Chapter 15
Rhett
Four shirts, two pairs of running shorts, and the clothes I wore to the release party. Along with a handful of toiletries I’d purchased since arriving, all packed in an extra bag Bailey handed me before returning to pack in her bedroom down the hall with her door cracked.
We’re heading out as soon as the cops are done here.
“We couldn’t have seen this coming,” I tell Axel, and his sigh is so loud that I can hear it through the phone line.
We let Bailey’s family know about the break-in after the cops arrived and secured the place.
Her parents had asked if she wanted to move in with them for a while, but Bailey has no interest in potentially leading this guy back to her parents’ house.
They’ve been settling into early retirement down in Florida for the last six months, so while it’d be harder for him to find their house, she doesn’t want to take the risk.
Axel’s still stuck fighting the fires that continue to rage in Washington and Oregon, bleeding into Idaho.
Three officers are still taking photos and prints from what’s left of the furniture scattered around the room. They finished doing the same thing in her bedroom, bathrooms, and the living room, leaving only her war room and kitchen to go.
“We don’t have the same level of intel here that we did in the service,” I remind Axel. “It’s like fighting a faceless snake while blind, man.”
“Then we need to figure out how to see in the dark,” he answers, as if there’s any way to fight a faceless, nameless enemy in a city like New York without the type of surveillance we used in the Air Force or SEALs.
“I can still see his face,” I tell him. I’ve replayed those few seconds I saw him at the party over and over in my head, searching for any clues I might have missed the first time. “I just wish I’d been here at her apartment when he showed up because he wouldn’t have made it back out.”
Bailey had managed to dredge up an old event photo online of the fan she thought it might be, John — the one we suspected was our guy. But it wasn’t him. Once I saw his picture, I was sure of it.
Which means our guy is still roaming around out there, plotting out his next email, break-in, or worse.
Axel asks how she’s doing while I watch a female officer dust the countertop for prints. The exact spot I’d served Bailey her coffee just a few mornings ago.
“Spent,” I tell him. “But she’s tough. I swear to God I’m going to rip this guy apart if he’s ever dumb enough to show his face around me again.”
The female officer glances up, but has a sobering look of approval in her eyes, as if she can hardly blame me.
Axel growls into the phone. “I need to be there. But the whole west is on fire right now. We’re breaking burn records and already morbidly understaffed.
We’ve been calling in teams from all over the country.
There’s no way I can’t get out of here right now.
So many lives depend on us, and my supervisor isn’t—”
“You don’t have to explain it to me,” I interrupt. “I don’t think he’s going to be able to follow us after we get out of the city. And if he does, believe me, I’ll handle him.”
I glance at the officer, careful not to say too much out loud.
But Axel’s voice is thick with guilt. “The second I’m free to go, I’m there.
You’re doing everything right, and then some, I know.
I’m just frustrated with this fucking guy.
Shit like this is impossible to deal with.
It could take months to get him locked up or dialed in.
He needs to make a mistake real fast so we can figure out who he is. ”
“You just worry about putting those fires out. They’ve been all over the news. I’ve started to worry about you and your teams.”
“Ignore the news and just focus on catching that asshole, alright? Are you heading out soon? The cabins are, what, a seven-hour drive from there? You can’t get there before dark at this point. What’s the plan?”
“We’re leaving as soon as she’s done packing.”
“Just get her out of the city unnoticed. Cedar Shores is quiet, but the locals will all make noise if they see that she’s back.
Keep it off social media,” he says. Then, sounding even more strained, he adds, “Look, I know you know all this already, but it’s Bailey, Rhett.
I can’t imagine if something happened to her. I’d never forgive myself.”
“Trust me, I’m right there with you,” I tell him.
Then I turn away from the officers and lower my voice.
“We’ll make a few pit stops to swap rental cars along the way.
Throw anyone off who might be tailing us.
Depending on traffic, we might stop for the night somewhere.
Don’t want to do any of this in the dark. ”
“Smart.”
“I’ll let you know when we get there.”
“You have Tommy covering your other jobs back in Boston?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. I bet you and Bailey could both use the fresh air over there. Hell, we all could. Sounds pretty fucking nice right about now. Everything tastes like smoke where I’m at. Even the food.”
I nod. I’ve been in enough California fire seasons while training to know what he’s going through.
“Come up when you can, alright? Let’s pray for rain. Get you all some relief. But, I’m going to go see if she’s ready to go.”
“Thanks for being there for her when I can’t,” he tells me, quietly, and I can tell he’s kicking himself. “And Rhett?”
“Yeah, Ax?”
“Don’t fuck around. You’re the only person I’d trust for this type of thing. I know you’ll do whatever you have to if shit hits the fan.”
“You don’t have to worry,” I tell him. I’d rather die than let this guy get anywhere near her.