Paige went into the other room and discovered an automatic coffee maker. She put a pot on to brew and returned to the bathroom and shed her wrinkled clothing. She dimmed the light, and felt quite decadent as she sank beneath the bubbles. Every muscle seemed to sigh in relief as the water enclosed her in warmth. After the initial sting of heat, it felt luxurious. No wonder women took baths. She’d not taken one since she was a child, preferring showers to conserve first, hot water, then time. The water kissed her skin like a lover. Her mind immediately associated Bryce with this experience.
She jerked upright and yanked up the handle on the plug. She let all the water run out, and turned on the shower to wash him out of her hair, or whatever the old song was. She finished up, toweled dry, and wrapped herself in the fluffy robe the hotel provided. She wrapped her wet hair in a towel, turban style.
It was four in the morning and she didn’t want to go back to bed. She turned on the TV and watched a show on remodeling: anything to distract her until she could go shopping for something to wear. Next time she arranged a date, she would be more prepared.
Colt and Dane walked into the Indian Casino. Colt immediately spotted Willy sitting with Van DeMere. He grabbed Dane’s arm to stop him from going any farther into the room.
“Dane, the man with Willy was part of the last bust I was on. His sister was the one who gave me the kiss with a bullet.”
“I thought he was in Germany?” Dane said.
“Yeah, well, he’s obviously been getting around. We may need to think things through a little differently.”
“Maybe you should give me the four-one-one on the operation you were part of?”
“Yep, let’s go to the bar where we can watch and not be seen. I don’t think any of his bodyguards spotted me or you.”
They were seated with their sides to the tables where Willy, Van DeMere, and his group were seated.
“Can you tell what they’re saying from where you’re sitting?”
“I can try and read Willy’s lips, but I don’t have a clear view of the other guy,” Dane said.
“All right. Tell me what Willy is saying.”
“He’s talking about some job gone bad. Something about not being able to deliver the package, which could be anything with Willy involved.”
“Well let’s assume it’s something Van DeMere wants. The things he’s into are selling arms and information,” Colt said.
“And Willy is into dog fighting and drugs, according to what we saw the other night.”
“Bryce is down here following the drug trade trail with the gangs from Detroit. They must all be connected in some way. Then there’s Libby, who we know is into drugs.”
“We’ll need to puzzle that one out later. But why don’t you tell me about the job in Germany,” Dane said.
“Van DeMere’s sister was moving information. He’s part of an arms trafficking operation that supplies arms for terrorists. They’ve a legit business they hide behind: selling textiles from remote countries, but he was starting to deal in tech information. I was sent in to infiltrate and find out who the traitor was. I got hooked up with his sister. She’d been sleeping with high-ranking officials and getting information from them without them knowing. She was making me her next victim, but when she found out who I really was, she shot me. I had my knife and threw it, catching her in the chest. She died. I was able to get away and get medical attention. End of story.”
“So this Van DeMere has a real hard-on for taking you out.”
“About sums it up.”
“Does he know you have a sister? Because if he does, he may be the one targeting Paige.”
Colt nodded. “It’s a given. It changes things very little. Just helps us narrow down the list of perps.”
“So we tail Van DeMere or Willy?”
“Neither, they’d make us for sure. Let’s get to Paige. That’s who he’s after.”
Dane pulled out his cell and called Bryce to let him know the game change.
“Bryce, this is Dane. We have a little glitch. Take Paige somewhere safe and hide her. The attack is a payback on Colt.”
Colt could hear what Dane was saying and figured out that Paige had given Bryce the slip.
“You may want to get your act together before she decides you’re not worth having.”
“So lover boy blew it?” Colt asked, after Dane rang off with Bryce.
“It would appear so.”
“Who knew a man could get so dumb over a woman?”
“Look who’s talking,” Dane accused.
Colt chuckled. “Yeah, getting shot at by a lady kind of puts me off the list of people to ask. And we all know what a mess you made with Emma, so Bryce is on his own.”
They left the casino without being seen and drove back to Darke County. They headed straight to the police department to meet up with Sheriff Markham and Deputy Blake.
“I’m going to call Paige and see where she’s staying, then we can go pick her up and figure out where to stash her,” Colt said to Dane.
Bryce came through the doors while Colt was dialing Paige’s cell. He let it ring until it went to voice mail. “Paige, when you get this message, call me. It’s urgent and your life is in danger. I can explain when you call.” He hung up and rubbed his hand over his face. The idea that one of his jobs brought danger home to his sister made him want to punch something.
“Okay, what’s going on?” Bryce demanded
“Colt here saw the brother of the woman who shot him, who he then killed, having a chat with Willy.”
“Is that odd?” Bryce asked.
“Considering that the last time I saw him he was in Germany, and now he’s in a casino the next county over…yeah, that’s not coincidence. His sister died, and if I had to guess, I’d say he wants a life for a life.”
“Then we need to get Paige now,” Bryce said.
“Exactly,” Dane agreed.
“Only she’s not answering her cell, and lover boy lost her at dinner,” Colt added.
“Okay, we don’t know where she is, and it stands to reason that your perp doesn’t either. So while we wait, why don’t you bring me up to speed?” Bryce said.
“The man’s name is Van DeMere, an arms dealer who was getting into espionage using his sister to gather information. I infiltrated their crowd to find out how they were doing it, but she found me out. I got shot and she got knifed. She died and Van DeMere blames me.”
“But what about the connection to Willy? And how is that connected to Libby and George?” Dane asked.
“I’ve been thinking about that. You know how Homeland Security has brought all the law enforcement agencies under one roof so to speak, to utilize each specialty and share information. I think that whoever is running the drugs, guns, and explosives, is trying to do the same. They share information to strengthen their operations,” Bryce said.
“Wow, that’s a lot of evil in one bag,” Colt commented.
“Yeah, what’s that cartoon? League of Doom?” Dane asked.
“Great. Does that make us the Justice League?” Bryce questioned.
“I’m not wearing tights,” Dane interjected.
No one argued with him.
“I’d look good in tights,” Colt countered.
“Back to finding Paige, your sister,” Bryce reminded them.
“Oh, we’re on it. We just needed a little levity to keep the edge off,” Colt explained.
Bryce could understand that. A steady hand is what they needed.
Sheriff Markham walked into the police station. He had George and Libby in custody, with Deputy Blake bringing up the rear.
“Book ‘em, Blake. I’ll get the rest of the paperwork started.”
“Okay, Sheriff.”
“I want my lawyer!” Libby yelled.
George seemed subdued, as if he’d lost all the fight that was in him.
Libby passed by Colt and Dane and turned her head as if she didn’t want to recognize them, but when her glance stra
yed to Bryce, she turned red and started screaming.
“This is all your fault! If not for you, my baby would still be alive. We’d be living in a big fine house, and now she’s dead. You killed her,” Libby spat. Blake dragged her back to the holding cell area.
“Bryce, I’m sorry. Aunt Libby was always unstable,” Colt said.
“Then why the hell did you leave your sister with her?” Bryce asked.
“We didn’t know any better. Figured leaving her with another female was better than any other choices we had.”
“We learned later just how wrong we were,” Dane added.
“Do you realize that she lived in the woods most weekends so she wouldn’t get molested by Libby’s company? Her dogs were what saved her once when she didn’t get away fast enough.” By the shocked looks on both faces, he realized they hadn’t known. Both men had gone white in the face at the revelation.
“Good God!” said Colt.
“I’ll kill the bitch,” Dane threatened, as he moved toward where they’d taken Libby and George.
“No, you won’t. She’s not worth it, and Paige would be upset at having her brother go to prison for real. Your sister found a unique way to protect herself with her dogs,” Bryce countered.
“I knew we owed the dogs, I just never knew how much. Sheba and Deeogee are descendants of the original German shepherd Paige took in back when we lived with the old man,” Dane said.
“I would say that dog, or one of his descendants, stopped a group of men from gang raping Paige when she was sixteen.”
“Libby better stay behind bars. It’ll be safer for her,” Colt said.
“If it weren’t for Paige living with Libby, I never would have met your cousin, Sharon.”
“So you were sweet on Paige way back then?” Dane observed. They must have seen the truth in his expression. Then again, Dane had suffered a crush on the much younger Emma, so it stood to reason he would recognize a man suffering from the same affliction.
“I’ve often wondered why you’d kept going out to Libby’s place after we left. Somehow, I couldn’t see you hooking up with Sharon, but if she made you happy.” He shrugged. “Who was I to say anything? But it was Paige all along. What a hard place to be in, with her being jailbait and all. But I’ll not be casting stones since I fell into the same mess with Emma. Nothing worse than having your emotions tied up in a teenager. Damn. It made me feel dirty until I was finally shipped off. Moreover, with my family background, there wasn’t a chance. Her father was ready to pull out a shotgun if my name even came up in conversation. It was a wonder he let Paige and Emma be friends. I guess there was one fight he knew he wouldn’t win.”
“So how come you ended up with Sharon?” Colt interrupted.
“Sharon knew what my thoughts were concerning Paige, and she knew I was not going to do a damn thing about it. Paige came around to say goodbye before I left. Then she kissed me and about blew my head off. It was a little too heated and I needed all the strength I could muster to stop things from progressing too far. It was a close call. I think Sharon must have seen it and figured out where my thoughts were headed.”
“One night she came by my house. I was drinking because the time was getting close for me to go off to State and I wouldn’t be around to protect Paige. I’m not sure how it all came about, but I ended up sleeping with Sharon and she came back a few weeks later and told me she was pregnant. So I did the right thing and married her. She lost the baby. By then we were up at State. I tried to make things work, but she got deeply involved in drugs, and after paying for her to do rehab, she walked out and I filed for divorce. By then she’d told me the baby wasn’t mine anyway.”
“Wicked, just like her mother,” Colt said.
“I think she was in love with someone else that her mother didn’t approve of, and I made a nice scapegoat.”
“That’s just wrong in every color,” Dane said.
The Sheriff came out and walked over to where they were waiting.
“We caught Libby and George on the property. They were in Paige’s house looking for a drop schedule for a drug run. We got the list and are making a copy to go with Bryce to the DEA.”
“George is ready to roll over on everybody. Seems some out-of-towner dropped a big wad of cash on George to search the property. The dead guy found on Paige’s property, Levi Hershey, was the middle man who was brokering the drug deals when the man decided to take him out. George swears he had nothing to do with the murder. He figures it was the money man who shot him or had him shot.”
“The dead guy had been Libby’s newest plaything. When he came up dead, she tried to get in good with the man who hired George.”
“Who hired George?” Bryce asked.
“A man named Van DeMere,” Sheriff Markham answered.
“Colt, this all seems to lead back to you and your arms dealer,” Dane said.
“Yeah, and he’s got big money and firepower to get the job done,” Colt added.
“Which means, we really need to get hold of Paige. She is in serious danger,” said Dane.
“Oh, so almost getting blown up at my house in Detroit, and then getting blown up at my house here, and getting kidnapped and shot at, and stumbling into a pit bull dog fighting operation, isn’t serious danger?” Bryce asked.
“Well, there is that,” Dane agreed.
“Where is Paige now?” the Sheriff inquired.
“We don’t know, because lover boy here got her back up and she fled their date,” said Colt.
“Call all her friends and Jamie, her employee, and see if she’s been in contact with them. We need to find her before Colt’s bad guy does.”
“Will do, Sheriff,” said Bryce.
They divvied up the calls and started systematically trying to locate her. Finally, Shelby, the vet, let them know she was at a hotel downtown. She gave the number from the caller ID on her phone.
Dane called, but got no answer when the hotel operator tried the number.
“I’m going down to the hotel and find out what the problem is,” Bryce said.
“It’s four in the morning. Why don’t we get some sleep and pick her up tomorrow?” suggested the Sheriff.
“You all go ahead and get some sleep. I’m going down to the hotel and getting a room. That way I can be there first thing in the morning.”
“Okay, we’ll all meet down there around nine,” Sheriff Markham said. Each of the men made their way to their cars.
Bryce got into his SUV and rubbed the grit out of his eyes. He was tired, but so concerned about Paige, he knew he’d have a hard time sleeping if he wasn’t close to her. The drive to the hotel took over twenty minutes. He felt dead on his feet by the time he made it to the reservation desk.
An equally tired hotel receptionist took his information.
“I’m Agent Bryce Prescott with the DEA. There’s a woman staying here by the name of Paige Conner. I’d like to be in a room close to hers for her protection.” The man taking his reservation seemed to come more alert at his explanation.
“Miss Conner is on the tenth floor. I can put you in ten twenty-two, right across the hall.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
Bryce took his key card and headed for the elevator. He was dead tired. Once in his room, he kicked off his shoes, took off his shirt, undid his belt, dropped his pants, and crawled between the sheets. He was out immediately.
Paige woke up and saw she’d had several missed calls on her cell phone from her brothers and Bryce. Well, tough! She wasn’t in the mood to talk to any of them.
She decided to go down to the gift shop and buy herself a tracksuit. She’d rinsed out her underwear the night before, and they were dry, but she didn’t want to wear the dress another minute. Dressed in her outfit from the night before, she went down to the salon and gift shop. She soon found what she was looking for.
“Would it be okay if I wore this out of the shop?” she asked the clerk who rang up her purchases.
&nb
sp; “Sure. Would you like a bag for your other clothes?”
“Yes, please.”
The lady was agreeable as long as Paige handed over her credit card. She bought some flip-flops to go with her new ensemble and felt free to explore.
She walked through the hotel lobby and into the casual dining area where you could make your own breakfast, loading up on all her favorites and grabbing a cup of coffee. The area was full of patrons doing the same as she was, and the seating was limited, so she took her breakfast out to the poolside cabana area. It was going to be another scorcher of a day. Maybe she’d buy a swimsuit and take advantage of the pool.
She’d only been sitting a short while when a man dressed in elegant attire asked if he could join her.
“Sure.”
“I’m Victor Van DeMere. May I ask who you are?”
“Paige Conner,” she said and extended her hand for a shake.
Chapter Eleven
“Nice to meet you, Miss Conner,” he replied in a slightly European accent.
“Nice to meet you as well, Mr. Van DeMere. Didn’t you call about one of my dogs?” Weird that he was here. It made her nervous.
“Why, yes. I recognized you from your picture in the paper for the dog-training award. The reason I’d called you is because I had business in town and it would be a perfect time to come see your dogs. I’ve been staying in this hotel.”
While they were eating, another man came up to speak to her table guest in another language.
“Well, my dear, it seems it is time to go.”
“It was nice meeting you. I’ll see you on Tuesday when you come out to look over my dogs.”
He stood, seeming to tower over her in the small space. “You don’t understand. You will be coming with me.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s not possible.”
The other man pressed what was undoubtedly the butt of a gun into her neck.
“No, you misunderstand. I’m not asking. I’m telling. And don’t cause a fuss or a lot of innocent people will get killed.”
Darke Heat Page 18