Wanting (9 page)

He’d come to the
realization in the last twenty-four hours that he a hard time not
touching her. That had never happened to him before; he wasn’t too
sure how he felt about that now. He wanted to touch her, so he did.
There was no one there to stop him, or to care. And he’d continue
to do it, as long as she didn’t mind.

He left his hand right
where it was until his cell phone rang. He grabbed the phone
quickly and identified himself before it could wake her.

“
Dammit, Lorcan, where are
you?” Hellbrook’s voice rang through the line.

“
Driving.” Lorcan’s hackles
immediately rose at the other unit chief’s tone. “What of
it?”

“
Do you have Carrie?”
Hellbrook’s tone was slightly calmer.

Lorcan felt a surge of
protectiveness—and possessiveness—swell. “Why?”

“
Just tell me whether you
have my agent.” There was now fear in the other man’s voice and it
had Sebastian’s attention sharpening. He pulled the vehicle to the
side of the road, ignoring the traffic whizzing by. Carrie never
stirred.

“
I have her,” Sebastian
admitted after a short moment. “Why?”

“
Thank God.” The relief in
Hellbrook’s voice was almost palpable enough to reach through the
cell line. Sebastian flipped the emergency lights on to prevent
anyone from rear-ending their vehicle in the dark rain.

“
What’s going
down?”

“
Carrie’s apartment was
broken into; we didn’t know where she was, and all we had to go on
was your phone call to the unit asking for information to be
forwarded to Carrie’s email. We were worried she was home when it
happened.” Cell service was strong wherever they were and Sebastian
had no trouble hearing the censor—and curiosity—in the slightly
older man’s voice.

“
When did it happen? We
left yesterday morning around seven. Everything was fine, then,”
Sebastian said.

“
Not sure, probably
sometime last night.” Hellbrook paused for a moment. “Let me speak
with her.”

“
No. She’s sleeping, and I
don’t want to just spring this on her. She’s had a tough day. Let
me tell her. Give her time to get it together before we get
there.”

“
And when will you be
bringing my field agent back?” Sebastian definitely didn’t miss the
meaning behind Hellbrook’s words. He knew there would be a
confrontation in the near future with Carrie’s
supervisor.

He almost looked forward to
the challenge—there were few men he’d met in St. Louis whom he’d
consider worthy opponents for anything, and Michael Hellbrook was
one of them. “Just why is she with you, and why is she sleeping? Is
she ok?”

“
She’s helping me find the
daughter of a friend. And she’s asleep because she hates long car
rides, especially at night, and she hates the rain. But she’s fine.
I think she’s escaping the only way she can.”

“
You do, do
you?”

“
Listen, we’re not even an
hour outside the city. I’m going to get her awake and break the
news. It’ll be tough for her. You know that—she told me herself
that no one enters her space. We should be there in about an hour.”
Sebastian disconnected before the other man could respond. He’d
deal with Hellbrook later. Right now he had to tell her.

He looked at the sleeping
woman beside him, hating what he was about to do. She’d told him
that no one entered her space, not even those she was closest to.
He’d thought nothing of violating that space that first night he’d
showed up at her door, but now the thought that some nameless,
faceless bastard had dared the same thing infuriated
him.

“
Carrie.” He shook her
shoulder once, then a second time. She hummed, but didn’t wake. He
shook her again. She jerked, those whiskey eyes of hers opening
wide.

“
Carrie, I need you to wake
up. There’s something we need to talk about.”

Her body trembled slightly,
in what he recognized as an instinctive reaction to waking so
abruptly. He waited until he could sense she was calmer before
releasing her shoulder.

“
What is it?” She rubbed
one hand over her eyes.

“
Hellbrook
called.”

“
Does he need me?” Her face
took on an expression of extreme concern that at any other time he
would have considered cute. But not now.

“
He was glad you were with
me. He was worried.” How in the hell was he supposed to tell her
that her home, her sanctuary, had been violated again?

“
Why?” Carrie
asked.

“
Carrie, listen to me, ok?”
Fast and sharp or slow and soft?

“
Has something happened to
the team? Georgia? K.D.? Or the baby?” He could hear the rising
panic in her voice. And that made the decision for him. It was
better to just get it over with.

“
No, your team is ok.”
Sebastian hated to do it, his mind kept replaying how upset she’d
been when he’d entered her loft without her permission. Remembered
her telling him of someone breaking in and stealing her computer
code years ago. The pain and fear that had been in her eyes then.
This was going to be so much worse. “Someone broke into your
apartment. Hellbrook said they’ve done quite a bit of damage. I
guess he is there right now.”

“
My home?” Her voice was
small and he flinched instinctively. He twisted in the seat a bit
more, so that he could better see her face in the dim light.
“Why?”

“
I don’t know.”

“
Why would somebody hurt my
stuff? Other than the building itself, there’s not much of value
there. I hide everything that they could pawn. Oh God, my
computers! Did Hell say anything about my computer room? I don’t
understand. I don’t. Don’t.”

He could hear the tears
backing up in her throat and he acted instinctively. He flipped the
armrest up, out of his way, and moved toward her. He didn’t think
of how she’d react to him touching her, he just pulled her against
his chest. He buried one hand in the warm, vanilla-scented red hair
and cradled her head gently.

He just knew that she hurt
and he instinctively wanted to make that hurt go away any way that
he could. “I don’t know, baby. Probably just some dumbass kids,
wanting a thrill or something they could easily fence for drug
money.”

She stayed so still that
for a moment he thought she was going to pull away. But she didn’t.
Her arms crept awkwardly around his neck and she held on. Tight.
Then she started crying silently, violently. The trembling was what
bothered him the most, and he flipped on the heater, hoping that it
would help alleviate the tremors some.

It took her ten minutes to
stop crying, and another five to let go of the hold she had around
his neck. She didn’t look at him, just wiped at her eyes as she
pulled back into her seat.

“
You ok, now?” He asked
softly. She wouldn’t look at him. He understood.

“
I think so. I want to go
home.”

Chapter 21

*****

Kevin still smelled like
damned vanilla. He let out a long sigh then shook his head at
himself. He couldn’t really blame the animal—the cat had been
frightened and had his territory violated. The animal hadn’t known
that Kevin only wanted to help him.

And he had.

Kevin had heard the cat
slip through the back of the bathroom cabinet into a room behind
the wall. A closet, perhaps. Hopefully the cat would be safe there
until his mistress returned.

There had been several
photos of the cat and a skinny dark-haired girl in Caroline’s
apartment. They had been the only photos he’d seen. There may have
been more, but it was hard to tell with all of Caroline’s
belongings strewn about. He pushed the fury aside for a
moment.

He’d been a cop long enough
to recognize when a place had been ransacked for a reason. Was it
Rush? Someone else targeting his daughter?

He’d find the person
responsible. One way or another.

First, he needed to wash
his hands. He was still covered in vanilla shampoo from where he’d
tried to use it to lube the cat’s fur. The animal had gotten caught
beneath the bathroom sink, and was yowling when Kevin had found
Caroline’s front door swinging wide open.

He’d rushed in, thinking
the sounds were of a woman in pain. He’d found the cat, instead.
Kevin had used the bottle of shampoo to slide the cat free, being
careful not to touch the raw spots on the animal’s ear and leg,
where someone had obviously yanked the cat around.

All he’d received in return
was a nasty scratch up his forearm and a filthy look before the cat
had disappeared.

Still, all that mattered
was that his daughter wouldn’t return to find her beloved pet stuck
or hurt.

Chapter 22

*****

She grew even quieter the
closer they got to her building. Sebastian didn’t force her to
speak, realized almost immediately that she needed the silence to
return to her point of equilibrium.

He pulled the SUV to a stop
just outside her building, ignoring the no parking signs once
again. This time, there were other department vehicles parked near
her entrance. He recognized them as being PAVAD-issued.

“
Leave your bag,” he told
her. “You can’t stay here tonight. Not until the scene is
cleared.”

“
But where will I go?” Her
mouth trembled as she looked up at the fourth floor windows of her
building.

He made a split second
decision. “With me. You still plan on helping me find Ashleigh,
right?”

“
Yes. Someone has to help
you look.” She breathed deeply and squared her shoulders, becoming
Special Agent Sparks right before his eyes. He nodded in approval.
Damned woman was stronger than he ever would have expected. “I’ll
deal with this, and then we can keep looking for that
kid.”

“
That’s it. Focus on that
little girl when this starts to bother you.” He told her, moving
one hand to the small of her back as they approached the glass
entryway. “Pretend it’s just another crime scene. Can you do
that?”

“
I can. I can get through
this,” she whispered, unconsciously thrilling him when she moved
just a bit closer. “I’m ready.”

Hellbrook met her in the
hallway, him and Dan Reynolds. The older man quickly hugged her, an
embrace that she tolerated far longer than Sebastian would have
expected. “Danny, where’s my cat? Where’s Linux?”

“
I didn’t see a cat,
kiddo,” the man said, “But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t hiding.
Carrie, they did a lot of damage. But the local LEOs need you to
provide an inventory of what’s missing. I’ll go in with you if you
want.”

“
No. That’s ok. Sebastian
will.” She didn’t look at him, or at the other two men’s faces
after her declaration. Just looked at the damage done to her
door.

Sebastian didn’t miss the
other Unit Chief’s darkening expression. It surprised him, too.
Until he remembered her words about how Hellbrook and Dennis had
never stayed in her apartment for longer than half an hour at a
time. Then remembered how he had been there for several hours. She
was most likely more comfortable with him in her space than even
those she worked so closely with.

He didn’t pause to evaluate
how her sudden trust affected him. He tucked her close to his side,
not missing the sudden hostility on Reynolds’ or Hellbrook’s faces
as his hand gripped her shoulder and they walked into her
apartment. He’d deal with them later.

Her indrawn breath was loud
enough for the apartment’s entire occupants to hear, and covered
Sebastian’s instinctive curse. Her couch had been slashed, the
black leather sliced with an unforgiving knife in a pattern of
vertical tears intersecting with diagonals. Her glass and chrome
coffee table—the one on which she’d sat his first night in her
place—had been shattered into a thousand smaller pieces. Just the
legs and trim remained, and even those were bent. Her potted plants
were uprooted, dirt spread ruthlessly down the steps separating the
kitchen from the living area. Sebastian didn’t even look toward the
bedroom off the back of the loft. His attention was suddenly
focused right back on her.

“
Carrie. Breathe, baby.
Focus.” He saw the panic settling in her eyes. She turned to him
immediately, and her thin shoulders squared. She nodded, and he
knew she was remembering their earlier conversation in the car.
“Let’s find the cat. Then make a list of what’s
missing.”

“
Linux.”

“
Where would he be?”
Sebastian asked softly. He was aware of Dr. Dennis moving closer,
one hand reaching for Carrie. He shook his head at her warningly.
Carrie didn’t need sympathy at that moment, didn’t need Dennis or
the rest of the team—which he saw spread out amongst the local law
enforcement officers—coddling her. She needed to focus on what she
was doing, and then get out for a while until she could better deal
with it.

“
He’s hiding. He’s not used
to people. He’s just met you, Paige, and Georgia. Not even Hell.
He’s shy.” She whispered in a confiding tone. He could see the
obvious love she felt for her cat in her big eyes. “All these
people, they bother him. They scare him. He’s hiding. Probably
where it’s dark and he can’t see them.”