Chapter Forty-Seven
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Francine, Wisconsin
“ X avier, would you like more potatoes and gravy?” Mallory asked.
“Yes, ma’am, thank you.”
Jazz couldn’t help but smile at the meal Xavier had consumed. That was his third serving of potatoes and gravy. The first two had disappeared off his plate before she’d finished half of hers. Mallory Allen was a wonderful cook, and Jazz loved watching her man enjoy his food.
Her man. Xavier was hers. He had asked her to marry him. He was going to be her husband. She was going to be his wife. Jazz could barely comprehend the magnitude of what had occurred in the last twenty-four hours. First, she had thought it would be at least a week or two more before she would see Xavier again. When he’d shown up at the door, she’d been astounded. But then for him to propose to her? She’d gone from being absolutely blown away to…whatever level followed that one.
Gazing down at the beautiful round diamond sparkling on her finger, Jazz could only marvel at what it signified. She, Jazz McAlister, was engaged to Xavier Quinn!
“Jazz, are you not hungry, dear?”
She jerked her head up to see everyone’s eyes on her. “Sorry. Sort of in a daze.”
Mallory laughed softly and sent a warm look to her husband. “I remember when Ed proposed to me. I was in a daze for weeks.”
Grabbing his wife’s hand, Ed brought it to his mouth for a kiss. “Best decision I ever made.”
She winked at her husband and said, “Back at ya, my love.”
Jazz released a happy sigh. Some people did stay in love long after they said their vows. Serena had told her that Ed and Mallory had been married for almost forty-five years, and having observed them over the past couple of weeks, she knew without a doubt they were still in love and totally devoted to each other.
As if reading her thoughts, Xavier squeezed her thigh. It had been almost twenty-four hours since he’d proposed, and with the exception of going to the bathroom and taking a shower, he had not stopped touching her. She’d never noticed what a tactile person he was, and she totally loved it.
They’d spent the day together, and she had shown him all the different delights of country living, including milking cows, feeding chickens, cuddling lambs and goats, and playing fetch with Rosco and Rusty, the Allen family dogs.
In the midst of all that, a lot of Serena’s family had shown up to say hi and offer their congratulations. News traveled fast in Francine.
“Have you two talked about setting a date?” Serena asked softly beside her.
Taking a sip of the champagne Serena’s parents had insisted on opening to celebrate the engagement, her nose twitching at the bubbles, Jazz shook her head. “Not yet.”
She didn’t know Xavier’s view on engagements. As far as she was concerned, tomorrow couldn’t be too soon. She felt like she’d waited a lifetime for this man and wanted to be his wife as soon as possible.
“You know,” Serena continued softly, “my dad is an ordained minister.”
Her eyes darted to Serena’s, and she saw the gleam in her eyes. Wouldn’t that be something? Would that freak Xavier out to suggest having their wedding here, before they went back home?
“I don’t want to scare him off,” she whispered back.
“Scare him off? Girl, that man’s so crazy about you, I think he’d say ‘I do’ here at the table if he could.”
She laughed and sent Xavier a look, trying to read whether she should bring it up. When his cellphone buzzed, she took that as a sign to keep quiet. There would be plenty of time to talk about weddings later on.
Figuring it was an OZ team member calling to congratulate him, Xavier swallowed another mouthful of the best mashed potatoes and gravy he’d ever eaten as he answered his phone. “Quinn.”
“Get Jazz to safety,” a male voice barked. “You’ve got trouble coming your way.”
He didn’t bother to ask the identity of the caller. Even though he’d spoken with Brody McAlister only once, he recognized the man.
Going to his feet, he said, “How many?”
“My intel says at least ten. I’m counting on you to keep her safe, Quinn.”
The line went dead.
“Xavier, what’s wrong?”
Instead of answering Jazz, he looked at Serena. “We’ve got incoming.”
Her eyes wide with alarm, Serena turned to her father. “Code red, Pops.”
His face one of calm resolve, Ed surged to his feet and strode to the kitchen. In seconds, a loud whistle sounded through the house.
Serena turned to Xavier and Jazz. “That alert is set up in all the houses in the area. They’re all equipped with safe rooms. The vulnerable will go there. Those who are trained will be armed and ready.”
“How many are coming, and how much time do we have?” Jazz asked.
“At least ten,” Xavier said. “Don’t know how much time we?—”
The lights went out.
“Hold on,” Ed said. “Generator will kick in.”
Seconds later, the lights returned, revealing Serena’s parents, who both looked determined and angry.
“Mallory, grab your furbabies and get to the room.”
Without missing a beat, Mallory scooped up Rosco and Rusty. Ed pressed a kiss to his wife’s mouth and said, “See you soon, sweetheart.”
She turned and gave everyone a worried look and said, “Be careful.” Then she scooted toward the back of the house with her pets in her arms.
Xavier took Jazz by the shoulder. “Jazz?—”
“No, Xavier. Don’t even say it. These assholes are here because of me. No way am I going to lock myself up.”
He’d known he’d be facing resistance, but he had to say it. “You’re their target.”
“Yes, I am. And now they’re my target.” She raised her chin even higher and added, “I’m staying.”
“Okay, let’s not waste any more time,” Serena said. “Since they took out the power at the main station, we can figure they’re about seven minutes out.”
“You have weapons?” Xavier asked.
“Follow me,” Ed said.
Doing just that, he, Jazz, and Serena went through the family room into a small alcove. Ed removed a photo of his family from the wall, revealing a keypad. He punched in several numbers, and a part of the wall opened, revealing a large enclosure filled with enough weapons to arm a small army.
“Saddle up, boys and girls,” Ed said. “We’ve got some business to take care of.”
Grateful she was dressed in her favorite pair of worn jeans and her sneakers, Jazz took the pistol Serena handed her, checked the magazine, and then slid it into the holster she’d wrapped around her waist. The worry for everyone here pounded into her head. If she had never come here, none of this would have happened. She should have stayed at Xavier’s cabin. Whoever these people were, it was clear they wouldn’t mind killing to get to her. How many people would die because of her selfishness?
“Hey, Jazz,” Serena said gently. “Get that look off your face. This is not on you. Okay?”
She nodded because it would do no good to argue, but if anything happened to anyone, including any of the multitude of pets and animals in this amazing community, she would never forgive herself.
“Everyone geared up and ready?”
Ed and Xavier were both carrying AR-15s. Jazz and Serena each held a SIG Sauer MCX Rattler and had a SIG P365 holstered at their waists. They were ready for battle, but again, Jazz couldn’t help but feel the heavy weight of responsibility. By being here, she had brought trouble to these wonderful people.
“Hey, McAlister,” Xavier said.
She met Xavier’s gaze and knew he understood exactly what she was thinking. “It’s going to be all right,” he said softly. “I promise.”
“You can’t know that. If I hadn’t?—”
“Wherever you go, it’s going to be like this. At least here, we’re prepared to deal with it. Out in the open, there’s no telling what might happen.”
“How can you say that? There are women and children here that aren’t prepared.”
“We don’t have a lot of time, young lady,” Ed said, “so let me say this. The majority of our family is military. We do drills once a month. If there ever was a group of civilians prepared for this, it’s this community.”
Swallowing a lump of emotion, she nodded her thanks to Ed. Her eyes met Xavier’s, and a surge of energy and confidence swept through her. They could do this.
A cellphone buzzed and Ed answered with, “What’s going on?”
They watched as he listened to whoever was on the other end of the call, and then he said, “Let it fly.”
Pocketing the phone, he said, “They sent a drone this way to scope things out. It’ll be here in about a minute. Let’s get in place and turn the lights out.”
That was a good plan. The drone would show nothing but a dark household that looked unprepared for an attack.
The four of them marched out the door together. The instant they were on the porch, the confidence inside her tripled. At least twenty-five men and about a half-dozen women were standing in the front yard, and they, too, were heavily armed.
“Hell, Serena,” Xavier said, “you’ve got some kind of family.”
Her smile brilliant, she nodded and said, “I know.”
“Okay, everybody,” Ed said in a commanding voice. “We know there’re only about ten of them, so we got ’em outnumbered. They’re about to fly a drone over us, so take your places and stay quiet. When they arrive, we’ll give ’em a chance and then see what we see. Take ’em down if you have to. If possible, we’d like a couple left alive so we can have a chat with them.”
“We’re ready, Ed!” one of the men shouted from the back. “Let’s get rid of these suckers so we can get back to our supper.”
There was a group laugh, and then Ed shouted, “Places, everyone!”
Men and women dispersed, hunkering down behind cars, bushes, and giant flowerpots. Xavier grabbed Jazz’s arm and pulled her with him down the steps toward a large flower box. It would keep them hidden, as well as give them an excellent line of sight.
The entire area went dark, and everyone froze in place as they waited. A minute later, the unmistakable buzz of a drone sounded. Jazz held her breath. Even though she knew drones couldn’t detect breathing, she couldn’t help herself. She wanted no movement to be detected. The drone flew over the perimeter only once and took barely two minutes, but it seemed like forever before the sound faded away.
About a minute later, the unmistakable rumble of heavy vehicles heading their way broke the silence.
“Sounds like Hummers,” Xavier said.
Jazz nodded. “Yeah.”
“You okay?”
“I should have stayed in Montana,” she mumbled. “Everyone would have been safer.”
“No matter where you go, until these bastards are dealt with, you’re going to be a target. And Ed’s right. If ever there was a group prepared, it’s this family.” He touched her arm in a light caress. “It’ll be okay.”
She nodded, but the closer the sound of the vehicles came, the less sure Jazz was that it would work out okay. She wasn’t allowed to worry long, because the first vehicle arrived. Stopping several yards from the house, the Hummer’s doors flew open, and four men in tactical gear and helmets jumped to the ground and started running toward the house.
Another Hummer pulled in behind it, and six more soldiers jumped out. Like stealthy robots, they spread out. From their demeanor, it was obvious they had no idea what they might face. They had likely been given an order to collect a young female and take out anyone who got in their way. With everyone hidden and the drone revealing only a darkened household, the soldiers likely believed they were approaching unaware victims.
Nothing could have been further from the truth, which they learned when Ed Allen fired the first shot. Landing about a foot in front of a soldier, it was their only warning.
The soldiers froze in place and exchanged looks with one another. “Send out the girl, and no one gets hurt,” one of them yelled.
“Not going to happen!” a man shouted back.
Jazz wasn’t even sure she knew who that was. Maybe one of Serena’s brothers?
Then, surprising everyone, especially the soldiers, three bright spotlights glared. Suddenly, it looked like all ten soldiers were now starring in a nightmarish play in which they were the prey.
“Drop!” one of the soldiers shouted. As one, they fell flat to the ground and began crawling for cover.
If Jazz weren’t so infuriated that they had come here to kidnap her and hurt the people she loved, she’d almost feel sorry for them. They were outgunned, outsmarted, and didn’t stand a chance.
Xavier had been in many battles in his life. Having fought in some of the most violent hot spots in the world, he knew what war sounded like. This was a battle unlike any he’d ever seen. These people were farmers, businessmen, teachers, doctors, and lawyers. Yes, most of them had a military background, but what they were doing, protecting someone they barely knew, showed exactly who they were. He knew Jazz was terrified that something would happen to one of them, but it had to warm her heart to know that these people cared so much for her that they would put their lives on the line.
As quickly as the spotlights had been flicked on, they shut off, leaving inky darkness in their wake. He knew exactly what those men were seeing. The helmets they were wearing were equipped with night vision, which meant their retinas had gone haywire the instant the lights hit them. And now that they were in total darkness again, their eyes were having to adjust. He’d been there. It was discombobulating and frustrating, but a trained soldier powered through.
Xavier was beginning to think these men, no matter how lethally they were armed, weren’t up to the task they’d been assigned. It almost made him laugh, because he knew they had no idea what they were facing.
Moving slowly, he eased away from Jazz and made his way to the corner of the house. “You’re outmanned and outgunned,” he shouted. “Give up and go home!”
A shot rang out, pinging off the side of the house. Xavier cursed.
“He’s right,” Ed shouted. “You’re surrounded, boys. Might as well give it up.”
Another shot rang out in Ed’s direction.
A window shattered. And then, as if that had been some kind of signal, the soldiers let loose, apparently not caring who or what they hit.
Not another word was uttered by anyone in Serena’s family before their full fury made itself known. If the soldiers had simply laid down their arms and given up, none of this would have been necessary.
“Xavier!” Jazz yelled. “Watch out!” Turning, Xavier spotted the soldier just as he flew over a bush toward him. Barely getting out of the way of the torpedo body slam, Xavier grabbed the guy in a headlock and threw him to the ground.
The guy was having none of it, and in an impressive, acrobatic move, he twisted out of the headlock and landed on his feet. Seeing that the man had lost his weapon at some point, Xavier dropped his own.
The guy went after him again. Xavier blocked the upper cut and whirled, kicking the guy in the gut and his nuts. The guy didn’t drop, but forged ahead. Xavier saw the glint of a knife in his hand. A second before it could slash his face, a gunshot exploded, and the guy went down with a howl akin to the cry of an injured rabid wolf.
He turned to see Jazz standing a few feet away, holding the gun that had shot the bullet that had shattered the guy’s knee.
“Thanks, baby, but I had him.”
“Maybe so,” his beautiful fiancée answered, “but nobody messes with my man.”
Snorting at the cheesy line, he grabbed her and held her tight. “I love you, Jasmine McAlister.”