“That’s true, Lewis. You’re right,” Jenna said with sincerity. She leaned over him, her lips close to his ear. “I was going to let you skulk away with your tail between your legs, and let you get on with your life after that. I was going to be nice.” She put her hand on his hurt shoulder, smiling when he jolted. “But now I’m going to bury your career and then fuck that Nazi on your ruins. I’ll enjoy every minute of it.” She gave his shoulder a hard push, and straightened up. “You’re not very smart, Lewis.”
She walked away with rage simmering, headed for the calming waters of the lake. When Jack steered her in another direction, she let him. She couldn’t tell what pissed her off so much about Lewis’s comment—what did it matter what that horse’s ass thought of her with Josh?—but something had her fingers tingling, demanding violence.
Coming out of her reverie, she noticed she was sitting next to Erika and Mike, still clutching each other. “Mike, don’t you have a wife?”
He and Erika both blinked. They focused on her as if four eyes were attached to the same brain. There was more blinking as Jack got into the car.
“I want to sit in the front,” she said to Jack as he got in.
“Then get out of the car and move to the front.” He talked to her as if she were seven years old and also hard of hearing.
Feeling sheepish, because she really should’ve tried the handle first, she climbed out of the SUV and into the front seat. She clicked her seatbelt in place and then wiped her face, wishing that would’ve wiped away the fatigue.
“Erika, Mike, snap out of it,” she said with a hint of irritation, bordering on desperation. “We need to figure out what the hell is going on.”
The sound of shuffling came from the back seat. Erika had a slightly dazed look on her face, and she was still blinking. Mike had a pink flush and was getting himself together. Reality was slowly seeping into the air around them.
“Well,” Mike said slowly, “I overheard Don say he needed to send us away. Get us off the radar.”
“Why?” Jenna asked.
“Something about them coming after us to stall things.”
“Them? Who’re them?”
“I don’t know. Them. They. The mysterious silent partner.”
“Wha— Not following—”
“Look, Jenna, my brain is still foggy from seeing Dale get shot ten feet from my face. Give me a break.”
“Mike, Dale got shot two feet from mine. I pull trump card on this one.”
“You are a black-hearted bitch.”
“We are being shot at. Please get your head in order and help me figure out why. I’m not in the mood to die today.”
She heard Mike release a big sigh. They were slowly winding their way through trees and tight spaces. She wondered how Jack got the car up there. Yes it was a Jeep, but still. Everyone else was in golf carts.
“Okay, he was giving his usual rant about ‘them’ not winning. I got the idea we were trying to build in a neighborhood that is riddled with money-laundering businesses for the mob or something. A bunch of developers will go in with us and basically tear down the neighborhood to build high-dollar businesses and expensive condos and things like that. That effectively takes the mob out of action.”
“That sounds crazy,” Jenna said, shaking her head in denial.
“I know, but we’ve been hearing those rumors since we started, remember?”
“Hearing and discounting.”
“But now we’re being shot at.”
“True. Fine. But we got permission through the city. There isn’t a ton they—whoever they are—can do. And don’t say besides killing us, because that won’t stop the building from going up.”
“The planning commission isn’t the most legit of city departments,” Erika said. “Don bribes people to get things done all the time. Not hard to think someone else can bribe them as well.”
“Bribery makes sense…with the planning commission and city council.” Jenna rubbed her eyes. “Perfect sense. Don would go crazy for someone one-upping him in that. But still, there’s a lot of difference between bribing someone and shooting someone.”
“You guys talk of bribing city officials like it is a normal and legal thing to do,” Jack said incredulously.
“Sergeant, this great nation is run on bribes. Your elected officials create bills based on bribes from people called lobbyists. There is a thick gray area going on there. Anyway, Mike, you were about to say?”
Mike blinked between Jenna and the police officer before he said, “Not to the mob.”
Jenna rubbed her eyes. “Yes, even to the mob—or whoever.”
“Don would probably win as far as the planning commission and the city council are concerned.” Mike grabbed the headrest so he could shift forward. “He knows a lot of people, and he does a lot of business with them. We work for the devil—not even the mob can compete with that—”
“Will you leave the mob out of it?” Jenna pressed her palm against the dashboard in fear as the car rocked sideways, heading down a steep slide of rocks at a terrifying slant. “Sergeant, are you planning to finish us off?”
“Nothing to see here, folks. Nothing to see,” Jack said with a smile.
“Oh sh—” Mike clutched the seat in front of him.
Erika squeezed her eyes shut. “Okay, so they—we still don’t know who ‘they’ are—try to go through the proper channels to shut down the building. But that’s taking too long. Can I open my eyes yet?”
The SUV rocked to the side. Jenna watched in horror as it rolled into a fast-moving stream. “Cars don’t float!”
“This one has a snorkel. It will breathe. And if it breathes, it lives.” Jack smiled wickedly.
“Are you crazy?” Jenna asked.
“Yes, ma’am, I believe I am.”
“Don’t open your eyes, Erika,” Mike warned.
“So anyway, what else can they do to stall work on the building so they can put more effort into exploring the legal avenues to getting it stopped?” Erika asked through clenched teeth.
“Take out the design team,” Mike said.
“By shooting them? Really, guys? This isn’t a movie. Oh no!” Jenna watched the water crawl up the hood. The vehicle lifted on one side and fell, going over a rock on the stream bed.
“Do I hear water?” Erika asked.
“You don’t want to know.” Mike stared out the window.
“No problem. Easy.” Jax turned the wheel again, navigating them out of the stream.
Jenna took a moment to gather her breath.
“Well, look at the facts,” Mike said. “We were nearly torn apart by picketers, then the plans were red-lighted, and then we got sent away to bum-fuck-nowhere to tramp around in the woods. Now we are being shot at.”
“What about some of the protesters?” Erika asked.
“I would believe that a lot sooner than the mob,” Jenna answered.
“Regardless of who it is, someone is trying to kill us to stop the building going up,” Erika whispered.
“But that is stupid.” Jenna swiped at her hair in aggravation. “We have backup plans everywhere. Even the planning commission has backup. All someone has to do is look at all the plans, piece them together, and finish them up. Anyone can do that.”
“No, not anyone,” Erika said.
“Yes, anyone. It would slow things down, sure. That is true. Even I admit that without our vision this building would be difficult to realize in the time allotted. But given more time, someone else could finish up.”
“No, Jenna, not without your insight,” Erika said quietly. “Not in the way that would make the building twenty years ahead of its time. The design is flawless, it is utterly original, and it is all your idea.”
“It is all of our ideas, first off. There are a million flaws, but I have everything written down all over the place. If someone takes me out, which sounds ridiculous, but if someone did, all you would have to do is get all the ideas, plans, and tools, and pull it
together.”
“How many times have we all decided on something, then you come along, call us dumb, and change everything?” Mike asked.
“Okay, that is because I am hard to work with. I just have a certain idea for the look. But that isn’t necessary to finishing it.”
“It is necessary to finishing it in the style Don is trying to sell. He needs you. He knows it, we know it—you’re the only one that thinks you aren’t any more valuable than the rest of us. Hell, even Lewis has admitted it a few times, though he hates you for it.”
“He is such a dick!” Jenna said, thinking back to Lewis’s earlier comment to deflect her sudden feeling of dread. If Mike was right—which was preposterous, but if he were—then the shooter really was targeting her. She didn’t want to think about that possibility.
“Why, ’cause he cheated?” Mike asked. “Poor model girl doesn’t think men will stray from her candy-flavored tits?”
“Shut up. And no, actually. Because he called Jo—Chuck Nazi trash.”
“Oh. That was stupid,” Mike said, instantly humbled. “That guy scares the shit out of me. I get the feeling he wants to scalp me or something.”
“Why do you care?” Erika asked Jenna suspiciously.
Jenna rubbed her temples. She didn’t like the direction of that question any more than she liked the idea of the mob gunning for her. “Today sucks.”
“The only easy day was yesterday,” Jack said quietly, finally driving on a flat track and looking bored.
“I suppose you’ll say that tomorrow, too.”
“A-yup.”
Jenna sighed. “Okay, so, I am the golden child and now it will get me shot and killed.”
There was silence from the back seat.
“No,” she yelled, sitting straighter.
Jack slammed on the brakes at her sudden outburst. The car slid on the loose forest floor and swerved toward a massive tree. Everyone screamed.
“Please don’t do that,” Jack said calmly with a huge smile on his face, when the car was back under control.
“No what, Jenna?” Erika asked. She sounded like she was crying. Jenna looked back and verified that she was.
“Don’t you— Damn it. Are you crying for me?” Jenna asked crossly.
Erika looked out the window.
“Don’t you do it, Erika! Don’t you cry for me! Don’t—”
Suddenly Jenna couldn’t breathe. She flashed back to the image of looking down at herself covered in blood. She imagined it was her blood. The reality of what was happening sank in.
“Let me out,” Jenna said as she pawed at the door handle.
“Now, now, Missus Anderson, that is a bad idea,” Jack said, unperturbed.
Panic drenching her thoughts, she was unable to breathe, and, just needing to get out, Jenna punched Jack in the side of the face.
The car swerved and came to a sudden halt. The two in the back screamed.
Jack turned very slowly, his eyes on fire. Nervous tingles spread through her. “That wasn’t very nice…”
Sucking in air, unable to fill her lungs, Jenna ripped at the door handle again. “Let. Me. Out,” she yelled at him, fighting for air.
Brown eyes so dark they were almost black challenged her. “No.”
“No?” Her focus melted down into one need: get out. She put all the ice she could muster into her stare. “Are you telling me you are kidnapping me, sergeant?”
His pupils contracted, but that was all the emotion he showed. This wasn’t enemy territory. This was the United States. He couldn’t detain her without arresting her. He knew it. She knew it.
“Actually, Miss Anderson, I am placing you under arrest for assaulting a police officer.”
She paused. “Well played, sir.” He was a quick thinker. “I guess I am lucky, then.”
Jack nodded without asking why, and put the car in gear. Before he could hit the gas, Jenna punched him again as hard as she could.
“Holy shit!” Mike yelled from the back.
Jack slammed on the brakes and threw the SUV in park. He snatched her hands in an iron grip and held them to her sides. “Please stop punching me, Jenna. Listen, I’ve got you— Stop wiggling! I’ll keep you safe until I can turn you over to Josh. That guy is the best there is. If anyone—”
She rocked forward and head-butted him in the nose.
“Motherfu— That’s it. Time for cuffs.” He climbed out of the car. “He can sure pick ’em,” he muttered as he slammed the door behind him, blood trickling from his nose and lightning playing in his eyes.
Jenna saw her opportunity. She yanked the handle and pushed the door open, falling out and staggering. Getting her feet, hearing another curse, she took off running.
“Run, Jenna, run,” Erika yelled from the back of the car.
Surprisingly, Erika wasn’t trying to be funny.
Chapter Twenty-Three
It took her a few seconds of sprinting to realize she wasn’t being followed. Jenna ducked behind a tree and looked back. Erika was grappling with Jack, losing, and was then shoved back into the car.
Jack turned in Jenna’s direction and started to jog.
For a guy with a little extra chub, it was a damned fast and athletic jog.
“Oh shit,” Jenna exclaimed. Adrenaline filled her body. Hysteria bubbled up in chuckles as she ran. She’d been training, so she was fast. But her boots still hurt her feet and she had never run in the woods, so he was faster.
His footsteps got louder, gaining on her. Closing the distance with record speed.
She put more into it, winding through the trees, using her size to squeeze through thick brush. She didn’t even know where she was going anymore, just that she didn’t want to get caught by that man. He wasn’t just a cop, he was something more. Something terrifying.
After jumping a rock and then slipping through some thick brush, she gained distance. He was having a hard time getting through the brambles that were reaching and clutching. She smiled in glee, still running hard, and then her foot caught a root.
Jenna stumbled and hit the ground. Unfortunately, the ground fell away, down a steep slide into a ravine. Rolling over and over, she hit rocks and thumped downward until she splashed into a trickle of water.
At least her boots hadn’t hit the water. That would have ruined them.
Carefully getting up, shaking herself to make sure nothing was broken, she scanned for Jack. Nothing moved, but if he was anything like Josh, that didn’t mean much. Still with no idea of where she was going except for away, she climbed up the other side. She made it four feet before a black shape emerged from the brush and grabbed her.
She screamed and punched out, hitting a rock-hard stomach before she was spun around and put into one helluva headlock. Before she knew what had happened, she was pushed away with metal encircling her wrists.
“Wow…” She panted, exhausted. “You’re good.”
His face said anger but his eyes said hilarious! “Are you hurt as well as stupid?” he asked.
“No. You?”
He shook his head and grabbed her arm. “C’mon, Grease Lightning.”
“How did you get in front of me?” she asked.
“You took a long time to roll down the hill.”
“Oh.”
“That why you’re lucky, then?” Jack asked, steering her around a bush. “Assaulting is assaulting is assaulting?”
“You are correct, Watson. Bloody good show.”
“I should have charged you with murder, is that it?”
“That would have made it another infraction if I assaulted you,” Jenna said with a smirk.
“I have a hard time believing that would’ve stopped you,” Jack muttered.
“It wouldn’t have, but you would have had me for more.”
“You are crazy, woman. Sheer, stark-raving mad, you know that?”
“Crazy is in the eye of the beholder, sergeant.”
Jack laughed as he stuffed her into the back seat wit
h the other trapped designers. Apparently he could make it so the doors wouldn’t open if he wanted to.
Now he wanted to.
Josh stood in front of the station with his hands clasped behind his back, waiting for Jax and the others. He’d found the shooting site and confirmed that it wasn’t a professional sniper. Food wrappers and other trash littered the area and grooves scored the log that the gunman had used for stability, but the weeds weren’t badly trampled. They’d spring back up in no time, indicating the gunman had probably been following them, saw them stop at the lake, and set up shop.
Josh had marked the area on the map for Jax to investigate later, and hitched a ride back to base. He’d expected to get there right after Jax.
It had been nearly a half-hour. No Jax.
Josh flexed his arms and barely kept from pacing, knowing that agitated movement displayed lack of control. It didn’t really matter anymore, but the habit was still there. Still ingrained.
Jax could handle himself, and he could protect his cargo, but dealing with Jenna could be an art, and Jax was no Picasso. He also wasn’t as rough or dominating as he’d need to be.
Josh checked his watch. The only thing he could think of was that something had gone wrong.
He’d turned to head inside when he saw the familiar SUV driving down the two-lane highway toward the station. He let out a sigh of relief but couldn’t stop the anger slowly building.
As the vehicle slowed to a stop, his eyes caught sight of Jenna in the back seat. Tiny scratches from branches or thorns marred her beautiful face, and a couple of leaves were caught in her hair.
Jax had let her run, which could’ve been lethal.
He gave his buddy a hard stare as he pulled to a stop and got out of the car.
“Hey, man.” Jax put his hands up. It was then Josh noticed the smear of blood under his red nose. “This wasn’t my fault. Turns out, not taking shit from her is harder than I had originally expected.”
“What happened?”
Jax ripped open the door and then hesitated before gingerly reaching in. He helped Jenna, calm as a lamb, out of the SUV. Her hands were handcuffed behind her back and her body was covered in dirt.
Unexpected Hero (Skyline Trilogy Book 1) Page 21
