Karma Patrol (24 page)

“Maybe it’s just coincidence.”

He didn’t sound convinced, and she wasn’t either. The more she thought about it, the more certain she was that someone was targeting her specifically. If they were, though, then why did they keep missing? She might have moved fast enough to evade injury during the sniper attack outside the Westin, but this time she’d still been out on the street when the shooting started. Luke had been grazed, but she’d escaped intact.

“Jade?”

She turned her head automatically at the sound of her name, taking a long moment to comprehend that Shannon was standing in front of the reception desk.

“Shannon,” she breathed, struggling to her feet. The other woman reached her as she took her first step forward, catching her up in a tight hug that left her breathless.

“Jade, are you all right?” Shannon pulled back a little and stared at her with those sympathetic blue eyes, searching her friend’s gaze for a sign that she was hurt.

“I’m fine,” Jade said, her voice quavering. “I—what are you doing here?”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized what must have happened. Shannon would have gotten the same imminent danger alert that all of the other Fate Divisions employees had, telling her that Jade and Luke were both in danger, and she also would have gotten the all-clear announcement that said Luke had been injured. As the Interpersonal Relations rep for Midtown West, she was responsible for looking after its soulmate pairs, and as Jade’s friend she must have been concerned about how Jade was coping.

“I came as soon as I heard,” she replied, glancing over at Aaron. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Shannon Carter, Jade’s friend.”

“Aaron Sanford,” the detective said, offering Shannon his hand. “I’m a detective with the Midtown North precinct.”

“Would you mind giving us a minute, Detective?” Shannon asked with a smile as she shook his hand, holding on a moment longer than necessary.

Aaron hid a grin. “Not at all. I’ll go see if I can find anything out about how Luke’s doing.”

Shannon watched the detective move to the other side of the waiting room and then returned her attention to her friend.

“What happened?” she demanded. “I got the imminent danger alert, but I was on the other side of Hell’s Kitchen. By the time I got to your apartment building, your locator was already on the move to the hospital.”

“It was the killer again, the same one who keeps shooting up Midtown. I think he might be trying to kill me, Shannon.”

“You? Why?”

“I keep ending up in the line of fire. I know Destiny Division has something to do with the shootings; Celia warned me specifically not to do any investigating because they’re involved, so all I’ve been doing are the basic karmic path repairs that came up as a consequence of the shootings. I think Destiny Division did some of the path repair themselves, which I appreciated at first. Now I can’t help wondering why they bothered unless there’s something more going on.”

“You don’t think they’re behind all of this, do you?” Shannon sounded appalled at the idea. “Why would Destiny Division want you dead? You’ve never caused any problems for them.”

“I’ve never had anything to do with them!” Jade exhaled heavily, flopping back down onto the couch. “I do my best to stay out of everyone’s way. All I want is to do my job.”

“Maybe Destiny Division isn’t responsible for the shootings, but I wouldn’t put it past them to be involved in the whole mess somehow and decide that you’re not important enough to protect,” Shannon said with a bitter twist of her lips.

On paper, the three branches of the Fate Divisions were equals, but in practice, Destiny Division considered itself far more important than the other two. It was an attitude that resulted in a fair amount of dislike and hurt feelings.

“That does sound like them, but I have to believe that Karma Division won’t sit idly by if someone’s trying to kill me. If it does have something to do with me, I’m sure Celia and the Bookkeeper’s people are working on it. Honestly, I’m more worried about Luke. What if the bullet he took was meant for me?”

“How badly was he hurt?”

“He was shot in the arm. It was pretty bloody, but he seemed convinced it wasn’t a big deal. Hopefully he doesn’t need surgery.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine, Jade.”

“Yes, but—Shannon, I’ve had my soulmate for less than a week and I’ve already managed to get him shot. How is he ever going to survive being paired with me?”

Shannon gave her a sympathetic hug. “It’ll work itself out,” she promised. “I’m not going to let anything come between the two of you. You’ve waited your whole life for him to turn up. You aren’t going to lose him on my watch.”

“Thanks, Shannon. I’m really glad you’re here.” She glanced down at the worn vinyl of the couch cushions, trying to figure out the best way to tell Shannon. “Do you remember Danielle? The actress from the floor beneath mine?”

“Sure. We went out to dinner with her that one time… oh.” Shannon looked stricken. “Oh, Jade, I’m so sorry. She—was she killed?”

Jade nodded miserably. “She didn’t deserve it. Her karmic balance was positive. If it was her destiny, fine, but the longer this goes on, the more I start to suspect that none of this is Destiny’s doing.”

“That would explain why Destiny Division is trying to take over the situation,” Shannon replied slowly. “If the shooter is operating outside the Grand Plan, if he’s killing people who aren’t scheduled to die—”

“Then it’s their job to stop him,” Jade finished for her, irritated. “So why can’t they just kill him and get it over with? Don’t tell me that
Destiny Division
can’t find one random guy with a gun.”

“Who knows what they’re up to?” Shannon replied with a sigh. “I know you’re upset, Jade, but maybe things will look better in the morning after you’ve had a good night’s sleep.”

“I’m exhausted,” Jade admitted.

Shannon contemplated her friend for a moment, her gaze warm with amusement. “I’d offer to take you home with me tonight so I knew you had someplace safe to sleep, but I’m betting you’d rather go home with Luke.”

“I–it’s not like that,” Jade said, blushing.

“So you
aren’t
going home with him?”

“I just want to make sure he’s okay,” she said lamely. “And that he’s taken care of. I’d rather bring him back to my place, but I’m guessing no one is going to be able to get in or out of the lobby for a while.”

Shannon squeezed her hand. “Go home with him,” she encouraged her. “Take care of him. Don’t try to cook for him, though; you might kill him by accident.”

“I can bake,” Jade defended herself weakly. “I just can’t cook.”

“Uh-huh,” Shannon agreed, smiling, and Jade sighed again.

“Thanks for being here for me. And for being supportive.”

“It does happen to be my job,” Shannon teased, her tone light. “So now that we know you’re going to be all right, can I ask if Aaron is single?”

“I don’t know,” Jade answered truthfully. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind you asking, though.” She hadn’t missed the frankly appreciative glance Aaron had given Shannon when she’d introduced herself.

Shannon drifted over to flirt with Aaron as Jade lost herself in thought again. All of the evidence seemed to point to her being a target, but why? If it was a random shooter, why would he be targeting her?

She remained preoccupied until the door leading to the examination rooms opened and Luke emerged. He was wearing his suit jacket open over his half-buttoned oxford shirt, his left arm tucked into a sling. Jade’s heart stuttered painfully at the sight of him, his hair mussed and bloodstains still visible on his sleeve, and she got to her feet without realizing she was moving.

He met her gaze from across the room and her heart jumped again. He looked so weary, and all she wanted to do was wrap him in her arms and hide him away from the rest of the world. She realized after a moment that at least part of what she was feeling had to be their soulmate bond, responding to his distress by pulling her closer to him, but she suspected most of the overwhelming emotions surging through her were her own.

“Hey,” he said, ignoring both Aaron and Shannon in favor of coming over to cradle Jade’s cheek with his good hand. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she replied, surprised to feel tears pricking at her eyes. Apparently, she wasn’t handling the situation with quite as much equanimity as she’d thought she could. “I’m not the one I’m worried about. You got
shot
—”

“I got three stitches, a tetanus booster, and a week’s worth of antibiotics,” he rebutted, holding up the white paper bag of medications the nurse had given him as proof. “It’s just a graze. I’m fine.”

“Your arm is in a sling.”

“Because they wouldn’t let me leave until I agreed to put it on. I have every intention of ditching it as soon as we’re outside.”

“You know the captain won’t let you come back to work for at least a couple of weeks,” Aaron pointed out from behind him, and Luke shook his head.

“I’ll just play it down with him. He won’t ask questions if I…” He trailed off when he got a good look at his partner’s guilty expression. “You called him, didn’t you?”

“It’s standard procedure, Luke,” his partner pointed out. “He would have my ass if you got shot and I knew about it but didn’t tell him. You’re out for at least two weeks, and you’re going to need medical clearance to come back after that.”

Luke exhaled sharply. “There’s a gun-toting maniac running around the city shooting at people, and I’m benched?”

Jade leaned into him, her head on his good shoulder. “You’re alive,” she pointed out quietly. “That counts for something.”

He hesitated for a long moment, and his voice was gentle when he finally spoke. “Yeah, it does,” he agreed. “Aaron? Can we get police protection for Jade?”

“Of course,” his partner said as Jade’s eyes widened.

“What good will that do?”

“Jade, you’ve been in his sights twice now. I think he might be targeting you specifically.”

“Yes, we had that conversation while you were in with the doctors,” Jade said, waving a hand as though to dismiss the concern. “We all think it’s a possibility. I just don’t know what good it’s going to do for me to have police protection. It’s not like he’s coming up and threatening me in person. If there are a couple of cops with me and I really am the target, all that’s going to do is get the cops killed the next time he starts shooting up a neighborhood.”

“You can stay inside and away from the windows, and they can guard the door,” he said flatly. “It’s not up for debate, Jade,” he added when she looked like she was going to argue. “I know you’ve got work to do and it’s inconvenient, but you can’t accomplish anything if you’re dead.”

She couldn’t very well complain about the impact that would have on Midtown West’s karmic balance with Aaron standing right there, so she settled for glaring at Luke. He returned her dark look with an expressionless gaze.

“You’ll stay with me,” he added. “There’s no way you’re getting back into your building tonight anyway.”

Aaron looked like he might have something to say about his partner inviting Jade for a sleepover when just yesterday he’d been convinced she was in league with the shooter, but apparently he thought better of it. Shannon was smiling like a cat with cream in its whiskers.

“I don’t have any clean clothes,” Jade pointed out, and Luke snorted.

“That’s my girl, always focused on the important things.”

“I don’t even have a scarf anymore,” she fired back.

Luke shook his head in resignation. “We’ll buy you a new one when I get my new suit jacket,” he replied, slipping his good arm around her waist as he led their little group toward the exit. “I’m not spending a hundred and fifty dollars on one of those floral monstrosities, though.”

“It was a designer scarf!”

“It was ugly as sin. The only redeeming quality about it was how well it worked as a field dressing in an emergency, and apparently that made it one use only.”

“You’re delusional if you think you’re getting out of this without buying me a replacement from the same designer. And while we’re at it, we need to talk about that new suit you’re going to buy. I think you’d look incredible in Dolce.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I can promise you the answer is going to be no.”

Aaron and Shannon exchanged grins as they followed the bickering soulmates out of the ER.

Of the four people leaving the hospital, Aaron was the only one currently in possession of a car, so he ended up driving all of them to Luke’s building. By the time they got there, the patrol car Luke had requested as a security detail was already parked out front. Aaron dropped Luke and Jade off and headed out to Queens with Shannon, whose delighted expression told Jade that Luke wasn’t going to be the only member of Midtown North’s police precinct who found himself with last-minute female company for the night.

One of the uniformed officers spoke with Luke briefly, and then Luke pulled Jade from her reverie and toward the building’s elevator.

“Let’s go crash,” he told her without preamble. “I’m not going to be able to stay on my feet much longer.”

“Sounds good to me,” she agreed. Her high adrenaline level after the shooting had kept her going in the emergency room, but now that they were in a safe place and she knew Luke was going to be all right, she was sore and tired and more than ready to collapse onto a bed and not move for ten or twelve hours.