CrossFire (Love & Lies #1) (5 page)

CHAPTER FOUR

Jillian walked into the back room during her break and pulled the phone from her locker. Still no word from Reid. Could it really be that hard for him to send a simple text? Maybe he was waiting for her to say something, she thought as she went into her messages. Maybe he was waiting to see how mad she was. Scowling, she shoved the phone back into her locker without sending anything. She
was
still mad. It was probably for the best that he wasn’t calling her, she decided, and walked back out to her register.

Whispering. Soft, yet somehow grating whispers as Reid came to. He slowly opened his eyes, struggling to adjust to the brightness.

“He’s very lucky,” said a voice he didn’t recognize. “Another inch north and he would’ve been looking at months of recovery, not days.”

“So you’re saying I won’t have to train a new partner.”

Reid smirked as he opened his eyes more fully. “You should be so lucky.” The difficulty of the words surprised him.

Aaron and a doctor looked at Reid.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, Jackson,” said Aaron. “You are one lucky son of a bitch.”

“I don’t feel lucky,” Reid said, grimacing from the pain. “What the hell happened?”

“You were shot.”

“But the vest…”

“The bastards had steel core bullets,” said Aaron.

“Fuck,” Reid muttered. “How bad is it?”

“Not as bad as you would expect,” said the doctor. “Your vest may not have been able to stop it, but it was slowed considerably and settled into muscle without damaging any vital organs. The biggest concern was the blood loss. That’s why you blacked out. We had to give you a transfusion before we could go in and attempt to remove the bullet. Your stitches can come out in about ten days and the muscle where you were shot is going to be tender for a while. But you should be good as new in no time.”

“That’s good to hear,” said Reid scratching an itch on his left arm, but his fingernails only met with bandage. He looked at it, remembering the bullet graze, then to Aaron.

“How did you come out unscathed?” he asked.

“Guess I’m just more graceful,” said Aaron.

Reid started to laugh, but was stopped short by the searing pain in his back.

Forty-eight hours later Reid was back at work, being debriefed with Aaron.

“This is the man who was supposed to meet with Davies?” Reid asked, looking up at the screen.

“Anton Casimir,” said Rollins, “a for-profit terrorist. Born in the Ukraine, he was imprisoned at the age of sixteen for murdering his mother’s abusive boyfriend. Two years later he escaped killing a guard in the process and has never stayed long in one place since. It is unclear if he was planning to use the codes and transponder directly or was selling them.”

“Do we know where he is now?” asked Aaron.

Rollins shook her head. “We’re not even sure if he’s left Mexico yet, though I doubt he would have stuck around.”

“Where does that leave us?” Reid wondered.

Rollins’ expression soured. “As much as I hate to say this, there’s nothing we can do but wait for him to resurface. But we kept the codes out of his hands, and the Davies family is safe again thanks to you gentlemen. I think we can still count this as a win.”

Aaron and Reid nodded reluctantly.

“Now go finish up your mission logs. Dismissed.”

Reid and Aaron were still doing paperwork when Rollins walked up and threw down a pair of tickets.

“Good job, men,” she announced.

“What are these?” asked Aaron.

“Tickets to the Mariners’ game tomorrow night against the Texas Rangers. You guys deserve a night out.”

Reid shrugged and looked at Aaron.

“Should be fun,” he said and Aaron nodded.

“Thanks, Director,” said Aaron.

Rollins strode off and Aaron scribbled his signature at the bottom of the page and stood up.

“You want to meet me at the Pyramid Alehouse before the game?” he asked.

“Beer garden sounds good,” said Reid.

“Are you still on the Vicodin?”

“Nah. It makes my head fuzzy. Maybe tonight, but just doing ibuprofen for now.”

“You are one bad ass,” said Aaron.

“Whatever. Four o’clock at the beer garden?”

“Four it is. Later, Jackson.”

Aaron walked out and Reid finished up his own report. He grabbed his keys from the drawer and was headed out when Rollins caught up to him.

“Maxwell isn’t going to be able to use his ticket,” she said. “Do you know anyone who might want it?”

Reid was about to say no, but then thought of Jillian. He owed her big time.

“Sure, I know someone who might like it.”

“Great.” Rollins handed him the extra ticket and left Reid standing there wondering how Aaron was going to react when he brought her along.

The doorbell rang and when Jillian saw Reid through the peephole, she found herself with mixed emotions. After no word from him for three days, she was relieved to see he hadn’t forgotten her completely. But she was still sore after being sent home halfway through their last date.

She did her best to appear blas
é
about his arrival before she opened the door. When she did, his face broke into a grin, and she felt her facade crumbling fast.

“Yes?” she asked.

Reid’s smile faltered slightly at her icy tone.

“Hey,” he said. “I just got home and wanted to apologize again for the other night.”

Jillian crossed her arms. “Yes, you apologized the other night as well. You know, when you were pushing me into the cab.”

His smile disappeared completely. As much as Jillian enjoyed seeing him squirm, she was a bit sad to see it go.

“I know. It was a disaster,” he said, “but I was hoping to make it up to you.” She raised a brow and he continued. “I have tickets to the baseball game tomorrow night and I was hoping you would come with me.”

Inside, Jillian was jumping for joy that Reid was asking her out again. But a small part of her didn’t know if it was such a good idea. The part that remembered the heartache of not so long ago.

“What do you say?” Reid asked when she hadn’t responded.

“If I were to say yes,” she said, and Reid’s smile started to return, “should I drive my own car? You know, in case I need to find a ride home.”

He frowned and Jillian had to admit it was almost as sexy as his smile.

“I deserve that,” he said. “But I promise that I’m not on-call tomorrow. I’d be all yours. Although that is a rare thing,” he added with caution in his voice, and Jillian understood completely. He was warning her, and she knew she had a decision to make.

“I suppose,” she said slowly, and Reid’s face lit up, “we could give it one more try.”

“Great. I thought we’d go to the beer garden. It will take a while to find parking. Do you want to meet at my house at three?”

“I have to work until three,” she said, shaking her head. “How about three-thirty so I can run home and change?”

“I can do three-thirty,” he said. “See you tomorrow.”

Jillian nodded and watched him walk back across the street before closing the door, hoping she wasn’t making a big mistake. As eager as she was to get out there again, the truth was her heart was still very fragile.

Just after three there was a knock on the front door, and Reid opened it to find Jillian on his porch wearing a long causal cotton skirt and tank top with a sweater in her hand.

“Hello,” he said.

“I was able to leave work a little early,” she told him, smiling. “I knew you were hoping to head out sooner.”

Reid grabbed his own jacket from a nearby closet. “I was all right with the later time, but this is great. You all ready then?”

She nodded.

“So where exactly did you have to take off to when we were at dinner?” Jillian asked as they pulled onto the freeway.

“New York,” he replied with the ready answer.

“How long were you gone for?”

“The whole five days,” he said. “I just got back yesterday morning. How was work today?” he asked in an effort to turn the conversation in a different direction.

She shrugged. “The usual. A lot of people that were going to the game as well. Or getting ready to watch it from home.”

“I probably should have asked this before, but are you a baseball fan?”

“I can’t stand baseball,” she said.

Reid’s head snapped in her direction and caught the playful grin on her face.

“I’m teasing,” she said. “I don’t normally follow baseball, but I always enjoy going to Safeco Field.”

Reid turned his attention back to the road.

“You should have seen your face,” she said, laughing. “Do you really think I would have agreed to come if I hated it so much?”

He couldn’t help laughing with her. “I would hope not.”

“Football is a different story though. I’m getting excited for the upcoming season.”

“Have you been to any Seahawk games?”

“Loads,” she said. “My dad has season tickets.”

“I heard there was a waiting list for those.”

“Now, but he’s had his for years.”

Reid noticed she didn’t mention her mother and thought back to the pictures on her dresser.

“How about you?” she asked.

“I’ve been to a couple of games,” he said. “I try to watch them if I’m home.”

“Well, if my dad ever can’t make it to a game, maybe I’ll invite you.”

Reid glanced over to catch her smile again. He liked it a lot better than the frown she was wearing at the end of their last attempt at a date. At least this time there wasn’t any chance of him getting called in, so the odds were already improved.

Reid managed to find parking only a few blocks from the stadium, and they joined the throngs of people stepping off the buses nearby and migrating towards Safeco Field. Reid took Jillian’s hand as they waited to cross an intersection, and she gave him a shy smile. His grip was sure and solid, and she couldn’t help but imagine how those hands might feel…elsewhere. When the walk signal changed, he led her across the street to the Pyramid Alehouse beer garden where they waited to be carded before entering.

“I hope you don’t mind,” he said with a frown, “but I have a friend meeting us here.”

“Oh.” Jillian tried to hide her disappointment.

“The tickets were handed out at work so there will be other people in the stands I know, but Aaron and I made plans to meet here before the game.”

She forced a smile. “That’s fine.”

They made it past the entrance and she scanned the crowd with Reid, not really knowing who they were looking for. But then she saw a man with chestnut-colored hair wave at them and Reid pulled her in that direction.

Maybe it was her imagination, but this man did not look happy to see her at all.

“Jillian,” said Reid, “I’d like to introduce you to Aaron Wells. Wells, this is Jillian.”

“Nice to meet you,” Aaron said without any hint of a smile, but Jillian offered her hand nonetheless and he took it.

“Nice to meet you too,” she said. “Reid just told me outside,” she pointed over her shoulder, “that we would be meeting you.”

“That’s okay. He didn’t tell me you would be here either.” The two men exchanged a look.

“As I was headed out, the boss offered me an extra ticket. So I thought I would invite Jillian.”

“Did you, now?” Aaron asked.

“Um, I’m going to go grab a beer,” Jillian interrupted. “Can I get you anything?”

“I’ll come with you,” said Reid. “Be right back.”

“I’ll be waiting.” Aaron said, taking a gulp of his own beer.

“What was that about?” Jillian asked while they waited in line.

“Sorry. Wells isn’t exactly the warmest person. I had hoped he would be a bit more polite, but obviously I was asking too much.”

“Is he going to be like this the whole time?” She frowned, envisioning an evening of Aaron’s icy personality.

“Nah,” said Reid. “I’m sure he’ll warm up. Especially after a few beers.”

“Can’t wait,” she muttered.

By the time the three of them found their seats at the ball field, Aaron’s demeanor had not improved, despite the several beers he had downed. If Jillian hadn’t been watching him drink them, she would have guessed him stone-cold sober. Or at least stone-cold. Reid was trying his best to pull them into joined conversation, even brought up football, but Aaron just shrugged or grunted his answers.

The second inning had just started when Reid, who had been sitting between them, left to go to the bathroom. She and Aaron sat in silence watching the game, which was even slower than usual, when Jillian couldn’t take it any longer.

“Did I do something to you?” she asked, looking right at him. He was leaning forward with an elbow on his knee and chin in his hand.