by Alice Sharpe
All four adults stood in a circle, all facing one another, cords of tension radiating between them. Jack’s mind raced as he desperately tried to come up with a plan.
Hugo said, “You weren’t sick that night in the hotel. You pretended you were so I’d insist you stay behind. You knew those killers were going to come and you sent me and the others.”
Santi’s upper lip curled. “Have you always been so dense?”
“I spent weeks with those monsters. I thought I was going to die. They shot me. And you let them.”
“The shot was necessary,” Santi said complacently, “to make sure no one suspected the foundation of collusion. We needed capital. I figured we’d get you back.”
“You were dispensable,” Jack said, deciding that feeding Hugo’s sense of betrayal might work for them. “You were no more important to him that anyone else.”
“That’s not true,” Santi said. “My son was worth several million dollars.”
Hannah reached out a hand. “Mr. Correa, Santi. It’s over. Give me Aubrielle. There’s nowhere to go now, too many people know about this. Give me my baby, please.”
“I’ll tell you what we’re going to do,” Santi said. “We’re all going to wait. The festivities in Tierra Montañosa are on Saturday. Sunday is a holy day and they insisted they celebrate a day early. The ambush will take place at all three schools simultaneously beginning at nine in the morning. They’re three hours ahead of us there, so at six tomorrow morning, it will begin. I will give you your baby at six-thirty.”
“And then we’ll tell the media what you’ve done and the GTM will not be blamed and all your grandiose plans will go up in smoke,” Jack said.
“You make a good point,” Santi said. “I have been working toward this one event with blinders on, but you’re right. Your survival will ruin everything.” He looked at Hannah and added, “You have my word I’ll see to it your grandmother gets your baby to raise.”
Before Hannah could throw herself on the old man, Hugo produced a .38 Special. Santi saw it and smiled. “I don’t expect you to turn into a man tonight, son. You don’t have to shoot anyone. Mitch has been doing my dirty work, but I’m not above taking care of these two myself.”
“I’m not pointing it at them,” Hugo said. “I’m pointing it at you.”
Santi chuckled. “Even if you were able to kill me, which I highly doubt, you’d probably also kill this innocent child.”
“You’re willing to sacrifice hundreds to save millions,” Hugo said calmly. “Perhaps I’m willing to sacrifice one to save those hundreds.”
“No, no, you’ll hit Aubrielle,” Hannah cried as Santi held Abby against his chest.
“Don’t worry, Hannah. He doesn’t have the guts,” Santi said, his voice complacent.
For a second, Jack thought Santi was right, but something snapped in Hugo’s eyes and his gun hand straightened.
Pushing Hannah to the floor, Jack dove for Santi as the gun went off.
Chapter Sixteen
Hannah rolled over at once, twisting as gunfire echoed in the small enclosed room. She was in time to see Aubrielle falling one direction as Santi fell another. Jack slid along the floor, arms stretched out in front, gaze totally focused on the baby.
Everything switched to slow motion. The baby fell in millimeters as Jack’s hands inched above his head. Hannah stopped breathing and was hardly aware of Santi’s body crumbled on the marble, her concentration riveted on the two people she loved most in the world.
Jack caught Aubrielle in his strong, tan hands and the film sped up, time went back to normal speed. She was on her feet and beside them without pausing to think, taking the baby from Jack, hugging the squalling infant close as Jack sat up and grinned at her.
Hugo walked over to his father’s desk and sat down heavily, laying the pistol on the glass top with a clatter.
Jack sprang to his feet, took one of Hannah’s hands to help her stand. Holding the baby close, she paced the room, jiggling Aubrielle, trying to calm her. There were blood splatters on her sleeper, but none had touched her skin.
Jack walked over to Santi’s body. Leaning down, he touched the old guy’s papery throat and met Hannah’s gaze. He shook his head.
Hugo moaned. “I killed my father,” he said, and stiffly picked up the receiver.
“Call off the Tierra Montañosa celebrations before you call the police,” Jack said.
“I can’t. I have to report—”
Jack reached Hugo in two strides and took the receiver. “If you call the police first, you may not get the opportunity to call Tierra Montañosa in time. Call them first. Insist they act right now. They need to call in police and media, they need to stop this, they need to find the local contact, a man named Hurtado. They only have a few hours.”
“But the law says—”
“Hugo? Your father is dead, you did what you had to do. A few more minutes aren’t going to matter. Finish what you started.”
Hugo gulped and nodded. As he searched for an address book, Jack walked back to Hannah. She’d finally managed to calm Aubrielle to the point where her cries had evolved into hiccups.
Jack put his hands around her upper arms and, leaning down, kissed her forehead, then he leaned farther and kissed Aubrielle. Tears burned the back of her throat as she watched him.
“You saved her,” she said.
“Well, I am her bodyguard.”
“And her father.”
“About that—”
“Jack, I’m sorry I told you the way I did.” As Hugo’s Spanish grew increasingly fevered in the background, she tried to express her feelings accurately. “Please don’t think I expect you to change your whole life because of one night with me and the baby we created. I hope you’ll be a part of her life, but—”
“Shut up,” he said softly, gazing into her eyes.
“Shut up?”
“You told me I was her father when you thought there was no other choice and not a minute sooner. You didn’t trust me. You lied to me. If you hadn’t thought your death was imminent, you never would have told me.”
How did she argue any of that when it was all true? He hated her; he had every right. “I wanted to tell you but I was afraid,” she mumbled.
“Afraid of what?”
“That you wouldn’t want her,” she said. “Or that you’d want her too much.”
“Hannah, what were you really afraid of?”
His question startled her. She blinked a couple of times and swallowed tears. She thought of hedging, thought of turning away, thought of losing him forever. “I was afraid you wouldn’t want…us,” she finally murmured.
He lowered his head and rested his cheek against her forehead. “You barely knew me,” he whispered.
“But I loved you,” she said, and it was as though the steel bands holding her heart together sprang apart. But it was true and he might as well know it.
He cupped her face with his warm hand. “And that’s why I came looking for you, too, cariño. Because I loved you.”
She buried her head against his chest as all the tension of the last twenty-four hours drained away, dissolving her bones in the process. She was limp and exhausted and suddenly hungry beyond enduring.
He loved her. She looked up at his face and said, “So you won’t be driving off on your Harley?”
“Who, me?” he said, his fingers now caressing Aubrielle’s cheek. “I don’t own a Harley anymore. I just own a truck you tried to kill this afternoon. Besides, I have responsibilities. I’m a family man now. I guess I should ask. Hannah, will you marry me?”
Smiling, she nodded.
Epilogue
Six Months Later
Snow fell gently as Jack pulled into Simon and Ella’s driveway. He’d been to Blue Mountain only once, many months before, right after they’d all returned from Canada. At the time, he’d been fresh from the jungle, driven to find out what had happened to him and why, and positive the former Hannah Marks had had some
thing to do with it.
And now she sat beside him, his wife of two weeks, the love of his life. “I hope they like me,” she said.
He took her hand, raised it to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “How could they not love you?” he asked.
“You may be prejudiced.”
“You can count on that.”
A squawk from the backseat announced the baby had had enough sitting and driving and wanted out of the car. They obliged her. Jack’s arms were full of presents as Hannah rang the bell of the gray house with the white shutters and the bright red door.
It had taken him months to settle the legal issues caused by reentering the country the way he had, months that had also seen the collapse of the Staar Foundation. He and Hannah had married quietly, privately, after everything was finally settled. They’d recently moved to a larger city with more opportunities and he was working on getting his private investigator license. They spent many weekends with Mimi and, simply put, life had never been so good.
The door opened and Ella stood there, her hair longer now. Her eyes widened when she got a look at Hannah and their nine-month-old baby who was a dead ringer for Jack. “This is your surprise,” Ella said, laughing and reaching out to hug Hannah.
“This is my wife, Hannah,” Jack said and completed the introductions.
“Come in, come in,” Ella said, stepping aside. Over her shoulder, she called, “Simon? Come here. Wait until you see Jack’s big surprise.”
As they stepped inside the house, the smell of roasting turkey, the twinkle of Christmas lights, the sound of the “Hallelujah Chorus” playing on the stereo lifted Jack’s heart in a way he still wasn’t used to. Could this beautiful woman with this charming home and family really be his little sister? Could she have actually traveled so far from the sadness of her past?
Why not? He had.
Simon entered from the hall, their newborn in his arms. He grinned when he saw Jack and then he saw Hannah and his eyes lit up. “I am so glad to meet you,” he said, handing his daughter to Ella so he could hug Hannah. “Jack, you scoundrel, you kept these two beauties a secret? You’ve got some explaining to do.”
“We wanted to surprise you,” Jack said. “There’s been a lot going on, a lot to talk about.”
“I’ll pour the wine,” Simon said, but he paused to put an arm around Ella. “What’s your little girl’s name?” he asked.
Hannah said, “Abby.”
At the same moment Jack said, “Aubrielle.”
And they smiled at each other.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-5672-3
THE BABY’S BODYGUARD
Copyright © 2010 by Alice Sharpe
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