Bluegrass Undercover (7 page)

Feeling a little guilty about her snap judgment, she sat down and looked up at him. His eyes seemed green tonight. Sometimes they were brown.

“
I’m sorry. If it makes you feel better, you’re not the only one.”

“
Military brat tired of all the macho men?” he joked.

“
No, foster care brat.” Not wanting to get into it, she asked about Corey.

“
He’ll live, but they don’t know how much damage has been done yet. We should know more tomorrow.”

“
Here’s your dinner, Miss Hill.” With a smile, the perky waitress handed her a plastic bag.

“
Thanks.” She pushed back her chair and froze when Cade did the same. She raised her eyebrow at him in silent question.

“
I thought I could walk you home and show you the sights,” Cade said in response to her silent query.

“
Thanks, but Mrs. Lopez already did that.”

“
Well, then just allow me to walk you home to fulfill my daily gentlemanly requirement.” Cade smiled at her then and her heart pounded in her chest like it did when she was going on a bust. If she thought Miles’ smile was something, Cade’s eclipsed it.

“
Fine.” She turned to go, but Cade slipped his hand onto her elbow to guide her around the table. All conversation stopped until he guided her out of the Café. Before the door closed, the noise level escalated to near deafening, and people didn’t even try to hide the fact that they were staring at them leaving together.

“
Is it always like this?” she asked Cade.

“
No. It’s usually worse.” She laughed then and didn’t even mind when he slipped his hand from her elbow to the small of her back. “See over there. The store with the yellow and white awning? That’s my sister’s store.”

“
That’s Paige’s store?”

“
You know Paige?”

“
I met her, along with most of the town already.”

“
Ah, the welcoming committee.” His smile was so genuine and happy when talking about his sister and the town that Annie became lost in it.

A loud thumping started to vibrate her body and draw her out of her reverie. It drew louder and seemed so completely out of place in Keeneston. A week ago she wouldn’t have even noticed it in Miami, but Keeneston wasn’t a place people cruised around with their windows down and rap music pumping. It was more of a windows down and country music drifting on the breeze type place.

She looked down the street and saw a large black Escalade roaring towards them. Cade had already stopped to watch it. She wouldn’t be completely surprised if some old man came running out shaking a cane at the Escalade and yelling at them to turn it down. The thought brought a smile to her face, a smile that quickly disappeared when the doors to the Escalade were thrown open as the SUV slid to a stop next to them, and three massively muscled men leapt out of the car. They were all dressed in those tear-away athletic pants and white tank tops. One man had his head shaved, one had crazy curly hair with a receding hairline and the third had black hair with bangs.

Damn, her dinner was sure to be destroyed saving Cade again. She shifted the handle, getting ready to smash it in the first person’s face to reach her when Cade wrapped his arm around her waist and flung her behind him as if she weighed nothing. She stumbled backwards and fell on her bottom, landing against the old brick building. She cringed when the man with curly hair brought up a tire iron from his side. The moonlight, which had just moments ago cast a romantic glow on the street, now cast a menacing reflection off the tire iron. He raised the tire iron and swung it at Cade. She had to save him! She watched in horror as the tire iron came swinging down in an arc towards his head. He blocked it with his forearm and followed up with an uppercut that snapped the guy’s head back before the man knew what hit him. She would never have guessed he had so much speed.

As the other two closed in at once on Cade, she watched the injured man stumble back to the car. She tried to get her feet under her to help, but it was already over as she stood up. With a swift kick to the knee, Cade brought the one with dark hair and girly bangs to the ground. Annie watched in awe as he crumpled to the ground, holding his injured knee. He had to drag himself to the safety of the car. With a quick strike of his hand, Cade shattered the nose of the third man. Blood flowed freely down the white shirt as the man with the shaved head scrambled into the car and tucked tail out of there.

Cade dusted off his khaki pants and turned to her. There wasn’t a speck of dirt on him. The only evidence that he had just been in a fight was his hazel eyes shone bright with excitement. When he held out his hand for her, she stared at him for a moment in disbelief that he had disabled three attackers in less than twenty seconds. She looked at his large hand for a second and then placed hers in it. His hand was warm, strong, and she had to admit, she didn’t want to let it go.

“
Well, it’s nice to see you took my advice and learned some self-defense.”

Chapter Five

Cade watched Annie set the takeout bag on the small kitchen table. The way her tight jeans hugged her hips was so sexy. Her fitted Miami Dolphins jersey showed off her curves in an understated way that made it very hard for him to think of anything but what she might look like naked. Her long red hair was loosely tied back in a ponytail that swung as she walked.

Even through his lust haze, something was nagging at him. He watched as she stretched up and pulled down a plate from the cabinet for her dinner. That’s when it hit him. She was just acting normally. She wasn’t shaking. She wasn’t crying. She wasn’t scared at all. Nothing. She was acting like a mugging was no big deal. It was the same reaction he got from her after both physical altercations with Corey. He knew Miami was a tough place, but something didn’t seem right.

“
I am sorry about tonight. Keeneston doesn’t really have much crime. Certainly muggings do not normally happen. I didn’t recognize them or the car, so I’m guessing they were just punks from out of town trying to score some easy cash.” He certainly didn’t believe that, and by the “what, are you stupid ?” look she just shot him, she didn’t believe it either.

“
Um, yeah. I’m pretty sure those are what are called gang members,” she said to him as if he was a total bozo. She set the plate on the table and headed back to the kitchen.

“
We don’t have gangs in Keeneston. The Rose sisters would never allow it.” He shot her a quick grin and was happy to see she momentarily returned it. He leaned his shoulder against the kitchen wall and put his hands in his front jean pockets.

“
You may not have in the past, but you do now. Don’t be so naive, Cade. Anywhere there are drugs there are gangs who sell those drugs. That was probably supposed to be a warning from the dealer who sells to those three kids on your team.”

Annie tried not to suck in a hissing breath at her mistake. He hadn’t told her there were three kids who had tested positive for S2. She knew because she got a sneak peek at the test results before he got them. She turned her back on Cade to get some silverware and hoped that he hadn’t noticed her slip up.

“
It sure sounds like you know a lot about drugs and gangs. But, how did you know about three of my players testing positive for S2?”

Annie set the silverware on the table and shrugged her shoulders. “Lee said something about it in the car.” She turned back around and found his gaze sharp and totally focused on her face. Something wasn’t right. That wasn’t the scrutinizing look of a high school biology teacher. And those had certainly not been a teacher’s moves against those gang members. What was up with this town? She really needed to get her computer hooked up, like now.

“
Well, I’m going to have dinner now. Would you like some coffee?” she asked, hoping he would leave so she could throw the dinner in the fridge and hook up her computer. She needed to run a background check on him to see if her gut was right.

“
No thank you. I need to get home and work on some lesson plans.” What he needed to do was get over to Marshall’s government computer and run a background check on this woman. Something was definitely off. “I have been so busy with football that I’m behind in getting my school work done.”

“
Well, thanks for an eventful night.” Annie smiled and leaned against the front door jam. Would he hurry up already and leave?

“
You’re welcome. I’m just glad you weren’t hurt. Make sure to lock your door.” She watched him walk down the stairs and did take a moment to enjoy the view before he turned to give her a wave good-bye. She returned it with a smile and watched him as he headed back towards the Café. He really was a nice guy.

As soon as he was out of sight, she shut the door and ran into the living room. Against the far wall was a tower of unpacked boxes and somewhere in that stack was her computer. She searched for the box with her computer equipment in it, neatly at first, but when it became obvious it was hiding from her, she started tossing boxes and clothes in frustration. She finally spied the box with the word “computer” in black marker on it. Of course it was on the bottom of the pile. Wrapping her arms around the brown, cardboard box, she tugged at it until it wiggled free of the last couple of boxes surrounding it.

“
Okay, let’s see who you are, Cade Davies,” she said as she started pulling computer equipment out of the box.

Cade slammed on the brakes and sent his SUV skidding to a stop in front of Marshall’s old farmhouse. He jumped out of the car and in three long strides was on the old wood porch that surrounded Marshall’s house.

“
Marshall! I need your computer,” he yelled as he burst through the front door without bothering to knock.

“
You have a computer at home. What do you need mine for?” Marshall asked, looking up from his desk in his office next to the entranceway.

“
Not that computer. The other one.”

“
Ah. Who are we hacking tonight?” Marshall slid his chair over to a locked armoire against the wall behind his desk. He pushed back a small panel hidden in the base of the armoire and pulled out the key.

“
The lovely Miss Hill.” Cade paced back and forth in front of Marshall’s large oak desk. Was his brother purposefully moving slowly?

“
Don’t you think a date would be a better way to find out about her than running a background on her? It’s more fun that way. I believe Mom calls it the honeymoon period.”

“
Not when she is not who she says she is.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
I told you. She’s not a guidance counselor. And I want to find out who she is. We were mugged tonight by three men, one armed with a crowbar, and she didn’t even blink an eye. Went home and set out dinner all the while lecturing me on gangs and drugs.”

“
So you think she’s a fed?” Marshall stood up and indicated the computer was ready.

“
Yup. I’d also be willing to bet you my University of Kentucky basketball tickets that she’s DEA.” Cade flexed his fingers and went to work on the encrypted computer. “Here she is! Real name Annie Blake. Just like I thought, DEA,” Cade told Marshall as he scrolled through her records. “Twenty-seven years old. Hmm.”

“
What?” Marshall leaned forward to try to see the screen over Cade’s shoulder.

“
She graduated second from the academy. That’s pretty good. Let’s see, after that she was stationed in all around Alabama and Georgia before ending up in Miami, where she has as many commendations as she does complaints.”

“
Complaints for what?”

“
When she arrests them, seems she likes to rough up the drug dealers who peddle to kids. It also looks like she was the reason for some very big busts. The last one was just a week ago. However, there was an issue with her beating up the drug soldier she was arresting. They patched it up by saying it was self-defense during an assault. She was transferred immediately after that.”

“
Why was she transferred here? We don’t have any dealers here.”

“
Apparently we do. She’s looking into an S2 drug highway that they think starts here in Keeneston or possibly in Lexington.” Cade leaned back in his chair and turned off the computer.

“
What are you going to do about Miss DEA?” Marshall crossed his legs and shot him a grin. He was so glad Marshall found this all so amusing.

“
I think I’ll help her where I can. I do have a certain skill level that could be useful. At least I can try to keep her safe.”

“
I don’t think you have to worry about that! Isn’t she the one protecting you?” Marshall laughed. “Are you going to tell her you know who she is?”

“
That would take all the fun out of it.” Cade smiled. He had his own idea of how to handle Miss DEA.