Twin Targets (13 page)

She stole a glance at Micah. He stared straight ahead at the highway, his face as cold and hard as the macadam. If he really was the man she hoped he was, she’d hurt him badly. Doubt was a cold, hard ball in the pit of her stomach. When that man had advanced on him with the baseball bat, she’d been flooded with the urge to retract it all. To say anything that would protect him.

He hadn’t needed her protection. All he’d had to do was pull out that badge. It was like a magic talisman in a fairy tale, allowing him to do whatever he wanted. Good, in the right hands. In the wrong—

“What possessed you?” He shot the question at her, not taking his eyes from the road. “Don’t you realize how dangerous that stunt could have been?”

No answer came to mind, except the simple truth. “I wanted to be safe.”

A tiny muscle pulsed in his jaw, the only sign of movement in his taut expression. “Keeping you safe is my job. I thought you trusted me.”

“Trust works both ways, Micah.” The spurt of anger warmed her.

Now he did look at her. “What do you mean? I trust you.”

“Trust me?” Her voice went up without volition. “How can you say you trust me? You haven’t explained what’s going on. Why are you taking off on your own? Why haven’t you been in touch with your brother? You aren’t doing any of the things it would be logical to do, and yet you expect me just to go along with you.”

“Jade…” His expression changed. Softened, as the neutral, expressionless, cop mask he’d been wearing slipped away. “I’m sorry. Look, I tried to explain the situation to you.”

“Not very well.” Maybe he had attempted some sort of explanation, but it hadn’t been enough. He blew out a breath. “Look, we don’t know who the leak is, only that he or she has access to way too much confidential information on the Witness Protection Program. It can’t be clerical staff or maintenance, because they don’t have access to that. This can only be someone with a security clearance as high as mine.”

“Another deputy marshal.” She was thinking, not reacting, and that was good. She was at her best when she followed her intelligence, not her instincts.

“Or a criminal investigator. Those are the only possibilities that I can see. So I can’t follow any of the normal procedures, because if I do, he’ll be able to guess what I’m up to. Where you are.”

She considered that, logic still battling her instinctive urge to trust him. “You make it sound as if he’s omnipotent.”

“Not that. It’s one person, not the whole department. But until we know who that one person is, no important information can go through there.” His brown eyes grew darker with what seemed to be caring. “Important information like where you are.”

That was sensible enough, but… “What about your brother? You know you can trust him. You haven’t called him.”

His lips twisted a little, as if in pain. “Jackson is in charge of the investigation now. When I tried to talk to him about the need to move you, he cut me off. Dead. As if I was nobody to him.”

He probably didn’t realize how much pain threaded through his words, and how much it revealed of the person he was. Her heart twisted.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I know how much that hurt.”

“Jackson goes by the rules. Everyone who knows him knows that. Ordinarily—well, I wouldn’t like it. But I’d go along with it. Not this time.”

His words seemed to vibrate in the enclosed space.

“Why not this time?” she almost whispered.

“Because I let my fear for you get in the way.”

He said it quietly, but it shook her as nothing else could.

“I’m sorry.” Her voice thickened. “I don’t want to cause problems for you with your brother.”

He blew out a breath that might almost be a sigh. “Don’t think that. This is between Jackson and me, and it’s not really anything new. He’s always thought of me as a kid.”

“How do you think of him?” She probably already knew the answer to that.

He shrugged. “My big brother the FBI super-agent?

He’s a hero, like our dad. Someone I’ve tried all my life to live up to. And never quite made it.”

She thought of what he’d said and what he hadn’t said. “He loves you.”

“I don’t doubt he loves me.” That betraying muscle twitched in his jaw again. “But respect me as a federal officer? That’s another question.”

She finished the thought. Because of this, he might never earn his brother’s respect. Despite Micah’s protestations, it seemed very likely that she’d caused a breach between them.

“He’s been trying to reach you, hasn’t he?”

Micah’s strong hands tightened on the wheel. “My brother, my boss…you name it, they’ve all been calling me.”

In other words, he was getting himself into serious trouble trying to protect her.

“Micah, why don’t you just call him? Tell him what you’re doing and why. Surely he’ll understand that you’re just trying to keep me safe. He knows you. He won’t doubt you, even if he doesn’t agree.”

“If I call him now, he’ll tell me to turn around and bring you back. We’ll be right where we were.” His forehead creased in a frown. “Look, as soon as I’ve gotten you to the lodge, I’ll call him. At least then I’ll know you’re okay. By then, his team should be in place, and they can take over.”

Micah’s gaze consulted the rearview mirror as he spoke, watching out for trouble. Looking out for her, as he had from the day they met.

She couldn’t doubt him, not now. “Okay,” she said. He shot a look at her. “Really? You’re not going to run to any more truckers with a wild story?”

“I promise.” She mimed crossing her heart. “Was it really such a bad thing? I mean, it turned out all right, didn’t it?”

“I hope.” He reached out, flicking on the CB radio on the dash. “The danger is that they’ll talk. If the chatter reaches the wrong ears…”

He let that die away, but she understood. She’d made his job harder. She’d put them in more danger. If the bad guys caught up to them, it would be her fault. Micah’s prayers seem to be falling into a pattern—a plea to be assured that he was doing the right thing for Jade. He’d acted on instinct, but hadn’t the events proved him right? If he hadn’t reached the hotel garage when he did, Jade would be dead.

The stark thought was an icy hand around his heart. No more second-guessing. He’d acted, and now he’d deal with the consequences. Fortunately, so far the chatter on the radio was mostly about the weather. It was worsening, of course. What else could he expect on a wintry January day in Montana? Flakes had been drifting down from a concrete-gray sky for the past half hour, but now they seemed to be getting denser by the moment.

Protect us, Father. I don’t see what else to do but this.

“The snow is getting worse.” Jade pressed one hand against the dash as she leaned forward to peer through the windshield. “I should be getting used to this by now, but I haven’t.”

“Pittsburgh gets its share of snow, doesn’t it?”

“Not like this. Anyway, in the city there’s always a building to break up the scenery. You don’t get this expanse of white, stretching so far you can’t see where the road ends.” She rubbed her arms, as if just looking at the snow made her cold.

“Staying on the road can be a matter of instinct.” He smiled, hoping to reassure her. “Or maybe dumb luck.”

“If I rely on that…”

He cut her off with a raised hand, zeroing in on the radio. His gut clenched as he listened to the chatter. Some trucker, probably bored with staring into endless snowflakes, was recounting the episode at the truck stop. Others chimed in. Jaw hard, he snapped it off.

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”

Jade sounded so dismayed that he couldn’t summon up any annoyance that things had turned out exactly as he’d feared.

“Forget it. Things happen, and we deal with them.” He smiled, hearing his father’s voice in his memory. “My dad used to say that to every misfortune, from a glass of spilled milk to a wrecked car. It’s not a bad piece of advice to live by, I’ve always thought.”

“If they find us because of what I did…” She let that trail off, her fingers closing into fists on her knees. He might have known she wouldn’t let it go that easily.

“Hey, take it easy. It was actually a very enlightening experience. I enjoyed seeing Jade the librarian turn into Jade the actress. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“I didn’t, either.” Her hands relaxed a little at his lighthearted tone. “I’ve never done anything like that before. Too shy, or maybe too much of a coward. Ruby…Ruby wouldn’t hesitate to make a scene.”

“True.” He and Ruby had clashed loudly a couple of times when he was getting her settled. “Just because the two of you looked alike, it doesn’t necessarily follow that you’d have the same personality.”

“Do you think you’re like your brother?”

The question slipped under his guard. Ordinarily he’d deflect questions about Jackson with a quip, but Jade was different. He wanted to let her in.

“In some ways, I guess. Choice of profession, to name the obvious. And we both look a bit like our father. Otherwise…well, it’s sometimes seemed to me that we are about as different as could be.” He darted a glance at Jade, to find her eyes focused on him intently. “He operates on rules and logic. You should like that.”

“You follow your instincts. Your heart.” Given the warmth of her voice, it didn’t sound as if she had any desire to swap him out with his brother.

“I’m not sure.…” His gaze flickered to the rearview mirror, and his breath hitched. For miles and miles there hadn’t been another vehicle on the road. Now a pair of headlights pierced the thickening snow.

“What is it?” Jade swiveled, her eyes widening at the sight of the headlamps behind them.

“It could be anybody,” he said quickly, but dread was pooling in his gut. The spacing and height of the headlamps told him it was probably a sedan. Even as he watched, the vehicle sped up, closing on them. He focused on the road ahead, trying to see beyond the swirling flakes. “Keep an eye on them. Let me know if they get any closer.”

“Right.” She sounded calm, but her hand gripped the edge of the seat until her knuckles were white. He accelerated cautiously, checking the screen of his GPS system, hoping to spot an exit.

“They’re closer.” Stress put an edge to Jade’s voice.

“It’s the maroon sedan.”

“Okay.” He reached out to squeeze her hand quickly.

“Make sure your seat belt is tight. I’ll try to stay ahead of them enough to get off at the next exit. We can’t lose them on the interstate.”

His hands gripped the wheel, and he squinted into the snow. It was getting close to a whiteout. Any sensible driver would slow down in this, but the car behind them grew rapidly closer.

They’d be on his bumper in a few more minutes. He pressed the gas, feeling the tires bite into the snow. His truck might be old, but it was solid. The guy behind him was either supremely confident of his driving ability or a total idiot. He was still closing.

Murmuring a silent prayer, he accelerated, dividing his attention between the road ahead and the rearview mirror. If he went off the road, he and Jade would be done for. The sedan loomed in the mirror like an animal springing on its prey. And then the lights swerved crazily. He held his breath, watching in the mirror as the driver struggled to regain control. The sedan spun for a long moment, skating across the road. Then it smashed into a snowbank.

“They’re off the road.”

“Thank You, God.”

Jade’s soft murmur touched his heart. He looked at the GPS screen.

“They could get back on the road again fairly quickly, depending on what damage they’ve done. We can’t take a chance. There’s an exit ramp coming up. We can get off there and hope the snow hides our tracks.”

“Are there any towns? Any place where we can get help?”

“Afraid not.” He tried to quell the worry that roiled within him. If he was making the wrong decision, he was risking Jade’s life.

“It’s okay.” Jade seemed to be reading his thoughts. “I trust your judgment, Micah.”

He nodded, the lump in his throat making speech impossible.

The exit lane opened up in front of them, unplowed but passable. Murmuring a silent prayer, he took the ramp. The two-lane side road was as snow-covered as the interstate. Trees crowded close on either side, their dark green shadows giving a respite from the endless white. He spared a glance for the mirror. “I don’t see anything.”

Jade turned in her seat, peering behind them. “Maybe we’ve lost them.”

“We can hope.” He wasn’t willing to grant that entirely, but the thought encouraged him. Maybe he was going to make this work. It wasn’t really that far to the lodge, and once he had Jade safe—

Black ice. He knew it as soon as he hit it, but that was already too late. The vehicle spun crazily, the wheels searching for traction where there was none. He steered into the skid, fighting to regain control, but it was impossible, the road was like a malevolent entity, gobbling them up. A tree loomed ahead of them. They slid toward it. He fought the wheel, trying to avoid it, but he couldn’t, they were going to hit—

Jade—his thoughts reached out to her. They hit in an explosion of sound, and everything went black.

THIRTEEN

Jade pressed herself upright in the seat, trying to make sense of what had happened. She stared at a jagged star pattern for a moment before realizing it was the shattered windshield.

The truck—they’d slid on the ice. They’d hit a tree. Micah—

She tried to turn toward him. Pain shot through her knees. Her breath catching, she forced herself to look at Micah. He slumped forward, as still as death. Blood dripped down over the steering wheel. Her heart thundered against her ribs as she unfastened her seat belt and scooted closer to him.

“Micah, are you all right?” Stupid question. Obviously he wasn’t all right. She reached toward him, almost afraid to touch him.

Lord, protect him. Show me what to do. If You hear me, show me what to do.

She grasped his shoulders, then reconsidered and braced his head with one hand as she moved him away from the steering column. He slumped back against the seat. Blood ran down his face from a cut in his forehead, and his eyes were closed.

He was alive. She pressed her fingers against his throat, memories of her most recent first-aid class jumbling in her mind. His skin was warm and the pulse thudded reassuringly. Get the bleeding stopped, that was the first priority, wasn’t it? Obviously no one was going to come along and help them. She was on her own.

She took a moment to assess herself. She must have cracked her knees on the dashboard when they hit, a reminder of the fact that the truck was too old to have airbags. She’d undoubtedly have plenty of bruises tomorrow, but everything seemed to be working. Micah wasn’t so fortunate.

“You’re going to be fine.” She turned, rummaging in the backseat for something to stop the bleeding. Reassure the patient. Never mind if your own nerves were screaming. “Just a cut on your head, that’s all.”

Was
that all? He had lost consciousness, and that couldn’t be good. And she wouldn’t know if anything else hurt him unless—until—he woke.

Her groping fingers touched a duffel bag, and she pulled it toward her. It was a gym bag, maybe, packed for a workout. She yanked out a white T-shirt and wadded it up. Holding his head steady, she pressed the shirt against the cut. The bleeding had already slowed in the time it had taken to find a compress, and now his lack of consciousness worried her more than anything.

“Micah!” she said his name sharply. “Micah, wake up. Do you hear me?”

He groaned. His dark eyelashes flickered against his skin.

“That’s right, come on, wake up. We were in an accident. I need you to wake up.”

She knew only too well that panic edged her voice, and she tried to suppress it. They were alone, miles from anywhere, snow falling thickly around them. She could well imagine being stuck there until someone uncovered them in the spring thaw.

“Micah, wake up! I need you.”

“Don’t…shout.” His voice was a husky whisper, but it sounded comfortingly annoyed. “What happened?”

His eyes opened, and he seemed to make an effort to keep them that way.

“We slid off the road and hit a tree. Micah, talk to me.”

But his eyes had closed again, and a slight frown was the only response.

She had to get help. Holding the pad on his forehead with one hand, she reached out with the other and snagged the strap of her handbag, pulling it toward her. She yanked out her cell phone and flipped it open. Nothing. Not a single bar showed. They really were in the middle of nowhere.

Micah had used the radio to listen to the truckers. That meant he could talk on it, didn’t it? Hampered by her ignorance, she fumbled with it to no avail. She slapped her hand against the dash.

“I can’t get the radio to work. Or the cell phone. I guess we’re on our own.” She was talking as much for her benefit as his, trying to stave off panic. “I’m going to try to start the truck, but I’ll have to move you to do that.”

Gently, she took the pad away from the cut and let out a relieved sigh. The bleeding had slowed to a sluggish trickle. He might need stitches, but at least he wasn’t going to bleed to death.

More likely freeze to death. If she couldn’t get the car started and get some heat for them…

Well, no sense in thinking about the worst. “You’re going to have to help me, Micah.”

No response. She’d have to do it herself.
Give me strength, Lord.

Thankful for her boots and wool slacks, she zipped her jacket and shoved open the door on her side. She slid out, sinking into the snow nearly to the tops of her boots. Dense flakes blew in her face and stuck to her hair. She pulled her hood up and made her way around the 4x4, squinting through the driving snow to assess the situation. It could be worse. They weren’t too far off the road and were nearly level with its surface. If the vehicle would start, she ought to be able to get it back on the road. If. First things first. She had to get Micah out of the driver’s seat before she could do anything. She opened his door and climbed up next to him.

It wouldn’t be easy to get him over the center console and into the other seat, even if he could help, and at the moment, he lolled back, boneless as a rag doll. She unhooked his seat belt, slid her arm under his and attempted to lift him toward the other seat.

Minutes later she was sweating in spite of the cold, and she hadn’t moved him an inch. She bit her lip. She’d never get it done without his help.

“Micah!” She grabbed his shoulder and shook him gently. “Wake up. You have to help me.”

This time when his eyes opened they seemed to focus. A gleam of intelligence encouraged her. “Jade.”

“Right. Jade. Come on, you have to help me. You need to move into the other seat so I can start the car.” His eyes began to drift shut, and she shook him again. “Don’t do that. Keep your eyes open. Whatever you do, keep your eyes open.”

He lifted his hand to his head, and she stopped it before he could touch the cut. He grimaced. “Banged myself up. You okay?”

“I’m fine. Nothing but a few bruises. Do you think you can slide over to the other seat?”

“I’ll try,” he muttered. He reached toward the seat, raising himself a couple of inches before slumping back again. “Dizzy. Wait a sec.” He grabbed the steering wheel, levering himself with it.

He wasn’t going to make it. She slid her arm around him, took as much of his weight on her as she could. “On three, okay?”

He managed a nod.

“One, two.” She took a breath. “Three.”

She heaved. He pulled. His jacket snagged on the gearshift, and she yanked it free. Somehow, between them, they got him into the other seat. He leaned back, white and sweating. Blood trickled down his forehead again.

“I’m sorry. Your head probably needs stitches. I shouldn’t have tried to make you move.” But what else could she have done?

“S’okay. Did right.” He shut his eyes for a second, but he didn’t lose consciousness. “First-aid kit. In the back.”

Encouraged, she crawled behind the seats, finding the first-aid kit, along with a blanket, water, matches and candle, standard kit for driving in a Montana winter. She slid back into the front, dropping her bounty between them, and ripped open an antiseptic packet.

She leaned across him to swab off the cut, bracing herself on the seat to keep from putting her weight on him. He winced at her inexpert care, but he didn’t make a sound. Quickly she dabbed on first-aid cream and put on a butterfly bandage. She surveyed it doubtfully.

“Maybe I should…”

He pushed her hand away. “It’s fine.” He sounded fretful. “Just get us back on the road.”

“I’ll try.”

She turned the key, uttering a silent prayer. Amazingly enough, the motor caught on the first effort. The truck might be old, but Micah probably kept it perfectly maintained. Now… She peered back over her shoulder. The road was there somewhere, obscured by the swirling snow. If she went straight back, they should hit it. She struggled to get the shift into Reverse. Stepped on the gas. And heard the wheels spin frantically, probably digging them deeper into the snow.

Micah braced himself, sitting upright with an effort that made his lips tighten. “Rock it,” he said. “Go forward, then back, quick as you can.”

She shoved the stubborn gearshift. It had been too long since she’d driven a vehicle with a stick shift. She was spoiled, that was all. Why couldn’t she do such a simple thing now, when their safety depended on it?

Micah watched, frowning as if it was an effort to focus. He was probably thinking that he could do it much better himself.

“It’s no use.” She pounded the steering wheel. “I can’t do it.”

“Sure you can. Give it another try.”

He wasn’t giving up. She couldn’t, either.

Another rock, another failure. The wheels spun in the snow. Try again. Again, sending up a despairing prayer. Finally she got the knack of it. The wheels caught. Euphoria surged through her as the vehicle shot backward onto the road, jolting to a stop when she hit the brake.

“We did it.”

“You did it.” His lips lifted in a faint smile. “Good work.”

She wanted to stop time right there, to enjoy the moment of shared triumph, but she couldn’t. For all they knew, their pursuers could be right behind them. They couldn’t call for help, and the snow fell as thickly as ever.

“We should get going.” She put the vehicle in gear and heard an ominous mutter from the engine. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“It’ll get us there. Always been reliable.” His eyes drifted shut, and he seemed to force them open. “Don’t let me go to sleep.”

“I won’t,” she promised. “No matter what.”

She nursed the 4x4 down the snowy road, peering into swirling whiteness, trying to keep them in the faint depressions that marked another vehicle’s passage. She talked, asked questions, talked nonsense, anything to keep Micah awake.

She talked about anything and everything except the important thing, the thing that filled her heart and mind with astonishment. Somehow, during those moments when their safety hung in the balance, she’d recognized the truth. She loved him. She loved Micah with all her heart. She had no idea what he felt for her. She didn’t know whether they’d even live long enough to make it matter. But at the moment they were here, together, alive. That was all she cared about.

* * *

Micah’s mind finally started to clear. He turned toward Jade. A wave of dizziness hit, so that for an instant he thought the vehicle was spinning on ice again. He braced his hand against the dash until the spinning stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Jade’s concern reached out to touch him, even though she didn’t take her eyes from the road ahead.

“Nothing.” He hated admitting weakness, but if they were going to survive this, he better be honest. “A little dizzy when I move my head, that’s all.”

“You need to be seen by a doctor.” Jade’s hands were so tense on the wheel that her fingers were bone-white.

“No chance of that right now. Anyway, I’ll be okay. I’ve had worse hits than this on a high school football field and gone right back in.”

“You probably lied to the coach and told him you were fine.”

“I probably did. Teenage boys can be pretty dumb about things like that. Too busy trying to be macho to think straight.”

“Well, don’t go all macho on me now.” She swung a quick glance at him before riveting her gaze to the road again. “Be honest about it.”

“I’ll be honest with you about everything, Jade.” That was a pretty big statement for a man in his line of work, but he meant every word. “I promise.”

“Thank you.” Her voice went husky on the words.

“So, even though I’d like to insist on taking the wheel, I won’t, since I’m seeing double every time I move my head.”

Talking was helping, though. It seemed to speed up his sluggish mental processes.

“I’d be happy to be able to see just one road at this point.” Every line in Jade’s body was tense. “I keep feeling as if I could go off the berm and not even know it.”

“You’re doing fine.” He longed to soothe the tension from her neck and shoulders, but he didn’t dare touch her. Neither of them could stand the distraction right now. Instead he reached for the GPS, tilting it so that he could see the screen. Nothing.

“I’m afraid that’s what you hit your head on,” Jade said.

“Looks like it didn’t do either of us much good.” A glance at the radio told him that wasn’t an option. He fumbled in his pocket for his cell phone.

“I tried mine when…when you weren’t coming round.”

There was a telltale tremor in her voice. “I couldn’t get a signal.”

He’d scared her, in other words. She’d been in trouble, and he’d been out cold.

He turned his on. “Not much here, either, but I’ll give it a try.” He punched in Jackson’s cell number. It seemed to take forever. Finally he heard the faint sound of a connection, but the call went straight to voice mail. Better than nothing.

“Micah here. We’re on the road paralleling I-90, trying to get Jade to Stan Guthrie up at Black Creek Lodge. She’ll be safe there until you can arrange protection.” He hoped he didn’t sound as worried as he felt. Hoped Jackson would get this. “The shooters in the maroon sedan from the parking garage were on our tail, but I think we’ve lost them. I’ll contact you when we get there.” He clicked off in a haze of static.

“Did it go through?”

He read the fear in her voice. “I think so. When he gets it…” he wouldn’t say if. Jade was spooked enough already “…he’ll probably send a backup team straight to the lodge to meet us. Meanwhile, let’s just look on the bright side.”

“And that would be?” A little of the spirit came back into her words.

“Well, we’re alive. And we haven’t seen anything of our followers for miles. We’ll have to hope they’re still sitting out there on the interstate, waiting for a tow.”

“Being alive is definitely a high point.” Her tension seemed to ease a bit. “There were moments when I had my doubts, especially when I saw that tree coming at us.”

The memory swept over him, and he couldn’t maintain the light tone. “I’m sorry, Jade. It’s my fault you’re in this situation. I thought…”

“Just stop.” She sent him a look that was nearly a glare. “Don’t you apologize to me for trying to keep me alive. I won’t listen to that. Okay?”