by Nana Malone
Tom merely shook his head. “You have one minute to get dressed.”
Chapter 33
Caleb sat silently with Sarah as the other car pulled up for the meet. He kept his voice soft. “Now remember, keep the hood on over your head. I don’t want her catching on that you’re not Annie until the last possible second.”
Sarah smirked at him. “You know that place where crazy cowboys jump on the backs of bucking bulls? I’ve been to one before. This isn’t my first rodeo, Caleb. I can do this. I’ve been studying the girl for the last two days. Even if my hood slips, I look enough like her to pull this off. We’ll be fine.”
Caleb clenched his jaw. Easy enough for her to say, she didn’t know Sabine. “Stay here until I come to get you.”
She nodded, and he checked in via radio with his snipers as well as the three men he posted on the ground. Even with the backup, he wished Tom were here. Sabine could still slip the noose they’d laid out, then Annie would be forced into hiding, and so would Micha for that matter. Sabine wouldn’t let this kind of double cross lie.
He climbed out smoothly, slamming the door behind him. As he walked toward her car, he called out, “Really, Sabine, this isn’t exactly filling me with trust. There are too many exits and hiding places here. Makes me feel like I’m walking into a trap.”
Sabine smiled as she climbed out of the car. “Now, Caleb, you make it seem like you can’t trust me.”
“Maybe that’s because I can’t.”
She clutched her chest. “You wound me, you really do.” She peered behind him at his car. “I see you brought my present.”
“Not a present, we have a deal. I hand her over, and you back off of Micha.”
“Yeah, yeah, your little girlfriend. I have to tell you, I’m surprised she’s the one you’re picking. She’s too hard. Too much like me.”
Caleb breathed deep to keep the anger at bay. “She’s nothing like you, Sabine. I’d trust her with my life.”
Sabine rolled her eyes. “For the love of fuck, Caleb, you can’t still be mad about that ambush. It was years ago.”
He tapped a hand against his leg. “But that was our deal, wasn’t it? The whole reason you came here. You needed help. In exchange, you would tell me who was behind the attack. To help me put the whole thing to bed. We agreed.”
“Except you changed the terms of the deal when you introduced your girlfriend and lost my little parcel there.”
“Same terms. Or I take Carlotta, and I bolt.” He flattened his lips. “Or should I say Annie Sanderson?”
Sabine huffed out a breath. “So you’re not a complete idiot. You figured out who she is.”
“What the fuck were you playing at, putting her under my nose? You knew how risky it was.”
“Well, I was counting on your do-gooder attitude to protect an innocent, after all. I worried a little when little Miss Harriet Tubman took off on you though. I thought you’d gone soft. But who knew? I had the right man all along. You were the perfect person to keep her safe while I worked out my deal with Cabrillo.”
“How much is that little girl’s lie worth?”
“Don’t fool yourself. She’s no little girl. She seems innocent, but she’s ripe enough to rent out. And then in six more years, her trust will come into effect, and Cabrillo wants his slice of that fifty million dollar fortune. He was willing to pay me handsomely to bring her back. A cool fifteen mil for my efforts. Easiest money I’ve ever made.”
“And how much did you get for selling us all out that day?”
She smiled, but there was nothing light or humorous in her gaze. Pure murder. “Back then, I was cheaper. It only took two million. Hell, I had no idea I was underselling myself there. Fool me once.” She rolled her shoulders. “Let’s get this over with. I want the girl.”
Caleb stared at her for several moments, wondering how he could have ever thought her relationship material. How the hell had he not seen the evil beneath? “And we have a deal, you back off of Micha?”
“Yes, little miss tits is safe from me. You know, frankly I didn’t think you’d give up the girl for love, but who knew? Caleb Atkins has changed. You’re evolving.”
Caleb bit his tongue to keep from telling her exactly what he thought of her and signaled for Sarah to get out of the car. He didn’t look back, but from the satisfied expression on Sabine’s face, she was buying the ruse. He held his breath. Thirty feet. He could hear the shuffles of Sarah’s shoes on the asphalt. Ten feet. He could hear her steady, even breathing. Five feet.
Sabine actually smiled. “Come on, Carlotta. It’s time to go. Say goodbye to Caleb, do-gooder. You won’t be seeing him again.”
Everything happened so fast, he only managed to dodge Sabine’s thrown switchblade just in time. He jumped back, avoiding the blade, and instead, stepped right into the light of her high beams. A single shot rang out. Pain tore through his chest, before he could reach Sarah. As he slumped to the ground, Sarah dove for cover as additional shots rang out.
Sabine ran, and Caleb muttered into the radio to try to get everyone’s attention, but the blackness took over before he could get out instructions.
***
Tom wasted no time when they reached the meet location. The car barely stopped, and he was out sprinting. Micha did her best to stay in the car, she really did, but she abandoned that plan as soon as she heard the gun shots. Jumping out of the car, she ran toward the first shots. “Who the hell runs towards gunshots?” she mumbled, even as she dialed 911.
From the corner of her eye she saw a slim figure heading toward the underground garage. Sabine. She used the radio Tom had given her, told him where she was headed, and ran right for Sabine. She wasn’t sure what the hell she was going to do exactly, but she had to do something.
She’d never been happier that she’d been keeping up with her marathon training. She was able to decrease the distance between the two of them. When Sabine headed for the tunnel under the convention center, Micha took a short cut. Her team had done a story on the men who’d built San Diego’s largest revenue maker a couple of years ago; she’d had a private tour. Now if she could only remember all the access points.
Once in the tunnels, she used her cell phone as a flashlight and called out for Sabine. “Look there’s no point in running, we’re going to catch up with you anyway. You might as well face the music. I’m sure there are lots of people who are dying to know about you trafficking a young girl and arranging for her parents’ deaths.”
From behind her, Micha heard a footstep and whirled around in time to get hit in the nose. She immediately doubled over from pain, but recovered her training to kick out her right leg, landing it in Sabine’s stomach.
Micha stood upright and wiped the blood with her sleeve. “Bitch, you owe me an apology.”
Sabine righted herself. “Honey, you do realize I can kill you with my bare hands, right? You’ve taken a little self-defense class or two, and you want to tussle? I’m happy to kill you, but you see, I’m in a bit of a hurry, so if we could get this show on the road...”
Micha put up her hands defensively. “Look. This doesn’t have to end this way. You do not have to do this.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” The knife materialized out of nowhere and sliced deep into Micha’s shoulder. Sabine then landed a gut shot, and Micha fell forward onto her knees. Her breath whooshed out of her lungs. She locked her hands around Micha’s throat like Micha had done to Trisha, but somehow Micha didn’t think Sabine merely wanted to make her unconscious. Death was her agenda.
Even with her vision graying, she fought back, bringing her head back against Sabine’s nose with enough force that she heard a crack. Sabine cursed. While her assailant was temporarily distracted, Micha aimed for her instep with her heel, but she couldn’t get the aim right.
“Let her go, Sabine.”
Micha forced her eyes open and stared at Caleb. He was bloody, but alive. Thank God.
“You see, Caleb, I don’t have t
o do that, because I already know you won’t risk her life. Your aim can’t be that good. And there’s the chance you could hit her.”
“She dies, you die.”
“Yes, but you know, I think I’d be okay with that, because you still won’t have her.”
Micha tried to speak around her constricted airways. “Shoot her.”
Caleb’s glace was quick and fleeting. His jaw ticked, and his eyes narrowed. His voice was low as he whispered, “I love you.”
A shot rang out.
Chapter 34
Micha woke in a hospital room with Jaya and Ricca on either side of her. Alec and Beckett were on the tiny loveseat, passed out. The moment her friends saw that her eyes were open, they started in on her.
“Are you insane?” Jaya asked.
“I mean, to go running toward gunshots. I mean that’s really stupid.”
“I mean, we almost lost you,” said Jaya.
“You have a serious death wish,” added Ricca. “You cannot do that shit again, or I’m taking the shoes back.”
Micha smiled. Or at least she attempted a smile, until she realized that it hurt to move her face. “You can’t have the shoes back. It’s still my turn. Though I guess I’ll let you wear them when you get married, like Jaya did.”
Jaya’s attention snapped back to Ricca. “What the fuck is she talking about? What wedding?”
Ricca gave Micha a baleful glace, and Micha almost felt sorry for spilling the beans, but then remembered Ricca had just wanted to re-commandeer their shoes.
“Uhm yeah, we were supposed to Skype later today and talk about it. I was going to tell you then. I had no idea that you and Alec would fly back,” Ricca said.
“Well, one of my best friends almost dies twice, I’m coming back. Besides, we have the villa for another three weeks, so we’ll head back as soon as I’m done chewing Micha out for scaring the hell out of me. Oh, and yelling at you for not telling me that you’re fucking engaged.”
“Can you both lower your voices? My head is killing me,” Micha said.
Immediately, they were both contrite, and Ricca started fluffing her pillows. Her head felt fine. Probably whatever killer drugs they’d pumped her full of. “Where’s Caleb?”
Her friends exchanged a glance. She looked past them to their men. Why wasn’t he there with them? “Someone better start talking.”
Jaya took charge as she usually did in difficult situations. “The thing is, he was sort of escorted off the property.”
Micha sprang up, only to have a myriad of tubes stop her progress. “What the hell? He was injured. He should have been treated.”
Jaya patted her arm. “Yes. We know. So Adele had you moved into this private room and threatened to shut down the hospital if they didn’t take care of him and put you two next door to each other. He came to an hour ago, but the nurses sedated him again because he started insisting on seeing you.”
Micha reached for the IV in her arm. “Well, I’m going to him.”
Ricca had the good grace to look panicked. “No, honey, you can’t do that.”
Jaya again came through. “Look, if I can get them to wheel him in here, will you stay put?”
She nodded and lay back. Goddamn, she was exhausted. “Yeah, I’ll stay. But I need to see him.”
“I’ll take care of it.” As Jaya worked her magic, Adele Westhorpe came in, and Alec and Beckett woke up, making the room extra lively.
Adele took one look at Micha and said, “You know, there are easier ways to get out of a contract.”
Micha started to laugh, but it hurt her ribs too much, so she stopped post haste. “Actually, I’ve been thinking about that. I’m not one to run from something that scares me. But it still has to be on my terms.”
Adele raised an eyebrow. “If your terms are agreeable with mine, then we might have something workable.”
Alec shook his head. “Why does the prospect of the two of you working together scare the hell out of me?”
Micha grinned.
Thirty minutes later, everyone had left, and Caleb was sleeping beside her. She reached over and took his hand in hers and talked to him. She didn’t even know what she was saying, but she told him everything about her childhood. College. New York. She talked to him. It didn’t matter. He was alive, and he’d come for her. Not once, but twice. He was her family. And she’d almost lost him.
“Do you always talk so much?” His velvety voice immediately warmed her from the inside.
“You better get used to it.”
He glanced around. “I take it either Adele or Jaya have been at work?”
She smiled. “Jaya this time.”
He nodded. “That woman is scary with a plan.”
“Yeah, she is.” Then because she had to know, she asked, “Sabine?”
“Dead.”
She knew it made her some kind of horrible person, but relief washed through her. “What about your men and Sarah?”
“All accounted for. A couple of bullet grazes, but nothing major, and we collared four of Cabrillo’s’ men.”
“Wow, so it’s over.”
“Yeah.” He moaned and clutched his gut. “It’s finally over.”
“What about Annie?”
“She’s safe with her grandmother and her extended family. They’re keeping her off-site to readjust to her life, but she’s going to be safe.”
“Thank God. That little girl has already been through too much.”
“I know it.” Deep frown lines marred his forehead. “Micha, why didn’t you stay at the house?”
“For the same reason you had Tom stay behind with me. Your best man? C’mon. I was protecting what’s mine.”
He smiled. “I’m yours, am I?”
“Yep. You’re stuck with me. And I warn you, if you think I talk a lot now, then be prepared for when there’s a rom com marathon on. I talk through all the movies, especially if I know all the lines.”
He smiled. “I think can live with that. Especially if you’re my wife.”
She froze. “What?”
He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. “You can have some time to think about it. All the time you want. But I’m marrying you Micha Bennett. It’s only a matter of when.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t get a say?”
“As long as your answer is yes, someday, then of course you get a say.”
“How about yes? And six months after Ricca and Beckett’s wedding?”
He immediately sat up, ignoring all the tubes and wires, making few of them beep. “Are you sure?”
“You can’t back out now.” She reached up and cupped his stubbled jaw. “I know I want you. Forever. I love you, Caleb Atkins.”
“And I love you, soon to be Mrs. Atkins.”
Epilogue
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
Micha chewed her bottom lip as she slid a gaze to Caleb over the console of his BMW. “Yeah. I’m sure.” She inhaled deeply. “I’m trying to work up the courage, is all.”
His voice was low and soft. “You don’t have to do this. She’s going to be here. If you don’t want to now, you can come back another time. There’s no rush. Only when you’re ready.”
She nodded. “Maybe we can sit here for just a minute.” She hated feeling like she was a coward. But she didn’t have the guts for something like this. What the hell was she supposed to do? Just walk up to her and say, “Hi, Mom.” That wouldn’t work.
This woman hadn’t wanted to meet her and wouldn’t welcome her showing up on her doorstep, but Micha wanted to see her. She was about to marry the man of her dreams, and the only family she had to tell about it were Jaya and Ricca…and her mother.
She sat for several more minutes, until the woman with the cinnamon skin opened the front door and strode into the garden. She wore gloves and a wide-brimmed hat, just like she had the last time Micha had seen her. With efficient strides, she went to the overgrown trellis and crouched down by her tools.
> There were a million questions Micha wanted to ask. Like if she had any other family. Were there grandparents she should have known about? Maybe a cousin or two? She wanted to know what kind of music her mother listened to. Was she strictly a Motowner or did she enjoy some Joni Mitchell? What did she like to eat? Was she into all things spicy like Micha was?
She wanted to know her mother. And even if that wasn’t possible, she wanted to at least have one conversation with her. To show Helen Andersen that she was okay. That despite everything, she’d turned out fine. She didn’t harbor any delusions about a happy family reunion. She wasn’t that naïve.
Micha reached for Caleb’s hand. He immediately wrapped his big palm over hers. His warmth comforted her. Without words, he told her she could do this. That she could handle anything.
Micha opened the car door before she could chicken out again.
“Do you want me to come with you?”
She shook her head. “No. I can do it.” Climbing out of the car, she dragged in a deep breath then strode down the half block to the older woman’s house. She stood on the threshold of the gate for another thirty seconds before stepping through it. Micha’s stilettos echoed on the concrete.
Helen looked up from her work, shielding her eyes. “Hi, can I help you?”
The smile that tugged on Micha’s lips was tremulous as she spoke. “My name is Micha Bennett, and I’m your daughter.”
For several moments the older woman didn’t move. Not an eyelash, not a flare of her nostrils. Not a twitch in her lips. Micha’s heart pounded as she mentally willed her mother to move or say something…anything.
Finally, Helen’s hand trembled, and Micha exhaled long and slow, expelling the breath she’d been holding. The older woman brought both hands to her knees before pushing into a standing position. Once Helen stood, she seemingly catalogued each of Micha’s features, and Micha shifted from foot to foot under the hot scrutiny.
With tears welling in her eyes and a shaky voice, Helen said, “I’ve been wondering who you would look like.”