Redman laughed and holstered his nine millimeter. He opened his hands wide. "No hard feelings, right?"
To KC's surprise, Chase's fury didn't diminish. Only now, instead of Redman, he turned his glare onto her. He raised his HK so that it was aimed at her chest.
"Into the bedroom, KC," he said, his voice tight with rage. "Now!"
KC froze. What the hell was going on?
Redman grabbed her by the wrist and spun her out into the living room where she collided with the Barcalounger.
"Guess he's not done with you yet, honey," he said, one hand slipping down her back to caress her buttocks. He gave her a squeeze. "I'll be waiting when he is."
Chase was silent as he stalked through the dining room, his gun still aimed at her. He did nothing to come to her defense, didn't even seem to notice Neil cowering on the couch. Redman grinned and planted a boot on her rear that sent her sprawling across the room, into the hallway.
"Sure you don't need any help in there?" Redman asked Chase.
"Wait for me out here," Chase ordered them in that same tight voice that frightened her so.
He reached for her arm and dragged her across the hall into Jay's bedroom, then kicked the door shut behind him. KC looked up, hoping that what she'd see would still the fear racing through her veins.
Chase's face was the face of a stranger. A stranger intent on murder.
CHAPTER 39
It took all of Chase's resolve not to squeeze the trigger. Because of that, he holstered the HK and took a deep breath before he did anything.
He couldn't kill her. Not until she told him where Jay was. Not until Jay was safe.
He grabbed her by her shoulders, hauled her to her feet, her back to the door. Just like when they had met in her bedroom—was that only last night?
This time she looked at him with true fear in her eyes. He almost had second thoughts. Almost.
Until he remembered how good an actress she was. Chase shoved her up against the wall, rattling the glass in the photos hanging beside her head.
"Chase, what's wrong? Why are you—"
"Cut the act, KC," he growled, one hand on her throat, ready to squeeze the truth out of her if need be. "Where's Jay? What have you done with him?"
A frown creased her forehead. "Jay? What happened?"
"I said, quit the act!"
He pressed the flat of his hand against her throat. Her pulse skittered beneath his fingers.
"My people found no record of Jay being placed in protective custody. Tell. Me. Where. He. Is."
Her eyes widened as she processed his words. He waited for the next lie to escape her lips, ready to pounce on it.
Instead, her knee connected with his groin, and she broke his grip on her throat, sending an elbow into his solar plexus, knocking him back a step.
He almost hauled off and hit her, desperately wanted to hit something, have some avenue to channel his fury and fear into, but the look on her face stopped him.
It was the same look of concern and worry she had when he'd threatened her people back at the hunting camp.
He lowered his hand. No one could be that good of actress. Could they?
"Your people?" she whispered, her words coming in a furious rush. "Who the hell are you, anyway? Don't you know security at Justice has been compromised? My God, what have you done!"
Chase could see no deception on her face. He raised both hands in surrender.
"Please," he said, "just tell me the truth about Jay." His voice took on a tone of pleading, but he no longer cared. He needed to know Jay was safe.
"You really think I could do anything to hurt Jay?" A single tear slipped from her eye, and she swiped it away with the back of her hand. "He's safe with the Marshals, just like I promised."
Chase stepped toward her, and she backed up until the door jam stopped her. He lowered both hands to her shoulders, surprised to feel her tremble at his touch. She really was frightened. This was no act.
"He's safe?" he persisted. "Are you certain?"
"You don't believe me?" Her dark eyes looked at him with disappointment. "All right, I'll prove it."
She opened the door, nodded toward the living room where Redman and the others waited. "Deacon has someone feeding him info on undercover operatives. Go ahead, tell them who I am. Shouldn't take them long to verify it for you." She shrugged. "If
your
people have been raising a stink at Justice, my cover's most likely already blown."
"I can't do that, KC," he said, pulling her back from the doorway and lowering his voice. "They'll kill you."
"But you'll know Jay's safe, and that I was telling the truth." She gave her head a small shake of resignation. "I don't know any other way to prove it to you, Chase. Go ahead. Do it. I can take care of myself."
"Cut the macho crap, KC." Nothing made sense—the FBI had no record of Jay, the cell phone didn't match, Lucky was missing—how could he dare believe her?
She made no move to resist or defend herself, merely looked up, met his eyes. "I promise you, Chase," she whispered, "I would never do anything to hurt Jay. Trust me."
Trust no one—it seemed like such an easy code to live by.
Only sooner or later he had to make a choice, had to put his trust in someone. He couldn't go any further on his own. He searched her face for an answer.
Her gaze was clear, her voice calm. She was offering her life to answer his doubts.
Then he realized that he had his answer—had been looking right at it all along. KC had all the answers he needed. Chase only needed to listen, to believe.
It was time to stop living one day at a time and start living as if he had a future. A future with a woman who'd earned both his respect and his trust.
Chase exhaled the breath he'd been holding and squeezed his eyes shut against the flood of relief that poured over him. He believed KC. She was telling him the truth.
He opened his eyes. "Thank you."
Footsteps echoed down the hall, and he pressed KC up against the wall, forcing his mouth on hers. Her eyes widened, then she glanced to one side as Redman approached. She made a choking sound and struggled, finally pushing him away and giving him an open handed slap across the face.
"Get off me, you animal!"
Chase saw Redman's grin out of the corner of his eye. He tightened his grip on KC's shoulders, shoved her back against the wall once more.
"You liked it well enough last night," he said in a loud voice.
"You said you'd hurt Jay if I didn't—" She broke down, sobbing. "If I didn't let you—"
Chase eased up on his grip, and she crumbled to the ground, drawing her knees up to her chest in a fetal position.
"Go away," she cried. "Leave me alone."
It was an Oscar caliber performance. Chase felt himself drawing back as if he were actually guilty of raping her.
Redman bought it as well. He looked down on KC's broken form with a predator grin that Chase wanted to permanently erase from his face.
"Hate to interrupt you, now that you've got her softened up," Redman said, clapping Chase on the shoulder, "but we've got to get moving. Don't worry about her." He nudged KC with the toe of his boot. She whimpered like a wounded animal. "Freddie will keep an eye on her until we get back."
Chase hated leaving KC like this. Then he realized that, thanks to her acting abilities, she still had access to her knife and both Glocks. It was Freddie he should be worried about. The guy didn't stand a chance.
He squatted down, placed a hand under her chin and forced her head back. Her eyes darted about like a cornered animal and wouldn't meet his. Redman chuckled and returned to the living room.
"I'll be back," Chase told her in a menacing voice loud enough to carry down the hallway.
He turned so that his back blocked the view from the living room and bent down to kiss her thoroughly, trying to express in the few seconds of their embrace everything he didn't have time to say aloud.
"I promise," he added in a whisper.
"Take care of Neil," she murmured back, her hand squeezing his.
Chase couldn't contain his smile. All hell breaking loose, and she was worried about keeping one kid safe. He ruffled his fingers through her hair.
"I will."
"Watch your back," she said as he left to join the others.
CHAPTER 40
The closest parking space Lucky could find near the school was down at the drugstore. Streams of children were pouring out of both churches, lining up for some kind of procession. Their attendant parents contributed to the chaos until it looked like a colorful herd stampeding the pristine snow of the church lawns.
He shook his head as a clock struck noon. No wonder Deacon wasn't upset with the timing or location of the meet. All these people would keep the attention away from the exchange.
And make excellent cannon fodder if things went wrong. There was no time to get help from Rose Prospero and he knew the local force was compromised.
Redman's Blazer pulled into the maintenance drive that ran behind the school. Lucky followed on foot. No gun, no weapons of any kind and marked by Deacon's men as a Fed—but still he went.
Chase was his partner, Lucky had to watch his back. There was no one else to do it.
Chase felt that itch between his shoulder blades—the same one he'd felt in Afghanistan right before all hell broke loose, the same one he'd felt when he rode into Coalton yesterday.
He had a bad feeling about this. Should've listened to Lucky in the first place. He unholstered his HK. If he was going to go down, at least it would be fighting.
He looked across the backseat at Neil. The kid looked like he was going to puke at any second. "Don't worry," he told him, "everything will be all right."
Neil looked at him with disbelief in his eyes. "My dad is going to kick your ass."
Chase gave the kid a mental thumbs up for his show of bravado. Neil was an okay kid, even if his father was a scumbag.
"Whatever happens," he said in a low voice, "just stay calm and do what I say, all right?"
Neil swallowed hard and nodded as the SUV came to a halt.
"End of the road," Redman shouted gleefully from his position in the front seat.
Chase hoped not.
KC huddled against the wall, trying to calm her nerves. She had a bad feeling about this, a very bad feeling. Nothing was going as planned. All her preparations and still the operation was going south—thanks to Chase Westin. Whoever he worked for, they had connections good enough to trace the cell phones and paper trail she'd left at the Bureau.
She could understand why Chase would be furious if he thought she'd placed Jay in danger. She almost regretted her misdirection at the Bureau. She'd thought she was protecting her team, but it seemed as if her plan had backfired.
Freddie skulked into the room. He crouched down in front of her, reached out a hand, testing to see if she'd bite it. She pulled away, hugging the wall, as if she'd go through it if possible, and made a small, feral sound.
"Now, now, little girl," he crooned.
She heard the sound of the Blazer leaving. Other than Freddie and her, the house was empty. Freddie patted her head, and she curled further into herself, edging one hand behind her to the boot with her Glock.
"Freddie won't hurt you," he said as he drew closer, on his knees, both hands reaching out to stroke her body. "You'll see, we'll be great friends. You should be thanking me. Because of me, you won't have to worry about Chase Westin no more. One way or the other, he'll never hurt you again."
What the hell did that mean? She angled her head up, barely meeting his gaze. "Really?" she asked in a small voice.
Freddie took this as encouragement. He nodded vigorously and moved closer. She could smell pickled beets and sauerkraut on his breath.
"Westin is the only connection between Deacon and Gianotti. Deacon figured Gianotti mainly deals with drug dealers, scum like that, so why should we give him any of our hard-earned money? So we're gonna take him down and Westin gets to play fall guy." He smiled encouragingly at her as she sat up straighter, hands still behind her back.
"When the shooting starts Westin will be firing blanks, same as he did with you, I'll bet," he finished with a sly grin. "I know how to make a pretty thing like you happy," he continued, his mouth moving to caress her with sloppy kisses over her forehead and cheeks as his hands fumbled with the buttons of her vest. "You let me open my Christmas present, then I'll have a present for you."
KC had enough of sweaty men with fetid breath pawing her. She raised the Glock and held it to Freddie's temple. He froze.
"Back off, hands where I can see them," she ordered. The look of astonishment on his face would have been priceless if she wasn't in a hurry to get to Chase and warn him. She saw a roll of strapping tape on Jay's desk, thanked God for the kid's anal organization, and quickly had Freddie restrained.
"What's the plan?" she asked him. The would-be rapist was about to wet himself, but she had no sympathy. She chambered a round, the resulting click echoing throughout the small room like a cell door slamming shut.
"Look, all I know is Deacon had me switch out Westin's ammo last time we were out shooting targets. Maybe it's just a joke—can't arrest me for a joke, now can you?"
"How about attempted rape, false imprisonment, kidnapping—" She cocked her head and smiled at him. "Or maybe I should just save the taxpayers all the money of a trial. Self-defense, right?" She gestured with the Glock. "When is Deacon going to start shooting?"
"After the exchange, as soon as he gives Gianotti the kid back," Freddie stammered, his face florid with fear.
KC shoved a pair of Jay's socks in his mouth as a gag and raced to the door. She only hoped she wasn't too late to save Chase and Neil.