Sudden Recall, page 11
Loughton narrowed his eyes. “Those flash drives belong to me. Both of them are my property. Give them to me now, or I shoot you. No discussion, no deal.”
Like Parker wasn’t pointing a gun at Loughton, as well? Apparently the man still figured he had the upper hand.
Parker said, “Put your gun down and I won’t have to shoot you when you fire. Neither of us walks out of this if you insist on firing at us.”
There was no way he would let Loughton leave. If he got his hands on the flash drive, Loughton would probably shoot them, anyway, for insurance. This battle was going to be mental, at least until Loughton faced the fact Parker was going to do whatever he could to keep himself and Sienna safe.
“Give me the flash drives, and I’ll let you leave.”
Parker studied him, trying to ascertain if the man was serious or bluffing.
“No. No way!” Sienna’s opinion was plain in her voice. She swung around to Parker. “You can’t think of giving it to him. We need the flash drive to get Nina back.”
That’s what she thought of his hesitation? Parker couldn’t answer right now. He had to focus on both weapons, even if Sienna’s feelings got hurt in the process.
Loughton frowned. “You only have one?”
“How many are there?” Sienna looked baffled.
Loughton stepped forward, which was exactly what Parker wanted him to do. “Then you’re coming with me…”
Parker knew what he had planned. The man was going to kill him and take Sienna to find the second flash drive.
“…and we’ll find the other one.”
Parker launched forward. He sideswiped Loughton’s gun away from both him and Sienna, using his left hand. The man dropped the weapon and cried out. Parker followed that with a punch to the diaphragm. Loughton bent forward and gasped for breath.
Parker kicked the gun into the bushes and grabbed the man’s hands. He pulled cuffs from the back of his belt and circled the bracelets around both Loughton’s wrists while Thomas pulled and struggled. “Enough.”
“No!” Loughton fought. “You can’t take me in. This isn’t an arrest.”
“You pulled a gun on a federal agent and you think I’m not arresting you?”
“This isn’t official business!”
Like that mattered. Still, the question remained unspoken. They were miles—and a state away—from the town where Parker worked, where he knew local law enforcement and could explain what happened.
They were in Nevada now, not Oregon. Where would they take Loughton? Local police wouldn’t have a clue as to the caliber of who they were dealing with. Parker and Sienna had one of two flash drives—a fact he almost couldn’t believe. Was this really a race to find more than one storage device?
“You can’t arrest me. You think some county lockup is going to hold me?” Loughton tried to twist around to face Parker, but he held the man away from him.
“I’ll call Karen.” Sienna stepped away. “The CIA must have some way of holding him.”
Loughton bristled.
Parker yanked on Loughton’s cuffed hands as hard as he’d pop a dog leash. He didn’t want the man becoming verbally combative with Sienna. He wanted him to ignore her altogether. “I’m the only one you need to worry about right now.”
“Until the CIA kills me,” Loughton said. “I know that ‘Karen.’ Don’t bother trying to tough it up for me. You’re not a bigger threat than that woman. When she finds me, I’ll be as good as dead before breakfast.”
“Do a deal with me and I’ll keep you safe.” Parker glanced at Sienna, who had her phone out. She hadn’t dialed yet and her attention was on him. He held up one finger and motioned for her to wait. Parker pulled Loughton around. “Karen doesn’t have to find you. In return for all the info on the flash drives, on Sienna and on who you were planning on selling them to, I will keep you out of Karen’s reach.”
Loughton glanced at Sienna then. “You still don’t remember?” His voice rose in anger. “I risked exposure trying to scare you into remembering, not to mention the money I spent on that rifle.” His voice rose, even as his face reddened. “That would have funded me for a week!”
*
Sienna stared at Thomas Loughton. They’d been right. He hadn’t been trying to kill her when he’d fired all those bullets into her bedroom, scaring the life out of her. “You shot at me so I would remember.”
She squared her shoulders, completely out of her element but ready for the performance of her life. “Sounds to me like I should call Karen on the person who nearly killed me.”
Behind Loughton, Parker’s lips curled up. He gave her a tiny nod of encouragement. It was the only threat she could come up with, given the only thing Loughton seemed afraid of was the CIA coming after him.
“I’m going to take my flash drive and go find the other one.” She had no idea where it was but prayed the answer would come to her along the way. “Why should I care what happens to someone who very nearly killed me?”
Aside from Parker’s help, all Sienna cared about was getting Nina back. She’d never even met the woman, but the connection of their friendship was deeper than her amnesia. Lord, keep her safe until I can figure this out.
Loughton opened his mouth, hesitated and then said, “Don’t call Karen.”
“Tell me who you were planning on selling the flash drives to.”
Parker’s face made her wonder if she’d rushed too far into it, too soon. He was obviously going to be better at this. US Marshals—especially ones who dealt with dangerous fugitives all the time, as he’d told her in the car the day before—were probably trained for this kind of negotiation.
He had so many skills, and she had…no clue. Why did he even want to stick around? She wasn’t dumb enough to think it was because she had so much to offer. She believed that they’d had something between them. She felt it. Probably it was morbid curiosity over how everything would turn out that kept him here.
Loughton scoffed. “There’s no way I’m going to tell you the buyer’s identity.”
Sienna pulled the flash drive from her pocket and held it up. “I guess I’ll just—” she tossed it beside her foot and lifted her left shoe as though she were going to smash it “—get rid of it.”
“No!”
“Once and for all.”
“Don’t!” Loughton fought against Parker’s hold.
“Give me one good reason.” She paused. “Other than the fact that you’ll lose money.”
“If you remembered, you’d know why,” Loughton yelled. “It’s not my fault you lost your memory.”
Sienna pointed to a pinpoint scar on her neck. “Oh, so this isn’t from your knife, pressed to my throat while you threatened to kill me and Nina?”
“You do remember!” Loughton renewed his struggles against Parker’s grip on his cuffed hands. “Where is the other flash drive? I thought for sure it was at the ranch when you went there, but those mercenaries showed up and everything went wrong.” He glanced aside. “You must have been faking us all out. Where is it?” He twisted to look at Parker. “The two of you are going to get the flash drives and sell them on the black market. I knew it!”
Sienna unlocked her phone as she spoke. “I’m calling Karen. We’ll be gone before she gets here, but you’ll be secure in their custody. A nice care package for the CIA.”
Loughton scowled.
Sienna found “Aunt Karen” in her contact list and put it to her ear as though she was listening to it ring.
“She won’t let you keep it,” Loughton pleaded. “Not even to save your friend.”
Parker said, “Then give us enough to go on that we can keep away from whoever these mercenaries you hired are, long enough to find the second flash drive.”
Sienna said, “Hey, Karen,” into the phone and stepped aside, still listening to Parker and Loughton.
While she said a lot of “Yeah” and “Yep,” she heard Loughton say, “I didn’t hire those men.” He groaned. “The buyer must be trying to get the flash drives by any means necessary, since the sale went south. He’s going around me, because I clearly don’t have them.” He muttered aloud his feelings about that.
“So help me and Sienna get the information before the buyer finds her and extracts their locations.”
Sienna didn’t figure Loughton cared what happened to her, only what happened to his property. But hopefully he would tell them enough to point them in the right direction, even with selfish motives. She didn’t want him to escape justice, and she didn’t think Parker would allow that to happen, either. Loughton had to face the consequences of putting all of their lives in danger. If he hadn’t stolen the information and offered it for sale, none of this would be happening.
Loughton shoved one shoulder forward, a final attempt at besting Parker physically. Then he said, “Okay. I want an agreement with the marshals. Witness protection, the whole deal. The CIA can’t find me, not ever. I get one inkling someone is looking to close in on me, and I’m dust. I’ll hide out somewhere no one will ever find me.”
THIRTEEN
The helicopter was in the grocery store parking lot when they pulled in. Local police were also there—two cars with flashing lights while the cops kept gawkers back.
Parker let the cops wave him through the crowd of shoppers and parked. He turned to Sienna. “Wait in the car?”
She nodded, a neutral expression on her face that he couldn’t read. She’d done well on the highway, enabling him to bring Loughton in to custody. Hopefully, his team would be able to garner enough information from the former NSA agent that they could finish this without anyone getting seriously hurt.
Parker opened the back door and held Loughton’s elbow while the man got out. His boss, Jonah, came over and walked with Parker and Loughton to the helicopter. Ames was in the chopper, ready to secure the cuffs to a chain that attached to the floor of the helicopter but had enough slack so Loughton could sit safely and comfortably.
Two paces from the door, the hair on the back of Parker’s neck started to prickle. He didn’t look around to see where the threat was coming from. He sped up, muscling Loughton faster toward the chopper. “In!”
Jonah knew what that meant. It had happened before, someone trying to shut down their witness. Or kill them so their fugitive escaped custody. Jonah matched his pace, and they hauled Loughton up into the aircraft.
Shots rang out. A circular hole planted in the metal of the chopper six inches above his head.
“Rifle fire.” Parker ducked. Loughton and Jonah did the same. Ames aimed out of the window and returned fire.
“Get me out of here,” Loughton wailed. “The CIA must have found me.”
Crack.
The report was so loud he could hear it over the screams of the crowd as they ran for cover. Police officers yelled for them to leave the area calmly. One called for backup, and another helped a child that had fallen. They ushered everyone toward the safety of the store.
Parker wasn’t so worried about them. This was a sniper, not someone who sprayed bullets into a crowd for maximum casualties.
A bullet cracked the window and the pilot cried out. Another shot was fired but didn’t hit anything. Jonah jumped in and grabbed a shotgun before he turned back to Parker.
“Wait for backup, or go hunting?”
Parker didn’t fancy getting shot crossing the parking lot to search for whoever was shooting at them, but they needed to know who it was. “Hunting.”
Jonah yelled, “Ames! The prisoner is yours.”
“I’ll cover you guys.”
Parker nodded. Jonah jumped out of the far side of the chopper. Parker made sure Loughton was going to stay put and then circled wide, past the driver’s door of the SUV. Sienna was out of sight, probably hunkered down. Good girl.
Jonah would be circling around from the other direction. Eventually they would meet in the middle and have their suspect in custody.
The crack of each shot was evenly spaced long enough for the shooter to reload and aim. Parker had done it himself many times with the SEALs. It wasn’t a skill easily forgotten.
He passed the rows of cars until there were no more in the lot between him and the cover of trees in front of the small stores across the street. They were going to have to leave safety and cross the street.
Crouched beside the tire of a rusty beater car, Parker saw Jonah do the same thirty feet to his left. He glanced at the stores, but couldn’t see the shooter. Probably on the roof behind a tree. It would limit visibility, but given the distance was less than a quarter mile, a high-powered rifle shot would punch through the leaves and branches like a knife through overripe watermelon.
He and Jonah both ran at the same time, and a shot was fired between them.
Parker had to draw the shooter’s fire. Jonah was married and had a baby on the way. Parker wasn’t going to be the one to tell Elise that her new husband wasn’t coming home.
Emergency sirens—police cars—pulled around the corner and sped toward the helicopter. Good. They needed to finish this clean, without too many people crowding in and making things more complicated.
Jonah ducked into an open coffee shop, probably looking for stairs that led to the roof. Parker eyed the front of the building. Window boxes of flowers. A canvas awning flapped in the morning breeze. A drainpipe. A brick, two-story building with a flat roof.
Parker secured his weapon to the clip on the front of his vest with a snap. He sprinted, leaped and grabbed the drainpipe. He climbed up with his weight braced off the wall and using the brackets holding it to the bricks. The pipe creaked and groaned against his weight, but he just climbed faster.
Crack.
The bullet whizzed past his ear, too close for his liking.
He gripped the edge of the roof, hauled his body over the top and unsnapped his weapon as he landed. Two hands on the grip.
The man dropped his gun and ran.
“Freeze!”
Parker ran after him across the gravel roof.
The siren from an ambulance filled his ears, blocking out everything but his breathing as it tore down the street.
He pumped his legs as fast as he could stand and raced after the man. Medium build, the guy was fast. Short blond hair, drab clothes. He could be easily overlooked. Probably had a face that blended into crowds. Unnoticed.
Parker narrowed the distance a little with every step. The man ran to a door and grabbed the handle. He flung the door open and came face-to-face with Jonah, weapon ready. “US Marshals.”
Parker caught up and grabbed the man’s arms while Jonah covered him.
Jonah chuckled. “You look winded.”
He smirked at his boss. He was out of breath but not unfit. Adrenaline rushed through him from the sprint, but he didn’t feel like he’d won the race. “Let’s get him into police custody. They can retrieve the rifle.”
Jonah shot him a look and held the door open so Parker could take the shooter out first. “In a hurry?”
Uh, yeah. He could admit to himself he was eager to get back to Sienna. She was probably freaked out over what had happened. When this was done, he’d have to take her out for a quiet dinner just to reassure himself that she was good. Stuff like this left a mark on a person, no matter how much training they had or how mentally tough they thought they were.
For all Parker had been taught to do, he had seen and done things that would break most people. They had almost broken him, and he still struggled with lingering nightmares and anxiety that liked to creep in when the team was running down whatever fugitive they’d been tasked to bring in that week. The team knew the signs and how to adjust accordingly when Parker was having a hard time dealing. They had to so that it didn’t hurt the job.
But Sienna had none of that. No training that she remembered, and almost no support system.
Except him.
Parker and Jonah walked the shooter and handed him off to the police lieutenant who had arrived. They would need to talk with him eventually, but for now the cops could do the interview and pass on any pertinent information. Ames and Jonah needed to get Loughton to their office to talk over the deal.
He glanced at his SUV but couldn’t see Sienna. People were everywhere, cops and EMTs. The helicopter pilot was being bandaged. He turned back to the chopper where Ames was covering Loughton.
He glanced between Ames and Jonah. “If you’ve got this, I’m going to find Sienna.”
Jonah nodded. “Call me if you need anything more.”
Parker lifted two fingers in a wave and jogged over to the SUV. Where had she gone? He reached for the door handle and froze.
There was a bullet hole in the cracked window.
He pulled open her door and Sienna slumped out. He caught her, saw the blood and lowered her to the ground.
He sucked in a breath and nearly choked. “I need help!”
*
Sienna’s phone was ringing. When she tried to move, she almost screamed. No sound emerged from her throat, but her whole body curled inward. Her eyes flew open. The sky was a blinding swatch of light, and she blinked, trying to focus.
Parker’s face appeared in front of her, along with two other guys. One of whom she’d seen before.
She tried to speak, but no noise came out. She could barely breathe.
Parker touched her cheek. “Easy.”
She fought against the rising tide of panic that threatened to drown her. She was all wet. Being held down. She couldn’t breathe.
All she could do was choke on the water. The weight on her back kept her under the surface of the bathtub. Information. They wanted information—the location of the flash drives.
She wasn’t going to tell them. She’d die before she told them.
Sienna was hauled upright.
Parker. His mouth moved. “Okay?”
Sienna couldn’t answer him. A sharp sting pinched her arm and warmth spread through her, a heat that dulled the pain. What had happened to her? All she remembered was that glass had shattered. The car window. She’d ducked as an inferno erupted in her arm. Her shoulder. She’d been shot?
The numbness swept over her, and she was falling.
The man’s face was so close she could distinguish the colors in his eyes. Loughton had gone out for food and left her tied up in the hotel room. She hadn’t told him where the flash drives were, either. Now the buyer had found her, and he wanted to know, as well.
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