Found Wanting (50 page)

He pushed through them, found an empty kitchen.

A smear of red on a door that appeared to lead to the basement drew his gaze. Blood.

Drawing his gun from where it nestled against his lower back, he wobbled toward the open door.

* * *

Alaina clasped Jonah against her, any pain caused by the embrace numbed by the joy of feeling him hug her back as fiercely. "God, I've missed you," she said. "I've missed you so much."

"You're not going to cry all over me now, are you?" he asked, his words muffled against her shoulder.

She heard the break in his voice, knew if he wasn't crying, he was damn close. Laughing, she buried her face against his neck, inhaled his Jonah scent, reveled in feeling his hands against her back, patting as if to soothe her. "Yeah, I'm going to cry all over you now," she said. "Deal with it."

His answering laugh was the sweetest sound she'd ever heard.

The cocking gun was the most frightening.

Thrusting Jonah behind her, she whirled to see Layton at the foot of the stairs, a pistol braced in both hands. Blood trickled down his temple and from the corner of his mouth. His eyes burned like blue flames as he smiled crookedly, showing bloodied and broken teeth.

"Remember when I said I wasn't going to make you watch me kill the kid?" he asked. "I changed my mind."

Alaina lunged at him.

* * *

Mitch, at the top of the stairs where he could do nothing but watch in horror, saw Alaina's desperate move.

Saw Keller's finger squeeze the trigger.

Saw Alaina stagger back against Jonah.

Saw Jonah fall backward with her in his arms.

Saw blood blossom like a deadly flower on the front of her white T-shirt.

"No!"

Keller whirled at Mitch's hoarse roar and brought his gun up.

Mitch, his vision blurring, pulled his shot at the last instant, fearing that if the slug went through Keller, it might hit Jonah or Alaina directly behind him.

"Drop it," Mitch said. He forced himself to focus on Keller, forced his brain away from the image of Alaina, broken and bleeding on the floor, Jonah bent over her, frantically trying to revive her. If Keller would take only one step to the side, Mitch was certain he could drop the son of a bitch without the risk of the bullet hitting Alaina or Jonah.

Keller gave a nasty, snaggle-toothed grin. "Oh, good. I was hoping I'd get to --"

With a snarl, Jonah jumped Keller from behind, hooking his arm around his father's neck. Jonah's pure, adrenaline-fueled rage jerked the bigger man off his feet and landed him on his back.

As the teen pumped his fist into Keller's face, and more blood spurted, Mitch skidded down the stairs, first on his heels, then on his butt, his head spinning as the jarring impact of his tailbone on each step reverberated through his bruised brain.

Keller's gun. Where the hell did Keller's gun go?

Mitch heard shouts in the next room, knew federal agents would storm the kitchen, then the wine cellar, at any second. Ordinarily, he would have thrown himself into the melee, somehow gotten between Keller and the kid. But he knew he would have been worthless in a fight in the shape he was in.

So instead, he braced his weapon and aimed it at the tangle of limbs that was Jonah and his father as they rolled across the floor, grappling for the upper hand. Keller rammed an elbow up under the teen's chin, slamming his head back, but Jonah came right back at him, nailing him with a right hook.

Mitch narrowed his eyes, his focus deadly, waiting for the precise moment when Keller was in his sights and he could --

"Jonah, get down."

Mitch flinched at the sound of Alaina's voice, so calm, so steady.

Jonah dropped to his knees and covered his head.

Keller tottered, surprised at the swift move, then clamped his hands together and raised them, preparing to drive them down with deadly force on Jonah's bent head.

Mitch pulled the trigger.

Keller's body jerked. Shock froze his mouth in a bloody O before he crumpled to the floor and lay still.

In the silence that followed, Mitch stared down the length of his weapon at Alaina. She was holding Keller's gun firmly in both hands. A curlicue of smoke wafted from its barrel. They had fired at the same instant.

Her brow furrowed as her gaze roamed Mitch's face, alarm growing in her eyes. "What happened to you?" she asked faintly, just as federal agents appeared at the top of the stairs.

When her knees buckled, Mitch lurched up off the step to catch her.

Chapter 39

Alaina woke fast, instantly aware that she was in the hospital, instantly aware that she was alone. Fear for both Jonah and Mitch -- who'd been covered with blood when she'd seen him last -- had her pushing herself up, wincing at the dull throb of pain in her ribs and shoulder.

She was sitting on the edge of the bed, dizzy, working at the tape that secured the needle in the back of her hand, when the door opened. She glanced up as Jonah walked in.

When he saw her, he paused in mid-step, a grin spreading across his face. "Hey, Mom."

She fought the simultaneous urge to laugh and cry at the sight of him and instead held out her uninjured arm. As he hugged her, she saw over his shoulder that he hadn't been alone. Mitch stood just inside the door, his head bandaged, face colorless, dark circles rimming his eyes. The sick horror she'd felt when she'd seen him last, his head unbelievably bloody, rolled through her again.

But then he smiled, and his eyes shimmered. "Hi," he said.

She smiled back. "Hi."

Pulling back from her, Jonah asked, "Where were you going just now?"

She eased back against the pillows, exhausted but ecstatic that both her men were safe. "Nowhere."

"Don't let her fool you, kid," Mitch said. "She was coming after you."

Perching on the side of the bed, Jonah held up the nurse's call button. "Next time, use this. I'll even show you how it works." He made an exaggerated display of pushing the button.

Smiling at his antics, Alaina blinked wearily. "How long have I been here?"

"Couple hours," Jonah said with a shrug, then jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Mitch. "He's actually hurt worse than you, the doctor said. All you took was a hit in the shoulder, but he got it in the head. He wouldn't let them drug him up or anything. He's been acting like you did that time I fell out of the tree and broke my arm. All blustery and impatient."

He chattered when he was nervous, and she clasped his hand, feeling the tremor in his fingers before he fell silent and gripped back.

A nurse pushed through the door. "Ah, she's awake."

"We caught her trying to escape," Jonah said.

The nurse smiled at the teenager, charmed, then cast a critical glance at Mitch. "Perhaps it's time for you to sit down, Mr. Kane."

Mitch sank onto the chair in the corner of the room. "Yes, I think it is."

The nurse turned her attention to Alaina. "And you --"

"I'm not going anywhere," Alaina said. "I found what I was looking for."

Epilogue

"Hey, Al," Rachel said. "Where's your hunk? I was hoping to cop a feel when he hugs me hello."

Grinning at her best friend, Alaina set a stack of plates and napkins on the dining room table as Rachel plunked a pile of DVDs from the video store next to it.

"He and Jonah are picking up the food," Alaina said. "What movies did you get?"

"You asked for Arnold movies, and you got them. Kindergarten Cop, Terminator one and two, and my personal favorite, True Lies."

Alaina's grin broadened before she turned to go into the kitchen. "Interesting."

Rachel followed close behind. "What?"

"Mitch has a theory that you can tell a lot about a person based on their favorite Arnold movie," Alaina said as she lined up glasses on the counter and dropped ice cubes into them. "What do you want to drink?"

"Iced tea. I'll get it." When Rachel returned from the fridge with the tea pitcher, she gave her friend a dubious look. "What could True Lies possibly say about me?"

"It's just funny that you'd gravitate toward a movie about people who aren't who they appear to be."

Rachel laughed as she filled the glasses with tea. "Right. I like that guy." Picking one up, she sipped, her gaze on Alaina's face, assessing. "Is it okay if I ask how you're doing since ... everything?"

Alaina smiled as she gathered silverware. "You can ask anytime. And I'm doing just fine," she said. In the dining room, she started to set the table as Rachel distributed the glasses of tea then began to fold napkins for her.

It had been three months since Mitch had shot Layton -- at least he insisted that his was the bullet that had killed the man, though Alaina wondered whether he was simply sparing her. Nightmares still haunted her in which Layton pointed a gun at Jonah and Mitch, and she was helpless to get to them in time. But she and Jonah were in counseling, together and separately, and she was pleased with how that was going.

"Jonah seems to have weathered the storm, considering," Rachel said, handing over the last folded napkin.

Alaina agreed. Of the two of them, Jonah was bouncing back the fastest, though she worried about post-traumatic stress in the future. For now, he seemed to relish the idea of his mother taking on a bad guy and kicking butt. It helped tremendously that he and Mitch had become fast buddies. Jonah had even bonded with Mitch's seven-year-old son, Tyler, who had begun spending an occasional weekend with them at Mitch's, where she and Jonah had been living the past three months. Jonah had hinted several times already that having a second little brother or sister around would be okay with him.

The idea of having a child with Mitch made her stomach flutter. But they hadn't discussed where their relationship was going. There was no question that she loved him. Distance from the intensity of their first days together had done nothing to dull her feelings for him. If anything, they had sharpened, because now there were no distractions and no reasons for her to feel the need to distance herself. The danger, the running, the fear ... all were gone. Every day, she felt lighter, almost giddy with how suddenly uncomplicated everything seemed.

There were still complications, of course. It would probably take years to sort out the PCware issues, but she was leaving it to the lawyers and accountants her father had trusted over the years. Addison certainly wasn't in any shape to help figure it out, but at least she was improving. She was scheduled to be released in a few days from the private clinic she had checked herself into after spending a week in the hospital. Alaina had visited her often, knowing that her sister desperately needed a support network. While things were tense between them and Alaina didn't see them ever becoming the best of friends, she was satisfied with the progress they were making.