Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

This was all his fault. Gabe hated knowing Cassidy and Steele were in danger because of him. And even though Steele had claimed they’d lost the gunmen, he’d turned in his seat to stare out the back window, expecting them to materialize at any moment.

As if they had some sort of superhuman powers.

“Gabe, is it possible they can track your new phone?” Cassidy asked, diverting his attention from the road behind them. “I know you said the device was wiped clean, but does that prevent it from being tracked?”

“They can track it.” He quickly powered the device off. He hesitated, hating to toss the phone Cass had paid for, but the possibility of her being hurt trumped concerns over money. He opened his window and tossed his brand-new phone out, wincing as it shattered on the ground. “If so, that’s not a problem now.”

There was a long moment of silence. “Okay, then,” Steele finally said. “That takes care of one problem. However, it occurs to me that if these guys know you personally, they’ll know where you work.”

“Do you think the safe house is available?” Cassidy asked. “We could sure use it.”

“That’s not going to help. I need computer access,” he quickly interjected. “I would rather work at the precinct.”

“I’d rather you be safe,” Cass shot back. “We can get one of our laptops to use at the safe house. It has internet access.”

He was about to press the issue, but she had a good point about the safety factor. The precinct wasn’t foolproof the way a safe house might be. “Okay, I’ll go to the safe house as long as you stay with me.”

“Do you remember the safe house?” She turned in her seat to look at him. “I don’t think you’ve ever been there.”

A vague impression of a brick house in a residential neighborhood flashed in his mind. A memory? How could he know? “I’m not sure.”

“Call Rhy, see if the safe house is even available,” Steele suggested. “It’s often in use, especially for families.”

The photograph of his mother and her husband flashed in his mind. Somehow Gabe had sensed he was not a part of their family. The picture on Steele’s phone had been like seeing a stranger. Someone he knew from a distance, but not on a personal level.

Yet he must have communicated with Travis, otherwise how had his half brother’s phone ended up smashed and broken at the same location where he’d been assaulted?

He glanced over his shoulder again, but there was no sign of the black SUV. If they had been tracking his phone, then they should be fine.

But he wasn’t taking anything for granted. Not after he’d been used as target practice on three separate occasions.

Interesting that they’d let him live in the first place. Maybe they had thought he was dead and had been in a rush to get away from the scene of the crime. Or they had figured he’d be in a coma or something. Having amnesia had certainly worked to their advantage.

No matter the reason he’d made it this far, it was obvious that these guys were trying to make up for their mistake of allowing him to survive.

He pressed his fingertips into his temples. Remember! He needed to remember!

“Rhy? Hey, a black SUV found us on the interstate and fired several shots. Steele’s SUV is drivable,” she quickly added, “but we think they may have tracked the replacement phone we picked up for Gabe. That’s gone now, too, but we’re wondering about using the safe house. We don’t want to bring danger to the precinct.”

Noticing Steele’s concerned gaze in the rearview mirror, he dropped his hands and listened to Cassidy’s side of the conversation.

“Yeah, I understand. We’ll find another place to stay.” She shot him a resigned look. “Keep us on the list, though. Thanks.”

“Sounds like the safe house isn’t an option,” Gabe said flatly. “What’s the next option?”

She shrugged, glancing at Steele. “What do you think? The American Lodge? Or some place we’ve never used before?”

“The American Lodge should work,” Steele said thoughtfully. “I don’t think these guys know about the tactical team, or they wouldn’t take random shots on the interstate. They may not realize the resources we have at our disposal.”

The American Lodge sounded very familiar. “Have I been there?”

“No,” Cassidy assured him. “You booked it for us and send backup there as needed, but you have not stayed there.”

“And we know the owner, Gary Campbell,” Steele added. “He’s supportive of the team and will give us rooms for cash.”

“He also installed security cameras, which may come in handy,” Cassidy said. “Let’s head there now. We’ll get Flynn or Jina to meet us there with a laptop.”

“And a clean vehicle,” Steele said with a scowl. “They may have gotten the license plate on this one.”

Hearing the two of them discuss the best way to keep him safe made him wish he could do more. To contribute in some small way.

“Maybe you should ask one of them to bring me a gun.”

Both Steele and Cassidy gaped at him. “What?” Steele echoed in shock. “That’s crazy. You don’t shoot guns.”

“Do you know for sure I’ve never fired one?” he asked. “I mean, you guys are armed. Maybe I should be too.”

“Look, Gabe, I know you asked for a gun earlier today. And I’m not necessarily opposed to giving you one. But as Steele said, as far as I know, you’ve never fired one, and that could be a problem. A gun isn’t going to help you if you’re not familiar with it.”

“Cassidy is right. You could hurt one of us by mistake,” Steele said. “We’ll keep you safe.”

“I hate feeling helpless,” he said. Hurting one of them was the last thing he wanted. “I need to do my part in this.”

“You will,” Cassidy said, “by cracking the computer code on that USB drive you hid in the freezer. That could be the key to blowing this open.”

“Okay, I’ll do my best.” He still felt as if he were more of a hindrance in this endeavor. Especially since Travis was still missing. “But once this is over, I want you to teach me how to shoot.”

Cass and Steele exchanged a quick look. “Sure, Gabe,” she finally said. “I’ll take you to the firing range if you’re still interested in learning how to shoot once your memory returns.”

The way she said it seemed to indicate the Gabe she knew would never want to fire a gun. Was that true? He didn’t know.

But he made a silent promise to follow through with learning how to shoot. Because he never wanted to be this helpless when it came to being in danger ever again.

“There’s the American Lodge,” Cassidy said, changing the subject. She gestured to the west side of the road. “The vacancy sign is lit, so that’s good for us. I’m glad there are rooms available.”

“Probably because it’s the middle of the week,” Steele said. “I know Gary is booked up on the weekends, especially this close to the holiday.”

The two-story white building emanated a sense of familiarity, but Gabe had to assume it was only because he’d seen pictures. Maybe from their website? As Steele parked in front of the lobby, he knew he’d never been inside.

“Wait here, I’ll take care of the room,” Cassidy said.

“Use my cash.” He thrust a wad of bills toward her. “Please. I want to contribute.”

She hesitated, then took the cash. “Thanks. Be back soon.”

Gabe watched her disappear inside. “I hate this,” he said. “I hate knowing you and Cass are risking your lives for me.”

“Gabe, you’re an integral part of our team.” Steele met his eyes in the rearview. “Of course, we’re going to protect you. We protect strangers every single day. But when someone attacks our family, it’s even more important than ever to seek justice.”

He sighed and nodded. “I know that. It’s just...”

“You care for Cassidy. A lot,” Steele said. “Your feelings are no secret, Gabe. We’ve all noticed.”

He felt himself flush. “Really? So Cass knows too?”

“I’m not sure about that,” Steele said with a shrug. “She cares about you as a friend for sure. I don’t know that she’s figured out how much you want to ask her out.”

“I—ask her out?” He was shocked at what Steele was saying. “There’s no way she would go out with me.”

“Gabe, you’ll never know unless you ask her,” Steele said with a grin. “Her last boyfriend was a real dud, couldn’t handle her career. We’re all rooting for you, hoping you’ll take the next step. But for now, you may want to wait until your memory returns.”

Her last boyfriend was a dud? And they were rooting for him? He couldn’t believe how much Steele seemed to know about his feelings. More than he did, obviously. Before he could say anything more, though, he saw Cassidy pushing out of the lobby door.

She held up two room keys with a triumphant look on her face. She opened the passenger door, allowing a cold blast of air in. “Got ’em. Rooms 11 and 12 on the first floor.”

“Okay. I’ll park around the corner as usual,” Steele said, driving past the lobby and making a loop toward the rooms Cassidy had obtained for them. “Glad he had the connecting rooms available.”

“I asked Gary to keep an eye on the security cameras too,” she said. “He said the place was only about half full, so doing that for us shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Gary’s a frustrated cop at heart,” Steele said with a grin. “He loves helping us, as long as we don’t damage his rooms.”

“Hey, we always pay for the damage,” Cassidy said. “And he’s appreciative of that.”

Gabe frowned. “You make it sound like we damage his motel rooms on a regular basis.”

Cassidy grimaced. “Yeah, we kinda do. Although it’s been a few months now since we’ve had any issues here.”

“Oh yay,” he muttered. “Score one for the good guys.”

Obviously, he knew cops faced danger on a regular basis. But that didn’t mean he liked the idea of Cassidy putting her life on the line for him. Or for anyone.

Was that part of the reason he hadn’t asked her out?

There was no way to know what had held him back until his memory returned. Deep down, he feared that he had asked her out, but she’d turned him down.

And if that was the case, he needed to do a better job of keeping his feelings to himself.

Cassidy set their new disposable phones on the table and watched as Gabe examined the setup of their connecting rooms. She had sensed some trepidation on his part in staying here, but he seemed better now that they were settled in.

“How soon can I get that computer?” Gabe asked. “And I just realized we left our overnight cases in Rhy’s car.”

“I’ll call Jina,” Steele said, pulling out his phone. “We need a replacement vehicle, too, so this may take some time.”

“Have her bring the computer first, then work on the vehicle,” Gabe said, clearly impatient to get started.

Steele shot her a look, as if asking what’s up with Gabe, so she stepped forward and rested a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, Gabe. We’ll have the rest of the day to work on the computer code. The replacement vehicle is important too. No sense in making Jina and whoever is available to help her make two trips.”

Gabe sighed. “Okay. Sorry. I guess I’m still on edge from the shooting.”

She understood his concern. Being targeted by gunfire was very much outside Gabe’s comfort zone. She nodded at Steele. “Have Jina bring at least two computers, and our suitcases if she can.”

He nodded, then crossed into the next room to make the necessary arrangements.

“You also mentioned calling your mother,” she said to Gabe. “Let’s get the phones up and running. Better to use one of them for that call. And maybe you’ll learn something that will help you crack the code.”

“Yeah, okay.” Gabe reached for the phones and began unwrapping them. “Seems I’ve done this before.”

“We all have,” she assured him. “It’s standard protocol when needing to stay off-grid. Just like getting a replacement vehicle. We know how to cover our tracks.”

Steele came back into the room. “Jina and Flynn will be here in twenty minutes or so. Rhy has already arranged for a rental based on the gunfire incident, so it won’t take them too long to get here.”

“I forgot to ask you to call Rhy for Gabe’s mother’s number,” Cassidy said.

“Hang on.” A minute later, Steele was jotting down the number on a notepad. “Thanks Rhy. We’ll stay in touch.”

Gabe stared down at the number for a moment. She wondered if he was having second thoughts about contacting her, but then he dialed the number and listened. He frowned, glancing at her. “Leave a message?” he asked in a whisper.

“Why not?” she asked.

“Hi, uh, this is Gabe. I’m working on tracking Travis down but need to talk to you. So, uh, call me at this number.” He rattled off the new phone number. Then without saying anything more, he disconnected.

“I’m sure she’ll call back,” she said reassuringly. “You reached out from a strange number, which most people assume is spam. I’m sure that once she realizes it’s you, she’ll get in touch.”

“You’re right.” Gabe set the phone aside and then rose to his feet. “It’s so hard to stand around doing nothing when Travis is in danger.”

They didn’t know for sure Travis was a victim, but she held her tongue. The smashed phone did lean that way. Yet she still believed Travis had been the one to lure Gabe out to the isolated location in the first place. Maybe Travis was asked to do that by someone else, but she felt certain Travis had made the call. Gabe was too smart to follow orders issued by a stranger.

Rhy was planning to retrieve Travis’s phone records, which may provide more clarity. If the device hadn’t been wiped clean the way Gabe’s had been.

The code on the USB drive was the key. But even then, there was no guarantee that would help them find Travis.

“Hey, do you know a guy by the name of Marcus Toller?” Steele asked, glancing up from his phone. “He’s in several photographs with Travis on social media.”

“Doesn’t sound familiar,” Gabe said. “I’d like to see the pictures.”

Steele handed over his phone. Gabe stared at the image for a long moment. She leaned forward to see for herself. The guy was a stranger to her. But she understood why the guy had caught Steele’s attention.

He wasn’t a teenager, like Travis or his high school friends. For one thing, he dressed nicer and was clearly in his mid-thirties.

Roughly Gabe’s age, if she had to guess.

“I don’t recognize him.” Gabe reluctantly handed the phone back. “When we get the computers, we can do a deeper dive on him, though. He doesn’t look as if he has a criminal record, but it’s worth checking out.”

“Yeah.” Steele went back to scrolling on his phone. “Travis has several friends his age, but this guy seems off. And the only photos of them are together, without any of Travis’s other friends, so I don’t think he’s a high school coach or counselor.”

“I agree. He stands out as someone my half brother wouldn’t normally hang around with,” Gabe said thoughtfully. “But it could be that he’s a boss or a coworker. I have no idea where Travis works.”

“If he works,” Cassidy felt compelled to point out. “I’m getting the impression money isn’t an issue, and if so, there would be little motivation for Travis to get a job.”

Gabe frowned as if that thought hadn’t occurred to him. “If he’s not working, then how did he get involved in this?”

A rhetorical question, as no one had an answer.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Gabe fidgeted in his chair, glancing constantly out the window.

Finally, Steele’s phone rang. “It’s Jina,” he said, before answering it. “Yep, I see you.”

Jina arrived at the motel first, after dropping Flynn at the rental agency to pick up the new ride. Steele let her in.

“Hey, Gabe.” She set two computers on the table and gave him a quick hug. “Heard you got bonked on the head and lost a few marbles.”

Gabe reluctantly smiled. “Sounds about right.” He reached for the top computer. “Thanks for bringing these.”

“Yeah, it sounded urgent.” Jina exchanged a concerned glance with Cass. “Several attempts of being shot at is not good. And I have no idea what you sent to my email, Gabe. It looked like something from NASA.”

“I’m not sure what it’s related to yet either.” Gabe opened the first computer, pushing the other to the side, then quickly logged in. For the first time since they’d been at the precinct earlier, he looked comfortable with the task before him. “But I plan to find out.”

“Let’s let him get to work.” Cass gestured for Steele and Jina to follow her into the adjoining room. Out of Gabe’s earshot, she said, “I’m worried his half brother isn’t an innocent victim in this. Finding Travis’s phone at the spot where Gabe was assaulted makes me think Travis lured Gabe there for some reason.”

“I’m with you on that,” Steele said. “The phone was damaged on purpose, as if a heel had stomped on it several times.”

“Could be Travis was forced to cooperate,” Jina said. Cassidy knew the team’s sharpshooter had softened a bit since she’d been a key suspect in a cold-case murder investigation. Jina could still toss most guys to the mat in record time, but she wasn’t as quick to pass judgment as she had been. “And the bad guys smashed his phone to make a point of why he should continue to cooperate.”

“It’s possible,” Cass agreed. “But either way, we need to do our best to work this case by focusing on Travis. That’s why I asked for two computers. I know we would usually ask Gabe to help with this, but he’s the only one who can figure out what he’d put on that USB drive, so it’s up to us to pick up the slack.”

“We can do our best,” Steele said. “Maybe we start with that guy, Marcus Toller. See what we can dig up on him.”

Satisfied they were on the same page, she turned to head back to Gabe’s room. Flynn arrived with her duffel and Gabe’s suitcase. She left Jina, Steele, and Flynn to the task of moving the vehicles around. Steele’s damaged car would need to be dropped off at a body shop.

“Be careful driving my SUV back to the precinct,” Steele warned. “The shooter may have gotten the license plate number. If these guys are tech savvy, the way we believe, they may be able to run the plate, tracking it back to me and those of us on the team.”

Jina and Flynn exchanged a long look. “I’ll take it,” Flynn offered.

Jina shrugged. “Okay, but I’ll stick close to you as we head back, just in case.” She paused, then added, “Unless you need us to stick around?”

“No, we’re fine.” She glanced at Steele who nodded.

“Yep, we can manage,” he agreed. “If I have to leave for some reason, I’ll call one of you back. Or another member of the team.”

She knew Steele’s wife, Harper, was pregnant with their second child, but she wasn’t due until April. Lately, the team members and their spouses had been doing their best to populate the next generation. At times, it made her feel lonely.

After breaking up with Wade Morris, she’d lost interest in settling down. Yet even as the thought formed, she found herself glancing over her shoulder into the connecting room to find Gabe hunched over the laptop. He’d run his fingers through his hair, causing strands to stick out at various angles. He looked different without his glasses, and the way he sat close to the screen made her think the contacts weren’t working as well as he’d hoped.

She hated the idea of someone trying to kill him.

“Let us know if you find anything,” Jina said, turning toward the door. “Oh, and we left the rental along the side of the building.”

“Thanks.” Cass had anticipated that, as they preferred not leaving their vehicles out in the open.

After Flynn and Jina left, she looked at Steele. “What do you think about continuing your search on social media while I use the computer?”

“Okay.” Steele gestured to the connecting door. “Let’s get to work.”

She snagged the second computer and dropped into the chair next to Gabe’s. Keeping the computer on her lap, she logged in and did a quick criminal background search on Marcus Toller.

He was clean. Or at least hadn’t been caught. She did a broader search, hoping to find his name mentioned in some articles or other news outlets.

Still nothing.

The lack of progress made her cranky, and she was tempted to toss the computer out the window.

How did Gabe do this for hours on end? She couldn’t stand it.

As if hearing her thoughts, Gabe leaned back and dug his palms into his eye sockets. “My head is killing me,” he muttered.

“Take a break,” she said. “We need you.”

He lowered his hands and offered a rueful smile. “Thanks, but I’m still not being much help. I should remember this code,” he said, gesturing to the computer. “But all I can say with any degree of certainty is that it’s an operating system of some sort. But to what program? And why is it so important?”

“You’ll get there.” She put a hand on his knee. “If anyone can crack it, you can.”

“I want to believe that.” He covered her hand with his, and she was suddenly aware that Steele had retreated to the other room. Maybe to sit at the table there, rather than taking over one of the beds. “I don’t want to fail you, Cass.”

“You could never do that.” She smiled gently. “Suffering from amnesia isn’t your fault. All we ask is that you do your best.”

He held her gaze for a long moment. She set her computer aside and leaned over to hug him.

“You’re going to figure this out, Gabe,” she whispered in his ear. “I believe in you.”

He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. For a long moment, neither of them moved. She didn’t want to let him go.

But then his new disposable phone rang. They jumped apart, as if the sound had been a gunshot rather than a shrill ring.

“Must be my mother,” Gabe said, reaching for the phone.

She ran her fingers through her hair, doing her best to calm her racing heart. In that moment, she was forced to admit her feelings for Gabe had morphed from one friendship to something more.

And she was at a loss as to what to do about it.