Katie got off the bed and walked to Rainey. Rainey slowly turned to her. Katie saw the tears welling in Rainey's eyes. She reached out to Rainey.

"Talk to me, Rainey. I need to understand."

The damn broke and the tears flowed from Rainey's eyes, not in torrents, but in slow falling raindrops from her lower lids.

Rainey spoke softly, because if she tried to speak normally, she would lose more control, "He just keeps taking things from me," she paused, "and... and because of that, I can't let this happen between us."

"Why, what does he have to do with us?" Katie asked.

"I can't be distracted, it could wind up killing us both," Rainey answered her.

Katie was undeterred, "Don't let him do this to you."

"Katie, he's already done it. I can't put your life at risk. Don't you understand that?"

Katie put her hands on her hips and said, "How would I be in any more danger than I am already?"

Rainey had to tell her, "Danny and I think he's now switched targets, to me solely. I have to distance myself from you and JW, to keep you safe."

"What about you? Where are you going?" Katie looked frightened.

"I'm going back to the cottage."

"When?" Katie asked.

"Tomorrow afternoon."

"You're going to leave me alone? I thought we were in this together," Katie said, her hands back on her hips.

"Katie, I'm not leaving you alone. The agents will still be here with you. They're going to stay with you until this is over."

"Rainey Bell, you are not going out to that house alone," Katie was adamant.

"I won't be alone, either. I'll be protected," Rainey tried to explain.

"You are setting yourself up as bait." Katie was aghast and then incensed, "That is insane. Haven't you given enough to the investigation?"

Rainey felt herself flush with anger, it was not aimed at Katie, but at him, "I will give every last breath of my being to send this son of a bitch straight to hell, if that's what it takes."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Katie said.

The color from Katie's face drained. She took several shaky steps back and dropped into the armchair. The implications of what Rainey had just said were written in Katie's expression. Rainey felt her chest tighten. She had hurt Katie without meaning to, unable to see past her own rage, at the affect her actions had on the emotions of others. Rainey moved to Katie and knelt down on the floor, in front of the chair. She looked into Katie's face and listened, as her mind raced with thoughts, so many, she couldn't stop one long enough to reflect on it.

Rainey did not think about what she said next, she just let the words stream from her mouth, in a steady calm voice, "Katie, I'm not going to risk my life unnecessarily. I truly believe that the best chance we have of ending this safely, for all of us, is to separate myself from you, to draw his focus and allow Danny and the other agents to catch him. I'm not going out alone to hunt him."

Katie started to speak, but Rainey raised her hand to stop her.

Rainey leaned in closer to Katie. She continued, "My mind is telling me, that what is happening, between the two of us, is merely the product of two very wounded women, who find themselves in a life and death struggle. Our subconscious recognition, in each other, of the depth of want and longing, is driving us together."

Once again, Katie started to speak, but this time quieted on her own. She listened intently to Rainey's soft voice.

"On the other hand, my heart is saying, fall, fall hard into her arms and don't look back. Find out if it's just the circumstances we find ourselves in. It's so overwhelming and confusing, and wonderful..."

Katie interrupted, "I hear a 'but' coming."

Rainey nodded, "But, when I'm thinking about you, I lose focus. I can't be objective. I can't keep us safe, if I'm distracted by your very presence in the room."

Katie smiled at Rainey. "May I say something?"

Rainey nodded her head yes.

"Rainey, I have never done anything like what just happened, in my entire life. I am as confused as you are. I have no explanation for the attraction between us and I'll admit it has been a distraction, because I haven't been able to get you out of my mind."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you," Rainey said.

Katie had been thinking while Rainey was talking and had evidently formulated a debate in her mind. "What makes you think that separating us will keep you from thinking about me? What if you're more distracted worrying about where I am and who's watching me? I know that's what I'll be doing, worrying about you."

Rainey had not thought about that. She pondered for a moment and then added another element to her side of the argument. As it turned out, it was a very poor choice.

Rainey stood up and looked down at Katie. "That maybe true, but besides the inappropriateness of having a personal relationship with someone you are supposed to be guarding, there is the small matter of your being married to the man, who hired me to protect you."

"He hired you to protect his career," Katie spat.

"He loves you, Katie. He was genuinely worried about you," Rainey argued.

Katie got up and stomped toward the bathroom door. Rainey followed her.

Katie said, over her shoulder, "Oh, please. Don't tell me you've fallen for his act, too?"

"I've known JW longer than you. I think I know when he's playing one of his characters," Rainey said, defensively.

Katie turned at the door to the bathroom, her expression fierce, "You have no idea who he really is." She slammed the bathroom door in Rainey's face.

Wow, Rainey thought. Katie had gone from zero to pissed, in no time, when JW's name was mentioned. Whatever he had done, Katie was not about to forgive him. Rainey had made the mistake of defending him, one she would not make again. She listened outside the door for a few minutes. No sounds other than Katie mumbling under her breath could be heard. Rainey decided Katie was not coming out, so she went to the armchair and sat down heavily. The range of emotions she had experienced since coming into this room was exhausting.

Rainey had felt the soaring thrill of Katie in her arms, only to crash against the thought of being the cause of Katie losing her life to a sadistic killer, because Rainey was not paying attention. How could she make Katie understand the responsibility she felt for having left him free to wander amongst them, the guilt that loomed over her for being distracted the first time she had a chance to catch him? It was more powerful than the physical and emotional damage he had done to Rainey.

No matter how Katie felt, Rainey also felt guilty about what she was doing with JW's wife. Having an affair with a married man or woman was just not something with which Rainey felt comfortable. Rainey was not a cheater. She did not like people who were. The thought that Katie might be just using her, to get back at JW, crossed her mind. It loomed there and then took on a life of its own. Before long Rainey had convinced herself to get up and leave, untangle her life from this dysfunctional chaos.

Katie remained behind the closed bathroom door. Rainey went to the bed, retrieving her Glock and over shirt, which she put on quickly and let herself quietly out of the room. She crossed the hall to the guest room, where she grabbed her overnight bag and took it with her down the stairs. She located her laptop and charger, in the den, and then called Mackie from her cell.

He answered quickly, "What'cha need?"

"Where are you?" she asked.

His bass voice growled out, "Down the block."

Rainey said, "Were going home."

"When?" rumbled through her receiver.

With no hesitation, Rainey said, "Now."

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

Rainey talked with the agents still at Katie's house. She explained that she was leaving and their only priority was the safety of Mrs. Wilson.

"If anything happens to her, I will personally see to it that you won't even be able to get a job as a security guard in an empty parking lot, got it?," she said to the wide-eyed agents.

Rainey left through the French doors. She slid into the Charger and was down the driveway and out on the street in seconds, with Mackie falling in tightly behind her. Rainey could see Junior in the passenger seat of the Escalade. Rainey glanced back at the house once more and saw Katie standing, unmoving, on the front landing, bookended by two agents. Rainey slowed down. She almost stopped. Her heart ached and tightened her chest. Rainey thought for a second she was making a mistake, but then she pushed her foot down on the accelerator and sped away.

Rainey called Danny from the car. His Irish temper exploded over the phone, one explicative after another. She could not explain to him why she had to leave the Wilson's house. She promised to keep Mackie and Junior with her and to stay inside the cottage with the alarm on no matter what happened. Danny said he would send Roger and his team to her cottage, as soon as they had gotten some rest. He reluctantly calmed down and agreed it would be good to have her at the cottage, while the surveillance was being set up.

Rainey had a little surveillance equipment of her own, strategically placed around the office and her cottage. In the large, wood paneled main room of the cottage, on the long wall, her father had built a bookcase that housed some of his memorabilia and books. There was a space in the middle for the old television Rainey had replaced with a new flat screen. From her remote, she could pull up eight, day and night vision, camera images, at the click of a button. Those images showed the front and back decks with views of the exterior doors of Rainey's cottage, two wide angle views of the yard around the cottage, both outer doors of the office, the docks and the area under the cottage. She could call them up individually or stack them across the screen. The cameras were equipped with motion detectors and alerted her with a message on the TV screen, if she was watching some other program. The Bureau guys would probably hack her feed from the cameras and add a few more.

A special weapons and tactics team would be put in place around the cottage. If anything moved those guys would be on it, before it ever knew what hit it. This dead end road was the perfect place to lay a trap. Danny would release a statement saying Rainey had refused FBI protection. Rainey would comment, through a protected source, on how she did not want anything to do with the agency that allowed her to be attacked in the first place. Danny would add that the Bureau's main concern was the safety of the future senator and his wife.

The illusion would be that law enforcement believed the Wilson's were the Y-Man's real targets and former Special Agent Bell had simply stumbled upon him. The Bureau's stance was that this type of offender would not knowingly go after an FBI agent, former or not. It had merely been a crime of impulse, the first time. They believed emphatically that the Y-Man would not make another attempt on Rainey's life. The snare laid, all they had to do was wait.

Rainey arrived at the cottage, went in and turned the TV on. She clicked a few buttons and the eight images from the cameras spread across the screen. Mackie made himself at home in the big Lazy Boy her father had bought, just for Mackie. He special ordered it extra large and presented it to the big man one Christmas. It was decided to leave it in the cottage, because the two men spent so much time there together. They used up hours talking and watching old John Wayne movies. They never watched Vietnam War movies, because they did not have to. They witnessed it up close and personal.

A routine patrol had become a nightmare ambush in seconds. Deep in the jungle, away from any hope of reinforcements, the patrol stumbled across a series of tunnels in the hills above them. Pinned down, they fought through the night, together. In the morning, they discovered they were the only two left alive, of an eighteen-man patrol. Mackie had been wounded several times and Billy could not walk, having had shrapnel rip through his flesh, splintering bones in both his legs. They patched each other up, as best they could. Only a few of the enemy had remained behind to finish them off. Mackie carried Billy Bell on his back for five miles through the jungle, all the while, Billy shooting at the Viet Cong, trailing them to the evacuation zone. After that, the two men were inseparable, recovering in the hospital and the next year going back in the dark jungle together.

Mackie now watched over Rainey for the man he had loved so much. Their friendship had been deep and unwavering. He took the responsibility for Rainey's safety seriously, the weight of it showing on his face. Junior sat on the front deck drinking the sweet tea Rainey fixed for him. Rainey was inspired by her thoughts of Katie to cook steaks, the only thing she knew how to do well. She asked Junior to go to the office and retrieve the fresh vegetables from the back room refrigerator. She would make a salad and grill some squash for her protectors, the activity keeping her from thinking so much about Katie.

Katie had been right. Rainey was distracted by her absence. She replayed that first sweet kiss over in her mind, each time experiencing a tightening, hollow feeling in her chest. Mackie remained in his seat, diligently monitoring the video feeds. Junior returned from the office with a paper bag full of fresh vegetables from Ernie's garden. He refilled his tea and retook his post. Rainey cut up the squash and made salads. When it was time to cook the steaks, Mackie would not allow her to go out on the back deck, where her gas grill was located. Instead, he insisted grilling was man's work and took the plate containing the steaks and squash from her hand.

When he left out the back door, Rainey was alone for the first time in days. She had become so accustomed to a solitary life; she usually enjoyed the peace and quiet, but not today. Freddie came in from his morning wanderings, for his midday nap. He was happy to see her home and rubbed against her legs incessantly, until she had to pick him up and love on him a little. She fed him, refreshed his water, and after a snack, he went to his favorite spot in the front window for a nap.

The quiet began to close around her and the thoughts in her head became so much louder. Left alone, with nothing more to do after setting the table, she wandered into her bedroom and sat down on the bed. She looked in the mirror at her reflection for a long time. She left Katie with no goodbye, no explanation. What could Katie be thinking? Now that Rainey was gone, Katie might have time to reflect on what happened between them earlier. Maybe she would decide she really was not attracted to Rainey, that Rainey had been right, it was the circumstance they found themselves in that caused this to happen.

A horrible thought crossed Rainey's mind. What if she never saw Katie again? What if that had been their one moment? What if she had just lost something she had not known she wanted so badly, until this morning? The ache she started to feel overwhelmed her. She needed to do something, get her mind thinking about something else. Rainey had to come to terms with her feelings for Katie or they were going to get her killed. Finally, she told herself, the best way to handle this situation, whatever the future held for them, was one step at a time. First, she had to get rid of a major obstacle between them, concentrate on catching the Y-Man.

"Here kitty, kitty," Rainey said out loud, to the unknown killer.

She changed into sweats and a tee shirt and returned to the kitchen as Mackie was coming in the back door. They called Junior in to eat, with Mackie insisting on sitting in his chair in the main room, so he could keep an eye on the monitors. Rainey found him a TV tray and he happily munched away, while Junior and Rainey sat in the kitchen. After eating, Rainey filled the dishwasher with the dinner dishes and cleaned up.

Roger and his team arrived shortly after, deploying around the residence, relieving Junior of his post on the deck. Rainey and Junior spent the afternoon cleaning all the guns in the house. Her father had a M1 carbine, two shotguns, a thirty-aught-six, a 357 Smith and Wesson revolver and a Ruger forty-five. Billy Bell was a true believer in the second amendment. Rainey retrieved her own two pistols and shotgun from the Charger, under the watchful eye of an agent. They cleaned them and added them to the other weapons strategically placed around the house. In case they needed them, she did not want them locked in the trunk of her car. There was enough firepower in the little cottage to take on a small army.

Danny called during the gun cleaning fest. "Rainey, we got the source from the newspaper guy. You were right. It leads nowhere. He used a disposable phone."

"When did he call?" Rainey asked.

"The same night you called me. The paper guy was going to contact us, after the story went public. That was generous of them," he added, sarcastically.

"The media is so helpful, don't you think?" Rainey said, joining him in his disgust. "So, let's use them. Did you plant the story?"

"Yep," Danny said, "They lapped it up. They now have the inside scoop on your disdain for the FBI and our concentrating the investigation on the Wilson's. You are merely a distraction, and we are glad to be getting you out of our way."

"Do you think he'll go for it?" Rainey asked.

"I think so. Once we pull all visible support it will work," Danny said.

"How are you making sure he knows I'm here, alone?"

"We alerted the media that we were removing our support as of three tomorrow afternoon. That will give tactical time to set up. There should be helicopters watching us leave you on your own. We'll make a big show of it. It'll play on every newscast in the area," Danny said, proud of his plan.

"Do you think I should do an interview? Tell them I don't think he'll come after me?" Rainey wanted to help more.

"I included that, in the anonymous statement, quoting you," Danny answered, with delight that he had thought of it, already.

"We should have Junior drive Mackie's Escalade away too, but I want Mackie to stay with me. You couldn't make him leave anyway," Rainey said.

"Okay, are you locked down out there?" Danny asked.

"Oh, yeah," Rainey said, checking the slide action on the shotgun she was holding, while balancing the phone on her shoulder, "locked and loaded."

"Be safe," he said and hung up.

About six o'clock that evening, a large black SUV pulled down the driveway and parked. Everyone was alert, because there had been no call to say someone was coming. Men's voices were raised outside. Rainey went to the front window to see what all the fuss was about. She was shocked to see Katie leading two agents, with boxes of what appeared to be food, toward the cottage steps. Roger and one of the younger agents were in a heated argument.

The agent was saying, "We didn't have a choice, sir. We had to bring her or she would have come on her own."

Katie paid no attention to them. She marched up the stairs, unconcerned about the commotion she was causing. Rainey disabled the alarm and unlocked the door. Katie walked through the door, passing Rainey and went straight to the kitchen. With her hands on her hips, she ordered the agents around and in no time organized a spaghetti dinner buffet. She did not speak to Rainey, just fed the troops and ignored Roger's protestations. It appeared that Katie spent the time they were apart cooking. Rainey filled her plate and ate with the rest of them, silently watching the blond woman filling plates with seconds. Mackie was as appreciative as he had been of the omelet. With every mouthful, he praised Katie's sauce and salad dressing.

Rainey made eye contact with Katie only a couple of times. They held each other's gaze for a moment, and then looked away. Rainey had no idea what to expect next. Katie had not just come there to bring food, even though Katie had said she knew Rainey would not have enough at the cottage, and wanted to make sure the agents were fed well. When the food had all been eaten and the dishes cleared away, the agents left for their posts outside. Mackie resumed his vigil at the camera monitors, leaving Katie and Rainey alone in the kitchen.

Katie finally spoke directly to Rainey, "Is there somewhere we could talk privately?"

The master bedroom was the most secluded place in the house, so Rainey led Katie into the room and shut the door. When they were alone, they stood and stared at each other until Rainey broke the silence.

"This sort of defeats the purpose of my leaving you at your house."

Katie snorted, "A little rudely, I might add."

Rainey was quick to retort, "You slammed a door in my face."

"I came here to explain that," Katie said.

"You couldn't have called?" Rainey asked.