Before either man could protest, Marco stood with his hands in the air. He managed his usual charming smile and cocked his head.
“Is that you, Slade?” Marco asked almost cheerfully while moving in such a way that it would force Slade to reposition himself, possibly giving the guys a viable target.
“It’s nothing personal, Marco,” Slade replied while smirking, keeping his weapon trained on the man. “A bounty is a bounty.”
“Can I convince you to take me in alive?” Marco asked while maintaining his smile, although it was obviously painful for him. “For old times’ sake?”
“I’d love to oblige you, Marco,” Slade announced. “But I’ll never make it out of here with you alive.”
Slade moved just enough to get Marco’s head in his sights. Ross carefully aimed his weapon, needing just a sliver more to take the shot. The PA system suddenly crackled loudly, catching everyone’s attention.
“This is Vincent Scartelli,” the familiar voice announced over the loudspeakers, obviously coming from a cell phone voicemail. “Authorization code Alpha Bravo Foxtrot. The bounty on Marco is canceled. There will be no bounty paid on the head of Marco. That is all.”
Slade had his finger tight on the trigger while holding Marco in his sights. He hesitated then removed his cell phone from his pocket. Slade pressed a button and saw the text message on his phone. There was a link to the voice message. Slade relaxed his finger on the trigger.
“Everyone relax,” Slade announced, then slowly straightened from behind the desk. He replaced his weapon to his shoulder holster and held up his cell phone. “The bounty has been lifted. There’s no need for further bloodshed.”
Beck eyed Ross and raised an arrogant brow. “Can I shoot him?”
Ross shook his head. “No, I don’t think you should,” he replied. “He’ll take it personally and shoot back.”
Slade adjusted his jacket and offered a tiny smile at Marco. “Sorry for almost killing you,” he announced. “Maybe next time.” He then turned and headed for the doorway.
§
As the firing within the corridor ceased, Jackie and Zack listened to the near silence a moment, then exchanged curious looks. The remaining armed men simply turned and walked away without further conflict. It was as puzzling as it was creepy.
“What just happened?” Jackie asked, remaining rigid in the bedroom doorframe. It was difficult to trust what she was witnessing.
Zack shrugged and sighed while seeming to relax. “No bounty. They no longer have any reason to kill Marco,” he announced, then considered his own words. “Or us or even each other, for that matter.”
“Just like that?” Jackie asked.
“Just like that,” Zack replied.
Jackie groaned while lowering her semiautomatic and shook her head. “That’s messed up,” she huffed.
“Well, we could declare war on them and continue the battle, if you’d like,” Zack announced while raising a curious brow. “Although it might be fun, it’d probably be counterproductive and maybe get us killed.”
Jackie firmly patted Zack’s shoulder and smirked. “Yeah, but then that would ruin our plans for going down together in a fiery blaze of glory.”
As she walked past him, Zack grinned and replaced his pistol to his holster. “I love it when you talk dirty.”
§
Nevada stood with Quinn and Monroe outside the main entrance to the clinic building. She folded her arms across her chest and watched several men with their rifles slung heading from the building as if nothing had ever happened. Nevada and Quinn shared the same expressions as the other men.
“So that’s all, huh?” Monroe remarked and motioned at the defeated men leaving in an orderly fashion. “They just take their toys and go home?”
“Pretty much,” Quinn replied.
“There goes that bounty,” Nevada scoffed in disgust. “I wasted all that money on airfare out here for nothing.”
Quinn shrugged, then eyed her and grinned. “You and I could slip off to some fancy hotel for a wild weekend of fun,” he announced.
Monroe stared with surprise at Quinn, possibly wondering why he himself hadn’t thought to make that suggestion first.
Nevada sneered at Quinn and gave him a disgusted once-over. “There’s a good chance you’re still going to be shot,” she snarled in response.
Monroe secretly hid his smile, having been saved the wrath Quinn was now facing.
Quinn frowned and shook his head. “You’re probably the least fun lady bounty hunter out there,” he remarked. “Which kind of sucks considering you’re the best-looking one.”
Chapter 52
Jackie’s helicopter prepared for touchdown at a private airfield not far from the animal sanctuary. She set the craft down near Gil’s helicopter, which had arrived several minutes earlier. Gil brought reinforcements to the remote, private airfield just in case they needed ground support before Marco’s arrival. Giovanni stood just outside his sedan with his two large enforcers on either side of him. All three looked a little worse for wear after their own coup d’état. The men watched the second helicopter touch ground and then shut down. Kirk’s jeep pulled up and grinded to a halt as the rest of the team piled out of Jackie’s helicopter. Quinn and Rowen got out of Kirk’s jeep with matching frowns on their faces. It had been a long week for everyone, and, in the end, there was no prize to be had. Kirk and the two bounty hunters joined the others by Jackie’s helicopter.
Marco hurried to his father, and the two men hugged in a joyful reunion. After a brief greeting with Giovanni, Ross and the notorious mobster spoke a moment in private. Ross eyed Giovanni’s facial scratches and bruises that resembled a man who’d been in a fight. Giovanni’s two goons looked equally banged up.
Ross offered a tiny smirk. “Is it possible we weren’t the only ones in the war zone?” he asked.
Giovanni touched his bruised face and chuckled lowly. “You should see the other guy,” he teased.
Ross snorted a laugh. “I can only imagine,” he muttered. “And I doubt I’d want to know.”
“No, probably not,” Giovanni remarked, then grinned and shrugged. “We had a little disagreement with Vincent and his Boy Scouts.”
“Oh, so can I assume you’re the reason Vincent called off the hit?”
“Me?” he remarked, then laughed and waved off Ross. “Nah, Sal and I hid behind the bar and got plastered. Your fed friend really came through for us. I’m not sure what he said to Vincent, but I’m pretty sure he wasn’t playing good cop when he said it.”
Ross stared at Giovanni and appeared somewhat surprised. “Really?” he asked and cocked his head. “Holden? He’s too much of a Boy Scout for that.”
“You go ahead and think that,” Giovanni teased while grinning. “That fella has a trigger word, and I’m pretty sure it’s ‘Jackie’.”
“Yeah, he’s pretty fond of her,” Ross teased. “Enough that he puts up with us in his life.”
Giovanni shrugged. “You can’t pick your family.”
Back by Jackie’s helicopter, Nevada shared the same, uninspiring expression as her two bounty hunter colleagues while scanning the private airport.
“Not even a cab to take me to the Colorado Springs airport,” Nevada muttered and shook her head. “This has been a real kick in the ass.”
Jackie moved away from her helicopter while refueling and approached Nevada. “I’m heading to the Colorado Springs Airport to meet my husband,” she announced. “I’ll give you a lift.”
Nevada managed a moderately humbled smile. “Thanks, I appreciate that.”
“Are you heading back to Maine?” Jackie then asked.
Nevada shrugged while insecurely folding her arms across her chest. “I have little choice, do I?” she muttered, then sighed.
“We always have choices,” Jackie informed her, then studied her a moment as if attempting to read her emotions. “You know, you can admit you like Scorpio and Kane.”
“I can�
��t stand them,” Nevada scoffed in response and immediately straightened. She then fidgeted. “I mean, Scorpio is okay. She’s got a bit of a dark side to her, but Kane is too clingy and affectionate.” She sneered. “It’s unnerving.”
Jackie stared at the hardened woman for a long moment. “Kane’s a good man,” she remarked gently, then hesitated before speaking what was on her mind. “You don’t have to deny your feelings for him.”
Nevada suddenly stiffened, looking angry and ready to strike. “I don’t have feelings for him,” she scoffed a little too quickly.
Jackie smiled and nodded. “Why don’t I believe that?”
Nevada frowned and looked away. Rowen and Quinn approached Nevada, who quickly pulled herself together, once again turning stern and unfeeling.
“Kirk agreed to give us a ride to the nearest car rental dealer,” Rowen informed her. “You want to hang around Colorado Springs with us for a while?”
Nevada drew a deep breath then shook her head. “No, I have someplace else I need to be,” she replied.
All four watched Giovanni drive away with his son and his guards. Once again, Nevada, Quinn, and Rowen wore matching frowns.
“Life sucks,” Quinn muttered while shaking his head.
Ross approached them and eyed Jackie while grinning. “How much longer?”
“Almost finished,” she informed him.
Ross turned to Nevada, Quinn, and Rowen while maintaining his smile. “I appreciate your assistance back there,” he announced. “You didn’t have to help us, but you did. The team and I are grateful, and so was Giovanni.”
Ross handed each a check. Nevada, Quinn, and Rowen looked at the checks in their hands. The name was left blank, but the checks were written out for one hundred thousand dollars each.
“Our deal with Giovanni was to keep his son alive,” Ross informed them. “The team and I agreed to include the three of you in an eleven way split, more or less, of the one and a quarter-million dollars.”
Nevada stared at the check then looked back at Ross with surprise. “Is this for real?”
“Yes,” Ross replied somewhat cheerfully. “So I recommend you fill in your names as soon as possible.”
Nevada snatched Rowen’s pen from him before he could even use it and wrote her name in the blank spot on the check. She then returned the pen to Rowen.
“Look at that,” Jackie announced while grinning. “You have enough money that you don’t need to go back to Maine after all.”
Nevada seemed to tense and shifted. “Well, there’s this party going down in a few weeks,” she announced, then straightened proudly and smiled for the first time. “Might be a good place to make some new connections.”
Jackie smiled almost knowingly. “I hope that works out for you.”
Ross handed Jackie a check that already contained her name on it, which she immediately folded and stuffed in her back pocket. He then looked around with one last check in his hand.
“Where’s Zack?” Ross asked. “I thought he was coming with you.”
Jackie took Zack’s check from Ross and placed it with hers in her pocket. “He’s on a scavenger hunt,” she announced. “He’ll be along in a few days with the rental car we’d left behind.”
Ross suddenly groaned and shook his head. “Scavenger hunt, huh?” he remarked with disapproval. “Adding a few more weapons to his arsenal, I presume.”
Jackie shrugged, almost disinterested. “I’m sure there’ll be some of that,” she replied, then frowned. “I just hope he’s not going diving for his Honey Badger.”
“You’ll bring him back to the lodge then?” Ross asked.
“When he’s ready,” Jackie replied.
“Did you talk to Holden?” Ross asked, now curious. “Since the bounty was removed from Marco’s head, does that mean they found the killer?”
“When I talked to Holden, he said the killer struck again while Marco was in our custody,” she replied. “I guess that was good enough for Vincent to pull the bounty.”
“So the man who killed Vinnie’s grandson is still out there?” Nevada asked with some surprise.
Jackie nodded. Rowen and Quinn listened in on the conversation and suddenly perked up while straightening.
“Well, maybe we can all do this again sometime real soon,” Rowen teased while grinning. He then nudged Quinn and motioned him toward Kirk’s jeep.
Nevada indicated the small, private terminal building. “I’m going to hit the ladies’ room and grab us some drinks for the road,” she announced to Jackie. “Don’t leave without me.”
Jackie nodded, then glanced at Ross as Nevada headed for the terminal building.
Ross tensed while eyeing Jackie. “Rowen’s not wrong, you know,” he announced. “Someone out there is executing mobsters, and it’s not going to end well.”
Jackie nodded and released the sigh she’d been holding. “Yes, it’s far from over,” she replied, then offered a tiny smile. “But when that particular war breaks out, I assure you, we won’t be in the middle of it next time.”
“I can almost guarantee we won’t,” Ross teased, then affectionately hugged Jackie. He pulled away and smiled. “See you in a few weeks. Give Holden my best.”
Jackie smiled and nodded.
§
The sun had set, and all seemed peaceful at the ranger’s station in the woods not far from the animal sanctuary. Within the station building, Sam tossed another log onto the fire to ward off the evening chill. She gingerly rubbed her sore shoulder before moving to the nearby sofa where her blanket and romance novel awaited. Smokey could be heard snorting from outside in his paddock. Sam snatched the assault rifle she had recently acquired and headed for the door, a look of concern on her face. She unbolted the door and threw it open while aiming the weapon. Zack casually leaned in the doorway and eyed the weapon aimed at him. Sam stared at Zack a moment, smiled, and lowered the rifle.
“I was hoping you’d drop by and say goodbye before you left,” she announced, then raised her brows suspiciously and with a hint of concern. “You are here to say goodbye and not to turn me in, right?”
Without a word, Zack took a step toward her, grabbed her by the back of the neck, and aggressively kissed her. Once he broke off the kiss, Sam hid her flustered smile.
“Even better,” she replied and stood aside, allowing him to enter.
Zack entered the ranger’s station, shut the door behind him, and tossed his damp Honey Badger rifle onto the nearby chair. Sam remained still and cautious while watching Zack as he approached her. Without warning, he swept her off her feet and carried her into the bedroom.
The End
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Witness Protection 9: S.N.A.F.U. Page 41