by Terri Reed
Audrey’s mouth formed an O. “I see. The decisions we make when we’re young can haunt us the rest of our lives.”
He let out a dry laugh. “If one can remember them.”
Audrey’s steady gaze held. A man could happily drown in those blue pools. “You can’t give up hope that you’ll remember.”
Her optimism was endearing. “From what I’ve gleaned from Blake and Drew, I haven’t let myself fall in love again.”
“Understandable. She broke your heart.”
He shrugged. He couldn’t remember, but if Laurie had thought he was mad at her because she’d turned down his offer of marriage, then maybe she had broken his heart. Or at least made him wary of relationships. He surely never wanted to compromise his faith again. “All I know for sure is that the future looks so much brighter than it did.”
A shadow crossed her face. “That’s good.”
She hadn’t healed from the wound inflicted by her college love. “Do you trust me?”
She tucked in her chin and eyed him warily. “Yes.”
He gave her his most dazzling smile. “Even if I’m charming?”
With a roll of her eyes, she shook her head. “Don’t let it go to your head.”
He chuckled then sobered. “I’m serious. I hope you won’t let your past hurtful relationship keep you from finding love.”
“It’s not just Kyle that has held me back,” she admitted softly. “I have dated since Kyle. Most men are either intimidated by me or want to change me into something I’m not.”
“So you mentioned.” It pained him to think she’d been treated poorly and made to feel bad about herself. “I like you, Audrey. A lot. Just as you are.”
For a brief second, pleasure flared in her eyes, then she dropped her gaze to their entwined hands. Slowly she extracted her hand from his grasp. “Thank you for saying that. I like you, too, Nathanial. You’re a good man.”
He could feel her withdrawing from him emotionally as well as physically. It stung more than it should. “I hear a but in there.”
She sat up straighter. “No but.”
Hmm. Okay. Then why did he feel disappointed—let down, even?
They sat in silence the rest of the flight. It was nearly three in the morning when they touched down in Saint John. Blake was waiting for them at the curb outside the airport. The temperature was below freezing. Ice crusted on the walkway and road. Nathanial was thankful he’d grabbed a down jacket, wool cap and gloves from his parents’ house. They piled into a warm minivan.
Blake drove them to a hotel and handed out key cards. “We’ll meet back in the lobby in four hours.”
Nathanial was grateful for the opportunity to shower and change clothes. He tried relaxing by stretching out on top of the bed but was too restless. He watched the minutes tick by on the clock. Finally it was time to leave his room. He opened the door to find Audrey about to knock.
“Couldn’t sleep, either?” he asked as he closed the door behind him.
She gave him a wry smile. “No.”
They met the others in the lobby, and Blake drove them to the warehouse district where their mission had gone wrong. A dozen men waited for them at the entrance to a redbrick building.
Nathanial scanned the faces of the men, hoping for some hint of recognition, and found none.
“Where’s Chase?” Blake asked one of the men.
“Not sure. I would have thought he’d beat us here, since he was nearby following up on a lead,” the man said, his badge identifying him as Agent Phillips of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, like Blake.
“And Luke?” Drew asked.
“No sign of the border patrol guy, either,” ICE agent Phillips stated.
A man came running up. His jacket had the RCMP logo on the breast pocket. “Inspector Kelley!”
“What is it, Sergeant?” Drew peered at the younger Mountie.
The sergeant pointed down the block. “I was doing a perimeter sweep as Agent Phillips asked when I came across an abandoned SUV. There’s signs of a struggle. And blood.”
FOURTEEN
“That doesn’t sound good,” Audrey said beneath her breath to Nathanial. She had a bad feeling about this. Two agents were missing. And there was blood at the scene of one agent’s abandoned vehicle. She shivered at the implications. If someone in their ranks was working for Kosloff, they could all be walking into a trap. “We need to leave.”
Nathanial shook his head. “We’ve come this far—we can’t give up yet. I have to try.”
She understood his need to recall what had transpired on the roof of this building. She glanced around, seeing the swarm of agents and officers from both sides of the international boundary line. There was tension etched on each person’s face. They, too, felt exposed, vulnerable. She moved closer to Nathanial with her hand on her weapon. He was a target, and a kill shot could come from any of the rooftops or cars parked along the street. She met Sami’s gaze and saw the worry in her eyes. Audrey turned back to Nathanial. “The risk is too great.”
“Not your call, Deputy Martin,” he said in a firm, impersonal tone that bit into her. To Blake he said, “I’m going up while you search for Luke and Chase.”
“We’re coming with you,” Drew stated. Sami nodded her agreement.
Audrey thrummed with frustration. However, she had no choice but to go with Nathanial as he headed inside the large four-story brick building. Aggravated by his bullheadedness, she sent up a quick prayer for protection and hustled after him.
At one time the large building had housed the offices of a shipping conglomerate, but it had long been abandoned, like so many older buildings in the area. The place smelled musty with disuse. Office windows were missing; doors hung on broken hinges. Chunks of plaster had fallen from the ceiling where water damage had seeped into the structure. She hurried by Nathanial to take the lead. She didn’t miss the wry twist of his lips. Thankfully he didn’t argue. Drew and Sami took the rear position.
Audrey held her sidearm in a two-handed grip as they stepped into a rickety elevator, which took them to the top floor. From there they had to take a steep flight of stairs to the roof. At the door to the rooftop, she paused, putting her hand out for Nathanial to wait as she eased the door open and peered out, bracing herself in case they came upon a hostile.
The roof appeared clear. She pushed the door wider and stepped out into the overcast morning. Wind whipped across the roof, stirring up debris. There was no one on the roof.
Nathanial nudged her aside. “I would have been positioned there.” He pointed to the southeast corner that faced the warehouse where the raid on Kosloff had been scheduled to take place.
“That’s right,” Drew confirmed. “That’s where we found your discarded hardware.”
“Were there signs of a struggle?” Audrey asked.
“The crime scene techs found one drop of blood,” Drew told them. “We had it DNA tested, and it was a match to you.”
“The blow to his head happened here, then,” she said, trying to envision the scene. “He was lying there, facing the street. He’d have been vulnerable to an attack from behind.”
“I was struck on the left side of my head,” Nathanial said, his dark eyes taking on a faraway look. He rubbed his forehead; no doubt another headache was taking hold of him.
She hated that he had to go through this pain. “The perp struck him, then stripped him of his accoutrements, leaving them behind for his team to find. Why not take them?”
“Good question. If it was one of Kosloff’s goons, one would think they would want the flak vest and the weapons,” Drew stated.
“Or they didn’t want to risk being seen with my equipment. Too identifiable.” Nathanial moved toward the edge of the roof.
“Which takes us back
to the idea it was an insider. Someone who needed his cover to stay intact.” She stuck to Nathanial’s side, her gaze alert for any sign of danger. Drew followed while Sami monitored the door in case someone tried to come through and catch them from behind.
Nathanial lay down and mimed the action of looking through a rifle scope. “I had a clear view of the warehouse,” he said. “And of the neighborhood.”
“A car turned on the street a few blocks down to the right,” Drew said.
Nathanial shifted his attention to where Drew indicated.
“Tell us about the car,” Audrey said.
“A black sedan with tinted windows,” Drew supplied. “It rolled down the street slowly. Nathanial must have seen it, because he said to hold. We all held our positions, waiting for more info. None came. Two ATF agents approached the car and were fired upon.”
“And killed.” There was no mistaking the note of self-incrimination in Nathanial’s tone.
Audrey hurt for him. “By then you were already out of commission. It’s not your fault.”
He glanced over his shoulder. Frowned, then rolled onto his back. Shielding his eyes from the overcast sun’s glare with his hand, he said, “Step closer.”
She did as he asked, casting a shadow over him. “What is it?”
Without answering, he moved onto his stomach and sighted the warehouse with his hands. He closed his eyes, then suddenly turned over onto his back to stare up at her. He blinked and then sat up abruptly. “I never saw my attacker’s face.”
Surprise washed through Audrey. “You can’t identify him?” That was good news, wasn’t it? Then why did Nathanial seem upset?
* * *
Nathanial shook his head with frustration. He’d so wanted to be able to proclaim the name of the man who’d assaulted him and thrown him into the ocean in the hopes he’d die. And was still trying to do him in. “No. He’d have been standing where you are with the sun at his back. All I would have seen was the dark outline of his body.”
“The person trying to kill you doesn’t know that. He fears you’ll be able to identify him if you regain your memory,” Audrey said with excitement in her voice. “We have to get this news out there so he’ll stop coming after you.”
“No.” Nathanial rose to his feet. His head pounded, but he ignored the throbbing ache. “We have to catch the perpetrator. Whoever attacked me is working for Kosloff. If we can draw the suspect out into the open, then maybe we can capture him and use him to get Kosloff.”
“That sounds risky,” Audrey said.
“No more risky than letting him off the hook so he can continue to put other lives in jeopardy,” he countered.
She pressed her lips together. As an officer of the law, he knew she couldn’t refute his logic. But she wanted to. He could see it in the worry darkening her blue eyes.
“Maybe we need to start looking at how you ended up in the ocean,” she said. “You were knocked unconscious here. The guy would have had to carry you out of the building and put you in a vehicle.”
“We need to know where every agent and officer was at the time,” Nathanial said. “Someone had to have seen something.”
“Let’s go confer with Blake,” Drew instructed. “He’ll have the schematics of the operation.”
“It would also be helpful to learn if you were dropped into the ocean from shore or a boat,” Audrey said as they walked toward Sami, where she stood waiting by the stairwell door. “If you were taken out on a boat, which seems most likely, we could look at all the harbors to see if we can find video-surveillance cameras.”
“Good idea. Director Moore has been in contact with the New Brunswick authorities, requesting security videos in a ten-block radius from here,” Sami said. “We’re still waiting for them. I’ll add the harbors to the request.” Her curious gaze shifted to Nathanial. “Did you remember something?”
His gut churned with failure. “Unfortunately, no. This trip was a bust.”
Audrey arched an eyebrow at Nathanial. “That’s not really correct. You may not have remembered what happened, but we know what you didn’t see.”
He shrugged. She tended to see the bright side of things. To him, they were no better off than before coming to the roof. He wished he were more like Audrey. “True, but that doesn’t get us any closer to taking down Kosloff and finding out who tipped him off to the raid. Besides, there may still be some memory of seeing my attacker locked in my brain.”
“What happened?” Sami asked.
Drew quickly explained as they entered the stairwell. Their footsteps echoed off the concrete walls.
“Ah, I can see how that would be frustrating,” Sami said.
They stepped into the elevator, and the doors slid shut. Drew pushed the button for the first floor. The car moved with a groan. A few seconds later, it jolted to an abrupt stop.
Nathanial jabbed a finger at the elevator car panel. Nothing worked. The doors remained closed. They moved neither up nor down. He wasn’t sure if they were between floors or not.
Drew opened the call box. At one time it held a receiver connected to a security office in the building. But both were gone now.
Audrey checked her phone. “No bars.”
“Me, either,” said Drew as he looked at his cell phone.
A thud sounded on the ceiling.
Audrey reached for her weapon and gripped Nathanial’s arm. His heart beat in his ears. Was someone up there? Had someone dropped something on the top of the elevator? If so, what?
A scraping noise echoed inside the elevator car, tightening his nerves. The emergency panel in the ceiling shifted slightly to allow a small tube to dangle into the car. Someone was up there!
“What is that?” Sami asked.
“It looks like a hose,” Audrey replied.
“That’s exactly what it is,” Nathanial said. A wave of apprehension crashed over him as a hissing sound came from the hose. “Cover your mouths and noses!”
The compartment filled with a toxic gas that stung his eyes. Panic revved through his blood. Audrey jumped and batted at the hose with her free hand while her other hand covered her mouth and nose, trying unsuccessfully to push the hose out of the opening.
Nathanial took shallow breaths and attacked the elevator door. His muscles strained as he dug his fingers into the crevice where the doors met. Drew crowded in to help.
With their combined strength, they managed to inch the two sides apart, enough to let in some fresher air. They were between the floors. Nathanial could see the cables and stone wall outside the elevator.
“Sami!” Audrey’s cry jerked Nathanial’s attention to the FBI agent. She was slumped on the floor, having succumbed to the gas.
Drew shoved the two sides of the door farther apart. “We have to get out of here.”
Nathanial reached out and grabbed a set of cables. Hand over hand he shimmied up the cables until he could see the top of the elevator car. A black hose connected to a canister sat on top. The doors to the building were open. A black shadow appeared. Not a shadow—a man dressed all in black. He aimed an assault rifle at Nathanial.
His heart stalled. He had nowhere to hide.
The emergency panel in the elevator car ceiling flipped up, knocking the canister over. Audrey crawled out of the opening, quickly pushing the offending hose aside.
“Watch out!” Nathanial warned. “Shooter in the doorway.”
Audrey reached up with her sidearm and fired at the man. The man dived out of the way, and the bullet hit the metal side of the door.
Audrey’s panic-filled gaze jerked to Nathanial. “You okay?”
“Yes.” He swung his feet to the top of the elevator car. Inside the car, Drew held Sami in his arms.
“You help them up,” Audrey instructed. Before he could protest, sh
e rose and in one graceful move, reached for the doorsill and muscled her way to the floor. She rolled out of sight with her gun at the ready.
Terrified something would happen to her, Nathanial had to force himself not to follow her. Sami and Drew needed his help. He sent up a silent plea for God to keep her safe. To protect her, to bring her back to him.
He reached into the elevator car as Drew hefted Sami’s petite, unconscious frame up. Nathanial caught her under the arms and dragged her as gently as he could out of the elevator. Then Drew jumped up, catching the lip of the opening, and pulled himself out of the car. Nathanial gripped the doorsill, much like Audrey had, and climbed out of the elevator shaft. He pressed his back to the side panel and peered around the edge. The hallway was empty. He quickly helped Drew with Sami. Once they were all out, Drew lifted Sami in his arms. “We have to find the stairs. She needs a medic.”
Nathanial looked at Drew. “Let me have your weapon.”
Drew didn’t hesitate. “Take it.”
Withdrawing Drew’s sidearm from his holster, Nathanial led the way into the darkened interior in search of the stairwell. “Audrey?” he called out.
Nothing.
Where could she be? He prayed for her safety. They came to a corner in the hallway. He held up his hand to indicate to Drew to halt. He peered around the corner. A door opened at the far end of the hall. He lifted Drew’s Glock. A figure stepped out of the stairwell. A shaft of gray light shone on blond hair. Audrey. He lowered his weapon with an exhale of relief. He called out her name.
She hustled toward him. “Suspect got away. I chased him down the stairs that lead to the back alley. By the time I reached the bottom, he was nowhere to be seen.”
Drew rounded the corner with Sami held close to his chest. They hurried down the stairs and out the building’s back exit. They moved swiftly down the alley and around to the front where the IBETs team waited. Blake paced with his cell phone pressed to his ear. When he saw them, his eyes widened and he hung up. Nathanial tucked Drew’s gun into the waistband of his jeans.