Out of Time

by Shirlee McCoy

  “Yes.”

  “I’m here to escort you to church, Susannah. Remember our deal? You’re either at work or at home or with me.”

  “Church doesn’t start for another couple of hours.”

  “Then there’s no rush for you to get ready, and I have plenty of time to finish the other muffin.” He pulled it from the bag, smiling as Susannah scowled.

  “You were holding out on me.”

  “You never asked if I’d brought two. Besides, you didn’t even eat your first half.”

  He was right. She’d left most of it crumbled on her plate.

  “I didn’t think I was hungry.”

  “And now that I have an entire muffin to myself, you are? Maybe you haven’t changed as much as you think. You always did want everything I had.” He broke a piece off his muffin, held it out, and she remembered a hundred Sunday afternoons, sitting on his back porch, begging him for candy or fruit or whatever snack he was eating. Remembered the amused tolerance in his face as he’d shared.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t ever tell me no.” She took the muffin, let the sweetness melt on her tongue and chase away the bitter taste of regret.

  “How could I? You stole my heart when I was ten and I saw you staring out the window of your parents’ house, all wild hair and green eyes. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t have done for you.”

  “Wish I’d have known that then. I would have demanded more.” She smiled, tried to lighten the mood.

  “You were never demanding, Susannah. You were just adoring. A heady thing for any boy.”

  “But you’re not a boy anymore, and I’m not a five-year-old girl.”

  “And yet, I still can’t resist you.” He popped the last bite of muffin into his mouth and carried his plate to the sink. “I’m going out to my car to make a few phone calls. I’ll be out there if you need me.”

  “You don’t have to leave.”

  “If I stay, we’re going to start talking about things you don’t want to discuss. If I stay, I’m not going to pretend that I don’t want to give you a lot more than a piece of muffin.” He left before she could respond, walking out of the kitchen, out of the house, leaving her alone.

  She wanted to call him back.

  Wanted to tell him that as much as he still couldn’t resist her, she still needed him. The way she had when the neighborhood bully had chased her home. The way she had when she’d broken her wrist jumping on the trampoline in his backyard. The way she had when she was learning to navigate school and friends.

  The way she always had.

  The way she still did.

  She wanted to tell him that, but she wasn’t as brave as Levi. She wasn’t as certain of herself and her feelings.

  She walked into her room, grabbing the clothes she’d pulled out before he’d called and showering quickly. No amount of water could wash away the compelling feel of his lips on her hand. No time alone could wipe away the memory of his words.

  I still can’t resist you.

  And she couldn’t resist him.

  That was the truth.

  The other truth was that she was terrified, her mind filled with ugly memories that had burned their way into her soul, tainted her forever. She shuddered, grabbing a soft sweater from her closet and pulling it on over her pencil skirt and fitted sweater.

  The sun would be up soon. A new day to try to do what her family and friends insisted she needed to do and move forward. Away from the memories and the fear and the nightmares and into whatever God had planned.

  “If only I knew what that was,” she whispered, walking to the window, looking out into the blue-black morning.

  Looking into a face.

  Masked.

  Features distorted by nylon.

  A knife held in a gloved hand.

  A nightmare come to life.

  She screamed, jumping back, falling in her haste. Her head hit the corner of the dresser, but she barely felt it. Barely felt anything but her own pounding fear.

  Up. Get up!

  The order screamed through her mind, and she obeyed, jumping to her feet, screaming again, the sound filled with a million terrors, a thousand memories.

  Out into the hall. Into the living room. Still screaming as she barreled into Levi, felt his arms wrap around her, his hand press her head to his chest.

  “Susannah! What is it? What’s wrong?” His voice was calm, his heart beating rapidly beneath her ear.

  “Aaron.”

  “What?”

  “In the backyard.”

  “Stay here!” He gently pushed her into a chair, ran into the kitchen. She heard the back door open. Close.

  And she was alone again.

  TEN

  Levi pulled his cell phone from his pocket, calling in for backup as he raced into the yard. The morning was silent and still, but danger hung in the air.

  He felt it.

  A twig snapped. Another. Someone moving quickly, almost silently, and Levi followed, easing around the side of the house as a car engine sprang to life.

  He sprinted to the front yard, nearly knocking Susannah over as she raced down the porch stairs.

  “What are you doing out here? I told you to stay in the house!” he shouted, his arm hooked around her waist as he pulled her away from the fleeing vehicle.

  “This is my battle. I can’t let you fight it for me.”

  “That’s what you said yesterday, and I bought into it, but this time, I’m going into battle with a gun, and you’re going in dressed in a skirt and a pink sweater. One of us doesn’t belong,” he growled.

  “We need to call the police.” She ignored his comment.

  “I already called for backup. They should be here soon. Did you see the car?”

  “Yes. An old Mitsubishi. Dark blue or black. Pretty beat-up. It had a dent in the front fender.”

  “That matches what I saw. Go in the house and wait for my coworkers to show up. Anderson Michaels and Daniel Riley. Don’t let anyone else in the house.”

  “Where are you going to be?”

  “Hunting.”

  “You can’t go after him alone!”

  “We don’t have time to waste arguing, Susannah. Go back in the house. Wait for my buddies. Give them a description of the car and the direction it was traveling.”

  “No.”

  “Susannah—”

  “Let’s go.” She nearly ran to his car, pulled open the door he’d left unlocked when he’d decided to go back in her house for a second cup of coffee. When he’d heard her scream.

  For as long as he lived, he didn’t think he’d ever forget the sound of her terror. His hand shook as he shoved keys into the ignition. Shook with rage, with fear.

  He’d been at her house to protect her, and he’d left her vulnerable and alone.

  “It looks like your friends are here,” she said as a black truck sped into view, emergency lights flashing in the window.

  Levi pulled up beside it, lowering his window and meeting Anderson’s concerned gaze. “We’re searching for a dark Mitsubishi. Probably ten years old. Dent in the front bumper. Heading north.”

  “License plate number?”

  “None that I could see.”

  “I’ll have Ben issue an APB. What about the perp? Do you have a description?”

  “Susannah?” He turned to her, and she shook her head, her hair flying, her eyes hollow with fear.

  “He was wearing a nylon mask and gloves, carrying a knife. It looked…” Her voice trailed off, and Levi put a hand on her shoulder.

  “Say what you’re thinking. It’ll be something to go on.”

  “It looked like the knife Aaron used. A butcher knife. About seven inches long. A black handle.”

  Anderson whistled but didn’t comment, his gaze jumping from Levi to Susannah. He knew the story, and the pity in his gaze was exactly what Susannah had said she didn’t want Levi to feel.

  The pity he wouldn’t feel.

  For her sake.

/>   “Let’s go.” He rolled up the window, pulled out in front of Anderson’s car, calling Daniel with a description of the car as he drove. Seconds later, Daniel’s truck pulled up beside his. Three good guys. One bad guy.

  The odds were improving, and Levi smiled grimly, offering Daniel a brief salute as he pulled ahead.

  Dawn bathed the world in eerie light, casting shadows across yards and along driveways. The neighborhood was still asleep, houses dark and cars idle. Levi checked each one, searching for the Mitsubishi, praying he’d find it.

  “He was heading toward the highway. If he makes it there, we’ll never find him.” Susannah leaned forward, her body still trembling slightly.

  “With an APB out on his car, there isn’t much chance he’ll avoid detection on the highway. It’s these back roads I’m worried about. Neighborhood streets. Driveways. There are plenty of places he could ditch the car and plenty of places to hide if he did.”

  “I think that’s the car.”

  “Where?” Levi eased off the accelerator, searching the street.

  “Down the road we just passed. It was parked in a driveway.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Of course I am.” Her confidence gave Levi hope. They had to find the car, had to find its driver, had to put an end to the cat-and-mouse game that had been playing out for months.

  His cell phone rang as he coasted by a tiny ranch, his gaze on the Mitsubishi parked in its driveway. Dark blue. Beat-up. Old. It looked like the car he’d seen racing from Susannah’s house.

  He parked a few houses down, grabbing his cell phone as he studied the vehicle.

  “Hello.”

  “Levi? It’s Oliver Drew.” Drew’s boisterous voice filled the line. A member of Company D, he’d been spending extra hours pursuing leads and trying desperately to find the man who’d killed Gregory. It hadn’t seemed to tire him. Even after he’d been poisoned while guarding Quin Morton, Oliver had been determined to be part of the investigation.

  “What’s up?”

  “Cantana is playing games.”

  “What kind of games?” Doctor Jorge Cantana was a member of the Lions of Texas. Convicted of murdering restaurateur Axle Hudson, Cantana had refused to talk about the organization he belonged to and refused to admit any part in the murder of Gregory Pike.

  “He had his lawyer call to say he was ready to talk. I went down to interview him, and he had nothing to say.”

  “How about we talk about what that means later? I have a situation I need to deal with.”

  “More Alamo trouble?”

  “Looks like it. Call Ben. Tell him I have a vehicle that will need to be impounded for evidence.” He rattled off the address, then texted the information to Daniel and Anderson.

  If he’d been alone, he would have gotten out of the car, gone to investigate.

  He wasn’t, and he stayed put, his fingers tapping the dashboard, his body humming with the need for action.

  “You can go look. I’ll stay here.”

  “Like you stayed in the house?”

  “I’ll stay. We need to find this guy. We need to stop whatever all this is leading to. You sitting here babysitting me is getting in the way of that.”

  She was right.

  He knew she was, and he opened the door, pulled his gun as he moved toward the car.

  Empty.

  No sign of a driver.

  He covered his hand with the sleeve of his jacket, pressed it to the hood.

  “Still warm?” Daniel got out of his truck, and Levi nodded.

  “Yes.”

  “And you’re sure this is the vehicle?”

  “Same dented bumper. No license plate. Yeah. I’m sure.”

  “Looks like our guy fled. I’m going to call in a canine unit. See if we can track him on foot. Why don’t you take your friend back to her place? Ben’s there. Said there’s a knife in the backyard.”

  “I’d rather check out the car. See if the perp left anything behind.”

  “The Lions of Texas aren’t big on leaving evidence.”

  “But they’ve made mistakes. All the members we’ve thrown in jail prove it.”

  “All the guys who aren’t talking, you mean?”

  “The border patrol agent and the sheriff that Gisella and Brock picked up confirmed what we thought about the Alamo celebration and The Lions’ plans for it. And then there’s Morton. He’s their biggest mistake of all.” Levi peered in the driver’s side window, eyeing the dark interior.

  “A mistake they’ve tried to rectify.”

  “Without success. Which brings me back to my point. They make mistakes. We’re going to take them down for it.”

  “And take down Greg’s killer while we’re at it,” Daniel muttered, pulling on gloves and opening the driver’s door. “Looks clean.”

  “The glove compartment?”

  “Empty.”

  “So, this was planned carefully.”

  “To what end? To chase your friend away from the Alamo? Seems like a waste of energy. She’s one person. One security guard. Not much in the grand scheme of our defense measures.” Daniel gestured to Levi’s car and to Susannah who sat with her head back, her eyes closed. A dark smudge marred her forehead. Dirt? A bruise?

  Levi frowned. “But a big deal if she’s standing in the way of an Alamo Ranger aiding The Lions.”

  “True.”

  “I’d better take her back to her place. See what Ben has to say.”

  “I’ll call you once the canine teams are done, or when we find or guy. Whichever comes first.”

  “Thanks.”

  Levi walked to his car, slid behind the steering wheel, his movement jostling the car. Susannah didn’t move. Just stayed where she was. Eyes closed. Skin a shade too pale, the smudge on her forehead green and black and deep purple.

  A bruise, but not a terrible one.

  Nothing compared to the scar on her hand or the one peeking out from beneath the v-neck of her sweater. He ran his finger along the top edge of her collarbone, feeling the raised flesh of the scar. Another deep stab wound. One she’d been fortunate to survive.

  He frowned, touching the bruise on her forehead, and she reared up, her eyes wide with fear, her fist swinging toward his face.

  “Whoa!” He barely stopped the forward momentum, his hand wrapping around hers, pulling it down as she blinked, her green eyes still misty with sleep.

  “What’s going on?”

  “You dozed off.”

  “Not the best time to do it,” she said, her gaze jumping to the Mitsubishi.

  “You were safe, and that’s as good a time as any to sleep.”

  “Not when a criminal is escaping.” She glanced out the car window and frowned. “He wasn’t in the car?”

  “No. Daniel is going to work with a canine team to try to track the guy. Ben is over at your place gathering evidence.”

  “Did he find anything?”

  “A knife.”

  “I guess the guy wanted to make sure I knew he was really there.”

  “Either that, or he dropped it while he was running.” Levi pulled out onto the road.

  “Why run? That’s what I keep wondering. He was standing right outside my window, Levi. He could have smashed the window and been in the house in minutes.”

  “Scare tactics.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “What else could it be?”

  “Nothing.”

  “What?” He pulled into her driveway, shifted in his seat so he was facing her.

  “What if Aaron isn’t dead? What if someone made a mistake and he’s still alive? Still waiting to finish what he started last summer?” She shivered, and he pulled off his jacket, wrapped it around her shoulders.

  “You know that isn’t possible, right? The police identified him through fingerprints and dental records.” Levi had double-checked the information the previous night.

  “I know. It’s just…too many memories, I guess.” She br
ushed a strand of hair from her forehead, wincing as her fingers met bruised flesh. “I hit my head harder than I thought when I fell into the dresser.”

  “I was wondering how you got that. And this.” His finger skimmed over the scar on her collarbone and she stilled.

  “Same place I got the one on my palm, but you knew that.”

  “I was hoping I was wrong.”

  “It was bad, Levi. Worse than I want to talk about. I almost died, and that made me realize that I wanted to live every moment of every day like tomorrow wasn’t going to come. And I’m trying, but all this stuff…the fear and the worry and the nightmares. They get in my way.”

  “I understand.”

  “I’m glad one of us does.” She got out of the car, and he didn’t try to stop her.

  What could he say?

  That things would get better in time?

  That the fear and terror and memories would fade?

  All those things were true, but until Levi found the person who was taunting Susannah, none of them mattered. The nightmare she’d escaped from was still going on. Would continue until the Lions of Texas were dismantled.

  And they would be.

  Levi had been gunning for them since Greg’s death.

  Now he had even more reason to take them down.

  Between his efforts and the efforts of the rest of Company D, there was no doubt it would happen.

  In time.

  But that wasn’t something they had much of, and he could feel it ticking away as he got out of the car and followed Susannah across the yard.

  ELEVEN

  Having one Texas Ranger in her kitchen had been bad enough, but two took up way more space than Susannah was comfortable with. She skirted around Captain Ben Fritz, poured coffee for him and for Levi, wishing they’d move the meeting into the living room. At least in there, she’d have room to breathe.

  “Cream and sugar are on the counter. Help yourselves,” she offered, as she handed each man a cup. Did either notice the way her hands were trembling? The way her voice shook?

  Everything she’d said to Levi had been true.

  She wanted to embrace every moment of every day.

  But that was difficult to do with a predator chasing after her.

  She shivered, pulling the edges of Levi’s jacket more closely around her chest.