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man that was after Riley. No wonder he hadn t been able to get a match through the
NCIC database.
Back upstairs, Cade made a quick stop at his desk to grab the composite drawing
before heading to Conner s office. Not bothering to knock, he walked right in. Ignoring
the other man s scowl, he held up the photo in one hand, and the sketch in the other.
 I finally have a name to go with the face, he said.  Tony Caruthers, who just
happens to be married to Maxine from the Support Division.
Conner s brow furrowed as he glanced from the photo to the sketch, and then
back again.  Are you sure?
 Positive, Cade assured him.
The other man swore.  Is Maxine Caruthers in today?
Cade nodded.  But she s not at her desk.
 Let s find her then, Conner said.  I want to talk to her.
It took nearly half an hour to find Maxine in the huge office building, but when
they did, it was to take her directly to an interrogation room. It didn t take much
prompting to get the woman to talk and within minutes, she broke down and admitted
everything. It seemed that her husband wasn t a hit man for the mob by trade, but just
some guy who thought he could get rich quick by killing federal witnesses. The fact that
Maxine had the addresses and personal records on all of the witnesses had made the
decision easy.
 Did Albert Donatti order the hit? Cade asked curtly.
Maxine shook her head.  No, she sobbed.  Tony thought he should do the job
first, and then go to Donatti and ask for the money. She sniffed.  I told Tony it was a
stupid idea, but he was sure we could make a bundle, and that no one would ever know. I
didn t want to do it!
But she went along with it anyway, Cade thought bitterly.  Why Riley Barnett,
then?
The woman shrugged.  Tony thought she would be an easy target, a good way to
get his feet wet, I guess, she said.  He thought it would be safer to start with a woman
instead of a man.
 Where is your husband now, Maxine? Conner asked.
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She didn t answer, but only fiddled nervously with the tissue in her hand, and
Cade ground his jaw.
 You re already an accessory to attempted murder, Maxine, he told the woman.
 Tell us where your husband is and the district attorney will probably take that into
account.
Maxine said nothing for a moment, but Cade could tell she was considering his
words.  I don t know for sure, but I gave him the address for the safe house down in
Olympia this morning, she said finally.  He s probably on his way there.
Cade felt his gut clench. Riley, he thought. He could hear Conner talking to
someone on his cell phone, ordering the local PD to the safe house, but Cade didn t wait
around to see what else the man said. Instead, he got the address for the safe house from
Maxine and was out the door before Conner could stop him.
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Chapter Seven
Riley never ate ice cream right out of the container, but that afternoon she found
herself sitting at the kitchen table with a pint of chocolate chip mint, half listening to the
two Marshals talk about the baseball game they were watching on television in the living
room and feeling altogether miserable.
It had only been a day since she d seen Cade, but Riley missed him so much that
her heart ached. How was it possible to develop such strong feelings for a man she
barely knew? she wondered. She d only slept with him one time. And they hadn t even
exactly hit it off in the beginning. But as she sat there eating the ice cream, she wondered
if she and Cade would have ended up dating if they had met under different
circumstances. Then again, she thought, it was highly unlikely that they ever would have
met at all if she hadn t been in the Witness Protection Program.
As painful as it was to think about, Riley let herself imagine what could have
been. If she weren t moving to parts unknown, would things have gotten serious between
her and Cade? Would they even have gotten married? She liked the idea that they might
have.
Tears abruptly stung her eyes. What was the use of daydreaming about something
that wasn t going to ever happen? All it did was make her feel more wretched.
Angrily wiping away the tear that trickled down her cheek, Riley jabbed her
spoon into the ice cream again, only to freeze when she heard a loud thud coming from
the front of the house. It sounded like it had come from the living room, she thought.
But before she could even begin to puzzle out what it could have been, she heard a series
of loud bangs. Oh God, she thought. Gunshots!
With the colored lights on the dash flashing and the siren blaring, Cade made the
two-hour drive to the safe house in half that time. The local police were already there, as
was an ambulance, and Cade felt his blood run cold at the sight of the latter. Had that
bastard Caruthers succeeded in killing Riley this time?
Cade barely put the Jeep in park before he was out and running toward the house,
flashing the silver star on his badge to the cops standing along the perimeter as he did so.
Taking the steps two at a time, he hurried into the house to find the paramedics kneeling
down beside the Marshals that had been guarding Riley. Both men had been shot,
Thompson in the shoulder and Morris in the stomach. Afraid to think what that meant for
Riley, Cade strode over to crouch down beside the woman tending to Thompson.
 Where s Riley? Cade asked.
Thompson jerked his head toward the rear of the house, only to wince at the
movement.  She must have gone out the back, he said.  The shooter went after her.
Swearing under his breath, Cade got to his feet and raced through the living room
and down the hallway to the back of the house, pulling his weapon as he went. The
kitchen door was wide open and Cade immediately headed for it.
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In the backyard, there were several uniformed cops standing around talking, and
Cade hurried up to them.
 Has anyone gone after them? Cade asked, referring to Riley and the man
hunting her.
One of the cops shook his head.  No, he said.  We have some dogs that should
be here any minute, though. We re waiting for them.
Cade stared at the other men in disbelief. The ground was soaking wet and the
tracks through the mud were obvious to anyone. He could have stood there and chewed
them out for their lack of police work, but decided that it would be a waste of time.
Instead, he headed into the woods behind the house.
A path led directly from the backyard to a dense, wooded area and even if the
ground hadn t been muddy enough from the rain they d had earlier in the day for him to
see footprints, Cade instinctively knew that was where Riley had gone. It was the only
place to go really. And though Cade was grateful for the muddy tracks, he also knew
they would give Caruthers an advantage as well. But Riley was a fast runner, Cade
reminded himself as he set out after her. And if she had a good head start, there was no
way Caruthers would catch up to her. Unless she ran out of places to run.
Cade had been running for at least twenty minutes through the wet, slippery
forest, at the same time working hard to keep his eyes on the tracks in the mud, when a
dark shape suddenly burst through the trees and over a small hill directly ahead of him.
Skidding to a halt, Cade instinctively took aim with his Glock, only to let out a sigh of
relief when he realized it was Riley. Her long hair was a wild tangle around her
shoulders, and there was mud all over her clothes. But Cade didn t think he d ever seen
her look more beautiful.
For a moment, Riley just stared at Cade, unable to believe that he was really there. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]