Pru stared up at him. “John, don’t do this.”
“It’s done,” he said grimly. “I’ve already talked to Glen McCurry at Quantico. He has an opening on his team. I gave you my highest recommendation. He wants you there first thing on Monday morning.”
Pru gasped. “Just like that? Without consulting me?”
“It’s the only way. The Bureau can’t lose you, Pru. You’re too valuable. By the time you’re ready to head up a unit yourself, I’ll be gone. You can come back here then, if you still want to, and if we still feel the same way about each other…” His eyes softened as he stared down at her. “Who knows?”
“So that’s it then. I’m out.” Pru felt like crying but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
“You’re not out. Glen McCurry can do far more for your career in Washington than I ever could down here. You have a big future ahead of you, Pru. I’m not going to be the one to take that away from you. I couldn’t live with myself.”
His hands slipped from her arms, but Pru wouldn’t let him go. “You’ve made an awful lot of decisions for me tonight. And there’s not a damn thing I can do about any of them. So I’ll go back to Quantico and I’ll work for Glen McCurry. I’ll do what I’ve always intended to do. But there’s one decision you can’t make for me.”
“And that is?”
She took his hand and drew him toward her bedroom.
SLOWLY, SHE UNFASTENED her robe and let it slip from her shoulders. The moment Cahill realized she wore nothing underneath, his gaze deepened. He said nothing at first, but his eyes told Pru everything she wanted to know. He wanted her, as much as she wanted him.
His hand snaked out to cup the back of her neck and roughly pull her to him. He kissed her so hard, Pru thought she would shatter into a million pieces. He groaned against her mouth as his hands found her breasts, the sensitive skin between her thighs.
When she could stand it no longer, he lifted her and she wrapped her legs around him, kissing him over and over as they stumbled down the hallway to her bedroom.
She lay back on the bed and watched him undress. She’d seen his body before, but not all of him. The sight of him made her tremble. Made her reach out for him…
“Please tell me you brought protection,” she whispered as he moved over her.
He reached down and took something out of his pocket.
Grabbing the package from him, she ripped apart the foil, rolled the condom onto him and then guided him to her.
He froze and closed his eyes briefly. “It’s been a while. I don’t know…” He plunged inside her then, and Pru gasped at the sensation. Arching her back, she lifted her hips to meet his.
It was over almost before it began. For both of them. Pru couldn’t hold back. She wasn’t a virgin, but it was as if she’d been saving some part of herself for Cahill all these years. And now that the moment was at hand, she gave herself with abandon.
Her body began to tremble uncontrollably as she clutched at his back. He held her so tightly she could hardly breathe, and a moment later, he shuddered to his own climax.
He collapsed on top of her and groaned. “That was…way too fast,” he muttered.
“Speak for yourself.”
“Pru…”
“Don’t. Don’t you dare say it was a mistake.”
“I wasn’t going to. I was just going to say that…I can do much better.”
“I might die if you were any better,” she said with a sigh. “John…”
He rolled off her and pulled her against him. “What?”
“Are you going to miss me?”
His arms tightened around her. “You have no idea.”
She turned and studied his face. “Don’t find someone else while I’m gone, okay? Give us a chance.”
“There is no one else like you,” he said simply. “I didn’t think I could ever feel this way again.” He gave a short laugh. “I don’t think I ever have felt this way.”
“I know I haven’t. I’ve wanted you since you walked into that classroom at the academy five years ago. The great John Cahill…” She put a hand to her mouth. “I can’t believe I just slept with you.”
“Hardly a legendary performance,” he muttered with regret. “I told you once before that I don’t belong on your pedestal.”
“Yes, you do. You have no idea how great you really are,” she said softly. “I think that’s why I love you so much.”
SHE LOVED HIM? My God, Cahill thought. What had he done?
He was sending her away, and if she came back to him, even in six months, she wouldn’t be the same woman. Not after working in SKURRT.
The job would change her in ways she couldn’t imagine, and even as he held her in his arms and watched her sleep, he could feel her slipping away from him.
His cell phone rang, and her eyes flew open. “It’s mine,” he said softly as he eased himself out of bed. “Go back to sleep.”
Picking up his jacket, he fished his cell phone from his pocket and lifted it to his ear. “Cahill.”
“John? Oh, God…I’m so glad I caught you…”
“Lauren?” He cradled the phone against his shoulder as he automatically began to get dressed. “What’s wrong? You sound upset?”
“It’s Jessie…”
Cahill’s heart jumped. “What about her? Is she okay?”
“That’s just it. I don’t know where she is. I’ve been trying to reach her all day. I know I lectured you about this very thing, but…I have a bad feeling something is wrong. I don’t know what to do—”
CAHILL WAS DRESSED and out of her apartment before Pru had time to catch her breath. One look at his face when he hung up the phone, and she’d known instantly that something was wrong.
“John, what is it?”
He turned to her, his gaze haunted. “That was my ex-wife… She hasn’t been able to get in touch with Jessie. Her roommate hasn’t talked to her since early this morning, and no one else has seen her, either. Lauren’s afraid…she’s gone missing.”
“Missing?” Pru put a hand to her throat. “Oh, my God. You don’t think…”
“That her disappearance has something to do with this case?” He closed his eyes briefly. “I don’t know. Dear God, if anything happens to her—”
Pru placed her hand on his arm. “Don’t think the worst. She’s eighteen years old. There could be any number of explanations.”
“I know. I keep telling myself that, but the truth is, I’ve had a bad feeling something wasn’t right with her for days. I should have gone to see her. I should have pried it out of her. If anything happens to her after everything else, I’ll never be able to forgive myself.”
The guilt would kill him, Pru thought. He’d never be able to get over it.
Aloud she said, “What can I do?”
“Stay by the phone.” He finished dressing and strode toward the door. “I may need you to assemble a team on a moment’s notice.”
“I’ll be ready. John?”
He paused at the door and glanced back.
“We’ll find her, okay? We will.”
But Pru could tell from his expression that her encouragement had failed to convince him.
Seconds after she heard the front door close, she climbed out of bed and headed for the shower. She carried the phone into the bathroom with her so that if it rang, she would be able to hear it over the running water.
She showered and dressed as quickly as she could, and just as she reached for the phone to carry it back into the bedroom with her, it rang.
Snatching it up, she pressed the call button. “John?”
“No, it’s Tim. I was hoping he was with you. I’ve got some news.”
“About Jessie?” Pru asked anxiously.
“Jessie? Who’s Jessie?”
“I just thought—”
He cut her off. “No, this is about Tripp Investigations and the P.I. they sent to the club tonight.”
Pru frowned. “P.I.? What are you talking about, Tim?”
>
“Agent Cahill didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
There was a long silence. Pru could picture Tim running a hand through his hair. “I shouldn’t have called your number.”
“Well, you did call it,” Pru said impatiently. “Now tell me what’s going on. Tripp Investigations sent one of their investigators to the club tonight? And John…Agent Cahill knew about it?”
“I can’t believe he didn’t tell you himself,” Tim muttered.
“You said you’d found out something. What is it?” Pru prodded.
Tim paused. “I don’t want to get into it over the phone. I’d like to see you and Agent Cahill in person.”
“Agent Cahill was called away on another case,” she said. “But I can meet you at the office.”
“No, wait. I’m about five minutes from your place. I’ll drive over.”
“All right,” Pru said. “I’ll be waiting.”
A few minutes later, she drew back the door and motioned for Tim to enter. He brushed past her and hesitated, his gaze darting about the apartment.
“You’re alone?”
“I told you. Agent Cahill was called away on another case. Have a seat,” Pru said, as she moved to the couch. Tim sat down beside her. “Tell me about this investigator.”
Tim still seemed hesitant. “His name is Gerald McBride.”
“What was he doing at the club?”
“Watching you.”
Pru gasped. “Watching me? How do you know that?”
“Because that’s what he told Agent Cahill. He even showed Cahill a picture of you that had been taken a few days earlier as you left the club. My guess is, he’s had you under surveillance since you first started going to Acceleration.”
Pru tried to suppress a chill at the notion of some one—the killer, perhaps—watching her. “Do you know who hired him?”
“No, not yet. But get this. He’s only been working for Tripp Investigations for a few months. Before that, he worked exclusively for Linney, Gardner and Braddock. And since we know that Sid Zellman hired Tripp’s agency to tail Clare, I’d say that gives us reason enough to lean on Zellman.”
An image of Sid Zellman materialized in Pru’s head, and she tried to suppress a shudder. Was he their man? She had no way of knowing. Not yet. But the evidence was starting to mount up.
And now he—or someone—had obviously targeted Pru. That had been her intent…to use herself as bait to draw out the killer. And the plan appeared to be working.
Why hadn’t Cahill told her about the P.I.? Why hadn’t he warned her that she might very well be in the killer’s crosshairs?
Because his plan was to get her out of the way. Her sudden transfer to Quantico made a lot more sense to Pru now. Cahill was trying to protect her.
She wanted to be flattered that he cared enough about her safety to go to such extremes, but at the moment, all she felt was betrayed.
He didn’t trust her. He didn’t have faith in her abilities as an agent. She could take care of herself, but obviously, Cahill didn’t agree.
Beside her, Tim said, “I think we should get over to the Texas National Bank Building and confront Zellman before he has a chance to cover his tracks.”
Pru shook her head. “You can’t make a move like that without authorization.”
Tim gave her a strange look. “Don’t you mean ‘we’?”
Pru ran a hand through her hair. “I’m off the case, Tim. I’m out of SKURRT.”
His mouth dropped in astonishment. “Since when?”
“A little while ago. I’m being transferred. I’m expected back at Quantico first thing Monday morning.”
Tim stared at her, speechless. Then abruptly he turned away. “This changes everything.”
“Yeah, I know. It sucks. But there’s not much I can do about it. I really don’t want to go, especially until I find out about Jessie.”
“Jessie.” Tim turned with a frown. “Cahill’s daughter?”
“She’s gone missing. John’s worried that her disappearance could have something to do with this case.”
“You mean…he thinks the killer has Jessie.”
“Right now, he’s putting all his energies into finding her, and rightfully so.”
“I’m sure she’s okay,” Tim murmured. “Maybe a little seasick…”
Pru caught her breath. “What do you mean by that?”
Tim sighed. “Your leaving really does change everything. Unfortunately, it’s a little too late to help me.”
Pru was beginning to get a very bad feeling about this conversation. “Tim…what are you talking about?”
“I wasn’t good enough for SKURRT,” he said. “Cahill kept turning down my transfer requests. ‘Not psychologically compatible for the job,’ he said. ‘Doesn’t have the right instincts.’ As it turns out, I’m a little more clever than he gave me credit for. I’ve had HPD running in circles for months. And now Cahill.” He gave a bitter laugh. “He’s like a puppet on a string. He goes exactly where I want him to go.”
Pru’s purse was lying on the chair next to the couch. Her gun was inside. If she could reach it—
As if intuiting her intention, Tim whipped out his own weapon. “Don’t even think about it. We’ve got a long night ahead of us, Pru. Might as well relax.”
“You killed those women because your transfer was refused? Why?”
“To prove a point. I warned you on that tape. I’m not like any killer you’ve ever known before. I kill for one reason and one reason only. Because I can.”
The phone rang on the couch between them, and—weapon still on her—Tim snatched it up. “Hello, Agent Cahill,” he said into the mouthpiece.
Pru tense as she watched him, waiting for that moment, that one split second, when he might let down his guard.
“Here’s the deal,” Tim said, his gaze still on Pru. “You told me once that agents who are accepted into SKURRT have to make tough choices all the time. You told me that turning down my request for a transfer—three separate times—was one of the toughest choices you’d ever had to make. But you were wrong. That didn’t even come close. Because now you have to decide between your daughter and your girlfriend. Even the great John Cahill can’t save them both.”
He hung up the phone and tossed it back on the sofa. “Get up,” he said to Pru.
She rose slowly. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.” He motioned with his gun toward the door. “Get going. Nice and slow. I don’t want to have to shoot you here, but I will. You know what I’m capable of, don’t you?”
His voice sent a chill up Pru’s spine. She turned. “Just tell me one thing. Why Clare? Because she knew me?”
“That was just a happy coincidence,” he said.
“And the other two victims?”
“The victims don’t matter,” he said with a careless wave of his hand. “They could have been anybody as long as they had the same physical characteristics as Stiles’s victims.”
“Because you wanted HPD to think they had a copycat killer on their hands.”
“Or a surrogate. You and Cahill were only too eager to play along. Then you stumbled across the information about Danny Costello, and once I realized he may have seen me, I had to get rid of him. But that only added a new dimension to the game, didn’t it? Tripp Investigations, Sid Zellman, John Allen Stiles…like I said, I had you and Cahill running in circles.”
“All right, you’re clever,” Pru said. “I’ll give you that. But why Jessie? She’s just a kid.”
“Because I want him to know what it feels like to lose everything. It’s as simple as that.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Pru saw her purse in the chair. Tim couldn’t see it from where he stood. She kept talking to him, trying to draw his attention. The phone rang again on the couch, and when he turned she grabbed the gun, turned and fired.
The bullet hit him in the arm and he screamed. Pru dove behind the chair, and
kept firing.
Tim screamed again as another bullet connected and then he fell back through the window.
Pru heard his body thud against the ground as she bolted from her cover and rushed to the door. By the time she got outside, he was gone.
PRU HAD THE PHONE to her ear as she sped down the I-45 Corridor toward Galveston. When Cahill finally picked up, she said breathlessly, “I know where she is.”
“Pru? Oh, my God, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, but Tim got away. I wounded him, but I don’t think it was serious enough to stop him. He said that Jessie was okay except for maybe being seasick. Tim has a boat. He keeps it in Galveston. He and my father used to go out fishing sometimes. It’s called The Mermaid’s Lair. It’s docked at the Galveston Yacht Club. I’m on my way there now, but I don’t know if he’s in front of me or behind me.”
“I’m still in Champions,” Cahill said. “You’ve got at least a twenty-minute head start on me. Pru, wait for backup, do you hear me? I’m calling the Galveston PD right now.”
“All right, but tell them to hurry,” Pru said as she hung up the phone.
CAHILL LIFTED the phone to his ear. “Cahill.”
“You’ve probably heard from Pru by now,” Tim Sessions said tightly. “She thinks she’s figured out where your daughter is, but here’s the deal, Cahill. I’m not in this alone. I have someone watching Jessie at this very moment, and if my partner so much as hears a police siren, your daughter is fish bait. You understand?”
“You’re bluffing,” Cahill said.
“Am I? Are you willing to take that chance with your daughter’s life? I don’t think so.”
The phone went dead in Cahill’s ear.
Swearing violently, he called Pru. She picked up on the first ring. “I just talked to Sessions.”
He heard her catch her breath. “What did he say?”
“He says he has someone watching Jessie. If I call the police, they’ll kill her.”
Pru said nothing for a moment. “Do you think he’s bluffing?”
“I don’t know. He’s been one step ahead of us so far. I think we have to assume he’s planned for every contingency.”
“I agree.”
“So here’s what I want you to do. Pull over. Let me handle this. I’m the one he wants.”
Matters of Seduction Page 17