by T. J. Kline
There were five shots, fired in quick succession from beside her and Tank fell from the back of the van to the asphalt. He didn’t move.
"Leo!"
He groaned in reply. "He's not getting up," he answered weakly.
Toni saw Leo’s shadow on the ground and, from the angle she ascertained he leaned with his back against the rim of the blown tire. "Toni?"
"Hang on, Leo."
Toni searched for any sign of Monique. She still hadn't exited the van yet. They couldn’t have missed her. Sirens blared down the street, heading their direction. The cavalry would arrive and she sure as hell needed them now. Leo was hurt, badly, and while her injury didn't hit an artery, she suspected it shattered her femur, which would cause a fatal amount of blood loss if she didn't get to a hospital quickly, and Rose wasn't responding.
She shoved against her sister’s arm again, rolling her over. "Rose. Come on, wake up."
A small gash at the side of her head oozed blood, the crimson brilliant against her pale flesh. Several smaller cuts marred her sister's face, but they were old and beginning to heal. Panicking wouldn't help but Toni found it difficult to think clearly. "Rose!"
Toni cringed at the pain that rocked through her as she leaned over her sister, prying her eyelids open, her pupils dilated and unresponsive to the sunset glaring down into them, but she was breathing. There was that.
A quiet laugh echoed from inside the van. "Rose, Casey, Toni…so many identities. How do you keep them all straight?" Toni looked away from her sister as boot heels clicked on the asphalt. Monique approached gun in hand, leveling it at Toni's chest. "At this point, I have no idea who either of you might be. Although, I guess it doesn't really matter."
The sirens closed in but they sounded like they were still a few blocks away; they wouldn't be here in time to save her. Leo was on the other side of the van and didn't know that Monique was outside the vehicle, or that she was armed. He had no clue the danger they were all in.
“What are you going to do? The police will be here any second.” Toni tried to be loud enough for Leo to hear, praying he was still conscious. Please, don't let him be…
When they hit the ground, she'd dropped both of her weapons but they had to be close. She slid her hand under her sister's side, her fingers searching for the feel of metal.
"There isn't much I can do, is there?" Monique shrugged nonchalantly. "I mean, I was kidnapped along with your sister and barely escaped. As it was, I only got out because you amazing agents killed my attacker.” She shot a glance at the body behind the van. “I grabbed his gun but, unfortunately, not before everyone was killed trying to help me escape. "
"No one will believe you." Toni's fingers brushed against the butt of her Sig .380.
"No?" The woman laughed hysterically, waving her gun at the sky. "Who'll contradict my story?"
As Monique broke eye contact, Toni shoved her hand under her sister, her fingers closing over the gun, dragging it toward her.
"She won't." Monique spun and fired a shot.
Toni waited for the bullet to rip into her, and then she realized what Monique said, what she'd done.
"No!"
Toni sat up and emptied the rest of the magazine, point blank, at the woman in front of her. Spent shells ticked as they hit the asphalt around her but Toni couldn't stop firing, not even when the weapon clicked empty and Monique crumbled at her feet. The agony burning through her leg didn't compare to the pain of her heart being ripped from her chest.
Her own wound forgotten, Toni rolled over, pressing her hands over the bloodstain spreading across Rose's chest, trying to hold onto the life as it flowed from her sister's body, pooling beneath them both.
"Toni!"
Leo's weakened voice called out to her but agony tore through her and she released a guttural cry of rage, fear, and grief. She wanted to check her sister for a pulse but she wouldn't release the pressure over Rose's chest wound.
Chaos erupted around her. Faces surrounded her, trying to speak but Toni didn't understand anything over the wail of the sirens. Or was that her own keening cry? A paramedic pried her hands from Rose and she fought him, trying to stay close to her twin, even as they lifted Toni onto a gurney. She sat up, screaming for her sister. They couldn't separate; Rose would never realize she came to save her. If they split up, she'd lose her.
"Toni, stop." Jones stood over her, holding her shoulders down as a paramedic tried to get an I.V. into her arm. "You've got to let them treat you."
"I have to stay with Rose."
"This leg is bad. We need to stabilize her.” The paramedic turned to Jones. “We need to get her to Sunrise Hospital right away. She needs surgery."
"Go, T. You can't do anything here if you die." He glanced over at where the paramedics surrounded Rose and Toni watched his face, searching for a clue as to her sister's condition. He sighed. "I'll stay with her. Trust me."
The darkness closed in around her and she welcomed it if it meant Rose would live. She had no choice. "Leo?" she whispered, hoping to hold on long enough for Jones to understand what she asked.
"He'll be fine. He's lost a lot of blood, but it appears it missed anything vital. Just sleep, T."
17
Toni ran a hand over her left thigh, where the rods and screws in her leg finally began to heal, leaving scars that her doctors assured her would fade with time. After two weeks in traction and another two in this chair, soon Toni would be allowed to use crutches and start the long process of bearing weight on her leg again. Physical therapy was a nightmare as they re-taught her to muscles to do what they once did automatically. Muscles that were beginning to repair, that had once responded without thought to kick, jump and walk. Muscles that now required her hands to manipulate them their movement.
Leo laid his hand on her shoulder. It seemed like so long ago when the heat from his palm shot desire through her body. Now it brought her only comfort. His thumb brushed against the side of her neck in a tender caress. She loved him, more than ever before. He'd risked his life for her and Rose, nearly died to save them. The bullet that hit him only missed his heart by a fraction, puncturing his lung and shattering two ribs still bound tightly beneath his dress shirt. He’d be heading back to work in a few weeks with strict orders to take it easy over the next few months. He wasn’t happy about the desk duty position but reminded her it was what they’d agreed upon when he closed his case. He'd done that when Megan returned home and the bodies of the other two missing girls were recovered from property surrounding the house in Mexico.
At least Leo still had a job to return to. Toni was forced to retire from the Bureau, something she’d decided in the moments facing down Monique Bentley, and struggled to accept her new civilian identity. Officially, she'd left due to the permanent damage from her injuries. Unofficially, it was because she'd ignored all protocol and gone vigilante. None of the reasons mattered to her.
Leo pushed her wheelchair to the end of the walkway and Toni looked back at Jones waiting for them beside the parked car, giving them privacy. She closed her eyes, trying to imagine, for a moment, what it would have been like to lose either of these two men. They were the rocks in her existence. There to pick up the pieces after losing her father to his heart attack and instrumental in helping her find Rose, putting their own lives at risk to save her.
Leo stopped, locking her chair in place as he dropped to one knee beside her. "Toni, I can't begin to put myself in your shoes." He reached for her cheek, his thumb brushing away the tears that had taken up residence on her cheeks in the days since the shooting. "However long it takes, I'll be here for you, with you every step of the way. I love you."
She pressed her lips together, wanting to explain to him exactly how much his words meant to her, how much she loved him. "I…Leo…"
"Shh." He stood, bending to kiss her, though it must hurt his ribs. "I know. I can't promise things will ever be the same. They won't. But we can move forward, together."
She drew
a shaky breath, closing her eyes again. The pain swelled through her, filling her, making her wish she'd been the one to die that day on the asphalt. But this pain didn't come from her shattered leg. It centered in her chest, spreading through her until it devoured her, eating away at what had once made her whole.
"You ready?"
Her fingers tightened around the bouquets of flowers in her lap and she nodded. Leo released the brake on her chair and gingerly pushed her across the meticulously manicured lawn. Every bump and jolt should have caused spasms in her leg but she was too numb, her raw emotions draining every nerve ending of the ability to know anything but grief. Leo stopped as they approached the marble headstone bearing her father's name, and now, her mother's just beneath.
The reality hit her, stealing the air from her lungs as she bent forward, setting the flowers at the base of the stone. Her mother had given up. Unable to bear this pain, she hadn't wanted to face the future. Unable to move past her anger and blame, she'd made the choice to end it on her own terms. Quickly, painlessly, swallowing a bottle of pills, she'd fallen asleep. She was almost jealous of her mother.
Toni gripped the second bouquet of white roses, biting back the sob threatening to burst from her chest. She lifted them to her, burying her face into them, remembering how much her sister loved them. She gripped the armrest of her chair for balance as she placed the flowers on Rose's grave, tears streaming unchecked as she fought to contain the agony.
She wanted to throw herself on it, to lie down and let her heart stop beating, knowing it should have been her there instead. Not Rose who hurt no one. Rose who made people feel special. Sweet, kind, innocent Rose who spent her days making the world better by reaching out to children. Rose who begged her to give up her job and become a wife to Leo, loving him the way he deserved, the way she would have loved a man.
And now she would never have that chance.
Rose would never have the opportunity to become a wife or a mother, or touch another life with her kindness because Toni killed her. She may not have pulled the trigger, but she’d been to blame. Toni spent her entire life protecting the innocent, but when it came down to the most important person in her life, she failed.
Leo grasped her hand and squeezed but Toni was so immersed in her heartache, she hardly noticed his caress. "Baby, she loved you. She wouldn't want to see you giving up this way."
"Giving up?"
Toni looked up at him. Trapped in a broken body, her career ruined, her family gone. Because she failed them. Why shouldn't she give up?
"Rose always said she was the lover, and you were the fighter. She realized how important it was for you to fight for those who couldn't. She was proud of you for it."
"She wanted me to quit."
"No, she worried about the risks you took. She knew you, your heart. Rose understood you were fulfilling your purpose. So, do I. We both love you for the person you are."
"I got her killed, Leo. It's my fault."
The sob caught in her chest burst through, the dam around her heart crashing. The desolation from inside her spilling out. But Leo was there to hold her. He didn't tell her not to accept her shame, didn't try to convince her she was mistaken, and she loved him for it. He pressed kisses to her temple, her eyes, the wet streaks her tears left on her cheeks.
"Baby, horrible people did this to Rose, and we killed them. They can't hurt anyone else and you're to thank for that."
"It won't bring her back." She clung to him, her fingers grasping his shirt.
"No," he conceded, "it won't. But don't let Rose's sacrifice be the end. Live for her. Have the life she wanted for you."
Toni reached up, touching Leo's cheek, brushing away the tear that slid down his own. She didn't want to hurt him any more than she already had. He'd lost someone close to him, too. He'd loved Rose like a sister.
Live for her. Don't let her sacrifice be the end.
Leo was right. She wouldn't let this end here, not like this. His words repeated on a loop in her mind and the shattered pieces of her heart began piecing together. She felt again, in a way she hadn't since Rose's death. Toni couldn't bring Rose back, would never regain what she'd lost - what was taken from her - but she could punish those who stole everything from her. She would make sure that Rose wasn't remembered as a victim, but a catalyst. It wasn't the purpose she once believed in but she would find a new mission for her life - destroying all the people involved with taking away hers.
Today, she would mourn her losses. But tomorrow, she and Leo would move forward. Tomorrow they could wake in a new world, one where she would walk again, fight again.
For love. For Leo.
For Rose.
THE END
If you enjoyed DANGEROUS PROMISES…
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DANGEROUS LIES
COMING JANUARY 2018
Maria Rivas stared down into the gaping hole embracing her mother’s lifeless body. Only six months ago she stood in this very spot as she and her mother buried her father after his agonizing bout with colon cancer. The day had been torture but at least her mother stood with her.
Today was a nightmare. Today, she was alone.
The damp earth slide between her fingers and Maria grimaced as it hit the top of her mother’s casket with a dull thud, sounding as empty as her heart, before raining over the sides.
A single tear slid down her chin and fell on her hand, leaving a wet streak through the dirt in the creases of her calloused palm. Maria tried to swallow the ache in her chest, choking back the scream of despair threatening to escape and pressed both deep down within her. As one of the few successful female mixed martial arts fighters, fighting through pain was nothing new - broken bones, torn muscles - but never like the echoing chasm where her heart once resided, leaving her hollowed and sapped of all strength. Her knees trembled, and she steeled herself to keep them from buckling.
A watery sniff from behind her drew her attention as her tia moved forward, nudging Maria out of the way to pay her final respects to her sister. Her aunt’s not-so-subtle way of reminding Maria there were others here who wanted to mourn. Others grieving who she should be considerate of, others she needed to be polite to, in spite of her own anguish.
Fuck them.
They lost a sister or an aunt. Maybe a few in attendance even called her mother “friend.” Where they when her mother was fighting for her husband’s life? Or when she killed herself working three jobs just to pay the medical bills their insurance company refused to pay?
Too caught up in their own lives to worry about anyone else.
Fuck them and fuck this.
Maria was burying her mother, damn it, and she would stand here as long as she wanted. Everyone else could go to hell.
“She was so funny. I loved to hear her laugh.”
Maria bit her tongue.
Laugh? When was the last time I saw her smile?
Her mother had been too busy taking care of her father through his illness and then after when the insurance company refused to pay for his medical bills. When his life insurance policy didn't come through, she’d worked more hours than humanly possible. No one should endure the pain her mother had.
The surrounding voices murmured sweet memories of her mother from the past few years but Maria couldn’t stomach any more empty platitudes. These people weren't talking about the same woman. Her mother was too broken by life to be cheerful and sweet. There'd been no energy left at the end of the day to be kind to neighbors.
Rage built within as she listened to the priest pray for her mother’s soul. As if he’d even met her. He didn't remember the frail Latina woman who sat in the third pew from the back, every S
unday morning, after her late shift, praying for her husband to get well, begging God to take her instead. He had no clue how hard her mother tried to save her husband before cancer ate him from the inside out, couldn’t fathom what it cost her mother to watch her husband of thirty years take his last breath. This man didn't witness the war her mother tried to wage on the insurance company when they refused to pay out his life insurance policy, claiming her father overdosed on pain medication. Nor had he witnessed how that battle aged her as she tried to keep the only thing left she valued - the tiny shit-hole of a house she made their home. Instead, she’d made the mistake of trusting her sister who “knew a guy.” It only ended up with her getting played by the system, hiding from ICE and forced to give up her house to her sister. The strain had worked her mother into a heart condition and an early grave.
Her tia shot her a scowl and pushed past her. Maria clenched her jaw, every muscle in her body tense as tears of frustration fell down her cheeks.
This wasn’t fair. This wasn’t right.
She might have been the one in the ring, but her mother was the true fighter. She was the strength that kept Maria standing upright when life came at her, throwing punches. Without her, Maria had nothing left and no reason to keep going.
Someone would pay; someone had to. Maria had no idea who or how, but she wouldn't let her parents just disappear like their lives hadn’t mattered.
“Sir, I’m happy to report we are showing yet another profit spike in the second quarter.”
Oliver Bolton chuckled arrogantly, waving his assistant off. “I expected nothing less.”
“Again?” Daniel leaned forward on the leather couch gracing his father’s immense office and steepled his fingers against his lips, balancing his elbows on his knees. “That’s what? Six quarters in a row? How is that possible?”