The wind started to pick up and the whump, whump, whump of the helicopter was louder as they approached, and I could see Jimmy realized he was out of time. His eyes widened, and he had the look of a man who had nothing to lose. That’s when real panic set in. He lifted the gun, his finger already on the trigger, and before I could shoot a sliver of something shiny and silver whizzed past me.
Men in black dropped from the helicopters and fast-roped down, and everyone’s attention was on them.
“I had an erotic dream that started like this once,” Scarlet said.
Jimmy’s gun clattered to the ground, and he held his wrist, staring at the knife sticking through his hand. One of the men in black finished the job, chopping Jimmy on the side of the neck and taking him to his knees. Another one trussed up Bruce and handcuffed him before calling in a medic.
I looked at Angelica in shock. “Where in the world did you pull that knife from?” I asked, impressed.
“Trade secret,” she said, her smile catlike.
“Everyone drop your weapons,” one of the men in black said.
I saw Scarlet hesitate.
“Scarlet,” I hissed. “You stick that gun back in your bag this instant or I swear I’ll toss your brass knuckles and everything else I can find into the Savannah River.”
Scarlet shot me the bird and gave me a dirty look, but she put the gun back in her purse. And then I heard police sirens, and Nick was running toward me amid all the chaos. I didn’t know whether to cry, faint, or throw up.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
I nodded and said, “I’m going to throw up,” and then I ran to Jimmy’s open trunk and decorated the inside. And then I burst into tears because I was almost positive our baby was punishing me.
“Good Lord,” Scarlet said. “Someone get a fire hose. Just put her out of her misery. I’ve never seen such a thing.”
But then Nick was holding me in his arms and that was all that mattered as I held on tight.
“You scared the daylights out of me,” Nick said. “You’ve got to stop doing that.”
“I swear I don’t mean to,” I said, hiccupping. “It just happens.”
I noticed one of the men in black walking toward us, and I shrunk into Nick automatically. This man was dangerous, and I wanted no part of it. If Idris Elba had a more handsome younger brother with eyes the color of amber and skin like dark chocolate, than this would be the guy.
“Hellooooo, nurse,” Scarlet said, sizing him up. “And what might your name be?”
If he was taken aback by her Don King hair and mud-soaked clothes, he didn’t show it. “I’m Agent Hunter,” he said. His voice was low and rumbly, and I pegged him for a local by the accent.
“Why yes, you are,” Scarlet said.
The corner of his mouth twitched in his granite face. “Agent Savage sent me. I’m replacing him at the Savannah field office.”
And then he turned to me and Nick, and I tightened my arms around Nick’s neck.
“Whatever Savage told you about me,” I said, “it’s probably not true.” And then I thought about it. “Maybe some of it is true. But it’s not my fault.”
His face cracked into a smile. “You must be Addison Holmes. Agent Savage has only told me the good stuff. And about how he got shot at your wedding. And something about falling out of a tree. And a window.”
I pressed my lips together. “Well then, it sounds like you’re all caught up.”
He smiled again, and I swore I heard every woman in the vicinity sigh. Even Angelica looked like she was thinking of giving up the criminal life to walk on the good side.
Hunter stuck his hand out to Nick, and Nick grasped it in a firm shake.
“Nick Dempsey,” Nick said.
“I recognize you,” Hunter said. “Savage says you’re a good cop.”
“We’re going to miss him,” Nick said, and I looked at him in surprise. I was never quite sure what Nick’s feelings about Savage were.
“I’m having the guys take all these boxes back to headquarters, and we’ll start going through them,” Hunter said. “I’ll keep you updated as we go. We want full transparency on this if there are cops from any agency in those files. We’re going to take down every one of them. It’s a long time coming.”
“Thanks,” Nick said. “And good luck.”
Hunter nodded and was heading back toward his team when Scarlet stopped him.
“You know,” she said. “I’m twenty years older than I look.” She fluttered her eyelashes and chunks of mud flaked from her eyelids.
“Oh, shut up, Scarlet,” my mother said. “You haven’t looked a day under ninety for the last thirty years. Let the poor man do his job. Help me get Vince back to the house. You can stay there with me tonight and let Addison get some rest.”
“Thank God,” I whispered against Nick’s neck.
“Fifty bucks says they’ll strangle each other before morning,” Nick said.
“That’s a sucker’s bet,” I said, smiling into his shirt.
“You ready to go home?” he asked. “Wherever that may be?”
“I don’t care where we go as long as I can shower and brush my teeth,” I said. “I’m stick-a-fork-in-me done for the rest of the weekend.”
“I can make that happen,” he said. “You know I love you, right?”
“Right,” I said, staring deep into his eyes and think how lucky I was to call this man all mine.
“Then do you mind riding in the back of a squad car on the way to town?” he asked. “You smell really bad and I really like my truck.”
My romantic bubble popped in an instant and I said, “You put your pregnant wife in the back of a squad car, I’ll make sure to unknot your penis around the time this kid graduates so you can use it again.”
He sighed. “Yeah, that’s what I figured.”
Epilogue
Saturday
Two weeks later…
There was nothing quite like
