“You say that a lot.”
“Well, that’s the way I feel. We can’t just sit here and wait any longer.”
He didn’t bother to answer. She knew that look of “why not?” He’d been throwing it in her direction for the past hour.
“What if they come back?” she asked for the tenth time.
His finger tapped his gun.
Growing up she’d seen guns with other marshals and didn’t feel anxious when Levi handled his. If he fired, she hoped he hit his target and no stray bullets went through the walls.
“And then what, Levi? There’s nowhere to hide. No bathtub or wall thick enough to stop their bullets. I feel like a cornered mouse in a deathtrap.”
“We’ve discussed that we can’t predict what they’ll do or where they’ll strike. Isn’t it safer to just stay here?”
“I’ve been talking and you don’t like any of my ideas, especially the version of just calling your boss. So why don’t you answer your question this time? If you were the bad guys, why try to get into our room an hour ago?”
She watched his eyes narrow, how his fingers stroked the stubble on his chin, then switched to a brief scratch. His brown eyes were a rich deep chocolate, reminding her how hungry she was. Not only for food, but also for the closeness they’d shared. She missed that.
Does he realize that his fingers are a gentle caress every time he even casually touches me?
He swung his legs over the edge of the berth and faced her. “Make the hits while everyone’s asleep, return to my seat, stay put, exit next stop. Our dead bodies aren’t discovered until it’s time to debark in Dallas.”
“And when that didn’t work, what would your next move be?” she asked.
“I’d wait until we were closer to a town, where the train slows, make the hit, then jump.”
“Then we should change that plan by getting out of this room.” She wasn’t a claustrophobic person. Not normally anyway, but she’d be better not being in a six-by-six foot room for a while. “We need to think of something they won’t expect.”
“And not get killed in the process.” He half grinned. “One thing’s for certain, when our steward comes around we’re getting out of this ‘deathtrap’ of a room.” His eyes twinkled, repeating her description.
“The call button still doesn’t work.”
“He’s already been tipped to show up at five-thirty.” He glanced at his watch. “Fifteen minutes. We’re getting off in Texarkana.”
“Levi Cooper, you knew what you were going to do all along.”
“And if I did?”
“I can handle the truth, you know.”
“Never doubted you could,” he said, holstering his gun.
Remembering how he’d kissed her goodbye didn’t help calm her scorching insides.
If he’d revealed he was a marshal four years ago, perhaps the thought of becoming involved wouldn’t have entered her head. His simple “we can’t do this” hadn’t stopped her from thinking about him or wondering what she’d done wrong.
Good grief, she could admit that he was just plain handsome, but not the guy for her. She was tired of sharing only half-truths and being unable to say she didn’t like roller coasters or speed boats or even watching race cars. She couldn’t answer why because it led to the life of a woman who never grew past the age of five.
A woman whose headstone she’d come face-to-face with the day before.
The most appealing part of this very moment was honesty. Being with Levi meant no secrets, no more lies about herself.
And yet, she knew he still held something back. She’d gained a lot of perspective since leaving her father’s watchful, concerned eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me your plan?”
He stood, stretched, shrugged. Stepped across the room to offer her a hand to help her stand. She took it, stayed where she was, waiting for him to answer.
“Your other choice was to have me distract you with a kiss. This has been the longest conversation we’ve had without disagreeing in two years. You’ve been full of ideas and finally came around to the one I liked. If I had to improvise, then we’d have to go through everything again. Anyway, you respond better if it’s your idea.”
He didn’t slow down at her shocked reaction to his suggested kiss idea. A kiss? He’d thought about kissing her?
“I cannot believe you just said that.”
He tugged her to her feet with his firm grasp on her hand. He didn’t stop there and circled her with an embrace. She was ready for this. Ready to feel his firm lips on hers again. To see if it was everything she remembered.
“You said you could take the truth,” he said in a voice full with desire.
“If we’re being so truthful... Why did you kiss me at the airport before I left for Georgia? You’d said there was no way—”
Levi brought a finger to her lips, then he swirled it to her chin, tilting her face until their eyes met. “I kissed you because I couldn’t not kiss you.”
She remembered the firmness of his lips, the perfection of that one kiss. Or had she distorted the memory?
“And now? Are you going to not do it again?”
The time for talking ended and it didn’t matter if Levi wanted to kiss her. She wanted to kiss him. She rose onto her toes, taking advantage of the small space and the exposed skin at his neck. His hands dropped away, quickly encircling her waist and back. He held her to his chest, barely letting her feet touch the floor.
They leaned together, meeting in the middle of the short space between them. Everything was the same. Her memory hadn’t exaggerated the thrill of his mouth on hers at all. Waves of tingles took her to a place she didn’t want to leave.
His hands skated under her loose T-shirt. When they connected with her skin, his light touch explored while he held her against his rock-hard body. He slowly released her until her feet were on the floor. She enjoyed the firmness of the muscles in his arms she’d admired all day, wanting to discover more.
Wanting to discover more of his kisses.
A soft tap on the compartment window broke them apart.
“That would be Max and Dave, the stewards. You up for this?” he asked calmly.
Her insides were jumping, having nothing to do with the motion of the train speeding across the Arkansas tracks. He looked composed, but she placed a hand over his heart and felt it racing as fast as her own. Their eyes connected and she received his smile telling her she knew the real answer, no matter what he might say or do.
“Yes. Don’t trust anyone and be ready for anything.” She remembered that. The phrase had been drilled into her brain her entire life by her father. “You set this up before we left St. Louis?”
He nodded.
“You also reserved this compartment before—”
“Yeah, I did. Just in case. Before the train pulled out, I found long-term Amtrak employees. Two men I would recognize when they showed up. No chance of someone who might conveniently be replaced at the last minute.”
They moved to the dining car without a problem or seeing another person. She sat on a bar stool as the stewards left.
“As frightened as I am, it is so good to be out of that room.” Relief shot through her. “I am incredibly hungry and tired all at the same time.” She wanted to stretch out in a bed and sleep for an entire day. Then wake up and see what possibilities there may be with Levi.
“Adrenaline’s wearing off,” he said.
“Is that why the train feels like it’s slower?”
“No, it is slower. They’re applying the brakes.” For a split second, surprise flashed through Levi’s eyes. He quickly hid it behind a screen of concentration. “Hear that?”
Faint shouting from the following passenger car, steadily grew louder. Screams. They were in the middle of nowhere. No town lights, just moonbeams on trees and cleared pastures. Miles from help.
“What’s happening? Why are we stopping?”
“Fire!”
The wo
rd was muted through the door, but distinctive, not misunderstood.
“This can’t be a coincidence,” she said.
“It’s not. Opening the compartment door must have been the plan to get us out in the open. They don’t want you dead, Jo.” He searched the room, still relatively empty. “The bastard wants something you have.”
A chill washed over her. Something just out of reach. A glimpse to something dark...and then it was gone.
A family came through the door. The woman’s fear for her children was clear in how tightly she held the youngest and the terrified glazed look in her eyes. Because Jo hadn’t listened to Levi about the funeral, her parents’ murderers set a train on fire.
“This is all my fault. People are going to be hurt. What if someone’s—”
“Don’t go there. You aren’t responsible.” He pulled the bulletproof vest from his duffel and looped the strap over her head and chest. “I should have put this on you before we left the compartment.”
Levi was right. They hadn’t started a fire today. She hadn’t done anything except come into the kitchen when the adults were talking. She knew she could get in trouble, but she’d hurt her finger and needed Mama to fix it.
Oh, my God.
“Levi, I...”
He didn’t hear her. The alarms were sounding. People had begun pouring into the dining car. The screams and crying drowned out almost everything else. She needed to hold on to the memory from when she was five and get off this train.
When they were safe, she could tell him about the rainbow nightmare. A crystal hanging in the window had splashed color all around the room for a few minutes every day. A strange man had a rainbow face. It was an incomprehensible memory, tangled in a child’s imagination.
“Jo? Did you hear me?” Levi asked. He tilted his head down to her ear. “I think they want you alive. Don’t freak out. The vest is just a precaution.”
I remembered the last time I saw Mama alive. She wanted to scream the words so he’d know. So someone would know.
Levi was already on the bar, sliding over the counter. He motioned for her to do the same. She pulled her shoes off and followed, noticing he’d put the vest on her while she’d been inside her nightmare. He helped her to the floor, then took her by the shoulders, focused only on her.
“Don’t leave my side, Jo. No matter what happens. Doesn’t matter what you hear or who asks you for help. Promise.”
“But—”
“No buts, Jo. Promise. Whoever’s out to get you doesn’t care about innocent lives or how many people get hurt. Remember that.” He stretched a used, wet bar towel across her face. “When the train stops, we go out the door with you holding my belt. Got it?”
She could only nod. He planted himself between her and the mass of people moving toward them on the other side of the bar counter.
People shoved trying to get closer to the door. The smoke poured into the car, gathering like a dangerous fog above their heads, slowly choking the air from the panicked crowd.
The train came to an abrupt stop and the rush of people stormed through. One of the stewards who had been so helpful earlier stumbled just to her left. The mob wouldn’t stop. It took three men—one of them Levi—to block the flow long enough for the man to stand.
Breathing was horrible. No deep breaths like her lungs longed to do. Her eyes stung, watered, blurred. Holding on to Levi, she had only one hand to keep the wet towel over her nose and mouth.
Levi held his ground, not budging, letting the crush sweep past them. She turned her bare feet as flat to the wall as possible, but when the fourth or fifth person stepped on them, she screamed in pain, losing her towel.
“Stay with me.”
She heard Levi’s voice through the mob and didn’t understand when he turned into the smoke. Forcing her aching feet to follow, she lost her grip on his belt and hooked her arm through the duffel strap.
More people kept pouring through the door.
“Where are you going?” a man in an Amtrak vest shouted at Levi. “There’s no exit back there. All the other doors are locked and the dining car is the only way out.”
Another man stepped on her foot, scraping her shin along the way. The pain was so great, Jolene couldn’t stop the scream. Levi’s hand swung back, connecting with her arm, giving it a slight squeeze. His assurance helped her hold on.
She stretched the collar of the T-shirt over her nose and mouth. The smoke was thicker and made it difficult to see. She held tight to the duffel strap afraid of being the next person trampled, even if the crowd had thinned to mainly employees.
Then the green strap fell loose in her hand.
She stretched, shoving to get to him, missing his belt.
“Levi!” Her pathetic cry went unheeded. She could only manage a wheezing shout. She watched the duffel fall to the floor and Levi disappeared behind billowing black smoke. He had to know she wasn’t there since his bag had dropped.
He’d follow. He’d find her. She could trust him.
The vest weighed her down. Her collar tugged at her neck, caught on something, choking her. She frantically jerked at it as she lurched away from Levi. The bottom of the shirt ripped and she took a deep smoky breath, stinging her throat, overpowering her lungs. Her eyes watered, but she could see the Amtrak vest inches in front of her.
The urge to drop to the floor for cleaner air was great, but she couldn’t battle those trying to escape. She could no longer breathe in the dining car and had to get good air.
One second she’d been connected to Levi, feeling more secure headed toward the fire than safety. The next she was forced out the door, gulping oxygen.
Terrified it would be her last.
TEXT MESSAGE: Send Anonymously 06:02 A.M.
Target acquired.
Chapter Five
“What the hell happened?”
Levi grabbed the edge of a seat and hauled his disoriented body to its feet. He was alone in a passenger car full of black smoke. He dropped down to his knees coughing.
Smoke but no heat. Yet.
A glance at his watch verified he’d been unconscious for only a few minutes.
“Jo!” He couldn’t see her or anything else.
All he could remember was his duffel hitting the back of his legs. He’d twisted to grab Jolene and thought he’d heard his name muffled under all the chaos. Then nothing. They had her. He didn’t doubt that. He hadn’t “tripped” into this passenger car.
Rubbing the back of his head, he mentally cursed his inability to protect Jolene—something that was becoming a habit. This time it might just be fatal.
Get your butt out this door and find her!
Easier said than done. The compartment door he’d been dragged through was jammed on the other side. Back of the train was no good—that’s where the smoke came from. No duffel. No weapon.
Trains. Emergency exit. Windows? Get ’em open. How? Hammer near the door.
He couldn’t see anything and shut his eyes to the burning pain of the smoke. He yanked his shirt over his head and secured it around his face. He took a deep breath and stood into the thicker blackness. Feeling with his hands along the wall, he remembered his quick walk-through of the train. A hammer and first aid kit were located near the door. He found the glass.
Hammer in hand, he dropped to his stomach to find some breathable air. He stayed as close to the floor for as long as he could, crawling to the window. Another deep breath, pounding on the window, cracking glass, still no air.
Jo is in danger.
No one knows.
Levi heard shouting, felt the compartment door slide. He attempted to get to his feet but someone hauled him from the passenger car. Jo is in danger. He had to get air and get moving.
Blessed oxygen filled his lungs. He gulped at the air and coughed, pushing a mask away from his face. He had no time.
“U.S. Marshal.” He took in more air. “Secure the site. No one in or out.” He got his eyes open, but focusing was an
other problem while they watered from the smoke. Dave and Max sucked down on their own oxygen. “Do you see her, Dave?”
“This is an open field, man. We can’t round up everyone like cattle,” stated by some form of local law enforcement.
Levi’s eyes still burned. All he could make them focus on was a guy in uniform.
The older steward stretched taller and searched the crowd behind Levi. “She came off the train, wouldn’t leave the door and told me you were still there. Forced me to go back in after you. We heard you pounding on the window.”
Levi did some forcing of his own to get up. Where was she? If something happens to her on my watch... He’d been out long enough for firefighters to arrive. They couldn’t be in the middle of nowhere like he’d originally thought.
“Where are we?”
“Just north of Texarkana,” Dave said. “The closest town is Hope, Arkansas.”
Levi stuck out his hands and the EMT helped him to his unstable feet. He couldn’t find Jolene alone. Dammit, he couldn’t take two steps in a straight line without assistance.
“We need to get you to the hospital. You’ve got a nasty couple of cuts that need stitches, and you probably have a concussion.”
Levi looked at the guy standing next to him. An EMT. Good.
“Not happening. I need a perimeter set, not only on any roads near here, but also on any major highways.”
Levi kept walking, addressing the men who followed him, but searched for Jolene in the crowd. She could be wearing anything by now. He looked for that sassy haircut, but a short woman wasn’t easily spotted in a crowd on a good day.
“Dave, get on your handset and check if anyone sees anything. No, wait. I think the guy who conked me was dressed as Amtrak.” He turned to the firefighter. “Get me someone who can issue an APB.”
A local cop or deputy walked into Levi’s peripheral vision. “I’d like to see some ID before I let you take over this prank and it becomes a real train wreck.”
“Prank? A woman’s life is on the line. I need to find her...now.”
“Those smoke bombs have already caused one fatality. I’m in charge unless you show me some ID and tell me what you were doing on that train.”
Dangerous Memories Page 5