CaughtInTheTrap (11 page)

Where were the fireworks Tonya promised? There was nothing to make her dream it over and over as Tonya said it would.  Then again, Tonya never had sex with Greg. Her first experience was bad and since he took her virginity, she assumed that was how it was supposed to be.

 Sadly, the next time it happened it didn’t get better. Carla cried on Tonya’s shoulder about how she hated having sex with Greg and began to fake most of her orgasms just to get it over with. Tonya tried but could not convince Carla that sex with the right person would be enjoyable and slap a permanent smile across her face. Carla wasn’t hearing it and when they split, she never thought about sex again.

Carla took a sip of orange juice looking over the rim of the glass at Zach. 
Darn it, Tonya, you were right.
Her cheeks flushed at the thought of last night.
Why did he have to be a good lover? I’ll never find another man that can deliver like he does.
 

Carla crossed her legs under the table and lowered her eyes from Zach’s gaze.  He was a face reader and seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. He didn’t need to know she was thinking about that.

He finally spoke. “I don’t see why not. I’m waiting on a call from my commander, to get the green light.”

“Why wouldn’t he let me go? We’ve been here for days and nothing has happened.  Apparently, that creep wised up and skipped town after what happened in the bus shelter. He doesn’t want to tangle with you again.”

He drank from his coffee cup. “I wish it was that simple, Carla. When I was in town yesterday, the shop owner said a foreign man was in the store asking questions.  I’m not sure if that is the guy I’m hunting or a tourist.  Either way, I don’t think it’s safe for you to be on your own yet.”

Her shoulders slumped. “You gotta be kidding me.”

“If we are able to leave today...”

Her eyes widened and she sputtered. “If?”

“Yep,
if
. You’ll have a guest staying with you at your apartment.”

“Let me guess, a female agent will replace you.  Am I supposed to pretend she is an out-of-town relative?”

He grinned. “You’ve guessed correctly. Look, it is a good ideal that another agent replaces me once you are home. I’ll still be on your case just not working directly with you anymore.”

The lump in her throat plummeted to her stomach where a knot took shape. Was he was using this as an excuse to walk away from her? “I agree.  And I wouldn’t want any temptation to get in the way of your job.  Once I’m home and back to my normal routine, how would I explain you tagging along on my dates?”

He raised a brow and shook his head. “After I finish my coffee, we’ll get ready to go.  You can say goodbye to this place and me forever.”

Keeping her emotions under control, Carla smiled. “I’m sure you won’t lose any sleep over never seeing me again either.”

Zach got up from the table and grinned at her. “You got that right.”

That hurt but she deserved it after the way she behaved.  However, after last night she thought maybe he might think differently about her, but he was a man with no emotions and never got attached.  She shook her head and got up from the table wondering how he could be so skilled at lovemaking but not want love or to be loved.

*****

Carla checked the bathroom and the bedroom to make sure she had cleaned everything.  Passing Zach’s bedroom, she opened the door and suddenly felt weepy. She had no clue where the feeling of sadness was coming from. Less than 5 hours ago, she was on that bed sharing intimacy with a man she hardly knew. He’d made it clear he didn’t want anything else from her and she should be overjoyed to be leaving him.

“Hey, I got the call; it’s time to roll.”

Zach’s voice echoed in her ears.  The sexy deep tenor tone she would never hear again. She shook off the odd feeling and closed the bedroom door. “Great, I’m ready to go.”

He touched her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Is he showing me kindness?
“Yeah, I’m fine. I think I’m going to miss my prison,” she joked.

“You could have fooled me. I’m surprised you aren’t doing cartwheels. We’d better get going. I want to get you home before nightfall.”

“Will my new prison guard be on my doorstep to greet me or will I have one night alone.”

“There has been a change in plans.  I’ll stay with you until we have an agent that will fit the part of a relative.”

“You mean to tell me the FBI doesn’t have any black female agents?”

He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest.  “Of course, there are black female agents working for the FBI. We don’t have a female agent working undercover on this case. The agent we had was pulled from the case due to a family emergency. Once we get another agent briefed on the case, she’ll replace me.”

“Okay but I’m warning you up front.  My apartment is one bedroom, so I hope you don’t have a bad back because you will be sleeping on the sofa.”

Zach rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say.”

Carla got in the car while Zach loaded the cooler in the trunk.  The fresh food he’d purchased had to go with them once he turned off the power. Loud gun shots rang from deep within the woods.  Something struck the old car flattening the front tire.  Zach dropped to the ground aiming his gun towards the woods. He scooted around the car keeping his cover. “Carla, are you okay!”

“Zach, what’s happening?” Carla asked as she slid down in the seat to sit on the floor.

He opened the passenger’s door and reached for her hand. “I don’t know. We’ve might have been found.  Look, slide out of the car if you aren’t hurt.  Are you hurt?”

“I’m not hurt but I’m scared.”

“Come on, Carla; don’t wimp out on me.  You can do this—you’re tough.”

Her body stiffened as she eased from the car to the ground beside him. “Zach, what are we going to do? We don’t have any way to escape without a car.”

Unstrapping a gun from around his ankle he checked the chamber. “We’ll get out, but I need a diversion.  “Here, take this,” he instructed. “I want you to run, Carla. I’ll catch up.”

She shook her head, she wasn’t leaving him. She couldn’t think of anything good coming from them splitting up. “No, I’m staying with you.  We have a better chance if we work together.”

“We have to split up to get out of here, Carla,” he barked under his breath. “When I start shooting, I want you to make a break for it and head north.  When you get to the red barn, a SUV is there covered under a tarp.  Get in the car and wait for me.  If I’m not there in fifteen minutes, take off. The keys are under the driver’s side floor mat.”

Her heart raced wildly as he pressed the gun in her hand. The veins in her neck throbbed to the beat of her quickened pulse. “I don’t want to go without you. Let’s go together.  I’ll be able to keep up with you.”

“We don’t have time to argue about it. On the count of three, get ready to run the race of your life.  I promise I’ll catch up with you.”

She fought hard against the urge to argue. Instead, she pushed the gun into the waistband of her shorts and waited for him to give her the signal to run.

“Get ready to go now!” He instructed.

She heard multiple shots go off and echo through the trees as she ran.

A male voice cursed out. Her heart seized and she stopped running.  Tears formed in her eyes as she imagined Zach hurt. Crouching low to the ground, she had to go back to help him.

The fresh scent of pine filled her nostrils along with the scent of fear emitting from her body. Carla’s heart pumped hard as she ran back to the cabin. Branches, weed and low-growing thickets made long cuts on her legs. Dying roots poking from the ground tripped her and she fell.  She rolled over on her knees and looked down.  “Dang it, poison ivy.”  Resting on her knees, she was buried up to her thighs in a pile of it. “Crap!”  With no time to worry about it, she got up and started to run again.

Far in the distance she heard a noise and stopped to hide behind a large tree.  Determined to get to Zach, she looked up. The tree was her only option.  Carla climbed up the tree, and hunched down low on the wide branch hidden by its heavy vegetation.  She held her breath not to make a sound. The thug hunting her would never know she was perched high above him if she didn’t make any noise.

The footsteps got closer and she peered through the leaves to get a glimpse of the villain stalking her.  Her hands shook as she held the gun.  Carla knew that pointing a gun at or shooting another human was out of the question.  Her best bet would be to sit still. Hopefully the killer would continue his trek through the woods to look for her and she could escape in another direction.

She felt a bug crawling on her leg.  Another reason she hated camping with her ex; she and insects did not get along.  Thinking it was an ant, she reached to knock it off her leg before it tunneled under her shorts.  Her eyes widened when she saw it wasn’t a tiny ant but a huge
Pyrrharctia Isabella
otherwise known as a woolly bear.

Carla cringed, shaking her leg to dislodge it. It stuck to her.  With the luck she’s been having lately it was probably a blood-sucker searching for a meaty vein.
Eww, eww, eww!
She kept one eye on the insect and one on the approaching footsteps that were getting closer.  She also was losing her grip on the limb as she fought with the woolly bear that had reached the back of her thigh and closed in on the hem of her shorts.

“No, no, no,” she cried swinging at it and flinging it from her leg. With that, she lost control and felt herself falling from the tree.

“Whoa!” She hollered as she braced to hit the hard ground below.  She waited to hear the cracking of her bones from the crash landing.  There was none but a jolting thud on something firm and warm. Had she fallen on the man chasing her?  She was too afraid to look.  What a bitter ending to realize that she had delivered herself to the man that sought to kill her.

 Carla opened her eyes slowly.  She had to see the eyes of the killer. Just maybe there would be a way to convince him not to go through with it. And it was not beneath her to beg for her life like a coward. Expecting to see the eyes of a cold-blooded killer, what she saw were the piercing blue eyes of Zach holding her in his strong tattooed arms.  Her arms went around his neck. “Zach, you’re alive!”

His voice was flat as he asked. “Why were you in the tree, Carla?”

“Well, I was running and then I heard the gunshots and the terrifying yells.  I thought you’d been shot.  I turned around to come help you but I heard a rustling in the trees and thought it was killer so I climbed the tree to hide. But then this big bug attacked me and I freaked.”

He put a finger to her lips to stop her from talking. “Let me get this straight. You were coming back for me but went up a tree where you had a fight with a bug…never mind explaining anymore, I’ve heard enough.”  He set her on her feet. “How gallant of you to want to help me, but I gave you an order.”

She smoothed down her shirt. “Really, I was supposed to leave you out here in the middle of nowhere to die? I’m not that type of person.”

“Bullshit! Save your own neck first if we get separated again.  Do you understand?”

Her jaws filled with air. “You are unbelievable! There is no way to get through that iron-clad shell of yours is there? Nothing penetrates the brave FBI agent.”  She shook her head and shoved her hands in the pocket of her shorts to keep from snatching a plug out of him.  “You know, even Superman has a weakness to kryptonite.”

His lips curled in a snarky smile. “Did you know that while kryptonite did drain Superman of his strength, it gave humans superhuman powers?” His expression switched and his brows creased.  “What you did was dumb, Carla, both of us would be dead if those gunshots weren’t from a bunch of idiot teenagers shooting at cans they tossed in the air.  You have to stay focused and think with your head and not your emotions.”

“Ugh! You are so freaking annoying.”  Carla handed him the gun. “So, are we going back to the cabin?”

Zach in turn handed her a backpack. No, the cabin has been breached by outsiders. We can’t stay there and risk the locals running their mouths. It could get back to the foreign man the shop owner was talking about.  My commander hasn’t been able to locate this subject and verify he isn’t Yezhov.”

“Yezhov?” she asked with a perplexed look.

“Yeah.  Does that name sound familiar?”

Carla slipped the straps of the heavy backpack over her shoulders and followed behind Zach as he started to walk. “I’m not really sure, but I overheard Ty and Phil talking about a man named Yezhov.  I didn’t pay close attention to what they were saying since they weren’t talking to me.”

“Remember, whatever you can, Carla.  This man is the reason you are in my custody.  Your cousins ran off with a lot of his money and he wants it back, and at any cost.”

“I don’t have his money, Zach.  My bank account is not bloated.  You can have your people check.”

“We already have flags on your bank account.” He chuckled. “You take it right to the edge don’t you?”

She rolled her eyes at the back of his head. He was an asshole on so many levels, yet she found herself mildly attracted to him. “I’ll have you know that I live within my means and never go over.”

“That’s fine and dandy that you have control over your spending but Yezhov won’t care about that. Tyrone and Phillip have tied your name to their operation.  He’s under the impression you have his money or know where they are.”

She doubled her steps to keep up with him. “Is this why he has come from his safe haven to look for me? Why not send his henchmen after me and keep is hands clean?”

“He enjoys watching his victims suffer.  He’s sending a message to your cousins. Carla, he’ll torture you little by little.  His trademark is to start with locks of hair and then different body parts.  If he doesn’t get a response, he’ll finish off a victim by dismembering the body and depositing limbs in places where he knows you’ll be found. He has no soul, Carla. You’ll be found by either other family members or in a schoolyard where kids will be sure to stumble across you.”

A chill went through her body. “If you’re trying to scare me, it worked.”