Undercover Holiday Fiancée

by Maggie K. Black

  The youngest of the Henry boys could understand anything mechanical or practical. But relationships weren’t his strong suit.

  Trent groaned. “I’m guessing you all had a quick family meeting and you drew the short straw to come be the one to tell me that Chloe’d left me?”

  “Nah, bro.” A grin filled Nick’s face. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of car keys. “I pulled the long straw! I’m the one who gets to drive when you go chasing after her.”

  * * *

  Chloe locked the doors of the borrowed car and walked through the parking lot toward the Bobcaygeon Sports Center. It had been a long, silent drive through the snow. She’d kicked herself the whole way.

  Driving away from Trent had been painful, agonizing even, and his family’s attempts to delay her hadn’t helped. What would the point have been? Trent had taken off, and she wasn’t about to go chasing after him, just so they could have yet another argument hashing out what she already knew. Trent was leaving, no matter what she said or did.

  And she loved him, no matter how hard she’d tried to stop her foolish heart from falling. She loved him for all his strengths, all his faults and everything about him that drove her crazy.

  Something inside her had started falling for him that very first moment she’d seen those fierce, brave and compassionate blue eyes shining through the rough exterior of his Wolfspider cover. It had only continued to grow through every new and complicated version of Trent she met, like each cover he’d worn had revealed a new truth about the heart of the man who lay inside. But she also knew that her own heart was going to keep breaking over him, unless she was the one who finally gave up and walked away. She’d hung on for far too long to a dream that wasn’t ever going to come true.

  She stepped into the front entrance and joined the throng of people pressing toward the hockey rink. Her phone rang. She glanced down. It was a blocked number. Hope leaped in her chest. She stepped into an empty hallway and raised the phone to her ear. “Hello? Trent?”

  “Hi? Detective Brant?” The voice was young, female and frightened. “Is that you?”

  “It is.” Chloe’s voice dropped. She walked deeper into the empty hall. “Who’s this?”

  “Lucy... Brandon’s sister...”

  “Hi, Lucy, of course I remember you...” Chloe walked farther down the hall. The sounds of the crowd faded. “What’s up?”

  “I made the payara.”

  “You did what?” Chloe’s footsteps froze. Lucy had been making the payara? The young woman behind the coffee counter that she’d saved from the Gulos? Staff Sergeant Butler’s timid, nineteen-year-old granddaughter? “I needed money to move to Vancouver to go take cosmetics chemistry, and someone told me there was big money in inventing new pills. He told me he’d pay me really well if I did. So, I made payara.”

  “Who was that someone?” Chloe could feel her heart beating like a warning drum against her rib cage. Lucy didn’t answer. “You’re Trilly, aren’t you? What happened last night?”

  “The guy I told you about found my phone and made me text you. I didn’t know that other guy was going to attack you. I promise I didn’t! Now he’s says he’s made some business deal, and we’ve got to pack up right away and go somewhere. And I don’t want to go.”

  “Who? Who’s making you do this, Lucy?” Her brother, Brandon? Her grandfather, Staff Sergeant Butler?

  “I can’t tell you!”

  “Yes, you can!” Frustration and compassion merged in Chloe’s heart. The complex relationship between abusers and victims was one of the hardest and most agonizing parts of her job. She’d lost count of how many young women who’d begged to be rescued then went back to their dealer or abuser before the trial. She prayed to God for patience and wisdom. “Where are you now?”

  “In the sports center.” There was a pause and then a sniffle. “I’m in the basement in the storage room where we keep things for the coffee stand. I was making payara there.”

  Chloe looked down at the tiles. The payara lab was in the sports center. It had been underneath them the whole time. Her footsteps quickened. “Stay right there. I’m coming to you. Just hang on, okay!” She found a utility door and pushed through into the stairwell. Her feet pounded down the stairs into the basement. The door swung shut behind her. “I’ll be there in a moment—”

  “Detective!” A voice boomed behind her as she watched the rectangular light cast by the open door grow wider. She turned. Johnny was standing at the top of the stairs, holding the door open. “I was hoping I’d see you! Where are you going? Thought we could grab a coffee or something.”

  “Johnny, hi!” Was he kidding her with this? A young, male lothario was exactly the kind of distraction she didn’t need right now.

  She turned back to the phone. “Don’t go anywhere, please. I’ll be there in a minute.” But the line had already gone dead.

  “What are you doing hanging out down here?” Johnny lumbered down the stairs toward her. Light dimmed as the door swung shut again. “I was keeping an eye out. Then I saw you and waved. But I guess you didn’t see me.” He stopped one step above her. “So is it true you and Coach split up? I heard he just quit and took off.”

  “It’s complicated,” she said, and nothing she planned to discuss now. “Please, just head back upstairs to the game.”

  He stepped closer, his head tilted to the side. “But what are you doing down here? You sure you don’t need somebody to keep you safe?”

  “I’m meeting someone. It’s police business. You understand.”

  “Yeah, I understand.” He pressed a gun into her side. “And I’m sorry. Because I really don’t want to hurt you.”

  FOURTEEN

  Nick pulled his truck to a stop in the sports center parking lot and turned to Trent. “Do you want me to come in with you? Because I should really go get gas and maybe a bite to eat.”

  “Nah, thanks, I’m good.” Trent leaped out the passenger door. “Just don’t forget to come back. I might not find Chloe and even if I do, she might not feel like driving me all the way home. I still have no clue what I’m going to say to her.”

  His little brother chuckled and leaned over the front seat. “I’ll tell you a secret, but you gotta promise not to tell the folks. I had a girlfriend on base. Not too proud of how it all went down. Never told Mom and Dad, because I knew they wouldn’t approve. It ended badly, and she was so mad I thought for a moment she was going to stab me with a pair of scissors.”

  Trent’s eyebrow rose. “The moral of the story is don’t let Chloe near scissors?”

  “No, it was just something she said to me. She told me she’d didn’t care what my words were, she’d just always hoped I would fight harder for her.” He grinned, but his gaze ran to the sky above. “Maybe I should’ve. But, anyway, my point is that you should go fight for Chloe. Maybe it’s not about knowing what to say. It’s about just showing up.”

  “Thanks. I’ll give you a call in a few, hopefully with good news.” Trent slammed the door with his good hand and walked through the parking lot. Lord, I wasn’t joking. I don’t know what to say to her. I don’t know what to do. I just know that I love her. I don’t know if that’s enough.

  His phone began to ring. His heart leaped. It was her. He answered. “Hi! Chloe, I’m here—”

  But instantly his voice faded as he heard the steady tap of her fingers drumming SOS in Morse code against the microphone.

  “Johnny, put the gun down!” Chloe’s voice was muffled. “I’m just putting my phone in my pocket, like you told me to.”

  Johnny? The Haliburton team center?

  His footsteps quickened across the parking lot. Nick’s truck was already disappearing down the road. Chloe was in danger and had called him for help. But where was she? He closed his eyes and listened. An ache filled his heart
. She had no idea he was even there. She’d called him to give him information about the case. Maybe she’d even called him to say goodbye. Then he heard the sound of footsteps echoing down an empty hallway.

  “Johnny, what is this?” Chloe asked. “Why do you have a gun? How did you even convince Lucy to create a payara lab in the basement of the sports center?”

  “You’ve got this all twisted,” Johnny said. “I’m not a bad guy. I threw a rock through the window at you when I found out Lucy had called you, because I thought that might convince you to leave it alone. Now everything’s a great big mess and I’ve got some major problems. I’ll get you out of here. We just need to get Lucy first.”

  “Put the gun down and we’ll talk. You don’t want to hurt me. You’re not a killer. You told me in the gym that you’re a tech genius and an entrepreneur.”

  “I am!” Johnny’s voice grew defiant. “I just did business with the wrong people and got in some trouble. But I’m going to fix it. And it’ll be fine.”

  “What kind of wrong people? You mean a gang? You mean the Gulos or the Wolfspiders? I can help you. But not until you put the gun down.”

  Trent paused outside, beneath the lights of the Christmas tree. People were still streaming through the front door. He wanted to be in the building. But once he joined the crowd he’d lose his ability to hear her. Keep him talking. I’m here. I’m listening. Tell me what I need to know. Tell me how to rescue you.

  “So, this is your grand plan?” Chloe asked. “Forcing Lucy to make drugs for you? Becoming a common drug dealer?”

  “I’m not a common drug dealer!” Johnny’s voice rose. “I came up with the idea of inventing a new designer drug. I talked Lucy into it. I found sellers. I got Nicole’s passwords to get access to the police computer systems and police scanner, so I always knew what they knew—”

  “Constable Docker was helping you? Why?”

  Johnny snickered. “She thought we were dating.”

  “Lucy thinks you’re dating, too, doesn’t she?”

  “Maybe,” Johnny said. “And don’t believe Poppy. That picture is totally her. But it was a one-off just to get Hodge to fly off the handle, to create a diversion.”

  He laughed again and Trent’s blood boiled. He looked up to the snow falling from the dark purple sky. Was that how he’d come across? Using people and not realizing who he’d hurt? Forgive me, Lord. If so, it had never been on purpose. But it would never happen again. He’d get down on his knees and ask Chloe to make an honest man of him. Just as soon as he found her.

  “You found out Lucy had contacted me,” Chloe said. Was it his imagination or had their footsteps slowed? “So you tossed me to Royd to take care of. I’m guessing you also overheard that Gulo bellowing that I had his phone, and tipped Royd off about that, too.”

  Trent nodded as he listened. It was all making sense now. He just wished he’d realized this sooner, before Chloe’s life was on the line.

  “Royd’s crazy.” Johnny’s voice darkened. “I thought I could play him, but he’s a psycho. He told me he’s going to make the Gulo attack on the sports center look like child’s play. He said he wired bombs to the fire alarm system, so if anyone pulls a fire alarm it sets off the timer to go into countdown mode, giving him just enough time to run out of the building. If you call the police, he’ll know. He has my police scanner. He gave us twenty minutes to get all our lab stuff out of the building and leave with him, or he’ll set the bomb and ka-boom.”

  Trent’s footsteps hurried toward the sports center. A scenario unfolded in his mind. So, Chloe was being held captive by Johnny and presumably they were going to wherever Lucy was. That meant only one hostile who was in over his head. That also gave him twenty minutes to evacuate the building, disarm Johnny, rescue Chloe and Lucy, and call the police. Not easy, but doable. The sound of footsteps slowed. Wherever in the building they were, they’d arrived.

  “What is this?” Royd’s voice boomed down the phone line. “What is she doing here?”

  Royd was already out of jail? Had someone inside the police messed up his arrest or not charged him correctly? Or did Royd have a connection on the inside? Anything was possible. Any faith Trent had in Butler’s division had been steadily disappearing ever since this whole mess had started. True, it had been over twenty-four hours since Royd’s arrest, so likely he was just out on bail. Trent knew the police might not hold him for long if they’d booked him for assault and not attempted kidnapping. Still, he had hoped that Butler’s division would have tried to find a way to hold him longer.

  Trent’s footsteps quickened.

  “I thought we could use her or something,” Johnny said.

  “You thought wrong,” Royd snapped.

  Then he heard the sound of a struggle, the phone fell and a gunshot echoed on the line. Chloe cried out. The phone went dead. Trent’s heart leaped into his throat. Oh, Lord, what do I do? He could save an arena full of people. He could try to save Chloe and Lucy. He couldn’t do both. He needed backup. He needed help. He grabbed his phone and dialed.

  “Hey, Coach,” Brandon answered. “Look, I really don’t know what you want but none of the guys want to talk to you right now.”

  “Listen to me, I need Third Line. Right now. All of you. Meet me in the alley behind the sports center.”

  “We’re already getting changed and I really don’t know if I can convince the guys. Everyone’s still pretty angry at you.”

  “I know,” Trent said. “I don’t blame you and I can explain. But Chloe and Lucy are in danger. Please.”

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Trent ran for the alley. It was empty. He paced while he prayed.

  The door creaked.

  “Hey, Coach.” Aidan’s voice came from behind him. “You got some nerve disappearing like that. What happened to your beard?”

  He turned, hope filling his heart as Aidan, Brandon, Milo and Hodge filed out into the alley, in various stages of street clothes and hockey gear. Four pairs of skeptical eyes focused on his face. Arms crossed. Mouths frowned. He took a deep breath and pulled out his badge.

  “My name is Detective Trent Henry. I’m a detective with the RCMP. I’ve been undercover as your coach for the past three months, because police thought one of the four of you was selling payara.”

  Various stages of anger and denial filled their faces. He was surprised none of them swore at him.

  “You what?” Hodge found his voice first. “What is this?”

  “I get that you’re angry,” Trent said. “Believe me when I say I understand. You’re all great people and I was wrong to think any of you was behind payara. But Johnny talked Lucy into making it. He has her and Chloe trapped somewhere in the building with a criminal named Royd, who wired a bomb to the fire alarm and is threatening to blow the whole place up.”

  “I don’t believe you!” Aidan snorted. “You’re trying to tell me that Brandon’s little sister is involved in a drug scheme?”

  But one look at Brandon’s pale face and Trent could tell that he believed it.

  “You’re the one who left the payara in the locker room, weren’t you, Brandon?” Trent said. “You found it in your bag and didn’t know how it had gotten there, so you just hid it a garbage can where it was found by the janitor and turned over to police. The rest of Third Line covered for you. Right?”

  Brandon looked down but didn’t argue.

  Trent took that as a yes. “Well, if your sister didn’t put it there, who did? My guess is that she used your bag to get drugs to Johnny during a game, or one of you two grabbed the wrong bag somehow, but either way you had no idea what they were doing there, so your friends agreed to cover for you.”

  “This is nonsense and I’m not going to stand around listening to it!” Aidan turned to leave. “None of us had anything to do with making or
selling payara. So what if Brandon found pills in his bag one time and we all covered for him? We all knew they couldn’t be his. You’ve been lying to our faces for months. Why should we believe anything you say now?”

  “My little sister was murdered when I was thirteen and I blamed myself,” Trent said. “Trust me, even if this isn’t your fault, you don’t want this on your conscience.

  “You’re right. I haven’t been straight with you. But Chloe has. She came back here to help you. Now she and Lucy are in trouble. Everyone in this building is in danger. I’m taking a huge risk in blowing my cover to you guys, because if you tell people who I am, or post anything about this online, my days of working undercover taking down gang operations are over. But I need your help. I can’t do this alone.”

  Silence fell. The guys were looking from one to the other. This was hopeless. They had no reason to trust him.

  “Tell me one thing you’ve said to us since the day we met that wasn’t a lie,” Hodge said.

  “I really do want to marry Chloe. She’s not really my fiancée or anything. That part was a cover. But my feelings for her are totally real, and I’d like her to be my wife.”

  There was another pause that lasted a lot longer than he liked. He could almost feel the moments ticking by.

  Then Brandon nodded. “Okay, I’m in. What do you need?”

  “I need you to help me find Chloe and Lucy, and someone to evacuate the building without pulling the fire alarm so it doesn’t set off the bomb.”

  “I’ll disable the fire alarm,” Milo said. “Then if anybody pulls it, nothing will explode.”

  “I can help you to find Lucy,” Brandon said. “I know roughly where in the building she hangs out. But I didn’t know what she was doing.”