In the glare of the bathroom light, she washed her face. She ran her tongue over her teeth and grimaced at her reflection in the mirror. She’d kill for a toothbrush, but hadn’t remembered to tell Jake to buy one. She went back into the bedroom and opened the bag he’d brought her. Two pairs of panties, a hot-pink Florida T-shirt, a matching pair of shorts, and a pair of canvas sneakers. No toothbrush or toothpaste, though. She could settle for the finger-brush trick until tomorrow if Jake had remembered to bring toothpaste.
She went to the corner where he’d stacked their bags. She hesitated for a moment, remembering how upset Jake had been when he’d caught her with his duffel bag. He’d probably figured she’d shoot him. How had they gotten from that total lack of trust to last night? She smiled in the semidarkness, hauling the bag up onto the dresser.
It was amazing how much had happened to her. Sunlight and Serenity now seemed like a dim nightmare. But she couldn’t for one minute let herself forget that there were still people after her—people who would do anything to keep her quiet At least she felt better, healthier. She was starting to feel like she had some control over things now. Some say in what happened to her.
The zipper on the bag was impossibly loud in the quiet room. Fletcher’s head came up again, his tags jingling noisily. Sam cast a glance in Jake’s direction, but he slept on. A movement in the darkness caught her eye and she froze. The doorknob was slowly turning—so slowly she almost hadn’t noticed it in the dimness.
Fletcher had seen it, too. He growled, low and quiet in his throat. Sam quickly crossed to the bed and crouched beside it, giving Jake a firm shake.
“What?”
She laid her fingers across his mouth. “Shh. Someone’s trying to break in.”
He was instantly alert, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and pulling his jeans on. “Get dressed,” he said softly as he went to the dresser and pulled out his gun.
Sam slipped back into her dress, her heart pounding in her chest, but her hands quick and steady. Jake motioned for her to stand beside him behind the door. Fletcher got to his feet, fur bristling.
“Fletcher, here,” Jake commanded, his voice the barest whisper. But It was enough for the big dog, who moved to stand beside his master. “Stay back, Sam.”
The words were barely out of his mouth when the door opened. Sam froze against the wall as a man about Jake’s height but more heavily muscled moved into the room, gun extended. It didn’t appear that anyone was with him. There was enough light for the man to see that the bed was empty Apparently sensing a trap, he swung around just as Jake raised his weapon.
Jake’s voice was deadly quiet “Don’t move.”
The man’s expression quickly changed from frozen surprise to cold calculation. He held up his hands, the gun dangling loosely from his fingers. “Don’t shoot.”
“Drop it.”
The weapon thudded softly to the carpet.
Jake gestured toward the bed. “Get over there.” To Sam he said, “Look in the box I brought up earlier. There’s a roll of duct tape. Get it.”
Sam skirted the bed, where the man sat at Jake’s command. She found the heavy roll of duct tape. She knew they had to tie this guy up or he’d be after them again, but she didn’t have any desire to get close to him.
“Wrap him up good, Sam.”
She took a breath and approached the man. His eyes glittered in his hard-featured face but he didn’t speak as she quickly bound his hands behind his back. She was sure the tape would hold, but she didn’t want to take any chances and bound his feet, as well.
“Where’s your partner?” Jake asked, never taking his eyes off their captive.
The man shrugged as best he could with his hands behind him. “I’m alone.”
“Like hell. Next you’ll tell me you weren’t the one at the diner.”
The man grinned with self-satisfaction. “Sure, that was me. Nice piece of work, I thought.”
Jake’s look was one of pure fury. “You killed a cop. Do you think you’re just going to get away with it?”
“I already have.”
“Why did you have to kill him? It was me you wanted,” Sam said. She couldn’t begin to understand the kind of predatory behavior that would allow one man to kill another in cold blood
“He recognized us. ‘No loose ends, no witnesses.’ That’s what I was told.”
“By whom?” Jake asked.
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
Jake swore softly. “Slap a piece of tape over his mouth, too, Sam. I’m tired of listening to him.”
Sam peeled off another length of tape and bit it in two with her teeth. She pasted it over the man’s mouth, ignoring his last words before he was silenced: “You’re going to die.”
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Jake said.
Sam couldn’t have agreed more. She went quickly to the dresser, scooping up her clothes Jake was patting down the guy on the bed and came up with another gun tucked inside his jacket.
Sam found her sneakers behind the door and slipped into them. There was no time to waste with the pretty sandals Jake had bought. Something—maybe the creak of the door or Fletcher’s low woof—made her look up. A second man came into the room, so focused on Jake that he failed to see her.
Instinct took over and she grabbed for the only thing within arm’s reach. The ceramic vase shattered on the back of the intruder’s head and he crumpled to the floor, with plastic hibiscus fluttering around him. Fletcher stood over him, sniffing and growling. Jake whirled around, looking from the unconscious man to Sam.
“Nice going,” he said with a grin. “Of course, you know we’re going to be charged for that.”
“It was worth it.”
“Let’s get this one tied up, too.”
Jake tucked his gun in his waistband and together they got the second intruder over to the bed. They quickly bound him and then taped the two men back to back. Jake wrapped a length of tape around both men’s ankles and secured it to a leg of the bed. Even if they managed to get up, they couldn’t go anywhere.
“That should hold them.”
Sam wasn’t so sure. The one who had told her she was going to die watched her with a cold fury that made her shiver. “Let’s get out of here,” she whispered, turning away and gathering the rest of their stuff.
“Good idea.” He pocketed the men’s wallets and put their guns in his bag.
As a final measure, Jake put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door as they left the room. “That will buy us some time ”
Sam nodded as he closed the door and locked it. She hoped Jake was right.
While Jake was inside the rental agency trading Annie’s van for a compact car for the day, Sam changed clothes in the rear of the van. Even though Jake didn’t want to drive back to Miami, he thought it would be better not to make it any easier for their friends back at The Flying Dolphin to find them. Sam couldn’t agree more. As soon as they picked up the film and saw her father, she wanted to get out of town. The farther, the better.
Fletcher had staked out his space in the back seat and seemed content to settle down for a morning nap as they pulled out of the parking lot. It was barely eight o’clock.
A few minutes later Jake parallel-parked the car in front of a row of shops. He shut off the engine and turned to her. He cleared his throat, avoiding her eyes. “Look, there’s something I didn’t tell you.”
Her skin prickled with unease Keeping her voice calm, she asked, “What?”
“Yesterday, when I was out buying your clothes, I went back to your father’s house to get the film and dropped it off to be processed, Sam.”
Anger replaced her unease. “You told me it could wait.”
“I wanted to be sure we had the film. Anything could happen. Manning was sure to get to a phone eventually.” Jake looked out the windshield. “And I still haven’t figured out how those two goons found us.”
“So you went behind my back.”
�
�It wasn’t like that,” he said. “I didn’t want to take any chances.”
She shook her head. “You didn’t trust me.”
“This has nothing to do with trust, Sam.”
“Doesn’t it?”
“No, it doesn’t.”
She didn’t like the look in his eyes. It reminded her too much of the men back at the hotel—cold. He wanted to call the shots even though it was her life. “Look, maybe it’s best if we split up here They’re looking for two of us. Maybe we’d both have a better chance alone.”
A vein throbbed in his neck and she had the ridiculous urge to press her lips to it. “You have no money, you don’t know who’s after you. Where will you go?”
She shrugged. “I’ll get the film and figure it out from there.”
“Alone?”
That did it. “I was alone when all this started. I don’t need you, Jake.”
He gave her a cocky grin. “That’s not what you were telling me last night.” His eyes raked over her, setting her skin on fire.
“Forget about last night. It didn’t mean anything.”
His smile faltered. “Really? Is that what you think, Sam?”
“What I think is that last night I was regaining my freedom,” she said quietly, not quite able to meet his gaze. “I did what I wanted with who I wanted. It didn’t mean anything beyond that.” Even as she said the words, her mind screamed that she was a bar. Jake had become an important part of her life in a short span of time. But she refused to admit that she was terrified to go on without him.
His face hardened into a cold mask. “Liberated lady, huh? You wanted to get laid, so you got laid.”
She forced herself to keep from wincing at his harsh words. Instead, she nodded. “Exactly.”
“Glad I could oblige. But we’re in this together. My life is on the line, too—because of you. Once I’m cleared, I’ll get out of your life. Until then, you’re stuck with me.”
She tried not to show her relief. She wasn’t on her own. But she couldn’t shake the guilt about what might happen to him just because he was with her. “Fine, Jake.” She turned her head away. “Let’s just get the pictures and go.”
He started to say something. His jaw worked over the words, but then he shrugged. “Right.”
He slammed the car door and walked into the photo shop while Sam waited. This was it. Those pictures were the key to everything She had the irrational fear that there wouldn’t be anything on them—that somehow, whoever was behind this had once again gotten the upper hand and destroyed the images. What if the only piece of evidence she had was gone?
Jake returned just when she had started to work herself into a paranoid panic. He got behind the wheel and held out the package of photos. “Here.”
“Did you look at them?” she asked, her heart pounding. What if there wasn’t anything in those pictures to help her?
“Not yet. I thought you’d want to.”
It was a peace offering and she took it with a tentative smile. “Thanks.”
Thumbing through the prints she had a strange, disconnected feeling. She recognized the pictures but it had been weeks since she’d taken them. She flipped through the images of Miami Beach and various architectural sites until she came to the telephoto-shots of the courthouse.
“Here’s the courthouse,” she said, stacking the prints on her knee. She’d taken pictures of the building from several angles and there were people in most of the shots. But the last few were the ones she knew were important. “These are the ones.”
Eight photos showed the side and back of the courthouse Two sedans were parked in the alley. Several men in dark suits were descending the back stairs. In the forefront of the last picture, she could see the shoulder of the security guard who had ordered her to leave.
She studied the images carefully, her eyes going from one figure to the next. All but one of the men were strangers to her. The last stirred some memory, but she couldn’t pin down his name.
“Let me see.” Jake took the photos from her and studied them. His grim expression told her more than his words could. “This doesn’t make any sense, Sam.”
“What do you mean? Do you recognize those men?”
Before he could answer her, a car door slammed behind them. Jake looked into the rearview mirror and cursed. His jaw tightened into a hard line. “Police.”
The cop gave them a friendly smile as he walked into view. “Morning, folks.”
Sam forced a smile, feeling her pulse accelerate erratically. “Morning, officer.”
Jake nodded casually, his jaw clenched so tightly a vein throbbed. “Good morning.”
“I have to ask you to move along. This space is ten-minute parking only.”
Sam could see Jake’s shoulder muscles relaxing against the seat. “Sorry about that. Just trying to decide what to do this morning.”
“I understand.” The cop nodded, his friendly smile firmly in place. “You might want to check out the south-side beach. I hear they’re filming a spy movie over there. Might be good for a little excitement”
“Thanks for the suggestion.” Jake started the car and nodded to the cop. “Have a good one.”
The officer stepped back and Jake pulled out into the street. “Do you think he suspected anything?” Sam asked.
“If he did, he would have detained us.”
“Do you know who is in the pictures, Jake?”
Instead of answering, he said, “Tell me again when you took these pictures.”
“I told you. Five weeks ago. Why?” She didn’t like the way he was avoiding her question.
“Is there any way you can prove that?”
“My editor can vouch for the fact that I was in Miami in February. I had a plane ticket, but I don’t know what they did with my stuff—”
He shook his head, cutting her off. “No. I mean can you prove that you took those pictures when you say you did?”
She didn’t understand what he wanted. “I don’t know. Probably not. Why is that so important?”
“Because one of those men in the pictures is dead.”
Shaking her head, Sam asked, “What does that have to do with me?”
“He’s been dead for a while now.”
She didn’t want to ask but she had to. “How long, Jake?”
“Over a year.”
Sam’s eyes went wide as she stared at him. “That’s impossible.”
Jake didn’t like this feeling. When he’d first looked at the pictures he had wondered if the drugs had altered Sam’s perception of time. Next he’d wondered what kind of scam she was pulling. If he hadn’t seen the false newspaper report of her death, he wouldn’t have trusted her at all. Now he knew that these days, the impossible was more than likely possible.
“It’s not only possible, Sam, it’s probable. It’s another setup. They faked your death, and they faked his death, too. The question is why?”
“Who is he, Jake?”
“The burly guy in the pinstripes is Carlos Montegna.” He glanced over at her and when she didn’t show any signs of recognition, he went on “He was probably the most vicious of the Central American crime bosses.”
“I thought he looked familiar. I know I’ve seen his picture before.”
“His face was plastered in every police precinct from Florida to Canada. You name it, he was into it. Drugs, guns, mercenaries. His tight little band was invincible and deadly. I never ran into him, but every cop from rookie on up knew his reputation.”
“What happened to him?” Sam’s voice sounded faint.
“Big sting operation out of Tampa. His goons were wise to the coasties along Miami, so they were doing roundabout flights up the west side of the state.” Jake recalled the details of Montegna’s bust vividly even though he hadn’t been on the force anymore. “But someone tipped the feds off and Montegna’s plane was intercepted.”
“And they supposedly killed him?”
Jake shook his head. “‘Montegna gave up
peacefully enough. The word was that he’d cut a deal. Next thing I heard, he’d committed suicide in his cell.”
Sam nodded slowly. “But they faked his death as part of the deal.”
“That’s what I’m thinking.”
They were almost to Sam’s father’s house, but she didn’t seem to notice. Every cop instinct in Jake’s body screamed that they needed to get the hell out of Dodge But he’d promised Amalinaú Martin they’d return. It hit him with sickening clarity that they might be putting the Martins in danger by being here. For once in his life, Jake wished he had a plan.
“Do you recognize any of the other men?” Sam asked.
The question pulled him out of his thoughts and he gave Sam a tight smile. He shook his head, negotiating the crowded streets. The last thing they needed was for him to run down a tourist. “I would have expected to see a familiar face or two there, but I don’t recognize any of them. That’s what has me worried.”
“Why?”
“Because of what Manning said. Whoever he works for is after you. I think some of the men in your pictures are part of whatever government organization Manning works for. This is their dirty little secret.”
Jake pulled up in front of the Martins’ house and killed the engine. “And I’d bet my last dollar that those two at the hotel are Montegna’s boys.”
“Montegna is who Manning was talking about when he said someone else is after us.”
“Right. But I don’t like not knowing who Manning works for.” It had been nagging at him since the confrontation on Big Pine Key. He had to know who Manning worked for in order to know where to start.
Jake watched Sam stare at her father’s house. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, a nervous gesture that spoke volumes. She shouldn’t be meeting her father like this. Jake wanted to fix her problems just as surely as he’d wanted to make love to her last night. But he knew better than to think he could help her. He’d failed too many people to take that chance again.
“We can’t stay long, Sam,” he said quietly.
She nodded, reaching for the door. “I know. I just want to see him. Okay?” The hopeful, pleading tone of her voice would be his undoing.
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