Chapter Thirteen

Three days later

The thing that they don't show in cop dramas was how boring it was to be in a safe house, Ava thought. She couldn't communicate with the outside world and the MX who stood guard outside the house wasn't a great conversationalist. Detective Leung was courteous but he wasn't that talkative either. 'I hope this case wraps up soon,' she thought. Suddenly she heard two gunshots in rapid succession. Detective Leung stood from where he sat beside her on the couch.

"Stay away from the windows and front door. I'll check it out," instructed Detective Leung as he drew his gun. Ava nodded. A moment later the front door clicked open as the biolock was disabled. An attractive man with black hair fired a shot at Detective Leung a moment before he fired his own gun. Ava expected the man to fall to the ground but instead he merely stumbled back at the impact of the bullet. He must be wearing a bullet proof vest, Ava realized. The man rapidly closed the door and then stepped over the body of Detective Leung. Once he saw Ava on the couch, he smiled. It was not a pleasant or welcoming smile but rather something that reminded Ava of a predator.

"Hello, Ava," said the man as he walked closer to Ava. She quickly recognized him as the man who had stollen her purse, Daniel Sala.

"Did you kill Seamus?" she wanted to know. He pointed his gun towards her.

"I made sure he didn't suffer. The sedative I slipped into his drink at the bar combined with the alcohol he'd already drunk meant Seamus barely felt a thing when I shot him. The lack of surveillance cameras in the area and the face maker I was wearing made it easy to avoid the police," he remarked.

"But why? What did Seamus ever do to you?" she demanded.

"Nothing. But he used to mean a great deal to you. We wanted you to understand by killing Seamus that you can't run and you can't hide from us. We know everything about you. You're Kennex's girlfriend now, and so you're a person of interest to us. Speaking of your boyfriend, let's call him shall we?" Sala said. He kept his gun trained on her while he pulled out his phone with his other hand. He dialled a number and then held the phone just under his mouth. The phone rang once before it was answered.

"Kennex. Who is this?" came the voice of her boyfriend. The call was likely blocked, Ava thought.

"Hello John, this is Daniel. Detective Leung is dead and his MX is destroyed but your girlfriend is alive for now. If you want to keep it that way, you'll show up here in half an hour with no backup and no drones," Sala said.

"Can I speak with Ava?" John requested.

"If you want to," Sala conceded. A moment later he moved the phone closer to Ava.

"Ava, are you OK?" asked John. Ava took a deep breath before she replied.

"I'm fine. Don't come here, John. Don't walk into a trap," she warned him.

"I have to come. You're too important for me to lose," he replied.

"Likewise," she responded. If things went badly, she wanted her boyfriend to know that she couldn't imagine a life without him in it any longer, she thought.

"How much is your revenge worth to you? Is it worth your girlfriend's life or even your own? I guess we'll find out soon enough," Sala concluded. A moment later he ended the call and put away his phone.

"Lie back on that couch. I'm going to tie your hands and feet. If you move, I will shoot you. Nod if you understand," Sala demanded. A moment later Ava nodded and lay back on the couch. Sala made quick work of tying her hands and feet tightly with rope that he removed from a small backpack. He stood beside her and held his gun to Ava's head.

The two of them waited in silence until they heard the sound of the front door opening and closing. John quickly took in the situation at a glance and pointed his gun at Sala's head. Sala moved his gun from Ava towards John.

"Hello, Kennex," Sala sneered.

"Drop the gun, Sala," John commanded.

"Not a chance," Sala scoffed.

"Your gun has armour piercing bullets, doesn't it? That's how you were able to kill Detective Leung and destroy his MX so easily. Those kinds of bullets are expensive so whoever you work for is rich. That means you probably work for a major criminal organization such as inSyndicate," John said.

"Watch that mouth of yours or you'll never speak again," Sala threatened.

"You think that you're smarter than Detective Kennex, don't you?" Ava said as she tried to distract Sala.

"Yes I do. Your boyfriend has proven to be very easily manipulated. That reminds me. Anna wasn't pleased to learn you had survived the raid. She thought she'd killed you that day. Your ex-girlfriend won't be pleased that I managed to do what she failed to," Sala taunted John.

"I don't have any plans to die anytime soon," John snapped. Ava looked at John and raised both of her eyebrows.

"Neither do I," Ava stated. A moment later she moved her head and bit down hard on Sala's leg which was close to her mouth. In surprised pain, he cried out. John took advantage of Sala's momentary distraction and shot him in the head. A moment later he crumbled to the floor. An instant later John stood over her. He put his gun away and took out a knife.

"Hold still while I cut this rope. Are you OK?" he asked her.

Once the rope was removed, Ava stood and walked as far away from Sala as she could before she stopped. The fear and adrenaline that had kept her going since Sala had entered the safe house now rapidly drained from her body. When Ava felt John's hands on her shoulders, she swiftly turned and embraced him tightly. As she rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes, she felt John's arms wrap around her waist and shoulders. Slowly her breathing returned to normal as she took comfort in John's closeness. The familiar scents of his antiperspirant and aftershave grounded her in the present moment. When she felt John's hand on her chin, Ava opened her eyes and lifted her head to met his gaze. Before either of them could speak, the front door was opened again and the room rapidly filled with police officers. Reluctantly Ava stepped away from John, who seemed just as reluctant to let her go.

"Are you all right, Ava?" asked Dorian.

"Is Sala dead, Dorian?" she needed to know. Dorian briefly looked at the inSyndicate member on the floor.

"Yes he is," he confirmed. Ava closed her eyes briefly in relief.

"You will need to give a police statement about tonight's events, Miss White," a MX informed her.

"Of course. But I'll only give my statement to Captain Maldonado," Ava said.

"Why?" asked Dorian.

"I insist," Ava stated.

"I'll drive," offered John. Dorian quickly followed the two of them out to John's car. Ava got in the back seat while the two cops sat down in the front. The three of them fell into silence for the rest of the drive to the precinct. Once she was shown to an interrogation cube to talk with Captain Maldonado, Ava took a seat on one side of the table. Captain Maldonado changed the glass windows from clear to opaque and then turned to her.

"Although the exterior cameras of the safe house were disabled, the interior cameras were still working. So I watched everything that happened in the safe house from my office. You don't trust any police officer because you think they might be working for inSyndicate. So why did you ask to give your statement to me, Miss White?" Captain Maldonado stated.

"Detective Kennex trusts you and that's enough for me," Ava replied. Captain Maldonado nodded.

"You held yourself together well in a very dangerous situation, Miss White," Captain Maldonado complimented her. Ava looked at her hands which were clenched together tightly on her lap.

"However composed I appeared on the outside, internally I was terrified of Sala and afraid of dying at his hands," she admitted.

"That's understandable. inSyndicate aren't amateurs. They are one of the most dangerous criminal gangs I've ever seen," Captain Maldonado confirmed.

"I can readily believe that. Do you have any further questions, Captain Maldonado?" Ava wondered.

"No, I think I have enough information for your statement. Read this and then sign here," Captain Maldonado said. She placed a tablet on the table. Ava read what had been written then signed the screen. She looked up to meet the gaze of Captain Maldonado.

"I just have one last question. John's ex-girlfriend was a member of inSyndicate, wasn't she?" Ava wanted to know.

"Why would you think that?"

"Because if she seduced John to get information out of him, she would know when he and his team planned to strike their facility. His team must have been ambushed, which is when he lost his leg. Her alias was Anna, wasn't it?" Ava said as she connected the dots about inSyndicate that she had been thinking about during the drive to the precinct. Given the other woman's suddenly pale face, she'd hit the nail on the head.

"Yes. Be careful with John's heart. Not all of his scars are on the outside," Captain Maldonado quietly said.

"I will. Good night, Captain Maldonado," Ava replied as she stood.

"Good night, Miss White," the older woman responded. Outside the door Ava was met by John.

"Come on. You're staying at my place tonight," John declared as he took her hand and led her out to his car.

"Why?" she wondered.

"Your own home needs to be swept by the police before you can go back there," he explained.

"I'm very glad that you're OK," John quietly stated once they were alone in his car.

"Thank you for rescuing me. Though I hope you don't think that I'm some damsel in distress," she declared.

"Of course not. But would you object if I arranged some self defence lessons for you?" he wanted to know.

"Not at all," she agreed. The two of them fell into silence as John drove to his place. Once they were inside his apartment, Ava paused and took a closer look at John. It was clear from his stubble on his jaw and the bags under his eyes that he'd been working hard lately.

"So how long has it been since you've slept?" she wondered.

"It's been a while," he admitted.

"Let's both get some sleep," she suggested.

"Sounds good to me," he agreed.

"Do you have spare clothes I can wear?" she asked him. He soon handed her some clothes and Ava retreated to the restroom. The long sleeved shirt and sweatpants were massive on her body, but she rolled up the sleeves and pant legs until they fit. Once they both lay in his bed, Ava turned to face John and slowly fell asleep.

She faced John with Sala's gun in her hands. His fingers moved over her own and pulled the trigger twice. With a grimace of pain, John fell to the ground. Suddenly Ava gasped and opened her eyes. Her heart raced and she panted as she clutched John's sheets. A moment later she felt John's hand turn her chin to look at him.

"Breathe in, then breathe out. In then out. That's it," he told her as she slowly calmed herself down from her dream. Once she was breathing more regularly again, John moved his hand to her cheek.

"Do you want to talk about your nightmare?" he asked. She looked him in the eyes.

"No. But I do want you to make love to me," she told him. In all their time together, they had never used that term to describe their sex. But Ava was tired of running away from her feelings. She loved John, she admitted to herself in that moment. Whether or not she ever said those words to him or he said them back to her wouldn't change how she felt. John smiled at her then pulled her closer for a kiss. The sex that followed was slow and tender. It also felt more intimate than usual because it was the first time that John didn't have his synthetic leg attached.

"John…," moaned Ava as her senses were overwhelmed by an orgasm.

"Ava…," groaned John a short time later as he climaxed. Once he stilled, Ava moved a hand to his chest to feel his still rapid heartbeat.

"I wasn't sure if you'd still find me attractive without my synthetic leg, but I'm very glad that you did," John admitted.

"It was my pleasure too. Now go back to sleep," Ava urged him.

"You too," he replied. She turned so that her back faced his chest. To her surprise, Ava felt John wrap an arm around her waist and pull her tightly against him a moment later. He'd never held her in bed before now but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, Ava thought as she placed her own arm over his own. Lulled by John's warmth, Ava closed her eyes and fell asleep again. This time she didn't wake up until the morning. As she opened her eyes and turned her head to see John still sleeping beside her, she smiled at the sight. She turned to face him and laid her hand on John's cheek. He smiled and opened up his eyes.

"Morning, Ava. How did you sleep?" he asked.

"Very well. Can I use your restroom?" she replied.

"Go ahead," he offered. Ava stood from the bed to grab her discarded clothes on the floor and then retreated to the restroom. As she got ready for the day, Ava resolved to look forward in her relationship with John not backwards. What was the title of that old Frank Sinatra song her mom had liked, she wondered. The song was called The Best is Yet to Come, she remembered. She sincerely hoped those words described her future with John, Ava thought.