Against The Wall

by Dee J. Adams

  “Meet me downstairs. I want to check in with the family.” Paul slid into his black suit coat and buttoned it as he on the floorataytowalked out of his office. Appearances were important. He checked for the slim black mask in his pocket, hating that he had to wear it. But if the mask meant he might not have to kill six people, then he could live with it. Because if the St. Johns identified him, their lives ended.

  He met Frank on the first level and together they took the stairs to the basement room. In the hallway, Paul looked around, the hair on the back of his neck standing up straight.

  “Where’s your man, Frank?” Paul had given Frank carte blanche to hire the muscle and he’d done a great job for years. He might have finally fucked up.

  “Maybe he’s in the room,” Frank said. No sign of worry, but Paul new better. He felt it in his bones.

  “Open the door,” he ordered. He stood back and waited as Frank unlocked the heavy door. Frank’s “Oh, shit,” sealed what Paul already knew in his gut. He surveyed the room.

  Empty.

  Except for Dennis, bound and gagged, unconscious in the corner.

  Paul went into fix-it mode. “Get everyone we have.” That was only four guys, but everyone had a gun so the odds were in their favor. “Have one of them check inside and put three in the front yard. You and I will take the back. Tell them to case the perimeter and spread out. I want every St. John back in this room within the next five minutes, got it?” Paul didn’t wait for an answer. He took the stairs two at a time to retrieve his gun from his desk. He wasn’t one of those bosses who let his guys do all the work. He couldn’t sit around especially now when he wanted that family back where he needed them. As his leverage.

  Moving back downstairs, Paul’s mind raced. Where would he go if he were Jay St. John? None of the St. Johns knew where they were so they’d probably take the nearest exit outside and attempt to escape that way. From the basement, they had to climb a short flight of steps to the laundry room and that would lead them to the door of the back yard, where they’d find a terraced yard, a spectacular view of the Santa Monica Pier, the Pacific Ocean and a steep drop down a rocky cliff.

  Frank caught up to him as he slipped out the back door. “I got guys in the front. We’ll get ’em,” he muttered, gun in hand.

  Paul stood on the steps, scanned the yard. His sister had built a Jacuzzi tub encased in a large gazebo. Tall palms kept the lawn shaded, and large hedges cut out intimate spots where furniture sat in secluded clusters.

  Each side of the yard had a gate, so Paul had a fifty-fifty shot at guessing the right one. He was about to send Frank to the right when he heard something to his left. Motioning Frank to follow him, he moved toward the south entrance. Crept along the wall, with Frank at his six. Relief rushed in his veins when he heard more noise. There was no easy way for six people to move quietly.

  Peeking around the corner, Paul nearly ran right into Terry St. John’s back. He took her arm at the same time he held the gun to her head.

  She froze like a good girl should. “Jay.” She hadn’t whispered and her husband turned around, no doubt to chastise herWhy not?”.t him for the error, but he paled instead. Two of the boys were just dropping to the other side of the wall, but Paul counted on his guys up front to snag them.

  The look on St. John’s face was priceless as he checked if any of his sons had made it out. Then his gaze landed back on his wife. Paul appreciated the man’s despair. No doubt about it, life was a real bitch sometimes.

  “This was not a very good idea,” Paul told him calmly. He looked behind St. John to the two boys remaining. “Come back this way. This is something you need to hear.” When they hesitated, Paul stuck the gun harder against Terry’s head and the boys jumped to join them. He heard more commotion in the front and knew the other two had just been caught.

  Relief rushed through him in a gratifying wave.

  He kept his tone neutral. “I can totally understand the urge to leave,” he said reasonably. “Someti

  Chapter Fifteen

  Tanner rubbed his eyes and listened as the grandfather clock ticked away the afternoon. Every few minutes Jess pulled back the sheer drapes and looked up and down the street. They’d spent the last four hours hunting through Juneau’s documents trying with no luck to find his master list of passwords. Tanner hadn’t wanted to be the voice of doom, but the odds seemed pretty slim of finding what they needed. Juneau could’ve hidden them anywhere. Long minutes had passed as they searched the hard drive for files with keywords like account, password, username, and then opened and scoured every document that came up and waited for her brother’s friend. They hadn’t said too much to each other in that time.

  They had showered, solo, before sitting at the computer. What a shame to waste water like that, but Tanner had patience. If nothing else, prison had taught him that. He’d have Jess again and when the time came, he’d go slower. He’d be able to. Probably. Most likely. At least he hoped. With his initial sexual urge slaked, he could watch her now with a critical eye. His thoughts weren’t sexual. Well, not as sexual.

  He hadn’t seen a soft side to her. She’d been scared, angry, frustrated, nervous, pissed and a few other adjectives that didn’t pop into his mind at the moment, but she hadn’t been soft. What would sex be like if she really wanted him? Yeah, sure, she’d been on board with everything he’d done, but it had been raw. Sex at its most basic level. They’d both just wanted relief. A distraction. Something to keep the nightmares from becoming real. But the nightmare was still lying in her garage with a hole in his head. It seemed Jess had pushed their encounter out of her mind. She had barely looked at him since she’d yanked her clothes on in the kitchen.

  What a sight that had been. Damn, she had a nice body. Petite and firm. The right curves in all the right places. Not to mention those sexy sounds she’d made.

  Tanner shifted in his seat, pissed at his train of thought. So much for being sexually slaked. Apparently all he had to do was think about her to get hard. Maybe that was natural after getting something he hadn’t had in more than seven years.

  Okay, so he needed to concentrate on the problem instead of her great ass and the gentle bounce of her breasts as she paced in front of him. He averted his gaze.~ lside and

  This house was amazing, huge, but not in an uncomfortable or pretentious way. Big furniture decorated every room, hardwood floors mixed with luxurious carpet. Tanner focused on the framed pictures sitting on the mantel of the giant mahogany fireplace. He’d seen some pictures in her brother’s room, but hadn’t taken the opportunity to really look around.

  Jess watched him as he moved closer to the pictures. She took a few steps back as if she needed the distance from him, but then resumed her pacing.

  Tanner scanned the photos. These were better. He got to see their faces. Their eyes. The ones upstairs were all action shots taken when the family had on caps or sunglasses, but these were posed family portraits.

  All her brothers had dark hair with streaks of red. Same as Jess. They got their blue eyes from their mother, whereas Jess got her whiskey colored eyes from…

  Tanner quit breathing. His heart raced. He recognized her father. It had been seven years since he’d seen the man. He’d only heard the name of Alex’s lawyer a couple of times, but now Tanner connected the dots. St. John. It took a full minute to find his voice. “This is your dad? Your last name is St. John?”

  Jess nodded absently.

  “He’s a lawyer?”

  This time she turned toward him. “Yes. How did you know?”

  Swallowing back the shock, Tanner scanned the rest of the photos. Jess’s parents on their wedding day, pictures of the family celebrating Christmas and graduations. In all the shots, her father’s face remained the same, and Tanner had seen his face almost every day in court for two months.

  “How’d you know he was a lawyer?” Jess demanded again.

  “He represented Alex in our trial,” T
anner said, turning to watch her face.

  “What?” she whispered. A hint of denial laced her tone.

  She didn’t know? “Your dad got Alex off with probation while I did seven years.” Tanner advanced on Jess. He had no reason to hold anything against her, but resentment sparked in him regardless. “Alex said I put him up to the robbery and that was their defense.”

  “Was he your lawyer t-too?” Her wide eyes filled with despair.

  Tanner shook his head. “No. No, Juneau hired someone else for me. Someone who let me get railroaded into doing Alex’s time. Juneau planned it that way, I’m sure. It’s why he said he’d take care of my lawyer fees. He told me not to worry. But all he wanted was Alex’s freedom. He didn’t care how much it cost him.” Tanner lifted his arms wide. “Well, he got what he paid for.”

  “My dad folded his firm about seven years ago,” Jess murmured.

  “That’s interesting. Maybe he was paid to do that.”

  “No!” Jess shot back. “He would never take:

  “So you remember all this?” Tanner asked. “The trial?”

  “No. I never kept up with Dad’s trials. I was in college. I lived in the dorms. I wasn’t even here most of the time. But I know he worked on a case that changed him.” Jess ran her hands through her short hair. “He closed the firm and took a job in the public defender’s office. He wanted to help people who just needed a second chance.”

  Tanner had to laugh at that. “Guess he grew a conscience too late.”

  “That’s not true!” Jess yelled. She advanced on him, her fury emanating from her like white, hot energy. “In all the years I’ve seen my parents together, those were the toughest months they ever went through. I didn’t know why, but Dad was miserable. Mom told me he dreaded getting up every day and when he got home, he just shut down.”

  “Like I said. Sounds like he had a problem with his conscience.”

  Jess’s eyes looked tortured. “Maybe he had a problem with the whole trial.”

  “He wouldn’t be the only one,” Tanner muttered.

  “It was his job to defend Alex Juneau. It wasn’t his fault that Maurice sabotaged you.”

  Maybe. But maybe not. Tanner hadn’t decided yet. If St. John knew Tanner was being railroaded then he held as much culpability as anyone.

  Tanner intended to find out.

  As long as the guy didn’t die before he spoke to him. Which just made one more reason he needed to help Jess find her family. He had business with her father.

  Tanner continued to study the pictures. Jess was the image of her mother with the exception of her father’s eyes. If he’d ever actually taken notice of St. John’s eyes, he might have recognized the similarity to Jess, but he’d been too preoccupied, and rightly so, with his own lawyer and dismal representation.

  Exhaling hard, Tanner leaned his head back and stared at the recessed lighting in the ceiling. He had one question in particular to ask Jess’s dad:

  Did you know Juneau set me up?

  Because if St. John did know…Tanner was better off where he was right now.

  As much as he thought his anger would die with Juneau, he’d been wrong. Now it was directed at someone else.

  A car pulled up in front of the house and Jess ran to the door. This must be Dave. The guy looked like the average egghead. Unlike Jess’s brother—or all her brothers—who was big and strong, this kid was short, skinny, and wore glasses with dark, heavy frames.

  Jess had the door open and he strolled in.

  “Hey,” he said, giving her a quick hug. “I was surprised to hear your voice when I called. I was expecting your mom or one of the boys.” didn’t come along that often. back t him

  Boys? Glancing at the pictures, Tanner had a hard time thinking of these giants as boys.

  Dave finally glanced his way then back to Jess. “Everything okay?” he asked. The question made Tanner feel like a menace. As if the words ex-con had been tattooed on his forehead for the world to see. A familiar shot of shame arrowed through his gut.

  “Yes. Fine.” Jess made quick introductions and ushered Dave into the dining room where Juneau’s laptop waited on the table. She pulled out the chair and gestured for Dave to sit. “I need you to find something for me on this thing.”

  Dave looked between the two of them, suspicion in his brown eyes. “Is this legal?”

  A hell of a first question. But since the owner of the computer was dead, did it matter?

  “Don’t ask.” Jess leaned over Dave and accessed a particular file titled Finances. She leaned back and looked at Dave. “Can you find and access financial accounts on this thing?”

  After studying them both for a minute, Dave sighed. He punched a few keys and different pages came up on the screen. “I don’t know,” he said, drawing out the words. “Let’s see.” Silently he went to work, then hit a page and stopped. “I need a password,” he said.

  “We’ve been trying to find a master list of passwords. Do you think you can find that instead?” Jess asked.

  Dave shrugged. “I can try.” His fingers flew over the keyboard again on his face didn’t bode well.

  “Isn’t there anyway to get around passwords?” Jess asked.

  “If there is, no one told me.” He sat back in the chair and looked up at her. “Look, I don’t know what Bren told you, but I’m not a hacker. I might spend a lot of time on my computer and mess around a little, and I can usually get rid of a virus or fix something wrong, but I’m not so sure about nosing around in someone else’s computer. I usually have someone with me who knows the computer and can help me get in.”

  Jess nodded, her eyes wide, her hands fidgety. “Okay, then, thanks for coming by.” She walked toward the door, surprising Tanner.

  That was it? She was giving up?

  Dave followed her to the door. “You going to tell me what’s wrong?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “Can’t. And I’m asking that you say nothing to anyone about this visit. It’s important, Dave. Not a word to anyone.”

  “This sounds way intense, Jess. First, I can’t find Bren. Then you’re freaking me out with this computer shit and telling me not to say anything to anybody. If you guys are in trouble then you should get help.” Dave glanced at Tanner, suspicion apparent in his eyes, before he looked at her. “How about you come with me and we talk.”

  Jess caught the insinuation circumstancesatayto. He didn’t trust Tanner. “I’m okay with him.” She held Dave’s gaze “I promise. It’s okay.” She opened the door and Dave slowly backed out.

  “Call me if you need anything, Jess. I don’t like what I’m seeing.”

  Nodding, Jess forced a smile and closed the door. She rested her head against the wood, her shoulders sagging.

  Tanner’s anger evaporated at her body language. She was tapped out. Jess moved away from the door. She looked pale. Hallowed out and empty. The circles under her eyes seemed darker, as if the last few minutes had stolen all her hope and now nothing remained but despair.

  She reached the laptop and shut the lid. “You should go.”

  What the hell was she thinking now? “Why?”

  She faced him, and the fire that usually burned in her eyes had dimmed. “Because Maurice is dead and I…” She swallowed hard. “You’ve been through enough and there’s no reason for you to risk your life further.” She turned away and pulled her cell phone from her pocket.

  “What are you doing?” Tanner made it across the room in three strides and snatched the phone from her hand.

  R, but the look

  Chapter Sixteen

  Jess woke up. Her gritty eyes hurt as if she’d been crying. Maybe she had been. Her dreams had been scary, filled with visions of her family bloody and beaten. She’d seen them from a distance, but no matter how far or fast she ran, they stayed out of her reach. Her chest felt constricted and air wheezed in and out of her lungs with painful gasps.

  The setting sun
glowed orange and pink along the thin horizon outside the window. Another day almost gone and Jess was no closer to getting her family back. Or finding them.

  Heaving herself out of bed, she splashed water on her face in the bathroom and changed into a pair of her mom’s loose drawstring sweats. She studied her pale reflection in the mirror. Physically, she felt sluggish, as if every move she made went against the tide. Mentally, she felt inconsequential. Helpless. Without the financial information or Maurice, she couldn’t save her family. She only had the computer and/or herself to offer, and what the hell would Facinetti want with her? Her only hope was to trade the computer for her family, and Facinetti might just laugh at that idea. Panic edged its way past helplessness.

  The smell of pizza wafted into the room, but Jess wasn’t hungry. She went downstairs anyway, each step jarring her back into real life, only to find a truckload of food scattered across the countertops. Pizza boxes, a bucket of chicken, a huge salad, and a six pack of soda.

  Tanner looked up after tossing a plastic bag in the garbage. “I called the number for the pizza place on the fridge,” he said. “The guy on the other end asked if I wanted the usual and I figured, sure, why the hell not. I was expecting a ten-dollar pizza and I got dinner for ten for forty-five bucks.”

  A reluctant smile c stripped off his T-shirta St. Johnmrept across Jess’s face. “It’s the usual order when they call Dr. Pizza.” She chuckled at his wide-eyed survey of all the food. “Don’t forget, there’s five men and my mom.”

  “Let me guess. The salad is your mom’s?”

  “You’re partially right. Mom and Dad split the salad. She told him he needs to watch his weight so she’s making him eat better.” Jess set a couple of plates on the counter. “Have at it. You paid for it.”

  Tanner lifted the top of the first pizza box. “Half cheese, half green pepper.” He wrinkled his nose. “Who eats green peppers on their pizza?”