Chapter 17
The trip was fast and furious and done almost in complete silence. At least for the first five minutes. Then Sienna ran communications between Ice and Rhodes. By the time they hit the outskirts of the city, the plan was for Levi’s team to meet up two blocks on the other side of the hotel. They were running ten minutes early as Rhodes pulled in to rendezvous with Levi and the others. Rhodes grabbed his phone and called Alfred. “What did you see?”
Rhodes held the phone slightly away from his ear so Sienna could hear.
“Two snipers, one each top right second floor and top left third.”
She stared at Rhodes in horror.
“What’s in the parking lot?”
“One dark sedan,” Alfred said. “Quite possibly belongs to Robert himself.”
“Did you recognize any faces?” Rhodes asked.
“No. But we’re running what we have through facial recognition. Can’t get decent images yet.”
“Okay, we’re a couple blocks away, about to set plans into motion.” He turned to stare out the window.
“One more thing,” Alfred continued. “Bullard checked in. Warehouse was full of weapons. He sent a warning. Now that the cache has been seized, the police are all over J. R. Wilson’s ass.” He paused. “In other words these men are prepared to do anything to get away.”
“Got it. We’ll call with an update as soon as we can. Record everything, will you?” He pocketed his phone, turned to look at Sienna and asked, “You ready?”
She let her breath rush out and said, “At least for this part.”
The plan was simple. The other two vehicles would park here, and the men would take positions inside and out of the hotel. Levi, Rhodes, and Sienna would appear for the meeting. Simple with not a whole lot of options. Only this time they were going in Levi’s truck, just the three of them driving in to the hotel parking lot. She stared down at her hands, not surprised to see the fine tremor working its way through her fingers. This was not exactly how she’d expected to spend her evening. She just hoped to hell there would be a night after, not the endless one she suspected was the plan for her.
She ran her fingers over her face to still the panic erupting inside. They all had weapons, and for the first time, she wondered if she’d rather have one too. She was completely defenseless. She understood the risks of arming an untrained person. Maybe Rhodes would teach her. She really didn’t want to be in this kind of situation again and not have any skills. She knew Ice was hell on wheels with many weapons. Wouldn’t it be nice if Sienna could at least learn some of that?
Also, considering her free time while living and working at the compound, maybe she could convince somebody to give her some martial arts practice—something she’d really like to get back to. Maybe she hadn’t forgotten all of it. Surely if she got into a wrestling match with these guys, it would come back to her.
The vehicle was parked in front of the hotel as they had been told. Levi drove around until he was facing back out again, and pulled up at a cross angle to the vehicle.
Nobody moved.
“Do I get out?” Sienna asked in a low voice.
“Not yet. Wait until we see Robert, alive.”
The passenger and driver side doors of the sedan opened. The man on the far side got out first. She didn’t recognize him. The driver hopped out, and she didn’t recognize him either. They were followed by two more muscle men.
Then the rear passenger door was opened on the far side. Robert got out. A very disabled, bloodied Robert. She caught back her small cry. “Oh, my God. Did they have to hurt him like that?” She opened her door and stepped out.
And then she stopped when she saw the man walking toward her. “Bobby?” She stared at the man who’d brought her coffee, delivered her the printer she needed, and anything else for those hours she’d been at the DA’s office. And something else clicked. Bobby was short for Robert, and she sighed. “R.F. by any chance?”
He looked at her in confusion. “What are you talking about?
“Your last name, does it start with an F?” she snapped as she walked toward them.
Rhodes walked at her side, his arm holding her back. She could feel her anger rising inside. These bullies with a need to inflict pain on everybody had to be taken down.
Bobby frowned and replied, “Yes, but how the hell would you know that?”
She snorted. “You really are stupid, aren’t you? Did you have to hurt Robert? Did you break his bones just for your own satisfaction?”
“I had to do what I had to do. With Wilson’s operation now compromised, and you two meddling into things, I had to make a run for it. The gunrunning was a great way to make cash. The drugs were ugly but necessary. I’ve wanted to get out for a long time. Now I have to. The only way to do that is to make sure I don’t leave any threads behind. And that means the three of you.”
“Sorry for upsetting your plans.” She gave him a saccharine smile to let him know she was anything but. In truth, she wanted to reach out and smack him, but Rhodes was being very particular about keeping her at his side. She didn’t understand why, but he was too strong for her to argue with. She shot him a harsh look as if to tell him to leave her alone. She had another question for Bobby. “How did you lose the pages to the ledger?”
“Shut up, bitch. You think you’re so smart, but that had nothing to do with me. Goddamn J. R. Wilson. He didn’t even notice after a meeting at the bank in Africa. That man’s a mess. That stupid IT kid ripped out the ledger pages, then tried to blackmail us. We didn’t even have a solution worked out for him yet. Hopefully you’ll nail his ass to the wall too,” Bobby snapped. “Not that it matters to you. You don’t know anything.”
He raised his hand to the sky, instinctively she ducked.
And he dropped his arm as if he were starting a race.
Rhodes held her tight against him. And she realized he’d been expecting snipers to fire. She straightened and faced Bobby. With more bravado than she felt, she sneered. “What exactly is that surprise you’ve got for me?”
He glared at her, raised his arm and dropped it once more.
Nothing happened.
“Missing something?” Rhodes asked.
Levi, now standing on the other side of Sienna, said, “We thought we’d even the odds and take out your snipers.”
Bobby’s face hardened into a cruel laugh. “You didn’t think I came with just those two, did you?”
Instantly gunfire erupted all around them.
Rhodes grabbed Sienna and tucked her behind the truck. She dropped to the ground instinctively.
“Roll under,” Rhodes ordered as he pulled out a gun and fired over the truck bed. Shots came from the left and behind.
“Shit.”
She twisted underneath the truck to look at him. “Rhodes, you hurt?”
He shifted into a squatting position and fired again.
“Stop right there,” Bobby snapped in a hard voice. And he had a rifle aimed right at Rhodes’s back.
“Stand up slowly and throw the gun on the ground.”
Shit! … She didn’t know what she should do. She watched as Rhodes slowly straightened. All around them the gunfire slowed down.
Levi yelled out, “Leave my men alone, and I’ll leave yours alone.”
“Like hell. This is the asshole who knocked out my men in the garage. I had to shoot them because of him.”
Rhodes snorted. “You were just looking for an excuse to kill them anyway.”
“They were sloppy. Stupidly so.” The rifle butt jammed in Rhodes’s back this time, making him gasp.
And that was when she saw the gun tucked into Rhodes’s boot. His pant leg was caught over the top of it. But Bobby didn’t know. She heard him say something else but her gaze was on that handle. Her hand snaked out, lifted the gun free. She was under the truck, no one the wiser. Yet.
Except for Rhodes. He knew what she’d done.
She stared at the gun in her hand.
Beside the truck, so close to her, Bobby said, “Get down on your knees, asshole.”
She watched as Rhodes slowly lowered to the ground beside her. And realized she didn’t have time for decisions here. She flipped sideways so she could see the man, lifted the gun and pointed at his chest.
Then pulled the trigger.
The sound of the gun firing echoed in the silence.
For a long moment no one moved. Bobby slowly sank to his knees and fell over sideways. Rhodes spun, kicked the gun away from the man, then turned and dragged her out from under the truck, pulling her to her feet. He grabbed her, held her tight against him and whispered against her ear, “Thank God, you’re safe.”
She threw her arms around his neck and held him close. “You mean, thank God, you’re safe.” With a half laugh, she pulled back, placed her hands on his cheeks and kissed him hard. “When he put that gun to your back and told you to go down on your knees …” She kissed him again. “I was so scared.”
He stepped back and glared at her. “What were you thinking?”
She laughed. “That I didn’t want to lose you.” And she again hugged him tight. Over her shoulder she could see Levi, standing guard on two other men. The two other compound vehicles raced in and came to a sudden stop. Everybody hopped out.
Ice raced over to Robert, leaning against the car. She had her med kit with her but called out, “Somebody call 911. Robert needs an ambulance now.”
Not that they needed to worry. All the gunshots had alerted somebody. Sirens already raced toward them. But that would be the cops, and they needed medical help for Robert. Sienna pulled out her phone and quickly dialed it in. She patted Rhodes on the shoulder and walked over to help Ice. She crouched down in front of Robert, now lying on the ground with Ice beside him.
“Robert, how you feeling?”
He rolled his head to look at her and said, “You got my message, I see.”
“I did. But this asshole phoned Levi anyway within a few minutes. Still, you gave us just that much of a warning.”
He closed his eyes. “Good. I worked with Bobby for ten years. Ten long years and I had no idea.”
“When you’re back on your feet, you can rip his sorry life apart. He’s dead, so he won’t be going to jail. But a lot of other people were involved in this mess. Like J. R. Wilson. Bobby’s statement should help to nail his ass to the wall.”
Robert gave a broken laugh. “I can’t wait.”
Rhodes came and collected Sienna as the cops came roaring into the parking lot. Levi stepped forward and quickly explained the issue. Including the identification of Robert as the Dallas DA. At his name the place erupted into organized chaos.
The ambulance arrived five minutes later. While she watched, Robert was quickly loaded into the back of the vehicle and driven off. She turned to face Rhodes. “Should somebody go with him?”
Rhodes shook his head. “I believe he has a married daughter in this area. The police will be calling her. She’ll likely make it to the hospital shortly after the ambulance.”
Sienna said, “I hope so. At times like this, nobody should be alone.”
The last thing she wanted was for the man who’d done so much for his city to recuperate on his own. As she glanced back at the cops all around the place, she realized it would be another long night. “I guess there’s no chance in hell we’ll get to bed anytime soon, is there?”
“Nope. It’ll be a while.”
*
And he was right. It was. But it could’ve been so much worse. Still, it was another three hours before they drove into the compound once again. Alfred and the other two women met them at the door.
Alfred took one look and said, “To bed, all of you.”
Rhodes wouldn’t argue with that. He was beat. But he made sure he didn’t go alone. He grabbed Sienna’s hand and headed for the elevator. At his suite, he didn’t even give her a chance to comment as he dragged her inside. He closed and locked the door and said, “Sleep. All I need is sleep.”
She stood in the middle of the room and watched as he stripped down and collapsed on his side of the bed. She took off her clothes, tossed them on the floor and crawled into bed beside him. He lay there, resting. She reached up and kissed him. “Thank you for being you.”
His eyes popped open. “You’re welcome, but that’s a very interesting thing to say. I’m nobody special. I’m just me.”
“That’s not true. You’re a hero to me.”
He winced. “Remember, we don’t use that word.”
She reached up and placed a finger across his lips. “Levi can say whatever he wants. But for me, you’re my hero and always will be.” She threw her arms around him and kissed him hard, pressing her breasts against him, her hips cuddling his growing erection.
When he finally came up for air, he brushed his nose against hers, his heart swelling with an emotion he barely recognized. “Have I told you that I love you?”
Her gaze widened in delight. She shook her head. “No, you haven’t. But it’s a damn good thing because I love you too.”
Their gazes locked and slowly he turned his head, his warm breath washing over her as he whispered, “Maybe I was a little too quick to say I needed sleep.”
His hand slid down her back to cup her butt and tug her hard against him. “I think sleep can wait a little longer.”
And he lowered his head and kissed her, knowing for the first time what it was to make love to the woman he loved. He was a one-woman man, and Sienna was his. Forever.