Keelee barely heard the racing motor and squeal of tires braking in front of the church. Clint nodded toward the door. “It’s time, Kee. Time to end it all. The pain, the suffering. I’m sorry, but it’s the only way I know how to make it right.” His frightening vacant stare locked on her. “I love you, I always have.” He kissed her forehead and forced the gag back in her mouth. “Be good.”
“No, Clint, don’t hurt him. Please! Clint!” Keelee begged around the cloth that filled her mouth. Clint raised the gun and pointed it at her head. “Be very quiet, Keelee.”
The breath in her chest clenched tightly. It took everything she had to still the pleas and sobs from tearing free, but she stopped. Panting back the emotion, she watched the massive sanctuary door open. Her heart stopped when she saw Adam striding down the aisle, his hands held up in the air. The sun filtered in behind him, highlighting the dust motes, the golden backlight giving him a surreal angelic hue but darkening his profile. She was unable to see his face, but she could see he wore no body armor, no protection.
“That’s far enough,” Clint said.
Adam froze.
Keelee’s eyes moved from the man she loved to the gun held in Clint’s hands. The revolver was no more than two feet from her head. She blinked and focused on the cylinder. There were five empty chambers. Clint cocked the weapon by pulling the hammer back. The single bullet held in the gun’s six chambers advanced into the firing position aligned with the barrel. One bullet. If she could somehow get him to miss or shoot her instead of hitting Adam or Amanda, they’d be safe. One bullet. One shot. God, how could she make him miss? What could she do?
“Turn around. Let me see.” Adam complied with Clint’s order immediately. He did a three-sixty. Clint stared hard, searching for concealed weapons.
“On your knees.” Keelee shook her head and sobbed. Oh God, no!
She saw Adam cast a glance toward the reverend. “I kept everyone away like you asked. Why did you kill Reverend Richards?”
“I didn’t. He’s alive.”
Keelee saw a shadow pass the stained glass wall of windows and glanced at Clint. He focused on Adam, staring at him almost transfixed. Another shadow slipped by the window. Keelee caught Amanda’s eyes. She motioned with her head toward the windows behind Keelee. Keelee nodded slightly and motioned towards the windows behind Amanda with her eyes. Keelee knew Adam wouldn’t be alone. She drew a deep breath and actually focused on the gun pointing at her head once again. He only had one bullet. One shot. One chance to take the man she loved.
“Clint. Let them go. I’m the one you’re angry with, not Keelee. It’s my fault she left you. I took her. See where I am? On my knees here in the center aisle. Take me instead. Let them go. You don’t need her up there on the altar with you.”
Clint grabbed at his head as if he was in pain, moving the gun from her face. Adam lunged up but froze when Clint lowered the gun and pointed directly at him.
Clint screamed, “No! Stop! Shut up! Shut up! Leave me alone! You son-of-a-bitch! You woke him up. He’s going to make me kill you.”
Adam nodded. “Alright man, I’ll leave you alone.”
Furious, Clint cast a demented glare at Adam and spat, “Shut the fuck up! I can’t listen to both of you!”
Adam’s one good eye closed momentarily before he gazed up at Keelee. Adam replied calmly, “Okay, whatever it takes, man.”
*
A percussion grenade shattered the stained glass window milliseconds before a massive explosion demolished all the windows at the front of the sanctuary and sent a cascade of colored shards of biting glass flying into pews and the altar area. Diving into the row of seats to his left, Adam low-crawled, scrambling forward under the wooden benches toward the front of the church. The tip of Clint’s revolver literally held the balance of his life. The mad scramble took only seconds. He read the chaos and reacted without thinking. The percussive blast knocked Clint to his knees. Momentarily dazed, Clint lurched forward and spun around. As he did, he swung his gun toward Keelee. Adam launched from the floor and dove into Keelee, sending both of them and the chair she was tied to into Clint. Keelee groaned as Adam pushed off her, using his legs to spring forward. He tackled the gunman, taking a blow to his cheek from the corner of the altar as they fell to the red-carpeted dais.
The madman’s adrenaline-enhanced strength was out of all proportion to his slight build. Adam landed on top of the son-of-a-bitch and pinned his back to the ground. Clint screamed and brought the gun up between them. Adam grasped at the revolver. His center of gravity moved and gave the raging motherfucker below him leverage. The slimy bastard arched his back, propelling Adam farther forward than he intended. Adam landed on Clint’s outstretched arm covering the weapon. He grasped the weapon, forcing it away from Keelee and his own face. Adam fought Clint for the gun. Adam seized it and pried it from the maniac’s death grip.
Clint rolled up to his knees and lurched toward Adam. A glint of metal caught Adam’s eye just as the percussion of a shot registered. He dove for the gun but the sudden force of Clint’s dead weight dropping on him pushed him backward. The man on top of him didn’t move.
The chaos surrounding him became louder as the shouts of his team clearing the building surrounded him. Adam rolled to his left and pushed up to his knees. The motionless body on top of him slid to the carpet with a thud.
He crawled to Keelee, who lay on her side, still tied to the chair. Adam did a quick assessment and thanked God she hadn’t been shot. His woman made red, swollen eyes, tears, and a snotty nose look beautiful. He lay down beside her and caressed her cheek, pushing a cascade of blonde hair away from her face. “It’s okay, baby. We’re okay.” His hands worked the knots as he tried to soothe her.
Her head shook as he pulled the gag out of her mouth. He saw two pairs of combat boots run past and closed his eyes. His team would clear the facility before they rendered assistance. Safety for all necessitated the delay.
“We really need to talk about your listening skills, young lady. Essentially, you don’t have any, and I don’t think I’m okay with that anymore.”
She sobbed and grabbed his neck as he freed her hands. “I promise I’ll always listen from now on.”
*
“So you were wired?” Adam didn’t have a chance to respond to Keelee’s question before one of the twins jumped in.
“He gave us everyone’s position. The wireless mic attached to the headband of his eye patch fed us every word said in that sanctuary. The audio recording was given to the locals and a copy went to the Fibbies. Fucking Feds.” Drake’s rattling commentary to Keelee’s question shouldn’t have surprised her.
“Hey! We’re fucking Feds too, you malapert, audacious elitist. Stop thinking you’re better than everyone else.” Dixon lifted his head from the book he had been reading to respond to his brother.
Doc closed his eyes and shook his head, knowing without a doubt what was coming. Aaaannnnd… go!
“Malapert? Audacious? Me, a fucking elitist? Do you have any idea how incongruous and paradoxical that statement is? And where do you get off calling me an elitist, you persnickety, pretentious, Kentucky-bred hick! If anyone is putting on airs, it’s you!” The sincerity of Drake’s outrage would have fooled anyone who didn’t know the twins.
“Riiight, like those aren’t twenty-dollar words you’re using on your limited three-dollar budget. Better be careful, man, your education is showing.”
“I have the same education as you. You act like we’ve spent a lifetime behind ivy walls. We were done with school by the time we were twenty.” Drake threw back the reply.
“Uh huh, and we both graduated with mechanical engineering degrees, you fucking buffoon! Why in the hell you insist on everyone thinking we’re hicks is beyond me. What about that book you’re reading now? Take that fucking Louis L’amour cover off and show everyone the book you’re reading for pleasure.” Dixon’s mischievous grin turned toward Keelee.
“Go ahead, Ke
e. Ask him to read a sentence from the book he’s got on his lap.”
Adam pulled Keelee closer to him on the couch. He felt Keelee roll her head toward Drake and watched her lift her eyebrows, waiting for a response from the twin.
“No, I’m not going to do it.” Drake sat the book on the window ledge. Dixon darted from the chair and grabbed the book. He lifted it high, keeping it from Drake as he taunted, “…is a promoter type sequence identified by RNA polymerase III…” Drake slapped his brother’s abs, forcing Dixon to lower the book.
“Gawd, Drake, you’re reading genetics to fucking relax.” Dixon’s words scattered between his howls of laughter.
“So? Shall we talk about your internet chess matches with reigning world chess champion Vladimir Pustanko?”
Keelee dropped her head on Adam’s shoulder. He lifted his hand off her thigh and patted her hair. “Guys… shut the fuck up. You’re driving Keelee insane.” His deep voice reverberated around the small room.
Dixon laughed. “See, Drake, it always works. None of them can resist telling us to shut up.”
“Yep, you were right. Again.” Drake threw the book at Dixon.
Adam leaned back and took a long pull on his whiskey. The twins were trying to lighten the mood. God, his team… his brothers. How did he end up with so much good in his life?
Keelee snuggled closer to him and he held her tight. It had been one hell of a fucked up day. Clint was dead. Smith put one through and through. The one bullet fired by responding Guardian personnel registered a clean kill. Through the front, out the back. Keelee and Amanda’s statements included Clint’s confessions. A preliminary investigation confirmed Clint’s gun was the weapon used in Gerald Koehler’s murder. Clint was either insane, a stone cold killer, or both. When he held that gun to Keelee’s head, it hadn’t mattered whether he was a lunatic or not. Clint was a threat to the woman he loved. Adam used the agreed-upon signal to start the op.
Amanda and Frank were behind closed doors. The old man had made sure Adam was free from giving his statement to watch over Keelee and then bolted with his woman.
Jason was due up tomorrow and none of the participants would be making any more statements until he arrived as counsel. Adrenalin still pounded through most of the team’s veins and Keelee wouldn’t leave his side. Not that he’d let her. Chief walked into the living room with a deck of cards.
“Texas hold ‘em.”
Dixon and Drake walked to the table, but Adam stopped Keelee as she rose from his lap and murmured something about leaving them to it. “You okay, baby?” He saw the sorrow and the heartache in her eyes.
“No, but I will be. I put people at risk because I didn’t think.” A tear crested her lower lid and slid down her face.
“Let’s not start slapping blame on this thing. If you did, you’d have to blame everyone in this room for keeping information from you and Amanda that would have helped you make a more informed decision.” He wiped the trail of the tear with his thumb. “Nothing you did caused Clint’s actions. Nothing we did pushed him over the edge. If you hadn’t gone to town, Clint probably would have figured out how to get to you here. We don’t know what could have happened, and we can’t take on the guilt of a murderer. Don’t let him take anything else from you.”
Keelee nodded and leaned in for a hug. “I’m trying. I just can’t help wondering if I could have done something differently.”
He kissed her forehead. “It’s impossible to change the past. Even if you could have changed your behavior, you couldn’t have predicted how messed up Clint had become. The saving grace is we have Christian and Gregg, and they are safe and, for the most part, healthy.”
“How are we going to tell them what their father did? To their mom and to mine?”
“I’ll defer that decision to Dr. Wheeler. He’ll work with Gregg. He’s already recommended a doctor in Mississippi for Christian. Jason will make sure the doc is on hand when he tells Christian about this. Obviously, he’s not telling him until he gets back, so we need to make sure Gregg doesn’t find out and call Christian before we can set up a support system. Smith will keep an eye on Gregg, keep him busy until we get this all sorted out and find out how much of what Clint told you is true.”
“It’s done then? This nightmare?”
“No more nightmare, baby. We’ll be alright, and we are getting married in less than a month. I love you, Cleopatra.”
Keelee smiled and pushed his shoulder, her bottom lip protruding in that cute-as-fuck pout. “I hate that name.”
Doc kissed her forehead and pulled her into him. “Yeah, I know.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
A soft knock on the door stilled her nervous hands. Keelee took one last glance in the mirror before she nodded at Amanda to open the door. She held her breath as her father gazed up from the box he held. He froze. Keelee glanced at Amanda.
“She looks just like Elizabeth did in your wedding pictures, doesn’t she, Frank?” Tears trembled in Amanda’s eyes and her mouth tipped up in a heartwarming smile.
Her dad visibly swallowed and straightened before he closed his eyes for a moment. Keelee’s eyes misted. She and Amanda had spent hours altering her mother’s wedding gown to fit. Keelee’s veil and tiara were recreated from consulting her father and mother’s old wedding pictures, and matching lace to lengthen the dress had been commissioned. The overall result obviously stunned her father.
When he opened his eyes, he put his arm around Amanda and kissed her cheek, whispering in her ear. The private moment touched Keelee’s heart. Amanda smiled at him and cupped his cheek in her hand before she slipped out the door and closed it behind her.
Her father turned to her. “Honey, you look just like her. When I saw you, it was as if I had stepped back in time. Elizabeth would have been so proud of you. You’re a beautiful woman. Inside and out.”
The crack in his voice was Keelee’s undoing. She sniffed and dabbed the small lace handkerchief at her eyes, thankful Amanda had suggested waterproof mascara. “Daddy, you can’t make me cry. I’ll look like a raccoon walking down the aisle.”
Frank coughed into his hand and took in the room, eyes everywhere but on her. His unshed tears were so uncharacteristic of the stoic man she knew. Finally he glanced back. “Well, I believe there are people in the next room wanting to get to a reception. Can’t do that without you getting hitched. And if you had to pick a city slicker, that man of yours? He’ll do.”
Keelee smiled through the threatening mist of tears and nodded. “Yeah, he’ll do, Daddy.”
The walk from the bride’s chamber to the narthex took only seconds. Organ music lifted and the doors to the sanctuary opened. “How long are we supposed to wait?” Her father’s wide-eyed comment pulled a giggle from her.
“Oh, believe me, Daddy, you’ll know. The roof may blow off the sanctuary the music will get so loud. Old Ms. Patterson thinks we’re all hard of hearing.”
As the music hit a crescendo, they stepped forward. Frank leaned toward her as they centered on the aisle and the people in attendance stood. Keelee’s eyes found Adam at the far end of the aisle. “I’m giving you to him today, baby girl. But I don’t do it lightly. You’ve had my heart since the day you were born.”
*
Adam blanked the second the doors opened. He supposed he should have noticed something about Keelee’s bridesmaids, Ember and Tori, as they walked down the aisle. If he were asked later, he’d lie to cover up the fact that not a detail of the sanctuary or the bridal party registered. When he saw Keelee at the door, every detail became etched in stone. Her dress concealed too much and yet was sexy as hell, tight in all the right places. He saw everything in infinite detail, the way her father leaned in to whisper something in her ear, the slow march to the front of the sanctuary. He saw the love on Frank’s face as he gave Adam Keelee’s hand and the lace veil that couldn’t hide her beauty or her expressive eyes—and finally, her beautiful smile that settled almost all of his nerves. Those things he
’d remember forever.
Adam and Keelee turned toward the minister. He had met the preacher a time or two both before and after Clint had given the man a concussion. For some reason, the good reverend had decided he needed to know the couples he married. Whatever. He’d gladly endure anything to make Keelee his wife.
Adam stood with his bride and listened to the man drone on. And on. And on. Finally, he got to the good part.
“Today Adam and Keelee have chosen to exchange their own vows.” He motioned to Adam.
Adam took a deep breath and blew it out, which garnered a smattering of laughter. “Cleopatra Elizabeth Marshall. I loved you, lost you and found you again. You had the strength to love a very broken man even when he didn’t know you existed. You loved me enough to wait for me, enough to believe in me, enough to trust me even though I had no right to ask. You are my miracle, my life, and my beacon through the darkness. I promise to love you with the unconditional love you’ve shown me. I promise to treat you like the gift you are and I swear to protect you for the rest of our life together.” He took her wedding band from Jacob and slid it on her finger.
Keelee stared into his eyes and spoke in a strong, clear voice, “Adam William Cassidy, when you came into my life you became the very essence of what I needed to survive. Our journey hasn’t been easy and maybe that’s okay. We’ve grown stronger by facing our challenges and together I know there is nothing we can’t overcome. I promise to continue to love you unconditionally, to be here when you need me. I will never take the love you give me for granted. I’ve loved you for so long. You are my life’s desire, my will to live and the beat of my heart.” Her hand shook as she took Adam’s ring from her sister.
When she slipped it on his finger, the minister lifted both of his hands and announced, “By the power vested in me by the State of South Dakota and in the presence of God, I now pronounce you Dr. and Mrs. Cassidy. Sir, you may kiss your bride.”
Adam Page 20
