Time To Kill (Witness Security Book 2)

by Jamie Hill

  A cell phone rang and she listened at the door. The man had taken a call, and he’d stepped away from the bathroom. She had one shot at this.

  She flushed the toilet and turned the sink faucet on. Aiming the bottom of the spray can at the crack in the mirror, she tapped it, several times, until the mirror cracked again. She pried a triangle-shaped piece out and palmed it in her hand.

  There was shouting in the office and she froze. The man started yelling in Spanish and the bathroom door was yanked open.

  “Come on!” He grabbed her arm.

  She dropped the can but held the piece of glass so tight that it cut into her skin. Damn it! She had to be more careful. If he spotted her bleeding, he’d see the glass.

  He didn’t seem focused on her, though he did push her out of the office and towards a large semi rig. “Here.” The man thrust the syringe into the younger man’s hand and shoved Jordan toward him. He spouted something she didn’t understand but the word ‘policia’ got her attention. Was someone coming? Had he been tipped off?

  “Get her in the box. We’ll secure her later.” The big man rushed off.

  “Vamos!” The younger man grabbed her arm.

  “Wait.” She dragged her feet. “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing you need to worry about. Just hop in the truck and get ready for a nice long nap.” He raised the syringe.

  “No, please!” Jordan wrestled with him and raised her hands. She took aim and brought the shard of glass down across the side of his face.

  “Cabrona!” He clutched his face. “You stupid bitch! Makes no difference to me if you live or die.” He swung his arm and backhanded her across the face.

  Somehow, she remained standing. She tried to stab him again, but he grabbed her arm and jammed the syringe into it.

  Jordan cried out as the needle pierced her skin. She was a goner. She’d wake up in Mexico and never see anyone she knew again.

  A loud booming noise sounded on the tin warehouse doors. “LAPD!” a voice in a bullhorn echoed through the large cavernous space.

  “Fuck!” The man shoved her to the floor and took off running.

  Jordan scrambled to her feet and tried to figure out which way the door was. A shot rang out and she dropped behind a stack of boxes. She couldn’t come out now or she might get caught in the crossfire. She had to hang on.

  Hang on.

  Her head felt woozy, but she fought it.

  Hang on.

  Footsteps, more gunfire, yelling. The activity was on the other side of the warehouse. She didn’t want them to leave her. She had to make her presence known.

  Climbing to her feet she wobbled a ways then took a deep breath and tried to clear her head.

  Hang on.

  “One suspect down!” someone yelled. He sounded fairly close.

  Jordan took a chance. “Help me!” she called.

  “Where are you?” came the reply.

  “Who are you?” she had to ask.

  “LAPD.”

  “I’m a US Marshal,” she replied, her heart palpitating madly.

  “Step out so we can see you.”

  Jordan prayed she wasn’t making a mistake, but she was losing strength and she had to trust somebody. She moved into an aisle and spotted three men in SWAT gear facing her. “I’m a US Marshal,” she said again.

  One of them approached with his palms toward her. “LAPD. Do you have any weapons?”

  She opened her bloody hand and showed him the shard of glass.

  He took it carefully and removed the rag from her neck, wrapping it around her hand.

  A second man removed the cuffs from her wrists. He smiled at her. “A lot of people have been looking for you.”

  “They have?” Her head felt fuzzy, but she also had the sense that everything was going to be okay. “I’m glad.”

  He added, “I think those guys are going to be glad, too.” He pointed in the direction from which they’d come.

  She spotted Doug moving toward her. When he saw her, he broke into a run.

  Jordan sighed and fell into his arms. “Oh, thank God. I thought I was a goner.”

  He held her up. “For a time, so did we.”

  “I didn’t know where I was. I wasn’t sure anyone was looking for me.”

  “Of course we were. We’ve been going out of our minds.” He hugged her tightly then pulled back. “Look at this. We thought we were rescuing you. You did great all by yourself.”

  She could only smile and shake her head, and then a thought occurred to her. “Who’s ‘we’?”

  Doug stepped aside and motioned to Nick, standing behind him.

  Jordan blinked in shock and amazement.

  Nick gave a small smile. “You’re looking damn good for a dead woman.”

  She flew toward him. “Oh, my God! They told me you were dead. I’ve spent the last three days figuring out how I was going to live without you.”

  He held her close and whispered in her ear, “I can’t die yet. We’ve got too much living to do.”

  Jordan gazed into his eyes for a moment before pressing her lips to his. The kiss was warm and salty from the tears flooding her face.

  Nick wrapped his arms around her and the kiss deepened.

  She never wanted to let him go, but her head wasn’t getting any clearer. She pulled back.

  He brushed the tears off her cheeks with his thumbs, smiling sweetly at her before glancing at Doug. “See, I told you. She kissed me first.”

  Doug put a hand on each of their shoulders. “I can see that. Actually, I think I’m okay with it now.”

  Jordan’s eyelids were growing heavy. “Nick…” She collapsed.

  His face registered concern as he scooped her up with an arm under her knees. “Jo, are you all right?”

  “Drugged me...” She rested her head on his shoulder. “Sleep all the way to Mexico…”

  “You’re not going to Mexico,” he said firmly. “We’ll get you some help.”

  “Come on.” Doug ushered them toward the door.

  She snuggled against Nick’s neck. “Please don’t leave me.”

  “Never again,” were the last two words she heard.

  * * *

  Nick carried Jordan to the open bay doors where Evan met them.

  “Oh, my God! Is she all right?”

  “She’s been drugged. We need an ambulance.”

  “Over here,” Ryan yelled, and directed them to paramedics.

  They placed her on a gurney and Nick repeated what she’d told him before she passed out.

  The female attendant said, “We need to figure out what they gave her. We’ll take her to St. John’s, it’s the closest hospital.”

  “I’m going with you.” Nick climbed in with the gurney, not giving anyone a chance to protest.

  “We’ll meet you there,” Doug agreed.

  Nick nodded and they closed the ambulance doors.

  The vehicle took off and the paramedic checked Jordan’s vital signs. “She seems stable. I don’t think they were trying to kill her, or she’d have had a worse reaction by now.”

  “No, they had other plans for her,” Nick muttered, his heart heavy and light at the same time. Jordan is back! Now he just had to worry about what condition she’d be in when she woke.

  They arrived at the hospital and a medical team whisked her away before he could insist that he needed to stay with her. He knew in his head that he couldn’t, but he did not want Jordan waking up thinking he’d left her. He paced in the private waiting room they’d given him, which was soon not-so-private.

  Doug, Evan and Ryan were next to arrive.

  “How is she?” Doug asked as they strode in.

  He shook his head. “Nothing yet. The paramedic said she was stable, so I’m hoping.”

  “I’ll let Ben, Olivia, and Christi know.” He texted people while Nick continued to pace.

  “We got Rios,” Ryan confirmed. “He’s not talking, of course. But we got him. That’s the main thing.
”

  Evan nodded. “There are a few more people we need to get. That fucker Gabriel Monte for starters. ”

  Ryan lowered his voice. “Lieutenant Reed texted me that they found Monte’s body in Rios’ warehouse.”

  Evan raised his eyebrows. “Which explains why he was late getting back to the house.”

  Ryan nodded. “Apparently Rios wanted the goods, but didn’t want to pay the price.”

  Nick threw up his hands. “I can not fucking believe these people. Someone pisses you off, kill ‘em. Someone looks at you wrong, kill ‘em. Someone asks too much money for a woman being sold into slavery, kill ‘em. We don’t have this shit in Kansas. California is one wild ride, I tell you that.”

  Ryan smiled. “Don’t judge all Californians by the actions of our criminally insane population. Most of us are decent folks who pay our bills and shop at Costco, just like you Kansans do.”

  Doug rejoined the group. “Everyone sends their congratulations and best wishes to Jordan. Ben, Woods, and Charlie are all doing fine, happy as hell to hear everyone’s okay.”

  “I just hope she is okay,” Nick muttered, his stomach still churning with nervous butterflies.

  Evan looked at Nick and folded his arms across his chest. “What I’d like to know is, when did you fall in love with Jordan? And why didn’t I know about it?”

  Nick offered a guilty smile. “About eight years ago. Took me that long to come to my senses, anyway. And you didn’t know about it because neither of us knew about it, either. We were carefully skirting the issue until all this happened. Now I think we both realize that life’s too short not to go after what you want.”

  Evan nodded as if he agreed, then glanced at Doug. “Can I assume this is what you two were fighting about? Are we going to have more issues?”

  “No.” Doug shook his head. “No more issues. Though I can’t say that if he gets out of line again I won’t kick his ass.”

  Nick’s smile widened. “Duly noted. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  A doctor entered the room and looked at them. “Your marshal is fine. The drug they gave her seems to be a form of Triazolam, a prescription sleep aid. She’ll likely sleep for several hours, but all indications are that she’ll be fine when it wears off.”

  Evan asked, “Does she have any other injuries?”

  “The cut on her hand wasn’t deep. We cleaned it and glued it back together. She was slapped around some, but it doesn’t appear anything was broken. The bruises are mainly on her face. She is dehydrated so we started an IV for fluids. Our initial findings don’t indicate the need for a rape kit, but when she wakes up we’ll find out for sure and do one as necessary.”

  Nick grimaced.

  Doug leaned in to him and said quietly, “If it doesn’t look like she needs one, she probably doesn’t. The doctors are pretty observant about this stuff. Stay positive for a while longer.”

  Nick nodded and looked away. “Thanks.”

  Doug nudged his arm. “Anytime, pal.”

  They thanked the doctor and as he started to walk off Nick asked, “Can I see her?”

  He hesitated then nodded. “Sure. Talk to the nurse at the desk. She’ll take you in. A short visit though, okay? She needs to rest.”

  “Sure.” Nick turned back to the others. “A short visit? Right.” He snorted. “She’s loaded with Triazolam. I think she’ll sleep whether I’m there or not.”

  Doug added, “She expects you to be there when she wakes up.” He looked at their chief. “Can’t we tell them she needs protection? Someone really ought to remain with her.”

  Evan agreed, and he and Ryan went to speak to the nurse. When they returned, Nick had free rein to come and go as he pleased.

  “We’ll head back and get our car, and check in with the boys at the house.” Evan put a hand on Nick’s arm. “Call if you need anything, and let us know when she wakes up.”

  “Will do. Appreciate it.” He thanked the detective and once they’d gone, he settled into a chair by Jordan’s bedside.

  She looked peaceful, her breathing steady and even. He prayed that looks wouldn’t be deceiving.

  It was after midnight when she finally stirred.

  Nick had been resting his eyes when he heard her waken.

  She yawned and stretched, examined the IV in her arm, then looked at Nick and smiled. “I just had the best dream. I was being held captive and you rode in on a white horse and saved me.”

  He smiled. “Funny, I had the same dream. Except it was a black SUV and when I got there, you had saved yourself. But Doug got all the credit, along with the first hug.”

  Jordan smiled sheepishly. “I thought you were dead. I don’t know why I believed them when they told me that. I guess I thought they were just such honest and believable people.” She batted her lashes.

  “Yeah, well for about five seconds I thought you were dead, too. That’s what LeRoy VanDyke said, anyway. I gotta tell ya, it was the worst five seconds of my life.”

  “What changed your mind?”

  He leaned forward in his chair. “Doug, for starters. He reminded me how strong you are. Then we found the kid you beaned and cuffed to the wall in the basement of that house. He sang like a canary when the words ‘murder charges’ were tossed at him. He ID’d your photo. And if you can believe this, a neighbor got the tag number of the car you were in.”

  “That was lucky. I need to thank that neighbor.”

  “Believe me, I did. It was our first break in the case. But we can thank him again, together.”

  She seemed thoughtful. “I don’t know what happened to the guy that was holding me. Gabe was his name.”

  “Gabriel Monte. Ferdinand Rios killed him.”

  “Who’s Rios?”

  “Gold-capped tooth guy.”

  “Oh.” She nodded, and then smiled. “Doug told you I was strong?”

  Nick reached for her good hand and squeezed it. “Yeah. I knew it, of course. He just reminded me, and told me how many people loved and supported you.”

  “Wow.” She blinked and swiped a tear from her eye. “That was sweet. I’m kind of surprised Doug is being so nice to you.”

  He waved his free hand. “Nah, we’re BFF’s now. Nothing like a girl getting kidnapped to bring two fellas together.”

  She chuckled.

  “He did promise to kick my ass if I get out of line again, though.”

  “Wonder what Doug considers ‘out of line’?”

  Nick gazed into her eyes. “We need to have that conversation, but first we need to have this one. The doctor told us you’re going to be fine. The drug they gave you was a prescription sleeping medication, so it shouldn’t cause any lasting effects. Besides the cut on your hand, you mainly have bruises from being slapped around.” He paused and swallowed. “You don’t know how hard it is for me to hear that, let alone say it.”

  She squeezed his hand. “I’m okay, Nick.”

  He inhaled and blew it out. “The doc also said that when you woke up, they’d ask you if you needed a rape kit.” At that point he held his breath.

  Jordan smiled and wiggled his fingers. “No. I definitely do not.”

  Relief flooded him, and Nick let the air he’d been holding out. “Praise Jesus.”

  “Jesus and I got to be pretty good friends these past few days.”

  “Oh, yeah? Me too.” He ran a hand over the purple and orange bruises on her cheek. “I’m so sorry this happened, Jo. It was my fault for not paying more attention to our surroundings. I’m afraid I was thinking mostly about you.”

  She shook her head. “It wasn’t your fault. I was being childish and stupid, playing those mind games with you. My head wasn’t in the moment, either. I don’t blame you at all.”

  “When I let myself think about what might be happening to you, I was terrified.”

  “They made a lot of threats. The first woman I saw said that Gabe would see to my needs, and I should be prepared to see to his.” She made a face. “Fortunat
ely, he never tried anything. It would have been easy because I was handcuffed to a bed.”

  Nick flinched. “Was that Wilma VanDyke?”

  “I don’t know. She had long brown hair and carried a small white poodle.”

  “Sounds exactly like Wilma VanDyke. LeRoy’s daughter-in-law.”

  “Then something happened and I was taken from her very nice house to the basement of that not so nice place.”

  He nodded. “We got a tip. I was actually at VanDyke’s mansion when the police raided it, but we didn’t find anything. The old man told the cops from prison that he’d ordered you to be taken out and disposed of. I guess Gabriel Monte had other ideas.”

  “Oh.” Her eyes widened. “It all makes sense now. Gabe decided to try and make a few bucks off me. The other guy—”

  “Rios.”

  “Yeah, Rios, he said he’d do the deal then killed Gabe and came back to take me for free. Holy shit, Nick. I just want to go home.”

  He caressed her face. “As soon as we can, babe. I’ll need to talk to Evan about Charlie and the trial. I’d like to get him reassigned so we can get the hell out of here. Home sounds good to me, too.”

  She leaned her face into his hand. “Where is home for you these days?”

  Nick smiled. “Wherever you are, Jo. I know this startling realization comes a few years too late to change what happened, but I need you. I want you in my life, whether it’s you alone or with a whole pack of children. You’ll have to help me out, though, because I have absolutely no experience in that area. But I’d do it for you. I love you, Jordan. I’ll do whatever I need to do to make things work so we can be together for the rest of our lives.”

  She turned her face and kissed his palm. “That’s all I wanted to hear. I never said I wanted a pack of children. Hell, at my age, I’d be lucky to have one. I’m not even sure I want a baby. I loved our lazy weekends, picking up and going wherever and whenever we wanted, just the two of us. But I needed to make sure you were ready to settle down. I love you too, Nick. But I can’t lose you again. If I give my heart this time, it has to be for keeps.”

  He stood and moved his face just inches from hers. “It will be for keeps. I knew the moment I saw you again, you’re the one I’ve been waiting for. It’s always been you.”