Justice (30 page)

“
At least some good came out of this mess.
”
I pull my hand away with a sigh.
“
You should go. They need you down there. The case is breaking now.
”

“
I don’t want to leave you alone.
”

“
There’s a cruiser out front, and I’m sure my guards will track me down soon enough.
”

“
I’m not talking about that, and you know it.
”

I look away from his well-meaning face.
“
I’ll be okay. I just need time to process, I think.
”

“
Jo, I—
”

“
I can’t talk about it right now, okay? I just can’t. Seriously, go. You can’t really do anything for me here. Not really. You need to fix this. There’s still a psycho out there gunning for me, and I don’t have the energy to go after him right now. You’ll have to do the job for both of us. Go. I’ll be fine.
”

I’m touched by his reluctance to leave my side, but we both know he’s needed more there than here. This is my second cup of tea, and I didn’t even touch the first.
“
Are you sure?
”

“
Absolutely, yes. Go.
”

Reluctantly, he stands up.
“
I’d feel better if you’d let me take you back to my place.
”

“
I want to sleep in my own bed, watch my own TV, and stare out my own window. I’ll be fine.
”

“
I’ll post another patrol car out front until the guards arrive.
”

“
I feel safer already.
”

He leans down and kisses me.
“
I’ll be back as soon as I can.
”
We kiss again before he walks to the door, and a few seconds later I hear the front door close and lock.

Alone at last, thank the Lord. I sigh but then wince in pain. Stupid gunshot wound. I’ve never been shot before. Despite what the shows portray, very few of us ever get involved in shoot-outs. Most only draw their side arms about ten times with the intent to shoot, but never pull the trigger. Of course they also never have an acid-throwing psychopath after them because their best friend is a superhero. Or ex-best friend, I guess. Maybe Alkaline will leave me alone if I shoot the bastard myself. The enemy of my enemy and all that.

No, it’s time to flee. I have come to the decision that I need to get the fuck out of this town ASAP. I should have listened to everyone and left the moment I saw that picture on the door. I wouldn’t have been shot, humiliated, and broken hearted. I’d still have my best friend, bastard fucking liar that he is.

I’m thinking Fiji. Get a bungalow, burn in the sun, maybe rent a sailboat and go scuba diving. When Harry can join me, he can rub suntan lotion on my back. I’ll send the bill to the bastard fucking liar who made me go to ground. It’ll be the last time he hears from me.

I manage to get up and shuffle into the kitchenette to forage for food. There’s a few apples, bread, moldy tuna, and peanut butter. I go for apples and peanut butter and stumble to the couch. Nothing on TV about the shoot out or me. I settle on a vampire movie to assuage my blood lust. I keep alternating between intense anger and bottomless despair with a sprinkling of humiliation thrown in.

As the busty woman gives herself to the dead man, and I find the most expensive hotel in Fiji, there’s a knock on my front door. I damn near drop my laptop in surprise. No one buzzed to come up, but I doubt Alkaline would knock. Can’t be too careful though. Not only do I get my spare gun, but I even throw on the coat. If I had realized I was still wearing it on the ride home, I would have thrown it out the window. I’ll toss it in the trash at the airport instead.

I look out the peephole and roll my eyes. Crap. I wish it was Alkaline. I put the gun on the counter and unlock the door.
“
How the hell did you get in here?
”

Lucy stands in the hall, as usual lips pursed with disapproval. Bryan and Geoff loom behind her, looking scary as always.
“
We own the building,
”
Lucy says.
“
May I come in?
”
She doesn’t wait for a response.

I shut the door.
“
Guess it’s time for me to move then.
”

She glances around the living room, not liking the décor.
“
Are they all like this?
”

“
Well, the owners are kind of assholes, so yeah.
”
I put my hands on my hips.
“
What the hell do you want?
”

“
I’ve come as a goodwill ambassador to explain.
”

“
You can shove your goodwill and your explanation. All I want from you and your freak of a nephew is for you to forget you ever met me.
”

“
We’re your family.
”

My mouth slacks open, and I begin to chuckle.
“
Family
? Oh my God, you did not just say that. Not even you are that cruel.
”

“
We had our reasons, Joanna.
”

“
Sure you did. Everyone always has their reasons. The reason my mom drank was she had a disease. The reason some punk shot my dad was that he needed money. The reason Ryder liquefied three innocent people was he was pissed off that he lost.
”
I shrug.
“
So yeah, I’m sure you all had your reasons. But my parents are both dead. Rebecca, Daisy, and Marnie too. My so-called family, people who supposedly loved and trusted me, have been lying to me from day one. So fuck your reasons!
”

“
You have every right to be angry. I know you see this as a betrayal.
”

“
Got another word for it?
”

“
But we lied to protect you.
”

“
So you were being cruel to be kind.
”
I fold my arms across my chest.
“
Yeah, I’ve heard that one before too.
”

“
Do you know what you were like when we first met? A hate-spewing, prejudiced, angry girl who found a scapegoat in Justin’s dead father for her own. Not much has changed through the years. Do you have any idea how hurtful that was for him to hear? To endure from his best friend?
”

She’s right on that front. My back straightens.
“
Ever think my opinion might have changed had I known?
”

“
He wanted to tell you. A thousand times. He did. I’m the one who convinced him early on not to. That you wouldn’t understand. Then the years went by and it became harder and harder to tell you for this exact reason. And if you really think about it objectively, you didn’t really need to know. It had no bearing on your life or friendship up until now.
”

“
Did he tell
her?
”

“
It’s not a competition, Joanna.
”

“
He did. He trusted her and not me. And then…I’ve been torturing myself, thinking this whole mess was my fault. He knew that and let me go on thinking it.
”

“
He lost a part of his family. He didn’t want to risk losing the rest of it.
”

“
Too fucking late.
”

“
You’re being unfair.
”
She raises an eyebrow.
“
You didn’t tell him about an important part of your life, of who you are. How is that any different from what he did?
”

My eyes narrow.
“
I didn’t tell him about a five month relationship, don’t you compare the two.
”

“
I wasn’t talking about your dalliance with your supervisor. Since the night you met, you kept an essential part of yourself concealed.
”
My stomach seizes up. It must show on my face because Lucy takes a step toward me.
“
You didn’t trust him with your true feelings. You did all you could to conceal your love from him. To protect the both of you from the havoc it would bring. How on earth is that any different than what he did?
”

I’m shamed into silence, the wheels in my mind spinning in vain to come up with an argument.
“
I—
”

The sound of gunshots hitting brick outside the window startles us both. I count three, followed by glass shattering in my bedroom. As I rush toward the noise, the front door opens, Bryan and Geoff rushing into secure the confused Lucy. A black figure flies across the living room window as more gunshots ring out, one hitting the window and lodging in the poster behind me. I’m not even through the bedroom door when I see it on the floor surrounded by broken glass. A gray brick of C-4 with wire and a timer. Shit.

“
Bomb!
”

The men shove Lucy out the door with me running close behind. The moment I pull the fire alarm in the hall, the explosion rocks the building. The noise and heat from the blast knock me down, with Geoff falling on top of me. I don’t know which hurts more, the explosion or the two hundred fifty pound man in top of me. Either way I can’t breathe. Bits of ceiling and wall, some flaming, rain around us. My ears ring so loud I have an immediate headache.

Geoff rolls off me, and I flip over. Black smoke, tinted orange, billows out of my front door burning my nose and throat so badly I’m hacking my lungs out. The walls around and across are stained black with huge cracks branching out into the ceiling like a spider web. My apartment’s a crater.

Geoff grabs me by the collar and pulls me off the floor. He shoves me down the hall right behind the shaking Lucy and serious Bryan. My neighbors fill the stairwell, some crying hysterically, and the rest in a blind panic. Thank God the majority are still at work. My next-door neighbor Mrs. Jeffrey and her seven cats rush down with the rest of us.

When we get onto the street, it’s havoc. People from inside and out all stagger around, coughing, and some are even bleeding. The two police officers sent to guard me help corral the stunned people away from the smoldering rubble. Cars on the street honk, though I can barely hear them. The drivers get out of their cars, looking up. I do the same and wince. There’s a huge hole with flames and smoke wafting from it. What’s left of my apartment lies in hot heaps on the sidewalk. Like the rest of them, I’m too shocked to know what to do next. I’ve just become homeless. Someone just tried to kill me. Again. What—

A man in a leather jacket, one of the few not sporting a deer-in-the-headlights expression, saddles up to Bryan. I don’t know what he does, but Bryan jerks and falls down. The people around him seem confused except for leather man. He takes another step and the same thing happens to Lucy. She swoons into the man’s arms. It’s all over in a second. As I’m turning to alert Geoff, two cold metal prongs touch my neck, followed by a painful jolt of electricity. My legs give out and I can’t move my arms. Taser. I remember the feeling from the academy.

I’m not knocked out, but the world goes fuzzy and incoherent. I’m vaguely aware of a man picking me up as bystanders look on. He steps over Bryan’s prostrate body, past the preoccupied patrolmen, down the street from the commotion. My head lolls from side to side as we move, but through the haze I realize where I’ve seen my abductor before. The other gunman from today. Perfect.

My body hasn’t rebooted from the shock when he tosses me into the trunk of a Cadillac next to the near-unconscious Lucy. Before shutting the back, he entwines my hands with riot cuffs at the wrists. In the pitch black, I can feel the car shake to life and pull away. I’m still too out of it to feel fear, but it’s coming.

It takes a few minutes but my mind slowly recovers, followed by my body. Hands reach out to me in the darkness. I touch Lucy, tell her not to panic though I can’t hear her response as my ears still ring. I do feel her hot, ragged breath on the back of my neck. She’s close to panicked judging from her breathing. I’m not too far behind.

When complex thought is possible again, my training takes over. We covered this very scenario at the academy. As I’m telling Lucy to stay calm, that we’ll be okay, I kick out the tail light. With the last thrust, dull pain runs across my bare foot. I cut myself, but I barely feel it. When the plastic gives, light streams inside so bright I have to shut my eyes for a moment. This better get someone’s attention. Blinking helps and soon I can see. I flip over so I’m facing Lucy. Tears cover her face and I grab her shaking, bound hands with mine, reassuring her until she calms down a little. I try to move, so I can look out the hole but can’t. My foot won’t fit out either.

I tell Lucy to scoot back as far as she can and then start kicking the top of the trunk as hard as I can, not easy with my injured foot. Each time I hit, a stab of pain shoots through. Great. I don’t have much leverage but keep at it. Maybe someone will hear. I think we drive about ten minutes, to where I don’t know. The car turns left again and we go down a bumpy incline, the light dimming as we descend on the gravel. Lucy’s breath grows ragged again.

“
Oh, God,
”
she whimpers.

I’m close to falling apart too. This is bad. This is
so
bad. There’s a very good chance I’ll throw up at some point, but I’ll stave the impulse off as long as possible.
“
Lucy, listen to me,
”
I say, voice deceptively neutral.
“
We are going to get through this. You just need to stay calm and do what I say when I say it. Be strong, okay? No matter what.
”

“
O—Okay,
”
she says.