Extreme Measures

by Rachel Carrington

  “You can come in now.” Matt appeared in the doorway much like he’d simply faded into view. She’d always hated that about him, that he always managed to sneak up on her.

  With a muffled offer of thanks, Erin traipsed into the carpeted room, setting her purse on the edge of the mahogany dresser lining one wall. She gave her surroundings a cursory glance. It was just like any other hotel room she’d ever been in except this one would have its very own FBI agent inside and possibly even more on the outside, depending upon the next bit of news Matt got from Jacob. Whatever it was, she was sure it would entail a protection detail like she was some sort of high profile target. Matt never did anything half way.

  “Don’t use the phone in the room or your cell phone.” Matt began the litany of instructions that Erin only half listened to.

  She already knew the drill. Stay out of sight and follow orders. As long as she did those two things, she’d keep her ex-husband happy. “Will you be staying?” The question slipped out before she could stop herself, but she had to know if she was going to be cooped up in the same room with Matt for however long it took Stuart to reach Charleston.

  The waiting she could deal with. Being alone with Matt in a room that seemed to shrink with his presence, she wasn’t so sure about.

  Matt turned, slid his arms out of his suit coat, and draped it across the back of the only chair in the room. “For now.”

  Erin sat on the edge of the bed, lacing and unlacing her fingers. “So will Jacob call you? Or how will you even know if Stuart has made it here?”

  “I’ll know.” He walked to the window, edged the heavy drapes aside, and checked the parking lot below. They were only three stories up so Erin was sure he was thinking someone could possibly repel up the side of the building. Matt never took anything for granted when it came to his job, and right now, she was a job to him…or at least part of it.

  “I’m not sure how you’re going to get any information as long as you’re hiding out with me.”

  Matt threw her a scowl over his shoulder. “This isn’t hiding out, Erin. It’s taking precautionary measures to ensure your safety.”

  “Right. Sorry.” She swung her legs around to the foot of the bed and tapped her feet on the floor. “Guess I’m not aware of the difference.” Tension climbed up the back of her neck, crawling under her skin. She needed to get out of that hotel room. “I need to get some air.”

  “You’re not leaving this room.”

  Matt didn’t care that his words had pissed her off. At that point, they were both on edge. The trouble was, he’d had more experience waiting than she had. Well, that, and he didn’t believe everyone could be changed, deserved a second chance, or any of the other bull Erin did.

  “Stuart’s had plenty of time to get here, don’t you think?” Erin changed the subject in that same controlled tone of voice.

  “He’s traveling on his own time.” Her breath hissed out, making him look back at her. “What?”

  “I hate when you do that.”

  “Do what?” Before he asked the question, he knew her response was only going to start a fire they didn’t need at the moment. Or maybe they did. An explosion might be just what they needed to let them both breathe some clean air.

  “Try to manage me. You don’t want me to know any more than I absolutely have to, so you speak in obscurities or riddles that don’t make sense.” She gave him a look leveled with scorn. “Since you got here, you’ve been feeding me information in droplets like I’m a piece of china you have to keep wrapped when all I’ve really asked for is the truth.”

  His temper starting a slow climb, Matt tried to talk himself out of a confrontation, but hadn’t it been coming? Since the moment he’d walked into that coffee house, all roads had been leading to this moment. The time when they’d stab into the scars and make the wounds bleed again.

  He turned to face her, taking in the heightened color on her cheeks. She’d gone into battle mode, too, making him wonder if it was intentional. Did she need the distraction? Or was she ready to remove the grafts that had only partially healed?

  “The truth is your brother is a murderer, and they rarely operate on anyone’s timetable but their own.”

  “Why did you come here?”

  The question unsettled him. Hadn’t they already covered that? “To do my job.”

  “There are hundred of guys who could do your job if catching Stuart was all this was about. You came because you wanted to see me or, rather, you wanted me to see you. Did you want the chance to throw my life off balance again?”

  “Again?” Matt stalked toward her, the collar of his shirt tight against the veins bulging in his neck. “I wasn’t the one who threw it off balance before, Erin. That was your doing. You wanted the divorce. You wanted to separate yourself from everything that had anything to do with the life you had before your parents’ death. You chose to walk away. Not me.”

  On her feet now, Erin lashed back. “So you had nothing to do with the end of our marriage? Is that what you’re saying?”

  “I’m saying you quit on us because I wouldn’t believe in your brother. The funny thing is, you never believed in him after that night, either. So I still haven’t figured out what you wanted from me.”

  “I wanted someone I could talk to, but you couldn’t because it was “a case” then. You couldn’t tell me anything that was going on. No, you wouldn’t tell me anything.”

  “It wasn’t a federal case.” He shouted the response, though he doubted it would make any difference. How many times had he told her the same thing?

  “Don’t tell me you couldn’t have gotten answers, Matt. I know better than that. I’ve heard you get information out of cops when you needed it for cases you were working on, how you shared with them, too. I know the feds and local police aren’t always on the best of terms, but you made it your business to try to change that. You were on good terms with that police department, and you could have gotten answers.”

  “Like what, Erin? What did you want to know that I didn’t tell you? Stuart was in a jail cell, your parents were dead, and you were planning a funeral. Why was knowing anything else so important?”

  “Maybe it wasn’t about knowing at all.” Erin turned away from him, sitting back on the edge of the bed. “Maybe I just wanted to hear you offer to help in that way, but you didn’t. To you, Stuart had committed a crime, and he should be punished for it. Never one time did you acknowledge that I’d lost not only my parents but my brother as well. And it took me a while to figure out why you kept quiet, but I finally did.” She pinned him with a furious gaze. “You didn’t want me to grieve.”

  The wound had started to bleed. “What in the hell are you talking about? I was with you at the funeral. I held you when you cried.”

  “Not for Mom and Dad. For Stuart. You didn’t want me to grieve for Stuart because, to you, I hadn’t lost him. He’d removed himself from my life by committing a crime; therefore, I shouldn’t cry over that loss. Did it ever occur to you that I needed to cry for him?”

  Before Matt could reply, her cell phone chimed the opening notes to “Rock Around the Clock”. Erin dug for it in her purse. “It’s Hal. He chose the ring tone.”

  “Don’t answer that.” Matt was at her side in less than half a second, but she’d already punched the answer button.

  “Hi, Hal. How are you? I meant to call you to see how you were doing after you came over, but things got a bit hectic.”

  “Well, hello, Erin Prescott. I’ve been looking forward to talking to you.”

  She didn’t recognize the voice, but her stomach still knotted. Hal didn’t like strangers, and he’d never let one into his mother’s apartment. Her head swam a little, and the cell phone slipped in her grasp. “W-who is this?”

  “Just a friend of your brother’s.” The deep nasally drawl iced her skin. “Oh, and of your little pal here. I’ve been getting to know him real well. He was kind enough to give me your phone number. Well, actually, to let
me use his cell phone, too. It’s a nice one. They didn’t make ‘em this nice before I went into the joint.”

  Spots danced in front of Erin’s eyes. She could only imagine Hal’s fear. He would be defenseless against any kind of atrocities this man chose to inflict, and she was helpless. Her teeth snapped together, and all the panic, the fear that had been building up inside her since Matt arrived exploded in undiluted fury.

  “Don’t you hurt him. He isn’t a part of this, whatever in the hell ‘this’ is. It’s me my brother wants, not Hal. Just let him go.”

  “Now why would I want to do that? His mom used to be quite the looker. She’s a little long in the tooth, but I’ve been in prison quite a while and learned that you can’t be too picky.”

  Erin’s breath stalled in her throat while her stomach churned. She jumped to her feet, her brain already scrambling for her next move. “What do you want?”

  She didn’t get a chance to hear the answer before Matt snatched the cell phone out of her hand. “You a friend of Stuart O’Malley’s?”

  “Oh, I didn’t know the little lady had company. Well, you just tell her not to worry about her friend, Hal. I’ll take real good care of him…and his momma.”

  The man’s voice was loud enough for Erin to hear. Lungs so constricted she could barely breathe, she snatched her purse, made it to the door only seconds before Matt did.

  He still held the cell phone in one hand while he smacked the other one against the door to prevent her departure. “You can’t leave, Erin.”

  “He has Hal! What am I supposed to do, just sit here and let him torture my friend?”

  “What do you think you can do? And I’m sure it’s occurred to you that whoever this guy is wants you to come to him. You don’t even know if Hal is still alive.”

  Erin felt the color leeching from her face, and she dropped her hand away from the knob. “Stuart doesn’t just want to kill me, does he? He wants me to suffer.” Her world tilted off its axis as the parts started falling into place.

  Stuart hadn’t just gone after Hal to get to her. He’d intended to hurt her just like he thought she’d hurt him. Her friends were going to pay for the imaginary crimes she had committed. “Matt?”

  He didn’t answer her. Instead, he turned her around and tried steering her back into the main area of the hotel room. “I’m going to get a team over to Hal’s apartment.” His own cell had already been freed from his jacket and was in his hand. How had she not noticed that? And why did it even matter that she hadn’t?

  Were there other things she hadn’t noticed? Things that might be important enough for Matt to know? Had there been some way to prevent this? She’d been married to an FBI agent for eight years, and yet, she’d picked up nothing from him, learned nothing about paying attention to her surroundings or the people who came in and out of her life.

  She gave him rein, allowing him to guide her back to the bed, partly because she didn’t really know what else she could do. With Hal in danger, Matt was the only one who could help him, and he would. Erin didn’t doubt that about her ex-husband. He would protect innocent lives at all cost, but she wanted to do something, had to do something.

  Her legs collapsed as she reached the mattress, and she sank down onto it, grateful for the support. As Matt’s muted voice talked into his cell, her gaze picked up on white piece of paper by the edge of the dresser. Without knowing why she bothered, she went after it, scooping what turned out to be a picture off the floor.

  The second she turned the photo over in her hand, Matt ended his call. “Erin, don’t!”

  Her gaze fell on the lurid scrawl in vibrant red. Kill Erin. Kill Erin. She didn’t bother to count how many times it was written. And she didn’t need to be told where the words had been found.

  “You’ve had this all along?”

  He came up behind her, reached around, and took the picture from her hand. “Yes. I’m sorry. I never meant for you to see it.”

  “That’s the proof you told me about.” Was that really her voice sounding so dull and emotionless? Flat, like all the life had been sucked from her body.

  Hearing someone tell her Stuart wanted her dead was one thing, seeing it in his own handwriting stole her sense of reality. It didn’t make sense. He’d killed her parents because he’d been high. Why had he focused his wrath on her? What had she been convicted of in his eyes?

  Her mind tried to register that Matt was talking to her, but she didn’t want to listen. She would never understand her brother’s way of thinking, and the hard truth was she had to face the belief there would be no reasoning with him. The words on the wall weren’t written by a man in control of his sanity, which made him all that more dangerous.

  She covered her mouth with one hand and dropped to the edge of the bed again. “He’s been murdering people on his way to me, and here I’ve been thinking we could talk just like we used to. How stupid am I?”

  “This isn’t your fault, Erin.” Matt hadn’t lost the ability to follow her line of thinking.

  “Anyone who gets between him and me is going to end up dead.” Her lungs cramped with the effort to breathe. Just a few days ago, she’d been pouring coffee and baking scones. Now, she’d crashed headfirst into the knowledge that her brother intended to end her life. The two worlds didn’t mesh.

  Matt dropped to his knees beside her, taking hold of her hands. “Stop it. Where was that earlier faith you had in me? Don’t lose it now. You don’t have any control over Stuart, and his thoughts and actions aren’t your responsibility.”

  She wanted to believe that, had to believe it if she were to survive this. “You said I didn’t even know if Hal was alive. Do you think he is?” At that moment, she had to trust him not to lie to her.

  He didn’t even blink at the question. “I’m not sure.”

  She recognized the hedge, pushed him for more. “He’d only be alive if his captor thought he would be useful, right?” Why was it she could remember things like that? Things that terrified her to remember.

  Matt winced. “You remember too much about my job.”

  “Not as much as I’d like.”

  The ringing of his cell disrupted the conversation. Matt answered quickly. “Billy Chambers? Why does that name ring a bell?” He cursed immediately in response to Jacob’s reply on the other end of the line. “He has to be the guy with Hal.”

  A part of her wanted to cling to every word, to glean every single bit of knowledge she could from the conversation, but another part wanted to shut it out, to pretend none of this was real. For a few blissful moments, she closed her eyes and emptied her mind, thinking of nothing.

  Then Matt touched her shoulder, and reality came crashing back. “A couple of units from the local police are here. They’re going to be right outside the door.”

  Her gaze snapped to his. “You’re going somewhere?”

  “Highway Patrol just found your brother’s cellmate. He’s alive but in critical condition. I need to go talk to him, see if I can get some information out of him. You’ll be safe here. Just stay put and don’t answer your phone.” He dropped his hand, took two steps toward the door then returned to her side. “Where is your phone?”

  With a sigh, she handed it to him, her hand clinging to his a little longer than necessary.

  He squeezed her fingers. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I promise.”

  She drank in the strength in his gaze. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

  He gave her a wink and touched a finger to the tip of her nose. “Do that. You know how good I am at my job.”

  The response brought a smile. “And how modest you are about it, too.”

  With a grin, he walked to the door, pausing to add, “Don’t give the guys out here any trouble. They have my number.”

  Arlin had intended to throw him under the bus. Stuart had seen it in his eyes the second he’d caught sight of all those cop cars. The little bastard was going to blame all those dead bodies on him and sq
ueal to get a deal.

  The second Stuart realized the police weren’t surrounding them, he’d changed his game plan, found the closest secluded spot he could, and took care of Arlin. For all his bravado, the sniveling coward had begged for his life.

  Stuart smirked and cranked up the radio, relishing the memory of Arlin’s groveling. He’d never expected to be on the receiving end of Stuart’s gun, had always thought Billy was going to save him. One quick bullet to the brain had brought such peacefulness that Stuart wished he’d done it earlier.

  Now, he could get on with his plans, use what little time he had left to take care of the unfinished business he had with Erin. A white slip of paper pulled his gaze to the passenger seat, and he snatched it up. Just a phone number. A slow smile spread across his face. Billy Chambers’ phone number, no doubt.

  Stuart crushed the paper. Billy might know where to find Erin, but he didn’t know how close Stuart was. That would work to his advantage. So he’d need two bullets instead of one to finish things. Didn’t make him no difference. He wasn’t going back to prison anyway.

  He stomped on the accelerator, passing the Charleston City limits with a grin.

  Chapter Nine

  “He’s in and out of consciousness so I don’t know how much information you’re going to be able to get out of him,” the doctor warned, snapping the clipboard shut.

  Matt inclined his head toward the two agents approaching on the right. “I appreciate the chance anyway.”

  “You Giles?” With a swimmer’s build, the shorter of the two men looked like he could take down a tree trunk. His suit coat stretched tightly over his biceps as he extended one hand. “I’m Agent Walker, and this is my partner, Agent Donahue.”

  “Good to meet you.” Matt shook both men’s hands and indicated the door of the ICU with a jut of his chin. “The doctor says we can talk to him, but he took a bullet to the brain. He doesn’t even know how the guy’s managed to hang on this long.”