Loe raamatut: «Out Of Hiding»

ONE

Sadie felt the bullet whiz by her head as she crouched down in the wet dirt. Darkness surrounded her, but she wasn’t alone. Her gut screamed loudly that something was terribly wrong. And she always trusted her gut. She had company, and if that bullet was any indication, they meant business. The sound of the crackling leaves told her someone was moving quickly in her direction.

Dressed in all black, she lay flat on the ground in the dark woods. No one was going to see her. That bullet wasn’t meant for her but was intended for someone else. Who? She didn’t want to stick around long enough to find out. She prayed that Megan wasn’t out here in the woods tonight—alone, scared and with bullets flying. It was no place for a sixteen-year-old girl.

She checked her gun and kept her position low against the damp, muddy ground. Her night vision goggles were a blessing. It was then she saw what she dreaded the most. The letters FBI on a dark-colored flak jacket as an agent trounced his way through the woods. Why the FBI was involved in whatever was happening in these woods she didn’t know, but she didn’t like it. They were invading her turf.

Sadie had her first solid lead on the Vladimir network in El Paso, and she didn’t want to give up the opportunity. She’d been on stakeouts for weeks, desperately trying to determine if Igor—the man who had taken everything from her—was in El Paso. Her intel had been that something related to the Vladimir crew was going down in the woods tonight. She had hoped that whatever it was wasn’t going to involve Megan—the missing girl she was looking for. Sadie knew that Vladimir’s crew was responsible for her disappearance. That’s why she’d sought out the job just days ago.

Technically, she was still in the Witness Security Program commonly known as Witness Protection, although they didn’t consider her to be in immediate danger anymore. She’d followed all their rules over the years. Her new life, her new name, everything. Done by the book. Not a single deviation from the protocol given to her by the U.S. Marshals. There was no way she’d let them know what she planned to do now that she had confirmation Igor sought to set up shop in her own backyard. It was only a matter of time before Witness Protection realized Igor’s activities had expanded down to El Paso, and then they’d want her to move. She needed to act fast if she had any chance of taking out Igor’s network.

She slowly stood up using a large tree as a shield. Thankfully, she was small of stature. By the time she’d registered the crunch of a stick right behind her it was too late. A large hand grabbed her shoulder with another muffling her scream.

“FBI, don’t move,” the deep voice said directly into her ear.

Didn’t matter who he was, when a man put his hands on her, he was going to pay. She’d trained for moments like these. She slammed her foot down on his, and he groaned. But he didn’t loosen his grip. Was this guy made of iron?

Trying another approach, she went limp in his arms, shocking him into loosening his grip, giving her a moment to slide away. She’d only taken two steps when he tackled her, knocking her to the ground. She could barely breathe. She squirmed against him, but she was no match for his size and strength. He had to have been at least a foot taller and a hundred pounds heavier. For a moment, fear seized her. She said a prayer asking God to keep her safe and then fought back.

“Stop struggling,” he said quietly, his voice steady. “I promise I’m not going to hurt you.”

She didn’t believe him. She knew better than to trust the Feds. Trust them, and she could end up dead like her parents. He adjusted his grip just enough for her to knee him in the stomach. Big mistake on her part. Now he seemed raving mad.

“I’m trying to save your life here. You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into. You should not be here in these woods right now.”

The thing was, she actually wasn’t a stranger to life-and-death situations. So this one didn’t faze her too much. “I already dodged one bullet and was doing just fine on my own.”

“You’ll have time later to explain how you ended up in the middle of an active FBI investigation packing heat and wearing night vision goggles. For now, let me get you out of here safe and sound.”

She shuddered. Those promises had been made to her before. And they’d been broken—every single one of them.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” she said. She struggled against his secure grip.

“Yes, you are, ma’am. Listen to me.” He paused, his breathing ragged. “Things are only going to get worse. You might not be as fortunate the next time a bullet gets fired. And I don’t want to have your death on my conscience. I have enough guilt to last a lifetime. So when I say three, we move for that next tree. You hear me?”

Realizing her current options were limited, she relented. He was right. Her best move for now was to retreat. She’d taken a taxi tonight and made her way to the woods on foot. It wasn’t as if she had her own ride out of danger. She’d have time to get away from him once they got to safety. “Okay.”

“One, two, three, go go go!” he said in a low voice. They sprinted from their current position to the next tree and squatted down. That’s when she heard another round of gunfire. Automatic weapons this time. Her heartbeat quickened, but now was not the time to panic. She’d been in worse situations without the valuable experience that she now carried with her after years of being a private investigator.

“What next?” she whispered, trying to catch her breath.

“Make a run for that far tree. My Jeep is beyond it. I’m hoping that will work.”

“And if not?”

“I’ll think of plan B.”

He sounded so sure of himself. Typical for FBI types. She wasn’t going to count on him to get her out of here safely. She would survey her options once they made it to the next tree before she jumped in the Jeep of a total stranger—even if he was in the FBI. Hadn’t she already learned that tough lesson?

“Now,” he barked.

She ran ahead of him using her small size and speed to her advantage, making it to the tree first. Though he wasn’t far behind. She saw the dark Jeep parked behind a cluster of trees providing them with additional cover.

“Let’s go for it,” he said.

Making a split second decision that she prayed she wouldn’t regret, she slid into the passenger side and ducked down low. Before she could even steady herself, the FBI guy had turned the ignition and floored it. The bumpy ride had her on high alert as he navigated the vehicle over the rough terrain.

She stayed down not knowing if they were safe from the gunfire and started plotting her escape. No way was she being taken in by the FBI to “explain herself.”

They drove a few minutes in silence as the Jeep weaved through the wooded area and onto the country road that would eventually lead back into town. Then he spoke after checking his mirrors. “We’re in the clear.”

She eased up into her seat and looked around at her surroundings, including the man driving. She wasn’t wrong in her initial assessment. This guy was tall and bulky. She already knew from the encounter in the woods that he was strong. His brown hair was cut short. She couldn’t see his eyes since they were focused on what lay ahead. She told herself to remember that he was one of them.

He glanced over at her. “You want to tell me now what you were doing out in the woods?”

“My job,” she snapped. Who knows what he thought she was doing, but her answer was completely truthful.

“And what job is that?”

She sighed, already not enjoying this line of questioning. “I’m a private investigator.”

“You’re not plugged into our FBI investigation, though. I would’ve known it.”

“I have no idea what investigation you’re working on.” She let out a deep breath and figured she needed to provide an explanation. Maybe it would help her get away from him sooner. “I was in the woods searching for a missing girl. You may have even seen a local news story about her. Her mother recently hired me. I’ve been looking everywhere. I didn’t see or hear anything until I felt the first bullet whiz by my ear.” She was telling the truth. She had to make sure Megan wasn’t in those woods tonight. It appeared that her leads had been correct. Something was going on with the Vladimir crew. And the FBI was involved. She said another silent prayer for Megan.

“Wow,” he said. “You were in the wrong place at the wrong time, Ms. P.I. lady. I’m going to need to bring you in, though. Gotta take your statement. Make it official.” His Southern drawl was unmistakable.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I promise it’ll be quick. You are carrying a weapon. I assume you have a permit for that and all.”

No way she’d allow him to take her in, but she didn’t have to tell him that. Her past struggles with the FBI were her own. Better to have the element of surprise.

“Uh-oh,” he said. He jerked the wheel hard to the right sending her into his right arm. “We’ve got company. Hold on.”

“I thought you said we were good.”

“They came out of nowhere.”

She turned around and saw a large dark SUV that was gaining on them. But FBI guy had some moves and was taking the curves on the dark country road with finesse as he drove toward the more populated area of town.

“Who are these people?” she asked as she clenched her fists. Were they connected to Vladimir?

“The less you know the better.”

“Why don’t you let me take a shot? I could probably blow out their tire.”

“You’re that good of a shot?” he asked with disbelief dripping from his deep voice.

“You better believe it,” she said without hesitation.

He paused for a second and glanced over at her. “If you think you can, then go for it.”

She was going to show this FBI guy that she was no slouch. In fact, she could probably outshoot him. All the time she’d spent at the range over the past few years had paid off. She turned around and was glad they were in a Jeep. Granted it didn’t provide them with much, if any, protection, but it also meant she’d have an easier time getting off an unobstructed shot.

Steadying herself she took a deep breath, aimed and pulled the trigger. It only took one shot, and the right front tire of the car chasing them was done for. The pursuit ended abruptly as they began to skid, the car circling in on the blown tire. “Got ’em.”

“Well, Ms. P.I. lady, I’m impressed.”

“You should be.” Then she turned the gun toward him.

“Whoa.” He lifted up his right hand at her while keeping his left on the wheel. “Just put that thing away.”

Her hand was steady. “I have no reason to use this on you. But I’m not being taken in for questioning. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I never accused you of anything,” he said with a raised voice. She watched as his hands tightened on the wheel.

“Take me downtown. Let me out and drive away. It’s that simple.”

“You’re crazy, ma’am.”

“No. But I’m the one with the gun right now, so I hope you don’t try anything crazy.”

“You’re hiding something.”

“It’s none of your concern. Just act like you never saw me tonight.”

“You know that’s not possible. I’ll have to write up this whole thing.”

“Be creative,” she countered. “Now let’s get downtown. And don’t try anything because I’d really hate to shoot you.”

He let out a deep breath but started driving toward town as she directed. Good, she thought. She doubted that he’d let her go indefinitely. But she needed to get away and deal with this problem on her own terms. That meant not being taken in for questioning by the FBI tonight. She needed time.

When they reached the more crowded streets of downtown El Paso, she was ready to get away from him. “Slow down. Let me out. And keep on driving. Do you hear me?”

“Yes,” he said in an even voice.

“Good.”

He did as she asked and slowed down. She never took the gun off of him as she opened the door slowly. With the light from the streets flooding in, she could see his eyes were light blue. And questioning. “Just pretend I was never here. For your own good and mine too, okay?”

She couldn’t shake the thought that she’d seen him before. She backed out of the Jeep, and he didn’t say anything in response. She slammed the door shut, and he pulled away. She didn’t waste any time weaving her way through the Saturday night crowd.

She was safe for now, but she had no doubt. The FBI guy would find her, and when he did, she’d be in a ton of trouble.

* * *

Kip Moore had a job to do. He actually had several. In addition to bringing down the branch of the Vladimir network that had popped up in Texas, he had to find the infuriating P.I. who had the nerve to draw a gun on him.

He didn’t know whether to be impressed or insulted. She might have been small, but someone had taught her how to shoot—and to shoot well. There were only so many P.I.’s in El Paso, so tracking her down wasn’t difficult. His P.I. lady was in truth, Sadie Lane of The Lane Group.

He needed to figure out her connection to the Vladimir network and his investigation. He was going to offer to bring her in as a consultant on the case. It would be the perfect way to find out what she was up to. He was currently on his way to pay her a visit. Turned out her office was on the outskirts of downtown not too far from where he’d let her out on Saturday night. It was part of a larger row of nondescript offices, and he read the sign outside her door confirming he was in the right place.

He was prepared for just about anything when he walked through the door, but he wasn’t expecting to stare down the barrel of her gun yet again. He couldn’t help but smile. “We can’t keep meeting like this.”

“Didn’t I tell you to leave me alone?”

“Yes, ma’am, you did. But it wasn’t very polite of you to draw your gun on me the other night after I helped get you out of that mess in the woods.”

“I told you I wasn’t planning on using it. And I was more than capable of getting out of ‘that mess’ as you call it, all on my own. If you haven’t noticed, I’m pretty good with my gun.”

He laughed and looked at her closely. In broad daylight, she was even prettier than he’d noticed Saturday night. She wore dark jeans and a simple navy T-shirt. Her long brown hair hung loose down past her shoulders. Unlike so many women, she didn’t have makeup caked on her face. That was a plus. But it wasn’t like he had any time to date. Even more so, he didn’t have any business dating. Not right now, maybe not ever again. He quickly pushed those thoughts away.

“Why don’t you just lower the gun so we can talk without threats?”

“And why would I do that? You’d have yours pulled on me in less than a second.”

“You are a smart lady, Ms. Lane.”

She raised her eyebrow at him, and her dark chocolate eyes narrowed in disapproval.

“I’m Special Agent Kip Moore with the FBI. You can just call me Kip.”

“Agent Moore,” she said, as she held her head high. “I have work to do. I don’t have time for baseless FBI inquiries right now.”

“I’m sorry, Ms. Lane, but if you don’t talk to me now, I’m going to come back and hound you every day until you do.”

She scrunched up her nose, and he could tell that she was thinking of how to play things.

“What do you want from me?” she asked.

“Answers.”

“I told you on Saturday night why I was there. I was searching for a missing teenager named Megan Milton. I don’t see that there could be anything else for us to discuss.”

“We didn’t find evidence of any missing teenager in the woods.”

“I went on a lead. You have to understand that when a child is missing, every lead must be checked out.”

He was skeptical but was letting it go for now. She was holding back on him. “All right. I can understand that.”

“Good, so now we’re done.”

He put up his hands. “Not so fast. Could you please lower your weapon now? I promise I won’t draw mine on you. You have my word.”

Her lips turned up into a smile and amusement flashed through her eyes. “I don’t even know you, Agent Moore.”

“I’m a federal agent.”

The room fell silent. After a few moments, she looked him directly in the eyes. “I would be a fool to take your word on anything.”

She was frustrating. Even more so because she had a point. “Okay, can I at least have a seat while I talk?”

She nodded. “That’s fine.”

He took a seat across from her desk in a comfortable chair, and took a moment to gather his thoughts. “First, things first. Here’s my FBI identification.” He removed his credentials from his pocket and slid them across the table. She picked up the ID with her left hand, still holding the gun in her right. After studying it for a minute, she nodded.

What was the best way to get through to her? “I need to know what you saw in the woods Saturday night. Take me through it step by step.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but he lifted his hand. “And before you say you didn’t see anything, remember that I know you had on night vision goggles. Looked like military grade if you ask me. And since I was in the military, ma’am, I’m quite familiar with how they work. So I know you could see and that you saw something.”

She sighed. “Could I see, yes. Did I see anything? No. I heard a lot of noises, but I never got visual on anything other than some FBI guys. And then you.”

He nodded. Was she telling him everything? “Why don’t you let me buy you lunch and see if anything more comes back to you?”

“It won’t,” she responded quickly.

Too quickly. Maybe he needed to provide her with an incentive to get involved. “I’d like to be able to tell you more about the investigation in hopes that you could assist us.”

“Assist the FBI?” she asked.

“Yes, ma’am.”

She did that scrunching thing with her nose again and didn’t seem to be too enthused. Maybe he’d made the wrong move. He’d thought she’d be intrigued by the prospect of working with the FBI, but it seemed now that was not the case.

“I’ll have to pass.” She visibly relaxed and set the gun in front of her on the desk.

“Even if it involves working on a high profile case? Taking down some Russian mob types from New York that have shown up in El Paso?”

He watched as her eyes widened and the color drained from her face. Then she tipped over in her chair. He was by her side in a few steps. The woman had passed out on him. He really had his hands full now.

* * *

“Sadie, are you okay?” a deep voice asked. She must be dreaming. Igor’s grimy face flashed through her mind—his ice-cold blue eyes mocking her. Igor could find her. Hunt her down. He was close. So close. She was in danger. She felt strong arms propping her up. She knew the voice from somewhere but couldn’t place it. Then at that moment it came rushing back to her. Her eyes popped open, and her heartbeat raced. She tried to reach for her gun.

“It’s okay, it’s Kip. Sadie, you with me? Have you eaten today?”

She couldn’t process this. She’d been camped out for two weeks waiting to get a glimpse of Igor coming out of the five-star downtown hotel, but she’d never seen him. Her worst fear, confirmed. The Vladimir network was expanding to El Paso. And the FBI was on the trail. She couldn’t let this Kip guy know the truth. She knew Igor could be in El Paso, but hearing the words brought about a visceral reaction within her.

“Sorry. I haven’t eaten. Sometimes I get a little queasy, low blood sugar and all.” She was hypoglycemic, but her reaction was spurred by something much more sinister.

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a protein bar. “Here, eat this.” His light blue eyes flashed with concern.

“Thanks,” she muttered. This was it. She wasn’t safe here any longer. She’d been tracking Vladimir’s network closely, well, as close as possible, but hadn’t been sure Igor was in the area. Parts of his crew, but not Igor himself. She had known all about his continued operations in New York. The human-trafficking ring that spread up to Canada. As she suspected, his next move had to be expanding into Mexico. But now she had to focus, she had to pull herself together, and quickly. She took a couple of bites of the protein bar as Kip sat silently watching her eat.

“You feeling any better?” he asked.

“Yeah. Where were we?” She needed more information from him to determine whether her initial research was accurate. And while she’d never trust the FBI after what they let happen to her family, she needed Kip’s knowledge right now.

“I was saying that we could use your help in the investigation involving a Russian crime syndicate. It’s actually a family business of sorts that started in New York. They’ve sprung up a satellite office down here, so to speak. Human trafficking over the border.”

“And where do I come into this?” She wanted to close her eyes and pray that there was no way he knew about her past with the Vladimir family. He couldn’t. That person no longer existed.

“I saw you in action on Saturday. You’re good. I also think you know more than you’re letting on. So I was hoping you could consult on the investigation with us.”

“You don’t even know me.”

“I’ve seen enough. And of course, I had the FBI run a background check on you.”

Thankfully, her history before joining Witness Protection was in a sealed file that wouldn’t even show up on his search. Add on to that the additional Witness Protection security protocols. But still she wouldn’t put anything past the FBI. Igor Vladimir may have pulled the trigger and killed both her parents, but it was the FBI’s fault that he had been in her house in the first place.

“So what do you propose?”

“Lunch.” He smiled.

“Not happening,” she said. She wanted more information, but she needed to do it her way.

“Coffee?”

“Possibly. I wasn’t lying. It’s Monday morning. I’ve been busy catching up on things with more ground to cover. We can set something up for later today if you’re really serious.”

“I am. And I can work with your schedule.”

“Meet me back here at two,” she said. That would give her enough time to do some digging.

“All right.” He turned and walked to the door, then looked over his shoulder. “Please don’t draw the gun on me again.” He winked and stepped outside.

She needed to drink some water and clear her head. The room felt like it was closing in on her. Her panic attacks had gotten better, but at times like these they threatened to claim her again. She couldn’t believe she’d passed out earlier. That was dangerous. Super dangerous. She knew the information she’d been given about Igor was probably true, but hearing it out of Kip’s mouth had still been a shock. She was smart enough to know this Kip Moore wasn’t one of the FBI agents responsible for her parents’ death, but the fact he was still a part of the Bureau made her uneasy.

She laughed to herself. Work with the FBI? Really? She despised the FBI’s bureaucratic maze for failing her parents, and rightfully so. However, it would seem that she needed to work with them now to get what she ultimately wanted. Justice. She’d been working toward this goal for years on her own. Going against the shadowy Vladimir network in any small way she could. This, though, could provide her an opportunity to deal them a huge blow. Her two greatest enemies. Could she work with one to take down the other?