Facing Home (The Clover Series Book 4)

by Danielle Stewart

  “We don’t have much choice, I guess. If they know about this car we’re bound to get spotted before we get to Beecher Hills. There’s a mall about twenty miles from here. It’ll be closing soon. But I swear if you—”

  I tighten my grip on his arm. “I won’t. But I need to get cleaned up first. Just a little bit. Is there a bathroom we can stop at?”

  I see him flip on his turn signal reluctantly as he heads toward a rest stop. I steady my breath and take my hand off his arm. I know Click will come for me. I just have to give him enough time.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Click

  “I just got an update from the director. He says there was a report of a car stolen from the Pearl Street Mall an hour ago. The woman who handed over her keys said a dark-haired woman approached her. She described her as having a lot of injuries, and she demanded her keys and said it was an emergency. As she did so, the woman matching Jordan’s description said, ‘Jordan Garcia, Beecher Hills.’ We had the property address for Wes’s uncle narrowed down to four possibilities, but only one is in Beecher Hills. We’re heading in the right direction.” Maggie drops her phone down into the cup holder and hits the accelerator a little harder. “She’s still alive, Click; that’s good news. And we know where they’re headed. The director wants to call in the local police department to go to the house now and be waiting when they arrive.”

  “No way, don’t you have a tactical team to handle this? A small town police department isn’t trained for a hostage situation the same way you and I are. They could screw up and get her killed.”

  “I know, I was thinking the same thing. If they left the mall an hour ago it means they have a three-hour drive ahead of them. They won’t likely be speeding for fear of getting pulled over. They might even be staying off the main highways, which would slow them down.”

  “So what are our options?”

  “Know anyone with a plane? The boss says there’s a landing strip about seven miles from the property. He’s trying to get a team ready but can’t find transport that gets them there in time.”

  “Hang on.” I fish my phone out of my pocket and call the one person I think might be able to make this happen. After few rings I hear Devin pick up. “Click, what’s up?” he asks, sounding concerned. Devin is a friend who gave me a chance when most people would have kicked me to the curb. The time I spent with him in Clover was the only thing that helped me survive transitioning back after so many deployments. I saved the lives of people he loves, and now I’m calling in that favor.

  “Devin,” I say with a rush of emotion I didn’t expect to have. “It’s Jordan. We were working something through together, a big deal, and it went bad. Some guy has her, and it doesn’t look good. The only chance I have at getting her back is finding a small plane that is ready right now to fly me in. There’s an airstrip seven miles from where we believe he’s taking her.”

  “Where are you now?” he asks, sounding like he’s already jumping into action.

  “The closest airport is about ten miles, in East Hampshire. It looks like a decent size strip,” Maggie says after I switch the phone to the speaker so she can hear too. I don’t bother with introductions; neither Devin nor Maggie seems to need the formalities.

  “Yeah, I know it,” Devin says eagerly. “I flew in there a few times when I had business in Boston. I’ve got a guy I can call who owes me some favors. Stay on this line, okay, kid? I’ll be right back.”

  “Just start heading in that direction,” I tell Maggie, and though she looks at me skeptically, she does. I don’t blame her for not wanting to lose time if this doesn’t pan out, but she doesn’t know Devin and what he can do.

  “All set, Click,” Devin assures me when he comes back on the line a few minutes later. “There’s a plane fueled up and ready for you. Flying time is just over an hour. Will that get you what you need?”

  “Yes. I’ll be able to be there before they show up and we’ll have the element of surprise.”

  “Do you know how she is? I mean are you sure she’s still . . .”

  “Last update I got she was alive but injured. These people are desperate.”

  “What else can I do? Do you want Luke and me up there? We can get on a plane within the hour.” The anxiousness and conviction in his voice remind me how impactful our time in Clover was for all of us. We’re all changed, and for the better. I just hope Jordan gets the chance to appreciate it.

  “There is one more thing, but it’s a lot to ask.”

  “Anything.”

  “My family. They’re involved in this. My brother-in-law stumbled upon some incriminating evidence against his company and they’re trying to keep it quiet. We came to New York City so Jordan could bring in some of her old contacts to help us expose the information all the while keeping everyone safe. My family went to Jordan’s beach house in Florida. But that was back before this happened, before anyone knew she was involved. Now I’m not sure that property is safe for them because Jordan is a link.”

  “I can get them to Clover and keep them safe,” he offers, and I feel guilty because he has no idea what he’ll be dealing with.

  “It’s a lot to ask.”

  “It’s not. I have my family today because you saved them. You took a bullet saving Adeline. I want to help.”

  “But it’s my four sisters, three of their husbands and all of the kids. And that’s nothing compared to having to deal with my mother. She’s impossible. She’ll drive you crazy. You don’t have space for all of them.”

  “Adeline will love the playmates. We’ll put everyone up in hotel rooms and make sure they have what they need. I promise you, Click, they’ll be safe. It’s not too much to ask. Let me do this for you, and you go get Jordan.”

  “Thank you, Devin.” I choke out the words and clear my throat.

  “Get on that plane and bring her back safely. You got this.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Click

  Lying in wait. It’s been an enormous part of my life as a Marine. Most people think Special Forces spend all their time in constant combat, but really, what we do more than anything is wait and watch. Timing is everything. Maggie and I have cleared the house, the property, and the parameter of woods around it. There is no one up here but us. The local police have been put on notice and told not to stop the car on its way in. There is a tactical team in flight, but they’re twenty minutes out. By my calculation, Wes and Jordan should be fewer than five minutes out. They were spotted three times along the route to this property though police all followed orders and let them pass, acting as though they were completely unaware of the situation.

  Now, as I lay on my stomach in the tree line just to the left of where he will likely park the car, I try to steady my breath. These are the moments I struggle the most with. It feels the same as it did when I was deployed. The cool metal of the gun in my hand and my body’s position blurs the past and the present. The pitch black of the night in the woods makes it impossible to fix my gaze on anything that will ground me in the here and now. I pound my fist against my head and will myself to focus. I will not allow my screwed-up brain to keep me from getting to Jordan.

  Maggie and I have a plan and I feel confident we’ll be able to get the upper hand. We don’t have any radio communication and our cell phones have no service, but before it dropped off, the last update we heard was the local police department had fallen back, are out of sight, and will have plenty of people in the area once Jordan is secure. If they hear gunfire they’ll come running, but otherwise they’ll wait for us to notify them somehow. We’ve parked our car a mile and a half down a dirt road set far into the woods and walked the rest of the way in.

  I see two headlights cutting their way through the thick tree-lined dirt driveway and I know the rest of my life depends on the next few minutes. If Jordan is alive I will get to her. I will save her. But if I’m too late there won’t be a person in this world who can save me.

  The car rolls sl
owly, gravel and rock popping and crumbling beneath the heavy tires. When it comes to a stop it’s about twenty feet short of me and I need to change my position to secure Jordan as she comes out of the passenger seat. If she comes out of the passenger seat.

  The driver’s door opens but only a fraction of an inch, just enough to set off the overhead light in the car, and I see her. Jordan’s face is swollen and bruised but she’s alive. For a second my life makes sense again, and then just as quickly that feeling evaporates as she leans over the middle of the car, catching Wes’s arm, and kisses him. Full on the mouth and with a heat and passion that cuts at me violently. His hand comes up to her cheek and, as she grimaces from the pain of her injuries, he pulls away. Sweeping back her hair, I can see him apologize and run a finger over her cheek.

  My world spins and I loosen my grip on reality and my weapon all at once. Could this have been Jordan’s plan all along? This is her ex-boyfriend; maybe somewhere along this messed-up trip she found herself having feelings for him again. The passenger door swings fully open, and I see Jordan’s two bare feet hit the ground tentatively as she coddles her injured body. That snaps back to the real world. Jordan left me clues at every opportunity. She wanted me to find her. She loves me and is depending on me to be right where I am right now.

  Moving stealthily across the tree line so I’m adjacent to her, I feel the urge to charge toward her and pull her into my arms. But I have to think of Maggie. She needs a clear path toward Wes, who must be far enough away from the car so he can’t reach for a weapon or drive away. Jordan shuts the car door and the limp in her step breaks my heart. As she moves toward the house, Wes is still fiddling around with something in the car, and I pray she stays right where she is. But she begins to hobble away. “Stay,” I whisper, knowing I might compromise myself, but Wes doesn’t react. Luckily, Jordan does. I see a tremble in her shoulders, telling me her emotions have just broken free. She stops in her tracks but finds a way not to turn toward me.

  “What’s the matter?” Wes asks as he finally steps out of the car and shuts the door. In an instant I see Maggie charge up behind him yelling, “Freeze.” That’s my signal to secure Jordan. I lunge forward and she stumbles toward my arms, her body going limp against me.

  “You came. I knew you’d come. I knew you’d find me.” She’s sobbing out endless words that all run together like a train. I scoop her up, my arm sweeping under her legs and pulling her close to me, and move toward the tree line.

  I hear a pop of gunfire and then silence. “You good, Maggie?” I call over my shoulder and hear nothing in response. “Maggie?” I see cars and flashing lights charging up the driveway and know the local police are coming. Once I lay Jordan down on the ground I stand and peer over the car.

  Wes is on his feet and bolting toward the woods, away from the approaching police. “Stay here. Let the police know where you are.”

  “Don’t leave,” Jordan begs and I nearly let the fear in her eyes make my decision. But I can’t. If Wes disappears into the woods and is never captured we’ll spend our lives wondering if he’s around every corner. I have to end this.

  Rounding the car, I see Maggie sprawled across the ground with the handle of a large knife plunged into her chest. Her eyes are wide and lifeless, her gun still clutched in her hand. “Officer down,” I shout as I point frantically to her location, and then, with more resolve than ever, I charge after Wes.

  The woods are dense and the spirally vines whip my face as I plow through. Wes’s white shirt is like a lighthouse in these dark woods and I have no trouble keeping him in my line of sight. There is a bullet in my chamber with his name on it if he makes the slightest move to turn and confront me. He’s done enough to warrant it, but being a cop killer makes him enemy number one.

  I close the gap between us to under ten feet and shout for him to stop and turn himself in. He ignores me and increases his speed, breathing heavily and grunting fiercely as he runs toward freedom. Unfortunately for both of us, it’s not freedom in his path. My brain registers the cliff at the same time Wes’s body disappears in front of me. I hear his panicked scream and do everything in my power to slow myself. But I’m storming forward too quickly, my body carrying too much momentum to prevent me from following Wes over the edge. I blindly grab for anything to slow me down as I go over, loose twigs and leaves offering no help. Finally my hand slams against something more solid, a thin sapling, and I grasp it with all the strength I have. It’s no match for my weight and quickly snaps, but rather than plummeting over the edge as Wes did, I’m sliding down the side, crashing against the dirt and rocks.

  I feel my body breaking, seeming to come apart like a boat hitting a reef. The pain comes all at once and then stops, which is never a good sign. Feeling pain means you’re alive, you’re not in shock. Going numb is far more dangerous.

  Before everything turns completely dark I’m blessed with one moment of clarity. Jordan is secure. She’ll carry our love with her. Devin will keep my family safe. Jonah will keep my family together. And they will all keep my memory alive. If I have to die, if I have to leave them all behind, I’m glad I’m leaving them all with each other.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Jordan

  Click’s arms around me were like falling from the sky and landing safely, when you’d been convinced you’d die against the hard ground. But the feeling was fleeting, as he quickly released me to take off into the woods after Wes. I crawl my way out of the woods, calling out for help to the flood of police swarming with flashlight beams darting everywhere.

  The first kind-eyed officer to run to my side starts evaluating my injuries but I shove him off. “My boyfriend, my fiancé I mean, he went out into the woods chasing the guy you’re looking for. You have to help him,” I plead desperately.

  “Officers are already out there. They’ll back him up, don’t worry.” He turns from me and shouts over his shoulder, “We need an ambulance over here. She’s hurt!”

  “Let me see her,” a tall man in an EMT uniform says as he pulls off one pair of rubber gloves and slips on another.

  “What about the officer?” the cop at my side asks with a look of confusion on his face.

  “She’s dead. Nothing else I can do for her. Now move over and let me see what I can do here.” The EMT starts running his hands over my body, asking me questions that I don’t answer.

  “Who’s dead?” I beg him to answer me and when he ignores me I yank down on the collar of his coat and force him to look at me.

  “I don’t know her name. She’s an ATF agent I believe. Fatal stab wound to the chest. It went straight through her heart. Now please, answer my questions. Are you having any trouble breathing?”

  I’ve never met this woman. I don’t know her story or how she got involved in this, but I know she’s dead, no more than ten feet away from me. I know Wes stabbed her and I know it could easily have been me lying there dead right now. Leaning back, I comply and tell the man where most of the pain is, leaving out that the worst pain I feel is coming from my heart.

  As they start to load me into the back of the waiting ambulance, I plead with anyone who will listen to update me on Click. They lift my stretcher up and I hear someone shouting to hold the ambulance.

  “Is she critical? What’s her status?” a woman in an EMT outfit asks in a winded voice.

  “No, she’s stable, just some broken ribs and lacerations.”

  “Don’t load her up then,” the woman says, waving them backward. “We’ve got a critical one coming out of the woods now. He and the assailant fell off a set of rocks. He needs priority here. She can wait for the next bus.”

  I fight to get myself into a sitting position as I see three men hustling toward us with a backboard in their arms. A lifeless body is strapped across it. “Click!” I scream as I watch his bloody face pass by me on the way to the ambulance. I try to get myself off the stretcher but can’t get out from under the straps. I know I’m screaming because I can feel the strai
ning of my vocal cords, but I can’t hear the noise I’m making. Two EMTs lay their bodies over me and try to calm my flailing limbs, but I just keep thrashing. Finally I hear one of them say, “Sedate her, quick, or she’s going to hurt herself.”

  After a sharp pinching pain in my arm I feel my eyes grow heavy before blackness overtakes me. One last sob escapes my mouth as my body betrays me and reality vanishes.

  Chapter Thirty

  Jordan

  The heat of the sun on my face awakens me, but I refuse to open my eyes. My mind is hovering somewhere between dreams and reality and, selfishly, I don’t want to face reality. But the intrusiveness of the real world starts to elbow its way in. There is the beeping of machines and, as I flutter my eyes open, I can tell I’m in the hospital. Though I don’t remember every detail, the first flash of memory is the sight of Click’s lifeless body being carried past me and loaded into an ambulance.

  “Jordan,” a familiar deep voice says, and I turn my head to get a look at who is sitting with me. I see Devin’s face come into focus as the clouds move off my brain. He looks uneasy, his eyes shifting toward the door and back toward me before darting away again. I clear my throat and try to muster the words I’m terrified to say.

  “Is he dead?” Devin’s eyes come back to me and the look on his face makes me think the answer is yes.

  “I should get Rebecca. I told her not to go. She knows I’m not good with this stuff and I knew you’d wake up the second she left.” His hesitation does nothing to calm my fears and a wave of panic washes over me.