Chapter 19
Luke
Even though this is the last place I want to be going, I breathe a sigh of relief when the doors to the plane close, essentially preventing Jack from changing plans at the last minute. Just like when we left Virginia, the moment the plane starts moving Emily’s hands grip the arm rests tightly and she closes her eyes. Silently, I pry one of her hands off of it and wrap mine around it instead. She doesn’t open her eyes, but the slight squeeze she gives me is enough.
I try to focus on Jack and the kids for the trip, but just knowing that we’re heading back to Texas has my mind working overtime. I can’t stop the memories from coming back; the memories of all the foster homes, the memories of the day my nightmare started, the memories of the punishments I was dealt out, the memories of the night Em’s nightmare began… and the memory of our last night together in what had become our prison.
For those seven months, which were longer than either of us initially thought, she was the reason I didn’t give up. We were all we had; one of us giving up meant failing the other one. Since I was the sole reason she was there, I couldn’t fail her. I never would have expected it, but in that dark, dingy basement I felt love for the first time in my entire life.
And then it was gone.
I try not to let myself have too much down-time, because it’s times like this that I torture myself wondering what Em is doing now. Fuck, I’ve wanted to find her so many times over the years but the idea that seeing me would hurt her again has always held me back. I caused her enough pain; I will not be the reason she hurts ever again.
That doesn’t stop me from thinking about her constantly though. If nothing else, I just want to know that she’s happy. That she’s found someone to love her as much as I loved her, that she found someone to hold her during her nightmares, that she found someone that she can trust and love again.
As much as I’ve tried, I can’t find someone to do any of those things for me. I can’t find someone to trust and without trust…well, everything else is impossible. How do you trust someone with your darkest secrets? How do you even begin to tell someone what your nightmares are about? How do you tell someone all this shit you endured for those eighteen months?
You don’t.
A soft moan catches me by surprise and pulls me back to reality. At some point, Emily must have fallen asleep because her head now rests on my shoulder and she’s turned a little in her seat so she’s angled towards me. My gaze immediately goes to her soft lips, remembering how they felt against mine the other night. Somehow this quirky, beautiful woman has grabbed my attention… and kept it.
For the first time since I met her, Emily looks relaxed. She doesn’t look like she’s on guard, waiting for something to happen, the way she does when she’s awake. Even at the office, behind one of the best security systems in the country, she’s on edge. At the resort, where there was no immediate danger, she was the same way.
What happened to you to make you so afraid of…everything?
Using one hand, I pull out my phone and read through the background report that Alec sent me before the interview. Nothing in it stands out; she attended public school and graduated early after being transferred to a homeschooling program. Her mother passed away when she was a baby and the report confirms her father was her only family.
I want to ask Alec more about her, but doing so won’t get me any further information. As he said, she’s a very private person and prefers to keep things to herself. Even spending the last few days with her, I’ve learned only a small amount more about her than I knew when we left.
The moment the plane touches down, she jerks awake. She lifts her head off my shoulder, immediately searching the plane before her gaze lands on me. Her cheeks blush an adorable shade of pink when, I can only assume, she realizes she was sleeping on me. I squeeze her hand but don’t say anything about it.
“Sorry,” she mumbles.
“Don’t be.” I’m not.
“What’s the plan?” she purposely keeps her voice low but damn if the huskiness from just waking up doesn’t start to turn me on.
“We’ll grab our bags and head out. When we get off the plane we’ll have to go through customs, but I’ll pull us both to the side so we can pretend to look for our documents. Once they’re in line, we’ll step in behind them. This way we won’t lose them when we get into the main the terminal.”
“Anything I need to do?”
“No, though if you could help keep an eye on them it would be appreciated.”
“I can do that.” She smiles and immediately glances back a few rows where I know Jack is seated. I don’t know if the nap helped her or if it’s the idea of focusing on something other than the large airport we’re about to walk into, but she doesn’t seem as nervous as she did earlier.
The plan to get through customs goes off without a hitch and by the time we find Max and Cole, Jack and the kids are only a few feet in front of us. They stop at the rental counter while I introduce Emily to our new partners for this part of the mission.
“We’re both parked in the same lot as he is,” Cole gestures toward the counter. “It should make it easy to follow him once they pull away.”
“Any idea where they’re headed?” Max asks.
“Negative,” I answer.
“I haven’t found anything that ties him to…here,” Emily speaks up, having been pretty quiet until now. “It’s possible it’s just a place to lay low and hide out, but it’s also possible that this is just a layover and that they’re going to drive somewhere further away.”
“They could be driving to Mexico from here,” Cole suggests.
“Could, but why not go there first?” I argue.
“To throw everyone off? Who knows?” Max shrugs. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“Alright, keep a distance behind us. Let’s not make it obvious that he has two of us on his tail,” I plan alloud. “Keep in touch with Alec and let him know what’s going on. I’ve notified him that they’re back in the US, which hopefully means the FBI will be stepping in soon. He’s also in contact with the Dallas PD who will be assisting as well. Unfortunately, no one is going to keep him here until they can arrive.”
“Well, we could,” Cole laughs. “But no one would like that attention on us.”
“Let’s not do that,” Emily says, looking around the small rental car area. Cole and Max both look at me questioningly, clearly picking up on her behavior. I shake my head and they immediately let it go.
“Hopefully they’ll stop somewhere, but if not we just follow them until the PD can pull them over.”
“Understood,” Max confirms. “We’re going to head over to our rental car. We’ve already scoped out the layout and exit areas.”
“No concerns?” I ask the group. Although the area isn’t that busy, there’s still too many people around for my liking. If it were up to me we wouldn’t even be talking about this here, but since we don’t have much time it’s our only option.
“Of course,” she answers sarcastically. “You have thousands of people coming and going from this airport right now, which of course is a concern. However, given what we’re working with we have all of our bases covered.”
“Be sure your coms are on,” I remind them before they leave.
“Is it always like this?” Emily asks.
“Like what?”
“The constant go go go, not knowing where you’re headed next, following people?”
“Sometimes,” I answer honestly. “To provide security coverage, our staff plans for hours. Every appointment, business trip, hell, even a trip to a doctor is planned out down to the last detail. Sudden changes in schedules drive us crazy because you have no time to plan. But…this part of the business, yeah it’s usually like this. We only involve the very best of our staff in these cases, the staff we trust the most, and they know to be prepared for the unknown. Sometimes we can plan things out, but other times, like today, you don’t have a chance to plan everything out.”
“Oh.”
“Your position with Dark Water Security isn’t like that though. Honestly, Jose never came out in the field with us. It’ll be last minute planning and searching through information until the wee hours of the morning like you’ve done with this case, but it’ll be done in Virginia. If you’re worried about constantly having to fly somewhere or having to pretend to be someone else—”
“I’m not.”
“Good, but this is definitely the exception. If it wasn’t for the urgency of this case and the need for a cover at the resort, you’d be back in Virginia where I’m sure you’d rather be.”
“You have no idea,” she mumbles so quietly that I don’t think she intended me to hear her.
A movement out of the corner of my eye, pulls my attention away from her and back to the reason we’re standing in the middle of the ground transportation section of an airport in a state I swore I would never step foot in again. As much as it kills me, I force myself to focus on Jack and the kids who are now heading toward the exit.
“Time to go.” Without thinking, I put my hand on her lower back and lead her out to the parking lot.
Jack and the kids are not far ahead of us, but we’ve fallen enough behind that it won’t look unusual if he were to turn around. It’s funny, he’s the one on the run with two kids he’s not supposed to have with him, but Emily is the one constantly looking over her shoulder and acting like people are looking for her. We quickly find the rental car that Alec set up for us, complete with a small bag in the trunk from Cole and Max. We throw our carry-on bags in the trunk, and I move the small bag to just behind the passenger seat of the car. I ignore the questioning look in Emily’s eyes, knowing that it would only make her more nervous if she knew there was a bag with guns and knives in it sitting behind her seat. While I don’t anticipate needing them, it would be stupid and irresponsible to go in empty handed. At the resort we were simply on a fact finding mission, this is different.
“Ready?”
“Yes,” she answers firmly.
I quickly put the com in my ear and confirm that Cole, Max, and Alec are all hooked up. Normally, Emily would also be listening in from the office, but given that she’s riding along she has a front row seat to this one. As soon as Jack starts backing out of his parking spot, I do the same. Everyone is silent as we slowly exit the airport, the only communication coming in is to relay to Alec the direction we’re headed.
“Dallas PD is en route, FBI as well,” Alec confirms a few minutes later. “Ten, maybe fifteen minutes until they arrive. Be aware, once they’re on site you are to fall back. If you’re able to do so safely, fall back but continue to follow. I don’t want this bastard somehow getting away and those kids being separated from their mother for even longer than they already have been.”
“Understood,” I confirm.
“Everything okay?” Emily asks.
“Is your com not working?”
“I didn’t hear anything except your end of the conversation,” she looks at me questioningly.
“You should be hearing all the conversation.”
“I didn’t hear anything.”
“When we stop I’ll see if we have another one in the bag. Alec is going to see if he can’t trouble shoot it on his end, but he doesn’t think he’ll be able to.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll keep you in the loop with what’s going on.”
As hard as it is, I am entirely focused on the car we’re following. Any unease about being back in Texas is gone; the only thing that matters is getting these kids back home to their mother. If everything goes as planned, I could be back in Virginia by morning. Hell, maybe even tonight if I can catch a late enough flight.
“They’re—” Emily starts to point out what I already saw.
“They’re pulling into a rest stop up ahead. Alec, get the cops or the agents here now.”
“Five minutes away.”
“Fuck.”
We watch as Jack pulls into a parking spot, before he gets out of the car with the kids. I follow him into the parking lot, finding a spot just a few cars down from his. By the time I park, Jack is heading up to the large building. I don’t hesitate, I reach into the small bag I threw on the back seat and grab a gun. Just before getting out of the car, I tuck it into my pants and cover it with my shirt. Emily’s eyes go wide, but she doesn’t say anything.
“Stay with the car,” I instruct Cole and Max. “Don’t let him leave if he gets back before our company arrives.”
“Got it, boss,” Max confirms.
“Stay here.” I turn to tell Emily, but it’s too late as she’s right behind me. For once, I had hoped that her anxiety would have worked in my favor and she would have stayed in the car, but unfortunately, that isn’t the case. I didn’t think ahead to tell her not to leave the car, to stay there until I returned, as my entire focus was on not letting Jack out of my site.
“I’m coming with you.” She leaves no room for argument.
“Just…do whatever I tell you if things…just do what I say.”
“I will.”
We walk into the crowded rest stop shortly after Jack and the kids. He’s waiting in line at the bathroom, while Emily and I pretend to be engrossed in the vending machine offerings. I’m careful to position us in such a way that I can see him, but he can’t see me. If he does notice me, there’s no way he’ll think it’s just a coincidence that I’m here at the same time as him. Not since he would have seen me on the plane and at the airport kiosks…
“Two minutes out,” Alec relays.
“They just entered the men’s room,” I inform him.
“Let’s hope the kids delay doing their thing,” Cole says. “Don’t kids normally take hours in the bathroom?”
“How the fuck would I know?” I grumble.
“They’re coming out,” Emily says.
“We’ve got company pulling up. Can you delay them?”
“Delay them how?”
Before I even realize what’s happening, Emily, who until now has been quietly standing next to me, is heading towards Jack. I should go after her, should call for her. Hell, I should grab her and drag her back to where I’m hidden, but I don’t. She’s in front of Jack, talking to him, yet I have no idea what the fuck she’s saying. Why the fuck isn’t her com working?
“Our friends in blue say they’re good to let him come out anytime,” Max says.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, and for good measure, the car’s battery has been disconnected.” Cole doesn’t hide the humor in his voice.
“Good, let them know everyone will be out in a minute.”
As quick as she was gone, Emily is back, handing me a crisp dollar bill.
“What was that about?”
“You didn’t see?” She smiles proudly at me. “The vending machine wouldn’t take my dollar bill since it was crumbled up, so that nice gentleman kindly exchanged it for one of his crisp new ones.”
“Don’t ever do that again,” I growl, a fierce protectiveness coming over me like I’ve never felt before. That’s not true. I’ve only felt it once before…more than ten years ago.
“I’m sorry—”
“What if he had grabbed you? What if he had a gun? What if—”
“He didn’t.” She cuts me off. “But, you seem to forget that I’m trained in multiple forms of martial arts and have taught self-defense classes.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I argue. “You don’t suddenly do something without letting your partner know!”
“Then I guess it’s a good thing you’re not my partner,” she snaps.
I glance over her shoulder, watching as the uniformed officers cuff Jack from behind while another consoles the kids. I let out a sigh of relief knowing that within a few hours those kids will be back with their mother, where they belong, and the bastard who took them from her will be behind bars where he belongs.
“You drive me fucking crazy.” I grab her wrist, forgetting everything else, and pull her against me.
“You’re not the only one,” she agrees.
I don’t know who initiated it, but the next thing I know her soft lips are once again on mine. The kiss picks up exactly where the one the other night dropped off. The passion, the need, the want, is all still there. The shy, uncertain Emily that seems to be a constant presence is gone, replaced by someone who is much more confident in her actions. Her tongue teases me, darting in and out of my mouth until I’ve had enough of the teasing. With one hand cradling her head, the other on her lower back, I take control back. She moans into my mouth, surprising me with just how much she likes not always being in control of everything around her. I slip my hand under the back of her shirt, needing to feel her bare skin, even if it’s just for a moment. When she doesn’t make any effort to stop me, my hand slides up further—until I feel something that has me immediately pulling back from her beautiful lips.
I know what I’m feeling, I know exactly what I’m feeling on her back…because the raised skin feels the exact same way on mine.
“Em?” I whisper in complete disbelief.