Black and Shadow (13 page)

“Now wait, Joe. We could have a team
in Shadow watching over her. We’d keep Jessica safe,” Hugh
said.

“She’ll be safe because she isn’t
doing it. All it takes is a lucky shot and Jessica is dead. More
than one idiot will be looking for her with a contract out. I’m not
asking her to put her life on the line.”

“Not even to catch her brother’s
killer?” Sarah asked. “We think the drug lord killed the Sheriff
too. Wasn’t Tom a friend of yours? Doesn’t he deserve
justice?”

“Of course he does, but not at the
expense of Jessica’s life.”

“Jessica will never be safe until this
is resolved, Joe,” Hugh said. “I think you should talk to her.
She’d probably agree and you know it. That’s why she came out here
in the first place, to find Fred’s killer.” Hugh shook his head. “I
can’t believe it wasn’t the terrorists. Come on, Sarah. We’re not
getting anywhere with Joe. Let’s see if we can get anymore leads on
whom this woman is. If she’s the DEA’s lost sister, we might be
able to use her to get to him.”

Joe watched them get up and leave his
office. He frowned. Was Hugh right? Did Jessica’s safety hinge on
getting this drug lord and dirty DEA officer off the street?
Jessica didn’t even know someone put a contract on her. She would
hate him keeping her in the dark. Sighing, he got up from his
chair. He’d have to talk to her about this. Hugh was right; she’d
want to help catch her brother’s killer. He pushed his hands deep
into his pockets.

He’d have to figure a way to keep
Jessica safe. He couldn’t even fathom living without her. Walking
down the hall to the elevator, Joe pressed the call
button.

§

Jessica pulled into a parking spot at
Oasis Apartments. She sat for a minute after turning off the car.
She didn’t want to face this. Fred’s apartment with all his things
and now the guy wants to take it all away. Her heart hurt and a
tear rolled down her cheek. She wiped it away angrily.

With Fred gone, she was all alone in
the world. No family whatsoever. She wiped at another tear. She
refused to have a pity party. She had friends and maybe someday
she’d have her own family. A picture of Joe holding a baby in his
arms and looking at her with wonder filled her mind. She smiled and
wished she’d asked Joe to come with her instead of thinking to
handle it on her own.

She could do this. She went to open
the car door when the passenger door opened and a woman holding a
gun got in. The same woman from the bar the other night.

§

Joe walked into his suite of rooms.
“Jessica? Where are you, baby?” He rubbed at his jaw. More than
anything, he wanted to keep his woman safe. She’d be angry in the
long run if he didn’t tell her about the contract. He didn’t want
to lose her because of his stupidity. “Jesse?”

He reached for her with his
mind and found… darkness.
“Jessica! Where
are you?”

Joe’s phone ringing brought him to
reality.

“What?” he answered.

“Joe, the manager at Oasis Apartments
called. Fred’s apartment is on fire,” Hugh said.

“Dammit! I can’t find Jessica. Find
out if she left the building. I’m Shadow Walking to the apartment
now.”

Joe didn’t dare Shadow Walk into
Fred’s apartment if it was on fire. He pictured the parking lot
next to the gate. Opening an entrance into Shadow, he walked
through and out in a shadow by the intercom. People ran by, their
belongings in their hands.

“Joe, Jessica took one of
the company cars. Her destination is listed as Oasis
Apartments.”

“Thanks, Hugh.”
Joe looked around. Where was Jessica? He saw the
manager and grabbed him by the arm.
“Miss
Black. Where is she?”

“Oh, Mr. Running Bear. I don’t know.
She didn’t buzz in before the explosion.” Joe frowned. She hadn’t
arrived yet? He released the manager and hurried out to the parking
lot. No company car sat parked in the lot.

He reached for Hugh with
his telepathy.
“Jessica isn’t here. All
I’m getting is darkness when I try to link to her. Find out when
she left the garage and get a team out here. We’ve got to find
her.”

“According to the garage,
she left a good thirty to forty minutes ago. Plenty of time to get
there.”

“Activate the tracker on
her cell phone. Find her, Hugh!”

§

Jessica awoke tied to a chair. She
winced at her sore jaw and the ache in her wounded arm. She should
kick herself. The woman hit her in the face with the gun before she
even thought to react. Loud voices came from nearby. She squinted
an eye open and found herself in an old warehouse. Crates stacked
one atop the other, blocking whomever was arguing from view. Light
streamed in from dirty windows up by the roofline. Debris and dust
covered the floor. A trickle of liquid ran from under a pile of
crates toward her chair.

“Why do we have to kill his little
sister? She doesn’t recognize me and she’s never seen you. Let’s
leave her here and get out of Albuquerque.” Jessica recognized the
voice of the woman from the bar.

“We can’t keep running. Our friends in
South America will be upset if we abandon this operation. Thanatos
needs to take control of New Mexico and the border--which means
keeping your identity a secret is imperative until we are done
here.” The sound of liquid splashing filled the air.

“Dammit, Kurt, be careful with that
stuff! You’ll blow us to high heaven. You’ve already spilled it
more than once.”

“I’m being careful. Hand me that other
container. Shit, these are my good pants. ”

“We wouldn’t even be in this position
if you hadn’t made me kill him. He was a good man, a friend. Fred
was the only man I ever loved.”

The woman killed Fred? Jessica
struggled to get her hands free, but they were too tightly
tied.

“A friend who tried to convince you to
give up a life of crime. You’ve had a crush on that guy since he
took you to your senior prom. It was also convenient his dad got
you community service over jail time. We’re making money hand over
fist here, Kelly. We needed to take him out. Besides, he knew you
are Thanatos. Keeping that a secret is what makes this operation
work.”

“So what will you do with
her?”

Jessica stilled. She wanted to know
the answer as much as Kelly did.

“She’ll burn. If you’d talked to me
first I would have told you about the contract I took out on the
little bitch. Instead you make a mess and start a fire. You should
have let her get into Fred’s apartment before blowing it
up.”

“I didn’t start the fire. One of the
men did while he waited in the apartment for her to show up. You’ve
got to get me smarter men.”

Jessica shook her head. She couldn’t
get out of this one on her own, she needed help.

“It’s lucky I saw her drive in,” Kelly
continued. “I grabbed her and came straight here. Be careful with
the black powder. You’ll blow us to smithereens.”

“Yeah, you drove her here in an Isanti
company car. It’s mistakes like that which will get us caught.
You’re lucky they didn’t have a tracker on the car. Jesus, Kelly,
if you weren’t my sister, I’d find someone else to run this ring. I
need a smoke. You’re driving me crazy. Dammit, don’t touch that
barrel! It has the black powder in it.”

Jessica lowered her chin to
her chest and closed her eyes. She reached for Joe with her
mind.
“Joe?”

“Dammit, Jessica! Don’t
you ever scare me like that again. I’m on my way, baby. I’ve been
tracking you. Hold on.”

“You better hurry and
bring backup. It sounds like they’re planning to burn the warehouse
down with me in it. Oh, and the drug lord is the woman from the
Rattler. She’s talking to a man named Kurt.”

“Well, shit. I’ve got a
team with me. We’re pulling up now.”

“Don’t you think gasoline and black
powder are kind of overkill?” Kelly asked. “I mean, wouldn’t one or
the other do the job?”

“I want this whole warehouse to go up
quick. You know how I like to watch the flames rise into the air.
Besides, we can’t take the chance of the fire department coming and
saving the woman,” Kurt said.

The smell of gasoline filled the air.
She heard liquid splashing and then the click of a
lighter.

“Kurt, stop. Don’t. Watch out,” Kelly
screamed. Jessica’s head jerked up.

She heard a whoosh. A wall of fire
headed right for her. She stared at death. The heat from the flames
licked at her skin. She never told Joe she loved him. At least Fred
would be waiting on the other side.

§

Joe saw the wall of flame
racing toward Jessica. He opened a door in shadow and jerked her
inside. The plastic zip ties disintegrated as Joe yanked her into
his arms. His body shook.
“Dammit,
Jessica. That was too close. I’ve got her. Shadow Walkers
report.”
His lips took hers in a fierce
kiss of need. He’d almost lost her. Thank the Great Spirit they
arrived in time and entered Shadow to scout the situation instead
of coming in with guns blazing.

“The fire is too hot. Looks
like the woman and her brother were caught in the initial blaze.
There won’t be much left.”
Hugh’s voice
rang in Joe’s head.

“Return to base. We’ll let
Sarah and the police department take it from here.”
Joe envisioned the clinic at Isanti and moved
them through Shadow without giving up on their kiss. He pulled away
long enough to open a door out of the dimension and carried Jessica
into one of the examining rooms.

“Dr. Rick! Room One. Now,” he
yelled.

§

Jessica clung to Joe. She trembled.
She couldn’t let go of him. That woman, Kelly, had known Fred from
high school. No wonder his year book had been at work. She said she
loved him, but she shot him at point blank range. Her men burned
down Fred’s apartment and she would have killed Jessica to keep her
identity a secret. It was never terrorists. It was so much
worse.

Tears streamed down Jessica’s face.
Sobs shook her body. She couldn’t stand. Joe held her close, his
hand in her hair, his mouth kissing the tears away.

“You’re okay, baby. I’ve got you. I’m
never letting you get so close to danger again. Do you hear me?
Never again.”

“Joe,” Dr. Rick said from the door. “I
can’t examine Miss Black if you don’t let her go.”

“I’m never letting her go!”

§

Joe carried Jessica through Shadow to
his apartment and laid her on the bed. Except for a flash burn and
the bruising on her wrists from the zip ties, Dr. Rick said she was
fine. He brushed the hair away and frowned at the bruise on her
face. Good thing the woman from the Rattler died or Joe would have
to hunt her down. The doctor had offered Jessica a sedative to
sleep, but of course his spitfire had refused. She looked up at
him.

“It’s over. I can go home.”

Joe stiffened. Is that what she
wanted, to go home to New York? “Nothing is over between us, baby.
I want you here, with me. I love you, Jessica.”

“You do?” Her bottom lip quivered. She
gulped. “I love you too, Joe. That’s what I thought when I saw the
flames coming for me. I hadn’t told you I loved you.”

“Then you’re not going anywhere.” Joe
reached up to unbutton his shirt. Maybe he’d take a few days off.
He wanted to show his mate how much he loved her.

Jessica’s eyes grew wide. He reached
for her top and slipped it off her arms. Then he undid his belt and
lowered his pants. He grabbed Jessica’s jeans and pulled them off
her before joining her on the bed. He leaned over and kissed her.
“I’m sorry about Fred’s things, baby.”

She nodded. “I don’t really need
things to remember him.”

Joe smiled. “Let me help you forget
what’s happened for a while. I want you to think about me and the
pleasure I give you.” Joe ran his hand down her cotton sports bra.
He frowned at the crunchy sound coming from the edges of the
garment. “What is in this?”

“Oh, the under wires probably
disintegrated when Kathy showed me how to Shadow Walk. I guess
little flakes of metal are floating around in the
channels.”

“Kathy showed you… Do you know how
dangerous Shadow can be? I’ll have to talk to her about this. Here,
let’s take it off.” Joe reached around and slipped it off her arms.
It would always be something with his little spitfire. He’d have to
watch her like a hawk. He leaned down and licked at her pink
nipple. She was perfect. He nuzzled her flesh and then licked her
again. Jessica grabbed onto his head, her nails prickling his
scalp. He slurped the little nubbin into his mouth, sucking and
nibbling. She cried out.

“That’s right, baby. Give
it all to me.”

§

Jessica moaned. She needed this,
needed to feel alive. She’d bottled up her emotions since Fred
died. Today everything blew up in her face, literally. She loved
Joe and for a brief moment thought she’d lost her chance with him.
She ran her hands down his neck to his arms. He drove her wild.
Heat ran from her breasts to between her legs.