Mysterious Montana

by B. J Daniels

Her heart fractured like thin glass at the thought of the boy keeping his father’s secret all this time. “You did great, Zack,” she said, her voice breaking. “Your dad would have been proud of you.”

  “Give me that!” Mercedes snapped, almost salivating as she took the disk from him.

  Sam glanced at Will. His eyes glittered with emotion and something more. He flicked his gaze toward a dark wall off to her left. She moved her head slowly to look in the direction he indicated. A rusty old shovel stood against the wall. A weapon.

  “Get my computer out of the car,” Mercedes ordered Bobby. She reached for her car keys and stopped, her face suddenly distorted in rage. “You little bugger!” she spat at Zack. “Give me my keys.”

  Zack hesitated, but only for a moment before he dug her car keys from his pocket and handed them to her.

  “You see what I mean about this kid?” she demanded of Sam.

  Sam had hoped Bobby would leave and help the odds. But the moment Bobby left, Mercedes grabbed Zack and held the gun to his back as they waited for her boyfriend to return with the laptop.

  Bobby dragged up some boards and put the computer on it. Mercedes popped in the first disk and added Zack’s disk to the others in a neat little pile. She looked very pleased with herself. She motioned with the gun for Zack to come closer.

  “I used to watch you sitting on your father’s lap while he worked,” Mercedes said. “You know how to put these together, don’t you?”

  Realization dawned. No wonder Mercedes had wanted Zack—as well as the pieces of the game.

  With a defeated look, Zack moved to the computer.

  “Aren’t you forgetting something?” Bobby asked and motioned toward Sam and Will.

  Mercedes studied them for a moment.

  “If you hurt them I won’t show you how the pieces go together,” Zack said in that older voice that made Sam want to cry. The boy had been through so much.

  Mercedes motioned for Bobby to shut up. “Sure, kid. Just show me.”

  Zack looked over at Sam, waiting for her to tell him what to do.

  She nodded. “It’s okay, Zack.” At best, it would buy them a little time. Otherwise, Mercedes would figure the pieces out for herself. There wasn’t any doubt that once she knew how they went together, however, that she’d kill them all.

  “You do it like this,” Zack said, and got down on his knees. Familiar music filled the room as bright-colored graphics filled the screen.

  Sam watched as he adeptly moved the mouse and things began to happen on the screen. New music soared. Images flashed.

  Sam watched in awe, having no idea how high-tech computer games had become. Landscapes flew by, figures leaped from spots on the wall, rock music boomed and Zack moved through the game like a race car driver, weaving in and out, dodging evil forces, his movements quick, his gaze intent, his shoulders taut as he worked the mouse.

  It dawned on Sam that the computer had been the one constant in Zack’s life. This was something he’d been doing since he was old enough to sit on his father’s lap while he worked.

  She waited, wondering what was really inside the game, what was worth killing so many people for, fearing she already knew.

  Zack popped another disk into the CD-ROM and Bobby and Mercedes moved closer to watch. Sam inched toward the shovel. If she could reach it, she would be within striking distance of Bobby. All she knew for sure was that she had to get Zack and Will out of this or die trying.

  * * *

  WILL HELD his breath as Sam moved toward the shovel. True to form, he improvised a plan. It was risky. But he knew with certainty that Mercedes planned to kill them.

  He wasn’t concerned for his own welfare, but he couldn’t let anything happen to Sam. Or Zack. If he could help it.

  Zack popped in another disk. More music. More wild graphics. Mercedes’s gaze seemed glued to the screen as if hypnotized by what she saw there. But the barrel of her pistol was still pointed in his direction and Sam’s. Bobby’s weapon was aimed downward, his attention completely on the computer screen.

  Will moved the moment Samantha’s hand closed over the shovel handle. She grabbed the shovel and swung. Will dove at the same time for Zack. The air filled with the sound of the metal of the shovel clanging off the gun in Bobby’s hand and the investor’s howl of pain. Mercedes added to the melee as Will slammed her out of his way to get to Zack.

  Out of the corner of Will’s eye, he saw Samantha give Bobby one of her chops and kicks. The investor went down face-first in the dirt.

  Will came up with Zack in his arms.

  But Mercedes was very fast on her feet. Worse, she hadn’t dropped her gun in the fall. She came at him, all wild-eyed, her red hair like a wound. He turned, trying to shelter Zack, as she swung wildly at them. The gun butt connected with Will’s skull. He felt Zack being jerked from his arms just before the lights blinked out.

  “Stupid, stupid, stupid,” Mercedes spat as she grabbed Zack around the neck and dragged him at gunpoint back to the computer.

  * * *

  SAM HAD no choice but to back off. She had tried to get to Mercedes before the redhead could reach Will, but hadn’t been able to. Now he lay sprawled on the ground, a cut over his right temple, the wound bleeding into the dirt. She wanted desperately to go to him, but she held her ground, seeing murder in Mercedes’s eyes. Oh, Will, why didn’t I just leave you alone? If you hadn’t followed me out to the library terrace that night and if I hadn’t kissed you—

  “Finish it,” the redhead ordered Zack.

  Sam watched as he put in disk after disk, until finally he reached for disk five. Time was running out, and she had no plan. Fear welled inside her—cold and dark and unrelenting fear. She couldn’t save Zack any more than she had saved Will.

  Music soared and the laptop’s screen seemed to vibrate with color and motion. “I’ll be damned,” Mercedes breathed.

  And Sam knew it was over.

  “The bastard was telling the truth,” Mercedes said.

  Sam could see the screen. “Let me guess. Lucas wrote some software that would allow him to break into any computer in the world without detection.” The magnitude of that didn’t escape her. No computer would be safe, from banks to governments to Fort Knox.

  “And he hid it in one of his stupid computer games,” Mercedes said. “Pure genius.”

  Sam had a sudden thought. “What about the men he owes money to? Won’t they be looking for this?”

  Mercedes gave her a smug smile. “Come on, Sam, there were no guys. Other than Al and Ralph. I paid off all Lucas’s debts but made him think Al and Ralph were goons hired to collect. I have a little genius in me as well.”

  So this was the end of the line. No chance of rescue. And on top of that, Bobby was starting to groan as if he was waking up.

  Sam understood now why Lucas had divided the game into five pieces. He’d hoped to outsmart the goons after him and eventually pick up the pieces. He didn’t have any idea the kind of people after him.

  “I don’t understand why you didn’t just go in with Lucas,” Sam said. “Then no one would have had to die. Or were you just too greedy to share even that much money and power?”

  Mercedes made a disgusted sound. “I would have gone into business with him. But Lucas—” she spat out the word with distaste “—sold himself to Cassie for the price of a dinky, worthless computer business. But when he finally has the ability to really make some money, what does he do? He gets a conscience and starts talking about what sort of legacy he’d be leaving his son if he didn’t do the right thing.”

  Sam stared at her. “Lucas talked to you about the software?”

  “Only on theoretical terms. Of course, I agreed with him that he should give it to some government agency so it didn’t fall into the wrong hands—should he ever design something so inherently harmful to mankind.” Mercedes made a disgusted face. “So the fool sent me one of the pieces of the game and he called it Catastrophe. Lucas’s little attempt at hu
mor.”

  Sam realized Bebe had been right, but no one had believed the ditzy blonde.

  “Funny, but it only turned out to be a catastrophe for him—and, of course, you,” Mercedes said. “If only he could see the legacy he left his son now.” She pushed Zack away from the computer. He stumbled over to Sam and she pulled him into her arms.

  “You promised,” the boy cried as Mercedes raised her gun to fire.

  In that split second, Sam thought she heard a sound outside the building. A shuffle of feet. But realized belatedly it was probably just Ralph.

  Mercedes aimed at the boy before Sam could get between him and the gun. She pulled the trigger.

  Cassie came out of nowhere. Drugged and stumbling, she managed to throw herself in front of Zack, taking the bullet meant for her son.

  Mercedes started to fire again. But as Sam scrambled to get Zack out of her line of fire, she heard Will moan. Then suddenly he kicked Mercedes’s legs out from under her. She went down hard. The wild shot brought down more dust and dirt.

  Then Will was standing and holding Mercedes and Bobby at gunpoint with the redhead’s weapon, looking like only determination was keeping him on his feet.

  Before Sam and Zack could rush to him, Charley was there and cops were swarming all over. Charley grabbed Mercedes, and snapped on the cuffs as Bebe began to read the redhead her rights.

  Bebe. An undercover cop. Just as Sam had suspected. The blonde smiled over at her as she snapped cuffs on Bobby. “You just invested in a lot of years in prison,” she said as she jerked him to his feet and began to read him his rights.

  In the distance, Sam could hear sirens screaming their way toward them. She stumbled with Zack over to Will. His head was bleeding where Mercedes had hit him.

  “Will. You’re hurt,” Sam cried.

  “An ambulance is on its way,” Charley said. “You’re all right? And Zack?”

  She nodded.

  “Then get Zack out of here,” her cousin ordered, “and we’ll discuss just what you were doing here later.”

  She clutched Zack and Will to her as they stumbled outside to the sound of the ambulance’s siren. She refused to leave Will’s side so she and Zack were allowed to ride in the ambulance to the hospital with him.

  It wasn’t until later, after he’d been admitted for a possible concussion, that Sam broke down, her relief flowing out as tears as she hugged Zack and cried.

  “Is he going to be okay?” Zack asked in a small scared voice.

  “Yeah, he has to be, huh,” she said as she stared down at Will’s sleeping form. The first light of day bled through the hospital room window. “He has to be okay.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “Zack?” Cassie whispered when she opened her eyes.

  Sam moved closer to the hospital bed. The monitors beeped and whirred. Cassie lay white against the sheets. “Zack’s fine.”

  Cassie smiled and closed her eyes, the worry lines smoothing in her face. “Lucas did love him, you know.” She opened her eyes and seemed to fight for each breath. “Zack just needed a mother and a father. I should never have left him.” Regret burned in her eyes. It was too late to change things now, but Sam suspected Cassie knew that.

  “I want to adopt Zack.”

  Cassie smiled. “I knew you would,” she whispered. “But there is something you must know. Zack—” She sucked in a ragged breath.

  “Don’t try to talk.”

  “No, I have to tell you about Zack’s father,” Cassie managed to get out. “It’s Charley.”

  At first Sam thought she’d misunderstood. They’d all been going to college at the same time but…Cassie and Charley? She searched Cassie’s face and saw the truth. She thought of Zack’s dark hair and eyes. Why hadn’t Sam seen the resemblance? It was so obvious now that she thought about it. Zack even made some of the same facial expressions as Charley.

  “It’s up to you whether you tell him,” Cassie said, her voice so low that Sam had to lean down to hear her. “Your decision.” Cassie took another gasp of air, tried to say something, but stopped herself. Instead, she motioned to the table beside the hospital bed.

  Sam pulled open the drawer and saw a piece of white paper. At Cassie’s insistence, she drew it out. Cassie had gotten the nurse to draw up a paper and had paved the way for Sam to adopt Zack. The paper had been signed and witnessed.

  Sam’s eyes blurred with tears. She looked at the woman lying in the bed and reached for her hand. “Thank you.”

  Cassie shook her head slowly. “I just needed to know—” she sucked in another breath, her face drawn with pain “—Zack is going to be all right now.”

  The monitor beside Cassie’s bed went off, a shrill frightening sound. Several nurses raced into the room and ordered Sam out.

  “I promise I’ll take care of him,” Sam called to Cassie as she was pushed back. A crash cart was rushed into the room. She held the precious paper to her as she stumbled out into the hall.

  She stayed there, captured by the frantic sounds inside the room she’d just left until the doctor came out to tell her that Cassie was gone.

  Then she stood in the hallway and cried, cried for Cassie and Lucas and Zack and Charley and Katie, and for herself and Will. She didn’t cry long. Then, wiping her eyes, she went to find her cousin.

  * * *

  WILL LOOKED UP FROM his hospital bed to see Charley Murphy framed in the doorway.

  “Mind if I come in?”

  “Not at all, I could use the company,” he said, and smiled. He hadn’t seen Charley since last night and he hadn’t been in any shape then to thank him. “Thanks for your help.”

  Charley shrugged. “Part of the job. I’m just glad I got Sam’s call and could get there in time. You were the real heroes, though.”

  “Yeah, right,” he said. “How is Cassie?”

  Charley shook his head. “I’m grateful for what you did, helping Sam. And Zack.”

  Will nodded. “Something tells me you didn’t just come by to build up my self-esteem.”

  Charley shook his head. “I need to know how you feel about my cousin.”

  “Yeah, I thought that might be it.” Will took a deep breath. “Twenty-five words or less? I’m crazy about her. I can’t imagine living a day without her. But I also can’t imagine living a day with her working as a private investigator. It scares the hell out of me. I’ve always thought of myself as a pretty progressive kind of guy. But I’m not sure I can be married to a woman who risks her life like that.”

  “That’s kind of what I thought,” Charley said.

  Samantha stuck her head in the door then, almost as if on cue. “Hi,” she said, and smiled at him. “How are you feeling?”

  He nodded. He’d forgotten just how beautiful she was. The bright blue morning and the sunshine streaming in the window gave her a glow that pretty near made him take back everything he’d just told Charley and turn those words into a proposal of marriage. Pretty near.

  But he could also see that she’d been crying. “What is it?” he asked.

  “Cassie. She just passed away,” Sam said.

  He could see her fighting more tears.

  “Mind if I steal Charley for a moment?” she asked, her voice hoarse with emotion.

  He noticed tension then in her eyes, and feared why she’d come to talk to her cousin. He thought of Zack. The boy had lost both his mother and the only father he’d known.

  A nurse stuck her head in the doorway. “Good news! The doctor said you can leave this morning,” she said cheerfully. “By the way,” she said holding up his chart, “happy birthday.”

  “Thanks.” His thirty-sixth birthday. And he could go home. It seemed like eons since the day he’d driven to Wolf Point to bid a job and seen Samantha sitting in the sun in her Firebird. Or one of her cousins’ Firebird. He never had gotten around to asking her just whose car it was. Not that it mattered now.

  He realized he should call his sister. Katherine was probably worried about hi
m. Yeah, right.

  “Where have you been?” she demanded the moment she heard his voice on the phone. “You’ve heard what happened? The commissioner has been arrested. Someone captured him on film exchanging construction bills for cash at my party! In my library!”

  “Really?” He smiled, remembering the beautiful young woman he’d followed to the library terrace with two glasses of cold champagne. “Imagine that.”

  “Where are you? It almost sounds like you’re in a hospital,” Katherine said, obviously overhearing a page for one of the doctors on call. “Will? Will, what’s happened?”

  He didn’t know where to start. But as was his nature, he started from the beginning.

  When he finished, Katherine said, “You risked your life for this woman and child?”

  He guessed he had. He realized he’d do it again.

  “That is so unlike you,” his sister was saying. “Just taking off like that. Tell me more about this woman. Murphy? Samantha Murphy, right?”

  This time when he finished, his sister said, “Oh, Will,” and he realized she was crying. “Jennifer Finley will be so disappointed.”

  * * *

  SAMANTHA AND CHARLEY WALKED down the hall to one of the hospital atriums. They had the space to themselves and stood for a moment, neither talking.

  “Cassie is gone,” she said after a moment.

  He said nothing, just stared at the floor. “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “She signed a paper making me Zack’s legal guardian and asking that I be allowed to adopt him.” Her voice broke with emotion.

  He looked up quickly. “Is that what you want?”

  “More than anything.” She hesitated. “Before she died, she told me who Zack’s father is.”

  Charley’s gaze met hers and held it, gentle and yet solid as a rock. That was Charley. She felt her heart begin to pound and tears welled again in her eyes. “How long have you known?”

  He shook his head. “Not until the day that Cassie came by the house with the court order to pick Zack up. I guess something just clicked. I remembered that one night we’d spent together and suddenly I looked at Zack as she left with him—and realized he was mine. Do you know he’s going to have my big feet? Poor kid,” he added with a laugh.