The Ringer (22 page)

She gasped, her field of vision growing smaller.

“You should have been happy I picked your sloppy ass up and made you a Lockland, but it didn’t seem good enough.” He pulled the weapon up to her face. “A nobody like you? What could possibly make you think you even deserved me?”

With no fight left, she felt resigned to her fate. The barrel singed her forehead.

“I wish I could say I’m going to miss you,” he taunted.

A loud pop resounded in her ears, shattering the windshield. Glass rained down on them, and the strong hold Parker had on her neck loosened. It allowed her the ability to breathe. She gobbled up the fresh air while she pushed herself back against the steering wheel and farther from Parker’s limp body. Outside, Jax stood feet away from the car, his gun at the ready.

“Are you okay?” he shouted through the shattered window.

All she could do was shake her head since her throat burned in the worst way. He opened the door from the inside and moved Parker’s body.

“Is he dead?” she croaked.

He kept his eyes steady on hers while he checked Parker’s pulse. “Nope, still alive. I just winged him. The big baby must have passed out.”

Everything had happened too quickly for her to comprehend. She reached out for him, but the arriving paramedics had other plans. They pulled her from the driver’s seat, and another team took Parker from the car. Somewhere far away in her head, she silently wished him dead.

“Let them check you, sweetie,” Jax said.

Three loud gunshots echoed out into the crisp night air.

Shots fired inside of Navy Pier made all hell break loose. Farther down from the valet station, guests from his Jax’s brother’s party poured out of the building and ran in different directions.

“Hold it, Thornbird. Chicago Police Department is swarming this place, and you’re still a degenerate cop killer.” Army yanked him back by his shoulder before he could get too close to the action.

“My family—”

“They’re all good. We got them out of here after the call about Mortiz came in. We didn’t want to take any chances.”

“Who got shot?”

“Your captain. It looks like his wife pulled the trigger.”

“His wife?” Jax pushed his hair back, unsure what to think anymore.

“On top of being a corrupt, corpse-stealing city official, he was also a wife abuser, according to her.”

“But she’s a psychologist—”

“Yeah, I smell bullshit, too. What are we gonna do?” Army asked. “Thankfully, the paramedics were already on the scene, so he might make it, which is great news for me. Hey, I want you to meet someone.” A hipster kid walked up to them. “This is my cousin, Trevor. He works for the Tribune.”

He shook the reporter’s hand. It dawned on him this must have been the kid who talked him up to the governor that night in the bar.

“I would love an exclusive when you get the time,” the reporter said.

“Sure,” he told him, having never been receptive to the press in the past. “I got a feeling I owe you.”

“Give us a second, will you, Trev?” Army pushed him away. He waited for his cousin to be out of earshot before he started talking again. “Your friend Sherman is awake.”

“No shit,” he said, happy for some good news.

“Yeah, he fingered Franco for his shooting. Once we use it against him, along with the evidence you got from the vic’s car, the big ol’ house of corrupt politicians will come tumbling down,” the fed said. “Where are you going?”

Tired and worn out by the whole damn mess, he wanted to check on Lane. But from the look on the FBI agent’s face, it wouldn’t be in his immediate future.

He hitched his thumb toward the paramedic’s truck she’d been loaded into.

“No can do, lover boy.” Army shook his head. “You’re both witnesses for the Federal Government. We’re going to have to debrief you two separately.”

“At least let me tell her good-bye?” he asked, trying to take a step in the direction of the ambulance. Army blocked his way.

“This is the biggest case of my career, and I appreciate that you brought it to me, but we’re going to go by the book from here on out. They found those security guards from your family’s law firm. One of them died en route to the hospital. This whole thing is a big mess, and everything has to be handled just right.”

“I’m a better runner than you,” he said, eager to see her before the EMTs could shut the door.

“And I will have no problem shooting you. Come on, Thornbird. Just this once, play by the damn rules.”

Officially at a standoff, neither one of them wanted to budge.

For the past few weeks, Lane had been by his side day and night. It was probably just the adrenaline pumping through his veins, but he wanted to see her. A few days without her wouldn’t kill him, he tried to convince himself.

“Lane!” He called out, hoping to see her one last time before he was sucked into the custody of the feds.

“You’re making this weird,” Army mumbled.

“That’s because you’re heartless.” He allowed Army to lead him to his car, determined to not let a couple of days without her depress him.

Effervescent snowflakes pelted Ava’s windshield. Traffic on the Dan Ryan crawled. Nervous jitters wreaked havoc in Lane’s stomach at even the suggestion of a whole new adventure.

For the past three weeks, she’d been briefed, debriefed, and put on hold from leaving the country. The day before, the FBI cleared her for travel. She hadn’t seen or talked to Jax once.

Maybe their relationship was a fluke. She had wondered plenty of times. In the place of a one-night stand, she’d invented a three-week one instead.

“Have you seen today’s paper?” Ava asked.

She admired how she slid the Lexus SUV onto the off-ramp with amazing control. Slick streets, wet from snow, had already caused several cars to pull to the side of the expressway. She wouldn’t be surprised if O’Hare had cancelled all flights.

“No,” she told Ava. Days ago, she had finally hit her wall. She’d refused to look at any more of the gruesome details of her ex-husband’s case. She took a sip of her Starbucks Caramel Macchiato and tried to think of something other than the weather.

“Did you remember your rain poncho and hairdryer?” Ava asked. Flying in bad weather always freaked her out.

Ever since Lane had gotten back to reality, Ava had tried to lift her spirits, but she couldn’t kick the funk she found herself in. “Don’t worry about the weather. It’s going to blow over in an hour.”

“Yeah,” she told her. She’d been packed and ready to go for her trip to Italy for more than a week. Since the Italians had the best coffee in the world, she’d decided to spoil herself with a crash course in beans. She’d spent enough time pining over Jax.

“Come on, everything will be great. You got a good settlement from the divorce on the count of Parker trying to kill you,” Ava listed off while she kept her eyes on the road. “Your ex-husband will probably be in jail forever, so you don’t have to worry about him anymore.” She gave her a wide-open grin. “And you had the best time of your life while running from the law. How many people can say that?”

Unable to help herself, she smiled. Ava was right. “Not many.”

“And soon, you’ll be on a plane to one of the most beautiful countries on this earth. Come on,” she pushed. “I would say you’re doing better than good.”

“I’m doing okay.”

“Better than okay.” Ava pulled up to O’Hare’s departure curb then reached over to hug her. “I’m just glad you came back safe and sound.”

She gave the tiny diva a fierce squeeze in return. Faster than anyone, Lane would admit she had indeed come back, but not all in one piece. Emotionally, something inside of her was off.

“Drive safe,” she said, close to tears. She hopped out of the truck. If there had been one person she could fully depend on, it was Ava. She wouldn’t have made it through these past few weeks if it hadn’t been for the fashion dynamo in her corner.

Despite the lack of light, she kept her sunglasses firmly in place. Reporters hounded her nonstop for interviews. A few journalists had even staked out Ava’s house for an exclusive peek inside of her life. The press had callously dubbed the case “The Body Snatchers.” At this point, she had no choice but to leave the country.

“Your bags, ma’am?” Lane treated herself to a curbside check-in since security would be such a hassle.

Convinced her flight might be allowed to take off after all, Lane felt better. She grabbed her boarding pass and headed toward TSA’s long line. Shoes off, tablet out, she checked everything off in her head, but then someone rudely bumped into her.

“Sorry,” she apologized as a man’s hand reached out to steady her. “Oh!”

“My fault,” Jax said.

Lane couldn’t help but smile back at the beautiful man.

“We’re together,” he assured the people behind them who’d begun to grumble about his line jumping shenanigans.

“I’m sure I was in your way somehow,” she teased. “I’m not the most organized flyer.”

Happy to see him, but unwilling to make a giddy, squealing fool of herself, she took in everything about him. In three weeks time, he had cut his shoulder-length hair. However, everything else was the same, including his woodsy scent, right on down to worn-out work jeans.

Jackson Thornbird was perfect.

“I’m glad I could catch you before you left,” he whispered, his face inches from hers.

“Where are you going, Jackson Thornbird?” she asked, already dizzy by his closeness. When he was near, she forgot how light-headed and stupid he made her.

“Ahem,” someone cleared his throat. In front of them, the crowd had moved.

“Sorry,” she apologized again.

Jax led her by the arm up to fill the gap. “Italy. Right?”

“That’s where you’re going?” she asked shyly.

“Only if you want me to. We went on one of my adventures.” He moved closer to her lips. “It’s time for one of yours.”

“Fair is fair,” she whispered back.

“Great, but first,” he said with a full-blown smile, backing away from her mouth, “we should go on a date. You see, I fell in love with this girl, and I’ve never even taken her on a date.”

“What a coincidence.” She laughed, deep from her belly as well as her heart. “Because I fell in love with this guy, and
we’ve
never been on one single date.”

Without another wasted second, he gathered her into his arms and kissed her like he never had before. Warm, wanting, and sweet, their lips touched. Jackson Thornbird showed her exactly what she had missed.

“Sorry, I’m so late,” he said, out of breath when he pulled away. “They took me to Washington for debriefing and then offered me a job.”

“Wow!” Instantly, her current state of euphoria popped. She’d planned to open a coffee shop in Chicago. With Washington almost seven hundred miles away, how would they ever make time to see each other? “What did you tell them?”

“I told them I’d have to talk to you first. There’s a Chicago office, but I would have to go to Quantico for training. Hell, we might want to stay in Italy for the long run.”

“That’s what you told them, huh?” Lane mumbled near his mouth. “Then again, we just might want to live near the nation’s capital.” Barefoot in the security line, she brought him in for another toe-tingling kiss.

Amber Malloy dreamed of being a double agent but couldn't pass the psyche evaluation. Crushed by despair that she couldn't legally shoot things, Amber pursued her second career choice as pastry chef. When she's not writing or whipping up a mean Snickers Cheesecake, she occasionally spies on her sommelier. Amber is convinced he's faking his French accent.

You can visit Amber at:

www.ambermalloy.com

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