The Doubted

by Shiloh Walker

  The longer it would be before he could protect her.

  “Fine,” he bit off. “But I want it on record that I think this is a bad idea.”

  “I know.” To his surprise, Nyrene closed the distance between them and rose to her toes. She kissed him on the corner of his mouth. He was hard-pressed not to deepen the kiss but if he put his hands on her, he just might throw her over his shoulder and take her some place where he could keep her safe. But how long could he do that? How long could he keep her safe? He didn’t know. And that was the problem. He didn’t know.

  “Okay.” He pulled out his phone and checked the time. “Let’s go over this again.”

  As Nyrene turned away, Joss met his gaze. Something unspoken passed between the two men and Dev didn’t have to be psychic to pick up on the message.

  I’ll take care of her, the man’s eyes seem to say.

  Dev tightened his hand around his phone.

  You sure as hell better.

  * * * * *

  “Captain Amana.”

  The captain’s brisk voice came over the phone and Dev didn’t have to be there to know the woman would be holding a cup of coffee in one hand and shuffling through reports with the other.

  “It’s Deverall,” he said coolly.

  He had to give her credit. He had worried that the second he gave his name she would explode. She was pretty unflappable, but she didn’t often have to deal with one of her cops disappearing right after his house blew up. Sure, she’d had an unusual number of cops die on her watch, but she didn’t often have them disappear on her.

  “Well, the prodigal son,” she said.

  “Can you talk?”

  * * * * *

  Once he was done with the captain, he opened his messages and sent a text.

  Made contact. Will text back soon. Everything good on your end?

  His reply came almost immediately.

  Smooth sailing. Our girl is in place. She’s got one pair of eyes on her place. And let me tell you, guy is lazy AF.

  Another message popped up a few seconds later.

  Stay Sharp.

  Dev sent back a quick response.

  You do the same. Take care of her.

  That done, he shoved his phone into his pocket and twisted the key in the ignition. Now all he had to do was get his ass to Nyrene’s and hope like hell Joss knew what he was doing.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Nyrene sat in the car, parked in the gravel driveway in front of her small, rundown house. It was a cozy little place and she’d been fixing it up as best as she could on the paycheck she brought home each week, but she was under no illusions about her home.

  She didn’t need illusions, either.

  It was home and it had been a warm, comfortable sanctuary. But right now, it looked ominous, as if a shadow had fallen across the small, single-story, two-bedroom house.

  With a hand that shook, she pulled out the pay-as-you-go phone Joss had pushed into her hand only an hour earlier. There were only two numbers programmed into it. One was for an identical phone that was now in Ben’s possession. The other was for Joss.

  As much as she wanted to call Ben, she didn’t.

  She punched in a call to Joss and he answered on the first ring.

  “Yeah?”

  “Somebody’s been in my place,” she said in a low, hushed voice.

  “How can you tell?” he asked.

  “I…I don’t know. I just feel it.”

  To her relief, he didn’t brush it off. “Okay. There’s nobody in there now. If there was, I’d know. We don’t have much time so you need to get inside. Your cop has already contacted his captain so she’s on her way now. He’ll be on his way, too. You need to be inside that house when they get here.”

  She nodded, then, feeling silly, said, “Okay. Um…where are you?”

  “I’m close,” he told her. “You’re safe, Nyrene, okay?”

  She didn’t know how she could be, but she didn’t argue with him. Disconnecting the call, she slid the phone into her purse and climbed from the car.

  Cold chills raced up and down her body as she made her way over the busted sidewalk and her hands shook as she fit the key to the lock. Frustrated, she took a deep breath and managed to still that telltale tremor long enough to unlock the door and slip inside. Once in, she flipped all the locks and stood there, her back pressed to the door as she looked around.

  She didn’t know what to do now.

  She didn’t even want to walk through her house, knowing that some unknown stranger had been inside her place, doing who knows what.

  Why had somebody been in her house?

  Who had it been?

  The phone rang and she jumped at the sound of it.

  She had no idea who could be calling, and she definitely wasn’t in the mood to chat, so she stayed where she was, staring at absolutely nothing.

  How long would it take for somebody to get there?

  Who would get there first?

  Easing away from the door, she peeked out through the curtains, once again feeling foolish, but unable to help herself.

  The phone went to voicemail and a woman’s voice, unfamiliar, filled the air.

  “Hello, Nyrene.”

  A chill raced down Nyrene’s back and she jerked away from the window to turn and stare at the phone.

  She’d swear that the speaker knew she was there.

  “I know you’re in the house and I know you can hear me.”

  Nyrene swallowed, fear suddenly coating her tongue and turning her limbs weak.

  “It’s Phantom from the Portal. I’ve been trying to get in contact with you. You’re in big trouble and I want to help. Will you pick up the phone?”

  Nyrene gave an involuntary shake of her head and shrank back against the door.

  A sigh came from the machine next to the phone and Nyrene closed her eyes.

  An image flashed across her closed lids.

  A woman with short, pale blonde hair and equally pale blue eyes, leaning against a car. She had a phone pressed to her ear and her mouth opened. Words came from the speaker, but to Nyrene, it was as if she was standing next to the woman, not in the small entryway of her little house.

  “I’m trying to help you, Nyrene. You reached out to us, remember? What changed?”

  You sent a bunch of goons after me, that’s what.

  The woman’s voice tightened and Nyrene instinctively checked the bricks in the mental wall she had erected. They were all tight and secure.

  But the woman had sensed something.

  Nyrene could tell.

  “You’re nervous.” The words were soothing. The woman’s face, still flickering like a blurred TV screen in Nyrene’s mind, was not. “I get that. It’s difficult having this shit come on you so hard after a lifetime of being normal. That’s why you need help. Plus all this crazy shit with this cop you’re on the run with. Honey, he’s big trouble, trouble you don’t need. You need us. Will you just stop running?”

  Nyrene had to fight the urge to fling the door open and rush to the car, and take off yet again.

  She was here for a reason right now, and she’d made a promise.

  “I’ve got men on the way to your place. It’s going to take a while but please, just stay there. We’ll take care of you.”

  The call disconnected.

  Nyrene grabbed the phone once more and punched in a text to Joss.

  The people who’ve been chasing me know I’m here. They’re coming.

  His response was not the one she was hoping for.

  Hey…that’s some cool news. We’ll make it a party. Taige is coming, too. Guess she had a feeling.

  Nyrene resisted the urge to text him and tell him he was a crazy bastard.

  Head’s up, Nyrene. You’ve got a cop coming up the walkway right now. I’m already heading over, ETA two minutes. Calling Dev to let him know. Do not open that door.

  Nyrene closed her eyes just as somebody knocked.

  *
* * * *

  Dev read the text and swore.

  Then he punched in the captain’s number. “There’s a cop about to knock on her door,” he said in a cutting voice. “Where are you?”

  “Less than five minutes away,” she said. “Where are you?”

  “Same.” He felt only slightly better, knowing that Joss was on the scene. He was approaching on foot, but said he was less than two minutes away.

  “You got back-up coming, too?” he asked.

  “Three officers that I trust,” she assured him. “Not including you.”

  He grunted. “Hurry.” Without another word, he ended the call and gripped the steering wheel.

  When sirens went off behind him, he ignored them and hit the gas.

  Didn’t it just figure that somebody would recognize him?

  And he had no doubt that had been the case. He’d intentionally been driving just a little above the speed limit so he wouldn’t catch anybody’s attention. He was also in a rental, the keys turned over by Joss just a few minutes after Nyrene had been provided with transportation, so nobody had recognized the car.

  Behind him, the unmarked police car gunned its engine and drew closer.

  He ignored it and floored it, whipping around the car in front of him and hanging the right that would take him to Nyrene’s place. Tires squealed as the car he’d cut off barely managed to avoid slamming into him.

  The cop car stayed right on his bumper and Dev had no doubt the only reason he wasn’t now dodging bullets was the fact that he was in the middle of a fairly populated area of Clary. People watched wide-eyed as he whipped the car around another corner, then hung a left, finally on Nyrene’s street.

  He saw an unmarked car parked in front of Nyrene’s house and almost on the heels of that, a big, unmarked Escalade came around a corner at the end of the street.

  The captain’s ride.

  But he didn’t breathe a sigh of relief.

  Not yet.

  Because while he saw the unmarked cop car in front of Nyrene’s house, he didn’t see the cop.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Nyrene sat on the stairs, clutching her purse to her belly and trying not to shiver with fear.

  The cop had just unlocked the door.

  He must have been the one who’d been inside her house, and while he was there, he’d helped himself to the spare key she kept in her junk drawer in the kitchen.

  He’d unlocked the fucking door, then simply outmuscled her as he pushed it open.

  Nyrene was five foot eight and solid, with muscle under her curves, but she wasn’t any match for a cop who looked like he just might be able to bench press his own car. Muscles strained against the sleeves of his uniform shirt, roping his arms, and as she watched, they bunched and unbunched.

  “We’re going to take a ride,” he told her.

  She swallowed and shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  “Then I’m going to shoot you in the knee,” he informed her, his voice strangely remote. Strange, because his eyes were bouncing around all over the place, refusing to linger on her face for even a minute.

  But she didn’t take that to mean he didn’t mean what he said. She had good reason to believe he did mean it—the thoughts were practically spray-painted across his mind in sickly neon green. He didn’t want to do it, he’d regret it, but he’d do it nonetheless, because he felt he had no choice.

  She had a choice, though.

  Her choice was to be stubborn and wait it out because Joss was close, maybe even already in the house, and Dev was coming. All she had to do was stall.

  Deciding to risk it, she removed one lone brick in the wall that protected her mind from his. She could glean the surface thoughts in his mind already, but she needed more.

  …can’t believe I’m doing this. What’s my wife going to think?

  …no choice. If I don’t, they said they’d kill her.

  “You do have a choice, Officer”—she flicked a look to his nametag—“Morell. This whole thing is falling apart. It has been for a while. You do realize that the reason they wanted Ben Deverall dead is because he has evidence that’s going to bring this whole mess down, right?”

  His lids flickered. “Be quiet.”

  “No.” She shook her head. “Dev’s got that evidence, and he’s already given it to…” Her hesitation was brief and she hoped he didn’t notice. She was making this shit up as she went and lying had never been one of her strong suits. She’d never thought she’d have reason to wish otherwise, until now. “The FBI. That’s why that agent was there. That’s why the BOLO was called off.”

  “Shut up,” he said, voice going hard.

  But she caught another clear thought.

  I fucking knew it…

  Movement behind him caught her attention and she fought not to betray anything. Joss.

  “You didn’t really think somebody was stupid enough to try to grab me in broad daylight, did you?” She threw the words out there. “Dev and Agent Crawford just made that shit up so they could have a valid reason for Crawford to go in and start feeling things out in the department.”

  Fuck, fuck, fuck!

  That was all she caught from him that time.

  She didn’t understand why he was buying any of that bullshit, but she had to brazen it out.

  A huge forearm snaked around Officer Morell’s throat, joined by a weapon that pressed into the man’s temple. The man went strangely still, not resisting at all.

  “Take his weapon for me, will you, sweetheart?” Joss asked, his voice tight. “Do it fast.”

  She lurched up, not even questioning him. She remembered how he’d used his mind to grab Dev and had no doubt he was doing something similar to hold Officer Morell trapped, a prisoner in his own body.

  She pried the gun from Morell’s hand and fumbled with it until she was a few feet away, lowering it to her side with the muzzle pointed at the floor. She’d never held a gun in her life and the weight of it was monumental, pulling her entire arm to the ground, or so it seemed.

  “What now?” she asked, voice trembling.

  “This boy is going to take a few steps into the room or I’m going to ventilate his brain, that’s what,” Joss said, voice still tight, but a little less strained. “Come on, son. In you go.”

  In jerky, oddly reluctant movements—Like a puppet’s, Nyrene thought—Morell moved into the room. Once inside, Joss said, “Nyrene, shut the door for me, would you?”

  She scurried over and closed the door, then moved back across the room, still holding the gun.

  “Stay where you’re at now, sweetheart,” Joss said, his drawl thicker, voice still tight. It hardened as he shifted his focus to the cop he still held in a vicious grip. “I’m going to let you go now, son. You’re going to walk straight over to the chair and sit down. You do anything more than that, I’m going to do what you threatened to do to Nyrene—I’ll shoot you in the knee, but not one knee, both of them. You won’t even have to worry about riding a desk. Your days as a cop are over.”

  He let Morell go and the big cop staggered a little.

  Nyrene saw the struggle in his eyes, the internal battle being waged. And she saw the defeat that swam in his dark gaze. He accepted it and took one slow step, then another, toward the chair Joss had indicated. Halfway there, he stopped and turned around.

  When he saw the gun Joss held pointed at knee level, he didn’t even blink.

  “If I give you names, will y’all make sure my wife gets protection?”

  Joss inclined his head. “We would have done that anyway.” Something that might have been a smile tipped up one corner of his mouth. “But you asking makes me think you might not be below the level of pond scum. You’re just right on level with it.”

  * * * * *

  Dev approached slowly, back to the wall of the house. The captain came in from the other side. Something vibrated in his pocket. His phone. He ignored it.

  One step closer…another…ano
ther… The window was just a few steps away.

  The vibrating started again just as he eased to the ground, ready to belly crawl under the window so he didn’t cast a shadow through the curtains and betray his presence.

  Hurry, hurry…

  The vibrating stopped, but started again as soon as he regained his feet.

  Then the door swung open and he dropped, weapon ready in a two-handed grip, aimed at chest level.

  Joss stood there.

  “Get your asses in here. We got this under control, but there’s gonna to be a party. Don’t want to ruin the surprise,” the big man said in a cheery voice. He tossed a look behind him at the captain. “Good afternoon, Captain. It’s been one hell of a day.”

  Then he ducked back into the house.

  The adrenaline swirling in Dev had him ramped up so high, he was all but shaking with it as he stepped over the threshold of Nyrene’s house, uncertain what he was going to find.

  It wasn’t anything he expected.

  Officer Hank Morell sat in the same broken-in easy chair that Dev had used when he had come here that first night. Hell, had it even been a week? He had a grim set to his features and when he saw Dev, then the captain step through the door, his tanned features turned a dull shade of red.

  Aww, fuck, Dev thought.

  There was a quiet click of the door as the captain shut it.

  “Morell. What brings you here?” Amana asked.

  He shot her a look, then glanced at Dev. “You probably already know, Captain,” the young cop said, voice emotionless.