Colby Core Read online

  “So many times,” she murmured, “I’ve wished so hard just to be normal. To be like any other woman my age.”

  “It’s never too late,” he offered. “As long as a person’s breathing there are opportunities and possibilities.”

  Riley wished he could take that distant sadness from her eyes, but he didn’t have that power. Only Tessa could decide to set a course that would make her happy. To achieve her dreams.

  But what he could do was protect her.

  She tugged at a lock of her hair, twisted it around her finger. “You said you go home for Christmas?”

  “Usually, but not this year.”

  She opened her mouth, then closed it. “Oh. You missed it to do this.”

  “This is important. My family understands.”

  “Your family has a big tree and all the trimmings?” Something sparkled in her eyes, maybe a distant memory from her life before.

  “My folks go all out.” He smiled. “Christmas and Easter are really big deals at the Porter homestead.

  My parents are desperate for grandkids.”

  “I always see the Christmas trees in town.” Her gaze took on a far away look. “They made me think…”

  She didn’t finish the thought but he had an idea what she’d intended to say. “You don’t want to talk about your family?” he asked carefully.

  That blank expression she’d been wearing when he first met her claimed her face. “I don’t have a family anymore.” She shook her head. “Not that family anyway.”

  Riley wasn’t sure how much he should tell her, but he couldn’t let her spend another moment feeling this way. “I did some checking before I came to New Orleans.”

  She fiddled with the hem of her blouse. “I guess that’s part of your job.”

  “Yeah. I looked into how your folks are doing.”

  Tessa practically jumped to her feet. “I should brush my teeth.”

  Should he push the subject?

  “They’re doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances.”

  She searched through the sports bag Stark had provided.

  “Your father retired. He’s writing a book.”

  “Here we go.” She drew a toothbrush out of the bag, then the toothpaste.

  “Your mother started a support group for broken families. She’s quite a powerful speaker and highly sought after.”

  Tessa moved to the sink, which was outside the actual bathroom cubicle.

  “Your brother graduates from law school next year. He’s engaged to the same woman he’s dated since high school.”

  “Karin.” Her voice was small, almost too soft to hear.

  Riley waited for Tessa to say more.

  “Her name is Karin.” Tessa stood before the sink, staring at him via the mirror, the loaded toothbrush in her hand.

  “That’s right,” he confirmed. “She graduated from college last year. She’s a nurse now.”

  “Nurse.” Tessa wasn’t looking at Riley anymore, she was looking back into her past. “She always wanted to be a nurse.”

  “She was your best friend all through school,” he reminded Tessa.

  “She used to play nurse with our dolls.” Tessa set the toothbrush down.

  “They all miss you,” he dared.

  She turned to face him. “They can’t love me now.” She shook her head. “Not after what I’ve done. They won’t understand.” Tears streamed down her cheeks.

  Riley stood and crossed the room to ensure she saw the truth in his eyes. “They will understand. And they’ll always love you.” He swiped the tears from her cheeks with his fingers. “None of this is your fault.”

  She peered up at Riley. “There are things I can never tell anyone,” she whispered.

  “I know.” He watched as another tear rolled down her cheek. He brushed it away with the back of his hand. “You don’t have to share anything you don’t want to until you’re ready.”

  “I’m scared.” She shook her head. “You can’t imagine how scared.”

  As if to underscore her words she trembled. Riley pulled her into his arms and held her close. Her heart raced against his chest. He gently smoothed her hair. Kissed the top of her head. The tears turned to sobs. She shook against him.

  He murmured all the soothing words in his vocabulary. Nothing he could say would likely be exactly what she needed to hear, but he had to try.

  And maybe what she needed more than anything else right now was to feel the touch of someone who wanted to protect.

  Someone who intended to save her no matter the risk.

  Chapter Twelve

  Monday, December 28, 5:20 a.m.—28 hours, 40 minutes remaining

  Tessa’s eyes opened. The room was dark save for a dim shaft of light. Terror wired her muscles for several seconds until she regained her bearings. Motel. She turned her head to the right. Riley lay beside her. She’d awakened several times during the night, and he’d always been awake. He likely hadn’t gotten much sleep.

  Too busy watching over her.

  Protecting her.

  She turned that thought over in her mind. The Master had protected her. Ensured she had food and water, clothing, medical care. But his protection was different. He didn’t simply protect her…he controlled her. Used her. She shuddered inwardly. How had she allowed him to do that to her for so long?

  She should have stopped him.

  Memories and worries whirled so fast in her head that she felt sick to her stomach.

  Tessa closed her eyes and silently recited the facts.

  The Master would have killed her on the spot had she defied him.

  She had resisted in the beginning. God, she’d been so scared. He’d locked her in one of the cells in the questioning room. He’d forced her to watch him torture those who crossed him. Days had passed with no food and scarcely any water. Over and over again he and his deputies had taunted her.

  Your family doesn’t love you.

  They aren’t even looking for you.

  They’re glad you’re gone.

  Days before her abduction she’d had a huge fight with her parents. She’d screamed ugly words at them.

  I hate you!

  I can’t wait to be away from you!

  You love Jason more than you love me!

  Her brother Jason hadn’t even been at home. He’d been away at college. Still she’d been envious of the way her parents had boasted about his academic and sports accomplishments. Full scholarship. Most valuable player. The perfect son.

  Tessa had only been angry. She hadn’t meant any of it.

  Still, her own final words to her parents had lent credence to what the Master told her. He’d twisted her confessions to make her believe her family hated her and didn’t care if she ever came back. Their son was all they needed.

  Finally, physically and mentally exhausted, she’d broken. She’d clung to what he offered, had accepted him and his people as her new family.

  Deep inside she’d known it wasn’t real. Make believe. All pretend.

  Her life was like a theater production. She played the part and as long as she was good she could count on the status quo.

  That was all she’d hoped for. Another change would have broken her mind completely.

  Then Sophie had been born.

  Tears welled in Tessa’s eyes. In the past three years everything had changed for her. She’d grown strong again. Her position as caretaker for the children and the patients had fueled her courage. She was all that stood between them and the others—men like Brooks and Howard. Every challenge, every triumph had made her stronger.

  Then she’d started to plan a way to escape.

  She turned her face back to Riley’s. The faint line of light from the bathroom highlighted his features. Even bruised and battered he was beautiful. God had sent her a savior. She’d prayed for so long. Tessa had begun to think that God had forgotten about her or that she had been too evil for His attention.

  Her gaze moved over the
steel band around Riley’s throat. Her chest tightened with renewed fear. What if the Master refused to remove it?

  He should have put it on her. She was the one who deserved to be in that position.

  Riley’s eyes opened.

  Her heart stumbled. “Morning.”

  He smiled. Her heart stumbled a second time. No man had ever looked at her that way and smiled. She barely remembered dating in high school. Not that she’d had that many dates and even fewer kisses.

  “Morning,” he mumbled.

  “You didn’t sleep much,” she acknowledged.

  “Enough,” he countered.

  “Are you afraid?” She touched the steel band. Shivered at the stark, cold feel of it.

  “No. Mostly I’m ticked off about it.” He reached over and smoothed the hair from her cheek with the tips of his fingers. “Stark or Ross will think of something.”

  The man had no guarantee of surviving beyond the next twenty-eight hours and he was as calm as could be. And the manner of death looming over him was far, far from any semblance of a decent way to die—if such a thing existed.

  “Are you afraid?” he asked.

  “Yes.” Despite what was ahead of them she liked lying here next to him. It felt normal. Something she hadn’t experienced for a very long time. The feeling prompted her to be totally honest.

  “You’re worried about the meeting?”

  She thought about that for a moment. “Not so much.”

  “The children?”

  “Yes. For sure.”

  “We’ll do everything in our power to protect the children and the women,” he promised. “If there is any way on earth to rescue them unharmed, Stark will ensure it happens.”

  Tessa blocked images of Sophie from her mind. She couldn’t go there. Not and face what lay before her. Right now objectivity was extremely important. That was one part she couldn’t be fully honest about just yet. But soon. She wanted to share that one happiness with Riley.

  “You hungry?”

  Strangely, she was. “Yes.”

  “Let’s see what we can do about that.” He raised up onto his elbow. “There’s gotta be something close by that serves a hot breakfast.”

  “Pancakes?” She loved pancakes. The Master only allowed them on special occasions.

  Riley laughed as he sat up. “Pancakes it’ll be then.”

  5:50 a.m.

  RILEY DROPPED THE KEYS in the manager’s box mounted on the office door. He surveyed the area as best he could considering it was still dark. No traffic on the road. No parked vehicles anywhere within view of the few streetlights. But there was a lot of dark space, a lot of shadows too close for comfort. Someone could be out there, watching and waiting.

  Tessa waited in the truck. He walked around to the driver’s side and climbed in. “Keep an eye on your side mirror as we head back into town.” Staying on top of the situation as much as possible would increase their chances of success.

  “You think they’re watching us?”

  He backed up and pulled out onto the road. “Don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing they’re keeping tabs on us. The Master’s too smart to let us run loose like this. We know too much.” Like the location of his compound. Just didn’t add up in Riley’s estimation. This entire operation didn’t sit right with him.

  The cell phone rang. Riley reached into his pocket and checked the caller ID. Blocked number. Most likely Renwick or one of his cronies. “I guess you’d better answer this.” He passed the phone to Tessa. Making their contact skittish would only steal more of their limited time.

  “Hello.”

  Tessa listened for a long enough span of time to make Riley nervous. “We’ll be there,” she assured the caller finally. She stared at the phone a moment before closing it and passing it back to Riley.

  “Renwick?”

  “No. It was Phipps. He’s meeting us at seven-fifteen at New Orleans Park.”

  “That’s what? A public park?” Now that really surprised Riley. Nothing about this operation was the expected.

  “Very public.” She looked behind them but Riley had kept an eye on the rearview mirror while she was on the phone. “Even at this hour and this time of year, that area isn’t going to be completely deserted.”

  “Did his tone give you any reason to suspect something was up?” Riley was good at assessing voices and body language. Tessa might or might not be so skilled.

  “No.” She relaxed into her seat. “He sounded calm and cool. Ready to get down to business.”

  Just another fact that stacked the unexpected deck.

  “Why don’t you check your cell phone and see if you’ve missed any calls?” If he’d known Tessa was loaded with tracking devices he wouldn’t have bothered shutting down that phone. The Master had known their every move anyway. But hindsight was twenty-twenty.

  Tessa placed the battery back in the phone and turned it on. Thirty or so seconds later she said, “No missed calls. No text messages.”

  If the bastard had been watching them he either didn’t care that they’d met with law enforcement officials or he’d known that was coming.

  The idea made Riley all the more uneasy. His instincts were screaming at him that this whole operation was way, way wrong.

  “I have an addition to the plan.” Tessa turned to him. “I think it might actually work better.”

  A change at this stage in the game could be dicey. Particularly when Riley hadn’t been made privy to it before now. “When did you make this decision?”

  “This morning while I watched you sleep.”

  He met her gaze. What he saw there had him experiencing a tightening deep in his belly.

  “I need this to work.”

  He nodded. “Okay. Let’s hear the details.”

  “I’m going to lead Phipps to believe that I want part of what I’m offering. Makes the whole story more credible if there’s something in it for me.”

  As Tessa explained, Riley’s ability to breathe became more and more difficult.

  She was right. This could work.

  For both of them.

  The scary part was that her plan was logical and nothing so far related to the Master had come even close to logical. Maybe that was how he’d stayed in business this long…everything about with an unexpected twist.

  7:00 a.m.

  IT WAS A LITTLE WARMER this morning, but Riley kept his coat zipped to his throat to hide the steel band from view. He didn’t need Renwick’s people getting any ideas about his situation. Or the level of desperation involved in this transaction.

  Tessa had wanted to meet Phipps alone but Riley had drawn a line and refused to budge. He had allowed her to take far too many risks already. The weapon was tucked into his waistband beneath the coat. He was as ready as he was going to be. Stark and Ross had no choice but to stay way back. Any sign of cops or trouble and the meeting would be off.

  Scattered pedestrian traffic, as Tessa had predicted. Park employees mostly. Riley was antsy. He had infused his veins with caffeine at the pancake house. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth when he considered how Tessa had dug into the mound of blueberry pancakes. She hadn’t been exaggerating when she said she loved them. He wouldn’t have expected someone so thin to have such an appetite.

  She’d told him this morning that she was scared. He wondered if so much freedom scared her a little, too. Almost six years had passed since she’d walked around anywhere of her own free will.

  He’d had buddies in the military who’d spent time as prisoners within the enemy camp. The horror stories of never knowing when you would be allowed so much as the choice of which beverage you preferred still held a prominent position in their memories. Of course, that had been the least of their worries.

  He couldn’t imagine how many nights Tessa had lain in bed wondering if she would die the next day or be abused in some nightmarish way.

  She’d gone through too much already. He wanted her away from these people ASAP.
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br />   “That’s him,” she murmured with a glance toward the west end of the park.

  “I see him.” A cap hid the red hair Riley had been watching for. The heavy coat made him look a little heavier than Riley had anticipated from Tessa’s description.

  Phipps strolled casually in their direction. No hurry, no visual panning of the area. The man didn’t appear to be at all concerned about a setup.

  Just another aspect that bugged Riley. Why hadn’t the Master enacted his evac plan as soon as Riley showed up with the news that he might have a mole in his organization? Was he so confident in his local law enforcement contacts that he didn’t worry?

  It seemed Renwick’s people operated the same way. Far too much of a coincidence to sit well with Riley. But just because Phipps had entered the park alone didn’t mean backup wasn’t nearby. In Riley’s experience a guy didn’t reach the level Phipps had without reasonably good strategy skills. And sharp instincts.

  Tessa stood very still without saying a word as the man came closer.

  He stopped just beyond arm’s length and looked from Riley to Tessa. “Who’s this?”

  “You know the Master doesn’t allow me to go anywhere alone.” Her voice was steady and strong despite the extreme fear he knew she felt.

  “I thought you were done with the Master.” Phipps sneered with another suspicious glance at Riley.

  “I’m ready to move on to bigger and better things,” she agreed. “We’re both finished with him.”

  Phipps snickered. “So you got yourself a sidekick, did you?”

  “A personal bodyguard,” Riley corrected. He lifted his jacket just enough for Phipps to see the weapon in his waistband.

  “What does he have to say about that?” Phipps asked, his expression and his tone oozing derision. “Renwick says your nickname is ‘His.’”

  Tessa held her ground. “Things have changed. Do you want to hear my proposal or not?”

  Phipps shrugged. “Impress me, and maybe I’ll take your offer to Renwick. Otherwise I’m not wasting the man’s time.”

  Riley kept an eye out for trouble, but this close there was no way to miss the man’s hate-filled nuances. He seriously had an ego problem.