Lenora Worth - Rescue Operation

“They seem to know you here,” Oliver said.

Ava’s brown eyes turned a warm honey pecan. “I come here a lot.”

“I’ve been in a few times,” he offered. “But I just get a lot of stares.”

“I wonder why that is,” she quipped, obviously enjoying making him squirm a bit.

“Maybe they know I’m an outsider, or, worse, a dreaded Yankee from New York. Took the San Antonio Bureau a while to adjust to my accent and my bluntness.”

“ We don’t judge that way,” she said through a wry grin. “But they might wonder about the suit thing in the heat of summer. Here we go with jeans, T-shirts and boots when we have downtime.”

“Hey, I left my coat and tie in the car, and I have a pair of boots.”

“I’m guessing you’ve never taken ’em out of the box.”

Feeling sheepish, he lowered his head. “Once...maybe.”

After their food came, he leaned back and stared at the table. “What a day. Sorry you didn’t find the boy.”

Ava stared down at the table and then checked the parking lot. Like him, she probably never let her guard down. “I talked to Marilyn Johnson when we got back to base. The poor woman is distraught. Their only child. She’s afraid Turner could have been taken but he has gone into the woods beyond their yard without permission before.”

“We couldn’t be sure he was still around,” Oliver reminded her. “And now the killer has gone to ground. If he has the kid, this goes from bad to worse.”

“We have people still looking but, like you, they had to slow things until this storm passes.” Staring out into the light drizzle, she added, “I don’t want to think about that little boy out in the woods in the rain and dark.”

“Same with the Red Rose Killer,” Oliver replied. “I sure don’t want to think about him out there with the boy. He could use the boy for leverage or as a way out of here. I’m going back out first thing tomorrow.”

“Me, too.”

“He’s left way too many threatening notes and now he’s back to make good on them,” Oliver said. “He’s getting onto the base with other people’s IDs and, just as we’ve suspected, he obviously has an accomplice, based on what happened today. He has to have found a way from the reserve to the base, which is probably how he got away again this time. I’m praying the boy isn’t with him.”

“I’m hoping the boy had the good sense to hide,” Ava replied, her tone full of worry. “We couldn’t get a bead on Sullivan. The chopper couldn’t land in that dense area, but they did a good job of dropping us,” she said. “I hope the night crew can make some headway since I didn’t get anywhere.”

“You’re good at your job,” Oliver said. “That’s obvious.” Then he made a snap decision. “Save the air force some money and let me give you a ride tomorrow. Unless, of course, you really do want to rappel down a rope dangling from a hovering forty-million-dollar chopper again.”

“Hmm.” Surprise on her pretty face, she held her hands up in the air and moved them up and down as if weighing something. “Those are my only choices?”

He laughed at that. She had a quick wit and a no-nonsense attitude that was refreshing. “You don’t give an inch, do you?”

“Should I?”

“I’m trying to figure that out,” he said, his eyes holding hers again. “And...while we’re at it, tell me why you wanted to have this conversation away from the office, and maybe tell me a little bit about you, too.”

She matched his gaze and shook her head. “I’m not sure myself why I decided to hold this meeting here, but you know how things go. Prying eyes and listening ears. I’m working to move up a rank. Right now, it’s hard to trust anyone. My team is solid but we’ve had some major leaks with the so-called Anonymous Blogger. But one thing I can tell you—I’m here to discuss the investigation, not share the intimate details of my life. Especially with a man who seems to read people with an ease that leaves them floundering.”

“Me?” Impressed that she could read him so well, he shrugged. “Again, part of the job. I’m curious about what makes people tick.” Then to gain her trust, he leaned in. “In your case, I’d really like to get to know you. Your team is so tight, it’s been hard for me to break through.”

“And you think I’ll be the one to crack?”

“No, I think you’re the toughest one of all. But I’d appreciate knowing more about you.”

Looking skeptical, she shrugged right back at him. “Not much to tell. I decided in high school to join the air force. I took a helicopter ride once out on Galveston beach when I was a preteen and fell in love. That, coupled with not knowing what to do with my life, made me want to travel and find adventure. Didn’t take much from there to want to be a chopper pilot.”

“Can you fly one?”

“I was headed that way but my plans changed. I love what I do now and if I work hard I just might make it to staff sergeant.”

“I’d like to hear more of that story.”

She took a sip of her coffee. “Since you’re insisting on that, I’ll need to hear more about you, too, then.”

Oliver stared out into the night, wondering how much she already knew since he’d had to disclose his involvement with Madison to Ava’s superiors. “Okay, but you might not like what you hear.”

THREE

Ava’s heart hadn’t jumped this much since basic training. She’d heard enough to be cautious, of course.

Oliver Davison had been around off and on for months now and he’d barely noticed Ava, so why did she suddenly have strange currents moving through her system each time he looked at her? Probably because today, he’d focused on her and implied she’d failed. But then, he’d failed, too. And he’d lost someone he loved through a brutal murder. The team had been briefed about him before he ever arrived. His fiancée, Madison Ackler, had been the Red Rose Killer’s first victim. Ava didn’t know if that was a coincidence or there was a history there, but she wasn’t going to grill the man on it. She did know that Madison Ackler and Boyd Sullivan had gone to high school together.

She had to remember that and try to be kind about things. But while she felt sympathy for his loss, she still had a job to do. Or maybe she was tense around him because she’d lost someone she loved, too, and they had that in common.

Stop making excuses .

They had been forced together but in the worst kind of way. Over death and a missing child and an evil, sick man who wouldn’t stop until they caught him. But that didn’t make her ready to share her past or her other failures with Oliver Davison. She didn’t want him to do an FBI analysis on her either.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked, true concern in the question.

“I will be,” she replied. And then to hide all the emotions boiling up inside of her, she tore into her burger. Stress eating to the rescue.

It had been a long, tough day and he’d gotten in her way and gotten to her. That wouldn’t happen again. Dealing with an intense, dogged FBI agent one-on-one was different from watching him across the room. Not that she’d done that. Okay, maybe once or twice. And he must have noticed her, too, since he knew she guzzled coffee like a brewing machine.

But enough of that for now.

“Tomorrow, I go back to the spot Roscoe alerted on and we dig some more. Roscoe is never wrong, so there’s something there we’re missing. I hope whatever was buried there didn’t get washed away. And, Agent Davison, I really need you to stay out of my way.”

“I was in your way today?”

Yes, you with your green eyes and that messy hair and your black working T-shirt. You have those sad eyes and that bad attitude. Yes, you .