Deadline (Love Inspired Suspense)

by Maggie K. Black

  “Well, Ms. P.I. lady, I’m impressed.”

  “You should be.” Then she turned the gun toward him.

  “Whoa.” He lifted up his right hand at her while keeping his left on the wheel. “Just put that thing away.”

  Her hand was steady. “I have no reason to use this on you. But I’m not being taken in for questioning. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “I never accused you of anything,” he said with a raised voice. She watched as his hands tightened on the wheel.

  “Take me downtown. Let me out and drive away. It’s that simple.”

  “You’re crazy, ma’am.”

  “No. But I’m the one with the gun right now, so I hope you don’t try anything crazy.”

  “You’re hiding something.”

  “It’s none of your concern. Just act like you never saw me tonight.”

  “You know that’s not possible. I’ll have to write up this whole thing.”

  “Be creative,” she countered. “Now let’s get downtown. And don’t try anything because I’d really hate to shoot you.”

  He let out a deep breath but started driving toward town as she directed. Good, she thought. She doubted that he’d let her go indefinitely. But she needed to get away and deal with this problem on her own terms. That meant not being taken in for questioning by the FBI tonight. She needed time.

  When they reached the more crowded streets of downtown El Paso, she was ready to get away from him. “Slow down. Let me out. And keep on driving. Do you hear me?”

  “Yes,” he said in an even voice.

  “Good.”

  He did as she asked and slowed down. She never took the gun off of him as she opened the door slowly. With the light from the streets flooding in, she could see his eyes were light blue. And questioning. “Just pretend I was never here. For your own good and mine too, okay?”

  She couldn’t shake the thought that she’d seen him before. She backed out of the Jeep, and he didn’t say anything in response. She slammed the door shut, and he pulled away. She didn’t waste any time weaving her way through the Saturday night crowd.

  She was safe for now, but she had no doubt. The FBI guy would find her, and when he did, she’d be in a ton of trouble.

  * * *

  Kip Moore had a job to do. He actually had several. In addition to bringing down the branch of the Vladimir network that had popped up in Texas, he had to find the infuriating P.I. who had the nerve to draw a gun on him.

  He didn’t know whether to be impressed or insulted. She might have been small, but someone had taught her how to shoot—and to shoot well. There were only so many P.I.’s in El Paso, so tracking her down wasn’t difficult. His P.I. lady was in truth, Sadie Lane of The Lane Group.

  He needed to figure out her connection to the Vladimir network and his investigation. He was going to offer to bring her in as a consultant on the case. It would be the perfect way to find out what she was up to. He was currently on his way to pay her a visit. Turned out her office was on the outskirts of downtown not too far from where he’d let her out on Saturday night. It was part of a larger row of nondescript offices, and he read the sign outside her door confirming he was in the right place.

  He was prepared for just about anything when he walked through the door, but he wasn’t expecting to stare down the barrel of her gun yet again. He couldn’t help but smile. “We can’t keep meeting like this.”

  “Didn’t I tell you to leave me alone?”

  “Yes, ma’am, you did. But it wasn’t very polite of you to draw your gun on me the other night after I helped get you out of that mess in the woods.”

  “I told you I wasn’t planning on using it. And I was more than capable of getting out of ‘that mess’ as you call it, all on my own. If you haven’t noticed, I’m pretty good with my gun.”

  He laughed and looked at her closely. In broad daylight, she was even prettier than he’d noticed Saturday night. She wore dark jeans and a simple navy T-shirt. Her long brown hair hung loose down past her shoulders. Unlike so many women, she didn’t have makeup caked on her face. That was a plus. But it wasn’t like he had any time to date. Even more so, he didn’t have any business dating. Not right now, maybe not ever again. He quickly pushed those thoughts away.

  “Why don’t you just lower the gun so we can talk without threats?”

  “And why would I do that? You’d have yours pulled on me in less than a second.”

  “You are a smart lady, Ms. Lane.”

  She raised her eyebrow at him, and her dark chocolate eyes narrowed in disapproval.

  “I’m Special Agent Kip Moore with the FBI. You can just call me Kip.”

  “Agent Moore,” she said, as she held her head high. “I have work to do. I don’t have time for baseless FBI inquiries right now.”

  “I’m sorry, Ms. Lane, but if you don’t talk to me now, I’m going to come back and hound you every day until you do.”

  She scrunched up her nose, and he could tell that she was thinking of how to play things.

  “What do you want from me?” she asked.

  “Answers.”

  “I told you on Saturday night why I was there. I was searching for a missing teenager named Megan Milton. I don’t see that there could be anything else for us to discuss.”

  “We didn’t find evidence of any missing teenager in the woods.”

  “I went on a lead. You have to understand that when a child is missing, every lead must be checked out.”

  He was skeptical but was letting it go for now. She was holding back on him. “All right. I can understand that.”

  “Good, so now we’re done.”

  He put up his hands. “Not so fast. Could you please lower your weapon now? I promise I won’t draw mine on you. You have my word.”

  Her lips turned up into a smile and amusement flashed through her eyes. “I don’t even know you, Agent Moore.”

  “I’m a federal agent.”

  The room fell silent. After a few moments, she looked him directly in the eyes. “I would be a fool to take your word on anything.”

  She was frustrating. Even more so because she had a point. “Okay, can I at least have a seat while I talk?”

  She nodded. “That’s fine.”

  He took a seat across from her desk in a comfortable chair, and took a moment to gather his thoughts. “First, things first. Here’s my FBI identification.” He removed his credentials from his pocket and slid them across the table. She picked up the ID with her left hand, still holding the gun in her right. After studying it for a minute, she nodded.

  What was the best way to get through to her? “I need to know what you saw in the woods Saturday night. Take me through it step by step.”

  She opened her mouth to speak, but he lifted his hand. “And before you say you didn’t see anything, remember that I know you had on night vision goggles. Looked like military grade if you ask me. And since I was in the military, ma’am, I’m quite familiar with how they work. So I know you could see and that you saw something.”

  She sighed. “Could I see, yes. Did I see anything? No. I heard a lot of noises, but I never got visual on anything other than some FBI guys. And then you.”

  He nodded. Was she telling him everything? “Why don’t you let me buy you lunch and see if anything more comes back to you?”

  “It won’t,” she responded quickly.

  Too quickly. Maybe he needed to provide her with an incentive to get involved. “I’d like to be able to tell you more about the investigation in hopes that you could assist us.”

  “Assist the FBI?” she asked.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She did that scrunching thing with her nose again and didn’t seem to be too enthused. Maybe he’d made the wrong move. He’d
thought she’d be intrigued by the prospect of working with the FBI, but it seemed now that was not the case.

  “I’ll have to pass.” She visibly relaxed and set the gun in front of her on the desk.

  “Even if it involves working on a high profile case? Taking down some Russian mob types from New York that have shown up in El Paso?”

  He watched as her eyes widened and the color drained from her face. Then she tipped over in her chair. He was by her side in a few steps. The woman had passed out on him. He really had his hands full now.

  * * *

  “Sadie, are you okay?” a deep voice asked. She must be dreaming. Igor’s grimy face flashed through her mind—his ice-cold blue eyes mocking her. Igor could find her. Hunt her down. He was close. So close. She was in danger. She felt strong arms propping her up. She knew the voice from somewhere but couldn’t place it. Then at that moment it came rushing back to her. Her eyes popped open, and her heartbeat raced. She tried to reach for her gun.

  “It’s okay, it’s Kip. Sadie, you with me? Have you eaten today?”

  She couldn’t process this. She’d been camped out for two weeks waiting to get a glimpse of Igor coming out of the five-star downtown hotel, but she’d never seen him. Her worst fear, confirmed. The Vladimir network was expanding to El Paso. And the FBI was on the trail. She couldn’t let this Kip guy know the truth. She knew Igor could be in El Paso, but hearing the words brought about a visceral reaction within her.

  “Sorry. I haven’t eaten. Sometimes I get a little queasy, low blood sugar and all.” She was hypoglycemic, but her reaction was spurred by something much more sinister.

  He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a protein bar. “Here, eat this.” His light blue eyes flashed with concern.

  “Thanks,” she muttered. This was it. She wasn’t safe here any longer. She’d been tracking Vladimir’s network closely, well, as close as possible, but hadn’t been sure Igor was in the area. Parts of his crew, but not Igor himself. She had known all about his continued operations in New York. The human-trafficking ring that spread up to Canada. As she suspected, his next move had to be expanding into Mexico. But now she had to focus, she had to pull herself together, and quickly. She took a couple of bites of the protein bar as Kip sat silently watching her eat.

  “You feeling any better?” he asked.

  “Yeah. Where were we?” She needed more information from him to determine whether her initial research was accurate. And while she’d never trust the FBI after what they let happen to her family, she needed Kip’s knowledge right now.

  “I was saying that we could use your help in the investigation involving a Russian crime syndicate. It’s actually a family business of sorts that started in New York. They’ve sprung up a satellite office down here, so to speak. Human trafficking over the border.”

  “And where do I come into this?” She wanted to close her eyes and pray that there was no way he knew about her past with the Vladimir family. He couldn’t. That person no longer existed.

  “I saw you in action on Saturday. You’re good. I also think you know more than you’re letting on. So I was hoping you could consult on the investigation with us.”

  “You don’t even know me.”

  “I’ve seen enough. And of course, I had the FBI run a background check on you.”

  Thankfully, her history before joining Witness Protection was in a sealed file that wouldn’t even show up on his search. Add on to that the additional Witness Protection security protocols. But still she wouldn’t put anything past the FBI. Igor Vladimir may have pulled the trigger and killed both her parents, but it was the FBI’s fault that he had been in her house in the first place.

  “So what do you propose?”

  “Lunch.” He smiled.

  “Not happening,” she said. She wanted more information, but she needed to do it her way.

  “Coffee?”

  “Possibly. I wasn’t lying. It’s Monday morning. I’ve been busy catching up on things with more ground to cover. We can set something up for later today if you’re really serious.”

  “I am. And I can work with your schedule.”

  “Meet me back here at two,” she said. That would give her enough time to do some digging.

  “All right.” He turned and walked to the door, then looked over his shoulder. “Please don’t draw the gun on me again.” He winked and stepped outside.

  She needed to drink some water and clear her head. The room felt like it was closing in on her. Her panic attacks had gotten better, but at times like these they threatened to claim her again. She couldn’t believe she’d passed out earlier. That was dangerous. Super dangerous. She knew the information she’d been given about Igor was probably true, but hearing it out of Kip’s mouth had still been a shock. She was smart enough to know this Kip Moore wasn’t one of the FBI agents responsible for her parents’ death, but the fact he was still a part of the Bureau made her uneasy.

  She laughed to herself. Work with the FBI? Really? She despised the FBI’s bureaucratic maze for failing her parents, and rightfully so. However, it would seem that she needed to work with them now to get what she ultimately wanted. Justice. She’d been working toward this goal for years on her own. Going against the shadowy Vladimir network in any small way she could. This, though, could provide her an opportunity to deal them a huge blow. Her two greatest enemies. Could she work with one to take down the other?

  Copyright © 2014 by Rachel Saloom

  ISBN-13: 9781460337554

  DEADLINE

  Copyright © 2014 by Mags Storey

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