Chapter 17

Jack

I made sure to put the weapons down before the police entered the office. I held my hands in front of my chest and was relieved when I saw Emma mirror my motions.

The police wasted little time entering, guns drawn. They ordered us to hold still as they proceeded to pick up the weapons scattered around the office. I risked a glance at the woman beside me and could see that she was spooked. Her eyes were wide, her normally tan face pale and drawn.

I was furious at what had happened. It was evident to me that someone had caught Emma following them and had returned the favor. They’d pursued her back to the office and had come charging in to do God knew what.

The cops divided us to take our statements. I started from the beginning, informing them of our contract with Dexter Jansen, and of the suspicions I’d had. I told him about the photos, showed them to the cops, and then ran them through the events at the movie theater earlier.

The officer I was speaking to seemed to agree with my assessment: Emma had been followed back to the office. He said they were familiar with two of the men who were now handcuffed in the back of squad cars. They were hired goons of a notorious crime family who’d recently increased their operations in Savannah.

He requested I email the photos to his captain, then informed me that they’d already been investigating Councilman Drake for his role in some recent no-bid contracts. When I showed him the photo of the ledger, he asked me to send that as well, saying they would share their findings with the FBI.

The office door opened and Smith and his son strode in. The officer stationed at the door tried to stop them from entering the crime scene, but Smith was having none of it and finally the cop backed down.

Smith headed straight for his daughter, who was being interviewed by two officers a few desks away. He pulled his little girl into his arms and started barking out questions. Matt wasn’t far behind, putting an arm around Emma’s shoulders.

I let out a breath. “Are we about done here?”
The officer nodded. “I bet these assholes rue the day they ever got mixed up with Delta Force.”

“Ex-Delta Force,” I corrected, pulling on my jacket.

“I’ll likely be calling you in for more questions before this thing goes to trial.”

I nodded, heading towards the door. With one last glance at Emma over my shoulder, I pushed my way out of the office and into the parking lot.

The light had faded, afternoon becoming evening when I was wasn’t looking. The rain still came down, but it was back to a chilly drizzle. The drive home was uneventful, and I tried to find my center, tried to push down the adrenalin that was still making my hands shake.

I’d been so terrified during the fight. Those bastards had followed Emma. What if I hadn’t been there? What if she’d gone home, or somewhere else, instead of the office? They would have done God knows what with her, and I wouldn’t have been able to do a goddamn thing to stop them.

I entered my condo and didn’t bother to turn on the lights. Instead of hitting the shower, I went directly to the bedroom and my shitty floor mattress. I collapsed onto it, my face pressed to the pillow. My heart was still beating a mile a minute, and none of the training I’d had on meditation could make it calm down.

When I finally drifted off to sleep, the nightmare attacked me. It was the same, over and over. The quiet town square. The woman in black who smiles at me. The explosion. The carnage. The end of my sanity.

It was before dawn when I finally gave up on sleep. A hot shower did little to chase away the ghosts of the night before. I was sitting at my kitchen table, the one that had only one chair, nursing a lukewarm cup of coffee, when I heard a knock at my door.

I opened the door, squinting into the newly risen sun. Emma stood there, bundled up in a thick coat. Her eyes were puffy, her face wan.

I couldn’t think of anything else to say, so I said, “What are you doing here?”

“We need to talk. Can I come in?”

I stood aside, letting her enter. As she walked into the living room, I felt a sudden burst of shame. Here I was, in the middle of my empty condo, a reflection of the empty life I was leading.

I expected her to comment on the sad state of my place, but instead she ignored her surroundings. “What happened last night?”

I wasn’t sure how to respond. It took me a minute, to gather my thoughts and find a place of calm. “I stopped the bad guys from hurting you.” It sounded lame when I said it.

She nodded, though, and I felt a little better. “And I appreciate that. Truly I do. But I’m talking about after that.” Emma crossed her arms over her chest. “You freaked out on those guys, and I could tell you wanted to hurt them, even after they were down.”

I remained still. I couldn’t deny her words. I had wanted to stomp each of them to pieces for even considering harming my precious Emma. They’d gotten off easy, every one of them.

“And...” she said, her voice turning small, making my insides ache. “After, you just...left.”

I moved closer, her words knocking lose something inside me. She looked up at me, her golden eyes shining with the makings of tears. “Talk to me, Jack,” she whispered. “Tell me what’s going on.”

I had held the memory inside for so long, I didn’t think it could ever be released from its prison. But when she held those eyes on me, when she was close enough to feel my warmth, suddenly the words were beating a path to my mouth.

“On my last assignment, we’d been stationed in a small desert town, one that had been threatened repeatedly by insurgents. It was a simple town of no real importance, other than it sat at the convergence point of several forces, ours and the enemy’s.”

I ran a hand through my hair, feeling myself transported back to that hot day in the desert sun. “Our unit was the only thing keeping the bad guys from overrunning the town, taking the women and either killing the men or forcing them to join the enemy.”

Every day I’d taken my turn in the central square, watching for signs of danger. “One day, I’d been in position near the middle of town, like almost every other day, and was watching the comings and goings of the locals.”

One local in particular always had attracted my attention. She was the village leader’s wife, a nice older woman with a kind smile. Her smile was just about the only thing of hers I could see, since she was covered nearly head to toe in black fabric.

“I’d just nodded to the village leader’s wife, who came to the square every day to buy fresh fruits from a stall there, when I heard a sound that was out of the ordinary. Before I could identify its origins, a car parked next to the fruit stall exploded.”

I hated to continue, but now that I’d gone this far, I couldn’t stop the words that came out of me. “It was...horrible. A ball of fire rolled upwards into the sky, and shrapnel from the exploding car flew at bullet speed around the square. Several locals were injured.”

“And the village leader’s wife?” Emma’s voice was soft as she asked.

“Dead.”

She’d been the only death that day, luckily. Even the fruit seller had lived, as had those who had caught pieces of shrapnel. The only person to lose her life had been the woman whose eyes had showed a kindness he’d seldom seen.

Eyes like Emma’s. Full of compassion and warmth.

“The village leader had blamed our troops for the explosion, saying our presence there was making things worse. Despite our best arguments, he insisted that our unit leave. Our ranking officer had finally gotten tired of fighting it and we pulled out.”

I closed my eyes at the memory. “The town was overrun a week later.”

When I opened my eyes, Emma was staring up at me. She approached, laying a soft hand on my shoulder. The understanding in her eyes floored me, and I almost broke down, almost fell to my knees and buried my face in her midsection.

But now was not the time to expose my pain fully. She’d asked me what was going on, and I’d told her. Now that she knew about my failure, my inability to keep the woman in the desert safe, she’d have to realize how little control I had over circumstances.

I’d almost lost her, just like the woman I’d been sworn to protect. And the fear her being hurt or worse had been so enormous that I’d nearly lost my mind. I’d wanted to kill, to maim, to make sure that no one ever considered harming her again.

“You should go,” I croaked. “Back to your father and brother. They can keep you safe.” I shook my head, shrugging out from under the hand on my shoulder. “I can’t say the same.”