On Dangerous Ground

by D. L. Line

  As Bobby left to retrieve the paperwork from the car, Jen mouthed the word “leash” and was promised an explanation later. Terri had more pressing issues to explain, specifically regarding her theories on the crime and why she believed that Jen was not the target, at least not tonight. Bobby returned quickly with the files. Jen was obviously distressed to see her own bad driver’s license photo grinning from underneath the bold strokes of the numbers.

  Jen suggested that since the FBI was now firmly ensconced in her home, maybe she could go take a shower while they called the county sheriff and explained the situation. Terri watched her leave as Bobby, in turn, watched Terri. She knew that he was concerned, but was determined to leave it up to him to ask. She was not in the mood to act like a guest on Dr. Phil and just dump all her feelings on the kitchen table and be told that she was acting like an idiot. Fortunately, Bobby was far more understanding of her than she was of herself. He finally broke the uncomfortable silence as Terri looked up the Rockingham County sheriff in the phone book. “Terri, sweetie, I know this is the most overutilized question of the day, but are you okay? I’m worried about you.”

  “I’m fine.” He gave her his best I’m-not-sure-I-believeyou look, so she elaborated. “I am. Really. We’re here, she’s okay…well, not as okay as she claims, but she’s unharmed. I think we know where Davis is, and I feel pretty much in

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  control of the situation. If you’d just take a walk around the perimeter when the sheriff gets here, and give me a chance to really talk to her privately, I’d feel better yet.”

  He was still concerned. “It’s just, this morning, I’ve never seen you act like that, but I get it. The fact that the rest of the office, especially McNally, noticed something is, well, unusual at best.”

  “Bobby, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Every time we walk into a situation like this one, I’m scared to death. The only difference here is that I’m more concerned about her than I am about myself, so there isn’t any energy left for me to build the walls to hide behind. I’m not really reacting any differently, I just can’t cover it up. Does that make any sense?”

  “Yeah, I do get it. I guess if I was trying to protect someone who looks at me the way she looks at you, I’d get a little crazy too. Just please be careful, okay?”

  “I promise.” She heard the shower start in the upstairs bathroom. “Can you please coordinate this stuff with the sheriff? Jen and I really do need to discuss some things about the house and the situation.”

  He nodded and pulled out his cell phone while Terri got up and paced around the kitchen. She stopped at the fridge to get a bottle of water when she noticed motion in the mudroom. Snickers had just come in through the dog door, so she went over to say hello and scratch him on the head. He launched himself at her, dancing on his back legs, begging for more attention. It was funny that he was so silent, given what she knew about the little mutt. She hoped it would be different if someone unwelcome arrived. A small canine alarm would be a nice addition to their arsenal.

  Bobby finished his phone call and went to the mudroom to share the information with Terri. “They’ll be here in five

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  minutes. Someone was right down the road, so I’m going outside to wait for them.” He checked his watch, noting that the time was getting close to one o’clock. “I figure we’ll need at least half an hour, maybe a little more. There’s a lot of open property here, but the sheriff has a map. Does that give you enough time?”

  She looked at her own watch. “That should be fine. Is your wire turned on?”

  He spoke into the cuff of his jacket. “Check, over. You good?”

  She mirrored his action. “Check…we’re good.” She lowered her hand to speak normally. “Take your time. I want to know every way possible for him to get near this house.”

  He smiled at her as he placed one hand on the storm door.

  “You know I will. I’ll be back soon.” He added, with a wink,

  “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  Terri didn’t even have a chance to answer before he was out the door, leaving her to wonder if there was actually anything that he wouldn’t do. She doubted it.

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  Chapter twenty-FOur

  Snickers went nuts when the sheriff arrived, growling and barking like Terri had never seen before. “I guess that answers that,” she said to no one in particular. She closed the inside door, locked it, and watched as the officer got out of his car. He had that typical local cop swagger that she was so familiar with. She idly thought that maybe Snickers just didn’t like straight people. That would explain his odd behavior.

  “Good thing Davis is straight, huh, Snickers?” She looked to the little dog. He was quiet again, looking at her with great interest as he propellered his tail in agreement.

  “Terri, who are you talking to?” Terri had been so occupied that she didn’t hear the shower turn off or Jen come back downstairs and head to the kitchen. “I just saw Bobby leave with the cops.”

  Terri was a little embarrassed. “Actually, sweetie, I was talking to your dog.” She went back into the kitchen and found Jen standing next to the table, wearing a bathrobe, toweling off her wet hair. “He’s a pretty good listener.”

  Jen finished with her hair and hung the towel over the back of the chair. “What was Bobby talking about when he said that thing about you and a leash?” She moved, scooting the chair aside to sit on the end of the table. “That was weird.”

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  “Actually, Jen, I was a little, um, shall we say, insistent with everyone in the office this morning.” Terri paused, looking for the right words to explain her out-of-the-ordinary behavior.

  “McNally suggested that I might be holding something back and questioned my objectivity, so he told me that I was on a short leash and told Bobby to keep an eye on me.” She took a breath, searching for understanding in Jen’s face. “I guess I really was kind of a bitch.”

  Jen took her hands, pulling her closer. “You were worried…about me, right?” She kept pulling until Terri was between her knees and her legs made contact with the edge of the table. “That’s flattering.”

  Terri pulled her hands free to lightly stroke Jen’s bare thighs, fighting a little to stay in the moment. “God, Jen, I actually called someone ‘newbie’ and sent him for coffee. No wonder everyone thought I was losing it.” She shook her head and took a long breath, relaxing somewhat, and allowed herself to see the humor in the situation. “I felt awful afterward. I thought that poor kid was going to wet his pants, I scared him so bad.” She started to laugh, but stopped as she felt warm hands slide under her jacket, pulling her even closer. “Jen, what are you doing?”

  The hands didn’t stop as Jen answered. “Listening to your story.”

  The hands traveled up her sides, avoiding her breasts until she felt fingers playing with the skin at the open collar of her shirt. Terri let go with a nervous laugh. “I don’t think so.”

  She felt the fingers undo the first button below the open collar as Jen urged her to continue her story. “I’m hanging on every word.”

  Terri felt her shirt open a little wider as a soft, wet mouth took over for the fingers on the hollow of her throat. “Jen, you know I can’t”—she gasped as the kiss became little bites, and

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  the missing hands found a home on her ass—“can’t concentrate when you do that.”

  The little bites stopped. “Agent McKinnon, you think too much.” The little bites resumed.

  Terri’s head was swimming as she fought the sensations that were coursing through her body while the hands on her ass massaged and pulled her even tighter against the end of the sturdy table. She was losing the fight as her hands slid under Jen’s bathrobe to caress the n
aked body underneath. “Jen, what are we…we can’t…I’m supposed to be working.” She gasped again as the hands on her ass slid around to lightly touch her breasts.

  Jen scooted forward on the table, opening her legs just a little wider. “I think what we are doing would be considered completely inappropriate, panic-induced sex, and yes, we can.” Terri’s hands slid farther up under the robe, pulling it open to touch bare breasts. Jen gasped and tried to finish her thought. “Can’t we just forget about”—she stopped the thought as her words were silenced with an insistent kiss, but resumed it again when breathing became necessary—“work?”

  Terri’s hands were moving again, toward the thighs they’d left just moments ago. “Besides, work means keeping an eye on me, right?”

  Terri could only nod, biting her lower lip as the light touches on her breasts became slightly more insistent pinches on her nipples through the fabric of her shirt and bra. Jen continued her observation. “So keeping an eye on me means that you should watch when I do this.” She removed a hand from Terri’s breast and used it to move Terri’s hand from her thigh, guiding it toward the place where she needed it the most. “Are you watching?” Jen asked as Terri’s hand found her incredibly wet pussy. Terri could still only nod and chew on her lip.

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  “Terri, do you see what you do to me?” Jen was panting out her words through gritted teeth. She pulled harder on the lapels, urging Terri to climb up on the table as she used her feet to slide back. “Can you see how bad I need you?” She lay back on the table as Terri got up on her knees, supporting her upper body with her left hand near Jen’s head. Jen continued to pull at her lapels, looking her straight in the eye. “How bad I need you to fuck me?”

  Terri obliged. She was oblivious to everything except the body moving beneath her wrapped tightly around her fingers. She was thrusting hard and fast as Jen continued to voice her needs. She felt a bead of sweat drip from her nose to land on the table. She heard Jen’s breathless request: “More, please, I need more.”

  She added another finger, bringing the total to three, drawing out a long groan as she leaned close to Jen’s ear.

  “Touch yourself for me.”

  Jen finally released the lapels she’d been clinging to for dear life, using her right hand to touch herself as requested. The combination of her own fingers on her clit and the three fingers pistoning in and out of her cunt was just too much to take. She threw her head back, banging it hard on the table, and loudly cried out the release of her orgasm. Terri didn’t stop until Jen came a second time, even harder than the first, crying out again and pounding her free hand repeatedly on the surface of the table. She used that same hand to grab Terri by the arm, signaling that it was time to stop.

  Terri hastily removed her fingers to check on Jen’s condition. “Sweetie, are you okay? You really banged your head there.”

  Jen, still a little out of it, reached around to the back of her head, rubbing the spot and wincing. “God, I’m so smooth sometimes. What a spaz.” She met Terri’s concerned look.

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  “No, baby, I-I mean yes. I’m fine. Actually lots better than I was half an hour ago.” She smiled a little noting that she truly was a little less worried. “Are you okay? Sorry, I was kind of pushy.”

  “Jen, it’s fine. It’s nice to have—” She stopped midsentence and her eyes grew wide in an expression of extreme shock. The shock was soon replaced by another expression that Jen couldn’t quite identify as Terri lowered her head and hissed out, “shit.” Jen continued looking for an explanation, but what she got instead was a brief, but very sincere apology. It only got more bizarre as Terri sat, turned around, and scooted to the edge of the table. Putting both feet on the floor, she raised her left hand toward her face, took a deep breath, and spoke into the sleeve of her jacket. “Field One, this is Base One, go ahead. Over.”

  It certainly didn’t take a PhD from MIT for Jen to figure out what had just happened. She’d just been fucked stupid on her kitchen table by a government agent, coming so hard that she’d bashed a knot on her own head, and was evidently broadcasting it to the world via two-way radio. She could do nothing but laugh at the absurdity as she sat up and gathered the bathrobe around her. She scooted over to hug Terri from behind, but backed off a little as her still-sensitive crotch rubbed up against the holstered weapon in the small of Terri’s back.“Field One, give us five minutes, then head on in. Over and out.” Terri held Jen’s hands close to her belly as she spoke.

  “Well, this is certainly surreal.” She turned her head to look at Jen, whose chin was now on Terri’s shoulder. “Are you sure you’re not mad? I just forgot. I told you not to distract me.”

  Jen kissed her on the cheek. “Nah, it’s all good. It’s my fault anyway. And it was certainly worth any amount of teasing and embarrassment I might have to suffer just to have you

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  touch me like that.” She ignored the gun pressing against her crotch to hug Terri tighter. “Anything’s worth it if I get to be with you.”

  Terri laughed as she provided a small warning. “Jen, you might have to make good on that ‘anything’s worth it’ part when Bobby gets back here. You know how he is.”

  “Ah, I can take him. Leave it to me.” She leaned in to kiss Terri one more time. “I’d better go get dressed.” Terri moved forward enough to give her room to jump off the table. She watched Jen grab her towel and leave the room, idly wishing there was time for a cold shower.

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  Chapter twenty-Five

  Bradley drove the whole trip to Kentucky. He’d managed to keep the kid pretty quiet, between the fifth of bourbon he’d purchased in Cincinnati and the continuous supply of marijuana. The kid was so quiet, in fact, it was possible that he was unconscious. That suited Bradley just fine. He was not a big one for idle chitchat; he just wanted to get to Bowling Green by nightfall. There would be some time to kill, but he could just sit and wait while the kid slept. He had everything in place. The three incendiary envelopes were in the trunk, the map of the location of the house was on the front seat of the car, and the tool kit to break into the basement window was in his jacket pocket. Oh, and the kid in the backseat. That was the best part.

  Just outside of Bowling Green, and a little after midnight, he found the right road for the Mullins house. There were several other houses on the road, but they were far enough apart that he would be difficult to spot once he left the car. He pulled the car behind some bushes to hide it from view of the road and killed the engine. Reaching over the back of the seat, he poked the kid to wake him up. He was not unconscious, but he was really out of it.

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  “Kid, wake up. We’re here.” He shook him a little more to get him awake. “How you doing back there?”

  The kid stirred, still more than a little inebriated. “I hear you…I’m up.” His words were slightly slurred as he tried to speak. “God, I think my head’s going to explode.”

  Bradley appeared to care, just for the sake of his passenger. “Sorry, kid. You hit that bourbon pretty hard. I’ll get you a couple of pills for your head once we get to the house, okay?”

  The kid rubbed his face with both hands and shook his head. He winced as if in pain as he answered, “Thanks, dude. I’m really hurtin’ back here.”

  Bradley got out of the car and went around back to open the trunk. He found the three envelopes, still carefully folded in their Ziploc bag, and slipped them into the large pocket of his field jacket. He also took out a shirt similar to the one he was currently wearing, and closed the trunk. Moving around to the passenger side of the car, he opened the back door and tossed the shirt to the kid. “You need to change into that. I don’t want you here looking like you’ve been hitching rides for three days.” The kid peeled off his T-shirt and cha
nged into the blue button-down, too drunk, stoned, and sick to care enough to argue.

  Bradley asked the kid to repeat the plan one more time, making sure that he wasn’t too loaded to understand. “Dude, it’s like this. I’m going to help you sneak into the basement of your ex-wife’s house so you can get some money that you hid there. She’s going to be pissed if she knows you’re there and call the cops because of some kind of restraining order.” He looked at Bradley with bloodshot eyes. “Then I get behind the dryer, pry out the loose brick, take out the cash box, and then we split it, right?”

  “You’re a fucking genius, kid. That was perfect.” Bradley

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  smiled his most genuine fake smile and helped the kid from the car, grabbing the discarded T-shirt on the way out. He had to support him with an arm around his waist until the kid got his legs under him. “Don’t forget, she’s probably home and in bed, so we need to be as quiet as we can.”

  The kid giggled and raised a finger to his lips in the universal sign of shh. “We’ll be like sneaky cats.” He lowered his hand and pulled down on the front of his shirt in an attempt to tidy himself a little. “Gotcha. I’m ready.”

  Bradley didn’t answer as he pulled the kid along toward the house. He saw a car pull down the road, but they were far enough away to avoid being seen. Once the taillights were out of sight, he quickened his pace, helping the kid across the road and into the bushes that marked the property line of the house. He held the kid’s head down as he scanned the darkness and lights of the house for signs of activity. Everything was quiet. He used the cover of the bushes to traverse the distance of the property to the place where he needed to be. Fortunately, there was a small creek that provided a low spot to travel through, so they were both able to get to the bushes at the side of the house without being spotted. The kid tried to ask a question, but Bradley stopped him with a hand over his mouth. He raised his own finger to his mouth in a perfect imitation of the kid’s earlier gesture, and the kid got the point, nodding his head in understanding. Bradley put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a pill bottle. He shook out four Percocet, offered them to the kid and urged him to swallow them with the remaining bourbon that he’d so thoughtfully remembered to bring along. Bradley saw the perfect window at the rear side of the house. He pulled the kid along, stopping just before they got to the window. He dropped low on his belly and looked inside. He couldn’t see much because it was dark inside, so he removed the tool kit from his pocket and used the flashlight to