The fact that he also made her feel safe was just a bonus.
Hope opened her front door and walked zombie-like to her bedroom, needing sleep and lots of it, but as she headed straight for her bed, something pushed her hard and she landed on the bed with a startled shriek.
She kicked out blindly and connected with a hard body as she tried scrambling away, but a hand grabbed her foot and pulled her back, cruel fingers biting into her ankle as she tried to kick herself free.
“Help!” she tried to scream, but her lungs were seizing with fear and nothing more than a terrified squeak came out. She kicked again and she was wrenched onto her feet by her hair as something hard pressed into her side.
“Kick me again, bitch, and I will put a bullet in your gut. You won’t die right away, but it will hurt so bad you will wish you were dead.”
Shaking all over, she bit her lip to keep from crying out. Every self-defense rule she’d ever learned told her to scream, to take the chance because she had a better chance at survival if she attracted attention, but fear had paralyzed her vocal cords.
“Please don’t kill me,” she whispered. “Take whatever you want—just don’t hurt me.”
“You have a spare ten million lying around?” he sneered, and she froze. “Because that is what you owe me. Your little stunt cost me plenty and it is time you pay your dues.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m crushed you don’t recognize my voice, darling. I had such grand plans for you and me. I even considered making you my wife. Now I have different plans... Plans that are not so pleasant.”
Anso DeLeon! How was it possible? “You’re supposed to be d-dead.”
“Sorry to disappoint. I’m difficult to kill, it seems. Now, here’s how this is going to work. You’re going to come with me like a good girl and finish the job or else I’m going to kill you right now.”
“I destroyed the samples,” she said, shaking. “There’s nothing left.”
He shoved the gun against her temple. “Well, then, you’d better hope you have a very good memory. Now move!”
It was dark. No one would notice Anso holding her tightly as they walked to his awaiting vehicle. It would look as if they were lovers going for a stroll.
Tears sprang to her eyes. This was what her pride had brought her—being kidnapped for a second time by a madman with nine lives, apparently. Why hadn’t she listened to J.T. about Tessara? Why had she pushed him away?
“You were shot,” she said, grimacing as he dug the gun into her side as they walked.
“Yes, I was. But I have excellent doctors on staff. I should tell you, I’m quite put out about the deaths of my guards. Your friend will pay for that. The charter business is filled with dangerous things lying around. Accidents happen.”
Her heart stopped. “Leave him out of this. He’s nothing to you.”
“No one screws with Anso DeLeon, my girl. A lesson has to be taught.”
“What are you going to do?”
“And spoil the surprise?” His chuckle made her want to pee herself. “I hope you’re a fan of fireworks, because something is about to go boom.”
J.T.! Tears sprang to her eyes as Anso stuffed her into the sleek Town Car and they drove off into the night.
* * *
J.T. PULLED UP to the apartment complex to see a black Town Car speeding off. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and he had a bad feeling. What was a Town Car doing in this neighborhood at this time of the night?
And why had it sped off like that?
Something wasn’t right.
He bounded up the stairs to Hope’s apartment and found the door open. His dread tripled when he checked her entire place and found it empty, but saw a sign of a struggle in the bedroom.
Shit!
J.T. bounded out the door and called Teagan as he ran back to his truck.
“Someone’s taken Hope! I think she’s in a black Town Car. Get Ty on the phone to check the surveillance cameras on Sutton Avenue at the intersection of Olive and Nabor Avenues! I need to know where that Town Car is going!”
“Shit, man, are you sure?”
“I feel it in my gut. There was a sign of a struggle and she’s nowhere to be found.”
Teagan didn’t question and simply hung up to do as J.T. asked.
Ty called and J.T. immediately answered. “Where’d it go?”
“Turned down Magnolia at a high rate of speed, heading to the airport.”
“Got it. We need back up on this. Does Harris still have connections to that FBI guy?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Call him. Tell him everything we know so far. I’ll do what I can, but if she gets on a plane, she’ll be as good as gone.”
“You got it, brother.”
J.T. clicked off and pressed the gas pedal down harder. He had to make it to the airport. He cursed himself for hanging back, for sulking like a baby when he’d suspected there was still a threat at large.
What had he been thinking?
If anything happened to Hope... He couldn’t think straight.
Flashbacks of his last tour threatened to send him off the road. He felt helpless, impotent rage, and his lungs squeezed every bit of air from his chest...
No! He would find her. He would save her.
Use your brain. Think. The fact that it was a Town Car said that whoever had snatched her had money, which meant they wouldn’t fly commercial.
LAX had private planes coming and going all the time. Who had enough money to have their own private plane?
Anso DeLeon.
But he was dead.
He thought of that night and realized he hadn’t actually seen Anso’s body, just the word that Ricardo had shot him and then the guards had riddled Ricardo with bullets.
Anso was the only one with the means to pull something like this off. Plus, he was the only one with high enough stakes to risk being caught.
He called Teagan. “Find out which hangar is registered to Anso DeLeon,” he instructed, taking a hard right for a shortcut to the airport.
“Hold on—let me check,” Teagan said. Then he came back with “Hangar Twelve.”
J.T. asked, “Did Harris call his FBI friend?”
“Yeah, rousted him out of bed. He thinks Harris is full of shit, but he managed to talk him into checking it out. I hope to God you’re right. Otherwise, Harris just burned a pretty good bridge.”
Yeah, he hoped so, too. “Ditto, brother.”
He reached the airport and flashed his pilot license to gain access to the private charter area.
Picking up speed, he saw the Town Car parked in front of a waiting Learjet. He knew they couldn’t take off until they had clearance, and by the looks of it they couldn’t leave for another ten minutes.
He parked out of sight and ran the rest of the way, needing the element of surprise on his side.
J.T. was shocked to see a woman was holding Hope hostage. She was talking to her, but he couldn’t exactly hear what they were saying.
Then he spotted Anso, exiting the car, directing the people stowing his luggage in the sleek plane.
J.T. ground his teeth, wishing he’d doubled back to make sure the man was dead.
But who was the woman?
The woman started arguing with Anso as Anso grabbed Hope by the arm and pulled her to him with sharp words directed at the woman.
He crept a little closer, praying his backup arrived soon.
He didn’t dare risk going in guns blazing, but it took everything in him to stay put.
J.T. wasn’t looking to be a hero, but he wasn’t going to let Hope board that plane.
25
“I KNEW IT was you,” Hope said to Deirdre, ignoring the
bite of Anso’s fingers into her arm. “I always knew you were a coldhearted bitch, but I didn’t realize you were corrupt, too.”
Deirdre ignored Hope, her eyes flashing with jealousy. “I told you we don’t need her. I have her notes. I can replicate the results without her.”
“Darling, I don’t traffic in maybes. If you’d been able to replicate the results, we wouldn’t be here now, would we? She’s coming and that’s final. If you have a problem with it, please, by all means, go home.”
Deirdre paled, sputtering. “You know I can’t do that. I risked everything to get you those notes. You promised me you would take me with you.”
“Yes, well, if you stop bitching and moaning with your petty womanly complaints, then you may still come. I always like to have a backup,” he said cruelly, and if Deirdre hadn’t been such a terrible person, she might’ve felt sorry for her, but as it was, all she felt was rage.
“It was you. You got Tanya killed.”
“Tanya got herself killed,” Deirdre said, casting her a withering look. Good gracious, how had she never noticed how much Deirdre hated her? “She had an opportunity and she squandered it on useless morality. I was the one who approached her, so she had to go. No loose ends.”
“You’re an awful person.” She looked to Anso. “Actually, you two are perfect for each other. Two peas in a rotten pod.”
“Careful, darling—one does not need a tongue to do one’s work,” Anso warned, smiling when she shrank away from him. “But I’d hate to see that beautiful face of yours marred so terribly. Perhaps if you plead prettily, I will show you some mercy.”
Hope tried not to cry. The threat of Anso “educating” her made her shake like a leaf with fear even though it shamed her that she couldn’t spit in his face.
Her thoughts returned to J.T. and she sucked back a ragged sob. She wouldn’t give Anso the satisfaction of seeing her cry. He’d all but said that he’d planted a bomb at Blue Yonder and she had no way of warning them.
Teagan, J.T., Kirk, Ty, Harris...they’d all risked their necks to save her and she was repaying them with a first-class ticket to heaven.
“You’re a bastard,” she whispered, and Anso laughed.
“Come. The pilot is ready for us.” As they walked to the plane, he took a deep breath as if he were enjoying the night air. “I’d forgotten how invigorating it is to do your own work. I could’ve hired someone to get you, but I wanted the satisfaction of doing it myself, and I’m so glad I did. Reminds me of my younger days.”
“Why am I not surprised that you come from a life of crime?” she quipped with a spurt of bravery. “I won’t do what you’re asking of me. I’ll die first.”
“You’d be surprised how motivating pain can be.”
“You’d be surprised how fortifying hatred can be,” she shot back with a calm she didn’t feel.
Deirdre was practically burning a hole into Hope’s back, and it was apparent Anso had made romantic promises to the crusty bitch that he had no intention of fulfilling. If Deirdre were smart, she’d realize that Anso would likely kill her once they left the United States.
In Brazil, Anso was king and Deirdre was nothing.
Anso shoved her in front of him to the steps. She took the first step and sirens split the air as a bullet whizzed past, striking Deirdre in the leg.
Deirdre went down with a scream and Anso tried pushing Hope up the stairs, but she knew this was her one chance to get free, even if it meant risking injury. She would do anything to avoid getting on that plane!
* * *
J.T. TRIED TO wait, but he couldn’t a moment longer. The police wouldn’t get there in time to stop them from boarding, and if that happened, they’d never catch them.
He took careful aim and shot the woman in the leg, dropping her like a doe in the field.
Anso reacted by shoving Hope, but she fought back and J.T. started running toward them, using the fact that Hope was keeping Anso busy to cover more ground.
The woman was screaming, but Anso didn’t seem to care. He was too focused on Hope to notice his companion was down.
Hope reared back and punched Anso right in the face, causing him to stagger and fall back, tripping on the woman and landing hard on his ass.
“You bitch!” Anso roared, struggling to his feet. But Hope didn’t hesitate and kicked him in the face, bloodying his nose.
“Hope!” J.T. yelled as he ran toward her. Almost there! Hope’s face lit up with joy and relief as she started to run toward him, but Anso grabbed her ankle as she ran past him, sending her sprawling to the pavement with a scream.
She kicked at Anso. “Let me go, you dickhead!” And managed to grab the gun that’d skittered out of Anso’s hands when he fell. She pointed the gun at his head, holding it with shaking fingers as J.T. caught up to her. “Let’s see if you can stay dead this time!”
“Easy, babe,” J.T. said, slowly easing the gun from her hand. “The police are on their way. You don’t want to do this.”
“Yes, I do,” she said vehemently. “He deserves it. He deserves to die for what he did to me and what he did to Tanya and Carina and God knows how many more people. You know the justice system will let him walk!”
“He won’t. We’ll make sure of it,” he promised as she reluctantly released the gun from her stiff fingers. “There’s my girl...”
Realizing she was safe, she turned and buried her face against his chest, sobbing. He held her, but kept the gun trained on Anso and his accomplice. Until suddenly, she stiffened and cried, “Blue Yonder! He’s planted a bomb! You have to tell Teagan to get out of there!”
The police skidded onto the tarmac and pulled out their guns just as J.T. was calling Teagan.
“Hands on your head!” a police officer shouted over a loudspeaker. “On the ground, all of you!”
“He’s a madman! He shot me in the leg!” Deirdre screeched. “Help!”
“I want this man arrested,” Anso said, trying to claim some authority. “He showed up and started shooting at us!”
“He kidnapped me and he planted a bomb at Blue Yonder Charter!” Hope cried out, refusing to be silent. “Someone needs to go check on Blue Yonder before the bomb goes off!”
“She’s clearly crazy,” Anso protested from his prone position on the ground as an officer handcuffed him. “I want to speak to my lawyer.”
“Is this the guy you were talking about?” a man in a dark suit asked as Harris appeared with a shit-eating grin.
To J.T. he said, “I told you I had a friend in the FBI. You owe me twenty bucks. Danny-boy, this is my friend J.T., and yes, that’s the man I was telling you about.” Harris’s voice rang out over the din of the airport. “That man is as corrupt as they come. Too much money, if you ask me. My mother always said money was the root of all evil and I said, well, my soul was for sale, and then she’d beat my ass for saying such blasphemy. Good woman, she was. God rest her soul. But this son of a bitch is a liar and a killer.”
More police officers converged on the scene and after they concluded that J.T. was not the one who needed to be arrested, they took Deirdre away in an ambulance and Anso was taken into custody.
J.T. called Teagan as soon as he was able. “There’s a bomb at the hangar. Don’t go there. The bomb squad has to clear it first.”
“Well, that’s one way to get out of the biz,” Teagan said. “Imagine the insurance payout. Maybe I ought to let it go up in smoke.” He paused. “Did you get the girl?”
J.T. tightened his hold on Hope. “Yeah, I got her.”
“Good. Now, don’t be an idiot this time and don’t let her go.”
“Good advice, big brother.”
Harris grinned up at J.T. and said, “Well, you’re going to have to give me a ride because my buddy just left with the prisoner.”
“How’d you convince him to show up? It must’ve sounded pretty crazy.”
Harris laughed. “I told him if I was wrong, he could have my boat.”
Hope’s eyes widened. “You wagered your boat?”
J.T. frowned. “I didn’t know you have a boat.”
Harris’s eyes twinkled. “I don’t, but Danny-boy didn’t know that, now, did he?” He tapped his head. “Always gotta be thinking, boy. Always gotta be thinking.”
“You missed your calling as a con artist,” J.T. quipped, but Harris didn’t take offense. If anything, the little bugger took it as a compliment.
“How about we get a drink and celebrate not dying...yet again?”
He looked to Hope and she gazed up at him, saying, “If you don’t mind...I’d like J.T. to take me home.”
That was all he needed to hear.
Slapping a twenty in Harris’s hand, he said, “I’ll take a rain check on that drink and you can take a cab.”
And then he and Hope climbed into his truck and put everyone and everything in their rearview mirror.
26
J.T. COULDN’T STOP kissing Hope. It was as if he was afraid that if he stopped, she might disappear and he’d never be the same ever again.
He kept seeing Hope in Anso’s grip, a gun pointed at her side, and he had to touch her to make sure she was safe.
She was still shaking by the time they reached her apartment. He held her tightly and she clung to him as if the world had nearly ended, because it almost had.
“I was so scared,” she admitted in a soft voice. “I thought I was going to die.”
“Never.” He kissed the top of her head. “He can never hurt you again.”
Hope nodded, accepting his assurances and lifted her face, her eyes glittering with tears. “Kiss me, J.T.”
J.T. obliged, sinking into her kiss like a dying man. Their kiss quickly became urgent and their hands were shaking with the need to remove the clothing between them.
He would never get enough of this. Ever.
The Flyboy's Temptation Page 18
