Headhunters (12 page)

A moment later our rear window exploded in a shower of
glass. I seemed to hear everything at once, the gunshot, glass breaking and
Jessica’s short scream. I looked over and she had her hands over her head, trying
to somehow make herself smaller in the seat. I reached over and pushed her head
down.

“Stay low,” I growled and looked for our attacker. It didn’t
take me long to find them. Two black sedans appeared on either side of us. To
my left, I could see the passenger’s window rolled down and an agent training a
gun at me. I couldn’t see his eyes behind the Ray-Bans, but his intent was
obvious.

I slammed my foot down on the brake and the two black cars
passed us. The driver to my right didn’t anticipate the move and swerved into
the space my car had been a moment before. The agent in the left car had to
jerk his arm back before it was crushed between the two vehicles. I took the
opportunity to PIT the car to the left.

The PIT or Pursuit Intervention Technique had become popular
with most police departments. I learned how to do it in my Blackthorn training.
I nosed between the two cars again, just until my front bumper was even with
the back tires of the left car. Then I gently steered left, into him, pushing
his back end out to the left. The tires lost traction and the front end of the
left car abruptly turned right, smashing into the Taurus on the right side,
jamming them both into a line of parked cars. The vehicles slammed together
with a horrific crunching of metal. I accelerated away from the pileup and
watched the cars block traffic in my rearview mirror.

At the end of the block, I saw a parking garage for a hotel.
I spun the wheel and pulled in. Inside the garage, we could not be seen by the
police helicopter and it very well might give us the time we needed to get
away. I grabbed a ticket from the gate and pulled into the lot. I pulled into
the first place I could find.

“Let’s go,” I said. And we did.

I shoved the Beretta into the back waistband of my pants and
walked with her into the hotel. We took the elevator to the lobby then came out
by the front desk. People were milling around, checking out of the hotel. I got
an idea.

When my consultants left a project site, often they would
just take the airport shuttle back from the hotel. It saved them a lot of time
and hassle. I looked out the front doors of the hotel. A shuttle bus was
waiting, loading passengers. I saw the driver enter and walk to a coffee pot in
the lobby. He’d be a few minutes. I walked to an ATM machine in the lobby and
made a withdrawal of $350 from a cover account  I’d kept active. It was the
largest amount the bank would allow. I thought about Ellis for a moment getting
caught because of his credit card and vowed not to let that happen to us. I
folded the stack of bills in half and shoved it into my pants pocket. I took
Jessica’s hand and we walked out of the hotel and stood under the awning, out
of the hot sun and out of sight of the police helicopter. I heard a police
siren wail in the distance and pushed it out of my mind as we entered the
shuttle.

I let Jessica lead. I knew the day had been rough on her.
She picked a seat in the back and we sat down. I looked at her hands.

“You’re trembling,” I said.

She flexed her hands and when she found they were still
shaking, she folded them in her lap.

“I’m sorry about today,” I said weakly.

Jessica nodded, but kept looking out the window. I didn’t
have words for her. There was no way to explain away what had happened. I had
to resign myself to that.

The shuttle started to move forward and eased away from the
curb. The driver navigated us out into traffic and Jess and I couldn’t help
staring at the wrecks of the two black Ford Tauruses. Agents stood on the curb
being checked by paramedics as we rode past on the other side of the road.

I turned back to Jessica watching them, then shifting her
gaze to me. Her look made me uneasy and I looked away.

“How long have you… been doing… that?” Jessica asked me.

I looked down at my hands and thought about the things that
I’d done. The good I’d worked for, but also the pain I’d caused and wondered at
how it all balanced in the end.

“Six years,” I said.

“And you learned how to do… that?” she asked.

I couldn’t tell if it was disgust in her voice or fear or
anger or all of those.

“Yes…”

Jessica sat and stewed on that for a while, looking out the
window as the city passed by. I wondered in the wake of her silence. Did she
hate me now? Was I too close to what her Frank had become when he’d gone off to
war? Because I was fighting a war too. I was fighting a war here, at home. Was
I lost to her? I decided that whatever the answer was, I could accept it. I’d have
to. For me. For her.

“Can you teach me?” she asked suddenly, her eyes leveled at
me, more deadly than the bore of any gun I’d ever looked down.

“What?” I asked. “I’m sorry. What do you mean?”

“Teach me to fight like you… to drive like you…” her voice
had a steely edge to it now. “Don’t get me wrong. It scares the hell out of me.
The things that you do… but I don’t like the way I feel. I don’t want to feel
this way anymore. I don’t want to be afraid.”

I nodded then. That I could understand. I may not have
understood or agreed with teaching someone like Jessica, someone innocent,
someone so civilian to get involved in a war like this, let alone to fight in
it… but I understood not wanting to be afraid.

I could have found a million reasons to say no, but none of
them held the weight of her statement.

I don’t want to be afraid.

I thought about what she had said, but outside of her
context. How would we ever be in that place again? That place where we did not
have to be afraid. I’d been there… only weeks before… at the birthday party…
Christmas before that… the months working in the office. How would we ever get
back there?

And the answer to that was in what Jess had said as well. By
fighting for us, that was how we would not be afraid. By learning and
re-learning those lessons of war. By taking that war to Kendrick and Max
Donovan. That was how we could be unafraid.

I let the thought settle in my head. Later there would be
time to fight and to fear and to flee, but not now. Now we had each other. We
were in the eye of the storm. The calm when all hell broke loose around us. We
could tremble for fear of the storm, or we could find shelter.

I smiled at Jess and for the first time since getting on the
shuttle, she smiled back at me. I brushed her hair away from her face.

“How did you get this scar?” I asked. I pointed to a faint
scar that ran along her right eyebrow. You could barely see it unless you
really looked. Or were really close.

“I was jumping on my bed,” she laughed.

“When was this? Last week?” I asked.

She punched me playfully.

“No, I was six,” she said. Then sheepishly, “I was playing
Wonder Woman.”

“Oh, Wonder Woman…” I said. “That’s hot.”

“Shut up!” Jess laughed.

She put her head on my shoulder and we rode the rest of the
way to the airport in a warm, comfortable silence, just enjoying our time
together. Finally, the shuttle pulled up outside of O’Hare International Airport.

Jess and I exited the shuttle stop and walked down the
sidewalk toward the taxi stand. On my way, I saw a skycap loading luggage onto
a cart. He was reaching into the trunk of a cab, pulling out a bag, putting it
on the cart, back to the trunk. I watched him complete his task, leaving the
trunk open.

I pulled my cell from my pocket and hit the speed dial for
Ken Gibson. I then leaned over the open trunk and not so accidentally, dropped
my cell phone inside, so that it fell in the trunk next to the spare tire. I
turned away quickly and the skycap turned back, slammed the trunk and a moment
later the cab pulled away.

Jessica had been watching me with a quizzically amused look
on her face.

“Who did you just call?” “Ken Gibson, the detective on our
case.”

“So, you think Randall Kendrick and Max are going to trace
the call and follow the taxi?” she asked.

“That’s what I’m hoping,” I said.

“Except now you need a cell phone,” she pointed out.

“Let’s go shopping,” I said with a smile and hailed the next
taxi. We got in and Jess sat a little closer to me than usual.

“Do you know anywhere we can go?” I asked her quietly.

“Where to?” asked the cab driver.

“One second, please,” I said.

“Time is money,” he shot back.

“Then turn on the meter and let me talk here, ok?”

The cabbie turned on the meter and looked indifferently out
the window.

“What do you mean ‘anywhere we can go’?” Jess asked.

“Anyone we can stay with?” I asked. Then, “Anywhere we don’t
need to use a credit card or show ID…”

“Oh!” she said, finally getting it. “My cousin is out of
town. I was supposed to collect her mail, feed the cat, that kind of thing.
I’ve got a key.”

“Tell the man where to go,” I said, indicating the driver.

She did and we got moving. I recognized the address and
started scanning my memory for stores in the area. I thought there was a drug
store about three blocks away. They’d have what we needed. I directed the
driver to the change in plans and he only shrugged. Twenty minutes later, the
driver dropped us at the corner store, just what I had remembered. I paid him,
tipping well enough to be forgotten, but not so well as to be remembered.

Inside the drug store, I picked up two pre-paid cell phones
along with card holding the prepaid minutes. The phones could be purchased
without a contract or credit card. I also got a bottle of Ibuprophen, an ACE
bandage for my ankle and some food since I figured the cousin’s apartment would
be emptied of all foodstuffs. We paid in cash and then walked the short
distance to the cousin’s place.

I was impressed. The place was a three-story brownstone,
facing the lake. Jess had the keys on her ring and let us in.

I dropped the bags on the counter and Jess and I stood
together for a moment, listening to the silence of the place, enjoying the
moment alone and knowing that we’d have the night together.

Chapter Twelve

“Come with me.”

That was all Jessica said to me. She took my hand and led me
through the brownstone. I realized then that despite myself, despite my
guardedness and fears, I trusted her completely. I didn’t know when it
happened. Only that it did. Somewhere along the way, I’d let down my guard and
let her see me for who I was. And as much as I expected her to run away… she
hadn’t. And maybe because of that, I would have followed her anywhere.

I followed Jess as she led me upstairs to the second floor,
then the third. I felt a bit like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole,
wondering how I’d gotten where I was. I was out of control, letting someone
else lead and I didn’t know how to feel about it. And yet, I was not afraid.
Jessica was my friend and I knew then in that safe, trusting moment that I
loved her. The emotion felt red, raw, exposed and I couldn’t help but smile at
it. A small part of me tried to make me feel guilty, but it was a feeling that
never came, an emotion that never bloomed. It dissipated as soon as it emerged.

Jess opened the last door and we stepped out onto the roof.
The brownstone’s rooftop had been labored over and converted into a garden.
Trellises painted white and arbors were everywhere. Plants and flowers grew, so
many I could not name them and, not for the first time, I let the moment wash
over me, not trying to classify or quantify it. Vines and climbing foliage grew
over the latticework creating a fence around the rooftop. No one could view the
top of the building from any direction.

I looked at Jessica and brushed her auburn hair from her
cheek. Her eyes looked so green here. Her lips so invitingly red. And then,
before the moment was lost, she kissed me.

Our lips met and her body seemed to melt into mine. I held
her close and ran my hand down the gentle curve of her back. Her lips parted,
her tongue teasing mine and I enjoyed the sweetness of her. I kissed her back,
wanting more and she playfully bit my lower lip. She laughed slyly and ran her
hands over my shoulders, pushing back my suit coat. I let it fall, not caring,
lost in the moment.

Jessica kissed my neck; I was self-conscious that I hadn’t
shaved, but she didn’t seem to care. She worked the knot out of my tie, while
at the same time kicking off her shoes. I couldn’t resist and ran my hands up
the bare skin at the small of her back. She purred and kissed me again.

“I missed you,” she whispered, her voice urgent.

“Missed you more,” I replied.

“I doubt it,” she purred.

Jess reached between us and felt me through the fabric of
the front of my pants. I was surprised but only pleasantly. She giggled
breathily.

“Mmmm, baby,” she moaned.

She unbuttoned her blouse and pulled my head down to kiss
her neck, running her fingers through my hair. Beneath her crème colored blouse
she wore a white lace bra. I cupped her right breast as I kissed her and felt
her nipple harden under my attention. She shrugged out of her blouse, reaching
for me, eager to touch me. In the distance, I heard thunder rumble.

“It’s going to rain,” she breathed. I agreed, but didn’t
care. My attention was on Jessica, nothing else. I pulled my shirt over my head
and cast it aside. Jessica looked at me the way that every man wants to be
looked at. She touched my shoulders, my chest, my stomach. She kissed me just
below the collarbone and began unbuckling my belt.

She stopped then, not wanting to, I could tell, but stopping
none the less. She looked up at me with those big green eyes.

“I’m sorry…” she said. “Do you… want to?”

God, she was incredible. To ask that. To even think to ask
that. To be that sensitive to someone else when everything that you want is
right at hand… it made me want her more than ever.

“Yes,” I said. “Jess, I want to be with you.”

She kissed me then in a mixture of relief and desire. I
unzipped her skirt and let it fall to the tile floor. She was wearing white
lace panties and I couldn’t help but to cup her backside and bring her closer.

We found a nearby bench. It was wood and wrought iron with a
hand-stitched pad. Jessica led me to the bench and had me sit. I did and a
moment later, she straddled me. We were exposed to each other in a way that we
never had been before. Completely given to each other, completely honest,
holding nothing back.

Jessica leaned forward and I unfastened her bra. She never
broke eye contact with me as she pulled it off and set it aside. She was
unbelievable to me, to my eyes she was perfect. Her skin was creamy and smooth
to the touch. I kissed her breasts, first one then the other. I nuzzled her
nipple, kissing it at first, then licking, then sucking ever so gently. Jess
moaned and leaned into me.

I slipped a hand between us, not unlike she had done to me
before. My fingers found the edge of her panties. I could feel her sex, hot and
waiting. I caressed her gently, letting one finger run the soft, wet length of
her, opening her. She groaned and clutched my shoulder and seemed to sag into
me a little bit.

“I guess you missed me, too,” I whispered.

Jess moaned in my ear, “I want to fuck you so bad…”

Her hips rocked and I stroked her, not as gently as before.
She was anxious, eager. I felt desperately the same.

Jess made a disappointed sound when she finally stood, but I
knew what she had in mind. She skinned out of her panties and looked at me
unashamed. I smiled. She was challenging me in her own way. She showed me hers,
now it was my turn. I slipped out of my pants and tossed them on the end of the
bench. Jess came back to me then, straddling me as before, but moving slower
this time, more hesitant. This meant something serious to both of us and we
would savor the moment, enjoy it while we could.

Thunder rumbled again, closer this time.

Jessica leaned forward again, watching me. She reached down
and took my cock in her hand. I was hard and she sighed when she held the
length of me. She positioned herself over me and paused. The waiting was
killing me, but this was not something to be rushed. Jess used the head of my
cock to stroke her sex, opening to me. I could feel her anticipation and I
leaned my head back, groaning despite myself. Finally she stopped and I could
tell she was ready. She lowered herself down and my cock pushed into her. I
felt how tight she was, felt her flesh slowly relent as she slid down onto me.
She did not stop until my cock was buried deep inside her. Jess looked at me
then, brow furrowed, mouth open in a quivering moan. I kissed her and felt her
breasts flatten against my chest.

We moved together then, slowly, ever so slowly at first.
Jess rising and falling, time and again burying my cock inside her. I sucked on
her nipples and she rolled her hips into me over and over. I could feel the
moistness of her between us. The sounds of our lovemaking carried on the air.

I noticed then that I could hear something else. It was
music. Not just any music. Chicago blues music. Jess heard it at the same time
that I did. She didn’t stop, but continued on, talking to me while she rode me.

“Mmm…that’s nice,” she whispered.

“Blues?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“Mm-hmm… oh God…” Jess answered but her eyes were closed,
her hips trembling, her nails biting into my shoulders. I watched her, just
enjoying the sight of her. She gasped, expelled her breath and then continued
her steady rhythm on me.

“The neighbors… are in a… blues band,” she said.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Mm-hmm.”

Then it started to rain on us. It was a slow, soft, warm
rain. Jessica put her hands on my chest and stopped for a second when it first
started. We laughed together and she blinked the rain out of her eyes.

“My God you’re beautiful,” I said.

Jess sat back on me and ran her hands through her hair,
sweeping it back and out of her face. I watched her breasts as she performed
this operation. Watched them lift as her arms went up, then settle back when
they came down. Jess enjoyed having me watch her. She wiggled her hips, teasing
my cock still in her. I groaned and she laughed and we started again.

We made love that way on the rooftop. Rain fell on us. I
watched the drops fall on Jess’ skin, watched them run down her body, down her
stomach, down to where our bodies came together. The sound of our bodies
together was loud and decadent and I didn’t care.

Jess and I came together in a hot rush. I could feel her
grip me inside of her and could feel myself pulse with deep and final release.
I could feel her nails on my chest as tremors ran through her, one after
another until at last she lay still on me.

Jess let me stay inside of her and kissed my face. Her hair
was dripping on me and she kissed that away too. I could feel her breasts
against me and caressed them, loving the feel of her. I held her close to me,
loving to be with her. Loving the time. Loving her.

Eventually, we got up and gathered our clothes and ran
inside. We laughed at ourselves, naked as we were, but comfortable with each
other. We found towels inside and dried off.

We found the master bedroom and collapsed into the king size
bed. We pulled the sheet up over us and lay still for a moment in the darkness,
listening to the rain pelt the window.

“That was nice,” I said.

“Mmm,” Jess purred. “That was nice.”

I snuggled closer to her and Jess pushed her bum back into
me, teasing me. I rubbed my cock against her and she could feel that I was
beginning to stiffen.

“Are you serious?” she asked. Her question was a mix of
surprise and hope.

“Mm-hmm,” was my only reply as I nuzzled the nape of her
neck.

Jess lifted her hair to let me nibble on her and I took the
invitation to cup her breast as well. The swell of Jess’ breast filled my hand
and I gently coaxed her nipple back to attention.

Jess reached back and positioned me where she wanted me and
we pushed into each other until I was buried inside of her again.

“Oh shit,” she breathed and her body melted back against me
as I slid into her. I lowered my hand to her hip and pulled her ever closer.
Jess moaned a soft whimper. My cock was slick from her lust and we took our
time together.

“Here… come here,” Jess directed me in the way that only
lovers can. She wanted me to kneel behind her, to take her from behind. I couldn’t
help but do what she asked.

We knelt together on the bed. I cupped both of Jessica’s
breasts from behind. She threw her head back and pulled me down so that I could
kiss her neck. My cock found her again, ready, wanting. I pushed inside, an
inch at a time until I had no more to give. Jess moaned and rocked her hips
back into me, then we fell together on the bed, Jess on her stomach, me on top
of her.

Outside, the storm was pounding at the brownstone, wind
howled and thunder cracked. Inside, the bed was squeaking with each time I
pounded my cock into Jessica. She was moaning loudly, saying my name, wanting
more, more, always more.

Jess shifted a little and I felt her reach down between her
legs and I could feel the tickle of her fingernails on my cock as she massaged
her clitoris. Her breathing became heavier, coming in small gasps. I reached
down and pulled her hips up to me and Jess got her knees under her.

“Yes… yes… Simon…”

I pushed into her again and this time reached around to
help. Our fingers intertwined and I thought of all the times we’d held hands,
but never like this. Together we stroked and caressed her clitoris as I thrust
into her over and over.

Jess threw her head back and I watched her auburn hair fall
across her naked back. She gasped and I could feel her clench, pulling me into
her and a shudder ran through her body. Her orgasm was more of an implosion
than an explosion. Her shoulders hunched, her nipples hardened and she cried
out in a way so primal that I couldn’t restrain myself any longer. I came with
her then, fucking her hard, her hips pounding against me, our flesh slapping
together, the wetness of her escaping and trailing down the length of my cock.
She screamed then and her sex gripped me so hard that I feared that she might
force me out of her, but I held on, still pumping into her, Jess still writhing
on the length of my cock.

And then we were done, exhausted and we collapsed onto the
sheets together, Jess still under me, me supporting myself over her. I moved
over and fell to the sheets myself.

“Oh… my…God…” Jessica said, then, “You’d better make me
breakfast in the morning.”

I laughed and rolled to my side to look at her.

“Deal,” I said.

We looked into each other’s eyes as we lay there in the
darkness.

“I love you, Jess.”

She smiled at that and closed her eyes.

“I love you too, Simon.”

***

I kissed Jessica on the cheek and
she roused slowly as if coming up out of a deep slumber. My own sleeping
beauty. Moonlight streamed in through the window and gave her skin an ivory
glow.

“Hi,” she smiled sleepily.

“Hi,” I said back. “I need to go out for a few things. I’ll
be back in a little bit, okay?’

I could tell from her look that she knew I wasn’t just going
out for eggs, milk and a loaf of bread.

“Are you going to be okay?” she asked.

“I’ll be fine,” I replied. “I need to make a phone call and
just can’t do it from here. I’ll tell you all about it when I get back.”

“Okay,” she purred and rolled over, burying her head into
her pillow.

“Okay,” I said.

I took the Beretta from the nightstand and slipped it into
my waistband, just in front of my right hipbone. I grabbed my jacket, threw it
on and walked out the door.

I stopped outside to collect myself. In there, with her, I
felt like I was a different man. I could be someone who didn’t have the burden
of the world on his shoulders. Out here, I was hunted. The irony that I had to
come out here in order to keep what I had in there wasn’t lost on me.