things and headed toward the door. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
As they rode over to her place almost in total silence, he couldn’t help observing that a wonderful smell wafted over from Mackenzie. It was again some sort of flowery perfume that Jake couldn’t identify, but it tantalized his senses and was sweet without being overwhelming. He tamped down his reaction and tried to focus on his driving.
When they pulled up into the parking lot of her complex, Jake kept a vigilant eye on their surroundings. He wasn’t looking for anything in particular, but his years with the US Marshals had trained him to be a keen observer and to always expect the unexpected. He noticed a blue SUV parked about halfway down the block that seemed to have a driver sitting in the car, and he kept an eye on the vehicle to see if the man would stay inside or drive away. The driver could be harmless, or he could be involved. All of the other parked cars appeared to be empty. He noted the first three numbers of the SUV’s license tag, which was all he could see, just in case.
He did a fast parking job but turned to Mackenzie before getting out of the car. “Does anything look out of place to you here? It may be hard to tell, but it’s possible that whoever did this might still be hanging around. I want you to be careful and aware of your surroundings at all times.”
“I thought you said it was supposed to be safe to come back.”
“You’re right, I did, and with all these cops everywhere, I’m sure the perps are long gone. Still, you’re the one who lives here, so you would know better than anyone else if something strange is going on. All I’m saying is that I want you to keep your eyes open. If you see something that doesn’t sit right with you, then you need to share it immediately. Okay?”
She nodded just as the first bullet ripped into the seat by her shoulder. She screamed as the second bullet cracked the windshield. Jake didn’t wait for the third. He gunned the engine and flew out of the parking lot, the tires screeching against the pavement in protest as the back of the car fishtailed to the left. He heard other officers yelling and returning fire, but his primary concern was keeping Mackenzie safe. “Get down!” he yelled, pushing her lower on the seat. He stomped on the gas, feeling the surge of the engine as it roared and jolted him out of the parking lot and into the traffic on the main road. Another bullet shattered the rear window of the car just as he maneuvered around a large truck that would shield them temporarily from the onslaught. Somebody definitely wanted Mackenzie Weaver dead. But why?
Jake spun the steering wheel as the velocity from the swerve slammed his body against the car door. The tires screeched in protest, but he kept the car on the road. They darted ahead of two other cars and then swung back into their own lane. He checked the rearview mirror. The blue SUV was now a few cars behind them. It was slowly gaining on them but had gotten stuck behind an antique VW bug and a minivan. Jake couldn’t see who was driving, but he did note that there were two of them in the vehicle instead of just the one he had originally seen. He glanced over at Mackenzie, who was still scrunched against the seats, and he touched her shoulder lightly. “Hold on. I’m going to try to put some distance between us and the guys with the guns.” He punched the accelerator and felt the engine surge as the car ate up the pavement.
Mackenzie glanced up at him, and even though there was fear mirrored there, Jake also saw a level of trust. It bolstered him and made a warmth spread through him that he hadn’t felt in a long time. He tamped the feelings down. He might decide to analyze them later, but right now, all he wanted to think about was getting away from that SUV. He called in on his radio and let his team know what was happening, but nobody was in the immediate area. He did hear sirens in the distance, however, so he was sure the local police who had been working the apartment building were giving chase. They had to have heard the gunshots and his reports on the radio.
Jake took another look in his rearview mirror. The blue SUV had finally passed the two slower vehicles and was moving closer. Jake swerved to pass a red sedan and barely missed a truck coming toward them in the other lane. Tires squealed, and the truck’s driver laid on his horn as Jake maneuvered back into their own lane just in the nick of time to avoid a head-on collision. He looked back again in his mirror and saw a hand holding a pistol come out of the passenger side of the SUV. The perp fired two more shots at them, and Jake swerved to miss the flying bullets. The car skidded on some gravel in response, but he kept control of the wheel. A plume of smoke rose near the asphalt as the tires protested. Despite his maneuvering, one bullet caught the back of the vehicle near the trunk, but the other went wild. The man fired another shot that missed and then pulled his arm back inside the window. Suddenly the SUV turned onto a side road, abandoning the chase. It didn’t take Jake long to figure out why—two police cars were coming up fast behind them, lights and sirens blazing.
“Need some help, Deputy, or should we follow the perps?” asked the deep male voice that came over the police radio.
“We’re good. Stay with the perps. We’ll rendezvous back at the Weaver apartment.”
Mackenzie’s eyes rounded. “Are you insane? You want to go back there?”
“Don’t you? The guys with the guns will be in custody soon, and we still need you to take a look around and see what’s missing.”
Mackenzie sat up. She turned to look behind her and then brushed some of the broken glass off her shirt. She paused before answering, apparently giving the idea a great deal of thought. Finally, she nodded. “I guess so, if you think it’s safe. I mean, I want to see what’s left of the place, but I’m not too anxious to get shot at again. Being shot at may happen to you every day, but it’s a new experience for me.” She was quiet for a moment but then gave him a smile that surprised him. “It’s too bad I didn’t have my camera. This would have made some great footage.”
Her comments made him smile in spite of himself. Spirit. That was what she had. A good dose of spirit. He admired that. She’d always had more than her fair share. Even though he found it appealing, however, her bravado wasn’t enough to change his mind about her video project. His smile disappeared. He was still adamantly opposed to her filming his team in action. He pushed thoughts of her movie to the back of his mind. Right now, all he wanted to do was focus on finding Carter Beckett and his cohorts and putting them behind bars. This lead had sent that case to the top of his list.
He slowed the car and made a U-turn, and a few minutes later, they were back in her apartment, stepping gingerly over the charred remains of her end tables. According to the fire inspector at the scene, the blaze had been started in the kitchen and had spread into the living room. Unfortunately, it had damaged her desk and everything on and near it. Jake looked over at Mackenzie, wondering how she was going to cope with the loss of so many of her belongings. It was bad enough to have someone break in and ransack your apartment, but the fire had ruined some very expensive-looking equipment, as well. He felt bad for her. He didn’t know how he would be handling this kind of loss if he were in her shoes.
* * *
Mackenzie’s heart seemed to stop as she made her way into the damaged areas. Her flat screen TV had basically melted and was now a large lump of black plastic sitting on a charred wooden stand. The fire had gone up the walls and left black marks where her pictures had been hanging, and the tiled floor was littered with ash, soot and the residue from the fire extinguishers. A horrid smell of chemicals and burnt wiring permeated her senses and all of her belongings.
Finally she turned and viewed what she had been dreading—the damage to her video and audio equipment. She had an office set up in one corner of the living room, and besides her desk, she had two large video monitors, an
