by Pamela Clare
As if reading her mind, Tanner squeezed her waist. The pressure kept her silent.
“Everything okay, folks?” The officer looked older up close. Short salt and pepper hair with matching mustache. With a body still fit and healthy, the only thing that belied the man’s age were the dozens of wrinkles around his eyes and mouth.
“Fine. Everything’s fine,” Tanner answered with another sharp squeeze. “I was trying to help her and I tripped on something…took her down with me. Sorry honey,” He looked down at her with apologetic eyes. But there was a warning in his gaze.
The cop looked directly at her. “Anything you want to tell me, miss?” His brows lifted and a tiny smile curved his lips. Her stomach hit the asphalt. Her hopes vanished in a flash. She’d heard the same words from a different cop yesterday. He’d stopped her last night before she’d reached the door to her apartment. The cop had backed her up against the building and told her flat out that if she said a word to anyone, Facinetti would find out and he’d start taking lives. This officer had to also belong to Paul Facinetti. She knew it just as she knew she was safer with Tanner than with this cop.
Was Facinetti having her followed? Testing her? He must be. Making sure she wouldn’t talk by sending the men he paid to scare her. He wanted his money and because he couldn’t get to Maurice, he was keeping her close. There wasn’t a cop she could trust. Because if she talked to the wrong guy, her time frame went to hell and Facinetti would start executing immediately.
Oh God. This guy must have followed them from the studio, but how? Had there been someone on the lot watching Maurice the whole time? Someone who saw what happened on the stage? Facinetti had men everywhere.
Tears pricked at Jess’s eyes and just as quickly, anger reared up and made her chest heavy. She blinked back her emotions. “No, everything’s fine. I wasn’t feeling well and just needed him to pull over. I’m better now.”
Tanner looked down at her, suspicion in his eyes. She moved past him and into the passenger seat. “C’mon, let’s go. I’m okay.” She shut the door, leaving Tanner to wonder if she’d bolt again as soon as he left her side of the car. Clearly he realized he didn’t have a choice if he wanted out of here and he hustled to the driver’s side and got in. He cranked the engine and a sharp rap on the window made Jess jump a mile.
The officer had his face close to the window and motioned her to roll it down. Jess did, reluctantly. “You sure you’re okay?” he asked. “You look like you’re bursting to tell me something.”
Too parched to speak, Jess simply shook her head. “No,” she finally eked out. “Nothing. Everything’s fine.”
The cop tapped the doorframe with a fist and smiled. “Good girl,” he muttered as he straightened. “Drive carefully,” he said loud enough for Tanner to hear. “Wouldn’t want to see either of you injured on a beautiful night like tonight.” A veiled threat if she’d ever heard one.
Tanner rolled up the electric window from his side and glided onto the street without looking back. Jess’s stomach turned upside down. “Here,” Tanner reached into the back and handed her a bottled water.
Jess gulped a third of it down, trying to calm her pounding heart and run-away emotions.
Now what?
She’d blurted, told him her problem. Fear and desperation had driven her to it. Lying under Tanner had brought a whole new world of problems she wasn’t ready to deal with.
He’d tried to kill Maurice tonight. He’d actually shot his gun. Aimed and fired. Facinetti didn’t want Maurice dead, at least not until he got his money. He was paying the cop to watch her. Maybe all the time, and he wanted her to know it. So maybe the cop took the opportunity to see whom she’d hooked up with to report back to his boss.
“You want to tell me why you went sheet-white back there?” Tanner asked, glancing at her before returning his focus on the road.
She’d already spilled the worst of it. Besides, the guy deserved to know that if he killed Maurice before Facinetti got his money, Facinetti would no doubt take his revenge out on Tanner’s hide. “We’re being followed,” she said. “I’m being followed. But since you’re driving, you are also being followed. You might want to consider letting me off at the next gas station or something.” She could call a cab to take her back to the studio and pick up her car. How could this guy want the trouble she’d stepped into just by virtue of working for Maurice? Suddenly she wasn’t afraid of him as much.
Tanner glanced in the mirror, made a few turns and adjusted his speed. Jess turned down the visor and looked behind them from the mirror where she saw the cop still following at a distance. After a few minutes, Tanner uttered a vicious oath. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he snapped.
She nearly flinched at his tone. “I didn’t know until that cop stopped for his visit. But it makes sense. He’s keeping tabs on me.”
“Why? Who?” Tanner demanded.
She sighed. “You have the right to know since he’ll probably kill us both before this is over.” More tears pricked her eyes at the thought of her family dying too. Which might happen whether she succeeded or not. “His name is Paul Facinetti and he’s blackmailing me. He has my parents and my brothers, and I have to get Maurice to hand over his eight million dollars by midnight Friday. If I don’t, he’s going to kill one of them each day until he has his money, starting with my youngest brother.” Saying it aloud made it all the more real. Made her stomach heave.
Tanner leaned his head against the headrest. “Fuck.” The word was short, but heartfelt.
“Tell me about it,” Jess muttered. “So you see why you can’t kill Maurice. I need to get that money.”
“Maurice know all this?” Tanner asked, his eyes narrow and skeptical.
“I wouldn’t know because I never got that far!” Jess railed. “I was trying to talk to him when someone started shooting at us!” Jess took a deep breath and reined in her anger. She had to remember this man wasn’t an ally. She needed to get free of him just as badly as she needed to find Maurice. Just because she’d confided in him, didn’t mean she trusted him. Far from it. Although confiding in him had somehow taken the edge off her fear, which suited her fine.
Instead of the glare she expected, he smiled and Jess’s mind pulled a total blank. It wasn’t a big smile, but it was lethal just the same. It transformed his face, softened his eyes and made her breath catch in her throat.
Tanner focused on the road. “I told you I was sorry.” His low voice resonated in the air, but Jess ignored the way it touched her. No way was she going to let this guy creep under her defenses.
She faced him, her blood pumping hot. “No you didn’t! You said you didn’t mean to shoot at me. There’s a big difference.” She faced front and crossed her arms over her chest. The movement pulled the bandage, which made her shoulder ache, which pissed her off. A full minute of silence settled between them until Jess wanted to reach over and strangle him.
This time he looked at her. “I’m sorry I shot you,” he said quietly. “I didn’t mean to, didn’t want to. But I haven’t changed my mind about Juneau. His days are numbered.” He followed the curves of Sunset Boulevard, his big hands steady on the wheel. “Tell me about this Facinetti. Who is he? Why does he want eight million from Juneau?”
Much to her annoyance, Tanner’s sincere apology actually placated her. Any man who could fess up to a mistake won points in her book. Growing up with a bunch of brothers who had a hard time saying, sorry, Jess had come to appreciate the word more than most.
She didn’t see a reason to keep the secret. Maybe Tanner needed to know what he was up against. “Paul Facinetti owns a casino outside of Vegas. As far as I can tell he’s a cross between Steve Wynn and Bugsy Siegel. He’s got high aspirations. He invested eight million dollars in Maurice’s newest Indy film. It was half the budget. But the star pulled out then the other half of the budget backed out and Maurice had already spent half of Facinetti’s money on advances, permits and miscellaneous production costs.”
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br /> “What happened to the other half?” Tanner asked. “Wait, let me guess. It found its way into his pocket.”
Jess nodded. “Probably, yes. I think so. But Maurice is very creative and he’s made it look like all eight million is gone. I’ve checked the projected costs with the actual figures on his budget and it looks hinky to me.” She shrugged. “I might only be his assistant, but I’m not stupid.
“Facinetti called Maurice, told him if there’s no movie then he wanted his money back. Maurice’s response was, ‘That’s show business, pal. You win some you lose some.’ Then he tried to convince Facinetti to invest in another project he’s got in the works. Needless to say that didn’t go over well with Facinetti. A few days went by and Facinetti called again, telling Maurice that if he didn’t get his money back by the end of the week, Maurice would regret it. Maurice said he didn’t have Facinetti’s money and that Facinetti needed to look up the word investment in the dictionary. Maurice then tripled his security. Which was one of the smarter moves he’s made because all of a sudden strange things started happening.”
“What kinds of strange things?” Tanner asked.
“A break-in at his Beverly Hills house. A hit-and-run car accident. Two guys tried to mug him outside the gym, but Maurice had enough muscle around him and never suffered a scratch.”
“So Facinetti got tired of his guys missing the mark and decided to go through you.” Tanner shook his head. “Fucker.” He paused. “Look, no offense, but why would he think a little thing like you could do what he couldn’t do?”
“Because I run Maurice’s life, that’s why. Not to mention half the business.” She’d talked to Facinetti enough for him to figure that much out. “Facinetti must think I have access to his bank accounts or pin numbers or something…but I don’t.”
He glanced at her as he took another curve on the road. “This Facinetti guy has your whole family?” At her nod he shook his head, his jaw clenched tight. “What happened?”
“We were supposed to meet for dinner Saturday night for my mom’s birthday.” She didn’t mention that it had been her birthday celebration as well. Jess swallowed the lump in her throat. “I don’t know how Facinetti would have known.” She shook her head, a vision of the house fresh in her memory. “I got to my parent’s house and the place was trashed. Every room was upside down, everything broken. There was blood…” Tears threatened, but Jess fought them back. “I know everyone put up a fight. I can’t imagine how many men it took to take them all down.” She barely got the words out. Her chest constricted with emotion.
“How old are your brothers?” Tanner asked.
“Twenty-one, twenty and the twins are nineteen.”
“Hell, your parents didn’t waste any time, did they?”
Jess smiled at that usual response. “No, they didn’t.” Her cheer disappeared just as quickly as it had come. “Facinetti said they’re alive, but I know they’re hurt.” She wiped her eyes determined to hold herself together.
“So you haven’t talked to any of them?” he asked.
Jess shook her head as she blew her nose with a crumpled tissue from her pocket.
“That’s what we have to do first. Did Facinetti give you a way to reach him?”
“We?” Jess couldn’t help but ask. Did he seriously think to help her with this?
“Yes, we,” Tanner said. He didn’t take his eyes off the road. “I’ll help you get the money from Juneau and get your family back safe and in return, you don’t say a word when I disappear with Juneau.”
A pact with the devil. He still planned on killing Maurice and she’d be an accomplice if she agreed to go along with him. Did she have a choice in the matter? Besides, wasn’t there a chance Facinetti might kill Maurice once he had his money? Was that her fault? No. Maurice had dug his own grave.
Still, the part of her brain that grew up with strict morals and clear line of right and wrong screamed that she couldn’t keep her mouth shut and be part of cold-blooded murder. But the other part of her brain, the side working on emotion, didn’t want to hear the argument. Was Maurice’s life worth that of her whole family? The answer was really simple. No. Hell no. Did she run the risk of spending years behind bars? Yes. But it would be worth every minute if she saved her family. Maurice stole money just as easily as he peed every morning. He lied about budgets and production costs. He lied about permits and expenses. He was a liar and her family deserved better than to die because of him.
“Deal.”
Chapter Five
Tanner did a double take. He hadn’t expected the almost immediate compliance. He wasn’t stupid enough to think he didn’t need Jess to help him get Juneau. If a pseudo mob boss, and that’s what Facinetti sounded like, couldn’t get to the man, then what were his odds? At least with Jess, he had a fighting chance. All he had to do was help her first.
Help her get Juneau to unload eight million dollars then rescue her family from God knows where. Yeah, right. No problem. While he was at it, maybe he could climb Kilimanjaro with skates. On the other hand, maybe there was another way to solve their problem. “Did Facinetti tell you specifically that he wanted the money or did he say getting his hands on Juneau would be enough? What if we got Juneau and traded him for your family?”
“I don’t know,” Jess said, her eyes wide. “I never asked.”
“We need to contact Facinetti and get some answers. First we don’t do a thing until we’ve talked to your parents and your brothers. Then we find out if a trade will work instead of the money.”
“It might.” Jess sounded hopeful for the first time and it gave Tanner a foreign sense of something he hadn’t felt in years. Self-respect? Because for the first time in a long time he was doing something right? Hardly. No sense in deluding himself. He wanted the quickest way to get his hands on Juneau and if that meant helping Jess, so be it. He didn’t necessarily care if someone else killed Juneau as long as the man suffered. How many different places had Tanner been cornered and jumped in prison? How many punches and kicks had he taken all because prison was a violent place and Juneau had sent him there? He’d just assumed he’d be the one to inflict well-deserved damage on the bastard. But if handing him over to someone got the job done…why the hell not? The justice system sure as hell didn’t work and Tanner had no way to prove he’d been railroaded other than the smile Juneau had given him at the guilty verdict and his lawyer’s lack of concern.
Jess scrambled, unzipping her small dark backpack. She came up with a card in her shaking hand. “This is his number. I’m not supposed to call unless I have the money.”
“Tell him you’ll do better than the money and give him the man, but in the meantime, you want proof of life. You want to talk to every member of your family and then you’ll bring Facinetti what he wants.”
Worry crept into her shining eyes. “What if he hurts one of them because I didn’t follow his instructions?”
“What if he’s already killed all of them and is waiting for you to do his dirty work anyway?” Yeah, he was pond scum, but she needed to look at all the angles. Tanner’s gut turned at the look of absolute horror on Jess’s face.
She looked at the card wobbling in her hand. “Pull over,” she said softly.
Why? Tanner went with his instinct anyway and eased the car onto the right shoulder. He’d lost their tail ten minutes ago, but still checked the rearview mirror and glanced over his shoulder at the road behind him. Empty.
Jess ran both hands through her hair giving it that electrocuted look before pulling her cell phone from her bag and punching in the numbers. After a slow, deep breath, she hit Talk and the call went through. “If you’re wrong… If he hurts them…” Her dark eyes drilled into his, her face lost its pixie quality as tension streamed off her. “I’ll kill you.”
Tanner believed she might try. He motioned her closer so he could hear the call and Jess adjusted the phone near his ear. He smelled the last traces of her flowery shampoo mixed with a little female sweat
. His blood pressure spiked, but he shut down his reaction before it got hotter. He didn’t have time to think about what it might feel like to be really close to her. Close enough to get his mouth on her. Closer than he was right now with her knuckles grazing his stubble and her soft breath heating his cheek.
Dammit. Focus, Bryant.
A male voice sounded in his ear. “Ah, sweet Jess. You work fast. What do you have for me?” This had to be Facinetti. Clearly he’d been expecting her call.
Jess swallowed. “I want to talk to my parents and my brothers before I hand you what you want.”
“That wasn’t the deal and you don’t have any bargaining power.” Facinetti’s tone was low, deadly.
“We never made a deal,” she told him. “You took them and told me what to do. Now I’m telling you, if I don’t talk to every one of them, I don’t hand over the money or Maurice.” She sounded as tough as any inmate he’d ever known. “And I’ve decided that either one will do. I’ll either get you the money or the man.” She took a steadying breath. The girl had balls of steel. “For all I know you’ve…” she closed her mouth. Maybe she didn’t want to give him any ideas. Tanner didn’t blame her. “I talk to them or no deal.” Squeezing her eyes shut tight, she bit her bottom lip.
Facinetti paused a long time then finally said, “Hang on. It’s going to take a minute.” Jess’s eyes flashed open and the hopeful look on her face nearly decimated Tanner. Until Facinetti said one more thing. “The next time you call this number, you’d better have my money or I will kill your youngest brother, just as I promised and I’ll make the rest of your family watch. Hang up the phone and I’ll call you back.”