Eckert held his badge and tapped it against his open palm with a steady thump. His glare switched to her. “You are wanted for questioning—”
One minute she looked into Eckert’s face with his lip curled in disgust. The next, Jonas blocked her view. She hadn’t seen him move or heard his footsteps, but his broad shoulders now stood as a wall between her and the guy who wanted to take her to jail.
“So then you don’t actually have an arrest warrant,” Jonas said.
The agent dropped his badge back into his pocket. “Look, Officer—”
“It’s Deputy Porter.”
“Are you going to interrupt me every time I talk?”
“Possibly.”
Walt held up his hands. “Let’s calm down here.”
Jonas ignored the older man and focused on the agent. “What are you saying she did?”
“This is not a group interview,” Eckert said. “I need to speak with Ms. Allen alone.”
She put her hand on Jonas’s forearm. “Can I refuse?”
Walt shook his head. “You shouldn’t.”
Jonas’s gaze never wavered. He kept all that intensity funneled at the agent. Courtney vowed to keep her mental shield up, but she had to admit Jonas’s protective nature sent her stomach flipping.
“Someone tried to kill Ms. Allen a few hours ago,” he said. “That same person tried to kill me. So until I know what is going on, she stays with me.”
“I think we can agree I’m not a threat to her.” Eckert looked around the room. When no one backed down or nodded in agreement, he blew out a long breath. “Or maybe we can’t.”
Rich slipped into the seat next to her bed. “We’re all law enforcement. You can talk in front of us.”
“Fine. Embezzlement.” Eckert dropped his verbal bomb and stopped talking.
The longer the silence stretched, the more Jonas’s eyes narrowed. “What?”
The word blurred in Courtney’s brain. She felt her jaw drop and her eyes bulge. “By me?”
Eckert took out a small notebook and started reading. “Your husband—”
“Again with the husband thing.” A rough scream rumbled up her throat but she pushed it back. She settled for throwing up her hands and talking through clenched teeth. “For the last time, I am not now nor have I ever been married.”
Eckert’s mouth opened and closed twice before any words came out. “That’s not possible.”
Jonas snorted. “I had the same reaction. The Margaret Taynor thing doesn’t make any sense.”
It was Eckert’s turn to scowl. His gaze bounced around the room. “Who is Margaret Taynor?”
“Isn’t that who you’re here for?” Jonas asked.
“No.” Some of the venom left Eckert’s voice. “Are you Courtney Allen?”
“Yes.”
Rich tapped on the bed railing next to her head. “So, you have two names but no husband?”
She let her head fall back onto the pillow. It felt good to close her eyes for two seconds. Without a break, her brain might explode.
When she lifted her head again, control had returned. All those years of practice came rushing back and she pushed out the pain. “You all have the wrong woman.”
“Your husband, Peter Allen, has been indicted. He implicated you…” Eckert stared at her. “What now?”
Her face heated to boiling. Another name from her past, another reminder of all she’d lost. Allen Peters, Peter Allen. It couldn’t be a coincidence, not so close to having the name Margaret Taynor thrown in her face.
The small corner of normalcy Courtney held on to slipped away. “This can’t be happening.”
“Do you know Peter Allen?” Jonas’s body stiffened and his voice strained as he asked the question.
Fighting back the bile churning in her stomach, she answered with the technical truth. “No.”
“Why is everyone in here?” Nurse Ramsey shoved her way back to the bed. The head-shaking and finger-pointing started a second later. “Absolutely not. This is an emergency room. One blood relative at a time. That’s it. The rest of you all have to go.”
Jonas broke eye contact with Courtney and blinked a few times. “Walt, would you mind taking Agent Eckert here and see what information you can gather?”
Courtney owed the nurse. Darkness had filled the air and blanketed the area. It sucked all the life out of Courtney, made her want to run and not look back.
“I’m not leaving.” Eckert crossed his arms over his chest as if to highlight his refusal.
“Are you going to disobey Nurse Ramsey here?” Rich smiled as he asked the question.
“No, he’s not.” The nurse got in front of Eckert and started pushing him into the hallway. She pinned Jonas with an over-the-shoulder glare. “You may stay but not on account of any sweet talking. You’re the law around here and you’ve been injured. I can’t rightly kick you out.”
Walt cleared his throat. “Technically, I’m the law around here, but I hear you.”
“Thanks,” Jonas mumbled.
Walt didn’t acknowledge the comment. Instead, he put a hand on Eckert’s arm and guided him out of the cubicle. “Let’s make some calls and see if we can work through this.”
“I’ll just close this.” With a nod, the nurse whipped the curtain around, providing them with a private cocoon.
Relief washed through Courtney the second Eckert left the room. She hadn’t realized she was clenching the sheet in her hands. Her nails dug into her palms through the material.
“Rich, you stay for a second,” Jonas called out when the other man stood up.
“Yes, sir.”
Rich’s smile eased away the rest of her anxiety. His body consisted of more bulk than Jonas’s, and tension didn’t tighten his face like it had with Jonas almost every moment she’d known him. “Is Jonas really your boss?”
“For now.” Rich winked, but his relaxed stance disappeared when he got another look at Jonas. “Interesting day off you’re having.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.” He plowed his fingers through his hair but swore when his arm got even with his chest.
Guilt pummeled her from every direction. She didn’t like his chosen profession, but he’d killed for her, gotten injured for her. That meant something. “Are you okay?”
He nodded but his back teeth slammed together. “This is your last chance, Courtney. I need the truth. Do you know this Allen? Have you ever gone by the name Taynor?”
She settled for more half-truths. “No.”
Jonas stared at her for a few beats. Much more and she’d be squirming on the mattress.
He finally turned back to Rich. “Okay, you go do some investigating. I want anything you can find on Eckert, Margaret Taynor and Peter Allen. Check Maryland, since that’s where the original request came from. Someone started this by asking for the wellness check on this Taynor woman. Dig back through people until you find out who asked and why he thinks he’s married to Courtney.”
Rich’s gaze skipped to her then back to Jonas. “What will you be doing while I work?”
“Getting Courtney out of here.”
Finally. She exhaled the breath she’d been holding. It ripped from her lungs with a whoosh. Danger still lingered, but the crushing weight lifted. She needed her freedom. She couldn’t investigate the murders while fighting off a trumped-up claim. Worse, she couldn’t handle being dragged back to Maryland and shoved right into the path of someone who might want the last of the Peters family dead.
She went through her prepared mental list for her exit plan. “I just need a rental car.”
Jonas shook his head. “Wrong. You’re coming with me and staying with me until I understand what’s happening.”
She waited for the usual dread and claustrophobia to overwhelm her but it didn’t come. Something about having a man on her side who owned a gun and knew how to use it felt right this time. Sure, he didn’t believe her and had no idea the depth of the mess he was wading into, but he radiated streng
th and self-assurance, and she needed both right now.
But being smart enough to grab on to help didn’t mean she would just roll over to his bossiness. “Do I get a say in what happens to me?”
“No.” Jonas stepped closer to the opening of the cubicle and looked out. “Rich, try to keep Walt and Eckert at the entrance to the emergency room. I’ll sneak her out through the door a few cubicles down. It leads into the main hospital. We can get to the lobby from there.”
Rich nodded in her direction. “She’s still hooked up to machines.”
“I can take care of that.” She tugged on the needle in her arm. The flash of pain stole her breath. “Whoa, that hurt like a—”
Rich cleared his throat as he turned his back to her and moved in closer to Jonas’s side. “Are you, uh, sure you—”
“I’m fine and Courtney isn’t going to kill me. She had the opportunity to shoot me and didn’t. Besides that, I think she’s figured out I’m the best chance she has for getting through this.” Jonas looked over his shoulder at her. “Right?”
“She’s hoping that’s not true,” she said in her clearest you’re-annoying-me tone.
Jonas shrugged. “See? She’s fine.”
“Where are we going, exactly?” she asked before he could say something else to annoy her.
“I’ll figure that out as we go.” He stalked back to the bed and folded down the sheet. “Ready?”
Good thing she still wore her clothes. Grimy and sticky, she was desperate to shower and change, but that hadn’t happened yet. “No.”
“That’s the spirit.”
Chapter Six
Jonas pushed Courtney in a wheelchair. It and a change of clothes for both of them appeared right after Nurse Ramsey walked by the cubicle. The woman might be ornery, but she was also helpful.
With the cover, they made it to the side door. Without it who knew how bad the ride might have been.
Jonas stopped at the keypad next to the hospital entrance. The emergency security code for law-enforcement personnel popped into his head. Until his fingers touched the pad he wasn’t sure he’d remember the needed sequence.
He pushed Courtney down the long hallway lined with beige tiles on the floor and matching beige paint on the walls. The general blahness of the place escaped him in previous visits. He’d been too busy worrying about securing the people with him and blocking out the harsh ammonia smell to notice.
“I can walk,” Courtney said from the seat.
“The goal is to blend in and get you out of here without being seen.” Then he had to keep her alive and figure out who was trying to do the opposite.
Yeah, no problem there.
The woman had secrets. He understood that. Accepted it. His years in the Los Angeles Division of the Drug Enforcement Agency working in narcotics trafficking taught him about human nature. His heart hardened, and his warning shots now came faster. Whatever she’d seen had the same effect on her.
“Were medical scrubs and a towel over my head the only options?” she asked.
Last thing he wanted to do was think about her clothing or her getting dressed or anything in between. Turning his back while she changed in the cramped cubicle nearly killed his control. “You’re welcome.”
“I meant that I could run faster in something else. I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful,” she said, sounding slightly more grateful than she had the second before.
“Really? It’s sort of hard to tell with you sometimes.”
She sighed loud enough for him to hear it over the clang of machines and low hum of televisions coming through the open doors of the rooms. “Now what?”
“We get out of here, head back to Aberdeen and go to your house.”
“Won’t the bad guys know to look there?”
“I hope so, but I doubt I’m that lucky.” No, this whole sordid scene wasn’t over yet. He might not be the smartest guy in the world, but he knew that much.
She grabbed the wheel and slammed their progress to a stop. As she spun around to face him, fire lit her eyes. “Maybe you need to rethink this plan. I’m not really in favor of one where we get chased again.”
“Understood, but we can get some things for you. And since you don’t like your current outfit…” He let the words sit there as a not-so-gentle reminder.
She waved her hand in front of her face. “Forget what I said. The clothes are fine. I don’t need anything else.”
He took in the rise of her chin and the way she rubbed her hands together until they glowed red. The tough-chick act hid something deeper. He knew she was under fire now. He wondered if she’d always been in that position.
“How long have you been running from the law?” he asked.
“I’ve never run from the law. Done a few laps to escape my past, but that’s it.”
She never broke eye contact. Either she could lie and not even twitch in reaction, or the trouble that followed her was not of her own making.
He wanted to believe the latter, but history had delivered the painful lesson that the former was often true. Psychopaths crawled around in every walk of life, including bosses and possibly women who went by the name Courtney.
“Ready to tell me about your past?” he asked.
Her eyebrow lifted. “Is now the time?”
“I might need—” He glanced down the hallway and saw a flash of a black suit before it disappeared around the corner. “Damn.”
“What?”
Jonas would recognize the cocky walk and perfect posture anywhere. “Eckert.”
“Where?”
“Up ahead. Slouch down.”
She did it without saying a word.
Nice and smooth to avoid drawing attention, Jonas pulled the wheelchair backward. With his elbow against the door behind him, he pushed it open and swept Courtney inside.
“How did he know to come looking for us over here?” Her whispered question echoed in the quiet room.
The man in the bed didn’t move. His white hair stuck out from beneath a pile of covers despite the heater running full force. From the outline of his body, Jonas pegged the guy as old and frail.
Getting out of there fast and without bloodshed was the priority. The poor guy could have a heart attack if he woke up to strangers in his room. And if the bullets flew, they’d all have to dodge them.
“Bigger question is how Eckert gave two experienced law-enforcement officers the slip back in the emergency room. Rich and Walt should have been right there with him.” Jonas pushed out the worry for his friends’ safety. They could fight off Eckert, and the man wasn’t likely to open fire in the hospital unless he had Courtney in his arms and could get out fast.
Jonas wasn’t about to let her go. She pressed against his side as he peered out the crack in the closed door. He hadn’t heard her move. The light touch impressed him.
“We have to sneak out,” he said.
“Is Eckert really FBI?”
She gave voice to Jonas’s worries as he thought them. A legitimate agent would play by the rules. There were smart ways for federal agents to walk into town and ask for help, usual channels. This guy ignored them all.
“If he is, this trip is off the books.”
She wound her fingers into the scrubs he wore to cover his bare chest. “So, another assassin.”
“Let’s not use that word.” Managing her panic took a top slot to getting her out of there. If she went wild, Jonas would have to knock her out, and the idea of hitting her gave him a nasty taste in his mouth. “There’s an emergency exit at the opposite end of the hall.”
“The same side where you just saw Eckert?”
“Unfortunately, yes. But Eckert kept moving. He’s probably walking up and down the halls, which could give us the few seconds we need.”
“I don’t love this plan. How about doubling back into the emergency room, since we know he’s not in there?”
“We’re locked out on this side and I don’t want to take the time to stop and fumble wi
th the code.” Jonas grabbed her hand, letting the warmth of his body soak into her icy fingers. “We walk down the hall. When you get to the door, run fast and don’t stop. No matter what, you leave the hospital.”
“Without you?”
“If you have to.” She looked a bit too happy at the thought for his liking. “Ready?”
She nodded. “Walk, sprint and keep going. Got it.”
He didn’t wait for her to think about it, turn it over in her head and obsess. “Now.”
They slipped out of the room and walked double time to the end of the hall. They’d almost gotten to the spot where the hallways intersected when Eckert stepped out next to a cart stacked with supplies. He stood right in front of the door, his back to it, blocking it.
“I had a feeling you were in this hallway,” he said.
Jonas squeezed her hand. “Go.”
She took off.
When Eckert pivoted to catch her in midrun, Jonas dived. The shot hit Eckert right in the stomach, pushing him sideways and sending his full weight slamming into the wall behind him with a grunt. Jonas’s shoulder screamed in protest. The second their bodies clashed, his arm caught on fire. His fingers tingled and daggers of pain sliced through his arm.
A cart crashed to the ground and metal pinged as pans fell to the tile floor. Jonas could hear the rush of footsteps around them and hear the shouts for them to stop. All that mattered was Courtney’s successful flight to freedom. He blocked out the crowd noise and the scratching of hands against his arms and shoulders as a few bystanders tried to pull them apart.
Jonas refused to back away. He threw his weight into the man’s stomach a second time.
Eckert’s lean frame bent over, but he didn’t go down. Grabbing Jonas’s shirt, Eckert pulled and punched. His fists landed with hard slams against Jonas’s bruised ribs. It was as if the guy knew where to hit to inflict the most damage. He was no novice.
Jonas dropped to his knees as new shots of pain raced through him. The guy turned, trying to drag Jonas behind him to the door and flick him off like unwanted gum on his shoe. Jonas tightened his hold. His fist aimed for the back of Eckert’s knee then his thigh. With a roar, the other man stumbled, sending them both flying back into the wall again.
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