Page 7 of Exhale
He hadn’t done much, really, but when the waitress came back to the counter with his fresh coffee and the bill, he handed her a napkin. On it, he wrote for her to call 911 about a suspected kidnapping.
The waitress was smart and crinkled the napkin in her hand and disappeared into the back room.
Sure enough, the cops pulled into the cracked and cratered parking lot about ten minutes later. No flashing lights, just a police cruiser parking as if they were stopping for dinner.
Around that point, Jordan got up and went toward the restrooms. He didn’t want to get caught in the crossfire. Plus, he could be of more help coming in from behind.
When the cops entered, the two officers walked directly toward the table where the two men sat with the girl.
Before the cops could say anything, one of the men grabbed Zoey. Sliding out of the booth, the guy dragged her along and held a knife to her throat. The asshole tried to hide behind the slender teenager.
The fucker couldn’t completely hide because of their size difference, but it was enough to make the policeman hesitate after drawing his gun.
Jordan slipped silently out of the hallway and pulled his own piece, a Sig Sauer P365—he preferred the smaller weapon versus the bigger nine-millimeter.
Jordan nudged the barrel against the back of the perp’s head.
“Drop the knife or you’re dead,” Jordan said.
The guy dropped the knife and released the girl. Jordan grabbed her and spun her away from the perp.
“Drop it!” the cop growled at him, and Jordan dropped his gun to the floor and held the girl when she wrapped her arms around him and hung on.
She cried and thanked him over and over, telling the cops that he wasn’t involved. The waitress vouched for him as well, saying he had given her the note to call 911.
It had actually taken a phone call to the chief of police to confirm his identity and stop him from being arrested. The respect in the officers’ was noteworthy when they realized he was with Pegasus.
Later, Jordan sat with Zoey on the ambulance’s tailgate. They were still there when Zoey’s parents arrived. Marsha and Tom Richardson had crushed Zoey tightly in their arms. Her brother and sister sobbed, holding onto the small, closely knit group.
The good news was that Zoey had been recently abducted, and the two men had not had time to rape her.
The bad news was that Jordan knew Zoey would forever be scarred from the incident.
Zoey told her parents everything about how Jordan had saved her. Marsha launched into his arms, and Jordan returned her tight hug. Tom stood close with a hand on his shoulder.
“If you ever needanything, we’re here,” Tom said.
Jordan would later find out that Tom was a former FBI agent.
Because of Tom’s background in law enforcement, everything went smoothly after that.
They went so far as to share about him being a member of Pegasus.
“I’ve worked with Dave and Rossi,” Tom murmured.
It really was a small world when Tom briefly told him that the Phoenix team had helped his office with a case years ago.
Instead of getting a hotel room, Jordan ended up going to their home that night and sleeping in their spare room.
Through the years, Jordan made a point to come back and visit. Plus, he also tried to attend every family ceremony possible—including graduations, birthdays, and a wedding when Cindi put college on pause and got married. Cindi and her husband were now back at school full-time.
The Richardsons were the closest to actual family he had besides the men of Pegasus.
“You said you’d bring Owen to meet us soon,” Zoey said, dragging him from his thoughts.
She handed him a bottle of flavored sparkling water, and he sat on one of the barstools in the brightly lit kitchen.
“I did?”
