In Love and Rescue: When love is the perfect rescue...

by K. Alex Walker

  The warmth that enveloped his body, although unexpected, was readily welcomed.

  “How do you do that?” He found himself asking.

  “Do what?”

  “Find the good in me even with everything that I just told you, and then tell me that you think that of me, to my face, without a flinch.”

  “Do you want me to stop?”

  “No. I don’t.” He used his thumb to stroke her palm.

  “I come from a very affectionate family,” she added. “We hug all the time. For everything. The affection, it just comes naturally when we care about someone.”

  The warmth traveled down to settle in the space right above his lower abdomen, and her gaze fell to the finger that was making circles in her palm. Gently pulling his hand away, he ran his finger along her jaw and she looked at him with the same light brown intensity that had been his downfall at the resort.

  “Thanks for listening,” he said, moving to trace the outline of her lips.

  Fingers tapping gingerly on the door interrupted them, and Eva appeared in the dimly lit entryway. When she saw that they were both awake, she clapped her hands in delight.

  “The two of you have to get ready to head out,” she said, tugging Larke out of the bed. Then, she looked at Desmond and pointed in the direction of the other side of the house.

  “Sweetheart, I have some things set out for you in the other bathroom. Plus, Ivor said that he wanted to talk to you. Can you meet him down there for me, please?”

  Without waiting for a response, she disappeared through the door with Larke once again in tow.

  Desmond eased out of the bed and found Ivor sitting in a rocking chair in the master bedroom, the reading glasses back on his nose and his bible in his lap. When he spotted Desmond, he smiled, put the bible away, and held out his hand for Desmond to help him out of the chair. He then made his way over to the bedroom dresser, dug around in the back, and pulled out a small velvet box. Sitting along the edge of the bed, he touched the space next to him.

  “When I was a young man, I was very skilled,” he explained. “I used to be able to make anything. This house, I built it from the ground up with my own two hands. But this damn arthritis,” he flexed his fingers, “getting old isn’t easy, I’m telling you.”

  He handed the box to Desmond.

  “Before you open that, answer a question for me.”

  Desmond nodded.

  “What did the two of you do to that Jarvis boy?”

  Desmond froze. “What are you talking about?”

  “On the hill. I thought at first Delgano was just up there looking around on police business, but since I don’t trust that man as far as I can throw him, I made sure I had my gun ready. Then, when I got closer to the clearing, from where I was standing I could see the two of you behind the water.”

  Still in shock, Desmond decided to tread lightly. “But you said Jarvis. What does Delgano have to do with Jarvis?”

  “Edward Koran Jarvis,” Ivor emphatically replied. “You might not know this in the states, but whenever you see Delgano after somebody, ninety-nine percent of the time, it has to do with Edward. The two of them grew up in the same shantytown in not one of the best parts of Jamaica and boy, they had a hard life. Edward’s mother used to sell her body all over the island until she just up and left one day, and Delgano’s mother died and left him when he was about three weeks old. Edward ended up moving to the States when he was eighteen, and Delgano stayed here and joined the police. One afternoon some years back now, a Rolls Royce went driving through the same shantytown where they grew up. When the window rolled down, it was Edward inside. What he told everyone was that business was doing good stateside, but you can’t fool us old West Indians. With my own two eyes I saw Delgano beat a man to within an inch of his life over some drugs nonsense.”

  Desmond’s hands went to his knees. “And you couldn’t do anything about it because Gano is a high ranking officer.”

  Ivor nodded. “Edward doesn’t hide his crime here like he does in the states. If you hear him tell it, he runs Jamaica.”

  He squinted at Desmond. “You and Larke, the two of you in drugs?”

  Desmond defensively put his hands up in front of him. “No, sir.”

  “I didn’t think so. You said Larke is a what, lawyer?”

  Desmond nodded.

  “And on the news, I heard that Edward finally got jail time? Is she responsible?”

  Slowly, Desmond nodded again realizing that the entire time they were at the house, Ivor had known why they were really hiding from Gano but had successfully hid it from them.

  “Tell me again how long the two of you been married?” He asked.

  Caught off guard, Desmond paused before responding. “Two years.”

  “Where’d the two of you meet?”

  “In DC.”

  Ivor chuckled softly. “The first time I ever set my eyes on Eva, she was wearing an orange and yellow dress. Her hair was pulled back and she had on no jewelry or makeup, but still managed to take place of my sunshine that day. I was doing some masonry work at the house next door and she was sitting on the front steps of a school friend’s house. It was a white, block house and the slipper on her right foot was half off. I remember because she kept flipping it against her heel with her toes.”

  He wagged his finger at Desmond. “When it comes to the love of your life, whenever somebody asks you where the two of you met, you tell the whole story because it gives you an excuse to remember.”

  Desmond smiled. “How long have you known we weren’t married?”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Ivor answered, pointing to the box. “Open it.”

  Desmond flipped it open and revealed two intricately carved wooden rings. Both were sculpted out of rich redwood and had been sanded and finished to a smooth perfection. The larger one was a plain band with a clear piece filled with shimmering crystalline powder wrapped around the middle, while the other was distinctly feminine with a sparkling emerald situated on top.

  “When Eva and I were first together, I didn’t have much of anything to my name,” Ivor explained. “But let me tell you, I had skill. It took me six weeks to carve up those rings and do the finishing. Inside the bigger one there, a Japanese friend of mine gave me some crushed pearl to take as medicine. I told him he was crazy and put it in the band.”

  He laughed to himself as Desmond continued to examine the ring.

  “The emerald in that one I got from my grandmother. The same night I told her that was going to ask Eva to marry me, she slipped her own ring right off of her finger without a question and told me to give the stone to Eva.”

  He nudged Desmond in the side.

  “I want you to have them.”

  Confused, Desmond’s brows wrinkled. “If we’re not married, why would you want us to have them?”

  A reminiscent smile tugged at Ivor’s cheeks. “First of all, my wife told me to give them to you. Second, I like the two of you together. You watch over that woman like you would kill the sun if it burned her skin, and with her, when you’re in front of her, she sees nobody else. The two of you are still young so you don’t know what is happening like I know.”

  Desmond fingered the grooves in the rings. “Does Eva know?”

  Ivor chuckled. “I would not be surprised if she did. That woman somehow figured out that even though I pick up that bible every night, I have yet to pass Genesis.”

  Desmond shook his head and smiled at the old man’s wit.

  “And before you tell me that you can’t take them, I insist. And you can’t say no when an old man insists.”

  Desmond slipped the rings back into the box and the box into his pocket. “Well, I guess that’s settled then.”

  After a shower, Desmond met Larke, Eva, and Ivor waiting for him in the kitchen. They ate breakfast while Ivor regaled them with stories of the early days of him and Eva’s marriage, her correcting him on the details along the way. There was a bit of sadness in Ivor’s
heart as he thought about Larke and Desmond leaving. It had been such a long time since he and Eva had any guests and when they finally did, it happened to be with a pair that he’d grown fond of in such a short time. He wished with every fiber of his being that they got home safely.

  After breakfast, Eva gave them a brown paper bag filled with food, but as Desmond and Larke headed for the back door, Ivor stopped them and handed Desmond his keys.

  “Keep going down the road and you will come to a place where the road divides into two. Go right and you will get where you need to be.”

  Desmond and Larke exchanged confused looks. “You’re not coming?” Larke asked.

  “No, we’re going to stay here,” Eva answered.

  “Delgano will be back,” Ivor decisively added. “And when he comes back, I will handle him.”

  Larke’s eyes widened in shock. “No, you can’t. That man has absolutely no scruples.”

  Eva rubbed her hand soothingly before pulling her into her arms and kissing her on the cheek. She then went over the Desmond and did the same.

  “Go,” she urged. “The sun is almost up.”

  Larke tried to protest again but Eva silenced her and ushered the two out of the door and into the waiting truck.

  “How will you get your truck back?” Desmond asked.

  Ivor gently pushed the door shut. “Let me worry about that. Go now.”

  As he started the ignition, they could see a line of cars coming around the hill in the distance. Ivor turned and looked at the line, then sent Desmond a nod, confirming that it was Gano returning with his troops.

  With a final wave, Desmond drove off and Larke watched the couple in the mirror until they were no longer in sight. Closing her eyes, she silently thanked them for everything for that they’d done, and prayed for their safety as Gano and his gang pulled fully into the driveway.

  Chapter Four

  The road was unforgiving. Violent winding twists and turns sent them both slamming into the side of the truck and bouncing so hard that they flew out of their seats. The diverging roads that Ivor had mentioned were even more treacherous, pouncing upon them so suddenly that Larke thought the pickup would overturn as Desmond abruptly rounded the corner of the right-handed path.

  Neither of them spoke during the entire ride as they thought about Eva and Ivor nobly remaining behind to make sure that they’d made it to safety. Desmond touched his pocket a few times to make sure that the box was still there as it would serve as a memento of Ivor and what a real man was actually like. Ivor had taught him much more than they both probably even realized, and it gave Desmond insight into a world that before had been foreign to him: a world where happy marriages existed and people could actually enjoy spending their lives together. Where compromise was real and agreements could be met. Where one person did not have absolute power over the other and households could carry on without fear, and a world where it was possible to fall in love and remain in love, even through disagreements and struggles. None of those things had been remote possibilities before meeting Ivor and Eva. He’d always assumed that happy marriages were façades and that people were truly hiding misery behind their plastic smiles. At least, that was the way regarded it until he saw the way Ivor held Eva in his arms the night that they danced.

  They drove about five miles down the path before the road began to even off. The brilliant harbor peeked between the trees and Desmond pointed to a fisherman’s boat in less than perfect shape bobbing in the water. There were areas where the white paint had been completely stripped from the wood and on the side, the name was handwritten in black spray paint: The S.S. Cordella.

  Whenever a wave hit, the boat tugged at the dock as if trying to break free, and Larke wondered how many more hits it would take before the entire thing collapsed.

  “That’s his boat?” she asked, following Desmond’s finger. “If he has the resources to get us money and fake passports, why doesn’t he put some of that ingenuity into his boat?”

  Desmond chuckled. “Doug loves that thing. He bought it several years ago for a few thousand dollars.”

  The boat tipped so far to the right that she feared it would end up submerged in the water.

  “I think he might have paid too much.”

  They parked the truck underneath a string of palm trees on a gravel parkway just off of the sand, and made their way over to where the boat was hitched. A shirtless man appeared on the dock, his light blue denim shorts frayed at the bottom edges and torn right above the left knee. His dark blond hair tousled wildly in the breeze and a shadow of his beard outlined the lower portions of his face. When he spotted them walking towards him, his bright blue orbs glittered with relief. He rushed over, grabbed Desmond in a brief, yet rough hug, and then turned to Larke.

  “I’m pleased to finally have a chance to meet you, Larke,” he greeted. “I’m Doug Casey. Come on in and have a seat.”

  They followed him onto the treacherously unstable boat, but once Larke crossed the threshold, she understood why he kept the outside looking as shabby as he did. The interior looked as if it belonged to a luxury yacht.

  There was a desk in the back corner set-up with a hi-tech computer system and several monitors, one which had Gano’s face frozen on the screen. The entire right side of the boat was littered with all different types of gadgets—cameras, trackers, scanners, and other contraptions that she couldn’t identify. A sofa wrapped around the opposite wall and a mini fridge hid underneath the computer desk.

  “I was not expecting this,” Larke admitted, sitting on the sofa.

  “No one ever does,” Doug replied, taking a seat at the desk. “It’s why I keep the outside looking like I do. I actually had to bring my wife inside a few times to convince her that I was really working and not lazing around on a fishing boat.” His eyes flashed to Desmond. “I’ve got some of the information you asked about.”

  He tapped a few keys and the computer screen split into a picture of Gano’s face next to a shot of Jarvis. On the other monitor were photos of the two ranging from grade school to adulthood.

  “Guess we’ve figured out why Larke was abducted,” Desmond said.

  “That’s not all,” Doug added. “I just got word from headquarters. Not only do they now know that Larke is missing, so is Jarvis.”

  Larke’s head shot up. “Eddie is missing? Missing how?”

  “They’re saying that he was lost in transit,” he explained. “One of our guys talked to one of the inmates that witnessed it and he said they took him professional style. Three men dressed in all black boarded the vehicle and extracted Jarvis like a scene straight from a movie.”

  Desmond’s jaw clenched. There was no doubt in his mind that now that he was free, Jarvis’ search for Larke would intensify.

  “How’d they find out that Larke was missing?” He asked.

  “I don’t know,” Doug answered with a shrug. “Someone leaked it to the FBI, so we’re either looking at a crack in our agency, or someone else knows about what’s going on.”

  “And they’re trying to stir the pot.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Has the link been made between Larke’s, Cory’s, and Jarvis’ disappearances yet?” Desmond asked, then cursed. He’d forgotten that he hadn’t told Larke about Cory.

  “Cory’s missing?” She asked, landing an accusatory glance on Desmond’s face. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I forgot.”

  “So, this whole ‘Babylon Roots’ thing. That was a lie? You knew who abducted me all along?”

  Another curse resounded. He’d forgotten about that as well.

  “Yes, but let me explain,” he rushed out before she had a chance to speak. “I wasn’t sure who’d abducted you back at the old house.”

  “But you had a hunch.”

  “A hunch doesn’t mean much in this line of work.”

  Her eyes darted between him and Doug. “Really? You guys operate off your gut and intel. A hunch means everything.”
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  Desmond and Doug began to plead their case, but she put a hand up before squaring her eyes on Desmond. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll deal with you later.”

  A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Ignoring it, she faced Doug again. “So, has anyone pointed out yet that three of the key people involved in the Jarvis case are missing?”

  “That’s the funny thing.” Doug pulled up a copy of the Washington Post. “Yes, but not in the way that you think. The media is calling the case a curse. The FBI, they’re thinking an external source. That one person is behind all three of the disappearances.”

  “Is that one person Eddie?” She asked.

  “No.” Doug swayed in his chair. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Desmond?”

  “That Larke has a mole in her office?” Desmond asked, glancing at Larke. “And that this could be the same person who leaked to the FBI that she’d gone missing?”

  Doug also looked at her. “Did anyone else in your office know about what had been happening? The threats? The stalking? Any of that?”

  “No,” she answered, trying to conjure the memory and failing.

  “You’re sure?”

  “Pretty sure.”

  He twisted his mouth. “Still doesn’t feel right.”

  Desmond reached for a folder that was sitting on top of the desk. “What have you found so far on the Jarvis-Delgano connection?”

  Doug tapped a few more keys. “Not much. They grew up together, but Eddie chose to move to the US while Richards stayed in Jamaica. Virtually everyone on the island knows their story, and that they’re involved in some sort of intricate drug smuggling operation, but I couldn’t find a shred of evidence that Delgano ever stepped foot onto US soil. It almost looks like they haven’t had any contact since Eddie left eighteen years ago.”

  He turned the monitor towards them. “But have you ever heard of a police officer that, on just his salary, can afford a property on the Amalfi coast in Italy? Or purchase a Lamborghini roadster in cash?”

  Larke moved closer to the screen. “So, Eddie and Gano are still working together.”