by Dale Mayer
“Why not?” she asked. “It’s probably the best thing to do. And let’s face it. I’m the bait already, am I not?”
“Maybe, maybe not,” he said. “Let’s just get to our new location and discuss it.”
“Pretty sure that’s what you said last time,” she muttered, staring out the window. As they drove, it was just a blur of buildings, people walking on the sidewalks and other vehicles on the road. Gradually the scenery changed to a more rural area, with significantly larger properties. “It’s much nicer out here.”
“A country girl at heart, are you?”
“I guess,” she said. “I hadn’t really thought about it much, but I definitely prefer the pace of what life looks to be like out here versus the city we just left.”
“Big cities are economic hot spots,” he said. “They’re always a hub of activity.”
“Yeah, and not my thing,” she murmured.
“Maybe not, and yet you work in a law office.”
“I do, and I’ve still been thinking about what you guys have been saying about my art. I do need to do more with it, and it does bring me a lot of joy.”
“Anything that brings you joy is something worth working on,” Baylor said, “and you may need to be more intentional about getting that back into your life.”
She nodded. “I know. I’ll have to find positive things to do to keep me busy, while I try to deal with losing my parents and wading through all the estate business.”
“Well, we confirmed you are the inheritor of both the estates,” he said, “so there’s no doubt about that.”
“I knew my father had some girlfriends over the last few years, but I didn’t know if they were big in his life or not.”
“Well, he left his will as it was,” he said. At that thought, he turned and looked at her and asked, “Is there any chance that any of these women could have been involved in this?”
She raised her eyebrows at that. “I don’t think so,” she said. “He was probably more concerned with their chest measurement than their IQ.”
“Ah. That doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t have both though.”
“No, you’re right. That was a catty thing for me to say,” she said. “Honestly I never knew who they were or how involved he was with any of them, and then, all of a sudden, my parents were getting back together again, so who knows.”
“Good enough,” he said. “It’s just one more thought.”
“And it’s a good thought,” she said, “but I can’t imagine they had ties over here.”
“No doubt it’s being looked into,” he said. “Don’t forget. We have a separate team working on the cyber aspects of all this.”
“Well, if they find anything hinky, let me know,” she said. “I’ll have to get a friend of mine to help me with the estates, I think. I’m not an estate lawyer by any means, and, while I don’t even know if I’ll need one, I’ll have someone take a look.”
“And to check out the life insurance too,” he said.
“Somehow, none of that makes a damn bit of difference to me,” she said. “I’d much rather have my mother back.”
“And that’s what makes you very special,” he said quietly. “Not everybody would have their priorities that straight.”
“Too bad money doesn’t buy us that stuff though, right?”
He nodded. “I haven’t been in a position like you have,” he said. “But I’ve known lots of people and lots of team members who have died. Passing on through disease or from accidents brought on by some of the missions that I’ve done,” he said. “There have been any number of times where I wished I could have reversed history and stepped into their shoes and saved them because they had friends and family who cared. Me? I’m more or less alone and fairly isolated in my world, and it always caused me a great deal of pain to think of the families who were left behind.”
“That is who suffers the most,” she said quietly. Just then Dane took a series of hard turns. She leaned forward and asked, “Why the rush, Dane?”
“Just part of the deal,” he said cheerfully.
She settled back and faced Baylor. “What does that even mean?”
“It means, he’s either getting rid of a tail,” he said, looking around behind him, “or he’s making sure a tail doesn’t find us.”
“I guess,” she said. She settled back, feeling a certain tension coiling tighter and tighter inside her. “Did they ever do an autopsy on my mother?”
“No,” he said. “Did you want one done?”
“No,” she said, “especially after that email. I’m just glad that she got to spend a few more days with my father. It was all she really cared about.”
“And you,” he said. “Remember? She really cared about you. She really wanted you to go on this trip with them.”
“Yes, my father was holding back on it.”
“To what extent?”
She shrugged. “He told me that my coming along might not be a good idea.”
“Interesting, and yet he already knew that your mother was dying, so why would he say that?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Part of me says, for all the nasty reasons that he could, but I don’t want to be that mean and think along those lines about somebody who’s gone.”
“I get that, but, if you think anything else is in there that we need to know about, then tell us.”
“I will,” she said and settled back into her seat, thinking about it. “I don’t know,” she said. “I think it’s either he thought that the trip itself wouldn’t be all that great, or he wanted the time with my mother himself.”
“Would he be like that?”
“Absolutely,” she said with a laugh. “It was always them, and there wasn’t a whole lot of room for anybody else, but, because I was so close to my mother, he had to make do.”
“Ouch,” he said. “I guess that’s not all that unusual either.”
“No, not particularly, not when you have some men who are fairly possessive about their wives. They don’t always want to let that relationship change, even as it needs to.”
When Dane quickly ducked the vehicle into a dark alley and then into another closed two-car garage area and came to a sudden stop, she sat in the darkness and looked at the two men. “Is this home?”
“For the rest of the night, hopefully,” Baylor said.
She nodded, then pushed open the door and hopped out, Baylor already there to help her. They walked into a small house. She smiled as she looked around. “This is unique.”
“It’s actually very authentic,” he said.
She studied the bright colors on the walls, with murals and tons of religious artifacts. “I hope you didn’t have to move a family out to let me move in.”
“The family passed away many years ago,” he said gently.
“I guess things like this just stay in place over time.”
“As much as we can, yes. It prevents arousing suspicion.”
“I get it.” She walked over to a small chair and sat down, where she could look out the window. “It’s so much sleepier here.”
“A much different pace,” he said, “but it also means that there are many fewer police.”
“Does that mean much less crime though?” she countered. “I’m not sure that’s ever a possibility.”
“Sad, isn’t it?”
“Maybe. So now what?”
“Now we wait for visitors.”
And, at that, she stopped and froze. “Seriously?”
“Yes,” he said, with a glance her way. “As we discussed earlier, we did set up a sting.”
“And I’m bait?”
“You’re the bait,” he said cheerfully.
She should have been overwhelmed with joy, since that is exactly what she’d wanted them to do, but it came off as a bit of a shock. “You didn’t think to involve me in it?”
“You’ll be involved enough,” he said. “We’ve passed more than a few checkpoints and cameras. People know w
here we are.”
“Oh, crap,” she said, not even realizing that was a problem. “So why did you choose here?”
“It’s easier to defend,” he said.
“But we’re still defending then. Aren’t we better off to go on offense?” she argued.
“Not at this point, no. Because we don’t have anybody to go up against in an offensive maneuver,” he said. “Remember? We’re still not sure who are all the boogeymen in this case.”
She winced at that. “That should be at least the end result from this.”
“Should’ves and would’ves and could’ves don’t count when it comes to this type of thing though,” he said.
“So what does then?”
“Stealth and being first,” he said with a decisive clip.
She looked over at Dane. “Do you agree?”
“Absolutely,” he said. “As soon as you end up in a defensive maneuver, you’re always trying to outrun or to outfox your opponent. It’s time to turn this around.”
“Well, I was on the right track then anyway,” she said.
“You absolutely were,” he said, with a big smile. “You’ve done really well, and you’re thinking very much like you should be.”
“What? That we should go out and take care of these guys before they take care of us?”
There was something so dry in her tone that the others burst out laughing.
She glanced at them. “Glad you guys are so happy,” she said. “This is all just so bizarre.”
“Maybe so, but hang in there. It’s almost over.”
“What time are we flying out?”
“Eight in the morning,” Baylor said. “And, yes, your parents will be on the flight.”
She sighed. “Is it a military flight or commercial?”
“We’re going military.”
“Fine,” she said. “I guess that’s probably safer than a commercial flight.”
“It certainly is for everybody else,” he said.
She stopped and stared, struck by the thought of how many innocent bystanders could be affected by all this. “Oh, wow,” she said, “it’s really hard to focus when I keep getting sidelined with the thought of how many other people could be hurt or what other damage will happen because of this.”
“Nothing more hopefully,” he said. “We just need to know who is out there after you.”
“Why? Isn’t it the same guy who you were thinking it was before?”
“It might still be the middleman. It’s possible he’s a bigger fish than he appears,” he said. “I managed to get a really poor picture of him, but so far nobody has been able to identify him.”
“Able or willing?”
He looked at her with appreciation. With a nod of his head, he said, “A fine distinction, isn’t it?”
“Very, and, in this shadowy world of yours, I suspect it makes all the difference in the world.”
He looked over at Dane. “Did anybody else make that distinction?”
“In this case, I’m not sure,” he said. “Let me check in, and we’ll see where everybody’s at.”
She sat and waited, while the two of them made phone calls, letting everybody know where they were. “You just told people where we were,” she said. “I don’t understand how this can be considered a safe house then.”
At that, Baylor started to laugh. “We can’t put anything over on you, can we?”
“I don’t understand. … Wait. Oh, … right,” she said. “It’s all part of the trap.”
“It is, but not in the way that you’re thinking.” She frowned. “The address we gave out is a couple houses away.”
She blinked several times. “So, are you planning on us moving over there?”
“Nope,” he said. “But I am planning on making sure we have people over there, like Dane.”
At that, Dane said, “Hudson is already over there checking it out.”
“Good,” Baylor said. “Is anybody else coming?”
“Mason is joining us.”
“So, it’s a trap, but it’s not a trap?” she asked quietly.
“It’s a trap, but one where we don’t have you getting into trouble.”
She could feel the relief in her heart. “Thank you,” she said. “I was willing to do whatever is needed, but I really would be happy if I didn’t have to.”
He gave her the gentlest of smiles. “We know that,” he said. “Your offer of help is much appreciated, as is your willingness to do what is needed to be done. However, in this case, it’s really best if we don’t have to go there.”
“Hey, I’m all for that too,” she said. “The last thing I want is to deal with more bullets.”
“Nope, and the last thing you really don’t need is to be kidnapped again.”
She winced at that. “I don’t think anybody should have to go through two of those in a lifetime.”
“Agreed,” he said.
At that, Dane got up and walked over to the door. “On that note, I’ll go check in with Hudson.”
“You do that,” she said, “and, if you need Baylor here to help out, you come get him.”
“Will do,” he said cheerfully, then walked away.
She wasn’t sure if he took the vehicle or not, but now it was just the two of them. She looked at Baylor. “Is it safe for them?”
“We don’t know that,” he said. Just then a series of gunfire came outside the house. Bolting to her feet, she raced for the front door. Just as she went to open it, he pulled her back against the wall.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he hissed, glaring.
“I think,” she enunciated very carefully, “that Dane is in trouble.”
“And I agree with you, but my job is to look after you, which is a little difficult if you step outside, right into the line of fire.”
She glared up at him, even going so far as to lift herself as tall as she could, until she was as close to nose to nose with him as she could get. “Then maybe you should go out there and look after him.”
“I’m not leaving you alone,” he said, clearly angry.
“Fine, then we’ll go together,” she said. After he hesitated, she said, “Come on. He could be in real trouble.”
“He’s not alone out there either,” he said, “and it could just be a diversion to get you outside.”
“Maybe.”
Just then came a shout from outside the house. He glared at her, then raced to the front window and took a look, immediately swearing softly under his breath. She joined him at his side, and he held her very close, so she could peek out the curtain with him. There was Dane, being held by two gunmen. He was bloody but standing on his own two feet.
“Assholes,” she snapped. “Where’s Hudson?”
“He should be somewhere close by,” he said.
“Should be, sure,” she said, “but that doesn’t mean he is, … or, if he is, what if they—”
“We will stay focused and calm,” he said.
She sighed. “Maybe you will, but I won’t. I just want to make sure that these guys are okay, since they’re only in danger because of me.”
“That’s not your fault.”
“Feels like it,” she said.
“I get it, but—”
Just then more gunfire sounded, and a voice called out, “We want the girl.”
Baylor opened the window and shouted back. “Why?”
“We need her.”
“But, as a payout, she’s done.”
“People will pay money for her.”
“No, they won’t,” he said. “Before? Maybe. But, with her parents dead, she’s a nobody.”
The two men talked to each other. “She has money,” one of them said.
Baylor saw they were pretty dead set on their belief that she had money. “If you kidnap her, she has no way to get any money out.”
“Her friends, they can get it for her.”
Baylor realized they really didn’t understand how the Western banking
system worked. He shook his head at that. “No, they can’t. She’s the one with the money, so you have to let her get it.”
One of the men laughed. “Then she can pay us to leave her alone.”
She whispered under her breath, “You know something? I almost would.”
“No, they’ll never stop. You pay today, and they’ll be back for more tomorrow.” He shook his head, then called out, “Maybe we’ll just put a bullet in your head and take care of this now.”
“Or we put a bullet in your friend’s head,” he said, holding his gun against Dane’s temple.
Just then a shot was fired, and the gunman was slammed backward off his feet.
“Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God,” she whispered.
He held her close. “It could be Hudson doing the shooting.” The remaining gunman stood there, now with his gun against Dane’s head, hiding behind him. “Stop shooting, or I will kill him.” There wasn’t another shot.
“It’s probably your own guys,” Baylor called out. “Cleaning up loose ends.”
The gunman looked at him, haunted.
Baylor thought the guy didn’t want to believe it but knew it was quite possible. Baylor put on the pressure. “Come on. You know what’s happening. You guys screwed up and managed to kill a politician at the same time while kidnapping him.”
“He was never supposed to die,” he called out.
“Oh, I know that, but now both the governor and his wife are dead. You took three captives and killed two.”
“We did not,” he yelled. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like that. Something went wrong.”
Baylor didn’t tell him exactly what had gone wrong because, of course, there was a lot. Chances were the governor would have been just fine, if he hadn’t been shot, if he didn’t have the heart condition. And, of course, Baylor already knew that Gizella’s mom was terminal with cancer. But he wouldn’t tell that to this guy. “But the higher-ups don’t know that,” he said. “They don’t care why you screwed up. They just know that you did. In their eyes, you’re dead already.”
“We need money to get out of town,” he said. “We can’t stay here.”
“I don’t think there’s a we anymore,” Baylor said. “It’s just you, and you need to turn around and run like hell, before these guys decide to pull the trigger again.”