The Defender's Duty. Shirlee McCoy
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laughed, the sound ringing through the night, nudging at Jude’s soul, telling him he needed to lighten up a little, stop taking things so seriously.
Unfortunately, that was hard to do with a killer stalking him.
He walked to Lacey’s car, his limping stride only adding to his frustration. Since the accident, his body no longer felt like his own. His legs were foreign and difficult to move. His back was stiff. Every day was filled with challenges, but what bugged Jude the most was that he couldn’t take off after the bad guys, chase the villains, bring them in and see justice served.
“You’re awfully quiet. You’re not feeling sorry for yourself, are you?” Lacey opened the car door and slid into the driver’s seat, clearly not caring that Jude was seething with frustration.
“Isn’t that your job?” He shut her door and got in the passenger’s seat.
“To feel sorry for you? Why would I? You’ve got a nice home, a family that loves you. What’s there to be sorry about?”
“Two bum legs and a lost career.” He muttered the response, but knew she was right. He had plenty to be thankful for and not much to be sorry about. Even less once he figured out who was trying to kill him.
“I’ve met a lot of people who thrived with more hardship than that.” She put on her seat belt, adjusted the mirrors, glanced over her shoulder and fiddled with the dashboard buttons until Jude grabbed the key from her hand and shoved it into the ignition. “There. We’re ready.”
“Right.” She gripped the wheel with both hands and drove backward down the driveway and onto the road. The speedometer crept from five to fifteen miles an hour and hovered there until Jude wanted to wrench the steering wheel out from under Lacey’s hands and stomp down hard on the gas pedal.
“I suppose there’s a reason why you’re driving so slow?”
“Slow? The speed limit is posted. Fifteen miles an hour.”
“Fifteen miles an hour if you’re not trying to catch a potential murderer.” Although at this point, it was unlikely they’d come within twenty miles of the guy who’d been behind the wheel of the car they were trying to follow.
“Murderer? You actually think the guy was here to…” Apparently she couldn’t get the words out, but Jude had no problem with them.
“Kill me.”
“What?” She braked hard, pulled to the side of the road and turned to face Jude. “Grayson said you were troubled, but he didn’t say you were paranoid.”
“I’m not.” He knew that wouldn’t be enough information to get Lacey driving again, but wasting time chit-chatting wasn’t high on his list of things to do when a criminal was escaping.
“You know you can’t tell me someone is trying to kill you and expect me to act as though this is just an ordinary early-morning outing, right?”
“You knew it wasn’t an ordinary outing when you offered to drive, and what I expect you to do is drive.”
To Jude’s surprise, she accelerated, pulling onto the road and heading in the direction the sedan had gone. The street was dark, the houses that lined it silent and sleeping. There were plenty of cars parked in driveways and on the side of the road, and Jude scanned each as Lacey drove past. He didn’t expect to find his quarry, but he hoped. That would have to be enough for now.
“If we see the car, we’re going to call the police, right? Let them deal with it.” Lacey’s question filled the silence, reminding Jude that he wasn’t alone in his quest. There was someone else to think about; someone who could easily be hurt.
“If we see the car, you’ll call the police and wait in here until they arrive.” No way would Jude allow Lacey anywhere near the vehicle.
“What about you?”
“I’ll do what I have to do to make sure the person doesn’t drive away before the police arrive.” He scanned the street as he spoke, his hope of finding the car dying a little more with each passing minute. He wanted to find it, prayed he’d find it, but he doubted either would do any good. After all, he’d wanted to walk out of the hospital on two strong, pain-free legs. Instead, he’d been rolled out in a wheelchair. As for praying, Jude had walked too far away from his faith to expect God to answer.
It had only been recently that he’d realized how true that was. Being forced to slow down had given him time to take a long, hard look at his life. He wasn’t sure he liked what he saw. He’d spent eleven years working hard, playing hard, pursuing his passions with the same single-minded zeal with which he’d pursued criminals.
He wanted to believe there was nothing wrong with that, but a quiet voice in his soul kept whispering that he’d taken the wrong path. That his need for independence had cost him the things he’d valued most—faith and family.
He didn’t have time to dwell on it.
Someone wanted him dead. If Jude didn’t find out who that was, he wouldn’t have to worry about the things he’d given up to gain freedom and independence. He wouldn’t have to worry about anything at all.
“We’re probably not going to find the car.” Lacey echoed Jude’s doubts, but that didn’t mean he planned to give up.
“That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep looking.”
“We could keep looking. Or we could go back to the house.”
“And do what? Hope the guy comes back?”
“Actually, I was hoping we could raid your fridge and find something for breakfast.”
Lacey’s answer made Jude smile. “Is food the only thing you think about?”
“Not usually, but I haven’t had anything to eat in twelve hours.”
“You had pretzels.”
“They don’t count. Or that’s what I’ll be telling myself when I’m gorging on pancakes, sausage, grits and home fries.”
“Sorry to say, I don’t have any of those things in my fridge. Not that I think you could actually eat all that.”
“Point me to a restaurant that’s open all night and I’ll be happy to prove you wrong.” She sounded serious, and Jude was sure he heard her stomach growl.
“There’s an all-night diner a couple of miles down this road. We can stop there.”
“Does that mean we’re done looking for the guy in the black sedan?” She sounded so hopeful, Jude almost felt bad about telling her the truth.
“We’ll keep looking until we get there. If we don’t find him by then, we probably won’t.”
“Too bad.”
It was, because there was no way the driver of the sedan was going to drive away for good. He’d be back, and when he returned there was no guarantee Jude would see him coming. The way Jude saw it, most people never experienced a miracle in their lives. He’d already experienced one in surviving the driver’s first attack. There was no way he could count on another.
All he could do was wait and hope that when the time came, he’d be ready to fight.
FOUR
Lacey didn’t believe in spending a lot of time worrying. It wasted valuable energy that was better spent enjoying other things. Unfortunately, worry was exactly what she was feeling.
Someone wanted Jude dead.
That was what he’d said, and despite initial doubts, Lacey believed him.
She’d worked with enough paranoid clients to know one when she saw one. She didn’t see one when she looked at Jude. She saw instead a man on a mission. One who knew exactly what he was doing and why.
She