Ricochet's Rogue (Agent of Mercy, Book Three)

by Miller, Robin Leigh

  She was laughing, her bright smile reaching her eyes. She must have been moving when the photo was snapped because her hair was waving behind her. She was in trouble if this guy was after her. Fear for her overrode the pain in his groin. If this bastard got his hands on her… He refused to let those thoughts push any further into his mind. The niggling panic taking form in his stomach was disturbing enough. He tucked the picture in his front pocket and headed to the barracks to gather his gear.

  He was packing his duffle when Boomer walked in, followed by Pearson and Nelson. He glanced up at them and continued what he was doing.

  “I hear there’s trouble,” Boomer said in his deep concerned voice.

  “Yep.”

  “When ya leaving?”

  “As soon as I’m packed. Guess you’ll have the boys to yourself a while. Don’t let ’em blow themselves up.”

  “We’ll save that for when you’re back, sir,” Pearson said. “We just wanted to say goodbye and good luck, sir.”

  They each went forward and shook his hand and then left.

  “What’s that all about?” he asked Boomer.

  “They’re just a little concerned. We preach teamwork and you’re going off alone to a mission.”

  “It’s just a fact-findin’ mission. Nothin’ dangerous.”

  “Is that why you’re taking your gun?” Boomer asked as Ricochet slammed a clip into it.

  “Just bein’ prepared.”

  “I don’t like this, buddy. None of us ever went out on our own before.”

  “He’s right, Ricochet,” Kong said walking in. “We go way back and never took a mission alone.”

  “Ah you guys are gonna make me blush. It’s nothing, really. I’ll get there, find out what’s going on and report back to Cannon. If there’s a problem you’ll find yourselves on a plane.”

  “I have a bad feeling about this,” Boomer said sitting on his cot.

  “Just watch your back, man. This is Ronnie we’re talking about. She’ll think about herself before she does you,” Kong told him.

  That statement stung a bit. “I wouldn’t say that. She kept me from getting stabbed one night.”

  “Was that watching your back or just wanting the first strike at him? Think about it. She doesn’t like working with anyone, she made that clear in the exercise.”

  “She also apologized to Pearson and Nelson for it and promised she’d try harder. Look, I don’t wanna talk about it now.”

  Kong walked over and slapped him on the back. “It’s a bitch, ain’t it?”

  “What?”

  “Being in love.”

  “What the hell are you talkin’ about? I don’t love no one. We slept together, one night, that’s all. That don’t mean I’m in love with her.”

  “You let her kick ya in the nuts.” Kong said with a twinkle in his eye. “That says love to me.”

  He tossed down his duffle bag and sneered. “You really wanna piss me off before I head out?”

  “Okay, okay, I’ll back off. Let us walk ya to the plane.”

  When they reached the runway Cannon met them there along with Sam.

  “She took a flight about ten minutes ago. You’ll get there before her so it might make it easier for you,” Cannon told him.

  “Yeah, it will. Thanks.”

  “Be careful, Ricochet,” Sam said hugging him.

  “Don’t you worry about me, baby doll. You take care of yourself.”

  He climbed aboard the plane, waved to his friends and closed the door. As the plane ascended he let out a long breath. He didn’t want to tell the rest but he had a bad feeling about this trip too. Nothing was ever easy when it came to Veronica Holter and this surely wouldn’t be just a fact-finding mission.

  He lifted his bag into his lap and removed his extra firearm. If he had put it on in front of his friends they would have known he was uneasy. Carefully he placed it in the waistband of his jeans and gave it a pat.

  Chapter Eleven

  He sat across the street from her apartment building in his rental car. Her plane landed twenty minutes ago so he figured this would be the first place she would come. The building wasn’t exactly what he expected. He was looking for a sophisticated, maybe brick building well manicured with shrubs and flowers.

  What she lived in was a plain cinder block building with nothing but concrete surrounding it. He observed many people coming and going. They were low income residents. Did that make her a low income person as well? Or did she choose to live here for a reason?

  The area wasn’t the best either. As he drove the streets he saw at least two drug deals go down and a host of gangs roaming around. Teenage girls sat on porches monitoring small children as they played on the sidewalk. It wasn’t much different from where he grew up, just another name.

  A car pulled up and parked on the street in front of the building. She got out and ran inside. He’d give her a few moments then make his way up. He knew the apartment number so there was no need to follow her.

  As he climbed the stairs he could smell the stench of stale smoke. He pressed against the walls, all cinder block. If the apartments were the same as the halls how did it burn?

  Approaching her door he noticed it wasn’t closed all the way so he peeked through the crack. Veronica was stumbling around inside mumbling to herself. It looked as though she was looking for something. Apparently she found it from the string of curse words flowing from her mouth. He opened the door and leaned against the jam.

  “No, Mama, no.” She said holding something to her chest. “Why?”

  She began sobbing softly, her shoulders shaking as she clutched her treasure. It was heartbreaking. He could feel his own heart crumbling inside his chest. He wanted to go to her, hold her and tell her everything would be okay. But it wouldn’t be, not until she vanquished her personal demons.

  He spared a glance around the small room. Everything was charred, blackened and unrecognizable. Just as he thought, the walls were cinder block, which meant an accelerant was used to burn everything. The strong aroma of gas permeated the room. Whoever did this soaked the place.

  A loud crash brought his attention back to Veronica. She was kicking and throwing things around, swearing a blue streak. He shoved away from the burned wood of the door and walked into the room.

  “Veronica,” he said, stepping over debris and dodging flying objects. “Veronica, stop.”

  She jumped, pulled back her fist and crouched to attack.

  “Whoa, babe. It’s just me. Simmer down.”

  “Ricochet? What the hell are you doing here?” she asked rubbing the back of her hand across her cheeks, whisking away the tears.

  “I came to make sure everythin’ was okay.”

  “It’s just lovely, if you call losing everything you own lovely. That son of a bitch will pay for this,” she said picking up what looked like a leg from a coffee table and slinging it across the room.

  “Veronica,” he said stepping up to her and trying to wrap his arms around her.

  “No!” she spat pushing him away. “Don’t touch me. I don’t want you here.”

  They battled back and forth, him grabbing, her pushing and punching all while she held onto the burned piece of wood.

  He persisted, fighting her until she tired and melted into his arms sobbing uncontrollably. He lowered them both to the floor and let her cry against his chest. Her warm tears soaked through his shirt and into the skin over his heart. Slowly and gently, he stroked her hair and rested his cheek against the top of her head. Those comfortable feelings he experienced the other night in her hotel room returned. He tightened his arms around her and began to rock her back and forth.

  When her crying slowed he loosened his grip, but still held her. Eventually she stopped crying all together.

  “You can let me go now. I think I’m fine,” she said in a hoarse voice.

  “Nope. I’m not ready yet.” He wanted to hold her against him for as long as he could.

  “I don�
�t want this to be misunderstood, like I’m trying to get you into bed,” she trying to pull away.

  “Damn it, Veronica, just let me hold ya. I want to hold ya.”

  She didn’t say anything, just relaxed against him. “I’m sorry this happened, honey.”

  “It sucks.”

  “Yeah it does.”

  “Why did you come, really?”

  “When I made it back to Cannon’s office Beth said you took off after talkin’ with the police. I asked him to check it out. He did and got the plane ready for me to come. Everyone’s worried.”

  “I doubt that. They’ve all been tolerating me, but that’s it. Like you.”

  “Don’t assume anythin’, Veronica.”

  “Why do you do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “Call me Veronica when everyone else calls me Ronnie.”

  “Cause you’re too pretty to be a Ronnie. I like your name. Veronica. It’s saucy.”

  Her tiny laugh was music to his ears and warmed his insides.

  “What’s that you’re holding?” he asked.

  “It used to be my favorite picture of my mother. Now it’s just a burned mess.”

  “It wasn’t your only picture was it?”

  “No. But this one was taken just before she died. It was at my graduation.”

  “Let me see it.” He took it from her, turned it sideways, upside down and all around checking it out. The frame was severely charred and the picture was warped and browned. Somehow it didn’t completely burn.

  “Let’s get out of here. I don’t like breathin’ this stuff. You have a place to stay, clothes?”

  “I came straight here from the airport. I still need to go to the police station. I figured I’d find a hotel after that.”

  “Okay, we’ll go the police station then worry about the rest later,” he said pulling her to her feet.

  “We?”

  “Yeah, we. I’m sticking close to ya for a while.” He brushed soot and dirt from his pants.

  “How close?”

  He looked into her eyes and saw hope and confusion. “As close as skin, babe. No shakin’ me, no tryin’ to sneak away. Your life is in danger and I intend to make sure that sweet ass of yours is safe.”

  “Oh. So you’re my bodyguard?” she tossed her picture on the floor.

  “So to speak,” he said picking it up.

  They climbed over rubble, pulled the door closed and left the building. She was quiet, sullen and in deep thought.

  “Is this your car or a rental?” he asked when they reached the curb.

  “Rental.”

  “We can return it and use mine. That’ll cut down on expenses for ya.”

  “Cut down on expenses? Wait, you think because I live here I don’t have any money don’t ya? For your information, I chose to live here. I don’t need an overpriced place to live. This suited me just fine. I may not own a lot of things but that’s because I don’t need a lot of things.”

  He held up hands. “Back up a minute. I’m not sayin’ any of that. You just lost what ya do own. It’s gonna take every penny ya have to get by for a while. Hotels, cars, new clothes, food. I’m just lookin’ out for ya.”

  “That is going to cut into my savings,” she mumbled. “Sorry.”

  “Not a problem. Come on, I’ll follow ya back to the airport to return the car and then we’ll head to the station.”

  “Yeah, thanks.” Accepting his logic didn’t sit well with her.

  He made sure she was in the car before he crossed the street and climbed into his own. During the twenty-five minute drive he placed a call back to W&S to let Cannon know he was there and had been in her apartment. He relayed everything, the kind of building it was, how everything was saturated in fuel to make sure it burned. He assured Canon once they were done at the police station and had a place to stay he’d call him back.

  This was going to be a hard day for her. She had already seen the ruins of her life, now she had to go hear how there were no leads in the case. She didn’t question him when he said her life was in danger so she knew, which meant she knew who did it.

  The obstacle now was to keep her from going off half-cocked looking for her suspect. While he fed her tonight he’d talk with her about how this was going to be handled. She wouldn’t like it, but that was her problem.

  He followed her into the parking lot of the rental station at the airport and then followed her inside. Once she was finished with the paperwork they walked together to his car.

  “Do you know where the station is?”

  “Nope, but I take direction well.”

  “Okay.”

  She guided him through streets downtown and told him a little about the area. He could tell she was talking just to keep her mind occupied. He couldn’t help thinking that if she wasn’t neck deep in trouble this would be a perfect little vacation. How nice would it be walking hand in hand down the streets with her, looking through shop windows, eating at some out-of-the-way restaurant and then returning to her place for hot steamy romance.

  Except she didn’t have a place anymore, a lunatic was trying to shake her to the surface so he could find and kill her, and he, Rico, wasn’t supposed to be this attracted to her. Damn, this was getting out of hand.

  “Ricochet, turn here,” she shouted.

  He snapped out of his in-depth thinking and jammed on the brakes in time to make the turn. See, he thought to himself, you’re bein’ stupid. Your head’s up your ass instead of where it belongs all because she blew you away with incredible sex.

  “Sorry,” he said pulling into a parking spot.

  “I knew you weren’t listening. Already working on a way to get this over with so you can go home?” she asked slipping out of the car.

  If only, he said to himself. “Yeah, right.”

  “You don’t have to go in. I can take care of this myself.”

  “Sorry, babe, I’m goin’ in. I want to hear what they found.”

  She rolled her eyes at him and walked away. He followed her in with a smile on his face. He could annoy her too, that was a good thing. Couldn’t have it all one sided.

  As he thought, the meeting with the police was fruitless. No leads, no witnesses, nothing. They did let him read the report by the arson investigator. The man surmised the same as he did. Large amounts of accelerant used to start the fire. One single match was found at the front door. Apparently whoever did it didn’t want to be stuck inside when it went up so he lit it at the door.

  Veronica crawled back into the car and slid down into her seat. When they told her they’d continue investigating she replied with a less than enthusiastic, “Sure ya will”. Her faith in law enforcement was nonexistent.

  “Once the threats start coming in they’ll back off,” she said as they left the station.

  “Maybe. You seem sure it’s your guy.”

  “I’ve seen what he can do. It’s his way. Create a little havoc, bring his target out of hiding and finish them off.”

  “Is that what you were doin’, hidin’?”

  “No. When I saw how well you guys were trained I knew I’d need that kind of training to survive this. He’s started the game, Ricochet. It’s only going to get worse from here.”

  “Yeah, well odds are in our favor.”

  “Our favor?”

  He reached over and took her hand in his. “You’re not alone anymore, Veronica. You have everyone at W&S behind ya.” Her skeptical look worried him. “You have me behind ya.” He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “Now, where do we set up operations?”

  “Huh?” she asked looking confused.

  “Hotel, babe. We need a place to sleep and work from.”

  “Oh yeah. Make a left up here at the light. Another three miles up the road is a small motel. It isn’t much but it’s clean.”

  “That’s good enough for me.”

  They pulled into the motel and he made a quick survey of the property. She was right, it wasn’t much but it c
ertainly was well taken care of. Not a weed, faded door, or spray-painted graffiti anywhere to be seen. From what he could see they had a grand total of eleven rooms.

  Veronica headed inside the office as he followed. The old woman behind the counter smiled at her.

  “Well hello, Ronnie.”

  “Hello, Miss Dane. How are you today?”

  “Better than you. I heard about your apartment, honey, I’m so sorry.”

  “Thank you. I’m going to be needing a room for a while.”

  The wrinkled old woman glanced at him and then back to Veronica. “Two rooms, dear?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’m not sure how long we’ll be staying,” Veronica said pulling her credit card from her back pocket.

  “That’s okay, honey. You stay as long as you need. We’ll figure out the bill when you leave.”

  “That won’t be necessary, ma’am. I’ll be taking care of the bill. Miss Holter here won’t be payin’.”

  “Ricochet.” She whirled around, jammed her fists on her hips and gave him a toxic look. “I can pay my own way,” she growled.

  “This is on the company. Ya know, business.”

  “Why?” she snapped.

  “Because for the time bein’ you’re one of us. W&S takes care of its own,” he snapped back. Man he’d like to cut his tongue out for making that comment to her in the bar about being one of those kind of women.

  “Okay then.” The old woman interrupted. “Same goes, we’ll figure up the bill when y’all leave.”

  With two keys in hand, they exited the office and made their way to the rooms.

  “I need to check in with Cannon. When I’m done we’ll go get you some clothes, grab a bite to eat and then figure out the next move.”

  “I can buy my own clothes,” she said between her teeth.

  “I know ya can. But if a friend wanted to pick up a little somethin’ for ya that would be okay, wouldn’t it?”

  “That depends on who the friend is. Jury’s still out on you,” she said opening her door.

  That hurt, cut right down to the bone. “Hey,” he said grabbing her arm.

  “No.” She yanked her arm out of his hand. “I know the only reason you’re here is because Cannon sent you. I appreciate that, I really do, I won’t live through this without help I realize that. I also know that you’re just making the best of an uncomfortable situation. So let’s just make the best of it shall we. No unnecessary money spent on me. I don’t want it to be construed as being paid for past favors.”