Covert Cover-Up, page 9
“At least.” In that moment, he found her utterly irresistible.
His stomach growled and she laughed.
She set the plates on the counter. Pushed a glass of milk toward him. “At least I know you like milk. I hope the sandwiches will do.”
“This is great.” He couldn’t help his frown.
She arched an eyebrow.
“Sorry. I’m...” Something about sitting here and eating sandwiches felt all wrong. Beck should be doing something, but he couldn’t exactly figure out what.
She rushed around to him. “You’re in shock, Beck. You lost your home tonight.”
“Someone tried to kill you again.” He couldn’t help himself—all the pressure of the last few days closed in on him from all sides, so he pulled her to him. He drew reassurance from her. He couldn’t reconcile his emotions—the frustration that she was involved in this, and how grateful he was that she was involved in this.
He finally released her. “I don’t know what came over me. Earlier tonight, I shouldn’t have...” Kissed you.
“I get it. I shouldn’t have, either.”
She understood him then. It was uncanny how well she read him.
“Let’s eat,” she said. “Then you can take the loft upstairs and I’ll keep watch.”
“Wait a minute. I didn’t hire you to protect me. I hired you to help me investigate.”
“And so far, you’re not letting me do much.”
“You have to admit, we haven’t exactly had a chance. Someone keeps trying to stop us.” He stared at the black-crusted “grilled” cheese.
She scooted onto a stool and inhaled her food, oblivious to the blackened bread. If she could do it, then he could, too, and he finished, then chased it down with milk.
“As I was saying,” she said. “Pick a room, I’ll keep watch. It doesn’t have to be the loft.”
“We’ll take turns then.”
She frowned. “Okay. Arguing with you will just waste time. I’ll take the first shift.”
“You couldn’t wait to get cleaned up and change into something dry and warm, remember?” He winked. “I’ll take the first shift.”
She’d been in a hurry and hadn’t changed at home when she’d stopped to grab a few things. The small duffel she’d packed in hand, she headed down the hallway. She’d flipped on most of the lights when they’d cleared the home and now went through and turned half of them off. The house remained well-lit.
For a few moments, maybe even for the entire night, Beck could actually catch his breath.
A half an hour later, Katelyn had said good-night and chosen a bedroom near the living area so she wouldn’t be too far in case he needed her.
Beck crept quietly around the home, checking windows again and again.
If he listened hard enough, he could still hear the party going on somewhere across the lake.
He hoped the raucousness was the only reason edginess skated across his nerves.
TEN
Katelyn bolted awake. Darkness surrounded her. No light shining in from under the door. She’d purposefully left on half the lights in the house so she should have seen at least a glimmer.
A chill crept over her that had nothing to do with the temperature. She couldn’t see her hand in front of her face. Had Beck turned out all the lights?
She doubted it.
Had the electricity gone off?
Or was the worst-case scenario unfolding for them—had someone deliberately cut the power?
Katelyn hesitated. If she got out of bed, the sound could give her away. On the other hand, staying in bed didn’t seem like a good idea, either. Fearing someone could be in the room with her already, she waited and listened, then tensed, ready to flee or pounce as necessary.
Then she heard a subtle breath. Panic spiked through her. She slowly eased the cover away to make her move.
“Beck?” she whispered.
“Yes.” His reply was barely audible.
She sensed when he approached the bed. Heat emanated from his body—all that fat-burning metabolism, she supposed. Katelyn reached for her gun on the side table, then completely escaped the blankets. Beck found her hand and squeezed. She held onto him so they wouldn’t get separated in the darkness. The clouds must have covered the moon. Absolutely no light leaked through the windows.
Katelyn bit back her need to ask if Beck had seen or heard something. But his actions should confirm her suspicions—the power had been deliberately shut off.
The attacker had found them here at her family lake house. Followed or tracked them somehow—but he was here with them now in the house. She fought the shudder that rippled over her.
Was her would-be killer wearing night-vision goggles so he could see them while they walked around blind?
A thousand thoughts raced through her mind. What had the man after them planned for them? Still gripping her hand, Beck started to head out of the bedroom, but she pulled him back in and quietly shut the door. She tugged him to the far corner of the room near the window and leaned close. “No, Beck. We’re walking blind out there. He’ll see us before we see him.”
“Flashlights?”
“He would follow the light.”
“What’s your plan then?”
Her voice trembled. “I don’t know. We could climb out the window instead of going through the house.”
“Someone could be out there watching for our escape. Someone could be out there and someone could be in the house.” His warm breath fanned her cheeks.
“I’m calling 911.”
“Go ahead,” he said, “but you didn’t wait for the police to arrive before bursting into my home.”
“Because they wouldn’t get there in time.” Katelyn bit her lip. She would call for help but they had to rely on themselves to survive.
“Exactly.”
“Then let’s go out the window. We’ll take our chances outside.” She felt her way forward and prayed the moon would come out. “You go first, Beck. I’ll have your back if he comes into this bedroom.”
“It’s a risk either way you look at it. You’re going out the window first. Just be quick about it.” He quietly opened the window, then removed the screen, which unfortunately creaked.
They both froze.
Three muffled gunshots fired through the door. Katelyn stifled her scream.
Beck and Katelyn returned fire.
“Go, go, go!” he shouted and practically tossed her through the window.
Someone kicked the door open as she fell into the bushes.
* * *
Bullets flying, Beck dove through the window and rolled through the bushes. Pain ignited like fire as a branch scraped across his back, arms and legs.
Or had that been bullets? Probably not, or he’d feel much worse if he survived at all.
“Beck! Let’s go.” Katelyn gripped his arms and pulled him to his feet. He stumbled against her, then found his legs and ran.
“Run!” She spoke in hushed tones, but if there had been anyone outside watching the house for their escape, they were dead. He hoped they’d made the right decision.
They were about to find out.
A sliver of moon had broken through the gathering clouds, exposing them and yet lighting their way. They headed for the shadows in the trees that edged the north side of the house.
Her gun ready to use, Katelyn took the lead—she knew the area and Beck didn’t. All that mattered was that they got away from the house and the bullets. But neither did they want to run right into someone else who might be watching and waiting.
So far, their attacker seemed to be working alone. But he doubted that with all that was going on, it was a one-man job.
“Whoa.” Gasping for breath, Katelyn skidded to a stop. “The lake. I thought we had a few more yards.”
Beck gasped for breath and tugged her behind a tree. The moon reflected off the water and he could see the breadth of Shasta Lake, mountains all around. Lights flickered from houses all along the edges of the lake and in the hills. “And I thought we were headed for the woods, not the lake.”
Water lapped and he heard it over and over again in his mind. Remembered diving into the water after Mia’s vehicle. He had to think about their current life-and-death situation. Stay away from that part of the nightmare from the past.
“I think we should make that 911 call now,” he whispered.
“Yeah, about that. I grabbed my gun. Not my phone.”
He inwardly groaned. “I dropped mine in the bushes.” Weren’t they a promising team?
“Then let’s head to a neighbor’s house and call.”
“And away from the water. The neighbor lives away from the water, right?” He should never have agreed to come to a lake house.
“Wait.” She tugged him to the ground. “I see him. He’s heading this way. I’m going to sneak around behind him. It doesn’t look like he’s wearing night-vision goggles so he won’t be able to see me if I stay hidden.”
“And what are you going to do after you sneak around behind him?”
“Apprehend him.”
She made to move away and he gripped her wrist. “Katelyn, you’re not a cop anymore.”
“I can make a citizen’s arrest.”
He ground his molars as he forced the words out, hoping she would hear the warning in his tone. “You’re not going to get that far. He’s... He’s a trained assassin.” And you might have been a cop at some point, but that was before and now you’re a private investigator who is unprepared to face off with an assassin. The words were truth, but they might hurt her, so he kept them to himself for the moment.
He pressed her down into the grass. Both of them were flat against the cold wet ground. Water sloshed near his feet. The man crept around the edges of the yard, his silhouette barely visible. The moon disappeared behind the clouds again. The security light from the nearest neighbor’s house was like a distant twinkling star and offered no real illumination other than to reveal the stalking silhouette.
“He’s getting closer.” Katelyn’s whisper was hard to hear. “He’ll see us if we try to get away now. But... I have an idea.”
He had a feeling he wasn’t going to like it.
“We can slowly slide into the water and hide there. We could quietly swim our way to safety.”
Water. God, please, not that.
“If we’re going to do this without him hearing, we have to do it now. Time is running out.”
Grass rustled behind Beck, drawing his attention. Katelyn was already sliding toward the water. It sloshed up against his ankle, cold and wet.
Oh. His chest constricted. He couldn’t catch his breath. Then, he heard no sound other than the lake water lapping against the shore or the grass, wherever it touched.
Katelyn had been right to submerge herself in the water. Would the assassin think to look for them there? It seemed their only choice, but fear kept him paralyzed. He was an idiot. A real idiot.
He could climb mountains and hang on to rocks hundreds of feet from the ground without ropes or gear, completely free-handed, and he was going to let some dark, black-as-night water scare him?
It wasn’t as much fear as it was that terror reigned in the depths. Mia... She’d been alive when he got to her, but she’d drowned before he could get her out of her car. She’d been pinned.
He hadn’t told Katelyn that part. She’d been murdered, but Beck had been the one to fail her. To let her die.
No one but him, and God knew the truth. His throat grew dry. Now wasn’t the time to panic. The slightest movement drew his attention.
He glanced up and could no longer see the skulking silhouette of their pursuer.
The hair on his neck rose. Instinct kicked in and he rolled. Two muffled gunshots sounded at the same moment bullets pumped into the earth. Bullets meant for him.
Beck dove forward, slamming into the assailant, and knocked the gun from him. The man was lightning-fast and punched Beck, knocking him back, and he splashed into the inky black water. Before he could right himself and pull his head up to breathe again, the man was on him, pushing his torso, his face, into the water that could kill. The water that had killed his wife, in the end.
This wasn’t the same man he’d fought in his home, or pulled from attempting to smother Katelyn. This man’s body was taut and lean. He was more agile. Beck fought for purchase. Anything. His lungs were on fire. One suck on water and he would be gone.
Ollie... Oliver. His baby. His son... He had to live for Ollie.
Water. Blackness. Death surrounded him. His lungs screamed.
Air rushed from his lungs. His body writhed, fighting for air, but he fought back.
If he breathed he would drown.
ELEVEN
Treading water, Katelyn turned around when she sensed Beck wasn’t following and peered at the darkness—where the water met the grassy shore was completely black. She thought they’d been in agreement that slipping into the lake was their next move. But she had thought wrong. Beck had been acting funny about the lake—was he afraid of water? Nah, that couldn’t be it.
She’d willed him to follow her out, but instead the thumping sound of bullets that erupted from a suppressor had her swimming back for Beck.
The lake remained choppy and her muscles screamed with the effort to swim back to him. Now closer to the house, she spotted the dark shape of a man. His form and movements told her this man wasn’t Beck—it was the assassin. He was in the water and was trying to drown Beck. His arms were thrusting into the water and he rocked, fighting to win.
Beck! Her heart stuttered. She had to draw the man’s attention.
“Hey! Hey, you! Over here!” she shouted and gasped for breath as she continued swimming for him. God, please help me make it in time!
Her feet touched the bottom and she sloshed closer and lifted her weapon. “Stop, or I’ll shoot.”
Images accosted her. Tony with a gun to his head. Katelyn should have taken the shot. Tony could have died. Someone else, another officer, had taken the shot because Katelyn had been a coward.
Beck would die...
Katelyn fired a warning shot. “The next shot will be in the center of your chest! Let him go. Raise your hands in the air so I can see them.”
Though if the man moved she wasn’t sure she would be able to see him, dressed in black, as he was on this dark night.
The man lifted his hands. Beck rose from the water, dragging in breath.
And the attacker dove into the inky black water. She couldn’t see him. Katelyn aimed her weapon all around. “Hey! Come back here. You’re under arrest!”
Then she spotted his form cutting through the dark lake until finally he made the shore and sprinted away.
How long would it be before he came back? As much as she hated to admit it, she’d have to deal with him later. He wasn’t going to go away into the night never to return. Katelyn splashed through the water, her shoes heavy and weighed down, shoving as fast as she could until she found Beck. She plopped down next to him and grabbed him in a fierce hug. His body shivered and tensed, the anger pulsing through him.
She gasped for breath, as did he. I could have lost you tonight. “Let’s get you out of the water and somewhere safe. Somewhere dry.”
He shook his head. “He’s probably searching for his gun. Let’s get out of here before he takes us out this time. Your first plan—to swim to safety—was the best. I—I shouldn’t have hesitated.”
He started swimming, and Katelyn didn’t waste time. She followed, but her limbs were already growing tired. The water this time of year wasn’t too cold so at least they had that going for them. Katelyn swam behind Beck. She twisted to float on her back and then continued swimming on her back. But her arms ached. She didn’t know how much farther she could go.
“Beck,” she called. “Beck!”
When he didn’t answer her heart rate kicked up. She tried swimming on her belly again.
“You okay?” he asked. She’d thought he’d left her behind.
“No. Let’s head for the neighbor’s pier. I’m not going to make it farther.” Together they swam toward the nearest neighbor’s home.
Heading in that direction was a risk. They could run in to their assailant there. The assassin could guess that was their next stop because they couldn’t swim farther. She certainly couldn’t. Though Beck hadn’t wanted to take this route, he was a strong swimmer and could apparently outswim her.
As they approached the pier, she tried to search the yard and the shadows in the trees. A security light offered illumination. Maybe the man had given up for tonight.
Please let it be so. Please let it be so. God, please let him just go away.
She continued to repeat the silent prayer while she focused on keeping her pace and just getting to that pier.
Her family had spent many summers—reunions and spontaneous get-togethers—at their Shasta Lake house. Katelyn loved water sports, and before tonight, had thought herself a decent swimmer. But it had been a while and she was out of shape. Water skiing didn’t require her to be able to swim across the lake.
Her muscles grew sore and tired until she had no more strength.
Katelyn slipped beneath the water.
* * *
The pier was a mere twenty yards ahead of them. Only a little bit farther. They were almost there. They were going to make it.
Beck had that weird sense that something was wrong. He paused to listen. The gentle splashing of Katelyn swimming behind him had stopped. He whirled around.
She’d been right there. Now she was nowhere.
“No, God, help me!” He swam quickly to the last place he’d seen her, sucked in a breath and dove for her. Once again, he couldn’t see a thing. He waved his arms back and forth and...
