Chapter Twenty-Four

Alex shot up in bed when he realised Eve wasn’t next to him. He jumped out of bed and checked the bathroom first, then turned and stopped, coming face to face with Justine.

Her hands were held up. “Don’t panic, she’s downstairs drinking coffee and checking out your house. Which for the record is pretty nice for a single guy. Very homey,” she sang, dropping her hands. “I hope you don’t plan on blowing up this place too.”

Alex felt his heart rate return to normal, then the irritation set in. He placed his hands on his hips. “What’s up?”

“Jillian’s up. She running out of food but is too scared to go into town.”

Alex stared through Justine while he thought. She should have enough food to last at least a month. By his count it had only been about three weeks. Regardless, she was pregnant. She needed to keep her body healthy. If she needed to run the risk and go into town, so be it. By the time the Project traced the car, he and Eve would be up there and his plan would already be in the works.

“Tell her not to worry about it. She needs the food. But she doesn’t talk to anybody. In and out, no socialising.”

“What about Miles, what if he finds out?”

“It won’t matter, by the time he finds her I’ll be there.”

She eyed him. “You better be.”

“How is she otherwise?”

“Bored. But now that she knows you’re coming she’s calmed down a bit. The time away is probably doing her good, I just wish it hadn’t happened like this.” She waved her hands down her body.

A thought suddenly occurred to him. “Does she know I’m in Cade’s body?”

“No. I didn’t know how to tell her.” She shook her head. “She was sad enough with losing me.”

“You need to tell her.”

“Geez, you sound like Cade.” She tugged a strand of hair behind her ear.

“What, logical? She needs to know. What happens when she finds out I’m not Cade on the inside. Can’t shock trigger early labour?”

Justine threw her hand on her chest. “You’re asking me?”

“Yes.”

“Well I don’t know. Let’s go ask your girlfriend.”

“No,” Alex said quickly. “You’ll scare her.”

She pulled a face. “Oh yah! Forgot about that.”

“You need to tell her.”

“I know.”

“I’m serious. Tell her.” Alex ordered, pointing at her as he left the room and went downstairs to find Eve.

* * * *

Eve wasn’t happy when he left her at his apartment for the better part of the day. Ordering her to stay inside and not venture around the area didn’t make her pleasant to deal with, but at least she understood the reason why. Did he push her over the edge by locking her inside…definitely. Or at least that was the impression he got when he heard a thump against the back of the door. Oh well. She would just have to deal with it, because there was no way he could handle another moment like yesterday when he’d thought she was dead. Special tattoo or not, nothing would happen to her today.

Besides, she couldn’t be with him. He needed to talk to the cop. After yesterday’s events at his apartment not only would the cops be looking for him but so would Miles. And if he knew Miles, and he did, he would already be searching for Cade.

Jesus, what was Miles doing? He’d never acted this irrationally before. He’d never wanted to kill a witness, never killed an innocent person or a cop. A cop. Christ. The only thing that made any type of sense was that Miles had panicked and thought Justine was Jillian, and had inadvertently killed Cade. Or maybe not. Could he have killed Justine, because she was Jillian’s twin? Was Miles desperate enough to kill Justine in the hopes it would draw Jillian out? He didn’t know, but there was something more going on here.

He pushed the dark glasses up his nose and adjusted his position against the tree in Ryder’s Park. The Project was located in a busy residential neighbourhood. The cover of a computer graphics company fit in well with the surrounding area. The teams were normally free to move in and out with large briefcases or bags without causing suspicion. Normally. However today wasn’t normal. By the looks of the people coming and going, it appeared Cade had caused quite the shit storm yesterday by blowing up a member’s apartment.

He grinned, sipping his coffee. He had watched Miles enter into the massive three story mansion about forty minutes before. Since then the influx of people had increased. It was nice to know he had made Miles’ life a little bit more complicated. That should force him to pick up his pace in order to cover his ass and with a little luck, he’d screw up along the way.

Finishing the remainder of his coffee, he wondered what lies Miles had told the others about him. A better question was, would they believe him? Of course they would, they had no reason not to. Miles was his partner and you always trusted in your partner.

“Jesus, Cade do you have any idea what kind of shit you’ve caused?”

Alex pushed away from the tree and stood to Cade’s full height as the cop approached him. Behind the dark glasses, he quickly scanned Trevor for weapons. He was wearing his jacket open, which displayed his pistol and his badge and he guessed he’d have another gun strapped to his ankle but couldn’t be sure because of his baggy jeans.

“Close your jacket. I don’t want anyone knowing who we are.” He turned and leant back against the tree.

Trevor complied with his order but asked, “Who? What the hell are you doing here? People are looking for you.” He raised his red brows and stressed, “Very important people.”

“I bet.” He glanced over at Cade’s partner. There was genuine concern on the guy’s face. This cop wasn’t only Cade’s partner, he was also a friend.

Yah well, he had considered Miles a friend too and look where it had got him. He hoped Cade was right in saying this guy was trustworthy, because he really didn’t have the time to kill this guy should he have damaged morals.

Trevor shoved his hands into his pockets and sighed, “What’s going on Cade?”

Alex stood up and shook his empty coffee cup. “Let’s go grab a coffee and I’ll catch you up on what I have so far.”

“Coffee?” Trevor scoffed. “You hate coffee.”

Alex pulled a tight smile. “My tastes have changed.”

It took less than an hour to tell Trevor about Jillian witnessing the murder and re-telling him the rest of the events from a second perspective.

Trevor waited until he was finished before asking any questions.

“Okay.” Trevor sat back and crossed his arms high over his chest. “Let me get this straight. Jillian’s boss, Brad Rhodes, was murdered and Jillian was witness to it, but was caught by the two guys who committed the murder. One wanted to kill her and the other helped her escape.”

Alex nodded as Cade’s partner recapped the story.

“You do know the autopsy confirmed Rhodes died of a heart attack?” Trevor supplied. “But that would explain why his office was a mess and why no trace evidence could be found except for Rhodes.”

Alex watched some kids run around the open field of the park. “They found nothing?”

“No. It was Jenkins and Wood’s case. They thought it might have been a break and enter and that Rhodes surprised them, but when nothing was found to suggest otherwise, they closed it.” Trevor ran a hand over his bald head. “I wonder if anyone tried calling her.”

“And why hasn’t anyone from her office reported her missing?” Alex pointed out.

“Maybe they have. I’ll check with missing persons.”

Alex nodded. He knew Miles would have called Jillian’s work, and given them some bullshit cover story that would have explained her absence.

“Okay,” Trevor sighed, resuming the original topic. “The one killer helped Jillian get to a car, where she took off. But she came and saw you first, even though he said not to.”

Alex really hated being called the killer, but then again what else should he be called? “She was scared.”

“No doubt. Did you get the make of car and plate number?”

“Plates didn’t register, I checked local and federal. Nothing.”

“Shit. So where did Jillian go?”

“I told her to follow the guy’s instructions. From what she told me, he seemed to know what he was doing, so it only made sense.”

“And where was that?” Trevor glanced at him.

“Hey.” Justine suddenly appeared next to him. “How’s it going?”

Alex shook his head, not only to answer the cop’s question but to show Justine now was not the time for chit-chat.

“Don’t get in a snit. I’m just checking in.”

Trevor was clearly annoyed too, but was easier to shut up. “She gave you his description.”

Alex nodded.

“And you saw this guy watching the therapist’s house?”

He nodded again.

“This therapist broad, where is she now?” Trevor raised his red brows.

“Broad!” Justine chuckled. “I do love Trevor’s choice in words.”

“Eve,” Alex clarified sharply. Justine laughed again. “She’s safe. But she’s worried about her daughter and grandmother. Can you send a patrol car to keep an eye on them until this gets cleared up?”

Trevor nodded. “Why did you go over to Eve’s place to begin with?”

Alex paused, not knowing what to say. “Use me.” Justine was now standing in front of them. “Say you had a ghostly apparition of me.” She waved her hands in the air. “And I said to go to Eve’s house. Oooooh!”

It was all Alex could do to keep from laughing out loud.

“Ha!” Justine put her hands on her hips. “I knew you liked me.”

Alex bit his tongue and answered Trevor. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” He shook his head.

“Try me,” Trevor suggested seriously.

Alex stared the cop in the eye. “Justine told me to go.” He waited to see what the reaction would be to his answer. When there was none he continued, “She said I would find her killer, watching a woman and her daughter.”

“Oh you are good! That was a nice touch.” Justine grinned down at him.

There was silence while Alex…and Justine waited to hear Trevor’s response. He lifted his sunglasses onto his bald head and nodded. “Okay.”

Justine clapped her hands. “You see, Cade told you Trevor was a good guy. Now hurry up and get your ass in gear.” And with that said she was gone.

“And this Eve. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and now he wants to kill her too?”

Alex exhaled before telling him the truth. “I told you I saw him watching her house when I followed him. I found out she ran into him when she was working on the seventh floor of Memorial Hospital.”

“Seventh. My brother was on seven, that’s military only.”

“Yah. I found that out.” Alex rested his elbows on his knees. “She was there to assess a patient and this other guy came in and started asking her questions. He gave her the name Remy Castillo.”

“And you think this is the same guy that wants to kill Jillian?”

“The descriptions match.”

“I suppose I don’t need to ask if you went to check out the parking garage where this shoot-out happened.”

Alex raised an eyebrow. He had of course gone back. He’d wanted to see first-hand how Miles had cleaned the area. It had been spotless to the untrained eye, but Alex had known where he had stood and fired his pistol, so he knew where the bullets should have hit the wall behind Miles. And he was right, the holes had been there, just nicely covered up with a filler the same colour as the wall.

“There was nothing there that I could see.”

“This patient in the hospital, who is he?” Trevor sat forward on the bench.

“Eve was given the name…” Alex stopped himself. If Trevor checked into the cover name he would find nothing, but if he checked into his real name it would confirm his story. Alex could feel Trevor’s eyes on him. Alex fought against his training and gave the cop the truth. “Alex Hunter.”

“Do you think this Hunter is the guy that helped Jillian get away?”

“I have no idea. But Eve said he was in a coma, so there is no way of finding out the truth until he wakes up.”

“Or if he wakes up. Did Eve say what caused the coma?”

The fight was easier this time as he revealed, “She said he had multiple gunshot wounds.”

Trevor rubbed his chin. “Think his partner did that?”

Alex flexed the muscles in his jaw. “It would make sense. This guy wanted to kill Jillian because she can identify him. And then his partner, the one person who should have his back, refused and then helped the witness to get away. He was pissed.”

Trevor nodded. “Okay, I need another recap. We have two possible military guys, one of whom is in a coma and could have possibly helped Jillian escape. The other military guy wants to kill Jillian because she witnessed him murdering Rhodes. He is now after Eve because…” He paused and shrugged. “We’re not sure why. And he is after you because you blew up his apartment?”

Alex sat up straight. What the hell? How did he know that? “I didn’t blow up his apartment.”

“We saw footage of you carrying an unidentified woman in a parking garage. After the report of an explosion in the same building.”

“It blew up when that guy started shooting at me.”

Trevor’s red brows shot up. “He shot at you.”

“Yes.”

He shook his head. “There was no evidence of gunfire. Mind you there was no evidence of anything else either.”

Good. Alex exhaled slowly. Both he and Eve couldn’t afford to be seen having sex. Jesus, how would it look? A cop, whose wife had been killed less than two weeks before was having sex with another woman. It would raise a lot of questions he didn’t have time to answer. And those cameras in the parking garage. He had forgotten about them and the only excuse he could come up with was that he was worried about Eve. He’d thought she was hurt worse than she was. Still, he needed to be more careful.

“How did you find that apartment?”

“Eve got the address from the seventh floor.”

They sat in silence for a while, both men deciding what the next course of action should be.

“I don’t think it would be good if you came back to the station. I’ll fill the boss in, check into Remy Castillo and Alex Hunter, and see what I can find out.”

Alex shook his head. “Don’t tell anyone else. I think the less people that know the better. I don’t think we should trust anyone who is military right now either.”

“I agree. But the boss is going to want to know why you didn’t come back with me.”

Alex stared at the cop. What could he say? That he didn’t trust the cops any more than he trusted the members of the Guardian Project? It was ridiculous, he needed to act somewhat like a cop, Cade must have trusted more than just his partner.

“Okay, tell him. But nothing about Eve. I don’t want the military knowing her name.”

Trevor narrowed his eyes and studied him for a moment before agreeing. “Are you going to Jillian today?”

“No.”

“Will you tell me when you do?”

“Yes.” Because I will need your help distracting Miles so I can kill him.