Page 33 of Two Hearts
“Now what is that supposed to mean?”
“Shh!Listen!”
They both heard it.The sound of the engine, distant, but there.Benny had returned.Jack quickly righted his clothes and made his way to the door, pressing his ear to it to listen.In a few moments he heard voices, but couldn’t make out what they were saying.Still, they were clearly male voices.He didn’t hear Hope at all.
“Benny’s back.I don’t think Hope is with him,” Jack said.
“Then it’s time.”He could hear Grace putting on her clothes, tugging up the zipper.
“Yeah.It’s time.”
A second later she was beside him, running a hand along the surface of the door, probably deciding exactly where to plant her killer foot.
But before she could do much more, they heard the men approaching from outside, and then the snap of the padlock.They both moved back, away from the door as it opened and the slice of light widened.Benny and Paulo stood there, looking from one of them to the other.“What the hell happened to you two?”
Jack looked at Grace, and she looked at him.She had black smears on her cheeks, her neck, in her hair.He glanced down at his hands and saw that they, too, were stained dark.Glancing at the floor now he saw that it was stained black.Old grease, motor oil and God knew what else had been soaking the concrete for years.It got on Jack’s hands, and from there, pretty much all over his wife’s body.He shuddered to think how many smears and streaks he’d painted across her skin.It was almost as if the fates were mocking him for thinking, even for a moment, that he could truly be with a woman such as Grace and not soil her with the filth that had already stained his soul.He was contaminating her.And she would realize that, too, and be repulsed….
Then he heard a soft sound, and dragged his gaze upward to meet hers.And he realized with a shock that she was battling laughter.Looking down at her own hands and forearms, and then at Jack’s, she smiled and choked on a chortle.
“Wait a minute,” Benny began.“Did you two—”
“Is my sister safe?”Grace cut in.“Did you get her to a hospital like you said you would?”
“Yeah.Dropped her at Memorial.Even stayed until she got through the doors.But back to this other thing…” He looked at them, looked at his boss.“I thought she said she was married.”
“She did,” Paulo said grimly.“To a cop.”
“Man, he’s not gonna like this, is he?”
“You freaking moron!”Paulo pointed his gun at Jack.“So, you’re a cop.If you’d said so in the first place, it would have saved us all a lot of trouble.”He shook his head slowly.“One hostage is all I wanted to deal with, anyway.”
“Jeez, Paulo, you’re gonna shoot him?A cop?”Benny asked, sounding nervous as hell.
“What do you think I’m gonna do, let him go?Or keep him here so he can pull something that gets you and me killed?”
“Oh, he’s not gonna pull anything,” Gracie said.“I’m the one you’d better worry about.”
“Oh, yeah?”Benny smiled from ear to ear.“Isn’t that cute, Paulo?She said—”
He stopped speaking when Grace’s foot landed, knocking Paulo’s gun flying across the room, and at the same instant, Jack’s fist slammed into Benny’s smiling face.Benny went down, but Paulo tried to hit back.Jack lunged forward, intending to protect his wife, but he couldn’t get that close without risking his own hide.The woman was moving so damned fast, delivering rapid-fire kicks and a couple of blows with her hands, backing Paulo up across the floor until he was to the wall.He never landed a punch.Then she flipped him, and he hit the floor.
She looked up at Jack.“Will you stop gaping and grab their guns?”Paulo sat up.She kicked him right back down again.
Jack spotted his gun on the floor and grabbed it.He pointed it at Benny.“Come on, toss the weapon out.”
Benny did.Jack glanced back at Paulo, but he wasn’t getting up again.“It’s okay, Grace, let him up.We’ll toss them in the parts room for safekeeping.”Grace lowered her boxer’s stance hands and stepped back.Paulo got up, and she walked behind him, ready to strike.Jack just watched her, shaking his head.Kickboxing champion, Jack thought, smiling.Imagine that.
CHAPTER 11
“Ican’t believe it.I just freaking can’t believe it.”Jack sat on the sofa in his old apartment.One last time, and this time he’d told Grace where he was going.He and some of the guys from the department had gathered here to watch some sports and eat some junk food—sort of a going-away party.His retirement would be official at the end of next week.
Anyway, JW had somehow got his hands on a videotaped college basketball game—and Jack sat there watching his delicate little wife mop up the floor with most of the other players.“Bench warmer” was notquitethe term he would have used.He watched her post up like a pro, watched her drive to the basket to sink a reverse layup without even looking, watched her sink a three at the buzzer to win the game.And he sat there and he shook his head.
“Oh, man, where did you get that?”her voice said.
Jack turned around, startled out of his wits.He’d never wanted Gracie to see this shabby little place.But there she was, big as life, two large white boxes balanced on one hand.“Hi, hon,” she said with a smile.“I brought the pizza.”
“Pepperoni and mushroom?”JW asked.
