Jack And Jill: Dawn Of Forever Part 39

D, E, or FU? He typed back.

A it is then.

That's all he needed to sit back and wait a little longer. He wanted a better sign than letters in the alphabet. Luke would buy him time. Whoever had them was not affiliated with their parents' murder. Drug lords didn't have the time or patience to play games.

Bullet.

Head.

Done.

He a.s.sembled his long-range sniper rifle. Next he ordered a pizza, cracked the window, and waited. Forty minutes later his pizza arrived. Jackson paid for the pizza over the phone and left very specific instructions to set the pizza on the porch, ring the doorbell, and leave immediately. To his surprise, the guy did exactly as he requested.

Just as the delivery guy got back in his car, a woman came to the door. She tried to wave the delivery guy down, but he had already pulled away from the curb.

Jackson looked through his scope. He didn't recognized the woman, but with her pink hood pulled over her head and large sungla.s.ses hiding most of her face, it would have been impossible for anyone to recognize her. However, her build was not Jessica's and that's all that mattered. He pulled the trigger and she went down.

"Un-f.u.c.king-believable." Through his scope he watched three cars pa.s.s by, one slowed in front of the house but then kept going. No wonder Four picked this neighborhood. A woman shot in the head, sprawled across the front porch steps, drew no more attention than a flattened squirrel in the street.

A few moments later, an arm reached out the door and grabbed her leg. Someone, fractionally smarter than the corpse, took cover while dragging the body back inside, confirmation there were at least two involved.

Once again, it was time to wait.

"She blew up your house?"

Knox laughed.

Luke didn't. He said nothing and looked at no one. Jillian wanted to say something to ease his mind, but she knew the worst was yet to come. That third envelope was hers. It had to be. There was little doubt that whatever was in it would destroy Luke forever. AJ would destroy Luke forever.

"Yes. It didn't make the news. Edgar made sure of it. But it was all we needed to put her away ... at least for a while."

"Where were you?"

He chuckled. "In the house. My office was in the bas.e.m.e.nt. Irene didn't realize my office was also the bomb shelter. I f.u.c.king c.r.a.pped my pants, but other than knocking over a gun cabinet and a few things on my desk, I walked away unscathed. You should have seen the look on her face when I showed up at G.A.I.L. The first words out of her mouth were, aWhat are you doing here?' Code for ahow the h.e.l.l are you still alive?' Had we lived in town she would have leveled three blocks. It was pretty amazing she didn't trigger San Andreas."

"Okay, kids. Change of plans." Irene marched down the stairs, her composure back intact. "Brother dearest doesn't want to join the party. So let's just get on with things. I'll deal with him later."

Jackson was close. Jillian knew it.

Irene picked up the remaining envelope while cutter guy cleaned Jillian's blood from the tip of his knife. "What's in the envelope, Dr. Jones?" She waved it in front of Luke. "And bear in mind, I don't like asking more than once."

"Pictures," Luke said.

"Yes, of course, but of whom?"

"Jessica."

Irene tsked a few times. "Now, I think someone with your background would realize how dangerous it is for you to think of her as Jessica. I think you will need to think of her as Jillian." She brushed away a few strands of hair from Luke's forehead. "You feel guilty about Charlie. Don't you?"

He glanced up, meeting Jillian's eyes.

"Well there really is no need. I can a.s.sure you, Dr. Jones. You've been a boy scout compared to your wh.o.r.e of an ex-fiancee." With the toe of her boot she slid one of the photos on the floor closer to Luke.

It made him furious with Knox, but he was about to see something that would make him furious with Jillian. She felt it in her gut.

"Who is this?" she asked Luke.

He stared at the photo of AJ in uniform, hand to his temple saluting someone. Jillian hadn't seen it before, but just the image of him took her breath away. Luke s.h.i.+fted his gaze to her.

"Aric ... I a.s.sume."

Jillian nodded like a silent introduction between her ex-lover and her dead lover.

"How messed-up is it that she gravitated toward someone in uniform after her experience with Edwin Harvey? Just ... on a scale of one to ten?"

Irene lost her name. She was straight up Psycho b.i.t.c.h again.

Luke sighed. "Five."

Jillian narrowed her eyes a fraction. It stung that he thought it was messed-up at all. It hurt that he didn't trust her judgment.

"I would have said ten, but ... whatever." She pulled out another picture.

Knox smirked, maybe at Irene or maybe at the absurdity of the whole situation.

"Oh ... this is one of my personal favorites."

It was Jillian getting the mail in her red boots, panties, and thread-bare tank top.

"Do you find her s.e.xy?"

"Yes."

"Do you approve of her traipsing around outside looking like a wh.o.r.e?"

"She's not a-"

"Uh-uh ... it's a simple yes or no question."

"No." He didn't blink.

The man staring at her was Dr. Jones. She knew that look and his ability to ignore her over-the-top antics. However, his disapproval still p.i.s.sed her off.

"G.o.d doesn't either," Irene mumbled, tossing the photo onto Luke's lap.

"Here they are on a motorcycle." She held up that photo of AJ driving, Jillian holding on tightly to his back. "Did you ever take Jessica for a motorcycle ride?"

"No."

"That's a shame. You really should have taken more interest in her hobbies. Then maybe she wouldn't have left you. Aw ... here's another good one." She held up a photo of AJ and Jillian next to his Jeep. Her arms and legs wrapped around his body as they kissed.

It was the day they left for Portland and she told AJ to kiss her like he f.u.c.ked her. She could still taste his lips ... feel his tongue.

"How do they look together?"

Jillian clenched her jaw, but said nothing. It wasn't her turn to speak. Luke showed no reaction. His face still entirely Dr. Jones-neutral, professional, unattached.

"Desperate."

Irene turned, holding the photo closer to Jillian. "Were you desperate in this photo?"

"Yes." It was the truth.

"What about here?" She held up another picture, showing it only to Jillian.

There it was, the end. Jillian looked at the photo and then at Luke. When she blinked the tears came out, an apology to Luke for what he was about to see. Irene was right, psychological torture inflicted wounds far worse than anything physical.

"I love you."

Irene whipped her head around. "Dr. Jones. It's not your turn to speak."

Cutter guy unsheathed his knife.

"Stop! I'm sorry, I won't say it again!"

The tip of the blade punctured Jillian's skin along her temple, blood ran down the side of her face. Dr. Jones vanished. The man before her lost all composure as tears filled his red, angry eyes.

He had no idea how much she needed those three words.

"Say it again," Jillian whispered.

Luke shook his head.

"Say. It. Again."

He continued to shake his head. Irene's eyes flitted between them, enjoyment danced in her smile.

As psycho b.i.t.c.h turned to show the photo to Luke, Jillian let out a strangled sob. "Please..." more tears spilled over "...say it one more time." She needed to hear it because she knew it would be the last time he would ever say those three words to her.

Pain contorted his face as he continued to shake his head. "I love you." He squeezed his eyes shut as the knife carved a new valley in Jessica's skin above her shoulder blade.

She felt nothing but the resonance of Luke's words in her heart.

"Can you still say that?" Irene asked, showing Luke the photo of AJ f.u.c.king Jillian.

It was the day she took off on her motorcycle and he followed her to an abandoned dirt road atop a bluff overlooking the city. She was so angry with him for his venomous words. It was a turning point in their relations.h.i.+p. How could she not have known someone followed her ... took pictures of them? AJ stood with the door open, pants and briefs at his ankles. She sat sideways in the pa.s.senger's seat, legs spread wide to accommodate his body, her hands clawing his back, her brow tense, eyes closed, jaw slack.

Everything drained from Luke's body-his blood, his dignity, his past, his whole life.

Defeat.

It no longer mattered who lived and who died. Irene won. She ruined Sunny's precious daughter. She found Jillian's weak point and drove a dagger into it.

"Did you enjoy f.u.c.king AJ?" Irene asked Jillian, keeping her attention on Luke.

Cutter guy stepped closer to Luke.

"Yes," she said, her voice weak.

So much betrayal lived in Luke's eyes.

"Did you love AJ?"

The knife would hurt him less. Would Luke understand that?

It didn't matter because Jillian didn't want to deny her love for AJ. They shared something life-changing and saying otherwise would tarnish his memory.

"Your brother's antsy trigger finger just put a bullet in the head of my knife-wielding friend's girlfriend. He's ready to kill all of you. I wouldn't push him."

He jerked Luke's head back and pressed the tip to his carotid.

"Yes. I loved AJ."

Luke's eyes shut. A lone tear bled from his right eye.

Knox frowned. It was possible he felt Luke's pain, the kind that came from losing the one, the one that was supposed to be forever.

"Up." Irene nodded to her disgruntled accomplice.

He dragged Luke to his feet. Jillian used what little energy she had left to fight her restraints. "Where are you taking him?"

"Fis.h.i.+ng."

"Luke!" Jillian screamed until more blood came up with a coughing fit. "He's ... he's ..." her voice died.

The door slammed shut.

"Yes. Jackson's going to kill him to save you." The resolution of Knox's words filled the air and buried her alive.

Jillian rolled to her side, the cold concrete pressed to her cheek.

Protocol.

Irene would use Luke as bait to get Jackson to surrender.

He wouldn't.