Chapter 32
Her head pounded and a bright light overhead blinded her. Mackenna immediately shut her eyes tight.
“I think she’s coming around.”
She rolled her face in the direction of the sound.
“Miss McElroy? Can you hear me?”
She raised her arm to shield her eyes from the beam and felt the drag of a wire.
“Careful, ma’am. You have an intravenous line running in your hand. We wanted to push fluids into you. How do you feel? Can you speak?”
Her mouth moved like a cow chewing its cud. Whoever was beside her must have noticed. “Here. I’ll prop up your head and you can sip some water. See if that helps.”
Strong hands moved behind her shoulders and lifted her and a straw touched her lips. Mackenna opened her eyes cautiously, glad that the man’s body blocked the direct light. “Where am I?”
“You’re in an ambulance, ma’am. Do you remember what happened?”
Did she? She drove a car as if possessed and T-boned Vincent’s black BMW, determined not to let him get away with hurting Jake. Her eyes widened and she bolted upright. “Jake! Did they find Jake? Is he still alive?”
And now that deep, intimidating voice she recognized, coming from outside the double doors. “We found him and just in time, thanks to you.”
Agent Crews. Somehow, knowing he was close reassured her. She searched the darkness until she found him and offered a tentative smile, and then grimaced. Her face hurt. “Is Jake okay?”
“He was barely conscious but all he could do was repeat your name. The fact that his name is the first thing out of your mouth tells me you two might just have a thing going on.” Agent Crews laughed as he shook his head.
“That was the damndest thing you did, Miss McElroy, crashing into that car like that. You could have been hurt a lot worse than you are. We had the area secured. He wasn’t going anywhere.”
She hung her head. “I-I didn’t know. I couldn’t see anybody. I didn’t want him to get away. I’m sorry.”
Now she’d probably have reckless driving added to the myriad of charges against her. What if she had to pay for the damage?
The smile on Agent Crews’ face confused her. “Before you arrest me, may I see Jake, please? It’s the only favor I’ll ask, Agent Crews. I need to tell him something, something important.”
Thankfully he nodded. “I think that can be arranged. Jake already has been transported to the hospital. He lost a lot of blood and needs surgery.” He issued his orders to the paramedics. “Transport her there, too, and see that she receives whatever treatment required. I’ll have an agent meet you at the hospital.” Then he looked at her again. “I’ll see you there.”
The doors slammed and in minutes, the ambulance moved. Mackenna strained to see out the back windows and marveled at the kaleidoscope of colors shrinking to become less threatening. Red and blue flashing lights reflected off the orange and yellow flames being attacked by firehoses.
Hours later, a doctor pronounced her battered and bruised but not broken. She rested in the hospital bed, waiting for word about Jake. Because she wasn’t a relative, neither the doctors nor nurses were permitted to share any information about his condition. She’d asked the agent posted outside her door but he declined knowing any news and said Agent Crews was en route.
When the big man finally burst into her room driving a wheelchair, she was glad to see him.
“Jake required surgery for a bullet wound to his thigh and shoulder. He’s out of recovery and being moved to a private room. And he’s insisting he see you. I’d like to see the two of you in a room together myself.” He extended his hand to help her sit up and then dropped to his knees, sliding slippers onto her feet.
“Don’t blame Jake for any of this, Agent Crews. If you need to arrest someone, arrest me. Jake is nothing but an innocent victim in all of this.”
Rising to help her off the bed, he harrumphed. “The day Jake Manettia is innocent of anything will be the day I resign.”
He referred to Jake as Manettia. Was that his real name? Not Manfred, the name she’d seen on the TV screen the day the FBI arrested him? Was he one of those criminals who used aliases? Or was he . . .?
Before she had time to sort through her thoughts or to ask, the elevator opened and Agent Crews moved down a hall peppered with police and into a room guarded by a man looking much like the agent who guarded her room. Jake was under arrest, same as her. He couldn’t be a cop.
Agent Crews showed his identification and signed a clipboard, which he showed to Mackenna and asked that she sign next to her printed name. Then the guard opened the door and Agent Crews wheeled her inside.
Three men circled the foot of Jake’s bed. Their conversation ceased the minute she entered the room and all eyes, including Jake’s, turned on her. He was pale but his face exploded into a giant grin and he reached for her when Agent Crews moved her close to the bed.
“Hey, sugar. I’ve been worried sick about you.”
Jake looked horrible, his left eye swollen shut and a gash along his hairline held together by five stitches. His right arm was in a sling and at least five colored wires disappeared into the neck of his hospital gown, all attached to various monitors that beeped and pinged in a mechanical serenade.
“Oh my God, Jake.” Despite her resolve to be strong, she burst into tears.
Jake tugged on her hand and coaxed her out of the chair. He patted the bed. “Sit but be gentle. This is the leg that has to heal.” He removed the oxygen hose from his nose.
She was too distraught to speak. She perched on the edge of the bed and when he tucked his hand behind her neck and urged her close, she cried on his chest. Through the breakdown, Jake smoothed her hair and reassured her he was fine and everything would be okay. Finally, she sat up, only then realizing that all four men remained in the room although they’d had the decency to step toward the rear. Now that they were felons, privacy was no longer an option.
Jake’s thumb swiped the last bit of tears from her cheeks. “Feel better?” She nodded and he handed her a tissue. “Blow.” She felt imminently better once her airways were cleared.
“They tell me you’re ready to try out for NASCAR, although Demond is quite upset that you wrecked his car. He’s facing a lot of paperwork because of you. But don’t worry, I might be able to pull a few strings with the boss.”
She shook her head, speechless. How could he joke when they were both facing criminal charges? “I didn’t have a choice. Vincent was getting away. I had to stop him. I thought you were dead.”
Jake moved the hair behind her ears. “Why didn’t you run away when you had the chance?”
“I was running away when somehow Vincent’s men found me. You made me so mad when you didn’t believe me about the bank robberies.”
“But you had a second chance to get away after you got out of the warehouse. Instead, you turned yourself in.”
She glanced over her shoulder at the men listening to every word of her private confession but there was nothing to be done about it, “I realized I’m in love with you and I couldn’t leave without at least trying to save you. I thought if I disappeared, in time I’d forget you but I know now that was foolish. I don’t think I’ll ever forget you.”
Jake placed his hand on his chest. “I’m crushed, Kenna. You love me and you run away from me? That’s not how it’s supposed to work, sugar.”
From behind, one of the men spoke. “It wouldn’t have helped anyway, miss. Jake’s like a bad dream. He keeps coming back. We’ve tried to get rid of him and it doesn’t happen.” The men chuckled.
So, he’d been arrested before. No wonder they all seemed so familiar.
Jake sighed. “Mackenna, let me introduce you to this crew.” One by one he named them, prefacing each with the title special agent. “You already know Agent Crews.” He squeezed her hand. “Time you knew me too. Special Agent Jake Manettia of the Alabama Field Office, here on assignment in Brighton City.”
Her eyes widened and her breathing stopped. “I knew it! I knew you were some kind of a cop.” She swatted the arm that wasn’t injured. “Damn you, you lied to me. The whole time, it was all a pretense to prove I was a bank robber. And you slept with me. Isn’t that some kind of ethics violation? I’ll sue you or something. You used me, you bastard.”
Jake appeared surprised at her reaction, his eyes expanding. “Hold on a minute, honey. You have it all wrong. My assignment had nothing to do with you.”
“I don’t believe you.” She eased off the bed, using the wheelchair to steady herself. “And to think I thought I loved you. How could I be so stupid?”
Agent Crews’ harsh words silenced her. “Where are you going, Miss McElroy. You’re still in my custody. I suggest you hear the man out.”
She regarded the stern faces on all four men and looked at Jake, whose mouth edged up in a smile. “Come sit here again, sugar, and let me explain. And then if you want to walk away from me, no one in this room will stop you.”
Really? They would let a suspected bank robber saunter out the door just because Jake suggested it. She didn’t believe it. Nevertheless, she perched on the edge of the bed again.
“I came here six months ago to work the public corruption case at City Hall. I worked undercover as a bagman, which is why you saw me being arrested that day when we finally made our sweep. When I arrived here, I had no idea Mackenna McElroy existed and if it wasn’t for a twist of fate that planted me in your bank the day you were robbed, we might have never met.” Tentatively he extended his hand and she slid hers into it.
“I wasn’t there as an agent, Kenna, only as a customer. I was an extra set of eyes once my colleagues arrived. But when an agent is undercover, it’s imperative that his cover be maintained no matter what. So they treated me like everyone else.
“It was a coincidence that I ran into you at the coffee shop later that day. You looked so helpless and, I admit, I struck up a conversation with you to feel you out about the robbery.” He shrugged. “Once an agent, always an agent, I guess. But I did feel sorry for you, which is why I showed up at your bank the next day to check on you. Well, sorry might not be the right word. You’re damn attractive and I couldn’t stop thinking about you. That was the man, not the agent.”
Her heart fluttered. She’d fallen in love with the man, not the FBI agent.
“I was riding my bike one day when a car drove off the road in front of me and I helped rescue the driver, who turned out to be Vincent Cabacolli, from the mob family.” Mackenna gasped. Now she recalled the rumors associated with the name. The Cabacolli family was one of the biggest, most dangerous crime syndicates in the state.
“I see you know the name. I literally fell into the opportunity to make some inroads into the Cabacolli organization and it was a chance the Bureau couldn’t pass up. Running into you at the supermarket when Vinny saw us was an unfortunate accident, and one that ended up endangering you. For that I’m sorry.
“It was Vinny’s interest in you that kept you on my radar.” His cheeks reddened. “Well, that’s not exactly true. I was interested too. But I was worried about you, especially after I learned about Arthur and your boss. And you kept ending up the target teller in a string of bank robberies.”
“Jake, I swear to you. I had nothing to do with those robberies. I know it looks bad but you have to believe me.”
Again, a voice from behind spoke. “We know that now, Miss McElroy,” Agent Crews said.
She twisted to see his face and the wide smile etched on it.
“But I admit,” Agent Crews said, “I didn’t at first. Jake was the one who kept pleading your case.”
She clutched his hand with her other hand. “You believed me all the time?”
Jake nodded. “I did, sugar, but I’m a federal agent. I had to prove it. That’s why I kept questioning you, forcing you to relive the robberies. I hoped you’d remember something that would give me a lead.”
She contemplated his words. “So, all along, you were just trying to solve another case?”
Jake laughed. “No, ma’am. Somewhere in there I fell in love with you, which only made matters more difficult. I’m not sure what I would’ve done if it turned out you were a robber. I want you in my bed for the rest of your life, not some prison cell.”
Burning fire crept up her cheeks. Such an admission in front of four colleagues embarrassed her.
Jake laughed again. “Don’t blush, sugar. We Southern men aren’t afraid to love our women and don’t care who knows it.”
“So, I’m no longer a suspect?”
Agent Crews stepped forward. “No, ma’am. We traced the deposits in your account back to the bank manager, Ted Gleaner, and established an association between him and the Cabacolli family. He laundered the money they made illegally through various bank accounts, usually belonging to seniors who aren’t too diligent about checking their activity. It was you who led us to him. If you hadn’t mentioned his attempts to sexually exploit you, I might never have made the connection. He was careless with you. You must have pissed him off.”
She shook her head. “No, Agent Crews. That was all Jake’s doing.”
The men laughed and nodded and the weight of the world lifted off of her shoulders. They believed her. She was free. Tears filled her eyes when she looked at Jake.
“Is Mr. Gleaner under arrest?”
Jake nodded. “For complicity in the bank robberies and sexual harassment. What he did to you won’t be ignored.”
Another burden lifted. No more Mr. Gleaner.
“Is that why Vincent abducted me? Because of his alliance with Mr. Gleaner?”
Jake sighed again. “No, that was my fault too and again, I’m sorry for that.”
“I don’t understand.”
“We always suspected that the Cabacolli family had a mole somewhere. It turned out to be a federal judge who tipped him off about my true identity after the City Hall arrests. Vincent used you to get to me. He knew I’d come if you were in danger. Only he underestimated me and what I’d do to save you. For that matter, he underestimated you and what you’d do to help me. You knew you were wanted by the FBI and yet you turned yourself in. That took guts.”
Agent Crews mumbled, “So did ramming my car into the side of his.”
The comment eased the serious tone in the room and everyone laughed.
For the first time in as long as she could remember, Mackenna looked forward to tomorrow.
“So what happens now?”
Jake grinned. “Well, my assignments here are done until I have to testify in court months from now. I’ll need that time to recover and my mama has already ordered me to come back home so she can pamper me. I admit I’m ready.”
Mackenna’s stomach twisted. Jake planned to leave town.
“I’d like you to come home with me. She’s going to love you. You can get a bank job in Alabama if you want but I have other plans for you.”
Her heart soared. “What kind of plans?”
Now, Jake reached for her head and drew her close so he could whisper in her ear. “First, I’d like you to go off those birth control pills. And then, I’d like to make an honest woman of you, maybe even turn you into a Southern belle.” His lips grazed hers in a tender kiss that promised so much more.
Feet shuffled behind them and Agent Crews cleared his throat. “I have some paperwork to catch up on, and a person of interest’s name to clear.” He winked at Mackenna as the other agents left the room.
“We’ll keep a guard on both of you until all of the Cabacolli soldiers are in custody. Just to be safe. Miss McElroy, you’ll have to let us know where you’re staying.”
She grinned. “I’m staying right here with Jake. Just to make things easier for you.”
Agent Crews laughed. “Jake, after all you’ve put this poor woman through, at least tell this girl you love her for all the world to hear.”
Jake sat up straight, winced at the pain and wrapped his arm around Mackenna’s shoulder. “I love you, sugar, with all my heart. I’ll spend the rest of my life making all this up to you if you let me.”
Agent Crews nodded at Mackenna, urging her to respond.
“I love you too, Jake. And I think I’ll let you do that.”