Runaway Witness

by Maggie K. Black

  “One second!” Mack dropped Iris’s hand and raised a finger. “I’m really, really sorry, Seth. But there’s one thing I need to tell Iris.”

  Something he should’ve told her hours ago. Something he didn’t want to tell her, because he never wanted to see that light dim in her eyes, but she deserved to know.

  Seth raised his hands. “Okay, I’ll be here.”

  “Thanks.” Mack ended the call again. He debated whether or not to pull over for a moment, before he decided they’d be safest if he kept driving. Iris was still looking at him, worry and compassion washed across her face. He groaned.

  God, I don’t want to tell her about the map. I really don’t. I don’t want her to know I’ve been keeping her map from her, even if I did it for really good reasons.

  And it hit him that he didn’t have to tell her. He could choose not to and somehow hand-wave the whole problem away. If he wanted to, he’d be able to find a way to keep Iris from ever finding out.

  And yet, wasn’t that the whole point, that Iris was worth so very much more than that?

  “I have to tell you something,” Mack said. “Before I wiped your map of safe places clean, I took a quick picture of it and sent it to Seth.”

  Her jaw dropped.

  “That secret project he’s been working on has been analyzing the locations on your map to see which ones are safe and which ones aren’t,” he went on. “I told myself that I was doing it to protect you and that I would tell you in a few hours. I told myself that you’d be safer if I waited and gave you an edited list once Seth had removed all the places that could get you killed.”

  “You had my map.” Iris said the words slowly, as if struggling to digest each one.

  “I did,” Mack said, “and I always planned to tell you. I just kept putting it off, after all it’s only been a few hours and we’ve barely had time to breathe. I spent the last few hours trying to convince myself that waiting just a little while longer to tell you would be okay. But I was wrong. And I’m sorry.”

  Her face paled, she shook her head, and for a long moment she didn’t say anything, as if her mind couldn’t even find words.

  “You...you betrayed me,” she said. “You knew that as long as I didn’t have it, you had a better chance of talking me into going back into witness protection.”

  Betrayal. Not a word that had ever crossed his mind when it came to this, but he couldn’t deny it.

  “You’re right,” Mack said. It hurt to think, it hurt to breathe, it felt like he was driving a sword deeper and deeper into his chest. “I didn’t want you to run away on your own and get into trouble. I wanted to protect you. I wanted to keep you safe.”

  She closed her eyes. Silent words moved on her lips.

  “I don’t even know why I’m shocked,” she said. “Let alone disappointed. This is exactly who you’ve always been. I’m the one who’s foolish enough to keep trusting you. I’m the one who keeps choosing to listen and believe you, over and over again. Why did I even jump out of a window and run away with you? Why did I decide to climb a wall to make sure criminals didn’t kill you? A criminal just told me that I was foolish and naive. And here I am just a few hours later, holding your hand and admitting I had feelings for you, without it even crossing my mind you’d keep something like this from me.”

  His eyes met hers for a fleeting moment, wondering if she could see the pain and regret bubbling up inside him just as clearly as he could see hers. He needed to fix this. He needed to fix this now.

  “One second,” he said. “Okay? Just give me one second. Please.”

  She nodded, without knowing why he was asking her to wait or what she was waiting for. And something about the simple fact that even now she was trusting him made the pain in his chest cut even more.

  He called Seth.

  “Hey.” Seth looked up.

  “You know that thing you do when you set up a cell phone remotely?” Mack asked. “Where you prep everything that should be on the cell phone, and then somebody else takes an empty cell phone and connects to the internet, and somehow it has all that information on it?”

  Seth half shrugged. “Absolutely. Same way cell phone repair places transfer your data onto a server and then download it onto a new phone.” He flashed a quick half smile. “Only I do it better.”

  Was Mack really about to ask this? “Okay,” he said, “I should reach my vehicle in a little under an hour, barring any unforeseen interruptions. I have a new, unused cell phone in my bag of tricks. I want you to set it up for me remotely.”

  “Easily done,” Seth said. “I take it you still can’t get your phone working?”

  “Yeah,” Mack said. “But this one’s not for me. It’s for Iris. I need you to upload a copy of her map onto it, both the original picture and any enhancements you’ve done. And all the supplemental data you’ve been able to find out so far about the people and locations listed. Tabulate it somehow so that when she looks at a location, she’ll immediately know everything she needs to know before she runs there.”

  “Okay...” Seth said. “It’ll take some time, but that’s doable.”

  Well, it was just a start.

  “I also want all the data you’ve been able to find about Oscar Underwood’s murder and his original investigation,” Mack said. “Anything that doesn’t violate the law for Iris to have. Also all traffic cam images and other data you’ve ever gathered about the Jackals. And the vandalism of her homeless center. Then upload a contacts list of any possible number she might need in an emergency—yours, mine, Jess’s, Liam’s, our buddy Noah’s and his fiancée, Holly—just a wealth of people she can call when she needs help.”

  “You want me to preload other victim helplines, homeless shelters and useful charities?” Seth said.

  “Sounds good,” Mack said.

  “But... I...” Iris was stammering, like her mouth couldn’t figure out what words it wanted to form.

  He reached out, touched her arm and squeezed it gently. “Finally,” he said, “I want you to set up a debit card and add it to the phone. Link it to a brand-new bank account in Iris’s name. I’ve got $3,250 in my emergency savings account. Transfer that into Iris’s account. And make sure you have it ready by the time we reach my vehicle. Got it?”

  Seth’s eyes widened. “Yeah, I got it but—”

  “Can you do it?” Mack pressed.

  “Of course!” Seth said. “But what about—”

  “Great,” Mack said. “Do it.”

  “But I thought the plan was to bring Iris in!”

  “Not anymore,” Mack said. “Not unless that’s what she decides she wants.”

  He ended the call and turned back to Iris.

  “It’s just a start,” he said, “and it’s not enough. But it’s the best I can do for now. I also have a duffel bag of things in my vehicle. I packed it for you yesterday. Some clothes your size I thought you’d like, some food, toiletries, prepaid credit cards and gift cards to your favorite restaurants and stores. Also a few hundred in cash.”

  A small town loomed ahead. They drove past a smattering of buildings, most closed. There was a small gas station, a diner with a flickering orange sign and what looked like a cross between a hardware and grocery store. Then the buildings disappeared in the distance behind them.

  Mack took a deep breath and ran his hand over the back of his neck. “The problem I can’t figure out how to solve quite yet is how to get you wheels,” he said. “Neither of us should keep driving around in this thing. But I don’t like the idea of giving you my undercover SUV either. But if you’ve got an idea, I’m all ears.”

  “Stop!” She grabbed his hand. He started to pull it away, but she squeezed it long and hard before letting him go. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “What I should’ve done at the diner last night,” Mack said. “I’m trying to g
ive you what you need to succeed, instead of acting like I’m the only one who knows what’s good for you. All this time I’ve been trying to protect you without actually taking into consideration what you kept telling me you wanted to do. I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to figure out the mess I’m in. But I do know that I’m not the boss of you, I can’t keep making decisions for you and I can’t just sweep you up into my arms and carry you off to safety. You can figure out what you need for yourself. You’re the strongest, kindest, most determined woman I know. You saved your own life, without my help, and then you saved mine—”

  “And you saved mine,” Iris cut in, “several times. We take turns.”

  He chuckled. “Fair enough. Just wherever you end up and whatever you decide to do, I hope you’ll find a way to let me know you’re okay.”

  “Is that what you really want me to do?” she pressed. “You want me to take my stuff and run?”

  “I want you to be safe,” Mack said. “I thought the safest place for you was witness protection, but that’s not even an option now. I want you to get the recognition you deserved for your work and to meet with the mayor of Toronto about rebuilding the homeless center. Tell her your ideas for radically helping the country’s homeless. I want you to be there when your sister has her baby. I want you to be happy and live a big, long, incredible life where nobody ever hurts you and all your dreams come true. And I want to be the guy who makes that happen for you. Even though it’s clear I can’t be.”

  The phone rang from Seth again and Iris answered it before Mack could ask her to wait.

  “Uh, guys?” Seth said. “You’re gonna want to pull over. We’ve got a major problem up ahead.”

  “What kind of problem?” Mack asked, but then they crested a hill and he could see the tiny spots of light clustering on the road ahead. “Please tell me it’s not a roadblock.”

  “It’s a whole lot of roadblocks,” Seth said. “Word’s gotten around that you were spotted at Noel’s Motel and borrowed a police vehicle without asking. Your face is all over the news. They’re reporting that you’re armed and dangerous. They’re planning an actual, on-foot manhunt. They’re going to be searching every vehicle in the area for you.”

  Seemed like he wasn’t about to make it back to his own vehicle a free man. It wouldn’t make a lick of difference if he switched vehicles, hitched a ride or got Iris to drive while he hid in the trunk. They’d find him anyway. If he tried to hide out in the woods until Liam and Jess found him, he’d freeze.

  After a lifetime of living in the shadows, he was out in the light and about to be found.

  He turned to Iris. “I’m trapped.”

  ELEVEN

  There was nowhere left to run. Mack closed his eyes and prayed. Help me, Lord. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to go. Then he felt Iris’s hand brush his. He opened his eyes and turned to her. She looped her fingers through his and squeezed.

  “Hey,” she said. “You’re Detective Mack Gray. You’ve gotten out of far worse, I’m sure. You’re going to be okay.”

  Despite everything, a smile crossed his face and fresh determination filled his lungs.

  “You still got us on GPS?” he asked Seth.

  “Absolutely,” Seth said.

  “Okay, change of plans,” Mack said. “We’re going to ditch the vehicle in the woods outside of the last town we passed. Then we’re going to hike to town and find a place to hunker down, until Liam and Jess can reach us and arrange an extraction.”

  “Already on it.” Seth was typing.

  “How long till you can get that locked burner phone working for me?” Mack asked.

  “Fifteen to twenty,” Seth said. “I’m hoping. Believe me, this is the first time I’ve ever done this before.” A determined grin crossed his face. “Always fun to get the chance to try something new.”

  Seth’s fingers were practically flying over the keyboard now. Yeah, Mack recognized that pace. The hacker only typed that fast when he was worried.

  “Don’t worry,” Seth said. “One way or another we’ll find you. We always do.”

  Iris pulled her hand away from Mack’s, then leaned down and tightened her laces. He turned the vehicle around and started back toward town, looking for a gap in the woods where he could safely hide the squad car.

  “So, where are we heading?” Mack asked.

  “The Emerald Diner,” Seth said. “It’s not a good place. In fact, it’s most certainly a sketchy place. It was actually on Iris’s map, but the owner has a habit of health code violations and also racking up gambling debts and not paying them. I can see why Iris’s contacts would’ve recommend it though, because he also has a habit of paying people cash under the table. But it’s open twenty-four hours. The lights are on, it’s warm and it’s the kind of dive where everyone keeps their heads down and nobody minds anybody else’s business. It’s not a half-bad location to hide out and wait for Liam and Jess. Especially for a guy like you, Mack, who’ll know how to fit in.”

  A guy like him. Mack frowned. Yeah, he’d spent a whole lot of time in some very horrible places. He knew how to handle low-level criminals, especially the kind who, for some quick cash, would happily forget to tell the police they’d ever seen him.

  He watched as Iris tucked her hair up inside her hat and pulled it down firmly, leaving just a few wisps sneaking out around her face. She was absolutely gorgeous and even more lovely on the inside. The Emerald Diner was definitely not the place for someone like her.

  It was funny. His father would’ve said that a woman of Iris’s background and education was beneath him. In reality, Mack was the one who wasn’t good enough for her. He never had been and never would be.

  He told Seth they’d check in once they reached the diner. Seth assured him that the burner phone Mack had found in the squad car would be up soon, and that Liam and Jess were en route and moving quickly. Mack wasn’t quite sure what people in the diner would think of a search-and-rescue helicopter landing in their town just before dawn, or what the cops manning RCMP roadblocks would think either. Would Liam and Jess find a place to land nearby? Or just drop a ladder down outside the diner and dramatically airlift them both to safety?

  Either way, once his team arrived their adventure would be over. He’d go into hiding and find somewhere to lie low while they figured out who’d framed him for Oscar’s murder. Iris would have to figure out where she was going and what her next steps were. And he’d have to say goodbye.

  He drove the vehicle as deep into the woods as he could without damaging it, then he and Iris worked together to cover it with branches and snow. Thankfully a white car in snow would take a while to find and once they were safe and far away from the area, he’d get Seth to call in the tip, just in case it hadn’t been found.

  They jogged through the woods back to the town. Bracing wind stung their skin. The air was so cold it hurt to breathe. Even in gloves, his fingers grew so numb that he couldn’t even hold her hand. And the temperature kept dropping. He prayed with every step, searching the skies above for rescue and the road on the other side of the trees for danger.

  Finally the first few buildings of the derelict town came into view. They stumbled from the trees and ran through back alleys until they reached the Emerald Diner.

  He pushed through a back maintenance door with Iris one step behind him, and came out into a dingy hallway that led to a kitchen. The smell of freshly cooked food, heavy-duty industrial cleanser and garbage filled his nostrils at once. Still, he stopped, turned and opened his arms for Iris, and she fell into them. He hugged her hard and she hugged him back, as the damp heat slowly thawed their limbs.

  Finally, he forced himself to step back and let her go. He glanced at the phone.

  “No Seth yet,” he said.

  “What do we do now?” she asked.

  “We go into the dining room, order some
thing and act like we belong there,” he said. “Then we wait. The more we look like we have nothing to hide, the better.”

  She unzipped her coat and pulled her gloves and hat off. He reached for her hand and felt her fingers slip against his palm.

  “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go find something to eat.”

  They walked through the back hallway into the restaurant. He stood beside Iris and scoped out the room.

  About twenty people sat on cracked plastic seats, hunched over stained white mugs. There were only two exits, the front door and the back they’d come through. More people than he’d have expected at four thirty in the morning, but places open at this hour were few and far between on the highway. He didn’t see anybody he recognized but many who set his cop instincts firing. This crowd wasn’t the kind to mind somebody else’s business and call the cops on a stranger, at least until there was a reward on his head.

  A large man with a bored scowl lurked behind the counter. Mack draped his arm protectively around Iris, as he found his own shoulders hunching, lips curling and chin jutting. Stepping into the type of role he’d played almost every day for a decade, until he’d been given the opportunity to be the kind of man who’d help a social worker and volunteer at a homeless shelter.

  “Eggs, sandwiches and fries only before seven,” the man at the counter barked. “Nothing from the lunch or dinner menu. Anything from the deep fryer is gonna be twenty minutes. Sit anywhere.”

  Mack tilted his head toward him in a kind of half nod he’d learned over the years. It covered a lot of conversation. He and Iris headed for a table beside the wall. An exhausted-looking woman dropped two menus on the table and poured them cups of coffee before disappearing again.

  Then it was just him and Iris.

  He set the phone from the cop car face up on the table and waited for Seth’s call. She fished the lone container of milk from a bowl of packaged creamers and handed it to him. Then she added two sugars and one cream to her coffee, looked for a spoon, and when she didn’t see one, just swirled the cup around. She took a sip. Then her eyes met his, he felt a grin cross his face, and he remembered how many of his mornings had started out like this in those weeks he’d been targeting her for information, becoming her friend and falling in love with her all at once.