Next Exit, Use Caution

by CW Browning

  “On a scale of one to five, how pissed off are you?” Blake asked, coming back with a beer in his hand.

  “Ten.”

  He nodded and dropped onto the couch beside her. Buddy transferred his head from Stephanie’s leg to Blake’s lap, his hind quarters wiggling happily.

  “You had no idea?” he asked.

  “How could I? She never told me anything! She just gave me the coat and asked to have Matt try to pull DNA off it. She never said why.” Stephanie shook her head. “I should have known something was up. She was too calm when John died, almost clinical. I wondered at the time, but I thought she was just in denial. Now it makes sense. She was furious, not calm. She knew someone went into the hospital and murdered him in cold blood.”

  A fresh wave of anger mixed with grief washed over her and she lifted the beer to her lips again, trying to force the emotions away before she started crying out of sheer frustration. She was tired of crying, tired of having red eyes and feeling like she’d been hit by truck. It was as if John had died all over again.

  “Is she always like that?” Blake asked suddenly.

  Stephanie looked at him.

  “Lina?”

  He nodded.

  “Like what?”

  “Well she dropped that bombshell, then didn’t explain anything. Hell, she didn’t even say why someone would want to kill John. She just told us about the doctor and disappeared a few minutes later.” Blake shook his head. “I mean, what the hell?”

  Stephanie let out a choked laugh.

  “Yes, that’s pretty much her SOP. She told us what she thinks we need to know. She’s a woman of few words. It can be infuriating.”

  Blake was silent for a moment.

  “She’s not what I expected,” he said finally. “I don’t know what I was expecting, but that certainly wasn’t it.”

  “I told you,” Stephanie murmured. “You had an image of the devil in your head. She’s not.”

  “No. She’s worse,” he said bluntly. “She hunts the devil, and it shows. It takes a lot to put me on my guard, but she did it with one look.”

  Stephanie nodded and looked at him sympathetically.

  “She can be intimidating. She doesn’t even know she’s doing it.”

  “That’s what makes it so effective.” Blake sipped his beer. “So, what now? John was murdered. It puts a whole new light on everything. Viper’s known all along, and she didn’t seem surprised to hear the coat came from Singapore. Do you think she already has a lead?”

  “I would put money on it. She won’t let someone get away with killing John.” Stephanie leaned her head back on the couch tiredly. “I’m still trying to wrap my mind around it. Why kill him?”

  “The bomb didn’t work. It didn’t kill him instantly, the way it did with the other racer, Dutch. Someone wanted to finish the job.”

  “But it makes no sense! Why kill a Federal agent? There’s something else going on and I can guarantee Viper knows what it is.”

  “Ask her.”

  “Oh, I plan on it,” Stephanie said grimly. “After the funeral tomorrow, I’m dragging it all out of her.”

  A low growl suddenly filled the living room and Stephanie lifted her head, stiffening. Buddy had curled up on the floor in front of the couch while they were talking, but now he raised his head, his attention focused on the front window. The fur at his neck slowly bristled, rising into pointed tufts, and another growl rumbled from deep within his throat.

  Stephanie looked at Blake. He watched his dog for a second then stood, reaching for his firearm in the holster at his side. As he stood, so did Buddy, his teeth barred.

  “What is it?” Stephanie asked, watching the large dog as he moved toward the window.

  “I don’t know, but it’s not good,” Blake replied, following Buddy.

  Stephanie dropped her feet to the floor and stood up, setting her beer next to Blake’s on the coffee table. Another low growl erupted suddenly into barking as Buddy lunged for the window. Blake reached out and moved the curtain aside to look out.

  “I can’t see anything,” he said. “Can you hit the lights?”

  Stephanie crossed to the light switch quickly, plunging the living room into darkness. As she did so, Buddy reared up onto his back legs, placing his front paws on the windowsill, barking.

  Blake peered out the window, looking for the threat Buddy knew was out there. Suddenly, he stiffened.

  “What the...”

  Spinning around, he strode for the door, his Sig Sauer in his hand.

  “What is it?” Stephanie asked sharply.

  “Your car,” he said shortly, flipping the deadbolt. “Someone’s broken into your car!”

  “What’s going on? What was that god-awful noise?” Angela demanded, running down the stairs and down the hall to the living room.

  “It’s the security alarm,” Alina said shortly, striding into the kitchen and opening a drawer under the counter. She pulled out a tablet and swiped it, typing in an access code. “Someone’s tripped one of the perimeter sensors.”

  “What?” Angela looked from the flashing square on the flat screen to Michael, then to Alina. “What does that mean?”

  “It means someone’s on the property,” Michael said grimly, turning his gaze from the TV to Viper. “Can we get a close up on that section?”

  “Working on it.”

  Michael moved around the couch and went to join her at the bar.

  “Where is that?” Angela asked, staring at the TV. “It’s not the driveway.”

  “It’s on the east side,” Alina murmured, swiping on the tablet and tapping a camera view.

  Michael looked over her shoulder as the flashing section on the flat screen displayed on the tablet, larger and in more detail. Viper moved the camera slowly, scanning the dark woods and underbrush for what tripped the security.

  “I don’t see anything,” Michael said after a moment. “Could it have been a deer?”

  “It’s possible.” Viper switched to the next camera. “They usually show on the plasma though.”

  She moved the next camera, scanning in a slow circle. It moved over a tree before continuing on, but Alina stopped suddenly and went back.

  “There.”

  “Where?” Michael demanded. “I don’t see anything.”

  Viper pointed to a shadow just barely visible beyond the tree and Michael sucked in his breath.

  “I would have missed that.”

  Alina tapped the screen and the single view turned back to the eight sections visible on the flat screen. She scanned the other sections carefully. After tapping on two of them and searching for a moment, she returned to the multi-screen view and handed Michael the tablet.

  “He’s alone,” she announced, turning away and pulling a black bag out from a cabinet under the bar. She reached inside and pulled out a pair of night vision goggles. “I’m going to take care of this. You stay with Angela and keep an eye on the cameras. If anyone but me gets to the yard, shoot.”

  Michael took the tablet with a curt nod. Angela watched as Alina circled the bar and headed for the sliding door.

  “What are you doing?!” she demanded. “Are you nuts? You don’t know who’s out there!”

  “I don’t care who’s out there,” Alina said shortly. “Stay with Michael. You’ll be safe here.”

  “What about you? You’re not safe if you go out there!” Angela protested, her voice rising. “Can’t we just call the police?”

  Viper stopped with her hand on the sliding door and turned to look at Angela.

  Angela’s eyes widened at the look on her friend’s face and she took an involuntary step backwards.

  “It’s not me you need to worry about.” Viper shifted her gaze to Michael. “You know what to do.”

  He nodded, coming around the bar with the tablet in his hand.

  “I’ve got her. You just take care of you.”

  Viper disappeared into the night. As soon as the door closed behind her
, Michael strode over and flipped the lock.

  “What the hell just happened?” Angela demanded when he turned around. “Why did you let her go out there?!”

  Michael’s lips twitched ever so slightly.

  “I’ve learned not to question her,” he said humorously. “Besides, it’s not my call.”

  Angela stared at him in disbelief.

  “What are you talking about? You’re a Federal agent. You should have made it your call!”

  Michael sighed and looked at her, at a loss. Angela didn’t know who Alina really was, and it certainly wasn’t his place to tell her. How was he supposed to explain to Angie that her friend was far deadlier than whoever was out there in the trees?

  “She’ll be fine,” he said. “Trust me.”

  Stephanie followed close behind Blake as he went out the door, closing it quickly behind herself before Buddy could get out as well. A rash of barking vocalized his displeasure at the treatment, but Stephanie ignored him. She unsnapped her holster, ready to draw her Glock if needed. Blake was already halfway to her Mustang, his long legs covering the ground quickly, and Stephanie followed, casting a searching gaze around the small parking lot. No one was running away, and there didn’t appear to be any suspicious cars. In fact, nothing seemed out of the ordinary at all.

  Aside from the fact that her trunk was wide open.

  “Why didn’t the alarm go off?” Blake asked, holstering his weapon as he reached the Mustang and saw no one around.

  “I may not have set it,” she said, joining him. “I don’t always. Nothing ever happens here.”

  She looked into her trunk and frowned.

  “What?” Blake asked, seeing the look on her face.

  “Nothing’s missing,” Stephanie said. “My Go Bag is still there, and so is the toolbox.”

  She leaned into the trunk and pulled the toolbox towards her, unsnapping the lid. All her tools were still inside, untouched.

  “Maybe they didn’t have time to grab anything before Buddy raised the alarm,” Blake said, looking around the parking lot.

  Stephanie pushed the toolbox back and reached for the bag she always kept in the trunk packed for unexpected all-nighters.

  “That’s strange,” she murmured. “It’s open.”

  Blake watched as she pulled the bag out.

  “Someone went through it,” she announced, looking up. “Son of a bitch!”

  “Is anything missing?”

  “No...doesn’t look like it. What the hell?” Stephanie finished looking through it and looked up at him, her brows drawn together in confusion. “What were they looking for?”

  Blake shook his head.

  “You tell me. It’s your trunk. What do you keep in here?”

  “This is it,” she said with a shrug. “I never keep anything excit–”

  Blake raised his eyebrows as she broke off suddenly, tossing the bag aside and striding to the passenger’s door. She opened it and reached in, pulling another bag from the backseat.

  “What’s that?” he asked, watching as she wrenched it open.

  “It’s the stuff from John’s safe deposit box,” she said, peering into the bag. “I forgot to take it into the house earlier.”

  Stephanie went back to the trunk where she could use the trunk light to see into the black bag.

  “You left that in your car?” Blake exclaimed. “Steph!”

  “I know! I don’t know how I forgot...” her voice trailed off and she looked up, her face draining of color. “It’s gone.”

  “What’s gone?” Blake demanded.

  “There was an external hard-drive. It’s gone. So is the notebook.”

  “That’s it? That’s all that’s missing?”

  Stephanie finished going through the bag and nodded.

  “Yes. Everything else is still here, including a stack of cash and a diamond engagement ring,” she said. “What kind of thief leaves cash and jewelry behind?”

  “The kind that isn’t a thief,” Blake said grimly.

  Viper paused just inside the trees and pulled her .45 from her back holster, listening intently. The shadow had been just inside the perimeter. By now he would be closer. Her military-grade NVGs gave her clear vision in the darkness, casting everything in a green light as she started through the trees. She turned her head and watched a deer a few feet away move in the opposite direction. A startled opossum lifted its head as Viper stepped silently into its range of scent. It scurried under some brush to hide. She paused, then turned to her left. There was too much wildlife activity here. The threat had to be further to the left.

  She moved deeper into the woods, her heartbeat steady, her senses focused on the trees around her. Viper excelled out here, both in nature, and in the darkness. Not only had she mastered the skill of moving silently through woods, which was no small feat, but she seemed to instinctively know how wildlife worked and she used it to her advantage. Pausing in the trees to listen, she noted the absolute silence ahead and to the left.

  Viper smiled faintly and moved forward, listening to the night. Not a sound marred the silence. No owls hooted, no raccoons stirred, and no deer picked their way through the underbrush. Everything was still. She moved behind the trunk of a large, thick pine tree and peered around it, scanning the area slowly. On her second pass, she saw him.

  He was standing between two trees, holding a thin flashlight pointed toward the ground. As she watched, he shone it around the area and started to move forward again. A loud pop echoed through the trees as he stepped on a dead branch and Viper grimaced. Stealth was not his forte, she decided, when he stepped on a clump of underbrush. There was no way this was a military-trained assassin.

  Reaching up to her headgear, she clicked a button on the side and zoomed in on the man’s face. He was wearing a turtleneck under a loose jacket and dark pants. Viper didn’t recognize him from any of the numerous photos she’d been scrolling through for the past few days. Her fingers moved and she pressed another button, taking several photos of the stranger. If it wasn’t one of hers, it had to be the guy from Trasker. He must have followed Michael and Angela from the viewing.

  Viper’s lips compressed and she moved out from behind the tree silently. He’d regret that decision soon enough.

  She moved silently to her left, crossing through underbrush and moving behind another tree about twenty feet in front of him. If he stayed on his present course, he would have to pass her. Viper flipped the safety on and put her gun back into its holster. She bent and slid her combat knife out of her ankle sheath instead, holding it flat against the inside of her arm as she waited in the darkness. Her breathing was steady as she listened to him move through the night behind her. It was going to be a piece of cake.

  Without warning, a loud screech ripped through the silence behind Viper, startling her. She moved swiftly from behind the tree and looked in the direction of the high-pitched sound. Viper stopped dead, momentarily stunned.

  A large black shadow was diving from above, his claws outstretched, headed straight for the tall shadow moving through the darkness. It happened so fast that the intruder didn’t have time to do anything but throw up his arms in a feeble attempt to protect his face. The warning shriek faded into the night as Raven’s deadly claws made solid contact with his arm. Viper winced as her pet hawk closed his talons around the forearm, his wings spread for balance, and lowered his beak toward the top of the man’s head. Ducking in panic, the intruder let out a howl of pain as he tried to shake the hawk loose from his arm. Razor sharp claws held tight as Raven landed a solid hit on the side of his head with his deadly beak and another scream of pain ripped through the night.

  Viper put her knife away, and reached for the Ruger again. The element of surprise was gone. She took off the safety, watching as the intruder finally shook Raven free of his arm. Even from this distance, Viper saw that his jacket was shredded and the hawk’s claws had ripped open his forearm. Blood poured out of his arm as the man turned and began to run b
ack through the woods.

  Raven swooped up into the trees before turning and diving down in an arc, coming in for another pass. Viper raised her gun, aimed, and cursed softly. There was no clean shot without risking her pet. She lowered her weapon and began moving swiftly through the trees.

  The man was running flat-out now, weaving through the trees and tripping over the underbrush as he tried to dodge the bird of prey. Raven swooped down and landed a glancing blow to his head with his claws, arching away as the man ducked under a low branch.

  Viper leapt over a rotting log and dodged between two pine trees, closing the gap between them. The man was almost to the edge of the woods now and she caught the glint of headlights beyond the trees as a vehicle passed on the road. She shook her head and slowed. She wouldn’t catch him before he reached the road. She raised the gun again, planting her feet and taking aim. Raven was going in for another bombing run, his claws outstretched and his wings curved forward to give him leverage. She hesitated, then fired.

  Raven shrieked and flew into the trees at the sound of the shot and the intruder stumbled, his whole body lurching forward precariously. He looked back wildly as her shot skimmed his shoulder, missing by barely a hair. Through some sheer force of will, he managed to keep his balance and broke out of the trees a second later.

  Viper lowered her weapon and moved swiftly forward. She reached the tree line just in time to see him disappear into the trees on the other side.

  “Damn!”

  She slid the safety on and reached back to tuck her .45 into her holster as another car flew by on the road. A moment later, an engine roared to life. Viper watched from the shadows as a dark-colored SUV pulled out of the trees. The tires squealed as the man hit the gas and disappeared down the road.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Alina looked up as the door slid open and Michael stepped onto the deck, a beer in his hand. She was standing in the shadows at the far end of the deck with Raven next to her on the railing.