Or…unless it was Kelly. She might have gotten some information about Cole already.
She dashed to the phone and snatched it up, answering with a breathless, "Hello."
#
Andi hadn't listened more than a few seconds to whoever called when alarm blanched across her face. Cole rose from the couch, the hairs on the back his neck prickling.
"Thanks for the warning, John," she said and hung up.
"Warning about what?"
She met his gaze, mouth drawn. "I asked some of the neighbors to keep an eye out for Harley or any odd vehicles hanging around the area."
"And?"
She opened the front door, stepped out on the porch, and faced the highway. "John Joki said he just saw Harley cruise by headed this way."
Cole stopped on the threshold behind her, Tuff Stuff slipping past him to her master's side.
"John said his wife thinks she saw Harley drive by twice earlier today," Andi said. "John thought he saw Harley drive by yesterday, too."
"After the cop visit?" he stated more than asked.
"Yeah. Harley likes to listen to police scanners."
"So he probably heard about Officer Tommy's visit."
"Who knows how many times he might have driven past that no one saw him?" she said, her voice tight. "What I particularly don't like about this trip is John said Harley has a passenger with him, which his wife said he didn't earlier."
Cole's gut churned. The guys who'd tried to kill him would come here, to Andi's home, because of him. He'd brought danger to her and he had to keep her safe—couldn't fail another.
Another. The word rose from the mire of his locked brain. But before he could explore who he'd failed in the past, Andi spoke.
"There! Coming around the corner. The beater truck slowing down. Get back where they can't see you."
The truck rumbled past. Growling and hackles raised, Tuff Stuff stalked to the end of the porch.
Andi stepped back into the cabin and closed the door, her voice tight. "They're definitely checking out the cabin."
His mind automatically sorting through their options, Cole said, "You can't leave me at the camp now."
She hugged her arms around herself and shook her head. "Right. If they see us heading that way, if they see the smoke, they'll come for you."
She went to the phone and picked up the receiver.
"What are you doing?" he asked, following her.
"Calling Kelly to come get you."
Couldn't fail another.
Cole took the receiver from Andi's hand and hung it up. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he turned her to face him.
"If Harley and his cohort think I'm here, there's no way I'm leaving you alone."
She shivered. "If they find you here, they'll finish their job. They'll kill you. You have to leave."
From the mire of his memories, a pistol appeared pointed at him, a flash exploding from its barrel. He had a sense he wasn't alone on the wrong end of that barrel—a sense whoever had been seated beside him he'd failed to protect.
He couldn't remember the details of that failure. But there was no way he would fail Andi.
"And if I'm not here," he said, his fingers tightening on her shoulders, "what do you think they'll do to you?"
Though a chilling dread seeped from her body into his, she insisted, "I can take care of myself."
"I know you can," he said, wanting to wrap her in his arms and protect her. "But you don't have to. Not this time."
"Cole, please. You need protecting and the cops are your best bet."
He rubbed her shoulders. "You're cold as ice."
"That's the least of our problems right now," she countered.
He stepped away—retrieved her quilted vest from the mudroom, slipped it on her, and pulled her close. "I won't leave you to face the men who want to kill me. Don't argue with me. There's something inside me—something telling me I have to stay with you."
"Kelly can help us," she said, her eyes pleading up at him.
He considered her plea a moment before loosening his grip on her. "Okay. Call Kelly. But tell her only that those guys who tried to pass themselves off as FBI are back."
"But—"
He looked her hard in the eye. "If I'm wanted for anything, she'll have to take me in, and I won't let her or anyone else take me away from you. Not now."
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Most folks had caller ID these days, so Andi wasn't surprised Kelly answered her phone with, "I was just about to call you."
Given the enthusiasm in Kelly's voice, Andi cautiously asked, "About what?"
"You mean about who," Kelly said, an officious note seeping into her tone.
"What about him?" Andi asked, acutely aware of Cole's tense presence at her side.
"There're some people real happy to hear he's alive and well. Real eager to see him, too. You wouldn't happen to know where they might find him, would you, Andi?"
She didn't know what to think. People who wanted to help him? People who wanted to put him away? People who wanted to kill him? The possibilities, good or bad, drained away what body heat she had left.
"You sure these people are on the up and up, Kelly? Because the reason I called you is Harley and his fake FBI buddy just drove past my cabin real slow, checking the place out."
There was a second of silence on the other end of the line followed by a far less jubilant sounding Kelly. "Why is it Cole doesn't know he'd be safe coming to the police?"
Now it was Andi's turn to hesitate while she composed what to say, her gaze grazing Cole's questioning eyes before she answered. "Could be he doesn't remember anything."
Cole shifted into her line of sight, giving her a questioning frown.
"That would explain a lot," Kelly said, following up with a question that left no room for any evasion other than lying. "Is Cole there at the cabin with you?"
Andi met Cole's gaze, held it, silently pled for him to trust her as she answered, "If he were here, you need to know he won't leave with you."
"There's no reason he has to, Andi."
"Meaning there's no arrest warrants out for him?"
Cole exhaled a long breath.
Kelly's sigh was audible in Andi's ear. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone this, but you'll know it all soon enough. Cole is an undercover cop."
Undercover cop.
The two words slammed into Andi, knocking the wind from her, wheeling her away from Cole. She was the daughter of an alcoholic, wife-beating, child-abusing, cop-hating, wildlife- poaching thief. The sister of a drug-addicted, cop-hating, thieving murderer.
She was a poacher herself who distrusted cops and she'd gone and fallen in love with one. She braced a hand against the wall to keep herself upright.
"He was working a local drug ring," Kelly said.
Cole appeared at her elbow, mouthing, "What?"
She mouthed, "Okay," back at him.
And it was okay, for him. But for her…
She wasn't sure what it would mean when it all came out.
"Andi, is he with you?" Kelly asked.
"Is he with me?" she repeated for Cole's sake, eyes locked on his, deliberation flicking across his before he nodded.
"Yes," Andi said.
"Okay," Kelly said. "I need you to lock your place down. Don't leave. Cole's boss is on his way from Marquette. I'm leaving my house as soon as I hang up and can get to you within fifteen minutes. Don't open the door to anyone you don't know."
"Got it."
#
"What's the deal?" Cole asked, not liking the ashen shade of Andi's skin.
Then she began to laugh. "You're an uncover cop. A NARC."
Oddly, that felt right to him. Maybe because it explained the calluses on his trigger finger, the ease with which he'd accepted Andi's precautionary security, and his tendency toward paranoia. Though any memories of the job still remained beyond his reach.
"And you find this funny why?"
"I don't tru
st cops."
He gathered her into his arms, chuckling himself as he kissed her hair above her ear. "So I got myself a poacher and an illegal seller of pasties."
"I don't sell pasties. I trade them."
"I notice you didn't deny the poaching accusation."
"At least I didn't aid and abet a criminal."
He sighed, hugging her against his chest. "So, what's happening?"
"Kelly's on her way here, but she's about fifteen minutes away. Your boss is on his way from Marquette, but that puts him even farther away. Kelly will probably alert the State Police, but who knows how scattered the patrols are?"
He craned his head back, looked her in the eye. "I still won't leave here, not without you."
She blinked away from him. "There's something I have to tell you—show you—that might change your mind."
"There's nothing that'll make me leave you unprotected," he said.
"No. You're too honorable a man. But I'm not as honest as you." She tucked her head into the slope of his neck and hugged him like it was the last time she'd ever hold him. What secret could she have that made her fear he'd reject her?
"Meanwhile," she murmured against his neck, "we're to stay put and lock ourselves in."
A woof sounded from the lakeside of the cabin.
Andi pulled back from Cole. "Tuff is still outside."
"I'll let her in," he said.
But Andi was already across the room, heading into the mudroom.
"Check things out before opening the door," he called, trailing her.
What answered was a door slamming back against the wall and Andi's yelp.
Cole charged the back entry, his gun drawn. The brightness of the setting sun across the frozen lake momentarily blinded him. But, when his focus cleared on the bird-like guy wearing a fedora, Andi held in front of him by the hair with a gun pointed at her head, his blood ran cold.
"Drop the gun, Cole," the man said.
"I'm sorry," Andi said. "The sunlight…"
"Blinded you," Cole said, seeing the fear in her wide eyes, wanting—needing to reassure her he wasn't blaming her. Not when she had a gun to her head… like the day when her older brother had held her hostage…the day her baby brother had been shot to death.
Slowly, Cole lowered his gun to the floor, his mind scanning for any weakness his adversary offered him.
"Now back away from the gun," the man said, duck-walking Andi toward him as Cole backed through the living area, Harley shuffling in behind them and closing the door.
Cole was between the desk and the kitchen table, when the guy wearing the fedora ordered, "Now down on your knees, hands behind your head."
Cautiously, Cole followed the man's orders, noting Harley, who moved around the far end of the couch so he stood on the kitchen side of the living space, also held a gun. They had him covered from two angles. Not good. But not impossible odds…unless you add in a hostage.
If he could get Kelly out of that guy's hands, he could save her. Fainting was a hostage's best tool. Become dead weight. Even if the criminal managed to keep his hostage upright, the sag of dead weight often gave a sniper a clean head shot. But there was no sniper here.
Still, if he could convey to Andi that she should pretend to faint, it might create enough distraction for him to dive into her captor and lay them out on the floor before either he or Harley could react. He could at least cover her until she escaped…even if it cost him his life.
He eyed Harley, noted the shake of his gun hand. This wasn't a guy used to killing people. He'd likely hesitate before pulling the trigger. Hopefully, long enough for Cole to make his move and get his or Taggert's gun.
Taggert. That was the bird-like guy's name. He remembered.
Taggert snorted. "I shot you and you fell off a bluff. Who'd have thought you'd have survived all that?"
Cole looked into Kelly's eyes, intent on communicating his plan with his eyes. But her fear had shifted to regret and he feared she'd given up—that she was already blaming herself for costing them—him his life…like she had blamed herself for her baby brother's death.
To save her life was one thing. To save her from a lifetime of guilt, he was also going to have to save himself as well.
"But stranger things have happened," Taggert said. "What I really don't get is why you chose to hide out here with this tough chick rather than report in with the ATF, unless you're afraid they got a mole and that's how I figured out you were an undercover cop?"
Okay. Plan B.
Delay things long enough for help to arrive. Kelly would be here in less than fifteen minutes, maybe a cop sooner. Hopefully, she—he—wouldn't walk into this mess alone. Hopefully, whoever showed up first would check things out before charging in. Or maybe they'd knock. Cole's mind automatically ran through the possibilities that distraction offered him while he continued with his delaying tactics.
"I've got amnesia," he said.
"Don't mess with me," Taggert said.
"Must have hit my head when I fell off the bluff."
Taggert laughed. "You more like dove off than fell. I wouldn't have given you a ten for style, but it did the trick. You disappeared. Harley and me couldn't even see you when we looked over the edge."
"He had a bad bump on his head when I found him," Andi added.
Taggert's eyes flicked at Andi. Had Cole been on his feet, he might have been able to move fast enough to grab Taggert's gun arm and get it away from Andi's head.
The guy's gaze quickly fixed back on him.
Or maybe not.
Cole nodded toward Harley. "You should have had your guy climb down the bluff and check on me. He'd probably have found me unconscious and you could have finished the job right then and there."
Taggert gave Harley a dark glance.
"If you'd driven in on an access road below the bluff," Andi said, seeming to have picked up on his delaying tactic, "you'd probably have picked up his blood trail. He left one all the way to the camp where I found him."
This time, Harley got a curled lip along with the dark glance from his boss.
"Look," Cole said, lying—gambling that if he could get Taggert to free Andi he could still save them both. "I don't remember you. I don't know who you are. I don't know what my business is with you. So I sure didn't tell her anything about you." He thrust his chin toward Andi. "Let her go. We can keep this thing between you and me."
"Cole, no," she cried out.
Taggert nodded toward Harley. "She knows him."
Cole couldn't see his watch to know how much time had passed since the call to Kelly. Not enough, he was sure. He needed another delaying topic.
"So, is there a mole in the ATF?" Cole asked.
Taggert laughed. "Not that I'm aware of."
"So how'd you make me?"
Taggert tsked. "Cole, Cole, Cole. Don't you know once an undercover cop's face makes the front page of The Chicago Times, he's done?"
An image flashed behind Cole's eyes, a picture imbedded in newsprint. Two pictures, actually. One of him and the other of a woman who looked…familiar.
"What was the agency thinking, putting you back into field work after all that publicity surrounding the shooting of you and your wife?" Taggert stated more than asked.
Wife. The word hit him like a punch to the gut and all the air went out of him.
#
Andi closed her eyes. Just as she'd feared all along. The ring on the chain was a wedding band. Cole had a wife.
"I'll be damned," Taggert said. "You really don't remember anything, do you?"
Much as she didn't want to face Cole now that he must be remembering, Fedora Guy's taunt reminded her of the danger they were both in, danger she'd put them in by opening the door before letting her eyes adjust to the bright light. She looked at Cole. He was pale, his chest rising and falling. When he found out she'd seduced him knowing about his wedding ring…if they lived through this.
Don't think about the ring now.
Now was about figuring how to get out of the line of fire when the proverbial cavalry showed up. Now was about keeping themselves alive until help arrived.
She glanced at the clock above the sink. It'd been over twenty minutes since she'd talked to Kelly. She should have been here by now. Someone should have been here by now. Time was running out. And…
She needed Fedora Guy to let her go to Cole so Cole could get the gun from the back of her jeans…just in case they had to get themselves out of this on their own. Thank goodness the quilted vest Cole had put on her was enough padding to keep Fedora Guy from feeling the gun tucked in her waistband.
"I feel sick," she said, letting her knees wobble, ignoring the painful bite of her hair tugging at her scalp as she sagged against Fedora Guy's grip.
It was worth the pain as he flung her at Cole. She hit the floor and scrambled close to Cole's side, whispering, "My gun."
He must have been thinking the same thing as her as his hand was already moving down her back behind the cover of her body.
Fedora Guy took a step closer. "Now I see what the appeal to hiding out with her was."
As Cole lifted the gun from under her vest, she whispered in his ear, "I love you."
He bumped his forehead against hers in answer.
Fedora Guy frowned and stepped even closer, the barrel of his gun pointed at Cole's head. "Time to finish this."
Cole brushed his lips across hers and whispered, "Hit the deck."
The explosion of gunfire sounded before her belly even hit the floor. Who got the first shot off, she didn't know until she saw Fedora Guy's gun skid across the floor between her and the couch.
She went for the gun, catching the swing of Cole's body in Harley's direction as she rolled. The explosion of a second gunshot louder than she expected, she glanced back to see who'd fired only to see Harley hit Cole in the temple with his gun.
Cole went down. It was enough of a distraction that Fedora Guy got his hand on the gun first. She grabbed his wrist, swung her body around, and kicked at the blood blossoming across his shoulder.
He screamed and released the gun. She scrambled to her feet, swinging the gun toward Harley. But he and Cole were rolling on the floor. She had no clear shot. And she still had Fedora Guy to deal with.
She swung the gun back at him, shouting for him to stay on the floor.
Saving Andi: St. John Sibling Series: FRIENDS Page 14