Last Chance Hero

by Melinda Di Lorenzo

  In spite of what he’d said about finding her, he couldn’t possibly expect her to sit there all night. Abruptly, she remembered the folder. She lifted it from the spot where she’d tucked it away and squinted at it before flipping it open.

  The information inside seemed minimal at best. A list of properties, all held by the Haven Corporation. Dollar values attached to each. The only thing that seemed to stand out was the page of names. At first glance, Jordynn assumed that they were Haven employees. But when she lifted the paper up for a better look, she realized it was actually an account of the major players at Fryer Developments, the company who were set to build on the mountain. Maybe no one else would have thought it an odd thing to keep. Maybe lots of companies kept lists of their competition’s employees. Headhunting purposes. Or just to keep general tabs. But Jordynn was sure that the names on that page were indicative of a greater connection between the two corporations. Possibly even one that would lead to finding out who’d been killed ten years earlier, and why.

  And maybe deciphering the connection will lead me to where Dono’s headed now.

  Hugging the folder close to her chest, Jordynn stood up again. What she needed was access to a computer. An internet connection, so she could plug those names in and see where they led.

  But where am I going to find that?

  The only place she could think of that even had public internet was the library, and she somehow doubted they were open in the middle of the night. And as tempting as it was, she knew she couldn’t just go home and log into her laptop.

  So...a hotel?

  Jordynn shook her head, dismissing the idea as quickly as it came. It was too risky a move. Ellisberg only had two hotels, and either one might have staff who’d recognize her. And of course money was an issue in that she had none. In fact, she couldn’t even reason out a way to get back into town. Three miles on foot, in the dark, held zero appeal.

  She eyed the row of show homes. There was a possibility that one of them had a computer set up. But she’d heard Joe and Ivan’s discussion, and she knew that the houses were equipped with motion detectors and alarms. And whatever Dono had done to bypass the ones in the home that they’d spent the evening in, Jordynn had no similar expertise.

  She stared at the dim skyline for another moment, frustrated. Then a flash caught her eye, making her go still. It was another car, moving slowly down the hill that Dono had disappeared over just a few minutes earlier. There was a chance they’d even passed each other.

  Jordynn let herself watch the vehicle’s descent for another few seconds before she turned to hide again. But as she turned, she realized that she recognized the car. And it wasn’t a car at all. It was a forest green crossover, made distinct by the oversize antenna topper. Jordynn had gifted that elephant-shaped bobble to the owner, who’s blonde ponytail could be seen even from this far away.

  But what was Sasha doing out there in the middle of the night?

  And then the van turned sharply, angling toward Jordynn.

  Dammit.

  Very briefly, she considered running. But what good would it do? Her best friend had clearly already spotted her. If she suddenly turned and bolted, it would only give rise to a hundred more questions. Maybe even prompt Sasha to call the police.

  Jordynn stood still, trying to school her expression into one of nonchalance. One that said she was just out for a stroll. In the wee hours of the morning. At a construction site. That suggested that there was nothing weird about that. But any illusion of being calm and collected went by the wayside when Sasha rolled down her window, gave her a thorough once-over, then opened her mouth.

  “My Lord, Jo,” she said. “Are you barefoot?”

  Jordynn looked down. Sure enough, her toes poked out from under her jeans.

  “I guess I am,” she said.

  Her friend shook her head. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad to see you’re not dead. But what in God’s name is going on?”

  And Jordynn didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. So she settled for both.

  Chapter 11

  Jordynn’s tears didn’t clear until Sasha had guided the van far enough from the construction site that Jordynn couldn’t see it anymore. And though her friend didn’t pressure her to speak, she could feel the other woman’s eyes each time they glanced her way. She could sense the puzzlement and the curiosity. And she couldn’t answer any questions, no matter how badly she wanted to.

  At last, though, she decided she’d better say something. “How did you know I was out here?”

  Sasha whipped a surprise-tinged glance her way. “That’s what you’re going with?”

  Jordynn stifled a sigh. “You don’t think it’s a valid question?”

  “If you’re going for that best-defense-is-a-good-offense thing...then it’s totally fine.”

  “Cut me some slack.”

  “I am cutting you some slack. I’m not freaking out and demanding that we check you into a mental ward. Which is what my instincts tell me I should do.”

  In spite of herself, Jordynn smiled. “Noted.”

  Sasha sighed. “When I got your last text, I panicked a little. It didn’t even sound like you. And then you didn’t answer me...”

  “Which text was that?” Jordynn asked, her voice carefully neutral.

  “The one about going to bed?”

  “You didn’t think maybe I did go to bed?”

  “Oh, please. As if you ever go straight to sleep after work. Besides that, when I asked if you were being deliberately obnoxious, you didn’t answer. Not like you to not try and get the last word. So I went by your house.”

  Jordynn’s heart thudded hard. “You did?”

  “Lights were all out. Even that one you leave on when you’re getting some damned shut-eye.” Sasha laughed lightly, and Jordynn forced a smile, too.

  “Then what? You just thought you’d come up and check the development site?” she asked.

  “Not exactly.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Her friend flicked a nervous look in her direction. “I checked all your sad spots.”

  “My what?”

  “I knew today—well, yesterday, now—was the anniversary, and... I don’t know. I thought maybe you’d go somewhere that reminded you of Donovan.”

  “Where did you look?”

  “I took the kids and drove up near the trails. Then that ice cream place you used to go. Blaine and Izzy hated that part.” She laughed again before quickly sobering. “I checked his old street and the park and just about any place I could remember the two of you going.”

  Jordynn bit her lip. Sasha had no idea how much danger she’d put herself in. And the worst part was that Jordynn couldn’t even tell her. The last thing she wanted to do was make her friend vulnerable by giving her information that could be used against her. She bit her lip, realizing how closely the situation paralleled the one Dono had been in. Her chest tightened. For weeks after he’d witnessed the murder, he’d held it in. Not daring to breathe a word. But he must’ve wanted to. So badly. Especially if the dark feeling in Jordynn’s gut was any indication.

  “Jo?”

  She exhaled. “Sorry. Spaced out.”

  “I was just saying how after I couldn’t find you anywhere, I went home and talked to Uncle Reed. He told me you probably just needed some time alone. He’s usually such a worrier, you know, so I felt kind of silly about stalking you. But the day went by and it got dark and... I tried to get my own bit of shut-eye, but there was no way in hell that was happening. So I started thinking about good places to bury a body.”

  “Sasha!”

  “What? It worked, didn’t it?”

  “Not because I was being buried somewhere.”

  “I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me the real rea
son you’re wandering around out here?”

  “No.”

  “Damn you and your shut-eye.”

  Jordynn shot her friend a puzzled look. “Why do you keep saying that?”

  “It’s what you said.”

  “What? When?”

  “In that last text before you stopped answering me. You said you were getting some shut-eye. You sounded like my grandma.”

  The uneven thump started up again in Jordynn’s chest. “I didn’t send you a text that said that.”

  “Um, yeah you did.”

  “What time?”

  “Yesterday morning at about nine? Don’t you remember?”

  “I didn’t send you a text about getting some shut-eye,” she said. “The last one I sent was when I got off the bus. When I told you I was going to bed.”

  “So who sent me the message asking how the kids are?”

  Jordynn closed her eyes, recalling how she and Dono had squabbled over the phone. How it had fallen to the ground with a thud when Ivan and his buddies broke into her house. And was left there.

  The world spun, and Jordynn fought to keep herself from spinning with it.

  “Speaking of the kids...” she said, working to keep her voice steady. “Where are they?”

  “At home with my uncle. Sound asleep when I left,” Sasha replied. “But you didn’t really answer my question.”

  “My phone went missing this morning.”

  “Seriously?”

  Jordynn swallowed, and reaffirmed the lie by fleshing it out. “Yeah. Must’ve dropped it right after the last time I texted you. But I didn’t notice until a little while ago.”

  “Oh, creepy. Some punk texted me about my kids?”

  “Super creepy.”

  “Should I call the cops?”

  “No. I’m sure it’s some stupid teenagers, thinking they’re funny. I’ll call and have the phone canceled.”

  “If you say so.”

  Sasha sounded dubious, and Jordynn wanted desperately to say something else. To offer a warning. Instead, she found herself settling for the only thing she could. Her own reassurance.

  “Do you mind if we go back to your house instead of mine?” she asked. “It’s been a rough night, and I could do with seeing the kids in the morning.”

  “Of course. They’ll be glad to see you, too.”

  A niggling of guilt—was checking on Sasha’s family putting them in more danger?—crept in, and Jordynn fought it. Ivan and his men already had her phone. They’d already made contact. If they were watching the house and watching Sasha, they already knew where she’d gone.

  And it’s not like I’m going to stay. I’m just going to see that they’re fine, borrow their computer, then find an excuse to get out.

  “Jordynn...” Her friend trailed off, hesitance clear in her voice. “Are you okay?”

  “No,” she admitted. “But it’s not something you can fix.”

  There was another moment of hesitation. “Is it a Donovan thing?”

  Jordynn shook her head, but she answered truthfully anyway. “Yes. And I know you’re going to tell me again I should let him go. But this isn’t like that, okay? And I’ll explain it all as soon as I can.”

  “That’s all I’m going to get, isn’t it?”

  “Sorry.”

  Her friend tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. “Okay. But if the kids ask you to make them raspberry pancakes in the morning, you have to do it.”

  “Deal.”

  Jordynn noted that Sasha’s frown didn’t fade. But I’ll take what I can get.

  She turned her attention out the window then, and was glad that she did. Because as they turned up the street, she spotted a dark sedan. It moved slowly up the road, then stopped just a few houses away from Sasha’s place. And two figures were inside—one in the front, and one in the back.

  “Turn left,” Jordynn urged.

  “What?”

  “Left. At the stop sign.”

  “But my house is right there.”

  Unable to stop herself, Jordynn grabbed the steering wheel and yanked it hard. The van careened to the side of the road, and Sasha let out a yelp before slamming on the brakes and whipping her head toward Jordynn.

  “What are you doing, Jo?”

  Jordynn decided it was time for a bit of disclosure. “There’s a car up the street from your house, Sasha. Inside it are two men. One of them is very good, and one of them is very bad. I don’t know why they’re here, but it can’t be for a cup of two a.m. tea. I don’t have time to tell you anything else, but I need you to trust me on this.”

  She winced at how much she sounded like Dono, and delivered him a silent apology for being so hard on him.

  Her friend’s eyes widened, then went frantically toward her house. “The kids. And Uncle Reed.”

  “I know.”

  “We have to get them out.”

  “On foot,” Jordynn cautioned, then—as her friend started to open her door—added, “And you might want to park the van first.”

  Sasha responded with a shaky laugh, but she did guide the vehicle to the side of the road before she turned to Jordynn. “What now?”

  “We go in through the back door. Quickly and quietly. We get your uncle and the kids out. Then we bring them to the van, and you take them anywhere but here.”

  “To the house at the lake?”

  “Yes. Sure.”

  “What about you?”

  Jordynn knew she couldn’t answer honestly. But she didn’t have the energy to lie to her best friend, either.

  “We’ll make sure everyone in your house is safe first. And worry about me after.”

  Sasha looked like she might want to argue, but her eyes drifted up the street, and Jordynn knew she was too worried about her family to put up a fight.

  As they walked silently up the back alley, Jordynn reached for Sasha’s hand. She didn’t have the words to comfort her friend properly. Not without telling her the truth.

  This is just a small taste, she told herself. A tiny glimpse of what Dono was feeling when he came back to save me.

  And it hurt.

  They reached the edge of the yard, and she squeezed Sasha’s hand once more, then released it.

  “C’mon,” she whispered.

  She didn’t know how long it would take for Dono and Ivan to get to the front door, and she didn’t know for sure what their goal was—but she was a hundred percent certain that she and Sasha had to beat them to it.

  Wordlessly, they stepped up the path. Jordynn gestured for her friend to unlock the door, and as soon as it was done, they slipped inside.

  “I’ll get Reed,” Jordynn said. “You grab the kids.”

  She moved through the house as confidently as if it were her own, bypassing the main floor kitchen and heading straight for the office-turned-bedroom where she knew she’d find her boss sleeping. He always stayed with Sasha when her husband was on a long haul.

  Jordynn paused in the doorway, taking a moment to collect herself. Reed would likely want an explanation that she couldn’t give. He’d want to go to the police, like any sane person would. But he—like Sasha and Jordynn herself—would put the safety of the kids first. And they didn’t have time to waste.

  She rapped lightly on the door. “Reed?”

  The older gentleman didn’t stir. Jordynn stepped into the room.

  “Reed?” she said, a little louder this time.

  He sat up then, blinking in the dark. “Jordynn? Is that you?”

  “Yes, it’s me.”

  “Is everything okay?”

  She nodded, then changed her mind, shook her head, and phrased her next statement as carefully as she could. “I don’t want you to worry, b
ut you and the kids need to drive out to the place at the lake.”

  “What?”

  “It might be nothing,” Jordynn replied, still cautious. “But someone took my phone, and they found Sasha in the contacts and they sent her a weird text.”

  Reed sat up. “What kind of weird text?”

  “Just...implying that they know where you guys live. Freaked Sasha out.”

  She waited for him to point out that it was the middle of the night, and to ask questions about her timing. He didn’t. He just frowned, then tossed back the blankets, revealing a pair of plaid pajamas that would’ve made Jordynn smile on any other occasion.

  “Did you report it?” he asked.

  “To the police?” Jordynn shook her head. “No, not yet. Like I said...”

  “Could be nothing,” he filled in, then sighed and ran a hand over his sparse white hair. “But could be something.”

  “Exactly.”

  “All right.”

  Jordynn let out a breath. But a sharp knock on the front door quickly overrode her relief at his acquiescence. And Reed was out of bed like a shot, his pajama pants swishing as he moved to the closet and swung open the door.

  “What are you doing?” Jordynn asked.

  “Up above,” her boss said. “I’ve got a gun.”

  “You...what?”

  Jordynn watched as he pulled a heavy lockbox down from the shelf and set it on the desk. He moved to the nightstand, yanked open the drawer and pulled out a key chain.

  “I bought it years ago,” he said as he stuck the key in and turned. “In case Sasha needed protection while Bob is on the road. Never thought she’d actually—”

  “Uncle Reed?”

  His hand hung suspended over the box, and Jordynn spun. Her friend stood in the door, her son on her hip, her daughter clutching her knee and a pair of shoes in her hand.

  “I told them we’re taking a surprise vacation.” Sasha’s gaze drifted to the bed. “What’s that?”

  Jordynn angled herself between her boss and the weapon, blocking the box from sight. She gave her boss a head shake. The last thing Sasha needed to see was the gun, and there was no way her friend would want it near the kids.