Under the Marshal's Protection

FOUR

Jessica paced back and forth in the narrow hotel room, thinking that if she stayed in this small space much longer, she was going to go stir crazy. She’d been here for two days already, and the waiting was starting to get to her. A hotel room was a hotel room. There wasn’t much to do except watch TV, and she found little pleasure in television, even if she did have fifty channels to choose from. She had made six desperate calls to Michael in the last twenty-four hours, but so far she still hadn’t heard from him. The fact that he hadn’t responded made her wonder if Michael was even still alive, especially knowing what she did about Coastal and the danger he was in. The fear twisted in her stomach and made it even harder for her to sit still in the small, confining room.

During her short time in protective custody with the marshals she had met two new deputies. Jake Riley was apparently the technology expert and had all the equipment set up to trace the call if and when Michael finally contacted her. He also seemed to be the leader of the group but let the others do their jobs with very little interference. Dominic and Chris Riggs had been taking turns keeping watch over Jessica and continuing their search for Michael via other means. They had tracked down an address where Michael had lived two months ago in a small suburb of Atlanta, and had local deputies talking to neighbors and trying to discover where he had moved to next. It was tedious work, and Jessica could tell from their discussions that their leads were fading fast. She was definitely their best chance at finding her brother.

A knock at the door sent Chris to the peephole, and a few seconds later Dominic entered carrying breakfast and a plain brown paper sack. He passed out warm sausage biscuits and coffee, then little packages of sugar and cream to those who wanted them.

“What, no donuts?” Jessica joked. She was surprised by how glad she was to see him. Although she had only known him a short time, she felt inexplicably safer with him nearby.

“Funny,” Dominic smiled, then handed the paper sack to Jessica. “I know you’re bored. I got these for you to help pass the time.”

Jessica opened the sack and was surprised to see a selection of mystery novels by her favorite authors whose books had lined her shelves at home. She was truly touched by his thoughtfulness. There was even a book about drawing technique and a small sketch pad with pencils included in the bag. “I can’t believe you noticed,” she said with a smile. “Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome, Ms. Blake.” He grinned at her. “I’ve done this enough to know that it takes more than a TV to pass the time.”

So he had noticed that, too. “Please call me Jessica.” She grinned back at him and felt herself actually relaxing for the first time since she had come to the hotel.

Suddenly her cell phone rang, and she jumped, then grabbed it and looked at the caller ID. “I don’t know the number.”

Dominic gently touched her shoulder. “It’s okay. Answer anyway.” They had already established that several of Jessica’s friends called her cell phone number on occasion. The call could be coming from any one of them.

Jessica nodded and pushed the answer button on her phone. “Hello?”

“Jess! Are you all right?”

Jessica sank down to the bed. The speaker was young and frantic, and it was unmistakably the voice of Michael Blake. She nodded to Dominic who had picked up a headset and was listening to the call. Across the room, Jake started to run the trace.

“I’m okay, but, Michael, somebody came to my house and tore it apart. Then they called and threatened me. They said you stole some sort of computer disk. Michael, did you do that?”

“Oh, Jess, I’m so sorry. I had no idea this would come back on you.”

Jessica sighed. “Michael, answer my question. Do you have their disk? What’s all this about?”

A beat passed, then another. “I can’t explain right now. It’s…it’s complicated.”

Jessica noted that Michael’s voice had changed and a wave of dread swept over her. His tone was hesitant, and he was obviously avoiding the truth. It wasn’t the time or place to argue about it, though. Somehow she needed to convince Michael to turn himself in. Then they could sort all of this out together once and for all. She looked over at Dominic who was motioning with his hands to keep the conversation going.

“Michael, I need to see you. Tell me where you are.”

Again there was silence on the other end of the line. Finally, he spoke. “I can’t, Jess.”

“You don’t have a choice,” she answered vehemently. “They said they were going to kill you and me in two more days if you didn’t give them the disk. I need to understand, Michael. I want to try to help you.”

“Oh, Jess…”

“Tell me where you are. I’ll come and get you and we’ll figure this out together.”

Dominic shook his head at this one, but Jessica pushed forward, ignoring him. “Michael, I don’t want you to get killed, and I’m in no hurry to die, either. This is a huge problem you can’t deal with by yourself. Let me help you. Please.”

Silence met her plea for such a long time that she thought he might have hung up. Finally, he spoke. “Are you still at the house?”

“No, I didn’t feel safe there, so I’m in Tallahassee with friends. They tore up my home pretty badly anyway. There’s not much left.”

“Meet me at the bagel shop in two hours. You know which one. Come alone, Jess. Don’t bring your friends.” The phone clicked, and Michael was gone.

Dominic was furious, but doing his best to hide it. He paced a few times, then strode over to Jake. “Did we get him?”

Jake shook his head. “He’s in northern Tallahassee, but I didn’t have enough time to narrow the field any closer than that.”

Dominic paced some more. What was Jessica doing, arranging to meet Michael in person? The last thing he wanted was to include her in the arrest. Involving civilians in arrests was unpredictable at best, and downright dangerous at worst. He rubbed his neck with his hand and rounded on her. “What were you thinking? I told you that you weren’t going to be a part of this and I meant it.”

Jessica stood and put her hands on her hips. “And I told you I’m his sister, and I want to make sure that he doesn’t get hurt.”

“This isn’t the way we do things, Ms. Blake.”

“So we’re back to ‘Ms. Blake’ again, are we?”

Dominic gritted his teeth. “You’re not listening to me.”

“No, you’re not listening to me,” she said forcefully, poking him in his chest with her finger. “He’s my brother, and I’m the one who is being threatened. I’m involved already, and I’m going to stay that way. Especially when it comes to bringing my brother in. You don’t even know what bagel shop to go to without my help. You need me.”

Dominic took a step forward so that he was mere inches away from her. He towered over her in an intimidating stance. “Actually, you need me,” he said in a deceptively soft tone. “I’m the one trying to keep you and Michael from getting killed, remember? A little cooperation here wouldn’t be out of line.”

She had to bend her neck back to meet his eyes, but she did it, her own eyes spitting blue fire. “Yes, I remember. And I’m the one betraying my own brother. Did you remember that?”

He acknowledged that she had a point, but he still didn’t like it. Unfortunately, she had left him with little choice. Two hours was barely enough time to get a plan together for an arrest in such a public location. Finding an agent to be her double just wouldn’t be possible in that time frame. He narrowed his eyes and when he spoke, his voice was deadly serious. “You will obey every command I give you out there, do you understand?”

She nodded, clearly knowing she had won, but wanting to leave his pride intact. “Yes, I understand. I’ll do whatever you ask.”

Dominic straightened, then grimaced. “Okay. To start with, tell me which bagel shop we’re talking about. We need to plan this out.”

They sat down across from Jake and Chris and started talking over their strategy. Chris was assigned the task of going immediately to the bagel shop so he could call them and give them the lay of the land, as well as establish himself as a customer. Jake called and coordinated their efforts with the local police department and made sure they had communication devices so they could all keep in contact. Dominic went over the plan with Jessica until he was sure she was prepared for every contingency. He was still uncomfortable with having her participate with the arrest, but couldn’t convince her to stay at the hotel, even by promising her a chance to talk to Michael after he was taken into custody.

Dominic had no choice but to move forward with the plan, and hope that the sinking feeling in his stomach wasn’t a sign that everything was about to go terribly wrong.

What seemed like only a short time later, a female marshal named Whitney Johnson, dressed in civilian clothing, dropped Jessica off in front of the bagel shop. The two women waved at each other as if they were old friends, then Jessica turned and glanced around the parking lot. The bagel shop was at the end of a busy strip mall that housed several different boutiques and two larger clothing stores. The lunch crowd was starting to come in, and several of the wrought iron tables on the sidewalk outside the store were already filled with customers enjoying their designer café and deli sandwiches. Jessica saw Chris eating alone at one of the tables. He appeared to be engrossed in a magazine and didn’t acknowledge her, nor did she expect him to.

She opened the door and went inside, again noticing that the place was busier than she expected. The shop had about fifteen small tables that each seated either two or four customers, and at least half of the tables were filled with a wide assortment of people. One little girl, approximately four years old, was bouncing around a table next to her mother who was trying to spoon-feed some baby food to a fussy infant. Two older men were playing chess in the corner, and four lively women were having a vibrant conversation about local politics at another table. She studied the faces of the other customers but didn’t see her brother yet. Hopefully he would get here soon, and this whole affair would be over. She dreaded Michael’s arrest, but she had to agree it was definitely better than finding him dead in an alley somewhere.

Customers waited cafeteria-style for their turn in line so they could have their food made to order, and she joined the line, waiting for her turn. Racks of bagels lined the walls behind the counters, and twin refrigerated compartments, containing various beverages for sale as well as fruit and tubs of eight different flavors of cream cheese, met customers before they reached the cash register. Jessica studied the menu that plastered the wall above the bagel racks. Although her stomach was in knots, she wanted to order something so that she would blend in with the other customers. She finally chose a chocolate chip bagel with low-fat cream cheese and a cranberry juice, then paid the cashier and took her snack to a table near the back that faced the front door. She wanted to have a clear view of everyone who went in and out of the restaurant, and this table seemed to have the perfect vantage point.

The little bell over the door rang and caught her attention, and she noticed Dominic come in. He was dressed very casually in jeans and an old polo shirt with a faded Marlins baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. Even in that getup, he was incredibly handsome. She quickly looked away, but not before a whisper of attraction swept through her. She grimaced, unhappy with the direction her thoughts had taken her. Since when was she attracted to pushy law enforcement officers? She shrugged to herself and kept an eye on the door, bringing her thoughts back to the task at hand.

Each time the bell rang she waited expectantly, hoping that she would see her brother’s face come through the door. She didn’t have long to wait. After about ten minutes, a rangy blond man walked in wearing khaki shorts, a long-sleeved navy button-down shirt, a fishing hat and a pair of dark tortoiseshell sunglasses. He was thin, probably a little too thin by Jessica’s estimation, and his face was haggard and covered in a scraggly beard and mustache, but there was no hiding his identity from his sister. He noticed her right away and went directly to her table. Jessica jumped to her feet and gave him a rambunctious hug.

“Michael! Thank God! I was so worried about you.”

“Hey, Jess. Thanks for coming.”

They sat down and in her exuberance, Jessica knocked over her drink. Michael jumped back, missing the spray of cranberry juice, just as the first bullet drilled into the wall behind him.

FIVE

The second bullet nicked Jessica in the arm as the two dove for the ground and pushed the table over to use it as a shield. Utter chaos reigned. People were screaming as another gunshot was heard by the front door, and the shooter went down hard. Jessica felt a heavy weight over her and realized Dominic had crawled over and was protecting her body with his own. Their eyes met—Jessica’s filled with fear and Dominic’s filled with worry.

Jessica looked toward where Michael had landed but saw no sign of her brother. The long-sleeved navy shirt he had been wearing was in a heap on the floor, as well as the sunglasses and hat. She looked around the bagel shop—at least, as much of it as she could see from this angle. Most of the patrons had taken refuge under their tables, but screaming continued and several people had run out of the restaurant through the back emergency exit, which had set off an obnoxiously loud shrieking alarm.

Dominic pulled back, visually checking her for other injuries. “Are you okay?”

She nodded, then winced as she moved her arm. Her entire shoulder was throbbing. “Michael is gone.” She looked down at her wound and for the first time seemed to notice that blood was seeping through her fingers. “Wow. That really hurts.”

Dominic glanced around, his weapon drawn, but seemed to calm down as he realized that nobody else had fired since the man near the door had gone down. Jessica guessed that meant the downed man was a lone shooter. Dominic returned his weapon to his ankle holster and turned his attention back to Jessica. “Hopefully, someone grabbed Michael on his way out. I don’t think he was injured.” He examined her bleeding arm, then pulled out a handkerchief and applied pressure to the wound. “Hold this on it. You’re going to need a few stitches, but the bullet just grazed you.” He gave her a smile. “It looks a lot worse than it is, I promise. You’re really going to have to stop trying to catch bullets with your arm.” He brushed the hair out of her eyes. “Will you be okay for a minute or two while I check in with everybody?”

Jessica nodded while Dominic spoke into a small microphone that he had clipped on his shirt and listened intently to the small earpiece that connected him to the other marshals outside. He reported Michael’s disappearance and Jessica’s wound, then sat silently for a moment as he listened to the other reports coming in. He gave her a piercing look. “It’s over. Michael escaped. Stay here and sit tight while we try to calm everybody down. Then we’ll get you to a hospital so we can take care of that arm.” He reached for her hand and squeezed it, then stood and started walking around the tables.

She watched as he went from person to person, identifying himself and reassuring them as he helped them get to their feet and settle down. She couldn’t help but be impressed by the care and concern he showed as he gently led them to the front door and tried to block their vision as best he could of the dead shooter lying on the floor. Every few seconds he glanced back at Jessica to make sure she was still where he had left her.

Chris and Jake were also talking to customers and the restaurant staff, and Jessica saw that the initial officers from the Tallahassee Police Department had arrived on the scene and were also interviewing people outside. Suddenly the alarm was silenced, and she could hear sirens outside just barely above the din of voices and other noise in the restaurant.

She looked over at Michael’s abandoned clothes and glasses. Upon closer inspection, she noticed what looked like a wad of hair and glue near the shirt. Apparently Michael had learned a thing or two about disguises, and the scraggly beard and mustache had been fake. After the first bullet had been fired, he must have changed his appearance and his clothing so he could slip out unnoticed during all of the confusion. She had to give him credit for thinking ahead and having an escape plan in the first place. Obviously, he knew his life was in danger and had prepared for that contingency. She, however, was not used to living in fear. Her hands started shaking as the full impact of what had just happened hit home and the adrenaline surge started to ebb.

Apparently someone had known Michael was going to be at the bagel shop today and wanted him dead right away. Did that mean Coastal had already found the disk, and his life was now worthless to them? Had the shooter been trying to kill her as well? She needed to talk to Michael and get some insight, but would he trust her again? Question after question came rushing to her mind. She tried to take a deep breath to calm herself, but she couldn’t seem to stop shaking.

Everything she knew in her life had come crashing down within the last forty-eight hours. She had never bothered anyone and had always lived a quiet existence. How could someone suddenly be trying to kill her?

Jessica had been wrong. She couldn’t handle this situation on her own, or even with the marshal’s help. Dominic was doing his best to protect her, but he was only a man and could only do so much. She needed more than just someone to keep her safe anyway. If nothing else, the last few hours had shown her with absolute clarity that she needed God back in her life, and the pull on her heart was strong. This time, she wasn’t going to resist.

Jessica closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her prayer was short but heartfelt. I know I was wrong to shut You out, Lord. I’m so sorry. Thank You for not giving up on me and for loving me, even though I’ve stayed away for so long. Please forgive me for my mistakes and come back into my life. She slowly opened her eyes and felt a warm, peaceful feeling come over her. For the first time, she finally understood that God wasn’t going to erase her problems, but that He would always be there to go through the problems with her. It was a very comforting thought.

Finally, Dominic returned to her side and strong arms lifted her to her feet. Instinctively she leaned into his strength, raising her head to give him a weak smile of thanks. He met her eyes and seemed to see that something had changed. “Are you okay?”

Jessica gave a small laugh. “Actually, I feel better than I’ve felt in years. God is good, did you know that? I just felt His presence for the first time in a very long time.”

Dominic smiled and squeezed her hand. “That’s really good to hear,” he said, beaming at her.

“Now, it’s time to get you to a doctor. Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

Dominic’s admiration for Jessica went up another notch when her spine noticeably stiffened and she gained control of her shaky emotions. This was one tough lady. It was horrible that something so violent had happened to her, yet he couldn’t help being pleased that it had brought her back to God. It was always amazing to him that what men meant for evil, God could use for good.

He led her out the back door of the restaurant so they wouldn’t have to walk past the dead body and also to avoid the gathering crowd that was filling up the parking lot. Chris was just getting out of the car he had brought around for them when they arrived. He tossed the keys to Dominic, gave him a nod and headed back into the bagel shop. The other marshals would be there for a while as they processed the crime scene with the local police. Even the FBI had joined the party and had sent over their liaison, since they were also working on the Coastal task force. But Jessica Blake was Dominic’s responsibility, and right now that meant getting her out of there.

“Stay safe,” Chris said over his shoulder.

“You too,” Dominic answered. He opened the door for Jessica, got her situated and then circled the car. A few moments later he got behind the wheel and pulled away from the parking lot, leaving the aftermath behind them. He constantly surveyed the road and surrounding area as he drove, keeping his eyes open for threats as they headed to the hospital.