Untraceable

by Lindsay Delagair

  I smiled and softly answered maybe, low enough that Micah wouldn’t hear.

  Trent was offering to give us a tour of the lake, but Micah politely declined and said we were going to finish our picnic and head back to Palm Beach.

  Trent suggested that we park the Corvette by the tree to offer a little more privacy.

  “No,” Micah laughed, “I don’t think Leese will go for anymore of that kind of picnic. One interruption was lesson enough.” He pulled the boat to the shoreline for Jeanie to step in.

  “Yeah, that’s what Jeanie told me too when we got interrupted,” Trent grinned.

  She smacked his shoulder and told him to shut up as she stepped into the boat, thanking Micah as she went. The dog jumped inside as Trent prepared to push off.

  “I’m already wet,” Micah pointed out. “Get in and I’ll shove you off.”

  Trent thanked him, climbed to the back of the boat and sat down as Micah went out about knee deep again, and gave them a powerful push that sent them drifting past the cypress and into the clear. The boat motor was started as they waved goodbye and headed across the lake.

  “They seem like a nice couple,” I remarked.

  “Yes, but unfortunately, I’m afraid these woods are going to become very popular now—at least with the locals.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I have a feeling Jeanie is going to tell every person she knows that she met you here. People will be coming out here to see if they can catch a glimpse of the lovely Annalisa.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “You haven’t quite grasped how big your stardom is yet, baby.”

  “Bigger than I ever wanted it to be,” I stated. “I only did the show because I wanted to sing an apology to you.”

  He pulled me to his chest, with one hand against the side of my head and the other against my back. “I’m sorry. That’s my fault, but I knew it would be the only way to get you to agree to the show.”

  I looked up wondering how it could have been his fault. I didn’t have to ask; he understood the expression.

  “I told Don that you would refuse. The money and the fame I knew didn’t interest you, but I had a feeling that, even if you were in love with Ryan, there would be an ache in your heart to at least tell me you were sorry for what happened. His line about a song being a great way to get a message across and then asking if there was someone that you’d lost touch with that you’d like to sing to, came straight from me. I gambled almost every penny I had that you would say yes.”

  “So that’s where the hundred and twenty million dollars went?”

  “Networks want big money. I started forming the concept about the show the day after you left me.”

  “But how did you know you’d be able to find me?”

  He gave me his crooked smile that said I needed to rethink my question.

  “Honestly, Micah. You had already taught me a lot about hiding. I just didn’t have a clue about the money leaving a trail.”

  “There are very few people in this world that are skilled enough to make someone completely untraceable. The Boss out of New York is the master at that.”

  “You mean like a ‘Jimmy Hoffa’ kind of untraceable?”

  Micah laughed at my reference into something I knew little about. “No—people are still looking for him. If you fall into the hands of the Capo Dei Capi, which in Italian basically means the boss of all bosses, most people won’t even know you ever existed. He’s a lot like Mom except that instead of building a new life, he’ll erase your old life. Small, close-knit families will vanish completely if he is involved. The guy is pretty scary, and that is coming from me—and I don’t scare easily. That was one reason I was a little freaked when my Boss told me who was intervening on my untouchable status.”

  “But surely he isn’t going to try to make you vanish,” I stated with a quiver. Suddenly, I was afraid of the implications of this person taking an interest in Micah. “I mean, why save you if he’s going to eliminate you anyway, right?”

  “People of his caliber don’t do things without reason. I’ve been a little concerned that he might have done it to, eventually, get me to work for him—maybe he even wants my entire family.”

  “But you don’t have to, Micah. I mean you could decline—couldn’t you?”

  “Sure I could—and then my family and your family would most likely vanish. People like him are never turned down without repercussions.”

  I was suddenly so sick. The tiny few bites of my lunch were ready to leave the safety of my stomach as I turned away from him and doubled over against the tree. I was fighting the nausea hard, but I didn’t know if I would win this battle because all I kept thinking was this might not be the end of our troubles at all—this might be the beginning of something worse than I ever imagined.

  Micah was immediately alarmed as he tried to comfort me. “I’m sorry, baby—I guess I need to be careful with my new found interest in telling the truth—I didn’t mean to upset you this badly. Are you going to be okay?”

  I put my trembling and suddenly very cool fingers to my temple. “Please don’t ever stop being truthful with me, Micah—just next time at least make sure I’m sitting down.” The tears rushed up, which was actually good for me because their presence blocked the nausea from rising higher in my throat. “It’s not over, is it?” I sobbed, my back still turned to him.

  I didn’t hear a reply, but I did hear him open the car door. Then his arms were around me as he scooped me up and carefully placed me into the passenger’s seat. I was trying to look at him, but the tears were distorting my vision. I knew what he was doing; he was making sure I was sitting down.

  “I don’t think so, but I’m praying it is. We’ll just have to wait and see, but until then I want us to be happy and to keep moving into this new life.”

  I dried my tears and realized that bravery at this point would be the better face to show him. “When can we leave to go burn those files of yours?”

  He smiled slowly. “I don’t want you flying on an empty stomach. Do you think you could get a decent amount of food in you before I either make you cry or make you sick?”

  “Put that picnic basket in my lap and I’ll eat on the way to the airport.”

  He leaned in the car, pushing my head against the seat as he kissed me with a deep passion, “I love you, Annalisa Gavarreen. But we’d better stop at your house for some clothes and to at least tell your mother what we’re up to.”

  Within three hours we were sitting in the back of a jet and heading to New Orleans.

  CHAPTER three

  It was well after dark when we made it to his home. He wanted me to get some rest, but I wanted to build a fire and send his memories up in smoke.

  “I can build a fire in the fireplace, but it’s going to take a while to burn everything in here,” Micah began. “It’ll make for a really late night.”

  “How about out by the pool? The fireplace out there is huge.”

  His head wobbled slightly, “True, but I don’t know how bad the mosquitoes are tonight and I don’t want you getting bitten.”

  “If it was dusk, I’d agree, but I think it’s late enough that they shouldn’t be too bad. We could sit out by the pool for a little while and enjoy the evening. If they aren’t biting, we’ll build a fire.”

  He gave me a smile, “I should get it caged like your mom’s.”

  “No, don’t do that. It’s perfect and I love the view of the stars out here without the cage and the city lights. Come on,” I begged, tugging his hand toward the door. “Let’s sit outside.”

  It was nearly black on the pool deck. His outside light wasn’t on and neither were the pool lights, but the moon and the stars were stunning in the darkness so I begged him to leave everything off.

  “But you might trip; it’s too dark, baby.”

  “You know if you keep this up, I’m going to call you Ryan.”

  He paused in the moonlight as I watched one eyebrow slowly rise to
punctuate the question I could see on his face.

  “You’re starting to do his mother-hen routine,” I laughed as I settled onto a lounger.

  “He’s this protective over you?” The surprise was clear in his voice.

  “Well, after you… I was so depressed, and he—he came in and… Never mind—yes, he is this protective over me.” I wanted total honesty with Micah, but there were some things I’d rather not discuss. Unfortunately, he had a way of getting that first tiny string out of me and then he would pull it until I unraveled.

  “I get the ‘after’ part, Leese, but what’s the rest? He came in on what?”

  “I had out my bottle of Amytal and wasn’t in a good frame of mind—I’ve never seen anything freak him out so badly. He made me realize that no matter how bad things get, ending it all is never a solution because you hurt so many people that love you in the process. After that, I could barely use the bathroom without him checking on me to make sure I was okay.”

  “You know I’m really glad he didn’t start attending school in Pensacola before I got there.”

  I gave a small laugh, glad that my deep dark reveal wasn’t going to be dissected further. “He and I discussed that once. By the time you showed, there would have been no way I could have changed my devotion, and you and I never would have happened.”

  “I hate to tell you this, baby, but you would have been in my arms regardless.”

  I didn’t see where he was going with this. I just couldn’t believe that he thought I would have been Ryan’s and then simply changed my mind. Didn’t he realize how strongly I believed in commitment? “No, that would be like saying—”

  “I would have killed him, Leese.”

  That shut me up.

  “I had to make you mine for this to work. I’d already planned to get rid of any boyfriend you had when I got there, and then I would have been your crying shoulder. You would have never known what happened to him and I would have stepped in. I hate to be this blunt about it, but that was my job and I was very good at what I did. Looking back now, I know that would have been one of the worst murders I could have committed because he is like the male version of you—he’s an honest-to-God good person.”

  “It’s going to take a while for me to get used to you being so—so open about things,” I stammered. “I’m glad that you are, it’s just you might find me speechless sometimes.”

  “Honesty comes with the new me. I just never figured how much better it feels than lying.”

  “Yeah, who would have guessed a year after you brought me here as your target that we would be sitting here tonight, expecting our first baby, and discussing truth.”

  “Not me,” he admitted. “I haven’t felt the first mosquito. How about a bonfire?” he asked with a chuckle.

  A little while later, I was sitting beside a large fire and he was coming out the kitchen door with two big boxes. His only request was that I didn’t open the folders.

  “It’s bad enough,” he remarked, “that their faces are etched in my memory. I don’t want them in yours.”

  He kept everything so well organized, a series of numbers at the top of each file and each file in numerical order that I had to ask. “You aren’t a little anal-retentive are you?”

  “I am very anal-retentive,” he admitted as he burned them in order.

  “Well, here is to change,” I stated softly, taking the lid off the second box and pulling out a handful.

  “Wait!” he said grabbing the stack before I could get it close to the fire. “I want something out of one of those.”

  “What?” I couldn’t imagine that he’d want a memento.

  He opened a thin folder and reached inside, unstapled a photo and promptly placed it in his pocket. “I can’t let her picture burn,” he said with a small choke.

  “Whose?” I asked, wondering if it was the boss’s young wife. “Let me see,” I begged.

  “You don’t have to know everything, Annalisa.”

  “Ah… What happened to honesty?”

  “I’m not being dishonest. It’s just special, that’s all.”

  “Why can’t I see it?” I whined.

  “At the end, baby. Let’s empty these boxes.”

  I didn’t consider myself as spoiled, but at that moment I wanted to see the picture in his pocket so badly I could have tossed a tantrum. I bit my pouty, protruding lip and continued to put files on the fire. The only thing that paused my aggravation over not seeing the picture was that I suddenly realized how many files we were burning. Micah had been the instrument to end the lives of these people and there were hundreds. I thought about the fact that his eyes had watched each of these draw their last breaths on this earth, and, for the first time in a very long time, I felt a shiver of fear to be in his presence.

  We finally reached the bottom of the boxes and he tore the cardboard into sections and burned it as well. “I don’t want anything left,” he stated.

  My hand reached up to his shirt pocket, “But something is left.”

  His eyes filled with tears, “But she started it all.”

  I had my answer; it was the first one. I took my hand away from his pocket. As much as I wanted to see her face, I couldn’t press him simply over my curiosity.

  He was reaching into his pocket, but I placed my hand on his and told him it was okay. “I don’t have to see it.”

  “Yes, you do,” he whispered, “because without her I wouldn’t have you. Her name was,” he took a breath as he pulled it out, but kept it shielded from my sight, “Annalisa McKinnis,” he breathed, opening his hand to reveal my school picture. “And if it hadn’t been for her, we never would have met.”

  “Oh, Micah, I’m sorry—I thought—I just assumed it was—”

  “You, Annalisa,” he hoarsely whispered, “are the only memory out of all of this worth keeping.” He leaned over and very slowly brought his lips to mine as his hand came up and moved into my hair. “We smell like smoke,” he whispered. “How about a little time in my shower and then that French lesson I promised you?”

  “Is the pool heater on?”

  “I think so,” he said with a questioning look as he rose up and went to feel the water. His back was turned to me as he put his hand in the pool. “It’s warm, about 85, I’m guessing, but—” He turned and was silent.

  I had already removed my top and bra, and I was undoing my shorts. “You tried to get me naked outdoors once today, that and the fact that the first time you saw me nude was on this pool deck.”

  “Baby, you don’t know just how beautiful you are—I’ll never forget that night when I came back to get you. My heart literally skipped a beat in my chest when I saw you. And it did the same thing just now when I turned around. I know we won’t get interrupted here.”

  I laughed as I stood up and let my shorts fall to the deck. “I’m not going to believe that statement, but I’ll risk it tonight.”

  He was grinning broadly as he unbuttoned his shirt, “This time we’ll both be naked in the pool because I don’t like swimming with my clothes.”

  “Well, I’m really glad when I woke that morning that you had your pants on; I freaked bad enough over my missing clothes, but I’ll be disappointed tonight if you keep them on.”

  I’m not an exhibitionist so the feeling was strange and yet exhilarating as we stood there in the moonlight in front of the remnants of our fire, totally bare and embraced. He asked me, in French, if I was ready to swim, and then he took my hand and led me to the pool steps and we descended into the water. It was a feast for the senses as we touched, caressed, kissed, and enjoyed the simple sensation of being uninhibited as we swam together.

  We hadn’t been in the pool very long when he continued, in French, to ask if I was ready for a shower. It was a little hard to keep up with him conversationally because he had gone completely French on me. It was like he had suddenly become a foreigner because he never explained or switched to English. It’s one thing to study the French language, to le
arn words and simple phrases, but to be fluent took a degree of mastery that I didn’t possess.

  All the way through the shower and onto his bed the words like poetry flowed from his lips. I had given up trying to concentrate on the meanings, and instead switched to the enjoyment of his lyrical voice, although some words did capture my attention. Even his lovemaking changed tonight as he stretched me out and began to kiss from the tops of my feet, up my ankles and calves to places of euphoria. When his mouth wasn’t occupied sending waves of pleasure through me, he was still talking.

  He rose above me, and I began to discern some of what he was saying was a description of what he was experiencing as our bodies united. He was describing to me every aspect of the sensations that he felt inside my body, the pleasure, the need, and the love as his voice and his rhythm became one.

  I was cresting, begging him to join me, but tonight he was giving me another lesson in his ability to restrain himself as he continued to refine my experience with him. The word encore was repeated by him many times as I cried out that I couldn’t continue, yet as I said it I could tell he was already bringing me there again. By the third orgasm I was nearly in tears, but this time I understood he was saying to release again and he would join me in the pleasure. I didn’t expect the intensity to be quite so strong, but we were in perfect sync as the sensation locked us together in spasms of pleasure.

  “So how was the lesson?” he breathed heavily, uttering the first English words I’d heard come out of his mouth since the pool.

  I couldn’t talk. My heart was still racing. I couldn’t breathe properly and my legs were trembling as I attempted to compose. I was in a state of hyperventilation and suddenly I was afraid because I was still beyond control.

  I didn’t realize I was actually crying until he began to wipe away my tears.