Beg For Me by Sierra Cartwright

Chapter Nine

An alarm shrieked on Jacob’s phone, splitting the silence. It wasn’t an ordinary tone. It meant a panic button had been pushed somewhere. Cold fucking dread ripped through him.

He released the wire tightener he’d been using on the fencing and grabbed his phone from his belt clip to check the display. In neon green, the words GARAGE APARTMENT were flashing.

His training kicked in at the same time that anger flattened his heart rate.

Immediately he opened the video feed app even as he strode back toward the grouping of vehicles. He’d driven his utility vehicle, but one of the ranch hands had arrived on a tricked-out ATV that was significantly faster than his.

Though he didn’t stop moving, he exhaled his relief when he saw Elissa staring out a window. He selected an option that would allow him to talk to her over the room’s speaker system. “Elissa?”

“Jacob!” Her voice was wobbly. She looked around instinctively, as if seeking him out. “He’s in the house, and the delivery driver…” She gulped. “I…think he’s dead.”

He tried to understand what she meant, but he needed her safe while he did so. He took less than a second to brush the key on the side of his phone, alerting Lifeguard he was needed. “I need you to breathe. Stay calm. You’ve got information we need in order to end this situation. Do you understand?” He took a breath of his own and forced a note of calmness into his tone.

On the screen, he saw her nod.

“Is there anyone outside?”

“No. He’s in the house, with Deborah.”

Shoving away tendrils of panic, he focused himself on staying in the moment. This wasn’t Peru or the attacked convoy in Colombia. He could and would get Elissa and Deborah through this safely. “Move away from the window and close the blinds, then walk over to the door and lock it.”

There was no response, and she remained where she was, as if frozen to the spot.

“Elissa.” He kept his words measured, reassuring but uncompromising. “Pay attention to the sound of my voice. Close the blinds.” She was safer if no one knew she was in there. “Elissa?”

“Okay.” She nodded as she pulled on the correct string.

“Good. Now I need you to lock the door. Do it for me. Do it now.”

Finally she moved and threw the bolt home. He exhaled his relief. “Help’s coming. I’m on the way.” He signaled to the ranch hand who’d been riding the ATV. “Need your keys.”

“Sure, boss.”

Jacob caught them with one hand, then straddled the beast and fired it up before sliding the cell phone into a holder. Jacob gunned the throttle and raced toward the house.

Trying to stay in control of the four-wheeler, he pressed a key on the side of his cell phone that immediately connected him with Lifeguard. “Operation Wildflower. Got a situation at the ranch house. Need to know what I’m dealing with. Delivery person down? My housekeeper is inside with the UNSUB.” Unknown subject. “And I’m on a fucking ATV.”

“Roger that.” As always, Lifeguard was unflappable.

“Get me a damn sitrep.”

“Mansfield at the guard shack is down.”

Goddamn fuck it to hell.Of course he was—he had to be. Deliveries were common enough, and Mansfield would have recognized the driver as someone who belonged on the premises, which left him vulnerable.

On the feed to the office apartment, he heard Elissa’s soft, rapid breaths. “You’re doing good, Elissa.” To Lifeguard, he was abrupt. “Intel from the drone?”

“Redirecting. Johnson inbound from perimeter on ATV. No response from Laurents.”

He prayed they were only dealing with one UNSUB.

“Jacob?”

Elissa’s soft, frightened voice reached him, going straight to his soul. “I’m here, baby. I’ve got you.” He would die before breaking his vow. “Stay with me. I need you to take a breath and tell me what you saw—in great detail. Don’t leave out anything even if you think it’s unimportant.” He pressed the key to connect Lifeguard so he could overhear the details she was providing.

“A delivery van arrived, the same one that always comes, and the driver wasn’t carrying any packages.”

“Go on.”

“There was a man behind him, and it looked as if he shoved something into the delivery guy’s back. And I heard a shot. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. He’s inside, Jacob.” Her voice caught on a sob.

He disconnected from Lifeguard. “Stay in the apartment unless I tell you otherwise. Promise me? I mean it.”

After she agreed, he reopened the channel to Lifeguard. “You got eyes on the garage apartment?” Minutes seemed to drag on, while in reality, he knew no more than a few seconds had passed.

“She’s clear. All around.”

Jacob pushed out a ragged breath.

“We’ve got drone footage. Laurents is down. Could have been hit by the delivery van.”

“Goddamn it.”

“Unmoving male on the front porch. Replaying front door cam to see if we can get a hit on the person’s image. House camera showing armed male in the kitchen. Woman tied to a chair. Crying. Appears to have red marks on her face.”

Fucking fuck.

Jacob resisted barking orders. He’d seen Lifeguard in action. Even though he was relaying information in a measured tone, he was summing up the situation, entering information in a computer that would summon help, link in others, including Inamorata and Hawkeye. The entire strength of the organization was being harnessed.

Rationally, Jacob knew all that—the primal part of his brain had been activated. Nothing—nothing—was happening fast enough. Rather than following the road, he was making a straight line toward the ranch house, and there were still more than four miles to go. But in this moment, he was completely, terrifyingly useless to Deborah as well as the woman he loved.

“Johnson’s inbound on an ATV. Was doing the outer perimeter check. ETA five minutes.”

Adrenaline compelled Jacob to gun the engine even harder, pushing the tricked-out machine to eighty miles per hour, despite the danger from the uneven terrain.

“Laurents here,” a man broke in, breathing heavily. “On foot. Fucking delivery truck hit me. Vehicle’s useless.”

Thank God he was still alive.

Jacob switched back to the woman he loved, pretending a calm he didn’t feel. “Still there, Elissa?”

“Yes.”

“You’re doing great.”

Lifeguard broke in. “UNSUB is moving through the lower level of the house. Now upstairs, clearing the rooms.”

Life was happening between a series of his heartbeats.

“UNSUB back downstairs. Moving through the living room.”

Time was running out.

“UNSUB out the back patio door. Headed for the garage.”

“Jacob? Someone is calling my name.”

“Don’t respond.” He edged the ATV to eighty-five. “Fuck it to hell.”

“At the garage door.”

“Elissa, I’m going to keep silent so that no one hears us, okay? Help is less than two minutes away.” He’d never been more helpless. “We’ll keep you safe. Hang in there, baby.”

“UNSUB in the garage.”

At least the sonofabitch hadn’t headed straight for the stairs, and that bought him a few more precious seconds.

“Back outside.”

“I hear footsteps, Jacob.”

“A minute, minute and a half, baby. I’m right here.” Jacob focused on his destination, calculating his response. The assailant likely had no interest in killing Elissa. She was a better weapon against Hawkeye if she was alive. But harming her? That was a possibility. But not on his watch. Not ever fucking again. “When Johnson arrives, I want her to disable the van and my truck. I don’t want him to be able to escape with Elissa.”

“Roger that.”

“Jacob!” Her whisper was frantic and breathless. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

“Sixty seconds, Elissa. Stay calm for one more minute. Don’t say anything more. But I’ll stay on the line. I’m here with you.”

The ensuing silence was more awful than anything he could imagine.

“UNSUB outside the apartment door.”

Knowing he was now close enough to be picked up on Lifeguard’s video, Jacob clipped his phone back into place.

The moment he neared the garage, he cut the engine, jumping from the ATV before it completely stopped moving.

Fear sharpening his senses, he started to run.

An unholy shriek ripped through the air, followed by a crash and a thud.

Then a shot rang out, echoing in his ears.

Shouting her name, gun palmed, events unfolding in horrific slow motion, Jacob raced up the stairs.

When he arrived at the doorway, he took in the scene. The assailant was lying facedown on the floor, his gun in hand, aimed in Elissa’s direction. Liquid oozed around him, and shards of pottery—some large, some small—were splintered like arrows.

She was huddled in the far corner, her knees upraised, clothing damp, staring straight ahead with blood dripping down one of her arms. His fury spiked. “You okay?”

She nodded, her body trembling.

Instead of going to her like instinct demanded, he focused on his training. He had to secure the scene.

He stepped over the hissing and spitting cat that was somehow in the room and kicked the intruder’s hand hard enough to break his grip on the gun. Uncaring whether or not he’d shattered bone, Jacob flipped the man over. Christ. “Rollins.”

“Fuck off, Walker.” Rollins lunged for Jacob’s gun, and Jacob lashed out with his steel-toe boot, connecting with the man’s jaw.

Jacob’s effort was rewarded with a satisfying crunch.

And he wanted to do so much more. But his priorities were Elissa and Deborah. “You’re lucky I don’t fucking take you out.”

“Like you murdered my little girl?”

He channeled his anger into a cold, calculating strike. “You killed her yourself, you motherfucker, with your swagger and your refusal to call in law enforcement. You waited until it was too late, then blamed everyone else. You deserve to go down. Sins of the father.”

Rollins sneered. “Fuck you.”

“You’ll live with Shayley’s death for the rest of your life. And you can be sure you’ll be in a hellhole of a prison for your attack on Inamorata and Deborah.” He crouched. “And Elissa.” The woman I love. “You didn’t get revenge on Hawkeye—you sealed your place in hell.”

Gun drawn, Johnson arrived and silently took in the situation.

“I want this sonofabitch out of here.”

She nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Happily he flipped Rollins over again while Johnson wrenched cuffs onto the assailant.

“Emergency medical is en route. Inamorata in the air.” Lifeguard’s reassuring voice filled the room.

“Send Laurents directly to the main house to take care of Deborah.”

“Roger that.”

“Get up, you lowlife bastard.” With Johnson’s assistance, Jacob dragged Rollins to his feet. Then he looked at Johnson. “I don’t care what you do with him, but don’t let me ever see his face ever again.”

“Yes, Commander.”

Lifeguard spoke one more time. “Bird is inbound.”

Everyone knew where the landing pad was. Things were as under control as they could be. “Walker out.” He hit the switch to reset the panic button system, giving them privacy. “Elissa.”

Elissa was still in the corner, and he crossed to her then sat next to her. “You did good.”

The cat stopped her hissing and dancing and slunk toward them.

“I never believed it was real.”

“Let me see your arm.” Jacob had to repeat the request before she complied. Fortunately it seemed superficial, but the trauma from the day would last a long time. And for the rest of his life, he’d regret that he’d been away from the house when Rollins showed up.

No doubt she was in shock, and he applied direct pressure to the wound, praying EMTs would arrive soon. “Tell me what happened?”

“I… He forced open the door. I don’t know how, since it was locked.” Waffle wiggled in close to Elissa, and she absently stroked the cat’s head. “The only thing that was close was the teapot. I was behind the door, and I hit him with it. Then I got as far away from him as I could.”

She was damn brave. “You sacrificed your afternoon matcha?”

He was happy when she rewarded him with a half smile.

“He tried to come after me.”

Even after she’d brained Rollins hard enough to break the ceramic? “So what happened?”

“Waffle.”

“Waffle?”

“She attacked him and ended up tripping him.”

“In that case, we’ll get her all the bacon she ever wants.”

“I think she earned it.”

Then, seemingly annoyed with the attention, Waffle stood, stretched, then sauntered off.

In the distance, the unmistakable whir from the helo signaled that Hawkeye’s A-team had arrived to deal with the authorities and clean up the mess. “I’m so proud of you.”

She leaned into him. “I was so scared. Especially… The gun. My ears are still ringing. I think maybe they will be forever.”

He didn’t bother with platitudes. She’d go on, and she’d get better. The events would fade, but she’d never be entirely the same again. He regretted she’d ever gotten wrapped up with Hawkeye. Her biggest sin was a compassionate heart.

“I guess it’s safe to go home now.”

“Yeah. But you don’t have to. And I’d prefer you never did.”

“Jacob…”

Any further conversation was interrupted by a sharp staccato beat on the stairs. Inamorata—no doubt. If she had a first name, no one knew it. But there was a large office pool with bets. Always cool and composed, she was the best fixer he’d ever met.

Without announcing herself, she entered the apartment and glanced around, taking in every detail. “Commander Walker.” She nodded.

As usual, her blonde hair was pulled up, and she wore a slim-fitting pencil skirt and stiletto heels. “Medical technician is right behind me.”

“Good.” The sooner they were here and gone, the better.

She walked across the room and crouched near them. “Ms. Conroy, I’m Inamorata. Hawkeye speaks highly of you. And with good reason. I saw the feed. If you’re ever looking for a job—”

Jacob’s protective instincts flared. “You can fuck the hell right off, Inamorata. And take Hawkeye with you. Go do what you’re paid to do.”

For the briefest fraction of time, he thought she might smile.

Instead she pushed to a standing position and left without another word.

As promised, two emergency technicians strode in, carrying bags. They checked Elissa’s vitals and bandaged her up.

“You can take over-the-counter pain reliever if needed.”

Since discretion was of utmost importance to Hawkeye, the firm kept an assortment of professionals on call, meaning employees and clients rarely visited a hospital.

“Rest and hydrate, and don’t do any more than necessary.”

When they were alone, he stroked back her hair. “You ready to get back to the main house? Or we can stay here as long as you want.”

“Is Deborah okay?”

“Let’s go see.” He kept his arm around her as they walked back to his home.

Deborah was still there, and the two women fell into each other’s arms and held on tight.

Agent Kayla Fagan took a step toward them, and he held up a hand to wave her off. Fagan nodded and leaned against the counter to wait.

“Agent Fagan was going to take me home, but I couldn’t leave until I saw you.”

“Me? I’m concerned about you. What happened to your cheek? Are you okay?”

“He hit me when I wouldn’t tell him where you were.”

“Oh my God.” Elissa reached out her hand as if to touch Deborah’s face, but then didn’t. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m told I might get a black eye. And it will make a great addition to a Ski Bunny story one day.”

Elissa shook her head. “If you don’t find an illustrator, let me know. I can never repay you for what you did today.”

“You’d have done it for me.”

“You were really brave. Thank you.” Elissa pressed her palms together. “Did someone go to get Adele?”

If he hadn’t already been in love with Elissa, it would have happened at that moment. After all she’d been through, she was concerned for his housekeeper’s daughter.

“My sister went to the school.” A river of tears washed down Deborah’s cheeks. “I was so scared for you.”

“No need. Waffle tripped him and took him down.”

Deborah wiped her face with the back of her hand. “Are you kidding me?”

“Swear to God.” Elissa crossed her heart with her index finger.

“What a good kitty! I always knew she was perfect.”

Elissa grinned.

“But what about you? Is your arm okay?”

“This?” Elissa brushed two fingers over the bandage. “It’s superficial.”

Jacob knew she was lying. From experience, he knew it hurt like hell. “Take some time off,” he told Deborah. “As long as you need. A month. Two. You’ll get your full paycheck.” And a big juicy bonus, even if she opted never to come back. He wouldn’t blame her for that.

“I can’t.” She shook her head. “You need me.”

“I’ll have Hawkeye send someone until you’re ready to come back.”

“Do you really mean it?”

“He does.” Fagan made the promise as she moved forward. “If you’re ready, I’ll drive you home. Someone else will bring your car.”

Fagan was a skilled professional, and she was easy to talk to. There was no one better to debrief a victim of a horrific experience.

“Maybe I’ll finish writing the Ski Bunny story.”

“The first Ski Bunny story,” Elissa corrected.

They both laughed.

After the two women hugged again, Fagan took control, offering plenty of reassuring words and helping Deborah find her purse before ushering her out the patio door.

No doubt the scene on the front porch was still being secured, and Fagan would do her best to ensure Deborah didn’t witness it.

“Can you give me a few minutes?” He filled the kettle and turned it on. “Agent Johnson will stay with you. I want to wrap up a couple of things with Inamorata. Then I’ll be back. And I’ll be yours as long as you want me.”

She nodded and took a seat on a barstool.

He walked to the small circle of people surrounding Inamorata. When she saw him, she nodded, then detached herself from the group.

“Status?”

“Mansfield didn’t make it. GSW.”

Gunshot wound. “Fuck.”

“Appears he leaned past the driver. Had his gun in hand, but not fast enough.”

He raked his hand through his hair wishing he’d sent Rollins to hell while he had the chance. “Delivery driver?”

“Deceased.”

A total, complete goat fuck. “Need this place cleaned up. And the cat taken care of. Bacon every day.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. I’m getting Elissa the hell away from here. I’ll file my report later.”

“The job is done, Commander.”

“It’s just started. And it’s Jacob.”

She smiled. “Good wishes for all your happiness in the future.”

“If you’re a praying woman, pray she’ll have me.”

“I’ll do that.”

A man from the group called out her name. “If you’ll excuse me.” With a nod, she strode off.

Jacob returned to the house, waved Nan Johnson away with a silent thanks, then slid onto the stool next to Elissa. An untouched cup of Earl Grey sat in front of her. “How about we get out of here for a few days?”

She tilted her head quizzically to one side.

“Are you serious?”

He grabbed his phone and pressed the key on the side. “Hey, Lifeguard. Gonna need reservations for two at a cabin in Steamboat Springs. Plenty of privacy.”

“Not my specialty, Commander.”

“I’m sure you can find someone who can help.”

“Believe I can.”

And then he remembered that he’d ordered his truck to be disabled. “And a vehicle. Tell Hawkeye not to be a cheap bastard this time.”

“Already have one ordered—for Inamorata.”

“I’m sure she won’t mind me taking it.”

“Roger that.”

When he slid his phone onto the countertop, Elissa looked at him. “Steamboat?”

“We need to get away. Rest. Maybe have a bottle of wine. On Hawkeye’s tab.”

“A nice bottle?”

“Very nice.” He nodded. He was ready to have her alone, to confess his love, and pray she didn’t turn him down and walk out of his life. “How soon can you be ready?”