by Joni Hahn
Rachel smiled. She was in love with one bad ass superhero.
Tristan swayed where he stood a few feet away. Rachel’s heart stopped. “Tristan.”
“Well, look at this.” Dar slid his hands in his pockets. “The invisible man looks like he’s going down for the count.”
Swaying again, Tristan swiped his brow before he scanned his thumb on the armband. The light blinded them all.
Rachel frowned. What was the matter with him? First, his hands shook; now he swayed. Had Aidan injured him earlier in her living room?
A second later, she felt the heat of his body in front of her. She wanted to close her eyes and wrapped her arms around his waist.
“Dammit Dar.” Naylor looked around the room. “You just don’t know when to shut the hell up.”
She felt Tristan’s body heat fade away. His weak, low voice sounded a few feet to her right. “Kate, untie Rachel.”
Naylor blocked Kate’s path. She touched him on the shoulder. He stared into her eyes before allowing her to pass.
Without a backwards glance, Kate crossed the room, her gaze on Rachel.
She stared at the far wall. She just couldn’t look at her mother right now.
Kate worked at the cables with frantic movements. Once her hands were loose, Rachel freed her feet from the ties.
Tristan said, “Rachel, Kate, get out of here. Take the guns. Aidan is waiting in the hall.”
Seconds later, Tristan reappeared by her side, his eyes on the Naylors. Sweat beaded on his temple and cheeks.
Why had he reappeared?
Rachel clasped his clammy arm. His head shot up. Oh God…
Tristan’s beautiful blue eyes were hazy, unfocused, his skin flush and blotchy. He trembled where he stood.
Aidan had hurt him. It was obvious to her now. Her big, strong superhero had no fight left inside of him. She had to get help.
His legs buckled. Gasping, Rachel and Kate tried to hold him up. Dar and Robert rushed across the room and each grabbed an arm.
“I don’t know what the hell’s wrong with him but, he’s done.” Dar looked at Robert.
A wide grin split Robert’s face.
Like hell, he is... Rachel threw her arms around Tristan’s waist. He gazed down at her under heavy lids.
“I love you, Tris.” She found his forefinger behind his back.
He gave the hint of a smile.
The sound of running footsteps reached her ears. Aidan and Mitchell would be there in seconds.
With her gaze on Tristan’s face, Rachel opened the scanner and pressed his finger against it. Green plasma filled the air. She turned to Robert and grinned. “If you want to keep your hands, you may want to let him go right about now.”
Rachel felt the ground beneath her feet a second before Tristan collapsed to the floor of Ben’s room.
Ben jumped up from his recliner. “What the hell?”
Grabbing a pillow off Ben’s bed, she tucked it under Tristan’s head. “Ben, get me a wet washcloth.”
Twisting Tristan’s wrist around, she switched off his armband. She had to get some true vitals on him. She’d learned first-hand that his blood ran much hotter than normal when the system was live.
“So that armband can make him teleport?” Ben handed her the washcloth before he turned and shut the door.
Nodding, Rachel wiped the perspiration from Tristan’s face and neck.
“I’ll be damned…”
“Something happened to him today that affected his system. I’m afraid he… he’s…” Her voice broke. “He’s hurt really bad, Ben.” Tears fell on Tristan’s arm.
Ben bent over him and studied his face. “He ran out of here like a bat out of hell and said ‘they have Rachel.’ What happened?”
Sitting back on her haunches, Rachel feathered her fingers through Tristan’s hair. “An enemy of his kidnapped me and held me in an empty OR over at the hospital. Tristan came in and saved me but now look? I can’t take him back over there to see one of the doctors and if I did, they couldn’t help him because he isn’t like the rest of us.”
She bent down and kissed his forehead. “My whole world has turned upside down, Ben. Everything is messed up. Tristan is the only good thing in my life. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost him.”
Ben pulled a chair over and sat down opposite Rachel. “He’s a good man, Rachel.”
Nodding, she gazed down at Tristan’s still form. He slept soundly, his heart rate steady. “The best man I know.”
“I guess he told you about your mother, huh?”
Her gaze shot to Ben. “You knew about Mom?”
“I’m the one that told him, Rachel.”
She sat up. “Wait a minute. You told Tristan that Robert Naylor is my father?”
“Robert Naylor? Who the hell is Robert Naylor? I’m talking about my will.”
“Ben, Tristan said Cody wanted to marry me because you left me all of your land in your will.” She reached over Tristan and squeezed his hand. “That’s very generous of you, but that day is years in the future and something I don’t want to think about. What does it have to do with my mother?”
“I think she’s the one that told Jock about it. She’s the clerk that filed it with the county. No one else knew except my attorney and me.”
Rachel dropped her hand, her mouth agape. It made sense. Cody’s sudden interest in her, her mother’s eager wish for their marriage, Cody’s adamant refusal to accept her rejection. If she married Cody, the Brewster’s were assured thousands of acres of land, and millions in oil rights. All for a fraction of what they would pay in her father, Jim Monroe’s medical expenses.
“Oh, my gosh, Ben.” Rachel buried her face in her hands.
She didn’t know her mother at all. At this point, she wondered if she was actually her birth mother. Rachel never would’ve suspected her mother of lies of this magnitude. No way, not ever.
Today, she saw a new side to Kate - one of selfishness, deceit and dishonesty.
Her voice sounded hollow to her own ears. “Jim Monroe isn’t my real father.”
Ben sat back in the chair and stared at her, his eyes round behind his glasses.
“The man that held me captive next door, Robert Naylor, is my birth father. Mom – Kate – went in and tried to negotiate my release and the information just happened to come up. Not only had she hidden it from me, but she never told him, either. Needless to say, it made for an interesting afternoon.”
“Jim hid it from you, too.”
She grimaced. “Yes, he did. I just don’t understand why. Naylor is a big crime boss and they didn’t want me around him. I get it. But, I’m an adult now. I deserved the truth.”
“They were trying to protect you.” Ben planted his palms on his knees. “I would imagine the daughter of a crime boss would be worth a lot of money to the right people.”
She hadn’t thought of that. Maybe their motives were good, but she deserved the truth and the decision on what she did with it.
Tristan sat bolt upright, gasping for breath. “Rachel.”
She clasped his face in her hands and kissed him on the lips. “I’m right here. I’m fine.”
His eyes studied her face before he held up his arm and looked at his armband.
“I turned it off.” She lowered her hands to her lap.
He looked up at Ben then back at her. “How did we get here?”
“I teleported us out of there. I guess these were the last coordinates in your armband.”
A slow grin blossomed on his face. “You did that?”
Nodding, she smiled. “You don’t remember?”
He shook his head. “I remember telling Kate to untie you, but my mind’s a blank after that.”
“I had to get you out of there. You were in bad shape. How do you feel?”
“I feel good. Aidan overcharged my system - I was revving high. My body couldn’t take the amount of electricity in my blood.”
Sitting back, she gasped. “So
, you were killing yourself by keeping your system on?”
“I had to get you out of there.”
Ben cackled. “Looks like she’s the one that saved you this time, mercenary.”
Staring at her intently, Tristan nodded. “In more ways than one.”
He sprang to his feet, startling Rachel. “Where are the Naylor’s?”
Holding out his hand, he helped up Rachel.
“I don’t know. I left that up to Mitchell and Aidan. I just wanted to get you out of there.”
“I’ve got to get back.” He moved to pass her.
Ben jumped to his feet. “You’re in no shape to help.”
She held out her arm to block him. “You can’t use your system. You’re too vulnerable.”
He clutched her shoulders. “It’s what I do, Rachel. I’m not more vulnerable than any other man out there. I’m just playing on their terms again. It’s been a while, but I did it for years.” He squeezed her arms. “Promise me you won’t leave this room until I come get you.”
“I won’t. I promise.” She couldn’t afford to have him worry about her while he worked at a disadvantage.
He gave her a firm nod. “Good girl.”
“You were passed out on the floor five minutes ago and now you want to go fight them?” Ben said. “They’ll know you’re weak.”
Rachel chewed her bottom lip. Ben had a good point, but how did she convince Tristan to stay?
She couldn’t. He’d been born and bred to do this.
It’s what I do.
She wouldn’t have him any other way.
He looked Ben. “For all I know, they’ve got the Naylor’s in custody and I won’t have to do a thing.”
Gun fire erupted outside. Rachel’s stomach clenched in a tight knot.
“Sounds like it’s out back,” Ben said.
Tristan nodded as he ran out the door. “Don’t let her leave, Ben. Got it?”
Rachel watched the love of her life rush into danger. She sighed. If she wanted to spend forever him, she had to get used to it.
As soon as Tristan was out of sight, Ben went to his nightstand and opened the bottom cabinet. Rachel watched as he opened a combination lock on an inner door.
“What are you doing?”
Without answering, Ben opened the door and… pulled out a gun.
Her mouth dropped open. “Ben. You’re not supposed to have that in here. What are you doing?”
Checking the chamber, he closed it and looked at her. “The boy needs help, girlie. No one will expect gunfire from here.”
She did not just hear that. “No! Have you lost your mind? You’ll get killed.”
Shaking his head, he headed for the door. “I can’t let him go out there in that condition without doing something.”
Rachel followed him out. “There are D.I.R.E. agents here, Ben. Aidan, too. He has backup.”
Ben stomped down one of the barricaded wings of the center. Rachel rushed to keep up. How did a man his age move so fast?
He stopped beside a window overlooking the hospital’s back parking lot. Leaning over, he peered outside.
Rachel stood behind him, against the wall. “What do you see?”
“Someone’s behind two of the dumpsters out back.”
“Do you see my mother, uh, Kate?”
He shook his head. “No, but they’ve got to be around here somewhere.”
“Ben, this is too close for comfort. Let’s go back and let the professionals handle this.”
He turned to her. “Girlie, you of all people should know you’re not going to change my mind.”
Slumping her shoulders, Rachel knew the truth when she heard it. The man was stubborn as a mule. “Ben…”
With a small smile, he said, “Go. Get out of here. If something happens to you, he’ll come after me next.”
Chapter 15
Tristan hurtled the barricades in the walkway and ran straight to the kitchen at the back of the hospital. Silently, he pushed open the door. Mitchell whipped around, gun drawn. Straightening, he laid into Tristan with a roll of curse words that would make a SEAL blush.
Maybe.
“You ever do a stupid, idiotic thing like that again, I’ll rip out your system with my bare hands.”
If he didn’t know better, he’d think his father actually cared.
“How are you?”
Tristan shrugged. “As long as I keep my system down, I’m okay.”
“Aidan could’ve killed you, Tristan.”
“It was worth it. Rachel’s safe.”
Mitchell tossed him a gun and started walking. “How is she?”
“Freaking brilliant. She got us out of there.”
His father glanced at him with raised brows. “So, you’re saying I should recruit her?”
“Over my rotting, bloated corpse.”
He laughed as he led Tristan to a heavy metal door with a small window.
“What’s happening?”
Mitchell nodded at the window. “There are three dumpsters out back. Bobby and Dar have Kate behind one, two of their agents are behind another. The men you took out are in custody, so they’re short-handed. They’re trying to get to a vehicle they have parked in the back of the hospital. We have two agents and Aidan out there.” He cocked his gun.
Tristan pulled back his head. “You’re not going in.”
“The hell I’m not. I’m the one that got Kate into this.”
They rushed through the door and ducked behind some crates.
“Naylor won’t hurt her.” Tristan had seen that right off. Robert Naylor was still in love with Rachel’s mother.
Mitchell stared at Tristan. “No, he won’t. It’s Dar I’m worried about.”
“Yeah, you should be.” He peeked around the side of the crate and saw Aidan behind the hood of a delivery truck a few feet away. The two D.I.R.E. agents were on either side of the delivery door opening.
“The guy’s as predictable as the lottery.” He looked back at Mitchell. “Cover me. I’m going up to Monroe.”
Tristan reached Aidan’s side seconds later. “I need to get on top of this truck. Maybe I can pick them off from up there.”
Aidan looked at Tristan. “Rachel?”
“She’s safe.”
He nodded. “I tried that, but I couldn’t get up there. Maybe you can boost me up.”
The two D.I.R.E. agents started firing. Tristan and Aidan ducked in front of the truck grill.
Three shots rang out. Tristan frowned at Aidan. “That sounded like it came from the assisted living center.”
“Holy shit,” the agent cried. “Someone just shot out two of the tires on the SUV.”
Aidan grinned at Tristan. “Why didn’t we think of that?”
“Who the hell is over there, Mitchell?” Tristan cried.
“None of ours.”
His heart took off like a shot. Okay, calm down, Jacobs. Rachel doesn’t have a gun.
Dread sunk in the pit of his stomach. “Monroe, does Ben Adams keep a gun?”
“That tough old coot? Wouldn’t surprise me. He was an Army sharpshooter back in the day.” He stilled. “Oh shit…”
Oh shit, was right.
The other agent cried, “Someone just took out one of the Naylor agents. Who do we have over there?”
Seconds later, rapid gunfire echoed in the air.
“Naylor is hitting the living center-there goes Dar.” The agents started firing.
Tristan and Aidan each ran around a side of the truck and came up beside their agents. They all fired as Dar sprinted across the lot and dove into one of the center’s shattered windows.
Rachel. Tristan made a beeline across the lot.
He heard Aidan yell at him. “Jacobs, you freaking idiot. What are you doing?”
Bullets zinged in front of him and behind as he zigzagged across the lot. He was about to dive through the same window as Naylor when Dar stepped out, holding a gun to Rachel’s head. All gunfire stopped. She cried unco
ntrollably, hard sobs racking her chest.
Before all was said and done, he would kill Dar Naylor.
“Hold it.” Tristan pointed his gun at Dar.
Naylor looked at Tristan, but didn’t lower the gun.
Kate cried, “No. Bobby, make him stop.”
“d’Artagnan-“
“I’ve had all I’m going to take from you, Kate.” Dar pointed the gun at her.
Shrugging nonchalantly, he fired.
Robert threw her to the ground just as the bullet left the chamber. He hit the pavement at her feet.
“Bobby.” Kate fell to her knees beside him.
Dropping Rachel’s arm, Dar ran over to his father and knelt beside his head. “Father, Father.”
Holding out his hand to Rachel, Tristan pulled her behind him before rushing over to take the gun from Dar’s limp hand. Blood covered Naylor’s abdomen.
Aidan ran up beside them. “A stretcher’s coming.”
Tristan clutched Rachel by the arms. “Ben?”
She shook her head.
Running back to the center, they climbed through the window, Aidan behind them. Ben lay face up on the floor, his glasses cracked, a clean bullet hole in his chest.
“Ben.” Rachel sat on her haunches beside him, Tristan behind her. She took Ben’s hand in hers.
He knew they were too late. Blood pooled on the floor under Ben’s left shoulder, his face white as a sheet.
“Is the boy okay?”
“I’m fine,” Tristan said, his voice catching. “You… you’ve got a helluva shot there, old man.”
A small grin flashed on his face before Ben winced. “The barrels,” he whispered. “It’s in the barrels…” Gasping, he uttered a final breath.
Shaking her head, Rachel cried anew, her face in her hands. Tristan trembled with barely controlled rage as he laid a consoling hand on her back.
He turned her in his arms. “What was he thinking?”
“He was worried about you,” she said. “He said he had to back you up.”
No. Tristan shook his head. “I didn’t ask for that.”
“I know. There was no stopping him. Believe me, I tried… He loved you.”
