Identity Unknown (5 page)

She'd have to be careful around him, because for some unfathomable reason she wanted him to find her attractive.

She gave herself a mental shake. When had her ego hit bottom?

She didn't need a man or anyone else to make her feel good about herself. She was capable, smart and knew what she wanted in life. And it wasn't a charming stranger, no matter how attractive, or what yearnings he stirred.

The radio attached to her shirt came on. Ophelia's disembodied voice came through clear. “Sean is here to see you.”

Audrey sighed. She pressed the talk button. “Send him back.” She liked Sean, but she wasn't interested in dating him, though he'd asked on numerous occasions. It wasn't that the EMT wasn't handsome or kind or that they didn't get along. They did. As friends. There was no spark between them. She thought of him more as a brother. She and his older sister had been friends forever.

A few moments later, Sean leaned against the partition wall next to her desk. Today he wore jeans and a plaid shirt beneath a puffy dark blue jacket. The stubble on his face matched his dark auburn hair. The only sign he'd been in a car crash yesterday was the purple bruise on his forehead. His searching gaze was trained on her face. “How's it going?”

“So far it's been an uneventful night,” she replied. “How are you doing?”

“I've a tough noggin, or so your mother tells me,” he said.

“And Wes?”

“Good. Scared. He'd never been in an accident before.”

“I'm glad you both walked away with only minor injuries. It could have been so much worse.”

“True.” He made a face. “The ambulance was totaled. Ted said there was no fixing it.”

Audrey trusted Ted's judgment. He'd been a friend of her father's and had been the town mechanic for as long as Audrey had been alive. “It was insured, right?”

Sean nodded. “Yup. Mayor Grantree was adamant about full coverage when the town bought the ambo. We've already ordered a new one, and the insurance company isn't happy to be paying for it.”

Audrey almost felt sorry for the insurance adjustor working the case. Mayor Ginger Grantree was someone Audrey wouldn't want to be on the bad side of. The woman was formidable, and when she wanted something, everybody had better stand back because she was relentless. “I'm glad to hear we'll have a replacement soon.”

“How's the guy you found on the beach?”

“He's faring well.”

The lights above them winked out. Adrenaline flashed through Audrey. She rose and stared out the large window that showed the lights of the town were on. The outage was isolated to the sheriff's station. The generator would kick in any moment now.

“That's weird,” Sean said.

A bad feeling prickled the skin at her nape. “Yes. Too weird.”

Just as the generator brought up the emergency lights, Harrison stepped out of the men's restroom. Audrey could make out his silhouette.

“What's happening?” Harrison's voice reverberated with unease.

“Don't know,” she replied. “Sean, stay with Harrison. Get Ophelia and get to safety.”

She hurried toward the back where John Doe was locked in a cell. In the time she'd worked for the sheriff's department, the electricity had never failed without cause. She could only assume the man after John Doe was behind the outage. She reached the cell door. She couldn't make out John in the dark. She reached for the keys attached to her utility belt.

A loud explosion rocked the building.

FIVE

J
ohn jerked awake to a cacophony of noise. Emergency sirens bounced off the cell walls. He heard shouted voices. Heart pumping with a jolt of adrenaline, he rolled from the cot, landing soundlessly onto the balls of his feet in a crouch. Every muscle tensed in anticipation. Fight or flight? Not flight. He was trapped in a cell. He scanned the darkness, momentarily disoriented. He'd been lying with his feet facing the cell door. Staying low, with his hand stretched out before him, he moved toward where he thought the door was located.

“John?” Audrey's call rang in his ears.

Relief tempered the adrenaline racing through his veins. “Here.”

A beam of light swept over the cell and landed on him.

He wrapped his hands around the cold steel of the bars. Though he couldn't see her behind the glare of the flashlight, the rapid pace of her breathing pinpointed her location. “What happened?”

“Someone killed the lights. The explosion was likely the generator.” The flashlight bobbed. The rattle of keys echoed in the cell, then he heard the faint squeak of a hinge as the door opened.

Warm, strong hands grasped his and pulled him toward the back exit. “Come on. We're getting out of here.”

He tugged her to a halt. “They'll be expecting us to go out the door. It'd be too easy to pick us off.” He wasn't about to let her put herself in the line of fire. She might be a deputy sheriff, but it was his head they wanted, not hers.

“So we wait for them to come blazing in? I don't think so.”

He didn't like that option any better. “Are we the only ones in the station?”

“No. We have to get everyone out alive.”

“Are there only two exits?”

“The break room window. It drops onto a strip of grass between this building and the community church.” She tightened her hold on his hand. They ran back to the squad room, where another deputy held a flashlight illuminating a male civilian and the woman John had seen behind the glass in the lobby.

“I've called the sheriff,” the deputy announced to the people next to him. “He's on his way. We're safe here. The fire department has the fire under control in the back parking lot.”

The deputy turned suddenly, his hand going for his sidearm as John and Audrey approached.

Audrey dropped John's hand. “Whoa, Harrison. It's me.”

“Audrey, what's happening?” the woman said, her voice shaky with panic.

“I don't have answers yet, Ophelia,” Audrey told her. “But we need to get out of here. But not through the doors. We'll go out the break room window and hide inside the church.”

“You think the explosion was deliberate?” the younger guy asked.

“Unfortunately, Sean, I do,” she replied. “It's the same person or persons who crashed into the ambulance.”

John didn't like the way Sean moved to Audrey's side in a clearly possessive way. She'd said she wasn't married and had no kids but hadn't mentioned if she was involved with someone. Though why John was upset didn't make sense. He could very well be married or engaged or involved with someone he couldn't remember. Until he knew his past, he couldn't contemplate a present or future that included anyone else.

Needing to act and not let his mind play games with him, he said, “We should hustle before the perps decide to storm in.”

“This way.” Audrey grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and tugged him closer. “Stay behind me.”

Though he appreciated her protectiveness, it felt wrong. He should be the one going first, blazing a trail for her to follow. His empty hand flexed with the need to feel the weight of steel pressed against his palm. He tucked the thought away to examine later as he did as the very determined female deputy directed. Sean, Ophelia and the other deputy fell in line behind them, with the deputy taking up the rear position.

Inside the break room, Audrey released her hold on his sleeve and went to work on prying out the window screen. He helped her and took it from her hands to set aside.

“I'll go first to make sure it's clear,” Audrey said. “John, you follow me. Then the rest of you.”

“I'll go first,” the other deputy blurted before John could.

“Harrison, I need you to protect our flank. You're a much better shot than I am.” Audrey's voice had lowered to a measured beat.

John arched an eyebrow at her placating tone, meant to both defuse a potential issue and bolster the deputy's confidence at the same time.

Deputy Harrison ate up her words and totally missed the subtle undertone. “You're right. I'll make sure you all get to safety.”

Audrey didn't waste any more words but slipped quickly and soundlessly out the window. John had to give her major credit for getting her way without causing a rift. He wondered if it were true that Harrison was a better shot or if she was downplaying herself for the deputy's benefit.

He leaned into the open window. Moonlight from the full winter moon revealed that there indeed was a wide strip of grass separating the sheriff's station from the side of the church. The white-painted wood building gleamed in the moon's glow. He could smell the acrid smoke of the burning generator.

He spotted Audrey right away—her darker form outlined against bushes growing along the church's side yard as she motioned for him to follow her out the window. He climbed over and dropped to the ground. The grass beneath his boots was crusted in ice and crunched beneath his weight.

He turned to help the dispatcher, Ophelia, out of the window. She hopped out of his hands as soon as her feet touched down. When Sean swung one leg over the side of the windowsill, his pant leg rode up, revealing a metal prosthetic above the tennis shoe.

John's heart twisted with empathy. He reached out a hand to help the man. After a moment of hesitation, Sean grasped John's hand and slipped out the window. John steadied the guy then let go.

“Thanks, dude,” Sean whispered.

Deputy Harrison came through the window less gracefully. He grunted when he hit the ground. John grabbed him by the arm to keep him from going down on his rear.

“Hurry.” Audrey's voice carried on the slight breeze coming off the ocean.

John ushered Ophelia and Sean to her side. She led them to a wood door in the side of the church.

Harrison reached past her to try the handle. “It's locked.”

“Give me a second,” Audrey shot back. She shuffled through the keys on her key ring. “Pastor Wilson gave me a key.”

“Why?” Harrison demanded to know. “I didn't get a key.”

Seeing that Harrison wasn't watching their six, John took a position with his back facing the church so he could see both entrances of the side yard. His hands flexed again, and the urge to hold cold metal against his palm was strong. Sean moved to stand beside him. Curiosity about the man burned in John, but now wasn't the time.

A movement to the right caught John's attention. His muscles tensed. The shape of a tall man carrying an automatic weapon was clear for a moment before a shadow swallowed him up.

“Combatant at three o'clock,” Sean whispered.

“I see him.” John had to deal with this. He couldn't let these people get hurt. “Make sure they all get inside,” he said at a level barely considered a whisper.

Keeping to the shadow of the building, John made his way toward the armed man. Moving on instinct and some buried muscle memory, John prepared for hand-to-hand combat.

His first priority would be to disarm then disable. He mentally pictured the tactics for neutralizing his opponent. As he closed in on the man, John heard the faint, telltale sound of boots on the ground behind him.

He flattened himself against the wall just as Audrey bumped into him. He knew it was her by the fresh apple scent of her hair. He ground his teeth together. She needed to be inside, where she was safe.

A foot away the masked man stopped, as if sensing he wasn't alone.

John held his breath. He didn't know what Audrey planned. He didn't like being out of sync with his partner. They needed to be of one mind for an assault to work. That he considered her as a partner was something he'd deal with later.

He touched Audrey's hand. Using his index finger, he tapped her palm twice, though what he was trying to convey to her lurked beyond his mental reach. Frustration crimped the muscles in his shoulders. They were going to get themselves killed.

Audrey's fingers curled over his and pulled him toward her, obviously wanting him to go with her to the safety of the church. He resisted. This could be their only chance to catch this guy. She elbowed him lightly before she squeezed his hand and then stretched her arm to the left in a semicircle. Then she moved their joined hands to his chest and thumped. He squeezed her hand, not comprehending her message.

She thumped him again and then stretched her arm past him to the right. It dawned on him that she wanted him to go behind the man while she confronted from the front. He didn't like it. He brought her hand to his face and shook his head no.

She released her hold on him and broke away. She was going to take this guy on herself.

Gritting his teeth, he made a wide sweep so that he ended up behind the perp.

A bright spotlight beamed on the man. “Halt, sheriff's department. Drop your weapon.”

The man brought his rifle barrel up. John slammed into him from behind, wrapping his arms around his torso and trapping his arms at his side, making it impossible for the man to fire at Audrey, as they went to the ground with John landing on top of the intruder.

John swiftly sprang up enough to dig his knee into the man's back, keeping him glued to the ground while he wrestled the guy's hands behind his back.

Audrey was there in a flash with a set of handcuffs. John slapped them over the man's wrists and secured him in a tight hold. He patted him down by rote, vaguely aware that some part of his brain had given the command.

He found a money clip holding some cash and a blank key card. No other weapons and no identification. A shudder worked over John. He'd washed ashore dressed nearly the same, also without ID. Had John and this man worked together? If so, why was this guy trying to kill him?

He yanked the man to his feet. Audrey grabbed the man's rifle from the ground. The sheriff and several other deputies rounded the corner of the building with their flashlights aimed at them.

“Audrey!” The deep timbre of the sheriff's concerned voice rang out. “You okay?”

“Yes, sir.” She stepped close to John. “Good job.”

“Thanks.” He relinquished custody of the criminal to Audrey. To the sheriff, John said, “There might be more of them.”

The sheriff instructed the half dozen officers to spread out and search the area. The door to the church opened. Deputy Harrison came out, followed by Ophelia and Sean.

“All right, everyone,” the sheriff said. “Let's take this back inside the station.”

“They blew the generator,” Harrison said. “The station's dark and the fire department's on the same electrical circuit, so it's dark, too.”

“Paulson,” the sheriff called.

A deputy hustled over. “Yes, boss.”

“Get someone out here to fix the generator and the electricity,” Sheriff Crump commanded. Turning to the group huddled around him, he said, “Let's take this inside the church. Harrison, call Pastor Wilson, let him know what's up.”

“On it.” Harrison moved away to use his cell phone while the sheriff ushered them all inside the church.

Someone flipped a switch and wall sconces lit up, dispelling the inky shadows and revealing a small wood-paneled room with several doors. The sheriff pushed open a set of doors to the left and led their suspect into an office. He pushed him into a chair and took the black beanie from his head, revealing cropped sandy-blond hair.

John moved so that he could face the man. He was a stranger to him. Or at least John assumed, since he felt no recognition at all. The man had wide-set eyes, broad features with a nose that had been broken in the past and a jutting chin. “Who are you? Why are you trying to kill me?”

The man stared through him. “I'm not talking to you,” he said in a softly accented voice.

Eastern European. John didn't question how he knew. John stalked to the window, careful to keep the majority of his body out of the line of sight in case the suspect had a cohort who might want to take a potshot at him. He stared out at the parking lot shared by both the church and the sheriff's station. The glowing embers of the burned-out generator and the dozen or so firefighters in turnout gear were visible.

“What do we do now?” Ophelia asked. “Ed will be wondering where I am.”

“Deputy Harrison will take you home,” Sheriff Crump said. “Sean, you need to go on home, too.”

John turned from the window, his gaze on the man in the chair. “Is it safe for them to leave?”

The man shrugged but held his gaze. “They're not the target.”

A fist of dread hit John in the solar plexus. “Right. I am.”

Sean's gaze bounced to Audrey. “Are you sure you'll be okay?”

“I'm fine, Sean,” Audrey assured him. “Tell Jessie hello for me.”

John heard the faint thread of annoyance in her tone and again wondered what exactly her relationship with the younger man was.

Sean nodded, but there was no mistaking the frustration on his face as he left with Ophelia and the deputy.

Sheriff Crump sat on the edge of the large desk dominating the office. “It would be helpful if you told us your name since we're all going to be here for a while.”

“Sasha,” the man said with a shrug. “My name is Sasha.”

Audrey stepped closer. “Thank you, Sasha, for telling us your name. Do you know his name?”

Sasha's lip curled. “No.”

“Are you hungry?” she asked, fishing around in her cargo pants pockets and producing a protein bar.