CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Gabe stood atthe window of his home office, watching the sun dip below the tree line as shadows stretched across the parking lot of his apartment complex.He’d grown to hate the view from the small window, wanted to give Nica a better home.Buy a place where they could have room to spread out, where she could have a yard.Not too big, but where she could plant a small vegetable garden, like the one Ms.Patti had outside her kitchen.He couldn’t count the number of times he’d watched Nica digging in the dirt, pulling weeds and planting seeds.
His fingers drummed against the window frame, a nervous habit he’d picked up in the weeks since his life had turned into a nightmare of anonymous threats and carefully orchestrated terror.How much more was he expected to stand, always on edge, always wondering when the next call would come, when the next threat against his beautiful wife would occur?
Nica was safe.That was all that mattered.He’d convinced her to stay overnight at the Big House, to help Ms.Patti take care of Destiny.He wasn’t Destiny’s obstetrician, but he knew she’d been having rough bouts of morning sickness, and it hadn’t taken much to talk Nica into staying overnight.The clincher was reminding her that her daddy’s ranch had security that nobody could bypass, not even the man after him.
Right now, she was at Daisy’s Diner with her family, probably laughing at one of her brothers’ terrible jokes while picking at a piece of pie she didn’t really want.The image should have comforted him, but instead it felt like a knife twisting in his chest.He wanted to be there, wanted to slide into the seat beside his wife and feel her hand slip into his, wanted to pretend for just an hour that their world hadn’t tilted off its axis.
But the tracker they’d found embedded in his shoulder changed everything.Every moment Nica spent with him was a moment she was in danger, because Gabe had a target on his back, and he’d rather cut out his own heart than be the reason someone hurt her.
“You’re brooding again,” Mike said from behind him, and Gabe turned to find his FBI friend sprawled in one of the leather chairs, a steaming cup of coffee balanced on his knee.“It’s not going to help.”
“Easy for you to say.”Gabriel moved away from the window, his restlessness making it impossible to stand still.“Your wife isn’t being stalked by some psychopath who blames you for destroying his life.”
“No, she left because she couldn’t stand the thought of my job.It didn’t matter that I worked in a bloody office, she felt threatened and scared because of my job.I know what it’s like to want to lock someone you love away from the world.”Mike’s voice was steady, professional, but Gabe caught a flash of understanding in his eyes.“The difference is, we’re not going to let this invisible monster win.”
Gabriel sank into the chair across from Mike, running his hands through his hair.“I keep thinking I should know who it is.The voice on the phone, it’s digitized, but the words, the way he speaks, there’s something familiar about it, but I can’t place it.I can’t help wondering—is it somebody related to a patient I couldn’t save?A family member looking for someone to blame?”He shook his head.“Could be anyone.”
“That’s why we’re setting the trap,” Mike said, leaning forward.“We draw them out, get them to reveal themselves, and then we end this.”
They’d been over the plan a dozen times.Gabe would make himself visible, vulnerable; a target too tempting to ignore.Mike and his team would be watching, ready to move the moment their tormentor showed himself.It was risky, there were a million things that could go wrong, but it was better than waiting for the next anonymous call, the next threat against Nica.
The sound of Gabe’s phone buzzing made both men freeze.He glanced at the screen—unknown number, just like all the others.He looked at Mike, who nodded grimly.
“Put it on speaker.Remember,” Mike said quietly, “keep him talking.The longer he stays on the line, the better chance we have of tracing the call.”
He hit the answer button and put the phone on speaker.“Dr.Summers.”
“Hello, Gabriel.”The voice was low, distorted by the voice modulator their tormentor had been using from the beginning.“I trust you’ve been thinking about our conversation.”
“Every day,” he said, forcing his voice to remain steady.“You want me?You’ve got me.But on my terms.”
Silence stretched across the line, and Gabe could almost feel the surprise on the other end.
“I’m listening,” the voice finally said.
Gabe met Mike’s eyes, seeing his own determination reflected there.“I’ll come to you.Anywhere, anytime you say.But in exchange, you leave my wife alone.No more having your goons following her, no more gifts, no more of your sick mind games.You get what you really want—me—and Nica gets to live her life in peace.”
Another pause, longer this time.Gabe could hear the faint sound of breathing, could almost picture the man on the other end weighing his options.
“You’d do that?”The voice was softer now, almost curious.“You’d sacrifice yourself for her?”
“Without hesitation.I love my wife,” he said, and meant it with every fiber of his being.“Name the place and time.”
“Touching.”The mockery was back, sharp and cutting.“The devoted husband, willing to die for love.How noble.”
“Do we have a deal or not?”
“I’ll be in touch with the details,” the voice said.“But Gabriel?This ends on my terms, not yours.Remember that.”
The line went dead, and Gabe set the phone down with hands that weren’t quite steady.
“Think he’ll really go for it?”Mike asked.
“He’ll go for it.”Gabe was already moving, his mind shifting into the focused calm that had served him well in the operating room.“He wants me to suffer, and there’s no better way to do that than to make me think I’m walking into my own execution.He knows the excruciating wait will be almost worse than putting myself at his mercy.”
“Except we’ll be ready for him,” Mike said, standing.“My team will be in position before—”
