Tara appreciated Ben going out of his way to keep her mind distracted from their current situation. She obliged him with stories from memories long ago as they sorted the wreckage of the room, "Danielle and I met in tenth grade, I think. I don't remember honestly. We never went to the same school, but we always ended up traveling the same commute together."
“Commute?” Ben asked as he flipped the mattress up to lean against the wall.
"Yeah, everybody in New York commutes to high school. I was going to one school, and she was going to a performing arts school. I'm still mad she took a year off. That year off turned into postponing her college career indefinitely. She owns the bar, and decided to put all of her attention on that, so school was out of the question. It became an unnecessary expense."
“She owned a bar right out of high school?”
Tara giggled, “Yeah, I guess that doesn’t happen too often. Tara’s mom is like some rocker goddess who travels all of the time. She opened the bar and had a friend of hers running it, but when Tara graduated, her mom’s friend quit. Tara already knew the business inside and out, so it just made sense.”
“Is she happy?”
Tara shrugged, “I guess so. I mean, yeah, she is happy behind that bar when I think about it. She loves it.People gravitate to her. She brings the place to life.”
"So her not going to college upset you, why?" Ben continued to move around the room, hoping to find Tara's phone somewhere.
"She got into so many prestigious schools, including Juilliard and the Curtiss Institute. I guess I wanted the opportunity for her more than she did. She doesn't even enjoy playing music seriously. She has an ear for music and perfect pitch that I assume she got from her mom. I guess I don't want her to waste her gifts.”
"I understand that. My friends get pushy about me not wasting my talents too. Look! What's that?" Ben pointed to something small and black that was sandwiched between the bedpost and the wall. He moved the massive bed effortlessly, and Tara picked up her device. Turning it on, she said a silent prayer. It flickered on, the screen was intact, but that all too familiar battery with the lightning rod through it flashed across her screen with two angry chirps.
"Since you need a charge, let's get you into the car. I want to talk to the cops a bit more before we head out. I want to make sure the motel has all of our contact information for the claim they're going to file for the damage to the room."
Tara’s face dropped. “I wonder what Dr. Barrett is going to say about this.”
“Whatever he has to say will have to be about his budget not being suitable for artifacts so valuable.”
"I don't understand that, either. I thought these weren't as valuable since he chose me to accompany them."
"While you're charging your phone," Ben grinned, "I'm going to need you to go over the file for this trip. It will be a lot easier for both of us once you get an idea of the scope of this transport."
Tara nodded and let Ben escort her to the car parked in front of the manager's office. It was another SUV, a lot bigger, and with black tinted windows. The cost of gas alone for the gargantuan vehicle made her cringe. Still, she hoisted herself into the passenger seat to already find her suitcase in the backseat along with the artifacts case next to it. Her purse hung by its strap around the back of her chair. The car started without Ben in the driver's seat, which confused her for a moment before she looked up to see him standing there, pointing the key fob toward her from the manager's office.
After plugging in her phone, Tara called her brother, Eddie. It didn't take long for him to pick up. Before she could get a word in, he fired out questions, "Where are you, Tara? Mom said she went by your place, and you were gone. No note, no phone calls, no anything. Your suitcase is missing, and she's driving me crazy. Is everything okay?"
Tara could just kick herself for not telling anyone she was taking off, "I'm sorry, Eddie. I'm on a business trip for the museum. We're transporting some artifacts from LA."
Eddie cut her off, "We? Who is with you?"
Tara blushed with embarrassment, not wanting to tell her brother about Ben as though he was the latest guy to ask her on a date. She sighed and led with honesty, knowing he could tell when she lied anyway, "Benjamin Reynolds is the security agent MoVA hired to protect the artifacts. We're driving back from LA now."
“What?!” he shouted.
“Relax, Eddie.” She laughed, “I can see that vein bulging all the way from here.”
“And where is here, Tara?”
Tara looked around, “Nevada, I think. You really should calm down, Eddie.”
“Calm down? Calm down! You take a trip across the country and don’t think to tell your family? What about, Mom? The least you could have done was tell her!”
"Oh, come on! You only care because Mom's been bugging you. I'm an actual adult, you know. I don't have to run my decisions by you or anyone else. Get off my case, you're starting to sound like, Dad."
"Well, someone needs to since you're making stupid impulsive decisions again."
"This wasn't impulsive! You're acting like I decided to take off and hitchhike my way from California."
“Which you’ve done by the way!” he shouted.
"That wasn't from California, it was from Jersey. Hitchhiking is basically like Uber without the app anyway. Besides, Barrett ordered me on this ridiculous excursion. I used to love my job, I don’t anymore. I would quit now, but I don't have a whole lot of opportunities lined up. Anyway, I'm only calling because I know you like to keep law enforcement tabs on me."
“Geeze, Tara. Where are you, and how much is the bail?"
"I really want you to let that go, Eddie. You had to bail me out one time in Atlantic City for that drunk and disorderly with the resisting arrest charge. All the charges were dropped mind you. You're treating me like I'm some irresponsible wild child dancing to the beat of my own tune."
“But you are-” he whined.
"No," she said succinctly, "I was. I haven't been in any kind of trouble for nearly three years, and you guys never want to let me forget it. You're treating me like I'm some sort of screw up."
There was no way that she was going to tell him what happened now. He was on a rant, but a part of her wished her Dad was the one doing the lecturing. Edward Samuels Sr. couldn't care less about her escapades anymore. She'd driven him crazy during her teenage years. Her early twenties left him grey, and her choices of degree, career, and men made him sink into a cave of indifference, leaving the responsibility of looking after Tara to her baby brother.
"You're not a screwup, Tara," Eddie's voice cut into her thoughts, "I just want to make sure you're safe. Despite what you may think about us, your family loves and cares about you. Enjoy your trip, oh wait, what were you calling to tell me? Something about law enforcement?"
"Yeah, I was in a bit of a fender bender, but don't worry. I wasn't driving, and the security company was bonded?These incidents are covered. I don't want you to worry. In case my name flashes across any of your friends' police blotters, I'm okay."
“I definitely don’t like the sound of that. What’s the name of the security company and the agent escorting you again?”
Tara sighed, "White Stone Security and Benjamin Reynolds. Ben is great at his job. Please don't worry too much. You know where I am anyway. I know you have my phone geotagged."
“Well, I’d be a crappy private investigator if I didn’t know how to keep tabs on people worth keeping tabs on. You’re right, though, you haven’t been in trouble in a while. I’m sorry I flew off the handle a bit. It’s just with you gone and no one hearing from you, I thought the worst.”
“You also didn’t think to call Danny.”
Eddie groaned, "You know we're not exactly speaking, right?"
“Why not? What did you do now?”
"She…” he made some very audible grunts before taking a deep breath, "I was working a case, and I may have brought some unwanted attention to her bar."
"Oh
yeah, she's going to kill you. Buy her some pretty frilly things, some flowers and make her happy."
"One, she's not my girlfriend, so she doesn't get apology gifts. Two, Danny doesn't like girly stuff, so if you want me buried under the bar, then yes, Sis, that's great advice. And three, if you know any of your antiquities dealer friends who can get a hold of a vintage English switchblade to give her, so she doesn't bury me in a barrel of whiskey, I'd greatly appreciate it."
Tara laughed and smiled, “You two need to stop fighting and start loving each other the way I know you do. Either that, or you really must have done something crazy at the bar. I was kidding about the frilly things.”
"Bad dudes came in, and she had to close up for a few days and do damage control for a can of worms I unintentionally opened."
"Here, you are worried about me and my mess. You do whatever my best friend tells you to do to avoid whatever craziness you have going on over there. I'll put out some feelers for the knife, which she will love, and I will stay out of trouble, so you have one less thing to worry about. I promise nothing else is going to happen to me."
"Wait a minute! What do you mean, "nothing else"?!"
"I love you, bye!" Tara laughed as she hung up the phone. Leave it to her brother to remind her why she's on this trip in the first place, recalling the incident at the museum that left her job security shaky and feeling like a professional mess up. With a quick glance to Ben, who's making his way to the car, she realized he was right and that she needed to take this trip much more seriously. The stakes are a lot higher than she ever imagined.
4
The smile beaming across Tara’s face made Ben wish he’d been the one to put it there. He started to hope that shared time and experiences together would lead them to that point where it could be him. The thought of Tara in his life beyond this mission resonated with him on a deep level. The nagging feeling in his gut pinged him again. They had to get out of there. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that whoever was after them would come back to see if Tara recovered or if the artifacts were still at the scene. He had to get them back on the road.
When he got inside the car, Tara was fully engrossed in the pages of the file on her lap. She barely moved when he opened the door. Ben didn’t want to disturb her, so he pulled out and began driving to the next stop on their journey.
“How are you feeling?”
She inhaled deeply as if snapping herself out of her studying trance. "Fine, really. I got chewed out by my brother a bit, and then that reminded me of you and how you told me to take this gig more seriously, so here I am."
“Can I ask you something?”
Tara peered over to him, but Ben kept his eyes on the road, “Sure.”
“You seemed really nervous about this at first, but-” He paused to try and find words that wouldn’t offend her.
Tara jumped in for him, "I was really nervous because I screwed up at the Museum and I didn't want to botch this assignment. I’m at risk of losing my job if this doesn’t go well. Seeing you crawl under the car to check for tracking devices and explosives, and then…. we were actually run off the road, rammed from behind to be exact. Then… I wake up from that to have some weird guy chase me and knock me out to ransack the room. That's a whole lot to go through in less than 48 hours. If I get to know the ins and outs of this file like I was supposed to instead of getting hammered, maybe I could be of some help and not be the one causing us so many delays."
Ben held a different appreciation for Tara after witnessing her shift in attitude after being attacked.
"So, you're not worried about the person chasing us or the guy who attacked you?"
“No, that’s why you’re here, right?”
“Right,” Ben sighed.
While Ben appreciated what she said, her words haunted him. That underlying sense of insecurity was never far from his mind. He kept his eyes on the road. The interstate was a straight shot to their next rest stop. His mind wandered to his last job …
Flashback… Seven moths ago, Jeremy Holmes squirmed in the front seat of the car as Ben took a different route home than the tech genius knew.
“This isn’t the way home,” Jeremy stated loudly to make sure Ben knew how nervous he was feeling.
Ben let out a deep exhale to exercise patience in having to explain it again to his client, "I know Jeremy. We can't take the same way home anymore. Your life is being threatened because of the software program you designed. We need to keep you safe, and the easiest way to do that is to not be so predictable. It's only going to be a few more days of this, and once the program is sold, Argos Technologies is going to take over your security detail."
“We really should take the same way home, Benjamin Reynolds. If we take the same way home and get lost, I know how to get there,” Jeremy whined anxiously. His tone was flat as he continued to reiterate the same statements over and over.
“Jeremy, you’ll know how to get home no matter where you are. You’re brilliant that way,” Ben smiled patiently trying to soothe his distraught client.
“Thank you, Benjamin Reynolds. But, can you please, please, go the way you’re supposed to? I like things to stay the same. I want things to stay the same. I need things to stay the same even though nothing ever stays the same.” Jeremy’s agitation escalated. He was starting to hyperventilate.
Ben reached over to apply pressure to the top of Jeremy’s hand. He understood the genius and his less than practical social quirks and emotional fragility. He pushed the top of Jeremy’s palm three times in equally timed pulses. “See? You already know that nothing stays the same. Don’t let this worry you. I’m going to take care of you. Three more days, okay? Only three more days and you can get back into a nice routine.”
The unfortunate thing was that in three more days everything would fall apart and there was nothing Ben could have done to stop it. Jeremy would be in the hospital alongside Benjamin and they would both be recuperating from bullet wounds. While Jeremy would bounce back quickly, Ben would retreat into himself and a world of guilt and remorse and feelings of failure to protect his client and himself. Ben disappeared into the recesses of his mind and rendered himself useless to his team.
Present Day… “Are you okay, Ben?” Tara asked with the files and pages tucked away in her oversized purse. “You’ve been quiet for a few hours now.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry, I’m just trying to figure out how to move forward without knowing all of the variables.”
“What do you mean?”
He didn't want her to worry, but he didn't want to lie to her either. He'd already questioned if he were ready to get back to work. "I just don't like the idea of being put on an assignment, and within a day or two, we have everything turned upside down on us. This wasn't in the dossier."
"That's life. When are the hiccups ever given to you in advance?"
"I can appreciate that, really I can. A part of the process when you hire a security firm is to tell them the possible threats. We weren't alerted to anything."
Tara's eyebrows scrunched together. Her inquisitive nature began to show itself, "Well, again, MoVA wouldn't have hired security if it knew what the threat was, right?"
“I probably would have resigned over this if I knew we’d be up against someone willing to run us off the road. It’s not worth dying over. Any other trips the Museum has taken to retrieve exhibits have been fine. MoVA picks them up. It’s very routine. When the exhibit is through, someone else comes to pick it up and take it to its next museum or collector. This is the first time-”
“Is this the first time you’ve picked up anything from the duck guy?”
“Yes, but Mr. Mallard is a pillar within the community. He’s one of the biggest private donors to MoVA. Eccentricity in the art world is considered a positive. He’s a go-to benefactor for a lot of museums. What are you worried about?”
Ben eyed her to see if she was seriously asking that question, “You mean other than trying to find out who’s chasing thes
e artifacts? I just don’t want you to get hurt again. It’s easier for me to do my job when I can plan accordingly. This wasn’t a high profile-”
“What happened?” she asked, cutting him off.
“Nothing,” Ben deflected, “I just don’t like feeling unprepared.”
“That I can tell. Trust me, life is best lived when you’re unprepared.”
Ben laughed, and he laughed loudly, "That is not true!"
"Of course, it is! All of my best moments had come when I wasn't prepared for them."
“Any of those moments land you in trouble?”
“Absolutely!” Tara stated proudly, “But my trouble days are over. Honestly, this trip is the most trouble I’ve been in over the past few years. Bad things happen when I overthink stuff.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, overthinking is what got me on this trip to begin with.”
“Care to tell me about that?”
"Wrecking an exhibit was one thing. It was an accident. After, I started going into work with the idea that this day would be the day they fired me. So every day I made it without a pink slip, I tried harder and harder to be likable. I think I ended up annoying everyone. I was constantly on pins and needles. It's like everyone knew I should have been fired. I knew I should have been fired, but I wasn't. That’s what I felt. It turned out that the Ming vase that was shattered by a group of rough housing kids I was giving a lecture tour for, was an expensive fake. MoVa does that when the insurance to keep it on public display is too high. It’s an insider secret. Everyone thinks all our displays are the real deal but not everything is authentic. They sent me on this excursion to get rid of me or get me out of the way for a while. Besides no one else wanted to do this assignment. I sure didn’t.”
“Yeah, but this trip isn’t exactly a bad thing.”
Tara smiled, "You're right, it's just a few bad things happening along the way. If I don't come back with those artifacts, I might as well file for unemployment or get a job at Danielle’s bar.”
“Let’s shift our focus to making it back in one piece. I have to admit you seem more relaxed than you did earlier. That’s a good thing.”
Dagger of Desire Page 2