Lethal Deception (8 page)

“Cassidy,” he began, and looked down at their clasped hands then up into her eyes, “that was a really dumb stunt you pulled going off to Brazil on your own. You know, growing up, I always thought you were a brat. You had everything you ever wanted materially, a big brother who doted on you, and yet you still found ways to cause your parents and Micah worry and frustration. Partying, out with a different guy each week and other things that the tabloids took great pleasure in reporting. I think you still have some growing up to do and you need to get busy doing it if you’re going to take care of a child.”

He watched her flinch as though he’d slapped her. Her face went white and she snatched her hands from his and stood. Anger and hurt simmered in her eyes as she pointed a finger at his nose and stated softly, “You don’t know anything about me, Gabriel Sinclair. Maybe taking off for Brazil was a dumb thing to do, and maybe I didn’t think through all the ramifications. Yes, I knew there’d be danger because of who my father is, but I wasn’t thinking about the danger. I was thinking about a child who’d just lost her parents. I was thinking about the promise I made to one of my best friends and I was thinking that finally, finally, I could do something for the person who helped me find myself—and God. So, no, Gabe, I don’t think I have any more growing up to do, but maybe you need to come down from that pedestal you’ve placed yourself on and rethink why you believe you can judge my actions. I also think it’s time you left.”

C
assidy decided to forget Gabe and her anger from the night before and take Alexis for a visit with the child’s new grandmother. She’d also decided to stay at the main house rather than at her own house across town. She needed the security of the home she’d grown up in. And besides, it was time to find out what was going on with her parents. The tension between them was suffocating—and it would distract her from her thoughts of Gabe.

Cassidy got up and dressed before Alexis woke. The child finally sat up and popped her thumb in her mouth. Sleepy eyes surveyed Cassidy, and Alexis smiled around her thumb.

“Good morning, munchkin.”

“Mornin’, my Cass-ty.” The words were slurred because of the thumb, but Cassidy understood her. Someone had found some clothes in Alexis’s size and laid them out in the bathroom that connected to the bedroom.

Fifteen minutes later, hand in hand, Cassidy and Alexis walked up to her parents’ fifteen-hundred-square-foot suite. Alexis giggled and chattered the whole way and Cassidy took delight in answering the many questions the child had for her. When they arrived at the door of her parents’ suite, she knocked and cracked it open. “Mom? We’re here,” she called.

Cassidy shifted Alexis higher in her arms and went on into the sitting area to her left. A full bath joined by the bedroom spread out off to the right. Tray ceilings above her; floor-to-ceiling windows with heavy purple-and-gold window treatments surrounded her. French doors to her left led to a glassed-in sunroom with a five-person hot tub.

Cassidy thought about the missionaries in the jungle and their simple, uncomplicated lives. Uncomplicated in material things anyway. After her experience in Brazil, the sheer magnitude of the luxury around her now took her breath away. She thought about what the money used to live like this could do for those living in poverty and shook her head. What she’d once taken for granted…well, no longer.

“Cassidy?” Marguerite came out of the bathroom and smiled. “I thought I heard you. And hello, to you, my new little friend.” She tapped Alexis on the nose and the little girl grinned at her. “Do you remember me?”

“Uh-huh. Milk and toys. Play.” She looked up at Cassidy and said, “Me down. Play with Marty.”

Cassidy and Marguerite laughed and Cassidy handed over the child. She said, “I’m going to find Mom and see what she’s doing.”

Marguerite frowned and chewed her lip.

Cassidy asked, “What is it, Marguerite? Tell me what’s going on with my parents, please.”

The woman shook her head. “It’s not my place, Cassidy. I’ve been praying a lot for this family, my dear. For God’s timing in all things. It’s now time for you to talk to your mother.”

Fear took a firm hold in her gut, replacing the mere concern she’d been feeling. “Okay,” she agreed. “Will you keep an eye on Alexis?”

“Now, that’s a silly question if I ever heard one. Your mother’s upset, but I think she’s ready to talk to you.”

Worried, Cassidy went. Sobs greeted her as she pushed open the door. “Mom!” She rushed to sit beside the woman on the bed. “What’s wrong?”

Red-rimmed eyes looked up from her mother’s sad, blotched face. Mascara ran down pale cheeks. She begged, “Tell me, please. Is this about whatever has come between you and Dad?”

Christina gasped and stared at Cassidy.

Cassidy shrugged. “I could sense it right off when I first got home, but to be honest, I was so tired and weary with all we’d been through that I didn’t have the energy to focus on anything else. I’m sorry if that sounds selfish, but…I just…I wish…” This time it was Cassidy who couldn’t finish her sentence.

Her mother sighed and patted Cassidy’s hand. “It’s all right, honey. I guess I just need to say it.” A deep breath. “Your father’s had an affair. More than twenty-five years ago. I recently found out about it. And when I start thinking about it, I can’t seem to stop crying.”

Cassidy felt the room spin. Once again, she couldn’t breathe, just like when she’d been in that tunnel in Brazil. She gasped, “Wha—huh? How? When? No, I don’t believe it.”

Fresh tears sparked in her mother’s eyes, but Cassidy ignored them and backed away, shock ripping through her insides as if she’d been skewered with a metal rod. Her mother said in a choking voice, “And that’s not the worst of it. I found out because the woman he had the affair with died, and she left your father a letter. Oh, Cassidy, they had a daughter together. You have a half sister out there somewhere.”

“Micah! Abort, abort. Everyone out, now!”

Bullets popping sounded through his headset; an agonized scream followed and Gabe yelled, “Evan, what’s going on?”

“Ambush, Gabe, they knew we were coming!”

“Where’s the boy?” Gabe ignored the hurt pulsing through him. His men. He had to save his men.

“The boy’s gone, disappeared somewhere. Micah’s chasing him. They’re—”

The next explosion ripped the air and Gabe tore the headset off, left ear ringing. It would take time to get his hearing back in that ear, but that fact hardly registered as he stared in horror at the fireball the massive estate had become. Everything in him wanted to rush into the flames and pull them out one at a time. But he knew it would be foolish. His men were gone. And so was the four-year-old little boy they’d come to rescue. The drug lord, the boy’s father, had killed him rather than give him up to his mother, who’d tried to escape the life of drugs and crime. Gabe felt his heart break. Micah! I’m sorry, Micah.

When the muzzle of the gun pressed against his right ear, he froze.

Heavily accented English ordered, “Don’t even think about moving.”

Adrenaline pumped. “I’m not moving. What do you want?”

“I want to know how you knew where to find me. Who was your source?”

Gabe bluffed. “Man, I just take orders.”

The gun pressed harder and Gabe winced.

“You have five seconds to answer the question then I pull the trigger.”

“How did you know we were coming?” Gabe countered with a question.

The figure behind him laughed. “You Americans think everyone is on your side.” The man hissed, “Now, your source. Five…four…three.”

Gabe didn’t move.

“Two.”

Gabe clamped his mouth shut and closed his eyes. He wondered where he would open them. Heaven, or hell?

“One.”

God, I want to come to heaven. I’m sorry…

“Bye-bye.”

Gabe’s own scream yanked him from the world of his nightmare. When would he stop reliving it? He threw back the covers and went into the adjoining bathroom to splash water on his sweaty face. Adrenaline caused his nerves to jump along his skin. He felt restless; needed to move. Get away from the dream. Get away from Micah haunting his thoughts. The man’s body had never been recovered and Gabe was under strict orders to keep the details of that failed assignment to himself. The military didn’t want it getting out that they’d left a man behind.

He wasn’t even allowed to discuss it with Jonathan, even though the ambassador had been responsible for rescuing him. Protocol. Gabe sometimes hated the whole concept. Today was one of those times. The family knew Micah was presumed dead and that was all he could say about the mission. Period. And yet, his body had never been recovered. That just didn’t add up in Gabe’s opinion.

Less than ten minutes later, he jogged along the path that circled Lake Bowen and turned his thoughts to last night.

He’d been a jerk.

The look on Cassidy’s face would stay with him the rest of his life. After putting him in his place and telling him to leave, she’d risen from the love seat and left the room.

He’d called after her. She’d ignored him. Gabe had let himself out of the mansion reassuring himself that he’d been right in what he’d said. By the time he arrived home, he realized he owed her an apology. But she’d scared him.

He’d seen her interest in him as a man. As a result, he’d lashed out in self-defense because he found the attraction mutual and didn’t want it to be; didn’t deserve her affection. In the jungle, he’d seen a different side of her. A side he’d liked…a lot. She’d been scared, but she’d displayed a courage few people in her situation would have shown.

She’d kept her promise to her friends despite every conceivable effort to stop her. Her determination to get to Alexis had endangered her life and yet she’d persevered. He’d accused her of needing to grow up and she’d said he didn’t know anything about her. But he did, and he wanted to know more. He also wanted to hear about how God had changed her life.

Cassidy planned to stay with her parents until the reading of the original will on Monday morning. Gabe and the ambassador had discussed, via telephone, safety precautions for Cassidy and Alexis. If the people that kidnapped her went to that much trouble to track her down, it seemed reasonable to suspect that they would try again.

Gabe’s stride faltered at the thought, but he reassured himself that she was safe as long as she was behind the walls of her parents’ security-protected home. Ambassador McKnight and his wife planned to leave after the reading of the will to head back to Brazil. His short-term leave was up, Cassidy was home safe, and the man had work to do. Gabe just hoped all would go as planned.

April 3

Monday dawned bright, warm and windy. The third day of April promised to be a hot one. Cassidy stepped into the offices of Morgan, Cline and Edwards and breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, it was all going to be over with. She’d left Alexis with her friend Amy.

Cassidy desperately tried to keep her thoughts from lingering on Gabe and the anger she’d felt when he’d accused her of being thoughtless. And her mother’s confession about her father’s affair. She’d have to sort through her emotions later. She loved her father and understood that the circumstances of her parents’ life had been vastly different all those years ago, but still…

Another thought struck her. Her father hadn’t been a Christian then so he’d not had the spiritual protection that would have allowed him to resist temptation. Sure, he’d known right from wrong, but what was to keep him from giving in? Where could his strength have come from if he didn’t have the Lord?

Cassidy shook her head. The affair was wrong, but she could see why it happened. After all, what was going on in his life at the time? A lousy home atmosphere, loneliness, pressure from his job, feeling like he wasn’t loved or understood—and no peace that comes from being able to lean on the One that would have been there through it all with him—Christ.

She took a deep breath. Yes, she could understand that. But she didn’t want to think about it anymore. Instead, she thought about Amy and how blessed she was to have her as a friend. Amy had come along after Kara and Cassidy had already formed their friendship, but Amy had been such a fun, cheery girl that she’d been welcomed with open arms and the twosome had quickly become a threesome.

Thank You, God, for Amy. Keep them safe today.

Cassidy walked up to the receptionist. A name plate on the desk read, Sheila Simons. In her midforties, Sheila wore an understated blue business suit and her creamy complexion was free of makeup. She had her reddish blond hair pulled back into a thick bun at the base of her neck. Large, thick glasses sat perched on her finely crafted nose shielding piercing hazel eyes. She oozed professionalism.

As Cassidy approached, the woman peered over the top of her frames and asked in a low, cool voice, “Hello. May I help you?”

Cassidy smiled. She said, “Hello, I’m here for the nine o’clock appointment with Mr. Morgan.”

“Certainly.” A heartbeat later, she spoke into the phone. “Mr. Morgan, Ms. McKnight is here for the reading of the will.”

The Coopers, Kara’s sister and brother-in-law, arrived. After stilted hellos, Sheila paged the lawyer and all four walked down to the conference room.

Susan seated herself then spoke through clenched teeth. “Kara would have wanted me to raise Alexis. We plan to sue for custody, you know. There’s no way she would have agreed to allow you to raise that child if she really thought something would happen to her and Jacob. I want her, Cassidy.”

Cassidy bit back a response and turned her attention to the lawyer. Thirty minutes later it was all over. There were a few touchy moments when Mr. Morgan claimed he didn’t have a copy of the handwritten codicil giving Cassidy custody of Alexis. He declared if the codicil couldn’t be located, custody would go to the grandmother, or Brian and Susan, the next of kin.

Cassidy protested, “I know Kara posted you the codicil. She sent yours the same day she sent mine.” After searching the files, neither he nor Sheila could find it.

Cassidy finally called Amy and had her run to Cassidy’s home to find the copy Anna had promised was waiting. Amy faxed the copy to Mr. Morgan who gave in without further ado. Cassidy had legal custody of Alexis—along with five hundred thousand dollars—Kara and Jacob’s life savings. Brian and Susan had been left a tidy sum of twenty-five thousand. And yet, Cassidy was worried.