Kathleen Tailer - Perilous Pursuit

“The last time I saw you...”

“Was at the funeral,” she finished for him.

“You’ve changed a bit since then,” he said carefully, noting that she seemed less and less pleased that they had reunited.

“You could say that,” she said, still not looking directly at him. “I’ve lost my braces and gained a few pounds. And I finally let my hair grow out. I guess you could say I’m all grown-up.”

The girl Jake remembered had been a skinny tomboy with short hair, braces and a wardrobe filled with jeans, sports T-shirts and jerseys. The lady before him looked nothing like he remembered, with the exception of those penetrating, lovely blue eyes. She now had wonderful curves and was dressed in a pretty floral shirt that accented her femininity. “That’s an understatement. You look amazing.”

She shifted, apparently uncomfortable with his compliment. “I’m sure they would have killed me if you hadn’t come along. Thank you for arriving when you did.”

He nodded at her and turned away, still hoping that she didn’t notice how much she had affected him. He met people nearly every day in his job as a deputy marshal, both old and new acquaintances, strangers and friends, but it had been quite a while since someone had garnered his attention so acutely for something other than breaking the law.

Her eyes. That was what got him. They were such an unusual shade of blue. They reminded him of the morning sky right after the sun came up. He kicked himself mentally. Morning sky? Yep. He was definitely slipping. What had gotten into him? Not one to lose focus normally, Jake quickly forced his thoughts back to the welfare of the victim and stopped thinking about the past and how much Mackenzie had changed. Besides, it was obvious that she wanted to keep the past in the past. Their shared history had ended when her brother died. Jake took a breath. “Sure thing. I was visiting a friend who lives a couple of apartments down when I heard the gunshots. I think I scared the intruders away before they did too much damage.” He gave her a reassuring smile. “Why don’t you catch your breath while I call in to the office and give them the update.” He busied himself with his phone and then gave dispatch the news about the men’s escape and the vehicle, knowing the report would be shared with the local authorities. When he turned back, he noticed that Mackenzie had pulled herself up and was heading toward the door on shaky legs.

He quickly stored his phone. “Whoa. Where are you headed?”

She turned. “I just thought I’d grab my purse and groceries from the doorstep before I have any other visitors.”

He nodded and motioned toward the couch. “Why don’t you take a seat and let me get those for you?”

She shrugged. “I can get them. This may sound kind of weird, but I need to do something to work off this adrenaline.” She took a step, but her legs seemed to give out underneath her. Jake reached her just in time to keep her from crashing to the floor. He swung her up into his arms and breathed her in. Was that lilacs? Or maybe jasmine? He wasn’t an expert on perfumes, but he did know one thing: she smelled as good as she looked. The tomboy he remembered had totally disappeared.

She leaned against him, and he tried to ignore how comfortable she felt in his arms. It was a strange sensation for him, and once again he quickly tamped down the attraction he was experiencing. He was off duty, sure, but this woman was a victim of a crime, and despite the fact that they had known each other growing up, he was here as a law enforcement officer. He also wondered what her brother, Jonathan, would think if he knew how Jake was reacting to his little sister. Would he have been indifferent, or would he have warned Jake to stay away? He mentally gave himself a shake. Even if Jonathan had given him his blessing, Jake had no interest in having a relationship with anyone. He was shocked at his own reaction to her. He steeled himself and carried her to the couch. Then he gently set her down and took a step back. “Just try to breathe easy and relax. The local police will be here soon.”

“I don’t know what happened,” she said softly. “All of a sudden, my legs just wouldn’t work.”

“No worries,” Jake reassured her. “That’s a common sign of stress. You were just held at gunpoint by two thugs. I’d say you’re doing amazingly well.” He took a seat across from her. “Why don’t you tell me what happened?”

She scooted back a bit on the cushion and then looked him in the eye again. She had always had a toughness to her, and he was pleased to see she hadn’t been reduced to tears or hysterics. Dealing with emotional victims was part of his job, but he was glad that Mackenzie was strong and able to talk to him coherently, despite what she’d just been through.

“I was trying to find the key to my door, but my hands were full. I ended up dropping some of my groceries, and when I bent down to pick them up, the bullets hit the door frame above me. Then the man in the blue jeans grabbed me and pulled me into the apartment.”

“Did you recognize either of them?”

“No. I’ve never seen them before.”

“Okay. Then what happened?”

“The guy in jeans held me, and the hairy one put a gun under my chin and said he wanted to know where I kept my movies.”

“Your movies?”

“Yes. I’m a videographer. I make documentaries, commercials, training videos—that kind of thing.”

That surprised him, but he couldn’t really remember much about Mackenzie’s plans when she had been in high school, and they had barely talked at Jonathan’s funeral. “Did he say which of your movies he was interested in?”

“No. We didn’t get that far. He started going through my desk, but I don’t know if he took anything except my laptop. He grabbed that on the way out.”

Jake put his hands on his hips. “Did you have anything important on that laptop?”

“I do some work on it, but most of the footage and movies are stored on portable hard drives. That seems to be what they were looking for. I guess they figured I had the files on my laptop.” She paused, and Jake could see that her hands were still trembling. “I can’t figure this out. I don’t understand what they wanted. Nothing I’ve worked on has ever been controversial.”

Jake heard the distant sound of sirens and knew local law enforcement would be there soon. This case probably wouldn’t fall under the local US Marshals unit’s jurisdiction, but it intrigued him nonetheless, especially since he knew the victim. One of the criminals also looked like an escaped fugitive he had been hunting recently, and he hoped he could get Mackenzie to come down to the office to check out some mug shots, just in case the perpetrator was his man after all.

He ran his hands through his hair and sighed. He was relieved he’d gotten there just in time and realized he had probably saved her life. The two criminals had meant business, but since he had interrupted them, he doubted they had gotten what they were looking for. Once thing was certain in his mind—sooner or later, they would be back.

“Look, I don’t think it’s safe for you to stay here tonight. Once the local law enforcement team interviews you, you’ll need to find a new place for a few days, at least until we have more information. Do you have friends you can stay with until this is over?”

Mackenzie shrugged. “I guess so, but if these men didn’t get what they wanted, won’t they just come after me again and put my friends in danger, too, when they return? I don’t want anybody else’s life disrupted because of me.”

She had a point. Normally he would leave it to the local police to sort this out, but he couldn’t just drive away. Just then two local detectives arrived and started interviewing both Jake and Mackenzie. The entire time they were asking questions, Jake tried to tell himself it was the connection to his fugitive that had garnered his interest in this case, and by the end of the interviews, he almost believed it himself. Almost. After Jake and Mackenzie answered all the questions, Jake pulled aside the detective in charge.