Pursuit of a Kiss (11 page)

“Fucking hell, hang on.” He disappeared for a
moment, then got back on the line and gave her the number. “Hurry the fuck up.
Tell the driver to take you to
Penmar
Park
in
Venice
.”

All of a sudden it hit her. She had Internet
access. They might be able to monitor her calls, and she wasn’t sure about
texts, but would they think to watch her email this morning? She had to take
that chance. She had to alert someone to this meeting. In case the guys had no
intention of letting her and Carly walk out of there alive––and she strongly
suspected they didn’t––she needed help. After calling the taxi, she quickly
composed an email to Jake and prayed he’d check it before it was too late.

****

Jake paced back and forth in his kitchen, his
cereal getting soggier by the second. He longed to hop in his car and race to
the courthouse to meet Juliet. He could keep her safe and calm her nerves. Yet
he’d meant what he said, he didn’t know if he could give her what she wanted.
And she deserved that more than anyone else he knew. Juliet didn’t know it, but
Aaron had talked about her a lot over the years. Juliet had a truly good heart.
She wanted marriage, kids: the whole nine yards. Could he give those to her?
Could he make her happy? If he let her down…

He could at least call her and wish her well.
Maybe once he heard her voice he wouldn’t feel this crushing need to see her
again.

The phone rang before he reached it.

For a brief second he hoped it might be Juliet
calling him, but then he saw his caller ID: Detective Harris.

“What’s wrong?”

“Juliet’s missing. One of the men at the safe
house just called me.”

“How the hell did they get to her in the safe
house?”

“I don’t think they did, Parker. There’s no sign
of a struggle, and the alarm didn’t go off. I think she left voluntarily. Do
you think she’d get scared of testifying and run away?”

“No way. If she changed her mind she’d call one
of us and say so. She’d never just disappear.”

“That’s what I thought. I have a contact at the
phone company pulling up her recent call log. I should hear back in just a
minute.”

“Fine. I’m going to call my partner and get him
started tracing her phone. I’ll be in my car.”

“Don’t do anything stupid. You need backup.”

“I’ll call you from my car and keep you posted
on the tracking.”

“Fine. Hang on.” Harris spoke to someone else in
the background. Jake grabbed his keys and headed for his car, keeping the phone
pressed to his ear. “OK, my contact at the phone company called back. Juliet
got a call from a burner phone about 6:00 a.m.”

“That makes no sense. If the gang called and
threatened her, why would she leave the safety of the house?”

“I don’t know.”

Jake hung up and started his engine, quickly
putting his earpiece in to call his partner. He had to find Juliet. If the gang
had somehow convinced her to leave the house, who knew what sort of threat they
held over her, or what they would do once they had her. No matter what they
said, the gang would never let her leave a meeting alive.

****

Juliet’s eyes scanned every possible direction
as she entered the park. Hardly anyone patronized the area at such an early
hour, especially since the rec center didn’t open until ten. Her phone had been
ringing constantly, but she didn’t know what kind of technology these guys had.
If they could really monitor whether or not she answered any calls, then she
didn’t want to take the chance. Still, she knew Jake or the police could track
the GPS on her cell phone, so she switched it to silent but left it on.
Hopefully Jake had seen the email too, so he wouldn’t have to bother with the
tracking.

Two men sat on the bleachers watching her. One,
who looked to be in his early twenties, sported a slight mustache but had
shaved his head. Tattoos covered every inch of his muscular arms. A bulge, down
at the bottom of his jeans, made her suspect he had a gun in an ankle holster.
Terrific. The other guy couldn’t be much more than fifteen or sixteen, with a
clean-shaven baby face and big brown eyes. Even so, he had some of the same
tattoos, and those eyes had an emptiness that made her shiver.

Glancing at her watch she saw it was just after
8:00 a.m. The hearing would begin at nine. Depending on the judge, Michael
might be able to get a continuance until he found her, otherwise the case could
get thrown out and
Martinez
would be released until the DA had more evidence to present. That’s why she
doubted these men would let her live, although hopefully they’d keep their
promise to release Carly. Unless
Martinez
intended to flee the country once he got released, the DA could simply get a
new arrest warrant and start the prosecution again. Only by killing her could
they permanently weaken the case and keep
Martinez
out of jail.

Juliet wouldn’t budge from her spot at the edge
of the park. At least cars drove down

Rose
Avenue

on their way to work. She refused to give
up the illusion of some safety in numbers. Eventually the guys realized she
wouldn’t approach them, so they started walking toward her. Juliet felt frozen,
wishing she had taken the risk and called someone. Surely they’d discovered her
absence by now, or Jake had checked email, or something. They had to be on
their way.

The two guys stopped directly in front of her,
not saying a word.

“Where’s Carly?”

“We’ll take you to her.”

“That wasn’t the deal.”

“She’s in a car in the lot over there. You can
see a couple kids on that playground if you’re scared of being alone with us.”

Biting her lip, Juliet wondered what to do. What
if they didn’t even have Carly? What if this whole thing had been an elaborate
trap? Shuffling her feet, she started heading toward the parking lot as slowly
as possible. The two men walked on either side of her.

****

Jake slammed on the brakes and stopped the car,
racing up the street to the park on foot. Sticking close to the trees, he
wished he could move faster without risking being seen. His palms began to
sweat as he tightened his grasp on his gun. The second he spotted Juliet he
began to breathe for what felt like the first time since Harris had called.
What the hell was she doing with those two gangsters? They all seemed absorbed
in something around one of the cars, so he chanced moving closer, slipping
behind a car within earshot of them. One of the gangsters opened the door to
the backseat and dragged out a woman who looked vaguely familiar. She had a gag
in her mouth and her arms bound behind her back. Wasn’t that the girl who had
visited Juliet in the hospital? Her leaving the house finally began to make
sense to him.

****

Juliet hugged her friend in relief. Thank God
she’d decided to come. They did truly have Carly. Her eyes traveled across
Carly’s body, but she didn’t see any obvious injures.

“See, we told you we’d keep your pretty little
friend safe.”

The contempt in his voice made her nervous, but
she straightened her shoulders in a show of strength. “So can we go? There’s no
way I could make it to the hearing now.”

“Well, see, here’s the thing,” the younger one
piped up. He sounded even more menacing than the first, in spite of the higher
pitch of his voice. She recognized it as the one on the phone. “My brother
thinks after this morning you’ll be scared shitless, and that will keep you
from testifying. He told me for extra insurance to tell you we know about your
brother, and that pregnant wife of his, too. Do you know how easy it is to
snatch a baby?”

Juliet felt her knees start to shake. How could
anyone be so evil? He seemed to enjoy taunting her like this.

“But, see, I think the only thing that
guarantees you won’t rat out my brother is if you can’t.”

Juliet froze as he pulled a gun from his
waistband and started to lift it to her face.

Before he could get it all the way up a shot
rang out and blood burst out of the kid’s shoulder. Realizing she hadn’t been
hit, Juliet grabbed Carly and dove to the ground.

Jake sprang up from behind the car and shot him
again, straight in the center of his chest. He then turned his weapon on the
other guy.

“Dude, don’t shoot!” He dropped his gun and
lifted his hands over his head.

Jake pulled the radio from his waist. “Come on
in, Harris.”

He kept his gun steady and his eyes focused as
two cars sped into the parking lot, followed by an ambulance. Two uniformed
cops hurried over to relieve Jake of his prisoner, cuffing him and reading him
his rights as they led him away. One paramedic knelt to feel the pulse of the
guy on the ground while the other tended to Carly.

Jake at last turned to look at Juliet. She
leaned heavily against the car, not trusting her legs to support her.

“Is he still alive?”

“Who the fuck cares? What the hell were you
thinking coming out here like this? Do you know what would have happened if I’d
gotten here five minutes later?”

“They said they wouldn’t hurt us if I came to
get Carly and promised not to testify. And I knew you’d track the GPS on the
phone. And I sent you an email. They said they could monitor my calls, so I
didn’t want to risk Carly…” She trailed off at the blazing fury on his face.

“Again,” he hissed through clenched teeth. “What
if I’d arrived five minutes later?”

Carly wandered back towards them. Juliet hadn’t
even been aware of her walking away or someone cutting her hands free from
their bindings.

“Juliet, I don’t know how to thank you. You
saved my life.” She gave her friend a fierce hug, tears filling her eyes.

“You wouldn’t have been in any danger in the
first place if not for me.”

“Yeah, that’s just like you, screwing things up
for everyone by deliberately witnessing a gang murder like that,” she teased,
taking one of Juliet’s hands in both of hers. “You risked your own life to come
here and get me. I can’t even begin to tell you…” Carly shook her head, at a
loss for words. “I’ll give you two some privacy before Jake decides to kill me
himself.”

With one last hug, she looked at Jake over
Juliet’s shoulder. “Be nice.”

Harris approached as Carly walked away, and Jake
nearly growled.

“Uh, sorry to interrupt, but the hearing is
about to start. Juliet, if by any chance you’re still willing to testify, we
need to get you over there.”

Jake took her shoulders before she could reply
and turned her toward him. “Juliet, you do not have to do this.”

With a sigh, she looked at the dead boy on the
ground. “Yes I do.”

Juliet started to walk towards Harris, but Jake
caught her hand and pulled her back, fusing his mouth to hers. Moving forward,
he forced her to walk back until she bumped into the car. He still didn’t stop,
pressing her harder against it, imprisoning her completely in his embrace. His
tongue caressed her lips. His hands gripped her hips, wrenching them more
tightly against his until she could feel the bulge in his pants nestled between
her legs. When, after several minutes, he broke away, Juliet was left gasping.

“I’ve missed you,” he whispered.

“I should make you miss me more often.”

“Never.”

Harris cleared his throat, reminding them of the
impending hearing.

Jake took her hand and kissed it. “I’ll drive
you.”

 

 

 

Chapter Six

 

Never Too Late

 

Jake entered Wetherby’s office with a soft
knock. Juliet sat fidgeting, which made him smile.

“Relax. Your testimony was perfect.”

It really had been.
Martinez
had been shocked to see her, which
he could tell in a twisted way made Juliet really happy. Other gang members had
sat in the courtroom, staring her down and trying to intimidate her. One even
jumped up and shouted, “
Estás muerto
”
before the judge threw him out. Any time she got nervous, however, she just
looked over at him. He’d sat behind Wetherby, never taking his eyes off of her,
trying to lend her whatever support he could throughout Wetherby’s questions
and the other lawyer’s cross-examination.

The second she’d finished, Jake and a few police
officers ushered her to the elevator and up to the DA’s office several floors
above the courtroom. Wetherby, of course, remained down at the hearing presenting
other pieces of evidence. The moment Jake got her seated in the office, he
closed the door. Then, without a word, he sank to his knees in front of her
chair, taking her hands.

“Juliet, I am so sorry. I should never have left
you. If I’d gone to the safe house with you none of this would have happened.”