Chapter Twelve #2
Her fingers pressed to his back. “Someone was in the bar, asking about you,” she whispered.
“And some bastard is hiding in the trees, watching us right now.” John’s voice rose as he shouted, “Don’t make me drag your ass out!”
She rather liked the option of just getting in the vehicle and driving away but…
John’s head jerked to the right. “And someone else is coming around the building.”
She craned her neck to see around John. A few moments later, Jay Maverick hurried around the building. The spotlights from the back of the bar lit up the scene. And they clearly showed Jay’s surprise when he drew up short. His hands lifted. “Whoa! Whoa! Why are you in battle-mode, man?”
John’s body was rock hard in front of Shelly. His hands were powerful fists at his sides. Definitely battle-mode.
“I’m not your enemy,” Jay assured him quickly. He kept his hands up. “I can help you. At least, I hope I can.”
“And the asshole in the woods? The guy watching silently? Is he here to help, too?” John’s voice was lethal.
Jay glanced toward the woods. Then he gave a little wave. “Come out, Sawyer! If he sees you, if he sees what you can do, it might calm John down. Get him to talk to us.”
Shelly peered at the trees. Then she saw a man burst from those trees. A man who was moving far too fast. The same way that John could move too fast. The fellow was almost a blur as he barreled right at John.
Only John leapt forward. He drove his fist out in a flying punch, and the man who’d been rushing toward John—the guy fell back into the snow.
“Damn.” Jay sounded impressed, not upset. “That was a beautiful hit.”
In the next breath, John had bunched his hand in Jay’s shirt-front. He lifted the guy up into the air. “Who the hell are you?”
“Jay!” Jay gasped out. “Jay Maverick! And I can help you!”
“By sending your goon at me?”
Shelly noticed that the goon in question had risen to his feet. Only he wasn’t lunging to attack again. Instead, he was brushing snow off his body. Taking his time.
“You were right, Jay,” the goon called out. He didn’t sound particularly pissed. Actually, he didn’t sound bothered at all. “He is like me.”
John tossed Jay. The guy crashed into the snow. John’s hands fisted once more. “I’m nothing like either one of you,” John denied hotly. “I’m—”
“Lazarus.” The one word was almost like a curse as it came from the man who’d stopped brushing the snow off his body. Shelly’s gaze swept over him. Tall, muscled, dangerous. His dark hair was cut in a short style similar to John’s, and his hard jaw was locked tight.
“What the fuck,” John began, voice colder than the snow, “did you just say?”
“I was part of the program, too. Experimented on without my consent. And I woke up in a world I didn’t know.
” The man made no move to advance on John.
“My name is Sawyer Cage, and I don’t want to fight with you.
Jay showed me your story. He found it online—the reporter was talking about how you’d cheated death so many times up here, and when we did a little digging, when we found out that you supposedly died in Miami, too.
” He shrugged. “It wasn’t too hard to realize you must be one of us. ”
Jay cleared his throat. “And you were ex-military. Lazarus liked to use test subjects like you.”
John’s head whipped toward him. “Like…me?” Each word seemed torn from him.
“Yeah.” It was Sawyer who responded. “They take men like us, men that they can turn into weapons.”
“The deadlier, the better,” Jay muttered.
Shelly had heard enough. She surged forward, moving to John’s side. Her hand grabbed his, held tight. “How do we know you guys aren’t part of Lazarus?”
Jay flinched.
John swore. “He is,” he said. And his left hand rose as he pointed at Jay. “Bastard’s heartrate just tripled, and he’s about to hyperventilate.”
“It’s not what you think!” Jay cried out quickly. “Shit, shit, calm down, okay? Everyone, calm down!”
Sawyer’s head turned, just a bit, until he was looking toward the bar.
“It would help—really help a lot—if you’d tell your man in the shadows to stand down.
” His words were directed at John. “I get that you don’t trust us.
But we are not here to hurt you. Not you, not your lady.
If you can hear Jay’s heart beating, then that just confirms what I already know. You’re one of us.”
“I am not part of your group.”
Sawyer was staring at the side of the bar, where the shadows were thickest. “He’s a normal human, and I don’t want to hurt him, but I don’t like having a gun aimed at me.”
Shelly’s head whipped toward the bar and the shadows. Who was there?
John’s body stayed tense, but he called out, “Sheriff Blane! Come on out!”
Blane was there?
And sure enough, Blane appeared. He rushed toward them with his weapon drawn.
“Oh, great.” Jay raked a hand through his already tousled hair even as he rocked forward onto the balls of his feet. “Now local law enforcement is involved. So much for keeping a low profile, Sawyer. I told you we had to handle this with tact.”
Sawyer didn’t appear concerned. “Tact isn’t my strong suit. And I’m not here to bullshit John Smith. I want to help him, and I want to see if he can help me.”
Blane advanced, moving into the glare of the building’s lights. His weapon was aimed at Sawyer. “What’s going on here?”
“Don’t want to cause trouble,” Sawyer said slowly. “I’m here to try and give John some answers, if he wants to hear them. But this doesn’t concern you, Sheriff. You should go back to the bar. Enjoy the night. Walk away.”
“Hell, no.” Blane’s grip tightened on the gun. “If you’re here to give answers, to tell John why he can’t die, why the guy is so freaking fast I can barely see him move sometimes, then I want to hear this shit, too.”
“Oh, hell.” Jay’s hand dropped to his side. “The sheriff already knows? Low profile, people. Low profile. When you’re dealing with paranormal shit like this, you’re supposed to keep a low profile.”
Paranormal shit. Shelly blew out a slow breath. It immediately fogged before her.
John pulled her closer, wrapping his body around hers. “Shelly’s cold. If we’re going to talk, then we’re going inside.”
Only no one moved. Well, Sawyer’s gaze dropped—it rested on her.
Turned thoughtful. “She’s the key, huh? What pulled you out into the open?
” Now he sounded really curious. “Did you remember her? Or did you just feel somehow connected with her? Because the primitive instincts, those stay, no matter what. That awareness remains, it’s just sometimes buried deep inside. ”
John’s head turned. He gazed at Shelly, and he looked absolutely lost. Her strong warrior, lost, and the sight hurt her.
She found herself stepping forward, putting her body in front of his.
Wanting, this time, to protect him. “There’s an apartment above the bar that we can use,” Shelly announced briskly.
“We’ll go up there and talk, and you will give John the answers he needs.
” She glared at the men before her. “And then you’ll get your asses out of his life. ”
Sawyer gave her a quick smile. “Yes, ma’am.”