Princess (13 page)

Hawk frowned at the road. Why did a stupid thing like her making his coffee just right feel so damned important all of a sudden?

He didn’t have a clue, and he didn’t have time to waste thinking about it. As soon as he got the quick demo on her car problem, she was getting dumped.

End of story.

Jess studied her mud-streaked sandals. “Forget fashion trends. What I need is major, kick-ass motorcycle boots like that guy at the diner.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You know, like that man’s in the bar. He had the right idea wearing those really tall ones with the cool metal things on the toes.” Jess pulled off one shoe and shook her head in disgust as a piece of dried mud fell onto her lap. “Just as well that I quit my job before I left. No one is going to believe that I’m minor royalty from Europe or anywhere else.”

Hawk stared at her. “Say that again.”

Jess was busy picking mud off the bottom of her shoe. “You mean, that I quit my job? Don’t worry, I’ve been planning it for weeks. I’m tired of lying to people for a living.” She took a deep breath. “I need to get back home and start looking for something else.”

Hawk pulled off the road and cut the motor, judging each word carefully.

She looked up and seemed to register his tension. “It had nothing to do with you or what happened at the hotel, Mackenzie. It was way past time that I quit. Most inspectors burn out after two years, and I’ve been doing this for nearly four. If you go on pretending long enough, you start forgetting who you really are.”

Hawk had known that feeling on occasion, working undercover for long stretches. Funny how well she’d pegged the feeling.

But he couldn’t focus on personal matters. “I meant what you said about the motorcycle boots.”

“Only that considering all the rain and mud, they seemed like a smart choice of foot gear.” She glanced around at the quiet hillside where they were stopped. “Do you want me to show you how to clean the fuel pump plug now?”

“In a minute. You definitely saw a man wearing motorcycle boots inside?”

“Electric blue.” Jess shrugged and slid out of the car. “He was near the table when I crawled underneath.” Without slowing down, she lifted the hood and propped it open. “I’d better check everything while we’re stopped.”

“Where was he headed?”

“Across the room.” She fiddled with a hose. “The guy appeared out of nowhere. It was right after the biker dude did his thing with my butt and I stumbled.”

“What thing with your butt?”

“Oh, he didn’t get very far. But he seemed to be determined to touch anything and everything that he could.”

Hawk gave his head a little shake, fighting the pleasant image of jamming a pool cue down the man’s throat. He refocused grimly. “This man you saw. Can you describe his boots?”

“I suppose so. They had a blue leather design and big metal buckles, like the kind on ski boots. They looked really expensive. I saw them right in front of me when I was on the floor, and the toes had some kind of round metal tips with a wavy design. Silver, I think. There may have been some lettering on the buckles, too.”

Hawk kept his voice casual. “Did you see what it said?”

Jess stopped fiddling with the wiper hose and looked across at him. “TEC, I think. Or maybe it was TEK with a
K.
The man vanished pretty fast.” She stood up slowly. “This is important, isn’t it?”

Hawk dug in his pocket and tried his cell phone, but picked up nothing but static. “Yes. Maybe the most important thing that you or I ever do.”

Jess was still frowning at him. “And you can’t tell me why?”

Hawk didn’t answer. He was already close to saying too much.

“How can I help?” she asked quietly.

“The fuel pump can wait.” Hawk tossed the cell phone onto the seat, then steered her back to the car. He drove without speaking, turning up a narrow gravel road that wasn’t listed on any map. By now Izzy would know what had happened at the bar, and he would have resorted to their fallback plan.

“Grab that notebook on the backseat. I need every possible detail you can remember about the man who was wearing those boots,” he said tightly.

chapter
18

J
ess sat tensely, reminding herself that this wasn’t a dream.

As they bounced up the boulder-covered hill, the Jeep lurched, and she grabbed the roll bar. “You’ll get better traction in four-wheel low.”

Without a word, Hawk shifted to neutral, engaged the four-wheel drive, and picked up speed. “Been a while since I’ve been bouldering in one of these things,” he said, scanning the hillside. As they emerged from the trees, Jess saw an A-frame building with two dark sedans parked outside. On the other side of the building, microwave towers bristled over the ridge.

“I’m breaking about fifty rules by bringing you here,” Hawk said quietly, “but we need your help.”

“No questions, I promise.”

Hawk stopped behind the two sedans, and his friend Izzy emerged from the house, walkie-talkie in hand. Jess thought he looked tired as well as surprised to see her.

“Listen carefully.” Hawk took her arm. “You’re going inside with me. You don’t look around and you don’t ask questions. Can you do that?”

She nodded warily.

Hawk grabbed his knapsack, then reached across and opened her door, his face grave. “This is no game, Jess. Do it my way or you’ll be in a car headed out of here before you can count to three.”

“Don’t worry about me.”

“I do. That’s part of the damned problem,” he muttered.

“Cell phones are out and I need a situation report,” he snapped, not breaking stride as Izzy approached.

“Inside.” Izzy shot a glance at Jess. “I assume you have a good reason for bringing her here.”

“I do, but hell if you’re going to believe it. There was a brawl at the diner. Jess slipped away from your man and got into some trouble. When the fighting broke out, she landed under a table. That’s when she saw a pair of motorcycle boots.”

“So much for flying under the radar,” Izzy said grimly. Jess was certain that his eyes narrowed slightly, though his face revealed very little.

“You got a description?” he asked Hawk.

“She’s working on it now.”

Izzy held open the front door and waited for them to go inside. Jess looked around curiously at the large living room, currently occupied by a dozen desks with high-tech computers. Maps filled one wall and a fax machine hissed in the corner. Some of the maps had red circles and words scrawled on them, but she couldn’t see the place names.

A medical textbook lay open on the desk in front of her.

As Izzy walked by, he closed it.

Jess didn’t ask any questions, though the curiosity was killing her. Mindful of Hawk’s warnings, she sat down in the closest chair. “Do you want me to finish my description of the man in the boots?”

There were four other men in the room. They looked up, frowning when they heard her question.

Izzy motioned the men into the neighboring room and shut the door. “I’m listening,” he said tightly.

Hawk sat down in front of one of the computers and punched in some words. “Are these the boots you saw, Jess?”

She walked behind him and studied the screen. “No question. They were covered in mud, and I think there was a tear in one of the fasteners at the ankle. He was wearing a windbreaker with a dark hood, and he had a pair of worn leather gloves shoved in his pocket.”

Izzy looked at Hawk, then vanished into the neighboring room.

“Do you want some coffee?” Hawk was already filling two mugs at a nearby pot.

“No, thanks. I’m already a little jittery as it is.”

“Take it easy, honey. You’re doing fine.” Hawk looked up as Izzy reappeared, carrying a pile of papers.

“We need you to pick out the man.” Izzy sat down at a desk and motioned Jess to sit beside him. “It’s very important.”

Jess suppressed a wave of anxiety as Izzy put a pile of photos facedown in front of her.

“I’ll give you five seconds with each one. Look at them and answer quickly. Don’t think about it.” He pulled off the top photo and flipped it over. “Was this the man?”

The face in the photo had dark hair and a straggly beard. “Not him.”

“How about this one?”

The second man was older, with drooping eyelids and a scar across one cheek. “Not him either.”

Izzy flipped through three more photos. The men all looked tough and dangerous, but none of them was the right one.

Jess shook her head. She could feel the heat of Hawk’s body as he moved closer.

“How about this one?” When Izzy turned over another photograph, Jess shot forward.

The hair was different. So was the beard. But the eyes were the same, narrow-set and cold. “That’s him. The eyes are right, but he didn’t have a beard when I saw him. His hair was a lot shorter than this, too.”

“You’re sure, Jess?” Hawk leaned down, his hand on her shoulder. “This is definitely the man you saw?”

Jess stared at the photograph, memorizing the eyes, the thin nose and thin mouth. “That’s him. I’m sure of it.”

Without a word, Izzy gathered the photographs. His expression was tight as he walked outside, motioning to a man with a sniper rifle.

“Damn good job, Jess.” Hawk leaned down beside her. “How can you remember his face so well? You couldn’t have seen him long.”

“Faces are part of my job. In order to assess key management, I have to memorize photos in advance. That way I have an edge when I arrive at a hotel on assignment. Summer taught me some tricks to isolate facial features like eye shape and lip size, things that are hard to disguise. All it takes is a few seconds.”

“Remind me to thank your sister when I see her.” Hawk’s hand traced her cheek and his jaw tightened.

Abruptly he took a step back. “I have to get moving.” He raked a hand through his hair. “I’ll see that an experienced member of Izzy’s team travels with you to Portland. We should be done here in a few more minutes.”

Jess felt a sudden, sharp emptiness.

She wouldn’t see this man again. They had met through a giant quirk of fate, something unplanned, never to be repeated. If they tried, it would only be tawdry and awkward.

Time to move on,
she thought grimly.

“I appreciate that, but it’s really not necessary. I’m sure I’ll be fine. I’ll just need a car.”

“You’ll get back your Jeep
and
a driver,” Hawk said flatly. “No more mishaps.”

She turned away, reaching for her handbag. “Be careful out there. Wherever you’re headed.”

“Count on it.”

The maps on the wall seemed to blur, and she lowered her head quickly. The last thing Jess wanted was for Hawk to see any sadness or regret in her eyes.

“Are you okay?”

“Sure.” Jess didn’t turn around, staring at the blurred row of maps. “Thanks—for the elevator. You know.”

“Hell, I should be thanking you, honey.” His voice was rough. “I’ll never forget a second.”

She wanted to turn around, but she didn’t.
Right man, wrong time. The general story of her whole, stupid life.

“Jess, hang on a second. I have to do something. Just wait here, okay?”

She heard his footsteps cross the floor. The maps shimmered brightly as the door closed behind him.

“Those were the boots, all right. The description matches the tracks I found on the ridge, and those are unusual boots. Jess said he was there for only a few minutes.” The rain had finally abated, and Hawk stood next to the Jeep, holding a plastic bag with the items he’d found in the woods. “Our pals were in a hurry, I’d say.”

“They’re getting nervous and nerves make them sloppy.” Izzy rubbed his jaw. “I’ve sent your report to all teams. If this guy in the boots is who we think he is, you’ll have more surveillance tonight. The man’s got a dozen current warrants in three different states, plus the Canadian authorities want to chat about an armed robbery in Montreal two years ago. He’s a real motorcycle nut. Used to live in the area and still has an ex-wife in Bright Creek.”

“Could she be involved?”

“Too soon to say.”

“If these people are in the area risking public exposure, it’s because they’re looking for the same thing we are. Which means they don’t have it,” Hawk added quietly.

“That’s the way I see it, too.” Izzy’s voice fell as he tapped the map. “The ex lives about here.”

“How about I go talk to her?”

“We sent two male agents, but no luck. Now the local police tell us she hates men.” Izzy frowned. “It seems her father abused her, and her husband left her flat broke with a baby. She may be a little unstable.”

“Did you try using a female agent?”

“She washed out in three minutes. This woman Luellen’s got a real bullshit meter. She runs a Laundromat down in Bright Creek and deals with loggers and a lot of rough types, so she knows when she’s being conned.” Izzy folded the map carefully. “But I’ve got a plan. We’re going to—”

The door whipped open behind them, and both men turned.

“What’s wrong?” Hawk snapped.

Jess pointed behind her, through the open door. “You’d better get in here.” The little TV near the coffeemaker was on, blasting local news. “That man I told you about? He’s there, right on the news.”

chapter
19

A
pparently, a local brawl was big news in the area. Hawk grimaced as the grainy footage cut to two bikers hovering around Jess.

Without warning the camera angle shifted across the table to him, and then Bubba and his two friends went flying on their faces.

“Nice view of your ugly mug, Mackenzie.”

“That’s not professional footage. Look how the camera is weaving.”

“You probably have one of the senior citizens to thank. Someone must have had a video camera.”

Hawk shook his head. The video footage made him look like some kind of kung-fu superhero. He’d spun the big guy off his feet without apparent effort and sent him flying.

“Wow,” Jess said. Then she cleared her throat. “Hold on. He should be on again any second.” She leaned forward, flushing at a quick shot of her grabbing the Glock. “Look, there he is.” She tapped the corner of the screen excitedly. “He’s wearing a windbreaker, and he’s trying to cut through the crowd.”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Izzy breathed. “Bull’s-eye.” The man frowned at the camera and backed up. Two seconds later, he was gone.

Hawk turned down the volume on the set. “We need that footage.”

“I’m on it.” Izzy headed for the door, then stopped. “I’ll be ready to leave here in five minutes.” He rubbed his neck. “Make that ten. And one more thing, Mackenzie.” His eyes narrowed. “You’ve been seen,” he pointed out quietly. “Judging by that film, you’re no everyday Joe, and they’ll be watching for you.”

As the door closed, Hawk considered what Izzy hadn’t said.

Anyone with a military background would know that Hawk was using expert aikido moves. Thanks to the footage, he would be recognized immediately, and since he’d left the bar with Jess, she could become a target, too.

Jess stared at him. “You don’t like being caught on tape, do you? I’m really sorry about all of this.”

“Forget it. You gave us a good tip, so it was worth it.”

Jess smiled uncertainly. “So I really did help?”

“More than you know.” Hawk poured himself a fresh cup of coffee, considering their next move. Izzy had already scrambled teams with an updated description of their suspect in the motorcycle boots. Now Hawk’s focus would be Luellen Hammel, the man’s ex who managed the Laundromat in Bright Creek.

Unfortunately, Hawk couldn’t go near her because he had a special habit of unnerving women.

All except Jess, who didn’t frighten or back down an inch. The woman was like a damn bull terrier, and for some reason the thought pleased him keenly.

He scanned the TV channels, picking up two other reports of the melee at the diner, both times catching a glimpse of their suspect. Hawk had finished his coffee when Jess moved toward the window.

“There’s someone out there waving at you. She’s over by the Jeep.”

“She?”
He opened the door and went out.

The woman had to be about eighty, with permed blue-white hair, white gloves, and an ample chest hidden beneath a crocheted shawl. Her body was misshapen, bent over a rough wooden cane.

Why was the grandmother from hell motioning to
him
? Irritated, he studied the heavily made-up face, certain he’d never seen the woman before.

Then she stuck out one foot, revealing size thirteen ostrich-inlay cowboy boots underneath her full skirt.

Hawk snorted. “Damn, Teague, you’re downright scary.”

Izzy hiked up his skirt, revealing spandex bike shorts and hairy legs. “I didn’t have time for panty hose. Not that it’s easy to find them in a size 2X tall.” He slanted Jess a cool look. “I’m confident that you’re going to forget you ever saw me, Jess.”

She nodded slowly, as if unable to believe her eyes. “That’s amazing.” She walked closer and pointed carefully. “But one of your—that is, your chest is a little off balance.”

Izzy looked down and dug irritably beneath his shawl until he straightened the padding at his bosom. “Damned breast inserts never stay where they’re supposed to. I knew I should have used the duct tape.”

Hawk headed toward the Jeep. “Thanks for all you’ve done, Jess. One of the men will be here shortly to drive you to Portland.”

“Good luck,” she said gravely.

“Luck is a highly overrated commodity. We’ll be using reasoning power, field experience, and superior intel.” Izzy slipped a big red purse onto his arm and gave another tug at his chest, where the breast insert had begun to slip again. “Trust me on this.”

Hawk shook his head. “Something tells me we’re going to need all the luck we can get if
you’re
our secret weapon.”

Izzy’s eyes narrowed. “Then be glad that I’m only one of them.”

“I’ve never driven this model of Jeep before. It’s nicer than I thought.”

After a little wrangling, Jess and her driver agreed to split their time at the wheel. Jess was on deck, savoring the pleasure of having her car back again. It might be battered and quirky but at least it was
her quirky.

“No doubt about it. Unfortunately, one ride will spoil you for sedans.”

They were on a flat stretch of road with Puget Sound to their left and mountains to their right. Fog was drifting low, and the driver concentrated on passing cars.

The man assigned to her didn’t say much, scanning the road with apparent randomness, but Jess knew he missed nothing. He’d even brought sandwiches and coffee along, so they wouldn’t have to stop until late that night. Apparently Hawk didn’t want to risk any more incidents in all-night roadhouses.

Now if only they could avoid any traffic problems, a distinct possibility since the traffic lights were still out in this part of the state.

As they rounded a curve, Jess saw a short man in a blue postal uniform standing in the middle of the road, waving. A silver Jeep Rubicon was parked just off the shoulder with its hood raised.

Her driver didn’t slow down.

“Aren’t you going to stop and help him?”

Her companion didn’t answer, scanning the steep wooded slope beside the road. As he slowed down slightly, Jess’s skin began to prickle at the back of her neck.

The man in the uniform headed toward them, smiling, and made a motion for the driver to roll down his window. “Got a battery problem,” he called, moving toward the car. “Stuck on the way home from my shift. Think I could borrow some jumper cables?”

The driver kept his pace, shaking his head.

“Hey, wait! I need help here.” Angry, the man trotted alongside the car. “I got a wife at home who’s six months pregnant.”

“We’re in a hurry. I’ll have a repair truck come out from the next town. I believe it’s only six miles away.”

“Damned phones being out don’t help.” The man in the uniform frowned and reached down, patting his shirt pockets. “Never have any cigarettes when I need them. I don’t suppose you—”

“Don’t smoke.”

The worker flashed a gun from his pants pocket, its muzzle trained on the driver. “Stop the car, hands up, and get out. Do it now.”

The driver floored the Jeep and jerked the wheel. Jess heard bullets drill into the passenger-side door.

“Down,” her driver yelled. He kept accelerating as the passenger-side window exploded in a hail of glass fragments. A small bridge rose in front of them, covering a shallow inlet off the Sound. He headed straight for it.

A man in a green jumpsuit ran out from behind the silver Jeep, leveled a shotgun at his shoulder and pumped out five shells. Jess’s door shook. He kept firing, running at the same time as if he’d done it many times before.

As they drove over the bridge, the driver glanced at Jess. “When I come down, jump out. Hit the water and stay out of sight. They won’t be able to see you from here.” A bullet raked the front fender. “We’re six miles north of Bright Creek. Take my cell phone from the seat and keep it on. One of the team will find you.”

The back window exploded, glass filling the car.

“Go.”

With shaking hands Jess yanked open the door and jumped out. She hit muddy ground, lost her footing and staggered down the slope, then sank into a high wall of reeds beneath the bridge. Shivering in the cold, she heard the Jeep moving on past her. Footsteps hammered across the bridge, followed by gunshots at close range.

The driver let out a harsh curse.

Jess closed her eyes, her fist pressed against her mouth.

“Where’s the other one?”

“Doesn’t matter. We’ve got a car, so let’s get the hell out of here.” A door slammed and the Jeep’s motor roared. Another door slammed and the Jeep barreled away.

Moments later, there was no sound but the hiss of the wind on the reeds and the wild hammering of her heart.

Her Jeep had certainly been a popular item recently. Storms had a way of doing that, Jess thought grimly.

“I thought we were going to pick something up?”

“It’s waiting for us in Bright Creek.”

Hawk shot a glance at Izzy as they sped through the rain. “Do you have any idea how dog-ugly you are, Teague?”

Izzy gave his blue-white wig a tug. “Up yours, Mackenzie.” As Hawk drove, Izzy’s smile faded. “No soap or perfume,” he said quietly. “Don’t handle anything with distinct smells.”

Hawk’s brow rose. “Afraid it will clash with your eau de bag lady?”

“No, because it will disturb the search dog we’re going to pick up in five minutes.”

A little town was coming up in front of them, and Izzy pointed to a ramshackle storefront with a huge
FOR RENT
sign in the window. “Park around back behind the Suburban.”

“I hope this is going to work.”

“Trust me, this dog will make your hair stand straight up.”

As they got out of the car, the back door of the building opened. A tall man in a dark business suit emerged with a dog on a leash.

The animal didn’t look like much, Hawk thought. Just a big brown mass of dog that stood alertly, watching them approach.

“Meet L.Z.”

“As in Landing Zone? You’re telling me that this dog can jump out of an airplane?”

Izzy’s eyes narrowed. “And a hell of a lot more than that, Mackenzie.” As they crossed the pavement, the big Belgian Malinois barked once, his whole body going tense. “Nice to see he remembers me,” Izzy muttered. “Things like makeup and a costume change won’t fool L.Z. for a second, and that’s only part of what makes him so amazing. Come on, I’ll introduce you.”

What was she supposed to do now?

Jess shivered in the cold wind, soaked to her waist. Time seemed to slow down as she staggered forward, her damp hair pasted against her face. She hit the power button on the agent’s cell phone, scrambling up the slope toward the bridge.

All she heard was static.

What had the agent said? Was it six miles to the nearest town?

She reached the road and saw her driver facedown, motionless. Blood pooled around his head and shoulders.

Oh, God.

She shoved the phone into her pocket and sank down beside him. He groaned as she gently turned him over.

The front of his chest was a solid red stain, but he opened his eyes and managed a faint smile. “The phone?”

“No answer.”

“Afraid . . . of that.” He managed to touch her arm. “Good work. Told me you were . . . tough.” He winced a little and seemed surprised to see his hand covered with blood. “Should have run the bastard down.”

“You couldn’t have known what he had planned.”

“Tired. Going . . . under.” His eyes closed.

Jess crouched beside him and managed to pull him off the road into the grass. The cold wind hissed over the marshes, a low, sad sound, as she waited for a passing car.

But no one passed, and the driver’s lips were turning blue-white. She’d covered him with her leather jacket, but she wasn’t sure how much longer he had.

Shivering, Jess ran down the hill toward the silver Jeep Rubicon left abandoned by the road. The key was still in the ignition. Candy wrappers and newspapers covered the backseat.

She leaned under the hood and scanned the engine quickly.

Fuel line.

Radiator.

Spark plugs all tight.

She checked for all the easy problems and came up with nothing.

She was still wet, freezing without her jacket, and her hands were stiff. Then she saw the small leak from the radiator. When she checked the chamber, the water was half gone.

She grabbed two discarded soda cans from the front seat and ran to the marsh, filling them quickly. After patching the hole with gum and making three more trips, the radiator was full again. The motor sputtered, then broke into a delightful roar.

Jess jumped out, closed the hood, and saw something glint on the ground. She shoved it in her pocket. Then slid behind the wheel and raced back to the fallen agent.

He was losing consciousness again when she crouched and slid an arm beneath his neck. “I got the Rubicon running. Now we’ve got to get you inside.”

He blinked at her, looking disoriented. “Not doing so good. Sorry.”

“You have to help me. You’re going to die here if I can’t get you to a doctor.”

He took a sharp breath and put one hand on her shoulder. It took them ten minutes, but he managed to stagger to the Rubicon, where he collapsed into the seat.

Jess sped off toward the town called Bright Creek.

“How’d you fix it?”

“Radiator leak. I patched it with gum and refilled the chamber. The idiots have driven this car right into the ground, and that’s not easy with a Rubicon. Heck, they didn’t even know what to look for.”

“Radiator leak. No . . . shit.” There was a glimmer of a smile on the agent’s ashen face as his eyes closed and he went under again.

Wind tossed the big trees in the main square of Bright Creek beneath a sky filled with gunmetal clouds.

“Run through that again, Teague. He’s scent-trained for both weapons-grade plutonium and all major biohazards?”

Izzy scratched the big dog’s head. “He can detect scent trails that the most sophisticated lab equipment misses. We’d be ten years behind without animals like this.”

“I believe it. The dog looks smart enough to talk.”

“The Navy’s working on
that,
too,” Izzy said tightly. “But if you ask me, I’ll deny it. L.Z. has been scent-trained to our missing bear, and when I leave, the dog will go with me. If there’s any scent connection with Princess, L.Z. will signal. Then I’ll take Luellen into custody while you and the team rush the place.”