Damned If You Don't

by Linda J. Parisi

  Jack bit the inside of his cheek to keep from making a sound. He moved silently across the floor. Three evenly spaced rows of drawers and workbenches filled the room. He hid behind the first row and looked back over his shoulder. Sam was following.

  Jack sprinted to the second row. He still couldn’t see real well, but he could hear. And what he heard made his blood run cold and his stomach burn with anger.

  “I should kill you right now.”

  Jack watched Elaine Tanner smack Morgan hard against the cheek. Morgan’s head snapped around, and she looked dazed. And Jack sent up another silent thank-you that she was alive. Then he tamped down on his own feelings and waited until Sam was behind him. Once they were both in position, he motioned to Sam to go around to the other end of the counter for a two-pronged attack.

  “I have to think about this for a moment, Morgan. When they do an autopsy on you, I can’t leave any incriminating evidence behind.”

  Jack squeezed his fists so tight his knuckles hurt. He inched around the cabinets and watched the woman. She was tall, wiry, but well muscled. Overpowering her might look easy at first but Jack didn’t want to regret that decision later.

  “You won’t get away with it, Elaine,” Morgan told the woman, her words spaced as if she were trying to focus.

  Elaine Tanner laughed. “Oh but I will, won’t I, darling?” she crooned. And that was when Jack saw the body lying on the floor. Asian man. No. Impossible.

  Elaine Tanner and Dr. Huan Chuan Lee? They were behind all this?

  Jack was so surprised he almost missed Sam’s signal that he was ready to attack.

  He waited a moment longer, watching as the woman lifted Morgan to her feet so she could look Morgan in the eyes. Morgan tried to pull her head away. Elaine wouldn’t let her go and wrenched on her arm, making Morgan scream.

  Jack knew for sure he was going to hurt this maniac something awful.

  “You all think you’re so smart,” the woman bit out. “You think you know everything,” she sneered.

  Morgan didn’t answer.

  “What do you know? Where were you when my father sold me to one of his friends? And then another? And another?”

  “I’m sorry for you, Elaine.”

  “Don’t you dare pity me!” the woman cried. Then she swallowed, reining in her emotions. “I fixed him, you know. You bet I did.”

  She sounded as if she were talking to herself, and Jack realized how far gone the woman was.

  “And all the others. Daddy never guessed who he was dealing with. Not until it was too late. I had the power. I held his life in my hands. Now I hold yours.”

  He watched her calm herself and listened to her continue in a lower tone of voice. “I have the power now. I’m the one who decides. I hold your life in my hands.”

  Jack’s blood ran cold. Not only was he dealing with a murderer, he was dealing with a raving lunatic. He looked back over his shoulder again to see where Sam was. Sam was waiting, ready to follow.

  “I don’t think so,” Jack cried, springing up from his hiding place.

  The woman moved so fast even Jack was surprised. By the time he was halfway across the floor, there was a syringe pointing right at Morgan’s neck. He skidded to a halt.

  “Put your weapon down. Now!” Elaine cried.

  Jack scanned the room and realized Sam hadn’t followed. Damn he owed the man if they ever got out of this.

  “Morgan? Are you hurt?”

  “I’m—I’m all right Jack.”

  She was lying. White-hot anger seared his gut, but Jack had no choice. He bent down and lowered his weapon to the floor.

  “Good. Now kick it to me. Gently.”

  Jack followed the commands trying to calculate how far away he was and how far he could leap if he needed. He edged closer.

  Morgan’s head lolled against her chest, and he called out, “Morgan. Are you all right? Talk to me, kitten.”

  He kept edging closer. Elaine Tanner kept edging backward. Stalemate.

  “Let her go. You don’t need to do this. Let her go, and I’ll take her place,” he promised.

  “A brave sentiment,” Elaine replied. “But unnecessary. And though you are an exceptionally fine piece of masculine material, at this juncture I only need one hostage. A woman of her size will be much easier to handle than a man of your stature.”

  “True. But I’ll go with you willingly. She won’t.”

  Elaine merely smiled. “Do you take me for a complete fool?”

  “Don’t do it, Jack,” Morgan choked out. Her eyes opened and focused, and her gaze begged him not to do anything stupid.

  Jack watched Elaine force Morgan to bend by pulling on her arm. Morgan groaned in pain, and Jack swore the bitch was going to pay for hurting his woman. She made Morgan pick up Jack’s gun and hand it to her. Then Elaine threw away the syringe.

  Jack didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. The syringe was a maybe at best. He knew the damage the gun could do.

  “Let her go, Dr. Tanner.”

  “Ah, so you figured out who I am. Well, no matter. You’re both going to have to die now.”

  With that, the doctor pushed Morgan away, and just as Jack leaped into the air to get her, Elaine Tanner fired two rounds. Jack hit the floor with a thud, fire filling his body as darkness filled his vision.

  MORGAN WENT AFTER the woman with a mighty roar. A red haze filled her vision. She grabbed Elaine’s shoulder and spun her around, unable to describe how good it felt to feel the woman’s nose shatter under the knuckles of her fist.

  She reared back ready to repeat the action, but Elaine parried her punch and spun away. The woman staggered into the counter that held the lab sink. She watched Elaine turn and reach into the sink, then lift something out. The woman had a beaker in her hand.

  “It’s acid,” she hissed. Blood dripped down from her broken nose, staining the pristine white of her lab coat. “Back off, or I throw it.”

  Morgan had no choice. She straightened and stepped back several paces. Elaine held the beaker in a shaking fist. Her eyes darted to the left and to the right, and then she started moving toward the door. A moment later she fell flat on her face.

  Sam had come up from behind and tripped the woman. The beaker went flying and crashed against the floor as Elaine tried to scramble to her feet and escape.

  Morgan ran and launched herself onto Elaine’s back. She tackled her to the floor, letting the woman take the brunt of the fall. Elaine grunted as the air whooshed out of her lungs. A moment later Morgan was staring at the barrel of a gun and the sandy-haired man she’d seen at the ferry. He nodded and jerked his head in the direction of the sink. And Jack.

  Sam.

  Not knowing how to question why he was there, Morgan scrambled to her feet and raced to Jack. Jack was lying on the floor, blood all over, when the door flew open and a bunch of armed men flooded the warehouse.

  “No one move! This is the FBI!”

  “Over here,” Morgan cried. “Oh, please. Help him. Please. He’s been shot.”

  Fear sizzled down her spine. Jack looked so pale, so helpless.

  She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at Sam, a plea in her gaze that he would make it, that he would be all right.

  “Jack. Jack,” she whispered. A cold ball of misery welled inside her.

  Sam’s hand squeezed her shoulder gently. “You need to get out of the way, Morgan. You need to let the medics take care of him now.”

  She rose and hovered, her heart in her throat. My fault. All my fault.

  “Will he be all right?”

  Sam shrugged. He turned and pulled her away as they lifted Jack onto a gurney. A man with raven-black hair and ice-blue eyes walked over to them. He looked terribly angry.

  “I thought I told you both to wait until I got here,” he yelled at Sam.?

  “We didn’t have a choice,” Sam blasted back. “I heard one gunshot. I couldn’t take the chance of another.”

  “Look where th
at got you both.” He nodded at Sam and then gave her a piercing stare. “Go on. Take her to the hospital. I can handle it from here. The good doctor and I have some unfinished business to attend to.”

  “You won’t get anything out of her,” she heard Sam warn.

  “We’ll see, Sam. We’ll see.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Morgan sat. She paced. She sat. She paced. She reached for a cup of cold coffee, stared at the black liquid inside, and then put the cup down again. Then she sat again. And every few seconds she’d reach out and slip her hand inside his, or trail a tender finger down his cheek.

  No one knew for certain if he was going to make it or not. He’d taken one in the shoulder, one a bit closer to his heart. He’d made it through surgery. Now all they could do was wait.

  His vitals are strong. His vitals are strong.

  With that mantra carrying her through every moment, Morgan sat. She paced. Sam called again to see how he was doing. They’d found Morgan’s tape recorder back at BioClin, and Elaine Tanner was going to go on trial for murder. A lot of murders. Which was going to be very small consolation if Jack didn’t wake up soon.

  Sam was in Ian’s custody and was going to testify in return for a reduced sentence and no time served. She told Sam no change and hung up. Then Ian stopped by the hospital to find out how Jack was. He didn’t say much, just bent down and whispered something in Jack’s ear.

  Morgan sighed and leaned down so her forehead rested against their clasped hands, doing something very un-Morgan-like. The woman of science prayed.

  The next thing she knew—no, she could swear, was that someone was rubbing her head with their hand. She looked up to see Jack smile at her with so much love pouring from his gaze she was certain she would drown.

  His eyes fluttered closed, and Morgan had to swallow several times before the words came out in a hushed whisper. “Thank you, God.”

  She’d known Jack was a fighter, but for a few minutes there, she figured he could use some help.

  Morgan waited until he fell back asleep before leaving the room to call Sam. He told her he would tell Ian. Of course it took another twenty-four hours before Jack started to come out of it. But once they moved him to a regular room, Morgan knew she could begin to relax a little.

  * * * *

  She had fallen asleep when an inner sense woke her up. She rubbed her eyes and checked her watch. Three thirty in the morning. Then she sat bolt upright. Jack was awake, giving her one of his patented grins.

  “You’re awake.” All her fears and anxiety washed away with those two little words.

  He licked his lips, then tried to speak. What came out was a harsh rasp. “Dr. Lee?”

  “Dead.”

  His gaze told her how sorry he was for her about that particular betrayal.

  “Elaine Tanner?”

  “In custody.”

  He nodded. “I’ve been cleared of all charges,” she told him. “Elaine refuses to say a word, but it was a smart move to buy that tape recorder. Ian says he has all the evidence he needs to go for first-degree murder.”

  She smiled at him. “How do you feel?” she asked.

  “Like…crap.”

  Morgan couldn’t help smiling. “That’s good to hear.”

  “Easy…for you…to say.”

  “Yeah. I suppose so.”

  Morgan swallowed and turned serious. “You took a bullet for me. Two bullets. I can’t believe you did that.”

  He simply smiled.

  “I guess there are no words to thank you for that.”

  He swallowed, trying to speak. “Don’t try to talk,” she told him, smoothing back the hair on his forehead. “Just listen. Please.”

  He nodded. “All my life I’ve been the geek scientist. I’m not beautiful, I can’t cook, and I was never like the other girls. I had brains, and that was about it.”

  “More…than…beautiful.”

  She nodded, smiling through her tears. “Are you going to listen, or do I have to hurt you?”

  He grinned and squeezed her hand. “When you stood there leaning against that doorjamb I was certain you were waiting for a five-foot-ten-inch model in stiletto heels with a size 36D bust and a two-inch waist. And yet, something sparked inside. I have no idea why. I probably never will.”

  “Don’t…question.”

  “You made me feel like a princess that night. Our one enchanted evening. And yet, you stuck with me. You made me feel like a princess every night. Talk about being thrown.”

  “Betrayed…you.”

  “Yeah, you did. And I’ve held it against you long enough.”

  He smiled and sighed. “Good.”

  “But there’s more, and you promised to let me finish,” she continued, feeling her stomach start crawling back up from between her knees for the first time in days.

  He stared at her, hope filling his gaze. “I’ve never let go of myself. All this time, just like at the party we crashed. You wanted me to run with you. But I couldn’t. I was afraid.”

  He sighed long and loud and lifted her hand to his mouth. But his arm fell back to the bed heavily, and she admonished, “Don’t do that again, Jack. Not until you’re stronger.”

  Her gaze caught his, and Morgan let all the love in her heart shine out for him. “I love you, Jack.”

  He didn’t answer. She swallowed and tried to get the words out in as normal a voice as she could. “I said, I love you.”

  He squeezed her hand and rasped, “I know, kitten, I know.”

  She smiled and squeezed his hand back. “Forever.”

  He grinned. “You…sure? Long…time.”

  She nodded. “I’m sure.”

  Jack must have liked the sound of that a lot. He fell asleep again promising he was going to hold her to it.

  * * * *

  Jack was certain he was going to put his fist through a wall. As a matter of fact, he was downright positive. If Morgan didn’t stop hovering around him, he was going to kill her. He’d been home for two weeks, and Morgan was acting totally nuts around him. Every time he moved, she jumped up to help him. Every time he ate, she watched him like a hawk. And then it dawned on him. She was terrified. And would be. Until a certain part of their relationship was in full swing again.

  “That is it!” he cried one afternoon after lunch. “I’ve had enough.”

  “Enough of what?”

  “Of you. Go away. Leave. Before I find my gun and use it on you and we’re both invalids.”

  She simply stared at him. “What is your problem?”

  “You.”

  “What’re you talking about?”

  “You cringe every time I get up. You hover around me constantly. What’s up with that?”

  She didn’t answer.

  “If you don’t tell me, I’m going to go find my gun,” he swore.

  “You didn’t see yourself after you got shot.”

  “So what? I’m fine now. Clean bill of health.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked.

  “Of course I’m sure.”

  “Positive?”

  He wanted to scream. “You keep watching me eat as if you expect me to relapse. Or as if you expect me to leave. You need to get it through that thick head of yours. I’m not going anywhere. I love you. ”

  “Oh.”

  “That’s all you can say? Just oh? You’ve been driving me nuts since I got home from the hospital. Read my lips. I’m fine.”

  “You sure?”

  He sighed. “Very sure.”

  “Really, really, really sure?”

  Jack was just about to lose it when he found himself locked in her arms. He didn’t get another word out because her tongue was mating with his. His engine started revving when she moaned. Now this was more like it.

  “I love you, Andrew Jackson Kent,” she told him, breaking their kiss.

  His hips meshed with hers swaying to the song of love. “I love you more, Dr. Morgan Elizabeth Mackenzie. I have a great idea.
”

  She started laughing. Only this time she didn’t look at him as if he’d lost it. “The Purple Martin. I’m game.”

  He grinned and bent his head down to cover her mouth with his again.

  She broke away one last time. “No more guns, got that?” He nodded in agreement. “No more knives, either,” he replied, struggling to keep a straight face.

  She pouted and ran a lazy finger down his chest. “I like the way you use your knife.”

  Jack laughed. “Good, because—” And he proceeded to reach into his back pocket.

  Loose Id Titles by Linda J. Parisi

  Damned If You Don’t

  Linda J. Parisi

  Let multi-published author Linda J. Parisi take you through the darker, spicier side of Romance with her Paranormal, Paranormal Romantic Suspense, and Romantic Suspense tales. Awarded the New Jersey Romance Writer’s Golden Leaf Award for Best First Book for her novel, Noble Blood; and winner of the 4th Annual Stroke of Midnight Contest for her novel, The Joining: Bound by Blood, Ms. Parisi knows that a unique voice and a dash of heat will help spice up your work and get it noticed. A longtime member of RWA, board member of NJRW, board member of Liberty States Fiction Writers, as well as a Craft and Industry Instructor for Literary Powerhouse Consulting, Linda has seen the publishing industry turn upside down yet stay the same because everyone loves a well written Romance.

  Learn more about the author at http://lindajparisi.com