Sworn to Protect (Vows of the Heart) (8 page)

His hand enc
ouraged Bethany to step forward, but she stubbornly refused.

“It’s okay, Bethany. Holly is right, it’s procedure.”

She huffed a sigh. “I don’t want her to touch me. You know I don’t have any weapons. Why isn’t that good enough for her?”

Why indeed?

“Agent Holly, we seem to have a bit of a problem. Bethany is refusing to consent to the search.”

“Damn it, Lancaster, I’ve got
regs to follow.”

That’s why she was such a good agent. “I’m sorry Holly, she is within her rights.”

“She’s not under arrest.”

“I’m not a suspect either…am I?” Bethany asked.

“Of course not.”

“I don’t like people touching me.”

Holly looked pointedly at Ethan, his hand still on her back.

“That’s different,” Bethany snapped. “He saved my life…twice.”

Ethan sighed. He had to find a way to break the stalemate. “Bethany,” he said softly. “How about if I do the pat-down and Holly observes?”

Her teeth worried her lower lip. “Okay,” she said slowly.

“Holly,” Ethan said. “She’s agreed to allow me to do it. Would that work for you?”

Agent Holly glared at him for a long moment. “The longer we stay out here, the more danger we’re in. Okay, but be thorough.”

“Hold out your arms, take a wider stance,” he said to Bethany. She did so but her gaze shot daggers at Holly. His hands pressed against Bethany’s sides and abruptly he realized his mistake as desire again roared through him. For the first time in his life, Ethan waged a battle with himself to stay professional. But the sweet curves of her body begged for him to caress her.

He gritted his teeth and finished the pat-down as quickly as he could. As his hands passed over her jacket, he felt the hard metal of her tools and her resistance to the search suddenly made sense. Although it was legal for her to carry them, Holly would have taken them away from her. Things were too tenuous right now and Ethan didn’t blame Bethany one bit for being cautious. He finished and stepped back.

“You can go in now,” Holly said. “I’ve got some clothes for both of you in case you want to take a shower.”

Bethany did not totally relax
, but walked toward the door. Holly fell in step beside her with Ethan following. “I hope you have some food,” Bethany said.

“We do,” Holly said. They stepped through the door into a large entryway with a closet door on the left. Ahead, the entryway ended in a T with a hallway leading left and right. Ethan reached to close the front door behind him and only then realized Holly’s comment.

“We?” Ethan asked as his step hesitated. “You are supposed to be here alone.”

Holly grabbed Bethany’s arm and jerked her into the hall. Bethany cried out in alarm as the agent knocked her to the floor.

Ethan reached for his gun. His fingers closed around it just as the closet door next to him opened and a cold steel gun barrel pressed against Ethan’s temple.

One wrong move and Ethan knew was dead. His heart slammed against his ribs. He froze, then with agonizing slowness, eased his hand away from his gun and lifted both into the air.

“You got him, Jefferies?” Holly called.

“Yeah,” the man next to him said.

Holly returned, dragging Bethany with her. Ethan gritted his teeth. She twisted Bethany’s arm in a vicious hold.

“What are you doing?” Bethany asked. Her green eyes locked on Ethan’s, terrified. Ethan couldn’t bear to hold her gaze. Her fear earlier…had she somehow sensed…? Shit! He should have paid more attention to her instincts…and his own.

“Lancaster, you are under arrest for the murder of three deputy marshals, attempted murder of a fourth, and kidnapping Miss Kress,” Jefferies said.

Ethan blinked in shock. These two weren’t Cordova’s goons? They actually believed he murdered those men?

Jefferies took his gun then shoved Ethan sideways. “Hands against the wall, feet apart.” Ethan obeyed, numb with shock.

“What is going on?” Bethany snapped.

“We’re sorry, Miss Kress,” Holly said
, but didn’t release her. “Agent Jefferies has a job to do. I know you’ve been through a terrible ordeal, but Lancaster is in custody. He won’t hurt you now.”

“But he never tried to hurt me in the first place.”

“He’s under arrest.”

Bethany stared at Holly incredulous. “He saved my life and now you are arresting him?”

Ethan gazed at her while Agent Jefferies patted him down. Bethany wavered uncertainly. Her beautiful green eyes filled with tears.

“I’m sorry, Miss Kress. But we have our orders.”

“He didn’t do anything wrong!” She tried to step forward, but Holly jerked her back.

“Miss Kress, stop or I’ll be forced to put you in handcuffs too.”

“It’s all right, Bethany,” Ethan said softly. He wanted to hold her in his arms and ease her fear. “These two obviously don’t work for Cordova or we’d both be dead by now. We’ll get this mess straightened out.”

Jefferies felt the brace on Ethan’s arm and hesitated. “Take off your jacket. Slowly.”

Ethan did so, he wore a long sleeve cotton shirt under his jacket. “It’s an arm brace,” he whispered, hoping Bethany couldn’t hear him. “You probably heard I was injured.”

“Yeah,” the man said, again feeling the metal. “I just need to make sure you don’t have a weapon stashed in there.” Finally satisfied, Jefferies put the cuffs on him. Ethan winced as Jefferies yanked his damaged arm behind his back. “Into the living room, both of you.”

They entered a small, but pleasantly furnished room. Jefferies sat Ethan on the couch. “We can call it in now,” he told Holly.

The woman finally released Bethany who stood in the middle of the room staring at Ethan and shaking. Her eyes gazed at him with an obvious question.
What do I do?

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” he said gently. “Do what they tell you. Don’t worry about me. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

Jefferies snorted.

Holly hung up the phone with a curse. “Damn
ed budget cuts.”

“What’s wrong?” Jefferies asked.

“They’re not sending another car until morning, so we’re stuck with him until then. After they pick him up, we’re supposed to move her to another safe house.”

“So Bethany isn’t in trouble?” Ethan asked.

“No,” Holly said. “Why would she be? You kidnapped her.”

“No, he didn’t,” Bethany said firmly.

Holly glared at her, but then her expression eased. “Look, you’re probably experiencing the beginnings of Stockholm Syndrome and that’s entirely understandable. None of this is your fault.”

Bethany’s lips pressed into a pale line and her emerald eyes sparked with fury.

“Bethany,” Ethan said, his voice firm. “Don’t pay attention to her. She doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about. She wasn’t there, she has no idea what happened.”

Holly turned on him, her face florid. “Just shut up, Lancaster!” She took two steps toward him.

Bethany moved as quick as lightning. She placed herself between Holly and Ethan. “Leave him alone.” The soft power of her voice sent a thrill through Ethan. He shook his head in disbelief. At every turn, she amazed him. The instant she perceived a possible threat, Bethany reacted in defense of him. His words to her earlier, that they only had a chance if they stuck together were truer than he had realized.

The two women glared at each other for a long moment. Ethan swallowed hard, fearing Bethany would also end up in handcuffs
at any second. Finally, Holly turned away and strode into the kitchen.

Ethan sighed in relief and Bethany did the same. She sank into the couch next to him and wrapped her arm around his, leaning heavily against him. Ethan stiffened. She had wrapped her arm around his left. Surely she could feel his brace. But she made no reaction, only watching Holly like a hawk.

Damn it! He had to get out of these cuffs. While the two appeared to be honest agents, the fact that a car wouldn’t be here until morning did not sit well with Ethan. Cordova’s mole most likely set Ethan up for a frame. Once cuffed, there would be little he could do to help defend Bethany. There would be a hit tonight and Ethan was helpless, the two agents didn’t suspect a thing, and they wouldn’t believe him if he tried to warn them.

Ethan did his best to make himself comfortable on the couch. Bethany looked up at him then rubbed the back of her neck. Her gaze slid to the door.

Crap, if she ran, she might escape the hit, but Cordova would catch her sooner or later. “Bethany,” Ethan said. “Why don’t you take advantage of that change of clothes and a shower? You’re safe with these two.”

She gazed at him a long moment as if trying to divine what he truly meant. He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

“Okay,” she said slowly.

Good. She was the unknown. Her talents made her his ace. Just like he had no idea why she had been a protected witness, he doubted if Holly or Jefferies knew.

Holly returned to the living room. “There’s only one bedroom,” she said to Bethany. “You and I will share that. Jefferies gets the couch.”

Ethan arched an eyebrow. What about him? He shook his head, he wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight anyway.

Bethany walked into the bedroom.

Ethan watched Jefferies fix himself a sandwich in the kitchen and his stomach rumbled. “I didn’t murder anyone,” he said. Even though they wouldn’t believe him, he still had to try, just for the record.
“Those marshals were on Cordova’s payroll and tried to kill Bethany. Surely, Shanahan told someone what happened.”

“Shanahan’s out of surgery
, but hasn’t regained consciousness. He lost a lot of blood and they’re afraid he won’t make it.”

Damn. That explained a lot. “Surely ballistics
—”

“The slug they recovered out of Shanahan was too damaged for ballistics, but it was the same type you use. Witnesses at the motel said you were behind him, he was shot in the back.”

“By someone approaching.”

“We found a marshal in the parking lot. Both of those bullets match your gun.”

“That’s because he was shooting at Shanahan. What about Floyd?”

“They haven’t found the bullets yet.”

“What?”

“They didn’t exit the body
, but you know what can happen if a bullet hits a bone, it can ricochet all over the place and still stay in the body. They are doing an autopsy to try to find them. You really went on a killing spree didn’t you?”

“No, I didn’t. What about Simon?”

“They couldn’t find the bullets that killed him. They were through and through. CSI went over the place with a fine tooth comb. But you know how that goes, sometimes bullets are harder to recover than the movies would like us to believe.”

“A cleaner,” Ethan muttered.

“What?”

“A cleaner. I bet that the two marshals who crashed their car when we were leaving were Cordova’s cleaners. They came in and made sure most of the evidence, except what pointed to me, was removed. That means the autopsy won’t find the bullets in Floyd’s body.”

Jefferies laughed. “You’re telling me two deputies, who also have impeccable records, came in and dug those bullets out of a corpse? Wow, you do have a great imagination.”

“Not everyone can have a stellar record.”

“Yeah and right now you’re the only fuck-up we’ve got. So what does that tell you?”

Ethan clenched his teeth. “How do you explain the parking garage at the hospital?”

“Reports of shots fired and a stolen vehicle but no—” He stopped and glared at Ethan. “You son of a bitch, who did you kill there?”

“One of Cordova’s goons. Since no one found a body, that confirms my theory of cleaners.”

“You want to hear the department's theory?,” Jefferies said, stepping forward, his fists clenched.

Ethan gathered his legs under him. If Jefferies hit him, there would be hell to pay cuffs or no.

Jefferies stopped his advance, but his voice remained hostile. “Cordova tortured you and you went over the edge, perhaps even switched teams.”

“You think I’m in league with Cordova?”

“Why not? You were undercover for two years. Others have turned against their own before. It’s a psychological game, and many times the undercover agent forgets where he came from. Your history has always been borderline. Your shrink has documented your penchant for violence and rage. He said what you’ve gone through recently is enough to make you switch sides, especially with Cordova torturing you - you made a deal with him to save your own worthless hide.”

“I haven’t switched sides,” Ethan growled. He fought to keep his temper under control. He drew a deep breath and reined in his frustration. “Look, I don’t care what the department thinks. I’m innocent and I know it will all work out in the end. But we also know for a fact Cordova’s got people on the inside, he had them in the DEA, the Marshals, and even our department.”