by Karen Anders
His eyes snapped open and he looked up at her with such a sense of betrayal that Maxie almost gave up the whole plan, but then she thought of Dorrie and how she’d pledged her life savings to Maxie without a blink of an eye. How her sister had rallied to her side during the arrest. How her sister has always been there for her. She bit her lip, tears welling in her eyes. Maxie had to make it right.
“Don’t do this, Maxie.”
“I’m sorry, Austin,” Maxie said, turning away from him. She quickly dressed and shoved all her stuff into her bag. “We’ve run out of time and it’s the only way I can save you.”
“Maxie, you don’t have to save me. Please.”
“I do because I…love you Austin. I know you probably don’t believe that, but it’s true.” She turned back to him. “I have to go.”
“If you love me, don’t leave me like this, Maxie.”
She walked around to the bed and searched through his jeans and finally found the key to the handcuffs in his boot. Tears spilled down her cheeks, hot and wet. Careful to keep her distance from him, she threw the blanket over his lower body. She walked to the door.
“It’s the only way I can save you both. You’ll see that later.”
“The club really means that much to you?”
“No, you missed the point. Firecrackers is just glass, tables, chairs and liquor. What means something to me is the look in my sister’s eyes. I can’t disappoint her again.” She put her hand on the door handle. “And turning me in will destroy you.”
“Don’t do this…Maxie.”
“I think you know all about self-sacrifice, Austin. It’s my turn now.”
“Running away isn’t going to solve anything. It’ll only make matters worse. Let me take you back and we’ll work everything out. Please give us a chance.”
“I can’t do that. There’s too much at stake. Too much.” She turned the knob, went out the door and pulled it closed. She could hear his ragged shout through the door.
“Maxie!”
“Are you all right, honey?” Star put her hand on her shoulder and Maxie turned around. With a sob of pure agony Maxie let Star enclose her in a hug.
“No, but it’ll be okay.”
“Isn’t there any other way, honey?”
“No. I wish there were, but there isn’t.” She put the handcuff key in Star’s hand. “Please let him go in a few hours.”
“You’re not going back to Mesa Roja, are you?”
“Not this time. But it wouldn’t hurt if you could make him think I did.”
“I’ll try.”
Maxie could see Handlebar waiting on his Harley not far from them. He waved to her and she waved back. “Star, there’s something else I think you should know. Handlebar is in love with you. Why don’t you give the big guy a break and go out with him?”
Star blushed and smiled. “Go out with him? I intend to marry the big oaf.”
“Put him out of his misery, would you?”
Star nodded. “You call me when you get settled and if you ever need anything…” Star choked up and her lips tightened.
“I know. I’ll call you.” Maxie hugged Star and turned to the Harley, stowed her bag and started up the bike.
Just as suddenly, she turned the ignition to Off. As Star watched with a perplexed look on her face, Maxie walked over to Austin’s car retrieved something from the rearview mirror, shoved it into her pocket and walked back to the bike. With a determined look on her face, she straddled the bike.
It rumbled to life again. This time, without a backward glance, she gunned the bike and as soon as she hit the pavement, she opened up the throttle. She hastily wiped the tears from her eyes. It wouldn’t do to fog up her visor.
YOU EXPECTED THIS. You knew it was going to happen like this. So you have absolutely no right to be surprised.
Stepping out of the shower, Austin toweled himself off, rubbed at his hair. He walked into the bedroom, got dressed and went to the curtained window.
Star had come into the room an hour ago. Without a word she had unlocked the handcuffs and set him free.
When he had questioned her, she had tried to convince him that Maxie had gone back to Mesa Roja. But he knew in his heart that she hadn’t. Maxie was gone.
Twenty minutes later, he grabbed a comb and began to drag it through his tangled hair, ordering himself to stop thinking about useless things he had no control over. Think about something you can do something about, he ordered himself.
He picked up his cell phone and dialed the number for Firecrackers.
“Firecrackers, Dorrie speaking.”
“Ms. Maxwell. This is Austin Taggart.”
“The bounty hunter.” Maxie’s sister’s voice had gone flat.
“That’s right.”
“How is my sister?” Her concerned question only made him feel worse for what he was about to do.
“In deeper trouble,” he replied with warning in his voice.
“Oh, no. How can she be in deeper trouble?”
“She escaped me this morning. “I need to find her. Where would she go?”
“Why should I tell you anything?”
“I don’t have to report that she was aided and abetted by friends of hers.” Austin didn’t give a damn about the rough couple who had come here to help Maxie. He cared about finding her before she got into deeper trouble.
“Who?”
“Star Dupree and the biker she hangs out with.”
She sighed. “Handlebar. She told me all about them. She loves them like family.” There was a resignation in her voice.
“Do you want them to go to jail for your sister’s reckless behavior?”
Dorrie let out a compressed breath. “No.”
“Tell me where she is. Believe me, it’ll be easier on her if I don’t have to chase her down.”
“You’re putting me in an ugly place, Mr. Taggart.” Dorrie’s voice lowered and revealed her distress.
“No. Your sister put you there.”
“You’re compounding on it,” she accused. And she had every right to accuse him. He was guilty, but he wasn’t going to back down.
“All right, you win. Still doesn’t get you off the hook,” he said forcefully, trying to convince her that he meant business. “I’m going after your sister and I’ll implicate her friends so that they, too, will go to jail. Your choice.”
There was a pause and he deliberately kept quiet letting all he had said seep into her consciousness. He waited for her answer. “She probably went to a favorite B and B of hers. It’s located in Colorado.”
He released the breath he wasn’t aware he was holding. “You’re doing the right thing, Ms. Maxwell,” he said as she gave him the name and directions to the B and B. “Thanks. I’ll be in touch.” He went to end the call, but her plea stopped him.
“Mr. Taggart. My sister means everything to me. Please don’t hurt her.”
“I have no intention—”
Dorrie Maxwell cut him off. “She’s doing all this for me. Don’t you think I understand that? But it doesn’t matter. Not the club, not the money, not anything. If I could, I’d switch places with her. She’s all that matters and I couldn’t bear it if something happened to her because of me. Promise me you won’t hurt her.”
“I’d never hurt her. I give you my promise.”
Long after his conversation with Dorrie Maxwell, Austin stood by the window, his eyes on the fading day, but he saw nothing. He’d been right about Maxie. She was trouble—major trouble.
He’d been kneed in the groin, led on a wild-goose chase and been betrayed. Now his heart was aching because he couldn’t bear to destroy their dreams. He knew what that felt like and it hurt to think he would be responsible for taking away what they both wanted most—Firecrackers.
There were alternatives to taking her back. There had to be another angle.
The stars were just beginning to dot the sky with brilliance. There’s always another angle, son. All you have to do is l
ook.
His father’s words came back to him on that star-studded night when he couldn’t find Orion through his telescope.
Damn. Why hadn’t he looked at it this way before? His heart felt lighter and more carefree.
He knew exactly what he was going to do.
He was going to let her go.
He loved her more than anything else on the planet. More than anything.
He turned to look at the bed and he could picture her face. He wanted to run his hand over her shining hair. She was beautiful, inside and out.
He loved her. He knew it was true, but as with anything else in his life, he wasn’t going to be able to keep her.
There was one more thing he could do for Maxie.
Tears pricked the back of his eyes as he closed them in order to gain the composure he would need. He walked to the door.
Closing it behind him, he went to the office to pay his bill. After that, there was nothing to do but get in his car. It wasn’t until he was out of the parking lot that he realized that the small shield was gone from his rearview. He smiled softly. She didn’t realize that now she wouldn’t need it.
His cell phone rang and he automatically checked the number. When he recognized it as Manny’s, he pushed the off button. Austin faced stoically forward and headed home to Sedona.
12
MAXIE WAS SO tired that she didn’t think she could swing her leg over the bike and drag her tired body up the stairs of the B and B.
She was heartily sick of traveling and wanted nothing more than her comfortable apartment and her bed to sleep in. But the frilly, sweet-smelling room would have to do.
Of course, motels didn’t bring back the memory of Austin. Of course, she could look at a tub and not think of how she’d pushed him into one. It was mind over matter after all. She wouldn’t feel guilty.
She grabbed her bags and walked up the steps, signed in as quickly as possible and went up to her room. It didn’t take long to run a bath and drop in soothing bath salts. She sank into the hot water with a soft sigh.
He must hate her for the humiliating way she had left him. She would never forget the look on his face, the pain in his eyes. It would haunt her for a very long time. Even if she wanted to go back to Sedona and turn herself in, he would never forgive her.
Not that she was thinking about turning herself in.
She couldn’t turn herself in.
After the water cooled, she toweled off and dressed in one of Austin’s T-shirts she’d accidentally stuffed in her bag three days ago. Three days since she’d cuffed him to that bed in the hotel where she’d finally admitted to herself that she was in love with him. She wondered if Austin had followed her.
She lay down on the bed and leaned back against the pile of pillows. She held the shield up, staring at it, outlined each bold line of paint with her finger, amazed at the skill it took to draw on such a small canvas.
She’d like to see the old woman at work.
She yearned to see Austin again and have him pull her into his strong arms.
“Running away isn’t going to solve your problems.”
Austin’s warning echoed in her head, in her heart. Eventually she slept, but sporadically, her light sleep made restive by guilty dreams that woke her up with a vague feeling of uneasiness. It was a twisting, winding sort of sleep, fractured and chaotic. When the first light of dawn began to streak across the sky she felt more tired than when she had first lain down.
She looked once more at the small shield she’d held through the night. Perhaps it could bring her luck when she went back to Sedona, as she knew she must.
Austin was right. She had to face her problems and stop running from them. She tried his cell phone number one more time, but there was still no answer.
She wondered if he’d shut it off to keep her from calling. She disconnected the call and left no message.
Deciding not to call her sister because Maxie didn’t want her to worry, she dressed, paid her bill and straddled the bike. If she rode hard, she could be back in Sedona in four days. Back to face the music. Back to face the embezzlement charges and hope that Jake had something she could use.
She wondered if Austin would be proud of her. She wondered if he would ever know or care.
ALMOST SIX WEEKS after she had left Sedona, she was now back, and walking into the very place where she had been booked. Sedona’s Seventh precinct raged with pandemonium. It seemed that the cops had just busted a group of hookers in a raid and there were women yelling and kicking cops all over the lobby.
Maxie stepped around an especially tall woman and peered up at the desk sergeant.
“Excuse me.”
“I don’t want to hear your sob story. Tell it to the judge.” The words were so similar to Austin’s that Maxie’s heart contracted.
Maxie stared up at him, her throat tight. “I don’t have a story. I just came to…”
“Martinez, will you get over here and get this pesky woman into a cell,” the desk sergeant bellowed.
A burly officer grabbed her arm, but Maxie fought him. “Look, I’m a fugitive from justice and I do belong in a cell, but not for solicitation.”
The desk sergeant studied her features. “I know who you are. Francesca Maxwell.”
“That’s right.” She turned to the officer and said, “Now you can take me to a cell.”
“Hold up there, Martinez. She’s not going to any cell.”
Maxie gave the man a perplexed look. The fear in her subsided and was replaced by hope.
The desk sergeant’s whole demeanor changed and he smiled at her. “Welcome back, little lady. It seems we owe you an apology.”
“What do you mean? I’ve come to turn myself in.”
“No need. You’re free to go.”
“I am?”
“A Jake Utah came down to the precinct with evidence that your associate at the bank, Mark Irvin, planned and executed the whole embezzlement scheme. When he was hauled in and we presented the evidence, he said that he used your code and framed you. The local authorities and the FBI have dropped the charges and plan to give you a formal apology.”
Stunned, elated, Maxie stared at the desk sergeant for a moment then she spoke, “Jake’s come through for me.”
“Yes, he did.”
“What about the flight charges?”
“Those have been dropped, too. We’re not about to haul an innocent victim into court and press charges for flight and cost the taxpayers an expensive trial.”
Maxie had to sit down. She did so in the midst of the bustling precinct across from the wanted posters on the wall. She was completely relieved. Evidently Jake had gotten her off the hook. She owed Jake everything.
“JAKE, I INSIST on paying for the computer hacker you used to help me.” Maxie had left the station and immediately gone over to Jake’s home. She’d found him setting up a new, state-of-the-art computer. Now, she was in a full debate with him over the money she felt she owed him.
“Maxie, don’t worry about it. I’ve already been compensated for my part in this because I was instrumental in finding the lost money. I should share it with you.” He attached cords and wires. “I’m glad it’s all over. You—” he looked at her “—a fugitive from justice. Hard to believe. I thank God that nothing terrible happened to you when you were running from the law.”
He put down the equipment and hugged her close in a brotherly embrace. Then he let her go and sat down in front of the screen.
“Jake, I’m so grateful, please let me do this, at least.”
“No.” He keyed in the software code and manipulated the mouse.
“I want to pay you.”
He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Maxie, will you drop it?”
“No, I won’t.” She searched around on his desk. “Where’s the invoice or agreement? Tell me the amount.”
“You said you would introduce me to your sister. That’s all I want. With the reward money I’m going to invest in your
club.”
Maxie threw up her hands, feeling anxiety for the first time in her life. “It seems that I owe someone, somehow. Fine, Jake. Who was the hacker? I’ll call him myself and ask him.”
“No. You can’t do that.”
“Why?”
“I wasn’t supposed to tell where I got the money to pay Mike. He made me promise.”
Maxie drew back and looked at him with surprise. “Who made you promise?”
Jake looked away from her. “Big Native American guy named Austin.”
“Austin?”
“Yeah, he’s intimidating. Not the type to take no for an answer. I liked him, though. I told him I’d reimburse him the moment I got the reward money, but he refused.” But when Jake turned back to look at her, he realized he was talking to thin air. Maxie was gone.
MAXIE TRIED AUSTIN’S cell phone as soon as she got into her car. And finally it was picked up. Her heart beat nervously against the wall of her chest.
“Hello?” The voice was soft and definitely female. Maxie almost hung up, but that wouldn’t help her. If Austin already had another girlfriend, then she’d have to be content to thank him and let that be the end of it.
“Who is this?”
“Jessica.”
Relief washed through Maxie. “You probably don’t know me, but I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“You have?”
“Yes, I’m the most recent bounty he didn’t collect on.”
“Blondie.” Jessica squealed.
“What?”
“That’s what he called you. It’s really amazing what he did for you. I can’t believe he sold his car, but that’s just the way he is.”
“Sold his car?” Maxie felt her insides clench.
“Sure.”
“Oh, please, no. Not that. Do you know who he sold it to?”
“I sure do.”
Maxie wrote down the information as Jessica told her.
“Could I talk to him?”
“He’s out with a friend looking for a new car.”
“Do me a favor and please don’t tell him I called.” Jessica agreed and Maxie never looked back.
13