Page 13 of Dark ’N’ Deadly

Lies. God, how many of those had she and Jesse told in the last thirty minutes? So many she’d lost count. Although she truly believed that none of their lies could possibly impede Eric’s investigation. All Jesse had to do was go through with the controlled delivery. Afterward, they could leave the state and never look back.

“Got it?” Eric asked.

“Got it.” Jesse nodded with an air of assurance that was so mature it made her heart clench.

As soon as her brother got through this, she was determined that he’d live the best life possible. That meant never setting foot in Alabama again.

“When I turn on the recorder, redial that 201 phone number and put it on speaker.”

Eric clicked on the recorder then signaled Jesse to place the call. Her brother quickly logged into his phone then pressed the redial button and put the call on speaker. He looked to Eric, who gave a nod of encouragement.

The phone rang twice before a man answered. “Where the hell are you?” a voice she didn’t recognize shouted.

“My dang truck broke down in Delaware. Parts should be in first thing Monday morning. I can call you as soon as—”

“Just be at the truck stop Monday at one o’clock.”

“I’ll be th—” But the call had already ended.

Before shutting off the recorder, Eric stated the date, time, and who’d been present for the call. When the red light on top of the recorder went out, Tess breathed a sigh of relief.

“Good job,” Eric said. “I’ll let you keep the phone, but if this guy calls you back, don’t answer. Let it go to voicemail, then tell me right away so we can return the call and record the conversation. Got it?”

“Got it.” Jesse nodded.

“So, where and when do you want us back on Monday?” She rose to retrieve her bag from where she’d dropped it earlier on the floor. “Jesse will be with me at my place, and we’ll get up at the crack of dawn and can be back here whenever you need him.”

“Yeah. About that.” Eric grimaced. “You can go back to Springfield for the weekend.” He nodded to Jesse. “He can’t.”

“Why not? He doesn’t have to stay in jail, does he?”

“No.” Eric shook his head. “He can’t leave the state.”

Her jaw dropped, and she stormed to within a foot of where Eric sat then parked her fists on her hips. Even sitting, his head was nearly at the same level as her chin, something she found irritating. “You can’t do that to him.” Then, as if he couldn’t annoy her further, he arched a blond brow, clearly amused by her outburst. “Excuse me, Special Agent Miller, but I fail to see the humor in any of this.”

“That’s because there is none.” He stood with such speed that she instinctively took a step back, nearly tripping over Dayne, who steadied her with a hand on her shoulder.

Eric’s cheek muscles flexed as his next words came out through gritted teeth. “Dammit, Tess. There’s something serious going down here, and if we can’t stop it, people will die.” He took a deep breath, as if to calm himself. “If we don’t figure this out and a bomb actually goes off…”

He dragged a hand through his hair, making it spikier and drawing her attention to all the natural highlights she remembered. “Have you ever seen the aftereffects of a bomb up close and personal?” She shook her head, hoping she’d never have to. “Trust me. It isn’t pretty. New Jersey is the most populated state in the nation per capita. Just about anywhere a bomb goes off will have deadly consequences. Let alone if it explodes in a city center.”

“I know that,” she whispered, feeling incredibly selfish and incredibly small. “I didn’t mean that we don’t want to help you. I just—” Want to get Jesse as far away from anything involving our stepfather as possible. But she couldn’t say that. Not if she wanted to give her brother a chance at a real future.

“You just what?” Eric’s eyes softened.

“I’d hoped to take my brother back to Springfield for the weekend.” That much was true, although she was half considering that they should both run.

No, we can’t do that.

If this were only about Jesse, that might very well have been a viable option. But no matter how loud the instinct to take Jesse and run was screaming in her ears, they had to do everything possible to help Eric so innocent people didn’t get killed.

To her brother, she said, “We’ll find a hotel for the weekend. When this is over on Monday, we can go back to Springfield.”

“Not quite.” Eric faced Jesse. “Another stipulation of your deferred initial appearance is that you remain in New Jersey not only until after the controlled delivery, but for as long as it takes for us to track down whoever’s putting this bomb together and find out what their target is. Right now, you’re the only link we’ve got to these people, and the federal government isn’t about to let you out of their sight until we identify the threat and stop it.”

Oh, no. This was worse than she’d thought possible, and judging by the shocked look on Jesse’s face, he knew it, too. His only shot at freedom was to not be anywhere near this after Monday. Getting involved with the feds was turning out to be worse than she’d ever expected.

Another problem materialized, and she began twisting her hands together, wishing she had her entire collection of crystals to rub between her fingers. Emptying her bank account would get them a decent hotel for a few nights, but after that, they’d be sleeping in her Camry.