Hard to Stop (17 page)

She struggled to keep up with him as he trudged through the woods. This Max was scary, calculating, and in charge. Just what had he done before he came to America? And did she really want to know?

*   *   *

"All in all, that went well." Max turned toward her as they fought their way through the roads in their borrowed truck. "They'll be looking for this truck, so we won't get too far. Besides, after the close encounter with the bulldozer, it's not going to get too far anyway. We'll need to find another vehicle."

"I don't see any car rental places nearby. And even if I did, they wouldn't be open."

"And if we did something that foolish, they'd track us even easier." He chuckled. "Oh, Detective, you're so black and white about things. We're entering into the gray area now, and I'm afraid some of your rule-following instincts might take a hit." He pointed to a sedan parked in a lot filled with cars outside a small roadside bar. "I might be a little out of practice, but I think I can get the job done."

"Are you going to steal that car?"

"Yes, I am. But it's only because there's no other option that I can think of. How about you?"

"But…but…it's…against the law." While the words sputtered through her lips, he wrapped an arm about her shoulder.

"Sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands. Right now I want to fly under the radar until we can get to our destination. Then we'll make up the rest as we go along."

"I'm a planner and a rule follower."

"You're going to have to get over that particular handicap. It will slow us both down."

He left her in the dust as he jumped out of the truck and broke into a car. Within ten seconds, he had it started and opened the passenger-side door. She stood, trying to decide what to do before she slid inside. "This is all kinds of wrong."

"There's no right or wrong. There are circumstances that sway it in either direction."

"Spoken like a criminal." She gave him a look that conveyed her thoughts. "I bet every person I arrested uses the same argument, only couches it in different terms.
My mother didn't love me
.
My father beat me
.
My boss hates me
.
You name it, they come up with it for an excuse for their misdeeds. Why are you any different?"

"Because I'm the one that's going to bring back your brother in one piece. And in order to do that, I might have to break a few rules along the way."

She buckled in and turned in her seat to stare. "Were they right? Are you an assassin?"

His chest tightened at the implication. "It's a long, boring story."

"I've got nothing better to do."

"I'll give you the short version, then. A long time ago I did what I had to do to survive. At the time, I had no choice but to help out my family, and that was the way to do it."

Memories of his mother and father whispered through his brain. They were happy memories, until he found out what they'd done to survive. Then he didn't know what to think. How could happy, loving people be so cruel? Everything had its price. Sometimes the price was higher than others. In the end, they'd paid the ultimate price, as had he and his siblings. Giving up their souls to live another day had been an awfully steep price. Given the same proposition today, would he make the same choice? There wasn't a question in his mind. Some things were written in your soul.

Being a killer was written in his.

"Are you over the whole stolen-car thing?" Max asked.

Gia readjusted her seat belt and thought about why it bothered her that he was so closed about telling her what he'd done in a past life. Then again, if it was as bad as she imagined, she wasn't too surprised he'd shelter that kind of info. She was a cop and had pretty much laid out her feelings front and center.

"I'm okay now that you said you were going to leave the guy a couple hundred dollars and an apologetic note. But if it means we'll find my brother, I can live with it."

"I've already corrupted you. It's one of my better qualities." He winked. "Assuming I'm trusting the map thing on your phone, where are we going?"

"As far as I can tell, about ten miles further." Her leg bounced along the floor. She needed him. He needed to find Mick. And this was a mishmash of information that didn't make sense, but keeping her brother from ending up in prison for life did. No doubt they'd try to charge him as an adult if they followed through with charging him for Joey's murder.

"It's kind of late for a social call. Have you figured out how to play that yet?"

"I'm going to wing it when I get there and see what happens. Do you have any thoughts?"

"I was waiting for the pearls of wisdom from the professional."

"Don't try to butter me up."

"Not in my nature. I'd like to do this easy, without too much trouble from your brother or this Troy guy."

"Well, I don't care what time it is when we get there. I'm pounding on the door until Troy answers."

"I like a woman who's decisive."

She scowled. "We're driving in a stolen car. The person who owns it may be realizing it's gone any minute now, or maybe they have already. The police could be after us, and that would a—"

He stopped her with a hand on her arm. "You've got to trust me. We'll have the car back before closing time. They probably won't even know we took it. If I find a gas station, I'll get them a full tank of gas for their trouble. This isn't my first rodeo."

"Yeah, about that?"

"Hey, I have my principles. Third date or naked. Take your pick."

"And I bet I'll get you to spill without either one of those two things."

"Ah, lesser women have tried, but none have been successful."

"There's a first time for everything." She gave him a cheeky smile before pointing to a house on the right. "And we're in luck. It looks like Troy is still up."

She barely let the car stop before she jumped out. He put the car in park and ran after her, grabbing her arm right before she made it to the front steps.

"What's your plan? You can't go in there demanding information without a plan. What if Mick isn't there?"

"I've known Troy since he was born. He'll trust me."

He grabbed her shoulder and forced her to look at him. "You can't go in there. You look hysterical. You're going to scare the hell out of whoever answers the door."

She did some yoga breathing to settle herself. "I'm better now."

They walked together up the steps, and she knocked three quick raps. A few moments later, the door opened and a skinny kid, who Max assumed was in his early twenties but still had the look of a teen, answered the door. "Hey, Gia. What you doing here?" No mistaking the aroma of weed coming from the place as he nervously glanced around and bit off a forced smile. "I was…yeah…chillin'…"

She shook her head. "This isn't police business. I need to see Mick."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't seen him in a while now."

"Don't lie to me, Troy. I know he's here. Just tell me where. I only want to make sure he's safe." She walked into the house, and Troy stood his territorial ground.

"I swear to you he's not here." He held up his hands. "He was here earlier, but I gave him some money, and he went on his way."

"Where? He's only sixteen. How could you do something so irresponsible?"

"He wouldn't stick around. He said he was scared about somebody catching up to him."

"Why didn't you make him call me?"

"He wasn't having any of that. Said he was worried about disappointing you with what he did again. Couldn't take seeing the look on your face if you found out what he'd done. Also said something like, if you knew where he was, you'd be in danger as well."

"What did he do?" She grabbed Troy's shirt while tears glistened in her eyes. "I need to know what he did so I can help him." She didn't even look at Max.

"He wouldn't say. Only that he was in big trouble and didn't want you to get involved. That he could solve this on his own, or something like that. Sounded like a bad idea to me, but he wasn't having any of my advice." Troy shrugged. "I tried. But got nothing out of him. I gave him the couple hundred dollars I had lying around, and he left on foot about two hours ago."

"Where was he going? How was he going to get there?"

"He wouldn't say, and I gave up asking him. I couldn't pressure him. He was scared."

"How long was he here?" She paced back and forth.

"Less than twenty-four hours."

"Do you mind if I look around? I need to make sure he didn't leave anything behind." Without waiting for him to respond, she stalked through the house.

Something seemed a little off, so Max trailed behind. Troy was hiding something, but what or how much Max didn't know. Sooner or later there'd be a tell from the kid. In her haste to get the information from him, she'd gone about it the wrong way.

Troy ran in front of Gia. "You can't go in there."

"The hell I can't." She pushed past him and threw open the door. "Oh crap, I'm so sorry." Gianna backpedalled out the door.

"That's Annie." Troy blushed.

"Yeah, nice to meet you, Annie." Gianna kept her head down, her eyes averted.

Max wanted to laugh, but she'd be pissed if he did. Not that it wasn't a draw for him anyway. She was out of her element and stumbled along the hall as she struggled to collect herself.

He grabbed her elbow. "Let's move on."

"But he knows something," she grumbled into his ear.

"Finding a naked woman in his bedroom isn't going to get him to fess up," he whispered.

Max's phone buzzed in his pocket. When he pulled it out and looked, he knew without a doubt they were in trouble. A picture of Mick covered the page, along with a text that said,
You for him. Are you man enough?

"Shit."

"What is it?"

The idea he should tell her thumped like a drum inside his brain. Should he? He had no problem sacrificing his life for Mick's, but he first needed to make sure it was legit. He couldn't tell, but Jennings could. He clicked a few buttons and forwarded it with a note.
Check this out, and let me know if it's for real. Then we can discuss ideas on how to fix the problem.
"Business," he said to her.

Given the situation, it was good she was distracted. If she'd been on her game, she would have called him on his ploy in a hot minute. Instead, she shook her head and looked at him. The fear and desperation pulsed like a neon sign in her faraway gaze. "What should we do now?"

"Troy, let me be honest with you." Max brought him over to the side of the kitchen by his elbow. "These dudes after Mick are bad. Real bad guys. We're worried about him. He's sixteen. What chance does he have against them? If you know anything, any hint he might have dropped, it might save his life."

Troy gulped. "I…I…don't know…I think he might…I don't know, man. I don't want things to go bad for the kid."

Max grasped Gianna's arm when she started to butt in. He needed her to be quiet. She was too emotional, and he was too scared that what he'd just received was legit to do anything but forge ahead. "I have no doubt things will go bad for him. He's a kid. He's got a couple hundred dollars. There's no way he's going to be able to fly under the radar for any length of time."

"Okay…" Troy's voice got lower as he glanced at Gianna, who was giving him the death stare. "I kind of sort of told him about a guy named Jeff who could keep him for a couple of weeks until the situation blew over."

"This situation is not going to blow over," Gianna said. "Did he tell you his friend is dead? Did he tell you the guy was found in a trash bin in Manhattan with a kill shot in the middle of his forehead? Did he tell you that I found his phone with his dead friend at the same time? Did he tell you I was worried to death it was him? Does he know they framed him for the murder?" Her voice rose an octave at the end of every sentence. She wasn't doing well. If Max showed her the pic, she'd disintegrate on the spot. Jennings could work all kinds of magic. It made sense to try to go that route first and let her panic if it proved to be legit.

"We need an address and a last name for this Jeff guy. It's going to help us, and more importantly, protect Mick. You know his sister wants only the best for him. As I understand it, you lived next door to them for years—you have to know that." Max saw the kid hesitate, so he amped up his sales pitch. "We get you're scared, but I'm telling you, we want only what's best for Mick. You know that. Those other guys are going to kill him. They're not playing. In fact, I would suggest, just to be safe, you and your girlfriend relocate until this whole thing blows over. They might have traced him back here, and I don't want anything to happen to you or your lady."

If he could find Mick, it would disprove the picture automatically. And she wouldn't even know he'd received it. No doubt she'd be pissed as all hell if she found out he was holding out on her.

"It's Jeff King. Here's the address. Mick was going to take the train. I want the kid to be safe. I swear I don't want anything to happen to him. He's like a little brother to me. I'd feel horrible…you know…but the…guy I sent him to was solid. I'd trust the dude with my life." Troy held tightly to Gianna's hand. "I didn't know if I could help him with what he needed."

"What did he need?" Max asked.

Troy glanced at Gianna and shrugged. "The kid wanted to disappear. He felt like he needed to because of…well…he didn't really say what happened, but he was scared. That wasn't hard to figure out." He shook his head. "I wouldn't have kept the info from you, except that he was afraid something might happen to you if you tried to find him. He convinced me it would be bad to call you. And I believed him. I'm not sure why, but I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you."

"That's okay. We've got to get going." Gianna kissed Troy on the cheek and grabbed Max's hand.

He felt the tiniest bit guilty as they walked together out the door. It wasn't going to be easy or quick or above board. But he was going to get it done. That was the only thing to do.