Out of Uniform

by Catherine Mann

  “Blane.” The whispered name carried a wealth of disillusionment. She curved her body protectively around a strong-limbed preschooler to keep him from seeing the gun.

  Jacob absorbed the waves of pain radiating from her as if they were his own. And they were. He’d brought her here, to this. He’d promised to find her son and keep them safe.

  Frustration and rage both slammed into him. And love. Hell, yeah, love.

  He loved her so damned much his chest hurt with each icy breath. No more dodging the truth. What a time to figure it out.

  Evan tipped up his face and thrust out his bottom lip. “Hurted my nose when we tripped.”

  “Sorry, sweetie.” She clutched him tighter, pressing his face against her chest as if to comfort while keeping his eyes shielded from the horror unfolding. “We’ll wash the scratch very soon.”

  Lambert closed in on Dee. “Well, my dear, imagine seeing you here, and with such a hulking companion. I thought you’d died out on that road, but you certainly landed on your feet—” he paused, gesturing with his gun to her crumpled in the snow “—figuratively speaking.”

  “Well, I’m very much alive,” Dee answered through gritted teeth and poorly disguised fury. “Unlike that man in your Suburban in the river.”

  Blane shrugged. “Skidding away from you, I blew out my tires. I needed another ride that would be able to pull the trailer I’d already arranged to pick up. So I pulled over and pretended my car had broken down until the perfect Good Samaritan stopped by—one with a big truck.”

  The implication slapped over Jacob in an icy splash. Lambert had left Dee for dead, then hadn’t hesitated to kill a total stranger just to steal his vehicle. The bastard was pure evil.

  Then Jacob’s brain snagged on an earlier part of the man’s diatribe. Lambert had thought Dee died, too. But he had to know she was alive if he’d been stalking her at the Lodge. It didn’t make sense.

  Regardless, Jacob had to get the man the hell away from Dee and Evan. “Lambert, you want to deal with me. We don’t want to risk the kid getting in the way.”

  “Of course not.” He waggled the gun in his gloved hand. “Who says I’m going to shoot anyone? I just keep this around for protection against intruders. Right, Evan my boy?” His face creased with a wry smile. “Although a target as big as that fellow wouldn’t be tough to hit if I wanted practice.”

  Jacob hoped Lambert would take a potshot at him, because then the gun would be away from Dee and Evan. If he could be certain the shot wouldn’t be deadly and leave Dee without protection, he would rile Lambert into shooting now. “Go ahead then. You must have been itching to do this all those times you lurked around my place.”

  Lambert scowled. “What the hell are you talking about? The last thing I wanted was to see her again.”

  Jacob searched for words to stall the man until the police could arrive. “Then why not leave?”

  “And live like some two-bit car thief on the lam? I hardly think so.” He gripped Dee’s arm and yanked her to her feet none too gently. “I’m waiting for my new ID to come through. I’d already started the process to get out of the country, but then Dee screwed up the timetable by digging through my old files. I just needed another couple of weeks to finish the transition of my assets into a shelf corporation so I would be free to travel under my new identity.”

  A “shelf corporation.” Jacob narrowed his eyes with understanding. He’d heard of that. An old corporation with no activity was allowed to linger “on the shelf” until someone wanted to buy into it, usually to give age to a new business. Some had begun opting in to create a new holding for assets.

  A crafty way to shield an old identity.

  Lambert would have been able to conduct all transactions under the banner of his new company, his name never coming under the radar. He could have gotten clean away, losing himself in another country.

  The possibilities shifted around in his mind. If the guy’s explanation could be trusted, then who had followed them into Tacoma, and who tormented Dee that night at the hotel?

  He’d been so sure when he’d seen the Suburban following them…One like the silver vehicle Chase’s parents owned.

  Hell. The realization exploded in his head. He had to trust that Emily would be safe with Grace’s family because he didn’t have the luxury of placing a timely call at the moment.

  “Wait!” Dee reached up, her palm poised as an ineffective plug for the gun. Her eyes darted frantically between them. “Jacob, take Evan.”

  What the hell was she up to? He only knew he wanted her away from the barrel of that weapon. She really couldn’t expect the man would let Jacob leave with the boy.

  Jacob glanced at Evan. The sweet-faced kid had snuggled against Dee’s breast. A sight so damned beautiful, Jacob struggled for air. Beautiful—except for the fact the kid was trembling, his confused eyes darting back and forth between his parents.

  Dee inched away from Lambert and carried Evan toward Jacob—without a protest from Lambert. Why wasn’t the guy stopping her?

  Suddenly Jacob understood. Lambert honestly didn’t want to frighten his kid. He didn’t want his child seeing him shoot the boy’s mother. This psychopath did love his son in a warped sort of way, and Dee had bargained on that to buy them time.

  How long would it keep Dee safe? Only as long as she had Evan in her arms. The way the kid clung to his mother’s neck, it didn’t appear that he would let go anyway.

  Jacob had to predict Lambert’s next move, or he’d be left flatfooted and Dee could die. The fog of rage threatened to swallow him.

  Concentrate. At least Lambert seemed content to keep up appearances for Evan and pay lip service to civility.

  Where were the police? Spike had been leaving from the base, which meant he could be as much as forty-five minutes behind.

  Jacob backed away from Lambert, his eyes never leaving Dee.

  Dee pressed a kiss to her son’s cheek. “I love you, sweetie.”

  “Love you, too, Mommy.” His smile spread from ear to ear.

  Dee’s eyes met Jacob’s and held. In the warm chocolate depths he saw trust and, God yes, love. Both directed at him at a time he couldn’t afford to soak up the amazing beauty of the moment.

  Then he saw a firm resolution that chilled him clean through. He could see she planned to—

  Shove Evan toward Jacob with a twist of her body that placed her back completely to Lambert. She flung herself backward. Toward her ex-husband.

  Directly in the path of his gun.

  “No,” Jacob shouted even as he wrapped his shoulders around her son, covered his face.

  The gun exploded. Dee’s body jerked, her eyes wide. Blood staining her coat collar, she crumpled to the ground.

  A roar of denial rolled through him. Jacob thrust Evan behind him and launched himself onto Lambert, throwing all the fury inside him into the charge. They stumbled backward, boots stamping for purchase on the packed ice. He rammed the bastard’s arm against the camper with a satisfying snap. The gun dropped into the snow a second before Jacob downed Lambert. Their bodies slammed into a frozen snowdrift. It hurt. Not enough.

  Lambert landed a gut punch with his uninjured fist and Jacob welcomed the reverberating pain that narrowed his focus. He steadied his vision. “This is for Dee, you son of a bitch.”

  He plowed his fist into Lambert’s face. Twice. Lambert’s eyes rolled back into his head as he sagged into unconsciousness.

  Jacob held his fist aloft and resisted the urge to beat Lambert into a pulp. His rage demanded more than justice. He wanted revenge for Dee.

  Dee. Reason pushed its way through the haze of fury.

  He had to check her, get her to a doctor, but he couldn’t risk Lambert coming to. Wasting a critical minute, Jacob hefted the man up and tossed him in the back of the camper. He jammed a branch across the back to lock him in.

  “Dee?” Jacob shouted, racing to where she lay in the snow, Evan kneeling beside her, patting her face, crying, s
hell-shocked.

  Jacob’s hands skimmed her body. Where was the gunshot wound? His fingers settled on her neck. He found a pulse. Faint, thready, but beating.

  Air gushed from his lungs.

  Carefully, he opened her coat and found blood staining her sweater along her collarbone. He heard a crunch of snow behind him and stiffened, ready to go on the attack—only to see Evan eyeing him warily.

  Jacob forced his face to smooth. “It’s all right. I’m a friend of your mom’s, and I’m going to take good care of her.”

  “Mommy? Mommy, wake up.” Evan’s voice shook.

  No time to check the damage, he scooped her in his arms. “Your mommy’s going to be fine, kiddo. Come on with me and we’ll take her to the doctor.”

  Evan stared up at him with watery eyes. “What about my daddy?” His chin quivered. “He shot my mommy.”

  Jacob had tried his best to shield the boy. No child should have to see that. “Your father is resting inside.” Of course the kid had no reason to trust him, a stranger. Jacob searched for the right words. “Remember how your mom wanted you to go with me? You need to do this for her.”

  He would carry them both if he had to, but he hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

  Evan’s face cleared and he nodded, casting a frightened glance back at the camper. “Okay. It’s Mommy’s turn to have me for a while.”

  “Good job, kiddo.” Jacob grabbed the keys from Lambert’s truck, just in case, and charged back into the woods with Dee cradled to his chest. He could get her to a hospital faster than any ambulance would find them out here.

  He’d heard about domestic violence cases going wrong, but never had he expected to be in the middle of such a horror. His boots pounded through the snow, his pace slowed because of the child huffing alongside him. Dee’s child. He would keep Evan safe for her.

  And Emily. God, he couldn’t wrap his brain around the notion that Chase had been so unbalanced, following Dee around, making threats. This could have been his sister and her child out here.

  Hell, it could be his sister now.

  Jacob neared the truck just as the police pulled up along with a Land Rover he recognized as belonging to Spike. Help had arrived. The police would take care of Lambert, and Jacob would make damn sure to tip off Spike about Chase so Emily and Madison would have protection ASAP.

  Thank God with a blaring siren, one of the cops could get Dee to the hospital faster and he intended to be by her side the whole ride there, never letting her or her son out of his sight.

  As he held her unconscious body in his arms, he just prayed it would be soon enough.

  Dee grappled through layers of consciousness. No cottony amnesia fog for her. This felt more like digging through dirt to reach the surface of the life she desperately wanted to reclaim.

  Could anyone sleep this deeply and ever awaken? How much easier it would be to stop struggling through the fog and—ouch. The pain socked her out of left field.

  Only she couldn’t stay asleep to hide from the ache. Her mind wrapped around her reasons for living, compelling reasons.

  Jacob and Evan.

  She battled, and pushed and fought her way back until a pinpoint of light beckoned. Prying her eyes open, she winced at the brightness and squeezed her lids shut again. Slowly, she eased them open, letting her pupils adjust to the rays streaming in through her half-open blinds.

  Where was she? Panic slashed at her as she groped for answers. The antiseptic scent filled her nose. She looked around at what appeared to be a hospital room, searching for something, anything familiar.

  Her gaze rested on a chair tucked in the corner of the room. A large hulk of a man sat cradling a small, sleeping boy in his arms.

  Dee’s world came sharply into focus. She remembered everything. Blane hadn’t won. She recognized Jacob and Evan, two precious faces she would never forget.

  Blane’s attack, his threats, all came jumbled back with nauseating force. Dee studied every inch of Jacob, and he seemed unharmed. A sigh shuddered through her.

  Jacob’s eyes were closed. His head was tipped back against the reclining chair. Evan slept curled in his lap, chocolate ice cream staining the sides of her son’s mouth. Jacob had obviously discovered the way to Evan’s heart quickly.

  Just as he’d done with hers.

  She absorbed the image of them both and let the love fill her. Her still-slumberous mind wandered dreamy paths and she envisioned them as a family. The two looked nothing alike, Jacob so dark and angular, Evan so fair with a rounded face. Chances were Evan would never be as tall as Jacob.

  No one would ever mistake Evan for Jacob’s biological son. But with Jacob’s influence, Evan would resemble Jacob in all the ways that counted.

  She’d found so much beneath that brooding exterior. He’d shown her honor, constancy and a fierce protective love she hoped to claim.

  Jacob shuffled, woke and stared back at her for seconds that seemed to stretch into forever before he spoke. “You okay?”

  She nodded.

  “I’ll call the nurse.”

  “No, please. Give me a moment before the hospital frenzy takes over.” Evan stirred, and she lowered her voice. She wasn’t ready to share Jacob and Evan with the world, not yet. “What happened?”

  He stood slowly, his big hands carrying her son with gentle strength. “You were shot in the shoulder, but the bullet passed through without hitting anything vital.”

  She’d meant what happened with Blane, to Jacob to make him look so haggard, but now she realized those shadows under his eyes were for her.

  “I’m okay,” she reassured even though she actually felt more than a little weak and breathless. But alive. They were all alive. So she asked again, “What happened?”

  “Blane is in custody.”

  She searched his eyes for details of how that must have happened, what had occurred after the shooting, and saw only a fierce protectiveness in Jacob’s expression. She knew. He’d been there for her, for her son and for their future because here he stood vital and alive.

  More details from the showdown spilled through her mind, of how Blane hadn’t been the one stalking her. “What about Emily?” She struggled to sit up, her heart pounding. “Please say they have taken Chase back in for questioning.”

  Jacob nodded reassuringly. “It’s okay. Take it easy. I was able to tip off Spike when he showed up a few minutes after you were shot. He took care of sending police over to Grace’s right away. Chase is at the station now. Emily and Madison are fine. A little shaken up, but okay.”

  She sagged back on her pillow, relieved, somewhat drained, but mostly happy. It felt good to smile. To hope. She reached out her hand, twisting it free of the tangle of the IV to touch Jacob’s arm. He held her sleeping son against his chest, Evan’s arms draped over the broad shoulders as he tucked his face into Jacob’s neck.

  A sight she could enjoy forever. She skimmed from Jacob to her son and traced each tiny feature she’d feared never seeing again. The feel of baby-soft skin soothed her ragged nerves and a few of her fears. It would be a while yet before she could let him out of her sight.

  Apparently Jacob had known that. Children in hospital rooms were usually a taboo. He must have executed some major arm-twisting for her to see Evan when she woke. “Thank you for having him here for me.”

  “No sweat.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  He shrugged.

  A tap sounded on the door. Apparently their time alone would be cut short after all.

  Emily peered around the door. “Dee? God, I can’t believe…Wow, you’re already awake.” The teenager rushed to her side. “You’re really awake. The nurse said…”

  Jacob circled around to stand by his sister, more of that protectiveness radiating from him. “I haven’t pressed the call button yet.”

  Emily flipped her ponytail over her shoulder, shifting from foot to foot. “I won’t stay long. Grace has Madison and she’s really kind of a handful today, so I need to
get back to her. I just had to see you.” Her gaze slid up to her brother. “And you, too.”

  A corner of his mouth tipped. “You’re speaking to me now, are you?”

  She clutched the bedrail in a white-knuckled grip. “The police are talking to Chase again. He showed up at Grace’s house and the cops were only a minute behind him.” Guilt, frustration—pain—all mingled in her blue eyes the same color as Jacob’s. “I heard him admit to stalking you, Dee.”

  Jacob secured Evan against his shoulder, his eyebrows pinching in sympathy. “I’m sorry this had to happen.”

  “Me, too.” Emily picked at Dee’s hospital blanket. “It’s tough, isn’t it? Loving somebody only to find out he isn’t who you thought he was.”

  Dee covered the girl’s hand with her own. “Yes, sweetie, it is.”

  Emily allowed the comfort long enough for a nurse’s cart to rattle past before a half smile reached her lips if not her eyes just yet. “Your kid’s really cute.”

  “So’s yours.” Dee ached from more than the gunshot wound as she thought of that little baby without a reliable father.

  Emily’s smile faltered. “This mother thing is tough to do alone.”

  Dee nodded and waited for Jacob to speak up, willed him to step in and be the kind of brother, support, family Emily needed. He needed them, too, even if he didn’t realize it yet.

  She stared between the two stubborn siblings….

  Jacob cleared his throat, his stance still assertive, pushy even, but his eyes gentle. “I can get a transfer to Tacoma, but it wouldn’t come through until the summer. You know the courts aren’t going to let you live alone, but I want you to have choices. I can pay Grace to stay with you until I move here, or you can come with me to Charleston. I have friends there who would help out while I’m TDY.”

  Dee wanted to be a part of the picture, but knew it was too soon to have those sorts of expectations from a man she’d known all of a couple of weeks.

  A man she’d already grown to love more than she’d realized was possible. But a love formed with wide-open eyes and a wiser heart this go-round.