Читать книгу Beyond His Control - Stephanie Tyler - Страница 9

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WITH AVA A FEW steps behind Justin, hanging on to his belt as he’d told her, they got to his rental car without incident. Still, he did not have any good feelings about this one. When a slow-moving car, headlights off, pulled onto the end of the street, he knew he was more than right.

Someone had been waiting for Ava to get home, to make their move on her. Her leaving was not what they had in mind and Justin didn’t wait to get the make and model, hear the inevitable, unmistakable sound of gunfire that followed before he peeled away from the curb.

“Stay low, Ava.” He automatically pushed her so her body was almost to the floor as one shot then another cracked the back windshield but didn’t shatter it. Shit.

He careened around the corner, looking to put just enough distance between them to pull into a hiding spot. There wasn’t enough traffic this time of night around here to lose the sporty number following them.

Three blocks later, he found what he was looking for, pulled the car between two low sheds and cut the lights and the engine. He prayed, but held his weapon at the ready at the same time because he always found the combination of the two to be the most effective.

Ava, it appeared, was holding her breath. And looking slightly blue. Not really a great color on her.

She was staring at him and he realized that he was motioning for her to breathe in SEAL speak, not Avaspeak. She was looking at him as if he was crazy.

He pulled her close, whispered against her ear, breathe, and felt her inhale a huge gulp of air. And then another, in a slightly hitched manner.

She stopped when the sound of another car rounded the corner, headlights momentarily throwing light on their car and hopefully, it was mingling in with the shadows. Ava had moved closer to him unconsciously, and any other time he would’ve been thrilled with that contact. As it was, she was burrowing against the arm that held the gun, making it impossible to move without flinging her unceremoniously to the floor. Which he’d do if he had to, but she’d definitely be unhappy with him.

She also had a lot more explaining to do than just, this all has to do with my current case. But he was skilled enough in interrogation to know that she’d tell him everything he needed to know one way or another. Having a history with her helped in that regard.

Of course, she also knew him well, too.

Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, the car pulled away.

She looked slightly shaken, but she was breathing and there was no blood. And she wasn’t staring up at him with that goddamned “you’re my hero” look he was pretty familiar with after he rescued someone on the job, which was good. He didn’t want hero worship from her.

What do you want from her?

The truth, he told himself firmly. And for a minute, he almost believed it.

AVA CLUTCHED Justin’s arm as she strained to listen for any signs of the other car’s return.

Her palm ached from where she’d held the gun so tightly, her heart beat faster as the earlier scene began to replay itself in her head. She couldn’t get past the sound of shots being fired, wouldn’t make the mistake of staring out the rear window that had been struck by a pair of bullets. It was one thing to practice shooting at a range and entirely another to be in the line of fire.

She much preferred the former and realized that the breathing thing was getting harder.

“Put your head between your legs and try to take deep breaths. In through your nose, out through your mouth,” Justin was explaining, but his voice sounded far away, his drawl more pronounced…his large palm against her cheek.

What seemed like seconds later, mainly because that palm was less than gently slapping her cheek, she opened her eyes with a start. Her seat had been pushed all the way back and her gun was gone.

His hand shifted from her cheek to her neck, then reached down for her hand. For a second, she thought he was going to hold it.

“Your pulse is still racing,” he said, finger firmly on the point at her wrist. “You should stay down for a while.”

And then, for just a second, he did put his hand in hers, giving it a light squeeze. His hand was big, reassuring, and if she pretended hard enough she could actually believe that there was something more in his touch than mere comfort.

When he took his hand away, she shifted to face him. “Did we lose them?” she asked, her voice hoarse as if she’d been screaming out loud for hours. In reality, she hadn’t, but inside her head she was still yelling.

“For now.” His voice was intense, his drawl nearly nonexistent.

“So why aren’t we moving?”

“We’ll have to sit for a while. They’ll circle around until they’re sure we’ve disappeared.” He glanced at the empty neighborhood. “I’ve also got to lose this car and these plates.”

“Around here? You’re going to steal a car?”

“I prefer to think of it as borrowing,” he said. “And no, not here, we’ll have to make do with this one for a while longer. At least until we get out of state.”

“Where are we going?”

“I was going to take you down to my place, in Norfolk, but I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.” His hand, which had been playing along the steering wheel gripped it tighter, the muscle in his forearm flexed and she noted again how much bigger he’d gotten. All filled out—no more signs of the young man she’d known in high school. His hair was shorter now, but still as blond and he was still tanned, too.

He took a deep breath, as if he’d made a decision. “We’ll drive for a few hours, then stop before dawn. Rest, regroup. Decide what our next move should be. Until we know more about who’s threatening you, I don’t want you to have any contact with your office.”

“No one in the D.A.’s office has anything to do with this,” she insisted, but her voice sounded worried, even to her own ears.

“Unless you’re one hundred percent sure, I’m not taking any chances. Not when I promised your brother I’d take care of you until he could.” He paused. “What’s this new case all about?”

“It’s a domestic abuse case. I’ve prosecuted cases like this before and yes, I’ve been threatened before.” She gave him the pat answer, the easy answer.

“Like this?”

She bit her bottom lip and nodded. “Abusive husbands often try to control me the way they control their wives. I can’t let them win. I made a commitment to these women, to help them. Do you know how long it’s taken some of them to come forward, to finally trust someone?”

“I can only imagine.” His voice was tight again, and maybe, just maybe, he’d understand. At least she thought so until he spoke. “But you can’t put your life on the line for every case.”

“Does your SEAL team have that same motto?” she asked, and his lips pressed together in a grim line. “You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do, Justin.”

“In this case, I do. You’re going to need to listen to me, Ava.” And with that he straightened up and turned the key in the ignition.

She guessed his internal timeframe had told him it was safe to leave. Still, she noted that he didn’t switch on the car’s headlights until they were on the highway, headed southbound. “I’m doing all this for your own good.”

How many times had she heard that in her lifetime, from Justin, Leo, her father…even her mother?

She’d had no idea an hour ago that when she opened her door she’d be opening up the door to her past.

AVA HAD HER CELL PHONE out and she was dialing. And ignoring him and his advice. Just like old times. Which, in a way, was good. It meant she was bucking up under the pressure, that she wouldn’t completely fall apart. Yet.

He grabbed the phone from her. “What are you doing? You just agreed we weren’t going to tell anyone anything,” he said.

“I want to talk to Leo,” she said. “I want to talk with someone in the DEA office. If they know anything—anything at all that’s related to why my life’s at risk—I deserve to know.” She kicked the dashboard in frustration. Twice. Which made the front end of the POS rental car rattle.

“I know you do,” he said, trying to talk her down from the emotional ledge she’d worked herself onto.

“Maybe in your world having men shoot at you isn’t a big deal—”

“It’s always a big deal,” he said through gritted teeth. He shifted his hands on the steering wheel and then took a breath. She was shaken, badly, and when Ava was thrown off her game she reacted by lashing out at the nearest available person. Which, in high school, always seemed to be him.

But this wasn’t high school. They were all grown up and this was all too damn real. “I need you to tell me everything that happened to you today. You can start with the informant, or think back, if there was anything else out of the ordinary that happened. Maybe something you’ll only notice in hindsight …did you feel like you were being followed? Have you been seeing the same man for the past few days and thought it was just one of those weird coincidences?”

“No, I hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. I’ve just been working—ninety-hour weeks. I barely have time to lift my head and notice the world around me.”

That was Ava. She’d always thrown herself headfirst into whatever her cause or interest had been. Like a whirlwind, she gave all her time, devotion and energy until she’d completed the latest project to her satisfaction.

“You’ve got to tell me everything you know about this case you’re working on,” Justin insisted.

“I shouldn’t be telling you any of it.”

“Under typical circumstances, I’d respect the need for confidentiality. But this has gone way beyond that—I need to know what we’re up against.”

Ava stared out the windshield as she told him about Susie and Robert Mercer in halting words, as though she was trying not to give away more than necessary.

“So you met with the informant, he tells you that your newest client, who’s disappeared off the face of the earth, is the wife of a man who’s the son of one of the biggest drug traffickers—which is information you already knew. And then you come home to find pictures of yourself.”

“That about sums it up,” she said. “It’s not good that Sammy has that information—it’s not good that he knows that I know who Robert Mercer really is. Before this, the D.A.’s office was only supposed to know about the domestic abuse charge. My boss didn’t want us to give away our hand, not until the police and the federal marshals got involved.”

She was looking down at her hands, her nails short, manicured with a light, no-nonsense polish, but he’d bet anything that her toes were painted a fire-engine red, or maybe purple. Something unexpected under all the logic.

He had the nagging sense that she was holding something back, but he let it go for the moment. “Did you tell him that?”

“I did. He refused to tell me where he’d gotten the information.” She shook her head. “He’s low level…I don’t know why someone would just offer up that tidbit to him.”

“He could’ve been in the right place at the right time.”

“Or it was a giant setup, like you said before. A way to get me out of the house.” She paused. “A way to scare the hell out of me.”

Ava might be scared now, but what these men didn’t realize was that the fear wouldn’t last long, it’d be replaced quickly by her natural fighting instincts.

“We’ll stop just before dawn,” he said. “I’m going to have to figure out what to do with this car. I can’t be sure someone didn’t see us leave. I don’t know if the guys who came after you were watching your house.”

“I’m not sure of anything anymore,” Ava whispered before she turned away from him to stare out the window into the darkness.

WHEN LEO HAD FIRST gotten wind that Susie Mercer had gone to the D.A.’s office to file a charge of domestic abuse, then also confessed to knowing her husband’s dealings with the O’Rourke family and refused federal protection, he’d wanted to bang his head against the wall.

When he found out Ava was lead counsel for the prosecution for both the domestic abuse charge and the possible indictment of Robert Mercer for being involved with the O’Rourkes, he did just that. Twice. And the headache that followed was nothing compared to the way his head pounded now.

The D.A.’s office didn’t realize that their secret information regarding Mercer’s hidden criminal connection wasn’t nearly as secret as they thought.

As he slid his leather jacket on, he wondered if he’d ever be able to recognize himself in the mirror again. Too much scruff on his face, hair too long, a far cry from his usual suit and tie, official DEA office wear.

You wanted undercover. Be careful what you wish for.

He’d gotten bored with the usual action, the paperwork. The bullshit bureaucracy that seemed to haunt every one of his work assignments while he slammed through the ranks.

Hearing about Justin’s travels all over God’s green earth hadn’t quelled his instincts to play hard and work even harder. Turk had known military life wasn’t for him, but he’d been surprised at just how badly he’d wanted to take a walk on the darker side of life.

He hadn’t wanted to take his sister down that path with him, had been glad when she’d refused to work for the DEA as one of their team of lawyers, no matter how hard they’d tried to recruit her.

When he made contact with his office yesterday he’d received the news that Ava was on the Mercer case, looking to put the people he’d been investigating for months behind bars, but on charges that wouldn’t stick without the information the DEA had been carefully gathering.

The link between Robert Mercer and the O’Rourke clan was little known outside the tight-knit world Leo had infiltrated. Until Susie had come forward with a domestic abuse claim—and Robert Mercer had panicked.

The O’Rourkes hadn’t panicked. They planned on doing what they did best—protecting their own interests by trying to grab Susie first.

Except that Susie Mercer suddenly went missing and couldn’t be located through FBI, or any of the other law enforcement agency channels.

On the O’Rourke estate, Leo heard rumors that O’Rourke’s men had orders to kill whoever was assisting Susie or would be closely involved with a possible trial.

He wasn’t sure what else to do but call in Justin.

He trusted Justin with his life, with Ava’s, but this was bigger than all of them and more dangerous than the DEA had originally conceived.

Anyone going after Ava would have had to have researched her family. Leo’d taken precautions but hadn’t exactly erased himself…if they’d gone through Ava’s house, seen pictures…

It was a leap, but not a huge one. Once he knew Ava was in his buddy’s care, he could relax momentarily, move to the next phase of his job and figure out the rest later.