and all its implications made her shiver, “rely on each other. I think it’s too soon for us to stick a label on this. Don’t argue with me, okay? You freaked out. I think it’s reasonable to say maybe we jumped in too fast.”
“I don’t know any other way.”
“I’m not going to change my mind.” He spoke with the determination of someone with conviction. A man with his mind set on one goal. Her.
“I hope you don’t.”
She slid her hands up his arms and over his shoulder, mindful of his wound. They were a messed up couple, but they had each other.
Travis tightened his grip around her waist and dropped his head.
“I could take you away from here,” he said.
“Where would we go?” She chuckled.
“Anywhere. Jamaica. The UK. Thailand. Somewhere far away.”
She pulled back a little and looked up at him. Oh, the fantasy of it. But it wouldn’t work. “I’m not leaving, and I’m not giving up my life. It’s mine. And besides, if that happened you’d have longer to fly to get back to work, and I’d spend longer alone. That’s not going to work for me.”
“Fine. Then we’ll figure something else out. I just want to keep you safe.”
He wasn’t perfect, but he was hers. If he forgot that again, well, she’d have to put the Taser he gave her to another use.
3.
D aniel hunched down in the front seat of the sedan. Four cars in less than two hours. He was pretty sure he’d covered his tracks, but he couldn’t shake the sense that he was being watched.
Damn feds.
He was getting too old for this.
No, he couldn’t be old. Gods didn’t get old. Right?
He gripped the steering wheel, but his hand slid off the smooth leather. A smear of blood stained the high-end material.
Shit. Was he bleeding again?
He should have never used the officer’s gun. It was different than his six shooter. He’d missed because he’d gotten cocky, and now that son of a bitch was still alive.
His plan was screwed to hell. First he botched killing the fed attached to Bliss, then he took too long to get back to the safe house and snatch Bliss from under the cops’ noses. The only thing left was to pick up his wife, but even that wasn’t enough for him any longer.
He needed to get revenge.
Found them .
Travis glanced at the message and instinctively squeezed Bliss’ hand.
“What?” she mumbled.
“Come on.” He pushed off the desk and strode toward the conference room. Since he wasn’t technically on this case, he’d stayed out of the way. If Daniel were in the wilderness or hiding out in a hot zone, Travis knew what to do. Getting inside the head of a deranged serial killer and figuring out what fucked up kind of reasoning made the man tick was a place Travis didn’t want to go.
Ryan glanced up from his phone as they entered. Travis pushed Bliss behind him in a vain attempt to shield her from the jar babies.
“Lali and Gavin found them,” Ryan announced.
“Them, who?” Bliss glanced from Ryan to Travis.
“Your sister.”
“Wendy? Are they okay?”
“They’re fine. Still in CIA custody.” Ryan pocketed his phone. “We can’t make them do anything.”
“No,” Travis agreed.
“I bet she could.” Connor thumbed at Bliss.
She squeezed Travis’ hand, and he released the tight grip he had on her, swiping his thumb over her knuckles as an apology.
Five minutes. That’s all Travis wanted with the guy. Somewhere he could punch his lights out.
“Let me talk to her,” Bliss said.
Ryan held up his hand. “How sure are we that Daniel knows where Wendy is?”
“He’s too detail-oriented. Wendy is his target. Bliss and Travis are bystanders in this. It’s the women he focuses on. Look.” Connor turned and gestured at one of the boards. Photographs of several dead blonde women lined the top of it, with coordinating information below. “The women were first. It’s always been about them. He had his accident, got well, and then the first woman went missing. The best we can tell,