CrossFire (Love & Lies #1) (13 page)

“Put your hands up,” a blonde-haired muscle shouted when Reid had stopped the car. Reid did as he asked. The door was opened for him to climb out while the other guy did a walk around the car, making sure that Reid had indeed come unaccompanied. When he was satisfied, he patted Reid down as predicted while the blonde kept the muzzle pointed at Reid’s head.

“Come,” the blonde ordered when they found nothing on him.

Jillian was feeling the loose spring in the couch when she heard gravel crunching in the driveway and her heart leapt. It had to be Reid.

The clock over the fireplace ticked away the seconds as Jillian waited for him to come through the front door, and when he did with hands up and two gunned men flanking him, she felt defeated. What chance did her one pistol have against these men’s weapons? There was no way they were all walking out alive, if any of them.

“Sit,” Casimir ordered from where he was still standing by the fireplace, cutting the end off of a cigar.

Reid moved to sit next to her, but one of the other men used the end of his gun to direct him to a chair across the room where the other man had sat not so long ago.

“All right,” Reid said as he sat down, giving a Jillian a quick glance. “I’m here. But you’re wasting your time because you’ll never get those codes, even if I could get my hands on them.”

“This was never about the codes,” said Casimir and Jillian watched confusion come over Reid’s face. “I knew that was a lost cause once Davies went into protection.”

“Then why take Jillian? Why come after me? Are you looking for revenge?”

Casimir cocked an eyebrow. “You think I would waste my time on something as petty as revenge?” He sat down on the couch next to Jillian and lit his cigar. She tried to scoot away from him, but didn’t have much room with her father taking up the other end of the small couch.

“You have something that may be just as valuable as a transponder and the codes to go with it.” Casimir puffed on the cigar before continuing. Jillian felt his arm slide along the back of the couch behind her, making her recoil, and when he exhaled in her face she turned her nose away.

“Don’t you—” Reid started, jumping out of his chair, but was interrupted by the butt of a gun to his abdomen. Jillian gasped and Casimir laughed.

“That is what I was hoping for,” said Casimir, leaning forward to flick his cigar on the reclaimed wood coffee table. “You see, Agent Jackson. This whole exercise has been about finding out just how much Miss Sandro means to you. How far are you willing to go to keep her safe?”

Reid’s face went white, but Jillian still wasn’t following.

“You won’t turn me,” said Reid. “You have to know I would never work for you.”

“Oh, nothing as complicated as that,” said Casimir. “I do not have the patience to keep tabs on rats the way,” he looked across Jillian to her father, “Mr. Sandro’s benefactor does.”

Baldie walked into the room and handed a hefty laptop to Casimir.

“It is simple,” Casimir said, sliding the laptop across the coffee table towards Reid. “I want you to log into your mainframe and let me download as much data as you have access to.”

And now Jillian understood. She was the bait. Casimir was asking Reid to trade her life for classified secrets. She looked at her father, who had already gone down this route, and then back to Reid, who appeared to be considering it.

“You can’t, Reid.”

Reid looked up from the computer to her and Casimir laughed.

“How sweet,” he said. “She thinks it will be that easy, doesn’t she?”

And now there was anguish in Reid’s eyes. Why was he even considering it?

“I won’t let you be a traitor like my father.” But Reid was shaking his head as she spoke. “He’ll just have to kill me now.”

Jillian had forgotten about Casimir’s arm behind her until it grabbed a fistful of hair. She screamed as he yanked her head back so fast she thought her neck would snap.

Reid tried to jump up again, only to be stopped with another blow, this time to his back. He fell forward onto the ground. Her cowardly father begged Casimir to let her go, but his words were barely audible.

“You see, Miss Sandro,” Casimir growled into her ear, “death would be a treat compared to what I could do to you.”

“I’ll do it,” Reid said, and Casimir released Jillian. She could see blood spotting his shirt where the stitches were as he climbed back up into the chair.

Jillian got up and walked around the table to him without anyone attempting to stop her.

“You can’t,” she said, crouching down beside him so as not to expose the gun on her back. “I’m not worth it. And who’s to say he isn’t going to kill us all anyway.”

Reid stood, pulling her up with him, and brushed the hair from her face. She had never seen him look so sad.

“There are things worse than death,” he said. “And he’s not afraid to go there.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Whether we live or die, we can’t give this man what he wants.”

“But he’s right. I won’t watch him torture you.”

“Enough time for this touching scene,” said Casimir. “Step out of the way, Miss Sandro.”

“Then watch my back,” she said, and had to refrain from smiling at the baffled look on his face. Jillian turned around and snatched the laptop, hugging it to her chest.

“Jillian,” Reid sighed, clearly not happy with her action.

“You think that will stop me?” Casimir laughed, just as Jillian had hoped. He didn’t see her as a threat by grabbing the computer, and she was able to get a couple steps distance between herself and everyone.

“Give me the laptop before I take it from you,” he warned.

She reached behind for the gun and pointed it right at Casimir.

“Jesus Christ, Jillian!” Reid called out.

“You’ll have to kill me to get it,” she said. “And then you lose all leverage over Reid.”

“A little girl like you isn’t going to shoot me,” said Casimir taking a stride towards her with his arms out.

“Like hell, I won’t,” she said and sent a bullet into the floor between his feet. Her aim was much better at this distance. It was enough to stop him in his tracks. It was also enough to point the other two big guns her direction, and she gave Reid a look that didn’t take him long to read.

In one swift movement, he took control of the gun closest to him, sent an elbow to the face of the man it was attached to, and got a shot off hitting the second gunned man before aiming it at the third man, whose gun was aimed right back at him.

“And what the hell did that accomplish?” Casimir asked, fuming. “If you shoot me, your precious Reid will die.”

“My man is prepared to die for his country,” she said, “as am I. Are you?” But deep down Jillian knew he was right. They were still at the same standoff as before, just a few less players. Truth was she really didn’t want to die today. And she didn’t want to lose Reid either.

But then the glass from a window shattered and the last gunman dropped, causing Jillian to panic. Her confusion must have been enough for Casimir because he knocked her to the ground in an instant, trying to wrestle the gun from her. Jillian felt it slipping from her grasp just as Casimir cried out in pain. As he rolled off of her, clutching his side, she saw Reid standing over them taking another kick at Casimir. She slid away, still holding the gun, trying to avoid the mess when Aaron barged in through the front door and stopped Reid from taking any more blows at him.

As Aaron zip tied Casimir’s wrist, Reid helped Jillian to her feet.

“Are you okay?” he asked, checking her face and body for any marks.

“I’m fine,” she said. The scuffle hadn’t been that bad.

“What the hell were you thinking? You could have gotten yourself killed!”

“He was going to kill us either way, wasn’t he?”

He pulled her against his chest and Jillian wrapped her arms around his midsection. Was it really over? She looked at Casimir, still on the floor with his hands bound behind his back. Aaron was on the phone calling in to someone when movement in the far corner of the room caught her eye. Her father was huddled there, crying again.

“You!” she cried, pushing away from Reid. “This is your fault!”

She had marched half-way across the room when Reid’s arms caught her by the waist, preventing her from getting any closer to him.

“You fucking coward!” she screamed, trying to push Reid’s arms off of her, but now he was keeping her feet from even touching the ground.

“I’m sorry,” he father sobbed as he pushed himself up to standing. “After your mother died ...”

“Don’t you bring her into this! She would have been ashamed of you. How dare you!”

Reid carried her to the door as she still struggled against him.

“Restrain him as well,” Reid said to Aaron as they walked out of the cabin where he finally set her down on the gravel.

“My own father,” she said, turning around to face him. “How could he?”

Instead of answering, Reid again pulled her into him and this time she started crying into his chest. It was all too much. The abduction, the standoff, her father’s betrayal.

“For the past ten years he’s been lying to me,” she muttered into Reid’s shirt and he rubbed her back, still not speaking. And then she remembered that her father wasn’t the only one who had been keeping secrets. She lifted her head and looked into the blue eyes that had always been so intimidating.

“Please don’t look at me like that,” said Reid.

“I guess I don’t really know any of the people in my life, do I? Not Cameron, not my father. Not even you.”

“It’s not the same with me.”

“Isn’t it?” she asked. “Half of what you’ve told me has been a lie. Where you work, where you go when you’re not here.”

“But I’ve never lied about how I feel about you. And I would never willingly put you in danger.”

Jillian didn’t doubt Reid’s words, not after everything they had just gone through, but she was so confused right now.

“I love you,” he whispered, as though sensing her thoughts.

The screen door creaked and they both looked up to see Aaron coming out.

“A team should be here in about thirty minutes,” he said.

Jillian stepped back from Reid, and with Aaron witnessing, he let her go.

“Can I go home now?” she asked.

“Afraid not,” Aaron told her. “They’re going to want to talk to you.”

She looked at Reid who nodded.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“I’ll wait in the car,” she said and trudged over to Reid’s SUV.

As she crawled into the passenger seat, she thought of Reid’s proclamation and felt bad for leaving him hanging. Deep down she knew she felt the same way, but wondered if it was enough.

Reid watched Jillian climb into the car. He knew she needed time. What she would decide to do after that, he didn’t know.

“Apology accepted, by the way,” said Aaron.

Reid looked at him. “For what?”

“For suspecting me.”

Unable to look him in the eye, Reid looked down at the dirt.

“How did you know?” he asked.

“I saw the look on your face. And because I would’ve come to the same conclusion based on the evidence.”

“I wanted to be wrong,” Reid said, finally meeting Aaron’s eye. “I’m glad I was wrong. What made you decide to come up here?”

“I figured it was where you were headed,” said Aaron. “And if you were right about someone leaking information, there was a good chance you were going to need back-up. Just because you doubted me didn’t mean I was going to leave you high and dry.”

“I’m sorry, man. I don’t know what to say.”

“Like I said. Apology accepted. So what are we going to tell the Director when she gets here?” Aaron asked.

“The truth,” Reid told him.

“You sure?”

Reid looked at Jillian sitting in his vehicle.

“Yes. No more lies.”

For the next half-hour, Jillian watched Aaron and Reid from the car. Occasionally Aaron would step into the cabin and come right back out. She figured he was checking on Casimir and Jacob. From out here it was easy to forget that her father was inside, restrained and waiting for the authorities. She wondered what would happen to him, but wasn’t ready to ask that question.

Reid kept looking back at her, frowning, and it made her heart ache. She was just about to open the door and go talk to him when a black SUV pulled up and several people jumped out. A dark sedan came in right behind it and someone opened the back door for a woman to climb out. She was dressed in a smart black pantsuit and expensive, but practical shoes.

“You’ve got some explaining to do, Agent Jackson,” she said, marching up to where he and Aaron were standing.

“Yes, Ma’am.” Despite being a good foot taller than her, Reid was visibly submissive in her presence. Jillian had no doubt this was his boss, the woman in charge.

“Where’s the girl?” the woman asked, surveying the scene.

Reid pointed at the car, and Jillian came out trembling, wondering if she was in trouble too. But as the woman approached, Jillian could see her stoic face softening.