She was about to die in the very place she loved so dearly. However, now she also realized that in some way it gave her a sense of peace.
One last image crossed her mind before Andrew pulled out a box of matches. Regret and longing shot through her chest, breaking her newfound calm.
She wished that Jackson would be okay. She wished that the gunfire outside was because he had the upper hand. She wished that people would realize when all this was said and done, he had been a hero and deserved nothing but kindness. She wished that he’d find someone who made him happy.
She wished she’d met Jackson Fields much sooner.
Andrew waved the box of matches in front of her. Instead of absolute fear, Nikki looked into his lifeless eyes with what she hoped looked like courage. She wanted him to know that now she felt strong. That, in the end, he hadn’t broken her. He was having to burn her alive to achieve some type of win from the situation. He’d overcome nothing.
“I hate to say it, but it’s time for me to leave,” he said. Nikki was glad to see his smile had gone. “I’d like to say it’s been a pleasure, Nikki, but... Well, why lie to someone about to die by your hand?” He lowered his face to her level. When he spoke, his words were low. They dripped with absolute menace. “May you think about the life you stole as it burns away.”
He gave her one last look of hatred and walked to the hallway and the line of fuel he’d created. Taking a match out of the box, he ran it across the side until it lit. For one moment they simply looked at the flame, each mesmerized.
“This won’t change anything,” Nikki said when she could no longer stand it. Andrew shrugged.
“No,” he admitted. “But it will make me feel better.”
Then he dropped the match.
Chapter Twenty
Jackson flattened his back against the ambulance door. The gunman yelled in rage and sent another bullet his way. Even with the silencer on, it sounded harsh as it hit the vehicle.
Jackson checked his clip again. He had three shots left. If he was correct, the gunman only had one. Though there was a chance that he had miscalculated even that.
Both men had found adequate places to take cover. Jackson, the ambulance. The man, the stoop of a closed Realtor’s office behind the curb. Whoever the man was, he was slippery and quick. Jackson hadn’t been able to hit him. Not even a scrape. Though, in turn, he hadn’t been able to hit Jackson, either. A silver lining, if ever there was one in a shoot-out. Jackson took a deep breath. He needed to try to get the man to shoot his last bullet. Bending low, he moved around the corner and shot.
He wasn’t the only one.
A burning pain scorched his arm as the man fired off his last bullet, but Jackson didn’t back down. He walked toward the man and shot once more. Out in the open like this, the man across from him was no longer shielded by the side of the brick steps.
This bullet hit its mark, striking the man’s shoulder to almost mirror Jackson’s own wound. The force slung him back. He didn’t fall, using the brick wall of the office to keep himself up. His face twisted in disgust as Jackson kept his gun raised.
“Drop it and kick it over,” he said, motioning to the man’s grip on his gun. “And if you try anything I’ll shoot you. Again.”
The man gave a grunt of anger, and probably pain, and did as he was told. Jackson lowered himself, gun still on the man, to collect the weapon.
“She isn’t worth all this,” the man said. “I don’t know why—”
Before he could finish his thought, Jackson closed the space between them and knocked him out cold. He didn’t have time for another speech from one of the bad guys.
Jackson checked to see that the man’s gun was indeed empty and threw it to the ground. Then he was running to Orion. He might have shown the man mercy, but he wasn’t sure he’d extend that courtesy to Andrew.
He had torn the front door open, raising his gun, when two things happened at once. The moment he stepped into the lobby, he ran into Andrew. At the same time he caught a whiff of something that made his stomach turn.
Why was Andrew walking away? And why did Jackson smell smoke?
He narrowed in on Andrew with such insane rage that he all but forgot the gun in his hand. He threw himself at the man with a wild wail of aggression. Andrew didn’t have time to step away or pull up his own gun. The disgraced socialite took a volley of hits against his jaw, nose and chest until his back was against the wall. In that moment Jackson didn’t care about the pain of his wounds.
“What did you do?” he roared.
Andrew tried to raise his gun, but Jackson wasn’t having any of it. He yanked it from the man’s grasp and threw it across the room with enough force that he heard a window shatter.
Andrew had made it abundantly clear that he wanted to be the one to kill Nikki. Everything he’d done to bring her to him and now he was just walking away? That could only mean he’d already done the deed.
He’d killed Nikki.
Compassionate, beautiful, smart, hilarious Nikki.
And now Jackson was going to kill him.
“Help!”
His mental gears ground to a halt.
“Help!” Nikki screamed again.
Jackson’s rage instantly switched to relief. He threw another punch into Andrew’s jaw and didn’t wait around to see him hit the floor. As he ran into the hall, that relief dissolved.
He could already feel the heat of the flames.
* * *
THE CALM NIKKI had latched on to—the peace she felt she’d grasped—went clear out the window the moment the first flame sprang up.
Starting in the corner where the large room connected to her office, one little match had created a wall of fire behind her, ratcheting the fear she’d been trying to ignore clear through the roof. In horror that had her utterly still, she watched the fire spread until it hit the outer wall to her left and ran across the space left before the gym’s doors. Whatever accelerant Andrew had used, it had coaxed the flames quickly into one path. However, it stopped there, not catching the rest of the liquid he’d poured.
Though that wouldn’t matter soon. The fire would spread regardless.
The room filled with heat and smoke quickly. For one moment Nikki hoped the sprinklers would come on and save her, but she let that idea die. Since the fire alarms hadn’t gone off, it was safe to assume Andrew had disabled them, too. Probably when he’d disabled the alarm to get inside Orion in the first place. He’d managed to turn a building that operated under the idea of providing safety to others into a burning box of danger. Another thought that made her heart break a little more.
Heat from the flames behind her intensified, not licking her skin but biting it ruthlessly. Instead of sitting still because of fear, she found it was that very fear that pushed her to struggle once again against her restraints. The rope bit into her skin, but she didn’t stop. The alternative was worse. That thought motivated her to pull and twist and struggle for all she was worth.
And then she heard the glass shatter.
Did that mean Jackson was okay?
“Help!” she yelled. Her voice wavered something awful as she inhaled smoke. Still she tried for one more plea. “Help!”
No sooner had the word escaped her mouth than a fit of coughing racked her body. It was starting to cloud the ceiling, but she didn’t think she’d be lucky enough to pass out before the flames got to her.
Which was probably the exact thing that Andrew wanted.
She bent her head as low as she could and was trying to suck in enough oxygen to stave off an endless bout of coughing when movement from her periphery caught her attention.
“Nikki!”
A myriad of emotions seemed to pass over the bodyguard’s face. She didn’t have time to pick out what each meant. All she kn
ew was what she felt at seeing him still alive. Absolute joy, despite everything.
“Hang on!” Jackson yelled, rushing to her side. The fire was nearly roaring now, and all relief at seeing each other was replaced by urgency.
Jackson went straight for the wrist tied to the chair arm. He tried to untie the binding, but the knots were too intricate. Jackson started to reach in his pocket. He stopped, jaw hardening. He’d been going for his knife, she realized. The one he’d used to hot-wire the SUV. She guessed the one that was still in the SUV.
Their eyes met for a moment. Blue-gray clouds surrounded by a sea of fire.
Nikki doubled over as much as she could as another coughing fit made her body spasm. In the next second she felt Jackson’s arms slide between the back of her thighs and the seat of the chair while the other slid between her back and the back of the chair. Nikki watched in amazement as the man whom she knew for a fact had been shot in the shoulder lifted her and the wooden chair she was tied to up to his chest. She didn’t get to commend him for the amazing act. Another wave of coughing shut her eyes. Her body shook as the two of them moved as fast as Jackson could go.
The heat of the flames lessened the more he walked until finally Nikki felt the cool night air against her skin. She sucked in as much of that as she could before opening her eyes to the man who had just saved her.
“No!”
Someone hit them just as he stepped into the empty parking lot outside of Orion’s front door. Since Jackson had his hands full with her and the chair, he was helpless to stop himself from falling backward. Nikki winced as they hit the ground, knowing Jackson had taken the brunt of the fall. She heard his breath wheeze out just as she turned to see Andrew pick himself up.
It was Jackson’s turn to cough. He was trying to get his breath back but didn’t have the time. He managed to roll to the side, slamming Nikki’s knees against the asphalt. Pain pushed through her jeans, but she tried not to show it. Jackson pulled his arms free of her and the chair just in time to block her from a right cross from Andrew. She might have avoided that pain, but without Jackson holding her up, she continued to tip over until her right side hit the ground hard. Something cracked at the movement.
“She was supposed to burn!” Andrew yelled. Nikki watched, helpless on her side, as the crazed man continued to beat her bodyguard, still unable to catch a break.
“Leave him alone,” she cried. “It’s me you want!”
Andrew stopped, bloody fist paused in midair. He turned to look at her, eyes wide. Nikki knew in that moment that there was no sanity left in the man.
“You’re right,” he said, voice so low it didn’t sound human. He came at Nikki hard and fast, ready to kick her while she was bound and on the ground. On reflex she tried to cover her face.
That was when she realized what the cracking noise had been. She moved her right arm, and the attached chair piece that had broken at her fall came up in front of her face. Andrew’s foot connected with it less than a second later. The piece of wood absorbed most of the power before clattering to the ground. He had brought his foot back to try again when a car horn blared down the street.
Andrew’s attention turned long enough for Jackson to stand up and rush the man. His shoulder connected with Andrew’s chest and sent the two a few feet away from her. This time it was Andrew who fell on his back. Unlike with Jackson’s fall, however, Andrew’s head snapped back and hit the asphalt hard. Much like when Ronald Dabney’s neck hit the lip of her tub, a sickening crack cut through the air.
Andrew’s body went still.
The car horn stopped but sirens in the distance came soon after. Like music to her ears.
“Looks like our backup has arrived,” Jackson called back to her. He turned and slowly made his way over. The fervor that he’d been fighting with was dying out, Nikki could tell. He was tired and bloody and could no longer hide his pain. He dropped down to his knees next to her side and gave her a smile. It was weak but genuine. “Should we tell them they’re a little late?” he asked, nodding in the direction of the car that had approached. Doors opened and closed, but she still couldn’t see them. “Oliver and Mark,” Jackson offered. The sirens in the distance became louder.
It was over.
It was finally over.
Jackson turned his head back toward the two Orion agents and asked if either had a knife to cut the rope. However, before either could answer, a gunshot tore through the air. Jackson moved in front of her so fast that it took Nikki a few moments to realize what had happened.
Oliver and Mark yelled something and then there was a scuffle, but in that moment, Nikki only had eyes for one man.
Jackson, still on his knees, fell next to her.
“Jackson?” she whispered. The blue-eyed man didn’t respond. In fact, he didn’t even move.
Nikki screamed. “Jackson!”
Chapter Twenty-One
People. Jackson heard people.
“You punched a cop?” a man asked, voice so low he almost didn’t hear him. “Pretty sure that’s illegal.”
“It’s not a big deal,” a woman answered. At the sound of her voice, also low, Jackson found his lips pull up of their own accord.
“I don’t think you know what a big deal is,” said the man, though there was a bit of laughter in the statement.
“Like I said, it’s fine,” she responded. “And it’s not like I’m going to make it a habit.”
“Man, I can’t wait to tell Darling.”
The man snorted and the woman shushed him. They lapsed into a small silence. Jackson wondered what they were doing but couldn’t seem to open his eyes.
Though he tried.
“Nik, I think he’s waking up,” the man said, louder than before. There was movement and then Jackson heard her again.
“Jackson?” she whispered.
As if her voice was enough encouragement, Jackson opened his eyes. They felt heavy but not heavy enough to keep him from wanting to see her.
“Nikki,” he whispered back.
Nikki Waters was smiling at him. How he loved the sight.
“How do you feel?” she asked, moving closer to the side of the hospital bed.
Jackson thought about that.
“Medicated,” he decided. Nikki and the man she’d been talking to laughed. Jackson turned his head slightly to get a better view.
“Bullet buddy,” Oliver Quinn greeted with an equally wide smile. “Good to see you awake.”
Jackson felt his eyebrows draw together in confusion. Bullet buddies? Had he been shot?
“I’m tired,” he said when he couldn’t figure out what he was trying to remember. Nikki laughed.
“The doctor said you might be in and out of it for a while,” she said. “You’re on some strong medication. It’s okay for you to go back to sleep.”
Jackson nodded. That made sense. He started to close his eyes again before opening them wide. He looked at Nikki.
“Will you be here when I wake up?” he asked, suddenly worried.
Nikki’s expression softened.
“I haven’t left you yet,” she said.
Jackson smiled again and closed his eyes. “Good.”
* * *
NIKKI WAS TRUE to her word.
The next time Jackson opened his eyes, she was sitting in a chair next to his hospital bed, her head bent over a book. From where he sat he could see the cover and its shirtless cowboy.
“Well, howdy,” he greeted. Nikki gave a little jump and turned, cheeks instantly red. She put her book down a little too quickly. “Don’t stop on my account,” he teased.
Nikki rolled her eyes, lips pulling up at the corners.
“Jillian brought me something to read from the hospital store,” she explained. “Apparently she’s a big
fan of the cowboys.”
Jackson cracked a smile. Instead of seeing just how much he could get her to blush, he focused on the part of what she said that was real news to him.
“So the hospital, huh?” he asked, looking around for the first time. It was a small room but a private one. A window in the corner let him know it was day. “Which means I didn’t succumb to my injuries.”
“No, you didn’t,” she said. “But you did give us a scare.” She pointed to his shoulder where Michael had shot him. The hospital gown he had on was opened enough at the neck that he could see a large bandage over the wound. “That one was a through-and-through.” Nikki motioned to the bandage on the side of his biceps.
It took him a second to realize that the burn and pain he’d felt just before shooting the man next to the ambulance had been a bullet.
“That one was luckily just a graze.” She moved her finger to point at the left side of his stomach. Her face darkened. “But that last one was almost too much.”
Jackson moved ever so slightly to test the wound. He sucked in a breath as pain spider-webbed at the movement. It caused Nikki to stand. “Take it easy,” she warned. “There’s no permanent damage, but it will take some time before you’re back on your feet.”
“Understood,” he replied, resigning himself to try to stay still. Nikki fixed him with a look he couldn’t quite decipher. Then her eyes began to glaze over. He raised his eyebrow, alarmed. “What’s wrong?”
“You took a bullet for me, Jackson,” she said. There was a hardness to her tone, like she was trying really hard not to scold him. “And it almost killed you.”
Jackson moved his hand over and took hers in it, but she didn’t stop.
“You saw Andrew point his gun and you just threw yourself in front of me. You didn’t even hesitate.” She stopped herself, seemed to reconsider her words and then said, “Why?”
“It’s what you pay me for,” he said, grinning. He squeezed her hand. He wanted to defuse the sadness she’d fallen into. The worry about what could’ve happened. “At least I think that’s what I get paid for. Truth be told, I haven’t been with the company all that long.”
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