Not now.
For a moment when they were inside, Cassie actually thought Jake would tell her the words she wanted to hear. That he was helplessly in love with her.
What a fool!
How could she think that after such a short time together, Jake would risk his career just to be with her? Just because she knew without a doubt that she loved Jake Santos, that the thought of never being in his arms again was like a slow death, didn't mean he felt the same way. For the next six months, the memory of his hands on her skin, his mouth on her would haunt her every waking moment.
Another flashbulb went off and then another as a flurry of reporters began running toward another back door. More flashbulbs… Pop, pop, pop.
“Get down!” Pure horror clouded Kevin's face. He slammed Cassie to the rough pavement with insurmountable force. Her face hit the wet tar, and his strong hand kept her still while his body hovered over her.
“Get her to the car,” Charley yelled.
Firecrackers…screams…the rain beating her down to the ground and splattering her face, sucking the life out of her.
“Get off me,” she screamed, fighting Kevin as he pinned her in place.
The unmistakable and deadly sound of gunfire exploded near her ear. She pushed Kevin off her, horrified to find his gun was drawn, and he'd been the one to fire.
People were scrambling for cover. Ignoring the orders of the agents screeching orders back and forth between gunfire, Kevin gripped Cassie by the upper arm and dragged her behind a guardrail. It was feeble cover from flying bullets, but that's all they had at the moment without putting them directly in the line of fire. Even the run to the row of cars where Agent Radcowski was crouched would put them in direct line of fire.
Kevin cursed and frantically looked back and forth, searching the vicinity and the roof of the building. “Where the hell are they shooting from?”
Thank God Jake was inside. Cassie glanced in the direction they'd just come and saw the door to the courthouse was closed. In the middle of pandemonium, at least she had the comfort of knowing Jake was out of the path of flying bullets.
She'd thought he was bulletproof. At least that's the way she felt when Jake covered her with his body of armor. But he was a mere mortal man. She knew all too well that bullets killed, and Cassie didn't want Jake dying because of her.
A bullet splintered the wood rail just above her head.
“For God sake, Cassie, get low to the ground,” Kevin ground out.
The realization that she was going to die suddenly flooded her. She was going to die right there in the middle of a puddle and she had never told Jake she loved him. She was going to die. But at least Jake was safe.
* * *
Jake could hardly believe what he'd just heard. Anger surged through him at bullet speed, winding every muscle in his body into a tight knot.
“You sacrificed Cassie's life—”
“It was the only way, Jake. He was going to walk again and you know it! I never thought it would go this far. Believe me. Fagnelio has gotten away with murder long before this. But there's more, and we don't have much time.”
“If anything happens to Cassie—”
“It won't. There's still time.”
“Take off the cuffs,” Jake demanded, trying to keep his emotions in check, trying to clear his mind enough to keep from unleashing all his fear and pent up frustration out on the Captain.
Russo uncuffed him and took a wide step back as if waiting for Jake to take all his anger, all his energy and swing at him. “I saw the driver of the car, Jake.”
Whatever thoughts of retribution Jake had at that moment ended with that statement. The elusive driver. Cassie couldn't remember his face the night of the shooting. No one was talking.
“Was it Charley?”
Russo shook his head.
“Bellows?”
“It was Agent Radcowski. I knew it the moment he sat his arrogant ass in the chair in my office that he was behind—”
“Why didn’t you say something before now?”
“I needed him to bring Fagnelio in. He was the only one who could do it. That’s why I wanted you to get away. I didn’t know how deep this went into the FBI. I thought you’d be safe out—”
The Captain halted with the sound of popping, mixed in with torrential rain outside. Popping? No, gunfire!
“Cassie!”
* * *
An eerie silence hung in the air for a few seconds. The heavy downpour had ebbed with the gunfire as if the sky had chosen to give them a break. Those few seconds dragged on endlessly as another sheet of rain blew across the parking lot and pelted down on top of Cassie.
Kevin's eyes were ominously bright as he scanned the area around them. Water poured down his face. He blinked it away and opened his eyes wide, making him look more ferocious than the happy-go-lucky guy she'd been introduced to.
He didn't trust her. But he'd given Jake his word, so here he was protecting her.
“Jake.” She said his name softly and as if by sheer will the back door to the courthouse flew open. Three uniformed cops scrambled out the door and took cover behind the paddy wagon.
Jake stepped out into the downpour, the dark metal of his gun bleeding in with the color of his rain soaked hands and his shirt. By his stance, she knew he held a gun. And she knew he wasn't wearing a bulletproof vest.
A clap of thunder and a flare of lightning zigzagged across the black sky. Cassie heard another pop, pop, pop from behind her.
“I'm taking her to the car!” Agent Radcowski yelled from just beyond a row of cars.
She lifted up on her hands and heard someone screaming. Then in a split second, she realized it was her.
“Get down, Cassie!” Jake screamed, lifting his Glock into position. In his face, she saw both fear and hatred.
Agent Radcowski gripped her by the upper arm and dragged her away from Kevin.
“What the hell is Santos doing?” she heard Charley yell from right by her side.
“He's aiming at us!” Agent Radcowski scowled. “I told you he was trying to kill the girl all along.”
“No,” Cassie breathed. What were they saying? Radcowski lifted his gun into position, aiming it directly at Jake. To Cassie's horror, Charley did the same.
“Drop the weapon, Santos!” Charley yelled. As Charley lifted her gun into position, a surge of adrenaline raced through Cassie.
When she lifted her head and turned back, she had a sudden sense of déjà-vu. There was something about Agent Radcowski. Maybe it was the dark clouds, or the scowl on his face. He turned his head a fraction toward Jake, who was now charging in their direction, and it flashed in her mind. Darkness. Windows exploding. The face of the person sitting behind the wheel of the getaway car. The face of the man standing with her.
She looked at Agent Radcowski. It was him! He was the one involved with Fagnelio all along. He helped kill all those people. And he wanted her dead.
“Shoot him,” Radcowski scowled.
“No!” Cassie tried to break free, but Charley held her back.
Bursting forward, Cassie tackled Charley to the ground, rolling with her until they were out in the open, prime target for anyone to take aim.
“Stay down!” Charley demanded.
Cassie was done being a victim. Someone had wanted her dead and now she knew that without a doubt that person was Agent Radcowski. Too many people had already died at the hands of this monster.
“Charlotte, it was Agent Radcowski!” Cassie pleaded.
It took a second for that bit of information to register in the wake of all the confusion.
Before Agent Tate could make another move, a white spark of light spit from the barrel of Agent Radcowski’s gun, followed by the sound of gunpowder igniting. Kevin rose to his feet in front of Cassie, shielding her view of Jake. Another mighty clap of thunder coupled with a torrent of pistol fire rang out in the dark sky. Kevin flew back against the guardrail, gasping, his eyes wide open. A
nd then she finally saw Jake.
An eerie silence blanketed them for a moment. She lifted to her knees and saw Jake running full force toward her now. Agents encircled her. People were screaming. Before she could clear her mind among the confusion, she'd lost sight of Jake.
“Jake?” she called out.
Where had he gone?
“Let me go,” she screamed at a U.S. marshal who was pulling her away toward an open car door.
“Let go of her.” Jake appeared by her side at that instant, crushing her wet body against him, and kissing her.
She looked at him, touched his face, his chest. “Thank God, you weren't hurt. I thought you'd be killed,” she said, unable to hold back her tears.
“You might be letting me off the hook, but let me tell you lady, I'm not letting you off the hook.”
New tears sprang to her eyes. “Thank God,” she whispered.
“I was so afraid I'd never get a chance to tell you how much I love you.”
She let the cold rain and hot tears roll helplessly down her cheeks. Agents and uniformed cops were screaming orders around them, trying to sort through the crowd and attend to the injured.
“You love me?”
Through the rain, she saw his tears. “More than I ever thought I could.”
Not even the bright flashbulbs that went off distracted him from her. The press had now emerged again, despite the police officers’ attempts at holding them back, and were hot to get their story. Oblivious, Jake just gazed down at her, the rain dripping off his wet hair and face. She saw the love shining in his eyes and written all over his face.
“I love you, too,” she said, reaching up and wrapping her arms around him. “I don't want to be without you.”
“I don't think that's a problem anymore,” she heard Kevin say from behind them.
“Oh, Kevin,” she gasped. She'd seen him go down during the last round of gunfire.
They both turned and saw Charlotte crouched by Kevin's side, helping him to his feet. The small hole in the center of his shirt was unmistakable.
“You okay, buddy?” Jake asked.
Kevin nodded.
“Hurts like a bastard, huh?” Jake said, reaching a hand out to his partner, a look of relief and gratitude filled his expression.
“Knocked the damn air right out of my lungs.”
“You really okay?”
Kevin nodded, opening his wet shirt, which revealed a bulletproof vest. He'd taken a bullet meant for Jake, and for that she was eternally grateful. Jake wasn't wearing any armor to protect him. She knew he would have taken the bullet for her, with or without a vest. It both filled her heart with love and with colossal fear.
In the moments that passed, the rain subsided, the ambulances arrived, and the story of what had happened unfolded.
In an attempt to cover his involvement in the bond fraud, Agent Radcowski orchestrated an escape attempt during Cassie's transfer to cause confusion in the hopes that either Fagnelio or Cassie, the one star witness who could prove instrumental in tracing his partnership with Ritchie Trumbella back to him, would be killed.
Captain Russo, suspecting Radcowski would make his move but not having any evidence to prove otherwise, orchestrated a media mob to keep Radcowski from getting away with murder again.
Agent Radcowski had killed Angel Fagnelio and later confessed to being the real strong arm, along with Agent Bellows, in the bond fraud. Charlotte Tate had unknowingly been a source of information for Bellows and knew nothing about the other agents' involvement.
Three weeks later, Cassie had come to terms with the outcome and had submerged herself back into her work and real estate ads for houses outside the city. Jake spent every night at her apartment, coming in late with an apologetic look on his face.
It was no different this night.
Jake crept into her dark bedroom and sank down on the bed next to Cassie.
“Did I wake you?” he asked, when he realized she was watching him.
“No, I just got into bed myself.”
He smiled weakly, pulling off his boots.
Cassie sat up in bed. “Stop doing that.”
“Doing what?”
She sputtered. “Don't give me that, Santos. You've been coming here for the past three weeks with this gloomy look like you think I'm going to toss you out the window for being late.”
He shrugged sheepishly. “I'm sorry.”
“For what? Coming home late? That's your job.”
“That doesn't bother you?”
“Not as much as thinking about you chasing bad guys.”
His eyebrows furrowed, darkening his expression. “That's about what I do. Is that something you can live with? I mean, day in and day out?”
“I'm getting used to it. If there is one thing I've learned these past few weeks, life doesn't give you any guarantees. What we went through, most people can't even fathom. I want what we have for as long as we are blessed to have it. I can be happy with that.”
“It's not going to make you mad to eat dinner alone half the time?”
She smirked. “Speaking of dinner, I burned it tonight.”
Jake cursed under his breath. Cassie chuckled and shook him teasingly.
“I was writing, silly. I forgot all about the roast because I had to get this one scene written. By the time I remembered dinner, it had petrified in the oven. I'm saving it to use as a doorstop.”
The rich sound of Jake's laugh lifted her heart and filled it beyond capacity.
“You didn't get mad at me when you woke up and found me at my computer last week, did you?”
He shook his head. “But what does that have to do with anything?”
“Everything. You chase bad guys and I write about them. Both of us run on a moment’s notice.” She snaked her arms around him and nuzzled her face in his neck. “Don't you see, we're perfect together?”
She heard his laughter bubble up from his chest.
“I guess you're right.”
“I know I'm right. So what are you going to do about it, Detective?”
He gave her a teasing sidelong glance. “Are you getting bossy with me again, CJ?”
She laughed at Jake's reference to CJ. He'd come to calling her that whenever she asserted herself. And she had to admit, she rather liked playing the heroine. He rolled her onto her back and covered her body with his as he kissed her with a wild passion she'd come to know and love.
“You know, CJ Carmen has fallen in love.”
Jake’s eyebrows knitted. “Oh, really?”
“Yes, she found a man who is quite a lot like you.”
“Is she going to finally settle down and marry the guy?”
Cassie heaved an exaggerated sigh and dramatically propped the back of her hand over her forehead. “Alas, he hasn't asked her yet.”
Jake tsked and shook his head. “Damn fool. We're going to have to change that. What do you say we rewrite that scene? Together this time. Until we get it right.”
She gazed up that the most extraordinary man she'd ever met. She couldn't have written his character any better if she tried. “I'd say that's perfect.”
THE END
Dear Reader :
Thank you so much for reading MATERIAL WITNESS, book 1 in my new series, Heroes of Providence. This book was written over 12 years ago and was supposed to be the first in a series I did for Love Inspired Suspense. I ended up writing book 2 and publishing Yuletide Protector – Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense as a Love Inspired Suspense book in 2009. So if you’d like to see more of Jake Santos and Kevin Gordon, check out Yuletide Protector – Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense, available as an e-book.
Look for more books in Fate with a Helping Hand series, Texas Hearts series, and this new series called Heroes of Providence. I’m so thrilled that so many readers have enjoyed these series and the characters that I just can’t give up on them. Thanks for letting me know that you want more! To keep on top of what’s new, I’ve added a newsletter signu
p on my blog http://www.lisamondello.blogspot.com and am giving away 1 E-Reader per month to those who sign up for my newsletter. So make sure you enter to win!
I’ve included at the end of this book, the first two chapters of NOTHING BUT TROUBLE. NOTHING BUT TROUBLE is available as a stand-alone book or in a Box Set called LOVE ME SOME COWBOY with 4 other books. Enjoy!
Finally, if you HAVE checked my blog before or have read any of the numerous interviews I’ve done online, then you may have heard me mention that I used to manage a Boston/Worcester Rock Band. Those were very special days for me. Tragically, one of the members of that band, a dear friend of mine who I’d known for 30 years, died on April 5, 2012. Scott Ricciuti was, and will always be in my eyes, a rock star! He was passionate about music, and his family and friends. I hope you take the opportunity to check out his music at http://www.ScottRicciuti.com or check Youtube for one of his many performances in the Boston/Worcester area. Through his music you’ll get a small glimpse of the man so many of us loved. Keep the music alive…
Many thanks,
Lisa Mondello
* * *
Check out:
One Hit Wonder by Huck, featuring Scott Ricciuti, Dan Lucas and Paul Dagnello
* * *
Ebooks by Lisa Mondello
Texas Hearts Series (Contemporary Western Romance)
Her Heart for the Asking - book 1
His Heart for the Trusting - book 2
The More I See - book 3
Gypsy Hearts - book 4
Leaving Liberty – book 5 (To be released in 2013)
Texas Hearts Box Set (Books 1-3)
Fate with a Helping Hand Series (Contemporary Romance)
All I Want for Christmas is You - book 1
The Marriage Contract – book 2
The Knight and Maggie’s Baby – book 3
The Knight and the Cowgirl – book 4 (Soon to be released in 2013)
Tempting Fate Box Set (books 1-3)
Heroes of Providence Series (Romantic Suspense)
Material Witness Page 22