Jordynn’s head spun. He’d been there. Close enough to see. Maybe to touch. She swallowed. How could he have come back like that, and not spoken to her?
“Accidentally got caught on camera,” Ivan added. “Weird thing. A local crew was doing a news story that day.”
“I remember,” Jordynn whispered. “A special on the history of the cemetery. They had to stop filming before we could start the service.”
“But not before someone managed to catch Mr. Grady in action. Dark coat, hood pulled up. But the angle was just right, and my boss was sure it was you.”
A sob built up in Jordynn’s throat, and Dono reached for her. But Ivan waved the gun menacingly, blocking him from getting any closer. And she was actually glad. She wasn’t sure what would happen if he touched her right that second.
She wanted to sit down. To process it. She wobbled. And neither man seemed to notice.
“Like Mr. Grady said, though. It doesn’t matter anyway. Not now.” The man shrugged. “And my boss wants a word with both of you.”
“A word?” Dono repeated doubtfully. “You and I both know he’s not interested in a chat.”
“To be honest, what we know doesn’t matter, either,” the gunman said. “Only matters that we do what we’re told. And just in case you were thinking about jumping and running, I’ll give you another fair warning. There are two guys out there in a car on the street. Armed and dangerous, as they say. Not the subtle type, either.”
“Two thugs outside. Two upstairs. Our friend tied to the chair in the living room. And you. Six men to bring us in,” Dono said. “Either that’s overkill, or we really are special.”
“A decade-long headache can make a man do crazy things. Step back inside. Slowly.”
“You sure about that? ’Cause I’ll be even more of a headache once you actually get ahold of me.”
“Quit trying to delay the inevitable.”
“I’m just making sure this is the way you want to go.”
“Be awful to have to shoot you in front of your girl.”
“You won’t shoot me here.”
Ivan sighed and moved the gun to Dono’s chest. “You a hundred percent certain of that?”
Jordynn’s heart constricted. She tried to take a breath, and couldn’t. She couldn’t handle the thought of seeing what would happen if Dono didn’t obey the other man’s order. She hadn’t even wrapped her head around the fact that he was there. Or that he’d been there before.
Focus on the present, she told herself. In spite of it all, you don’t want to lose him all over again so quickly, do you?
“Listen to him,” she burst out. “Please.”
He met her eyes, and she saw more than a hint of worry there. And she knew he had just been stalling. Trying to come up with some way of getting them out of the situation. And she could read him well enough to know he hadn’t succeeded.
“Inside,” the man behind her barked, clearly running out of patience.
Without taking his gaze off her, Dono put both hands on the bottom of the window frame, ready to pull himself back in. Jordynn’s eyes couldn’t help but stray to his fingers. She recalled just how they’d felt clasped with hers a few minutes ago. Rough. Strong. A bit dangerous. She’d thought it was a good combination, considering their situation. Lord knew Jordynn was none of those things on her own. Now, though, their reassuring solidity seemed like a bad thing. Because they’d only help in pulling him back into danger.
But a moment later, their strength became irrelevant. It was no match for gravity.
As Dono pushed himself up, a snap echoed from beneath his feet. A flash of surprise crossed his face. Then his body tipped sideways, and he lost his grip on the window. His cheek hit the frame with a sickening crack, and he slid out of view.
For several seconds, Jordynn stood still. And so did the man behind her. Then they both moved at once, but in opposite directions. The gunman surged forward, hollering for some help, clearly intent on seeing where Dono had fallen to. But Jordynn didn’t need to check on him. She knew where he would’ve landed, and knew, too, what his options for escape would be. He might’ve hurt himself, but five feet wasn’t far enough to make her worry about broken bones. Not too much, anyway. What did concern her was getting to him before the two armed and dangerous men who were somewhere out there. That...and what they might do to him if he’d knocked himself unconscious. Or worse, if he was disoriented and wandered into their sights.
And what are you going to do stop them?
She shoved down the voice in her head. Not trying to help Dono wasn’t an option. So while her captor peered out the window, she spun on her heel and darted in the opposite direction. She leaped down the stairs and flew into the hall, then moved to open the door. But as she stepped back to fling it open, she slammed straight into a body. And it was most definitely not Dono’s.
Chapter 4
Jordynn tried to pull away, but it was too late. The big man on her doorstep was stronger. Faster. And clearly more experienced at capturing people than she was at escaping from them.
She barely reached the doorstep before his arms were around her, spinning her hard and shoving her against the exterior wall of the house. Jordynn’s chest scraped along the wood siding making her cry out. Her yelp earned her a sweaty hand over her mouth, and a heartbeat later, she was being turned again and lifted.
At the end of the driveway, she could see Tom, her neighbor, heading for his car.
Please, please!
Jordynn inhaled through her nose and tried to scream. But it was no use. The man’s palm was pressed too firmly to her lips, his grip on her chest too tight. All that came out was a wheeze. In seconds, he’d pulled her through the door, shut it again, then dragged her to the living room. There, he set her down, then shoved her roughly enough that she landed on the rug. Bits of the shattered coffee table dug into her body. She forced herself to ignore the pain.
Breathing shallowly, Jordynn crawled to the sofa and gripped its edge. She looked up, but didn’t dare stand. Especially not when she spied Ivan, pacing the room in front of the man Dono had tied to the chair. His face was dark and dangerous, and he didn’t bother to stop moving to glance at her as he addressed the man who’d tossed her in.
“Rope her up,” he ordered. “Pull some of that stuff off the Nose to do it.”
The Nose?
But Jordynn didn’t have time to consider the oddity of the nickname. Or to worry that it sounded just a little too pseudo-gangster for her liking. Because the big, rough man had begun to unwind the wire from the unconscious one. And she knew where it was going to wind up next. Her feet itched to outrun the inevitable.
“Now what?” the big man asked as he finished his task.
“I’d like to shoot them both and be done with it,” Ivan muttered.
“The boss—”
“I know what the boss wants.”
Jordynn kept her eyes down, pretending not to follow the exchange. Pretending it didn’t scare the living hell out of her.
Ivan sighed. “We wait, Denny. Hank will take those two gun-happy guards outside, and he’ll help them circle the block until they find Grady.”
“He’s gone? Thought he fell out a damned window.”
“He did. Then he got up and ran off.”
The bigger man—Denny—moved toward her, the wire in his hands. Jordynn cowered back. And wished she could help it. But he either didn’t notice or didn’t care. He just grabbed her hands, held them together and wrapped the wire around her wrists. Tight enough to hurt. Far tighter than necessary. When he had her secured to his satisfaction, he lifted her from the ground and tossed her unceremoniously onto the couch.
“So Grady got away. Again,” he said. “And you really think he’s gonna stick around?”
Ivan’s e
yes skimmed over Jordynn, then he went back to pacing. “He came this far. He won’t leave her. Trust me.”
Jordynn finally managed to find her voice. “Donovan let me think he was dead.”
Both men turned her way. Denny with his eyes narrowed, and Ivan with his expression impassive.
“What makes you think he’ll even bother to come back?” she added.
Ivan shrugged. “Checking up on you was his sole reason for coming back to Ellisberg. All we had to do was drop a hint that you might be in trouble, and he sure as hell came running.”
A hint?
Jordynn squeezed her jaw tightly for a second to keep from asking what he meant. To keep from revealing that she hadn’t the slightest clue about what was really going on.
“But now he knows I’m safe,” she said instead. “So he’s not going to just come back and endanger himself.”
“He knows you’re stuck here with me and Denny and Hank and the Nose. And our guns,” Ivan corrected. “Should be more than enough to motivate him.”
Jordynn shook her head. “No. He already knows you’re not going to kill me. You told him your boss wanted to chat.”
Ivan tapped his gun on his thigh, then cocked his head to the side thoughtfully. Jordynn’s heart skipped a nervous beat at the expression on his face, and she had a funny feeling her plan to divert their attention away from chasing down Donovan had gone wrong.
He smiled, confirming her suspicion. “You’re right. He probably does know you’re not in immediate danger. Denny?”
“Yeah?”
“You still a pretty good shot?”
“Nine out of ten.”
“Good. Tie Ms. Flannigan’s feet together, and gag her, too.” Ivan dug into his pocket and dragged out a set of keys. “My car’s in the alley behind the house. Take her out there, drop her in the trunk, then start the engine and walk back up to the house. You can wait by that big tree in the yard for Grady. He won’t be able to resist the opportunity. When he gets close...shoot him in the knee—maybe both knees—then toss him in the backseat.”
Jordynn fought a gasp and made a last-ditch effort to save herself from being used as bait. “What if he’s not close enough to see?”
“He is.” Ivan sounded utterly sure.
She might’ve argued a little more, but Denny was on her again, his hands working fast to stuff a piece of balled-up cloth into her mouth. When he was done with that, he used another piece of wire to secure it in place, then bound her ankles. In under two minutes, he had her strung up and lifted onto his shoulder.
As he carried her from her living room to the door, Jordynn couldn’t decide what she wanted more—for Dono to be where they assumed he was so he could save her, or if she hoped he’d run for real. She valued her own life. But she couldn’t stand the thought of being directly responsible for Dono’s death. She’d experienced enough guilt over being sure she could’ve done something to prevent his fake one.
I can’t go through that again.
A blast of air hit her as Denny opened the door, and when Jordynn saw that the sun was up almost completely now, a new hope came to mind. More people would be awake. Her neighbor—Tom—he was the earliest riser on the block. But others would be stirring soon, if not now. Making their breakfast, going to work.
Someone will see us and call the police. Someone has to.
But the hope fizzled quickly. Denny kept pressed close to the house and out of view of the street, and the large hedges that lined the yard provided plenty of cover. He slid smoothly along the edge of the building, moving like Jordynn’s weight was nothing. As he snapped open the back gate and moved swiftly down the driveway toward the alley, she wished she were confident enough to drive her bound hands into his kidney and fight like crazy to get away. But she wasn’t convinced she was strong enough to hurt the big man, let alone do enough damage that he’d be forced to drop her. And even if she could do it, she somehow doubted she’d be able to get away faster than he could recover.
Still.
She couldn’t let herself just be taken without a fight, no matter how futile it seemed.
She lifted her arms, then slammed them into his back. Denny didn’t even grunt.
Jordynn made a second attempt. He just spun her around, bent down and dumped her to the ground. She let out a cry—or at least tried to—as her whole body smacked against the gravel. She fought the tears that wanted so desperately to come. She rolled to her back and refused to let them out, staring up at the tree cover above her.
Before that second, she’d always loved the evergreen that grew between the backyards. But right then, they served no purpose but to block her from view of anyone who might be inclined to call 911. And the sight of them above her just made her want to cry even more.
It intensified when Denny spoke. “This plan’ll work even if you’re unconscious. If you don’t want me to make that happen...nod.”
Jordynn forced her head up and down, and the big man reached down to pick her up again. Her despair grew even worse when he folded her into the sedan’s trunk, then slammed the lid shut, pitching her into near-complete darkness. Then the car hummed to life, and Jordynn remembered Denny’s plan to leave it running with her still inside, and those tears threatened again.
She needed something to pull her out of it. But her mind was as dark as the trunk.
So you’re just going to do what? Give up? Rely on Dono, who really might not be coming?
Then—somehow—she found her much-needed motivation.
Donovan.
Or more specifically, the idea that once again, she might never see him. Might never hear his laugh.
His laugh.
God, how she’d always loved the sound it. The way it felt on a pillow next to her head. How it boomed when he really let it go. It was something she never thought she’d hear again. And truthfully, her memory hadn’t done it justice. The bass-y noise warmed Jordynn, tugging at her heart far more than she wanted it to. She wanted to smile and cry at the same time. And wanted to hear it again.
It was enough to remind her that she had no interest in being bait.
She heaved sideways and eyed the taillights. Quickly, she decided that even if she could kick them hard enough to break through the double layer of plastic, it would do no good. And it would alert Denny to the fact that she wasn’t simply letting him use her the way he wanted to.
Jordynn rolled to her back, toyed with the idea of slamming her feet into the lid, then dismissed that, too. The noise might bring help. But more likely it would just bring Denny.
Frustrated, Jordynn exhaled and tilted her head to the other side. Through the cushion backs, she could see a sliver of light. And with that...a sliver of hope.
She inched closer, then reached her bound hands out and ran them along the edge of the seats, right where they met the trunk. She squeezed her fingers into the opening and felt around for a latch. The metal hinges scraped across the backs of her wrists, but Jordynn didn’t stop. She pushed farther in, and in moments, she found a stiff piece of plastic. When she closed her fingers on it, it sprung up with surprising ease. And as she nudged the seat with her shoulder, it folded forward. For a second, Jordynn was surprised into stillness.
Her brain caught up first.
You did it! Now go, go, go, it urged.
And her body was quick to listen.
She wriggled over the flattened seat, careful to keep low and out of sight. It wasn’t exactly easy to be subtle with both her ankles and her wrists tied together. When her hips got stuck in the narrow opening, it took every bit of core strength she had to pull herself through. Her lungs burned with the exertion, and she was as sweaty as she got running her mile-a-day workout. But her hard work paid off. In under three minutes, she made it through to the back. Another thirty seconds—and a fight with the ce
nter console—put her in the driver’s seat. The keys jangled in the ignition. Waiting.
What now?
A glance out the window told her she didn’t have long to decide.
Dono’s familiar form had appeared at the end of the alleyway. And Denny was already slithering along the fence toward him.
* * *
The woman he loved, in easy reach.
The woman he loved, trapped in the trunk of a car.
No one in sight and the car in question running for too many minutes.
Logically, Donovan knew it was a trap.
But logic has nothing to do with it, he thought. And besides that...I’ve waited long enough.
He slowly stalked toward the sedan, his eyes on the prize, but stopped short when a flash of red in the front seat caught his attention. He stared for a long second. There it was again.
“Holy hell,” he murmured. “She got out.”
Impressed and encouraged, he took another step forward. It was that one extra stride that saved him as a silenced bullet flew through the air. Instead of hitting him, it dug itself deep into the ground near his foot.
His eyes flew up in surprise.
There.
A man in the shadows and a flash of silver. And the click of a gun cocking.
Donovan dived, and this time the shot went wide, lodging in the fence beside him.
He threw himself forward, aiming his full body weight at the shooter, who clearly wasn’t expecting an attack. The other man edged away clumsily, and a fist came flying toward Donovan’s gut. The punch was a wild one, though, and it just grazed his T-shirt.
Donovan stumbled, sending up a cloud of dust from the gravel beneath his feet. Even though he recovered quickly, the gray dirt was already in his eyes and mouth, blinding him and making him cough. A second punch came quickly, and the blur of movement was Donovan’s only warning. And this time, he wasn’t quite fast enough. Thick knuckles landed on his shoulder. He spun to the side, then dodged as the attacker jumped forward again. He scrambled backward, cursing as he dug the dust from his eyes. He cleared it just in time to see that the other man was headed toward him once again—and he was surprisingly quick for a big man. He flew at Donovan, fists coming in rapid succession. The action forced Donovan to take on a defensive stance, blocking blow after blow with his elbows and forearms.
Last Chance Hero Page 5
