“Damn,” Penny said. “You’re right. I would have yelled at him that I should have killed his ancestors, so he’d never be born. Then he’d know I had time traveled. So he raped me, believing I wouldn’t report him, but that I would one day come looking for him.”
“Which is what you intended to do,” Kenzie said.
“He was fucking evil. And now whoever tortured him almost certainly knows who I am. He would have used it to negotiate for his life.” Penny pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders. “They’re coming after me, believing I can lead them to the brooches. I know it. I believe it. I feel it.”
Rick put his arm around her. “You’ll be safe here.”
“Look,” she stabbed him with a stare. “We can’t live here forever. We’re getting married, we want to start a family, and we both have businesses that need our attention. We have to end this. I don’t know how, but we have to end it now.”
“Wilhelmina,” Elliott said, “until we’ve settled this, ye can’t go back to Napa, and ye can’t share yer engagement or tell yer staff where ye are.”
“What about yer business records or a computer? Is there anything at yer townhouse that will lead someone to Virginia?” David asked.
Penny’s early-morning smile had gone tighter than a tourniquet. “If anyone checks my credit card purchases, they’ll find two one-way tickets from Napa to New Orleans, the hotel bill, the purchases I made at the estate sale, and a shopping excursion in Napa last week.”
“They’ll discover Penny disappeared for four days without a reasonable explanation,” Pete said, “which might be further confirmation that she has a brooch.”
“Her disappearance will lead to us, the limo company, the rental house, and the Fontenots’s house. If they find out Elliott bought the house and is having it moved here, then they’ll connect us all,” Rick said.
“I’ll take care of the breadcrumbs,” David said. “I’ll need yer account info, Penny.”
“I’ll get that to you, but how can you take care of it?”
“Don’t ask,” Rick said.
“Cate paid for the limo, the rental house, and other incidental expenses through an offshore account,” Kevin said. “Any time we deal with the brooches, I run the expenses through a separate business. It’s all legit because there’s no income to report, just legitimate transfers. It’s impossible to connect it to the MacKlennas.”
“What about the rental in Gothenburg?” David asked.
“Until we’ve concluded this adventure, I’m running everything through that offshore account,” Kevin said.
“What about the Belmont?” Pops asked. “Should we go or not?”
“We have to assume we’re all in somebody’s crosshairs,” David said. “I don’t recommend anyone go to New York for the race except Elliott, Meredith, Kevin, JL, and Shane.”
“Wait,” Sophia said. “I’m commissioned to paint the winning horse crossing the finish line. I have to be there.”
David flicked his pen back and forth on the legal pad in front of him. “Okay, ye and Pete can go, but no kids. Protecting the seven of ye in that crowd will be hard enough.”
“What about the kids? Especially the older ones?” Jack asked. “You’ll arrange a bodyguard for Patrick, right?”
“Austin, Isabella, Emily, James Cullen, Patrick, and Noah—the kids not at home—must have bodyguards,” David said. “I know a man who owns an international agency that provides private security, risk management, and defense contracting. His teams are all former US Special Forces.”
“The kids won’t like this,” Meredith said. “Especially Noah. He’s out digging up dinosaur bones.”
“Sorry,” David said. “They don’t have a choice. Besides, they understand how vital it is to protect the family and the brooches. As long as this doesn’t go on for months, they should be okay.”
“Hey, wait another minute,” JL said. “How are we going to handle the NBA playoffs? Everyone wants to watch Austin play.”
David ran his fingers through his hair and went for a full-on scowl. “Shite.”
“We have no choice. We have to limit our visibility,” Elliott said. “JL, explain the situation to Austin. David will have bodyguards for him too.”
“Just as long as they don’t barge into practice wearing camo and carrying assault rifles,” JL said. ‘That’ll screw with all the players’ heads. We don’t want Austin’s need for security to get him cut from the team.”
“So it looks like we’re all on lockdown,” Pops said.
“What about Gothenburg?” Kenzie asked. “We can’t disappoint the kids. We have to go.”
“Shite!” David said again. “I don’t have the heart to cancel the trip. This security agency is more than capable of protecting us in Gothenburg.” David made notes on the legal pad. “Kevin, I want ye and Rick on the call when I talk to the president of the company. Connor, if ye and Pete want to join in, ye’re welcome.”
“Sure,” Kevin said. “Text when you have the time and a dial-in code.”
“Is there anything else before we sign off?” Elliott asked. “I know this is a lot for all of us to swallow, but once we get through this, we’ll be closer to understanding the true meaning of the brooches and the purpose of the door in the castle.”
“If everyone wants to spend June here, ye know we have room,” Braham said.
“We’ll join you in Virginia as soon as we can make arrangements,” Connor said. “I don’t know how long I can stay, but we all need to be together right now.”
“We’ll bring Pops, Maria, and the kids down there before we go to New York for the race,” JL said. “Then we’ll come back and stay through July 4th. How’s that, Dad?”
Pops looked at Maria, who nodded. “Okay with us.”
“Connor, I’ll send the winery’s jet to Denver to pick up all your gang. Let me know when you want to leave,” Rick said.
“Thanks. With all this crew, that’ll make travel a lot easier,” Connor said.
“I’ll leave tomorrow,” Shane said, “and come straight to the plantation.”
“Good,” Rick said. “I’ll feel better having all of you here.”
“That concludes the meeting,” Elliott said. “If we get any more information, we’ll pass it along. But let’s be careful out there. Until this is over, we can’t take our safety for granted.”
Goodbyes were said, and each remote connection signed off. That left those in the room to absorb all that had happened. David’s fingers flew across his laptop keyboard. “I’m sending an email to my contact.”
“What’s the name of the company?” Pete asked.
“Northbridge Worldwide Group,” David said.
Sophia pushed away from the table. “I’m leaving security up to you guys. We’re safe here at the plantation, so I’m taking the kids to the pool for a while until I head back to the studio. If I need to watch my back, tell me now.”
“Ye’re safe here, Sophia,” David said, “but if ye leave the plantation, all bets are off.”
“Gotcha. I might move in here until this is all done.”
“Ye’re always welcome,” Braham said. “Ye know that.”
Kenzie stood and said to Penny, “If you feel up to coaching from the sidelines, the boys said they’d put a lounge chair under the willow oak for you.”
“Sure. Let me change clothes, and I’ll meet them at the tree.” Penny folded the throw blanket. “Where did you get this, Rick?”
He took her hand. “From Charlotte’s office. We’ll drop it off then go for a walk in the garden.” They left through the back door and strolled through the sweet-smelling garden, enjoying the light breeze coming off the river. “We need to have an understanding.”
“Okay,” she said.
“You can’t take any chances. This situation is serious shit, and my fuckups made it more dangerous.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The sketch the lieutenant got from me.”
“My painting is hanging on the wall at the Cabildo, and, according to the website, has been there since 1815. We don’t know where Jean’s painting is, so the sketch the lieutenant snatched from you wasn’t the only picture of me floating around through the centuries.”
“Regardless, I want your promise that you’ll stay here, and if you do go into Richmond to shop, you’ll take guards with you.”
She snaked her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest. His heart gave one huge whap against his ribs, and he tugged her close. If he could pull her inside him and keep her safe always, he would.
“The same goes for you, buster,” she said. “I’ll agree if you agree.”
“Deal.”
Rick tasted something bitter and metallic at the back of his throat, and a small jolt shot through the soles of his feet, as though the ground was electrified. His entire family was in danger, and the love of his life was in even more.
Whatever peace he felt earlier had dissipated like the early morning fog, and was shattered by the lightning strike of Colonel Bowes’s ritual sacrifice at Jarlshof.
73
Mallory Plantation—Penny
Penny kept her rocking chair moving with gentle pats of her foot on the cabin’s porch while she enjoyed the calm, the ebb and flow of the river, and the sweet-scented garden surrounding the cabin. Rick was wrapping up a call while she rocked and rocked, her mind wandering back and forth in sync with her chair.
The past weeks had flown by while she and Rick lived in a cocoon of lazy summer days punctuated with swimming laps in the pool, tennis matches, early morning runs, weight training with Trainer Ted, skiing on the river, drinking beer, wine parties with the rest of the clan, eating delicious food, cuddling, and mad, passionate sex every chance they got.
It was better than a six-week vacation in a five-star resort. And Penny had never been so happy in her entire life, even though there was an undercurrent of danger to the whole family. But in this high-security plantation, they were safe from whatever evil was searching the globe for them, or her individually.
Stormy Gate won the Belmont and the Triple Crown, and Soph was now spending most of her time in a one-room, Giverny-style studio landscaped with a pond full of lily pads and a flower garden, tucked away on the plantation near the resource center. After she completed the three commissioned paintings of Stormy Gate, she intended to concentrate on a series of Battle of New Orleans paintings for an art show scheduled to coincide with the annual reenactment.
Rhona’s treatment was going well, and she was thrilled about the housewarming and celebration scheduled to begin within the hour. No one had been allowed anywhere near the site, so it was going to be a surprise for the entire clan.
“Are you ready?” Rick asked, joining Penny on the porch.
“That was a long call. Is your wine master stressing out because you aren’t there?”
Rick scratched the side of his face while he glanced down and away, classic avoidance body language. Her pulse rate shot up and stayed there while she stopped rocking and sat still and tense.
“What is it? What’s the matter?”
“David found the lieutenant’s journal.”
She swallowed hard to get rid of the lump in her throat and consciously slowed her breathing to tame her skyrocketing pulse. “Where?”
Rick propped against the porch railing, crossing his jeans-clad legs at the ankles, trying to look casual, but it didn’t work. His tense jaw contradicted his relaxed pose.
“David’s agent bought Colonel Bowes’s residence with all its contents. When the sale was finalized and David had the keys, he took Pete with him, and they searched the house using sophisticated sensing equipment. They found a safe hidden behind a wall.”
She scooted to the edge of the rocking chair. “And…?”
“Inside the safe was an old leather-bound journal. The lieutenant made his first entry shortly after the attack on Canada in 1812. In December 1814, there was an entry about meeting you and Jean Lafitte at Barataria.”
Her shoulders pinched up in a protective shrug. “I can tell from your tone of voice that this isn’t going to relieve my mind.”
“Following the dinner at Barataria, the lieutenant made notes of all your prognostications. Then, months later, he went back and commented on each one, indicating all of them had come true and wondering how you could have known the outcome of the war and the date of the peace treaty.”
She shot to her feet so fast that her hair lashed across her face, and she swatted it away. “What did Bowes think I was? A crystal-gazer, prognosticator, palm reader, oracle, prophet, seer, soothsayer—”
“He referred to you as a sibyl.”
She snorted. “At least Bowes didn’t say I was a time traveler.”
“He didn’t, but the colonel’s great-grandfather suggested the possibility.”
A creepy sensation zipped up her spine. “Shit. So the colonel’s killers know who I am.”
“According to a note in the journal, shortly after he met you at West Point, Bowes noticed the resemblance between you, a sketch in the journal, and blue-haired Penny’s portrait at the Cabildo in New Orleans.”
“Was the sketch the one he took from you?” she asked.
Rick nodded. “David said it was faded, but the resemblance was obvious. We have to assume the colonel’s been watching you for years, and we also have to assume the colonel gave you up before or during his torture.”
Sweat trickled between her breasts, and she swallowed, but there was nothing to swallow. Her mouth was bone dry. “He’s been spying on me for almost fifteen years, waiting for me to come after him so he could force—and probably torture—me into revealing everything I know, but the others got to him first. Does David know who they are?”
“Not yet. There are additional notes in the journal written in code.”
“Can he decipher them?”
“If he can’t, Kenzie can. Did you know she worked for Alan Turing at Bletchley Park during the weeks leading up to D-Day?”
“A codebreaker? I didn’t know that. Then she’ll figure it out.” Penny sat back down and rocked, thinking through all the pieces. “When did you find out about the journal? This afternoon?”
He gave a half-shrug—body language for I’m-uncomfortable-with-that-question. Then he scratched his head. “A couple of days ago.”
Her feet hit the deck. “Are you kidding? And you didn’t tell me. Didn’t you think it was something I should know?”
He ducked his head. “Well…”
She bent over so she could see his face. “‘Well…?’ That’s all you can say?”
He looked up. “You’ve been so relaxed these past few weeks—”
She straightened. “Relaxed? What the hell does that have to do with anything? You didn’t want to ruffle my feathers?”
“Something like that.”
She groaned.
“Hold up, Penny,” he said, reaching for her. “You were looking forward to the celebration tonight, and I didn’t want to upset you.”
She threw up her hands, stomped away from him, and circled the porch. She didn’t want to fight, but he needed to understand how important it was for him not to protect her this way.
“We’ve gone through this before, Rick. I don’t want you to protect me. I want to be your partner, and if you can’t do that…” She shook her head and let the statement trail off because she couldn’t bring herself to say what she thought she should say—that this would never work.
He turned to face the river and sucked in a deep breath. Then he turned back to her. “I should have told you.”
The knots in her stomach were knotting the previous knots. “How many times have we made love since then? How many times have we poured out our hearts, our dreams? How many opportunities have you had to tell me this important, life-threatening bit of news? And you chose not to.” Her pulse stuttered at the multiple whammies, and her brain scrambled to put all the parts in order
. “If you don’t keep me informed, how can I protect myself—emotionally and physically?”
“That’s my job. If you don’t let me do that, then this will never work.”
She just looked at him, struck dumb. Sure, she just thought the same thing, but she forced herself not to say it.
But he did. He went there.
“I can’t believe we’re arguing about protecting each other. That’s insane. I know what you want, but I’m not sure you know what I want.”
“You want to be partners,” he muttered at his feet.
“Bingo. I’ve heard dozens of stories about JL and Pete when they were partners in the NYPD. They always protected each other, and they still do. And it worked because it wasn’t one-sided. You can’t keep stuff from me because you’re worried about how I’ll handle it emotionally. I’m a former Army Ranger. I’m tougher than shit, and I won’t let you treat me like I’m too fragile to hear disturbing news.”
He ran his fingers through his hair as he walked away from her, out into the yard. She wanted to run after him but she couldn’t. The issue was too important to them as a couple.
He turned to face her. “I don’t know if I can change. I’ve been taking care of people for too long, but I want to give you what you want.”
“If you want to, then you can. It’s just a habit you’ll have to change. Instead of thinking, ‘I can’t tell Penny because it’ll worry her,’ you have to think, ‘I need to tell Penny immediately so we can talk about how to handle this.’ If you remember that, we won’t have a problem.”
“Now that you’ve drilled it down to that choice, it seems simple enough to make.”
She didn’t say a word. And thank God, because she had no idea what just happened. “Come again?”
“You’re right. I never got past the first part of that equation. I don’t promise I’ll change my behavior immediately, but by the second, third, or maybe even the fifth time, we won’t have to argue about this anymore.”
Her head was spinning. How could he possibly flip on a dime like that? He was telling her what she wanted to hear, but he’d keep on trying to protect her. And she’d keep resenting it, which would lead to more arguments. Could she meet him halfway?
The Topaz Brooch Page 82