She lifted her injured foot and swung her leg to the window ledge. She didn’t look back at Necco, but she offered a silent promise in her head.
I’ll be back for you.
She winced as her sore ankle scraped against the sash. Just a few more seconds. She just needed to get through the pain and she’d be good.
A vise encircled her arm, yanking her away from the window.
“Just where do you think you’re going, sweetheart?”
The vise tossed her to the floor. Her head and back hit full force, and stars exploded behind her eyes.
A boot pressed into her stomach, pinning her underneath it.
Sarge smiled down at her. “Nice try.”
Cam writhed under his foot, but he shifted his boot so it was on her ribs and pressed down harder, crushing her lungs, choking off her air supply.
She gasped for breath, clawing at his leg with her arms. But she was no match for his strength. They both knew it.
Suddenly, the pressure eased up. “This isn’t how you go,” he said. He cleared his throat. “We’ve actually got it all worked out, don’t we, Rudolph?”
The cop who had pulled her over stepped into view. “Uh, yeah.” He sounded nervous.
“Get the kid,” Sarge ordered.
Cam panicked. “No. Leave him alone. He’s not involved in this. He didn’t do anything.”
“Very true,” Sarge agreed. “He’s really just a victim of circumstance, isn’t he?” He chuckled. “Well, at least right now. But in a few minutes, he’s going to be enemy number one, sweetheart.”
Cam stared at him blankly.
“Because he’s going to be the one who kills you.”
Shock must have registered on her face because Sarge chuckled again. “Here, let me explain it to you. You’re a cop…you’ll see where this goes.”
She didn’t want to hear it.
Rudolph flicked on the flashlight on his phone, and Cam saw Necco standing next to him, his eyes wide with fear, his arms bound behind his back. His whole body was trembling.
“You saw him in Aspen Falls. Dealing.” Sarge clucked his tongue. “You followed him up here but sadly didn’t follow protocol. If you’d just alerted our department, none of this would have happened.”
Necco’s eyes filled with tears.
“You pulled over to take a phone call, and Necco here ambushed you. Brought you inside this abandoned building and executed you right here.” Sarge smiled sadly. “Such a shame. A tragedy, really. Such a bright future in law enforcement, gone.”
Cam’s throat was thick with tears. She was on the verge of panic, but she knew she needed to stay calm. If they wanted a fighting chance, she needed to stay in control for as long as she could.
More importantly, she needed to keep him talking. Because talking bought time.
“What happens to Necco?” she managed to ask.
Sarge shrugged. “He’s found shot to death outside.”
Necco flinched at the harsh words.
“No one will care.” Sarge smiled thinly. “Just another dead hoodlum. Bentley will be better for it, trust me.”
Necco breathed in sharply.
Cam bristled. “I care.” And Alex cares, too.
“You’ll be dead.”
“You won’t get away with it,” Cam said. “You’ll miss something, just like you did the night of the shooting.”
Sarge fixed her with a glare. “I didn’t forget shit. Alex was the one who fucked that up, who refused to fall in line. Those guys were just like him.” He pointed to Necco. “Scum of the Earth. No one misses them, but Alex was willing to call me out on it, to say I didn’t follow procedure.” His eyes shot fire. “Bullshit. I’m not going down because of some fucking hoodlums and a cop who thinks honesty is more important than loyalty.”
He reached for Necco. The boy was equal in height to the sergeant, but standing there now, he looked every bit his age.
And he looked terrified.
“Untie him.”
Rudolph did as he was told.
“Give him the gun,” Sarge ordered.
Rudolph produced a sleek black handgun.
“Untraceable, right?” Sarge asked.
Rudolph nodded.
“Take it,” Sarge told Necco.
“Take what?”
“The gun.”
Necco looked at the revolver in Rudolph’s hands.
“Take the fucking gun,” Sarge growled. He produced a piece of his own and handed it to Rudolph. The man jammed the second gun against Necco’s side.
“I…I don’t know how to shoot.”
“You aim and pull the trigger.” Sarge looked at Rudolph, and the man pressed the gun into Necco’s hands.
“Don’t do anything funny or he’ll blow your brains out right here,” Sarge warned. “Now aim the gun. Right at her chest.”
“No.” Necco’s voice wobbled.
“Do it,” Sarge said. “Do it and we can work out a deal. You live, she dies. It can be as easy as that.”
Necco licked his lips nervously.
“You’re just a kid, aren’t you?” Sarge said. He’d softened his tone. “A kid who got caught up in a world of shit. Maybe you deserve a second chance, huh? Do this and I’ll give you one.”
He was lying. Cam knew it, and she was pretty sure Necco knew it, too.
But he was thirteen. Scared out of his mind…and willing to believe anything.
He would end up doing it. Pulling the trigger.
It was about self-preservation.
And this kid had lived his entire life on defense.
Cam watched, an odd sense of calm washing over her.
This was it.
The end.
She felt as though she were in a movie, watching things happen in slow motion. Necco struggling to hold the gun, to bring it up to the level where it needed to be.
Sarge’s mouth, moving with exaggerated yawns and stretches, yelling words that were indistinguishable to her.
Rudolph reaching out, closing his hand over Necco’s and bringing the gun into position.
And her own body, her eyes locked on the open end of the barrel. Staring, waiting for the bullet to release, to bury itself in her chest, her heart, and bring an eternal darkness.
Something clicked and she was back, all of her senses suddenly alive. She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the impact she knew was mere seconds away.
But then she forced her eyes open. She was going to watch, face her death head on. She wasn’t going to give Sarge the satisfaction of seeing her cower. Not ever.
“Adios, sweetheart,” Sarge said with a smile.
She didn’t look at him, didn’t break eye contact with the barrel of the gun.
She waited, and it felt like her heart had already stopped beating in anticipation of the gunshot.
But it didn’t come.
Instead, the door burst open and all hell broke loose.
46
Tuesday, September 11th
6:55 pm
Alex saw everything he needed to see in that split second.
The door opened and the sight that greeted him nearly stole his breath.
Cam on the floor, a gun pointed at her chest. Necco was holding it, and Rudolph, a guy from his unit, had his hand locked over the kid’s. Sarge was there, orchestrating it all.
Alex didn’t think twice.
He reacted.
He raised Nate’s gun and aimed, hitting Rudolph squarely in the leg. The man dropped his hand from the gun Necco was holding and clutched his calf as he fell to his knees. The other gun, the one he’d held on Necco, clattered to the floor, skittering toward Sarge.
Alex pointed his weapon at Sarge just as Cam lunged for the loose one.
Sarge acted fast, yanking her hair and slamming her head into the cement floor just as his other hand closed over the weapon in Cam’s hand. He managed to squeeze off a shot and Alex ducked.
“So this is how it’s gonna be,” Sarge said, hi
s chest heaving up and down. “It will be my pleasure to kill you. All of you.”
He raised his gun, aiming it at Alex. A shot rang out and Alex dropped to the floor. He army-crawled to a position of relative cover, behind a support beam.
His heart was pounding hard and fast, determination sparking a deep-seated anger within him.
Fuck Sarge. He wasn’t getting away with it this time.
And like hell Alex would let him hurt Cam any more than he already had.
A bullet bounced off the beam and Alex flinched. Bile surged in his throat. If he stepped out and exposed himself, his life could be over.
But Cam…
She was lying vulnerable on the floor. If he didn’t come out and play soon, Sarge would no doubt use her to draw him out.
He wasn’t going to let that happen.
He burst out from behind the pillar and Sarge was waiting, his gun still locked on Alex’s position. His eyes glinted as he squeezed the trigger.
But Alex was faster.
Angrier.
He fired a series of shots, hitting the man squarely in the chest. Blood blossomed on Sarge’s shirt and he stared down in awe, as if he couldn’t quite believe he’d been hit.
Alex kept the gun steady, ready to fire another shot.
Sarge swayed on his feet, his eyes wide, his mouth gaping. He fell to his knees, clutching his chest, the gun hanging limply in his hand.
Alex sprinted toward him. He grabbed the gun just as Sarge crumpled to his side.
“It didn’t have to be this way,” Sarge rasped.
Alex stared down at the man. Blood gurgled from his mouth, leaked from his nose.
“I know,” Alex agreed.
Sarge gasped for breath and Alex just stared at him, watching as the blood pooled on the cement floor. The man looked like a fish, his mouth wide, his eyes bulging until finally, his jaw slackened and his eyes dulled. His neck went limp and his gaze shifted, unblinking as his stare turned lifeless.
Alex felt no remorse, no regret.
Instead, a wave of calm washed over him.
It was over.
This part of his story was over.
This part of Cam’s story, too.
Cam.
He whirled around, his eyes locking on her. She was on her knees, holding the gun Sarge had tried to wrench from her hand. She looked like a warrior, fearless, and his heart swelled at the sight of her.
She was fearless.
She was a warrior.
His warrior.
47
Tuesday, September 11th
8:00 pm
She wasn’t cold.
Alex had seen to that.
Somehow, he’d managed to get her a blanket and a cup of hot coffee. She was sitting in the back of Nate’s car, with officers surrounding the vehicle.
Protection.
Because Alex was sitting with her.
She couldn’t identify all the law enforcement on the scene. Nate, obviously. He’d been the first to arrive, just a minute behind Alex. He’d burst into the building, a metal pipe in his hand, ready to do whatever he could to ensure her safety.
But Alex had taken care of that.
Kellan had arrived later, along with officers from Bentley PD and BCA. She wasn’t sure, but there might have been some federal agents there, too.
“Tell me again where Necco is.”
Alex smiled. “They took him to the hospital, remember?”
She didn’t. She remembered everything that happened at the shootout with vivid clarity, but the moments after were a blur.
“Hospital?”
“Nothing serious,” Alex said. “They took him because he’s a minor and because they wanted to make sure he didn’t sustain any injuries.”
She nodded. That made sense.
“Speaking of…” Alex stared pointedly at her. “You should go in. Your ankle.”
Cam frowned. “I’ll be fine.”
“You probably need a brace.”
“Yeah, well you probably needed an MRI for your ribs and stitches for your wound,” she shot back.
“Touché.”
She sipped her coffee. The night had grown chilly, but she wasn’t sure if she was shaking from the temperature or from something else.
“Thank you for finding me,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry I walked out on you.”
“You should be.”
She looked at him. “I am,” she said simply. “I wanted to help. I thought I could do it on my own. Turns out I just made a big mess of everything.”
“But you didn’t,” he told her. He reached for her hand and warmth flooded her as his fingers closed over hers. “Your methods might have been a little…lacking…but the end result was not.”
She shuddered. “Necco almost died.”
He frowned, his voice shaky as he whispered, “So did you.”
She knew this, but for some reason that didn’t carry nearly as much weight with her. She would have never forgiven herself if Necco had died because of her actions.
The sea of officers surrounding the car parted. Nate and Kellan appeared.
Nate spoke first. “You okay?” he asked gruffly.
She nodded.
Kellan looked her over, not bothering to hide his concern. “Nate managed to debrief me. Your friend here did, too.” He nodded at Alex. “I’ll want to talk to you about all of this.”
She nodded again, a little guiltily this time.
Kellan gave her a grim smile. “Your head might have muddled the normal process for investigations like this.”
That felt like a massive understatement.
“But your heart was in the right place.” Kellan’s gaze softened, his unique way of smiling without moving his mouth. She was forgiven.
He and Nate left.
Cam leaned back against the seat. Kellan had hit the nail on the head.
It was what happened where Alex was concerned.
Her heart was in control.
She chanced a glance at him. He was staring at her, his eyes so intense that they felt like they might burn holes into her.
“What happens now?” she asked softly.
He blinked. “Oh. I don’t actually know. I spoke with my chief, gave him a statement about the shooting and then what happened here. Amazingly, a couple of guys in the unit spoke up and corroborated my account. So I think this might all blow over. Eventually.”
“And your gang?”
“That’s slightly more complicated,” he admitted. “I’m still a marked man, at least around here. Aspen Falls, too, considering people found me there.”
Cam’s heart hitched.
“I’ll need to talk with the feds, talk to BCA. We’ll come up with a plan. Right now, with my testimony, we have enough to arrest several of them and lock them up for a good long while. I’m just not sure how that’s all going to play out for me with my cover blown.”
Cam nodded. A heaviness settled over her chest.
They’d diffused the threat.
So why was Alex still in danger?
It was a futile question.
She knew exactly why.
Because the situation was nuanced. Complicated.
Just because one threat had been taken care of didn’t mean other enemies would stand down. It was the whole reason helping him had been so difficult—because it really had felt like there was no safe place to go.
And that was where they still were.
“You’ll leave.” She said it as a statement, not a question.
His hand tightened over hers. “I don’t have a choice. At least not right now.”
She drew in a shaky breath. “I don’t want you to go.”
It was a hard thing to admit, but fuck it. She’d nearly died. She was going to say what was on her mind, the consequences be damned.
He pulled her toward him. “I don’t want to leave you,” he whispered against her hair. “I lost you for twelve years. Now that I’ve found you again, I don’t ever wan
t to let you go.”
Tears stung her eyes.
She knew what they both wanted.
But that wasn’t the reality.
The reality was that she would go back to Aspen Falls and Alex would go somewhere else. He’d make a new life for himself. Reinvent himself again.
And Cam would have no part of it.
His lips moved from her hair to her temple, a whisper-soft kiss that made her toes curl. Slowly, his mouth traveled to her nose, then her cheek, finally settling on her lips. Greedily, she breathed him in. She wanted to sear every taste, every touch, every scent of him into her memory. She plunged her hands into his thick short hair and crushed her lips to his.
Fate would once again steal him from her life, but it couldn’t take this moment away. She was going to savor every minute of it.
He kissed her with abandon, his lips sucking hers, their tongues tangled together. She wanted more. So much more.
Finally, he broke free of her embrace. “This isn’t goodbye,” he told her.
Her throat felt tight.
He could say those words, but it didn’t make them true.
She knew better.
And she knew he did, too.
They would need a miracle to figure out a way to stay together.
And miracles didn’t happen to people like Cam and Alex, kids who’d grown up with the cards stacked against them from the start. Hell, their miracle had been simply getting out of their neighborhood.
They didn’t have any miracles left.
Epilogue
Wednesday, September 19th
1:00 p.m.
“You’re sure about this?”
Miguel smiled. “I’m sure.”
Alex stared at the tiny apartment. It was sparsely furnished, not much bigger than Grandma Isabel’s studio apartment at the assisted living facility. The only difference was that this place had a separate bedroom and a slightly larger kitchen.
“I don’t know,” Alex said, frowning.
“It’s yours if you want it,” Miguel told him. “Assuming that kid doesn’t need it. Necco, right?”
Alex nodded. “He’s good.”
They’d found a place for Necco to go. A quick phone call to Doug Kowalski had sealed the deal. Necco would follow in Alex’s footsteps, put in some work on the farm. With luck, and with Doug’s firm but gentle guidance, Necco would get his life turned around.
Desperate Measures (An Aspen Falls Novel) Page 23