Chapter 25

She'd never get the sound of that voice out of her head. The way he had said those six little words. The thrill of terror that had streaked through her and left her cold and petrified.

She wasn't scared for herself. It was a strange feeling, to be more scared for someone else than for yourself. To be ready to step in and give yourself up for another without that being asked of you. It was what she was ready to do. Because she understood what M had meant. He wanted to win and the game that he was playing was between him and Nick. And the prize, well that was simple. She was the prize.

"What does it take for you to win M?"

There was silence on the other end of the phone, for a moment she thought he had hung up.

"M?"

"I would like to see you, Michelle. To talk to you in person. But I really think you would try to make it into a trap of some sort. Could I trust you, Michelle? If I agreed to speak with you, would you try to trap me."

"I'm not sure I know how to answer that M. If you think about it, we are on opposite sides here. It's my job to catch you and put you away for your crimes." Forever, she thought viciously. And hopefully some big muscle bound guy named Bubba would take a fancy to you and make you his bunk buddy girlfriend.

"Hmm, I'll have to think about that. There has to be a way. I think you could understand what I am doing, Michelle, if I let you in. It would be thrilling to be able to share with you my work. You have such a wonderfully clinical mind. But I must let you go, Michelle. Your dear detective is coming towards you. I will contact you again." He giggled. "These little conversations are so enjoyable. I can't wait to speak to you face to face."

He hung up before Michelle could say anything else.

She flipped the phone closed just as Nick came up behind her. She turned and smiled at him, trying not to look guilty.

"What's wrong? You're pale." His voice was concerned, his eyes serious.

She just shook her head. "I'm fine."

"Who was on the phone?" Concern was being joined with curiosity.

"My dad, wanted to yell at me for not showing up for dinner tonight." She tried to laugh. "I told him it was your fault."

Nick looked into her eyes and knew she was lying. He wanted to shake her, to make her trust him enough to tell her what was going on.

"You guys done with the fun fact sharing?"

He'd get it from her later, at home. "Yeah, I was about to wind it up. Thought maybe an early night would be good."

"Good, then you can take me to get my car."

"Michelle, you know you're not going home unless I go with you." There was steel in his voice.

"Nick, he isn't going to try anything with me. It wouldn't be in the script of the game."

"What the hell are you talking about?" His voice rose until he abruptly shushed himself.

"Nothing," she sighed tiredly. It wasn't easy being the plaything of a mad man. "I just thought that I could go home tonight, sleep in my own bed."

"Was there something wrong with the bed you were in last night?"

Her eyes widened as she heard the anger in his voice. No anger wasn't right. He was pissed.

"No," she held up a hand, palm up, in truce. "That bed and everything in it was wonderful. It was just a thought, Nick. I'd love to go home and spend at least half the night having crazy mad monkey sex with you."

Would it be too much for her to just hold onto something good tonight? Would it be too much to wish that for just tonight, they actually had something together, something that would and could last. Just for tonight.

"Stephanie wanted to talk to you before we left. She's taking the fed back to his motel tonight." He was only slightly mollified.

Michelle had to laugh at him, he was rolling his eyes and making obscene faces. "Hey, they might make a good couple."

"Yeah, if you could get past the part where he's a fed and she rides a Harley." He ducked out of her reach.

"As if you're a walk in the park," she groused.

"Whoa, wait a minute, I'm a veritable amusement park." He let his voice get low and husky. "Hey lady, wanna ride the roller coaster?"

"No, but you might talk me into playing ring toss later," she let her voice get as sexy as his. "If you're good that is."

He looked pained as she walked away from him and over to Stephanie. She watched him throwing away fast food bags, cleaning up coffee cups.

"That was him again." Stephanie didn't have to specify.

"Yeah." She turned her back to the doorway and tried to angle herself away from the windows. "I think he's watching me. He knew when Nick got up to come and talk to me. I think he's out there right now." No matter how hard she tried, the fear still tinged her voice.

"I'm taking Roger back to his hotel tonight. We'll take a round trip, see if we can spot anything. This place is pretty close to the road, he could be about anywhere."

"I think he was at Nick's last night, Steph. He said he watched us." She had to fight to hide her revulsion. "He said he watched us in bed."

"Sick fuck." Stephanie muttered. "I think we need to get some more guys on you. He could be out there waiting right now." She paused and looked over at Nick who was talking on the phone. "Maybe you should tell him."

"I'd end up spending the night in a jail cell while he set up some kind of sting operation and maybe got himself killed." She shook her head. "I don't think he is going to try anything tonight. He's waiting for something."

"And if you're wrong?"

"I don't think I am, Steph." She looked off in the distance and then back at Stephanie's big brown eyes. "I really don't think he wants to end it this quick. I think he wants to play for a while longer."

"Okay, but call me, or I'll call you."

"Yeah, I'll call you," she smiled at Stephanie. "You... have a good night with the fed."

"Hey, wait a minute, I'm just taking the man back to his hotel." She smiled, her eyes full of mischief. "Oh, and maybe a drink in the lounge before he goes up to his room."

She grabbed her jacket, and, followed by Roger, walked out the door. Michelle hurried outside to watch the two of them roar off on the big motorcycle. Roger had his arms wrapped around Stephanie's waist, his coat tails flapping behind him.

She was still standing there when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Instincts kicked in and she grabbed for the thumb, twisting quickly to pin his hand up behind his back.

"Ouch, dammit." Nick was on his knees. "Let go!"

She did, and bent down to help him back up. "Oh, my God, Nick, I'm sorry. I didn't know that was you."

"I'm fine, Chelle. Damn." He shook his hand trying to get feeling back to his thumb. "Who taught you that move? Let me guess, your dad?"

She grinned and took his hand, checking to see that she hadn't broken anything. "Nope, my big brother, Ryan. He told me to use it if any guy got fresh." She looked up at him from under her lashes. "You should just feel lucky I didn't use it before."

"I consider myself lucky for that every day that I know you." He pulled his hand away and took her arm, guiding her to his car. "Ready to go home dear?"

"Anytime you say honey." She screwed up her face in disgust. "Can we stop with the sappiness now?"

She was quiet most of the way to his house. Too many thoughts, too many doubts, too many shudders of fear to deal with kept her from talking. She wanted to tell him. She started to about twenty times, but every time, all she thought about was standing over his dead body. Dead because she hadn't done what the killer wanted her to do. As a police officer, she knew better. As a woman in love, she couldn't stand the thought of losing him to death.

There was no way she could balance the two, not now. Not tonight.

"What's going through that beautiful head of yours?" Nick reached out and took her hand, pressing a kiss on the back. He held it to his lips, looking at her for a few seconds before returning his attention back to the road. He had been wanting to touch her all day, and now that he could, he wasn't going to waste time.

"The case," she said. It was the truth. She just couldn't tell him what part of the case.

"We got lucky tonight, and the killer made a mistake." There was a sense of glee in his voice. "When we get that composite, we can go to the press with it and put our guy on the run. It'll be nice to have him running for a change instead of us." He held her hand, rubbing the soft skin against his cheek.

"Yeah," she couldn't show the same enthusiasm. Their subject had another victim, was with her right now. They could have another dead girl before the composite was even drawn. Shit!

"Well, you don't sound too happy about that?" He glanced over at her curiously. "What's wrong?"

Now, she should tell him now. They could put a trace on her cell, something. "Nothing, I must just be tired. Somebody was hogging the covers last night." Damn it to hell. By the time they had a trace, he could be gone and that girl could be dead. And by now, she knew Nicky wouldn't go for her being bait, or trading herself for the life of the girl. She just prayed that as long as she kept the killer happy by talking to him, he wouldn't take out any aggression on his victim.

Nick wasn't convinced. She was way too quiet. She hadn't yelled at him for leaving her alone all day, stranded. She hadn't complained once about his driving. She was too calm for Michelle.

"Chelle? You aren't trying to come up with something sneaky in that devious little brain of yours are you?" As if she'd tell him if she were.

"Only thing in my devious little brain is how good that shower is going to feel, and how long it takes to use up all your hot water." She tried to laugh. "It would do you good to get a cold shower."

He definitely knew something was up. But she wasn't talking. This was going to take some sneakiness of his own. He'd have to come through the back door.

"You and Stephanie have gotten awfully chummy. You guys comparing sexual escapades?"

She pulled her hand away from his. "Do you really think I kiss and tell?" The "asshole" at the end of that question was implied.

"No," he said quickly before she decided to brain him. "I was hoping she did. Do you think she's ever bumped uglies on the back of that bike of hers?"

"Bumped uglies?"

"You know, done the nasty." He laughed at her confused expression. "Boinked?"

At her continued confused look, he gave in. "Had sex?"

"I don't think I want to know." She huffed loudly as he laughed at her and sat back into the seat, staring stonily out the window. "I can't believe you'd be interested. But then again, you are a male."

"Well, if you weren't talking about sexcapades, what were you talking about?"

"Asshole detectives who think they know everything and can't think a female law enforcement officer can do anything besides direct traffic." She refused to look at him.

"Ahhh, you said something to her about your hair brained idea of using yourself as bait." Now it clicked.

"And if I did?" She shot him a sour look. "And it's not hair brained. It makes perfect sense to use a reasonable source in a police investigation."

"Well, I hope she was smart enough to tell you that even if you wanted to use yourself as bait, how do you know he would take it, and if he did, what would happen if we couldn't nab him before he got away with you." He could feel the same impotent anger stirring in his stomach.

"She happened to think that it was an excellent idea. And I know he would take the bait, he wants to talk to..." Shit, fuck. Damn her big mouth.

Nick pulled into the driveway of his house, stopped the car and sat there, staring at her in the gloom. She wouldn't meet his eyes. "How do you know he wants to talk to you?" he asked quietly.

"Well," she was scrambling. "He called me already, he set up Dana to look like me. Why wouldn't he want to talk to me?"

"You weren't that sure this morning." Suspicion gelled into a thought. "You've spoken to him again. He called you again, didn't he?"

She thought about her answer maybe a couple of seconds too long.

"God damn it, Michelle!" He exploded, sparks shooting fire out of his eyes. "He called you and you didn't tell me. Was that him on the phone during the briefing?" He reached out and took her arms, shaking her. "Was it?"