Blindsided (9 page)

Had it been a threat?

Roni thought of all the things she said to the press that day. She even went so far as to say no one should sponsor Jared Finlay. That he couldn’t be trusted and would never give credit where credit was due.

She ruined him that day. Without her money and with the lack of sponsors lining up to carry him further in the sport, he was finished.

“Well? Does Jared want you dead?” Ethan asked.

Roni swallowed hard. “It’s possible. I killed his career by publicly burning him.”

“And now it looks like he’s out to burn you back. But this time, literally.”

TEN

T
he headlights flashed over the welcome sign to Norcastle, New Hampshire. Ethan hit the blinker and took the exit off the highway. He wondered if he should wake up Roni and Maddie. But Roni hadn’t slept in days, and he could probably say this was the best sleep Maddie had had in years. It wasn’t long after Ethan had dropped Sam off at a populated location that they had dozed off. They must have both felt safe enough with him to do so. How wrong they were.

He should wake them up. In fact he should have dropped them off somewhere secure and continued this mission on his own.

The weight of his new responsibilities felt as heavy as the silence in the dimly lit car.

He had no business protecting anyone, and now, he had two women under his care. That’s one more than the last time.

Solo or no-go. That was the plan, or get out of this line of work.

Ethan thought of his passenger in the seat beside him and of her talk of being part of a team. She made it sound doable, even desirable. Just like the woman doing the asking.

He glanced at her beautifully serene face relaxed in slumber. Air released from his lungs at the sight of her; he felt his body physically calm with her by his side.
How ridiculous,
he thought.

And dangerous.

It was solo or no-go in the women department for him as well as on the job. Things got messy when the enemy figured out your weak spot.

Ethan wasn’t sure why, but he knew if someone wanted to get to him, hurting Roni would put him over the edge. His gut twisted at the image his mind created, and he couldn’t negate the fact.

He’d turned his back on his job for this woman. If that didn’t prove to him that she had the power to turn his head, nothing would.

And the enemy would know it, too.

All he’d done was made Roni more of a target. If someone wanted to get to him, they could succeed by harming her.

Pace came to mind as the first to try. The friendship would be cast aside for the job. His handler would be livid at losing his best undercover agent. He would be out for blood. Retaliation. That’s how Pace operated. But he knew how to work the system to get it done legitimately.

Ethan knew there was no way he’d escape Pace’s butcher block at the end of this. At this point, he would be of no help to Roni in that arena because he, too, would be in cuffs.

But then that was only if Pace was still alive.

Ethan thought of the smashed and flaming helicopter. His chest seized at the thought of his lifelong friend dead, all for doing his job—no matter how misguided about Roni he’d been, no matter how close he’d gotten to the trafficking case, Ethan didn’t wish his friend dead.

Ethan blew out a deep breath with a shake of his head. He wouldn’t let himself mourn his friend until he knew for sure that he had been in that helicopter. There was a very good chance that it had been Ramsey’s men all along. But Ethan had to think if that was the case, then Jared Finlay may have actually saved his life.

Not that Ethan planned on shaking the man’s hand for it. After all, Jared had only acted for his own gain of seeing Roni dead.

Still, if Ramsey’s men were in the helicopter, then they would have surely blasted Ethan away when he stepped out from under the gas pump canopy. The Porsche’s appearance right at the moment he was about to make himself known saved him.

Roni murmured softly beside him. Her sweet sleep talk so unlike her sarcastic tone during her waking hours made him involuntarily smile. He quickly shook the grin from his face when he realized the effect it had on him.

In response he squeezed the steering wheel tightly to strengthen his resolve, but then her head tilted in a way that brought her lovely face into full view. She smiled and he wondered if thoughts of him filled her mind as she had penetrated his. Thoughts of her safety. Of her beauty. Of her pain.

Of her relationship with Jared Finlay.

Ethan shouldn’t care about the relationship between Roni and Jared—he shouldn’t care at all—but telling himself that didn’t halt the stir of anger churning at his core. The woman had done so much for Jared, given her all to lift him up. The man needed a few hard-knock lessons in gratitude—right after he did his time for falsifying documents to set Roni up. And let’s not forget her kidnapping and attempted murder, too.

“If you grip that steering wheel any tighter you’ll break it in two.” The soft sweet voice was gone, and Ethan smiled even bigger in the darkened cabin. “A racer’s first rule is to ease up on the wheel. A tight grip does not mean you’re in control of the car.”

Ethan glanced Roni’s way to find her straightening up in the passenger seat. Her hands went to her neck and righted her scarf.

“Do you do that on purpose, or is it just automatic?”

“Do what?” She brought her hand down from her neck slowly.

“Never mind. Teach me some more racing tips. If I was to sign up for one of your courses, how would you teach me to control a car like this?”

“Well, first off, if you’re in control, you’re not going fast enough.”

Ethan laughed out loud. “Oh, man, I think I’m in love.” The flippant words lodged in his brain and echoed over and over. Nausea rolled through his gut and threatened to make an appearance. He waited,
willed
Roni to come back with one of her smart, sarcastic retorts that would put him in his place.

But none came.

Instead, she grew quiet and gazed out into the black night on the rural New Hampshire roads.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that,” he said, looking her way.

She dropped her head back to the headrest and let it loll to face him. “I understand. It’s an adrenaline thing. But trust me, it wears off. I thought I loved Jared too when he proved a worthy student. The fast life has a way of tricking you into believing in things that aren’t really there. After the dust settles, the truth roars louder than any race car.”

When she didn’t elaborate, he changed the subject. “Are you sure we should be going back to your house? It’s totally secluded up on the mountain, and there could be an ambush waiting for us.”

“Then we’ll be ready for them.”

Ethan nodded and entered the downtown village of Norcastle. Old brick factory mills-turned-apartments and restaurants lined the river off to his right. The road to the Spencer Speedway shot off to the left, but it wasn’t the road he had used to sneak on the property with Guerra for the past month. That back road they had used to bring in the stolen vans was more isolated and unused for the most part. No one saw them coming and going at all hours of the day and night, and Ethan never saw anyone else on the road either. It was as though no one knew about the pass, or they were the only ones to have the authorization for being there. Another reason why Pace believed Roni was involved. He thought she was the one giving the authorization.

Ethan asked, “Has Jared ever used the back entrance to the speedway?”

Roni shrugged. “Not that I know of. It’s nowhere near the paddock and track. That’s why the garage has gone unused there. There’s also plenty of room to install a training track for a school. People would barely hear the motors. I’d thought...well, I’d thought it would work.”

He watched disappointment flicker in her eyes. Gloom hedged in on her dream of opening a racing school. Something in him wanted to fix it, wanted the Roni Spencer he’d come to know back in the car. “Keep thinking it,” he said. “Don’t let what happened in the past determine the future.”

Roni’s lips smirked and she rolled her eyes. “Wow. You might want to stick with FBI-ing and save the platitudes for the greeting card companies.”

He flashed a quick grin. There she was! “That bad?”

“Yeah, that bad.” Her eyes twinkled in the dashboard lights.

“Just trying to help.”

“You want to help? Tell me how to keep from freezing up in the face of fire. You kept your head on straight while I folded in like a cheap tent. You’re afraid of nothing. How do you it?”

Ethan took a sharp turn to start the ascent up the mountain road to Roni’s secluded home. “We’re all afraid of something.”

“And?”

“And don’t let this strapping, rock-solid physique fool you.” He winked with a smile. “Believe it or not, I’ve shaken in my boots too many times to count.”

“Like when?”

Ethan blew out a breath in a whistle. “I almost lost a civilian once. I tagged her with a wire to help gather some information on a case.” Ethan squeezed the wheel. “I wasn’t shaking in my boots when that went down because I was knocked out unconscious, caught unaware. When I came to, she was taken and the wire left smashed on the ground. A message to me that I failed. I vowed never again would I put another civilian in that situation. If I can’t do my job, then I have no business going under.”

“What happened to her?”

“She lived, but no thanks to me.”

Roni eyed him quizzically, her lips scrunched. “I don’t see it. I have to think if you hadn’t been KO’d she would have been fine. I’ve seen you work, and you would have protected her with your life.”

Ethan shook his head. “I failed her. Period.”

“You were blindsided. It happens to the best of us. Just when you think you’ve got this, a car appears on your right and takes you out.” She smiled reassuringly. “Been there, trust me. So is that all you’ve got? Because you said yourself, you weren’t shaking in your boots.”

Ethan huffed. Figures this woman would find fault in his confession of guilt. “Not terrifying enough for you? Fine. The other time was just this week when Guerra put a gun to your head.”

Her eyes widened for a brief second before relaxing into more inquisitiveness. How would she squash this one? Ethan found himself filling with anticipation to see how her mind would work it out.

Slowly, her head began to shake back and forth. “Uh-uh. I was there, remember? I didn’t see you shaking in your boots. In fact, it was you who suggested Guerra kidnap me.”

“That’s the trick to hiding your fear. Don’t ever let yourself get backed into a corner. Your fear comes out real fast. Always make the first move, even when you’re scared.
Especially
when you’re scared. Be the one to step forward instead of back when someone is coming at you. It gives you the upper hand in the situation and throws the other person off.”

“Are you telling me you were scared about me dying?”

He sputtered. “You have no idea.”

“Why? What was I to you?”

“A civilian under my watch.”

“I was a person of interest, a suspect in your investigation.”

“You were and still are innocent until proven guilty.”

“Not according to your handler.”

She got him there. Ethan sighed in agreement. “Pace knows better, but he lost his sister to a violent crime at the hands of traffickers, and I think his focus is clouded.”

“So clouded that he would take shots at me from a helicopter.”

“I hope not.”

“But it’s possible.”

Ethan turned the wheel sharply to make the winding road that wrapped around the mountainside. A steep falloff led to a gorge down below. “Yes. But I hope I’m wrong,” he said.

“Because that would mean your friend is dead?”

Ethan frowned and gave a quick nod.

“I’m sorry. I’m not sorry that I got away from him, but I’m sorry you’re stuck in the middle of this mess. I guess I haven’t really given much thought to what you’re risking by helping me. Do you think you’ll be fired?”

“More like arrested, especially when I tell them you didn’t kidnap me. I came of my own accord and helped you escape.”

“You asked me numerous times to give myself up.”

“But they will say I should have taken you into custody and brought you in.”

“So why haven’t you? I may talk big, but I’m pretty sure you would overpower me.”

“Taking you in by force is not how I want this all going down. Besides, when I called Pace from the station, I just got a bad feeling that he may be keeping me in the dark about something. I hung up before they could trace the phone number. Or, at least I thought I had, because soon after, the helicopter showed up. More reason to wonder how they tracked us down. I’m not wearing my tracker anymore. So how else would they have known we were inside?”

Roni patted the dashboard. “Perhaps our ride is giving us away. I have trackers in all of my cars. I wouldn’t doubt Ramsey did, too.”

“Then that would mean it was Ramsey’s men in that helicopter taking shots at you.”

“Or Ramsey cut a deal and told Pace how to track us down.”

“I’ve considered the possibility. I didn’t want to believe it, but I considered it.” Ethan felt his blood shoot to the boiling point. He hit the gas in response to the possible grievance. “If Pace even cut a deal with that monster, I’ll—”

“Can you slow down?”

Ethan hit the brake. “D-Did you, Roni Spencer, just ask
me
to slow down?”

“Yes, it’s just on these narrow roads.”

Ethan took in her concern. Then it clicked.

“I thought you didn’t remember the accident.”

“I don’t, but I’m not up to reliving the trip down the gorge to bring back the memories.”

Ethan resumed a safer speed with a nod. “Understandable. So...” He peeked into the rearview mirror to find Maddie still zonked out. “What are your plans for Maddie?”

Roni craned her neck to see the sleeping young woman. Her fear of these roads evaporated into determination for the safety of her charge. “That’ll be up to Maddie, what she wants for her life, but I will help her any way I can. It pains me to know there are so many more people out there in her situation. I wish I could take them all.”

“And do what with them?”

Roni shrugged. “If nothing else, look them in the eye and tell them I see them. I see they are people. A person before anything else.”

Ethan dropped his gaze to her scarf and wondered if what Roni wanted to offer was the exact thing she herself desired.

To be seen as a person before anything else.

Ethan reached for her scarf, but she shrank back. “Jared lied to you, Roni. On so many levels. The man is slime. If I ever...” He retook the wheel but turned her way to say, “Take back what he stole from you by taking that off. No one will be able to hurt you again when you do. Not Jared, not your uncle, not anyone.”