Wayward Dreams

by Gail McFarland

  It wasn’t hard to see the big picture once he’d laid the pieces end to end. Yes, the dead roses were a threat. Yes, KPayne needed money. Yes, he’d gotten tangled up with a very bad man in his effort to get it. And yes, the very bad Mann had been one step ahead of him every step of the way.

  Harry wondered if Payne knew about the airline tickets Mann purchased, or the property he’d just bought in Namibia? Made sense: commit a major crime and then go somewhere where you could live like a king and not have to worry about extradition.

  Dropping his chin into his palm, Harry stared at the computer screen. How had Payne missed even the first clue? Why didn’t he notice the last name of his right-hand man was the same as that of the man who was leading him by the nose? Based on the files he’d seen, Harry had a good idea of the money Payne now owed Buoy Mann: in the millions by now. How did he think he was going to get that out of Bianca? Even if he destroyed Vive la Reine, the insurance wouldn’t cover his debt. He’d pretty much have to…

  Harry jumped to his feet, remembering that Bianca was going to see the Winston sisters today. Maybe she hasn’t left yet…He punched Kin Kura’s number into the phone. A full thirty seconds later, he hung up on his brother. She’d already left.

  He tried Vive la Reine, got voicemail. Disconnecting, he entered his NeoTech code.

  “Gabe Ingalls.”

  The voice was soft, but Harry knew the man behind it was hard—and loyal. “This is Harry. I need you to do something for me. Take whoever you need, but this is priority.”

  His instructions clear, Gabe took the addresses for Vive la Reine and Museum Tower. “I’m moving now,” he said, hanging up.

  Knowing that one of his best men was on the job did little to quiet Harry’s concerns. Mostly, it left him wanting to hear Bianca’s voice. If she had gone home or to Vive la Reine, Gabe would find her, she would call and he would apologize, but in the meantime…Julia. Maybe she’s with Julia.

  Julia answered her phone with typical curiosity. “Why are you calling me? Where is Bianca? Is she all right?”

  “I don’t know where she is,” Harry said, struggling to keep his voice even.

  “Where are you? Why isn’t she with you?”

  Knowing that Julia was remembering withered roses and a nasty card, Harry tried to keep his tone calm and unhurried. “Let me do some checking and I’ll call you back.”

  “Harry…” Her voice trembled.

  “Don’t worry, Julia. I’m going to find her.” Harry’s heart was in his throat, when he punched Bianca’s number into his phone again. Voicemail. Damn it.

  Not willing to give up, he punched in his NeoTech code again. “Gabe, this is Harry…”

  “Nothing, Harry,” the man said. “We used the key to get in. She’s not here, and there’s no sign she’s been here today. We’re coming out of the shop now. Marks checked the condo, and she’s not there, either.”

  Harry was already moving through the door when he got her voicemail again.

  Anata-nashi-ja ikirare-nai. Bianca was still repeating the phrase when she pulled into the Winston sisters’ parking lot. By the time her feet hit the asphalt, the words had picked up a catchy little rhythm and she set her steps to it as she approached the warehouse.

  Tucking her purse under her arm, she pressed the intercom button set into the low wall surrounding the building and considered the prickly feeling creeping along the back of her neck. Like I’m being watched…Her hand brushed at the hair trailing her collar. She looked over her shoulder and saw nothing in the empty lot, other than one of the sister’s cars. A few people milled around the tire shop across the street, but no one paid her any attention.

  Turning back to the door, she pressed the button again.

  “Yes? Who is it?”

  “It’s me, Gaia.” She looked around again, unable to shake the feeling of being watched.

  Seconds later Gaia swung the wrought-iron gate open and ushered Bianca into the building. “We decided to do this after someone tried to pull our back door off a few weeks ago.”

  “Sounds like what happened at Vive la Reine.”

  “That’s exactly what we thought,” Gaia said, frowning. “Amaya said that when people do the kind of damage they did at your place, they’ve already decided what they will do to anybody who gets in their way.”

  Both women shivered as she closed the door. “Anyway, here’s the panic button; hit this and get cops aplenty—my sister’s idea. We work late a lot, and she figured having the buttons nearby would at least give us half a chance to get out.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right. You have to think ahead—like I wish we’d done with that shipment for Neiman’s. You know I’m still a bit perturbed about having to eat the cost of expedited shipping, right?”

  “Yes, but at least it’s gone, and that’s one more thing you don’t have to worry about. Besides, you’re going to make it back.”

  “Maybe…” Bianca backed away from the button, trying not to remember that it was exactly the kind of thing she’d refused to let Harry put in at Vive la Reine.

  Gaia looped an arm through Bianca’s. “You know what I want to know?” She wiggled her eyebrows. “How’s Harry? Where is Harry?”

  “Harry is at work, doing what Harry does. Do you think we could get to work on what we’re supposed to be doing?”

  “Spoilsport.” Gaia unhooked her arm and led the way into the workroom. She hit the wall switch and bathed the room in light. “Considering that you get him on the real, you could spare a sister a little vicarious entertainment.”

  “I’m not sharing my sex life with you.”

  Gaia rolled her eyes. “Just plain old mean, that’s what you are. What about his brother?”

  “You would probably damage him.”

  A phone sounded and both women patted their pockets. Bianca found hers first and flipped it open. “Crap. No signal. It’s not mine.”

  Gaia located her phone on the edge of a cutting table and caught it in time to answer. “Hello…uh-huh…Let me ask,” she muttered, looking at Bianca.

  “This is Amaya. Something is wrong with her car. She’s stuck on Fulton Industrial, and needs a ride. Will you be okay if I go get her? I’ll only be gone about thirty minutes.” Gaia’s smile went wildly wicked. “You can dream about Harry until I get back.”

  “You’re crazy. Just go.” Bianca fanned a hand.

  “Okay. Amaya? I’m on the way.” Turning back to Bianca, Gaia said, “Come, let me show you the alarms.”

  “I’ve already seen the panic button.”

  “But now I’m going to arm the system, and I want you to see how safe you are.”

  “Okay, fine, show me how safe I am.” Bianca threw up her hands and followed.

  * * *

  Bolting through his office, Harry barely noticed Deb. Her face registered interest, but he didn’t see that, either. Bianca was in trouble, and he felt it in his gut. Still in his shirtsleeves, he found himself running down the hall and only stopped to slam his hand against the elevator call button. Pacing, he forced himself to wait, not to run down the stairs from his twenty-first-floor offices to the main floor. When the elevator arrived, he was on and willing the elevator to descend before the doors were fully opened.

  Too slow for his taste, the elevator made several stops and Harry stood at the back of the car, hands on hips. She left Kin Kura about twenty minutes before I called. He looked at his watch and calculated. From here, it’ll take about fifteen minutes to get to the warehouse…He pulled out his phone and dialed her number again, and again, the call went to voicemail.

  Where the hell are you, Bianca?

  A lot of things could happen to a woman in thirty-five minutes, and he tried not to think about any of them. He shoved the phone back into his pocket and clamped his lips together to keep from yelling at the pair of women who took their time boarding the elevator and then rode down two floors. The man who got on when they got off couldn’t remember which floor he was going to
and pressed three different buttons, then smiled an apology.

  Harry pulled air into his constricted lungs and raised a hand to the man. Just please don’t talk to me. And get off this damned elevator!

  When the elevator finally reached the main floor, Harry was the only remaining passenger, and he came out of the car and headed for his Audi at a dead run.

  * * *

  Two of the kind of men Kelvin knew he never wanted to meet in a dark alley climbed into the back of the Expedition. Alin said their names were Gene and Dancer. Probably not their real names, but that was okay; Payne didn’t expect to know them long enough to care. The hunger and anger in their ancient brown eyes gave them a weighty advantage when they looked at him and KPayne felt a need to push them back.

  “What?” He made his voice hard; best to let them know up front who they were messing with. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “Nothin’,” Dancer said, laying his ashy hand, palm up, on the back of Payne’s seat. “Just wonderin’ if you got our money.”

  “Yeah, I got it.” Payne pulled a roll of bills from his pocket. For a second, deep in the recesses of his mind, something told him this business was stupid, but he licked his thumb and peeled off the bills, counting out the money for both men. “This is half, like Alin told you when he called. You get the rest when I smell smoke and see it in my rearview mirror.”

  “Right, right.” Dancer and Gene nodded. KPayne felt a little of their threat fade as they made the money disappear.

  “So what you want us to do?”

  Alin glanced at KPayne. Certain that he was on solid ground, he turned in his seat. “There’s a woman in there. Get her out, then burn it to the ground.”

  “What you want her out for?” Dancer raised a thick eyebrow. “Witnesses—not a good thing. Believe that.”

  “She’s not going to witness anything. We’re not going to get caught.” The promise sounded empty to Kelvin’s ears, and he hoped he was right.

  Gene wouldn’t let it go. “Why you need her, if all you want is an empty lot left behind?”

  “Maybe it’s about a lesson.”

  KPayne cut his eyes at Alin. Deciding that no one else had heard him, Payne decided to ignore Alin’s low words: Lesson taught or learned?

  Gene shook his head. “Sounds like you got control issues. I was you, I would do what had to be done and let the woman do what she could.”

  “You’re not me,” KPayne snapped.

  “But, if I was…” Gene stopped when his partner’s elbow caught him in the ribs. KPayne was paying them to do a job, not practice armchair psychiatry.

  * * *

  Harry steered the Audi through the kind of traffic that only existed in Atlanta. To his right a woman in a black Porsche, determined to show off its speed and performance, tried to pass him, but he didn’t have time to indulge her. His foot pressed hard and the Audi growled as he passed her, and he never looked back. There was no music in the car this time and he didn’t miss it; all of his thoughts were on Bianca. He struggled to keep them positive, but his mind latched onto the logical.

  Payne knows her well, so he’s watching that warehouse. Harry felt his chest clutch and forced himself to breathe through it. She might not have liked me looking into her past, but if I hadn’t looked, I wouldn’t have found the pattern.

  He moved past a tractor-trailer rig and a fast-cruising Volkswagen filled with teenaged girls. The sound of a blaring horn drew his eyes to the rearview mirror. The girls apparently liked his lane-change maneuver and copied it, to the dismay of the drivers behind them. Resolving to be more careful, Harry dropped his speed and changed lanes again.

  Seeing the signs for his turn, he slowed enough to pull off the highway. Taking the turn and a chance, he found his phone, pressed redial, and listened for her voice. The call went to voicemail and his heart ached, but his gut told him to keep going.

  “Five minutes; I can be there in five minutes.”

  * * *

  “You sure she’s alone?”

  Dancer looked like he was stuck on stupid, and KPayne decided it wasn’t just a look. “Yeah, we saw that other chick leave. The Jag over there, that’s hers. She’s alone.”

  “But if she gets in the way…”

  “Do what you came to do, and don’t worry about it,” Alin snapped, heading for the back of the warehouse.

  Alin’s tone was so much like Buoy Mann’s that KPayne stumbled over his own feet, his shoulder leading him into Dancer’s. Trying to act hard even though he was walking like a drunk, he righted himself. Dancer looked as though he planned to keep an eye on him.

  “Dude, look,” Gene snickered, “how ’bout that wall covering the front of the building ain’t even finished back here.” He kicked at the overgrown grass and bricks strewn in front of them when they stepped into what would someday be a back courtyard.

  “Segal,” Dancer said, pointing to the security system provider’s staked sign. “I know the Segal alarms, worked for them back in the day.”

  Walking single file behind Gene, they found eight windows carved into the back of the building. Dancer pushed to the front of the line. “No problem. People get a locked door between them and the world, they get forgetful. Never saw it fail.” Dancer drew a pair of work gloves from his back pocket and pulled them over his hands before he stepped through the wild grass and debris to test the windows. He had to try four before he found one unlocked. He pushed on the window and the other men all froze when it creaked under the pressure, but he grinned when it gave and he saw a tiny glass bubble set into the window frame. “I know this one. I got this.”

  Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a wad of something gray and gummy that he stuck on the back of his hand, and a tool that reminded KPayne of a Swiss Army knife. Opening the tool, he bared a thin blade. Planting his feet, he forced the blade into the surrounding molding. Peeling back a painted sliver, he tamped a bit of the gummy stuff over the exposed metal and the glass bubble. “We’re good,” he nodded.

  “That’s it?” Payne was incredulous.

  “You heard the man.” Alin slid latex gloves over his hands and pushed the window open. Nothing happened.

  Hearing the sound of tires on gravel, the four men froze.

  “We don’t have time for this,” Alin fumed. His take-charge tone made KPayne to take a hard look at him. Alin ignored him and pointed at Gene. “Take care of it.”

  Gene nodded and dropped low. Keeping close to the side of the building, he slunk away. KPayne watched him go, and wondered if it wasn’t too late to turn back. Alin looked at him and seemed to read his thoughts, but Payne couldn’t stop the husky words from stumbling between them. “I don’t know if this is right, man.”

  * * *

  Got to be right, because I don’t have enough time to be wrong, Harry thought. God alone knew he didn’t want to trust his memory, but this felt right, and he made another turn on East Point Street. Four blocks later, he saw the small red brick warehouse. It had a new wall fronting it, but it was the right one, and Bianca’s car was parked near the iron gate.

  Harry stopped next to the Jag and waited. He pulled out his phone and, watching what he could see of the building, tried Bianca’s phone again. The call went to voicemail. He shoved the car door open and swung his body out in one fluid motion. Dropping the phone into his pocket, he scanned the lot and shut the door. Spotting the intercom button set into the low wall surrounding the building, he walked over and pressed it.

  She’s in there. I know she’s in there. He pressed again. When no one answered, Harry backed away from the gate and stood on his toes to see over it, but detected no motion. I know she’s in there. Planting both hands on the gritty top of the wall, he levered himself up and over. His feet hit the ground hard, but he was inside.

  Listening, he heard nothing except his own heart—not even when he pushed against the front door of the warehouse. Damn it, Bianca. He pounded on the door. Nothing. He pounded again and called her nam
e. Turning back to the door, he pounded again—still nothing.

  Breathing hard, he looked up at the building and frowned at the double-paned security windows. Breaking them to force his way into the warehouse would be next to impossible. There has to be a fire exit. He paced a few steps and tried to see the layout of the warehouse in his mind. The front was a kind of reception area and showroom. Beyond that, there were drafting and fitting rooms. I never saw the offices or storage rooms.

  He turned to the windows and stepped into the hedges framing them. Bracing his hands against the glass, he peered into the shadowy interior. No movement in the reception area. Harry stepped back and looked up. Skylights. He remembered talking to Gaia about the plants.

  Light comes from the skylights. There has to be a way to service them on the roof. He looked at the front of the building and knew that he was right. Access, maybe a fire door, was probably at the back of the building. Maybe they’re in the back.

  He turned and jogged along the wall, following it across the front of the building and around the corner. Before he reached the back of the building, he saw that the wall was still under construction. When this is all over, I’m going to build them a system that works…

  His feet kicked at debris-strewn overgrowth and turned the corner. And if Alin had turned his head, he might have noticed Harry when he came around the opposite corner of the building in time to see Dancer crawl through the window.

  “Hey!” It was the only word in Harry’s head when he rushed forward. If anyone had asked, he couldn’t have said what his next step was going to be, but when the two men dropped into defensive crouches, he was pretty sure he was going to have a fight on his hands.

  Slowing to a walk, still headed toward them, Harry could have sworn he saw a tendril of smoke thread from the open window behind them. Fire? Bianca’s in there. Sensing more than seeing the movement, his eyes snapped back to the men in front of him. In jeans and oversized designer T-shirts, they balanced on the toes of their sneakers and separated slowly. Fake street fighters. Harry had seen enough of the real thing to know that these two were only doing what they thought they’d seen in movies and on TV, but that didn’t make them any less dangerous.