Page 71 of Timeless

“I’m sorry, Jax. I really am.” And then her finger was back on the trigger. “You’ll be a great father to our son. He loves you and will need you.”

“Drop the fucking gun, Amber,” I yelled at her. “Drop the fucking gun!”

She wasn’t listening. She was just smiling at me. I knew any second she was going to do it. She was going to leave me.

“I’ll fucking protect Jack, you hear me? I’ll protect you and him. No one will hurt you; you don’t have to do this!” I took a step closer to her. “No one will hurt our son. I promise you that.”

“They have him, Jax. You can’t get him back if I’m still breathing.”

Then a set of car lights lit us up. A black sedan came to an abrupt stop next to us. The driver door swung open and out stepped Tae. His eyes were on Amber.

“I’ve got Jack, Amber. You hear me? I’ve got him. He is safe. He is fine. I know they told you they had him. They don’t.” Tae’s voice was echoing what we were all feeling, seeing Amber with a gun to her forehead.

Amber didn’t lower the gun.

“He is in the car, Amber. You hear me? He is in the fucking car. Don’t do this to him.”

“He is on a list because of me Tae. Only one way he gets off.” Amber wasn’t backing down.

“If you think for one fucking second that I would let anyone hurt him, or you, you are wrong. You know that. I’d fucking die for you, Amber Shields, and for your son. And if I do die and fail, Jack’s father, the man you love, will make sure nothing happens to you. So, put the gun down.”

“I can’t take the risk of Jack getting hurt.” She was talking, so we still had a chance to convince her there was another way out.

“Tae and I’ll make sure that won’t happen,” I said firmly and glanced at him. “Right? Between the both of us, there is no way Jack will get hurt.”

“Exactly.” Tae glanced at me and nodded and looked back at Amber. “I saved you last time and I’m going to save you now. I won’t let you take your own life.”

Last time? Had Amber had a gun pointed to her head before? I looked between them, their eyes locked.

“Just like last time, Amber. You can’t do it to Jack. You can’t do it to me. You can’t do it your brothers. And you can’t do it to Jackson. We will face the threat. We will get Jack off the list. Don’t doubt your own skill.” Tae took another step toward her. “We can kill them before they even get to you or Jack.”

“It’s your fucking fault we are here to begin with! You are the one who told her to go and get executed!” Cole was no longer turning his back on the situation and letting it play out. He was still crying angry tears; he was in pain. “If you hadn’t told her, everything would have been fucking fine!”

They could fight all they wanted but that wasn’t going to get Amber to drop the gun.

I took a step toward Amber and immediately her eyes snapped off Tae and on to me.

“You need to have faith in me, Amber.” I spoke calmly but my emotions were all over the place. Fuck, I don’t know what was holding back the tears but I was thankful because right now wasn’t the time to get upset. “You need to trust me.”

“I am trusting you by giving you our son.” She still had a firm grip on the gun.

“Trust me to get him off the list. You know I’m capable of it. I will keep you breathing and I will keep Jack breathing.” I moved closer to her, and she didn’t back away. She was on the edge, one more step back and she would be in the ocean.

“You and I can do fucking anything, you know that. We can face this together.” I put a hand out toward her. “Just lower the gun.”

We could do anything together. She was so fucking strong. Look how strong and brave she was being right now, facing death all to protect our son.

“You said Jack is like me?” I said, trying to keep her talking. I knew all she had to do was pull the trigger and my chance would be over.

She nodded.

“Then you know. His life depends on you, as much as mine.” She had to know that. If Jack was anything like me, he would worship his mother, just like I do.

“He is right, Amber. Remember when Jack had to stay with me when you went out of town with Will? He wouldn’t sleep. He wouldn’t stop crying. He just wanted you.” Tae’s eyes were fixed on her. “I ended up driving the two hours, in the middle of the night, so he could see you. He didn’t let go of you for the rest of the night or the next day.”

Amber’s eyes clenched shut. “If he is in the car, get him out.” She opened her eyes, looking at Tae, as if she knew something. “Get him out of the car, Tae. And I’ll drop the gun.”

She was calling him out. He better not have been fucking lying.

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