Page 58 of On the Chase
“Okay.” Her eyes were already drifting closed. “Wake me up when it’s time to go. Or if anyone shows up here.”
“I’ll do that.” Hugh sounded as if he was about to laugh yet again, and she opened her eyes to glare at him…or at least squint blearily at him. Once she focused on his face, her mild irritation dissolved. Just the sight of him made her happier. Although she’d met him only a short time ago, it had been long enough for Hugh to become precious to her. All of her efforts to stay detached and protect herself had failed miserably, and it was too late to turn back. He was now permanently blasted into her heart. Turning her head, she pressed a kiss against his bare throat. His hand stilled on her hair for a moment, and she saw him swallow before he began stroking her head once more.
Grace’s eyes drifted closed once again. The last few weeks had been rough, and she was comfortable here. Even when multiple people were trying to kill him, Hugh made her feel safe.
Chapter 16
Hugh ground his palms into his eyes. It was four in the morning, and he needed sleep desperately. At eleven the night before, he’d reluctantly woken his sleeping beauty and they’d made their careful—much more careful than if he’d been driving—way down the mountain. Although she wasn’t thrilled to be excluded from the action, Grace couldn’t argue about her lack of law enforcement skills, so she’d reluctantly stopped at the police station to join Jules and the kids for the night.
It had felt wrong to leave her there, to not have her with him for the first time in several days. Hugh hoped she was sleeping, that she wasn’t worrying, but he doubted it. At least she’d managed to doze for a few hours before they’d had to leave their mountain hideout.
His phone beeped, and he grimaced. Although he assumed it was Lieutenant Blessard, leaving his one-hundredth message, he checked just in case it was Grace or Theo or Otto. It was none of those people. Instead, it was the final death knell of his cell phone battery charge. Sliding the phone back in his pocket, he figured the lack of a charge was for the best. Now when he told LT that his phone was dead, he wouldn’t be lying.
He shifted his weight, rubbing at his stiffening thigh, and then hopped up and down in place a few times, making sure to keep his weight on his good leg. It didn’t work. He still felt like he was going to fall asleep standing up. By his feet, Lexi was stretched out on the ground, snoring.
They’d been staking out Main Street for more than four hours. During that time, only thirteen vehicles had passed. Theo and Otto had stopped every one, since they’d all been traveling over the twenty-mile-per-hour speed limit that the city council had pushed through a few years earlier. Hugh had walked Lexi around each car, SUV, and truck, but she hadn’t signaled that there were drugs on any of them. All the drivers had been let off with a warning, except for one who’d been texting as he came through town. The oblivious guy had almost driven right on top of Theo, who seemed grimly pleased to write the citation for that one.
Hugh swayed with exhaustion. His knees softened, and he had to catch his balance on the tree next to him. He needed to move, to do something, or he’d be on the ground, snoring right along with his dog.
“C’mon, Lex,” he said, his voice rough with lack of sleep. What he wouldn’t give to be curled up with Grace on a bed somewhere, even if it was a cot at the police station. “Let’s go bug Theo. Or Otto. No, Theo. He’s more fun to aggravate.”
Yawning, Lexi stood and stretched. Although she seemed to be taking the sleep interruptions well, her tail drooped a little.
“Sorry, girl.” Hugh rubbed the top of her head and behind her ears. “Just a few more hours to go and then you can sleep for a week.” He did his own stretch-and-yawn combination. “I know I’m going to.” The mental image of Grace sharing his bed made that plan even more appealing. As soon as they took care of Truman, and then dealt with Grace’s problem, things were going to be peaceful in Monroe. Hugh set his jaw. They’d better be. After all this, everyone involved—Hugh, Grace, Theo, Jules, the kids, Otto, Lexi, and even the lieutenant—deserved some rest.
As Hugh and Lexi approached the driver’s side of Theo’s car, he didn’t look at them. Instead, he stayed focused on his MCT—mobile computer terminal—screen, only reaching with one hand to raise the window.
“Funny guy,” Hugh muttered, starting to grin. When Theo blocked his efforts, Hugh had to get creative. Crouching down so his face was level with the window, his bad leg extended to the side, Hugh kept his unblinking gaze on Theo’s averted head. It took several minutes of concentrated staring before Theo broke and lowered the window a half inch.
“What?” he snapped, although he kept his voice low. They were going to have enough complaints about all the overhead light action that had been happening on Main Street during the wee morning hours. Hugh wasn’t sure how they were going to explain their unofficial sting operation to the lieutenant. Hugh saw a lot of menial tasks in his professional future…if he still had a job with MPD, that was.
Hugh gave Theo his most innocent look. “What?”
“What’s with the creeper act?”
With a laugh, Hugh asked, “Who’s acting?”
Turning to face the window, Theo frowned. “I have reports to finish. Did you need something, or are you just bored?”
“Bored.”
“Figures.”
“I’m tired.” Hugh stood, catching his balance on the top of Theo’s car when his leg wobbled. The muscle weakness was even worse than the pain sometimes. He could deal with the pain, but it usually took him by surprise when his leg gave out on him. “You need to keep me awake.”
“You’re not going to let me finish my reports, are you?”
“No.”
Theo’s answering growl cut off when they saw the gleam of headlights in the distance. Adrenaline flowed through him, and Hugh was suddenly not so sleepy. He moved back to his spot in the shadows of a couple of pine trees. If it was Truman’s shipment, Hugh didn’t want to risk that the driver would recognize him. Having a shoot-out in the middle of Main Street would be a bad thing.
The vehicle got closer, and Otto’s brake lights flashed.Good, Hugh thought.Otto’s ready.
As the incoming SUV drew closer and then passed Theo’s squad car, Otto turned on his overhead lights and pulled in front of the SUV, forcing it to stop. Theo immediately blocked it from the back. The two cops got out and approached the SUV from opposite sides, with Theo on the passenger’s side and Otto on the driver’s.
From Hugh’s vantage point, the driver looked like a woman in her forties. He couldn’t see a passenger. As he and Lexi approached the rear of the SUV, he heard the woman’s nervous prattle. “…don’t think I was speeding, Officer. I take this route every morning, except for my days off, and I know it so well I could drive it in my sleep. Oh! Not that I’d fall asleep while I was driving or anything. Just, you know, Icoulddrive it if I… Where is that darn insurance card?”
As Hugh walked Lexi around the back of the SUV, he had a sinking feeling that this would be their fourteenth wrong vehicle. The woman could just be a really good actress, but it was more likely she was exactly who she said she was—a nurse with a two-hour mountain commute to the orthopedic clinic in Dresden where she worked. He doubted she ran drugs on the side.
