Run, Hide

by Carol Ericson

  “It’s fine. Thanks, Beth. You’re a miracle worker.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the hallway. “And there are three bedrooms back there, so you can have your own room tonight.”

  “That’s good, not that I don’t like you guys.”

  “And you even have a toothbrush. I could give you a change of clothes for tomorrow. I know how hard it is running around the country in the same outfit with nothing to change into.”

  Beth cocked her head. “Thanks for the offer, but I’m a little bigger than you. I’ll be heading back to my hotel in Arizona tomorrow, anyway.”

  Cade sidled next to Jenna and slipped an arm around her waist. “We still need to figure out the transportation, unless you have a car for us here, too.”

  “No such luck, but I can take a bus back.”

  “Or you can take our car, or rather Prospero’s car, and we can find something else while we’re here.”

  “You shouldn’t be without transportation, Cade.”

  He yawned. “We’ll figure it out tomorrow. You don’t have to leave first thing in the morning. Rest, give us some tips for surviving with our new IDs and we’ll work out the car situation.”

  They claimed their bedrooms, and Cade shut the door and stood with his back against it. “Ah, alone at last.”

  Jenna plucked a pillow from the bed and threw it at him. “That’s not very nice after everything Beth did for us.”

  “I think she owed us after we got her out of that warehouse. She and Jeff were sloppy.”

  “I still don’t understand what happened or who killed Jeff.”

  “I don’t, either, but I’m going to get to the bottom of it.”

  She raised one eyebrow. “And how is Mr. Yardley going to do that from Grenfield, Texas?”

  “I have ways.” He lunged for her, grabbing her around the waist, and she squealed.

  “Shh.” He kissed her mouth to keep her quiet.

  And it worked.

  When his hands worked their way beneath her clothes, she grabbed the front of his sweatshirt. “Do you really think we should?”

  “Are you kidding? Our son is finally in another bed in another room, and Beth, our constant companion for the past twenty-four hours, is in another room. I’m not wasting another minute.”

  He walked her backward to the bed and they fell across the mattress.

  She couldn’t think of one more objection. With Cade smothering her with kisses, she could barely breathe.

  * * *

  THE FOLLOWING MORNING, they made their first strides toward settling in by going grocery shopping, getting the gas turned on and finding the nearest park.

  Cade had insisted that Beth take another day to rest before making her way back to Arizona and facing her bosses at Prospero. And she needed it.

  Beth’s pale face made the dark circles beneath her eyes stand out even more, and Jenna wondered if she was completely healed from her attack.

  As they sat at the kitchen table eating sandwiches, Jenna poured Beth another glass of water. “I think you should see a doctor when you get back. You need to get checked out.”

  “You’re probably right. I can see one of the doctors Prospero has on retainer—no questions asked.”

  “That’s the way we like it.”

  Cade’s cell phone buzzed and he checked the display. “I can’t believe it. It’s J.D.”

  He answered the phone and nodded to Jenna. “Did you make it back okay?”

  He paused and replied. “Man, you have no idea.”

  Then he held up his finger and wandered into the back of the house.

  Jenna shrugged. “Hush, hush. I’m glad J.D.’s back in the States. Maybe he can help Cade figure out some of the recent events.”

  “I’m glad he’s back, too. I contacted him earlier to let him know Cade’s new location. I figured if there was anyone I could trust, it would be J.D.”

  “I didn’t realize you knew all of Prospero Team Three so well.”

  “I started around the same time they did. I was assigned to support them at first.”

  Cade returned to the room. “J.D.’s flying into San Antonio tonight. I’m going to pick him up at the airport.”

  “You’re not bringing him back here.” Beth crossed her arms, not a hint of humor in her face.

  “Excuse me?”

  Beth spread her arms. “This is a resettlement house. You’re not Cade Stark here and you wouldn’t know J.D. the spy. It’s a rule, Cade. You can’t bring him here.”

  “Well, he hadn’t planned to stay here, anyway. We just need to talk.”

  “Talk at the airport.” Jenna wiped Gavin’s mouth and offered him an apple slice.

  “I don’t want to drag you and Gavin to the airport.”

  Beth held up her finger. “That would break another rule. Jenna and Gavin shouldn’t be anywhere near J.D. You could compromise this whole location.”

  “I don’t like leaving you. Where will you three be?”

  “Right here. Where we’ll be safe.” Beth spread her arms. “Nothing unusual about a sister helping her sister and nephew get settled in their new home.”

  Jenna hid a smile beneath her hand. Beth had insisted on this charade of sisters when they looked nothing alike.

  She said, “Beth’s right. We’ll stay here while you meet up with J.D. at the airport.”

  “I’m leaving a gun here. Beth, you don’t carry one, do you?”

  “No. If I had, Jeff might still be alive.”

  Cade quickly changed the subject. “Okay, then. I’ll go to the airport to meet J.D., and pump him for information. Maybe he knows more about what happened to Jim back at the outpost. Maybe he knows something about what went down at the warehouse.”

  Beth pointed a finger at him. “And if you’re made at the airport, you don’t come back here.”

  He saluted. “Got it, Chief.”

  A few hours later, Cade left a gun on a shelf in the cupboard. “Just in case.”

  “We’ll be fine.” Jenna curled her arms around his neck and kissed him. “Be careful out there.”

  When Cade left, Jenna sank into the couch and aimed the remote at the TV. She surfed through several channels. “If we’re going to stay here, we need cable in the worst way.”

  Beth came out of the kitchen carrying two glasses of red wine. “This will make anything on TV a little better.”

  Jenna took a glass from her and clinked its rim with Beth’s. “So true.”

  Halfway through the show they were watching, Jenna put Gavin to bed. She almost curled up next to him. Everything that had happened to her since the moment she scrambled beneath the floorboards in Lovett Peak hit her at once.

  She dropped onto the couch and drained her wineglass.

  “Do you want another?” Beth half rose from her seat.

  “No.” The word felt thick on Jenna’s tongue. She curled her legs beneath her, and her head drooped to the side.

  “Good. Because now I’m going to take your son.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “It makes no sense.” Cade drained his bottle of beer and started picking at the label on the wet glass.

  “I don’t know why you’ve been so paranoid about Prospero. Jack Coburn runs a tight ship. Everything over the past few days has been according to protocol. As far as I know, internal affairs dealt with Horace Jimerson.” J.D. checked his watch. “And we won’t be privy to his punishment for a while.”

  Cade picked the sticky label from his fingernails. “What about the situation at the warehouse?”

  “That, I can’t tell you. Why is Beth so sure Zendaris didn’t ambush her and Curson? She didn’t even see her attackers.”

  “It’s not just Beth. If Zendaris’s guys hit that warehouse and killed Curson, why didn’t they wait for me and Jenna? They had to know we were going to show up. They’ve been chasing us all across the Southwest. Why give up an opportunity to snatch Gavin and hold him until I cough up the plans?”

  “That who
le setup seems screwy to me.” J.D. kicked a boot up onto the chair across from him and crossed his arms behind his head. “You didn’t see any attackers. Why didn’t they kill Beth, too? Curson dies and Beth gets a bump on the head?”

  “You’re not suggesting Beth is working with Zendaris, like Jim, are you?”

  “No, but maybe she screwed something up.” J.D. tipped his chair back. “That woman has a lot of issues.”

  “She does?”

  “She had a major crush on you for one thing.”

  “No way.” Cade tracked back through his memories of Beth in the office, at the get-togethers and most recently on the drive to Texas. “No way.”

  J.D. snorted. “Man, you’re so hung up on Jenna you wouldn’t notice if another woman stood in front of you doing the shimmy shake.”

  Heat blasted Cade’s face. “Yeah, I think I would.”

  “Really? ’Cuz those two lovely ladies in the corner have been eyeing us for a good half hour, and I swear you couldn’t tell me right now if they’re blondes, redheads or brunettes.”

  Cade slid a gaze to two women giggling over a couple of margaritas.

  “Without looking.” J.D. shook his head.

  “So the fact that Beth had a crush on me means she has issues?”

  “It’s not just that. She’s really self-conscious about those disfiguring scars on her back. It’s done a number on her self-esteem.”

  “What are you talking about?” Cade’s brows snapped together. “Beth doesn’t have any disfiguring scars on her back.”

  “You’ve seen her back lately?”

  “She stayed in our hotel room with us the other night.”

  J.D. lifted one eyebrow. “Was she running around naked or something?”

  “Why do you keep bringing up naked women?” Cade kicked J.D.’s chair. “She slipped off her sweater when she got into bed. I didn’t notice any scars.”

  J.D.’s chair snapped to the floor. “That’s weird because I’ve seen them and it’s not something she can hide. They’re scars from burns.”

  “How did it happen?”

  “I’m not sure. Some accident involving her sister when they were children.” He leveled his finger at Cade. “Another thing that’s weird is how you ended up in Texas for your resettlement.”

  “Why is that weird?”

  “Was Beth so tongue-tied around you she never talked about herself? She’s from Texas. I think her mother still lives here, and if I’m not mistaken, it’s somewhere near San Antonio.”

  “Coincidence.”

  “Maybe, but not too smart if she wants you to keep your distance from everyone connected to Prospero. Maybe she just wants you within striking range if she ever decides to go for you.”

  Cade chewed the inside of his cheek. Why hadn’t Beth mentioned that fact?

  J.D. checked his watch again. “Hey, man, I need to catch my flight. When I see Gage down in South America, I’ll see if he heard anything about the warehouse. He’s more removed than we are, but that guy always seems to know everything—it’s those connections in high places.”

  Cade shoved back his chair and shook J.D.’s hand. “Thanks for stopping on your way down. Keep me in the loop if you can.”

  J.D. pumped his hand and slapped his shoulder. “I’d keep an eye on Beth Warren if I were you.” He cocked his head. “And ask her about those scars.”

  Cade tossed a couple of bills on the table. Yeah, right. He was going to ask Beth Warren about the scars on her back, or lack thereof.

  He dropped onto the driver’s seat of the car he and Jenna had dubbed Old Faithful, and cranked on the engine. His phone buzzed. Had J.D. found something out already?

  He lifted the phone from his pocket and stared at the display, his mouth dry. Speak of the devil. “Hey, Beth. Is everything okay?”

  “No, no.” Her voice cracked and she ended on a sob. “They’ve taken Jenna and Gavin.”

  * * *

  CADE CAREENED DOWN THE highway, his jaw tight, his eyes burning. He’d left them. He’d left his family again and they’d been snatched.

  Beth hadn’t been able to tell him much. They’d put Gavin to bed. She and Jenna had watched TV and had a glass of wine. They both fell asleep on the couch and when Beth awoke, Jenna and Gavin were gone.

  How could that happen? Nobody woke up Beth? Nobody injured her? Or would she have another bump on the head?

  His tires squealed as he took one of the exits to Grenfield. He knew Beth was no agent, but how did she end up bungling every assignment?

  He steadied his hands on the wheel and took a deep breath. He couldn’t run in the house accusing her of anything. He knew how it felt to believe nobody trusted you.

  He swung into the one-car driveway to the house, rolling over the curb. He threw the car into Park and was halfway out the door before it even stopped.

  Beth met him on the porch, her hands trembling, her face blotchy with tears. “I’m so sorry, Cade. I don’t know how it happened.”

  He ran his hands along her arms, strangely warm. “Did they hurt you?”

  “N-no. I told you. I was sleeping.” She pushed open the door and backed up over the threshold.

  “Someone broke into the house while you were all sleeping and managed to abduct my wife and son, and you didn’t hear a thing? You didn’t wake up?”

  Her dark eyes welled with tears. “I’m so sorry. It was the wine. We drank quite a bit and both of us passed out more than fell asleep. It was stupid, but I never dreamed they’d find us here.”

  “Neither did I.” He circled the room, taking in the two empty wineglasses on the coffee table. One chair had been upended. He followed the hallway to Gavin’s room, his fists curling as he saw the empty bed.

  His gaze tracked across the windows, shut against the night air. “How did they get in?”

  Beth waved her arms. “I have no idea. I haven’t looked around yet.”

  He glanced at the half-full wine bottle on the kitchen counter and his gut knotted. His gaze tracked to a pair of shoes by the door, blades of grass sticking to the wet toes.

  Cade strolled to the front door and stood with his back against it. Then he pulled out his weapon. “Show me your back...Beth.”

  Her eyes widened, glowing with some internal fire. “Your wife and son are missing and you want me to take off my clothes? Like father, like son.”

  Releasing the safety on his gun, he growled. “Show me your back.”

  She turned slowly, gripping the edge of her blouse and glancing over her left shoulder, a small smile playing over her lips. She yanked up the blouse to reveal a smooth swath of skin.

  His muscles coiled and his grip tightened on his gun. “Who are you?”

  “Funny.” She dropped her blouse and spun around, gripping the weapon he’d left in the cupboard. “I could’ve sworn Beth said she never told you about her lovely scars.”

  “Who are you and where are my wife and son?”

  “They’re safe...for now.” She took a step forward and extended her left hand. “I’m Abby, Abby Warren, Beth’s older and stronger twin sister.”

  Cade clenched his jaw so his mouth wouldn’t drop open. He ignored her hand, no longer trembling. “Where’s Beth?”

  “Dead.”

  “Did you...”

  “Yes, I killed her. I tried before, you know, when we were twelve. I threw scalding water at her. I was aiming for her head, but it hit her back instead.” She shrugged. “Then I decided it was better to keep her around and live vicariously through her.”

  “If you were the stronger twin, why live through your sister? Why not live your own life?”

  She made a face with an exaggerated frown. “They watched me, especially my father. I could always wrap my mother around my little finger. But Dad—” she pursed her lips “—he was always after me to take my meds. You can’t live your life all doped up.”

  Cade steadied his gun. She must be seriously mentally ill—and she had Jenna and Gavin. “You’ve be
en posing as Beth? Why?”

  “Why?” She blinked her eyes. “To get you, of course. Well, you and some big bucks from that arms dealer Nico Zendaris.”

  “What are you talking about?” His stomach sank. He could handle Beth...Abby, but if she’d called in Zendaris or already turned Jenna and Gavin over to him, he had a bigger obstacle in front of him than some psychotic woman with a gun.

  “Beth wanted you. Didn’t you know that? She had a crazy, wild crush on you. She showed me your picture, slobbering all over it. So I told her to go for it, but she’s weak.” Abby put on a childish, whining voice. “He’s married, Abby. I’m just going to have to forget all about him.”

  She snapped her fingers. “Why should that stop you from getting what you want? So I set out to prove her wrong.”

  “How exactly did you plan on getting me?” Cade’s phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out.

  Abby narrowed her eyes and leveled her gun at his heart. “You can call the police or Prospero or all your buddies on Team Three, but I still have your wife and son and I can make them die on my command. If you try to respond or make a call, I’ll make you die, too. Beth might be mad, but I can live with that.”

  Cade held up his phone and shifted his gaze to the display—a message from J.D. Another weird factoid Beth’s mom lives in Grenfield 590 Burrows watch your back.

  Cade hit the button to delete J.D.’s message and took a deep breath. Jenna and Gavin must be two doors down at Abby’s mother’s house. But who else was there? Zendaris’s thugs?

  “I’m not calling anyone, Abby. So what is your plan and what does Zendaris have to do with it?”

  She giggled. “I thought you’d never ask. Beth is good with statistics, facts and figures and logic. I’m even better. I like computers, Cade. I like computers a lot.”

  “You hacked into my computer and stole the plans.”

  “Aw, it was easy.” She hunched her shoulders and almost blushed. “I already had a head start because I had some of your emails to Prospero. From there it was a breeze to get into your computer and lift those plans.”

  “You wanted money. Why didn’t you just sell them to Zendaris?”