"Bailey, this is Marlon," Jack said. "He's Elizabeth's brother and he decides the winner."
"Nice to meet you," Bailey said politely. "If I were to hit six clay pigeons launched at the same time would I win?"
Marlon chuckled. "Young lady, I believe almost everyone here could do that if their shotgun held six shells."
"With a handgun?" Bailey inquired and the smile vanished from his face.
Several of the men outright laughed while the others rolled their eyes and muttered disbelievingly.
"I've another hundred that says I can," she added producing another hundred-dollar bill.
Jack rocked back on his heels and smiled. "I definitely smell a ringer," he said with a chuckle. "I'll just stick with the two hundred.
"Set up the pigeons boys, and ante up," Marlon said loudly and turned to walk from man to man with a large Crown Royal whiskey bag that the majority of men dropped money or checks in. He returned a couple of minutes later and looked at Bailey.
"Where's your gun?"
"I'll have to borrow one," she said. "Does anyone have a Browning Hi-Power?"
"I think Tommy has one," Corey said. "Tommy!" he said loudly and a young man in his twenties stepped out of the crowd. "Loan Bailey your Browning," he said and Tommy pulled the handgun from his belt and offered it to her butt first.
"Thank you," Bailey said politely, taking the gun in her right hand.
She shot a look at Piper who was beaming a smile at her. She returned it with a quick grin as Jack handed her ear protection and she stepped forward between the pigeon launchers, resituating her sunglasses and checking her weapon.
"Anytime you're ready, young lady," Marlon said and she nodded.
Both launchers, holding three pigeons apiece, let go with a clack as the six little orange discs were flung into the air. Piper watched in fascination as Bailey's gun tracked to the targets as if it were an extension of her body. Five shots rang out in rapid succession, followed by three more in a burst to hit the last disc that was in danger of evading her.
Bailey de-cocked the pistol and walked over to hand it back to Tommy.
"Thank you," she said as the man absentmindedly took repossession of the gun, his mouth hanging open.
"Holy shit," Marlon announced as the rest of the men stood silently gaping with their faces pointed up to the sky.
"Gentlemen, I believe we've been had," Jack said smiling in amusement.
Piper laughed delightedly as she jumped up and down in front of her father. "Pay up, losers!" she yelled happily to the guys now mumbling among themselves.
"Where in the nine levels of Hell did you learn to shoot like that?" Marlon asked obviously impressed.
"Practice," Bailey said with a smile as Piper threw an excited hug around her.
"I've been shooting all of my life and even when I was in my prime I couldn't have hit two of those," Marlon said with a reluctant grin before turning around. "Anyone care to try and top that?" he yelled.
Marlon observed all the shaking heads and turned to Bailey with a smile. "Looks like you took everyone to the cleaners," he said with a sly smile as he handed her the bag of winnings.
"Thanks," she said pleasantly, giving the bag to Piper who took it excitedly.
"Well…" Jack started with a chuckle, "…I guess that about wraps it up. Well done, Bailey."
"Thank you," Bailey said with a hesitant smile at Piper's father.
"Come on. Bailey," Piper said with a look at her father. "Mom will want to see her money," she finished and Jack let out a delighted laugh.
"I should've seen her hand in this when you continued to up the wager," he said with a chuckle. "Now I'll never hear the end of it," he predicted with a grin.
"I can imagine," Piper said with a knowing grin at her father. Piper gave him a quick peck on the cheek before taking Bailey's hand and leading her away. They had almost reached the barn when Corey came jogging up the path and fell in next to them.
"Bailey, that was fantastic," Corey said with a smile and nudged Piper with his elbow. "Some of the guys want to know if you have a sister," he added with a chuckle.
"I'll bet," Piper said with a smile.
"These are yours," Bailey said and offered him a set of keys.
"These are my Challenger keys," he said confusedly as he took them from her hand.
"I thought you might want drive it," Bailey said casually.
"Huh?" he said with a puzzled scowl but it slowly changed into a grin. "You're kidding me."
"Give it a go," Bailey said with a smile.
"No way," Corey said with an enormous smile as he jogged off towards the barn.
"You fixed his car?" Piper said shaking her head in wonder as Corey got out of earshot.
"Yes."
"When did you do that?" Piper asked with a chuckle.
"Last night while you were sleeping," Bailey said with a sly grin.
"You really are something else," Piper said, amused. "I thought I smelled gasoline on you this morning," Piper said as they passed the back of the barn in time to hear the Challenger roar to life.
"What else do you have up your sleeve?" Piper asked suspiciously.
"Just an arm," Bailey said with a grin.
----------
Bailey had said she wanted to take a nap so Piper left her in her bedroom with a kiss and ventured downstairs to see her mother. She rolled her eyes as she entered the kitchen and all conversation came to an abrupt halt.
"Gosh, I wonder what you guys were talking about?" Piper asked happily, receiving several chuckles.
"Where's Bailey?" Liz asked.
"She's upstairs taking a nap," Piper said with a smile as she put the Crown Royal bag on the counter in front of her mother.
"What's this?" Liz asked.
"It's Bailey's winnings," Piper said with a smile and Liz cackled gleefully.
"She won did she?" Liz said laughing. "I can't wait to lord it over your father."
"Dad laughed, he knows he's in for it," Piper said, amused.
"What did she win, Liz?" Jane asked curiously not content to eavesdrop any longer.
"Did you know the boys gamble on the outcome of their little shoot out every year?" Liz asked.
"No," Jane said with a scowl and several of the other women mirrored her expression.
"They do, and Bailey went out this morning and showed them up," Liz said proudly digging in the bag and letting out a gasp at how much money she found. "My God, how much is in here?"
"Around the neighborhood of six thousand dollars I'd think," Piper said and eyes widened all over the room.
"Good God, how much do those morons wager?" Barbara exclaimed.
"A hundred dollars a person to enter, but Bailey bet another hundred that she would win, and then bet another hundred when they didn't believe her. There's several personal checks in there too," Piper explained, cheerily delighting in the irritated expressions that encompassed the room.
"You should give this back to her," Liz said offering the bag back to Piper but she refused.
"She said to split it among the girls that had a husband or boyfriend out there today," Piper said with a smile as the expressions in the room changed from frowns to grins.
"Is she sure?" Liz asked. "That's a lot of money."
"It all came from your husbands," Piper said dismissively as she browsed through the refrigerator.
"Does she really own the company you work for, Piper?" Jane asked.
"Yes," Piper said pouring herself a glass of milk.
"She's very beautiful," Barbara said.
"Yes, she is," Piper said, reaching over her mother's shoulder for the cookie jar.
"Piper," Liz said. "Is she really sure she doesn't want the money?"
"Mom, she doesn't say stuff she doesn't mean," Piper said. "You'll embarrass her if you try to give it back."
"Alright," Liz agreed. "Janey, make a list of everyone who was out there today and I'll split it among the girls.
"Okay,"
Jane said happily and immediately went about assembling a coven of women to help her with her task.
"Where's Jennifer this morning?" Piper asked.
"Right here," Jennifer said entering the kitchen with Devon.
"Goody, I was hoping to spend some time with my niece today," Piper said happily.
"Here you can feed her, she's been fussing all morning," Jennifer said handing Devon over.
"Good morning, Devon," Piper said happily cradling the baby in her arms.
"Did I just see Corey driving his hotrod around out front?" Jennifer asked as she prepared a bottle.
"Yep," Piper said with a smile as she sat down at the table with Devon.
"I guess he fixed it," Jennifer shrugged.
"I guess he did," Piper said. "So, what's the new gossip around the homestead? Well, that I'm not a part of," she added pleasantly.
"I'm afraid all the juicy stuff involves you," Barbara said with a grin. "But I'm sure we can dig up some old standbys. "
"Please," Piper said jovially.
Piper sat happily in the kitchen for over an hour, feeding and playing with Devon while listening to all the current news and gossip about family and friends. She was pleasantly relieved that everyone had apparently decided to rely on her mother for information pertaining to Bailey and that she was not going to have to suffer a group interrogation.
"Well, well," Liz said happily when Jack entered the kitchen. "I heard that an Irish girl kicked some ass out there today."
"You heard correctly," Jack said with an amused smile as he endured laughter from all the women.
"Serves you right," Liz said righteously. "The girls and I are going to enjoy spending your gambling money."
"Huh?" Jack asked confused.
"Bailey gave the winnings to Mom to split among the girls," Piper explained.
"Why would she do that?" Jack asked bewildered. "She won fair and square, that was a lot of money."
"She doesn't care about the money," Piper said casually. "She only played because you asked her to."
"Who doesn't care about that much money?" Jack asked curiously.
Piper opened her mouth to speak, hesitating when she noticed all the cocked ears in the room. "Dad, she owns a multi-million dollar corporation. The fact that you asked her was the only thing she cared about," she said reluctantly as Corey entered the already crowded kitchen.
"Where's Bailey?" he asked.
"She's sleeping," Piper said. "What's up?"
"Did you know she fixed my car?"
"No, I found out the same time you did," Piper said honestly.
"Bailey fixed your car?" Jennifer asked.
"Yeah," Corey said. "Runs like a raped ape. I wanted to thank her."
"When did she do that?" Liz asked curiously.
"Last night," Piper admitted. "She read Corey's manual and pulled some stuff from the Internet. I didn't know she went out to fix it until she handed the keys to Corey."
"You mean she went out there in the middle of the night and worked on that old car?" Liz asked unbelievingly.
Piper shrugged wishing that there weren't so many ears in the room.
"I can't believe she did that," Liz said.
"Mom, she only sleeps sporadically. She probably didn't have anything else to do," Piper explained hoping to end the conversation.
"Hmmm," Liz grunted. "Well, you'd better go wake her. Food will be ready in about an hour."
"Alright," Piper said handing Devon back to Jennifer and walking out of the room.
"Piper," her father said coming out of the kitchen after her. She looked at him expectantly but he shooed her to the end of the hall and looked around before he spoke. "Piper, you be good to that girl," he said quietly.
"What do you mean, Dad?"
"You be good to her," he repeated. "She has a gentle nature, but she hasn't led a gentle life."
"How do you know that?"
"Honey, she's a sweet girl," Jack said kindly. "Take care of her, I think she's earned it," he said and kissed her on the forehead, ambling out of the house without another word.
Piper watched him go and considered his words as she walked up the stairs and into her bedroom. She closed the door behind her and stared at the form sleeping on her bed for several minutes.
"What are you doing?" Bailey asked startling her slightly.
"Watching you," Piper admitted.
"Why?" Bailey said rolling over to face her.
"Because I can," Piper said coming over and lying down beside her, looking closely into her eyes and staring until Bailey turned her face away. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Bailey said quietly with a sigh.
"What is it that you're afraid I'll see?" Piper asked gently and Bailey rolled completely over to present Piper with her back.
"Is dinner ready?" she asked quietly.
"Almost," Piper answered. "Tell me."
"I can't."
"Why not?" Piper prodded gently and waited patiently for over a minute for her to answer.
"Because I don't think I could stand to lose you," Bailey said finally in a whisper.
"Oh, sweetie," Piper said sadly stroking her hair. "I won't leave you, it's far too late for that."
"Piper, I hope with all my heart that's true," Bailey said quietly. "But my life is hard thing to share and would be an even harder thing to know."
"It is true and I already suspect more than you think."
"There's an unimaginably large gulf between what you might suspect and reality," Bailey said honestly.
"That may be true," Piper said slowly, "but whatever you've done or have been involved in, doesn't take away from the fact that you mean the world to me."
Bailey rolled over to face her. "Just let me hold you," she whispered.
V
Without a noise, Without my pride,
I reach out from the inside
- P. Gabriel
"McKraken," Terry said, hitting the speakerphone in his office.
"Terry, would you come to the Situation room, please?" Bob said. "We've gotten two hits on Cameron's paper."
"Really?" Terry said surprised. "Give me ten minutes."
"Alright," Bob said and disconnected.
Terry leaned back in his chair and looked around his office, noticing for the first time in a week what a sty it was. There were clothes everywhere and enough used paper plates and Styrofoam coffee cups to cover every furniture surface in the room. He rubbed a hand through his hair and it came back greasy. He decided a shower was in order and he rose from his seat to grab his toiletry bag and some clean clothes from the closet.
Seven minutes later, he was looking in the mirror at the beard that he had let grow in unnoticed, deciding to let it go for the time being. Since receiving the news that Cameron's family had escaped his grasp, he had avoided even minimal contact with everyone, retreating to his office where he had finally succumbed to depression. He knew he hadn't made an appearance in days and his staff must be more than a little concerned about his ability to lead them through this situation. If the truth were known, he had doubts about that himself.
In the elevator, he found himself praying that the individuals who had expressed interest in Cameron's contract weren't fools. He chastised himself for withdrawing from the situation and realized he hadn't read a movement report or an update for several days.
He swiped his card and punched in his pin number to enter the Situation room and walked briskly to his chair, ignoring the glances from his colleagues.
"What's the story, Bob?" he said taking a seat. "Can either of them pull it off?"
"Perhaps," Bob said. "Here's what we know," he added, sliding two manila folders across the smooth surface of the table to rest in front of him.
"What's the story on her movement?" Terry asked not looking at the folders.
"Her only movement from the building seems to be to and from the residence of Piper Tate," Keith said. "She spent last weekend inside the Tate home and has gone to dinn
er with her several times, a nightclub once, and shopping once. In addition, the Tate woman seems to be driving one of her cars. Cameron has only left the building twice this week that we are aware of; the last was to pick up Tate on Thursday morning where they both returned to C-Corp. No movement since."
"She found a friend?" Terry asked unbelievingly. "She's never let anyone near her before."
"We believe that Tate and Cameron are a little more than friends," Keith said. "Daytime surveillance reports that they were seen holding hands on several occasions."
"She's gay?" Terry blurted in surprise more loudly than he intended.
"We suspect that Cameron and Tate are involved in a romantic relationship, yes," Keith said slowly.
"I'll be Goddamned," Terry said totally flummoxed as he ran that through his mind for several minutes.
"Terry?" Bob finally braved.
"Yes, I'm sorry," Terry said, returning to the moment. "Tell me about our Free Agents," he added quickly.
"Everything we have is in front of you," Bob said gesturing to the folders he had given him.
"I'll read them later, give me your opinion," Terry said dismissively.
"If it's a straight up fight only one has a chance," Bob said. "However, depending on the circumstances, either might be successful. No guarantees when you take into account who they're dealing with. But apparently they're willing to give it a try."
"Hmmm," Terry considered. "I'd like a current detail of her movements up to this moment and I'd like the night to consider some options. I'll see all of you in the morning," he said collecting the folders in front of him and taking another from Keith on the way out of the room.
"Nice beard," Keith commented when the door closed behind him.
"His eyes lit up," Bob said thoughtfully. "He has an idea and I'll bet you a hundred bucks tomorrow he has a plan."
"You think?" Keith asked curiously.
"Yeah," Bob said.
----------
"Come on, girls," Liz said with a knock on Piper's door. "Dinner's ready, everyone's outside already."
"We'll be there in a minute, Mom," Piper said through the door.
"Hurry along," Liz said in parting.
"Let me redo your hair, you got it all messy while you were sleeping," Piper chided as she took a seat behind her on the bed.
Stories by Kiera Dellacroix Page 33