Angel: A Linear Tactical Romantic Suspense Standalone Page 19
Maybe she was broken. Her brain had finally snapped under everything that had happened today, because she knew it couldn’t be Gabe talking to her. He hated her.
She didn’t move, just continued to watch the fire. It was beautiful in its own brutal way. And it kept her warm. When it went out, she was going to be cold. So cold.
Distantly, she registered Zac and Finn moving to pick up the stuff she’d gotten out of the house, placing it farther back. The sirens were getting louder.
The arms around her tightened and pulled her much farther out of the way as the fire trucks pulled up. Soon they were spraying what remained of the building.
Jordan watched in a sort of vague fascination, arms still wrapped around her, as the firemen succeeded in putting out the blaze. As the flames died, it left them in darkness except for the headlights from the vehicles.
She should do something. Cry, scream, rail against the powers that be, powers that obviously decided she had done something horrible in a past life and deserved ample punishment in this one.
But she couldn’t. She couldn’t even open her mouth to say thank you when Zac and Finn moved the stuff into their cars.
Zac came and stood right in front of her, running a finger down her cheek. “There’s nothing more that can be done here tonight. Charlie wants you to come stay with her at Finn’s house.”
“Violet’s there too.” That voice came from behind her.
Gabriel—Gabe’s—voice.
She stepped out from the ring of his arms, twisting to face him, trying to figure out why he’d even been touching her in the first place. “Why are you here?” Her voice sounded scratchy, broken, as if it wasn’t working right.
Nothing inside of her worked right.
“Because I never should’ve left in the first place.” His hands were still at her waist, so she stepped back.
His touch right now, when it meant nothing to him, might speed up the crack that was coming. It was a fissure right now, her emotions held together by sheer numbness, but the chasm was inevitable.
She turned back to Zac and Finn. “Charlie and Violet are safe? Anne?”
“Anne went into the hospital,” Zac said. “There was a . . . situation. Aiden is with Charlie and Violet, and yes, they’re fine.”
Finn reached out and squeezed her hand. “Come on, sweetheart. Your friends want you near them.”
She glanced over at the charred remains of her house, barely discernible in the dim lighting. They were right. Nothing could be done tonight.
Nothing could be done at all.
She walked with Zac and Finn toward their cars without a word, away from the house, the land, the man who just yesterday had meant everything in the world to her. The yesterday that had held the brightest of futures.
Today there was nothing.
Chapter 29
Jordan woke up from a fitful sleep a few hours later. She had a blessed moment of sleep-dazed oblivion, then it all came crashing back on her.
Her house? Burned.
Her relationship with Gabe? Over.
Her reasons for staying here? Gone.
She slipped into yoga pants and a sweater that must have been Anne’s since Charlie’s and Violet’s clothes would be way too short. Charlie and Violet had helped her last night after she’d arrived at Finn’s house. They’d gotten her into the shower and into bed, then stayed with her until she’d fallen asleep.
Jordan had been trapped outside her own body, aware of everything going on around her but too distanced to really process it. She was recovered enough to process it now but didn’t want to.
All she wanted to do was lie in bed and wrap her arms around herself, keep the gaping hole in her chest from growing any larger. Because right now, it felt like the hole would swallow her in its blackness forever.
But doing nothing had never been an option for her, and she wasn’t going to start now. She was going to do what she’d always done: survive.
Just without the biggest, most important parts of her life.
She covered her face with her hands and took in deep, shaky breaths. She had to keep it together. She couldn’t fall apart here in front of her friends.
She forced herself to get up from the bed and padded her way across Finn’s big house toward the kitchen.
“She just lost the house that meant everything to her. She’s not ready. She needs more time.”
It was Gabe’s voice, low and emphatic.
She rubbed her forehead, pain starting to thrum behind her eyes. He’d been at her house last night with Zac and Finn, but she didn’t know why. He’d made it very clear how he felt about her and what she’d done.
She should’ve called him from New Brothers. The second she’d finished explaining to her friends that they were in danger, she should’ve borrowed Violet’s phone and told him what had happened, explained her part, owned up to it, and how she hadn’t been able to figure a way out of the situation.
She hadn’t wanted to lose that closeness they’d developed over the past few weeks. He’d shared so much of his knowledge with her, and then she’d just rolled over when Michael had put pressure on her.
Or maybe she should’ve found a way around Michael’s demands. If she was as good with coding and programming as she thought, she should’ve been able to figure something out. Some way to stonewall Michael. Stall him.
“We don’t have more time,” Finn said. “If we don’t make a move now, we’ll lose our chance.”
“How much do you expect her to take, Finn?” Gabe asked. “She’s twenty-three fucking years old. You want her to just get up today like nothing happened? Because that’s what we’re asking her to do.”
“Jesus, Collingwood, I’m not trying to be insensitive here, but it was just a house. We’re talking about people’s lives.”
A fist slammed against the table. “It wasn’t just a house. Not to her.”
That gaping hole was back in her chest. Gabe understood how much losing the house was gutting her. It had been so much more than just a house.
But Finn was also right. No house was worth someone’s life. Charlie’s, the baby’s. Anybody’s.
Jordan stepped into the kitchen. Both men stood up from their chairs.
“Good morning, sweetheart,” Finn said, smiling at her. “Want some coffee?” Finn walked over to get some for her when she nodded. “Something to eat?”
Gabe stayed silent as he sat back down. Jordan didn’t look at him but felt his eyes on her.
“No, no food yet.” She cradled the coffee cup Finn handed her between her hands. Gabe pushed the sugar bowl in her direction. She muttered thanks without looking at him.
“The other gals are still conked out, and Ethan’s over at his grandmother’s, so you just get our ugly mugs. Zac should be here with Anne any minute,” Finn said.
She clutched her cup of coffee, wanting to go back to bed and hide under the covers and never come back out.
“Jordan, I’d like to talk to you, if it’s okay,” Gabe whispered.
She really looked at him for the first time. Her first thought was to say yes. She knew she was wired to acquiesce, that it was her default setting to not make waves. She’d been taking the blame for everything for so long that she didn’t even realize now when she did it.
Blaming herself for not being able to stop her father and letting everyone in Oak Creek treat her like trash. Blaming herself for making a judgment call yesterday, a call that had ended up being the wrong one.
That wasn’t the unforgivable sin. Gabe should’ve listened last night. He should’ve given her a chance to explain.
Not treated her like trash, like everyone else always had.
She was done being treated that way. She had nothing left to lose in this town, nothing left to lose in her relationship with Gabe. She’d lost it all yesterday.
But nothing left to lose also meant nothing left to fear.
“No,” she said, just as quietly as he had. “I don’t want to talk to you.”
“That’s right, sweetheart,” Charlie said, glaring at Gabe. “You don’t have to talk to him until you’re ready.”
“And if you’re never ready,” Violet continued, “then that’s my dumbass brother’s loss. For someone with a near-genius IQ, he’s pretty damn stupid.”
Even now, looking over at Gabe’s grim face, she wanted to give in and at least listen to what he had to say. To give him the benefit of the doubt.
But that was yesterday, before she’d lost everything that had meant something to her in this world.
She expected Gabe to tell her friends to butt out of it, but he surprised her.
“They’re right. You shouldn’t talk to me. The things I said to you yesterday were unforgivable. I have no defense. I was blinded by having been betrayed by someone close to me before. I couldn’t see past the possibility of something like that happening again.”
Jordan stared down at her coffee mug, a tear leaking out of her eye. Everything inside her wanted to reach out to Gabe, but she couldn’t. Her life had been broken in a way she didn’t know how to repair. She didn’t even know how to start.
Gabe got up and crouched beside her, his height putting his face right next to hers. “You’re right to feel angry,” he whispered. “And you’re right to take as much time as you need. But I’m going to be right here, every day, hoping you’ll forgive me, that you’ll let me try to make it right. That you’ll call me Gabriel again.”
He leaned down and kissed the top of her thigh, then stood and walked to the other side of the room.
Charlie and Violet moved fully into the kitchen and began making breakfast. Nobody tried to talk to Jordan, which was good. She couldn’t manage it. When someone set two pancakes in front of her, she forced herself to eat them one small bite at a time.
Zac and Anne arrived a few minutes later, Zac announcing that Dorian was fine and back at his house.
“Whoever shot him used a practice arrow,” Zac told Finn and Aiden, who’d also joined them.
“So even less damage,” Finn replied. “Not exactly the best way to leave a message, but in terms of being shot by an arrow, almost the best of all possible circumstances. Practice arrows have the smallest heads.”
There was other stuff the guys wanted to talk about but weren’t because of her. She forced herself to look up from her empty plate. There would be time to fall apart later.
“What were you and Gabe talking about when I first came in?” she asked Finn.
Gabe spoke up from the doorway behind her and she turned to look at him. “You don’t need to worry about it. It was a possible plan, but we’ll find another way.”
“A plan to do what?”
Gabe came and leaned against Finn’s counter, where she could see him without turning. Charlie and Violet flanked her on either side of the table. The Linear guys were standing or sitting in various positions around the kitchen, one of them always keeping an eye out the window; Aiden currently on watch duty.
“We think we’ve come up with a way to trap your father,” Zac explained. “But you would play a critical part.”
Her eyes met Gabe’s automatically. His lips were tight, face set in stone, but he didn’t say anything. She looked back at Zac. “How?”
Zac gestured to Gabe to explain. “He’s going to figure out in the next few hours that there’s no actual money he can access from the account he tried to hack yesterday. The amount he attempted to transfer—$622,000—didn’t go through to wherever he tried to send it.”
Gabe had mentioned that amount last night. “I can’t believe he would have the nerve to take that exact amount,” she whispered. An unfamiliar rage coursed through her. Her father had no remorse whatsoever for what he’d done to the people of Oak Creek.
“He was testing the account with that. I’m sure if the transfer had gone through, he would have taken all he could get,” Gabe said, his voice much more even than she could’ve managed. “The full two million.”
“That was why you thought I was working with him. Because he took that exact amount.”
Gabe gave a curt shake of the head. “It doesn’t matter what amount was taken out of the account, or if you listed yourself as the recipient with ‘Fuck you, Collingwood’ in the signature line. I should’ve sat you down and listened to you from beginning to end.”
Something eased the slightest bit. The man certainly wasn’t cutting himself any slack or making any excuses for his actions. But knowing Michael had taken that exact amount explained why Gabe had been convinced his anger had been justified.
“When Michael realizes he has nothing, we’re hoping you could offer him something better,” Zac said. “A bigger prize.”
“But what?” she asked. “He won’t trust me to hack CT again.”
“I recently contracted with Oak Creek Savings and Loan to handle their cybersecurity and develop stronger security for their safe deposit boxes.” Gabe’s green eyes pinned hers. “I’ve been moving all my business to this area. This is where I want to be. Where I still plan to be permanently.”
She looked away, trying to process everything Gabe was saying amidst the chaos. Violet reached over and squeezed her hand but turned to glare at Gabe. “You’re overwhelming her. Stick to the plan and do your crawling on your knees later.”
Charlie wagged her eyebrows. “And while you’re down there, make sure it’s worth her while.”
Charlie’s outrageous statement broke some of the tension in the room. At least enough that Jordan no longer felt like she was going to break under it.
She thought about the plan. “I don’t have any way of getting in contact with Michael, but I could relay a message to him through the account we hacked, warn him that you’re on to him.” She swallowed and forced herself to continue. “I could tell him that since the house burned down, I want to join him and get out of here.”
“Then you would lead him, Godlewski, and anybody else he’s working with to a meeting point where we’ll have law enforcement ready to arrest them,” Zac said.
“You’re not safe as long as Michael is running around loose,” Finn said. “He may go back into hiding for a while, but if he needs money, you’re always going to be one of his few links back to society. He’s got to be stopped. Because he’s threatened one of ours.”
She nodded. “When he cut Charlie’s brakes.”
“He threatened one of our own the moment he broke into your house and put you in danger,” Zac said, coming to put his hand on her shoulder. “He was going down regardless. Now we just have an effective way to draw him out.”
Gabe pushed himself away from the counter and walked over to her. “But I want it to be very clear that you don’t have to do this. I know how much that house meant to you, and if you can’t do this right now, then we’ll all understand. We’ll find another way to catch Michael and his cronies.”
She looked around. Every single person was nodding in agreement.
“You have to do what’s best for you, Jordan,” Charlie said. “We support and love you just as much, either way.”
She nodded. This might be the last thing she did for Oak Creek before she left, but she could do this. It wouldn’t get the townspeople their money back, but it would put Michael Reiss behind bars. The next best thing.
“I’ll do it. But we’ve got to move fast, or Michael will disappear again.”
Chapter 30
Within an hour, Kendrick arrived with a CT computer Gabe and Jordan could use to get a message to Michael. As they worked side by side at the computer, Gabe was once again impressed by how intuitively this all came to her.
He was letting her take the lead, not only because she knew what would best entice her father, but also because Gabe wanted her to know he trusted her. He wasn’t going to look over her shoulder. If she had a question, he�
�d be happy to help her figure out the solution. Otherwise, this was her show.
Behind them, Kendrick tried to talk the Linear guys into giving him a code name like they all had. Gabe knew the bickering was more to keep everyone—including Jordan, who was wound tightly enough to shatter—more relaxed. When it came time for the Linear guys to focus, they would.
Kendrick had been less than thrilled with the names the guys suggested.
“I still don’t understand what’s wrong with Kenny G as a call sign,” Aiden said.
Gabe glanced over at Kendrick, who grinned as he flipped Aiden off.
“You’ve got to change your nickname anyway,” Kendrick responded. “Since Shamrock doesn’t apply anymore.”
Aiden got the nickname Shamrock in the Green Berets because he’d been lucky enough to never have been captured or wounded on any operation—a near-impossible feat, given the missions their team had undertaken. But Shamrock’s luck had very much died a couple months ago—as the man himself nearly had—when he’d been trying to save Violet.
Aiden crossed his arms over his chest. “Dude, I got the nickname Shamrock because of my luck with the ladi—”
“If you say ladies right now, you’re not going to be getting lucky for a long, long time!” Violet yelled from the kitchen.
“Love!” Aiden yelled, grimacing. “I was going to say I was lucky with love.”
Jordan snickered.
Kendrick grinned. “So Zac’s name is Cyclone, Finn is Eagle, Aiden is Shamrock. And Dorian is Ghost.”
“Gabe’s call sign was Angel,” Zac said, grinning. “People assume it’s because of his name, but maybe he has some beautiful singing voice we don’t know about.”
“Is that true?” Jordan whispered.
“The part about Angel as my nickname, yeah. Because of Gabriel. The singing voice, not so much.”
She smiled at him. He wanted to spend every day for the rest of his life putting that smile on her face as much as possible. He was going to do whatever it took to win her trust back. He couldn’t help himself. He reached out and stroked his knuckles across her cheek.