Nowhere Safe

by Dianna Love

  “Oh, sure. Think I’m as stupid as you are? Charlie had plans for you.”

  “No, he didn’t.”

  Gunter muttered a string of words that made no sense. “He told me. Same day he made me a pity offer. That miserable pig.”

  “Told you what?”

  “About bringing you into his empire to manage his Florida stores. Don’t act so coy. He was standing right in front of me when he called you. Whore that you are, you couldn’t wait to go see him.”

  Oh, dear God. That had been the day Charlie tried to guilt her into selling by telling her that Gunter’s deal depended on Charlie getting ReSolution. Trish never had a chance with arrogant Charlie manipulating everyone.

  Gunter dragged her into a parking lot where a handful of vehicles were parked and no attendant. The tip of his razor-sharp knife pricked her deeper.

  Trish came up with another argument she forced out between panting breaths. “But Charlie is dead.”

  “Yes. He. Is,” Gunter said in a bragging voice. “Using your letter opener was a nice touch if I do say so myself.”

  “You killed him?”

  “Of course I did.” Gunter’s smarmy laugh crawled along Trish’s skin.

  “But...you were with Olivia,” Trish said, thinking out loud. Vickers would have checked his alibi.

  “She’s another stupid bitch, but she’s good for an alibi.”

  He’d stalked her and set her up for murder and hit her over the head. Trish wanted to scream at him and bash his head with a brick, but until she got her hand on a weapon she’d keep her voice calm. Someone had to remain sane here. “So all this stalking and game playing has been about getting rid of my business?”

  “And you.”

  “The pawn.”

  Gunter laughed, a high, hysterical sound. “Yes, you’re my pawn.”

  “Where’re you taking me?”

  “Somewhere that you can never be a problem again.”

  Trish shivered hard from cold and shock. She hated giving him any satisfaction, but she couldn’t prevent her voice from shaking when she offered the only thing that might save her life. “What if I...give you ReSolution?”

  “I don’t want your miserable piece of shit.”

  He just wants to kill me.

  There was no hope of talking him out of this. They were headed toward a van parked facing a tall brick wall along one side of the lot where the light hardly dented the darkness.

  She dragged her feet, forcing Gunter to slow down. He stabbed the tip deeper into her neck and she hissed at the pain.

  Her time had run out. If she got in that van, she would never get away.

  Drawing on all the frustration she’d suffered from being stalked, she snarled, “I’ve never been anything but nice to you, you crazy asshole.”

  Wrong choice of words.

  “You bitch! You’ll beg for death before I’m done with you.” Gunter flipped the knife up and cut a gash under her chin.

  Blood ran down her chest. She cried out at the metal hitting bone.

  “Stop where you are!” a male voice yelled at them from across the lot.

  Josh?

  Gunter wrenched around at the order, bringing her with him as a shield.

  Any doubt about Josh being a deadly warrior disappeared when Trish faced him. He moved toward them at a steady pace, with both hands locked around a huge gun and a feral expression she’d never seen on his face.

  Gunter reached back with his free hand as he changed his knife position to lay the long blade horizontally across her throat. She clamped her lips to keep from crying out and distracting Josh.

  In her peripheral vision, she saw Gunter lift his own big-ass gun into view.

  Pointed at Josh.

  Chapter 41

  “Let her go,” Josh ordered, continuing to step slowly toward Trish. She was as white as her gown. The craggy face that tipped into view for a split second had to be a guy…a guy covered in an inch of makeup. And wearing a dress? Crazy didn’t begin to describe that image, especially since he was holding a knife at Trish’s throat with one hand and a .357 Magnum in his other hand.

  If the guy was a little taller, Josh could take a shot, but the stalker’s head was shielded behind Trish’s.

  The creep spoke in a deathly calm voice. “You have ten seconds to leave or I’ll shoot.”

  Josh had experienced gut-clenching fear only one time before, and a woman’s life had been at stake then, too. The terror clawing his chest this time was tenfold. He forced himself to think only about controlling the situation.

  That might have worked if Trish had been a trained operative and not a frightened woman who thought and reacted like one.

  The crazy bastard chanted, “Eight...Nine...”

  Trish’s eyes had widened. Her hands flew up to grab the stalker’s knife wrist. She shoved her head back, slamming the guy’s nose. All that happened in a nanosecond as she swung her body at his gun arm, throwing the shot wide just as it blasted from the muzzle.

  Josh raced forward, weapon raised and his heart trying to explode in his chest.

  The stalker swayed, off balance. Josh stopped in his tracks, less than ten feet away. Trish leaned further to the left, shrinking into herself, ducking as low as she could with the knife at her throat, and the stalker’s head swiveled into view for a mere second.

  Josh had a clear shot and took it. The explosion cracked the air.

  Trish and the stalker fell backwards into a heap as Josh ran toward them.

  Josh slid to a stop, down on his knees next to Trish.

  Part of the stalker’s head was gone. Blood covered Trish neck to waist.

  Josh shoved his weapon into his waistband and reached for his cell phone. “Hold on, baby.”

  She clutched her throat, staring straight ahead. The knife had cut her.

  He punched one button on his phone and used his free hand to feel for her pulse. Thready, but there.

  The minute Sabrina answered, Josh started rattling orders, giving her the location for an ambulance. She would get help here faster than he could with 9-1-1. He tossed the phone down and ripped off his jacket to wrap Trish in.

  He lifted her off of the guy.

  Her hand still covered her throat. He clamped his hand over hers, not willing to lose one drop of her precious blood.

  She stared at Josh as if she didn’t see him. He could not watch the light die in those brown eyes.

  “You’re going to be okay,” he told her in a hoarse voice. “I’ve got people on the way.”

  Trish’s eyes focused on him. Her lips moved but no words came out. She lifted the hand not clutching her throat and caught Josh’s lapel. He leaned down close to hear her thin voice.

  “I...love...you.”

  Her arm fell away. Her fingers beneath his relaxed and her eyes rolled up in her head.

  “No, Trish, no! Please don’t die,” he begged.

  Chapter 42

  She’s alive.

  Josh kept telling himself that as he waited alone in a corner seat of a very small sitting area in Grady Hospital. One of the emergency room doctors still worked on Trish. The antiseptic air reeked of the dried blood soaked into Josh’s shirt, but none of it was his.

  Because Trish had risked her life to protect him. His hands trembled.

  She’s alive.

  The knife had not cut a vital artery or the muscles or tendons in her throat. The knife. Gunter’s knife. The old German guy she’s considered a friend. Gunter was the stalker.

  Trish had a deep gash under her chin that took internal and external stitches. And she’d have a bandage where the knife had sliced across her throat, but it had gone just through the skin.

  A sliver of space between life and death.

  She had some cuts on her arms and on the fingers she’d shoved between her throat and the knife blade, but all of those were minor.

  If Trish hadn’t gotten her hands on Gunter’s wrist his weight would have dragged the knife deeper across
her throat when they fell backwards together. Josh had Arnie’s to thank for the training he’d given Trish. She’d defended herself from an attacker. But Josh would bet money that Arnie hadn’t taught Trish to risk her own life to save someone else.

  Josh had seen her for a few minutes only because of lying through his teeth and flashing his FBI badge.

  He wanted Trish to spend the night in the hospital.

  She wanted to go home.

  He’d stood firm until she’d looked up at him with the same determination he’d seen in her eyes when she’d put that glass of bourbon down. Then he’d caved, sending Heidi with Bunko to pack up their room and be ready to leave as soon as the doctor signed Trish out. Josh had someone from Slye to pack up his and Trish’s rooms and deliver their things to the airport.

  Every second dragged by, torturing him until he had her back.

  I love you.

  He couldn’t breathe, thinking about what she’d done. Gambled her life to shove Gunter’s weapon aside. I would sacrifice all for the ones I love. He swallowed, humbled by a love he hadn’t earned and didn’t deserve.

  But wanted.

  Sabrina came walking toward Josh with a purposeful stride and carrying a dark gray flannel shirt. Her gaze warned he was in for an earful, but when she reached him she took a long look.

  She tossed him the shirt. “My FBI contact is getting his ass chewed over having a covert FBI operative on a mission in Atlanta that his superiors were not aware of, but he’s jockeying around to fix that. Lucky for you, he owes me. I’ve dealt with Atlanta PD.”

  What a mess. Josh yanked out his cufflinks and jammed them in his pants pocket,then shed his shirt and undershirt. Sabrina took those and handed them off to someone in the hall, probably to burn.

  By the time she returned, he’d buttoned up and smelled better. He told her, “Thank you. For the shirt, too.”

  Sabrina was a volatile energy even standing still. Questions boiled in that Latin gaze and Josh owed her answers.

  But not right now.

  With a second look at him, the questions settled to a simmer. She sat down next to him. “Who was the kidnapper?”

  Sabrina had been on hand when Josh answered questions for the police. She knew the general information about Gunter. What she was asking for had to do with the Slye Temp case in Miami.

  “He was stalking Trish and she thinks he’s the one who left the notes, but this guy isn’t the Chessmaster. I wish Gunter was so we’d have the traitor, but as it is we don’t even have a lead on the Chessmaster or Rikker.” Before Sabrina could ask about Trish, Josh gave her the rest of his report. “Trish is not involved with the Chessmaster either. She has no clue what’s going on with the DEA.”

  “What about her cell phone?”

  “We never expected to be able to triangulate the calls since they were extremely short, but we put a tap on Trish’s phone that should have yielded information. When Trish finally got a phone call from the Chessmaster, there was static interference preventing anyone from listening. Pretty high tech.”

  “We searched Gunter’s room for the electronic filter and any other evidence. Nothing.”

  Josh thought on that. “I doubt he had the capability or the equipment to place that call, or to place the notes that were found inside Trish’s home and her locked car. I think Trish has been stalked by two people.” A chilling thought.

  “That makes sense.”

  Josh dropped his head back. “We’re screwed. We have no idea who the mole is or how to find Rikker.”

  “We would be screwed if I hadn’t found out the last shipment came in this weekend on a container ship. The container’s been cleared through customs.”

  Josh sat up. “How’d you find out?”

  “My informant.”

  That fucking Gage Laughton, but Josh was too exhausted to rally any anger. Besides, how could he fault Sabrina when she was coming through with intel they had to have? He still wanted Rikker, but finding the Chessmaster took precedence. No one was hurting Trish again. “What was in the container?”

  “Boxes of medical equipment for a new High Vision lab. Ryder is spending tonight watching from a distance, far enough away that Rikker won’t see him.”

  “You don’t think someone from High Vision will claim the contents first?”

  “My contact doesn’t think so.”

  “And you trust him?” Josh didn’t want to start an argument now, but he needed to know where she stood with the CIA. The only CIA agent Josh would’ve placed faith in at this minute was his uncle, but Ty was dead.

  “Trust someone with that bloody agency? No. But we have nothing right now and every detail about the last shipment was spot on. If Ryder catches sight of Rikker anywhere around the container, that will confirm the intel.”

  He couldn’t really argue with that. “Did he give us anything else?”

  “Yes. He received a tip that whatever was planned would happen very soon, no specific timeline yet.”

  A weary young man in blue scrubs, with a head of scattered, short, brown hair came into the sitting area, then straight over to Josh and Sabrina who stood to meet him.

  The doctor said, “Miss Jackson still wants to go home. I’ll release her, but I don’t want her doing anything strenuous for the next twenty-four hours.”

  Nothing strenuous, like fighting off an attacker. Josh told the doctor in a firm voice, “She won’t be lifting a finger.”

  The doctor went over the usual processing procedure that would take another twenty minutes then he shook hands with Josh and left.

  Sabrina waited until it was just her and Josh again. “What are you going to do now?”

  From anyone else, that was a simple question. From Sabrina, there were all kinds of land mines to dodge. “I’m taking Trish and her two friends back to Miami. I’ll let Trish think Gunter was her stalker for now. If she gets another message, she’ll tell me.” Because I won’t be far from her.

  “You won’t have any problem leaving her alone?”

  “She has a housemate and a dog. Her brother will probably cover her up with security.” Josh lifted his shoulders, doing his best to convince Sabrina he was taking all this in stride and not so eaten up with worry he couldn’t think past getting Trish out of here right now. “I’ll stay near Trish in case the Chessmaster contacts her again, but we’ll need everyone mobile on short notice.”

  She took her time deciding, but finally said, “I agree.” After a glance in the direction of where they had Trish, Sabrina said, “I’ll send someone else to cover her, if you want.”

  Sabrina wasn’t challenging him to admit he was too close to Trish and this case. She was offering Slye Temp personnel to watch over Trish to give Josh peace of mind. He considered taking it, but then he’d have to explain who they were to Trish, and Slye Temp resources had to be available to get Rikker.

  Josh said, “She’s fine, but thanks.”

  Nodding, Sabrina lifted up and kissed his cheek. “I owe her for saving your sorry hide. I won’t forget.”

  When Sabrina left, Josh returned Zane’s call now that he had definitive news. Once Zane calmed down, Josh could hold the phone at his ear again without his eardrums getting abused.

  “You’re sure Trish is okay?” Zane said, for the tenth time.

  “Shaken up, a few stitches, but relieved more than anything.” Josh downplayed it for Trish’s benefit. She’d be mad as a hornet if Josh upset her brother more than he already was.

  “I don’t know which one of you two I want to strangle right now. Since I love my sister, my first choice shouldn’t be hard to figure out.”

  Josh thanked the gods he was nowhere near Miami at the moment since that hadn’t sounded like an empty threat.

  “However,” Zane went on. “You’ve kept her alive. I find myself having to thank you. My wife would never forgive me if I wrapped your leg around your neck.”

  Thank you, Angel. “Trish is stubborn, independent and hell-bent to run her own life.
You of all people should understand that. You two are cut from the same cloth.” Josh moved the phone from his ear, expecting a torrent of verbal abuse. When a deep sigh blew through, he eased the phone back to listen.

  “True. Angel keeps telling me I’m not giving Trish room to breathe. Damn, I don’t know what to do with her. I just can’t lose her.”

  “Neither can I,” Josh said. And he meant it.

  Silence answered him for several seconds. He’d expected that to raise Zane’s hackles as well. “Then take care of her.”

  Would wonders never cease? “I plan to.”

  Zane grunted. “Tell her to call me when she gets home.”

  Josh ended the call just as an orderly wheeled Trish into the room. The muscles in his chest tightened when he took in her pasty skin and the bandage around her neck.

  She smiled up at him and his heart started beating again.

  She’s alive

  Chapter 43

  Josh kept checking on Trish, who looked so alone sitting in the passenger seat of his Porsche. She’d slept most of the flight home, cuddled against his chest, and he missed the contact. When he parked at her house, she stayed without being told while he circled the car.

  That was telling. She had Heidi and Bunko to stay with her and Zane had someone keeping surveillance on Trish’s house. Should he call Sabrina back and accept her offer, too? If he did, he’d leave the team short. Trish would stress out if Zane showed up, since Angel’s due date had come and gone.

  Bunko had parked first in the drive and was carrying luggage inside with Heidi pulling Trish’s little bag.

  Josh got Trish out of the car and she planted herself in front of him like a barrier. Arms crossed. “What are you doing tonight?”

  “This isn’t about Leanne again, is it?”

  She frowned at him. “No. Just tell me if you’re going to be in any danger.” Her eyes were shiny with banked tears.

  Ah, hell. How would he be able to walk away if she cried? “Don’t worry, sweetheart. You know I can’t talk about any of this, but I’ll be fine.”