Chapter 17 ---Here's an update to this story. I hope you like it and thanks for the feedback!
Matt looked up at C.J. as she pulled on a robe after disengaging herself from his embrace.
"Where are you going," he asked.
She turned to look at him.
"I'm getting packed," she said, "Our plane leaves in several hours."
She started to walk to her own room which adjoined his.
"We've still got some time," he said.
"We've got to be at the airport an hour early," she reminded him.
"That leaves us another hour to spend together."
She returned and sat on the edge of the bed.
"Houston," she said, "We've discussed this already."
He sighed.
"I believe that you said it would be better if we kept things the way that they were before what was it two nights ago?"
She nodded.
"It would be less complicated," she said, "You just broke up with Elizabeth a week ago and you still haven't gotten over that. You were supposed to be here with her."
"I'm not here with her," he said, "I'm here with you."
She rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"Only because it didn't work out between the two of you," she said, "and I came to Tahiti with you instead."
He sat up, pulling the sheets around his waist.
"Is this what you think this is about?"
She ran her hand through her hair.
"Isn't it?"
He looked perplexed.
"I didn't think so when you came into my bedroom."
"You invited me after that…dance we had on the beach."
He looked at her but her mind seemed elsewhere.
"I had a great time these past couple of days."
And that's when she turned around to look at him.
"Houston, your life is filled with good times," she said, "I don't want to be just another woman on a long list of them."
With that, she got up and walked away.
Matt tried to clear his head of everything except trying to figure out where C.J. had run off to in her search for the elusive security guard. If she ran into him by herself…he didn't even want to imagine that. He passed the next hallway and still nothing. Where had she gone?
He found himself thinking back to the time they had spent together in Tahiti. She had been the one to say that she wanted them to just remain friends as they always have been, before they crossed the line that had always existed between them and had become much more. At least he had believed so, but when they had gotten back to L.A. and had slipped into their usual routines working in his investigative agency, they didn't talk at all about what had happened. In fact, she had spent much of her time flying around the country performing the legal side of their work, to the point where she often returned from these trips more tired and seemingly more distant from him.
But she had been right about him. In that he hadn't truly let Elizabeth go even as they both had broken off their engagement and walked away from each other. He knew that he no longer loved her the same way as he had in the few heady months they had been seeing each other. He also realized that he had been more in love with the idea of marriage and family than with the woman he had selected to share both with him. When Elizabeth had stepped back into his life, he hadn't known exactly how to respond. Part of him still mourned the cancelation of the wedding but not enough to change his mind. Still, he knew that he had hurt her feelings and had wanted to atone for that in some way. But while he had been spending so much time with Elizabeth, C.J. had been dealing with issues of her own, that she shouldn't have been left with by herself. Even having her close friend Gracie with her didn't make up for that.
Matt sighed as he began to pick up his pace knowing that he had to find her soon.
C.J. stepped back out of the room but at that moment, Jenkins had looked up and his eyes widened. Even with his disguise, she had known it was him.
"What are you doing here," he asked, his hand moving towards what she knew was his gun.
"I was looking for someone," she said, "Excuse me."
She started to leave.
"C.J. wait…"
Startled, she turned around to face the man she had thought was a stranger. Well, a familiar looking stranger that she could never quite place.
"How do you know my name?"
He moved closer and she willed herself not to back another step.
"I knew you years ago," he said, "But I didn't think you remembered me."
She frowned, her brow furrowing as she tried to remember where she had seen him. When and where their paths had crossed in a way that appeared more memorable to him than it had been for her.
"When did we meet," she asked, "Was it high school?"
He shook his head.
"It was at Harvard University."
She still felt confused.
"You weren't in law school…"
"No, I was in the medical school," he said, "until I had to drop out."
"You mean you were studying to be a doctor?"
"Yes, but my heart wasn't in it," he said, "I wanted to go into research."
"So you changed schools?"
He smiled.
"In a matter of speaking, yes."
She struggled to grasp a piece of information that had just come to mind from her memories of those years.
"You were expelled," she said, "for some…ethical reason."
His face suddenly clouded over.
"It was all a misunderstanding," he said, "The school administrators didn't understand the importance of my research."
"What research?"
He hesitated.
"That's not for you to know," he said, "Suffice it to say, it's advanced much since those days thanks to some more generous benefactors."
"You mean terrorists."
He shook his head.
"That's not who they are at all," he said, "They're just more advanced thinking than most people."
She sighed.
"You're a hit man," she said, "You shot Houston. You tried to shoot at me."
"You both interfered with my assignment."
She folded her arms.
"So who's it going to be," she said, "Who's your target tonight?"
He hedged.
"That's not for you to know either."
"It doesn't matter," she said, "They already know that you're here and they're waiting for you to act."
He smiled.
"I know that," he said, "but I act according to my schedule not theirs."
She paused, thinking quickly, wondering where Matt and even Jason were right now.
"What makes you think you're going to get away with it," she asked.
"Too many questions and I'm done answering them," Jenkins said, pulling out his gun and aiming it at her.
She waited for him to pull the trigger and shoot her but he just aimed the gun at her and gestured for her to come in the room.
"If you don't, I will shoot."
She walked into the room knowing that he would.
Gracie walked up to Matt in the hallway.
"Where's C.J.?"
He looked up the corridor again.
"I'm trying to find her."
"Everyone else is wondering what's going on," she said.
"What about the senator?"
"His aide led him into where he'll be staying until the police have searched the grounds for this guy."
Gracie looked worried and Matt couldn't think of anything to say that would make her less so.
"Gracie, I need you to find Jason and tell him to meet me on this side of the house," he said.
She nodded.
"I'll do that," she said, "but be careful. I don't want anything to happen to either one of you."
"Nothing's going to happen," he assured her, "except we're going to apprehend the bad guys before they can cause any harm."
"Do you know who they are," Gracie asked.
"We know who one of them is," Matt said, "He's working at this party."
Gracie nodded and told Matt she would be sure to find Jonathan and for him to be careful.
While walking, she ran into Ginger and Elizabeth and wished she could just head off in the opposite direction but steeled herself for their questions.
Ginger swaggered a bit as she had imbibed quite a bit at the party so far.
"Where are you going," she asked.
"I'm looking for Jason," she said, "Have you seen him?"
Ginger chuckled.
"Oh you mean the guy who is pretending to be one of the waiters."
Gracie nodded, trying not to roll her eyes. Elizabeth tugged on Ginger's arm.
"We should help her find him," she said, "Have you seen Matt?"
"He's looking for C.J," Gracie said, "She's disappeared."
Ginger snorted.
"She hasn't disappeared anywhere," she said, "She's just hoping to trap him."
Gracie ignored her.
"Elizabeth, they were both looking for that mysterious security guard and they got split up."
Matt's former fiancée sighed.
"I hope they're not in any trouble," she said, "After all, that man tried to kill Matt."
Ginger looked down the hallway.
"I don't see anyone," she said, "You know that C.J.'s just trying to get her hooks into Matt because her pregnancy scheme failed."
Gracie felt dangerously close to smacking the expression right off of Ginger's smug little face.
"I thought C.J. had set you straight," she finally said, "but if one slap didn't knock some sense back into your head, another won't help."
Ginger blanched.
"You're not going to hit me," she said, "though it wouldn't surprise me that a friend of C.J.'s would be prone to violence. Birds of a feather and all that…"
Elizabeth closed her eyes.
"Ginger…just be quiet," she said, "We've got to go find Jason."
Gracie sighed. At least one of the two women had some smarts in her.
"Will you help me," she asked Elizabeth.
The other woman smiled.
"Sure I will."
C.J. started at Jenkins who still had his gun trained on her. She thought she saw a trace of regret in his eyes.
"I'm sorry but I'm going to have to kill you."
C.J. had figured he would get to that part of the equation.
"Why," she asked.
"You know who I am," he said, "You can't be allowed to get away and warn the others."
She shook her head.
"They already know Clyde," she said, "In fact, the police are out there looking for you and they're going to find you."
"Not before I make my strike," he said, "and they won't be able to stop me."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not going to say anymore," he said, "do you have any final words?"
She paused.
"Yes, but you're not the one I want to hear them."
He looked at her quizzically and she took that as an avenue to continue.
"You know the man that you shot the other night," she said, "I needed to tell him something."
Clyde looked at his watch.
"Hurry up and just say it," he said, "You don't have much time."
"That the time we spent together meant more to me than I could ever say," she said, "Than I did say."
Clyde gestured with his gun.
"Continue…"
Matt had rushed down what he hoped was the last hallway and had heard voices coming from inside one of the rooms. As he listened, he recognized the female one and followed it until he had taken a secured vantage point from outside the room and looked inside. His heart sank as he saw C.J. with her back to him being held at gunpoint by Jenkins who appeared very agitated. He held his position by the door while his mind raced ahead to figure out what to do now.
C.J. looked at Jenkins.
"His fiancée came back recently and I thought that he wanted her back," she said, "and that our time together hadn't meant anything to him."
Clyde's gun wavered in his hand. C.J. pretended not to notice as she continued with her story.
"Not that I really could blame him because I acted as if it didn't mean so much," she said, "because I didn't want to ruin our great friendship."
Clyde sighed.
"Why are you telling me this," he said, "What am I Ann Landers?"
"You asked me if I had anything to say," she countered.
And despite the seriousness of the situation, Matt's mouth lifted into a smile when he heard the stubbornness in her voice.
"Okay, since I'm going to kill you in a minute, I guess I owe you that," he said, grudgingly.
"And then I thought I was pregnant," she continued.
He nearly dropped his gun.
"Are you pregnant," he asked.
She looked at him intently.
"Would it make any difference," she said, "You're going to kill me."
"Well I…"
"I'm not," she said, "but it took six pink sticks."
"Six what?"
She sighed.
"Are you sure you went to medical school," she asked.
"So the rabbit didn't die on you then," he said, "I guess that makes this a little bit better."
She tilted her head.
"Why are you a hit man anyway," she asked, "Just because Harvard expelled you."
"Well…"
"We all have setbacks to our goals," she said, "We don't always get what we want. Just like the Rolling Stones song."
"I hate rock and roll."
That explained some of his obvious problems, C.J. thought.
Matt listened to their conversation from where he stood out of sight. He knew he had to move quickly before Clyde made serious on his threats to kill C.J. He had to disarm the man but how, given that C.J. stood between them. Suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder and looked behind him to see Jason there still in his waiter's outfit.
"What the hell is going on here," Jason asked.
"C.J.'s in there being held at gunpoint and since she knows him from somewhere, he's going to kill her."
Jason's eyes flashed confusion.
"Knows her from where?"
"Harvard I'm guessing."
Jason took in the situation and then reached for his radio.
"We've got to call for backup."
"How many you got at this shindig?"
Jason paused.
"About a dozen cops down the street waiting to be dispatched."
Matt frowned.
"I thought so," he said, "That doesn't leave us with much time."
Jason gave him that look.
"What have you got planned and why am I not going to like the sound of it?"
Matt shot him a look back.
"Because you're right."