by J. E. Taylor
She nodded and they headed to the car.
Chris threw the bag in the back and opened the door for Emily.
Dark rings of exhaustion circled CJ’s eyes and his tired gaze met Chris’s.
“Good job, buddy. Now you need to get some sleep, okay sport?” Chris smiled reassuringly at his son and closed the back door.
The smile disappeared the moment he slid into the driver’s seat and he glanced at Jessica. “Two more down.” With an eye on the rearview mirror, Chris navigated the streets, zigzagging from road to road until he was sure they weren’t being followed.
Forty-five minutes later, he pulled into their garage and leaned back in the seat, rubbing his face with his hands. “Well that was interesting,” he said glancing at Jessica.
Jessica began to cry. “Why is this happening?”
Chris got out and went around to the passenger door, taking her in his arms.
“Why?”
“Bad karma,” he whispered and she started to laugh.
“That’s not funny.”
“Yes it is,” he smiled and looked at Emily in the back of the car and then the two sleeping boys. “We need to pack and get the hell out of Dodge.” He wiped the tears from her face. “They won’t know to look for us in the city.”
He helped her out of the car and transferred the boys, car seats and all to the rear seat in the Hummer, leaving the middle seat for Emily. Her suitcase went into the luggage hull and he turned, heading inside to pack their stuff.
While Jessica went upstairs to change and pack, he grabbed the garment bags out of the closet and hung them on the coat rack by the garage. He vaulted up the stairs and took over packing their bags while Jessica disappeared into the boys’ room to grab clothing and toys for them, including their little handheld games.
Chris dropped the wedding gifts and rings into his carry-on and made sure they had their dress shoes for the wedding and hauled the suitcases downstairs, piling them in the back before laying the garment bags over the neat stack.
He returned to grab the bags Jessica packed for the boys. “We need to stop in Connecticut and pick up Eric.”
She nodded and glanced at the dance leotard she wore. “I need to change,” Jessica said, handing him their suitcases and appraising his attire. He still had his karate gi on. “So do you.”
“I’m good. I’ll change when we get to the apartment. I can move much quieter in this and I have a feeling that I may need to.”
Fear flashed in her eyes.
“Yeah, my sentiments exactly. I don’t know if they’d hit Dan for information, but...” He shrugged. “Hurry up.” He turned and climbed down the stairs, packing the last of the bags in the back and slamming it closed.
He walked into the family room and paced, waiting for her to come downstairs. The chirp of the phone interrupted his restless gait and he snatched the handset off the cradle.
“Hello.”
“Chris?” Daniel asked with an unsteady voice.
“Shit,” he said. “They’re there, aren’t they?”
“Yes.”
His fear skated through the phone line like an Olympic gold medalist, snapping at Chris’s nerves. “Give the phone to them.”
“Listen and listen good,” the voice threatened into the phone and Chris closed his eyes. Opening them to Daniel’s family room and a scruffy thug with a gun planted to Daniel’s head.
LeAnn fainted and Daniel’s jaw dropped.
“No, you listen, you son of a bitch,” Chris growled and let loose. The men with guns inside Jessica’s original house turned to dust. He swung his gaze to Eric and pointed at him. “We are coming to get you,” he said and turned to a very pale Daniel. “Sorry, Dan.”
He blinked and turned to find Jessica staring at him from the stairwell. Crossing to her, he grabbed her hand and hauled her out to the Hummer.
“Get in,” he snapped and slid into the driver’s side. He paused for a moment and looked between the keys and her crossing in front of the Hummer. “Wait, you drive.”
She grabbed the keys out of the air and they switched places.
“We need to get there fast and you are the fastest driver I know.” He looked back at Emily from the passenger seat. “You might want to buckle up. Your mother drives like a bat out of hell.”
Jessica spun the Hummer out of the garage and waited as the door closed behind them. “Lock up, please,” she said and he closed his eyes, setting every outer door deadbolt in place.
“Done,” he said and she spun the car around and headed out at a pace that would be the envy of any Indianapolis 500 driver.
A little over an hour later, she pulled into her old house with Emily, CJ and Tommy asleep in the backseat.
Christ, I can’t leave them unprotected out here. Chris glanced into the back row and then back at the house. “Damn it,” he swore and gave Jessica a sigh.
“CJ!” his voice barreled through the car, startling everyone.
CJ sat up, his eyes wide and locking with Chris’s.
“Sorry buddy but I need you to do that thing again. Think you can?” he asked, hating himself for asking this of his four-year-old son.
CJ looked around the car and then at the house and nodded. “Okay, Daddy.”
“I’ll be right back,” he whispered and leaned over, giving Jessica a peck on the cheek. He got out of the car and walked to the door, scanning the house with his mind and couldn’t sense any danger, a ton of fear, but no malicious intent.
He looked around the property and did the same. All clear—for now. Chris rang the doorbell and held his breath.
Daniel opened the door, his face still pasty and his hands had a slight tremble to them. “Jesus.”
“Not exactly,” he said and physically stepped into the house for the first time. He looked to his left into the living room. The first thing he saw was a curio cabinet full of crystal animals. He raised his eyebrows and briefly studied the house.
“What the hell happened?” Daniel asked, pulling Chris’s attention back to him.
“Tom left his wife,” Chris said and stepped down the hall to the back of the house, absorbing the details as he went, recognizing things here and there that had Jessica’s distinct flavor, surprised to see that her touch hadn’t been completely obliterated by Daniel and LeAnn’s after all these years.
Daniel followed Chris, and he finally found his voice again as they entered the kitchen. “What does that have to do with what happened here today?”
Chris turned and looked at him. “Everything. She put a contract out on Jessica.” He surveyed the kitchen and family room and turned catching a doorway out of the corner of his eye and he headed in that direction.
“Where are you going?” Daniel answered, exasperated.
“Going downstairs to get Eric,” Chris said looking back at Daniel and opening the door to the finished basement.
“How the hell do you know where he is?”
Chris paused and turned. “Dan, I know everything.”
“How did you appear here and what did you do to those men?”
Chris shrugged. “I knew you were in danger, so I fixed it.” He headed downstairs, crossing to the pool table and turning toward a door at the far side of the room. “Eric,” he said aloud.
Eric flew out of the furnace room and into Chris’s arms, his frame shook against Chris and he closed his eyes.
“It’s okay now,” Chris said in his ear. “Go get your things.” He let him go and followed him up to the main floor, waiting by the door.
“What the hell are you?” Daniel said from behind him.
When Chris turned, Daniel stepped back. “Dan, I’ve been called a lot of things, from a natural born killer, to the Angel of Death to a guardian angel, but really, I’m just the man who fell in love with your wife.”
Daniel blinked with incomprehension.
“Look, CJ is protecting everyone in the car and I don’t have a hell of a lot of time, certainly not enough to explain what
I am.” He glanced up the stairs, uneasiness itching into his frame and he shifted his weight from foot to foot. “Eric!”
“I’ll be there in a minute.”
Chris turned to Daniel. “I would suggest you, LeAnn, and Sandy high-tail it out of here for a few days.”
“I’m not leaving my home.”
“Please. If you aren’t here, they can’t find out where we are, and you won’t get hurt,” he said. “Jess wouldn’t be able to live with that.”
Daniel traded a glance with LeAnn and returned his gaze to Chris. “What about the city?”
Chris nodded. “I’ll make sure there is a room for you at The Carlyle. That’s where I booked you for Saturday night. I’ll see if I can extend it.” Chris watched Eric bound down the stairs with a duffle bag. “I promise I will keep him safe.”
“All right,” Daniel conceded and gave Eric a little hug.
Uneasiness turned to all-out alarm and Chris stiffened up. “Shit.” He bolted from the house just as a car pulled up on the side of the road, hidden by the thick tree line surrounding the property. The engine puttered and turned off.
The Hummer purred in the driveway, sending plumes of exhaust into the cold night. Chris sent a warning glare in the direction of Eric and Daniel and mentally pushed them to the side of the house, away from any chance of being hit by a stray bullet.
Chris walked normally toward the car purposely acting clueless.
“Freeze,” a man said and stepped out of the shadows with the gun.
Chris had to stifle a laugh. What hit man yells freeze? This guy sucks! He turned and stared at the armed intruder, his hand halfway to the car door. Silently, he sent a message to CJ that he had this covered and the electric shield around the car disintegrated.
“You’d better tell your friend not to touch the vehicle or he will die,” Chris warned, loud enough to be heard by both the man pointing the gun at him and the second one skulking toward the Hummer from the opposite side.
The man holding the gun laughed.
“I wouldn’t laugh,” Chris said and sent out the silent but deadly signal as the other man reached for the car door. The smell of singed hair bloomed and his partner vanished. “You’re next.” He pointed at the gunman.
The assailant pulled the trigger and the gunshot echoed in the driveway, but the bullet didn’t make it to its target. The bullet and everything in its wake vaporized under a stream of heat that actually peeled the paint on the bumper of the car, leaving a waft of burning flesh on the air and a pile of ash on the ground.
“Eric, hustle,” Chris yelled and opened the back passenger door. He looked over at a stunned Daniel. “Get your family out of here NOW,” Chris ordered and Daniel didn’t wait for another command. He bolted inside and they were out of that house within fifteen minutes, fully packed for a long weekend in New York City.
Chapter 20
Chris kept his gaze on the side mirror as Jessica drove down the dark highway. Once they switched onto 91S outside of Hartford, he let his tight muscles relax and vowed to make Sharon pay dearly for putting his family in jeopardy.
The uneven sounds of light snoring drifted from the back seat and he glanced over his shoulder. All the kids were sacked out, the excitement draining each and every one of them. He turned his attention to Jessica. “You all right?”
“Not really.”
“Do you want me to drive?”
Jessica nodded and pulled into the rest station in Middletown. He stepped out, inhaling the clean crisp air, missing the ocean tinge of their house in Maine. He caught her at the back of the truck, wrapping his arms around her in a tight bear hug. “I love you, you know,” he said.
Jessica nodded against his shoulder. “You killed tonight.”
“Yes, and I’m sure I’ll have to do it again.”
“CJ would have killed too.” The words came out wrapped in a sob.
“I wouldn’t let that happen, Jess. I just needed to know there was some protection around you. CJ’s the only one that can do that in my absence.” He pushed her hair away from her face. “I’ve already been working with him on control. Karate is part of that discipline. He had the car protected and yes, if either of those scumbags had touched it, they would have died on contact. But I knew they were coming and that’s why I came out of the house when I did.”
Jessica looked up at him with eyes filled with tears and doubt.
Chris swallowed hard at the look on her face. “I still want to marry you on Friday. Do you still feel the same?”
She nodded, wiping her face with her hands.
“Just so you understand, anyone who comes after us will die.”
“Yes.” Her hoarse whisper filled the night just loud enough to be heard over the idling engine. “You understand they will keep coming as long as I’m alive.”
“No babe, that’s not the case. As soon as that first one from Maine starts spreading the word, this will stop. The four that I vaporized will only add to the urban legend. Trust me; the smart ones will back off completely.”
Chris didn’t tell her exactly what he said to the first assassin, but she knew it was enough to send him bolting out of the studio with thoughts of never setting foot in Maine again.
“It’s freezing; we can continue this is the car,” he said and they both continued to the opposite side of the car from where they originated. Chris slid into the driver’s seat and buckled his seat belt. “You ready for this?”
“Game on,” she said and smiled, wiping the tears from her face.
“Game on,” he agreed. “Besides, Sharon doesn’t know I changed my name to Chris Ryan.” He sent a sideways glance in her direction. “At least not yet,” he corrected. It wasn’t buried so deep that it couldn’t be found, but someone would have to do a hell of a lot of digging to get to it.
Another thought popped into his mind and he chuckled.
“What?”
“I could change my name to my original name.”
“I don’t think that’d be such a good idea. No offense, but I wouldn’t want Aris as a last name.”
Chris glanced at her and let out a sharp bark of a laugh. “I was talking about the name on my birth certificate, honey. I never want to be associated with the name Aris again.”
“Oh. What was your last name?”
“You’re marrying into it.” He caught a quick glance at her raised eyebrows. “You didn’t know that?”
“No, I thought Ryan was your father’s first name.”
Chris’s rich laughter filled the car. “No, babe. Ryan was our surname, not my father’s first name. You’re taking my original last name when we get married. Ty Alexander Ryan, nice to meet you.” He grinned like a fool and put his hand out for her to shake.
Jessica took his hand in hers and brought it to her lips, chuckling a little at him. “I’m sorry, I just assumed it was your father’s first name.” She blushed. “So, what was his first name?”
That question prompted the smile that melted her to the core. He glanced over at her. “It’s the only reason I allowed you to name our second son Thomas. My dad’s name was Tom. Thomas Patrick, to be exact.”
“And here I thought you were being so diplomatic with me, letting me name him after his father.”
“I’m not that much of a push-over, Jess, besides, you didn’t choose the name Thomas William.” He glanced at her. “That wouldn’t have gone over well, but you just happened to lay my dad’s name on the table. Who was I to say no?”
She laughed and looked out the window. “I can’t believe you can still surprise me like that.” Jessica laced her hand in his and they drove in silence for a while. “Irish?”
“Aye, Lassie,” he said with an impeccable Irish accent.
“It’s funny we never talked about these things before.”
“What else do you want to know about me?”
“Why did Marian hate you so much?”
Chris took a deep breath. “She said she loved me but I wasn’t in
terested in any sort of relationship with an Aris; unfortunately that didn’t stop me from screwing around with her. She got pregnant.” He glanced over at Jessica. “She wanted the baby and I didn’t. I made her get an abortion.”
“Ah.”
He sent another sideways glance her way. “Does that bother you?”
“No, but it certainly explains her hostility. Had you ever been in love before me?”
“No.”
“Not ever?”
“Not ever. I never let anyone in.” He glanced over at her. “I bet you fell in love weekly as a teenager.” He smiled, turning the conversation away from him. He didn’t want to dredge up more of his brutally repressed past.
Jessica blushed. “I think before I went to college the longest time I dated someone was something like three months.” She laughed. “In college I dated someone for two years, but it was never really exclusive, at least not for me.” She looked back at the kids and then over at him. “But to this day, I think he must have been gay. He only kissed me once. Hell, I kissed his roommate more times than I can count.” She let out a little laugh. “Ya see, my boyfriend’s roommate was the male slut of the campus and I was still a virgin, so I was fair game. He never got me into bed, but not for lack of trying. I think that’s why we were such great friends. Any time I got frustrated at the lack of attention my boyfriend gave me, I’d go to see him and he would do his best to make me feel sexy and he was a hell of a kisser.”
Chris’s mouth hung open. “You were a virgin in college?” He looked back at the road in time to see the Welcome to New York sign.
“Technically, no, but I don’t count date rape,” she said and looked out the window. “I was seventeen and the guy was twenty-two or twenty-three. We were high and he didn’t take no for an answer. You weren’t the first to just take what he wanted where I am concerned.”
Chris glanced at her profile, guilt twisting in his gut enough for her to turn her calico eyes his way. “You have no idea how much I regret that.”
“I know.” She squeezed his hand. “At least you had an excuse.”
He shrugged and looked out at the road. “There were plenty of times I didn’t take no for an answer.” All of his transgressions, all the sins he committed while filming black market porn with his brothers, every victim, every cry of protest, every pain-filled moment now haunted him.
