Secret Need (The Harper Sisters Book 2)

by Satin Russell

  Alex knew everything depended on Josh pulling him from the car first. Liz turned to him. He could see the strain in her shoulders as they both sat quietly, waiting to see what their captor would do.

  Silence filled the car, interrupted only by the sound of their breathing. After a few moments, Josh sighed heavily. “Believe it or not, I never thought the situation would come to this, but I can’t afford to leave loose ends. It’s nothing personal.”

  At that, Liz scowled. But before she could say anything that would cause Josh to grab her first, Alex spoke harshly. “You murdering me is VERY personal.”

  Josh’s shoulders tensed, the atmosphere turning colder. Without another word, he slammed out of the car. Liz and Alex both exhaled with relief as they watched him walk towards Alex’s side of the car.

  He flexed his hands, the muscles in his shoulder stiffening. There was only going to be one shot at this. If he failed, it would mean his and Liz’s certain death. He tried to visualize himself as a cobra, coiled and ready to strike.

  “I’ll be right behind you,” Liz whispered just before the door was yanked open. Josh gestured for him to get out of the car. Instead, Alex shot his legs out and hit him squarely in the stomach. Josh dropped his gun in surprise. A sharp exhalation and grunt filled the air as he fought to regain his balance. Before he could react, Alex slammed his fist into his nose.

  He watched with satisfaction as Josh’s neck snapped back and his eyes began to water. Josh’s eyes widened when he realized his captive’s hands were free, but a short moment later his police training kicked in. The element of surprise was gone; now it was just a matter of who could gain the upper hand.

  Josh fell to the ground and reached for his gun. Alex lunged, grabbing his hand just as he pulled the trigger. A roar filled the air as the shot was redirected harmlessly into the night sky. Time stopped as both men grappled for control of the weapon, muscles straining, eyes bulging…a primal contest of will and survival. In a desperate burst of energy, Alex twisted Josh’s arm and ripped the weapon from his grasp. It landed a short distance away.

  Alex heard Liz rushing out of the car behind him right before he took a hit across the jaw. Stars momentarily filled his vision, and his head throbbed and rang in pain. He had to trust that Liz would be able to stay out of the way as he fought to stay focused.

  Crouching in a stance with his fists raised, Alex didn’t dare let his eyes stray from his target. The two men faced off. He watched Josh eye the gun lying on the ground a few feet away. They both dove for it at the same time, landing in the grass and mud.

  “Liz! The gun!”

  Alex jumped on top of Josh and began beating him around the head and shoulders. The advantage didn’t last long. Josh bucked up with enough force to knock him off his back and they scrambled to their feet. The two men once again squared off, their breath sawing the air between them. Before either of them could re-engage, Liz silently stepped up behind Josh and swung the police-issue baton she’d found in the front seat with all her might.

  CRACK!

  Josh fell at her feet.

  Chapter Ten

  There was a brief moment of silence punctuated only by Alex’s heavy breathing.

  “Is he dead?” The baton dropped from her fingers as she fell to her knees beside the unconscious man. After a moment of careful examination, she let out an exhale. “There’s still a pulse.”

  Liz shrugged at the unspoken question in Alex’s eyes. “I may hate him, but I don’t think I’m ready to add killing to my list of accomplishments.” She gripped her hands tightly in front of her. Now that the immediate danger was over, they wouldn’t stop trembling. She turned to Alex, hoping he was in better shape than she was. “Now what?”

  He pressed a hand to his screaming ribs and fought to get his breath under control. “I don’t know. He destroyed my phone – it had the recording of him in your garage. Right now, it would be a strictly he said/ she said situation.” He gestured toward the body lying prone before them. “Add assaulting an officer to the mix, and I’m not sure we’d be the ones to come out ahead.”

  “But he was going to kill us!” A note of panic crept into her voice as the full scope of their situation came into focus.

  Alex must have sensed she was on the brink of losing control. He came over and wrapped his arms around her. She tensed for a brief second before relaxing into the comfort he provided. “Liz. It was the right thing to do. To be honest, I don’t think I could have held him off much longer. Most lawyers would argue self-defense…but that’s assuming we can prove he wasn’t acting in the interest of the law. Right now, we need to lay low and get to the bottom of this.”

  “We need Mason. He could help us.”

  Alex nodded but Liz could sense his hesitation. “Are you sure that’s wise? We have no idea how deep the corruption goes in the police department. Josh being a cop means we have to consider this may involve more of the department than just him.”

  Liz tensed and pulled away from him. “Mason isn’t dirty…”

  Alex interrupted her. “I’m not saying he is, but he would be obligated to bring us in. Besides, he’s new. He may not know who he can trust. We should call him instead of meeting in person. At least over the phone, we can give him some plausible deniability. If anyone asks, he hasn’t seen us.”

  She didn’t like it, but Liz had to admit he had a point. Before she could respond, a low groan came from Josh. Alex turned to her. “We need to get out of here. Liz, where did you put the cuffs?”

  Liz ran to the backseat and grabbed both pairs of cuffs and the set of keys from Josh’s belt. “Let’s drag him closer to the car. I’ll shackle him to the front grill.” It only took a moment to secure Josh’s hands on either end of the bumper. She looked up at Alex. “If I keep his hands separate he won’t be able to get out the same way we did.”

  He gave her a wry look. “Remind me never to piss you off.”

  A wisp of a smile crossed her lips before she turned to the next hurdle. “Okay, so now what? We obviously need to find a safe place to hole up. I have to get ahold of Mason, and ultimately we need to figure out what the hell is going on with all those drugs in my garage.”

  Alex scanned the trees surrounding the clearing. Other than the shafts of light from the headlights, everything was shrouded in darkness. “What’s the plan?” Liz asked. Another low moan came from Josh. Alex motioned for Liz to follow him a few feet away, out of earshot.

  “I think we’re close to a warehouse that my dad owns, but it’s hard to tell which direction to go in the dark.” He ran a hand through his hair. “We need to get away before somebody starts wondering where Josh is. All they have to do is check on the GPS in his squad car in order to find him.”

  She nodded towards the darkest part of the trees. “Let’s get going, then.”

  “Wait, we need to take anything that could be useful to us. From this point on, our resources are going to be limited until we can figure this out.” Liz watched as he took a flashlight out of the other man’s belt and started pawing through his pockets, pulling a few bills out.

  It was another stark example of their new status as fugitives. Her stomach knotted in fear. How the hell had this happened? Forcing herself to accept the situation for what it was, she grabbed the baton from where she’d dropped it earlier. She shrugged as Alex gave her an approving nod. “Just in case.”

  Liz looked at the gun and hesitated. Sighing, Alex reached down and picked it up. He checked the chamber and safety before stuffing it into the back of his pants “We can’t afford to leave this behind. If drugs are involved, chances are we’re going to be dealing with some unsavory people.”

  Liz grimaced. “Sorry. I know you’re right, but guns were never my thing.” She bent down and grabbed something else. “We should probably take his phone, too. He was talking about that drug shipment earlier, which means he’s working with someone else. We need to know who.”

  “I agree, but keep it off and take the batter
y out until we decide to use it. We’ll probably only get one chance before they’re able to track the phone. Especially since we don’t know if any other cops are involved.”

  “It still feels wrong not going to Mason about this.” Liz protested.

  “Think about it, Liz. His hands are going to be tied with something like this. No way would they let him take a case when there’s obviously a conflict of interest. Besides, if there is another dirty cop on the force, how hard do you think it will be for him to get to us?”

  Alex looked like he wanted to continue, but a squawk from the radio drew their attention. He impulsively grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Let’s at least get ourselves someplace safe where we can talk about it further.”

  She nodded, surprised at the feeling of relief that flooded her. Liz didn’t want to have to do this alone, but she hadn’t realized just how much she was relying on him to watch her back. With a silent nod, they headed off into the woods.

  Chapter Eleven

  Liz woke with an aching back and a couch spring digging into her side. They had both been exhausted when they’d found the warehouse owned by Alex’s father. Breaking into the back office had been easy compared to breaking out of the handcuffs earlier.

  The office stank of old fast food and stale cigarettes, a smell Liz found infinitely more offensive upon waking. She was surprised to find a musty blanket thrown over her shoulders and wondered where Alex had found it.

  Craning her neck, she looked to where he had fallen asleep, upright in the office chair. His head was propped haphazardly on his hand and his hair had fallen across his forehead. There were quite a few bruises decorating his cheek and jaw from his fight with Josh, but they didn’t detract from his male beauty. She hoped his ribs were okay.

  He must have been as exhausted as she had been to fall asleep in such an awkward position. They’d spent hours walking through the dark woods, the flashlight a meager comfort, before they’d finally gotten their bearings and managed to make it to the warehouse. Scratches ran up and down her arms from stumbling through the brush and into tree branches, but it was her feet that had taken the worst damage.

  Apparently, slippers weren’t meant to be worn for a nighttime hike through the woods. Both her heels were bruised, the balls of her feet were swollen, and at some point, she’d sprained the little toe on her right foot. Of course, there’d been no way to know what she would come across last night when she’d run downstairs to grab her phone.

  Liz reached up and found leaves stuck in her hair. Great. She probably looked as wrecked as she felt. Not that it mattered, considering everything that had happened the night before. Stifling a groan, she sat up on the couch, hoping she could sneak out of the office without disturbing Alex.

  “Where are you going?” His voice was rough with sleep and sent sexy little shivers down her spine.

  “I was just going to find a bathroom to clean up a bit.”

  “It’s down the hall on the left. Are you hungry? I’ll see if I can find anything in the breakroom.”

  “Sounds good, I’ll join you in a minute.” It was almost comical how mundane their conversation was. A part of Liz wanted to scream, to rant and rave and pull her hair out. A cop – her high school bully, no less – had tried to kill her. They’d found drugs in her garage. And here she was, sleeping on a beat-up old couch, with her old high school crush a few feet away. A man that, up until a few nights ago, probably didn’t even remember she existed.

  Liz clenched her hands so tightly that little half-moons were carved into her palm as she made her way down the hall. Fear and stress fluttered in her stomach and fought to overwhelm her. After using the restroom, Liz splashed cold water on her face and stood looking in the mirror, forcing herself to take deep breaths for control.

  She wondered if Josh had been discovered yet. What could he say that would account for him being cuffed to the front of his bumper in the middle of a cold field at dawn? A flutter of apprehension had her clutching her stomach. One thing she knew for certain, he would be sure to paint her in the worst light possible.

  There was nothing she could do about that now. Liz shook, took another deep breath, and forced herself to concentrate on what she could control. Anytime she was stumped by a puzzle, it helped to focus on the few pieces that were right in front of her. This was no different.

  First things first – she had to get ahold of Mason and see if he could help her. There was a phone on the desk in the office she could use. She wondered how long it would take for them to track her phone call. Her stomach lurched. There might be police standing in her sister’s kitchen even now. What if all their lines were already tapped, what then?

  Stop. She had to at least try to contact them. But they should probably be ready to head out directly afterwards.

  Which lead to her next thought. What was she going to do with Alex? It seemed like he was irrevocably tangled up in this mess, but she still wasn’t entirely sure how it had happened. The timing all seemed a little too convenient – or inconvenient, depending on your perspective.

  Liz made her way to the break room and found Alex standing by a Formica counter munching on a bag of Cheetos. A corner of his mouth turned up when he spotted her. “Breakfast of champions.” He turned to the bright pile of bags. “You get your pick between Fritos and Lays.”

  “Hmm, corn or potatoes, huh? Sounds nutritious, either way.”

  Chuckling, he tossed her the Fritos. “Don’t worry, we have plenty of chocolate candy bars for dessert.” She could feel him eyeing her damp hair and face. “Feeling better?”

  Liz sat down on a folding chair and popped open her breakfast. “Yeah, thanks.”

  “So, what’s our plan?”

  “Well, I know you have reservations, but I need to talk to Mason first. Maybe he can shed some light on the situation.”

  “Or, he could unintentionally lead them straight to us.”

  “It’s still early enough that I think it’s worth the risk. Whatever Josh was doing in my garage last night, it wasn’t legal. Which means he’ll want to keep it quiet. They might not even know what has happened yet.”

  Alex nodded. “Okay, but we still don’t know how far this corruption goes in the police department. We’ll need to make sure he understands we’re not coming in, not yet.”

  “I’m not convinced hiding is the best course of action, but I’m willing to agree to it for now.” She sighed. “You know, there are two things that keep niggling at me.”

  “What’s that?”

  She shook her head, trying to recall an old memory. “Well, for one, the fact that Peter was there took me completely by surprise. I got the feeling he would have helped us if he hadn’t been around Jonesy.”

  “I don’t know. He may have looked like he wanted to help you, but I doubt he’d have the backbone to actually do it.”

  Something about his tone irritated Liz. “That poor man has been terrorized his entire life. Can you blame him?”

  Alex sighed. “No. I don’t. And if I could take back the way I treated him in high school, I would in a heartbeat.” He ran a hand through his hair, regret showing plainly on his face. “But that still doesn’t change the fact that he’s not the same guy you knew back then. Who knows what else could have happened to put him in the situation he’s in? You can’t make a guy grow a spine just because you will him to, Liz.” After a brief moment of uncomfortable silence, he continued. “You mentioned two things bugging you. What was the other one?”

  She pushed past his comment, not wanting to admit he was probably right. “I keep going back to the person on the phone with Josh. That is the person in charge. If we could figure out who he is, we’d be able to exonerate ourselves.”

  “Assuming we can get proof.”

  Right. Proof. Liz jumped up and started pacing. “We’re going to need to be ready to leave the minute I finish the call.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that. I might have an idea where we can hole up, but it cou
ld be difficult to get to.”

  Liz headed back to the office and dialed Mason’s number. She was surprised when he answered on the first ring. That couldn’t be a good sign.

  “Mason?”

  “Liz.” His voice lowered. “Are you okay?”

  The question, asked so calmly, almost had her eyes welling. Instead, Liz ruthlessly tamped down her emotions and gave a mocking laugh. “I’ve been better.”

  “What the hell happened? I just got a call saying they found evidence of heroin at your shop. You’re wanted for drug trafficking and dealing.”

  “That son of a bitch!”

  “Who?”

  “Josh! I went downstairs and caught him and two other guys breaking in, trying to retrieve a drug shipment hidden in a car that came in for service yesterday. He must have gone back and spread around evidence to frame me.” Silence stretched on the other end of the line so long that, Liz wondered if they’d gotten cut off. “Mason?”

  His voice lowered and something about his hesitation sent tendrils of dread through her chest. “That’s not all. They’re saying there are other vehicles they’ve confiscated recently that were associated with your garage. Apparently, they’ve been gathering evidence against your business for a couple of months now.”

  “Months?” Liz felt the world drop from under her feet.

  “That’s what I said.”

  “You knew about this?”

  The silence answered her question more than anything he could have said. “Liz, I…”

  “No. Don’t. I get it.” The frustrating thing was, she did. Logically she understood that Mason was duty-bound to remain silent. It still felt like a betrayal. Maybe Alex was right.

  “Mason, I swear to you, I have nothing to do with this, but it’s more complicated than just going in and telling my side of the story.” Liz quickly filled him in, starting with going downstairs for her phone and ending with cuffing Officer Josh Carver to the front grill of his cruiser.