Pivot

by Kat Martin

  “She’ll tell them that someone was trying to kidnap him,” he insisted.

  Gwen rolled her eyes. Leo was ten years older than she, but he had the ambition of a slug. He’d spent most of his career seated behind his desk, counting down the days until his retirement. But last year his wife had walked out on him, taking the house, his savings, and a large chunk of his retirement. That’s when Gwen had requested him as her partner. She’d known he’d been in minor trouble before, but now she suspected that he was desperate enough to man up and join her in the big league.

  And she’d been right.

  Still, he had an annoying habit of panicking whenever something went wrong.

  “It doesn’t matter what she says,” Gwen assured him. “All we have to do is claim that the boy is connected to one of our investigations and that we need to put him in our protective custody. Who’s going to question us?”

  He shot her an annoyed glance. “Doesn’t anything rattle you?”

  Gwen flattened her lips as an image of herself locked in her bathroom with a needle in her arm seared through her mind.

  “One of us has to have some balls. If it was up to you, we’d be stealing small baggies of pot and a handful of pills from crime scenes. Now we’re making enough to keep us both happy.”

  “A good gambler knows when to walk away.”

  “You’re as stupid as Kowalski,” she spat out. “There’s no walking away. Not for either of us. The only way out of our deal with the cartel is in a body bag. Got it?”

  Even in the darkness she could see him turn pale at the threat. She might be a bitch, but the head of the cartel was a ruthless killer. If he suspected they were getting cold feet, he wouldn’t hesitate to have them murdered and dumped in the gutter.

  “Yeah, I got it,” Leo muttered.

  Gwen lowered her umbrella and snapped it shut. “We need to get back to the station.”

  Chapter Four

  Gray stood next to Ian Brodie at a roadside rest area north of Seattle. It was late enough that his car and Ian’s green Jeep were the only two vehicles pulled next to the brightly lit brick building. Inside, Mel was keeping guard on Donny as he used the restroom. He’d also heard her promise the boy that she would buy him a few snacks from one of the vending machines.

  Ian was an inch taller than Gray’s six-foot-one, with blond hair and piercing blue eyes. He was wearing a thick sweatshirt and heavy jeans to combat the chilly night air.

  “Thanks for meeting me,” Gray murmured.

  “You were there when I needed you,” Ian said. “Just tell me how I can help.”

  “I need you to take Donny and find somewhere to keep him safe for a few days.”

  “He can stay with us,” Ian offered without hesitation. “Lily would love to have a friend to play with.”

  “There are some very dangerous people searching for him,” Gray warned. The last thing he wanted was to put Ian’s new family in danger.

  His companion shrugged. “I’ll make a few calls. The bad guys will have to go through an entire clan of Brodies to get to him,” he said, referring to his cousins. Gray had met most of the men. Only an idiot would dare to challenge them. “What about Mel?” Ian continued. “She’s welcome to stay with us.”

  Gray shook his head. “I’m going to need her help. She’s the only eyewitness to the men who tried to kidnap Donny,” he told his friend, not adding that he didn’t trust anyone to protect her. No one but himself.

  “Where will you go?” Ian demanded.

  “The family cabin. There’s a computer there and access to the Internet. I can tap into the police department and pull up the mug shots for Mel to look through.”

  Ian nodded. “Do you have security there?”

  “State of the art,” Gray assured him. “My mother brings clients to the cabin to discuss business mergers that are top secret. She insisted on the sort of security usually reserved for the Pentagon, despite the fact that the cabin’s in the middle of nowhere.”

  “Smart woman,” Ian said.

  Gray resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He loved his mother, but she was a force of nature who flattened anyone in her path. “No one could deny that,” he said in dry tones.

  Ian cleared his throat. “What else can I do?”

  “I suspect the bad guys are going to be watching Mel’s apartment. It would give us some breathing room if you could keep them busy.”

  “Don’t worry.” Ian smiled with sudden anticipation. “I’ll have them chasing from one end of the state to the other.” His gaze moved to the door of the nearby building where Mel had appeared with Donny. The boy was tightly clutching her hand. “I’ll need that red jacket she’s wearing. And tell her to turn off her phone.”

  Gray studied Ian in confusion; then he realized his friend was right. If there were cops looking for Mel, they could easily tap into the GPS on her cell to find her.

  Gray’s blood ran cold. Damn. He should have thought of that danger himself.

  “Good point.”

  “I have a burner in the Jeep she can use for now,” Ian told him. “What else can I do?”

  Gray laid a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “You’ve done more than enough.”

  “Just let me know if you need anything,” Ian insisted. “I’ll keep an ear to the ground. If I hear any chatter on the street about Mel or Donny, I’ll let you know.”

  “Thanks.” Gray gave his friend’s shoulder a squeeze before lowering his hand.

  There was a short silence. Almost as if Ian was considering his words.

  “How is Mel?” he finally asked.

  Gray glanced toward the woman who was patiently waiting for them to finish their conversation. Clearly, she didn’t want to take the risk of Donny overhearing anything they might be discussing.

  His heart squeezed with an aching sense of loss.

  “Furious that someone would try to hurt a child,” he told his companion.

  “Typical Mel. I don’t know many people who would take on a couple of thugs, let alone ram them with their car.” Ian’s voice was edged with an unmistakable admiration. “I’m sure she must be terrified.”

  Gray sucked in a deep breath. “She is, but she’s determined to keep it hidden. At least from me.”

  “It must have been a shock when you appeared to rescue her.”

  Gray released a humorless laugh. “If she wasn’t being chased by kidnappers, I doubt she would have gotten in the car.”

  There was a short silence before Ian asked the question that had no doubt been on the tip of his tongue since Gray had called to say what’d happened.

  “And you?” he demanded. “How are you dealing with being around Mel again?”

  A wistful sigh whispered through Gray’s lips. “I realize why I spent the past two years waiting for an excuse to return to Seattle.”

  Ian folded his arms over his chest. “Why did you need an excuse?”

  A good question. It was a shame he didn’t have a good answer. “Because I’m an idiot,” was all he could say.

  “You’re not going to get an argument from me.”

  Gray arched his brows. “Some friend you are.”

  Ian shrugged. “We all get to be an idiot once or twice in our lives. The trick is to learn from our mistakes and not repeat them.”

  “I don’t intend to, but first I have to make sure Mel is safe.” Gray’s gaze took a slow, thorough survey of the woman who’d haunted his dreams for years. “After that . . .”

  “Anything can happen,” Ian finished for him.

  “Yes, indeed.”

  * * *

  Mel watched the windshield wipers swish back and forth. The rain had eased to a fine mist that could barely be seen in the glow of the headlights. As they’d left Seattle, a thick darkness had settled around them, making it feel as if they were cocooned from the rest of the world. A sensation that was only emphasized when the traffic thinned to a mere trickle.

  “You’re quiet.” Gray at last broke the si
lence.

  “I’m worried about Donny,” Mel said, her heart twisting at the memory of Donny’s pale face streaked with tears as she tucked him into the Jeep.

  It’d felt like the worst betrayal to walk away from him.

  “You can trust Ian,” Gray assured her. “He’s trained to protect people. He won’t let anything happen to the boy.”

  Mel turned her head to study Gray’s chiseled profile, which was visible in the glow of the dashboard. It was shockingly familiar. As if she’d memorized every sweep and curve of his features before he’d abandoned her.

  The realization was unnerving.

  “I don’t question Ian’s ability to protect Donny, but the boy will feel as if he’s been more or less dumped on strangers. He’ll crawl even deeper into his shell,” she explained. “I’m afraid he’ll never come back out.”

  “Ian has a stepdaughter around the same age,” Gray reminded her. “He’ll be much happier playing with Lily in a comfortable home than on the run with us. Besides, I’m hoping it’s only for a couple of days.”

  She slowly nodded. He was right. She trusted Ian. And there was no doubt Donny would be happier with a playmate to keep him distracted.

  “Okay.”

  Gray cleared his throat. “Is there anything else bothering you?”

  Mel frowned. Was he probing for something specific?

  “Yes, I’m worried about missing work,” she told him.

  He sent her a puzzled glance. “I thought you’d texted the center before you turned off your phone.”

  “I did.” She heaved a small sigh. “But my students will worry if I’m not there,” she said. “Kids who live in constant chaos tend to cling to the routine that I try to offer them.”

  “I promise to get you back to the center as quickly as possible,” he assured her, his tone serious.

  Mel wrinkled her nose. She knew it was ridiculous to worry about work when she was being chased by street thugs and dirty cops. But it was something tangible to fret over.

  “This is all . . .” Her words trailed away as she struggled to explain her inner fears.

  “What?”

  “It feels like a dream,” she finally said. “Or a nightmare.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault.” Her lips twisted in a rueful smile. It would be easy to blame Gray, but she knew exactly who was responsible. “I knew there was going to be trouble as soon as I rammed that SUV.”

  Gray slowed as they veered off the highway to take a narrow road lined by trees. The sense of isolation intensified.

  “Do you want me to have Ian tow your car to a garage?” he asked.

  She didn’t have to think about her answer. “No, I’m pretty sure it’s totaled,” she said. The hood had been smashed into the shape of an accordion. Which didn’t seem fair considering she’d only dented the door of the SUV. “Not much of a loss, to be honest.”

  Gray turned his head to glance at her. “It wasn’t that same old Taurus, was it?”

  “Yeah.”

  He returned his attention to the twisty road. “That thing was ready for the scrap heap two years ago.”

  “It got me from one place to another,” she protested; then she grimaced, recalling the numerous times she’d been stuck walking to work. There was a reason she lived so close to the center. “Most of the time.”

  “And you didn’t want the hassle of shopping for a new car.”

  She glanced out the window, annoyed that he knew her so well.

  “I don’t like change,” she muttered. As far back as she could remember, she’d been bounced from place to place.

  Sometimes with her mother, who’d struggled with a drug addiction, and sometimes in various foster homes. The only constant in her life had been the small, battered suitcase she kept packed and hidden beneath her bed, no matter where she was.

  “I always wondered how you ended up in Seattle,” he murmured.

  She didn’t like to talk about the past—it was too painful. But right now, she was willing to do anything to keep her mind from dwelling on what would happen if those men managed to find Donny. “It was a deathbed promise to my mother.”

  Mel could sense his surprise. “She wanted you to move to Seattle?”

  “Not exactly.” Mel shook her head, blocking out the last, horrifying days of her mother’s life. Whatever mistakes the older woman had made, Mel loved her. “She wanted me to travel away from Chicago before deciding where I wanted to settle down. I spent three months driving across the country.”

  “Why Seattle?”

  Her lips twisted. “I could say it was the beautiful views. Or the friendly people. Or the best grilled salmon I’ve ever tasted. But the truth is my car broke down. I had to get a job to pay for the repairs.”

  “The Hummingbird Youth Center?”

  “Yep.” She shrugged. “Not a very exciting story.”

  “I don’t know,” he protested. “Perhaps it was fate that caused your car to break down at that precise time and in that precise place.”

  “Or a broken fan belt,” she said dryly, although she knew that there had been more than just bad luck that had made her stay in Seattle.

  It’d almost been as if the dark grief that had haunted her for weeks had slowly lifted as she settled into her job at the center.

  Gray released a short laugh. “Maybe a combination of destiny and faulty belts.”

  She resisted the urge to share in his amusement. Instead she glanced toward the passing trees that were creeping closer to the road.

  “Where are we going?”

  “To the family cabin,” he told her. “It’s only another hour or so from here.”

  She stiffened. It hadn’t occurred to her that he intended for them to stay under the same roof. Stupid, of course.

  “Why don’t we just get a couple hotel rooms?”

  “The cabin is remote enough we won’t have to worry about nosy neighbors, but fully equipped with the technology I need to continue my investigation.” He slowed and turned onto another road, this one even narrower. “But first, we need something to eat.”

  Chapter Five

  Kevin “Hammer” Hamil shifted in his seat, wincing as his stiff muscles threatened to cramp. He’d been watching the narrow white house built on a corner lot for less than three hours, but already his ass was asleep, and he had to piss. Next to him, his younger brother, Manny, was doing his own share of squirming.

  They weren’t the sort of guys who liked sitting around. Unless it was in a bar with a cold beer in their hands.

  Not for the first time he regretted becoming involved with Detective Gwen Dobbs. Back then it’d seemed like the answer to a prayer. After all, she’d busted him and Manny with enough meth to send them to prison for years. It wasn’t until she’d started ordering him around that he’d realized he’d made a deal with the devil. Jail didn’t seem so bad compared to an eternity of being at the bitch’s beck and call.

  “I’m hungry,” Manny abruptly groused. “And I need a beer.”

  “Tough,” Hammer said.

  “Why can’t we go grab some food and stretch our legs?”

  “Because we’re supposed to be watching the apartment.”

  “Even felons get a dinner break,” Manny muttered.

  Hammer scowled as his stomach rumbled. He was starving, and talk about dinner wasn’t helping.

  “And what if the woman comes while we’re gone and then disappears?” he snapped. “Do you want to be the one to tell Detective Dobbs that we messed up again?”

  Manny shuddered. No one wanted to piss off the female detective. “Fine. You can stay here, and I’ll go get some food.”

  “Forget it. The last time you promised to come back for me, I didn’t see you for two days.”

  Manny muttered a curse. “Then you go. I need something in my gut. You know how I get when my blood sugar drops.”

  About to tell his brother to shove his blood sugar up his ass, Hammer sucked in a s
harp breath as headlights sliced through the darkness.

  “Duck,” he exclaimed, wiggling down in his seat until he heard the tires crunch on the driveway across the street. Then, popping his head up, he glanced over the dashboard to see a slender woman slide out of the car, pulling the hood of her red jacket over her head.

  “Bingo,” he breathed.

  “Is that her?” Manny demanded.

  “Yeah, I remember her coat.”

  “There’s no kid with her.”

  “She must have stashed him somewhere,” he said. “Probably with whoever loaned her the new car.”

  “Now what?”

  Hammer frowned as he watched the woman hurrying toward the stairs on the side of the garage.

  “Now we wait.”

  “Shit,” Manny muttered, squirming in his seat.

  They sat in silence as the lights in the apartment flicked on. Was she staying? Pulling out his phone, Hammer was about to call Dobbs and ask the detective if they should grab the woman, when the lights were suddenly flicked off and the door to the apartment opened.

  “She’s coming down the stairs,” Manny warned.

  “Start the engine, but don’t turn on the headlights.” Hammer hit Dobbs’s number. “Keep close enough to follow her, but don’t spook her. If she takes off, our ass is grass.”

  Manny turned the key and shoved the SUV in gear. “I don’t need you telling me how to do my business.”

  “Just drive,” Hammer snapped, pressing the phone to his ear as it connected to Dobbs. “Yeah, we’re on her trail.”

  * * *

  Gray finished putting away the groceries he’d purchased after they’d stopped for dinner. From his vantage point in the kitchen he could watch Mel take a slow tour around the vast, sunken living room with its bank of windows on one wall and a massive stone fireplace on another. She moved into the library that was used as an office and then into the dining room that boasted a chandelier shipped in from Venice and a glossy table that could easily seat a dozen guests.

  “You call this a cabin?”

  “My mother never does anything small,” he admitted, not surprised that Mel was overwhelmed by the place. It had the vibe of an elegant Swiss chalet that’d been plucked from the Alps and nestled among the thick forest of aspen and cedars. “Besides, she uses it for business. She brings potential clients here, to seal the deal. That’s why the place is fully equipped with an office.”