“Ryan, we’re at your six,” PJ informed me. “Right in front of the door.”
“We’ve got eyes on, too, Ryan,” Tuck told me as he opened the door to the Suburban. I heard the movement both over the radio via the earpiece nestled in my left ear and through the still night air.
I clicked my microphone twice with my thumb to indicate I’d heard them and turned to Allison. “Do me a favor and go set up with PJ and Austin in front of the door?”
Allison tilted her head and gave me a scathing look. “Really?”
“Do you want to have to explain to your bosses or mine what you were doing interviewing a PI subject out of your district when you’re not even in a field office? Because if you stay here for this, you’re going to have to go into the report.”
Allison scowled and shook her head. “No.”
“Besides, if he does get past me, you three are going to need to keep him out of the building. I promised Hannah he’d never even make it into the lobby. Do you want to make a liar out of me?”
“No.”
“Okay, then.”
“I don’t like leaving you here to talk to him alone. It’s not safe. You’re not even armed.”
“It’ll be fine. You guys are all nearby. And this’ll go better if it’s just me and him. Trust me.”
Allison took a long, slow breath. “I do,” she said quietly.
“Thanks.”
“Be careful.”
“Always.”
As soon as Allison turned to leave, I shifted so I was once again facing Walker. I split my attention between watching his approach and scanning the entire street for threats. My skin was crawling with equal parts anticipation and anxiety, and I rubbed my palms against my pant legs to rid them of the sweat I could feel gathering there.
When Walker was still a good ten feet from me—which put him approximately thirty-five feet from the door to Hurricane’s building—I finally pushed off the fence I’d been leaning against and stepped into the middle of the sidewalk to engage him.
“Hey, Adam,” I said, my voice just loud enough for him to hear me. “Bit late for a stroll, isn’t it?”
Walker’s steps faltered, and his head shot up, giving me the first clear glimpse of his face. His eyes were wide and positively wild. My heart immediately sank. I’d have bet this month’s salary he was completely off his meds again and had been for some time. This was not going to end well. I reached across my chest and brushed the fingers of my right hand against my lapel pin, which rested on the left side of my suit jacket, an indication to Rico that I wanted him to move a little closer. I was willing to bet next month’s salary this was going to escalate quickly, and I wanted my backup to be able to jump into the fray before it went too far south.
“Agent O’Connor,” Walker said after a beat, his voice a raspy growl as he ground out the words.
Out of the corner of my eye, over Walker’s left shoulder and out of his line of sight, I saw Rico and Eric slowly creeping toward us. I fluttered the fingers of my right hand where they now rested near the outside of my thigh. Rico caught the motion and put his hand out to stop Eric’s forward progress. Thank God, Rico and I had worked together as often as we had because these signals we’d utilized countless times before were really coming in handy.
“What’s going on, Adam?” I asked, trying to keep my tone as light and conversational as possible.
“What’re you doing here?” he demanded. His voice wavered, and his eyes had grown wide again. My mind immediately likened him to all the frightened animals I’d ever seen on those television nature shows about creatures going wild and attacking innocent bystanders. Walker was unpredictable when he was like this, and that made him dangerous.
“I came to see you,” I told him simply.
“How’d you know I would be here?”
I gave a half shrug with my good shoulder and casually put my left hand behind my back, indicating to Austin and PJ with one finger that I wanted them to hold where they were. I chanced a quick glance to my right, where I could see a glimpse of their reflection in a darkened store window. Austin nodded and murmured to Tuck and Marissa over the radio to stay put.
“You told the guys in the Washington office you were coming to New York.”
Walker’s countenance darkened faster than I’d have thought possible, and he took half a step toward me. His fists were clenching and unclenching at his sides, and all of his fear seemed to have completely evaporated at my statement. His body was rigid, and tension rolled off him in heady waves. Peripherally, I could see Eric starting to move, but thankfully Rico held him back.
“That’s not true, Agent O’Connor. Don’t lie to me!” His voice rose into an enraged screech, and I had to fight not to wince.
“I never lie to you, Adam,” I informed him smoothly. I tried to let my tenor evince a level of calm I didn’t remotely feel.
He jutted his chin out and pointed at me menacingly. “You just did.”
“How did I lie to you?”
His brows pulled together in a furious scowl. “You just said Washington told you I was coming to see Zoey. I never told them that! You lied to me!”
I shook my head. “I never said they told me you were coming to see Miss Carmichael.”
Walker hesitated, and I could almost see him replaying my words in his head. “Yes, you did. Stop trying to confuse me.”
“No, Adam. I said they told me you were coming to New York. That’s all I said.”
“No, it isn’t.” But his anger faltered, and the timbre of his words gave away his uncertainty.
“Yes, it is, Adam.”
“Well, then how did you know I was coming here? I didn’t tell them. And I didn’t call you.”
I agreed. “No, you didn’t call me.”
“Are you reading my mind again?”
“No, Adam. I’m not reading your mind. I can’t do that, remember? I’ve told you that before.”
“What color am I thinking of right now?”
“Red, Adam.” I was deliberately overusing his first name in the hopes that if I kept personalizing the conversation, he’d be less likely to fly off the handle. It didn’t always work, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try.
“See?” he shouted. He flailed his arms wildly, his movements quick and jerky. “See? You’re reading my mind. I knew it. I knew you could do that.”
I fought not to smile. “Adam. You always pick red when we play this game.”
Walker became still and eyed me suspiciously. “Yeah?”
“And you get mad at me when I guess another color. Do you remember?”
“Yeah. Because I know you do it on purpose to make me think you can’t read my mind. You try to trick me. But I’m onto you. Because I’m smarter than you are.”
“That’s right. And that’s why I always answer you correctly. Because I know better than to try to trick you. What number am I thinking about right now?”
“Eight.”
“That’s right. So, maybe you can read my mind.”
Walker laughed and relaxed a little. “No, Agent O’Connor. I can’t read your mind.”
“Are you sure? Maybe you’re trying to trick me.”
“I don’t want to trick you, Agent O’Connor.”
“Then why don’t you tell me what you do want, Adam?”
Walker’s frustration roared back to life, painted with broad swaths of sadness and desperation. He slammed the side of one fist against his thigh. “I want you to let me see my wife. Why won’t you ever let me see my wife?”
I sighed heavily. I’d had hopes he hadn’t progressed this far into his delusion just yet because there was no reasoning with him at this point in his fantasy, but clearly that’d been too much to ask.
“Adam, you’re not married.”
“You always say that. You always say it, and it’s not true. I am married. And you’re standing in the way of my happiness. Zoey and I belong together! She needs me. And I need her.” His fingers
were clenching and fluttering, and he kept shaking out his hands, which was an outward sign of his increased agitation. I had to force myself not to react, not to take a step back, even though my body was screaming at me in bold, underlined, italicized all caps to increase the distance between us.
“Adam, you and Miss Carmichael aren’t married. I told you that the last time I saw you.”
“You always say that. Every time you see me, you say that.”
“And it’s always true.”
“It isn’t true,” he insisted. I couldn’t tell whether he was trying to convince me or himself.
“Why would I lie to you, Adam?”
“You just want me all to yourself! That’s why you lie to me. That’s why you won’t just let us be together. But I don’t want you. I only want her. Why can’t you just get the fuck out of here and leave us alone?” He pressed his hands to the sides of his head so hard I could see the strain in his arms.
I couldn’t help it. I laughed out loud. He’d never said anything like that before, and the completely out-of-left-field idea had taken me by surprise.
Naturally, that was the absolute worst way for me to respond. Something not unlike comic surprise stole over Walker’s features at the sound of my chuckles. His arms dropped heavily to his sides. Then his eyes narrowed, and his nostrils flared as he glared at me. “You’re laughing.”
Uh-oh. “I’m sorry, Adam. I didn’t mean to.”
“Why are you laughing at me?”
I briefly deliberated pointing out it was the very idea of me wanting him I’d found so gut-bustingly hilarious but decided against that much honesty. I’d probably do well to settle for only a small portion of the truth.
“I wasn’t laughing at you, Adam. It’s just that I don’t date men.”
He appeared to be considering that scenario. “You’re a dyke,” he said slowly.
I managed to restrain my chortle but only just. Something about his ultra-serious and yet at the same time wildly inappropriate characterization of me tickled me to no end. I nodded. “Yup. I’m a dyke.”
Walker’s eyes went wide as though something had just occurred to him. “You want her,” he whispered, his voice a harsh, grating rasp.
Oh, no. Not good. I really hoped he wasn’t implying what I thought he was implying, because if he thought I had any romantic designs on the supposed love of his life, he was likely to become really violent really quickly. I was definitely not in the mood for another hospital stay. I decided to confirm my suspicions before digging myself into an even deeper hole.
“Who do you think I want?”
“Zoey. Oh, my God! That’s it! I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.” He flailed his arms again and sort of paced back and forth in a small, two-step path. His fingers tore at his hair and scratched at his cheeks hard enough to leave red trails, though not quite hard enough to actually draw blood. Yet. “I can’t believe I let you trick me. All this time.” His voice trailed off into incoherent mutterings, and his eyes glazed over as he marched and ranted to himself.
I needed to regain his attention before he got himself even more worked up than he already was. Sometimes I could distract him and lead him in a different, less rage-filled direction. Another technique that didn’t always work, but it was worth a shot.
“Adam, what animal am I thinking about right now?”
But he didn’t appear to have heard me. At least, he didn’t answer me directly. “That explains everything. Stupid, stupid, stupid.” He punctuated each utterance of that word with a forceful smack to his own forehead.
“Adam, calm down. Tell me about the Giants’ chances this season.” At this point, I was just trying anything I could think of to get him to shift topics.
Walker continued to mutter to himself as though I hadn’t even spoken. “That’s why she was so insistent on keeping us apart. I never understood why…I didn’t get it. But I get it now.” He turned to face me, looking me directly in the eye. The cold fury I saw there sent an icy tendril of fear slithering down my spine and spiderwebbing abruptly outward once it reached my hips. “I get it now.”
I pursed my lips as I watched him. This was unquestionably a new take on the situation, and I wasn’t at all certain how to handle it. Up to a point, he and I’d been more or less wandering down a familiar path, our dialogue so established it could almost have been a script. I’d thought I’d known our destination as well as the roads we’d travel to get there. But then he’d taken this sudden sharp turn and jumped the proverbial shark, leaving me navigating unfamiliar waters and totally out of my element.
Distraction hadn’t worked at all thus far, so maybe it was time to just engage him about his latest theory. “What do you get now, Adam?”
He favored me with a look of disbelief tainted with suspicion. “Why you would never let Zoey and me be together.”
“Miss Carmichael can’t be with you, Adam. She’s with somebody else.”
“Liar! Zoey would never cheat on me! Ever!” He went back to his enraged pacing.
I huffed and rolled my eyes. His refusal to remain grounded in reality as well as my own inability to get him to see reason was irksome. I could only put up with either for so long before I became frustrated.
“Adam. Miss Carmichael just got engaged. To somebody else. You know that.”
Walker froze in his pacing and slowly turned his head to look at me. The gesture was so wooden I imagined I could hear the creaking of the tendons in his neck that accompanied the motion.
“What?” He spat the word at me as though he couldn’t stand the taste of it, and he glanced at the ring finger of my left hand, presumably to confirm I wasn’t wearing an engagement ring. Inwardly, I breathed a sigh of relief that I wore my rings on my middle fingers. I just hoped he’d take specific notice of the placement and not just see the adornment and jump to conclusions.
“It was all over the news and in the papers. Everyone was talking about it. You had to have seen it.”
Walker shook his head, snorting in derision. “No. That was a hoax. A fake. To make them think she was one of them. She’s infiltrating. It’s all part of the plan.”
Oh, boy. This was going to be good. “One of who?”
Walker’s expression became full of uncertainty. He was obviously deliberating whether to tell me something. I waited as patiently as I was able, not wanting to push him too fast. Years of experience in dealing with him had taught me that forcing him to do or say something before he was ready never had the end result I wanted it to. And since he wasn’t making any moves to enter Hurricane’s apartment building, and there was no way Hannah was going to let Hurricane venture out here, the situation wasn’t exactly dire. I didn’t have a problem engaging Walker or moving at his pace for a little while longer. Besides, I was much better equipped to handle his conspiracy theories than his beliefs that I was cock-blocking him. Those, at least, I’d dealt with before.
Walker worried at his lower lip with his fingers as he evaluated me, and his eyes darted around as though searching for something. Or, more likely, someone. He was probably looking for evidence of “them,” whoever they were. I held my breath, waiting to see what his reaction would be to the other agents on the street who were watching this drama unfold. If he noticed them at all, he must’ve deemed them unimportant because he didn’t even blink.
“I can’t tell you,” he said finally, sounding truly sorry.
“Well, that’s okay, Adam. I wouldn’t want you to get into trouble for telling me something you shouldn’t.”
Walker beamed at me like a proud father. “You passed the test!”
Okay. I had no idea what the hell he was talking about. We were definitely off book now, and it didn’t appear likely that we’d be returning to our regularly scheduled programming anytime soon. Damn. And I’d had such hopes, too. Oh, well. Time to improvise. Should I pretend I knew about the test or act surprised? Hmmm.
I decided to favor him with a secretive smile and incline my head sl
ightly while lifting my hands in a careless gesture. He could interpret that pretty much any way he wanted.
“I knew you would, but I had to be sure.” His tone was apologetic.
“Hey, don’t worry about it. If anyone understands, it’s me.”
He nodded thoughtfully at my logic. With one last careful look to the left and right, he took a few steps toward me and entered my personal space, beckoning me to lean in so I’d be able to hear what he was about to tell me.
I never got the chance to hear what he had to say. Walker had just opened his mouth when he was unceremoniously tackled by a flying blur that moved too fast for me to see. I blinked, and when my eyes finally managed to shape the sight before me into a comprehensible image, I was utterly stunned and horrified to see Walker and Eric rolling around on the ground. Eric was yelling the usual commands we were taught in the academy—“Police,” “Don’t move,” “Stop resisting”—as he struggled to get a now-writhing Walker under control.
Walker was bucking and thrashing violently, trying with everything he had to break free. The sounds coming out of his mouth were more like the incoherent roars of a wounded lion. Or at least what I imagined a wounded lion would sound like. Admittedly, I didn’t have much of a real-world reference to back up that analogy.
Once I understood what I was seeing, I rolled my eyes and huffed as I threw my hands up in the air. I scowled and shot Rico a dark glare before I reached down to pull Eric and Walker apart. I had no earthly idea what’d made Eric suddenly decide he needed to let out his inner football player, and while I’d definitely be having a serious discussion with him about that later, now I needed to break this up before somebody got seriously hurt.
Worthy of Trust and Confidence Page 14