Chasing Shadows (19 page)

"Why didn't you say something?  I could've gotten you—"

"Half the time I didn't even know if you knew I was there!  You just lay there, staring out the window like you were a zombie or something.  Like I was the one who died, not your squad.  Like I didn't even exist anymore."

Silence descended over the car.  

"I knew you were there, Jay," Chase's voice was low, but it echoed in the small space.  "I knew.  I wouldn't have made it without you."

"So why did you chose to go to Lejeune?" Jay demanded.  "The doctors were ready to give you a medical discharge right then.  I heard you argue with them, convince them to put you on limited duty while you tried to get back into shape.  They told you it would never happen.  You could have left, come home.  Why did you pick the Marines over me?  Why'd you go to Lejeune, Chase?"

KC found herself holding her breath, waiting for Chase's answer almost as anxiously as Jay was.  Chase fiddled with the defroster, stared out at the empty road before them.  When he finally answered, his voice was distant.

"I had to try," he said.  "I couldn't let them down again."  Then he gave a small, frustrated shake of his head.  "Guess I was scared to come back home.  You'd be leaving for college and I would—what?  Work on the Malibu, collect my disability pension, dwindle away like the rest of the town?  What was I if I wasn't a Marine anymore?  I didn't have the answers and I sure as hell wasn't going to find them in Coalton."

"Did you find the answers at Lejeune?" KC asked.

Both brothers looked at her.  She could swear Jay was getting ready to say something, but Chase spoke first.  "No.  There aren't any answers, you just have to take it one day at a time."

Right, like that had gotten him real far.  Stealing weapons, court-martialed, now working with Bruno and The Crusade.  Chase's future seemed to be headed in the wrong direction—one day at a time.  

"You sure showed those doctors, though," Jay put in with a touch of pride in his voice.  "They kept saying you'd probably never walk again, but you beat them all, didn't you Chase?  I'll bet that's the only reason they kept you from going back to your unit, you pissed them off by doing it on your own."

"They don't let you in battle if you can't be trusted to watch your partner's back, Jay," Chase said in a voice that made KC wonder if he was talking about more than the Marines. 

"Take this exit to the Mall," she directed him.  

She wished she could give them more time, it was obvious the Westin brothers had a lot to talk about.  And she'd like to learn more about Chase herself.  She was finally beginning to understand why his life had taken such a downward spiral.   

Sunrise, Christmas morning found the Logan Valley Mall deserted, perfect to spot anyone waiting in ambush.  KC told Chase to drive through the empty parking lot to the rear of the building.  A silver Taurus waited at the loading dock outside of Sears.

"Say your good-byes now," she told them.  "Jay, just do what the Marshals tell you, and you'll be fine."

Jay reached over the back seat to grab her shoulder.  "Thanks KC, for everything," he said with an earnestness that made her blush.

"Just my job."  She started to leave them in privacy for the few minutes left to them, but Chase stopped her.  

"You're not going with him?"

KC shook her head.  "No, the Marshals will take good care of him."

"I want you to go.  You know Jay, I can trust him to you."  He jerked his head at the two men in the Taurus.  "I don't know these guys."

Words of trust coming from Chase Westin?  She was surprised a thunderbolt didn't come down and strike him.  Trust was a foreign concept to this man.  

"I do," she assured him.  "That's the way it's going to be—unless you want to take Jay back to Coalton, protect him yourself.  In which case, I'm out of here, and all deals are off."  She slid her hand under her jacket in a motion Chase could not misinterpret.  He said nothing, merely knifed a glare at her.

"Of course, it'll be hard to protect him when you're back in jail." Her fingers curled around the grip of her Glock.

"Cut it out, both of you," Jay said.  "Chase, don't screw this up, I know what I'm doing.  And KC, I know you think Chase should be behind bars, but I promise you, you can trust him.  Please don't arrest him after I'm gone."  

KC kept her eyes focused on Chase, daring him to move his hands from their position on the steering wheel, if he even twitched—

Jay squeezed her shoulder once more, his voice dropping into a plea.  "I'm trusting you with my life, KC," he said.  "Can't you trust me on this one thing?  Please?"

She sighed.  The kid had no idea what he was asking.  "Let me have the HK," she ordered Chase.

He shrugged and leaned forward, allowing her to slide the semi from its holster.  She glanced to see that the safety was on and placed it in her pocket.  He was certain to have a back up somewhere, but with his hands occupied by driving, she was safe enough for the time being.

"Jay, go around to your brother's side of the car and say good bye.  Then I want you to take your bags over to the Marshals' car.  I'm going to be right here," she addressed the last to Chase, opening her door and easing from the car, her Glock drawn and by her side as she stood with the car door open.  Jay pushed the seat forward and clambered past her.  

One Marshal approached, Jared Wright, an old friend.  His hand was on his weapon, ready to draw while his partner covered him from the car.  "Everything all right, KC?" 

"Nothing I can't handle," she answered.  "Sorry about the sudden change of plans."

"It's all right, we're on the clock the whole day anyway.  Always tough when it's a kid," Jared said kindly.  "We'll take good care of him."

"Thanks, Jared.  He's a special one."

She watched through the windshield as Jay and Chase embraced, her gaze fixed on Chase's hands.  She tried to ignore the tears that gleamed on Jay's face or the shaking in his hands as he picked up his bags and trudged toward the Marshals' car like a man facing a firing squad.

CHAPTER 26

Chase watched in silence as Jay drove off with his new protectors.  He felt a curious sense of relief and disappointment.  He should have been able to keep his little brother safe.  Instead, all he'd done was make life more dangerous for both of them.  But he couldn't help a sense of overwhelming pride at Jay's decision to do the right thing, to step forward and testify against Bruno.  That was one bad guy Chase wouldn't have to worry about.  Now all he had to do was convince KC to let him go so he could nail Deacon and stop The Crusade.

The Taurus faded from sight.  The clink of the chains on KC's jacket cut through the silence as she slipped back into her seat.

"Start the engine," she ordered.  Was that a tear he saw in the corner of her eye?  She really did care for Jay.

"You plan to be there for him when he's really gonna need you?" he asked, ignoring her command.  "During the trial?"

"Of course.  I take care of the people I work with.  My operations usually go much smoother than this.  Everything was going great until you showed up."

He threw a grin at her.  "I'm kind of known for that."

"Yeah, I've heard the stories from Old Man Sinderson.  You're infamous around these parts."

"Don't believe everything you hear.  I'm not all bad."

"Doesn't matter to me one way or the other.  Your brother's safe, in protection, now it's time to get you taken care of so I can finish my job."

"I don't like the sound of that.  What about your promise to Jay?  Didn't you hear what he said?"

"He's a kid who desperately wants to believe his big brother is a hero, one of the good guys.  You and I," she met his gaze, "both know that isn't so.  Now drive."

He leaned back in the seat, arms folded akimbo, the right hand sneaking under the sleeve of his jacket.  "No.  You're gonna have to either trust me or kill me.  Up to you, KC."

She flinched at the choice he'd given her.  He was taking a gamble on her, but hell, he'd already trusted her with Jay's life.  He was betting she wasn't about to shoot a presumably unarmed man in cold blood.  Her left hand fumbled in her inside jacket pocket for her cell phone, and Chase waited for his chance.

"This is ridiculous," she said as she turned the phone on. 

Her gaze flicked down for a split second to check the numbers as she dialed.  Chase drew the knife from his sleeve, and in one blinding motion had it at the pale flesh of her neck before she could hit Send.  

"Drop it," he said, forcing his voice into a menacing growl.  "The phone and the gun."  

She hesitated.  He saw her calculating her odds of survival if she shot him and come up with a number she didn't like.  

"Now," Chase told her.

KC's eyes locked onto his, her pupils wide with adrenalin.  There was little fear in them, though.  Cool customer, he thought with approval, calm under fire.  He could see her quickly reviewing all her options even as her hands dropped both the cell phone and her weapon into her lap.

He felt for them with his free hand, accidentally stroking her inner thigh as he reached for the phone which had fallen between her legs.  His breath caught, and he hoped she didn't notice.  Chase tossed the phone into the back seat, exchanged the knife for the Glock-22 and held it on her as he replaced his HK back in its holster.

"The backup piece, too," he told her.

"That's it." She nodded to her Glock in his hand.  "There's no place else for me to carry when I'm undercover."  He hesitated, his gaze flicking down her tight leather vest and tighter jeans.  "If I had a backup, don't you think I would have used it last night when you broke into my room?" 

"You had other weapons to use last night," he reminded her.  He was surprised to see a faint blush creep onto her cheeks.  "Come on, KC, don't make me strip search you and throw you in the trunk."

He felt sorry for her—the only reason he'd been able to get the drop on her was that she was too decent to fire on a supposedly unarmed man.  That and her feelings for Jay, for how Jay would feel if she was the one to kill his brother.

Chase steeled himself not to allow his feelings for her to cause him to make the same mistake she had.  The job came first, he reminded himself.  He gestured toward her boots with the gun.

"Try the left boot, KC," he said.  "Slowly now, don't make me do something you'll regret."

She stalled for time, same thing he would have done if their circumstances were reversed. 

"I'm worth more to you alive than dead, Westin.  Think about it.  How long you gonna last on every federal agency's hot sheet?  Do you really want to risk being shot on sight?  We could work a deal.  You give me Deacon and Gianotti, and I'll get you into the program just like I did your brother.  It could be your chance for a new beginning."

He hesitated, not because he was considering her offer, but because he couldn't decide whether to stay in character or to trust her with the truth.  

"The backup piece, KC," he said.  There wouldn't be any trust until she was disarmed.

She sighed and leaned forward, her hand reaching under her jeans, into the top of her boot.

"Slow, grab it by the barrel and hand it to me."

She eased the Baby Glock from its holster and handed it to him, grip first.  

"Good girl."   

She cringed at his familiarity.  Damn, he hated seeing that look in her eyes.  It was worse than the look Jay had given him last night when he thought Chase was one of the bad guys.

Reap what you sow
, one of Deacon's favorite scriptures.  Chase couldn't wait until this job was done.  He thought of Lucky and realized that no matter what, he couldn't trust KC with the truth.  

If anything went wrong during the exchange this afternoon, Lucky was a dead man for certain.  He couldn't leave her walking around free to call for backup.  He needed someplace quiet, someplace where she'd be safe but out of his way.  

"Your turn to play chauffeur," he told her as the perfect place came to mind.

Chase watched KC maneuver the low slung, rear wheel drive car with ease over the icy mountain roads.  She avoided the brakes whenever possible, using the clutch and gears to slow the car around curves, easing the gas so she had enough power going to the wheels to keep from spinning out.  

He regretted not being able to tell her the truth.  Where was he going to find a woman as talented, beautiful, sexy and smart as her?

And he didn't even know her real name.

"You carry credentials?" he asked after he directed them onto a dirt road rutted with old tire imprints.  A little warmer and the Mustang would have been hopelessly mired in mud.

"They're back at the house," she told him after a long pause, as if she planned to ignore him at first.  "Why?  You don't believe I'm who I say I am?  You think Jay wouldn't check who he was trusting his life with?"

"I think Jay has a blind spot when it comes to you."  He allowed his free hand to rustle her spiky hair, trying to see the real color in the roots.  Dark, whatever it was.  Despite the gel or hairspray or whatever was holding it in place, it still felt like gossamer sliding through his hands.  She jerked her head away and shot him a glare.  

"I think you knew how to play him and everyone else in this town just right," he said, lowering his hand to rest on her forearm.  Even through the leather of her jacket, he could feel her muscles bunch beneath his touch.  He fought the temptation to slide his hand down to touch hers, to feel her flesh against his once again.  

"Obnoxious enough to have the right people ignore you to your face but talk about you behind your back, giving you street credibility.  Sexy enough that no one would think twice about a boy like Jay falling under your spell, not even his best friend."

"Look," she surprised him by not taking offense at his words, "whatever you do to me, promise that you won't let Neil get caught in the crossfire.  He's just a kid—and he doesn't have Jay's brains to see him safe out of trouble."