Chapter Sixteen
Jess and Taryn sat in the waiting room with Gretchen and Alvin while the doctors took Irving into surgery to remove the bullet shards and glass from his leg. Thankfully, the graze hadn’t been a head-on shot. The sniper could have taken out an artery.
Jess had called Summer so she wouldn’t hear about the shooting from someone else. She wanted to fly back from Hawaii but her two friends convinced her to finish up the last four days of her honeymoon. With a shooter targeting both Jess and Irving, it would be safer for her there.
Summer reluctantly agreed but made them promise to keep in constant contact with her with updates. There had been tears in her voice when she’d hung up.
“Do you think she’ll stay in Hawaii?” Jess asked Taryn as she pocketed her phone.
“Probably not, but Jason promised to do what he could. He’s worried that we’re being targeted by a maniac. He’ll want his wife away from danger.”
Alvin walked to Gretchen, who was pacing near the door to the hallway. He put a hand on her shoulder and said something to her that they couldn’t hear. She nodded and he left the waiting room, slump shouldered, like a big defeated bear.
Once things settled down, they’d have a serious talk about his brother. He couldn’t just foist a bodyguard on her without asking her first.
“Do you think this psycho wants us all dead?” Taryn said and stretched out her back. Irving had loaned her a cane after her injury and she still walked with a stiff gait. Thankfully, she was on the mend.
“Who knows?” Jess rubbed her eyes. “What could we have done that would make this woman take shots at us?”
“I’ve been thinking about that since the church shooting.” Taryn shifted on the chair. “I can’t think of a single case that could rise to this level of violence.”
They went silent. “You don’t think this could be Willard’s doing?” Jess added. “He’s a jerk, but this?”
Willard J. Covington was their pervy ex-boss and the man embroiled in a lawsuit with Taryn. He stood to lose millions, and possibly his pro football team, if she won the case. He certainly had motive to take her out. But why would he go after Jess and Irving?
“Anything is possible. But why not target me?”
Rick appeared in the open doorway. He walked to Taryn. “I got here as fast as I could.” He sat beside her and kissed the side of her head. “How is he?”
“We don’t know yet. The wounds were all shrapnel.” Taryn linked her hand with his. “He’s still in surgery.”
Rick’s gray eyes were worried as he glanced at Jess. As a DEA agent, he dealt with some very bad men. He’d also be quick to figure out the odds of Taryn being next. Hurt, she’d be an easy target.
“Where’s Wheeler?” he asked. Rick was big and buff and intimidating when he was angry. Whoever the sniper was had better steer clear of Taryn.
“At Brash.” Jess filled him in. “He texted that they found some evidence that the shot came from the top of the building next door. They’re going floor to floor in both buildings to see if anyone saw the shooter. So far, she’s a ghost.”
“She?” Taryn asked.
Jess told them about the new information. Both Taryn and Rick were surprised.
“A young female sniper is unusual,” he said. “At least we know what we’re dealing with now.”
Alvin returned with a coffee cup. He handed it to Gretchen. She smiled gratefully. Holding the cup stopped her from hand-wringing. She’d been with Irving since high school and his cement pipe days, moving up the ranks from gopher to executive assistant. She was the face everyone saw as they arrived on the third floor and the gatekeeper to the boss.
The shooting had shattered her. Jess hoped that Gretchen’s strength, and love for Irving, would keep her from a complete meltdown if his health went sideways.
A doctor came through the open doorway. “Gretchen Boyd?”
“That’s me.” The doctor blinked at her bright pink and yellow sweater with a chipmunk juggling nuts embroidered on the front, but kept his composure. “Irving came through the surgery well and is in the recovery room. In a few minutes you’ll be able to see him. However, at his age, any injury is tricky. We’d like to keep him for a few days to monitor his condition.”
He gave more details of the surgery and glass removal and what care would be required once he went home, but Jess didn’t hear anything through the buzz in her head. She quietly slipped from the room and headed down to the first floor and out the sliding glass doors.
Barring complications, Irving would be okay.
Shaky with relief, she half walked, half stumbled in the direction of her SUV, only to see Wheeler leaning against the vehicle with his arms crossed.
“I was parking when I saw you come out.” Before she could attempt to speak, he read her face and held out his arms. “Come here.”
He scooped her in as she melted into him. Within his comforting embrace, the buzz faded away.
* * *
Jess trembled and he leaned to press his face against her hair. She smelled like strawberry shampoo and fear. He wanted to take away all the bad from the day and make her smile again. He wanted to wring the neck of their sniper. The woman had to be stopped before anyone got seriously hurt.
“I thought we’d lose him when I heard he’d been shot,” she said against his shoulder. “I know he’s been around since the Stone Age but he’s healthier than I am.” She lifted her face and her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. “We need to catch that bitch.”
He smiled at her choice of words. “We will.” She leaned back into him and laid her forehead on his chest. He rubbed her back. “She can’t hide forever.”
Jess nodded and tipped her head up. “I should go back in. Someone has to do crowd control when the rest of the office shows up. Irving has a lot of people who love him.”
Sam cupped her face and stared into her eyes. Always awed by her strength, he knew she’d be back to her normal spirited self in no time. For now, she had to be nearby for Irving. “Will you be okay if I head back to Brash?”
“I will.” She ran a hand down his chest. “Thanks.”
Before she stepped back, he leaned in. “Be careful.”
“Yes, sir.”
He looked into her soft and beautiful eyes and lost the sense he was born with. Without thinking of the consequences of his actions, he brushed her mouth with a light kiss.
And for a second, she let him. He pulled back and sighed. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“No, you shouldn’t have,” she agreed. She stepped out of reach and looked at him sidelong as she walked away. “Maybe you can do it again later.”
And she left him intrigued in her wake.