Hunted, A Romantic Suspence Novel (20 page)

As he closed the phone he wondered what Katie and Edgars were planning with this meeting. Castello was no fool. He could smell a setup a mile away. This meeting reeked of it.

* * * * *

Just before dawn Katie, Matt and Luke loaded their gear into the SUV Luke rented the day before to lose the tail at the mall. They left Luke’s sprotscar at the cabin in case it had been identified when Matt picked up Katie. As they headed toward Columbus, Katie reviewed the plan in her head.

She was to stand in the doorway of the Ohio Theater, the historic landmark just across the street from the State Capitol building, until she saw Castello pass by on his way to the corner. Matt would position himself on the opposite corner. When he saw her coming toward him, he would cross the street and approach Castello from behind. Luke would stay with the car in the parking garage. If all went well, they would get Castello into the garage, and subsequently into the car.

Katie slipped her right hand into her pocket, to feel the weight of her gun. For a decade she’d been able to forget how it felt to walk around armed, or to actually point her weapon at a human target. Now, in less than a week, she’d drawn it twice, and was about to do so a third time.

“We won’t use them unless it’s absolutely necessary, sweetheart.” Matt’s right hand covered her left one. “But we want him to know we mean business.”

She nodded then focused her attention on the scenery passing outside the passenger window.

He couldn’t possibly know how much having him with her, taking her welfare so much to heart, meant to her. It felt good to have someone on her side for once.

It also scared the hell out of her.

Her whole life she’d depended only on herself. She didn’t want to trust him to always be there. There would come a time when he’d fail her. Everyone did. If she continued to let him get close, she doubted she’d survive when he left.

“Hey Matt, how’d you get these pictures?” Luke asked from the backseat where he sat flipping through the picture file.

“Jake got them for us.”

Luke leaned in between the two front seats. “No, I mean, where did they originally come from?”

“I gave them to the FBI and the Marshals,” Katie answered.

“You handed them over?” Matt asked and squeezed her hand.

“Yes. The night before I escaped the bunker, I saw Strict hide his keys to the filing cabinets in his office. The night after the bombing, there was a lot of drinking and celebrating going on over their success. No one really noticed me.”

She took a deep breath. “I waited until everyone was passed out or asleep, then I snuck into Strict’s office. In a strong box he kept locked in a file cabinet I found files on all the plans for the Federal Building bombing and several others. I took the pictures off of as many files as I could. I shoved what I needed to prove the case against Strict and the Family in the deaths of all those people into my backpack and hid the strong box with the rest of their plans.”

“Wow. No wonder the feds had such a strong case against Strict and his conspirators.” Luke sat back, nodding his head approvingly. “You’re one tough lady.”

“How did you manage to carry all those files and your belongings when you escaped?” Matt asked, concern on his face.

Flashes of that night filled her mind. The loud party noises. Guns fired into the air in celebration. Her hovering in the corner of her small room tears streaming down her cheeks for the people who’d died in the explosion. Tears for the three men who’d been killed, especially Gideon, who’d been so kind to her, tears for the strangers who’d died innocently.

Slowly the sounds had faded away. She peeked out her window into the dark night. Small campfires flickered throughout the compound as bodies staggered past. Family members lay sprawled on the ground where they’d collapsed in drunken abandon.

Her eyes adjusted to the shadows playing around the building’s edges. When she was sure no one was left awake, she grabbed her backpack and crawled out her window.

Her heart raced. She would either succeed, and escape with enough information to convict Strict, or she’d die. Either way she’d finally be free of her nightmare existence.

“I couldn’t carry all the files. The ones that pertained to future plans I hid.” Shaking off the dark memories once more, Katie gave a brittle laugh. “I ran out with the clothes on my back, the backpack full of papers and pictures, and this.” She patted the gun in her pocket.

“A trucker and his wife were passing by, and gave me a lift into Pittsburgh. It took me two more days to find the Marshals. Believe me, had I stopped in any small town between the bunker and Pittsburgh, I wouldn’t have lived to testify.”

* * * * *

The copper smell of fresh blood stung The Angel’s senses, whetting his appetite for more.

After losing track of the trooper yesterday, he’d summoned his source here.

Since the arrest and trial of The Prophet, the traitor’s whereabouts was a highly guarded secret. Try as he might he’d never been able to get a lead on her. Then a few years back The Angel had suggested they try following the traitor’s handlers, the two U.S. Marshals who’d guarded her through the trial. If anyone were to know where she was hidden or would contact her, it was those two men.

In preparation, they’d called upon a young woman from the Family whose father was still in prison because of the traitor’s testimony. The Prophet had paid dearly to have her name changed, give her plastic surgery, and arrange extra training in hopes that somehow they could get her close to one or both of the agents. A few years ago a small window opened and they’d maneuvered their own spy into the government’s system.

Unable to find the traitor’s files, she had provided them with whatever information she could about the movements of the agents. Now, the Angel needed more.

When he’d first called for a meeting, she’d agreed, but he’d heard the hesitation in her voice. So he wasn’t surprised when she’d arrived last night announcing she was done helping him and The Prophet. In fact, he’d anticipated just that reaction—relished it even.

She’d been very upset about the death of the older agent and wanted to end their relationship. He’d already planned to sever ties, but first he needed more information, some clue to his true target’s trail. She’d refused, said she couldn’t help him kill anyone else, that her life was about saving people now.

Wiping the blood from his knuckles with a cold cloth he studied the woman tied to the metal chair in the center of the storage locker. The Prophet had accomplished one thing all those years ago. His training had made the girls in the Family tough. This one was almost as strong as Sarah—almost, but not quite. Both eyes swollen nearly shut, her head hanging down in defeat. Blood dripped slowly from her busted lip and broken nose, down her chin to pool on her breasts, spreading slowly over the white of her blouse.

Walking around her, he admired his work. Nothing like breaking the will of someone this determined to keep their secrets. There was so much more he could enjoy doing, but the sun was rising and time was running out.

With a smile he picked a stainless steel scalpel from the table of instruments near her chair. In the hands of a skilled surgeon its laser-sharp blade could be used to open a body with as little pain as possible. In the hands of someone as skilled as the Angel, it inflicted greater degrees of pain than any human could imagine.

“Please…no more…I can’t…take any more.”

“Sh, sh, my dear,” he said as he smoothed the damp hair back from her face in a soothing fashion, his other hand holding the blade near her jugular, but not touching her. “You can end this now. The decision is yours. Are you ready to tell me where the traitor is, Leslie?”

* * * * *

Matt pulled his coat collar tighter around his neck. From his vantage point he could barely make out the navy blue of Katie’s Peacoat peeking out from behind the brick wall, where she hid farther down State Street.

After leaving Luke and the SUV parked in the underground garage beneath the State Capitol building, he’d walked her to the Ohio Theater. He hated letting her wait by herself, tucked into the entranceway, but he needed to position himself farther away to provide the element of surprise if they hoped to take Castello off guard.

He stamped one foot then the other. The freezing morning air had seeped into his boots. His toes felt like ice.

He looked at his watch. Eight forty-five. If everything went well, he’d see Katie headed his way soon.

His stomach clenched.

At that point, she would be the most vulnerable. Completely out in the open, her only protection would be the multitude of people hurrying to work.

She’d insisted on coming, and his head told him she was right, but his heart wished she were in the garage with Luke, completely out of harm’s way. She was so tiny, so feminine. No matter how tough an exterior she presented to the world, he knew she could be hurt. He knew how much that tough shell had cost her to earn.

He just prayed Castello hadn’t sold them out to the hit man. Matt slipped his hand into his pocket, his fingers caressing the hard metal of his gun.

If anything happened to Katie, the Marshal was a dead man.

Katie peeked around the brick wall to her right. In the milling foot traffic and gray exhaust-clogged morning air of downtown Columbus, she glimpsed Matt’s dark head in the building’s doorway where he stood inside.

Her heart flipped.

She wasn’t alone this time. Matt was less than a hundred yards away—her own personal knight protector.

Sucking in more of the frigid air, she stepped back farther into the vestibule’s shadow. As comforting as it was to know she had someone out there who cared about her, it frightened her to know every moment he spent with her he endangered himself.

A month ago she hadn’t even known he existed. Now, she worried as much for his safety as her own. For a woman without a future, she’d let her heart get involved.

She glanced at her watch. Eight-fifty.

Looking down the block to her left, she watched the opposite side of the street. Her heart pounded in her ears as she concentrated. She took her right glove off and shoved it into her left pocket. Then she slipped her right hand into her other pocket to grip her weapon.

Her eyes focused on the faces drifting past her vantage point. Most wore caps or scarves to protect them from the chaffing cold wind that swirled through the downtown streets. Heads lowered, men and women hurried to their jobs.

Then she saw him.

His head uncovered, Marshal Castello walked steadily against the flow of traffic, his dark hair visible above the crowd. His dark sunglasses screamed government agent.

Watching him pass by, she almost forgot to scan the sea of people behind him. She studied the flowing mass of humanity for a moment, trying to see anyone following Castello. No one.

Good. He’d come alone.

Taking a deep breath, she slipped out of her hiding place, and followed the Marshal parallel along the street’s opposite side. When she got to the corner, she saw Matt approach the light on the far corner.

Her heart double-timed a few beats. Funny how just his presence gave her more confidence. She could do this. Holding her head higher, her lips pursed with determination. For the first time in her life, she was calling the shots.

Crossing with the light, she zeroed in on her target. Then she stopped in front of Castello.

Matt saw Katie approach the corner. As she waited for the light to change, her head came up and she stood straighter. He recognized that determined look on her face. She might be scared, but she’d be damned if she’d let him or anyone else know.

As she crossed the street and headed toward the tall man with dark hair and black sunglasses, Matt dodged his way against the few cars that didn’t make it through the light.

“Katie,” the man said.

“Marshal Castello.”

That was his cue.

Matt pushed his gun barrel into the Marshal’s back.

Castello didn’t even flinch. “And Patrolman Edgars. Nice to meet you.”

“You knew he’d be with me?” Kate sounded surprised.

“He wouldn’t be worthy of protecting you, if he wasn’t with you, Katie.”

The tenderness in Castello’s voice irritated Matt. Did he have a thing for Katie? Well, too damn bad. She was
his
now. If she needed protecting, he’d be the one to do it.

“This is touching, but we’re a little out in the open here.” Ignoring the puzzled look Katie gave him, he pushed the gun a little tighter into the Marshal’s back. “If the reunion is finished, let’s take a walk.”

“I’m thinking we should stay right here,” Castello replied, not moving an inch when Matt pushed him. “At least until you tell me what you have planned.”

“Since you or someone in your department sold her out to the Prophet, I guess your opinion doesn’t really matter much.” Matt stepped forward, forcing the Marshal to move a little.

Castello shot him an annoyed look.

Matt lifted one eyebrow at him.

The crowd around them thinned out as the light changed again.

Castello focused on Katie once more. “I didn’t sell you out. But I’m trying to figure out who did.”

“I want to believe you Marshal Castello.”

Matt ground his teeth as sadness and hope both crossed Katie’s face. He glanced to his left, then to his right. No one seemed to be watching them.

“Katie, Edgars is right, we need to get out of this open space.”

She nodded and led them toward the parking garage entrance.

A sound from beside him stopped Matt in his tracks.

A white van slowly passed him and continued through the light to the corner, until the vehicle came to a complete stop. Matt watched it move in slow motion, reading the Pennsylvania plates.

The driver’s door opened. A tall, blonde man jumped out, turned and lifted his rifle.

It was a horror movie in time-lapse photography.

“Katie!” Matt pushed Castello to the side, and jumped into the path between the hit man’s rifle and Katie’s body.

Fire seared through his shoulder just before he landed on top of her, his arms breaking their fall—sort of.