Shades of Gray

by Rachel Ann Nunes

“Not much help,” Shannon muttered as he cuffed Robison to a chair.

  “Wait.” I pointed to the far monitor. A battered blue truck came squealing up to the garage doors, and the driver leaned out his window to swipe a card. I caught a glimpse of another face beside him before the door opened and the truck left the camera’s view.

  Shannon looked at the guard. “That truck come here often?”

  “Never seen it before.” Under his breath he added, “Lots of stuff I’ve never seen before.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  The guard’s eyes narrowed. They were brown and small and reminded me of a ferret I’d had as a child. “Forget it. I ain’t telling you.” Guess he was the type to carry a grudge.

  “Oh?” Shannon’s eyes glinted. “You want to tell me?” He removed his gun from his holster, and though he didn’t wave it around, Robison became instantly more talkative.

  “Just a lot of coming and going tonight, that’s all. Nothing I can really pinpoint. Look, please don’t hurt me. I have kids!”

  “No, you don’t,” I said. There were no pictures of him with a family, though there were several family pictures that must belong to other security men. He wasn’t wearing a ring, either.

  “Okay, but I do have a sister and a nephew!”

  “Relax. We’re not going to hurt you.” Shannon holstered his gun.

  “Then you really are from the police, right?”

  Sound from a speaker interrupted whatever reply Shannon might have made. A light above the monitor showing the garage elevator gleamed red, telling us where the sound came from.

  “What are you doing here?” Unmistakably Ian’s voice, though the camera angle and picture quality were poor.

  “I brought that black chick,” the contractor told him. “She’s willing to sign.”

  “You shouldn’t have come here, Tony.”

  “I need the paperwork.” Tony ducked his head subserviently, but the firm way he stood told me he wasn’t as submissive as he pretended.

  “We’ll do it tomorrow.”

  “She wants to see him tonight, or she won’t sign.”

  Ian grabbed the front of Tony’s shirt and shoved him out of the camera’s view, but the brief sight of them together like that, with Ian towering over the short contractor seared into my mind. Tony grunted as he met up with the cement wall out of our view. “You told her we had him?” Ian growled.

  “How else you think she was willing to sign? They won’t say nothing. Neither of them. Not if they know what’s good for them.”

  “You idiot. There’s more you don’t know. There was a complication at my apartment. I’ll have to get rid of him now. Maybe both of them.”

  “Nah. I’m sure it’s nothing your aunt can’t get you out of. I seen her work. You guys defend murderers, and they always get off scot-free.”

  Silence for a few seconds before Ian came back into view as he stepped away from the other man. “Maybe you’re right. If we get them out of here, there’ll be no proof, and tomorrow they wake up in the desert miles from here, unable to remember their own names for the next year, if they ever remember them. Go get the girl and your truck. Hurry, I’m meeting with someone across town in twenty minutes.”

  “Another client?” Tony rubbed a big hand over his receding hairline.

  “Sure. Big payoff. You get these guys out of here and to that doctor before the police arrive, and I’ll see you get a share.”

  “I’ll meet you by the storage rooms.” The contractor hurried off, but Ian’s gaze went to the camera, his lips pursing. Cursing and muttering about another mess to clean up, he jumped, taking a swipe at the camera. All at once we saw nothing except a short expanse of cement wall.

  “Guess he’ll be coming up here,” Shannon said, “to clear the evidence. If not now, then after he hands them off.”

  Robison shook his head. “This is all recorded by computer. With the right codes he can delete the footage from anywhere. Look, this is all happening on my watch—I’d like to do something to help. I know the layout of the storage area in the garage.”

  Nodding, Shannon undid the handcuffs. “I’ll send for backup, but they might not arrive in time. We need to get to those storage rooms now.”

  “Sure. This way.” Robison hurried from the room, glancing back once to see if we were following. He was kind of cute in an unrefined sort of way, though definitely not my type.

  “Will it do any good telling you to stay here?” Shannon said to me, punching a number on his phone as we jogged down the hall and out to the foyer where the elevator and stairs were located.

  I didn’t dignify his question with an answer. I was too busy trying not to hobble. Too busy worrying about what drugs Ian Gideon might have already given to Jake. Did Ian have another gun? Did the contractor? And who was Ian meeting with? He didn’t seem to be planning on taking Jake, so did it have something to do with Sawyer? The thought of that little boy being a pawn in whatever scheme Ian had dredged up was almost worse than handing him over to Russo. Yet if Ian hadn’t taken Saywer for Russo, what did he want him for? He wouldn’t be stupid enough to hold the boy for ransom from Russo, would he?

  With no answer in sight, I quit worrying about it. I wish I’d asked Tawnia to send her drawing to Jake’s phone so I could see if it held any clues to help us find him. That had to be my priority for the moment. And Kolonda. Guess we’d have to save her, too.

  We used the stairs so as not to alert anyone in the garage to our presence, but the foresight was unnecessary because no one was around when we emerged. I hadn’t picked up any imprints from the elevator or the wall where I touched it, either, but I’d expected as much.

  Hold on, Jake. I knew he was close the minute I stepped from the stairwell. I could feel him. I blinked back tears.

  “Something wrong?” Shannon asked me.

  I shook my head. “He’s here.”

  “We know that. We heard Gideon say as much, remember?” His response was more gentle than the words implied, and for that I was grateful. He was right. Maybe I wasn’t as attuned to Jake as I wanted to believe, yet I felt him more strongly as we approached the storage area. It was something I couldn’t explain, only to Tawnia, who understood exactly how it felt.

  Shannon had his gun out again, and we began to creep along. “Must be in that back corner,” he whispered.

  “Yeah.” Robison was hanging back now, and I didn’t blame him for wanting to be out of the line of fire. So far he hadn’t been much help. The garage was relatively small and the storage area simple to find. The blue truck parked in front and the slightly open door were other giveaways.

  “Stay back,” Shannon ordered before running to the cover of the truck. I obeyed, or mostly obeyed, ducking behind a cement pillar opposite the truck and peering around it. Robison didn’t follow me, for which I was glad.

  Shannon approached the door to the last storage room, holding his gun ready. In a burst of motion, he kicked the door open with his foot, slamming it open. “Police! Come out with your hands where I can see them!”

  Muffled cursing, and then Tony, the burly contractor, came into view with his hands in the air. Ian came next, but he had Kolonda in front of him. I couldn’t tell if he had a gun.

  Kolonda’s eyes locked on me, though how she’d spotted me peering from behind the pillar, I didn’t know. “Jake’s in there,” she called. “He’s hurt!”

  “Let go of the girl!” Shannon demanded. “There’s no way out. We have the place covered.” A lie, though Ian couldn’t know that, and it would be true soon enough when Shannon’s backup arrived.

  “Fine!” Ian shoved Kolonda at Shannon, who stopped her momentum with his free arm. Ian didn’t have a gun, but I wondered what would have happened if he’d found another one. “Look, I don’t know how that man in there got
in my garage,” Ian added. “But I had nothing to do with it.”

  Tony shot him a dirty look. “Me either!”

  I would have laughed if I hadn’t been so worried about Jake. I rushed forward, unable to hide my limp at that speed. It didn’t matter. I’d found Jake, and Shannon could order me to the hospital now, if he wanted. The storage room was lit by a single bulb—not much foresight, or perhaps a bit of penny-pinching. I saw pieces of furniture, a few fake plants, filing cabinets, and framed pictures. Lying in the middle of the floor was Jake. He was bound hand and foot, and a gag had been tied over his mouth. His face was bruised and swollen. He wasn’t moving.

  “Jake!” I threw myself down beside him and felt his neck for a pulse. It was there, and surprisingly strong. In the next minute, Kolonda was kneeling next to me, untying his feet while I worked on his hands. His eyes fluttered. “I’m here, Jake,” I said, ignoring the tears sliding down my cheeks. “Are you okay?”

  One eye finally opened, the other apparently too swollen to do more than flutter. “Hi, Autumn. I knew you’d find me, but did you have to bring him?”

  I looked up and saw Shannon standing over us, his gun still on Ian and the contractor, whom he’d brought back inside the room.

  I knew I was grinning like an idiot. “Sometimes you don’t pick your company.” My eyes happened to fall on Kolonda as I said this, and Jake’s eyes followed.

  “Kolonda,” he murmured. “What are you doing here?” From his tone I could tell he wasn’t exactly unhappy to see her.

  “Looking for you. Oh, Jake, this is all my fault!” She moved closer, her hand going to his cheek, her eyes dripping tears. She didn’t get a red nose and face when she cried but looked rather fresh, as though she’d simply spritzed her face. It wasn’t fair.

  Shannon took out his cuffs. “Would you mind putting these on our attorney friend?” he said to me. “We can use some of this rope for the other guy.”

  “Glad to.” I stood, catching the cuffs as he tossed them.

  Anger filled me. Murderous anger that burned white hot. Stay calm, he/I told himself/myself. A simple change of plans, that’s all. Focus. He/I needed to get free, knock off the attorney before he could squeal on the boss or let on that they were meeting tonight, and then get out of here. A picture of Saito flitted through his/my mind at the idea of “boss.”

  The imprint was only a few minutes old and whoever it belonged to was planning murder. My eyes flew to the door as Robison appeared, gun in hand. “Watch out!” I screamed.

  Too late.

  Chapter 17

  Shannon jumped to the side as a shot rang into the stillness, followed immediately by a second shot from the same direction. I couldn’t see what happened, though, as I was hit by another imprint, an older one of a man who’d been arrested in a domestic violence situation. More fury. Blinding rage. Struggling. The imprint hadn’t yet faded when another surged to life, this time from a gangbanger who moments earlier had shot his second-in-command. I heard a sob that I vaguely recognized as my own.

  Another imprint began. A woman who—

  The handcuffs were yanked from my grasp, and I nearly collapsed with relief. Shannon hadn’t thought about the criminals this metal had touched or how it might affect me. I thought it might be he who finally rescued me from the imprints, but it was Jake kneeling in front of me, still holding the cuffs. Kolonda was behind him, pulling him down, away. They were okay.

  Shannon picked himself off the cement next to me, apparently unharmed, so that left Ian and the contractor as possible targets. No, not the contractor. Tony was huddled by the far wall, his arms thrown over his head but very much alive.

  That left only one person. My eyes swung to a lump on the floor that minutes ago had been a proud, defiant Ian.

  “See what you can do for him. I’ll get the guard.” Shannon hurtled out the door after Robison.

  Kolonda had succeeded in getting Jake to lie down, so I walked alone to Ian, kneeling beside him. “You going to help me here?” I asked Tony as I rolled him over.

  “What do you want me to do?” The contractor’s eyes were dilated with fear.

  “Give me your shirt.” Ian had been shot in the stomach, and the way he was losing blood, I didn’t give him much time unless I could stop the bleeding.

  “My shirt?”

  “Now!”

  The short man reluctantly wriggling out of his shirt might have been amusing on another day, but now his slowness annoyed me. If Ian died, we wouldn’t know what deal he’d been working with Saito, and though a few things were clicking into place for me now—namely how Saito had found Dennis—there was a lot that still needed answering. Like where he’d stashed Sawyer.

  I balled up the shirt and pressed it against the wound. Ian wasn’t moving. “Ian,” I said, speaking close to his ear. “Where’s Sawyer? Where did you take Dennis’s son?”

  No answer. I glanced over at Jake, who was seated now, appearing mostly propped up by Kolonda. “You didn’t see Sawyer, did you?”

  Jake shook his head. “Sophie’s son? No, and our slick attorney there didn’t say anything about him.”

  “Sawyer?” asked Kolonda. “I thought this was about my properties.”

  Pretty, spoiled, little princess still thought this was all about her. I stifled my annoyance by glaring at the bare-chested contractor. “What about you? Do you know anything about a missing boy?”

  “I wasn’t a part of anything like that—I swear. Just a few real estate deals.” Tony slunk to the door as he talked.

  “Don’t do it,” I said. “Running from the scene of a crime . . .”

  He darted out the door, and I sighed. Unlike the mysterious ferret-faced guard, the police should be able to locate the contractor easily, and no doubt additional charges would be added to the list he’d already incurred.

  Ian was still bleeding, and I was running out of clean cloth to press against the wound. “Can’t you help me here?” I asked Kolonda. “He’s going to bleed to death if we don’t stop this.”

  That got her up and searching for something to bind the wound, which at least distanced her from Jake. He looked bad, a sure sign he hadn’t made it easy on his kidnappers, but it didn’t look like anything time couldn’t heal. He scooted over to me, his leg fitting comfortably against my good one.

  “Such a waste.” He stared down at Ian’s inert form.

  “He’s been doing real estate deals not only for Russo but for himself. Millions of dollars at stake. I suspect most of the deals aren’t legitimate.” In fact, I was betting on that. If there was enough proof that Russo was involved with deals that weren’t on the up and up, I might be able to force him to look the other way while Dennis and Sophie disappeared again. It’d be a tough sell, though. One I couldn’t even try if Russo actually had Sawyer.

  “I was planning to go public. No wonder he freaked.”

  At least Jake understood. He was watching Kolonda now, an odd look on his face. My heart did a funny lurch. Was I losing him? Jake had been my closest friend and constant supporter in the year since Winter had died in the bridge collapse. I’d known for most of that time that I loved him. Yet I also knew that tragedy sometimes brought people together who wouldn’t ordinarily find each other. What that might mean, I couldn’t say.

  My muscles screamed with the pressure I had to keep on Ian’s wound to staunch the flow of blood, and my leg was so far beyond numb that I was almost surprised to see it still attached.

  Jake was watching me now. “You’re hurt.”

  “A scratch.” I remembered Shannon had once said something like that to me. I tried to grin but failed.

  “Will this do?” Kolonda returned with a yellowed, embroidered tablecloth that probably cost more than I paid for food in a month.

  “Perfect.” I wedged it over the shirt and continu
ed my pressure, which at least saved me from being drenched with blood and exposed to who-knew-what. Ian still hadn’t regained consciousness. Lucky for him.

  I was glad when Shannon reappeared in the doorway, though it wasn’t Robison he shoved into the room in front of him. The half-dressed contractor fell to his knees and wouldn’t meet my gaze.

  “Well?” I asked, hoping he’d passed Robison off to other officers outside.

  Shannon shook his head. “Got away. Planned escape.”

  “He works for Saito.”

  “Really?”

  “Who works for Saito? What’s going on?” Jake interrupted, a hurt in his voice that had nothing to do with his physical aches. Guess I wasn’t the only one who had jealousy issues.

  I explained about the fake guard and the imprint he’d left on the cuffs, but I didn’t get far into the tale because people began arriving. First the police, who made short work of the contractor, and then the paramedics, who rushed Ian off to the hospital, and more paramedics who tended to Jake.

  “Look at her, too,” Shannon said, motioning to me. “Something’s wrong with her leg.”

  I sighed and submitted to a paramedic, who unwrapped my leg and told me I should go to the hospital. I didn’t want to go because I was thinking about Sawyer and feeling I was missing something. “Just wrap it again for now,” I told him in a low voice so Shannon wouldn’t hear. “Something to hold me for a bit.”

  As he finished wrapping my leg, I felt Jake’s phone vibrating in my pocket. I took a piece of the paramedic’s gauze and fished it out. My sister, of course. “Hello?”

  “Autumn. Thank heaven you’re safe! I’ve been calling and calling, and you haven’t picked up.”

  “It’s been a little busy.”

  “I was so scared,” she whispered. “I drew a picture of you and Jake. You were holding something in your hands, and you were frozen. There was a man with a gun. I just about jumped in the car to try to find you.”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “We’re okay. We found Jake.” She couldn’t have helped even if she had come, and I hoped she knew her baby meant far more to me than any danger she might possibly save me from.