WindSwept Narrows: #23 Molly & Natasha
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“No problem,” he joked through gritting teeth. “I’ve always wanted to be tended to by naked nurses…twenty-nine days left…and I get shot…”
“Molly!” Jonathon’s voice ripped through the hall ahead of him as he came around the corner of the broken door.
Molly pressed Dell’s hand to the towels wrapped around the ice and bounced to her feet, running across the room and flinging her arms around Jonathon’s neck.
“Oh, god! I’m so glad to see you!”
Cassidy decided she’d better take control before things got any crazier. If that was possible.
“Molly – Tasha….clothing…now,” Cassidy pulled a reluctant Molly from Jonathon and sent her toward the bedroom. “The ambulance is on its way here.”
She assistant jogged into the room, skidded to a stop and thrust the large kit toward Cassidy. “Police are on the way,” she said with a gulp. Her gaze swung around the room while her hand fluttered toward the door. “I’ll…ahh…wait out there…”
“Good idea,” Cassidy said with a motion. She opened the kit and had things ready by the time the lieutenant appeared at the door. “And you thought your life would get easier.”
“We gotta stop meeting like this,” Natalie pulled on a pair of latex gloves and shook her head. “Three? All dead?” She looked around the large suite. “And a federal agent. Jesus, Cassidy…”
“I didn’t kill them. Well, I might have that one…” she pointed at Todd. “The agent and I both shot at the same time. He was holding Molly and Tasha hostage. He’d already killed those two…I think it’s set up to be a conference,” she said with a grimace at the two very cold, white looking men seated on the sofa with bullet holes in their temples.
“And them?” Natalie looked through the bedroom door at the two women hastily pulling on their cloths, oblivious to the attention.
“We hoped someone was outside,” Tasha called. “’cause I remembered that Molly’s got one of the company phones that are tagged. So we were creating a diversion. What guy can concentrate with two naked women in the room?”
“I…” Natalie began and stopped. “I cannot argue with that one.”
“It was worth getting shot,” Ben said from the floor, his back straight and hand holding the towel wrapped ice in place.
“Don’t make me shoot you again,” Dell growled, grabbing Tasha and pulling her against him once she was dressed. “You’re all right?”
“I am,” she answered breathlessly. “I am really all right,” she promised, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding on.
Jonathon pulled Molly close, his hand on her head and arms tight.
“I’m okay…he took out my guard and told me…” she looked over at Cassidy and Natalie. “He said he’d let him live if I didn’t make a scene and just went with him. He brought me here in the back way. They…” she swallowed and gestured to the sofa. “They were already like that. He kept babbling that…that it wasn’t supposed to be like this. That he had to make sure no one found out where he used to live before. He didn’t want anyone to know about the academy or that he was one of the kids there.”
“He has a case here, Natalie,” Cassidy gestured to the closet in the bedroom. “It’s filled with journals and newspaper clippings. Photos of people…”
“I know where to find you guys,” Natalie pushed a long breath through her lips and nodded to the ambulance guys. “Take that one to the health center.”
“I’m going with them,” Molly kissed Jonathon hard. “I’m okay. I have a job and so do you. I’ll see you later, I promise.”
She ran after the gurney, talking to the EMT’s as they walked to the elevator.
“I’m going home,” Tasha said, staying close to Dell. “If you need me…I’ll have my phone with me and I’ll be in tomorrow.”
“That was my next suggestion,” Cassidy went back to Natalie and the issues to be cleared.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“You’re not leaving the house until morning. Where’s your car?” Dell asked, his hand on her waist as they took the stairs to the lower level.
“In the lot,” she sighed, taking a little turn and leading him to the underground. “I’m packing some clothes. What are you doing here? In the middle of the day? I left you a note…”
“I saw you at the Federal Building, Tasha,” Dell waited until they were on the moving pathway before wedging her between the rail and his body. “I saw you get on the motorcycle with Ben.”
“I…but…we went to the school…” but heat tinted her cheeks. “I would have told you, Dell. I didn’t want you to worry. I was never in any danger. Not from the school. At least I don’t think so…Ben is very good at his job.”
“Then I saw you this morning with a black eye, Tasha,” Dell felt the words scorch the back of his throat.
“It wasn’t real, Dell. It was make-up,” she said quickly, her hands on his forearms. “I’m okay,” she whispered and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I swear to you, I’m okay. A little scared for a bit there…I didn’t expect that kid to…” she shook her head.”
Dell just held her. “I wasn’t stalking you.”
Tasha lifted her face from his neck, frowning into his stare. “Where did that come from? I didn’t believe you were stalking me, Dell.”
“It felt like I was stalking you,” he amended, exhaling slowly.
She watched the conflict in his eyes. “I argued with myself since I went to the FBI office. If I told you, you’d worry. If I didn’t, you’d be angry because I didn’t tell you.”
“Was I important enough to tell, Tasha?”
“Oh, god, yes! You’re the only one I would have told,” She noticed where they were and hastily grabbed his hand, leading him toward the elevators. “And I wanted to tell you. I wanted to be with you before I went to the school but…I didn’t know how you’d react. I didn’t want you to be angry because I was doing my job. Okay, it wasn’t technically my job and I wasn’t too keen on the idea,” she finally drew a breath inside the elevator. “But Mr. Fontaine assured me I’d be safe with Ben…and I was the only one who could work the computer that fast because I knew what I was looking for.”
“I hit him.”
Tasha stopped on the steps from the elevator, turned and stared up at him. “Ben?”
“Yeah.”
“I…you hit him?” She gaped at him. “Like…with a fist hit him?”
“As in I was ready to beat the…yeah…yeah, with a fist.”
Saying it out loud, she could see the discomfort and embarrassment in his face. Maybe even a little regret.
“He could have shot you!” She whispered in disbelief.
“Yeah, he mentioned that…or arrested me,” Dell said flatly.
“Oh, Dell,” Tasha circled his neck again, hugging him close. “I’m sorry. Really, really sorry I worried you. I didn’t expect you to show up at the federal building, though. I thought you would read my note and wait for me, working at the ranch and not…I never thought you’d…I thought it would be all over and done and I could explain what was going on. They were very secretive. Cassidy didn’t even know and I couldn’t tell Molly, either. They’re afraid someone in the offices is tipping off some guy called Errickson, who is somehow involved in a lot of things, the school, one of them.”
Dell moved forward, backing her down the short hall to her door. He waited while she pressed her thumb against the pad and the lock clicked behind her. With her hand on the handle, she pushed the door inward, smiling up at him as it closed behind them.
It was safe now. She was safe in his arms.
“I’m not letting you go for as long as I can wrangle, Tasha Banks. Ben said he understood my behavior because being in love made you nuts,” Dell said quietly, leaning her against the door and pressing his body close. Large, warm hands framed her face, his lips hovering just above her lips. “I love you.”
Tasha ignored the heat in her eyes and blinked wildly. Her lips parted to return the wor
ds, but she decided they’d wait until the very long, deep kiss was over.
After all, they had plenty of time.