Page 19 of Defender (Omega Sector: Under Siege #1)
Summer felt numb. Had felt that way since Ashton left yesterday.
She hadn’t handled that situation well at all. She probably should’ve had him stay, gotten more details, heard his side of the story. Instead she’d asked him to go.
His face told her that was nothing less than he expected. Nothing less than what he thought he deserved.
She’d cried herself to sleep last night. It just all seemed overwhelming and impossible.
But now a day later, not quite so exhausted, she was seeing a little more clearly.
Learning that Ashton had been there the day Tyler died had caught her off guard. He blamed himself for Tyler’s death.
But Summer knew she didn’t blame Ashton.
The same way she hadn’t blamed Joe when he’d wanted to take responsibility.
Both Ashton and Joe had done their jobs.
Sure, able to replay it over and over in their minds, they wished they’d done things differently.
But like Lillian had said, playing God was tricky for mere humans.
Summer should’ve told Ashton that. She couldn’t bear to think he’d spent the last day and a half thinking she blamed him.
When he’d brought Chloe’s fire truck by, the air between them had been taut with awkwardness.
He’d barely looked at her. Their chats on the phone to make sure she was okay hadn’t been much better.
She knew he was needed at Omega Sector, but had hoped he would come by after work. But why would he? Why would he come back somewhere he obviously wasn’t welcome? She’d made him feel that way.
Now it was nearly 9:00 p.m. She’d heard from Ashton last at 6:30 p.m. when the guard switch had taken place. Patrick from yesterday was back.
She couldn’t let this go on any longer. She picked up her phone and texted Ashton.
Come over. Let’s talk. I don’t want things to be like this between us.
It didn’t take long for him to respond.
I’d like that. We’re on our way to arrest Curtis Harper. I’ll be over as soon as I can, but it might be a few hours. You’ll probably be asleep.
A pressure inside Summer eased. She and Ashton would work this out. He still wanted to see her. Hadn’t given up on them. Neither had she.
She smiled as her fingers flew over the phone. Things really would be okay.
That’s still fine. Especially if you can think of an interesting way of waking me up.
When he didn’t respond right away, Summer began to get worried.
Oh, I can think of quite a few. See you soon. I’ll have Patrick let me in.
Summer smiled, feeling better all the way around.
If Ashton was on his way to arrest Curtis Harper, then hopefully she and Chloe could go home soon.
And with all the danger gone and no more secrets between them, maybe she and Ashton could just start completely over.
Allow what was between them to grow into what it was supposed to be: something permanent.
She wanted that with a ferocity that surprised her.
She decided to take a shower and get some sleep until Ashton got there. She hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep in days, and it looked like tonight might be another semi-sleepless one.
Although for a much better reason than last night.
After getting out of the shower, she checked on Chloe, careful not to wake her, and closed her door. Summer lay down in bed, wishing she had some sort of sexy lingerie or nightgown or something to wear. All she had was the oversize T-shirt she always slept in and a pair of Snoopy pajama pants.
Nothing screamed, “Take me, you hot stud” like Snoopy pajama pants.
Oh well, he’d just have to peel her out of them.
She placed her cell phone and the baby monitor on the nightstand and rolled onto her side, pulling the other pillow close to her.
She fell asleep thinking of the ways Ashton might wake her up.
* * *
A SHTON WAS STILL smiling about Summer’s text when he, Jon Hatton and Liam Goetz entered a bar named Crystal Mac’s on the north side of Colorado Springs.
“Why would someone name a bar as a spin-off of a drug known to induce paranoia?” Liam asked as they entered. “Not to mention be illegal as hell?”
“Moreover, who would want to frequent it?” Jon responded.
Evidently someone as stupid as Curtis Harper.
They were all in jeans and casual shirts, not wanting to draw attention to themselves as federal agents. Harper was certain to run if he knew law enforcement was coming through the door.
An anonymous tip-off had led them here, but Ashton didn’t care how they got Harper as long as they did.
He wanted this behind him. And thank God, it sounded like Summer did, too.
They opened the door and were immediately assaulted by loud rap music. All three men glanced at each other, rolling their eyes.
“I’ll take the bar,” Ashton told Jon and Liam.
Liam jerked his thumb towards the back area. “I’ll take the pool tables.”
“I’ll find any side doors and be watching.”
They swept the place thoroughly, but twenty minutes later it became obvious that Curtis Harper wasn’t there.
Ashton felt the frustration boil through him. Damn it, he wanted this over with.
“He’s not here, man,” Liam said. “Let’s talk to the bartender.”
Less worried now about people knowing they were law enforcement, Liam and Ashton showed the bartender their IDs and a picture of Harper.
“You seen this guy around?”
Bartender nodded. “Yeah. An hour or two ago, maybe. He took off with some woman.”
Ashton grimaced. “Does he come in here a lot?”
Bartender shrugged. “Not enough that I remember him. I only remember him today because his face was all beat up.”
Liam pulled out a card. “If he shows back up, give us a call. We won’t forget it.”
The bartender studied them. “Yeah, okay. Sure.”
They walked out the door. “Think he’ll call if Harper does show up?” Ashton asked. Liam had DEA experience before coming to work at Omega Sector and had used informants all the time.
“Maybe. People like to think of law enforcement as owing them one.”
The men walked out to the car and began the twenty-minute drive back to HQ. The only thing good about not having Harper in custody was that it would allow Ashton to get to Summer sooner.
The only thing he needed to decide about now was how to wake her up.
He showered quickly in the Omega locker room, then jogged out to his car. Patrick was on guard duty, so Ashton texted him to let him know he was on his way.
Five minutes later when Patrick hadn’t responded, Ashton called the man’s cell phone, frowning. Whenever Patrick had been on shift and Ashton had requested an update, the agent had been quick to respond.
But now the call went immediately to voice mail.
Ashton put his phone in hands-free mode and called Steve Drackett’s office. Cynthia, one of Steve’s four executive assistants, answered.
“Cynthia, it’s Ashton Fitzgerald. I just tried to reach the guard assigned at Summer Worrall’s safe house and it went straight to voice mail.”
Cynthia didn’t waste any time. “Hold while I check the system, Ashton.”
Guards checked in every hour with a code only they knew.
Cynthia came back on the line. “Patrick missed his assigned check in four minutes ago. One more minute and it would’ve alerted everyone in the system.” Guards were given a five minute grace period.
“I’m on my way there now. ETA twenty minutes.”
“I’ll get uniforms out there, also. But it will take them ten minutes at least.”
If Harper had found out the location of the safe house and left the bar an hour or two ago like the bartender said, he definitely could’ve already made it to the safe house and taken Patrick out.
Ten minutes was way too long. Ashton pushed the gas pedal down further. He disconnected with Cynthia, knowing the woman would do what needed to be done on Omega’s end, and called Summer’s phone.
* * *
S UMMER HEARD THE door creak open downstairs and smiled. She should pretend to be asleep just so she could see how Ashton decided to wake her up.
Her phone buzzed on the nightstand and she grabbed it.
Ashton?
“Why are you calling me if you’re coming into the house right now? When I said to pick an interesting—”
“Summer.” He completely cut her off. “It’s not me in the house and we can’t get in touch with the guard. Take Chloe and get out now. Right now. Use the balcony.”
Summer sat straight up. Oh God. Someone was in the house and it wasn’t Ashton or one of the guards.
She flew out of bed without wasting time.
She had no idea how long before the intruder would make his way upstairs.
She pulled her door behind her as she exited, hoping it would buy her time, and eased Chloe’s door open.
She saw her tennis shoes where she’d left them in the bathroom before her shower and grabbed them, toeing them on.
The silence was terrifying. All encompassing. Summer struggled to control the sound of her breathing. To her, it sounded like a freight train.
Did the intruder have a gun? Of course he did. Otherwise how would he have gotten by Patrick outside? Summer couldn’t even think what that meant.
“I’m in Chloe’s room,” she whispered into the phone as she closed the bedroom door behind her.
“Do you have shoes? A jacket? You’re going to have to run.”
“Shoes, yes. No jacket.”
“Okay. Hurry.”
She picked up Chloe, praying her daughter wouldn’t wake and cry. She grabbed the blanket and drew it around her and the baby.
Chloe remained asleep. Summer went to the door leading to the balcony and opened it.
“I’m outside now. Chloe’s still asleep.”
“Help is going to be there in about eight minutes. You’ve just got to keep away from him until then.”
Chloe hurried down the stairs and across the open area into the trees. “I’m running toward the woods.”
She screamed and almost dropped the phone as a tree to her left splintered into pieces and a boom filled the air. She dove for cover behind other trees.
“Summer!” Ashton’s voice roared into the phone.
“I’m okay. He shot at me but missed. I’m in the trees now.” She could feel Chloe start to stiffen. “I’ve got to keep moving or Chloe’s going to cry.”
“Stick your hand out from behind the tree quickly, then bring it back in.”
She didn’t understand but she trusted Ashton. “I did it. Nothing happened.”
“Run deeper into the woods. He didn’t shoot at your hand so he’s probably working his way down the stairs.”
Summer began moving again and felt Chloe relax. She kept her daughter tight against her chest and forced herself to run as fast as she could. After just a few minutes, all she could hear was the sound of her own breath as it sawed in and out of her chest.
Chloe’s sleeping weight became almost unbearable.
She stopped to rest for a moment. “Ashton, I don’t know where he is or how long I can keep running.” She said the words around her breaths.
“I’m at the house now. Keep this line open. I’m tracking your phone. Don’t try to talk. Just keep moving, okay?”
“Yes.” She tucked the phone inside the blanket with Chloe and began moving again. Another shot rang out. Not as close as the first one, but close enough for Summer to realize the man was almost on her.
She picked up speed again, trying to use the cover of the larger trees, struggling to keep her footing in the darkness, arms burning in agony. She felt like she had run forever and knew she had to stop and rest for a minute. If she fell and broke an ankle she and Chloe would both be dead.
“Have to stop—For a minute,” she said as close as she could to the phone that was tucked in with Chloe. She hoped Ashton could hear her.
She found a large tree she could sit behind and sank to the ground, rocking Chloe back and forth in hopes of keeping her asleep.
She felt something crawl across the upper part of her foot but didn’t let it faze her.
Her fear of bugs and snakes definitely took a back seat to her fear of a maniac chasing her with a gun.
How much time did Ashton need? Was he already in the forest with them? Would her phone pinpoint her location or just give him a general idea?
Should she start running again?
The questions spun through her mind so quickly it made it hard to think. What was her best course of action?
And then the man stepped out from behind the tree in front of her, gun pointed right at them.
“I’m sorry,” he said, shrugging. “This is nothing personal.”
“Wait. I don’t know who you are.” She had to try to buy some time.
The man actually looked sympathetic. “I know. And like I said, I’m sorry it had to be you. I just have to take from them what they took from me. They have to understand the agony of grief.”
Before Summer could say a word, even beg for her daughter’s life if not her own, a shot rang out in the darkness.