Bounty's End (Bounty for Hire) (12 page)

As he watched her parents process this information, Thomas realized that he needed to get out of the house and take a breather. Heading out, he closed the door and just stood there on the step, letting the air fill his lungs with each inhale that he took into his body.

Thomas started to walk off the three steps from his front door when he watched as a black sedan pulled onto his street. Normally he would not have paid attention, but the hairs on his arms started to rise. Quickly jumping off the last step, he ran to the Snows’ car and hid. The sedan pulled into Wen’s driveway. He pulled out his cell phone out and dialed Anthony who was still inside his house.

“Anthony here.”

“Listen, don’t say a word. I’m outside and a black sedan just pulled up to Wen’s house.”

Thomas stopped talking, nearly stopped breathing for moment, as he watched a tall white male in a dark grey suit step out of the car, followed by a blindfolded Wen.

“Fuck. Anthony, he has her blindfolded. This is all kinds of fucked up.”

“Shit,” Anthony replied. “All right listen, you hang tight. I’m calling in back-up. Don’t move, Thomas. I swear to God, I will throw your ass in jail if you move.”

Thomas knew it was true, but honestly didn’t care. He would do time if that meant getting to Wen and getting her out of this situation.

“Not going to happen, Anthony. I know how to sneak over there and find out what the hell is going on. I need to be there.”

Thomas could hear Anthony’s breathing change. He was wearing down.

“This is so against protocol, but I will deal with that later. You’re probably right. If we wait, who knows what will happen. Do not move until I come out. We move together.”

Thomas disconnected and waited the seconds for Antony to come out. He could feel the seconds ticking by as he watched Wen move away from the car and be helped into her house. He had to admit these guys had balls moving a woman around in the broad daylight, especially a woman who had a black cover around her head. When her house door shut, Thomas felt like bolting across the lawn and breaking it down.

“Where are they at now?” Anthony asked from behind him.

“Wen and another guy went into the house. I can see a driver still in the car, and as you can see, there is another man standing just behind her front bushes.”

“Is there a back way in?”

“Yeah, she has a back door.”

“All right, buddy, let’s move and let’s make it clean, because I seriously do not feel like having to write up a fucking report. It’s bad enough that I’m going to have to report to my commander my inability to follow his command.”

They figured the best way to get to Wen’s undetected was to walk to the back of Thomas’s house and cross the backyards of the three houses on his side of the street before switching over to Wen’s side of the street. This was a benefit of living on a cul-de-sac road.

As Thomas and Anthony headed toward the back of the house, Thomas prayed they would make it in time.

* * *

As Wen was helped in to her house, she stumbled and nearly fell, but Mr. Smooth caught her by the arm.

“Easy there, Ms. Snow. Wouldn’t want you falling and breaking your neck.”

Oh God, why did that sound like a promise inside of a threat
?

“Can I take this blasted thing off my face? I really don’t know how you expect me to help you find whatever you’re looking for with this stupid thing covering my eyes.”

“Right, you are, my dear. Right, you are,” he muttered close enough to her ear, causing Wen to stiffen up.

“Careful, Ms. Snow, it seems as though your house was not prepared for guests.” She was not sure what he meant by that, as her eyes were still adjusting from coming in from the sunlight. He slowly removed the black cloth that covered her eyes.

Once the cloth had been removed, Wen held perfectly still, blinking her eyes rapidly, trying to get them adjusted. When they were finally adjusted to the indoor light, Wen wanted to weep at the mess her house was in yet again. Someone definitely had been in her house. It was official; she was moving out if she got out of this mess alive.

“Lead the way,” Mr. Smooth announced at the same time placing his hand on the small of her back. As much as Wen wanted to look at him, or yell at him to remove his hand, she kept her back straight as well as her head. It was bad enough her skin was crawling. She could do this and she knew she would find a way out of this.

As they made their way down her stairs, Wen was met with more tragedy. Her beautiful china pieces were destroyed. Every last one of them in small pieces that would have to be trashed. She didn’t care. At the last step, she took off and ran to the overturned table and collapsed onto her knees, picking up different pieces of the china.

She didn’t care if she sliced a finger or a hand. She wanted to grieve for the loss. These pieces meant something to her, meant something to the person that they once belonged to. However, she was not allotted time to cry over them before she felt a sharp pain in her upper arm as she was yanked back up to her feet.

“Ms. Snow, we are not here for broken things. We are here for
my
things,” Mr. Smooth warned her.

Turning toward her work station, she saw that the desk had not been broken and was still in its upright position. As she and Mr. Smooth made their way over, she could clearly see a small drawer sticking out from the back of the desk.

A hiss could be heard from her side as no doubt he noticed the drawer too. She felt him let go of her arm and watched as he ran to the desk. When he looked into the drawer, Wen felt her body go still as he screamed and then pushed the desk over.

This was her chance. With his back to her, she could take off. Yet her feet stood still. She was not going to be her own hero. She knew she was about to die when Mr. Smooth turned on her with a gun pointed directly at her head.

Chapter 17

Thomas and Anthony made it into the house with ease.

He could see that the man outside was enthralled with something and was not in the least conscious of the fact that he and Anthony were in the house. Things were working out for Anthony and him. It just had to stay that way. Nothing else mattered but getting to his girl. His lotus flower. Thank God, the basement door was open.

Thomas could hear a man talking to Wen. His voice was tense which was not good for her. Thomas watched as Anthony gave the signal to follow him, because it was now or never; they literally did not have much time.

Silently thanking Wen for having carpet on her basement steps, they carefully made their way down them. As they arrived at the near to last step, Thomas stood frozen in time as he slowly watched the man in the suit raise his gun and point it directly at Wen.

“Do you know, Ms. Snow, that my guys had to break into your parents’ shop twice in the attempt to find this merchandise? Both times were utter failures. I am not in the mood for failures right now.”

“So you broke into my house as well?” Wen asked. Thomas could hear her voice trembling, but he stood there in the darkened stairwell smiling at her strength. He made to move when Anthony halted him with his hand out.

Obviously, Anthony wanted to hear more.

“My dear girl, I had nothing to do with your house being broken into. Nonetheless, that mystery is something that I too will have to deal with once our transaction is taken care of.”

It was then that Thomas watched Anthony move the last few steps entering the basement fully. Thomas did not waste any time following.

“Police, freeze! Drop your weapon! Anthony commanded.

“Step away,” Thomas yelled coming from behind Anthony’s position. Thomas looked at Wen, trying to give her some reassurance, but her eyes held nothing but pure terror.

“Wen, honey, walk toward me,” Thomas tried coaxing her away from the man who was just two small steps away from her. The guy could easily pull Wen to him or yet pull the trigger taking her down with him. That was something that he could not allow to happen.

“I don’t think so. Once this gun goes down, you will be taking me down. I have no intention of going to prison.”

“Wen, come to me, now.” Thomas tried to emphasize each word, praying that she would get his meaning. He and Anthony knew that there was a good chance that this was going to become a shootout.

Thomas watched as Anthony moved to his right, slowly walking toward the suit. Thomas watched Anthony and noticed that there was recognition in his eyes when he looked at the guy in the suit holding a gun towards them.

“Put the gun down. Panelli, I am telling you now, put down the fucking gun.”

“Don’t think so, detective.”

Thomas moved as Anthony moved, trying to get closer to Wen to pull her to safety.

“Panelli, I am telling you now, it’s better to be taken in by me than the whole police force, which just happens to be on the way.”

It was then that a roar of several voices yelling “Police, freeze,” could be heard from upstairs. Thomas kept his eyes on Wen, making sure he would get to her if need be. Her eyes stayed on his as tears were streaming down her face. He only had a few more steps and he would be within arm’s reach.

Yet it was too late. Thomas saw it just before it happened. Panelli pulled the trigger just as Thomas took a dive toward Wen, taking her down with him.

Gunshots rang out around him. After several more shots, Thomas could hear Anthony shouting. Lifting his head up, he looked down at Wen.

“You okay?”

“I-I think so.”

“You guys okay over there?” Anthony asked.

“Yeah, buddy, thanks. Come on, baby, let’s get up.”

Thomas got Wen up and confirmed that she wasn’t hurt. He then walked over to Anthony and noticed that Panelli wasn’t moving and there was a great big pool of blood surrounding his body.

“You hurt?” he asked Anthony.

“Nah, not even a scratch. You two?”

“We’re good.”

Sure, they weren’t hurt, but Thomas could feel Wen wrap her arms tightly around his waist while burying her face in his side.

“You need to make a statement and explain what the hell Tony Panelli was doing with Wen.”

Thomas looked down as Anthony was holding onto his forearm, eyes bearing into his.

“Who the hell is Panelli, Anthony?”

“He’s number two, to one of the larger drug pushers here in Benton.”

Shit
.

“Got it. And thanks, Anthony, for everything.” Thomas was not sure he could ever repay him. The debt he felt he owed the man, for what he did for Keylee was large, but now this... Thomas didn’t think there was enough out there that could repay Detective Anthony Phillips.

Carefully getting Wen upstairs, Thomas stayed close to her, never letting go of her body while they both answered questions about what had taken place over the last couple of days.

When that was all said and done and they’d reassured the police they would both formally come to the station, he and Wen were allowed to leave. Thomas wanted to take Wen to the hospital, but all she wanted to do was get cleaned up. He walked her over to his house where her parents engulfed her in hugs and kisses ’till she begged them to let her take a shower.

Thomas took her to his room, staying close to her while she stripped there in the bathroom. Carefully, Thomas watched as she stepped into the shower.

“Thomas?”

“Yeah, babe?”

“Burn those clothes, will you? Because I think if I see them again, I might not recover.”

Thomas heard the wavering in his voice. Damn their company downstairs. Quickly, Thomas stripped out of his clothes.

When she gasped as he entered the shower stall, all Thomas did was pull her body close to his. Allowing his warmth, his love for her to envelop her body.

Sobs then racked her body as he held her, allowing her to cry in the shower while she let out everything she’d been holding in.

After the shower, Thomas tried to convince her to take a nap, but she refused, stating she needed to see her family.

Upon descending the stairs, Thomas watched as Wen was once again taken into her parents loving arms. As much as he wanted to be in the circle, Thomas understood what it was like to need your parents to love and hold you. He still missed it. At thirty-one years old, he still missed his mom hugging him and telling him all would work out.

Chapter 18

After several hours, Thomas and Wen were both able to convince her parents to leave only after the extracted promises from each of them to come to their house tomorrow for dinner. Thomas thanked his friends and family for their help and watched as they too left the house. It was only he and Wen left in the silent house.

Thomas pushed Wen to head upstairs while he said goodbyes, let Peaches out one more time, and then locked up the house. As he made his way to his room, Thomas was once again taken aback by the sight of a sleeping Wen in his bed.

She was curled up on her side with her hands under the pillow. Her hair was splayed across the pillow.

Stripping out of his clothes except for his boxers, Thomas crawled into the bed and slowly pulled Wen into his body. Draping his arm over hers, he held on tight, dipping his head down to her neck to breathe in her scent.

“You know, that’s not very nice to do to someone that is trying to sleep.”

Laughing, he responded back, “If you were asleep, then it wouldn’t have bothered you.”

Thomas eased his hold when he realized that Wen planned on turning to face him.

“Want to talk about it?”

“No, yes. It is so strange, the need I still feel to cry over this. I mean, nothing horrible happened to me and I feel like a wimp because I know what Keylee went through, and look at her. But I’m not her, Thomas. It all still feels so surreal, almost like watching a movie where you’re only praying for the best outcome and knowing the worst could still happen. You know, Mr. Smooth, I mean Panelli. He told me shit like this happened all the time. That I was too naive to accept it. In God’s all honesty, he’s right. There is so much crazy shit out there, which we hear about all the time or watch on television, but never really think it’s going to happen until it directly affects us.”