“I’ll always take care of you from now on.” He took an impulsive step forward. “Think about what I’ve done for you already.”
“I can see that now. I don’t know any other man who would do what you’ve done to prove how much you care about me. It’s incredible.”
Noah stared at Dee for a long moment, as if trying to size her up. “You should realize by now I don’t do anything halfway.”
Dee laughed and flipped back her red hair. Her gray-green eyes were glittering, and she stood there in the moonlight vibrantly alive and totally desirable. “That’s for sure. It made me remember all the good times we had when we were together.”
Jessie looked between the two. Noah appeared totally bemused; he might actually be buying Dee’s abrupt change of heart. Maybe.
Dee took another step toward him. “That’s why I’m willing to give it a chance, Noah,” she said softly. “I’m willing to give us a chance.”
“Really?” He actually sounded as if he was getting a little choked up.
“Don’t believe her,” Charlotte said. “The girl is lying. She’s trying to make a fool of you.”
“Shut up!” Noah shouted. He stared at Dee for a moment longer. “She’s right, you know. How do I know I can trust you?”
“Let me prove it.”
“How?”
She stepped closer to him. “I’ll go with you, Noah. Willingly. No force. Tonight. Right now.”
“You’ll do that?”
She nodded. “Yes. I just wish I’d known before what you felt for me.”
“I tried to tell you,” he said, frustrated. “I knew we were meant to be together. You wouldn’t listen to me.”
“My life just got crazy, Noah. I couldn’t focus on the things that really mattered. You know how that is, don’t you? Like you said, we’re the same type of people.”
“Yes. I do.”
Charlotte clicked her tongue. “Don’t be an idiot, Noah.”
Noah turned. “I told you to be quiet. I want this. You never understood. I know what I’m doing.” He turned back to Dee. “I’d like to believe you.” He paused. “But I don’t. I’m not a fool, Delilah. This is too fast, and what I did you’d instinctively find horrible. You’d have trouble forgiving me.” He smiled wryly. “Yet I stand here looking at you and I know that someday you will. Because I won’t accept anything else.”
“You’re wrong,” Dee said quickly. “Let me show you.”
He shook his head. “Tempting. But I know that the next thing you’re going to demand is that I let Jessie go. That’s not possible. She’ll tell. She’ll ruin everything.”
“She won’t if I ask her to keep quiet. It would spoil how I feel about you now if you hurt her.” Her voice was soft, pleading. “You’ve convinced me we have a chance for something wonderful. Let her go. Jessie always does what I tell her to do. Isn’t that right, Jessie?”
“Whatever you want. It wouldn’t be the first secret I’ve kept for you.” Jessie wasn’t sure if she was quite as convincing as Dee. Any more than she was sure that no matter what Noah said, he’d actually give Dee what she asked. Dee had never been more beguiling, and Noah wanted to believe her. Not only was he convinced he was always right, but the bastard had already proved to be a psychopath. His attitude could change in a heartbeat.
“See?” Dee stepped closer to him and looked up at him. “And do you really need that gun?”
“I’m afraid so. Be for real, Delilah. At least until we get into the air.”
Dee moistened her lips. “I understand. But you’ll let Jessie go?”
“I’m thinking about it.” He was silent a moment. “It’s a big risk. But it might be a way that I can give you final proof that I really do care about you. That’s important to me.”
“And proof that you don’t if you kill her,” Dee said.
“Then I’d better make the grand gesture, hadn’t I?”
Noah turned back to Charlotte. “Let Jessie go after Delilah and I are on the plane. We’ll wait for you there.”
Charlotte hesitated. “You’re sure this is what you want?”
“I said it, didn’t I?” Noah motioned for Dee to walk in front of him. “The plane is this way.”
Dee hesitated after glancing at Jessie and then hurried ahead of him. “Thank you, Noah.”
Jessie watched Dee and Calderon disappear into the darkness and turn to the right, in the direction of his still-idling private jet. After a few moments, Jessie turned to Charlotte. “You’re not going to let me go, are you?”
Charlotte smiled. “Why on earth would I do that? Since we’re being honest with each other. There’s no way you would keep quiet about all this. You and I both know that, even if Noah doesn’t.”
“I think he knows. And he also knows you’ll clean up his mess. He never would have taken that chance if he didn’t.”
“I’ve been cleaning up his messes since he was a boy. This is a particularly nasty one. But once he’s over this temporary insanity, he’ll stop believing the bullshit she’s handing him. Then he’ll let me step in and take care of her, too. I almost had him persuaded before we left you before.” Charlotte raised the gun. “Just another minute or two. It wouldn’t do for me to ruin his play if I let his beloved Delilah hear a gunshot right now, would it?”
“Depends.”
Charlotte’s eyes narrowed on her. “Depends on what?”
“If you really believe Dee was fooled by either one of you. Personally, I think that up to the last minute she was working at getting him away to the plane to give me my chance.”
Charlotte’s smile was a sneer. “Your chance to do what?”
Jessie’s left hand flew to a lightning underchop of Charlotte’s wrist! Her right hand caught the barrel of the gun and twisted it.
BLAMM! BLAMM!
Charlotte squeezed off two more shots as they fought over the gun. Jessie elbowed her in the face three times, brutally breaking her nose. Blood spurted from her nostrils.
Jessie finally wrestled the gun from Charlotte’s grip and struck her head with it repeatedly.
Charlotte collapsed onto the ground, blood from her nose and head oozing onto the desert floor.
Jessie cocked her head. Someone was coming. One of Noah’s men?
She gripped the gun and whirled toward the sound, preparing to fire.
“Jessie!”
It was Kendra and Lynch.
Then Kendra was next to her, giving her a quick hug. “Are you all right?”
“Fine.” She was already whirling away from them and running toward the jet. “But Noah is taking Dee to his plane. We’ll have to hurry.”
“Right.” Kendra started at a run back toward the row of planes from which she and Lynch had just come. “We saw it land. This way.”
The moon had now risen full in the night sky, casting the entire Boneyard in a bluish glow. Noah’s idling jet still roared in the distance, echoing through and around the rows of old airliners.