Danger Zone: Tales of Military Passion

by Marie Harte

  *

  JIMMY SLID HIS smart-phone into his pocket with a sly grin. “They’re on the run.”

  Lisa nodded once and headed for the minivan. “Good. And you’re sure they’ll relate the information to the gimp?”

  Jimmy nodded, though Lisa was turned away from him. “They will. If the PD thinks they can lead the rescue, though, they’ll do that first. Then they’ll tell LNF.”

  Shannon watched the other woman struggle inside the van for a moment before pulling out a long-legged tripod. She handed it off to Jimmy then climbed back inside the van. When she reappeared she had a compact video camera in her hand and a bright orange paramedic bag over her shoulder. Shannon’s skin chilled at the thought of being drugged again and her hand tightened on the grip of her pistol. If she stayed completely still with the blanket draped around her there was no chance they would see, but she had to drag the slide back to chamber a round, and that would make noise. A very distinctive noise.

  Her eyes darted frantically, trying to decide if she could bolt. Jimmy seemed to recognize her intentions, though, and wagged a finger at her. “No, no, no. Don’t make me tie your feet. It will make it that much more difficult to play.”

  He grinned at her with heat in his eyes and, for the first time, Shannon worried that they wouldn’t kill her, they would just play with her. By the look of things they were going to record the entire ordeal. Maybe it would all just be an act to have ransom demands met.

  Fear clogged her throat and slicked her hands on the grip. If he came at her, she would have no choice but to shoot him. The thought of pulling the trigger on another human being was abhorrent to her, but she would do everything she could to protect herself. Never seeing John again was not an option. And though he wasn’t Mike, there would be a certain satisfaction in getting revenge for what they’d been doing to her over the past month.

  Lisa attached the camera to the tripod, removed the lens-cap and centered it directly on Shannon. She clenched her jaw at the invasion and tipped up her chin. If they were going to record her, it would not be as a cooperative victim.

  *

  JOHN SILENTLY URGED Duncan to drive faster, though he knew the need for stealth. It was why he’d let Duncan drive. He didn’t trust himself not to just plow the truck into the warehouse in search of her.

  “Alpha 2, I have a visual. Over.”

  John pressed the earpiece tight to his ear so as not to miss anything. “Request you say again.”

  “Alpha 2, I have a visual. Tangos are located in the northwest corner of the warehouse. Three tangos in all, two standing, one seated. Over.”

  “Roger. Out.”

  He looked at Duncan, whose lips were pursed with concentration as he navigated the scrap yard left over from Hartwell Enterprises. During their heyday they’d been a glass bottle recycling company, but they’d gone under many years ago. Now the property was littered with derelict, unidentifiable equipment and overgrown bushes and trees. And while it provided them great cover, it was also difficult to navigate. Four of them were in Harper’s Humvee. The Night shift guys were moving in from the east and would provide back-up when Day shift moved in. Chad and Roger Stottsberry were in the seats behind him, armored and ready to move in.

  “Alpha 2, I have movement inside the building. Are you in position? Over.”

  “Negative,” he growled. “We are not in position. Over.”

  “Permission to neutralize targets, over?”

  John didn’t even hesitate.

  “Granted. Whatever you need to do to keep her safe.”

  His heart thudded and he gripped the dash in iron fists, urging the truck faster. Duncan seemed to be just as on edge, because in spite of the danger he sped up.

  *

  SHANNON’S HEART RACED as Lisa pressed a couple of buttons on top of the recorder and a red light came on. Dread coursed through her as she realized they were getting ready to do something to her. Or maybe Lisa was recording a ransom demand. Hope flared in her chest. “Why are you recording?” she asked desperately.

  Lisa gave her an enigmatic smile and stepped into the camera’s view. Jimmy stepped behind the viewer and gave her a thumbs-up.

  “Hello, Michael.”

  Shannon felt her mouth fall open as cold fear tightened her scalp. They weren’t demanding ransom. They were recording her death.

  “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you, and I apologize for that, but it’s been necessary. All of the plans I’ve made are coming to fruition, and I hope that you will soon be able to get over the infatuation you feel for this woman. I’ve watched her for months and she is not the idol you think she is.”

  Shannon shook her head, not believing what she was hearing. Michael wasn’t even eligible for parole for two years, so she had no idea why Lisa was even recording. He wouldn’t be able to see the tape inside prison. But maybe two years was not such a big deal to Lisa.

  Another thought occurred to her. If she wasn’t there to contest the parole proceeding, he would probably have a much better chance of being released.

  She tensed when Lisa turned to her.

  “Michael, this woman has repeatedly turned you away, and now she’s sleeping with a cripple.” Lisa pulled a large eight-by-ten from a stack of items on a box and turned it toward the camera.

  Shannon assumed it was a picture of John, but she couldn’t see from where she was. Jimmy snorted from behind the camera and shook his head. His gaze connected with hers and he sent her a disgusted look.

  The unfairness of the entire situation, the complete ridiculousness, made her want to cry. She was a good person. She didn’t deserve to be treated this way.

  Lisa lowered the picture and Shannon caught a glimpse of it. She was curled up in John’s lap with her arms around his neck. The wheelchair took up half the picture because it was zoomed in. She gasped as she realized when the picture was taken. It had been in her bedroom the night Harper had been called in. Somebody had been standing outside with a camera and had captured the moment. She could only imagine what else he’d captured. They’d gone to bed not long after that.

  She looked at Jimmy and he smiled.

  Instinctively, her hand tightened on the grip of the pistol.

  That had been a very private moment, when John had held her. She dreaded to think what else he had.

  She had her answer when Lisa pulled another eight-by-ten from the stack. This time she turned and held it up to show Shannon.

  As much as she wanted to control her emotions, tears immediately welled in her eyes and dripped down her cheeks at the blatant invasion. In this picture she was astride John in the bed, her head tossed back in release. His eyes were closed in pleasure. The only saving grace was that he had his hands covering her breasts.

  I’m sure that’s not the only picture he took, though.

  Jimmy seemed to delight in her tears, grinning fiercely. Lisa seemed satisfied, too, because she turned back to the camera and held up the picture. “You didn’t believe me when I told you she had moved on. Here is the proof. Jimmy just took this picture, and he has more if you need to see them.”

  Lisa dropped the picture to the stack, as if disgusted, then stepped back in front of the camera. “Michael, I love you and hope you’ll be able to move on now that you’ve seen her betrayal. She’s not waiting for you, as you’ve believed for so long. But I am.” She put her hand over her heart. “I’m waiting for you and I’ll continue to wait for as long as it takes for you to get out.”

  Shannon felt like Lisa was coming to the end of her speech and she scrambled for something to delay. The bracelet wasn’t on her wrist anymore, so her hopes that John would roll in to the rescue were already slim, but she had to try.

  “When did you meet Michael, Lisa?”

  The other woman turned and surveyed her with cool eyes. “We met a few years ago when I worked in a hospital in Columbus. Michael had been attacked during a fight and knifed repeatedly. I took care of him for weeks while he was recovering
. Before he left the hospital he said that he wished he could love me without regret. That I was his angel.”

  Shannon tried to keep her face calm and accepting, though she thought Lisa was off her rocker. Had she actually done all this in the hopes that he would stay with her once he got out?

  “He called me his angel, too.”

  Lisa’s face darkened with anger. “No, he didn’t.”

  Shannon nodded. Maybe if she could get Lisa off the plan she obviously had in her head she could have a chance at surviving. “He did, actually. All the time. ‘Honey’ was another favorite.”

  Fury sparked in the other woman’s eyes and she stepped forward as if to smack Shannon, but Jimmy grabbed her arm. “Don’t, Lisa. She’s just messing with you.”

  Well, in for a penny, in for a pound.

  “And why are you doing her dirty work?” Shannon asked, trying to needle him. “You’ve given up your career to screw her, but she’s doing all this for another man. What are you going to do when she’s done with me? Go on the run for the rest of your life?”

  His lips tightened and he hesitated.

  “How did you even hook up with her? She’s bad news.”

  Jimmy’s lips tipped up in a smile. “But she’s clearing the way for my brother to get out of prison for a crime he didn’t commit.”

  Shannon jerked back in shock, shaking her head. Of all the things she expected to hear out of his mouth, that wasn’t one of them. Mike had relatives, but she didn’t remember Jimmy being one of them. “No, you’re not. You don’t look anything like him.”

  Shrugging, Jimmy cocked a hip, still holding onto Lisa’s arm. “Doesn’t change the fact that we shared a father. I wasn’t in the court with everybody else, but I followed the trial as much as I could. When you testified about what had happened, I knew you were lying. Because my brother wouldn’t have done that stuff. You had to have led him on, just like he said. Just like you did with me in the conference room.”

  “I didn’t,” she gasped, compelled to defend herself. “You were hitting on me but I wanted nothing to do with you.”

  He smirked. “Right. I know you had to play it that way in front of your boss, but I know what you were thinking. You liked the attention. And you kept glancing at him to make sure he saw. You’ve probably slept with all those rejects in there. Fucking a guy in a wheelchair is just foul. You’re an awful good actress in those pictures, though.”

  Shannon clamped her jaw shut and forced herself to sit still, angry, frustrated tears filling her eyes. The complete sickness rampant in the family was appalling. She wanted to lurch to her feet and scream at him, but she refused to let go of the gun to do it. She actually shook with the effort to stay seated.

  “Job security, right?”

  She looked away, out over the expanse of the warehouse. It didn’t matter what she said or did, they already thought they knew her. Nothing she said would change their sick minds.

  Lisa turned away and reached for the bright orange medic bag. She sifted for just a moment before pulling out a syringe and several bottles of a clear fluid.

  Shannon’s heart stalled, then began to race. “You’re making a mistake, Lisa. Getting rid of me won’t get you Michael. It will just make him miss me more.”

  Lisa’s hands fumbled a bottle.

  “Why would you ever accept second best from anybody? You’re a fantastic human being, a wonderful nurse. What are you going to do when you can’t be a nurse?”

  This time, her movements paused and she rested her hands on the bag. Shannon grasped for inspiration. “You were a fantastic friend, too, I thought. I loved being with you and joking around. This doesn’t have to be the end of all that.”

  Lisa snatched up the bottle and syringe, and started refilling. “Jimmy, lay her down and hold her.”

  Shannon tensed as Jimmy started to walk toward her. Her thoughts raced and her hand tightened on the butt of the gun. Her heart, on the other hand, completely stopped beating. It has to be now! Tossing the blanket from her shoulders, she lunged to her feet. Or she tried to. She’d been sitting so long her legs had partially gone to sleep. She stumbled as he drew close and she lifted her weapon. He didn’t even pause as he advanced.

  But neither did she.

  She scraped the slide back with her hand, loading the bullet. The little Beretta bucked in her hand as she squeezed the trigger, but she hit what she aimed for. His upper chest.

  The smirk left his face, replaced by utter disbelief. He paused for just a moment, then shook his head and continued toward her. She fired again just as he reached her and toppled over.

  Shannon lost track of everything as two hundred pounds of man came down on top of her, slamming her into the rough ground. Her head bounced off the concrete and the gun skittered across the floor, useless. Her breath slammed out of her lungs. Darkness edged her vision and she fought to stay conscious. She didn’t know where Lisa was.

  She shoved enough to shift Jimmy off her a bit, but couldn’t get out from underneath him. As she struggled against his lifeless shoulders, Lisa stepped into her line of sight.

  She stared down the barrel of Shannon’s own gun. Tears tracked down the woman’s face but resolve glittered in her eyes. “Goodbye, Shannon.”

  The gun fired and Shannon screamed, but nothing happened. When she opened her eyes, she couldn’t believe the sight. Cameron Jennings had tackled Lisa, and now had her face down on the dirty concrete.

  Chapter Ten

  ‡

  “GUNSHOTS FIRED! I’M taking out the woman. What the hell?”

  Adrenaline raced through John’s blood as Duncan floored the vehicle for the last five hundred yards, then skidded to a halt outside the warehouse. Men were already running toward the commotion. Chad took long enough to park John’s chair below him, then bolted into the darkness. John literally dropped into the chair and shoved off.

  Crumbled concrete littered the ground around the building, not to mention crushed glass. He felt his hands being nicked, but he refused to stop until he got to Shannon.

  Chad had just dragged Wilkins’ body off her when he got within sight. She sat up and shook her head in response to a question he asked. With a final push, John entered the cleared area around the melee. Shannon looked up at him and tears flooded her eyes. Chad un-cuffed her hands and helped her to her feet. Though not quite steady, she ran to John.

  She slammed into him full force, almost tipping him over backwards. He swung her into his arms and draped her across his lap. For the first time in hours, John took a breath as he clutched Shannon to him. She burst into tears and buried her face in his neck, gasping. John felt tears flood his own eyes and was man enough to just let them roll as he whispered to her over and over again that she was okay. He pushed her back for a moment to make sure that the blood coating her front wasn’t her own. She shuddered as she looked down at herself, but shook her head. “It’s not mine. I shot him. I shot him.”

  She burrowed into him again and he just let her cry.

  When the PD came late to the party, she was still curled in his lap, though her sobs had quieted. Ambulances came one after another. Ex-Officer Jimmy Wilkins was pronounced on the scene. Lisa Dixon was concussed and had a broken collarbone from being slammed to the concrete by Cameron Jennings. Cameron had a gunshot wound to the shoulder but would be fine when they stitched him up.

  As the coroner lifted Wilkins’ body to the gurney, Shannon suddenly ripped away from John and staggered away from the confusion to be sick. John held her hair away from her face until she was done, then pulled her into his arms to offer what support he could. Killing a man was never easy, and for a person like Shannon, not familiar with such harsh realities, it had to be especially hard.

  Nobody knew why Cameron was there, only that he’d been the one to step in front of the bullet meant for Shannon. Harper had seen the whole thing through his scope and had pulled his shot in the split second before he’d hit them both with his high-powered rifle.

&n
bsp; When the PD started asking questions and sorting details, Harper faded away. There was no need for them to know what had been planned.

  The detective in charge was thorough but kind, and Shannon had no problems answering his questions. The detective’s job was made easier by the camera that had recorded the whole incident, including the scene of Lisa standing over top of Shannon, ready to kill her.

  Once Shannon got over the first wave of sickness and caught her breath, she was done. She pressed a kiss to John’s cheek and slid from his lap, but stood beside him as they answered questions. The contact that Duncan had been talking to all day, Chief Quillen, arrived and paved the way for a lot of the details to be smoothed over and expedited. Within just a few minutes, they were given permission to go home.

  One of the men had driven Duncan’s vehicle inside the warehouse, so it was a lot easier to leave. John’s hands were gritty with glass, but he didn’t say anything as they all bundled into the truck for the ride back to town. He sat in the backseat and kept his arm around Shannon all the way. She nestled into his chest and drifted off to sleep.

  The knot in his chest loosened inside him as he thought of what could have happened, but didn’t. Everything had turned out as perfect as was possible in a situation as crazy as this one. Yes, a man had died, but by his own actions. He knew Shannon would be feeling all kinds of guilt over what she’d done, but he hoped she felt vindicated as well, and more secure in her own ability to take care of herself.

  He felt useless as fuck. He’d trusted Lisa when he shouldn’t have and Shannon had been stolen out of his grasp. He hadn’t been able to track her, or find her, or even fucking get to her rescue in time because of the damn chair. She’d killed to protect herself, which he admired, but he would have taken that responsibility off her hands in a heartbeat. It would have been a drop in the bucket considering all the years of service he’d had.

  “Do you think she wants to go home?” Duncan asked softly.

  “Yes,” Shannon murmured against his chest.