Protective Custody

by Debra Webb

  “I’ve been shot,” Leonna wailed in disbelief.

  One shot whizzed past Ian’s head, then another. He dropped to the ground and rolled to cover near the car Daniels had driven. He crouched there and listened. Where was Nicole? He couldn’t see her on the passenger side of their rental anymore. Where the hell was Ethan? He had taken care of Leonna and kept Daniels scrambling for cover, but where was he now?

  Ethan’s rifle sounded again, several shots, one right after the other. The crunch of gravel, then return fire, three shots, sounded next. Daniels again, or maybe Nicole. Definitely nine-millimeter. Ian moved around a groaning Leonna and to the front bumper of the sedan just in time to see Daniels duck for safety behind Ian’s rental.

  Ian’s blood turned ice cold. His heart seemed to still in his chest. Daniels was going after Nicole. Keeping low just in case Daniels made any unexpected moves, Ian followed the same path he had taken. Ian waited, crouched at the front bumper of the car, until he had quieted his breathing.

  Ian stole a quick look around the corner of the car. Daniels disappeared around the far end, near the trunk. Ian clenched his jaw, then eased in that direction, placing each step carefully so as not to disturb the gravel.

  Voices then, but Ian didn’t stop to listen. He kept moving cautiously in the direction Daniels had vanished.

  “Tell me where Solomon is now,” Daniels threatened.

  “Go to hell,” Nicole rasped.

  Her voice sounded strange, thin. Fear knotted in Ian’s gut. Had Nicole been hit? Ian swallowed tightly, but controlled the urge to run to her. He couldn’t risk alerting Daniels to his presence.

  “Don’t push me, Nicole, I swear I’ll kill you,” Daniels retorted, the desperation rising in his tone. “I want that money and I’m out of time.”

  “What good will the money do you, Daniels?” Nicole asked with blatant amusement, however faint. “You’re dead, you just don’t understand that yet.”

  Ian rounded the corner of the rear bumper just in time to see Daniels press the muzzle of his weapon to Nicole’s forehead. “Last chance,” he snarled. “I’m going to pull this trigger in three seconds.”

  Every muscle in Ian’s body tensed. Nicole lay against the bumper, her face extremely pale. Ian eased a step closer and put his gun to the back of Daniels’s head. “That would be a costly mistake for you.”

  Daniels stiffened. Nicole’s glassy-eyed gaze connected with Ian’s. She smiled weakly. Fear exploded in Ian’s chest. She was hit.

  Daniels’s weapon bored a little harder into Nicole’s forehead, she blinked as if the movement took tremendous effort. “Go ahead, Michaels, shoot me. She’ll die too.”

  “If that’s your final word on the matter.” Ian pressed his weapon harder into Daniels’s skull. “Then we have nothing else to discuss.”

  “Shoot him,” Nicole whispered.

  Ian’s heart thundered in his chest. She was getting weaker by the second.

  “All I want is the money,” Daniels said in an almost pleading tone.

  “We all want something,” Ian replied, his voice strangely calm. “The only question is how badly do you want the money? Are you willing to die for it? I assure you that if you don’t lower your weapon now, you are going to die.”

  Daniels’s hand shook. Everything inside Ian stilled as he waited for Daniels to concede defeat. Nicole appeared to have lost consciousness. But Ian couldn’t take his eyes off Daniels long enough to see where she was hit.

  Daniels blew out a ragged breath, then lowered his weapon. “You win, Michaels,” he muttered.

  Daniels pushed to his feet, Ian moved simultaneously. “Toss your weapon to your right.”

  “I hope she was worth it,” Daniels said flippantly, still glaring down at Nicole.

  “Toss the weapon,” Ian repeated firmly.

  Daniels abruptly spun around and his weapon leveled on Ian’s chest. Ian shot him before he could squeeze off a round. The deadly hit echoed deafeningly around them for what felt like forever.

  “We got a live one over here!” Ethan called from where Leonna had gone down. “I’ve called for help.”

  Ian knelt next to Nicole. His worst fears were realized when he found the wound leaking blood from her side. She roused a bit when he sat down beside her and pulled her onto his lap.

  “Dammit, Michaels,” Nicole fussed, her voice thready. “I know I told you that the next time you wanted to save my life you should just shoot me, but I didn’t expect you to actually take a shot at me.”

  “You did well, you didn’t move,” he murmured, trying to smile for her benefit.

  “I trust you. I knew you wouldn’t shoot me.” She frowned. “But then Daniels was about to come around behind you after Leonna went down. I couldn’t let him shoot you either.” She groaned. “It hurts like hell.”

  Ian pressed his hand harder over the wound to slow the bleeding. God, she had lost a lot of blood. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. Ian was supposed to keep her safe. This wasn’t supposed to happen. She had been trying to protect him. Nicole leaned heavily against him then, and he knew she had lost consciousness again. Ian stared down at her, then at the blood oozing between his fingers. He couldn’t lose her. He shook his head. He wouldn’t let her go. Tears stung his eyes.

  There were things he needed to say to her.

  He wouldn’t let her go.

  NICOLE WOKE gradually. Her mouth was painfully dry. Where was she? she wondered as focus slowly came to her. The room was white. Her head felt heavy, her brain like cotton. Something beeped near her head. She turned, the motion more a gradual falling to one side to look. Agony speared through her. Nicole groaned at the fierce stab of pain that seemed to come from all over her body at once. A collage of monitors and an IV bag hung near the bed. Two long clear tubes from two separate IV bags extended down to the bed and were taped to her arm.

  She had been shot.

  Nicole moaned with sensory overload as the images came flooding back to her. Was it over? Was Daniels dead? Leonna? She frowned. Nicole didn’t want to think about Leonna and Director Landon. She had respected him, worked under his strong leadership for years, and never once suspected that he could be bought at any price. Nicole tightened her jaw, and blinked back the tears. She hoped like hell Daniels was dead. He deserved to die.

  But all that really mattered to her was that Ian was safe.

  Ian.

  Nicole cautiously moved her head to her left. He sat in a chair beside her bed, asleep. Nicole moistened her dry lips and smiled at how wonderful he looked. His jaw was covered in dark stubble, his suit was rumpled. But he looked like heaven on earth to Nicole. Had he been with her all this time? She frowned. She had no idea how long she had been in the hospital. She didn’t even know what day it was. But Ian was here, and that made it all right.

  “You’re awake,” that softly accented voice whispered.

  Nicole’s gaze connected with his as he stood and moved to her side. “How long have I been here?” she asked hoarsely. Her throat felt raw with thirst. “Could I have a drink, please?”

  Ian quickly poured water into a small plastic cup and inserted a straw. He held it to her lips and Nicole drank long and deep.

  “Not too much,” he warned, then set the drink aside. “We came together in the ambulance yesterday just before noon. They took you to surgery immediately. You’ve been awake a few times since they moved you from recovery to this room but you may not remember.”

  “What time is it now?”

  “Four-thirty in the morning.”

  “Have you been here all night?” Exhaustion was tugging at her ability to hold her eyes open. The bullet had hit her in the left side. She remembered lots of blood, savage pain.

  “I’m fine,” he told her in a tone that said he had no intention of leaving.

  “Did they take anything out I might miss?” Nicole asked, her voice a bit wobbly. She went for a smile, but her lips wouldn’t cooperate. Pain meds, she realized belatedly. She was fi
ghting to stay awake, and they were working to drag her back into healing sleep.

  Ian took her fingers in his and stroked her hand with his thumb. He kept his gaze carefully focused there when he answered. “The bullet snagged your intestines and grazed a kidney,” he said quietly. His unreadable gaze moved back to hers then. “They repaired all that.” He swallowed hard, the muscles along the tanned column of his throat struggled with the effort. “You’ll be fine.”

  “Then why do you look so worried?” she whispered huskily.

  He looked away then. “I swore I’d keep you safe. I failed,” he murmured. “And I almost lost you.”

  Nicole’s heart squeezed in her chest. “It wasn’t your fault. I was trying to distract Daniels.” Her eyelids felt so heavy she could barely hold them open. “Is he dead?”

  “Yes,” Ian answered quietly. “And this time he won’t be resurrecting himself.”

  “Good,” she said on a sigh.

  “You should rest now, Nicole.” She felt Ian’s lips brush her forehead.

  “You’ll be here when I wake up?” she heard herself ask as if from someplace very far away.

  “Yes.”

  The deep, rich sound of his voice followed her into unconsciousness.

  WHEN NICOLE woke up again it was almost noon. Warm sunlight filtered in from the window on the far side of the room. The television flashed images across the screen, but the sound was muted. The clock on the wall showed two minutes before twelve. Nicole turned her head toward the chair Ian had occupied earlier. It was empty. Alarm fluttered through her.

  Why had he left her?

  Snatches of memories flitted across her still-groggy mind. Ian holding her hand, caressing her cheek, pressing a soothing, damp cloth to her face, murmuring soft words. He had been here all night and most of the day. Maybe he had taken a break to have lunch.

  Nicole abruptly remembered his warning before the showdown with Daniels. When this is over, we need to talk. What did he mean by that? He probably wanted to say goodbye. Nicole closed her eyes and willed the tears to retreat. She didn’t want to cry. She just wanted to go back to sleep and pretend it all away.

  She had not told him that she loved him.

  She had not thanked him for helping her bring down Daniels.

  She had made a mistake.

  And it was probably too late now to make it right.

  Nicole loved Ian with all her heart, but there was no way that he would ever love her. He felt something for her, that was clear. But it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t the kind of love she felt for him. She had known from the beginning this day would come.

  Nicole forced herself to relax. Sleep was what she needed right now.

  She didn’t need Ian.

  She just wanted him more than she wanted anything else in the world, but she had to let him go. She was no good for him.

  Later, when Nicole woke again, a huge bouquet of lush red roses stood on the table across the room. There had to be two dozen or more. It was the most beautiful floral arrangement she had ever seen.

  A small white business card lay on the table beside her bed. She reached for it and grunted with the pain her movement generated. She read the name there. It was an agent from the local bureau office. Nicole’s gaze moved back to the flowers. Could the flowers be from the bureau? Disappointment shuddered through her. She wanted them to be from Ian. They were too beautiful to be from her office.

  The door suddenly swung inward and two nurses entered carrying two more large floral arrangements, but nothing as lovely as the roses. One from Nicole’s office, and the other from Victoria Colby, one of the nurses explained.

  “May I see the card from the bouquet of roses?” she asked before the two could get out of her room. The nurse closest to the table dug around in the flowers for several moments.

  “There’s no card with this one,” she announced, frowning. “Anything else you need, Miss Reed?”

  “No.” Nicole felt downhearted. “Thank you,” she managed. Where was Ian? Why had he left without even saying goodbye? She hurt like hell, and she was miserable.

  The next time Nicole woke up, a nurse was there telling her she needed to try and eat something that looked terribly unappealing. Disgusted, sore and downright depressed, Nicole just looked at the tray before her. “Yuck,” she muttered, when the nurse had scurried away.

  “If you expect to get well, you have to eat, Nicole.” Ian was sitting in the chair by her bed, watching her. He had showered and changed. The stubble no longer darkened his jaw.

  Nicole couldn’t prevent the relieved smiled that spread across her face. “Where did you go?”

  “I had some loose ends to tie up,” he said cryptically. “Leonna Landon is in a room down the hall under close watch. She’s stable, and in a hell of a lot of trouble. The local police wanted a statement and I had to deal with your friends from the bureau. I didn’t want them to disturb you.”

  “There’s a card here from an Agent Turner,” Nicole mentioned, and gestured to the table.

  “A persistent fellow,” Ian said crossly.

  “Thank you.” Nicole wasn’t sure whether she was thanking him for taking care of the authorities, or for coming back. Both maybe. Nicole closed her eyes and silently thanked God Ian had returned. For whatever reason. She didn’t want to be separated from him ever again. Her eyes popped open. But he would be leaving. Next time for Chicago. And then, he wouldn’t be coming back. A stab of pain that had nothing to do with her injury or the resulting surgery pierced her heart.

  “Would you like me to help you? You should eat something.” Ian was standing next to her bed now.

  “The roses are beautiful,” she commented, her gaze shifting to the huge bouquet. She didn’t want Ian to see the emotion shining in her eyes. He had to go. She had to let him. “I wish I knew who sent them.”

  “I sent them,” he said quietly.

  Nicole’s heart leapt, she smiled up at him. “Thank you, Ian, they’re beautiful.”

  Ian looked away from her as if she had slapped him rather than thanked him. Long minutes of silence passed with him just standing there looking away, and Nicole thought she would scream if he didn’t say something…anything.

  Suddenly, he took her left hand in his. “We have to talk,” he said finally, his gaze settling on hers.

  This was it. Nicole felt her heart quiver in her chest. He was going to tell her he had to leave. That he wouldn’t be back. That she should never come to him again for help or anything else.

  And how could she blame him?

  Every time Nicole showed up in Ian’s life bad things happened. First he lost his career as a U.S. Marshal, then he risked his life to save hers. She must have been out of her mind to think he could feel about her the way she felt about him. This was for the best.

  “All right, we’ll talk,” Nicole said in as firm a voice as she could manage. Might as well get it over with. Maybe she should just let him off the hook, make it easier on both of them. “I suppose you want to go first,” she suggested, hoping he would do the gentlemanly thing and let her go first.

  Ian smiled, or at least hinted at one. “Yes.”

  Nicole stared at the far wall then. She blew out a big breath. So much for ladies first. “Look, Ian,” she blurted impatiently, “you don’t have to say anything. I know it’s over. I don’t want you to apologize for anything that happened. Just because we were…together doesn’t mean I expect some sort of commitment from you. I wanted what happened as much as you did.” Nicole pulled her hand from his and fiddled with the sheet to distract herself. “Maybe more.”

  “Do you mind if I have my say before you push me out the door?”

  “Goodbyes are hard enough without dragging them out,” she argued, still not looking at him. “I never had any expectations about the future and us.” Nicole swallowed the bitter taste that went with that lie. “We had a job to do, nothing else. So why don’t you just say the words and let it go at that?”

  �
�You think I want to leave?”

  Nicole looked at him then. It was impossible to know exactly what he was thinking. “I can’t blame you, you know,” she murmured. “I betrayed you three years ago.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. When she opened them again he was still watching her, waiting for her to continue. “And I’ve put you through hell this time. I can’t think of a single reason you would want to stay.” Her voice shook with the emotion clogging her throat. The pain of her injury was nothing compared with this. Her heart would never heal from the hurt of losing Ian.

  “I can think of at least one,” Ian countered in that soft, seductive tone that widened the crack in Nicole’s heart.

  “Sex doesn’t count, Ian,” she chided.

  “Does being in love with you count?”

  Nicole’s gaze shot to his, she searched his face. Could he possibly mean that? “That would definitely count.”

  “There you have it then, the single reason,” Ian concluded.

  She had to hear him say the words…to her. “You’re saying that…?” Nicole waited for him to finish the sentence.

  “I’m in love with you and I can’t imagine living the rest of my life without you.” He took her hand in his once more. “There, I’ve said it.”

  Nicole couldn’t speak for one long moment. She could only stare into those silvery eyes and rejoice in the knowledge that Ian loved her.

  “Did you have anything you wanted to say to me?” he asked, a barely masked uncertainty in his voice.

  Nicole swiped at a tear that slipped from the corner of her eye, threatening her flimsy hold on composure. “But we never see eye-to-eye on anything. You hate my ambition. Your cool-in-the-face-of-disaster drives me crazy. It will never work. So if you’re just saying this to make me feel better because I was shot, then—”