Slade (The Protectors #6)(74)

Alice and the muscle head laughed together as if sharing a secret. “Not yet.” Jill watched the evilness she had seen in Alice before appear on her face. “But I’ll make sure I get your number from George.”

“I appreciate the business.” Jill nodded, opening her car door. “You all have a nice evening.”

Jill got behind the wheel, putting her portfolio on the front seat. Her eyes slowly rose only to see Alice still staring at her. Starting the car, she glanced to see the Mayor and George walk out with George wearing a nice black suit. Putting the car in reverse, Jill backed up onto the street. Taking one last look, her eyes met George’s as he got into the limo. “Please let me take the bitch out,” Jill hissed, a deep rage building inside her.

“Jill, you need to put the car in drive and f*cking go,” Slade’s voice echoed in her ear.

Jill did just that and took off, her eyes watching in the rearview mirror as the limo pulled out, going in the opposite direction. As Jill turned onto the main road, the van with Slade and Sloan pulled up behind her, Jax at the wheel.

Within twenty minutes, they were pulling into the compound. Jill parked, grabbed the portfolio and got out. Slade was there, opening her door. “You did awesome.” He smiled at her.

Jill snorted. “I wanted to beat her ass.”

“That’s what we were afraid of,” Slade chuckled, but then turned serious. “We took a photo off the camera to compare that man to see if it matches your sketch.”

“I know it was him.” Jill handed him the portfolio.

“Why are you giving me this?” Slade pushed it back at her. “This is your doing. You hand over the evidence.”

Jill smiled, feeling excited that she was actually being treated like a true Warrior. It was a good feeling, a feeling of belonging. She may have found something she was actually good at. “Thanks.”

“But please, take off that wig.” He glared at it with distaste. “Where in the hell does Lana and Nicole come up with these disguises?”

Jill reached up, pulling off the wig. “I don’t know, but they’re pretty good at it.”

They walked into Sloan’s office, but he was nowhere to be found. Jax sat texting. “Where’s Sloan?”

“Guess he’s still outside. He got a call on his cell.” Jax glanced up at Jill. “You sure that was the guy from Caroline’s description?”

Jill noticed he didn’t say his sister’s description, so she let it pass. “Yeah, I know it was.”

A hardness settled across Jax’s face. “Should have taken the bastard out,” he growled.

“You want to see my license?” Jill changed the subject; she knew how badly Jax wanted to kill the guy and knew why Sloan had probably stopped him from doing it.

“Of course.” Jax reached out, taking it. “How did the parallel parking go?”

“Not too bad. I didn’t hit the cones.” Jill took her license back examining it. “Does everyone’s license picture look as goofy as mine?”

Sid snatched it out of her hands when he entered the room. “Not mine.”

“Now, why doesn’t that surprise me?” Jill rolled her eyes. Opening the portfolio, Jill pulled out the envelope, laying it on Sloan’s desk. Sid handed her license back.

“Good job today.” Sid nodded, his tone serious. “That could have been a bad situation, but you handled it like a Warrior should.”

Jill beamed at the compliment. “Thank you.”

Sloan arrived, heading straight for his desk. He eyed the envelope, but stuck a memory card into the computer then hit a couple of buttons. The printer buzzed in the quiet room. Grabbing Jill’s sketch, he laid it on his desk. He pulled the finished picture off the printer, laying them side by side.

“Son of a bitch.” Jax, who had stood, slammed his hand on the desk after comparing the two pictures. “The bastard was right there!”

“And there wasn’t a damn thing we could do without putting Jill in danger,” Sloan added, looking at the picture and sketch. “But we got the f*cker now.”

“Yeah, we sure do.” Jax studied the picture a little longer before sitting back down, his eyes black as night.

Sloan seized the envelope and opened it. Thumbing through the contents, a large smile spread across his face.

“You going to share?” Sid leaned in, trying to see what Sloan was looking at.

Ignoring Sid, Sloan looked up at Jill. “Looks like I owe you an apology.”

“Is it good?” Jill grinned, focusing on the papers scattered across his desk.

“There is enough here to get Mayor Ferguson thrown out of office and into prison, along with Alice.” His grin widened. “There’s more, but I’ll have to go through it better, but it looks like we just hit the jackpot.”

“That’s great!” Jill beamed, filled with pride at successfully helping her team.

“Sounds like we owe George the Groper a steak dinner.” Sid shifted through some of the papers himself. “Damn, looks like our Mayor has some explaining to do.”

“So does that mean George will become Mayor?” Jill also glanced at the papers, not really knowing what she was looking at.

“Yes, I believe there’s a very good chance of that,” Sloan replied, making eye contact with her. “Excellent work.”