Her Mistletoe Protector

by Laura Scott

  When she emerged from the bathroom, she was grateful to see that Nick had finished his meal, disposing of all the garbage in the trash can by the door. He’d pulled on the matching black sweatshirt, too, before zipping up his jacket. He shut down the computer and then turned to her. “Ready?” he asked, rising to his feet.

  “Yes.” She was more than ready. She tucked her room key into her back pocket and followed Nick out to the car. Once she was buckled in, he set his phone in the cradle where he could easily read the GPS directions.

  “Where are we going first?” she asked.

  “Morales lives closer,” he said, glancing over his shoulder as he backed out of the driveway. “We’ll go there, first.”

  She didn’t argue with his logic. Granted, it wasn’t likely that Morales would abandon his truck and take Joey to his home address listed on the registration, but, then again, criminals weren’t always known for being smart.

  The minutes ticked by with agonizing slowness as Nick drove through the night. She tensed when she noticed they were heading straight into a seedy part of town. Her stomach roiled at the thought of Joey being kept in a place where he was likely to be assaulted, or worse even, if he managed to escape.

  “There it is,” Nick murmured. “Second apartment building on the right.”

  “Do we know which apartment might be his?” she asked, leaning forward to see better. The dilapidated building sure wasn’t comforting. “Do you really think he would have brought a kidnapping victim here to his place?”

  “Doubtful, especially if he’s working for someone else,” Nick said. “I’m going to get out here to see if I can find out if he’s still living here. Slide into the driver’s seat and head around the block. This won’t take long.”

  “All right.” As soon as Nick pulled over and climbed from the vehicle, she slipped over the console and adjusted the seat so she could drive. “Be careful,” she added before he shut the door.

  He nodded and then pulled his sweatshirt hood over his head and hunched his shoulders as he loped across the street to the apartment building. As much as she wanted to watch, she forced herself to put the car in gear. At the end of the block was a stop sign and she turned right. There was a small group of tough-looking kids smoking cigarettes as they gathered at the street corner, beneath a streetlight where a small Christmas wreath was hanging. As she watched them she saw the gleam of silver. A knife? Or a gun? Several of them hid their hands in their pockets as she went past, giving her the distinct impression they were hiding something. Drugs? Maybe. Swallowing hard, she made sure the doors were locked before she gripped the steering wheel tightly.

  As she came around the last corner to the street where Morales’s apartment building was located, her heart sank when she saw the group of teens had moved down closer to the apartment building. Had they noticed Nick getting out of the car and going inside? What if they planned to rob him when he came out? This was a bad neighborhood, where crime ran rampant. She knew Nick carried his service weapon, but the odds were still stacked against him, especially since all six of them were likely armed, too.

  She was fumbling with her cell phone, intending to call Nick to warn him, when he slipped out of the apartment building and headed down the steps. Her heart hammered in her chest as the group of kids stepped forward, cutting him off.

  Nick kept his hand in the pocket of his jacket and she assumed he had his gun ready. He sidestepped the kids, but they crowded closer and once again, she caught sight of a flash of silver.

  Rachel unlocked the car and leaned on the horn. The group of kids swung around in surprise, and in that split second, Nick ran around them and jumped into the car. “Go!” he shouted as he slammed the door shut.

  She stomped on the accelerator and the car leaped forward. In her rearview mirror she saw the group of kids begin running after them. Did they still intend to rob them? Or worse? As she approached the stop sign up ahead, she glanced frantically both ways before ignoring the sign and going straight through the intersection without stopping.

  “Take it easy,” Nick said, putting a hand on her arm as she took another turn a little too fast. “They flashed a few knives and demanded money, but we’re safe now.”

  She couldn’t speak, could barely calm her racing heart enough to take a deep breath. Her entire body was shaking in the aftermath of their close call.

  “Pull over up ahead,” Nick instructed.

  She knew he wanted to drive and couldn’t blame him. She did as he requested, trying to hold herself together. She dragged herself out of the driver’s seat as Nick came around to meet her. He lightly clasped her shoulders, peering down at her. From the streetlight behind her, she could see the concern etched on his handsome face.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  She tried to speak, but her throat felt frozen. It abruptly hit her how much she was depending on Nick to help find her son. If anything had happened to him, she’d be lost.

  As much as she longed to lean against his strength, she forced herself to step back, putting distance between them. “I’m fine, but I was afraid they were going to hurt you,” she confessed softly.

  “Me, too, and I didn’t really want to shoot any of them. Thanks to your quick thinking, I didn’t have to. Now let’s get going, okay?”

  She nodded and went around to the passenger side of his car. “Did you find anything?” she asked, hoping the stop at the apartment building hadn’t been in vain.

  “Yeah. Morales still has a place there, apartment number 210 according to the mailbox. I spoke to the manager, but he claims he hasn’t seen Ricky in weeks.”

  She tried not to be too discouraged by the lack of information. Truthfully, he’d found out more than she’d hoped. “I guess that means he’s not likely keeping Joey there.”

  “I doubt it. There are too many nosey people around, like those thugs back there.”

  “I hardly think they’d be the types to turn Ricky in to the police,” she said with a sigh.

  Nick didn’t say anything to the contrary, which only made her more depressed. “Are you still up for heading over to the ex-wife’s place?” he asked, changing the subject.

  “Yes.” Granted she’d been terrified back there at the apartment building, but nothing was going to stop her from searching for Joey.

  * * *

  Nick glanced over at Rachel, marveling at the depth of her strength. Granted, she’d been scared to death back there at the apartment building, but that hadn’t stopped her from doing what needed to be done.

  He used his radio to request a search on the Morales apartment related to the hit-and-run case. The dispatcher agreed to send a couple of uniforms over. He didn’t really think they’d find anything useful, especially since the manager had been all too willing to talk once he’d seen Nick’s badge.

  If Morales had been around, the manager would have told him so.

  The trip to Margie Caruso’s house took about twenty minutes. Her neighborhood was several steps up from where Morales lived. At least the houses were neat and clean for the most part, several decorated with Christmas lights.

  The address indicated the house they were looking for was the third one on the right. Nick slowed down as he drove past the modest red brick home with the tan trim and black shutters. The entire place was dark, not a single light on inside the place that he could see.

  “What do you think? Is anyone home?” Rachel asked.

  “I don’t know. It’s about nine-fifteen, so I suppose Margie could already be asleep....” But it wasn’t likely.

  Maybe they were on the wrong track? Could be that Margie Caruso was living a normal peaceful life that had nothing to do with the Mafia or kidnapping Rachel’s son.

  “What’s the plan?” she asked, keeping the house in sight as he drove by.

  “Don’t ha
ve one yet. It’s not as if we can simply walk up and demand to search the place, even if someone answers the door.”

  “Why not? I could try talking to her,” Rachel said impulsively. “We’re both ex-Carusos and I can use that connection to feel her out.”

  He wasn’t sure he liked the idea, but couldn’t come up with anything better so he reluctantly nodded. “All right. I’ll park on the street, in front of the neighbor’s house. If anything seems off, you need to get out of there right away.”

  “I will.” She hesitated for a moment before reaching for the door handle. Extremely bright lights bloomed in his rearview mirror as a car headed straight for them.

  “Wait!” Nick shouted, reaching out to grab her arm. She paused, half in and half out of the car, so he yanked her back inside at the same time gunfire echoed through the night.

  FOUR

  “Get down!” he yelled, stomping on the gas and peeling away from the curb. He kept a hold on Rachel while she managed to get her legs tucked inside the car. He let go long enough to take a sharp right-hand turn, which caused the half-open passenger-side door to slam shut.

  “What’s going on?” Rachel asked.

  “Stay down,” he barked. Glancing at the rearview mirror, he could see the vehicle was keeping pace behind them. He could tell by the high yet narrow set to the headlights that it was a Jeep.

  He had to figure out a way to lose it and fast.

  “Why is he shooting at us?” Rachel gasped, her eyes wide with fear.

  He shook his head, unable to answer as he concentrated on losing the gunman. He took several more turns, dodging around various vehicles in his way. Thankfully, traffic was relatively light this far outside the city, or escaping the shooter would have been impossible.

  When there was a gap in traffic, he jerked the steering wheel to the left, taking the car up and over the curb, making an illegal U-turn. It wasn’t easy keeping his eyes on the road while watching the Jeep behind him. The other car didn’t make the turn right away, which was reassuring.

  He immediately took another right-hand turn, putting even more distance between them. When he found an on-ramp for the interstate, he took it and pushed the speed limit as hard as he dared until he found the next exit. On that road, he switched directions, heading left.

  Fifteen minutes later, he was convinced he’d lost the Jeep. “Are you all right?” he asked, as Rachel eased upright and reached for her seat belt. “He didn’t hit you, did he?”

  “I don’t think so,” she said, patting her arms and legs as if she wasn’t entirely sure. “Did you get the license plate number? Do you think that was Joey’s kidnapper?”

  “I didn’t get the plate number because I was blinded by his high-beam lights.” He tried to figure out what had just happened. The whole event was weird. “Don’t you think it’s odd that he took a shot at us, but didn’t keep firing? And that he didn’t target anything important?”

  “What do you mean nothing important? He almost hit us!” Rachel protested.

  “Not even close,” he argued mildly. “We were practically sitting ducks and he didn’t hit either of us, or any significant parts of the car, like the gas tank or wheels. It’s almost as if he wanted to scare us more than kill us.”

  “So it must have been Joey’s kidnapper!” Rachel’s tone had a note of excitement. “He didn’t want to kill us, because he still wants the money.”

  “Maybe,” he agreed, although the scenario didn’t quite feel right. This entire case wasn’t like anything he’d experienced before. He knew crooks, had investigated them for years and they always had a reason for what they did.

  Only this time, nothing made sense.

  He took the next exit off the freeway, slowing his speed to the posted limit.

  “We have to go back there,” Rachel said urgently, interrupting his train of thought. “To see if we can find Joey. We must have been close if they were so desperate to scare us away.”

  “Rachel, calm down for a minute and think this through. How did they find us outside of Margie Caruso’s house in the first place? I made sure no one followed us when we left Morales’s apartment building.”

  “I don’t know, maybe it was all just a big coincidence? Morales could be working for Margie Caruso, and maybe he just pulled up as we got there.”

  “I don’t think so.” Nick hated to burst her bubble, but she wasn’t thinking rationally. He pulled off onto the side of the road and turned in his seat to face her. “Even if he saw us there, how could he know we were the ones in the car?”

  “Maybe he recognized your car from the crash site?”

  “I came in from the south and you said he went north,” he reminded her gently. “Rachel, they have your cell phone number. They sent you a text, threatening to kill Joey if you called the police. Don’t you see? The only thing that makes sense is that they’ve tracked us through the GPS in your cell phone.”

  * * *

  Rachel swallowed hard as she stared down at her cell phone. Was Nick right? Had they really tracked them through her phone? She wasn’t a techno-geek so she had no clue how to even do something like that.

  But she knew the possibility existed.

  And if Nick’s hunch was correct, then Joey’s kidnapper already knew she wasn’t alone.

  Fear swelled in her throat, choking her as tiny red dots swam before her eyes.

  “Breathe,” Nick commanded, giving her shoulder a shake.

  She didn’t even realize she was holding her breath. She took a shaky gasp of air and lifted her tortured gaze to his. “They’re always going to know where we are, aren’t they? We’re never going to be able to escape.”

  “Not unless we ditch your phone,” he said grimly.

  She clenched the phone so hard she was surprised she didn’t break it in half. “No. No way. This is the only connection I have to Joey. This is the number they’re going to use in order to contact me for the ransom demand. I’m not giving it up, Nick. I’m not! I can’t!”

  He stared at her for a long moment before releasing a heavy sigh. “Okay, if you’re not getting rid of it, then we need to figure out our next steps. Because the kidnappers are going to be able to find us, no matter what we do or where we go.”

  “What if we buy a new phone, but keep the same number?” she asked suddenly. “Wouldn’t that work? I mean, the GPS is linked to the device, not to the actual phone number...right?”

  Perking up, Nick flashed her a smile. “You’re brilliant, Rachel. That’s exactly right. Now we have options.”

  “Do you think the stores are still open?” she asked.

  “There are plenty of twenty-four-hour superstores. Here, use my smartphone to find the nearest one....”

  “Okay.” She took the phone and used the search engine to find the closest superstore. “There’s one about seven miles away,” she told him.

  “Perfect.”

  They arrived at the superstore and quickly made their way over to the electronics section. She stayed back as Nick purchased the phone, along with a car charger, explaining to the clerk how they wanted to keep the same number.

  “We can do that,” the clerk said. “But it can sometimes take up to twelve hours to get the number transferred over.”

  “Twelve hours?” she echoed in shock.

  The clerk shrugged. “It might be quicker, but I can’t say for sure when.”

  Nick’s expression was grim but he purchased the new phone and car charger, paying for a full year so that there wasn’t any way to trace the contract fee. He gave her the phone and she stared down at it.

  Twelve hours. She had to hang on to her old phone and evade the kidnappers for the next twelve hours.

  And they were no closer to finding Joey.

  She wanted to scream in frustration but forc
ed herself to take several deep breaths to fight off her rising panic instead. She had to believe the kidnappers would keep Joey alive in order to get the payout. They had to.

  She followed Nick to the car. When he started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, back onto the road, she plugged the new phone into the charger and then glanced at him. “Where are we going?”

  He shrugged. “I think it’s better to stay in the car and keep moving for now. We’d only be sitting ducks in a motel.”

  She couldn’t argue his logic. “Would you be willing to split up so one of us could go and check out Margie’s house? I need to know for sure Joey’s not in there.”

  Nick was silent for so long she thought he was ignoring her. “Rachel, you’re not a cop...so no, I’m not willing to split up. Let’s just worry about staying alive tonight, okay? Unless you’re having second thoughts about going to the FBI?”

  She shivered. “No, I’m not having second thoughts. I heard what you told your boss about dirty cops at the local and federal level. I can’t risk losing my son, Nick. I just can’t.”

  He sighed. “I know what I said, but I can’t help wondering if God isn’t trying to tell us something the way these obstacles keep getting thrown in our way.”

  She was a little uncomfortable by his reference to God, but just the thought of calling in the police made her sick. “Your boss is willing to give us some time, so why are you still pushing the authorities on me?” When he opened his mouth to protest, she held up her hand. “I trust you, Nick, and I don’t have much choice but to trust your boss, too. But I can’t take the chance of trusting the wrong person. It could end up costing my little boy his life.”

  Truthfully, it was hard enough to trust Nick. But the fact that he’d been so angry with her for not giving him details about Anthony’s involvement with the Mafia a year ago had gone a long way in convincing her that he was one of the good guys.

  However, that didn’t mean she wanted to open the circle of trust to include anyone else. Not unless there was no other choice.

  Nick pulled into a mall parking lot, and she wasn’t surprised when he positioned the car in a way that they’d be able to escape in a hurry if need be. She shivered a little, burying her face in the collar of the dark sweatshirt beneath her jacket. Her jean-clad legs were cold, and she rubbed her hands on her thighs to try and warm up.