TWENTY-TWO
Three nights later Hoyt collapsed onto the stool behind the register, and Rogue lifted her tired feet to the small cushioned settee in the waiting room and rested her head on the cushioned back.
Timothy was sprawled in a chair; his gaze was lively, though, and filled with mirth. Natches was cranky but appeared in better spirits after Chaya arrived with Ray. Maria, Ray’s wife, had helped wait tables for two nights; she was beside him on a long bench, while Desmond and the rest of the staff were resting wherever they could before heading home.
“I would say it was a very productive four nights.” Timothy rubbed his hands in obvious glee. “I have to say, Janey, this is the best vacation I’ve ever had.”
With the staff present, Alex had already warned her that no one should know Timothy was part of DHS or a part of the investigation. Mark and Tyrell were there, leaning in a back corner, supposedly simply friends Alex had pulled in to bus tables.
It was almost funny watching the women lust after the hard abs and tight bodies of her new busboys. Unless they were staring at Alex. She’d had problems with that.
“I’m exhausted.” Janey draped her arms over the reservation counter and laid her head in them. “Oh God. I just want to sleep.”
“I finished up your paperwork earlier,” Rogue said and yawned. “Really, Janey, you need to get organized. Once I had it in the proper piles, it went quickly.”
“You’re hired,” Janey mumbled into her arms.
Rogue’s laughter was amused, but Janey wasn’t joking. In four days, Rogue had managed to do the impossible. She had organized the paperwork. Janey lifted her head and stared back at her friend silently.
Rogue rolled her eyes, then stared around the room. “Who’s giving me a ride back to the bar? Janey sent her monster sheriff after me this afternoon.”
“Only because you swore your bike was broke,” Janey accused her.
Rogue flipped her red gold curls and gave her an innocent expression. “Sweets, it’s Saturday night. I was supposed to have fun tonight, remember?”
“You did. Three men pinched your butt, one gave you a fifty-dollar tip, and you managed not to break your legs in those heels.”
Timothy smiled with rich amusement.
“If you didn’t have fun,” Janey concluded, “I had fun watching you.”
“God save me,” Natches muttered as Rogue’s laughter tinkled through the waiting room and she stretched her legs before pulling out her phone.
“Watch this,” she drawled and made her call. “Zeke? It’s Rogue.” Her voice became heavy, tired, languorous. “The cabs are all busy and I’m so tired. Please pick me up.” She waited, and Janey watched as her expression flickered with something not so innocent. “Do I have to ride in the back?” She waited, then drawled, “Will you use the handcuffs?”
Pure wicked laughter fell from her lips as she flipped her phone closed. “He’ll be here in ten minutes.”
“Is he using the handcuffs?” Timothy asked with a little too much curiosity.
Rogue pouted. “He said only if I break the law. As though I want to get caught doing that.” She winked at Timothy before rising to her feet and moving for the door. “Nite nite, folks.”
“Are you serious about hiring her?” Hoyt asked as the door closed behind Rogue’s leather-clad form.
“If she’ll take the job.” She looked around at the staff still lingering. “Any objections?”
“She’s fun.” The waitress Tiffany shrugged as she moved to Rogue’s seat.
“She’s smart,” Desmond stated. “Our new sous-chef arrives Monday; this will give me time to prepare him for the rush that comes on Wednesday. His wife is an excellent waitress as well. Opening the new banquet room should be no problem.”
“I don’t think we’re ready for that,” Hoyt argued. “We’re moving too fast, Janey. The banquet room wasn’t even prepared properly this week. The reputation we’re building is going to suffer.”
“Ridiculous,” Desmond snapped. “Quality has not suffered, neither in customer care nor in the food. We’ve made certain of this. And the profits have surely risen dramatically.” He turned to Janey. “I have run kitchens for years; our output was exceptional as was our quality.”
“And our profits.” Janey nodded. “We did more business in the last four nights than we’ve done in a month. And I agree with the quality.”
“We can’t keep it up,” Hoyt argued again, his expression creasing in concern and a hint of anger. “Janey, this restaurant doesn’t just reflect your name, but your brother’s. You should remember that. When you can’t keep up, the restaurant’s good name will go to hell as well. Just as it did before.”
Janey stiffened at the reference to Dayle Mackay.
“I’m aware of what can happen if we don’t prepare properly,” she stated coolly. “But I think we’re able to handle the additional customers. We’ll have an added waitress Monday with Desmond’s additional chef. Tiffany’s sister has agreed to waitress until we can find more staff, and Rogue will cover for us at least until we can find a general manager, if she doesn’t take the job herself.”
“We don’t need a general manager; even Natches agrees with that.” Hoyt looked to Natches for support.
“That wasn’t what I said, Hoyt.” Natches frowned. “I said we’re not hiring one if it means Janey will try to leave.”
“You’re leaving?” Hoyt’s head jerked around, his gaze narrowed. “You didn’t mention that.”
“I’m not leaving,” she muttered, well aware of Alex watching her silently. “If I left, Natches would burn the place down.”
“I would,” he agreed with a mocking smile. “And we both know how much that would break my heart.”
His voice was sincere. The look in his eyes wasn’t. He’d love nothing better than to burn the place to the ground, and Janey knew it.
She stared around the waiting room at the curious gazes watching them.
“She’s not going anywhere,” Alex stated before she could speak. “Except home to sleep. I locked up the office; everything’s ready to go whenever you are.”
The kitchen was secured, everything prepared. All they had to do was walk out the front door.
“I still think this is a mistake,” Hoyt stated as he moved from behind the register. “We’re not ready for this move, and Janey doesn’t have the experience for the job.”
Yeah, she’d been hearing that argument out of him for months.
“She has the experience, but does she have the stamina?” Tiffany pushed herself to her feet. “God, I’m exhausted.”
“She’s got the guts to do it,” Desmond argued, looping his arm around his wife’s shoulders. “She’ll do.”
Janey smiled at his statement. “We have a day off. Let’s see what we can do with our time then to rest and get ready for next week. Before opening we’ll meet for any further ideas or objections.”
“Why? You don’t listen to them.” Hoyt pouted.
“She listens when you agree with her,” Natches snorted. “That should be close enough.”
“You always disagree with me,” she told him as Alex helped her with her leather jacket.
“And you never listen.” Natches glared at her as Chaya gave a low, amused laugh.
“Poor baby,” his wife murmured. “Come home, darling. I’ll listen to you all night long if you want me to.”
“Really?” Natches’s expression perked up. “Interesting.”
Laughter echoed around Janey as everyone filed outside and she and Alex set the alarms and locked the doors. Janey touched the glass of the door and stared into the darkened restaurant then.
Alex’s heart clenched at the wistfulness in her expression. She had dreams. He heard them in her voice, saw them in her eyes. Dreams of a future here, dreams with him. He knew she had those dreams because he saw them in her eyes when she turned and laid that small hand on his arm.
Leading her to the truck, Alex could feel the fine hairs at the back of his neck lifting in warning, though. He’d felt it for the last two nights, the malevolent gaze focused on Janey, the threat of violence swirling in the air around her.
They were playing a waiting game.
He could feel Mark and Tyrell backing them as Alex kept her close to his side, sheltered by his body, the vehicles and the shadows around them.
What would he do if he lost her? He hadn’t been lying to her when he told her he would cease to exist. When he’d been wounded, he’d come home with one thought in mind. Janey. Touching her, having her, relieving the unrelenting hunger he’d had for her for far too long. He hadn’t returned with the best of intentions. Because seducing her had been his plan, not finding himself bound to her by emotions he couldn’t explain, justify, or make sense of.
As they neared the truck, Mark and Tyrell moved ahead of them as Timothy eased in behind Janey. The older man was softer around Janey. Hell, that whole daughter thing. He’d worked in that restaurant like a pro the past few days. And if Alex wasn’t mistaken, he had enjoyed it.
“Clear,” Mark murmured after he and Tyrell checked the vehicle for explosive devices.
“This is ridiculous,” Janey muttered. “All of you putting your lives on the line like this, Alex.”
She was frightened. She hid her fear well until they left the restaurant each night, but until they were safely behind the locked doors of his house, she trembled with the terror of someone being hurt because of her. The fear wasn’t as much for herself as for others.
“It’s our job.” Timothy beat him to a response. “And trust me, every time we win, every child, husband, daughter, or sister we save makes it all worth it.”
“And I don’t let anyone take what’s mine,” Alex told her softly as he lifted her into the truck and watched her slide to the middle of the seat.
She sat beside him; she never slid to the other seat anymore. He liked that. Liked the way he could curl his hand around her leg, above her knee, and touch her warm skin as he drove. He liked having her close to him, feeling her, knowing she was safe.
As they drove away from the restaurant, he felt the tightness in his neck increasing. The closer they got to the house, the more he could feel the danger approaching. Once they got in the house, it would ease. Whoever her stalker was, he hadn’t figured a way past Alex’s security yet.
It was impossible to toss a handmade bomb past the wrought iron that blocked the windows. His bedroom had steel shutters on the inside that further protected the room. Those had been installed immediately after he’d brought Janey home.
Dark blinds and heavy curtains further shielded the other rooms. Windows and doors were secured, and outside, Mark and Tyrell took turns sleeping in their truck and watching the house.
The waiting game was ending, though. Alex could feel it.
“Something’s wrong,” Janey whispered. “I can feel it.”
She was staring out the truck window, her hands clasped tightly in her lap, as they turned onto a side street and headed to the house.
Alex never took the same route, never allowed anyone to know which way they were going.
“We’re okay,” he promised her.
He checked the rearview mirror. Mark and Tyrell were right behind them; there were no other vehicles following, and none in front of them.
“This is insane.” Her voice was thick, worried. “I used to get like this, before moving here. I always knew when Dayle was going to show up, when he was going to try to pressure me into marrying one of his buddies.” She sneered the last word. “I always knew when he was going to find a way to hurt me or Natches.”
“Dayle is dead, Janey. I saw the body when Natches was there. He’s gone.”
She swallowed tightly. “But he left something,” she whispered. “Someone who hated him enough that they think punishing me will get back at him.”
He breathed out roughly, checked the mirrors, watched the street carefully as they neared the house.
“Someone crazy,” he told her. “And no one is going to hurt you.”
He turned onto another side road. It didn’t make sense. No one was following them, but he could feel the sights on the truck, feel the danger rolling around them like a dark, oily wave.
He looked out the windshield. There was no place a shot could reasonably come from, not with the shelter of the buildings and the trees.
He turned down another street, coming from another angle into the street his house sat on. The closer they got, the thicker was the feeling of danger.
He pulled off into an alley, stopped the truck, and shut off the lights. Mark and Tyrell moved in behind him.
“Stay here.” He opened the glove box and pulled free his backup weapon. Checking the clip and flipping on the safety, he handed it to her. “You know what to do?”
She nodded, staring back at him with wide, fear-filled eyes.
“Good girl. I’m just going to talk to Mark and Tyrell. I’ll be right back.”
She licked her lips nervously but nodded.
“Stay safe for me, baby.” He cupped her cheek, bent his head, and kissed her quickly before stepping from the truck. The dome lights were disconnected; there wasn’t even a glimmer of light as he stepped from the truck.
“I wondered if you felt it.” Mark was armed. He carried his automatic rifle close to his leg, between his body and the truck. “Closer we get, the thicker it is.”
“Question is, how many are we dealing with?” Alex murmured.
“Can’t be more than one.” Tyrell rubbed at his jaw. “Every indication we have is a single stalker. Whoever it is has some serious shit going on, though. I’ve been feeling this since we left the restaurant. We were followed, somehow. When you started cutting through town and taking other routes, it eased. But the closer we get to the house, the more nervous I’m getting.”
Alex nodded and glanced around the alley. Instinct, they called it. A sixth sense for danger that made no sense to anyone except those who had managed to survive because of it.
They were sheltered by the garage at one side and a stand of pines that bordered a yard across the alley. It was a short, narrow little road protected from all sides. Alex’s house was on the next street over. There wasn’t a lot of cover going in, but there weren’t a lot of places to hide, unless someone was stalking from the neighboring trees and yard.
“We could call the Mackays in,” Tyrell suggested. “Have them come in quiet.”
Alex shook his head. “If we don’t show up soon, the stalker could get spooked and run.”
He was torn. Catching the stalker while they had the chance was imperative. He was waiting on them at the house. Slipping up on him would be easy, Alex thought. Alex knew this place like the back of his hand. It was home territory; he knew the shadows and how to move within them.
“Other options?” Mark questioned him.
“Send Janey to the marina and we go in on foot,” Alex murmured.
“Think she’ll go?” Mark asked.
Alex sighed. “No.” He looked back in the truck and met her worried, concerned gaze. She didn’t like being out of this conversation.
“Stay with her and we’ll check it out,” Mark suggested.
Alex shook his head and stared around the alley again. He was the best tracker there, and that left only a few options. They had a chance to catch the stalker here and now, or they could wait and let the bastard surprise them another day. But he had Janey with him.
“Mark, do you still have the extra communication sets you stole from headquarters?”
Mark stared at him blankly, then grimaced. “Fuck, how did you know I had those?”
“Are they in the truck?”
“In my travel bag.” He sighed. “Backseat of the truck.”
“Get them.”
Mark loped back to the truck and eased the back door of the dual cab open as Alex turned to Tyrell. “You and I are going to scout around a bit. We’ll leave Mark here with Janey. He’s good at feeling trouble. If the stalker doubles back, he can get her out.”
Tyrell nodded. “We need to get her to our truck, though. You’re blocked here.”
Alex opened the door quietly and motioned Janey out. As she eased across the seat, he picked her up and carried her to the other truck.
“Don’t leave me here without you, Alex. Please,” she whispered as Mark jerked the front door open and he slid her inside.
He and Tyrell took two of the communication sets and slid them into place on their ears and at the sides of their necks. Testing reception between the three of them, they nodded quickly.
“Alex, please,” she whispered again.
He turned to her, touched her cheek, and stared into her worried eyes. “It stops here, Janey. You’ll be safe with Mark. I promise.”
Her eyes closed as a pain-filled grimace contorted her face.
“I love you,” she whispered when her eyes opened, the soft, fierce words striking into his soul. “Do you hear me, Alex Jansen? I love you. Don’t you let yourself get hurt again.”
God, she filled his soul. How the hell was he supposed to handle this kind of emotion?
“I’m yours,” he whispered. “I’ll always come back to you, Janey.”
Then he turned away from her. He had to, or he’d never be able to leave her there.
“Keep her safe, and call the Mackays. We’ll be back within twenty,” he told Mark. “I want this bastard tonight.”
He had the most experience. As Mark had stated before, he and Tyrell had been out of the game for a while. They didn’t have the reflexes or the sense of predatory awareness Alex still possessed.
Mark would protect her with his life, Alex had no doubt of that. But Tyrell had always been a natural at the hunt, while Mark’s instincts had been more refined. He could sense it coming, but he wasn’t as good at pinpointing the direction it was coming from.
Alex would have been a hell of a lot more confident with a Mackay here. Natches would have been nice. He didn’t like trusting her to anyone else. But the stalker couldn’t know where they were. Whoever it was was watching his house, not the trucks.
The dome lights to the trucks had been disengaged weeks before, so no one could have detected their presence. She would be safe here.
“You be careful.” Mark nodded to Alex before turning to his lover.
His lips kicked up in a knowing grin as Tyrell, just as broad, as tall, and as strong as the other man, lifted his fist. Mark and Tyrell touched fists, but the gesture was strangely intimate despite the fact that it was the same action often used between soldiers in the field.
This had a gentler quality to it. Male to male, lover to lover, their smiles a bond that went deeper than some male/female kisses Alex had seen.
It blew his mind every time he saw it. Until Mark and Tyrell had come to him years before and revealed that they were lovers, he had never guessed.
“Weapons.” Mark turned from Tyrell and reached into the backseat. He returned with knives, handguns, ammo clips, and backup ankle weapons.
Alex and Tyrell weaponed up before Alex dipped into the front door, jerked Janey to him, and took his kiss. A deep, tongue-thrusting kiss despite her whimper, her attempts to hold on to him. Pulling back from her, he pressed his fingers to her lips. “Twenty minutes,” he whispered. “Do as Mark says, Janey. Stay safe for me.”
She nodded jerkily.
Janey could feel the fear shaking her apart from the inside out. She moved across the console to the passenger seat as Mark eased into the vehicle and closed the door softly behind him.
Darkness surrounded them. Janey had lost sight of Alex within seconds of him moving away from the truck.
Mark flipped his cell phone open and hit speed dial. “Natches. Back street across from Alex’s house. Come in quiet, lights off. We have the stalker on-site and Alex and Tyrell are moving in.” He was silent for a second. “Confirmed. I have her with me and we need backup.” He flipped the phone closed and turned to grin at her. “Cavalry is coming.”
“Alex should have waited,” she said worriedly, fighting the fear and the tears that would have escaped.
“He and Tyrell are the best at this that there is,” Mark promised her, flashing her a smile. “They’ll be back in twenty, your stalker bleeding and moaning in pain, and everything will slide back to normal for all of us.”
She gripped the gun Alex had given her, staring around in fear. It was too dark. There were too many shadows. And Alex wasn’t with her. He was out there, in danger.
Mark tried to reassure her again. “The major has always known what he was doing. Trust him.”
“I trust him.” She trusted him with her life, but he wasn’t here and she couldn’t see him. She had turned and was staring through the passenger window, her gaze delving into the darkness, when she heard the windshield shatter.