Secret Lover

by Shawna Delacorte

  Benny gestured toward the briefcase Steve carried. He glanced toward Milo Buchanan as if seeking permission, then returned his attention to Steve. He tentatively reached out for the case.

  Steve’s voice showed a calm control. He offered a confident smile. “Not so fast, Benny. This is yours, but it’s in exchange for the information we discussed.”

  “Uh...yeah, sure...” Benny glanced at Milo Buchanan, then nervously toward Gordon before he turned back to Steve. “Yeah...the guy...Durant, that’s the name.” Benny’s gaze became riveted to Steve, the fear in his eyes pleading to let it drop at that without mentioning anything else.

  Steve wanted Benny out of the way as much as Benny obviously wanted to get away. He forced as much pseudoanger into his voice as he could. “That’s it, Benny? All you’ve got for me is the name of a dead guy?”

  “That’s all I know...honest.” A very nervous Benny grabbed the briefcase from Steve, then took a couple of steps backward.

  Steve moved toward Benny as he reached out to take the case back when Gordon placed his hand in the middle of Steve’s chest to stop him. Benny took another step farther away and Steve maintained his angry expression.

  Milo Buchanan stared at Jim, then a smirk of satisfaction tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Well, James...this has been a long time coming, but we finally meet again. I must admit that you’re doing a fair job of hiding your surprise at seeing me, especially considering that you were expecting to get some valuable information from Benny here.”

  Jim spit out his hostile response. “So...you set me up.”

  Benny nervously cleared his throat as he glanced at Jim, then back to Milo Buchanan. “Uh...so—I done what I was supposed to. Okay if I go now, Mr. Buchanan? I gotta catch my plane back to Chicago.” He began edging away from the group. “I can get my own way to the airport.”

  “Hold on there, Benny.” Milo eyed him suspiciously. “Don’t you want to count your money before you leave?”

  “Uh...! gotta be goin’.” Benny took another step away.

  “Not so fast.” Gordon’s big hand came down on Benny’s shoulder. “Mr. Buchanan asked you a question.”

  Jim felt his eyes widen as the shock jolted through his body, mixed with a hint of excitement. He riveted his hard stare on Gordon. That voice...he knew he would never forget it even though it had been five years. It was the same raspy voice he heard that night when someone had made the second attempt on his life.

  Benny stammered out an answer, pulling Jim’s attention away from his own thoughts. “No, I...uh...I don’t need to count it. I’m ...yeah, I’m sure it’s okay. I gotta go...don’t wanna miss my plane.”

  “Certainly, Benny.” Milo Buchanan made a slight gesture toward Gordon, who immediately took his hand off Benny’s shoulder. “We’ll be in touch in a couple of days.”

  “Yeah...sure.” A grateful smile and a sigh of relief were all Benny could muster. He hurried down the street and around the corner. As soon as he was out of sight from the rest of the group, he stopped and opened the briefcase. A shadowy figure stepped out from an opened door, put his hand over Benny’s mouth and dragged him inside the building. The door closed without making a sound.

  Jim glanced down the street toward the corner where Benny had disappeared. Something strange was going on and he could not quite put his finger on it. Everyone seemed to be waiting for something...but for what? Benny had taken his money and skipped out, just as Steve said he would. It was obvious that nobody was going to name another government employee on Buchanan’s payroll. So, what were they doing there?

  Jim tried to sort it out in his mind. Steve had used him as bait to lure Buchanan out of the safe environment of Chicago and into California. Had Buchanan used Benny in the same manner? Dangling him in front of Steve like a carrot with the promise of finding out the agent’s name in order to see if it would lead to Jim Hollander?

  A little shiver of dread tickled across the back of Jim’s neck. He fought the strong urge to turn around and look to the second floor of the building across the street to verify that Steve’s associate was in place and had the situation covered. He felt so utterly defenseless and totally vulnerable. It was true that he and Steve did have these two men in full view and could attempt to thwart any surreptitious moves on their part.

  He did not know about Steve, but he was unarmed, so being in a position to stop any moves did not lessen the apprehension that continued to poke at his consciousness. If Steve had a man hidden away, so could Buchanan. Why in the world had he allowed Steve to talk him into this? Or, more accurately, why had he quietly gone along with some unknown plan devised by Steve Westerfall?

  Milo Buchanan put a stop to any further speculation on Jim’s part. “If you recall, James, I offered you a great deal of money to go away. You spurned my offer and it cost you dearly.” He stared at Jim as if turning something over in his mind. “Perhaps the years have taught you a lesson. I’m willing to make a one-time payment to you if you go straight to the airport and take a flight out of the country. What do you say to that?”

  Jim outwardly ignored the omnipresent threat of Gordon even though the intimidation remained very real. He covered his every word in disgust, showing no external fear or apprehension about what might happen. “Do you think for one minute I’m going to believe that you’d just let me walk out of here and get on a plane with your money in my pocket? I didn’t want your money then and I don’t want it now. What I do want is the same thing I wanted five years ago. I want to see you in jail.”

  He shot a harsh glare at Gordon. “And that goes for your gorilla here, too.” He came within a breath of blurting out that he had recognized Gordon’s voice as that belonging to the person who had tried to kill him, but thought better of it at the last second.

  Buchanan maintained a calm outer facade. “That’s really not a very productive attitude, James. You know you can’t win.”

  For the first time Milo regarded Steve, who had been standing quietly. “Gordon, it occurs to me that this reporter—” he spit out the word as if it were poison “—just might be recording what we’re saying. See if they are wired or have any hidden recording devices.”

  As Gordon stepped forward and motioned for Steve and Jim to take off their jackets, Andi gazed up and down the street, searching out a better vantage point. She could not hear much of what they were saying, only catching the occasional word. She wanted to cross the street so that she would be on the same side as they were, but there was no way to do it without being out in the open where everyone could see her.

  She took advantage of the fact that everyone seemed to have their attention concentrated on what the large man was doing. She stayed close to the building and ducked back into each recessed doorway as she slowly made her way to the other side of the alley where Steve had parked his car. It would give her a different view from what Jim and Steve had. She would be able to see any activity going on down the walkway behind them in an area hidden from their line of sight.

  She spotted the odd gesture Steve made with his left hand when the large man stepped forward and motioned for them to take off their jackets, but did not understand exactly what it was. A signal to someone? She glanced quickly up and down the street. A signal to whom? The large man seemed to be checking Steve and Jim for something. To see if they were armed? No, more likely to see if they were wired.

  She continued to watch, uncertain about what to do or what action to take—if any.

  Gordon quickly finished checking both men. “They’re clean, Mr. Buchanan.” He stepped back so that he stood to one side and slightly behind Milo, as if he were a giant robot waiting for the next command.

  A hard look crossed Buchanan’s face, one tinged with just a hint of genuine regret. “I’m sorry you’ve decided on this stubborn course of action, James. I truly am sorry.” He moved slightly to one side and took a step back, as if distancing himself from Jim and Steve. A signal of some sort? Jim was not sure.

  Anoth
er shiver of fear rippled across Jim’s skin as he nervously eyed Gordon, alert to any move or gesture. The anxiety churned in the pit of his stomach. He could feel it in the air. He could almost taste it. Whatever was going to happen would erupt any moment.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Even from across the street Andi could feel the tension in the air. She watched the small man shift position, then the large man follow suit and take a step away from Jim and Steve. The adrenaline rush jumped her heartbeat into high gear as it pounded in her chest. She did not know what to do. She desperately wanted to run across the street and be with Jim, but she knew it was not a wise thing to do. She could not take a chance on barging into the middle of whatever scenario Steve was playing out.

  Her gaze darted up and down the street, searching for anything that seemed out of place. She quickly returned her attention to the group of men across the street. Then she saw a movement in the shadows back in the walkway behind Jim and Steve. At least she thought she saw something. She blinked, squinted and attempted to focus clearly as she stared into the darkened walkway. She saw it again. Then she froze as fear lodged in her throat. It was a man with a gun at an angle where Jim and Steve could not see him.

  A curtain descended over. her consciousness. All logic and practicality disappeared from her reality. Someone with a gun had taken aim at Jim and she had to put a stop to it. She did not have any clear-cut plan or even a thought about exactly what to do. Her feet started moving, at first slowly as she stepped out of the protection of the doorway. She took a couple of more steps, then broke into a run headed straight toward Jim and Steve.

  She opened her mouth, but it went dry and nothing came out. Then she heard her own voice. It sounded shrill, as if it belonged to someone else, coming from some other place. “Jim...Jim!”

  She ran faster, each step pounding hard against the pavement. She quickly closed the distance between them until she was only ten feet away from him. “Look out behind you!”

  She reached him just as he stepped aside and turned toward her. At that same moment the shot rang out. Andi felt the searing pain rip into her, felt herself falling, then being caught in someone’s arms. She looked up into Jim’s face and saw his stunned expression and the terror that clouded his eyes.

  “Andi. Andi!” All the color had drained from her face, leaving it ashen. The horror flooded through him when he saw the blood spread across her jacket. He could not keep his fear out of his voice. “Say something, Andi. Talk to me. Are you all right?” He closed his eyes. His whispered words came out almost as a thought that had managed to escape into the open. “Don’t die on me, Andi. Don’t you dare die on me.”

  Exactly what had happened? He’d heard her shout, turned toward her, and the next thing he knew he had her body cradled in his arms as her blood stained her clothes. His voice quavered as he tried to shove down his panic and project an air of calm, as much if not more for her benefit as his own. “Talk to me, Andi. Are you okay? Where were you hit?”

  Her words came out in a thin gasp. “My shoulder. I think...I guess I’m okay.” She tried to force a bit of a smile. “No vital organs in the shoulder...are there?”

  He did not realize he had been holding his breath until he finally expelled it. She would be all right. An incredible wave of relief swept over Jim, shoving everything else from his mind, including the fact that whoever had fired the shot was still hiding somewhere—and that he had just turned his back on Gordon and Milo Buchanan. Somewhere in an obscure corner of his mind, he heard Steve shout something, but all his attention was focused on Andi.

  “This will probably hurt a little bit. I’m going to move you over to this doorway so you can sit up and won’t be in the middle of everything. Here we go.” Jim picked her up and gently placed her with her back against the door. He took off his jacket and started to tuck it around her when a chilling reality in the form of Buchanan’s voice reached his ears and brought him to a halt.

  “Get them, Gordon.”

  Jim quickly moved in front of Andi, shielding her with his body as Gordon reached inside his jacket and withdrew a handgun. A shot rang out, then another. Gordon dropped the gun. A cry of pain escaped his throat as he stumbled backward. Jim’s head snapped around, his gaze frantically darting everywhere as he tried to figure out where the shots had come from and who had fired them. Then the world exploded around him.

  Tires screeched on the pavement as two police cars skidded to a stop, their headlights illuminating the scene. He heard Steve yelling at someone to call the paramedics. A jerky movement off to the side grabbed his attention.

  Buchanan knelt down and grabbed the weapon from where Gordon had dropped it on the pavement. Jim lunged toward him, knocking the gun from Milo’s hand just as it discharged. He swung a clenched fist and connected squarely with Buchanan’s jaw. Milo Buchanan sprawled backward across the sidewalk and stayed there.

  Jim took a deep breath and then a second one as he tried to shove down the adrenaline surge and quiet the pounding in his chest. He became aware of the sharp twinges of pain in his left arm. He reached for it and felt the dampness. He withdrew his hand and stared in disbelief at the fresh smear of blood, only then realizing that Buchanan’s wild shot had grazed his arm.

  He spied the gun on the ground where it had fallen from Milo Buchanan’s hand. He glanced off to one side where two policemen struggled with Gordon, who appeared to be putting up a good fight in spite of his wound. A third policeman helped a frail-looking Milo Buchanan to his feet. There did not seem to be anyone paying any attention to him. He reached down and grabbed the handgun.

  As Jim turned back toward Andi, something in the shadows down the walkway caught his eye—a movement in an area that the angle of the car headlights could not illuminate. Then Andi’s words of warning came rushing back at him, the words she had shouted just before the sound of the gun filled the air and she had fallen into his arms. Someone was still hidden from view...someone with a gun.

  He glanced back at Andi. Some of the color had come back into her face and she seemed to be breathing okay. She was out of sight from whoever continued to lurk in the shadows. He stepped away from the glare of the car lights and took a steadying breath. He extended a confident smile toward Andi.

  She was injured but would be okay. The police were on the scene and the paramedics had been called. Milo Buchanan and Gordon were in police custody. That left only the other man on Milo’s payroll—me person Benny had alluded to at their last meeting. Could that be the person hiding down the darkened walkway?

  Jim stared at the gun in his hand. He had never shot at anyone in his life. He did not even like guns, but he did know how to use one.

  He took one last look at the activity taking place on the street. Steve and another man flanked Benny. Steve had the briefcase back in his possession and another man stood with them—an older man whose face he could not see. It looked as if the confusion of a few minutes ago had been brought under control. That left only one last detail, the person who had shot Andi while trying to shoot him—the person hiding in the shadows down the walkway.

  This was personal. Jim glanced at the policemen, all of whom seemed to be busy. Someone had given information to Milo Buchanan five years ago with the intention that Jim would be killed. That same person was still in the picture and presumably had just wounded Andi while making yet another attempt on his life. Yes, indeed—this whole thing was very personal.

  He knelt down next to Andi and gently took her in his arms. He saw the pain on her face when she winced in reaction to his moving her. He forced a calm to his voice so as not to unnecessarily alarm her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Will you be okay here for a couple of minutes? I have something to take care of, then I’ll be right back.”

  She attempted a smile, but did not quite make it. “It’s all right. It doesn’t hurt too bad.” A frown wrinkled her brow and a hint of alarm entered her voice. “Your arm—”

  He glanced at the rip in his sh
irt and the bloodstained fabric. “It’s nothing, just a scratch. A bandage and I’ll be good as new.” He offered her a confident smile, brushed a loving kiss against her lips, then rose to his feet.

  He checked the gun to make sure there were bullets in the clip and one in the chamber, then confirmed that the safety was off. A strange sense of calm settled over him, tempered with a warmth that came from a place of love. Andi had risked her life to save him. Whatever her involvement, whatever the past, none of it mattered. The only thing that counted was the here and now. And after five long years of not knowing what tomorrow would bring...at long last he could think about a future, and he knew that future included Andi.

  But first he needed to take care of just one more thing. He turned toward the entrance to the walkway, flattened himself against the wall, then cautiously peered around the corner. He started to slip around the corner into the dark but paused as a thought struck him.

  He turned back to Andi. “You know this area. The walkways between these buildings...is there another way to get to this one? Maybe around the outside of this building to the back?”

  She shifted her weight slightly, a little gasp escaping her throat when she twisted her shoulder. “I’m not sure, why?” Her gaze became riveted to the gun in his hand. “Jim...” She looked up at him, her face filled with her very real concern. “What do you plan to do?”

  Then the light of recognition came into her eyes and an urgency surrounded her words. “No—you can’t go down there.” She glanced past him toward the police cars. “Let the police do it. It’s their job.”

  Somewhere in the background he heard the sound of a siren. He returned his attention to the pleading in her eyes. “Hang in there. I hear the paramedics.” He smoothed her hair away from her face, then placed a tender kiss on her forehead. He looked into her eyes, the love he felt for her swelling in his heart. “Andi...”