Deadly Rumors

by Cheris Hodges

  Zoe sighed and slowly turned around. “Just do it. If you’re going to shoot me, then do it.” She lifted her chin and locked eyes with him.

  Lewis fingered the trigger, and then a loud explosion boomed behind them. Zoe ducked and threw herself at Lewis’s knees. He fell to the ground and the gun went off.

  “Shots fired, shots fired!” Zoe heard a voice exclaim. Three men in black SWAT uniforms rushed into the room and pointed long rifles at them. Zoe backed up and threw her hands up. One of the officers rushed to her side and wrapped his flack jacket around her shoulders. “Ma’am, are you all right?”

  “My sister-in-law, Chante Harrington, is she okay?”

  “Yes, we found her in the next room, but you’re the one covered in blood.” He helped Zoe to her feet and led her out of the room while the other officers restrained Lewis and tended to Joe. She shot him an evil glare and forced herself not to spit in his face.

  Chapter 31

  Carver ran toward the SWAT officer walking with Zoe. “Zoe! Zoe!” He drew her into his arms and she collapsed.

  “Get an ambulance!” Carver yelled, noticing all of the blood covering Zoe.

  “There’s one waiting outside, Agent Banks,” the officer said.

  Carver rushed outside and handed Zoe over to the paramedics. “Has she lost a lot of blood?” he asked as the medic began examining Zoe.

  “Sir, please step back.”

  “I have to know if she’s all right.” Carver’s voice wavered. Zach crossed over to them.

  “Zoe!”

  “Gentlemen, I need to examine her, and neither of you are allowing me to do that.”

  Carver turned to Zach. “How is Chante?”

  “Fine, no thanks to you. All of this shit could’ve been avoided if you would’ve been honest with Zoe. You better pray to every God you can think of that Zoe wakes up and Chante doesn’t lose our baby.” Zach stalked away from him and returned to his wife’s side. The paramedics were loading Zoe on the ambulance and Carver hopped on with them. Much of the blood that had scared him had been wiped away, but he saw the wound on her face.

  “How is she?”

  “Stable. The blood wasn’t hers. Looks like your lady beat the hell out of somebody today.”

  Carver stroked her hand, wanting her to wake up so that he could see those sparkling eyes. He wanted to tell her that he was sorry and should’ve told her the truth from the beginning.

  * * *

  Zoe felt a soft touch on her shoulder. Opening her eyes, she smiled at her father. “Daddy.”

  “Baby girl, you know a hard head makes a soft bottom. You gave everyone a scare.”

  “Well, I didn’t mean to, but I had to help save Chante and the baby.”

  “By getting yourself killed?” He smiled and his face lit up like a bright star. “You’re going to have to listen sometimes. Especially to Carver. He loves you.”

  “Daddy. Don’t go.”

  “You’re going to be fine, and I don’t have to stay and look after you. You can take care of yourself, and you got someone who is going to always have your back, if you let him.”

  “Daddy.”

  Zoe took a deep breath and her eyes fluttered open. The first face she saw was Carver’s.

  “Zoe,” he whispered. He stroked her cheek and a tear ran down his cheek.

  “C—”

  “Shh,” he said as he brought his finger to her lips. “Don’t talk. Rest.”

  She closed her eyes, just as Carver leaned in and said, “I love you, Zoe.”

  The next time Zoe opened her eyes, she was in a hospital bed. Her head pounded like a snare drum.

  “Ms. Harrington,” a doctor said. “Do you know where you are?”

  “Charlotte.”

  “What day is it?”

  Zoe narrowed her eyes. “Umm, I’m not sure. How long did that bastard keep me in that warehouse? A day? A few hours?”

  “How’s your head.”

  “Throbbing. I’m hurting.”

  “Well,” he said as he checked her vitals, “that’s to be expected. I’m giving you an antibiotic to make sure the wound on your face doesn’t get infected.”

  Zoe lifted her hand to her cheek and cringed, thinking about Joe’s knife. She wanted to know if he was dead, wanted to know if the bastard was burning in hell where he belonged. Glancing past the doctor, she saw Carver sleeping in the corner. “How long has he been here?” she asked the doctor.

  “Your husband has been here since you were admitted.”

  “That’s not my husband,” Zoe said. Her declaration seemed to wake Carver.

  “Okay,” the doctor said. “Should I have him removed?”

  The door opened before Zoe could reply, and Zach walked in. “Zoe? Are you all right?” He pressed past the doctor and grabbed his sister’s hand.

  “How is Chante?”

  “She’s fine. Worried about you and trying to get the doctors to let her out of her room to come see you.”

  “And the baby?”

  “He’s fine.”

  “He?”

  Zach smiled, then looked up at the doctor. “I’m sorry, am I interrupting another examination?”

  Zoe snickered, imagining that Chante’s doctor had kicked him out of her room.

  “We just finished up,” the doctor said. “Zoe, I’ll be back in about an hour.”

  When the doctor left, Zach turned to Carver. “What in the hell are you doing here?”

  “I’m here to make sure Zoe’s all right,” Carver replied.

  “Look what looking after her got her.” Zach narrowed his eyes at him. “Why don’t you get out?”

  “Zach,” Zoe said. “Please, I don’t need this right now.”

  “Yeah, Zach, she needs her rest,” Carver said. Zoe locked eyes with him.

  “But you can leave,” she said. “Your case is over and you handled your duties. Feel free to go back to Washington now.”

  Zach folded his arms across his chest and nodded.

  “Zoe, we need to talk about this,” Carver said as he rose from the chair. “You know this was more than a case to me.”

  “My sister-in-law is lying in a hospital bed because of you. I think you should get out before I throw your ass out. You’ve done enough for my family.”

  Carver gave Zoe a fleeting look, but she turned her head away from him—hiding her tears. How could she believe anything that he told her, when this whole thing was based on a lie?

  How could she believe that Carver loved her, when she knew that he’d only been trying to keep her from being murdered? Carver had succeeded in his quest, so now he could move on to his next case. Zoe turned around as she watched him walk out the door. Had she just been another case to him?

  She released a deep breath and turned back to her brother. “I want to be alone.”

  “Zoe, you did the right thing telling him to leave. He—”

  “Zachary! I want to be alone.” She closed her eyes tightly and waited until she heard the door close. Then Zoe let her tears flow freely.

  * * *

  Carver wasn’t surprised to see his Shadow Team waiting for him in the hospital’s family room.

  “How is she?” Raymond asked.

  “She’s going to be fine. Possibly a concussion.”

  Sarah took note of Carver’s tight face. “She kicked you out, huh?”

  Carver nodded. “Guys, thank you for coming together to help me with this case.”

  “That’s what we do,” Kenneth said. “You’d do it for us as well.”

  He nodded, then sighed. “And we got Singletary.”

  “He’s on life support. Your girl put a beatdown on him.”

  “Too bad she didn’t kill him,” Carver muttered as he paced back and forth. “We’d better get out of here.”

  “We?” Ray asked.

  Carver didn’t say another word as he walked out the door. The Shadows followed him, no one sure what to say.

  “Guess we better get back to DC a
nd write up some reports,” Kenneth said, breaking the silence among them. “The Charlotte agents are going to take Lewis into federal custody and handle things from here.”

  “Back to our corners,” Sarah said with a sigh. “It was fun while it lasted.”

  Raymond stopped walking and looked at Carver. “Was it worth it?”

  “Don’t start this shit,” Carver snapped. “She’s alive.”

  Raymond shook his head. “Alive, but she kicked you out—right? You keep risking everything for these women and in the end, you wind up back at square one. You’re not Captain—”

  Carver wanted to punch his friend in the face, but he couldn’t help but hear a bit of truth in his words. He also knew Raymond was still harboring a grudge toward women because the love of his life disappeared without a reason or even a Dear John note.

  But he couldn’t think about Raymond and his feelings right now. He needed to get Zoe back into his life, and if that meant giving her time to be alone for a little while, he’d do it.

  * * *

  Zoe opened her eyes when she heard the door open. Two men in black suits walked in and stood at the foot of her bed. She pushed a button to lift the head of the bed so that she could look into their faces. “Who are you people?” she asked.

  “Ms. Harrington, I’m Agent Simon Baker from the Charlotte field office. Are you up to answering some questions about what happened?”

  She looked at the other man, who hadn’t said a word. “I need to see some identification and I want my lawyer present. However, being that she’s in a hospital bed down that hall, that’s not going to happen. So, get the hell out of here.”

  “Why the hostility?” Simon asked.

  “You’re going to have to excuse me, I almost died today because the FBI decided to lie to me. I have nothing else to say.”

  The other man cleared his throat. “Ma’am, what Agents Banks and Smallwood did was to save your life.”

  “Get out of my room.”

  “Just FYI,” Simon said as he and his partner headed for the door, “Joseph Singletary died about twenty minutes ago.”

  “May his soul burn in hell.” Zoe pressed the button for the nurse as the FBI agents left. She had to find out when she was going to be released from the hospital because she needed to be alone.

  * * *

  Carver pulled up to Charlotte Douglas International Airport with every intention of flying back to Washington, DC, and giving Zoe a little time to get her head together. But when he started to return the rental car he’d been driving, Carver changed his mind. He didn’t plan to end up bitter and disgusted like Raymond. And he wasn’t going to allow the woman he loved to just move on without him.

  Zoe might never understand what he did and how he went about things. But she was going to know that he loved her, and he wasn’t giving up on her again.

  Making a U-turn at the return counter, he headed back to the hospital.

  Chapter 32

  Zach climbed into Chante’s hospital bed and drew his wife into his arms. “Zach,” she said with a smile on her lips. “You’re not going to smother me like this when we get home, are you?”

  “Woman, I might not let you out of my sight for the rest of your life.”

  “Oh, Lord.”

  “Oh, Lord, nothing. Do you know how scared I was when I got that ransom note? Then you and my sister went missing. Zoe’s going to be lucky if I don’t lock her in the basement.”

  “Like she would go for that. Are you sure she’s all right? I really want to see her.”

  “You need to rest and let the doctor monitor the baby. If anything . . .” Zach’s voice trailed off and he held his wife a little tighter. “Zoe’s going to be fine. All she has to do is stay away from that stupid ass Carver Banks and her life will be so much better.”

  “Stay out of your sister’s love life,” Chante said, then yawned.

  “No. It’s not like she’s ever stayed out of mine. You know she ran a background check on you.”

  “After the last woman you married, I can’t say that I blame her.” Chante dropped her hand to her belly.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yes. It’s just a habit. When I feel the baby, it makes me realize what I have to live for. She kept me fighting while I was in there with those men.”

  Zach kissed her cheek. “If I could get my hands on those—”

  “Zach, it’s over. The last thing we need is more violence. Let’s just work on putting our lives back together.”

  “I know. But, baby, I was so scared and . . .”

  “Let’s not talk about it right now,” she said. Chante reached up and stroked his cheek. Zach kissed her palm. A few minutes later, Chante fell asleep for the first time in eighteen hours, and she felt safe.

  * * *

  Zoe decided that she was going to get out of the bed alone. Maybe if she showed the nurses and her doctor that she was more mobile, they would let her go home in the morning. Granted, she’d been in the hospital less than twenty-four hours and the doctor was monitoring her concussion, but she was restless and she wanted to see her sister-in-law to make sure she was all right.

  As soon as she got out of the bed, the room felt as if it were spinning. Right before she hit the floor, she felt strong arms lift her. She focused her eyes on her savior, expecting to see her brother.

  “Carver?”

  “Why are you out of bed by yourself?”

  “What are you doing here? I could’ve sworn you went back to Washington.”

  “Started to, but aren’t you glad I didn’t?”

  “At this point, if you can get me to the bathroom, I’d be very thankful.” Zoe expelled a deep breath and tried to pretend that she wasn’t happy to have his arms around her.

  Carver helped her into the bathroom and waited outside while she handled her business. Zoe sat there for a moment, wondering if she should continue being angry with him or if she should let him know about the agents who had come to see her.

  Maybe I should trust what Daddy said, she thought as she opened the door. Seeing Carver standing there ready to help her melted her anger and brought tears to her eyes.

  “You all right?” he asked as he took her into his arms.

  “No, I’m not. Carver, I know you were trying to help me and you wanted to keep me safe from the danger I put myself in. We could’ve worked together on this and kept my family out of it.”

  “I know I messed up, and I’m sorry, but I know you wouldn’t have listened to me if I’d come to your office and said you were in danger.”

  She nodded as he helped her into her bed. “That’s probably true. But when we were in Santa Fe, you couldn’t tell me? That man in the hotel who tried to shoot me, that was because of Singletary, wasn’t it?”

  Carver nodded and told her about Wendy and her double cross. He revealed that he hadn’t wanted to believe that Wendy was working with Singletary, but when things started adding up, showing that she was, he decided that he had to keep Zoe safe and made her his priority.

  Then Smallwood’s death made him realize that he was right about Wendy and Singletary working together. “No matter what I would’ve done, we could’ve ended up right here, just like this.”

  Zoe stroked his cheek. “I’m sorry I told you to get out of here when I really wanted you to stay.”

  “I’m here, baby, and I’m not going anywhere.”

  Zoe sighed. “Two FBI agents came into my room earlier and they said I owe you my life.”

  “Well, I knew what I was getting into and why I was doing it. You don’t owe me anything. Zoe, I meant it when I said I love you.”

  “I know, and I love you, too. This whole thing has been a nightmare and I just didn’t know what to do.”

  “Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to get through all of this together. Lewis is probably going to spend the rest of his life in prison.”

  “Probably? If he doesn’t, then the system is fraudulent because no other asshole
deserves life in prison more than he does. He could’ve killed Chante and her baby.”

  “But he didn’t. And he’s facing federal charges.” Carver took a deep breath and clasped Zoe’s hand. “Did he hurt you?”

  “What are you really asking me?”

  “Did he . . .” Carver’s voice trailed off.

  “Hell no! But do you know if he harmed Chante?”

  “No, from what I’ve been told, but she did say he creeped her out talking about his ex.”

  “Where is he now?” Zoe asked as she shifted in her bed.

  “Locked up in the Mecklenburg County Jail.”

  Zoe rolled her eyes and sighed. “And Singletary is dead.”

  Carver glanced at the bandage on the side of Zoe’s face. “He did that to your face?”

  She nodded. “Sadistic bastard. I really wanted to kill him, and I’ve never been that angry before. It was like something inside me snapped.” Tears poured down her cheeks and Carver held her tighter.

  “You were justified in everything you did,” he said. “Both of them wanted to kill you and you had to survive.”

  Zoe sighed and leaned against his chest. “Thank you for coming back.”

  “I’m not going anywhere until I know you’re all right. If I have to stay with you forever, I’m down with that, too.”

  Zoe drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face. Forever with Carver didn’t seem like a bad deal at all.

  * * *

  Zach eased out of Chante’s bed as his wife slept soundly. He needed to check on his sister. Zach said a silent prayer as he walked down the hall and thanked God for saving the women in his life. Losing either of them would’ve killed him.

  Zach stopped at the door of Zoe’s room and gritted his teeth when he saw Carver holding her. “This son of a bitch,” he muttered. Opening the door, Zach willed himself not to start muttering curse words at Carver. “Well, this is unexpected and cozy.”

  Zoe woke up abruptly and shook her head. “Zach, don’t come in here and start a fight.”

  “You guys need a minute?” Carver asked. Zoe touched his elbow.

  “Don’t go,” she said, then turned to her brother. “How is Chante?”