by Molly Liholm
Adam looked at the picture and froze. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled and he focused in on the face of the man staring back at him. Carlos Mianco, the son of a Venezuelan drug lord. Adam had written an exposé on the connections he’d unearthed between Venezuelan drug runners and certain U.S. government officials.
He concentrated on keeping his excitement out of his voice. “This was one of Gloria’s guests?”
Michelle looked at him sharply. “Yes, one of her first. A charming young man. He spent a lot of time by himself. I didn’t even know I had caught him in the picture until I’d had it developed.”
“Thank you, Ms. Stoneaway, you’ve been very helpful.”
“Call me Michelle.” She reached out her hand and shook his firmly, but without crushing it this time. She turned to Meg. “This young man of yours might be okay, after all.”
″WHAT DID YOU DISCOVER?″ Meg asked once they were back at The Gateway. “I saw your face. Michelle might not have noticed anything, but I know you. You learned something.” She felt Adam’s barely concealed excitement.
“I think Michelle noticed my reaction as well. If there’s one thing I’m learning it’s not to underestimate the women in this town.” To Meg’s complete surprise, he brushed a quick kiss across her lips.
He began to pace around the shop. “I recognized the man in the background of the photo because of a story I wrote on legitimate business and drug connections. Carlos Mianco was the heir apparent of his father’s cartel until he disappeared about five years ago and was never heard from again. Some law officials thought that he might have been killed by rivals, but no one ever heard of any reprisals, which made an assassination seem unlikely.”
Meg clasped her hands together. “You mean he was on Gloria’s ranch buying himself a new identity.”
“Exactly.” Adam smiled with grim satisfaction. That was the curious reaction he’d felt around Gloria—not attraction, but his sixth sense warning him about her. “What we need to do is go out to the Liberty L tonight and find the evidence we need to prove Gloria’s guilt.”
10
ADAM PARKED HIS JEEP next to an outcrop that effectively hide the vehicle from the Liberty L, wondering how he’d been so foolish and weak as to allow Meg to come with him. He always preferred working alone. He trusted only himself.
But if he hadn’t let her come, Meg would have followed him. She’d threatened to do exactly that and he believed she would have. He turned to the frustrating woman. “Stay in the car and call for help if I’m not back in an hour.”
Meg got out of the passenger seat. “No.”
“Meg, I can’t be worried about you while I’m breaking and entering.”
“And I’m not going to hide out in the car while you could be in danger.”
“There is no danger.”
“Then it won’t hurt if I come with you.”
Adam let out his breath in frustration. “Dammit, Meg, this is serious. It’s not some kooky adventure. If you had seen what Kelly looked like...” Trying to scare Meg into staying safely at home, he’d told her about Kelly’s injuries and how he believed someone—Reid?—had tried to kill Kelly. Unfortunately, the truth had only made Meg more determined to join him.
She touched his arm. “I’m sorry, Adam. It must have been terrible to see your sister like that. But I’m not going to get hurt—and I’m also not your sister. I only want to come a little closer to the house with you. Then I’ll stay back and let you do your work. I just want to be closer in case anything goes wrong.” She brushed her lips against his cheek. “You may worry about everyone else, Adam Smith, but I worry about you.”
“Then follow me quietly. I’ll drop you off by the side of the barn.” Adam led the way, still feeling the touch of her lips against his skin and hearing her words. She worried about him.
They followed a path to a fence, easily scaled it and then quietly made their way to the back of the house. “Gloria’s bedroom is over there.” Adam pointed.
Meg made a funny sound.
“She showed me it during the house tour. Her office is next door. I saw a lot of computers, but stupidly thought she was just an amateur.”
“Chauvinist,” Meg muttered.
“Sometimes. You stay here. You have my cell phone to call for help.”
Meg took the small phone out of her purse. “Right here. I’ll be fine. Be careful.”
Without really thinking why it was important, Adam pulled her into his arms and crushed his lips against hers. The scent of roses enveloped him as he tasted her sweetness.
Finally he broke away and took off at a run before he could pull her down onto the ground and lose himself in her.
He passed the TV room and saw that the screen was on and two figures sat in the semidarkness. He couldn’t make them out, but hoped they were Reid and Gloria. He crept stealthily past to Reid’s study. The window wasn’t locked, so Adam raised it and climbed in, but didn’t waste any time searching the room. He wanted to get to Gloria’s office. The hallway was quiet and dark, and he quickly made his way to her quarters. Luckily her bedroom door was open, revealing it to be empty. He passed the white bed, heading toward Gloria’s work area.
That door, however, was closed and locked. He pulled a lock pick he kept for exactly such situations out of his back pocket, inserted the smooth metal into the lock, twisted and opened the door. He shut the door behind him and, using his flashlight, turned to Gloria’s elaborate computer systems. She had two desktops connected together in a network and another porthole where she could connect a laptop. One other desktop was independent and running. A big letter E flashed across the screen, signaling the arrival of E-mail. Adam clicked onto that machine and quickly learned that Gloria ran her business on it. It held E-mail from various clients around the world, her record of invoices and profit projections, personalized schedules for each client. A nicely run, moneymaking operation, but not what he was looking for.
Instead, Adam turned to the network. There was plenty of capacity to let someone who knew what he or she was doing access almost anything. Gloria must use this system to create her false computer identities. Adam sat down and began trying to access her files. After a frustrating search, he glanced at his watch and saw that twenty minutes had gone by. He had to meet Meg soon, but he’d made no progress in finding the information he needed to prove that Gloria Logan was the mastermind behind the computer forgeries.
It looked like he needed Abigail Milton, after all. Abby was the only one with a direct connection to Gloria and the Liberty L.
“Damn.” He switched off the computers and stood, and had turned toward the door to leave when he saw Reid lounging against the door.
“I wasn’t expecting you back again so soon, or for you to be so careless,” the cowboy said. His voice was cold, his eyes hard as he surveyed Adam. He shook his head. “I never expected you to reveal your hand so easily. In some ways, I was looking forward to a challenge, to a worthy adversary. I guess today’s not that day.”
Adam stood silently, cursing himself for a fool.
“Let’s go back to my study,” Reid said. “I’d hate to have to hurt you around such valuable machinery.” He pointed a gun at Adam and Adam complied. All he needed to do was stall for a time. If he could delay Reid long enough, Meg would call for help.
The study door was closed and Adam opened it, stepped in and saw his plan go up in smoke. Meg was sitting on a chair, a blond hulk looming over her.
“Oh, I forgot to mention that we had another guest.”
“If you let go of Meg, we could still leave and nothing—″
Reid slammed his hand against a wood-paneled wall. “No, you’ve concluded that I’m one of your suspects. I’m fully aware of how persistent you are once you’ve seized hold of a story idea. You think I might be a criminal.” Reid’s lips turned up in an ugly smile. “You’re right.”
“Adam, I’m sorry,” Meg stood and took a step toward Adam, her lovely brown eyes filled with
worry for him, but Reid grabbed her arm, pulling her toward himself. He moved the two of them toward the desk and picked up the telephone receiver. “Send Tom into the library. I need some help with our guests.”
Adam hadn’t expected to walk into a trap. If he could understand Reid’s motivation, then he could begin to work on another plan. “I think you’re overreacting. I haven’ t found anything even slightly incriminating about you or the ranch. You aren’t even my prime suspect. I much prefer Freddie. Why act now?”
“Freddie? That artiste couldn’t begin to have the balls that an operation like mine takes. I’m afraid you and Meg are in a lot of trouble because you couldn’t take the hint—your beating, the fire at The Gateway—to leave. I need a guarantee that I’ll be safe.” Reid pressed the gun against Meg’s side. “Consider this my guarantee.” Meg flinched and bit her lip, looking at Adam with anxious eyes, but she didn’t say anything.
Reid stroked her cheek with a finger, and Meg jerked back. “I really am sorry to involve you in this mess,” he said. “But a tenacious reporter like your boyfriend, moreover one with a personal interest in the story, is bound to figure out my involvement sooner or later. There aren’t enough people in Sedona for me to hide for a long time. I couldn’t afford to take the risk of a third warning that Adam wouldn’t pay attention to.” Reid looked back at Adam. “Or for you to talk to too many people—who might remember your questions after your disappearance. As it is, you pulled Meg into this. You wouldn’t take any of our hints to leave, to drop this investigation. Now both of you are going to pay the consequences.”
Reid spoke to Meg with fondness. “I am sorry about this, Meg.” He pushed her into a chair, then began to pace over the well-worn wooden flooring. “I know your work, Mr. Smith. Kelly talked about you. How you never give up once a story has caught your attention. She also said you had this funny ability, what you called instinct. How you could trace a story that no one else could. She thought you had some kind of special intuition, but then again, Kelly would think that.” He shook his head at the memory, a flash of regret crossing his face. “Even if you had someone else in your sights, like Freddie, I can’t take the risk that you wouldn’t turn your attention to me. Sooner or later you were bound to consider our operation out here. I’m a cautious man. I like to stop a cancer before its done damage to more than a few cells. Or in good old cowboy terminology, cut you off at the pass.”
Adam clenched his fists, looking for the moment he could slam Reid against a wall. This bastard was the man who had hurt his sister. First Adam was going to rescue Meg and get her away from danger. Then he was going to make Reid Logan pay—pay more than the man could even begin to imagine. “Overreaction. You’re miscalculating.”
“I’m a cautious man,” Reid repeated. “I take care of my problems as soon as they appear—and right now you’re my problem. How much did Kelly tell you? Did she lead you to me?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Adam considered the distance between them. If the man hadn’t been keeping Meg in front of him, Adam would make a move now and try to overpower him, but he couldn’t risk Meg.
“You’re being a fooL” Reid crossed the room in three steps and hit Adam with a right hook before he had a chance to move. He fell back, letting the pain wash over him. As he fought to clear his head, he heard the door open and two pairs of heavy footsteps enter the room.
“Put him in a chair,” Reid said. Adam felt hands clamp on his shoulders and push him down. He looked up at the large, silent men and recognized them as the ones who had attacked him back in Phoenix. The large blond ox was sporting faded bruises on his Nordic face, Adam was pleased to see. He remembered connecting his fist to the man’s face several times. The other man was many inches shorter, but more heavily muscled, as if he worked on developing bulk to counteract his lack of height.
“Reid, what’s going on here? Why are you doing this?” Meg asked. She sounded more worried that scared, and Adam realized she was concerned about him. Silly woman, she should be afraid for herself. No matter what, Adam vowed he wasn’t going to let anything happen to Meg. Megan Elizabeth Cooper was a woman who needed to be taken care of, to be saved from her own impulsiveness, rashness and emotions. But he wasn’t going to be the man who would spend his life protecting her. Adam was going to get them away from Reid and then he was going to deliver her back to her family, who might be able to take care of her. Once she was safe, he was going to get as far away from her as possible.
Reid faced Meg, touching her shiny hair, his expression regretful once more. “I’m sorry, Meg. I do wish Adam hadn’t brought you into this. I had such hopes for us. You seemed like such a responsible and sensible woman, with a hint of passion behind that aloof exterior. I was looking forward to igniting that passion. Now...” He shrugged. “I am sorry.”
Meg paled, looking scared. Adam wondered if Kelly had looked at Reid with the same fear. He also wondered at Reid’s description of Meg. Responsible and sensible? She was the most passionate, impulsive woman he’d ever met.
“Now back to our little problem.” Leaving Meg, Reid walked over to Adam and leaned close, his blue eyes cold. “Who sent you here? How did you know? Was it Kelly?”
Rage surged through Adam at the confirmation of his worst fears—that Kelly had been involved with Reid and the forgery ring. But Adam clamped his anger back down. He needed to learn everything he could and then try to figure out some way to rescue himself and Meg. Moreover, no matter what, he had to protect Kelly. She would never be able to face criminal charges or jail, especially not in her present emotional state. “Kelly wouldn’t say anything about what happened to her—you scared her very well. I’d spent months trying to track down her last location, who she was involved with. Everything came up blank until I received an anonymous tip.”
“I was afraid you’d say that.” Before Adam could react, Reid slugged him in the gut and Adam doubled over in the chair, darkness clouding his eyes, pain swamping him. Slowly he worked on regaining his breath, on being able to breathe in on three and out on three. He looked up to see Meg being held back by the smaller thug, concern written across her beautiful face.
“Let go of me,” she cried, ineffectually kicking at Tom but the miniature mountain didn’t move.
“Be careful,” Tom said, “you could hurt yourself.” He kept his arms firmly on her shoulders, pressing her down in the chair.
“I’m okay,” Adam wheezed. He knew he could live through another beating, but he didn’t want her getting hurt. She was too fragile, and he hated the thought of any man’s rough hands on her.
“Yes.” Reid shook his head sadly, walked over to his desk, picking up a pewter figure of a cowboy on horseback, hefting its weight. “You’ve already proven you can take a lot and not tell me what I need to know. I’m afraid you’ve left me no choice.” He put the weight back down.
The bastard walked over to Meg and touched her cheek very softly. “I’ve always thought Meg was a very pretty woman. It would be a shame to destroy her face.”
Meg gasped and tried to squirm away from Reid, but the mountain behind her grabbed her arms and held her captive. “I don’t know how I could ever have found you attractive,” she snapped. “You’re nothing but a criminal. ”
“It’s nothing personal, dear Meg. Just business.” Reid touched her face gently as she glared at him. “What a shame.”
Reid pulled back his arm as Adam cried, “No!” but it was too late; Reid slapped Meg across the face. She didn’t scream, but Adam could see the imprint of Reid’s hand on her face and tears running down her face. Adam started toward her, but the other thug pointed his gun at him, stopping him in his tracks.
Adam was going to make Reid pay for hurting Meg. No matter how long it took, he was going to make the arrogant cowboy suffer. “You bastard. You enjoyed that.”
“No, I didn’t. I have a lot of strong feelings for Meg, but I always believe in leading my men by example. Josh will have no compulsio
n about continuing now—sometimes he can get a little squeamish when it comes to women.”
Adam could barely stand to look at Meg. Amazingly, she had stopped crying and had raised her head in defiance. She looked at Adam for only a moment and then concentrated on Reid. Stunned, Adam realized she wasn’t going to ask him to reveal what he knew, nor was she foolish enough to beg Reid for pity.
“Talk,” Reid ordered.
“I received an anonymous tip,” Adam said again, wondering how long he could hold out before he was forced to tell Reid about Abigail.
Meg cried out as something incredibly fast and hard hit her in the stomach and she fell back on the floor, fighting to draw a breath. She heard Adam’s angry tone but couldn’t make out any words because of the ringing in her ears. When her burning lungs finally let her take in some air, she swallowed huge gasps of it. Josh, the tall blond-haired man who had knocked her down, helped her to her feet. He was gentle as he helped her stand upright, and she ended up clinging to his arm as she waited for her legs to solidify.
“For God’s sake,″ Adam was saying furiously. ”I’ve told you everything I know. Leave her alone! I came to Sedona because of what happened to Kelly, but, having learned the consequences from you, she wouldn’t tell me what had happened to her.”
“Then why did you check up on the names in your computer? Why did you have a letter from The Gateway when my men found you?”
Adam hesitated, his eyes searching Meg’s face. She raised her chin, willing him not to do anything foolish because of her. Adam raked a hand through his hair. “Abigail Milton wrote a friendly letter to my sister and she tried to hide it from me,” he lied.
Good for him, thought Meg. His words held just enough of the truth to keep Reid off track.
“I thought it might be just the lead I needed on top of the information I had gathered from my computer investigation. A friend of Kelly’s might be able to help me find out what happened to my sister while she was here. Before Abigail’s letter, I didn’t even know that she had spent time in Sedona. Kelly wouldn’t tell me a thing. Unfortunately, Abby hasn’t returned from her retreat. That’s all I’ve been waiting for.”