Edge of Danger (San Antonio Security #2)

Chapter Three

Tessa Mahoney could barely breathe as she ended her call with Brax Patterson. She folded the napkin on which she’d written his address with shaky hands and slipped it into her back pocket.

She couldn’t afford to lose any of her jobs and had irritated her boss at the diner something awful when she’d taken the call, but it had been worth the risk. Even if she got fired.

“Good night!” she called out to the evening crew, waving as she stepped through the door and into the late-afternoon sunshine.

But it wasn’t sunshine or fresh air that hit her awareness. It was the sense of being watched. A prickly feeling on the back of her neck.

Again.

This was the third or fourth day she’d felt it. The certainty that unseen eyes tracked her every move. Unnerving, especially since there was nothing she could do about it.

Including showing awareness. Her brown eyes darted back and forth as she hurried to the corner in hopes of catching the bus to her tiny apartment. At least she’d be indoors, away from the gaze of whoever currently watched her hustle down the street.

She couldn’t let them know she knew. Nobody had to tell her that. It was instinct.

Ignoring her exhaustion, she sprinted toward the corner, waving her arms and begging the last person waiting to board to hold the bus for her.

The driver couldn’t leave without her. She wouldn’t be able to tolerate sitting on a bench out in the open feeling like someone was watching her as she waited for the next bus. She’d go out of her mind.

If she wasn’t already insane.

“Thank you,” she panted after leaping aboard, waving to the person who’d held the bus for her. She sank into a seat and closed her arms around herself in hopes of calming her trembling body.

This was all Robert’s fault. All of it. She knew they were looking for him, which was why they were watching her.

Hilarious. As if he’d come to her . As if she’d let him.

And she was definitely the last person on the planet he’d share his plans with.

That didn’t stop him from ruining her life from a distance, though. He didn’t have many talents, but ruining lives was right up there at the top of the list.

She jumped with a strangled gasp as somebody behind her dropped their keys. Her nerves had reached their breaking point. She was losing it.

Breathe . There were times over the nightmare of the past three months when she’d had to consciously remind herself of that. Breathe. In. Out. Repeat.

She would survive this. She’d survived the unimaginable already. If there was anything she’d learned, it was how strong she was. How much she could withstand without breaking. She’d get through this too.

Eventually, the people watching her would clue in to the fact she had no idea what Robert was doing or where he was.

At least the guy on the phone hadn’t sounded bad—Robert’s half brother, Brax Patterson. Different last name than Robert and Robert had never mentioned having a brother, but that wasn’t a surprise. He had never exactly been forthcoming.

Brax had sounded like he was truly concerned about Walker—had swaddled him and gotten him to stop crying. That was good, right? But why wouldn’t Brax know how to contact his brother if he was taking care of Walker? There were too many questions pounding inside her already aching head.

Arriving at her stop didn’t provide much comfort. It meant exposing herself again since, if it was like the last few days, somebody was probably already watching. Waiting.

Or was she imagining things? Truly going out of her mind?

All questions vanished when Tessa reached her half-open front door. The door she knew she’d locked before leaving for her shift. A cold sweat covered her body, chilling her to the bone. Her stomach turned, threatening to give up everything she’d eaten for lunch.

Should she go inside? What if somebody was still in there? No, they probably would’ve closed the door to trick her into a false sense of security.

She nudged the door open with her foot, then stepped back. Her heart hammered in her chest as she expected somebody to jump out at her, to yank her inside the apartment.

The reality was just as bad. Someone had destroyed her apartment.

Broken dishes. Her plants thrown to the floor, dirt everywhere. The couch cushions and pillows strewn around, slashed open. Drawers emptied. Her clothes torn out of the closet and ripped to shreds. Her mattress on the floor.

Her apartment wasn’t much—barely a living room and bedroom, a kitchenette and a closet-sized bathroom. But it was a place to rest her head, where she could feel safe. Or it had been. Every bit of safety she’d ever felt dissolved as she struggled with the sense of violation attacking from all sides.

Who would do this? And why?

“Oh no!” Terror flooded her system as she raced to the nightstand drawer where she kept her money.

Every dollar she’d sacrificed to save was gone. They had taken all of it. She sank to her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks.

The ringing of the phone jarred her. She didn’t recognize the number but answered anyway. “Hello?”

“Do you like the redecorating job we did for you?” a cold, nasty voice asked.

Her eyes went wide, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs. Whoever had done this took pleasure in the pain and panic they had to know they’d caused.

“Why?” She hated the shaky whisper, hated knowing she was powerless against them, hated knowing there was nothing she could do.

“You know why. All you’ve got to do is tell us where Robert is.”

She didn’t whisper this time. She yelled. “I don’t know!”

“Well, maybe it’s a matter of jogging your memory. What about that? I wonder if somebody comes over to talk to you in person, you’ll remember better.”

She bit back a gasp before ending the call.

That wasn’t an idle threat. She knew that much. People capable of breaking into her apartment, ransacking it and stealing her money were capable of anything.

Whatever Robert had done, she was paying for it. And she’d keep paying if she stayed here.

That realization forced her to her feet. Made her grab the bag thrown across the room at random, dig up the few pieces of clothing still whole and worth wearing and toss them inside.

Her knees threatened to give out, but she pushed herself forward, through the living room and out the door.

Someone rounded the corner of the stairs at the far end of the hall. A tall, hulking sort of man with a neck as thick as his head.

A wave of adrenaline crashed through her system. She darted back into the apartment and closed the door then wedged a chair under the door knob. Not that it would do much good. At best, it would buy her a few extra seconds, but she’d take them. She headed for the fire escape, praying that no one was waiting at the back of the building. The man in the hall hadn’t seen her and wasn’t hurrying so maybe she had a chance.

She moved as fast as her shaky legs would allow, nearly tumbling down the steep, rusted steps. When she reached the ladder, she looked up. Her window was still closed.

But it wouldn’t be for long.

Sacrificing stealth for speed, she clambered down the ladder and into the alley behind the building. Which way should she go? It wouldn’t take Thick Neck long to realize she had escaped and call his friends. She had to figure out a way to hide until they stopped looking.

Think, Tessa, think!

People. She needed a crowd to blend into. Would the pharmacy at the end of the block work? It had to, because there was no other option. She ran down the alley, not daring to waste precious seconds looking over her shoulder. If Thick Neck was following her, she would’ve heard him lumbering down the ladder, but all she heard was the traffic at the end of the alley.

She skidded to a stop and poked her head out just enough to check the sidewalk. All clear. She jogged out of the alley, rounded the corner and ducked inside the pharmacy, where it was hopefully safe.

With her head down, Tessa made her way to the back of the store, grabbed a magazine from the rack, and wedged herself into the corner across from the dome security mirror. Keeping her eyes glued to the mirror, she ran through her options.

Every nickel she had was in her pocket—the tips from her shift at the diner. The few clothes that had survived the “redecorating” were on her back or in the bag slung over her shoulder.

How far could she possibly hope to go?

She jumped when the phone in her pocket rang. It was the same number as before. Her palms were slick, making it hard to keep a hold on the device. There was no way she was going to answer. She powered it down. At least they wouldn’t be able to track her using it if she left it off.

She needed a plan. There had to be something she could do. Somewhere she could go.

Like a gift from the guardian angel she probably didn’t have, inspiration struck. The folded napkin still in her pocket, holding the address of an office building in San Antonio. That was only a couple hours from here.

A man who had called her needing advice about swaddling a baby... How bad could he be? And maybe he would find Robert and all of this hell could be over with.

Not all. Tessa rubbed her tired eyes. Even if Robert showed up again, her hell wouldn’t be finished. She’d have to worry about that later.

She headed for the bus station with just enough cash to get her to San Antonio, hoping she wasn’t making the worst mistake of her life.