Paradise Falls (42 page)

Especially since ‘in bed’ now typically included ‘with Jennifer’.

Sometimes, looking at her made him question things. Not now. She looked fierce. If he didn’t know her he would hardly believe this was the same woman who clutched Elliot’s hand as he yanked on her ponytail two blocks from the school, her face a quivering mask of terror. That fire was always there, she showed it at work when she was in her place of authority, but to see it now when she was about to talk to one of her greatest tormentors made his chest swell with pride, even if he was not proud of how she got here.

He wanted to meet Ellison alone. Jennifer of course insisted, but his suggestion she remain behind was only a token gesture.

“Ready?”

“Yes,” Jennifer said, setting her jaw.

When that stubborn fire came into her eyes, she went from pretty to beautiful. Jacob stepped out of the car and she followed, striding confidently behind him to the front door of the diner. A portly waitress rose from a stool beside the PLEASE WAIT TO BE SEATED sign and walked over.

“The sun is shining,” said the waitress.

“But the ice is slippery,” said Jacob.

She nodded to him, then to Jennifer, and locked the door. Jacob went to the far end of the diner, Jennifer walking beside him. She had a pistol tucked behind her back. Some tiny part of him was afraid she’d use it on Ellison. He looked at her, studying her lovely profile.

Ellison was in his civvies, a too-heavy-for-the-weather leather jacket, jeans, a baseball cap, and his favorite mirror shades. Jacob strode over and yanked the sunglasses off his face, and tipped up the bill of the cap, knocking it from his head.

“Get up.”

With a hard swallow, Ellison got up and turned around. Jacob frisked him, up under the arms and around his waist, and checked his ankles. Jennifer sat on the edge of the table on the other side of the aisle, pulled out her pistol, and checked the chamber. Holding it in both hands, she pointedly rested it on her thigh. Ellison never took his eyes off her as he sat down and folded his hands to stop them from shaking.

“Good morning,” Jacob said, cordially, as he sat down.

“The hell do you want, man? I wake up this morning with a note on my freaking sofa telling me to-“

“Shut up and speak only when spoken to.”

Ellison paled.

“Yes, sir.”

“Where are they making the drops now?”

Ellison shifted in the booth and swallowed.
 

“I don’t know.”

Jacob leaned forward and rested his folded hands on the desert menu. He looked Ellison in the eyes.

“Where are they making the drops? Don’t tell me the weigh station. They’re not as dumb as you.”

“Out on fifty-five, there’s a an old machine shop. They do it there.”

“I need an exact location,” Jacob slipped a napkin across the table, “Write it down.”

Ellison scrawled an address in his shaky hand, and pushed the napkin back. Jacob tucked it in his shirt pocket and leaned over again.

“Now, be a good boy and tell me exactly what you told them.”

“After you’s called for help they came out and got me and my car,” said Ellison, sitting back, as far as he could get from Jacob. He twitched every time he looked at Jennifer. “Dad’s boys got rid of the body. That was you out there at that bunny ranch, wasn’t it?”

Jacob said nothing.

Ellison swallowed. “After Grinder, that’s the Leviathan boss, found out about the kid, he put quarter mil on you if somebody brings you in alive. They bumped it to three hundred even, after you hit their operation out there in Port Carol. This is some serious shit, man. He put word out that he’ll pay anybody, even rival clubs. Dad said he couldn’t do it in town or they’d have hit your place already. Any time you leave the town limits you’re open season, man.”

“Your concern touches me,” Jennifer deadpanned.

Ellison flinched.

“These guys are fucking serious. They’ll kill you.”

“I know. It’s in your best interest to make sure they don’t, Ellison.”

“Are we done here?” Ellison squeaked. “I got a shift this afternoon.”

“How’s your foot?”

Ellison paled, and stuck his leg out from under the table. He was wearing a boot cast.

“I’m on desk work. It’s not ‘cause I got hurt, it’s cause they had to come get me when I was hogtied in the trunk of a car with a dead body in the back seat.”

“I can see how that would be a problem,” said Jacob.

“Can I go now? Please?”

“We’re leaving. Wait ten minutes. Have some chicken fried steak. If you leave by eleven you should make it to work on time.”

Ellison nodded and Jacob stood up, carefully so as not to wobble. Jennifer holstered her sidearm and followed him out. When she stepped out into the open air, she grinned, and breathed in through her teeth. Jacob couldn’t help but crack a smile himself. Seeing her happy pushed the pain back out to the edges and made him wonder if this was how normal people felt on a sunny September morning. Jennifer grabbed his hand and walked down the front steps to the crunch gravel lot, towards the car. Jacob gave her hand a tug and a squeeze.

“We’re not driving that. Around behind the diner.”

She gave him a curious look, shrugged, and walked around with him, behind the old prefab structure. He could see their reflections in the rippled, polished stainless steel sheeting that made up the outside. Ellison was still in his seat, glumly eating a plate of chicken fried steaks and mashed potatoes. He disappeared from view as Jennifer pulled him around the back, where the Aston Martin stood parked. Jacob fished the remote key out from his pocket and handed it off to her. She took it, blinking.

“I’m tired. You drive.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Jacob, I’ve driven about ten miles in the last five years.”

“You did fine with the van. You’ll handle it.”

She started to hand the key back but Jacob closed her hand around hers and gave a firm push.

“We’re not leaving unless you’re driving.”

She cocked her head to the side, and pressed her tongue into her cheek the way she did when she was thinking about something. A little roll of her shoulders, and she accepted. She walked around the driver’s side and the locks
thumped
as the key approached the door. Jacob opened his own and dropped inside, pulled on his seat belt and waited. Jennifer swung her legs under the wheel and clapped the door shut, and reached to turn the key before she realized there was no key, and pushed the start button. The car rumbled to life and settled into its almost silent purr, and Jennifer belted herself in and moved the seat a little, then looked at him.

“Sorry,” she muttered.

“It’s okay. The memory will put it back to my spot.”

“How do I, um,” she said. “There’s no shifter.”

“On the steering wheel.”

She looked down and made an embarrassed little noise, but her foot on the brake and tapped the forward gear button. The shock in her eyes as she wheeled the car around and back through the lot to the road was priceless.

“It’s very, um,” she said. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Just don’t floor it, and we’ll be fine.”

She licked her lips.

“You know the way, right?”

“Yes. My grandmother used to live in Anneville.”

Jacob waved his hand. “Let’s go.”

Jennifer gingerly brought the car out onto the road, and accelerated to a blistery speed of thirty-seven miles per hour, constantly glancing at him.

“Sit back, watch the road, and just drive. You’ll do fine, honey.”

A smile flickered on her lips.

“Okay.”

Rolling her shoulders again, she sat back, rested both hands to the wheel, and sped up. She was still doing five under, but it was a start. When she took the first turn, the smile on her face grew, and she sped up to the actual speed limit.

Jacob knew this road. It was almost perfectly straight for about five miles, except for the rising and falling hills rolling through an endless expanse of dairy farms. So when the road straightened from the last curve, Jacob put his hand on Jennifer’s knee and pushed, until the pedal touched the floor. The engine thrummed with stately aggression and the car surged, the thrust throwing them both back in their seats. Jennifer screamed and choked the wheel in a white knuckle grip until he let go.

“Don’t do that!” she shouted, panting.

“Come on, quit driving like an old woman.”

She clenched her teeth and glared at him, but she was properly speeding now. With a defiant jut of her jaw she put the pedal down and edged her speed back up, past eighty, to ninety. The car crested a hill and Jacob felt his stomach rise. Jennifer let out a little cooing sound followed by a yelp as the nose dropped and the car picked up speed down the long hill. Choking the wheel, she lit up with raw panic.

Oh, right, this road did have curves.

“Calm down,” Jacob said, keeping his voice utterly even. “Swing the car through the curve and hit the gas when you feel the turn.”

The tires didn’t even squeal. Jennifer leaned from the g-forces, and though it hurt like hell when she bumped her shoulder, he didn’t care. The exuberant look on her face was worth it. She laughed, whether from enjoyment or adrenaline for both, and sped up as the road straightened out again.

“Watch the telephone poles and the trees. They’ll show you where the road curves.”

As with so many things, Jennifer took to precision driving like a fish to water, applying his instructions with a natural’s skill. By the time they neared the county line, she was obviously, blatantly enjoying herself. Her cheeks were bright pink and she moved with a kind of energized intensity that was intriguing to watch. Once in a while she glanced at him, grinning, in a kind of
look at me
way, and when she laughed from the adrenaline rush of a sharp turn Jacob wanted nothing more than to drag her into his seat and kiss her.

When they pulled up to the house, Jennifer put the car in park and sat there gripping the wheel, her chest heaving. She looked over at him and grinned. The sun brought her freckles out, and her gray eyes flashed, but it was the joy in her face that inflamed him most, and when she leaned over the center stack pure instinct took him and he leaned in and met her lips with his. Her response was enthusiastic, almost shocking. He had to break from the kiss to breath. The throbbing in his wounds was a secondary consideration.

“Like it, huh?”

“Where’d you learn to drive like that? They don’t teach sports car driving in the Army, do they?”

He sighed.

“No. When I was about nine years old, my dad bought a Miata. I picked it all up from him. It was this color,” he said, looking out over the hood. “He used to play the lottery twice a week. I went with him to get the tickets and he took Candy along when she was old enough for a seat belt. We always used to have this long conversations about what what we’d buy when we won the jackpot.”

“When,” said Jennifer.

“He was always an optimist in that way, I guess,” said Jacob. “He never cared if he won, he just liked the ticket as an excuse to fantasize about it. They quit making the Aston Martin he wanted to buy.”

“Oh,” said Jennifer.

It got very quiet in the car.

“You did really good,” said Jacob. “You must have hyper-accurate eyesight or something, between this and the shooting.”

“Thanks,” she sighed. “I guess.”

“We’re going to have to go check out that drug handoff. You know that.”

She stepped out of the car. Jacob followed, grunting as he found his footing. He wanted to flex his arm, but he still had to be careful with it. Jennifer stood with the sun behind her, and it made her hair glow.

He closed the Aston’s door.

Dad would be impressed with him right now.

“Are you sure we should do this?” said Jennifer. Her voice cracked.

Jacob stepped up to her.

“We’ll be careful. No one will see us.”

“It’s not that,” she said, her voice tightening even more. “I can’t let anything happen to you.”

“Happen to
me?”

“I thought you were going to die,” she choked out, her voice higher now than ever. “You were bleeding everywhere and you kept drifting in and out. You can’t do that to me.”

“I won’t.”

“I-“ she started to say something, then trailed off, swallowed a big gulp of air. “I like you a lot. I’ve already been through that and I can’t do it again.”

“You won’t have to.”

“Promise.”

“I promise.”

She slipped her arms around him, and Jacob held her back. To his surprise, she put her head on his chest and rubbed her cheek against him. His head dipped down almost automatically and he took a deep breath. Her hair always had a faintly spicy, cinnamon smell. He wasn’t sure if it was some soap she used, or just
her
. She held tighter and it made the cuts on his torso throb, but he didn’t care.

I must be a wall.
He thought of his encircling arms.
I must protect and shelter this woman, even unto my own death.

It hit him then, and knocked the wind out of him, like a blow to the stomach but pleasant somehow.

She is my world
.

“What happened to the Miata?”

“My uncle sold it. My uncle is kind of a dick.”

She laughed, but scrubbed at her eyes, too.

“We’re gonna be fine, I promise. I think it’s time to show you the other car.”

He took her hand and led her to the carriage house. Inside, the newest addition to his stable still lurked under its tarp, angular and sharp.

“What is it?” she said.

Jacob couldn’t help himself. He turned so she wouldn’t see his goofy smile as he yanked the thick oilcloth and let it fall to the floor around the vehicle. Jennifer’s jaw dropped.

“MARTYR. Mine-Resistant Tactical Response. The idea was that they’d deploy two of these two-man vehicles at the spearhead of a mechanized advanced. Armored up but without being slow and plodding, like an MRAP, with the armament and response capabilities of of an attack helicopter. She’s got a twin turbocharged twelve cylinder diesel engine linked to the rear tread and two high capacity electric motors on the front wheels to…”