Free Identity Crisis (Rocky Mountain Novella Series) by Rory Chambers

again, but she held the tears back.  She knew Steel was only being harsh with her because he cared.  “I know.  I wasn’t thinking.  I’m sorry,” she apologized before promising that it would never happen again. 
         Once they were on the plane, Kristen asked Steel what the plan was for when she would meet up with Jason to give him the ransom money.  “Oh no!  You’re not going anywhere near that cabin,” Steel insisted. 
         “I have to go, or he could kill Julie,” Kristen fought back.  “She’s in this because of me.  I’m not going to see anything else bad happen to her!”
         Steel could tell from the fire in Kristen’s eyes that he didn’t stand a chance of changing her mind.  His only option was to provide her with as much protection as possible, so they started out planning how he and Kawoski could be at the rendezvous without Jason noticing.  By the time the plane touched down in Denver, they had everything figured out. 
         The rest of the day was spent at police headquarters relaying the plan to Kawoski.  “Shouldn’t we call the bank to make sure they will have enough cash on hand tomorrow?” Kristen asked when they got to the part about the ransom. 
         “We don’t need the whole half million,” Steel answered, “just enough to make it look legitimate.” 
         Again, Kristen put up an argument.  “I have the money.  I don’t want to risk Jason looking at the money and realizing it’s not all there.”  Kawoski and Steel tried to explain that by the time Jason could look closely at the money, they would already have him surrounded.  Kristen wouldn’t budge, though.  In the end, Steel agreed to let Kristen bring the entire five hundred thousand. 
         That night, neither Kristen nor Steel could sleep.  Not well, at least.  While Steel tossed and turned, Kristen found herself reliving that night a year earlier when Jason tried to kill her.  Every detail of the dream was so vivid.  For months after it all happened, she had that same dream every night.  It took many, many therapy sessions to finally get to a place where she could sleep peacefully through the night.  When Kristen woke up in a sweat, she wondered how long and how much therapy it would take to stop the nightmares a second time. 
         “It’s going to be okay.  I promise,” Steel told Kristen as he cuddled up behind her and kissed her neck.  She felt safe in his arms and made him promise to keep holding her as she tried to go back to sleep.  They were both going to need all the rest they could get. 

Chapter 16
     
         Kristen sat nervously in the car outside the cabin where she and Jason, who she knew as Adam, shared their third date.  She had gotten the entire half a million dollars from the bank and had it stuffed into a duffel that sat beside her.  She felt a little safer knowing that Steel was in the trunk and that there were officers hidden all around the cabin.  They had canvassed the area the night before as to go unnoticed by Jason. 
         “Are you alright?” Steel asked through the radio earpiece Kristen had in her ear.  He had to do a lot of arguing to get Kawoski to go along with having him involved in the sting.  It wasn’t that his ex-boss didn’t trust him.  There was no one he trusted more.  But, Steel was no longer a member of the police force.  If anything went wrong, it could cost Kawoski his job.  But, his job wasn’t as important to him as Julie was.  And Kawoski knew that Steel would never allow Kristen to go through with the plan without him being close by. 
         “I’m fine,” Kristen lied.  In reality, she was anything but fine.  She was terrified about all of the things that could go wrong.  For all she knew, that could have been the last words she would ever say to Steel.  Knowing that, she added, “I love you.”
         She looked at her watch.  It was one fifty-five.  Jason