Shattered

by Cynthia Eden

  “She’s up and she’s talking.” West’s voice was hushed. “Get your lawyer man, get him fast.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Because I’m outside your place.” Again, his words were low, as if he didn’t want others to overhear him. “Molly named you. She said you took her.”

  What the hell?

  “I have to bring you in,” Brent said. “Procedure, shit—the captain is chomping at the bit on this one, so I have to bring you in,” he told him again.

  Jax strode to his window. He saw Brent’s car outside, but Brent wasn’t alone. A cruiser was pulling up, and was that—yes, the man standing under the street light looked like Gabe Spencer.

  “Call the lawyer, then come out.” Brent hung up.

  Jax stared down at the phone. He quickly deleted that call from his phone list, not wanting to have that record in case anyone searched his phone.

  “Jax? What is it?”

  Sarah rose from the bed. She wrapped the sheet around her and it trailed over the hardwood floor as she came toward him. “Is Molly awake?”

  “Yes.” He kept his gaze on the swirl of blue lights.

  Sarah gasped and he knew she’d seen the lights, too.

  “I didn’t do it, Sarah.”

  “Jax?”

  “I didn’t have anything to do with her disappearance.” Now he turned toward her. “I wouldn’t try to hurt you.”

  “I know that.”

  He nodded. “Good. Remember that, would you?” He grabbed for his clothes. And dressed as quickly as he could because he’d be damned if the cops hauled him out of his house half naked.

  Sarah grabbed his arm. “What’s happening?”

  “Molly’s awake, and, according to a tip I just got, she’s saying that I’m the man who took her.”

  Her hand jerked away from him, as if she’d been burned. “That’s not possible.”

  He pointed to the window and the swirl of blue lights. “They’re here to take me in.” He dialed his lawyer. The guy was on retainer, so it was no big surprise that—even in the middle of the night—Ty answered on the second ring. “Meet me at the station,” Jax ordered him.

  Ty swore. “What is it now?”

  “If I had to guess, then I’d say the charges will be kidnapping and attempted murder.” Those would just be the start.

  “Holy shit . . .”

  Exactly.

  He heard rustling and turned to see Sarah yanking on her clothes. She was moving so fast.

  And someone was pushing on the call button near his main gate. The buzzing sound echoed through the house.

  “Hurry to that station,” Jax told his lawyer. He shoved the phone in his pocket. Then he crossed the room to stand in front of Sarah. “I didn’t do this.”

  “I know.” Her chin lifted. “I know you didn’t.”

  Good. Because plenty of people had doubted him over the years and if Sarah had, too . . .

  He kissed her. Not wild and hard. Soft. Gentle.

  She tasted so damn sweet.

  But he had to pull away from her. Had to walk down those stairs and to the door. He was aware of Sarah following silently behind him. He didn’t look back at her. Right then, he couldn’t. Jax sucked in a deep breath before he turned off his alarm. He had to get his game face on. The face he wore with everyone but Sarah.

  Then he reached for the door. He walked across the courtyard and straight toward his gate. He deactivated the security there, too. When he yanked the gate open, Jax was smiling. He looked at Detective West. At that dick Cross who was rushing to join the little party. At the uniformed cops.

  “Well, well, little late for a chat, isn’t it?” Jax asked.

  Brent stepped forward. “You need to come with us.”

  “Am I under arrest?” Because he needed to be clear on that.

  Brent gave a short, negative shake of his head. But it was Cross who spoke. “You’re wanted for questioning, Fontaine.” And he had his cuffs at the ready.

  Jax felt his smile turn into a snarl. If that guy actually thought he’d cuff him . . . right on Jax’s own property . . .

  “He didn’t do it,” Sarah said from behind him. “Jax had nothing to do with Molly Guthrie’s abduction.”

  “And how would you know about that?” Cross demanded. “Did he tell you that we were coming to arrest him—”

  “I have my own intel. I know exactly what’s going on.”

  Her voice was so cool and in control. It was hard to believe that she was the woman who’d been so vulnerable in his arms just moments before.

  “Jax has been with me . . . he was with me. The night that Molly vanished, he and I were in bed together.”

  Gabe had approached, and Jax knew the guy had been close enough to overhear her confession.

  “He didn’t take Molly. You’ve got the wrong man.”

  Brent looked from Jax to Sarah. “We have to follow procedure,” he said.

  Of course, procedure was always so big with the cops.

  “You’d better call a lawyer,” Cross growled.

  Jax smiled. “He’ll show up.” But before he left with them, Jax glanced back at Sarah. “Don’t worry. I’ll be seeing you again soon.”

  “You didn’t do it!”

  She was so convinced of his innocence. That was touching. But surely even Sarah realized that if he’d wanted to take someone—even when Sarah was curled up in bed with him—all he had to do was make a phone call.

  He knew the cops realized that fact, and, based on the assessing stare in Gabe’s eyes, that guy knew it, too.

  He wondered . . . had the cops found out that he’d owned that building that had exploded, the little place a few minutes from Bourbon Street? He knew the fire marshal was still supposed to be studying those charred remains. Maybe the cops had finally untangled the paper trail for that building and tied it back to Jax.

  “I’ll prove your innocence, Jax,” she said. “They won’t pin this on you.”

  He nodded. No, they wouldn’t, but it was nice to know that she was ready to protect him. “See you soon, Sarah.” Then his gaze cut back to Gabe. He stalked toward the other man, moving right by the cops. “He’s out there,” he told Gabe. “Waiting. Watch your team.” Watch Sarah. Jax had already given orders that his men were to keep a watch on her. But he wanted to be there, making absolutely certain she was all right. As soon as he ditched the cops . . .

  I’ll come back for you, Sarah.

  HE WATCHED FROM across the street as Jax Fontaine was led away by the cops.

  Step one . . . divide.

  Step two . . . fucking conquer.

  He smiled as Sarah stared after the disappearing car lights. Poor Sarah. She looked so upset. Having her lover ripped from her in the middle of the night must have been painful.

  It would be nothing compared to the hell that he had coming her way.

  Sarah and the other guy, Gabe, they got in his vehicle. Cranked it up. He waited a little bit and then he slid into his car and followed them. In the darkness, they didn’t even see him. So much for being the savvy LOST agents.

  How would they react when one of their own vanished and was never seen again?

  “THIS IS BULLSHIT,” Sarah said flatly. “Jax didn’t do this. He was with me. He was—”

  “The guy has a mini army at his beck and call. If he wanted one of his men to take that woman, all he had to do was snap his fingers.”

  No, Gabe hadn’t just said that to her. She twisted in her seat so that she could better glare at him. “He wouldn’t do that.” Jax had rules. He had—

  “You don’t know him, Sarah. I get that you’re having sex with him, and that’s your business, but this guy . . . have you seen his juvie rap sheet? I mean, come on, he wasn’t exactly playing light and easy back in those days.”

  She wasn’t at all surprised he’d gotten access to files that should have been sealed. “If you were a teenager cast out on the street, I’m sure you’d break the law in order to survive,
too.” But Gabe hadn’t been like Jax. Gabe had been given a family that loved him. He’d been protected. He’d had a home. Food. Clothing. He’d had—

  “She ID’d him, Sarah. I was there. I heard her—she described him and she said his name. I would think the woman would remember the identity of the guy who tried to kill her.”

  “You’d be surprised,” she said as her stomach twisted in knots. “The mind can trick anyone.” And so could a smart killer. “I need to talk with her.”

  “Yes, well that’s probably not going to happen right now. She got a little . . . agitated during Detective West’s questioning. She reopened her wounds, and the doctor kicked him out.”

  Her hands fisted in her lap. “You should have contacted me the minute she woke up. I could have helped. I could have—”

  “You’re the one always telling me that you’re better at profiling the killers, and not at figuring out the victims.”

  She flinched.

  “You’d barely crawled out of the fire yourself. I just wanted you to rest,” he continued, his voice softer. “I sure as hell didn’t realize she’d be pointing the finger at your boyfriend.”

  “He’s not my boyfriend.” The words were automatic. They were also true. He was nothing as simple as a boyfriend. A hot and intense lover. A man who broke through her defenses. A man who’d learned her secrets . . . “And he didn’t do this.”

  “I wish I could be as certain as you are, but Sarah, come on, you can look into that guy’s eyes and see the truth.”

  His words made fury twist within her. “What truth is that?”

  “He’s got the killer instinct,” Gabe said with certainty. “I saw that instinct in the eyes of SEALs. They would do whatever necessary to get the job done. No fear. No hesitation. He looks the same way, and a man like that can be very, very dangerous.”

  He’s not a threat to me.

  “Why do you trust him so much? Make me understand.”

  She turned her left hand over so that she could see her wrist. “He’s not afraid of my darkness.”

  “Okay, I don’t even know that the hell that means.”

  He was driving fast and hard down the road. And . . .

  Sarah could have sworn that she heard another engine growling. One that was very close. She turned her head and looked behind them. She didn’t see anyone. They’d turned onto an older road, one that was so dark. No street lights.

  That growling sound came again.

  “Gabe . . .” She began.

  “I hear it,” he snapped back. “Hold on.”

  He shoved down the gas and they lurched forward. There were lights up ahead, she could see them. If they got there, then whoever was hiding behind them would be revealed. Someone is driving back there, with the headlights off so we can’t see him.

  Tricky bastard.

  “Maybe it’s just Jax’s men,” Sarah offered. Keeping an eye on them. Like before—

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  She didn’t really think so, either. Jax wouldn’t want his men to scare her.

  Gabe had rolled down his window a bit. The better to hear the growl of the other engine? “Sounds like a Mustang and he’s—”

  Gunfire exploded. It pounded into the back of Gabe’s car. She could hear the sound of breaking glass even as Gabe yelled, “Get down!”

  She ducked, getting as low as she could in the car even as they raced forward. That bastard back there was shooting at them? What the hell?

  Then she heard the thunder of gunfire again. It was slamming into the back bumper. Driving through the chunks of glass that remained. Gabe grunted, the sound quick and pain-filled.

  He’s been hit!

  “Gabe?”

  “Gun . . . in glove box . . .”

  She fumbled, trying to get to that glove box even as—

  They crashed.

  WHEN THEIR VEHICLE slammed into the pole, he braked his car. He was smiling as he exited and kept his gun at the ready. Had his bullets hit one of the targets? If not, he’d be sure to eliminate Gabe Spencer first. Then he’d have some nice, quality time with Sarah—

  “Get back!” That was Sarah’s yell, and he froze because Sarah didn’t sound afraid. She sounded furious. “You’re not the only one with a weapon!”

  Sirens screamed in the distance. Someone had heard the shots or the crash, and some damn fool good Samaritan had called 911.

  “Sarah . . .” He called out her name. He wanted her to know—this was all about her. “Did my bullet hit your friend?” Because he could just see the guy’s slumped figure in the front of the car. “That’s on you, Sarah!” But he took a step back into the darkness. “Anyone between us . . . I’ll take them out. You’re going to be mine. You’re—”

  That bitch shot at him. And she hit him. The bullet burned across his upper arm and he jerked back.

  Then she was running around the car. Coming at him. And the scream of that siren was just getting louder and louder. He jumped back into his car. Revved the engine.

  Fucking bitch.

  He’d be seeing her again.

  HE ROARED AWAY. Sarah’s finger was squeezing the trigger but he was weaving, going so fast, and she couldn’t aim at him.

  Dammit!

  He’d shot Gabe. He was hurting everyone . . . because the guy wanted to get to her. “I’m right here!” Sarah yelled after him.

  But the shriek of the sirens was the only response she got.

  Sarah whirled around and ran back to the car. She yanked opened Gabe’s door. When she touched his shoulder, she felt the wet warmth of his blood.

  “Eve . . . is gonna freak,” Gabe managed.

  Her breath heaved out. He’s okay! If he was talking about his Eve, he had to be all right.

  She unhooked his seat belt and Sarah hissed out a breath because she could see his wound now. Blood was pumping from his shoulder.

  “In . . . and out . . .” He shifted his body, trying to get out of the car. She pushed him right back inside. “Just . . . lost control when it . . . hit me . . .”

  “Stay in there until the cops can help us!” She didn’t want to risk that guy coming back. He’d just been . . . shooting at them. Right in the middle of the street. He’d followed them when they left Jax’s house. That was the only explanation but that would mean . . .

  He was out there the whole time. Waiting for us. Waiting for his chance to get at me. When the cops had taken Jax, he’d seen his moment to attack.

  And he had.

  A police cruiser rushed down the road. Sarah looked down and realized that she still had her gun. Oh, such a bad move. The last thing she wanted was to appear armed in front of the cops. She knew how that scene would go down. She put the gun on the cement, raised her hands, and yelled, “We need help!”

  Two uniformed cops jumped from the vehicle.

  “He’s been shot! Hurry, you need to help him!” One of the cops ran forward. “There’s a man who was in a—a Mustang.” Gabe knew his cars. The guy had been able to identify the ride just by the growl of its engine—how wild was that? Sarah rushed to add. “He was just here! Put out an APB. You have to find him. You can—”

  “Gun!” the closest cop yelled.

  Sarah tensed. “I put the gun down when you arrived. He was shooting at us. I had to stop him from killing Gabe!” They had to listen to her. “The man who did this—he just left! Get the APB out now. We can find him!”

  But they weren’t grabbing for their radios. They were closing in slowly. And the man so determined to kill her—he’d just gotten away.

  Again.

  Chapter 12

  SARAH RODE IN THE AMBULANCE WITH GABE. THE EMTs had cut his shirt away, and she could see that he’d been right. The bullet had gone in and out. It had blasted through the back of his seat, into his shoulder, then exploded into the front of the car.

  The man who’d done that . . . a guy who had a thorough knowledge of explosives and was skilled enough to fire from a moving vehicle like th
at . . .

  Military training. This guy isn’t some amateur. He’s deadly. He’s honed his skills and he’s done this before.

  This wasn’t some tentative killer. A guy out for revenge who was testing the waters. No, this was a guy with balls of steel who didn’t hesitate to blow up buildings or shoot at his prey in the middle of a public street. He was unpredictable, and that just made him all the more dangerous.

  The ambulance braked at the ER, and the back doors flew open. As Gabe was wheeled out, Sarah caught a flash of Eve’s face. Eve ran toward the ambulance and grabbed Gabe’s hand. His fingers curled tightly around hers, and then they vanished after passing through the automatic sliding doors.

  Sarah jumped out of the ambulance. She’d told her story to the cops at the scene, but she knew there would be more questions. A uniform had followed the ambulance. She could already see the guy heading toward her.

  Sarah braced her shoulders. He’d finally put out an APB, but Sarah doubted they’d find the man who did this. Not until he wanted to be found.

  Not until he comes for me again.

  And who would be in his way the next time? Who would he take down in order to get to her?

  HE DROVE THE Mustang into the old building and killed the engine as fast as he could. His arm hurt, but the bullet had just grazed him. Sarah wasn’t as good as he was with a gun.

  He heard muffled cries as he approached the back of that building. “Shut the hell up,” he muttered.

  But the cries continued. Growling, he kicked open the door and saw the man. Tied to the chair. Eyes wild and angry. The guy was muttering behind his gag. Really pissing him off.

  He stalked forward and yanked that gag out of the way.

  “You can’t do this!” the man yelled. “You can’t—”

  He shot him, right in the shoulder. The bound man howled.

  He cocked his head and studied the wound critically. “Do you think she’ll remember exactly where she hit me?”

  “You fuckin—”

  He put the gun to the guy’s head. That stopped his screams.