The pleading in Walt’s voice chipped away at Jonas’s resolve. Walt thought he knew the right thing and was trying to act on it. Jonas appreciated it. Appreciated everything the man had ever done for him, including stepping in as a mentor when Jonas’s dad died.
Jonas had to call up the image of Courtney’s face to stay on track. His loyalty to Walt tugged at him, but Jonas pushed it out. He’d made her a promise and issued a vow.
“She stays with me.” He said the words without any doubts or regrets.
Walt swore as he kicked at a loose floorboard on the porch. “Then at least promise me that if this gets worse you’ll call me to pick her up. I may not think your relationship is a good idea for you, but I can keep her safe.”
“I know.”
“The best way to do that might be to take her out of Aberdeen, if only for a few days.”
Walt could handle the job. There was no one Jonas trusted with Courtney’s safety more than Walt and Rich. “I appreciate that.”
“But you’re still saying no.”
Jonas couldn’t imagine a time when he wouldn’t say no, but he didn’t share that piece. “If I can’t handle it, I’ll call.”
Chapter Nineteen
Later that afternoon Courtney sat in Jonas’s car and stared across the highway at the one-story motel on the other side. Unexpected rain in the form of a fine mist greeted them the second they slowed to a stop alongside the gas station. Drops spread over the windows, blurring her view of the run-down building.
She tapped her fingernails against the gearshift as she scanned the area. The place looked abandoned. It needed a paint job and a better location. The outskirts of Aberdeen, which offered only the shelves of junk food from the gas station for supplies, didn’t exactly say “tourist destination” to her.
Then again, neither did Aberdeen. The area, with its mountains on one side and water on the other, had a strikingly beautiful, open feel to it, but the town fell into the hidden-gem category. The locals liked the quiet and didn’t use big marketing campaigns to invite outsiders in. The insular nature of the town was one of the reasons she’d picked it.
A figure dressed in dark pants with a windbreaker pulled tight over his head slipped out of the motel-management office. After waiting for a truck to pass, he jogged across the street toward where she sat in the car. She didn’t panic because nothing about this particular man scared her.
Jonas opened the door, bringing a wave of damp air with him. He slammed the door to the whistling wind and blew on his hands. “Man, the storm blew in out of nowhere.”
“Welcome to Oregon.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the radical changes in weather.” He shook his head and water drops sprinkled over the seat. They beaded on his jacket and clung to the ends of his hair.
She brushed her fingers through the back near his neck. The intimate gesture was as natural as breathing. Completely inappropriate for a stakeout, of course. They weren’t making out in the backseat of a car. They were hunting for clues.
When she pulled her hand back, he moved his head closer again. “That feels good.”
“I still think you should be in the hospital.”
“The scan said no concussion.”
She rolled her eyes. “Because that’s the test for getting right back on the job. Whether or not your skull is cracked.”
“It actually is.” He turned his head and shot her one of those sexy smiles.
She wanted to be immune but she wasn’t. “I give up arguing with you about this.”
“Good.”
“For now. I’ll be ready to call for an ambulance just in case.” Her gaze traveled back to the motel. “Any trouble?”
“No. The manager recognized Cade from the tape. He’s using another name, of course.”
“Nothing suspicious about that.”
“He’s in room number three. Dead center.” Jonas rubbed his hands together.
“The car is on the far end.” She recognized it from the hospital tape.
They’d replayed both tapes, the official one from the hospital and Jonas’s hidden one, several times that morning. While they crowded around the small screen, they watched Cade walk in and out of Eckert’s room as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. Forget the fact a man lay dying on the floor. Cade killed without even changing his facial expression.
Like father, like son.
Jonas made them take the video replay back even further. He matched Cade’s entrance into the hospital with the section of the security tape that showed Cade pulling his rental car into the lot then walking across the pavement. Piecing together different time stamps, they could track his every step into the building.
From there, Jonas had clicked and refocused and zoomed in until he caught part of the license plate. One of his officers tracked down the rest, calling the rental-car companies near Aberdeen, and found the exact car that led them here.
The easy trail of police work impressed her. Nothing showy, just solid investigative work. They all stuck with it until they connected the dots.
Cade added to the chain by keeping some of his tracks clear. He’d paid cash for the car but provided a copy of his driver’s license. The evidence directed them right here.
Jonas insisted it had been too easy.
“Your only job is to give me a positive identification,” he said in a voice low and dark.
That quickly, the man morphed back into the cop. She understood it, but she didn’t always like the harsh change. Just when his mood lured her in, he started issuing orders.
And he wondered why she rarely obeyed.
She dropped her hand back on her lap. “I thought I already did that when I looked at the video.”
Jonas folded his hand over hers and dragged it to his thigh. “You talked about knowing a guy’s body type and walk.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s a little thin, don’t you think?”
Typical male reaction. They had no idea what facts a woman could pick up from the slightest things. Her training in illustration helped, but all women had the gift. Where men could be clueless, women thrived on intuition.
“I’d know you from the way you walk. You could be headed in the opposite direction wearing a coat, and I’d pick you out,” she said.
“You do have a bit more personal experience with my body.”
Her cheeks flared with heat. “Are you trying to change the subject?”
“Just trying to get some circulation back into my leg.”
She followed his gaze and saw how her nails were digging into his dark jeans. “Sorry.”
“I prefer pleasure to pain.”
“I’m happy to hear that.”
Jonas put a hand on the wheel and leaned in. “There aren’t any lights.”
He switched topics on a breath and she rushed to catch up. “What?”
“It’s dark out, thanks to the rain. His curtains are drawn. I don’t even see the reflection of the television.”
Jonas turned over the car’s engine. A blast of heat blew across her feet. After two swipes of the windshield wipers the view of the motel cleared. Only one of the windows other than the management office had a light.
“How many people are staying there?” she asked, sure Jonas would have tracked that information down.
“Four.”
She snuck a peek at Cade’s rental again. Rain ran down the windows and dripped into the parking space below, suggesting it hadn’t moved in some time. “Maybe he’s sleeping.”
“Maybe he snuck out.”
She couldn’t swallow over the sudden lump in her throat. “You think he knows we’re over here?”
“He’s been trained. His partner is dead. That makes the walls close in on a guy.” Jonas’s hand flexed on the wheel. “Trust me.”
“But—”
“We’re going in closer.” Jonas put the car in gear.
They glided out of their hiding place to the edge of the road. Two
cars passed, spraying water in every direction. When the short spurt of traffic cleared, Jonas drove across the road. Gravel crunched under the tires as he came to a stop three spaces down from Cade’s rental car.
The lump stopped her breath and the churning in her stomach threatened to double her over. “This guy is a killer.”
“So?”
Now that the confrontation time had come, her brain cried for her to run. Coming face-to-face with the man determined to ruin her father’s memory made her head spin. She expected to feel a rush of power. Instead, her muscles melted to liquid.
“I don’t think we should push him.” Her teeth chattered hard enough for her to hear the clicking. “I know I tend to say this a lot, but you should call for backup.”
“For what?”
“What?”
“I don’t have any evidence or probable cause.”
“Is that the point?”
Jonas finally focused on her instead of the motel. His gaze roamed all over her, stopping at her foot thumping against the floor. “What’s wrong with you?”
“This is a mistake.”
Before she could put an explanation together in her head, her door whipped open and she fell backward. Strong hands pulled her out of the car and into the rain. She would have fallen, but an arm banded tight around her waist and set her upright.
“Why are you following me?” Cold metal pressed against her temple.
She couldn’t see her attacker, but she knew. Cade Willis had come to finish the work his father started.
Instead of jumping out of the car, Jonas opened the door nice and slow. The tip of his gun appeared over the top of the car first. Then he stood up, his eyes filled with a killing fury as the rain pounded down on him.
He walked around to the front with his jaw fixed and his gun aimed behind her. He didn’t bother to wipe the water from his face. His expression said it all. He would shoot and not think twice. Cade started the death dance and Jonas was prepared to end it.
He stopped and stiffened his stance. “Drop it, Willis.”
“I’m FBI.” The anger in Cade’s voice matched the eerie calm in Jonas’s.
“I don’t care.”
“You don’t want the feds coming down on your town.”
“What makes you think you’re going to live to tell anyone where you are?”
A tremor ran through Cade and rumbled against her. He talked tough and didn’t back down, but Jonas affected him. She didn’t know how he couldn’t. Tall and dressed in black, Jonas wore the look of an avenging angel.
“Put the gun down and I’ll let her go.” Cade yelled the order in her ear.
She flinched and ducked her head away from him. Quickly, Jonas’s fingers moved. She could see him wrestle with the idea of killing Cade on the spot, no chances. Part of her wanted the man dead, but she’d settle for having him answer some questions then disappear forever.
Even through the waves of nausea and blinding fear, she wanted the truth. She stood close enough that his hot breath tickled against her neck. If she could turn around and smack him, keep hitting until he admitted his father’s sins, she would.
But he had her in a tight hold. The rain had soaked her shirt. The sound of the rushing water and thunder in the distance echoed in her ears. Cars whizzed by, but her entire world focused on Jonas’s hands on that weapon.
Jonas’s gaze never left Cade’s face. “Let her go and I won’t shoot you in the head.”
“This isn’t a negotiation. I’m calling the shots.”
Jonas kept walking. He was at the front edge of the car closest to them now, only a few feet away now. “Not sure how well you did in sharpshooting class at the agency, but I was considered an expert in the army.”
Cade barked out a shaky laugh. “We can both hit at this distance.”
“But I’m willing to die for her. Are you?”
Her heart flipped at Jonas’s admission. Deep inside, in that part of her she’d closed off and abandoned, she knew he was telling the truth. This wasn’t a game to him.
She closed her eyes and prayed Cade would give in. She dug her fingernails into his arm. “Listen to Jonas.”
Cade ignored her, didn’t even flinch. “You wouldn’t risk her life, Porter.”
“I won’t hesitate to put you down like the sick animal you are. Wouldn’t be the first time the job called for it. Working the streets of Los Angeles taught me that.”
“We’re in Oregon now, Deputy.”
“And I can do all of those things I promised without touching her.” A knowing calm washed over Jonas. “Just test me.”
After a second of hesitation, the weight around her middle eased. She didn’t wait. She bolted to Jonas’s side and slipped her body half behind his.
She could see Cade now. The photos in her file didn’t highlight his size. He’d gone from a skinny college kid screaming at her in the courthouse to a man in a Kevlar vest with dark patches under his eyes.
“What do you want from me?” The question ripped out of her, the words tumbling out before she could stop them.
“The truth.”
Jonas didn’t lower his gun or relax his muscles. She knew because she had a death grip on the back of his shirt. Every part of him was on high alert.
“What the hell does that mean?” he asked. “Answer her question.”
“She won’t let it drop, won’t accept what her father did. She keeps on going and accusing my dad. She harasses the cops and insists on meetings with the prosecutors.”
“How dare you—”
“You’ve made my life hell.” Cade’s words thundered over the pounding rain.
“I did what I had to do. And I don’t regret it.”
“My father is dead because of you.” Cade’s anguished cry drowned out the sounds of the cars honking as they passed.
The noise, so primal and lost, battered against her wall of hatred. She recognized the mind-numbing pain because she’d heard it in her own voice. The mouth twisted with rage and the hands clenched as if to fight off the thoughts that constantly assailed him. She’d lived through it all.
To keep strong, she let her mind flood with the memories of the shocking crime-scene photos. Blood splashed everywhere. Her sister hunted down and shot in the back of the head in her girlie-pink bedroom.
Then there was the fear that had wrapped around her every day, everything Courtney did since then, as she waited for her family’s killer to come and get her, too. She’d slept in her closet for weeks. She moved across the country to hide while she investigated.
She lost everything—her family, her security and her future.
From behind the safety of Jonas’s shoulders, she shouted all that built-up rage at Cade, letting it spew and engulf her. “Your father killed my family. He tried before and failed to hurt a woman, but he succeeded with the people I loved.”
The gun shook in Cade’s hands. “That’s not true. That other woman lied. My father never touched her.”
The shout caught in her throat let go. “Wake up, Cade.”
Cade tapped the side of his gun against his chest. “I was there. I saw that woman rip my family apart with her lies and all because my father sued her. Her claims were discredited and the prosecutor refused to file charges.”
“Your dad got lucky that time. Once he got away with it, he had the taste.” And her family paid the price for that series of poor decisions.
“No.” Cade shook his head and mumbled as if lost in his own thoughts. “My dad liked your family. Your father gave him a chance.”
“And look what happened.”
“Your father killed them all and you wouldn’t accept it.”
“No.” She covered her ears. “No. It was Tad Willis. He was there that day and tried to cover it up. The police found his fingerprints in the house.”
“He feared he’d be blamed, so he lied at first. He’d used a bathroom and left while everyone was still alive and fine. How could he make people believe that?�
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Cade had an answer for everything. He said the facts as if he believed them.
“Then why did he kill himself?” The roaring in her ears blinked off, replaced with a sudden, shocking silence. “Why would an innocent man do that?”
“Because he couldn’t take it.” Cade shook his gun at her as his face crumbled.
Jonas shifted his weight until his body blocked her view of Cade. “And you followed your father’s lead and came here and killed Paul Eckert. Did he get in your way or were you afraid he’d uncover your past?”
Cade’s shoulders fell as his mouth dropped open. “What?”
In the split second when Cade’s gun wavered, Jonas sprang into action. She screamed his name as he lunged over the front edge of the car and hit Cade square in the chest. The gun skittered across the pavement and under Cade’s car as the men went down.
They rolled across the wet pavement, rain on them as they punched and kicked. Cade landed a shot to Jonas’s jaw that sent his head flying back.
“Jonas!” She turned and called out to the manager for help but the door never opened. Two men stood across the street at the station but didn’t come over.
They were on their own.
She stopped watching the fight long enough to search the ground for one of the guns. A flash of metal by her feet had her bending down and picking it up. Even in the cold, the metal pressed warm against her skin.
When she looked up again, arms and legs flailed. She saw Cade’s back then Jonas’s stomach. They switched positions as they grunted and their clothing rustled. Water poured on them in a steady, unforgiving flow. Their elbows splashed in the deep puddles of the pockmarked lot.
The heavy weapon weighed down her arms as she followed the men’s movements. She wanted to shoot a warning shot but worried she’d distract Jonas or hit a bystander. Shooting into the pile risked killing Jonas, and the thought of that made her stomach heave.
With a roaring shout, Jonas wrestled Cade to his back. Cade reared up, lifting his body off the ground, but Jonas shoved him back down again. From that position, with his hands on Cade’s shoulders, Jonas smacked Cade’s head against the pavement.
Cade turned and avoided most of the blow. He kicked out and bucked. But when Jonas leaned down and pressed an elbow into Cade’s throat, the man stopped squirming. He looked up at Jonas with eyes glazed with fear as a choke strangled out of him.
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