Page 4 of Phoenix Rising

“What do you want me to do, Gennie?”

“You’re one of the best agents in the Bureau, Reese, and the smartest person I’ve ever known. If anyone can find her, it’s you.”

“I understand your concern, but there is no way I’ll get the okay to look into her case. She’s practically number one on the most wanted list.”

“That’s despicable. She did the right thing, and you know it. But I figured the neanderthals you worked for would say no. I was hoping you’d do it off the books. I’ll pay all the expenses.”

Reese rubbed a hand over his forehead. He’d always had trouble saying no to Gennie. He didn’t love her anymore, hadn’t for a long time, but she would always be a part of his past. They’d grown up together and spent many years with each other. Though they were no longer married, she’d always be important to him, and he wanted her to be happy.

“Please, Reese. I’m asking you to do this for me.”

He didn’t hide the groan this time. It seemed that even though they were no longer husband and wife, he still couldn’t say no—except when she begged him to give their marriage another chance. “Give me the details.”

“Oh, Reese, darling, I knew you’d help. I can’t tell you how much it means to me. Thank you.”

He ended the call thirty minutes later and had surprisingly little to go on. Paige had followed some lead to Sedona, Arizona. She’d checked into a resort, called Gennie to tell her she was hot on the trail of a major, award-winning story, and then she’d disappeared.

Though he wasn’t convinced anything was wrong, Reese had plenty of accrued vacation time and was coming off a successful mission where a notorious killer known as The Mortician had been neutralized. COBRA Securities personnel had tracked him down and took him out. Reese had played a small part, but the powers that be at the FBI were ecstatic a sadistic monster had been taken off the streets after ten long years and numerous deaths. Reese was given credit in the press conferences and releases. Though he deflected the praise, his bosses insisted it was the type of news the Bureau needed after the tumultuous months following Paige’s bombshell discovery.

Though he could’ve run her information through the FBI computers, he hadn’t been exaggerating when he’d told Gennie that Paige was a pariah at the Bureau. She’d shaken things up so badly that they still weren’t on even ground. It might mean his job if the upper echelon discovered he’d been researching her. It had been bad enough when the bust had gone down, with Paige being his wife’s best friend. Reese had distanced himself from Paige, but he’d done the same with the men and women she’d brought down. He despised liars, grifters, and criminals, and his disgraced coworkers were all three.

Some of those charlatans had accused him of having inside knowledge of the impending exposé and not informing them. He would not have allowed them to cover their tracks if he’d known about it then. However, Paige hadn’t even given him a heads-up. He’d been as in the dark as everyone else.

Getting the information he needed would be challenging without access to the federal database, but he knew how to circumvent the FBI: COBRA Securities. More specifically, Audria Giroux. Reese had met a couple of their agents on his last assignment, and they meshed well together. It seemed like a great place to work. Several former special agents were on their roster, including Ben Colton, one of the founder’s brothers.

Reese grabbed his cell and accessed his contact list. His heart rate sped up when he scrolled to Audria’s number. He wasn’t sure when his feelings for her had turned into more. He’d admired her from the time she’d joined his team. She was intelligent, her scores on skills tests were remarkable, and she’d proved to be his most trusted agent. He hadn’t realized how much he’d relied on her until she was gone. Or how much he’d missed her.

Then he’d had to go and kiss her.

What had he been thinking? She saw him as her superior, and he’d practically devoured her in Miami Beach. He should feel guilty, but all he felt was a deep longing that only Audria could fill. Though he’d just seen her, he needed to do so again.

Reese made an instant decision and then set his plan in motion. Hours later, he retrieved his cell again and punched in her number.

#

FBI Special Agent Audria Giroux stood with a distraught Wanda Bunker. Hostage negotiators worked to free the woman’s children from the motel room where their non-custodial father had kidnapped them from daycare and barricaded them inside. It had been over three hours, and the kids were still being held captive, probably scared and wanting their mother. The two authorities talking with the father were doing their best, but the man was unpredictable, unstable, and unwilling to listen. Then he’d cut off communications.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Each click reverberated inside Audria’s skull as chaos erupted around her, and horror washed over her when she realized what they meant. Cops rushed inside, followed by Wanda, who’d taken off before Audria could stop her.

“No! Brylee! Bryan! My babies!”

The noise the mother made when she discovered her ex-husband had killed her two children was something Audria would never forget as long as she lived. It was almost inhuman.It was the soul-wrenching sound of stark pain and unimaginable grief.

A cop stopped Wanda before she entered the motel room and escorted her to an ambulance. Audria dreaded viewing the crime scene, but she plodded forward. It was worse than she expected, and nausea burned her esophagus as she fought to avoid throwing up. Bryan’s light blue T-shirt with rubber ducks and Brylee’s pink Minnie Mouse T-shirt and pink tutu were all stained with their innocent blood.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

At first, Audria couldn’t make sense of what she was hearing. She rushed outside with her weapon, and when she saw Wanda Bunker murdering people in cold blood, she did the only thing she could: she pulled the trigger and ended the woman’s suffering.

Audria gasped awake. Once she realized she wasn’t back in that dusty motel parking lot, she focused on breathing to calm her racing heart. The events were as fresh in her memory as if they had just happened. She hadn’t had the nightmare for a few weeks and hoped it was gone forever. It was always the same, and each time, she woke after she killed the grieving mother.

As required by the Bureau, she’d talked to psychiatrists since her discharged weapon had resulted in death. Wanda had ended the lives of the two hostage negotiators, two police officers, and a reporter. Technically, she could be classified as a serial killer. At that one moment in time, Wanda Bunker deserved to die. She’d transformed her inconceivable sorrow into violent, murderous rage.

At least, that’s what Audria tried to tell herself. In reality, Wanda had been a distraught mother, pushed to insanity by an unspeakable act executed by a man she used to love. In a matter of seconds, she’d lost everything that mattered to her, and there was no doubt she wanted to die as well. Suicide by cop . . . by Audria.

Audria might’ve gotten over having to kill Wanda, but the sight of those two precious children huddled together, covered in their blood, was too much. Several officers broke down that day, Audria included. She knew then that she’d have to walk away from a job she loved.

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