Ultimate Kill (Book 1 Ultimate CORE Trilogy) (CORE Series)

by Kristine Mason

  After he began working at CORE, started hanging out with Rachel and Owen, something inside of him kept nagging and urging him to look for Naomi. To put the past to rest and move forward. Since she’d left him, he’d dated, but nothing regular. He hadn’t wanted to become involved in a relationship that could end as badly as the one he’d had with Naomi. But Rachel and Owen, the way they looked at each other, their body language toward each other and their occasional PDA, had him thinking about the past, about Naomi and how good it used to be between them.

  Now he wanted answers. Naomi had told him she needed to leave Bola because she couldn’t handle small town life, even though she was the one who’d talked him into moving there. When she’d brought up leaving, he’d been a year into his first term as sheriff and hadn’t been able to walk off the job. Instead, he’d suggested a long distance relationship. She said she’d think about it. When he’d returned home that night, she was gone. Her clothes, her books, whatever she could pack in her car. Gone.

  Anger and betrayal caused the tension in his neck to intensify. “I’m not sure what I’m going to do,” he said. “I might drive into town and keep on going.”

  “Well, according to the map I’m looking at, unless you make a few turns you’ll drive right into a river.” She released a sigh. “Jake, I’m not going to tell you your business, but have you thought this through?”

  He’d done nothing but think about Naomi since Rachel discovered where she’d been living the past four and a half years. Was she dating? Married? Did she have any kids? Jealousy stabbed him in the chest. Even though her betrayal still cut him deep, he wanted her happy. Only he wanted her happy with him. Or, he used to.

  “I’ll play it by ear,” he answered, and added another dead armadillo to his count.

  “Brilliant plan,” she said with heavy sarcasm. “Look, I’m going to be blunt.”

  Great. Here we go. “Shocking. I can’t wait.”

  “I’m being serious, Jake. There’s a reason why she ran, and you know damn well that’s what she did.”

  “I don’t know anything.” He gripped the steering wheel tight. “Hell, I don’t even know her real name.” When Rachel had used Naomi’s social security number to track her whereabouts, the computer hacker had discovered that Naomi McCall hadn’t existed until eight years ago.

  “Shit. I’m sorry. I know this has to be hard. You obviously loved her and she…well, she had another agenda.”

  One that hadn’t included him. If Naomi was on the run, if she was part of the Witness Protection Program—which sounded like a ridiculous theme from a Hollywood movie—he could understand her secrecy. But they’d been together for three years before she’d disappeared. They’d planned to marry, start a family, a future. For her to not trust him enough to tell him the truth…that frickin’ sucked. And hurt.

  He slowed the rented Lincoln Navigator and eyed the remains of the Georgia Girl Drive-In to his left. Weeds and small saplings filled what used to be a parking lot. Like so many of the old, abandoned buildings and cars he’d seen during the drive, nature was doing its best to reclaim the land. Then he saw a road sign.

  Five miles to Woodbine.

  Five miles to Naomi.

  His stomach knotted with both anticipation and dread. Maybe Rachel was right. Maybe he should leave Naomi alone. If she was running from the past, who was he to stop her?

  Her fiancé, damn it. Her lover. Her best friend. The man who had promised to love her and cherish her. Maybe not in front of a minister or judge, but he’d made that pledge to her. And he’d meant every word.

  “This is simply a recon mission,” he said. “Like I told you, I might keep on driving through.” Another lie. He’d come this far and he never did anything by half.

  “Like Owen, you couldn’t lie your way out of a paper bag.”

  “What the hell does that even mean?”

  “You’re full of it. You’re going to go there and meet with her and possibly mess with her life. On top of that, if this goes as bad as I think it will, you’re going to come back to Chicago surlier than when you left.”

  “Surly, huh?”

  He heard more tapping from the keyboard. “Yes, gruff, brusque, curt, boorish—”

  Chuckling, he shook his head. “Are you reading from a thesaurus?”

  “Yes, I am. And while this entry wasn’t in there, I’d like to add crab-ass to the list.”

  “I haven’t been that bad.” Or had he?

  “That’s what you think. You know, maybe you should meet with Naomi. Get her out of your system once and for all, then come back to Chicago. I already started a profile for you on one of those online dating sites. You need to get laid. And with the picture of you I have up there, I have no doubt you’ll find someone new in no time.”

  His cheeks burned. While used to Rachel’s bluntness, her ‘you need to get laid’ comment was too straightforward, even for her. “First, worry about your own sex life. Second, don’t you dare put me on some dating site.”

  “I said I have it ready to go. I would never do that to you.” She let out another sigh. “I care about you, Jake. I just want to see you happy.”

  The Lincoln approached a sign.

  Welcome to Woodbine. Established in 1893. Home of Georgia’s Official Crawfish Festival.

  The anticipation and dread strengthened as the overgrown terrain he’d been driving past morphed into mowed lawns and well-kept houses. Minutes from now, he’d pull up to the school where Naomi worked at as a nurse. If Rachel wanted to see him happy, this could be her chance. Unless…

  Needing fresh air, he rolled down the window.

  Unless Naomi blew off his ass.

  “Thanks, Rachel. I’ll call you when I’m heading out of here. It’s a fifteen hour drive from Woodbine to Chicago. I might want to catch that plane, after all. Either way, I’ll be home by Monday to work on Ian’s cold case.”

  “I’ll let him know. And, Jake…I know this sounds pessimistic, but prepare yourself for the worst.”

  Right. If he didn’t expect too much, he might not be let down. “Got it,” he said, then after saying good-bye, he ended the call. The well-kept houses disappeared into marshland as he took the bridge into Woodbine. When the marsh disappeared and the houses returned, he slowed the Lincoln and turned into the parking lot of the Rainbow Lodge, an old single story motel. While he wasn’t sure if he’d stay in Woodbine, he planned to secure a room just in case.

  Screw it. He pulled back out of the parking lot and followed the Lincoln’s GPS to the local elementary school. Rachel was right. He should prepare for the worst. The nearest major airport was in Jacksonville, Florida, and only a forty minute drive. He’d check on Naomi, try and catch her as she was leaving work and invite her to dinner. If she flat out wanted nothing to do with him, he’d head right back the way he came.

  Unacceptable.

  He had a lot of questions that needed answering. Namely, who was the real Naomi McCall?

  *

  “All better, Joey?” Naomi asked the adorable and klutzy second grader who had been a frequent visitor to the nurses office since kindergarten.

  The boy nodded and handed her the ice pack. “Better.”

  “Good. I hope this means you won’t be running through the library anymore.”

  “And have to flip my star? Uh-uh. If I flip my star, I don’t get to pick anything from the candy box.”

  She took his hand and led him out of her office. “Oh, my. That would be bad.”

  “Yeah, and if my mom found out I flipped my star, she might make me stay home instead of going to Disney World.”

  “You’re going to Disney World for spring break? Wow, you’re a lucky guy. But I can’t imagine your mom leaving you behind.”

  “I dunno. My dad is always calling her a tease. So maybe she was just teasing me when she said if I’m not good at school I can’t go on vacation.”

  “A tease,” she echoed and hid a smile. “Yes, I bet that’s exactly what she wa
s doing. Teasing you.” She gave his little shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Have fun and tell Mickey Mouse and Goofy I said hi.”

  Joey grew serious. “You know those are just people in costumes, right?”

  “Yes, I’m fully aware. Thank you. Now scoot. The principal is going to be calling for buses soon.”

  As Joey dashed down the hall, Claire Brundle, one of the school’s special ed teachers and her close friend, came around the corner. “Geez, Nurse Naomi, don’t you know anything? Mickey Mouse and Goofy aren’t real.”

  She laughed. “Thank God Joey clued me in, huh? That kid is a riot. You should have heard what he said his dad calls his mom.”

  “I don’t even want to know. Olivia’s preschool teacher told me that she’ll believe half of what my daughter says happens at home, if I believe half of what happens at school.”

  “Good advice. So, are you ready for your vacation?”

  “Yep. It’s scary how ahead of the game I am. Everything is packed, and all my darling husband has to do is load the car and we’re outta here. You know we still have room for one more.”

  Over the past few months, Claire had asked her a dozen times to join her and her family to spend spring break with them at the house they’d rented in Siesta Key, Florida. While she’d appreciated the offer, spending the week with Claire, her husband and daughter, her mother and father in-law, not to mention her brother and sister in-law and their three kids sounded not only like a recipe for disaster but a vacation from hell. Besides, she had her garden to tend to and some serious spring cleaning to do.

  She wrapped an arm around Claire’s shoulder. “Thank you. But I’ll let you have all the fun.”

  “Please?” Claire batted her lashes. “I promise you won’t have to pay for a thing.”

  “I am so on to you. You just want me there as a buffer from a houseful of in-laws.”

  “No. I need a drinking partner. If you’re there, my mother-in-law won’t give me the ‘Claire, do you really think you need that glass of wine’ crap.”

  She laughed. “Okay, so you want me there as an excuse to get drunk. For shame.”

  “That’s me. The town drunk.”

  Their principal chose that very moment to round the corner. Claire’s cheeks grew beet red when he raised his eyebrows. After he went into the office, Naomi nudged Claire with her shoulder. “Smooth.”

  “No kidding. On that note, I’m leaving.” Claire started down the hall, then glanced over her shoulder. “If you change your mind, the minivan leaves at thirteen hundred this evening.”

  “You realize that’s one o’clock, right?”

  Claire gave her a wave. “Whatever. I’ll send you a postcard.”

  Shaking her head and grinning, Naomi went into her office. As she shut off her computer and locked down her supplies, she thought about the next ten days. No bloody noses, no bumps on the head, no pink eye or chances of lice. While she loved working with kids, being a school nurse wasn’t exactly dull but it also wasn’t the most exciting job, either. Back in the day, she’d worked in busy ERs and had dealt with all sorts of crazy cases.

  Those days were long gone.

  Rather than dwell on the past she looked to the week ahead. To the gardening, the spring cleaning. Maybe she’d even paint her spare bedroom or catch up on some reading or the shows clogging her DVR.

  Alone.

  “Have a great week,” Donna, one of the school’s secretaries called from the main office.

  “You too,” she said and couldn’t help envying Donna. She and her husband were leaving for an all-inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic for the next five days. They had no kids, but were trying. And Donna was hoping they’d come back from the resort with extra baggage.

  She finished closing up her office, then locked the door. As she left the school, she waved to a group of kids waiting to climb into the idling bus and headed toward the main parking lot. While she walked, she dug into her purse for her keys. Once they were in her hand she looked at her Toyota 4Runner, which was probably about forty feet away, and clicked the button on her key chain to unlock the car doors.

  A large, dark grey SUV drove down one of the parking lot aisles, then turned and slowly moved in her direction. Although she assumed the driver was a parent coming to pick up their kid, and she refused to allow old insecurities to fester, she still quickened her pace. While she hadn’t heard a word from the murdering bastard in eight years, and the chances that he was still even looking for her were—damn it.

  Don’t think about him. He’s not worth the time or energy.

  She reached the Toyota, opened the driver’s side door and tossed her purse onto the passenger seat. The dark grey vehicle slowed, then pulled into a parking spot two away from hers. With no other cars between the SUV and her Toyota she could see the dark silhouette of a man. And it looked as if he was staring. At her.

  Those insecurities took root anyway. Always aware of her surroundings, always on alert, she quickly slipped into the driver’s seat, closed then locked the door. Sliding the key into the ignition, she glanced out the window, then froze.

  Her heart raced. Her mouth went dry. An uncontrollable shiver ran through her body.

  The past five years suddenly disintegrated. As if she’d just woken from a disjointed nightmare, the months of running, of searching for the perfect place to hide in plain sight, the lonely days and even lonelier nights faded into a blur.

  Jake.

  Tears welled in her eyes. For the lost years, the lost love, for the future they could never have. She quickly blinked them away and opened the car door. Her legs weak, her stomach somersaulting with embarrassment, excitement and regret, she placed a shaky hand on the door for support. A small part of her wanted to climb back into the car, drive off and pretend Jake had never come to Woodbine. But a large part of her, the part that had never stopped loving him, that had never allowed the memories of what they’d had together die, wanted to run to him. Throw her arms around his neck and kiss him.

  “Jake,” she whispered, then cleared her throat. He looked so damned good. Tan, lean, muscular, his big toned arms showing from beneath his short sleeve golf shirt, his dark hair no longer in his trademark military crew cut.

  Chin trembling, hand still clinging to the opened car door, she took a small, tentative step forward. “Jake,” she said louder, firmer.

  He pushed off the SUV and slowly approached, his gaze never wavering from hers. Lightheaded, she stayed put, kept her hand on the door for fear she might crumble to the asphalt. She’d dreamed of seeing him again, had imagined what she might say, the excuses she could give him. But anything she’d ever come up with had sounded terrible, selfish and ridiculous. Even if what she’d tell him was the truth.

  Now that he was less than five feet away from her, she had no idea what to say or do. A million questions buzzed through her mind. Was he married? Did he have children? Fresh tears filled her eyes. God, she really was a selfish bitch. She wanted him happy, had always prayed he’d find someone to love, but deep down she’d hated the thought of him loving someone else. Making love to another woman. Creating a child. A future that hadn’t included her.

  “You look beautiful,” he said, his voice rough, raw. He blinked, looked to the ground and took a couple of more steps until he stood within arm’s reach. When he met her gaze, she expected anger and resentment, instead she found anguish, longing and heat in his dark eyes.

  She pressed her lips together to stop her chin from trembling and swiped at an errant tear. She’d hurt him. Because she’d loved him so much, she had no choice but to leave. With too many deaths on her conscience, she’d refused to add Jake to that ugly list.

  Her mom, dad and brother’s dead bodies chased through her mind.

  “School nurse?” he asked and tilted his head toward the building.

  Unable to speak, afraid she’d burst into tears in the parking lot where buses, kids and faculty were only a short distance away, she nodded.

  �
��That’s probably a nice change for you. Better hours, less stress.”

  She gave him another nod, while her mind and heart continued to race. Why now? Why was he here? She broke eye contact and glanced at his left hand. No ring.

  A surge of relief swept through her, but when she met his gaze again, it quickly dissipated. While the heat remained, his eyes no longer held a trace of hurt, but definitely anger.

  “Are you happy here?”

  I’ve never been truly happy since I left you. The words were there, but she couldn’t say them. Still too stunned to speak, too afraid she’d turn into a puddle of mush in the school parking lot, and worried people might be watching them, she gave him another lame nod.

  “I know this is a shock,” he said, his voice holding resentment. “Coming here was a mistake. I’m sorry.” He turned his broad shoulders and moved toward the SUV.

  Don’t go. Don’t go. “Don’t,” she said and choked back a sob.

  He stopped and turned his head slightly. Not enough to face her, but enough where she could see the hardening of his strong jaw.

  “Don’t what?” he asked, his tone bitter.

  “Don’t leave. Nothing with you was ever a mistake.” Except when I was forced to leave you.

  He looked over his shoulder. The doubt in his eyes had her letting go of the car door and moving a few steps. Although not prepared to cope with the past, to cope with everything she’d given up, she wasn’t ready to let him go. Again.

  “You came here for a reason,” she said. “I’d like to…catch up and see how you’ve been. Just not in the school parking lot.”

  Nodding, he faced her. “I saw a diner on the way in. Can I buy you a cup of coffee?”

  “No.” She refused to deal with their reunion in a diner. There were too many issues left unsaid. “I—”

  Andy Webber, the school’s gym teacher, strolled by and waved. After he walked past them, Jake took a step back.