Guilty Pleasures Read online

  At any rate, she also understood that it wasn’t so much what you knew, but what you did with that knowledge that determined the outcome of any situation.

  She only hoped she wasn’t as rusty as some of her sculptures back at the warehouse.

  She got onto her hands and knees and searched underneath the vehicle, inspecting and prodding all the normal hitch spots along with additional ones. It didn’t appear to be wired, but there was no way to be sure. There were too many places and it was too big a vehicle to cover every inch. Besides, technology today was so advanced, a tracker could be the size of a dime and hidden under a floor mat at this point.

  Still…

  She continued searching under the car, stopping only when she hit a pair of feet standing next to the open passenger’s door.

  She sat back on her haunches and stared up at Jonathon Reece.

  “Remember when you asked why I hadn’t asked if you’d done it?”

  She squinted.

  “My answer is I don’t care.” He pulled his hands out from behind his back. “Oh, and I’m free….”

  He grasped her shoulders, pulled her up then urged her against her own vehicle, fastening her own cuffs on her.

  Mara briefly closed her eyes.

  Damn. And she’d gotten sleep.

  Then she realized maybe that was the problem. She needed caffeine. Massive quantities of it.

  “Mind if we stop somewhere for coffee?” she asked as he put her in the passenger’s seat and did up her safety belt nice and tight before rolling down her window and closing the door.

  He didn’t answer until he was buckled into the driver’s side. “I’m sure they’ll have something you like at the county lockup.”

  He started the car and did a one-eighty, heading back the way they’d come.

  Mara swallowed hard, turning her face into the hot wind coming in through the window.

  The car wasn’t the only thing that had done a one-eighty. Her mindset had taken a noticeable nosedive since he’d slapped the cuffs back on her.

  That was a lie. It had gone south when she’d spotted the gunman back at the warehouse.

  Frenemies. Wasn’t that a new word spawned recently? Although, what she was in the middle of had nothing to do with petty bickering over who had borrowed what or stolen whose boyfriend: this was a matter of life or death.

  Namely, her own.

  And then there was Reece….

  Ironic that she’d been searching for an enemy presence on her car when it had been right in front of her.

  The sun ignited the western horizon, setting the sky on fire. But she barely saw it. Instead, she imagined what waited for her at the other end of their journey.

  She’d been running on pure adrenaline since she’d originally returned to her apartment three days ago to find FBI agents waiting for her. She hadn’t had a clue what they’d wanted then, but she hadn’t been about to stick around to find out. At least not from them. So she’d run. And found out soon enough what she was wanted for.

  And understood immediately why.

  “Who were those guys back there?”

  She blinked to look at Reece.

  “At your place. The one guy had militia written all over him.”

  She stared out the window, deciding not to answer him.

  What had he said? He hadn’t asked if she’d committed the crime for what reason? Oh, yes. Because he didn’t care.

  He messed around with his cell phone, then cursed loudly and tried again. She guessed the battery was dead. Not surprising, considering how many times it had vibrated since the moment she’d restrained him back at the warehouse.

  She closed her eyes again, feeling sweat beginning to bead between her breasts under her T-shirt.

  “You can’t turn me over to the local authorities,” she said quietly.

  He probably hadn’t heard her over the roar of the engine and his own rant at his dead cell.

  He gave her a long look, proving otherwise. “Oh? Why? Coffee not up to snuff?”

  She didn’t answer for a long moment, then turned her head where it lay against the backrest, feeling exhaustion saturate her every molecule. It was more than the lack of sleep or even the lull after the adrenaline rush. This was…was…

  Antipathy.

  Complete and utter disenchantment with the world at large and specifically the people in it.

  She’d experienced it only one other time….

  She forcibly ousted the memory from her mind and instead focused on the here and now.

  Which was looking pretty bleak.

  She took a deep breath and told him, “Because you’ll be directly responsible for my death if you do, that’s why.”

  Mara wasn’t given to drama or exaggeration. She didn’t even like saying the words because they sounded too much like both. But in this case, well, the truth was the truth.

  “That’s for a jury to decide.”

  She jerked her head to stare at him, feeling her blood warm again. “Trust me, you take me to the sheriff’s? I won’t ever step inside a courtroom.”

  The militia was so well connected throughout the local and federal law enforcement communities, not to mention plugged into the electronic highway, period, that the instant her name was entered into any computer, the countdown would begin.

  Mara watched as the city limits loomed ahead. The sheriff’s office lay on the main drag, five, maybe eight minutes away. Off to the west, the sun was quickly sinking into the sand so the sky to the east was already dark. She yanked on her cuffs. There was nowhere near enough time for her to figure out how to pick them and free herself before they got there. At least not in the mental state she was presently in.

  Reece grabbed his cell phone again as if it might have magically recharged itself in the time since he put it down.

  “Do you have a phone?” he asked.

  Her answer was a stare.

  “Yes or no.”

  “No.”

  She’d ditched her cell phone on Day One. If the battery was in, it was transmitting, no matter if it was on or off. She’d thought about picking up another one that couldn’t be traced back to her, but until she had an actual need for one, what was the use?

  He tossed the cell back to the seat between them. “So I’m left to your word.”

  “Yes.”

  He slowed the car’s speed, but whether it was because he was considering his options or the speed limit had changed, she couldn’t say. He was as easy to read as a murky, rain-swollen brook on a stormy day.

  When he pulled up in front of the sheriff’s office moments later, her heart pitched.

  There it was, then.

  Damn.

  She waited for the will to fight to return, fire up her own personal engine. But everything remained eerily silent.

  Did it have something to do with him? Had she been hoping against hope that he’d listen to her? Change his mind? Take her at her word? Trust not only that what she was saying was true, but trust, period?

  Who could say? She was so tired. Not only for sleep. She was tired of running on what seemed to be a never-ending treadmill.

  With no one to rely on.

  It was one thing to know a man you had once loved had set you up for murder.

  Another to know he’d also put out a hit on you.

  She realized Reece had yet to make a move. She looked to find him staring forward, but not really at the sheriff’s office, itself. The engine was still running. His hands were still on the steering wheel. The gear was in Park.

  Hope sparked.

  Then he looked at her, shut down the engine, pocketed the keys and got out.

  “I’ll leave the keys with the desk sergeant.”

  He got out
and rounded the front of the car to her side. “Gee, thanks,” she said.

  He opened her door and helped her out.

  He led her toward the curb, grasping on to her wrists behind her back. His hold both touched and angered her in its gentleness and control.

  Mara set her back teeth and walked inside when he opened the door.

  She supposed she should be fighting him. Fighting this. But while her heart beat an increasingly energizing rhythm, she was waiting for the right time.

  “Fugitive turnover,” he said to the desk sergeant.

  The fortysomething woman behind the counter looked at him then her. “Name?”

  He told her.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  She disappeared into a windowed office where Mara watched her presumably enter her name into a computer.

  “I’d take off the cuffs, but I’m afraid you’ll coldcock me.”

  She stared at Reece, feeling the desire to do just that expand inside her. “You’re right to be afraid.”

  His gaze met hers, communicating…what, exactly? Regret? Triumph? Remorse?

  “Sorry, but the name is not coming up. Are you sure you spelled it correctly?” the sergeant said.

  Mara raised a brow at Reece.

  The two exchanged information again.

  The sergeant sighed then shrugged. “Let me go try again…”

  She went back into the office.

  The unusual activity must have caught the attention of the deputy in the neighboring office. He came out, eyeing Mara and Reece, then disappeared into the other office to talk to the sergeant who was still entering the information, apparently without success.

  “Well, well, well… What do you suppose that means?” Mara asked.

  Reece’s hold had tightened on her wrists. “Computer glitch, I’m sure.”

  “I’m sure.”

  They stood quietly while the other two conferred, the deputy picking up the phone.

  “Tick tock,” Mara said.

  Reece looked at her. “What?”

  “Nothing. Just starting the countdown clock to when we’re no longer alone.”

  “We’re not alone now.”

  “Oh? Well, I think it’s about to get a whole lot more crowded in here quick.”

  And their new guests would be unwelcome, indeed….

  5

  REECE HATED TO ADMIT IT, but he was thinking along the exact same lines. This—her name not being in the system, the odd behavior of the two sheriff’s employees, the militia-looking guys at her place—rated a blip on his own internal radar.

  While a computer error wasn’t outside the norm, he was coming to understand that there was nothing normal about this assignment. Which likely explained why a firm like Lazarus was hired on to handle it.

  He should have known this job would be anything but straightforward. But he’d allowed himself to be lulled into a false sense of security and faith in his own abilities.

  “Look, kid, there are some things in life you’re going to have to learn.” His father’s voice came to him loud and clear. “Number one, never jump into the water unless you know how deep it is. Number two, never jump into the water unless you know how deep it is.”

  He’d been eight and fishing with his dad in a northern Arizona stream during a camping trip. Something had taken his bait and he’d gone into the water, thinking somehow the action would improve his chances of reeling the fish in. Instead, he’d slipped and found himself being pulled downstream by the fish and the current. He’d taken in a lungful of water and was still grasping on to the pole for dear life when his father yanked him out by his collar and stood him on the bank.

  Right now, he was beginning to realize that the water was very deep, indeed.

  He glanced at his watch, the two employees still in the office, then at Mara, whose back had gone a little stiffer.

  He took out the pen spring he’d pocketed earlier and unlocked her cuffs.

  She glanced at him curiously as she rubbed her wrists.

  A car’s tires screeched out front. They both looked toward the street to find a beat-up red pickup truck pulling up at an angle next to the Camaro.

  One of the two men in the front seat was the guy from the warehouse.

  Somehow he got the impression they wouldn’t be the only ones showing up.

  He also didn’t think their arrival had anything to do with the communications going on in the office, if only because the deputy had caught sight of the pickup and was reaching for his firearm.

  Jon automatically lifted Mara over the counter, where he leapt after her, ducking down even as he slid his gun from his holster. The deputy had dropped the phone and was advancing on the front door and the two heavily armed men wearing camouflage approaching the building outside.

  Shit. What in the hell was going on?

  He looked at Mara. He didn’t know how, but somehow she’d gained possession of a shotgun. Perhaps the sergeant kept one behind the counter for protection. At any rate, she was expertly giving it a once-over, checking to make sure it was armed, then she looked up at him.

  In that instant, he knew there wasn’t anyone he’d rather have at his side, even if she was the reason he was in this situation in the first place.

  “Hey, what in the hell do you think you’re doing?” the deputy asked.

  Jon peered over the counter to find the deputy holding his gun on the two armed men.

  Oh, hell. This was going to be a Charlie Foxtrot and a half. While he was sure there was an armory somewhere in the building, no matter how small, there was no way to reach it between now and the time the first shot was fired. And he was pretty sure that was going to be imminent.

  He palmed his gun and prepared to make every shot count…until he felt Mara’s hand on his arm.

  He looked at her.

  She nodded toward the west wall.

  He stared down a narrow hallway to see another door there with an exit sign above it. Side access? Escape route?

  A split second was all he had.

  He indicated for her to precede him. She did, keeping low to the floor but moving faster than some people run. He caught sight of the desk sergeant watching from the other room. He waved to her. Within seconds they were at the metal door, just as the sound of the first bullets were fired….

  * * *

  MARA LED THE WAY OUT, hugging the outside wall until she emerged around the front of the building, then ran flat out for her Camaro. The desk sergeant had run out the back, using her shoulder radio to call for what Mara could only guess was help. Mara held the shotgun at the ready as Reece started up the beast. Once they were both in the car without incident, he tore off, the men only a few feet away so engrossed in shooting at each other they hadn’t even noticed Mara’s departure until she and Reece were already halfway down the street. Reece made a sharp right-hand turn before they could be targeted with any accuracy.

  She had to hand it to him; he thought fast on his feet.

  Of course, it would have helped if he’d listened to her from the beginning and never taken her to the sheriff’s.

  The engine roared and the cooler night air rushed in through the open window, blowing her hair back from her face. She let out a huge sigh of relief when they’d put the town’s lights behind them. Now, nothing but desert and a two-lane highway stretched out before them.

  She glanced at Reece. His face was set into lines as hard as the metal she worked with, his large hands wrapped around the steering wheel with purpose. Had it really only been a few minutes ago that those same hands had grasped her hips and hoisted her over the counter to protect her? Not that she’d needed it, but the fact that he’d felt compelled to give it without prompting made her skin hum with the desire to feel those hands on her
again, another purpose in mind.

  Things could have gone down very differently, indeed, had he decided to leave her there and look after himself.

  He turned off the road.

  She looked around. “What are you doing?”

  For a split second, she was half afraid he intended to go back into town.

  Instead, he went up the road a bit, stopped at a small gas station that also sold cell phones, and picked up a car charger. He’d left her in the car without a second thought, although he had taken the car keys with him. While it might have been a good idea to make a break for it while he was otherwise occupied, she couldn’t think of a safer place for her to be just then. It had been so long since she’d been able to rely on another person. And even if she didn’t feel she could completely trust him…well, he’d proved that when the chips were down, he did what was right.

  She sat quietly as he plugged the charger into the car, then his cell phone. A little messing around and the thing nearly vibrated out of his hands.

  He cursed and tossed the phone to the seat between them before starting the engine and backing out.

  “Problems?”

  He looked at her for a long moment. “Comparatively? No.”

  He didn’t say anything more. She didn’t push.

  She’d seen the display when she’d taken the phone from him back at the warehouse. “Julie” with a heart attached had been highlighted. Girlfriend? She’d fathom a yes. She’d also guess that “Julie” had been the one to add the heart. Reece didn’t seem like a “heart” kind of guy.

  Then again, what did she know? It wouldn’t be the first time she was wrong about a guy.

  She stared back out the window again, her thoughts traveling to Butler, who had set her up and who, she was sure, had sent the two goons to the sheriff’s office.

  “I don’t think your car is safe,” Reece said after they’d been driving awhile.

  She’d noticed he’d been making a large rectangle around the city. She’d absently wondered if it was because he still considered going back to the sheriff’s office.

  “I don’t mean mechanically.” She noticed the almost reverent way he touched the dusty dash. “In that regard, she’s a gem.”