CaughtInTheTrap (7 page)

She closed her eyes to play the movie that wouldn’t stop playing in her head.  Maybe talking about it would put a stop to it finally. “Darkness, fast movement then loud shouts.  I hear my own voice ringing in my ears.  Then, I open my eyes, and I’m sweating with an urge to run away but I have nowhere to go. I’m caged like an animal.”

Zach curled his lip at one end. “That’s a little dramatic don’t you think?  You’re not behind bars.”

She opened her eyes and looked at him. “I might as well be. I can’t go outside for fresh air or to feel the sun on my skin.  I’m a people person; I have to have contact with other people.  I like to laugh and enjoy myself; not sit locked in a cabin with a man that can’t stand the sight of me.”

“There you go with your perceptions of me.  How do you know I don’t enjoy doing those things?”

She twisted the tiny gold earring in her ear. “For one, you never smile.  And, two you seem mad all the time.  I know Feds have a certain air about them but damn, life can’t be that bad for you.”

“I have a pretty decent life. But, this isn’t about me.”

Carla scooted off the couch and stretched the stiffness from her body.  She was an active person that ran five to ten miles every weekend even though she no longer competed in races. “Right.  It’s about me and if I will live to see another day or my next birthday.”

“You gotta have a positive attitude, Carla.  Also, I’ve never lost a person in my custody.  You will not ruin my record,” he said sternly, however, with an uneasy look.

There’s that damn look again. Maybe that’s just the way he looks.

Whatever it was, it was the same one he gave her at the bus shelter—the look that set off the round of gunfire that disturbed the quiet neighborhood and threw her life into a terrorizing downward spin.

She kicked her legs out after stretching. “Can we go for a walk or a short run?  I really have to get out and get a little exercise.”

He stood up and stretched also.  “We can’t go for a run, but a short walk will be okay.”

She smiled, happy to have won a request. “Do you run?  It’s obvious you work out and a lot.”

“I do run.  It’s not my favorite form of exercise, but I do it as part of my routine. Get dressed and I’ll check out the area before we head out.  I don’t want any surprises catching us off-guard.”

Carla jumped up from her seated position on the sofa to head to the bedroom and stopped in her tracks. “Forget it,” she said with a dejected tone. “I don’t have any clothes but what I have on.  My uniform was ruined, and the clothes in both closets are too big for me.”

She blushed as he cocked his head to one side to look her over.  He rubbed the scruff on his face and said, “That dress looks nice on you.  Besides, a walk is a good idea.  It will be reinvigorating for the both of us.”

Carla fanned the dress from her hips and grinned. “Well, okay, if you say so. Let me get my shoes and we can go.”

Zach was miserable as they walked.  The scent of the wet grass filled his nose aggravating his allergies, and his t-shirt stuck to him like a second skin. The thunderstorms that rolled through left it excruciatingly hot and humid. His mind wandered while Carla made small talk. He knew he should pretend to pay attention to her, but he could care less about the birds or the bugs buzzing around them.  What he found strange was that she knew this stuff.  She didn’t come off as a nature lover to him.

“There aren’t any song birds left around this late in the summer.  They migrate south by June.  But the woods are home to the pileated woodpecker, that’s what we’re hearing along with the cicada.  It’s funny, but the noise we hear the cicada make sounds alike to us when actually these insects use different calls to express alarm or to attract mates.”

His brain gave him a nudge, and he focused on the sound of her voice. “What did you say?” he asked.  Zach used his thumb to lift sweat from his brow. “I didn’t catch what you said about a woodpecker or something other.”

Carla shook her head. “I’ve been talking and you haven’t heard a word I’ve said, have you?”

He shrugged his shoulders and dragged his eyes through the trees scanning them. “I gotta be honest, I zoned out a while ago.  I’m sorry; I’m just not into birds or nature for that fact.  Where’d you learn about this stuff anyhow?”

“I dated a guy that loved the outdoors and was a nature lover. He could identify birds just by their calls and different types of insects and wildlife.  I guess mentally I did listen and retained what he was saying.”

“Yeah, you did.”  He sneezed again. “We should head back to the cabin; my allergies can’t take much more of the outdoors. Plus, we’ve been out long enough.  I don’t want to risk us getting spotted by other people.”

“If this cabin is so secluded, who will see us?”

“There is always a chance of a leak, Carla.  My assignment is to protect you, and that’s what I aim to do.” He had to get her to trust him and to strike while her defenses were down and she was not lashing out at him.

“I understand,” she said firmly. “I let our walk lead to casual conversation and we aren’t that way.  My mistake for assuming we had reached a threshold and finally are attempting to be friendly.”

Her words made him feel like a heel.  They’d been at each other’s throats, and she did break the ice by talking about something other than her situation. “You aren’t assuming that, Carla. I want you to talk to me. I’m not a bad guy, really.”

“I’m not either.  I’m a very friendly person, and I have no enemies,” she said picking a fresh pine cone from the branch of a low hanging pine tree.  She sniffed it. “You and I got off on a bad foot.  Maybe we should start over.”  She stuck out her hand. “Hi, my name is Carla Parker.”

Zach released an invisible irritated sigh.  Was this woman for real or bipolar?  Then he recalled their initial meeting.  She entered the bus shelter all bubbly and with a friendly greeting while he snubbed her.  He’d forced her to be nasty because he had been.  He looked at her small hand extended to him, waiting for a response.  “Ya know, I’ve been sneezing in my hands and don’t want to pass on my germs.”

Carla withdrew her hand.  Her smile disappeared, taking that sexy dimple with it.  She didn’t seem to believe the excuse he gave for not returning her gesture of kindness.  The afternoon sun bled through the trees and filtered across her face casting a glow on her.  Her brown eyes twinkled under the brightness.  He was good at his job and read people very well.  He had misjudged Carla. There were no stress lines around her mouth or on her forehead. Her facial skin was smooth and free of blemishes.  She didn’t appear to need any makeup at all.  She had a natural beauty that shouldn’t be covered by layers of makeup.

She flushed and shielded her eyes from the sun as they turned around to retake the same steps back to the cabin. “No problem, Agent Murphy. No problem at all.”

His lips twitched.
Damn, I did it again
.

Back at the cabin Carla went straight to her bedroom.  He heard the silent close of the door which meant he wouldn’t see much of her for the rest of the night.  He’d offended her again by not shaking her hand. He cursed himself as he walked to the bathroom.  Turning on the faucet to fill the tub, he undressed. He braced his arms on the sink and looked at his reflection in the mirror.  He’d blown the chance to put her at ease and make her feel comfortable with him.  He should’ve shaken her hand and not worried about passing any germs.

Zach got in the tub resting his back against the curve.  Every bone in his body ached. His job was physical.  He didn’t have the privilege of wearing a suit and tie to work to sit behind a desk on a computer.  He was the type of agent that hunted, stalked and trapped his targets.  He’d been shot, stabbed and in more fistfights than he cared to admit or could count. He’d even slept with the enemy to get what he needed from them.  He blamed that too on why he felt no emotions or a need to be connected to anyone.

He could not think of one woman that would want a steady relationship with him knowing he would drop his pants to sleep with a woman if it meant getting what he needed.  It was another part of his job that he had to do. He didn’t use sex often, but he has and more than once with the results leading to the suspects arrest.  He also felt the sting from the slaps across his face and received death threats from the women he’d used.  If he allowed his heart to play a part in any of it, he’d have to believe they’d follow through with those death threats. Since he kept his feelings out of it, he was able to shrug it off and move on to the next assignment.

Zach rubbed the bar soap between his hands working up a lather before scrubbing his hair.  Dipping below the water he rinsed his hair and repeated the process once more.  He lathered his body, running his hands across his chest and the ring that pierced his nipple.  The tattoos that spread across his chest and down his arms had not faded through the years. The piercing and tattoos were done as part of a motorcycle gang initiation.  Zach infiltrated the gang able to remain under their radar for over a year before the FBI made the bust. The piercing hurt like hell but to prove he was a trusted member of the gang, and not blow his undercover status, he did it. These days, he kept the piercing as a souvenir.

He got out of the tub and wrapped a towel around his waist.  He cleaned the bathroom and gathered his clothes before going to his room to dress.  Carla’s door was still closed. 
This is crazy
. He pulled a pair of shorts from the drawer and put them on and left the bedroom.

He knocked on the door and asked. “Carla, can I talk to you for a second?”

“I think we’ve talked enough for one day, Agent Murphy.”

Her answer through the closed door angered him and that she was calling him by his title instead of by his name.  He wasn’t used to being denied access to what he wanted.  He opened the door; their eyes met briefly before his roamed over her.

 She scrambled to pull the thin bedspread over her naked body. Zach felt the heat rise on his cheeks but couldn’t make himself move.  “Get out!” she yelled.

He hurried and closed the door and went to his room.  Sitting on the bed he let his brain adjust to what his eyes had just seen. Carla Parker may be tiny, but she was definitely a woman. He had to pace the bedroom to get the images to go away.

Shit
.

The door to his room swung open.  Blazing brown eyes burned into him as she went off. “What gives you the right to burst into my room like a mad man! I do have a right to privacy even if I am being held against my will.”

He heard nothing she was yelling at him.  His mind was engrossed on the oversized shirt that covered what he’d seen.  Nothing would erase that image from his head.  He needed a drink. Tequila, no rum, a double shot of 151 would hit the spot. He would take shots until he passed out forbidding him to dream.  To block the memory of those chocolate-tipped plump nipples that instantly made his mouth water.

He snapped. “Alight already! Stop yelling at me, damn! I’m sorry I barged in on you while you were doing…”

Her eyes narrowed to slits as she glared at him. “Doing what? What do you think I was doing, Agent Murphy?”

Her hands were jutted against her narrow hips as she screamed at him. He caught his tongue before spilling what he thought she was doing. “I don’t know what you were doing, but I’m sorry I saw you that way.  I should have waited for you to tell me to come in.”

“I told you I didn’t want to talk.  That should have been enough or at least a hint for you to walk away…not open the dang door!”  She planted her weight on one foot. “And to clear the record, I’m hot!”

Yes you are
he thought to himself.

She continued to fuss at him. “I was attempting to get a little relief from the heat until you were done with your bath so I could take one. I was not doing what your dirty mind is thinking.”

Zach threw up his hands and blatantly lied to her face, something he had gotten good at since working with the FBI as an undercover agent. “I’m not thinking anything, I swear. But the bathroom is all yours.  I even cleaned the tub.”

“What I want is to get as far away from you as possible. I want to be with my friends who like me. I want my life back.”

He stood up and flexed his chest muscles making his pecs jump.  “Sorry, sweetcheeks, you’re stuck with me.  I’m going to the store.  Do you desire anything special for our evening together?”

Her lips curled up creating an unpleasant frown. “I hate you.”

He laughed as she walked away.  He changed clothes and left for the store.

Zach selected a few items from the general store and headed to the register.  The long-bearded man spoke in broken sentences. “That it for you?”

Zach nodded. “Where do you keep your liquor?”

“Wha’cha lookin’ to get?”

“Bacardi 151 or whatever rum you might have on hand as long as it’s strong.”

“I got wha’cha want.”

“Give me two bottles and a bag of ice and then ring me up.”  The man eyed his items and looked at him. Zach tilted his head and asked. “What?”

“Nothin’.  A lot of different people done visited these parts.  The locals ain’t use to you city people and the odd stuff you’re into.”

“I’m not strange, I have a lady friend with me,” he said pulling money from his wallet.

“That explains your stuff.  I had a foreign fella in here the other day asking questions but didn’t buy anything.  Said he lost his camper friends.  Fella wasn’t dress for campin’ if you ask me.”

Zach’s heartbeat increased but he kept his cool. “What did you tell him?”

“I ain’t tell him nothin’ because I didn’t know what camp site he was talkin’ about.  We don’t have no luxury lodges up here.  He said he’d find it himself and left.  He got in a fancy car and drove off going north.  He ain’t gon’ find no people up there.”

The hair on the back of Zach’s neck stood up. “Did this happen yesterday?”

The man gave him his change and bagged his purchase. “Yup. I ain’t seen him no more since then. Maybe he found his party by himself.”

Zach took his packages and left the store.  He got in the Ford Explorer that he commandeered from a local car dealer and called his commander.  “Lowes, I think I’ve been tracked down.”