Sweet Seduction Serenade

by Nicola Claire

  "Gabe," I said softly, shaking my head from side to side. "What the darn hell were you thinking?"

  Silence met my question, I hadn't really expected him to reply. But then he turned to Nick and said, "Keep her safe. Make her happy. God knows we never did any of that over the years."

  Then he turned around and left without a backward glance.

  The last vision of my brother was of a streak of orange as he rushed out the door. As though he couldn't get away from me fast enough.

  Or couldn't face the shit-storm he'd helped create all those years ago.

  "He was young," Nick offered as defence for my brother's actions. We'd made it out of the prison itself and were now standing beside his Porsche. He'd opened the door to the passenger side, but I hadn't stepped inside yet.

  "You're defending him?" I asked, coolly.

  "Just stating a fact," Nick replied easily. "The ultimate blame lies with Levi Russell. Who reacts to teasing as a child and turns it into a lifelong grudge?"

  He had a point. Gabe never did a thing to help me out when we were young, and I admit, I was angry he'd even done something that caused harm, but he was subject to his environment too. Just as much as me. Just as much as Dad and Mum. I turned out all right. Dad and Mum were who they were, but they weren't that bad in the end. But Jessie and her boys are something else. And who they are is all on them.

  "You're right," I said with a sigh.

  "Of course I'm right," he offered with a cocky shrug of his shoulders.

  I smiled at him, the first smile since seeing Gabe.

  "Come here," he said in a low voice, his eyes darkening seductively.

  "We're in a prison carpark," I pointed out, stepping into his waiting arms anyway.

  "I don't care where the fuck we are," he grumbled back, whilst wrapping an arm around my waist and hauling me tight against his body. His other hand already tangled in my braid. "When I want to kiss my woman, I'll damn well kiss her," he said, lowering his face toward mine.

  "I'm your woman, huh?" I asked, pulling back slightly and receiving an impressive growl in return.

  "Better bloody believe it, angel," he said tugging me back into place forcefully, but somehow still managing to cradle me as gently as a baby. I loved how his strength belied his careful touch.

  "Okey dokey then," I said, which caused him to huff a breath out in a laugh, then his lips were on mine.

  It started out gentle; exploratory, his tongue sweeping along the seam of my bottom lip. Maybe because of the location, I'm not sure, but he seemed to just be making it a kiss and nothing else. Somehow my body wasn't on board with that, even though I'd been the one to point out where we were. I bit down on his bottom lip, hard enough to make him grunt, then laved my tongue soothingly over the spot, receiving a groan instead and my body being pushed back against the closed rear door of the car. His frame melded to mine like an old familiar and welcomed blanket. His hand running up my side, under my T-Shirt and wrapping around my breast.

  I groaned at that.

  His other hand twisted around my braid, tipping my head to the side for his benefit, placing me exactly where he wanted me for the kiss.

  Things deepened and progressed, the carpark around us disappeared, the location didn't even register in my mind. I was lost to Nick and his tongue and teeth and lips. I was lost to the sensations he was creating through his touch and heat and caress. I was consumed in desire for him. Why was it that things got interesting and we were always in the wrong place for it to progress?

  Then suddenly he stilled. His entire frame going statue hard, right down to his lips on mine. He pulled back, his hand slipping out from under my shirt, the other untangling from my hair. Both came to rest on my shoulders, holding me immobile, while his fierce Arctic gaze searched the carpark over the top of his car.

  "How many?" he asked out of nowhere and I was about to demand an explanation when I noticed he had that thing in his ear again. He was talking to Eric at ASI. "Which direction?" he asked then and I watched as his head swung round to the rear of the car. "Get in the car and buckle up, Eva," he instructed in a deadly calm voice.

  "What's going on?" I asked, doing exactly as he said. He just shook his head at me, slammed the door shut once I was inside and then pulled his gun from his holster at his belt.

  My stomach flipped, then plummeted to my feet.

  Darn it all to hell, this was not happening. It couldn't be happening.

  But then... it was.

  Chapter 29

  Be Right Back, Cowboy

  A gunshot rang out and I screamed, jumping in the front seat of Nick's car. I frantically searched for any sight of him, but since he'd shut my door, he'd disappeared. I crouched down automatically in my seat when another loud clap rang out and a metallic sounding thunk met my ears, in the vicinity of the rear left fender of the Porsche.

  They were shooting at the car? - aiming for me or Nick? Where was he? I peeked above the door frame, my eyes just over the edge to peer through the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of Nick. Instead I got another bullet fired at the car, this time connecting with the window in front of me, making it shatter in a crystallised crunch of glass. My reaction time must be excellent, because I'd shut my eyes before the glass rained down, protecting my eyeballs, but feeling every little pelt of fractured safety glass as it hit my skin instead.

  I managed not to scream and inhale all that glass, but I just about peed myself. Scrambling into the back seat, thinking I'd have more room to hunker down and that the intact glass there offered more protection for some reason, I felt the too near passing of three more gunshots. The harsh and sharp sound of them being fired from across the carpark still making my body jump involuntarily, despite having heard several by now.

  My entire frame was shaking by the time I made it between the front and rear seats, shudders starting at my head and quaking down to my toes. Sweat had formed on my forehead, trickling down my neck, more gathering between my shoulder blades and trailing down my back. My eyes were filled with tears, my heart beating like a metronome set on 250 BPM, and my throat so dry it was literally sticking together giving me the sensation of not being able to suck in breath.

  But although my body was quite clearly reacting to the danger surrounding me, my fear was all for Nick. Where the darn hell was he? Had he been hit by a bullet already? He'd been looking over the car at first, but Eric had directed his searching gaze to the rear, but now the gunshots were coming from the left hand side of the car - the passenger side - so where were the shooters? And was there more than one, surrounding the car?

  There were a couple of other visitor cars in the carpark that he could have found shelter behind, but no matter how I tried to see where he was - while keeping as much of myself out of the line of fire - I couldn't spot any movement, any shadow of a figure, and especially not now I was in the darkened interior of the rear of the car. The windows here were practically all black, visibility through them: nil. Which, perhaps, was a good thing, I was no longer a sitting duck for Levi - or whoever was in charge of that gun - but it also meant I couldn't see jack shit.

  Several more gunshots sounded from outside the car, their sharp retorts echoing through the air, making it difficult to hear what direction they were fired from, but I could have sworn that they came from several. Panic welled inside me, swallowing up all cognitive thought and drowning me in fear. What if all the Russell boys were out there? The cops did have warrants out on their heads, but that didn't mean much. The cops had been able to act on those warrants, the Russells had friends in low places, who'd hidden them all well.

  Which made me think where were the cops? Or the prison guards for that matter? We were still on prison grounds, all of this no doubt caught on security camera, and Eric would be aware of what was happening too. Which gave me hope, because maybe those multiple gunshots I'd heard were from Adam and our invisible guards, or the cops, or the prison guards - or all three.

  A little hope drenched the dark sh
adows of panic in my mind with a weak ray of light. I lifted my head up from the floor of the car and attempted another sneak peek outside. There was movement down the far end of the carpark, near the entrance. I hoped it was someone on our side, cornering the shooter or shooters, rather than the shooter or shooters making their escape. But I couldn't tell, they were all just black shapes in a blacked out world through black glass.

  I narrowed my gaze, trying to decipher shapes and wishing for the umpteenth time I had a gun. Then a thought occurred to me, maybe Nick kept spare weapons in the car? Where? Under his seat? In the glove compartment? The centre console? I shifted so I could look under the driver's seat, but lacking a torch left me staring at darker shapes in a dark environment, not even outlines could be deciphered. I reached in and felt around, glad that Nick kept his car litter free. But nothing met my finger search. I'd have to get into the front of the car again.

  More shots sounded out as soon as I sat up and started to wedge myself between the two front seats. I paused, hunched my head down between my shoulders waiting for more glass to shatter or a twang of a bullet on the side of the car. Or worse still, the puff of fabric and stuffing material exploding all around me as their ammunition hit the seats on either side. I didn't allow myself to consider the splash of blood should they connect with me.

  But the gunshots were out in the carpark, I'd been forgotten for now. There were lots of them out there though, and with a quick glance as I slid into the front passenger seat again and then made myself fit into the footwell out of sight, I noticed flashing lights on several police cars out on the main road, and the twirling red lights spinning on the guard towers up above the carpark, inside the prison walls. The cavalry were here and aware, so some of those shots were on our side.

  I reached up and opened the glove compartment, relieved to find it unlocked. But that relief was short lived, when I only found pens and a couple of pads of paper - nothing else. No spare gun. I ground my teeth, made a muffled squealing sound as a stray bullet found the side of the car and made the whole vehicle rock slightly and then returned my attention to the task at hand. I had my taser back on my belt again - after having it returned to me when we left the prison - but a taser against a gunfight seemed pathetic. I wanted a gun. I could fire, if I could find a target to shoot at, that is.

  The centre console was full of receipts, a strange hammer shaped device which I think is used to shatter glass safely, and an electric door opener. I fingered the door opener in frustration, then out of nothing else to do pressed the button down just to feel the familiar resistance against my thumb. A whirring sounded and something by my shoulder, under the glove compartment, started to move down. I squashed my body back against the seat, twisting to watch intrigued as a black metal shelf lowered.

  Revealing a Baby Glock. I stared at it for a split second, then reached in and grabbed the device, checking the magazine was loaded. Ten rounds, ready to go. I smiled. I don't think it was particularly pretty. If I spotted Levi Russell out there, I suddenly knew I could do it. Pull the trigger and watch him fall. He wouldn't be expecting me to shoot. Apart from the fact he sees me as his cute little cousin in pigtails no doubt, or probably more to the point, a defenceless woman and nothing else, meant he'd not expect gunfire to come from Nick's car.

  The car I had been hiding in pathetically for over ten minutes now.

  Sucker.

  I rearranged myself so I was looking out the broken side window and waited until something moved that I could identify. It wouldn't do any good to shoot at ASI or the cops and guards. I needed to confirm my target. Jeez, I was sounding like a sniper now. Adrenaline had that effect on you, making everything surreal and you thought nothing was out of place at all.

  It took a good minute for me to realise the fighting had moved to the other side of the car. The side where the windows were up and I couldn't gain a clear, unhindered shot without lowering the glass. I couldn't do that, Nick had the keys and they were - of course - electric. The thought of Nick made me freeze for another minute, stealing valuable Levi shooting time. But I couldn't gain control of my runaway heart, as it thundered in my chest chasing the panic that Nick was hurt.

  I counted to fifty, forcing myself to calm, then had a brainwave. That little strange device in the centre console. I'd never used one before, had never really seen one being used, but surely it couldn't be that hard.

  I reached in and grabbed it, deciding the steering wheel would get in my way, so the rear window behind the driver was the best spot to set up my sniper's nest. I slithered through the two front seats again, feeling bruises forming over top of bruises as my sides hit the belt buckle anchors and my thigh brushed heavily against the gear shift. Porsche Cayenne's look big on the outside, but let me tell you, they are compact on the inside. Comfortable, but small. I think I'll suggest Nick invests in a Hummer after this.

  I settled down beneath the rear window and assessed the hammer-like device in my hand. Plastic handle, with a slit on the side to slash through seatbelts and two metal tips to the hammer head. One pointed, one flat like a traditional hammer. The pointed looked mean, so I shifted my hold to have that pointing out and waited for some gunshots to fire and cover the sound of me shattering glass.

  It took several seconds, but things had heated up out there, what with half of Auckland's Police Armed Offenders Squad - the AOS all in black body armour and black visored helmets - in attendance, and no doubt all of ASI and the prison guards backing them up. Gunshots were cracking out from several different directions, so without further ado, I timed my strike against the window as carefully as I could. It took a couple of harsh hammer blows, but the glass eventually shattered, timed to perfection by several rapid fire gunshots from across the carpark.

  I sat down in the footwell behind the driver's seat and gently brushed the safety glass off my clothes, realising I was now going to have to kneel in the blasted stuff. No pain, no gain. Levi Russell had caused enough mayhem.

  The consequences of what I was about to do kept pounding through my skull. I might talk the talk, but actually doing it?

  Then I spotted Adam and Koki, over by the far razor wired fence. Moving in on a shadow behind a visitor's car. My heart leapt into my throat at the sight of people I knew. Especially my stalker. Koki I wasn't so familiar with, but he was part of ASI, part of those who belonged to Nick. Both men were dressed in black, and I was enormously relieved to see, both were wearing bullet proof vests over their black T-Shirts, but no helmets, like the AOS. A shot to the head would prove fatal.

  My mouth went dry as I watched the events unfold. Adam went one way, Koki the other, in a choreographed movement they'd obviously perfected before. But their focus was solely on the shadowy figure, they'd missed a second threat at their backs and off to the side. I could see the person shift to follow their approach on shadow number one, for a moment I couldn't see if it was AOS, another ASI guy or someone else on our side. My hand with the Baby Glock in it, had already raised the weapon through the shattered window of the Porsche. Without conscious thought I rested my second hand beneath the wrist of the one holding my gun and sighted down the barrel.

  I licked my lips, knowing this was at the upper end of distance I could hit a target at, but also knowing that Adam and Koki were now sitting ducks, and if this person wasn't on our side, covering their butts, then they were in for a shit-load of trouble. It was one thing to have heard all the gunfire out there, but it would be a totally different thing if I had to watch one of the Russell boys shoot a friend.

  I waited, with my heart in my throat and my breathing laboured, for shadow number two to identify himself. Good or bad? My breathing meant the gun wavered slightly, if I was going to fire the darn thing I'd need total focus and a steady hand. But it was hard to get on top of my respirations. I blinked back sweat from my eyes and concentrated on what my firing range supervisor had taught me back in Nashville. Deep breath in, hold it, count to three, long breath out, count to three then repeat. />
  Several inhalations and exhalations later and I got what I needed. Leo Russell's face bathed in a shaft of light. Not Levi, so I momentarily felt a pang of disappointment, then Leo raised a gun - like he'd raised a gun on Katie's passing car outside of Nick's house - and aimed it at Adam's head.

  I don't think so, cowboy!

  I narrowed my eyes, re-gripped the gun, tilted my head, blocked out all the other gunshots ringing around the carpark and aimed - then let a long, slow breath out and held it. The moment his finger shifted on the trigger, I fired.

  The sound of the gun firing in the small confines of the car was deafening, the roar in my ears as blood shot through my veins even more so. But the soft thwack! and muted grunt from Leo's surprised lips hit me harder than any sounds, droning out my heartbeat right then. I'd hit him in the thigh. Fitting really, Aunty Jessie had hit Nick in the thigh too.

  Then I had to stifle an hysterical giggle, because I hadn't been aiming at his thigh at all. I'd been aiming for his chest. Specifically where I suspected his evil little heart would be. My aim was off and wasn't that a kicker? What if I'd hit Adam or Koki? Who were right now aware of the threat at their backs, from the grunt Leo had made when my bullet hit.

  Koki muttered something - a direction maybe to Adam - and turned on Leo, while Adam resumed his approach on the first shadow, but found he'd taken the opportunity to move. In a flash Adam took up the chase, disappearing behind the car shadow number one had been hiding behind, while I watched Koki pounce on Leo and muscle him to the ground, a knee in his thigh - I was thinking right above the gunshot wound I had created. I felt a little sick surge up into my mouth and had to swallow it down.

  Then forgot all about vomiting as a flurry of bullets pinged against the Porsche and ricocheted around the interior cabin of the car. I screamed, ducked down with my hands above my head, one still holding the Baby Glock and then promptly screamed again as the door on the opposite side opened and someone threw themselves inside, slamming the thing shut at their backs.