She wouldn’t let Kyle’s intimations worm their way into her mind.
She’d gotten over Jason a long time ago. She’d had to. She wasn’t a moonstruck teenager. Her emotions wouldn’t get away from her again.
When she returned to the living room, Jason and Kyle hovered over the laptop. “Here they come.” Kyle pointed to a small box on the far right of his screen. “Want me to open the gate from here?”
“Sure.”
Jason looked like a kid getting ready to go to an amusement park. Not like a grown man heading into an unknown and potentially deadly situation.
How could he be looking forward to this?
When the doorbell rang, she forced her feet to stay still. Jason was right. The officer who stepped through her door could easily pass for a teenager. He didn’t mess around. He placed the pizza box on the table and slid out of the jacket and hat he was wearing. When he started unbuttoning his shirt, Caroline looked away.
What was he doing?
The sound of Velcro straps being pulled apart drew her attention back.
A bulletproof vest.
Panic enveloped her. Oh, God, please don’t let anything happen to Jason.
Where had that come from? Did she really think He’d let her keep anything she loved?
She watched in mute fascination as Jason secured the vest over his shirt, then pulled the jacket and hat on. Up close, the disguise was thin, but in the dark, from a distance, it might work.
Might.
What had she done?
He could be shot the second he stepped through the door.
The young officer walked over to where Kyle sat, both of them now engrossed in the images on the screen.
Kyle looked at Jason. “Be careful out there, Drake.” He patted the arsenal of weapons that now surrounded him. “We’ll keep them safe.”
“Thanks, man.”
He moved toward the front door.
She lost her battle with her feet. “Jason.” She fought to keep her voice steady. “Please be careful.”
She expected him to wink at her. Throw a quick grin her way and skip out the door.
Instead, he turned, his eyes boring into hers. He closed the distance between them in half a breath, and before her mind caught up with what was happening, his lips crashed into hers.
Their meeting was brief but fierce.
She didn’t even consider pushing him away. He released her far too soon and pressed his forehead to hers, his chest heaving. “Just in case,” he whispered. Then he was gone.
TWELVE
The cool of the evening air smacked Jason’s overheated skin.
What had he just done?
That… That…
That was awesome.
He’d deal with the repercussions later.
Head in the game, Drake.
He got into the car, slid behind the driver’s seat and eased his way down the driveway. “You okay?” he asked the young officer folded up like origami in the passenger seat.
“Yeah.” The guy laughed. “The others are waiting for you past the turnoff to the senior Harrisons’ house. Stop there.”
“Thanks, man.”
When they reached the designated spot, Jason threw the car into Park and darted from the car. The officer had it back in gear and rolling down the driveway in seconds. Hopefully no one noticed the brief delay.
How he wished there’d been a way to get wired into Richards up at the house. They were flying mostly blind. Richards had his cell number, but he would use it only in an emergency. Couldn’t risk giving away his position.
He glanced around as he joined Michael and the other officers. Tomorrow, Richards was going to point out every camera on the property. For now, he had to hope Richards could see them.
He stripped out of the brightly colored pizza delivery guy costume and pulled on the tactical jacket Michael handed him.
They conferred in whispers for a few moments before heading out. The plan was to come at the guy from behind. If he ran, they would have a few officers forming a perimeter.
They didn’t have enough people to prevent him from making an escape if he knew the property well, but it was the best they could do on such short notice.
The officers followed him. He wasn’t the most senior officer at the scene, but he could only assume Michael had told them that he’d practically grown up on this mountain. He and Caroline had roamed every inch of this place as kids.
He tried to go on instinct. To let the muscle memory take over and lead him on the easiest path to their destination.
It worked…for the most part. He’d forgotten about that random bamboo stand until they were on top of it and had to go around it. But at least he’d known which direction to go to bypass it.
He lifted a closed fist, and everyone stopped moving. If their target hadn’t moved, he should be a few hundred yards ahead, up in a pine. Hopefully facing the house and not expecting anyone to be coming from behind in the dark woods.
A crashing branch split the night air. It came from the opposite direction from where they’d paused. Was it one of the other officers? Was it their bad guy?
Or was it nothing more than a tree branch that fell to the forest floor by itself?
There was no way to know at the moment.
He pulled out his night vision binoculars and scanned the trees.
Yes. There.
He removed the binoculars and shielded his phone under his jacket to check the screen. Richards had texted him. No changes. No motion that was unaccounted for.
This guy seemed to be alone.
Not that being alone was the same as being harmless. He was probably the one who had broken into Caroline’s home, tampered with her water heater, taken a shot at her and Henry, and maybe even the one who put the fire ants in Jason’s car.
On his signal, one officer moved to his left. Michael was on his right, and another officer took a position fifty feet to Michael’s right.
They closed in on the trespasser. With the night vision goggles, he could see they all had their weapons trained on the intruder.
He and Michael continued to approach. They were within twenty feet when the guy jerked to a standing position and turned in their direction. He and Michael had both settled in behind large pines. In the darkness, it would be hard to make out their positions if you didn’t know where to look.
Time for action. Father, protect us.
“You’re surrounded.” He didn’t yell. The guy could hear him easily in the stillness of the night, and he wanted this to go smoothly. “Keep your hands where we can see them and climb down from the tree.”
His pulse pounded in his ears while he waited. “Come on, man,” he said. “This can end right now. No one needs to get hurt tonight.”
Was his hand—
“Gun!” The cry came from both sides. Before he could react, an arm shot out.
“Grenade!”
There wasn’t time to question whether it was a genuine grenade or a flash bang. Jason ripped the night vision goggles off and caught a blur of motion as their target threw himself to the ground. The guy was making a run for it!
An explosion rocked the mountainside. Quickly followed by another. Jason’s ears rang, but he was otherwise unharmed. He rose, crouching behind a tree.
Had the intruder had time to flee? Had he gotten through their pitiful defense in the confusion?
A yell. A shot!
He ran in the direction of the sound. The most important thing now was to be sure no one on his team accidentally hurt anyone through friendly fire. Running around in the dark with loaded weapons was a dangerous way to spend the evening.
He paused behind a tree. The intruder must have night vision goggles. He could be anywhere. Where would he have gone? Think, Drake. Think.
He pulled in a few steadying breaths.
Ah. Yes.
He darted from tree to tree, not in a straight line, but zigzagging his way in the direction of the bamboo. If
their target was there, he’d need to sneak up on him. The last thing he wanted was for the guy to start lobbing grenades at them again.
Who did that? Grenades?
He waited. Seconds felt like hours as he scanned the edge of the bamboo. All he could do was hope Richards could see him and would communicate with his men.
Why hadn’t they figured out a better plan for what to do if the whole thing blew up in their faces?
He knew why. Limited resources. Even more limited time.
Still, there was nothing quite like planning an operation that turns into a complete bust, all while you’ve got an FBI agent watching your every move.
He hated looking like an idiot.
Hated looking like an idiot in front of the FBI even more. Especially that particular FBI agent.
He didn’t even want to think about what Kyle would be saying to Caroline right now. Probably giving her a breakdown of every way Jason had mangled this evening’s adventure and how he would have done it differently, better.
Head in the game, Drake. Focus.
Five minutes later, he saw it. Years ago, there’d been a narrow path in the bamboo. Jason hadn’t bothered looking for it on their way in. It wouldn’t have been wide enough for the group of them to move through silently. But one man could do it. Especially if he knew it was there.
If this guy knew the path, he’d been spending a lot of time on this mountain.
It was time for him to tell them why.
Jason made his way around the perimeter of the bamboo. There it was. The opening. If their perp was in that bamboo, he’d have to come out from there.
He didn’t have to wait long. In the darkness, the intruder darted from the bamboo, straight to a tree. He crouched behind it.
Jason didn’t have time to plan his next move. He stepped to the other side of the tree and aimed his weapon. “You move your arms anywhere but straight up, and I’ll drop you.”
Slowly, both arms stretched into the night sky.
Jason held his position.
“Michael?”
“Right behind you.”
Michael’s voice came from behind him and to the left.
“We’re here, too,” said another voice. Jason would have to find out what their names were as soon as this was over.
He approached the intruder. Michael stepped close to cover him as he returned his gun to his holster. “You are under arrest for trespassing and for assaulting an officer.”
“I didn’t know you were cops.”
Jason grabbed the guy’s arms and handcuffed him faster than he’d ever handcuffed anyone before. As soon as he was done, Michael frisked the guy.
“What do you mean you didn’t know we were cops? Who were you expecting?”
The guy shook his head. “Nope. Not talking. I know my rights. I want a lawyer.”
“You out here alone?”
The guy looked at the officers surrounding him. “Obviously not.”
A smart aleck. Awesome.
Michael took one arm while Jason took the other. The flashing lights of the cars pierced through the trees as they made their way back to the driveway and the waiting backup.
They secured him in the back of the car and patted the hood. “That was ridiculous,” Michael said. “How’d you know he’d be in there?”
“Had a hunch,” he said.
“It was a good one. When everyone scattered, we pulled back to the house. Richards could see where you were and Caroline told us about the path in the bamboo. So we came back out after you.”
“I’m glad you did, man.” He patted Michael on the back. “Let’s go find out who this guy is.”
Michael nodded. “I’ll ride back to the station with Jarod.”
Jarod. One name down, one to go.
Michael nodded toward the house. “You may be a few minutes. I’ll start getting him processed.”
Yeah. He’d acted recklessly. More than once tonight. Time to pay the piper. “Right. I’ll go get my car.”
*
Caroline couldn’t stop herself from pacing as she waited for Jason to come back to the house. Her emotions were all over the place.
He had some nerve. Daring to kiss her.
And that was no friendly peck. He’d kissed her until she could barely remember where she was, then he walked into the darkness and almost got blown up by a grenade—two of them. Then, when he was supposed to pull back to the house, he had to go all superhero and track the guy into a stand of bamboo.
She was going to kill him.
Or kiss him.
It could go either way, and that was a big problem. There could be no more kissing. None. She stomped down the driveway. If he’d left without speaking to her—
He rounded the curve at a light jog, and she skidded to a stop.
Now what?
Her legs tried to bolt toward him. Her arms seemed to think wrapping themselves around him would be a good idea right about now. Holding on and never letting—
No.
Her mind regained control. She crossed her arms. There would be no more shenanigans. If he thought he could waltz back into her life like this and play games with her heart, he was mistaken.
“What’s wrong?”
He had not just asked her that. “What’s wrong? Are you kidding me?”
He stepped closer. “Are you okay? Is Henry—”
The obvious concern, both for her and her son, stopped her in her tracks. And chipped away at her anger. “We’re fine. Henry slept through the whole thing.”
Relief washed over his features, then confusion. “Did you need something?”
“Did I what?”
“You chased me down the driveway, Caroline. Did you need something?”
Oops. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. You disappeared from the camera view for a while.”
Wow. That was pitiful. But she couldn’t very well tell him the truth. That her need to see him alive and whole, for herself and not through an infrared camera lens, made no rational sense.
She didn’t have the time or energy to process everything that had happened tonight.
“Oh.” Was he disappointed in her answer?
Why did that make her heart flip?
“I need to get my car,” he said, continuing his climb up her driveway. He seemed determined to pretend that the kiss hadn’t happened. Fine. She could do that, too. She fell into step beside him.
“What happens next?” There. That was a perfectly rational question.
“We interview him. Tonight. As soon as they get him processed.”
“How long will it take to process him?”
“A couple of hours. We have to have him checked out by a nurse. Offer him food, water, a lawyer.”
“Can you talk to him without the lawyer?”
“We can talk. He may not answer. The main thing will be to see what we can learn about him from his prints. A guy like this is bound to have a record somewhere. But it’s not like it is on TV. We don’t have a hacker who can get us into supersecret FBI files.” He bumped her elbow with his. “Although I’m hoping Kyle might be able to help us with that. Unofficially, of course.”
“Of course,” she said. They both laughed, and the tension lessened.
This was how it was supposed to be between them. Easy. Conversational. A little sarcasm thrown in for good measure.
“Kyle probably knows a thing or two about hacking,” she said. “Unofficially.”
“Of course.” He laughed. “I’m sure Kyle will do anything he can to help you.” She didn’t miss the implication in his tone. Was Kyle right about him? About them?
She pulled in a deep breath. She couldn’t think about it anymore. Nothing was making sense.
“You need to sleep,” he said.
“So do you.”
“I’ll sleep when it’s over.”
“If you don’t get some sleep, it may be over for you before you want it to be.”
He snorted. “I’ll get some sl
eep soon, but you need to get some now. Kyle’s on alert. This mountain is crawling with cops. Whatever this guy was up to, he’s done for the night. Might as well rest up now.”
She wanted to argue, but her eyelids begged her to listen.
They reached his car. His hand closed over hers in the darkness. He cleared his throat.
If he tried to kiss her again—
“I’ll call you as soon as I know something. Until then, stay close to Kyle. Don’t leave the house or go wandering around in the woods. I’ll be back soon.” He squeezed her hand and slid behind the wheel. The window inched down. “I’m not leaving until you go inside, Caroline.”
His voice held so much tenderness. Why was he being so protective? So nice? She wanted to despise him, but he was making it difficult.
“Right,” she said with what she hoped sounded like a carefree laugh. No way could he know what he was doing to her.
She jogged to the house. The door opened as she approached. That was when she remembered what she was sure Jason had not forgotten.
The cameras.
Kyle.
Watching.
Even as a teenager, Jason had been the perfect gentleman. Opening doors. Standing when a lady was present. Holding chairs and sweaters and umbrellas. That hadn’t changed.
And a gentleman wouldn’t kiss a lady—especially when he wasn’t sure if she wanted to be kissed—with an audience.
She lay down on the trundle bed in Henry’s room. If the cameras hadn’t been there, would he have kissed her again?
If he had tried, would she have let him?
Her mind didn’t like the answer her heart supplied.
THIRTEEN
Jason entered the detention center and nodded at the deputy behind the desk.
“Your boy is a real charmer,” the officer said.
“Giving you a hard time?” Jason didn’t break his stride. This guy complained about everyone who walked in the door. He’d thought of him as “Negative Ned” so much, he had a hard time remembering his real name.
“Scared out of his mind is more like it. Keeps saying we’ve sentenced him to death. That they’ll kill him.”
Jason backtracked. He leaned across the desk. Talbert. That was it. Joe Talbert. “What exactly did he say?”
Talbert shrugged. “I didn’t write it down, man. I don’t have time for that mess. Guy gets caught peeping into Caroline Harrison’s window? He probably figures that brother of hers will kill him. Might be right about that. I hear Blake Harrison can handle himself.”
Hidden Legacy Page 10