Bourne to Love Emma (RED-Stone Operatives Book 1) (12 page)

            He was put on probation for six months.  One
month into the six months, he was caught taking money out of the petty cash box
without going through the proper channels and was fired on the spot.  He did
not go peacefully and they had to have security forcefully remove him from the
building.  That was six months ago.

            I thanked the manager I spoke with and hung up
the phone.  One call down, one more to go.  Next up: the townhouses where he
was living right after the divorce but isn’t paying rent anymore.

            This call was a lot quicker and no one had any
issues with disclosing what might be considered sensitive information.  Four
months ago, Dan’s automatic withdrawal was denied.  He couldn’t come up with
the money before he was in the hole for another month’s rent.  Two months
later, they evicted him from the apartment.  He made threats to the management
and had to be physically removed by security.  He’d had no contact with them
since that date, though.  They had no forwarding address and the emergency
contact number on his rental agreement was disconnected.

            I thanked him and got off the phone.  I wrapped
my hands around the back of my neck and leaned back in my chair.  Well, damn. 
This was really starting to look like a man with nothing to lose.  But where does
Emma fit into this?  He isn’t paying her – so it’s not like he’s pissed that
she’s taking his money.  What’s his angle?

            John tapped my office door and walked inside.

            “His car was repossessed last month.  I tracked
him to a woman he dated briefly, says he stayed with her for a few weeks about
two months ago.  She told him to get his shit together or get out.  He slapped
her around and took her car when he left.  Cops found it a few days later,
abandoned downtown.  She didn’t press charges.  No one knows where he’s staying
now.”

            “He’s been fired, evicted and had his car
repossessed in the past six months.  I doubt he was caught doing his first and
last line of cocaine at that party – so it’s a safe assumption that he’s still
using and maybe using other drugs now.  Obviously, he’s seeing himself in this
spiral where everything has turned to shit.  But how does Emma fit in?”

            “Well.  None of it started until after the
divorce…”

            “Yeah, but he’s the prick who walked the fuck out
on her.  He orchestrated that whole thing – even down to disowning his kid and
denying her any support whatsoever.”

            John’s face shifted at this.  Heather may have
already known about Emma and Mia’s past, but John didn’t. 

            “Just because he chose his path doesn’t mean he
can’t find some twisted fucking way to blame it on her or something.  We’ve
seen people find all kind of ways to justify insane stuff.  Add drugs to the
mix and you’ve got a recipe for everyone else being at fault for the shit storm
that is his life….”

            I sighed.  He was right.  “This isn’t over.  He’s
going to try to get to her again.  Fuck me.”  I covered my face with my hands
for a minute.  Caring about the person you’re protecting makes everything
harder to handle.

            John pulled his keys from his pocket and said, “Let’s
take a trip to visit with our mechanic friend and see what he can tell us about
who’s been driving that car.  I’ll buy you lunch on the way.”

~Emma~

I was starting to go a little
stir-crazy by lunch time.  When I picked up my phone to call Heather, a text
from Jason came through.

                        J: 
Hey, babe.  How’re you holding
up?

                        E: 
Starting to go a little crazy
over here.

                        J: 
I’m sorry.  Everything we’re
learning is…not good.

                        E: 
How bad?

                        J: 
John and I think he’ll try to
get to you again.

            I just sat there and stared at that line for a
while.  This had all become so surreal.  Dan was an asshole, without question. 
But I gave him everything he wanted while we were married – until I got pregnant
with Mia – and then I gave him a divorce when he wanted that, too.  We moved
out of the house.  I supported Mia and myself without his money.  I’d had no
contact with him since the papers were signed and a judge ordered us divorced
and my name returned to Parsons.

            So.  What the hell?

                        J: 
I’m sorry, Emma.  I know
you’re worried.

                        E: 
I am.  And confused.  Why is
he doing this?

J: 
We’re
not sure yet.  Going w/ John to check on some things.  Will call when we’re
done.

E: 
Ok. 
Jason, be careful.

J: 
I
will.  You and Mia stay inside.

            After making lunch for Mia and myself, I called
Heather.  She hadn’t heard anything new from John – just the same thing that
Jason told me:  He’s going to come after me again.  A few minutes into the
conversation, Heather told me that she’s just going to come over to see us. 
She generally works evenings at the bar, so she had some time to kill before
work anyway.

            “Hey – I don’t want you to park on the street
unless you can grab one of the spots right in front of the doors and Frank can
see you from the lobby.  Why don’t you park in the extra spot for my
apartment.  They’ve got monitored cameras in the garage.  My code for the gate
is 0510.”

            “Oh-five-one-oh.  Got it.  I’ll be over in half
an hour and I’ll call you when I’m on my way up.”

            I cleared the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen
before I got Mia cleaned up and changed so she could take a nap.  Once she was
down, I picked up her toys in the living room and wiped down the cabinets and
table where her sticky fingers left heaven-only-knows-what on them.

            I checked my watch.  It had been almost an hour
since Heather said she was coming over.  I pulled my phone out and sent her a
text to give her grief.

Dang,
woman.  Did you find a shoe sale you couldn’t pass up on your way over?  Move
your butt and come entertain me!

            I chuckled at myself, tucked my phone back in my
back pocket and went to pull the laundry out of the dryer.  By the time I
finish folding the clothes, hanging some of them up and moving the wet clothes
from the washer to the dryer, she still hadn’t text me back.  I hit her name on
my phone and called her this time.  Four and a half rings later, I got her
voicemail.

            “Hey, Heather.  I thought you’d be here by now…. 
Not being able to get ahold of you is making me kind of nervous.  Call me
back.  Bye.”

A little frisson of unease edged up
my spine.  I hit Jason’s name on my phone and called him, remember what he
said.  Fortunately, he answered on the first ring.

“Emma, what’s wrong?”

“Heather said she was coming to spend
the afternoon with us and she should have been here by now.  I text and called
but she didn’t answer.  I’m worried, Jason.”

“Heather’s … fine.  She’s on the
phone with John now and we’re heading back to you.  We should be there in the
next fifteen minutes.”

            His voice told me there was something he wasn’t
saying.  Something had happened to Heather.  “What happened, Jason?  I need to
know.”

            “Someone was in the parking garage when she got
there and they… shoved her into the wall when they were running away.”

            “Was it Dan?  Did she see him?”

            “She didn’t get a good look at the guy, but I’ve
already got Frank pulling the feed from the cameras in the garage.  Just hang
tight, babe.  I’ll be there in about ten minutes and bring Heather to you.”

            “Okay.”  My voice quivered as we get off the
phone.  My hands were shaking and I felt sick.  This had become like one of
those Lifetime movies.  This can’t be my life.  I started to walk to the couch
to sit down but turned around and grabbed the gun off the top of the fridge so
I could take it with me.  Mia was still napping, so I just sat there with the
gun and mentally stood guard over both of us.  No one was coming in that door
without me seeing them.

~Jason~

            I know Emma is scared now.  She hadn’t been really
worried through most of this, but she was now.  And it made me furious.  My job
is to protect people from the bad guys.  It’s been my job for a long time and
I’m not doing it well enough to keep her from being scared.  This fucker was
actually in our parking garage – just a handful of flights of stairs below her
apartment.  Granted, you have to have a security card to get into the building
from the garage, but he should have never gotten that close.

            We had only been talking to the mechanic at
Salazar Automotive – who had loaned the car to Dan while his was supposed to be
towed in for repairs, only that was all a lie – for maybe ten minutes when John
got the call from Heather.  I’ve never seen John show much emotion, it’s one of
the things that made him a good marine and it’s an asset to any company like
the one he runs.  But he couldn’t hide his anger and worry when he heard from
Heather.  It didn’t take long before he had it all stowed away again, but it
was the first time I’d really seen it.

            He was still on the phone with Heather – not
really talking to her, just staying on the phone with her until we get there.  Every
now and then he would look at the clock on the dash and tell her how much
longer it would take us to get there.

            Two patrol cars blocked the garage entrance when
we got to the building and there were quite a few people hanging around to see
what was going on.  I pulled up and parked right behind one of the patrol cars
and John was out of the car before I even shut off the engine.  An officer
stepped in his path and it took less than ten words for John to get him moving
again. 

            When the officer stopped me, I explained that we
were working personal security for one of the tenants and we believed that this
incident was related.  The officer waved me through with a warning that we
would need to provide an official statement before they left.

            John was holding Heather while he listens to
another officer.  They were standing next to Emma’s car.  Fuck.  Emma’s car had
four flat tires and the driver’s window was smashed.  It sounded like Heather
was in the wrong place at the wrong time – he hid when he heard someone pulling
into the garage, most likely, but had to do something when she pulled up and
parked right next to Emma’s car.  Thankfully, body-checking her into a concrete
pillar in front of the car was all he did.  She was cradling her right wrist in
her other hand and the knee of her jeans had blood on it, but that appeared to
be the extent of her injuries.

            John looked at me and then told the officer that
we were going to take Heather upstairs, check on Emma and then we would meet
them in the security office to review the footage from the garage and exterior
cameras.  When we got to the elevator, Frank was walking off and he looked like
he was walking to his own execution.

            “Mr. Winters, I’m so sorry!  I wasn’t at my desk,
so I didn’t see the monitors until Ms. Jackson was already on the ground.  I
called the cops and got here as fast as I could but he was gone.  I’m really
sorry.” 

            John opened his mouth to say something, but
Heather beat him to it.

            “Frank.  It’s fine.  You do a wonderful job
keeping us safe and helping us when we need a hand.  It wasn’t your fault that
some psycho decided to kick my ass today.  It wasn’t anyone’s fault but his.  John
is going to focus on finding him and returning the favor, aren’t you honey?  We
all know that Frank can’t be expected to do all the functions of his job
sitting behind that desk and staring at screens all day.  He does a lot more
than that.  So don’t you apologize again, Frank.  You called the cops and
helped me get my purse so I could call John.  That was what I needed and you
did it.” 

She dismissed the entire group with a
wave and said, “Now, I need to see Emma and snuggle with Mia for a bit.  You
guys have more important things to do…like finding the asshole who is trying to
hurt my best friend and nailing his ass to the wall.” 

She leaned up and kissed John hard on
the mouth and then smiled at me and Frank before she got on the elevator.  I
hopped on with her before the doors closed.

“So, Jason.  It’s nice to finally
meet you.  I’ve heard a lot about you.  Not a lot of what I want to hear, but a
lot nonetheless.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you, too.  We
–“

Heather raised her hand and cut me
off.

“Emma is my best friend.  If you hurt
her, I will chop off your balls and shove them down your throat and let you
choke on them, capiche?” 

The elevator doors opened on my floor
and she patted me on the cheek before she walked down the hall to Emma’s door,
limping just a little and holding her injured wrist against her middle.

I would never actually admit to anyone
that I was scared of a woman who was maybe 5’8” and a buck fifty….  But, yeah. 
I was a little.  Damn.

~Emma~

            I yanked open the door and hugged Heather hard. 
She yelped and I jerked away from her. 

            “Oh my gosh.  You’re hurt!  You’re bleeding!  Oh
my gosh!”

            “Emma, I’m fine.  I just need to clean up and
I’ll be good as new.  Well – I’ll need some Mia snuggles to make me all better,
but the bathroom will do for now.”

            Heather patted me on the arm and walked past me
to the bathroom.  I turned back toward Jason as he stepped in and closed the
door behind him.  I stepped into his arms and wrapped myself around him.  The worry
of the last hour hit me and I fought the urge to cry.  Jason rubbed his hands
and up down my back and told me that everything would be alright.  When I
pulled myself together, Heather was coming back from the bathroom and Jason
motioned both of us to the kitchen table.

            “So, it looks like Dan lost control of his life
after the divorce.  He –“

            Heather deadpanned, “Couldn’t have happened to a
nicer guy.”

            Jason smiled grimly.  “He got in trouble at work,
got involved in drugs, got fired, evicted from his townhouse and had his car
repossessed.  All of that has been in the last two to six months.  We also
think he got involved in money laundering, but we haven’t been able to pull
that thread and find where it leads yet.”

            Heather still seemed a little out of sorts from
her experience downstairs.  I sat still, absorbing what Jason was telling me. 
Everything still had that unrealistic bent to it.  It made it hard to take it
all seriously and really believe that this was happening.

            I finally asked, “What does any of that have to
do with me, though?”

            Jason replied, “I asked the same question, but
the bottom line is that we have no idea what’s going on in his head.  We don’t
know what his plans are or why he made them.  All we know is that he’s
escalated and that’s bad.”

            “Because he hurt Heather we can assume he’ll hurt
me?”

            Heather put her hand on my arm.  “No, sugar, we
can assume he’ll hurt you because he slashed your tires and beat the shit out
of your car.  I was just a side benefit for his assholishness today.”

            I could actually feel the blood drain out of my
face as I turned my eyes to Jason for confirmation that what Heather said is
true. He nods, his expression shuttered.

            “I’ve got to go back down and help review the
tapes.  I want you to stay here with Heather until John and I can come back up
and we can figure out what we need to do, okay?”

            Mia started crying in the living room, so I got
up to get her.  She needed a new diaper, so we walked to her bedroom.  My mind
was in such a fog.  How the hell did we end up here?  And why now?

~Jason~