“You’re going to continue tracking Matt?” he asked.
“Of course.” She was shaken up by the shooting in the parking lot. She wasn’t going to lie to herself about that. Thank You, Lord, for protecting me. She glanced at Jason and amended her prayer. Thank You for protecting us. But even though she was still unsettled, still felt her heart beating faster than usual thanks to the adrenaline rush, she wasn’t going to give up. “I get paid when I bring in my bounty,” she said. “And like everybody else, I need to make a living.”
He sat there with his hands resting on his thighs, the fingers of his right hand tapping his leg. He stared out the front windshield for what was only a minute, but it felt longer. Light snowflakes started to fall, melting as soon as they hit the glass. “I don’t want you to drop me off somewhere,” he finally said. His tone was filled with dread. “I want to go with you. I’ll help you find him.”
“Yeah, right.” Lauren shook her head. “Like I’m going to have you tagging along, giving your brother a heads-up whenever I get close to him so he can get away. Not going to happen.”
“I won’t do that.”
“He’s your brother. Your identical twin brother. Of course you will. People protect members of their family.”
At least that was how it usually worked in Lauren’s experience. Although her own father had apparently never gotten the memo on that. He hadn’t made any effort to look out for Lauren or her mom. She shook off that train of thought. Dwelling on it didn’t change anything.
“The best way I can protect my brother is by helping you find him,” Jason said. He shifted position slightly so he was turned toward her. “I know he’s connected with a criminal group. And the shooter yelled something about Matt being a traitor. I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s obviously bad. And dangerous.”
“So you want to help him escape and hide until things die down.”
“No.” Jason took in a deep breath and blew it out. “Look, if he actually had something to do with a murder, then he needs to face charges for that. Even if he’s innocent, he still needs to face the charges. Obey the law. Do the right thing.”
He shook his head. “Matt has to change the way he’s been living. This might be my last chance to help him. And I want to make sure he shows up in court. Owns up to whatever he’s done. Maybe helping you catch him and getting him back in jail will prevent a cop from getting hurt.” He sighed. “I don’t know how Matt will behave if he’s backed into a corner by a police officer. I barely know him anymore.”
Lauren looked into his eyes. She had to make a decision, and she decided she believed him. Would he change his tune when they finally caught up with his brother? Give him some kind of warning? Misdirect her during a chase? Maybe. But it was also possible that he’d rather see his brother locked up than dead.
“All right,” she said. “But you’ll have to earn your keep.”
He tilted his head slightly. “And how would you like me to do that?”
“Give me some leads on how to find your brother. Tell me some things I don’t already know.”
“I can do that. And I can watch your back.”
That brought to mind something she’d noticed earlier when the bullets had started flying in the diner parking lot. “You kept your head back there,” she said. “It looked like you’d been shot at before.”
“Six years in the United States Army,” he said.
That experience would be helpful. All the more reason to let him tag along with her while she hunted his brother.
“Good. That means you know how to take orders,” she said, pulling back out onto the road and picking up speed.
He let out a short laugh. “Yeah, well, I’ve gotten a little rusty when it comes to that.”
* * *
Riding down the highway, Jason wished that he was the one driving. Not that Lauren was doing a bad job, it was just that he was used to being in control.
They were halfway to Denver and reaching the edge of the storm clouds that were still sending down snow. But the snowfall was light here and it wasn’t collecting on the highway, so they were making good time.
“Still nothing from your brother?” Lauren asked.
Jason glanced at his phone screen. “Still no answer.”
As soon as they were clear of Sweetwater, he’d called Matt and left a voice mail message telling him that he needed a return call and that it was important. Then he’d sent a text.
Maybe Matt hadn’t gotten the messages yet. Maybe he was too drunk or high to respond. Maybe he just didn’t care anymore.
Jason shifted his gaze to the side-view mirror and watched to see if they were being followed. It didn’t seem likely, but what did he know? He still couldn’t believe that Lauren had been tailing him from the time he’d left the ranch this morning. He’d already seen that she was good at her job, but still, the fact that she’d watched him without his knowing nipped at his pride.
“Tell me about the places where your brother spends time,” Lauren said. “Maybe he’s mentioned the names of friends he’s hung out with, girlfriends he visits, nightclubs he frequents. Anything could help. We can’t waste time. If he hasn’t called you back by the time we hit Denver, we need to start looking somewhere. Whoever sent those shooters is probably still looking for him to kill him.”
The sad thing was, he didn’t know much about his brother’s life. He knew of a couple of his past girlfriends but didn’t know if he had one now. The brother he used to know liked Mexican food, dirt bikes and spy novels. None of that helped, and it might not even be true anymore.
His phone rang. He looked at the screen. It was Matt. His pulse jumped.
“People are trying to kill you,” Jason said into the phone, forgoing any conventional greeting and hoping that his warning would grab Matt’s attention.
There was a pause, and then Matt laughed. “What else is new?” he said sourly.
“There were two shooters in Sweetwater. They fired at me thinking I was you.”
Matt swore. “Were you hit?”
“No.”
“Good. Keep your head down.”
“Wait!” Jason said, because it sounded like Matt was about to disconnect. “I’m on my way to Denver. I want to meet up with you.”
“Why?”
Lauren glanced over at him as she drove, clearly listening closely to the conversation and trying to figure out what was going on.
“I’ve got to go somewhere. I can’t go back to the ranch. Someone might be waiting for me there. They aren’t going to give me time to explain that I’m not you before they start shooting. Maybe you can tell me what’s going on. Maybe we can come up with a plan.”
“You coming alone?” Matt asked, a hint of suspicion in his tone.
Jason glanced over at Lauren. Did he lie to his brother or did he admit he was bringing someone along? Obviously if he said he had a bounty hunter with him, his brother would be long gone by the time they got there. And if he were honest with himself, maybe some part of him wanted that. Maybe he wanted Matt to get away. Maybe he wasn’t strong enough to help send his brother to prison.
He and Matt had been eight years old when Matt got that distinctive scar over his eye. They were playing in the mud at the ranch with little metal cars and trucks, maneuvering the chipped and dented toy vehicles as they climbed over boulders and fallen trees. Jason had gotten mad about some dumb thing. He’d flung his car at his brother, and they’d both been astonished when it hit him and split the skin above his eye, blood running out of the wound. Of course their dad was nowhere to be found.
Matt never got the stitches he’d needed. And he never seemed to hold a grudge about the scar that had been the result.
Matt had done a lot of bad things, but he had never intentionally betrayed Jason. And what Jason was doing right now—betraying Matt’s trust—could put an
end to their tattered relationship.
But not following through with his plan could lead to Matt ending up dead at the hands of his fellow criminals.
“You still there?” Matt asked.
“Yeah, I’m here. You still at the same apartment?” Jason asked, feeling queasy even though he believed he was doing the right thing.
He heard noise on Matt’s end of the call. It sounded like other people were there, and Jason felt his body tense. Other people there could make things go haywire when he and Lauren showed up.
“I’m still living at the same place,” Matt finally said. There was more noise. People were there in his apartment. Or maybe it was just the TV. It was hard to tell. “I’ll see ya,” Matt said, and then he disconnected.
Jason relayed the full conversation to Lauren.
“If you want, I can drop you off somewhere after you show me Matt’s apartment,” Lauren offered as they reached the outskirts of Denver. “You don’t have to be there when I apprehend him.”
Jason shook his head. “He’s a smart man. He’ll figure out what happened.”
“He might guess, but he won’t know you helped me find him. I won’t tell him.”
“Yeah, well, I have to be there. It might be my last chance to talk to my brother. Ever.” There was no going back now. He had to grab whatever opportunity presented itself to convince Matt that he was doing this because he cared about him.
“I understand,” Lauren said. “And I know this is hard.”
“He might not be alone,” Jason said, realizing he should have mentioned that sooner.
“What? Who’s there with him? How many people?” Lauren’s tone changed. She was back to the way she was when she’d first spoken to him, impersonal and professional.
“I heard voices,” he said. “Two or three. But it might have just been a TV.”
Lauren nodded. “To be safe, I’ll call for backup as soon as we get to Matt’s apartment.”
This could turn out to be a long night. Jason called his neighbor in Sweetwater and asked if he’d go over to the ranch and make sure his dogs, barn cats and horses were okay and that they had food and water. He didn’t have much in the way of livestock to worry about. The place was a ranch in name only these days.
The neighbor was happy to help.
Dusky shadows were forming between buildings as they rolled into the city. Lauren made a call alerting someone to be on standby to help apprehend a bail jumper. She told them she’d call with a specific address when she had one and then disconnected.
Jason told her when they were nearing the freeway exit where they needed to turn off.
“When’s the last time you visited your brother?” she asked as they waited at a traffic light.
Jason looked around to get his bearings, searching for landmarks. When they started moving again, he saw a grocery store and a doughnut shop he recognized. They were on the right track. “It was about a year and a half ago.” He’d still been dealing with a lot of anxiety back then. Matt, on the other hand, had seemed very detached. Probably an effect of the drugs he was using.
He directed her to take a couple more turns. “Slow down,” he finally said. “It’s up here on the left.”
She pulled over just short of reaching the apartment complex and parked at the curb on the opposite side of the street. She called her people and gave them the address and told them she’d wait for their arrival.
“They should be here in about fifteen minutes,” she said after disconnecting.
Meanwhile, Jason stared at the apartments. Why hadn’t he come here to visit Matt more often? Why hadn’t he pushed a relationship on his brother, even if Matt didn’t want one?
“Which apartment is your brother’s?” Lauren asked.
“Downstairs, on the right.”
“Do you see his vehicle?”
“No. Parking is in the back.”
“When everybody gets here, we’ll break into teams,” Lauren said. “Someone will go with me to the front door. Two people will go behind the building in case he tries to run out the back. Once we’ve got him secured, you can talk to him. Then we’ll turn him in to the police, and it will be over.”
Jason got out of the SUV.
“What are you doing?” Lauren called out sharply.
The smart thing would be to hold back and wait. Jason didn’t have a weapon. Didn’t know his brother’s state of mind. Wasn’t sure who was in the apartment with Matt.
And yet, he found himself walking toward his brother’s front door.
THREE
I shouldn’t have trusted him.
Lauren took several jogging steps to catch up with Jason. He was tall, his strides were long and he was moving quickly.
Like an idiot, she’d let her guard down with him because he had nice manners. And he’d looked her in the eye when they’d talked about apprehending his brother, giving her the impression that he was honest. And admittedly, there was something about him that caught her attention on a personal level. A hint of attraction that had clouded her judgment.
She knew better than to let that happen. And from now on, she’d make it a point to keep her emotional distance from him.
“Hey!” she called out, but not too loudly. She didn’t want to risk Matt hearing a commotion outside, looking out the window and realizing something was up. He’d take off, and she could lose him.
“I’m going to go knock on the door,” Jason said reasonably, focused on his brother’s apartment and not even turning to look at her. “I’ll act like I came here alone and I just want to talk to him. You wait for your backup. If there’s anybody else in the apartment with him, I’ll look out the window. That’ll be your signal so you’re prepared for that. I want to do this as calmly as possible.”
It wasn’t a bad idea. But it wasn’t her idea, and having Jason take control of the situation was not in her plans. This was her capture. She’d brought him along because he might be of help to her. She didn’t want him getting too comfortable giving orders.
Her phone vibrated. At the same time, she heard and then saw an SUV pull up on the side of the street behind her own vehicle. She looked at the screen and saw a text from Toby letting her know that he and Tim had arrived. That was fast.
“Hold up,” she called out to Jason. They were just about to pass by the corner of the apartment building. Once they were beyond it, anyone looking out the front window of Matt’s unit would see them. “My people are here,” she said. “Let me get them in place in the back of the building before you knock on Matt’s door.”
“You do what you feel you have to,” Jason said without breaking stride.
She stopped and let him continue on without her. She got Toby on the phone and brought him up to speed. Then she directed him to take Tim with him and cut through a grassy passage between the apartment building and a duplex next door to it so they could get in position behind the apartments.
Before they could get into position, she heard Jason knock on Matt’s door. She moved away from the hedge to get a clearer view. There were a few lights outside the building, but there were still plenty of shadows, so she was partially hidden. A familiar emotion—a combination of nerves and high-voltage excitement—swirled around in the pit of her stomach. This moment, before a capture, gave her the sense of focus and purpose that she loved.
Jason knocked again. “Matt, open up. It’s me.”
Light from an outside fixture reflected on the front window, making it hard to tell if there were any lights burning inside the apartment.
Jason knocked again. He waited, then turned his head and pressed his ear against the door to listen. A few seconds passed, and he pulled his head away from the door. He knocked again and then started pounding on the door. “Matt! Open the door!”
Lauren’s muscles tensed, and a sense of unease crept up her spine. So
mething was wrong. Matt might have been suspicious after Jason’s call. Maybe he was hiding from them.
A door to one of the other apartments was yanked open, and someone shouted words Lauren couldn’t quite understand.
Jason took off jogging around the corner toward the back of the building, disappearing out of sight.
What was he doing? Lauren sprinted after him. From the back of the building she heard a jumble of voices shouting, and then she clearly heard Toby yelling, “Get on the ground! Now!”
They must have found Matt climbing out a back window and the hunt was over. Good. It had been a long day, and she was exhausted. She rounded the corner of the building.
It turned out that the hunt wasn’t over.
Jason hadn’t obeyed Toby’s command to get on the ground. But in the illumination from Tim’s flashlight, she could see that Jason did have his hands up. And he kept glancing warily at the canister of pepper spray in Toby’s hand.
“Is everybody all right?” Lauren asked.
Jason turned to Lauren, his anger evident in the hard line of his mouth before he spoke. “You couldn’t tell your backup that Matt had an identical twin walking around out here?” he snapped.
“You couldn’t follow directions?” she snapped back. “If you had, they would have met you before we all moved to surround the apartment building and this would not have happened.” She turned to her fellow bounty hunters. “Guys, this is Jason Cortez. This isn’t Matthew.”
Toby put away his pepper spray, and Jason lowered his hands.
“Sorry, man,” Tim said, turning his flashlight away from Jason’s face.
“And yes, I did let them know about you,” Lauren said. “In a text I sent to the bail bond office earlier today when I let them know what was going on.”
“We couldn’t be sure which twin you were,” Tim added. “You really are identical.”
“What’s going on back here?” a voice called out, followed by the wash of light from a flashlight. “Do I need to call the cops?”
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