Undercover Warrior

“A word?” Kyle said, taking Preston aside, but making sure he kept Erin in view.

* * *

THEY WERE STANDING less than fifteen feet away from her, but Kyle could see Erin’s full attention was on the paramedics getting ready to transport Hank Leland.

“This is part of an NCIS case,” Kyle told Preston in a barely audible voice. “I’m here undercover.”

“Now tell me something I don’t know.”

“Earlier this morning Hank Leland called and asked NCIS for help, claiming he was being blackmailed by terrorists. I’d been sent here to monitor Leland’s activities anyway, so I was told to go check it out and interview him. Everything looked normal up to the time I pulled into the company’s yard, but in a moment, it all went sour,” he said. “That’s all I have right now, but we’re going to need your department’s cooperation during my investigation.”

Preston nodded curtly. “Why did they come after him here?”

“Don’t know. Maybe that was their plan all along. Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Leland’s company specializes in building safe rooms but that technology isn’t classified. What’s that got to do with terrorists?”

“Not sure—yet.” Kyle glanced around. “Firearms aren’t hard to get, so let’s begin with explosives and detonators. Does Leland keep any here on site?”

“I’ll find out,” Preston answered.

“One more thing,” Kyle said before he could move off. “I need you to file this as an armed robbery gone bad or something routine like that—not a kidnapping attempt involving probable terrorists. If you need clearance, I can get it for you. I’ll also need to keep Erin Barrett in my custody.”

“Are you taking over this case? If you are, I’ll have to run it through channels.”

“Do whatever you have to, and I’ll stay with Erin.”

As Preston walked off, Kyle saw one of the paramedics block Erin from climbing into the back of the vehicle. “Ma’am, you can’t ride in the ambulance with him. We’ll transport him to Regional Medical’s emergency room and you can meet us there.”

As Kyle placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, Erin jumped back and spun around.

“It’s okay, Erin, relax. Let the EMTs do their job. Hank’s in good hands,” he said. “You and I need to talk.”

“Hank Leland hired me and gave me a chance—the only one I ever got—and I’m going to make sure he gets the best of care. I’m going to the hospital right now.”

“Hank’s already getting the care he needs. Your time’s better spent answering our questions so we can catch the people who did this to him, and you.”

“I’ll tell you everything I can—at the hospital,” Erin replied, refusing to give an inch.

Preston came up and gave Kyle a brief nod. “Your request has been approved,” he said. “I’ve sent officers to Leland’s home to secure the place. I’ve also sent a deputy to the company’s current work site to inform and protect the work crew there.” He looked at Erin. “Right now, ma’am, I have to ask you a few questions.”

She ran an exasperated hand through her hair. “Everyone wants to talk to me and I get that, but first, I have to make sure Hank’s okay. I’m going to the hospital. You can both talk to me there.” She looked over at the emergency vehicle heading out the gates. “I have to go.”

“All right. My brother can drive you there,” Preston said, and saw Kyle nod. “But before you go, could this have been a robbery, maybe for your payroll, or cash on hand?”

Erin shook her head. “No way. If you’d seen them, you’d understand. They were cold and calm, like professionals following a plan. Whatever they wanted, it wasn’t cash.”

Kyle nodded. He’d seen extremists with the same attitude she’d described. “Come on. I’ll take you to the hospital.”

* * *

KYLE FOLLOWED THE racing emergency vehicle, staying on its tail by taking advantage of the way its flashing lights, horn and siren cleared traffic. At this speed, he couldn’t risk more than a glance in Erin’s direction, but he was aware of her on almost every level.

She had spirit—the kind that refused to cower or run. Unless he missed his guess, and he seldom did, her courage wasn’t the sort that came from training and preparation. It was the deep-seated kind that you were either born with or not.

“So you and Hank are friends?” he asked, running the red light and staying right behind the ambulance, his skill and training in pursuit driving coming in handy now.

“No, not really, but we work together well, and he’s a good boss.” She hung on tightly to the door handle as he turned left. “He hired me though I had no business experience, and right from the start trusted me to handle the work.”

Kyle had no problem believing that. She clearly wasn’t the sort who lost it under pressure.

“Hank’ll make it through this. He’s as tough as they come,” she said.

He wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince herself or him. “So you’re his assistant, right?”

“Officially, I’m the office manager. Sometimes when he’s away fulfilling a contract, I run the day-to-day business. When he’s here, my job is to make sure things run smoothly.”

“Does Leland have any enemies?”

“Not that I know of. Hank always treats his employees and clients fairly.”

“You really like him, I gather,” he pressed, making another hard right in order to stay close to the ambulance.

She held her breath until they were moving in a straight line again. “I respect him.”

Kyle kept his eyes on the road. His gut was telling him that there was more to Erin’s story, things she was deliberately keeping back. If she was playing a game, he’d see through it fast enough. He was very good at his job, as he’d proven time and time again.

The fox fetish that hung from a leather cord around his neck pressed against his chest, reminding him to stay alert. Fox, a gift from Hosteen Silver, was his spiritual brother, and, according to Navajo tradition, shared its gifts with him. Observation, one of Fox’s innate abilities, had become second nature to Kyle. Whether that was because of the fetish or not, he couldn’t say, he just knew that it was so.

“Why did your brother suggest I ride with you to the hospital? Was it so you could question me, or is there more to it?”

“You wanted to get there fast, so it made sense for me to give you a lift. Hang on,” he added, hitting the brakes and swerving along with the ambulance ahead of him. Its loud air horn blasted. A startled pedestrian wearing white earbuds looked up suddenly, then jumped back onto the curb.

Unsure of which team she was playing on, he intended to be right there when Hank Leland regained consciousness and saw Erin for the first time since the kidnapping attempt. Hank’s reaction might be enough to tell him what he needed to know.

“You saved my life, Agent Goodluck, but I don’t think I ever thanked you.”

“Not necessary. And it’s Kyle.” He only met those honey-brown eyes for a second, but that’s all it took. Just beyond the sadness and fear mirrored there, he saw a gentle vulnerability.

He was a former marine, long ago labeled as a hard-ass, but that never failed to get to him.

He heard the ambulance’s air horn just ahead, and a heartbeat later a large black pickup flew into view, running the light, oblivious to the inevitable collision.

“Oh, damn.” Kyle hit the brakes and leaned on the horn.

Although he avoided the truck, it was too late for the ambulance. The pickup slammed into its right front end, pushing the emergency vehicle around ninety degrees with a sickening crunch.

Kyle skidded and barely missed clipping the tailgate of the pickup as it fishtailed around in the intersection. Hitting the brakes hard again, he finally managed to stop about fifty feet beyond the crash site. He looked back in the side mirror just as a familiar-looking van drove up and stopped a few feet behind the pickup.

“That idiot just ran the light!” Erin cried out, her voice shaking.

“It wasn’t an accident. Get down on the floorboard now,” he ordered, grabbing his pistol. “Call 911,” he instructed the online computer, not taking his eyes off the van. “Federal officer needs help, GPS location.”

“The van! Those are the same men,” she said, her voice rising. “Give me a way to fight back.”

“Here, defend yourself, but stay down.” Kyle handed her the Glock, then threw open his door, reaching behind the seat for his M4 as he jumped down to the pavement. He’d replaced the magazine with a full load when he put it away, but the thought of a firefight in a city intersection brought him back to his deployments in Afghanistan. Yet here he was in Hartley, New Mexico.

Two men wearing ski masks had already exited the van, both upgunned to assault rifles. They were possibly wearing vests beneath fatigue jackets, too, though he couldn’t tell for sure.

As the gunman from the passenger side approached the disabled EMT vehicle, the driver of the van watched the man’s flank and front, providing cover. To their right, the pickup driver was limping away from his badly disabled vehicle, pistol in hand. Clearly the collision had crippled his effectiveness.

Kyle advanced to his left, intending on approaching from behind. There was no cover here in the street, but he was sure they were out to nab Hank and were confident that surprise and firepower had put them in control.

The gunman came up to the rear door of the emergency vehicle and rapped on it with the butt of his assault rifle. “Open the door!”

The man’s partner, the driver, looked over at Kyle’s SUV. Knowing the fight might shift to Erin’s position, Kyle moved in.

“Put your weapons down!” Kyle yelled, now partially screened by the van.

Both gunmen whirled instantly, spraying bullets in his direction.

Outgunned for the moment, Kyle dropped to the pavement and rolled left as bullets kicked up chunks of asphalt. He returned fire, but he wasn’t alone. As he glanced back, he saw Erin lying flat beside the SUV, firing beneath the engine block at the men’s legs.

Both suspects jumped to the driver’s side of the van, moving out of view.

Not wanting to shoot in that direction and risk hitting the ambulance beyond, Kyle circled to his left.

The pistol-wielding pickup driver snapped off a few rounds, but shots from the SUV forced him to take cover beside the pickup. Erin had Kyle’s back.

Kyle couldn’t see the men any more, but he was advancing, weapon up, when the van roared to life. Tires squealing, the vehicle raced backward straight at him. He fired twice, then jumped to his left as the van brushed by him.

Swinging around, prone, he tried to bring his rifle to bear on the van, which had now done a one-eighty and was racing down the street. A bullet screamed past him from behind. Realizing it had come from the pickup’s driver, Kyle forgot about the van, rolled and squeezed off three rounds at the driver, who was leaning against his ruined pickup, still shooting.

The shooter flinched, grabbed his side, and slid down the side of the pickup to a sitting position.

Kyle jumped up, weapon aimed at the wounded man, and advanced quickly.

“Drop the weapon now!” he yelled. To his left, he could see an EMT sneaking a quick look out the back door of the unit. “Stay inside!” Kyle ordered.

Kyle was within fifteen feet when the badly wounded man looked directly at him, put the barrel under his chin and shot himself.

Chapter Three

Kyle lowered his weapon and looked away, shaking his head in disgust. A life wasted, just like that. Up to now, he’d only seen that kind of hardcore reaction overseas.

He moved toward the ambulance, put his hand on the door handle, then yelled, “Federal officer. Open up!”

The EMT inside did so quickly, throwing his hands up as the door opened. “Officer, we’re not armed, and our patient needs us right now. We’ve got to keep working, okay?”

Kyle nodded and realized, from the monitor’s tone, that Hank had flatlined. As both EMTs worked to revive Leland, one of them talking back and forth with an emergency room doctor through a headset, Erin rushed up. She stood silently beside him, watching.

Minutes passed, the medics working feverishly. After four attempts to restart Leland’s heart with the paddles, the one with the headset reported the results, tapped the other EMT on the shoulder, and shook his head. “Call it.”

The second medic noted the time and pulled a sheet over the patient’s head.

“What are you doing? Don’t give up!” Erin demanded.

“Ma’am, his blood pressure bottomed out even before the accident, probably from trauma-induced internal bleeding. Even if we hadn’t been stopped here on the street, I doubt he would have made it to the hospital.”

She bit down on her lip until it turned white, but when Kyle tried to get closer to comfort her, she stepped away. “I’m fine,” she said, though her voice was shaking.

“Everyone here, including us, did everything possible to save him,” Kyle said. “Hold to that.” His voice was quiet and calm, a tone he’d learned people responded to, and it broke through to her now.

“We might as well go back to the warehouse. There’s nothing else we can do here now.”

She nodded, and walked back to the SUV with him. Her movements were slow and ponderous as she continued to struggle with what she’d just seen. “I should notify his brother...make funeral arrangements, or at least help with that. I...”

“That’ll wait. Right now you need a little time to process what’s happened and so do I,” he said.

As they climbed into his SUV, he saw her staring ahead, a glassy look in her eyes. Shock. “Seat belt,” he said, and she absently complied.

“What I saw today is going to haunt my nightmares for as long as I live,” she said after a moment.

Her words touched him. He knew all about things one could never unsee, and memories that refused to die.

“You’re right, some things can’t be forgotten,” he said, his voice nothing more than a deep rumble, “but you’ll learn to deal and, in time, the images will come less often.”

Kyle started the engine and called his brother on the phone. After a few minutes he ended the connection and glanced at her. “We’ll head back to Secure Construction. My brother will wait for us there and he’ll want a detailed account of everything that went down.”

Ten minutes later, they parked outside the now closed access gates of Secure Construction’s fenced compound and waited in the SUV. After several moments a uniformed Hartley police officer came to unlock the gate.

“Have you given any more thought to what these men may have wanted, Erin? You already ruled out cash, but do you keep anything that’s dangerous or of high value here, like maybe explosives?”

The person who’d encountered Hank overseas was said to be a bomb maker with ties to extremists. Firearms were easy to get in the U.S., but finding high explosives was a lot more difficult.

“We use explosives to test the construction of newly designed safe rooms, but we hire out those tests and pick up what’s needed en route to the test site. We never really store anything here. There’s no need.”

Kyle drove into the yard, then pulled up by the main office building, stopping in front of the yellow crime-scene tape. “Don’t think—just answer me. What’s here that someone would want to steal?”

She didn’t hesitate. “Nothing that’s worth people’s lives.” She got out of the SUV and strode to where Preston was standing, waiting for them.

Kyle hung back and watched Erin for a moment longer. She was the picture of courage, but little telltale signs, like the stiff way she was walking and the expressionless look in her eyes told him a different story. Overwhelmed on every level, the human body often adapted and became ultracalm—almost numb—in order to survive.

If Erin was truly an innocent caught in circumstances she didn’t understand, she had his sympathy. This was just the beginning.

* * *

ERIN FELT SICK to her stomach. She wanted to curl up into a ball and hide where no one would see her fall apart. Yet the look on Detective Bowman’s face told her she had to hold it together for a little bit longer. “You have questions for me, so why don’t we go into my office and talk there?” she asked.

“My people are still processing the building so we’ll have to talk out here,” he said.

“It’s okay. I have another smaller office in the warehouse,” she said, desperately needing a place to sit down before her knees buckled. “How about we talk in there?”

“Lead the way,” Preston said.

She walked to her second office, a cubbyhole on the lower level of the warehouse, near the entrance doors. Detective Bowman and Kyle Goodluck were half a step behind her.

“Detective, Agent Goodluck, please sit down,” she said, dropping down into her seat unceremoniously. “Ask me whatever you want, and I’ll do my best to answer you, or track down the answers you need.”

“How did this whole thing start? Did the three men just burst into the office?” Preston asked.

“I wasn’t there when they arrived, I was in here checking out our newest model safe room. We display them with simple furnishings, emergency gear, and supplies to show prospective clients,” she said. “After I finished, I went back and saw three men talking to Hank in his office. It all looked like business as usual, so it never occurred to me to ask Joe to stick around a while longer.”

“Joe?” Preston asked. “The same guy at the work site? The one I sent a deputy to cover?”

“Yes, Joe Pacheco is our senior construction foreman. You may know him. He’s a former police officer.”

Preston nodded. “I know Joe. When, exactly, did he and the crew leave?”

“Joe was behind the wheel of one of our big pickups, and pulled out onto the street a few minutes after I sat down at my desk in the main office.”

“Who else was on site here at the time?” Preston asked. “Anyone in the warehouse or working in the yard?”

“No, after Joe and the crew left, it was just Hank and me.”

“When did you first realize there was trouble?” Kyle asked her.

“After a few minutes, I heard Hank yell at one of the men. I’m better with difficult prospective clients, which is what I figured they were, so I went in to see if I could help calm the situation. That’s when I realized all three men were armed.”

She took a breath and tried to hold it together. Both men were watching her, but it was Kyle’s intense, hooded gaze that got to her. There was something hard and dangerous there. Yet he’d saved her life.... Maybe he was only dangerous to the wrong people.

“What were they arguing about?” Kyle asked.

“They claimed that Hank had double-crossed them. Then one of them pointed his gun at Hank and told him to keep his end of the deal or get ready to die.” She shuddered. “I heard that last part just as I walked into the room.”

“Describe the men you saw,” Preston said.

“The tallest one standing next to Hank was tanned and had a beard. I’d say he stood about six foot one, and was rail thin. The other faces were a blur. I was so scared all I could see were their guns.”

“The man who shot himself in the street, was he one of them?” Kyle asked.

“No, I’m pretty sure of that,” she answered. “His face was distinctive, even before the...bullet.”

“Okay, so there are—were at least four of them. Getting back to earlier now. What happened next?” Preston asked.

“They told us to leave our cell phones, and ordered us outside. They held on to us with one hand, their pistols jammed against our backs,” Erin said. “I was sure they intended to kill us, so when I saw you drive into the yard, I elbowed the one behind me in the gut and yelled for help, but he pulled me back again before I could get away. Once we went around the corner of the building, he shoved me out into the open. You know the rest.”

She studied their expressions, trying to read them, but their faces were flat, impenetrable.

Preston glanced out the window. “Let’s go back to the main office. It looks like my team’s finished their preliminary sweep.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of latex gloves. “I’d like you to avoid touching anything, Erin, but wear these in case you forget.”

* * *

AS THEY RETURNED to the main building, Erin could feel her heart hammering. When Preston went to speak to one of the officers standing outside, she focused on Kyle. “This is their case, yet you’re taking an active role in the investigation. Is that because he’s your brother?”

“No, it’s because I’m a federal agent with an interest in what happens here,” he answered.

She stared at the floor for a moment, trying not to fall apart. “Hank had been so tense lately. I should have paid more attention.”

“Had anything unusual happened lately?”

“Hank never confided in me, but I believe something had been bothering him. It started about a week before he left for Spain. He was tense and short-tempered with everyone, but when he came back, that still hadn’t changed.”

“Did you ever ask him about it?”

She nodded. “I tried, but he told me that it was family business. That was his way of telling me it was personal and I needed to back off, so I did.”

“Family? He wasn’t married, right?” Kyle asked.

“I think he meant his brother, Bruce, who works on and off for him.”

“Were they close?”

“No. They had nothing in common and could barely stand being around each other. Hank is all about working hard, but Bruce has never been able to hold on to a job for long.”

Preston joined them and tossed Kyle a pair of latex gloves. “Okay, we’re ready. Let’s go inside the main office. I want you to look around carefully, Erin, and tell me if there’s anything missing,” he said, putting on a set of gloves, too.

“Look for anything that’s new, too,” Kyle added.

“New, how?” she said. “Are you talking about something he brought back from his trip, like souvenirs, or what’s in today’s mail?”

“Both,” they answered in unison.

Hearing another investigator call his name, Preston said something in a low voice to Kyle.

“Go. I’ll handle things here,” Kyle said.

As Erin walked inside with Kyle, the first thing that caught her eye was the small plant that lay on the carpeted floor, soil spilling out of its container.

Temporarily forgetting what they’d told her about not touching anything, she picked it up carefully, and scooped the soil back into the pot with a gloved hand.

A second later, she froze. “Oh—I’m so sorry. I didn’t think....”

“It’s okay. That’s why you’re wearing gloves. We can’t get prints from soil anyway,” Kyle said with a gentle smile.

“When the man pushed me out, I bumped into the corner of my desk and knocked over the plant. Considering everything that’s happened, it’s stupid to worry about this, but if I leave it here, it’ll die...too.”

Erin turned her face away as tears ran down her cheeks. “Now you’re going to think I’m crazy for sure,” she managed in a shaky voice. “I held it together through everything—being kidnapped, forced to shoot at someone just to stay alive and seeing three people die. Then I fall apart over this....” Despite all the care she’d lavished on the small desert rose, the plant was still nothing more than a thorny stem with a couple of leaves.

“It’s okay,” Kyle said, lifting her back to her feet with incredible gentleness. “So how come this little plant means so much to you?” He smiled. “If you don’t mind my saying so, it sure doesn’t look like much.”

She chuckled through her tears. “Hank got it years ago from a client. The original plant had been her great-grandmother’s, and the family had a tradition of giving a cutting to people who performed a special service for them. In this case, the woman’s husband had passed and she was having a hard time financially so Hank charged her half price for the safe room.” She looked at the plant. “There’s a legend attached to the desert rose that says it’ll only bloom for an owner whose heart has learned to sing.”