Lise’s head hurt. She lifted her hand to her temple without opening her eyes. She was so tired, she didn’t want to wake up, but nature called. She’d been telling a whopper of a fib earlier when she’d said she felt fine. The very idea of going to the bathroom on her own was daunting.
She felt like she’d had the flu for a solid week.
Her eyes slid open and she winced at even the subdued night lighting in her room. She hated being incapacitated, but she was grateful to be alive. Joshua had saved her, and true to his word, he sat dozing in a chair beside her bed, his strong fingers clasping one of her hands even in sleep.
It felt nice.
If he hadn’t called her and told her to pull over, she would have run head-on into another car or a telephone pole, or maybe flipped her car over the guardrail and down the steep cliff.
She shivered from the thought, dropping her hand from her temple. Her fingers involuntarily squeezed Joshua’s with a primal need for the reassurance of touch.
His eyes snapped open and he was instantly alert, making her wonder if he ever slept deeply.
“How are you feeling?”
She shifted slightly and urgent need made itself known in her bladder. “Like I need to use the bathroom.”
“Okay.” He stood up and stretched, then lowered her bedrail.
He even helped her take the oxygen mask off. She must have worn it long enough that he thought she could be without it for a few minutes at least. She was glad she didn’t have to drag the oxygen machine after her on the way into the bathroom.
He pulled the covers away and she immediately realized her hospital gown had ridden up. It was an inch away from being indecent.
He gently tugged it down, his Hershey-dark eyes warm on her. “You are so beautiful.”
Despite her headache and the pain in her bladder, she laughed huskily. Love was supposed to be blind, but apparently desire was, too. As nice as his words made her feel, emotional pleasure was not high on her list of priorities at the moment.
Making it to the commode before she wet herself was.
He guided her from the bed, making sure she was steady on her feet before allowing her to walk on her own toward the bathroom. He followed behind, pushing the I.V. stand.
When she got inside the bathroom, she went to close the door, but Joshua’s body was in the way.
“Do you need something?” And couldn’t it wait? She was getting desperate.
“You might faint again.”
“I don’t think that’ll happen. I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck, but I’m not dizzy.”
“I’m not willing to risk it.”
He really was bossy sometimes. “That’s unfortunate because I’m certainly not using the facilities with you in the room.”
“Why not? We’ve done things a lot more intimate in the bathroom of your apartment.”
“It’s not the same thing.”
He just looked at her with that expression that said she could argue until she was blue in the face, but he wasn’t moving. She might be willing to go for blue if she wasn’t so close to losing control of her bladder.
It hurt.
She frowned, wishing she could wait him out, knowing she could not. “At least come in and shut the door.”
He did.
“Now, turn your back.”
He did that, too, and she took advantage of the pseudo privacy.
“Nitro found a kink in the exhaust pipe.”
“In my car?” she asked, feeling strange having a conversation on the commode.
“Yes. It was pressed up against the floor and there was a small hole that made it possible for the exhaust fumes to be sucked into the vacuum system. You had the heat on high, which increased the rate at which it came into the interior of your car.”
“I was getting gassed by my heater?”
“Yes.”
She finished, so she washed her hands and dried them. She didn’t know if she could get used to talking while doing something so private, but she supposed that other couples did it all the time.
“I remember I couldn’t breathe very well, so I turned it up.”
He was facing her again. “You would have done better to open a window,” he lectured.
“I was confused.” She remembered that, too. “I couldn’t seem to control the car.”
“You were disoriented from the poison.”
Yes, she had been, very. Another thing to lay at Nemesis’s door. The sick jerk.
She scooted around Joshua and opened the door. “I assume it was something highly unlikely the police would detect in the case of an accident.”
He ushered her back to bed and tucked her in, but when he tried to put the mask back on her, she stopped him.
“I’ll put it back on when we’re done talking.”
“Okay.” He sat on the edge of her bed, beside her thigh. “You’re right, the exhaust leak would have been hard to discover and if it had been, it looks enough like normal wear and tear to be mistaken for it.”
She shivered. “No evidence to take to the police, to convince them I’m not delusional or trying some publicity stunt.” Again.
Joshua tugged her blankets up, tucking them more closely around her. “Right.”
Nemesis had been very careful about not leaving footprints behind, except the bugs in her house.
“Is that why we haven’t contacted the FBI?” She knew Joshua wanted to handle things on his own, but she wasn’t sure she completely understood why. “Can’t we tell them about the bugs and the camera? They’ll believe that kind of evidence, surely.”
“The police and the FBI are limited by procedure as well as strict adherence to laws. Hotwire, Nitro, and I are not.”
He’d said that before, but it hadn’t sunk in how seriously he did not want the authorities in his way during the investigation, which made her wonder what he planned to do that the FBI might object to.
“I’m not sure—”
He put his finger over her lips, gently cutting her off. “Don’t worry, we’ll bring them in eventually.”
“After you’ve identified Nemesis?”
“When we’re ready, yes.”
“What do you mean, when you’re ready?”
“I want a word with Nemesis before he seeks the sanctuary of jail.” Joshua the nursemaid had taken a dive and the warrior was in full battle mode, his expression chilling.
The fact that he saw jail as sanctuary for Nemesis…from him, said a lot about Joshua’s mindset. She shivered again, aching from tiredness and unaccountably emotional over his transformation to cold-eyed soldier of fortune.
It was a stark reminder that their lives might touch briefly, but he would leave her to go off and risk his life in a job few men could do and even fewer did with any integrity.
Then she considered what he might do in regard to her own situation and the coldness inside her grew. “I don’t want you to do something on my behalf that could get you arrested.”
He traced a gentle finger over her brow just as if he were any normal lover concerned for the welfare of his woman. “You’ve got a real thing about protecting other people, but I don’t need you watching out for me. As you pointed out the other day, I’m a big boy.”
Remembering what they’d been doing when she pointed that out made her cheeks heat and her body tense in places. “I can’t help it. It’s the way I’m made. Besides, you’re a fine one to talk. You spend enough time worrying about me.”
“You’re the one in danger.”
Yes, she was in danger, but so were the people around her. “You saved me.” She reached out and laced her fingers with his. “Thank you.”
His hand squeezed hers and his eyes closed. “It took ten years off my life waiting for you to pull over.”
She wished that look meant something more personal, but he took his responsibilities seriously. She couldn’t build dreams on a strong reaction to her being in danger. Joshua was the type who would feel responsible about what happened to her even if there was nothing he could have done to prevent it.
“I’m sorry.”
His eyes opened and his thumb rubbed over the back of her hand. “It’s not your fault.” After a brief but poignant kiss, he slid the oxygen mask back on her face. “Go back to sleep. We’ll talk in the morning about where we go from here.”
But when morning came, Joshua had plans.
He surprised Lise by waking her very early and telling her he had to go for a little while. He left Nitro in the room with her, promising he’d be back in about an hour. She wasn’t sure she needed a bodyguard. With the heightened hospital security, she didn’t see how Nemesis could get to her room without revealing himself, but she didn’t mind Nitro’s quiet presence all the same.
An hour and ten minutes later, Joshua walked back into the room, carrying a suitcase and a bag, his expression grim.
He handed the bag to Nitro. “All set.”
“Good.” The other man walked into the bathroom. He came out ten minutes later, his hair tucked under a trucker cap and looking uncannily like Joshua. “Is my Lise ready?”
“Yes.”
“Your Lise?” she asked, staring at Nitro, not quite able to get over how much he looked like Joshua just then.
“The decoy.”
“What decoy?” she asked Joshua.
“I’ll explain in the car. We’ve got to move fast if this is going to work.”
She wasn’t about to argue, but she couldn’t help commenting, “I don’t suppose it matters to either of you that it’s my life we’re dealing with here and I’m the one in the dark.”
They both stared at her blankly.
Lord, save her from arrogant men.
She threw up her hands and flopped back against the bed, regretting the action when her headache, which had been much more low-level this morning, increased. She glared at them both, irritably blaming them for her discomfort.
Nitro winked at her, shocking her silly. “Where’s the decoy?” he asked Joshua.
“In a wheelchair in the hall. I explained the situation to the duty nurse and she’s going to have an orderly wheel our decoy to the front with you. My car is parked in the Emergency parking lot.” He handed Nitro a set of keys. “Good luck.”
“Got it.” Nitro went to the door and stopped, turning his head back so he could look at both Joshua and Lise. “Take care of her. She’s good people.”
Touched and even more stunned than when he’d winked, Lise gave Nitro a shell-shocked smile before he turned around and disappeared through the door.
Joshua pushed the call button for the nurse. “We need to get you dressed and out of here.”
“I still don’t understand.”
“I said—”
“I know. We’ll talk in the car.” She sighed. “You’re awfully stubborn, not to mention bossy sometimes.”
“You’ve said that before.”
“It’s still true.”
He shook his head, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth, and stepped back as the nurse came into the room to unhook monitors and remove Lise’s I.V. shunt. She left and Lise got up to take a shower so she could dress.
When she came out of the bathroom fifteen minutes later, wearing a fresh pair of jeans and a sweatshirt over her t-shirt, Joshua handed her a set of scrubs. “Take off your sweatshirt for now and put these on. We’re leaving anonymously.”
She’d gotten that impression with the decoy, but what she still didn’t understand was why. How could it matter if Nemesis followed them back to the apartment? Wouldn’t that be one more chance to catch him? Maybe Joshua was feeling overprotective after yesterday.
Despite not understanding his motives, she did as he said and peeled out of the sweatshirt to don the scrubs.
He made her wear a green shower cap-looking thing over her hair and a surgical mask that covered her face.
“This is all very cloak and dagger, but I don’t see the point,” she grumbled on the way to the elevator.
“Don’t talk until we get outside.”
She sighed heavily and frowned at him, but complied. Though how much of her frown he could see behind the dumb mask, she didn’t know. He wasn’t even looking at her, anyway. His attention was on everything and everyone around them.
Which should make her feel safe at the moment, but annoyed her instead. Good night! She was really in a cranky mood. Was it the aftereffects of the CO poisoning?
He took her out behind the hospital, tucked her into another nondescript-looking rental car, and left.
“Can I take the mask off now?”
He looked in the rear-view mirror and executed a couple of swift turns before saying, “Yes.”
She yanked it off. “After wearing an oxygen mask all night, having something against my face right now is about the last thing I want,” she said, trying to explain her impatience.
He pulled his off, too, and tossed it in the back seat. “I imagine so, but the oxygen was necessary.”
“Thank you for insisting I stay. I wasn’t really with it enough to make good decisions last night. I hate being confined, but staying over in the hospital was the best thing for me.”
“You’re right, it was.”
“Hasn’t anyone ever told you that saying I told you so is tacky?”
“My sisters may have mentioned it once or twice.”
She found herself grinning in spite of her bad mood. “I bet they did.”
She rubbed her temples, trying to dispel the lingering headache. “So, what is going on?”
“Nitro and a female operative named Josie McCall, decoying as you, left the hospital in my original rental car to drive to Vermont.”
Maybe her brain wasn’t working properly yet, but that didn’t clarify one tiny thing. “Why?”
“Because we want Nemesis to follow them.”
“Why do we want him to follow the decoys?”
“It will give us a chance to get there ahead of them and set a trap.”
“Why Vermont?” Wouldn’t Texas make more sense if they wanted to set a trap for Nemesis to fall into?
“My home is there.”
“You’re taking me to your house?”
“Yes.”
“I thought you told Jake you were moving in with me, not vice versa.”
“Things changed.”
Yes, they had. “Is that where Jake and Bella are?”
“No, they’re staying at Nitro’s place.”
“Fewer people to keep track of when you spring your trap.”
“Exactly.”
It made sense.
“I thought about sending you to stay with Jake, but I figured you had a right to see this thing through.”
She was glad he’d worked that out on his own. “How would you catch Nemesis if you sent me away? I’m the bait.”
“Not anymore. The decoy is now the bait.”
“How do we know Nemesis will follow them?”
“He put a transmitter on my car last night.”
“He did?”
“Yeah, and if I’d thought of it, I could have been having my car watched and we’d have the bastard nailed already.”
“You can’t think of everything.”
His expression said, Want to bet?
“Well, you didn’t this time and it’s no use getting all excited about it. What’s done is done.”
“I don’t get excited.”
“Sure you do.” He liked to pretend he was all dead inside, the standard hardened mercenary, but Joshua cared too much about other people, even if he didn’t realize it.
The look he gave her was one-hundred-percent masculine sensuality. “Yeah, I do, but that’s not what we’re talking about here.”
She swallowed. “So, how does having a transmitter on your car guarantee Nemesis will follow?”
“You’ve got to try to think like he does.”
“I’m not the stalking type,” she said with acerbity, cursing the headache that made every tonal change feel like a pounding hammer in her head.
He didn’t take her to task for her crankiness, but said, “If he doesn’t follow, he risks the possibility of losing track of you. I don’t think he’ll do that.”
“But he’s following a decoy. Don’t you think he’ll figure that out?”
“He’s not going to risk getting close enough for visual because it goes both ways. If he can see you, then you can see him and he risks becoming a familiar face to you. Remember, he can follow his transmitter from enough distance that he’d never be spotted as a tail.”
“But…”
“If he does get close enough for a visual, he’s nailed anyway because we know who he is now and Nitro will be on him like a nitrate burn on your trigger finger.”
“What?” she practically screamed.
They knew who Nemesis was? “Who is it? When did you find out? Why can’t we find him without leading him into a trap?” She glared at Joshua, wanting to brain him but not willing to risk it while he was driving. She’d had her limit of near death experiences in the car for the week already. “I can’t believe you didn’t bother to tell me until now!”
“Hotwire made the I.D. at four this morning. I told you as soon as it was safe to do so.”
“In the hospital—”
“It wasn’t a secure environment.”
“It was secure enough for you to tell the duty nurse about Nemesis and leave Ms. McCall waiting in the hall as my decoy.”
“Do you want to harangue me some more or hear what I know?” He sounded willing to go either way and it was all she could do not to growl like a rabid dog.
Arrogant men and cranky women were not a good combination.
“Tell me how Hotwire traced him. I thought none of his e-mails were written from his home computer.”
“They weren’t, but Hotwire traced the source of an e-mail you had in your archived folders that he had a hunch about. It was written a few months before the stalking started. A woman who thanked you for finally getting through to her mother with your book.”
Lise had forgotten all about the e-mail because it had been so brief and the reader hadn’t even signed her name. “How did Hotwire trace that e-mail to my stalker?”
“He connected the dots and everything in Ed Jones’s life fits our perp.”
Joshua pulled the car onto the freeway, dragging the surgeon’s cap off his head, and Lise followed suit.
“He’s originally from Southern California, but he moved to Texas almost a year ago. He disappeared when you moved to Seattle. We haven’t been able to locate his current address in the city. It could take weeks to do so and in that time he could do something a lot worse than setting you up for CO poisoning. Trapping him is faster and more certain.”
“I don’t recall ever meeting an Ed Jones.”
“You probably haven’t, at least not before he started to stalk you. Your guess that his wife left him and he was unemployed was right on target. She had him arrested for assault about seventeen months ago and pressed charges. He got out pretty damn fast, but he lost his job because of the arrest and his wife filed for divorce.”
“Do we have a picture of him?”
Joshua tilted his head toward the back seat. “The file is back there.”
She scrambled around and grabbed it. She flipped through the information Hotwire had found on Ed Jones. He was a former program manager in computer software and always paid his taxes on time. According to Hotwire, he’d never even had an overdue library book, but he was deranged enough to abuse his wife and stalk Lise. The pictures in the file were not very clear, but they made her shake because she recognized him.
“He was the handyman at my apartment complex in Canyon Rock. He was soft-spoken and pleasant.” She’d spoken to him almost every day for months—just pleasantries, but still, it had been contact and she never would have guessed.
“That’s a piece of information Hotwire can use. Do you remember seeing him anywhere else?”
“Not since I came to Seattle, but then he wouldn’t have risked that, would he? And the night of the Seahawks game, there was more than one man wearing a ski mask because of the cold.”
“All along he’s been very careful not to take a lot of risks. Which is why I’m sure he won’t risk getting a visual of our decoys.”
One thing was good. “At least now I know he didn’t sit at a restaurant table next to me on my trip from Canyon Rock to Seattle. I would have recognized him. He must have followed at a distance.”
“Exactly.”
For some reason, that consoled her, made her feel like he wasn’t so in control. He had his limits, too.
“I still don’t see how you can be so confident of leading him into a trap. Now that he knows I’m with you, he’s bound to suspect something is up.”
“I don’t think so. He thinks he’s safe in his anonymity. Even knowing about me, he doesn’t know about Nitro and Hotwire and he has no reason to believe I’ve got the necessary skill set to find his bugs. If he knew we’d tampered with his equipment, he would not have risked putting a transmitter on my car.”
“That makes sense, I guess.” But it seemed too easy. “You’re a mercenary with a background in the Special Forces. He’ll assume you’ve got some level of advanced knowledge and he could guess at the rest.”
“If he digs into my identity, and I’m sure he already has, he’ll only find that I live off my investments and like to travel. Even finding a record of my Special Forces tour in the army will take a lot more effort than it did to hack into your system or some medical records he knew he was looking for.”
Joshua still wasn’t making a lot of sense. “But people know you’re a mercenary.”
“It’s not top secret, but it’s also not documented. The company I took over is one that never advertised. All of our business is by word of mouth and very few of my clients know my real name.”
“But your family…”
“Don’t make it a habit of telling other people.”
That was true. Bella had never told her about Joshua’s job. Lise had figured it out on her own.
“If he did private dick work, that would be one thing. But he’s staying too low-key for that and it’s pretty obvious, he relies heavily on the computer. I’m betting he’s doing all his investigation via the Internet. At least now. Most likely he watched you for a long time before he started the recognizable events.”
She’d figured that out, too, and it gave her the creeps. “So, what happens after Nitro and Ms. McCall lead Nemesis to Vermont?”
“His ass is mine.”
“If you use your home as the base for the trap, he’ll know where you live. What if he turns his anger on you?”
Joshua laughed out loud, the sound filled with genuine mirth and no little diabolical self-assurance.
“It’s not funny. You aren’t invincible.”
“As far as he’s concerned, I am. The only thing saving him is his anonymity and that’s been compromised. We’ll find him and when we do, I’ll make sure he’s damn sorry he ever fixated on you, sweetheart.” He gently forced her hand open and laced his fingers with hers. “Stop worrying.”
“I’ll try.” She watched out the front window for several minutes in silence.
He flicked her a glance before doing that thing he did, looking in all the mirrors. Probably checking for a tail. “What’s wrong, honey? That is not an I’m not worrying anymore look.”
She smiled at his belief that she could dismiss her concerns in the blink of an eye because he said so. He really was one very confident man. She was trying, and that was the best she could do, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not dismiss a growing certainty in her heart.
“I think Nemesis means to kill me.”
The time he’d shoved her into traffic, she could have been badly hurt or killed and this thing with her car’s exhaust had been even more dangerous.
Which is what she said to Joshua.
“Most people start vomiting before they pass out when they’re exposed to carbon monoxide.”
“So?” Was that supposed to mean something to her? She swore, sometimes talking to Joshua was like coaxing honey from a turnip.
“If you’d reacted classic textbook, you would have pulled over sooner.”
“Before I got so disoriented I drove over the guardrail?”
“Yes.”
“So, you don’t think he’s trying to kill me?”
Joshua’s hand on the steering wheel tightened until his knuckles were white. “Not yet.”