by Wylder Stone
Genevieve cried for him to stop. She knew he was doing it for her, and that it would one day destroy him. But he didn’t hear her. He didn’t hear Jackson when he tried to reason with him, tried to take the hit for him as he often did. James was lost, feelings from his past colliding with his present.
“Nice to see you in clothes, Vic,” he said to the large man on his knees. “Meet my brothers. Brothers, meet...Vic Chuggs. You can call him Watson.”
“James, don’t do this. He isn’t worth it. Please don’t do it. This isn’t you,” Genevieve cried. “I know you love me. I know you think you’re doing this to save me, but I’m here. I’m safe. Now, you don’t have to do this.”
“Shoot him!” Tasha sobbed. “Shoot him. He killed our mother. He killed Benson. Shoot him. Please, make it stop.”
James calmed but didn’t take his eyes off Chuggs, nor did he drop his weapon. He was at war with himself, fighting what he knew he should do and what he thought he needed to do. “Benson is alive. He’s outside.” His tone was emotionless, monotone. He was fighting it.
“James. Let me do this. Let me do it the right way,” Aaron offered. “He’ll go away forever and never see the light of day. I can do that.”
“Yeah, until he gets five minutes of computer time for good behavior and hacks his way out.” James laughed, then returned to his sense of calm. “Don’t you see? It won’t ever end. We’ll always be looking over our shoulders, wondering what his next move is. He’ll always be there, even behind bars, watching, lurking, hiding in the shadows of the innerwebs, finding ways to get what he wants, settling for tormenting us. This doesn’t end—ever—as long as he’s alive. I can’t live that way. I finally have my life back, a life with Vivi and Ruby. The minute he walks out of here alive, he owns that.”
Vic smiled and let out a maniacal laugh that sent chills down everyone’s spine as he looked each of them in the eye. “He’s not wrong. Not wrong at all. You’re really good at this, James. If this thing with your brothers doesn’t work out, I think you and I would make a great team. Your kid would be safe. Genevieve would be safe. We’d all be rich, laughing at the world, sipping fancy drinks on an island we own where no one could find us. Think about it.”
“Oh, my God. He found us all once. He’ll do it again,” Tasha cried, desperation in her voice. “Make it stop before he takes anything else away from us.”
“James?” Genevieve said. “James, look at me. You don’t need to do this. We beat him. We’ll always beat him,” she cried, her voice dropping to a whisper while her lip quivered. “We finally have you back. Don’t let him ruin that.”
He whipped his head in Genevieve’s direction as he choked on the emotion caught in his throat. Those words – they meant everything to him. Genevieve meant everything to him. He looked back at all the stares pointed at him. The shock and concern they all wore struck him. He was hurting them. This wasn’t him. This wasn’t the way, and he knew that better than anyone.
James took a step backward and handed the butt of his weapon to Jackson before he pulled Genevieve into his embrace. “Let’s go home.”
Neither James nor Genevieve gave Vic another look as they walked toward the door, Genevieve reaching her hand out to her sister as they went.
“He won’t get out. I’ll take everything away,” Aaron said, landing a supportive hand on James’s shoulder. “You have my word. He won’t be able to hurt anyone ever again.”
James nodded and continued to walk. Benson met Tasha at the bottom of the steps and took her into his arms. They were victims like the rest of them. This was their victory too.
Safely outside of the plane, James pulled Genevieve into him and kissed her long and hard before finally resting his forehead to hers, letting his shoulders sag. The breath he’d been holding blew free as he felt all that there was to feel. It hurt, but for the first time in a very long time, he could feel joy mixed with his pain.
“I was so scared, Vivi,” he said, eyes closed, his voice barely there. “I don’t know what I’d do if…” His unspoken words hung in the air. “I don’t ever want to lose you. I love you.”
“I was scared too, but I knew you would come for me.” She softly kissed him, the emotions consuming her.
“I always will.”
Genevieve wrapped her arms around him and sobbed into his chest, but where there was once fear, now lived joy. Those words she spoke to James on the plane came to her in an instant tonight, and she’d forever be grateful for their timing and the person who placed them on her heart.
She nodded. “I love you too, James.”
“Let’s go home. Ruby is waiting for us.”
“Let’s go,” Jackson said to the rest of the crowd on the plane. “I got this asshole.”
One by one, everyone disembarked until it was only Jackson and Vic Chuggs. Jackson turned to Vic and shook his head. “Not you.”
A gunshot rang out on the plane with only Jackson and Vic still onboard, and everyone held their breaths as the brothers ran back. Before they got to the stairs, Jackson appeared in the doorway, looking at each of them before he took to the steps. Walking straight ahead, his sights fixed on nothing in particular, he marched on.
“He grabbed my weapon and turned it on himself,” Jackson said. “Weapon’s next to the body.”
Aaron’s head fell back, knowing full well what happened. It wouldn’t be the first time one of them took justice for themselves. Or rather…the ones they loved.
Jackson would always protect his brothers, especially James. Their bond was special. They were two of the same, no matter how different they seemed from one another – twins. Jackson had plenty of blood on his hands, and he’d carry it for his brother too. Now that they were truly free from their nightmare, Jackson was just beginning to live his.
26
Jackson sat back with his favorite liquor, which was anything hard that burned as it went down, and a bad attitude. Sunday dinners at The Force Bar & Grill weren’t optional but a requirement so long as you lived within a reasonable driving distance – reasonable according to Maddy Force. It wasn’t the highlight of Jackson’s week, but the bottomless booze and organized chaos helped drown his haunting demons another day, and that made the four-plus hour dinner worth it.
He’d do anything for each person in that restaurant – anything. Since being honorably discharged from the military with a career-ending injury, he’d been trying to focus on something, anything as he tried to fit into a civilian life that he just wasn’t meant for. He’d immersed himself in work, jumping on every case, big and small, that came to Elite Force Security. Hell, he’d take a job in a preschool full of snot-nosed brats just to stay busy.
Staying busy left little time to think about what he missed, how he wasn’t the man he set out to be, that he was broken, literally and figuratively. He was a military lifer, now a throwback who didn’t know how to be…not military. Elite Force Security was anything but civilian-like, given the nature of their business. He was still a soldier to some degree but for a different kind of army with a different cause – the stakes were different.
His old life didn’t include his mother popping by in the middle of the day to make sure he washed his skivvies or consoling his niece over the loss of a fucking pet chinchilla. It was like everything he had done or accomplished up to that point didn’t mean anything. The things he had seen and done for the love of his country and humanity were all gone. It no longer mattered.
One day he was at the top of his craft, a highly decorated soldier, and the next, he was some dude living in Santa Marina, working for the family business like it was all he was good enough to do now. Sure, it had its thrills, but it also had moments that marked his soul – like the night of Genevieve’s rescue when he did what needed to be done.
Watching his brother finally happy again from across the table made it all worth it, though. He carried the burden that allowed James the life he was meant to have with Genevieve. He was a family man – he needed her
. Jackson was a loner and could live with the devil on his shoulder.
James and Genevieve finally found their way to each other after years of floundering, and he wasn’t about to let the dark side of what they did tarnish them…or ruin his brother. James was willing to do what he needed to. His loyalty and commitment were unwavering. But Jackson knew he wouldn’t be able to live with that kind of blood on his hands, so he took that on for him.
A satisfied grin rested on his expression when James’s eyes darted around the room, looking for someone to rescue him from the soon-to-be bride and her posse. A Christmas wedding was being planned, and James was right in the middle of hell – the wedding planning committee made up of every Force woman, blood and honorary. He would take a man’s life to save his brothers, but James was on his own with the wedding shit.
Two down, two brothers to go, Jackson thought. Owen and James had fallen for marriage, and that left Derek and Troy. Who would be next? he wondered, making a wager with himself.
Derek was on his way out for yet another trip. He would always come back with some wild tale about where he’d been and have a new tattoo or piercing to show for it. Once in a while, it was a black eye or a few stitches. They knew where he really was – following leads and looking for her. Greenly.
Troy, on the other hand, was staring down at the woman who had his interest. He wore a look of loathing, and his glare was so sharp he could cut glass. But it was a façade. Jackson saw it for what it was – denial. Troy was the biggest Force, albeit the youngest. He was also the most sensitive and carried a grudge like a sex worker held her turf.
Estella Perez had been a friend-turned-daughter of an asshole they were hunting. Troy hadn’t forgiven her for the deception, even if it was for the good of the case and ultimately took down their mark. She worked with Elite Force now on an ongoing mission to eradicate the cartel. Jackson wasn’t sure what pissed Troy off more – the fact that he couldn’t get over her or that their mother had taken her in as honorary family. Troy wanted her for keeps. He just didn’t know it yet.
He’d leave all the love and women with rings on their fingers to his brothers. Jackson loved – he loved hard – but he couldn’t love like a woman needed to be loved. That part of him never really developed. He loved a hot-blooded woman keeping his sheets warm at night, but he didn’t do emotions. He didn’t do commitment. He only did a few hours in the sack.
He was cold, a machine, and now broken – tossed to the civilian life he’d never been acquainted with. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, not when you’d seen the shit Jackson had seen in his lifetime. So, he’d love from afar, the only way he knew how.
The door chimed, and rowdy cheers erupted as steins of beer and tumblers of whiskey flew to the air. They had company.
“I didn’t know you boys were comin’,” Maddy said. “Take yourself a seat, and I’ll make ya all a plate, my boys.”
“Only if there’s enough, Ma.” Aaron always referred to Maddy as Ma, just as she referred to him as one of her boys. She insisted on it.
“I’m always hoping for your company, so I always make plenty in case it draws you in off the street. Now take your seat, boy.” She tapped her cheek, so Aaron dropped her a kiss, putting a smile on her face.
“What did we miss?” Cade asked, taking a seat next to James.
“Wedding planning…” James said with a faux smile.
Cade laughed. “Then I’ll be movin’ seats, cousin.”
“Is there room at the kids table?” Connor joked.
“Sit your asses down, boys, or you get to be the flower girls,” James insisted. “Tell me something…manly.”
Cade and Connor did what they did best, caused a scene, and the brothers knew their presence with Aaron wasn’t by chance or that they were craving Aunt Maddy’s cooking. Something was up. Rule number one at Sunday dinner was no shop talk, or Maddy would not so kindly ask you to leave, which, in turn, would hurt her feelings should you actually leave. A real Catch-22 that would get your ass in hot water and leave you there to soak.
The brothers were always in sync with one another and knew what the others were thinking. They watched as Aaron approached Jackson while Cade and Connor kept everyone else’s attention.
Aaron took a seat and pulled it up to Jackson and sat down. He leaned in with a smile on his face as if it was casual conversation. “I need your help.”
Jackson nodded. He expected as much. “If it’s that rash again…”
“Fuck off, Force.” His smile remained intact.
“I’d rather not unless you did something about that rash…”
Aaron looked Jackson in the eye. “It’s big. Really big, and I need you on it.”
“Sweet-talking will get you nowhere, and I doubt it’s that big. No, I won’t pull mine out to compare.”
“Dammit, man.” Something in Aaron’s voice struck Jackson. He knew it was work Aaron needed help with, but Aaron was nervous, and he didn’t do nervous.
“Okay. What do you have? How can I help?”
Aaron went on to share the highlight reel because the mess he had on his hands really was that big, and they didn’t have all night for story time. Jackson knew what he needed to know for the time being and would catch up on the rest later – after Aaron escaped the Bar & Grill without offending Maddy.
Jackson had excused himself, citing the excuse he had a new client to get ready for – not entirely untrue. He made his way the short distance to the Elite Building, mindful of his surroundings. There was no telling what Aaron and the boys brought to town, if anything. They were careful, or so it seemed, but with this caliber of trouble, you just didn’t know.
Jackson entered his apartment, and though he knew it wasn’t empty, his breath still caught when the subject he was now charged with protecting jumped from his couch.
Aaron didn’t mention that she would be everything Jackson craved. What was more striking than her appearance was the instant need to protect her. She needed him, and maybe he needed her.
“It’s okay, Delilah, you’re safe…I’m Jackson. Jackson Force.”
Continue reading the next book in the On the Run Series by clicking here.
Author Biography
Suspense writer and Southern California native, Wylder Stone winters at the beach and summers in the wilds of the mountains plotting gripping suspense stories guaranteed to keep you awake at night. The reclusive Wylder prefers the company of crashing waves and a crackling fire— while penning mystery, thriller and suspense novels with psychological twists that will turn you inside out.
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More from Wylder Stone
On the Run Series
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Witness On the Run
Vengeance on the Run
Danger on the Run
Deception on the Run
Murderer on the Run
Exposed on the Run
Stranger on the Run
Reckless on the Run
Corruption on the Run
Betrayed on the Run
Hostage on the Run
