Nowhere to Turn (22 page)

“If it’s Stuart that’s after you.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I can’t help but think there’s something else going on. I know Stuart works for the FBI and he’s not exactly a standup guy, but Blanchard killed a man in your house. Then he shows up on the boat. Something is off.”

“But what about Stuart showing up at the first safe house? We know now he tracked us through the game. Not once, but twice.” She thought about that. “And if he could do it, so could someone else, right?”

Adam shrugged. “Of course.”

“But who?”

“Whoever knows you saw the murder.”

She closed her eyes. “Kurt is dead, Ryan is in the hospital, Trennan is dead.” She opened her eyes and looked at him. “Those are the only three I could see from my vantage point by the door.”

“So the only other two who were there are the person taking the video and the shadow by the door.”

“Yes.”

His phone rang again. “Hello.” A pause. “See if you can track him down. They’re probably together.” He hung up. “Mitchell left right before Isaac got ahold of his mother. Any idea where they’d meet up?”

Dani groaned. “No, not really. Since Kurt’s death, they’ve gotten together almost every day. We’ve met at different places or they’ve gone to each other’s house. We live about two miles apart.”

“All right, see if you can find a piece of paper and a pen in here and list all of the places you think they might go.”

Dani searched the glove compartment and came up with a gas receipt and a pencil stub. It would do.

Simon avoided the woman who seemed to be looking for him. He’d told her his mother was in the bathroom and that he was waiting on her. The three-hour ride had seemed to go on forever. He couldn’t relax for thinking someone was going to stop the vehicle and drag him off of it.

But nothing had happened and he now found himself back in Greenville trying to gather his courage to face down his uncle. Simon took a deep breath and headed for the door.

He glanced over his shoulder to see the woman bearing down on him. He burst through the glass door and raced down the sidewalk toward the school where he’d told Mitchell to meet him. Thankfully, the bus station was only about a mile from his school. Getting from the school to Stuart’s house would take a little more thought. He’d worry about that later.

He looked back to see that he’d lost the woman, but was willing to bet that she’d called someone to report him. Whatever.

It took him about fifteen minutes to make his way to the school. By the time he arrived, he felt nearly frozen and wished he’d brought his heavier coat.

He rounded the building, staying out of sight of the road or the main office. Simon slipped up next to the building and shivered.

The low roar of a motor caught his attention and he peeked around the corner.

Mitchell. But what was he driving?

Simon walked out to meet his friend. “What’s that?” he signed.

“Our ride, my man,” Mitchell signed back and grinned. “Hop on.”

“No way.” Relieved, Simon climbed on behind Mitchell and held on tight. The motorized bike was small, but when Mitchell gave it gas, Simon realized it was also quite powerful. He held on to Mitchell with his left hand and moved his right hand in front so Mitchell could see him sign. “Turn left.”

Mitchell did. Simon looked back and noticed the black car. “Turn right,” he signed.

For the next five minutes, he took them on a meandering route. The black car followed, staying back, but keeping pace.

Dread centered itself in his gut. With his right hand, he signed, “Someone’s following us.”

Mitchell gunned the bike and it shot forward.

Simon tightened his grip on Mitchell. “Where are we going?”

“Going to lose them.”

The black car moved closer. Mitchell made a sudden right turn into a neighborhood. His friends were still there. Then Mitchell turned off the street and onto a walking trail.

Where no car could follow. He looked back to see the car stopped and no one behind them.

Simon breathed a sigh of relief.

That was very short-lived. He motioned for Mitchell to stop. He needed more than one hand to get his point across.

Mitchell braked and turned so he could see Simon. Simon looked around. Could see the roofs of houses through the thick trees. “You think you could get this thing into that other neighborhood?”

“Through the trees?”

“Yeah.”

Mitchell shrugged. “We can try and walk it and see what happens.”

“Good, because those guys following are going to be waiting where this walking trail ends.”

“Who are they? Why are they following you?”

“I think they’re people my uncle Stuart hired to find my mom. Only I’m going to make him stop them before that happens.” He saw Mitchell swallow hard and felt a twinge of guilt for getting his friend involved in something that might be dangerous. He hadn’t stopped to think about that when he’d hatched this plan. Nothing he could do now. He thought about turning Isaac’s phone on, but wasn’t quite ready for that yet. “Come on, let’s go.”

Mitchell didn’t ask any more questions. Together, they pushed the bike, forging their own path through the dense trees. By the time they reached the edge, they were both sweating.

At least there wasn’t a fence. They pushed the bike through the backyard, around the side of the house, and into the street. Mitchell climbed on and cranked it. Simon resumed his position in the back and held on as Mitchell led them out of the neighborhood and back onto the main road.

Simon kept watch over his shoulder, but didn’t see anyone. He gave the directions to Mitchell who followed them without question.

Within fifteen minutes, they pulled up in front of Stuart’s house.

Dani stared at the blank paper in front of her, depressed to realize she had no idea what her son was thinking or where he would go. She had one name written down. Mitchell.

With doubt in her heart, she wrote,
Home
.

“Anyone and everyone, Dani,” Adam said. “Even the most unlikely ones.”

“Well, I know he wouldn’t go to Stuart. Maybe Jenny? He likes her.”

“Put her down. We’ll get in touch with her and have her on the lookout.”

His phone rang while she wrote.

“That’s what I figured,” he said. “Thanks.”

She looked up. “What?”

“That was Ralph. He said they found a whole setup in Stuart’s home office. He’s been watching you probably since Kurt died.”

Nausea welled. “That’s so sick.”

“He’s a sick person.”

She shook her head. “What did I do wrong?”

Adam shot her a quick frown, then looked back at the road. “What do you mean?”

Dani sighed and looked in the mirrors. She could see Isaac behind. Tabitha was in front. “I don’t really know what I mean or if I could even explain it.”

“Try me.”

“My life has been one struggle after another. I look around and see others who have it so easy, are so privileged. And then I look at my life and I just wonder what I did that was so awful to deserve such pain.” She flicked her gaze out the window, wondering why she was baring her soul to a man she’d only known such a short time. But she needed someone to talk to and he seemed willing to listen. Why not see if he had some answers? “My childhood wasn’t horrible, but my father was killed in a car accident when I was little. I have almost no memories of him. My mother worked three jobs to support us. I was the nerdy one in high school, the one that got bullied and picked on.”

“But you stuck with it and graduated.”

“I knew if I dropped out, I would never be anything.” She lifted
her chin. “That was so important to me. I wanted to be something. Someone.”

“And then you met Kurt.”

“Yes. Then I met Kurt.”

“He swept you off your feet?”

“Oh boy, did he.”

“Tell me.”

She pushed out her lip. “It’s a rather sad story. Sad in the sense that I was so vulnerable and stupid. And starstruck.”

“Starstruck?”

“He was a big bad FBI agent.” She gave him a self-deprecating smile. A smile she felt slip into a frown. “I was looking for a hero, someone to rescue me from my sad little life. I thought I’d found that in Kurt.”

“What about your mother?”

Pain lanced her. “She lives in California. I haven’t seen her since I graduated from high school.”

He shot her a startled look. “Why not?”

“Kurt wouldn’t let me. And she didn’t have the money to fly out here anyway. After Kurt died, I tried to get her to come visit, but she wouldn’t.” She shrugged and tried not to let the pain of her mother’s refusal drag her any lower. “And then Stuart started all of his weirdness and I let the subject drop. I still want her to come. Or to go visit her. I want her to meet Simon.”

He reached over and took her hand and squeezed. She felt the warmth from his touch race up her arm. “We’ll see if we can’t make that happen after we get this little mess cleared up.”

“Little mess?” She gave a low laugh even as worry for Simon nearly consumed her. “You have the gift for understatement, don’t you?”

“Maybe, but one way or another, we’re going to make sure we find Simon and get you two safe.”

“Safe. I’ve forgotten what that feels like,” she murmured and closed her eyes.
Please, Lord, let Simon and I
know what that feels like. Please. Soon.

“You didn’t do anything to deserve it.”

She blinked. “What?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t bring on the rotten deal you’ve gotten in your life. God didn’t decide to just zap you for some perceived wrong. He doesn’t work that way.”

“I know he doesn’t. In my mind, I know that. My heart wants to argue sometimes. Especially when I was the one who made the choice to marry the man. It’s like I made that bad choice so I deserve to be punished for it. One bad decision that has led to one bad consequence after another.”

Adam sighed. “Yeah. I know what you mean.”

“Are you referring to your uncle?”

He shot her a sidelong glance. “Tori told you?”

“Yes. I hope you don’t mind.”

He shrugged. “No, it’s a story that was in all the papers. It’s not a secret by any means. I wasn’t keeping the details from you, I just haven’t had the time to explain.”

“I know.”

“My uncle was a very high-ranking judge. He had his hand in a lot of pies. He found out that David and Summer had been compromised in the WITSEC program. But they were still under marshal protection. He convinced me that I would be helping him by getting on the protection detail.”

“Help him how?”

“He needed a crucial piece of information from a laptop. He said he had a key witness who wouldn’t turn over the evidence, but he was worried about how admissible it would be anyway. He asked me to get the information. David had the laptop with the information and David wasn’t talking. I planned to see what
information he needed and find a way to get it to him without any kind of ethics breach.” He drew in a deep breath. “But I saw pictures on the laptop that proved my uncle was being paid off by Alessandro Raimondi, an organized crime boss.”

“Oh. Wow. That’s . . . crazy.”

“Yeah. When I realized what I was looking at, everything became crystal clear. I knew what I had to do. But—I hesitated. For just a brief few hours, I kept my mouth shut. When we were on the way to nab Raimondi, I called my uncle and told him I’d discovered what was going on and the deal was off. He put a hit out on me and—” He shrugged, but she could see the pain on his face. He tossed her a twisted smile. “Thankfully, it failed.”

“I’m so sorry, Adam. You’ve had a rough time yourself, haven’t you?”

“Yes. Betrayal leaves a bitter taste in your mouth no matter what form it takes.” He flexed his fingers on the wheel.

“Betrayal is betrayal,” she muttered. “And you quit the marshals.”

“I didn’t feel like I was worthy to work for them anymore.”

“But you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I didn’t immediately act on information I had. I did something wrong.”

“Would they have fired you?”

He pursed his lips. “No. I had a moment of poor judgment. I would have probably received a reprimand, if that.” The conflict raging inside him was evident as he raked a hand through his hair. “I didn’t purposely set out to do anything wrong. I thought I was doing a favor for a man who held justice to the highest degree. I thought I was helping put away a bad guy. My actions weren’t listed in the rule book, but my intentions were pure. It just didn’t work out that way and so I quit. I needed time to recover. To forgive myself and work through the angst and consequences of my uncle’s actions.”

“And have you?”

He shot her another glance. “Worked through the angst?” He shrugged. “Most of it.”

“Do you want to go back to the marshals?”

He shook his head. “I’ve found my calling. I’m doing what I’m meant to do.”

“When did you come to that conclusion?”

He reached over and took her hand again. Squeezed her fingers and let his gaze linger a bit before turning back to the road. “When you walked into my office.”

Her breath caught and she gazed at him. A ligth blush crept into his face, matching the warmth she felt rising within her. He cleared his throat and put his hand back on the wheel as he pulled into the hospital parking lot. Tabitha parked to their left, Isaac to the right.

Adam looked at his phone. “Nothing on Isaac’s phone. Simon still has it off. Mitchell hasn’t shown up yet. And your friend Jenny texted to say she hasn’t heard anything from Simon.” He slid the device into his pocket. “Let’s go see if Mr. Blanchard is awake yet.” He studied her. “I don’t suppose you would allow Tabitha to take you somewhere safe? I’m not sure going into the hospital is the wisest move.”

She opened her car door and stepped into the cold. Snowflakes greeted her and she raised a hand to swipe them away from her cheeks.

A light dusting of white appeared and disappeared as soon as it hit the ground. She jutted her jaw at him. “Probably not, but that’s my son who’s in danger, and if this man knows anything about who might hurt him, I’m going to get it out of him.”