The Hijacked Wife

by Winn, Bonnie K.

  Shocked, Jack stared at Sedgewick, willing himself to remain calm until Tom and his men had enough evidence on tape. He hadn’t believed Sedgewick was involved until he saw him step into the light. It was still hard to believe.

  “Not so talkative now, Jack?” Fisher laughed, but he ended it quickly when Wilcox sent him a quelling glance.

  “Talking too much has always been a problem for Jack,” Wilcox inserted. “You could have walked away with a fortune. Instead you cost us almost everything.” Nearly colorless eyes radiated with venom. “And for that, you’ll pay.”

  Jack could scarcely keep the triumphant grin from his face. Any moment Tom Matthews and his men would be rushing the room, and Wilcox’s and Fisher’s smiles would be wiped out.

  “You deaf, Jack?” Fisher asked. “Most men don’t smile when they hear a death sentence.”

  “I’m not like most men,” Jack replied, wondering what Tom Matthews was waiting for. Surely they had enough evidence by now.

  “No, most men are smart enough to know a good thing when they stumble onto it. Now the only thing you’ll stumble into is a grave.”

  What was Matthews waiting for? For him to become a corpse?

  In the ominous stillness, Jack realized that something had gone desperately wrong.

  Summer stared from the doorway, wondering what she could do to create a diversion. And what if she did something and made things worse? She’d given the cabbie a huge tip and asked him to call Tom Matthews on his cell phone. Now she was torn. Should she find a phone herself? Or should she go for the diversion and hope for the best, hope that Jack understood and would make a successful bid at escape?

  Before she could decide, the choice was snatched out of her hands. A stray cat brushed by her leg. Startled, she screamed. Horrified, she scrambled to escape before she made things worse.

  “Run, Summer!” Jack shouted.

  Suddenly a shot rang out.

  Paralyzed with terror, she froze. What had she done? Hearing footsteps thudding toward her, she made her legs move. But she wasn’t fast enough.

  Long arms reached out to grab her. “Hang on there, little lady.” Fisher raised his voice so he could be heard inside the building. “Looks like we have some company.”

  Summer fought his hold, then realized it was useless. Pushed inside the building, all she could see at first was a murky darkness. As her eyes began adjusting, she could pick out the forms of the men.

  When her gaze focused, she spotted Jack. And for a moment, her heart seemed to still.

  Blood trickled down his arm, and a wider, darker splotch stained his side. Although she’d only heard one shot, apparently he’d been wounded at least twice. “Jack!” she whispered.

  “This must be the woman traveling with our boy,” Fisher deduced.

  Wilcox glanced between Jack and Summer. “So you found a replacement for the wife?”

  Although Jack’s face remained stoic, Summer winced for them both. The motion didn’t go unnoticed.

  “We’ve put a lot of thought into your...ending, Jack, but we wouldn’t want to exclude your new lady. As you know, we like to ... include everyone.” Wilcox’s pale gaze remained on Jack.

  But Jack didn’t give them the response Wilcox had obviously been hoping for. “Things aren’t always what they appear to be.”

  Wilcox wasn’t easily fooled. “You think that by not claiming the lady, we’ll leave her alone? Don’t delude yourself, Jack. You also thought the program would protect you.”

  Despite his wounds, Jack laughed. “You don’t really think I came into this by myself, do you?”

  Wilcox glanced around the deserted building. “You expecting the cavalry?” His laugh was as chilling as his eyes. “Matthews doesn’t have any idea where we are.”

  Remembering the map, Summer gasped.

  Wilcox whirled around, his eyes narrowing. “Do you know something you’d like to share with us?”

  Gulping, Summer shook her head.

  “Your fight’s with me,” Jack told him, advancing toward Wilcox despite his wounds.

  Wilcox laughed, the maniacal sound bouncing off the metal walls.

  Fisher flipped up his gun. “We’re shaking, Jacko.” Then he turned the gun toward Summer. “Shaking.”

  Jack didn’t know what had happened to Matthews, but he realized he was on his own. He also realized he couldn’t let anything happen to Summer. He loved her and he wasn’t going to let her come to harm. “You can shoot her. You can shoot me. But you won’t know where we stashed the evidence.”

  “Evidence?” Fisher barked. “You think we’re as stupid as you are?”

  Jack kept his gaze on Wilcox. “How ’bout you, Wilcox? You think it’s smart to wipe us out without knowing?”

  Wilcox didn’t reply, instead shifting his gaze between Jack and Summer. “You already turned state’s evidence.”

  Jack thumped the side of his head. “Done deal, huh? That’s why it was so easy for Sedgewick to arrange for your early release? On what, a technicality? Sure. And that’s why the DBA is working with me—’cause it’s a done deal.”

  Wilcox’s nostrils flared as he clearly tried to maintain his control. His gaze shifted to include Sedgewick.

  The nervous man began visibly sweating, and he pushed at the gray hair matted at his forehead. “You aren’t going to believe him, are you?”

  Jack edged closer to Summer. “Ask Sedgewick how we always kept one step ahead of you,” he directed, seeing the immediate flare of suspicion in Wilcox’s eyes.

  Sedgewick’s chunky lips twitched. “He’s going to say whatever will save his hide. He was just lucky, that’s all.”

  “Lucky all that time?” Jack mocked, surreptitiously moving closer to Summer. He saw her eyes widen and silently urged her to remain quiet and still.

  Fisher turned toward Sedgewick, too, his brow pulled into a quizzical line. “You said the profiler was wrong.”

  Sedgewick backed away from Wilcox. “He was! They have a high accuracy rate, but they’re not perfect!”

  “Dead wrong was more like it,” Jack inserted, inching close enough that he could nearly reach Summer.

  “That’s the pivotal word for you!” Sedgewick shouted at Jack. “You’re the one who should be dead!”

  Fisher’s gun wavered between Summer and Sedgewick.

  Seeing the opportunity, Jack shoved Summer toward the door. “Get out,” he managed to order between gritted teeth.

  Summer hesitated.

  Jack saw Fisher’s indecision. Anticipating the shot before he saw the flash and heard the thunder, he flung himself in front of Summer, ignoring the tearing pain in his side. Her scream punctuated Fisher’s shot.

  The force of the bullet’s entry knocked him back, yet he didn’t fall. His spirit refused to accept that he would lose Summer. He had to stay strong until she was safe.

  But Summer refused to stay out of Fisher’s gun sight, instead reaching toward his newest wound. “Jack, oh God.”

  With the last of his strength, he pulled himself upright, blocking Summer from Fisher. But the man’s gun didn’t waver. As though in slow motion, Jack watched Fisher pull the trigger back and knew he faced death. Jack thought of his son and the woman he loved.

  The door crashed open, the rusty hinge screeching in protest as metal clanged against metal.

  “Hold it, Fisher!” Tom Matthews shouted. “You pull that trigger and you’re dead before the shell hits the ground.”

  Again Fisher wavered. Wilcox didn’t. The man opened fire and in seconds Fisher joined him. But a barrage of gun fire from Matthews’s men dropped both men.

  Summer knelt beside Jack, who’d slumped to the ground, running her hands over him, tears dampening her cheeks. “Jack, please don’t die,” she pleaded, voice trembling.

  Tom Matthews patted her shoulder awkwardly. “I radioed for an ambulance when we got here. It should be here any second. Thank God your cabbie got through to us.”

  Summer gripped Jack’
s hand. “We need you.... Danny and I need you so much.” Her voice broke. “I love you, Jack Anderson. I don’t want to live without you. Don’t you dare die on me!”

  The shrill wail of a siren pierced the air. “Thank God it’s here,” Tom Matthews muttered, rushing away. In seconds he returned with the paramedics.

  Summer reluctantly released Jack’s hand only at the paramedic’s instructions. “Ma’am, it’s better for him. We’ll be able to help him.”

  They loaded him quickly on a stretcher, hustling him to the ambulance.

  Vaguely Jack felt them working on him, the prick of the IV insertion, the low murmurs of their voices. Wavering between consciousness, Jack forced his eyes open. If he wasn’t going to make it, he couldn’t leave things unfinished. He reached for Summer’s hand. The paramedic covered his face with an oxygen mask. He felt another prick, and consciousness faded. An overwhelming sense of loss filled him. It couldn’t end this way. It just couldn’t.

  Chapter 18

  “The federal prosecutor plans to ask for life without parole for Sedgewick,” Tom Matthews told them. “Fisher and Wilcox were dead on the scene.”

  “Do you think the charges will stick?” Jack asked from his supine position in the hospital bed.

  “The prosecutor does, and that’s what I’m banking on. His sort tend to be conservative in their estimates, and he doesn’t think Sedgewick will ever see daylight outside of a federal prison again. He’s charged him with several counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. With that many counts, Sedgewick won’t even come up for a parole hearing in less than eighty years.”

  Summer battled with the words she knew she must say, the words that put them that much closer to goodbye. “So Jack and Danny are safe now? They can resume their old lives?”

  Tom Matthews smiled. “This is the good part of my job. I’m able to say yes. Sedgewick is the weak link. He wouldn’t have the stomach or nerve to try anything—in or out of prison. You’re a free man again, Jack Delancey. No more running and hiding.”

  Jack’s eyes nickered shut briefly. “Then Danny’s future is secure.”

  “As is yours, Jack. You’ve sacrificed more than any man should be asked to. But the rest of your life is your own.”

  The nurse entered the room. “Mr. Anderson, it’s time for lights out.” She glanced pointedly at Tom Matthews.

  Tom picked up his hat “I’m on my way, Nurse.” First he glanced at Jack. “By the way, I got the car returned to the Steigers.”

  “Thanks. I didn’t want them to think we were running a con.”

  “Somehow I doubt it ever entered their minds.” Settling the hat on his head, he left.

  The nurse, accustomed to Summer’s nearly around-the-clock presence, didn’t shoo her from the room. Even though he was still pale and weak, Jack looked remarkably well to her, considering the shape he had been in when the ambulance had rushed him to the hospital.

  He had nearly died from his wounds. The surgery had been touch and go, and the doctors hadn’t been optimistic. Jack had lost so much blood, and the trauma had been extensive. But he was a fighter and a survivor.

  Summer’s eyes pooled again with tears never far from the surface. Terrified to leave his side, lest he slip from life, she had called her mother while Jack was still in surgery. Louise Harding had been on the first plane to D.C. Since then, she had competently cared for Danny while Summer was at the hospital with Jack. It was just another bond that Summer knew would be painful when severed.

  The nurse checked Jack’s IV and vital signs. “Looking good, Mr. Anderson. Pretty soon, you’ll be tap dancing.”

  He smiled at the young woman. “If you saw my two left feet, you wouldn’t say that.”

  The nurse winked at Summer. “I’m sure you’re just being modest.” She clicked off the overhead lights, leaving only the dim glow of a night-light. “Try to get some rest.”

  “That’s all I do,” he muttered as the nurse left.

  Summer studied Jack’s face, memorizing each feature, painful as it was. “You want to get better so you can go home to Danny.”

  “I sure miss that little guy.”

  Summer willed away the anguish, knowing how much she would miss the baby, too. “He misses you. My mother says he keeps asking for you.”

  Jack managed a grin. “I don’t think I’ve been in here long enough for him to be speaking in complete sentences.”

  Somehow she smiled over her own pain. “Da-da.” Her voice hitched. “He asks for Da-da.”

  Jack reached for her hand. “What is it?”

  “I was just thinking how much your family will enjoy seeing Danny again.” Summer swallowed, raised her face, then ducked it again, unable to meet his eyes. “From what Tom Matthews just said it’s safe to call them. I imagine your mother would love to take over for mine.”

  “Does Louise need to get back to the business? I didn’t mean to take advantage of her.”

  The hitch in Summer’s heart matched the one in her voice. “We both should be getting back. You’re out of danger now, and your family will get here as soon as possible, I’m sure.” She managed to lift her head again, willing the tears to stay at bay. “You’ll want to get on with your life.”

  The silence between them vibrated with all the unspoken emotions of two wounded souls.

  Jack increased the pressure on her hand. “A life without you, Summer?”

  She tried to smile, but failed. The agony was too intense. “You’ll have Danny as you planned...and now your family.”

  “I could fill my life with a hundred people, but if you’re not in it, it would still be empty.”

  Tentative hope bloomed. She raised her gaze to meet his. “It would?”

  “Don’t you know you are my life, Summer?”

  She shook her head, the emotion clogging her throat, stinging her eyes.

  “Do you know what my biggest regret was when I thought I was dying? That I wouldn’t have a chance to love you ... to share my life with you.”

  “It was?”

  “I realized that if you love someone, it’s worth taking the chance that someday you’ll lose them.” He reached out, tipping up her chin. “The joy you give me is worth whatever the future holds ... because you are my future. I love you, Summer.”

  She shut her eyes briefly, then lifted their clasped hands and gently touched them to her heart. “I believe this is yours.”

  Moonbeams pushed past the utilitarian drapes hung at each side of the window. Gentle fingers of shrouded light touched faces already glowing with promise. Their lips met—tenderness, banked passion and emotion colliding in a pledge of commitment, a vow that would carry them far beyond the night ... far beyond what either had dreamed...into the promise of tomorrow.

  Inland from the gentle coast that didn’t boast of cliff and boulder seascapes or storm-whipped surf, was a place of low islands and saltwater marshes. And beyond the marshes, narrow country roads meandered through tunnels of massive old gnarled live oak trees, their tops growing together at the center of the roads to provide a living canopy. Tendrils of gray moss dripped from their branches, trailing in easy abandon against the shell-topped roads.

  Sunlight dappled through the leaves, and beyond the turn in the road, a restored plantation seemed to rise up from meadows of fallow green. Surrounded by cotton fields long since abandoned and palmetto trees that bent with the ocean breeze, the house shone with a new coat of paint. An even newer sign at the mailbox declared it was the home of Delancey and Delancey Enterprises.

  One of the double entry doors burst open suddenly, and a fair-haired woman nearly danced across the veranda. Her laughter spilled through the magnolia-scented air as she rushed forward, a dog at her heels.

  Jack looked up, seeing Summer framed between the two huge white pillars, the dusky pink of the house a soft background. He raised a hand in greeting, his lips already turning upward in a smile that seldom left his face.

  “Jack! Your folks called! They’re
coming for a visit!” she sang out as she neared him.

  Automatically his arms reached out to catch her. “Whoa! Unless I miss my guess, we have a day or two to prepare.”

  “Possibly,” she said with a smile.

  “Mama!” Danny demanded, toddling on chubby legs to reach out and grab her skirt

  She lifted him in her arms, gently tickling him and making him giggle in delight. “How are my two wonderful men?”

  Jack swooped closer to steal a kiss, his eyes brightening. “Better now.”

  “Rascal.” But she reached out to trace his jaw, warmth evident in the touch.

  “Besides, how do you know it’s not three wonderful men?” he questioned.

  “It may be old-fashioned, but I told you I don’t want to know,” she retorted, her hand automatically reaching toward her gently swelling abdomen.

  “I suspect it will be a girl,” Jack replied ruefully. Then he leaned a bit closer. “As beautiful as her mother.”

  Summer swallowed the emotion that was never far from the surface. She used to fear that if she blinked, she would wake up from this incredible dream. But each day, as steadily as the last, Jack proved he was around to stay.

  He had purchased a dilapidated plantation, one of many that remained on Edisto, and had renovated it into a home of such stellar design that it had been featured in style magazines across the country. And architectural clients had poured in.

  Luckily Jack had planned for two business areas in the house since her own computer firm was flourishing. She had more time to develop her business now that she no longer needed to work at Harding Boat Rental and Repair Shop. Jack’s younger brother had relocated to Edisto, bringing with him his love of boats and a desire to work in Louise’s shop. They were so very lucky ... to have each other and their families.

  Summer blinked away tears.

  Jack reached out to gently brush her cheek. “Summer, what is it?”

  “I’m just so happy.”

  He smiled in understanding. “I hope it’s a permanent condition.”

  Her reply was as soft as the breeze that stirred the air. “Always.”