by Dale Mayer
“Which is why she didn’t ask for your opinion or for your approval, and likely why, now that she’s gone, she’s asking your permission in a way.”
“Jesus,” she said. “I wouldn’t have wanted her to even be worried about that part,” she murmured.
“So maybe just trust her,” he said. “Trust that she did everything with the right thoughts in mind.”
“Right thoughts for a man who didn’t love her?” she said.
“Right thoughts for a man who may have taken a sideways step and had finally come to terms with having done something he regretted.”
“Maybe,” she said, her voice harsh.
At that, Baylor looked around his surroundings and said, “I’ve got to go.”
“Why?” Dane asked.
“A light just came on in the apartment.” With that, he disconnected, sent Hudson a quick message about it, then pocketed his phone. Just as he walked up the hallway to the family apartment, another door opened across from the apartment, and an angry-looking man stormed out and headed down the hallway toward him. Baylor stepped off to the side, and the guy just glared at him and kept on going. A woman stood outside her door, screaming obscenities. Baylor stopped and asked her if she knew anything about her neighbors.
She just glared at him. “What neighbors?”
“I don’t know,” he said, “but somebody’s living in there.” She looked over at the door, shrugged, and said, “It’ll be his brother then.”
“Perfect,” he said, “I need to talk to him.” At that, she just turned back inside and slammed the door. He knocked on the apartment in question and waited. He knew that Hudson was outside and would keep watch if anybody was trying to jump out the windows, but, when he knocked again, a call came from the inside.
Baylor shouted out who he was, and he said, “I want to talk to you.” The door opened, and there was his quarry.
The middleman glared at him. “What the hell do you want?”
“To talk,” he said, slamming him backward into the apartment and shutting the door behind him. “We have a few things to discuss.”
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“Yeah, well, how about Henry, the brother of the dead guy. I want him.”
“He’s not here,” he said and dropped onto the couch.
But Baylor glanced around, turned, and walked into the bedroom, where, sure enough, there was Henry, the perv gunman, the man he was looking for, sound asleep. Baylor looked over at his quarry, smiled, and asked, “Lovers by any chance?” The guy on the couch looked nervously around the room, and Baylor realized that, in this area, that expression of sexuality was probably not generally accepted. “I don’t have any problem with it,” he said, “but you know a lot of people will.” The guy looked at him in horror, and Baylor just nodded. “I still have questions.”
“No, you don’t understand,” the middleman said. “We’re in a lot of trouble.”
“Yeah, you sure are,” he murmured. “Even more so now.”
The guy just looked at him, his slumped shoulders now evidence that he’d been caught.
“Look. I don’t care about your relationship,” he said. “I don’t care about your sexuality. I just want to know how any and all of this relates to the father and the mother and the daughter who were kidnapped on that boat.”
“Dammit,” he said, “that was a stupid job.”
“Sure, but you still have to tell me what’s going on.”
“And if I don’t?” he challenged, getting some of his bravado back.
“Then I’ll just force you to tell me,” he said.
“It’s not like I’m alone,” he said.
“Of course not,” Baylor said, “but he’s sound asleep, so what’ll he do about it?”
“He won’t stay asleep,” he said.
“Actually he will because I’ll go in there and knock him out.”
As he walked toward the bedroom, the man called out, “Don’t.”
“Why not?”
After getting no response, Baylor stood at the doorway and studied the prone man again. Looking at him in surprise, he said, “Interesting. He’s not asleep. He’s dead.” He looked at the defiant man and asked, “Did you kill him?”
The man stared back at him.
Baylor nodded, with a sense of deep satisfaction. “You did,” he said. “Now I really have some questions for you.”
Chapter 10
Gizella sat here, trying to go through the rest of her emails, but her mind wandered from scenario to scenario. “I can see that my mother would have tried to help him, but I don’t think that implicates my father in any of this mess.”
“Not necessarily, no,” Dane agreed from the other side of the room. Just then came another phone call.
“Is that Baylor again?” she asked immediately.
Dane looked at it, shook his head, and said, “It’s Hudson.” He put it on Speakerphone. “Hey, Hudson. What’s going on?”
“Well, there’s definitely a problem,” he said. “I don’t have firsthand knowledge of what’s going on, but Baylor’s in with our quarry. But somebody else may be in there as well.”
“Do you think he’s in trouble?” Dane asked, his tone sharp. Gizella could feel her own stomach starting to cramp.
“Not necessarily,” he said, “but he’s not responding either.”
“No? That’s definitely an issue too. So that vehicle is registered to the father.”
“Right, and I’ve been looking at the documents, and that transaction was just done in the last couple of days.”
“But he was dead,” she cried out.
“Yes, so I think somebody is trying to set up some different evidence.”
“Ah.” She sank back and thought about it. “You know what? That would make sense. We had already been told about a government looking to make an exchange over all this. Now that it’s backfired, maybe they are trying to clear their path.”
“I would think it’s probably something like that,” he said. “I’m not even sure how much of this paperwork is legal. We have the transfer documents here with all kinds of stamps, but they’re smudged.”
“So you think it was just put there to tie us up or to lead us away from something?” Dane asked. “It’s parked right outside the apartment of the guy who kidnapped Gizella and was trying to take off with her. So that makes a connection right there.”
“Go check on Baylor,” she cried out, leaning forward. “He’s in trouble.”
“We don’t know that he’s in trouble,” Dane said.
“There’s something wrong. I know it.” Such a note of urgency was in her voice that she grabbed Dane’s arm and shook it. “You go and help too.”
He looked at her quietly. “Baylor can handle it,” he said.
“I don’t care,” she snapped. “I don’t want him hurt.”
At that, Dane raised an eyebrow, and a small smile played at the corner of his lips. “Interesting.”
She glared at him. “No more games.”
“I’ll go take a look,” Hudson said. “Dane, you stay there with her. She tends to have a mind of her own.”
“I’ve noticed that,” he said. “Baylor should have fun.”
“Yeah, if we ever get the two of them together.” Hudson chuckled.
And, with that, Dane hung up and sat here, his arms across his chest. “I don’t do what you say I should do,” he said, “just because you tell me to.”
She raised both hands in frustration. “Baylor’s in trouble.”
“If he is, then he will get himself out of trouble.”
She glared at him. “What if he’s being ambushed?”
“If Baylor’s being ambushed, then he’ll turn around the scenario, so he’s not.”
She sagged back in her seat. “Is it that easy for you?”
“This is the work we do,” he said quietly. “You’ll need to understand that.”
“Why do I need to understand that?” she snapped.
“Because you and Baylor have a thing.”
“Says you.”
“You’re the only one who’s worried about Baylor,” he said.
“He saved me,” she said by way of excuse.
“Oh, that’s not good,” he said. “You’re not allowed to use that as an excuse for a relationship.”
“It’s not an excuse for a relationship,” she said.
“You’re not allowed to use that to excuse how you feel either.”
She frowned. “I don’t know how I feel. I’ve just lost both my mother and my father,” she said, “and Baylor was somebody I briefly knew years ago. But we didn’t really know each other all that well.”
“I wonder,” he said. “The two of you clicked back then, I presume?”
“Sure, but neither of us were ready for a relationship. We were just looking for an evening of companionship.”
“And did you get it?” he asked.
She looked at him, surprised. “Yes, it was a nice evening. We shared a meal and some great conversation. That’s all.”
“And now that he’s rescued you, how do you feel?”
She glared at him. “Of course I’m grateful.”
“But?” he asked.
“But gratitude is not the basis of a relationship,” she said stiffly. She hated these probing questions.
“Well, maybe you need to take another look at that.”
She frowned. “Take another look at what? I don’t understand.”
“As to whether it’s just gratitude or something more.”
“It’s not,” she said automatically. He just smiled again, earning another glare. “It’s not the time to talk about a potential relationship,” she snapped.
“It’s perfect timing,” he said. “It’s not like we have anywhere to go.”
She’s sighed. “Why does it even matter?”
“Because he’s a good man,” Dane said.
She stared at him in surprise. “I never said he wasn’t,” she said cautiously.
“No, but he deserves to have more than just gratitude as the basis for a relationship.”
She stared at him, trying to figure out where this was going, but thinking that maybe she was starting to understand. “I see. So you’re afraid that I’ll hurt him.”
“Exactly,” he said. “Because the bigger and the tougher they are, the harder they fall. I’ve seen it time and time again with these guys, and I don’t want any of them hurt.”
She sagged back, then looked at him and said, “You know what? Not many people would understand this conversation.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter what anybody else says,” he said calmly. “Because the only people who matter are the people here having the conversation.”
She blinked. “Are you always this concerned about your friends?”
“Absolutely,” he said. “You never know when something will go wrong.”
“But there are no guarantees in life,” she said quietly.
“No, there aren’t, but he’s been hurt before,” Dane said. “I know he’s interested in you. I can see it in his reaction, plus he’s very protective.”
“That’s because he rescued me,” she said, but she had to wonder.
“Nope. When you’re in a room, the two of you migrate together, and, when you’re apart, you’re always looking to see where the other one is,” he murmured.
“I hadn’t recognized that,” she said, a frown slowly creasing her face. But, as she sat here, she realized it was true. “But we haven’t spent much time together.”
“No, but the time you have been together has been very bonding. You went through some very intense life experiences together.”
She sighed. “So tell me that he’s okay then.”
Just then his phone buzzed. He read the message immediately, then bolted to his feet and said, “We need to leave.” Not giving her a chance to argue, he ushered her out into the hallway.
“Where are we going?” she asked in confusion.
He crossed the hallway to another apartment on the other side, where he quickly closed the door, put a finger against his lips and whispered, “Be quiet.”
She stared at him in shock, opened her mouth, and he placed his finger against it. She walked into the main room and beyond to a bedroom, then sagged onto the bed, wondering what the hell was going on. All she could think about was what was going on with Baylor.
When a knock came on the door about twenty minutes later, she sat up and looked out fearfully into the main room, as Dane opened the door.
Baylor rushed in, walked over, and pulled her into his arms.
She wrapped her arms tight around him and whispered, “What happened?”
“Well, let’s just say I had a talk with somebody who killed your kidnapper.”
She stepped back. “The pervert? The real one?”
“Yes, the real one,” he said. “Apparently your father offered them a fair bit of money to let his family, your family go.”
“He would do that,” she said.
“Well, now they want the money, even though he’s gone, and you’re the next best way to get it.”
She stared at him in shock. “Does this never end?” she asked faintly. “This is all just too bizarre.”
“I get that,” he said, “but it does give us a motive and explains why we think you’re still in danger.”
“That’s ridiculous,” she snapped. “I don’t have any money,” she whispered.
But Dane, from the doorway, said, “Remember the life insurance?”
She leaned around Baylor’s shoulder and turned slightly to look at Dane. “Yes.”
“It’s highly likely you’ll be inheriting the estates of both your mother and father at some point, wouldn’t you think?”
She stared at the two of them. “I suppose. So what? Now I’m a target?”
“I think you are, yes,” Baylor said. “They’re trying to salvage something out of this. Because the job went south, I don’t think the players are getting paid and worse, their bosses are cleaning up, trying to make sure they can’t talk, now that they know you all were rescued, then the governor died. So the low-level gunmen are all looking for a payout in order to get out of here and to disappear while they still can.”
“Well, it’s not a fast or easy payout with me,” she said. “Any of this money isn’t something I can get at right away.”
“See? I don’t think they know that,” Dane said. “I’m not sure they understand just how big money actually flows. They also probably assume, because your father had money, that you must have it as well.”
“Well, you don’t just walk into a bank and get ten million cash,” she said in exasperation.
“I don’t think they particularly care either,” Baylor said. “Just think about it. Everything else in their world is coming apart at the seams, so they’re getting desperate.”
“Is that what he told you?”
“Yes,” he said.
“And why did he kill the other guy?”
“Because Henry, the perv, was trying to screw up their deal. Henry wanted you, but he didn’t want to give money for you.”
“Jesus, that’s insulting somehow,” she said.
“But it was because of him that they even had the idea of going in that direction, but he didn’t want to cooperate. And I don’t even know if that part of it’s the truth,” he said. “It’s possible that this middleman took out Henry, your kidnapper, so the middleman could get the money on his own, for all I know.”
“Well, that makes more sense,” she said, shaking her head. “They’re just after money essentially, aren’t they?”
“Yes. The gunmen kidnappers took on the job, whether it was at the Russian government’s behest or at somebody else’s, but, when it all went south, they didn’t get paid, and now they’re in trouble. So they’re looking for a way to get out of town, and your father was promising big money. So, with his passing, now they’re looking to find that big
money through you.”
“Great,” she said, then dropped her head against his chest and just stayed like that as she tried to calm down her pounding head. “It’s all just too unbelievable,” she said. “I just came for a vacation to celebrate, at the insistence of my mother. Little did I know it would turn into a disaster, and I’d end up an orphan, and in terrible danger, for some vast wealth I don’t even have.”
“It’s all right,” he said. “We won’t let them get you.”
She looked up at him, clearly tired. “Maybe not,” she said, “but you can’t be with me every hour of the day. Do we even know if I’ll be safe when I get back home?”
“I would like to think so,” he said. “I expect that the danger is just over here. I don’t think they have the connections to pull something like that off over in the US.”
She thought about it and realized he was probably correct. “Good thing I don’t enjoy international travel that much.”
“We just have to get you home, safe and sound,” he said.
“That works for me.” She slowly rolled her head, feeling the stress and the strain kinking her neck muscles. Immediately Baylor slid his hands up her back and across her shoulders. She loved the warm touch of his hands, though her mind immediately recalled everything that Dane had brought up. All the while, Baylor gently coaxed the muscles in the back of her neck to relax, easing up some of her stress. “It’s hard to imagine how you guys can live with this kind of stress all the time,” she said. “The constant tension is just killing me.”
“You get used to it after a while,” he said.
She immediately shook her head. “I can’t imagine.”
“And you don’t need to,” he said. “We’ll get you home. That’s what you need to focus on.”
“I get that,” she said. “It just seems nearly impossible at this point.”
“But it’s not impossible,” he said. “Just stay strong. We’ll get there.”
She nodded. “I know,” she said. “Where do we go from here?”
“Well, I was hoping to go to the airport but not until tomorrow apparently.”
“Is there anything else to even find out?” she asked. “Aren’t we just sitting ducks here?”
“Well, we definitely hid our pathway here,” he said, “and, as you know, we’re right across the hallway.”