Winter Heat Page 2

  "Oh, that," I said, my heart speeding up again. I tried to act nonchalant. "Yeah, I heard about that. It's a shame, but I'm sure the police will find the guy in no time."

  Sharon looked skeptical. “He’s supposed to be super smart and cunning. Able to disguise himself as whatever you want him to be. He’d charm the pants off you and kill you before you knew what was happening.”

  “I think someone’s been reading too many suspense novels,” I said. Did Sharon somehow know the connection between Jack Nelson and me? “Besides, we work at a real estate law firm hours away from where he escaped. The chances of any of us running into him are near zilch.”

  Sharon shrugged, pushing back from the cubicle wall. “Just saying, be on your guard, Kelsey. I heard all of his victims were pretty blondes.” I nodded, feeling queasy. I tried to go back to reviewing mortgage documents but wasn't able to overcome the uncertainty that was whirling in me.

  I stood up after another hour of unproductive review and headed to the lunch room to get some coffee. There were a couple of people sitting at the table, talking excitedly. As I got closer to them, I realized that they were discussing Jack Nelson and his miraculous escape. I poured my coffee and considered putting a little Irish cream in there to take the edge off. I dismissed this notion and decided to deal with my anxiety the old-fashioned way- ignoring it.

  I sat down by myself at the far end of the table, ignoring the looks of the gossipers down the other end. I stared into my coffee, willing my heart rate to go back to normal. Perhaps decaf would’ve been a better choice. I sat there, lost in my thoughts as I fiddled with my coffee mug.

  “Ms. Jones?" someone asked timidly. I didn't react, not wanting to discuss Jack Nelson with anyone. "Kelsey?" I looked up. It was Janine, my boss' assistant. She looked nervous, but then again, she was always nervous.

  “Yes, Janine?” I asked, finishing off my coffee. She fidgeted more while I looked at her curiously. “Are you okay, Janine?”

  “Um, Mr. Steinberger needs to see you in his office. Right now," she squeaked out. Bob wanted to see me? Bob Steinberger was an intimidating man who almost never pulled anyone into his office, so this was a big deal. I stood up, put my coffee mug in the sink, then headed over to see what Bob wanted.

  When I got to Bob's office, I stood in the doorway unsurely, shifting from foot to foot. I peered around the door frame and was startled to see that Bob wasn't alone. A broad-shouldered man with longish red hair was seated across from Bob. His back was turned to me, so I couldn't see who it was. At the clearing of my throat, the red-haired man turned around. There was a flicker of surprise on his face, which he quickly masked with a hard-lipped frown. He turned back to face Bob.

  "Come in and shut the door, Kelsey," Bob said.

  Uh-oh. That didn’t sound good. Who is this guy, an unhappy client? I wracked my brain, trying to think of any recent cases I'd handled that had negative results for the firm. Nothing came to mind.

  The stranger stood up when I closed the door and extended his hand to me. I took it cautiously as I looked up into his face. He was handsome, with dazzling green eyes, shaggy hair, reddish-brown stubble, and that hard-lined mouth. I released his hand and turned to Bob with an upturned eyebrow, silently asking who this guy was.

  “Kelsey, this is Liam Sullivan," Bob announced. "He's a U.S. Marshal." A knot formed in my stomach as I began to suspect why Liam Sullivan was here.

  “Ms. Jones," Liam said, standing with his hands on his hips. His wide stance drew my eyes downwards. There was a badge on his belt by one hand, and by the other hand, a gun. "We have a situation. We need to take immediate action to ensure your safety." My eyes snapped back upwards at his brisk tone. He stared at me intensely as I squirmed, knowing what he was going to say next. "One of your former clients, Jack Nelson, has escaped from Coffeewood Correctional Facility in Culpeper. We have strong reason to believe he may specifically target you for revenge. You need to be placed in hiding immediately until we've caught him and locked him back up."

  So I hadn't just been paranoid. Jack had meant it when he'd said he was going to get back at me. My vision started going black. I grabbed the back of a chair for balance, swinging it around so I could sit down. With my forearms resting on my knees, I struggled to say something coherent. "So I have to go into hiding? Where, at my house?"

  Liam Sullivan shook his head. “At an undisclosed location. Listen, this is just temporary. Stuff like this normally blows over in a week or so.”

  “Stuff like this?” I asked faintly. “Does stuff like this happen often?”

  Liam didn’t say anything. I looked over at Bob, who looked thunderstruck. I guess Liam hadn’t told him the reason he’d needed to see me. “Well, Kelsey, obviously this is something that needs to happen. Rest assured, you’ll still have a job here when you get back.” How magnanimous of him. “Well, not if you’re gone for a month or two, but a week or so is certainly doable.” He shook his head in what he thought was a very kind manner.

  “A month?” I said. I turned to Liam. “This can’t last a month, can it?”

  He shrugged. “Hard to tell. You can’t put a timer on something like this. Every situation is different. But like I said, it usually blows over quickly.”

  I was starting to panic now. Liam was still standing there with his hands on his hips, and Bob was sitting behind his desk absentmindedly tapping a pen against a file folder. I dropped my head down into my cradled hands and squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that when I opened them, my reality would be different. This couldn't be happening to me, right? I thought I'd put all of this behind me when I changed my law focus from criminal law to boring real estate law. How could this be my life?

  I felt a hand on my shoulder and opened my eyes, looking up. Liam was looming tall over me, looking sympathetic despite that hard-lipped look on his face. "I'm sorry, I know you need time to process this, but we need to get a move on. I've got a van waiting for us outside right now."

  “Right now?" I asked. "Right this second, right now?"

  Liam nodded. “I told you, this is a time-sensitive situation. We need to get on the road.”

  I looked over at Bob, who was still tapping that pen on his desk. “Okay, I guess. Bob, I guess I’ll see you in a week or so. I’ll hand off my cases to someone else.” He nodded, standing up to extend his hand to me.

  “Good luck, Kelsey. I’m sure they’ll nab the bastard.” He smiled jauntily, trying unsuccessfully to seem like this was no big deal. I shook his hand briefly, and Liam steered me out of the room by the shoulder.

  We walked through the rows of cubicles like that, with his hand on my shoulder, and everyone stopped what they were doing to stare openly at us. It wasn't every day that an employee got escorted out of the office by a federal agent. This was sure to be the talk of the firm for the next month or so. I stopped by my desk to pick up my purse and my briefcase, which contained my laptop and all of my current cases. I peeked my head into Sharon's cubicle, where she was pretending not to have been gawking at me a minute earlier.

  “Oh, Kelsey, hey!” she chirped. With an exaggerated look of surprise, she peered at Liam. “Oh, I didn’t see you there! How do you do?”

  “Sharon, I have to go out of town for about a week for an unexpected family emergency. Can you take over these cases for me? I'll repay the favor as soon as I get back." She nodded, still staring at Liam. I raised my eyebrows, and her eyes snapped back to me. She took the briefcase from my hands.

  “Yeah, of course. I hope everything is okay!" she said. I nodded tersely and waved goodbye, and Liam, still holding my shoulder, steered me out of the office and into the hallway. I resented being treated like a prisoner, and I shrugged my shoulder to get him to let go, to no avail. He finally let go once the elevator doors closed and we were headed down to the lobby.

  “I can probably get all my stuff packed in less than a half hour,” I said, looking up at Liam. “I just need the basics for the week.”

  He shook his head.
“No need. We’ll provide everything you need.”

  I gawked at him. "What do you mean, no need? I need personal items. What about my toothbrush, my clothes, my stuff?" "The agency will provide you with all of that," Liam said. His voice brooked no argument, and I pursed my lips, wanting to argue. I decided against it when the elevator doors dinged, and that hand returned to my shoulder. Liam steered me past Stan, who stared at us in confusion. I gave him a weak wave as we stepped outside. There was a black van waiting at the bottom of the steps. Liam gestured for me to get in, pressing gently on my shoulder. I took one last look at my office building and with a sigh, climbed in.

  There were three other men in the van- one driving, one in the passenger seat, and the other in the back seat. I scooted into the farthest back row, buckling myself in, and Liam sat in the back seat in front of me. He slid the door shut and nodded to the driver, who took off.

  “So how far are we going?” I asked, looking around at all the agents. Were they even called agents? Should I call them Marshals? Liam was out of place in his jeans and button-down white shirt among all these guys in suits. Maybe he wasn’t the same rank as the other guys.

  The marshal sitting next to Liam looked young, and he smiled kindly at me. "We're going to the Witness Protection Center in DC. At this time of day, we shouldn't hit any traffic. It should be about a three and a half to four-hour drive." Three and a half to four hours? I suddenly regretted all that coffee I’d had that morning. I doubted very much that this van made pit stops for bathroom breaks.

  “Witness Protection?” I asked. “That’s what you meant when you said I need to go into hiding?”

  Liam looked back at me. "You need to understand the seriousness of the situation. Jack Nelson is a sadistic murderer who doesn't have a moral compass. You were his lawyer, and he hoodwinked you into believing he was innocent, so you know what he's like. Nelson seduced a guard, who had extensive training for this exact situation, and then convinced that guard that he was innocent. The guard hatched a plan to get him free, and as soon as he was in the guard's apartment, he killed the guard to hide his tracks. Nelson is ruthless, Miss Jones, and he's out for revenge. His cellmate says that he often talked of getting revenge on the lawyer who didn't get him off. That's why you're in protective custody."

  My nausea from earlier was back, plus I had to pee already. I tried to focus on these small things instead of the giant problem facing me. This was the worst possible way that I could be spending my Thanksgiving. I had a sudden sinking feeling. Thanksgiving. The only time of year that I saw my family. If I were really going into Witness Protection, how was my family going to know what was going on? Tomorrow would come, and I’d just not show up?

  “Am I allowed to call my family and let them know what’s going on?” I asked.

  The kind-faced young marshal glanced quickly at Liam, who nodded, then back to me. “Sure, but we have to confiscate your phone afterward.” He looked apologetically at me. I’d already figured they were going to take my cell phone, so I shrugged.

  I unlocked my screen and went to my contacts, clicking on my sister’s name. I could rely on her to tell the rest of the family what was going on. If I called my mother, she would go into hysterics and somehow blame me for ruining Thanksgiving, and I just didn’t want to deal with that right now.

  I held the receiver to my ear, listening to the line trilling. Anna picked up on the third ring. “Hey. Should I go with canned cranberry sauce tomorrow or make it from scratch?”

  “Scratch, of course. It’s so much better,” I replied. “Listen, Anna-”

  “Jason, let go of your brother’s toes!” Anna yelled. I smiled at the scuffle as she pulled my two nephews apart. “These boys are giving me gray hair,” she panted. “What’s up, little sister?” I stayed silent, not sure how to form the words. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I responded. “I won’t be making it tomorrow though. A thing popped up, and I have to go away for a little bit.”

  “You can't make it to family Thanksgiving?" Anna blew out a long breath. "That must be a hell of a work thing." I didn't correct her assumption. My family knew I worked a lot, and no one would be that surprised that I'd decided to work instead of going to Thanksgiving.

  “Yeah, it is. Will you make an excuse for me? Tell Mom it’s life or death,” I said jokingly. I didn’t want to make Anna anxious, so I didn’t let on how close to the truth that was.

  “It had better be if you're making me break the news to Mom that you can't make it. Julian, stop biting your brother's leg!" she said, exasperated. "Okay, Kels, I have to deal with this situation. I hope your work thing works out. Love you."

  “I love you, too, Anna," I said, my phone beeping when Anna hung up. I gave up my phone to the kind-faced agent, who zipped it into a giant storage bag and placed it into a briefcase. I hunkered down in my seat and looked at the trees passing as we drove down 95. I leaned my head against the window, looking at all the people in the cars we passed- the people who were going home to spend the holiday with their family without the threat of a serial killer looming over their heads. I envied them. I thought back to my phone call, and I hoped that wasn't the last time I got to speak to my sister.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The drive to D.C. was long and uneventful. We hit traffic at Quantico, then finally got there in about four and a half hours. We parked in front of a nondescript government building, and everyone got out of the van. Liam was the last to hop out. He turned to me, holding out his hand to assist me in jumping down. I took his hand gratefully. When I was safely on the asphalt, he let go of my hand and wiped his palm on his pants. I looked up at the building in trepidation. What was in store for me here?

  At Liam's urging, I followed the marshals through the front doors into the lobby. There was a significant security area at the front of the hall, but we got fast-tracked through that after the marshals showed their badges. After we walked through security, I was taken to an empty waiting room while Liam and the other marshals went off in separate directions.

  I sat alone in the waiting room for an hour, anxious and bored out of my mind. There was a television in the waiting room, but it was playing the golf channel, so I almost wished there hadn't been a television at all. I didn't have a cell phone to play with, and I still really had to pee. All I could do was lean my head back and try to take a nap. I was just starting to drift off to sleep when a woman wearing a pantsuit approached me with clicking heels.

  “Ms. Jones?" she asked, looking down at me kindly. I looked up and nodded. "Hi, I'm Sandra. Follow me, please." I stood up and followed her, walking quickly to keep up with her brisk pace. She stopped at a keypad on the wall and swiped her badge. The light went from red to green, and she ushered me through the doorway into a long hallway which was lined with more doors. Sandra slid her badge again at the furthest door on the right and opened the door for me. Inside was a spartan bedroom equipped with a toilet, a sink, a bed, and a trunk laid out at the side of the bed. It looked more like a jail cell than a bedroom to me.

  “Go ahead and settle in here, and someone will be along shortly to retrieve you,” Sandra said from behind me.

  “Settle in?" I asked, turning to look at Sandra, but she had already turned on her heel and left the room. I turned back to look around at my jail cell, but there wasn't anything to see. I sat down on the bed and eyed the toilet. Did I have enough time to empty my incredibly full bladder before someone barged in on me? I decided to risk it because it was pretty much an emergency at this point. Thankfully, no one came in while I was relieving myself, and I quickly zipped my pants back up.

  I eyed the trunk, wondering what was in it. I could check, but I didn’t want to get caught snooping around in a federal facility. I sat down on the bed and looked around. Was this where I was going to hide out for the week? The thought was incredibly unappealing.

  After a half hour of staring at the wall, curiosity got the better of me. I knelt down in front of the trunk
and lifted the heavy lid, peering in. It was filled with clothing and shoes. There was a parka on the top of the pile, resting on a snowsuit and some fleece-lined boots, all in my size. I lifted the parka, inspecting it. I was interrupted by a knock and the door swinging open. I dropped the coat quickly when Liam walked in.

  “Hey," I said, looking at him guiltily. What if I wasn't supposed to be rifling through this trunk? Liam didn't say anything about it though, so I wasn't about to mention it.

  “Hey,” he said. “Settling in well?”

  “As well as I can, I guess,” I replied. “Not much to settle into though.” I looked around the barren room.

  “Well, it's only for the night, so I think you'll survive," Liam said, sitting down on the bed. He shifted his belt and his gun and badge readjusted themselves. I didn't miss the way those jeans stretched over his groin, and I quickly raised my eyes back to his face, hoping Liam hadn't caught my stare. Judging by the quirk of his eyebrow, he had.

  “This is just for tonight?” I asked in relief. “Thank goodness. I thought I’d have to stay an entire week in this prison cell.”

  Liam shook his head. "No. My director will tell you all about your placement. Hopefully, you'll find that place more comfortable than this." He stood, pulling his belt up and shimmying it around his waist distractingly. "You're to come with me so I can get you briefed and ready to leave tomorrow morning."

  “Okay," I said, following him to the doorway. Liam stopped short to pull the door open, and I smacked into the center of his back. "Oof. Sorry." He looked back down at me in annoyance, and I smiled up at him apologetically. He didn't return my smile.

  Liam strode out into the hall, pulled out his key card badge, and swiped the lock on the door at the end of the hallway. I followed him through a maze of corridors, turning left twice, right three times, left again, until I lost track of where we were going. We finally arrived at a large double doorway. Liam swiped once more, then held the door open for me. I walked through and stared.