Unexpected Guardian (Skyline Trilogy Book 3)

by Willow Summers

“Jenna, can I talk to you a minute?” Jax asked while looking at Josh.

  Jenna stepped away with him. Jax lowered his voice as he peered at Josh. “There’s only one other time I’ve seen him like this, Jenna. One other time. When he saw all our guys chopped down and knew he could only save one. Me. He wanted to die trying that night. I saw it. He would have if they had let him go back in.

  “Welcome to his déjà vu. He thinks he is going to lose you tonight. He’s not in control. Hasn’t been since he agreed to this. Fear is riding him. He has no faith. If he goes in like this, he’ll do something stupid. He’ll get himself killed, thinking it will help. It won’t. You gotta take control of this, Jenna. You gotta lead him. Take the thinking out of his equation. If you have to pull a miracle out of your ass, do it.”

  “Why don’t you? He doesn’t listen to me with this type of stuff. You’re the one with experience,” Jenna said with a quivering voice.

  Jax snorted. “You’re wrong, there. You might not’ve led men in battle, but you drag them around by the nose any other place. You’re the only one he’ll listen to in this, Jenna. He didn’t even listen to his commanding officer when shit went down the last time, and that just isn’t done. You’re the only one I’ve seen that can make him do something he doesn’t want to do. You have to use it now. You have to. Please, Jenna. He’s family.”

  Jax was as freaked out as Josh. He thought he was going to lose someone, too.

  For her protection brigade, they were doing a lot of delegating.

  She sighed, strengthening her resolve. A miracle, huh?

  Jenna gripped her gun. She needed to make a decision, and then follow through. She needed confidence to get out of this. The only way to go was the homeless camp. It was the only way that couldn’t possibly be watched, or invaded. Those guys had a community and they were leery of outsiders. They would protect themselves with weapons, but if her camp was just passing through, and looked mean and in constant motion, her group should make it.

  No, not should. They would make it.

  It wasn’t the first time she’d been through that camp. It was where she’d killed a guy. Time to confront her ghosts.

  She put on her bitch hat and walked back to the boys. All eyes turned to her. She looked directly at Josh. “We go through the homeless camp.” Her eyes sought Gerry’s. “You don’t like it, you are free to leave.”

  Gerry grinned and shrugged. “You’re hot when you’re bossy.”

  Jenna couldn’t keep a smile from her face. The guy was infectious. “Okay, when we go through there, I’ll be in the front. I know the way. It will call attention, probably lots of it, but let it go.” She pinned Josh with a stare. “It will be lewd, there might be an advance, but I’ll take care of it. Josh and Jax, you get the sides. Gerry, you the back. Make sure no one rushes us from behind.

  “Try not to hurt anyone.” She paused, and then restarted. “I should qualify that—try not to permanently hurt anyone. If you have to, though, use a knife. Guns will just draw attention. On the other side I’ll get us a cab. Yes?”

  She met each of their eyes. Jax was approving, Josh calm, though still worried, and Gerry was shaking his head. It was as good as she was going to get.

  Jenna started off at a jog, letting her feelers open up again. As soon as she did, she felt it. Itching, tingling. She pointed in the direction and said, “Bad guy.”

  Bad guy? She couldn’t have used perp, or villain, or something a little cooler than bad guy?

  It was Jax’s side and he was gone in a blink, slinking into the night, a moving shadow on fright night. Jenna kept the jog, heard a muffled groan, and seconds later Jax was back.

  “Good eyes.” He spat. “Or nose. That guy stank.”

  She didn’t want to ask if permanence applied to that situation.

  Jenna felt eyes all around now; some were just present, some were not good. Josh held his position, but Jenna felt the rising danger from him as well. He was unsettled, and losing what little control he still possessed. She was the reason for it, but there was nothing she could do about it. At this point, her crazy flight reflex was telling her to sprint into the throng of homeless a hundred yards in the distance. Her crew jogging in a formation was drawing too many eyes, even at three in the morning. Couldn’t be helped; crackheads were terrible shots. Moving targets would be pretty much beyond them. That would severely cut down on the threat level.

  When they were fifty yards out, Josh said, “Gun.”

  Jenna saw it, to their left, Josh’s side. It was a group of three, all looking at her, squinting. They were unsure, young, and out of place. They weren’t killers. Couldn’t be, because her warning itch hadn’t gone off. She trusted that itch—had to; uncertainty would not work for her right now.

  The hoodlums were probably trying to get up the courage. If Josh got involved, things would go pear-shaped very quickly.

  That was just logic.

  “Stay put, Josh,” Jenna said in clipped tones.

  “No, Jenna. Stay on this course and I’ll—”

  “Stay put, goddamn it!” Jenna put every ounce of the command she possessed into her voice. Every fiber of her that had ever bossed anyone around was poured into her words. Everything she had ever learned from her father, from getting her way, from the general, from Josh himself, threaded through her tone. “You listen to me, Joshua Williams. Stay in file. Clear?”

  “Hooyah,” he said. The soldier in Josh had no choice but to obey.

  They kept going, the men off to the right fiddling with the single gun they seemed to have between them, squinting. Jenna’s crew was close to their destination now, but also had to pass the three youngsters. She saw them argue, and then one guy grabbed the gun from his friend and raised it.

  In a blaze, all her sirens and alarms went off. Adrenaline coursed through her and her systems went into overdrive. Josh saw it at the same time as she did, but her clipped “no” made him hesitate, still following orders, though about to break free.

  If she messed up here, and got herself killed, he would mentally go down with the ship. It wasn’t just her life right now. She had to remember that.

  That logic was there, but it didn’t process. What she did process was danger. Imminent death. Survival.

  She broke out of the pack, stilled to a walk, and stalked toward the three men like she was on a runway with the devil’s fashion wrapped around her body. As she neared, she raised her gun, aiming at the weakest guy cowering in the back. The youngest.

  She couldn’t say why—that didn’t register—it just felt right.

  “Me for him,” she said in a snarl as she made eye contact with the kid holding the gun. He couldn’t have been more than sixteen.

  “Wh-what?” the kid squeaked.

  “You shoot me, I shoot him. Who is he, your brother? Your friend? You’ll miss. I won’t. Your choice.” She was walking toward them all the time, getting closer. “That contract worth his death?”

  The kid huddled against the wall while his friend lowered the gun in confusion. Jenna reached him in three more strides, ripped the gun from his hand, then threw it as far as she could. A metallic clang sounded in the darkness. It would be hard to find before daylight.

  Spearing each of them with her angry stare, backed up by her gun, she made sure they weren’t going anywhere before she relented. Judging by the looks of abject fear on their faces, and the waft of fresh urine, probably from the small kid with a gun in his face, it would take a while before they would try to break into a life of serious crime again. Hopefully.

  She turned and jogged away, rejoining her group, not looking back, and once again they started jogging. No one made a sound, and she didn’t bother to check reactions.

  They reached the homeless encampment in record time. It was active, as it always was at night, but it could have been worse. Panhandlers would be sleeping, and that was a good few people. A good few more would be partied out and passed out somewhere. Still, there was always a buzz, and tonig
ht was no different.

  “Jenna, this way,” Josh said, wanting to go off to the right. Directionally, he was right. That way was home. It also led to the more drug-centered part of the place. Those inhabitants would be on all sorts of chemicals, wide awake, and infinitely more dangerous. In her youth, in all the time she’d had to scurry through here, the layout rarely changed. She had no reason to think it would have done so now, as this starting point was exactly the same.

  With relief, she realized that if she didn’t go through the drug hub, she wouldn’t go near the shooting site of her youth. It wasn’t much, but it was a little bit of luck. She’d take it.

  “Josh, no. I don’t get lost. Follow me.”

  Still the good soldier, even though he was fighting it, Josh did as he was told. It was a good thing he’d gotten out of the service when he had. Any longer and they would have thrown him out. Having someone constantly second-guess and doubt you was damned irritating. Someone like the general would not stand for it.

  Hell, she didn’t stand for it, and she expected back talk.

  She slowed to a walk. It was dark, they were in black, and while it helped, they were still cleaner than the cleanest person in this place. They were also in a formation.

  Before she could fix the situation, Gerry adopted this odd sort of stagger that made him look drunk. It was extremely effective. Jax and Josh immediately followed suit, swaying around with loose limbs. Jax farted.

  Anywhere else and it would have been hilarious. And gross.

  Jenna tried for the same weird lurch, but too many years with poise and elegance, too much time strutting and performing as a trained poodle, hindered her. She looked like a stylized drunk at best. Upscale hooker rang a bell.

  That was, until Jax kicked her in the shin with his heavy boot.

  She whimpered and stumbled. Josh punched Jax in the chest as Gerry fell into Jenna and put his arm around her. She heard a snicker off to the right. At least someone was enjoying the show.

  Jenna limped and leaned on Gerry, who was none too steady by design, and the whole ragtag team looked like a bunch of drunks headed somewhere to pass out. That, or had gotten lucky, found enough money for a hooker, and planned a gangbang. Whichever it was, it worked like a charm, thanks to Gerry. They only had to push a few people away to get through.

  They emerged with a sigh of relief. Though scarcely out of the concrete jungle, they were far enough. There were more upstanding witnesses close by. Shops with security cameras and hardworking clerks speckled the corners. Safety was close.

  Josh immediately pushed Gerry away, grabbed Jenna, and squeezed her close, crushing her against his chest. He was shaking slightly.

  She was soo going to get in trouble for the stunt with the kids and the gun.

  They walked a few blocks into more decent society, found a busy street, and tried to hail a cab. Jenna stripped off her long-sleeved shirt and revealed a bright pink, sparkly tank underneath. They had a cab ten seconds later.

  Chapter Thirty

  “Couldn’t sleep?” Jax asked as he walked out of the guest room, naked.

  “Thought you were supposed to be clothed in this neck of the woods,” Josh said as he sat at the table in the dining room with his head bowed over his cup of coffee.

  Jax pulled out a seat opposite Josh. “I peeked to make sure Jenna wasn’t out here.”

  “You sure you want to sit on her cream-colored cushions with your bare ass?”

  Jax hesitated halfway down. “Shit.”

  Five minutes later Jax was sitting wearing loose pajama bottoms, with his own cup of java and a questioning stare.

  “Didn’t your mama ever tell you it’s not polite to stare?” Josh asked quietly.

  “Yeah. Still does. Never sinks in. What’s up?”

  Where to begin. “That was some whack shit last night.” Good a place as any.

  Jax sipped his coffee slowly. “Amen. But we got through it. All said, it wasn’t that bad. Could’ve been a lot worse.”

  “I let my woman be the hero.”

  “Yeah, she would’ve made a good master chief, that one.” Jax paused, and then said, “I told her to keep you in check.”

  Josh looked at his buddy. Jax was open, always had been. Completely honest, letting Josh into every little nook and cranny in his head. This was no exception. The difference was that Josh wasn’t as appreciative as he usually was. “You didn’t think I had my head on straight.”

  It wasn’t a question, and Jax knew it.

  Under Jax’s stare, Josh took a sip to collect his thoughts. “Jenna’s got my head all fuzzy. She’s in danger. It seems like she’s always in danger. I can barely keep a handle on it. I certainly can’t keep her out of it. Last night she practically escorted me into the ghetto, held my hand so I wouldn’t get everyone shot, then brought me back out in one piece. The monster had to be rescued by the angel. What kind of man does that make me? I’m as bad as her fuckwit ex-boyfriend. Or Mike. I should have hired Maurice to come and keep her safe.”

  “Now, that’s going a bit too far, don’t you think?”

  Josh let out a breath. “Point is, I’m not doing her any favors.”

  “She tell you that?”

  “Not in so many words.”

  “Not in any words, I’d wager. Look, man, Erika thinks the sun shines out of your ass. Granted, Erika isn’t battle-scarred like Jenna, but she’s no daisy, either. She thinks you belong with her bud, and she says Jenna loves you.” Jax snorted. “Not that you need to hear that last bit. Pop your head out of your ass and you’d see it.”

  Josh didn’t know what to say, so he didn’t say anything. What Jenna wanted and what Jenna needed were two different things. He’d always known it. Now he was face to face with it.

  “Way I see it,” Jax said into the silence, “you’re just licking your wounds from a woman—a civilian woman—telling you what to do, and then doing what you were told without raising a fuss. That’s what I think. Just bitter a woman knew better than you. And she did, too. No question.”

  Josh snorted. He wasn’t planning to admit that had anything to do with it. But then, he didn’t have to. Jax could read him like a book.

  “It’s her home turf, bro.” Jax threw his hands up in a what can you do way. “She was operating on instinct in there. Not a damn thing anyone could’ve done about that. She saw the threat, and she neutralized it the best way she knew how. It was her house—we were just guests. Hell, I told her to give the orders, man. When do I bow down to a woman civilian?”

  “Do you really want me to answer that?”

  Jax looked at him for a second, then smirked and looked away. He’d come home to a raging Erika who was pissed she hadn’t gotten a phone call. Jax had been visibly shitting himself when the little woman was screaming at him. Jenna had to stop her from throwing a decorative jar—and only then because it was expensive.

  Josh felt bad for the guy. Only a little, though, because he had his own screaming match to get into. He couldn’t stand the fact that Jenna had knowingly put herself in danger. They’d have it out; he just didn’t yet trust himself not to fly off the handle. In the headspace he was in, he could quickly lose control, and that would be unacceptable.

  Hence his grudge session with Jax at five in the morning.

  Jax was right, though. He hated to admit it, but his buddy was right. Jenna had once challenged him to find his way through the city. Her city. She’d sounded like she knew it as well as he knew the woods. He’d doubted her at the time, but last night she had given him undeniable proof. She was intimate with this place—even the nitty-gritty part of it. A piece of her belonged in that ghetto. For better or worse, she had a part of it inside her, and last night she’d used it.

  “What happened in that house?” Josh asked, remembering the shady dealings he’d walked into.

  It was the first time he’d broached the subject. He’d had his own shit chasing him since they got back, and this was the first time he could get his head
above water long enough to think straight.

  Jax got an uncomfortable look on his face. “Jenna and that guy Steve went into a back room to do business. Talk about following orders. She didn’t want me there.”

  “Probably shouldn’t bother asking why you didn’t force the issue.”

  “Probably shouldn’t. I’ll only sound as grumpy as you. She’s mean, I’ve said it before.”

  Josh snorted. “You notice the pack she went in with wasn’t the one she came out with?”

  “Switch was made in the bedroom.”

  Josh nodded. He’d asked her why she needed a backpack going in. She said it was instead of her purse. When Josh offered to take it, she’d reacted strangely and danced around the issue. She’d been hiding something, Josh knew it, but he’d thought it was just a weapon, or a bribe of some sort for Steve.

  Josh voiced his thought: “She came out putting the guns into an empty pack. Pack was full when she went in.” Jax shifted uncomfortably. He had a guess. Josh did, too.

  Finally, it was Jax that put words to it. “She wasn’t kidding when she said she could find someone to take me out if I got Erika killed, was she? Erika told me she’d made the same threat to you. I thought she was, you know, blowing smoke…”

  It was what Josh had been thinking. “You think she was buying a…solution?”

  Jax bent his head. “I don’t know, man. Erika and Jenna both went to the bank—they both handled that pack. Jenna didn’t want our hands on it. What else?”

  “Maybe a bribe.”

  “Maybe.”

  Because it wasn’t something either of them wanted to connect with the girls, they left it at that. Everyone had skeletons in his closet, but neither of them wanted to admit that Jenna and Erika had secrets of that magnitude. That they were dangerous. Hardened criminals bought hits. Mafia, powerful executives on TV shows—it wasn’t something for two beautiful women from the Upper East Side. Hell, it wasn’t something they should even know how to do. They should be content to let the boys handle the nitty-gritty.

  They shouldn’t have the life they were being forced into.