the words stream from her mouth, in a steady calm voice, “Katie, I’m not going to risk my life unnecessarily. I truly believe that the best chance we have of ending this safely, for all of us, is to separate myself from you, to draw his focus and allow Danny and the other agents to catch him. I’m not going out alone to hunt him.”
Katie started to speak, but Rainey raised her hand to stop her.
Rainey leaned in closer to Katie. She continued, “My mind is telling me, that what is happening, between the two of us, is merely the product of two very wounded women, who find themselves in a life and death struggle. Our subconscious recognition, in each other, of the depth of want and longing, is driving us together.”
Once again, Katie started to speak, but this time quieted on her own. She listened intently to Rainey’s soft voice.
“On the other hand, my heart is saying, fall, fall hard into her arms and don’t look back. Find out if it’s just the circumstances we find ourselves in. It’s so overwhelming and confusing, and wonderful…”
Katie interrupted, “I hear a ‘but’ coming.”
Rainey nodded, “But, when I’m thinking about you, I lose focus. I can’t be objective. I can’t keep us safe, if I’m distracted by your very presence in the room.”
Katie smiled at Rainey. “May I say something?”
Rainey nodded her head yes.
“Rainey, I have never done anything like what just happened, in my entire life. I am as confused as you are. I have no explanation for the attraction between us and I’ll admit it has been a distraction, because I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” Rainey said.
Katie had been thinking while Rainey was talking and had evidently formulated a debate in her mind. “What makes you think that separating us will keep you from thinking about me? What if you’re more distracted worrying about where I am and who’s watching me? I know that’s what I’ll be doing, worrying about you.”
Rainey had not thought about that. She pondered for a moment and then added another element to her side of the argument. As it turned out, it was a very poor choice.
Rainey stood up and looked down at Katie. “That maybe true, but besides the inappropriateness of having a personal relationship with someone you are supposed to be guarding, there is the small matter of your being married to the man, who hired me to protect you.”
“He hired you to protect his career,” Katie spat.
“He loves you, Katie. He was genuinely worried about you,” Rainey argued.
Katie got up and stomped toward the bathroom door. Rainey followed her.
Katie said, over her shoulder, “Oh, please. Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for his act, too?”
“I’ve known JW longer than you. I think I know when he’s playing one of his characters,” Rainey said, defensively.
Katie turned at the door to the bathroom, her expression fierce, “You have no idea who he really is.” She slammed the bathroom door in Rainey’s face.
Wow, Rainey thought. Katie had gone from zero to pissed, in no time, when JW’s name was mentioned. Whatever he had done, Katie was not about to forgive him. Rainey had made the mistake of defending him, one she would not make again. She listened outside the door for a few minutes. No sounds other than Katie mumbling under her breath could be heard. Rainey decided Katie was not coming out, so she went to the armchair and sat down heavily. The range of emotions she had experienced since coming into this room was exhausting.
Rainey had felt the soaring thrill of Katie in her arms, only to crash against the thought of being the cause of Katie losing her life to a
sadistic killer, because Rainey was not paying attention. How could she make Katie understand the responsibility she felt for having left him free to wander amongst them, the guilt that loomed over her for being distracted the first time she had a chance to catch him? It was more powerful than the physical and emotional damage he had done to Rainey.
No matter how Katie felt, Rainey also felt guilty about what she was doing with JW’s wife. Having an affair with a married man or woman was just not something with which Rainey felt comfortable. Rainey was not a cheater. She did not like people who were. The thought that Katie might be just using her, to get back at JW, crossed her mind. It loomed there and then took on a life of its own. Before long Rainey had convinced herself to get up and leave, untangle her life from this dysfunctional chaos.
Katie remained behind the closed bathroom door. Rainey went to the bed, retrieving her Glock and over shirt, which she put on quickly and let herself quietly out of the room. She crossed the hall to the guest room, where she grabbed her overnight bag and took it with her down the stairs. She located her laptop and charger, in the den, and then called Mackie from her cell.
He answered quickly, “What’cha need?”
“Where are you?” she asked.
His bass voice growled out, “Down the block.”
Rainey said, “Were going home.”
“When?” rumbled through her receiver.
RAINEY DAYS Page 15