Page 51 of Targeted at Christmas

Lexi opened the car door and slid out—as he exited from the passenger side—while wondering if she was about to breathe her last breath. And without ever getting the chance to express her true feelings to Cooper and what she had wished for in their moving forward as a couple.

WHEN COOPER GOT the word that Lexi’s car had been spotted on Sonoran Desert Drive, he feared that Jacquin might have planned to force Lexi into the Sonoran Preserve and hoped to get rid of her on one of its trails—before trying to engineer his escape.

I can’t let that happen, Cooper thought, behind the wheel in his car, while thinking of all the ways that he needed Lexi to have a long and fulfilling life. As he wanted for himself. Unlike their late spouses.

As he neared the Keely Pointe housing development—still under construction, but not being worked on at the moment—Cooper saw Lexi’s vehicle parked on the dirt. Not far away, he eyed Gilbert Jacquin pointing a gun at Lexi as he led her farther into the construction zone.

Knowing that every second counted—or out of the question for him to wait for backup, in spite of notifying other law enforcement of the situation, dire as it was, and after requesting medical assistance—Cooper exited the car and removed his Sig Sauer P239 for what was likely to be a decisive showdown with everything on the line.

LEXI FEARED THAT there might be no reprieve from a man who wanted her dead. Should I make a run for it? she asked herself. Or would that only be playing into his hands for what would amount to target practice?

As she contemplated her rather precarious predicament, realizing that she was past the point of reasoning with Gilbert, who was still holding the gun on her, Lexi caught some movement from behind him.

It was Cooper. He had his own firearm out and pointed in their direction, while silently signaling not to tip her hand that help had arrived.

I need to distract him for a bit, Lexi told herself. She regarded Gilbert and said, “It doesn’t have to be this way, you know. Maybe you and I could still work something out where we can both walk away from this without either of us getting hurt.”

Gilbert seemed to take a moment to at least consider the thought in his warped mind, before responding, “Good try, but I think not. I’m afraid that one of us has reached the point of no return. And that person is you, Lexi.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure of that,” Cooper’s voice boomed from behind him. “Drop the gun, Jacquin.”

Gilbert whipped around instinctively, aiming the gun at Cooper. In that instant, all Lexi could think of was losing him. Finding the thought unbearable, she thrust her hand toward Gilbert’s face and clawed her nails as hard as she could across his cheek, drawing blood and a bellow from his mouth.

Before he could shake this off and take aim at her, Cooper fired a shot. It ripped the gun out of Gilbert’s hand. A second shot shattered his kneecap, and he went down like a house imploding.

Cooper was on him like a lion capturing its prey, making sure Gilbert was in no position for further aggression, before putting his gun away.

Then Cooper quickly removed zip ties to handcuff Gilbert behind his back, while ignoring his eerie wailing from pain and stating to him in no uncertain terms, “Gilbert Jacquin, you’re under arrest for kidnapping, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, carjacking resulting in murder, public corruption…did I leave anything out?”

Lexi laughed humorlessly. “I think that covered most of his crimes.”

Cooper gave her a crooked smile. “I thought so, too.” He climbed to his feet while warning Gilbert to stay down. Moving up to her, Cooper asked gently, “Did he hurt you?”

“Not nearly as much as he evidently had in mind.” Lexi drew a breath and glanced down at her former captor, who was still moaning in agony. “Honestly, I’d say he got the worst of it.”

Cooper chuckled. “That we can agree on.” He turned serious, gazing into her eyes. “If this had gone south, I don’t know what I would’ve done.”

“It didn’t, though,” Lexi said thankfully. “If that had been the case, I might never have gotten the chance to do this again.” She cupped his cheeks and laid a kiss on his hard mouth.

Cooper kept the kiss going for a long moment, then said, “I’m glad that chance did come around—and I promise you it will happen again and again, if I have anything to do with it.”

She flashed her teeth. “I think that’s something I can live with—and very much want to.”

“Same here,” he assured her as FBI agents and police detectives arrived on the scene, along with an ambulance.

Epilogue

On January 2, phase one of Phoenix’s newest downtown development, Kenniston-Wolftyn Place, on Seventh Avenue celebrated its official grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Lexi held oversize scissors as she stood alongside Pamela, Reese, the mayor, Terry Morikawa, Jarrod Inzunza, city council members and some other local dignitaries in anticipation of the moment when their joint efforts would come to fruition.

To Lexi, it was definitely a labor of love and something she was proud to have participated in for the city’s economic and commercial development and revitalization. She gazed out at Cooper, who flashed a toothy smile and gave her a thumbs-up in support.

Thank you, darling, Lexi thought sincerely, grinning at him. They had both managed to get through the ups and downs of December in one piece—including, on the up side, spending Christmas Day together and inviting Eleanor over to share the holiday with them, and exchanging gifts. They video chatted with Lexi’s family and Cooper’s Aunt Katherine. Everyone was welcoming and they each looked forward to the new year and getting together in person.

Lexi mused briefly about the senseless deaths of Horace Eckhart and Neal Zapponi, and how Gilbert Jacquin had managed to exploit Horace’s financial woes to Gilbert’s own advantage in furthering his position with the City of Phoenix, along with the monetary incentives for his actions that included carjackings that turned into murder, a home invasion, and Lexi’s own abduction and brush with death that was partly because of her architectural association with a building inspector and partly due to Gilbert’s hidden obsession with her.

None of it had sat well with Cooper, who wished he had been able to stop Gilbert in his tracks sooner—sparing Lexi her ordeal. Along with Eleanor and his former CI, Neal.

We’re stronger because of how we came to be, Lexi told herself, believing that it was all somehow meant to be in bringing them to this point in their relationship. Her thoughts returned to the moment at hand as everyone got their scissors ready and, on cue, cut the ceremonial ribbon to the applause of attendees to mark the beginning of a notable achievement and success story for the Valley of the Sun.