3

Mint pumped his arms and legs and chased after the guy fleeing from Emma’s room. The man’s body type matched the description of Aaron Jones that he’d been given, but he wouldn’t know if it was that same man unless he got a look at the face. They’d been looking for Jones for weeks. Since he’d been implicated in the kidnapping of Senator Rachel Harris. Something the whole team took personally.

Double Down was fully invested in bringing down the blackmailer. And Aaron Jones was likely a party to whatever operation was in play.

Mint rounded a corner two seconds after Jones—if this really was him—and stopped. Turned around. Looked up and down the street.

Empty.

Not even the sound of a car engine, or footsteps fleeing. He even held his breath for a second just to be sure.

Aaron Jones was gone.

Mint wanted to kick the hubcap of the closest car, but denting private property wouldn’t get rid of his frustrations. It would only add to them. Mint checked the whole area to make sure Jones wasn’t simply hiding somewhere. When he was satisfied the man had given him the slip, Mint made his way back to the motel.

He approached from the opposite side and headed for his truck. He settled in the front seat but didn’t start the engine. The sheriff’s car was parked outside Emma’s room. Was she all right? He didn’t like the fear that had been in her eyes when she’d looked up at him.

Pain. Terror.

He didn’t like that she felt those things. Not when he’d also known those, echoed down to the core of his being. And he hated those feelings. Had spent years trying to exorcise them by being as strong as he could. As fast. As lethal.

He wanted to help her, as much as it was unwise to see her as anything other than a witness. Mint wasn’t there to make her feel better. He was only there to find out what she knew about the blackmailer who’d been involved with Senator Rachel Harris’s kidnapping.

It had been a complicated situation, but Rachel Harris was all right now. And Alexis—her best friend who had taken the fall for her instead of bowing to the dictates of the blackmailer—was on her honeymoon with Mint’s newest teammate, Bradley.

Mint’s team consisted of six men and one woman. Mint had the feeling that the boss, Steve Preston, might have had a thing with Rachel at one point. But if they did, it wasn’t public knowledge. Rachel and Bradley were siblings, twins in fact. And Alexis had been part of their tribe for years.

Mint had observed the whole thing from a distance, until Alexis had been shoved into a bank with a bomb strapped to her. Then he’d been pulled in, on the job as part of the operation. He’d injured his shoulder, and Alexis had insisted on taking care of him—out of guilt. Too bad her brand of “care” involved being all up in his space. Gushing about how she was so thankful.

An ambulance pulled into the parking lot. Dread moved through him and his fingers went to the door handle, before he even realized he’d made a move to get out. No. He didn’t have the right to see if she was okay, and he never would.

Mint didn’t want to consider what it was about her that caused this reaction in him. Dwelling on all that wasn’t going to make his life easier.

Mint turned the brightness on his phone screen all the way down and called his boss. It was late on the east coast, but Steve never minded interruptions. That was the nature of their business.

His boss answered, “Preston.”

“It’s Mint.”

“I have caller ID.”

“My mother taught me it’s polite to introduce yourself.”

Steve was quiet for a second. “She really do that?”

“Of course not.” She’d left before Mint could walk, and he didn’t even remember her. Still, he didn’t want to have a ridiculous conversation. “Jones was in her room tonight.”

“He get anything?”

“No. There’s an envelope under her bed, and he wasn’t carrying it when he ran off.”

“What envelope?”

Mint said, “Don’t know. Didn’t have time or the tools to get it open. But it’s covered in blood, and she’s keeping it with her run money and her driver’s license.”

“Not smart. Anyone could find that.”

“Anyone?” Just because Mint had found it didn’t mean “anyone” else would. His attention was half on the call and half on Emma. She sat in the ambulance now, and he was twisted in his seat trying to see her. The woman didn’t want to be checked out, but was complying anyway.

“Mint.”

He blinked. “Yeah?”

“I said, Perkins went through her bank accounts.”

Perkins was their female team member. “She didn’t find a transaction that might explain the envelope, but Emma Burroughs takes out cash a lot. Could be she paid for something with folding money. In which case, we’ll never trace what it is.”

“I can try a second time,” Mint said. “Get into her room and see what’s in there.”

“It’s your call, but don’t wait too long to nail her down about what happened. We need to know what she knows about the blackmailer.”

Mint wasn’t actually convinced she knew the identity of the person who had blackmailed Bradley’s sister. None of them were. Not really. Maybe she didn’t even know a blackmailer existed, and she’d simply walked in on Jones and Senator Sadler having a showdown.

Mint said, “I actually have a feeling she’ll run after this. He was in her room.”

“Freaked her out.”

He nodded, even though Steve couldn’t see him. “At the least.” He watched her climb gingerly out of the ambulance, one arm across her ribs. “Injured her trying to escape.” His free hand curled into a fist, and he thought about slamming it into Aaron Jones’s smug face.

The ambulance pulled away. She talked to the sheriff for a few more seconds, then shut her door. Mint waited, watching the room. He wasn’t about to head back to his own and get drawn into this in a way that would handicap his ability to do his job here.

Sitting in his truck, watching, made this feel more like what it was. Business.

“She’s our best lead right now.”

“I know.” Mint wasn’t going to let the team down. Double Down, the private security and investigations business Steve ran, were professionals. Mint had been part of the team since he got out of the Army Rangers a few years back. He hadn’t enjoyed that time in his life. It had been more about discovering who he was and making amends with himself for that. Still, the man the Rangers had crafted him to be was a man he respected. Maybe even liked.

Who he was now was more about using those skills on a local level, for a man he admired far more than any commanding officer he’d had. Steve had been to the edge of death and back. There was no one else he wanted to work for.

“I’ll get what we need.”

“I know you will, Mint.” Steve’s voice was filled with confidence. “And take care of Emma. That’s the real reason I sent you on this mission, despite your being done with Alexis’s cookies and brownies and cake because she was so grateful you saved her and didn’t die.” Steve chuckled. “But I know you won’t let Emma down now.”

Steve hung up. The unspoken words hung in the air even after the call ended. He watched from the truck, but Emma’s light never turned off.

Mint wasn’t the kind of man who let an innocent get caught in the crossfire. That might be noble, but it wasn’t always the way the military wanted to operate. Sometimes there were casualties and that had been unacceptable as far as he was concerned.

That story went farther back in his history than Mint was prepared to travel. He needed to concentrate on the now, and not let the past breathe down the back of his neck. That never led anywhere good—not for him, or the people around him.

Half an hour before sunrise, Emma ducked out of her room, backpack over her shoulder.

She was running.

Emma walked across town to the diner, chin tucked in a scarf at her throat. Hands in her coat pockets even though she had gloves on. She wasn’t sure where she would go after she got her last paycheck from Patch, but it had to be somewhere. Anywhere. A place she could disappear into the crowd once again, hoping Aaron Jones wouldn’t find her.

She said, “Hi,” to an older man she’d served a few times, who was walking on the street. It seemed a shame to leave this place. She’d come to like it here, especially the motel owners. And Patch.

The front still had the CLOSED sign out, so she went around back. There were only a few minutes until the diner opened for breakfast. Patch should be here.

Emma’s shoulders clenched and she shivered. She glanced both ways, feeling like someone was watching her. Was it Aaron? She studied the area around her. Cars in the tiny lot behind the diner. The alley. The streets beyond. Then she went inside.

All she needed was her take for the last few days since payday, and then she could get lost. Surely Patch would understand her need to be away from here.

Okay, so there was no way he would understand.

“Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to come in?”

She nearly smiled at his gruff voice, but couldn’t allow it. Emma stepped into the kitchen. Patch stood at the huge metal counter, taking a swig from a mug of coffee—what he called his “drug of choice.”

“Hi.”

“Not your day to work the early shift.”

She swallowed. Nodded.

“Trouble found you?”

She stared at him.

“I can give you what I owe ya, but trouble is just gonna keep coming.” He paused, looking at her with a knowing expression she’d never seen to this extent. “Am I right?”

“Yes.”

“Will I be able to convince you to stay, Emma?”

She opened her mouth to tell him there was no way he would convince her to stick around and put everyone’s lives in danger, not just hers. Then she realized he’d just used her real name. “You…”

“I don’t run a diner cause I can’t do nothin’ else.”

It took her a second to process what he’d said. “I don’t think you’re dumb. I would never.”

“I know that, darlin’. It’s why I like having you around, even knowing the trouble you’d bring with you.”

“I can’t stay.”

He laid his cup down. “I know you think that. And if you gotta run, I got brothers all over who owe me favors. Could keep you safe. Hidden.”

“Brothers?”

“The kind that ride bikes and wear leather.”

Protection from bikers? That sounded scary, even while she figured it could potentially also prove her safest option.

“But for right now, Kerri didn’t show up. I already called the motel twice. Didn’t know you weren’t there.” He gave her a pointed look. “Need you to work the early shift.” He was back to being the tough boss of a small town diner. “After that, I’ll pay you, and you can decide what you want to do.”

She stared at him, her mind going back and forth between the fact she’d faced down an intruder last night—and had bruised ribs to show for it—and how much she appreciated Patch taking a chance on her. Especially considering the trouble she had on her heels.

“How did you know I was in trouble?”

One bushy eyebrow rose. “I can smell it.”

She frowned.

“That, and you asked me to pay you in cash. You have no references and no cell phone.”

So, she wasn’t super good at this “under the radar” stuff. It wasn’t like she’d ever done it before.

He said, “Go flip the sign and get changed into your uniform. Make your choice later.”

Apparently he was done talking. Time to work. Emma smiled to herself as she dumped her backpack in the office and quickly changed before she flipped the sign to open.

When she unlocked the front door, a dark figure filled the windows and cast shadows inside. She sucked in a breath. He opened the door before she could even think to bar it. By the time she grasped the wood, it was too late.

He was inside.

He looked down at her, far taller now that he was standing, not seated, at one of her tables. “I’ll take some coffee,” he said. “After that, we’ll talk about me keeping Aaron Jones away from you long enough for my team to bring him down.”

His team? She stepped back, not only because he was bigger than her and he’d crowded her into the diner by sheer force of his size. Without even touching her.

“I… you…” Her brain wouldn’t even work.

“Pick a seat,” Patch called out from across the rear counter, where he stood in the kitchen. “Coffee will be right up.”

He turned away and slid into a booth.

It was enough for her to exhale. To fake a smile and welcome a couple more of the regulars, and get the big man his coffee. How had she walked into this? She was supposed to have left, but Patch was shorthanded. And now the man was here, talking about things no one was supposed to know.

Patch was watching.

Keeping Aaron Jones away from you.

Long enough for my team to bring him down.

Her mystery man wasn’t working with Jones, and he wasn’t working for the person behind Jones. Emma was glad to know this, but it wasn’t like the knowledge allowed her to relax. Then again, the big man might be here, but he wasn’t on her side. He couldn’t protect her.

She wandered back to the rear counter to pick up her protector’s breakfast—different from what he’d ordered yesterday. Patch was on the phone.

“When you get this, call me. Want to know you’re okay, Kerri.”

A sinking feeling moved through Emma’s midsection. The other waitress was probably sick, laid up in bed and unable to get to the phone. Just because she wasn’t here didn’t mean Aaron Jones had done anything to her. This was only a coincidence of timing.

He hung up the phone and shot her a look. “Still can’t get ahold of her. I called Barb, though. She’s coming in early, so you can take off when she gets here.”

“Okay.” Emma appreciated him thinking of that. It was a weekday, so the diner wasn’t going to be crammed. But it would still be busy.

She refilled a few coffee cups. The big man shot her a look, but she didn’t offer him any more to drink. He could sit there until the end of time for all she cared. That was how much she didn’t want to tell him anything. Just the idea of sharing what had happened that night made her want to be sick.

The FBI wasn’t going to understand that she hadn’t wanted to shoot him. She might not have hit him, but how could she prove it? It wasn’t like her word meant anything. All they were going to see were her fingerprints on the gun. Her blood in the hallway. Her motive—or whatever they figured would’ve been her motive for doing it. What did it matter if it was true, or not?

Barb showed up. Emma told her she was going in the back for a break.

She had her backpack on and was headed out the fire exit before she even registered that she still wore her uniform. Flight mode had kicked in and there wasn’t much she could do about it. She needed to run. What was the point in staying only for Aaron Jones to catch up?

But first, she needed to make sure Jones hadn’t caught up somehow to Kerri and hurt her. Part of Emma didn’t want to know. She forced herself to walk to the other waitress’s house anyway. Praying it was nothing, that the girl just had the stomach flu or something.

When she found the front door open, she knew it wasn’t nothing.

Then there was the blood. All over the hallway.

She shifted to step inside, to go search for conclusive news. A hand grabbed ahold of her backpack and used her grip on the straps to pull her back. She stumbled and fell against him before she managed to right herself.

The big man’s dark eyes stared down at her. “Don’t.”

“But—”

“Don’t say anything.” He hauled her down the front walk. “Just get in the truck.”