Page 63 of Jacking Jill

Benson shrugged noncommittally. “Drop the gun and we’ll talk about it.”

“She doesn’t want me as bad as she wants you, Benson. She set this whole thing up to get to you,” Romeo sneered. “Said she wants to see you burn in hell like the demon you are.”

Benson chuckled nonchalantly. “Well, that narrows it down to about three hundred people from my past.” He sighed, sending a frosty cloud of breath into the cold air. “All right, Romeo, looks like we have a stalemate. Ordinarily I’d have ordered Keller to take the shot anyway, hostage or not. But you’re lucky that Miss Jill pre-empted that part of my plan.” He glanced back at Jill, flashed her a wink that Jill thought was somewhat grudging, like she’d read the old coyote right and actually gotten the jump on him, saved Nina’s life by risking her own. “Fine. You want a car? We’ll get you a car. Someone get him a car, please.”

“I’ll do it,” came Nancy’s voice from somewhere behind Jill.

Nancy trudged off towards the other side of the parking lot, where several black Jeep Liberties were parked in a perfectly straight line. Jill watched her go. It seemed like Nancy was taking her time.

Perhaps stalling for time.

Like maybe Nancy was in tune with the universe tonight, calling forth all its convenient coincidences.

Jill turned back to Romeo and Nina, her gaze drifting past them and then stopping abruptly.

There was movement on the ground amongst the wreckage of the nearest SUV.

Squinting in the darkness, Jill realized it was a person crawling on the ground. She was about to warn Jack when she saw who it was.

Kay Steffen.

Bloodied and bruised, burned and scarred, a piece of tattered duct-tape on her cheek, a fragment of a broken plastic tie around one of her wrists.

And murder in her eyes.

“You son of a bitch,” Kay screamed as she struggled to her feet and threw herself at Romeo from behind. “I’ll fucking kill you for touching me, you filthy piece of—”

Kay’s sentence remained unfinished as Romeo spun around in wild surprise, hitting her in the face with the muzzle of his gun. Kay went staggering backwards, swaying and turning and going down hard onto the asphalt.

Kay was out cold, but her attack had accomplished something useful.

It had gotten Romeo to momentarily step clear of Nina.

“Shoot,” whispered Jill urgently from behind Jack, the word popping out of her almost involuntarily, like perhaps she’d been irrevocably altered by the events of the past day, had completely accepted that the man she loved was someone who’d been trained to kill, to visit violence upon violent men to protect those who deserved his protection.

Jack fired twice, the first bullet hitting Romeo in the chest and spinning him around, the second bullet striking him in the side of the head, right above the ear, blowing out part of his skull like a flying toupee.

He was dead before he hit the asphalt, his body slumping down with a sighing swish of silk and skin.

Jill stared in shock, feeling like she’d pulled the trigger by whispering that urgent word. For one poignant moment she thought she understood what it was like to take a life, to commit the ultimate transgression. She felt it deep in her soul, understood in the dark relief of that moment that these warriors of goodness and righteousness gave a little of their souls each time they took a life for their country. These men took on that burden willingly, but it was one hell of a load to carry.

And it was a privilege to help these men carry that emotional load, Jill thought as a rush of exhilarating insight flooded her insides when Jack turned to her and gathered her into his arms like he understood, like he understood that she understood.

“I get it,” she whispered against his chest, smiling when she saw Fay’s knowing gaze directed her way, like Fay was silently welcoming Jill to the sisterhood of Darkwater women—women who understood that they were taking on the psychic burden of being married to men who were warriors just as much as they were husbands and fathers, that the violence would always simmer hot in their molten cores, that the only thing keeping those red-hot cores stable and balanced was the love of a woman who understood what made them tick, what made them special, what made them love as fiercely as they fought. “Oh, Jack, I get it now. I understand what Hogan and Ice meant when they said their wives knew what kind of men they’d married. And I . . . I think I understand what Fay said about being that kind of woman.”

Jack held her tight against his chest, kissed the top of her head, then grinned and raised an eyebrow when Jill looked up at him. “You mean the kind of woman who’s always pregnant with my babies?” he whispered.

Jill frowned up at him. “I don’t think it’s biologically possible to always be pregnant.”

“Sure it is.” Jack patted Jill tenderly on the backside. “It’s a biological fact. Just like it’s a biological fact that butt-sex always gets you pregnant with twins.” He raised his eyebrows innocently when Jill glared at him. “I didn’t tell you that? Well, no matter. Showing is better than telling.”

Jill pushed him away, flashing him a quick smile before turning her full attention to Nina, who was being tended to by Fay while Nancy and Paige worked on reviving Kay Steffen.

Nina was out of it but all right. Jill helped Fay get Nina into the Jeep that Hogan had just driven over to the group. Ice was bringing over another Jeep.

Benson was on the phone with someone. Nancy was saying something to Paige. Keller and Jack were dragging bodies and piling them up in the center of the parking lot. Jill watched in stunned wonder as Keller doused the heap of bodies with flame-accelerant, then tossed a piece of burning wreckage into it, igniting the whole thing like it was totally fine, nothing to see here.

“Um, is that legal?” Jill whispered as Jack walked back to her, slid his arm around her waist, began to lead her to the SUV where Nina was recovering in the backseat.

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