Heroes In Uniform (186 page)

It was five days since Manning stepped off that mountain and took her with him. She still got cold and shaky whenever she recalled that moment. She wrapped her arms around herself now and moved to the window. The snow storm that had precipitated her escape into the mountains had marked the end of the winter. Spring had come early. Eight floors below, Bradley’s residents were enjoying the mild afternoon. Mallory raised her face to the bright, warm sunlight.

Mallory’s brother, John, came up beside her and put his arm around her. His dark hair was mussed as if he’d recently driven his fingers through it. When news broke about Manning and Mallory’s role in apprehending the congressman, John had taken an emergency leave from his CIA team. Her brother was having a difficult time dealing with her near-death experience with Manning and since his arrival at her apartment, had taken to keeping her in his sights. John brought her close now and planted a kiss on the top of her head, then they just stood together, without speaking.

John’s first night there, they’d stayed up until the early hours of the morning, talking about Manning and the investigation and about . . . Cassie. There was little Mallory had never shared with John, and while he knew some of her driving need to find out what happened to Cassie, he hadn’t known just how deep that need went. John had held her and rocked her as she’d told him of it, and cried for her dearest friend.

Footsteps behind them drew their attention. Mallory turned with John to see Eve, the woman John would marry at Christmas, coming toward them. Eve was bearing a tray with steaming mugs and a plate piled high with sandwiches.

“Thought you might like some lunch,” Eve said as she set the tray down on the coffee table.

Eve smoothed her slim designer skirt beneath her before gracefully lowering herself onto the armchair. John’s eyes went soft and warm as he took in the woman he so clearly loved. Eve was a beautiful woman both outside and inside and Mallory welcomed her as a sister. Though she couldn’t be happier that John and Eve had found each other, seeing them together also brought a degree of pain and a deep longing for Gage.

Like Mallory, Gage had given statements to York and to a bevy of high ranking government officials, and no doubt to his own police chief. But she hadn’t heard that from him. She hadn’t seen or spoken with Gage since he’d pulled her up that mountain.

Though it hurt to admit, she didn’t expect to hear from him. They’d said all they needed to say outside the Bureau building on the day he left. Or, he had. After he’d spoken, there’d been nothing she could say. She was not over him and had accepted she never would be.

“Lunch sounds great, honey,” John said to Eve. He faced Mallory. “How about it, Mal?”

Mallory left the window and accompanied her brother to the couch, welcoming the distraction from thinking about Gage. She hadn’t told John or Eve about her love for Gage. The wound was too raw.

Eve bit delicately into an egg salad sandwich. “I was hoping you and I could take a look at some bridal magazines after lunch.”

Mallory swallowed a lump that formed in her throat and nodded. “Yes. Absolutely.”

The doorbell rang. Mallory rose from the couch. She swung the front door open and went still at the sight of Gage standing in the corridor.

She took in a quick breath at the deep wound at his hairline that was healing but was still red and raw. He was wearing a dark suit and tie. It was the first time she’d seen him in anything but jeans and the business look had been made with him in mind. She hadn’t thought he could possibly be more handsome, but he was.

“Hello, Mallory.”

“Gage.”

A silence dragged on. He broke it. “May I come in?”

She would have preferred not to invite him in. Seeing him had started her heart racing and had brought to the forefront every feeling she had for him. But after all they’d been through together, he certainly deserved better than to be left standing outside in the hall and she stepped back from the doorway.

John stood. Mallory cleared her throat to make introductions. “Gage, this is my brother, John, and his fiancée, Eve Collins. John, this is Gage Broderick.”

John met Gage at the door and extended his hand. “Thank you.”

Gage shook John’s hand. “No thanks necessary.”

Eve joined them. She cast a look to Gage and then to Mallory, then retrieved her coat and John’s from the hall closet. “John, let’s take a walk.”

Before John or Mallory herself could utter a word, Eve hustled John out the door. Now alone with Gage, the silence resumed.

Gage looked around. “You changed some things.”

“I replaced what was broken when Manning’s men came in here.”

“Looks good.”

Mallory closed the door but kept her hand on the knob, needing something to hold on to. “I heard you were required to return to Washington.”

“My boss, among others, wanted to know how I was involved in what went down over here.”

“How’d that go?”

“I’m back to work.”

Mallory felt happy for him. “I’m glad. You’re a good cop. How does it feel being back?”

“Right.” He gave her a level look. “How are you?”

“I’m fine, thank you. How are you?”

Gage’s eyes narrowed on her, assessing her. “Really, how are you?”

After Gage pulled her up the mountain, she’d been treated for the ribs Big Brute had broken and the concussion he and his associate had caused, but to Gage now she said, “Really, I’m fine.”

She couldn’t do this with him. Couldn’t stand here making small talk. Seeing him was one more assault to the delicate balance of her emotions. She felt her composure slip and turned the knob to open the door before she lost it completely.

“Mallory, we need to talk about how we left things.”

She didn’t want to hear reasons why they couldn’t be together. Her heart breaking all over again, she said, “Gage, I don’t want you to blame yourself for leaving the day that Manning got me. That wasn’t your fault. You have nothing to feel guilty about.” That guilt would have taken him over the mountain with her.

“Please. Hear me out.”

She didn’t want to do that. Not when his words were sure to pour salt on her bleeding heart. But he wasn’t going to let this go and she was now dangerously close to breaking down. That would only upset them both. So before she did, she would let him get it all out and then he would leave her for the last time. Swallowing tears, she nodded

“When Ben and Josh were killed, something inside me died too,” Gage said. “I went up to that mountain never expecting to come down.”

Mallory rubbed the heel of her hand to her heart where it now ached for Gage.

He closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them, he went to the new bookcase in her living room where among tomes on investigative procedure and recent bestsellers, were photographs of Mallory at various ages with her parents, brothers, and Cassie. He stood facing them, but Mallory didn’t think he was actually seeing the pictures.

“Up there,” Gage continued, “I was in a place where no one could ever be hurt again because of me. Where I couldn’t be hurt. I’d lost the two people I’d loved most in this world. I didn’t want to love anyone again.”

Mallory closed her eyes against the pain of those words. When she opened them, Gage had turned away from the photographs, back to her.

“As long as I live I will never get the sight of you hanging off that mountain out of my head.” Gage shuddered.

“You saved me. I’d be dead now if not for you.”

“If I could remove the hurt that Manning caused you, and all the hurt I caused you . . . ” He shook his head. “I can’t—”

Her heart squeezed. “I know you can’t—”
Love me.
“—change how you feel.”

“Change what happened.”

“You don’t have to do this, Gage. You have nothing to blame yourself for.”

He left the bookcase and came to stand in front of her again. The expression on his face was raw and open, unlike any she’d seen on him before. “You think because I’d left you and then Manning caught you, I came after you out of guilt.” His eyes blazed into hers. “Nothing I ever did with you was out of guilt.”

Mallory just stared at him.

He framed her face between his broad palms. “I came after you because I love you.”

Mallory’s lips began to tremble. Her eyes stung with tears. Gage kissed her as the first one fell.

Against her lips he said, “I can’t change what’s happened, but I don’t have to let that be all there is for us. I want a life with you.” His voice was thick with emotion.

Mallory couldn’t blink fast enough to clear the tears blurring her view of him. Kissing him, she murmured. “I want that too. I love you so much.”

With Gage in Washington and her in New York, theirs would be a long distance relationship until they could get some things worked out, but for now all she could think was he was here holding her in his arms. “When do you need to go back home?”

Gage drew back from her. His gaze lit on each feature of her face before returning to meet her eyes. As his mouth covered hers again he said, “Baby, I am home.”

—The End—

About the Author

Karen Fenech

USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR KAREN FENECH writes erotic romance, romantic suspense, and short works of suspense. She is the author of the bestselling romantic suspense series, The Protectors. As of this writing, the first four books in the series are available: Book 1: IMPOSTER; Book 2: SNOWBOUND; Book 3: PURSUED; Book 4: HIDE. Karen's novels and short suspense fiction have received critical acclaim. Her novels have been translated into several languages and have been released in audio by her publisher. When Karen's not writing or spending time with her family, she loves to shop, watch movies, and just kick back in a comfortable chair and read. If you'd like to know when Karen Fenech's next novel is released, sign up for her notification-only news at:
www.karenfenech.com/books

Keep in touch with Karen at:

Facebook:
www.facebook.com/KarenFenechsFriends

Twitter:
twitter.com/karenfenech

Website:
www.karenfenech.com

Additional Books by Karen Fenech

IMPOSTER
: The Protectors Series -- Book One

PURSUED
: The Protectors Series -- Book Three

HIDE
: The Protectors Series -- Book Four

DEATHBLOW

by Dana Marton

Deathblow: Chapter One

The worst time for a police cruiser to fly off a bridge was when you were handcuffed in the back. Joe Kessler braced as the Hummer crashed into the cruiser from behind for the final time and sent the brand-new Crown Victoria over the railing.

The two Philly cops up front—the driver Irish-looking, the other one black—yelled all the way down, “Hang on! Hang on! Oh hell, dammit!”

Joe and Lil’ Gomez, free-flying in the back, swore more colorfully than that as the car hit the Schuylkill River with a bone-rattling crash. Joe smashed into the metal screen that separated him from the scrambling officers, Lil’ Gomez on top of him, the kid’s pointy elbow slamming into Joe’s cheekbone.

God,
he hated undercover work.

Then the rear end of the car slammed down, and they dropped back into their seat, Lil’ Gomez still swearing, the driver shouting into his radio unit, “Officers in the water! Men in the water! We went off the bridge!”

Joe pushed the scrambling kid aside. “Hey! Let us out!” He kicked hard at the door that didn’t budge. “Let us out, dammit!” But the officers paid no attention to him as the cruiser began sinking.

The river churned in the dark night around them, swollen from the spring rains. The cop in the driver’s seat jabbed at the window button by his side, his partner doing the same, grunting, hurrying to roll the glass down before the water could short out the electrical system.

“Hey!” Joe banged against the back door in vain; everything was controlled from the front in a police cruiser.

He glanced at Lil’ Gomez as the scrawny teenager beat against the glass on his side, cussing at the cops, his brown eyes filled with panic. Then the front windows were down at last, the cops tearing at their seat belts.

Oh hell.

“Undercover officer.” Joe gritted his teeth.
A month of undercover work down the drain.
His gaze met the driver’s in the rearview mirror, and he shouted louder. “I’m an undercover officer!”

But the kid’s yelling and the loud rush of the raging river drowned out everything else.

The ice-cold water was up to their knees in a second, then up to their chests.
Ho-ly fuck.
Joe had to catch his breath as he adjusted to the shock.

He twisted to kick the wire mesh divider to draw the cops’ attention, but the officers were focused on getting out, paying no mind to the panic in the backseat.

The car filled up in seconds, only a two-inch air pocket hanging on stubbornly under the roof where Lil’ Gomez was sucking air, quiet for the moment. Underwater, the headlights’ eerie glow provided maybe a foot or two of visibility; nothing but murky river beyond that.

Joe rattled the door as he watched the driver wiggle out of the car, then kick away, disappearing in the dark water in seconds. The cop on the passenger side was squeezing through his own window inch by inch. He was rounder than his buddy, but he heaved himself through at last, glancing back.

Joe banged his cuffed hands against the rolled-up window in the back, holding the man’s gaze.

Indecision mixed with desperation on the officer’s face. Then he reached back in, his dark hand barely visible against the car’s black interior. He pressed the button and waited three seconds for the glass in the back to slide down most of the way.