Page 43 of Two Favors Repaid

“I understand. Thanks, Lorraine.”

Rob’s large hands were white against the steering wheel. He breathed in and out a couple times, as if trying to calm himself.

“They’re not coming, are they?”

“Not for now. They seem pretty sure Ford’s on his way to Mexico.”

“Maybe he is, Rob,” Emma said, struggling to think through this. “With the money he’d stashed away before disappearing, he could probably live a comfortable life in Mexico. It’s possible that’s what he wants, right?”

Please say it is, please say it is.

“Yeah. Maybe,” Rob said, but his thoughts seemed elsewhere.

Chapter 13

Rob

Something is wrong.

It felt like he’d only closed his eyes when suddenly he found himself awake again. Rob lay in bed for a moment listening in the darkness. All was quiet but he wasn’t about to ignore that sixth sense that told him he had to wake up.

He sat up in bed, careful not to disturb Emma sleeping soundly beside him. It’d taken her a long time for her to fall asleep and he didn’t want to wake her up if it wasn’t necessary.

They’d stopped for Chinese takeout, but Emma’s enthusiasm for the meal had waned, and he’d had trouble tasting the food himself. Under normal circumstances, he would trust the FBI to prioritize the right lines of inquiry. But he knew Stephen Ford. He’d had drinks with the man. They’d talked together about the victims. The thought made bile rise to his throat.

It was the FBI’s job to bring Ford to justice again. Rob’s job was to make sure Emma was safe until they did.

He’d slept in his jeans but had taken off his T-shirt. He felt around for it on the floor next to him. He and Emma hadn’t made love the night before. She’d automatically headed to his bed rather than hers after brushing her teeth, which had made his heart slam against his chest and his cock leap to attention, but she’d been so stressed out, so tense. Despite how much he wanted her, he understood it wasn’t sex she needed. So he’d kissed her and held her until she’d finally fallen into an exhausted sleep.

Rob laced up his trainers and stood up quietly. He still couldn’t hear anything. And then he saw something that made his heart stop beating for an instant. A soft waft of smoke coming from under the bedroom door. And he realized it wasn’t a sound that had woken him up but rather a smell. As he watched, the small waft grew until it became almost solid.

“Emma, wake up, there’s a fire,” Rob said quietly, his hand on her shoulder.

Emma opened her eyes, groggily at first then suddenly much wider as her brain processed his words.

“There’s a fire outside the bedroom. I need you to stay here and call 911, okay?” He placed her phone in her hands.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to open the door and see what’s going on. You lock the door again as soon as I’m gone. And you don’t open it no matter what.”

“Oh, God.”

“Call 911, tell them we need Darryl Berner and his men here right away. Can you do that for me?”

Emma nodded bravely.

“Good. I’m really proud of you, Emma,” he said. He wanted to say a lot more but knew now wasn’t the time.

Picking up his gun from the drawer by the night table, where he always kept it, Rob nodded to Emma, who now stood beside him. Unlocking the door and pulling it open, he walked out into the corridor, listening for the clicking sound as Emma locked the door again.

Well done, Emma.

As his eyes got accustomed to the darkness, Rob realized the smoke seemed to be coming from a single source, a box—no, a bucket— placed just a few feet away from the bedroom door.

Fuck.

Rob heard a sound to his left and swiveled in that direction, his weapon firmly in his hand.