Zach stuffed the last of the supplies into his car, the cold fury at being caught reverberating through him when he slammed the tailgate. He paused; his neck tensed, the hairs standing at attention. He perused the surroundings. Suddenly, the parking lot was empty of people.
“What’s wrong?” Jenna asked, her voice low and tense.
“Maybe nothing. Keep an eye out. I want to check something.” He knelt next to the truck.
“Should I get Sam out?”
“Not yet, but be ready.”
The instincts that had saved Zach’s life more than he cared to admit sounded in his head. He scooted under the vehicle and plucked a small but powerful flashlight from his pocket. After a visual search, he ran his fingers along the rear axle feeling for tracking devices or worse. He let out a quick exhale. Nothing. He slid out and checked under the hood for the same.
“Let’s go,” he said quietly. “I want you away from here.”
Zach tossed the new prepaid cell phone into the front seat and opened the door for Jenna. She grabbed the handle to heave herself into the tall vehicle when two men came out of nowhere. Before Zach could react, the leader grabbed her, pulling her close.
“You weren’t hard to find, Zach,” the man said. “You don’t seem to truly understand what lying low means.”
Zach froze. The same words he’d said to Theresa. His calls were being monitored.
“Come with us.” The man opened his jacket and revealed an Uzi under his coat.
“Did you just walk off my movie set, Brutus?” Zach said with a smile, sticking his unknown adversary with a traitor’s name.
“Nice try, Montgomery, but you won’t learn my identity so easily. I thought you were supposed to be one of the best at the game.”
Zach shifted his body, searching for a good angle. “Jenna, get in the car.”
She tugged her arm.
“Don’t try anything, lady, or you and your kid won’t leave this parking lot alive.”
Zach’s body tensed, struggling not to react to the deadly weapon just inches from her. “Jenna, get inside and lock the doors,” Zach ordered, raising his hands. “I’m giving her the keys. She has nothing to do with our…supervisors’ request for my presence.”
Brutus loosened his grip a bit.
Jenna’s hand folded just like he’d taught her.
She wouldn’t dare.
Zach stepped forward.
She pivoted on one foot and shoved her knuckles into the guy’s throat.
She didn’t follow through. Shit. Brutus growled and shoved her face to the pavement. He whipped out his Uzi, pointing the barrel at a terrified Sam. “This is on your head, Montgomery,” he yelled.
“Duck, kid!” Zach yelled. Sam’s head went down. Zach spun around and shoved his foot into Brutus’s neck, shattering his larynx. He crumpled to the ground trying to no avail to suck in air. The gun clattered to the ground.
Brutus was dead.
Too late to save his comrade, the other man jumped into the fray.
His mistake was ignoring a still-downed Jenna. She cocked her leg as he stepped past her. She shoved her heel into the guy’s groin. He doubled over with a grunt.
“Like I said, a natural.” Zach pounced onto the moaning man, holding his 1911 against the man’s temple. “Who sent you?”
The operative’s red face twisted in pain, but he pursed his lips. Zach bent closer. “Listen to me, buddy. I could end you right now. You know it. So do I.”
“You do, and you’re rogue,” the man said. “The Company wants to talk to you.”
“Two of our pilots tried to kill me,” Zach said, his voice flat. “Your friend here threatened to take out a five-year-old child. I’m not coming in until I know who ordered the hit. You tell our supervisors that.”
The man’s eyes widened.
“So, they didn’t give you that little piece of information.” Zach rose but didn’t let the sight of his 1911 waver from the guy’s temple. “Clean up this mess and don’t bother coming back to Hidden Springs. I won’t be here. Which ticks me off by the way, ’cause I really like this town.”
“What am I supposed to tell them?”
“That they trained me well. I won’t die easy.”
The man lugged Brutus’s body over his shoulder and stalked off while Zach covered him. He committed the license plate to memory as the guy drove off. It wouldn’t matter. The plate would be untraceable.
Zach held out his hand to Jenna. “You lost your follow-through with Brutus, but the other guy, you nailed him. Good job.”
Her hand shook as he lifted her to her feet. “Who are you really?” she whispered. “Because I know you didn’t learn that on a movie set.”
“I could have.”
“You killed him,” she whispered.
“It was him or Sam,” Zach said.
“I’m a basket case; you didn’t flinch.” Jenna tugged her hand from his and stepped away. “Please. Who are you?”
He hated the fear on her face, but perhaps it was for the best. “Do you want me to lie?”
She shook her head.
“Then don’t ask me again.”
He clasped her arm and opened the car door so she could slide in. “Everyone buckle up. I’m taking you to the cabin and getting you and Sam on the road as fast as I can. It’s no longer safe here.”
“Are…are you coming with us?” Sam asked, his voice small. “Please come with us, Dark Avenger. I’ll be good. I promise.”
Zach looked at his Junior Avenger, so vulnerable in the backseat.
The boy’s entire body shook. “We need you.”
He was a good kid. With a touch of innocence that would be lost before too long.
“I can’t. I’m sorry.”
Sam flinched, avoided Zach’s gaze, and scooted as far away from the driver’s seat as possible.
With a sigh, Zach closed the car door, rounded the Range Rover, and slid in. Jenna’s hands trembled each time she tried to pull the seat belt across her body to buckle it. Delayed reaction, most likely. She’d tried to kill a man, then she’d watched him die. Zach didn’t know which sent the adrenaline pumping through her. It didn’t really matter.
Gently, he moved her hands aside and snapped the belt closed. He leaned close to her ear. “You’re going to be fine.”
“I’m sorry, I—” She held out her fingers in front of her. “I can’t seem to stop shaking. I thought I could do this. I thought I could protect Sam,” she hissed under her breath.
“You did,” Zach said.
“Brutus…he could have killed Sam. I screwed up,” she whispered. “How do you live like this all the time?”
“You learn,” Zach said, his hand gripping hers until the trembling eased. “You made a mistake. If you’d followed through, he would have gone down, Jenna. You had him right at the Adam’s apple. You’ll do it next time.”
“I don’t know if I can.”
Zach tugged at a small curl of hair that had escaped from behind her ear. “You will when you have to. You’ve got the guts to protect both of you.” He tucked the strand away. “If things were different—”
She pulled away from him. “Like you said, it’s for the best.”
He shifted into gear and headed toward his mountain.
“You’ll be fine, Jenna,” he said with a sidelong glance.
She didn’t respond, but looked out the window, creating a disconnect between them. The separation scraped at something deep within Zach. A little piece of his heart flaked away as he stared at the distance growing larger and wider between them.
For the first time in a very long time, his heart and head were at war.
She was right. Separating was for the best.
He had to believe Jenna and Sam were better off without him.
Jenna’s heart stuttered when the crumpled guardrail came into view. She clutched the armrests, digging her fingers into the expensive leather in the Range Rover. She wouldn’t miss these hairpin curves.
She wished she could just fly off this mountain instead of driving down again. At least it would be for the last time.
Her surreptitious glance swept Zach’s cold and calculating expression. So devoid of emotion since they’d left Hidden Springs, so much like Brad; a quiver prickled the base of her spine. She couldn’t get over the change in his demeanor. As if he were another person entirely.
Too much like her husband.
She missed the mischievous twinkle in his eyes. Jenna shoved aside the regret, the might-have-beens. She glanced at Sam. Her normally talkative son hadn’t said a word the entire drive.
The vehicle pulled in front of Zach’s cabin. A haven, she’d hoped. Now, just another place to say good-bye to on their road to oblivion.
He turned off the engine and rotated in his seat. “Let’s get you guys packed.” Zach circled the vehicle to the tailgate.
She unbuckled her belt and slid to the ground. The nip of chill stung her cheeks. How could snow lace the air in June? Weird.
She stared at the mound of purchases. Guilt overcame her. It was hundreds of dollars, but could have been millions. “I may never be able to pay you back.”
Overladen with bags, he simply shrugged. “Just keep yourself safe.”
Zach hauled the loot into the house. Jenna opened the back door of the Range Rover.
Her son sat mutinous on the backseat. “What’s going on, Sam?”
He thrust out a stubborn chin—a lot like hers. “I don’t wanna go. I wanna stay here.”
His small legs swung against the seat.
“I know, but Zach has to leave, and we do, too.”
“Make him come with us. Please, Mommy.” He worried his T-shirt, twisting the material until she wouldn’t have been surprised if he wore a hole in it.
She gripped his small hands. “What’s the matter?”
The haunted look in his eyes tore at her heart. “Those bad men came after us. We need the Dark Avenger to keep us safe.”
“I can protect us.” Zach had given her the tools. She had to believe she could use them on her own.
“That man was going to shoot me, Mommy. He knocked you down. We need the Dark Avenger.”
Her son’s lack of faith tore at her confidence. How could she argue? “We can’t take him with us, Sam,” she said, finally. “He has other business.” An utterly lame excuse.
“Then I want to go home. Daddy can take care of us. He’s big like the Dark Avenger. And then I can go to the baseball game, too.” Sam crossed his arms in front of him and stuck out his lower lip.
She shouldn’t be surprised. He hadn’t had a lot of sleep, he’d been in a car accident, he’d slept in a strange place. She couldn’t reason with Sam when he was like this.
The burden of her choices sank on her shoulders. She sagged with its weight. “Go inside, Sam. Now.” She used the mom tone on him. It usually worked.
Indecision screwed up her son’s face, deciding how far to push her. Jenna didn’t possess the reserves to deal with him. “I mean it.”
He shoved his foot into the back of the leather seat and hopped out. He ran through the front entrance with a slam.
Zach stood inside the screen door and watched her son vanish down the hallway.
“I take it the conversation didn’t go well?”
The tension in Zach’s body had dissipated. The chill in his eyes had warmed a bit—in sympathy at least. Maybe because he was getting rid of them.
“Temper tantrum. He doesn’t know where to put all the emotions.” She scratched the heel of her palm. “He misses his dad.” Jenna raised her gaze to Zach. “How am I supposed to explain to him that he’s never going to see Brad again? He won’t understand.”
Her words trailed off as she rubbed her still-sore wrist. All she’d wanted to do was protect her son, and by doing so she’d made it impossible for him to comprehend the hard choices she’d had to make. “Am I doing the right thing?”
Zach pulled her hand in his and gentled away the ache with his touch. Jenna’s pulse skipped, then raced.
“The Chameleon is a cold-blooded bastard who kills for money. No one’s been close to identifying him as long as he’s been on my radar. I’ve seen the sheet on him, Jenna. He can’t afford to be caught. He’ll do whatever it takes to protect himself. No matter who gets hurt.”
Zach’s gaze followed Sam’s path.
The certainty in her bones when she’d packed her bags—was it only forty-eight hours ago?—returned. Jenna clasped his forearm. “Thank you for that.”
He studied her hand on his warm skin. The cobalt flecks in the depths of Zach’s eyes flared with something Jenna hadn’t recognized in far too long. Desire.
She swayed toward him, but he closed off his expression and held her shoulders. “I wish we had more time,” he whispered.
She reached up and placed her hand against his face.
“Or maybe I’m relieved we don’t. You could tempt a saint, Jenna Walters.”
“McMann,” she whispered. “Walters belongs to an assassin. My name is McMann as of today.”
“Well, then, Jenna McMann. You go inside and pack. I left a couple of suitcases besides the bags. Raid the kitchen. Take anything you need. I doubt I’ll be returning here anytime soon.” He glanced at his watch. “I want you and Sam down the mountain before dark.”
With a sigh she entered the house behind him. He veered to the stairs and she walked down the hall to the bedrooms. Sam had flopped onto the lower bunk where he’d slept, his head buried.
She touched his back. “Sam.”
He stiffened, attempting to feign sleep. She knew better. She sat on the bed next to him and drew his stiff little body into her arms. “I know this is hard. I know you’re scared.”
“If we can’t stay here, why can’t we go home? Daddy can be nice to you. I’ll ask him.”
She pushed away the hair on his forehead. “Sometimes we can’t—”
“Have what we want.” He turned away from her and huddled in the bed. “Go away.”
She sighed and rubbed his shoulder. “I’ll come get you when we’re ready. Everything will be fine. I promise.”
She left the room and went into the kitchen where the sacks were piled high next to two suitcases, just as Zach had said.
He’d thought of everything.
She unpacked the shopping bags, stunned at the items Zach had filled the cart with when she hadn’t been looking. Clothes, toiletries, even toys and a portable DVD player for Sam, along with copies of a dozen movies for Sam and several books for her. Jenna’s eyes burned as she organized the items in the suitcases.
How could one man be so thoughtful? This would last her months. Long enough until she found a way to generate an income.
Hiding for the rest of her life wasn’t the future she wanted for Sam, but perhaps she could contact a different FBI office. Maybe—
A shadow crossed her plane of vision. She whirled around, her fist clinched.
“Pretty good reaction time,” Zach said. He clutched a white packet in his hand. He sat it on the table and opened the clasp. Two familiar blue booklets, several cards, and two pieces of paper slid out, along with a rubber-banded stack of documents.
Hand shaking, Jenna shifted through the papers. Her entire being stilled.
Social security cards and birth certificates with new names. Gennita and Zan McMann. She opened the authentic-looking passport. A photo of her stared back. She couldn’t tell when it had been taken. It resembled her driver’s license a bit. Same quality, but something…then she recognized the shirt. The one she wore today.
Her mind tried to wrap itself around the quality of the documents. “How?”
“I tried to keep them close to your real names without being obvious,” he said.
Emotion shut off her air passage. She swallowed past the realization of Zach’s gift. He’d provided them a lifeline to a future.
He tucked the items back into the envelope. “There’s a deed to a
house in Georgia, paid for free and clear. A bank account with enough money to see you through a few years, I’d think.” He handed her a second envelope. “This is five thousand dollars, proof of ownership, insurance for the Range Rover, and a New Jersey driver’s license.”
Jenna’s legs shook at the magnitude of what he’d done. She sank into the oak chair before she passed out. She opened the envelope and pulled out the driver’s license. Perfect. Just like everything else he’d done for her. “I…I don’t know what to say.” She stared open-mouthed at him.
“It wasn’t hard. I just changed a few names on the forms.” He nodded toward the suitcases. “Those ready?”
Her mind awhirl, she nodded. He walked over to the bags, and the truth slapped her in the face. Everything she’d seen. The high-tech room, the gadgets, his ability to fight, his secretiveness. She seen enough of his heart to know he wasn’t like Brad. But he did hide his true job. Maybe he was a spy or a secret agent. But he was in danger. That much she knew. And he’d created a new identity to keep himself safe. He’d sacrificed his plans for her and Sam.
“If you give me all this, how will you disappear, Zach? How will you protect yourself?”
He shrugged and crossed to her, dragging his knuckle down her cheek. “I’ll land on my feet, Jenna. I always do. I still have resources I can tap.”
She sucked in a slow breath and leaned into his cheek. “Are you certain?”
“Of course.”
His gaze was steady. She couldn’t tell if he was lying.
He ran his hands up and down her arms. She shivered under his touch. What might have been.
Zach stared down at her with a gaze so intense, her entire being felt the pull toward him.
He shook his head as if to clear the electricity sparking between them. “Well…” His touch lingered for a last moment, then he straightened. “Let’s get you on the road.”
He loaded the suitcases and returned to the kitchen. “What else do you have?”
“That’s it. That’s enough.”
He cursed under his breath, disappeared down a hall, and returned with a box topped with a folded quilt and two pillows. He stalked out of the kitchen and shoved it into the back end of the car. She followed, moved the bedding to one side, and peered into the cardboard container. Food, lights, tools, first aid.
Behind the Lies (A Montgomery Justice Novel) Page 13
