Cassie (The Mitchell/Healy Family #7)(33)

I hopped in my car scanning both sides of the road as I drove along. She couldn’t have gotten far, not without calling for a ride, which she’d have to wait for in this part of town.

Street by street I searched until finally I saw her walking. The moment she spotted my car she took off through a person’s yard. I parked a little further down, judging where she’d surface again. While making my way in her direction, I spotted her before she could see me coming. I ducked back behind a house to gain space between us. She was hiding behind a shed when I found her. I waited until I was a few feet away before startling her enough she’d turn around instead of running. “I should have known you wouldn’t listen.”

I grabbed her by the arm and started leading her back to the car. “Get off me,” she fought.

“I need you to listen, Cassie. I’m doing this to keep you safe, not to be an *. You have no idea what you’re walking into.”

“Don’t you get it?” She argued. “I don’t care what I’m walking into. I have to know he’s okay.”

“I’ve already confirmed it. Let us do our jobs.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t. You can drag me to jail if you want, but I’m not going down without a fight. I need to see him. Please. You say you want to help, but you’re not doing anything I need you to.”

“I’m prohibited from allowing you to complicate our investigation. You’re safe with me. That’s all you need to worry about right now.”

Before she responded I felt a swift kick between my legs, sending me down to my knees. The pain radiated into my stomach, crippling me for a brief moment. It was enough time for her to break free of my hold and take off down the road.

It took me a minute to regain composure. When I did I drove as fast as I could toward the suspects property. If Cassie was determined to go there, I’d be waiting to stop her. I couldn’t let her appearance ruin our chances of catching Mr. James. We’d put too much time and money into closing the case for a crazy insecure woman to interfere.

Prior to arriving, I made a call to my unit to notify them to be on the lookout for Cassie. I told them to restrain her without a scene, by any means possible. That meant if she fought them she’d get tased, and I knew from experience that it hurt like a bitch.

In a short amount of time I’d arrived at the location. To the other agent’s knowledge, Cassie hadn’t arrived. A few people were exiting the house, getting in their cars and driving off down the road. I’d yet to see either of the suspects, or Cassie’s boyfriend. One by one the guests continued to leave, which made me wonder if something had happened. Why would people be leaving when it was still so early? Had something occurred to make them leave in a hurry?

The only remaining cars belonged to the three people suspected to still be in the home. I climbed out of my sedan and walked over to talk to the other agents who’d been there doing surveillance. “Any changes I need to know about?”

“It’s been a revolving door for the past hour. People were coming and going up until twenty minutes ago. Everyone left. Cruise is out back in the woods. He’s got eyes on James and his associate. According to him they were having words. Things got heated, and James ordered everyone to leave. After the altercation both suspects went back inside of the home. It’s been quiet since.”

“Can we get an audio feed from inside?”

“We tried earlier tonight. James has something interfering with the signal. He’s covering his tracks. How are we going to find out what’s going down if we have no intel?”

I scratched my head and tried to think of a way to get answers for Cassie, while determining the next move we needed to make. We were parked too far down the road for me to be able to see inside of the windows. It was important we remained undetected.

While contemplating my next move, I saw a taxi cab pull up into the driveway. Before I was able to call her name, Cassie ran inside of the house.

I turned to the agent I’d been talking to for a brief moment and grabbed my gun from it’s holster. “I’m going around back. Cover me if you hear shots.”

I didn’t wait for him to tell me it was terrible idea. My only concern was making sure Cassie hadn’t just walked into her own funeral.



The first thing I heard once I was close enough were two female voices. They were screaming at each other about someone cheating, and what the one had done to the other. Figuring Cassie had caught her boyfriend with his pants down, I lowered my gun while continuing to watch and listen for something more incriminating. I wasn’t close enough to a window to be able to look inside, and since they didn’t have curtains, I couldn’t exactly walk up without being detected.

I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. As much as I wanted to keep Cassie safe, I knew it was going to ruin my investigation if James found out we were outside watching and waiting.

A man’s voice became apparent. He was angry and then I heard something shattering. A woman screamed and then the sound of a door slamming caused me to hide behind a hedge. I watched the tall blonde storm out the front door. She climbed into her sport’s car and took off down the road. Not one person came out to catch her before she could leave. Now there were only three people in the house.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus on what they were saying. “Brant, we have to leave. Get up. I can’t carry you. You’re in danger. It’s not safe here. The FBI is watching the building. They know what Rocky is up to. Get up. I don’t want you to go to jail. I know this FBI agent who can help us. Please come with me. I forgive you for what happened with Tammy. I need you to come with me.”