I'll Be There Part 26

Cord's eyes narrowed. "I thought you said Grady sent you to stay with Jenny tonight."

"Right. Well that was the plan, but then Kennedy wanted him to come get her to bring her back, but something came up, so Grady called me to come."

Jenny and Cord exchanged a brief look. Something wasn't right. She'd stake her life on it.

Cord pulled a cell phone out of his pocket. "I'll just give Grady a call."

Fuzz knocked the phone out of Cord's hand and delivered a kick to his midsection all in one move. Before she had time to process what was happening, Fuzz held her in a vice-grip in front of him with a gun to her head.

Cord had gone down on one knee, clutching his midsection willing his diaphragm to begin working so that he could breathe again.

"Fuzz, what are you doing? I don't understand," Jenny said. Dear Lord, he was the insider, the one who had been tipping off her location.

"I'd think it would be pretty clear for a smart lady like yourself. I'm not about to let you leave Angel Ridge alive."

"Why?"

"To keep you from testifying."

"It's too late," Cord said, on his feet now and moving toward them.

Fuzz c.o.c.ked the pistol he held against her temple. "Don't come any closer."

Cord held up his hands and stood still.

"He's right. I turned the evidence over to the Attorney General's office and went over it with them today via teleconference. They're presenting it to the Grand Jury tomorrow. I won't be testifying. They have all they need to get the indictments."

"You're lying."

"It's the truth," Cord said.

"Like I'd believe anything you'd say."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cord said, subtly moving closer.

"Indians, or is it Native Americans."

Oh Lord, Jenny thought. Fuzz was one of the crime syndicate. She closed her eyes and prayed-prayed to G.o.d and the angels that were supposed to protect Angel Ridge to save her and Cord.

"What in the world is going on?" Miss Estelee said. She shuffled into the foyer and then the parlor wearing her robe with pink curlers in her white hair.

"Keep back, Miss Estelee. I don't want to have to hurt you, but I will."

Ignoring that, Miss Estelee kept coming until she was so close that Jenny could smell the White Shoulders perfumed powder that the little old lady wore. Miss Estelee reached for the gun and said, "Give me that!"

Suddenly, Fuzz pointed the gun at Miss Estelee and pulled the trigger. Jenny screamed, but no shot fired. Just a click, like it had misfired or wasn't loaded. Then everything happened at once-Cord grabbed Fuzz's arm, Miss Estelee wrestled the gun from him, and Jenny brought her foot down hard on his instep. Fuzz yelped in pain as Cord pinned him to the floor, his arm wrenched behind his back.

"That gun was loaded!" he gritted out, his face pressed against the hardwoods.

"Guns don't work in this house, Fuzz Rhoton." Miss Estelee opened the chamber of the gun and emptied the bullets into her hand. Then she popped the barrel back into place with one hand. Jenny watched, amazed. The lady knew how to handle a gun. "This house is protected." She held the gun out and shook it at him.

"Miss Estelee, could you call the sheriff?"

"I already did. He should be here-"

Grady burst through the door, took in the scene and said, "Goins, what's happened here?"

"Give me your cuffs, and I'll be glad to explain."

Grady did as he said, but Jenny did the explaining. "It appears that you were right about someone on the inside tipping off my location."

"Fuzz?" he said incredulously.

"You have no idea who you're dealing with, Wallace. Trouble will rain down on you, all of you, for this. You may be able to arrest some of us, but you'll never take down everyone."

"What you've done all these years under the guise of a decent business owner in this town is despicable. It's the Devil's work that you've been about, Fuzz Rhoton!" Miss Estelee said, still waving Fuzz's gun at him.

"Here now, Miss Estelee," Grady said, taking the gun from her.

"It ain't loaded," she said, handing him the bullets. "Wouldn't work in my house even if it was."

Jenny's eyes were wide. "She's right. Fuzz pulled the trigger, and it didn't go off even though it was loaded.

Grady looked at the bullets in his hand and counted six. "Well, I'll be."

"Your mother's heart, G.o.d rest her soul, would be broken if she knew what you've become."

"I never cared what a woman thought about anything. My daddy was the one that initiated me into the organization. I wasn't the only one around here involved, either."

"But you're the last," Grady said. He hauled him to his feet and said, "Fuzz Rhoton, you're under arrest for attempted murder and kidnapping and probably a dozen or more other charges before it's all said and done. You have the right to remain silent..."

Grady finished reading Fuzz his rights as he walked him outside to his car to take him in to jail. Jenny sat heavily in the nearest chair. Cord was immediately at her side.

"Are you all right?" he examined her face, turning it from side to side, then checked the rest of her as well by running his hands down her arms.

"I'm fine," she a.s.sured. "Just a little shaken."

He took her hands and tried to rub some warmth back into them.

"Why don't I put on some water for tea?" Miss Estelee suggested.

"That sounds good," Jenny agreed. "Miss Estelee? How-why didn't that gun fire when Fuzz pulled the trigger?"

Miss Estelee cackled and clapped her hands, then pointed up. "The Lord works in mysterious ways. Yes, He does." She laughed and clapped all the way into the kitchen.

Jenny looked at Cord, shaking her head. "I told you things happen around here that can't be explained, but that's about the craziest thing I've ever witnessed."

"Agreed." He stood and pulled her up out of her chair and into his arms. With a hand at the back of her head and his lips against her temple, he said, "I lost a good twenty years of my life seeing him with that gun pressed to your head."

Jenny sighed into his embrace. "I lost a few years myself." She pulled back, touching his stomach. "Are you all right? He kicked you pretty hard. Is anything broken?"

"No. It was a cheap shot to knock the breath out of me. I'm fine."

Jenny sighed. "Will this nightmare ever end?"

"I hate to interrupt," Jay Kennedy said from the door to the parlor.

Jenny took a step back, but didn't break contact with Cord completely. She needed his strength until all of hers returned.

"Mr. Kennedy. I didn't hear you come in."

"Heard you had some excitement."

"Yes," Jenny said, sitting again. Cord stayed close as if he didn't trust anyone.

"If you don't mind me saying, I'm getting a little tired of having to apologize to you over and over for failing at seeing to your safety."

"You had no way of knowing."

"Nevertheless, it's time."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm extracting you tonight."

Chapter 21.

All the breath left Jenny's body. She grasped her midsection and the arm of the chair. Cord squeezed her shoulder.

"Now?" she managed to say.

"Yes."

"But I don't understand. I thought it would be tomorrow at the earliest."

"Given what just happened, I think it's best to take you tonight. I don't want to risk anything else going wrong."

"It's okay," Cord said. "I'll come with you."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible," Jay said.

Cord took several menacing steps forward until he stood inches from Kennedy. "The h.e.l.l it isn't. Try and stop me."

"Stand down, Goins. You know how this works. Jenny's safety is the primary concern. She's being relocated-tonight. I'm taking her into custody now, and she comes alone." A few moments pa.s.sed as his words settled on the room. "Take a moment and say your goodbyes."

Miss Estelee had joined them and said, "Mr. Kennedy, why don't you come with me to the kitchen for a cup of tea?"

When he showed no indication of moving, Jenny said, "Can we have some privacy?"

"I'm afraid not. I can't take any chances with the two of you leaving. My apologies to you, ma'am," he said to Miss Estelee.

Cord who had come to stand with her took a step back towards Jay, but Jenny grabbed his arm. "No. Let's don't waste what little time we have like this. Fighting with him won't change anything, and I don't want that to be my last memory of you."

He turned to her then, squeezing her arms before pulling her close. Jenny held on for long moments, breathing in his scent, his strength. After some time had pa.s.sed, she pulled back and looked up into his beautiful face, memorizing every feature.

"When all this began, I never would have imagined that I'd find someone like you in the middle of so much turmoil."

Cord cupped the side of her face and kissed her; a kiss filled with such desperation and pain. Hot tears spilled down Jenny's face. Despair became a palpable emotion, threatening to overtake her. Losing her sister had caused unbearable pain, but that pain was nothing compared to this. There were no words to soothe this hurt.

They were both breathing irregularly and clinging to each other when they broke the kiss. "What can I do?" he said, his words ragged, rough.

"Let me go."

"I'd give up anything to not have to do that."

"I know," Jenny whispered against his cheek, kissing every scar on his face, knowing that fresh ones were being torn into him as they were to her. "I'm not sorry that we found each other."

"It's time," Jay said.

Jenny tried to smile, but her face wouldn't do what her brain was telling it to. She touched his chest. His heart beat strong against her palm. Remembering Miss Estelee's words earlier, she said, "I'll always be a part of you."

She sighed. Looking at the raw emotion on his face, she knew what he was feeling, because she felt it too. She stepped away from him.

"Wait."

He removed the necklace he said he'd worn since he was a teenager. He kissed the center stone, then slipped the chain over her head. Holding the pendant between them, he said, "Wherever you are, a part of me, the best part if it still exists, will be there with you."

She slipped her arms around his neck, and hugged him again. Then she took a step back, and another. He held out a hand to her, but somehow, she found the courage to turn her back on the only man she'd ever loved and walk away.

Jenny left that night, angry and determined to take back control of her life by whatever means necessary. When she walked out Miss Estelee's door, it was as if someone, or if you believe the legends of Angel Ridge, a divine being, whispered in her ear. If even that was too fantastical an explanation, she imagined then that the spirit of all strong, southern women-those who had nurtured her and others-rose up inside her like a tidal wave.

In the words of one great southern heroine, As G.o.d was her witness, and in the words of Angel Ridge's greatest heroine, Dixie, She'd be John Brown if she was about to walk away from the man she loved without having the final say about it. She'd given up her career, the business she'd built from the ground up, her family and friends, but this was quite simply asking too much not only of her, but of him as well. They'd both lived through enough to last a person several lifetimes, and the expectation was that they should also give up their chance at a lifetime together?

During the drive with Jay Kennedy to the airport, she figured she had two options; to lock herself in the bathroom and escape out the window, never to be seen or heard from again, or to wait and come up with a more viable plan. Since she didn't get the chance to go in a bathroom, she decided on the latter.

She flew with Kennedy to her new home that night. On the plane, someone changed her hair color and hairstyle. They dressed her in a way she would never replicate. Seriously, did they think that relocation required a loss of one's sense of style as well?

Her new name would be Jennifer Reid-Jen for short. All pertinent identification was handed over to her, including educational credentials to support the position of journalism instructor at a small liberal arts college where she was to begin teaching in the fall. Since it was still winter, she'd have plenty of time to acclimate to her new surroundings and situation.

After two days, she was left alone to unpack and settle in to a small Victorian in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle. In the time that it took for her to unpack boxes and decorate her new home, she also hatched a plan in complete disregard for the dire warnings to not attempt contacting anyone from her former life.