Justice Reborn (Cowboy Justice Association Book 8) (31 page)

With the smell of urine and gasoline burning her nostrils, she’d stayed close to the inside wall, hiding behind vehicles. They were sparser on this upper level than down below and eventually she’d had to make a run from one to another, the distance at least twenty feet, tripping and falling along the way, ripping a hole in the knee of her jeans. She’d cursed under her breath as pain shot up her leg and warm blood trickled down her calf, mixing with the sweat on her skin.

That’s when the unnamed asshole – she’d dubbed him Skippy – had gotten off a few rounds. If there was anyone nearby, hopefully they wouldn’t think that was a car backfiring. She needed them to call the police.

Now she was wedged underneath an Escalade, near the front tires and the outer wall off the parking structure, but still at least fifty feet from the stairwell and elevator. She was sweaty, dirty, and breathing so ragged she was gulping oxygen into her aching lungs. Her knee throbbed in time with her heart, which was pounding so loudly in her ears she was sure they could hear it several miles away and she’d had to put her hand across her mouth to keep from whimpering. She had to be incredibly quiet. Skippy was out there, not far away, and he knew she was close too.

From her low vantage point, a pair of shoes came into view and she had to bite down into her lip, drawing blood to keep from screaming. She tried to take very small, shallow breaths as if he might be able to hear the air swooshing in and out of her chest if the environment were just quiet enough. The feet passed her by and she allowed herself a momentary inward sigh of relief before getting back to the original goal.

Going downstairs to the street level. Running. Getting away.

Finding Evan.

She was contemplating a run for the elevator when she heard the scrape of shoes on the filthy cement floor. Skippy must have worked his back to her location when he didn’t find her on the other side. Crouching low to make herself even smaller, she held her breath as his shoes came into sight when he walked in back of the truck.

Wrong shoes.

Those weren’t Skippy’s shoes, the ugly brown lace ups that needed polished. She’d memorized those the last time he’d walked by and these were different.

It took her fear-laden brain a few moments to realize they belonged to the one man she’d wanted to see – Evan. Her knight in shining armor and sometime pain in the ass had pulled on those worn out cowboy boots he loved so much.

Now she was sorry she’d made fun of them because she was so damn happy that he was here, perhaps with Seth, Dare, and Reed as well. Just having him here tipped the odds in her favor. Suddenly breathing was much easier, although her heart was still racing and she was still dirty from head to toe.

Evan was here. He’d told her to trust him and here he was. For perhaps the first time in her adult life, she had someone she could truly believe in. A man for thick and thin, hard times and good.

For better or worse?

Shit, don’t even think that right now. Too soon. Way too soon. Live in the now. Right now someone’s trying to kill you.

So did she let him know she was hiding here or did she shut the hell up and let him hunt down Skippy?

The fates must have taken pity on her because she didn’t have to decide at all. Sirens sounded, coming ever closer and then two more shots rang out, closer this time and she assumed they must be from Evan’s gun. Not wanting to get killed in the crossfire, she prayed to whatever deity might be listening that the two men would keep their bullets far from her soft tissue and bone.

There was shouting and cursing, lots of running, a few more shots and then silence.

Silence.

Slowly exhaling, Josie realized she’d been holding her breath as the room seemed to whirl around her from lack of oxygen to the brain. She squeezed her eyes shut and then blinked three or four times as hot tears began to build behind her lids. She prayed it was over and that Evan and his friends were safe.

“Josie? Josie, are you here? Honey, you can come out. You’re safe.”

Evan’s reassuring voice brought forth a sob of pure unadulterated relief and it must have been loud because before she could even respond he was looking under and around the cars where she was hiding.

“Here. I’m here.”

She was shocked at how tiny her voice sounded, her throat scratchy and dry from running and sheer terror. Sliding on the dusty concrete, she peeked her head out from under the truck to find Evan and Dare standing a few feet away, looking everywhere but where she actually was.

“Here. Down here.”

This time Evan honed in on her voice and he let loose a long string of expletives before firing off questions regarding her health but he didn’t give her a chance to answer before asking another one.

Lifting her bodily onto her feet, he had to hold onto her when her trembling legs gave way and she almost tumbled right back down to the concrete floor. He crushed her to his chest and buried his face into her hair.

Nothing had ever felt so good and wonderful. He smelled good and his arms felt warm and safe. She allowed herself the luxury of leaning against his broad chest soaking in his strength and love, hoping it would somehow chase away the fear and despair she’d been feeling since Marisa had shown up.

Marisa… Did he know? Was she…?

“Are you okay? Are you hurt? Did they hurt you? Answer me, Josie. Jesus, you’re bleeding.”

Slapping her palm over her mouth to stifle a hysterical sound, she shook her head, still drinking in the handsome face she hoped she’d see every day for the rest of her life. “You didn’t give me a chance to answer but yes, I’m okay. I’ll have a few bruises and a scraped up knee but I’ll live. Thanks to you.”

Dare had a grip on Skippy’s arm, the man slumped and woozy. It looked like he’d taken a few punches to the face and perhaps elsewhere as well. Good. “Don’t thank me or anything. I just ambushed him from behind while your boyfriend shot a few times to distract him.” Dare perused the disheveled man with blood on his face and shirt. “Who broke his nose? Did I do that?”

Laying her head against Evan’s chest, she could hear the heavy thump of his heart and she sighed with happiness. If Dare was being a teasing little shit then things must be all right.

“Thank you, Dare, and your friends too, of course. We couldn’t have done this without you and I’m forever grateful for your help. Evan has some good friends. Oh, and I broke his nose courtesy of the self-defense lessons Evan insisted giving me. They did come in handy.”

His hold tightening on her until she almost couldn’t breathe, Evan laid kisses on the top of her head. “I don’t know about that. I could have taken the guy—it just might have taken a little longer.”

“Right,” Seth drawled, joining them, wiping his sweaty brow with the sleeve of his shirt. “I guess we’ll never know. But since we took this guy alive, he can tell us all about what it’s like to work for Lydell. Can’t you, buddy?”

The man groaned and Dare began marching him toward the elevator, Seth on his heels. Evan pulled back slightly as if he too was going to follow but Josie shook her head, grabbing his arm to hold him there. He needed to know.

“Wait…Marisa…”

She had issues with the woman but she didn’t wish her dead.

“She was alive when I came up here to look for you. Reed’s with her and I think one of those sirens is the ambulance. I’m guessing she shot that guy so you could run. She always was damn good at her job.”

That wasn’t exactly how it happened. Torn in two, part of her wanted to leave Marisa’s memory intact, especially if the woman didn’t survive. But the other part, a deeper part, recognized the woman’s jealousy and ambition. Marisa needed to answer for what she’d done.

“He shot her first,” Josie finally said, burying her face in his shirt. Her stomach churned, making her sick to her stomach as she remembered that moment of betrayal. She’d thought she was dead for sure. “He shot her because he said she was a loose end and he didn’t want to pay her the twenty-five thousand she’d been promised.”

She didn’t imagine Evan’s swift intake of breath or the way his entire body stiffened. He pulled back, his eyes wide with disbelief as the wheels turned in his head. He was figuring out the truth.

“Twenty-five thousand?” he breathed, choking on the words. Josie could see tears forming in the corners of Evan’s eyes. Being double-crossed by a good friend was a heavy-duty blow that she wasn’t sure he’d recover from quickly. If ever. He’d trusted his ex-partner despite their lingering issues. “Marisa was on Lydell’s payroll?”

Josie nodded, her own throat tight with emotion. “She came to the conference room and said she was taking me to you. I followed her and she led me here where those two goons were waiting for us. I’m so sorry, Evan. But in the end she might have had a change of heart because she was lying on the floor bleeding and managed to pull her gun. She shot him dead and that gave me an opening to run. So there’s that.”

Evan scraped a hand down his face, a muscle in his jaw working. He looked away for a long moment, clearly overcome with the events and she didn’t want to intervene, but there were things going on downstairs. Police, two people shot, one beat-up guy.

Finally he turned and cupped her face in his hands, his expression fierce yet tender at the same time. His lips captured hers in a kiss that affirmed everything she already knew and a few things she didn’t. He loved her. He adored her. But there was forever in this kiss. Maybe happily ever after and for better or worse wasn’t out of the question. Not right away, but someday.

Hopefully, they’d had all the worse and it might be time for the better.

“I love you, baby, and I am so damn grateful that you’re alive.”

She smiled against his mouth, feeling his warm breath on her skin.

“I’m feeling pretty happy about that myself. You’re a real badass former lawman, Evan Davis.”

“Emphasis on the former,” he smirked, beginning to lead them to the elevator. “Let’s go talk to the police so we can go home. I need a bath, I need some food, and I need you.”

Despite the horrors she’d witnessed today, she couldn’t help but enjoy the flowering happiness that was unfurling in her belly. She had a new start. They both did.

“In that order?”

“No, but you already knew that, didn’t you?”

She did and it felt good to come first.

Chapter Thirty-Five

T
he next few weeks seemed to pass by in some sort of surreal reality for Josie. There were FBI agents, D.C. cops, and various other law enforcement individuals from the alphabet soup that was the nation’s agencies. There was a point where she was on auto-pilot, repeating the same story over and over until she could have performed it with an interpretive dance number.

The only saving grace was that Evan and his friends were answering just as many questions, although Reed and Seth had returned back to Montana several days ago, leaving Dare behind. The burly lawman didn’t like to be idle so when they weren’t being questioned, he’d pitched in to help clean out the house. With the labor of all three of them, they’d managed to finish the kitchen, living room, and a spare bedroom for Dare. He teased that he liked the Florida heat so much he might drag Rayne down here and move in.

“Is it really over?” Josie asked as they settled into their regular booth at the diner. The young waitress Tammy knew their preferences by now and she didn’t even ask for their drink order, instead sliding three icy glasses in front of them within ninety seconds of them wandering through the door. “No more questions? No more investigations? We can move on?”

Evan nodded toward the television mounted on the wall. Tammy had turned on a cable news network that was currently showing former Senator Lydell’s perp walk over and over again. Skippy had sung like a bird when he’d been interrogated and thrown pretty much everyone he’d ever known except his mother under the bus. The FBI and DEA had already been building a money laundering case against Lydell and now they could add murder and attempted murder to the ever growing list of charges.

“For now,” conceded Evan, sipping at his iced tea. “With any luck, he’ll plead out and this will never go to trial. But if it does we’d all have to testify, I’d imagine.”