Page 188 of The Vigilante's Lover

“Mon Dieu,” Colette says. “And that’s just the young ones?”

“Half the network is in town,” Jax says. “That can’t be good.”

“I hope Sutherland really is behind this,” Sam says. “If he’s not, then someone could take out a huge chunk of the U.S. operatives in one go.”

Jax sits back, his finger passing over his lips as he gets lost in thought. “This is making me wonder if Sutherland chose Jovana, or if maybe she chose him.”

“I don’t think so,” I say. “She was outraged when he wouldn’t call her back. She’s pretty much showing up without his permission.”

Sam glances back at us. “Looks like you spent some quality time with her.” His gaze shifts to Jax. “In fact, you both look like bloody hell.”

“We’re a little worse for wear,” Colette says. “You, however, don’t have a scratch on you.”

“I’m too intellectual for all this brutality,” Sam says. He passes a dart gun back to Jax. “Note that this one is a new drug. No antidote. Wears off on its own but drops them in six seconds. Keeps them down for two hours.”

I wonder if that’s what Jovana gave me, twice.

“How many of these you got?” he asks.

“Just the one gun. But it has three darts.”

I hold the dart gun Jax gave me with both hands, extending myarms so I can find the sights to aim. Jax takes it and passes me the new one. It is lighter and more streamlined. I lift it to check the sights.

Jax raises my elbows so I’m more level. “It has a laser sight.” He clicks a button and a red beam hits the window, indicating where the dart will land. “This isn’t an exploding bullet, so you have to aim for something fleshy,” he says.

“Will it go through clothes?”

“Any civilian body armor,” Sam says.

“Do Vigilantes have body armor?” I ask. I line the sights up with the taxi sign on the car outside the window. I’m glad the passengers can’t see into our car, or they’d freak the heck out.

“Sutherland will,” Jax says. “And the committee. With the other Vigilantes, it depends on whether they are fighters who would get slowed down by it. It doesn’t help you if you’re shot in the face or get a dart to the hand or neck.”

Yuck. Gruesome. I take a deep breath. I can do this. I have to.

“So who am I aiming for?” I ask. “Am I supposed to kill Sutherland?”

“No!” comes a chorus from the car, everyone at once.

“Okay!” I say. “Just checking.”

“You’ve got her all fired up,” Colette says.

“I can get us to HQ,” Sam says. “And I can make sure we’re not spotted.”

“But,” Jax says.

“But,” Sam continues, “I don’t have any clue how to stop this thing. Sutherland’s obviously had it in the works for a couple years.”

“He’s choosing to initiate it right now, though,” Jax says. “Something about the conditions is in his favor.”

“Honestly,” Sam says, “I think he had to move up his timeline because you busted out of jail. The longer you were a problem, the less credibility he had.”

“Plus the vendetta,” I add. “Jax has got a killer case for revenge.He’s probably nervous that Jax is going to take him out.”

But when I look over at Jax, he doesn’t seem eager for battle. Just resigned and resolute.

17: Jax