FlakJacket (10 page)

“I see.”

“No, you don’t. The child I bear will inherit these special abilities, only they will stronger than mine. He will be brilliant. I thought seriously about not having a child, but it seems to be such a heavy burden to place on a little one. It doesn’t matter what I want. I am going to have a child; I’ve seen it. The only question was who the father would be.” Jordan swallowed. “When you saved me in Jordan, I knew it would be you.” She frowned. “But I maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I have yet to meet him.”

“You know it’s me, don’t you?” She reluctantly nodded. “Then, no more of this ‘wrong’ crap. You have to give me some time to come to grips with this, Madison” He grappled for the correct questions to ask now. “Were you born with this gift?”

She nodded. “I could sense things as a child, but my skills continued to grow. I am, indeed, a witch of sorts. I do commune with nature, with numbers, with the heavens, with people and with the world as a whole. I have healing hands. I can close off my mind to incoming messages, but inevitably, important things break through. I can shut out people who want to hurt me, and I have done it very successfully.” She swallowed hard. “But I can’t shut you out.”

Did he believe her
?
Damn, he didn’t even believe in love, let alone in this myth and power nonsense.

Madison took a deep breath and stared straight at him. “I ran because you belittled my gift to your friend. I have had people like that around me all my life—my father, who thinks I am close to being insane and would like nothing better than to lock me up in his house; my handlers, who want to exploit me for money and press; and now you—my one-time lover.” Jordan knew he was guilty of what she said. “I ran because I needed to be alone; I ran away because I no longer want to involve you in this, especially if that’s your opinion of me.” Then she slashed out at him again. “Why did you have to come after me? Why couldn’t you just leave me alone? I can take care of myself; it is other people who want me to have protection. My future will take care of itself.” She walked away from him, but his eyes followed her. “I no longer care.”

Jordan took in the words but was having trouble wrapping his arms around her message. Leave her alone?
What the hell?
“You may be carrying a child. Don’t you care about him?” She said nothing. “You are in danger; people are trying to kill you; that’s why I came after you.” He paused, but the question came out forcibly without filters. “Is it MY SON you are carrying right now, this new gifted one, a combination of the two of us?”

She watched strong emotions play across his face. “I don’t choose to answer that because I don’t factually know yet. I have seen a vision of the child; he looks like you, but I don’t know if it has already happened.”

“So you’re saying that it remains a possibility.” She walked away from him without answering. Jordan followed her and then turned her back to him. “Let me start by telling you I’m sorry. The conversation with David was a man thing. I knew he didn’t want children so soon, and I was just trying to make him feel better about what you said, but that doesn’t excuse me. You’re right. I negated the gift that you had shared with me.” He chuckled. “And at some point, I know David will be happy.”

“I hope so.”

His voice dropped. “You need to know that I lost a child, Madison.”

“I know, a little girl. I’ve seen it.” His brow furrowed. “She drowned in a swimming pool at a family party; there was nothing you could have done to save her. I saw her picture on your desk, and that brought the vision.” She added, “There will be another little girl in your future.”
Such predictions—what did it all mean?

“What other kinds of things have you seen?”

“Awful things—a murder that remains unsolved, and some backroom political deals; they sicken me. I’m not sure I understand them, but I see the places and hear the words. I sense the liars and the people who are not sincere, and I need to use my gift to help those segments of the population that others are exploiting. That’s how I got involved with the refugee crisis in Jordan. But I was still blind to the mercenary army overrunning the place where I worked. These visions are out of my control. People either want me dead so I can’t speak about them, or they want me to tell them what I’ve seen so they can use me. I’ve never been able to trust anyone. I’ve always been alone.”

Jordan took a deep breath.
The choice was his—believe her, humor her, or let her go.
It wasn’t a hard choice. She watched him, and he wondered if she could read his thoughts. She began to turn away from him again, but he was having none of it. He grabbed her hand and put the check she had written him in it. “Tear this up. We’ll sort it out, together. Then he added in a softer tone, “Don’t leave again.” Time was the arbiter of all things, and he had time. The confirmation of the baby would come in a matter of weeks. It could all go downhill from there, and he was already reeling from her disclosures. But he wasn’t willing to let her go.

T
hree weeks had passed with no incidents. Jordan wouldn’t let her return to her own place, and she chafed under his control. He had kept a steady hand on all the arrangements for her speeches and her interviews, making arrangements for her travel, protecting her at the venues, and fielding problems that arose. She spent time in the Jordanian embassy helping those who were managing to get out of the country, and even though it left him uncomfortable, he had been by her side.

She was continuing her writing, penning an article on the situation. Madison needed to be protected; that’s why he had been hired, to see that nothing happened to her. There had been a suspicious incident when a car in a parking lot had almost hit her. His investigation had concluded that it might have been an accident. He thought that it wasn’t, but with no facts to support it, there was little he could do.

Jordan checked her phone every morning for the scoffing messages and threats that constantly were leveled at her, downloading them onto his own computer to keep track of the numbers. Some of them were repeating, something else to look into. Now there might be another thing to consider—a child. That child would become a goldmine if it were to be as gifted as she said.

Jordan had been out working with other clients, so some days he didn’t see that much of her. She was listening to him; he was thankful, and he made sure that she was
next to him in bed every night
. He had planned just to sleep with her for safety, but the first night she had kissed him goodnight, he couldn’t keep his hands off her, and she welcomed his touch. Her body had become essential to his very existence, but now he used condoms until he knew about the child. She drove him to new heights in his sexual play; often times, she was the aggressor in his bed, and subduing her became one of his favorite things to do. She was fire and ice and all things in between, and he had never wanted anyone’s body like he wanted hers. But it was a physical thing. This couldn’t be love, and when he discovered she wasn’t pregnant, he would walk away from her if he chose.

He stood in his study reviewing the information that arrived daily about her. They planned to fly to Virginia for her next speech later that day. She had been asleep in the bedroom for several hours now, secure that he was watching over her; she had become more tired as the weeks wore on. As he pondered his situation, he felt small hands wind around his back and caress his flat stomach. His hands covered hers as he said, “You’re awake.”

“I am.” Now he turned her, and his passion blazed. He couldn’t wait to have her. His hands moved lower on her abdomen, beneath the sleep pants and underneath the band of her panties, his hand moving on her.

“Looking for something?” she teased.

“I don’t want it to escape.” His mouth punctuated his statement with small kisses on her breasts. “I can’t stay away from you.” He kissed her soft lips, and she opened like a flower under him; he immediately grew hard. His arms wound slowly around her body, pulling her in closer. His lips caressed her eyes and the corners of her mouth as he whispered, “I want you, Madison.”

She was taken with the hot look in his eyes. “I know.” Her small hand now slipped beneath the band of his jeans to find him. His breath caught sharply as she added coyly: “I can tell. You have on too many clothes, so let’s see what I can do about that.” He felt the snap give on his jeans, and the zipper lower slowly. His hands now rested on her bare hips with only her T-shirt and lounge pants between them. “I think I’d like to take this to the bedroom,” she whispered into his mouth.

“That could be arranged.” They made it to the bed in a flurry of thrown items of clothing, soft moans, and ragged breathing. He couldn’t get enough of her, running his tongue down her chest to her stomach where he proceeded to kiss a path across her. Then he moved lower to her delighted gasp. She pulled on his hair as she called out his name as his mouth and hands brought her body to a sexual peak. He stood and covered her body with his own, his hands lifting her backside into his body separating her legs, finding her wet and ready. His fingers teased for seconds, but he could no longer wait. He covered himself and thrust in deeply, hearing her gasp, stilling to allow her adjust to his size. Her hands clutched him to her body, her nails scratching his back in unbridled pleasure. She was so very full—of him.

“Jordan. What you do to me.” She bit his ear hard.

“The feeling is mutual.”
Witch
. It was all going too quickly, but he couldn’t slow down. He began a steady movement, using her body as if it were his own personal property. He felt her tense beneath him, and he slowed.

“Jordan.” Her tone voiced her displeasure. She pushed him to move and create the friction she sought. He leaned his head down and blew on her sex, his fingers manipulating her, causing her passion to rise even more. “Jordan.” Now it was a plea. His head came back up her body to bite at her breasts before he began the steady drive into her again. The tension between them rose, and she convulsed around him. He, too, tensed in the lower part of his body and then exploded, feeling a flooding surge. He was lost in her body, out of control, and Jordan was never out of control. He clutched her to him, his mouth pressed softly on hers. Then there was the aftermath of warm euphoria, and he felt his feelings for her expand to fill him. Her body was his—come hell or high water—
she was his.

Jordan was uncomfortable in his bulletproof vest. They were on the plane heading for Virginia and a speaking engagement. She was reviewing her notes, and he was watching her mind at work. She chewed her lip as she did so. He was getting far better attuned to what she was feeling, and she seemed very relaxed right now. Two of his men were waiting to pick them up at the airport. He pulled at his tie; it was strangling him. His phone chimed.

“Hey Flak Jacket, we got protesters here at the venue. They look like the set up ones; someone wants to show that Miss Madison isn’t welcome here.”

Jordan glanced at her. “Find another entrance for us. I don’t want her going through that mess.” He hung up. Now he would have to begin to find out who was behind this negative press for her. He picked up his phone again.

“Hey Gus. Get hold of one of the protesters, pretend to be a friend of the cause and find out who hired them if you can.”

“Will do, boss. I’ll let you know as soon as I have anything.”

“Thanks. Be careful.”

Madison looked over at him. “Problems?”

“You have a crowd of protestors waiting outside.” Her face fell.

“
I’ll be right beside you all the way.” She looked at him, and her hand touched his.

Jordan’s phone chimed. “The group was brought here by bus by one aide of Neville Houser. He’s a politician and a member of the foreign relations committee according to this guy.”

“Get me all the information that you can on him.” Jordan hung up as the plane prepared to land.

“You’re not supposed to be on your cell phone, you know.” Madison chided him.

“I turned it off.” She rubbed the back of his hand as he whispered loudly: “I can think of other places I would like to be touched.” She colored but said nothing.

They were the last to leave the plane, and a dark car pulled up, Jordan’s men jumping out to protect her. Then they were on their way. She settled into the seat and seemed to climb inside herself for the time being. Once again, Jordan watched, trying to get to know her better. There was a police presence when they arrived.

They were escorted into the building through a side entrance with no problems. Jordan set off to patrol the perimeter of the venue to see if there was anything unsettling to him. Madison spoke pleasantly with her hosts as the auditorium began to fill. He walked the aisles and checked out the people. There was no noise infiltrating the hall; he was glad about that. There were only thirty protestors or so outside with signs, but the ever-present press was playing up the dissent as they always did. Madison seemed very relaxed.

The program opened, and Madison was introduced. She began her impassioned plea for the United States to help the refugees from Jordan. She recited personal experiences and statistics, urging her audience to become involved in the crisis. The speech was well received, and Jordan saw little to cause concern. But the end of the speech was always the most hazardous time when people could come up to her to ask for her autograph and to get answers to their questions. She tolerated it well; he, not so much.

Finally, he took her elbow and began to move her towards the door. At the last second, he turned her and went up the aisle in another direction. There was loud sound and an explosion at the doorway of the exit. He pushed her under him and covered her with his body ever on the alert for shooters. What in the hell had happened? Smoke billowed through the auditorium to the screams of onlookers.

The place was quickly crawling with police; once he was sure there were no gunshots, he pulled her up and pushed her to the door, covering her as much as he could until they reached the car outside. His two men surrounded them and helped get her into the bulletproof vehicle. “Stay with her.”