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Chapter Twelve
It was cold when Jake woke the next morning. Frost had grown spider web lines on the windowpane, clearly visible between the opening of the curtains. With the bedroom door closed, none of the heat from the other room could filter into the small bedroom. The walls of this drab hotel room were paper-thin and the wind pounding against the outer wall seeped inside and lifted the curtain with every gust.
He burrowed deeply under the blanket, closer to the warmth of Cassie’s naked body and the memories of what they'd shared last night.
In her sleep, Cassie responded by curling up until her lovely nakedness was spoon fashion against his body. The bed was way too small for the two of them, but they’d made due.
Jake listened to her rhythmic breathing, tracing the delicate features of her face with his eyes. He liked watching her sleep. The way her lips were slightly parted and moved as if she were talking in her dreams. The way her wild, dark curls fanned out like peacock feathers across her pillow and spilled over her smooth bare shoulders.
And he liked the way she felt in his arms. All woman, soft and warm, seductive and hot. There was something incredibly comforting about lying in bed with a woman and not having the slightest itch to leave. Certainly a first for him, Jake thought with a satisfied sigh.
They’d have to climb out of bed eventually. They couldn’t afford to pretend that the world outside didn’t exist. It did. And it would come crashing down around them soon enough.
He and Cassie had made love several times during the night and still he couldn't believe how much he wanted her again. He'd always thought he knew what it was like to really make love. But unpleasantness soon followed when the woman he was with wanted more of a relationship after the pleasure of sex had given him a release.
There was a time after the shooting five years ago when he thought he had something to prove. Something that had nothing to do with feelings or emotions or even the act of sex itself. Sex with a vengeance. A direct result of the shooting, the precinct psychologist had said. Jake needed to feel alive, needed to prove that although he was shot, he hadn't been killed. Tyler hadn't been killed either. They'd survived.
He couldn't say the same for that lost woman who'd stopped to ask for directions. Debra Cantelli and her unborn child had been the victims of bad circumstances. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were dead and he was alive.
Guilt ate at Jake even though there wasn't a thing he could have done to prevent their deaths. He hadn't known about Debra Cantelli’s connection to Angel Fagnelio back then. It had to have been eating at Angel all this time, multiplying over the years, to have had him lie so still during their meetings, waiting for the perfect moment to strike back.
Jake had sat through his share of mandatory sessions with the house shrink, been deemed fit for duty, and went on. Tyler hadn't. He'd left the force and no amount of convincing by anyone could change his mind. For him, life had begun again.
For Jake, there was more guilt, more women, and more unpleasantness until one morning he woke up next to a stranger and just felt numb.
That's when it ended and he finally opened his eyes to his own self-destruction. The worried stares of his parents, Beth's constant pleas to give up law enforcement, the litany of lectures from his sisters hadn't penetrated that thick layer of blame he'd poured around himself.
The feeling of being totally alone after making love to a woman whose name he couldn't even remember had. At that moment he knew it had to stop. And he vowed to stay detached from romantic entanglements to keep himself focused.
He ran his finger across Cassie's brow. Way to stay detached, Santos.
But even as he silently admonished himself, he knew that Cassie was different than all the others. There was no unpleasantness now. Only a contentment he'd never shared with another woman. He wanted more of Cassie, more from their relationship than just simple sexual gratification to wash away guilt. He wanted her in his life.
Now he knew with absolute certainty that this was the first time he'd ever truly made love to a woman. And Jake wasn't going to let that go.
Which was part of the problem he dwelled on as he lay there with Cassie tucked protectively against to him. What kind of a life could they possibly have with so much still unresolved? Cassie deserved security and the love of a man who'd be able to give her some semblance of stability.
Angel Fagnelio and Lord only knew who else from the FBI are still out there hunting them down. And because of that fact, she didn't have security.
Jake rolled on his back, propped his free arm behind his head, and blankly stared up at the paneled ceiling above them. He had to get moving. He needed word from Kevin. As much as he wanted to hold Cassie all to his own, they needed resolution. Cassie needed it.
“You're not supposed to have such a serious face the morning after we make love.”
Jake peered down into Cassie's dark eyes at the sound of her sleepy voice, breathed in the warm scent of her skin mixed with the lingering scent of sex. Burrowing deeper under the blanket, he pushed away the dark thoughts that were plaguing him.
“Is that so.”
She nodded once.
“I didn't realize you'd woken up.” He kissed her lips and let himself linger there, to dwell on the memories of their lovemaking.
“You're thinking about Angel Fagnelio again, aren't you? You only look like that when you're thinking about him.”
“I don't want to,” he admitted.
“Neither do I, but I've made a decision.”
“Oh, you have, have you?” he said, trying to hang on to the lighthearted feeling he'd had before reality crashed in on them.
One look at Cassie and he knew she was serious, too. Draping the blanket across her breasts with one hand and sitting up to face him, she pushed her wildly tangled hair away from her face.
“I've had enough. I'm through running from Angel Fagnelio and whatever he has in store.”
“What are you saying?”
“Simply that I'm tired of hiding out like a scared child afraid to be hit. If Angel Fagnelio wants to find me, then I'll make it easy for him.”
“No way!” he ground out, fear crashing in on him completely.
She lay back down again, pressing her warm, soft body against his, and tenderly stroked her fingertips across the course hairs on his chest.
“I can't be afraid anymore, Jake. I want to be in control of my life again. But I can't be if I make whoever is responsible for all this madness believe he's won by driving me away. We can't beat them at their game, but we can turn the tables on them.”
Jake shook his head. “You can't play with these people at all, Cassie. You saw what happened at Rory's. What happened yesterday at the cabin. You were damn near killed. They won't think twice about wasting whoever or whatever gets in their way.”
“I can't go back if Fagnelio isn't in custody. And he won't come out of hiding unless I show myself to him. So I'll just give him what he wants.”
“Absolutely not! I refuse to let you use yourself as bait.” Jake was sitting up in bed now, forcing the sudden rage and fear down. What the hell was she thinking?
“I don't intend to.” Cassie sighed, shaking her head. “Jake, listen to me. When your sister Jenna was attacked by that mugger, it wasn't the money she was fighting for. She didn't give a damn about that. It was just a symbol of something bigger being stolen from inside her. It would have been smarter—safer—for Jenna to just let that thug run off with her purse and all her money. I'm sure she knew that. But she couldn't do it because the cost to her sense of safety was worth so much more.
“That's just how I feel now. Angel Fagnelio is stealing everything I am from me. Everything I've fought so long and hard to get back after Emilio was killed. I can't just hide out and let him have that. I'll fight till the end if I have to, but he's not going to win.”
“It's bigger than just Fagnelio. More complicated.”
“Maybe so, but
we're not getting any closer to figuring out what it is being here. All we’re doing is running scared. We need to face him. And as soon as Angel shows his face, you know the rest will follow.”
She was right, of course, as much as Jake didn't want to admit it. Still, he couldn't hold back the dread that it would all fall apart for them when they returned.
“I'm not going to put you out on display just to catch Fagnelio,” he said, pushing both hands over his disheveled hair.
Cassie reach out and took his hand. “I'm not asking you to.”
Shaking his head, Jake chuckled wryly. “Someone from the Bureau is in on this. We can't trust them until we know who that person is.”
Cassie let out a heavy sigh and nibbled on her bottom lip. “No, but you trust Kevin.”
“He's not FBI.”
“But he's on our side. That counts for something.”
In Jake's book, it counted for a whole hell of a lot. But as soon as they stepped one boot back into the precinct, that trust would mean squat.
“I believe Kevin is probably the one person in this whole mess we can trust. So we call him, tell him we're coming back. I'll call Maureen and tell her, too. I'm already suspected of leaking my own name for publicity and compromising this case. Whoever is involved from the FBI wouldn't dare try something in front of a group of reporters with cameras—”
Awareness of her plan suddenly dawned on him. “To record their every move.”
“Exactly. Once Fagnelio knows I'm back, he'll make some attempt to do his dirty work and be caught.”
Jake thought about it a minute. “It might work.”
They lay quietly beside each other, two bodies molded together as if they were one being as the morning light crept into the room. He didn't want the light to invade them here. But it would. And when it did, would darkness of another kind steal the light once again?
As much as Jake wanted to hold Cassie in his arms like this forever, keep her safely tucked away in a place where the Angel Fagnelios of the world couldn't harm her, he knew this was no life for them. And the realization that he definitely wanted a life with Cassie was as earth shattering as the danger they'd been forced to face.
He'd never looked beyond the morning light before. But now he was thinking about a long string of sunrises and sunsets that he and Cassie could have together, and a family of their own to go along with it.
Maybe his sisters had been right. Bertie, Carolyn, Beth, Susan, and Jenna had always said all it would take was one special woman to bowl him over, and he'd be a family man.
But even that dream was a long way off. Before he and Cassie could have the kind of life she deserved, they had to go back and face the demon.
“You're an amazingly strong woman, Cassie,” he whispered, tenderly stroking his fingers across her forehead. He let his fingers get lost in the silky softness of her wild hair as he bent his head to kiss the tip of her nose.
She smiled up at him and his heart flipped. “Yeah, well, this is all new to me. Tricking the bad guys is CJ's forte, not mine.”
Jake chuckled softly, but his admiration for her strength was enough to level him. “You're a lot more like CJ than you realize.”
“You think so?”
“What do you think?”
Her face was suddenly serious and she let out a long, slow breath that hinted of regret. “Much as I hate to, I think we need to get out of bed and make some phone calls.”
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Chapter Thirteen
Snow fell like crystal confetti from the sky, pasting itself to the windshield of the Jeep. Cassie sat in the front seat and pulled Jake’s leather jacket tighter around her body, breathing in the cold, crisp air, and watching as Jake stood in the phone booth. Their nightmare would be over soon. Life would get back to normal. She couldn't wait.
Her earlier conviction to beat Angel Fagnelio was wavering. Cassie knew they needed to go back to the city or nothing would be resolved. And she needed resolution, needed to feel her life was on steady ground again, more than anything. Her only fear was the price she and Jake would both pay to get it.
Anything could go wrong. Everything could. That was the problem.
Oh, what she wouldn't do to stay buried under the blankets, making love to Jake Santos for the rest of her days. It was a wonderful dream that became a reality last night. He'd been more than she'd expected. Certainly more than she'd ever known or felt.
Pushing the sleeve of the leather jacket up her arm, she ran her bare fingers against the cold glass window, wiping away the condensation building there. Jake was still talking on the phone, rocking back and forth on his feet in an effort to ward off the cold from this morning's drop in temperature. An omen? Cassie didn't want to think so. She glanced down at herself and groaned. She should have at least given him his own coat since he was the one standing outside.
Jake suddenly stood stiffly. From the cold? Nerves? Maybe a little of both. She felt it, too. Her stomach lurched. Something had happened, that much was evident by the harsh look on Jake’s face.
Through the cloudy window, Cassie watched him drop the phone into the cradle and make his way back to the Jeep with long quick strides. A rush of cold air swept into the vehicle when he opened the door.
“How'd it go?”
“I talked to Ty. I knew Kevin would call him first to see if I’d called him too. I was counting on it. Kevin contacted Ty about an hour ago with an update.”
Jake’s expression was grim, his lips drew into a thin line as he buckled his seatbelt.
“What did Tyler say?”
“They have him,” Jake said, punching the key into the ignition and firing the engine.
Confused and a little taken aback by Jake’s reaction, she asked, “This is good news then. When did they catch him?”
“Sometime last night. Charley set up some kind of sting thinking she could ferret out the mole in the Bureau. Agent Bellows took the bait with Fagnelio by his side. They caught Fagnelio, but Bellows was killed during the raid.”
Cassie closed her eyes, a slow breath of air seeping through her lips. So much bloodshed and death.
As the Jeep began to move, she looked over at Jake. “Angel must have found out the person he sent to the cabin hadn’t succeeded in killing us.”
“Apparently.”
Cassie's pulse thrummed strong against her temple. She placed her fingers against the ache to steady it. Control. “What kind of raid?”
“At your place.”
“My apartment?” She heard the shock in her own voice and took a quick breath to calm down before continuing. “They killed Bellows in my home?”
Jake’s expression was sympathetic. “You won’t be going back there for a few days anyway and since the crime scene is now secured—”
Goosebumps raised on her arm and quickly raced crawled all over her body. He’d come after her in her own home.
“After sending someone to kill me yesterday, I can’t imagine why Fagnelio would think I’d feel safe enough to just go back to my own apartment.”
“My thoughts exactly. But it wouldn’t be the first time a rat sniffed out a piece of cheese only to get caught in his own trap. Tyler only gave me the basics. He said Kevin would fill me in on the rest when we get back. But the FBI is insisting Bellows set up the explosion at the safe house and tipped off the papers about you being their material witness.”
She eyed him skeptically. “And you believe it?”
“They caught him with Fagnelio. He was in the city the night of the shooting at Rory's. He was there at the safe house when it exploded.”
She sank against the back of the seat and slipped her seat belt on as if on autopilot. “What if this is all a ruse to get me back to the city?”
Jake shook his head, shifting the Jeep into gear as it accelerated along the road. “This is the real thing.”
Once they were out on the road, Jake switched on the wipers, then reached over and grasped Cassie's hand. He squeezed it with just the ri
ght amount of pressure to help steady her trembling hand and give her some comfort.
“At least we can feel safe knowing that Fagnelio is behind bars where he belongs,” he said easy enough, but something was still turning around in Jake's mind. She heard it in his voice. In what he was saying and what he wasn’t saying. Cassie glanced at his face, saw the tightness in his jaw and the faint crimp in his brow that remained as he spoke the words.
“So now that they're sure the leak was Agent Bellows and Fagnelio is behind bars, it's all over, right? There's no more threat to my life?” Please, God, she hoped so.
Jake gave his answer in the gentle squeeze of her hand. Cassie knew he was trying to comfort her and to some extent, it did. But in the end, she got none of the peace she craved. She swallowed back the bile in her mouth and closed her eyes before snatching her hand from Jake's grasp.
“Don't do that,” she said, straightening her posture.
Jake glanced at her, startled. “You don't want me to touch you?”
“Not like that. I don't want you to lie to me.”
Jake took his eyes off the road for a fraction of moment to look at her. He cursed under his breath. “Dammit, Cassie. I haven't lied to you yet, have I?”
She shook her head slowly.
“And I never will. Especially about Fagnelio.”
“I'm not talking about Fagnelio. He may be behind bars, but there's no guarantee he'll stay there. That is what you're thinking, right? That’s what you’re afraid of. And even if he does stay in jail, someone might still come after me before the trial.”
Jake gripped the wheel tighter. “Charley sent Bellows down to the safe house ahead of us. He'd worked in Virginia for years, knew the layout of safe house and the staff. That's why Charley put him on the team with Agent Radcowski. Bellows could easily have rigged the gas line in the house. Now Bellows is dead and Fagnelio is in custody. I just don't know. It all seems so…neat, too clean to have fallen into place so nicely.”
Material Witness Page 17