Jasper, page 18
He nodded. “You’re damn right. I won’t. This guy let himself get caught, and that is why he’s dead.”
She frowned. “You don’t mean this guy as in the doctor?”
“No, not him, but …” Then their gunman stopped and frowned.
“Right, the friend you left as a gift.”
“Did you like that?” he asked, with an odd excitement.
“Not particularly. I like my men alive, not dead.”
He burst out laughing, thinking that was some hilarious joke.
It wasn’t. She was dead serious, but there would be no talking to this guy.
“Pretty damn cheeky for somebody in your position,” the gunman snarled.
She shrugged. “Then shoot me now,” she dared him. “I don’t even know why you wanted to bring me here.”
“I want the video.”
She frowned at him. “What difference does it make? You’ve already killed the guy in the video. He’s dead. The police have his body, so what freaking difference does it make now?”
He repeated, “I want the video.”
She shrugged, pulled out her phone, and tossed it at him. “It’s there.”
He tossed it back at her. “Bring it up. Let me see it.”
She unlocked her phone and brought up the video, then tossed it back at him. He hit Play and studied the video. Then, as if realizing nothing here made a difference, he smiled. “Good, this is nice and clean then.”
“Nothing’s nice and clean about leaving bodies everywhere,” Jasper declared, his tone hard.
“There’ll be a couple more now,” the gunman threatened. “You shouldn’t have come with your girlfriend.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t have, but she was insistent about coming to see the doctor. Dr. Charles has been a friend.”
“That’s her fault. She should never have signed up for something like that,” the gunman stated. “What an idiot boyfriend you are to let her do this.”
“Let me do this?” she asked in a hard tone.
He rolled his eyes. “What are you, some feminist? She’s not worth it, you know,” the gunman added abruptly, addressing Jasper.
Jasper smiled and stated, “Yes, she is.”
The gunman snorted at that. “Man, you’ve got it bad.”
“Maybe,” Jasper said cheerfully, “but it’s not your problem.”
“No, it isn’t because you’ll both die now,” he snapped, glaring at her. “You didn’t expect to get away from here, did you?”
“Maybe not, but we want to see that Dr. Charles was okay.”
“He’s not doing okay,” the gunman stressed in exasperation. “I never intended for him to be okay.”
She stared at him steadily. “And yet you haven’t killed him, but you could have.”
“No, I needed him to bring you in.”
She shrugged. “I’m here. Now what?”
And, with that, the tableau froze. The gunman glared at her. “I’m not sure what I’ll do about you, but the doctor will die, and your little pet here will also die.”
She frowned at the gunman. “You’ll seriously call him a pet? Wow.” She looked over at Jasper. “I think you just got demoted.”
He shrugged, his gaze never leaving the gunman. “Maybe.” He gripped her hand tighter and lifted his free hand to his head and scratched. “And maybe not.”
The gunman lifted his gun arm, pointed it at him, and asked, “Any last words?”
A red dot appeared on the gunman’s forehead.
“Yeah,” Jasper replied, with half a smile. “Die, motherfucker.” Then he dropped his raised hand. Almost instantly glass shattered all around them, and now a dripping red dot appeared on the gunman’s forehead, as he and his gun fell harmlessly to the ground.
Amber was frozen, as it all seemed to happen so fast. She was too stunned to even think. Thankfully she didn’t react and hurt herself further.
Jasper released her hand and muttered, “Go on, honey. Take a look at the doctor and see how bad he is. I’m calling an ambulance.” She took another look at their gunman, then headed in the direction of the moans. There on the floor was Dr. Charles, bloody, puffy, and bruised, one eye openly staring at her in horror.
She eased herself down beside him, grasped his hand, and whispered, “It’s all right. It’s over. You’re safe now.”
He closed his eyes and whispered, “Thank God.”
“Let me check you over,” she murmured.
“Spleen,” he whispered. “I think he ruptured my spleen.”
“Well, good, that’s something we can fix,” she replied, trying for a cheerful tone.
“I could,” he said, “but I’m not so sure about my residents.”
She chuckled, relieved to hear the humor in his voice. “You keep that sense of humor. You know perfectly well we have some very talented people on staff.”
“I know,” he whispered, “but, damn, I’m tired.”
“I don’t want you going out now,” she warned him, and he opened his eyes. “Remember how I need you awake. You know the drill, Doctor. I need you conscious, and we have an ambulance on the way.”
“And if I can’t stay awake?” he asked, that same thread of amusement in his voice.
“In that case, I’ll have to throw ice water in your face. And I’m not sure whether that will hurt you or help you, considering your face has already been beaten up.”
“You’ve probably just been waiting for a chance to do that,” he teased, trying for a smile that looked horrible on him, “but I’m damn glad to see you.”
“I’m damn glad to see you alive,” she muttered. “I was afraid you were a goner.”
“He kept threatening me, telling me that he had one more thread to tie up, and then I would be history,” he shared. “I don’t even know what I did.”
“You saved Mason,” she replied, “although I’m not sure whether or not he shot Mason.”
“It wasn’t him,” Dr. Charles stated. “He told me something about he was a scout, sent to the hospital to keep an eye on everything, and it all went to hell, when I fixed up somebody I shouldn’t have.”
“Yeah,” she said calmly, “and, if this guy isn’t the sniper who fired the shot, then we’re still looking for somebody else.”
“He made it seem that he was part of a team.”
She thought about that, as she checked him over. Her left hand applied pressure on the wound bleeding the worst. “Looks like he broke an arm, and your ankle is in rough shape, and well …” She stopped and winced. “That gorgeous face of yours appears to have a broken nose.”
He snorted. “That’ll be like the twelfth time,” he pointed out. “I don’t think it’ll fix anymore.”
“Don’t worry. The girls will still love you anyway.”
He gave her a sad smile. “Lost my wife a long time ago,” he murmured, sounding like a lost puppy. “I haven’t been in the market since.”
“No, but maybe you should reconsider that now,” she suggested. “You’ve been given a second chance to live. Maybe it’s time to find somebody to share it with.”
He then came back with another one-liner that had her chuckling. “I can’t. You already came in with somebody, didn’t you?”
She nodded. “Yeah, apparently I ended up with a guardian angel.”
“Good,” he said, “but see what I mean? All the good ones are taken.” Then he groaned softly and whispered, “I don’t think I can stay conscious.”
“What is it we’re always telling our patients?” she murmured, and his eyes opened wide, as he stared at her through the puffiness. She nodded. “It’s not an option. You stay awake, and you do not give up on me.”
“I’m not giving up,” he whispered, “but I feel pretty rough.”
“I know you do,” she acknowledged, sympathy in her tone, but she couldn’t let him succumb to that pain. “The ambulance will be here momentarily.”
“Momentarily doesn’t sound quite the same when it’s your version of the word.”
She smiled down at him, stroking the hair off his bruised and bloodied face with her free hand. “Just think,” she added. “You’re a hero.”
“No, I’m so not a hero. I didn’t do anything. As a matter of fact, I begged him to let me go.”
“And you feel bad about that?” she asked in astonishment. “I would have begged right off the bat,” she noted, with a chuckle. “You can’t feel bad about anything to do with these people. They’re assholes, and we are the good people. We spend our lives saving people, and sometimes, when we get on the wrong side of humanity, it can be ugly because we don’t have the tools to deal with the assholes. You did just fine.”
“Ah, I don’t know about that.”
“Don’t ever feel ashamed of begging for your life,” she stated. “Every man, every woman would do exactly the same thing, if they found themselves in the same situation.”
He let out a gentle sigh. “I think you’re wrong, but you make me feel better, and, for the moment, I’ll let you.”
She chuckled. “And that’s a good thing. You should let me because you’ve done good today.” In the distance, she heard sirens, and she smiled. “Hear that? … The sirens are almost here.”
“You’re just telling me that so I don’t fall asleep,” he murmured.
“You should hear them yourself,” she stated. “Open your eyes. Look at me. Look at me.”
Under duress, he opened his good eye and stared up at her.
She nodded. “Now listen. Then tell me that you can hear them.” In the distance, the sirens were getting louder and louder.
The relief was easy to see in his gaze, as he whispered, “Thank God.”
“I know, but it is happening, and you’ll be okay. Just hold tight.” After that, things happened at a pace that she knew to expect, and yet it still seemed almost in slow motion, as she watched and waited for the team to come in.
She gave them the little bit of information that she had for them, and they quickly packed up the doctor and moved him out into the ambulance and away.
As she stood up and stepped outside, she looked around at the strange light and realized that they were lights from what looked like one million vehicles parked outside. Blinded, she stumbled out the front door and was caught from behind and wrapped up in strong, warm arms. Instinctively she knew who held her, and she buried her face against Jasper’s chest, choking back the sobs that she wanted to let loose but didn’t dare quite yet.
“It’s all right,” he whispered, as he held her close. “I’ll get you home soon. Then you can crash.”
She looked up at him. “Keep telling me that, and I might believe you. All I could do was keep Dr. Charles focused, keep him awake, and keep pressure on some of that bleeding.”
“That’s what he will remember.” Jasper hesitated and then asked, “He will remember, right?”
“I think so,” she said. “He thought his spleen was ruptured, which is the most worrisome. He has multiple injuries, but the rest are more incapacitating, rather than life-threatening—a broken nose and broken arm, maybe a bruised ankle. I don’t understand how people can do things like that.”
“That’s a very strategic tactic,” Jasper noted calmly. “Incapacitate them so they can’t come after you, and then you continue to toy and torment them.”
“Toying and tormenting a good man like that?” she asked, staring up at him. “Did I ever tell you that I don’t like people?”
“I’m pretty sure that, even if you haven’t told me, I would still understand,” he replied, with a gentle smile.
She relaxed a bit and looked around. When someone called out, she stiffened, and he just held her close. When people approached, she lifted her head, looked around, and saw the police, plus several men she didn’t recognize, but they were all talking to Jasper. She listened as the conversation rippled around her for a few moments. Then she was asked to provide whatever additional information she had. When someone specifically asked if the doctor had told her anything, she nodded.
“He did,” she whispered and then proceeded to tell them the little bits and pieces he had shared.
“Shit, this gunman was part of a whole team?”
“Something like that,” she murmured, “though I’m not exactly sure what a team looks like in a case like this.”
“Neither do we,” Jasper admitted, with a nod, “but we’ll find out.” He looked at the guys all around him.
A few she thought she recognized and thought maybe a couple were the ones Jasper had been working with, but she wasn’t sure.
“I’m taking her home. She’s still in rough shape from the hit-and-run,” Jasper explained. “So, if you want to meet at my place, that’s fine. I just need to get her off her feet.”
She groaned. “I’m fine. I can hold up a bit longer.”
Looking at her, he shook his head. “Nope, that will just make you worse off in the long run. No point in saving one person at the expense of another. I told you that already.”
“As I recall, it seemed to be more of an order at the time. I don’t recall there being a whole lot of discussion about it.”
He chuckled. “Not my fault you didn’t listen,” he quipped, as he unreservedly moved her toward his vehicle.
She sighed with relief. “I am tired.”
“Let’s go. Let’s get you home.”
She collapsed into the seat, feeling a weariness like she hadn’t experienced in a very long time.
He looked over at her, as he started the engine. “Are you okay?”
“I will be,” she murmured. “It had a happy ending, after all.”
He nodded.
“You could have told me what your plans were,” she burst out, “so I wouldn’t have been so worried.”
“Yeah, and when was I supposed to do that?”
She frowned, realizing that she hadn’t given him a whole lot of options for talking. She shrugged. “Maybe I didn’t give you a chance. I don’t know. I was just keeping the gunman’s attention on me, hoping you could figure something out. But I sure would have felt better had I known what to expect.”
“But the reality is, that would have changed the way you behaved, so you might have given it away.”
She winced. “That’s true. I might have.”
“You’ve shown enough bravado already,” he stated in a dry tone. When she glared at him, he smiled and nodded. “Come on. You know it yourself.”
“I had to get to Dr. Charles,” she said, with a nod. “I’ve seen him save people who were well past the point of saving,” she murmured. “He’s a truly gifted surgeon, and, even if I was lost, the world needed him.”
He looked over at her and grabbed her hand. “The world needs you too,” he murmured.
She sat back, closed her eyes, and whispered, “Jasper, let’s go home.”
*
Jasper damn near had a heart attack, watching Amber arguing with the gunman about going in to see Dr. Charles. The fact that she had done what she did and did it in the way she had done it, made Jasper like her even more. The fact that he already liked her, had already opened his heart to her, was something he was still coming to terms with. Hard not to since she was special in so many ways, but the last thing he wanted right now was a relationship, particularly when he was involved in this case, which had already taken several ugly turns.
They had gotten through this leg of it, and nobody was more grateful than Jasper, but it still could get much uglier so quickly that he didn’t want Amber involved in any way. Yet he knew he would have to fight to keep her out of it.
What he had to do was convince her to stay at his house, and, if he was lucky, convince her to stay long enough for them to get to know each other well enough for him to determine whether this attraction he felt was two-way or just one. He wanted to believe it went both ways, but he’d been wrong before. Lessons learned from the past held him back, when there had probably been opportunities he could have taken. However, she was injured anyway. Plus, he wanted time, time to go slowly, time to realize whether this was something serious or the complete opposite.
And it didn’t seem they would get a whole lot of time right now either. He had to work. He had to deal with this Mason shooting.
As he pulled into his garage and locked the doors behind them, she asked, “Is the team coming?”
“They’ll be here in a few hours. Everybody will do a regroup right now.”
“Good enough. Will they consider it rude if I go lie down?”
He chuckled. “They’re all expecting you to go lie down and are probably waiting for that, so you’re not in the middle of the meeting.”
She opened her eyes and asked, “Do I need to be part of it?”
“No, but I’ll fill you in afterward.”
She looked up at him and smiled. “I think you probably will, if only to ensure that I stay out of trouble.”
He nodded, as he opened the passenger door and helped her out. “Be sure you take some painkillers,” he suggested, “or you’ll be damn sore tomorrow.”
“I will,” she said. “Did you mean it about staying at your house for the next few days?”
“I said a lot longer than a few days. How about you staying long enough for us to see if we have anything?” At that, she opened her eyes wide and stared at him. “Or will you just pretend absolutely nothing is there?”
“No, I definitely won’t pretend that,” she replied. “I was just thinking we might have more time to work it out later.”
“We might, or we might not.”
“Good point,” she murmured. “In that case, as long as you’re okay with a house guest for a little while, I’ll stay.”
“I want you to stay at least until all this is put to rest,” he confirmed. “I don’t know how many other people might know what your involvement was tonight, but I don’t want them coming back after you.” He watched the color fade from her skin, and he nodded. “So, please consider yourself a most welcome guest.”
“No strings?” she asked warily.
“No strings,” he declared, his eyes open wide. “Unless you want to tie them.”
She stared up at him and asked, “Seriously?”
He shrugged. “At least if we spend some time together, we can see if anything long-term is between us.”
