by Liz Johnson
Kenzie nodded, opening the door wide enough for them to step into the foyer. As she moved to close it, her eyes played a trick on her. She thought she saw Myles sitting in a truck at the end of the driveway. But of course that was an illusion. He couldn’t really be there; and anyway, she could not possibly recognize Myles from a hundred feet away.
But there was no telling her heart that. It pounded wildly at the mere thought of him being so close. Perhaps she should let her heart settle down before actually calling him.
Myles had nodded at John and Teddy as they walked past his rented pickup truck a minute before. From the white FBI van with a local phone company’s logo splashed across the sides, they had entered the governor’s house, the house that right now sheltered Kenzie Thorn.
Lucky bums.
Of course, they were the best men for the job. The most technologically advanced agents in the state, and not half-bad actors. They were still in the governor’s second residence, which was likely his primary home, placing three miniscule bugs to pick up both sides of every phone conversation in the house, as well as any audio from the governor’s personal office. And in about fifteen minutes John and Teddy would return to the van, take it for a spin around the block and arrive at the same spot with a new facade-free vehicle to record every minute of every conversation in the house.
Thank you, Claudia Suarez. She had just earned his vote. And thank you, John and Teddy.
His mind wandered to what Kenzie looked like today. Dressed in feminine clothes and really clean for the first time in days, her red hair curly and smelling of that perfume she wore the first day he met her. Not that she didn’t always smell good, even when they roughed it in the cabin or picked their way through clues in Evergreen. But that lemon-lime scent that she wore at the prison was bliss.
A groan from deep in his throat echoed in the cab of the truck, and he leaned his head back against the seat. It’s me again, God. Still begging for You to work something out for me and Kenzie. Any help here would be great, so that we can have a chance to see if this is really what You want. But no matter what, thanks for getting us safely this far. These short bursts of prayer were becoming more and more frequent the longer he went without seeing her stormy-gray eyes, sweet-and-spicy smile and wild curls.
The minutes passed achingly slowly as he sat in his truck. He could not afford to be distracted by the radio, so it remained in the off position. Both windows were opened a crack so that he could feel a slight breeze, but as the sun rose nearer its zenith, the stagnant heat became almost unbearable. Sweat dripped down his temples and the back of his neck, yet he sat still, only staring at the gray house across the street, wondering how much longer John and Teddy would be inside.
The cell phone in his pocket rang three times before the sound penetrated his consciousness, he was so focused on Kenzie’s home. On the fourth chime, he flicked it open. “Borden.”
“Um…Myles?”
His heart exploded. “Kenzie! I’m so glad you called! How are you?” He sat a little taller, and if possible, stared a little harder at the front door of the house.
“I’m—I’m fine, I guess.” She sounded uncertain, scared, anything but the strong woman he had grown to care for.
“Kenzie, what’s going on? I didn’t think you’d call.”
She paused. “I wasn’t going to. It’s just that I have the proof that we talked about. I have the budget from the prison. And even though you’re wrong about Mac, it can help you take down JB.”
He longed to see her face, to watch her forehead wrinkle and her nostrils flare when she spoke Ryker’s name. But how could he respond to her offer? He already had the budget, and he was more convinced than ever that Mac was behind the conspiracy to have her killed. But he hadn’t seen her face in more than twenty-four long hours.
“Thank you. It means a lot to me that you’re still willing to help me. Can we arrange a drop-off?”
“I can’t very well let Ryker off the hook, can I? He had me kidnapped.” The tenor of her voice rose in strength, and he could almost hear the beginning of a smile.
“It wasn’t that bad, was it?”
Now she laughed. “Aside from the indescribable fear when I realized I wasn’t alone in my car, the mountain lion attack, being chased by cops and having to nurse you back to health at every bend in the road, it wasn’t the worst thing ever.”
“You make me out to be some kind of sickly wimp. I was injured. Saving your life, I might add.”
She grew soft-spoken again. “I know. And I never minded. After I decided you didn’t deserve to have me run over you with the car, anyway.”
“You were going to run me over?” he asked.
“The thought crossed my mind.”
“I’m glad you didn’t go through with it.”
“Me, too.”
Silence hung over the phone line. With no clue what to say, Myles cleared his throat. Kenzie did not take the hint that she should pick up the conversation by offering her undying devotion and showering him with words of her affection.
“So how should we do this drop-off?” she finally asked.
“There’s a little coffee shop at the corner of Main Street and Fourth Avenue called Buster’s.”
“Yes, I know it. I have to wait until some phone company repair guys are done. But I can be there by one o’clock.”
“Okay. I’ll see you there.”
“Oh, Myles…”
“Yeah?”
“Be careful, okay? There are still pictures of you in the paper here. I told them you were probably in Canada by now. But just in case, be careful.”
She ended the call, and he sat with a silly grin spread across his face that he could not get rid of. So she hadn’t told the police where to find him when they parted ways.
She had told him in that roach-infested bathroom that he’d earned a kiss from her. Well, she had certainly just earned one from him, and he never reneged on a debt.
Leaning back, he rested his hands behind his head and smiled at the gray house across the street. He would wait until she left, then follow her to the coffee shop. Until then, he would just enjoy the sunshine and the thought of paying her what she was due.
“Kenzie, I’m going to the store. Do you need anything?” Nana’s head poked through the crack between Kenzie’s bedroom door and the frame. “Mac just returned home. He’s in his office.”
Kenzie could not help but smile at the older woman’s face. Though the years—and especially the last week of stress—increased the lines and wrinkles on her face, her smile was always contagious, reaching to her eyes and enhancing the crow’s-feet there.
Kenzie returned Nana’s smile and reached down to scratch Henry behind his ears. “Good boy.” He perked up even more at the sound of her voice and nuzzled her calf through the jeans she wore.
To her grandmother she replied, “I’m fine. Did the phone company guys leave yet?”
Nana mumbled something under her breath in a huff. “They just left a minute ago.”
“Okay. I’ll see you later.” Kenzie sat down on her bed and patted her thighs to get Henry’s attention. He leaped to her lap and put his front paws onto her shoulders as she scratched his sides. His little white doggy face looked into hers with pure contentment in his eyes. The front door opened and closed, and Kenzie heard Nana’s car pulling down the long driveway. “Do you think I should have told her that I’m going to meet up with a friend this afternoon?”
Henry barked. Kenzie’s stomach danced with butterflies.
“Me neither. She wouldn’t understand. At least not yet. But this does put us in a bit of a predicament as far as transportation goes.” Holding Henry close to her chest, she walked down the hallway and into the foyer, the socks on her feet muffling each step on the hardwood floor.
One peek out the window next to the door confirmed what Kenzie already knew. The only vehicle in the driveway was Mac’s shining silver Cadillac Escalade. She had teased him, when he bought it three
months before, that it made him look like some kind of drug cartel baron. He had chuckled and said only that he and Nana had been saving for a new car, and they had enough to splurge.
Her forehead wrinkled as she thought about the SUV. Complete with all the bells and whistles, it was quite a sight. Mac and Nana would have had to pay well over $40,000 to buy it outright. Mac and Nana lived modestly. Nana had never worked, for as long as Kenzie could remember. And Mac earned very little as the governor, in comparison to the responsibilities required of him.
Kenzie’s stomach clenched as she saw Myles’s face in her mind’s eye. The pure truth radiating from his voice as he told her the very last thing in the world she wanted to believe.
“Could Myles possibly be right?” she asked Henry. He looked at her quizzically, then put his cold, wet nose into her neck.
She had to talk to Myles, and a glance at her watch told her that she needed to leave shortly to meet him at the coffeehouse as they planned. But she needed to borrow Mac’s Escalade to get anywhere. Her own car was likely still at the cabin. But borrowing the car meant speaking directly to Mac. Alone.
Henry barked suddenly and jumped to the floor, running for the back door. He pushed at it with his nose until she let him out. She stepped outside and watched him run behind a bush and just a few seconds later return, as excited as ever to see her. He jumped at her knees until she scooped him back up.
“Shall we go see about borrowing Mac’s car?” she asked Henry. She moved toward the front of the house, strangely nervous to be alone with Mac for the first time. Heart thudding with each step, she made her way toward the dark maple door of Mac’s study. She reached for the doorknob with a shaking hand, the other holding tightly to Henry.
“You’re being silly,” she whispered to herself, clenching her free hand and taking a deep breath. A calmer hand clamped around the doorknob and turned it silently. The heavy door slid open a fraction of an inch, revealing the sunlit study filled with a maple desk and bookcase set.
Reclining in the huge leather chair behind the desk, Mac sat with his back to the door, and he did not turn. It took several seconds for her to realize that he wasn’t alone in the room, but she couldn’t see who he was speaking to through the narrow crack in the door.
His hand shot through his silver hair in a motion not unlike a familiar one of Myles’s. “Okay, okay! You said you would work this out. But I never wanted Kenzie to get hurt. You said we’d just pay off that guard to keep his mouth shut, and then you were going to hunt down this inmate and take care of him. Kenzie was supposed to return to us unharmed within a day, but too scared to ever return to the prison. But that’s not what’s happened at all! Where did your plan go awry?”
“My plan didn’t go awry. It just changed.” The voice was gravelly, and Kenzie would have recognized it anywhere.
“What do you mean by that, Joe?” Mac jumped to his feet and crossed the room in the direction of JB’s voice.
“Just what I said. She had to be taken out of the picture. You and I both know there’s not enough money to fund your campaign against someone with deep pockets like Suarez’s husband without our extra prison income. And you know that the minute that Claudia Suarez is elected, she’ll start looking into the prison reform…so that could land you without a job and likely behind bars. And your granddaughter was getting mighty interested in the budget. One request to the legislature, and she would have blown the whole thing wide-open.”
“Right. Which was why we were going to scare Kenzie away. Not kill her!” Mac’s voice grew angry and loud.
“Are you willing to risk the election because Kenzie suddenly got nosy? I didn’t think so. And we both know you’d never risk turning me in.” His laugh was nasty and vicious, and Kenzie could almost see the brutality reflected in his eyes. “You and me, Macky, we’re the same kind. Hungry for money and the power that money buys.”
Mac sighed, as though resigning himself to the truth of JB’s words. “Well, she’s back now. And safe. But what about the inmate? Have you heard anything from him? Or Larry?”
JB cleared his throat. “Not yet. But we’ll find them, and take care of both of them—permanently. We can’t have it leaking out that they were hired to kidnap Kenzie and take care of her.”
Mac mumbled something too quietly for her to hear. Or maybe her heartbeats were so loud they blocked out any other sound. It was true. All of it! What Myles had said about Mac being involved in the entire plot. And they were still after him. They were going to kill him!
In a single instant the world flew apart. Henry jumped from Kenzie’s arms, darting into the study. A car horn outside honked wildly. And Mac spun around, his eyes, so similar to hers, locking onto her gaze.
JB jumped from somewhere behind Mac’s much larger frame and seemed to cross the room in one motion. Her left arm ached, and it was a full second before she realized that it was because his wiry hand was clamped around it.
“How much did you hear?” JB’s voice, suddenly unfamiliar, sounded smooth as silk.
In spite of violently shaking knees, she sent up a silent, confused prayer. In the past, she always prayed that God would send Mac to rescue her. But how could she pray for that now, when the men she needed rescuing from were JB and Mac himself?
God, Myles was right, and I was so wrong. I have no one to rely on but You! Please don’t fail me now!
JB shook her arm and growled again, “How much?”
Several yards behind JB, Mac’s eyes held her gaze, but the light that had once shone in them had disappeared. His always-strong shoulders slumped slightly, defeated.
With quivering lips she replied, “Enough.”
“Well, that won’t do.” JB’s lips twisted cruelly as his grip tightened. A mean-looking pistol materialized in his hand, likely from his waistband, where his suit coat had covered it. He twisted her arm behind her back and shoved the gun into the soft tissue of her back until she winced and Mac took a step forward.
“What are you doing, Joe?”
“Well, she obviously has to be disposed of. She knows too much!”
Mac jumped at the harsh words. “That’s crazy. She’s my granddaughter! She won’t say anything. Just put the gun away.”
Kenzie took a deep breath, trying to calm her wild nerves, but it only served to press the cold muzzle of the gun farther into her back. “Superintendent Ryker, please, I won’t say anything. I promise.”
“No one needs to get hurt here. This is just about money. It was never supposed to get this deep. It just got out of hand. It’s just money. It’s not worth it,” Mac said, taking baby steps toward her and JB.
“Not worth it?” JB exploded, his breath thick and hot on the back of her neck. “This girl is threatening my position and my reputation, and you say dispatching her isn’t worth it! Hah! She has to be taken care of, and you know it! Her testimony sends you and I both to prison for a long time. Do you know what it’s like for a prison superintendent on the inside?”
Kenzie could just imagine the torture of that situation. But for the moment it paled in comparison to her own terror. This was the end of her life. She was pretty sure she wouldn’t live to see Myles or Nana again. And it broke her heart.
God, save me! He’s going to kill me! Kenzie’s heart cried as JB brought the gun around to her side and something in the house suddenly exploded.
SEVENTEEN
Myles’s fingers drummed ceaselessly on the steering wheel of the truck. No particular rhythm, he just needed some sound to fill the emptiness.
Suddenly he spied Teddy and his partner exiting the house and crossing the street. The big man nodded at Myles, signaling that the bugs had been planted.
A glance at the dashboard and the clock read 12:43 p.m. Kenzie should be leaving now. Any minute. The phone repair guys had just left. She should be free to head toward their meeting.
The front door opened, and his heart leapt. But it was Kenzie’s grandmother going to her sedan and pulling it onto the
street—leaving Kenzie and Mac alone in the house.
Kenzie was alone with Mac.
Mac would not be crazy enough to hurt Kenzie in his own home. Would he?
12:44 p.m. Still no sign of Kenzie.
His thumbs joined the percussion section on his steering wheel to the rhythm of his high school’s fight song. Strange that it should pop into his mind now, but he felt the same way he always had before a big game. Breathing slow. Heart beating steadily quicker and quicker.
He scratched his right thigh. The doctor at the twenty-four-hour urgent care had told him that the mountain lion wound was mending at a good rate, and the fact that it itched constantly was a sign that it was healing. The chances of it reopening were very low, and there was no infection. Although he would likely always have a scar, it would diminish with time. All in all, the doctor praised the care that it had received.
Myles conveniently failed to mention that he had managed to rip it open several times since the original attack. Instead, he focused on remembering the way that Kenzie had cared for him, even when she thought him a felon who intended to kill her. She was something else, so tender and spunky. His Sweet and Spicy Kenzie.
12:46 p.m.
Still no sign of her.
If she didn’t leave right away, she’d never make it to the coffeehouse in time to meet him at one, like they arranged. What could be holding her up?
He opened the door of the truck to check in with the van fifty yards down the street, but quickly slammed it shut when another car pulled into the driveway. Not Mrs. Thorn’s car. This one a sleek, black Lincoln Town Car. When it stopped, a driver got out and stepped to the back door, opening it. Out stepped JB Ryker. The man who had tried to have Kenzie taken out of the picture. JB looked around the street quickly, then walked to the front door, letting himself in without knocking.
The silence in the cab of his truck was deafening. He would have given anything to hear what the bug was picking up in Mac’s office. But where was Kenzie in the house? Was she okay, or being detained against her will?