Rules of Protection(99)

“Oh…well, yes. I suppose so,” Brockway stammered as the coroner wheeled a gurney, weighed down with a black body bag, past us. The director wore a disheveled, stressed out expression that matched his hair and his clothes. “So Felts is really dead?” he asked shakily.

Jake nodded in confirmation, and Brockway’s face washed over with something familiar. Relief. I knew because I felt the same way.

Since nothing had to be resolved right away, Jake relaxed, but something whispered strangely to me. I pushed it away, not letting my anxieties take over and wig me out. But I couldn’t shake it completely.

It was like whittling a piece of wood inside my mind. The more you scraped away, the smaller the object would get, but it’d start to take shape, even if you didn’t know what it would become.

“You look like hell,” Jake told the director.

“What do you expect when one of my agents goes rogue and kidnaps a federal witness? I haven’t been sleeping well.”

“You don’t look like you’ve gotten any sleep since I last saw you,” I said.

I wondered if his eyes were more bloodshot than Dale’s the time Gina and I had dared him to drink— Something snapped. Gina had said the exact same thing about the man who paid them a visit, a man looking for me. But why would…

“Miss Foster, is something wrong?” Brockway asked.

The clarity overwhelmed me. “I…I know.”

Jake and the others were confused, but Director Brockway looked more nervous now than when he first walked up surrounded by armed civilians.

“Miss Foster, I’ll drive you to the hospital and get you checked out. From there we’ll formalize the arrangements with the U.S. Marshals, and I’ll transfer you to a safe house myself,” Brockway said, a bead of sweat forming on his brow. It only confirmed what I knew.

At first, I thought I should be smart, keep my mouth shut, and not put myself in a precarious position. But my emotional state of mind wouldn’t allow it. After all, it was me we were talking about.

Had Jake’s arm not been in a sling, he would’ve been quicker and could’ve stopped me. I reached out, snatched Jake’s gun from his shoulder holster, and pointed it at Director Brockway. All five of the agents in suits standing behind Brockway drew their weapons and returned the favor.

“Don’t shoot!” Jake yelled to them. When he was sure they were holding fire, he turned to me. “Emily, what the hell are you doing?”

“It’s him! He’s the—”

“Miss Foster,” Brockway interrupted, “I want to express my regrets for the events leading up to your situation. I know you’re under a lot of stress, but if you don’t drop the weapon, my men will shoot you.”

“Wait!” Jake yelled, eyeing the men for itchy trigger fingers. “Emily, threatening an FBI director is a federal crime. Give me the damn gun.”

I kept the gun locked on Brockway with trembling hands, knowing I only ever hit one out of three targets at close range. Chances were good that I’d die. Chances were better that Brockway wouldn’t. For peace of mind in the event of the unthinkable, I wanted Jake to know the truth about this man. A man he trusted.

“Jake, he’s in on it,” I said, my voice straining to get him to understand. “Gina said he went by her apartment looking for me.”

Brockway let out a nervous chuckle. “Of course I did,” he said. “The FBI was looking for their agent and their lead witness. It’s only natural we’d question your friends.”

“Then why didn’t you identify yourself as a fed?”

“I did,” he said, though I knew it was a lie.

“No, you didn’t. Gina had no clue who you were. She’s the only person I talked to. How would Felts know where to look for me unless you bugged her phone somehow?” I glanced over to Jake. “It’s how they found us. He passed the information to Felts.”

“That’s ridiculous. Agent Ward, you have ten seconds to get the gun out of her hand before I order my men to fire.”

Jake tried to be objective, but wasn’t sure what to believe. “Emily, please…” Jake pleaded. “Give me the gun.”

“Jake, you once said people caught unaware made mistakes. Brockway made a mistake because he couldn’t have foreseen you taking off with his only witness. Felts must’ve been pressuring him to find me. He was relieved to learn Felts was dead. The same relief I felt.”

“Okay, enough,” Brockway said. “Ten, nine, eight…”

“Emily, give me the gun. Please…” Jake held out his hand.

Adding insult to injury, I realized Jake didn’t believe me. My heart shattered. I was in love with him—probably had been since I first laid eyes on him. And he didn’t trust me. Hell, I wasn’t even sure he liked me half the time. This person in front of me wasn’t Jake, though. It was Agent Ward. It was the first time I understood the difference.

“Four, three, two…”

I heard the quick shuffling sounds and cocking of guns as Cowboy, Judd, Ox, Hank, and the other neighbors reached for their weapons and aimed them at the FBI agents. The cavalry chose to be on my side.

“Drop ’em, boys!” Hank yelled out.

“You better do as he says,” Brockway called out to our entire group.