Mac's Angels: The Last Dance: A Loveswept Classic Romance (17 page)

First, she had to change into some kind of reasonable dress. A fleece running suit over a flannel T-shirt. Heavy socks and running shoes. She reached for her purse, then laughed at herself. A driver’s license was the least of her needs right now. What she ought to have was a gun and a flashlight.

She had neither.

Two hours later her legs were burning with fire and she’d begun to stumble. She still hadn’t found the way to the garage and she was running out of time. Desperate and weak, she returned to her quarters, let herself inside, and sank into her wheelchair.

“Where’ve you been?”

It was Jessie, wiping sleep from her eyes. Dried tear streaks lined her cheeks.

“I—I was looking for the garage.”

“I tried to reach you. Mac’s gone. You were gone. I thought …”

Sterling forced herself to stand once more and made her way to the bed. She opened her arms and
felt Jessie crumple against her. “You thought we’d both abandoned you?”

“I didn’t know what to think.” Jessie sniffed. “To start with, I was just mad. Then I got scared.”

“So am I.”

Jessie cried for a moment, then hushed. “Why were you going to the garage? Nobody goes there anymore.”

Sterling thought about lying, then decided that she needed Jessie’s help if she were going to save her father. “Jessie, I want you to do something for me. Will you?”

“If I can.”

“Your father is in danger. He’s been kidnapped by a very sinister man. I—I have to get to the garage. I need a car to get down the mountain and I need it quick.”

“Mac’s in danger? Why?”

“I can’t tell you. Just know that I’m responsible. I brought the danger here and I have to end it.”

Jessie leaned back and wiped the corner of her eyes with the tail of her nightgown. “I’ll call Burt.”

“No! Trust me, Jessie. I can’t take the chance that Burt will stop me from leaving.”

“But what can you do?”

“I can save Mac. If you’ll help me.”

“All right. Let’s go.”

They started toward the corridor, but Sterling’s pain was so great that she had to hold on to the door or else she’d fall.

“What’s wrong?” Jessie asked.

“I can’t walk any farther right now. My legs need a rest.”

“Let me get your chair.” She pushed the chair to Sterling and waited.

“Damn!”
It isn’t fair. The bastard that did this to me is about to hurt Mac and I can’t even get to him to stop it
.

“Sit down, Sterling. Do you have anything to take—for pain?”

She did, but she couldn’t afford to be fuzzy-headed now. “No,” she said through clenched teeth. The pain wasn’t letting go even as she lowered herself into the chair. “Just get me to the garage.”

Jessie hesitated. “I’m not sure I know the way. I was a little girl then. And Mama—Mama was so upset that night. It was dark and I was afraid.”

Sterling could sense her fear. Jessie’s hands tightened around her chair and her body stiffened in fright. Sterling spoke softly to her. “Jessie, listen to me. I know you can do it. You need to. You can help Mac.”

“I couldn’t help my mother.”

“You were a little girl then. Now you’re an adult.”

She hesitated a long time, then said, “Sterling, I never told Mac, but I didn’t want to go. She was acting weird and I was scared.”

“Why did you go?”

“I thought if I got in the car with her, she wouldn’t leave.”

“Jessie, stop. Take a deep breath and listen. She
was sick. She didn’t know what she was doing. It was an accident. People who know how to deal with those things couldn’t save your mother. Neither could you. But you may be able to help me save your dad.”

Jessie tried to stop shaking. She loosened her grip and relaxed her shoulders. Her distress was still evident, but she was making a valiant attempt to control herself. “All right. I’ll try to find the way, but I’m not sure I remember. And if Burt or Raymond tracks us, we’re never going to get there.”

“But you know a way to override the system, don’t you?”

“Only to unlock doors. I learned to do that before Elizabeth came and the nannies would lock me in my room.”

Sterling shuddered. What kind of lonely life must this girl have led? “Tell you what, let’s get to my computer and see what we can do.”

That step seemed innocent enough and Jessie agreed. But forty-five minutes later they were forced to give up. Jessie dashed back to her quarters to dress and they started down. From the family elevator, they switched to one of a series of service elevators. Jessie studied the panel.

“I’m not sure which floor it’s on.”

“If I read the plans right,” Sterling said, “it’s on the west side of the third level.”

Jessie caught Sterling’s shoulders and squeezed. “Let’s do it.”

The car descended, then came to a stop and the
door opened. The corridor beyond was dark and damp. There were no lights here. “Now what?” Jessie asked. “We could run right past the door and not know it.”

Sterling allowed herself a small sigh. Her back hurt. Her legs hurt. Her heart hurt. What was Jonah doing to Mac? Would she be able to get there in time?

“Why does this man want you, Sterling?” Jessie asked.

“It’s not important.”

“Damn it, Sterling! I’m not a child. I’m twenty years old and I’m tired of everyone treating me like one.”

“You’re right, Jessie. If you’re expected to be an adult, you should be given the respect due you. The man who has your father was hired by the man who shot me.”

“Whoa! Why don’t you just call the police?”

“Because he’s a very important man in Washington. They wouldn’t believe me and he’d win.”

“And Mac knows the truth. That’s why he brought you here—so the bad guys couldn’t get you.”

“Yes.”

“Then what?”

Sterling didn’t know how to answer her. “That’s a good question. I guess we never got that far.”

“So, since they couldn’t get to you, they got to Mac, knowing you’d come to his rescue.”

“Yes.”

She started pushing Sterling down the dark corridor. “The question is, how’d they know?”

That caught Sterling by surprise. “What do you mean, how’d they know?”

“Well, if I knew that I’d die if I left: here, I’d stay. How could they be certain that you’d come out to save my father?”

The blackness surrounded them. Sterling felt along the wall at intervals in order to keep from running into it in the darkness as she thought about Jessie’s question. She was right. How could they be sure?

“Because,” Jessie said, answering her own question, “somebody on the inside told them that you and Mac are in love. That’s the only answer.”

“But that’s crazy. We’re not. I mean … he’s not. Your father and I met in person for the first time the day I came to New Orleans.”

“But it’s obvious that he cares. He seems younger, more carefree. I thought that you went way back.”

“Well,” Sterling considered, “I guess you could say we do. We’ve talked on the phone and through E-mail for years, ever since I started to work for Conner.”

“Now Uncle Conner has Erica and you have Mac. At least you will once we outsmart the bad guys. I used to wish Uncle Conner was my dad. He seemed so cool, always had time to play with me.”

“Your father loves you, Jessie. He just doesn’t know how to deal with you as an adult.”

“No. He tries but he’s never known what to do with me.”

In that moment Sterling knew that Jessie was wise beyond her years. And maybe she was right. Sterling hoped that Jessie was wrong about a spy inside reporting on their activities. Then, in the distance, they caught sight of a red light.

An exit sign.

Jessie let out a deep breath. “I think we found it, Sterling.”

“I think you’re right.”

Jessie let go of the handles of the chair and walked to the door, running her fingertips up and down the frame and across the metal expanse. “There’s no knob. No way to open it.”

“The computer identifies your voice, doesn’t it?” Sterling asked.

“Sure, and yours too.”

“But I’m guessing that this is part of the old system. Let’s see. Open.” Nothing happened. “You try it.”

Jessie took a deep breath in the silence. “Open! Open, you dumb, freaking door!”

“Jessie!”

“Oops, sorry. This is Jessie McAllister. Open!”

There was a rusty creak, the sound of metal against metal, and the door slid open.

“We did it! Sterling, we did it.”

“Yes, we’re somewhere. Can you find a light switch?”

“This is Jessie McAllister. Lights on!”

The lights responded, revealing a large room filled with what looked like road equipment, trucks, and … “A car,” Sterling said, almost reverently. “Thank you, Jessie. I’ll take it from here.”

“Take it from where? I’m coming with you.”

“No way. Your father’s life is at stake. I’m not about to put you in danger.”

“And you’re going to drive?”

“Drive? Of course I am. I know how to drive.” But could she? Conner provided a driver for her on the rare occasions when she left her apartment or the office. She hadn’t tried to drive since she’d been shot. And she wasn’t certain that her muscles would work fast enough to operate the brake and the gas pedal. Still, she had no choice.

“Sterling, the drive down the mountain is dangerous in the daytime. It’s still dark out there and you aren’t operating at full steam. Get in the car. I’ll drive.”

“And how much experience have you had, driving a car?”

“Just because I don’t go anywhere doesn’t mean I can’t. I’ll have you know it’s sixteen miles around the perimeter of the airfield. At one end there’s even a space to parallel park. I may not know the road, but I can handle the car. Just call me Mario Andretti.”

Sterling wanted to argue with Jessie, but she was losing time. Mac’s life was at stake. “All right. But when we get almost there, I want you to drop me
off, turn the car around, and go back inside the mountain.”

Jessie didn’t answer. Instead, she pushed Sterling to the passenger side of a Blazer, opened the door, and waited.

Sterling forced herself to her feet. She couldn’t hold back a moan. She had no choice. Jessie would have to drive. “So, how do we get out of the building?”

She closed the door behind Sterling then moved to the driver’s side. Reaching for the switch, her fingertips hit and jingled the keys. “Well, I suppose we could crash through like they do in one of those action movies. On the other hand, maybe there’s a garage-door opener.”

There wasn’t.

But when she turned on the lights in the vehicle, she saw the computer built into the console. “What do you think?”

Sterling studied the piece of equipment. “Turn on the switch.” As soon as Jessie did, the engine caught and the lights came on. After a few mistakes Sterling punched in the right combination, and like the window on the world in Mac’s office, the wall opened.

“All right, Jessie. Let’s go.”

Jessie drove through the opening and stopped. Sterling waited, assuming that she was studying the road that wound around the rocks and disappeared from sight. But she didn’t move. The darkness above was growing faintly lighter.

“We have to go, Jessie. It’s almost dawn.”

“I—I’m trying.”

Sterling turned. Even in the darkness she could see Jessie’s hands clutching the wheel. The sound of her breath was growing shallower and faster.

“Jessie! You can do this. I know you can. Mac is down there and he needs us.”

“I thought I could, but I can’t. Don’t you understand. I can’t leave. I’ll die.”

Sterling had to think quickly and divert Jessie’s attention so that she could somehow gain Jessie’s trust and confidence. “Jessie. I haven’t been entirely honest with you. I’m in love with your father. Because I love him, I can do this. Because you love him, too, you can help me. Do you understand?”

The breathing became rougher.

“You aren’t responsible for what happened to your mother.”

“I should—have—stopped her.”

“You couldn’t have. I may not be able to save Mac, but I’m going to try and you have to help me. We can do this, together. Jessie, drive!”

Slowly, an inch at a time, the vehicle moved forward.

“That’s it, a little faster,” Sterling encouraged.

They rounded the big rocks and the enormity of what she was asking came clear. The drive curved around the mountain, narrow, winding. Sterling didn’t need sunlight to know that the drop-off on her side plunged, sheer and vertical, straight into nothingness.

“I’m going to swap myself for your father,” Sterling said, trying to keep her voice calm when she was almost as scared as Jessie. “The kidnapper has no use for Mac. I’m the one he wants. Then I’ll explain that I can’t identify the killer. He was wearing a mask. I never really saw his face.”

“You think he’ll believe you?”

Sterling didn’t know, but it was the only chance Mac had. “Of course,” she said confidently.

They moved slowly down the mountain. Sterling spoke to Jessie as if she were addressing the five year old child that she was when her mother had driven the car wildly down this same road.

Sterling glanced at her watch and back at the sky. It was almost daybreak, dawn, the appointed hour. Then the lake came into view, a smear of dark against the sky.

“We’re almost there, Jessie. Look, there’s the chapel. When we reach it, I want you to turn around and drive back. Alert Burt and Joseph.”

Jessie still didn’t speak, but color seemed to be returning to her knuckles.

“There, in the churchyard, there’s enough room for you to let me out and turn around.”

“No,” Jessie finally said, in a low whisper. “I won’t leave you. I won’t let you die too.”

Then they’d reached the chapel. The sun lightened the sky enough that Sterling could see there were no other cars. There was only a dock and maybe a boat at the end of it.

Jessie stopped. Sterling took a deep breath and opened the door. Jessie started to get out.

“Drive away, Jessie. Let them think that you’ve gone.”

“What good will that do? This man will know that someone else knows what’s going on.”

“I’m guessing that he expected that and has made plans. Just go far enough that he’ll think you’ve left.”