Elizabeth watched the taped footage of an FBI spokeswoman standing at a podium. Her canned statement that she couldn’t share details “due to national security” had only fueled speculation.
An elevator opened, and Elizabeth turned to see Derek stepping off. Her heart lodged in her throat. He quickly spotted her and strode across the room.
“Any news?”
The look in his eyes made her chest hurt. She wanted to throw her arms around him, but she kept them firmly at her sides. “She’s out of surgery. That’s all I know.”
He nodded. “Hang tight. This is one of the best hospitals in the world. They’ll pull her through.”
She turned away.
“I’ve been working the gun angle.”
She looked at him, trying to process the words.
“Did you get a look at the weapon?” he asked.
The weapon. Used in the shooting. “I barely even saw the car,” she told him, as she had told investigators back at the crime scene. “Something white, maybe an SUV,” she added. “The motel manager got a better look at it. The gun was an automatic.”
“Probably a submachine gun, based on the range.”
“How do you know the range?”
“I went by the motel on my way here,” he said. “Saw the skid marks. Looks like they approached from the northwest corner, unloaded from the passenger side, then took off south—probably jumping right on the freeway.”
She tried to envision it. Everything he’d said fit with what she’d experienced. She’d been facing Jamie, not the street, when the shots erupted. She’d never seen it coming.
“Typical setup for a drive-by,” he said. “Which is probably intentional.”
“The motel was hit recently in some sort of drug thing,” Elizabeth said. She pictured the bullet hole in the office window. Their tangos had probably noticed the same thing when they were considering ways to eliminate yet another eyewitness without attracting undue attention.
Derek was gazing down at her, his brow furrowed. “How long you been here?”
“I’m fine.”
“You need a break.”
The elevator opened again, and Torres stepped off. He glanced at Derek, then Elizabeth, as he walked over.
“Passed the boss in the lobby,” he told her. “You have orders to go home, get some rest.”
“I can stay.”
Torres squeezed her shoulder. “I’m on. You go. I’ll call you if anything happens.”
“My phone’s dead.”
“We’ve got mine,” Derek said.
“Go,” Torres repeated. “I’ll let you know if anything changes.”
She cast a glance at Lauren’s sister, who was still on her cell phone. Then she followed Derek to the elevator. The doors swept shut, and she stared down at her feet, at the black leather flats that she’d rinsed off in the hospital bathroom because they’d been smeared with blood. She still wore her bloodied slacks, too, but the jacket she’d used as a bandage was back at the crime scene. Or maybe in a trash can. Or maybe it had been bagged up by the evidence team.
She looked up to find Derek watching her in the mirrored doors.
“Thanks for coming,” she said.
He didn’t respond.
The doors slid open, and they stepped out into the same lobby she’d rushed through only a few hours ago. Another set of doors, and then they were standing together in the muggy night air. The streets were dark and deserted. All was quiet except for the distant wail of an approaching ambulance.
“What’s the theory?” Derek asked, leading her across the street.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re bound to have one. What is it?”
He led her away from the parking garage, and she spotted his truck on the street beside a fire hydrant. They climbed in.
“We believe they’re eliminating eyewitnesses,” she said. “What I don’t get is why. Why not just stage the attack and get it over with?”
He gave her a grim look.
“You think they’re biding their time,” she stated.
“I think they’re waiting for something. Something specific.” He pulled into the street and stopped at an intersection. It was nearly midnight, and traffic was light. “Where to?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
He hung a left. “You hungry?”
“No.”
“Thirsty?”
“No.” The last place she wanted to be right now was a noisy bar. “I guess just take me back to the hotel.”
“You got it.” He took a right and headed for the freeway.
She looked at him. “I’m sorry if this sounds bitchy, but please don’t get the wrong idea about this.”
“And what would that be?”
“I don’t think we should sleep together again.” Somehow everything that had happened made it easier to say it, to just get it out in the open. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“I happen to think it’s a great idea, but it’s your call.”
She turned to look out the window, bracing herself for the guilt. But it didn’t come. She actually felt relieved that she’d taken it off the table.
They drove without talking as the lights of Houston rushed by. Her stomach clenched as she thought of Lauren being loaded onto the gurney and whisked away in the ambulance. She’d felt so helpless, so utterly useless, staying behind to answer questions. She’d felt even more useless pacing the hospital waiting room.
She rested her forehead against the window and let the truck’s vibrations numb her as she closed her eyes. Her eyelids burned. She combed through the events in her mind. She went through them systematically, looking for any detail she’d missed, anything she’d omitted when she gave her report.
The truck slowed, and she opened her eyes as Derek pulled into the familiar parking lot.
Elizabeth zeroed in on her room. She pictured Lauren sitting cross-legged on her floor, surrounded by case files and cartons of Thai food. Derek whipped into a space, and she felt a wave of nausea.
“I can’t go in there.”
He looked at her.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I just can’t. I—”
“No problem.” He thrust the truck back into gear.
“I’m sorry.”
“I get it. Stop apologizing.”
He pulled out of the parking lot, then headed back toward the freeway.
She eyed his phone in the cup holder and felt sick again. Who was she kidding? She couldn’t rest tonight. She should go straight back to the hospital and wait for news.
“There’s nothing you can do there,” Derek said, clearly reading her mind. “Your boss is right. You need a break.”
She turned to look out the window as he got back onto the freeway. “So where are we going?”
“You trust me?”
She hesitated. “Yes.”
“Then relax.” He glanced at her. “Close your eyes, clear your head. I’ll let you know when we get there.”
* * *
Luke stepped away from the throng of people surrounding the bar and pressed his phone to his ear.
“What’s that?”
“I said, it’s Hailey.”
Holy shit. He looked at his phone again. He hadn’t recognized the Boston area code.
“Hang on.” He squeezed through the crowd to the hallway outside the men’s head. It smelled like beer and puke, but at least it was quieter.
“Sorry to call so late.”
“No, it’s fine.” He checked his watch. He hadn’t expected her to call at all, and definitely not at 2200 on a Monday night.
“Are you in Boston?” he asked.
“I’m still in town. I leave tomorrow.” She paused. “Where are you? It sounds really loud.”
“O’Malley’s.” He pushed open the back door and stepped into the alley off the parking lot, where it reeked even worse.
“Guess that means you’re with friends, huh? I was going to see if you w
anted to come over.”
He blinked out at the parking lot. “To your hotel room?”
“I was thinking the bar downstairs. I can’t sleep again, and I thought we could get a drink and talk or whatever.”
His mind whirled. He’d had a few too many beers for this conversation. She wanted to get a drink and talk or whatever—which in his experience was girl-speak for sex. He shook his head, trying to shake off the beer buzz and the crazy-ass idea that Hailey Gardner wanted to sleep with him.
“What, you mean now?” he asked.
Silence.
“Sorry,” he said. “My bad. I’m—”
“Sounds like you’re busy.”
“I’m not, I just—” Shit, now what was he doing? He couldn’t actually go over there. He definitely wanted to see her, but he was half loaded. If he got anywhere near her right now, his dick would take over, and he’d waste no time talking her upstairs.
“Luke?”
“I’m here.”
“I can tell I’m freaking you out, and I don’t mean to. It’s not what you’re thinking.” She was talking fast, like she was nervous. “It’s just that I can’t sleep, and it really sucks. And I thought maybe we could, you know, just hang out and talk.”
He tipped his head back and squeezed his eyes shut. “That’s probably not a good idea.”
Was he really turning her down? Hailey Gardner, who couldn’t sleep and wanted to just hang out and talk? And then it was back—the image of her cowering in the corner of that rathole back in A-bad, her face dirty and her hair tangled and her eyes . . . God damn it, of course she had trouble sleeping. But he couldn’t be around her.
“Listen, Hailey—”
“You don’t have to explain.”
“I wish I could come, but—”
“Forget it.”
“Hailey, wait. Hailey?”
She’d already hung up.
He stared down at his phone, feeling like crap. He’d made the right call, though. He knew it. He had no business going anywhere near her or her hotel room in his current state of semi-inebriation.
“Fuck.”
He turned and looked at the door behind him. The thought of going back inside suddenly had zero appeal. What he should do was go find one of his buddies who’d had less to drink than he had and catch a ride home. But he didn’t want to do that, either.
I can’t sleep, and it really sucks.
God damn it. Luke shoved his phone into his pocket and headed for the beach.
Chapter Twenty
Derek drove west, leaving the skyscrapers and the hospitals and the shopping malls behind. He drove through the suburbs until he reached the fringes of the city, and then he exited the freeway and drove some more. Finally, he turned off the highway onto a narrow asphalt road that not so long ago had been nothing but caliche.
Elizabeth stared out the window, not talking. But her body language said a lot. She was clutching the door handle in a white-knuckle grip and glancing at his phone in the cup holder every ten seconds.
Pine trees rose on either side of them. The road curved, and his headlights swept over the sign for the trailhead. The landscape looked different from what he remembered, and he nearly missed his turn.
He rolled to a stop and looked at Elizabeth across the console.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“Sugarberry Dam Park.” He pushed his door open and went around back, where he unlocked the toolbox and rummaged around until he found what he was looking for.
Elizabeth slid out and glanced around. She climbed the steep incline to the ridge and stopped cold when she reached the top.
“Whoa.” She stood there, staring out over the reservoir. They were in a dry spell, and what was often a full-blown lake in springtime was now an empty field surrounded by trees. A full moon cast a silver glow over everything.
“Here.” He tossed his jacket onto the ground. “Don’t dirty up your clothes.”
“These clothes are history.” But she sat down on the edge of his jacket, looking out over the view.
He sank down beside her, and she glanced back at the truck.
“You left the radio on.”
“I know.” He unscrewed the top of his flask and offered it to her. She eyed it suspiciously before taking it.
“This is quite the setup.” She sniffed, then took a sip. “How come I feel like I’m not the first woman you’ve taken out here?”
The whiskey made her voice hoarse, and he smiled. “Woman? Yes. Girl? No.” He looked out over the meadow. “I brought Ashley Ferrell out here on her first car date.” She passed the flask back, and he took a swig.
“Do I want to know more?”
“Nah, the rest is top secret.”
She slipped her shoes off and tucked them beside her, then rested her arms on her knees. She leaned her head back and looked up at the sky.
“We don’t get stars like this in San Antonio.”
“Light pollution.” He glanced up. The stars looked nice, but it was nothing compared with the dead of night on the open ocean. Or in the Hindu Kush. On top of the world like that, the sky looked like a big dome of glitter directly over his head.
“I would have figured you for country,” she said.
He glanced over his shoulder, straining to hear the soft, soulful music drifting from his pickup.
“Yeah, well, I like a lot of stuff. Country, blues, jazz.”
“You’re full of surprises.”
He looked at her. “Maybe you need to get to know me better.”
She knew some of his preferences but not nearly enough. And he was learning hers—including the mind-blowing fact that she liked to take control during sex.
And maybe she could read his mind, because she looked away.
He took another sip from his flask and tried not to think about sex, because it wasn’t going to get him what he wanted, which was to get back into her bed not only tonight but the next time he had leave, too. And the time after that.
It would have to be her call, like he’d said, so he was playing it cool, trying to make her comfortable.
She gazed up at the stars again. “It’s nice here.”
“Yep.”
He handed her the flask, and she took another sip. Sometime in the last hour, she’d lost the anguished look that had been eating away at him since he’d first seen her standing in that hospital. But still she looked edgy.
A warm breeze stirred the trees as they sat there, not talking. It felt good to be home, surrounded by the familiar scent of dirt and pinesap. It seemed unreal that seventy-two hours from now, he’d probably be strapped into a C-17 over the ocean.
He should tell her. At least mention it. But she had enough to worry about right now, and he didn’t want to add to it.
“Alison Krauss, ‘Killing the Blues.’ ” She looked at him. “My dad liked to listen to her when she played with Union Station. They’re from the same town in Illinois.”
“Illinois, huh? How’d you guys end up in Virginia?”
“He went to law school there. UVA.”
“Your alma mater,” he said, hoping she’d keep going. She never talked about her family, and he knew it was a nut he needed to crack if he wanted to understand her. “So he practiced law there?”
“He was an assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Fairfax.” She cleared her throat. “I guess I never really told you how he died.”
“No, you didn’t.”
She paused and seemed to be collecting her thoughts. “It was a convenience-store holdup. He had this concealed-carry permit because of some of the people he’d helped prosecute. He always had his Beretta on him, and he tried to intervene in the holdup. The perp was roughing up this clerk, but there were two of them—one in the back, which my dad didn’t realize, so . . . it all went sideways.”
Derek reached over and squeezed her hand. “You and your dad were close?”
She nodded.
“And your mom?”
Wrong question. He could tell by the way her shoulders tensed. She slid her hand out from under his and rested her arms on her knees. “She remarried a few times. The latest guy’s okay, but I don’t know.” She shrugged. “There’s still a lot of resentment there.”
“You should patch that up,” he said, venturing an opinion she probably didn’t want to hear. “I used to have shit like that, too, with my dad. He rode us pretty hard growing up. For years, I thought I hated him.”
He looked out at the meadow bathed in moonlight, not so different from the conditions they’d had during the raid in A-bad.
He looked at Elizabeth, and she was listening. “But then a couple years ago, we lost our CO. He was killed in a helo accident.” It hadn’t really been an accident, but he didn’t want to go into all the details. “He was tough as hell, and he’d always reminded me of my dad. Then one day, he was just gone, no warning. And I realized you can’t take people for granted. Life’s too short.”
She held his gaze for a long moment, and then she looked away. Evidently, she didn’t like his advice.
The silence lengthened, and they stared out over the reservoir. A distant pair of headlights bumped over a road on the other side. It was so quiet, with just the wind and the music drifting over them, the low hum of the cicadas. He’d always loved this spot. When he came here, it was hard to believe the sprawling city of Houston was only a few miles away.
She glanced back at his truck again. “I have this album on my iPod.”
“Yeah?”
“I couldn’t sleep, like, the entire month of May. So I’d sit on my balcony at night and listen to this.”
She looked so pretty sitting there, and he reached out to stroke her hair away from her face. “Because of what happened?”
She shrugged. “I had trouble sleeping before that. Getting the shit beat out me didn’t really help, though.”
He gritted his teeth at the reminder and glanced at her scar.
Beyond Limits Page 21