your handler.”
“Handler?” Jake looked the detective straight in the eye. Nash hadn’t come with a wanted poster?
“He said you were one of the best undercover operatives he’s ever worked with. Apparently, you’ve been listed as MIA for a couple of years now. What happened? Did you go AWOL on a mission?”
He was one of the good guys? That DEA badge in his pocket was his? Then who did he kill? And why was the guy in the trilby hat following him? It was a lot of information to process. And he had no way of knowing how much or little of that information was true until he talked to Nash or the mystery guy in the hat.
“It’s a long story.” Reenergized by the need to verify some answers and possibly get a breakthrough to his missing past, Jake nodded to the detective and headed into the conference room to gather the Carter girls and their things.
“I drink coffee and bourbon,” Montgomery called after him. “Stick around town at least until my task force catches its man, and I’ll buy you a drink and listen to that story.”
A few minutes later, Jake was in the Fourth Precinct parking garage, keeping watch while Robin buckled in the car seat. Her movements weren’t as efficient as usual and that worried Jake. “Tired?” he asked.
At first Robin shook her head. “Yes, but...”
But that wasn’t what was bugging her.
“What is it?”
“Look at how that assault affected Tania Houseman, and the terrible things her brother did because of it.” She pulled a blanket up over Emma and tucked it beneath her chin. Her hand lingered at Emma’s round cheek. “If he is her father, if Emma is the product of a brutal rape—will she ever have to find out?”
Jake wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close, pressing a kiss to her temple. He reached inside the SUV and lay his hand over Robin’s to cup Emma’s cheek. “A person can handle anything if she has love and support in her life.” A hell of a lot better than by isolating oneself from the world, he was learning.
“She’s got you to protect her, right?” Robin nestled her head beneath Jake’s chin and an unexpected warmth filled his chest.
Was this thing real between them? Or was a real relationship, a real family, ever in the cards for a man like him?
“No, honey. She’s got you. She can’t have a stronger, stauncher ally than her mother.”
* * *
JAKE KNEW SOMETHING was wrong as soon as he turned onto the long gravel driveway. Even with the moonless sky and drizzle of rain misting the air, there should be some light beyond the SUV’s high beam headlamps to guide their path. But there was no yard lamp, no security lights, no night-light burning through the kitchen window.
“Power’s out.”
Robin roused herself from where she’d been dozing against the headrest and sat up straight. “I didn’t think the storm was that bad. What time is it?”
“After midnight.”
She pushed the tumbled waves off her face and scanned the countryside with him. “I can’t even see the barn, much less the trees behind it.”
“Or what’s over the next hill on either side of the road.”
He checked the rearview mirror when she looked in the backseat to ensure that Emma was still sleeping. “I’ve got flashlights in the kitchen and bedroom, and camping lanterns in the basement.”
Jake nodded, wishing he could believe that a lightning strike had taken out a local transformer. But he’d been in survival mode for too long to not be suspicious. “I’ve got a flashlight in my go-bag, too.” Instead of pulling around to the garage behind the house, Jake stopped at the sidewalk leading up to the front door. “Let’s get the kid out and put to bed first, and then I’ll go downstairs to double-check that we haven’t thrown a breaker.”
Leaving the headlights on to light their path, they unloaded Emma in record time and dashed up to the porch before they got too wet. Jake peered into the darkness for any signs of movement while Emma pulled out her keys to unlock the door.
“Jake?” He turned around to see the front door floating open. Robin’s key was still in her hand. “I never forget to lock it.”
“Stay behind me.” Something was definitely wrong. And it wasn’t any power outage.
He pulled his Beretta from its ankle holster and nudged the door open. He sniffed the air and picked up a faint scent that was neither perfume nor baby