Ian could barely recognize his uncle. Seeing the bruises and the swelling nearly undid him. Hearing the fury Uncle Gil directed at him filled him with shame. He measured his next words, but before he could respond, the man continued.
“They beat me to find out where she was. I never told them. I was prepared to give my life before I told them. I endured that, Ian, so you could protect her. And you bring her here? To Miami? Right back into the hornet’s nest?”
“Gil.” Jonna’s soft tone drew the man’s attention. “There’s something you don’t know.”
“I’m listening.”
A nurse came into the room and frowned. “Mr. Reeves, you need to rest.” The nurse eyed Ian and Jonna. “I’m afraid I need to ask you to leave.”
“No,” Uncle Gil said. “I need them to stay until I get answers.” His authoritative tone silenced the nurse.
She didn’t argue further. But she injected something into his IV. Something to help him relax or sleep?
Ian hadn’t meant to upset his uncle. They hadn’t even known he’d woken from the coma. Ian had only wanted to see him and make sure he was okay. He wanted his uncle to rest and recover, but there were things they needed to share with the man. Maybe even a few things Uncle Gil could tell them as well. He wished he could stay here and watch out for his uncle. He wasn’t sure the man was safe, even here in the hospital.
Two people he cared deeply about were in danger.
When the nurse exited the room, Gil said, “Tell me, Jonna.”
“The man who shot me in Miami showed up in Washington and tried to kill me.”
Uncle Gil groaned. Maybe they shouldn’t tell him this. He tried to catch Jonna’s attention, but she forged on. Besides, it was too late now.
“He had two men with him—that we know of. There could have been others. Since they were watching me, they must know by now that we left the area. Sooner or later, they’ll find out I’m here in Miami, but I don’t think they know yet. I have a short window in which to take advantage of that. So we need to act fast.”
Uncle Gil’s face paled and he shut his eyes. Something the nurse put in his IV working? But he opened his eyes again. “I didn’t tell them. At least... I don’t think...”
“Gil,” Jonna and took his hand. It was almost as if they had shared more than a simple professional relationship. Maybe Uncle Gil thought of her like the daughter he’d lost? That must be it.
“It’s not like Jonna changed her name or her appearance,” Ian said. “It wouldn’t take that much digging to find her if someone was determined.”
“The lodge is in my aunt’s name, legally, so I’m not that easy to find. Still, why would they target me? I don’t know anything. If I had any evidence, I’d have turned it over three years ago. All attacking me is going to do is make me angry, and I’ll be sure to find who is behind this.”
“Putting yourself in more danger. I had hoped Ian would protect you.”
“And he has. I’m starting to lose count of how many times he has saved my life,” she said. “You sent the right man. That said, Ian can’t protect me from myself.” She offered a wry grin—for his uncle’s sake, Ian assumed.
But Uncle Gil didn’t pick up on it, his frown deepening.
“Uncle Gil, do you know anything that can help us?”
“Help you what? You are not going to investigate. You are not going to try to find this man, Jonna. You aren’t an ICE agent anymore. Even if you find out who’s after you, you can’t arrest him. This isn’t your responsibility.”
“You want me to go into hiding and do nothing? I did that already. It didn’t work. Besides you sent Ian to protect me. Don’t you trust your nephew?”
Uncle Gil’s gaze drilled into him. “I trust him implicitly. I believe in him. But he can’t do the impossible.”
Though true, his uncle’s words knocked the support beams he’d built out from under him. He had no adequate words with which to respond.
“This is a fool’s errand.” Uncle Gil turned his bruised face away from them.
“Don’t blame Ian,” she said. “I’m here because they found me in Washington. Hiding won’t work. I have to finish this or I will forever be looking over my shoulder. Ian has no choice. If he wants to protect me then he has to be here in Miami with me.”
Uncle Gil remained silent for so long, Ian thought he’d finally dozed off. Then the man shifted his face back to them, his expression revealing the movement was painful.
“Tell us what you know.” Jonna crossed her arms, putting her soft side to rest. “Do you have any thoughts about who is behind this?”
He gave a subtle shake of his head. “I only know that three years ago Mayor Hendrix put pressure on the higher-ups to close the case. We don’t answer to the mayor, but in this case, we did what we were told. We didn’t have any evidence of a money trail leading to anyone else beyond the people we’d already taken into custody. But you...you didn’t let it go.”
“And now we know why someone shot me. It was related.” Jonna told Uncle Gil everything Danny Johnson had told her with his dying breath.
“You can’t go after the mayor, Jonna. What are you thinking?” Uncle Gil asked.
Jonna moved to stare out the window. A thunderstorm brewed in the distance. Uncle Gil once again glared at Ian. Sure, love resided behind that glare, but the man felt helpless to save those he cared about, which Ian completely understood. His uncle could lose two people he cared about in one fell swoop if Jonna remained determined to solve this—and pulled Ian into the line of fire along with her.
“I wish I trusted someone with this,” Uncle Gil said. “Someone else who could help. But obviously this thing goes deep. If a VIP is involved, I don’t know who I can trust. Someone knew how and when to take me. Who knew I’d be at that conference?” He released a breathy sigh. “What about you, Ian? Can you call in some old DSS buddies? Is there anyone you can trust?”
“Maybe.” Ian had someone in mind. He’d been considering making that call today. “Jonna and I wanted to see you first. We’ve been so worried about you.”
“I don’t know if anyone told you,” she said, “but Ian was the one to put pressure on them to find you. Everyone in your office thought you were at the conference, and the people at the conference thought some work emergency had made you leave.”
“I was sure you would have responded to my communications about Jonna.” Since Gil had been abducted, it was likely his abductors had seen at least the texts Ian had sent. No matter. He hadn’t revealed anything other than Jonna’s location in Washington, which the bad guys already knew. “I was so worried about you—” he shared a look with Jonna “—we were so worried.”
“Well, you’ve seen me. I’ll be okay. Now, get her outta here. This is too open. Too obvious.”
Once again, Ian endured his uncle’s scolding, then the man’s gaze softened. “I told you, didn’t I? I warned you about how stubborn she is.” His uncle ended his words with a smile. And then Ian was certain that Uncle Gil thought of Jonna like his own child—she was so much like Ian’s late cousin Stephanie, Uncle Gil’s daughter.
He read too, the stern message in his uncle’s eyes.
Protect Jonna and stay alive...
* * *
Ian at her side, Jonna strode down the white halls as if on a mission and watched for signs of men with ill intent. They needed a plan. A solid strategy. All she could think about was getting to the mayor. Surprising him. Maybe he was innocent. Maybe not. But being wired while she met him and told him Danny’s words might getting him talking. She could angle for a confession. But she had to convince Ian to go along with it, and that would be a hard sell.
They entered the elevator with several other visitors. One serious-looking man made her nerve endings crackle, and she watched him in her peripheral vision.
Maybe Gil was right. Her attempt to get to the bottom of this was a fool’s errand.
In the elevator, people shifted around as more crowded in. Others got off. Next stop, they ended up alone with the suspicious man. She couldn’t say exactly what it was about him. It was only a gut feeling.
Tension rolled off Ian. He must sense it too.
His fingers tickled hers, then slid completely around her hand, grasping it. The elevator dinged. A nurse and a woman with an empty stroller got on. Ian quickly pulled Jonna out and ushered her down the hallway.
“This isn’t our floor,” she muttered.
“I know.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “He’s following.”
“Figures.”
Great. She’d been made. What had she expected? Ian tugged her around the corner. A nurse had opened a set of double doors with her keycard—Hospital Staff Only. Ian yanked Jonna through and into another long corridor.
“Hey!” the nurse yelled.
Ian continued ushering Jonna away from a man who meant her harm. He pulled her into a closet left unlocked. The pungent odor of antiseptic seized her. He locked the door and flipped off the light. In the small space, they remained silent and motionless, hoping the thug had lost track of them.
Jonna held her breath. She suspected Ian did too. Her heart pounded so hard, she thought he would hear it. She’d lost her ability to control the panic in situations where she needed to have her game on. Finally, she gasped for breath, revealing her fear.
In the dark closet, Ian reached for her and pulled her against him. “It’s going to be okay.”
His reassurance steadied Jonna. He wrapped his arms around her. Her head against his chest, she heard his strong and steady heartbeat. Jonna shouldn’t, but she relaxed against him. If only she wasn’t damaged. If only they could truly be together. She could imagine herself in his arms forever.
The doorknob twisted. Someone grumbled. Keys jingled. Jonna instinctively reached for her weapon. But of course she didn’t have it. Couldn’t carry a gun into a hospital.
The door swung open. A woman opened her mouth to protest at the sight of the trespassers, but Ian prevented her from doing so by yanking Jonna out of the closet and down the hallway. “Let’s hope we lost him,” he said.
They hurried down the hall and took another staff elevator along with two hospital orderlies pushing a bed on wheels. Ian’s demeanor said he had every right to be on this elevator. Then Jonna noticed he’d snagged a nurse’s keycard and it hung around his neck so he looked like hospital staff. Though under normal circumstances she would frown on that behavior, this was a matter of life and death. She trusted he would return it to Lost and Found later. But right now, it kept others quiet while they made their escape through the staff-only elevators.
Finally, they made it to the hospital exit without seeing the man again. Ian pulled her aside. “He’ll be watching the exits.”
“He can’t watch them all without help. If he isn’t working alone, others could be watching all the exits.” Jonna wished they could grab some nursing garb. A man holding flowers walked with a nurse pushing a woman in a wheelchair. “I have an idea.”
She headed down the hallway in search of the gift store. Inside they found ball caps and hoodies. “We can change into these and maybe throw them off.”
“Not for long.”
“We don’t need long.” She selected a cap and a hoodie for herself. Tossed Ian the right size. “We can pretend to be a couple—that’ll add another layer to our cover.”
Ian’s cheek hitched up. “Good idea. That will buy us five minutes.”
“We should ditch the rental car too.”
“Nah. They waited for us to show up at Uncle Gil’s room. They probably don’t know what vehicle we arrived in. We can still safely leave in that.”
And go where? Doubts crawled over her. Maybe she shouldn’t have come back.
She shook the second-guessing off. They were here. She would finish it. One way or another. She found a bouquet of balloons filled with helium. That could help with their disguise.
After making their purchases, they donned the caps and hoodies in the store then left. Ian pulled her close. Holding the bouquet of balloons, they exited the hospital along with a family as though they were with the group.
Ian tugged her closer. Veered right away from the family. His arm around her, he sunk his head low, near hers. “What are you doing?” she whispered.
“Going along with your disguise. This was your idea, remember? We’re a couple.”
“Yeah, but you don’t have to walk so close.”
His proximity made her dizzy and she needed to focus. She wasn’t sure they could make it through this together.
But she was certain they wouldn’t make it through apart.
A balloon popped, startling her. Concrete splintered next to her head. She instinctively ducked.
“Get down!” Ian pushed her to the ground with him. “Let go of the balloons. They’ll give us away now.”
If they were taking shots at her in public, the modus operandi had just shifted.