Men Out of Uniform: Three Novellas of Erotic Surrender (17 page)

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Authors: Maya Banks,Karin Tabke,Sylvia Day

BOOK: Men Out of Uniform: Three Novellas of Erotic Surrender
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Jessie ran. And later she’d never really know how she’d ever managed to fly across that space when her knee was such a mess. Pain crippled her but the thought of death kicked enough adrenaline back into her system that she performed the impossible.
Before Miss Batshit Crazy could react, Jessie nailed her with the piece of wood, knocking her completely to the ground so that she ate dirt. With shaking hands, Jessie yanked the pistol from her holster and backed away, her fingers glancing frantically over the stock in search of the safety. Shouldn’t there be a safety? Maybe not. This one looked like one of those aim-and-fire jobbers, which was just fine with her.
As the cop picked herself up off the ground, Jessie raised the gun and leveled it at the much taller woman.
“Jessie! Oh my God, Jessie!”
“Kim, what the hell is going on?”
The jumble of voices reached Jessie, but she refused to turn her head, though the urge to run straight into Rick and Truitt’s arms was so forceful that she had to jar her knee, sending a jolt of pain through her to keep her focused. Her sole concentration was on the woman in front of her. No way she could afford to divert her attention. It could cost her Rick ’s and Truitt’s lives. It could cost her her own.
“You deserve to die, you crazy bitch,” Jessie said fiercely.
Kim held up her hands and her eyes turned pleading. It was amazing how innocent Crazy could look. “Rick, Truitt, call your woman off me. I think she’s lost her mind. She’s obviously traumatized and has no idea what she’s saying or doing.”
Of all the things Jessie thought the moron would say, that wasn’t it.
“Look, I’m here to help you. Help them find you.” Kim motioned to where the guys stood to the side, then she turned in their direction. “She clobbered me and took my gun. Talk her down before somebody dies.”
Jessie’s hand shook and the numb that had settled in the night before was starting to crack.
“Jessie, honey, give me the gun. It’s over now. You’re okay. You’re hurt. Let us take care of you.”
Rick’s low, reassuring voice slid over her with soul-deep comfort. But she’d seen evil in the eyes of that woman. She saw it now behind the deceptive appeal, the pretense of innocence.
But would Rick and Truitt believe her? Would they take her word against one of their own?
Truitt added his own soft plea as if he thought she’d gone completely over the edge and needed to be calmed before she jumped.
“Jessie, we’re here now. Let us help you. You survived that bastard. We’ll get him. I swear to you we’ll nail his ass to the wall. We need to get you medical attention. You’ve got blood all over you and you’re scaring me to death, baby. Put down the gun and let us help you.”
“She’s the one,” Jessie said in as calm a voice as she could when she was so dangerously close to having a complete break from reality. Truitt wasn’t far off if he imagined she was so very close to the edge. “She came to my apartment. She Tased me and then knocked me out. When I woke up, I was tied to a table in a hunting cabin. She smashed my knee. She cut me. So I’d bleed, so she could track the blood trail. She was going to hunt me down and kill me just like she did all the others, but I was too smart for her. Yeah, that’s right, you stupid bitch. I outsmarted you. I won. And I swear to God I’m going to kick your teeth in when Rick and Truitt take you down.”
It was only then that she chanced a glance at Rick and Truitt, because if they didn’t believe her, if they left her alone with this woman for even a minute, she would kill Jessie or Jessie would have to kill her. Either way, someone was going to die.
Truitt and Rick looked horrified, appalled, worried, and confused. But then she saw something else. Realization. And close behind it, rage.
Truitt drew his gun and pointed it at Kim just as Rick slid his arm around Jessie and gently pried the pistol from her grip.
The very last of her strength gone, her knees buckled and she went down before Rick could catch her. Truitt’s attention was diverted for the briefest of moments, and Kim reached for the pistol attached to her ankle.
She aimed for Jessie. Rick roared his denial and Jessie screamed as he covered her body with his own. A shot rang out, the sound echoing over and over in her ears.
Chapter 16
 
J
essie’s screams of anguish split the air. Rick tensed, unsure of who had done the shooting, Kim or Truitt. All he cared about was protecting Jessie from further harm.
“Rick, is Jessie all right?” Truitt demanded.
Rick raised his head and turned to see Kim lying on the ground a few feet away, the gun she’d aimed at Jessie a few inches from her hand.
“Call it in, Truitt. We need help. Is she alive?”
Truitt took his time walking over to where Kim lay. Still holding his gun on her, he knelt and put a finger to her neck. Then he shook his head.
Then Jessie moved in Rick ’s arms, her hands frantically spreading over his chest and around to his back.
“Are you all right?” she demanded weakly. “Did that crazy bitch shoot you?”
“God, yes, I’m all right,” Rick choked out.
Jessie was a mess. There was blood, mud, and dirt caked with leaves covering her entire body. Her eyes were glassy with shock and with the announcement that he was okay, she seemed to completely melt down and crumble.
She began to shake violently and low moans ripped out of her throat as she clutched desperately at him. Rick eased her down long enough to tear off his jacket and wrap it around her naked body.
Truitt dropped down beside them, his hands shaking as he tried to touch Jessie. But he couldn’t seem to figure out where he could without hurting her so he let them drop.
“I’ve called it in but we need to get her out of here. It’ll be quicker if we carry her out than if we have them come in for her. A helicopter is coming to take Jessie to the hospital.”
“Kick her for me,” Jessie whispered.
Rick’s brow wrinkled in confusion. He was sure he heard wrong.
“What was that, Jessie?”
She glanced up at Truitt and tried to lift her hand to touch him. Truitt caught her fingers and lowered his head to press her palm to his lips. There was raw grief and emotion and stark fear in Truitt’s eyes.
“Kick her. I told her that I’d survive so that I could kick her teeth in while you two took her down. So kick her for me, please.”
Rick started to laugh. By the end he honestly didn’t know if he was laughing or crying. He stood shakily to his feet and then swore at how weak he felt. Was this what love did to you?
Truitt reached gently for Jessie, sliding his arms underneath her. “This is going to hurt, baby. I’m sorry but I have to get you out of here.”
“S’okay,” she slurred out. “I’m just so damn happy to be alive. I can take anything.”
Truitt lifted and Rick held his breath at the cry of agony that engulfed Jessie.
Tears glistened in Truitt’s eyes as he held her against his chest.
“God, I’m sorry, Jessie. I’m so goddamn sorry I had to hurt you.”
Jessie laid her cheek against Truitt’s chest and closed her eyes. For a moment Rick panicked and he clumsily put his fingers to her neck, relieved when he felt a faint pulse. Then he carefully pulled the jacket around her to shield as much of her body as he could.
“She’s done, man,” Truitt said quietly. “She hung on for as long as she could, until we could get here.”
“The hell of it is, she didn’t need us,” Rick said as they walked past Kim’s body. He stopped only long enough to send up a flare to signal their location and the location of Kim’s body, and then he caught up to Truitt once more.
“No, she didn’t need us,” Truitt said, awe in his voice. “Not only did she survive with horrific wounds and an injured knee, but she beat the crap out of Kim and would have killed her if we hadn’t shown up.”
“I’m glad she didn’t have to,” Rick said softly. “She’s been through enough without having to pull the trigger.”
“Jesus Christ, Rick. Kim was the serial killer? All this time?”
Rick couldn’t even wrap his brain around it. Female serial killers were rare. What motive could Kim possibly have had? It was obvious she was out of her goddamn mind, which made him even more glad that Truitt had taken her out. If she’d lived, she probably would have pled insanity, gotten a few years in a mental institution, and then been on her merry way again.
Sometimes the system sucked.
Rick stared at the woman in Truitt’s arms and swallowed the knot in his throat. She was amazing. A survivor. And he loved her so damn much he felt like he was spazzing in about twelve different directions.
Love wasn’t supposed to
happen
. Was it? Love was something you worked at. Worked hard at. He’d seen his parents work every day to stay together and make each other happy. But maybe love happened, and commitment was about making a relationship work
after
you fell in love.
Several police officers and a host of volunteers swarmed through the woods, led by the flare Rick had sent up. When they came upon Truitt carrying Jessie, cheers went up and echoed through the woods.
Jessie stirred and tried to lift her head. The celebration seemed to confuse and frighten her. She withdrew, burying her face in Truitt’s neck and Rick quickly stepped in front of Truitt to shield her from most of it.
“Let’s go,” he said to Truitt. “The helicopter should be landing soon and we have to get her to the hospital.”
Leaving the others to secure the crime scene, Truitt and Rick barreled through the trees and traveled the remaining distance to where the staging area for the search was formed.
As they broke through into the clearing, another round of cheers rose into the air. Two paramedics ran to take Jessie from Truitt and he reluctantly allowed them to take her and lay her on a waiting stretcher.
“ETA on the chopper is two minutes,” one of the paramedics called out.
Rick and Truitt hovered over Jessie as the two medics cleaned some of the blood and mud off her arm so they could start an IV.
The chief came up behind them and pulled them both away. “What the hell went on out there? Are you really trying to tell me that Kim was some fucking serial killer? She’s a good cop. She couldn’t be responsible for these killings. Surely we would have known.”
Truitt’s face darkened. “She tried to shoot Jessie. After Rick had already disarmed her. There was no threat. But she went for her backup piece and she would have killed Jessie and Rick both if I hadn’t taken the shot.”
“Son of a bitch,” the chief swore. “This doesn’t make any goddamn sense.”
“Kim was the one who pointed us to the area where Jessie was hiding,” Rick said tightly. “Jessie was able to evade her last night when Kim went hunting for her. My guess is that Kim came back to look for her, hoping she’d find her before we did so she could finish the job.”
The chief wiped a hand over his face and then shoved it over his hair. “It just doesn’t make any goddamn sense,” he repeated again.
Anger and bewilderment was etched on the chief ’s face and every wrinkle and line was even more predominant. They’d all gone without sleep and no one was happy that the person they’d been after for months, a maniac responsible for the gruesome murders of so many women, was one of their own.
The sound of the helicopter approaching made the men turn. The paramedics on the ground were already lifting the backboard from the stretcher and hurrying toward the landing area. Jessie was secured with two IV bags lying on her body as they transported her.
“Go,” the chief said. “We’ll sort this out later. I know you two will want to be with her.”
The two men took off at a run, but when they got to the helicopter where Jessie was being loaded, they were told there wasn’t room for even one of them.
Frustrated but not wanting to delay Jessie’s departure to the hospital even for a second, they backed away.
“Come on, I’ll drive,” Rick said as he grabbed Truitt’s arm.
Chapter 17
 
T
ruitt paced the floor in the emergency room waiting area and checked his watch for the umpteenth time. It had been several hours and no one had been out to give them an update on Jessie.
Kirsten was at the desk demanding news right now and one of the receptionists was attempting to calm her down. Not that Kirsten seemed to care. She was ferocious. Truitt had to admire her loyalty and devotion to Jessie.
Rick was slouched in a chair by the window, his face locked in stone.
Finally one of the nurses came out and called for family of Jessie Callahan.
Rick surged from his seat and Kirsten ran from the reception desk.
They followed the nurse back and she halted outside one of the rooms that had an actual door rather than the portioned off cubicles that only had a curtain separating them from others.

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