Shadow, p.13
Shadow, page 13
part #6 of Linear Tactical Series
“Lyn—” Heath reached for her, but she deftly sidestepped him.
“I’ll need to give a statement, so send someone over to my townhouse. I’ve had enough of . . . everyone. I’m going home.”
She turned and walked out the door.
Chapter Sixteen
An hour after Lyn stormed out, Heath was ready to set fire to his entire apartment.
At least that would get everyone out of here.
“I’m not cut out for law enforcement, man,” he said to Noah.
They stood at the back of the living room—only a couple feet from where he’d kissed Lyn last night—trying to stay out of the way of the horde of officers and agents inside his apartment.
The only thing he really wanted to do was go after Lyn and try to explain to her what was going on. But Craig needed him here, and Lyn looked like she might need a little time to cool off.
Roughly three and a half decades, if he had to guess.
He’d already called her a dozen times, leaving more than one message.
He’d texted her twice that many times. Just asking if she was okay. Asking if she’d give him the chance to explain the situation a little better.
Read.
Every single message gave the tiny little notification: Read.
She’d seen them all but hadn’t responded.
The thought that he’d lost her before he’d even gotten the chance to get to know her ate at him.
“Same here,” Noah responded. “My brother, Tanner, is the cop in our family. He ropes me into helping him every once in a while, but I’d rather be on my ranch with the horses.”
“Can’t blame you there. Way too many rules and red tape with law enforcement. I’ve been working overseas for Linear for five years. A lot of kidnap and ransom situations, corporate security type stuff. So it’s sort of like this but without all the red tape.”
A Sublette County detective argued with Craig over jurisdiction. Both Heath and Noah rolled their eyes. Who the hell cared as long as the bad guys were off the street?
“You going to stick around Oak Creek or go back to international work?”
“I was mostly international because I was trying to stay off the radar. Long story short, I was concerned I might be messed up in the head.” Hearing voices in a gibberish language certainly qualified as a little crazy.
“PTSD? That’s an issue for me sometimes.”
“No. Just straight-up regular crazy for me. But I think I’m ready to stay in Wyoming for a while. Teach some classes.”
Learn to live with the voices in his head.
Convince Lyn that Reddington City wasn’t too far from Oak Creek, and that they needed to give whatever was between them a fair shot.
If she ever spoke to him again.
Heath was surprised to see the locals leading Veronica and her two henchmen away. Evidently, Craig had lost his argument about it being his arrest. He made his way over to them, not looking happy.
“Let’s go. The locals are going to take them into custody.”
Heath and Noah shot each other a glance, then followed Craig out the door.
“Is this going to mess up your case?” Noah asked.
“They’re in custody, that’s what’s matters. Right now, I want to turn our attention to the buyers before they go to ground.”
“What’s your plan?” Heath asked.
“We use Powell. We’ll get him to contact the buyer today. Convince the buyer he’s had a change of heart and that he wants to meet tonight.”
“There’s no way Powell is going to be healthy enough to do any sort of sting operation.” Heath pulled the passenger side door open and Noah got in the back.
Craig started the car. “You’re right. That’s why I’m hoping you’ll be willing to impersonate him since you’ve been around him the most.”
Heath knew how much catching these buyers meant to Craig. “I’m willing to try. Powell said they never met face-to-face, so it could work.”
It was a long shot, but possible.
They drove to the hospital to talk to Powell, who seemed more than willing to set up the exchange if it meant he might be looking at less jail time. He texted his contact with the proposal, then waited for instructions. A few minutes later, he got a text back.
Powell spun his phone around toward them. “Okay, I’m supposed to meet the buyer outside the all-night waffle place at midnight.”
“Great,” Heath said. “Midnight.”
Noah nudged him. “At least it’s not an abandoned warehouse.”
Craig talked to Powell a little longer, trying to make sure the younger man didn’t have any other useful information, then they all left.
“Noah and I will be keeping a tight eye on the place tonight,” Craig said as they got back in the car.
Heath looked out the window. “I’m not doubting my own skills here, but don’t you think you might want to bring in some real feds for this op instead of those of us on loan?”
“I’m still not sure who I can trust in my office, but I will get everyone I can to make sure we have significant backup. Believe me, catching the buyer is my number one priority.”
Heath nodded. “I’ll do this, Craig, but then I’m out.”
Lyn’s frightened face as the gun was pressed to her temple flashed before his eyes. The bruises, the scratch marks.
“There’s somebody who never signed up for any of this who ended up paying the biggest price. I need to make that right.”
By the time midnight rolled around, it had been a long damn day. Heath wished he could go back to how it had started—in bed with Lyn.
Not with another dozen messages left Read but with no response.
Currently, Heath stood in front of the waffle diner at the northwest corner of a strip mall parking lot. There were a few people in the diner, and the overall outdoor lighting around the building wasn’t great.
In other words, the buyer had picked a good location.
“And you look cute in the skinny jeans,” Noah said into the transmitter in Heath’s ear. He was in a surveillance vehicle somewhere in the parking lot. “Quite the hipster.”
Noah knew Heath couldn’t respond and had been teasing him about his outfit for the past few minutes.
Powell’s clothing choices leaned much more toward the latest trends than Heath’s. And since Heath was supposed to be Powell . . . he had the dubious honor of slipping on skinny jeans and a button-down Oxford shirt.
Heath could feel eyes on him. Some of them belonged to Craig and Noah and whatever ragtag team Craig had pulled together, but there were others.
He had Troy’s phone in his hand, checking it periodically. Would the buyer meet him here? Send more instructions? Not show up at all because he’d figured out Heath wasn’t Troy?
After fifteen minutes of standing outside, he turned toward the diner’s door so his face would be more hidden. “I’m going to go inside. Staying out here makes me too conspicuous.”
Craig’s voice sounded in his ear. “Roger that.”
Inside, Heath studied the patrons—an older couple in the back booth, two students at the table near the door, and a man sitting alone drinking a cup of coffee.
That could be the mark.
“Sit anywhere you like,” the waitress said as she breezed by on her way to the couple in the booth.
Heath chose a booth where he could easily see the rest of the diner. Nobody else seemed to be paying any attention to him.
Was this all for nothing? Had the perp spotted someone and decided to take off?
Yet . . . there was something going on, Heath could feel it. He didn’t ignore his gut when it came to stuff like this.
But what was it?
On one hand, he wished Gavin were here. The man was uncanny when it came to spotting things other people missed. But on the other hand, Gavin wasn’t taking any chances and was staying with Lyn.
Or he was at least parked in front of her house since she wouldn’t let him in.
Heath took a sip of water, wincing when the gibberish started whispering in his head.
Now wasn’t the time.
He rubbed his head as it got louder.
“You okay, Kavanaugh?” Craig asked.
Heath covered his mouth with his hand. “Yeah, just a headache.”
The girl sitting over in the corner with her boyfriend stood up and walked across the restaurant toward the bathroom. The door had barely closed behind her before her boyfriend walked over and slid into the booth across from Heath.
“You Troy Powell?”
Damn, this was not what Heath had been expecting. The kid barely looked twenty years old. “Who wants to know?”
The kid shrugged. “Take the item you brought into the kitchen. There’s someone waiting for you there.”
The kid stood up without another word and walked to the front of the diner to pay the bill, meeting his girlfriend as she came out of the bathroom and escorting her out.
Heath covered his mouth again. “Did you guys hear that?”
“Roger,” Craig said. “We’ve got eyes on the back door. You’re clear to go back there. Noah, you follow the guy and his girlfriend.”
“Roger that,” Noah said.
“Heading back to the kitchen,” Heath whispered.
He kept his hand near the waist holster tucked under his shirt as he walked past the waitress, who seem too tired to care that he was going somewhere he wasn’t supposed to go.
Everything in the kitchen looked normal, but Heath didn’t let his guard down.
“You Troy somebody or other?” one of the cooks asked, not even looking up from the grill.
Jeez. This couldn’t be the buyer. “Yeah.”
“Dude said to meet him on the other side of the parking lot, over by the food truck, and that you’ve got one minute before he’s gone. Said he’d be in a black and white shirt.”
“Thanks.”
Now the cook looked up. “Don’t bring your business to this diner again.”
Heath nodded and headed out the back door.
Craig’s voice came on in his ear again. “We’re moving in that direction, Heath, but that area of the parking lot is pretty dark. Be careful. I’ll send someone to question the cook.”
“Black and white shirt is pretty damn noticeable,” Heath muttered as he sprinted out the door. Why go to all this subterfuge if he was basically going to be wearing a neon sign?
“Hey, never interrupt your enemy when he’s making a mistake,” Noah said.
Heath cursed the damned skinny jeans as he ran across the parking lot. He saw someone leaning up against the darkened food truck as he got closer. He hoped Craig and his team were nearby if this went south.
“Hey . . .”
“Stop there.” The words rang out as Heath came under the streetlight about ten yards from the dark food truck. Heath stopped but knew he was at a disadvantage. The man could see everything about Heath, but Heath couldn’t get any details. Plus, he was close to the corner, able to slip away if needed.
If Craig was smart, he was coming up from the other direction.
“Are you ready to do this?” Heath asked. He needed to give Craig more time.
There was no answer from the man in the dark.
“Listen, dude,” Heath said, shrugging. “Just give me my money so I can go, instead of looking like a dumbass out here in the middle of the parking lot. I’ve got your microchip right here.”
“You’re not Troy Powell.”
Shit.
“Dude, who else am I going to be? Do you want the microchip or not? I don’t have time for paranoia. I’ve got to get rid of this thing and get out of town.”
“Not Troy Powell at all. But I do recognize you from somewhere.”
This wasn’t working. The guy must have seen him at the college. Heath dropped the pretense and pulled out his weapon. “Why don’t you hold still now?”
The guy did exactly what Heath expected and instantly slipped backward around the corner where Heath didn’t have him in his sights.
“Shit, Craig, the buyer made me and took off around the back of the food truck. I’m in pursuit.” He immediately ran after the guy. How far could he get in a black and white shirt?
“Okay, we’re closing in from the other direction.”
They had him trapped.
He heard Craig’s curse just before he made it to the corner.
“What?” Heath yelled.
He stepped around the corner and immediately saw what the problem was.
There was the man in a black and white shirt.
Actually, there were thirty men in black and white shirts, having all come out of the bowling alley across the street, making their way across the parking lot—some toward the diner, others to parked cars.
There was no way to figure out which man was the one who’d just been talking to Heath. They were all laughing and joking with each other—no one stood out.
The buyer was gone.
Chapter Seventeen
“You and me. Sparring mat. Nineteen hundred.”
The low words giving the time and location were all Gavin had said to Heath when they’d both been in the Linear office this morning.
Heath had been back from the microchip case for three days. Once they’d missed their chance to catch the buyer, there hadn’t been much point in Heath sticking around.
He didn’t know what he could’ve done differently. The man knew—without question—that he wasn’t Troy. It probably hadn’t been hard to find a picture of Troy online.
Craig took it all pretty well, considering how desperate he’d seemed to catch the buyer. Probably because at least they’d stopped the sale of the microchip. Veronica hadn’t been able to provide any more useful information about the buyer, even after being arrested. Like Troy, she’d never talked to the man face to face. Professor Hudson hadn’t been in on it at all, although definitely wouldn’t be teaching again at WCU given his illicit relationship with a student who had used him for further access to the lab.
All in all, a dead end. Craig was frustrated but had decided to turn his attention to finding the mole in his department.
And Heath was back in Oak Creek. No more case to keep him distracted from the gibberish in his head.
And no more Lyn.
She still hadn’t returned any of his calls or messages. At this point, he was starting to think she never would.
Not that he could blame her.
He filled his time as much as possible here, taking on every available class. Since Dorian Lindstrom and his wife, Ray, had had to move away, there was plenty for Heath to take over.
Heath had never been Special Forces like a lot of the other Linear team. But he’d worked plenty of kidnap missions over the past five years that had required surveilling and sometimes rescue attempts in jungles—both the wild and concrete kind—all over the world. He definitely knew enough wilderness survival skills to teach them to civilians.
Actually, Heath wouldn’t mind being alone in the wilderness for a few days right now. Better than the tension around here.
Gavin hadn’t come straight back to Oak Creek after the case. Lyn hadn’t been interested in talking to Gavin any more than she had Heath.
Which had added to Heath’s sins in his friend’s mind.
Heath wasn’t about to try to explain to Gavin that it wasn’t his fault Lyn had been studying something entirely different than what she’d told her family, although he did wish he could stand witness to the fact that she was so passionate about linguistics and languages. You only had to be around her for a few minutes to see that. She loved it.
Heath was never going to understand Sahidic and Bohairic or any of the dead languages of Egypt . . . but there was no doubt she loved it.
And he wasn’t giving up. She’d been on his mind every second since he’d left Reddington City, and he was going to find a way to talk her into at least hearing him out, and hopefully giving their relationship another chance. A real chance.
But first he was going to have to face an irate brother.
Heath got to the sparring mat early, not wanting to take a chance on making Gavin even angrier. When he walked into the barn the Linear guys had converted into a training area, Noah was sitting on one of the benches.
Heath walked over and shook the man’s hand. “I’m surprised you’re still around.”
“I was going to leave today, but then I thought I better stay around an extra day and make sure my cousin doesn’t kill you.”
Heath began a series of isolated stretches he always did before a particularly brutal workout.
This was definitely going to be a brutal workout.
“I thought maybe you were here to help hide the body.”
Noah shrugged. “That too. You know, family first.”
Heath wasn’t one hundred percent certain Noah was kidding.
Heath dropped down to stretch out his hamstrings. “I know the bro code, but I have nothing but respect for Lyn. Yeah, the two of us got a little caught up in the endorphins flying because of the attacks on her life, but she always meant something to me.” And the fact that she wouldn’t talk to him now was killing him.
“Gavin will figure all that out. Don’t worry.”
Heath twisted at the spine to deepen the stretch. “Before or after he rearranges my face?”
“After,” Noah chuckled. “Much, much after.”
That’s what Heath was afraid of. “You got a girlfriend, man?”
Noah looked away and grunted.
Now it was Heath’s turn to laugh. “That means yes.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Complicated like she’s a spy for a different country and you’re not sure if you can trust her? Or complicated as in Facebook profile ‘it’s complicated’?”
“Complicated as in she’s a single mom who has an ex who is all sorts of trouble. Violent.”
“That sucks. I’m sorry.”
Noah scrubbed a hand across his face. “I’m not sure I’m the right man to even go near her. I’ve got dark history myself. I’m a loner. I can be gruff. Marilyn and her kids need someone . . . who’s not me. But still . . .”
