Asher (The Mavericks Book 5)

by Dale Mayer

  “That’s what it’s here for,” Asher said. “Now maybe we can get to the bottom of all this mess.”

  “Can I go home now?” she asked. “And, of course, I feel terrible about that because I still haven’t had confirmation of the twins.”

  “I hear you,” he said. “But, with any luck, that’s in progress, and we’ll get word soon.”

  “You do realize it’s quite possible they’ve all been kidnapped?” Mickie asked.

  “I know,” Asher said, “but we do have confirmation that a private jet left Shanghai with four passengers on board. They filed a flight plan to Switzerland.”

  “Great,” she said, some of her feelings showing on her face.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “We’ll get to Geneva soon.”

  “How soon?”

  He shrugged. “We’ll be there tomorrow.”

  She thought about it, then nodded. “Okay. It’d probably be half a day traveling by air anyways.”

  “Yeah, I checked. Thirteen to fifteen hours on a commercial flight, as there is no direct shot there. Unless, of course, they are taking a private jet,” he said. “Remember. We’re trying to avoid any public railways and cameras.”

  “Exactly.”

  And, with that, she finished off her plate and poured herself a cup of coffee and sagged into the corner.

  As he caught sight of her eyes closing and her head tilting sideways, he grabbed the cup she held. She looked at him, blurry-eyed, and asked, “Did I drink it?”

  “You did,” he lied. “Lie down and sleep.”

  She curled up in the corner and was out. He returned her almost full cup to the trolley and looked at Ryker, who had a grin on his face.

  “Looks like things are much better in paradise.”

  “Much,” Asher said.

  “She’ll handle this lifestyle?”

  “Well, apparently neither of us were doing all that great apart. So hopefully together we can at least be just as bad,” he joked.

  “You’ll be fine,” Ryker said. “But she’s got the right idea. Let’s finish up, and then we can both crash.”

  They quickly finished off the food, and, this time, Asher took the trolley outside and locked it into place a few feet from the dumbwaiter. It would be picked up very quickly, he knew. Back inside, Ryker was already stretched out in the opposite bunk. Asher noted Mickie had stretched out and covered most of the bottom bunk, so he quickly crawled up onto the top bunk and stretched out.

  The best thing he could do was sleep. It would be a crazy few hours as soon as they disembarked. But it was all good. For the first time in a long time, he felt pretty damn fine about everything.

  Chapter 18

  When they’d said that they would be in Geneva the next day, what they hadn’t mentioned was that they were moving from the cruiser to a warship to a helicopter to another warship and then to an international US airstrip to catch a military flight into Switzerland. Once in Geneva, they rented a vehicle and headed toward the home that Mickie had occupied for the last six months. As she came up to the gates, they were closed. “Is it safe to return here?”

  Asher nodded.

  “But this is the lion’s den.”

  Asher smiled, but Ryker spoke this time. “We’ve got backup in place here.”

  Still worried but trusting these men, she hopped out and hit the button on the side. “Hey, Leonard,” she said to the security guard on duty. “Can you let me in?”

  “Hey, Mickie, nice to see you back again.” He pushed the button.

  Before she hopped back into the car, she asked, “Everybody home safe and sound?”

  “Yep, safe as can be.”

  When she got back into the car, she said, “According to Leonard, everybody’s here.”

  “Interesting,” they said, and they drove up to the front doors.

  “So we’re allowed inside. That’s a good sign, right?” Mickie asked.

  The men shared a knowing look.

  “Or … it’s a trap?”

  Asher winked. “We’ve got this covered.”

  She was still trying to shake out the weird feeling from all the different travel modes. And it certainly worked in the sense that nobody would have seen her face, but was that a good thing? As they walked up to the front steps, she asked, “Have you guys had any updates yet from Chandra?”

  “No, but our people confirm that the Chinese military is cooperating with the local authorities as to the dead left behind,” he said. “And they’re pretty pissed because they figured that they lost the one key person involved in the murders.”

  “And what about Lana?”

  “Oh, that’s what’s new,” Ryker said. “She turned up dead.”

  At the top step, Mickie froze and turned to look at him. “Seriously?”

  “Yes. Supposedly a hit-and-run,” he said in a wry tone. “Nobody has any details.”

  “Great,” she said as she entered the big doors of the mansion.

  Edward’s head of security walked toward her. All six foot eight of him. “And what are you doing here?” he asked suspiciously.

  She stared at him. “So, is Edward taking over this place too then?” she asked lightly.

  He frowned and said, “I must let them know you’re here.”

  “I live here,” she snapped.

  He stiffened, and his head reared. “Well, I don’t know about that anymore.” He turned and headed toward the living room.

  Not to be outdone, she followed on his heels. Chandra sat beside the fire, even though a hot summer day. She looked up in shock when she saw Mickie. Chandra jumped to her feet and came over. “Oh, am I glad to see you,” she said. “We didn’t know what had happened to you.”

  “You mean, after you canceled my hotel room and didn’t give me a flight home?” she asked, desperately trying to hold back the bitterness.

  Chandra looked at her in shock. “I never canceled your hotel room.”

  “The day you left,” she said, “my room was already given away to another customer, and they were told that I wouldn’t be back. And my room wasn’t paid for and then you never contacted me with my flight information.”

  “Edward took care of that,” Chandra said.

  Mickie turned to see Edward standing by the window. “Yeah, Edward, did you?” Mickie said in a mocking tone.

  Edward looked at her like he always had, as if she were some foreign bug.

  She remembered when he had first met her and had called her an American. There had been such disgust in his voice. He had been born somewhere in Europe and felt himself above his mother and his twin sisters, who had all been born in America as well.

  “It must have been a mistake or a clerical error or something,” he said with a shrug. He turned to look at the two men with her, and his gaze turned hostile. “And who are they?”

  Ryker and Asher both crossed their arms over their chests and stared back at him blandly.

  “They’re the men who helped me in China to get home again,” she said. Then she turned to look at Chandra. “They’re also the men who found the twins for you, and you just ran out on us.”

  “Oh, my dear, I’m so sorry, but I had the twins, and I had to get them home.”

  “You wouldn’t even take me with you,” she said. “Neither would you tell me that the twins were okay. I spent days in China trying to find them. Have you forgotten that I was also injured in that kidnapping mess?”

  Chandra didn’t grasp the significance of what she’d done—but then she lived in a world where, with a snap of her fingers, she could have anything and everything she wanted. She motioned at the seat beside her. “Sit down. You must be tired.”

  “I am,” Mickie said, yawning. “It’s been a pretty rough trip.”

  “And how did you fly home?” Edward asked.

  She glanced at him and glared. “Not the normal way,” she said. “Why? Were you paying people to find out when I entered the country?”

  He made a hand motion as if to
say it wasn’t worth his time. “I hear there was quite a mess in China,” he said.

  “There was,” she said. “I wonder how much of it was your doing.”

  At that, his face turned to a dark scowl. “There will be no more of that talk from you.”

  Chandra herself reached out and grasped Mickie’s hands. “I don’t know what you’ve heard, but Edward didn’t have anything to do with this.”

  “No, of course not,” she said. She glanced at Asher and Ryker and shrugged. It’s not like she knew how to handle this scenario. She faced Chandra. “What about the twins? Are they okay?”

  Chandra smiled. “They are.”

  “And what came of all this mess about a wedding that you’re supposed to do for somebody and paying out five million dollars so that you can get your daughters back?” Asher asked, his voice hard.

  Chandra looked completely dumbfounded at that. “I don’t know,” she said. “It all went to hell. Then Edward stepped in, and got them back. For which I am forever grateful.”

  “And just like that, less than an hour later, you leave the country,” Mickie said.

  “I can see that you’re upset, dear,” Chandra said, getting a little upset herself. “And it’s really not my fault. Obviously I had to put the twins’ care first.”

  Mickie nodded. “Of course you did.” But her gaze never left Chandra’s son.

  Edward looked like this whole thing was completely beneath him.

  “May I see them?”

  “Of course you can,” she said. “They’ll be here in a few minutes anyway.”

  “Are they recovered from the drugs?”

  Chandra nodded. “So good of you to worry. They’ll be fine.”

  Just then footsteps were outside. The doors opened again and in came Amelia and Alisha. When they saw Mickie, their faces lit up. Mickie raced toward the two beautiful women, engulfing them in hugs. The three of them stood, talking back and forth incessantly. She stepped back and looked up at them, her hand holding one of each of theirs. “I’m so happy you’re safe.”

  “Of course they’re safe,” Edward said. “We aren’t telling them all the nasty details. What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

  Mickie ignored him, asking the twins, “Do you remember who kidnapped you?”

  Both of the women immediately nodded.

  “Do you remember your old nanny?”

  Alicia nodded. “Yes, Lana was there.’

  “Yes, she was, wasn’t she?” Mickie said, laughing. She hugged the first one again and then the other. “I’m so happy that you’re safe at home.” Then she walked with them to the couch. And she turned to see Edward frozen in place and Chandra standing stiff, staring at her.

  “What was that about their ex-nanny?” Chandra asked.

  “You didn’t know?” Mickie asked. “Didn’t Edward tell you?” She turned to Edward. “Why didn’t you tell your mother that Wilson Chang, her marketing guru, and his sister, Lana, the twins’ former nanny, were involved in the original kidnapping? Because obviously you would have told Chandra if you knew, right? But then again you were also involved, so whatever, right?”

  He almost spat he was so mad. He stormed to stand in front of her.

  Immediately Asher stepped up beside her.

  He looked at him and glared. “What? You bring your watchdog in here?”

  “Well, we brought a whole lot more than one watchdog,” she said.

  “What are you talking about?” Chandra asked. “Edward didn’t have anything to do with this. I told you that. And, if that bitch Lana did, well, that makes a whole lot of sense. She was always trouble.”

  Mickie looked at her. “She worked for you for ten years.”

  “And damn near had the twins convinced that she was their mother too.”

  “And that’s why she was kidnapping them. Because she didn’t want to live without them,” Mickie said gently. “At least that was how it started.”

  “Well, wait until I have a talk with that girl,” Chandra said, completely affronted. “They’re my daughters.”

  Mickie nodded slowly. “Yes, but, because you were always gone, and Lana spent so much time with them, she felt like they were hers.”

  “I don’t care. She had no business doing that. Wait until I speak with her.”

  “That’ll be a little hard to do,” Asher said. “She was murdered yesterday.”

  At that, Chandra stared at him, her jaw dropping. “What?”

  “Yeah, funny how that happens,” he said. “She was in a hit-and-run accident.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

  “No,” he said. “There’s a lot you don’t understand. Is your marketing guru here? I’m sure he would like to know about his sister’s demise.”

  She looked at Edward. “Can you call him in, please?”

  Edward nodded and walked around to the desk, then punched in a code for the PA system overhead. He schooled his voice as he called Wilson into the main drawing room. They waited in silence, but nobody arrived.

  “When did you last see him?” Mickie asked Chandra.

  “When we arrived, but I haven’t seen much of him since.”

  “Today at all?”

  Chandra shook her head. Then she looked at Edward. “Edward, have you seen him today?”

  “I don’t think so, no,” he said. “Why?”

  “Well, now that his sister has passed on, and he was involved in this plot from the beginning,” Mickie said, “you might want to make sure that he’s captured.”

  “Says you,” Edward said with a sneer.

  “So says the US government and the Chinese government,” she said smoothly. “So I highly suggest that somebody find him and fast. Otherwise, of course, we’ll phone for the Swiss military to come in and pick him up.”

  “I don’t understand what’s going on,” Chandra said, looking dazed. “Why would Wilson do that?”

  “Well, more than that, I’m pretty sure he’s responsible for the related murders in China,” Mickie said. But, once again, she didn’t take her gaze off Edward.

  Chandra gasped, her hand on her chest. “But this is awful. Somebody please explain what’s going on.”

  “It’s quite simple,” Asher said, wrapping an arm around Mickie’s shoulder and holding her close. “Your old nanny, Lana, wanted to keep the twins with her. The six months that she was away from them was just too much. Her brother, Wilson, persuaded you to take the twins to China, where he helped his sister kidnap them. Only somebody got wind of it and decided that it would be a perfect opportunity for him to make a knight-in-shining-armor appearance and save the day. Hence, your son, Edward. So you see, they’re all involved.”

  Chandra stared at Asher for a long moment; then her gaze went from Mickie to Edward and then back to Asher. Her bottom lip trembled. “Surely that can’t be.”

  “Of course it is,” Mickie said. “Just think about all the stories we were told and all the chaos and the confusion. It was smoke and mirrors. All of it was smoke and mirrors. But, in the meantime, a lot of people lost their lives. More than I even care to remember.” She sat here in silence, thinking about even the fisherman and his family, whose only crime was to offer his boat to hold the twins. In a surprise move, she turned on Edward and said, “Did you kill the fisherman too?”

  “I didn’t kill anybody,” he snapped.

  “Interesting,” she said. “Because the nurse who helped with the twins initially is dead. And we’ve got her two brothers in jail. They were the second set of kidnappers. But the two gunmen, who were the initial kidnappers, they are dead too. Plus Lana is dead, and the fisherman is dead, and his family is all dead in the fire set at their home. All dead. How many others did we forget about or do we not even know of?” she asked, fatigue in her voice.

  “And we’ve got the lovely marketing guru, Wilson Chang, who is either dead or the next one to die. And all for what, Edward? Just because you wanted your mother’s attention? Or because you
wanted your sisters’ trust fund?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. “You’re obviously overwrought. I don’t know what kind of nonsense Lana filled your head with, but that woman was certifiable and obviously dangerous. She needed to be fired. It was completely unacceptable to fill the twins’ heads with all that garbage.”

  The twins sat on the couch, their arms wrapped around each other, their gazes going from one speaker to the other.

  Mickie got up, walked over, and sat down beside them. “It’ll be okay,” she said. “I’m sorry you had to hear all this.”

  “Sweng brought us back,” one of the twins said. “He took us to the hotel.”

  “Of course he did,” Chandra said. “Once we found out where you were, he’s the one who went to get you, along with Edward.”

  The twins nodded. “Lana was there too.”

  Chandra got up and joined the twins, then crouched in front of her daughters and said, “It won’t happen again. I’ll cut back on all my appointments, and I’ll stay home now.”

  The twins’ faces lit up, and the three of them shared a hug.

  Mickie joined Asher and asked, “Now what?”

  “I guess it depends,” he said. “Depends on how much of a clean sweep comes from this.”

  A new voice entered the fray. “There won’t be one,” Wilson said, as he entered from the side door. He had two handguns. “This is absolutely ridiculous. You can’t retire. That’s my job you are ending!”

  She stared at him in affront. “You always knew I would retire in a few years. What are you doing with those guns? Put them away, for heaven’s sake.”

  He shook his head slowly. “It’s my career that you’re killing.”

  “No, you can work for anybody else,” she said. “What did you think I would do? Keep working forever?”

  He stared up at the ceiling, looking for patience. “No, not forever, but you had to at least get me to the point where I was established and where I had all those contacts.”

  “You do have them,” she said. “It’s got nothing to do with you whether I quit or not.”

  “Yes, it does,” he said. “Because I’ll always be known as your assistant.”