Page 30 of Final Approach (Lake City Heroes #4)

SIXTEEN

It was two in the morning now and they were all drooping. Kristine hadn’t wanted to give up trying to find more links between the two incidents. They’d printed both manifests and had analysts working on finding any connection between everyone on the two planes.

“This is going to take forever,” Kristine said.

“Yeah,” Andrew said. “Why don’t I follow you home so you can get some rest.”

“That’s really sweet, but no need for you to go out. My home is five minutes away.”

He smiled. “Exactly. I don’t mind making sure you get there safe.” The smile faded. “Because if someone tried to crash your plane, then who knows what else is going on? I’d feel better if you’d let me do this.”

“It was your plane too.” He pursed his lips and eyed her silently. She sighed. “But it wasn’t your mother. True.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to.” Had he known where she lived and taken this hotel because of it? Or was she giving herself too much credit and reading into his expression things that weren’t there?

Probably the latter. She nodded goodbye to Nathan and they all climbed into their respective vehicles.

She was home within five minutes, but she had to admit she watched her mirrors the whole way.

Andrew stayed with her, which kind of pleased her and annoyed her at the same time.

Pleased in that he cared enough to do so and annoyed that he felt he needed to.

But someone had tried to crash a plane. Her plane.

And whoever that was, he—or she—wouldn’t let a little thing like an FBI agent derail him.

But why go to all that trouble? Why not just hire a sniper to take her out? Morbid, yes, but so much easier.

It didn’t make sense. Could it be someone she’d thrown off a flight wanting to get even? A relative of someone, indignant and angry on behalf of their family member? But if it was connected to her mother, then the connection was way deeper and didn’t have anything to do with a passenger.

She just didn’t see how it could be a huge coincidence that her mother’s plane had been hijacked and now hers.

No way.

But who? And why?

The questions continued to swirl, but she was out of time to think about them at the moment. She pulled into her parking spot and climbed out, wondering if he was out there in the dark, watching. Okay, she was glad Andrew was there.

A shiver slithered up her spine and she walked over to him. “Tomorrow morning?” She paused and looked at her phone. “I mean in four hours? Meet you at Mike’s?”

“Want me to swing by and pick you up?”

Kristine hesitated, then nodded. “Sure, that’s fine. See you in a few.”

He started to get out of his car, but she spun and hurried to her townhome.

A glance over her shoulder just gave her a view of the dark night, parking lot lights, and unidentifiable shadows.

Andrew was there, though, still watching, standing next to the driver’s side, arm on top of the window, face set in a frown. What was that all about?

She almost asked him, but they were both exhausted and needed what little sleep they could get. A conversation could wait. She waved and unlocked her door, stepped inside, and twisted the lock behind her.

She called the nurse’s station to check on Emily and was assured her sister was asleep and not in pain. Emily had asked for her phone the last time she’d been awake, so that was a good sign. She’d be transferred to a regular room sometime tomorrow ... or rather today.

Relief swept through her at all the good news. Now if they could just find who hired the hijacker, the connection between the two incidents, and Jacob, of course, then all would be well.

After double-checking her locks and windows, she glanced at her laptop, picked it up, and carried it into her room. After washing her hair and brushing her teeth, she climbed into bed, set her alarm, and pulled the laptop in front of her.

A loud buzzing woke her. She blinked and blinked again. Her phone read 5:30 a.m. A groan slipped out before she could stop it. But she stretched and grabbed her laptop from the edge of the bed before it could hit the floor. So much for working last night.

Twenty minutes later, she was climbing in Andrew’s passenger seat. “Morning.”

He grunted his greeting.

She smirked. “Exactly.”

“This kid better show up. I don’t have the energy for this early morning stuff.” He aimed the Bucar toward Mike’s.

“You’re an FBI agent. You can’t tell me early mornings aren’t a regular part of your existence.”

“They are, but I’ve never gotten used to it or liked it. I try to catch the bad guys in the afternoons or at night.”

She laughed. “Cute.”

“How did you sleep?”

“Like a rock.”

“Really? No nightmares from everything that’s happened over the last few days?”

“Not last night. I was too tired, I think. My brain just shut off. I’m actually not sure it’s flipped back on yet. You?”

“One nightmare.” He frowned. “But it had nothing to do with the hijacking or being shot at or being chased in the pouring rain—or watching an innocent man get killed in a holding cell.”

“Okay.” She glanced at him. “What?”

“Nothing. The nightmare was that my cousin Corey moved in with my parents.”

“Oh. Wow. That’s really bothering you.”

“It is. I’m worried for them. And all my prayers seem to be hitting a brick wall.”

“They’re not, Andrew. Truly.”

“I know that in my head.” He tapped his chest. “This is a little harder to convince.”

“I know that feeling.”

He fell silent and she did too, checking her phone and finding a text from her father. She ignored it. Andrew turned onto a side street that led around to the back of the restaurant and parked. They had a perfect view of the door that led to the kitchen.

It was shut tight and no one was hanging around, looking like they were waiting on someone. She bit off a sigh. “Where’s Nathan? He too good for early morning duty?”

“Naw, he had something to do with Jesslyn a little later. I told him I was fine doing this alone. Well, with you, but not with you, right?”

“Of course. I’m just keeping you company.”

“I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome. Now go back to the innocent man getting killed in the holding cell, will you?”

He flinched. “I’d rather not.”

“Hmm. Okay then.”

Silence fell and Kristine yawned, shut her eyes, and leaned back against the headrest.

“Or maybe I’d rather,” he said after several minutes.

“That’s okay too.” She didn’t open her eyes and look at him. If he was hesitant to talk about something, having her watching him might make it harder.

He cleared his throat. “I don’t talk about it much.”

“I gathered.”

“In fact, I don’t know why I want to now.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know.” He paused. “Are you going to keep your eyes closed?”

“Would you prefer I open them?”

He snorted. “Maybe not.”

“I’m listening.”

A sigh slipped from him and he stayed silent. She wondered if he changed his mind. Again.

“Okay,” he finally said, “so you know Hank and I were undercover for a long time with the Serpentine Network.”

“Yes.”

“We’d been under forever, trying like crazy to get the evidence we needed to cut the head of the snake off.”

“I see what you did there.”

He laughed, the sound indicating he might be relaxing a fraction.

“Anyway, we could have taken down the organization underlings at pretty much any point. We had so much evidence against them . But we never could get the evidence we needed to nail the leader. We called him the phantom because we never saw him. Ever. But he went by the name Showbiz. So we weighed our options and decided to stay and keep working to find out who he was. He had a tight crew. Only two people that he trusted without question. I was trying to be the third.”

“And?”

“And it almost worked. His son trusted me, but I needed his father. I needed to get close. When I couldn’t do that, I turned to his son.

The guy was jumpy and an addict, but for some reason, he thought he could trust me, so I used that.

I was trying to take it slow, but my SAC at the time, well, he was impatient.

He needed something good to happen so he could look like he was competent. ”

“Let me guess. He wasn’t.”

“No. He was put in that position because of who his father was golfing buddies with. Among other people.”

“Ouch.”

“Anyway, the Serpentine Network has that signature jacket they all like to wear.”

“Black with red trim and a green snake around the neck.”

“Yeah.” He paused and let out an audible breath.

Kristine snuck a quick peek. He had his hands on the steering wheel and his knuckles were white. She reached out and placed her left hand on top of his right one. He glanced at her and turned his hand so they were palm to palm, fingers laced. She swallowed hard.

Whoa. She closed her eyes again, wanting to encourage him to keep going, but couldn’t get the words past the tightness in her throat.

His touch just did something to her insides.

It drew her to him like an almost inaudible whisper in the dark.

One where you wanted to know what was said, but weren’t sure you should get that close.

He could hurt her. Not physically. He’d never do that.

But emotionally? Oh yeah. “The jacket. What about it?”

His hand tightened around hers, then released it. “I’ll have to finish this later. Look who just showed up.”

She opened her eyes and turned to see a figure in a dirty hoodie, hands jammed in the front pockets of his jeans, walking toward the door.

As soon as the guy knocked, Andrew and Kristine slipped out of the car and made their way toward him.

No sense in calling out just yet and giving the guy a chance to run.

They closed in behind him and then Andrew said, “Hello, Jacob.”

THE KID SPUN FAST and Andrew held up a hand in warning. “Keep your hands where I can see them.”

Jacob’s hands shot into the air and he stared at them with wide, scared eyes. “Don’t shoot me.”

“No one’s going to shoot you,” Kristine said.