Fatal Memories

by Tanya Stowe

  “Joss is here?”

  “She arrived about ten minutes ago.” He pointed to a distant hill. “A man with binoculars has a decent view of her through a window. So far they’re holding her...waiting for Vibora. He arrived about five minutes ago.”

  “What about Walker?”

  “No sign of him. But the police have been here long enough to send in the license plates of every vehicle out front. They’re all registered to Tucson citizens, except for that gray sedan in front of the house next to us. It’s registered to a rental company at the airport.”

  “So, Walker’s here.”

  “We think he’s inside, but we haven’t been able to see him...or what’s going on. There’s a guard at the back and one out front.”

  As he spoke the front door opened. Light fell from the portal and landed like a golden square on the dark yard in front of the house. Joss and Jason Walker appeared in the doorway. Dylan tensed.

  She’s alive.

  One of the agents made a noise. “Looks like explosives strapped to Walker’s chest.”

  Holmquist lifted the binoculars. “He’s got the detonator beneath his arm. He’s holding the gang off, keeping them inside.”

  The other agent shook his head. “How do they hope to get away?”

  Joss grabbed something from her brother’s hand and darted across the yard.

  “She’s going for her brother’s car.”

  “Is she abandoning him?” the agent asked.

  “Not Joss...she’d never do that.” Dylan’s tone was firm.

  Holmquist let the binoculars drop. “As soon as they get clear of the house, the gang will use all of their firepower and blow them sky-high. They won’t stand a chance.”

  Determination settled in Dylan. “They need their own firepower.” He started to shimmy down. “As soon as I start firing, signal your men to open up on the house. And, Holmquist, tell them that no matter what happens to the Walkers and me, they are to keep firing. We can’t let any of that gang free to hurt more people.”

  Dylan sidled down the hill. When he reached the base, he darted across the street and hid behind the vehicle. He could hear Joss’s running feet and heavy breathing. As soon as she opened the car door, he stepped out.

  “Hey, hotshot.”

  She jumped and almost screamed, but Dylan was prepared. He leaped forward and placed his fingers against her lips. “It’s me. It’s all right.”

  He didn’t care if they didn’t have a future or that he didn’t deserve her love. He just wanted to touch her, to reassure himself that she was still alive. Cupping her cheeks with both hands, he kissed her, all the while thanking God that he’d found her alive.

  “I thought you were dead,” she whispered. “I thought they killed you on the mountain.”

  He shook his head. “You were the goal. As soon as they had you, they left me where I was. Didn’t even bother to waste more ammunition on me.”

  She stepped back. “How did you get here? What’s going on?”

  “Jason called in the location. This place is surrounded with police, border-patrol and DEA agents. We’re going to get both of you out of here.”

  She leaned into his hands, which were still cupped to her face. “Thank you. Thank you.”

  Dylan ducked his head to catch her gaze. “Let’s go get Jason. You drive. I’ll ride low in the passenger seat, next to you, so they won’t see me. As soon as you get in the car, roll down my window so all I have to do is pop up and start firing...and I’ll need to shoot straight. No matter what he said, Vibora doesn’t plan to let you get away. Pull up on the door so that Jason has to get in the back seat. I’ll make sure he’s situated. You concentrate on driving. When I give you the signal, hit the gas and get us out. Understand?”

  She nodded. He kissed her forehead, then slid into the front seat and hunkered down.

  TEN

  Joss slid behind the wheel and fumbled with the keys, trembling so hard, she almost dropped them. She couldn’t get the key into the slot. Dylan’s hand covered hers, warm and strong, just like the first time she had wakened in the hospital.

  “Lord.” His low, smooth voice, so full of confidence, inspired calm to flow through her. “Lord, help us get Jason out. Guide us all to safety.”

  Peace filled Joss. She took a deep breath. Slid the key into the slot and started the car.

  Turning on the headlights, she eased onto the road. Rocks crunched as she pulled around the corner, in full view of the house. Lights blazed from every window and Jason stood in the door. She breathed a sigh of relief. “He’s still there,” she whispered to Dylan.

  “Good. Ease up to the door as we planned. But lower the windows first.”

  She punched the buttons on the door. All of the windows rolled down. She eased into the turn. Jason glanced back, took one step and then hesitated.

  “He won’t be able to walk backward and still keep his eyes on Vibora and his men. He’s hesitating.” She pulled up to the porch, then braked to a stop. “I’m going to get him.”

  “Joss...no.” She was out of the door before Dylan’s whisper reached her. She ran up to the porch. “I’m right here, Jason.”

  He glanced back when she grabbed his arm and squeezed. “I almost wish you’d gotten in that car and driven away.” He nudged toward the gang. “They said you would.”

  She glared at Vibora. “They don’t know anything about love. I’d never abandon you. You never left me.”

  He glanced down. She would remember the look in his eyes forever—full of apologies for betraying the cause of justice she’d worked so long and hard to preserve. Thankfulness for understanding his need to protect Maria and her family...and for Joss’s forgiveness. It all flashed in his eyes in that one moment. She slid her hand down his arm and squeezed his hand.

  “Let’s get out of here.”

  He nodded once.

  “One more step and you’re off the porch.” Joss prompted. “Just two steps on the dirt to the car.”

  As they stepped away, Vibora and Caulder moved closer, filling the doorway and blocking the light. From the corner of her eye, she caught movement as two more men moved into the large-paned front window. At least six guns were pointed right at them. Without a doubt more were hidden in the darkness.

  Joss caught her breath but didn’t waver. She released Jason’s hand long enough to open the car door, careful not to move in front of him or block his view of the men in the door. He slid slowly and carefully into the back seat, making sure not to lower his arm. Joss slammed the door and ran around the front of the car. She heard steps, knew Caulder and Vibora had stepped onto the porch, but she never looked to see how close they were. Her spine tingled. She could feel the gun sights pinpointing their marks.

  She slid behind the wheel and yanked the car into gear. Only then did she dare glance at the door. Vibora was so angry, he was vibrating. Caulder had a hand on his shoulder, trying to hold him back.

  She hit the gas and the tires ground into the dirt, kicking dust up and over the porch. Vibora screamed a curse and she heard running steps. A gun exploded. Dylan popped up.

  “What—” Jason’s startled gasp came from the back seat, but his words were drowned out by gunshots. The men on the porch fired at them.

  Glass shattered. Gunfire blazed across the night. Joss turned the vehicle in a tight circle and headed to the road. She turned so sharply, she was sure two tires left the ground. Once the car straightened, she glanced into the rearview mirror. Vibora lay on the porch. Caulder was crouched in the dirt, in front, firing his pistol. Other gunmen stood beside him, with their weapons ablaze. Bullets pinged into the car and all around them.

  The rear window shattered. She winced, ducked and turned around just as her headlights danced across the figure of a man running toward them. She was headed straight for him. She screamed and jerked the wheel t
o miss him as he lunged back. The car lurched sharply to the left. Jason cried out.

  The explosives! Did I just kill us all?

  Her foot dropped off the accelerator and she looked in the rearview window to see men running toward them and firing.

  “Jason!”

  “I’m fine. Go! Go! Go!”

  She hit the gas and they sped out, kicking up dust and dirt again.

  “Where are your agents? Why aren’t they firing?” Joss yelled across the barrage of bullets coming their way.

  “We must be in the way. They’re afraid of hitting us.”

  “They should be. I’ve got enough explosives here to knock out all of these hills,” Jason said from the back.

  They were only feet from the corner when the night around them lit up with a thousand spotlights. A loudspeaker boomed across the night air.

  “You’re surrounded! Drop your weapons!”

  Vibora’s gang would never give up without a fight. Joss had the accelerator pressed to the floor already, or she would have hit it again. She wanted to be as far away as possible from the firestorm that was about to hit. Weapons fired one after the other, as if they were in a war zone. But thankfully they were clear.

  Joss let out a sob as officers ran toward them. She eased off the gas and they coasted to a stop.

  “Turn off the engine, Joss.” She heard Dylan’s soft command, but she couldn’t make her body move. His strong hand on her arm finally jostled her into moving. She switched it off. Dylan turned in his seat.

  “Jason, I’m Special Agent Dylan Murphy. I’ve been working with your sister. Let’s get those explosives off you.”

  Joss looked in the mirror. Jason had his upraised arm and hand linked behind him. His fingers were wrapped around each other so tightly, she could see the whitened knuckles in the shadows of the car.

  “I can get them off. There’s an acid in this very fragile glass vial. All I have to do is slide it out of the explosive putty and we’ll be safe. But first I need everyone to clear the area.”

  Joss shook her head. “I’m not leaving you.”

  “I’m not touching this until you are far away, Joss. Don’t argue with me.”

  She started to protest, but Dylan grasped her arm. “I’ll stay, Joss. He won’t be alone.”

  He sat across from her, firm, strong, so certain in his promise. She would never love him more than she did right now. Still, she could lose both of them. Jason, because of his concern for humanity, and Dylan for his sense of duty.

  She wanted to scream at both of them for being so willing to leave her. But she didn’t. She climbed out of the car. An officer tried to assist her, but she jerked her arm loose and walked away.

  She never looked back. Never paused. Her back itched, waiting for the explosion, but she refused to turn around or to halt. She kept walking past the officer, past the emergency vehicles and waiting technicians.

  Why was everyone always so ready to leave her? Why didn’t they want to stay with her as much as she wanted to stay with them? Why did the two men she loved most in the world always put duty first? Her heart ached with the old feelings of abandonment and aloneness.

  An emergency technician caught up with her and tried to place a blanket around her shoulders. “Officer Walker, we need to check you out.”

  She shrugged off the blanket, let it drop to the ground and kept walking.

  Why did her brother always attract needy people...people who dragged him away from her? Why couldn’t she fall in love with a man who had a nine-to-five job...a man who would come home every night to sit on the couch, pet the million dogs they would have and maybe hold the babies?

  She wanted her own home with things she loved. Things she chose and collected. Maybe even horses like Goldie and Patches. Babies! Her steps hitched. She wanted lots and lots of babies so she’d never be lonely again. Why couldn’t someone love her enough for that?

  Is it too much to ask, Lord? Why doesn’t someone love me?

  “Joss!” Dylan called her name, but she kept walking.

  “We can’t stop her. It’s probably shock.” She heard the technician’s tense voice.

  “I’ll take care of her.” Dylan’s arms came around her. She tried to push them away, but they locked hard, pulling her against him.

  “Joss, Jason is safe. He removed the vial. They’re cutting the duct tape and the explosives off his body. He’ll be here in moments.”

  That voice. The voice that reached out to her in the darkness. The voice that dragged her back to reality. The voice that filled her with confidence, issued commands as easily as he drew breath. The voice that hummed and sang old hymns. Some of the lyrics came to her.

  I once was lost, but now am found.

  Another hymn echoed in Joss’s thoughts.

  God alone suffices.

  Those words gave her pause. She thought she’d learned that lesson. God would never abandon or leave. He was always there.

  “Joss!”

  Jason pulled her into his arms. The familiar scent of his clothes and the cleaner he used to remove engine oil swept over her. He was alive. They were all alive. God had brought them through. So why had she so quickly forgotten Him?

  Jason pushed her. “Joss, are you all right?” He gave her a little shake. “Jocelyn Walker, answer me!”

  The grown-up tone he always used when she was in trouble. A rush of thankfulness that he was back and safe filled her. She hugged him fiercely. Then stepped away. “I’m fine.”

  But really she wasn’t. Things were fine. They were safe. Vibora and his gang had been stopped. But she wasn’t fine. She hadn’t been fine for a long, long time. She’d regained her past, her memories. But somewhere she’d lost herself, her true self, the person God wanted her to be. That had happened many years ago. Maybe when she started chasing bad guys, trying to prove to herself that she was valuable...worthy of the sacrifices Jason made for her. God had taken second place to her career...to proving herself. And still He had not abandoned her. He’d been with her in every situation. In the tunnel. When He sent her Dylan. When Jason came to save her. When all of them made it out of that cul-de-sac alive. God had never left her side.

  The emergency tech wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. “We need to check her out.”

  She was thankful when he bundled her up and guided her toward the ambulance. Thankful to be away from Dylan’s puzzled frown and Jason’s hurt expression. She needed time to think.

  She sat on the step of the ambulance as the tech checked her out. Her mind whirled, puzzled over events. The tech ducked to get her attention. “You’re definitely dehydrated, and those cuts on your wrists may need stitches.”

  She nodded but didn’t say a word. He helped her inside and strapped her onto the gurney. As he closed the doors, she heard him mumble something about shock to Dylan and Jason. Then the doors slid closed on their troubled faces.

  * * *

  Dylan punched the end button on his cell phone and set it on his desk. His superiors wanted to debrief him in Washington. They considered his investigation a success.

  Vibora was dead, killed in that first barrage of gunfire on the porch. Dylan had shot him in the arm and injured him, but he’d risen later to fight in the gun battle with the officers on the hill. A long-range rifle shot had finally ended his life. Caulder was also dead, as well as many of the gang’s captains, including Snake Man.

  Lena Jones had entered the witness protection program with her family. Her testimony, along with that of Jason Walker, would put the remaining leaders behind bars. Jason would also enter the witness protection program, along with Maria Martinez, her mother and the youngest sister, at least until the trial. Dylan was taking no chance of someone connected to the gang rising up to take action against the Martinez family. Besides, their protection was part of the agreement he’d made with Jason in exc
hange for his information.

  Jason’s insights had been invaluable in rounding up those even remotely connected with the gang. Dylan’s mission was over. But the price had been high. Maybe too high. Many people dead. Two gunfights in populated cities. Seven people entering the protection program, not to mention the property damage to the gang house and Joss’s apartment. Those issues needed to be addressed and accounted for. His sterling reputation had been slightly tarnished by the high cost in lives and property. That bothered Dylan, but not as much as it should. What bothered him most was the change in Joss.

  On the mountain he’d prayed that God would keep Joss safe. When he found her alive, all he wanted to do was snatch her up and hold her forever. But Joss had put distance between them. She’d pushed him to arm’s length and kept him there in the days that had followed her release from the hospital.

  At first he thought it was shock, but as the days wore on and her coolness continued, he wondered if she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

  Her apartment was in shambles. He offered her the bedroom at the ranch, but she refused, so he arranged for her to stay with her brother, in the apartment they’d set up for him. She still refused to spend even a quiet moment with Dylan. He had so much to say to her, but she wouldn’t let him near. She told him her brother would be leaving soon and she needed to spend as much time with him as she could.

  Dylan respected that, but he also came to believe she was disappointed in him. Now that her brother and her memory had returned, the moments and feelings they’d shared weren’t as important to her. And even worse he wasn’t the man she’d believed him to be. He’d failed to protect her. He wanted to apologize, to tell her how wrong he had been. How right she was. But she wouldn’t give him even a moment to do it.

  Maybe he deserved it. Was it possible he had always been full of himself and his capabilities? Is that why Beth never came to him, never admitted her addiction? Maybe he had failed his little sister in ways he had never imagined...like he had Joss.