Running (5 page)

He grabbed her bag and
dumped it on the desk next to Blondie’s computer. Computer memory
cards still in their packages were the most frequent item found, a
notebook, her badge, two bags of trail mix—he pocketed those, too—a
pair of black silk panties which he admired for a moment, and a
prescription bottle.

For prenatal
vitamins.

Fuck.

Now it wasn’t just some
bulldog husband tracking his wife on Seth’s trail. It was a bulldog
husband
and
expectant daddy.

He definitely needed to
shake Red, somehow. But how was he supposed to do that without
putting her in more danger?

And what about Blondie?
Should he leave her somewhere too? Would he be able to move
quicker? Probably not. Because the first thing she’d do was follow
him. Somehow he had no doubt about
that
.

He scooped Red’s junk back
into her bag. He watched his girls sleep for a few minutes, trying
to figure out a way to get them all out of this mess. He could
leave Red here in the hotel room, but that brought with it risks.
She could make a single phone call and have the local field office
cracking down on his ass probably before he and Blondie made it out
of this county, let alone into Texas.

That was a very real
possibility with the accumulating snow.

So what was he going to do
with her?

He shook Blondie awake—as
far as he knew
she
wasn’t pregnant. She needed less sleep than Red. And he’d
given her almost six hours. “Get up, shower; do whatever it is you
need to do. We’re leaving in an hour.”

She stared at him for a
moment, her confusion easy to see. “Damn it. It wasn’t a dream.
You
are
real.”

“
Yeah, and so is Santa
Claus. Get up. You’ve slept half the day away.” Really only about
five hours, but that was long enough. He had things to do. Things
that couldn’t wait.

“
Where’s
Carrie?”

“
Precious is still asleep.
I think she needs it more than you do.” He tossed the bottle of
pills in her lap. “You know about this?”

She looked at the bottle,
then shot up out of the bed. “Oh man, you are so going to be toast
when her husband catches up with you.”

“
That’s
what I was afraid of. Here’s the deal…
You
and I are going to have to work
together here.”

Blue eyes narrowed as she
looked at him. Did she know her hair was sticking up on the back of
her head? He somehow doubted she did. Barbie would never want to
look anything less than perfect, he bet. She was just so girly,
girly. And the underwear he’d found in her bag had been candy pink.
He reached out and flattened his hand over the errant
hair.

She hissed at him and
batted his hand away. Seth laughed.

“
What do you
mean?”

He sobered. “We can’t take
Red with us. I know how much you want to keep her, sweetie, but we
just don’t have the room.”

“
Good
God, can’t you
be serious
for once?”

“
We’re finding a safe spot
to leave your friend, and then you and I are going on a drive. I
need help, and like it or not, you’re going to be it. Until I can
figure out who I can trust.”

It took him closer to an
hour and half to get both women out the hotel room door. Red hadn’t
said much when Blondie shook her awake, but she had looked a little
green around the gills. Poor kid.

Guilt had had him staying
quiet while she and Alessandra had taken turns using the bathroom
to clean up a bit. Now they sat, both stonily silent, while he
drove the small SUV down the interstate. “I really am sorry about
this, ladies. But…I’m starting to think you may be more trouble
than I anticipated. So…I’m going to have to leave you behind. All
I’m asking is for you to remember that someone
is
after me. That someone
is
FBI. And not in a good
way—can we say bad guy—and that I’m taking Blondie here for backup.
You buy me some time, and things we’ll go a bit smoother for me.
Think you can do that?”

Red nodded. “I really wish
you’d let me call my husband. I know he would help you.”

“
He’d probably rip my head
off at the shoulders. And I can’t say I’d blame him. It’s what I
would do in the same spot.” Seth had no idea what he was going to
do with her. He’d have to find someplace safe to leave her.
Blondie, too, despite what he’d said to the contrary.

Chapter
Eleven

***

Two hours later, just as
the sun was coming up, he had to stop the SUV again. They needed
gas and Red needed something more wholesome to eat than drive
through crud. He cuffed her and Al to the door handles—though Red
was sound asleep again—and opened the driver’s side door. He’d get
what they needed and be back out in minutes.

He shifted Red’s husband’s
ball cap down over his eyes, and pulled out his wallet. If he
played it casual he’d be just another customer. Nothing to make
himself stand out. He glanced back at the SUV—he could barely see
the blonde and red heads of his captives. At least they weren’t
doing anything to draw attention to themselves from the station’s
only other customer.

Seth studied that customer
for a moment. Guy was about fifty and to Seth’s experienced eyes,
he appeared drunk off his gills. Probably wouldn’t remember
anything about the other people at the gas station.

The gas station attendant
was a young woman. She barely looked up at him, just continued
reading her book, while a small TV played in the
background.

She looked a lot like his
kid sister Sarah
. Or his former
sister-in-law Cody. He pulled out his cash—Red’s cash, she’d had
close to a grand in paper in her purse—and peeled off enough for
his purchase. Apparently the girl—or the husband—believed in being
prepared for anything. The clerk took his cash and handed him his
receipt as the TV went into a scheduled news break.

Seth watched for a moment,
stunned.

He
was the top of the hour story. They were flashing a picture
that he didn't remember posing for and asking for any information
about his whereabouts. No mention was made of his companions.
Why?

The picture of him was
taken down, and a taped piece involving a silver-haired man that
Seth vaguely recognized as some bigwig deputy director from the
Midwest began in its place.

But that wasn’t who had
Seth biting back vicious curses. It hadn't been
his
picture they'd been flashing. He
got that now.

Standing next to the older
man was one of
his
brothers. And from the style of clothing he’d say it was the
one brother he’d not spoken to in nearly two years other than a few
emails now and then.
Sebastian.
What the fuck was Sebastian doing
looking
for him? Did he
realize it was Seth he was hunting? He had to. The earlier
information had listed him as Seth Lark. His cover. Yet with
Sebastian’s photo. Why? What was going down?

Seth forced himself to not
react when the silver-haired man started speaking, just as a photo
of Alessandra and one of Red took over the screen. “Supervisory
Special Agents Alessandra Brockman and Carrie Lorcan, of the St.
Louis PAVAD division, are believed to be accompanying Agent Lark.
If any of these individuals are spotted, please do not approach,
and contact the nearest law enforcement agency. Thank
you.”

Holy hell. Seth took his
receipt and high-tailed it out of the gas station toward the one
person who could immediately give him the answers he sought.
Carrie
Lorcan.
Dammit all to hell.

Of course. Of
course.
That
would
be the way things would go for him.

Red’s husband
would
be the brother who
never screwed up.

Chapter
Twelve

***

Paige was going nuts. No
one
knew
anything.
Sebastian was furious, and Paige had to admire her boss for the way
he was holding himself together. He’d nearly lost Carrie back
almost a year ago, and now this?

She stood by his side,
determined to know what he knew the instant he heard anything.
Jules had brought Al’s parents and little Ruthie to the most
comfortable area of the PAVAD building to wait for news, and Paige
wanted to check on them, too. The last six months had been really
hard on them. But it was almost twelve hours after Al and Carrie
had been taken by Sebastian’s brother. Something was bound to
happen soon, wasn’t it?

Mick was glaring at
everyone in the small conference room, and Paige forced herself not
to pick a fight with him. Just to get this steam and frustration
out of her system long enough for her to
think.
He made such an easy
target.

If it hadn’t been for the
worry in his blue eyes, she might have done just that. But for once
they were probably of the same mind. Finding Al and
Carrie.

Sebastian’s cell buzzed and
he answered it. He disconnected a few seconds later and turned to
her, to Mick, and Mal. “My brother’s team is here. And my other
brother is with them. Plus three people from the Inspector
General’s office.”

“
Why is OIG involved?” Mick
asked.

“
Because
they were already on their way
here
to audit PAVAD. Apparently. And they’ve decided
to oversee this investigation. To make sure I understand the
priorities.” Sebastian’s fury was evident. “My priority is my wife
and our friend. Bureau second. And that’s what Ed understands. OIG
can go—“

Paige understood. “We don’t
need OIG getting in our way right now. It’s bad enough to deal with
IA.” Internal Affairs had assigned two agents to the CCU for the
time being—two people
Mick
frequently partnered with. Paige didn’t know the
man and woman well, but she wouldn’t let them stand in the way of
finding her family. Hopefully Mick felt the same way.

Sebastian nodded. “No, we
don’t. And we won’t let them. But I’m glad my brother’s here. He’s
been more in touch with Seth than I have the last few
years.”

“
You’re
not close.” How could he not be? They were identical, weren’t they?
And they were
brothers.

Paige had had a brother
once. Until her mother had tossed Paige to social services. Paige
had no clue where her brother was now—or even what his name
was.

If she ever found him
again—and he wasn’t a total loser, because how could he not be,
considering where he’d been raised?—she would make a point
to
never
lose
track of him again.

Chapter
Thirteen

***

Seth yanked open the Escape
door. He pulled the now awake Carrie out the door with one hand. Al
protested, but felt pretty useless still cuffed to the back seat.
She settled for rolling down the window. “What are you
doing?”

“
Tell me
about
Sebastian.”

This time it was Carrie who
held control and Al had no difficulty seeing that. Carrie smiled, a
wicked expression Al had never seen on her friend’s face before.
“What about
him
?”

“
He’s
the
husband
, isn’t
he?” His breathing was heavy and his irritation clear to see. “Why
didn’t you
tell
me? I’d have left you like a lump of hot
coal.”

“
I don’t
see how this changes things. You knew she had a husband who’d be on
her trail. That it is Sebastian should only make you understand
what kind of trouble you’re in.” Al wanted to smirk at him, but
what good would that do? The man
was
in trouble and like it or not—he was a part of
Carrie’s family.
Carrie
would
feel some loyalty to the man
who looked so much like her husband. How could she not? And that
meant that as her friend,
Al
would help
Carrie
help him. “Why didn’t you realize he worked
there?”

“
To be
honest, I wasn’t sure where
I
was, let alone my brothers.” He still had a hold
of Carrie, but it was a gentle hold now. “First thing to do is get
baby sister here back where she belongs. Then I need to avoid that
idiot brother of mine. Because I doubt he’d just sit back and relax
knowing I’m out here. He likes to butt his nose into things he
shouldn’t. Likes to
fix
things. Very annoying of him.”

“
He says the same about
you. Can you uncuff Al? We can go somewhere, get something better
to eat and figure out what to do to help you.”