Unwritten (7 page)

Unlike the last message, which she’d figured out right away, this one posed a challenge. The symbol that looked like an
S
on top of another one, the double
S
, what meaning had Anthony given it? She wracked her brain, feeling a headache coming on, and rubbed her temple. The original meaning of the symbol meant section, but how had Anthony changed it? Then it came to her. Himself. The symbol meant
I
or
me
. Her heart thundered in her ears as she translated the message.
“I’m here.”

All strength left Evie’s fingers, and she dropped her phone in the middle of the tangerines. She looked to the left and right. A woman stood nearby, eyeing her with suspicion. A man pushing a cart filled with various items headed in the opposite direction and soon disappeared out of sight. That couldn’t have been Anthony anyway because the man was a good foot shorter, and her cousin stood at six-two.

Attempting to calm down, she reached for her phone and started to dial Kian. Another message came in. She understood this one right away.
“Don’t do that.”

Evie abandoned her basket and left the fruit section. She considered leaving the grocery store altogether, but that might be a bad idea. With bright lights and plenty of people around, she would be safer. Besides, there was a good chance the FBI had already deciphered Anthony’s code, and they were headed to her location now. All she needed to do was stall her cousin and this nightmare would be over.

She strode from aisle to aisle looking for him, but there happened to be no big black guys shopping that evening. She almost believed her cousin was playing a trick and he was nowhere around when she came to the frozen foods section. Anthony leaned on one of the refrigerator doors with arms folded across his chest. He smiled at seeing her.

“Hey, cuz.”

Her head spun. She hadn’t seen him in person since just before he killed Brad. He’d worked as a bartender at Leo’s bar, but he’d never been very good at it. Leo had told her Anthony didn’t give it much effort. Leo kept him on for her. Evie knew her cousin kept the job as a cover for the work he’d done under the table, but she had been foolish enough to believe it was all little stuff that didn’t amount to much. Still, she should have known. No one could afford the kind of lifestyle Anthony enjoyed back then. He had hated being poor with a passion and promised her they would never wonder where their next meal would come from once he grew up. She had refused his support and made her own way, but he kept pushing until she met and married Kian.

Evie licked her lips. “Don’t hey cuz me, Anthony Paine. The FBI is looking for you, and you know it. Why did you break out?”

“I came for you.”

“That’s why you shot up my job?” She spoke like she’d seen that type of thing every day, but despite their upbringing, she had been somewhat sheltered. Before Anthony shot Brad, no one could have convinced her he was capable of it or that he owned a gun. “I don’t know why you’re looking for me, but just leave me out of your decisions. It cost me enough, and I’m rebuilding my life.”

He sneered and pushed off the door to approach her. She took a step back, but he grabbed her arm. The pressure from his hold hurt, and she noticed for the first time in the last two years, he’d bulked up. She tried to pull out of his grasp, but he held on.

“You call working for that snitch rebuilding? I was glad to hear you divorced the cop, but then you go backward. Are you fucking him too?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“I’m making it my business.” He slid his hand from her arm to the back of her neck and compelled her toward the rear of the store. “I promised you I’d look out for you, and you’re the only family I have now that your dad has passed and your mom is in a home. I paid her bills up for the year, by the way.”

She glared at him. “I was handling it.”

“And now I am.”

Evie weighed her options. If she didn’t scream or get away somehow, she might be in real trouble. She stomped Anthony’s foot, and he groaned then hauled her off her feet. “Don’t be stupid, Evie.” He pulled his jacket back, and she saw the gun. She nearly threw up in her mouth.

“Y-you’re not going to shoot me.”

“No, but I will shoot anybody who gets in my way. If you keep me here, I’m thinking your ex will be along in a little while. Do you hate him enough for me to shoot him?”

Hate Kian? That was the problem. She didn’t hate him, but she had no intention of telling Anthony that. “Don’t do this, Anthony. You’re in enough trouble. You can’t kill the police. They’ll shoot you on sight, and what about me? Who will I have when you’re gone?”

He smiled. “That’s what I’m saying. Now come on.”

They moved through the rear of the grocery store, Anthony pulling her behind stacks of boxes when someone came near. Before she knew it, they had reached the loading dock. An eighteen-wheeler with the grocery store’s name on the side was parked in front of the wide door, but enough room remained for them to jump down to the ground. When her cousin pushed her toward the opening, her cell phone rang. He paused and jerked it from her hands to look at the screen. He smiled and held it up for her to see. Kian phoned.

Anthony chuckled. “I was stupid the last time letting him catch me, but I’m not going back in. I should answer and tell him that. Naw, better to have him wondering. I should have already put a bullet in his head.”

He threw the phone across the cement floor, and she heard the screen shatter. Her legs gave, but he hauled her to her feet. As soon as they jumped down to the ground, she spotted the car waiting. She searched her mind for words that would get him to let her go.

“Anthony, um, Kian and I were thinking of getting back together. That’s why I stayed with him instead of going to a safe house. I know you want me to be happy, and I’m happy with him. Please, just let me go. I won’t tell anyone you were here. I’ll tell him I dropped my phone, and that’s why I didn’t answer.”

He glared at her and then dragged her across the back lot to the car. When he wrenched the door open and shoved her toward the passenger seat, she placed a foot on the frame and elbowed him in the side. She didn’t see the hit until it caught her on the chin, and her head snapped back. Darkness fell like a thick blanket, and she saw no more.

* * * *

Kian slammed his foot on the break, and his car slid to a stop outside the Harris Teeter and he jumped out. Within a matter of seconds, he had his weapon in his hand and approached the store. Taggert moved to his side, and other vehicles arrived with agents joining him and his partner. He knew more covered the back of the store. They swarmed on the establishment, and a few customers shrieked. Kian picked up the calls of “Clear!” around the store. He left Taggert to coordinate the employees and the customers at the front while he and a couple of agents searched the back.

They’d tracked Evie’s phone to this location, and the personnel responsible for tracking from the office had indicated when Evie’s phone stopped working. Yet, even a phone that was turned off was no deterrent. His people pinpointed the phone, and he’d prayed all the way over to the store she was still with it, but when he rounded a stack of boxes near the rear exit, that hope died. Kian stooped next to the phone and pulled a pen from his jacket. He flipped the phone over and found the face shattered. Fear tightened his gut, and he stood up, blowing out a breath. Evie, where are you?

“Where’s the agent I sent to watch her?” he growled to the man next to him, but it was Taggert who answered.

“He was replaced.”

Kian narrowed his eyes. Did they have a traitor in their midst? “What do you mean replaced?”

Taggert hesitated.

“Explain,” Kian demanded.

“Agent Blyth relieved him and took his place. She said she would pick up Mrs. Sloane and take her to get her clothes.”

“Where is Agent Blyth now?” Kian pushed between clenched teeth.

“At the office.”

Of all people to send to watch over Evie, Meghan was the last. He had needed someone to take care of Evie since he couldn’t be there. For Meghan to go… If he found she had slacked off so Evie could be taken, she would answer to him. Meghan was a good agent, and she took her job seriously. He didn’t believe she would put Evie in harm’s way on purpose, but that was to be determined, and he would get to the bottom of it.

Taggert spoke into his phone. “Got it, sir. Of course. On the way.” He looked at Kian. “We’re being called in.”

“He’s got her. You saw the message.”

Taggert dropped a hand on his shoulder. “Yeah, I did, and the techies think they know what it means. We’ll find her, but the director wants us back. That’s what we have to do. We’ll catch a break. One of these guys he trusts so much will crack. Give it time.”

Kian shook off the hand on his shoulder and walked the way he came in. Taggert followed. “Evie might not have time.”

A short while later, when Kian strode from the office elevators, he spotted Meghan and headed her way. As soon as she laid eyes on him, her face reddened and eyes widened. That was as obvious a sign of guilt as he’d ever seen. He knew he should go straight in to talk to the director, but he grabbed Meghan’s arm and pulled her into the nearest conference room. Taggert followed and shut the door behind them.

Kian rounded on Meghan, grabbing her shoulders and giving her a hard shake. “If he hurts her…”

“Whoa, Kian.” Taggert dragged Kian back. “This isn’t Agent Blyth’s fault.”

“Isn’t it?” Kian snapped at his partner, resenting his interference. He’d never wanted another partner. No one could fill Brad’s shoes or work in sync with him the way his best friend had. Taggert annoyed him more often than not, like right now when Kian wanted to forget his values and smack a woman. He kept his hands at his sides and ignored the fear and hurt on Meghan’s face. “Why the hell were you at my house?”

Her gaze slid from his face to Taggert’s and back again. They needed to explain to the director why Kian had lost track of Evie, their strongest link to finding Anthony Paine. He didn’t like screwing up and having his boss chew him out, but what worried him more was Evie’s safety. They had drawn a lot of assumptions as to whether or not Paine would hurt her, but he did not want to take a chance and be wrong. If Paine killed Evie—no, he couldn’t think like that. He had to believe she was okay.

He focused on Meghan. “Tell me the entire conversation.”

She wrung her hands. “I was just going to talk to her. She needed to know.” Meghan glanced at Taggert. “Does he have to be here?”

“Talk,” Kian spat, a clear threat in his tone.

Meghan’s shook visibly, but he didn’t give a damn. He listened as she explained to him how she led Evie to believe they were still seeing each other. He’d intended to admit the truth to Evie, especially after their intimacy last night, but he damn well didn’t want her thinking he wanted the both of them. Meghan could never be to him what Evie had been and still was.

When she finished her explanation, he advanced on her, but Taggert darted between them. Knowing his partner would defend the woman if necessary, Kian picked up a chair and slung it across the room. Meghan’s yelp of surprise and fear grated on his nerves.

“The key,” he ground out.

With trembling fingers, she fumbled to get the key loose. After a few false starts, Taggert took the bunch from her and removed the one indicated from the ring. He handed it over to Kian. Kian accepted it and shouldered past his partner, jerked the door open hard enough for it to slam against the wall, and walked out. Evie’s face filled his mind, driving him mad with worry.

Chapter Six

Evie woke in a room alone. She touched her chin and winced. Her cheek had started to swell, and when she sat up to throw her feet over the side of the bed, she caught a glimpse of herself in the dresser mirror. A dark bruise had formed.
Bastard is paying for this.

She looked around at the furnishings, quality and stylish. Somehow it didn’t look like a hotel room, especially with the laundry basket just visible in the closet and a man’s suits hanging above it. She stood and walked over to the window to draw back the curtains. The city outside the high-rise building did not look familiar. Wherever Anthony had taken her was not in Charlotte. She spun away from the view and scanned the room again. A telephone on the nightstand met her gaze, and she almost yelped with relief running over to it. She picked up the handset only to be met with silence and stabbed the button a few times. Suspicion made her reach for the cord behind the phone, and she pulled it. The end of the cord had been severed. Tears welled in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. This nightmare was not happening.

A noise outside the room caught her attention, and she looked around for a weapon. Nothing hard enough met her gaze, so she raised the phone and tiptoed toward the door. If she brought it down hard enough on the head of whoever was out there, she could do damage. A working phone had to exist in the apartment. Hell, maybe the person she put on the floor would have a cell, and she could have Kian and his men there in no time.

Heart pounding out of control, she raised the phone over her head. The door opened, and she swung as hard as she could. Anthony ducked, but she grazed his shoulder, and he cried out. Before she could stop her momentum, she smacked into the wall, and the impact sent vibrations of pain radiating up her arm. She dropped the phone on the floor, drew back her hand, and winced. The pain sent her down to her knees, and her cousin stood over her laughing and rubbing his shoulder.

“That only works in the movies.”

She flipped him off with a still throbbing finger.

“You’ve got bite, I tell you that,” he said, “but that’s because I raised you tough.”

She rolled her eyes and she stood. “I don’t remember you raising me, and you’re only three years older.”

“I took care of you when your parents were working all the time.”

She ignored the stroking of his own ego. “When are you going to realize this is a bad idea, Anthony, and let me go?”