“I’ve told the police about the van,” Kane said. “They’ve got an APB out, and they are also getting a bird in the air.”
His hand hurt. He looked down at his phone’s screen and watched again as the app wouldn’t load...
“Play me the audio from the alarm system again,” Law demanded as he watched one of the police cars start to drive away. He willed the other one to follow, but it didn’t.
The sound of Jill’s voice filled his truck. Not even her attempts to swear at Tim could make him smile, there was too much fear gripping his heart. He continued to listen for any clues that Tim might have inadvertently given.
It wasn’t until Law made his buddy play the audio for the second time that he caught it. Jill had said, “Got you.” It was right before she went to the garage.
“Asher, she took the other tracker from her computer bag! I have to get into my house and get into my main system,” Law said desperately.
“Law, are you sure?” Kane asked.
“Fuck that noise, he’s sure,” Ash roared. “Fucking work your magic, McNamara!”
Law waited tensely for two minutes. He smiled when he saw the two cops run from his house and slam into their car, then race down his drive with their lights and sirens on. Kane had done something, all right. Law waited until they were out of sight, then he slammed his truck into drive and was at his house faster than a NASCAR driver.
When he got to his home office and turned on the tracking device, he had her. She was in the ass-end of nowhere, near the end of the toll road construction. He rushed to his truck.
“I’m sending you coordinates,” he said as he was getting into the driver’s seat.
“Wait!” Kane’s voice stopped him. “Find Jill’s phone. I want that motherfucker’s phone number, I have an idea.”
“We don’t have time,” Law raged.
“Listen to him, Law. He understands how important this is. He would never ask for something that wouldn’t help save Jill,” Asher insisted.
Law stepped down from his truck and looked around the front of his driveway. He didn’t move. Walking around and searching was not how he was trained. He slowly looked over the area. Finally, he saw the discordant patch of metallic rose peeking out from behind his bottom step.
He snagged her phone and put in her so-no-secret code. He rattled off the last incoming number to Kane.
“Got it,” Kane said. “Get moving.” Law grimaced at Kane’s instructions, considering that he was already back in his truck and partway down the driveway. How slow did he think a Marine was, for God’s sake?
He was at the first big intersection before the freeway when Kane called out.
“I did you a solid.” There was a smile in Kane McNamara’s voice over the truck’s speaker.
Law was considering running the red light. He scanned the area. The bicycle lane was free. “What did you do?”
“While you were on your home system, I was able to create an encrypted version of your tracking app. At the next stoplight, I’ll tell you how to download it to your phone.”
He downloaded the app right before the light turned green. Law would’ve said thank you, but it’d take too much time. He had to get to Jill.
Lesley’s eyes were glazed. Tim had cut her on both arms and there was blood dripping off her back through her blouse. It looked like he’d really tried to cut off her pinky.
“You’ve got to pretend you’re unconscious,” she whispered to her friend.
Lesley’s breathing was shallow. She’d already thrown up twice, which had made Tim royally mad. He’d stopped the van and stepped outside, saying he had to take a piss. This was Jill’s chance to talk to Lesley, but Jill wasn’t sure Lesley could understand her.
“Pretend you’re unconscious, otherwise he’ll keep torturing you to get me to talk. And no matter what happens to me, don’t make a sound.”
“But—”
“If you do anything else, we’ll both end up dead,” Jill hissed.
She heard dildobum’s phone ring. She hoped he dropped it in his pee. Then maybe she would have time to address some of Lesley’s wounds. The woman was now lying on her stomach on top of a couple of stained moving blankets.
Jill found an unopened package of cleaning rags. She tore it open and pulled one out as she lifted the back of Lesley’s blouse. She needed to see how bad her wound was. Lesley whimpered as she wiped away the blood.
The wound started out shallow, but got deep as it got closer to her ribs. He hadn’t hit any organs, but muscle was definitely involved. She needed to get the bleeding stopped. She could use the rags as gauze pads, but she needed something to keep them in place.
Her eyes scanned the van for anything that might work.
“You let me talk to her, or I’ll kill the Marine’s woman!”
What was going on? Tim sounded even crazier.
“Let me talk to Angela!”
Lesley whimpered, whether from fear or pain, Jill wasn’t sure. Heck, she was going to start whimpering. She wanted Law.
Stop it Girly, you have to save yourself.
“I can still want Law,” she muttered.
“Huh?” Lesley moaned.
Jill looked back to soothe Lesley, and that’s when she spotted it—a flowery scarf that Lesley had used as a belt in her jean’s belt loops.
Perfect!
She had just gotten the bandage on Lesley’s back in place when the back panel door slammed open. “Playtime’s starting sooner than we thought.”
Tim was holding his phone up high over his head as he pulled his knife out of its sheath.
“Did you hear that, asshole? I’m going to start cutting on the Marine’s woman, all because you’re not going to let me talk to my wife.”
What’s going on? Who’s on the phone?
“Get out here,” Tim screamed at Jill.
Yeah, sure. Not.
He wasn’t pointing a gun. Why was she going to get close to that knife if she didn’t have to? He’d have to come on in and get her. He put a knee up into the van and started to climb toward them. His knife looked like a machete to Jill’s scared eyes.
“Tim, it’s me, Angela.” Jill heard Angela’s voice coming out of the cell phone.
Tim stopped in his tracks. As soon as he did, Jill’s brain kicked into gear. How was it that Angela was calling Tim at just this moment? It had to be Law’s tracking device and all the talking she did into the Law’s security system.
He’s going to save me.
Tim had the phone to his ear and off the speaker. Jill didn’t know what Angela said, but he was getting agitated.
Come on Angela, be cool.
Jill cringed when she saw Tim pull the gun from his jacket pocket. “I’m not going to let them go until I see you. You know that, don’t you, Sweetheart?” His voice sounded so reasonable. Almost loving.
Lesley started making retching sounds, and Jill realized she was going to throw up again. Had she missed something? She blocked out the sound of Tim’s voice and pretended there wasn’t a knife or a gun in the vehicle. Instead, she pretended that she was in an ambulance and that she had a patient. That was all that mattered.
She turned Lesley’s head and made sure her airway was clear so she could vomit, and then found the egg-sized lump on her head.
Carefully, Jill moved her friend’s head.
“Lesley, open your eyes, Honey.”
“Shut up!” Tim yelled.
“Open your eyes,” Jill whispered.
When Lesley finally got them open, Jill wanted to groan. Her pupils were huge. She had a concussion. She needed to get her to a hospital, and fast.
“I love you, Angela, I can’t live without you. If I can’t live, nobody can. I’ll shoot them both.”
Jill sucked air between her teeth. First, get the gun away from Tim, then get Lesley to a hospital.
Easy peasy.
Think, Jill, why has Angela called?
Who arranged it?
Law had to be somewhere, ri
ght?
How can I help in my own rescue?
Law had been listening to the whole debacle as he’d driven to the construction site. There were plenty of heavy-equipment vehicles parked all around, he just had to follow the beacon to find the white van.
He stopped his truck and got out, taking his gun and phone. He had the audio plugged into just one of his earbuds so he could also hear what was going on around him. He knew where he was headed, and now he just needed to keep listening in on the phone call between Tim and Angela. It had been better when Tim had had it on speaker and he’d heard Jill’s voice.
His blood had turned to ice water when Tim said that if he couldn’t have her, then nobody else could live, either. He was close to the end of his very short rope. But Angela had kept it together—she’d lied her ass off and said she would come to him.
Law edged around one of the three large motor graders and found the white van. Tim was either extremely smart or just stupid. He had parked the van in the middle of an open space—that meant nobody could sneak up on him. But at the same time, he was out in the open and totally vulnerable. Law would’ve given anything to have his sniper rifle.
Law was spot-on accurate with his Glock at fifty yards. But he didn’t know the situation in the van, and then there was the problem of getting that close.
Fuck!
“Tim, I’m never coming back to you if you hurt those two women.”
“But you still love me, right?”
God, the man’s crazier than a loon. He killed her kid—she’s more likely to castrate him than ever return to him.
“The only way we can work this out is if you let them go. They’re my friends, let me talk to them. I want to talk to Jill.”
“No,” Tim’s voice was petulant. “I’m not going to let you talk to Jill.”
Law could swear he could hear Jill in stereo, both over the phone and in real-life. “Let me talk to Angela,” Jill was saying.
Law felt himself able to really breathe for the first time in forty-five minutes.
Jill screamed.
“Shut up, bitch, don’t interrupt me!” Tim yelled.
“If you hit me again, I’ll find a way to break your neck,” Jill yelled back at him.
The asshole laughed. But it was good news in Law’s opinion. It meant that Jill was still in good enough shape to be issuing threats. It also meant that they were keeping one another occupied as he crept up on the van. Please just don’t let her go too far.
“Don’t hurt my friend,” Angela cried.
“A black eye is nothing. Wait ‘til I use my knife on her.”
“I dare you to use your knife. You don’t have the stomach for it.” Jill laughed.
What the fuck is she doing?
“Don’t you see what I’ve done to that bitch Lesley? I guess you need a lesson. Listen to this, Angela.”
Law rushed the van. He had the back door yanked open in a heartbeat, and then his heart stopped beating. Tim was straddling Jill, blood was on her shirt, and Tim had the tip of his knife pointed at her stomach. Tim looked up at the back of the van. Law took three shots—head, heart, head.
Jill screamed.
Lesley screamed.
Tim never made a sound.
“What’s going on?” A man’s voice he didn’t recognize came through his earbud. He yanked it out of his ear and skidded on his knees to Jill.
“Why the fuck did you taunt him to use a knife?”
Why is Law yelling at me? She hurt bad. And the man she loved was yelling at her. She couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks. She knew she had blood and brains sprayed all over herself.
“You could have gotten yourself killed!”
“I was saving us,” she whispered. She wanted to wipe the gunk off, but Law’s arms were holding her down as he searched her for injuries.
“What the fuck are you talking about, Woman?”
“I’m fine. Call an ambulance.”
“Ash and Kane are on it. Where are you hurt? There’s so much blood, I can’t tell.”
“Not my blood and guts.” Jill heaved up and lunged for the bag of rags. She wiped her mouth and spit as she pulled out a rag.
“Hey, I’ve got that,” Law said softly, as he gently wiped her face and neck clean. When her eyes were clear and she could finally see into his, Jill saw that beneath the anger there was fear.
“Law, he had a gun. I had to get him to put it down so you could save us. I knew that you and your fancy friends were behind Angela calling Tim. I knew it.”
Law nodded. “That’s true.”
“That also meant you were listening in to the conversation.” Jill took another rag out of the bag and wiped her tongue.
“Yeah, we all were listening.”
“So, how were you going to know when it was safe to come and rescue us? Tim had just talked about shooting us. He couldn’t hold the gun, knife, and the phone. You’d know that. So, I had to taunt him into using his knife, and then you’d know you could come to the rescue.” She heard sirens. She wiped her tongue again and started to gag. Jill turned her head and vomited onto the floor of the van. When she was done, she turned back to Law.
Jill gave Law a watery grin. “See? Easy peasy.”
Chapter 15
“I fucking love that you’re calling it the ‘Battle of the Van’,” Eden said as she took another sip of her beer.
“I don’t,” Law glowered. He pulled Jill a little closer to him on the patio love seat on Jill’s deck.
“Was it the part where you took control, or the part where you almost died, that he has a problem with?” Asher asked.
“I’ll never have a problem with Jill’s take-charge attitude,” Law said.
“Yeah, it’s true. But if I get a sliver, he goes nuts.” Jill grinned at Law.
“Sounds like his brother,” Eden said as he smiled up at Asher who returned to hand her a plate of food.
“What sounds like me?” Asher asked as he took a seat beside her.
“You kind of get bent out of shape if I get hurt.”
“That’s a given,” he smiled at her warmly. “What brought that up?”
“Jill was telling me about the ‘Battle of the Van’.”
“I hate that phrase,” Asher said vehemently. “Jill could have gotten herself killed with the stunt she pulled.”
Jill caught Eden’s eye and tried not to laugh when the woman winked at her. She was outrageous. Luckily, neither of the Thorne brothers caught it, or if they did, they ignored it. Law kissed the top of her head, and she damn near melted into his side.
“Let’s find something else to talk about,” Law said. “How about the trip to Belgium, did you see the dates I e-mailed to you? Can you make any of those three work?”
Jill sat up straighter. She was both excited and nervous at the idea of meeting Law’s mother. The excited part was spending ten days in Europe with Law, the nervous part was meeting his mother. This was serious, serious. Of course, he had met her parents three weeks ago when they had trekked through Southern California on their way up the Pacific Coast Highway to see the sights. She’d been impressed by how well he’d done, not just with her mother and father, but with their cats.
She watched as Eden and Asher looked at one another, and Eden nodded. “Four weeks before our wedding should be perfect,” Asher said. “That way, Maman can meet Eden in person, ahead of time before the big event.”
Law frowned. “But she and aunt Claire are flying over for the wedding, right?”
“Absolutely,” Asher confirmed.
“It’s not like we haven’t met,” Eden said. “I’ve Skyped with your mother a few times. She’s a doll.”
“Do you mean without Asher?” Jill asked.
Eden nodded as she ate the last bite of her hamburger. After she swallowed, she elaborated. “I’ve been on so many assignments lately away from Ash that I couldn’t rely on joint calls. I think it makes it easier because I speak French.”
&nbs
p; “How many languages do you speak?” Jill asked.
“Seven.”
“That’s amazing.”
“I was lucky, I got introduced to Chinese, Spanish, and English from the start. I was speaking those languages fluently before I started kindergarten, so it made it easier for me to pick up other languages.”
“Last month I started one of those rapid learning courses to learn French a couple of weeks ago, it’s going pretty well. I think it helps that I know Spanish.”
“I didn’t know that,” Law said. He snagged a pickle off of her plate.
“I didn’t want to mention it in case I failed,” Jill admitted.
“You never fail,” Law smiled indulgently. A shot of pleasure burst through Jill.
“You’re wrong, but I appreciate the sentiment.”
She looked at everyone’s empty plates. “Do you two want seconds? Or are you ready for dessert?”
“What do you have?” Asher asked.
“Either strawberry shortcake or brownies.”
“Yes,” Asher answered.
“So which one?”
“That meant both, Honey,” Law chuckled. “I’ll take the same. Want some help?”
“I’ll help her,” Eden said as she stood up and took Asher’s plate.
“Thanks.”
“So we’re agreed?” Asher asked.
Law rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’m definitely onboard, but I don’t think it’s going to work. Maybe if all three of us were here, but not now.” He thought about how close his mother had been to Xavier. They’d had a special bond.
“What’s that look for?”
Law sighed. “Are we ever going to tell Maman the truth about Xavier? Because if we get her to move to the States, there’s more of a chance of her finding out the truth.”
Asher looked torn and Law understood. “I’ve thought about that. She knows some of Xave’s buddies, God forbid she finds out from one of them, and not from us. But Aunt Claire has her family, and from some of Maman’s comments, I know she’s feeling a little left out.”
Law stared into the view overlooking the gorge, then back at his brother. “Then, we’ve got to convince her to move back, and we’ve got to tell her the truth.”
Lawson & Jill: Romantic Suspense (Night Storm Legacy Book 1) Page 10
