Chapter 14

Curtis returned the phone to the cradle on Thursday morning—his last day to save his family—and felt hysteria fraying the edges of his sanity. His wife had called to remind him of his girls’ dance recital this evening—seven o’clock, don’t forget!—and in the same breath mentioned that her mother and father weren’t going to be able to attend, that her father had gotten some disturbing news.

That was worrisome. Had the man at Ranger Security somehow managed to learn his identity? Curtis wondered. He’d taken precautions before making the call. He’d bought a disposable phone, had kept the conversation to less than a minute and a half to avoid any GPS detection on their end, then had tossed the phone into the man-made pond in their local park once he’d finished with it. And he hadn’t given the agent his real name, of course. Still...

Time was running out and every tick of the clock made him a little more sick to his stomach, a little more desperate. He’d considered packing Carla and the kids up and simply leaving town, but even though he’d gone through the house and removed the multiple bugs and mini-cameras, he couldn’t be certain that he’d gotten them all, that he wouldn’t tip his hand and get them all killed for their trouble.

It was tempting though, because if he couldn’t find out where Noelle Montgomery was, then they were all dead anyway. A little sob welled in his throat and he hung his head, massaged his temples.

An email arrived in his inbox with a ding, reminding him that he was at work—where he was expected to pretend like his life didn’t hang in the balance—so in absence of a better plan, he tried to focus on what he could control. What he could do.

The email was one of those viral video links from an unknown sender, but the subject line grabbed his attention. “The break you needed. Don’t fuck it up.”

Heart pounding, he slid his mouse over the link and clicked. “Hi, I’m Chad,” a boy in his midtwenties announced at the beginning. “And I’m Marissa,” his companion said. “We’re sociology majors at the University of Tennessee and if you’re watching this video, then you, too, are contributing to our social experiment.”

Curtis frowned. Social experiment? How was this the break he needed? How did this couple pretending to be stranded motorists who were running an informal poll to see who would stop and offer assistance pertain to his problem? He’d just about convinced himself that he’d read the message wrong, that it hadn’t come from Team Tubby, as he’d begun to call it, when a couple rolled into view on screen. “This sweet couple was our last passersby,” the girl said. “And they proved me right,” she added. “They initially drove past, but then turned around and came back, which put me ahead in the society-isn’t-doomed-from-indifference category.” She jabbed a little victory fist in the air. “Win!”

Curtis leaned forward, felt his jaw go slack. Noelle Montgomery. In the passenger seat. Sweet Lord...

“This kind couple not only expressed concern over our being on the side of the road, but admonished us for setting up shop there in the first place and advised us to move to a safer locale. See?” the girl said. “There’s hope for us yet.”

Yes, Curtis thought, there was.

It took twenty minutes to locate the pair, convince them that he was an executive with a popular reality TV show and wanted to interview them for a potential spot on the next season. They’d been eager to share, thrilled to reveal every last detail about their experiment, including the exact location where the video was filmed. He didn’t have an address, but he had a road and a good look at the vehicle.

He had to do it, Curtis thought, nausea burning the back of his throat. He didn’t have a choice.

 

###

This was a bad idea, Judd thought, following Noelle along the creek once again. He should have never agreed to let her out of the house, never allowed her to wheedle him into putting them out in the open like this. Granted, he didn’t think they’d been compromised—he couldn’t imagine how—but he couldn’t deny the tension tightening his gut, couldn’t ignore the finger of unease prodding his belly. It had been so bad that his brother had sent him a text, one that simply contained a question mark.

Hell if he knew, Judd thought. He didn’t have any of the answers. In fact, right now, he’d definitely say that he had more questions than answers. As such, he’d called Payne early this morning and shared a few of his concerns.

“She’s never going to be safe,” he’d told him. “Even if Tubby goes to jail, he’s going to send someone after her.”

“It’s possible,” Payne had agreed. “But even if she backed out now and didn’t testify, it wouldn’t change anything. She’s too much of a liability.”

And he’d been right. Judd had considered trying to talk her out of giving her testimony, then had decided he’d have a better chance of telling the mountain their cabin sat on to move to Portugal.

None.

She’d come this far, she was doing the right thing, had sacrificed enough already. And he admired her for that resolve, he really did. Noelle Montgomery had honor. It was an antiquated notion, but he liked it. He admired her for it. Particularly after she’d shared the details of what had happened, how the murder had affected her. And it also explained why she was so devoted to those cats. “I don’t know what I’ll do with them the next time I need to go into the field,” she said. “But they’re mine. I can’t give them up.”

To his astonishment, he’d offered to keep them for her. The smile she’d given him after that was nothing short of wondering, had made him feel more like a hero than anything else he’d ever done.

He’d also committed himself to her beyond this mission.

She’d recognized the significance, then leaned forward and kissed him. They’d kissed a lot over the past couple of days—and more, so much more, he thought, his balls tightening—but that kiss...that kiss had been an earmark. It had signaled a change.

He’d called his brother directly after and asked him if he and Noelle could come there once she’d testified, just until he could figure something out, some way to thwart Tubby. Sophie, having had her own troubles, had practically built a fortress around her farm. It was the safest place he knew of. Nothing would come over that wall.

He hadn’t mentioned it to Noelle yet. He was biding his time, waiting until the right moment.

“You’re awfully quiet,” she said. “And grim-looking. What’s wrong?”

“I don’t like being out here,” he said. “We’re too exposed.”

“No one knows we’re here.”

“Doesn’t matter,” he said, shaking his head.

She paused to look at him. “Is this a gut feeling or are you being paranoid. Be honest.”

“I’m always honest.”

“You evade,” she said.

He arched a brow. “And you don’t?”

She merely grinned at him, tucked a long strand of that gorgeous hair behind the delicate shell of her ear. “I’m cautious,” she said. “There’s a difference.”

“It must be damned subtle.”

“It is,” she said. “I’m not surprised that you’re confused.”

He grinned and gritted his teeth. “You know, half the time I’m with you I’m either thinking about tumbling you onto your back or throttling you. Sometimes I’m thinking about both. It’s damned confusing.”

She tsked. “Sex and violence often go hand and hand.”

“Like now,” he growled. “Now is a perfect example.”

She threaded her fingers through his, gave his hand a squeeze. “You never answered me,” she prompted.

It took him a second to sift through the threads of their conversation. Oh, yeah. “It’s a gut feeling,” he said. “One my brother shares and his instincts are far better than mine.”

She chuckled darkly. “I doubt that very seriously.”

“You’ve never met him.”

“I don’t have to. I trust you. You,” she repeated. “And if you say we should go back, then we will.”

“You’re being remarkably agreeable,” he noted, somewhat distrustfully. “Should I be worried?”

She chewed the inside of her cheek. “I was hoping you’d be flattered.”

“I am.” Which reminded him... “I made a few calls this morning and, if it’s all right with you, I’d like for you to come back to my brother and sister- in-law’s place and stay there for a while after you’re finished in court.”

She frowned, a line emerging between her brows. “A while? Define a while.”

“Until 1 can be sure that none of Tubby’s people are going to harm you,” he said. “So what that really means is...I don’t know. But I don’t want you to—”

“Yes,” she said, a smile lighting her face, her raspberry mouth heartbreakingly happy.

“It would mean spending your birthday with me and my family. Is that all right?” She hadn’t mentioned any plans, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have any.

An odd expression passed over her face. “Christmas, you mean.”

“What?”

“You said I’d be spending my birthday with your family. Didn’t you mean Christmas?”

He blinked. “Isn’t your birthday December 25th?”

“It is. Christmas day.”

He lifted his shoulder. “Maybe so, but that’s not what makes it special for you, is it?”

Or him either, from now on, he suspected. It would always be about Noelle. He’d never see an ornament or hear a Christmas carol again without thinking of her.

Another one of those smiles tugged at her lips. “That’s right. I’m just not used to anyone making a big deal over it,” she finally admitted.

He squeezed her hand, emotion rushing though him. “This year is going to be different.”

“It already has been,” she said softly. Something caught her attention in the distance and she frowned. “That looks like—”

He followed her gaze, spied a person on their front porch. “Marissa,” he finished. “What’s she doing out here?”

“I don’t know,” she muttered, hurrying forward. “But Chad’s not with her. I hope nothing is wrong.”

Judd’s cell vibrated at his waist and he grabbed it and held it up to his ear as he trailed after her. “Anderson,” he said.

“You’ve been compromised,” Payne said. “Get her out of there now.”

He blinked, stunned. “Compromised? How?”

“A couple you stopped to offer assistance to posted a video online and it’s gone viral. Evidently they were doing a social experiment of some sort and used a hidden camera.”

Judd’s gaze flew to Marissa, whose ashen expression was terrified. “Noelle!” he shouted. “Stop.”

A shot rang out from beside the house, clipping the dirt right in front of her feet. She screamed and dropped to her knees, but not before a questioning “Curtis?” left her lips.

Judd spotted the shooter, quickly pulled the weapon from the band in the back of his jeans and leveled it at him. His finger was dead certain on the trigger and he’d begun to squeeze when Noelle screamed at him.

“No, Judd! Please, don’t! Don’t kill him! Don’t become a murderer because of me!”

A black rage had descended over his brain and he kept pressing forward, getting a better bead on Curtis, who was cowering like a sniveling little worm at the corner of the house. He clearly didn’t have any idea how to shoot a gun, but incompetent fools often shot people accidentally.

And he’d shot at her—on Judd’s watch.

He laughed darkly. “No worries on that score, sweetheart. I’m already a murderer. Hundreds of times over. I was a sniper,” he admitted. “Nicknamed the Angel of Death I was so damned good at my job.”

“That’s not murder,” she said. “That’s strategic warfare. There’s a difference.”

“Really?” he asked. “Do you really think so? Because I don’t. Not anymore.”

“You followed orders,” she insisted. “You did what you were told to do in order to preserve the peace, to save lives. Thank you,” she said. “Thank you for doing the hard job, the one that no one else wants, the one that takes more courage and strength of conviction than any other. Thank you, Judd, from the bottom of my heart. It couldn’t have been easy and yet, you did it. Are you listening, Curtis? Take note,” she said, her voice cracking. “Because this is the way a man behaves.”

“I’m sorry, Noelle!” Curtis wailed brokenly. “They’re going to kill my family. Cut up my little girls. R-rape my wife,” he sobbed. “They still are, if you’re not dead today. If I don’t kill you.”

“Well, you aren’t going to kill me, Curtis,” she said, perfectly reasonably.

Judd’s eyes threatened to leave their sockets. Marissa whimpered from the front porch.

Curtis blinked drunkenly, as though he didn’t know quite what to make of her either. “I have to,” he said.

“No, you don’t, Curtis. Judd, here, is going to shoot you if you try to shoot me again and, let’s just be honest here, you’re not a very good hit man,” she told him, pity coloring her tone. “And that’s because you’re not a killer, Curtis. Do you understand? You aren’t wired for this sort of behavior. You are not like Tubby Winchester.”

“I know that,” he said, his eyes frantic. “You think I don’t know that? But my family. I’ll—”

“Your family will be perfectly safe,” she insisted with so much authority that even Judd was inclined to believe her. “Judd is going to call and arrange for their immediate entry into protective custody.”

That was news to him, Judd thought.

“They’re watching me, watching the house. They’ll know.”

“There are ways around that. These men are professionals, you understand. They can fix this.”

He shook his head, but a hopeful glint lit his gaze. “Do you think so?”

“I do,” she said. “But you’re going to have to be brave for your family, Curtis. You’re going to have to own up to your mistakes, no matter how terrible they are. Do you understand?”

He nodded jerkily.

“You can’t let these bastards win, Curtis. You can’t let them bully you and hurt your family. It’s time for you to be the man Carla married, the father Breanne and Caro deserve. Good men make bad decisions all the time. It’s how you react to those decisions that sets you apart.”

She was really good at this, Judd thought. She knew exactly what to say to get through to Curtis. She kept reminding him of their connection, referring to the familiar, appealing to a lost sense of honor. And it was working.

But Judd still wanted to kill him.

“I’m sorry, Noelle,” Curtis said, weeping quietly, a broken man. “So sorry, for everything.”

“You haven’t done anything yet that can’t be undone, Curtis. Let us help you,” she implored. “Please.”

Curtis looked at Judd, fire and desperation in his wet eyes. “Can you really go get my family? Can you really put them somewhere safe until I can fix this?” Judd certainly knew what that felt like. He had his own problems to fix. His own person to protect. “I can,” he said. “With a single phone call 1 can get an extraction team to your house and have your family safely hustled out of there before anyone knows what’s happened.”

Curtis nodded, dropped the weapon, defeated. “Do it,” he said. “And I’ll do whatever I have to in order to make things right.”

“So you’re not a producer from Terror Train?” Marissa asked, looking on at Curtis in obvious confusion. “This wasn’t a trial run to see if I could qualify?”

Curtis blinked. “No, sorry.”

Judd unclipped his cell phone to make the call for Curtis, but it vibrated in his hand. He checked the display and answered. It was Payne again.

“Tubby Winchester was found murdered in his cell a few minutes ago,” he said. “Someone shivved him.”

Shock burst through him. “Any idea who?”

“The surveillance feed malfunctioned.”

“That’s convenient.”

“It’s expedient, if nothing else. I guess he had enemies everywhere, including jail. It’s a lucky break, but we’ll take it.”

Judd glanced at Noelle, at Curtis. Well, the head was officially off the animal, so to speak. Permanently. Which meant that they’d be safe, Judd thought. It was over.

“I’ll let them know. I’m assuming the trial is cancelled?”

“Them?” Payne asked. “Who is them?”

“Noelle,” he said. “And the guy who has been trying to kill her. She’s talked him out of it, and I was just about to call you and arrange for protection for his family.”

“She talked him out of it?” Payne parroted, his voice cracking with humor. “I would have liked to see that.”

He glanced at Noelle, felt his chest constrict. “It was quite a show.”

“I’ll just bet it was.”

Judd disconnected and told them the news. “It’s over.”

Noelle’s face blanked and she went perfectly still. “Over? Really?”

Curtis collapsed to the ground, relief pouring out of him. “I can’t believe it,” he said. “I can’t believe it’s really over.”

He couldn’t either, Judd thought. And as happy as he was for Noelle’s safety, he was painfully aware that she wouldn’t need him anymore. And he hadn’t realized how much her needing him had meant to him until just now.

 

###

Noelle watched as Curtis was reunited with his family at the police department, where he’d gone to confess his part in Tubby’s crooked business and then turned to look at Judd. It was past dark, the Christmas lights blinking merrily along the city sidewalk. Mistletoe hung from various lamp posts so that young lovers could stop for a quick kiss and children pointed out items they wanted in store display windows. Mossy Ridge was a sweet little town, but she sincerely doubted she’d ever truly feel safe here again.

Especially after knowing what being truly safe and protected felt like. And, unhappily, as it happened, her protector didn’t have any reason to keep protecting her anymore.

She’d looked forward to spending her birthday with him, to meeting his family, to seeing the farm and the spot where he hoped to build his house. He had offered to keep Lilo and Stitch for her, so she knew he wasn’t completely walking out of her life, but it certainly felt like it. As far as she knew, her parents still didn’t have any idea that she’d nearly been killed several times or that her house had been set on fire.

No holiday again with them obviously.

No worries, Noelle told herself. She’d volunteer to serve food and help hand out presents at the local Help center. Maybe she’d look for another mission trip. She could find something to do. She always did.

“Well,” Judd announced, his hesitant gaze searching hers. “I’m glad that Curtis kept his word and manned up,” he told her. “I was a little worried that he might not.”

“He’d been looking for the opportunity to do the right thing,” she said. “He was just too worried to see it. Too afraid for his family.”

“But you saw it.”

Her gaze tangled significantly with his. “I see a lot of things.” She quirked a brow, studying him. “For instance, do you know what I see when I look at you?”

“I’m afraid to ask,” he said, his eyes guarded.

“You don’t have to ask because I’m going to tell you anyway.”

He snorted. “I figured as much.”

“I see a really good-looking man,” she said. “One who is, like it or not, beautiful. Hot and sexy,” she added. “I see a man with a smile that melts my insides, a man whose first instinct is never for himself. I see a man who does his job—whatever that might be, however difficult it might be,” she said significantly. “And I see a man who’d had enough and decided a change was in order. I see a brave man.”

1 see a man I couldfall in love with, Noelle added silently.

He stared at her, those probing dark eyes rife with tension, emotion. “You see too much,” he said. “You scare the hell out of me.”

“You scare the hell out of me, too,” she said. “But I’m not running. I’m going to be brave. Because I can be scared without being a coward,” she said, throwing his words back at him.

He chuckled softly. “Are you suggesting I’m not brave? That I’m being a coward?”

“I’ll tell you later, when this conversation is over.”

He looked away, shifted his feet, as though summoning the courage to tell her something. It made her ache, seeing him struggle. But it was necessary if they were going to move forward. Noelle didn’t expect a happily ever after at this point—it was too soon for that, even if she strongly suspected that was going to be the case—but she was willing to take a bet on the potential of one.

“And what if I don’t want the conversation to be over?” he finally asked. “What if I want to keep talking to you?”

Noelle felt a grin tug at the corner of her mouth, the beginnings of joy spreading through her. “I would love that,” she admitted. “And if we continued the conversation in a bathtub, then all the better.”

His eyes darkened and a darker chuckle bubbled up his throat. “I’ve got one question left, remember?” She nodded, albeit a little anxiously. “I do.”

“Would you still come to the farm and spend your birthday with me?” he asked. “I’d love for you to meet my family. And you can bring Lilo and Stitch. It’s a farm, after all. 1 know no one would object.”

Happiness and joy swirled inside of her, making her middle warm and fizzy. “I’d be honored,” she said. “And since I’m essentially homeless at the moment, your invitation is well-timed.”

“And well-received?”

She looped her arms around his neck, pressed a kiss beneath his jaw, breathing him in. “Very well-received.”