Target on the Mountain by Elizabeth Goddard (the chimp paradox .txt) 📕

along the freeway and Ryan thought about calling Tori to have her ask the man to speed things up. But she’d made it clear she could and would take care of herself. Ryan followed the cab around the airport drive. Then he pulled up behind it when the cab stopped in front of the drop-off. Ryan didn’t get out but simply watched from the inside of Katelyn’s vehicle.

He watched Tori, waiting for the moment when she would glance back at him. He planned to give her a little wave. He also planned to follow her inside—from a distance. But she didn’t look back as she carried her duffel and laptop case into the terminal. Ryan left Katelyn’s vehicle at the drop-off zone and followed Tori inside. Until she was through the security gate, someone could still cause her problems. Even after she was through, they could try to harm her, but the chances were much lower considering no unauthorized personnel could carry a weapon through the security screening.

Inside the terminal, he stood back and watched and waited. If Tori knew he’d followed her inside, she didn’t let on. That she didn’t acknowledge him squeezed his heart, leaving him sick to his stomach.

Get a grip, man. Why had he let her get so deeply under his skin again?

Finally she moved through the security gate. He would have expected to breathe a sigh of relief, except he’d just let the love of his life get away from him again.

He made his way back to Katelyn’s vehicle, which he’d left illegally parked. Captain Moran called and Ryan gave him an update, relieved he could actually tell his captain that Tori was at the airport, waiting to board a plane. When he approached his vehicle, an airport cop was writing him a ticket. Ryan flashed his Maynor County Sheriff’s detective badge and explained his business and then got in.

Katelyn called as he pulled away.

He answered with “No, your vehicle isn’t wrecked. And yes, Tori is at the airport, checked through security. I’m heading home now.”

“I wasn’t calling to check up on you. Not really. You can take care of yourself, little brother.”

“Hey, I’m not your little brother just because I was born two minutes after you.”

“Uh-huh.” Katelyn chuckled. “I was calling because I’ve found an interesting connection that you’re going to want to look into.”

FIFTEEN

Tori found a seat at the gate. She would go standby on the next flight back to South Carolina, which included a lot of connections. Still, that didn’t take off for another three hours, so this could very well turn into a long night. She decided she would put that time to good use, doing the same thing she would do in the motel room, only here she wouldn’t be constantly listening for someone approaching the door.

She could easily spot an approaching threat from where she sat at the gate, her back to the window and facing the inside of the terminal.

Ryan had been right to suggest she hang out at the airport, though part of her felt like a coward. But she didn’t want to die before she could solve the mystery of who killed Sarah. That person needed to pay for what he’d done to six people now, adding Dee James and Eddie Slattery to the group.

Sorrow for their loss left her hollowed out. If she and Ryan had solved the first murders sooner, then the others might still be alive.

Or...if Sarah hadn’t gotten involved in something that turned her into a target, all six people might still be alive. But it did no good to take that perspective.

While she waited to gain access to the flight home, she could work on her laptop. She sent her supervisor an email, notifying him that she was returning and would be back in the office tomorrow. She also thanked him for the flowers the department had sent for Sarah’s funeral, though she planned to send a handwritten note, as well. She had to tread carefully in how she explained the FBI’s possible connection to her sister’s death. She tried to focus on how best to word her email, but her thoughts kept going back to Ryan.

She’d been painfully aware of his vehicle following the cab, and that he’d gotten out and followed her inside, watching until she made it through security. A thousand times she’d considered approaching him or at least acknowledging his presence, but what would that solve? Nothing. It would only stir up the same old argument of whether she should stay or whether she should go, and those same unwanted emotions would erupt.

She had to put what being with Ryan for the last few days had stirred inside her back into a locked box. She sent an email to Dad, letting him know of her departure and why she’d had to leave. Tori explained that she would be back for a short visit or they could come out to see her, once the person responsible for Sarah’s death and Tori’s attacks was incarcerated. He would be hurt that he didn’t at least get to say goodbye in person—which was the reason she chose to email rather than get into the emotional drama over the phone—but he would have to understand. He would then break the news to Mom. Together, they would console themselves with the fact that Tori was doing what they had wanted her to do, and that she would be safer. They wouldn’t lose another daughter.

Tori sat taller and shoved the sudden tears away.

She let the fury at this killer wash through her and leave her as a force to be reckoned with.

Dad replied to her email sooner than she would have thought, stating that he was glad she would be safe and he looked forward to hearing from her when she arrived. Phew. Relieved at his response, she read more. He said they would discuss coming out for a visit when she had time.

And that was another issue, wasn’t it? In her job