Dangerous Defiance (8 page)

“Yes, sir.”

“Another team is just wrapping up the investigation of the claims. The water has been tested, more than once, and the level of chemicals that have been found in the water as a result of the hydraulic fracturing has been deemed not a danger. By law, Larimer is working well within their rights and we have no more business here.” He paused, perhaps for effect. “You can imagine my surprise when I learned you were here, Agent.”

“This was our case,” Jess said. “Which team was assigned to it? It fell well within Ben’s jurisdiction.”

“Not really, Agent Manning,” he said, rising to his feet. He walked to a window and drew the curtain aside to glance outside before turning back to her. “We’ve been well aware that over the last few months, Ben had been working on his own, without FBI approval, to bring Larimer back into focus. The initial case was closed a few years ago, earning Ben his demotion…”

“As well as your promotion,” she cut in, unable to check her tone.

He stopped short and if there had been a hint of friendliness in his voice before, there wasn’t any more.

“I’m your superior, Agent. You’ll address me with respect.”

She gritted her teeth, trying hard to keep her hands from fisting. Without dropping her gaze from his, she spoke. “Apologies, sir.”

He studied her, and she knew he knew that she only said what she had to say.

“Ben was demoted over the Larimer case. He never got over that and when this tip came in, he went rogue and tried to take you with him. He managed to get himself killed. You don’t want to follow in his footsteps, do you, Agent?”

Her breath came short and fast, her eyes feeling hot with tears she would absolutely not shed in front of this bastard.

He sat back down.

“Listen, it’s Jessica, correct?” he began.

She nodded, surprised by this change in tactic, wondering if he was going to reach out and take her hand next. “You’re young and you have been misguided. Whatever Ben got you involved in isn’t worth your career—or worse.” He paused while she absorbed his words, his threat?

A shiver ran through her.

“I know he was a friend as well as your mentor and I understand you need time to process his death. You won’t find anything here to help you with that, Jessica. Go home. Take your time off there. Hell, go to Mexico, have a real vacation. You’ll come back to your job refreshed. We’ll get you reassigned back at the office. You’ll have a whole new start.”

Was he so cold? Did he really think a vacation in Mexico would just make all of this go away?

“Thank you, sir,” she said, forcing herself to drop her gaze to her lap. “I think I’ll go home.” She nodded, looking back at him.

“Good,” he said, standing. “There’s nothing for you to do here. Check out and go home tomorrow morning. I promise it will be best for you.”

He excused the other agents, who walked out the door but left it open behind them.

Jess rose to her feet.

“I know what it’s like to lose a friend in this business,” he said, hands in his pockets. “Take that time and recuperate. It’s the best thing you can do for yourself.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Good night, Agent Manning.”

“Good night, sir.”

With that he walked out and Jess exhaled, watching him through a crack in the curtains as he and the other agents climbed into a car and drove off. She noticed that one of the cars remained in the parking lot, an agent inside it. She shook her head, snorting. She was under surveillance now and they weren’t even trying to be subtle about it.

* * *

Jackson watched the men drive out of the hotel’s parking lot. He also noticed the one they left behind still sitting in his car. They were FBI. He could have smelled them a mile away. Rather than driving the cruiser into the parking lot and calling any attention to himself or Jess, he circled the block and picked up his cell phone to dial her instead.

“Hey,” she said, obviously recognizing his number.

“Just saw some agents leave your hotel room. You ok?” he asked. She was shaken up, he could hear it.

“I’ll be ok. How did you know?”

“You had left some papers at my office so I was dropping them off.”

“Oh, thanks but you’d better hold on to them until tomorrow. There’s an agent outside,” she said.

“Saw that too.”

“Listen, maybe I’ll take you up on an early dinner after all.”

He was about to suggest that same thing, wondering if her phone was secure. “I’ll just go home to change and be back for you. Stay put.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said.

He drove home for a quick shower, changed his clothes and drove back out to the hotel to pick her up in the truck. It wasn’t even half an hour before he was knocking on her door. He noticed from the corner of his eye the agent in the car watching.

She opened the door and he stopped for a moment, unable not to look her over. She was wearing a very pretty, entirely too feminine pale ash-pink halter dress that cut low between her breasts. The color set off her pretty skin which had picked up more color.

“Hi,” she said. She looked down at herself when he didn’t speak, obviously feeling uncomfortable. “I have to do laundry.”

He was staring too hard. “You look amazing.”

She smiled but one eye went to the agent in the car. She was nervous.

“You’re fine, Jess,” he said.

She nodded but her smile wavered.

“Let’s go,” he said. “I hope you like Italian. There’s a local place that’s pretty good.”

“Perfect,” she said. She turned to grab her bag and he noticed how the dress left most of her back exposed. Her hair, which she normally kept in a ponytail, hung loose down past her shoulders. It was still damp from her shower and was already curling. But before she even turned back to him, she had twisted it up and was setting it in a clip.

“Leave it down,” he said, his voice sounding more hoarse than he expected.

She glanced at him, almost confused for a moment.

“Your hair. Leave it down.”

She touched the clip.

“We’ll make this look like a date so he can report that back rather than a meeting with the sheriff.”

She smiled. “Good thinking.”

Somehow, her relief at his explanation disappointed him. In the next moment, she had freed her hair and it hung in damp curls all along her shoulders. It was a pretty chestnut color, and was a striking contrast to her dark emerald eyes.

“Where’s your crutch? I thought your leg hurt earlier.”

“It’s ok, I don’t need it.”

“You sure?”

“M-hmm.”

When he put his hand at her low back, she relaxed immediately into his touch. He guided her to his truck. They climbed inside and he drove off, both of them noticing that the agent followed.

“Tell me about the visit,” he said.

“It was the assistant deputy director,” she began. “I got the attention of the assistant deputy director of the FBI.”

“Go on.”

“There’s not much to tell that you probably don’t know. He acted very concerned for me, even worried that it wasn’t healthy for me to be here. He suggested a vacation to Mexico to forget about things. What a jerk.” She exhaled, looking straight ahead. “He told me Ben had gone rogue and that he wasn’t working with FBI approval on this project. That he had a grievance with Larimer Energy.” She shook her head. “He made some comment about me not wanting to end up like Ben.”

“So he threatened you?”

She shrugged one shoulder. “He may be the assistant deputy director of the FBI, Jackson, but if he thinks he can scare me with some threat, he doesn’t have the slightest idea who he’s dealing with.”

He glanced at her, wanted to tell her to be careful, that this wasn’t a game, that there were bad men out there who would do bad things. She was naïve.

“What are you going to do?” he asked. He had a plan formulating already but he thought he would ask. Knowing her personality like he did, telling her directly what she needed to do normally did not go over well. She was stubborn. Well, he could work with that.

“I don’t know, stall?”

They pulled up at the restaurant and he parked. The agent who had followed them parked across the lot.

“Check out of your hotel room tomorrow, turn in your car, and stay at my house while we work through this. You can use my truck. I have the cruiser as well. I’d feel better about that than you stalling.”
And that way I can keep an eye on you
. He didn’t say that last part out loud though.

“What? Stay with you?”

“It makes perfect sense.”

Her expression was pure puzzlement. He climbed out of the vehicle and went to her side as she opened her door. He then took her completely by surprise once she stepped out and closed the door when he pressed her up against the truck and kissed her full on the mouth.

“Stop!” she managed, trying to push free but unable to as he had her pinned between the truck and himself. She felt soft and small and completely vulnerable. “What are you doing?” she asked, but her words were swallowed in his mouth and when he pulled back and she reached to slap him, he caught her wrist and held it at her side. Her pupils had dilated and her face was flushed, her lips parted and swollen. Completely kissable.

“Play along,” he said. “He’s watching us.”

“What?”

“We have to convince them you’re coming home with me for a good old-fashioned roll in the hay,” he said, his tongue sliding into her mouth. He was making thorough work of their charade because in a way, for him at least, this wasn’t a charade. He had feelings for her, as strange as that sounded after knowing her for so short a time, but it was undeniable. Their physical attraction was electric, but it was more than that. For him at least.

Her body softened and she yielded to him. Their kiss became pure sensuality, the taste of her making him heady. His cock hardened and he pressed his hips against her, his one hand touching the hard curve of her hip then moving to the soft swell of her bottom.

A sound came from his chest and slowly, he pulled back, feeling flushed himself.

“Jackson,” she managed, her mouth still slightly open, her eyes wide on his. He released his hold on her and put a few inches between them. Her eyes shone. She reached up to touch her mouth, her upper lip which had reddened a little from the stubble on his face.

“Let’s go inside,” he said.

She stood there, not reacting.

“Come on,” he said, tugging on her hand which he still held.

It took her a minute but she pulled back, resisting a little. She cleared her throat.

“If you try that again, I’m going to kick your ass back to Afghanistan.”

At that he laughed outright and led the way into the restaurant.

Chapter Eight

Well, that was settled. Jess locked the door of her hotel room. His kiss in the parking lot was still fresh on her mind and she swore she could feel the weight of his body pressing her against the truck. The man could kiss. Among other things. She had to admit, she liked the sheriff. He was a good man, had been from the start. She just hadn’t expected any of the things that had happened between them.

That said, she checked her watch. It was half past ten. An hour and a half to go to meet whomever she was meeting. She had felt guilty over not telling Jackson during dinner but had decided this was more important. Even more important now that Hanson had appeared out of nowhere telling her basically to pack her bags and go.

She had one problem though: the agent who had her under surveillance was still outside in the parking lot. She glanced out from the split between the curtains. She couldn’t take her car. It was going to be a long walk.

Jess changed her clothes, slipping on well-worn jeans and a black t-shirt along with a pair of comfortable sneakers. She emptied her bag but for her gun, her badge, and her mobile, opened a window at the side of the room, counting her lucky stars the room she had been given was at the end of the long row of rooms, and climbed out. The night was clear and warm. She took the long way around to avoid being discovered by the agent and made her way through the quiet streets and to the end of town where she began her long walk to the site of the dam collapse.

* * *

Jackson went by the office to check in on Bill before heading home. The new deputy was young and lacked experience. That along with having a generous amount of passion for his job. That was a good thing, except when he overreacted or misread situations. Once he confirmed that all was well, he headed home. It was about half past eleven when he pulled onto his driveway just behind where he had parked his cruiser. He switched off the engine and turned to collect his wallet and cell phone. That was when he noticed the pile of papers he had forgotten to give Jess.

“Shoot.” Well, they could probably wait until tomorrow.

He reached for the pile, planning on setting them in the cruiser so he wouldn’t forget to give them to her tomorrow. An envelope fell to the floor and he reached to collect it. It was unsealed and the flap opened when he picked it up. Something told him to read the note and he reached a hand inside and pulled it out:

I have information about the collapse but I can’t talk in public. Meet me at the site tomorrow at midnight. Come alone or I’m gone.

He punched the steering wheel hard and alarm bells went off. He turned it over, looking for a date but finding none, wondering when she had received it. He hoped to God she wasn’t stupid enough to go out there on her own. He started the truck and drove fast back to her hotel, all the while his mind working, getting angrier and angrier as the palm of his hand throbbed. He was going to spank the bejeezus out of her.

He pulled up in front of her door, glad to see her car was still there. He eyed the sleeping agent in his car. He climbed out of his truck and knocked but there was no answer. He knocked a little harder then walked around to the window which he found unlocked. He pushed it open.

“God damn it, woman!” he said, running back to his car. She had not only gone to meet whoever this was, she had done it on foot! When he got his hands on her…

But that line of thinking was quickly halted when thoughts of what could happen to her flooded his mind. He hit the gas and sped out of town and toward the site.