Anchor

Chapter 10

Gabriel

At first I think I'm imagining things again, but Jones doesn't fade away like a bad dream. No. He's one hundred percent, hard to believe reality. He strides unerringly forward with another one of his goddamned bombs strapped to his neck.

"No wonder he took so long." Chloe shrinks back against me. "He was putting one of those things on. Why would he do that?"

He's only a few steps away now, close enough for us to see the gray pallor of his face in the spotty lighting. He looks about as good as I feel.

"What the hell are you doing, Jones?" He stops a couple yards away. I may want to throttle the life out of him, but I also have the innate urge to help him.

Jones' voice is calm when he speaks, despite how peaked he looks. "When I lost my wife, I had nothing left. You took everything from me."

Chloe opens her mouth to talk, but I wrap an arm around her waist and tug her even closer against my body, cutting off whatever she was about to say.

I keep my response level and calm. There is still the possibility he'll set off his own collar while standing just a short distance away from us. "I'm sorry, Jones. I swear, we did everything we could to save your wife."

Jones just shakes his head sadly. "If what you're saying were true, she'd still be here."

"I wish I could change what happened." The intense regret is causing physical pain. My chest is tight and my throat aches.

"I didn't bring you out here for you to do anything."

My brows furrow. "Then why did you go to all this trouble?" If it wasn't to kill me, to hurt me, then why the hell are we here?

"I want you to understand."

"Then make me understand," I bite out.

"That's the idea," Jones says, and he inches closer.

"Stop right there," I say, but he keeps coming toward us. To Chloe, I say, "If he gets too close, shoot him."

His hands are still up, but with the explosives strapped to his neck, I'm not taking any chances. If he weren't holding the detonator, I would have instructed Chloe to shoot him, but I can't. I'm no bomb expert and I'm not going to start pretending to be now.

As Chloe trembles against me, I wonder for the first time if I'd caused more trouble coming out here to save her than I would have if I'd let the sheriffs and F.B.I. handle the situation.

"What do you want me to understand?" I ask. "I'm sorry, I can't tell you how sorry I am—"

"I don't want your sorries," Jones says sharply. "I wanted you to know what it felt like to have someone you cared about taken from you because of someone else's callousness."

I double over in pain as Emily's face comes to mind. Without thinking about it, I squeeze Chloe tighter against me and press an absentminded kiss into her hair. I say a silent thanks for her thoughtless actions that kept Emily from this nightmare. If nothing else, I'm immeasurably grateful for her bravery.

"And now?" Chloe's hand finds my arm. Her nails dig into the skin, but I barely feel it.

"Now, he'll get to know the same callousness," he says.

My mind blanks with panic, thinking somehow he got to Emily without my knowing. It's the two-second pause that catches me off-guard. Jones uses it to his advantage and he rushes toward us. Chloe yelps and lets off a couple rounds in quick succession. One wings him, but the other two are off the mark.