** spoiler alert ** Setting – Washington DC on the run…

Theme – love, passion, destiny,

Characters –

Jack Dakota – bounty hunter, smart, no ties, no one who stayed for him, take control sort of guy.

M.J. (Magdalen Juliette) O’Leary – Bailey’s friend, Irish bar owner, as her father & grandfather & greatgrandfather were. Social, yet alone. Can take care of herself. A New Yorker, doesn’t take guff from no one.

Plot –
A wild three days that begin when M.J. gets the knowledge Star of Mithra in the mail, and then Jack is hired to bring her in for jumping bail.

Of course, the jumping bail was just a set up to get her out of her apartment; and the real bad guys were to take her, take the diamond, and kill her. But she does not go quietly with Jack, she fends him off verbally and physically when he gets too close – and he’s starting to wonder what his boss was doing when the bad guy storms in and they work together to take him down, and exit the back door and … hence they begin their run…

For the first 12 hours there is distrust and power struggle – he hand cuffs her to keep her where he wants her, she won’t tell him anything… but bit by bit they get past that (it doesn’t help that a few kisses assure their subconscious brains that the other is okay). He finds the diamond and makes some deductions, he doesn’t have sex with her when she wouldn’t have said no, but she really didn’t say yes, and when she does get away from him for a few minutes and makes a phone call to Bailey, and he finds her and they hide and wait – she realizes he knows what he is talking about when the goons show up within 10 minutes, and they start to meet each other half way.

After 24 hours, they both reluctantly declare that they love the other. Hmmmm. Without contacting anyone (fearing traces and capture), and following Jack’s instincts and job knowhow, they see Baily wasn’t hurt in her apartment, that the Silva brothers are dead, and they head out to Grace’s mountain cabin. She is better reassured when she sees Grace was there recently and nothing was disturbed.

At Grace’s beautiful, isolated home, they make glorious love – and M.J. realizes she really understands Jack – that no one ever stuck around for him, that he knows what he knows, that he is a noble man… and when he is asleep, she pulls and hides the distributor cap; and when Jack wakes up at dawn, ready to slay all her dragons and solve the mystery while keeping her safe by leaving her at the cabin – he is surprised when the car won’t start – and they have it out…

And he agrees they should tackle it together… they draw the bad guys to the Silva’s store, and when Jack is having a bit of trouble handling the big one, M.J. distracts the other one away from Jack – but instead of running to the nearby mall, afraid of his gun, she heads for the parking lot… Jack gets to her in a nick of time, and they race to the car – Jack’s side bleeding, he outruns the bad guys – who take a turn too tight, flip over, slide down an embankment and the car explode – taking their lead to the head bad guy away…

And then Bailey calls, and they join Bailey and Cade – sharing what happened to one another – the guys bonding over beer… hmmmm

And where is Grace?