Liver Let Die

by Liz Lipperman

  A flashback of Egan on the day she agreed to be the temporary culinary reporter came to her. He mentioned one of the owners had been killed in an after-hours robbery. “You killed your own partner?”

  Mason leaned in and whispered. “He wasn’t the first, nor will he be the last.” He pressed the gun to her forehead. “I hope you don’t wait too long to come to your senses, Jordan.”

  With her eyes tightly closed, expecting the shot any second, Jordan’s mind raced, trying to connect the dots. “I swear I don’t …”

  An image of Maggie swimming around in her fishbowl with rhinestones flashed across Jordan’s mind. They’d fallen out of the purse she’d borrowed from Rosie when she’d cleaned out the squishy duck.

  Holy crap! Could they be Mason’s diamonds?

  Apparently reading her reaction, Mason pulled the gun away from her forehead, a smirk covering his face. “Suddenly remember something?”

  Jordan fought off panic. Should she tell him about Maggie, or would that almost assure Jordan a sudden death? Why would he need to keep her around if he got his precious diamonds?

  “I might be, but I’d be a fool to hand them over to you with the expectation you’d be grateful and let me go.” She shook her head. “You want your diamonds, Roger? You’ll have to untie me. I’ll take you to them.”

  He reached down and slapped her again, this time with more force than the last one. “Maybe you haven’t noticed, but I’m the one holding the gun.”

  He tapped the barrel against her forehead. “Here’s how it’s gonna work. You tell me where you hid the diamonds, and I’ll drive back into town. After I’m sure you’re not lying, I’ll call the cops and tell them where they can find you.”

  After that, I’ll bet you’ll sell me some oceanfront property in Nevada!

  “Sorry, no can do. If you want your precious jewels again, you’ll have to take me with you.” She was glad her hands were behind her back because they were shaking like the apartment washer when she overloaded it. “How much are they worth to you?”

  “Like you don’t already know they’ll bring in a half million on the black market. Even though that’s small change to me, I stand to lose more than just the money. If my Canadian investors think I’m losing control over the shipments, I might not be in business much longer.” He glared. “You see my dilemma? That’s why I’m giving you one more chance before I leave your fate in the hands, or should I say jaws, of the hogs.”

  As terrifying as that was, Jordan knew if there was even the slightest chance of living through the night, her only option was to somehow buy more time. The only thing in her favor was that Mason wanted the diamonds back and couldn’t risk killing her until he found out where they were.

  “You can stew out here all night thinking about my offer. I’ll be back in a few hours to see if you’ve changed your mind.”

  Her gamble paid off—at least temporarily.

  Satisfied she’d outsmarted him if only for a while, Jordan concentrated on slowing her breathing. This maneuver had bought her time. Surely someone would be looking for her.

  She watched him slide into the front seat of the Audi and drive back through the opening in the trees. As tears threatened to spill over, she wondered how something as innocent as trying a gourmet food item on a menu had ended up so terribly wrong.

  And what if the sparkly things at the bottom of Maggie’s fishbowl really were Rosie’s outdated crystals? Without leverage, there was no reason for Mason to keep her alive. When he came back, would he finish her off or leave her for the hogs?

  Those thoughts were quickly dispelled when she caught a movement out of the corner of her eyes and watched a large pig, followed by two smaller ones, emerge from the underbrush and head directly toward her. When she screamed, the porkers turned and hightailed it back into the bushes, squealing like they were the ones tied to a tree and she was the pig with the big-ass front teeth.

  Sure they weren’t coming back, she relaxed her shoulders. But she feared the worst-case scenario was true—her friends had no clue where to even start looking for her. Mason had her in the trunk and out of sight before anyone knew what had happened. Taking deep breaths, she willed herself to stay positive. Struggling to break free, she twisted her hands trying to get out of the rope, but the effort only dug the twine into her flesh causing more pain.

  Out of options, she hunkered down, believing there would be a miracle and somehow they would find her.

  Leaning her head back, she glanced up at the sky. Without the city lights, the stars twinkled overhead like thousands of cell phones at a rock concert. An image of the Christmas manger scene where the brightest star had lit the way for the three wise men flashed across her mind. As ridiculous as that was now, it gave her a little hope.

  She blew out a breath, anticipating a long night and wishing she had a sweater. But things could be worse.

  Mason could have scattered the hog food around her.

  CHAPTER 18

  Jordan shifted, trying to get more comfortable, but it was a wasted effort. Mason had tied the ropes too tightly, which came as no surprise since she’d already decided the man was definitely a sadist walking around in custommade Italian silk suits.

  She wiggled her fingers to get the blood circulating, but the tips still tingled when she could feel them. Despairing, she gave up and pressed her back into the tree to wait for the cavalry or a knight on a white horse to show up. Shivering slightly, she guessed the temperature had dropped into the low fifties. Considering numb fingers and the fear of being attacked by monster hogs, cold was the least of her worries.

  So far the pigs had stayed out of sight, but she could hear them rooting around in the bushes and occasionally got a glimpse of a brave one who ventured out of the hideout. Fortunately, they acted as if they were more afraid of her than she was of them. Her high-pitched scream would send them scurrying for cover every time one made a move to approach her. With that discovery, she reasoned Ducky must have already been dead when the animals went after the hog food Mason had piled on his body. At least she hoped that was true for his sake.

  She moved her head in a circular motion, trying anything to keep from getting stiff in the cool night air. Glancing up, she said a quick thank-you for the blessing of an almost-full moon that kept the pitch black terror of the night partially at bay. She might be hallucinating, but the big melon-colored circle in the sky surrounded by the dazzling display of twinkling stars reminded her of the giant disco ball hanging in the center of the school gym at her senior prom.

  An image of Joey Montero, the star wide receiver who made her dreams come true when he’d asked her to be his date, played in her head. She remembered feeling like a princess in his arms on the dance floor, the envy of just about every girl in her class. The night had been perfect.

  Until he demanded she put out or get out when they were in his car on the way home.

  Sheesh! Didn’t guys know you can catch more bees with honey, like her mother always reminded her? That a little romance scored more points than demands?

  She’d ended up walking home that night, knowing full well she’d extract her ounce of revenge after she told her brothers what happened. She didn’t know what they said to him, but stud-muffin Joey had ended up apologizing to her in front of the entire student body. Thinking back to those days with her overprotective brothers, it was no wonder most of the boys in the small West Texas town had been afraid to ask her out.

  She hoped it wasn’t a bad omen comparing the moon overhead to that night long ago that had not ended well.

  In the distance, she heard an automobile, and her entire body jerked suddenly, sending a pain rocketing up her arm to her shoulder. It was coming her way! Holding her breath, she listened as it grew louder, then nothing, only silence.

  Sweet Jesus! Mason is back to kill me.

  Clenching her teeth to keep the tears in check, she thought about all the things in her life she hadn’t accomplished yet. Hadn’t even made a “bucket
list” like Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman in that movie. It was weird that learning how to cook stood out in her mind as something she really should have done.

  She was too young to die.

  As she lost the battle with her emotions, tears blurred her vision, and she said the only prayer she could remember from her Catholic school days, about forgiveness. “Oh my God, I am heartily sorry for having—”

  Her scream shattered the silence of the night as a gun went off way too close for comfort. Squeezing her eyes closed, she waited.

  “Jordan?”

  Startled, she looked up. Someone was calling her name and it didn’t sound like Mason. A flash of hope pulsed through her body. She wasn’t going to die.

  “Over here,” she screamed, laughing and crying at the same time.

  Thank you, God. You answered my prayers. My knight on a white horse has arrived.

  The euphoria was short-lived, however, when she saw a man emerge from the other side of the trees.

  It was Alex Montgomery, but he wasn’t on a horse and he had a huge gun in his hand.

  Alex cursed as he dodged another rattler. Before he could kill it, like the gigantic one he’d nearly stepped on when he’d jumped out of his car, the smaller snake slithered away into the underbrush.

  He wished he’d had time to pick up the three-watt flashlight from his apartment, but he’d lost valuable time dealing with Jordan’s friends. He had to make do with the small one he’d found in the glove compartment. By the time he’d finally gotten away from everyone at Empire Apartments, Mason already had a decent head start.

  Thinking about Jordan’s friends and Victor’s fuzzy pink handcuffs brought a smile to his face. He couldn’t even imagine the razzing he would have taken from his colleagues if they’d seen him with those around his wrists.

  Slicing his way through the branches and the thick brush, he wished he had on hiking boots in case another rattler was curled up in his path. As long as he was wishing, having his own off-road-capable SUV would have made things a lot easier, too. He could have driven closer in and wouldn’t have had to be hoofing it right now. He glanced down at Mason’s tire tracks, cursing the fact that the Audi had all-wheel drive and could have been driven pretty far into the brush.

  As soon as he cleared the thick line of trees and found an opening, he scanned the pasture in the moonlight. The unmistakable snorts of hogs in the underbrush surrounding him upped the fear that he might be too late. When he’d placed the tracking device under Mason’s car, he had no idea it might become key in saving someone’s life. Not in his wildest dreams did he think that someone might be a woman he considered a friend.

  Who am I kidding?

  Although he wasn’t sure exactly what it was he felt for Jordan McAllister, she was way past just-a-friend status. Against his better judgment, he’d broken his own rule about mixing business with his personal life. At least emotionally so far and maybe even physically, he thought, remembering the kiss.

  When his GPS directed him almost to the Oklahoma border, he worried Mason had taken her across the state line, and he might never see her again. He’d almost missed the Audi pulling away from an out-of-sight road off Highway 82 and heading south right past him.

  Unless Mason had her in the trunk or on the floorboard, Jordan was not in his car. Since he knew Mason hadn’t driven all the way out here for the scenery, Alex followed his instincts and turned down the dirt road. He could flush out the restaurant owner back in town later.

  A rush of apprehension washed over him as he’d passed through the gate with a sign swinging above it that read ROCHESTER RANCH. This was the same place they’d discovered Joseph Parker’s body last week ravaged by wild boars. Alex quickened his step praying Jordan hadn’t met the same fate as the man he suspected had been Mason’s partner in crime.

  When he heard her, he burst through the grove of trees into a clearing. A slight movement drew his attention to the large tree centered among several smaller ones on the back edge of the clearing. Jordan was on the ground with her hands behind her and her head slumped.

  “No,” he screamed, running toward her, covering the distance in only a few strides. Just as he got close, her head shot up, the terror in her eyes unmistakable.

  She thinks I came to kill her.

  Quickly, he shoved the gun back into the shoulder holster and bent down beside her. “Are you okay?” he whispered, noticing the dark bruise across her cheek.

  She nodded as tears ran down her cheeks.

  Dammit!

  The sight of a woman in tears always turned his knees to jelly. It brought out every protective instinct his mother and three sisters had instilled in him. And made him do things that went against everything he’d ever learned on the job.

  God help him, he was about to blow his own cover!

  Pulling out his badge, he offered it to her to inspect, shining the light directly over it. “I’m a federal agent,” he said simply.

  Instead of screaming with delight as he’d anticipated, Jordan once again lowered her head and began to cry in silence, sniffing every few seconds in perfect synchronicity with the spasms of her shoulders.

  Quickly he untied her hands and took her into his arms, cradling her in a rocking motion until the sobs, no longer silent, finally subsided. “I won’t let him hurt you again,” he promised, stroking her hair as she whimpered.

  After a few minutes, she pulled away and looked into his eyes, the skepticism not entirely gone from her face. “Why did you break into my apartment?”

  That brought back memories of the large bump on the top of his head. “I’ve been watching Mason for six months. I had a tracer on his car. When I saw him park down the street and head for your apartment, I panicked.”

  “Someone knocked, but I was afraid to open the door. I’d been getting hang-up calls and my imagination was running wild. When I heard the sound of someone picking the lock, I ran for anything to protect myself.” She lowered her eyes and added softly, “I’m sorry I hit you with my iron skillet.”

  He chuckled. “Wouldn’t you know I’d get hit with a virgin skillet? Have you ever even used that thing, Jordan?” he asked trying to inject a little humor into the situation.

  “I have now,” she deadpanned, her face unchanging. “So, tell me again why you broke in.”

  “When you didn’t answer the door, I thought the worst.” He clamped his mouth shut before he told her more. The less she knew about Mason, the better off she’d be when she was questioned about him.

  As for Mason, slapping a kidnapping charge on him wouldn’t close Alex’s own investigation or solve his problems at hand. He still had nothing on the man that would hold up in court.

  “You know about the diamonds?”

  His heart sank. Hoping she wasn’t involved was no longer an option. “We knew diamonds were being smuggled in from Sierra Leone, and all our sources seemed to think the delivery site was right here in Ranchero.” He held her at arm’s length. “I’ll do whatever I can to make sure the judge is lenient on you for your part in it.”

  “My part in it? What are you talking about, Alex?”

  “We’ll tell him you had no idea the diamonds were illegal,” he said before adding, “You can say you were an innocent bystander who got caught up in the crime.”

  “Are you crazy? I am an innocent bystander. That man was about to kill me over the dopey things. No way I was in on it with him.”

  He eyed her suspiciously. “Then how’d you know about the diamonds?”

  “A little ducky told me.”

  He thought he detected a touch of sarcasm in her tone, but before he could call her on it, a sudden rustling in the underbrush caused her to scream. He reached for his weapon before realizing it was only the animals and not Mason returning to finish what he started. Still, they were getting too close.

  “Let’s get out of here before the pigs start checking us out.” He led her to the path. “You hang on and watch your step. I’ve already run i
nto a few pissed-off diamondbacks.”

  Jordan grabbed his shirttail and followed as instructed, her mind racing. Alex was an FBI guy? It was hard to wrap her brain around that one.

  When they reached the opening on the other side of the path, she searched for Mason’s Audi, half expecting the man to jump out and confront them.

  “He’s gone,” Alex assured her, opening the door on the passenger’s side of his car. “You can tell me all about him on the ride into town.”

  Neither spoke as Alex wheeled the car in a 180-degree turn in the tiny area and headed back down the dirt road. Jordan still wasn’t convinced she was out of danger. There were too many unanswered questions. Like why Alex thought she was in on the diamond smuggling.

  Or was that just a trick to get her to tell him where the jewels were? Was he in bed with Mason and simply being the good cop to Mason’s bad one? She had to keep her head on straight and stay smart about this, especially since she wasn’t even sure those were diamonds in the fishbowl.

  One thing she was sure of was that as long as they thought she could lead them to the diamonds, they had a reason to keep her alive.

  “So, what should I call you?” Keeping the conversation away from the gems was the way to go, she decided, now that she’d had her girlie cry and shifted back into survival mode.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You said you were undercover. I’m guessing Alex Montgomery isn’t the name your mother gave you after the doctor slapped you on the butt and handed you to her.”

  Okay, she was trying to be flippant but was failing miserably. When she recognized a few landmarks outside the city limits, she felt a little less worried. The closer she was to town, the more the odds of making it home safely increased. If Alex was working with Mason, at least her chances of being recognized were better with all the lights from the businesses lining Highway 82. Surely, by now, her friends had alerted the cops.

  “Alex Moreland,” he responded, his eyes leaving the road long enough to glance her way. “Obviously, I’m not a banker.”