No Good Deed (51 page)

“I’ve never asked you to change,” she whispered. “You never wanted to be a hero, but it’s what you are. And if you think I’m going to walk away after this week?”

“You have to.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.”

A faint footstep sounded out of place. With all the hospital sounds, the one thing Kane had noticed was that nurses tread silently.

This footfall wasn’t silent.

“Drop to the floor,” he ordered Siobhan.

She dropped.

Tobias stepped into Kane’s hospital room. Kane had never seen him, but he had Lucy’s description, and it was right on the money.

Tobias had a gun in his hand.

“Isn’t this fun?” Tobias said. “You survived a fucking army in Mexico, but will be taken out by one man. And how about it—I’ll get the girl after all.”

Kane pulled the trigger of his gun—the gun Blitz had brought him earlier. He pulled the trigger five times, though the first bullet had been fatal.

Hospital staff and security rushed into the room. Someone helped Siobhan up. Kane watched the heart monitor beep. His heart rate had barely elevated when he killed Tobias.

He was no man for Siobhan.

There were questions and someone took his gun, but he didn’t need it anymore; Tobias was dead. Siobhan refused to leave, but she was crying.

“Don’t look at me like that Kane. Don’t—I know you, dammit!”

Kane was in a fog. Maybe they’d stuck some pain meds in his IV when he wasn’t looking.

Blitz came in, arguing with security. But he must have told them something they wanted to hear, because they let him enter.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“It wasn’t your fault, Blitz.”

“I had the entrances covered. I’d never have let her in here if I thought he was in the building.”

“Take her to Andie’s.”

“No!” Siobhan said. “I’m not leaving.”

Kane stared at her. His heart broke. But his life wasn’t the life for Siobhan. “You’re not staying.”

“This isn’t over, Kane. I’m not letting you do this to yourself. To us.”

“There is no us, Siobhan.”

She shook her head. “I meant what I said, Kane. All of it.”

She walked out.

“Boss, you should—”

“Shut up,” he told Blitz. They really had put something in his IV. “Make sure she gets home safely. Understood?”

Blitz nodded and left.

Kane finally slept. And dreamt of Siobhan.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Saturday

Lucy stared out the window at the pool, but she didn’t really see anything. She was numb.

She should be celebrating. She should be
happy
that the events that had started three months ago were over. Almost everyone involved was dead, except for Elise Hansen. She was in jail. She would not be getting out, regardless of what Dr. Oakley said. She was being transferred to a maximum-security federal prison while awaiting trial, and that suited Lucy just fine.

She should be celebrating that she’d helped take down a violent drug cartel. Jimmy Hunt had been apprehended by the DEA in Mexico City based on the information obtained from the traitorous DEA agent Adam Dover. They had searched the Hunt property in Los Angeles and found the remains of Tamara Rollins, killed five years ago for what reason, they still didn’t know. Considering what Sean revealed about how the family fought, it wasn’t surprising that one of them had killed her … though it was surprising that not one of them seemed to care. Kane survived surgery and the loss of a kidney, and Barry Crawford was slowly recovering in the hospital. He may not regain sight in one of his eyes, and he had additional surgeries in his future, but he would live. All of that was good news.

And mostly, she should celebrate that she and Sean were alive. That they’d lost no one in the raid on the compound, and that finally, things might get back to normal.

But she couldn’t smile. She could muster up no relief or joy or emotion. She was in a daze, and all she could think about was how much she almost lost.

Sean stepped into the living room, moving slowly. He had a cracked rib, his arm had been stitched up at the hospital and he wore a sling to protect it, and the only remnants of his ordeal were bruises all over his body from being tied up and stuffed behind the seat in Joseph Contreras’s truck. She ached for him. But he was alive.

“Lucy.”

“I’m okay.”

Sean put his good hand on her shoulder and didn’t say anything.

“No, I’m not,” she said. “I’m not okay. I almost lost you. I—I can’t. I can’t stop thinking about it. When I close my eyes, I see you dead.”

“I’m not dead, Lucy.”

“I know! But—dammit, I’m so mad at you.”

She turned into him, buried her face in his chest, afraid if she touched him too hard she’d hurt him.

He wrapped his arm around her and drew her in. It was so gentle, so tender, the tears started falling. “I’m not mad at you,” she said.

“I know.”

“When it was just me, I didn’t care. Because what I did was my choice. My decision. If I was hurt, it didn’t matter because no one cared.”

“Your family cared.”

“That’s not the same.”

“I know.”

“I love you so much, Sean. I was so angry with you, with Hans, with Nate, with Jack—all of you conspiring to risk
your life
. It’s not just your life anymore.”

“It was the best plan we could come up with. They put a million-dollar bounty on Kane’s head, Lucy. If we didn’t stop them—”

“I’m selfish.”

“God, no, Lucy. Don’t.”

“All I thought when I saw that video of those bastards dragging you to the van was that you let it happen. You risked your life—
your life that you promised to me!
—for the greater good.”

“I did it, in part, so you wouldn’t be in danger.”

“Don’t you get it? My life would be over without you. I had no life before you. I will have no life after you.”

“That’s not true, princess. That’s just not true.”

“Don’t do it again. Not without me. Everyone plotted against me—”

“Lucy, it wasn’t that.” He hesitated.

She looked up at him through her tears. “Tell me.”

He touched her face, his eyes full of both worry and love. “Jack said that if you knew, you’d be in danger.”

“That’s crazy. You’re the one who put your
life
on the line.”

“If you knew before we enacted the plan, you would have gone to the house. I couldn’t risk that. I couldn’t risk you, not with these people. Not with what they’ve done.”

“They could have killed you.”

“But you knew they wouldn’t, not without their money.”

She whispered, “But what if I was wrong?”

“You weren’t. Is that what this is? That you’re doubting yourself? You were right, Lucy.”

“Psychology is not a hard science. It’s part science, part experience, part
guessing
.”

“But you were right,” he repeated.

“But I could have been wrong!”

“But you weren’t.”

She stepped away. “You’re impossible.”

“I love you, Lucy. I hate seeing you in pain.”

“You’re the one with a cracked rib and bruises over half your body.”

He reached out and touched her. “Set a date.”

“What?”

“Our wedding. I love you, you love me, and dammit, I want to be married. Living together is fun, but I’m yours. You’re mine. I never thought I’d want that stupid piece of paper, but I want it. I want to see you in a white dress holding colorful flowers. I want your family, and my family, to sit in the pews of Saint Catherine’s and watch me tell the world how I feel about you. About us. About the better man you have made me.”

How could he be so … happy? She’d almost lost him. She was struggling to forgive him, to forgive everyone who did this behind her back. She couldn’t lose him. Didn’t he know that she would be completely destroyed? She could lose her job, she could lose this house, but she would be nothing if she lost Sean.

“It can’t be tomorrow,” Sean continued, “unless we fly to Vegas. And you deserve a better wedding than Vegas. Not to mention, your father would probably kill me.”

She almost smiled. “I think we should wait at least until your bruises disappear.” Then she turned away from him because she just couldn’t bear to look at his swollen face anymore. It hurt.

“Lucy—please. I’m okay.”

“You almost weren’t.”

“But I am. I know you’re mad—”

“Yes, I’m mad, Sean. Do you know what it would do to me if you—you had died?”

“Yes. Because I think about it all the time, about what would happen to me if you died. Two weeks ago you were shot in the back, Lucy. If you hadn’t been wearing a vest, you would have died, or been paralyzed. I close my eyes and watch that bullet hit you over and over again.”

She faced him and squeezed his hand. “Sean—”

“I’ve almost lost you so many times. When you nearly fell down the mine shaft in the Adirondacks. When you were run off the road by that psycho in DC. When you went to Mexico to rescue Brad and the boys. You risk yourself because that’s what you do—I can’t ask you not to do it. Kane risks himself because that’s what he does. I don’t think I ever really understood why Kane does what he does, not until these last few days. Now, I do. If not us, who?” He gently hugged her. “This was something I could do. I had no intention of dying, I didn’t even consider it an option. And I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you about the plan.”

“Don’t do it again.”

“Okay.”

“I mean it. We both put ourselves at risk. It’s our job—our vocation, I guess. Just like Kane and Jack and Father Mateo, we do it because we couldn’t do anything else. But I can’t be kept in the dark. If I think you’re not telling me something because it’ll hurt me or because I’ll try and stop you, then we’ll never truly trust each other. I didn’t like the idea for a lot of different reasons, but I trust
you
and I trust my brother, and I knew Jack would move Heaven and earth to save you. But I can’t be coddled or protected, Sean.”

“I am sorry. And the reverse goes, too.” He kissed her.

She sighed. The anger was gone. The fear was beginning to fade away. “That’s fair.” She smiled. “So where are we going for our honeymoon?”

“Honeymoon? I don’t think we’ve had a vacation that didn’t end up with trouble.”

“Trouble finds us, Sean. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t go away. Hawaii, maybe. What’s the homicide rate in Hawaii? Probably low. It’s too pretty for people to be violent. Let’s find a place on a small island where there are no murders, no kidnappings, no gunrunning or drug cartels. We’ll go and just relax.”

He laughed. “I don’t know if you understand the meaning of the word
relax
.”

“But you do, and you’ll teach me.”

“I’ll enjoy every minute.”

“October.”

“Okay. Why October?”

“Because everyone says that October is beautiful here in San Antonio. And we deserve a beautiful wedding day.”

“That isn’t one hundred percent humidity.”

“That too.”

“Okay. October it is. Four months should be enough time to plan a wedding.”

“Small wedding.”

He raised his eyebrow. “The Kincaids and the Rogans are both quite large families. And we have friends.”

“Medium wedding.”

“Okay. What day?”

“I’ll call Father Mateo and ask him what he has available.” She paused. “Is that okay with you? Saint Catherine’s?”

“I told you it was.”

“But I know how you feel about churches.”

“Lucy, I have a hard time with religion, but I love you, and I love your faith. I like Mateo. He’s everything that I think a man of God should be. If they were all like him and Padre, the world would be a much better place. And it matters to you.”

“I would marry you anywhere.”

“I love you for that, Lucy, but the sacrament means something to you. And because it means so much to you, it means something to me. I want the boys all there, I want my family, your family, our friends. I want a party. I want lots of champagne and the best Scotch and great food. And then we’re going on a honeymoon. You get to plan the wedding, I’ll do anything you want. But I get to plan the honeymoon. Keeping your low-homicide-rate criterion in mind.”

She smiled slyly. “Should I be scared?”

“Never.”

There was a beep at the front door, and Sean tensed. The door opened and Jack walked in with Kane. Sean relaxed when Jack reset the alarm. Lucy wondered if he would ever truly relax again, and that made her sad. Sean had always loved fun, loved playing games and doing things that gave him pleasure. Sailing. Skiing. Racing. Sitting by the pool under a blue sky. Picnics in a meadow of wildflowers. He loved living so much … and yet, so much had happened, so much had they suffered. And she didn’t know if it would be easy to forget. If they would ever forget. If they could, at any time, relax.

She watched as Kane eased himself into the oversized chair. Kane wasn’t a man who relaxed, ever. She’d only met him three months ago, but the only time she’d seen him even marginally relax was here, in their house. Whether it was because he was with his brother, or because he felt safe, she didn’t know.

“Thanks for bringing him up here,” Sean said to Jack.

Jack didn’t dignify the thanks with a comment. “Megan is flying in tomorrow morning,” he said.

Lucy realized that Jack had given his entire week for her. For Sean. The anger she felt over his part in keeping Sean’s plan from her disappeared. She walked over to him and hugged him tightly. “I love you, Jack.”

He hugged her, kissed the top of her head, and said, “I love you, too, kid.”

“I didn’t mean what I said.”

“I know.”

She took a deep breath and stepped back. “If you need to go home, I understand.”

He looked at her as if she were speaking a foreign language. “Luce, I want to be here. Megan wants to be here, too. Unless you both need some time, I could get another place. I’ll be in San Antonio for at least two more weeks. I’m the point person for Operation Cleanup.”

Sean laughed, then winced. “Is that what you’re calling it?”

“Seemed appropriate. Patrick will be here next week, as soon he’s done with that job you referred to him in New York. He’ll be going over all electronics and computers.” Jack put his hand up. “I know what you’re going to say, Sean. But you can’t be involved in this one.”