CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
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Shailyn stood by the Christmas tree looking out over the front driveway, but there was no warmth to be had from the newfangled colored LED lights. The scent of the Leyland Cypress was heavy in the air. She wrapped her arms around her waist to capture what heat she could from her body. It was slight without Townes’ embrace.
It struck her as odd after glancing back into the room that if Christmas morning was to come and all of them were still here, the space was large enough to accommodate the entire house. Yet, somehow, it had been arranged to make even a single couple feel cozy.
“You should get some sleep.”
She would have laughed at Brody’s statement had he not sounded so sincere. He’d been a tremendous help today in convincing her parents to carry on this ruse of her death. His insistence on the overwhelming level of danger was the turning point for her father. Honestly, it didn’t take much convincing on Shailyn and her mother’s part once Townes had called to let her know that Moss had blown his ploy of enticing her out into the open. Apparently, the men had just missed the fugitive on the front porch of a neighboring cabin in the rural southern Florida county.
The notorious serial killer was alive and well, itching for revenge.
The media had been notified, law enforcement officers on every level had been informed, and now a renewed manhunt was underway.
Would it ever end?
“I think I’ll stay up and wait for Townes.”
Brody’s audible sigh let her know that he’d settled on the couch behind her. It wouldn’t surprise her if he fell asleep waiting for her, considering he was running on as little sleep as she was over the course of this past week. At least she hadn’t been staring endlessly at numerous computer screens for countless hours. He was lucky he could still focus his vision.
“Moss is making mistakes.” Shailyn couldn’t make out Brody’s reflection in the window, because the living room lights behind her were still off. She’d been tempted to turn them on, but she hadn’t wanted anyone to know she was downstairs. Brody must have noted the inside switch activation of the great room window security shutter and had come to investigate why it was open. She had turned on the Christmas tree lights just because she couldn’t stand the darkness. “It’s only a matter of time before we close the net around him.”
“I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but that very sentence has been said many times.” Shailyn honestly didn’t want to talk about Shepherd Moss. It was pretty much what she’d spent most of the afternoon discussing with her parents. She couldn’t escape his legacy. It was starting to suffocate her like a wet blanket. “I appreciate how you handled my parents this afternoon, especially my father.”
“They love you. I didn’t think it would take much convincing to keep them on board once we heard the news of Moss’ revival.” The couch cushions rustled a bit as Brody became more comfortable. “Hey, do you know if that box next to your feet contains one of the new Tommy Bahama Hawaiian shirts? I saw my name on it earlier.”
Shailyn bit back her smile, which was exactly what he was trying to coax her to do. Remy had purposefully wrapped the box with thin wrapping paper so that a specific logo could be seen, but she used the box for something else entirely. It was so secret that she hadn’t even shared the contents with the rest of the group.
“I honestly don’t know.” Shailyn figured there was nothing she could say that would cause Brody to leave her by herself, so she continued this line of discussion. It was easier than talking about what the next few weeks could possibly entail. “Did you know that the other day was the first time I’ve taken the time to Christmas shop since I went into WITSEC?”
“Really?” Brody exclaimed as his excitement shined through. “I wear a large, if I’m on your list.”
Shailyn laughed, giving the man what he wanted. He was relentless, but she could see why he would need to be in order to provide balance to this team of men. They each had their own quirks, but Townes had built himself a rough group who had melded into a family with the addition of their women. Just for a moment, she pictured herself as Townes’ woman in their dynamic and it caused her to briefly smile again. She’d acknowledged their family interactions before, but it was amazing to see how each one of them supported the other, as if by painstaking design.
She inhaled deeply before finally turning on the fuzzy socks she’d put on earlier. She was still having trouble wearing shoes for any length of time.
Shailyn resigned herself to the fact that Brody wasn’t going anywhere. One of the light switch panels was on the other side of the Christmas tree. She flipped several switches looking for the right combination and bathed the room in a golden hue.
“How much longer?” Shailyn rose an eyebrow when he pretended not to understand what she meant. She spelled it out for him after nodding toward the phone in his hand. “Don’t tell me you don’t know their exact location and their immediate plans. You probably created some app that tracks their every movement in real time and displays it on your phone.”
“Oh, those programs already exist. People use them to keep track of their children.” Brody brushed her assumption aside with the flip of his hand. “I had to get a little creative because of our business, but don’t let my secret out of the bag. My platform just applies that same type of data by networking a set of extended range RFID chips to an overlay of the satellite map from Google Earth. It’s just an additional way to track their movements should one or two of the team ever get into a situation where they don’t have their phones. As long as a single member has comms, I can locate any specific team member within a quarter mile of that source with a microburst transmission from the individual tags every ten seconds. The software was uploaded to the team’s phones, so we all have access. They automatically cross-communicate to update the network.”
Brody had lost Shailyn the moment he’d started talking about RFID chips, but she nodded her head in understanding anyway. He was rather animated when describing what he created. She didn’t want him to believe she wasn’t interested in how he’d gone about creating such a program.
“The network is linked to our satellite service provider so that we always have comms and encrypted location services even when the team is in the boonies like they are now with no regular cell service. We can even piggyback our proprietary signal off another service’s phone without the owner ever knowing their device is communicating with a tower.”
Did Brody really think she understood a word he was saying?
“As long as their phone is turned on, the handshake protocol will retransmit our location data package as embedded pseudo random noise during their service’s normal linkup to the tower. I injected the program into each of the cell provider’s networks as a Trojan-type virus to look at their header information for our data package. They just forward it over the established phone lines during normal operations without know it.”
Shailyn stared at Brody and realized he truly had no idea that she hadn’t understood a word he said. She’d heard Keane mumble a time or two that Brody needed to speak in English and not tech, but this proved it. It was then that something occurred to her.
“Oh, my god. Don’t tell me each of you had microchips planted inside of your heads.” Shailyn was all for the safety of the team, but those extreme lengths went beyond the pale. She curled up in the overstuffed chair, adjusting her scarf so that the knot stayed to the side. “I can’t picture Townes going for something that intrusive.”
“Well, not microchips like you’re thinking and certainly not in our heads, but something close to that. And trust me, it took a lot of convincing on my part. The entire system is very secure and has anti-hack protocols I designed myself.”
Shailyn didn’t miss the concerned glance Brody shot toward the staircase. This had something to do with either Remy or his sister.
“After Camryn was taken, it became rather clear that we’re not the only ones who can become targets…especially in our line of work.” Brody shrugged in response, allowing her to see that he wasn’t concerned by the lengths needed to keep those he loved safe. “With everyone’s knowledge and consent, we put a small ER-RFID tracer—about the size of a grain of rice—in the men’s arms. Nine times out of ten, an agent will be told to lay down his phone, but they wouldn’t even pick up the burst transmission from the tracer. It only lasts 7.8125 milliseconds.”
“And the women?”
“Each woman chose a piece of jewelry she always wears against their skin. Their body heat provides the power to the tracer inside.” Brody stretched his legs out in front of him, though he made no attempt to lay down. That meant that Townes was close to the house and would be arriving soon. “I have extras available.”
Shailyn laughed once more, understanding that he was offering to put a tracker on a personal item or even provide the injection so that she could be located easily should the need arise. Had this been ten years prior, she would have told him he was insane for thinking that she would go for something like that. She understood the need for privacy more than most. With that said, she would have given anything to have had something so miniscule placed on an earring or bracelet that would have enabled the police to find her in that abandoned warehouse.
“Here.” Shailyn took off the only piece of jewelry she wore daily on her right hand. It was a ring her mother had given her that had been passed down through the generations. At this point in her life, it was somewhat comforting to know someone was looking out for her wellbeing. If she ever changed her mind, she would just remove the transmitter. “Will this work?”
“Yes,” Brody answered, leaning forward and taking the ring from her to study the design. He flashed one of his smiles as he turned it over, looking at the inside of the band. “I’ll have it back to you first thing in the morning, freshly cleaned and activated.”
“If this were under any other circumstances, I wouldn’t agree to anything so extreme.” Two beams of light entered through the window and slowly traveled across the far wall. A rush of relief washed over her. “Thank you, Brody.”
“Anytime. You’re family.”
The way Brody answered let her know that he understood what she was acknowledging. There hadn’t been a need for him to keep her company, but he’d done so anyway. She was surprised that he quietly left the room and ascended the stairs. He most likely had already spoken to Townes over the phone, but a lot had happened that changed the immediate future for all of them.
The house was so solid and the windows so thick that she barely heard the muffled sound of doors closing on the vehicles outside. It wasn’t long before the front door opened and she was stepping into Townes’ warm embrace.
She’d missed the heat of his body, the intimacy his words conveyed, and the shelter he provided. In the span of less than a week, he’d become a part of her physical makeup. How had she lived so many years in isolation? How had she been able to walk away from life for so long? Necessity was the mother of invention.
“It’ll be okay, freckles,” Townes murmured against her hair, tightening his hold around her shoulders. “The more time that passes, the better the likelihood Moss will believe you’re gone.”
“I’ve never felt so alive, though.”
A discreet cough came from behind them. Sawyer had closed the door and set the alarm, patiently waiting for them to move out of the foyer.
“Where are Keane and Royce?” Shailyn asked with concern, reluctantly stepping away and giving both of them room to move farther into the house. “Has something else happened?”
“They’re hanging back and overseeing the ground search for Moss. We didn’t want to leave it to Barney Fife, Goober, and his cousins.” Townes maintained a hold on his suit jacket before addressing Sawyer. “Get some sleep. We have an early day tomorrow.”
Sawyer said his goodnights, but walked down the hallway and into the kitchen instead of climbing the stairs. Light bathed the hallway before the sound of the refrigerator door being opened traveled through the archway.
“Did you not eat on the way home?” Shailyn was used to not having an appetite, but she doubted that Townes had that problem. “You should get something to eat, as well. I should probably head upstairs to my room.”
Townes regarded her quietly, causing her to shift uncomfortably. Had something else happened that he was afraid to tell her?
“Did seeing your parents change your mind?”
“Change my mind about what?” Shailyn was a little lost as to where he was taking this conversation. A cold shiver washed over her. “Are you talking about this morning? I honestly didn’t bring up what the future may hold for me with them. They didn’t ask, and I didn’t feel the need to consult with them on that subject. We spent the afternoon getting caught up on what has happened over the past few years.”
“I find it hard to believe that your father didn’t want to say a few choice words to me.”
“Why would you think that?” Shailyn said with a small smile. She then addressed what was on both of their minds. “And no, I haven’t changed my mind about us. I want to stay here with you, even should Moss never be captured or killed. I understand why things were done the way they were during the trial, and I also accept my part in the aftermath. This isn’t then, and circumstances have changed considerably. We’re both older, we’re wiser, and we’re more circumspect than we were back then.”
“Yes,” Townes confirmed with confidence, even though his day had been wrought with transgressions. “We are all of those things and more.”
The darkening of his grey eyes had those previous butterflies returning to her stomach. He hadn’t even so much as kissed her…truly kissed her the way he used to when they’d been together. She wasn’t even completely sure that he wanted to be intimate in the way a normal relationship would be. The thing of it was, he didn’t have to touch her to obtain a response. It was automatic. It was natural.
He shifted his jacket into his left hand and then held out the other for her to take. She didn’t hesitate. She slipped her fingers into his and allowed him to guide her up the stairs, through the hallway and past the other bedrooms until they reached the second to the last door.
Shailyn understood why he stopped and waited, and recognized that this level of familiarity went beyond anything they had ever shared. She left him standing on the threshold while she gathered the few items she’d removed from her suitcase. It was now time to finally unpack her simple collection of belongings someplace other than a temporary home.
Townes startled her when his hand covered hers, taking the lone piece of luggage from her grasp. She picked up her tote and slid the straps over her shoulder, quietly following him into their room. He lifted the suitcase and set it on the bed facing outward so that she could easily access what she needed before he silently walked into the bathroom and closed the door.
Had he given her some privacy to get used to the idea of living and sleeping by his side? Technically, she’d done that a couple times since her arrival. This was different, though. This was permanent.
No words of love had been exchanged, but they weren’t really needed. She’d experienced enough to know that actions spoke louder than any word spoken.
Shailyn began to hum an old melody from one of her favorite movies as she began to unpack. She gathered up her scarves and looked back at the mirrored triple dresser, debating if maybe she should wait for him before choosing a drawer. She didn’t feel comfortable moving his things. It occurred to her that she might not have to, considering the ease in which this transition had taken place.
She’d just opened the top drawer located on the left-hand side of the dresser when the soothing sound of the shower came from the bathroom. Somehow, it wasn’t surprising that the drawer was completely empty except for one fine French lavender sachet just like the ones she used to keep in her drawers when they met. Another flame of affection ignited in her soul at his thoughtfulness.
He’d been so sure of her answer.
He’d been so sure of her, even when she’d doubted herself.
*
He grimaced at the filthy furniture spread out in front of him. This place had been a last resort, of sorts. This was much worse than the rural cabin and its simple homespun décor. He’d never intended to use this dwelling as temporary housing. It was a place he used for nothing more than storing needed supplies. It brought back memories he’d rather soon forget. He wiped his fingers on his khaki pants before pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
The staleness of the old house made it rather stifling, but it would have to do for now.
Calvert had somehow discovered the treehouse over a hundred yards away from the cabin. The man had resources at his disposal, but it still should have taken him and the men working for his agency longer to connect the dots than it had.
Though this predicament did cause discomfort by forcing him to stay in this squalor, it proved once again that Calvert was the perfect adversary. He was more than capable.
He was now forced to prove Shailyn Doyle was alive.
The path to that resolution would be rather unpleasant considering he preferred to kill in a specific fashion, up close and personal. He suppressed the frustration that was trying to take hold in his immediate situation. That would only please Townes Calvert, and that wouldn’t do.
He would make himself a cup of tea, drawing on the resources he’d compiled much earlier while he thought through his decision.
After all, killing for necessity over enjoyment was rather distasteful to everyone involved.