by Ali Parker
I started after him, picking up the pace but being sure to remain far enough behind that he wouldn’t get suspicious. The man walked at a brisk pace through the mall but didn’t stop at any of the shops or kiosks along his path. He made a beeline for the main exit, and so I followed him, keeping my head on a swivel for any sign of Jack and Jansen. I didn’t want to be taken off guard during my pursuit.
The parking lot was cold and wet, and I treaded with care as I followed behind my target. I was still a row away when I saw him hit his key fob, causing a black sedan to flash its lights in acknowledgment. I snuck a quick peek at his license plate, making out BKK as the first letters, then turned and sped off in the direction of my own car.
What are you doing, Emma? Are you really thinking about tailing this guy?
My heart was beating a mile a minute as a jogged to my car. I threw my bags in the back and jumped in behind the wheel, my hands shaking as I put the key in the ignition. Taking a deep breath, I turned on the car and backed out of the space, heading towards the exit and keeping my eyes peeled for the black sedan.
I caught sight of his car, and when it turned left out of the lot, I followed, two cars between him and me. I was committed to seeing where the familiar face led. Although Jack had given up on our investigation, I hadn’t.
I couldn’t, not now. Finding out what secret Jansen was hiding had come to represent something important to me. It was tied to the backbone I was growing, to the strength inside me that I’d often failed to utilize. My dad and big brother had always done an excellent job of keeping me secure, but the flipside to that security had resulted in me being too sheltered, too avoidant of conflict and confrontation.
Now was the time to change all that. And if it just happened to show Jack that I could handle myself without anyone’s help, then so be it.
My phone buzzed in my purse and I fumbled it out, glancing at the notifications. There was another text from Jack. The message was simple enough: “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
I’m proving myself, you big jerk. I’m getting the job done.
I didn’t text back, too involved in my trailing of the familiar faced guy. I followed the sedan as it headed east. The going was slow, as the weather was miserable. Southerners aren’t great fans of driving when there is any hint of ice or snow on the roads. Although it wasn’t cold enough to freeze, drivers were still taking things easy. It didn’t help that it was getting close to the holiday, which meant there were plenty of other people out shopping today.
I heard my phone buzz again, but I ignored it. The black sedan had its blinker on, and I was only a car length behind it now. I had to stay far enough behind that he didn’t see me, but the car in front of me was about to change lanes to go around the stopped car. Luckily the sedan turned left before the car in front of me revealed my presence. As I drove slowly by, I saw it pull behind a building with an old sign out front that labeled it “Benedetti’s Deli.”
I turned left on the next street, then circled around. There was an alley halfway down the block, so I pulled into it and crept slowly down until I saw the parking lot behind the deli. The sedan had parked there, and the familiar faced guy was just headed into the deli’s back door.
I realized then that the deli’s façade was brick. The drive that the sedan had pulled down was familiar as well. I grabbed my phone and pulled up the picture of the alleyway with the group of men standing in it. It seemed to be a match.
I swiped over to the text message I’d missed. It was from Jack. “Meet me at the office in 15 minutes.”
Sorry Jack, I thought. There was no way I’d make it back to the office in his time frame. Besides, part of me wanted to park and go into the deli myself, to scout it out. This had to be a clue to the secret Jansen was keeping. The men in the photograph had to have something to do with this deli, including the councilman.
I sat there, debating on how to proceed. The drizzle suddenly turned into a downpour, raindrops pelting my car, forcing me to turn my wipers on high. As they tapped out their rhythmic beat, I tried to reach a decision.
Should I go inside, see if I could find out where the familiar faced guy had gone, or if there were any other men from the photo on the premise? My pulse rate skidded out of control. It had taken all my reserves of bravery just to follow the guy in the first place. Did I really have the fortitude to go inside?
What if the familiar faced guy was in there, and he recognized me from the mall? I was pretty sure he hadn’t got a glance at me, but I wasn’t exactly trained in espionage.
But I knew someone who was.
Dammit.
Maybe it was better to meet Jack, to tell him what I’d found out. Although it was unlikely, there was a greater than zero chance that I might be recognized if I waltzed into the deli now. And no one knew where I was. I was alone, on a solo mission, no back up.
My reasonable side prevailed. Snapping a picture of the sedan, including the license plate, I drove up the alley to the end of the block. I then turned down the main street again and slowed enough to take a picture of the front of the deli. Then I sped up and started heading in the direction of the office.
I already knew that Jack was going to be spoiling for a fight. He had caught me mid-snoop, and I was sure he was going to assume the worst. I let myself feel a spark of hope. Maybe he would be impressed with me when I shared my discovery.
Maybe he would apologize for telling me to drop the investigation, and that he would say he was proud of me for sticking to the case.
And maybe pigs would fly and Santa would deliver a naked Jack clone into my stocking on Christmas Eve.
I let out a sigh. Jack probably wouldn’t even listen to me when I tried to tell him what had happened. He might even go so far as to call my father and inform him that I’d been playing private detective on the company’s clients.
The spark of hope vanished faster than the spiked eggnog at an office holiday party. This wasn’t going to go easy. As someone who hated confrontation, it took every ounce of my strength to drive directly back to the office.
I told myself I refused to let things go down the way they had last night. If Jack tried to act all high and mighty, this time I would put him in his place instead of slinking off like a dog with my tail between my legs.
I wasn’t the asshole here. I was the one concerned with finding out the truth, with doing my civic duty. I’d given him a chance to do this together, but he’d declined. Now he could either help, or get the hell out of my way.
I psyched myself up as best I could, but my hands were still shaking when I pulled into the office parking lot. It took several deep breaths before I was able to get out of the car and make the walk up to the office door.
It was time to put my new backbone to the test.
Chapter 15
Jack
She’s fucking late. Maybe she’s not coming.
I was pacing the office, my temper getting hotter by the minute. Where the fuck was Emma? She’d been following me earlier, but now she disappeared? It didn’t make any sense.
And why the fuck had she been following me in the first place? It seemed so out of character, but how else could she have ended up behind that poster in the mall? Either she was following me, or she’d been following Jansen.
The thought of her tailing Jansen wrenches my anger up to the next level. If she’d thought to do that, even after she’d almost been caught in his hotel room, I didn’t know what I’d do with her. Her safety was paramount, but it seemed like she just didn’t understand that.
The pacing continued, my thoughts ping-ponging back and forth at the same time. I hadn’t stopped thinking about Emma since the moment I’d first seen her again, but now my stomach was all tied up in knots. Whatever had driven Emma to show up to the theater today was an impulse that had to be dealt with, which means further driving a wedge in our relationship.
It has to be done, I told myself. There should be no relationship between you beyond a sim
ple one between fellow employees.
I wished my stupid brain could understand that. Maybe it would release this tightness in my chest that had been there since last night.
Suddenly, I heard the office door open. I spun around, both relieved and infuriated to see Emma standing there. She was wet, but her eyes were shining with an inner light.
I couldn’t let myself be distracted by her beauty. Not now. I strode over to her, stopping inches from her and staring down at her smaller frame. “Just what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
She blinked up at me and for a moment I regretted coming across so harshly. Emma was a delicate thing, one who avoided confrontation. Or so I thought.
“I’m doing the fucking job,” she said, her tone knocking me back a pace. “One that you clearly have no interest in doing.”
“What are you talking about?”
Emma’s eyes were like twin suns, and her face screwed up with anger. “First of all, I don’t have to justify myself to you. Second—”
“Justify yourself?” I spat, interrupting her. “You were following me!”
“I was not!” Splotches of color appeared on her cheeks.
“Either you were following me, or you were following Jansen. How else could you have ended up behind that poster?”
“I wasn’t following anyone. I was shopping at the damn mall. I saw you go into the movie theater, but I was going to leave when I saw one of the guys from the picture in the alleyway, the one you found in Jansen’s desk. That’s when I decided to go into the theater. I wasn’t following you. I was following him.”
My eyes widened. Could I believe her, that she’d just happened to be there already? My conscience fired back, Of course you can.
Emma wasn’t a liar. She was the sweetest woman I’d ever met. It was Christmas, after all, and thousands of other people had been shopping at the mall today. Was it really a stretch that she could have been too? I’m an asshole.
Still, she hadn’t gone about the business of shopping. She’d courted trouble, trying to follow the guy from the photograph.
I took a couple breaths, convincing myself to hear her out. “So what happened?”
She peered up at me, as if she couldn’t quite trust me, and the words came out slowly. “I saw the guy go into the theater after you and Jansen. When he got inside, he hung out in the arcade, and I ducked behind the poster. Not long after, you and Jansen came back out and had your little spat in front of the bathroom.”
I winced mentally, wondering if she’d heard the businessman’s statement about me holding his dick.
“After you both went in, the familiar faced guy followed.”
So that had been the man who’d entered the stall beside Jansen. Ideas started to tumble around my brain. Jansen hadn’t wanted to see the cartoon after all. It was just a pretense to get him to the mall. And into that bathroom with the guy from the photo.
I’d been a fucking idiot, too distracted by this thing with Emma to realize what was going on. But she hadn’t been. All the while, I’d been thinking she was stalking me, when in fact she was doing my job better than I was.
“Which guy are we talking about?” I asked, wanting to make sure she was on the right track and there was no possibility of mistaken identity.
Emma pulled out her phone and called up the alley photo. She pointed to a dark-haired man with a scar across his jaw. It was the same guy who’d come into the bathroom. Emma had been right all along.
“When he left the mall after the bathroom incident, I followed him.”
My heart plummeted out of my chest and down to my feet. “You what?”
“I watched to see what car he got in, and then I followed him.”
I didn’t even know where to begin. She’d gone from snooping around to the next level, putting herself in real danger.
“That’s why I didn’t text back and why I couldn’t meet you right away. I had to see where he went. And you’ll be surprised to learn that he ended up in a familiar place.”
Emma pointed to the photo of the men standing in the alley. “This alley is next to a place called ‘Benedetti’s Deli.’ It’s the brick building they’re standing in front of.”
She scrolled through her phone, holding up a picture of the car the man had driven, then one of the front of the building he’d headed into. “I thought about going inside to see if I could find any more clues, but I thought there was a slight chance I might be recognized, so I came here instead.”
My heart was beating hard in my chest. Emma had put herself in danger, and that was unacceptable. Still, she’d helped connect some dots in the Jansen situation. If he was using Shadow Security as some kind of cover, we needed to find that out to protect the business and her family.
I was impressed by how much she’d accomplished, how much she’d put herself out there. She had talents that would serve her well in an investigation. Still, that didn’t mean I liked the idea of her putting herself in danger.
“You made the right choice, not going into that deli. It’s likely a front for something.” I wasn’t sure what, but it seemed more and more likely that Jansen was tangled up in something dirty, something involving the city councilmen and a group of men who likely didn’t appreciate someone following them.
I could see the corner of her mouth twitch, the makings of a smile on her lips. She’d done well, but I didn’t know if I could tell her so. I didn’t want her to get more deeply entangled in this mess with Jansen.
“You got lucky,” I said, figuring a stern tact was the only one to take. “You could have been found out.”
Her eyes narrowed. “But I didn’t.”
“But you could have.” I put my arms on her shoulders. “I can’t see you hurt, Emma. You put yourself in danger, and I can’t allow that.”
“Because you don’t want Dad and Matt mad at you. You don’t want to lose your new job.” I could hear the bitterness in her tone.
“No,” I said softly, getting closer. “Because I couldn’t live with myself if you got hurt. Because it would tear me up inside.”
Her beautiful golden eyes widened, and I felt her go soft in my arms. It was the perfect invitation, and I couldn’t resist.
I lowered my head until it was inches from her lips. I was about to close the distance, to seize her lips, to hell with the consequences, when I heard a sound that turned my blood to ice.
The office door opened. My gaze shot up to find three masked men entering the office. Without thinking, I thrust Emma behind me, shielding her with my body.
They lunged forward, the guy in the lead pulling out a gun. My body running on instinct, I kicked it out of his hand. With no moment to spare, I dove for the second guy, who was reaching inside his jacket, presumably for a weapon. I tackled him and we hit the ground.
“Emma, run!” I yelled, landing an elbow in the intruder’s guts.
I prayed to God that she heeded me. Three armed men against one wasn’t going to be an easy win, but maybe I could buy her enough time to get out.
Chapter 16
Emma
Jack had been about to kiss me. I’d remembered that look in his eyes, knew that an answering hunger resided in my own.
Every fiber of my being had welled up with longing, and I waited, wanting that kiss more than I’d wanted a pony for Christmas when I was 12.
Instead of a kiss, I’d gotten a taste of danger. Three goons had entered the office and the shit had hit the fan.
I froze, unsure of how to react. I saw Jack kick a gun out of the hand of the first guy, then drop another guy to the ground. “Emma, run!” he yelled, then launched himself at the third man.
His words were the catalyst I needed. I started to back away, but before I could turn and flee, someone grabbed me. It was the first guy, the one who’d lost his gun. Thanking the self-defense lessons Dad had insisted on giving me, I didn’t hesitate. I slammed an elbow into the guy’s guts and he loosened his hold, enough for me to get away.
&nb
sp; I sped to the conference room, slamming the door behind me and locking it. The walls were made out of glass, so I knew they wouldn’t stop anyone who was determined to get in, but it would hopefully buy me enough time to do what I had to do next.
I moved the book and hit the keypad for the gun safe, holding my breath as the bookshelf slid open. Once inside the safe, I had to catch my breath, my heart was pounding so hard. There was no time to lose, but I had to make the right choice.
My father had insisted that I learn how to fire every gun in the room. He’d taken me to the range every time he acquired a new model, testing me on how to fire, load and reload, until I’d felt comfortable enough with every piece to please him.
I’d thought it silly at the time, but now I could see why Dad had insisted on my learning to work these guns. Right now, Jack was trying desperately to fight off three armed men. I had to find a way to help him. That meant picking up one of these guns.
I grabbed a 9 millimeter off one of the shelves, then snagged a clip. I popped it in and made sure the safety was off. Then it was time to save the day.
My hands were shaking as I exited the safe. I’d held guns countless times, but only on the range, and never when anyone was in danger. I could see Jack fighting with two of the men, while the other was fiddling with the door to the conference room.
The one at the door saw the gun in my hand and turned, running back towards the others. I couldn’t afford to hesitate. I hit the door, unlocking it and rushing back into the fray.
Jack was wrestling with one of the men in black, and the other was lying a few paces away, not moving. The third sprinted across the office, getting closer to his companions.
“Everyone freeze!” I shouted and I rushed forward, pointing my gun at the one closest to Jack. “Let him go. Now.”
Jack’s eyes met mine, and for an instant, I thought I could see pride there. It is immediately replaced with a black look of anger. The runner skidded to a stop, but unfortunately it put him within range of the weapon he’d lost earlier. Grabbing it, he pointed it in my direction. Jack shook off the man he was tussling with and lunged forward, punching the one with a gun in the face.