School of Fish (Fish Out of Water #6) - Amy Lane Page 0,110
“Can I bring them to you?”
“Yeah.” Sascha had been born in Sacramento, and he had no accent and no connection, really, to the people probably in the middle of starting a war. He just had his aunt and uncle. His parents had gone back to Russia when he’d been in middle school.
And he’d called Jackson because Jackson was his only hope.
“Be ready for me to bring them by,” he said. “Tell them I’m coming.”
He stood stiffly and slid on yesterday’s jeans while Ellery rolled over in bed. “What in the hell…?”
“The Dobrevks need me,” he said, his voice dropping, hoping Ellery understood. “It was one thing when it was just a big cop clusterfuck and nobody needed little ol’ me in the middle. But this is different. If the Dobrevks are taken in by the cops and not arrested, they’re fucked.”
Ellery sucked in a breath, and Jackson knew he couldn’t argue.
“And even if they’re arrested, they’re still fucked,” Jackson said softly. “Just like Tage was about to be. One way or another, they’re going to be material witnesses to people with a lot more money and a lot more power, and not even the world’s best defense attorney will be able to save them.” Jackson gave what he hoped was a conciliatory smile, and his heart hurt when Ellery looked away.
“I’ll be back,” he promised rashly. “I’m just going to sneak in, grab the little old people, and sneak out. I promise—”
“Stop,” Ellery said, voice shaking, and Jackson felt it in the pit of his groin.
He could lose Ellery over this.
It’s why he’d backed off before. Why he’d called the police and gave them the tip and told them he’d stay put. Because Ellery was scared, and goddammit, hadn’t he put Ellery through enough?
But this was different. When it was going to be a police roundup of different gang factions gunning for each other, Jackson had absolutely no place in the battle. There was nothing for him to do, and he’d promised he’d think twice about putting himself in danger. But the Dobrevks were innocent, and Jackson had a tie to them, and someone had asked—begged—that he keep them safe.
This was who he was. If Ellery couldn’t understand this, all of Jackson’s “being good” was not going to save them.
Ellery had gotten out of bed, still in his underwear, and was looking pale and awkward and vulnerable in the faint light from the bathroom.
“Ellery—”
Ellery put a shaking finger over Jackson’s mouth, and Jackson closed his eyes. Then Ellery’s voice, nothing more than a trembling rasp, whispered in the darkness.
“Come home to me.”
Jackson’s eyes flew open, and he pressed Ellery’s fingers to his lips and kissed them.
“If there’s breath in my body,” he said, and then took Ellery’s mouth, hard and urgent, because the blood surging through his chest was hard and urgent.
He hadn’t lost him. Ellery understood.
Jackson would die for this man.
He could damned sure live for him.
HE DROVE the Tank and parked it behind the line of cherry tops on the side of the block covered by the apartment complex, searching out a familiar face.
The complex itself sat under the grainy luminescence of the soda lights, looking deathly still. Nobody in the quad, nobody walking from their car to the pool in the humid light. No lights on, no windows open to catch a stray breeze.
Every now and then came the pop-pop-pop of gunfire, and then silence.
Jackson’s gut churned. It was a meat grinder, fuck him if it wasn’t.
Fetzer and Hardison were easy to spot. They were hanging behind the SWAT vehicle, exchanging dry looks as the commander barked instructions to everyone not SWAT. Fetzer was the one who saw Jackson first, and she nudged her partner’s elbow. Together they edged their way behind the crowd completely and directed him to a dark corner in the shade of what was probably their own vehicle. Only the shop’s cop would lean on it.
“What in the hell is that?” Hardison asked, nodding at Jackson’s converted SUV.
Jackson squinted. “Well, it used to be something fancy, but now it’s bulletproof, and I really don’t think it has a name.”
Fetzer’s eyes went wide. “Bulletproof, you say?” she asked with interest.
Jackson nodded. “Some friends tricked it out for me after I, uh, well, it’s a long story, and we’ve got no time.”
“I thought you were going to wait this one out,” Fetzer said, her mouth pursed in a look that probably terrified children and grandchildren alike.