“The doctor wants to keep you here to monitor you. I’d rather keep you close.”
“Yes,” she said, cutting him off.
“Yes—what?”
“I want to stay with you.”
Travis meant safety. With him, there was no fear, no sense of dread. So long as he was there, everything would be okay.
He’s saved her.
“I’d really rather you stay for observation,” the nurse said.
“A man kidnapped me, took me across state lines, and made me watch while he chopped another man up into bits. I’m not staying here.” Where he could find her.
“Okay.” The nurse sighed and fixed Travis with her stare. “You have her instructions?”
“Right here.” He held up a folder.
“I...don’t have any clothes.” Bliss held the blanket around her a little tighter.
“I have you a bag in the truck. Is it okay if she stays here while I grab it?”
“Certainly. You’re the only thing happening here tonight, thank goodness.” The nurse smiled and breezed out of the ER bay.
Travis turned to follow in the nurses’ wake.
Invisible claws raked at Bliss’ back.
“Travis!”
He turned, his lips pressed into a tight line and his eyes unreadable. She couldn’t deny that he was what made her feel safe and secure.
“I’m going to step out in the hall and give Mason the keys. I’ll be right there. You can see me, okay?”
She nodded, hating the tremor that shook her body, hating the way she needed him, hating Daniel for picking her family out of everyone in Vegas to target.
Travis pushed the curtain aside. Men in suits, uniforms, and nurses milled around. The FBI had shown up at some point, but it was all a blur. He handed the keys off to a guy in jeans and a leather jacket. Mason. He’d mentioned the name before, but the details escaped her.
She was so tired.
But what if she went to sleep and Daniel was there?
“Hey.”
Her eyes snapped open, and she stared at Travis’ chest. She looped her arms around his waist and slid off the table. He eased her to the floor and kept his hold gentle.
Tears pricked her eyes. The damn things wouldn’t stop no matter what she did.
“Hey, you’re safe,” he whispered.
She nodded.
He had to be regretting his choice to stick around right about now, but she couldn’t be more grateful. Not only was Wendy safe because of him, so was she. This nightmare wasn’t over, not until Daniel was caught, but at least she was with the good guys.
“Travis?”
He turned, keeping her behind him. He was so big she couldn’t see around him, but a moment later he tossed a duffle bag she recognized from her apartment on the bed.
“I don’t know what I got, I just grabbed things and tossed them in.” He gestured at the blue bag. “I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“Thanks.”
“Want a moment to get dressed?”
“Sure.” Her knee-jerk reaction was to keep him close, but she couldn’t lean on him forever.
“I’ll be right here, okay?” He stepped past the curtain and pulled it almost closed. Through the narrow gap she could see his back as he stood guard.
Even that separation triggered a twinge of anxiety. She tamped down on the urge to rush to his side and instead opened the bag to see what Travis had brought for her.
She’d need a shower and food, but clothes first.
The bag was stuffed almost to bursting with jeans, workout clothes, her birth control pills, her boots, some flip flops, and random bits of clothes. She pieced together enough of an outfit to be presentable and dressed in jeans, boots, and a thin, long-sleeved shirt she was pretty sure he’d grabbed from her dirty laundry. Mixed into the clothing were other odds and ends. Some of them didn’t make any sense at all, but she appreciated that he’d thought about her needs.
He’d always intended to find her. In Travis’ world, there wasn’t room for failure. Even when she lost faith and thought he wouldn’t come for her—he hadn’t allowed it.
“Bliss?”
The sound of his voice tugged the corners of her lips into a smile.
“I’m ready.” She shoved the clothes and odds and ends into the bag, making sure some things went on bottom.
He pulled the curtain back and crossed to the bedside. He took her bag and slung it over his shoulder, as if that was what he was there for.
“We’ve got a rental ready for us.” His hand settled on the small of her back, and he propelled her out of the ER and into the waiting room. “I’m right here.”
Travis guided her to a waiting SUV and got into the back seat with her. The same man who’d taken the keys earlier sat behind the wheel.
“Mason?” she asked.
“That’s me.” He nodded at her in the rearview mirror.
He couldn’t be much older than her. He lacked the hardness that radiated from Travis, but there were shadows in his eyes. Whatever he’d been through was different, but no less life changing. It was a facet of a person’s character she wasn’t sure she’d ever noticed before, but now she did. Was that because she was different, too? Because Daniel had left his mark on her?
“Hungry?” Travis asked.
“Yeah, that soup they gave me at the hospital is pretty much gone.” Her stomach was making a meal of her spleen.
“I want to drop you two off, and then I’ll go out for food, if that’s okay with you,” Mason interjected.
“Nothing’s open.” Travis sighed.
“There’ll be a grocery store or something open if the restaurants are all closed,” Mason replied.
“It’s Christmas Eve,” Bliss said. She’d known it was just a few days away, but the last few blurred together...and here it was. “Do my parents know I’m okay? What about Wendy?”
“The FBI called them and let them know you were safe. They’ve all been moved to secure locations until the FBI can be sure Daniel isn’t monitoring them.”
“He was watching them?” She stared at Travis’ profile. She wasn’t hungry anymore.
Travis turned his head toward her. For a moment she didn’t think he would answer. “He had your whole family under surveillance. Once Wendy was no longer available to him, he latched onto you. I’m sorry, Bliss.”
She sat in silence, staring at the seat back ahead of her.
Daniel Campbell had cameras in her home. He watched her most private moments. All to what end? To stalk her sister?
Travis’ arm around her tightened, pulling her closer.
“We’re here,” Mason announced.
He pulled the SUV up to a large, two-story log cabin that was probably half the size of Wendy’s home. As such, it qualified as a mini-mansion in her eyes. Several other black vehicles and cop cars sat in the circle drive, and a group of uniformed men hung around the front door.
“Any requests?” Mason turned around and smiled.
“Hot chocolate and more chocolate,” she said.
“Can do.”
She scooted out of the truck with Travis at her back. A couple people turned toward them, and she felt the weight of their gaze.
“Inside,” Travis said for her ears alone.
He didn’t take his hand off her until they crossed through the doors of the cabin. There was more activity here. A lot more. Several groups were going over maps and paper taped to the wall while another group leafed through boxes of...she didn’t want to know.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“The FBI must have gotten back from the scene. I’m guessing they’re coordinating the search for Daniel from here. Come on, let’s find you a room upstairs away from all this. Brooks might want to ask you some questions later.” He propelled her to the wide staircase leading to the second floor.
Travis poked his head in several rooms before whisking a door open and gesturing for her to enter.
She peered into
the rustic room. The wooden walls were rough, while the floors and furniture were modern and smooth. There was a flat screen TV and even a small bathroom with a shower stall.
“This good?” he asked.
“Yeah. Thank you.”
“There will be five agents, Mason, and me staying here. You’re surrounded and completely safe.” He set her bag down on the bed. “Need anything? Clothes?”
“How’s your friend?”
“Ethan?”
“Yeah.”
“He’ll be fine. Bullet nicked a ligament. They want to do surgery to patch it up. He’ll be back up in no time.”
“Oh. Good.” It didn’t sound that minor, but what did she know? “What about...the other guy?”
“Don England.” Travis blew out a breath. “They took him into surgery. Last I heard they’re still going. Sounded like he was stable, and they thought he’d pull through.”
She sat down on the edge of the bed. At least Don would survive.
“What next?” she asked.
“We’ll eat whatever the kid brings back and get some sleep.”
“What about Daniel?”
“The FBI are tracking him.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“If it weren’t for me you’d have caught him already. You’d be looking for him.”
“No, I wouldn’t. I’d have already been on a plane home. Without you, he’d have gone on killing people.” He opened his mouth and closed it. “I’m sorry this happened, Bliss. I should have stopped him. I should have known—”
“You couldn’t have known.” She wrapped her arms around herself.
“I should have. I’d never want this for you, Bliss.” His phone rang, breaking the moment. “I need to take this,” he said after glancing at the screen.
“Go on.” She waved him out of the room.
He looked at her for another moment. Her new skill to see the shadows on a person’s soul didn’t help her to decipher what he wasn’t telling her. He strode out of her room, pulling the door closed behind her.
Bliss sucked in a breath and hugged herself. She was safe, wasn’t she?
7.
Travis stared at the map without seeing it. Every fiber of his body was acutely tuned in to the woman on the sofa.
It was almost midnight. The local law enforcement were either out manning roadblocks or at home with their families, leaving the FBI, Travis, and Mason to keep watch over Bliss and formulate a plan for what came next.
Some of them were keeping a little too close to her.
Connor Mullins barked out a laugh at something Bliss said. Travis couldn’t hear them. Not that he hadn’t tried.
She should be in bed, getting rest, instead of down here with the rest of them. Evidence and case details were everywhere. Why the hell were they subjecting her to this?
Because she was now their best lead.
Knowing the answer didn’t placate him in the least.
He wanted to bundle her up, lock her away, and keep her safe. But wasn’t his involvement what got her here in the first place? If he’d made her stay put and gone in for Wendy on his own, Daniel would have fixated on him. Or split completely.
It was his fault. All of it. Bliss would live the rest of her life with memories she couldn’t scrub away and a darkness no light would ever defeat.
“What is it with these white dudes doing all the really fucked up shit?” Benjamin tossed his notepad onto a table.
“Sure debunks the racial stereotypes, huh? We don’t see a lot of Hispanic or black killers. What do you think the ratio is?” Dmitri asked.
Travis tilted his head, curious about the line of reasoning. He’d never thought of it that way, but the two agents would have a different perspective.
“Ask Jade, she could crunch the numbers in her head. I’m too tired.”
“Okay everyone, get some sleep,” Ryan Brooks announced. “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover in the morning.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Benjamin slapped the folder he’d been poring over down onto the kitchen table and strode after Ryan. The unit chief and communications liaison chatted on their way up the stairs.
“Come on, lass, time to get some shut eye.” Connor pulled Bliss to her feet and pushed her toward the stairs.
Travis wanted to deck the guy.
Didn’t Connor realize the trauma she’d just lived through?
Bliss chuckled and smiled, something he didn’t think she’d have mastery of yet. It just went to show how strong she was.
One by one the agents and Mason trickled up the stairs until it was just Travis and the red-headed woman. Jade. Such a strange name for a woman with red hair.
“You can go up, I’ll turn everything off,” he said over his shoulder.
He wouldn’t sleep much tonight. Not under the same roof with Bliss. He’d intentionally picked the room across from hers. If he couldn’t touch her, hold her, he’d at least be the closest one if something happened.
Jade glanced up from her tablet, one brow arched. Her eyes were those who had seen too much. Things beyond their years. It was a little unsettling, but only because it stirred up old memories.
“Trying to get rid of me?” she asked.
“Just offering.” He shrugged.
“You’ve been staring at the same spot for fifteen minutes. Why don’t you go to bed?”
His neck burned. With all the activity, he’d hoped to fade into the background.
“How’s your sister?” Jade asked.
“Emma?” He turned, taken aback by the question. Why would the agent care about that? “Good, last I talked to her.”
“Is she still seeing that detective?” There was a nonchalant way about her that was too careful, too casual.
“What do you want to know?” He narrowed his gaze, studying her. She was younger than the rest, late twenties if he had to guess, yet she dressed in clothes that could have been taken out of Connor’s suitcase instead of her own.
Jade sighed and set the tablet on the arm rest.
“Curiosity. They were under surveillance for a while because there was a remote, very tiny chance they were the copycat. Or one of them was. Before Lali pulled the plug monitoring them, Jacob made a conspicuous purchase.”
“What did he buy?” He curled his hands into fists. Emma was still his sister; if that cop did anything wrong, he’d have to answer to Travis first.
“He bought an engagement ring. Or at least that’s our guess.”
Travis stared at her. Emma, getting engaged?
“I’ll be damned.” He crossed to the sofa where Bliss and Connor had recently been seated and sank down onto the cushions.
“It’s none of my business, I know. I just...I can empathize with what it’s like to grow up with a certain heritage. Seeing Emma and Jacob together it was...I mean...” She shrugged.
“It doesn’t happen to all of us, you mean?”
Jade nodded.
Travis stared at her. Jade was bookish, shy, introverted, and extremely intelligent. He could tell that much just from looking at her. It was in the way she held herself apart from the others, how her focus went past people to the problem at hand. And yet, she was cute. Pretty. But she didn’t interest him like Bliss.
“What’s your story?” Travis asked.
“My parents were a serial killer team. They used me as bait to lure people away from groups, grabbed them, and killed them after inflicting sexual and physical torture.”
“Jesus Christ. Please tell me they’re dead?”
“They’re in prison.” She said it all so matter-of-factly, as if it didn’t touch her. As if it were just a list of details to be recited. “Travis?”
“Yeah?” His head was still reeling from the list of wrongs in a few short sentences.
“Bliss.”
His spine straightened and everything else ceased to matter.
“What about her?” he asked.
“She’s
like us now. You seem to have built a connection with her. She’s going to need someone who understands her.”
“Connor seemed to be handling her pretty well.”
“Connor has a gift for making people like him. Talk to him. But she never answered any of his questions. She avoided them.”
“Wait, he was trying to make her talk?”
“Yes. I thought it was obvious. He was doing the talking, I was supposed to take notes on anything she said. We got nothing. She’s completely closed off.”
“Her brother-in-law’ll get her a doctor or something.” Travis would make sure of that. Wendy wasn’t the only one who needed care. The man had enough money to help Bliss out, that was for sure. He pushed to his feet. “I’m headed for bed.”
“Don’t discount yourself, Travis. Not all of us are beyond redemption.”
“Lady, you don’t know the things I’ve done.”
“I probably have a list somewhere.”
Jade didn’t know him. He wasn’t Emma. There wasn’t hope for more than what he had now. And Bliss was better off without him. The sooner the better.
He turned and stalked toward the stairs. Jade didn’t say anything else, just let him go. His feet thumped on the wooden boards. He wasn’t tired yet, but neither should he be allowed to mingle with the others. A couple hours cooling his heels and clearing his head could be the trick.
The light under Bliss’ door was off, and the hall was dark. He considered checking on her, but if she was already asleep the last thing he wanted to do was disturb her. Besides, Connor had probably tucked her in.
He pushed the door open to his room and stepped inside.
“What are you doing here?” he said before he could reconsider his words.
Bliss sat on his bed, her knees drawn up to her chest and the bedside lamp on. He closed the door behind him, more to keep the others from waking up.
“I couldn’t sleep,” she said.
“Did you try?”
“Yes.”
“You know you’re safe here? There’s two patrol cars outside, and you’ve got a whole team of people that will protect you.” Not to mention Travis would die before he let anything bad happen to her again.
“That’s...nice.” And yet everything about her posture, the way she wouldn’t look directly at him, and the cant of her shoulders telegraphed unease.
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