Josh could argue the point of different vehicles, but it would be a small victory. He’d save his battles with her for another time. Once she got in the taxi, he’d jump in his truck and stick to her bumper like glue. With two secure vehicles, one behind the other, everything should be okay for the short ride across town.
“Gotta go. That’s my ride.” Macki speed-walked toward the waiting cab, shedding her pink vest as she went.
He stood by the driver’s side door of his truck, watching her walk toward her cab less than half a block away. If she planned to ditch him, she’d need to think again. “Macki.”
She glanced back over her shoulder. “Yes?”
“I know you’ve got that personal garage beneath Hotel MacKenzie, so don’t try to lock me out.” Her uncle had also told him about the private elevator that led from the garage to her penthouse.
She nodded and kept walking.
Josh tensed. Why was she still walking? Something was off. The cab had inched a good ten feet past the streetlight. He’d never have let her go that far without him. His peripheral vision targeted a movement in the shadows.
“Down, Macki!” Drawing his weapon while running, Josh vaulted the fender of a red car coming out of an alley. “Step away.”
Already opening the rear passenger door of the taxi, she looked inside then stumbled backward over the unevenness of the concrete sidewalk. She fell, slamming her head onto the sidewalk when she landed, just as a ski-masked man darted from the shadow of a building. He picked her up then shoved her toward the rear seat of the taxi.
She braced her hands against the doorframe and kicked backward at the man. She missed his knee, and the thug shoved harder. A flash of light ricocheted off a knife in his other hand.
Josh checked his urge to shoot. There was no clear shot without hitting Macki. Tucking the gun behind his back, he lunged forward. The assailant cried out in pain as he slammed his fist into the thug’s jaw. The guy sagged, then jabbed a hit to Josh’s ribs. His next blow already in play, Josh crushed his right fist into the man’s nose. He heard the crack. Saw the blood spurt. The man fell then got up and ran back into the darkness beside the building.
A screech of tires echoed on the other side of the taxi. Crouching low behind the taxi, Josh pushed Macki behind him. Cautiously, he peered over the trunk. One car. Red. The one he’d vaulted as it pulled out of the alley. The passenger window powered down a couple inches, revealing another masked man at the steering wheel.
“Job’s blown. Get out of here.” The masked man gunned the car down the street, and the taxi roared away from the curb, hugging the other car’s bumper.
Josh jumped to his feet and rapid-fired at the retreating cab, aiming for the tires. Too late. Both vehicles sped off into the darkness.
“That wasn’t my driver in the taxi,” she shouted. “What’s happened to him?”
Whatever had happened to her driver was in the past. Josh gripped her against his left side and raced into the shadows of the closest building. First priority—save Mackenzie. Josh shoved her back into a recessed entryway to a shop, making sure to keep her behind him, then inched his head around the corner to survey the perimeter.
Bullets had been fired. Why hadn’t the cop down the street reacted? Why weren’t sirens headed to D Street? He glanced down the street. Roxy hadn’t moved except for her street-wide glances. She made eye contact with him. Paused. Finally, she stretched her neck as if trying to see behind him. Trying to see if Macki was there. Suddenly, she jerked her head in the other direction.
Something had changed in the past few seconds. Something more than an attempted kidnapping. As if on a switch, the street had turned on them. Turned to an ominous vibe. The neighborhood threatened.
Drake had been right—Josh couldn’t trust the cops. Couldn’t even count on them when shots were fired. He was on his own in this town. And he needed to get Macki the hell out of Dodge.
“Come on. We’re nothing but sitting ducks.” He tugged her close and headed to the truck.
Gun pointed straight out in front of them, he continually swept the street with his weapon while shielding her behind him. A quick glance in a storefront window showed him she had her gun drawn, and was facing backward, protecting their rear.
He clicked his key fob to disengage the security. “Get in.”
She reached to pull herself into the cab of the truck. Couldn’t. “Ahhhh…damn.”
Joss lifted her inside. “Stay in the floor bed.”
Running to the driver’s side, he pushed Drake’s number. “Coercion Ten struck. Failed. We’re okay.”
Josh hung up and jumped behind the steering wheel. After a block, he maneuvered onto a side street that ran through a residential neighborhood.
“I called the police.” Macki’s voice cracked. She coughed along with a couple of breaths. Slowly, she climbed into the front seat. “They’re on their way.”
“You shouldn’t have done that.” People he wasn’t sure of would ask questions. Reports would be filed. Until he talked to Drake again, he didn’t plan to trust anyone on the Riverfalls police force. “Don’t ever call the police again unless I tell you to.”
“Why?”
“Do what I tell you. Don’t ask why.” He flipped on the overhead light, glanced at his left palm. Blood? He looked in Macki’s direction. Damn it! Bright red stained the side of her top. “You’re hurt.”
She raked her palm across the material. Flinched. Grunted. “Feels like he cut me.”
Bright red trickled from the edge of her hairline also, leaving a trail down the side of her cheek. She must have hit the sidewalk harder than he’d thought.
“Hospital still at the same place?” He flipped the cab light off and sped down the middle-of-the-night empty street.
She grunted. “Yeah. Same place.”
Blowing through red lights, Josh took every corner on two wheels as he sped toward the medical center. He should have never let her out of arm’s reach.
Son of a bitch. What the hell was wrong with him? Where was the agent who let nothing and no one get in his way? Drake would have his hide. Josh slammed his fist into the side panel of the door. He’d let the damn jasmine and vanilla get to his thinking. Wouldn’t happen again.
He calmed his insides as he regained control of his emotions. Never let the victim see your thoughts. Feel your frustration. Always keep them believing in you. He blew out a long sigh. “We’re almost there. A few stitches and you’ll be good as new.”
A police car with lights flashing chased up behind them. Another pulled out at the intersection. Another from an alleyway. Sure, he was speeding. Not enough to require three cars. Not all of them out of the blue.
“They look like they’re chasing us.” Listening to the police scanner coming through his radio system, she frowned. “Why are they making it sound like we’re the bad guys?” She stared out the rear window.
“Good question.”
She glanced back again. “You’ve got to stop before someone gets hurt.”
“No way in hell.” Even if he trusted every damn cop in town—which he didn’t—he still wouldn’t pull over. Not when it came to keeping her safe. Two blocks later, he veered into the hospital entrance and circled to the emergency doors. He stopped—powered down the windows, unlocked the doors, and flipped on the dome lights. Police surrounded the truck with their guns trained on him.
He killed the engine.
Quick and to the point, he clasped his hands behind his head and interlocked his fingers. The Glock lying on the truck seat would not make them happy. His hideaway would definitely piss them off. And the concealed knife strapped to his leg would be the tipping point.
He and the pavement were about to come face-to-face. No big deal. He’d been there before.
“Why?” she whispered, raising her hands in front of her. “Why didn’t you stop when you had a chance?”
He stared straight ahead. “I’m your protector. Let me do my job.”
Chapter Six
Josh’s main objective, besides keeping his hands clasped behind his head, was to get the police to understand Macki needed help. That took less than a minute once they understood that she was the Mackenzie Baudin and saw the blood on the side of her shirt. As if on cue, hospital personnel rolled a gurney out to the truck.
“I’m not going inside without you.” Her voice weak, she reached her hand in his direction.
For the most part, the policemen had holstered their guns and stepped back. The cop in charge shook his head. “Sorry, ma’am, can’t let that happen.”
“I’ll be right in. We just need to finish up some business here.” Josh looked at the hospital staff then nodded toward the entrance. “Go on. Get her inside.”
The moment she disappeared through the emergency room doors, the police motioned him out of the driver’s side door, checked his driver’s license, and performed a hands-on-car-hood frisk. Once they’d confiscated his weapons, the cop pulled out a small notebook, checked a list of names, then tucked it back in his pocket.
His demeanor changed as he made a phone call. “Got a name on the list, sir. Joshua Slater.” He listened. Nodded. “Yeah, that’s him.”
Nodded, again. Hung up. Drew his gun. “On your knees, Slater.”
Once again, Josh clasped his hands behind his head then crouched, lowering himself to a kneeling position. He knew the drill. Could have made a bet on the exact moment he’d be on his knees. And he’d have won. Damn, the asphalt was just as hard as the packed dirt road in South America had been last year.
He didn’t say a word. Experience told him to wait for whoever’d been on the other end of the call. Because there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that someone was on their way and—
The emergency room door slid open, and out stomped Cummings…Detective Cummings of the Riverfalls Police Department. That hadn’t taken long. Maybe Macki had called him.
“Cuff him. Behind the back.” The man approached like a child heading for their Christmas morning presents.
The cop in charge frowned. “But, sir, he hasn’t—”
“I said cuff him. Or do I need to get somebody else to do it?”
Josh lowered his hands and put them behind his back, glancing briefly at the cop in charge. “Go ahead.”
The policeman sighed heavily as he cuffed him with the plastic zip ties and stepped away. Cummings appeared to stumble and bumped Josh, knocking him face forward. He knew this drill, too.
Quick and smooth, he angled his face to the side, enough not to break his nose, Aaaannnnnd… Pavement we have contact. Son of a bitch, that hurt. The ass-hard asphalt scraped against his cheekbone, rattling his brain with the head-jarring impact. Concreting his retaliation resolve.
Reckoning with Detective Cummings would come later. Painful and fast and when he least expected.
“Mr. Slater seems to have fallen.” Cummings braced his hands on his hips. “Somebody should help him up.”
“I don’t need any help.” Josh rolled into his perfected system of rising to his knees, his feet, then stared straight into the detective’s eyes. How had the man gotten there so fast?
“Didn’t take long for you to break our laws, did it?” A sarcastic grin etched Cummings’s expression. “We figured you’d be in trouble before the night was over.”
Josh felt the snarl of his lips. He wanted to know how Macki was doing. Wanted to make sure she was safe. Wanted to head-butt the asshole standing right in front of him. “We? Who’s we? A snitch in a red car? Thug in a mask? Or the cop on D Street? The one sitting in his patrol car, ignoring shots being fired?”
“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, Slater.”
“I’m talking about the fact that less than twenty minutes ago, Macki was almost kidnapped right there on D Street. And nobody did a damn thing but me.”
Cummings jerked his head toward the cop in charge. “What’s he talking about?”
Evidently, she hadn’t called the detective. So had he been waiting for them at the hospital all along?
“We chased his speeding truck here to the hospital. I don’t know anything about a kidnapping.”
“She got knifed, too.” Josh jerked his head toward the emergency entrance. “While you’re playing bully of the playground, Macki’s inside that hospital bleeding. Now, get the damn cuffs off of me.”
“That right?” the detective asked the cop in charge.
“I tried to tell you.”
Cummings grimaced. “Get the damn cuffs off him.”
Josh broke the cuffs’ hold. “Already done.”
“That was police property.”
“Sue me.” He handed the detective the broken plastic cuff ties. “What about my truck?”
“Somebody move his truck into a parking spot.”
Side by side, he and Cummings entered the hospital, stepped to the emergency room counter, and met the night head nurse of ER.
“I brought Mackenzie Baudin to the hospital. I’d like to see her,” Josh said.
“Are you family, sir?”
“No. I’m—”
“Only family is allowed, sir.” The nurse’s stare spoke more than her words.
Without blowing his cover, there wasn’t a way to verify why he needed to see her. “Can you at least tell me how she is?”
“No, sir.”
“Move over, Slater.” Cummings flashed his badge then braced his elbows on the counter. “I’d like to see Mackenzie Baudin.”
“Are you family, sir?” the head nurse asked.
“You know damn well I’m not. You also know I’m on duty in the police sub-station here at the hospital tonight. Now, buzz me through.”
“Only family is allowed, sir.” She pushed the paperwork she was working on across the counter, bumping his elbows off. Then she turned toward Josh. “You need that cut on your cheekbone looked at?”
He brushed his fingers across his skin; they came away with a tinge of fresh blood. “No.”
The nurse tossed him an antiseptic packet and a Band-Aid. “Well, at least clean it off. Trash can’s over there, next to the waiting room.” She pointed across the hallway. “Now, why don’t you…gentlemen go wait in there.”
The moment the two men stepped into the waiting room, Cummings walked to the far corner and made a phone call. Much as Josh wanted to hear what was being discussed, he was stuck with grabbing a cup of coffee from the machine and taking up position in a chair he moved next to the door. He planned to keep a close eye on who came and went.
He calculated how long he could hold off on contacting Drake. Every second counted when dealing with CT, but he couldn’t risk there being some kind of listening device within range. The police having a sub-station at the hospital meant they had a lot of opportunities to set up their surveillance equipment any way they pleased. Not that the honest cops would do that, but the ones who’d slid to the CT side might.
The cop in charge from the parking lot glanced in the doorway, tossing Josh the keys to his truck before he disappeared down the hallway. Cummings ended his call and pulled a chair over to mirror Josh’s position. Minutes ticked by, slow, slower, until over an hour had passed. Neither one said a word.
A bustling in the hallway caught his attention a second before the head nurse stepped to the door and motioned him to follow her.
“Mr. Slater, Ms. Baudin is being released. If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to her.”
Cummings rose from his chair. “What about me? Did you tell her I was here?”
“I told her. She doesn’t feel well enough to see you at this time.”
Josh kept step with the nurse as she pushed through the swinging doors into the trauma center.
“Slater,” Cummings shouted.
He paused, glancing back over his shoulder. “Yeah?”
“When Macki’s released, the two of you come straight to the police sub-station on the second floor. I’m sure you can find your way.”
Josh nodd
ed. He could find his way out the door, too. But that wouldn’t serve any purpose other than to piss off the detective even more. For now, he needed to figure out who CT had in their pocket. Might be Cummings. Might not.
At first sight of Macki sitting in a wheelchair, he sucked in a deep breath then swallowed the biggest lump in his throat he’d ever had. She looked tired, and when he crouched next to her, her tan was pale. The pink outfit had been exchanged for a set of green hospital scrubs.
“This is my fault,” he said, taking hold of her hand. “I should have forced you to get in my truck right from the beginning.”
She smiled weakly. “Nobody forces me to do anything. Least of all you.”
The nurse stacked a plastic bag, release paperwork, and Macki’s boots on her lap. She briefly went over the already signed release form then motioned they were free to leave.
“Cummings wants to ask us some questions.” Pushing the wheelchair, Josh raced down the hall and rushed through the elevator’s closing doors. He hated elevators. They took too much time.
“Now?”
He nodded. “We’ll meet him in the hospital sub-station. Answer a few questions. Then head on out.”
“How much do we tell him?”
Good girl. She’d picked up on the seriousness of the situation. Seeing that he hadn’t had time to fill her in on the full scenario of OPAQUE and CT, there wasn’t much for her to say.
“Don’t mention Drake. Don’t tell them who I work for. Don’t tell them why I’m here.”
“That’ll be easy.” She shot him an exasperated look as they moved off the elevator on the second floor. “Since neither you nor my uncle have seen fit to fill me in on what’s really happening.”
He rolled her toward Cummings, who was conveniently waiting at the end of the hall. “Tell them the basics of what happened tonight when you were attacked.”
“So there’s no need to lie?”
“Nope.” He rested his hand on her shoulder. “But watch my lead on how creative you need to be with the answers.”
Slater's Revenge Page 5