An hour later, Laura attempted to call her dad again at the number on the new burner phone Griffin had given Nolan. There was no answer. She tried not to become alarmed, well aware that she was anxious about everything. She knew Nolan still felt puny from his chemotherapy. He was probably asleep, knocked out from pain meds.
A few minutes later, her burner phone rang. The number was from Aunt Joy’s missing phone. She or Griffin must have found it. Good. “Hi.”
“Listen up,” an unfamiliar masculine voice said.
Her stomach dropped. “Who is this? How did you get this number?”
“We’ve got your father.”
“What!”
“We’re at the hospital in your dad’s room. If you aren’t here in thirty minutes, we’ll kill him.”
Running up the stairs to the kitchen, Laura snatched up her coat and grabbed the first set of keys hanging on the wall next to the garage door. She bolted out into the garage and headed for the second bay and Griffin’s extra SUV. “What about traffic? I don’t know if I can get there in thirty minutes!”
“You’d better.”
She scrambled up into the gray SUV and started the vehicle, then punched the remote button to open the garage door. “Let me talk to my dad!”
There was only a dial tone. Screaming in frustration, she pressed the gas pedal and sent the truck squealing out of the garage. She barely remembered to hit the remote to shut the door.
She tore up the long gravel driveway that led to the main road. The number to Griffin’s cell phone was entered into her speed dial. As the truck swerved and bounced, spraying dirt and gravel, she punched the number 1. Please still be at the hospital, she prayed.
He answered on the first ring. “Hey, how’s—?”
“They’ve got my dad!”
“What? Who does?”
“Vin’s goons!” She tried to speak past the lump in her throat. “They said they were in his hospital room. Did you stop to see my dad?”
“For just a couple of minutes. He was alone.”
“The voice on the phone said I had thirty minutes to get there or they would kill him. Are you still there?”
“No. I left about twenty minutes ago, but I’m turning around right now.”
“Thank you.” She nearly sobbed in relief. “You’ll be able to get to him before I can.”
She reached the main road and turned onto the asphalt.
“Laura, did you leave the house?”
“I had to.”
“Go back. Now.”
“But they said they would kill him.”
“I’ve got this. Go home,” he said sternly.
She didn’t see how she could. As if Griffin knew her thoughts, he said, “Turn around. I’ll take care of him. Stay on the phone with me.”
“Okay.” Her nerves were raw, her hands shaking. She knew Griffin would handle the situation.
The caller would be expecting her, not an ex-SEAL. She slowed the SUV and turned the vehicle around. An old brown four-door passed her. The first car she’d seen.
“Where are you now?” Griffin asked.
“I can see your driveway. I’m maybe a hundred and fifty yards away—”
Something heavy rammed the back end of the SUV, knocking Laura into the steering wheel, bending her wrist at an awkward angle. She cried out.
“What is it?” He sounded urgent.
“Something just hit the back of the truck.” The rearview mirror showed a car closing in fast. The tan four-door. “It’s a car! Brown. Old—”
The car slammed her rear bumper hard, causing her to fishtail. Screaming, she tried to correct but couldn’t. “Griffin!”
She plowed into the ditch, headed for a barbed wire fence.
“Laura!” Griffin’s voice faded as the phone flew out of her hand.
She fought the wheel, trying to get some traction on the rain-soaked ground. The vehicle struck a rut and slid in sickening slow motion down the fence. Barbed wire clawed the sides of the SUV in an earsplitting metallic screech.
The truck bumped over something—a hole or a rock—and flipped halfway onto its side. The momentum snapped Laura’s teeth together and hurled her to the opposite door. She screamed as her head smacked the window. The vehicle crashed to a stop, engine still running.
Head throbbing, she lay stunned for a moment. The driver’s-side window shattered and glass sprayed her. That door was jerked open.
“Here, I got ’er,” a man said.
Hard hands clamped around her ankles and yanked. She kicked as hard as she could, managing to dislodge one hand. Two pairs of hands fastened on her this time, one on each leg. As they dragged her toward them, she managed to snag the cell phone from the floor. She shrieked and struggled and punched with her feet, though she was tiring fast. She knew her efforts wouldn’t free her, but she was able to get their grip to loosen slightly, just long enough to stuff the phone into her coat pocket.
Two goons pulled her out, whacking her head on the running board. She hit the ground with a jarring thud. Pain shot through her. Dazed, she lay motionless.
Cursing and muttering, one thug moved up and flipped her onto her stomach, binding her wrists behind her. He rolled her onto her back and the other man latched on to her ankles. The guy at her head caught her under her arms and the two of them picked her up. She began to struggle again, trying to kick the one at her feet.
They moved a short distance, opened the trunk of their car and pitched her inside. As the door slammed, she cried out and began hammering the side of the vehicle with her feet. The car lurched into motion and sped down the road.
Panic nearly choked her, but she tried to stay calm. Help me, Lord. Please. She was able to think past the terror flooding her. Griffin had been on the phone with her when she was ambushed. He knew she was in trouble. He would come for her. Reaction set in and she began to tremble.
She just hoped he found her before they killed her.
* * *
Laura’s scream had turned Griffin’s blood to ice.
He had made the first legal U-turn he could and headed home.
Adrenaline blasted through him. He got Boone on the phone and quickly explained what had happened. “I’m only now exiting the highway. I hope you’re closer to my house than I am.”
“Sydney and I both are.”
“Great!” He checked the GPS signal on his stereo display. “I’m tracking Laura’s phone. They’re headed west of my house. It sounded as if she was putting up a fight, but these injections take a lot out of her. I don’t know for how much longer she’ll have the energy to struggle.”
“Syd and I are on the county line road right now, heading west. What are we looking for?”
“A brown four-door. Laura said it looked old. If you catch up to them, stop them. I don’t care how.”
“You got it.” Boone hung up.
Whoever had lured Laura out of Griffin’s house obviously wasn’t in her father’s room at OU Medical Center. He called Ghost, who agreed to go to the hospital and report back on Nolan.
Griffin narrowed his focus to finding her, refusing to allow the impatience or the urgency that grew out of his anger take hold. Those emotions would make him reckless. He didn’t have time for reckless.
* * *
Laura didn’t know where they were. Or which direction they were headed. Suddenly the car made a sharp right turn, spinning her around. She heard the splash of water. Then the automobile jerked to a halt. She huddled into a ball, straining to hear anything the men might say. When they’d grabbed her, she had gotten only an impression of rough male features. She hadn’t recognized either of their voices.
The wind whistled around the car, drafts of cold air pushing into the trunk. She heard what she thought was the groan of a tree. Or a human. She shuddered.
The trunk popped open and the sudden sunlight had her squinting into the glare.
“Get out.” The older of the two men popped a stick of gum in his mouth. He waved his handgun at her, motioning her out.
She tried, but with her hands tied behind her all she could manage was to get to her knees.
“Fletch, she needs help.” The second man, who looked barely over twenty-one, smirked. Lank dark hair, highlighted with a red stripe, fell over his eyes.
While he aimed his own gun at her, the man named Fletch gripped her upper arms and lifted her out of the trunk.
She wobbled, then found her footing. Fletch jammed his gun into her side. “Move it.”
She did, searching frantically for the best escape route. They were on a deserted country road, slick with red mud from the recent rain. There were small groupings of trees on both sides of the road, a couple of pines that might provide cover.
Why hadn’t they already killed her? Was Griffin nearby? She might not have much time left. Teeth chattering from the cold, she yelled as loudly as she could, “Help! Somebody help!
The younger man laughed. “Nobody can hear you, lady.”
“You’re surrounded!” A masculine voice boomed. “Drop your weapons!”
The kid’s eyes grew as big as quarters. The disbelief on his face would’ve been comical in another situation.
Laura recognized Boone’s voice. It came from behind them, around the corner.
“Do as the man says and lose those guns,” Sydney seconded.
Thank goodness they were here. Laura started to turn toward them. Fletch grabbed her arm in a bruising grip then shoved her behind the car. The younger man moved in front of her so she was stuck between the pair of them.
“Last chance,” a different male voice said.
Griffin. The fear crushing Laura’s chest eased a tiny bit.
Behind her Fletch laughed, lifted up and fired over the back of the car. Gunfire erupted. Bullets hit the car, dinging metal, shattering glass.
Laura didn’t know what to do. Slide under the car? Try to roll away? Neither idea sounded the best. She huddled into a ball, making herself as small as possible.
The younger of her two captors moved farther up the side of the four-door, shooting in bursts. Despite the cold, sweat prickled on her neck. The men on either side of her exchanged fire with Boone and Sydney. Laura flinched after each loud crack. She looked again for a place to run, a way to escape. It was a risk. So was staying put. She could be hit by a bullet either way.
Bullets whizzed past. For every round of shots from her captors, Boone, Sydney and Griffin returned fire. Their shots were spaced out, sparse, aimed at the specific area from where Fletch or the other guy fired.
Laura realized they were afraid she would be hit. So was she! How could she let them know where she was?
As soon as her captors began shooting again, she struggled to her feet and ran past them, away from the car and down the road. She knew they would shoot, but they would also give away their position. She had no doubt that Griffin, Boone and Sydney had better aim than the two clowns who had nabbed her.
A round plowed into the ground behind her. Another one burned past her ear. Two more shots cracked the air around her. She threw herself to the ground, flat against the mud.
Abruptly, silence descended. Shattering silence. Even the wind stopped.
“Laura!” Suddenly Griffin was there, bending over to cut off the flex cuffs. His strong arms helped her up and gathered her to him.
She burrowed close, sobbing.
“Are you hurt?”
“No,” she choked out. “Just scared.”
She lifted her head, seeing his concerned face through watery eyes. “Did you get them?”
He nodded, stroking her hair. “They’re dead.”
Maybe she shouldn’t have been relieved, but she was. She massaged her sore wrists. “Are Boone and Sydney all right?”
“Yes.” He kept an arm around her as he turned her around.
Boone and Sydney waved as they walked toward her.
Laura became aware of the red mud slicked all over the front of her coat. “I’m getting you dirty.”
He hugged her. “I don’t care.”
“My dad?”
“He’s fine. Ghost checked on him not too long ago.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. I figured those jerks threatened him just to lure me out, but I wanted to know that he’s all right. Thanks for sending Ghost to make sure.”
Boone walked up ahead of Sydney. “Sorry for shooting so close to you.”
“I appreciate y’all coming for me. It took me a minute to figure out you were trying to determine exactly where I was.”
“You’re safe,” Sydney said. “That’s what matters.”
“Thank you both so much.”
The female agent hugged Laura and Boone patted her shoulder. The four of them began walking toward the corner and the vehicles they’d driven. Laura didn’t look at the bodies next to the brown four-door.
Sydney glanced over at Griffin. “We called the local cops. They’re on their way.”
“I guess we’ll have to answer all their questions, just like we had to at the clinic yesterday,” Laura said.
“Yes, sorry.” Griffin put an arm around her shoulders.
She smiled up at him. “I don’t mind at all. I’m glad to still be here to answer questions.”
“I’m glad, too.” His arm tightened around her. “Very glad.”
* * *
Hours later, after answering questions from detectives and having Marshal Yates explain Laura’s situation, this time to Oklahoma City’s chief of detectives, Griffin and Laura headed back to his house. On the way, she asked him to stop for groceries so she could fix dinner for everyone.
He shook his head. “I know you’re shaken up and need rest after your close call today.”
“I am a bit tired, but I really want to do this. There won’t be another chance. Tomorrow will be my last day here.”
Griffin looked at her dubiously but relented. “All right.”
Once they arrived at Griffin’s, she worked on dinner while he went to get his SUV pulled out of the ditch and towed to his mechanic to fix any damage. He had told her he planned to stop while in town to see if Ghost had any new information about Hughes, Inhofe or Thompson.
When he finally returned, Laura insisted dinner would wait until he showered. She herself had had a relaxing bath and changed into slacks and a blue sweater. Now she stood in Griffin’s kitchen and looked at the huge dinner she’d prepared. To thank him and his colleagues for all they’d done, she had made lasagna.
It would be hard to say goodbye tomorrow.
Even if Griffin was able to link Hughes, the nurse or the attorney to Vin, Laura didn’t see how it could help at this late date. However, she would take any help he offered.
Footsteps coming up from the security room alerted her that the others were on their way up to eat. She slid the French bread into the oven to toast and turned as Griffin, Boone and Joy walked into the kitchen. Sydney was close behind, her wild curls down tonight. Laura had invited Alex aka Ghost also, but he’d declined.
The aroma of savory tomatoes, meat and spices filled the air.
Boone sniffed the air appreciatively. “Sure smells good.”
Joy walked around Laura to check the top crust of her blackberry cobbler. “It’s hard to beat Laura’s family recipe for lasagna. She learned to make it from her mom.”
Laura smiled at her aunt.
Sydney chose a seat at the table that positioned her to hear most of the conversation with her good left ear. “I can’t wait. It looks wonderful.”
Laura placed the pan of steaming pasta at the center of the table, then returned with the salad.
The female agent rubbed her hands together, her eyes glittering bright green. “It’s a good thing Devaney agreed to let you go to the store. I have a feeling he didn’t have anything in this kitchen except bread.”
“And eggs,” Laura added playfully.
“Hey!” Griffin said in mock indignation.
It was nice that they were able to joke after everything that had happened today. She needed light.
She urged everyone to sit. Griffin pulled out her chair, then her aunt’s.
As he took the end chair next to Laura, he explained that Alex was staking out the nurse’s house.
“Earlier he caught her on the security feed entering the prison. He monitored it hoping to get a shot of her visiting with Arrico, but it didn’t happen.”
Laura tried to temper her frustration.
“The first frame showed Inhofe stepping into the visitation room. Then a guard motioned her over and she disappeared from view. She was gone for the entire time allotted to visitors. There was no more footage of her until she exited the building.”
“So there’s no footage of her with Vin,” Laura said, struggling to keep her composure. Now what?
Boone nodded. “Ah, they met in a place in the prison without security cameras.”
Laura looked from him to Griffin. “The cameras aren’t everywhere?”
“No.” Disgust was plain in Sydney’s voice. “Which means a guard or some other prison employee helped them.” So they still had nothing that proved Cheryl Inhofe even knew Vin. Disappointed, she shook her head.
Sydney patted Laura’s hand. “The nurse has to come home at some point and Ghost will be waiting. If there’s the slightest thing to get on her, he’ll get it.”
“I hope he can.” Laura found the female agent’s words encouraging. “I’ll pray about it.”
“So will I,” Joy said.
“What about the jerk who tried to inject me at the clinic?”
“Still not talking,” Griffin said. “But Officer Rydell left a voice mail that their lab found pentobarbital in the syringe he intended to use.”
There was a long moment of silence. Laura couldn’t believe just how close she’d come to death again.
But she was alive. That was what mattered.
She looked around the table, telling herself to savor her last hours here. There was a normalcy in sitting there listening to the sound of voices and laughter, the clatter of silverware. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had normalcy. Or dinner with friends. Who knew if she ever would again? After she assumed her new identity, this night would be a memory she would relive again and again.
Her second identity. She pushed away the resentment, determined to enjoy the get-together.
The meal passed quickly and Laura had the chance to see how much the Enigma operatives liked working together. They teased and complimented each other, talking about a couple of past cases. Sydney helped Laura clear the table while Joy dished up piping-hot cobbler, then topped it with vanilla ice cream.
Everyone took their dessert and coffee into the living room. She, Joy and Griffin took the sofa. Sydney sat in one of the overstuffed leather chairs flanking the couch and Boone took the other.
Laura wistfully thought back to the evenings she’d spent with her family before the blowup with Dad. Looking around the room, she smiled as Boone told one terrible joke after another. Sydney and Griffin disagreed about movies and her aunt commented every so often.
Feeling a hand on hers, she looked down. It was Joy offering silent support. Tomorrow Laura would finish what she’d come to do, then leave. She would probably never see Boone or Sydney or Griffin again. She hoped she would someday be able to see her aunt and father.
After everyone finished their dessert, Joy and Sydney gathered the dishes and took them into the kitchen. Boone, Laura and Griffin remained at the table and talked about the Thunder, Oklahoma City’s NBA team.
Several minutes later, it seemed everyone was ready to call it a night. Sydney slipped on her burgundy coat, Boone rose and patted his flat stomach, putting on the suit jacket he’d removed before dinner. “Thanks for the meal, Laura. It was great.”
“I’m glad you liked it.” She started to get up and see him out, but he waved her back.
“No need for that. Syd and I will let ourselves out. See y’all in the morning.”
“All right.” Laura didn’t really want to think about tomorrow.
Griffin walked to the fireplace and knelt to pile in some of the wood stacked to the side. He waved as his colleagues left.
Joy went to her guest room to call Nolan on the new burner phone Griffin had provided. That left just Laura and Griffin.
A comfortable silence settled around them. She wanted to stay here and to spend more time with Griffin, but was that smart? Not according to the rule she’d made for herself after the debacle with Vin. Think with your head, not with your heart. She decided she didn’t care. This time tomorrow night, she’d be far away and this would all be a memory.
“You’re a great cook.” He looked at her over his shoulder.
“Thanks,” she said softly.
Before long the scent of wood smoke drifted through the room, mixed with the sugary smell of berries and cobbler. He reclaimed his spot on the sofa and toed off his work boots. Stretching out his legs, he rested his stocking feet on the sturdy dark wood coffee table.
He smiled over at her. “Take off your shoes. Get comfortable.”
She removed her shoes and, putting her sock feet on the table, she noticed that his were nearly twice the size of hers.
“Did you get a lot of recipes from your mom?”
“Just some special ones, like the lasagna and her chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.”
“I’d like to try those.”
Lulled by the crackle of the fire and the solid strength of the man beside her, Laura decided she could stay like this for the rest of her life.
She glanced over. Griffin’s eyes were shut, his hands folded across his flat stomach. “What’s the problem between Sydney and Alex?”
Without opening his eyes, he shook his head. “They’re the only ones who know. Neither one has told me.”
“They sure don’t like each other.”
“True. Have you spoken to your dad again today?”
“Before dinner.”
“How did it go?”
“It went well. I didn’t tell him what happened today either. I’m too afraid it will jeopardize his health.”
Griffin nodded.
“At least I’m able to say goodbye before I go into the program this time.” The thought of leaving tomorrow put a knot in her throat. “The good thing is we’re no longer estranged. Our relationship is so much better. Though I wish I could stay and build on it. I wish I could stay, period.”
“I think everyone else does, too.”
Laura wondered if that included him. “It bothers me that I’ll have to keep up with my dad’s condition through Marshal Yates. Although now I at least know he has a condition.”
It also upset her that she wouldn’t be able to keep track of Griffin at all. She could really fall in love with this guy, so maybe it was a good thing that she was leaving tomorrow. That was a complication she didn’t need. Surely her interest in the former SEAL would fade over time.
“I guess that’s one of the hardest things about WitSec,” Griffin said. “That you can’t see family and friends.”
“We’re ‘strongly discouraged.’” She made quote marks in the air. “Floyd told me that only two people in the history of the program have been killed. In both instances, it was because they came out of hiding. Thanks to you, I haven’t had to worry about that.”
“Much,” he said wryly.
“At all,” she said. “If it weren’t for you, that guy at the clinic would’ve hurt me. And even though I was grabbed by those goons, you made sure Boone and Sydney reached me before the jerks had a chance to do me any real harm. I was more concerned that you were going to be the one who got hurt. Or worse.”
“Hey.” He nudged her thigh with his. “I’m still here and I plan to be. Arrico isn’t getting to you or me.”
Her protector would be safer once she left, but Laura knew not to say it. “I can’t believe my time here is already over.”
“I guess this is different from your first go-round with WitSec.”
“Yes, and leaving is proving to be more difficult than I expected.”
“Because of your family?”
“Not just them. I never expected to like you as quickly as I did.” Her cheeks heated. “Not just you. I mean, all of you.”
The thought of disappearing again was daunting. Depressing. Of course, when she had accepted protection before, she’d been saving her life and hadn’t cared about her future as long as she was away from Vin. Now she did care. “I’ll pray about it. I need to let go and trust God.”
“To keep you safe?” Griffin asked.
“That everything will work out.”
He was quiet for a moment, then said, “Maybe I should try that for my—”
Laura waited for him to finish. When he didn’t, she prompted, “Try praying for what?”
He shook his head. “I’ve already gotten some help.”
“With what?”
“PTSD.”
She put a hand on his arm. He smelled of man and the outdoors. “You have post-traumatic stress disorder?”
“Yes.”
“From the ambush?”
He shrugged. “The episodes started after that.”
Laura wanted him to continue talking but didn’t think she should push. She started to remove her hand, but he placed his bigger one over it, holding hers in place for a second.
When he released her, her heart tilted. “You said you’d gotten some help?”
“Ghost recommended a shrink friend of his. I still talk to him every once in a while.”
She searched his face. “It takes a lot of guts to seek help for a problem like that.”
“I had to. After I returned from my tour, there were some days I couldn’t function.”
“Is that one of the reasons your fiancée left?” Laura had heard a lot of family members couldn’t handle the unpredictability, and sometimes the violence, of the disorder.
A muscle in his jaw flexed. “Emily left after one of my episodes.”
The shame in his voice tugged at Laura’s heart. “Did you hurt her during one of them?”
“No. I never touched her, but I scared her.”
“How?”
“I went away sometimes.” He tapped a finger against his temple. “Up here. I don’t remember much of that. I do remember the nightmares and yelling.”
“I hate that she left because of something you had no control over.”
“Looking back on it, I don’t know how much of a part the PTSD played.”
“What do you mean?”
“She told me she couldn’t deal with that or the fact that I might get deployed again. I think that was just her way of softening the blow that she’d found someone else.”
“Good riddance,” Laura muttered.
He grinned. “I’ve forgiven her.”
“You have?”
“Thanks to you. Seeing how you and your dad patched things up.”
“Good for you! That’s a big deal.” Her next words were out before she could stop them. “I wish you could forgive yourself for your friends’ deaths.”
He stiffened, his leg like iron against hers. “I don’t see how anybody can forgive that.”
His words, painfully raw, fell into the emptiness around them.
“God can,” she said quietly.
He shook his head. She wished she could convince him, but it would take time. Time she didn’t have.
He rose, stretching to his full height. “I’m going to call Ghost.”
“All right.”
“We can watch a movie when I get back. There’s a collection of DVDs in the entertainment center.” He gestured toward the massive fifty-five-inch television on the adjacent wall and its built-in cabinets.
He’d made it clear he didn’t want to talk anymore. That was all right with Laura. By this time tomorrow, she’d be in a safe house or on her way to a new home, with a new name. Griffin would be moving on to the next client.
She squelched her loathing at having to leave again and stood. “I’m really going to miss yo—this place.”
“Now that I know what a great cook you are, I’m going to miss you, too.”
With a laugh, she swatted at him and he snagged her hand, tugging her toward him. His gaze dropped to her lips.
Her breath jammed in her throat. He wanted to kiss her. She wanted him to. “I thought we agreed not to do this.”
“This is the goodbye I won’t be able to give you tomorrow with all those people around.”
They both knew it wasn’t a good idea, but it was all they had. All they would ever have. When he pulled her close and kissed her, she kissed him back.
Not too long after, they drew apart and she looked up at him. His blue-green eyes were sharp with emotion, maybe the same emotion rolling around inside of her. Reluctance, resignation. The thought of walking away hollowed out her chest.
She had broken her rule and followed her heart, not her head.
He stroked her cheek. “One doesn’t seem like enough, does it?”
“No. But I guess it has to be.”
“I wish we’d met under different circumstances.”
“So do I.” She squeezed his hand. “I don’t want to leave and not just because I have to return to WitSec. But because—I think I’m falling for you.”
“Same for me. You’re the first woman in a long time who I’ve cared about. Who I’ve let myself care about.”
“Talk about bad timing.” She grimaced.
He had kept one arm around her and the longer he held her, the harder it became to pull away. And to remember why she had to.
With greater effort than she expected, she stepped out of his arms. “If I don’t say good-night now, I don’t think I’ll be able to.”
“Yeah.” The stark acceptance on his face made her heart ache. “I get it.”
If only things could be different, she thought. But they weren’t. Mentally bracing herself, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek and walked away.
She held the memory of their kiss close. That was all they were going to get and she had to make peace with it.