She smiled. Just what she needed. Her fingers caressed the black book with the gold letters embossed on it. THE HOLY BIBLE.
She sat at the edge of the bed flipping through the pages, gaining comfort from the words she read. The rustle of the pages sounded like God’s whispering in her ear.
Her phone rang.
Her hand shook as she flipped open the phone.
“Reggie, it’s me. Theresa’s with us and she’s fine. It’s all over. Where are you?”
Over and everyone safe. It was as if her body had a mind of its own. Every part of her started shaking. Her legs wouldn’t hold her up. She leaned against the bed and allowed herself to slide to the floor.
Between sobs, she told Dylan where she was.
CHAPTER 45
Billy Clyde’s van pulled into the parking lot. She dropped the curtain and ran out the door. She stood there waving until the van pulled into a parking space in the hotel parking lot.
Doors opened.
Billy Clyde and Theresa stepped out from the panel door, arms entwined. Dylan jumped out of the driver’s side.
They’d said “until death do us part” when they’d taken their vows and she meant every word, but she hadn’t expected either of them to face death so soon. She rushed to her husband and flung herself into his arms.
“I’m not letting you out of my sight again, ever.” She managed to say as she kissed him. After several long and loving kisses, she extricated herself from Dylan’s arms and turned toward Theresa. “Are you okay? I’ve been so worried. I had no idea what was going on.”
“You don’t know?”
“Not really, I was in...” Reggie’s voice trailed off as she realized she wasn’t sure what she should or shouldn’t say. Had they told her about the fire yet? “I haven’t really been able to talk with them. It should come as no surprise, Dylan kept me out of the loop. Let’s go in the room.”
The group walked side by side, somehow everyone hugging everyone else as they did. Once they were in the room, Reggie closed the door. She pointed at the table in the room. “There’s food and stuff. It’s a little cold, but—”
Theresa walked over to the table and grabbed a burger. “Doesn’t matter. I’m starving.” She unwrapped the burger and bit in.
Dylan and Billy Clyde did the same.
Theresa looked bad. She normally could be mistaken for a model—a short one but not at the moment. Her clothes were filthy. Her bronze-colored skin peeked through the leg of her ripped hot pink pants . Her strawberry blonde highlights were sticking up at odd angles, but her brown skin glowed with unspeakable joy.
She looked at peace as she chewed her burger.
After several bites, Theresa turned to her husband with her hands on her hips. She might only be five foot, but she could be intimidating when she wanted to be. “Now, I want to know what’s going on.” She turned to Reggie. “They haven’t told me a thing so far. Only that you were in the hospital. What happened?”
Reggie’s eyes moved to Billy Clyde who shook his head.
Theresa moved toward her husband, her hands still on her hips. “Don’t you shake your head at Reggie. I want to know what’s going on. Why you didn’t take me home instead of here. After what I’ve been through, I am in no mood.”
“Don’t blame you for that, baby. And I’m not trying to hide anything. The truth is Dylan and I don’t exactly know what’s going on yet. So, we all need to be calm and hear from both of you beautiful women what happened, but first—”
Theresa turned toward Reggie. “Did something happen to you, too?”
Billy stepped in front of his wife. “But as I said, first things first. You and I need to talk.”
“I rented the room right besides ours.” Reggie said. She pointed at the connecting door. “It’s unlocked.”
Theresa arched an eyebrow at her. “You did, did you? Why?” She turned to her husband. Her voice shook. “Billy, tell me what’s going on. Why am I not at my own house?”
“Okay. You win. I wanted to tell you sort of gentle and in private, but the truth is Reggie was in the hospital for more than her diabetes. She was being treated for smoke inhalation.” He pushed up his sleeve. “And I got this burn.”
No one spoke. Theresa’s demeanor went from loud and combative to calm as she digested the words. Her voice was quiet. “Our home?”
Billy Clyde nodded. “We got back from Dylan getting treated for snake bites and—”
“Snake bites?” Reggie’s eyes were wide. “When—”
Billy Clyde held up a hand. “We’ll get there, ladies. All of us have questions and information to share. Anyway, we got back to the house and found it on fire. Reggie crawled outside after getting free. How’d you do that anyway?”
“It wasn’t easy. I can tell you that.”
Dylan added. “But as you can see, she’s safe and sound.”
Theresa moved to Billy Clyde. His arms encircled her. She asked. “How bad is it?”
“Bad. According to the fire marshal, the sprinklers didn’t come on. Only thing I can figure out is they were disabled.”
“By the same people that kidnapped me?”
“Probably.”
Theresa’s gaze landed on Reggie. “Are you okay?”
“I’m better now that we’re all together and everyone’s safe. As for me, I’m fine. They wouldn’t have released me if I wasn’t.”
Theresa’s shouldered slumped. “Our home.”
“Not our home anymore, baby. As soon as we get this sorted out, I’m quitting and we’re going home. To Nashville. To the kids.”
Theresa wiped her eyes. “But Billy, your job is important. You make a difference.”
“It’s not up for discussion.” He walked over and his massive arms surrounded his wife. She put her arms around him and he picked her up like a baby and sat down on the bed. Theresa laid her head on his shoulder and sobbed.
A phone rang. Billy looked over at Dylan. “It’s them.”
He gently sat Theresa on the bed, held a finger to his lips, and flipped open the phone. He put it on speaker. “You burned down my house.”
“It couldn’t be helped. In a few days, I’ll call you back to tell you where that adorable wife of yours is.”
“Not necessary. I know where she is.”
Silence.
“She’s sitting right beside me.”
“Good. Then are business with each other is finished.”
“This is not going to end well for you.”
“It already has, my friend.”
CHAPTER 46
Reggie knew the taunt from the kidnappers wouldn’t go down well with either man. She waited for a reaction but both men simply stared at each other without a word passing between them.
But she knew they didn’t need words to communicate.
Billy shrugged and sat down beside Theresa.
“He didn’t know.” Theresa was the first to speak.
Billy shook his head.
“Didn’t know what?” Reggie asked.
“That I escaped.”
“Oh.”
Dylan made a show of stretching and yawning. “We’ll deal with it tomorrow. For now everyone is safe and accounted for and a good night’s sleep is just what the doctor ordered for all of us.”
Theresa looked at her husband then at Reggie. “Don’t play this game for our benefit. I want to know what’s been happening around here and I’m not going to bed until I do.”
Billy chuckled. “It was worth a try, Monroe. But I didn’t think these women of ours would just go take a nap after being kidnapped and tied up. So why don’t we start at the beginning? Which means you’re up first, my sweet.”
Theresa moved off the bed and walked around the room. “I was on my way home when I saw what looked like an accident, but apparently wasn’t. I stopped to help. A man was standing by a car. He said his wife needed help. When I bent down to look, he put a rag over my mouth and I was out. Probably ether.”
“Did he look familiar to you at all?”
“Never saw him before in my life.”
“What about the car? Did you see the license plate or what kind it was?”
She sighed. “Sorry, you know how I am with cars. They all look the same to me.”
“Don’t worry about it, hon. What’s the next thing you remember?”
“I woke up in a bathtub. At least I think it was a bathtub. I was blindfolded so I never saw it.”
Dylan grabbed another burger. “Yeah, been there myself. Were there snakes in it?”
Theresa’s eyes grew wide. “Not that I know of. Why?”
“We’ll get there in a minute, hon. Let’s have you finish up your story first. Did they hurt you in any way?”
“Not at all. They fed me once while I was in the tub and didn’t bother me. Other than the time they slapped me when I told you not to do it. And the two of them had an argument after that.”
“Two of them? Were there more?”
“I think there might have been one other person, but I never saw them. When they brought me out to talk on the phone, I sensed another person in the room but I was blindfolded so I don’t know for sure. But they didn’t talk or make their presence known so I might be wrong about that.” She cleared her throat and looked around the room.
Dylan was up on his feet. “Need something to drink?”
“It would be nice.”
“Your wish is my command.” He handed her a glass of soda.
After taking a sip, she looked at Billy. “What did they want you to do?”
“Not much actually. Just erase a file from the Secret Services investigative branch.”
What did that mean? Reggie looked at Billy. “I thought the Secret Service protected the president. They have an investigative branch?”
“It’s their job to keep the US money system safe. So they investigate financial crimes as well. And that’s what the file was I deleted.”
Theresa shook her head. “Billy, I told you not to do it.”
“Yeah, like I was going to listen when your life was in danger. I didn’t have a choice. And I’d do it again.” He popped the top on his can of root beer and looked at Reggie. “Your turn.”
“Oh, I don’t think so. I think I want to hear how Dylan ended up down here.”
When Dylan got to the part about finding Billy locked in the bathroom with a gunshot, Theresa jumped up and demanded to see it. After inspecting it, she looked at Dylan. “Looks good. No signs of infection. You may continue.”
“Well not a whole lot more to the story. We used the tracking system on your car to find its location, but it didn’t really give us any leads. We went back to your house and they finally called. Then they told us what they wanted Billy to do.” He went on to explain what happened at Mrs. Miller’s house.
“Oh, my goodness. You must have scared the old woman half to death.”
“Well, maybe but I think it was the most fun she’s had in a long time.” Dylan chuckled. “She’s quite the woman. You should have seen her handle that shotgun. Not to mention the great cookies. Anyway, we made sure she was safely on her way, and then we went back to the cabin. I gave the big man some pain meds and he fell asleep.”
“Yeah, and when I woke up Dylan was gone.”
“Is this where the snakes and the bathtub come into play?”
“Yep.” Billy opened a bag of chips. “You wanna tell us how the bad guys got the drop on you, Monroe.”
“I wouldn’t say they got the drop on me.”
“Really? Then how did you end up hogtied in the bathtub with the snakes?”
“OK, maybe I got a little careless. I did check the house and thought it was empty, but obviously I was wrong.”
“What kind of snakes?”
“Rattlesnakes, but get that panicked look off your face. There was no venom in the bites. The medic on the helicopter confirmed that.”
“Helicopters? I knew it. I was in the cabin staring at a helicopter and I remember thinking that it had something to do with the two of you. I can’t believe I was right.”
Billy wagged a finger at her. “You’re in the hot seat now. Tell us what happened.”
“Do you want to hear about what happened when I got to your house or maybe you’d like to hear how I rescued a woman and her two kids from an abusive husband?”
The looks of surprise on the other’s faces made her smile. “Nah, I’ll save that for later.”
When she’d finished, they all looked at each other. “Pretty unbelievable.”
“Not to mention a lot of work to get one simple file erased.” Theresa added.
Dylan grabbed the last burger off the table and unwrapped it. “That’s what I thought until Billy Clyde explained a lot of terrorist groups get caught because of their illegal activities to fund their terrorism rather than through the acts of terrorism.”
Reggie stared at them. “That’s a scary thought.”
“And now that everyone has a general idea of what’s being happening to everyone else the past few days, it really is time to go to bed. And let God rest our bodies and our minds.” Billy Clyde stood and reached for Theresa’s hand. “We’ll all be much better prepared to handle this situation in the morning.”
They walked out leaving Reggie and Dylan alone. Her eyes met his. “A lot of craziness going on in a few short days. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about my suspicions that Billy Clyde was in trouble. It wasn’t because I didn’t trust you, it was—”
“Because you wanted to keep me safe.”
He grinned at her. “Such a smart lady, I married.”
“I know we said until death do us part, but I was hoping that would be seventy or eighty years from now.”
“Amen to that.”
His arms encircled her. He leaned down and kissed her. She pulled him closer and their kiss deepened. He moved away. “You must be exhausted.”
She smiled at her handsome husband. “Not in the least.” Her arms moved to his neck and she pulled him to her.
CHAPTER 47
“We need a plan.” Dylan grabbed his third egg burrito and unwrapped it.
Billy blew on his coffee then looked over the cup at them. “Don’t need a plan until we know who it is we’re dealing with, Monroe. That’s the key. We’ve got to find who’s involved.”
Unbelievable. She shook her head and glared at her husband. “Have you lost your mind? All of us could be dead right now and—”
“But we’re not.” Dylan smiled as if to lessen the sting of disagreeing with her.
“But we could be.”
“Relax, Reggie.” Dylan’s blue eyes twinkled with love as he touched her shoulder. “Whatever Billy Clyde and I decide to do it won’t involve you or Theresa. The two of you are safe and we plan on keeping it that way.”
They were in the hotel room eating breakfast after deciding their conversation wasn’t one they wanted anyone else to overhear. After rehashing the events of the past several days, everyone had a good idea of what everyone else had experienced.
“Whether you like it or not.” Billy chuckled. “And I’m assuming the not part.”
Reggie set down her carton of orange juice on the table. “You assume right. Your safety is just as important to Theresa and I as ours is to you. And we—well I won’t presume to speak for Theresa, but I am not going to sit here and let you put yourself back in danger.”
Dylan popped the last of the breakfast burrito in his mouth. “We know that, sweetheart. What I meant to say was we have no plans to put you in danger.”
“You’re just making it worse, Monroe?” Billy whispered under his breath.
Reggie arched her brows at her husband. “Why? Do you think I can’t take care of myself? I managed to rescue a woman and her two kids from an out-of-control husband all by myself, but you don’t think I can help you because I’m some fragile woman.”
Theresa took a sip of juice and giggled. “Give it up, Dylan. Tell her you’re sorry. Don’
t make that hole any deeper that you’re digging for yourself.”
Dylan ran his hands through his curly locks. “Why? I’m telling the truth. There’s no way I’m going to let Reggie be in danger. When I saw—”
“Let me?” She threw her hands up in the air. “Let me? Are you living in another century, Dylan?”
“Sounds like the honeymoon is over, Monroe.”
“I didn’t mean it like that. But, Reg. All Billy Clyde and I want to do is check out the situation. We aren’t going to do anything dangerous.”
Theresa shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what you plan to do, Dylan. The two of you are like magnets when it comes to trouble.”
“Us?” Billy Clyde shook his head. “I don’t know how you can say that, hon. Really? We weren’t the ones kidnapped or locked in a closet, were we?”
“No, but you were shot and he was thrown in a tub with rattlesnakes.” Theresa stood and walked to the mirror on the wall, checking out her hair. “I wouldn’t call that a trip to Disneyland, would you.”
Theresa looked beautiful again. Sometime during the night while the rest of them slept, Billy managed to go shopping and bought Theresa everything she needed to put herself back together. And brought back fresh clothes for her and Dylan as well. And amazingly enough, they fit.
“You’ve got to admit something’s wrong with this whole thing. You hit the nail on the head last night when you said that was a lot of work for one simple file.” Dylan looked at the others. “Kidnapping, setting fires, attempted murder. Doesn’t make sense.”
Billy nodded. “No matter how important the file. And this one didn’t seem particularly important from what I could see.”
Reggie sighed. She needed to make them understand. “But it’s over and we’re all safe. Let it go.”
Billy smiled. “I’d like to agree with you but the problem is it’s not over. It won’t be over until we catch the people who did this. This can’t be about the file. There’s more to it.”
Theresa set her juice cup down. Her hair, normally relaxed, looked adorable in the tight little curls that framed her face. “But aren’t you a little curious, Reggie, about what’s really going on? Are you really willing to let them get away with kidnapping me and setting my house on fire with you in it? Not to mention shooting Billy and putting Dylan in a tubful of rattlers.”
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