Colin: McCullough's Jamboree - Erotic Jaguar Shapeshifter Romance (McCullough's Jamboree Book 1) (16 page)

Voices. Okay. There are two…wait, no three. But the third one, I don’t think he knows the other two.
She asked him why he thought that. But before he could answer her, he heard the sound of a gunshot
. I think they killed him, Lauren. He was asking them what they were doing here and I think they killed him. Christ, Lauren, they’re going to kill me.

No, they’re not. I’m coming, Pete. All right? I got it now. I know where you are. Sit tight.
He asked her how she knew
. I heard the shot, so I know just where you are. I’m coming for you now.

Pete could have cried. He didn’t. Grown men didn’t cry, but he was so relieved that he had to lay there and fight with the feeling he wasn’t going to be dead in a few minutes. She was close, his mind kept telling him. Lauren was close, and she was going to come for him. Even when he heard the door near him open, he knew that she was going to save his ass.

The shots being fired did terrify him a little. Every time he flinched away from the sound, he knew more places where he hurt. Moving again, he tried to get as far from the light as he could without crying out in pain. His hands being tied made things hard, but he finally felt the wall behind him and he didn’t move. Then something in front of him stood in his line of sight, and he tried his best not to yell for his sister. He wasn’t sure if someone had walked in front of the light or if there was someone in the room with him, but he didn’t as much as whimper.

“Mother fuck, how the hell did she find us?” He’d heard the voice earlier but didn’t answer when he started saying his name quietly. “Pete? Damn it, boy, you can’t still be out. We didn’t hit you that—”

The gunshot so close startled him, but he didn’t move. He wasn’t sure who was doing the shooting, but he was hoping it was Lauren. Then someone touched his head. There was no way he could have stopped the cry of pain when they touched his wound that he’d had no idea was there until then.

“I got you.” Lauren. It was his Lauren. “Come on now. I don’t know if there is anyone else here, and I have to get you out to Colin. He’s sort of pissy I made him stay behind.”

He felt the tape at his hands being cut away. Then his legs were free. Lauren told him to move slowly so as not to hurt himself. Then she helped him to stand, holding onto him until the pins and needles that felt like they were all over his body moved away. He’d never been so glad to have a big sister as he was at that very moment.

“You’re very bossy. Does he know this? I mean, I can have a talk with him if you want. Sort of give him a heads up to some of your more violent moods. You have them, you know.” She told him she thought he was getting it, but thanked him all the same. “I should have a talk with him anyway. When you get us out of here.”

“We’re going. And don’t tell him everything. We need some mystery, I think.” She let him lean heavily on her after he nearly fell atop her when he took his first step. His head was making him sick now, and he told her he didn’t know if he could see well enough to help her. And she told him that shifting right now was not an option. They didn’t know who might be with them. “I’m not taking you to the hospital. I think I’d like for whoever took you to think you’re still kidnapped. At least for a while.”

“Man-napped.” She asked him what he meant. “I’m not a kid. So it has to be man-napped.”

“All right, I don’t want anyone who helped man-nap you to know you’re free right away. I’m thinking they might already know, but that’s fine too. You’re safe and the bad guys aren’t.” He started to ask her about that, but decided he really didn’t want to know.

He was glad that his vison was off when they walked out of his cell. As they made their way by two bodies, he was pretty sure that one of them had their head taken off and the other had a neat hole in his forehead. The third man, the one in his cell, had been shot too, but he’d been too busy trying to get up on his feet to look. He was pretty sure that she’d shot him in the head too, however. It seemed to be her mode of doing things.

“It is.” He asked her what she meant. “My mode of killing people. In the head, and they don’t get up and try to kill you again. Once in the head and no more brain function. Not that these guys had much of that going for them anyway. But there you have it.”

“I didn’t know I said that out loud.”

By the time he finished his statement, they were going through a door and into the bright sunlight. Lifting his arm up caused him a great deal of pain, but he felt himself being lifted and knew that Colin had him. As he was set gently in the back of the car, Pete started to sob. He was safe. He hated that he was crying like a big baby, but he’d been as close to being killed as he’d ever been in his life, and it sort of played badly in his head.

No one said anything as they got in the front seat. He was given a box of tissues and a phone and told to call home, but it took him several times before he thought he could without breaking down again. But it was for nothing. As soon as he heard his mom’s voice, Pete started crying like a baby again. All he could think about was that he wasn’t dead and that Lauren had saved him.

Chapter 9

“The first man you sent the prints for is a hit man that we’ve been trying to get for five years. His name, or one of them that he goes by, is Vicious. His real name must have sounded too tame for him, so he changed it to that from Bob Winder.” Tony looked at the pictures of the dead man that had accompanied the fingerprints. He’d had his head taken off. And he didn’t want to think of the rage that had made her do that to him. He supposed he might have done the same had it been his family, but Christ, she was good at what she did. Scary good. “The second man is one of the lesser of the two. And by lesser I mean that his rap sheet isn’t nearly as long. You name it, these two have done it. Ruben Waitsfield started out his career as a killer at the prime age of ten, killing his stepfather and mother in what they thought was self-defense.”

“Let me guess, they treated him badly and he had to fight back.” Tony smiled at Lauren’s tone. She of all people would know about abusive parents. “So this other guy, do you have anything on him?”

“Yes.” He didn’t want to tell her. It was going to royally piss her off. “He’s army. One of your previous men. But I think you might have known that, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I thought so. Mitch Decker.” He nodded, then realized they were on the phone and told her it was him. “Dishonorably discharged about four or five years ago. He said that he’d get me in time. It’s amazing what people think you owe them when they don’t succeed in cutting your throat while you lay slumbering in your bunk. He’d been a little pissy with me because I had the nerve to stop his little dope ring he had going on the side while working with me. Fucking moron. Where do we get these people, anyway? They should let me screen them. I could narrow out the idiots. I certainly couldn’t do any worse.”

“I doubt they’d let you do it your way even if that was an option.” She snorted and Tony laughed. “I wanted to thank you again for helping me get here. I’m not sure what else they’ll find, but that bug in my bathroom freaked me out a bit. Who wants to watch me take a shit?”

Tony looked around the hotel room that he’d been in since yesterday. His house was being de-bugged, but not the kind of de-bugging that required the men that one called in for insects. His was literally being de-bugged of all traces of the monitors and other shit that had been hidden away in his house for who knew how long. Victoria had found a stash of them, and she’d been hard pressed not to go after those who had dared invade his home. And she’d told him she was his mate.

He’d known that, of course. Not that day, but a couple of hours later when all the stuff that had gone on that day in the bathroom stall had settled. They’d spent an enjoyable evening together after making love several times and played chess. He supposed
settled
was the wrong term, but he’d come to terms with what was going on. And now, he had himself a mate to lean on as well.

“This is just one more nail in the coffin for them. You know that, right? And the fact that they thought they could come after Pete is going to cost them as well. By the way, Dad heard from them this morning. Seems they found traces of his blood in a warehouse where three dead men were. He said he had no idea what they were talking about, that his son was right there. He’s pretty pissed, more than I’ve ever seen him.”

Tony wasn’t going to ask. Lauren told him that the further he stayed away from what she did to get this done the safer he’d be. And Victoria was helping them. Everyone wanted this to end, and end where no more men were killed unless they brought it on to themselves.

“What do you need for me to do?” He heard her heavy sigh and knew that whatever it was, she didn’t want to ask for it. “Lauren, I need to help you. I’m feeling a little left out of this, and if you want to know the truth, I want their asses as badly as you do. They killed a lot of good men for no good reason.”

“I know you do. But there is one thing I have to do that you can’t be involved in. There might still be a chance that I’m wrong about those who are involved.” He doubted that and said that to her. “Yeah, I don’t think so either, but I’m putting mine and Hawkins’s ass on the line with this. Once they have me where they think they want me, Hawkins and I are going to commit treason. Once that hits the fan, you’re going to be asked a shit load of questions I don’t want you to know the answer for.”

“You’re going to take the VP.” She didn’t say anything. “All right. I understand. Just let me know when you need me to stand down.”

“Today.”

Then the line went dead. She was going to do it now. And he’d bet his entire retirement that it was nearly in the works now, if not already executed. He just hoped the girl was right. If not, she was going to stand before a firing squad, and he’d hate to be the man who told her mate it was going to happen.

He was still working on the paperwork that she’d given him to sort out when he heard someone outside of his door. He wasn’t too terribly worried, but still pulled his firearm out and had it at his side. If they were coming in without permission, he was going to kill them and ask questions later. The small sound and the pain was all the warning he got before he found himself on the floor and bleeding. He looked at the large hole in the door where he’d been standing and realized he’d been shot. Fuckballs, he’d been shot was all he could think of.

Getting up as best he could, he reached for Victoria. She said his name in that sultry voice of hers, and he was shocked when his cock stretched in his pants. Then she said his name again, this time with more urgency.

I’m shot.
She said she was coming for him
. I don’t know who it is or why they did it. Perhaps we should wait and see.

Victoria was there, her hand over his wound, when the door slammed against the inner wall. Before he could lift his weapon, even if he could, the men, two of them, were gone. Just simply gone. Then Victoria was back at his side. Tony looked up at her and could see blood on her mouth. When she licked it away and winked at him, he knew that she’d just saved his life by killing the bastard that had shot him.

“What do you need of these things?” He told her all of it. “I’ll have someone take it back with us then. Rosen will gather it for you and keep it safe.”

“I’m dying.” She told him he wasn’t, but he knew better. His chest was bleeding a lot more than he’d thought it should. “I wanted to tell you that I love you.”

“And I you. But you will not die.” She looked down at his chest then back to his face. “How do you feel about being a night walker as I am? We could have such fun together.”

“I don’t want to die.” She lifted him up and he moaned. “Victoria, I’m too heavy for you. And I don’t want to die, but you can’t be carrying me around like a pillow.”

“Hush now. I’m doing the right thing. I don’t normally do that, but you’ll let me by being quiet. Rosen is here. He is gathering this up for you now.” He could hear the sirens in the distance. “You will be talked about, I’m afraid. But there is little we can do about it now. I’m taking you to my home where I can help you.”

He wasn’t sure what she was talking about. As his life began to fade, the memories of his childhood and those memories with his wife began to surge forward. Sex in the bathroom with Victoria. Their long talks and his love for her. The Christmas when he got his first gun, the day he’d met Lauren. Memories never repeated themselves. He was an older man but the memories burned behind his eyes like a projector in a movie theater. And Tony was afraid. More than he’d ever been in his lifetime.

The softness of a mattress touched his back, and even though it was perhaps the softest thing he’d ever felt, he still moaned. Pain, the inability to breathe well, made him hurt in places he thought were not connected to him that way. Seeing Victoria above him, Tony reached up to touch her face, but all he was able to do was flop his arm at her.

“I’ve fallen in love with you, my dear. Too late now, but I wanted you to know.” She told him it wasn’t too late for them. “I’m afraid it is.”

The taste of blood filled his mouth. He felt a pinch at his wrist as he swallowed her elixir. Dreams began to fade, as did the memories. Tony felt his heart skip several beats and tears flood his eyes at all he was going to miss. For the first time in his life, he’d found love, a love that should have lasted for decades, and some prick had shot him.

“Drink,” she told him in her soft sexy voice. “I’ve plans for you later, and you cannot perform well if you are too weak to play.”

He was pretty sure he was already past the point of playing. His eyes began to close as he felt his heart take a new twist. Not painfully so, but enough to make him think he was given something stronger to bring him around. Then Tony opened his eyes once more and looked at his Victoria.

“I love you.” She told him that she loved him as well. “I wish I could have met you sooner. Years ago.”

“We have plenty of time now, my love. As much as we will ever want.” His befuddled mind thought he’d misheard her, and she’d said, “We had plenty of time.” As his eyes closed for the final time, Tony wondered how Lauren would finish her job. And how she’d take him being dead. His heart hurt for the younger woman.