Chapter 47
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
“Let me help her.” Where was Raine?
Williams backed up and motioned to Jane with his gun. “Go ahead. But any sudden moves and you’ll be bleeding out with her.” He sounded tough, but as Jane looked into his eyes, she saw regret.
For all his posturing, Williams did care for Sullivan. Just not enough to keep her safe.
Jane hurried to her friend and pushed her onto her back, staring at the blood around her belly.
Sullivan stared up with glassy eyes and a weak grin. “Not my week, huh? First the leg, now the gut. Jackass shot me.”
Williams scowled. “You shouldn’t have rushed me like that.” He ripped a curtain from the wall and threw it at Jane. “Put that over the wound. She’ll be okay.”
“I don’t know, Rob. Hurts a lot.” Sullivan started to slur, “R-rright over an old scar, at least.”
“She needs help.” Jane hadn’t forgotten that his friends had been soaking the house in gasoline. Williams didn’t expect any of them to live through tonight. “You could have done all this and gotten away with it. But you got greedy.”
“How did I get greedy? Trust me, I’ll get away with this. You’ve been so clueless. For years, I’ve been giving them information. No one ever knew.”
“Haversham did.”
“He did not.”
“Why do you think he transferred here? He’s building a case against you.”
Williams blinked. “You’re lying.”
“Why would I lie?” She increased pressure over Sullivan’s belly until Sullivan subtly angled the pressure toward her hip.
Jane masked the shift, hoping that meant Sullivan wasn’t gutshot.
“You shot her, Williams. You’re clearly going to kill me too.
I have no leverage. But at least I’ll go out knowing you’re going down. ”
“Shut up.” He pulled out his phone, trying to keep an eye on her while dialing at the same time.
She didn’t try to take him down. She’d need to get closer. Jane knew she could take him, but she couldn’t risk him shooting Sullivan again.
“Hey.” Sullivan tugged at her hand.
“What? Does it hurt?”
“Duh. I got shot. It hurts.” She coughed, and a trickle of blood seeped from her mouth.
Jane froze. “Did the bullet hit your lungs?” Typically, a gutshot would have internal bleeding Sullivan might cough up. But no bleeding from the mouth unless Sullivan vomited.
Sullivan whispered, “No. I hit my face when I landed and bit my lip.”
“Good.” Jane sighed with relief.
“That’s not—better.” Sullivan’s breathing hitched. “But do you think…”
Williams was whisper-yelling into his phone. Walking away from them yet keeping them in sight.
“Think what?” Jane asked, praying Raine would show up soon. What if her cousin had gotten hurt dealing with the Mazzucas?
“…you could call me Jenn?”
Jane blinked. “Huh?”
“You never call either of us by our first names,” Williams said as he returned, appearing shaken.
“Oh. Sorry. Old habit I picked up from my Marine Corps days. The only people I ever call by their first names are my family.”
“You’re weird.” Sullivan closed her eyes.
Jane swore. “Sullivan! Jenn. Open your eyes.”
She gripped Jane’s hand though her body sagged. Jane could only hope Sullivan wasn’t as injured as she let on.
“Oh my God. She’s… She’s dead.”
Williams blinked. “She’s not dead.”
“What do you care? You’re going to kill us soon enough.” Jane tried to will a tear, but unlike Raine, she’d never been able to fake emotions on command, and especially not tears.
Crying was for wimps. Plus, Sullivan’s grip remained tight. Thank goodness.
Now to use that to her advantage.
“I don’t think you meant to kill her,” Jane said quietly as she stroked her friend’s hair with her free hand. “I think you probably would have let us go.”
“I—I mean… I would have.” Williams sucked in a breath and let it out in ragged gasps, swearing and praying and swearing some more before he let out a whoop of laughter.
“Sucker. You’re all going to die. You, her—ding, dong, the witch is dead.
Even that loser boyfriend of hers in the back.
This is his house, you know. I meant to kill you all.
I’m only sorry she’s gone too quickly. I’d have liked to have hooked up once before she died. ”
Jane scooted back from Sullivan, her jeans covered in blood, and pulled the curtain she’d been using to stem the blood flow with her. “She used to tell me all the time you were her best friend.”
“Yeah, well, I guess she wasn’t too bright, was she?” Yet for all Williams kept trying to act like he didn’t care, Jane saw the loss register. He kept staring at Sullivan, looking at her with eyes that cared.
Jane sat, trying to appear lost, her mind on how long it would take her to throw the bloodied curtain at Williams’ face before attacking him. Come on. Come closer. Look at her.
But Williams wouldn’t. She needed something to distract him, damn it.
A pane of glass broke behind him. He turned. Fired.
Jane was on him. She slung the wet curtain around his face then knocked the gun from his hand and kicked it away.
“You’re good. Take him out,” Raine said. “We’re safe.”
Jane focused on Williams. The traitor.
She drove him to the ground.
Behind her, Raine called for help on her phone and rushed toward Sullivan. A man joined her, but Jane didn’t look up from her opponent, letting the rage flow as she got to her feet.
With a feral grin, she let Williams rise. He lunged for her, tearing at the blood-drenched fabric swaddling his head.
Jane broke both his wrists and popped his knee with a kick.
He shrieked and folded like a battered chair as her leg sweep took him down and kept him down.
“That’s what you get for being a traitor and a fool.” She tied him up using a set of flex cuffs Raine tossed to her.
“The others?” Jane asked, breathing hard. She itched to break the guy’s neck. “Who’s your friend?”
The man next to Jane kept talking to Sullivan—to Jenn—in a low, calming voice, holding his sweater against her belly.
“This is Dash, Jenn’s boyfriend,” Raine said by way of introduction.
Dash didn’t look away. “Thanks.”
“Anytime. I just love beating up scum,” Jane growled and shoved Williams away from her.
“Nice job.” Raine nodded with approval as she studied the creep.
They listened to him whine and cry some more before Jane went in search of her phone and weapons, squirreled away on a table in the other room.
“So what happened?” Jane asked as they heard sirens closing in.
“I called them as soon as I saw we had more company. I took out the goons outside at the end of the driveway, away from the house.” Goons—just like Jane had mentally described the Mazzuca stooges.
Great minds thought alike. “But the head goon didn’t make it.
” Raine frowned. “One of those morons shot him by mistake. I left him tied up and bleeding out. I doubt he’ll live. ”
“Too bad,” said Dash as he glanced up, rage in his eyes. “Because I’d like to kill him all over again. He trashed my place, beat me up, and threatened Jenn with revolting things.”
Jane noted the black eyes, swollen mouth, and the way he cradled his side. He probably had bruised or busted ribs.
“Ambulance is on its way,” Raine reminded her.
Jane approved of Dash. He hadn’t crumbled in the face of adversity and continued to care for Sull—Jenn. This will take some getting used to.
A glance at her phone showed dozens of new messages.
She returned Gina’s call. “What’s up?”
“Where have you been?” Gina bit out.
“It’s a long story. What’s going on? Do you have Phillip in custody yet?”
“We have a situation here.”
Jane grimaced. “He didn’t kill anyone did he?”
“No. But we’ve been in a standoff until about ten minutes ago. Now we have an entirely different situation.”
“How so?” Jane rushed for the door.
“Don’t worry. I got this,” Raine yelled after her. “You’re welcome!”
“Thanks.” Jane said to Gina, “Sorry. I’m on my way. Tell me.”
“Phillip wanted to talk to you, but he settled for Rapp.”
“What does that mean, exactly?” She started her car and raced for the ferry.
“Phillip traded the guilty civilians he held for one ‘real’ bad guy. An agent.”
Her heart raced, but she had to clarify, “Rapp?”
“An unarmed, unprotected Rapp. Yes. And even worse, SWAT found evidence of some small tanks filled with a mysterious fluid outside the facility, wired to timers that are counting down.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Phillip’s going to go out with a big bang. Literally.”