Hold On Tight

by Cynthia Eden

“Don’t come here. I don’t care what he said. You stay the hell away, do you understand? Don’t you—”

  A gunshot blasted.

  The line went dead.

  “Fuck,” Jett snarled.

  ***

  Jennifer didn’t make a sound when the gun blasted. She expected to feel pain tearing into her body, but instead, the shot went wild.

  Sam stared at her with wide eyes.

  Right before he slumped to the store room floor.

  When he fell, she saw the person who’d been standing behind him. A person she hadn’t even realized was there. Her gaze met the wide-eyed stare of Savannah’s assistant, Megan. Megan’s short, spiky, blonde hair framed a face that appeared far too pale. Megan dropped the lamp she held. It shattered when it hit the floor.

  “Oh, my God, Megan!” She hadn’t thought anyone else was at the store. “Get me out of these ropes! Help me!”

  Megan headed toward Sam. Biting her lip, she nudged him with her sneaker. “He’s not dead. I just knocked him out.” She scooped up his gun.

  “Megan!” Jennifer twisted in the ropes. “Get me out of here! Call the cops.”

  Megan frowned. “That was Savannah on the phone?”

  “Yes, yes, he was setting a trap for her—”

  Megan turned the gun on Jennifer. “No, I think he was trying to protect her. I’m the one setting the trap. You would not believe how much money that woman is worth right now.”

  Oh, hell. “You know what, Megan?” Jennifer muttered as the rope cut into her wrists. “I never really liked you.”

  ***

  “You’re not going in that shop.”

  They’d braked and were in some alley that she’d never seen before. “Jett, she is my friend—”

  He pulled her close. Pressed a frantic kiss to her lips. “And you’re my fucking world, Savannah. You and the baby are all that matter to me.” He leaned his forehead against hers. “You can’t go in there, with bullets flying, with a psycho who is willing to hurt your friend in order to get to you. You can’t do that.”

  “I can’t let her die—”

  “That’s why I’m going in. He won’t ever see me coming, I promise you that. You’ll stay a safe distance back. Hell, you’ll stay a few blocks away. If there is any sign of trouble…” His index fingers pressed lightly to her temples. “I’ll send you a warning. Then you crank the vehicle, you drive hell fast for that airport, and you never stop, do you understand?”

  “Jett…”

  “I’ll get her. This is kind of my thing, baby. I’ll make sure she’s okay, and once she’s good, you and I are out of this town.” He gave her another kiss. “But if there is any sign of trouble, you just drive. Understand? Drive fast and hard for the airport. You contact Sawyer. Just press one on the phone, and it will connect to him.”

  He turned and started the truck again. She clutched the phone in her hand.

  “I’m going to find a safe place for you to hide. You stay there, and you trust me, okay?”

  “I do trust you.” It was more than just trust. So much more.

  He slanted her a fast glance.

  “I trust you,” she whispered again.

  Did he realize she might as well have been saying…I love you?

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Someone heard the gunshot,” Jennifer snarled. “It’s only a matter of time before—”

  “Uh, it’s not even six a.m. yet. And it’s a Sunday. No one is in this section of town. No one heard a damn thing.” Megan paced and kept the gun in her hand. “I was only here because dumbass Sam over there—”

  She’d tied his hands behind his back, tied his ankles together, and left him in an unconscious heap on the store room floor.

  “Well, that joker flipped the store’s alarm. But don’t worry, the alarm only went to my phone. I might have, you know, tampered with things here a bit.” She gave Jennifer a wide smile. “The cops don’t know that anyone is in the shop. The security firm that watches this store—” She shrugged. “It’s not really a firm. It’s my employer. He always keeps tabs on Savannah.”

  “I don’t understand what in the hell is happening.”

  “No, you probably don’t. Because you shouldn’t be involved. But, that’s life.” Megan sighed. “Just so you know, I will have to kill you. No loose ends will be left when this deal is done.” She headed for the front of the shop. “I need to make sure the front area is set. Thanks to the explosion that happened across the street, all of the front windows are boarded up. No one can see inside. The front door is still just fine, though, and I want Jett to be able to get in easily. If he comes in the front, I’ll hear the bell jingle, and I’ll know it’s show time.”

  When she vanished, Jennifer struggled with her ropes. If she could just get out—

  “Got a big surprise waiting in there.” Megan was already back, and she was grinning. “Things are going to get so hot.”

  “What in the hell does that mean?”

  Megan rolled her eyes. “I’ve got an explosion all set to go. Don’t worry, it’s going to project out, at first. Destroy the front of the shop.”

  Was that why she wanted the front door unlocked? So that Jett would have an easier time getting in that way—only so the guy would get blown to hell?

  “If Jett comes in the shop’s back door…” A little shrug. “I’ll just shoot the bastard. I’ll be ready for him, no matter what.”

  Jennifer narrowed her eyes on the woman who’d seemed to be a mostly clueless assistant. “Who the hell are you?”

  “For the last year, I’ve been Megan Johansen, Savannah’s assistant. I was supposed to be her best friend, but I guess we never really clicked. Then you rolled in. Messed up my job. Made things harder. I was supposed to be the one going to the doctor visits with Savannah. I was supposed to be the one keeping tabs on the pregnancy. Isn’t that what besties do?”

  Was this some Single White Female shit?

  “This is so beyond your pay grade,” Megan muttered. “I feel sorry for you. Feel sorry for Savannah, too. She’s about to be locked away in a lab until that baby is born. Then—who knows?”

  Jennifer jerked hard on the ropes, and the chair jerked with her. “You aren’t hurting Savannah or her baby.”

  “I’m not going to hurt her. That’s not my job.” Megan looked shocked. “I’m just here to transport her. I mean, my boss is waiting. I’m doing things the easy way. You don’t want to see what the hard way looks like.”

  “When I’m out of these ropes, I’m going to show you the hard way.”

  Megan smiled at her. “I think we would have been friends. Good friends. You and I both have the same killer instinct.” Then, keeping one hand on the gun—and keeping that gun aimed at Jennifer—Megan pulled out her phone. Her fingers swiped over the screen before she pressed the phone to her ear. “They’re coming,” she announced to whoever was on the other end of the line. “If Jett stays true to his profile, he’ll be the one to enter the building. He’ll think that he can leave Savannah some place safe. You’ll want to tell Agent McNeely to start scanning the nearby area.”

  McNeely? “You’re working with him?”

  Megan put down her phone. “No, he’s working with me.”

  ***

  “Get your team over to Savannah’s shop. Start searching the garages and alleys near the place. She’ll be hiding in a parked car nearby.” The boss’s words tumbled out quickly.

  Bennett narrowed his eyes as his hand tightened on the phone he held. “She’ll be in a fucking truck.” Because he was staring at the traffic camera footage that had just been pulled up for him. A late model Ford. Jett was driving. Savannah sat in the passenger seat.

  “She’ll be waiting for you. She’ll be alone,” the boss assured him. Then there was a pause. “It should be really hard for you to screw this one up.”

  Asshole. Go fuck yourself. Bennett swallowed, choking those words down. “And where is Jett?”

  “He’ll be distracted
. Or he may be dead.” Careless words. “Good thing he’ll rise again.”

  ***

  “Are you all right? You feel okay here?” Jett asked again as he paused by the driver’s side window. The vehicle was parked near the entrance of an alley. In case things went south, Savannah would be able to slip right onto the street. She’d be able to get away fast, if he didn’t come back.

  She reached for his hand. “I don’t like this.”

  Neither did he. This trap was obvious from a freaking mile away. And that was why he’d taken a few precautions on the way over.

  He smiled at her. “I have too much to live for. Nothing will be taken from me.”

  “Jett—”

  I love you.

  Her breath caught. “That doesn’t count.”

  His brow furrowed.

  “You have to actually say the words. You have to tell me—”

  He kissed her. Then, against her lips, he whispered, “I love you, Savannah Jacobs. I fell in love with you from the very beginning.” Another kiss. “And I will have a life with you. Nothing is going to stop us from being together.” He made himself pull back. “I’m going to get your friend. Then I’m eliminating the threat to you.” Or maybe he’d reverse the order on that. Kill, then save? Yeah, he could do that.

  Save, then kill.

  Either worked.

  I love you, too.

  His heart slammed hard into his chest. “When I get back, you’re going to say those words out loud.”

  “Jett—”

  “When I come back.” He winked at her. “Gives me something to look forward to.”

  She smiled at him, showing off her adorable dimples. And he knew he would be back. There was nothing that could keep him from Savannah. Nothing.

  He backed away from the vehicle. Stayed close to buildings. Made sure to keep himself hidden as much as possible. After a few turns, he saw Savannah’s shop up ahead. It waited on the corner, a closed sign hanging in the front door. Boards covered the windows that had been shattered when the building across the street blew. The street appeared deserted.

  Appearances could be deceiving.

  He slipped into an alley. Edged toward the back of the building. Then he smiled when he saw the control box that connected to the retail spaces there.

  Using a little extra strength, he ripped off the lock on the box. Then he cut the power to Savannah’s shop—and to all of the shops connected to that box.

  ***

  The store room plunged into darkness. There were no windows back there, and when the lights went out, Jennifer blinked desperately, trying to get her eyes to adjust—

  “Clever. But not good enough.” Megan’s voice was low. “He won’t get past—”

  The bell over the front door jingled. Megan’s footsteps immediately rushed toward the front of the shop.

  Jennifer heaved hard, and her chair toppled to the floor. “It’s a trap!” Jennifer yelled. “It’s Megan! Megan is the threat! She’s the one—”

  “Good to know,” a low, masculine voice whispered in her ear as the ropes were torn away, and she was hauled up—up and thrown over someone’s shoulder.

  “I can walk!” Jennifer snarled. The last thing she needed was to be carried.

  “We’re not walking.”

  She could have sworn wind whipped around her. She opened her mouth, trying to figure out what the hell was happening, but in the next breath, she was outside. Standing on her own. About twenty feet from the back of Savannah’s store. And a handsome man with dangerous eyes stood in front of her.

  She recognized him from the photos. “Jett.”

  “Get out of here. When you’re far enough away that you feel safe, call in some of your cop buddies.”

  She looked back at the shop. “Sam is still in there.” Sam—good guy, bad guy, she had no clue.

  “I’ll get him,” Jett said, already turning away and then racing back to the store. Moving far too fast.

  Way faster than a normal human could move.

  “Holy shit,” Jennifer whispered. “Holy. Shit.”

  ***

  They’d found the truck. The Ford sat near the mouth of an alley, its windows up. It wasn’t running. But Bennett could see the shadowy figure of someone in the driver’s seat.

  “Are we ready to move in, sir?” A younger agent asked Bennett.

  He gave a grim nod. “Do not fire on Savannah Jacobs.” The truck had been waiting, just like the boss said. Savannah had fallen into the trap. And if she’d fallen…

  He glanced down the road, his gaze lingering on the exterior of her shop. He could just see it, about three blocks away. If she’d fallen into the trap, then Jett would be taken down, too.

  Two agents reached the truck. They grabbed for the door. Wrenched it open.

  And the truck was empty.

  An agent yanked out what looked like an empty, bulky jacket. “This was stuck behind the driver’s seat!”

  Positioned to look like a person from a distance.

  Bennett blinked. Shit, Savannah should have been in the truck. His boss had planned everything so perfectly. He yanked out his phone. Got the asshole on the line. Frantic, he said, “She has to be with him! The truck is empty! It’s—”

  The front windows of her shop exploded outward as flames seemed to engulf Savannah’s shop.

  ***

  “Jett!” The flames shot from the front windows of her shop, and Savannah grabbed for the car door handle, ready to race toward him.

  Baby, I’m okay. Stay where you are.

  His voice slid through her mind, and she hunched back down in the vehicle. Not the truck. They’d left that ride down the road. She was in a little red sedan, a ride that she’d hot-wired.

  Jennifer is out of the building. She’s okay, so you just breathe, got it? In and out. Stress isn’t good for the baby.

  Seriously?

  I’m getting your cousin, but Megan is trickier than I thought.

  Megan? What would she—

  Her car door was wrenched open. “Hello, Savannah.” A man stood there. Tall, with slightly stooped shoulders. Curly hair. His bright blue eyes were shielded by the lenses of his glasses. She knew him. He’d haunted her nightmares for years.

  Focus on me, Savannah. Only me. The voice that she still heard whispering to her, late at night. The voice she’d never been able to fully escape.

  She blinked, stunned.

  “It’s been a long time,” Dr. Anthony Rowe added softly.

  Her gaze fell to the gun in his hand.

  “Too long, I think.”

  She cut the connection to Jett, severing it instantly.

  ***

  Flames crackled around Jett, and smoke burned his eyes. The explosion had come from the front of the shop. He didn’t know what kind of game Megan was playing—

  “I can see you, Jett.”

  She stood over Sam’s crumpled form, holding a gun.

  He cut the connection to Savannah, not wanting her to pick up on anything that might happen. Mostly, he didn’t want her connected to him when he killed Megan. Assistant, my ass.

  Megan didn’t have her gun pointed at Jett. Instead, she had it pressed to the side of Sam’s head.

  “The fire is spreading quickly.” She smiled. “That was the plan. When this place is done burning, two bodies are going to be found inside. A man and a woman. They’ll eventually be identified as Sam and his dear cousin Savannah. You see, Savannah has to vanish now. It’s time. With this being the second explosion to happen on this block, folks will say some crazy pyro is at work. Everyone will be sad that two people died in his latest attack.”

  Sam coughed, groaned.

  Megan’s gun remained on Sam, but her eyes were on Jett. “I want you to put down any weapons you have, or I will lodge a bullet into his head. Even a Lazarus soldier couldn’t come back from that, and we both know Sam’s not exactly Lazarus material, is he?”

  “I don’t have any weapons on me.” Jett kept his hands
up, but he started to pull out his shadows. He let the darkness sweep—

  “Stop,” she snarled. “You pull your vanishing act, and I’m going to fire.”

  “You’re going to fire either way, so it doesn’t really matter what I do.”

  “No? But I bet it matters to Savannah. I bet it matters one hell of a lot to her if you just stand there and let her only remaining family member die.”

  She was stalling. Obviously trying to buy time for something. “You willing to die in this fire, Megan?”

  Her laughter crackled like the flames. “I don’t plan on dying at all.”

  “You’re stalling. If you weren’t, you would have pulled the trigger on him.”

  “I’m good at my job. Always have been.”

  Sprinklers shot on from overhead. Soaked the flames that sputtered around them. About damn time. “Your job…watching Savannah?”

  A roll of one shoulder.

  And he remembered something else. Sonofabitch. “Savannah said you and she shared a tattoo artist.”

  Megan’s smile flashed. “Figured that one out, did you? Yep, I’m the one who put the tracking device in her rose. I mean, not like she could see what was happening behind her back, right?” A wink. “But you were sneaky when you cut it out of her. Got to say, I didn’t think you’d use a knife on your girl.”

  “I didn’t.” She’s stalling. Because he was so worried, Jett sent a fast, psychic message to Savannah. Baby, get out of here. Crank the car. Go. I’ll meet you—

  There was nothing. No response.

  His hands fisted. “What’s happening outside of this building?”

  She was keeping him there. Keeping him away from Savannah.

  Megan continued to hold her gun on Sam. “Once we have her, you’ll be easy to control, won’t you, Jett?”

  Savannah?

  Nothing.

  “Because you’ll do whatever we say. If you can keep your precious Savannah and that baby safe, you’ll do anything. It’s not just a two-for-the-price-of-one deal any longer. We get a three-fer.”

  She was going to get nothing. “Who are you working for? That special agent bastard?”

  “That special agent bastard isn’t in charge of me.” Her laughter rang again even as streams of water from the sprinkler slid down her face. “The fire will attract all the local cops. I planned that. You’re a wanted man. Be careful when you go outside. I’d hate for you to get shot and killed.”