Meeting with Sammy tonight at the bar.
She fought the revulsion curling in her stomach and stuffed the pictures back into the envelope. No fear. Don’t let the bastards get to you.
God, she’d been outside—right in the open…
She moved fully into the foyer and slammed and locked the door behind her. Instinctively, she pulled the .38 special she’d started carrying, at Leo’s insistence, from her bag and held it at the ready while she turned on all the lights on the first floor. And then wondered if that was such a good idea.
She forced herself to stand still, to calm down and think. She could handle this.
She’d pack a bag, head straight for the anonymity of the city, hand the pictures over to the police and stay in a hotel. She’d be safe then.
Callie’s words of wisdom echoed in her head.
If anything happens, leave your place for a while. Go anywhere. And don’t tell anyone where you’re going…
Panic washed over her. That didn’t happen often, but the feeling in the pit of her stomach grew worse with each passing minute.
She wouldn’t worry about packing—she could come back here with the police tomorrow for her things. She shoved the pictures into her bag and opened the front door. And screamed.
“Jesus, Ava—what’s with the gun, are you trying to kill me?”
Justin. Justin filled the doorway, his hand poised as if readying to knock. Her breath caught and she was frozen in place at the sight of him.
He didn’t appear to be having the same problem. Barging past her, he insisted, “Ava, talk to me. Are you all right?”
Was she all right? No, not by a long shot.
“Justin, I’m in trouble,” she sputtered, because she couldn’t think of anything else to say, because she was scared and half in shock. The last person in the world she’d expected to find on her doorstep was Justin Brandt, but he might be the only one who could give her what she needed right now.
“I won’t let anything happen to you, but you have to put the gun down.” His drawl was thick and familiar, comforting, even as she realized the gun was still pointed at his chest.
“Sorry.”
Justin glanced behind Ava and then gave her a firm but gentle push aside with one hand. The other held her hand with the gun pointed downward. He kept his hand on that arm, even after he closed the door.
He was standing so close, and for a second, just a second, she forgot the danger and everything else but the heat of his body. Justin looked even better with some years on him. Bigger, stronger, faster. Her hero. Big and blond, with dark eyes so intense they could melt her. So handsome, he made her ache, and the nine years they hadn’t seen each other disappeared.
“Did your brother call you?” he asked, his eyes lingering on hers for a brief moment before he was scanning the parts of the house that he could see from the foyer.
“No. Not for three months. Have you spoken with Leo? Is he all right?” The words rushed out of her and she didn’t bother worrying about putting up a brave front. She never had to do it with Justin. He’d seemed to always understand that she was brave even when she wasn’t in control.
“He was breathing,” Justin said wryly. It was an old joke the three of them used to share with Ava’s father. Obviously it was meant to calm her. “And he’s just as worried about you. What’s going on here?”
She’d tell him what she could, as little as possible without having his human lie detector Navy SEAL instincts kick into high gear. “I’m trying to figure that out myself.”
She shoved the pictures at him and began to pace in the small hallway, which was made much smaller by Justin’s presence. He flipped through them quickly, shaking his head and muttering, nothing she could make out, but she knew when Justin muttered they were usually words that could make a sailor blush.
“Who is this guy?” he demanded.
“My informant. He was helping me out on my current case.”
“Your informant sold you out.”
“No. He wouldn’t do that.”
“He’s not a criminal, then?”
“He gave me crucial information. Why would he do that and then betray me?”
“Where is he now?”
“I left him at the bar a while ago. I told him not to tell anyone. To be careful.”
Justin stared at her. “This picture was just taken?”
“Yes. That’s why I was leaving. To go straight to the police,” she lied, but Justin was shaking his head.
“No, not tonight. What happened with your informant tonight sounds like a setup.”
Until Justin said it, she hadn’t wanted to believe it. Now she was completely unsure whether or not Sammy would have gotten the scoop on the Mercers if there hadn’t been a direct purpose. “If that’s true, then they’ve been watching me.”
“Any idea why?”
Several. Nothing, however, that she could share freely.
“It’s because of my current case. It has to be. Does Leo know about it?”
“I don’t know what he knows. He called, said I needed to get you out of town, and he didn’t elaborate.”
Out of town sounded really good, but Justin would expect her to put up more of a fight. “I don’t know if I can leave like this—I have a job. Responsibilities. People who are counting on me.”
Justin had already opted for the most effective argument. “Leo wouldn’t ask you to do anything if he didn’t have specific reason to. And I know you trust your brother.”
“Yes. Of course I trust him.”
Justin stared at her with those dark eyes filled with an emotion she couldn’t put her finger on. “More importantly, right now, you’ve got to trust me.”
“Trust was never my issue.” She said it before she could stop herself and he blanched visibly, as though she’d physically struck him.
“I guess you think I deserve that.” His voice was tight as he continued. “Maybe I do, but you shouldn’t ever question my commitment to keeping you safe.”
She didn’t question that. Justin was the best at what he did, according to Leo.
Her father had been a dangerous man. Leo was one too, and even though she’d always known, on some level, that Justin was an equal to both men in her family, she hadn’t had the opportunity to see it until then. She could sense the predator in him as he stood before her, fully on her side. But there was nothing to say her heart was safe.
With Justin, it never had been.
“So, are you with me?” he asked again. “I’m going to need your full cooperation, Ava. Because Turk didn’t give me much to go on, and I don’t really know what we’re in for.”
“And still, you came all the way here to save me?” she asked quietly, not sure why it mattered so much. But somehow, it did.
“I came here to honor a request from one of my best friends,” he said, as if it was no big deal, but his jaw tensed, nearly imperceptibly, letting her know otherwise.
“Leo told me to call you if I got into trouble,” she said.
“Then why didn’t you?”
“The last time…” She trailed off.
“Yeah, I know.” He closed his eyes briefly, as if trying to ward off the pain of the memory of their history. “We can’t do this now. Let’s do what your brother wants, and then…”
And then…
She couldn’t think past the next five minutes, let alone that far ahead. “I can do that,” she told him and suddenly she was seventeen and he was eighteen and their future was stretched out in front of them, inextricably linked.
“Come on, we’ll figure this out from someplace safer.”
“You don’t think…I mean, you think I’m really not safe here at all?”
“I think I don’t want to wait to find out.” He put a hand on the small of her back and guided her to the front door. “Stay behind me, all right? And keep your gun low and not pointed at me.”
3
WITH AVA A FEW STEPS behind Justin, hanging on to hi
s belt as he’d told her, they got to his rental car without incident. Still, he did not have any good feelings about this one. When a slow-moving car, headlights off, pulled onto the end of the street, he knew he was more than right.Someone had been waiting for Ava to get home, to make their move on her. Her leaving was not what they had in mind and Justin didn’t wait to get the make and model, hear the inevitable, unmistakable sound of gunfire that followed before he peeled away from the curb.
“Stay low, Ava.” He automatically pushed her so her body was almost to the floor as one shot then another cracked the back windshield but didn’t shatter it. Shit.
He careened around the corner, looking to put just enough distance between them to pull into a hiding spot. There wasn’t enough traffic this time of night around here to lose the sporty number following them.
Three blocks later, he found what he was looking for, pulled the car between two low sheds and cut the lights and the engine. He prayed, but held his weapon at the ready at the same time because he always found the combination of the two to be the most effective.
Ava, it appeared, was holding her breath. And looking slightly blue. Not really a great color on her.
She was staring at him and he realized that he was motioning for her to breathe in SEALspeak, not Avaspeak. She was looking at him as if he was crazy.
He pulled her close, whispered against her ear, breathe, and felt her inhale a huge gulp of air. And then another, in a slightly hitched manner.
She stopped when the sound of another car rounded the corner, headlights momentarily throwing light on their car and hopefully, it was mingling in with the shadows. Ava had moved closer to him unconsciously, and any other time he would’ve been thrilled with that contact. As it was, she was burrowing against the arm that held the gun, making it impossible to move without flinging her unceremoniously to the floor. Which he’d do if he had to, but she’d definitely be unhappy with him.
She also had a lot more explaining to do than just, this all has to do with my current case. But he was skilled enough in interrogation to know that she’d tell him everything he needed to know one way or another. Having a history with her helped in that regard.
Of course, she also knew him well, too.
Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, the car pulled away.
She looked slightly shaken, but she was breathing and there was no blood. And she wasn’t staring up at him with that goddamned “you’re my hero” look he was pretty familiar with after he rescued someone on the job, which was good. He didn’t want hero worship from her.
What do you want from her?
The truth, he told himself firmly. And for a minute, he almost believed it.
AVA CLUTCHED Justin’s arm as she strained to listen for any signs of the other car’s return.
Her palm ached from where she’d held the gun so tightly, her heart beat faster as the earlier scene began to replay itself in her head. She couldn’t get past the sound of shots being fired, wouldn’t make the mistake of staring out the rear window that had been struck by a pair of bullets. It was one thing to practice shooting at a range and entirely another to be in the line of fire.
She much preferred the former and realized that the breathing thing was getting harder.
“Put your head between your legs and try to take deep breaths. In through your nose, out through your mouth,” Justin was explaining, but his voice sounded far away, his drawl more pronounced…his large palm against her cheek.
What seemed like seconds later, mainly because that palm was less than gently slapping her cheek, she opened her eyes with a start. Her seat had been pushed all the way back and her gun was gone.
His hand shifted from her cheek to her neck, then reached down for her hand. For a second, she thought he was going to hold it.
“Your pulse is still racing,” he said, finger firmly on the point at her wrist. “You should stay down for a while.”
And then, for just a second, he did put his hand in hers, giving it a light squeeze. His hand was big, reassuring, and if she pretended hard enough she could actually believe that there was something more in his touch than mere comfort.
When he took his hand away, she shifted to face him. “Did we lose them?” she asked, her voice hoarse as if she’d been screaming out loud for hours. In reality, she hadn’t, but inside her head she was still yelling.
“For now.” His voice was intense, his drawl nearly nonexistent.
“So why aren’t we moving?”
“We’ll have to sit for a while. They’ll circle around until they’re sure we’ve disappeared.” He glanced at the empty neighborhood. “I’ve also got to lose this car and these plates.”
“Around here? You’re going to steal a car?”
“I prefer to think of it as borrowing,” he said. “And no, not here, we’ll have to make do with this one for a while longer. At least until we get out of state.”
“Where are we going?”
“I was going to take you down to my place, in Norfolk, but I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.” His hand, which had been playing along the steering wheel gripped it tighter, the muscle in his forearm flexed and she noted again how much bigger he’d gotten. All filled out—no more signs of the young man she’d known in high school. His hair was shorter now, but still as blond and he was still tanned, too.
He took a deep breath, as if he’d made a decision. “We’ll drive for a few hours, then stop before dawn. Rest, regroup. Decide what our next move should be. Until we know more about who’s threatening you, I don’t want you to have any contact with your office.”
“No one in the D.A.’s office has anything to do with this,” she insisted, but her voice sounded worried, even to her own ears.
“Unless you’re one hundred percent sure, I’m not taking any chances. Not when I promised your brother I’d take care of you until he could.” He paused. “What’s this new case all about?”
“It’s a domestic abuse case. I’ve prosecuted cases like this before and yes, I’ve been threatened before.” She gave him the pat answer, the easy answer.
“Like this?”
She bit her bottom lip and nodded. “Abusive husbands often try to control me the way they control their wives. I can’t let them win. I made a commitment to these women, to help them. Do you know how long it’s taken some of them to come forward, to finally trust someone?”
“I can only imagine.” His voice was tight again, and maybe, just maybe, he’d understand. At least she thought so until he spoke. “But you can’t put your life on the line for every case.”
“Does your SEAL team have that same motto?” she asked, and his lips pressed together in a grim line. “You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do, Justin.”
“In this case, I do. You’re going to need to listen to me, Ava.” And with that he straightened up and turned the key in the ignition.
She guessed his internal timeframe had told him it was safe to leave. Still, she noted that he didn’t switch on the car’s headlights until they were on the highway, headed southbound. “I’m doing all this for your own good.”
How many times had she heard that in her lifetime, from Justin, Leo, her father…even her mother?
She’d had no idea an hour ago that when she opened her door she’d be opening up the door to her past.
AVA HAD HER CELL PHONE out and she was dialing. And ignoring him and his advice. Just like old times. Which, in a way, was good. It meant she was bucking up under the pressure, that she wouldn’t completely fall apart. Yet.
He grabbed the phone from her. “What are you doing? You just agreed we weren’t going to tell anyone anything,” he said.
“I want to talk to Leo,” she said. “I want to talk with someone in the DEA office. If they know anything—anything at all that’s related to why my life’s at risk—I deserve to know.” She kicked the dashboard in frustration. Twice. Which made the front end of the POS rental car rattle.
“I know you
do,” he said, trying to talk her down from the emotional ledge she’d worked herself onto.
“Maybe in your world having men shoot at you isn’t a big deal—”
“It’s always a big deal,” he said through gritted teeth. He shifted his hands on the steering wheel and then took a breath. She was shaken, badly, and when Ava was thrown off her game she reacted by lashing out at the nearest available person. Which, in high school, always seemed to be him.
But this wasn’t high school. They were all grown up and this was all too damn real. “I need you to tell me everything that happened to you today. You can start with the informant, or think back, if there was anything else out of the ordinary that happened. Maybe something you’ll only notice in hind-sight…did you feel like you were being followed? Have you been seeing the same man for the past few days and thought it was just one of those weird coincidences?”
“No, I hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. I’ve just been working—ninety-hour weeks. I barely have time to lift my head and notice the world around me.”
That was Ava. She’d always thrown herself headfirst into whatever her cause or interest had been. Like a whirlwind, she gave all her time, devotion and energy until she’d completed the latest project to her satisfaction.
“You’ve got to tell me everything you know about this case you’re working on,” Justin insisted.
“I shouldn’t be telling you any of it.”
“Under typical circumstances, I’d respect the need for confidentiality. But this has gone way beyond that—I need to know what we’re up against.”
Ava stared out the windshield as she told him about Susie and Robert Mercer in halting words, as though she was trying not to give away more than necessary.
“So you met with the informant, he tells you that your newest client, who’s disappeared off the face of the earth, is the wife of a man who’s the son of one of the biggest drug traffickers—which is information you already knew. And then you come home to find pictures of yourself.”
“That about sums it up,” she said. “It’s not good that Sammy has that information—it’s not good that he knows that I know who Robert Mercer really is. Before this, the D.A.’s office was only supposed to know about the domestic abuse charge. My boss didn’t want us to give away our hand, not until the police and the federal marshals got involved.”
Beyond His Control Page 3