Hostage Situation. Debra Webb

it,” she muttered, then immediately railed at herself for the slip.

      Why should she punish herself for the actions of others? Her brother had caused this. She had tried to stop it once she knew the truth, but he had not allowed her to do the right thing. That was masochistic. She had promised herself that with this new move, she would not permit the past to take over her life again. If only someone would tell that to her foolish emotions.

      A hand settled on her shoulder. Startled, she glanced up to find Jim Colby standing in the aisle. “You trying to beat the rush?” he asked.

      She straightened, cleared her throat. Having him appear here was about as unexpected as finding herself at this church. He moved around her and lowered himself onto the pew scarcely an arm’s length away. How could he sneak up on her so effortlessly? When had she so completely lost her edge? She blinked back the new burning tears. She would not let him see this kind of fragility. This display of weakness was not who she was. She had to get back on track.

      “Ensures the best seat in the house,” she said, playing along and forcing a tight smile. Don’t think about it anymore. There is nothing you can do. Focus on now. What was Jim doing here? She wouldn’t have taken him for a guy who bothered with Mass. Even so, that wouldn’t be his reason for showing up like this. Her new boss was not a happenstance kind of guy. He was focused, intense, deliberate.

      Jim smiled that slow, half tilt that she’d come to associate with him. She got the distinct impression that smiling was not typical of him, though he seemed to like to do it more and more as time went by. She’d been working for Jim Colby for a couple of months now. He was different—edgy, almost dangerous. Case in point: those penetrating blue eyes. Eyes that kept folks on their toes in his presence. Not that she was intimidated by her boss, but on some instinctive level she understood that he was not a man to be taken lightly.

      “How’d you know I was here?” The idea that he would have followed her from the office didn’t seem plausible.

      “The mechanic dropped off your car.”

      Her car? She deflated a little more. How could she have forgotten about that? “Oh…I—” She gave her head a shake. “I was supposed to call to see if it would be ready.” The mechanic had picked up her car at the office that morning with a simple instruction: call before leaving for the day to see if it’s ready. But then, that had been before she’d got the news that the stay of execution had been denied.

      Don’t think about it.

      “Since you hadn’t made it home and weren’t answering your cell, I called the cab company. Dispatcher said the driver dropped you off here. I thought I’d come give you a ride back to the office to pick up your car.”

      Her cell…it was on Silent. She nodded her understanding, still a little rattled. “I appreciate that.” She had a feeling there was more to this than just letting her know her car was ready.

      As if she’d voiced the thought aloud, his gaze locked with hers. “We have a new client. The job’s going to require a somewhat dicey field assignment. At least a few days on location.” He studied her for a moment, then added, “I was thinking you might be right for this one, if you feel you’re ready.”

      Renee sat up straighter. She’d been waiting for this opportunity. She moistened her lips, swallowed at the emotion still hovering in the back of her throat. “I’m ready.” No way was she going to let the past mess this up. The call she’d received less than one hour ago echoed unnervingly, but she pushed it away. Her brother’s mistakes and decisions weren’t her problem anymore…hadn’t been in two years. She couldn’t change what was going to happen…no matter how wrong. He had seen to that.

      “I know you’ve been anticipating your first field assignment,” Colby said.

      Admittedly, running background checks and following up on cheating spouses was not how she’d seen things going at her new job. Still, paying one’s dues was not a new concept to her. “I’m confident the past couple of months aren’t an accurate measure of what’s to come.” Despite having changed jobs twice in the past two years, even she had her limits on how low she would take her career expectations.

      “This one may be a little tricky.”

      Their gazes met. Anticipation hummed inside her.

      “Tricky?” She tried to glean something from his expression, but it was impossible. Jim Colby was far too good at camouflaging whatever was on his mind.

      “There could be complicating factors.”

      Complicating factors? She didn’t have a problem with complications. In fact, she had more of a problem with a lack of them; it gave her too much free time to allow the past to invade her present. She tamped down the ache that instantly attempted to intrude. If Jim was worried about her ability to defend herself, he shouldn’t be. She’d faced physical threat in the past and she’d learned from it. A comprehensive self-defense class should be mandatory for all attorneys and prosecutors.

      “What kind of complicating factors?” she ventured.

      “This one means you’d have to take on a whole new identity and deliberately mislead a man in order to lure his only brother into a trap.”

      Her curiosity spiked, sending a surge of adrenaline roaring through her veins. She’d been looking for just this sort of case. Something out of the ordinary. Something exciting…dangerous. The last startled her just a little. Would living on the edge help her put the past more firmly behind her? Make her trust herself again?

      Only one way to find out.

      “When do I start?”

      He studied her, his eyes searching hers for some glimpse of uncertainty or maybe hesitation. She allowed none. She knew betrayal and deceit intimately. Using that painfully gained knowledge to get the job done wouldn’t be a problem. If someone innocent got hurt…who cared, right? As long as the job got done and the case got closed…the end justified the means.

      “It may be necessary for you to, let’s just say, get very close to the target,” he countered. “Are you sure you can do that, Vaughn? I’m certain that kind of deception wasn’t one of your electives at that fancy law school you attended.”

      She did the smiling this time. “You’re right. It wasn’t. I had to learn that part the hard way. Now, when do I start?”

      “Now.”

      Perfect.

      He went on, “You can look over the file tonight and we’ll get started on your cover profile first thing in the morning.” He pushed to his feet. “That way you can catch an afternoon flight and jump right in.”

      “Do we have photos? Background histories?” Renee stood, genuflected and fell into step next to him as he moved down the long center aisle.

      “Photos, histories. We have it all. Our client came prepared.”

      “Excellent.” That would speed up the process. If he wanted her on a plane in less than twenty-four hours, getting up to speed ASAP would be essential.

      As Renee climbed into Jim’s car, she checked her cell phone. Two missed calls and one voice mail. One of the calls was from Jim. The second had her heart thumping as she listened to the accompanying voice mail. The first three words of the message had her sagging against the seat with relief in spite of her determination not to care.

       The governor called.

      The stay of execution had been granted.

      Renee stared out at the busy street surrounded by the eclectic architecture that set the city of Chicago apart from any other on the globe.

      This was good news.

      And just like that, the past nudged its way back into her life, starting the cycle of obsession and denial all over again.

      Key Largo Wednesday, May 2, 2:00 p.m.

      “IT’S