Absolution (The Protectors 1)

“Five weeks,” Mace said quietly.

I didn’t think it possible but Jonas paled even more. “Did you listen to me?” he whispered in disbelief.

Mace nodded. “I planted a listening device in your apartment the first day we met.”

Anger surged through me at that but Jonas just looked completely devastated. I glanced at Mace and saw that he wasn’t unaffected either.

“Why?” Jonas asked hoarsely. His pain radiated off of him and I actually began moving but Mace beat me to it. I held my breath as I watched Mace stride right up to Jonas until the gun was pressed against his chest.

“Jonas,” he said softly. “Let’s go inside and I’ll tell you everything-”

“No! Now! Tell me now!” Jonas yelled.

Mace swallowed hard and then closed his eyes. “I was supposed to kill you.”

Even though I’d already suspected why Mace had been watching Jonas, it still tore me up to hear it confirmed. I couldn’t even imagine what Jonas was suffering.

Jonas didn’t say anything but he didn’t have to because it was written all over his face. Disbelief, terror, betrayal.

“Why?” Jonas managed to whisper.

Mace stepped back. “There’s…there are some papers in my bag…they’ll explain everything.”

But when Mace made a move towards the car to get them, Jonas yelled, “No! You tell me! I want to hear you say it.”

I hadn’t had a chance to look at the contents of the manila envelope in great detail after I’d broken into the apartment Mace was using to watch Jonas but I could tell by the look of horror on Mace’s face that whatever was in there was pretty bad. I could also tell that Mace didn’t want to have to speak the words aloud.

“I work for a group that delivers justice when the law can’t,” Mace began. “Your…your name came up in one of our investigations.”

“What investigation?” Jonas asked when Mace didn’t continue on his own.

Mace lifted his eyes so he could watch Jonas when he said, “We had information that you were a suspect in the sexual assaults of three little boys and the disappearance of a fourth.”

Jonas didn’t seem to register what Mace was saying at first but once he did, his face contorted in agony and his free arm wrapped around his stomach as if trying to stem some wound.

“You think…you think I raped…”

Jonas couldn’t even finish the statement before he leaned over and vomited.

“Jonas-” Mace cried brokenly as he stepped forward to try and support Jonas.

“Don’t you fucking touch me!” Jonas screamed, waving the gun in his hand. “Don’t you ever touch me again!”

More retching followed and then Jonas sank to his knees and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. “I didn’t…I wouldn’t-”

“I know, Jonas,” Mace said. “I know you’d never hurt anyone. I knew it the first time I met you, but I couldn’t get past the proof.”

Tears were coursing down Jonas’s face and I knew he was done. I was walking towards him when he asked, “Is there anything else?”

I glanced at Mace and then came to a halt when I saw his face fall. Fuck, how the hell could there be more?

Jonas lifted his eyes to meet Mace’s. His face was streaked with grime and tears and I wanted to beg Mace not to say anything else.

“I was given emails between you and Devlin. They suggested…they were intimate. They suggested you and he had been in a relationship from the time you were a teenager and that it was still going on.”

Soft, guttural cries tore from Jonas as he dropped the gun to the ground. He didn’t fight me when I put my arm around him and pulled him to his feet. His body felt cold against mine despite the warm evening and violent tremors tore through his body. I managed to get him up the porch stairs and held him against me as I searched out the spare house key that was stashed under a decorative planter.

Once we were inside, I flipped on the lights. Jonas shoved away from me and wiped at his face. The move hurt but I didn’t try to touch him again.

“The bedrooms are upstairs,” I said gently. “You can get cleaned up and rest,” I suggested.

Jonas didn’t respond but he did step around me, giving me a wide berth as if he was afraid to have any kind of contact with me, and went up the stairs. I turned back to the door to see if Mace was behind me but saw that he hadn’t moved at all. The flood lights turned off, burying Mace in a cloud of darkness. The fact that they didn’t come on again right away was telling. I had no doubt that Mace was suffering because I’d seen it in his eyes when he watched me help Jonas to his feet. I still didn’t have the answers I needed but I had the most important one…the one that had me leaving the front door open. Mace wasn’t a danger to Jonas anymore…my guess was that he hadn’t been for a long time.