Deadly Secrets

by Lisa Phillips

  He got up from the bed and walked to the window.

  “What?”

  “You smell that? Like smoke?” He shifted, glancing around outside, then sucked in a breath. “The office is on fire.”

  Chapter 5

  “Come on.” He hauled her up by her good arm. “I have to go see what’s going on, which means you’re coming too.”

  Thankfully she didn’t argue with him. Mint tucked his phone in the front pocket of his jeans and palmed his gun. She walked close behind him, out the door.

  Aaron Jones had been busy, because none of this was a coincidence. There was no way a fire at the exact motel where Emma was staying, or a missing waitress whose hallway was covered with blood, didn’t have anything to do with her.

  He wanted to ask her more about that injury. He’d seen gunshot wounds before and knew from the FBI report that they figured she’d been tagged by a shot and hurt on her left arm. The gash was nasty, and it was for sure infected. He hadn’t been lying about that. Gunshot wounds were notoriously dirty. Powder, dirt on the bullet. Not the cleanest things to come into contact with.

  And now there was no time.

  Mint wasn’t going to allow Bill or Mary, or anyone else they worked with who might be in the office—or their attached residence—to get hurt. And he could guess neither would Emma. She wasn’t feeling one hundred percent, but she kept pace with him. The woman might be scared, but she was going to push that aside and do what she had to.

  They raced down the sidewalk. A guy, probably a trucker by the look of him, poked his head out of his room. Jeans, undone. No shirt. Round belly covered in enough hair it could be classified as fur. “Call 9-1-1.”

  They kept running.

  Emma said, “What if…”

  “Don’t think about that,” he told her. “There’s no use. Let’s just get in there and see what we can find.”

  Bill and Mary might be fine, or they might be already dead. Kerri could be in there, dead. Mint had no desire to see a burn victim, but this was the nature of what he did. You completed the mission, regardless of what that meant. And when it was done, you did what you had to do to get past it.

  The front door of the office was shut. Mint tried the handle. Locked.

  He elbowed the window and broke the glass, then opened it from the inside. Smoke poured out. Emma coughed. She didn’t need to be here, didn’t need to see this. But he had to keep her safe. If he lost her, he lost his shot at getting Aaron Jones to come to him.

  Aaron was here, and people were getting hurt. He had to shut off his feelings about that or they would compromise his ability to complete the mission. Emma was his priority. And that fact didn’t cancel out basic human decency.

  “Anyone in here?” He yelled the question as loud as he could. “Bill? Mary?” Mint thought he heard a faint reply and fought through the smoke with Emma. There weren’t flames in the office or behind the check-in desk. Just a whole lot of smoke. Where was the fire?

  Emma grasped his hand tightly, keeping him grounded here.

  A door marked PRIVATE, halfway down the hall, opened to a wall of flames. Mint coughed and lifted his T-shirt collar to cover his mouth. “Bill? Mary?”

  The fire was a roar. He doubted anyone could hear him… until he heard a man call back. Bill.

  Mint turned and pushed Emma back down the hall. “Go. Wait at the door. Tell the firefighters where I am.” He wasn’t trained at this, and he had nothing to fight the blaze with, but he went inside anyway. Skirted the edge, flames threatening to lick at him as he rounded a couch and nearly tripped over the coffee table. This was their residence. He made his way to Bill and hauled the man onto his shoulder. He looked around to try and find Mary, but couldn’t see her.

  Black spots threatened encroaching unconsciousness. His knees almost buckled, but he made his way back to the hall. Good idea or not, he had a shot at saving this man.

  Mint made his way down the hall, back to the front office of the motel. He stepped through the front door, right as the fire truck pulled up. He laid the now-unconscious Bill down on the closest stretch of grass and looked around.

  Emma was nowhere to be seen.

  **

  His hand covered her mouth. She wanted to bite him, but his fingers dug so tightly into her cheek she couldn’t move her jaw. The gun pressed against her side, right below her ribs.

  A muffled sound built in her throat.

  Aaron Jones dragged her along so fast she nearly tripped. Around the building, scraping her arm against the side of the brick wall. She couldn’t help but cough, the smell of smoke still in her lungs. The scratch of ash in her throat.

  Where was Mint? What if he’d run into a problem helping Bill and Mary and was hurt? A tear trailed from her eye onto Aaron’s hand. Had he saved them, or had he been a victim of the fire, too? Not that she thought Mint wouldn’t be able to protect her. It was just that maybe, with what she’d done, this was the recompense she’d expected. Her finger had been on the gun when the first bullet went into the senator.

  Aaron didn’t slow. Just kept going, rounding another corner and then let go to slam her against the wall. Her head bounced off the brick, and the whimper escaped her throat. “Why?”

  The gun pressed against her again, glancing off her ribs. One shot and she would be bleeding out. No one to help her. No one to even notice the shot, not with the sirens and the distraction of the fire. Dead in an alley with no one to see. No one to care. Except her mother, who would spin this tragedy and gain herself even more fans. Her father would continue on in his quiet way, keeping to himself.

  Emma realized then that she had already resigned herself to this end. At least part of her had known her journey to try and be safe was futile. That she would end up here eventually, where Aaron would catch up with her.

  The fire. Kerri. That wasn’t what she’d expected.

  “You didn’t need to hurt them.”

  Aaron pushed in close, pressing the gun into her stomach. “Causing trouble, aren’t you? All kinds of trouble.”

  She said nothing.

  “No more,” he said.

  “What do you want?”

  “Go back to Virginia, Emma. Bus. Plane. Hitchhike. Walk for all I care. But you go.”

  He wanted her to… “What?”

  She blinked. He wasn’t going to take her right now? He could kidnap her and kill her. Mint would never know where she was, until they found her bones buried in a shallow grave somewhere.

  “You turn yourself in to the FBI and confess to the murder of Senator Sadler, or the waitress gets delivered to the diner, dead.”

  Another tear rolled down her face. All she’d tried to do was take the power back.

  “You hear me?”

  She said nothing, too scared to even nod. Finally she managed to croak out a question. “Why?” When she’d only been trying to do the right thing.

  His grip tightened. “Turn yourself in.”

  “How do I know Kerri isn’t dead already?”

  Aaron wasn’t exactly honest. She’d seen him do too much to ever believe that. Still, his bargaining chip might be nothing but a lie.

  He laughed, a horrible sound that made her cringe. “Nice try. This is my deal, so I guess you’ll just have to trust me.” She must have made a face, because he laughed again. “Guess you aren’t so scared of me now. Or you just don’t think so much of me.”

  “Don’t hurt her.” Who knew what state Kerri was in? Or whether Bill and Mary were even alive.

  “You want her to live, you do what I say. Turn yourself in.”

  “Oh—” Her voice hitched. “—kay.”

  “Soon as I hear you’ve done it, I’ll let her go.”

  That, she wasn’t so sure she believed. “Let her go now. I’ll do it.” Kerri could be dead before Emma managed to get herself to the closest FBI office.

  She knew the feds were looking for her, at least as a witness to what happened. Her blood had been at the scene. If she showed up a
nd told them that she’d killed him, would they charge her? The FBI couldn’t base a case on a confession—she’d seen that on a cop show once and was mostly sure it was true—but would her story line up with what evidence they already had?

  Aaron wasn’t going to kill her. Not right now, at least. He needed her to turn herself in and take the rap for him. She tensed her stomach then. “Let me go, so I can go.”

  He hauled her by her injured arm, fingers pressing right on the wound. She stumbled. He slammed her against the wall, right by the corner, and pressed his body against hers. So hard against the bricks that she whimpered again.

  She didn’t want to be helpless. She wanted to be strong, but in the moment all she could think was, Don’t hurt me. Don’t hurt me. She couldn’t think of any way to get him to leave her alone.

  He twisted her so she was looking around the corner, at the firefighters. An ambulance. Mint glanced around, looking for something.

  Looking for her.

  “He can’t help you. Not him or any of his friends. No one can. Not unless you want to be responsible for more death.”

  Emma shuddered.

  The blow came before she even realized. Pain whipped through her skull and everything went black.

  **

  Mint searched the parking lot first. Then both of their rooms. Then he widened the search, his stomach twisting increasingly into knots.

  He found her in an alley, slumped against the wall. “Emma.” He crouched and saw the blood trailing from her temple, down her cheek. She didn’t wake.

  Mint lifted her in his arms and carried her to the ambulance. He took each step with care, not wanting to stumble. His lungs burned from the smoke. He pushed aside the weakness and concentrated on getting her to the EMTs.

  When he was close enough, Mint yelled, “I need help!”

  She shifted then. “No.” The word was a low moan.

  “Don’t worry. We’ll get someone to see to you.”

  “No.”

  He ignored her protest and moved toward the back of the ambulance. But the doors shut, and it started to pull away slowly. Mint looked around.

  “Don’t.”

  He tucked his chin and looked down at her. “You need to see a doctor.” Regardless of the fact the EMTs had just left, taking Bill or Mary—or both—to the hospital.

  She shook her head. “Please. Don’t.”

  The firefighters were busy. A few people milled around, watching what was going on. No one had heard him yell over all the noise.

  The sheriff’s vehicle pulled into the parking lot. Emma must have seen it because she shifted and buried her face against his shirt. “You have to get me out of here.” He barely heard her. “Please.”

  Mint didn’t like it, but he moved to his room and got her on the bed. He shut the door. “You need a doctor, Emma.” His hands shook, his skin absorbing the sensation of her tight against him. She could so easily have been dead when he found her. Another victim of Aaron Jones.

  She pushed off the covers and shifted to the edge. She swayed before her feet even touched the floor.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I have to go.”

  Mint shook his head. He wanted to crouch in front of her, have a soft conversation, but she looked like she’d push him away and make a run for it. He didn’t want to end up on his butt on the carpet.

  “What happened?”

  She frowned at him.

  “I’m sorry.” He’d sounded short with her. Like this was her fault. “Tell me, Emma. Please.”

  “Aaron pointed a gun at me. He dragged me from the office to the alley.”

  Dread rolled through him. “Was he going to kill you? Which way did he go?”

  She shook her head. “He said…” Her voice broke. She looked so small. Defeated.

  Mint got a wash cloth and handed it to her. “Put this against your head.” In the light of the room it didn’t look too bad, but there was a good amount of blood. It would likely just need a regular bandage.

  When she did as he asked, he leaned his hips back against the dresser. “Tell me what he said.”

  Mint listened, feeling his eyebrows rise as she told him. When she got to the part where she’d asked about Kerri, he said, “Good. Always ask for proof of life.”

  Her face twisted. “She’s probably already dead.” Emma looked like she wanted to curl up on the bed and cry. Then take a nap. But she pressed on. When she got to the end of her story, she said, “Are Bill and Mary okay?”

  Mint folded his arms to keep from reaching for her. Comforting her. “Bill was out. I got him to the ambulance. The firefighters found Mary. It doesn’t look good, but we won’t know until the doctors check them both out.”

  She said nothing, just stared at him. Like Mint was supposed to figure out what she should do next. Like maybe he had answers to this colossal mess. He pulled his phone out. No messages. Not from Steve and not from the RV command center they had parked just outside of town.

  Emma lifted off the bed and moved to zip up her duffel. She bent over the bag, hissed out a breath and collapsed to her knees.

  Mint knelt by her and zipped up the bag. “Come on.”

  They could get out of here, and he’d figure out what to do next. He needed to pow-wow with his team members in town if they were going to have a shot at finding Kerri while he protected Emma. Then there was Aaron.

  This was bigger than just Mint now. But that was why he’d joined Double Down. He could accomplish more as part of a team than he could alone.

  She lifted up but took a step back. “Where? Are you going to drive me to Virginia?”

  He shook his head. “Why would I do that?”

  “I have to turn myself in. For Kerri.”

  The waitress was probably already dead. Mint didn’t want to confirm for Emma that he thought the same thing.

  “No one else is going to die because of me.”

  “Emma—”

  “No! I don’t want to hear you say it’s going to be okay. It won’t be. Not ever. I’m going to go to jail, and Kerri will be okay, and that’s it.”

  He took a step toward her, but she twisted around him and headed for the door. Mint caught her arm. He loosened his grip before he would hurt her, then shifted her so her back was against the door. He felt her reach for the handle and grabbed it first. Kept his body close, but not touching. “Don’t be stupid, Emma. You need me.”

  “No. What I need is for no one else to die because of me.”

  She’d said that once already. He said, “Tell me the rest of it.” He knew she was holding back. They both were.

  “Because I’m stupid?”

  “Making bad choices doesn’t mean you’re dumb. We all do it, because we act without thinking. Without asking for help.” He looked down at her, willing her to believe in him. For someone, for once in his life, to believe in him. “I’m standing right here, Emma. I want to help you. But you have to let me in.”

  Chapter 6

  Emma lifted the duffel and slung it over her shoulder. Her head swam and she fought a rush of vertigo to stay upright. Whoa. Mint did nothing. He was back to not touching her. Not that she wanted him to try and help her. He’d done enough, calling her ideas “stupid.” She knew he didn’t mean she was dumb, even though she’d accused him of exactly that. Chin high, she strode to the door.

  He wanted her to trust him, but that wouldn’t save Kerri’s life. Maybe he thought there was no point in her trying. That Kerri was already dead. But what kind of person would she be if she didn’t at least try and save another person’s life? This was her fault. Aaron had made her part of this—a product of bad timing, or more than that. Why did Mint care so much if she ended up in jail? He didn’t need to worry about her future.

  “Emma.”

  When she looked back at him to see what he wanted, he was looking down at his phone. Seriously? She was making a life-altering decision here, and he was distracted with technology?

  She moved to
the door and grabbed the handle. On the other side, stood the sheriff.

  He frowned—apparently all the reaction he was going to show right now even though he was surprised. “I didn’t expect to find you in here.” The sheriff looked between her and Mint, a question in his eyes.

  Emma said, “I was just leaving.”

  The sheriff held up his hand. “I’d like a minute of your time. I need a clear picture of what happened tonight.”

  “Are Bill and Mary okay?” Maybe he knew more about their conditions than Mint had.

  “If you’ll take a seat, this will only be a second.”

  She turned back to Mint, half-expecting him to object somehow. Make it so she could leave. He looked up, face pale. Eyes ringed by dark circles. He sighed, and it ended in a cough that shook his whole body.

  Emma dumped her duffel and went to the bathroom. She unwrapped the provided plastic cup and filled it with tepid water from the tap. When she handed it to him, their fingers touched. He said nothing. Just took the cup and sipped.

  The sheriff stood by the dresser. Emma sank into a padded chair, while Mint stayed in his seat on the edge of the bed. He looked like he should be taking a nap. She knew she felt the same way. They were both exhausted. Beat up. Injured and bruised. They’d been through the ringer today, even before the fire and her little conversation with Aaron Jones.

  The sheriff had Mint show him an ID and, after that, called him “Davis.” His real name?

  Mint explained everything that happened from when they noticed the smoke to when he came out with Bill and the fire department was there. Hearing what he’d gone through humbled her. Despite the fact she could admit she had wanted him to come and save her, he’d been saving Bill. Making sure Mary was all right. He’d looked for her. She’d seen it.