Enemy From The Past (Unseen Enemy Book 4) (6 page)

“Why not?” Chris asked.

“Her boyfriend said that he had a nasty temper and twisted personality behind that good-guy persona. Said that he wasn’t to be trusted, especially if you were a woman.” She shrugged. “Seems that his mask had slipped a few too many times in practice or at some parties, and Leanne’s boyfriend had this guy’s number.”

“So she believed you.”

“Totally. No question. She hustled me the hell out of there, though, took me home with her. Told me that I couldn’t be seen at the station, and no way I could file an official report.”

“Why?” Dean said.

“She said he’d make sure it disappeared. And then I would, too.”

“So what did you and Leanne do?”

“We started to plan my escape. Her boyfriend, let’s call him Bobby, helped. We stockpiled my money a bit at a time, and we picked a day when she’d drive me out of the state. Bobby would be her alibi. And he started picking me up from work, and staying at my place overnight.”

“He what?”

“Yeah.” Kat smiled. “The three of us decided to make it look like Bobby and I were having an affair, and that Leanne was upset about it. We staged a few public cat-fights in the local bar, and Leanne would sometimes go to the bathroom at work and pretend to bawl.”

The guys laughed.

“I know, right? That way, it wasn’t weird that Bobby was always hanging around me, and when Leanne looked stressed or freaked out around the cop, there was a good reason for it.”

“Smart,” Dallas said approvingly.

“Yeah. It worked for a while. Then…” She stopped.

“Then?” Dean prompted.

“Then he got me alone. Behind the hair salon.” She looked away from their eyes, not able to handle the anger she saw there. “I was throwing out the garbage before meeting Bobby out front after my shift. He – he beat me bad enough to almost kill me, shouting the whole time that I was his, and no other man had any right to what was his. I think – I think he really meant for me to die out there.” She took a deep breath. “I lived, but the baby didn’t.”

The men were totally still now.

“At the hospital, they found out that I’d miscarried, and that went in to my medical record… the record that was shown to the cops when they came to question me about the assault. He – he found out that I’d been pregnant, and that was when I knew I had to get away once and for all.” She swallowed. “He assumed that the baby was his, not Bobby’s, and he told me I’d killed his baby by being such a fucking slut. He said I’d pay for that. That he’d kill me for that. I – I believed him.”

“So Leanne and Bobby got you away?” Chris said.

“Yeah. The second I was strong enough, I checked myself out of the hospital. Leanne and Bobby both took that day off work, and the story was that they were staying home to ‘patch up’ their relationship after his affair with me. Bobby was actually at home, but Leanne picked me up on a corner far from the hospital. And we drove to the state line.” Kat shrugged. “She dropped me about two miles from the bus station in Ontario and I took the first bus east to Idaho. And I just – I disappeared.”

A long silence followed her story. Now it was Kat who waited.

Finally Jim spoke. “And you’re sure he’s still looking for you? Leanne’s positive?”

“Yes. She has a prepaid phone too, and we talk once a month or so, really fast. She told me that he takes time off a lot, and Leanne and Bobby followed him once. He goes to bus stations and asks questions, checks security footage from street corners. And whenever she can, Leanne checks his computer search history, and she reads all his e-mails.”

Dallas looked impressed. “She spies on him?”

“Yeah. She set up something on his computer so she has full access. Anyway, he still sends off e-mails requesting tax declaration information about me, and he checks to see if my social insurance number has popped up anywhere, and he checks social media constantly. I know the second I get back on the grid in any way, he’s going to find me. I can’t afford to poke my head up even once… with his badge, he can get any information he wants.” She stared at them, hard. “I have to keep going, don’t you see? I can’t get lazy or too secure. If I do, it’s just a matter of time before he catches up to me.”

“Kat,” Dallas said gently. “You have good and disappeared. I promise you.”

Kat glared at him. “You don’t know that, Dallas.”

“It’s part of my job to find people, remember,” Dallas said. “To find people who don’t want to be found. And hon, you’ve hidden damn well.
I’d
struggle to find you.”

“Not good enough.” She shuffled her feet. “What if he has cop friends in every state looking for me? What if he hires a professional? I need a guarantee that he’ll never,
ever
show up at my door. Until I get that, I keep moving.”

“You want us to kill him?” Jim said, only half-joking.

“That’s one solution,” Kat said coolly. “But maybe not the best one, huh?”

“So… you think that running for the rest of your life
is
the best solution?” Jim said. “Really?”

“Yes.” She met his stare. “I do.”

“You said you’d give us a chance to convince you that we can keep you safe,” Jim said, the anger coming through strong and clear in his voice. “You going to do that, or will you be leaving now?”

“Jim,” Dean said quietly. “Back off, man.”

“No way,” Jim snapped. “It sounds to me like her mind’s made up. I don’t think we’re even going to get a chance to plead our case.” He turned to Kat. “Are we?”

She stared at him, then slowly shook her head.

“Well, fine.” Jim shrugged. “If you want to keep running forever, go on. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, sweetheart.”

“Jim!” Chris glared at him.

“What?” Jim glared back. “
Look
at us, Kat, just
look
at who’s standing here in front of you… never again will you be surrounded by three ex-Rangers and a crack shot ex-sniper, who can and will all kill to protect you! This is the fucking safest that you will ever be –
ever
. And you’re just walking away? Going it alone again, some more? What the hell are you thinking?”

“
I’m
not
just
thinking
about
me
!” she screamed suddenly, catching them all by surprise.

“What are you talking about?” Jim said.

“What am I talking about? About Emma and Olivia and Jenny, of course, you asshole!”

The men froze.

“What about them?” Dallas demanded.

“Jesus Christ. For such smart guys, you’re being goddamned morons.” She turned to Dean. “Emma’s doing better, I know, but what would happen if this sadistic fuck showed up in my life and took her, just to teach me a lesson? Starved her, beat her up a bit? You don’t think the long-term effects on her health would be devastating?”

Dean paled. Kat looked at Dallas.

“And what about Liv? If he grabbed her and cut her up, gave her a few more scars, do you
really
think she’d be OK after, or ever again?” Dallas’ eyes hardened and she looked at Chris now. “And Jenny… she’s finally moving past what happened to her all those years ago, right? Well, what if she were raped again? You think she’d come back to you this time, Chris?”

They stared at her as her words sank in fully.

“He knows how to hurt me, guys. He
likes
doing it.” Kat’s voice was quiet now, resigned. “Back then, he made sure I knew how much power he had over my friends and family. He’d offer my friends rides home from work, and make sure I saw them with him. He’d show me pictures he’d taken of my parents walking out of their house three states over. I was beside myself with worry, knowing that he had that kind of control over people I cared about. I stayed quiet and I toed the line to keep them safe.”

“The best way to hurt you is to hurt the people you love,” Dean said slowly.

“Damn right. And if he found me here, he’d find the girls, too, and once he did, how long before he found out how best to hurt them, huh? Liv’s stalker has been all over the news, the details of Jenny’s attack are easily accessible to cops, and Emma’s health is easy enough to figure out. All he has to do is follow her to the hospital oncology wing just once.”

They gulped, starting to share her fear.

“And you think that I want to be sure I’m safe here just for me?” she hissed at Jim. “
Fuck
you. I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to my friends. Or to any of you, for that matter, despite
you
being such a dick.” She jabbed her index finger in Jim’s direction. “You really think I could live with myself if one of you – my best friends’ boyfriends and fiancé – got killed stepping between me and that psychotic piece of shit?”

“Oh, my God, Kat.” Jim sounded stricken. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry…”

“My name is not Kat,” she said. “But you know that, right?”

They paused.

“Yeah,” Dallas said. “Yeah, we know that. You going to tell us your real name?”

“No.” She turned. “I’m leaving.”

“OK, hold on, sweetheart.” Chris held out his hands to her. “Let’s all just calm down. Come and sit down again, Kat.” He smiled at her. “I know that’s not your name, but it’s all I’ve got to call you right now, alright?”

Despite herself, she found herself softening towards Chris.

God, he’s a nice guy.

“Yeah, OK. I mean, I did promise to give you a chance to convince me, so I owe you at least that much.” She sat down on the chair, took a deep breath. “So, you get it now, right? What I’m up against and what I’m scared of. What you’re supposed to keep me safe from – me and the girls.”

“Yeah, we do.” Dean’s voice was low. “We get it, hon.”

“And?” she asked.

“And,” Dallas said. “You tell me his name and I flip the tables on him.”

“What?” she said, perplexed.

“Well, unlike you, he’s not in hiding, is he? He has a job – a pretty visible one – so it’ll be easy to keep tabs on him. I can check his credit card activity, get in to his bank accounts, track his cell. Ask a staff member to fly on out to Oregon and shadow him.” Dallas shrugged. “If I do it right – and I
always
do it right, babe – I’ll be able to tell you what he had for lunch on any given day and what he bought his mother for her birthday.”

She blinked at him. “Is all this legal?”

“Who cares about legal?” Dallas said. “It’s not like I’d be building a case against him that has to stand up in court. I’d just be keeping an eye on the fucker, making sure he doesn’t come anywhere near you. Think about it, Kat: you’d know everything about him, and he’d know nothing about you. How much safer could you be?”

“You can do all of that?” she asked.

“I can and I will. If you tell me his name, and the name of your hometown.”

“I – I…”

“Kat,” Chris said. “Just let Dallas do this, OK? Let him do his checking and tracking, see what he turns up. Then make a decision. If you don’t like what he finds, then you can run.” His gray eyes were steady and dark. “Hell, I’ll even drive you to the bus station personally, buy you a ticket to wherever the hell you want to go. But not yet. Give Dallas a chance, let us take care of you a bit. Just… take a breath. Just rest, for the first time in four-plus years.”

She thought about it, and the men watched her, their hearts pounding.

“Kat.”

Startled, she glanced up at Jim. She’d never heard that tone in his voice before. Kat had seen him gentle and supportive with her friends; she’d seen him take care of them when they needed him. But this –
this
was a different side of Jim. Sweet. Tentative. Penitent, almost. He actually looked frightened and small, and that stopped her cold.

“What?” she said.

“Please don’t go.”

“Why not?”

“Because. You belong right here, with all of us.”
With me.

Their eyes met and held. Kat couldn’t tear her gaze from his.

I swear I can hear him begging. Goddammit.

With a sense of falling, Kat turned to Dallas. “His name’s Michael Ferguson. He’s the sheriff of Foxburg Falls.”

They stared at her, disbelieving, then they saw how terrified she looked all of a sudden. With jerky movements, Kat got to her feet as if to run, but she backed away from them until her shoulders rested against the door. She hugged herself, trying to physically hold in her sobs, turning her face from them.

I never wanted to say his name out loud, not ever again. And now they know everything I’ve tried to hide, worked so hard to forget. How the hell can I look any of them in the face?

Jim got to her first. He held her tightly, cocooning her between the door and his wall of solid muscle, his large body covering her smaller one, giving her a sense of privacy. He didn’t say one word as her tears soaked his t-shirt and her whole body shook against him. The others stood back a respectful distance, wishing like hell they could make her promises, offer her guarantees, bring her that fucker’s head on a stake, anything,
anything
to give her the peace that she so desperately wanted.

That she fucking deserves.

Gradually, her sobs tapered off and Jim pulled back to look at her. She stared at the floor, embarrassed and ashamed, but he wasn’t having any of it.

“Hey,” he said softly. “Look at me.”

She took a breath, lifted her chin.

“You’re not in this alone, baby. Not anymore.”

“I know,” she whispered, tears threatening again.

“And I’m not leaving you on your own until Dallas knows
exactly
where this asshole is. You hear me? I’m going to do whatever I have to do to make you feel safe.” His eyes were blazing at her. “That means staying here, sleeping on your sofa, taking you to work, picking you up. When we’re sure that twisted prick’s safe and sound in Foxburg Falls, then we’ll see where we are. OK?”

She nodded, her throat too tight to speak.

Jim stepped back now, and she tried to smile at the other men. “Thanks, guys.”

“Sure,” Dean said gruffly. “Whatever you need Kat, just ask.”