Next to Me

by AnnaLisa Grant

  With a deep breath we take our first steps toward the staircase and find our way to the upper level balcony. The view of the room, which seems like such a small word to describe such a grand and elaborately decorated room, is breathtaking. There are no tables set up with food. Only white-gloved servers passing hor d’oeuvres. Everyone looks exquisite and, even though I paid more than three month’s rent for this dress and shoes, I feel terribly out of place. In any other circumstance I’m sure I would eventually calm my nerves and enjoy myself in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. When will I ever be invited to a place like this again? Never. But my nerves won’t calm until we find my father, give him the Nickel, and convince him not to go through with this.

  “Do you see him?” I ask as casually as I can. Landon and I have walked as nonchalantly as we can halfway around the balcony.

  “No. I’m guessing you haven’t either,” he says.

  “Nope. Let’s start exploring. If we get caught anywhere we’re not supposed to be, just play dumb and act like we got lost.” I nod and Landon takes my hand as we begin down a corridor on the upper level. There are a few guests mingling near the front of the hall, so we keep a low profile as we pretend to admire the artwork along the walls.

  “Jace could have a field day with these,” I chuckle.

  “Who says he hasn’t already,” Landon replies with a small laugh.

  We come to the end of the hall and make a left and are almost immediately in front of a set of ornate double doors. This is the first room we’ve come to like this. Every other room either had a locked single door, or it didn’t have doors at all and offered nothing of interest inside. I try one of the doors and the ornate handle makes a loud grinding sound before it clicks, releasing the door.

  The smell of old books fills the air. It’s a sight to behold. The room is two stories tall and there are floor to ceiling bookshelves on every wall. The hard wood floors are covered with the largest rugs I’ve ever seen. There are two spiral staircases on either side of the room, leading to two balconies that are set up as sitting areas. I run my hand along the wooden handrail of the rolling steps that are attached to a bar midway up the bookshelf walls. It’s the most overwhelmingly grand room I’ve ever seen, beating out the grand hall where the guests are all gathered downstairs.

  “I bet some of the books are hundreds of years old,” I say as I scan the shelves.

  “I’m sure there are several first editions,” Landon agrees. “I don’t see

  anything that would be of interest to your father or Dellinger in here. Maybe we should try some rooms downstairs.”

  “First editions would on their list, but there’s no way to know where

  they are in here. Even if the books are alphabetized, it’d take too long to find what you’re looking for.” I’m mesmerized by the uniformity of the spines and consider the rich history that’s contained just in this one room among these books. “But, my father said he was after coins. Finding my him and what he’s looking for is going to be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.” I shake my head in disappointment, feeling defeated already.

  “Hey…don’t worry. We haven’t been looking that long.” Landon is always so good about doing his best to encourage me, even in the most discouraging of situations. I’m going to miss that.

  Landon threads his fingers through mine and we walk back toward the door to the hall. We hear the grinding of the handle to the door and both look at each other nervously. I’m prepared to play dumb when Landon pushes me against the bare wall next to the door and crushes his lips to mine. I’m hesitant at first, taken off guard by his sudden need for me. But as the voices of the two men who open the room become clearer, I understand that Landon has opted to play us as lovers who were just looking for a place to feed our insatiable lust for one another.

  “Hey! What are you doing in here?” one voice says loudly as the door opens. I don’t see them because my eyes are closed, enjoying the way Landon’s lips are moving with mine.

  “Oh, my God…I’m so sorry,” Landon says, feigning embarrassment as he pulls away from me.

  “You can’t be in here,” one of the men scolds. It’s the same voice that first questioned our being in this room. The other man isn’t speaking, which is kind of making me nervous.

  “Sorry. Paris! And, seriously guys…look at her. Can you blame me?” Landon motions to me, causing the silent guard to crack a creepy smile and

  raise an eyebrow. “We’re leaving.”

  Landon and I scurry out into the hall and back downstairs into the grand area where the 200 or so other guests are socializing. There’s no sign of my father and there was nothing upstairs remotely resembling anything that would house the coins my father wants to find.

  “What are we going to do? We can’t find my father, and by the number of men in black suits all of the corridors down here look like they’re off limits,” I say with hushed panic.

  “Stop panicking, Jenna. We haven’t been here that long. There’s still time to find your father and stop him. We’ve been everywhere we’re allowed to go. Let’s just work our way around the room. Ok?” Landon’s calming and even tone are helpful in this moment and I am once again so glad that he’s here. If I were alone, I don’t know what I’d do.

  We spend the next hour walking around the room and chatting with various people. Some of them are dignitaries from other countries who happen to be in France, while some of them are commoners like Landon and me. I met both a judge from England and one of the Ambassador’s neighbors. She’s ridiculously wealthy like everyone else here, but she’s not connected like some of the others. By the time we find ourselves in the same spot we were an hour ago, I feel completely crushed.

  “We might as well go, Landon. I’ll contact Dellinger when I get back to Chicago and tell him that my father disappeared on me, but that I have the coin and I’m going to give it to him. It’s my only option at this point.”

  “We’ll find him,” Landon begins. Before he can continue, we’re approached by the two men who caught us making out in the library upstairs. They don’t look happy.

  “Come with us,” the one who speaks says. It’s not a question, but a directive.

  Landon and I look at each other with puzzled faces. We were in the library over an hour ago. We didn’t touch or move anything, and we

  certainly didn’t take anything. Why are they coming for us now?

  They lead us through a door where another one of their team has been standing guard. The room is filled with displays of antiques and heirlooms,

  but none of them are coins of any kind.

  “Wait here,” he speaks again with the same low, monotone voice. They both exit through a door on the opposite side of the room.

  “There’s nothing to worry about,” Landon says.

  “I hope you’re right,” I tell him.

  A few silent minutes later the duo returns through the same door with my father in tow. Landon and I followed the men here but my father is obviously being brought in with a more aggressive approach. He’s wearing a tuxedo like Landon and I can’t help but think he looks handsome. I’ve never seen him so dressed up before, and it actually looks really good on him.

  “Ronnie!” Dad calls to me. I wish he would stop calling me that. “Are you ok?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be? And stop calling me that.” My tone and delivery are flat so I can communicate my lack of attachment to him.

  “Sorry. I forgot,” he says defensively.

  “Where have you been? We’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Landon says.

  “I didn’t think you were coming, so I’ve been working the job alone,” he says. They caught me upstairs. I was just about to cut into the seal of a case when they walked in. Why’d they bring you in?” my father asks.

  I furrow my brow in confusion. I guess we didn’t hit all the rooms that weren’t guarded.

  “Oh, good. You’re all here,” the Ambassador says as he comes thr
ough the main door to the room. “Let’s move them to a more private location.”

  The Ambassador walks to the back of the room and pushes against a panel on the wall. The panel clicks and a door-shaped piece pops open. He pulls it open and the security twins escort us through the hole behind him.

  Jace wasn’t joking about the old houses having secret passages.

  The room is bare but looks like it may have been used as some kind of storage at one point. The dirt on the subflooring sounds like sandpaper beneath our feet, and the poor lighting makes for more shadowy places than I’m comfortable seeing.

  “Is everything alright, Ronald?” I say. I don’t offer any information about us snooping upstairs, just in case that’s not why we’re here. Although, with my father having been brought in as well, I’m afraid that all of our snooping has been a red flag to the security team.

  “Did you enjoy your self-guided tour of the east wing upstairs?” he asks. The Ambassador’s demeanor has changed completely. Gone is the warm and congenial man we met earlier. The man standing before us is cold and serious.

  “Did we go somewhere we were not supposed to?” Landon asks. “We followed your instructions and there didn’t seem to be any security anywhere we went.” He shifts his body so he’s inches closer to me, enabling him to slide his arm around my waist.

  “I’m not really concerned about where you may or may not have gone on your tour as I am about the item Jenna has with her. The coin, please,” the Ambassador says.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I look at the Ambassador and try not to let my terror show. What happened to Mr. Congeniality? Where’s the man who I thought had been duped to think Dellinger was some kind of stand-up guy. It was all an act. But…how? Why?

  “Is she going to play games?” he asks my father. “If she’s going to play games we can certainly even the playing field.”

  Just as soon as the words have left his mouth and he gives a nod, the security guys who brought us in here are on Dad. One of them forces him to his knees while the other one takes out a gun. He doesn’t point the gun at my father, but holds it up in a way that tells me this is not the first time he’s done this.

  “Dad…” My voice is shaky, but I feel Landon’s grip on me tighten, reminding me that I’m not alone.

  “He wants the coin, too. Just give him the coin,” Dad says.

  “I told you I didn’t bring it with me,” I say.

  “Jenna…please,” he begs.

  “I don’t have time for this,” the Ambassador says with a bored tone. “I have guests to get back to before they realize I'm gone."

  “She must have it on her. It wasn’t at the hotel,” my father says hurriedly with fear in his voice.

  McKay motions to one of his men and he moves quickly to me, reaching for my arm.

  “Don’t. Fucking. Touch her,” Landon says calmly but with fierceness saturating his tone. He takes me by the waist and gives both the security guard and Ambassador McKay a look that tells them he’s not afraid of them. McKay motions to the guy again and he backs away.

  “I knew it!” I begin to charge at my father, but Landon still has me and physically holds me back. “Is this some kind of game to you?” I shout.

  “No! Ronn…Jenna…they caught me breaking into one of the display cases. I told them I had something to bargain with if they wouldn't hurt me. I told him you had the V Nickel. If you give it to him he’ll let me live.” Sweat is dripping down my father’s face from nerves.

  I don’t say anything. I just watch him, waiting to see what he does next, what he says.

  “I said I didn’t bring it with me,” I reiterate slowly.

  Something is off here. Why would they kill him? McKay is a United States Ambassador. He could have my father arrested without any trouble. Why eliminate him? What else does he know?

  “Please.” He squeezes his eyes shut as the security guy presses his gun against the side of my father’s head.

  The Ambassador breathes a heavy and annoyed sigh. “I should have known better than to trust you. She doesn’t have the Nickel. He’s obviously lying. Kill him.”

  “Wait!” Landon shouts.

  Chapter 16

  Landon steps forward and holds his hand out as the gun pressed to my father’s head is cocked.

  “What if we do have the coin? What is it worth to you?” Landon says quickly.

  “Finally, someone who understands.” The Ambassador nods his head and the guy uncocks the gun and removes it from my father’s temple where it has left an indentation. “Stand him up.”

  “What are you doing?” I whisper to Landon.

  Landon takes me by the neck and presses his forehead to mine. “I’m not going to let your father die. I don’t care what you think you’re feeling for him right now. You mourned his death once. I can’t let you do that again.”

  He’s right. I can’t lose my dad again. I can hate him later, but at least he’ll still be alive.

  “Ok,” I tell him.

  “I have the V Nickel.” Landon lifts his hands as if in surrender. “I’m going to reach in my left pocket and get it.” I watch him move his hand slowly to his pocket as I hear the cocking of the gun again. I don’t look to see who it’s pointed at this time, but I would assume it’s at Landon as a protective measure.

  Landon pulls a small, black velvet pouch from his pocket and holds it out. Silent security guy takes it from him and hands it to the Ambassador. His eyes widen as he opens the pouch and turns the coin out into his hand.

  Even in the lower light I can see how shiny it is. Is that the real one or the fake? Was the real one this shiny, or is this the fake one and it’s too shiny? For as many times as I turned that coin over and over in my hand, somehow I can’t remember anything about it now. I compared both coins when we got them from Jace and remember thinking how remarkable it was. There’s no way anyone could tell them apart with the naked eye.

  “After all these years...I’ve finally beaten him,” Ambassador McKay says eerily.

  “You beat who?” Apparently I’ve lost my mind and have no hesitancy in asking this mad man about his cryptic statement.

  “Henry Dellinger, of course,” he says obviously.

  “What did Dellinger do to you?” I ask. Who hasn’t Dellinger screwed over?

  “Henry and I used to be great friends. We went to law school together, got married within months of each other, had the same political dreams. Almost 12 years ago he and I ran against each other and three others men for the two Senate seats in Connecticut. I assumed we would team up…run campaigns that would support each other as the best candidates. Well, you know what they say when you assume. Henry ran a dirty campaign against all of us, but it seemed especially filthy when it came to me. Maybe it’s because I thought we had been such good friends that it stung as much as it did.

  “Well, every time it seemed that I was getting ahead, he fired something more damaging than the thing before. I ended up spending most of my campaign explaining the horrible accusations and lies he was constantly hurling.” Ambassador McKay turns the coin over in his fingers like a parlor trick. “A few years into his first term it came to my attention that Henry was a collector of very rare artifacts. I also came to understand that he had an expert on retrieval working for him. I made him a better offer and so we’ve spent the last eight years working together. If Henry wanted it, I had to make sure he didn’t get it. Of course, we let him have a few so he didn’t catch on. Bobby Matthews has been the best employee I’ve ever had. It wasn’t until recently that I discovered the fifth V Nickel was Henry’s golden ticket. Now that I have it, Henry never will.”

  “This was all a set up,” I say in disbelief to my father. Even with all the lies and deception I would have never imagined my father would put me in a life or death situation. Dad just looks at me blankly.

  “As I’ve already said, I have guests. Mr. Matthews, you can expect your regular payment plus the bonus I agreed to include.”
The Ambassador walks toward the secret passage door, followed by his two henchmen. One of the security men has already passed through the door when Landon calls out to them.

  “That’s it?” Landon challenges.

  “Landon…the Ambassador is leaving quietly. I suggest we do the same thing,” I say with some chastisement.

  “What would you like me to do, Mr. Scott,” Ambassador McKay says as he turns around. “You’re not going to tell anyone about this. I am, after all, a Unite States Ambassador. No one will believe you. And, I have two security guards who caught you snooping in part of the residential area of the estate. But, if you like, I can have you shot in the knee if you feel that would make our exchange here more gratifying.” He nods to the only security guy left. He pulls his gun from the holster under his jacket, cocks it, and shoots at Landon.

  “Holy fuck!” Landon yells. I scream and rush to Landon’s side. He puts his hand to the side of his head and pulls it away, showing me the blood. I examine the wound immediately and see that the bullet grazed his ear. It’ll be sore for a while, but, really, he’s fine.

  “You should know he missed on purpose. Challenge me again and he’ll prove his expert marksmanship to you. Good evening.” With that, Ambassador Ronald McKay and his security henchmen leave Landon, my father, and me standing in this barren room.

  “I thought I hated you before…” I begin.

  “Which one did you give him?” Dad asks.

  “What?” I reply.

  “Don’t play dumb, Ronnie...and don’t tell me not to call you that. I knew

  you wouldn’t leave the coin back in Chicago. When I didn’t find it in your room I figured you had it on you. I followed you today, hoping to find a good opportunity to get it from you before we got here. But when I saw you walk into Jace’s place I knew exactly what you were doing.”