Reckless Abandon (Phantom Protector Book 1) (10 page)

Jamie lightly pushed her elbow into his ribs.
“You’re my family. Of course I need you, and as a matter of fact, I think Max
will be glad you’re here.”

Brody chuckled. “I highly doubt that.”

“You know if you gave him half a chance you
might realize you have more in common than you think.”

“Name one thing the silent giant and I have in
common. I can name three things off the top of my head to prove that we’re
nothing alike. He’s quiet; I’m not. I have a sense of humor, and he doesn’t. I
have gifts, and he’s just ordinary.”

Jamie elbowed him harder in the ribs. “There is
nothing wrong with being normal. But the one thing that you guys have in common
that will never change is little old me.”

Brody shrugged. “Guess you got me there. Where
is he by the way?”

As Brody drove them to the storage facility in his
rental SUV, Jamie explained everything that had happened in the short time
since she and Max had arrived into town. Brody was good company. He was her
best friend. He’d taken her under his wing and made her feel comfortable when
she’d joined the general’s team. Most people were either too scared or unsure
about her to really get to know her.

Brody pulled up to the storage place, and Jamie
climbed out of the car. Clouds covered the sun, and the slight wind blew her
hair into her face. She reached up and tucked the loose strands behind her ears.
The building was metal with only one door on the front. The parking lot stood
empty other than Brody’s red SUV. It was as if it were a ghost town. People
brought their precious belongings and left them as if they’d never been that
important to them to begin with. She compared it to parents leaving their
prized possessions at an orphanage.

Jamie pulled out her phone and texted Max,
letting him know she’d made it safe and sound and that Brody had shown up as an
escort of sorts. She snickered at the thought. Yep, Brody could be an escort.

She grabbed the handle and pulled the door open.
The office was empty. No one sat behind the desk. The sound from the television
in the corner drifted to her ears. The drink machine against the wall hummed as
it cooled the drinks. On a small table sat a half empty coffee pot. Brody
leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Are you armed?”

She nodded. She was armed, but she’d really
hoped the employee was just taking a bathroom break. Her stomach was already in
knots thinking of what she might find…if anything at all. The added stress
darkened her mood. She walked to the counter and rang the bell as she called
out, “Hello… Is anyone here?”

She’d guessed right. She heard the flush of a
toilet and the running water of the sink that calmed her nerves. The door on
the side of the room opened, and a man walked out. He wasn’t at all what she’d
been expecting. He was well groomed and on the muscular side. His brown wavy
hair was styled, and he was clean-shaven. Even what he wore didn’t quite fit
with all of the dust from the room. Brody wrapped his arm around her waist and
patted where he thought she’d hidden her gun. A grin stretched on his face.

“Can I help you?” the man, named Red according
to the nametag pinned to his chest, asked.

Jamie cleared her throat. “I’m Jamie Bloom.”

Brody cut in. “And I’m her fiancé, Brody.”

She cut her eyes toward her obnoxious co-worker
but pasted a fake smile on her face and turned back toward Red. “Yes, well…I
believe that Mrs. Evans from the orphanage called yesterday and said that I
would be coming.”

Red looked her over. “She said you’d be coming.
Do you have some identification on you?”

Jamie reached into her backpack, slid the zipper
open, and pulled out her military ID card. He glanced at the picture then back
up to her face. “Military, huh?”

Brody let his arm drop and plopped his elbows on
the counter. “Listen, we’re kind of in a hurry. Do you think you can pull
whatever it was that was stored for her? We’re running late to catch our flight.
Isn’t that right, honey?”

Brody winked at her. All she wanted to do was
knock that grin off his face, but she held her tongue. He was here doing her a
favor after all. Since he’d made up the lame excuse, she was just going to play
along. Jamie threaded her arm through Brody’s and glanced down at the watch Max
had made her wear. She grinned. “You’ll have to excuse him. I’m afraid he’s a
bit pushy when he’s running behind schedule.”

Red gave an understanding nod. “Wait right here
and I’ll get it for you.”

He returned only moments later with a sealed
brown cardboard box with her name written on the side.

“This is it.” He handed her a form. “I just need
your signature, and it’s all yours.”

Jamie never took her eyes off of the box, even
as she signed the paper next to where he’d placed his thumb. The possibilities of
the box’s contents were enough to keep her imagination spinning. She held out
her hand to Red. “Thanks for your help.”

His hand lingered as it held hers. “I hope you
find what you’re looking for.”

Brody picked up the big box and was halfway to
the front door. Jamie paused at Red’s word. “Me too.”

Red winked and walked back down the hall he’d
emerged from.

Jamie held the door open for Brody. She gave one
last look down the hall where Red had disappeared
.

“Come on, doll, this box isn’t getting any
lighter, and we’ve got a plane to catch,” Brody said, keeping up the pretense.

She guessed it might help if people thought she
was actually leaving town. Not that leaving was an option. The chill in the air
reminded her of Lydia’s
vision and that she was running out of time.

Chapter
10

She pulled out her cell and sent a text to Max.
We’ve got the box and we’re heading back to
the hotel. Any problems at the big O?

Nope.
Everything here is quiet. There’s no sign of Floyd or any of his goons.

The tension in her neck slightly eased as her
fingers flew across the keyboard in response to the news.
Good, let’s hope it stays that way.

I’ll
meet you back at the hotel in an hour. I’m going to stick around for a bit
longer just to make sure he doesn’t show up.

K. Be
careful.

Brody carried the box into her hotel room and set
it down on the bed. Her heart raced at what she might find inside. He placed a
palm on her shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze. “Do you want me to stay?”

She shook her head. Her hands started to tremble
as she shook. “No, I need to do this alone.”

Brody nodded. “Call me if you need me. We’re
flying back to Henderson
at noon if you want to hitch a ride.”

Jamie remained quiet and ran her hand over the
cardboard. The contents were all she had left to help her find her mother. She
heard the door across the room click closed but didn’t need to turn around to
know that Brody had left her with nothing but a sealed box and her own thoughts
to drive her mad.

“Get a grip,” Jamie said. She pulled the knife
from her backpack and ran the sharp edge down the tape and along the sides. She
let the knife drop onto the mattress. Her fingers pealed and pulled at the
corners of the box until she had it fully opened. She peered inside and sucked
in a breath.

She reached in grabbing hold of the little
bassinet that Mrs. Evans had told her about. She pulled the little wicker
basket out and ran her fingers over the faded pink blanket and the lumpy
mattress inside. She pulled the mattress out and looked beneath it…nothing. The
softness of the silk reminded her of a baby’s skin. A tear slid down Jamie’s
cheek. She looked down into the empty box. These were all that she’d been left
with. She laid her head down on the lumpy mattress and heard a crinkle.

“What the hell is this thing made of?”

She slid the zipper on the cushion and ran her
hand over the foam inside until her fingers reached paper. She jerked the
cushion up to her face and peered inside. An envelope sat crinkled inside. She
reached inside and gently eased the envelope out.

She flipped it over and read the unfamiliar
handwriting. “Jamie” was etched in cursive across the dusty, aged envelope.

Another tear joined the first. Jamie lifted a
hand to cover her mouth. Unfamiliar emotions rolled in her stomach. Love, hate,
fear, hope… all of them taking a turn at dismantling the brave woman she’d
thought she’d grown up to be.

She turned the envelope over in her hands,
looking for any other marks. She slid her finger under the flap, careful not to
tear the paper or what was inside. This was too important for her not to treat
like a fine piece of china.

She slid out the yellowing paper and unfolded
it. She couldn’t believe that after all this time there’d been a message…a clue
that she should have looked for sooner.
  
Her eyes tried to focus on the words through a watery haze, her trembling
hands making it even more difficult to read.

March
13, 1978

My Dearest
Jamie,

You may
never understand or forgive me for what I’m about to do, but I pray that one
day you will. Know that, as I’m writing this, my heart is shattering into a
million pieces. Letting you go is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. There
won’t be a day that goes by that I won’t think about you and love you and wish
I was there to see you grow up and could…

A water stain had appeared to smudge the next
few words making them unreadable. Jamie’s heart clenched tight in her chest.
Her labored breath became difficult as she read the rest.

I loved
your father more than any woman should be allowed to love, almost to the point
of losing myself in the process. He wasn’t always the self-driven man he turned
out to be. He swept me off me feet when we met. He showered me with a love that
I’ve never known until now. When I found out I was pregnant with you, it was
the happiest day of my life. A family to call my own was all I ever wanted as a
young girl, and it seemed my dreams were about to come true. I returned home
barely able to contain the news. The look on your father’s face scared me. I
knew something was wrong before I could even tell him about you. He ranted of
secrets and societies and a power greater than anything he’d ever seen or would
have guessed. He’d changed. His need for power consumed him.

Jamie slid down the foot of the bed until she
ended up on the floor. She couldn’t stand. She could barely move. She wanted to
scream, but no sounds left her mouth. She glanced down to finish the letter, a
letter written by a woman she was on the verge of hating with every fiber in
her soul. What had given her mother the right to keep such a secret from her
father? What had made her think it was okay to leave a defenseless one-year-old
to grow up in a fucking orphanage?

He left
me that day with words that I’ll never forgive. He broke my heart and with it
my will to go on. A happy life for you was out of my reach. My only regret was
withholding the truth that you lived and grew inside my stomach.

I knew that
I could never let him hurt you like he’d done to me. Today marks your first
birthday and hopefully the first day of a beautiful life yet to come. I tried
to give you the kind of love a mother could, but I’ve failed not only you but
myself. Please forgive me for my many mistakes but just know that you were
never one of them. You are the best part of me and your father combined, and
you deserve a better life and love than either one of us is capable of giving.

I’ll
love you forever.

Mom

 
 
Jamie
let the letter slide from her fingers and land on her lap. She could feel the
pain in her mother’s words, but they were nothing compared to what Jamie had
felt all of her life. Her thoughts collided with her emotions resulting from
her mother’s twisted thinking that being without her would in any way be better
off. She balled her fist at her side, ready to hit anything that was close
enough to try and inflict the same damage as her heart. She covered her face
with her hand as the tears streamed down her face. Her mother hadn’t been
strong enough. Her father didn’t have a clue about her, and her life had
changed on a dime.

Jamie didn’t know how long she’d been crying at
the end of the bed. Crying for an anonymous man and woman who didn’t deserve
the love she’d held for them in her heart all these years. She hadn’t heard
when Max had entered the room, but she felt him sit down beside her. He moved
the letter from her lap and pulled her into the comfort of his arms. He didn’t
speak; he just held her. She rested her head against his chest. Her tears
soaked his shirt as she trembled in his arms. She’d crumbled, and he’d been
there to catch her. His hands slid in her hair as he kissed her forehead. The
other hand made soothing motions up and down her back, as if he’d done this
numerous times before. Hell, maybe he had.