Locked and Loaded

“Get off me.” She lifted her hips in an attempt to buck him off then let out a shriek.

The high-pitched sound echoed in his ears. “What is it?”

“Nothing.” The word came out through staccato breaths.

He recognized pain when he saw it. He figured he had to be hurting her sore shoulder and tried to adjust his hold. “Better?”

“No.”

“Margaret Thomas.”

At the mention of the name she stopped pushing and mumbling. Her chest rose and fell in a rapid pace he feared would stop her heart.

But he had her attention. “That’s your real name. You grew up in Indiana, the only child of Frank and Louise. Your father died when you were fourteen. Your mother died last year, but you couldn’t go to the funeral because of the program’s rules.”

Maddie bit her lip but stayed quiet.

“You testified against Knevin Leonard, your boyfriend and partner in a drug ring. He vowed to kill you for turning him in. Even hired some nasty guys to try it.”

“No.”

The truth was written all over her face, from the sadness in her eyes to the tightening of the skin over her cheekbones. “Yes.”

“You’re wrong.”

“Maddie, please.” He had to break through her protective shield. He had about an hour’s drive to headquarters. He couldn’t spend every moment worrying she’d leap through the window if he slowed down to change lanes. “I can tell you where you met Rod the first time. Would that convince you?”

“I wasn’t his partner.”

Adam sat back, resting his weight on his knees and his hands on his thighs. “I don’t understand.”

She slowly lowered her arms. “I never dealt drugs and didn’t know Knevin was doing it.”

For whatever reason, it seemed that was the one piece of information she couldn’t tolerate being told. Didn’t matter that the evidence said otherwise, she was sticking with the innocence story on that one.

It wasn’t his business. She could tell whatever lie she needed to tell to wrestle the guilt away from her bed at night. But disappointment still pounded him. He’d invested so much time in watching over her that he wanted her to at least own up to her mistakes. They all had a few. Sure, hers were bigger than most, but that just made her human.

He shook off the anger before it could fester. “Fine.”

“You don’t believe me.”

“I don’t care.” But he did. The idea of her getting drugs into kids’ hands gnawed at him. Made him want to shake her until she promised never to fall back into those habits.

The emotion washed out of her face, leaving behind only a blank stare. “What happens now?”

“Same plan.” He sat back in his seat and held a hand out to help her up. “We go to the Recovery Project headquarters until we can figure out a way to keep you safe.”

She ignored his offer and sat up on her own. The process took longer than usual for such an easy activity. She twisted and winced.

“And I’m supposed to ignore protocol and not call my handler?”

“Ambrose is dead.”

“So you keep saying.” She tried to turn around and face front then stilled. Adam thought if she bit down any harder on her lower lip, she’d chew right through it.

“Is it your shoulder?”

She stretched, grimacing with every move. “No.”

“It’s something. “

She bent over with her elbows on her knees and inhaled several deep breaths. “I thought you were the smart guy who knew my file.”

He searched his memory but couldn’t come up with anything to explain the green cast to her skin. “Meaning?”

“If you were, you’d know about my back.”

An old injury. That explained it. His intel was incomplete, didn’t reach back much further than the trial prep and police file. It was hard enough even getting that much since her identity was tightly protected. “What about it?”

“I broke it.”

Her shoulder had to be throbbing and now her back. Guilt racked him. He could have been more careful. Maybe not when the gunmen were firing, but certainly when he was trying to get her to listen to him. “When?”

She looked up at him. “When my former boyfriend threw me off a building.”

Chapter Four

Trevor Walters leaned back in his chair and stared at the man sitting on the other side of his desk. If Trevor had his way, John Tate would disappear. Just step into a hole in the earth and never be seen again. It was tempting to make that happen.

If John were a different man, one with less powerful friends and a less visible career, he’d be gone. His pseudowealth and puffed-up overconfidence wouldn’t save him.

The man had all the obvious trappings Trevor despised. Everything about John screamed poor taste wrapped up in a bundle of new money. Passable suit. Shiny watch. Big government title. And not a clue about the danger he invited into his world when he came up against Trevor.

John was the deputy director of the Justice Department’s Office of Enforcement Operations. He handled intricate government surveillance and held all the power in the witness protection program, including having the final say on who got in and who didn’t.

But Trevor was more concerned with the man’s side job: newly minted blackmailer. That was the position that would get John killed. Trevor vowed to make that true.

“I have to wonder where you got the men to fight this particular battle against the Recovery Project,” Trevor said.

“Why?”

“Seems they were not very successful against Adam Wright and Maddie Timmons. One could say they were ill prepared for what they found in West Virginia.”

“This time.”

Trevor predicted the answer was more like every time. “I would have thought you would ask to use my men.”

Not that he would have agreed. Orion Industries was his baby, a legitimate government-contracts firm he built from nothing. The business specialized in threat management, whether that meant assisting fledgling foreign governments or working for his own. He was not about to ruin Orion’s stellar reputation by dragging it into John’s mess.

“I didn’t realize you’d been successful fighting the Recovery Team agents.” John made a show of brushing something off his charcoal dress pants. “From what I remember, every time you’ve gone against Recovery you’ve had to make up a story about an accident in training exercises and call your men’s next of kin. That’s not exactly a stellar history either, now, is it?”

Not that Trevor needed a reminder of that fact. His losses had been high enough for him to enter into an informal deal with Luke Hathaway, Recovery’s leader: Trevor would leave Recovery alone and vice versa. After all, there were only so many men on his payroll qualified and trustworthy enough to do the dirty off-the-books job and he was running low.

But John didn’t know any of that and Trevor was not about to fill him in. “I am smart enough not to full-on fight with Recovery, but if I did I assure you I would most definitely succeed.”

John smiled. “I wonder if your brother counted on that fact.”

Trevor curled his fingers into fists to keep from reaching for the gun taped under his desk. “Leave Bram out of this.”

“Why? The Recovery agents killed him.” John smacked his lips together in mock concern. “I still don’t understand why you’ve refrained from seeking revenge.”

“Because I am civilized?”

“You could have unloaded. Bram was, after all, a highly respected congressman. At least in the public’s view. Though we know better, don’t we?”

Trevor had kept the real circumstances of Bram’s death quiet to preserve his brother’s legacy. Trevor hoped the Walters brothers’ involvement with the WitSec money-for-information scheme would end at Bram’s grave.

It might have if John hadn’t gotten his hands on the tape that changed Trevor’s life. That made him a target instead of a leader. “Maybe you should focus your attention on keeping your moneymaking plan quiet instead of on my private life.”

“But that’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”

John never did have grasp of the obvious. “You happen to be in my office.”

“This time.” John’s mouth twisted in a snarl as he said the words. “I won’t tolerate being ordered around again.”

But he would. Trevor would make John do it over and over until Trevor got bored with the cat-and-mouse game.

“I will do what I have to do until you realize you do not own me.”

“But I do…unless you want a certain tape to go public.”

Trevor mentally pledged to redouble his efforts to get that tape. If he couldn’t find it, he’d do things the hard way. Maybe start with John’s pretty little wife.

Trevor would have a file on her by morning. “It is interesting how a man who has sold out WitSec particpants’ locations for cash is trying to use blackmail and threats of public-image destruction to get his way.”

“Nothing in those deaths points to me. Since the identities were secret, the deaths aren’t even public knowledge. No one knows to investigate the losses, such as they are.”

“Interesting.”

It appeared John was not smart enough to realize every conversation in the office was recorded. Even his underling Russell Ambrose got that, and Russell was dumb enough to get himself killed at the Recovery agents’ feet.

The public didn’t know why Russell died in a shoot-out for fear the news of a witness handler selling information would upend the program, but powerful people in government now knew. A top-secret investigation into WitSec was all but assured, which Trevor assumed was why John wanted the loose ends tied and tucked.

“I will concede the men I sent to retrieve Ms. Timmons failed in their quest,” John said.

“Apparently.”

John leaned forward, his smarmy self-satisfaction abandoned in favor of fevered whispers. “We cannot afford to have her welcomed into the protective bosom of the Recovery Project.”

“We?”

“She is with one of their agents.”

Adam Wright. Trevor knew all about him. About all the agents. “I have read the intel on your failed mission. I know the facts.”

“Then you know we are at a turning point.”

Trevor could smell the desperation on the other man. The weakness disgusted him. “Meaning?”

“You need to step up and play your part.”

Trevor shifted in his chair. The leather felt comfortable again now that he was back in control and his unwanted guest was squirming. “This conversation would work better if you would stop talking in wild generalities and asking rhetorical questions.”

“You need to terminate Adam Wright and Maddie Timmons.”

“That will just bring the entire Recovery team to my doorstep. No, thank you.”

“Then kill them all.”

Just when Trevor thought John could not get more reckless, he did. “I think law enforcement would notice a mass murder within the D.C. metro area.”

“Then you better be careful in how you do it. I’d suggest a gas explosion.”

“Subtle.”

“Something believable that will take them all out.”

Trevor exhaled to show his displeasure with the ridiculous conversation. “The Recovery team is made up of law enforcement officers of sorts. Former military, maybe, but still, they have friends in high places.”

John jumped to his feet. “Then you pick something. Just get it done.”

MADDIE RECHARGED BY THE TIME Adam drove through the thick metal gate surrounding the beat-up beige warehouse. The thought of being locked inside the premises sent a rush of panic through every cell and pore in her body. Her innate tendency to run to safety and ask questions later kicked into gear. It took all her control to sit there and let Adam usher her into the unknown.

She figured if he wanted her dead he would have killed her by now. She repeated the refrain until it took hold and she started to believe it.

“I don’t want to kill you,” Adam said in what could only be described as a you’ve-got-to-be-kidding tone.

She had to smile. “I guess I said that out loud, huh?”

He threw her a sidelong glance. “Yeah.”

“Can you blame me?”

“No.”

She expected him to defend his position and argue his case. By agreeing, he sucked the heat right out of her. Still, she needed to follow protocol. Her handlers had drummed the plan into her head until it played in her dreams. Get to a safe place and call. She couldn’t promise on the first, but she could make the second happen.

Let Adam explain to the U.S. Marshals Service why she was safer with him when they broke down the doors to rescue her. She just needed to stay safe. She’d fought too hard, sacrificed too much, to risk it all over a sexy man with an even sexier dimple.

Adam parked and nearly broke a speed record coming around to her side of the truck to open the door. He likely thought she would bolt. Since he’d driven into a secure and brightly lit garage, a place with few obvious exits, he didn’t have to worry. Even she wouldn’t try to break her way through a metal wall.

“How are you feeling?” His voice dipped low as he asked the question.

The sexy vibration made her insides jump around in excitement. “Fine.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Maddie.”

She rolled her eyes. “The shoulder and the back hurt.”

“We can get you some medical attention.”

“You won’t call the police but you’ll call an ambulance?”

“I think he means me.” A guy slipped in behind Adam. “Hey, man. Have a nice time in West Virginia?”

She tensed but Adam smiled. “Maddie, this is Caleb Mattern.”

“I work with Adam,” Caleb explained as he held out his hand toward her.

She shook the man’s hand and then pulled hers back fast. She wasn’t even out of the truck and she had to battle two of them.

And what exactly did these guys eat? Caleb stood over six feet, with broad shoulders, light brown hair and the most soothing blue-green eyes she’d ever seen. He had that handsome mussed look that reminded her of blue jeans and football on Sunday afternoons. The relaxed style matched his welcoming smile. The only surprise was the shiny gold wedding band.

Attractive or not, she didn’t trust Caleb one inch more than she trusted Adam. Well, that wasn’t true. She reluctantly believed Adam wanted to help her. She didn’t know why or if her radar was off, but she was willing to go along for now. But only with Adam.

“I hear you got banged up,” Caleb said.

She’d been with Adam every single minute since the attackers came. He hadn’t made a call. She’d know, since she’d been watching for a cell phone so she could steal it. “Who told you that?”

“It’s on the radio.” Adam frowned at her in a way that said he thought she was clueless. “How do you think? I did.”

“When?”

Adam waved her off then reached up to drag her out of the truck. “Don’t worry about it.”

She wasn’t in the mood to be placated or manhandled. She pulled out of his reach and ignored Caleb’s half cough, half laugh as she did. “You want me to trust you but you’re keeping information from me. How is that fair?”

Caleb crossed his arms over his chest. “She’s got you there, man.”

“Don’t help.”

Caleb’s smile grew wider. “Can’t seem to stop.”

“She can fight her own battles.”

Caleb nodded. “I get it. I’ve been there.”

“Where?” Maddie asked.

Adam glared as his teammate for about ten seconds before turning back to her. “I used my watch.”

Maddie didn’t follow. Maybe she did need a bed and an aspirin before she could function again. “What does that mean?”

Adam held out his wrist to her. “It works like a telephone only better.”

The black face looked like most other watches but bigger. She could see a series of buttons and when Adam hit one, the face switched to an image of the garage.

Caleb pointed around the space. “Cameras. You’re almost never alone here.”

She was more interested in the phone part. “Where can I get one of those?”

“Adam designed this one. We all wear them.”

With all the gunfire and running, she’d almost forgotten about the other side of him. “So, the computer-geek thing is real.”

“I prefer the word genius.”

Adam exhaled. “I’m sure you do.”

Caleb didn’t try to hide his laugh that time. “Let’s take this discussion inside.”

He reached in the cab to bring her out. Instinctively, she shrank back, wedging her body into the seat. When Caleb stared at her with a she’s-nuts-and-getting-crazier-by-the-second look all men did so well, she sat back up.

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

Caleb winked. “It takes more than that to offend me, but I do want to make sure you’re okay.”

She didn’t want to like them, either of them. Caleb made her feel comfortable. Adam made her all tingly. She didn’t care for either reaction.

“You’re a doctor?” she asked.

“I’m the forensics and science guy on the team. We all have emergency training, but mine is a bit more extensive.”

Yeah, no, thanks. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t have a choice, Maddie. I insist.”

When Adam said things like that, got all dictatorial and grumpy, she didn’t like him much at all. “Insist?”

“We are done running and hiding, and you need someone to look you over. It can either be Caleb or me. Choose.”

She dug her nails into her palms. “Oh, really.”

“You’re safe here, and that’s the last time I’m going to tell you that.”

Caleb cleared his throat. “It might be more believable if you weren’t yelling at her.”

Adam’s voice got louder. “I tried being nice—”

That was news to her. “When?”

“We have questions and she’s going to answer them.” Adam put his hand under her elbow. The gentle touch contrasted with his gruff words.

She slid out of the seat and glanced up at Caleb’s smiling face. “Do you have another team member I can talk to?”

He nodded. “Sure.”

Adam talked over both of them. “Nice try, but you’re stuck with me.”

That’s exactly what had her worried.

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