Gunning for Trouble

Adam held up his hands as if surrendering, even though he held a gun in one. “And you were a worthy adversary. If I hadn’t stopped you just then, we’d be picking my teeth up off the floor.”

“We still might,” she mumbled.

Adam smiled. “Fair enough.”

She refused to be charmed or put off. Concentrating while Caleb stood there in his tight underwear was hard enough. “Anyone want to tell me what’s going on?”

“Adam is with Recovery.”

Adam’s shoulders tensed. “Caleb, what are you—”

“She knows.”

Adam looked back and forth between Caleb and Avery. “Not possible.”

The poor guy looked ready to vomit, which she figured served him right after the squeeze play he put on her midsection. “Totally possible.”

Caleb blew out a long, exaggerated breath. “Apparently it is.”

She saw Adam’s hand shift toward his gun. She saw it and Caleb saw it.

“Stop.” Caleb pressed his hands down as if trying to calm the situation. “Avery is safe. Trust me. I’m not worried about her alliances.”

She had no idea what that meant but the whole talking-like-she-wasn’t-there thing wasn’t her favorite.

“She does about Rod and Recovery.” She hesitated to make sure her sarcasm made an impression. “My question was really about why we’re in this condo and when exactly Caleb here had the time to call in the cavalry here.”

He had the nerve to shrug. “We all have contingency plans in case of an emergency.”

“I’m his,” Adam said.

They acted as if that explained everything. “I still don’t get it.”

“If the silent alarm trips—” Adam pointed to his watch as he spoke “—I come running. If Caleb isn’t here or on that fire escape, I know he needs help.”

“You got here before we did.”

“I live in the building and was already in the condo when the building’s fire alarm started blaring. Something tripped Caleb’s silent alarm before that.”

“You mean someone.” Caleb played with the buttons on his watch, as if the conversation bored him. “Avery broke into my apartment.”

“Impressive.” Adam’s tone and his slow nod suggested he meant it.

Caleb finally looked up again. “And now we’re stuck because there are police and bad guys roaming around, and I’m not sure which is which.”

“Do we know the identity of said bad guys?” Adam asked. “Just wondering who we ticked off this time.”

As much as she wanted to hear about whatever idiot would be self-destructive enough to come after these two, she jumped in. “You didn’t. I did.”

She waited until both men looked at her. She wanted to make sure she had their attention because she needed them to understand how serious the situation had become. “They want me.”

Caleb stared at her for a few seconds without saying anything. Then he wrapped his fingers around her elbow and turned toward the front door. “Then despite the danger, we have to get you out of here and somewhere safe.”

“You might want to put on some clothes first,” Adam called out, right before she could.

Caleb stopped in midstep and glanced down his front. “Good plan.”

Adam shook his head. “I’ll get them.”

She waited until Adam stepped into the bathroom to whisper her question to Caleb. “Can he be trusted?”

He stared after Adam, glanced around the room, basically did everything but give her the courtesy of looking at her. “Yeah. Adam’s one of the few people I do trust.”

There was nothing subtle in Caleb’s comment. “Unlike me?”

This time his gaze locked on hers. “Yeah, Avery. Unlike you.”

TREVOR WALTERS LEANED back in his oversize leather chair and stared at the men sitting on the other side of his desk. They were experts in their fields but he could control them both with a few phone calls, as evidenced by the fact they showed up on his turf before five in the morning, before the workday even started. Likely before these government workers normally woke up. They asked for a meeting. He set the unreasonable terms to see if they’d meet them. Not a surprise they had.

His company, Orion Industries, specialized in threat management. He advised governments and corporations, supplying assessments and muscle. Today his country’s government had come calling in the form of a fifty-something bureaucrat with graying hair, a runner’s build and a Georgetown Law class ring.

“We’re here on a sensitive subject,” John Tate said, then stopped. It was as if he thought his impressive title at the Department of Justice gave him the right to make demands.

Trevor wasn’t impressed by the deputy director of the Office of Enforcement Operations. The man oversaw complex surveillance and witness protection requests, including who got in and who didn’t. But with all that power the guy still had no clue about the corruption raging through his office.

Russell Ambrose, the other man in the room, knew all about deceit. As chief inspector in the D.C. office of WitSec and a career government official with the U.S. Marshal Service, he should have been crystal clean. Trevor knew from experience that wasn’t the case.

Trevor knew. Russell knew. Tate, the man at the very top, was the only one in the dark. Trevor almost smiled at the irony.

“You know I am always willing to lend my company’s services if needed,” he said.

John gave a quick glance in Russell’s direction before starting. “I’m afraid this is a bit more personal.”

Trevor had an idea where the conversation was headed but wanted to make the man spell it out. Let John squirm a bit. In Trevor’s view, powerful men always did the best squirming. “How so?”

“Your brother.” John brushed lint or something equally invisible off his pants. “I’m very sorry for your loss, by the way.”

“Thank you.”

“I attended the service. It was very moving.”

“Agreed.” Trevor had planned it, headed the cover-up into the true cause of the death and saw to it everyone believed his brother died a hero. Their parents deserved to grieve with honor. Having the world view Bram as the model statesman and father served that purpose. It also ensured a steady stream of contracts for Trevor’s company. Bram got the praise and Trevor reaped the benefits. He could live with the deal, even though the sting of Bram’s loss pricked stronger than Trevor expected it would.

In the quiet of his home office with only his whiskey as witness, he had mourned. He’d let the weakness flow through him. Mostly, though, he simmered with fury that Bram had gotten pulled so far into the terrible situation that led to his murder. He had been so reckless and paid the ultimate price.

Russell tapped the thin file resting on his lap. “We need some information.”

“You should know I don’t have any access to Bram’s records. Those were in his congressional office and are confidential.” Except for the boxes Trevor had already destroyed. He had owed Bram that much. Preserve his memory and bury the evidence. That had always been their unspoken deal if the worst happened.

John nodded. “Of course, but—”

Trevor flipped through his Rolodex even though he knew the number by heart. “Bram’s former chief of staff, David Brennan, is handling everything in the office pending a special election to fill Bram’s seat. David is one of the nominees and the likely successor. You can call him to get what you need.”

John put out his hand as if to stop Trevor’s movements. “This relates to work outside Bram’s job as U.S. Representative.”

“Former.”

“What?”

“My brother died saving a member of his office staff.” The kidnapping of Mia Landers by her abusive ex, the shoot-out, the inevitable death toll even Trevor could not hide. It all played out exactly as Bram had planned, except for where he got caught in the cross fire. That had been a possibility, but a remote one. “As such, my brother is no longer a member of Congress. Or of anything else, for that matter.”

At least that was the carefully constructed story Trevor had sold to the world with the cooperation of the Recovery Project agents, the very men who killed Bram.

John’s squirming started right as expected. “Yes, well, I am aware of that.”

“Then you also know my brother and I kept our respective careers separate. Since I deal in government contracts, it would have been a conflict of interest for Bram to be involved in my business and vice versa.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” John said under his breath.

“Why?”

Russell opened the mysterious file in front of him. “We have some questions relating to the congressman’s role in the Witness Security Program.”

“Witness protection? Isn’t that your specialty? Both of you.” Trevor let his gaze travel over the two men, hesitating just long enough to make sure they understood who controlled this conversation.

Trevor knew Russell wrongly believed he had the upper hand. His attempts at blackmail had proved that much. Trevor admitted to the serious miscalculation in letting Russell worm his way into his private life. Trevor vowed never to make that mistake again.

“It would seem your brother also had an interest in WitSec. He made several inquiries prior to his death, some through proper channels and others not,” Russell said.

Trevor had warned Bram not to dig, or at least to be careful when he did. One of his brother’s many failures had been his oversize ego and naive belief that his office would protect him no matter how egregious the offense. Trevor knew better. He had seen dictators of small countries fall, even helped make it happen, so he understood the devastating impact of poor choices and emotional thinking.

“I’m afraid I can’t help you,” he said.

John shifted to the front part of his chair. “Is it possible the congressman sought information about witness protection on your behalf?”

“No.”

“You’re sure?”

“Quite.”

John frowned. “Yet you’re not offended by my question.”

“You learn many things when you lose a sibling. You understand that no matter what you’ve achieved in this world or how much power you command, some things remain out of your final control.” Trevor leaned back in his chair. “Except my temper. It would seem that is the one thing I can control.”

Russell closed his file without ever reading a word from it. “Maybe if we looked through your correspondence we might see something you didn’t.”

“That is not possible, as I’m sure you know. Not with the confidential nature of my work. I have clients, and their needs must be protected.” But now Trevor knew the real reason for the visit. They wanted free access. John suspected him, of what wasn’t clear, but Trevor knew the groundwork once laid could be a significant problem.

“I was hoping to handle this privately,” John said.

“I believe we just did.” Trevor stood up and tugged on the bottom of his suit jacket to make sure it had fallen back in place. “Now, if that’s all, gentlemen?”

Russell took the hint and rose to his feet. “Of course. We won’t take any more of your time.”

Trevor had to bite back a wave of bile whenever he looked at Russell. He was the worst kind of man—one dripping in weakness who wrongly believed he possessed strength.

He paid Russell well to make sure meetings like this never happened. Looked like the man needed a reminder of the terms of their deal. “Nonsense. I am always available to government officials.”

“We do all want the same thing here,” John said.

Trevor seriously doubted that. “And what would that be?”

“Justice.” Russell fumbled over the word. Not a surprise since as far as Trevor could tell the man did not have any concept of the word.

“I’ve always found that term somewhat elusive. After all, we don’t all agree on what’s just, now do we?” Trevor let the words sink in before he headed for the door to show them out.

John hesitated for a second but then followed. “If you think of anything, you will let us know, correct?”

“Of course.”

Russell nodded. “We would appreciate that.”

Trevor decided Russell would do more than that. He would have a front-row seat to what happened next. “Rest assured I will do everything necessary to resolve our issues.”

Chapter Three

They climbed down the fire escape on the outside of the building, Adam behind her and Caleb in front. Caleb tried to think of another way to hide Avery, but he suspected her pursuers would start going door to door and keep coming. That meant they had to get out and away as fast as possible. Since there were police cars and fire trucks downstairs, their options were limited. Almost nonexistent, actually.

“Where are we going?” Avery asked as she carefully placed her feet on the metal rungs.

“Anywhere but here.”

She shot him a frown over her shoulder. “Am I supposed to know what that means?”

“No.”

She stopped ten steps up from the street and stared up at him. “You could try answering the question without being a jerk.”

He knew he should, but something about her brought out the worst in him. So did being woken up in the middle of the night to go running all over his condo build ing, dodging men with guns. “You’re the one being followed.”

“Because of Rod.” Her knuckles turned white where they held the strap to her shoulder bag. Any tighter and she’d cut off circulation.

Adam popped up next to her. “Uh, kids. I get that you two have some history and all, and I want to hear about it, I do, but we need to keep moving.”

Caleb heard the warning behind his friend’s joking tone and heeded it. “Right. We can fight about this later. Preferably when we’re out of earshot of anyone holding a weapon.”

“Fine.” She sounded anything but.

“Fine.”

Adam nodded. “Happy to hear we’re all fine. So, can we get moving?”

“One question.” Avery pointed at the side of the build ing. “There are cameras all over the place. Won’t the attackers look for us and then follow?”

“I cut their access,” Adam said. “Anyone checking the security monitors is seeing an endless loop of barren hallways and quiet outdoor areas.”

Caleb clicked the bottom button on his watch and showed her Adam’s tech handiwork. “See? There’s nothing on there that can help them or hurt us.”

Adam tapped a finger against his forehead. “Computer genius.”

“But, when did you manage to do all of that?” she asked.

“I set up the program the day we moved in and check it every week to make sure I’m still dialed in and can take over if needed. When the silent alarm went off, I switched the security monitors to my loop and have been sending the real footage to my off-site computer so I can analyze it later. The only potential problem is that the police will check it and know someone tampered with it.”

“You?”

“Oh, they won’t trace it back to me.”

She smiled for the first time all evening. “I guess you can do more than grab women and scare the crap out of them.”

“Since I’m not sure how to answer that, I won’t,” Adam said.

Caleb had had enough conversation. He wasn’t too fond of Avery’s reaction to Adam either. Hearing them joke back and forth while he stood right there was not Caleb’s idea of a good time. It made him want to punch something. Like Adam.

Leave it to Avery to come between them. From his experience, she ruined everything. Seemed she hadn’t lost that trait.

But they had a bigger problem at the moment and it—or rather, they—had just turned the corner and were heading down the alley. When Adam tensed, Caleb figured his friend had seen them, too. It took Avery a little longer, but her sharp intake of breath signaled her awareness.

“Everything okay up there?” The policeman was on top of them in a few steps. He put his hand on his gun and his partner beside him followed suit.

Two men in their late forties, if Caleb had to guess. Uniforms, matching battle stances, calm tone. Caleb wasn’t getting the paid-assassin vibe from them, but he inched his fingers closer to the weapon tucked in his waistband just in case. He noticed Adam did the same.

Caleb decided to play dumb until one of their guests gave him a reason to start shooting. “Is it a fire? If so, we figured it wasn’t safe to use the elevators.”

“Something like that.” The officer’s shoulders relaxed. “You see anyone else wandering around over here or upstairs?”

Avery shook her head, but the rest of her body remained rock still. “No, sir.”

The officer motioned them off the steps. “Then get moving. You should have been out and on the street a half hour ago.”

“We thought it was a drill.”

The officers waited until the three of them stepped on the macadam. “We need everyone out until we confirm the electrical fire and make sure it’s under control. Can you three find your way?”

Even though they looked to be in the clear, Caleb didn’t let any of the tension leave his body. He stayed ready. “Absolutely.”

The officer nodded. “Get moving.”

They waited until the police turned the corner to the front of the building again before anyone said anything. Finally, Avery let out a shaky breath. “That was close.”

“Too much so.” They kept to the side of the brick wall, out in the alley and far out of the line of sight of any of the professionals or gunmen who may be walking around the front of the complex as Caleb explained their plan. “Adam will act as a decoy and drive Avery’s car. We’ll take his alternate truck and head in the opposite direction.”

“Alternate what? You know what? Forget it. I’m not going to ask.” Avery reached into her bag and grabbed her keys. “Here. I’m parked on the street.”

Adam took them and then threw his set to Caleb. “I’m in the garage.”

Caleb felt more faith in the plan than he did five seconds ago. “Even better. We can divert their attention.”

“But there are people everywhere.” Her wild-eyed gaze traveled between the men. “And then there’s the part where this is dangerous. Adam could be hurt.”

“We could all be killed.” Caleb took in her openmouthed stare and decided she still didn’t get it. “What did you think was supposed to happen when my front door exploded? That wasn’t a friendly hello.”

A fiery heat replaced the worry in her eyes. “I am well aware of what happened, Caleb. I was there.”

“They broke into my house with weapons drawn. They, whoever they are—and you will be filling me in on that as soon as I get you to safety—were not there to talk.”

As a result, his condo, her house and anywhere else obvious was out as a hiding place.

That left the new Recovery Project headquarters as their option. The place was little more than an empty shell, an abandoned warehouse, but it couldn’t be traced to her and that’s all that mattered at the moment.

“You can stop talking to me like I’m an idiot.”

Oh, he knew she wasn’t that. She was smart and confident and driven. He’d lost his last job thanks to her and her ambitions. “Their orders likely were to grab you, kill me and take you somewhere for questioning. That means torture, Avery. You do understand, right?”

Adam shoved at Caleb’s shoulder. “Ease up.”

“She needs to understand.”

“I think she does.”

She stepped in front of Adam and right up to Caleb’s chest. “I’m sorry I involved you. Is that what you want to hear?”

Seeing her clenched fists and pale face knocked the temper right out of him. “If you’re right, you didn’t. Rod did.”

“He couldn’t have anticipated putting you in danger,” she asked.

“That’s exactly what he thought would happen.” Caleb tried to shut off his questions about Rod and WitSec and every other disaster, and focus instead on the problem in front of him. “Avery, that’s what we do.”

“This?”

“Exactly this.”

She hesitated a second more. “Then it’s good I’m with you.”

Them. Together. Caleb had to block out those images. “We’ll see if you feel that way in a half hour.”

“What happens then?”

“We’ll know if we escaped without gunfire,” Adam said and then turned to Caleb. “The truck is in my extra space on the top floor. No one will be looking for it or put me together with Avery. Keep her head down until you’re away, just to be safe. Don’t stop for any reason—roadblocks, questioning, I don’t care. If I need to cause a scene on my end to get you out, I will.”

“Sounds like you guys have done this before.” Her nervous laugh ruined her attempt at a joke.

“We’ve done far worse,” Caleb said.

Adam winked at her. “Certainly far stranger.”

“I’m driving a red sedan. I don’t know the license plate, so you’ll have to hit the automatic locks if there’s more than one of that color.” Her hand shook as she brushed her hair off her face. “It’s up the street on the left.”

One piece of information didn’t mesh with what Caleb knew about Avery. “Why don’t you know your license plate?”

“It’s my neighbor’s car.”

“Does she know you have it?”

“He doesn’t. I took it without asking.”

Caleb pushed the male reference out of his mind. They didn’t date anymore. She could see anyone she wanted and it wasn’t his business. He repeated the comment in his head three times, and the reality still refused to sink in. The idea of her with someone else made his back teeth slam together.

“With our luck the guy reported it and Adam will get picked up for stealing it,” Caleb grumbled, more at the idea of the neighbor than anything else.

She reached out and touched his arm. “My point is that the bad guys shouldn’t recognize the car, so Adam should skip the driving around part and come with us.”

“Negative.” Caleb made the comment right as Adam started shaking his head.

She dropped her hand back to her side. “Both of you?”

“It’s a safety measure,” Adam explained.

“And we’re done talking.” Caleb gave his command and then turned to Adam. “Head for the street. If the situation is too hot, ping me, keep walking and I’ll send someone to come around to pick you up.”

“Someone?” she asked.

“Another agent.” Caleb wondered if she thought he and Adam worked alone.

Her mouth dropped open. “How many more of you are there?”

Adam chuckled. “Three. Does that scare you?”

The shock turned into a small smile. “The exact opposite, actually.”

“Let’s go.” Caleb slipped his hand under her elbow and used his key to open the outside door to the garage.

Chapter Four

To anyone watching they might have looked like a loving couple. In reality, Caleb had a death grip on her skin as he pulled her out and onto the underground garage floor. If he thought she would run, he was wrong. She was too busy trying to keep her dinner in her stomach rather than on the cement in front of her. The internal muscles heaved and rumbled. Everything sloshed and moved.

She’d never had a run-in with the police. Never had men track her down, or seen a door explode either. Car chases and gunfire—if this was Caleb’s life now, she almost felt bad for firing him. He had been insubordinate and difficult, rarely followed the rules and liked to solve cases instead of limit his work to DNA testing, but he was safe there. So was she. A few more minutes of this level of panic and she was going to throw up. Or worse.

Caleb scanned the large open floor from one end of the cement block area to the other. It didn’t take long, since the floor consisted of four rows of cars separated by two lanes. There was an elevator and a guard cubicle where the cars entered and left but it appeared empty, as opposed to most of the parking spaces. They were full.

“Where is everyone?” she asked.

“Probably up on the street.”

His gaze stopped searching and fell on her. “You’re turning green.”

“I’m terrified.” Her teeth rattled to prove it.

“I’ve never known you to be scared of anything.”

“I could make a comment about you not knowing me at all, but now probably isn’t the right time.”