A Lover's Vow

by Brenda Jackson

  “I remember seeing your name in the newspaper when Jace Granger was kidnapped. I need someone to talk to, to tell them what I know. I’ve got journals, and I’ve made audio recordings. I’ve got names. But my life is in danger, and the lives of those I care most about have been threatened if I don’t do what they want. I have a feeling these people are about to get rid of someone who’s working to expose what they are doing and—”

  “Who is this?”

  “I can’t tell you now.”

  “Can we meet and talk? If someone’s life is in danger, I need to know.”

  The caller paused and then said, “I can’t come to your office. They will know.”

  Marcel knew of a place he used whenever he met with informants. It was late but he could have his men in place to make sure no craziness happened. “Are you familiar with the Wiltshire area?”

  “Yes.”

  “There’s an abandoned warehouse in the center of the complex. Can you meet me there in half an hour?” Marcel asked, already out of the chair and sliding into his jacket.

  “Yes.”

  And then there was a click, and the caller was gone.

  * * *

  “Okay, Bruce,” Jules said, sitting down in her office chair while Dalton took the sofa. “Based on information I’ve obtained this week, this is what I believe.” She then told Bruce her idea about Y2K, the same thoughts she had shared with Manning.

  “Funny you should think that about Y2K. I got a painting off the wall in Dalton’s office a few days ago. It was the one Brandy seemed interested in those times she searched his office. I discovered the artist, Jeb Peters, was one of those who helped promote the Y2K scare back then.”

  “Why?” Dalton asked.

  “He was one of those people who refused to use or acknowledge technology. He thought Y2K was real and would be God’s punishment to a world too dependent on technology. Which is why he also believed it was a passing fad.”

  Dalton shook his head. “Boy, was he wrong.”

  “Based on what I found out about that painting, I checked with a contact I have in DC and what I was told pretty much backs up what you’re thinking, Jules. Homeland Security believes there was a group of computer-savvy individuals who got together during the Y2K scare and decided to take advantage,” Bruce added.

  “How could they do that?” Dalton asked.

  “Like Jules said, during the Y2K scare, it was believed that with the arrival of the new millennium, the entire computer system would crash and cause chaos. People’s fears were out of control because most people didn’t know enough about computers, and they would believe almost anything. I can see how someone savvy could take advantage of the situation. In fact, it would have been fairly easy to do.”

  “I agree,” Jules added. “All they would have to do is install their own software onto another computer or computers. Software they could command and update without ever worrying about it being detected.”

  “And you believe that actually happened?” Dalton asked, rubbing his chin.

  Jules met his gaze. “Yes, and to be completely honest, I have a hunch that’s what happened at Granger Aeronautics, which would explain the ability to wipe out those hard drives. And I believe those headphones were a way to update the software or transfer it to a new computer, which would need to be done every so often.”

  “I totally agree,” Bruce said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I tried calling Marcel on the way here but he had just left his office, so I couldn’t reach him. I will have to fill him in on everything later.”

  “Damn,” Dalton muttered. “A network of people?”

  “Yes, and all of them computer savvy. Experts,” Bruce said, sliding into the chair across from Jules’s desk. “Not sure how many, but it’s my guess that over the years, it’s grown to include new members and even more sophisticated technology. No telling what information they are pulling out of computers.”

  “Or putting in there,” Jules added. “Or how far they will go to make sure nobody finds out about them.”

  “And you think my mother somehow got involved in such a network?” Dalton asked Jules.

  “Yes, and I believe that’s why she was killed. That picture on the wall was a clue she deliberately left behind, but nobody was able to make a connection until now,” Jules said. “I asked Manning to find out the name of the company that was hired to handle the Y2K scare at Granger Aeronautics. It’s a company by the name of Triple H Computer Company. I’ve spent the last several days doing extensive research on them and as hard as it is for me to believe, I think I’ve made a connection between them and your mother’s death.”

  “You’ve certainly been a busybody, Ms. Bradford. Unfortunately, your curiosity is going to cost you.”

  Jules, Dalton and Bruce turned and saw a familiar couple standing in the doorway with guns aimed directly at them.

  Forty-Four

  “Un-fucking-believable,” Dalton muttered through shocked lips.

  “Just as I suspected,” Jules said, not shocked at all.

  Bruce stared at the guns leveled at them, and for the time being, he decided not to say anything.

  “Don’t start the party without me,” a third person said, entering the room also brandishing a gun. “We have not been followed,” he said to his colleagues.

  Jules stared into the faces of Harold and Helen Owens...and Gary Coughlin.

  When he saw her staring at him, he winked and said, “Yes, sweetheart, it’s me. You may remember me as Gary Coughlin but please, call me Garrett Herbert. I’m Harold and Helen’s silent partner at Triple H Computers.”

  “We need the three of you in the center of the room, so don’t try anything. I would hate to kill any of you in here. The blood would leave a nasty stain on such gorgeous floors,” Helen Owens said. “Now move.”

  Jules wished she had time to pull her Glock out of her desk drawer, but decided not to take a chance. But she did have time to activate the audio record button located on the underside of her desk without detection.

  “Now where were we?” Harold Owens said, grinning as the three of them stood in front of Jules’s desk. “Oh, yeah, so now you know our computer company is the one involved with Y2K at Granger Aeronautics. And, just as you suspected, we were involved in Sylvia’s death. Why don’t you appease their curiosity, Helen?”

  “Certainly, dear.”

  Dalton stared at the elderly couple, who seemed far too old for this sort of thing. Who did they think they were? Bonnie and Clyde? And what about Garrett Herbert, the man Jules had flirted with that night at Shana’s party? Considering the ages of the three, he figured that he, Bruce and Jules should be able to overtake them easily. But then, the three were packing some serious-looking weapons. He wouldn’t do anything stupid to put Bruce and Jules at risk. He just hoped like hell that Stonewall had put things together and had called the police.

  “Dalton,” Helen Owens said, grabbing Dalton’s attention. “That mother of yours was really a piece of work. The computer network was my idea. I figured I would involve a few women who were smart enough to want to make more millions than they already had. But all most of them wanted were their tea parties, social clubs and charities. The only one I felt comfortable inviting in was Sylvia. She liked the idea. But then she got greedy. Thought she could run the show because she was younger. She didn’t know the first thing about computers, but she was a threat, nevertheless. Figured one day she would try to take things away from Harold and me. And I couldn’t let her do that.”

  “So you killed her,” Jules said, making a statement rather than asking a question.

  Helen’s gaze shifted from Dalton to Jules. “Yes, I killed her, and I took great pleasure in doing so. I was the one building my network, the one driving the business forward. Sylvia Granger had forgotten I was the star
. Not her.”

  Dalton couldn’t believe what a monster this woman must be to stand there and openly admit to killing his mother. Yes, he could see that even now Helen Owens was the star, and that Harold and Herbert were just two of her yes men.

  “Homeland Security will bring you down,” Bruce said. “They are on to you.”

  Helen waved his words away. “Let them try. They will fail just like the FBI did. They have been trying to crack us for years. Now we’re too big. Our network stretches too far and wide. We are in places you wouldn’t even think of. I plan to take over the world.”

  “The world?” Dalton asked, thinking the old broad had really lost her marbles. He knew all about how to set high goals, but this was ridiculous.

  “Yes, and I know you’re thinking I’m just a crazy old woman, Dalton. But I’m also a smart one. And I’m ruthless. My players know this. Sylvia might have been the first casualty, but she wasn’t the last. Others have thought the three of us are old and past it. But they soon found out a bullet knows no age limit.”

  “And who’s responsible for killing Brandy Booker?” Bruce asked.

  “I am,” Garrett Herbert said proudly. “She started out doing what she was told, but then she began asking too many questions. All she had to do was find the information from that picture on the wall. I even gave her a key to make things easy for her. And I told her where to look, but she didn’t follow orders. At least with Ramona Oakley, I didn’t need her to do anything that raised her suspicions.”

  “How did you get the key?” Jules asked.

  “I cleaned out Sylvia’s purse after I killed her,” Helen said, as if killing people was something she did every day.

  “And what was so special about that picture?” Dalton asked, carefully trying to inch closer to Jules.

  “I can answer that,” Bruce said. “All this time, everyone assumed it was a painting of the Fourth of July with all the fireworks going off in the sky, but it was a New Year’s Eve celebration for the new millennium. If you look closely, you can see Y2K written in one of the firecrackers. Sylvia was smart enough to leave that clue behind. Evidently, at some point, she knew not to trust you three.”

  “Enough talking,” Harold said. “Both you and Helen have told them too much. But since they have to die, anyway, I guess it doesn’t matter.”

  “And how are you going to explain our deaths?” Jules asked. Like Dalton, she was hoping Stonewall had put two and two together and right now all she knew was that she had to stall for time.

  “Easy,” Helen said. “Each one of us is taking you to three different places. We have other players waiting to assist. They have orders to kill you and dispose of your bodies so you will never be found. I wish I had thought of doing that to Sylvia.”

  “Instead, you framed my father,” Dalton said angrily.

  “Which was so easy to do,” Helen said, smiling. “I saw that gun on the table and figured I would use it. Sylvia mentioned Sheppard was on his way to the boathouse for a meeting, which fell right into my plans. After shooting her, I wiped my prints from the gun and put it in a place where Sheppard couldn’t miss seeing it when he walked in. What happened worked like a charm.”

  Trying to keep the conversation going, Jules asked, “And you got off Sutton Hills how?”

  “By boat. Simple, really.”

  “Enough talking,” Herbert said, smiling. “Before I turn you over to the players, Ms. Bradford, I plan on enjoying you the way I had intended that night Granger so rudely interrupted us during the dinner party.”

  “Over my dead body,” Dalton said in a threatening tone.

  “Trust me,” Helen chuckled. “That can be arranged. By morning, you will be dead.”

  “Since you plan to kill us, anyway, you might as well answer a few questions that have me puzzled,” Jules said, trying to stall. “Why kill Marshall Imerson?”

  “I can answer that,” Harold Owens said. “He found out too much.”

  “Enough talking,” Herbert said again. “We need to get going. I’ll handle the PI.”

  Knowing he needed to stall even more and because he wanted Jules to know how he felt in case he didn’t make it, Dalton said, “Before we leave, I have something to say to Jules, since this might be my last chance.”

  “Trust me, son,” Harold said, chuckling. “It will definitely be your last chance.”

  “Then I have something to say to her.” He turned to Jules. “I love you. I thought I would have time to show you, to prove it to you and convince you of just how much I do, but if these clowns are really serious, I just wanted you to know how I felt.”

  Jules stared into Dalton’s eyes. Even from a distance, she could feel anger and rage pouring from him, but she saw something else. At first she thought he was just stalling for time, but all it took was a look in his eyes to see he was dead serious. Tears filled her eyes. “Oh, Dalton.”

  “How touching,” Herbert sneered. “Now, let’s go. Move it, Ms. Bradford.”

  “Drop your guns. You’re under arrest.”

  Shots rang out, the first coming from Herbert’s gun. Jules was thrown to the floor, and she was aware of Dalton’s body covering hers. Bruce had managed to pull out his gun and was protecting them both.

  Jules glanced up and saw her entire office swarming with people. Marcel and his men were there, as well as Stonewall, Striker, Quasar, Roland and a few other men she didn’t know.

  “Are the three of you okay?” Marcel asked, rushing over and helping them back to their feet.

  “Yes, we’re fine,” Dalton said, pulling Jules into his arms. “I thought I had lost you.”

  She shook her head, smiling. “And I thought I’d lost you. Did you mean what you said? Or just stalling for time?”

  Dalton leaned over and kissed her on the lips. “I meant every word.”

  “Good, because I love you, too. I love you so much, Dalton.”

  A woman’s scream snatched their attention, and they glanced over to Helen Owens. “These handcuffs are too tight,” she hollered at the young federal agent who had cuffed her. “Don’t you know I’m old enough to be your grandmother?”

  “Oh, now she wants respect,” Bruce said, shaking his head.

  “And by the way,” Jules said to the three criminals. “Just in case you want to deny anything you said in here tonight, you’ve been recorded. Every single thing you said is on tape.”

  “And just so you know,” Marcel added, “Homeland Security has taken over all your computer stores across the country and is searching them right now. They’ve already arrested some of your players, and I understand a lot of them are talking. So you and your network are being shut down, Mrs. Owens.”

  She lifted her chin. “No matter. I am still the star.”

  Marcel rolled his eyes. “Get her out of here.”

  Taking Jules’s hand in his, Dalton approached Stonewall, Striker and Quasar, who were standing together, staring in fascination at Jules’s wall.

  “I was hoping you had figured out what was going on, Stonewall.”

  Stonewall nodded. “Didn’t take me long when I saw the older couple and remembered them from Shana’s dinner party. I couldn’t see any reason for them to be here, and I called Roland right away. I also called Striker and Quasar. I figured they were close by and could get here before Roland in case I needed backup.”

  “Well, I appreciate you guys being here.”

  At that moment, Jace, Caden and their wives rushed through the door. Shana grabbed her sister. “Are you okay? Striker called and told us what was going down. We were so scared.”

  “I’m fine,” she said and then glanced up at Dalton. “The man I love was with me the entire time.”

  “Love?” several voices said simultaneously.

  “Yes, love,” Dalton said. “And I lo
ve Jules, as well.”

  Jace and Caden just stared with dropped jaws. “Please close your mouths,” Dalton said, grinning. “The two of you can fall in love—so why can’t I?”

  “It’s not that we thought you couldn’t,” Jace said, recovering from shock. “We just figured you never would.”

  “I thought so, too,” he said, looking down at Jules. “But she is a woman a man can’t help but love.” He leaned over and kissed Jules’s lips.

  “Thanks for calling Marcel, you guys,” Dalton added.

  “We didn’t call Marcel,” Shana said. “I wonder who did.”

  Marcel grinned. “I got a call this evening from an informer. He came with journals, audio and enough information to help shut down the whole network. Seems like he took it upon himself to infiltrate the organization to help blow their cover.”

  “Who was it?” Caden asked.

  “Me,” a deep voice said. They all turned around.

  “Sedrick!” Shiloh exclaimed, rushing over to her brother. “But how? What are you talking about?”

  “After Dad died, Harold Owens approached me with his crazy idea, but I wanted no part of it. Then they threatened to harm you and Cassie if I didn’t cooperate. I knew that I had to do whatever I could to shut them and their organization down. The first thing he and his group asked me to do was to make sure Richard Granger didn’t survive his heart attack.”

  “You’re kidding. Granddad?” Jace asked.

  “Yes. But Richard died because his heart gave out, not because I gave him the injection to kill him, which they had ordered me to do. But they didn’t know that.”

  “They actually wanted you to kill Granddad?” Caden asked, not believing what he was hearing.

  “Yes. Richard was determined to free Sheppard, and they figured sooner or later he would find out too much. They also killed Marshall Imerson. I recently got wind that they were going to kill Jules.”

  “B-but I had no idea,” Shiloh said, smiling up at her brother.

  “That was my plan. That’s why I tried keeping you and Cassie at a distance and acted like a jackass to drive both of you away. Harold and Helen were always watching and listening. Trying to find my weakness. But no matter how mean I was to you, you put up with it, and Cassie refused to leave me.”