Choking, spluttering, Cody stretched for the gun. This time his fingers found the polished metal. Rolling to his knees, he clasped the weapon in both hands, seeking out the Reverend. What he saw turned his blood cold. The Secret Service men were hurrying the President to his car. Worse, Alexander was forcing Melissa in the same direction.
“Stop!” Cody shouted. “Release her or I’ll shoot!”
Jumping to his feet, he swung swiftly to catch Brother Daniel and Brother Larry sneaking up on his rear. “Uh, uh, uh. You’d best rethink that. Drop to your knees. Now!” He didn’t care if he sounded like a son of a bitch so long as he castrated their attempt to overtake him. Jerking his head at Christina, he said, “Take their weapons. You know how to use a gun?”
Christina gulped but nodded her head. Her eyes were huge in her ghostly white face. “Daddy and I shoot skeet a few times a week.”
“Good. Shoot to kill if they threaten you.” To Brother Larry he said, “Try anything funny and I’ll aim for your knees.” He drew out the n sound, deliberately casting red herrings.
Precious time slipped away. He couldn’t let either Melissa or the President get in that death trap of a limousine.
Nathan ran for the opposite side of the vehicle, dragging Melissa by her arm. The wedding gown was torn, the beadwork ruined, the sleeves tattered. Beads scattered to the ground. Melissa’s elegant hairstyle was a memory as red locks tumbled out of confining pins. Her white satin slippers were strewn on the lawn and her toes peeked out through rips in her stockings.
Growling, primal, protective urges swelled in Cody. “Let her go.” He motioned with the gun as he advanced on them.
The coward did just the opposite, pulling her in front of him as a human shield. “Back off, Richards.” Nathan wound his fingers in the hair at the base of Melissa’s neck and yanked. “I’ll snap her neck.”
“Your constituents are watching, Senator. Or need I remind you, Reverend, that God’s watching, too?”
“Let us go, Cody.” Melissa’s voice warbled and her lips trembled. Terror flashed across her fear-darkened eyes. “I’m not worth getting hurt over. Get the President out of danger.”
The man in question was being ushered into the car and Cody’s heart stopped. The agents were pulling firearms on him now that they believed their leader to be secured.
“Drop your weapon and put your arms in the air!”
No choice; Cody complied. But he shouted, “There’s a bomb in the car! Get the President out of there now!”
The agents didn’t waste a motion helping their chief to safety. “Did you plant it? Are you threatening him?”
The idiots! They thought he was the threat. Or maybe that was the mole trying to shift blame on him? He made note of the tall skinny balding man with the too-thin nose.
Three revolvers leveled on him. “Put your hands up.” The thin man crouched, aiming straight at him. Sunlight glinted off the barrel. “Now!” He spoke into the microphone by his mouth as he squinted against the sun.
As he tossed his gun aside, Cody said, “The Senator’s behind the assassination attempt. Mr. President--at least one of your guards planted the bomb on Senator Alexander’s orders.”
“Preposterous!” The thin agent tensed both hands on the gun. “You expect us to believe the Senator’s trying to kill the President? Who are you that we should believe you?” A haughty glint gleamed in the man’s eyes.
“He was kicked off the NYPD for taking bribes.” Nathan gloated, smirking.
Didn’t anyone else think it odd how he treated his bride, Cody wondered? Dragging her across the lawn caveman-style wasn’t exactly a promenade.
Melissa turned accusing eyes on Cody. “You told me you left because you couldn’t get justice.”
“That, too.” Cody scowled, wishing he had the opportunity to explain everything to Melissa in private; that she would listen. But he didn’t have that luxury right now, not when their lives lay at risk. “I overheard their plans. He aspires to be President. He plans to kill you and I don’t know how he planned to get rid of the VP.”
“He’s delusional.” The agent scoffed. “The Senator’s beyond reproach.”
“The Senator’s crazy!” She glared at her husband. “He’s the most pathetic, vile excuse for a man I’ve ever met. He thinks he’s a prophet and apostle.”
Nathan narrowed his eyes. Daggers shot from them.
“Shut up!” he hissed. “Don’t say one more damned word.”
“How touching; the loving husband.” Sarcasm dripped from Cody’s lips. “What happened to love, honor, and obey?”
His arms ached from stretching them over his head so Cody wiggled his fingers to keep the circulation flowing. Still, his shoulders protested the strain, the muscles knotting up. “The Senator’s paid off at least one of your men to betray you. One of them put a bomb in your limo. You leave in that, and you won’t ever see the Capitol again.”
“Drop and spread them,” an unfamiliar voice rang out. “Let Melissa go.” Melissa’s father held a shotgun pointed at Nathan’s chest.
Nathan yanked Melissa in front of him, using her as a human shield, his lips curled into a snarl.
Cody swore under his breath, ready to strangle the Senator with his bare hands. “Release her, Alexander.”
“If you let me go, I’ll make sure they set you free. Just don’t hurt anyone.” Melissa’s eyes were widened and darkened with fear.
Nathan pushed her into her father and sprinted, running with all his might. He climbed the chain link fence and jumped to freedom on the other side.
A shot exploded and Cody jerked to the right. Gunpowder tinged his earlobe. The bullet had just missed him as he turned to follow the escaping villain. If not for his excellent reflexes it would have hit him square between the eyes. He somersaulted then jumped to his feet and sprinted for cover as more shots rang out. One set sounded like a cannon.
A trembling Christina stood over Chet, who lay still at her feet. Blood puddled around his chest where a dark red stain splotched his white tuxedo shirt and cummerbund.
“Is he dead?” Christina’s voice rattled in her chest. Shaky hands waved the gun loosely at the brethren who rushed to their fallen brother’s side.
They froze grotesquely in place, as if they played the children’s game Red Light Green Light. Rage and pain contorted their faces.
“Let us see to him, try to save him,” one begged.
Cody joined Christina and Melissa and took the gun. Kneeling beside the prone figure, he searched for a pulse. Finding none in the wrist, he pressed his fingers to Chet’s carotid artery. Still nothing. He lifted his eyes to the women and shook his head.
“Let us pray over him.” Brother Larry knelt at the dead man’s side, moaning. “The Creator can raise him from the dead.” He chanted an alien mantra, his eyes rolled back in his head.
An ashen pallor fell over Melissa’s face as she stared at the fence Nathan had climbed just moments before. She put her hand to her throat and swayed. “We let Nathan get away.”
Instantly alarmed, Cody jumped to his feet and took her into his arms. She was ice cold. “It’s okay. It’s over.” He stroked her hair, crooning in her ear. Sunbeams danced on it as if it were spun gold. He looked around and spied the Reverend dashing away. He called to the Secret Service men and pointed after the Senator. “The ringleader’s getting away.”
“Oh God. He’ll be back. He won’t let me go that easily.”
“You can get an annulment and we can be together now.” He tried to stroke her hair, shaking. That was too close.
Melissa pulled away and stared at him, pain pooling around her pupils. Shaking her head, her glorious hair framing her face, she dragged in a shuddering breath. “No, Cody. You lied to me. You were helping him.” She notched her chin higher, regally.
His heart flipped over in his chest. Reaching out, he touched her arm and it tore him up when she yanked back and folded her arms across her chest.
“Let me explain. I thought I w
as helping a loving fiancé and a distraught father save their loved one. I didn’t know all the facts.”
Confusion spread over her face and she bit her lower lip. Indecision lit her eyes. Emotions warred on her beautiful features. She breathed deeply, her chest heaving. After an eternity she finally said, “You could have told me this before when you found out what a beast he was, when I told you what really happened.” On a sigh she added, “But you didn’t. You still lied.”
Beside himself, his gut twisting, Cody searched his heart for the words to say, for the gestures to make, to convince her how much he loved and cherished her and why she should forgive him. What would sway him if he were in her position? Could mere words soften his heart and overcome his doubts? He voiced the emotion uppermost in his heart. “I love you.”
Tears clouded her eyes, making them sparkle. They shimmered on her eyelashes and hung precariously. “And I love you. But I can’t trust you, thus, I can’t contemplate a future with you.”
* * * *
Her father took Melissa in his arms, tucking her head against his shoulder. “I’ve missed you so much. I thought you were dead.” His voice cracked on the last word.
Her heart shattered and with it, her composure fled. The tears she’d tried so hard to dam broke loose on a sob and flowed. Curling her arms around her father, she drank in his warmth and sniffed his scent--a heady mixture of deep woods and mint that was his own special combination. He felt so thin, so frail, she could feel his ribs; although only four years had passed and he was only about fifty, he seemed to have aged twenty years.
Unbearable grief consumed Melissa. How much had he suffered because of her? Not that she regretted a moment spent with Jesse, but she shouldn’t have cut off her family. She should’ve seen how Nathan manipulated them. She should’ve tried harder to get her family to accept Jesse.
Something she’d do in the future should the situation ever arise again.
Cody her heart cried. But he’d lied to her! He’d helped the demon that’d wanted her for unspeakable things. Just glancing at the shell of the FBI agent’s body sent shivers through her. Evil still emanated from it. She wished it were Nathan lying there, that the evil would be buried. But the evil remained. The Lions had to be stopped at any cost.
Separating herself from her father, she squared her shoulders and sucked in a deep breath for fortification. Grabbing her father’s hand she pulled him behind her, unwilling to lose physical contact with him. When she brushed against Cody, her nerve endings screamed and her flesh tingled. Her traitorous body still yearned for his touch. Her unruly heart longed for him, too. But she remained stalwart, letting logic rule her.
“Lisa?”
A heart full of heartache throbbed in that one word, almost but not quite circumventing her firm resolve to give this man up. It hugged her and made her long for impossible things, such as babies with his marvelous soulful eyes and long, dark eyelashes. Mischievous little boys that would play cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, as she was sure he had as a tyke. Exquisite little girls that would adore him and be adored in return.
But she killed those thoughts, stamping them dangerous, and filed them in cold storage. Perhaps they’d never be retrieved. Maybe she wasn’t meant to find her soul mate while still on Earth. Or most probably, Jesse had been it and now Melissa had to forge her path alone, forgetting love, marriage, and babies.
But Jesse’s image was fading from her mind and he was securely tucked away in a tiny corner of her heart. Cody’s face flashed before her, clear, solid, and vibrant. His voice rang in her ears. His scent wrapped around her.
Yet she’d be the worst kind of fool to ignore the facts and chance another betrayal like Nathan.
“No, Cody. Whatever we might have had is over.” Forcing her feet forward, she left him behind with all her hopes and dreams. As soon as this nasty little scene was over, she’d face the blank slate that was her future.
“Mr. President!” Purpose rang out in her voice and infused her step as she embraced her mission.
The handsome and debonair man with silvery hair lifted his wise, commiserating eyes to her. “Yes, my dear?” He opened his arms to her and she accepted his consoling hug in disbelief she was touching the President, much less embracing him. “I don’t know yet what just happened, but I hope you’ll fill me in.”
Diplomacy made her check her tongue and delve for appropriate words. “Thank you. Much as I revere life and shouldn’t speak badly of the dead.” She pointed at the dead agent. “But he was a traitor to you and to our country, Mr. President. Worse, he reported to Nathan Alexander, who is a vile, evil, and dangerous man.” Her flesh crawled just saying his name and a chill skipped through her. Suddenly, she was very, very cold and had to rub her arms to instill some warmth in them. “He planned to murder you and I think he planned to offer me as some kind of sacrifice.”
A single silvery brow quirked. “Sacrifice? Murder? The honorable Senator?”
“He wasn’t an honorable man....”
“But you just married him....”
“Under duress. He was going to kill my sister and my father and....” she couldn’t verbalize Cody’s name. “If I didn’t. His men were prepared to shoot you and all of us if I said anything.”
The President’s expression turned to granite as he glared at Nathan’s flock. “Those men?”
“Yes, sir. They ritually sacrificed young women. They bragged about it to us. It’s so very awful. You can’t trust my husband. You have to find him and stop him at all costs. I fear your life is still in danger.” She buried her face against his shoulder, wetting his shirt with her tears. “And mine.”
Lifting his arm, Cody pointed at the brethren. “Arrest those men!”
The agents ran, guns drawn, upon Brother Larry, Brother Daniel, and Brother Thaddeus, who didn’t run fast enough to escape. One aimed his gun at Cody as well.
“No! He’s not one of them.” But no one seemed to hear her.
“Arrest them!” The President wiped off his slacks, scowling.
“I can explain, Mr. President,” the tall skinny former Secret Service agent said. “I went undercover to infiltrate....”
The President’s eyes narrowed. “Save the suck up for the investigating committee. That bomb in the Presidential limo is a strong witness against you.” He turned to his aide. “Get him out of my sight.”
“Yes, sir!” The aide stood at attention until the President turned away, and then took the double agent into custody at gunpoint.
Melissa’s gut twisted when Cody was handcuffed and taken into custody. He had saved her neck more than once. Nathan had tried to kill him so they obviously weren’t in league anymore.
Shouldering her way through the men, she approached the President.
“Mr. President! Mr. President!” She yanked off the agent that tried to hold her back. Her dress was in tatters, mud and grass stained. Her hair hung in clumps about her face. “You’re making a mistake.” She started to grab his arm in her distress and then pulled back when she realized the inappropriateness of her action. Her hands fell limply to her sides.
“What mistake is that?” He smiled at her kindly. Weariness flickered in his eyes. His shoulders drooped as he tore his tie off and yanked the neck of his shirt open.
She pointed at Cody, who was in the middle of the throng of men being taken into custody. “He’s not part of them. He saved me.”
Pity flashed in the president’s eyes. “The other men say he’s working with them....”
Frantic with worry, desperation rose in her voice. “He was helping me try to stop them. To save you.”
“No offense, Ms. Vanderbilt-Smythe, but you’ve been traumatized. Kidnap victims are very often brainwashed by their captors.”
“I’ve not been brainwashed. Cody didn’t kidnap me....”
“That’s contrary to the information we’ve collected.” He nodded at his men.
Strong hands clamped around her arms, dragging her back
wards, away from the leader and chief. “Come with us. We have a few questions for you.”
“Where are you taking me? Take your hands off me.” Struggling with all her might, she spat at the men.
“Settle down, Ms. Vanderbilt-Smythe. You’re not being charged with anything-- unless you resist cooperating by answering our questions.”
With one final thrust, she knocked the agent off her arm. “I’ll go peaceably provided you unhand me.” She lifted her nose imperiously. “Just where are you taking me?”
“To the FBI Building in Los Angeles. Your sister will be our guest also.”
“Can I say goodbye to my father first?” Melissa spotted him by the back porch and waved. “Will you protect him in case the Senator returns for revenge?”
“You won’t be gone long, don’t worry. Just a few hours. We’ll provide guards for your father.” The man stood tall and straight and was devoid of emotion. The setting sun cast him in the shadow of the gazebo so she couldn’t fathom the expression in his eyes. However, his stance was rigid.
“What are they doing to us? Where are they taking us?” Christina cried as she was escorted to the black sedan where Melissa waited impatiently. “I thought they were the good guys.”
“We are the good guys.” The blond agent in the front passenger seat turned around, semi-smiling.
“Yeah?” Fire flashed in Christina’s light green eyes. “Then why are you hijacking us? I thought there were laws against seizure and kidnapping in this country?”
“We’re taking every precaution to protect the President. We believe you have vital information to crack this case.”
The driver cleared his throat loudly and scowled at his partner as he shook his head.
Melissa watched his face in the rear-view mirror. He didn’t look as if this would be a routine interrogation. But to soothe her sister, she said, “They just need to talk to us. To learn what we know so they can lock up Nathan’s loonies once and for all.” She embraced her sister, shushing her sobs and stroking her hair. “We’ll be all right. I won’t let them hurt you.”
If they tried to hurt Christina, they’d be the sorriest sons of bitches on earth. First Nathan and now these bozos. Melissa was tired of people pushing her around. She didn’t care if they wore badges or not.
Deadly Love Page 15