Chapter Seventeen

“Get out of the car, Callie!” Karl commanded.

A deadly calm settled on B.J. He packed away any emotion that would get in the way of the warrior inside him. He would take out Karl Abbott, and nothing would change that.

The only thing separating Callie and a 50-caliber gun known as a Desert Eagle was a window, a piece of glass. The car would never protect them from the high-caliber gun.

“Put your hands where I can see them, lawman.” Whether from nerves or the gun’s weight, Abbott’s hand trembled.

Not wanting to provoke Abbott in any way, B.J. lifted his hands away from the steering wheel, spreading his fingers. Callie raised her hands, too.

“Get out now, Callie.” No longer watching B.J., Karl motioned with the barrel of the gun.

B.J. checked Callie’s washed-out face, her shaking hands, her rapid breathing. “Do it.”

“What? No!” Shock in her eyes, she shook her head.

“Don’t worry. We have options. Look for an opening, but now is not the time to take any big risks with that gun of his.” He squeezed her hand.

“So, throwing hundred-dollar bills around in the wind won’t work this time, huh?”

B.J. took her humor as a sign that she’d regained some of her composure. He smoothed a wavy lock of her golden-brown hair away from her eyes.

“Don’t look at him, Callie. Look at me.” Karl jiggled the door handle and shook the gun at them with less control.

“I’ll be with you. I’ll unlock the door and then we’ll both get out on the count of three.” B.J. put his hand on his door handle.

Tears welled up in her eyes. “Brian Jacob, you better get me out of this.”

Shock jolted him. By using his full name, she tapped into that well of grief and family and love that no one else knew about. But Callie forged all that pain into a new thing, a new emotion that he didn’t have a name for. He couldn’t lose this woman.

“What are you waiting for?” Karl screamed.

“On three?” Callie reminded him.

They counted together, then B.J. hit the door lock, and both of them burst from the car in one motion. Karl yanked her out and put the gun to her head, but the motion allowed B.J. to train his Glock on Karl.

Even though he tried to shuck his history, seeing that cannon aimed at Callie’s head messed with him. Something broke in him. Today his lifelong curse ended. Or he did.

“Easy there, lawman.” Karl pushed the gun into Callie’s temple.

B.J. slipped the Glock into the waistband of his jeans. He put his hands up, so Karl could see them unarmed. Callie stayed still, her eyes begging for something to do, some way to help him.

He steadied his breath and focused on Karl. “That Desert Eagle is not very accurate. You may be in Mexico, Abbott, but if you kill any Mexican citizens, even by accident, you’ll end up in a Mexican prison. You don’t want that.”

“Is this the part where you try to talk me down? Or are you stalling until your cohorts get here?” Karl sneered.

“All I’m saying is you don’t want to hurt anyone by mistake, but especially Callie. You’re crazy about her, aren’t you?”

“At least you got that right.” Karl dragged a struggling Callie away from the Charger. His fingers went white on her arm.

“Ow. Okay.” She quit dragging her feet.

B.J. stayed with them. He was halfway in Abbott’s head, understanding his stalker’s mentality. B.J. came out from behind the car, hands still in the air. “Callie owes you, doesn’t she?”

Abbott stopped dragging her. “I almost had her until you came along and distracted her with your Ian routine.”

A driver behind them honked. Callie cried out and covered her ears. It spooked Abbott, and he swung the Desert Eagle around. People began screaming and running. The driver who honked abandoned his car. Karl snaked his arm around Callie’s waist and pulled her in tight.

B.J. used the distraction to inch a few steps closer. He shook his head at her, willing her not to try anything. When Abbott realized what B.J. was doing, the gun swung back to Callie’s head. She whimpered as Karl’s hand shook even more.

“You were so damned hard to catch, Abbott, I had to use Callie to get to you.” B.J. took up the mind game again.

Abbott took two steps backward. The Expedition was a car length away, and Abbott couldn’t be allowed to reach it. As Callie looked around, her eyes widened with even more panic. At this rate, she’d hyperventilate soon.

“The way you’ve used the narcos, Abbott, was brilliant. But they’re not a loyal breed, are they? They play their own game. Where the fuck are they now?”

Abbott’s head snapped around at that. Even Callie started at B.J.’s harsh tone.

B.J. took another step and went back to friendly speak. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking the narcos are your friends. I got your name from them. They put me on to you.”

“You’re lying.” Karl waved the gun at B.J. His hand was really unsteady now.

“Do you see them anywhere?” B.J. spread his hands.

B.J. heard footsteps and shouts in Spanish, most likely Mexican customs agents armed with AK-47s. Karl looked toward the sound and brought the gun back to Callie’s head, and she flinched.

Without taking his eyes off Karl, B.J. held up his badge and in Spanish identified himself as an American federal officer. A female agent said they would wait for his signal.

It was time to play his best card. “Abbott, there’s something else, something you should talk to Callie about. They told me that not only did you smuggle guns for them. You killed—”

“That’s a damned lie.” Karl didn’t let him finish.

“You killed Jimmy. Karl, how could you?” Callie shrieked.

B.J. drew a quick breath. He hadn’t meant for her to take the negotiation. He reached for his gun in case she sent Abbott over the edge. Karl lowered the Desert Eagle a fraction. It was aimed at her neck, her delicate neck with its smooth skin.

“I did it for you, Callie,” Karl said. Callie’s mouth dropped open in shock.

B.J. could hear the abusive father’s voice in his head. I did it for your own good.

“All Jimmy ever did was pound on me. I was his personal punching bag. I only gave him what he did to me,” Karl said.

Lady, I have to take you out before you can take me in.

B.J. tried to clear his head. He couldn’t let his past and his present collide. He needed to stay in the game. Callie needed him.

“Those are excuses, and excuses won’t stand up in court.” Callie’s voice was firm, and she stood straight.

She would always fight, would always look for a way out. All this time, he’d pushed her away, even though she was the best thing that had ever happened to him. She understood his damage when he didn’t want to face it. Now she needed him to be more than a collection of damages. He had to be more than his history to save her. To save himself.

That brought B.J. back, and now he was all in.

“So, Karl, what happened that day? Eight years is a long time to carry a burden like that.” B.J. played off her stiff demeanor with his good-friend technique.

The gun must have been getting really heavy, because it was now at her chest. She shrank from the barrel as if she knew the vest wouldn’t stop a 50-caliber round.

“Jimmy wasn’t the saint you thought he was, Callie,” Karl retaliated. “I was the only one who knew what a sleaze he was.”

Looked like Callie was going get those answers she so desperately sought. As always, she didn’t shy away. “What do you mean by that?”

“Me and Jimmy worked together. Yeah, he helped me with the guns. I thought we were partners, and things were great. I was making money for the first time in my life. I wasn’t a screwup anymore. Then Jimmy wanted more money. He was going to turn me in. I had to stop him. I mean, who would believe we were in it together? He stood there so fucking happy to arrest me.” Karl tightened his grip on Callie’s waist.

Out of the corner of his eye, B.J. saw his ATF team arrive. He saw Fitzgerald leading the bunch and focused on him, holding up his palm and signaling them to wait.

“You didn’t want to shoot him. You just needed him to leave you alone.” B.J. made up a possible scenario.

Karl shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. I kinda liked shooting him. You know, payback.”

Callie gasped in horror. “Karl, you shot him six times.”

Karl raised the Desert Eagle and pressed it to her forehead. She closed her eyes.

“Karl, tell me about it. Tell me how it felt to shoot Jimmy.” B.J. tried to take back Karl’s attention.

“First I shot him just to stop him. I liked that so much I shot him a few times to watch him bleed. My favorite was the shot to his dick. He begged before that shot, and he begged after. Then I shot him in the head to shut him up.”

“Oh my God.” Callie doubled over from pain at Karl’s description of Jimmy’s last moment, even pressing her fists to her eyes.

“Callie, he wasn’t good enough for you.” When Abbott looked at Callie for one last appeal, he seemed surprised to be surrounded by agents.

B.J. took another couple of steps. C’mon, let Callie go.

“Karl, it’s time for you to give up,” Callie said.

…

Callie wasn’t sure Karl was going to buy it. Repulsion rippled through her, and she fought the urge to retch. Not because of the gun. That was bad enough. But what he’d done to Jimmy…Now she knew what B.J. meant about getting answers she didn’t want.

The accusations against Jimmy broke her heart and shattered the last of her illusions, but the last puzzle piece snapped into place. All this time she’d blamed Jimmy’s secretiveness on being a cop, when really she couldn’t trust him because he was a liar and a criminal.

Karl took a step back from her. “This guy has a place that looks out over the Pacific Ocean. He said it was beautiful. It sounded like the perfect place for you.”

“I love the ocean.” She wanted to break away and go to B.J., but her legs barely held her up.

“I’ve never seen it.” Karl slid his arm from around her. “Go on.”

At first Callie thought it was a trick, but B.J. nodded, opening his arms to catch her. Like he always would.

“I’d like it if you came to see me. You know, in prison.” Karl’s voice had a wistfulness she didn’t expect.

She glanced back. “You’re letting me go?”

“Yep. Look, I’m putting down the gun.”

Callie took a step and cringed, expecting to get shot. When nothing happened, she ran. She heard a clatter on the pavement. Shouting. She looked back.

As the cops encircled Karl, he pulled another gun from his back and aimed it at her. Then a hand grabbed her wrist. B.J. was all around her, protecting her, blocking her. There were three distinct pops before an eruption of gunfire deafened her.

She felt rather than heard B.J.’s “omph.” They were falling. She landed hard on her shoulder, but she didn’t feel anything. “B.J., are you okay?”

He groaned.

Leo raced to them, shouting, “We need an ambulance here.”

Something was said about which hospital, El Paso or Juárez. Dear God.

Leo rolled B.J. over. There was blood everywhere, but where was it coming from?

“Oh my God. B.J.!” Callie yanked off the jacket to soak up his blood.

He opened those beautiful gray eyes and gave her a weak smile. “This time I got it right.”