The Crescendo (2 page)

‘Good on ya, kid. Doing this stuff could save your life,' said Tilly as he cleaned up the wound and checked for any glaring problems. ‘It's close to your bone, not sure if it nicked it or not but I guess time will tell.'

Ryan grunted as he took a swig from the full bottle and grimaced more at the potent liquid than he had at Tilly's poking.

These two blokes were like grizzly bears, or more like Bear Grylls, that crazy survival guy. Tougher than nails.

Tilly passed her the bloody gauze and she tried to keep them in a neat contained spot, but soon Ryan's bathroom was looking like the scene of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Red dots were splattered up the mirror and across Ryan's white tiles, making vivid contrasts.

‘So what were you two up to? Why is it one of you is always getting shot?' asked Tilly.

‘Us? What about you? You've been shot enough times to make a submarine out of the bullets,' said Ryan.

In Pakistan Tilly had been shot in his arm, but he'd carried on as if it was no biggie. Tilly getting shot was probably like Jaz getting pimples. Something annoying that happened that you couldn't really control.

Ryan put down his large drink and began to relay their mission.

‘You know we went north, staked out the beach, watched the drugs float in on the waves, they collected the drums, we followed.'

Jaz listened carefully when Ryan got to the stake-out part, no mention of nearly getting caught and having to improvise. Just the thought of that improvising brought a flush to Jaz's face. It had been the best moment of her life. Ryan's eyes avoided her as he continued with the story.

‘They went to a storage shed, then some guys split straight away, talking about an urgent shipment, we followed and ended up at Salvatore's plane hangar.'

‘No way. You finally caught him?'

‘Kind of. We walked in but caught a worker after he'd just capped a bloke, we saw his gun and blood. He couldn't let us go then, so he marched us inside and lined us up next on the black plastic.'

Tilly grimaced. Not a fan of black plastic either. Jaz liked him even more now.

‘He doesn't like loose ends and, as innocent as he thought we were, he couldn't have us out and about. Cold-blooded death. We had to wait for our moment to strike and then there were shots going everywhere; we barely got out of there alive,' said Ryan gesturing to his bullet wound. ‘Lucky Jaz managed to get word out to Tay and Anna and we got away.'

Ryan looked deep into the bottle he held, as if searching for answers to the questions she could see swimming around in his dark eyes. She knew he had many, so did Jaz, but neither of them spoke about these to Tilly. Neither had mentioned ‘that moment' to each other but it was there, lurking like a shark hungry for fresh blood.

‘You two are lucky bastards. A bit like me,' Tilly said with a chuckle, and ended with a smoker's raspy cough.

Jaz used a flannel to wash the blood from Ryan's body, cleaning him up without getting in Tilly's road. Soon they had him patched up and clean.

‘Righto, I think you'll live, Fletch,' said Tilly.

Ryan's colour had come back a fraction, more due to the alcohol, as they couldn't fix the blood loss.

‘Let's get him to bed before he passes out.' Tilly took away his bottle of liquid painkiller and handed it to Jaz while he positioned himself under Ryan's good shoulder. ‘Come on, mate.'

Jaz put the bottle on the outside coffee table before getting to Ryan's room to turn down his bed. It took all her willpower not to climb in there and wait for him to join her.

Ryan got into his bed, mumbling ‘thanks', and as he lay back, the pressure on his shoulder caused him to groan. He closed his eyes and started to breathe deeply, while they watched him. He looked so peaceful. Lying without his shirt gave her time to admire his gorgeous body and the scars marking it. She searched out the word ‘forever' tattooed under his arm. Under a black light it had more detail to it. It was a memorial to his mate Chris who was killed by Salvatore. Hence Ryan's massive vendetta against Salvatore. Today would have really tested him. Face to face with the man he'd been hunting for over a year. Trying to take down a cunning man like Salvatore wasn't easy.

Her eyes moved across to his chest; there was no visible tattoo, yet Jaz knew the Southern Cross marked his skin there. It was her favourite. It was Ryan's way of reminding him of home when he was overseas on missions.

‘He'll sleep for ages. Do you wanna drink … ah, I mean a cuppa?' said Tilly. ‘Then maybe you can fill in some blanks about this mission.'

Jaz nodded and Tilly headed off to the kitchen. Jaz stepped closer to Ryan and bent down to kiss his forehead. His eyes fluttered at her touch but remained closed.

She wanted to say so much but couldn't. Once you opened that can of springy worms they just never went back in the same way. Sometimes life was just a bit tricky. With a sigh, she stepped softly from his room and went to clean up the bathroom before joining Tilly for that much-needed drink.

Chapter 2

Jaz chatted to Tilly for a while until he was satisfied he'd heard enough about the mission. He kept giving her this strange look and she had a feeling he knew she was omitting something, but he didn't pressure her. Yes, she had omitted a few things, neither of which she felt like sharing with anyone.

Jas heard the rumble of Tay's Mustang and headed for the door. ‘Thanks Tilly, let me know when he comes around.'

‘Will do. I'll be here for a few days, I reckon. He'll be fine,' he added with sincerity.

As she shut the door behind her, she wondered if Tilly could tell how she felt about Ryan, as his face portrayed a strange empathy towards her. Oh well, right now she couldn't care less as there were more pressing things occupying her mind.

She went through the high fence at the front of the property and slid into the back of the Mustang. Before she could even shut the door properly, Taylor was driving off. Already he was programmed not to hang around for too long and risk being recognised.

‘How is he? How are you?' said Anna, turning around in the front seat. Her green eyes were huge and full of concern, reminding Jaz of the big sage lanterns that hung from the ceiling in their favourite coffee shop.

‘He'll be okay. Me?' Jaz shrugged. Her brain hurt and yet she couldn't even grasp one thought from the thousands whizzing around her head.

‘Wanna go to Molly's for a coffee?' Anna asked.

‘Can you drop me off home first? I need a shower.' She'd washed off Ryan's blood, but still she felt a full scrub was in order. ‘Then a coffee sounds great.' Plus she needed to check in with her mum after being away for a few days.

Tay pulled up at her house and Jaz snuck in quickly, still worried she may have missed a spot of blood or her face might give her away. But, as usual, no one was home. Her mum and stepdad were no doubt at work and Simon, her half-brother, was either in his room pulling apart a computer, playing a game on it, or with his dad learning more. Their dad. Paul was the only father she knew. At least he was who he was, unlike her mum who had a whole different identity. She often wondered if Paul knew. Paul was as far from a secret kick-arse agent as one could be. He worked in computers, a bit of a geek but so loveable. A lot like Pax.

Jaz frowned. Pax. She wondered if he would have answers to some of her questions. Man, her head was driving her nuts and no matter how hot she turned up the shower it didn't help relieve the tension in her muscles.

In ten minutes she was back downstairs, wearing black cargo pants and a white tank top and her commando boots. But something wasn't right. She touched her neck for her missing gold medallion. It was a circle with Saint Michael on it and her father's name engraved on the back. At least Salvatore couldn't trace it back to her as it didn't have a last name. Not even Jaz knew her father's full name. Her mum had kept it from her, and pretty much any other information about her biological father.

‘Ready to go?' asked Anna, who sat beside Tay at the kitchen table. They had helped themselves to the apples from the basket.

‘Yep. Can we get coffee to go and head back to the gym? I think I need a work-out.'

Anna bit her lip. She was doing a great job of trying to give Jaz space when she knew she was dying to ask her a million questions. Jaz walked straight up to her and gave her a hug.

‘I will tell you everything, just not yet. I need time to process.'

‘I know. We're here when you're ready.' Anna smiled, her expression said she hoped it was soon. Anna hated waiting for anything: good news, bad news, any news.

Tay stood beside them in jeans and a blue singlet, as he'd given her his shirt. He was looking muscled, well more than usual. Tay had always been fit, good at sports, but since he'd started training to get mission-ready he'd really bulked up in the muscle department. The girls at school had noticed; Tay was already popular, but now he was reaching superstar status.

If only some of that could rub off on Jaz, who was still the scary freaky one no one went near, and Anna the smart computer nerd. But they'd been friends since kids, and it didn't change no matter what others thought.

They got their coffees through a McDonald's drive-through on the way to The Ring. Tay pulled up outside the large shed-like structure. Paint peeled off the old tin and the broken footpath didn't improve the feel about the area, but to Jaz it was home. She liked that it wasn't in a fancy neighbourhood like her house and that it was probably a dangerous area. Danger was fast becoming her friend.

Yet Pax had lived in the little house connected to the gym for as far back as she could remember, and Jaz had been coming here to train since she could walk. Her mum the first one to teach her how to fight. At some point Pax took over her training while her mum integrated into her new life after meeting Paul. And that's how Pax became the closest thing to a grandfather figure she had. He was also Anna's grandfather's brother.

Anna pushed open the old door, framed in wood, fading white paint and glass in the middle. The familiar scent of the leathery sweaty gym eased her muscles more than the shower ever could have, and no sooner had she stepped inside did she hear her name shouted out.

‘Jaz, hey girl.'

Tick waved from the floor mat where he was fighting against Bags, who had boxing gloves. Both were classed as Pax's gym family.

‘Hi guys. Bags, don't let Tick get you with a lead kick,' she warned.

‘Never do, Jaz,' replied Bags, who only just blocked a knee from Tick. He pulled a face and Jaz smiled for the first time in a while.

‘Hey kids, what are you all up to? Looks like trouble.' Pax walked out of the office in a Hawaiian-style shirt over a white singlet and long shorts, topped off with sandals and glasses up on his balding head. He sniffed the air. ‘Bring one for me?'

‘Sorry Pax,' said Anna. ‘I'll go make you one though.'

Anna gave him a hug and Pax kissed her forehead. ‘That would be awesome,' he said, trying to speak like them. Tay laughed as he followed Anna. No doubt he would be looking for Pax's secret stash of Tim Tams, which was never very secret.

‘How are you?' Pax asked, stepping towards her.

Jaz couldn't get her mouth to work and just blinked. Pax pulled her into his arms and breathed out.

‘The kids told me what happened. I was so worried. How are you feeling?'

Jaz tried to forget about the day's events and let herself sag against Pax's soft teddy-bear body. He was a familiar smell of coffee and cinnamon. A sure sign he'd been indulging in his love of pastries again. After a recent heart attack he was on a new diet, but right now Jaz wasn't in a hounding mood. If anything, it was nice to smell the old Pax.

As they stood embracing, neither moving, Jaz tried to piece together her thoughts. How was she feeling? Everyone kept asking but Jaz didn't have an answer. Did she want to cry? Not really. Was she scared? Not anymore. Was she confused? Hell yes. But she couldn't tell Pax that without the whole story and she wasn't ready to share yet. Too much had happened in such a short time.

One minute she'd spent the best time of her life with Ryan, making love to him, and the next she was lined up on black plastic awaiting death. She didn't know where she stood with Ryan, how would it affect their relationship, working and friendship, now? And what did she do about the fact that she was in love with him? How long could she hold that in? And then there was Salvatore.

Salvatore De Luca.

She pulled away from Pax and from the thought of Salvatore, pushing him from her mind.

‘I'm okay, I guess. It's good to be back here.'

‘It's good to have you back,' said Pax. ‘Safe.'

She nodded. But she wondered just how safe she really was.

Chapter 3

Ryan opened one eye, then the other. His head felt a little fuzzy, but that was nothing compared to the pain stemming from his shoulder. ‘Bloody hell,' he grumbled as he tried to sit up.

‘Stings a bit, hey,' said Tilly with a chuckle.

Ryan would have given him a mouthful of swear words but the man stood by his bed holding a glass of water and some good pain medication.

‘Oh, yes please,' Ryan swung his legs over the side of the bed and reached for the drugs. Once he'd swallowed them, he glanced at the patch on his shoulder. ‘How long have I been out?'

‘All yesterday and a bit this morning.'

Ryan looked at his clock. It was eleven-thirty. ‘Goddamn I'm starving.'

‘Thought you'd say that. Come on, I've made up mac and cheese for lunch, should be warm enough by now. Doesn't look like you want to wait any longer.'

Tilly was still wearing his torn black jeans from yesterday and Ryan knew he would have slept in the spare room down the hallway. Tilly had crashed here on a few occasions, usually when his medical expertise was needed.