Hero For Hire

by Laura Kenner

  Sara sagged against the fence. Not ‘How long’…but ‘How much longer…’

  Raymond’s voice dropped to nearly a whisper. “Let me out, Diane. I don’t care what you do to her or Riggs. Let me out and I’ll get Blazer to sign whatever you want.”

  If Sara hadn’t been holding on to the fence, she would have collapsed; Raymond was selling her out.

  Diane shifted her harsh stare from Raymond to Sara and back to Raymond. Her dark brows knitted in thought for several seconds, then slowly relaxed. A smile blossomed on her face. “Don’t look so defeated, Sara. It’s a bluff. You might hate his guts for screwing around on you, but I think he’d take a bullet for you if necessary. That’s what this crap is all about, trying to get out so he can become the hero and save you.” She shrugged. “It’s almost…touching. Unfortunately, Raymond, that sacrifice won’t be necessary. I don’t need your cooperation to get Blazer to sign any papers.”

  Anita came to life for the first time in several minutes. “What do you mean?”

  “I’ve been thinking. At first I thought a selective strike would do. You know, take out a key player, implicate another…but things have a way of snowballing. I thought killing just her would be sufficient. I was wrong.”

  “How wrong?” Anita asked, betraying her anxiety.

  Diane ignored her lawyer’s question. “But consider what a nice little triangle we have here that we can exploit. The lawyer, his ex-fiancée and the man who came between them. We already have Ray’s fingerprints on the gun that killed Celia. What if he goes on a jealous rampage, kills the other two and then shoots himself? Wouldn’t that be a neat way to tie this up?”

  “Kill all…three of them?”

  “Oh, don’t be so squeamish. You know that Ray isn’t worth crying over. He cheated on his fiancée with you and he cheated on you with Celia.” Diane began to rock on her heels, almost absentmindedly. “Of course, technically, we only have two of the three in custody, so to speak. But Riggs should be showing up pretty soon. I took a chance, figuring his secretary wouldn’t be that familiar with Sara’s voice. It worked. He’ll be here any minute and I’d better get ready for him.”

  Will? Here? A burst of frantic energy filled Sara. There was no way in hell she would let him unexpectedly stroll into a trap. She grabbed a double handful of chain-link fence and began to shake it for all she was worth. The sound vibrated throughout the room, the rattling of one fence setting the next in motion.

  “Will!” she screamed. “It’s a trap!”

  Raymond grabbed her around the waist and pulled her away from the fence. He slapped his other hand over her mouth. “Shut up,” he hissed. “If he is out there, all you’re going to do is break his concentration and make him do something rash.”

  Diane nodded. “Very wise decision, Ray. Thanks. If you hadn’t stopped her, I would have simply shot her.”

  Raymond loosened his hold a bit and Sara wrenched herself free. “Don’t you ever touch me again.”

  “Tsk, tsk, you two.” Diane pivoted and took a couple of steps toward the counter. She stopped. “You know…it would be nice if we could get rid of one more person while we’re at it. You know…work Blazer into this triangle, somehow?”

  Raymond had already turned his attention to their prison, evidently looking for a means of escape. Only Sara . saw Anita’s telltale reactions to Diane’s proposition. The woman’s eyes widened and she drew in a sharp breath.

  Sara cocked her head in thought. Anita and Blazer?

  A familiar voice echoed through the warehouse. “If you add a fourth person, then you can’t call it a triangle.”

  “Will!”

  She allowed herself to entertain wild thoughts of rescue and reunion until he stumbled forward as if someone was pushing from behind. “Haven’t you heard enough, now?” he asked over his shoulder.

  A hulking figure carrying a bat appeared in the doorway behind him. “I found this creep prowling around outside. You know him?”

  Diane nodded. “Unfortunately I do. Hello, Will. I see you’ve met Blazer. It’s been a while. Been busy?”

  “Business is good. Haven’t seen you since husband number…three, I think it was. How’s it going, Diane? Another marriage down the toilet?”

  Blazer merely growled and pushed Will again until they were out from behind the counter and into the main room. Will crossed his arms as if waiting for the man to comprehend the scene before them as well as its deadly implications. Will glanced at Sara, giving her a quick reassuring nod that said, Whatever it is, we’re in it together.

  Blazer drew in a long breath and let it out slowly. Evidently, the dawn had cracked. “It doesn’t need to come to this, Diane.”

  “Put down the bat.” She gestured with her free hand.

  He made a great show of bending down and placing the bat on the floor. She crooked her finger, then pointed to the batting cage. “Over here. With the rest of them. Hands on head, both of you.”

  Will complied, lacing his fingers behind his head. Blazer sighed and stomped toward the batting cage, his beefy fists clenched at his sides. “I’m so tired of this game. I told you, Diane. I’m willing to sign anything. I want out. Now!”

  “How badly do you want out of this marriage?” Diane gestured for Anita to unlock the gate and for them to step inside.

  “I’m not greedy. Just give me this business, my car and the apartment. You can keep the rest”

  The door swung closed with a loud clang and Diane relocked it with one hand. “You are the soul of generosity, Blazer Barnes. I’ll think about it.” She took two steps away, then pivoted. Her smile was one of pure malevolence, a painful reminder that there were some people in this world who could embrace their own greed without any apparent guilt.

  “There, I thought about it Here’s your answer.” She raised the gun, planted her feet and—

  “No!”

  Anita swung into action, literally. In the length of time it took Diane to sight the gun, Anita picked up Blazer’s discarded bat and let it fly. It sailed through the air, striking Diane in the back of the head. The gun flew from her hand, clattering against the fence and then skidding a few feet away.

  Raymond let out a whooping cheer and started banging the fence in triumph. Sara fell into Will’s arms, burying her face in his shoulder. She felt him tense and she pulled back.

  Anita held the gun in one hand and was unlocking the door with the other. Raymond rushed out and enveloped her in a big hug. “I knew you weren’t like her! I knew you couldn’t let her kill me, darling.”

  “I’m not like her at all,” Anita replied as a smile crept across her face.

  “No, you’re not.” Raymond brushed the hair from her face and kissed her. “You understand what love is all about”

  She nodded. “Yes, I do….”

  She pulled the trigger.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Anita stood over Raymond’s body, the gun pointed in the general direction of Will and Sara, who had entertained brief thoughts of escape. “Sorry.” She turned to Blazer. “Are you all right, sweetheart?”

  He stepped out of the cage, snaked an arm around her waist and squeezed lightly. “Sure, other than being scared out of my wits. I didn’t think you were going to let her go that far.”

  “She caught me by surprise. I didn’t know she was going to change plans in midstream. She actually had some initiative. Scary, isn’t it?”

  Will nodded. “Now…you sound more like the Anita Rooney I’ve heard about The Oscar-winning Anita.” He turned to Sara. “One of her old boyfriends once told me she could do more with a trembling lip and a tear-filled eye than any actress in Hollywood. Of course, I didn’t believe him. I was like all the other dolts in the class. We believed the outside package. ’Poor little nervous Anita. Let’s cut her a little slack.’”

  “That’s what I wanted you to believe. You felt oh-so-altruistic and I walked away with everything I ever wanted in life without ever getting my hands dirty. It’s a wonder
ful way to live.”

  Sara stared at the woman. Anita didn’t even stand the same way as she had before. She didn’t fidget. Her gestures were firm, not fluttery. She even seemed taller, perhaps even prettier. Then Sara looked down at Raymond who groaned and clutched his bloodied shirt. And deadlier.

  Sara took a step toward the open door, but Anita shook her head. “Honey, I’ve done you a favor in the long run. Ray decided that the best way to win the most lucrative settlement for Blazer was to seduce me. When he got bored with me because I refused to tell him any of Diane’s secrets, he passed me over to Blazer, hoping that his client would have more luck.”

  Will shifted in front of Sara, slipping his hand in hers, giving her a reassuring squeeze. “Looks like Blazer got lucky, all right.”

  Blazer nodded. “I sure did. Not only do I get Anita, but I get all of Diane’s assets, too. I’m in the will, you know.”

  Will tsked-tsked softly. “You mean you’re in the old will. And the new will that Anita drew up after the separation has mysteriously disappeared, right? Pretty smart, Anita.”

  “Pretty and smart,” Blazer corrected. “She could have told Ray about the money Diane was supposed to have lost in the spec-spec—”

  “Speculative,” Anita supplied.

  “Uh…that type of land deal in Arizona, but if he’d included that as part of the settlement, then feds would have stepped in and claimed half of it for taxes and penalties and stuff. Of course, knowing Ray, he’d probably try to use it as blackmail material. Either way, I would have gotten a whole bunch less of the money than I’ll get now.”

  Will managed a halfhearted smile. “Lucky you.”

  “But not so lucky for you, I guess.” Blazer turned to Anita. “I’ll go drag her into the next cage and set everything up. I always told Diane not to go into the cages without a batting helmet Those balls can kill an unprotected person.” He winked. “Ain’t that too bad?”

  Anita waved the gun at them. “I’ll take care of these two.”

  Sara knew this was her only chance. She squeezed Will’s hand, then pushed him aside. “No…wait!” She flung herself at Blazer, then sagged so he would be compelled to reach out and support her dead weight.

  “How could you!” She pummeled his chest with her fists, then dissolved into tears, which were surprisingly real. “You said she didn’t mean anything to you. You said you only slept with her so that you could get your hands on as much of Diane’s money as possible. And you said you did it for us!”

  As Sara had hoped, he responded to her outburst immediately. And strongly. He gaped, then pushed her back, raising his hands as if to prove he’d never ever touched her in his entire life. “I swear I don’t know what she’s talking about, Anita. I don’t!”

  The strength of his denial planted a momentary seed of doubt in Anita’s mind, causing enough of a distraction for Will to act.

  Sara was in the middle of crying, shouting, “You swore you loved me!” when Will lunged for Anita. Blazer realized too late that Anita was the objective of Will’s trajectory. The man tried to stiff-arm Sara out of the way in order to intercept the tackle, but she dodged his hand. Instead of trying to knock him over—a useless goal, considering the difference in their sizes—she jumped up, wrapped her arms around his neck and hung on for dear life.

  Blazer initially fell to one knee, thrown off-balance by her additional weight. Judging by his groan of pain, Sara had discovered his Achilles’ heel, or hamstring, as the case might be. As he struggled to rise, she managed to clip him beneath the chin with the top of her head. She saw a couple of stars herself, but he roared in pain, and like an injured animal, he became twice as dangerous. He tore her arms from around his neck and tossed her aside like an empty beer can.

  As she hit the concrete, she heard a hideous sound. It was a combination of a scream, a roar and a gunshot. She realized belatedly that the scream was her own.

  The roar belonged to Blazer. “Anita!”

  And the gunshot?

  Blazer stood stock-still, gaping at the sight of Anita and Will in a tangled heap. Sara’s heart lodged itself permanently in her windpipe until she watched Will scramble away on all fours, trying to regain his traction to stand. Anita, left behind in an uncomfortable mound, made no effort to move.

  Sara doubted the woman would move ever again.

  Blazer bellowed and made a flying leap at Will who barely managed to shift out of the way. But Blazer reached out with his impossibly long arms and snagged Will’s ankle, literally dragging him back into battle. They rolled and punched, Will’s agility and training barely evening the odds against Blazer’s brawn and righteous indignation.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Will saw Sara rummaging through one of the cases where the batting supplies were kept. Blazer took advantage of Will’s diverted attention and landed a good hard punch in the center of his chest. Will fell backward in a momentary oblivion, his sole attention riveted on learning how to breathe again. He looked up to find Blazer towering over him, panting, blood dripping from his broken nose. The man reached down with one meaty fist, gathered Will’s shirt in his hand and hauled him to his feet.

  “To the moon” Blazer croaked as he cocked back his arm and prepared to land a blow that Will honestly doubted he would survive.

  Suddenly, Blazer jerked. His chin dropped down to his chest and his fist loosened. Will wrestled out of the man’s grip, able to take a stumbling step to the side. Blazer lifted his head and stared blankly at Will. Then his eyes rolled back and he collapsed like a marionette with no strings attached.

  Blazer fell and behind him, Will could see Sara completing the swing that had saved his life. Instead of a bat, she held a batting helmet in her hands.

  As she turned back to face Will, the helmet slowly separated into two parts. She stared down at Blazer in shock, aghast at what one person could do when properly provoked and suitably armed.

  Will managed to smile somehow. “Is this your way of telling him you don’t love him anymore?”

  One week later

  SARA SAT CROSS-LEGGED in the middle of the bed, the Sunday paper spread in front of her. Once upon what seemed a long time ago, the crossword had been Raymond’s sole domain, no matter in whose paper it appeared. He’d never learned how much fun it could be to solve it together.

  “What’s an eleven-letter word for asexual? First letter M?” she called out.

  Will stuck his head out of the bathroom. “Um, try…Wait” He closed his eyes and began to count on his fingers. Um…nine, ten, eleven.” He opened his eyes. “Try monogenetic.”

  She wrote the letters in order, not surprised at all to see that they fit in with two other clues. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome. Do you have any toothpaste?”

  “In the side pocket of my case.”

  “Uh…how about a spare toothbrush?”

  She wadded up the crossword puzzle and threw it at him. He dodged it and shot her a smile that made the familiar itch start again.

  “What can I say? I’m a lousy packer.” He shuffled across the room and sat on the edge of the bed, letting himself fall backward across the pillows. “Ouch!”

  “That bruise on your stomach still hurts?”

  He pulled back his robe and probed the discoloration gingerly. “Yeah.”

  She turned around. “I’ll make it better.” She placed a gentle kiss above the edge of the bruise, then shifted so that her head rested in the crook of his arm.

  “You hungry?”

  Sara smiled. “I ordered breakfast already. Bagels and coffee.”

  He sighed. “Perfect. Can you reach the sports section without getting up?”

  She used her leg to slide the paper toward them She grabbed several sections indiscriminately and handed them to him, assured that at least one of them contained the sports. She realized her strategic error when she saw the picture of Raymond.

  She’d been avoiding the front page, knowing that Will’s prediction had come true. Thi
s time, the story wasn’t buried on the third page in the Metro section. This time, it was front-page news. Will held up the paper and they stared at it together.

  The reporting team had done their homework, calling the series of connected stories “Anatomy of a Crime.” They traced the Howard-Barnes marriage through from its dubious beginning to its tragic end with the death of Diane Howard-Barnes at the hands of her own lawyer, Anita Rooney, who died in a struggle over the murder weapon. Each branch, each participant got a separate story, explaining what brought them into what the reporters called “the final bloodbath.”

  Sara thought they’d taken a bit of literary license with that description. She remembered seeing some blood, but the reporters made it sound like the entire Sports Barne was drenched in it by the time Will called 911.

  Will was the only one of the principals to come out unscathed by the articles. He’d been exonerated by statements made by the survivors and, as well, by some of the unidentified blackmail victims.

  Perhaps, Raymond caught the worst of it, his weaknesses and greed splashed across the front page for everyone to see: his family, his friends, the Bar Association.

  Sara, for some inexplicable reason, was barely mentioned at all, which proved either the reporters hadn’t paid enough attention to the facts or that Mike Russell still wielded an incredible amount of influence on both sides of the Potomac. Considering he was one of the unidentified blackmail victims who volunteered information, she figured she had him to thank for her own anonymity.

  Finally Will released a sigh. “Well?”

  “I don’t exist.”

  “I noticed that.” He tossed the paper over the side of the bed. “Relieved?”

  She nodded, shifting onto her side. “Actually, I am. I didn’t really want to go back and face everybody.”