Adam’s Outlaw

by Sandra Chastain

  She was just about to suggest that her sleeping bag would make a more comfortable seat than the rocky floor when she heard a man’s voice. Adam tensed and she knew he’d heard it too.

  “That’s no ghost,” she whispered.

  “Shhhhh!” Adam carefully pushed himself to his feet, indicating by touching Toni’s shoulder that she should stay put. Cautiously he made his way back into the large room, past the rubbish to a window Annie had washed earlier. The sound of male voices carried clearly through the darkness.

  “You bring the money?”

  “Yes. What about the zoning permit, Burns?”

  “It’s as good as done. I get the zoning changed from housing to industrial at the same time you’re buying options on the property around the Olympic complex site. But what if we don’t get the games?”

  “We go for industry, Councilman. We still make a mint. Until you get the zoning changed the land isn’t worth much. Everybody knows the City Council has that land earmarked for low-cost housing. And nobody wants that kind of development with government financing in a mess.”

  “Just don’t forget who arranged the zoning change.”

  Toni, standing behind Adam, felt her heart sink. She recognized the voice of the first man, the man asking for the money. She ought to. She and half the city of Atlanta had heard it on the cable coverage of the City Council meetings. The man taking a bribe was Richard Burns, a member of the City Council.

  No wonder the council was dragging its feet, she thought. One of its most influential members was planning to sell a zoning change. Both her plan and the government housing project would go down the drain if the zoning was changed. That couldn’t be allowed to happen.

  She and Adam watched as the figure nearest them handed a small paper bag to the government official. When the payoff had been completed, Adam drew in a deep breath and stepped through the doorway into the courtyard.

  At the same moment a light flooded the area and a voice vibrated through a speaker.

  “This is the police. Stop where you are.”

  “That’s right, fellows. Hold it right there.” Adam hoped the two men wouldn’t realized that the object in his hand was a plumbing wrench rather than a gun.

  “The law?” the second man exclaimed. “You brought the cops, Burns? A setup? You fink!” He dropped his shoulder and plowed into Burns, who stood frozen in the light holding the bag.

  The blow sent the older man tumbling to the ground. He cried out with pain and tried to rise, but fell back again. Adam swore as the unknown man raced away, then turned back to check Burns.

  A setup? Toni wondered. No, she didn’t think so. She watched as the bad guy made a mad dash for the safety of the woods, ducking around to the side of the building, out of the light.

  Not stopping to think, she climbed up the crumbling pile of rock and ran along the roof just above the fleet-footed criminal. If there was one thing she was good at, it was scaring crooks. The only thing she hadn’t counted on was that this crook wasn’t standing still. He was almost at the end of the wall.

  “Geronimo!” she called out, leaping desperately off the low-hanging roof toward the startled man. At the last second he stepped aside. The last thing she remembered was watching the ground rise up to meet her.

  “Simple Simon met a pieman.” Adam viciously kicked the tire of the rescue vehicle.

  Officer Smith walked up to him. “Pieman? Is that a new street name for a payoff man?”

  “No, that’s a name for a stupid police officer who can’t even keep one pint-size outlaw out of trouble. How is she?”

  “She’s going to be black-and-blue probably. Otherwise, if her temper is any indication of the state of her health, she’s all right. Just got the wind knocked out of her. You know who we got taking a payoff, don’t you, Captain?”

  “Yeah, they told me. Here I am trying to keep one woman from turning this place into housing for the elderly at her own expense, and one of our city fathers is selling the zoning. I can’t believe it. What a mess. Does the mayor know?”

  “Yes. He’d like to talk to you when you get away.” Officer Smith shook his head. “You don’t think he was really working undercover, do you?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m sure as hell going to find out.” Adam squared his shoulders and strode around to the back of the ambulance, where the paramedics were arguing with a pale but angry Toni Gresham.

  “I will not go to the hospital for observation,” she was saying. “I’m fine, I tell you. Just have somebody drive me home.”

  “Not just yet, Geronimo,” Adam said quietly. “I’m taking you home. We have some serious talking to do about your recklessness.”

  “My recklessness? Not by the hair of your chinny, chin chin, Adam Ware.” She spat out the words, clenching her hands into tight little balls. “I didn’t take on two crooks with a plumber’s wrench.”

  “You’re angry because I’m doing my job?”

  “No, I’m angry because … because … Oh, how could you do this, bring the police here? You fink! You planned this to sabotage my project from the beginning.”

  Toni knew she was overreacting. None of this was Adam’s fault. Even if he had reported her, he couldn’t have known about a bribery attempt. At least their presence had saved the housing zoning from going commercial. Still, she wanted to scream, to reach out and hit something or somebody. Never in her entire life had she felt such frustration boiling inside.

  “Look, lady!” Adam’s low voice was more threatening than a shout. “What do you mean I sabotaged your plan? I came here to tell you about the stakeout.”

  She jerked her head up, slinging her blond curls viciously. Sparks seemed to fly as she glared at him.

  “You never intended to help in the first place. Play a little basketball with the kids. Talk to the garden clubs. Make public appearances for the mayor. You’re a real help to the little man, Adam Ware. You’re just the mayor’s pimp. I can understand that must be good for your ego, but to deliberately set out to betray us, me, that I can’t believe.”

  There was pain in Toni’s voice, and disappointment. Adam wanted both to shake her and take her in his arms and comfort her. Not many people could call him a pimp for the mayor and get away with it. Nobody else would even try.

  “Listen, outlaw,” he began calmly. “I didn’t betray you. Take off those rose-colored glasses and recognize the real world out here. I’m no yes-man for anybody. That’s why I was trying to get you out of here. I found out there was a stakeout on for tonight and I came to warn you. We had no idea that a bribery attempt was going down. That was an extra little benefit.”

  She knew he was telling the truth and she knew, too, that she’d been lashing out at him when the real object of her wrath was the system that made the elderly homeless. She couldn’t find a building to renovate because of people like Councilman Burns. In truth, she couldn’t blame Adam for what had happened.

  “Maybe my glasses are rose-colored,” she admitted. “Maybe I know that I’m not making a dent in the problems of the elderly, but I’m dealing with them the only way I can. At least I’m doing something. Can you say the same thing?”

  He took a long time to answer her. “I don’t know. Come on, let me take you home. We need to talk.”

  “Yes, I think we do.”

  When he reached down to take her arm, she jerked away. On rubbery legs she managed to get to his van, which he’d pulled inside the courtyard. Stepping up used the last of her energy, and she collapsed against the back of the seat.

  “Are you all right?”

  “I’m very tired. Adam, what will happen to Councilman Burns?”

  “He’s going downtown to talk to the chief. Claims he was approached by someone who offered a bribe for a zoning permit. Of course, honorable man that he is, he couldn’t allow the man to bribe any of the other councilmen, so he set out to catch the crook all by himself.”

  “And you believe that?”

  “No, but it will be his
word against the crook’s, and since nobody knows who the other guy was, dear Councilman Burns will probably get off.”

  “Adam, I know who the second man was.”

  Adam started the engine and eased the van around the piles off rubbish and into the road. His mind whirled with the implications of Toni’s statement. She knew who the other man was. His first thought was to drive straight downtown, then he reconsidered.

  “You recognized him?”

  “Well, no, but I did see his face. I could probably identify him if I ever saw him again.” She glanced at Adam, surprised at his stern expression. He was holding the steering wheel the same way he’d held his chili dog, loosely but with complete control.

  Adam felt that he was anything but in control. What Toni didn’t know was that that bag had contained a lot of money, and the briber had abandoned it willingly. Anybody willing to shell out that kind of money wasn’t going to like it that Toni could identify him. That is, if he knew. Once that knowledge became part of the police record, it would be public information no matter how much they tried to keep it quiet.

  Adam drove through downtown Atlanta, heading north on Peachtree Street, formulating his plan as he drove. “I’m hungry, Toni. What do you say we get a bite to eat while we talk about it?”

  “I think I’m too tired to eat. I just want to go home and decide what I’m going to do.”

  “You’re too tired to worry about the Swan Gardens people now. Besides, you haven’t explained about the teacup yet. I’m very interested.”

  “I am hungry,” she admitted. Looking from her cutoff jeans to Adam’s uniform, she shook her head. “A police chief and a flower child? Somehow I don’t think we’re dressed for dining out.”

  He nodded sheepishly, feeling some of his tension melt away. “I think you’re right. Okay, I have an idea.” He took a right onto Ponce de Leon Avenue, wheeled into Domino’s drive-in window, and turned to Toni, one eyebrow lifted. “You do like pizza?”

  “With double cheese and hot pepper?”

  “Hot pepper? Do you always live so dangerously?”

  “Yes. I never thought much about it, but I guess I do. And so do you, Captain Ware.”

  “There are times.” He gave the order to the attendant, drove over to the waiting area, and placed the order number billboard on the top of his van. “Now, tell me more about the teacup.”

  “Adam, why are you doing this? We’re about as far apart as Jack Sprat and his wife. He could eat no fat and she could eat no lean. Complete opposites. Just take me home and forget about me. I’ll give up on the prison farm and you can go back to whatever it is that you do.”

  “If I recall the rest of that rhyme, outlaw, together they licked the platter clean. Maybe what we ought to do is start over. We might find a mutual platter. I’m willing if you are.”

  “I don’t know, Adam, I’m not into show-and-tell. I’m a very private person.”

  “After your wet T-shirt act and me stripping practically down to my underwear, I think there’s not much left to show, but I’m game if you are.” He started to unbutton his shirt.

  “You know what I mean, Kojak. I just want the truth from you.”

  “You do believe that I didn’t set this up tonight, don’t you?” He didn’t know why that was so important to him, but it was.

  “Yes, I believe you. I was just angry with the world, with the City Council and the mayor. Let’s not talk anymore about that, Adam. Tell me about you.”

  Maybe that was better, he thought, turning the conversation away from her while she got better control of herself. He leaned back and whistled. “Not much to tell. Played enough football in high school to get a scholarship to Jacksonville State in Alabama. At the time I think they took me on to raise the grade-point average of the team. I got lucky, I guess, and did well enough to get picked up by the New Orleans Saints.”

  “Annie told me you were a star, said you can still outrun most of the hoodlums on the streets. Why’d you quit?”

  “The press explained it as a clothsline tackle by a particularly mean defensive back that put me out of commission. Had to have knee surgery. Afterward? Well, bad knees seemed like a good answer at the time.”

  “How’d you get into police work?”

  “At first I considered something that would allow me to work with children. It didn’t take me long to figure out that the big salaries for those kinds of jobs came from the affluent North Side. The kids I needed to help didn’t live there. So I went back to school and studied criminology. I wanted to help the people who needed me most, old and young.”

  “Exactly my own thoughts on the subject, Captain. You help your way, and I’ll help mine. We’re traveling the same direction, we’re just using different routes.”

  Before he could argue, their pizza was delivered. He handed Toni the box and started the van. As he turned back onto Ponce de Leon, Toni spoke up.

  “Isn’t this going to be cold before we get to my house?”

  “I thought we’d eat at my house. I’ve had about enough of this uniform for the day. Any objections?”

  “I guess not,” Toni murmured, then lapsed into a quiet examination of the store along the street. The discussion of uniforms drew her mind back to the bathroom, and to Adam’s rare ability to make the best of a situation. Except for their difference of opinion on the building, he’d finally allowed himself to help. She appreciated his not saying I told you so, even thought she wasn’t ready to admit her own reservations about turning the prison into housing for the elderly.

  The drive was short. Adam astonished Toni by pulling into the drive of a small white shingled house with gingerbread trim. Rocking chairs with bright cushions sat on the porch, and the front door had an oval cut-glass design in blues and gold. He parked the van and turned to Toni, a curious expression on his face.

  “Well, this is it.”

  “Oh, Adam, it’s wonderful. I never would have guessed you live in the Virginia Highlands area. Your house is like the gingerbread house in Hansel and Gretel. I love it.”

  Her eyes brightened with joy as she took in the exterior of his little house. He didn’t know why he’d brought her there, or what kind of reaction he’d expected. He’d never shared his home with a woman before. This was his place of escape from the ugly world he faced every day. This was the house his mother had never had, the one he’d so desperately wanted as a small boy. It was satisfying to know Toni’s pleasure was as real as his own.

  “Where would you have guessed I live?” he asked.

  “Oh, I don’t know. Some swinging singles complex in one of those apartment buildings with sunken great rooms and a clubhouse. Why this?”

  “Because it’s home. Now, no more questions about me, outlaw. Our pizza’s getting cold.”

  “You’re right,” she agreed quietly, handing him the box of pizza and sliding out the van. “I want to see the inside.” She wasn’t sure what she was feeling as she stepped up on the porch and waited for Adam to unlock the door. She hesitated a moment as he went inside and stepped back, waiting for her to follow.

  Suddenly she was afraid to move. She could see the glowing light off the lamp he’d switched on, reflecting warm and inviting on the polished wood floors. She felt a bit like Gretel, eager to know what was inside, but afraid to reach out for the unexpected intimacy that the house and the man suggested.

  “Well, what are you afraid of?” he asked. “I’m not the Big Bad Wolf, and you’re not Little Red Riding Hood.”

  “No, not anymore. I was thinking more of ‘ “Come into my web,” said the spider to the fly.’ ” She laughed at her trepidation. “Why the hell not, Adam. Let’s eat. I’ve got the law to protect me, don’t I?”

  “Yes, ma’am, sworn and duly authorized.”

  She stepped inside. Adam closed the door and led the way down the hall to the kitchen, his entire body conscious of the woman following behind.

  She was right. He was a police officer, with a sworn duty to protect and ca
re for every citizen. There was only one problem. He was off duty. And he wasn’t sure who was going to protect him.

  Eight

  While Adam was changing clothes, Toni glanced around at kitchen walls of warm red bricks and open shelves lined with utensils and cookware from the past. A bay window had been added, making a tiny pocket for a small butcher-block table and chairs. Over the top of the regular windows were small stained-glass inserts, companion pieces to the front door.

  “Oh, Adam, this is lovely.”

  “You sound surprised.” He walked bare-chested and barefoot back into the kitchen, buttoning a pair of jeans that hung low on his hips.

  His beard made a dark shadow across his face and chin, and his hair was ruffled across his forehead. She simply stared at him, her words held captive by the lump in her throat. She was glad Annie wasn’t with them, or she’d be rescuing the pizza from the counter.

  “I guess I am surprised,” she finally managed to say. “I mean, you don’t look like the type to collect iron skillets and copper pots. They must have belonged to your mother.”

  A flash of pain clouded his eyes for a moment as he pulled a fresh T-shirt over his head and tucked it into his pants. She couldn’t help but think back to the man in the forest, the combat-ready officer wearing fatigues, the man who’d kissed her senseless and then arrested her.

  Adam Ware was an enigma. One minute he was Rambo. The next minute he was a Mel Gibson look-alike wearing a uniform that would make any woman’s blood pressure rise. Then, without a trace of embarrassment he’d shucked down to his trousers and become a Chippendale calendar man in the flesh. Now, he was standing in a wonderful country kitchen straight out of Ladies’ Home Journal.

  He turned to the refrigerator. “No, my mother wasn’t a collector. But I like to think that she would have liked this room. What will you drink? I’m afraid I don’t have any witch’s potion brewed up.”

  “Oh, soda, iced tea, water.”