Truth & Lies: A Queen City Justice Novel (24 page)

“You okay?” Deck whispered in her ear.

She closed her eyes and twined the fingers of both hands through his. His arms tightened around her, and she felt almost safe. “Better than okay,” she whispered. Was this what love really felt like?

Wow.

That was an unexpected thought. One she wouldn’t be voicing this evening. Definitely falling under the category of
too much, too soon
.

“Would it be a lame-ass ‘guy’ comment for me to say that was unbelievably hot?”

She smiled against his arm, her eyes still closed, enjoying their quiet cocoon. “Only a little bit.” She snuggled deeper into his arms. “I’m not usually like that, you know.”

“Really?”

She considered just shrugging it off, but for once, she wanted to be able to say what she was thinking and feeling. “I spend so much time holding back that it’s rare that I can just…let go. You’re the only man that I ever…made love with, you know, without holding back.”

Tears pricked her eyes again at that admission. If Deck heard her sniffle, he didn’t mention it, though he did snuggle even closer as he drifted toward sleep.



Saturday, December 13—8:30 a.m.

Oakley Neighborhood, Cincinnati, Ohio

The next morning dawned, and Deck found Dana precisely where he’d left her after the second time he’d woken her during the night for a third round of highly gymnastic lovemaking. He nuzzled aside her hair and kissed her neck. He remembered the last time they’d woken together and thanked God that this morning wouldn’t be like that.

At least he hoped not.

Dana stirred. “Again?” she asked in a sleepy voice.

“And good morning to you too,” he said, unable to keep a grin from his face.

She turned over in his embrace. “Sorry. That didn’t come out right.” She brushed a couple of lingering kisses across his lips before pulling back. “What I mean to say was, ‘Again! Again!’”

How could he help but indulge her every request?

Later, once their heart rates returned to normal and they were ready for the day (take two) but before they’d actually pried themselves from bed, Deck asked a question he’d been dreading. “What time do I need to take you back to DCT? And what’s our cover?”

“Around three o’clock,” she said. “And I guess we say we’re not compatible.”

“So what do you want to do between now and three?”

“I really need to go for a run.”

“Can I tag along?”

She looked up at him.

“Well, I can’t
run,
obviously, but maybe Hvala and I can trail along. You can lap blocks in the time it takes us to go one.”

“That’s the first time I’ve ever heard you make a joke about your leg.”

He shrugged. “Honestly, it’s been easier lately. I think sticking to the PT and stretching every day has helped. And while I’m not doing the job I
want
to be doing, at least I’m doing something meaningful.”

“Good. I like the better attitude.”

“I blame you.”

“
That
I’ll accept the blame for.”

He brushed his lips across hers, then smacked her gently on the rump. “Okay, lazybones. It’s time for us to get the day started. Put your running clothes on and meet me downstairs.” Deck swung his legs over the side of the bed.

“I’m not sure I’m okay with you being a morning person,” she said.

“
Everyone’s
a morning person in comparison to you.”

“I cannot argue with your logic.”

Deck got up, used the bathroom, and brushed his teeth. He returned to the bedroom to find Dana still lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling. “I’ll make coffee as soon as you get back,” he told her.

“So that’s my reward for prying myself out of bed?”

“Yup.”

“It’s really unfair of you to be this alert this early in the morning.”

“Life is filled with unfair. Deal. Get a move on, Yenichek!”

She giggled. “Sir, yes, sir.” She stretched, causing the sheet to slip below her breasts.

Deck contemplated saying to hell with the walk and joining her back in bed.

Finally, she got up, dragging the sheet with her back down to her own room.

When she met Deck downstairs by the front door, he had Hvala leashed and ready to go.

He opened the door, then closed and locked it behind him. They set off at a leisurely pace, Deck moving much faster than he had the last time they walked. She commented on it. “Your leg must be feeling pretty good,” she said.

“It’s still a little achy, but it doesn’t hurt like it has been. I was a little concerned since I didn’t stretch it out before we went to bed last night.”

“You were distracted,” she said.

“No.
You
distracted me. There’s a difference.”

“Difference shmifference.”

He chuckled as they turned down Woodland Avenue, and she stopped next to a short flight of stairs up one of the front yards and lifted her foot up onto the middle step to stretch out her calves and hamstrings. He watched the tight line of her ass as she did so, knowing it probably wasn’t okay to ogle her in public but not really caring anyway. “Okay. I’m gonna run. See you in the next block, Marine.” She took off at a quick pace, and he watched her form. Her running stance was quick, efficient, and motored her right along, up the block where she disappeared from view. He and Hvala kept up their much slower pace, Hvala doing his best to water every tree, shrub, light pole, and fire hydrant on the block.

They made it to the end of the block just in time to see Dana coming down the side street. She stopped in front of him, grabbing his shirt and tugging him down for a kiss. He didn’t think he’d ever get used to how quickly things heated up between them.

But he was more than willing to try.

“What was that for?” he asked when she finally came up for air.

She shrugged. “Just taking advantage of you while I still can.”

“Finish up your run, and I’ll let you take advantage of me for most of the rest of the day.”

“That’s good incentive to get up to Erie Avenue and back,” she said.

They continued on past Wasson until the street doglegged into Shaw Avenue in the same manner. As she rounded each block, she stopped and kissed him. By the time they reached the end of the street, his leg was starting to quietly protest the walk.

They turned around and returned the way they’d come. When they reached Wasson again, Dana was looking as ready for the trip to be over as he was.

“Let me just take one more lap, and then I’ll walk the rest of it with you,” she said after giving him what he was beginning to think of as his on-the-corner kisses.

“Sounds good,” he said as she took off.

He made it to the corner before she got there, but he didn’t see her coming down the street.

That was weird. Up until this block, she’d been pacing him pretty close to three blocks to his one.

He waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Okay. That wasn’t right. She should have come around the corner long before now.

Deck turned down the side street. A bad feeling crawled through his gut.
She’s probably just walking it.
Maybe she’d turned her ankle. There was no reason to panic.

Deck picked up his pace, and his leg let him know it wouldn’t put up with much more. He made it to the end of the block and looked to his left and then to the right.

His blood turned to ice as he caught sight of Dana’s limp body being shoved into the rear driver’s seat of a tan, four-door Chevy Cobalt.

“Dana!” he shouted, putting it into double time.

A man in a windbreaker with a baseball cap pulled low over his forehead and aviator sunglasses looked up as he shut the door behind her. The man hopped in the driver’s seat before Deck even made it to the end of the side street.

Fuck!
The car peeled out and was gone long before he was close enough to see the plates. He spun around on his good leg and ran, using his crutch only for balance as pain seared up his other leg with every heavy-footed step.

Goddammit. Why couldn’t he move any faster?

Why hadn’t she fought back?

Sweat streamed down his back as pain slammed through him every time he put weight on his leg, but he kept moving.

Why the hell hadn’t he brought his cell with him? Or his service weapon? He rarely went anywhere without it. But they were only going a short distance, and he was in his own neighborhood.

The reality of a world without Dana in it intruded into his panic for a moment, and he shut it down quickly before he lost his ability to reason.

He slammed into the house and dropped Hvala’s leash as the door crashed shut behind him. Racing into the kitchen, he found the cordless handset sitting next to Dana’s cell. He hit the power button on the cell and dialed Sherwood from Dana’s contacts list.

“Andrew Sherwood’s office.” The woman on the other end of the line sounded cool, calm, and professional.

“I need to speak to Andrew Sherwood. This is an emergency.”

“I’m sorry. Agent Sherwood is on another line. May I take a message?” Deck didn’t know who she was, but he hated her for her cool, even tones. Irrationally, he wanted her to be as terrified as he was.

“This is Deck Murphy. Tell Sherwood one of his agents just got tossed in the back of a car. I think he’ll take my call.”

Her voice turned shaky on a tight inhale. “Hold the line, please.”

Finally.

“Murphy, what’s going on?”

Deck explained as quickly as he could, even as he picked up his landline to dial 9-1-1 for the police.

“We’re on our way. Call the police and hang tight.”

“Already have.”

“9-1-1. What’s your emergency?”

Deck gave his badge number and requested police assistance. He gave all the details he could about the car. As soon as they dropped the line, he called his captain.

“Captain Rupert.”

“Rupert, it’s Deck Murphy. The FBI agent that I’ve been working with was just kidnapped. Dispatch is sending a couple of cars, but I need your assistance in getting everyone out here that we can.”

“We’re on our way. Hold on. We’ll be there ASAP.”

He resented being told by both Rupert and Sherwood to hold tight. He’d argue that he should get out there and
help
, but there wasn’t much he could do. Dammit, he couldn’t even get to her in time.

He raced outside with both phones in his hand, pacing in front of the house for the three minutes it took for the squad cars to begin rolling up. He gave statement after statement. He knew they were doing everything they could, but the frustration he felt at having to wait was making him tear his hair out.

Dana’s team screeched up to the curb several minutes later. They flashed their badges at the assembled police and raced toward the house.

“Tell me what happened. Don’t leave anything out,” Sherwood said.

Deck told him about their walk/run and how he went down the side street to see if she’d injured herself when she didn’t show, only to find her being shoved in the back of a car.

“Was she fighting?”

“No. She looked…” Deck swallowed hard. “Lifeless. I’m pretty sure she was unconscious.”
Or dead.
No one said what he was thinking, but they were all thinking it too, he could tell.

His throat ached with his need to shout and scream out his frustration and pain.

“Is that Dana’s phone?” Sherwood asked, gesturing to the cell still gripped in his right hand.

Deck nodded.

“We’ll take it with us and see if we can’t piece together anything from her call history.”

Deck handed it over.

“We’ll find her, Murphy. She’s a good agent. She can take care of herself.”

Deck might have bought Sherwood’s line had it not been for his inability to meet Deck’s eyes. “Then why do you look so concerned?” he asked.

Sherwood had no answer.

Chapter Seventeen

Saturday, December 13—Time Unknown

Location Unknown

Dana woke up with the mother of all hangovers…which was fairly odd, because she didn’t remember having had anything to drink. She opened one eye, only to have a laser beam of light spear its way into her brain. She clamped it shut again. Her mouth felt like she’d been sucking on cotton balls.

Jesus. What did she have to drink? The last thing she remembered was…

Blank.

Her pulse kicked up, which did nothing to abate the demon drum corps in her head.

Okay. She remembered…
Deck.
She remembered waking up in Deck’s arms. His name found its way to her lips. What happened then?

They went running. She kissed him at the end of every block. She…

God, that was all she had. She remembered feeling a sharp pain in her butt and turning around to see what had bit her…and then…
nothing.

No wait. Not true. She breathed slowly, trying to call the images skittering in the periphery of her memory to come to the forefront. She remembered seeing the Cincinnati Gardens just as the car stopped. At least she thought of it when they stopped. She hadn’t been near Norwood in months, so she was pretty sure it wasn’t an old memory.

Where was she? She opened her eyes again. All she could see was a really bright light directly in her face.

Bad, bad idea.
She let her eyes drift close. She’d try it again when she didn’t feel like someone was taking a hot poker to her brain. She wasn’t a big drinker for this very reason. Anytime she overindulged, she woke up feeling like she was going to die.

She shifted on the bed.
Ouch.
Not a bed. A cot, maybe? No pillow. No wonder her neck hurt so bad. She tried to sit up only to find that her wrists were tied to the frame. She tested moving her legs and found they too were tied.

True panic replaced her confusion at that moment.

“So you’re finally awake,
bella.
”

Dana’s eyes snapped open. That voice was familiar.

Why?

Someone moved the light—
thank you, Jesus
—and she could finally see the room. Painted concrete block walls like one might find in a basement made up the four walls of the tiny room. A steel door was on the far wall with dead bolts requiring a key.