Retribution (Otter Creek Book 8) Read online

  “He won’t touch her,” Quinn said. Whatever it took, he and his friends would keep Serena and the baby safe, and protect Heidi.

  “I’m counting on all of you,” Ethan said. “Serena is my life.”

  Josh crossed to the coffee pot. “Who is with her now?”

  “Henderson and Sanchez. Serena is cooking for the Watsons.”

  Rio put down his mug. “I’ll go, Josh. I don’t have a class today. Let me know the details after you hammer them out. Ethan, tell Henderson and Sanchez I’m headed their way. I would prefer not to treat my own bullet wounds from overzealous cops protecting the top cop’s wife and child.”

  A quick nod. “Thanks, Rio.”

  The medic grinned. “Hey, protecting my favorite personal chef is no hardship. She’s generous with the samples.” And then he left.

  Alex shook his head. “I think the rest of us just lost out on some very fine food. I’m on board for the afternoon shift.”

  Josh turned to Ethan. “I assume you want in on the planning of this security detail.”

  “Every bit of it.”

  “You have information on Muehller or should we tap Fortress resources?”

  Ethan handed a manila folder to every person seated around the conference table. “Each folder contains pictures of Muehller and any information we have on him to date.”

  Quinn scanned the grim contents. “He’d give the worst terrorists we’ve encountered a run for their money.”

  A look of disgust crossed Nate’s face. “Muehller loves his job.”

  “Then let’s get to work.” Josh set his cup down and moved to the white board. Grabbing a marker, he said, “Time to put this clown out of a job.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Quinn shook hands with Ethan as he left, as did the others in the conference room. After the door closed behind Otter Creek’s finest, Josh wiped the white board clean. Guess it was time to lay their cards on the table. Quinn took a deep breath and said, “We have another problem to deal with.”

  Alex set his coffee cup down. “Another one? An international assassin isn’t enough for you?”

  “What’s going on, Quinn?” Josh asked as he dropped the eraser and marker on a desk nearby. “You’ve been antsy and unfocused since you arrived.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck, cheeks burning. Yeah, he had been although he thought he’d hidden his distraction well enough. Apparently not. He glanced at Heidi. She was a beautiful distraction.

  “Should Heidi and I leave?” Deke rubbed Ace’s head. “I wanted to watch Heidi and Charlie run through the obstacle course anyway.”

  Quinn shook his head. “This concerns Heidi.”

  Deke’s eyebrows shot up.

  “The arson?” Nate asked.

  “That plus a lot more.”

  Josh’s gaze searched his teammate’s face, then Heidi’s. He returned to his seat. “Let’s hear it.”

  Heidi glanced at Quinn. “Where do I start?”

  “The beginning. For your safety and theirs, don’t hold anything back. You can trust them with the truth.”

  Heidi’s gaze touched each of the men around the table before she began. “Part of my story, Deke already knows.”

  “Part?” The former marshal’s eyes narrowed. “How much did you leave out?”

  She grimaced. “About half of it. It’s true I have a history with S & R. When I was ten, I was kidnapped with my younger sister, Moira. We were taken and held less than a mile from our home. The police found us two days later, but not soon enough for Moira. One of the kidnappers murdered her. That person escaped from law enforcement and has never been found.”

  “And the other?” Josh asked.

  “He was captured and died in prison after three years. That kidnapper was my father.”

  Stunned silence greeted her statement.

  “Go on, baby,” Quinn murmured. Under cover of the table, he covered her hand with his. “It will be all right. You’ll see.” Quinn would do whatever it took to keep her safe and reunite Heidi with her cousin, to be free to live her life without a threat.

  She squeezed his hand and continued her tale. “A week later, my home burned to the ground, killing my mother and other sister.”

  “How did you escape?” This from Nate.

  “I was at a friend’s house for an overnight stay. I was so traumatized by the kidnapping and Moira’s death, I hadn’t spoken a word after the initial police interview. My mother thought getting away from the media circus and doing something normal might help. Instead, everything was worse. The police said the fire had been set.”

  “Like the fire last night.”

  “It’s like someone looked up the details in the arson investigator’s file and recreated them.”

  “Did you end up in the foster care system?” Josh asked.

  She shook her head. “I lived with an aunt and uncle in a town nearby. They, too, died in a house fire five years later. I lost everyone but one cousin. He and I were away at band camp at the time.”

  “Some might call that convenient.”

  “I was fifteen years old. You think I stole a car, drove an hour back to the only home and relatives I had left, doused our home in gasoline, and lit a match? I loved them. My aunt and uncle were the reason I started to talk again. I would never hurt them.”

  “Why didn’t they wake up and get out of the house? Didn’t they have smoke alarms?”

  “They weren’t working. The batteries weren’t in the smoke detectors.” She frowned. “My cousin and I never understood that. My aunt was obsessive about changing the batteries. She also tested them. Aunt Debbie would never have taken a chance by leaving the batteries out. Her family home burned in a fire when she was a child. She was paranoid about smoke alarms and escape routes in case of a fire. The circumstances didn’t make sense to me or my cousin. We told the police. No one paid attention to us. Stuff happens, they said. They figured my aunt forgot to replace the batteries. That never would have happened. Period. Someone killed them.”

  “You were still underage at that point and you said you had no relatives. What happened to you? Who took you in?”

  “My cousin was a freshman in college at the time and had turned eighteen. He petitioned the court for custody. He saved me from the system.”

  “At eighteen? Impressive and commendable. Most freshmen would have been more concerned with enjoying college than looking after a younger cousin.” Alex asked. “What was he doing at band camp?”

  “Chaperoning. He’d been part of our school band until he graduated that May. He volunteered to keep an eye on the boys in the dorm along with the band director.”

  “What happened when school started?” Nate asked.

  “My cousin found an apartment near his college campus and I moved in with him. I finished high school while he attended college.”

  “Get back to your story,” Josh said. “Two arsons in your past. One early this morning. Looks suspicious on the surface, Heidi.”

  She sighed. “It gets worse. Those aren’t the only fires in my past. Every few years, a fire broke out wherever my cousin and I were living.”

  Durango’s leader scowled.

  “I know it looks bad, but I swear I had nothing to do with the fires.”

  “What about your cousin? Could he have blamed you for the deaths of his family members and decided to get even?”

  “He’s an arson investigator. He’s seen the devastation fires leave behind up close and personal. There is no way he would do something like that. Besides, when we figured out the fires were connected and on the anniversary of Moira’s death, we made sure we weren’t anywhere near our home and were in plain view of other people.”

  “Why didn’t you set a trap for the arsonist?” Alex sounded skeptical.

  “We did. Each time he escaped. Somehow. I can’t tell you how many times we had to start over because we lost everything.”

  “Maddox sent you to us for more than a job, didn’t he?” Josh leaned back
in his chair with a sigh. “I should have known something was up. He expected us to hire you on the spot and that isn’t like him. Maddox left all the hiring decisions to us until you.”

  “I’m qualified for the position,” Heidi insisted. “But there is another reason why he sent me to you.”

  “Maddox sent Heidi to me,” Quinn said.

  “Why to you specifically? And why wasn’t I informed of this?” his team leader asked.

  “Heidi and I are from the same town. I knew her when she was a kid.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us?”

  “He didn’t know,” Heidi said before Quinn could defend himself. “Quinn didn’t recognize me. I’ve changed quite a bit since I was ten. Maddox sent me to Quinn and the rest of you because Fortress is protecting me and my cousin.”

  “Wait,” Alex said. “Is this the same situation that led to the death of your father, Quinn?”

  He breathed past the pain at the thought of his father’s death. Even after all these years, he felt betrayed. They could have recovered financially and people in the company didn’t blame his father. But to Mark Gallagher, it hadn’t mattered. He’d lost his business and his reputation and couldn’t face the fallout. He’d left his family to deal with it. “Yes, it is. Heidi had nothing to do with that, Alex.”

  “Your name isn’t Heidi Thompson, is it?” Deke asked her.

  She shook her head, glancing again at Quinn.

  He gave her a short nod. Now wasn’t the time to hold back. If Durango wouldn’t help, he’d protect Heidi on his own. The one thing he would not do was endanger his teammates with a gap in their knowledge. “You can trust them to keep your identity a secret no matter what they decide regarding your employment and the protection detail.”

  “My name is Katie Henderson.”

  “And your cousin’s name?” Nate asked.

  “Lance. He goes by Levi now.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us you were sent here for protection?” Josh asked.

  “I followed Maddox’s instructions. I planned to tell Quinn today because he was beginning to piece together my identity from his memory. I don’t understand how the arsonist found me again. Maddox had his people check everything I own for bugs and tracking devices. How does he keep finding me?”

  “We’ll figure it out and stop him.” Quinn laced his fingers through hers. “No one will hurt you on our watch.” He turned his attention to his teammates. “Will they?” Although he heard the challenge in his voice, Quinn didn’t back down. He hoped they would step up and do the right thing whether they fully trusted Heidi or not.

  Alex studied Heidi for a moment. “You believe her, Quinn?”

  “Yes, I do. Look, her father’s choices hurt a lot of people, my family included. Whatever Caleb Henderson did is on him and his partner in crime. Heidi was a victim, not a co-conspirator.”

  His teammates exchanged glances.

  “How do you want to handle this, Quinn?” Josh asked.

  The ball of ice in his stomach melted. Given the circumstances, he wouldn’t have blamed them for questioning Heidi further. That they didn’t was a testament to their faith in his judgment. “She can’t stay by herself in that house. It’s too far out of town and the arsonist knows where she lives. No offense, Josh, but you being in the vicinity when her garage caught fire was luck. If the arsonist had waited another ten minutes, the outcome would have been different.” Possibly fatal for Heidi because Quinn suspected the smoke alarms weren’t working in that house, something he planned to check when he followed her home.

  Her hand squeezed his. “What are you suggesting as an alternative?”

  “You need someone staying with you. A bodyguard.”

  She stilled. “You?”

  “Why not?”

  “Has to be more than just you, buddy,” Josh said. “You have to sleep sometime.”

  “Yeah, and the rest of you are newlyweds. That lets you out, doesn’t it?” His teammates would do it, no question. Quinn didn’t want to ask them for the favor. He wanted his friends’ marriages to succeed where many didn’t, especially in their line of work. Men and women in the military or para-military organizations were gone frequently. They missed birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, special events, things that made up a life. Hard to build and maintain a family like that. He wanted Durango’s families to flourish as his own hadn’t.

  “Not necessarily,” Nate said. “We’ll coordinate our schedules to split the night shift with you.”

  “We’ll make it work,” Alex said.

  “You won’t insist Maddox find someone else to protect me?” Heidi asked.

  Josh studied her face a moment. “Do you want to leave Otter Creek?”

  “No. Since you’re friends with Quinn, I thought you would insist I leave to protect him.”

  Expressions of amusement rippled across all their faces, including Deke’s. “Heidi,” Nate said. “Quinn can take care of himself. He doesn’t need us to protect him from you or anyone else.”

  Deke watched her a moment. “You’re ready to fight back, aren’t you?”

  “I am sick of having everything taken from me, including my identity. I want to live my life without fear. I don’t know why this guy wants to kill me and Levi.”

  “You think the arsonist is a man?”

  “I don’t know. Levi and I never saw a person set the blazes.”

  “Look at it this way,” Nate said. “The arsonist is here. You don’t have to go looking for him. If you want to capture this person, now is the time to do it with Fortress to back you up.”

  Her gaze locked with Quinn’s. A nod of encouragement was all it took for her to say, “Then let’s do this. How many boxes of cookies and bags of coffee will I need in my pantry?”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Heidi pressed a kiss to the top of Charlie’s head. “Well, buddy, what about some play time?” A loud bark and enthusiastic tail wag was her response. With a laugh, she grabbed her lined jacket and headed to PSI’s training field, the Lab on her heels. Three intense hours of discussion about Serena Blackhawk’s situation and Heidi’s own had left her sluggish and Charlie antsy with the need to burn off energy. Deke was supposed to bring Ace so the two dogs could get to know each other. A smile curved her lips. It would also give the S & R program director time to see how she and Charlie worked together.

  Her thoughts drifted back to Serena. Heidi was in awe of the police chief’s wife. The pregnant chef must be one of the strongest women around to face down an international assassin with his stunning record of criminal success and live to tell about it. The information in the file on Hans Muehller was horrifying. This assassin had been responsible for the deaths of so many people. Some innocent, some not. Muehller was skilled at his work.

  Her lips twisted. As if she didn’t have enough problems to populate her dreams. Now she had those terrible pictures and stark, ugly facts imprinted on her brain. At least Muehller’s escape allowed her to focus on something besides herself and her own problems. Compared to having a highly skilled assassin after you, she’d take the arsonist on any day. Hopefully, she would meet Serena soon. She understood from Josh that Serena had a Westie named Jewel. Maybe Charlie and Jewel could have a puppy play date.

  With the prospect of facing off with the assassin, now more than ever Heidi was grateful for Charlie and her Glock. Maddox had insisted on her and Levi having weapons and self-defense training. She wasn’t nearly as prepared as Quinn and his teammates were, but she could hold her own against most run-of-the-mill thugs and villains. Her cousin, however, had taken to the training at Fortress like he’d been born to it. Maybe her arson-investigator cousin should consider a career change and hire on with Fortress.

  Soft laughter escaped. If he had a female bodyguard who caught his attention, he’d be able to pursue her in earnest. Boy, what she wouldn’t give to see Levi’s protectors. Maybe Maddox would divulge the names. Better yet, maybe Quinn could tell her. Then she wouldn’t worry about the Fort
ress CEO changing her cousin’s bodyguards. Levi wouldn’t thank her for interfering in his life. She grinned. Even if he needed it, the excuse she’d used over the years to set up Levi’s dates. With their life in the shadows, he’d neglected his social life until she stepped in. He’d had fun, even if Levi had never admitted it. The look on his face had been enough. Doing something normal for a few hours kept both of them from sliding into a funk.

  Heidi signaled Charlie into the dog tunnel. When he emerged on the other side, she praised him, slipped him a treat, and sent him to the ladder for the slide. When he reached the top, he yipped, then slid to the ground and raced for the dog teeter-totter.

  A soft whistle sounded behind her. Heidi whirled on her heel, hand reaching for the weapon concealed at her back. Seeing Quinn, she relaxed. “Weren’t you taking your SUV to the body shop?”

  “I thought you might like to meet Bear, our car guru.”

  Her eyebrows soared. “Bear?” What kind of name was that?

  He shrugged one shoulder. “We all had names given to us in the military. Some good.” His lips curved. “Some not repeatable in the company of women. That’s the name Bear was given in the Army. I can’t remember the last time anyone called him by his birth name with the exception of his family. Bear is the guy who beefs up our rides with armor plating and bullet-resistant glass as well as fixing any mechanical issues we have. For obvious reasons, we can’t trust just anyone with our vehicles.”

  She could imagine. They must have a hard time trusting anyone outside their own circle of friends and co-workers. Did that sentiment include her now? Or would she have to earn his trust? Sure, he’d aligned himself with her in front of his friends. Trusting her at his back was something different. With a fierceness that surprised her, she wanted that kind of relationship with him, one of unquestioning belief and support no matter the circumstances. Did the kiss indicate he wanted the same?

  Maybe. He might be attracted to her. Didn’t mean he would act on it and pursue a relationship. Why would he, after all? She came with boat loads of baggage and she was connected to one of the most painful experiences of his life. As honorable as Quinn was, he might not be able to leave behind their shared painful history. “Would he look at my SUV if I needed repairs?”