Mission--Colton Justice

by Jennifer Morey

  Leave, the message read.

  Not without my son, Jeremy responded.

  The sound of feet shuffling over concrete alerted him just before gunfire erupted. Adeline screeched and leaped through the opening. They each took cover. Bullets hit the concrete on the other side. At last they subsided, the shooter probably having run out of bullets.

  Jeremy peeked inside the building. A darkly dressed person ran away, carrying the duffel bag. Small of frame, the figure didn’t look big enough to be a man.

  “Livia!” Jeremy called.

  The figure looked back and aimed a gun. She must have had two. She fired and Jeremy ducked in time. Then he pushed away from the wall and ran after the woman.

  “Stop!” he shouted. “Where is my son?”

  He ran as fast as he could to the back of the building where the woman had gone. At what would likely someday be the shipping dock, he took cover along with Adeline on the other side of the opening. The woman fired at them again.

  Jeremy aimed his gun out the opening. The woman had gotten into a white sedan. He aimed for the rear tire and fired. Missing, he jumped down from the dock and ran after the car. What if Jamie was inside?

  Obviously the shooter had no intention of giving them Jamie in exchange for the money, so why bring him along? Jeremy kept running long after the car disappeared from sight, too far away to catch a plate number. Not until he was out of breath did he slow and stop, leaning over.

  Footsteps from behind signified Adeline on her way. He saw her running, blond hair floating, and her slender, sexy legs graceful and strong. He straightened as she stopped beside him, breathing as hard as him and wincing and holding her side.

  “Why are you running?” Was she crazy? She could injure herself more severely.

  “I called Knox,” she said between gulps of air that came with more wincing. “He’s...going...to send...his people after her.” She inhaled several more breaths before slowing her frantic need for air.

  “You noticed Jamie’s kidnapper is a female?” he asked, beginning to catch his own breath. He yanked her shirt out from her pants and lifted it to check her bandage. There was no fresh blood leaking through so maybe she hadn’t done any further damage.

  “Yes.”

  “It has to be Livia. She could have sent a woman.” He dropped her shirt. “Don’t overexert yourself like that again.”

  “I don’t think so.” She shook her head as her breathing began to normalize. “And I won’t.”

  Damn, why did she have to refute him on that every time? He thought he’d gotten through to her. But then he saw she held her hand palm up and a woman’s necklace dangled from her fingers.

  He took it from her, holding it up to see a pendant with the letter E engraved there.

  “I found it on the ground near where she got into the car. It must have broken off.”

  “How can we be sure it belongs to the kidnapper?” The necklace could have fallen from anyone at any time before they’d arrived.

  “I saw something fall as she got into the car,” Adeline said. “It’s hers.”

  How had she seen that? “You have good vision.”

  “I always look for details that could be easily missed. I couldn’t see what had fallen, I just saw that something had.”

  “All right, but we still can’t be sure Livia isn’t behind all of this. A man shot you, remember.” A woman hadn’t shot her. More than one person could be involved. More than one person had to be involved.

  He watched her ponder that a moment. “I’m not saying she didn’t have anything to do with it.”

  “Right. You just don’t have any evidence.”

  * * *

  After a long, hot bath, Adeline dried herself and got into a nightgown. She then donned a robe and left her room to go downstairs. In the family room, Jeremy leaned over the back of a chair. The tub had eased her aches after sprinting the way she had, but hadn’t eased her mind. She felt his agony.

  “Any calls?”

  He pushed off the chair, eyes drawn. He’d removed his suit jacket and loosened his tie. “No. Knox called, but all he confirmed is Evan did have a new entertainment center in his house.”

  So he hadn’t paid off the deputy, who was clean—unless he was crooked and did carpentry.

  She walked across the family room. Jeremy had turned the television on at a low volume but wasn’t watching anything. Adeline didn’t have to wonder why. Most kidnappings where the ransom was paid and the child was not given back didn’t end well. The Lindbergh case was one of the most famous examples of that. Adeline knew of several more. She felt sick that Jamie might end up the same way, that he could be killed.

  “Jamie’s nanny’s name was Emily,” Jeremy said. “I didn’t think of this before, but she took her firing very badly. She was also arrested for shoplifting before I hired her. She was only arrested once, but maybe she has stealing in her blood. She also would have motive to get even with me.”

  He could be on to something. Evan’s name began with an E, too, but he probably wouldn’t wear a necklace with his initial. And the person getting into the car had had a lighter frame than a man.

  “Do you know where she lives?” Adeline saw that the sun had broken over the horizon. They hadn’t slept at all last night.

  “Yes.”

  When Adeline had taken Jeremy’s case, she hadn’t anticipated it would explode into a child kidnapping. “Let’s go talk to her, then.”

  “After you get some rest.”

  “You need rest, too.” She saw flowers on the front entry table. “What are those?” She walked over to them.

  “I wasn’t going to show them to you until you slept.” He followed her to the flowers. “They were on the front step when we arrived home. They must have been delivered just after we left to make the drop.”

  Adeline lifted a card from its holder and took it from the small envelope. Handwritten in block letters was, YOU DIDN’T THINK I’D MAKE IT THAT EASY, DID YOU?

  She turned to Jeremy. “Do you recognize the writing?”

  “No. It looks deliberately disguised. Also, whoever delivered them must have bought them at a flower shop and dropped them off themselves.” Most florists closed early in town. “We’ll talk to the neighbors but I doubt any of them saw anything. The houses are spaced too far apart and it was late.”

  Adeline thought a moment because something didn’t add up. “Someone dropped these off after we left?”

  “They weren’t here when we left.”

  The kidnapper seemed to know where she and Jeremy were at all times as they’d followed the drop instructions, or at the very least, at the construction site. Could she have dropped the flowers off and then driven to the construction site? “Is it possible the kidnapper isn’t working alone?”

  “Sure. Livia could have arranged to have Tess killed and then realized she could make some money on a ransom. If Emily hooked up with her, she’d have found an ally.”

  All theory and possibilities, but Adeline wasn’t convinced. “If Emily is working with someone, then it’s someone close to her. Livia doesn’t have enough of a reason to kidnap Jamie and hold him for ransom, especially leaving a note like this.” She held the small card up.

  If Livia survived the accident and swam out of the river, she’d have more to worry about than revenge and an elaborate plan for kidnapping. She’d be busy running from the law again. Granted, she needed money, but why Jeremy, and why kidnap Jamie? To Adeline, Livia’s grudge against Tess seemed weak. There had to be other people she could prey on, people she resented far more than Jeremy. Besides, what had Jeremy ever done to Livia to make her think of using him for her gain?

  “No matter how wronged Livia feels against someone, if she sees an opportunity, she’ll take it,” Jeremy said. “She doesn’t need
motive. She only needs an opportunity. I’m vulnerable. I lost my wife and now I’m a single dad. I also happen to have a lot of money.”

  “Opportunity,” Adeline said. “Okay, but surely she knows of other people she can use. You aren’t her only option. So, why you? Why Jamie?”

  “Not everyone is rich like me,” he said. “That would narrow down her options.”

  “You suspect Livia because she had a reason to despise Tess, but other than her nefarious character, I don’t see enough to suspect her.”

  “If Livia survived that accident, she’s desperate. Desperate people do desperate things.”

  Adeline nodded, folding her arms. “Desperation is valid, but this seems more personal than Livia selecting you for money. This seems like whoever took Jamie wants to see you suffer.”

  After a while, Jeremy finally relented. “I agree.”

  She went to the bookshelf along a side wall of the family room where an electronic frame switched through several photos. Most included Jamie. His adorable, smiling face and bright blue eyes told of a happy boy. The pictures of Tess haunted her. She felt at odds falling for her husband, especially knowing how much Tess had loved him. Although now Adeline questioned that love. If Tess had approached Oscar with a proposal to start up their affair again, could she have possibly loved Jeremy as much as she’d claimed? Alcohol could have certainly clouded her judgment, but even then, wouldn’t true love steer her in the right direction?

  Jeremy reached to the photo frame and pressed a button to stop its cycling. Adeline didn’t realize he’d followed her across the room until then. He’d moved closer and she felt his warmth. She also sensed his absorption with one photo. Jamie must have been about two. He sat at a picnic table with a cake before him, what looked like half his piece covering his face around his mouth. He smiled big.

  “That was the first time he was really happy.”

  After Tess died.

  “He had all his friends over. I set up an inflatable bounce house in the backyard and gave him his first tricycle for his present.”

  Adeline stared at Jamie’s playful face and felt a surge of love. She’d helped to create such an angel. Now that angel was in the hands of someone evil and they might not ever get him back. He could be killed. He could be dead already.

  Unable to suppress the sting of tears, she turned to Jeremy for comfort. “Oh, Jeremy.”

  Jeremy took her into his arms. His hands rubbed her back, slow, sensual and firm. Then he pressed a kiss on her head. She felt his warm breath on her hair and scalp. With her arms under his and hands on his back, she snuggled closer, resting the side of her head on his chest.

  “We’ll find him,” he said.

  She heard his doubt and worry. Jeremy would fight for his son. He wouldn’t give up. But the reality of their situation delivered a heavy load.

  He kissed her head again, and then kissed her forehead. Adeline leaned back a little, bringing her cheek against his. The soothing warmth of his nearness calmed her. In his arms like this, tension eased. The temptation to stay wrapped in this refuge enticed her.

  He seemed drugged by the same potion as he slid his head down and pressed his lips to her neck. The gesture could have been for a friend. He moved so naturally and instinctually needed solace as much as her.

  “Let’s get some rest.” He offered his hand, holding it out to her and waiting with patience.

  He helped control the spiraling impulse to let him ravage her. She gave him her hand and he didn’t let go as he led her upstairs. In his bedroom, she saw all the masculine touches that fit the man who slept there. A pedestal table nestled between two blocky wing chairs. Narrow, five-foot chocolate-brown bookcases flanked a king-size bed with a leather upholstered headboard. Pendant lighting over the pedestal table provided the only illumination, unintentionally romantic.

  Jeremy went to the dresser and put down his phone before facing her. She met his eyes for a long stare, electric undercurrents testing what might follow. Maybe they both needed a break from the stress, an escape. No more thinking, projecting. Just feel this, whatever they generated together. Use it to get through the waiting.

  Without looking away, he further loosened and removed his tie, draping the bright blue piece on the dresser. Then he continued to meet her eyes.

  Adeline understood what he waited for and untied her robe, letting it slip off her shoulders and then dropping it onto one of the chairs. Then she met his gaze again.

  Eyes darkening with rising passion, Jeremy unbuttoned his dress shirt, exposing rippling muscles. Heat intensified as he shrugged the garment off his broad shoulders and tossed it to the floor.

  She walked to him. Reaching up, she ran her hand from the shorter strands of his hair on the side to the longer ones on top. Their warmth and smooth texture added kindling to the fire.

  She couldn’t look away from his face, which conveyed such naked desire. Like the photo of Jamie, she wished she could capture him like this so she could have it forever. Why couldn’t she?

  Picking up his cell phone, she opened the camera.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Just let me.” She put his face in the center of the camera’s lens. “You have to send me this.” She waited for his eyes to melt back into their smoldering state before snapping the picture of him looking at her like that.

  Adeline set the camera back on the dresser and then reached for the fastener of his slacks. He stepped out of them and then removed his underwear. She lifted her nightgown off and stood only in her underwear.

  He stepped closer and kissed her, soft and tentative, asking. She kissed him back, feeling his hard chest and arm muscles.

  Breaking away from her lips, he went to the bed and sat against the leather upholstered headboard. Adeline crawled on her knees to straddle his thighs. Sitting on his lap, she took his face between her hands. Watching his eyes close as she leaned down, she touched her lips to his. He angled his head and took command of the kiss, pressing harder and tasting her tenderly with his tongue. With his hands on her butt, he pulled her higher up his thighs. Then he took her mouth for a deeper, hungrier taste.

  Cupping the back of his head in her hand, she trailed her other hand over his shoulder, down to his flexed biceps, where she squeezed and felt heat course through her. Lost in growing sensation, she kissed his lips and moved against his hard ridge.

  “What about protection?”

  “I’m on the Pill.” She moaned as he trailed his tongue down her neck between soft kisses. She let her head fall back as he tasted her breasts. Then he nipped the curve of her chin with his lips as his hands took over what his mouth had left. He held her breasts, testing their weight, feeling their softness and driving Adeline wild.

  Wrapping his arm around her waist, he leaned forward, making her fall back against his strong arm. Her breasts jutted toward him, urging him to have more of her. He put his mouth over one and his tongue repeatedly grazed her nipple. Her lips parted in a silent moan. She moved her hips against his hardness again, needing him inside her now.

  He buried his fingers into her hair and pulled her head back. Looking up at his raging passion, she parted her lips as his crushed down on hers.

  His hands roved over her bare back and butt. Then he slid one hand between their bodies, going down, down, until he reached the part of her that yearned for him. He penetrated her with his finger. She had to stop kissing him against the shudder that gripped her.

  When his face came back into focus, she put her hands on his shoulders and positioned herself over his erection. He held her by the waist and guided her down. She listened to his ragged sigh and watched him close his eyes and lean his head back against the headboard as her weight pushed him deep inside her. She kissed the strong cords of his neck and held still, savoring the feel of their joining.

  His biceps
bunched as he dug his hand into her long, tangled hair and tilted her face back. Hot dark eyes drilled into hers with passion. Adeline began to slowly rock her hips. The sweet grind drove her to press harder and add a circular roll to her movement. Jeremy groaned and lifted his hips to meet her. He took her lower lip between his teeth, holding it but not biting. She licked his upper lip and he kissed her with animal urgency. Adeline lifted her hands to the top of the headboard and continued to grind herself on him. Spirals of sensation built to a crescendo until she shattered.

  Afterward, she lowered her hands and wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him close, kissing him sweetly while she tried to catch her breath. Jeremy rolled her to his side, then laid her flat on the mattress. Spreading her legs wider with his knees, he reentered her with a hard thrust. Adeline grunted, amazed that he could make her ready for a second orgasm. He withdrew and pressed inside again, sending mind-numbing sensation swirling through her, radiating outward, and much more intense than the first time.

  He began to pump his hips faster, building the sensation to unbearable heights. She heard her own cry of ecstasy as he went deep and pulled back with each slippery stroke. She felt his stomach rub hers, listened to his breathless pants, smelled his musky scent. She came apart along with his fiery eruption.

  Jeremy collapsed on top of her. She folded her arms around him and rubbed his back, content to stay in the aftermath of something she had yet to comprehend.

  Chapter 13

  Jeremy began to wake to something soft and warm pressed along his side. His arm had fallen asleep where a woman’s head lay. Her soft hair tickled his chest. Waking up further, his mind cleared. This wasn’t just a woman next to him. Adeline. They’d slept together. The potency hit him. Every sensation and desire, the passion. He’d connected with her, looking at those photos of Jamie, and resulting temptation in a vulnerable moment led to disaster.

  He felt as though he’d betrayed his son. And his wife...

  Easing his arm from beneath her, he stood from the bed and went into the bathroom. Closing the door, he turned the water on and leaned over the sink. How could he have done that? Looking at himself in the mirror, he met his own brown eyes and saw the disappointment he felt.