Strange Tango

by Michelle Dayton

  Now, having had a few hours to examine the picture of the lock, Adam whipped out his tools and was able to quickly disengage the lock mechanism from the handcuff.

  Dwayne flexed his wrist. “Cool, let’s get out of here. You’re still giving me a ride to the station, right?”

  “Minor change of plan,” Adam grunted, now aiming his tools on the combo lock of the briefcase itself. “Just need a few more minutes.”

  Previously, Adam planned to hit the road with Dwayne with the briefcase full of diamonds locked. Escape was the first priority. He’d have all the time in the world to actually open the briefcase once he’d put enough distance between himself and Sedarno.

  But seeing Jess tonight changed all that. He was going to split the diamonds. Sure, it would have been nice to set Tony up like a fucking king for the rest of his life. But $12.5 million would still be a hell of a “welcome out of prison” gift. Maybe Jess’s documentation to the police saying that Knoll smuggled $25 million of diamonds into the country via Ignatius’s study-abroad programs would be a little off. But Knoll would still have a hard time explaining $12.5 million in anonymous diamonds. It would have been nice to have Knoll tortured at the hands of Sedarno, but maybe Tony would see poetic justice in Knoll being hauled off to prison.

  Sedarno was still a worry, but he might well believe that Knoll had been betrayed by his driver and his driver alone. Disloyal and backstabbing employees were a constant problem for the families.

  He and Dwayne would leave the suitcase with half the diamonds in the car for the FBI to find, he decided. Ignoring the laughter from the party, the sound of cicadas in the night, the ping of an incoming text on Dwayne’s phone... Adam focused solely on the lock. Shit. Knoll had splurged on a solid model, and one Adam hadn’t worked with before. It might take ten or fifteen minutes to open.

  “Dude, we have to bounce now,” Dwayne said, shoving his phone over for Adam to read. “Boss wants me to bring the suitcase in the house ASAP.”

  “What?” Adam read the message and craned his neck to look through the house’s window. That didn’t make any sense. Why would Knoll want his driver—conspicuously handcuffed to a briefcase—in the party?

  Crawling into the expensive landscaping, he prowled along the windows trying to catch a glimpse of Knoll or Jess in the ballroom.

  Another ding from Dwayne’s phone. “Says to bring my piece and meet him in a bedroom on the second floor.”

  Adam changed direction, finding a window that showed an angle of the staircase. For the second time that night, his heart stopped.

  On the third marble stair, Knoll held Jess by her right elbow, his face a mask of anger and confusion.

  Sedarno held her left elbow. He was gazing down at her like she was an interesting puzzle made of spiders. The two men quickly half guided, half pulled her up the stairs. A bodyguard of Sedarno’s followed.

  “Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck. He’s early. She’s been made.”

  Heart racing, Adam climbed out of the bushes and scanned the driveway. Where the hell were the authorities that Jess called? Why weren’t they here yet?

  Ping on Dwayne’s phone. “He wants me to double-knock on the door when I get up there and then stand guard. Not to come in the room unless he comes to get me, no matter what I hear.” He whistled. “Someone’s in trouble.” Oblivious to Adam’s panic, he started walking to the lot where most cars were parked. “Someone’s getting hurt.”

  Adam looked between the suitcase of diamonds and the marble staircase that led to Jess.

  He said goodbye.

  * * *

  Oh, this was bad. Very, very bad. They recognized her and they knew she was up to no good. As Knoll and Sedarno frog-marched her down the second-floor hallway, Jess tried the bimbo routine one more time. “Maurice! Arnie! What’s the matter? It’s so nice to run into you! I don’t understand why you’re angry.”

  Knoll flung open a bedroom door and yanked her inside. Sedarno and his bodyguard followed at a leisurely pace contradicted by their reptilian eyes and steely jaws.

  “Coincidences, Jessica,” Sedarno replied. “You see, I don’t believe in them.”

  “What does that mean?” she asked, fear pitching her voice high.

  “After our golfing meet-cute, I did a little research on you,” Sedaro replied. “Turns out, you’re connected to the same University at which Maurice, here, is a trustee.”

  Half-blotchy, half-pale, Knoll looked between them, clearly not understanding Sedarno’s implication. “You’re a fucking idiot, Maurice,” Sedarno said, conversationally. “She’s here to cause trouble for you.” He sat down in an armchair near the wall, and his bodyguard flanked his side. “Normally I’d find that amusing, but not tonight. Not in advance of my payment.”

  There was a sharp double knock on the door.

  “That’s your payment.” Knoll’s voice was eager. “You can take it right now.”

  No. Goddamnit, where was the FBI? She needed to stall. But how?

  Well, for one, she needed to stop acting like a bimbo. The gig was up on that anyway. She looked at Knoll, then focused on Sedarno. He was the power in the room.

  She let the expression of confusion drain off of her face and gave Sedarno a wry smile. “You’re right, of course. I have nothing against you, sir. But I was hoping to put Knoll in his place before you got here tonight.”

  “Fascinating,” Sedarno said. “Go on.”

  Since he seemed relaxed and truly interested, Jess did. “He ruined my life,” she said, matching Sedarno’s casual tone. “I found out about some of his illegal activities at the University and was about to blow the whistle when I was fired and disgraced. Now I’m broke, no one will hire me, and my family will barely speak to me.” She jabbed a thumb in Knoll’s direction but kept her gaze on Sedarno. “I was trying to expose him so that I could change all that.”

  “How?”

  Poker face, Jess. “I was going to take the diamonds from him and alert the authorities.” All three men stiffened at the mention of law enforcement and from a quick glance exchanged from Sedarno and his bodyguard, she suspected they may not quite believe her last statement.

  She hastened to clarify. “I never intended—and still don’t intend—to implicate you, Mr. Sedarno. I only want to show proof of Knoll’s illegal activities so I can exonerate myself and reclaim my life.”

  Sedarno pursed his lips and steepled his fingers. Leaning back in the chair, he epitomized a powerful man in repose.

  But then his thoughtful expression devolved into one of studied regret. “I feel for you, Jessica. I really do. Maurice’s unnecessary blundering has been your downfall.”

  He paused, wagged a finger at Knoll. “Shame on you, Maurice.”

  Knoll looked like he didn’t know if he should laugh or look contrite. In the end, he just looked constipated. Unable to stand still, he paced across the room and stood fidgeting near Sedarno’s bodyguard.

  Sedarno gazed at Jess again. “You seem like a lovely, intelligent girl. But you got in over your head, young lady. You know too much about Knoll and the diamonds. I’m taking them, and I can’t let you lead the ‘authorities’ to me.”

  He sighed, a long wheeze through his nose. Shaking his head, he said, “Really a pity. I mean, my goodness, you hit your driver like an Amazon! But...” He nodded slightly at his bodyguard, who removed a gun from his jacket. The gun was elongated with an attachment that Jess had seen in movies—a silencer.

  So much adrenaline flooded through Jess’s system that she literally couldn’t blink. They’re actually going to kill me. Adam had been right. She wished, suddenly and fiercely, that he had gotten the diamonds and was far away with them by now.

  The bodyguard raised the gun. Interesting, Jess thought, in a detached kind of way. In her last seconds on Earth, she would have expected to picture h
er family. But instead, she saw Adam’s bright blue eyes, the way they crinkled when she pulled an unexpected laugh out of him.

  She held up pleading hands. “Please don’t—”

  Frowning, Sedarno just shrugged. “I wish I didn’t have to,” he said. “But at the core, I’m a businessman. If only you had another card to play.”

  The door to the hallway flung open. Sedarno, Knoll, and the bodyguard all flicked their eyes away from Jess.

  Adam strode into the room like he owned it.

  For a moment, Jess was sure she was hallucinating, that she’d conjured him out of thin air.

  Carrying a black briefcase in one hand, a gun in the other, Adam walked until he was angled between Sedarno’s bodyguard and Jess. “I’m her partner and I have the diamonds.” He met Jess’s wide eyes briefly, did a brief scan up and down her body as if to make sure she was unharmed.

  To Sedarno, he continued. “So she has all the cards.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  After a taut moment of silence, the room exploded with noise. Sedarno started laughing and gestured to his bodyguard to lower his gun. Knoll’s face turned an ugly shade of purple, “Where did you get that briefcase? Where’s Dwayne? Those are my goddamn diamonds!”

  “Are they, Maurice?” Sedarno wiped away actual tears of mirth. “Yours? I believe you emancipated them from whatever back world mine they were in, and now these folks have freed them from you.”

  Knoll’s purple face darkened as he looked between Sedarno and Adam, but he didn’t seem to know what to do.

  Adam ignored Knoll and spoke to Sedarno, his voice smooth and low. “Here’s the deal. Jess and I give you the diamonds. Right here, right now. You let us walk away. There’s no way Jess can implicate you because she herself is now involved in handing off illegally retrieved diamonds to a reputed crime boss. She doesn’t say a word about tonight, and you let her live.”

  Jess stayed silent, her eyes locked on Adam’s calm face. He had the diamonds? He could have taken them and run, but he’d stayed. He was giving them up for her. Not only that, he was putting his own life in danger to save hers.

  Man, if she lived through this, she had a lot to think about.

  Sedarno laughed again, clapped his hands together. “I must say, I like this plan quite a lot. Spunky Nancy Drew lives to play another round of golf, I get my diamonds, and Maurice still owes me another 25 mil. I accept your terms.”

  Knoll screeched. “What?”

  Sedarno shook his head. “You’ll still owe me 25 mil. You haven’t delivered me the payment you owe. I just happened to make an outside deal with these fine folks.”

  He flicked his fingers, now the third person in the room to make Knoll irrelevant.

  “Hand over the case,” he said. Adam carefully handed it to him and took a step back, careful to keep between Jess and the bodyguard.

  “I trust you used the combination I advised, Maurice?” Sedarno kept chuckling as he worked the lock.

  Knoll’s lips curled and his eyes narrowed. He suddenly looked more like a brute than a befuddled businessman.

  Even though the tide in the room seemed to be turning in her favor, Jess felt a shiver go up her spine.

  Sedarno raised the lid of the case. “Ah. Beautiful.”

  Both Adam and the bodyguard leaned forward, unable to keep from taking a peek at the dazzling pile of jewels.

  But Jess kept her eyes on Knoll’s changing face. Which is why she saw him grab the bodyguard’s gun from his limp hand.

  Which is why, when he screamed, “Those are mine!” she knew what he was going to do.

  Knoll raised the gun and pointed it at Adam.

  “No!” Just as he pulled the trigger, Jess threw herself in front of Adam.

  Something slammed into her upper body with the force of a sledgehammer. Fuck! Ow! Bam! Now, her face smacked into something: hard, stiff, fibrous. Am I on the floor?

  In the distance, she could hear Adam roaring her name. No, that couldn’t be Adam. Whoever was shouting sounded terrified.

  Warmth pooled over her then. So strange. Her temperature was all over the place. She felt cold, but her shoulder was burning. Tepid liquid was making her dress feel clingy and gross.

  Hey, there were sparkly, shiny stones all over the floor and tangled in the curls of her silly wig.

  “Pretty,” she mumbled, before the entire world went black.

  * * *

  Adam would re-live those few minutes in his nightmares for years.

  ...Sedarno opening the briefcase while Knoll bellowed about the diamonds

  ...Jess screaming “No” before a strange, blasting-clicking sound

  ...a startled Sedarno dropping the briefcase, sending the diamonds all over the floor

  ...Jess flying in front of him, then falling to the floor...blood spreading from her upper chest to the pink carpet.

  Before he could do anything other than shout her name, Sedarno’s bodyguard grabbed a clutch piece from his ankle and shot Knoll in the shoulder. Knoll screamed and dropped the gun. He fell backward, bashing his head into the wall and knocking himself unconscious.

  “Jesus Christ,” Sedarno said, glaring at his bodyguard. The clutch piece had not had a suppressor attached and the shot was loud. Adam could hear murmurs and cries from the party downstairs.

  Not that he cared one fuck about that. He dropped to his knees, still frantically calling her name. “Jess! Oh my God. Jess!”

  She’d fallen on her face. Gently, he rolled her onto her back, gasping when he saw the blood on her chest and neck. “No, baby,” he whispered. “Please no.” This couldn’t be happening. He’d come up here to save her. What the fuck was she doing, jumping in front of him like that?

  He could feel a pulse in her neck, thank Christ. Her chest was rising with shallow breaths. But for how long? She needed an ambulance. She needed help.

  Sedarno knelt next to him. He gripped Jess’s shoulder to pull her closer and examine the wound. “Looks like an in and out,” he said. “She’ll probably be fine.”

  Adam cut his eyes to the man’s face. “Really?”

  “Doesn’t look like it nicked her lung,” Sedarno said. “Might fuck up her golf swing a little.”

  He turned and his eyes shot daggers at his bodyguard. “What the hell are you waiting for? Put the diamonds back in the briefcase. The cops will be here any minute.”

  As if on cue, the sounds of sirens echoed in the distance. Adam wondered if they were the cavalry Jess tried to call in earlier or if they were just responding to sounds of shots fired.

  He knelt over her again, resting his cheek against hers. “I’m here. Help is on its way.”

  Against his cheek, he felt her eyes open, felt the brush of her those thick eyelashes against his skin. It was the best damned thing he’d felt in his entire life.

  “Ow,” she said. “Wow. That hurts so much.” She exhaled and a tear ran down her face.

  His throat burned; he didn’t trust himself to speak. He just stroked her face again and again, pushing the tears away.

  “We’re gone,” Sedarno announced.

  Adam forced himself to look up. “Our deal stands?”

  Sedarno flicked a disgusted glance at the unconscious Knoll. “Yes.”

  “You know Venchetti in Miami?” Adam asked. “He’s ready for what’s in that briefcase if you want to work with him. He’ll move quickly, if you’re worried about Knoll talking to the Feds.”

  Sedarno absorbed the statement. “I know Venchetti,” he said, finally. “Thanks. But if Maurice is stupid enough to talk about me, he’ll be in even more trouble than he is now.”

  “Let’s go.” Sedarno and his bodyguard disappeared through the door. Adam wondered where their car was parked. He had no doubt they’d manage to esc
ape, but it might be close. The sirens were very loud now. The cars couldn’t be more than a couple of blocks away.

  “You need to leave too,” Jess whispered.

  He stared at her. “How hard did you hit your head? I’m not leaving you. For God’s sake, you just jumped in front of a bullet for me.” He kissed her lips. Hard. “You took a decade off my life, Blondie.”

  “Another one,” she demanded, wincing and smiling at the same time. He took his time with the next kiss, made it softer, sweeter. “More,” she whispered, and he kissed her again and again. He tasted tears on her lips and sent up a prayer of thanks. Christ, she could have died. He could have lost her.”Now you have to leave,” she said. “Don’t argue, Adam. I called about smuggled diamonds. You have a history with jewel theft. Sedarno’s not here. There’s a million different things Knoll could say—he could say you shot him, that you had the diamonds to begin with, anything. Leave, now!”

  She looked around wildly. “God, with the shootings, they’ll fingerprint everything. They might get yours. You need to run. Get out of town. Now.”

  Adam’s heart flipped over. The woman took a shot intended for him and now she was trying to save him—again. “No. Jess, I’m not leaving you here, lying and bleeding on the floor. Forget it.”

  “You saved my life,” she said. “You gave up Tony’s future for me.” She raised a bloody hand to his face. “Leave.” When he didn’t move, she started to cry. “Adam, please.”

  He couldn’t take more of her tears. “Jesus, don’t cry,” he begged.

  “Then go,” she commanded.

  “No,” he said softly. He just...refused. Come what may, he didn’t want to leave. He wanted to go to the hospital with her, laugh with her while she ate Jello. Bring her silly crap from the gift shop. Take her home to her apartment when she felt better.

  But she was right. If he stuck around, he needed to be careful. With his record, he was just too damn convenient of a scapegoat for Knoll. Well, careful he could do. He was excellent at careful.