Page 69 of True Valor
Not only was Sheriff Raines not a Green Beretin Vietnam, not only was he never held captive there, but theDistinguished Service Cross that graced his uniform was notauthentic.Though the investigation was ongoing, there was, at thispoint, no evidence that Raines had ever been in the military.Thereporter speculated that he might have bought the medal in a pawnshop somewhere.
Smiling, Julie fished the cell phone from herpurse and dialed.Her mouth went dry when Cruz answered.It took amoment to realize she’d gotten the answering machine.
“You’ve reached Batman and Hollywood.Pleaseleave a message, and if we’re not too busy saving the world, we’llget back to you.”
She almost hung up.But maybe the answeringmachine was better, anyway.
“Nic, Eric.Just wanted you to know that yourfake-SEAL tracker came through.It’s all over the front page of thepaper.Thanks for all your help.”She quickly disconnected before“I miss you,” or “I love you,” tumbled from her mouth.
For the rest of the drive home, Juliecontinued to glance over at the paper, her attention drawn to thesmiling face featured there.It might have been herimagination—hindsight is twenty twenty—but there sure looked to bemocking in his eyes.As she pulled up in front of the house, shewondered how he would react to his change of fortune.
And when she twisted the dead bolt aftershutting the door, the soft laughter behind her made her wish she’dthought about that question a bit more seriously.
Nic tugged off his maroon beret and tossedit, along with his keys, onto the kitchen counter.It was good tobe back to his life.He pulled a bottle of water from the fridge,twisted off the cap and drained it.Then, he shot the bottle acrossthe room to the trash and turned toward the living room.
If he’d stayed late at work, like Cruz did,he wouldn’t be home now.If he’d sipped the water, he’d still be inthe kitchen and wouldn’t have come into the living room to see theblink of the answering machine.And if he hadn’t seen that blink,he wouldn’t now be standing here mutely, stung by the voice on thetape and suddenly panicked by the message.
Before the message ended, he fished his cellfrom the thigh pocket of his flight suit and dialed Cruz.
“Pick up, damn it.”
An eternity later, he did.“Cruz.”
“Where are you?”
“Just about to leave the section.”
“Well, book it.We got big problems.”
“What’s up?”
“As of this morning, Raines has nothing tolose.”
The soft click of a revolver being cocked.Warm breath on her neck.Julie froze.Then the whisper, hot in herear.
“Last time we met in this house, you kickedthe shit out of me, Julie.I won’t let you do that again.”A deepguttural laugh.
“Put your hands behind your back,sweetheart.”
She pushed back against him.But there waslittle room for leverage.He shoved her hard into the door, hisshoulder in the middle of her back.
“Put your hands behind your back.”He slidthe gun up to her neck.
When she did so, he slapped cuffs on her.
Damn.She pushed against the wall with herlegs, desperate.
But he simply stepped aside and she landedhard on the floor, scraping her cheek on the off-white carpet.
An unwanted groan escaped her lips before heleaned down and slapped duct tape over her mouth.Raines crouchedbeside her, a nicely printed piece of paper dangling from hishand.
RESTING—PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB—JULIE
Again, he laughed with a low rumble.Hepushed to his feet, opened the front door a crack and taped thenote to the door.Then closed it quietly as he spoke.
“Poor Julie.She’s just buried her entirefamily.And now, she’s resting.We won’t disturb her today.”
He reached down, manhandled Julie to herfeet.Pain screamed through her shoulders and she bit down on acry.
