Running (7 page)

She understood the power of
paperwork. Many of PAVAD’s cases were solved by studying
documents—especially financial—and looking for patterns. “What
do
you
think
happened to your friend? Gut feeling.”

“
I think
he stumbled into something—much like I did—and got himself killed
for it. Something that
wasn’t
on his team’s caseload.”

“
Personal?”

“
Maybe. Riaz came from a
large, close family. His mother? Her house had people in and out
all the time. Cousins, aunts, uncles. Bertram said it was packed
with people every time he’d go by there. If one of his relations
got into trouble, Riaz would have helped.”

“
And you think that got him
killed?”

“
That’s my best
guess.”

“
How was he
killed?”

“
I don’t know the
specifics. But his body was burned beyond recognition.” His pain
for the loss of his colleague was in his words. She
understood.

“
You sure it was Riaz?”
Maybe it wasn’t. Sometimes…sometimes even with DNA it took a while
to conclusively identify bodies. And sometimes there were
surprises.

“
His ID and weapon were
found near the scene. They’re running DNA on a tooth. There wasn’t
much left.”

“
I’m sorry.” She’d lost a
few friends on the job, and had almost lost both her brothers, her
sister-in-law, and her partner. Georgia and Carrie and Ana. People
she loved. There was nothing that terrified her more. Nothing.
“When was this?”

“
Four days ago. He was
found the next day. I headed over to his houseboat to retrieve my
gear and make sure the place was secured. He would use the
houseboat whenever he wanted some privacy with his fiancé, Nina. It
wasn’t in the best of areas, and he had some pretty pricy toys on
that boat. Riaz normally stayed with his mother during the work
week. She is disabled and he was fiercely protective of her. I got
in, grabbed my bag, then someone hit me. The rest of the story you
know.”

“
So you
think whoever killed
him
hit you? That you stumbled into them searching
the place?” That was the most logical assumption. But Al wanted to
dot every
I
and
cross every
T
. “Do
you think this person is after
us
now?”

“
Possible. Someone could
have been watching to see if I got out of that trunk.”

“
Do you think that’s
likely?”

“
I don’t
know. Because of where I ended up. Someone put me in that trunk and
drove me to
another
field office. One hundreds of miles from where I originated.
That yells Bureau. Someone inside
is
involved. And I need to find out
who.”

“
Do you have any theories?
Anyone in mind?”

“
Tons. Both my team and
Riaz’s are my immediate choices. Things happened too quickly to be
otherwise. Or it could be the third team in our unit—they’re the
ones investigating Riaz’s murder. We were supposed to all be one
big happy family.”

“
What do you think he
stumbled into?”

“
I don’t have a clue, and
Bertram didn’t have time to get too deeply into Riaz’s
files.”

“
But you’re planning
to?”

“
Yep.
Because I have a hunch that the
why
of Riaz’s death will lead us to the
who.
”

“
So we’re going to drive
straight through to Amarillo?”

“
No. There’s one more place
I want to stop.”

“
And where is
that?”

“
Gainesville. To see Riaz’s
fiancé. If he was working on something off the books, she may know
more. She’s a secretary in Gainesville and has a small house
there.”

Al wasn’t so sure. It was
starting to get dark, and the snow they’d battled in Missouri had
turned to heavy rain before they’d crossed the Oklahoma border.
When would it start to ice? It was only just mid-afternoon but it
looked later. Would they be forced off the road by the weather
again? That was going to complicate things. “I don’t think we’ll
make it there, today.”

“
I think we can. We’re less
than four hours away.”

“
In normal
weather.”

“
You afraid of a little
storm?”

“
No. I’m afraid of fiery
car crashes caused by idiots who don’t respect the icy weather.” On
that Al was very firm. “We need to stop, and we need to stop
soon.”

As if to illustrate her
point, heavier snow mixed with rain started hitting the SUV.
Visibility was cut in half.

“
Keep going.”

“
No. Don’t be stupid. Would
the fiancé appreciate us showing up this late anyway? Her lover’s
been dead for five days, and we just knock on the door full of
questions? Not the ideal, bub.” Al searched for an exit. She was
getting off the highway and finding them a place to wait out this
storm. He could like it or lump it—that was what was going to
happen. He no longer got to make all the decisions.

Chapter
Sixteen

***

Paige slipped into the
conference room sandwiched between Mick and Sebastian—they were big
enough that she doubted anyone would really notice her until she
was already in.

Easier to ask forgiveness
than permission.

She took a chair next to
Mal. They were
not
forcing her out of this room. She was going to know who the
players were on this game board.

Ed Dennis walked right
behind her; she held her breath. Because
he
alone had the power to send her
out of the room.

And she respected him
enough that she’d follow his commands. Especially in front of the
OIG idiots who’d been tailing Ed all day.

She couldn’t say that about
many other men—Hellbrook, Dan, Mal, and Sebastian. And a handful of
women.

Men and women she trusted
with her life.

And with Carrie and Al’s.
She sat up a little bit straighter.
These
people loved Carrie and Al just
as much as she did.

They
would find them. They would.

The conference room doors
opened, and then
they
were there.

People who may hold the
answers.

Paige took their measure,
knowing
they
were
doing the same to
her
people. There was an extremely hot black man, who was just as
big—if not bigger—than Mick. A woman who was probably smaller even
than Georgia—which made her at least a foot shorter than Paige.
Another guy who wasn’t very remarkable—he was small, thin, and had
a runny nose. The bureau-craps had arrived.

The woman sat down across
from Paige, and stared wide-eyed at Sebastian. If she saw him, at
all. Her glasses were
thick.
The black man sat beside her, close. He glared.
“Which brother are you?”

“
Who are you?”

“
Bertram Hughland. Your
brother’s partner. And friend.” He and Sebastian engaged in a
stare-down for a long moment. Paige knew Sebastian was profiling
the big man. Deciding how much to trust him.

“
Sebastian Lorcan. Your partner and
friend
took my
wife.
”

No one couldn’t say
anything—the door opened and two other men entered. One glared at
them all.

It was like looking at the
Popsicle version of Sebastian. The guy’s hair was military short,
his suit austere and plain. His shoulders were ramrod straight and
his face carefully—professionally-blank. While just as good looking
as his brother, this guy was enough to terrify anyone. Wow? And he
and Sebastian came from the same
egg
?

Wow. That must have been
some egg.

Chapter
Seventeen

***

He wanted to protest but as
the wind and snow rattled the small SUV he knew he had to give in.
And she was right—he didn’t want to show up at Nina’s at nine
o’clock at night—or later—and get the woman all stirred up over
what might be false leads, anyway.

“
Park by the garden center,
near the employee cars. At least with the dark color of this thing
and the dark windows, we may not get too much notice. We’ll outwait
the storm, catch a few Z’s and then head out tomorrow.”

“
Or…we
cross this parking lot and get an actual room
there.
” She pointed to the small
motel just behind the Walmart. “Look, we’re going to need supplies.
Clothes, food. Something to drink. You need a warmer coat, too. We
can eat dinner, sleep tonight, get a fresh start in the morning,
and go from there. We’ll regroup, you can give me the rest of the
information you have. We don’t have to go all cowboy, Seth. We can
do this like the
professionals
we are. I don’t know about the team or field
office you came from, but in PAVAD we do things by the
book
and we do it as a
team. It just sort of works out that way.”

“
Sounds right up Seb’s
alley. He always was a stickler for following the rules. He was the
good one of us, you know?”

“
Why didn’t you know he was
in St. Louis? I can’t imagine not knowing where my brothers
were.”

Seth thought about his
brothers, his sister. “Yeah? Well I’m used to not knowing where
Sebastian
is
.”

“
You two have a falling
out?”

“
No. We
just grew apart. Grew
up
apart, actually. Look, Sebastian and Sarah were
sent to live with my mother’s side of the family when we were ten
and Sara was five. After that we’d get a few weeks in the summer
together until we were older. We’ve always been a
part
of each other’s
lives, but not completely
in
each other’s lives. Some families, Blondie, just
aren’t all
Leave it To
Beaver
. Ours was one of the
not.”

“
I’m sorry. Sebastian’s
never mentioned it. I didn’t even know he had brothers until I met
your sister.” He could tell by her tone that she didn’t understand
it.

“
Yeah. Sara’s a hoot. I
check in with her every couple of months. Sebastian and I email
occasionally.”

He didn’t like it, either.
But what was he to do? They were big boys with lives in different
cities. It wasn’t like they did the whole family dinner on Sunday
thing. “We’ll survive. And Sebastian has a family of his own now.
Red seems just his type.”

What was it like for his
brother? Going home to a beautiful woman, knowing that she was his,
and that they would have a kid or two someday?

Sin had a son, a
three-year-old boy he hadn’t known existed until four months
earlier when the boy’s mother had died. Jarred was a good boy, very
quiet, and Seth had met and played with him a few times. Hopefully
Sin could make a decent home for the kid—or find someone who could
help him with that. Jarred deserved it.

“
They are good together.
They are very lucky.”

Something in her words had
him looking at her for a minute, even though the interior of the
car made seeing her face difficult. “You jealous?”

“
Yes. In a way. If you see
them together, you’d understand. To be loved like that? It’s
wonderful for them. And I’m happy for them.”

“
But you want it for
yourself. No super lover?”

“
Already said there wasn’t.
When would I have the time? When I’m not being kidnapped by idiots,
I’m fighting bad guys who’ve kidnapped other people. That kind of
thing.” She pulled the SUV into the motel parking lot and killed
the engine. “I’m going in. I’m getting a room. Finding food. You
can stay here if you want.”

He didn’t like it, but he
followed her like a trained puppy.

Of course…with a woman like
her, what man wouldn’t drool while doing what she
ordered?

They were about to be alone
in a motel room, snuggling up together to keep warm. He could think
of far worse things to have to go through.

Now if she would
just
stop
looking
at him like he was a slightly dim kindergartener, things could heat
up nicely between them…

What kind of guy wouldn’t
take advantage of the situation, test the waters, so to speak? He
knew the attraction was there on her part. She
had
kissed him back, after all. So
why the hell shouldn’t they enjoy each other for a few
days?

Ten minutes later they were
unlocking the door to their room. It was the same as every generic
motel he’d ever been in, but this time it felt small and intimate.
Man, he so wanted it to be intimate. She was the kind of woman
who’d make him forget his long-standing rule of not messing with
FBI-type females. Ever.