The woman in his arms was like everyone else he'd ever met. Treacherous. Lethal. Only out for herself. Whatever he did, he couldn't let himself forget that. She wanted him dead, and if he didn't stop her, she'd kill him and then move on to the rest of his colleagues.
No good deed goes unpunished....
He'd protected her and her mother, and how did she pay him back? By trying to kill him.
How utterly typical.
Jess made it out as the sky was just starting to lighten. I better hurry and be quick about it.... It was getting a little too close at this point.
He hadn't gone far from the drain when he saw a police car driving by on the street.
Crap.
What were the odds that they'd not see him and keep going? Probably about as good as them believing he was carrying his wife back to their room after a heavy night of drinking.
Yeah ...
He hadn't been that lucky in a long time. "I hope lockup doesn't have a window," he muttered under his breath.
The patrol car pulled up to the curb and stopped. "Hey, you there! Come over here."
Yeah, it was nice to know his bad luck was the only stable thing in his life.
Jess tightened his grip on Abigail as he debated his options. None of them were good, especially since he was packing an arsenal under his coat. One they were sure to object to if they discovered it.
Making sure to act nonchalant, he moseyed over to the car. "Yes, sir?"
The officer glanced down at Abigail. "Is there a problem?"
Uh, yeah. You people are bugging the shit out of me when I need to be rocketing home. Jess forced himself not to betray his annoyance. "Little too much to drink. I was taking her back to the casino where we're staying."
The man narrowed his gaze suspiciously. "You need a doctor?"
No, he needed a break. "Nah, Officer. Thank you very much for the offer, though. She'll be all right. Well, the hangover will be pretty ferocious, I'm sure, but after a few hours, she'll be good as new."
"I don't know, George," the other officer said from the passenger seat. "I think we should call it in, just in case. Last thing we need is for him to be kidnapping her or something and we let him go. Think of the PR nightmare that'd be if he turns out to be a serial rapist or killer."
Jess had to bite back a curse at the paranoid asshole. Yeah, he was kidnapping her, but still ...
She was the serial killer, not him.
"Hey, Jess."
He turned his head to see another police officer approaching from the sidewalk. At least this one he knew. "Kevin, how you doing?"
Kevin stepped between Jess and the car. "Is there a problem here?" he asked the other officers.
Was that drilled into them at the academy, or what?
"No," the officer in the car said quickly. "We saw him carrying the woman and just wanted to make sure nothing was wrong."
Thank God neither he nor Abigail had been bloodied or bruised during their fight and their clothes weren't torn. That would have been even harder to explain. As it was, her clothes were no more rumpled than if she had simply passed out from drink.
"Ah," Kevin said, dragging the word out. He indicated Jess with a jerk of his chin. "Don't worry. Jimmy and I'll take it from here."
Jimmy, Kevin's partner, came up behind Jess to wave at the officers in the car.
Both of them appeared relieved that they could pass this along to someone else. "All right. Thanks for sparing us the paperwork. See you guys later." The car pulled off.
Turning around, Kevin arched his brow at Jess and the woman he was holding. "Should I even ask?"
Jess shifted Abigail's weight. "Not if you want to keep your job, and I don't mean the one that doesn't afford you your million-dollar house." His phone started buzzing again with another warning about sunrise. Not that he needed it. The sky was turning a scary shade of light.
Kevin glanced up as if he were reading Jess's mind. "You're cutting it a little close to dawn, aren't you?"
"Closer than I meant to."
Jimmy gestured to their car, which was parked a few feet away. "C'mon, we can get you back in time."
"Thanks." Jess finally breathed easily. This would also keep him from having to wrangle her onto his bike and hold her there, especially since she'd be coming to any time now. He had to admit, having Squires who were cops came in handy. That was one thing Sin had set up well in this city. In Reno, they'd been light handed with a Squire network. But this place was hooked up to the extreme.
Jimmy held the door open for them. Jess got into the backseat and rested his package by his side and tried not to notice how amazingly pretty she was. It seriously messed with his head to see mixed in her features the person he'd once loved most and the only one he'd ever truly hated.
Life ain't fair.
And it was never simple.
Kevin and Jimmy got in and turned the siren on. They called in their break and sped him toward his house at warp speed.
"I appreciate y'all doing this."
"No problem," Kevin said with a grin. "It's nice to run through the streets when we're not really on a call. Makes me feel like Speed Racer."
Jess frowned as they passed the interstate ramp. "Wouldn't the freeway be faster?"
Jimmy laughed. "For you, civ. We don't have to stop for lights."
That made sense. It normally took Jess a little over twenty minutes to get from downtown to his eleven-acre compound on Tomiyasu Lane (depending on where he was when he started), but he did shoot out farther by taking the interstate. If they didn't stop for lights, they should be able to make it to his place in about the same time, maybe less.
With some luck, he might actually avoid combusting into flames in the backseat. That would be hard for the Squires to explain to their watch commander. Though it might be entertaining to see them try if he weren't the stain.
Kevin glanced at Jess in the rearview mirror. "So you want to tell us about the woman now?"
"Not really."
Jimmy scratched at the back of his neck. "Are we going to have to file a missing persons report on her later?"
"I doubt it. She's running with a group of Daimons. They're usually not the kind to call you guys." And he knew for a fact that she had no family.
Unless she'd married.
His breath caught as he realized he didn't know anything about her now. Hell, she could be married to a Daimon or Apollite. The very thought made him ill. But humans did occasionally fall in with them for one reason or another.
She could be someone's mother....
Surely she wouldn't have been on the street hunting Dark-Hunters if she had dependents.
Would she?
Jimmy turned around in the seat with wide eyes to stare through the partition at him. "Is she the one the Oracles have been talking about? The human killing you guys off?"
I should have kept my mouth shut. Now all the social network sites used and run by the Squires would be lighting up like a Christmas tree. "I think so, but I'd appreciate it if you'd keep this between us until I have a chance to ask her some questions."
"Absolutely." Jimmy slapped Kevin on his arm. "Told you it was real. Hah! You owe me twenty bucks."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Kevin groused.
They didn't say anything else as they sped down South Las Vegas Boulevard. Jess felt that familiar tingle at the back of his neck. The sun was dawning. The sky turning brighter with every heartbeat. And they were still a couple of miles from his home. Worse? He had to knock her out again as she started coming to.
Jess rubbed his thumb and index finger together-a nervous twitch he'd developed as a gunfighter. It was the same feeling he had right now. One mistake. One delay.
He was history.
Only this time, he wasn't relying on his instincts and skills to survive. He was relying on theirs....
The first rays were cresting just as they pulled up to the black wrought iron gates that protected his driveway. Jess slinked down in the seat as he used his iPhone app to open them. He also signaled for the garage doors.