Heart in Wire: A by a Thread Companion Novel (11 page)

“George! Stop, get up!” Patrick yelled, grabbing Jamie and trying to separate them again.

Billy started yelling at El to help and Billy once again tried to wrap his arms around George to stop him from swinging at Jamie.

She ran and put her face right in the line of George’s fist. “George, that’s enough.” She put her hand on his arm. “George, please.”

George raised his torso up from pummeling Jamie’s face. He was straddling Jamie and had blood splattered all over him; Jamie’s face looked like hell.

“This is nowhere close to enough,” George said between clenched teeth.

It looked like he was about to throw another punch, but Patrick and Billy were finally able to separate Jamie from him, pulling him away from George and escorting him roughly down the block. Patrick was shocked that Jamie would just show up at their house with Millie there. He took a glance over his shoulder to see her standing on the sidewalk, watching George and El, who were getting on George’s motorcycle. Her brows were pulled together in a scowl.

“That was fucking stupid, Jamie,” Patrick said calmly.

Billy was dragging Jamie down the sidewalk, farther and farther away from their house. Patrick could almost hear the gears working in Billy’s mind.

“Jamie, you’re some dumb fuck. Why would you come to our home? You’ve just crossed the only friends you may have had here,” Billy said, giving Patrick a look telling him to play along.

Jamie grinned and his mouth was full of blood, his front left tooth missing. “I
will
kill her, you know. I wanted her to come back to me, but she wants that asshole.”

“That asshole just beat the fuck out of you,” Patrick pointed out, taking in Jamie’s appearance. He hadn’t seen him in about five years. He looked nothing like he did when Patrick had dropped him off at the airport all those years ago. He was rail thin with a full beard and bleached blond hair hanging past his shoulders. The worst part was that Jamie’s eyes were vacant; they used to be warm and full of humor.

Billy stopped walking. “Where you staying, fuckface? You need to get to a doctor and I know Patrick won’t put you in his car.”

“Aw, Billy you’re going to take care of me?” Jamie whined, spitting blood out on Patrick’s shoe.

“Not at all, asshole.” Billy stepped back, separating himself from Jamie. “We only stopped that because El doesn’t need to have her boyfriend going to jail for killing you.”

Blood dripped from Jamie’s face and fell onto Patrick’s hands. It was warm. Patrick examined his hands and Jamie’s blood on them.
Maybe he should try reason.
“Jamie, what’re you doing, man? It doesn’t have to be this way.”

“Oh, but it does, my two best friends. Oh, but it does.” He began walking away from them and toward the house, stopping after a few steps and spitting out a red glob of blood. He turned and looked at them both. “You know, she testified and then went back to a hotel and fucked his brains out, like she didn’t even care. She left me in Key West to die. I’m more resourceful than she gives me credit for, but she’s a cold bitch.”

“You did that to her,” Billy said harshly.

Patrick nodded in agreement.

A smile spread across Jamie’s bloody face and mouth. “The funny thing is we’re still perfect for each other, you know? Perfectly fucked up.”

Patrick shook his head in disbelief. “What happened to you?”

“What the fuck do you think happened to me during four years undercover, Patrick?” Jamie laughed, almost maniacally, and then grimaced. “While you were trying to get in her panties, I was trying to survive. Every. Fucking. Day.” Jamie walked backwards, glaring at Patrick.

Millie moved out of his way as he stalked back into their driveway and got into the Toyota Camry that was parked there.

Billy touched Patrick’s bicep to keep him where he was. “Let him go.”

Patrick cocked his head to the side in question, now watching Millie watch Jamie get in his car. He wondered if she’d heard what he’d said.

“We have to do something,” Patrick hissed as he wiped the blood on his shirt and the sweat from his brow.

“We will.”

Patrick walked quickly up the sidewalk and pulled Millie into his chest. She didn’t deserve to be pulled into this shitstorm just because she lived with him. He’d protect her too.

“Who was that, Patrick?” Millie’s voice shook subtly.

“Some fucking guy that George used to know. Undoubtedly he got El’s old address off the internet and just showed up. I guess they had some shit to work out.”

“Some shit to work out,” she repeated robotically. “That looked like way more than shit to work out. It looked like George was going to kill him.”

Patrick nodded. “I’m pretty sure he was going to kill him.” He got the feeling that Millie didn’t hear what Jamie had to say about El.
Thank God.

“That’s insane.” Millie shook her head and followed Billy into the house. “Was it the guy that his former fiancé cheated on him with?” she asked.

“Maybe…” Patrick answered.
He was a liar.

Two weeks later, an almost 100% healed Jamie/Jack walked back into to ATF headquarters, but on a different floor from Patrick. Patrick had heard rumblings of something big going on, but he busy completing reports on new recruits and couldn’t be bothered with office gossip.

“Greer,” he heard his supervisor call from his office.

Patrick looked up from the computer in his cubicle to where Kevin’s office was located. He was standing in the door with a blank face, which was never a good thing. Patrick stood up immediately, knowing something was amiss. He took in his surroundings as he walked to Kevin’s office. People were walking around and gossiping more than usual, no one was at their desk. He took one last look and saw David, a fellow agent, wave him towards his desk. Patrick shook his head at David as he entered Kevin’s office. The door clicked ominously behind him.

“Sit down,” Kevin barked.

Patrick racked his brain trying to recall if he’d fucked anything up recently, but couldn’t think of anything significant.

Kevin huffed out a sigh and then sat behind his desk; the view from his window was the Pentagon. Patrick stared out out the window for a few seconds while Kevin shuffled papers on his desk. He wished he had a fucking window at his desk.

Kevin was older than Patrick, his brown hair had a little of salt and pepper beginning to form around his temples. They weren’t close, but he’d been Patrick’s supervisor for a number of years and had always watched Patrick’s back. Kevin had been married and divorced twice since Patrick began working for the agency and he often talked to Patrick about how the work was the biggest bone of contention in both marriages. He was on 24/7 and it got to be a little much for females not used to the lifestyle.

Kevin pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, so this is a clusterfuck.”

Now Patrick was really paying attention.

“Jack has been located,” Kevin said levelly. “He contacted his new handler and they pulled him in. Undoubtedly, he’s been on the run for the past year, but the Crowders, the family he’d infiltrated, caught up with him recently in North Carolina and put a beating on him. He’s back in the building and I wanted to give you a heads up.”

“Wait.” Patrick’s mind was reeling, trying to take in the information. It took him a minute to realize who Kevin was actually talking about. “Jack? You mean Jamie?”

“There is no more Jamie Rivers, Burns made sure of that.” Kevin looked out the window like an answer was going to float in and solve his problem.

“So…he’s been on the run,” Patrick confirmed.
Liar.

Kevin nodded. “That’s what they say.”

“But one of the Crowder guys found him. What happened?”

“I don’t have all the details, I just know that Jack got away. He’s in a safe house here in DC while the boys upstairs figure out what the hell we’re going to do with him.”

The “boys upstairs” were the Director and Deputy Director of the ATF, the General Counsel for the agency, and several other suits. So Jamie had told them he got beat up because the group he was undercover with had found him. Patrick was reeling. Jamie was a smart, sick fuck.

“What do you mean?” A weird buzzing feeling traveled up Patrick’s spine, followed by heat spreading through his body. The ATF was going to protect him. They believed him.
FUCK
.

“Well, he’s going to testify against one of the biggest gun traffickers in the U.S., so they’re going to hide him until the trial—that could be years.” Kevin leaned back in his chair and looked at Patrick.

“Fuck,” Patrick muttered under his breath. This made things more difficult.

“I know you’re pissed about how all this went down and I just wanted to give you a heads up that he’ll be around here.”

“Why?”

“Why do I want to give you a heads up?”

“No, why would he be around here if we’re hiding him?”

“Oh, we’re getting all the information we can from him. So he’ll be in from time to time to be interviewed and that sort of thing.”

“How long?” Patrick rubbed his temples with his thumb and forefinger.

“What?” Kevin asked, distracted by an email he’d started reading.

Patrick stood up to leave. “How long will he be around?”

“Oh, I’m not sure.”

Patrick pulled his phone out as he left Kevin’s office and texted Billy. It was 11:15 am, they could meet for an early lunch and start planning.

Meet me at Pentagon row

Billy responded.

Not convenient

Patrick responded even quicker.

El

Billy responded.

Where

Patrick told him to meet him at the Thai restaurant and the time. He drove over to the restaurant and parked, walking and thinking about the steps they needed to take. They would have to take Jamie out, they both knew that much, now it was just a matter of how they’d do it. Could they work some angle with the ATF and expose him without putting El in danger? Would they have to hire someone to kill him at his safe house? Maybe they could somehow lead it back to the Crowders… All these thoughts swirled around his mind as he walked to Thaiphoon, Millie’s favorite Thai restaurant. He knew he’d beat Billy there, but didn’t want to sit and wait for him, so he paced the entire outside mall area. He walked up and down, waiting for the one person in his life that knew everything about him. The one person he trusted more than himself.

Billy rounded the corner with a shit-eating grin on his face, which looked on the outside carefree, but Patrick knew better. He was ready to attack. It was his game face. Patrick nodded and they walked into the restaurant, each ordering a stiff drink for lunch and waiting patiently for the server to bring them.

Patrick raised his for a toast. “Well, Jack Ryder has been on the run and was recently located by one of the guys from the group he was under with and while this mysterious guy beat the shit out of him, Jack was able to escape.”

“Wow, he’s unbelievably talented,” Billy mocked.

“Now the ATF has him in a safe house and will be using him to take down the entire operation.”

“Well, that’s a plan,” Billy said and took a sip of his drink.

“El is trying to get him arrested by the FBI. The FBI doesn’t even know who he is, so it won’t work.”

“You need to let her do it her way, Patrick,” Billy urged, softly but firmly. “This isn’t your battle to fight.”

“Isn’t it?” Patrick responded.

“No, it’s not.” Billy rolled his glass in his hands. “Listen, Patrick, I know that you feel extremely guilty about what happened with El, but it wasn’t your fault. Jamie did this. Jamie and the ATF. This was out of your control.”

“I should’ve told her.”

“It’s easy to see that now, man.”

Patrick’s guilt fueled him; he didn’t know how to feel about her without it. “I know you may not understand this, but I need to help her do this. I need to help protect her because I couldn’t do it that first year.”

“You helped her survive; she knows that. Even as mad as she is at you, you were the only one who helped her make it through that first year without Jamie.”

“It wasn’t just me.”

“Who else was it?” Billy took a gulp of his drink. “It wasn’t her fucking parents. I still don’t get how they just left her here. They never even bothered to make sure she was okay.”

“It wasn’t like that. I spoke with her dad or mom every day. I was trying to let her be okay. She didn’t want to talk to them, so I made sure they knew she was okay.”

“But Patrick, she wasn’t okay.”

“Well, sometimes I’m not okay, but I don’t need my fucking mom to come help things; it’d just be worse. It seemed like it wouldn’t help her to lean on her parents and she didn’t want to talk to anyone who knew her with Jamie. I was trying to help… I just wanted to fucking help.”

“Sorry.” Billy shook his head. “I’m sorry, man, I didn’t mean to bring all this up. I just wanted you to know this isn’t your fault and it’s not your responsibility to save her or fix her…or love her.”

Patrick looked down at the ice cubes in his glass and said nothing. The problem was that he wanted to save her, to fix her, to love her. Mostly he wanted her with him, in his life. He just needed to figure out a way to fix this. If things were meant to be like he thought, it would happen. It had to happen.