The next few days were a whirlwind. I was told I once again endured a three-hour surgery. I didn’t remember much of it, except the pain that stabbed my side when I came out from under the anesthesia. And Alli sitting by my side. She was there every time I opened my eyes, her own eyes clean of makeup and ringed in red. Sometimes other people were there, her daughters or one of the Stone brothers. But it was always Alli.

It wasn’t until the fourth day that I convinced someone to take her home, force her to get some sleep. While she was gone, Jack came to sit with me.

“John Willis is in Arizona, booked into the state pen under constant watch. Once a prisoner makes an attempt to escape, cops and prisoner personnel don’t look too kindly on them.”

“Has he been formally charged?”

“Yes. And his lawyer swears he’ll fight the charges, but it doesn’t look good. There’s video evidence against him. One of your fellow deputies recorded him having a conversation with a group of Guardians just after Harry.” Jack smiled. “I guess you weren’t the only one in that office who still had a conscience.”

“Good.”

“Danny Parker is in the same jail he was trying to break into. He’s charged with multiple felonies, including kidnapping. That’s a federal charge, so he won’t be seeing the outside of a jail cell for a long time. And his buddies, all but the one he clocked over the head, are in there with him.” Jack was quiet for a second. “The other one…he might be the luckier one. Danny hit him so hard that he’s in a coma. Doctors say that if he recovers, it’ll be a long road. Kid’s only nineteen. His parents had no idea he was associated with the Guardians.”

“That sucks.”

Jack nodded, leaning forward slightly. “Scares the shit out of me.” He looked up at me. “Ruth’s pregnant.”

“No shit!” I laughed, thrilled at the news. “That’s fantastic.”

Jack shook his head slightly. “What if we don’t get rid of these people? What if I have a son and they come back, convince him to join their ranks?”

“You have to have the kid first, Jack.” I straightened a little against my pillows, then ran my hands over the sheet that covered my hospital-gown-clad body. “You never know what might happen when you bring a new life into the world. But new life is hope, Jack. It’s a promise that God hasn’t given up on us yet. You just…you have to do the best you can, and then hope it was enough.”

Jack tilted his head slightly. “You have a kid, don’t you?”

“I do. He’s an engineer up in Chicago. He designs eco-friendly devices that are supposed to help save the world.”

“Then you must have done a hell of a job.”

“No. That was all Gloria.”

“The more I hear about your wife, the more I wish I’d known her.”

I smiled softly. “Gloria was a good woman.” I rubbed my forehead lightly. “Some of these kids…they were probably students in her kindergarten class.”

“That’s humbling.”

“Tell me about it.” I looked at him. “We just have to keep doing what’s right. Those kids who came to rescue Willis? They didn’t know what the hell they were doing. That tells me this Briggs guy doesn’t know what he’s doing, either. That makes him both vulnerable and more dangerous than we ever imagined.”

Jack nodded slowly in humble agreement.

“As long as we stick together and keep this thing on track, I think we can get them out of town.”

“I hope so, because Ruth is determined to raise our family in Ellaville near her parents. And her church. She still believes in the organization despite these fanatics.”

“It’s all she’s ever known.”

“It makes her feel safe. As though she’s a part of something bigger than herself. I think, in a way, we all need that.” He smiled slightly. “She makes me feel that way.”

“You’ve had an interesting life, Jack. I met your ex the other day.”

“Rae?” Jack seemed surprised by the idea. “What’d you think of her?”

“I can see why you’re so drawn to Alli. The two of them are two peas in a pod.”

“Are they?” He seemed puzzled, like he hadn’t seen it.

“She’s a firecracker. Women like her aren’t meant to be possessed, but set free.”

“What about Alli? If they’re so much alike, then what do you plan to do about her?”

“Your firecracker had yet to go off. Mine…she’s soaring into the clouds, looking for a home. And I think I have the right space to offer her.”

Jack smiled at the imagery I’d created. “That’s a good way of putting it.”

“She’s angry at me at the moment, though.”

“You got yourself shot. You weren’t supposed to do that.”

“The guy wouldn’t go down! I hit him over and again on the back of the head, but he wouldn’t go down.” I shook my head. “He must have a steel plate back there!”

The door opened, and Carson came in dressed in hospital whites. She smiled as she approached the bed. “I heard you asked for me out in the field.”

“You don’t ask so many useless questions.”

She laughed. “You’re a difficult patient, my friend. They had to ask in order to treat you in the best way they could.”

“Have you ever tried to answer questions with a bullet in your side?”

“Touché,” she said, her fingers cold and smooth as she checked my pulse. “You had an excellent surgeon, and the staff here is one of the best I’ve ever worked with. You’re in good hands.”

“I’d still rather have you as my doctor.”

“Anytime.”

She patted my arm, winked at Jack, and slipped out the door as quietly as she’d entered.

“She’s an interesting character.”

Jack nodded. “She was on the run for a long time. Did you know that?”

“I didn’t.”

“Yeah. She witnessed a murder, and the feds couldn’t keep her safe, so she took her safety into her own hands. If she hadn’t fallen for my brother, she probably never would have been caught. But she also wouldn’t have practiced medicine again.”

“That would have been a waste.”

“No argument here.” Jack stood and patted my shoulder. “Get some rest. I think Alli’s anxious to get on with your road trip.”

“No offense, but the sooner I get out of Memphis, the better.”

“None taken.”

 

 

I was in the hospital for ten days. They made sure I stayed long enough to finish out the antibiotics this time. Jack put Alli and me up in his house after that, making it more convenient for the FBI to come and interview us. It was a long process, the whole “making a complaint and giving evidence” thing. They came by the house three times in one week, then turned around and came back twice more. We were in Memphis a month longer than we needed to be, but it was long enough for my stitches to heal and my body to return to something like normal. I’d suffered more than my share of injuries in the past six weeks, leaving me weaker than I liked. But Alli was there, patiently waiting on me, listening to my complaints and complaining back when she thought I wasn’t grateful enough. But I was better now, and I was determined to prove it.

The air was fresh this early July morning. I stretched from a standing position, holding my arms high above my head as I worked out the kinks in my neck and shoulders. And then I touched my toes, making a couple of the guys around me laugh at the very idea that I was limber enough to touch my toes.

“Wait until you’re over forty, son,” I told one of those guys. “You’ll be happy to be half as limber as I am.”

“I’m sure I will.”

We were standing beside the training course set up outside of Stone Security a little after dawn on a Monday morning. I’d slipped out of the house while Alli was still sleeping, doing this to prove something to myself and no one else. Gentry was there, but none of the other Stone brothers were aware of my ambition. If Jack had known, he probably would have tried to talk me out of it, but he was back in Ellaville with his beautiful wife.

“All right, gather around,” Gentry called. “You’ll have two chances to run the course. Those with the top five scores will move on to the next round of qualifications. Those with the lower scores will be allowed to try again in two weeks.” He looked over the faces of the people standing around him. “Those who already have jobs here at Stone Security, make sure you don’t embarrass the company. Okay?”

More laughter bounced around the circle, most of it aimed in my direction, I was sure. I ignored it, using it to build my determination.

We lined up at the starting blocks, ready to do the first part of the course, which was a half-mile sprint. I dropped into a squat and waited for the whistle. The moment it sounded, I shot out of the blocks like a bullet from a gun, pushing myself as hard as I’d ever done.

After the sprint was the tires. I bounced through them and dove to my knees, working my way under the ropes. From there it was the wall. I climbed it faster than I probably had in my youth, jumping over the top and sliding under another set of ropes. Then another set of tires and a last sprint to the finish line.

When I stopped and turned, I was the only one standing there.

“Hell, Crispin, I wish I was in as good of shape as you!” Gentry laughed as he wandered over, a stopwatch in his hand. He showed it to me, and I laughed, my laughter only continuing as I watched the younger men come over the finish line behind me, each breathless and groaning from the effort.

“That’s why you keep up your training despite having a cushy job and a good life,” I told each and every one of them. “That’s why you don’t allow yourself to grow soft.”

I ran the course two more times before I finally gave in, deciding the young guys had had enough humiliation for one day. I had the showers pretty much to myself in the workout center in the basement of the office building, the cool water delicious on my overheated skin. Fingers danced over the new scars on my side, ironically overlapping one another.

“You are the most virile man I know, yet you don’t have an ego the size of Texas. How is that possible?”

“Because I have a beautiful woman to keep me humble.”

I reached behind me and tugged her arms around my waist, pulling her tight against me. She kissed my back, her hands pressing themselves flat against my belly. She peppered my back with kisses, her cool skin pushing up against my body. I held on for a moment, lifting one of her hands to my mouth and pressing a kiss against it. And then I turned, lifting her up into my arms so that I could steal her mouth, exploring it like it was the first time we’d ever kissed.

We’d avoided this sort of thing over the past few weeks, she afraid of hurting me, and I fearful that I’d screwed it all up and it wouldn’t be the same. But just the taste of her took me back to the first few times, to those long nights in the concrete room far below this place. I moved through the water, her hair falling down around her face in thick waves, and pressed her against the cool wall. She moaned as the cold rushed through her, but she didn’t seem to mind all that much as my fingers made their way over her ass and into places that had to ache horribly if they were anything like my neglected pleasure spots.

Her mouth moved over my chin and down to my throat, her teeth tugging at my flesh. I closed my eyes, letting my fingers explore like they had a mind of their own. So much to explore! And then she moved her hips just right, and everything fit together like it was meant to be, like we were made for each other. She cried out, her body arching upward as she pressed her back hard against the wall. I filled her and watched, watched the pleasure dance on her face, in the soft parting of her lips and the tightly closed lids of her eyes.

I loved that look on her face, loved that I was the one doing it to her. I wanted nothing more than to make her look that way every day for the rest of her life, to give her nothing but pleasure for the rest of her life.

We moved to our own rhythm, slowly, and then a little faster. Exhaustion had yet to catch up to me. I felt like a child again, a teenager who could go all day long and never feel it. I knew I would feel this day eventually, but I didn’t much care.

We were so close. I could feel her body tightening around mine, feel her breaths coming in quicker and quicker gasps. I knew she was close, knew what was coming, and I wanted to go with it. But just as she began to make those little mewling sounds in the back of her throat, voices filled the room.

“Fuck, someone’s coming!” she hissed near my ear.

I pulled her away from the wall and carried her into the other half of the bathroom, leaving the water running on an empty spot. We slipped into a toilet stall just as the voices entered the bathroom.

Alli began to laugh. I put my hand over her mouth, but I couldn’t help laughing, too.

“That’s weird,” someone said, probably talking about the running water.

Alli laughed even harder.

I held her close to me, both of us shaking with laughter, both of us dripping water into puddles at our feet. We could hear more water coming on, could hear the voices of the men who’d been part of the physical fitness test. We were surrounded by people, hiding in a smelly men’s room, my hand over hers to keep her from alerting everyone to our presence. It shouldn’t have been an erotic moment. But, somehow, it was.

I sat on the toilet, her body wrapped around me, my hand on her ass encouraging her to move again. Her eyes widened slightly, but it didn’t take but a second for her excitement to rise again. It was the quietest we’d ever been together, the most awkward, yet the most in synch. My hands wandered all over her body, and her eyes stayed open, watching my face as closely as I watched hers. And when our moment came…it was magic. There was no other word for it.

We were perfect together. We’d always be perfect together.