Danger Zone (31 page)

“Get them back, Elle,” Quinn shouted, pointing across the street as he began herding people back. But still he kept his attention on the truck and crept closer, trying to make sense of the wreckage. He kept his eyes peeled for any movement. He glanced up, but didn’t see Ellie on the other side of the street.

Quinn focused on the front seat of the truck. With a four-door cab, the driver could’ve—

He heard something. The sound of a bat thumping onto pavement. Glancing through the shattered windows, he spotted the empty cab. Panicked voices got louder as people ran. Then…

“Quinn.” At the sound of Ellie’s soft voice he turned toward the bed of the truck.

A man with a stocking over his head held her in front of him, his arm securely around her neck, his gun steady at her temple.

Quinn’s stomach lurched at the same time his heart rate tripled. This wasn’t Aaron Gerhardt. Gerhardt had five inches on the guy holding Ellie. “Let her go. It’s me you want, isn’t it? Just let her go.”

The guy shook his head, a creepy smile showed through his grotesque mask. He pointed to Ellie’s car. “You drive.” That voice… His size…

Quinn lifted his hands in surrender. “Fine. I’ll drive. Let her go.”

The man moved forward, his gun pressing into Ellie’s head. “Move,” he said. The three of them moved steadily to the Mustang. Quinn walked backward, never taking his eyes off the man and Ellie. “I’m not stupid, Quinn. After all the years you’ve known me, when are you going to get it through your head that I’m not stupid?”

Of course he was familiar! “Hank! Jesus, Hank, have you lost your fucking mind? What are you doing?”

“Drive the car, Quinn.”

Quinn slid over the car door and into the driver’s seat as Hank forced Ellie in the front seat next to him. The fit was tight enough that Ellie practically sat on his lap.

“Keep going straight down the street and take a right on Fourth,” he said.

Helicopter blades whirred overhead and Quinn looked up. Sirens blared behind them. “I know about everything, Hank, and I’m not the only one. The cops are everywhere. You can kill me, but you can’t get away.”

“You’re still not giving me any credit.” He shook his head. “That’s too bad for you. And her. Step on it and get to Fourth.” He looked behind them then at Quinn. “You don’t think I planned this to the nth degree? I’m meticulous. You know that.”

Oh, shit. Understanding struck him like a hit to the chest. They were in serious trouble. Hank was a smart son of a bitch. Quinn had almost given him Densmore’s promotion, but in the end—

“Ditch the cops.”

“I can’t just ditch the cops. There’s a helicopter over our heads,” Quinn said, stepping harder on the accelerator. His knuckles whitened over the wheel. A fresh surge of panic bolted through him. What if they crashed? This wouldn’t have been happening to Ellie if not for him.

“I don’t care about the helicopter. I’ll lose him another way. Get rid of the cops on our tail or I’ll put a bullet through her head.” He yanked Ellie against his chest for emphasis and her surprised yelp set Quinn’s blood roaring in his veins.

Checking the rearview mirror, Quinn put the pedal down and wove in and out of traffic on the busy street. Up ahead, a moving truck slowly backed toward the garage of an office building. The truck blocked all lanes of traffic.

“Squeeze by that semi,” Hank ordered. “On the sidewalk side.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, Hank. It’s not possible. There’s no room.”

“You better haul ass and make room,” Hank told him.

Quinn swallowed back the bile in his throat and put the gas on the floorboard. He laid on his horn as he jumped the curb, scattered pedestrians and slid between the semi and the building with barely an inch to spare on either side. A loud squeal of rubber sounded behind them as the police cruiser didn’t make the same maneuver.

“Keep it fast and smooth. Good,” Hank said, as they sped to the next intersection. “Make a right here on Fourth,” he instructed and Quinn wrestled the wheel. “Now left onto Broadway.”

Quinn made the turn on two wheels.

“Now left into the parking structure. Don’t stop for a ticket, bust the arm.” The black-and-white arm snapped as the Mustang burst through. “Now, take it to the top.”

Hank had him park in the corner of the structure, a few spots away from an old model sedan. After he cut the engine, Quinn looked at him. “I’ve done everything. Now let her go.”

Hank pulled the stocking from his face and shook his head. “Not on your life.”

“Why are you doing this?” Ellie asked.

Lifting his brows, Hank glanced at him. “Quinn’s probably got it figured it out by now, don’t you?”

Quinn nodded. “You wanted Densmore’s job, didn’t you?”

“I
deserved
that job.” Hank pounded his own chest. “I was at the company longer. I worked my ass off for years. For your father, for Mac and then for you. I should be a partner after all the years I’ve been there. I’m smarter than all of you and Densmore put together.”

“But it was Densmore who came up with the patent. Not you.”

“I could’ve done it,” Hank screamed. Ellie flinched at his side. She had her eye on the gun as Hank waved it threateningly near her head. “With a little time and the budget you gave him, anybody could’ve come up with that design.”

Everything clicked in his brain. “Densmore didn’t disappear on his own. You killed him so you could take over the division, didn’t you? You framed Murphy too. He didn’t sell the rearview mirror design to Gerhardt, you did. Just like you sold Brant’s new hood to him seventeen years ago.”

“You do have all the answers, don’t you?” Hank’s face twisted. “Guess that makes this a no-brainer,” he said. His face contorted into a grimace at the same time Ellie grunted and slammed the back of her fist in his face. She tried to twist and swing at him, but caught his hand instead. The gun popped out of Hank’s grip and flew out of the car, but Hank didn’t seem to care. Brutally, he slammed Ellie’s head into the dash and she crumbled forward like a marionette.

Fiery rage detonated like a grenade in Quinn’s chest and he lost it.

He launched himself at Hank and they both tumbled out of the passenger-side door, landing on the hard cement. Hank belly crawled, reaching for the gun. Quinn made it in time to catch his arm and they struggled over the weapon. It fired toward the car. Once, twice, three times. A spark hit a puddle on the ground. Fire started under the Mustang’s back wheel and quickly engulfed the whole tire.

Ellie was still in the car as fire licked up the sides.

Hank slammed him hard in the face and broke free. Grabbing the gun, he pounded the butt of the pistol against Quinn’s head and a flash of light exploded behind Quinn’s lids. Everything slowed down.

Somehow he was moving, being dragged. The acrid smell of smoke got thick in his nostrils and he shook his head, tried to clear the cobwebs. Hank hoisted him to his feet and shoved him against the waist-high wall of the parking structure. Shoving him backward, Hank forced him over the wall until the upside-down view of the street below had his head spinning more.

“How about a five-story drop, Quinn? That’s about what you deserve,” Hank gritted out.

Quinn fought the hand against his throat.

“Another minute or two and your hot girlfriend will be smokin’ hot. Literally.”

Adrenaline roared in his veins as Quinn slammed his palm out and connected with Hank’s chin. The blow knocked Hank off him and Quinn straightened away from the wall. He attacked with ruthless fury, laying into the man with a series of punches. A hard right hook sent pain ripping through his hand and up his arm. Hank staggered back, but he didn’t stop. Instead he rushed Quinn.

The biggest mistake the man would ever make.

Quinn used Hank’s momentum and stepped off to the side at the same time he “helped” Hank over the wall. Without a glance over the edge, Quinn raced to the burning Mustang. The backseat was fully engulfed in flames, fire spreading toward the front.

He reached Ellie and pulled her out. The amount of blood in the car terrified Quinn like nothing else in his life. He lifted her in his arms and a fresh explosion of pain in his useless right hand had his stomach roiling. He carried her away from her burning car and set her on the cement. Sirens blared closer.

Blood covered the right side of her face and matted in her long hair. So much that he couldn’t immediately tell where she bled. He spotted the gash on her eyebrow and stripped off his T-shirt to wipe her face, careful of the cut.

She coughed and sputtered, her eyes fluttered open.

Quinn couldn’t stop his own eyes from tearing up. “Hey,” he said. “Welcome back.” He held the cotton firmly against her eyebrow. His hand throbbed mercilessly.

“Bad time to take a nap, huh?” she deadpanned.

Relief made him dizzy. He might’ve laughed, but the near miss had him too close to tears and he held her against his chest. “You have no idea,” he murmured. She’d made his life worth living and he had to make her understand that. He wouldn’t let her run from him again.

“You’re bleeding. Are you okay?” The love in her eyes was unmistakable.

He nodded, his throat parched with emotion. He wiped at the blood trickling down his hairline. “I am if you are.”

The crackle of flames caught their attention and Ellie looked over his shoulder. “Oh my God,” she said, seeing her car. “My Mustang…”

The Mustang was replaceable…she wasn’t. “I’ll buy you a dozen. One in every color.”

Ellie looked up at him. “That’s not what matters to me.” As much time and money as she’d put into her car, it didn’t mean anything. He, on the other hand, meant everything. But knowing she lied to him had to hurt. Knowing she wasn’t who or what she made herself out to be, he wouldn’t want her anymore. Dizzy, she wiped her cheek and came away with blood on her hand. “Wow. I must be a sight.”

He smiled at her. “About the prettiest I’ve ever seen.” Five Quinns circled in front of her, but it wasn’t a bad thing. Blaring sirens wailed closer and made her head spin even more. The way he held her so gently made her think he didn’t care about her illiteracy or the lies she told to cover it up. But he was a caring man. He’d proved it over and over. She couldn’t assume that because of this incident, he wouldn’t be furious with her, and she wasn’t brave enough to broach the subject.

Suddenly, she remembered Hank. “Hey, where’d Hank go? Did he get away?” She tried looking around, but that made her woozier.

“Easy. It’s okay.” Quinn gestured toward the edge of the parking structure. “He tried to fly. He couldn’t.”

The image of Hank taking a header five stories high gave her morbid satisfaction. He’d killed his own coworker, put Ashley in a coma and had tried to kill her and Quinn. She wouldn’t waste time mourning him.

And the way Quinn watched her, his eyes brimming with worry, made her love him more.

“Since I’ve finally got your attention,” he said quietly, “we need to get something straight. I don’t care if you’re dyslexic, psychic or nomadic. I love you. I don’t care what it takes or how long it takes, but we’ll do whatever we need to help you learn to read.” The fierce tenderness in his eyes filled her heart with so much love she nearly burst with it. But her doubts still lingered.

Police cars squealed to a stop near them, followed by an ambulance. A fire ladder leaned against the short wall and two firemen climbed over the ledge carrying a hose.

“I heard what you said to Mac. How can you love me? I’m everything you despise. I’m all the horrible things he’s made you feel…” She couldn’t repeat the words, they hurt too much.

“Just because Mac makes me feel a certain way doesn’t translate into what I think or feel about you, Elle. I’m sorry I said those things. Jesus, I never meant to hurt you.” He shrugged, his gaze so intense and sincere. “I didn’t know. How come you didn’t trust me?”

Tears made her blurry vision worse. “I’m sorry. I was scared,” she admitted. “You made me feel special. I didn’t want to lose that… I didn’t want to lose what we had going.”

He smiled, a killer grin that jump-started her libido. “It’s pretty good, isn’t it? Us?”

She laughed and her head throbbed. “It’s really good.” How did she say this… “I didn’t think anything permanent was going to come of this…but I also didn’t want to regret not spending as much time with you as I could. I didn’t want to fall in love with you. I didn’t want to lie to you. I didn’t—”

“Shh.” The way he looked at her melted her insides. “The point is that you love me. And I love you. And everything else is stuff that gets worked out along the way.”

Paramedics showed up and hoisted Ellie onto a gurney. They flashed a penlight in her eyes and checked out the gash on her head.

She realized she’d been staring at Quinn’s bare chest. “Where’s your shirt?”

“It was your bandage.” He plucked the blood-soaked cotton off the ground and dangled it from his finger.

“Aw…you gave me the shirt off your back.”

Quinn bent low and close to her ear. “I’ll expect you to return the favor.”

Two months later

Ellie tried not to race down the quiet hospital corridor. She should’ve been picking Quinn up at the airport, but this event superseded his arrival. She’d only been able to leave a message on his cell phone and she’d called Bill/Fido to meet Quinn at baggage claim.

She crept into the hospital room slowly, her heart pounding. The stillness of the private room had seemed more like a tomb these past months and it always made her uneasy. Even now, she doubted the news, afraid she was too late or had the wrong information.

Ashley’s face was almost completely healed. The plastic surgeon had fixed the cuts, and time had healed the breaks. Though she still looked like Ashley, she was a slightly different version. Her face was more angular, leaner and she had a thin crescent-shaped scar from the corner of her right eye down to her cheek.

Physically, she was healing beautifully. The ventilator had been removed and she’d been breathing on her own for several weeks. What no one knew was if Ashley’s brain had recovered from the trauma.

When Ashley opened her eyes and turned her head, emotion welled up in Ellie’s throat. Aurora had called her as soon as she’d hung up with the nurse. There’d been a major breakthrough, but the hospital nurse hadn’t given specifics other than Ashley was awake and talking. Aurora was on her way from Barstow and her sister was coming from a business trip. Ellie was the first at the hospital. It was almost midnight.

“Hey, roomie,” Ellie said. “Long time no see.” She swallowed back the knot. “I missed you.” She took her hand.

Ashley squeezed tight. “Hey…Ellie Belly.” Her voice sounded lower than usual and the words came slowly, but they were the sweetest-sounding words Ellie had ever heard. “That was…scary,” she whispered. Ashley’s eyes filled with tears as she licked her lips. The wires had been removed from her jaw two weeks earlier. “I think there’s a…bright side,” she said earnestly struggling to get all the syllables around a noticeable lisp.

Ellie saw lots of bright sides these days. “Oh, yeah. What’s that?”

“I’m pretty sure…I lost that extra twenty…pounds…I was carrying.”

Ellie laughed and cried. She sat on Ashley’s bedside. Didn’t know where to start or what to tell her. “Your mom’s on her way. She picked this weekend to go back home for a day or two, but she’ll be here in less than two hours. Sheryl is flying in from Chicago. I think your doctor is on his way too. You’re big news, Ash.”

“Nurse told me…I’ve been in a coma…for over nine weeks. What’d I miss?”

So, so much. Sighing, Ellie smiled at her. “Well, your job is waiting for you whenever you’re ready to go back. The partners are going after the estate of the man who put you here and they’re going to get you a settlement the size of Texas. You won’t have to go back to work if you don’t want to.”

Ashley’s eyes widened. “Seriously? Someone did this…on purpose? Nurse didn’t tell me that.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s a long story I’ll save for another time. The short version is that the man who did this had millions of dollars and his estate will be split between the victims. You’ll probably get the lion’s share since your bills are the highest.” Ellie smiled at her. “The partners must like you, Ash,” she teased. “They’re setting up a financial plan so you’ll be set for life.”

Ashley processed the information. Ellie knew her best friend’s first thought was that she’d be able to take care of her mother the way she’d always planned.

“Wow. I’m skinny…
and
rich.” Ashley shook her head. “Maybe I should change my name…to Paris.”

Ellie laughed and wiped her eyes. “I think one Paris is plenty.”

“Okay…what else?” Ashley’s asked.

For the next few minutes, Ellie told her about the events of the last two months. How the movie was progressing and how she’d coped living on her own. She ended with the news of the wrecked Honda and Quinn’s generosity in buying a new car.

Ashley’s eyes widened. “Oh God…what happened with you…and Quinn?” The more she talked the more Ellie realized she had her best friend back.

No time like the present to show Ashley what she’d missed. Ellie presented her left hand and showed off a diamond the size of Rhode Island.

Ashley looked up at her, tears in her eyes. “Does he
know?
” she asked. Ellie didn’t have to ask what Ashley meant.

“He knows,” a low voice said.

Ellie spun around to see Quinn leaning against the door frame. The cast on his right hand was scheduled to come off this week. His faded jeans and white T-shirt made him the best eye candy she’d ever seen. She squeezed Ashley’s hand and motioned him forward. “I thought I was meeting you at the apartment,” she said.

“Not after I got your message. The plane landed early, and Fido brought me straight here. Gotta love that guy.” Quinn strolled in, put an arm around Ellie’s shoulders and gave her a solid kiss. His warm lips covered hers in a sweet, intimate caress.

It had been more than three weeks since she’d seen him. Three long weeks and countless hours on the phone. He’d told her after another few weeks in London, he’d be able to spend the majority of his time with her. Since selling to Brant Racing, he and Mac still had interest in the company, but neither one of them had the day-to-day worry of overseeing the operation.

Looking down at Ashley, he smiled. “Would it be forward to kiss Coma Girl on her first awakening?”

“Coma Girl,” Ashley sputtered. She glanced at both of them with her mouth and eyes open in pretend outrage. “You called me…Coma Girl?”

“We had to keep our sense of humor,” Ellie told her, and happiness blossomed in her chest at Ashley’s ribbing. A true sense of calm passed through Ellie for the first time in two months. She had Ashley back. Quinn too. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to start some serious waterworks.

Quinn gave Ashley a soft peck on the cheek. “Don’t let Elle fool you. She was by your side every spare minute of the day.” He tweaked her chin gently with his thumb.

“It was very nice of you…to buy me a car…as a get-well present. I accept. Thank you.” Her clipped words cracked Ellie up and she laughed. Though Ashley’s face looked much thinner, her radiant smile hadn’t changed. “I told you…he was the One.”

A few tears found their way down Ellie’s cheeks, her happiness so complete it overflowed from her eyes. Nothing much compared to laughing through tears.

So much had happened in the last two months. She’d found Quinn, found true confidence in herself and now she had her best friend back. No sooner had she found the strength to be alone then, bam, people she loved surrounded her. With Quinn’s prodding, she’d even begun talking to her parents again.

A nurse came in to take Ashley’s vital signs, so Ellie and Quinn stepped out into the hallway. It gave Ellie a minute alone with the man she loved and missed desperately the last three weeks.

Quinn pressed her against the wall. The heat of his body warmed her in the cool, quiet hall. “I missed you,” he whispered, settling a kiss on her lips. “Did you tell Ashley about the move to Indiana?”

“Not yet. She has enough to deal with and so much to process. I will when the time is right.”

He ran his good hand through her hair and stared at her with intense gray eyes. “When are you going to marry me?”

“As soon as I can read our marriage vows.” They’d already started practicing. Quinn had obliterated her fear of letters and she’d been making amazing strides in reading. Not to mention all the confidence he instilled in her. He had the patience of a saint and never let her frustration detour her from moving forward. Her progress had him considering opening a special needs school in Claremont. A place to help kids with learning disabilities. A school that not only fostered learning, but confidence as well. Ellie knew without a doubt a place like that would be successful. Especially with a man like Quinn at the helm.

A mischievous grin curved his lips. “What’s the letter
I
spell?” he asked.

She cocked her head. Was he kidding? “I? It’s I.”

He brought his mouth closer to hers. “What about the letters
d
and
o
?” he whispered.

Ellie smiled and saw where this was leading. “Do.”

“What are they together?” He brushed his lips teasingly across her mouth and started a wave of tingles down her spine.

“I do,” she said, breathlessly.

“I do too. You’re ready. Let’s get married.” Quinn kissed her, his mouth hot and gentle, and everything was right with the world.