The Fugitive's Secret Child. Geri Krotow

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СКАЧАТЬ Yet he still held his arm up. His muscles were tight under his dirty olive T-shirt and cargo pants, but that wasn’t her problem. Or advantage. His ass, at once familiar and strange, could solve her obvious mental stress. Justin had had a tattoo on his butt. Certainly this man did not.

      She forced herself to not try to find said tattoo and straightened. She looked him in his good eye. “Mess with me and I’ll kill you. Got it?”

      “Roger.”

      Gunshots erupted again, and this time they were followed by the sounds of footsteps outside the building. Three men had emerged from the structure, but Trina didn’t wait to ID them. She had her man and she had wheels. Time to make their escape.

      The puppy’s whimper tugged at the part of her that had nothing to do with being a hardened US marshal. Huge, liquid-chocolate-brown eyes pleaded for her mercy as he sat at her feet.

      “Damn it.” Trina reached down and grabbed the pup and handed him to the man named Rob. “Here. Keep him between us. Use your good arm to hang on to me. Get on.”

      The puppy seemed to sense this was for the best as he settled without fanfare between Trina and her captive. Rob Bristol reached his good arm loosely around her middle, keeping the puppy safe on the seat. The tiny sparks she imagined dancing on her skin weren’t any kind of awareness; she simply noticed that his fingers brushed her waist. He’s probably a criminal anyway, not a government agent or LEA.

      And he wasn’t, couldn’t possibly be, Justin, no matter how many times she’d fantasized that Justin had somehow survived that secret mission all those years ago. They’d never recovered his body, though. That had always haunted her.

      “Hang on.” It was her only warning before she gunned the engine, zigzagging over the road she’d memorized, and aimed for the main highway. One thing she knew about bad guys, they usually didn’t like to travel during the day on a major thoroughfare. Too risky. If she could get herself and this unknown-government-agency-dude there, they’d be in the clear.

      He kept his arm around her waist, holding more tightly on the bumpy patches, remaining silent save for an occasional unintelligible murmur. Groans of pain, she guessed.

      All she had to do was get them to the car, move the branches out of the way, and drive out of here. If she was taking him to Harrisburg, she’d make the most of the few hours’ drive. Trina had a lot of questions for this man once they were free of their pursuers.

      * * *

      “Ma’am, the US marshal from the Harrisburg office is on line one.” The Trail Hikers receptionist’s voice came over Claudia’s computer speaker.

      “Thanks, Jessica.” Trail Hikers agency Director Claudia Michele pressed the key that put the secure, encrypted call through. A retired US Marine Corps two-star general, Claudia thrived on live ops and knew her agents were the best in the world. She trusted that Corey from the US Marshals had followed through and one of his team had managed to get Rob out of the ROC op gone wrong.

      “Hi, Corey. I hope you have good news.”

      “Absolutely. My marshal reports that she’s got a man who says his name is Rob Bristol, but won’t say who he works for. That sound about right, General?” Corey and the US Marshals as a whole weren’t privy to what Trail Hikers was all about, but like other LEAs in the area he had been told enough to be able to help out Claudia when one of her agents was at risk. She’d gone straight to Corey when she’d found out he had two marshals already in the area.

      Claudia sat up straight. “Yes, that’s him. Where did she run into him?”

      She listened as Corey related the details of his marshal’s situation, and as he spoke she worked on her computer, finding the affirmation she needed. There’d been no word from Rob since earlier today, and it wasn’t because he’d lost comms due to weather or gear failure. He’d been taken by the notorious ROC member Yuri Vasin, if what Corey relayed was correct.

      Claudia started to tell Corey to have his marshal go to a location where another TH agent would get Rob. Then she stopped, remembering the reason Rob had moved to Silver Valley, temporarily.

      “Corey, do you mind telling me the name of your marshal?”

      “Lopez. Trina Lopez.”

      Claudia had to stifle a long whistle, an old Marine Corps habit. She knew all there was to know about her agents—it was part and parcel of hiring someone to be a Trail Hiker. As much as she wanted to see Rob put his old demons to rest, she would have never picked a live firefight as the time to do so.

      “Tell you what, Corey. As long as Rob is good to go for now, without medical attention, have her bring him back to Harrisburg. We’ll arrange for a pickup from your office. If he needs medical assistance, have them either call in or go to the Lehigh Valley medical center in Allentown. We have a special team there for this type of circumstance.”

      “Will do. I have another marshal in the area but I’ve called him off. In light of your man’s appearance, the fewer eyes on him the better, I figure.”

      “You’re absolutely right.” Claudia finished working out details with Corey and then disconnected the call. Rob wasn’t going to be happy he’d run into Trina in this manner, but sometimes fate nudged things along. She knew that firsthand from her working relationship with Silver Valley PD’s chief, Colt Todd. What had started as a business connection turned into much more as they spent time together. She fingered her wedding band, which Colt had slid on not too long ago. Claudia wasn’t one to stick her nose in her agents’ personal lives, but if she helped any of them come to resolution over a private matter, it was better for their entire Trail Hikers team. TH work was fast-paced, intense and often deadly. The more emotionally stable her agents were, the better.

      Of course, the US marshal Rob was interested in was married, at least she had been three years ago, from what he’d said. It pained her whenever one of her agents was hurting, physically or otherwise. But if this was the “ripping off the bandage” work that Rob needed to do to move on with his life, she was all for it.

      She shifted in her executive chair and moved her mouse over the satellite image of where Rob and Trina had reunited. Reports were coming in that Vasin had been taken into custody, but there was no sign of the big ROC boss, Ivanov. Vasin had better talk, because Ivanov was still at large.

      * * *

      Rob couldn’t believe it. He’d taken the temporary Trail Hikers position to be closer to where he knew Trina had settled down. She’d returned to her family’s native city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Since he’d finally realized he needed to see her again, gain closure from the intense affair they’d had, and admit to her that she’d been the one thought that got him through it, that is. His counselor as well as his boss at Trail Hikers both confirmed what he knew but hadn’t wanted to follow through on. He had to face Trina one last time, no matter if she was happily married and settled down with another. It was crucial to keep the PTSD from flaring up again and messing up a mission. Not that it ever had, but he didn’t want it hanging over his head forever.

      When he’d first met the counselor and decided to gain closure with Trina, he thought he’d drive up to Silver Valley for a day, face her, then drive back to the condo he owned in Arlington, Virginia. Then the Trail Hikers opportunity had opened up six months ago when he’d turned in his CIA resignation. He was done with the hard stuff. But his CIA handler knew that a man like Rob never retired from clandestine ops. He’d connected Rob with Trail Hikers and the rest СКАЧАТЬ