by Nora Roberts
What choice was there? “Agreed.”
“Fine.” He swiped dripping hair out of his eyes. “You stay right here. If I say go, you head for the car.” Taking her silence for assent, he stepped inside. He saw the alarm box immediately, lifted a brow. “Interesting,” he murmured, then signaled M.J. inside. “It’s off.”
“I don’t understand that. It’s always set.”
“Just our lucky day.” He winked, took her hand, then flipped on his flashlight with the other. “We’ll try upstairs first, see if we get lucky again.”
“Up these stairs,” she told him. “Bailey’s office is right down the hall.”
“Nice digs,” he commented, scanning the expensive carpeting, the tasteful colors, while keeping his ears tuned for any sound. There was nothing but drumming rain. He blocked M.J. with an outstretched arm, and swept the light into the office.
Quiet, organized, elegant and empty. He heard M.J. let out a rusty breath.
“No sign of struggle,” he pointed out. “We’ll check the rest of the floor, then downstairs before we go into phase one of plan A.”
He moved down the hall and, a full yard before the next door, stopped. “Go back in her office, wait for me.”
“Why? What is it?” Then she caught the heaviness in the air, recognized it for what it was. “Bailey! Oh, my God.”
Jack rapped her back against the wall, pinned her until her struggles ceased. “You do what I tell you,” he said between his teeth. “You stay here.”
She closed her eyes, admitted there were some things she wasn’t strong enough to face. Nodded.
Satisfied, he eased back. He moved down the hall quietly, eased the door open.
It was as bad as he’d ever seen, and death was rarely pretty. But this, he thought, trailing the light over the wreckage caused by a life-and-death struggle, had been madness.
Life had lost.
He turned away from it, went back to M.J. She was pale as wax, leaning against the wall. “It’s not Bailey,” he said immediately. “It’s a man.”
“Not Bailey?”
“No.” He put a hand to her cheek, found it icy, but her eyes were losing their glazed look. “I’m going to check the other rooms. I don’t want you to go in there, M.J.”
She let out the breath that had been hot and trapped in her lungs. Not Bailey. “Was it like Ralph?”
“No.” His voice was flat and hard. “It was a hell of a lot worse. Stay here.”
He went through each room, checked corners and closets, careful not to touch anything or to wipe a surface when he had no choice but to touch. Saying nothing, he led M.J. downstairs and did a quick, thorough search of the lower level.
“Someone’s been in here,” he murmured, hunkering down to shine the light into a tiny alcove under the stairs. “The dust’s disturbed.” Considering, he stroked his chin. “I’d say if somebody was smart and needed a bolt hole, this would be a good choice.”
Her clothes were clinging wet against her skin. But that wasn’t why she was shivering. “Bailey’s smart.”
He nodded, rose. “Keep that in mind. Let’s do what we came for.”
“Okay.” She cast one last look over her shoulder, imagined Bailey hiding in the dark. From what? she wondered. From whom? And where was she now?
Outside, Jack secured the door, wiped the knob. “I figure if you need to, you can get over to that mall on those legs of yours in about thirty seconds at a sprint.”
“I’m not running away.”
“You will if I tell you.” He pocketed the flashlight. “You’re going to do exactly what I tell you. No questions, no arguments, no hesitation.” His eyes flared into hers, made her shiver again. “Whoever did what I found upstairs is an animal. You remember that.”
“I will.” She clamped down ruthlessly on the next tremor. “And you remember we’re in this together.”
“The idea is for me to take these guys down, one at a time. If you can get to the van while I’m distracting them and disable it, fine. But don’t take any chances.”
“I’ve already told you I wouldn’t.”
“Once I have them secured,” he continued, ignoring the impatience in her voice, “we can use their van. I can have a nice chat with them. I think I can get a name out of them.” He examined his fist, then smiled craftily over it into her eyes. “Some basic information.”
“Oooh…” She fluttered her wet lashes. “So macho.”
“Shut up. Depending on the name and information we get, and the situation, we either go to the cops—which would be my second choice—or we follow the next lead.”
“Agreed.”
He opened the door of his car, waited until she slid over the seat, then picked up her phone. “Make the call. Stretch it out for about a minute, just in case.”
She dialed, then began to ramble to Grace’s answering machine in Potomac. She kept her eyes on Jack’s, and when he nodded, she pushed disconnect. “Phase two?” she said, struggling for calm.
“Now we wait.”
Within fifteen minutes, the van turned into the lot at Salvini. The rain had slowed now, but continued to fall in a steady stream. In his position beside an aging station wagon, Jack hunched his shoulders against the wet and watched the routine.
The two men got out, separated and did a slow circle of the building.
The big one was his target.
Using parked cars as cover, Jack made his way over, watching as the man bent, picked up M.J.’s phone from the ground. It was a decent plant, Jack mused, gave him something to consider in that pea-size brain of his. As the big man pondered over the phone, Jack sprang and hit him at a dead run, bashing into his kidneys like a cannonball.
He took his quarry to his knees, and had the cuffs snapped over one steel-beam wrist before he was flicked off like a fly.
He felt the searing burn as his flesh scraped over wet, grainy asphalt, and rolled before a size-sixteen shoe could bash into his face. He made the grab, snagged the sledgehammer of a foot and heaved.
From her post, M.J. watched the struggle, wincing as Jack hit the ground, praying as he rolled. Hissing as fists crunched against bone. She started quietly toward the van, glancing back to see the progress of the bout.
He was outmatched, she thought desperately. Was going to get his neck broken, at the very least. Braced to spring to his aid, she saw the second man rounding the far corner of the building.
He’d be on them in moments, she thought. And Jack’s plan to take them both quickly and separately was in tatters. She sucked in the breath to call out a warning, then narrowed her eyes. Maybe there was still a way to make it work.
She dashed out from behind cover, took a short run toward Salvini, away from Jack. She skidded to a halt when she saw the second man spot her, made her eyes widen with shock and fear. His hand went inside his jacket, but she held fast, waiting until he began closing in.
Then she ran, into the curtaining rain, drawing him away from Jack.
Both Jack and his sparring partner heard the shout. Both looked over instinctively and saw the woman with the bright cap of red hair racing away, and the man pursuing her.
Never listens, Jack thought with a bright spear of terror. Then he looked back, saw the big man grinning at him.
Jack grinned back, and his swollen left eye gleamed bright with malice. “Gotta take you down, and fast,” he said conversationally as he rammed a fist into the man’s mouth. “That’s my woman your pal’s chasing.”
The giant swiped blood from his face. “You’re meat.”
“Yeah?” There wasn’t any time to dally. Praying M.J.’s legs and his neck would hold out, he lowered his head and charged like a mad bull. The force of the attack shot the man back, rapping his head smartly on the steel door. Bloodied, battered and exhausted, Jack drove his knee up, hard and high, and heard the satisfactory sound of air gushing out of a deflated blimp.
Blinking stinging sweat and warm rain out of his eyes, Jack wrenched the man’s
arms back, snapped on the second cuff.
“I’ll be back for you,” he promised, as he retrieved the phone and tore off in search of M.J.
Chapter 12
Jack had told her, if anything went wrong, to head for the shops, to lose herself in the crowds. Scream bloody murder if necessary.
With that on her mind, M.J. veered that way, her priority to lure the second gunman away from Jack and give him an even chance.
But as she raced toward the stores, with their bright On Sale signs, she saw couples, families, children being led by the hand, babies in strollers. And thought of the way the man chasing her had slipped a hand under his jacket.
She thought of what a gun fired at her in the midst of a crowd would do.
And she pivoted, changed direction on a dime and ran toward the far end of the lot.
Pumping her arms, she tossed a quick look over her shoulder. She’d left her pursuer in the dust. He was still coming, but lagging now, overheated, she imagined, in his bagging suit coat and leather shoes. Slippery shoes on wet pavement. Just how far would he chase her, she wondered, before giving up and turning back to pick up his friend?
And stumble over Jack.
Deliberately she slowed her pace, let him close some of the distance, in order to keep his interest keen. Part of her worried that he would simply use that gun, slam a bullet into her leg. Or her back. With the image of that running riot in her head, she streaked into a line of parked cars.
She could hear her own breath whistling now. She’d run the equivalent of a fifty-yard touch-down dash in the blistering heat of a midsummer storm. Crouching behind a minivan, she swiped sweat from her eyes and tried to think.
Could she circle back, find a way to help Jack? Had the gorilla already pounded him into dust and set off to help his buddy? How long would her luck last before some innocent family of four, their bargain-hunting complete, ran through the downpour and into the line of fire?
Concentrating on silence more than speed, she duckwalked around the van, slid her way around a compact. She needed to catch her breath, needed to think. Needed to see what was happening behind the Salvini building.
Bracing herself, she put one trembling hand on the fender of the compact and risked a quick look.
He was closer than she’d anticipated. Four cars to the left, and taking his time. She ducked down fast, pressed her back into the bumper. If she stayed where she was, would he pass by, or would he spot her?
Better to die on the run, she thought, or with your fists raised, than to be picked off cowering behind an economy import.
She sucked in a breath, said another quick prayer for Jack, and headed for new ground. It was the ping on the asphalt beside her that stopped her heart. She felt the sharp edge of rock bounce off her jeans.
He was shooting at her. Her heart bounced from throat to stomach and back like a Ping-Pong ball, and she skidded around a parked car. Another inch, two at the most, and that bullet would have met flesh.
He’d tagged her, she realized. And now it would only be a matter of running her down, cornering her like a rabbit. Well, she would see about that.
Gritting her teeth, she bellied under the car, ignored the wet grit, the smell of gas and oil, and slid like a snake beneath the undercarriage, held her breath as she pulled herself through the narrow space and under the next vehicle.
She could hear him now. He was breathing hard, a wheeze on each inhale, a whistle on the exhale. She saw his shoes. Little feet, she thought irreverently, decked out in glossy black wing tips and argyle socks.
She closed her eyes for one brief moment, trying to get a picture of him planted in her mind. Five-eight, tops, maybe a hundred and sixty. Mid-thirties. Sharp eyes, a well-defined nose. Wiry but not buff. And out of breath.
Hell, she thought, going giddy. She could take him.
She scooted another inch, was just preparing to make her move when she saw those shiny wing tips leave the ground.
There in front of her eyes were a pair of scuffed boots. Jack’s boots. Jack’s voice was muttering panting curses. Her vision blurred with relief and the terror as she heard the muffled thump that was the silenced gun firing again.
Skinning elbows and knees, she was out from under the car in time to see the gunman running for cover and Jack starting off in pursuit.
“Jack.”
He skidded to a halt, whirled, sheer relief covering his battered face. And it was then that she saw the blood staining his shirt.
“Oh, God. Oh, God. You’re shot.” Her legs went weak, so that she stumbled toward him as he glanced down absently, pressing a hand to his side.
“Hell.” The pain registered, but only dimly, as his arms filled with woman. “The car,” he managed. “Get to the car. He’s heading back.”
His hand, wet with blood and rain, locked on hers.
Later, she would remember running. But none of it seemed real as it happened. Feet pounding on pavement, skidding, the jittery thud of her heart, the rising sense of fear and fury, the wide, shocked eyes of a woman carrying shopping bags who was nearly mowed down in their rush.
And Jack cursing her, steadily, for not doing as she was told.
The van screamed out of the lot as they skidded down the incline. “Damn it all to hell and back again.” His lungs were burning, his side shot fire. Desperately he dug the keys out of his pocket. “In the car. Now!”
She all but dived through the window, barely maintaining her balance as he burned rubber in reverse. “You’re hurt. Let me see—”
He batted her worried hands away and whipped the wheel around. “He got his three-ton friend, too. After all that trouble, they’re not getting away.” The car shimmied, fishtailed, then the tires bit the road as he swung into the chase. “Get the gun out of the glove box. Give it to me.”
“Jack, you’re bleeding. For God’s sake.”
“Didn’t I tell you to run?” He punched the gas, screaming on the van’s rear bumper as they rocketed toward the main drag. “I told you to head for people, to get lost. He could have killed you. Give me the damn gun.”
“All right, all right.” She beat a fist on the glove compartment until the sticky door popped open. “He’s heading for the Beltway.”
“I see where he’s going.”
“You’re not going to shoot at him. You could hit some poor schmuck’s car.”
Jack snatched the gun out of her hand, swerved to make the exit, skidded on the damp roadway. “I hit what I aim at. Now strap in and be quiet. I’ll deal with you later.”
Her fear for him was such that she didn’t blink an eye at his words. He zipped through traffic like a madman, hugging the bumper of the van like a lover. And when they hit ninety, a cold numbness settled over her, as if her system had been shot full of novocaine.
“You’re going to kill someone,” she said calmly. “It might not even be us.”
“I can handle the car.” That, at least, was perfect truth. He threaded through traffic, staying on target like a heat-seeking missile, his fat new tires gripping true on the slick roadway. He was close enough that he could see the big man hunched in the passenger seat turn around and snarl.
“Yeah, I’m coming for you, you son of a bitch,” Jack muttered. “You’ve got my spare cuffs.”
“You’re bleeding on the seat.” M.J. heard herself speak, but the words seemed to come from outside her mind.
“I’ve got more.” And with the gun on his lap, he whipped the wheel, gained inches on the side. He’d cut them off, he calculated, drive them to the shoulder. The big man was cuffed, and he could handle the other.
And then, they would see.
His eyes narrowed as he saw the driver of the van twist his head around, heard the wheels screech. The van shimmied, shuddered, then swerved wildly toward the oncoming exit.
“He can’t make it.” Jack pumped his brakes, fell back a foot and prepared to make the quick, sharp turn. “He can’t make that turn. He’ll lose it.”
&nbs
p; He swore when the van rocked, lost control on the rain-slicked road and hit the guardrail at eighty. The crash was huge, and sent the van flying up like a drunken high diver. It rolled once in the air. And amid the squeal of brakes of other horrified drivers, it landed twelve feet below, on the incline.
He had time to swing to the side, to push out of the car, before the explosion shoved him back like a huge, hot hand. M.J.’s hand gripped his shoulder as the flames spewed up. The air stank with gas.
“Not a chance,” he murmured. “Lost them.”
“Get in the car, Jack.” It amazed her how cool, how composed, her voice sounded. Cars were emptying of drivers and passengers. People were rushing toward the wreck. “In the passenger side. I’m driving now.”
“After all that,” he said, dazed with smoke and pain. “Lost them anyway.”
“In the car.” She led him around, ignoring the high, excited voices. Someone, surely, would have already called 911 on his car phone. There was nothing left to do. “We need to get out of here.”
She drove on instinct back to her apartment. Safe or not, it was home, and he needed tending. Driving Jack’s car was like manning a yacht, she thought, concentrating on her speed and direction as the rain petered out to a fine drizzle. A very old, very big boat. With a vague sense of surprise, she pulled in beside her MG.
Nothing much had changed, she realized. Her car was still there, the building still stood. A couple of kids who didn’t mind getting wet were tossing a Frisbee in the side yard, as if it was an ordinary day in ordinary lives.
“Wait for me to come around.” She dragged up her purse from the floor, found her keys. Of course, he didn’t listen, and was standing on the sidewalk when she came around the hood. “You can lean on me,” she murmured, sliding an arm around his waist. “Just lean on me, Jack.”
“It should be all right to be here,” he decided. “At least for a little while. We may have to move again soon.” He realized he was limping, favoring an ache in his right leg that he hadn’t noticed before.