Justin sighs. “Oh, goody. Speech time. Why is it I can walk into a warehouse full of men with guns without hesitation, but getting up in front of those people scares the crap out of me?”
“Are you kidding? Those people would wipe the floor with the warehouse goons with just a look. They’re vicious.” I adjust his bowtie until it’s straight. “There. Now get in there, superhero, before I lose all respect for you.”
He kisses my cheek. I still get a thrill when he does that. “Thanks, Jo.”
I smack his arm. “What are best friends for?”
He grins again, squeezing my good arm before walking away. With a sigh, I turn back to my original position, watching and waiting for Harry. Maybe this is my punishment for postponing our vacation by a week. Or for not staying at his apartment. He said he was okay with both, and we are leaving tomorrow, and I did spend most nights at his place while Justin was out playing superhero, but still. He—No, I’m not doing this. He’ll be here. He promised, so he’ll be here. He will.
Once again he restores my faith in humanity. My face lights up when I see him running down the hall. “I’m sorry!” he calls to me, almost out of breath. “Sorry. We had a quadruple homicide this afternoon.”
“It’s okay,” I say as I try to tame his disheveled hair. “You’re here now.” There’s applause inside the ballroom. I give him a quick kiss, take his hand, and drag him in. “Come on.”
Justin is onstage behind the podium when we sneak in, hanging back by the door. Justin smiles nervously at the crowd, scanning it. He spots me and the nervousness drops, the smile becoming genuine. “I want to thank you all for being here tonight,” he begins with confidence, “to support the Dr. Rebecca Thornton Pediatric Recovery Wing.” The audience applauds. “Thank you. Rebecca often spoke of the healing power of family and love. ‘I do the easy part,’ she said, ‘I just put back together their bodies. The parents do all the heavy lifting, repairing their souls. Encouraging their children to fight for life, even when they think they can’t do it anymore.’” He meets my eyes and nods. I swell with pride. “This wing, her dream, will aid in that fight. Those children here for long term care, whose parents don’t have the means or ability to pay for months in a hotel room, will be able to remain by their child’s side for as long as possible to get them well, to be their champion, their strength. So please, dig deep into your pockets and help me heal a few souls. Be a child’s hero tonight. Thank you.” The audience applauds as Justin walks off the stage, pausing only to glance at the picture of Rebecca behind him.
Harry squeezes my hand. “I’m going to get a drink. You want anything?”
“A diet soda would be great.”
He pecks my lips. “You got it.” He’s about to step away, but I pull him back and plant a wet one on him. He’s surprised at first, but kisses me back. “What was that for?” he asks with a laugh.
“Showing up.”
“Can’t wait to see what my prize is for getting the drinks,” he says before walking off.
“Hurry back and find out,” I call. Sparkle Cohen, who’s been watching the whole exchange, inquisitively stares at me. I raise an eyebrow and shrug. She jots that down with a smile.
As I’m imagining what her blurb will be saying tomorrow, Harry is stopped by the mayor, who smiles and shakes his hand with enthusiasm. A photographer snaps a shot. I roll my eyes. Two weeks ago the mayor was threatening to fire him, now they’re best friends. He’s even pushing for Harry to become a Major at one of the precincts. I might be dating the future commissioner.
“I didn’t know you had a thing for older men,” Grace Pickering says as she saddles up to me. I was too busy watching my boyfriend, I didn’t notice her approach. We smile at each other. “I thought you liked them tall, blonde, and with cleft chins.”
“I do,” I say, glancing at Justin who is holding court. “They just don’t like me.”
“So, is the puppy love over?”
I shrug. “To tell the truth, I think a small part of me will always be a little in love with him. It’s just a part of who I am.” I sigh. “I’ve just decided to try requited love for once.”
“It’s so much better for the skin,” Grace says. We chuckle again. “Well, happiness suits you.”
“Thank you. You look exquisite tonight as well.” She does. She’s gained a few pounds and has this glow. She must be getting some.
“You must feel a lot better knowing all the drama’s over.”
“You too. Must be a weight off knowing he’s not coming back.”
“I suppose,” she says, sipping her champagne. She gazes at the crowd while people keep glancing at us and whispering to each other. Grace and I exchange a look. “I feel like some fresh air. Keep me company?”
Harry is still being fussed over by the mayor, and Justin is drumming up donations. “Love to.”
I follow Grace into the hall. “Mind if we stop by the bathroom first?” she asks.
I shrug. “Sure.”
“I hate these people,” she says as we walk. “I always have. They’re so stuffy and selfish. They have the depth of a puddle. I will not miss them.”
We walk into the bathroom as two women walk out. “You’re leaving?” I ask.
She goes into the stall. “Tonight. I’m sick of this town. There’s nothing for us here now.”
“Where are you going?” I ask, applying more lipstick.
“Brazil,” she says inside the stall. “Rio, more specifically.”
My back straightens and a feeling of dread runs down my spine. Oh, shit. No way. No way in hell. Just in case, I start reaching for the gun strapped to my thigh. “Why there?”
Before I can get it, the stall door flies open. Grace holds a small gun with silencer right at me. “You know. No extradition treaty.” She gestures up. “Hands behind your head, please.”
Shit. I do as she says, lacing my fingers behind my head. “Jane Smith, I presume.”
She smiles. “I hear you’ve been looking for me.”
I stare at her, eyes bulging out of my head. “What the fuck, Grace? The man kidnapped and raped you. He killed your fiancée.”
She laughs, shaking her head. “You know, I’m not surprised you never knew about Justin. You are really a moron, Joanna.”
“Enlighten me.”
She considers it, walking over to the bathroom door and locking it before resuming her position right in front of me. “I fell in love with James the moment I saw him and him me. Chad was…dull. He was like every other man I had ever dated. No fight, no vim or vigor. No imagination. James had fire in his eyes. Ambition. A devil-may-care attitude that drove me wild. After that first night, we met up wherever we could. The gym, the opera, it was thrilling. The sex was…” She shakes in ecstasy at the memory. “Intense. Passionate. Then one night we misjudged time, and Chad almost caught us. I made up the mugging story.”
“Why didn’t you just dump Chad?”
“I needed his money. Pickering was in the red. Daddy overextended before he died, and left me with a dead company. I knew Chad always had a thing for me, and I wanted to keep my legacy afloat. He was a billionaire, and I was fond of him. Marriages have been built on less. Then James came into my life and showed me what was really important. But I couldn’t let my company go under. I couldn’t let Daddy be right about me. James didn’t have enough to cover it all, so we came up with a plan. Chad and I changed our wills to make each other the beneficiary, and James was supposed to kill him at the AIDS gala. Justin ruined that. So we came up with a new plan.”
“You staged your own kidnapping to cover up the murder?”
“Exactly. Then it all went to shit once again because of Justin. For years he’d been looking for Alkaline’s identity and he chose then to put it all together. James went mad. I couldn’t be released after the ransom drop and then go on to be comforted and courted by James Ryder if he was the man who kidnapped me. So we plotted, and planned, trying to find a way out of it without getting suspicion thrown on me.”
/>
“You were never a prisoner.”
“Nope. I went out when I wanted, in disguise of course. In spite of all that was happening, it was the happiest time of my life. We made love all day, we cooked each other meals, played chess. It was bliss.” She scowls. “But he just wouldn’t listen. I begged him to just leave it all. Chad, the money, Justice didn’t matter anymore, only we did. James couldn’t let Justice win. He was obsessed. The confrontation at the library was the final straw. He came home so enraged even I was afraid of him.” She scoffs. “The one time I went out without a disguise, I was spotted. I told them the story James said for me to tell if either of us was ever caught. See? He went to jail to protect me.”
“And so you helped him murder people?”
“We have both been living in hell these past few years because of Justice. He deserves everything he got.”
“You bankrolled this whole thing. You hired the P.I. to stalk us. You lured me and Cam to the prison that night. You gave him the invitation to get into the engagement party. You used your Cayman account to frame Stu Moore.”
“And a million other things I don’t regret.”
“He raped a woman, Grace. He killed a child.”
“In a war, there is always collateral damage.”
“You really are insane, you know that right?”
She closes her eyes, shaking her head sadly. I push the panic button on my bracelet. “You wouldn’t make that statement if you ever knew true, unabiding love like I have. I would do anything for him, as he would me.”
“So, what? You’re going to shoot me to avenge him?”
“Oh, honey,” she chuckles. “You wish.”
That’s when it dawns on me. “He’s still alive, isn’t he?”
“And so looking forward to seeing you again.”
Someone crashes through the door, jolting us both. Justin rushes in. “Grace—”
Without missing a beat she points and fires the gun twice, hitting Justin in the forehead. I scream as he crumples to the floor. I’m too shocked to move, but she isn’t. “That should buy us about five minutes,” she says, gazing down at my lifeless friend. She holds her huge diamond ring up to her mouth. “My love, plan fucking B.” She grabs me, gun pressed right at my head. She pushes me forward. “Move it.” We step over Justin’s body into his blood and I get a chill. I know he’ll heal, but this is still a bit much. “Open the door,” she says. “Then put your hands back up.”
More guns greet us when we step out. Harry, Geoff, and three other officers dressed in tuxes wait outside the door. Other officers try to corral the rubbernecking party goers, attempting to get them out of the line of fire. “Drop the gun, Grace,” Harry says. “You’re surrounded.”
Grace presses the hot muzzle even harder into my temple. “Don’t think so. You’re going to let me and your dear Joanna make our appointment.”
“Or we could just shoot you right here,” Harry says.
“I wouldn’t advise that. You see, if you touch one hair on my head, James will blow this hospital sky high.” All the men’s faces fall. “Oh, yeah. We’ve planted charges all over. We both do so love a party with a bang!” she shouts that last word and we all flinch. Grace chuckles, causing a shiver down my spine. “So, you have two options. Well, really only one. Joanna comes with me, and you don’t follow. If we see even one cop or Justice in there, kaboom. Got me there, handsome?”
Harry stares at her with utter contempt, gun shaking in his hand. He wants to shoot her, and I think he might. “It’s okay, Harry,” I say. He looks at me now, fear overshadowing his eyes. “Let us go.”
“Listen to your girlfriend, Harry,” Grace says. “For once, an intelligent comment has escaped her lips.”
He looks at me again, eyes begging. There’s nothing he can do and we both know it. He lowers his gun and the others follow suit. “Fine.”
“Got yourself a smart one, Joanna,” she says. “Now back off and we’ll be on our merry way.” She pulls me back and the men part. We walk backwards down the hall past frightened bystanders hugging the walls. Bitsy yelps and crouches down, covering her head as we pass. “Hello, Bitsy. Love to the family.” Bitsy squeals in fright, and Grace chuckles. We reach the elevator and she pushes the button with her elbow. Harry takes a step toward us, but Grace cocks the gun for effect. “Don’t worry, Harry. I promise you’ll get her back.” I feel her body move when she shrugs. “Might be in pieces, but still.” The elevator doors open and she moves us in. “Remember, gents. Kaboom!”
The door shuts. She pushes me away and I spin around, hands still up. With her free hand, she presses the button for the top floor. “Well, that got complicated,” she says with annoyance. She holds up her ring. “Honey, I’m in the elevator. Hope you’re in position.” She looks back at me. “You. You have five seconds to lose any weapons or bugs on you. If I search and find one, I’ll replace it with a bullet, get me? So where are they?”
I glare at her. “Gun, right thigh. Necklace, panic button and tracking device.”
“Good girl.” She rips the cameo right off my neck, then stomps on it before lifting up my dress and pulling off my .38. She tosses it on the floor too. “Knew we were coming?”
“Knew if he was, it’d be tonight.”
“Didn’t see me coming, though,” she says with pride. “Or this.” She pulls the emergency button on the panel and we jerk to a stop between the twenty-second and twenty-third floors. Before I can even register this, there’s a thump on the roof. Grace stays as calm as ever, gun never leaving me. The hatch on top opens, and one of the guards from Grace’s apartment peers down. “Up you go, Jo.” Having no choice, I take the man’s outstretched hand. He pulls me up into the elevator shaft with little effort, then Grace. She points the gun again. “Up the ladder. Now.”
I climb with Grace right behind me. I’d kick her, but I can’t risk the gun going off. About three floors up, I’m greeted by another guard, the former Independence linebacker, half in and out of the open door on the floor above us. He yanks me up the rest of the way. The twenty-sixth floor is the future site of the recovery wing. It’s deserted, just a storage area that used to be a research lab. A familiar face greets me. Alkaline, without a scratch on him, is dressed in his old dark green costume and trench coat. He holds out his hand to help me up. “Nice to see you again, Joanna.”
I bat his hand away and stand on my own. “Fuck you. How the hell did you survive?”
“Ran like the wind and was fortunate enough to find a sewer hole. Disgusting, but it saved my life. I was so happy to hear you made it as well. Touch and go there for a moment.”
Grace is hoisted up by the linebacker, who then pulls out his gun and points it at me. Grace brushes the dust off her dress. “Did you hear what I told them? About the bombs?”
Alkaline takes her in his arms and kisses her deeply. “Convincing as always, darling.”
“There are no bombs?” I ask.
“Of course not,” Grace says as if I’m a dunce.
“We’re not monsters, Joanna,” Alkaline says.
“Matter of opinion,” I say with my best shit-eating grin.
Alkaline shakes his head at my insolence. He and Grace spin around when the second guard pushes himself out of the shaft. He pulls out a little black box with a switch on it. “All breaks disabled, sir, and the charges are set.”
“Good. Everyone step back,” Alkaline orders. The bomber pulls out the door jam and the elevator door closes. I’m yanked by the linebacker a few feet as the other guard presses the button.
“Kaboom,” Grace says with a smile as the explosion rings out.
The metal door crumples from the blast and smoke spews from the cracks. I can hear the elevator fall, the screeching of twisted metal like nails on a chalkboard making me cringe. A second later there’s another boom as the elevator crashes to the ground.
“That should keep them busy,” Alkaline says with a satisfied smile. “Let’s go. Rio awaits.”
; The linebacker and bomber exchange guns, so now the linebacker has the pistol and bomber the shotgun he then roughly pulls me along with the small crowd. The bomber leads the way, gun at the ready. Alkaline and Grace walk hand in hand behind him like they’re strolling in the park, with me at the back. “So, that’s your plan? Take me on vacation?” I ask.
The bomber opens the stairwell door, going in first while we wait. “Oh, you’re coming with us,” Alkaline says. “Though I doubt you’ll enjoy yourself that much.” The guard waves us in. We run up the stairs, all the bad guys looking up, down, and sideways for bogies. “You see,” he says as we go, “I don’t plan to kill you.”
“Not unless you make him,” Grace adds.
“But I am going to melt off as many of your appendages as I can and mail them to your friend. You should be able to survive to return to him, so for the rest of his life he can look at you and know he’s failed.”
“Don’t worry, though. We’ll keep you so doped up you won’t know what’s going on,” Grace says.
“How thoughtful,” I say through the rising bile.
We keep running up the stairs, and the panic rises with each footfall. I don’t know what to do. He must have a helicopter waiting up there to whisk me off to visit Dr. Mengele in South America. I only know one thing. There is no way in hell I’m getting on that chopper. They’ll have to shoot me first.
The bomber opens the door at the top and a gust of cold wind bursts in. I get goose bumps and shiver, but not from the weather. I’m dragged outside, the wind whipping my hair around. The angled chain-link fence surrounding the perimeter of the rooftop vibrates and rattles in the wind. We gaze up at the empty raised helipad. “Where the hell is it?” Grace asks. They scan the horizon and spot it in the distance, descending like the angel of death. There’s just one more flight of stairs, well a ramp, between me and pure hell. I always wanted to go out fighting.
The linebacker’s attention, like all the others’, is on the approaching helicopter. Now or never. With every inch of my strength, I spin at the waist and cold-cock my captor square in the nose. Involuntarily, he releases me to touch his nose. Not missing a beat, I knee him in the groin while grabbing the gun. I take aim at the others as they spin around. Grace fires first, but I’m too fast for her. I leap behind the stunned linebacker, and she hits him instead. As I sprint back toward the door, and I fire back. Their bullets miss me by centimeters. I leap through the open door, and push it closed just as two slugs hit it, leaving indentations on my side of it. Better it than me.
Justice (The Galilee Falls Trilogy) Page 29
