Page 9 of Special Agent Murphy

Chapter Six

The sudden silence destroyed her few remaining frayed nerves. Kayti swallowed and turned to Murphy.

Rather than act the pathetic loser she felt like, Kayti shared the information she had. “That girl is the daughter of a U.S. Senator. I heard them talking in the restroom. Her name is Misti which sounds more like a nickname. Doesn’t the Virginia Senator, Steven Bond, have a young daughter about her age named Meredith?”

“Hell, I don’t know what his daughter’s name is, but he’s one of the good guys.” Murphy put the APB out on the vehicle. Knowing they were late doing so, Kayti figured they should have requested backup just after they’d left the restaurant.

Accepting the truth, that if he’d been driving, they would have caught up to the beater they were following, didn’t matter now. It was too late to cry over the should-haves and what-ifs.

She listened as he described the older dark blue Ford Focus with a dented back fender. Without any license number – they’d obviously messed with plates knowing they’d be kidnapping the girl – he didn’t have much for them to go on.

Of course, calling in a kidnapping of a Senator’s daughter would get his request immediate attention.

Sick inside, she didn’t know what to say. Then she saw him take an empty Frappuccino bottle from the cup holder. She’d brought the drink with her on the stakeout to help her stay awake, which instead turned her into a magpie – strong caffeine sometimes did.

Leaving the car, she followed him. When he placed the bottle further back on the road and broke it into smithereens with a large rock, she watched, thinking he’s losing it.

Then, when he took the same rock and drove a huge piece of the glass into her driver’s side tire, pounding it deep to make more damage, she breathed easier, glad it wasn’t sticking out of her throat.

“Okay. I know you’re angry, but that’s government property you’re destroying. Maybe you should tell me why?”

Murphy threw the rock away and swung toward her, his thumbs in his front pockets as if he needed to keep them there rather than doing something else with his hands.

She covered her throat reflexively and forced herself not to step back from his intimidation, or from his brown eyes spitting fire.

Even in the moment of extreme tension, she couldn’t stop from noticing his charisma. He’d catch any woman’s eye without trying.

Earlier, when he’d picked her up at the start of the shift without exiting the vehicle, just waited behind the wheel and introduced himself curtly before they drove off.

Therefore, standing next to him now, he appeared shorter than one would think from his deep voice and strong personality. Maybe six feet, but his no-nonsense attitude, and his don’t mess with me vibe was intimidating. One got the feeling the only way to stop Murphy would be to put him out of commission otherwise he’d keep coming.

Instincts had her wanting to shrink into a small ball and become a yes-sir girl. Instead, she forced herself to stand her ground. “You spiked the tire.”

“Yeah. An old trick I learned in high school. Neither one of us needs to lie. The glass will tell the story of why the car’s in the ditch. And why we’re not arresting that scum right now like we should be doing.”

Kayti leaned over to see the tire and sure enough, the air had leaked out and it looked flattened. “Thanks.”

“Yeah. Just a question. How in God’s name did you pass the driver’s training course at the academy?”

Kayti cleared the fear out of her throat. Before she could start lying, he interrupted.

“Never mind. Just know one thing. If we’re ever partnered again, I drive.”

“Deal.”Please, God, I hope that’ll never happen.

She saw the police unit drive up and decided it would be the last time they worked together. She had pull. And she’d use it.

Right now, her only goal was finding Misti and getting her home to her parents.

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