License to Love (50 page)

“I’m glad you decided to show up here, Cora,” he began.
“Jerry isn’t having any luck repaying my money.”

She stood up and crossed her arms. “He didn’t steal anything
from you. You know it too.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. Alexander had said not to say
any more than needed. Actually, he had told her to keep her mouth shut so she
wouldn’t slip and give something away. Somehow she needed to control her temper
when she wanted to rush him, to slap him and scratch his face up. She wanted to
the kill the SOB.

“We’re done discussing things, dear.” With a smirk on his
face, he folded his arms. “So now I’m wondering how you can help us.”

She could help him with a one way ticket to hell. She ground
her molars together, eating her words. “I’m here to get my father.”

He smiled at her, smiled at her! Where was Alexander? A pain
started in her chest. It had to be nerves, but she felt like her heart was
about to explode.

As if he heard her thoughts, Alexander’s voice ordered,
“Jerry’s leaving with us.”

Keith startled and turned around as Alexander stepped
through the door with a gun pointed at him. That made Keith back down the
stairs and up against a wall.

Alexander tossed something to her. “Uncuff him.”

She used the small key to unlock the handcuffs and helped
Jerry to his feet. Keith watched them with a cold, blank stare, his hands up in
the air. More than anything, she wanted to smirk at him and say something mean,
but she was so scared that her limbs felt rubbery. She focused on helping Jerry
and on not tripping herself. Alexander motioned to the chair with the gun and
Keith sat down.

“Come on, Dad.” Her voice shook, but she ignored it and
started for the stairs. Jerry leaned on her. She made her way up the stairs and
to the front door, feeling like she was pushing though cold butter. They were
so close! When the police saw what Keith did to Jerry, they’d arrest him for
sure. Kidnapping, torture, blackmail – he’d go away for a long time.

Focus! She just needed to get Jerry outside. She heard
Alexander behind them but couldn’t look back while her father leaned on her,
struggling to breath. He needed to go straight to the hospital. 

“Okay, dad, I have to get the door.” She wanted to run but
they couldn’t. She had to support him and still get a hand free to get the
door. That allowed her to look back for Alexander.

He was looking the other way.
At Keith.

Keith had followed them up the stairs, his hands in the air.
Why hadn’t Alexander thought of using the handcuffs on him?

The front door burst open. Cora jumped back just in time, throwing
her dad off balance. They stumbled but she kept them both upright.

“Nick!” she called his name as a horrible blast
ripped
through her ears. After a shocked second, she turned her head and realized
Alexander had shot at Nick. Shot and missed.

“Drop it!” This yell came from back in the hallway. A young,
muscular Hispanic man stalked toward them slowly while aiming a handgun at
Keith. The man’s dark, intense eyes locked on them. It had to be Adam.

“I don’t think so!” Alexander yelled back, crazed anger
creeping into his voice.

Nick stepped into the house. He surveyed her and flicked his
gaze over to Jerry. She could see his horror.

Unsure of himself now, Alexander jerked his gun toward Nick.
“That’s far enough, Nicky! Back up and let us through.”

Nick moved forward instead. “Cora and Jerry are leaving
without you.”

Alexander stepped closer too, his gun hand shaking. Nick
stopped short. He was halfway inside the door, blocking it.

“Back up. Move out of the way, Nick,” Alexander snarled.

“Cora,” Nick said while keeping his gaze steady on Alexander
and Keith. “Alexander’s trying to get Jerry killed.”

She glanced between Alexander and Keith. This didn’t add up
and she needed
out.
She felt as if grains of sand were scratching
through her veins. They just needed to get out the front door and to a car. She
caught her dad’s eye and took a step toward the door.

“Stay put, Cora!” Alexander barked.

She looked at him, confused. They were so close. “This is
over,” she said to Keith and Alexander. “My dad needs medical attention.”

Alexander spoke to Cora without turning his face or eyes to
her. “If you want to get Jerry out of here alive, you better tell Nick to move
out of the way.”

Was Alexander threatening her or warning her? Cora looked at
Nick.

He still had his eyes fixed on Alexander. She prayed no one
twitched and accidentally fired. “Alexander came here two days ago to talk to
Keith and arrange this.”

“Nick, shut up.” Keith stepped toward him, but Adam stepped
closer to Keith and aimed his gun at Keith’s head.

“Why?” She took a step toward the door.

“They want something from you, and that’s why Alexander
wanted you to come here today.” Nick’s brown eyes weren’t warm and welcoming
today, but calculating and persuasive. “They set up this charade to get Jerry killed
and make sure you saw it. Keith is paying Alexander with you, Cora.”

I don’t have a way out. I don’t have a gun. I’m dead.
Her father would never get out alive if she got herself killed.

“I’m going to kill you, Nick.” Without moving his body,
Alexander jerked his arm and fired toward her. The shot split the air and her
reasoning just before her scream broke loose.

Jerry went limp and they both crumpled to the floor.
Dad!
More shots exploded all around.

Mixed into the noise, Jerry cried her name.

Someone grabbed her by one arm and yanked her to her feet,
away from her dad. Alexander spoke in her ear as he pulled her back against
him. “You’re coming with me.” He held his pistol against her temple while
announcing to the now quiet room, “Anyone makes a move and she’s gone. Both of
you, on the wall!”

Her lungs were fighting for air. Keith was gone. Nick and
Adam kept their guns aimed at Alexander’s head as they backed up to the wall.
She prayed it was his head. She prayed they’d hit their target if they shot.

Cora had one free arm, but no weapon, and no plan.

“Okay.” Nick lowered his gun part of the way and motioned
for Adam to lower his.

Alexander laughed. The sound punched right into her ringing
ear.

A shot rang out. Alexander jerked backwards, trying to duck.
Ripping her arm from his grip, Cora dove away from him.

Did Nick just shoot at Alexander?

Alexander ran out the door with Nick chasing and shooting at
him. “Let’s move!” Nick yelled. Adam pulled Jerry into his arms as Nick pulled
Cora to her feet.

Nick and Adam rushed them into the backseat of a car. The
doors shut as the car screeched forward. She kneeled in the small space between
the front and back seats, trying not to cry as she pressed her hands down on
the wound in Jerry’s abdomen. His blood continued to leak out between her
fingers. Blood. Everywhere.

Nick and Adam were talking, maybe yelling, and maybe asking
her questions. Jerry was talking too, but much quieter. She had to lean close
to hear. “The backup CD. The key.”

“I found it. It’s okay, Dad, I have it.”

“Read your file.”

“Floor it!” Adam turned halfway around in the seat, checking
on Jerry.

“Already am,” Nick said through gritted teeth. The car flew
down the interstate toward the hospital. He didn’t slow below a hundred miles
per hour, even when the lights of a squad car flashed on behind him. He
screeched around cars while praying they’d make it.

Seeing the fear in Cora’s eyes churned his stomach. He loved
the law, but he’d kill anyone who hurt her. She had no idea what she meant to
him. He hadn’t known until today.

If only he could show her that.

If only he could get Jerry to the hospital in time.

If only he could save her from loosing another parent,
enduring that loss all over again, and then having no one.

“I’ll get him,” he vowed, staring straight ahead with
determination like spears of fire from God’s own hand. “I’ll get him for this
and for everyone he’s hurt.”

He meant Keith at first, but he’d get Alexander too, for his
perverted obsession with Cora and for shooting Jerry.

Nick risked taking one glance into the back of the car.
Jerry lay lifeless and bleeding in Cora’s arms while her voice quietly begged
him to hold on, to stay with them. He wasn’t sure someone could lose blood like
that and live.

He gave Adam a look, and Adam discreetly checked Jerry’s
pulse. Cora, bent over her father, didn’t see the fallen look on Adam’s face.
“It’s weak.”

Weak, but it was still there for now.
What if they didn’t
make it?
Seconds ticked by in slow motion as he maneuvered through the
freeway traffic. He saw the minute change on the radio clock. Come on,
come
on!

They reached the hospital exit. The police car slowed as
well and followed him down the exit ramp, through the six blocks to the
hospital, and into the emergency entrance. Several squad cards were blocking
traffic at the intersections.

“We’re here. Hold on, Jerry! We’ll get you help.” He
launched out of the car and ran inside, yelling for help. ER staff met him at
the entrance as if the police had called ahead.

***

Cora hardly listened as Nick tried to explain the messed up
situation to several police officers. She wanted to go inside the hospital to
look for her dad and make sure he was okay, but she was asked question after
question. She, along with Nick and Adam, told them everything they could
remember. They stood outside, off to the side of the ER entrance, talking while
people walked by and gawked.

It felt like morning was years before. She didn’t remember
the beginning of the day. Her mind buzzed with noise, shots, yells, and Jerry’s
last breaths. What did he say? Something important...

Someone squeezed her shoulder and she found herself looking
up into an older man’s face. He had keen eyes and softly graying hair. “I’m
Herald Baker from Baker and Associates, where Nick works.”

She glanced at Nick, and then realized that Herald was there
to help them. They were talking and she tried to follow along for a minute or
two before giving up. There was something important she had to remember. What
had her dad said?

Before the memory came together, Herald touched her arm and
said, “Listen, the police will want to question all three of you, probably
separately. They’re releasing you to me for now.”

“What about my father?”

Herald reached to take her hand and said, “We just wait. I’m
sorry. Remember, I’m on your side. Nick’s been a friend of mine for years now,
and I know he always tells the truth. I believe you, and I’m going to do
whatever I can to bring both of these men to justice.”

She nodded while trying to pull herself together
.
Herald shared a look with Nick and left to go inside. Nick led her to a bench
where they sat and waited. She shivered despite the afternoon’s heat.

“I should have stayed with you,” she said. Was this all her
fault?

“No regrets now, Cora. Jerry’s here where he can get help.”
He leaned down next to her ear to quietly say, “I’ll make it right. I’ll make
sure they don’t get away with this.”  

She looked into his eyes and believed him.

Herald returned, and it only took one look at his face to
know she couldn’t see her father yet.

“He’s still in surgery, but they think it looks positive. I
think it’s best if we get all of you somewhere safe.”

She didn’t want to think about staying safe. Her dad was
critically wounded and needed her. “All this was for nothing.” She felt hot
tears stinging her dry, irritated eyes, and reached up to wipe them. A flash of
red stopped her. There was blood all over her hand.

Nick was right in front of her, kneeling down and grabbing
both her hands despite the dried blood.

“They could have killed him any second, Cora. We got him out
of there.
You
helped him get out and saved his life. Do you hear me?”

She nodded weakly. It wasn’t his words so much that
comforted her, but the realization that her dad would feel the same way. He’d
probably be upset that she put herself in danger instead of just running.

Nick was helping her to her feet, and all three men were
talking as they walked toward the parking lot. Adam must have moved the car.
She remembered it hadn’t been Nick’s Mustang, mostly because there had been a
roomy backseat. They walked toward a Lincoln that had to belong to Herald.

She was sitting in the backseat with Nick before she even
wondered where they were headed, but what did it matter? She closed her eyes
and leaned into him.

When he gently shook her shoulder, she opened her eyes.
Herald was talking to her.

“I have strong relationships with a few good, dependable
guys on the force. I’ll talk to them and make sure the right people are watching
Jerry.”

“Thank you, Herald.” That had to be enough for now. She had
hell to pay when the dust settled. Wasn’t it so ironic that she thought
she
was using
Alexander?
What had she been thinking?

Okay, she had been completely focused on rescuing her dad.
Now that he was away from Keith she had to start putting the pieces together.
Through the haze in her mind, she knew there was something, or several things,
that she was supposed to remember or do.

The car stopped and Herald got out. Nick touched her face.
He looked concerned, like he was checking to see if she was really there. Maybe
she wasn’t. “Cora, we’re getting a room. You can take a shower and rest a
while, and then we’ll try to visit Jerry.”

Another room? She was so tired of running around. “I need a
change of clothes…can’t I go home?”