by Cindy Stark
One step after another, she continued forward until she reached the top. The hatch leading to the roof squeaked as she opened it, and she tried not to let panic consume her. The noise couldn't have been loud enough for anyone else to hear.
Bright sun blinded her as she climbed out. She squinted as she lowered the hatch back in place, and then waited a moment for her eyes to adjust. She was safe for now.
* * *
Jase's arm throbbed like a mother as he exited the freeway and headed down the stretch of highway that would take him to Jenna's. His blood pressure had to be sky high. Who the hell did Trasatti think he was, making a hit like this? It screamed desperation. And now Jase would have to claim retribution. It would get uglier before it was over. As soon as he returned to the apartment, he'd get Allie the hell out of the city.
Another two right turns, and Jase let off the gas, letting his black SUV coast to a stop alongside the road. He clenched his jaw as his blood ran cold. Up ahead, stood the blazing remains of his property. "Sons of bitches."
His phone rang. It was Max. "I'm too late," Jase said.
"I know. I just talked to Jorge. He's got someone in the crowd in front of Jenna's. The cops are taking license plates and photos of by-standers. You need to get the hell out of there."
"What about Jenna?"
There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. "There's nothing you can do for her now."
"Shit." Jase's breath hissed out of him.
"Jase, you need to get back to the apartment."
"Damn it, Max." His heart raced as he slammed on the gas, squealing his tires as he turned around. "I thought you said I needed to be here."
"Word is, they've figured out where she is. I don't know if they really have—"
Jase dropped the phone as he shifted through gears, screaming back toward the city.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Outside on the roof, the midday sun beat down on Allie, but fear ran cold through her veins. It was hard to believe her life was in danger with everything seeming so calm and sunny. But she wasn't fooled. Until she was away from Chicago, she wasn't safe. People wanted her dead. The same people who had broken through a barrier Jase had said couldn't be breached.
Boo ran the perimeter of the small area, sniffing scents as Allie headed toward the secret door Jase had mentioned the previous night.
She wasn't sure going back into the warehouse was a smart thing to do. The bad guys might be looking for her there, too. But she wanted to get off the rooftop and out of sight. She needed somewhere to hide.
She found the small latch and pulled. This doorway wasn't as well hidden as the closet door, but apparently Jase didn't feel anyone would find the first door, so there was no need to hide this one.
She pushed on the heavy door and felt it give a little. Thank God. Using her good shoulder, she put her full weight behind a harder push. The door moved creating an opening a few inches wide.
Boo growled, low and menacing, as he backed up next to her. A shiver raced across the back of her neck. She grabbed his collar. Boo had just informed her that their safe zone had been violated. She turned as the hatch opened. A dark-haired stranger protruded, gun in hand. Shit. When his gaze locked with hers, she dropped the flashlight. There was no doubt, he wanted her dead.
Adrenaline forced her into action. She pushed through the opening, dragging Boo with her. She tried to shut it, but it was too heavy. The only thing she could do was run.
The inside of the doorway led to a narrow hall instead of more stairs. A few widely spaced lights cast a dim glow. She dashed along it with Boo at her heels, afraid to look back. If she hesitated even a moment, she knew she'd be dead.
Ahead was another door. She jerked it open, looking down at stairs that led into a black unknown. She needed the flashlight. But she'd dropped it. Behind her, she heard footsteps pounding in her direction. She took a step into the darkness, her gaze snagging on a deadbolt inside the door. Time. The lock would buy her more precious time.
With Boo inside the door, she shut it, bolting them into the stifling dark. Keeping her hands on both sides of the walls, she descended farther down the stairway. She could hear Boo next to her, but she couldn't see anything.
Allie had no idea how far the steps would descend before she reached the bottom. Someone pounded on the door above her, making her jump and go faster. The pounding grew louder, and she was certain her assailant was trying to kick open the door. The sound of splintering wood echoed down the stairwell like a death sentence.
"There! There she is."
There was more than one person after her? She slipped and tumbled down the last four stairs, landing hard on her injured arm. Boo jumped next to her, seeming to sense now was not the time to fight.
The men trampled down the steps, and she kicked with every bit of strength she had at the panel in front of her. It crashed open, and she found herself in another closet. She didn't stop to think. She jumped to her feet, pushing open the door as footsteps clambered down behind her.
Thank God no one menacing waited for her in what Jase had said would be his office. She barely caught a glimpse of the wood-paneled walls and a desk as she rushed through the next door and out into the warehouse. "Boo," she called. "Come."
Allie didn't wait to see if he followed, but was grateful when she looked down and found the black dog running next to her. She weaved in and out of the towering aisles of cardboard boxes, toward what she hoped was the front of the warehouse. God help her if she'd lost her sense of direction in all of the chaos.
She hadn't seen or heard the men since she'd left Jase's office, so she could only hope—
Her lungs deflated as a huge body collided with hers, knocking her to the ground. Her ankle twisted as she hit the cement with a painful thud. Immediately, Boo was upon them, growling and biting the oversized man who'd taken her down. The creep rolled off her, more concerned with his furry attacker than her.
"Get off me, you son-of-a-bitch." The man tried to pry Jase's dog off his arm while he looked wildly around on the floor. Allie looked, too, and then she spied it. His gun.
She scurried on hands and knees, seeing the fury in the man's face when he realized she'd get to it before he did. With a wild swing, he knocked the dog off him, sending Boo skidding across the floor with a yelp.
She grabbed the gun and pointed it at him. "Don't move." Her voice shook as much as her hands did.
A sinister smile crept over the man's face. "Come on, honey. We both know you ain't gonna use it."
"I will." She stood, wincing at the pain shooting up her ankle. Boo got to his feet as well, growling at the man, but keeping a fair distance. "If you move, I'll kill you." Allie patted her thigh, calling the dog to her.
"Then you're going to have to 'cause that's the only way you're going to stop me." He got to his knees and then stood, never taking his eyes off her. Every inch of Allie shook with fear as he took a step forward, grinning.
She pulled the trigger. The sound of the gun echoed through the high-ceilinged building. The man took another step and then dropped, a surprised look on his face.
He hadn't thought she'd do it. She hadn't known she could.
And now everyone in the building knew where she was. She started running again, each stride a step of complete agony.
* * *
Jase made it back to the city in record time. But it was not fast enough for him. Each mile, each minute was raw torture. He'd left Allie alone. He'd left her vulnerable when she'd begged him not to. How stupid could he have been?
He'd played right into their trap.
Finally, he turned the corner and sped down the last half a block to his warehouse.
The bay door stood open. His heart stopped. Not a good sign.
He barely slowed as he cornered the vehicle, entered the warehouse, and slammed on his brakes. He exited the SUV, drawing his weapon from beneath his jacket in a single fluid movement.
Crouched next to the driver's door, he sc
anned the area. Shit. Three of his men lay dead next to the bay door.
Kip Bennion caught his attention with a wave of his gun. The stocky man who'd been his first hire jerked his weapon toward the northeast corner of the warehouse. Jase nodded his acknowledgment.
Taking care to stay low, Jase crept in the opposite direction of Kip, hoping to take them from both sides. He hadn't seen or heard Allie. He could only hope that they hadn't found her yet.
Jase made it past the first aisle when a gunshot rang out, not far from where he was. He took a quick peek around the closest corner. His heart clogged his throat.
Allie ran toward him with a crazy limp and a gun in her hand. Boo followed next to her. Jase moved into the aisle so she could see him. Recognition showed on her face along with a heated mixture of fear and pain. She was still several hundred yards away from him, and she kept thumbing over her shoulder.
Then he saw the reason for her fear. A would-be assailant turned a corner after her, and stopped, raising his weapon. Jase didn't hesitate. He took aim and fired. Allie screamed, but didn't stop running. One of Trasatti's best men dropped on the spot.
Jase ran to Allie. "Hurry. My car's not far." He took her hand and pulled her along as Boo barked at their heels.
Shots rang from every direction as they approached his SUV. Bennion and another of his men kept the shooters at a distance. Jase ran for the driver's side as Allie climbed into the passenger seat after Boo. He hated leaving his men, but the best thing he could do for everyone was to get Allie the hell out of there. If she was gone, there wouldn't be much of a reason for his enemies to stick around. Not unless they all wanted to die.
The engine roared to life and Jase peeled backward out of the warehouse. A bright yellow Volkswagen barely missed slamming into him. The driver laid on his horn to show his irritation, but Jase ignored him as he headed down the street and turned the first in a series of corners. When he'd driven several miles and was sure no one had followed them, he jumped on to the Interstate.
With the noon sun overhead, Jase slowed his speed, blending in with the other traffic as he tried to slow his heart rate. He glanced at Allie. Her tears had stopped, but her face was as pale as the Chicago sky before a winter storm. She seemed so lost, sitting there in his big T-shirt.
"Are you okay?" His voice echoed oddly in the quiet vehicle after all of the previous commotion. Even Boo was silent, lying on the back seat.
"Yeah." Allie's answer was subdued as she stared out the windshield. She still held the gun, pointing the barrel down between her knees.
Shit. She wasn't okay, and he knew it. This whole fiasco had been more than she could handle. Which was why there was not a remote possibility he could ever consider a future with her. His way of life was too violent.
"Allie? You need to give me the gun now."
She turned her face toward him, her eyes huge and shocked. The look devastated him. "Give it to me, and I'll take care of it."
She slowly handed it to him. He clicked on the safety and stuffed it under his seat. With a ton of guilt on his shoulders, he reached over and took her hand. She latched on to him as though her life depended on it. What could he say to her? He had no idea. "I'm sorry."
She nodded and turned toward the front window.
More than a half hour passed before she spoke again. "I—" She took a long pause. "I shot someone."
He had wondered how she'd ended up with a gun and if she'd had to use it, but he hadn't wanted to ask. "It's okay. It was self-defense. You didn't have a choice."
"I killed him."
"Allie, listen to me." He would not allow her to accept responsibility for what had happened. "You did what you had to do. If you hadn't shot him, he would have killed you."
"And Boo," she answered in a small voice.
He wouldn't disagree with that. "And Boo." He squeezed her hand as he glanced over his shoulder at the sleeping dog. "You did a good job protecting him."
"The man kicked him. He would have killed him." She seemed to be grasping for a reason for the insanity of what had happened.
"He was a bad person, Allie. You did the right thing."
She seemed to accept that. Her shoulders relaxed against the seat as her grip on his hand lessened. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
Jase was grateful when Allie fell asleep. He looked over his shoulder and changed into an inside lane of traffic. He turned the radio up a bit so his voice wouldn't disturb her sleep and pulled out his cell phone. Max answered on the second ring.
"Give me the status."
Max sighed. "It's bloody. We lost five good men today." The sound of a doctor being paged came through the phone.
"Damn." Jase didn't want to hear that. "Are you at the hospital?" Even though his men knew what they'd signed up for, they had families, people who loved and depended on them.
"Yeah, I'm here with Johnson. They're patching him up. He took one in the thigh, but he'll be okay. The cops are waiting to take him in when the docs are through with him."
"Did you call our lawyer?"
"It's taken care of."
Hell, in the matter of a few days and one woman, his entire organization had been rocked to the core. "Who ratted us out, 'cause you know damn well someone did."
"I have no idea," Max answered. "I'm still working on that." He paused.
"Somebody talked." Jase was pretty sure his men were loyal, but he'd also learned money was a powerful lure. "You're positive they were there for Allie, right?" Jase was sure, but he wanted to hear Max say it.
"Yeah. Kip managed to get that out of one of Trasatti's men before he gurgled his last breath. They want her bad." Another pause. "Did you find out why?"
Jase put his foot on the brake as the car in front of him slowed. "No. We've talked about it, but she doesn't seem to have a clue." He couldn't help remember the awkward way she'd avoided his gaze last night when he'd asked about her ties to the mob. Was she telling the truth?
"She doesn't seem to have a clue? Damn it Jase, have you even tried to get anything out of her? For all you know, she could be a double dealer sent to infiltrate your organization. Maybe they're just making it look like they want her, when really they want you. We've done enough shit to them in the past that they'd love to plant us."
That pissed him off. He couldn't believe Allie would betray him. Her awkwardness had been that she hadn't wanted him to see how much pain she was in after the phone call to her aunt. Nothing else. "She's not one of them."
"How the hell do you know?" Max voiced his frustration.
"I know," Jase answered, lowering his tone. "She had to shoot one of them today."
"So, maybe she's cold-blooded. You know what they say, everyone in the outfit is dispensable if it furthers the cause."
No. There was no way the sleeping young woman next to him would whack somebody. "Did the guy die?"
"Yeah, along with a bunch of other guys."
Shit. There was no mistaking Max's annoyance, but that didn't change things with Allie. "I'm not wrong about her, Max."
"All right, Jase, but you'd better pump her for information. Do whatever it takes. She knows something."
"Okay. I will. I'm heading out of town right now. Keep me posted." Max was right on that count. If Trasatti wanted her that bad, either she had, or they thought she had, some pretty damning evidence. It looked like he was going to have to squeeze her again for information.
He hung up the phone and glanced at Allie. With all the trauma she'd experienced over the past two days, she needed rest. And she still needed to have her bandage changed. He'd had Max help him earlier that morning, but he'd figured he would have had plenty of time to change hers later on. It was amazing how fast life could shift from one reality to another.
Just like his had several years before. Nothing in life was constant. Allie had been on a date with her boyfriend, and bam, life changed. His own existence had been altered when his family had taken a celebratory trip from Oregon to Chicago. O
ne minute a person could be happy, and in the next, life could become unbearable.
Sometimes when his defenses were down, he'd still see his sister, Charlotte, drowning in a pool of her own blood. Fucking Trasatti family. They would pay. He would waste his dying breath if he had to, to make sure they did, and soon. Max had convinced him that his vengeance would be sweet, and up until this point, he hadn't cared if it took a lifetime to see it happen. But it seemed his patience had worn thin. His goals were taking too damn long to realize. He glanced over at his passenger. A peaceful look had settled on her face. Too damn long.
* * *
A bump woke Allie, and she shifted in her seat, slowly opening her dry eyes. She stretched her stiff neck, trying to get her bearings. The afternoon sun hovered in front of them, shining down on the stretch of freeway that lay ahead. Other cars filled the lanes, but they weren't jam-packed like they would be in downtown Chicago.
Allie hadn't forgotten her second close call with death, but she wasn't quite sure how to deal with it either. Her insides were raw, abused by terror, but she was with Jase again. Safe again. That thought alone kept her sane.
"Where are we?"
"We're a couple of hours outside the city." He glanced at her, his eyes hidden behind a pair of dark sunglasses. "I'm taking us to Cedar Rapids, and we'll catch a flight from there. Less chance someone will find out where we've gone if we put some distance between us and that God-forsaken neighborhood back there."
Allie blinked, trying to process the anger in his voice. Sure, he'd almost been killed, too, but wasn't that part of his chosen profession? Was he angry because his building had been destroyed? Or Jenna? Allie didn't dare ask if she was okay. "Where are we going after we reach Cedar Rapids?"
"Oregon."
"Oregon?" That surprised her. She'd never been more than a couple of hours outside Chicago. Now she was headed toward the west coast? "What am I going to do in Oregon? Is that where my new life will be?"
