The Reckoning (28 page)

“Not much else. I couldn’t see their faces; they were standing in the shadows.”

“Don’t even think about it, Doc.” The male voice reverberated through the kitchen.

Elizabeth
closed her eyes and let her head drop. She was busted, her plan foiled by the one man she was trying to save.
Lydia
grabbed her coffee. “I’ll leave you two alone. It seems you have some things to work out.”

Lydia
touched
Elizabeth
’s arm. “
Elizabeth
, remember what I said about decisions changing the outcome. It’s important.”

Elizabeth
nodded and turned to Mike. She grabbed her purse and walked past him. “Let’s go, Bennett. It seems we have some work to do.”

Elizabeth
walked out the front door and over to Mike’s SUV and stood at the passenger door.

“I guess I’m driving.”

Elizabeth
smiled. “You have tinted windows. We won’t be seen.”

Mike’s grin grew. “I like the sound of that, Doc.”

Mike hit the fob, and
Elizabeth
jumped into the SUV. Mike got in, still smiling.

“Mike, I need you to drive to Emma’s café. We need to stock up on coffee. Then go by my house so I can grab my gun. Then you’re going to take me on my first stakeout.”

Mike’s smile fell. “What the hell are you talking about, woman?”

Elizabeth
buckled her seatbelt and turned. “Just drive and I’ll tell you on the way.”

Mike started the ignition and drove slowly down the driveway.
Elizabeth
was expecting some big macho display from Mike, telling her she needed to stay away from the upcoming fight, but if what
Lydia
said was true, she wasn’t changing her mind about being there.
Lydia
had seen
Elizabeth
there in her vision, and she had every intention of going. She wasn’t going to be responsible for changing the outcome; besides, they might need her there if anyone got hurt.

The tension in the car was heavy. Mike’s brooding didn’t help. The frown lines around his face deepened the more
Elizabeth
told him what she had found out.

Mike took her hand in his and laced their fingers together, bringing it up to his mouth; he kissed the inside of her wrist. “Any way I can talk you into staying home, Doc?”

Elizabeth
shook her head. “You heard what
Lydia
said. If anything changes, it could affect the outcome. I won’t risk it.”

Mike nodded “Did she say where you were when all of this was going down?”

Elizabeth
frowned. Come to think of it,
Lydia
hadn’t told her where she was supposed to be, just that she was there. “No.”

Mike smiled as he parked in front of Emma’s café and got out of the SUV. He walked around her side and opened her door.
Elizabeth
’s heart fluttered. The smile Mike was flashing at her couldn’t be good. He was forming his own plan, and that wasn’t a good sign.

“What’s the grin about?”

Mike pulled the café door open. “My day just got better.”

Mike took her hand and walked to the counter where he placed their order. If
Elizabeth
hadn’t known better, she wouldn’t put it past Mike to handcuff her in the SUV. That would be the only way he could possibly make her immobile and force her to stay put, right where he wanted her. She had ways to get around that. She just needed to be prepared for whatever sly move he made.
Elizabeth
took her coffee and carried part of their order back out of the door. “Next stop, my house.”

After arriving at her house,
Elizabeth
pushed open the door to find her father standing in the entryway with his arms crossed.
Elizabeth
stepped up on tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Hi, Daddy.”

She stepped around him and walked into her room, shutting the door behind her and leaving Mike to deal with her father.
Elizabeth
pulled the loose floorboards up and set it beside her. She leaned in and grabbed the black bag she kept for emergencies.

She stood, dropped it on her bed, and started to pull items out of it. A wad of money was first, her passport, and extra set of car keys, clothes, handcuffs, rope, a spare cell, and a gun. She ran her hand around the bottom of the bag near the seam. Her fingers found the metal object she was searching for. She pulled it out and opened her palm. The handcuff key. She stuffed it in her pocket and started shoving everything back inside but her little pistol. She stuffed it in the back of her waistband, put the bag back in the compartment, and placed the board back on top.

CHAPTER 24

Mike pulled into the doctors’ parking garage. The only logical choice for their stake out, since they believed that Winter’s was a doctor.
Elizabeth
insisting that she go with him had set his nerves on end. The one thought that kept him sane was that he had his own plan for her. One that didn’t include her leaving the SUV. Mike killed the ignition and took
Elizabeth
’s hand into his own. He turned in the seat. “
Elizabeth
, you know you mean the world to me.”

Elizabeth
smiled, the love showing in her eyes. “Just like you mean to me.”

Mike leaned over and placed a gentle kiss to her lips. She pulled back, and her gaze locked on his. “Don’t even think about it, Bennett.”

Mike straightened in his seat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He let go of her hand and reached for the coffee. “Keep your eyes peeled, Doc. We don’t know who we’re dealing with.”

Mike turned his gaze toward the front window, scanning the darkness of the garage.

Mike’s phone rang, breaking the silence and tension in the confined space. He flipped it open. “Tell me you’ve got a name,” Mike barked into the phone.

“Thanks to your fiancée, I do.”

Mike turned his gaze toward
Elizabeth
and spoke into the phone. “Really?”

“Yep, she gave me a list, and after your sisters helped me narrow it down, I concentrated on who was missing from the party.”

Mike leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “It seems like they’ve all been a little bit busy.”

He opened his eyes and sat motionless as he watched two doctors storm from the exit into the garage. Dr. Jennings held a briefcase in one hand. He turned and pulled out a gun with his other hand. The gun pointed at the same doctor that Mike had almost arrested. Their words were muted, but the looks on their face told Mike what he needed to know.

Mike whispered into the phone, “
Jennings
.” Mike flipped the phone closed and turned toward
Elizabeth
. “Stay here.”

Mike turned off the overhead light, slipped from the vehicle, and kept low as he slid between the cars that separated him from the men.

The sound of Powell’s loud voice bounced off the walls and came to his ears. “You’re supposed to save lives, not take them. You took an oath.” Powell pointed toward the briefcase. “You can’t put any more of that blue shit on the streets. It’s killing people.”

Jennings
narrowed his eyes. “My friend, you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. You should have never walked into my office without knocking.”

Powell took an unconscious step back.

Jennings
’ lips turned up in a smile, one of a cold-blooded killer. “It’s nothing personal.”

He pulled the trigger. The loud gunshot rang off the concrete walls.

Mike jumped from between two cars, just behind the dead doctor on the ground.

“Drop the weapon!” Mike shouted.

The maniac stood there with a smile on his face still clutching the briefcase. He dropped the weapon at his feet and put his hand in his lab coat.

Mike’s hands shook. He’d been in this position before, arresting bad guys, but none that mattered so much. He stood with his gun pointed at the head of the man who had killed his father. His finger itched to pull the trigger. He wanted just to shoot the asshole dead and give him the same fate the monster had dealt his father. The muscles in Mike’s arm twitched.

Elizabeth
placed her palm on his arm. “Don’t do it, Mike. He isn’t worth it.”

Mike kept his eyes trained on the killer. He’d be doing the world a favor if he took him out. There would be no more drugs on the streets, one less maniac killer running loose, taking the lives of those he loved. “Get back,
Elizabeth
.”

“Please don’t do this. I know you want to kill him but be a better man than he is. Let him rot in jail with the other lowlifes.”

Mike growled. “He doesn’t deserve it.”

Mike heard steps behind him and didn’t need to turn around to know it was his sisters. Their combined energy made the hair on his arm stand on ends.

“Mike, lower your weapon. It’s going to be okay.” Claire pleaded.

The bastard stood only a foot away with a smug look on his face. “What are you going to do, Mike, arrest me? You’re a coward just like your father. He couldn’t shoot me either, and there had been a minute when he could have.” The asshole laughed. “He stepped in front of the bullet meant for that dirt bag. He thought he was saving the life of a drug runner. Little did he know the bastard was going to die either way.”

Mike grinned. “You want me to tell you where you screwed up, old man?”

The jerk laughed. “You’re assuming that I screwed up.”

“Oh, I know you did. You picked the wrong family to screw with. We never give up.”

Mike lowered his gun, knowing his sisters were behind him. Mike pulled his handcuffs from his back pocket and stepped toward the man. “You have the right to remain silent.”

He saw the glint from the silver knife being pulled for
Jennings
pocket too late. Mike froze, all of his training forgotten.

“He’s got a knife!”
Elizabeth
screamed, rushing him from the side, using all of her force to knock him on his ass and out of the way.

Mike looked up from the ground.
Elizabeth
grabbed the doctor’s hand, trying to knock the knife out of his hand but she wasn’t quick enough.
Jennings
lunged toward her, stabbing her in the stomach. Time moved in slow motion.
Elizabeth
fell to the ground. She turned to look toward Mike, and all he saw was love staring back at him. The asshole grinned still holding the blood drenched knife. Mike pulled the gun from his ankle holster and shot at the same time
Jennings
was lifted off the ground hovering in the air. The bullet he had shot hit
Jennings
dead center of his chest. The energy in the parking garage changed. The air sizzled, and
Jennings
still hovered in the air his arms flailing at his side.

“What the hell are you doing?” He screamed. Windshields around them exploded, car alarms rang through the air. Blue dust and money, that had been secured in the briefcase now flew around the garage in the air. Mike glanced over at his sisters’ holding hands. Their hair was flying in the wind from the energy they were emitting, each feeding into
Elizabeth
’s ability of telekinesis. They were lethal when they were together. Mike’s only thought was to get to
Elizabeth
. She needed him. He scurried over to her, covering her body with his, shielding her from flying glass and debris. The asshole went flying back into a car, smashing his head against the windshield, knocked out cold.

Butch, Sam, and Jake came running through the parking garage with their guns drawn, pointing them at the unconscious killer.

Mike pushed off of
Elizabeth
’s body. Blood was soaking through her shirt. She was unconscious. He checked for a pulse and found only a faint one. “Oh god, no. You can’t die on me, baby. I won’t let you.”

Mike scooped her up in his arms and rushed her toward the hospital door. He yanked it open with his fingers and ran with
Elizabeth
in his arms down the corridor to the nurses’ station. “Help her!” he screamed at the nurses behind the counter. “She’s been stabbed.”

A gurney appeared instantly. Nurses and a doctor rushed to take her from his arms. Mike tried to follow but two orderlies stepped in his way. “I’m afraid you can’t go in there.”

Mike barged past them, flashing his badge. “Watch me.”

He watched as
Elizabeth
’s gurney was pushed through two more doors and disappeared. A button on the wall was going to stop him from gaining entrance. He slammed his fist on the door and turned back to the orderlies who were standing behind him with their arms crossed. “Detective, you have to wait in the waiting room. They took her into surgery, and I’m afraid you can’t go in there. You’ll just distract them.”