Chapter 21
Dina skidded out of the way. Cole’s fist connected with Wyatt’s face as he bent to grab his package.
Anger and hatred for causing Dina grief surged out of Cole as one punch after another connected with the agent’s body and face. He wanted to go to Dina, hold her, but he couldn’t stop the onslaught of rage slamming through his veins.
The pain mixed with horror on her face had sprung him into action, to hell with FBI orders for him to stand down. They failed her once, hell he fell short by not paying attention to the news and keeping her company. It wouldn’t happen again.
Bending at the waist at the low clearance, Cole threw another blow into Wyatt’s gut. The imposter stumbled, regained his footing out on the road, and a dark shadow crossed his features, one that reinforced Wyatt was a ruthless killer. He nailed Cole with a piercing gaze, soulless eyes, as Wyatt’s fist connected with Cole’s jaw.
His head jolted backwards and he felt himself falling. He went to the ground, and used the position to swipe Wyatt’s feet out from under him.
Wyatt landed onto the road’s pavement, oxygen wheezing out of him.
Cole sensed eyes on him, people watching, but no one yelled to stop. He jumped to his feet.
Wyatt was with him. His right fist shot out, brushing his cheek as Cole ducked out of the way. Wyatt’s left fist hit his mouth.
The metallic taste of blood fueled Cole’s anger. He reared back, ready to coldcock Wyatt in the jaw with his right hand when Wyatt swung at his nose. Cole flinched and caught Wyatt’s wrist, then forced his arm back over his shoulder.
Wyatt kicked out, knocking Cole’s legs out from under him.
He fell on the rough pavement, pain spearing through his knee.
“Cole.” Dina’s voice was barely above whisper, but he heard the urgency in her voice as if she’d shouted.
He snapped his gaze away from Wyatt to her and the life drained out of him.
A man with dread locks, black eyes, banded his sleeveless arm around her neck and held a gun to her head. “No more.” He directed his icy voice and dark glare toward Cole. “Fight anymore, you’re as good as dead.”
Cole scanned the visible area, lit from the junker’s headlights. Fifty feet away, Vince crept up behind the man holding Dina.
With the red truck crashing into Agent Calder’s car, Cole’s and Dina’s only hope rested in the hands of a man who abandoned Dina a decade ago.
Movement appeared in Cole’s peripheral vision, a second before a hard object connected with the side of his face. Pain stabbed through his cheekbone and eye. The road’s hard surface marred every inch of his skin.
Fuck! He’d be glad when that stopped hurting. Grinding his teeth, he swiftly moved on his stomach to the edge of the trailer, out of Wyatt’s reach, and jumped to his feet. The knife he claimed earlier weighed heavily in his pants pocket and now nudged him in the hip, reminding him he had a weapon at his disposal. He couldn’t take the chance of using it until Dina was safe.
He took a quick survey, and found Dina still in the clutches of Dreads. The pain in her wide eyes sent a painful ache through his body, worse than the ass-beating he just received.
“In my car now!”
Cole snapped his gaze to a dark-haired, gypsy-looking woman, coming into view from around the trailer. Looking as if she could spit nails, she yelled again, “Now!” Punctuating her order with a finger pointing to the ground.
Vince rushed the woman from behind, quickly putting her in a chokehold.
“What’s it going to be?” Vince asked, pressing his palm on the side of the woman’s head, nudging it forward. “A little more pressure and her neck will snap in two.”
Dread’s eyes narrowed. “You do, your woman dies.” The muscles in his arms flexed, emphasizing he meant what he said.
Dina struggled, tears filling her eyes. .
“Don’t!” Wyatt held up his palms. “She’s a goldmine.”
As much as eagerness and urgency tore at Cole’s core to finish clobbering Wyatt, he watched and waited for Dreads’ response.
Dreads gave a single nod and hauled Dina backwards, his arm still banding her neck.
A wall of red hot rage shot into Cole, and his grit went into overdrive. He slid the knife out of his pocket, pushed the blade’s button, and lunged at the man standing in the way of him reaching Dina.
Wyatt met him halfway and plowed his shoulder into Cole’s gut, propelling him backward as if he was a sack of potatoes. Wyatt didn’t stop until Cole’s back slammed into the sharp edge of the metal trailer. He drew in puffs of air and clawed at the back of Wyatt’s shirt, fighting to stay upright.
Cole regained his balance and did what he never thought possible. He plunged the five inch blade just left of the center of another man’s chest.
The grip on Cole relaxed as Wyatt stumbled backwards, gasping for breath. “It wasn’t my choice,” he wheezed, falling to his knees.
Cole braced his hands on his thighs, dragging in air, and eyed the FBI agent gone rogue. “What wasn’t your choice?”
“The women,” he gasped. “I was stuck—”
Cole stared at Wyatt’s body slumping to the ground, his mind replaying the words, I was stuck. His knee-jerk reaction to Wyatt’s admission was, “bullshit.” No situation was ever bad enough to hurt another person.
Urgency to get to Dina spiked through his system. He raced to where Dina and Vince had stood.
Empty.
Nerve-wracking terror crashed into Cole’s pounding heart. He darted around the corner toward the wrecked truck.
A single gunshot echoed in the night.
An invisible death-grip tightened his throat. The road and buildings warped. Sound faded. Cole’s fear came to fruition, the worst moment of his life.
He needed eyes on Dina now!
Cole forced his legs to move faster into the darkness. The small amount of glow, seeping around the trailer from the junker’s headlights, gave him a visual to the only other intact car, parked next to the overturned truck.
The cloud pattern shifted and the moon brightened the darkened sky. Beyond the downed trailer, demolished truck, past the crinkled unmarked car, hope soared, clenching Cole’s heart and stealing his breath. He stopped and stared, not sure if he could believe his eyes.
The moon spotlighted Dina standing in the middle of the wreckage, staring at the road, her body shaking. Fright and pain visible in her profile felt like a bullet to his chest, forcing the wind out of his lungs and weakening his muscles.
Her gaze left whatever caught her attention and she peered over her shoulder. Their gazes locked. In that moment of time, no one else existed, not the swirling bright blue and red lights approaching or the loud sirens demanding attention.
Too afraid if he ran, his legs would give out from the overwhelming emotions, he walked toward her.
Not moving her gaze from his, she pulled her lips inward and wiped a hand across her face. She’d been through so much. Instinctively, he wanted to pull her to him, feel her warmth against his chest. Afraid sudden movement might scare her, he tempered his urge and stopped in front of her. “Awe, babe.” He stroked a finger down her cheek and searched her face.
Tears welled in her eyes, and something more frightening smeared across her skin—a reddish-brown color—blood.
His heart plummeted to his gut.
“Cole.” She lifted the hand that hadn’t moved.
A gun.
He frantically ran his eyes over her clothes. Blood sprinkled them, but she wasn’t hurt.
Excitement bubbled through him. Dina was alive! Still afraid his eagerness would come off too strong, he waited for a cue from her as he cupped her cheek with his hand. “You’re a gorgeous sight.”
“I shot him.” Her voice shook and her lips trembled.
“Freeze!” A male voice ordered.
Cole twisted, lifted his hand against the bright lights shining in his face.
An officer stood not ten yards away from him, aiming a gun at him. “Hands on your head.”
“What?” He barely heard Dina’s quick intake of breath from the blood pulsing through his veins behind his ears.
He did what they demanded. Uniform officers covered the area, their guns leveled on him. They thought he was the Caffeine Junkie. “There’s a mistake. I’m not who you think,” he touched a hand to his chest, “I am—”
On the ground now.” An officer rushed forward, holding the gun with both hands and thrusting the barrel at Cole’s head. “Now!”
Cole slid to his knees and searched out Dina.
Moments ago, she looked lost and scared. Now, her animated arms and gun-free hands flew around in front of her as she argued with the officers. He couldn’t hear what the three uniformed officers, who’d holstered their weapons, said. Whatever it was, she was pissed.
Someone placed a hand between his shoulder blades and pushed, shoving him onto his stomach on the hard pavement. The road scratched his cheek, and his hands were pulled behind his back as the sound of handcuffs snapped together.
His gaze locked on Dina’s and her eyes went wide. “No!” she screamed, rushing through the officers talking to her, and gripped the arm of the officer towering over Cole with a gun trained on him. “Let him go!”
Another officer grabbed her upper arm from behind. “He killed an agent. You need to stay back.”
Tears flowed down her face. The blood on her face from what he assumed came from her shooting Dreads, about disappeared. “Let him go!” She jerked her arm, broke free, and rushed over to Cole, and knelt on the ground beside him.
A plain clothes officer walked up behind her and guided her away. “You need to stay back, or we’ll have to arrest you for obstruction of justice.” As if, the authoritative words weren’t enough to scare someone, the officer added, “He’s the Caffeine Junkie.”
“What?”
The words didn’t tear through Cole as much as the pain coursing over Dina’s face or the doubt resonated in her voice. The questionable tone reached into his chest and slapped his heart. After all this, how could she think he was involved? He closed his eyes, rested his cheek against the pavement, and groaned. When would the fucking nightmare end?
“You’re wrong!” Dina’s sharp tone had Cole snapping his head back up. Her hands on her hips, she stared up at the officer. “This is Cole Dunbar. He’s not the Caffeine Junkie. Agent Adams is!”
“Ma’am, Mr. Dunbar killed Agent Adams. We have the other three in the back of two police cars.”
Three? Cole shifted, but couldn’t see the car in question.
Dina’s face turned beet red and her fist clenched. He expected at any moment, she’d lift her knee into the officer’s groin. “What planet do you live on?” Her words were clipped, tight. “I was imprisoned with the Caffeine Junkie. I should know.”
She challenged the officer. He couldn’t believe he had a moment of weakness to even think Dina didn’t trust him. The lengths in which she would go to help him touched a spot so profound, so deep that he had to blow out a puff of air to keep his bearings. He couldn’t let her get in trouble for his situation. “Sweetheart, it’ll work out. Agent Calder will be here any minute.”
“Wrong man.” Cole recognized Agent Spencer’s deep voice from their conversation at Café Coffees. Gratitude flooded through him that someone would help him.
Agent Spencer motioned to the officer standing next to Cole. “Let him up and take those damn cuffs off.”
The officer did what the agent said and helped Cole to his feet. Before he had a chance to swipe the dirt off his face, Dina plowed into him. Frantically, her hands roamed over his body and she kissed every inch of his face. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” she said. “If wasn’t for you…” She sucked in a sob. “…things would have ended differently.”
He drew her into his arms, savored the feeling of her warm, breathing body, and sucked in his first real breath of oxygen since the ordeal began. For a long stretch of time, they stayed glued together, arms wrapped around one another as if they’d never get to do it again, and not caring or worrying about anything or anyone else.
“Hey, man.” Vince patted Cole on the back. “I need to give this woman a hug.”
Cole eased back and gazed into Dina’s eyes. “In a moment.”
As he bent his head toward her, the same overwhelming emotion he had earlier to touch her face rushed forward. He gently pressed his mouth to hers, brushing a light kiss to her lips to make sure she didn’t squeak from the pain of the bruise. When she didn’t, he gave into the emotions bubbling up inside him and dove into a hot, searing kiss. The taste of her burst inside his mouth, ricocheted through his body, like eating a piece of candy with a juicy middle. He wanted more.
“Hey, hey,” Vince said, tapping Cole’s shoulder again. “Not here. Get a room!”
Cole had been so lost in the moment he hadn’t realized his hands had roamed. He removed a hand from her hair and her lower back.
Dina’s sheepish expression mixed with her hands fisted in his shirt spoke volumes for her intentions.
Cole stepped away to let Vince have his brotherly hug and spotted Detective Ward.
“Thanks for your help,” Cole said, stretching out his hand.
“Not a problem.” Ward turned toward Dina and Vince. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
If the scene wasn’t so profound, Dina’s puzzled expression as she glanced between Vince and Ward would have been hilarious. “Thank You.”
Cole couldn’t resist. Dina was too far away, a foot felt like a mile. He edged closer to her, stretched his arm behind her back, and rested his hand on her waist.
“Thanks for getting me out of the backseat of the cop car,” Vince said.
“First time for everything,” Ward said, edging away. “Don’t think anything’s changed between us Carrington.”
“Not happening.” Vince chuckled.
She smiled up at Cole and leaned against his chest.
Agent Spencer stepped forward and ran his hand through his short hair. “I should bust you for not staying out of the case when directed,” he said to Cole. “But you did some great work here. If you ever want a job in law enforcement, give me a call.”
“What happened to Agent Calder?” Vince asked. “Is he all right?”
Spencer nodded. “He’s in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. I wish he’d waited for backup, but like other people, patience isn’t one of his virtues.”
“Can you explain what happened?” Cole asked.
Spencer sucked in a deep breath. “I shouldn’t, but I will. Right after we talked with you at Café Coffees, we uncovered evidence that Wyatt went rogue. Being in the organized Crime Division of the FBI, he had firsthand access to the dealings of the underground world. The opportunities within the crimeworld for agents are huge. Internal Affairs is on alert all the time, but Wyatt slipped through the cracks.”
“Right before,” Cole twirled his finger at his side, “he died; he said he didn’t have a choice.”
“He probably thought, he didn’t,” Spencer said. “Wyatt spent more than he made. Borrowed money from a man any sane person wouldn’t come near. He couldn’t pay back the loan and had to knuckle under to do what the crime boss said. His daughter’s life depended on it.”
Dina gasped and placed a hand over her mouth. “That’s terrible!”
“When a person gets in a weakened state, they don’t think clearly. It’s a shame, too. Wyatt was a good agent, good officer, and more importantly, he had been a good husband and father.” His gaze traveled to the body bag concealing Wyatt’s body. “I wish we had been able to discover his troubles sooner, to stop what happened.”
“Do you think he killed those women?” Vince asked.
“No. I don’t,” Spencer said. “I think the Caffeine Junkie did. Donnie Wallick, the man with dreads did.”
“Damn, this is confusing.” Vince said, dragging a hand down his face. “I thought Wyatt was the Caffeine Junkie.”
“No. He tracked women down—”
“On the internet.” Dina finished for him.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“How did Agent Wyatt and the Caffeine Junkie know where I was?”
The agent sucked in a deep breath. “I guess that we’ll never know. I can only assume one or both of them followed you.”
Dina rolled her eyes and closed her lids. “I saw him.” She flicked her gaze to Spencer then Cole. “Dreads was in front of Dad’s apartment building.” After a long moment, she said, “He was also the man who scared me in Café Coffees previously.”
Cole nodded and squeezed her tight against him.
“I need to debrief these nimrods on the actual details,” Spencer said. “When you run a closed-lip investigation, the local authorities don’t know the details for concern of a leak. Tomorrow, I need the three of you to come into the office, say around two o’clock.”
Nods and yeses went around the group.
“Ma’am, sir, I need to perform a quick exam,” a young man, who had EMT stitched across the left breast of his shirt, said.
Cole kissed the side of Dina’s head. “Exams, then let’s go home.”
“Um,” she had the sheepish look plastered on her face again. “I don’t want to.”
What she said, didn’t register. Cole arched a brow. “Come again?”
“I don’t want to go home. Can we go somewhere? A hotel? Anywhere that’s different so I don’t think about what happened.”
Cole had just the thing to make Dina forget her troubles. “Yes.”