Shadow Dance (28 page)

H
E NEEDED TO TIME IT JUST RIGHT
. A
NY MINUTE NOW
,
THE
messenger Pruitt had hired would be placing the gift-wrapped box outside of Jordan’s door. Liquid fire, that’s how he thought of his special brew. It had worked so beautifully on MacKenna’s house. And it would work beautifully again. There were enough chemicals inside that box to blow the top floor of the apartment building into the stratosphere and burn what was left to the ground. Probably overkill, he thought, but he wouldn’t have to worry that Jordan Buchanan’s computer might somehow still be operable.

He’d set the timer and had exactly one hour before the explosion. He needed to get to Jordan before then. Once her apartment went up, the police and the FBI would be on her at the hospital like ants on a picnic. They would then know that Jordan had been the intended target of the shooting. But if Pruitt could get to her today, no one would ever know why.

Thank God for small-town gossip. Pruitt had just arrived back at the motel, shredder in hand, when he’d gotten the phone call from his wife, Suzanne. She had just heard from Jaffee’s wife, Lily, who had heard from Jaffee, who had heard from Angela that Jordan Buchanan was hanging on to life by a thread. It was just so sad that something this tragic had to happen to someone so young—and so nice. What was the world coming to? Three people killed in Serenity, and then this lovely young woman, who had been traumatized enough, goes home to Boston and gets shot down by some maniac who’s out for revenge against her father? And that handsome FBI agent, Noah Clayborne, who was with her in Serenity turned out to be more than just a friend. He had called Angela and could barely talk, he was so brokenhearted. Angela had told him that Jordan’s last phone call, right before she was shot, was to her. Angela said poor Noah Clayborne sounded absolutely lost. It didn’t look like poor Jordan was going to make it but he was searching for a ray of hope. He was trying to think positive thoughts, planning Jordan’s return home from the hospital. The last thing Jordan had said to him was something about those research papers she had come to Serenity to get. She was so excited for him to see some surprising information she’d stored on her computer—something she’d learned from the papers that the dead professor had given her. She was some sort of computer genius, everybody says. But now Noah may never know what Jordan wanted to tell him. It was all just so very sad….

Suzanne cackled on, but Pruitt’s mind had strayed. What other information had Jordan found in Professor MacKenna’s notes? What was on her computer? Maybe she had already figured everything out.

He walked into the hospital without anyone noticing. He looked down at his feet in case security cameras were pointed his way. He wasn’t worried he would be recognized. The police were looking for gangsters related to Judge Buchanan’s racketeering case, right? And even if Jordan could identify Dave Trumbo, she wouldn’t see him closely, not until it was too late.

The security personnel didn’t pay much attention to him either. No reason to. He’d stopped at a big supermart where you could buy anything from toothpaste, to automotive parts, to professional uniforms. He’d picked up a pair of surgical scrubs. The hospital was a huge medical complex and there were so many physicians and nurses bustling about, no one paid Pruitt any attention.

The elevator opened as soon as he pushed the button, and he rode alone up to the fifth floor, mentally practicing what he would say if he was stopped by a nurse. The second he stepped off the elevator he scanned the numbers beside the doors, looking for the one he’d been given when he’d called the information desk. An arrow indicated Jordan Buchanan’s room was around the corner on the right. He turned the corner and stopped. A uniformed police guard stood outside her door. Pruitt changed direction, and he had to change his plan as well.

He hadn’t anticipated a guard, but that was an oversight. Of course her father would want to beef up security.

Back in the elevator, he looked at the hospital directory printed on the wall. Pushing the button for the second floor, he headed down to radiology. No one was in sight when he walked out into the empty corridor. It took only a couple of calls on his cell phone to get the name of her surgeon and her internist. Then he called the fifth floor and told the nurse that Dr. Emmett had ordered more X-rays for Jordan Buchanan.

From the sound of her voice, the nurse was young and inexperienced. She didn’t ask questions. She simply hung up the phone, then promptly called radiology and gave them the doctor’s verbal orders.

Pruitt heard the orderly take the call. Fortunately, it was a slow evening, and radiology was empty. Nevertheless, Pruitt had to wait ten minutes before the slow-moving blond orderly came through the doors and got on the elevator to retrieve Jordan. With an iPod in his shirt pocket and tiny earphone wires hanging from his ears, he hummed to an unrecognizable song.

Pruitt liked the isolation of his hiding place. There were dark rooms, darker corridors, and empty reception desks. The chances of anyone interrupting were not a concern.

He looked around the radiology floor and found a perfect spot in a cubicle just inside the swinging doors to the X-ray room.

Would the guard accompany Jordan to radiology? Most likely. Pruitt would have to take him first. Come up behind him and hit him hard. And while he was going down, Pruitt would grab his gun. Unless the iPod orderly hung around. Pruitt was hoping he would park an unconscious Jordan and then go to get the X-ray tech. If that didn’t happen, Pruitt would have to deal with him too. That wouldn’t be difficult, and he wouldn’t make a sound. Pruitt’s techniques for keeping his former clients quiet were all there. Funny how you didn’t forget such things.

Beyond the swinging doors were several changing cubicles, where patients changed into gowns before their scans. Each had doors that clicked shut. There were clean gowns stacked on the shelves inside each cubicle, and lo and behold, a metal rod with plastic hangers.

He had thought he would have to break into the supply closet to find something he could use as a club to hit the guard, but the metal clothes rod would do just fine. It took Pruitt a few minutes to get the screws loose using a dime. About ten or twelve inches long, the rod was the perfect weight for the job. It fit nicely in his hand.

He pulled the door of the cubicle toward him, leaving it open a crack so he could see Jordan being wheeled by. He’d get a warning. He had noticed that when the button for the swinging doors was pushed on the other side, lights would come on in here.

His eyes adjusted to the dark. He wasn’t sure how much time passed before he heard voices. A minute later, the lights blinked on, and he heard the whoosh of the doors slowly opening inward.

Not too eager, he calmed himself. Timing had to be perfect.

Then there they were. First he saw Jordan, then the orderly pushing her wheelchair. The guard trailed behind. That was a nice piece of luck. The guard was last, but he would be the first to be taken down.

Gripping the bar, Pruitt slowly pushed open the door and stepped out. The guard didn’t hear him coming. Pruitt struck him hard at the base of the neck, reaching for the guard’s gun as the man crumpled to the floor.

The orderly managed to hear the noise over his music and whirled around, confusion in his eyes. “Hey…what…?”

Down he went. The rod caught him on the side of his face just above his ear. It happened so fast he didn’t have time to duck. The orderly crashed into Jordan, knocking her from the wheelchair to the floor.

Pruitt kicked the chair out of his path and picked up the gun. His eyes were cold and fiendish. Jordan wondered if that was the last sight she would see before she died. She screamed and doubled over, trying to protect herself.

Suddenly Noah crashed through the doors. Pruitt barely had time to turn his head before a bullet from Noah’s gun cut through his shoulder. He swung around to reach for Jordan, but Noah shot him in the chest, and Pruitt fell to the floor with a shocked look on his dying face. He struggled to raise his gun, but Noah shot again. The explosion was deafening and reverberated down the empty corridor.

Jordan faded into its echo.

J
ORDAN WAS CURLED UP ON THE SOFA IN THE SUNROOM
,
PRETENDING
to be asleep so her mother would stop fussing over her. She’d already covered Jordan with one afghan and was threatening to get a heavier blanket.

The windows were open and a lovely cool breeze freshened the air. She could hear the ocean waves rolling onto shore. Her parents’ home on Nathan’s Bay was surrounded on three sides by water. In the winter, the glass windows would be covered with a layer of ice. In the summer, a cool breeze came off the water, a welcome relief on the rare humid or hot days.

It was a lovely place to visit, but Jordan was ready to go home. She felt like she was a constant worry to her mother. And she missed her own bed. She missed her window seat.

And most of all she missed Noah. Since that terrible night in the hospital when he’d picked her up in his arms and carried her to her room, she’d missed him.

He and Nick were on an assignment. Laurant told Jordan that Nick checked in with her every night that he was away. He’d been gone four days now, but Laurant expected Nick home tomorrow. Jordan didn’t ask her about Noah. That was over, and he had returned to his life. What happened in Serenity…

She sighed. If she didn’t get up and try to be productive, she’d start crying. That’s all her mother would need to hear. Then she’d have Jordan in bed with a nurse standing over her around the clock.

Her ribs were still sore, and she winced when she stood up. The housekeeper, Leah, was stacking dishes in the kitchen.

“I’ll do that,” Jordan offered.

“No, no, you rest.”

“Leah, I know you mean well, but I am sick and tired of being told to rest.”

“You lost a lot of blood. Mrs. Buchanan said you should not overtire yourself.”

Jordan noticed the number of plates and followed Leah into the dining room. The oblong table took up most of the space with six chairs on each side and two at each end.

“Let’s see. Laurant and Nick will be here.” Leah counted. “With baby Sam,” she added. “I’ll bring the high chair in after I give it a good scrubbing. And Michael will be home. And Zachary of course. Alec and Regan will be here next weekend.”

“So it’s just family?” said Jordan.

“With Zachary always bringing home strays from college, I’ve gotten into the habit of setting extra places.”

Jordan asked again what she could do to help, and when Leah shooed her away, she went upstairs to her old bedroom. Her parents used the room for guests these days.

She’d heard from Kate and Dylan. They were back in South Carolina, and Kate wanted Jordan to come down and recuperate there. Jordan hadn’t yet made up her mind whether or not to go. She felt so restless and out of sorts.

What remained of the afternoon Jordan spent in her old room reading. Thankfully, the police had found her copied pages from Professor MacKenna’s research undamaged in the back of Pruitt’s rental car. And now that she had access to research sources, she could check out the validity of the professor’s stories.

At sunset, Michael came upstairs to get her. He actually suggested that he carry her down the stairs.

“My recovery period is officially over,” she announced during dinner. “And I don’t want any more pampering.”

“That’s nice, dear,” her mother crooned. “Did you get enough to eat?”

Jordan laughed. “Yes, thank you.”

“Nick’s in the sunroom. Why don’t you go say hello?”

She headed in that direction, stopping when she heard laughter. She knew that laugh. Noah was with her brother.

She backed up, stopped, thought about it, and backed up another step. She suddenly noticed how quiet it had become in the dining room. No wonder. When she looked back, she saw her family members all leaning forward, intently watching her. Now she had to go into the sunroom to say hello. Jordan took a deep breath.

Nick was sprawled on the sofa. Noah sat in an easy chair. Both were drinking beer.

“Hey, Nick. Hey, Noah.”

They both laughed. “Well hello to you,” Nick said.

“Hey back at you. Jordan, you’re not in Serenity now,” Noah interjected. “How are you doing?”

“Fine. I’m fine. I guess I’ll see you later.” She turned around to walk away.

“Jordan?” said Noah.

She turned back. Noah set his beer on the end table. “Yes?”

He stood and started toward her. “You remember our deal?”

“Yes, of course.”

“What deal?” Nick asked.

“Never mind,” Jordan said. “What about the deal?” she asked Noah.

“What deal?” Nick asked again.

“When we left Serenity, Jordan and I agreed to go our separate ways,” Noah answered.

“Did you have to tell him?” she said, disgruntled.

“Yeah, well, he asked.”

“If you’ll excuse me,” Jordan said, beginning to pivot again.

“Jordan?” said Noah.

She stopped once more. “Yes?”

He was slowly advancing. “Like I was saying…about that deal we made…” He stopped in front of her. “It’s just not gonna happen.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but didn’t know what to say. “What do you mean?”

“Deal’s off, that’s what I mean. We’re not going our separate ways.”

“I’ll give you two a little privacy,” Nick said, rolling off the sofa.

“We don’t need privacy,” Jordan insisted.

“Yes, we do,” Noah countered.

“Why?”

“Because I want to be alone with you to tell you how much I love you.”

Jordan felt as though the wind had just been knocked out of her. “You do…No, wait. You love all women, don’t you?”

Nick pulled the door shut behind him.

Noah wrapped Jordan in his arms and whispered all the words he’d been storing in his heart. He nudged her chin up and kissed her. “And you love me, don’t you, Sugar?”

All her defenses melted. “Yes, I do.”

“Marry me.”

“And if I do?”

“You’ll make me the happiest man in the world.”

“Noah, if we were to get married, you couldn’t date anymore.”

“There you go. Always giving me attitude. I don’t want any other women. Just you. Only you.”

“I may be cutting back some, but I’m not giving up on computers,” Jordan warned.

“Why would you think I would want you to?”

“My comfort zone? Remember that little speech?”

“Yeah, I know. It got you out of your apartment, didn’t it?”

“And into your bed,” she added. “You know what I’ve decided? I’m going to write a program that a four-year-old would understand. Then I’m going to figure out a way to get computers in schools and community centers that can’t afford to buy them. You get a child started early, she’ll become a natural. Technology is here, and I want to use it to write the future with.”

He nodded. “That’s a good start. A simple program. I’m sure Jaffee will be happy to hear about that.”

“Speaking of Jaffee, I talked to Angela yesterday. She says the restaurant has been packed ever since they heard about Trumbo. The whole town is reeling from the news.”

“They’ve had a lot to deal with lately. Chaddick tells me this bombshell has overshadowed J. D.’s list. He and Street are about to wrap things up.”

Jordan shared a couple of other ideas with Noah and then listened to him talk about his work. His job was so stressful, but he made such a difference when he succeeded. The failures were devastating to him. He wanted and needed to come home to her.

He sat down on the sofa and pulled her onto his lap. “Do I need to get down on one knee?”

She smiled. “Loving you isn’t easy.”

“Marry me.”

“You’re arrogant and egotistical…” she paused, “…and sweet and loving and funny and charming…”

“Will you marry me?”

“Yes, I’ll marry you.”

Noah kissed her passionately, and when he realized how much he didn’t want to stop, he pulled back. “I guess you’ll want a ring,” he said.

“Yep.”

“What about a honeymoon?” he asked.

She nuzzled his neck. “You mean before or after the wedding?”

“After.”

“Scotland. We have to go to Scotland for our honeymoon. We could stay at the Gleneagles, and then we could drive up into the Highlands.”

“And look for your treasure?”

“I don’t need to look. I know where it is.”

“Yeah? You figured that whole feud thing out?”

“I did,” Jordan boasted.

“Tell me,” said Noah.

“It all started with a lie…” she began.