Sam nodded.
“So why all the drama? The kidnapping. The threats. The…what they did to Anna. It was too much. If you hadn’t been there to rescue me time and again, I’d be a goner. But you were always there. You’re always here. For me. My hero. And that’s when I figured it out.”
“What?”
“This was never about me, not really. You said it yourself. That big undercover case you worked, the one focusing on the same enterprise, was a career-maker. The evidence you collected. The things you witnessed. They could bring the whole thing down. And they needed a way to control you.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Sam’s eyes widened. “Of course. Damn it. I’ve been so blind.” He seared Fabian with a look full of hatred. “And you knew I would be. My best friend. You know me better than anyone.”
Fabian smiled wolfishly. “That’s right. You’re very predictable. That’s been very useful to us.”
“There is one thing I don’t get,” I added. “How’d you orchestrate this? Me and Sam meeting.”
Fabian shrugged. “I didn’t. That was a coincidence. But the more he told me about you, the more I thought this would be the key. It was pure luck that you happened to blunder into part of the operation. The boys were just going to snatch you to get him to do what we need. But this…all of this…was so much more fun. Watching you scramble and run. Grow close and get scared. What a soap opera.”
“Fun? Fun? You fucking bastard.” I rose up to my knees and was about to rush at him when Sam’s hand stroked my back.
“Sit down, Carly. He’s just trying to get to you.”
“Too right, Sammy. Too right. Quite a little spitfire you’ve got here. Shame she didn’t meet me first.”
“Shut your mouth. You don’t even deserve to look at her.”
“Oh, so gallant and protective. Good. Then be that. Keep being her hero and obey me.”
“No.”
“Oh come on, buddy. You don’t even know what I want.”
“Of course I do, Fabian. You’re not that difficult to figure out.”
“I seem to have fooled you for quite some time, Sam.”
“Barely. But now I see you. And I won’t do it.”
I looked at him. “Do what? What do they want from you that’s worth killing people over?”
“You figured it out yourself. My case. It could bring them all down. But my testimony is the linchpin. Without that and the evidence I gathered, there’s nothing but conjecture and hearsay.”
“That’s right. Good job, Sam,” Fabian said with a sneer. “Now that everything’s out in the open, we can talk about next steps. We’re all going to spend the night here. Well, I’ll be going upstairs, but you’ll stay where you are. Then in the morning, Sam will go to work. He’ll gather all of the evidence he collected and bring it to me. I’ll destroy it. Then when the DA comes to start prepping him for trial, his memory will fail. I know you’ve got two meetings scheduled this week. That should be enough to torpedo the case. Once you do that, I’ll let Carly go and you two can buy a picket fence and make puppies for all I care.”
Sam and I shared a glance. There was exactly zero chance Fabian’s superiors would take the risk of letting us live. The man in front of us probably knew it too.
“Say we agree. You won’t hurt her?”
Fabian shook his head. “Not if we don’t have to. Be a good boy scout and this’ll all be over in a few days.”
Sam sighed. “I guess I don’t have much of a choice.”
“That’s right. You don’t.”
With anther glance, Sam flicked his eyes to the left. I wasn’t sure what he was trying to tell me until he stood up and approached Fabian. He shielded me and started hurling insults. Using a much more colorful vocabulary than I’d ever heard, he got louder and louder.
Shocked, Fabian just stood there and took the verbal abuse, his full attention on Sam while I crawled to my left and reached quietly for the crowbar that was lying forgotten in a patch of shadows.
I lifted it and pressed myself back against the wall. Sam’s haranguing increased in volume again and he started to close in on Fabian. The other man had apparently had enough, and before I knew it, they were both screaming at the top of their lungs at each other. In a messed up, bizarre way, I could see that they were close as brothers. Both throwing barbs that stuck and clearly hurt. But Fabian didn’t know Sam as well as he thought. I could hear the lack of real intensity in his voice as he played his part to give me cover.
And by the time I managed to creep around behind Fabian, neither man seemed to notice. That is, until I used all of my strength to slam the crowbar down on the back of his head. I wasn’t at my best, so it was a somewhat weak blow. But it did the job.
The gun flew from Fabian’s hand and he dropped down to one knee. Sam was on him instantly. Even with his hands cuffed together, he fought valiantly. But Fabian didn’t just roll over and take it. The pair grappled viciously, throwing fists and knees and elbows rolling on the floor and delivering punishing blow after blow to each other.
The fight was harsh and fast, the only sounds in the room flesh hitting flesh and their breathing. But as evenly matched as they seemed at first, Sam’s injuries and his lack of range of motion would eventually do him in. I had to do something, but wasn’t sure what. Then I spotted the gun, close enough to grab.
I picked it up and examined it for a minute. I’d never fired one before, but I could figure out the basics. I pointed it at the two bodies fighting in front of me and pulled back the slide. Both men froze in place at the sound.
“Get up. Both of you. And back away from each other.”
They obeyed, Sam moving faster than Fabian. The latter cocked his head to the side, looking amused. “Gonna shoot me, Carly?”
“Why not? I’ll consider it returning the favor.”
“I don’t think you’ve got it in you.”
I squinted at him. “You don’t have any idea what I’ve got.”
Sam caught my eye and shook his head, but I ignored him. This man had manipulated us, murdered my best friend. He needed to be put down and I desperately wanted to do it.
But then, standing there, pointing the gun at him, I hesitated. Not out of pity or doubt. He deserved neither. But I didn’t want to be a killer. Didn’t want to have that kind of violence inside me.
Fabian saw something of what I was thinking on my face and he charged me. I let go of the weapon and tried to protect myself, to no avail. He hit me like a semi-truck, and I was on the floor gasping for breath in a second. His hands closed around my throat and I saw my death in his eyes.
But just as he began to squeeze, he stopped moving. I glanced up and saw Sam there. He was standing over us with the barrel of the gun against the back of Fabian’s head.
“Let her go or I pull the trigger.”
“You wouldn’t. You’re one of the good guys, remember?”
Sam’s gaze met mine. He blinked slowly.
Fabian’s fingers tightened around my neck and I couldn’t breathe.
I closed my eyes.
The roar of the gun was so loud I couldn’t hear anything for a long time.
* * *
Sam and I didn’t say anything as we made our way out of the warehouse. I showed him how to get back upstairs and to the control room with all the video monitors. There was a phone there and he used it to call nine-one-one before barricading the door and wrapping me in a tight embrace. We waited there in silence.
My ears were still ringing and Fabian’s blood was just starting to dry on my shirt when we saw the cops coming in on the monitors. It was an invasion force. I knew part of Sam wanted to be out there with them, searching, arresting. But he stayed with me, never releasing me for a second until it was all over.
Someone knocked a specific rhythm on the door and Sam opened it. Three cops in what looked like combat gear were standing there. The first one shook Sam’s hand. They spoke a few words to each other, but I didn’t catch
them. Whether it was my ears or the shock I felt settling in, I was barely aware of the next few minutes. We were led outside into the night. It was chilly and I shivered. Somebody dropped a jacket over my shoulders as I was separated from Sam and ushered to a waiting ambulance.
More police cars and vans were arriving every moment. It seemed the entire city’s force and then some were descending on the warehouse. I imagined them making their way down to the basement. Past the room I’d been held in. Stopping in the space where Fabian’s body lay. Some would head further on, through the tunnel.
From the gunfire I heard in the distance, I assumed they’d made it through the secret passage to the other warehouse.
Radios spat static and muffled announcements, making me dizzy. A paramedic was saying something to me, but I couldn’t focus enough to understand him. He cleaned my face and neck, careful not to touch my shoulder.
And then I saw Sam. He was shoving his way out of the other ambulance. He ran over to me and wrapped his arm carefully around my back, putting himself between me and the paramedic. There, with only his face in view, everything became clear again.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “They pulled me away from you. I won’t let that happen again. Not ever.”
I nodded and lifted my face to kiss him. It hurt like crazy, but I needed it. “I got shot. I think I should probably go to the hospital.”
Sam chuckled and helped me climb up into the ambulance. He sat next to me on the bench and glared at the paramedic who started to tell him he wasn’t allowed back there. The man looked at both of us, shrugged, and shut the doors.
By the time we got to the hospital, I was barely conscious. The only thing I hung onto was Sam’s hand in mine, and the feeling of his strong body next to mine. He kept holding my hand the entire time. While I was put on a bed and rolled down a long hallway. While a doctor examined me, cleaned the wound, stitched and re-bandaged me.
Even when I was wheeled into an X-ray suite, Sam was still there. One of the cops who was escorting us talked to the technician, who just sighed and handed Sam a lead guard as he stood next to me.
And when the doctor finally came and recommended I spend the night there for observation, I didn’t argue. But I did ask for someone to come and take a look at Sam, too. He frowned, but didn’t argue.
We were lying in hospital beds pushed close enough together for us to keep holding hands when I heard a familiar voice yelling in the hallway. At first I thought I was dreaming, but as the tiny pretty face of my best friend Anna came into view, I knew it had to be real. Because even in my wildest dreams, I’d never dared to imagine I’d see her again.
She yelped when she saw me and threw herself up on the bed with me. I looked over at Sam, wondering if he saw her too or this was some kind of cruel hallucination. His wide eyes and open mouth told me we were in the same boat.
“Anna, how?”
She was sobbing now, tears streaking her face. “I really hate you, Carly. I’m so fucking tired of coming to see you in hospitals. From now on, you’re grounded. No more going anywhere. Ever.”
“Ho-how are you here?”
“Me? I’m asking the questions here. One minute there’s some car following me home, super creepy. So I go to the cops and try to find Sam since I can’t get in touch with you at all. Then I spend almost twenty-four hours getting interrogated. First I thought you were in trouble, but then they said they were trying to locate both of you. I was so worried. Don’t you ever, ever do that to me again. Do you hear me?”
I nodded, mute.
“And you, Detective Sexy Pants. Get it together. This girl means the world to me and you better keep her safe.”
Sam uttered a baffled, “Yes, ma-am,” and just stared at us.
Once she was done telling us off, Anna sat up. “Why are you both staring at me like that?”
I shook my head. “He said…We thought…Forget it.” Fabian was more twisted than I knew. To think he’d lied the whole time about killing her. Just to, what? Make me more afraid? It had backfired. My rage had given me the strength to do the impossible. And now, between my best friend and the man of my dreams, I felt like I could face anything.
Which turned out to be a good thing. We only got a few hours of rest before local cops and federal agents descended on our room. I answered so many questions my head spun. Only my doctor returning to tell them I had a concussion stopped the rapid-fire interrogations, and even then only for a while. There was a lot to sort out, which I understood, but I thought it could wait.
During a rare moment of quiet, Anna got up and turned on the television. Every channel was running stories about the late night raid on a huge local illegal prescription drug operation. There was video of dozens of people being taken into custody. And one of the faces was familiar. The woman I’d made the delivery to, the one I had seen talking to Fabian. She struggled against the cops dragging her into a van, but it was pointless. The reporter kept talking, recounting some details, but nothing about us. She continued, saying something about doctors’ offices being raided, but I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep, finally relaxed for the first time in a long time.
Three Months Later
I was late getting to court, but no one seemed to care. By the time I straightened my clothes and slipped inside, the gallery was full and I barely managed to find a seat. I gulped at the size of the crowd and was happy the day I testified was much less crowded. Of course, my part of the trial was over quickly.
It took a few hours to get questioned and cross-examined about Mitchell’s part in the drug operation, but they only asked a few things about what had happened in the basement of the warehouse and with Fabian.
My lawyer said it was typical city bullshit, trying to cover their asses, but it didn’t matter to me. As long as I got a chance to tell my story, I got the closure I needed. Yup, closure. I was back in therapy and learning to spout the jargon again. Fifty percent waste of time and fifty percent necessary to keep functioning; I went every week with a minimal amount of whining. Well, I thought it was minimal.
Turning my attention to the front of the room, I couldn’t help but smile. Sam was so handsome and official up there on the stand. In his navy blue suit and the tie I’d bought him for luck, he looked like every inch the heroic cop the papers and prosecution lawyers were painting him as.
At the end of that terrible last night, he’d sworn to never let anyone separate us, and so far, he’d kept that promise. Never apart for more than a workday, we were happier than made any sense, considering all we’d been through.
He’d been frustrated that he couldn’t be out in the field until the trial was over, but it meant he had more time to hang out with me and Anna as we decorated the renovated townhouse the three of us were renting. Living with my boyfriend and best friend was kind of weird, but I couldn’t stand to be away from either of them for very long, so we made it work.
Most nights, Sam would pick me up from work at Angelo’s. I’d waddle out to the car so loaded down with takeout I could barely move. It wasn’t a permanent thing. I still wanted to find a job that didn’t leave me covered in pizza sauce, but for a while it was perfect. As long as the ovens kept heating and the beer taps never emptied, the job was stress-free. And the free food was helping to keep all of our spirits up.
I looked around the courtroom as low noise jolted me from my reverie. I leaned over to the man sitting next to me and asked, “What’s going on?”
He smiled. “Lunch break.”
“Oh, I missed that.”
“Don’t worry. I think these things are boring as hell, too.”
I nodded and stood up, following the tide of people heading out to a hallway. Once I got there, a court officer touched my arm. I winced. The damn thing was still achy, even after months of physical therapy.
“Carly Chase?”
“Yes,” I said warily.
“Come with me, please.”
I frowned and sighed. If the District Attorney’s offic
e wanted to talk to me again, I was going to scream and start throwing things. I bit my lower lip and followed him down a hallway. He ushered me to a closed door and then walked away.
Confused and a bit nervous, I opened it and paused. There was no twinge of fear or danger, so I stepped inside. And then I smiled.
“Sam, what the hell?”
He laughed, loosening his tie and coming over to plant a big sloppy kiss on my lips. “Sorry, baby, but I wanted to avoid the reporters. But I had to see you.”
“I was in the courtroom.”
“I know. Can you stay for the afternoon?”
“Most of it. I’m not on until five tonight.”
He wrapped his arms around my waist and pushed me back against the closed door. “Hm, another late night. Anna too?”
“Yeah. He never schedules me to close without her. Was that your idea or hers?”
Sam shrugged. “I’ll never tell.”
I shook my head. “I don’t like you two plotting against me.”
“We would never,” he said teasingly. “But I don’t want to talk about Anna right now.”
“Oh no?” I tilted my hips forward and noticed he was growing hard. “What do you want to talk about?”
“Nothing.” His hands grabbed my butt, pulling me closer into his body.
“This is a lunch break, Detective. Not a sex break.”
“Having you is more important than food. I’m starving for you, Carly.”
I giggled as his started kissing a line down my neck to my cleavage. “We did it this morning, Sam. It’s only been a few hours.”
“A few hours too long.”
“I love you, Sam,” I said, voice full of emotion and arousal.
“I love you too, baby. Always will.”
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