Crossing Danger: A Shelby Nichols Adventure (27 page)

His mouth dropped open in shock. He’d never told a soul about that. Not one single person. “That’s insane. You’re...wait a minute. This is crazy. You don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re just guessing...and you’re wrong. I don’t even own a gun.”

He was scrambling now, so I decided to push a little more. “Your drug business has me puzzled though. What does Anthony Kerby have to do with it? How did he get involved? You made some kind of a deal with him, right?”

“Stop. Just stop.” He didn’t know how I did it, but every time I asked a question, it was like I plucked the answers right out of thin air. “No more questions. We’re done here.” He threw his napkin on the table, jumped up, and practically ran out of the restaurant.

I glanced at Bates, who nearly dropped his drink, and he hurried to grab some bills out of his wallet. He threw them on the bar before taking off after him.

“Um...in case you don’t know,” I said out loud. “Matt just ran off. I hope you got that stuff about the gun in his safe. You should probably send someone to his office to get it first, before he gets there. Oh...and I think he’s carrying a gun on him somewhere, so you’d better warn Bates. He just took off after him. Uh...I guess I’ll pay the bill and leave now. Then I’ll head back to the precinct.”

The waiter stopped with the bill, mid-stride, and wondered who I thought I was talking to. “Is everything all right?” he asked, handing me the check.

“Oh, sure. Thanks. My...uh...friend had an emergency.” The waiter nodded and quickly left, thinking I was a little crazy and wondering if I’d forgotten my medication or something. I smiled and shook my head, then paid the bill with cash. I slipped the receipt into my purse and hoped that I’d get reimbursed. That was an expensive lunch, and it was the least the FBI could do, right?

I let out my breath and stood, ready to get out of there. Matt had surprised me with his abrupt departure, but he was spot on about how I was getting my information. Plus, I’d gotten what we needed to put him away, so I couldn’t feel too bad. I just hoped it wasn’t too good of a show, since I didn’t want Blake to get any ideas.

My step was lighter on the way back to my car, and I could hardly believe it was over. I’d need to talk to Matt some more to get the whole story about the deal he made with Anthony Kerby but, once he was arrested, I was sure Dimples would let me do that.

I took the elevator to the top level of the parking garage, filled with relief and satisfaction that I’d done a good job. Even better, my life was never in danger. Chris would be so pleased that I’d kept my promise.

I stepped out of the elevator, and a rush of pure hatred filled my mind. Before I could take a breath, Matt grabbed my upper arms and shoved me up against the wall. He pulled out a gun and held it to my head while his eyes burned with anger. “How did you know?” he growled, his teeth clenching with rage. “Who told you?”

He pushed the gun so hard against my head that I thought my neck might break. “I’ll tell you, I swear...just back off. I can’t talk when you’re hurting me.” My eyes filled with tears of pain and fear.

Seeing this, Matt eased up with the gun. His breath whooshed in and out like he’d just run a marathon, but he managed to get enough control to speak. “I don’t really care if it hurts, so start talking before I put a bullet through your head.” He planned to do that anyway but was willing to wait until I told him everything.

If I was going to get out of this alive, I knew I needed to stall long enough for my backup to get there, and I prayed they were still listening. “Okay...I’ll tell you everything. Just, please don’t kill me, okay?”

“Sure,” he agreed. My fear soothed him, putting him back in the driver’s seat, and he lost that crazy gleam in his eyes. “All I need is a name...so start talking.”

I swallowed and closed my eyes, knowing that as soon as I told him, he was going to shoot me. “Okay...but it’s a little more complicated than that. You see...I found that tie clip, and then there was that billboard sign near the freeway. It was for Countrywide Homes. So that gave me a connection between you and the murder since the pin was yours and...you own the real estate company.”

“What are you talking about? You think I’m an idiot or something?” He moved his free hand to grab me by the neck and started squeezing. I clawed at his fingers to pry them loose, but he held me too tight. Gasping for air, I let go and brought my hands up to poke him in the eyes.

He saw it coming and let go of my neck, moving his arm and body to trap me against the wall. As I wheezed air into my lungs, he watched with satisfaction that I was suffering.

“Okay,” he sneered. “I’ll give you one more chance. The name... now.” He cocked the gun against my head, and I squeezed my eyes shut. He was going to kill me anyway, so I wasn’t about to tell him anything. As tears coursed down my face, I sent a silent thought to Chris, telling him I was sorry for breaking my promise.

“Drop your weapon! Now!”

Matt tensed in surprise but yanked me around in front of him, using me as a shield. He held me in a choke hold with his elbow around my neck and kept the gun pointed at my head. “Get back!” he shouted. “I’ll kill her, I swear it.”

Blake, Dimples and Bates all had their guns pointed at us. From their thoughts, I knew each one of them wanted to take a head shot at Matt, but none of them trusted their accuracy enough to do it.

Blake was the first to raise his gun in surrender, and the others soon followed. “Let her go, Matt,” Blake said. “It’s over.”

“No it’s not,” he hissed. “Put your guns down.” He was thinking that if he could get me to my car, he might still be able to get away. Right now, there were only three of them, but he had to act quickly before any more cops showed up. He took a few steps in that direction, dragging me with him, but stopped to yell. “I said put your guns down! On the ground!”

Dimples and Bates did as he asked, but Blake hesitated. He knew if we got in a car I was dead, and he’d rather take his chances here and now. Matt recognized his hesitation and pulled the gun from my head to point it at Blake.

In that moment, I used every ounce of strength I could summon and, as swiftly as I could, pulled down on his elbow, took a quick step back, and grabbed his wrist, just like I’d learned at Aikido. I forcefully pushed outward with his elbow still bent, pushing down with all my might, to throw Matt forward to his knees.

The gun slipped from his hand before he could get a shot off, and I heard a satisfying pop as the bone in his arm broke. He screamed in pain, but I kept pushing him forward, forcing him to lay flat on the ground until his face was mashed against the asphalt. I held him there, even as he screamed, not about to back off until I knew he was completely subdued.

Dimples rushed to my side and grabbed Matt’s arm. “I’ve got him Shelby, you can let go now.”

It took a few seconds for Dimples’ words to register. With a heavy breath, I relinquished my hold and stepped back. Dimples cuffed Matt’s hands behind his back, happily ignoring his groans of pain, then stood and wrapped his arm around me while Bates took over.

My breath hitched, and I sagged against Dimples. Then my legs began to shake, and I was afraid I’d collapse, so I turned into his chest and wrapped both my arms around him, holding on for dear life. He held me close, patting me on the back and telling me over and over that I was safe now, and everything was all right.

A few minutes later, I felt strong enough to pull away and wipe the tears from my eyes. By then, a whole boatload of cops and FBI had arrived. As I tried to take it all in, the scene took on a surreal quality. I stayed close to Dimples, and mostly responded when someone talked to me but, for some reason, an odd detachment had come over me.

I hardly noticed when someone put a blanket around my shoulders and escorted me to a car where I could sit down. They even handed me a few tissues along with my purse, and I gratefully blew my nose and dabbed at my eyes. Several minutes later, Blake came to the car and crouched beside the open door.

“How are you doing?” he asked. His hazel eyes held a hint of worry, and he was thinking that I was in a state of shock. He hoped I snapped out of it soon because, if I didn’t, he’d have to send me to the hospital, and he really wanted to talk to me while it was still fresh in my mind.

My eyes widened. I was in shock? No wonder I felt so strange. That realization cleared the cobwebs out of my head, and I sat up a little straighter. “I think I’m doing better. Lots better. In fact...I think I’m ready to finish this up and talk about it. Uh...get de-briefed or whatever it is you call it.”

“Yeah?” he asked, his brows lifting. He thought that was a quick recovery, but he’d take it, even if it meant I might crash later. “That would be great if you could. I’ve already sent Matt to the precinct with Harris and Bates. I could drive you in your car if that’s okay.”

They were gone? How had I missed that? I glanced around. There were only two police cars left in the lot, and I was sitting in one of them. “What about his arm? Didn’t I break it?

Blake smiled and shrugged. “His shoulder’s dislocated, not broken. I thought we’d get someone to pop it back in once we were through questioning him.”

“Oh.” I nodded, then grinned back at him. “Sounds good to me.”

“Let’s go,” Blake said, and he helped me stand. Since I wasn’t cold anymore, I left the blanket on the seat and walked with Blake to my car.

“I could probably drive,” I told him, getting the keys out of my purse.

Instead of answering, he just took them from my hand. With a polite smile that brooked no arguments, he opened the passenger-side door and waited for me to sit before shutting me in. Once he started driving, I was grateful for more time to recover before I had to negotiate through the busy traffic.

“Where did you learn how to throw a person like that?” Blake asked, thinking he’d never been so shocked. If anyone looked like a damsel in distress, it was me. But then I pull something off like that? It surprised him and, more important, completely caught Matt off guard.

“I take Aikido. I just started, but that’s a move I’ve been working on.”

“Nice,” he said, thinking it probably saved my life.

“Yeah,” I agreed. Coming so close to death washed over me with a vengeance, sending a river of dread over every inch of my body. I closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing evenly until it passed.

“Um...just so you know, your husband called,” Blake said. “I told him the basics but smoothed over the part where Matt held a gun to your head. No use getting your husband all upset now that it’s over. I told him you’d call him after we were done.”

“Oh...good, thanks for telling me.” I’d totally forgotten about calling Chris. Thank goodness Blake had talked to him, and I could fill him in later when I was more composed.

It wasn’t long before Blake parked at the precinct and turned to face me. “Before we go in, I just have to say that I’ve never seen anything like what you did. Your technique was...” he hesitated. “A bit unconventional...and your questions...it was like you asked him something, and then told him the answer.” He was thinking that it was the answers that broke Matt, probably because they were right. How had I done that? It couldn’t have been a lucky guess. He never would have put those same things together like I had, and he was an expert.

“Thanks,” I said. “I guess it’s my psychic ability at work. Sometimes I get these images in my mind, so I just go with it.” Not wanting to discuss it further, I opened the car door and got out, leaving Blake to follow behind.

Even though I wasn’t anxious to face Matt again, I wanted to get this part over with so I could go home and take a bath. But I still had my work cut out for me, and worrying that Blake would figure things out wasn’t helping.

We spotted Dimples near the chief’s office. He smiled with relief to see me, and he held up a cell phone. “This is how he knew where you were parked. He got a text telling him. I guess he had someone watching you.”

“Oh yeah? I wondered about that,” I said, even though the thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.

“He’s this way,” Dimples said.

Dimples led us to an interrogation room where we found Bates and the chief discussing the case. The chief smiled and told me I’d done a good job. I thanked him, then picked up that Bates wanted to tell me I’d done a good job too, but the words got stuck in his throat. He was feeling guilty that Matt had slipped through his fingers after he left the restaurant, and it was his fault Matt got to me.

Twisting his lips, he caught my gaze. “Hey...listen Shelby, I’m sorry I lost Matt. I should have done a better job.”

Wow...that was a shock. I should probably enjoy it while it lasted. “Thanks Bates, I appreciate it. I think he took us all by surprise. I’m just glad it turned out okay.”

“That’s for sure,” he agreed, mentally wiping his forehead that I’d taken it so well. “That guy’s a piece of work, isn’t he?”

We glanced through the mirror to find Matt sitting in a slouched position with his hands cuffed to the table in front of him. “The chief made us pop his arm back in the socket,” he explained. “I didn’t want to, but Matt was threatening a lawsuit, and the chief wanted to play it by the book.”

“That’s fine,” Blake said, expecting no less. “I’m taking Shelby in with me to question him.” He turned to me. “You ready?”

“Yes,” I agreed, even though my legs shook a little. I followed Blake inside and sat across the table from Matt.