Fatal Courage: Shadow Force International, Book 3 (Shadow Force International Romantic Suspense Series) (23 page)

“Wait,” Jax said, rising as well and glancing between Zeb and Chief Rolands. “You two are brothers?”

“Half brothers,” the two men said at the same time.

Zeb clapped a hand on Chief Rolands’ shoulder. “Everyone, meet Caleb. He’s the chief in town.”

“We met,” Rolands growled, giving Jax the once over.

They were about the same height, and Ruby could see their eyes matched, but that was the extent of the similarities. “Can the family reunion wait?” she said. “We need to catch Elliot.”

“No need for the attitude, little lady,” Rolands chastised. “Your friend’s on foot, and appears to be injured. Mike Lostrom owns a farm out that way and called it in. Said the guy had blood all over his clothes. I’d have sent a deputy to bring him on in, but everyone’s on storm cleanup duty.”

Was it Elliot’s own blood covering his clothes or was it Augustus Nelson’s? “He may not be as injured as you think, and he’s quite skilled at evasion.” She shot a look at Jax, then Beatrice. “We need to move. Now.”

Beatrice nodded at Trace Hunter, who helped her up from her seat. “Zeb, ride with your brother. The rest of us will follow you, Chief.”

Rolands tipped the brim of his cap at her. “Hope you don’t mind me saying, but maybe you should stay here and take a load off.”

Beatrice straightened her maternity blouse. “Pregnancy is not a disability, but I know you mean well, so I’ll let it go.” She motioned to the door. “Shall we? As Agent McKellen stated, the man we’re after is quite adept at disappearing.”

Rolands looked at Zeb and rolled his eyes. As the two went through the foyer, Ruby and Jax on their heels, she overheard him say, “Who is this guy? Jason Bourne?”

“Nah,” Zeb replied, opening the front door. “That guy back there with the pregnant gal is Jason Bourne.”

Rolands turned to look back at Hunter, then he sized up Jax. “Quite a group you fell in with again, Zebulon.”

The old guy chuckled. “I like things interesting.”

Outside, Jax hustled Ruby over to a black SUV that looked a lot like Emit Petit’s. Did the company have an entire fleet in Chicago?

Paula came running out of the house. “Take this.” She shoved a cloth bag at Jax. “You didn’t get to eat earlier. A shame for all this to go to waste.”

The bag was covered with cats. “Thank you,” he said, as he accepted it from her.

She glanced over all of them. “And who’s settling the bill for the rooms?”

Hunter helped Beatrice into the front seat, but when he started to pull the seatbelt out for her, she slapped his hand away. Wrestling with it herself, she cast a look at the owner of the B&B. “You’ll find an envelope on the window seat that should more than cover the cost of rooms. Your discretion about our presence here today is expected. If anyone asks, we weren’t here. I believe you’ll find I can be quite generous in exchange for your silence.”

Paula looked a tad confused for a moment. “Why do you care if people know you visited my little bed and breakfast?”

“You should be more careful who you open your door to,” Beatrice said, struggling with her seatbelt. The poor strap could only reach so far. “In addition, I strongly suggest you change that egregious wallpaper throughout the house. Someone might kill you for your abhorrent taste in decor.”

Jax piled into the backseat next to Ruby as Hunter shut Beatrice’s door and hustled around to the driver’s seat. Paula stood, wringing her hands and looking even more confused.

“You have to stop using such big words, boss,” Jax said, chuckling. He leaned forward, reached around Beatrice, and grabbed the seatbelt out of her hand. “We talked about that, remember?”

She smacked his hand. “What did I say that a person of average IQ couldn’t understand?”

He didn’t let go of the belt, managing to snap it into place. “Abhorrent is one thing, but egregious? Come on. No one uses that word. Next time, try ‘appalling’ or plain ol’ ‘flat-ass ugly.’”

Beatrice’s chest rose on a slow, deep breath, as if she were struggling to control her irritation. Her gaze focused on the cop car pulling out ahead of them. “Curse words are base and uncalled for.”

Jax sat back as Hunter took off after Rolands. He winked at Ruby. “They get the point across, don’t they?”

“Oh, Jaxon,” Beatrice sighed, but she sounded like a tired mother rather than an aggravated boss.

The cruiser generated a lot of dust as they took a dirt road off the main one Ruby and Jax had walked to get to the B&B. “Where are we going?” Ruby asked.

Hunter shrugged. “I imagine the chief knows a short cut.”

Good thinking. “What do you plan to do with Elliot once we catch him?” she asked Beatrice.

Beatrice took a pair of sunglasses from her bag but didn’t put them on. “That depends on you, Agent McKellen.”

“Call me Ruby, please.”

The woman shot her a look over her shoulder. “What do you wish to do with Elliot Hayden?”

There was something in the steady gaze she gave Ruby over her shoulder. A question under the question. Ruby felt like Beatrice, out of any of them, might understand her predicament. “I need to know the truth.”

A slight nod. “I’ll make sure you have time to speak to him before we turn him over to the CIA. My only request is that Jax is present during the interview.”

In other words, Jax would interrogate him. Beatrice wanted answers too. “Jax doesn’t have clearance to…”

“It’s Jax or me,” Beatrice said. “Your choice.”

Jax had his head turned, pretending to be interested in the passing landscape. Ruby could still see the grin on his face.

Ruby met Beatrice’s gaze. “Who did you work for before you took this gig?”

“I suppose that does matter to you, doesn’t it?”

“It does.”

“Fair enough. I was NSA. Part of a specialized, top-secret group called Command & Control. I can assure you, my clearance level was beyond anything you’ve ever even heard of.”

“But you don’t work for the government anymore. Your former clearance level means jack squat.”

There it was again, that flare in her eyes and the slight crook of her lips. “I like you, Agent McKellen. You’re passionate but intelligent. An agent who knows when to bluff and when to be a straight shooter. But let me make this very clear to you. While you are currently a client of Rock Star Security because of Emit’s insistence, I’m running this show. My main concern is for Jax’s safety. Secondary to that, is the safety of Emit Petit’s company. If you don’t like the way I handle things, Trace will stop the vehicle and you can exit it. Meanwhile, I will find Agent Hayden and bring him in. Once again, your choice.”

God, what a hardass. Beatrice made the Colonel look like an easy boss in comparison. She could only imagine what would happen if she put the two of them in a room and let them duke it out.

But down the road, Ruby could use a hardass like Beatrice to help her get her position with the Colonel’s secret army back. Might be wise to keep Beatrice in her friendly column.

Besides, what real choice did she have? This little party would definitely catch up to Elliot before she did and she was out of resources.

She wiggled her bare feet, sore from walking on blacktop and gravel. “Jax it is, then,” she said, twisting the Rock Star bracelet still around her wrist. Sometimes you had to play along to get what you wanted. “You’re welcome to sit in on the interview as well, Ms. Reese.”

A slow, knowing smile crept over Beatrice’s features. “You are good, Agent McKellen. I see why Elliot wanted you as his partner.”

The burn of betrayal ate like acid in her stomach. Up ahead, she saw the cruiser pull to an abrupt stop along the side of the road.

“What is it?” Jax asked, sitting forward.

“Body,” Hunter replied. He drew up behind the cop car. “In the ditch.”

Ruby was out of the SUV before it came to a full stop, Zeb exiting the cruiser and looking down into a clump of tall grass in the ditch.

Rocks bit into her already sore feet as she tore across the gravel, not missing the trail of blood on the dirt road. The grass was slick from the rain, causing her to slide and nearly go down on her butt.

A strong hand grabbed her from behind and hauled her back up. “Whoa there, sweetheart,” Jax said. “Let Rolands take a look first.”

Ruby’s eyes locked on the blood trail that led to a folded down patch a few feet away. A body lay facedown, the sun, now low on the horizon, spilled soft rays across a head of blond hair. The man’s clothes were streaked with dirt and blood.

He didn’t appear to be breathing.

“It’s him,” she whispered as the Chief snapped on latex gloves.

Time seemed to freeze as Rolands leaned over and felt for a pulse.

“He’s dead, isn’t he?” Ruby asked.

Rolands silenced her with a glare, stayed stationary for a minute longer. Finally he drew his hand away. “Not yet,” he said, carefully rolling the body over.

The sight of Elliot’s face made her breath catch. He was gray, a large bruise on one cheek, blood streaming from his hairline.

Rolands shook his head as he eased him onto his back. “But he’s about as close as you can get to meeting his Maker.”

T
RACE
S
TOOD
N
EXT
to Beatrice’s open window. “Should I call 911?” he asked as they watched Jax approach Hayden’s broken and battered body.

“No.” She reached down next to her leg—which was no easy feat, thanks to her gigantic belly—and brought out Jax’s medical bag. He’d left it in his car back in Chicago. “Let Jax stabilize him, then we’ll move him to an approved medical clinic.”

“
If
he can stabilize him,” Trace said, taking the bag through the window. “Looks like the guy’s been shot.”

Jax appeared to come to the same conclusion as he lifted his head. “GSW, left thigh. He’s bleeding out.”

Ruby stood beside the road, body frozen, eyes locked on the scene in front of her. Her shock was palpable, and for a moment, Beatrice felt the urge to hug her and tell her everything would be all right.

The baby is making me soft.

Logically, there was no way in Hades that Elliot Hayden was going to make it out of whatever jam he’d gotten himself into. Whether he was the culprit behind all of this or simply a pawn, he had obviously ran afoul of someone very powerful.

“I’ll call 911,” Rolands said, hitting the mike on his shoulder to alert his dispatcher.

“Don’t.” Trace stepped forward so quickly, he was a blur as he reached out and stopped Rolands’ hand. “There are people after this man. People who are monitoring their scanners for any type of call like this.”

The Chief’s face went hard. “The man needs medical treatment.”

Trace raised the black bag and held it out to Jax. “And he’s going to receive it.”

Jax snapped his attention from the bag to Beatrice with a question on his handsome face. He gave her a tiny shake of his head. “He needs surgery and a whole lot of blood.”

Beatrice was already on her phone, dialing Rory. Trace resumed his post as her bodyguard, scanning the area with his razor-sharp gaze. “You know what to do to stabilize him until we reach an appropriate facility, Jaxon,” she said.

Appropriate in this case meant an SFI-approved clinic, where no one would find them or even know they’d been there.

“Beatrice…” Jax’s voice was full of warning. “I’m not qualified to treat this man.”

Trace kept his attention glued on the dirt road and fields around them. His voice was soft as he murmured to her. “I can help him if need be.”

“Not necessary,” Beatrice replied. Then she raised her voice to speak to Jax once more. “The lack of the initials MD behind your name is a moot point. You’re a medic with plenty of field experience treating gunshot wounds. Stabilize Hayden and let’s get out of here.”

Rory picked up on the other end of the secure line and Beatrice watched Jax wrestle with his conscious a moment longer as she gave Rory their coordinates and explained their situation. “I need a facility to handle Hayden’s care and recovery. Jax believes he needs surgery and a blood transfusion.”

Making up his mind, Jax opened his bag and went to work.

Surprisingly, Ruby fell to her knees next to him and began handing him gloves and bandages.

As Rory searched for what they needed, Beatrice watched Jax and Ruby work to save Hayden’s life. It was as if Ruby read Jax’s mind, handing him supplies without him even asking.

They make a good team
.

But when had she begun thinking of the woman as Ruby rather than Agent McKellen?

That was unfortunate, both the fact that Jax was sleeping with her and that Beatrice was growing soft about her. Like Hayden, Ruby was in deep, whether she realized it or not. Extracting her from the clutches of whatever government cover-up was involved would be not be easy.

Beatrice wished she could share an ounce of her intelligence with Jax and give him a clearer picture of what he was facing. Not that he wasn’t smart and savvy—he wouldn’t be on her team if he wasn’t—but hormones inflated his little brain and cut off his big brain’s IQ until his logic became completely buried.