The Agent's Redemption (Special Agents At The Altar 4) (18 page)

But it was too loud, so loud that she winced. Then she screamed as she saw Jared crumple and drop to the floor. And she turned back toward the other man. Harris Mowery held a gun—a gun he’d just fired at the man she loved.

Chapter Twenty-One

Jared lay limply on the floor, blood trickling down his numb arm and soaking through his shirt and coat to the carpet beneath him. The bullet had missed his damn vest, hitting his shoulder instead. He’d dropped his gun. And because he’d dropped his gun, he’d dropped to the ground, too.

With a wounded arm and probably a concussion from what he suspected was now an earlier confrontation with Harris, he wouldn’t be able to physically overpower him. He needed his gun. And he had to get it without Mowery noticing him reaching for it. He had to play dead and hope that Mowery didn’t fire at him again.

He also had to get a message to his team so they didn’t rush the room and force Mowery’s hand. Because then he would definitely empty his gun—into Becca and Lexi before they’d have a chance to take him down.

Rebecca’s scream had drawn Mowery’s attention to her, so the man had turned away from him. But the gun had fallen too far away for Jared to reach for it quickly—without drawing Mowery’s attention back to him. With his left hand, he pulled his badge from beneath him and flashed it at the stained-glass window.

He didn’t flash an SOS. And because he hadn’t, Rus and Reyes should know to back off and hold back the others. And let him handle it. As long as Harris didn’t realize he wasn’t dead...

“You shot him!” Becca yelled at Harris as she tried to move around him. But he swung that gun in her direction. “Why did you shoot him?”

“So he wouldn’t try to save you,” Harris said. “I needed Special Agent Bell out of my way. And you better stay where you are, Rebecca, or I’ll shoot you, too. And that isn’t at all what I’ve had planned for you.”

Jared knew what he’d planned. The same gruesome death as all those other women but Lexi had suffered.

“What are you doing?” Becca asked.

The madman chuckled. “You knew I wouldn’t be able to resist grabbing you, Rebecca. That was the whole purpose of your little plan. Kyle Smith was right about that...” He sighed almost regretfully. “I don’t know why he resisted giving up the information about your fitting time and location. I knew he had it. And he’d always been so good about sharing his information before—until today.”

“You killed him,” Becca said, and her voice cracked with fear and with tears. She was probably worried that he’d killed Jared, too.

“I would’ve killed Special Agent Bell then, too,” Harris said. “But I needed him to lead me back here. Back to you...” He swung his gun toward Lexi. “I didn’t know he’d lead me to you, as well.”

“You’re not surprised I’m alive,” Lexi said.

Clearly, Harris hadn’t been as shocked as he and Becca had been.

“You’re not going to be alive much longer,” Harris promised her. “But first I intend to take care of your sister. She’s been a pain in my ass for far too long.”

He swung the gun toward Becca but Lexi lurched forward—stepping between them. She glanced down and noticed Jared staring up at her. And she shook her head in warning just before Harris turned back toward him.

So Jared closed his eyes and played dead, like Lexi had the past six years.

“How did you know I wasn’t dead?” she asked, her voice, which had been so soft earlier, was loud and shrill now. She wanted to draw Harris’s attention to her. And away from Jared.

She was helping him.

“I knew because I hadn’t killed you,” he said. “But I did—every time I killed one of those women. I killed you. I saw you—especially when I killed that insolent girl we met at the mall.”

Lexi gasped. “Root Beer...”

“Whatever you called her,” Harris said. “You and your childish little nicknames.”

“Do you know what I called you?” Lexi asked.

“I never let you give me one of your ridiculous pet names,” he said, his voice full of patronization and pride.

She smiled—a smile full of his usual smugness and arrogance. She was playing him hard, hitting all of his triggers.

For Becca...

To keep her sister safe from the man she’d brought into their lives.

“I had a nickname for you,” Lexi told him. “I called you the Little Man.” She laughed. “For so many reasons...”

He lashed out—just as she’d intended, striking her so hard that she dropped to her knees. “You bitch! You stupid little bitch!”

He raised his arm again to deliver another blow.

Lexi couldn’t defend herself. She couldn’t even lift her arm to deflect his blow because Jared had handcuffed her arms behind her back.

Jared reached for his gun, out of reflex with his right arm. But the numbness wasn’t gone. It was like he was paralyzed. He couldn’t move the limb that had been shot. He couldn’t save Lexi from the next blow Harris dealt her.

But Becca could. With another scream, this one of anger instead of fear, she threw herself at the madman. Maybe she’d forgotten about his gun. Or maybe she was just so angry that she didn’t care.

Another shot rang out, rattling the small stained-glass window in the room. Had Harris shot her?

* * *

P
AIN
EXPLODED
IN
Rebecca’s head. The bullet hadn’t struck her, but the barrel had when Harris swung it at her. The force of the blow made her fall to the ground next to Lexi. She’d only wanted to protect her sister—like she should have six years ago.

“And that’s one of the reasons you’re a little man,” Lexi said. Blood oozed from the cut he’d opened on her lip. But she didn’t care. She kept taunting him.

It was obvious to Rebecca that Lexi wanted him to kill her first—before he had a chance to kill Rebecca. Despite letting her believe she’d been dead the past six years, Lexi still loved her—enough to die for her. “Stop,” she implored her. “Don’t...”

“Don’t what?” Lexi asked. “Tell the truth? I should have gone on that dead reporter’s show years ago—telling what a weak, little man Harris Mowery is. That he can only pick on women.”

“I killed that reporter,” Harris said with pride. “I beat the dress fitting time out of him.”

“I thought you said he wouldn’t tell you,” Rebecca reminded him. “That you had to follow Jared here.”

He swung his gun back toward Jared. “I killed him, too. Or if he’s not dead now, he soon will be.” He pointed his barrel at Jared’s head.

And Rebecca screamed. The hope that he was only unconscious was what had kept her from losing her sanity. If Jared was dead...

She would lose more than her heart. She would lose her mind and her soul, too. “No!” She vaulted to her feet and launched herself at Harris again.

But another shot rang out. She didn’t know if it struck Jared or the floor near his head. She had no time to look—no time to go to him—before Harris tossed her back onto the ground like a rag doll.

She hit with a hard thud, jarring her bones and bruising her muscles. An oath slipped through her lips.

And Lexi screamed now. “Stop! Stop hurting her!”

“I’m going to do more than hurt her,” Harris promised.

“I’m the one you want to hurt,” Lexi said. “I’m the one you hate.”

Harris cursed—calling his former fiancée every vulgar name a man could call a woman. “But you’re wrong,” he said. “I don’t hate you. Not even now.”

Lexi shivered. Maybe she would have preferred his hatred.

“I love you,” he said, then cursed her again. “I love you like I’ve never loved anyone else...”

And Lexi had rejected him. She’d rejected life entirely over a life with him.

“You don’t know what love is,” Lexi said. “You have no idea.”

“And you know?” he said with a snide smile. “Are you talking about your love for your sister? You put your darling
Becca
through hell when you faked your death.”

Lexi shook her head. “I love,” she said, “my husband. My children.”

Harris’s face flushed red with rage. Lexi had pushed him too far. He was certain to kill her now. “You’re married?”

“Yes,” she replied with a happy smile that made her swollen lip bleed even more. “And we have two beautiful children.”

He lashed out again—so quickly that he struck Lexi before Rebecca could intervene. Lexi fell back on the floor. Then Harris swung the gun barrel toward her. “Don’t move.”

“Don’t shoot her!” Rebecca yelled. She couldn’t lose Lexi again—especially not if she had already lost Jared. She would need Lexi to hold her together.

“I’m not going to kill her yet,” Harris said. “I want her alive to watch when I kill you.” He turned back to Rebecca. But he slid the gun into the back of his belt. And instead he pulled out a knife and unsheathed it. “Of course she doesn’t love you as much as her husband and children.” He flicked his thumb over the shiny blade of the sharp knife. “I really should kill them instead...”

He shook his head. “But that would be breaking with my MO.” He turned back to Lexi. “You know it,” he said. “You gave it to me.”

“How?” she asked. “How did you know exactly what happened there?”

He smiled again—that arrogant, smug smile. “Kyle Smith had a mole inside the Bureau. Some stupid female agent that fell for his slick smile—she kept him apprised of all the details of the case.”

“And he told you?” Rebecca asked.

“Not intentionally,” Harris said. “Probably not even consciously. He was a fool. And a braggart. It was easy to play him for everything he knew.”

Except this last time. Kyle must have figured out he’d been aiding a killer, and he hadn’t wanted to help anymore.

Why hadn’t help arrived for Rebecca? There had been agents all around earlier. Had they left to bring George to jail? Poor innocent George who would lose the mother of his children if Harris had his way.

The agents must have left, or they would have heard this conversation through the mike she wore. They would have come to her aid and Jared’s. Instead, he was bleeding to death on the floor. And as Harris swung that knife toward her, Rebecca realized that she would soon be bleeding, too.

She lifted her hands, but she didn’t know how she would be able to fight off that blade. That sharp blade that had already killed so many other women.

“No!” she screamed as that knife slashed through the air on its descent toward her chest. Her heart...

Chapter Twenty-Two

Jared was right-handed, but with that arm numb and bleeding, he had to use his left hand to grab for and fire his weapon. So he squeezed the trigger and emptied the magazine, hoping that he hit the son of a bitch.

Harris’s body tensed as at least one bullet struck him. But he didn’t drop the knife, he clutched it harder as he lunged down on Becca.

Screaming filled the room. But it was Lexi—not Becca. She just lay still—beneath Harris’s still body. Had Jared been too late to save her?

He cursed himself—furious that this killer had gotten the jump on him twice. And now he might have killed the only woman Jared had ever loved...

He lurched across the short space separating him from their tangled bodies. With one arm, he dragged Harris off her. He’d had to drop the gun. If the guy held the knife and was still alive, he could plunge that knife into Jared’s heart. But if he’d already killed Becca, Jared had no heart left to hurt. And Harris had no life left to take anyone else’s. His limp body slumped onto the floor, and he stared up at Jared through eyes wide with shock and fury.

He’d died knowing that he’d failed. He hadn’t killed the woman he’d wanted to kill. He hadn’t killed Lexi Drummond. She scrambled to her knees, tears streaming down her face. Together they moved toward Becca.

Her eyes were open, too, and wide with shock. Her hands clasped her stomach. Jared cursed, and Lexi gasped. But then he noted that no blood oozed between her fingers. Instead of being plunged in her body, the knife was stuck in the floor next to her arm.

He had missed. Not only had he died but he’d died without taking either Becca or Lexi with him. Jared should have felt relief or even triumph. But his heart hadn’t stopped pounding with fear for Becca’s safety.

“Are you okay?” he asked her. He had to touch her, so he slid his fingers along her cheek. She was so beautiful but so pale and fearful. “Becca?”

Her breath shuddered out in a sigh of relief. “You’re alive. I was so afraid that he’d killed you.”

“I was afraid for you,” he said. “And you...” He turned to Lexi. He shouldn’t have cuffed her; he’d made her helpless to defend herself. But that hadn’t stopped her from defending and trying to protect her younger sister.

He needed to find the key to the cuffs. But he couldn’t take his good hand from Becca’s beautiful face.

But then the door to the dressing room opened and he pulled his hand back to reach for his gun.

“You didn’t flash SOS,” Rus said as he stepped inside with his gun drawn.

“That’s because I had this,” Jared said.

“You just flashed once, so I knew you were alive,” Rus said. “We held back because—”

“He would have shot us all if you’d tried breaking through the door,” Jared said.

“We heard it all,” Dalton added. “Rebecca was wearing a mike.”

“So you released my husband?” Lexi asked.

“We caught him trying to break in,” Dalton said. “And we heard what you and he did to your sister.”

Jared pulled out the key to his cuffs and handed it to Dalton. “Let her go. She was just trying to protect her sister.”

“But she faked her death,” Rus added.

Jared stared down at the body of the dead man. Then his gaze went to the huge knife shoved deep into the floor. “To escape the Butcher...”

He didn’t blame Lexi for what she’d done. He blamed himself. He should have listened to Becca. He’d gotten hung up on Harris having an alibi for Lexi’s abduction, so he hadn’t looked at him as a suspect in the other murders like he should have. If he had, he could have saved some of the other women. Harris had had no connection to them, though. He’d randomly picked brides—probably from their engagement notices in the paper—and as he’d killed them, he’d imagined Lexi. If Jared had caught Harris earlier, Lexi would have been able to come home to her sister and the rest of her family. It was more his fault than Lexi’s that she’d had to stay away so long. “I’m sorry,” he told her.

Dalton unhooked her, and she pulled her arms in front of her and rubbed her wrists. “I understand why you would arrest me,” she said. “You must be furious over what I did.”

“I understand why you had to,” he said. “And that’s why I’m sorry. I failed you. I should have caught him a long time ago. So you could have come home.”

Tears spilled out of Lexi’s eyes. “It wasn’t your fault. None of it was.”

She might see it that way, but he doubted that Becca did. Would she ever forgive him for not listening to her? And even if she could, he wasn’t certain that he could forgive himself.

“We need to get you to the hospital,” Nick said. “You should have gone after you took the blow to the head. Now you’ve been shot...”

Maybe it was the head wound or the loss of blood from the gunshot wound or maybe it was just hearing Rus say it aloud, but Jared suddenly got very dizzy. His vision blurred, and the pain in his head and shoulder intensified. He groaned, then dropped as oblivion claimed him again.

* * *

H
ER
HEART
POUNDING
and nerves frayed raw, Rebecca paced the hospital waiting room. She’d nearly lost Jared so many times in just a few hours. He couldn’t have saved her life only to leave her life. Tears blurred her vision. She loved him so much. Alex loved him so much.

Her little boy couldn’t lose his father now—when he’d only just learned who he was. That was her fault. It was all her fault.

She hadn’t let Jared know about his son. And then she’d committed to that crazy plan to flush out a killer. She was a physician’s assistant, not an FBI agent. She hadn’t been prepared for anything that had happened.

“I could help him,” she murmured. “I should have helped him at the scene. I could have stopped the bleeding...”

“Harris wouldn’t let you near him,” Lexi reminded her. “He would have shot you, too.”

She shuddered as she remembered how close she’d come to being Harris Mowery’s latest and last victim. She had felt the air move from the slash of that sharp knife. If Jared hadn’t shot him...

Lexi stepped into the path of her pacing. When Rebecca moved to the side, Lexi matched her movement and caught her. Then she pulled her into her arms and hugged her. Rebecca held herself stiffly. If she gave in to the tears, she probably would never stop crying.

But she felt Lexi’s tears dampening her shirt and her skin as she clutched her closely. And Rebecca found her arms lifting and wrapping around her sister. She hugged her back. She was real. She was warm and soft and real. She was alive. And the tears began to fall.

“I’m sorry,” Lexi murmured. “I’m so sorry...”

At first Rebecca thought she was offering the kind of apology people offered at funerals as an expression of sympathy. But Jared couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t...

She pulled back from her sister and looked around the waiting room. His friends were there—but for Blaine who’d stayed with Alex. Instead of pacing like her, they stood in a corner—talking and laughing. Trading stories about Jared.

They knew him better than she did. He’d been part of her life such a short time—six years ago—and a short time now. He couldn’t leave her. But even if he survived his wounds, he would still probably leave her. The killer was caught now—dead now.

She trusted that he would stay part of Alex’s life. But what about hers?

“He has to be okay,” she murmured.

“He is,” Lexi said. “He was so focused on saving you. He won’t leave you.”

“He did,” Rebecca said, pain cracking her voice. “He left me six years ago. He didn’t think I really loved him. He thought I was just using him to get over losing you.” Tears threatened again, but she blinked them back. “But I never got over you.”

“The news has been reporting that your son is his,” Lexi said. “I have a nephew...”

“Yes, Alex,” Rebecca said, and her heart warmed with love for her amazing child. “But I didn’t tell Jared when I got pregnant. He just recently found out that he’s a father.”

“So I’m not the only Drummond who kept a secret for years,” she said. “Do you hate me for what I put you through?”

“No,” Rebecca said, and she pulled her sister back into a hug. “I could never hate you. I’m so glad you’re alive. Were you telling the truth—do you and George have kids, too?”

Lexi smiled again and reopened the wound on her lip. “Two girls. Becky is five, and Amanda is three.” She blinked back tears. “The same years apart that we are. I think they’ll be as close as we were.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Becca asked. “Why didn’t you tell me what a monster Harris was?”

“He would have killed you,” Lexi said. “I worried that he still would when you kept publicly accusing him. That’s why George and I have kept an eye on you all these years. I’ve seen Alex...” Her voice cracked with emotion. “I can’t wait to meet him, though. And I can’t wait for you to meet my girls.”

All Rebecca had wanted the past six years was to have her sister back—to share her life the way she wished they’d been doing before Lexi disappeared. But she couldn’t think about her now. She couldn’t think about anyone or anything but Jared.

“He has to be okay,” she murmured again.

The door to the waiting room opened, and a doctor stepped inside. It was the ER doctor who’d treated Jared. She rushed forward—along with Nick Rus and Dalton Reyes, who asked, “How is he?”

“He’ll be fine,” the doctor assured them. “We did a CT scan. He has a slight concussion.”

“What about the gunshot wound?” Rebecca asked.

“The bullet went through his shoulder,” the doctor replied. “He needed a few stitches and an IV. He’ll be fine. Would you like to see him?”

Rebecca stepped back as the agents stepped forward. They turned to her. “You can go first,” Nick Rus offered.

She shook her head. “No, that’s okay. I’m sure he’ll want to talk to you about the case. He’ll want to get everything finished up.” She stepped back again—until she bumped into Lexi.

Lexi’s hands gripped her shoulders and steadied her. The agents left—anxious to see their friend. And instead of holding her, Lexi shook her, albeit gently. “What are you doing?” she asked. “You want to see him. You’ve been so worried about him. Why didn’t you go see him?”

Rebecca shook her head. “I don’t know...”

“You know,” Lexi said. “Tell me.”

“Because it’s over,” she said. “Harris is dead. The Butcher has been stopped. It’s over.”

“The killing is over,” Lexi agreed. “My having to play dead is over. But you and Jared—that doesn’t have to be over.”

“It was just an act,” Rebecca said. “A trap. We never intended to get married.”

Lexi uttered a soft sigh of disappointment. “So Jared was right six years ago. You didn’t really love him.”

Self-righteousness filled Rebecca. “No, he wasn’t right. I did love him. I really loved him. It had nothing to do with filling any void you’d left. It was about him. I loved him.”

“‘Loved’?” Lexi asked. “Past tense? You don’t love him anymore?”

“No...” If anything, she loved him more. He was such a good man. Such a good father for only just finding out that he was one. He and Alex had a bond—in their genius—that she would never share. But it was more than that. They were close already.

And Rebecca had seen what their life could be like as a family, taking care of and playing with Alex together. And then she and Jared sleeping together every night, wrapped up in each other’s arms.

“So you don’t love him anymore,” Lexi said.

“I didn’t say that,” Rebecca said. She wouldn’t lie to her sister. She wouldn’t lie about her feelings for Jared.

“So you do love him?”

Maybe Alex had gotten his inquisitiveness from his aunt. “Why do you keep asking? Why do you care?”

“Because I want to know,” Lexi said. “You willingly used yourself as bait for a serial killer. So I thought you were brave, but you’re acting like a coward now—when it comes to admitting your feelings.”

“I want to know, too,” a male voice added.

She turned around to find Jared standing behind her. Even though the doctor hadn’t said anything about discharging him yet, Jared was dressed already—in his bloodied shirt and coat. And she was more afraid of facing him than she’d been of facing the serial killer.

What if she admitted her feelings and he didn’t return them? That would hurt worse than if Harris Mowery had plunged that knife into her heart.