Fatal Courage: Shadow Force International, Book 3 (Shadow Force International Romantic Suspense Series) (9 page)

She nodded, not sure he could see it as he hoisted her up. “Where’s the shooter?”

Then, whoopsie daisy, she careened to the side, her balance completely off, the fact she was missing a shoe not helping the situation.

Jax caught her, pulled her close to steady her. “It came from up here,” he murmured. “We need to haul ass in case the shooter is still here.”

“Deuce was up here. I need to make sure he’s all right.”

“Forget about Keon James. He’s probably long gone. We’ll catch him later.” He slid an arm around her waist. “Let’s go.”

“Are there casualties? We can’t just walk away. We could help whoever was shot until the ambulance arrives. If the shooter is still here, we can catch him.”

“You’re injured. The cops can handle it.”

He dragged her forward, keeping an eye over his shoulder.

“There was more than one,” Ruby said, losing her other shoe as she hobbled along. The ankle she’d twisted didn’t want to cooperate. “I heard two distinct guns.”

“Me too.” Jax brought her in closer. “They probably went down the fire escape, but one or both perps could still be up here.”

He smelled good, like a spice bomb of cinnamon, bergamot, and rich leather. He felt good too. She tried not to let her mind go there, but her body was a traitor. She leaned into him, soaking up his rock-hard solidness as he steadied her down the stairs.

They were only a few feet from the front entrance when Chicago Metro officers rushed in, guns drawn.

“Hands up!” one of them yelled.

Jax and Ruby stopped in their tracks. Ruby raised her arms, and damn her left one hurt like a son-of-a-bitch, but Jax didn’t loosen is grip on her.

“Jaxon Sloan, Rock Star Security,” he said. “ID’s in my right back pocket. I have an injured woman here, and your perps were upstairs, but they’re probably long gone by now.”

The cops swarmed around them. “Down on your knees,” the lead officer demanded.

Through the glass window, Ruby saw press vans pulling in and people with cell phones videoing the whole thing.
Crap
. So much for low profile.

She didn’t want to announce to the whole world she was CIA, but with six guns pointed at her and her vision swimming, she had to do something before she keeled over. “I’m Agent Ruby McKellen, consultant with the FBI. Contact Special Agent in Charge Richard Timms and he’ll confirm my identification.”

“She needs medical attention,” Jax said.

The lead officer—his badge read Officer Perkins—repeated himself. “Down on your knees. Now!”

“Oh, for God’s sake.” Ruby started forward, ready to get in Perkins’ face when she was hauled back by Jax.

“Do what he says, Ruby.” His voice was low, controlled. “The sooner we resolve this with the authorities, the sooner we get back to your mission.”

Sighing, she let him help her down to her knees. He kneeled next to her, both of them raising their hands.

They were pushed down to their stomachs. One of the officers ran his hands over her body, searching her for weapons.

“What do we have here?” he said, pulling out her Sig.

She clenched her teeth. She didn’t like other people touching her weapons. “My gun, and once you call SAC Timms and clear this up, I’m going to shoot you with it.”

The man laughed as he handed the gun to Perkins, who bagged it.

“Make sure to test her hands for gun residue,” Perkins said as Ruby and Jax were hauled to their feet.

The officer who’d patted down Jax had found his ID and was on the phone verifying it.

Jax stood stock-still. “Your perps are getting away while you harass us, officer. Mighty sloppy work for Chicago PD.”

Perkins snorted. “Is that so? Club security claims you and your girlfriend here beat up some customers and were looking for a gang lord. They were about to kick you out when the shots were fired from up there, where you two came down from.” He pointed to upstairs, back to Ruby. “She’s packing a gun. Not hard to put two and two together.”

They were herded toward the front door. Perkins leaned in as they passed by him. “I suggest you two get a good lawyer ASAP.”

Jax stopped, kept his gaze facing forward. “And I suggest you run for cover, because when Ruby’s done putting a slug in your ass, I’m going to follow it up with another half dozen.”

Chapter Six

_____________________

______________________________________________________

J
AX
W
AS
R
ELEASED
from jail just before sunrise, emerging onto State Street in the humid morning air. Shadows danced over the concrete; a big, black Caddie idled at the curb between several white police vehicles.

As Jax walked over, Emit boosted off the side of the Escalade, his mirrored aviators reflecting Jax’s image back to him. “This is not how I’d planned to introduce Rock Star Security to Chicago.”

Even though Jax thought he’d done a kick-ass job controlling his anger and frustration at the club shootout, he’d earned a fine. Threatening a police officer, even if the guy was an idiot, meant that not only did his phone have a voicemail from Beatrice chewing him out, the founder and chief of SFI was waiting to pick him up from jail.

“I’ll pay the fucking fine,” Jax grumbled, looking around. “How’s Ruby?
Where
is Ruby?”

Emit cocked a thumb at the backseat. “Feds got her out almost immediately, but she spent the last few hours at Mercy getting checked out.”

The sharp edge of anger filed across Jax’s skin. “How bad?”

“Mostly cuts and bruises. A bullet winged her elbow.”

Shit
. He refrained from punching the Escalade. “Any leads on our shooters?”

Emit glanced at two officers coming out the entrance, the breeze lifting a section of his blond hair. “I’ll brief you at headquarters.”

Jax climbed into the backseat, found Ruby with her head leaning against the headrest and her eyes closed. Her elbow was bandaged, her left cheek bruised and slightly swollen. “Coffee,” she said without even looking at him. “Stat.”

Emit, climbing into the driver’s seat, nodded. “Could use a bucket of the stuff myself.”

One pit stop at the local coffee shop and they were on their way to the new Chicago branch of Rock Star Security, aka Shadow Force International, Midwest Division.

Traffic was light at this hour and they made record time getting out of the heart of the city. The new headquarters building was under construction and several contractor vans were already parked outside when they arrived. Bulletproof windows were going in, new wiring for the extensive security system Emit wanted, and Rory was overseeing the installation of the new computers.

The meeting room sat two dozen people. Cushy leather chairs surrounded a glass tabletop. Individual pop-up computer touchscreens were stationed at every place so no one had to crane their neck to look at a screen on the wall.

Jax helped Ruby into one of the chairs. Someone had loaded a side table with coffee carafes, pastries, and fruit. Jax’s environmentally friendly cup was empty, so he refilled it and snagged a heaping plate of food to bring back to the table.

Ruby, dark circles under her eyes, ignored his offer of a jelly-filled donut for a cluster of grapes instead. “I need a shower and a couple hours of sleep, Emit, so can we get on with this…whatever
this
is?”

And whoa. Ruby sounded like she knew Emit. As in
knew
knew him. Not like he’d simply picked her up from the hospital because she needed a ride.

“This,” Emit said, sipping his coffee as he fiddled with the touchscreen at the head of the table, “is a debriefing and client intake meeting.”

“Client?” Ruby and Jax said at the same time.

“Yes.
Client
.” Emit glanced up and pinned them both with a hard look. “You’re all over the news and YouTube after your little escapade last night. Ruby, you’re in deep shit with the Feds and your own agency, and neither wants to touch you right now, much less provide security for you. So guess what? As of 0200 hours this fine morning, you became a Rock Star Security client.”

She sat back, a flustered noise coming from her throat. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I don’t need a bodyguard.”

Emit glanced at her elbow. “I’m well aware that you have the skills to defend yourself, but you ruffled the wrong feathers last night and someone shot at you.”

“You don’t know they were shooting at me,” she fumed. “It could have been totally random.”

Emit continued as if he hadn’t heard her. “Between Beatrice filling me in, and you and I having our talk this morning at the hospital, I can tell you, you’re in need of security. Your former partner is on the run from the government and there are a lot of people questioning your loyalties at this moment. I don’t know who took that shot at you, but there are plenty of players on the game board. Your employer specifically requested I keep you safe and off the grid for the time being.”

Jax grinned. This was good. Really good.

Ruby opened her mouth to protest, but was interrupted by a noise in the hall. A
thunk, slide, thunk, slide
was accompanied by two male voices.

“Where’s your wheelchair, man? That puppy is sick. I don’t know why you want to kill yourself on those crutches when you can ride in style.”

Jax recognized the voice and felt a jolt of awesome. Colton Bells, codename Shinedown, was in town to help Emit get the Chicago branch up and running. Colton had been all over the place recently—DC, San Diego, and a few compass points in between. The former SEAL never stayed in one place long. Jax suspected that was due to the fact nasty people were looking for him.

“Shut up, punk,” Rory, the former SEAL-turned-assassin-turned-SFI computer expert grumbled.
Thunkslide
. “A couple more months of therapy and I’ll be able to take you with one hand tied behind my back.”

Jax rose and met the two at the door. “I’m surprised you haven’t killed him in his sleep already, Rory.”

Rory grunted and shifted one of his crutches to shake Jax’s hand. Colt gave Jax the manly version of hug—a chest bump and a pat on the back. “Righteous undercover work last night, brother.”

“Fuck you,” Jax said good-naturedly. “It was Ruby’s fault.”

“Hey,” she complained from behind him. “I told you to leave me alone. If you hadn’t followed me back to the club…”

“You might be dead,” he interrupted.

Emit pulled a chair out for Rory as he introduced the mad computer scientist. He also introduced Colton to Ruby, using his code name only. Standard protocol. Because of the sensitivity of most of the SEALs’ backgrounds, clients never knew real names. Ever. “Let’s get to work, people,” Emit said.

Once settled, Rory updated them. “Police believe the initial shots were fired into the ceiling on the second floor.” He poked at his touchscreen tablet and a series of photos came up on each of their monitors along with the official police report. “Agent McKellen, you were on the second floor at the time of the shooting, correct? You told the detective who interviewed you that you didn’t see anyone with a gun, or anyone fire a gun. That true?”

Ruby’s head jerked up and she gave Rory a narrow-eyed glance. “Of course it’s true.”

He nodded. “Just checking, Agent. Don’t get your undies in a bunch. It’s not like CIA operatives don’t fudge the truth at times to law enforcement members.”

Ruby gave Jax a frown. He shrugged, completely seeing Rory’s point.

Another tap of Rory’s tablet brought up a video. “Surveillance footage from inside the club is sketchy since the owners purposely only have two cameras. One trained on the bar area and the other on this hallway upstairs.”

The video showed the long hallway filled with people from the night before. The lighting was bad, making it nearly impossible to ID anyone. A rainbow of colors flashed in time to the music, the strobes sending a wave of light over the crowd on the balcony and going up and down the steps.

A blue beam of color rolled across the ceiling and fell on a woman in a tight dress with dark hair.

Ruby.

“This is the twenty seconds or so of footage leading up to the first shots fired,” Rory said.

“How did you get all this stuff?” Ruby asked.

Rory scoffed and gave her a look that said
seriously
?

Jax leaned close to her and murmured. “He’s a former spook.”

“Oh,” she said, eyeing Rory with new respect on her face. “Cool. I think.”

The scene played out, Ruby making her way up to the guards standing outside the private room Little Gus had rented for the night. Somewhere behind the two-way mirrored glass on the dance floor side, her target had probably watched her.

Jax felt the slow burn of irritation under his skin as Ruby flirted with the guard. At one point, he wanted to look away, forced himself not to.

A flash at the edge of the camera, the reverberation of the shots, panic.

Ruby went down.

It was only a video. Ruby was okay, sitting right next to him, but he still gripped the arms of the chair, fighting the instinct that suddenly shot through him.
Get to her.