Chapter Eleven
Sasha woke alone with a start. She sensed the emptiness in the room immediately. With a gasp, she sat up, looked around. Nick was gone, as was his gun. The phone and the computer still sat on the desk. What did that mean?
Heart pounding, she tossed on her clothes and searched the room, just in case. But as she suspected, Nick was nowhere in sight. She had an ominous feeling, a lot like the one she’d gotten the night Mike had disappeared.
She refused to lose another man she loved to the same killer. She would not lose Nick now that she’d started to live again.
What could she do? Where had he gone? How could she help him?
Sasha raced to his phone and looked at the last call he’d dialed. An unfamiliar but local number. She lifted the laptop lid to do a reverse search on the digits, but the open browser gave her the answer. Cold slithered through her blood. The DA’s office. He’d located Clifford’s direct line.
Why would Nick call the man? Sasha refused to believe he was selling her and Mike out. He wouldn’t take favors from the criminal in exchange for the video. A few days ago, she might have believed the man was capable of that—and worse. Now she knew better.
She clicked on the other browser tab he’d opened.
A local news story. Gasping, she read the headline.
Josh had been killed in a seemingly random drive-by?
Sasha didn’t believe it had been happenstance for an instant.
Clifford had offed his own employee before he could see Mike’s evidence and take it to the task force.
Suddenly, she feared she knew exactly what Nick was up to.
Panic gripped her heart as she plucked up his phone and flipped through his contacts. Thankfully, there were few, and Xander was easy to find.
The man picked up on the first ring. “Thank fuck. After our last call, I was afraid you were going to do something stupid and heroic, you prick. Don’t—”
“I think he is,” she breathed into the phone. “This is Sasha. I woke from a nap to find him gone. He took his gun and left his phone. The ADA we were going to see in thirty minutes is dead.”
“Okay, don’t panic. I talked to him maybe ten minutes ago. I’m hoping he hasn’t been able to manage too much stupid in that time.” Xander swore aloud. “Listen to me. Logan Edgington is one of my best friends.”
“Former Navy SEAL. Nick told me.”
“Yeah. He’s headed your way. Best there is. Give me your location.” As soon as she did, Xander went on. “I’ll get him to you. I’m also trying to track Nick down. Any idea where he might have gone? He disabled the GPS on the SUV. Bastard.”
Sasha tried to think but drew a blank. “It’s a big city. He could be anywhere.”
“Tell me the places you’ve been lately.”
She recited each location in chronological order. “I can only think of one he’d go back to, and that’s Popp Bandstand. It had meaning for him and Mike. On a Monday night, it wouldn’t be that crowded, especially as the hour grows later. But he could be somewhere else entirely…”
“I’ll keep working angles here. I need you to do something, Sasha.
E-mail that video to every local TV station you can find.
I’m doing the same in Lafayette. Tell them you’re Mike’s widow.
We need to make Clifford a public target as quickly as possible.
Logan can make the two-hour trip down there in about an hour and a half since he drives like a NASCAR pro.
I’m also contacting the FBI. I tried to tell Nick that I know a guy, but he hung up.
Sean will put us in touch with the right people.
” Xander finally took a breath. “We’ll save Nick. ”
“Please.” Sasha held in tears, wishing she could do more to help the man she loved since it felt as if sending videos to news outlets was something safe and removed. Something Nick would have wanted Xander to ask her to do. Like busy work.
“I’ll do everything I can. He helped save me from doing something stupid and sacrificial when London was in danger once. I owe him.”
“I can’t lose him.” She hated the cry in her voice. Now wasn’t the time to fall apart.
“You’ve lost so much.”
Yes. Losing Mike had wrenched her life apart. Losing Nick would forever rip her heart to shreds.
“Is Harper all right?”
“Great. Having fun. She’s almost healed. Dr. Minn saw her this afternoon and was pleased with her progress. Remove her from your list of worries. We’ve got this.”
“Thanks for everything.”
“I’m texting you a picture of Logan, so you’ll know the right guy when he comes to your motel door. Call me if you hear from Nick at all. I’ll do the same.”
With a murmured good-bye, Sasha hung up.
If Logan was going to be here in just over an hour, she had some preparing to do.
After sending the e-mails to all the TV stations, she grabbed a room key, darted out to the sporting goods store just down the street, and made one purchase, thanking goodness Louisiana had no waiting period.
Sasha was ready for whatever happened—except losing Nick. She was damn determined that wasn’t going to happen.
Nine p.m. rolled around. Nick stood in the middle of Popp Bandstand, feeling the weight of his SIG in his hand. Any minute now, Clifford would show up with a squad of goons and shoot him.
But not before he put a bullet between the criminal DA’s eyes first.
As if his thoughts conjured the crook up, Clifford strolled into the spill of light from the top of the dome accompanied by two thugs, one at each shoulder. It was still cold, so no one else occupied the park. No one would witness whatever happened next.
No one would see if Walter Clifford offed him.
“Stay there,” Nick insisted. “That’s close enough.”
“You don’t tell me what to do, Navarro,” the older man insisted. “Give me the evidence.”
“You’ll leave Sasha Porter and her daughter alone?” Nick hid his gun just behind his thigh, waiting for the right moment.
“Are you really that stupid? That bitch has seen whatever evidence her stupid lug of a husband dug up. She’s a witness. A loose end. She needs to be six feet under. So does the kid. We don’t need any more brats in foster care. I’ll be doing the girl—and the state—a favor.”
Nick gritted his teeth. Only one kind of man could kill a three-year-old. Talk about someone who needed to be six feet under… “Then I’m not giving you shit.”
The DA laughed, the sound scratchy and mean.
“That’s fine. Dan?” He looked at the guy on his right.
“Shoot the motherfucker. He should pay for raping my niece anyway. What a shame that he wanted revenge for his conviction so badly and drew his weapon on an elected official and two off-duty officers.”
“Yes, sir. Between the pecs or between the eyes?” the cop asked.
“How about one of each for good measure?” Clifford gave Nick a smarmy smile of triumph. “Bye. I’ll send your buddy’s widow and her kid to be with you soon, too.”
“You might want to hold up. I don’t have the video with me, and if you shoot me now, you’ll never see it.”
“I’ll take that chance.” The man looked at his cohort. “Fire.”
Dan raised his weapon and aimed. Nick hit the deck and rolled behind a pillar, his heart racing as he glanced around the column of stone and tried to line up for a clean shot at Clifford’s head.
“Nobody move!” a different voice shouted into the chaos.
Nick froze. Who the hell had crashed their mutual murder party?
“FBI,” that same voice called out. “Walter Clifford, you’re under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation of murder, tampering with evidence, and corruption. Hands up. Now!”
“Fuck you!” said the old man.
“You’re surrounded,” the federal agent warned.
Nick peeked around the column again. The FBI already had Dan and Clifford’s other hired goon in cuffs. But the DA had raised his own weapon and pointed it at the nearest agent’s head. “I’m not going down.”
“You are, you bastard!” said a woman. Her familiar voice turned his veins to ice. “It’s over.”
Sasha?
Nick leapt to his feet and saw her emerge into a corner of the light with a big soldier-type he recognized as Xander’s buddy Logan. Goddamn it. Why the hell had she come here and put herself in danger?
For him. Because she loved him. Because she refused to lose him. She’d risked herself, her future with her daughter, and all her precious tomorrows to save him.
Damn it, if Nick didn’t love her even more. But he wished like hell she’d stayed at the scuzzy motel.
Clifford yanked the gun in her direction and aimed. “Die, bitch.”
“No!” Nick shouted and leapt to his feet, gun ready, determined to somehow pull the trigger and end Clifford’s miserable existence before he could fire Sasha’s way.
To his shock, she raised a weapon of her own and pulled the trigger. Everyone froze as the report of gunfire rang in the air.
Clifford clutched his neck and staggered back. Blood spurted. He gurgled when he tried to breathe. Then he fell with a last gasp.
The FBI leapt to action to secure Clifford and surround Sasha.
Nick leapt over the railing of the bandstand and darted across the grass. “Sasha. Baby!”
She dropped the gun and fought her way from the cluster of agents to run toward him. “Nick! Oh my… I’ve been so worried.”
The second he enveloped her in his arms, he gripped her tight, feeling her heartbeat, her warmth, her love. He was never letting this woman go.
“This nightmare is over, thank god. Where the hell did you get a gun?” he barked.
“I still have my Louisiana driver’s license. I’d previously taken a gun safety class with my dad and passed. After you left the motel room, I woke and talked to Xander. Then I ran to the sporting goods store and bought this Baretta tonight. I wasn’t going to sit around like a damsel in distress.”
“But I wanted you to, damn it. Don’t ever pull shit like that again,” he chided.
“Then don’t you run off on me again. I’ll never let you leave me behind to face life alone.” She shook her head. “I’ll always be by your side.”
“But I wanted to save you, baby. That was my plan. That’s why you came to me.” He grabbed her arms. “You should have let me finish this so you’d never have to look over your shoulder again.”
“At the expense of your life?” She cupped his face. “You knew that was the likely outcome.”
He hesitated, then nodded. “That’s not important.”
“It is to me! What I really need more than your protection is your strength, support, and love. We need to save each other.”
She was right, and he couldn’t have found a better woman for him if he’d searched the whole fucking planet. “I love you.”
Nick saw the swarm of agents watching them.
Reporters were beginning to appear around the perimeter of the scene, cameras rolling.
He overheard swatches of their lead-in, talking about the leaked video and the warrant that had already been out for Clifford’s arrest and speculating that Nick’s conviction—among others—would likely be overturned.
“I love you, too. And I’m so grateful. But you and me? We’re just beginning.”
“Yeah.” Nick swallowed. “When you first knocked on my door, I only asked you to give me your body for four weeks. I’m thinking now that I need you to give me your heart for a lifetime.”
She took his hand and faced the waiting agents. “You’ve got a deal.”