Buch lesen: «Perilous Pursuit»

ONE

“Really?” Mackenzie Weaver groaned and shuffled the groceries in her hands, trying to get the right key in the lock so she could get into her apartment. She’d been out all day and was bone-tired after spending hours meeting with the executives involved in her latest project for the local US Marshals office. They’d finally hammered out a deal and had approved her action plan, but it had been a long and arduous process. She shifted again, still not able to get the right key in her hand. Her purse slipped from her shoulder to her elbow, and the weight made her movements even more awkward. She juggled a bit more, and two oranges fell from her grocery bag. She let out an exasperated sigh. If she wasn’t careful, the deli container of salsa she had purchased would open up and make a truly nasty mess.

Dear God, please help me make it through this day.

Her prayer was short but heartfelt. Just as she bent down to pick up the oranges, the first bullet ripped into the door frame. The sound was deafening. Splinters and paint chips spit at her as a second bullet hit just below the first. For Mackenzie, the noise from the gun was just as shocking as the sight of the bullets tearing into the wood.

She dropped her bags and hit the floor, her heart beating so hard it felt like it was about to come out of her chest. Her breath came in gasps. She scooted against the wall and then fumbled for her phone so she could call 911. She never had an opportunity. Suddenly, two rough hands pulled her to her feet and dragged her into her apartment. Another man closed the apartment door behind them.

“You idiot!” The man at the door spoke gruffly as he approached. “Why did you shoot at her? We don’t want her dead! Not yet anyway, and now the noise is going to bring us company we don’t need.” His words sent a chill down her spine, and she started shaking.

Mackenzie tried to scream, but her captor quickly put his hand over her mouth and squeezed. His other arm was around her waist, and he pulled her roughly against him. She was sure his tight grip would leave a bruise, and his pungent body odor made the situation even worse. “Shut up, sweetheart, or you’ll never speak again.”

She stopped screaming but didn’t stop struggling until he used the hand still clasped over her mouth to pull her head at such an awkward angle that it hurt to even move. The man was much larger than her, and even though she couldn’t see his face, she could feel his polluted breath prickling the skin on her neck. When he spoke, his voice was gravelly and cruel. “Now you’re learning.” He pulled her head again, and she whimpered in pain. “Don’t try anything stupid. Got it?”

The second man took a step forward so he was clearly in Mackenzie’s line of sight. He was a large, burly man with a shock of dark hair and thick, beefy forearms. His hands were the biggest ones she’d ever seen. Even his eyebrows were bushy and accented the fierce expression on his face. He was truly formidable. “Your name is Weaver, right?” His voice was deep and menacing.

Her captor removed his hand from her face, but she didn’t answer until he jerked her head once again by yanking her hair.

She whimpered in pain. “Yes.”

“You make movies, right?”

“Yes.”

“Where do you keep the copies?”

“Copies of what?”

The hairy man shook his head as if he was reasoning with a small child and took a step closer. “Are you trying to make me mad?” He pulled a pistol from his belt and put it under her chin. She could feel the cold metal biting against her skin. “I don’t play games. Got it? Answer my question.”

“I’m not trying to be difficult,” she said softly, hoping to calm him down so she could figure out what he wanted. She was so scared it was hard to think, but she kept talking anyway. “I just don’t understand what you want. I’ve made lots of movies, and I have all sorts of copies and edited versions of various scenes. If you tell me more about what you’re looking for, I might be able to help.” She glanced at her desk, which was behind the man, and he followed her eyes. He instantly turned and started searching through the drawers and filing cabinet. Papers were soon strewn about, and books and other items were thrown into disarray throughout her home office space. What were they looking for? Which of her projects had garnered their attention? None of this made any sense to her, but her confusion did little to ameliorate her fear.

Suddenly, there was a noise at the front door. “Deputy US marshal. Drop your weapons and come out with your hands up!”

The hairy man quickly looked behind her to the thug who held her captive, and then they both started backing away from the living room, pulling Mackenzie with them and using her body as a shield. They headed toward the balcony, the only other exit from her apartment.

She glanced toward the door and hope surged within her as she noticed a man with a gun quickly look around the doorjamb. He instantly took cover behind the door again, but he had to be law enforcement, just as he’d announced. She’d only gotten a quick look at him, but he had the law enforcement look—short dark hair and strong military features. There was also something vaguely familiar about him, but her mind still seemed frozen and she couldn’t place him. Maybe she wasn’t going to die today after all. Still, there was only one of him, and two men were holding her captive, both with loaded weapons. Anxiety formed a hard knot in her stomach, and she stumbled as the man holding her continued to pull her backward.

She was being held at such an awkward angle that she couldn’t catch herself. Her abductor lost his grip, and she ended up on the floor. She expected the man to reach down and pull her up again, but instead, he left her sprawled on the tile and then turned and followed his companion out through the sliding glass door that led to the balcony. She still didn’t get a look at the face of the man who’d held her but did notice dark brown hair, blue jeans and a red plaid shirt. She also saw that the hairy man had grabbed her laptop on the way out. A protest formed on her lips, but she stayed silent as she watched the two disappear by jumping off her second-floor balcony. She could buy another laptop. At this point, she was just relieved to still be alive.

* * *

Jake Riley heard the sliding door open and took another quick look. He was off duty and didn’t have any backup, so he was less concerned with capturing the men with the guns than with keeping their victim safe. Seeing no one but the woman, he entered the apartment, his gun drawn.

“Stay down,” he said softly as he approached, motioning with his hand. “Is there anybody else in the apartment?”

“No,” she answered, “I don’t think so, anyway. There were two guys that grabbed me when I came into my apartment, but they just escaped out the balcony.”

Jake carefully approached the sliding door with his gun still drawn and ready. He cautiously stepped outside and quickly spotted the two suspects running through the parking lot on foot. A moment later, a black Buick four-door sedan sped away, but not before Jake was able to catch two of the numbers off the license plate. He holstered his weapon and blew out a breath. He had already called in the incident when he’d heard the gunshots, so his next move was to go to the side of the woman, who was still cowering on the floor. She had pulled herself up to a sitting position and was now leaning against her couch, hugging her legs. Jake noticed her hands were shaking as she pushed some of her long brown hair behind her ear.

“Are you hurt?”

It took a moment for her to look at him, and he imagined she was trying to compose herself. He didn’t blame her. It probably wasn’t every day that someone broke into her home and threatened her at gunpoint. She had to be terrified.

Finally, she glanced up at him, and his heartbeat fluttered. She had pale blue eyes, and her long brown hair framed her heart-shaped face perfectly. Her lips were a vibrant pink, and with her smooth and fresh skin she looked like a porcelain doll. He sucked in a breath. She was one of the prettiest women he had ever seen, but there was something about her... He made a conscious effort not to stare at her and was relieved that she didn’t seem to notice his bad manners.

“No, I’m not hurt. Not permanently, at least.” She winced as she tilted her head. “I’m a bit sore, but you arrived just in time.” She looked him directly in the eye, and suddenly, recognition spread across her features. “Jake Riley?”

He raised his eyebrows, his brain frantically searching for the woman’s identity. He could only remember one person with eyes that particular color of blue, but the woman before him looked very different from what he remembered. He hazarded a guess.

“Mackenzie? Mackenzie Weaver? Is it you?”

She smiled. Yet the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, and she was quick to look away.

“Yes, it’s been a few years.”

Jake was floored. Mackenzie was the little sister of his best friend, Jonathan Weaver, who had been killed by a land mine in Afghanistan over four years ago. He and Jonathan had been boon companions all through high school and college, but then Jonathan had joined the army and died shortly thereafter. Mackenzie was four years younger than Jonathan and had followed the boys around like a puppy during most of their friendship. She had always wanted to be included in their escapades, but Jake and Jonathan had spent a great deal of time trying to break away from her constant pursuit. Jake had even thought that Mackenzie had a crush on him for a time when she was in high school and he was in college, but he had never been interested. Of course, the girl he remembered was nothing like the lovely woman before him. She had truly blossomed.

“The last time I saw you...”

“Was at the funeral,” she finished for him.

“You’ve changed a bit since then,” he said carefully, noting that she seemed less and less pleased that they had reunited.

“You could say that,” she said, still not looking directly at him. “I’ve lost my braces and gained a few pounds. And I finally let my hair grow out. I guess you could say I’m all grown-up.”

The girl Jake remembered had been a skinny tomboy with short hair, braces and a wardrobe filled with jeans, sports T-shirts and jerseys. The lady before him looked nothing like he remembered, with the exception of those penetrating, lovely blue eyes. She now had wonderful curves and was dressed in a pretty floral shirt that accented her femininity. “That’s an understatement. You look amazing.”

She shifted, apparently uncomfortable with his compliment. “I’m sure they would have killed me if you hadn’t come along. Thank you for arriving when you did.”

He nodded at her and turned away, still hoping that she didn’t notice how much she had affected him. He met people nearly every day in his job as a deputy marshal, both old and new acquaintances, strangers and friends, but it had been quite a while since someone had garnered his attention so acutely for something other than breaking the law.

Her eyes. That was what got him. They were such an unusual shade of blue. They reminded him of the morning sky right after the sun came up. He kicked himself mentally. Morning sky? Yep. He was definitely slipping. What had gotten into him? Not one to lose focus normally, Jake quickly forced his thoughts back to the welfare of the victim and stopped thinking about the past and how much Mackenzie had changed. Besides, it was obvious that she wanted to keep the past in the past. Their shared history had ended when her brother died. Jake took a breath. “Sure thing. I was visiting a friend who lives a couple of apartments down when I heard the gunshots. I think I scared the intruders away before they did too much damage.” He gave her a reassuring smile. “Why don’t you catch your breath while I call in to the office and give them the update.” He busied himself with his phone and then gave dispatch the news about the men’s escape and the vehicle, knowing the report would be shared with the local authorities. When he turned back, he noticed that Mackenzie had pulled herself up and was heading toward the door on shaky legs.

He quickly stored his phone. “Whoa. Where are you headed?”

She turned. “I just thought I’d grab my purse and groceries from the doorstep before I have any other visitors.”

He nodded and motioned toward the couch. “Why don’t you take a seat and let me get those for you?”

She shrugged. “I can get them. This may sound kind of weird, but I need to do something to work off this adrenaline.” She took a step, but her legs seemed to give out underneath her. Jake reached her just in time to keep her from crashing to the floor. He swung her up into his arms and breathed her in. Was that lilacs? Or maybe jasmine? He wasn’t an expert on perfumes, but he did know one thing: she smelled as good as she looked. The tomboy he remembered had totally disappeared.

She leaned against him, and he tried to ignore how comfortable she felt in his arms. It was a strange sensation for him, and once again he quickly tamped down the attraction he was experiencing. He was off duty, sure, but this woman was a victim of a crime, and despite the fact that they had known each other growing up, he was here as a law enforcement officer. He also wondered what her brother, Jonathan, would think if he knew how Jake was reacting to his little sister. Would he have been indifferent, or would he have warned Jake to stay away? He mentally gave himself a shake. Even if Jonathan had given him his blessing, Jake had no interest in having a relationship with anyone. He was shocked at his own reaction to her. He steeled himself and carried her to the couch. Then he gently set her down and took a step back. “Just try to breathe easy and relax. The local police will be here soon.”

“I don’t know what happened,” she said softly. “All of a sudden, my legs just wouldn’t work.”

“No worries,” Jake reassured her. “That’s a common sign of stress. You were just held at gunpoint by two thugs. I’d say you’re doing amazingly well.” He took a seat across from her. “Why don’t you tell me what happened?”

She scooted back a bit on the cushion and then looked him in the eye again. She had always had a toughness to her, and he was pleased to see she hadn’t been reduced to tears or hysterics. Dealing with emotional victims was part of his job, but he was glad that Mackenzie was strong and able to talk to him coherently, despite what she’d just been through.

“I was trying to find the key to my door, but my hands were full. I ended up dropping some of my groceries, and when I bent down to pick them up, the bullets hit the door frame above me. Then the man in the blue jeans grabbed me and pulled me into the apartment.”

“Did you recognize either of them?”

“No. I’ve never seen them before.”

“Okay. Then what happened?”

“The guy in jeans held me, and the hairy one put a gun under my chin and said he wanted to know where I kept my movies.”

“Your movies?”

“Yes. I’m a videographer. I make documentaries, commercials, training videos—that kind of thing.”

That surprised him, but he couldn’t really remember much about Mackenzie’s plans when she had been in high school, and they had barely talked at Jonathan’s funeral. “Did he say which of your movies he was interested in?”

“No. We didn’t get that far. He started going through my desk, but I don’t know if he took anything except my laptop. He grabbed that on the way out.”

Jake put his hands on his hips. “Did you have anything important on that laptop?”

“I do some work on it, but most of the footage and movies are stored on portable hard drives. That seems to be what they were looking for. I guess they figured I had the files on my laptop.” She paused, and Jake could see that her hands were still trembling. “I can’t figure this out. I don’t understand what they wanted. Nothing I’ve worked on has ever been controversial.”

Jake heard the distant sound of sirens and knew local law enforcement would be there soon. This case probably wouldn’t fall under the local US Marshals unit’s jurisdiction, but it intrigued him nonetheless, especially since he knew the victim. One of the criminals also looked like an escaped fugitive he had been hunting recently, and he hoped he could get Mackenzie to come down to the office to check out some mug shots, just in case the perpetrator was his man after all.

He ran his hands through his hair and sighed. He was relieved he’d gotten there just in time and realized he had probably saved her life. The two criminals had meant business, but since he had interrupted them, he doubted they had gotten what they were looking for. Once thing was certain in his mind—sooner or later, they would be back.

“Look, I don’t think it’s safe for you to stay here tonight. Once the local law enforcement team interviews you, you’ll need to find a new place for a few days, at least until we have more information. Do you have friends you can stay with until this is over?”

Mackenzie shrugged. “I guess so, but if these men didn’t get what they wanted, won’t they just come after me again and put my friends in danger, too, when they return? I don’t want anybody else’s life disrupted because of me.”

She had a point. Normally he would leave it to the local police to sort this out, but he couldn’t just drive away. Just then two local detectives arrived and started interviewing both Jake and Mackenzie. The entire time they were asking questions, Jake tried to tell himself it was the connection to his fugitive that had garnered his interest in this case, and by the end of the interviews, he almost believed it himself. Almost. After Jake and Mackenzie answered all the questions, Jake pulled aside the detective in charge.

“Look, she’s afraid to go stay with friends and she can’t stay here. How about I take her to a local hotel and then bring her in to the local US Marshals office tomorrow so she can sit with our sketch artist? I’ll share any leads she gives.”

The man raised an eyebrow. “You trying to take this case away from us, Riley?”

Jake held up his hands and smiled, his slow Southern drawl salting his words. “No way. You can have the case and the paperwork. One of the perps seems an awful lot like one of my fugitives. That’s all. I just think there might be some connections here, and if we share intel, we can help each other.” He pulled a business card out from his wallet and handed it to the officer. “Cooperation between agencies is one of our mandates. I won’t leave you out in the dark.”

The detective seemed to be weighing his words, but in the end he agreed. Jake had always done his best to keep a positive, friendly relationship with the other law enforcement agencies in Tallahassee, and tonight his efforts were paying off. Although he didn’t know this officer personally, he and his team had an excellent reputation with the local agencies. The way he figured it, law enforcement personnel were all on the same team—even though they served different functions. He went to Mackenzie’s side. “Go ahead and pack a bag. I’ll take you somewhere safe until we can figure out what’s going on here.”

She raised an eyebrow but then did as she was told, returning to the living room a few minutes later with a small rolling suitcase. She also grabbed a portfolio from her desk and added several papers and a couple of files from the filing cabinet. The fear was still radiating in her eyes, but he could see that she was determined to push forward and put this incident behind her as best she could. His admiration for her went up a notch. She really was tough. He liked that. It had been a long time since anyone outside of law enforcement had impressed him on any level. He was used to dealing with the dregs of society, and Mackenzie’s strength was a welcome ripple in a sea of viciousness he dealt with on a constant basis.

He started leading her out to his car. “So here’s the plan. I’ll take you to a hotel for the evening, one that our office uses a lot. We know we can trust the folks that run it. Then tomorrow morning, I’ll pick you up around eight a.m. and bring you to my workplace so you can describe those two men to our sketch artist and maybe look at some mug books. Will that work for you?”

She nodded. “That will do nicely. I actually already have a meeting scheduled there tomorrow anyway. I can do both in one fell swoop.”

Jake raised his eyebrows, surprised. “Really? Anything you care to share?”

“My new video project is about the working of the local US Marshals office. I’ve been hired to do a documentary for them. I was already scheduled to meet with Chief Deputy US Marshal J.T. Austin. He runs the unit I’ve been assigned to work with. Do you know him?”

Her words stopped Jake cold. He froze and turned slowly to meet her eyes. “J.T. Austin is my boss.” He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. “You’re doing a movie about our office?” He could tell the gruffness of his voice shocked her, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. Surely she was mistaken. His boss wouldn’t really sanction this type of project, would he? A documentary would put his life and the lives of others who worked with him at risk. They didn’t need the exposure, and they didn’t certainly need to be worrying about the safety of someone who was following them around while they were doing a very dangerous job. Jake also had a full caseload and a heap of work on his desk. He didn’t have the time to push all of that aside to help with something as extraneous as a public service video.

“Yes, it’s all been arranged. They didn’t tell you I was coming?”

“No, they neglected to mention that.” Again, his voice was frosty, even to his own ears. “I’m sure we can sort it out tomorrow, though. There’s no way you’re making a documentary of my unit. That’s just not gonna happen.” He’d make sure of that. He’d set Mackenzie Weaver up with the mug shot books and then meet with J.T. and voice his concerns. Jake Riley wasn’t going to have any documentary made about him or the work he did, even though the videographer was an old family friend who had become a beautiful woman. He’d put a stop to the film the first thing in the morning.