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.”
“Get the fuck off me, Cassie. You’re too good for me. I fucked up. I can’t do this anymore. We don’t want the same things. You should just go home to your family. It’s what you want anyway.”
“No. I won’t leave you. Aren’t you hearing me? The FBI task force is coming to arrest you. They probably have the house surrounded.”
“Get my gun. It’s in my duffle bag under the bed. Ain’t no one taking me out of here.”
Her boyfriend’s words were unnerving.
Panic struck me when I realized how loud they were talking. It was only a matter of time before James heard them and realized he was about to go down. I had to get inside of that house.
I didn’t care if I was spotted as I darted across the back lawn to enter through the rear. Then I saw him, James loading a gun as he listened from the next room over. My eyes widen and focused on the coffee table where a silencer sat in front of him. He slowly began screwing it on, giving me only seconds before I could get inside and attempt to save them from their impending fate.
Chapter 17
Cassie
I was desperate and enraged. I’d arrived to discover Tammy and Brant fucking on the bed we’d shared. I should have known he was drunk from the way he smiled, as if being caught was funny to him. I slapped him several times while giving Tammy a piece of my mind. I shouldn’t have expected her to be trustworthy. I’d known all along she was only out for herself.
She tried to say Brant had come onto her when we first arrived. She claimed they’d had sex several times while I was in the house with them. I didn’t know who to believe.
Then I remembered why I’d come back, and what I needed to do to convince Brant staying was a bad idea. Tammy was still giving me hell about not being good enough to satisfy my boyfriend, so I did what every country girl would have done when they felt threatened. I jacked her ass up, smacking her hard enough where I sent her down to the floor. She fell so hard her high heel broke in half and flung across the room. She kicked off the other shoe and whined about them costing more than I was worth, before running out the door to avoid me killing her with my bare hands.
Once we were alone, I went after Brant, desperate to convince him we needed to get out of there. In those moments I didn’t care about him cheating, or what our relationship would be going forward. I just needed to know he was away from Rocky.
I shook my boyfriend while trying to get him to sober up enough to hear me. “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. Please come with me. I forgive you for what happened with Tammy. I need you to come with me.”
“Get the fuck off me, Cassie. You’re too good for me. I fucked up. I can’t do this anymore. We don’t want the same things. You should just go home to your family. It’s what you want anyway.”
“No. I won’t leave you. Aren’t you hearing me? The FBI will arrest you. They probably have the house surrounded.”
Finally, I had his attention. His eyes widened and after staring at me for a second he pointed toward something. “Get my gun. It’s in my duffle bag under the bed. Ain’t no one taking me out of here.”
I rushed for his gun, only to realize what I was about to do. Did I want a shoot out happening between my boyfriend, Rocky and the FBI? Would I be caught in the crossfires? I handed him his gun, but refused to let go of it. “Wait. Don’t do this. We can leave out the back and the agents will protect us. My agent friend is right outside. He’ll keep you safe if you just tell him what you know.”
“I’m not a rat, Cassie.” He aimed the gun at me after jerking it out of my hold. “What have you done? Do they have me on tape? Did they see what we did? Do they know it’s going down right now?”
I threw up my hands to keep him from pulling the trigger. “No, please don’t hurt me. It’s not what you think. I didn’t go to the police or the FBI. Are you crazy? I wouldn’t do that. I didn’t want to tell them anything. They threatened me. They said I’d go to jail if I didn’t tell them what Rocky was up to. They don’t know anything. They have no idea about anything tonight.”