He went still.
Drew didn’t have handcuffs. No rope. No zip ties. Nothing to use to secure Jabal.
“Secure him with your belt,” he told Teagan when all he wanted to do was sweep her into his arms and prove that she was okay.
She released Jabal’s hands but remained with her knee in his back as she slid off her belt and tightened a loop on his right wrist then fashioned a knot on the other side. She jerked it tight.
Jabal moaned.
“It’s the least you should suffer for what you’ve done.” She stood and glared at the man.
“That should hold until the deputy arrives,” Drew said, keeping his gun trained on Jabal, but glancing at Teagan. “Are you hurt?”
“A few bumps and bruises, but that’s all.” She held his gaze for a long moment, her eyes carrying the heavy weight of what could’ve happened. “He had Vito, but he got away.”
“I know. I picked him up on the road.”
“Is he all right?” With trembling hands, she got out her phone and tapped the screen.
“Shaken up and afraid, but fine. Thanks to you.”
She lifted the phone to her ear. “Deputy Steele here. What’s the ETA on the unit I requested?”
She tilted her head, and in a sliver of light from the moon, he saw her hands shaking. “Tell him we’re in the woods to the east of the house, and we need a prisoner escort.”
She disconnected. “Nearly here. So I assume Vito told you what happened and about this madman’s stupid game. He played it to find the adrenaline rush he lost when an injury forced him to retire.”
“I’m not a madman,” Jabal protested loudly. “Just a sportsman who needed the adrenaline high again.”
“You could’ve gotten your rush in so many legal ways,” Drew said between teeth. “And hunting another person? Sadistic and depraved.”
Jabal muttered something under his breath.
“What’d you say?”
“They needed to die,” he snapped. “To avenge my team’s losses.”
“Sicker than I thought.” Drew shook his head and couldn’t wait to see the cuffs slapped on this man and him being hauled away in the back of a patrol car.
Then Drew would take Vito in too and threaten all kinds of charges to get him to roll over on his brothers. All Drew thought he’d have to do was play his recording with Rossi threatening to end Vito’s life and the guy would be singing.
Teagan cleaned up in the Clackamas County jail’s bathroom down the hall from the interview room where she and Drew would interrogate Vito. Thankfully, the earthquake hadn’t been severe enough to cause any major damage. She’d checked in with her family to ensure they were all okay while Drew drove them to the city on the alternate route. They’d arrived safely at the jail, only experiencing a minor aftershock.
She forced herself to look in the mirror. Red welts covered her cheeks and forehead, and shades of purple ringed her right eye from where Jabal’s elbow had jabbed hard in their struggle.
She’d managed to subdue him. Just barely. She wouldn’t have been able to hold him for arrest if Drew hadn’t arrived.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Her body had flooded with relief when Drew raced to her and stood strong and tall nearby. She’d wanted to let Jabal go and throw herself in Drew’s arms. She might be a deputy and trained for life-threatening situations, but that didn’t mean such an encounter didn’t send terror to her heart. Seeing Drew had released a flood of pent-up adrenaline, and her muscles had threatened to melt. Couple that with the realization that she’d nearly lost her life, and she wanted the man she’d come to care for to hold her tight.
But she settled for professionalism. Not for herself. Not even for Drew. But for the creep Jabal. She didn’t want him to see how much his attack had hurt her. Didn’t want him to know he had scared her. Had troubled her one iota.
So she’d settled for being stoic and took the time as they waited for the deputy to get Vito to think about what she might say to Drew. When she thought she might die, her life’s choices had flashed before her eyes. Mainly the bad choices. And the real reason she avoided relationships became clear. She’d been rejected too many times by men who couldn’t deal with a strong woman, and she didn’t want to feel the pain again.
Talk about cathartic and tear-inducing. But she’d held it together until the deputy drove off with Jabal in the back of his unit. She still wanted to collapse into Drew’s arms, her infamous strength gone. But then, there was Vito Conti, watching from the vehicle Drew commandeered. She wouldn’t let him see she wasn’t the consummate professional either.
That left falling apart until now. In the stark, sterile bathroom that held so many unpleasant odors she didn’t want to remain in the room any longer than she had to.
