Valeri struggled to keep silent about her discovery until they were safely out of the yard.
Nat looked at her as he pulled out into the street. “Okay,” he said quietly, “you want to tell me what that little display was all about back there?”
She grinned happily at him. “I found Alex.”
He looked startled. “Where?”
She told him about the rental agreement. “I didn’t say anything back there because I didn’t know if we could trust that man.”
Nat pulled over in front of a real estate office and parked. “I think the old fool’s harmless enough. He probably doesn’t know who he’s got there. I doubt if anyone has been looking for your father in that rattrap. Did he sign his real name to the agreement?”
“It’s hard to tell. Alex’s signature is impossible to read at the best of times. I didn’t see his name at the top.”
“He might have paid cash for the room, in which case I doubt that he gave his real name.”
“So you think he’s safe there?”
“As safe as anywhere, I guess.”
She shook her head. “We might never have found him if I hadn’t seen that rental agreement. He certainly picked the right place to hide. No one would think of looking for him there.”
“Smart move. Now all we have to do is figure out a way to contact him. We can’t just go back and tell that old guy we want to see the man who rented his room. He’s curious enough about us as it is.”
“You think he’ll call the police?”
“He just might mention us to the local sheriff the next time he passes through. I’d prefer not to take that chance—at least until I know what’s going on with your father.”
“I wonder if Alex saw us through the window.”
“If he did, he’ll have enough intelligence to know that we have to wait for the old man to leave before we can go up there. The old guy doesn’t seem to have anyone else working for him, so he’ll probably lock up the place when he leaves.”
Valeri sighed.
“I hope he doesn’t take long. Do you have any idea how I feel, being this close to Alex and not able to go to him?”
Nat patted her hand. “Take it easy. You’ve waited this long—one more hour or so won’t make that much difference.”
As it turned out, they had to wait two hours. Nat had parked the pickup down a side road behind a Laundromat, and Valeri insisted on washing all their clothes. She had left Nat to keep watch, and had barely returned with the clean laundry when they saw the stooped figure of the garage owner hobbling down the road to the tavern.
“We’ll wait a few minutes,” Nat said as he pulled her back out of sight. “He might have called in at the tavern just to pick up something.”
Hardly able to contain her impatience, Valeri agreed. They were so close now that it would be terrible to be stopped before they had a chance to speak to Alex.
Finally, Nat seemed satisfied that the garage owner had decided to stay awhile in the tavern. “Come on,” he said, propelling Valeri forward with a light hand on her shoulder. “Let’s go meet your father.”
Heart thumping with excitement, she hurried up the street with him toward the garage. Now that the moment was near, she started worrying again about Alex, wondering how badly he was hurt.
If he was still in the room—and she prayed that he was—that meant that he was too sick to make it back to Sacramento on his own. Which meant that he could be too sick to move. In which case, they would have another problem on their hands.
Nat paused when they reached the forecourt of the garage. “We’ll check the door round the back first. If it’s locked, we’ll try a window.”
“What if we can’t get in?”
“We’ll get in. There isn’t a building yet that I haven’t found a way into somewhere. This should be a breeze.”
She followed him around the back of the building, hurrying to keep up with his long stride. He reached the door and rattled the handle, while she stared up at the upstairs window, unable to see anything beyond the grimy glass.
“It’s locked,” Nat muttered in disgust. “I might have known.”
Valeri watched him anxiously as he prowled around the lower window, studying it before trying to pry it open. It, too, appeared to be locked.
“What do we do now?” she asked him, looking anxiously behind her. The old man might decide to come back any minute.
“We break in,” Nat said cheerfully. “The lock is a fairly new one, but it’s not a dead bolt.” He fished in his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. Extracting a credit card, he slid it between the doorjamb and the lock. After a second or two of fiddling with it, he pulled it out and tried the handle. The door swung open.
Valeri shook her head in disbelief. “Is there no end to your talents?”
Nat grinned. “I’ve got a few more tricks up my sleeve.”
“I just bet you have.”
She took a step forward, but he stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Me first. I don’t think there’s an alarm, and I didn’t hear a dog bark anywhere, but you never know.”
She fell back and let him step past her into the gloom of the garage. He looked around, his body as still as a rock, then beckoned her to follow him. She stepped inside and closed the door behind her, shutting out the sunlight.
Nat raised his finger to his lips in a subtle warning not to speak. He nodded at the left side of the garage where two parked cars sat in front of a wooden staircase. It led up to a glass-fronted room overlooking the entire area.
His feet made no sound as he moved lightly toward the stairs, and Valeri did her best to creep after him without making any noise. The faint scuffle of her shoes seemed to echo in the vast emptiness of the building.
Nat reached the steps and signaled for her to wait. She felt sick with apprehension as she watched him climb the stairs—each step, it seemed, creaking loud enough to wake the dead. Any minute she expected men to jump out at him, waving guns and yelling at him to put his hands up. Whether she expected Sabhad’s men or the police, she couldn’t be sure. Right then it didn’t seem to matter.
Nat reached the top of the steps and tried the door to the glass-fronted room. It opened easily.
Valeri put her foot on the bottom step, but again Nat signaled at her. He disappeared inside the room, and she waited—hardly daring to breathe—for him to call her up there.
She waited so long that she was on the point of disobeying him and going up to see what had happened, when he reappeared in the doorway. He motioned for her to come up and, forgetting the need to be cautious, she rushed up the steps, almost shoving him aside in her haste to get into the room.
It was a workshop, the long benches strewn with auto parts and tools. There was no sign of anyone in there. She was about to speak when Nat pointed at the end of the room. A door stood slightly ajar. Her heart began thudding with expectation.
She asked the question with her eyes, and he nodded at her to go forward. She did so, stepping only on her toes, until she could see into the room.
A TV set sat on a low table in front of a vacant armchair. A chest of drawers stood against one wall, next to a window—obviously the one that overlooked the backyard. On the other side of the small room, a narrow bed had been pushed up against the wall.
A figure lay on the bed, his left arm flung across his face, his chest rising and falling in the regular pattern of deep sleep.
Valeri made a small sound in the back of her throat, then crept toward the bed. “Alex,” she whispered. She touched his shoulder, half afraid that he was unconscious instead of merely sleeping.
The man stirred, mumbled something and lowered his arm. Dark brown eyes raked her face, then his look of despair turned to relief. “Thank God,” he muttered. “I was so afraid—”
Valeri bit back her cry of dismay as she knelt beside him. His eyes looked sunken and streaked with red, while a dirty gray stubble covered his jaw. The white shirt he wore was torn and stained wit
h dried blood across his right shoulder, and a large bruise on his forehead had begun to turn deep purple.
“What happened to your shoulder?” she asked unsteadily.
“I got in the way of a bullet. Clumsy of me.”
Carefully, she leaned over and kissed his scratchy cheek. “How bad is it? Can you move? Are you in pain?”
She was somewhat reassured by his faint smile. “Right now I feel like dancing a jig all around this damn room. What took you so long? Good Lord, woman, you look as if you’ve collected a bruise or two yourself.”
From the doorway, Nat cleared his throat. “I’m afraid that was my fault, Mr. Forrester. Or is it Doctor?”
Alex lifted his head. “Doctor. And who the hell are you?”
“That’s Nat Thorne,” Valeri said hurriedly. “He helped me find you.”
“How come I’ve never seen him before?”
“It’s a long story,” Nat said, coming into the room. “Right now we have more urgent business to take care of. How well can you trust your landlord?”
Alex blinked, laid his head back on the pillow and looked accusingly at Valeri. “Does he know?”
Valeri nodded. “Sorry, Alex, but I didn’t have much choice. I needed his help. You weren’t exactly easy to find.”
Nat moved closer to the bed. “Look, I hate to intrude on your reunion, but I really need to know if we are safe here if the guy who owns this place should come back and find us.”
Alex’s face creased in a frown. “None of us are safe until this mess is cleared up. I don’t think you have to worry about Harry, though. He seems harmless enough, though he does like to ask questions. I told him I needed a room for a few days. I think he accepted my story that I was on the road doing research for a book about small towns. I impressed upon him the need for privacy. Told him there were too many writers out there anxious to steal my idea.”
“He didn’t ask how you hurt your shoulder?” Valeri exclaimed, remembering how inquisitive the old man had been about her and Nat.
“He didn’t see it.” Alex waved a hand at the corn of the room where a jacket lay over the back of the armchair. “I was wearing my jacket.”
“All the same,” Nat said smoothly, “I think it might be better if we get out of here. How badly hurt are you? Can you move under your own steam?”
“Of course I can move.”
To Valeri’s relief, Alex struggled into a sitting position, wincing only slightly. “The reason I’m lying down is because I’m so damn bored.”
He turned his scowl on Valeri. “What happened to you? I left you a message where to find me. I didn’t think I was being that obtuse.”
Valeri sighed. “We went to the gas station. All we found was your message saying you’d gone into town for pop. You didn’t say where.”
“Not that message. The one I left on your answering machine.”
Valeri exchanged glances with Nat. “I didn’t get it. What did you say on it? Nothing too specific, I hope?”
Alex narrowed his eyes. “I was careful. All I said was that I had to get my car repaired. This is the only repair shop in Sylvan Springs. Since you were the only person who knew I was in Sylvan Springs—at least I thought you were—” He shot another accusing look at Nat. “I figured that message was fairly safe.”
“We’re not the only people, Alex. Someone else has been in town asking about you.”
Alex looked alarmed. “Sabhad?”
“His men, we think.”
“Dangerous man, that. He’s already had poor old Simpson killed. Damn near killed me, too.”
Valeri gasped in shock. “Paul Simpson? Your assistant?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Why?”
Alex shot a glance at Nat. “I’ll tell you later.”
“It could have been the police asking for you, too,” Nat said, apparently unaffected by Alex’s obvious mistrust. “They were all over Valeri’s apartment when we went back there.”
“Went back there? I don’t understand—”
Nat shifted restlessly on his feet. “Look, Dr. Forrester, we can discuss all this later—”
“Alex. So where do you come into this?”
“Nat’s right. We can talk about that later,” Valeri said, standing up. “We have to find somewhere safer to take you. Can you walk?”
“If you point the way. Can’t see a damned thing without my glasses.” He waved a hand toward his bedside table where a pair of reading glasses lay. “Those things aren’t worth a damn. I found this place by sheer luck.” He swung his legs off the bed and came shakily to his feet.
“Have you eaten?” Valeri asked, anxiously taking hold of his arm.
Alex nodded,. “Junk food. I got a few supplies when I first got here. Harry sold me some soda. I didn’t want to be too visible in town.”
“That was good thinking.” Nat looked at Valeri. “I’ll help you get him downstairs, then I’ll go get the truck. You wait in the garage with him until I get back.”
“What if Harry comes back before you do?”
“Tell him Alex asked you for a ride. Before the old guy’s got around to asking you too many questions, I’ll be back with the truck. Just do the best you can.”
Valeri couldn’t help worrying as she helped Nat support Alex down the narrow wooden steps. He seemed so weak, not at all like his usual robust self. The past few days had taken their toll on him, she could tell.
Once Alex was safely on level ground again, Nat left to get the truck. He had barely gone through the door before Alex said slyly, “Nice-looking guy. What’s he do for a living?”
“You don’t want to know,” Valeri said dryly. “Let’s just say he works for himself and leave it at that.”
“Ah. I thought as much.” Alex tilted his head to one side. “You got anything going there?”
She could feel her cheeks growing warm. “No,” she said firmly. “You know how I feel about that,”
“You can’t let one bad apple sour you on the rest. You have to start taking chances again sometime.”
“Oh, is that right? Just like you did?”
“It’s different for men. Some of us are better off on our own.”
“Yes, I know,” Valeri said, with just a trace of bitterness in her voice. “That’s the problem.”
Alex didn’t respond to that, but Valeri had the feeling he understood a lot. She was relieved to hear the truck roaring back into the yard. A few minutes later Alex was safely settled in the front seat between them.
“Now where?” Valeri asked as Nat pulled out onto the road.
“Alex should have that shoulder looked at,” Nat said. “Bullet wounds can be dangerous.”
“It’s only a graze,” Alex assured him. “The bullet just nicked me. It didn’t go in. Besides, I’d rather not answer any awkward questions right now. I assume the police are still looking for me?”
“As far as we know.” Valeri decided she’d waited long enough to ask the questions. “What happened? All you said on the phone was that you were hurt and couldn’t drive.”
Alex sighed. “It’s a long story. Can it wait until I’ve had a shower and a cold beer? I must smell like a polecat.”
“We’ll book into the Sunset Inn,” Nat said. “It’s just down the road.”
“Is that safe?” Valeri asked, sending Nat a worried glance.
“We’ll book in as Mr. and Mrs. Landers. They’re all outside rooms. No one will have to know Alex is there.”
“Who are Mr. and Mrs. Landers?” Alex asked, looking confused.
“My foster parents,” Nat said, his foot on the brake as they approached the entrance to the motel. “It’s a name I use now and again. It comes in handy to have an alias sometimes.”
Alex gave Nat a shrewd look. Valeri could guess what he was thinking. Sooner or later, she would have to tell Alex about Nathan Thorne. Right now, though, she was more interested in what had happened to her father since she’d last seen him.
The t
ransfer to the motel room went smoothly. It was still early enough in the afternoon for the parking lot to be fairly empty. Nat booked in, presumably charming the desk clerk in the process, Valeri thought darkly.
He soon emerged from the foyer, holding the keys to a room located at the far side of the building. The parking was in the back, out of sight of the road.
Within minutes they were all inside the motel room. Nat brought in the bags of clothing and tossed them on the bed. Alex insisted on taking a shower, and Valeri had to contain her impatience for a while longer.
“How does he seem?” Nat asked her when the rush of water safely drowned out their conversation.
“Weak, a little irritable—but I guess that’s to be expected.”
“He needs medical attention.”
“I know,” Valeri said unhappily. “But the second he walks into a doctor’s office with a bullet wound in him the police will be on him.”
“How are you holding up?”
She looked up and saw his eyes on her, full of concern. “Better now that I’m enjoying the luxury of a soft couch. After the last two days, I’ve acquired an intense dislike for anything that remotely resembles camping. I’m with Alex. From now on I take my vacations in a hotel.”
He grinned. “You’ve never looked healthier. The rugged outdoors is good for you.”
“I guess, if I want to develop knotted muscles in my calves and a leather complexion. Even my father looked horrified when he saw me.”
“I’m sure after what he’s been through, your father thought you were the most beautiful sight he’s ever seen.”
That look was back in his eyes again. She tried to look away, but couldn’t. He was like a giant magnet, drawing her irresistibly toward him, in spite of all her misgivings. Right then she would have given anything in the world to feel his arms around her again, crushing her against his warm, powerful body with his mouth hard on hers.
She shivered, and his eyes narrowed. “Cold?”
“Tired. It’s been a tough few days.”
He smiled, and the tug of tenderness in her heart was almost painful. “You’ve held up incredibly well. You’re a tough lady, whether you want to admit it or not.”
The Mercenary And The Marriage Vow Page 16