Nowhere Safe

CHAPTER 52



At Leanne’s insistence that she rest on the drive home, Trish unclipped her seatbelt and laid her head back. Yes, she was breaking the law, but she trusted Leanne to drive her a few miles and after surviving a plane crash she’d take her chances for a moment of comfort. She closed her eyes and felt herself dropping right off to sleep.

She rolled her head to one side and came awake, looking out at the dark night flying past her window. Not her neighborhood, where they should’ve been well before dark.

Trish shook off the groggy feeling and sat up, looking around. Not a light in sight except for a pair of headlights coming from the other direction, then gone as the car passed them. “Where are we?”

“Headed to Naples.”

That meant they were traveling west...through...Alligator Alley? Trish looked to her right. The headlight glow bled over the shoulder of the road where the land dropped off into wide canals. The ditches were on both sides and they were deep. Cars that ran off the highway here sometimes sank into the murky water, and the people were never found. The place was full of snakes, alligators, and scorpions.

She might be tired, but this had “screwed up” written all over it.

She turned to Leanne. Ah,shit. Leanne had a gun in her left hand, resting in her lap and pointed at Trish.

“Just sit back and we’ll be there soon,” Leanne said.

She was awfully perky to be holding another person at gunpoint. “What in the Sam Hill is going on?”

“I’m taking you to trade with a man who will fix the mess you made today.”

That made zero sense. Was Leanne serious? “I didn’t do anything today. I was in a freaking plane crash and your dad’s friend might not be alive if I hadn’t convinced him to go to the back of the plane and visit a group of convention women.”

Leanne’s head should have spun around a few times, because her next words sounded possessed. “He was supposed to die in that crash you interfering idiot. So were you.”

Woops. Trish took a moment to process that. “I thought we were friends.”

Leanne snickered at that. “You’re so far beneath me intellectually, it was a strain to talk to you every time you showed up at the office. If not for you, Colbert would still be alive.”

“Colbert?” Trish backtracked mentally for a few seconds and the truth sank in. “You’re the mole in the task force.”

“Look at yoouuu. You didn’t even have to buy a vowel to figure that out, but what about the chess references?”

The black rook. References to being a pawn. “You’re the stalker?”

“What? Please tell me you never thought that German moron had the ability to mount a stalking campaign like that? I’ll really be insulted.”

“The chess piece and the electronic voice wasn’t Gunter,” Trish marveled out loud. So, Gunter had become Pruneface only to irritate her, but he’d also tried to cut her throat. And now Leanne with a gun. How in blazes had she landed on everyone’s hit list?

“You’re not going to spend the next hour whining are you?” Leanne dimmed her lights for an oncoming car then flicked back to bright. She stalks and kills innocent people but is a considerate driver. Leanne sent a smirk Trish’s way. “You should appreciate all the benefit you got from this.”

“I might need a vowel to understand what you’re talking about by benefit.”

“The television show?” Leanne cocked an eyebrow when she cut her eyes at Trish again, then went back to watching the road. “Who do you think had an Amber Room panel for the show, huh? Think something that rare from the fifteenth century just walks through the door everyday?”

Leanne had told Trish about the show and nudged her to try out. She’d been pulling strings and manipulating Trish from behind the scenes the entire time. “Is that panel even real?”

“Yes, it’s real. It’s not the one the Czarion are searching for, but it’s from the original Amber Room. It’s been in my family for many generations. Cost me a small fortune to get it brought here.”

“What’s Czarion?”

“No one you’ll ever meet.”

Trish glanced around the car, familiarizing herself with the interior for when she had a chance to escape.

Leanne sighed and spoke as if she were instructing Trish. “If you’re going to try to escape, you shouldn’t be obvious about it. Need I remind you that I’m a fully trained DEA agent? I can take down a man twice my size. I wouldn’t even have to muss my hair to deal with you.”

Trish was sick of being insulted, terrorized and reduced to being a victim. “If you’re so smart why did you need me to help you kill Dixon? What’d he ever do to you?”

“See, that’s how simple you think. As if everything revolves around liking and hating or being angry or hurt. I cared about Dixon. He was like an uncle to me.”

Trish would hate to see what Leanne did to people she didn’t like. Her gaze strayed to the gun in Leanne’s lap.

Oh, wait. That’s right. She didn’t like Trish.

Got it.

So much for having good instincts. But Josh had said even the best instincts could be fooled by a trained operative.

“Dixon was genuine, intelligent, and a great chess mentor,” Leanne said as though taking a mental stroll down memory lane. “I have him to thank for my love of the game.” She smiled. And in the next second her face twisted with fury then smoothed out in a chilling calm, the kind often seen on the face of an imprisoned serial killer with no remorse. “But later this year he intends to announce his candidacy for president. With him out of the way in a tragic plane crash, the path would have been open for my father to be the leading candidate in their party.”

Oh. My. God. This was about putting her father in the White House.

“How could your father kill people for a political position?”

“My father has nothing to do with this. He’s the most honorable man in this country.”

If that was true, clearly it didn’t pass through to the next generation.

Leanne’s voice could ice over a fire. “Say another word about him and you’ll make this trip in pain.”

“My mistake.” So Leanne was behind all of this? She could claim she was doing it for her father, but people like Leanne were self-serving. She must imagine herself as the first daughter who would reign like a first lady.

How many would she kill to get what she wanted?

Trish kept her tone non-combative with a touch of worry, hoping to keep Leanne talking. “How was this going to work?”

Evidently appeased for the moment, Leanne returned to lecture drone. “Once Dixon died, my father would have led the memorial for him and the investigation into the plane crash. That would have played well in the media.”

“Weren’t you concerned about getting caught in the investigation?”

Leanne spared her a look that questioned Trish’s ability to find her way out of a room with one door. “Not when all the evidence they’ll find on this terrorist attempt will indict your brother, Ben and Vance.”

“What?” Trish leaned toward her.

Leanne shoved the gun across her lap. “I really want to kill you. If not for the value of handing you over to a man far more ruthless than I am, you’d already be dead. Don’t give me a reason to change my mind.”

Trish eased back in her seat. She had to stop Leanne from putting the blame for that crash on Zane, Ben and Vance. “How are you going to blame Zane? He isn’t even a DEA agent.”

Leanne’s sigh sounded as though she indulged a child. “The DEA already has an email from Zane’s computer that had a cryptic reference to Colbert and his drug runner connections. It was beautifully done, if I do say so myself, so that once they start investigating this crash and find evidence of Zane and his cohorts communicating covertly about it, the DEA will start digging deeper and find a few more buried electronic treasures. All it will take is a few clicks once I get home from dropping you off.”

Holy crap. What kind of crazy did it take to do all of this? Trish had no idea, but she did know one thing.

She could not let Leanne get back to a computer.

Trish’s heart beat against her chest as hard and fast as she’d pounded that heavy bag at the hotel. Leanne was trained.

So was Trish.

But Leanne was DEA trained and had a weapon.

Tough shit. Trish was Arnie trained and capable of going for the throat of anyone threatening her family. What would Arnie tell me to do? Use everything at her disposal.

Starting with her brain.

Trish made her left hand tremble.

Leanne’s eyes whipped over at the movement then up at Trish’s face that crumbled, lip quivering. Trish slowly lifted her shaking hand to her lips, moaning, “What am I going to do?”

“Pitiful.” Leanne chuckled, moving her attention back to the highway and shaking her head.

The minute Leanne tilted her head to the left to glance at the side mirror, Trish made her move. She lunged, shoving the weapon toward the dash with her left hand as she used her right hand to wrench the steering wheel and yanked it hard to the right.

Leanne pulled back to the left, but at ninety-plus miles per hour, tires screeched, and the car spun out of control.

Momentum tossed Trish backwards.

Leanne stomped the brake, throwing Trish against the dash, and landed a fist to Trish’s jaw.

Trish used the dash as a brace and flung a backfist to Leanne’s nose.

While they fought, the car careened over the side of the shoulder, diving down into the canal.

Trish’s shoulder bounced against the dash when the car slammed the water that gushed up over the hood and windshield.

Then everything stopped at once.

She looked over at Leanne who was leaned forward against the steering wheel. Dash lights still lit the interior and the engine continued to hum.

The car had hit at an angle, leaving Leanne’s side out of the water and Trish’s sinking into the canal.

“God I want to kill you.”

Trish whipped around at the sound of Leanne’s voice to find the crazy bitch awake and with a murderous glint in her eyes. She had the damn gun again. “We’re going to get out and I’m going to find us a ride. If you try anything, I will make you wish you’d never drawn your first breath.”

Trish just shook her head. “What f*cked you up this bad?”

“Shut up and get out.”

Leanne opened her door, keeping an eye on Trish as she backed out and leaped away to the bank. She called out, “This water’s full of moccasins and my door will sink to the water in about thirty seconds.”

Trish struggled to pull herself up to Leanne’s door. She didn’t make much progress until she heard something splash in the water. She knew it was irrational, but a reptile with big teeth scared her more than Leanne with a gun. She scrambled out the door and leaped to the bank, then climbed up to the pavement.

Not a car in sight, but an almost-full moon shed enough light to see where she walked.

Leanne shoved the barrel of the gun against Trish’s head. “You deserve to die.”

Not as much as you do, bitch. The only thing in Trish’s favor right now was the element of surprise, and the fact that Leanne still wanted to keep her alive.

What would Arnie say? Watch for an opening and attack.

When Leanne pulled the gun away, Trish took a step and spun around, kicking Leanne’s wrist to knock the gun loose. Didn’t happen. Dammit.

Trish punched Leanne twice, aiming for the throat but catching her jaw and her chin, then she ran. Leanne staggered, spun around and came after her.

Fight dirty, and fight to win.

Trish ran for the shoulder, stopping at the last minute and turning back toward Leanne, praying for the right timing.

Leanne was nearly on her when Trish dove toward Leanne’s legs. Leanne couldn’t stop her momentum and flew forward, off the shoulder and down onto the rocky bank.

Leanne landed hard on her back and the gun flew out of her hand as she rolled toward the water’s edge, screaming obscenities. Trish heard the splash when Leanne landed in the water.

Trish hesitated for a few seconds. Could she outrun a woman with five inches on her and a much longer stride? No.

What would Arnie say?

When your enemy is down, strike hard.

But Leanne was a human, after all.

A human who tried to kill a US Senator and wants to send your brother to prison.

Trish started down the bank.

The water splashed. Leanne pushed up on her knees then screamed and yanked backwards. She screamed again, “Alligator!”

Terrified, Trish looked around for the gun but Leanne clawed at the bank, fighting to hold on and slipping backwards even more. Trish raced down the bank and grabbed Leanne’s arm, sitting back and shoving her feet in for purchase. Dammit. She wanted to stop Leanne, but not this way. She strained to hold on as Leanne cried and screamed, her body jerked back and forth.

Trish saw the alligator’s eyes, reflecting yellow in the moonlight. He was huge and had Leanne by the thigh.

The whump whump whump of a helicopter came out of nowhere. Wind from the rotors buffeted Trish and a floodlight blinded her as it swept the area.

She turned her face away from the flying dirt and debris. The crack of a gunshot made her drop onto the rocks but still, she held onto Leanne’s arm. The alligator jerked once. A second shot killed it.

Leanne was sobbing and moaning.

Trish couldn’t let go. She risked a quick look around. The helicopter landed on the highway and figures were running toward her.

“Trish!” She heard the shout over the noise of the rotors.

Josh.

He came for me.

Trish’s heart did high jumps.

He scrambled down the rocky bank,

“Are you hurt, baby?”

“No, but Leanne...” Trish couldn’t breathe.

Ryder appeared on her other side with a mean-looking rifle in his hand. “Let me have her.” He took Leanne’s arm from Trish.

Josh pulled Trish back from Leanne and the alligator. Ryder used the muzzle end of his rifle to push the alligator’s jaws open and pull Leanne free, but her leg had been severed. Blood turned the murky water black, and spread onto the rocks at the water’s edge.

Ryder looked up at Josh and shook his head. Dead.

Trish said, “I tried–”

“You couldn’t save her from that.” Josh pulled her into his arms. He was trembling. I’m so f*cking glad you’re alive.”

“She’s the mole.”

“I know. We figured it out about the time she drove off with you.”

That meant his job was done.

Josh would be leaving Miami.