Rock Chick 04 Renegade (55 page)

He had his earpiece in his ear, phone on in his jacket pocket.

Bobby eyes were on the GPS screen and he was going to give Vance directions to Cordova’s house via speakerphone.

By the time Vance made it up to the offices, Bobby had heard Hector tel ing Jules why he’d broken in. Bobby had already had the GPS directions to Cordova’s house on screen when Vance opened the door and stuck his torso in.

“Keys,” Vance had said, obviously not intent on hanging around, he tossed the keys to Bobby without ful y entering the room.

“We got a situation,” Bobby told him after he’d nabbed the keys, “Law.”

Vance’s face got tight and without hesitation he entered the room. Bobby briefed him in thirty seconds.

Vance had his earphone in his ear before the door to the surveil ance room closed behind him.

“Turn left,” Bobby told Vance.

Jesus, Cordova’s a fuckin’ idiot
, Bobby thought,
Crowe’s
gonna feed him his balls for dinner.

“Next street, turn right,” Bobby said out loud.

* * * * *

The phone rang beside the bed. Lee gently rol ed away from the soft, warm body of a dead-to-the-world Indy and snatched his cel off the night table, flipped it open and put it to his ear.

“Yeah?” he answered.

“Lee,” it was Darius.

Lee got tense.

Darius went on. “Shard’s in town. He’s got one of Law’s kids. Roam.”

“Fuck,” Lee clipped.

Lee was out of bed, dressed and out of the house in two minutes.

Indy didn’t wake.

* * * * *

Shirleen was pacing her living room.

The phone rang and she pounced on it.

“What?” she snapped.

“He’s got the brother. Kid’s name is Roam,” Darius told her.

Shirleen closed her eyes. “Cal Lee.”

“Already did. We need to find Law’s other kid. I need Daisy’s number.”

“I cal ed her. She’s got Marcus on it.”

“I’l cal Marcus.”

Disconnect.

Shirleen sat down on her white couch. She put her elbows to her knees and her head in her hands and for the first time in a long time, she prayed.

* * * * *

Luke listened to the phone ringing in his ear, it rang twice before connect.

“Yeah?”

“Lee. I got Sniff. He says Shard’s back in town. He’s got Roam. I’m headed to Cordova’s.”

“Why’re you headed to Cordova’s?”

“Sniff says Shard’s there. He looked through the window.

He says Cordova is dead, Roam isn’t in good shape. I found Sniff runnin’ down Colfax headed to Law.”

“Darius cal ed, told me about Shard and Roam, though he didn’t know where he was,” there was a pause then,

“fuck!” Lee exploded and Luke’s mouth tightened as he heard Lee uncharacteristical y lose control. “Luke, I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

Luke didn’t either. He had a fucking shitty feeling about this.

“Sniff’s leading me to the house, he doesn’t know the address. I’l get it to you when I get there,” Luke said.

“I’l cal the office for directions,” Lee returned, “out.” Disconnect.

Luke drove, Sniff gave directions. The kid had gotten control, stopped crying, wiped his face on his sweatshirt and was pointing the way with more certainty than Luke would have expected him to in his state.

Luke’s phone rang again.

Luke flipped it open and put it to his ear. “Yeah?”

“Pick up the speed, Luke,” Lee said. “I cal ed the office.

Hector got word about Roam, for some fuckin’ reason he went for Law to get him. She’s probably already there. Out.” Disconnect.

“
Fuck!
” Luke snarled, flipped the phone shut, threw it on the dash, put his foot down and the Porsche shot forward.

* * * * *

Never, not in a mil ion years, would I have thought Sal Cordova would have hurt Roam.

He wanted me then he was going to get me.

But he wouldn’t hurt Roam.

Maybe bore him to death with idiot stories about being a supposed ladies man but that wouldn’t be physical y painful, just mental y painful.

That’s why, just like Luke, I went up to the front door, cocky as al hel , knocked three times and shouted, “It’s Jules!”

Then without hesitation I pul ed out my gun, put my hand to the door handle, turned it and went in.

I saw in a quick heart-stopping scan of the room that considering Sal was dead, not just dead,
very
dead, that I was right, he couldn’t hurt Roam.

I also saw that somehow Roam
was
hurt, unconscious and bloody and lying on the floor.

Without a thought (I real y should have thought), I ran into the room toward Roam but to my surprise he surged up shouting, “Law!” his eyes behind me.

I whirled and saw Shard, gun up pointed at me, his bruised and swol en face grinning, eyes hard.

“Fuckin’ bitch,” Shard said.

Then he fired.

Unfortunately Roam had enough chance to get himself in front of me. Roam’s body jerked when the bul et slammed into it and he went down at my feet.

Rage shot through me, I screamed bloody murder, lifted my gun, pointed and fired.

Shard fired too.

My first bul et hit him in the shoulder. I didn’t aim to hurt him overly much.

His first bul et hit me in the gut, he aimed to kil me.

The burning sensation in my bel y was nearly overpowering.

The wil to live thankful y put the “nearly” in my previous statement.

With a gut wound, knowing his intention, Roam at my feet not moving and his gun stil aimed at me, I had no choice but to fire again, this time, with a different aim.

His second shot hit me in the chest.

My second shot went straight into his frontal lobe.

* * * * *

Luke saw the Harley in front of him, Vance astride it.

Luke flashed his lights, Vance lifted his hand. Luke parked the Porsche behind the Harley two doors down from Cordova’s house.

“Stay here, kid,” Luke ordered Sniff.

Sniff nodded but Luke didn’t see him, he was already out of the car.

“I take front, you take back,” Vance said when Luke made it to him, already approaching the house at a jog.

Luke nodded, jogging beside him then separating, beginning to move across the lawn of the house next to Cordova’s, heading toward the back.

Then they heard the shot then the scream and the second they did, they both sprinted forward at a dead run to Cordova’s front door.

By the time they made it and Vance kicked in the door, four more shots had been fired.

* * * * *

I fel down on my ass, reached out toward a prone Roam, couldn’t find the strength or my breath, to make it to him so I fel to my back.

I closed my eyes, fighting the pain and thinking about getting to a phone. When I opened my eyes again Vance’s face was the only thing I saw.

“Hey,” I said because I figured I’d passed out (I didn’t think I died, the pain of multiple gunshot wounds hurt like a mother and I didn’t figure they had pain in heaven) and this was a dream so I smiled at him.

“Hey, Princess,” he replied, eyes on me, hands working somewhere else then I felt my shirt ripped open from hem to col ar.

“Get a goddamned medic here,” I heard Luke bark from somewhere in the room.

I turned my head to see where Luke was but instead saw Hector kneeling over Roam.

I looked back to Vance. “Is Roam okay?” I asked.

“Let’s worry about you right now,” Vance said. He moved away from sight and I saw his hands catch something.

When Vance wasn’t fil ing my vision I was pretty certain I was seeing things because I could swear I caught a glimpse of Darius and then Vance came back to me.

I was losing it, fading, and I knew it. My body was going into shock. I could feel the warm blood sliding out of me even as Vance put pressure on the wounds to stop the bleeding. I didn’t know if I went unconscious if I’d wake up again.

I blinked. “Crowe,” I cal ed.

His eyes had moved from mine to my torso but they came back to me. “Yeah?”

I had a lot of things to tel him, a lot of things I needed him to understand and I knew I didn’t have a lot of time.

I lifted my hand but couldn’t keep it up. Before it fel Vance caught it.

I looked into his eyes as his strong fingers closed around mine and I said the only thing I could think to communicate everything he needed to know.

“Home.”

Then everything went black.

Jet

It was the middle of the night and Eddie’s phone was ringing.

This happened a lot seeing as Eddie was a cop so we were kind of practiced at him answering it without disturbing me (too much).

I was curled into his side. His arm went to the nightstand, he nabbed the phone, flipped it open one-handed and said quietly, “Yeah?”

He listened for five seconds then I felt his body go completely solid.

My head shot up.

Eddie rol ed away and turned on the light. When he rol ed back, his black eyes were on me. I didn’t like what I saw and I pushed up, one hand at his abs, one hand in the bed.

“Where’re they takin’ her?” Eddie asked.

Oh no.

No, no, no.

My first thought was Mom. My Mom had a stroke nearly a year ago and it had been bad but she had made it. My greatest fear was that it would happen again and worse.

Without asking, I whirled around, threw back the covers and jumped out of the bed.

“Right. Later,” Eddie said, his voice urgent.

I was hopping around, pul ing on my jeans when Eddie caught me by the waist. “Jet,” he said softly.

I turned to him and pushed off, going back to pul ing on my jeans but looking up at him. “Is it Mom? Where is she?”

“It isn’t your Mom,” I stopped and stared at him. He didn’t make me wait. “It’s Jules. She’s been shot.”

“Oh my God,” I breathed.

“It’s not good,” Eddie said.

I stayed stil , I couldn’t move, I just stayed stil , a foot away from Eddie, staring at him.

“How not good?” I final y asked.

“Chest and gut.”

I felt somehow as if an imaginary bul et tore through me in each place.

“
Twice?
” I cried, my voice shril .

“
Cariña,
” he came forward but I jumped away, pul ing up my jeans at the same time.

“Let’s go,” I said.

“There’s nothin’ we can do.”

I yanked off his t-shirt that I’d drunkenly pul ed on before I’d fal en into bed what seemed like only minutes ago and I turned to the chest of drawers, pul ed out a bra and put it on while I glared at him.

“Let’s go.”

He stared at me a beat then bent to grab his jeans from the floor.

Within five minutes we were out the backdoor and in the garage. I was yanking open the passenger side door to Eddie’s red Dodge Ram when Eddie shoved it closed. I turned to him, mouth open to ask him what he was doing when he put a hand to my bel y and pushed me up against the truck, fol owing me there and pinning me with his body.

His forehead came to mine, his one hand between us at my bel y, his other hand came to my neck and we just stood there looking into each other’s eyes and breathing.

“Fuck,” Eddie murmured.

“I love you,” I told him.

His mouth touched mine and with his lips stil there, he said, “Me too.”

I nodded, my forehead rol ing against his. He took in a deep breath, moved away, we got in the truck and he drove us to Denver Health.

* * * * *

“Hey, gorgeous,” Lee said in my ear.

I opened my eyes and in the dark I could see his hips clad in jeans on the bed beside me.

I was tangled up in the sheets. This meant I’d been sleeping alone for awhile. I was an active sleeper. If Lee was with me he control ed it by pinning me deliciously to the bed with his hard body. Sometime between me drunkenly fal ing into bed wearing nothing but my underwear and now, Lee had been somewhere.

I came up on my elbow and Lee reached out and turned on the light.

I stared as he did it.

Lee’s work had no office hours but he went to pains to make certain this didn’t affect me. Never in five months of living together had he turned on the light when he got home in the dead of night which happened a lot. Every time he came home he woke me up, as he’d promised, to let me know he was okay but he’d never turned on the light.

My eyes moved to him and my heart started beating hard in my chest.

Lee was sitting there, for that I could be thankful. But a lot of people I loved had dangerous jobs, Hank for one, Eddie for another, my Dad, who was a cop, Lee’s Dad, who was a cop too, then there was Lee’s whole workforce.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Jules has been shot.”

I sucked in breath, not expecting to hear that, and came up to a sitting position.

Lee’s eyes moved with me, never leaving mine. “Chest and gut. It isn’t good. She’s at Denver Health. Vance wanted to go get her uncle but I told him we’d do it.”

“Of course,” I mumbled, pul ing the sheets away from my body.

Lee’s hands took mine and my eyes went back to his.

“Vance didn’t agree. Said he needed to do it. I want you to be there for him and Nick. They’re gonna need you. Vance agreed to that.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

“Hurry, Vance is waiting downstairs.”

I flew from the bed, got dressed faster than I ever had in my life and ran downstairs.

Vance was standing, staring out the front window. I noticed he was wearing one of Lee’s sweaters and I didn’t want to know what that meant.