Sworn to Be His (The Archer Family Book 3)

by Allison Gatta

  "Hey," she nodded. "Tough morning in the office."

  "Yeah, tell me about it. Seems like I really stepped into things at a bad time." He offered her half a smile, but she couldn't find the energy to return it.

  "Right." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "I was here over the weekend with Derrick. Heard about the trouble in paradise."

  "Oh? You...did." She tried to keep her face as blank as possible, even despite the stab of panic in the pit of her stomach. Derrick had talked to people about their problems? Had talked to Zac of all people?

  The panic twisted into something more sinister at the thought as she pursed her lips, considering. "Must have been a hell of a weekend with all this going on."

  "It's looked a lot like this for the most part. Lots of running around. Let me tell you, Derrick wasn't much help. He was MIA most of the weekend."

  "Oh?" She tried to sound disinterested, but had a feeling it was no use. The second she heard Derrick's name she knew her ears pricked up like a puppy whose owner had just come home from work. She just couldn't help it.

  "Yeah, just like he is now apparently. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Everyone is freaking out about a mole in the department and this guy suddenly can't make it into work?"

  "Are you saying Derrick is responsible for all this?" She knitted her brow and stared him down, trying to read his expression. Seriously, what was this dude's obsession with Derrick? If she didn't know better, she'd think Zac was just as interested in the guy as she was.

  To her surprise, though, Zac looked taken aback by the question. "No, I would never say anything like that. No, no, I just meant you might want to call him and tell him it does look a little suspicious, you know?"

  "Right, good tip, but like you said, I'm not really in a position to be calling him." She frowned.

  "Right. I was hoping things might have changed since this weekend. But..." Zac speared a hand through his thick wave of hair. "So, you think you guys are definitely done?"

  A cold chill went through her. "What?"

  "I'm sorry, maybe that was indelicate. I just meant, you know, you and Derrick...you're cute together, but I think you could do better."

  She raised her eyebrows. "Don't you think that's a little..." She couldn't find the word for it. Forward? Rude? Idiotic?

  "Look, I'm doing this badly. It's been a while since I..." He smiled at her, losing the full power of his sterling white teeth. "I always sort of had a crush on you."

  "You..." She stuttered.

  "I know it sounds odd, but I always liked you. You were just always so much smarter than me. I never thought you'd go for a guy like me. But, you know, now that you and Derrick aren't together...Maybe we could give it a try?"

  Her mind was reeling. Zac Flynn had been interested in her in high school? That couldn't have been. He'd never even noticed her. Barely spoken to her.

  Worse, the feeling of exhilarated joy she thought she would have felt at his declaration was replaced instead by a creeping ache in the pit of her stomach. Something wasn't right here.

  She studied his eyes, but there was nothing behind them. No desperation, no anxiety. There wasn't even a glint of hope. They were just blank.

  Like the outcome didn't really matter.

  "I had no idea you felt that way," she said slowly.

  "I'm a little embarrassed to be honest with you. What kind of grown man can't just walk up to a woman and confess his feelings?"

  "Right." She nodded. "I can understand that."

  "So, what do you say? I know it's a little fast, but I'd love to see you tonight."

  "Tonight...I, you know what, I'm not really finished seeing Derrick and—"

  "From the way he made it sound, he was finished seeing you."

  Ouch.

  She wanted to touch her heart from the physical sting she'd felt that the words, but then her mind kicked up into overdrive. What exactly had this alleged conversation consisted of? And why would it have happened in the first place?

  "What exactly did Derrick say to you?" She asked, but Zac held his hands up in a gesture of innocence.

  "You know what, it probably wasn't my place. I don't want to get in the middle—"

  "But you're already getting in the middle by trying to take me out tonight. Can't you just—"

  "What does it matter what he said?" His words were a little too forceful and Jade took a step back, trying to get a better read on the situation. His blank eyes were strained now, like he was thinking hard about something.

  He shoved one hand in his pocket, and then said, "I think you'd feel better if you didn't hear the particulars."

  "Right," she said. "Well, I don't think I'm free tonight. Maybe another time."

  "Are you going to make me chase you?" Zac reached out and clasped her wrist with one hand.

  One clammy hand. She glanced down at his touch, all too aware of exactly how noxious it was compared to all the times she'd fantasized about it.

  "I'm not in a place to—"

  "Can you at least tell me what's so much more important than spending some time with me?"

  She paused, her eyebrows furrowed. "Look, Zac, you're nice, but I need some space." She measured each word, watching his expression as he listened.

  Something wasn't right here. She didn't know what it was, but something about him, his touch, his desperation; it was all ever so slightly off.

  Why would a guy like Zac be so desperate to see her tonight? And why was he so clearly lying about his conversation with Derrick?

  After all, it had taken her nearly four months to get Derrick to admit anything about himself when they'd first started working together. There was simply no way that Zac had managed to crack the other man's silence in a matter of hours.

  No, something wasn't right here. And maybe it was high time she started trusting her gut and figuring out what that problem was.

  Zac lifted his grip from her wrist. "Sorry, I must have gotten carried away. I just didn't know what other chance I had and—"

  "It's fine. I'm, um, going to get back to work, though." And with that, she shook him off and started pouring over every inch of unfiled paperwork on her desk.

  Or, at least, that had been her plan. When she got there, she discovered that, along with the room of records, her desk had been ransacked, too. The stacks of paper Derrick had left for her were gone, and in their place was a big pile of nothing.

  She blinked, and then sank into her desk chair, trying her best to make sense of everything that had happened in the last 72 hours. With Derrick. With the case. With Zac.

  And when she got to the root of it, she knew there could be only one solution—everything was connected. She just had to figure out how.

  So she waited, biding her time as the clock ticked by the minutes and hours to the end of their day. Carefully, she watched Zac as he moved about the office, talking to one detective or the next and making it look like he was hot on the case.

  After all, maybe he was.

  But there was only one way to know for sure.

  When it was time to go home, she slipped out the door early and waited in her car until she saw Zac pull out of the parking lot. Waiting a decent amount of time, she pulled out after him, tailing him to the best of her ability.

  It was a risk, she knew. Since she'd gone to the academy, and he'd transferred his training from the military, there was no telling what his skills might be in stealth operations. But one thing she did know? She couldn't afford to care right now.

  So, when his car turned into the parking lot of the Slippery Beaver, she followed him with a heavy, suspicious heart.

  Chapter 11

  Derrick was right.

  Jade blinked, unable to tear her gaze from the stripper gyrating in front of a very interested Zac. Beside him, one of the guys she recognized from the case board nudged his arm and laughed about something.

  I have to get out of here.

  The thought struck her sudden and sharp like a knife between the ribs. S
he'd already pressed her luck this far. If Zac hadn't noticed her by now, it was only a matter of time until one of the guys turned around and remembered her from the other night.

  Or worse, until Zac himself happened to glance over to the bar and saw her for himself.

  She hitched her purse higher on her shoulder, sliding from the stool just as quickly as she could, but one of the girls was already striding toward her with long, quick steps. "Don't go so soon, sweetheart. Don't you want a dance?"

  "Um, no thank you." Jade mumbled, and the woman, a breasty, barely-clad woman with long, dark hair, offered her another coy smile.

  "No need to be shy, sweetie," she said in her most velvety voice, and then it happened.

  As the dancer grazed Jade's arm with one slender palm, Zac shifted in his seat and caught sight of them. No doubt hoping for some girl-on-girl action, he turned toward them and Jade watched as the recognition triggered behind his eyes.

  She'd been made.

  "Shit," she muttered, and then sprinted for the door with the other woman still saying something after her. Jade couldn't make out the words, but she knew they didn't matter. All she cared about was getting back to the station. Getting to Derrick.

  Getting the hell out of Dodge.

  Revving her engine, she bolted from the parking lot at top speed, zig zagging into a side street she hoped the guys wouldn't think to check. She had five minutes at the most before they found her.

  Just five minutes.

  She reached for her radio, knowing she should call the station, but in her panic she dialed the only number she could think of.

  "Detective Archer," his gruff voice sounded over the line.

  "Derrick, it's Jade."

  "Jade where the hell did you go? I got to the office and—"

  "There's no time." She breathed, checking her rear-view mirror just as a black Lincoln pulled out behind her.

  Double shit.

  "Look, you were right. Zac was the guy. He's the mole."

  "How do you know?"

  "Because he's currently trying to kill me." The sound of a car backfiring and then a loud metallic plunk let her know that guns had been drawn and the gasket just above her tire had caught gunfire.

  "Jesus," she muttered. In all her time as a detective, she'd never once been in a firefight. With a shaking hand she fumbled for her sidearm and cocked it, hoping to God she wouldn't need to use it.

  She already had more than enough blood on her hands.

  "Oh my God, Jade, tell me where you are."

  "I'm on the corner of Onaowahu and Crescent. They're in pursuit and guns have been drawn."

  "Hang tight. I'll be there as soon as I can. Stay on the phone if you can okay?" There was a sound of rustling behind him and she could hear the other detectives yelling for him in the background, probably wondering where he was off to in such a hurry.

  "I don't want you to come. If I'd only listened this would have been different. We could have gotten him. If you come here your life is on the line."

  "I know that, Jade." His answer was quiet compared to the rumble of his car starting.

  "But I—" Another bullet ricocheted off her side-view mirror, splintering the glass into little crystals that flew toward the street. She caught her breath then glanced behind her again. One man was hanging out of the sunroof, his aim poised on her.

  She turned suddenly, hoping to catch them off their guard, but the confusion lasted all of one minute.

  "I can't lose you." She choked the words out, but they still didn't feel like enough. She needed him to understand. It was one thing to be responsible for Crystal, but to lose him too after everything that had happened...

  She couldn't even begin to think about how destroyed she would be. How impossibly devastated.

  "You won't lose me."

  "You can't promise me that!" Another shot rang on the other side of the car, just above her tire. She pulled the wheel as hard as she could and turned into oncoming traffic. Horns blared from every direction, but she turned on her siren and raced down the street all the same, careering from one lane to the next to avoid civilians.

  "Don't be so selfish," Derrick shot back and for a moment she didn't know what to say.

  "What?" was all she could manage.

  "You feel like you can't lose me. Imagine how I'd feel if I lost you. I'm not going to leave that to chance." As if out of nowhere, another car pulled into the street and began shooting at the man in the Lincoln, catching him in his right shoulder.

  Jade glanced in the direction of the shot and saw Derrick there, perched behind his car door like it was a shield.

  "What do you want me to do?" she asked.

  "Keep going. I've got their tires." And just like that he got the first one, puncturing it with a single shot. The other followed in quick succession and sparks shot out from under the car as they tried to propel themselves forward and the rims met the asphalt.

  "I'm not leaving you here," Jade answered, then swerved to the other side of the street, taking a second to aim before knocking out the third and fourth tires with two quick shots.

  "They're still armed. They're coming for us." Derrick said, and then the muffle of his voice over the radio was replaced by the blaring of his voice on the street.

  "Lay down your weapons and come out with your hands up."

  Jade watched, her breath held, as Zac climbed from the driver’s seat with his hands in the air. The man in the passenger seat followed suit, and then at last the third man came out clutching his gushing wound.

  "Get down on the ground." Jade called over her own speaker this time and all three men laid down slowly, carefully.

  She couldn't believe it. It hadn't been easy, of course, but she didn't think it would be this simple to end things. She let out one long breath then stepped out of her car cautiously.

  Another sound like car backfiring filled the too-quiet street. She glanced at Derrick, needing to know that he was all right. And he was. He was staring at her, his mouth open, shouting something she couldn't hear.

  And just as quickly he was fading and blurring as the quiet turned into a buzzing. It filled her whole head, consumed her. Then it was warm. So very warm. First in one spot and then lower, spreading out through her whole body until it was one giant bonfire.

  Looking down, she saw the blood. Just inside her arm. A few inches closer and it would have been her heart.

  But maybe it was her heart. It was all too blurry to tell. To dark. So dark.

  Then, all at once, it was completely black.

  * * *

  Derrick hadn't left the waiting room all night.

  Whether that was because the hospital staff pitied him or because they were simply too scared to cross his path, he didn't know, but he was grateful for the time regardless of the reason, and even now it still wasn't enough.

  Until Jade woke, they'd leave him here, trapped like an animal and dying to see her, the regret threatening to eat him alive.

  It had been so close. A few more inches and she might have...

  He couldn't think about that. It was bad enough that he had to live with the image of her crumpling to the ground as he shot her gunman and called in backup. Bad enough that he hadn't gotten there in time to save her.

  His phone rang and for a moment he considered ignoring it, but reluctantly he pulled it from his pocket and pressed it to his ear.

  "Hello," he said.

  His sister's voice answered him, confused and not a little concerned. "What happened to you?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "You sound like someone just punched you in the stomach."

  "It's Jade." He struggled to say the rest, and before he got the chance Andy piped in.

  "She didn't like this plan? That's no problem. I got a new one. I've got some PR contacts out there and—"

  "No, no. I didn't even get the chance to try and win her back. Not yet, anyway." He scrubbed a hand over his face. He'd totally forgotten about the flowers, the whole
thing he'd planned to do. The second he'd heard the strain in her voice, it was like everything else had failed to exist.

  "So what's the problem, then?" Andy's voice brought him back to reality.

  "Jade was shot on duty."

  "Oh my god," Andy breathed.

  "She's okay. I'm just waiting here in the hospital. It was..." He tried to think of the words to explain the way it had felt. Like a flashback to another life he'd lived a long time ago. Like he was seeing Will's lifeless eyes staring back at him all over again.

  "You don't have to tell me," Andy said. "Just promise me you'll take care of yourself. Drink some coffee. Get some sleep. Whatever you need to do."

  "Right. Will do, sis." Derrick set his jaw, then said goodbye and hung up.

  He didn't have time to talk right now. He only had time to sit here and stare at the nurses' station, waiting for the moment when they'd beckon him over and tell him what he needed to hear.

  Until then, he'd simply have to live with the awfulness of what he'd done.

  Two hours later, a nurse brought him a cup of coffee.

  "Wasn't sure how you took it, but I figured you'd want some." She smiled down at him. On another day, he might have been struck by how pretty her brown hair was. How kind her eyes were when she smiled. Today, she was nothing. Just a talking blob.

  "Thanks," he murmured, and then sipped. He couldn't deny that the burst of energy was wanted, and he attempted a smile that he knew didn't reach his eyes.

  "Your...friend is awake," she said gently, and Derrick snapped to attention, sitting up so quickly that he nearly sloshed the steaming liquid all down the front of himself.

  "When can I—"

  "The doctor is with her now. She got pretty bad burns from the gunpowder, but the bullet only grazed her. She should be just fine soon." The woman smiled again and this time he did get to notice the way her chubby cheeks made her look that much sweeter.

  "Thank you," he said.

  "You're welcome. Once the doctor—" She turned and he followed her gaze to where an elderly man was striding from a room at the end of the fluorescent-lit hall.