Under the Marshal's Protection. Kathleen Tailer

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ for the choices he makes, as well as the consequences of his actions. You can’t live his life for him.”

      “Deep down, I know you’re right, but it doesn’t make it any easier to accept. I want the people I care about to be successful and happy. I love him too much to see him throw everything away like this.” A silent tear rolled down her cheek, but she wiped it away angrily and resolved not to cry in front of the stranger. The marshal seemed like a nice enough man, but he was clearly interested in finding Michael because of his job, not because he truly cared about him. It was up to her to look out for Michael’s best interests. But how could she do that without talking to Michael first? She wished she could know more about what was really going on and hear his side of the story. She pulled out her cell phone and double-checked that it was on and the batteries were fully charged. She needed to talk to Michael. Then somehow, someway, they were going to make it through this. All she needed now was to figure out how.

      FOUR

      Jessica paced back and forth in the narrow hotel room, thinking that if she stayed in this small space much longer, she was going to go stir crazy. She’d been here for two days already, and the waiting was starting to get to her. A hotel room was a hotel room. There wasn’t much to do except watch TV, and she found little pleasure in television, even if she did have fifty channels to choose from. She had made six desperate calls to Michael in the last twenty-four hours, but so far she still hadn’t heard from him. The fact that he hadn’t responded made her wonder if Michael was even still alive, especially knowing what she did about Coastal and the danger he was in. The fear twisted in her stomach and made it even harder for her to sit still in the small, confining room.

      During her short time in protective custody with the marshals she had met two new deputies. Jake Riley was apparently the technology expert and had all the equipment set up to trace the call if and when Michael finally contacted her. He also seemed to be the leader of the group but let the others do their jobs with very little interference. Dominic and Chris Riggs had been taking turns keeping watch over Jessica and continuing their search for Michael via other means. They had tracked down an address where Michael had lived two months ago in a small suburb of Atlanta, and had local deputies talking to neighbors and trying to discover where he had moved to next. It was tedious work, and Jessica could tell from their discussions that their leads were fading fast. She was definitely their best chance at finding her brother.

      A knock at the door sent Chris to the peephole, and a few seconds later Dominic entered carrying breakfast and a plain brown paper sack. He passed out warm sausage biscuits and coffee, then little packages of sugar and cream to those who wanted them.

      “What, no donuts?” Jessica joked. She was surprised by how glad she was to see him. Although she had only known him a short time, she felt inexplicably safer with him nearby.

      “Funny,” Dominic smiled, then handed the paper sack to Jessica. “I know you’re bored. I got these for you to help pass the time.”

      Jessica opened the sack and was surprised to see a selection of mystery novels by her favorite authors whose books had lined her shelves at home. She was truly touched by his thoughtfulness. There was even a book about drawing technique and a small sketch pad with pencils included in the bag. “I can’t believe you noticed,” she said with a smile. “Thank you so much.”

      “You’re welcome, Ms. Blake.” He grinned at her. “I’ve done this enough to know that it takes more than a TV to pass the time.”

      So he had noticed that, too. “Please call me Jessica.” She grinned back at him and felt herself actually relaxing for the first time since she had come to the hotel.

      Suddenly her cell phone rang, and she jumped, then grabbed it and looked at the caller ID. “I don’t know the number.”

      Dominic gently touched her shoulder. “It’s okay. Answer anyway.” They had already established that several of Jessica’s friends called her cell phone number on occasion. The call could be coming from any one of them.

      Jessica nodded and pushed the answer button on her phone. “Hello?”

      “Jess! Are you all right?”

      Jessica sank down to the bed. The speaker was young and frantic, and it was unmistakably the voice of Michael Blake. She nodded to Dominic who had picked up a headset and was listening to the call. Across the room, Jake started to run the trace.

      “I’m okay, but, Michael, somebody came to my house and tore it apart. Then they called and threatened me. They said you stole some sort of computer disk. Michael, did you do that?”

      “Oh, Jess, I’m so sorry. I had no idea this would come back on you.”

      Jessica sighed. “Michael, answer my question. Do you have their disk? What’s all this about?”

      A beat passed, then another. “I can’t explain right now. It’s…it’s complicated.”

      Jessica noted that Michael’s voice had changed and a wave of dread swept over her. His tone was hesitant, and he was obviously avoiding the truth. It wasn’t the time or place to argue about it, though. Somehow she needed to convince Michael to turn himself in. Then they could sort all of this out together once and for all. She looked over at Dominic who was motioning with his hands to keep the conversation going.

      “Michael, I need to see you. Tell me where you are.”

      Again there was silence on the other end of the line. Finally, he spoke. “I can’t, Jess.”

      “You don’t have a choice,” she answered vehemently. “They said they were going to kill you and me in two more days if you didn’t give them the disk. I need to understand, Michael. I want to try to help you.”

      “Oh, Jess…”

      “Tell me where you are. I’ll come and get you and we’ll figure this out together.”

      Dominic shook his head at this one, but Jessica pushed forward, ignoring him. “Michael, I don’t want you to get killed, and I’m in no hurry to die, either. This is a huge problem you can’t deal with by yourself. Let me help you. Please.”

      Silence met her plea for such a long time that she thought he might have hung up. Finally, he spoke. “Are you still at the house?”

      “No, I didn’t feel safe there, so I’m in Tallahassee with friends. They tore up my home pretty badly anyway. There’s not much left.”

      “Meet me at the bagel shop in two hours. You know which one. Come alone, Jess. Don’t bring your friends.” The phone clicked, and Michael was gone.

      Dominic was furious, but doing his best to hide it. He paced a few times, then strode over to Jake. “Did we get him?”

      Jake shook his head. “He’s in northern Tallahassee, but I didn’t have enough time to narrow the field any closer than that.”

      Dominic paced some more. What was Jessica doing, arranging to meet Michael in person? The last thing he wanted was to include her in the arrest. Involving civilians in arrests was unpredictable at best, and downright dangerous at worst. He rubbed his neck with his hand and rounded on her. “What were you thinking? I told you that you weren’t going to be a part of this and I meant it.”

      Jessica stood and put her hands on her hips. “And I told you I’m his sister, СКАЧАТЬ