Page 76 of Two Favors Repaid

Rob waited. He concentrated on keeping his breath steady. He counted the seconds, trying to decide how long a lost hitchhiker would wait before knocking again.

As he raised his fist to knock again, the door opened a crack. There was a woman on the other side.

Ford thought back to the grainy image they had of Ford’s partner. This woman was younger. Her hair was dark, rather than blond, and hung limply by her face. Her eyes were wide, and she looked afraid of him. A stranger appearing at her house in the middle of the night. He instinctively leaned backwards. He didn’t want to scare her.

Then he looked a bit more closely at her. He looked at those things that weren’t as easily disguised with makeup and a wig. The shape of her face. The shape of her eyes. Her chin.

I have to get inside.

“Hi, sorry to bother you, ma’am,” he drawled in his friendliest voice. “I was out hiking and got lost. I was hoping I might be able to use your phone—”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said tersely. She kept her body across the door so Rob couldn’t see much behind her. Just an impression of a warm, lit living area.

“It will only be a minute,” Rob insisted. “Please.”

She looked like she was going to argue again. Then her attention was diverted by something inside of the house. When she turned to look at Rob again, something had changed in her expression. Her eyes grew harder at the same time as her voice softened. “Sure. You can come in and use my phone,” she said.

Rob smiled gratefully and walked in, ducking his head to avoid whacking his forehead against the low doorframe. As the door closed Rob turned around to see the woman had a gun trained on him. He tried to appear shocked.

“Stop looking like an idiot,” she spat out. “You’re one of them.”

Rob raised his hands. His eyes were trained on the gun she was pointing at him—or rather, at the way she held the gun. Her hands didn’t shake. She didn’t wave it around. She looked like she was perfectly comfortable with its weight in her hands.

This could be a problem.

Something moved in the periphery of his vision. He turned towards the large shape.

“Fancy seeing you here Ford,” Rob said.

“You really don’t give up, Officer Hope. It would have been so poetic if you’d both died out there on the ocean. A fresh new start for me. But no—you had to survive. And now you want to stop my fun as well.”

Rob noticed the man’s belt and top button of his jeans were undone. A cold sweat broke on his face.

“Where’s Emma?” he said in a low voice. Inside his heart was hammering.

“Ah, you’re worried about her … how touching.”

“Let me kill him, Stephen,” the woman said. Her eyes were dark glass.

“No,” Ford said, raising his hand. “Not unless he moves.” Ford brought out a pair of handcuffs.

Rob debated his chances. He didn’t want to be cuffed again, but there was no way he could incapacitate Ford before the woman shot him. And what would happen to Emma then. Assuming she was still alive.

He steeled himself. His best chance was to stay quiet.

Make him think you’re no danger to him.

He relaxed his body and let his shoulders slump in defeat.

“There,” Ford said, clicking one cuff then twisting his arm to lock the other one, making both of them as tight as he could. Rob winced but didn’t make a sound. “Much better. Now walk straight through that door, asshole.”

It was a small bedroom. The only light came from the full moon. As his eyes got used to the semidarkness, he saw a mattress on the floor. Standing next to the mattress was Emma.

She’s alive.

Rob almost went down on his knees in relief.

Emma shook her head. “Grrrrgoo!” She seemed horrified rather than happy to see him.