by Land, Alexa
I pried my phone from the wet pocket of my shorts and placed the call, and when I disconnected, my boyfriend smiled brightly and said, “I’m so happy right now.”
“Really? You’re not cold?”
“Oh, I am,” he said cheerfully. “But the good news is, no matter what I plan for our next date, I can’t mess it up. Even if it goes terribly wrong, it’ll still seem like a success compared to this.”
I chuckled and took his hand. We both floated on our backs until Sarajane pulled up in a little motorboat a few minutes later and said, “Really?” After we climbed into the dinghy, she handed each of us a blanket, and then she towed the kayak back to the dock. The pelican stayed in the seat the entire time and looked pretty damn smug about it, too.
When we stepped onto dry land, I told Sarajane, “Our shoes and Lee’s hat and sunglasses are in there. Do you think you can chase the pelican away?”
She said, “Uh, no. But feel free to give it a shot,” as she handed Lee his phone.
I yelled like I’d become unhinged, flapped the wool blanket, and jumped around on the dock. In response, the pelican stood up, faced off with me and squawked as he puffed out his huge wings. Then he sat back down again, and I told him, “Okay, you win.”
We gave her our life vests, and I adjusted the floppy, ruined hat on my head as I said, “Thanks for saving us, Sarajane. I’ll come back later this week to trade you the blankets for our stuff.”
“Fine with me,” she said. As we started to walk back into town, dripping and barefoot, she stuck a smile on her face and went to help a family of tourists who’d gathered at the kiosk.
“I’ll give Rus a call,” Lee said. “If he’s in his hotel, we can go dry off. After that, I want to do some shopping.”
“There’s no need to call him. He’s right there.” I pointed across the street, where Rus was sitting in the shade with a magazine. Obviously he’d ignored Lee’s instructions to stand down.
When we reached him, Rus chuckled as he took in our appearance and said, “So, obviously that went well.”
Lee grinned and told him, “I don’t regret a minute of it.”
5
We brought Rus back to the ranch with us that afternoon. With the new wardrobe he’d purchased in town, he looked far more like a tourist than a bodyguard, so there was no reason to think he’d raise unwanted questions. Fortunately, he also traded his last ensemble for a black polo shirt, khakis, and deck shoes, so he no longer looked like he was starring in a sit-com.
Lee had done some shopping, too. In addition to buying sneakers for both of us and a dry outfit and baseball cap for me, he’d gotten himself a basic wardrobe. Then we’d visited the market and bought a hell of a lot of groceries. As we carried them to the kitchen, we passed several of my friends, and I introduced my companions simply as Lee and his cousin Rus. But the news that I’d brought a boyfriend back from L.A. had obviously circulated throughout the ranch, judging by all the goofy grins we encountered.
Rus seemed impressed by the property. He stopped at the edge of the courtyard, looked out over the panoramic view of Avalon in the valley below us, and said, “Damn. I could get used to this.” I realized I actually had gotten used to it, to the extent that I almost never noticed the scenery anymore.
Lee was eager to start cooking dinner in the well-appointed, commercial kitchen, and after I dropped off his clothes in my room, he immediately took charge. He handed us each a beer and gently herded us toward the door, so he could get everything set up his way. I led Rus out the back of the building and said, “Come on, let’s go someplace where we can talk in private.”
Directly in front of us was a steep hillside, made more accessible by a paved path that included several switchbacks. All along it were a dozen gorgeous little Spanish-style cottages, each nestled amid palm trees and attractive landscaping, which fortunately had escaped the buffalo herd’s notice. Ren and Colt were currently living in the uppermost of the cottages while they made plans to build a house elsewhere on the property.
When we’d almost reached the top, Rus asked, “Am I the only one hearing hoof beats?”
A few moments later, a huge horse and its rider appeared directly in front of us over the crest of the hill. The startled horse whinnied and became visibly agitated, and Rus let loose with a shriek that rivaled the one Lee had managed earlier and dove into the bushes. Apparently those Speros boys really didn’t mix well with animals.
Tracy was in the saddle, and he managed to quickly calm the stallion. I approached the horse and patted his glossy, dark brown neck as I said, “It’s okay, Sunshine. I’m sorry we startled you.”
Meanwhile, Rus hauled himself out of the bushes and dusted himself off while cussing a blue streak. Then he started to stride toward Tracy as he barked, “You’re a fucking menace, you know that?”
With a tiny flick of the reins, Tracy swung the horse around so the huge animal and Rus were face-to-face. That made Rus leap back, and Tracy smirked and rode off in the direction of our equestrian center.
Rus’s ego was clearly bruised, and he complained, “That fucker made me spill my beer.”
The bottle had disappeared into the bushes, so I handed him mine and said, “I see you and your cousin share a similar love of animals.”
“The problem wasn’t the horse, it was the prick riding it.” He finished my beer, then added, “Although admittedly, I’ve never been a fan of giant, hooved mammals.”
When we finally reached the top of the hill, Rus looked back over his shoulder, then at the vista in front of him and asked, “What the fuck is this, the gateway to another dimension?”
“This is the real Catalina,” I said, as I waved my hand to indicate the rough terrain. There were no palm trees, no tropical flowers, no buildings, just arid, open land covered in low scrub with hills rising up in the distance. “Everything behind us is the result of development. Out here, it’s all been left alone.”
Rus squinted at something about a hundred yards away and asked, “Is that a buffalo?”
“Let me amend my previous statement. Almost everything out here has been left alone, but the bison aren’t indigenous to the island. They were brought here.”
“Yeah, you know, I really didn’t think they swam here from Los Angeles.”
He followed me somewhat begrudgingly down the gradual slope at the back of the hill, and I said, “Okay, now that we have some privacy, I need you to be totally honest with me, Rus. How bad is this situation with Lee and the men who are looking for him? He mentioned they tried to set fire to one of his buildings last night. I can’t believe anyone would resort to something like that!”
“It was just for show. They knew he wasn’t there, but they wanted to send a message.”
“They sound like a bunch of psychos.”
He said, “They mean business.”
“What would happen if they actually caught him? You had a list of reasons why they wouldn’t want to kill him, but these people don’t sound rational.”
He shifted uncomfortably and asked, “Shouldn’t you be talking to your boyfriend about this?”
“Lee doesn’t want me to worry. He hasn’t lied to me, but at the same time, I don’t think he’s letting me see the whole picture. I need to know what’s going on though, so come on Rus. Level with me.”
“I don’t have all the answers, but I will say this: bringing in the McGrath family is pretty bad news. It doesn’t make sense, either. Harris’s organization and ours aren’t even sort of in the same league as them, like I was saying this morning. It’d be like the L.A. Dodgers showing up to challenge the neighborhood softball team.”
“So, now that this other group is involved, what does that mean for Lee? If they catch him, will they kill him?”
He said, “Damn it, Beck, I don’t want to lie to you, but you’re putting me in a hell of a position here.”
“That’s a yes.” Rus looked away, and I swore under my breath. Then I asked, “What can we do about this?”
“We can’t do anything, but Leonidas called a meeting for tomorrow evening with his top people. He’s a smart guy, and he’ll figure something out.”
“He mentioned the meeting, but isn’t traveling to L.A. incredibly risky right now?”
“Los Angeles is enormous. Harris and the McGraths can’t keep all of it under surveillance, and he won’t go anyplace they’d ever think to look for him.”
“It’s safer here.”
“Sure, but he has to do something besides hiding out. You’re right that they’d never find him here, but sooner or later they will start finding his people. Leonidas isn’t going to wait for them to get picked off one by one.”
“Okay. I understand that. But what am I supposed to do, Rus? I love your cousin, and I feel totally helpless here.”
He clearly didn’t know how to deal with me when I was upset, judging by his alarmed expression. But Rus gave it a shot and patted my bicep awkwardly as he said, “Look, it’s gonna be okay. My cousin will find a way out of this. And tomorrow’s meeting is nothing to worry about. It’s happening at a totally random location, and only his most trusted people know about it.”
“But you think there’s an informant in your organization, because someone leaked that information about Lee’s real estate holdings.”
“There might be an informant,” he said. “We don’t really know for sure, though. Maybe Harris stumbled across that information some other way. But even if someone on our payroll isn’t loyal to my cousin, they won’t know about this meeting. It’s inner circle only.”
“Okay. I guess that makes me feel a little better about tomorrow. But how does this all end, Rus? What’s going to make these people back off? And is this really just about that religious artifact? Because Harris’s reaction seems totally out of proportion.”
“Stealing that cross out from under Harris’s nose wasn’t the first transgression, it was the final straw. My cousin and Theo Harris go way back. Once upon a time, they were friends and colleagues. But then Leonidas started making a lot of money, and Harris wasn’t content as his right-hand man. He wanted a partnership, fifty-fifty, but that was bullshit because my cousin was the one with all the brains, ideas, and talent. When Leonidas turned him down, Harris went out on his own, but not before promising to ruin our organization.”
Rus leaned against a boulder and continued, “For the last ten or twelve years, Harris and my cousin have been taking swipes at each other. They’d fuck with something of ours, we’d return the favor, whatever. It was all pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. This business with the cross should have been, too. But the thing is, Harris had this jealousy and hatred brewing for a long time, and I guess it finally reached its boiling point. Seems he’s done playing around, so he brought in the big guns. Why he went quite that big, we’ll probably never know.”
“I appreciate you being so candid with me, Rus.”
He shrugged and said, “You’ve got a right to know. This is your boyfriend we’re talking about, so what happens to him affects you.”
I asked, “Will you be going with him to that meeting tomorrow?”
“Of course. I go where he goes, and I always have his back.”
“He’s lucky to have you in his corner.”
“My cousin is a good man. He took care of me from the time we were kids, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him. Rest assured I’m going to keep him safe tomorrow, Beck.”
I said, “Thank you, Rus. I’m going to need you to keep yourself safe too, okay?”
“That’s definitely the plan.”
“Come on,” I said, as I turned back toward the ranch, “let’s go try to force our favorite control freak to let us be his sous chefs.”
“Oh hell no,” Rus said, as he fell into step with me. “Maybe you can get away with that shit, but I’m going to stay out of his way until he announces it’s dinnertime.”
Once we reached the bottom of the hill, I looked through the dining room’s glass walls and spotted Lee and a bunch of my friends standing in the courtyard. I started to open the back door, but several people waved their arms in a way that clearly said ‘stop’, so Rus and I walked around the end of the building.
When we reached Lee, I asked what was going on, and he said, “A bison is eating my salad.”
“Come again?”
“I propped open the kitchen door because I couldn’t find the thermostat and wanted to let in a little cool air. A few minutes later, a bison and her baby wandered inside,” he explained. “I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything like that.”
“Most of the bison on the island are super docile,” Colt chimed in. “But this one is in full mama bear mode. Well…mama buffalo mode. She chased Lee out of the kitchen, and then she charged at me when I went into the dining room.”
I looked around for Lorenzo, since he was a veterinarian. When I spotted him talking to Ren at the edge of the group, I called, “Lorie, any suggestions for getting them out of there?”
Lorenzo said, “We were just discussing options. I think everyone should clear out of the courtyard, and then one of us should open all the doors so she has different routes she can take when she decides to leave. But I think it’s also important to pull the curtains over the glass walls in the dining room. She’s probably scared and disoriented, which is why she’s lashing out and thinks her baby is in danger. It would be a catastrophe if she gets spooked and tries to go through the glass.”
I scrubbed my hands over my face, and then I called, “Could you all please wait in staff housing while I take care of this?”
Vee stepped forward and shouted, “You heard the man. Look alive, people! I’m guessing Lee’s dinner is kaput at this point, but there’s all kinds of stuff in the kitchen at Neverland, so let’s go work some culinary magic.”
As the group wandered off in the direction of my uncle’s former home, Rus asked me, “Do they really call it Neverland, and if so, what kind of dork brigade are you running here?”
“The good kind,” I said. “And it’s only Neverland for now. They’re planning to change the name every month, and next up is Slytherin.”
“Why Slytherin?”
“Because the Hufflepuffs got voted down.” I turned to Lee and said, “I’m sorry your plans for dinner got ruined.”
“Not your fault,” he told me. “I just hope that creature doesn’t wreck anything in that fantastic kitchen.”
As if on cue, a loud crashing sound rang out from inside the building, and I said, “I’m going in. Why don’t you two go with my friends? I’ll join you once this situation is resolved.”
“Uh, no,” Rus said. “If you’re buffalo wrangling, then so am I.”
“Why?”
“Because my cousin loves you and would be sad if you got flattened. By the way, this resort seems to have an excess of giant, hooved mammals.”
Lee asked, “Why are we talking about buffalo wrangling? Lorenzo suggested leaving the doors open so she’ll leave when she’s ready.”
“The longer they’re in there, the greater the chances of things getting broken,” I said.
Lee asked, “Shouldn’t we go in with some sort of plan?”
“The plan is to get them out and avoid getting trampled.”
He started to say something else, but I propped open the door, sprinted through the dining room, and propped open the exit on the other side. Then I ran around the room pulling curtain after curtain until the walls were blocked off.
A moment later, a fuzzy little baby buffalo wandered into the dining room. He was by himself, so I said, “Hey, buddy. Let’s get you out of here and hope your mama follows.”
I started to herd him toward the open door at the back of the building, the one opposite Lee and Rus, who’d joined me inside but seemed uncertain about what to do. Rus called, “For the record, I think that’s a terrible idea.”
Lee started to cross the dining room to help me, but he was cut off by the full-grown buffalo, who cam
e charging out of the kitchen with a clatter of hooves. She slid a bit on the slick flooring and bumped into a table, which sent it flying, but she quickly found her footing and aimed herself right at me.
For lack of a better idea, I grabbed the baby, who was much heavier than he looked, and dashed for the back door. When I made it outside, I ran for several yards before putting the calf down, since I didn’t want them to turn around and go right back into the building. Then I kept running.
When Mama ran past her baby and kept chasing me, I blurted, “Oh shit.” She was definitely going to catch me if we were both running on level ground, so I got the idea to climb and tried to scramble up the hill. That was yet another bad idea though, especially since the loose soil provided me with little traction. Meanwhile, Mama climbed the hill easily. Her breathing grew louder as she narrowed the distance between us.
Just when I thought I was done for, a loud yell caught the animal’s attention, and both she and I looked back at the baby. Lee was standing right beside the calf and shaking a white tablecloth like a matador while he cursed at the mother bison in Greek. I’d never loved anyone more than I loved that man in that moment.
Mama turned back toward her calf, and I swung to the right and began running parallel to the building. When I glanced back over my shoulder, I was shocked to see Lee standing his ground while the huge animal closed in on him. I yelled at him to run, but he squared his shoulders and stared the angry buffalo down with a look of grim determination.
I started sprinting toward him, sure that I was about to watch him get maimed. But in the last instant, he leapt aside, twirled the tablecloth with both hands, and brought it down over the animal’s huge head.
Mama stopped in her tracks, apparently confused by the fact that she suddenly couldn’t see. While she turned in a tight circle and tried to figure it out, I reached Lee and grabbed his hand, and we ran into the building together. Rus closed the door behind us, and as he pulled the curtain over it he said, “All the doors are shut and latched, so we don’t get a repeat performance. I made sure of it.”