PANIC

Chapter Forty - RONIN

On day three, rule one and I are no longer on friendly terms. Maybe because orange is not my color or maybe because this shit is like wearing burlap, or maybe because it smells like it was washed in armpits.

I’m not quite sure, all I know is that I’m done embracing the orange jumpsuit.

On day four condition number one is out in full force. Only now I’m talking to Ford in my head, practically begging him to find Rook and figure this shit out.

On day five I break down and call Antoine collect to ask about her. He denies the charges like he’s supposed to and saves my ass.

One day six I stop eating. All I do is think about her. Where is she? Did they find her? Is she safe? Hurt? Fuck, fuck, fuck!

On day seven I’m getting ready to admit to everything because I’m not very good at obeying rule three right now.

But my lawyer stood me up today, so luckily, my temporary insanity cures itself and I come back to my senses.

And this is just about the time I admit I suck at this jail shit. One week without Rook and I’m insane. I know now for sure—not that I ever doubted it, but now I have proof—I am addicted to Rook and this is my withdrawal.

It fucking hurts.

I let out a long sigh just as my door buzzes signaling someone’s on the other side and wants me to come out.

“Finally, fucking lawyer shows up.”

But when the door opens it’s not my lawyer. It’s a big black dude in a suit. “Flynn, come with me,” he says, waving me out of the cell.

Gladly, I think to myself. But now that I’m working I’m all business, so that shit stays tucked. We walk past the door to the visitors’ hallway. We walk past the door to the rec area, which I hardly ever see since I’m in solitary. Another door buzzes and then we enter a large room filled with more guards. “What’s this, beat-the-shit-out-of-Flynn night?”

“It’s ten AM, Flynn.”

“Oh, well, no windows in the cell, how am I supposed to know?”

“You’re not, now just shut up and watch the fucking TV. Hit play, Lenny.”

And just as Lenny hits play I glance up at the screen and see Rook standing at a podium with a shit-ton of microphones in front of her. “What the—”

“Just watch,” black suit guy says.

She looks a little nervous as she begins, swiping at a stray piece of hair that whips across her face in the Denver wind. The crawl at the bottom of the screen says Denver County Courthouse. I listen as she tells her story. Mostly calm, mostly strong, but a few moments of hesitation and eye-wiping to thwart off the tears. She describes what she’s been doing for the past week. The trip to Chicago, Jon, the secret stash, the fire, the rescue.

She tells of corruption in the FBI, calls that bitch Abelli out by name as being one of them, then rattles off a list of people that has the crowd gasping, time… after time… after time. She ends with a name everyone who lived on the Front Range three years ago recognizes.

Davis Cooperson Smyth. The guy we killed in that last job.

Only that’s not how Rook tells it.

Because this guy’s name is on record as being part of the major human trafficking ring Rook just blew up with her statement. And Jon, the guy who tried to “kill” us last summer, was part of this whole thing from the beginning. She uses the word assassin as she holds up thumb drives and an iPhone that contains a video of Abelli—the network shows this video in-screen as Rook talks—beating the shit out of Jon and then ordering him shot and the house set on fire.

Rook’s house in the Chicago burbs. While she was inside. Trying to save people and put the bad guys behind bars.

She even flashes a bit of leg to show what’s left of her burns and the cameras can’t zoom in on her skin fast enough.

Yeah, she’s gorgeous, you assholes, and she’s mine, so back the fuck off.

And then Rook goes in for the kill shot.

“The FBI set up Ronin Flynn and his friends as the murderers of the wealthy Boulder businessman, Davis Cooperson Smyth, because they found out he was part of this disgusting crime ring and the other men involved wanted to neutralize the threat. Ronin Flynn, Spencer Shrike, and Ford Aston tried to stop the buying and selling of women and girls years ago, and they almost went to prison for their troubles. They’ve been badgered repeatedly by these criminals and the general public, constantly threatened and shunned in the community. And this past summer these bad men sent my abusive ex-husband to assassinate us. But he failed and I shot him in self-defense.”

Ho. Leee. Shit.

Rook just flipped that whole case on its head.

I laugh and when I look around every one of these guys laughs with me. The suit pokes me with his elbow. “She’s good, man. We know she’s full of shit, you know she’s full of shit, but hey, she’s still damn good. And I guess no one cares that one less sadist who was buying and selling humans in the hills above Boulder is dead. Your lawyer’s here too, by the way. This presser was outside the courthouse because the charges were just dropped and you’re gonna walk out of here just as soon as we process the paperwork.”

The guards let me hang out in their break room for the duration of my stay. They even give me back my clothes and feed me donuts and coffee.

And I can’t stop fucking smiling.

My little Gidget just saved my ass.

Shit, who am I kidding. My little Gidget just saved a whole bunch of people’s asses. Women and girls who were kidnapped and those who might’ve been in the future. She blew open a crime ring that spanned more than a hundred and fifty people.

Even after Rook leaves the podium we all sit and watch as the different news personalities discuss what just happened and run down the timeline.

At seven AM Eastern this morning the State Department was tipped off that a private jet traced to a Columbian drug cartel had landed at the Fort Collins airport with a known representative on board. At the same time, bank records from an account attached to Agent Abelli were also mysteriously forwarded to the same authorities, documenting a transaction the night before out of the Cayman Islands.

A half a million dollars was transferred from the drug lord to Abelli and that little money move has Ford written all over it. He set that sale up with the cartel guy and Abelli probably had no clue it was even going down.

The screen switches to the video Rook talked about in her statement. The one where Abelli tells Jon he plans on selling Rook to a Columbian drug lord for half a million dollars.

All three of the women sitting on the news panel on screen do a collective “mmm-hmm,” complete with neck roll, because Abelli is guilty as sin in their eyes.

Enter the court of public opinion.

Albelli has been tried and sentenced. And we’re only an hour into the bust.

On top of that, the network states that sources inside the State Department confirm that Abelli’s Cayman account can also be directly tied back to the money stolen from “that dirty bastard”—the woman anchor talking actually calls him this on camera—Davis Cooperson Smyth when he was killed three years ago.

Enter nice tidy noose hanging Agent Abelli by his own FBI-issued tie.

I can barely hold down a snicker because this little move proves that Spencer really is a genius. According to Rook, Abelli killed Cooperson Smyth for reasons unknown, but presumably related to this whole crime ring, looted his bank accounts, and stuffed it into a Cayman Island bank. Then used that account to accept money from a Columbian drug cartel so he could sell Rook Corvus into a life of sexual slavery.

One by one, people are arrested on live TV. The state senator in Illinois, the two US House members right out of their DC offices, several high-ranking FBI members including Abelli here in Denver, and on and on. Even the Columbian drug rep is held.

After the specifics are dissected the news people talk book deals and then the personal stuff comes out. A Japanese erotica cover flashes on the screen and they discuss Rook’s recent stint as a body-painting model on a post-production reality TV show.

I think Spencer Shrike is negotiating a new contract with the Biker Channel right fucking now.

They leave the Japanese book cover up on screen as they talk and this makes me smile. Because it’s the sweet one in the pink dress where she looks like Gidget, not the one with my hand between her legs where I look like the devil.

The whole country goes wild over Rook.

The mayors of Denver and Fort Collins almost come to blows trying to claim her when they do an impromptu news conference.

And every major news channel has a van outside the jail waiting to get a peek at us when they set me free. The tragic girl who swoops in against all odds to save a local golden boy from being the fall guy for an international crime ring.

When they say that shit, I really do laugh.

It takes DPD almost all day to process me out and at the end of it all black suit guy, whose name is actually Detective Carl Murphy, is riding down the elevator to the garage with me. I’m so ready to see my Rook I’m actually nervous.

She’s waiting where they keep the cop cars in order to foil the reporters. The elevator doors open and I hold my breath until she comes into view. She’s stopped mid-stride, like she was pacing. And then she is nothing but blurry motion as she runs toward me and flings herself at my chest. I catch her and pull her tight, cupping her ass and copping a feel at the same time.

Life beyond Rook’s face ceases to exist.

I kiss her. Not hard and desperate, no. I kiss her softly. I kiss her like the precious thing she is. I kiss her gently. And passionately. And carefully.

And when our tongues are tired of the kiss and we need to come up for air, I dip my mouth into her neck and whisper, “What did you do?”

She leans back in my arms, but her legs are still wrapped around my middle and my hands are still cupped under her ass. “Fiona, it’s me, Shrek. I rescued you from your tower to prove I’ll fight for us. I’ll fight for us every single time. You’ll never even have to wonder if I’ll be there, because I’ll show the fuck up before that thought can even cross your mind. I want you, Ronin, and I’ll risk everything for you. I will never walk out on you.”

I squeeze her. I just want to make her part of me, pull her so close that we merge together and become one soul. “I love the fuck out of you, ya know.”

She smiles and then gets a little more serious. “I hope you still have it,” she says.

“Have what, babe?”

“My heart. Because it’s the only one I got and I don’t want to lose it.”

I pat my chest. “I put it right here, Gidget, right next to mine. I’m gonna hold on to it for you. Keep it safe forever.”

Antoine throws us a huge party. Everyone shows up.

And relief washes over me for the first time in a long time. Relief that says things are gonna be OK now.

Rook didn’t drink even one beer tonight. Not even one. I noticed this early so I stopped drinking too. She’s perceptive, but so am I. It’s part of my training. Usually I watch so I can imitate later, bring those feelings and emotions out in modeling or lying to the fucking cops during an interrogation. But with Rook I watch because I want to learn more. I want to find her secrets and uncover her soul.

What she said at the press conference revealed a lot about her, but I know there’s more. And if she’s getting ready to tell me tonight, the last thing I want to be is drunk when she finally gets enough courage to say it.

I’m already in bed, waiting for her to come out of the bathroom. The water shuts off as she finishes brushing her teeth, then the door handle jiggles and she appears wearing some lacy pink boy shorts and a white tank top.

Just Rook.

But she’s got something in her hand when she gets in bed and I know this is it.

“I have something to show you, Ronin.”

I look at the paper clenched in her fist and then up at her eyes. Tears are already flowing down her face. “What is it, babe?”

She wipes them away and then thrusts the crumpled paper towards me. I take it and realize it’s a picture.

My world stops.

When she’d told me she’d lost a baby, I’d figured it was early in the pregnancy. But in this picture she is very pregnant. And she looks young in that peach dress. Her expression says she’s happy, her hair is pulled back, and her bare feet and ankles are so swollen I almost start to worry about pregnant Rook. When I look up she’s got her hands over her mouth, trying to stifle the sobs. I hug her close and we sink down into the covers a little more. “What happened?” I ask in a soft voice.

She opens her mouth to speak, then stops and shrugs her shoulders. “It was an accident.” She nods her head and says it again. “A terrible accident and I lost the baby. I do want kids, Ronin, but this”—she taps the picture with her finger—“this feels like it happened today, that’s how bad it still hurts. I almost had him, Ronin. My son was two weeks away from being born.” And then she breaks and rivers pour down her cheeks. “I’m sorry I’m so emotional and indecisive, but I’m just not over it yet.” Her eyes peer up to me, her dark lashes heavy with tears. “That baby…” She stops and chokes on a sob and my chest is suddenly filled with sadness. An aching that pours into me and makes me hold her tighter. “I was gonna name him Jake.” She looks away and takes a deep breath. “And his crib was white.”

“Rook, I’m so sorry, babe.” I feel like total shit dragging her to that baby store.

“It’s not your fault, Ronin. I tried to forget about it, to pretend it never happened.” She looks up at me again. “But it did happen. And I can’t be over it yet because I never took the time to just… experience it. But I’m gonna do that now. I’m gonna make an appointment with a counselor. And one day…” She stops to sniff and wipe her face, taking her time until every last tear is dry and her breathing is slow and calm. She turns those bright blue eyes up at me and nods. “One day, I’ll be ready.”

At that same moment I give her what she needs, I tell her what she wants to hear and what I need her to understand. “I’ll be here waiting. I will wait forever. If that’s what it takes. I’ll wait for you until the end of time.”

She takes the picture and places it gently on her bedside table and then snuggles down into my chest. “You saved me, Ronin.”

“And you saved me, Rook.”

“So I guess we’re even.”

“I guess we are.”

“And I’m still Shrek because I’m the one who thought of it.”

I laugh and kiss her on the head.

My world will never be the same. This girl blew in like the spring wind and whipped me around like a hurricane. She took over my life, she got Spencer to commit to her, and she made Ford feel things. Antoine and Elise love her so much they want us to be godparents and she got an entire city to cheer for her and set me free.

She is a force.

And she’s not done yet, I can feel it.

Hurricane Rook is just picking up speed.