Relentless (22 page)

Michaela sat at her desk and began to put away her files. She gazed out the window appreciating the view of downtown Boston. She’d had a very productive morning and she had finished her work early. She really wasn’t in the mood to start another project before lunch since she only had a half hour or so before Jordan was going to pick her up. Rather than sitting around wasting time, she decided to call Jordan’s driver, Paul, to ask him if he could pick her up and bring her over to Jordan’s office. Paul had responded that he was close to her office and he would be waiting for her in front of her building in five minutes. Grabbing her coat, she made her way down to the front of the building and found the Bentley waiting for her.

“Good afternoon, Paul,” she said as she slid into the back seat of the car.”

“Good afternoon Ms. Prentice. I’ll just take you to Mr. Marsh’s office.

“Okay great.” She fumbled through the contents of her purse searching for her cell phone. Once she found her phone she tried to call Jordan to let him know that she was on her way to pick him up, but she got his voicemail. She shrugged to herself and left a quick voicemail. It was no big deal, she thought, he was expecting Paul to be waiting for him. The surprise would be that she would already be in the car.

Paul had made it to Jordan’s office adeptly managing the heavy afternoon traffic. She looked out of the Bentley’s window to see Jordan exiting the building. He turned to hold the door open for someone. Michaela decided to get out of the car to greet him and, as her feet hit the pavement, she saw that he was holding the door open for Joyce. Joyce leaned into him and put her hand on his arm. She was looking at him as if she owned him. Michaela felt a sick dread spread through her body at the sight of them together.

At that moment Jordan looked in her direction. Their eyes met and she was sure he could read the look of hurt and betrayal on her face. Shock and surprise filled his face at her unexpected arrival. Michaela’s feet propelled her forward toward the two of them. Michaela, at this moment, was seeing red. She’d heard that expression so many times, but never actually thought people actually saw red. Well, yeah, she literally saw red. Really, she thought? Was this going to be her life; one relationship after another coming to an end because she caught her man with another woman? The cliché was killing her, but this time she wasn’t going to run away from this confrontation.

Joyce gave her a half smile, oblivious to the tension that filled the air and said, “Michaela, it’s so good to see you. See, I told you Jordan had forgiven me.” She cocked her head to the side. “What are you doing here anyway?” she asked. “Have you two stayed in touch?” Her confusion was apparent and Joyce didn’t seem to have any idea that she and Jordan were involved.

Michaela crossed her arms to ward off the chill. Snow flurries blew around her face unnoticed as she wondered what she should tell Joyce. She noticed a young man standing next to Joyce, looking slightly uncomfortable. He’d obviously picked up on the tension growing between her and Jordan. He was looking around at his surroundings in an alert manner that reminded her of her brother, Donovan. Even when they weren’t on duty, cops never stopped assessing their surroundings for possible trouble. Hmmm, she thought, was that guy some kind of cop or security person?

“Michaela,” Jordan interrupted her thoughts, “she just works for me.”

She looked back at Jordan becoming aware that the expression on his face wasn’t guilt. He looked as horrified as she did, and then unexpectedly the red haze lifted allowing her to think more clearly. The revelation spread through her body slowly and with warmth and reassurance; Jordan wouldn’t cheat on her and especially not with Joyce. She
knew
Jordan and that just wasn’t his style. He loved her and he was never going to treat her like those other guys before him had. It was that simple. There was definitely something going on with Joyce that needed to be explained but she was certain that it didn’t involve an illicit hook up.

Michaela turned to Joyce to answer her question. “Yes, I guess you can say we’ve stayed in touch.” She paused because really she wanted to get the full impact of the dramatic affect before she replied. “We’re living together while we plan our wedding.” Okay so maybe the wedding planning was a bit much, but Joyce deserved it and she was fairly sure Jordan wasn’t about to contradict her.

Michaela wasn’t sure who looked more surprised at her statement, Joyce or Jordan. She was tempted to burst out laughing at their stunned expressions but she didn’t want to kill the drama. She was having fun.

Joyce managed a quiet, “Oh, I had no idea.”

Michaela gave her a slightly insincere smile and said, “Obviously.” Turning to Jordan, she gave him a radiant smile, and holding out her hand she said, “I believe we have a lunch date.” In the back of her mind, she thought, I’ve finally caught up to Jordan.

He returned her smile with a big grin of his own grasping her hand and giving it a tight squeeze. “I believe we do,” he said and then looked at Joyce. “Sorry we have to rush off, all that wedding planning. You understand?”

Michaela didn’t think it was possible for her to love him more, but his adding in that bit about planning their wedding certainly did it for her. Suddenly, she was distracted by the sight of Donovan striding purposefully toward Jordan’s building. That’s odd, she thought.

Michaela was just about to call out to her brother when she felt a strong force slam into her back. She heard a loud cry and realized it was her own voice as pain shot through her back and chest. She looked down and saw blood covering her winter white coat. She stared up at Jordan’s stunned face as her knees began to sag. “What happened?” she asked.

She was vaguely aware of Joyce screaming and her brother running in her direction. She heard more voices shouting as Jordan caught her before she hit the ground. “Someone call 911!” he shouted. “Michaela, I think you’ve been shot.”

“Holy shit,” she said as she looked down at her chest seeing the blood on her coat. “You were right Jordan. Someone is trying to kill me.”

Jordan gently lowered Michaela to the ground. He opened up her coat to find the wound and quickly ripped off his jacket and pressed it to her shoulder to staunch the flow of blood.

Paul had gotten out of the car and was by their side. “I’ve called 911, an ambulance should be here soon. I’ve got a blanket in the trunk, I’ll get it for her.” Paul walked over to the rear of the vehicle retrieving the blanket and placing it over her as Jordan continued to press his jacket against the wound.

“Shit, this hurts,” Michaela managed to gasp. She noticed her brother had rushed over to her side.

Donovan crouched next to his sister and put his hand on her throat. “Her pulse is strong. Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

“What the hell just happened?” Jordan asked, feeling stunned and never taking his eyes off of Michaela’s face.

Donovan’s voice was grim as he looked around the streetscape. “Besides the obvious, I wish I knew.”

“Michaela, you’re going to be okay,” Jordan said, his voice insistent. He then turned to Donovan. “What the hell are you doing here anyway?” Jordan demanded as he heard the approaching sirens.

“We’ll discuss that later,” Donovan told him. The ambulance and police cars began arriving. Two paramedics, with a gurney, pushed their way through the crowd that had formed.

A woman paramedic approached, “Gentlemen, we’ll take over from here.” She crouched down next to Michaela and grabbed her hand. “Hi, I’m Niasha and my partner is Jack. We’re going to get you patched up so we can take you to the hospital. Can you tell me your name?”

Michaela noticed that Niasha’s eyes were kind and her voice patient. She was so tired and she just wanted to fall asleep, but she concentrated on answering the paramedic’s question. “Michaela Prentice,” she finally managed to get out.

“Okay, that’s good. Are you having any difficulty breathing?” Niasha asked. While Niasha asked questions, her partner Jack was busy retrieving a pressure bandage from his bag. He then wrapped a blood pressure monitor on her arm.

“No, I can breathe, but my chest hurts like hell,” Michaela told her.

“Her blood pressure is steady,” Jack informed Niasha.

Niasha looked at her partner. “Good, breathing seems normal. Let’s bandage the wound and get her on the board.” She turned to Jordan, “Sir I’m going to have to ask you to move now.”

Jordan nodded and gently relinquished his hold. The paramedics went to work, cutting away at her clothing to obtain better access to the wound. They quickly applied pressure bandages to her chest and her back to stop the bleeding. They then slid the board close to her and log rolled her back onto the board and then strapped her securely. A cervical collar was placed on her neck. The paramedic glanced at Jordan noticing his growing alarm. “We’re just going to use towel rolls and tape to secure her head. It looks scary but it’s for safety reasons.”

Jordan nodded grimly acknowledging her explanation. The paramedics lifted the board onto the gurney and began wheeling her over to the ambulance. Jordan and Donovan followed closely.

“What hospital are you taking her to?” Donovan asked before Jordan had an opportunity.

“What’s your relationship to the patient?” Niasha asked.

“I’m her brother and this is her…”

“Fiancé,” Jordan finished Donovan’s sentence. Donovan gave him a questioning look but didn’t contradict him. “Michaela we’ll be right behind you,” he told her.

She gave him a wan smile. “You better be. I hate hospitals.” She looked at Niasha, “Please, tell them where you’re taking me.”

Addressing the two men she said, “We’re taking her to Massachusetts General.” With the help of her partner, Niasha pushed the gurney into the ambulance. They hopped in and closed the doors and the ambulance roared away.

Jordan looked around and for the first time noticed the chaos that had expectedly erupted around them. There were police questioning witnesses while other police officers were trying to herd the crowd away from the crime scene. He ran his hand through his hair, holding his suit jacket in his hand that was now covered in Michaela’s blood. He was standing on the sidewalk in just his shirt. He had left the office without a winter coat assuming that he would just step into the Bentley. Snow flurries were swirling around his head but he didn’t feel the cold as he tried to assimilate the recent events. He had been concerned for Michaela’s safety, but her actually getting shot was unbelievable to him. Did this involve the undercover investigation? Joyce had seemed as shocked as the rest of them when the shots were fired, but maybe she was just a good actress. It was difficult to say one way or the other.

He had to get to Michaela. “I’ve got to get to the hospital,” he told Donovan. He could feel his anxiety level growing. God, she’d been so pale, he thought.

“We both do, but you go on ahead. I have to make sure this scene is secure and talk to the agent in charge. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He paused, putting a reassuring hand on Jordan’s shoulder. “She’s going to be okay. The shot hit her in the shoulder, she was breathing fine and her pulse was strong. I wouldn’t lie to you, she’s my sister.”

“Marsh,” a voice interrupted. Jordan looked away from Donovan to see Special Agent Gonzales approaching. “Gonzales, I’ve got to get to the hospital. Anything you want to ask me will have to wait.”

“I wanted to let you know, we arrested Joyce Landau. Agent Barrett blew his cover when he went after the shooter.” Gonzales informed him.

Jordan had been so focused on Michaela that he hadn’t even been aware of the other events going on around him. As he glanced around, there was no sign of Joyce or Samuel Barrett. “Did he catch the shooter?”

The agent shook his head. “No, unfortunately not, but he did get a good look at him and can give us a good description.”

“Look, this is going to have to wait. If you need to talk to me further, catch up with me at Massachusetts General. Donovan should be able to fill you in, he was here when Michaela was shot.” He strode toward the Bentley not in the least concerned with Joyce’s fate. Paul had already gotten back into the Bentley and was waiting for him.

He opened the door of the car and quickly got into the back seat. “Paul get me to Massachusetts General.”

Michaela opened her eyes slowly squinting against the light. Her brain felt foggy and she was so tired. How was she ever going to get out of bed this morning? She looked around the room feeling confused and realized she was in a hospital room. She had no idea how she’d gotten here. She tried to move and moaned. Her whole body felt sore.

Jordan was suddenly at her side stroking her cheek lightly. “Michaela relax, don’t move, you’re still hooked up to an IV. How are you feeling?”

She was instantly soothed by Jordan’s touch and voice. Looking up into his eyes she said, “I’ve felt better. What happened? How did I get here?”

“You don’t remember?”

Michaela searched her brain trying to remember something. She gave slight shake of her head. “The last thing I remember, we were going for lunch and Joyce was there.”

Jordan reached down and grabbed her hand giving it a squeeze. “Yes, we were going for lunch and then someone shot you. The ambulance came and then you were rushed to the hospital for surgery. The bullet lodged in your shoulder and didn’t hit anything vital. The doctor says you’ll need to do physio to build up your strength, but you’ll be fine.”

As she lay in the hospital bed she tried to absorb what Jordan had said. It was unbelievable that someone had actually shot her. She thought for a minute. “Joyce was right there. She didn’t shoot me and she was the police’s only suspect. If it wasn’t Joyce then who was it?”

Jordan shook his head. “They have no idea. Michaela I have to tell you something about Joyce.”

“Am I going to want to hear this?” she asked, afraid of what he was going to confess.

He took a deep breath and exhaled. “Probably not, but here it goes. After Joyce and I broke up the FBI approached me. They told me that Joyce has a long history of corporate espionage. She becomes involved with company executives to gain access to things like company passwords. She then steals corporate secrets. She’s been getting away with it because the victims are too embarrassed to report the crime.”

“Was she able to steal anything from you?”

“No, she hasn’t been successful. I’m more careful than that, but the FBI wanted me to give her a chance. They wanted to find out who’s paying her. So they asked me to give her a job after the breakup and set up a sting. That’s why you saw me with Joyce today. She has been working at my office for months.”

“Were you ever going to tell me about this?” she asked finding it unbelievable he had kept this from her.

“Yes, today in fact. We were actually going to meet the FBI agent in charge of the investigation so he could brief you. You have to understand, I wasn’t permitted to share this information,” Jordan explained.

She thought about that, trying to put her emotions in perspective. She realized he probably hadn’t had much of a choice. “I guess that makes sense.” Then another thought occurred to her. “That’s why your file was red flagged.”

“How do you know about that? Oh, let me guess, your dear brother told you.”

“Oh yeah. He wanted me to move out of your house. He was convinced you were some kind of evil billionaire,” she said, her voice laden with amusement.

Jordan stared at her thoughtfully. “So why didn’t you run in the other direction when Donovan told you there was a red flag on my file?”

“I guess I just know you too well to believe you were involved in something illegal. You have too much integrity for that,” she said with a shrug. “Ouch that hurts,” she exclaimed. She shifted trying to make herself more comfortable.

“Are you okay?” he asked in a concerned tone. The strain of the day was showing on his face.

“I’m a little sore. Apparently getting shot will do that to you.”

He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “Don’t ever do that again. It scared the shit out of me.”

“Do what?”

“Get shot. I can’t take another day like today,” Jordan told her in a gruff voice.

“Well, I’ll try,” she said dryly. “Except were back to square one now since we know Joyce isn’t the one trying to shoot me.”

“The FBI is certain she’s working for someone. Maybe it’s one of them.”

A frown marred her features. “But why would I be the target? I have nothing to do with your company?”

He shook his head. “I have no idea.”

“You know, when I got out of the car and saw you with Joyce my first thought was that you’d been cheating, but then I looked at you and I realized you’re not like the other guys and you’d never do that. Although I knew something was up, I just never thought it was an undercover operation.”

“I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you believed in me. You’ve been holding a part of yourself back. I’ve felt it and it’s been driving me crazy.”

“Yes I can understand why you would be frustrated after four days of dating that I wouldn’t commit to marrying you and having your children.”

Jordan laughed. “Michaela, I’ve been dating you for a year. You’re the one that thought we were just friends.”

“You’re an insane man, but I love you anyway.”

He squeezed her hand. “And this time you said it like it was a good thing. I love you too curly top.”

Their intimate conversation ended when a nurse walked in the room with brisk efficiency wearing blue hospital scrubs. She looked like she was close to fifty and had short, dark blond hair. Her attitude was no nonsense but her smile was warm as she asked, “I see our gunshot victim is awake. How are you feeling?” Her nametag read, NANCY.

“Sore and tired, but I guess that’s to be expected.”

“Yes, that’s normal under the circumstances.” Nancy looked up at Jordan and said, “If you’ll excuse me. I need to check her vitals.”

“Of course.” Jordan let go of her hand and stepped out of the way.

Nancy quickly wrapped a blood pressure cuff around her arm and held her wrist. After she recorded the information she then checked her temperature. “You’re doing okay, but your blood pressure is still a little low from blood loss. You need to get as much rest as you can.” She looked over at Jordan before saying, “Maybe your visitor can come back later.”

Jordan didn’t look like he appreciated Nurse Nancy’s suggestion. “I’m her fiancé, but I will let her get some rest now if you think that’s best.”

“Come back in the morning after she’s had some more time to recover. Really there isn’t anything you can do for her now. She just needs to sleep at this point,” the Nurse said as she pulled out a bedpan from under the bed. “Look, I don’t want you getting up so use the bedpan if you need to go to the washroom. I’ll leave it right here on the table next to you so you can reach it easily. If you need assistance just press the buzzer.”

“Okay,” Michaela said looking askance at the bedpan. Yuck, like she wanted to use that thing.

The nurse smiled encouragingly and left the room.

“Well, I guess I’ve been told,” Jordan said. “I’ll leave and let you get some rest, but I’m going to have Paul come and guard your door. I don’t like the idea of you being here unguarded.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine in the hospital,” she told him.

“Just humor me. When I’m not here I’d like Paul to be here.”

“Okay, whatever. I’m too tired to argue.” The exhaustion showed clearly on her face.

He stroked her cheek and then he leaned over and kissed her gently. He straightened and, tapping the bedpan, said, “And have fun using this thing.”

“Ha ha, very funny.”

He chuckled. “I don’t want to go, but that nurse is a tyrant. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Her eyes drifted close as she watched him leave the room.

Michaela wasn’t sure how long she had been sleeping when a noise woke her. She opened her eyes to see Noah standing over her bed with a grim look of determination on his face. Her first thought was that he looked the same as the last time she had seen him. He still wore his sandy brown hair short and spiked up slightly at the front. He was immaculately dressed wearing a jeans and a blue oxford shirt as if he had just come from teaching one of his classes.

“Noah? What are you doing here?” She felt oddly nervous at his presence.

He folded his arms over his chest. “I have to admit. You’ve been a pain in the ass since the very beginning. You know I only dated you so Joyce and I would have a chance to meet and exchange information. But what happens? Marsh becomes fixated on you and loses interest in Joyce.” He shook his head in bemusement. “No one ever loses interest in Joyce.”

“What are you talking about? Jordan and I just started dating.”

“God, you’re such an idiot. He’d stopped sleeping with her and Joyce and I both noticed his interest in you. If you hadn’t caught us in bed, he would have broken up with her anyway. Shit he’s been glued to your side ever since.”

“So you were using me so Joyce could pass on Jordan’s company secrets to you.”

He shrugged. “More or less. Joyce was getting close. It was just a matter of time before she would have been able to hack in through his home computer, but once he stopped sleeping with her she no longer had access to his home. You’ve delayed everything by over a year. My employers are impatient and if I don’t deliver soon, I’m a dead man.”

“You shot me?” she asked, her voice incredulous.

He threw her an irritated look. “Just figured that out, did you? You’re a hard woman to get rid of. I had just met Joyce for coffee at the mall to get an update on her progress and there you were right in front of me at the crosswalk. It was just too good of an opportunity to pass up. When you managed to get to the sidewalk in time, I came up with the simple plan just to torch your house. You were always tucked in bed early on a Sunday night, but that night, for some reason, you weren’t there. So shooting you seemed like the next thing.”

“Why are you trying to kill me Noah?” she asked totally confused. “How is killing me going to get you closer to your goal?’

“It’s not. I should have killed you a year ago when you started getting in the way. Right now, killing you is only going to give me satisfaction and if I’m lucky it might distract Marsh enough from his company to make things easier for Joyce.”

“Are you freaking nuts? You want to murder me because you think I messed up your plans? Is revenge worth the risk of ending up in jail?”

“Michaela, I’ve been committing treason by selling proprietary corporate information to the Chinese for over ten years. At this point murder won’t make much of a difference and I love the idea of destroying Marsh this way. He’s ruining my reputation. I’ve always delivered what I promise.”

He sounded so calm as he said it and Michaela concluded that, yes, he was indeed freaking nuts and rationalizing with him at this point was not going to work.

She went to reach for the call button for the nurse, but Noah grabbed her arm stopping her from reaching it. Pain speared through her body as her wounded shoulder was jostled and she almost lost consciousness. She went to scream but Noah grabbed her pillow from beneath her and shoved it over her face. Shit, he was going to smother her.

His voice was close to her ear as he whispered, “Die bitch.”

Michaela was pissed, she was not going to die today. Reaching over with her good arm she grabbed the bedpan and swung as hard as she could, whacking him in the head. A loud clang erupted as the bedpan made contact with Noah’s skull and he gave a grunt as he collapsed on top of her. Michaela removed the pillow from her face searching frantically for the call button. She pressed it and screamed at the top of her lungs. She was trapped under Noah’s dead weight and couldn’t move.

Suddenly Jordan and another man holding a gun burst into the room and came to an abrupt halt when they took in the scene.

“Michaela, what the hell happened?” Jordan asked in an astonished voice as he took in the scene.

“Could you just get him off me?” she yelled.

Noah moaned as the other man moved forward and dragged him off of her. He looked at Michaela, “I’m Special Agent Gonzales. “Do you know this guy?”

She nodded. “Yeah, we both do. That’s Noah Jenkins. He was my fiancé until I caught him sleeping with Joyce, but he just told me that Joyce was actually working for him.” While she talked, Gonzales managed to handcuff Noah’s hands behind his back and shove him in a nearby chair. Another groan emitted from Noah’s mouth at Gonzales’ not so gentle treatment.

“What did he want with you?” Gonzales asked.

“He was trying to smother me until I bashed him in the head with the bedpan. He was furious with me and Jordan. Apparently he blamed me for Joyce losing Jordan’s attention. According to Noah, this is the first time one of his corporate espionage operations hadn’t worked. Killing me was just some sort of sick revenge against both me and Jordan for spoiling his perfect reputation.”

Jordan gave Noah a disgusted look. “The guy is freaking nuts.”

“That’s what I told him just before he tried to smother me,” she told him dryly.

Gonzales shook his head in wonder as he pulled out his cell phone. “I’m glad he went a bit nuts, it’s made it easier for us.” He started punching numbers into his phone and put it to his ear. “This is Gonzales, I have the shooter in custody in the Prentice case but I’m going to have to get him medical attention before I can bring him in. Yeah, I’ll call you back and let you know. In the meantime send a couple of agents to guard him.” Hanging up the phone, he turned his attention to Jordan. “Could you get a nurse, we need to him to get a doctor. I think Michaela probably gave him a concussion.”

The door suddenly opened and Donovan and her parents came rushing in. Her mother gasped at the sight of Noah unconscious in the chair. “What happened?”

Gonzales looked at Donovan. “Friends of yours?”

Donovan nodded. “You could say that. These are my parents, Vivien and Will Prentice.”

Gonzales gave a nod of his head. “Nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Prentice. Thanks to your daughter’s skill with a bedpan, I’ve just apprehended our corporate espionage suspect and attempted murderer.”

“Noah was involved in corporate espionage and tried to kill you?” Vivien Prentice asked, obviously stunned by the news.