She’d figure it out later.
As she crossed to the parking garage, a man emerged seemingly from nowhere, peeling himself away from the shadows. She didn’t get a good look at him before he glued himself to her backside and gripped her arm. She had no time to shriek or scream for help. He clapped his free hand over her mouth.
“Not a sound, angel. Let’s make a nice, clean exit.”
Tyler?
Slowly, he lowered his hand from her mouth but kept a hold on her arm, guiding her left. Del risked a glance over her shoulder. She could see Tyler’s beefy chest and neck, his full mouth. Shadow concealed the rest under a familiar cap.
Relief flooded her. She shouldn’t be so thankful. She shouldn’t blindly put her trust in him to save her when he didn’t know the situation. But instinctively, she already had.
“You helped the old woman in with her luggage?”
He nodded curtly. “You would have noticed me if I’d come in alone.”
By blending in and giving himself a role, she hadn’t given him another thought.
Then a terrible thought occurred to her. “Where is Seth? Oh my God! You didn’t leave him—”
“I may have known I was a father for less than twenty-four hours, but I would never leave him home alone. Deke stayed the night with him when I took off after you. Kimber and Alyssa are watching him today, with a little help from Tara.”
“I don’t know them.” It killed her to think of her baby with strangers. They didn’t strike her as predatory or mean at all, but he was a defenseless child among many adults with seemingly interesting sexual proclivities . . .
“I do. I’ve trusted them with my life. They will treat Seth like one of their own. He’s far safer with them than with us.”
“You have to go back and take care of him!”
“No fucking chance. I’m with you every step of the way until Carlson is dead or behind bars. You’re not getting more than five feet from me. No negotiations, no arguments. If you don’t like it, Jack and Deke will be happy to help me keep you locked down in Lafayette while I put Carlson away myself. Your choice.”
“I’m going! You have no right to take over or make decisions for me,” she hissed.
“I’m making it my right.”
Del didn’t dare ask what that meant. It sounded possessive. Her belly flipped. “You don’t get to do that! I’m a grown woman and—”
“Who almost got herself killed not five minutes ago. You’re out of your element and in over your head. If you insist on coming with me, this is where I take over. You stand a much better chance surviving to raise Seth if you let me help you.”
Tyler’s words sank in. Del couldn’t deny that he was right. It bugged the hell out of her, but she’d be stupid to insist that she had this under control. Clearly, Carlson’s reach was farther and his methods more ruthless than she’d imagined.
Still . . . “This can’t be your fight. What if Carlson kills us both? Then Seth has no parents.”
“I won’t let that happen.”
What a male thing to say. “Is that you being arrogant or trying to make me feel better?”
Wrapping his arm around her waist, Tyler brought her even closer as he led her toward his truck. “It’s the truth.”
“Wait! My car is this way.” She pointed across the garage in the opposite direction.
“Exactly.” With another tug, he dragged her away from her neighbor’s old compact.
A part of her was infuriated—at both him and herself for allowing it. Another part was simply relieved.
“What happened to the two goons?”
“I hit the one with the dark hair in the back of the head with a luggage cart. I tased the other and sat him on a nearby chair so that he looks asleep. I have their weapons tucked in my waistband.”
He’d done all that by himself, without wasting a second or raising a ruckus?
Eric had always called Tyler a bad ass when they’d been partners, but he’d never been anything but teasing and kind with her. Del felt like she was seeing a whole new side of her son’s father.
“How long do you think we have?”
“Before Carlson sends more assholes after you? Thirty minutes, tops. We’ve got to get on the road ASAP.”
“On the road?”
“I’m driving you to L.A. We’re going to put Carlson down together.”
Del opened her mouth to object . . . but didn’t have any new excuses to give him. Seth wouldn’t be safe with them, and she had to believe that he was in capable hands. She’d be safer with Tyler by her side while she regathered her evidence, wrote her article, and put Carlson down.
The thing she feared for most now? Her heart.
Tyler shoved Del into his truck and down to the floorboard. She glared at him with confusion before he thrust a khaki green blanket at her. “Cover up. Security cameras are swarming. They’ll catch us walking together in the parking garage. I parked in a very dark corner, so there’s a chance they won’t be able to see if you got in the truck. It has to look like you’re not with me when we leave the airport.”
He was right. With a nod, she crouched down and covered herself, thankful when he turned on the air-conditioning. The sun’s zenith might be hours away, but the stifling Louisiana humidity was nothing this California girl had ever felt.
“Sorry,” he grunted. Then he set a backpack on top of her.
It wasn’t the lightest thing, but it wouldn’t take long to get out of the airport. The extra cover would be more convincing for the cameras.
“It’s fine.”
The first few minutes were nerve-racking. A million thoughts raced through her head in the silence. Every bump in the road was magnified on the floorboard, as was the purr of the engine. Moments later, his phone rang.
“Yeah? I got her, Deke. Seth okay?” He paused. “Good. Let him sleep. Listen, get Tara up and to her computer. We need to find out exactly how Del might have been traced.”
“My credit card.” Del knew her voice would be muffled by the blanket.
“What?” From that tone, Del knew that Tyler had heard her and questioned her sanity more than her words.
“I waited as long as I could. I hoped that Carlson didn’t know anyone in Louisiana.”
Tyler sighed. “He can hire guns in a heartbeat. No more credit cards. They’re too traceable. Did you hear that?” he asked Deke. “Right. See if Tara can prove that Carlson’s been tapping her credit card records. Del?”
“Yeah.” She wished she could see him, but it shouldn’t be too much longer before they exited the airport—provided airport security hadn’t picked up the entire altercation in the terminal and decided to hunt her down.
“Hang on and stay quiet.”
The truck slowed. Her heart stopped.
The electronic window rolled down a moment later, and Tyler said, “Good morning.”
“Hmm.” The cashier made a noncommittal sound. “Is it? You’re here early.”
“Just dropping off someone for a flight.”
“Two dollars.”
After a rustling of bills, the window buzzed back up and the truck started moving again, picking up speed every second they rolled.
He lifted the backpack off of her, then tossed the blanket back a fraction. Cool air washed over her face, and she sighed with something between pleasure and relief.
Tyler jacked the phone back up to his ear. “Stay down another minute, Del. There are a few cops hanging around. Until we know who’s involved . . .”
Don’t trust anyone. That had been his and Eric’s motto when they’d been together on the force.
The cab of the truck remained deathly silent except for her own breathing for the next few minutes. Finally, Tyler reached down and helped her into the passenger’s seat. “Good. Now, tell me, do you have a copy of the police report about the bomb that exploded your car?”
“No. I didn’t know who I could trust. I’d been asking questions at the precinct. I couldn’t get anyone to help me. I thought about calling Eric, but . . . After the bomb exploded, I just grabbed Seth, borrowed a neighbor’s car, and left town with nothing but the cash in my pocket. I stopped for a few supplies along the way and called an investigative reporter friend of mine, Lisa. She’d been helping me track you down. Once we pieced all the clues together, I drove straight to you.”
“Right.” Tyler’s jaw tensed. “You don’t know if it was C4 or a binary explosive? If it was an engine ignition or a remote detonation device?”
God, she’d seen the blast in her head a million times since it happened. Felt the shock, the roaring heat, heard the deafening roar of the blast. But she’d never picked the scene apart mentally with that much detail.
“Um, I don’t know anything about explosives, so no idea what they used. I started the car with my key fob. As I turned to pick Seth up, everything blew up. Damn near vaporized it.”
“Hear that, Deke? Yeah, I agree, sounds like it was rigged to blow when the ignition turned over.” Tyler turned a serious gaze on her. “Do you remember anything else? See anyone unusual loitering? Notice that your car had been tampered with?”
“Nothing. It was early morning. There was no one on the street. The sun wasn’t all the way up, so I couldn’t see anything unusual about my car.”
“Then what?”
“After the explosion, I screamed and stumbled back, shoving Seth to the ground. I covered him with my body. I got some scratches and bruises. He was okay, just scared. Oh, and it smelled terrible. A weird kind of . . . burned-orange-peel smell.”
“Shit.” Tyler gripped the cell phone even tighter. “Semtex, Deke?” He paused. “Yeah, run it by Jack. He’d know since he likes things that go boom. Let me know what he says. I’ll call later.”
With that, he hung up and turned to her. Whatever she’d said . . . Tyler’s face more than hinted it wasn’t good. “Tell me.”
He didn’t even pretend to misunderstand. “Semtex is the former Eastern Bloc’s version of C4. It often smells like a burnt orange peel. None of the other explosives really leave a signature odor like that.”
“Eastern Bloc?”
“Popular with the Russian Mob. They come up during your research?”
“No. From what I can tell, Carlson deals with street thugs and local drug dealers, not organized crime. Where would he get that kind of explosive?”
“From some really bad assholes. This shit is worse than I thought.”
Del dropped her face into her hand. Suddenly, staying alive felt like something way beyond her ability. “How’s Seth?”
“He’s fine, angel. Still asleep. Kimber and Alyssa will be there to get him soon and take him for a playdate with their kids.”
She nodded. Seth would enjoy having new friends and the chance to run around like a kid, not spend the day cooped up in a car. “Thanks.”
Still, worry plagued her. What happened if they didn’t catch Carlson right away? What happened if all her sources had dried up or refused to talk? She couldn’t leave Seth indefinitely.
Or what if Carlson found him?
“I see that look. Stop worrying,” Tyler warned. “Jack and Deke will never let anything happen to Seth. I swear it. Jack is a former Army Ranger. Deke was also military and did a little time with the FBI and still has connections all over the place. Seth couldn’t be safer.”
Those credentials did make her relax a bit. Her son was definitely safer with them. “If I thought for a second that giving up this story would make Carlson go away, for Seth’s safety, I would.”
“Somewhere along the way, you drew blood. You could have flown under Carlson’s radar if you hadn’t confronted him.”
“I was hoping to catch him off guard and that he’d say something for the record that was incriminating.”
Tyler just shook his head. “But since you did confront him . . . he’ll do anything to prevent what you know from going public. Today demonstrated that.”
“Since he destroyed all my latest notes, it’s going to take some backtracking to put the pieces of his warped puzzle back together so I can prove what I know. Right now, all I’ve got is my word about a conversation I overheard, plus a thug willing to pin a crime on a respected member of the community—none of that will hold up in court. I did get a chance to back up some of my evidence a few weeks before the explosion.”
Tyler sat up, hyper-focused. “In a safe-deposit box?”
“No.” She bit her lip. He wasn’t going to like her answer. “I put what I had at the time on a flash drive. I tried to think of the very last place that anyone would look for it. It couldn’t be my house or office. A safe-deposit box seemed too obvious. So . . . I snuck into Eric’s place.” Tyler’s eyes went wide, and before he could object, she plowed ahead. “Everyone in law enforcement circles knows our divorce was ugly. I figured if Carlson asked around about me, he’d never imagine that I’d hide my backup at Eric’s. I put it where I used to hide anything I wanted to keep private.” Even from Eric. Birthday cards from Tyler and her journal came to mind.
