Secret Agent Under Fire Read online

  “Like you and Kayla.”

  Rio’s expression faltered and she saw a red tinge on his cheekbones. He-man, detective and Trail Hiker team lead was blushing over his woman?

  “Yes.”

  “I’m sorry, Rio, I didn’t mean to fluster you, for God’s sake.”

  “Save it. You know you fit in almost too well here, don’t you, Abi?”

  “Maybe. How did you meet Kayla?” Rio’s girlfriend was a local florist Abi had met at the SVPD police picnic last week. Before the arson case had escalated.

  Rio’s smile disappeared and his jaw tensed. “At a murder scene. The second time.”

  “Oh, God. I’m so sorry, Rio.”

  “It wasn’t a personal friend of either of ours, but by the time we closed the case Kayla had been shot at, more than once.”

  “She sounds pretty tough.”

  “That she is.” The look of bemusement and absolute adoration that changed Rio’s demeanor from grim to grateful shot stabs of jealousy through Abi. Would she ever elicit that kind of emotion from a man?

  She sure hadn’t in DC: all the more reason to consider her relocation to Silver Valley permanent. As the song said, a change might do her good.

  A short rap on Rio’s office door interrupted her thoughts and was the only warning they had before the door opened and Keith Paruso entered.

  “Hey, Rio, great work—” He cut himself off as he took in Abi’s presence. “Abigail.”

  “I’ve already told you, Chief, it’s ‘Abi.’” She stood and held out her hand. “Nice to see you again.”

  “Right.” Despite the doubt in his reply he took her hand, and she had to admit she wasn’t impartial to the heat, the damned sexual electricity that she felt engulf her as fully as his hand enveloped hers. “Only if you call me Keith.”

  “Fine. Keith.” She smiled and sat back down. Keith didn’t take a seat but stood near Rio’s desk as he greeted Rio.

  Damp hair and the pungent scent of soap weren’t all that told her he’d gone home and had a quick shower. His worn but clean jeans and collared shirt emphasized his broad shoulders and how his torso tapered to the waist of his unbelted jeans, where she noted he had a button fly.

  Oh, God, was there anything sexier than a man in button-fly jeans?

  Can it, Redland. Rarely had she become involved with a fellow officer or agent on any case. It seldom ended well and, in her case, it had been disastrous. A flash of memory had her in the stifled surroundings where a drug dealer’s last stand had cornered her and Frederick. Fred, the one man she’d ever thought she could make a life with...

  Until he’d married said drug dealer’s daughter, after freeing her from the clutches of the crime ring.

  “That’s where Abi comes in. Abi?”

  “Abigail. You’re up.” Keith’s hand was on her bare forearm, his breath whispering over her cheeks as she looked up at him. She looked at his hand, strong and warm against her skin. His face revealed nothing save professional courtesy and collegial concern. But his eyes flickered with—patronizing glee. Wait, did he think he was doing her a favor by touching her? Did he think she needed the male attention? That she’d react to his touch?

  And he’d called her Abigail again, damn it.

  “Sorry, my mind wandered. Just piecing together the evidence we have so far.” She lifted his hand from her using two fingers and pulled her arm away. She looked at Rio. “I’ve already told Colt my thoughts.”

  “Which are?” Keith spoke up, no hint in his tone of the emotion he’d revealed a moment earlier, or of her obvious rebuff of his he-man tactics.

  “I don’t like how this fire starter has gone from burning down, what, six or seven barns? To all of a sudden move up to larger commercial properties, like the convenience store last month, and before today he aimed at historical landmarks. Today, the run-down farmhouse. It’s not usual, not for a straightforward profile. This isn’t someone who gets off on simply lighting fires.”

  “Tell us something we don’t already know.” Keith crossed his arms over his chest. So the man had smarts to go with the cocky player attitude. Abi could overlook a sexy man but the sexiest attribute to her was always intelligence. Followed by a sense of humor, which Keith was demonstrating through his obvious need to tease her with his blatant come-on behavior.

  Ignoring the way his biceps flexed against his chest, Abi shrugged. “Right. So it’s obvious to me that you probably have more than one arsonist. Even though the notes left at the scenes are all the same, from the same paper stock and ink. One person, one entity may be directing several different people to commit the arsons. That’s why I’m not convinced these are hard-boiled fire starters.”

  “I’ve thought the same thing.” Keith looked at Rio. “I told you this three weeks ago, and I mentioned it to Colt this morning. Today’s spotting of the suspect makes it three out of a total of eight fires after which we’ve seen the suspect take off once the engines arrive.”

  Rio’s brow creased and he leaned on his forearms. “Three times none of us caught him, damn it.”

  “He had an escape vehicle and a driver. There has to have been another vehicle they drove the ATV to. And then, maybe some kind of hidey-hole in the Appalachians. No one disappears this easily without help.” Abi stopped before she said anything about the Trail Hikers supersecret command post buried deep behind a cave, which had long ago been sealed from tourists. Keith Paruso wasn’t a Trail Hiker.

  “What else do you have, Abi?” Keith’s voice was like a caress, damn it. It made her thoughts jumble as a guilty heat ran up her chest, her throat, her face. She wasn’t sure how, but somehow he knew she’d been thinking of him and not the case. More like he assumed she was thinking of only him. She could practically see the planets revolving around his head—this man really did think it was all about him.

  “Nothing that’s worth talking about right now.” She stood. “I need to get some notes together before the big meeting. I’ll meet you both in the briefing room.”

  * * *

  “You seem to have Abi riled up but good, Keith. Care to explain?” Rio grinned and all Keith thought about was how pissed his sister Kayla would be if he gave her boyfriend a black eye.

  “No, I don’t. This morning’s the first time I’ve ever seen her. You never mentioned a contractor working at SVPD before today.”

  “No reason to bring it up. We have contractors in every now and then. It’s not usual, but it happens. This just happens to be a more visible case. And Abi is, well, more visible, too.” Keith knew with certainty that Rio’s heart was all for Kayla. He never even mentioned that he thought another woman was attractive. As Kayla’s brother, Keith was glad, but as a man, the thought of one woman having such control over his emotions made him cringe. “You seem to like what you see. In our contractor.” Rio’s grin widened.

  “You are so damn lucky my sister is in love with you.”

  “If things go right, we might be brothers, Keith.” Rio’s expression sobered.

  “You’re kidding? Does Kayla know?”

  “No, and please don’t say anything. She doesn’t want to hurry our relationship, but, frankly, I’ve been ready to marry her since we started dating again, when I was still working your case.”

  Keith nodded. During his “case,” he’d been falsely accused of endangering the lives of citizens who’d been in church when it was set on fire. During its most well-attended service of the year—the children’s Christmas pageant. The incident and its aftermath had changed his life...and his professional reputation. No matter how much his colleagues claimed it didn’t matter, he knew better. It would haunt him until they shattered open the cult.

  “Go for it, Rio. You both deserve to be happy.”

  “Thanks, man.”

  Rio’s bemused expression had Keith smiling in r
esponse. He was genuinely happy for Kayla and Rio, maybe even a little jealous. Especially with a woman like Abigail Redland in town.

  Hell. He needed to stop this line of thinking before it torched something deeper inside him. He wasn’t the type to settle down, not yet. There was the matter of his professional reputation, which he knew would be restored once he caught the arsonist. Nothing else mattered.

  * * *

  Claudia Michele sprayed her silver bob with the expensive hairspray her hairstylist had convinced her would make her thick mane “manageable but still touchable.” She didn’t know how many times she’d done her hair, put her makeup on, hoping that the men she worked with would notice her as more than a fellow Marine. There’d been a handful through the years that she’d thought would become more than casual relationships, but with the US Marine Corps as her career, the mission had always been her priority and had overshadowed every chance at long-lasting love.

  Until she’d retired from the corps and agreed to head up the Trail Hikers. Trail Hikers was her new baby, but she’d made a promise to herself that she’d put her personal life first whenever she could from now on. The chances to have her own children had passed, but she wasn’t ready to give up on love. Not completely.

  And Colt Todd seemed heaven-sent. The Silver Valley police chief had caught her eye from the first time they’d met. It had been over the True Believer Cult case, which they were still pursuing. Would the degenerate group’s evil hold on Silver Valley ever let go?

  Her phone vibrated as she picked it up to throw into her Kate Spade tote. One perk of no longer being in uniform and earning a decent paycheck was the fun fashion accessories. She particularly liked this bag because it held her .45 as easily as her Poppy Red lipstick.

  “Hi, Colt.”

  “Claudia.” God, she’d never grow tired of his deep voice, the way her stomach tingled each time she heard it. “How are you today?”

  “I’m well. On my way in to the office.”

  “Mine or yours?”

  “Mine—I have some message traffic to read. That’s email in your lingo. And we’re indoctrinating a couple of new agents specifically to aid in the cult takedown.”

  “Are you allowed to tell me that? About the new agents?”

  “You don’t officially know who they are or what they’re for, but with the need for more manpower to take down the True Believers, I think it’s safe to let you in on it.”

  “I’d rather you let me in on something else.”

  “Colt...”

  “Sorry, sorry. I can’t seem to help myself whether I’m next to you or miles away on the phone.”

  A silence fell between them and images of Colt’s lips kissing every inch of her body threatened to weaken her focus on the case. “Thank you for this weekend, Colt. It was lovely.”

  “Yeah, well, there’s more where that came from. As soon as we round up these criminals.”

  “I agree. I was hoping you had some good news.”

  “Like that one of our officers happened upon Leonard Wise at the right moment and was able to take them all down? I wish.” She heard the ding of a car alarm. “I’m back at the station after spending all morning at the stakeout with the fire department trying to piece together what little evidence we have.”

  “Any luck? I haven’t received a report from Abi or Rio yet.” From Colt’s tone, she suspected the stakeout had proved fruitless. Colt always took it personally when they didn’t get their man or woman after such a concerted effort. It was the mark of a true professional, she thought.

  “A little. The bastard got away but we did have eyes on him, and Abi came very close to taking him out.”

  “What the hell happened?” Abi was one of her recent hires, a secret undercover agent for TH. Former FBI, Abi was one of the most well-trained “new” agents they’d hired to date.

  “He had backup and got away.”

  “I’ll be seeing Abi when I get to my office. She’s not going to be in a great mood then, I take it.”

  “Most certainly not. And her run-in with Keith Paruso didn’t help.”

  “Keith?” Claudia laughed. “He strikes me as incredibly personable, especially considering what he’s been through since last year.”

  “Personable to you when he thought you were an admin assistant for the PD’s social media, sure. But on the morning after being up all night waiting for a suspected serial arsonist to strike, and then not catching the criminal?”

  Colt laughed with her. His laugh reminded her of how he chuckled whenever he visibly aroused her, how his strong profile had been backlit by the sunset this weekend at the shore. When they’d had dessert before dinner and gone to her private back deck to make love before the day was done.

  “Claudia?”

  “Sorry. I was just thinking about something else.”

  “I know. Me, too.”

  Chapter 3

  They’d run all around him but never found him. The “rabbit” Mr. Wise had hired, the decoy who made it look like someone else had set the fire, was long gone on the ATV. His back and thighs ached from being in such an uncomfortable position for hours, waiting to verify that the blaze had been set and the message sent to the ignoramuses who were Silver Valley PD and Silver Valley FD. He felt smart, clever that he’d evaded them and was able to get here, to the safe haven Mr. Wise had made for them.

  The trailer park looked like any other mobile home neighborhood in America. Neat roads, similarly decorated miniature front yards with flags and animal statues—no silly decorations like gnomes or fairies. Mr. Wise said they were of the devil. But the real difference in their neighborhood was the people. They were all saved from society’s ills, all living together in the New Thought community for the same purpose. To save the people of the world from their sins, their evil. Mr. Wise said their job was to warn folks.

  “What do you mean he was seen by the police?” Leonard Wise’s eyes bulged from red-rimmed sockets and his hands were gnarled balls of flesh and arthritic bone as they rested on the recliner he sat in. They were in the trailer no one was ever allowed in without the escort of Wise’s two main brothers. He figured they were like bodyguards, but Mr. Wise was doing what was right for the people of Silver Valley. He needn’t fear their wrath or harm from them.

  But Lionel feared Mr. Wise right now.

  “Sir, I don’t mean to alarm you. They got away. The plan went as predicted.”

  “Predicted?” Spittle flew out of Wise’s mouth, and one of the New Thought sisters who stood behind the recliner reached forward and gently dabbed the old man’s mouth. He batted her ministrations away. “Leave me, woman! Both of you, go!” The women, no older than Lionel’s teenage granddaughters, scuffled out of the room, eyes downcast.

  Who was going to wipe Wise’s mouth now?

  “We don’t leave our mission to prediction! I’ve told you once, I’ve told you twice, I’ve told you a million times to eternity, Lionel. When I give you an order it’s not for me, for anyone, but for the good of the people! And the evil is rising in Silver Valley. We can’t afford any mistakes. And it was a mistake this morning, I say! If the law-enforcement demons got that close to our decoys, you failed! Why didn’t you stand up and let them get you while you were at it?”

  Sweat that had gathered on his upper lip and in the middle of his back started to bead and drip off him. Lionel fought to retain control of his bowels. Mr. Wise didn’t mean...

  “Get him out of here! You will repent, Lionel, repent!”

  Lionel heard a scream that sounded like a woman in childbirth but also on the brink of death. As the brothers surrounded him and grabbed him by the arms and legs, he realized the sound was coming from him.

  “No, no, not the place of peace! Please, I tell you, the operation went fine! Please!” He started to sob but it was too
late. In a few short minutes he was shoved into the back of a windowless van and shaken about as it made its way up into the deepest parts of the Appalachian Mountains that surrounded Silver Valley.

  * * *

  Abi was summoned to Trail Hiker headquarters the day after she’d allowed the arsonist to escape. Claudia hadn’t seemed upset with her yesterday at SVPD headquarters, but then again, Claudia was a professional. If she were about to reprimand Abi or, worse, fire her, she wouldn’t do it in front of anyone else. Especially not at SVPD or anywhere outside of Trail Hiker spaces. After all, it was a secret agency that didn’t officially exist.

  Inhaling deeply, she steeled herself against self-recrimination and entered her personal code into the outside door lock, after which she entered a very small, confined space in front of the real entry. As she peered into the retinal scanner and placed her finger atop the print reader, she tried to convince herself that she wasn’t about to get fired. Claudia might be angry at the situation but Abi hadn’t been hired so much to apprehend the suspect in the field as to get inside his or her mind.

  The door beeped before the loud clicks of several locks opening. When the light panel glowed green, Abi turned the lever handle and opened the twelve-inch-thick steel door into the reception area. She still wasn’t used to the plush appointments in the Trail Hikers headquarters office. Located in an office park on the outskirts of Silver Valley, it was minutes from Harrisburg and within twenty miles of several local, private runways. Trail Hiker agents were flown all over the world to participate in time-critical missions. It was far enough from the obvious headquarter sites like New York City and DC to be safe from prying eyes and collateral damage from a terrorist strike, but close enough to get to either place quickly.

  Apparently there were a lot of missions at the moment as she felt the practiced, faux-casual glances of several persons seated on the leather chairs in the waiting area. She stepped to the high desk and spoke quietly.