Chapter Nine
Sean
I stared at Jericho, seeing that he was upset, and it was my fault for schooling him on some of the harsh realities that people like us faced every day. I went a little overboard with the guilt trip, which wasn’t his to bear alone. He was just living his life, and I’d been a prick.
“I’m sorry, Jeri. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. We all have shit that bogs us down. The fight is big enough for all of us. Now, how do we find out who the hell was trying to kill me today?”
Before he could answer, the fire alarm screamed in the hallway. Jeri rushed to the door and opened it as the intercom in the condo rang. I hurried over to pick it up. “Yeah?”
“Get out, but don’t take the stairs. Use the service elevator and go out the back.”
The line went dead, and I turned toward Jeri at the front door. “Come on. We’ve gotta go.”
We rushed to our respective rooms, me grabbing my shoes, before we hurried out of the condo. Jeri had the forethought to lock the door. I headed toward the service elevator, but he stopped me.
“No. The garage elevator is safer. We can drive out onto the street in two directions in case someone is at one of the exits. Let’s go.”
Jeri grabbed my hand and tugged me down the hall to a single elevator that went to the garage below the condo building. I hit the button at least ten times, and when it finally opened, thankfully, it was empty.
I pushed the button for the garage. When the elevator stopped at the bottom level, we both rushed out.
Jeri tried the car doors until he found an old white Ford pickup that was open—it belonged to a construction company doing work somewhere in the building. Reaching under the dash, Jericho pulled down the wires. “Hurry up and get in, Red.” No surprise—the other door was also unlocked.
I got into the passenger seat before the engine revved, and Jeri hopped in next to me. “Buckle in tight.”
I did as he said, and when Jeri raced up the levels of the garage to the dual exits, I closed my eyes. It felt like the stolen truck was airborne when we exited the building, and the honking horns from oncoming traffic gave me no comfort.
Jeri sped through the streets of Bethesda to the I-495 on-ramp and merged into traffic, not slowing down at all. “Where are we going?”
“My house.”
His house? Where the hell was that?
“What? We’re going to your house in a stolen truck? I need my computer, phone, and clothes from the condo, Jeri.”
“You need to stay alive, Red. Take a breath. We’ll work this shit out, I swear.” He continued to check the side mirror as he moved around the slower cars.
“God, please be careful. I’m too young to die.”
I’d never ridden in a vehicle speeding so fast in my life. The trees looked like matchsticks as we flew along the Beltway. “Maybe you should slow down a little?” I didn’t want someone to kill me, but I also didn’t want to die in a one-car crash on I-495.
Jericho’s steady gaze shifted from the side mirror to the rearview mirror, and then, the windshield as if he were outrunning the bad guys, which I guess he might have been if someone figured out it was us in the stolen white work truck.
After a few more miles, he took his foot off the accelerator and allowed the truck to slow of its own volition.
“Where’d you learn to hotwire a truck?” The shaky sound of my voice revealed my overwhelming fear of dying in a fiery accident.
“Trucks, cars, motorcycles. I can jack nearly anything. I once hotwired a bus in Mumbai, but there was so much reckless traffic on the roads that I had to abandon the damn thing and run for it. It’s a useful skill I picked up, thanks to Uncle Sam’s thorough training.
” He relaxed in the seat and put his right hand on the console as his left hand casually draped over the steering wheel.
“You learned to hotwire a vehicle from your training in the Army?” I started to laugh at the absurdity of his statement. Uncle Sam was teaching young men and women to jack cars? That was hysterical.
“Oh, you’d be surprised by the shit I learned in the Army.”
No doubt.
Jeri’s cell phone rang, though I couldn’t see it. He pulled it from the pocket of his jeans and glanced at it before handing it to me. “It’s Schatz. Will you answer it since I’m driving?”
I glanced at the screen to see the name scrolling across before I connected the call and put it on speaker. “Hey, Jeri. Where are you?”
“We’re going to my house. What the fuck happened? Austin and Dominic were supposed to be watching out for us?” The anger in Jeri’s voice wasn’t a surprise, and I relaxed. For half a second, I thought maybe he’d set it up to take me somewhere in the boonies to kill me.
“Bruno—I mean, Austin—was in the kitchen heating up dinner for his husband, Dominic, when some weird fuckers came in and threatened to shoot Dom if he didn’t tell them what unit you were hiding in. Seems Sean’s usual sedan driver was happy to take a bribe to give your stalkers your schedule.
“Anyway, they held a gun on Dom, which was their first mistake because Austin loses his mind when he thinks Dominic is in danger.
“It was Dom who tripped the fire alarm on your floor to alert you. It was his voice you heard on the intercom. Good call taking the garage elevator,” Schatz said.
“Well, I stole a truck, so I’ll have to talk to the police about that. My truck is still in the parking garage. I don’t know if they know I’m the one with Sean, but I didn’t want to gamble on it.”
Jeri glanced in my direction and winked, making my stomach do a little flip. The guy was charming in a less obvious, non-ass kissing way, and I was perfectly enchanted.
“Give me the VIN number of the truck you liberated, and I’ll get my boss to square it with the owner that you borrowed it with permission. Tell me the license plate number on your truck, and we’ll get someone to pick it up and bring it to you. They’ll return the borrowed truck too.”
At hearing Schatz’s plan, Jeri turned to me. “Red, open the glove box and find the registration, will ya?” There was that sexy wink again.
I did as he asked while he put his wallet on the console. “Get in my wallet and find my truck insurance card. It’s got my license plate number on it. They can pop the lock with a Slim Jim. There’s an extra set of keys under the front passenger seat.”
I stared at him for a moment. “Slim Jim? Like the beef jerky?”
Jericho laughed, along with Lawry Schatz on the phone.
“You can both go to hell.”
I opened the glove compartment and found the registration papers, relaying the information about our current mode of transportation, before I found Jeri’s insurance card in his wallet, repeating the process.
“Okay. I’ve got the security footage from the condo building. I’ll send it to you, and when you get a minute, can you take a look to see if you recognize anyone, Sean?”
“Yes, of course.”
Jeri spoke up as he slowed to a stop at an intersection.
“Did you get the chance to check the footage from the police station shootout? There were two stickers on the back of the black Chevy SUV that the shots were fired from. One was a cross draped in an American flag, and the other was a slogan, Defenders of the Faithful in red, white, and blue letters. I came across them in the past when I was in the Army at Camp Mackall. There was no license plate on the black Tahoe.”
“Gimme a second.” We both heard the clicking of keys as Schatz typed.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing, yet. Let me do some digging. Meantime, get yourselves somewhere safe. Turn off your phones, pick up a burner at a discount store, and call me. I can’t say they’re tracing your phones, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility.
Sean, do you have your laptop with you?” Schatz sounded worried.
“No. I didn’t have time to grab it or my phone. It’s still at the condo.”
I suddenly felt naked at remembering I didn’t have my devices. I never went anywhere without them. I didn’t know any phone numbers, and I had a lot of upcoming meetings. I had no idea what the hell to do about any of it.
“Good. If they were somehow able to track your signal, it’ll stay there in Bethesda. Jericho, does your mom have a cell or a landline?” Lawry asked.
“We have a landline. The number is 301-435-1001. Wait till we get there to call. I’m gonna have a hell of a time explaining all this to my mother as it is.”
“Jericho, do you want to send your mother to visit family or for a vacation?” Schatz asked.
“Naw. She’d just be more worried about what the hell was going on at home if I got rid of her. If you call the landline and she answers, tell her you’re the old buddy of mine from the Army who came by the farm a week ago. With my mother, the less said, the better.”
Jericho shot a quick glance at me before he smiled, signaling he wasn’t upset about what he’d been dragged into because of me.
He smirked and said, “And Sean’s my new boyfriend. That’ll give her something to stew on. Thanks, Schatz.”
He reached over to the phone in my hand, ending the call. I stared out the front window unable to speak.
What the hell?
We exited the Beltway to take Route 50-East, and I was still stunned silent.
Boyfriend?
I was the last person to be considered boyfriend material by anyone.
We turned left and crossed over a bumpy metal bridge-like thing. I’d never seen anything like it. “What was that?”
“What? Oh, back there? It’s a livestock guard.
It keeps the animals from getting onto the road.
You got something you want to say? You’ve been awfully quiet, and that’s not your style, I’m guessing—or it hasn’t been since I’ve been around you.
” Jericho slowed down as we approached a modest ranch-style home.
“How will your mother feel about you bringing some stranger home? How did we meet?” Everything was spiraling out of control—or my control—and I didn’t like it one bit.
“We met on an app, and we’ve been talking for six months. You needed my help, and I came to your rescue.” Jericho’s sexy smirk pissed me off. I was fully equipped to deal with my own shit.
“What? Like I’m some damsel in distress? Does that sound plausible to you? I’m not a fairytale princess who has to depend on the big, strong prince to save her from the dragon. I’m the fucking dragon.”
When Jeri chuckled, I bristled. Did I not seem as if I could take care of myself? Did Jericho believe I was unable to defend myself? That was like a blow to the gut.
Jericho sighed. “I never said you were a damsel in distress, and I’m psyched to meet the dragon.
I’m sorry I phrased it wrong. I’m not looking for a damsel of any kind, Red.
And my mother is going to love you. I’m not trying to humiliate you, okay?
I’m committed to keeping you safe. I believe having you at my house is the best solution.
Who the fuck is going to come out here looking for you? ”
Well, he did have a point.