Joseph (7 page)

She looked up at him before she nodded and rubbed her arms as if to ward off a chill. Those beautiful green eyes showed her lust and more than a little confusion. Joseph hated he didn’t have time to finish her little lesson right now, but other things, a/k/a douchebag wannabe druggies took priority.

“Reach behind me and take the phone out of the front pocket of my pack. Take it with you. If I don’t come get you in twenty minutes, power it up, push the redial button and tell whomever answers the phone your name and that I need assistance. Whatever you do, don’t leave that bathroom.”

“Are they going to try to kill us?” Those big green eyes were now wide with fear.

“Those two? I doubt it. They’re probably hoping for a snatch and grab opportunity. The unknown is how they knew we were heading this way and if they have reported us as a suspected contact. I’m going to have a conversation with the gentlemen while you powder your nose.”

*

Joseph veered into an ancient gas station and pulled up to the pump. His pale face was drawn tight, and he was sweating. “Go. Don’t come out for any reason.”

Em nodded her head simply because she couldn’t speak. Terrified of the men who followed them, she walked into the station going straight to the back of the building and locked herself in the lady's restroom. Leaning against the wall, she waited. Her nerves jumped at every sound she heard in the adjacent store as the minutes stretched on. Ember tried to breathe deeply to counteract the anxiety, but the exercise just made her nauseous. Pacing in the tiny room, she lurched and cupped her hand over her mouth to stifle a scream when a knock sounded on the door. She held her breath and waited. A woman’s voice asked, “Excuse me miss, is everything all right?”

Ember’s voice shook as she responded. “Yes, thank you. I have an upset stomach. Could you give me a couple minutes, please?”

“You betcha, hun. Just checking on you. You’ve been in there for a while and you haven’t paid for the gas that was pumped.

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll come out and pay. Just not right now.” Ember flushed the toilet to punctuate her comment. It must have worked. The woman didn’t say anything else.

Time seemed to stop. Ember checked the minute hand on her watch more than once to ensure it hadn’t started to run backwards. The noises from the shop attached to the gas station muted as the minute hand struck the time Joey had instructed her to make the call. She cradled the cell phone and turned it on. Her finger trembled as it hovered over the redial button.

“Em, open the door, babe.”

She leapt at the accompanying sharp wrap on the door. The phone flew out of her shaking hands. Plastic and metal became a skittering bullet on the painted cement floor. She chased after and picked up the escaped phone. Em threw back the bolt and launched into Joseph’s arms. Burying her face in his neck, she finally exhaled. “Joey, I was so scared. Are you alright? Did they hurt you?”

He tensed immediately and loosened her arms from around his neck. “Come on. We have to go.” He threw several bills on the counter for the clerk as he grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the gas station.

He got in and pulled out onto the interstate. Once again, his training superseded his desire to stomp on the gas and get the fuck out of Dodge. Drawing attention to the car now wouldn’t help their situation. “Joey what happened? What took so long? I was just about to hit the redial.” She held up the phone providing evidence of her intent.

*

He looked at the phone and sighed. The woman beside him vibrated with anxiety. A bundle of nerves. Taking the phone from her, he put it up to his ear. “Jacob, it was a false alarm. Em got a case of the jitters. You can stand down.”

He glanced towards Em. Her eyes were huge as she realized she had somehow placed a call. He pointed to the seat next to him. She moved over immediately. “No, we’re fine. When Ember dropped or picked up the phone, it must have redialed the last number used. I’ll authenticate if you need me to.”

Jacob shouted on the other end of the line, “Yes, damn it. I need you to authenticate. I pass –you—Gulf.” There was no doubt Ember heard his little brother’s pissed off response.

Joseph replied calmly, “And I –respond—stream. Now, would you please stand down?”

“Alright, but damn it man, put a strap on that phone. I had half the world heading toward…Sioux Falls, South Dakota?”

Joseph cast a glance at the woman next to him. “No problem. It won’t happen again. I had to make an adjustment and Em got spooked.”

Jacob cleared his throat. “How much of an adjustment?”

Joseph scanned the rearview mirror as he replied, “Adjustment is perhaps the wrong word.”

“Did you remove the threat or delay it?”

Joseph laugh was evil, caustic. “Oh, I removed it. Permanently.”

“Joseph can the removal be traced to you?”

“As if.” He snorted his brother’s insinuation. Damn the little man was starting to piss him off.

“Is there something you’re not able to tell me, Joseph?”

“Able to? No. Going to? Yes.”

Jacob glanced at Ember as she bit her bottom lip and watched him intently. He nodded towards the water bottle. She opened it and took a drink waiting to pass it to him. “We are good to go for now. I need a truck, four-wheel drive, not this sedan I was forced to rent in Kansas. Park it at the Rushmore Mall in Rapid. South side parking lot. This car won’t make it up the trails to the cabin.”

“Alright, done. I’ll have a truck positioned for you. I’ll text you the plate number and a description. The keys will be in the usual place.”

“Thanks. Later.” Joseph powered the phone down and gave Ember a withering look. “Just what I needed to do…soothe the little man’s frayed nerves. He gave her a lust filled glare. “Do you still want to fuck me into next week? Because, if you do? I’ll play doctor with you.”

Ember gulped down another swallow of water and handed the bottle to him. The idea of sex with Joey, any kind of sex, had her wet. She only hoped it wouldn’t show through her skin-tight jeans. Panic assailed her. Instead of answering him, she asked, “What happened to those men?”

He looked over at her and shook his head. “Evasion? Alright, I get the hint. Nothing happened that you need to worry about. I replaced our Missouri plate. That may give us some more time.”

She put her hand on his and lightly touched his knuckles that were swollen and red. “You said removed them permanently. Did that mean you killed them?”

Joseph shrugged and Em noticed a wince. “I did my job. Let it go.”

Ember put her head on his shoulder needing his warmth, but he didn’t put his arm around her or allow her to get any closer. “I’m sorry, Joey.”

“Sorry you offered to play doctor with me?” His hand rested on her thigh and squeezed.

The man had a one track mind, zero to sex in a second flat…or he was trying to change the subject on purpose?

She shook her head. “No, I’m not sorry about getting you to look at me as a woman and not the girl from your past. What I
am
sorry for is getting you mixed up in my drama. For making you drive half way across the country and for having to protect me from people who want to kill me.”

He squeezed her thigh again and leaned over to kiss her temple. “Kinda glad you called.”

She put her hand on his and patted it. “So, for my sanity’s sake…when will you realize that I’m, in fact, an intelligent person?”

He chuckled. “Really? What have I done to indicate I think you’re not an intelligent person?”

Ember turned in her seat so she could see his expression.
Okay, put on your big girl panties and throw it out there.
“You kill people for a living.”

Nothing. Not a tick of movement from him. He blinked once and then turned his head toward her. “And?”

Wow. Just wow
.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God! Breathe. In and out. Think!
The boy she grew up with, the person she measured everyone else against, and the man who she wanted so bad her insides hurt, had just admitted to being an assassin.
How? When? Why was he doing that? Was he a criminal?
“Uhhh, Joey...I really need you to explain why you killed them. Couldn’t you have just knocked them out and tied them up, or something?” Crap. She could hear the tremor in her voice.

His eyes never left the road unless he was checking the review mirror. He didn’t respond and she didn’t push the question. He drew a breath and cast a look at her.

“Alright, the truth is those two men would’ve been paid a lot of money had they killed you. They had the intent and capability but not the opportunity because I stopped them. That’s what I do, Ember. I eliminate threats. Due to the injuries they sustained, neither were conscious or able to exit the crashed vehicle. Investigators will find a ruptured fuel line, nothing more. Our vehicle description and plate number were compromised. Your appearance modification threw the idiots. However, you looked similar enough to the photograph dispersed to all of the cartel’s minions that they called in the suspicion. They didn’t get a good enough photo of you in the restaurant for a definite confirmation. You weren’t supposed to be traveling with a man, so their leadership isn’t convinced it’s you. They were told take you out if the opportunity arose or follow and to call back tonight. When they don’t call, it will cause an all-out search for this car. By that time, we will be in a truck somewhere in Wyoming.” He delivered the information in a plain brown wrapper. No fuss, no muss—no emotion.

“How do you know all this, Joey?”

“We had a conversation. They told me.”

“A conversation? You did something to them to make them tell you, didn’t you.”

“Well, they didn’t volunteer the information, Ember.”

She should shut up. She didn’t want to know. Did she?

“But how did they find us?” Her voice cracked. Ember quickly looked out the side window hoping the flat prairie would help her process everything or anything.

“Pure unadulterated luck. The cartel moves drugs via the interstate system. They have personnel, semi-routes, smaller cargo shipments and safe houses set up to move the drugs. The DEA or state and local drug interdiction officers can’t stop them. The infrastructure and communication are intricate. I’m speculating here, but I assume when Morales figured out you had the information, he put a picture of you out to every one of his familial contacts. They in turn sent it out to the network. Anyone eliminating a problem for Morales would become a very important person.”

Em’s rational and not-so-rational side collided. A waterfall of emotions cascaded through her mind. The man next to her had just admitted he killed two men—to protect her. Minutes ticked by. Mile after mile of interstate passed. Her mind worried the information the way her teeth chewed at her fingernails. She took a shuddering breath and looked back at him trying to conceptualize the type of man that would or could kill another.

His black hair seemed darker. No. He had a pallor to his skin tone that wasn’t there earlier. His facial expression showed nothing, but perspiration saturated his shirt collar and beaded his forehead. Red flushed his high cheekbones. A response to physical exertion? True, but it had been at least a half hour since they’d pulled out of the gas station. Joey was a fit male. His heart rate should have stabilized and lowered within minutes of getting into the car. An uneasy concern prompted her forward to get a better look at his pupils. She never made it that far. “Joey?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re bleeding.”

He pulled his coat over his side and nodded. “It is just a scratch, nothing to worry about. We need to put some distance between us and them before we stop again.”

She reached over and peeled the jacket back. She stuck her forefinger through a hole in the luxurious material above the hip pocket on the right side of his coat. “This looks like a bullet-hole. Joey?”

“Yeah, for wannabe’s the fucker’s were well armed. The silencer was probably Russian.”

She grabbed his arm and ordered, “Drive with your left hand.” Pulling the jacket off, she unbuttoned the cuff of his designer shirt. Moving closer, she undid the front buttons and peeled the material away from his ribs. An angry red gash furrowed along his rib and bled freely. Ember lurched over the front seat and grabbed his pack from the back. She pulled a t-shirt out and ripped it in half. Pouring some water from what remained in the bottle, she quickly wiped the area. Rolling the other half of the t-shirt she put it against his wound and placed his hand over the makeshift bandage. “Hold this.”

Launching over the back seat to her satchel, she pulled out her mini skirt. Ripping it from the zipper to the hem, she turned it and laid it over the bandage. “Sit away from the back of the seat.” Joseph complied as she fed the rolled material around his ribs moving his shirt out of the way as she pulled the roll around. Taking both ends, she tied the cloth tightly over his wound.

“Damn woman, how am I supposed to breathe?” He adjusted his position and grimaced. She looked at the knotted shirt again to see if she had tightened it too severely. It took a couple of seconds before she realized what she had missed when she had only focused on the grazing wound from the bullet. When reality hit, she gasped.

He jerked and looked at her at the same time that he pulled the side of his shirt back to cover his body again. “Ember… it isn’t as bad as it looks.”

Holy heavenly father, she had never seen such massive dermis disruption. Pushing the shirt back again, she held it away from his body. How could he function? The excruciating pain those types of injuries produced were normally treated with massive doses of narcotics. Yet, she’d seen him take nothing. She pushed the shirt off his shoulder and down his arm. The atrocity of his wounds lay bare to her eyes. She reached out a hand almost touching the multitude of injuries, scabs and remodeling tissue that covered his chest, shoulder, and ribs. “Oh, God, Joey. Who did this to you? These wounds?”

He grabbed her hand and lifted it to his lips. “Shhh. We can talk about that later. Will you get me a t-shirt out of my pack? I’ll pull over and put it on and we’ll ditch these clothes.”

“Who did this? They tortured you. Didn’t they?”

He slowed down and pulled to the side of the road. Putting the car in park, he cupped her face in his large hands. “Ember, I exist in a dangerous world. The important thing is I’m here with you now and you’re safe.”

He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her softly, almost reverently.

His forehead rested on hers. Short panting breaths brought her eyes back to his face. His color was almost ghostly white as he whispered, “Em, baby, please get me a shirt out of my pack, moving right now is not enjoyable.”

She nodded and leaned over the seat getting a black t-shirt. He unbuttoned the other sleeve and pulled the jacket off. His shoulder holster came off next followed by the white dress shirt. Em helped him take off the shirt and saw the devastating injuries that marred his back. The damage to his flesh had barely healed in some places. In others, infection and untreated wounds wept. She helped him pull on a t-shirt and his shoulder holster.

Joseph nodded to the back. “There are some jeans, hiking boots, and a black button down. Pull them out for me will you?”

She retrieved the clothes, helped him take off his shoes and pull down his slacks.

“Damn it, can you loosen the bandage? I can’t breathe.” His small huffs for air paid stark testimony to his complaint.

Em assessed him and reacted immediately. She lifted his eyelids. The extreme dilation of his pupils told her he needed help and stat. He closed his eyes and dropped his head back on the headrest. She took his pulse and mentally logged the other symptoms he presented. “Joey, what are you taking for the pain?”

He shook his head keeping his eyes closed. “Nothing now. At first, I was given some locally milled heroine. That kept the pain from driving me crazy until I got to civilization. I’ve been eating oxycodone since then. But, I quit taking them.”

He struggled with his jeans and she semi-straddled him helping him snap and zip the Levis. “Cold turkey, Joey? When did you stop?”

“Yesterday, when I got back to the States. I was going to detox in the hotel room. I didn’t have time to get anymore after you called.”

“Joey, move over into the passenger seat. I’m driving, you need to rest.”

He shook his head, “No.”

“Damn it to hell, Joey. You’ve been shot. You’re going through withdrawal and if we get pulled over we have stolen plates. Let’s not forget to mention you have a concealed weapon...or should I say cannon? What the hell is that thing?” Ember’s eyes flashed as she moved him towards the passenger seat.

As he started to answer, she threw up her hand to silence him. “No! Never mind, I don’t want to know. Just slide over and let me drive.”

He lurched for the passenger door throwing it open just in time to vomit on the side of the highway. Ember let him void his stomach as she rolled up his bloody shirt, jacket and slacks and put them back in his pack. She picked up the black button down shirt and waited for him to sit up. She handed him the water bottle, “Rinse your mouth out.” When he returned the bottle, she helped him put on the shirt, covering the shoulder holster.

After adjusting the seat and mirrors, she pulled out onto the interstate. With a flick of her finger, she put the car on cruise control at the posted speed. She grabbed his hand. A firm pull tugged his head to her thigh.

Stroking his sweat-dampened hair from his face, she automatically detected the fever that consumed him. “Shit, Joey, the adrenalin from this morning’s activities acted like a catalyst to accelerate the purge of opioids from your system. There is no controlled burn with this detoxification. Your system is on automatic. You’re crashing hard and you’re not going to have a soft landing, honey.”

He grimaced. “There’s no such thing as soft landing in life. And why the hell do you need to sound like a medical encyclopedia?”

“I’m sorry. I do that when I’m nervous. A former colleague pointed out it’s my comfort zone. I retreat there when I’m scared…and damn it, Joey, I’m scared now!”

He writhed in pain. Taking shallow panting breaths, he spoke slowly, “I know, baby. Listen Em, just keep an eye on the rearview mirror. If someone is always staying the same distance from us, that’s a problem. Even cruise control varies the speed. If they’re not losing or gaining on you, they’re stalking you. We’ll be okay.”

“Alright, Joey. I’m going to have to trust you on that. I'll wake you up if there is a problem or we get to Rapid City.” She looked down to see if he had heard her and shook her head. He labored to breathe. He was either unconscious or asleep. He groaned and shifted. She sighed. 
God, please help me. I'm so scared for him and for me.

Ember knew the physiology of the physical pain he was going through. Her mind whirled with the clinical terminology and her brain automatically began alphabetizing the terms. A defense mechanism. Dr. Sebastian was right. It allowed her to distance herself from the emotional pain of her patients. Only it wasn’t working this time. She glanced down at Joey. At this point in withdrawal, his body would be aching. Within twenty-four hours, his joints would feel as if the muscle was being pulled from the bone. Because of his fever, violent shivers would rack his body, creating more muscle distress.