Page 21 of Defender (Omega Sector: Under Siege #1)
“Steve Drackett, my boss, agrees that we should probably get you out of here. I don’t like it, but until we figure out exactly what’s going on, I think it’s probably true.”
“I could go to my sister’s house in Atlanta.”
“Yes, that would be good. Lots of flights. There’s an FBI field office and we can make sure they’re aware of the situation. I will personally call their office and talk to someone who can be trusted.”
“Okay. When should I leave?”
“Early tomorrow would be best.”
“Oh.” Summer was torn. She wanted to be safe, to get her daughter to a safe place. But she didn’t want to leave Ashton.
“Believe me, I don’t want you to go.” He slipped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer. “But I do want you to be secure, so I’ll let you go. I don’t like it.”
“There’s something I need to say to you, Ashton.” She sat back a little bit so she could see him better.
“Okay. It’s about Tyler, isn’t it?”
She nodded. “I didn’t handle our last talk about him, about that situation, very well.”
“It was some shocking news, Summer. You handled it the way anyone would.”
“I want to tell you what I told Joe Matarazzo when he tried to take the blame for Tyler’s death. I don’t care if you had the shot or not: you’re not the killer. The man who walked into that office building with the intent to hurt others and pulled out that hand grenade. He’s the only one to blame.”
His name had been James Hudson. But Summer tried to say his name out loud as little as possible. She didn’t want to give him that much credit or space in her life. He’d taken enough.
“But I could’ve stopped the killer,” Ashton said softly.
Summer stood up and took a few steps away. “Says you and your crystal ball. Somebody hitting him with their car in the parking lot that day could’ve stopped him, too. Or maybe if he’d learned stress-management techniques in high school.”
“But I had a rifle trained on him.”
She shook her head. “If there’s one thing I know about Omega Sector, it’s that you guys are the best. You made the call you made. A split second changes everything in SWAT stations, I’m sure.”
He stood up, too. “I don’t think you understand—”
“No, Ashton, I don’t think you understand. I get it. You could’ve taken James Hudson out. You hesitated and the moment was gone.”
Ashton looked at her like he expected her to rage across the room and kangaroo kick him. That he almost wished she would.
She walked over to him. Reached up and cupped his face. “If you could go back and change it, I know you would. You would take the shot. A thousand times over you would take the shot.”
“Yes.” He looked a little surprised that she understood.
“I know that.”
“You don’t hate me? Not even a little bit deep inside?”
“You thought I would?”
He shrugged. “I thought you should .”
“No, I don’t hate you. I could never hate you, Ashton. Especially not for this. You did your best. On most days, that’s enough to save everyone involved. And when it’s not, it’s usually because of something you can’t control.”
His arms folded around her. “I just wish that day I could’ve done it. Could’ve controlled the entire situation.”
She shrugged one shoulder, smiling softly. “You two would’ve liked each other, you know. Tyler was easygoing like you. Funny. Smart.”
“I know this sounds really weird because I’m about to kiss you, but I would’ve like to have met your husband, too.”
Summer smiled more fully, leaning back so she could look up into Ashton’s eyes. “I will always love Tyler. He was a good man. And because he’s Chloe’s father, he’ll always be a part of me. But I know he wouldn’t want me to be alone. To pine for him.”
She raised up onto her toes so they were just inches apart. “So yes, Agent Fitzgerald, please kiss me.”
He obliged, lifting her off her feet with his arms wrapped around her hips.
Neither of them let the kiss get too far, aware of the baby sleeping just feet away.
After a few minutes, he reached down and swept her completely up in his arms and carried her over to the bed.
He laid her down on one side of Chloe, then she felt him reach down and pull off her shoes.
“Scoot over,” he whispered.
She did, laying Chloe between them on the bed. Ashton got in on the other side.
“This wasn’t exactly how I thought the night would go when I first texted you earlier,” she said, smiling at him. She watched him lay a hand on her sleeping daughter’s belly.
“Me, either. But there’s no other place I’d rather be.”
* * *
T HAT BASTARD A SHTON Fitzgerald shot him.
Damien hadn’t thought there was any way someone from Omega would make it to the safe house in time to stop him from killing Summer, especially since he’d sent them on a wild-goose chase looking for Harper on the opposite side of town.
Fitzgerald must have already been on his way to the safe house when Damien entered. Damn it, Damien should’ve taken that into consideration. That Fitzgerald would rush to Summer when they didn’t find Harper at the bar.
Damien was getting a little tired of failing to kill Summer Worrall. He wasn’t used to failing at anything.
He winced as the gauze wrapped around the wound on his shoulder pinched him slightly.
The wound wasn’t bad, just a burn, really just Fitzgerald returning the favor for what Damien had done to him earlier this week.
Damien knew Fitzgerald was Omega’s best sniper; he should be glad Ashton hadn’t been any closer or Damien would’ve needed more than gauze.
Fawkes would throw another temper tantrum when he found out a second attempt had been made on Summer Worrall’s life. Damien would blame Harper, of course, and agree that it was time to eliminate him.
Because it was time to eliminate Harper.
Damien looked down at the woman lying on the floor bound and gagged—a stranger, picked out days ago solely because of the fact that she lived alone and the location of her apartment. Her eyes begged for mercy. Damien reached down and smoothed a bit of hair out of her eyes.
“There, there. This will all be over soon, okay?”
Somehow that didn’t reassure the woman. She began thrashing around on the floor. Damien stepped away from her. Let her rub the ropes more fully into her skin. That would help sell the story.
Damien needed the entire SWAT team out here at this apartment.
That was the only way he could be sure Fitzgerald wasn’t going to deliver Summer and her daughter to the airport and plane himself.
There had to be a crisis big enough that Ashton’s conscience wouldn’t allow him to turn away for personal matters—even getting his girlfriend on a plane to her sister’s house.
Fawkes would be so proud of Damien. Damien had been able to hack into Summer’s online credit card statement and see the purchased ticket himself. No secret Omega info needed. Figuring out she had a sister in Atlanta hadn’t proved difficult, either.
It was time to put the plan into action. First, he needed to call Harper. He hit Send to the man’s number, tapping his foot impatiently as it rang three, four times.
“Hello?” Harper finally answered, obviously having been sleeping.
“Mr. Harper, it’s Damien.”
“Dude, it’s like six o’clock in the morning.”
“Actually, it’s nearly eight.”
“Whatever.”
Damien shook his head. “Harper, I’m going to deliver what you need to kill Ashton Fitzgerald today.”
“You are?” Now the other man sounded much more awake.
“Indeed. I need you to meet me at your father’s house today at noon.”
“Dude, my dad’s place is all rundown. It got foreclosed on.”
All things Damien already knew. “Yes. But a fitting place, don’t you think, for Agent Fitzgerald to meet his end? Since he is ultimately responsible for the state of your father’s house.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re right. That’s like poetry justice.”
Damien rolled his eyes. It really was time for Curtis Harper to die. “It is definitely poetic justice. I will see you at noon and will explain the plan.”
He disconnected the call before Harper could say something stupid.
Say something else stupid.
And now it was time to get this show on the road. Damien got out his burner phone and dialed 911.
“911. Please state your emergency.”
“Oh my gosh!” Damien deliberately pitched his voice as high as he could, breathing rapidly in and out to add a sense of panic.
“I think my neighbor’s ex-boyfriend is holding her hostage inside her apartment.
He used to come here all the time and knock her around and threaten to kill her.
I saw him go in there with a gun this time, screaming. Oh my gosh, should I try to help?”
“No, sir,” the respondent was quick to tell him. “Leave that to the proper authorities. Please give me the address of the apartment.”
Damien rattled off the address. “Oh my gosh, I think I might have heard two men yelling. What if that sicko brought his disgusting friend? That was why Tamara broke up with him last year, you know. I told her.”
Damien looked down at the woman on the floor, shrugging apologetically at all the ridiculous lies he was making up.
“Oh my God!” he yelled. “I just heard a gunshot. I’ve got to get out of here.”
Damien ended the call and dropped the phone near poor Tamara. He went over and made sure the drapes were tightly closed. Closed drapes would buy more time.
He walked over to the door, cracking it open and fired his gun into the ground twice. That would definitely be loud enough to gain more neighbors’ attention. 911 would probably soon be getting more calls.
Damien walked over to Tamara.
“I’m sorry. It’s nothing personal. Just part of the plan.”
He shot her twice in the chest and watched her head roll to the side, dead.
It was time to go. Damien had a plane to catch.
* * *
C HLOE WOKE UP first and saw Ashton.
“Ah-ta. Ah-ta. Ah-ta.” She showed no signs of stopping as she climbed up onto his chest.
Summer pried her eyes open. She really, really, really needed to get a decent night’s sleep. She hadn’t been this exhausted since she’d been a single mother with a newborn.