These men should have gone into politics themselves. The non-answer answer.
The questioning continued for what felt like forever but was probably only an hour or so. Stokes and Harrison were very interested in what Amy might have told her about Billy and his job but in the end Josie wasn’t sure she’d helped the agents at all.
“How much longer do I need to hide? I’ve already been on the run almost two weeks and I bet my plants are dying in my apartment back home.”
“Not long,” Stokes said, rising from his chair. Apparently, they were done talking and answering her questions. “A few days at most. We just need to confirm that they’ve moved on from you once the video is released.”
Harrison also rose, shoving the folders under his arm. “A couple of agents will be coming for you and will follow you and former Marshal Davis back home. They’ll report directly to us. If you need anything else please give us a call.”
Magically, a business card was placed in front of her and she tucked it in her pocket. She’d make use of it if she needed to, without hesitation. The two agents left the room leaving her with Harker Prentiss. He too was packing up his things to go but he didn’t seem to be in a hurry.
“That went very efficiently, don’t you think?” he asked with a grin, showing off even white teeth in his freakishly tan face. He didn’t look like a man who spent his days in an office. “I spoke with the reporter and she’s already at the airport and headed back to Chicago. This should all be over soon. I’ll just step out in the hall and call Evan, let him know where we are so he can come meet us. Just before I came in here I received a message that he’s in Tampa.”
Just the thought of Evan so close made her more serene. Her racing heart had slowed to normal and the sweat that had been pooling at the base of her neck was drying in the over air conditioned office. Even her appetite was beginning to come back. Perhaps she could convince the boys to stop for dinner once they were out of here.
Who was she kidding? Those men could eat twenty-four-seven and never get full. Especially the big one, Dare. She’d watched him really pack it away. He’d be hungry, she was sure of it.
Smiling – a real honest to God smile – for the first time in a long time, Josie sat back in her chair and looked around. The room looked brighter, more colorful. The air seemed sweeter and cleaner. Even the soda tasted better. She felt lighter and more carefree than she ever thought she’d feel again.
Life was good and she was in love.
Let the future begin.
* * * *
Marisa exhaled the cigarette smoke, hoping the tension and frustration of the day would exit with it. She’d come outside of the building to indulge in the guilty pleasure but there was very little happiness or contentment at the moment. She’d been summarily dismissed upstairs after finding out the Josie was in fact innocent and in danger. Now Evan would feel even more responsible and protective than he did before.
The unrelenting Florida sunshine beat down on her shoulders as she sat on the stone bench watching the passersby. The heat felt good after the cool, filtered air of the office but it failed to calm her agitated state like it normally did. She was too twisted around and pissed off. Nothing was going right today.
“Ms. Arbor? Do you have a moment?”
Raising her eyes, Marisa found a man who appeared to be about thirty-five or so, attired in blue dress slacks, a white button down shirt, and a blue and silver striped tie. He wore the usual regulation holster and firearm around his waist and she assumed he was another FBI agent. Or maybe DEA. All the Feds looked alike.
“I suppose,” Marisa answered coolly and waved to the empty area on the bench. “I only have a minute. I need to get back upstairs.”
She really didn’t but she wanted to make sure she had a firm excuse in case the conversation grew tedious.
The man sat down and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. She continued smoking her cigarette while he gathered his thoughts. He seemed to be having difficulty expressing himself.
“I’d like to offer you an opportunity, Ms. Arbor. An opportunity to make a great deal of money and perhaps help yourself in the bargain.”
This was interesting. Federal agents didn’t offer random people money making opportunities.
Which meant he wasn’t an agent, even though he was dressed like one.
“Is this a job interview?” she asked, staring straight ahead, not ready to look at him. She needed to know what he wanted. “I don’t have my resume.”
The man chuckled and smoothed down his tie. “We know all about your resume, Ms. Arbor. Very impressive. But the Marshal Service doesn’t appreciate or pay you well enough, now do they? I can help with that. Today you can make a quick twenty-five thousand and all you have to do is go upstairs, retrieve something that’s ours, and bring it over to the parking garage across the street. That’s it. Easy money.”
She wasn’t appreciated or paid well enough. But he didn’t need to know much about her to know that. Most government jobs were the same. She was the cog in a very big wheel. A wheel she wanted to someday be in charge of. She had big dreams and plans. Evan had been a part of them.
“Something that belongs to you? Like a pair of sunglasses or a briefcase? Maybe a cell phone?” She blew out the smoke watching the gray-blue curls fade into the light wind. “The evidence locker isn’t here. I can’t help you fix your trial…I don’t think I caught your name.”
“That’s because I didn’t tell you,” he answered smoothly. “But it’s not really that important. I work for some powerful people in Washington, Ms. Arbor. The kind that remember who helps them and who doesn’t. They’re the kind of people that can help you climb the ranks and get you what you want. Power, if I’m not mistaken. We can help with that.”
Marisa couldn’t suppress the shiver of excitement that ran down her spine at his words. He must have done his research because he’d summed up her life’s ambition very succinctly, although she would have put it slightly differently.
She wanted it all. Everything. The man, the sex, the job, the power, and the money. With every day of toiling in anonymity her goal had gone from fuzzy to clear, her resolve now as solid as granite. She’d started at the Marshal Service a wide-eyed ingénue with fantasies of helping people and making a difference.
She knew better now. The only person she could truly help was herself. She’d watched too many people work hard for nothing but a retirement party at the end. No way was that going to happen to her.
“Why should I believe you?”
“Senator Lydell has what you want, Ms. Arbor. He can open doors for you and make things happen. The kind of things that can change your life. And it all starts here and now. Can we count on your support?”
Stubbing out her cigarette with her high heel, she turned to the man with a smile.
“What do I have to do?”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Josie stretched her arms over her head as she stared out of the conference room window, watching people scurry by on the sidewalk down below. They all had somewhere to be and so did she. She wanted to go home with Evan and according to Agent Stokes that was going to happen very soon. She’d given them all the information she had regarding Amy and Billy but she didn’t think it was going to help them much. She knew they liked to watch Netflix and that Billy was a Star Wars fanatic. They liked to eat cheese fries as an appetizer and drink craft beers together. She didn’t know much more except that they were madly in love and they would have had a lovely future if given a chance.
The door swung open and Josie turned, hoping to see the agents that were going to escort her and Evan back to the house but Marisa stood there instead. The woman had never really smiled before and even now it seemed forced, but Josie doubted they were destined to become close friends. She had a feeling the other woman was more into Evan than he thought. He’d described them as friends with some benefits but Marisa looked like awfully possessive for just a friend, so it followed she wouldn
’t like Josie.
“Ready to see Evan?”
That’s what Josie had been waiting to hear. She was more than ready. “I am. Is he downstairs? What about the agents that are supposed to go with us?”
“They’re downstairs with Evan. They’re working out protection details I believe. Let’s go.”
Josie trailed after Marisa who turned in a different direction than the one they’d come in, the hallways twisting and turning almost labyrinth-like. They stopped in front of what appeared to be a freight elevator and Josie hoped it would take her straight to Evan and the other men.
“I’m taking you out the back way,” Marisa explained, obviously catching on to Josie’s unspoken question. “The agents wanted to sneak you out of here quietly if possible. Lydell’s men might be watching.”
That made sense and Josie relaxed as the old elevator lumbered slowly to the first floor. The worst of the ordeal was over. She completely trusted Evan and his friends to protect her plus the other agents. She was as safe as a baby in its mother’s arms.
“Thank you for taking care of me,” Josie found herself saying as the doors slid open. She wasn’t fond of the woman but Marisa had treated her well while she was in custody. “I appreciate your professionalism.”
“It’s my job.”
Josie followed Marisa as they exited the elevator and crossed the empty street, moving away from the courthouse and cutting through another parking lot.
“Where are we going?” Josie asked, her gaze darting all around her. Although Marisa was a trained marshal, Josie still didn’t like being in the open like this without Evan or one of his pals watching over her.
“Just over there.” Marisa pointed to a parking garage. “Lydell’s men might be watching the courthouse annex. When I gathered the resources to bring you in that meant revealing your whereabouts in the system. Anyone monitoring our communications could find you. We can’t be too careful.”
They entered the bottom floor of the parking garage, which was half empty and much cooler than outside without the early evening sun beating down on it. The lighting was bad but Josie could make out a black SUV with tinted windows that sat next to the stairwell, two men standing next to it. They were dressed very like Stokes and Harrison although their hair wasn’t quite as short. Evan and the boys, however, were nowhere to be found.
“Where’s Evan?” Josie asked, her gaze whipping from left to right and then back again. Marisa had said he was down here waiting for her. He wouldn’t have left without her. No way. “And what about Reed, Seth, and Dare? They’re supposed to be here.”
A shove from behind sent Josie straight into the arms of one of the agents whose grip locked onto her arm like a vise, surely leaving bruises behind. The woman who had pushed her wore a triumphant smile, the first real happiness from Marisa that Josie had ever seen.
Adrenaline zipped through Josie’s body and she tried to yank her arm away but she didn’t have a prayer of getting free. And that bitch Marisa knew it.
Josie’s heart stuttered in her chest as icy fear ran through her veins. She’d been sold out and turned over to the men who wanted her dead. These weren’t agents. These were Lydell’s men.
“Don’t worry about Evan. I’ll take care of him. I’ll let him know that you changed your mind and decided to leave without him.”
Struggling against the strong grip that held her immobile, Josie fought the rising panic that threatened to overcome any rational thought. If at any moment in her life she needed to think straight it was right then and now.
“He’ll never believe you. He loves me and he won’t let this go.”
Marisa didn’t bother to answer and Josie didn’t care what the woman had to say. The man holding her lifted her bodily into the back seat of the SUV while the other man pulled a gun on Marisa.
Marisa’s eyes went wide with fear and she held up her hands in a sign of surrender. “Now wait. I did you a favor and it’s your turn. We agreed to twenty-five thousand in payment. You said Lydell could help me, my career.”
“He could,” the man smirked, clearly showing a love for his job that made Josie sick to her stomach. She didn’t like the other woman but she didn’t want her shot down in cold blood either. A quick perusal of the parking lot didn’t help much. It was after five o’clock in the downtown area and most of the workers must have gone home. This little side street was deserted with only a few cars remaining in the parking lot across the street. There was no one who was going to intervene. “In fact, that was the original plan but the heat is on with the Feds and we can’t afford any loose ends. You are a loose end.”
There was no real warning and nothing to prepare Josie. Marisa didn’t even have a chance to plead for her life before Josie heard the marshal scream and then slump to the concrete, her knees giving way and her hands cradling her abdomen where a bright red stain was rapidly spreading over her white blouse. Josie didn’t have to be a doctor or a genius to know that Marisa was going to bleed out pretty fast from a bullet at such close range.
The man grabbed the dying woman by the arm and dragged her toward the stairwell. To hide the body? It wasn’t much of a camouflage to anyone that might eschew the elevator to get to an upper level. They were going to notice a body covered in blood, for sure.
With the sound of the gunshot still ringing in Josie’s ears, she realized it was now or never. One man was at least ten feet away and the other had loosened his grip on her arm where she knew she could get free. She’d always heard that if they took a person away from the abduction site the victim was as good as dead.
Besides, wasn’t Evan out there? Somewhere? Prentiss had said so and so had Stokes and Harrison. He’d promised to be right behind her and right now she had to trust that he’d spoken the truth.
She had to trust him.
She also hoped he’d been right when he said that she could fight and run when she was motivated, because she sure as hell was at the moment. Death was not high on her to-do list and she needed to make a get away. Preferably now.
Josie had to give Marisa credit as she wasn’t going quietly into any good night or whatever the saying was. She was struggling and Josie wasn’t certain why the woman was rolling on her side but then it was all clear. Marisa had managed to reach across her body and grab her service revolver.
The rest happened so fast Josie almost missed it. Marisa shot at the burly man dragging her across the dirty garage floor, hitting him once in the chest and knocking him backward into a vehicle before sliding down, blood smudging on the rear panel of the car. His eyes were wide open and his face had gone pale. He looked dead or at least what passed for dead. Marisa looked the same, whatever energy she’d had gone. She was still and ghostly white, the blood in a pool under her body.
Suddenly Josie wasn’t hating on Marisa quite as much. Whatever the woman’s motives, she’d evened the odds although it still wasn’t going to be any picnic getting free from one man.
“Mother fucking bitch!” The man next to Josie fumbled for his own gun, letting go of her arm and knocking her sideways in his haste to get to his friend. He was muttering curse words under his breath and blessedly distracted. This was her chance. Her only chance.
Taking a deep breath and with as much force, energy, and adrenaline as she could muster, Josie drove the heel of her hand up into her captor’s nose just like Evan had taught her. She heard the crunch of bones and felt the warmth of blood spurting all over her t-shirt and jeans but this was no time to be persnickety. What had Evan said she should do next?
Move.
The man was cursing and howling, holding his nose and rocking back and forth, his gun forgotten, as Josie hopped out of the SUV. They’d carelessly left the back door open so she wasn’t slowed down as she hit the pavement at a frantic pace, her heart banging against her ribs and her lungs begging for air. Thank goodness she didn’t have any good clothes so she’d been taken into custody wearing her tennis shoes. She’d always hated when damsels ran in the movies
wearing high heels and skirts. Josie didn’t even have a purse to slow her down.
Run. Hide. Stay alive.
Josie was running on pure survival instinct. She didn’t know where she was going but it was far away from these men.
And hopefully closer to Evan.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Josie was nowhere to be found and Evan was frantic with worry. The two FBI agents named Stokes and Harrison had grabbed a few other agents and were currently searching the courthouse annex floor by floor but it was slow going. Dare and Seth had gone outside to check the perimeter of the building while Evan, along with Reed, looked on the floor where they had been questioning her.
At his wit’s end and terrified for Josie, Evan was ready to call in the cavalry. Lydell’s men must have managed to get to her somehow although he didn’t have a clue as to how they’d done it. Security was tight in a building like this with metal detectors and cops everywhere.
Evan was reaching for his phone when Reed turned, a grim expression on his face. “Listen, I hate to say this but have you noticed something out of place? Or should I say someone out of place?”
Shaking his head impatiently, Evan tamped down his growing fear and frustration. He didn’t have time for guessing games. “Say what you mean or don’t say anything at all. I need to call the police.”
Reed nodded and hooked his thumbs in the belt loops of his jeans. “Fine, I’ll say it straight out. Where is Marisa? I thought she was going to look after Josie but she’s nowhere to be found and everyone I talk to has no idea where she is. I think that’s a little too much of a coincidence.”
Shock jolted Evan physically, making him grab onto a chair for balance. Did they have Marisa too? Jesus, now they had two women to save but at least Marisa was trained for something like this. Josie would be safer with her than without her.
Justice Reborn (Cowboy Justice Association Book 8) Page 20