The Asset

by Anna del Mar

  I was about to freak out. Ash had been on to me the entire time. He had researched and analyzed Red Rush? And he hadn’t mention any of that to me? I clenched my jaw and glared at him.

  “Mayday, Mayday.” Will imitated the sounds of machine gunfire and sputtering propellers. “We’re going down.”

  “No letter, no Red Rush.” Steiner said. “I didn’t receive anything like it.”

  “Then how did you find me?” I said. “How did you figure out where I lived?”

  “You forget I’m a Federal Marshal,” he said. “I don’t have to tell you shit.”

  Ash rumbled quietly. “The lady asked you a question. I suggest you answer it.”

  Steiner took measure of Ash before his stare settled back on me. “Have you forgotten who provided you with your documents? I’d flagged all your possible identities in multiple databases. A few days ago, we had a hit. The Veteran Administration Caregiver Support Program submitted a request for payment with your name on it. I traced it all the way here. That’s how I found you.”

  Gunny had taken matters into her own hands. In doing so, she might as well have killed me. My jaw muscles ached.

  Ash cursed under his breath. “Does anybody else know you’re here?”

  “I came out here on my own, following a hunch,” Steiner said.

  “Right,” I said. “You probably left crumbs for Red all along the way.”

  Steiner’s glare turned frigid. “You can’t possibly hold me responsible for what happened. It wasn’t my fault.”

  “Weren’t you the one who approached me in the first place?” I said. “Weren’t you the one who promised that Adam and I would be safe if we cooperated with your investigation?”

  “Wait,” Ash said. “Who the hell is Adam?”

  “My, my.” Steiner tsked. “So you don’t know much after all.”

  Ash’s demonic glower could have cremated Steiner on the spot.

  “I don’t know,” Will sang. “I don’t know where I’m gonna go when the volcano blows.”

  “Adam was my brother,” I said, suppressing the pain that struck me when I said his name aloud. “Agent Steiner here said he’d be safe for good if I testified against Red. Only he didn’t keep his end of the bargain.”

  “It was a secure safe house,” Steiner said. “Nobody could’ve foreseen what happened. I lost agents and friends in that attack too.”

  “I was there,” I snapped. “Remember?”

  Steiner’s throat worked up and down and, for an instant, I saw a glimmer in his eyes, a glimmer of...empathy? Then it was gone, replaced by his standard glare. “Whatever happened in the past is irrelevant.”

  “Irrelevant?” I said, incredulous.

  “Irrelevant, yes. You made a deal with the Justice Department and you will deliver on that deal.”

  “The deal was off on the day that Adam died.”

  “Wrong,” he said. “You’re still alive. The agreement stands. You must do your part. We invested a lot of resources in securing you so that you could assist us in putting Red away. You’re the only one who can provide testimony to convict him.”

  “Sure, let’s get Lia killed too, why not?” I curled my lips in disgust. “You’ve been trying to get Red for years. You’ve devoted your entire career to that purpose and yet you haven’t been able to take him down. How is it different this time around?”

  “Red has beaten every other indictment we’ve thrown his way,” Steiner said, “but since you testified before the grand jury the last time, we’ve got him on house arrest and monitored 24/7.”

  “Great, freaking fantastic,” I said. “If you have Red, then do your job and throw the book at him, put him in jail and leave me out of it.”

  “We can’t convict him without your testimony,” Steiner said. “No one else will testify against Red. We’ve already failed to produce you as a witness in court several times in a row. The judge is losing patience and we’re out of excuses. If you don’t show up to testify in two weeks, the charges against Red will be dismissed. He’ll go free. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  Yes. My soul turned to ice. I understood very well.

  “You are the key,” Steiner repeated. “This might very well be our last chance to put him away.”

  Two weeks. The dark hole inside me expanded. Why now? Why couldn’t they rely on someone else? Why did it have to be me?

  “I told you everything I know.”

  “And now you have to tell it to the judge and the jury.”

  “Will Red...” How I hated to say his name aloud. Was I considering Steiner’s idea? No way. It hadn’t worked before. Why would it work now?

  I steeled my voice and tried again. “If I were to do this—and that’s a big ‘if’—Will Red be at the trial?”

  Steiner nodded. “It’s his right.”

  Face-to-face with Red? Was Steiner crazy? I’d never survive that, assuming that Red allowed me the unlikely opportunity to make it alive to the courthouse. My stomach squeezed. Surely my guts were being shredded. I leaned on the wall and bent over my belly.

  Ash squeezed my shoulder. “Lia?”

  “Don’t touch me.” I shook off his hold.

  “A whole lot of good people have died trying to convict this son of a bitch, including your brother,” Steiner said, as if he needed to remind me. “You owe it to him. You owe it to all of those who died.”

  I groaned.

  “Shut the hell up,” Ash spat. “She can’t handle it right now.”

  The tears just sprang out of my eyes. The pain was too much to bear. The jackass really knew how to get to me. Guilt churned inside me along with the fear. I chewed on my lip until it hurt. It was really too much. I could never face Red and hope to live to tell the tale. He’d never allow it. Neil leaned against my legs and whimpered.

  “Breathe,” Ash said, rubbing my back. “You don’t have to do what he says. We’ll take it one step at a time. You can make your own decisions.”

  I jerked away from his touch. “I don’t want to hear it from you. As for you—” I turned to Steiner. “You’re mad if you think I’ll go back to relive my nightmares. You had your chance. You failed. Adam is dead. It doesn’t matter to me anymore.”

  “But—”

  “Get out.” I backed out of the sitting room, unable to stand the pressure building in me any longer. “Go away. Get out of my house, all of you.”

  “Take cover,” Will shouted in a Scottish accent. “She’s gonna blow!”

  I ran up the stairs and slammed the door to my room. I locked the door and wedged a chair under the knob. I sunk my face in my hands and sobbed. Neil whimpered, sniffed and scratched on the other side of the door. This had to stop. No more tears. I shed the flannel shirt and began to dress hastily, muttering to myself like a nutcase.

  My hands trembled violently. The rest of my body shook too, as if I suffered from hypothermia. Yes, indeed, hypothermia of the soul. I wasn’t just angry. I was furious. I was terrified too. Steiner had showed up. Here. To wreck my life. Gunny Watkins had betrayed me and she didn’t even know it. No good deed went unpunished.

  And Ash? I groaned. Ash had crashed into my life like a wrecking ball. Hired his friends. Staked out my hideout. Did he sleep with me to add to his subterfuge or had he really wanted me?

  I chewed on my pinkie nail until my cuticle was raw. Maybe Ash was somehow Red’s man. Maybe he’d been paid to get to me through my pants. Red was sly. Red was calculating, ruthless and cruel and his reach extended way beyond the obvious.

  Oh, my God. Ash was right. Paranoia was taking over. It clawed at my brain and gnawed at my reason. Get a hold of yourself. I stopped nibbling on my nail and clasped my hands together. Breathe and cope, cope and breathe. Think, think, think.

  Red would resort to the vilest
methods to get to me, including torture and murder. The mere suspicion, let alone the knowledge, that someone else had used the body he claimed as his would drive him to raging insanity.

  No, Red would never allow another man in my bed, not even one of his cronies, not even if it was to trap me.

  And Ash? I had to trust my instincts about him. I had to trust reason. He would never be someone else’s crony. It was against his nature, impossible. Logically, he had no motive to be in cahoots with Red. He didn’t need money. He’d been in a hospital for the past few months and, before that, he’d been in Afghanistan. He hadn’t come to Copperhill by chance. He was Wynona’s grandson and he belonged here.

  Why then had he gone to all this trouble?

  Because he loved me, that’s why. Even in my fragile state of mind, it was obvious. He loved me so much that he was willing to take on enormous risks and impossible odds to keep me alive. No one had ever loved me like that. I didn’t know that courage like his existed. The emotions clobbered me all together, infuriation, joy, terror, elation and relief, lots of relief. I was thinking again and I could trust my heart.

  True, Steiner might have caught me by surprise if it hadn’t been for Ash’s surveillance, but what really incensed me was that Ash had lied to me. Okay, maybe not lied outright, but he’d distracted me with his antics and broken trust by keeping things from me.

  Or had he?

  I remembered the conversation we’d had at the restaurant weeks ago, when I had accused him of snooping.

  “I’m talking about minimizing risk factors and establishing factual operational parameters,” he’d said. “I can’t ask questions and you won’t tell me who you fear or why. What other option did you leave me?”

  What other option indeed?

  The option to stay out of my life. How was that for a good, sound, safe, intelligent option? The courtesy of respecting my wishes and refraining from putting him and his friends in the middle of a deadly fray. The opportunity to stay alive.

  But, no—oh, no—he was just too smart for his own good, too brash not to pick a fight with titanic bullies who’d crush him without a second thought. I shoved my legs into my blue jeans. Ash might have a death wish, but he was not going to fulfill it under my watch.

  A soft knock came from the door.

  “Lia,” he murmured from the other side. “We have to talk.”

  “We have nothing to talk about,” I said.

  “Please open the door.”

  “Go away.” I hurled my boot against the door.

  The impact shook the wall, rattled the mirror and sent it crashing to the floor, a huge clatter that reverberated throughout the cottage.

  I stared at the broken mirror on the floor. I wasn’t a violent person. I wasn’t usually enraged either. My life had always been on the line. It had always been expendable. I had been running for so long that today should’ve been business as usual.

  But it wasn’t.

  Since coming to Copperhill, I’d experienced freedom, self-sufficiency and a good life. Then Ash had crash-landed in my life and everything had changed again. I had a lot more to lose now. I’d tasted the sweetness of companionship and friendship, the power of passion and affection. I’d tasted Ash.

  I swallowed a sob. He was maddening, calculating, scheming, overprotective, stubborn, and maybe even controlling, but he was also good, wholesome, honorable, smart, steadfast... How was I supposed to give him up?

  Ash’s voice came again, even but strained. “Lia, baby, I know you’re mad, but you’ve got to listen to me. You’re not thinking clearly.”

  For once, I was thinking very clearly. He was not going to die because of me. This amazing, brave, extraordinary human being who’d become the exclusive focus of my affections would live a long, satisfying, joyful life, so help me God. And that’s why I had to give him up. Because that was the only way he was going to live beyond me.

  Out in the pasture, Ozzie began to bleat, and Izzy and Ivy soon joined the breakfast racket. I had all but forgotten about my crew. After today, I’d never see them again. I’d never see Neil either. Or Ash. I swallowed another sob.

  “I’ll take care of the animals,” Ash said against the door. “Be back in five.”

  Five minutes. That might be all the time I had.

  I laced my boots while considering my options. I had several escape routes prepared for this eventuality. I selected the one that offered the best chance for a clean escape.

  I forced myself to move fast. I wiggled the boards blocking the old fireplace and retrieved the escape duffel I’d stowed there. I was relieved to find everything intact, despite Ash having been through it. I packed a few last minute things, then stuck my arm up the dark flue and pulled the rope ladder that I had concealed up the chimney. Good. He hadn’t messed with that, either.

  The rope ladder was old and tattered, but it worked. I’d bought it at a firehouse yard sale within days of moving into the cottage, in case I had to escape from the second-story windows. Clearly, it had been a good investment.

  I hooked the ladder over the windowsill. I took a last look at my room, at the little cottage where I’d claimed my dreams. And then, despite the pain pummeling my chest, I wiped the tears from my face and climbed out the window.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I stole along the ravine and followed the dry creek bed to get to the lake. I crept under the barbed wire fence to the property next door and walked for about another mile, where an old, abandoned shed crumbled at the edge of the beach. Along the way, I passed the dilapidated dock where Neil, Ash and I had taken so many happy lunches. Like the shattered mirror, my heart splintered into jagged shards.

  The old door creaked when I cracked it open. The morning sun illuminated the bow of the weathered rowboat I’d hidden beneath some rubble and an old tarp. It was an ancient thing, missing the middle seat, probably dating to the 1920s, but I’d tested it several times and it would take me across the lake, from where I could walk to the nearest truck stop.

  I pulled on the boat, but it didn’t budge. I squinted into the darkness. I couldn’t see a thing back there. I leaned my weight against the heavy door and, pushing with all my strength, widened the opening. A perfect rectangle of light advanced over the space, illuminating the entire shed.

  I gasped.

  Ash sat on the boat’s back bench as quiet as the dead. Next to him, Neil wagged his tail and barked.

  “Hush, boy.” Ash petted the dog. “Lia here is executing a top secret escape. No point in ruining it just because you’re happy to see her.”

  My bag fell out of my grip. “H-How did you know?” The air just rushed out of me. “Never mind.” This was Ash I was talking about, the most thorough creature in the universe.

  “As a contingency plan, a watercraft made total sense to me,” Ash said. “I just had to figure out where you hid it.”

  I braced myself on the door. “Why did you follow me here?”

  “I have questions,” he said. “I need answers.”

  “Ash, I—”

  “Why are you running?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I asked you a simple question,” he said. “Why are you running?”

  “Because of Red,” I said, “but you know that.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Are you sure?”

  “Of course,” I said. “Why else?”

  “The way I see it,” he said, “running is a habit of yours. It’s the way that you deal with everything.”

  I straightened. “Are you calling me a coward?”

  “Your words, not mine.” He leveled his stare on me. “Sometimes, running is the right call. You could very well be running from Red, but knowing you, you could also be running away from...other things.”

  “Other things like what?”

&n
bsp; “You could be running away from our future.”

  Our future? The mere idea set my heart aflutter. We had a future? Together?

  “Running won’t make you safe,” Ash said. “Or happy.”

  “But it may keep me, and especially you, breathing for a few more days.”

  “Maybe,” he admitted. “But don’t you get tired of running?”

  Yes, I did, but I didn’t dare to dream about a life without running, because I knew, deep inside, that it wasn’t possible.

  “I have to say this to you, Lia.” The lines between his eyes deepened. “I can’t stand it when you get like this. It pisses me off. Period. I have a hard enough time with my temper. Today has been...challenging.”

  The strain etched on his face smacked my brain. I wavered. I hated the pain and frustration I’d added to his life.

  “I also don’t appreciate you patronizing me with your condescension—”

  “I don’t—”

  “You do too,” he said.

  “When?”

  “When you keep me out of the loop,” he said. “When you take it upon yourself to make decisions for me.”

  I scoffed. “How do you think I felt when I saw your guys and Steiner in the cottage?”

  “That’s different.”

  I cocked my fist on my hip. “How?”

  “I tried to work with you, but you wouldn’t let me. You’re so stubborn—”

  “Stubborn? Really? This is Mount Everest talking.”

  “You’ve got major trust issues,” he said. “I get that, fine. You’re used to going at it alone. Okay. I can buy that too, if I have to. But maybe you also doubt me, because you don’t know me so well, or because I’m on injured reserve.”

  I realized that I’d struck at the heart of his insecurities. At some level, he believed I was running away because I thought he was weak, incapable or disabled, or worse, because I didn’t want to be with him. He feared I was running away from the very concept of us.