Savor the Danger (23 page)

“That's the thing…he followed me. And the sticky-
fingered SOB must've taken my wallet, too, when we…well…”

Squeezing his eyes shut, Jackson supplied her word back to her. “Tussled?”

“Yeah. That's probably when I lost the phone, too.” A grin sounded in her tone. “But I can handle him, so that's not why I called.” She paused, his anticipation built, and then she said, “It's the silver BMW.”

Going rigid, Jackson snarled, “Silver BMW?”

That got Dare and Trace coming to attention, too.

“Yeah—the same one that tried to run you off the road. Different plates now, though.”

“The same…” How the hell did she know about that?

“Crying out loud, are you going to keep repeating what I say, or can you let me finish?”

Pissed off but with no recourse, Jackson stared at Dare and Trace. They stared back. Yeah, they couldn't help him. Hell, when it came to Arizona, he couldn't help himself.

He avoided looking at Alani and shook his head. “Is the BMW following you?”

“Not anymore. I lost them about an hour ago.”

Fingers of alarm clamped around his heart. “But it was tailing you? You're sure?”

Another pause, and then, “Actually, know what? It'd be better if we talked about all this in person.”

Finally.
“Hell of an idea. Tell me where you are and I'll come get you.”

“No need. I'll come to you.”

“Arizona…” He couldn't give her Dare's address. The trust issues went both ways. “It'll be better if we meet.”

“Yeah, I know. I wasn't planning to come see you tonight. I meant that I'll figure out a good place for us to
meet closer to where you are. But tomorrow, okay? I'm beat.”

God, but he wanted to go to her. Now. This instant.

As long as she insisted on doing her own thing, running wild and looking for trouble, he had to assume she found it.

No way in hell would he let her lead that back to Dare's home where it could endanger Molly or anyone else.

“Tonight works better for me.”

“Yeah, because you're freaking Superman. I remember. But as you keep telling me, I'm just a girl, and I need rest.” She gave a loud, effective yawn. “It's been a long day.”

Tension knotted his muscles. “Listen to me, Arizona. Whoever is in that BMW means business. There's been a lot going on. A lot you don't know—”

“I'm betting you'd be surprised what I know. Like…two shooters?”

He went mute. No. No way. But…probably. Back teeth locked, he said, “That was you?”

“Gotta look out for my number one guy, right?” She made a kissing sound into the phone.

“No.”

She ignored his whispered denial. “But, hey, don't worry about any of that right now. I can explain everything better in the morning, after I've gotten some shut-eye. For tonight, I'm just gonna find a hole in the wall—”

Jackson heard her winding down, and it left him sick with urgency. “Don't you
dare
hang up!”

“—and I'll be in touch sometime tomorrow morning.”

“Goddammit, Arizona, I mean it.”

Voice going very soft, she whispered, “If I need you, Jackson, I really will call. Thanks to you, I've gotten used
to living.” He heard the smile, and the truth she seldom admitted. “I even sort of like it.”

She ended the call.

Primed, his vision clouded with a red haze, it took all Jackson had not to crush the phone in his fist. But if he broke the damn thing, how would she reach him when she needed him? And he knew that she would.

She played some dangerous game. A game that, despite her wishes to the contrary, didn't suit her.

Everyone watched him, waiting, and it was too damn much. “She hung up on me.”

“She's okay?” Trace asked.

“Says she is.” But Jackson wasn't buying it. Not really. It took everything he had to sound calm, to maintain a posture of control. “I don't know where she is. Not at school.” He shook his head. “On the road, she says. Coming into Kentucky.”

Alani stood close behind him. “She wanted to meet you?”

“Tomorrow. She said she'll call back and arrange something after she gets some sleep.”

Dare sat forward. “The silver BMW?”

“It was following her.” He heard Alani gasp. “She says she lost it.”

“You believe her?”

He didn't know what to believe. “The second shooter at the house? Well, Alani was right.”

“I was?”

“We assumed it was two adversaries, but Arizona claims that it was her.”

Silence sounded louder than a gun blast, assaulting his ears. There was so much he'd never told them about Arizona.

“She was at my house,” Alani said, “but she had no
way of knowing me or where I lived.” She touched his arm. “So the question now is whether or not she followed
you
there, or did she follow the shooter?”

“Yeah.” Whichever the case, she'd come armed. If only to follow him, then did she do it as protection? But why? What did she know that he didn't, to make her think he needed protection?

The woman at the house, the one who'd drugged him… No. He felt sick for even thinking it. Alani had described the woman to him, and at mid-thirties with short hair, she sounded nothing like Arizona.

But then who?

So many unanswered questions.

Every muscle in his body strained with the need for exertion. He wanted to run. Or swim.

Or fuck.

He glanced back at Alani.

As if she read him like a book, her golden brown eyes darkened. “You should eat,” she said softly. “You'll need your strength.”

A promise? His heart started tripping.

With Grim in his arms, Chris stood and walked to a wall monitor. “Vet's here.” He glanced back to eye first Jackson, then Alani. “Yeah, why don't I just take care of it?”

Jackson worked his jaw, tried to find something logical to say, but he couldn't.

Alani spoke up. “Thank you, Chris.”

Priss and Molly bounced their gazes between them. He didn't know what had the wives looking so tantalized, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

He pulled himself together, but it wasn't easy. “I can do it.”

Dare said, “No.” He took his wife's hand and tugged
her from the chair. “Let Chris and the ladies take care of it. And yes, Alani, that includes you.”

Alani started to protest, but Dare overrode her on it. “It's always better to go over everything while it's fresh in the mind to get another perspective.”

Knowing Dare was right, that he needed to look at this logically when logic hovered right out of reach, Jackson nodded. “I might have missed something.”

Hands on her hips, Alani turned to him.

He expected her to be hurt. Maybe angry.

Of course, she forever gave him the unexpected.

Stepping forward, she wrapped her arms around him for a big hug. When he resisted, she hugged him tighter, staying close until her warmth seeped in, and her scent filled his head.

Finally she levered back and smiled at him. “Somehow, it's all going to be okay.” And with that, she walked out.

Dazed, he stood there a minute before he realized Trace dissected him with an analytical stare, and Dare looked impatient to get on with it.

Out of the blue, Dare said, “It's not a competition, you know.”

“What?”

Trace made a sound. “You're always a show-off. But with my sister?”

Jackson stared at them. His muscles clenched, and even knowing he was defensive for no reason, he growled, “What the hell does that mean? Stop being so cryptic.”

“Four times in a day?”

He shook his head.

“Sex,” Dare supplied. “Seems the women have been gossiping.”

“Oh.” He sorted through all that, and then it dawned
on him what they meant.
“Oh.”
Alani had talked with Priss and Molly? About
them,
in the sack?

If it was anyone else, under any other circumstances, he'd grin, brag a little, even exaggerate some. But not now, not with Trace wearing such a black frown.

Jackson shrugged. What else could he do? “I'll have a talk with her.”

Grinning, Dare shoved Trace. “Since Alani wasn't complaining, you might as well get used to it.”

Knowing how new things were to her, Jackson didn't begrudge Alani a little girl talk—except that he wanted to be more to her than a good lay. A hell of a lot more.

“I guess so.” Not so severe now, Trace shook his head. “Excessive bastard.”

“Yeah, well…” Jackson knew he had been excessive, but then, he didn't know how long it'd last with Alani, and that pushed him to take as much as he could, for as long as he could. “This is a damned awkward conversation.”

Trace went for a cola. “I expect there'll be more of them to follow.”

“I guess.”
He hoped.
Cracking a grin, he said, “She keeps me on my toes.”

“They all do.” Dare watched him. “Kind of nice, isn't it?”

Jackson didn't bother to pretend confusion. “It's scary as shit, actually.”

Trace relented enough to say, “It gets better.”

Not sure that he wanted it to, Jackson grabbed up his food and dug in. Around a big bite, he said, “There's stuff I haven't really told you about Arizona.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Dare said, “Now would be a good time then, don't you think?”

“Yeah.” He swigged back half a cola. It wasn't like he
had much choice at this point. They had to know. Better to get it out of the way while the women were otherwise occupied. “You guys might want to take a seat.”

W
HEN THE MEN REMAINED
standing and impatient, Jackson saw no hope for it; he went right to the point. “Arizona has skills.”

“That could mean a lot of different things.” Carrying his drink, Trace took up his position against the fireplace again. “What are we talking about here?”

“When she got caught by the traffickers… It was because they busted her stalking them.” Sandwich in hand, he gestured between them. “Much like we do. She'd uncover them, make a few calls, and if things didn't go the way she wanted, she took matters into her own hands.”

Disbelief destroyed Trace's casual pose. Appalled and incensed, he took two steps forward. “She hunts traffickers?”

“Something like that.” The story was so sad, Jackson hated to repeat it. And he wouldn't, not all of it. It was her story to tell. But he could share the bare bones. “When she was seventeen, her dad traded her in a drug deal. When her mom tried to stop it, they killed her.”

“Jesus.” Dare inhaled sharply. “They probably killed the dad, too, then.”

“Yeah.”

Trace didn't say a word; he was too furious to speak.

“They had her for a few months before she escaped.” They all knew that under those conditions, a month would feel like a lifetime in hell. “She says it took her a year
to realize she needed revenge. From then, until she got nabbed again and I found her, she'd been tracking them. She knows what to look for, how to recognize the signs. She's one hell of a driver, good with weapons and a more than adequate thief.”

“Still?”

“I don't know.” He finished his sandwich. “I gave her money, but she hated that. She'd rather steal from a dealer or take it gambling, than let me help her. It's been an uphill battle all the way with that girl.”

“You trust her?”

“Completely. At least, her motives.” Though he spoke calmly enough, inside Jackson raged. “Her methods… I have no fucking idea what she's done or what she's up to now.” He didn't want to betray Arizona's trust by telling the others that she'd called him her number one guy. He knew she said it as an affectionate joke, that in some unreasonable way she felt beholden to him.

Just as he knew that in other ways, she resented him for doing things she couldn't.

“It bugs her that I saved her.”

“She wanted…” Unable to say it, Dare shook his head.

“To die? No. At least, I don't think so.” He prayed not. And if she had, well, that was over. She enjoyed living now—she'd said so herself. “She wanted to be the one to kill them all.”

Trace worked his jaw. “Does she have what it takes to do that? Is she capable of following through?”

“Says she is.” By the second, Jackson got edgier. Another minute and he'd implode. He needed physical release.

He needed Alani.

“All I have to go on is what she tells me.” And how
she looked while telling it. “She hates traffickers enough. Could she pull the trigger?
Has
she pulled the trigger? No fucking idea.”

Trace came over and took a seat. “That's what the school was about?”

“Yeah.” Jackson had to laugh at himself. “She told me all she knew how to do was hunt scumbags and defend herself. The idea of any legit job, according to her, gave her the willies. But now… You know, I think she accepted the idea of going to the school because it took her off my radar.”

Dare nodded. “She knew you disapproved.”

The reality of that sounded harsh and judgmental, when he hoped he hadn't been. “Any sane man would disapprove of a twenty-year-old girl dabbling in blood-thirsty revenge against criminal maniacs.” With one hunger satisfied, Jackson sprawled back on the couch and concentrated on cooling his burning emotions. “You know the really strange part? She breezed through getting her GED. And even with her skipping out on the school for long stretches, the instructors had nothing but good things to say about her. Somehow, around all the crap she pulled, she was still on track with her credits to graduate with an associate degree. She even carried a 3.7.”

“Smart and brazen—it's a dangerous combo.”

Jackson snorted. “Since that describes Priss—”

“Don't,” Trace warned. He shoved out of his seat again and paced away.

Jackson knew Trace still suffered a few moments of panic whenever he remembered how close Priss had come to real harm. He was especially prickly about discussing her with Jackson, since Jackson got to see “the goods” before Trace when he swiped Priss out of the shower—all with altruistic motives.

“If I hadn't let her get involved with the work,” Trace said with his back to them, “God only knows what she would have gotten into on her own.”

“She's like an adrenaline junkie,” Dare said. “You have to admit, it's addictive.” He stretched. “That is, it was addictive until I found a better way to expend my energy.”

That brought Trace back around, and he even smiled. “Wives do come in handy for working out the tension, don't they?”

Given that he wanted to work off some tension with Alani, Jackson agreed. But since Alani wasn't his wife, he wisely kept his mouth shut. Still, their discussion had given him a few ideas.

Could he bring Arizona around by giving her a lesser role to play? She'd be contributing, she'd be involved, but only to the point that he could maintain control of all situations. It was something to think about.

“Until Arizona calls me in the morning, there's not much I can do.”

“You'll stay here tonight?” Dare asked.

He nodded. “I don't want Alani alone when I go to meet with Arizona, so it'll be best if she stays here.”

Dare gave him a look he didn't understand. “Meet her where?”

“My guess is she'll head to a prearranged location. It's what we talked about in case of an emergency.” But Arizona was so unpredictable, he couldn't swear to anything—and that made him most nervous of all.

“Is the location close to your apartment?”

“Less than ten minutes away.”

Trace mulled that over. “Now that you know there's a problem, can you make your place secure enough?”

“To protect myself?” He didn't like that insinuation at all. “It's secure.”

“Actually, I was thinking about Alani.”

Jackson did a double-take. “At my apartment?”

Aggrieved, Trace shook his head in a pitying way. “You do realize that she's not going to stay behind willingly?”

Unconcerned with that, Jackson stood. “She's been reasonable about it all.” And bottom line, he'd do whatever necessary to keep her safe.

“That was before you were going off to meet another woman.” Dare came to his feet, too. “Word of warning—if you don't handle it right, Alani's going to be pissed, hurt or both.”

Jackson wondered if he'd be getting unsolicited advice from Dare and Trace from now on. He wouldn't mind so much, if it meant Alani stayed his a little longer.

Course, nothing yet guaranteed he'd be involved with her beyond sating her curiosity. He knew plenty about keeping a woman happy in bed.

Out of bed? He'd never really tried before.

Given Dare and Trace were both in long-term relationships, maybe getting a few tips from them wouldn't be a bad thing. “So what's your idea of handling it right?”

The look they shared screamed conspiracy, and Jackson didn't like it worth a damn. “What?” Under the microscope, he bristled. “You got something to say, let's hear it. I'm all ears.”

Dare made up his mind, then got Trace's nod of approval. “This could be the perfect opportunity.”

“For what?”

“It's chancy,” Trace agreed. “But if we're all there…”

“All
who?
” Jackson didn't like the sudden tension in the room, as if they both expected trouble. “If you mean Alani, forget it.”

“Look at it this way,” Trace told him. “If we're all going, we can't leave her behind.”

“We who?”

“The three of us…” Dare said. “
And
Alani.”

None of that made sense to Jackson. “Why the hell would she be going?”

“Because we need to find who's behind this. And whoever is following Arizona already knows about Alani—and now they want her, too.”

His stomach bottomed out, then burned with acid. “You want to use the women for bait.”

Trace took an aggressive step toward him. “Even you can't be that stupid.”

Dare inserted himself in Trace's path. “You're not thinking this through, Jackson. Take out your…association with Arizona and Alani. Take an unbiased look at things. A cold perspective.”

He didn't want to. He couldn't.
Association?
What a bland, dispassionate word. That's what they thought he had with Alani? Did she still think that, too?

Sure as hell felt like more to him.

A lot more.

No way could he ever be cold about anything that concerned her. But he caught their drift anyway—and knew they were right.

Temper shooting up another notch, Jackson accepted the truth and ground out the obvious. “This might be our best chance to trap the bastards.”

Dare nodded. “Whoever is following Arizona won't hurt her, because they need her to lead them to you, and to Alani.”

Trace picked up on the explanations. “Unfortunately, if they know Alani isn't with you—”

“Then Arizona could become collateral damage.” Shit, shit, shit.

“But thanks to her call, we're on to them,” Trace said, “and that gives us the upper hand. We'd all three be watching over her, but from different vantage points.”

“Which means we can keep both women safe.” Dare clasped Jackson's shoulder. “But Alani can't know.”

“And neither can Arizona.” Trace reined in his anger. “They'll be easier to control if they don't suspect danger.”

“Women tend to get protective.” Dare blew out a slow breath. “Complicates the shit out of things.”

That was a mighty big secret to keep from Alani. She wouldn't like it. And he wasn't convinced it was necessary. A history of treating her like a kid blinded Trace and Dare, but Alani was a smart, responsible woman with good instincts. At the hospital, she'd put her own nerves aside to handle the situation with intelligence, savvy and dignity.

“I don't know.” He'd prefer to carry Alani off to his home and keep her there until he'd unraveled the mystery of who'd drugged him and who was after them.

Trace snapped, “And I don't like it that some whack-job wants to get to my sister. I want this shit resolved, and if we see him coming after her, we
can
resolve it.”

“In a controlled environment,” Dare reasoned. “This is our best-case scenario and you know it.”

“Don't worry,” Trace said, prodding his anger. “She's my sister. I'll make sure she doesn't get hurt.”

Dare groaned at that well-placed dig.

But Jackson didn't take the bait; he was too busy sorting out all the scenarios in his mind. “You know I won't let anything happen to her.”

“Is that right?”

“It is.” If it was anyone but Alani, he wouldn't have to think about it, but with her, everything was different. Knowing he really had no choice, that in the end this would be in Alani's best interest, Jackson agreed with one short nod. “All right, I'll do it.”

Dare made a rude sound. “Was there any question about that?”

“No.” He frowned. “So what's the plan?”

Together, they sorted out all the possible circumstances, how they could change, how the men could be affected and what to do in case they were.

It seemed like a sound plan to Jackson, but he knew Alani would be pissed. Trust was important to her—and she'd earned his trust.

“Soon as Arizona calls you,” Trace said, “let us know. In the meantime, you might want to make sure my sister is on board for another trip, but unsuspecting of—” Trace's cell rang, cutting off the rest of what he would have said.

After glancing at the caller ID he opened it without concern. “Got it done?”

Jackson and Dare both listened in, saw Trace's satisfaction and relaxed.

“Great. Keep an eye on him. If he thinks of anything else, let me know, but otherwise, I don't want him contacting anyone for any reason. Right. Hell, lock him in a closet if he gives you any problems.” Trace grinned. “Yeah, I'll deal with it later if it comes to that. Thanks.”

After he disconnected the call, Trace stowed the phone. “Marc Tobin is relocated. I left two men to babysit him.”

“Is he making things difficult?” Dare asked.

“Actually…no. They said he's mostly limping around the room, unsettled, antsy.” Trace gave a grudging shrug.
“He wants to be clearheaded in case he thinks of anything that might help, so he's refusing pain meds.”

“He's still a prick, but at least that takes care of one problem.” Making up his mind, Jackson snagged up one more sandwich and devoured half in a single bite. “Guess I might as well get on with tackling the other.”

Trace folded his arms over his chest. “You're saying my sister is a problem?”

“Biggest one I've ever faced.” He slapped Trace on the shoulder before leaving the room. “But don't worry about it. It's nothing I can't handle.”

 

S
ITTING UNDER A TREE OUT FRONT
, Alani allowed Grim to do his business while keeping a close eye on him. The vet had done a few cursory tests, and overall had given the cat a clean bill of health. But he needed to be brushed—something Alani had just been working on—and he'd need to be brought in for more vaccines once the tests were finished. Chris had promised to see to it, since no one wanted her going out.

Danger lurked.