Finally finished, they told her to wait in the other room with Kaye.
“I’m exhausted. What time is it?” Kaye looked beat.
“It’s almost six. No wonder you’re tired.”
“Yes, it’s not like staying up all night to party, is it?” Then she lowered her voice. “Did they ask you how we got in?”
Claire nodded.
“What did you say?”
“I told them the truth. Why?”
“Because they seem to be very concerned about how the guys got in here. I don’t know what the boys said, since neither of us was with them,” she shrugged, “so of course, we couldn’t answer that question for the police.”
“Okay, I think we can go. You girls ready?” Steve Carter joined them, still acting as if he was the officer-in-charge of this operation.
Jack and Jeff joined them and Jack slipped his arm around Claire. “I have to stay here for a bit. A couple guys are flying in to join us and want to talk to me. How about you go home and get some rest and I’ll be there later.”
Claire looked at him. “You’re on medical leave, don’t forget.”
He nodded. “I’m just talking to them. Will you be okay?”
She nodded, and then she shivered. “Wait! What did Graves say about Kathleen waiting for us at the Pruitts’? Have they located Kathleen yet? You don’t suppose she’s still waiting at our house, do you?”
Everyone looked at each other.
“He did say something about a plan,” Kaye said.
“Just before you girls attacked them. I remember,” Steve said. “Then all hell broke loose. I was so proud of you.” He beamed at Kaye.
“Yeah,” Jack said slowly. “That doesn’t sound good, does it?”
They all looked at each other for a minute.
“Well, Claire can’t go to the Pruitts’ until somebody checks it out. And we’d better call and make sure the housekeeper doesn’t come in until we know it’s safe,” Steve said in his decisive military manner.
“I’ll take Claire home with me. She can stay there until she knows the Pruitts’ house is safe, and I’ll ask Tia to call and make sure that no one goes into the Pruitts’ house to clean until we say it’s safe. All right?” Jeff offered.
“Yes, that’s good. I’ll talk to the officers here and have someone check the house,” Jack promised.
“Claire, are you all right with this?” Kaye asked, her face creased with worry lines.
She nodded. “I just need some sleep; I can sleep anywhere and I’ll worry about toothbrushes and clean clothes later.”
“Good girl.” Jack escorted them to the door and watched them get into the Land Rover and head back to town.
“So why is Jack staying?” Kaye asked. “And Claire, you never did say what kind of work he does.”
But Claire just stared out the window, too numb to talk, and the others must have felt the same as the rest of their trip to town was silent.
CHAPTER 16
Carlos glanced at Diego with irritation; he had regretted his decision to bring him along before they had been even two hours on the road. What had he been thinking?
He hadn’t, he admitted. He had just been trying to placate his nagging wife, who thought the sun rose and set for the pleasure of her younger brother. And Diego, himself, had been so sincere, pointing out how much help it would be for Carlos to have someone to relieve him on the long tedious drive.
Diego had constantly begged Carlos to take him on one of his trips over the border. Carlos suspected Diego and his friends talked a lot about the pleasures they thought were waiting for them on the streets in the States. Carlos had resisted Diego’s pleas, although at one time he had agreed to get him the proper documents in case he needed to use him one day. But he really only did that because Diego was driving him crazy. He never intended to use him. He thought the young man’s unrealistic dreams were fueled by too much television combined with the optimism of youth. Diego apparently believed everything he saw on the little screen was real, whereas Carlos, who had been in the States a lot with this job, knew being there didn’t give a person access to the kind of life portrayed on the tube. But he could never convince Diego of that.
No, Carlos knew life in the States was the same as life in Mexico for people like him. You had to work for every penny, you had to struggle to protect what was yours, and you had to pray you didn’t get squashed like a bug by others trying to take away what you had.
However, Kathleen had insisted he take someone with him this trip. She said he needed someone to help with the driving since she wanted him to drive straight through. So he let Diego persuade him.
Still hour after hour of the incessant rap music which filled the cab was driving him crazy with its beat. If he told Diego once, he told him a hundred times, to turn down his MP3 player. But somehow it still blared through the earpieces plugged into Diego’s ears. Carlos figured Diego would be deaf before he was thirty. Now, approaching the border, Carlos needed to concentrate on getting them safely through the checkpoints.
Angrily he reached over and grabbed the little devise out of Diego’s hands, throwing it behind the seat with such force, the earplugs popped out of Diego’s ears, flying through the air behind the MP3 player. “I need quiet,” he bellowed at the startled Diego. “You can have it back when you take your next turn driving, after we’re in Texas.”
They had made good time by sticking to the toll road as Kathleen instructed. He had managed to get a few hours of uneasy sleep while Diego drove the stretch from Matehuala to Monterey, but now he decided he would drive until they were safely across the border.
He noticed how twitchy Diego was without the music devise to fiddle with and chastised himself for being so hard on the boy. After all this was his first trip into the States and, at nineteen, no matter how cool he tried to act, he was very excited about it. So he tried to answer Diego’s endless questions, explaining patiently what the process for crossing would be.
“Sometimes they direct us to the side to search us, but if they do, don’t be concerned, we have nothing to worry about. Our load is legitimate. Our papers are in order. We just wait, cooperate with them and then go on our way again.”
Diego nodded, bouncing around on his seat, looking from one side to the other as they approached the checkpoint on the American side of the border.
“What? What is it now?” He struggled to retain his patience.
“I thought you said they never stop you.”
“They usually don’t, but that doesn’t mean they won’t. They have the right to check everything. Usually, they just pass me by, but if they decide to spot check us and wave me over,” he shrugged, “no problem. Understand?”
The man standing in front of the little guard hut motioned their truck forward. Two men with dogs on leashes were standing on either side of the lane they were in.
Carlos braked at the stop sign and rolled down his window. “Good morning.” Carlos smiled. “Or perhaps it is already afternoon.”
The officer nodded curtly. “Where are you headed?”
“I have a delivery in Houston. Then I’ll pick up a new load and head back to San Luis Potosi.” Carlos handed him the packet of invoices.
“Licenses please, and insurance papers.”
Carlos nodded and handed over his license and Diego’s.
The officer examined the papers and then said, “I’d like you to pull over to the far lane for an inspection please,” pointing to the side where a few other vehicles were being searched.
Carlos put the truck in gear and moved across the lanes to park where the officer had instructed him to park. “Calm down, Diego, you’ll make them suspicious. What’s wrong with you?” he warned his brother-in-law, who was so nervous he was practically levitating off the seat.
“What were those men with the dogs doing?” Diego’s voice was so high pitched it was practically squeaking. “I saw them walking around the truck.”
“They’re drug dogs. They�
��re checking for drugs. Don’t worry about it.” Then hearing Diego’s gasp, he barked, “What? What’s wrong?”
Carlos turned and stared at his brother-in-law a moment, then said with dread in his voice, “Tell me you didn’t bring anything with you. Tell me!” Then all patience gone he yelled, “You idiot, what have you done?”
His door of the cab opened and he climbed down to allow an officer with a very excited dog on a leash access. He couldn’t even look at his brother-in-law.
* * *
Phil walked out on the patio as Manny was doing laps in the pool. Manny waved from the far end before executing a tight turn in the water against the far wall of the pool. Phil removed his suit jacket and tossed it over a chair before sitting down in the shade of the large umbrella. It was hot. Here in Houston, March was a month of uncertainty. It could be as cold as the below freezing temperatures of the winter or it could surprise the citizens with gifts of hot summer-like days. Today the temperature was ninety degrees, although thankfully not as humid as the days of summer. Phil envied Manny his swim, wishing he had time to take a swim in the middle of the day.
Finally, Manny finished and, bundled in a robe, came to sit with Phil. Phil poured him a glass of the sweetened ice tea sitting on the table and waited until he had quenched his thirst before saying, “We located the source.”
“Great. That was fast. I guess those little tracking devices really work, huh?”
“Just like they do in the movies. Dr. Nose had one of his guys attach it to the delivery van while they were unloading it, and they just tracked it back to a place in Humble. It’s in an industrial area. I’ve got a couple guys keeping an eye on it.”
Manny jerked his head, frowning. “Well, keep them out of sight. Let’s not alert them to the fact we’ve located their factory.”
“No, no chance of that. I gave them strict instructions. They’re just observing what goes on there. Already they’ve learned a small number of people are apparently working there. The workers arrive in the morning about eight and leave around five. And they’ve identified a couple of guys who always seem to be there. They think they’re living there. One of them is the guy who delivered the stuff to Dr. Nose.”
Manny nodded, and then filled his glass with tea once again.
“So, when do you think we should do this?” Phil asked already concerned with the logistics of the raid.
“The sooner the better, I’d say. Why not tonight? We could go in late, after midnight, take any inventory they have and check out the factory. The neighborhood should be real quiet about then, don’t you think?
“And I want Dr. Nose with us. I want him to see the set up and then he can decide if we need any of their equipment to duplicate their process in our laboratory, or if we want to just take over the whole factory. If we take control, the workers coming in the morning will find themselves working for new management.” He grinned. “It will just be like any other business takeover situation.”
Phil nodded while he thought cynically that their takeover with guns in the middle of the night was a little different from the business takeovers so prevalent in the business world Manny tried to emulate; those were usually done through control of stock shares. Although, he admitted to himself, they might be just as brutal.
Phil opened the file folder he had brought with him and showed Manny the pictures of the building and the diagram of the neighborhood. They discussed which of their men would be most valuable to use in this mission.
“I want us to be fast. We’ll break into the front and back with plenty of fire power, but I don’t want to start a war. If we want to continue operations in that factory, it would be best if no one noticed what happened there.”
Phil nodded, he understood completely. “You’re going with us?”
“Hell yes. This is a big deal. I want to see how they’re processing the stuff. And I want to make sure it all comes down just the way I want.” He smiled. His eagerness for action was apparent on his face.
* * *
Claire came awake like a swimmer coming up from the bottom of the pool, slowly, gasping for breath. She felt groggy; her mouth was dry and her eyes sandy. Jack was sitting on the edge of the bed watching her intently, and suddenly she was all too aware of how grungy she looked, and how bad her breath must be. She sat up, waving him back.
“What time is it? I need to get cleaned up, I must look awful.”
“Actually, I was thinking how cute you looked,” Jack said and the expression on his face showed he meant every word.
“Are you crazy? You’ve gone too long without sleep. I’m a mess. Don’t get too close, I need a shower and a toothbrush.”
He grinned. “I brought you this.” He handed her a tall, frosty glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.
She took a long grateful swallow, appreciating the tangy, sweet taste which immediately perked her up. “So? What time is it?” With the heavy drapes closed over the windows, she had no idea whether or not it was even light out.
“It’s close to seven. You’ve been sleeping a while. Jeff’s housekeeper has made us some dinner if you think you can join us.”
“I’m starved. Give me a few minutes and I’ll be ready.” Finished with the orange juice, she now felt ready to move.
“I brought a few things from the house for you. I hope I made good choices, but I thought you’d want a change of clothing.”
“That’s great. Thanks.” Then she realized what he meant. “You were at the house? Did you find anything? Have they located Kathleen?”
“I was at the house, and while we found how she got in, we didn’t find her or any nasty surprises.” He looked uncomfortable, and then he took a deep breath. “I had to pick up my gear. Claire, I have to leave.”
“But..., but you’re on medical leave. What do you mean you have to leave?” She knew her voice was shrill, but she couldn’t seem to control her shock.
“I have to go. You know I have to do this. They definitely identified the photo I sent of Graves as Guiness, and I’m right here on the scene. I have to go after him.”
“Jack, I know how you feel, but you’re not well enough. You just finished your antibiotics. Dr. MacIntyre is going to go ballistic.”
“Dr. MacIntyre can go to hell. I’m not worried about him. I’m worried about you. I don’t want to desert you, Claire, but do you understand I have to go? We, you and I, have been threatened by Guiness more than once. He is a menace to the world, but more than that, he is a danger to us personally. I don’t know why, but we seem to keep running into him. It’s our fate. I don’t think we will ever be safe until he is captured or dead.” Jack’s expression was grim. His words caused a shiver to march down Claire’s spine.
Jack wrapped his arms around her pulling her close. “You know what I’m saying is true, don’t you?” he whispered in her ear.
She nodded, tears sprang to her eyes; she didn’t want him to go, but she knew he would.
“I promise you, Claire, when this is finished, I will be finished. I will come back and take that position as liaison with the FBI in San Francisco and be content in Bayside. I’m hoping you’ll want to make the arrangement permanent. I’m hoping someday soon we will marry. Do you think that might happen?”
She pulled back looking at him intently. “Are you asking me to marry you, Jack?”
“Hell, yes. You told me in Venice you didn’t fool around. I just assumed you’d know when I showed up on your doorstep that I was very serious.” He shook his head in frustration. “I’m afraid I’m rather clumsy at this. Let me try again.”
He took her hands in his, looked into her eyes and said in a very serious voice, “I love you, Claire Gulliver. Maybe since that first time I crashed into you on the stairway in London. I think we’re meant to be together. I want us to be together until we’re old and decrepit, but still very much in love. Will you marry me?”
Then he flashed a mischievous grin. “There, is that better?”
She felt all te
ary-eyed. “Better than better; that was perfect.” Finally she smiled. “But remember if you don’t come back, we’ll never be married. Don’t do that to me.” She looked at him seriously and then her face broke into a grin.
“Oh, my mother will be so excited. She and Ruth will start planning this wedding as soon as they hear. In fact, maybe they’ve already started planning it,” she said, remembering their not so subtle questions about Jack since they met him in Venice.
“So, can we be engaged without a ring?” Jack asked. “I’m afraid I don’t know the protocol.”
“I think we’re definitely engaged. We can decide about a ring later. Don’t think you can wiggle out of this commitment. Because you’re right, I don’t fool around.” She threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. “I love you too, and you’re the one and only man I’ve ever wanted to marry, so you better not let me down.”
“Okay, now get up and get ready for dinner. We can make plans while we eat.” Jack stood up to give her room and then left her to her ablutions.
* * *
Claire let the hot water pummel her while she vacillated between anxiety about Jack’s crazy plan to chase down Guiness and her excitement about their decision to marry. Of course she knew he loved her. She had suspected it before and when she saw him, looking so bedraggled and ill in Gulliver’s that Sunday, she knew why he had come to her. He didn’t have to say the words. Still she would have never taken him home if she hadn’t felt the same way about him. Even so, she acknowledged, it was exciting to talk about marriage, and very, very scary.
It was true that she had never wanted to marry before. She was satisfied with her life. It was busy and challenging, and while sometimes she regretted not having a traditional life with husband and kids, she didn’t worry about it. Somehow, none of the men she had dated had interested her enough to even imagine married life with them.
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