Protecting the Enemy (17 page)

Julianna stared at the phone, then screamed. Reid’s heart jumped out of his chest and he leapt up.

“Jewels. It’s okay. I’m here.”

Her scream turned into sobs. “I had reason to feel threatened around that seemingly nice woman. You know she made me tea that day?”

He put his arms around her. She was always such a strong woman, but everyone had their breaking point. It broke his heart that she’d reached hers.

“Reid, she meant to kill me.” Her hand went to her mouth. “It wasn’t just creamer she was pouring into my tea, I realize that now. That woman is even sicker than Boss was.”

“Are you sure? She may not have known who you were.”

Julianna’s body trembled. “Of course she did. I probably look like my mom. Not to mention the pictures inside my file.” She sniffled. “She was going to erase me the same way I was taught to erase for her.”

Reid planted kisses all over her face. “Now that we know about her, I’ll take care of it. You don’t have to worry.”

“I wish I could repress these memories. I don’t want to remember finding Boss today or anything that I learned after. Now that I want to forget, I can’t. It’s so unfair.”

He cupped her face. “Look at me. It’s going to be all right. I’ll never leave you. We will get through this.”

She took a hold of his shirt. “You can make me forget. Just for a little while, Reid, make me forget.”

He ran his fingers along her arms, lifted her shirt and tossed it on the floor. He made love to her neck and shoulders with his mouth. She moaned and tilted her head back. Her fingers laced through his hair and pulled. He ran his tongue farther down her body and made them both forget. If for only a while, pleasure filled their minds and bodies. She took his breath away.

***

Julianna’s heart dropped. “I can’t believe the DNA results proved that I’m related to Brandon Voss. Are you sure that lab tech is legit?”

Reid sat on the sofa wearing only jeans. “He is. Are you okay?” He rubbed his face.

She thought she would feel anger or relief after the results came in. Instead she just felt numb, almost as numb as she’d been at Mercy. “I’m not sure.”

“He still could have been lying about your parents.”

She sat down beside him. “Doubtful.”

He rubbed his face. “I agree, it would explain why you were different from the rest of ETE
7.”

“I need to find my mom to pay my respects. Get some sort of closure.” She looked at Reid and frowned. “Maybe even thank her for saving my life.”

“We can do that. The hospital would have to have records. I can have Weasel do some digging.”

She nodded. “Thank you.”

He kissed her head. “You’re welcome.” He stood up. “We need to plant the other assassins’ guns and wallets at the Grant residence. That way, when we take her out, everything will be tied back to the Grants’ as it should be. Leaving us free of this messy nightmare.”

***

Julianna and Reid sat in the car parked down the street from the Grant residence. Only one last loose end and they would finally be free of ETE 7. So close.

Her stomach was so nauseated she felt dizzy. “I don’t know if we should do this, Reid. As crazy as it sounds, we are not cold-blooded killers. We are not murderers. We aren’t helping the greater good by taking her out, just ourselves.” She’d always envisioned herself as a heroine. It had helped that Boss simply called what they were doing erasing instead of killing. She’d been brainwashed. They both had. She could see that now.

Reid loaded his gun. “How do you know? How many more people will that woman have killed? Because she
is
a murderer. Do you really want that woman running for office one day? Walking around the streets free after what she’s done?”

Julianna wrapped her arms around her sickened stomach. “I don’t think I can do it.” She frowned. “And if you do, I don’t know if that will change the way I feel about you.”

He sighed and shook his head. “You don’t mean that, Jewels. We are so close. It’s almost over. We can do this. One last mark.”

Her head agreed with him. Her heart fought against what they were about to do. Sirens screeched through the air bringing her out of her internal battle. Julianna glanced in the mirror as an ambulance, fire truck and police car whizzed by. All vehicles pulled into the Grant estate.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know… something big.”

Both on the edge, they watched and waited. Her mouth went dry. After ten minutes, the fire truck left. A forensics van pulled up behind the police car. Someone was dead.

“I think we should go.” Reid started the car.

“Yes. Whatever’s going on, the last thing we need is to be tied to it in any way.”

***

The newscaster confirmed that Mrs. Grant had committed suicide when she found out that her husband, Senator Grant, had been involved with several strippers from the club that he was killed behind. Though his death was still believed to be an accident, sources confirmed a stripper had blackmailed Mrs. Grant the same day she’d taken her own life with the same type of gun used in several random murders across the city. It was unclear if the senator and his wife were behind any of the murders yet.

Julianna had squeezed Reid’s hand so tight listening to the breaking news that when she let go her own hand tingled. She hugged him and smiled. “We’re free.”

“Yeah, there’s nothing to connect us to the senator or any of the assassins. ETE 7 died with Mrs. Grant. It never existed to the outside world. One last thing, we need to get rid of the Jags and clear out our ETE 7 apartments.”

***

Reid handed the money Brandon Voss had stocked away in his pillowcase to Julianna. “Since Brandon was, in his own way, trying to protect you, I know he’d want you to have it.”

“I don’t want his money.”

“Just take it for now until we can decide what to do with it.”

She sighed. “Fine.”

After Reid thoroughly examined their Jaguars and found them safe, they drove the cars to the mechanic Reid had gone to years ago.

Reid jiggled the keys. “Would you be interested in purchasing both cars?”

The heavily tattooed man raised an eyebrow. “These stolen?”

“No. They were our company cars and that company went out of business. We need to liquidate our assets ASAP.”

The mechanic looked over at the Jags. “I may be interested. How much are you asking?”

Reid crossed his arms. “We’ll take eighty grand for both.” The used cars were well worth over a hundred.

He whistled and ran his hand over Julianna’s car like a man would caress his lover. “I can give you seventy grand today.”

Reid uncrossed his arms. “Sold.”

“Give me a few hours and I’ll have your money.”

“We’ll see you in a few hours.” Reid and Julianna hopped back into Reid’s car and drove to a Jaguar dealer.

“Are you sure he’ll come up with money?

“Positive.” Reid pulled into the lot. “Time to pick out something new. Are you ready to let go of your convertible?”

“Yes. I want something nice, but more practical. I don’t want to stand out anymore… I want to blend in.”

Reid stopped in front of a small sedan. “How about this XF? It has better gas mileage. Still sporty, but not as bold as our old cars.”

She tilted her head to look at the price tag. “Does it come in red?”

Reid laughed. “Blend in huh?”

***

Things moved quickly with cash. Reid had had enough of his savings to buy both cars. After the elated salesman gave them their keys, Reid and Julianna got into their new Jags. Julianna stroked the leather seats and inhaled the new car smell. Nice. The first of many changes to come.

When they got back to their place, Julianna contacted an auctioneer to see if they were interested in the furnishings from both ETE 7 apartments. They were more than happy to take the high end stuff off their hands fast and offered a reasonable amount of money. After that business was taken care of, they brought some Chinese up from downstairs.

Julianna stirred her food with the chopsticks and took a bite of her sweet and sour chicken. “Well, that was an exhausting day.”

“It was, but look how much we accomplished.”

Julianna nodded. “I’ve been thinking about something.”

Reid glanced up from his food. “Okay.”

“I want to donate
Brandon’s money to a nonprofit foundation for foster children. If we could help even one child from growing up to be susceptible to the kind of life we were drawn into… it wouldn’t make up for the lives we may or may not have wrongly taken, but it would help ease at least some of the guilt. For me anyway.”

“You’re an assassin with a heart of gold, Jewels.”

She folded up her takeout container. “Ex-assassin.”

“Let’s do it. We can afford to get by and if it will make you feel better, I want to.”

“Really?” She expected an argument. Maybe even a flat out no. “It’s a lot of money, Reid.”

“I’m in.” He handed her a fortune cookie.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Now that we got all of that out of the way, what are we going to do? As much as I like this smelly, yet charming little place, I can’t see us staying here forever.”

“Neither can I and I’m not even sure that I want to stay in Maryland.”

Reid’s phone vibrated making them both jump. They’d have to get used to having cell phones again. He answered the call while Julianna held her breath.

Julianna could hear Weasel’s voice on the other line. Her stomach flip-flopped. Had he found her mom?

Reid disconnected. “He found the cemetery where your mom is buried.”

Her heart raced. “Where?”

“Finish eating, it’s closer than you think.”

She threw the unopened fortune cookie into the sack. “I’m finished. Let’s go.”

***

Thirty minutes later, Julianna pulled her thin wool coat up around her neck to deter the frigid air. A small gray headstone was all that was left of the mom she’d never gotten to meet. Julianna bent down and kneeled on the cold hard earth to place red roses next to her mom’s name engraved in the stone. Scarlett Fox. Julianna’s eyes misted. Her obsession with the color red meant something now. In some way, her mom had always been with her. In every red piece of clothing she’d worn, every red lipstick she’d applied, every red wall she’d painted. “Thank you, mom, for saving my life. I wish I could have known you.” She didn’t know what else to say.

Reid held out his hand. She took it and he helped her back up. Something cold and wet landed on Julianna’s face. She looked up. Millions of tiny snowflakes danced around before falling to the ground. The first snowfall of the year. The snow was sticking to the grass, but as it landed on the red roses, it melted. Julianna shivered and Reid pulled her close, wrapping his unbuttoned coat around her.

Chapter 16

N
o matter what she told herself, the guilt was eating away at Julianna like rust on metal. Corroding her happiness. Tainting her future. She kept seeing the faces of the men she’d erased or more accurately killed. Three men had died at her hand. Five if she counted the attacker that grabbed her at the hotel while she was filling the ice bucket and then Agent Fuller, but that those were both self defense.

Even though she’d thought she was at war with the enemy, what she knew now changed things. Even if Reid had made peace with what they’d done, she hadn’t. It hadn’t been justice. It’d only been a sick game and they were the pawns. When she believed what she was doing was for the greater good, for justice, it had been okay. She thought she was saving innocents in danger from ruthless people.

In the past few days she’d become withdrawn. No matter how much Reid tried to make her laugh, he’d not been successful. She wanted to laugh. She wanted to drown her feelings. The walls were closing in around her at the one place she’d felt safe the past few weeks. Why couldn’t she just let it go?

Reid was still asleep. She could leave. Run. Her mind made up, she removed some money from her pillowcase and got dressed. She looked over at Reid and couldn’t just slip out. It’d be too cruel. He’d worry, not move on. She didn’t even know where she was going—just that she had to get away, alone. With a heavy chest, she reached over and nudged Reid. “I need to leave.”

He opened his eyes, not yet aware of what she was actually saying. “Leave? Where?”

“I just need some time… by myself.”

He opened his eyes then shut them with a sigh. “How much time?”

“I have no idea. I just know that I’m not happy and I don’t know how to fix it.”

“After all we’ve been through you’re leaving?” The hurt look on his face almost broke her heart.

“Please understand that it has nothing to do with you or us.”

Reid sat up in bed, now alert. “How can you even say that? It has everything to do with me. If you’re gone, I’m not whole. I thought you felt the same way.” He reached for her arm and pulled her over to him.