Dare (36 page)

Harley

I wanted to stay there for…well, forever. I didn’t want him to let me go. I didn’t want his kiss to stop lingering against my lips. I wanted to feel his heart pounding under his shirt and the heat of his skin, the heat that proved just how alive he was, to forever warm me up. He was my reason for getting out of bed in the morning and for facing life with a smile and a little skip in my step.

“I love you,” he whispered against my lips.

“I love you, too.”

He ran his finger along the angle of my jaw. “I kind of like your hair like this. I can see every inch of your face all the time.”

I groaned. “You would.”

“Don’t you like it?”

I laughed. “I should go to the hospital for all my haircuts.”

He chuckled before pressing his lips to my forehead.

“You look like a pixie. Or a little fairy.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

I ran my hand up his chest again before letting it slide down, hooking my fingers under the waist of his slacks.

“If you like it, I would go bald. Wear a potato sack. Dance like Miley Cyrus and sing like Flavor Flav.”

He laughed again. “Okay, that’s going a little too far.”

“Yeah? Don’t you think that big clock around his neck is sexy? Maybe I could get a replica of Big Ben to wear.”

He groaned as he kissed me again. “And now I remember why I love you.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer. “Promise me you won’t ever forget.”

Once again, his lips lingered against mine, his kiss filled with so much emotion that it stole my breath, my confidence, and my determination to end this thing today. He was scared. So was I. I could handle my fear, but I wasn’t sure I could handle his.

“Hey, let’s do this thing,” Grant called from the sitting room.

Xander groaned one more time, then he took my hand and led the way inside.

Grant was sitting on the couch, leaning forward so that only part of him was sitting. The rest of him was resting on the balls of his feet, as if he was prepared to run out of the room the minute he felt cornered. Bonnie was beside him, the same fear that lived in Xander’s eyes dancing all over her face. The woman was likely not a good poker player. Her every emotion was always written in the lines on her face. And, right now, she was not a happy woman.

Xander and I sat on the couch facing them, our hand locked together. We were still wearing our wedding rings, an oversight that I should have remedied hours ago. But it didn’t seem that important any more.

“Here’s the thing,” Grant said, launching right in as if he was giving his summation in a trial. “I didn’t know that these fellows had connections with the wrong people. No one even knew who this ISIS group was a year ago. Two years ago, I did all the things I was supposed to do. They checked out. So, the fact that I cut a few corners this year shouldn’t have mattered. How was I supposed to know this thing would get so out of hand?”

Bonnie patted his shoulder as if she was consoling a small child. I could feel the tension race through Xander. He’d never disliked Grant. He simply never trusted him. He had good instincts.

“When the feds came to my office, I met with my clients. I told them I was taking heat because of them and I’d decided to drop them as clients. It was a hard decision because they paid quite well. But then they informed me that if I dropped them, they would make sure that certain people got photos of Margaret when she was seventeen and she was involved in an accident out in Santa Monica.”

Xander stiffened again, sitting up straighter as he eyed Grant. “Bullshit!”

“They claimed—”

“No one has any proof of it. You said you made sure.”

“I did. But I can’t control the victim. And he’s still alive and well. I had him checked out when they made the threat.”

“You think he…?”

“What are you talking about?” Bonnie asked. “That’s not what you told me.”

Grant touched Bonnie’s shoulder, as Xander jumped to his feet. I watched him, watched the way he moved, the way he ran his hands over his head, as if he wanted to pull his hair out one strand at a time. I didn’t know what they were talking about either. But I could see it wasn’t good.

Xander turned and stared at Grant. “Does Margaret know they threatened her?”

Grant’s eyes narrowed. “Margaret knows as little about this whole situation as possible. I don’t want her getting mixed up in it.”

Xander’s eyes fell on me for a second then he gestured to Grant.

“Go on. They threatened Margaret, and you decided to keep working for them.”

“They threatened Margaret, and I felt like I had no choice.”

“What about Mom. Didn’t you realize that you would eventually go down for this? And that you would drag my mom down with you?”

“Of course I knew that. But I had to make a choice.” Grant stared at Xander for a long minute. “You don’t have children now. But when you do, you’ll understand.”

Xander shook his head even as his mother slid her hand back into Grant’s, showing him that she would have stood by Grant no matter what his choice had been.

“Did you know the reporter last night?”

Grant didn’t answer right away. His eyes moved to me almost reluctantly. That was enough answer for me, but Xander wanted concrete. He wanted no doubt.

“He works for them.”

Xander turned to me. The look on his face was almost comical. Despite the gravity of the situation, he so wanted to say I-told-you-so.

“What were you doing for these people?” I asked, trying to ignore Xander.

Grant looked at me, but I think he was waiting for Xander to explode again. He was quiet for a long moment, then he slowly began to speak.

“They told me they were interested in developing real estate all over the country. They were beginning in California, but they planned to eventually move to the Midwest, and then further east. They said they wanted to buy old buildings, renovate them, and resell them. I’ve done that sort of work for dozens of clients, so I didn’t think much of it. You’d be surprised how many foreign companies work here in the states, doing things like that.

“So we bought up a few buildings in various cities. But then they wanted to play with the money, make it look like they’d spent more than they actually did. Again, this is something I’ve done with clients before. I moved the money around, made it look like some of it came other sources…”

“You laundered it,” Xander said, his voice incredulous.

Grant shrugged. “You can call it that.”

“You were laundering money for terrorists. And helping them buy buildings in strategic places in three of the biggest cities in California.”

“I didn’t know they were terrorists.”

“Now you do.”

“And now I’m going to pay for what I’ve done.”

Xander shook his head, turning away again, as he once more moved with agitation around the room.

“We have dates of meetings, deeds, and paper trails,” I said. “Things the feds need to arrest you.”

Grant studied my face for a long minute. “Okay.”

“I was supposed to hand them over to a federal agent posing as a journalist two months ago. But now we know that man is actually working for your clients.”

Grant’s eyes widened slightly. “They knew I was being investigated.”

“Well, they also know that Xander was cooperating with federal agents.”

Grant glanced at Xander. “You?”

“Yeah. Are you surprised?”

Grant stared at him for a long minute, then he just shook his head. “Not really.”

“They approached me. They threatened Mom. They threatened my freedom, my life with Harley. I couldn’t just pretend I didn’t know what was happening.”

“If you’d come to me—”

“They would have put us all in jail right there and then.”

“They had no information.”

“No,” Xander said, as he again dragged his fingers through his hair. “They had plenty of information on you. But what they wanted was the men you were working for. They wanted it all.”

Grant sat back on the couch. He pulled Bonnie’s hand up to his lips and kissed her gently.

“Then we’ll give them what they want.”

Xander

I wanted her to stay at the house, but she refused. She clung to my hand as we walked into the restaurant, so tight that my bones were rubbing together. She was scared.

So was I.

I spotted him at a table closest to the kitchen, a busy area that was a little concerning. I wasn’t sure how we could talk freely with all the traffic that was going past there, but, then again, it seemed logical. Everyone was so busy going about their own business that they wouldn’t even remember that much about us, let alone overhear much of our conversation.

I don’t think I would be good at this terrorist stuff. I was too honest.

The man—Colin Francis—stood as we approached the table.

“Harley,” he said with genuine affection in his voice. “How are you?”

Harley smiled politely. “Good, thank you.”

“And Xander.” He studied my face for a minute, then offered his hand with a polite smile. I shook it because I didn’t know what else to do.

He gestured for us to take a seat. Harley snatched my hand under the table once we were all seated, clutching it quite tightly once again. I squeezed back.

“So, I spoke to Philip this morning,” Colin said. “He told me all about your accident. I was sad to hear about it.”

“It was unfortunate,” Harley agreed. “But I’m doing much better, and my doctor expects I’ll enjoy a full recovery.”

“That’s good.” Colin looked from her to me. “Nothing like an accident to bring a couple back together.”

Harley glanced at me. “Well, if you spoke to Philip, then you know that the whole separation was just our way of trying to protect ourselves from Xander’s family learning what we were up to.”

He inclined his head slightly. “It was a good plan.”

A waiter chose then to come and ask us for our drink orders. Colin sat back and studied the two of us as the waiter did his spiel, trying to sell us on something from the bar. I would have loved a good, stiff drink. But if I ever needed a clear head, it was now.

It was all incredibly insane. Grant came up with a plan and…hell, it couldn’t be much worse than relying on a high school history teacher to put us in touch with the right people in the government. But Grant wasn’t the one sitting here now.

I just wanted all this over with.

“We need to know a few things,” I said the moment the waiter turned his back. “We can’t just hand this stuff over without knowing what you’re going to do with it.”

Colin raised impressive eyebrows. “I don’t blame you, Xander. I’m sure you’re quite concerned about your mother.”

“Yes. And Harley and Margaret and everyone else involved in this thing.”

“I notice you didn’t say Grant.”

I shrugged, my eyes falling to the top of the table. “Grant got himself caught up in this mess. We’re just trying to clean it up.”

Amusement danced in the man’s eyes. It sent a shiver of fear down my spine.

“And you, Harley. Is that your opinion, too?”

“It is.”

Colin sat back and played with a fork that was part of his table setting. “Well,” he said slowly, a hint of an accent suddenly coming out in his words, “I suppose you already know that the feds are going to execute a warrant on Grant’s offices tomorrow. If they find what they expect to, which includes hard copies of some of the things you’ve already provided the agents,” he said, gesturing to me with his chin, “he and several of his associates, including your mother, will be arrested and charged with many things, not the least of which is laundering money and aiding terrorists.”

“We already knew that,” Harley said. “What we want to know is why you need this additional information if you already have enough to arrest them?”

“Because you can never have enough information.”

“Most of what we have will be on the computers you’ll confiscate at his office.”

“Yes, well, he’s been tipped off, so we fully expect some of this information to disappear.”

Harley and I exchanged glances. That was what we’d expected him to say.

“How do you know he was tipped off?”

Colin Francis looked a little uneasy for a second, as his eyes wandered from me to Harley. Then he shrugged. “It was just an assumption, and you just confirmed it.”

Harley’s hand loosened on mine. She was growing more relaxed as this played itself out. It seemed to be going exactly as we had thought it would.

“After he’s arrested and everything starts to play out, what happens then? Will we have to testify?”

“You might. We’ll need to be able to show where the evidence came from.”

“So we’ll have to stick around,” I said.

“Were you planning in leaving town?”

Harley shrugged. “You never know. One of these days I might actually be able to talk him into going back to Texas with me.”

“I was thinking more about the Bahamas.”

Harley shook her head. “I’m fair-skinned. I’d burn too easily.”

“How about Tuscany?” I asked, nuzzling her neck gently. “That might be fun. A little villa in a small community. Our own grove of olive trees.”

“That does sound nice.”

Colin cleared his throat. “Do you have the information?”

I glanced at him. “Do you have what we asked for?”

He glanced toward the windows on the far side of the restaurant, as though he expected someone to be there, watching us. Then he looked deeper into the restaurant, waiting as a waiter walked past our table to the kitchen. It took him several minutes to feel secure that we weren’t being watched. Then he shoved something at my knee under the table.

I wanted to laugh. Didn’t he realize that he’d just confirmed everything we already knew? Not only that, but he’d just hung Philip’s father just as surely as he’d hung himself.

And it was all thanks to Grant.

“Then we’ll give them what they want,” Grant said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Who’s this contact of yours? Who have you been talking to?”

“Philip James. His father—”

“Is Franklin James, right?” Grant shook his head. “The two of you are so far in over your heads, you don’t even know how deeply you’re buried.”

“What are you talking about?” Harley demanded.

“I’m talking about the fact that Franklin James is in just as deep with these people as I am. Who do you think paid for his campaign for the US Senate?”

Harley shook her head. She clearly didn’t want to believe it. I went and sat next to her, took her hand in mine in an attempt to offer a little consolation. I knew exactly how she felt. I didn’t want to believe half of what I’d just learned today either.

“I’ll prove it to you. And the feds. You call this Philip, tell him you want to meet with that reporter fella, but first you want to make a deal. You tell him that you want something in exchange for the information. Something they won’t balk at. Like, say, a couple thousand bucks or a new car or something.”

“A new car. You’re joking, right?” I said.

Grant shook his head. “That’s nothing to these people.” He waved his hand at Harley. “Go tell him what I said. He won’t question you. And when this guy hands you the money, you’ll know which side he’s on.”

Harley did, and Grant was right. Philip never questioned her.

So much for distancing himself from Daddy.

Just to make sure we weren’t walking into something we couldn’t control, I called Randy, the guy who first told me about Grant and got the original feds in touch with me. They immediately jumped when I told them Grant wanted to cooperate. At this very moment, Grant was downtown spilling everything he knew to the feds about his clients, the things he’d done for them, and who else they had working for them. Grant even knew where they could be found. They were in town, sitting back to watch the show, unaware that they were about to become the star attraction.

There were also half a dozen agents here in this room just waiting for me to signal them.

We didn’t have to go through with this. But I wanted to know what was in the information I’d gathered that they wanted so badly.

I took the package he slid under the table to me and put it in Harley’s lap.

“Can I ask you something?”

Colin shrugged, but his eyes were nervously moving around the room again.

“Did you really have proof that Margaret hit a teenager on the streets in Santa Monica? Or did you just hear a rumor and suspect you could bluff your way through it?”

Colin’s face tightened, as he turned his gaze back to mine. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You see, I was there. I was in the car with her. And I saw that boy before she hit him. He was drunk as a skunk. That’s why he stepped into the street. And Margaret, she didn’t have her license yet, and if she’d been caught driving, she wouldn’t have been able to get it until she was eighteen. She didn’t want that, so she asked me to pretend that I was driving. So, even if you talked to the victim himself, who I know for a fact is serving nine years in the federal penitentiary, he would have told you I was driving.”

Harley’s mouth opened a little as she listened to me talk, but she shut it again, aware of all the ears listening to us.

Colin’s eyes narrowed even more.

“What do you want with this information, anyway? It only incriminates you and your people.”

“If you believe that,” he said slowly, “then you don’t fully understand what it is you have.”

All pretense was gone now. He wasn’t pretending to be a federal agent or a reporter anymore. He was just a terrorist who thought he could control everyone around him. But maybe he’d finally met someone he couldn’t bully. And that was making him nervous.

“I have a list of dates. Of times when you and your people came into town to meet with Grant. And I have a bunch of deeds to properties you bought up that will, very soon, belong to the United States government. This is all stuff the government will have very soon. So why is it important to you?”

Colin just shook his head as he slowly stood up.

“This conversation is over.”

“It certainly is,” our waiter said, as he came up behind Colin and slapped handcuffs on his wrists.

Our waiter was actually a federal agent who’d been listening to the entire conversation via a bug we’d consented to bring in with us when we arrived.

It was in the hem of Harley’s shirt.

I can’t tell you how much satisfaction I felt, watching them handcuff this scum and walk him out of the room.

We’d been told Philip’s father and others Grant had named had been, or would very soon, be arrested. The media would be in a frenzy very soon, everyone trying to get as much of the story as they could.

I still couldn’t make much out of it. All I knew was that Grant had done something wrong, but he’d redeemed himself by going to the authorities before they came to him. And that my mom was there, by his side, as she has always been.

There would be consequences for Grant’s involvement in all of this. For my mom, too. But not as much as there would have been otherwise. Thanks to Harley. Thanks to her quick thinking.

No one could have known about Philip’s dad; that was just an odd twist of fate. Harley believed that Philip was honestly trying to help, that even he didn’t know about his father’s criminal connections. We probably won’t ever know for sure. But it all worked out for the best.

And now it was time to go home and celebrate.