Authors: Karen Troxel
“I don’t know. I’m probably just imagining things.” He finally smiled. The way he did it crinkled the skin around his eyes and made him even more attractive. “Forget about me. Let’s grab me a couple of shirts and then go get something to eat. I’m starving.”
In less than fifteen minutes they were out of the department store, their purchases stored in the car, and sitting at table for two in a tiny pizzeria. The place was dark and cool and smelled divine.
Kerry groaned. “I didn’t realize just how hungry I was,” she admitted as she looked over the menu. “Oh, good, it’s all-you-can eat spaghetti night. And for only five-ninety-nine.”
The waiter, a young man dressed in white shirt and dark pants, came over at that moment with two glasses of water.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, overhearing her comment. “We’re known all over the region for our spaghetti. We’ll get hopping in here in a few hours.”
“Well, the spaghetti sounds like a winner to me,” she said, with a smile.
“You can get it with your choice of meat sauce, marinara, or one meatball,” the waiter said.
“I’ll have the meatball,” she said. “And I’ll stick with water to drink.”
“Make that two,” Cutter said, “except I’ll have whatever you have on tap.”
Their waiter nodded and hurried behind a small screen. Because they were the only ones eating, Kerry heard the sound of a swinging door closing and a muttered, “Two with balls.” As a testimony to the staff being prepared for a big crowd, their food arrived before either one hardly had time to blink.
Kerry gaped at the size of the plate. “Oh, my gosh, look at this dish. Are you trying to make sure people get all they can eat on one plate?”
The waiter smiled in return. “You’d be surprised at the number of regulars who can tuck away two or three plates of this stuff on pasta night.”
Kerry shook her head. “Well, I don’t think you have to worry about that with me. Him? Now that’s another matter.”
She looked over to see Cutter was already about one quarter of the way through his plate. Both he and the waiter grinned at her before the waiter left, saying, “I’ll be around if either of you are ready for seconds.”
Kerry sat back in her chair a fifteen minutes later and groaned. “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.”
“Hey, I told you, you were looking a little weak around the gills. If you don’t start eating more, folks are going to start mistaking you for some underfed model. You were missing the most basic of comfort foods—pasta.”
“Well, big boy, I didn’t see you turning away from any of this stuff either. Exactly how many plates did you eat? Three?”
“No,” he replied with a long-suffering groan. “Only two.”
“Only two, he says. There was enough pasta on each one to feed all the people in New York state.”
“Well,” Cutter said, “maybe only Rhode Island.”
Kerry laughed.
“Hey, don’t laugh. I don’t see any leftovers on your plate, Miss High-and-Mighty.”
Kerry placed a hand on her stomach. “Don’t remind me.”
She saw the amused look in his eyes change to one of consideration, then something else. It was the something else that made her pulse race. For a second, just a second, she was able to forget about everything. Forget the fact they were on the run from not only the government, but also from Dom’s people.
For one minute she was able to forget her ex-fiancé had ordered the murder of her father and she would never see her father again.
For one minute, one small minute, she was able to forget her fear and exhaustion.
She simply became a woman who had drawn the interest of the alpha male. The man who was meant to be her protector and her mate—forever. It was a heady experience, one she wanted to grab with both hands. One she never wanted to let go.
“We’ve got to talk,” he said. “About the night this all began.”
With those words, Kerry’s fantasy bubble burst. There was no magic that wiped away the past. She could have no future until the past was overcome.
By mutual consent, they returned to their room. That way there was no chance of anyone overhearing their conversation.
Once there Kerry said, “I’ve been thinking.”
He brought one of the chairs from his room and pulled it up to the table in hers. Instant think-tank.
Kerry immediately had a picture of them sharing the bed, tangled arms and legs, bodies so close nothing could come between them. She shivered a little at the thought.
“Are you too cold?” Cutter asked. “I can turn on the heater.”
“No. No, I’m fine,” she said, firmly putting the erotic picture out of her mind. She had to concentrate on the problem at hand. She had to find a way to get them out of this mess.
“I know Dom is behind this,” she said, speaking slowly.
“Right.” Cutter checked his watch. “But according to the last report I had, he won’t be released on parole until noon tomorrow. So…”
“So, who’s running this operation on the outside?” Kerry finished. “I remembered something this afternoon. It was a conversation I overheard just before my father’s death.”
Cutter straightened up. “What?”
“He was on the phone. I’d just returned from shopping for my trousseau. I don’t think he realized I’d returned.”
“Did you pick up the extension or was he on the speaker phone?”
“No. I just heard his end and I don’t think I came in at the beginning.”
Cutter nodded. “What did you hear?”
“It wasn’t so much what he said as how he said it. You didn’t know my father, but most of my life I never heard him raise his voice. Not to me or to my mother. He laughed a lot and was very quiet. He’d have been a great teacher or a college professor, I imagine.”
Cutter kept silent. Kerry’s view of her father was hard to reconcile with the image the government files portrayed. That man was a killing machine credited with over twenty-five hits for the Giancarlo organization. He wasn’t about to say anything now that would ruin her memories of her father or her remembrance of that conversation.
“I’d just come in the front door. The housekeeper must have already gone for the day. He was in his study. I don’t think he realized the door was open. He was yelling. That’s what drew my attention because he never yelled.”
“Do you remember what he was yelling?”
Kerry rubbed her hand over her forehead. “No, I can’t remember the exact words…something about risks and great danger. It was the tone I remember more than anything else. It was so cold.”
Cutter rose from his chair and began pacing. If he could get access to the office computers, he could start pulling the phone records. It would take time, but they might be able to trace the calls. It wouldn’t be instantaneous like on TV shows, but it would be doing something proactive rather than waiting like wounded rabbits for Dom to strike.
“Okay, here’s what we do. Tonight, I head back to Buffalo. It’ll take about an hour to get there. If I arrive between ten and midnight, the office will probably be empty. It shouldn’t take long to get things started.”
“I’m going with you.”
“It’ll also give me a chance to check my mail and messages. I put some feelers out when I first got handed this case and I haven’t had the time to check on them since we called from the Falls.”
“I’m going with you.”
“There’s probably nothing waiting there that will help… What did you say?”
“I’m going with you.”
“Oh, no. No, you’re not.”
“Yes. Yes, I am.”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“I’m sorry, but yes, I am. I am not going to be sitting in this lousy motel like a…a rabbit, while the big, strong marshal takes care of everything.”
***
Kerry’s shoulders were thin, so thin she looked like a good strong Buffalo winter gale would snap her in two. She looked like she should be ready to cower and do anything anyone bigger and stronger told her to.
The one chink in that look was her chin. It jutted forward like a prize bulldog ready to take a hit. For a moment, just a moment, he was tempted to take her up on the challenge it offered. He was also tempted to kiss that chin, then move up and taste those luscious lips she had a tendency to chew on when she was stressed.
Instead of acting on either temptation, he folded his arms across his chest and began speaking slowly. “You. Are. Staying. Here.”
“No. I. Am. Not.” Before he could release the building anger, she continued speaking quickly, using her fingers to click off her reasons. “Think about it. One, if I go, you don’t have to worry someone knows where we are and will find me in your absence.
“Two,” she continued, “I can recognize some of the numbers on our phone bill and eliminate them immediately. Without me, you’ll have to wait for the phone company to tell you who they belong to.
“Three, what if you find something that helps us immediately? If I’m still here, you have to drive back get me, then go wherever this lead takes you. Do you think we have that kind of time? If Dom is behind this, don’t you think we need more than a couple of hours head start on him?”
Her arguments were sound and logical. In fact, he had decided she was right almost as soon as she started speaking. He couldn’t leave her alone and unprotected. If Helen were alive and still his partner, he wouldn’t have hesitated calling her in and having her help him. Thinking of Helen this time didn’t cause the normal pain in his chest. He had an idea if Helen were here, she would be agreeing with everything Kerry said. He smiled a bit at that thought. Yes, Helen would have admired Kerry a lot.
He watched as she paced around the room. She was cute when she was worked up, and the lady was definitely worked up over this. He leaned back against the doorjamb, crossed his feet at his ankles, and just enjoyed the show.
Finally, she began to wind down. “What?” she asked, realizing he was watching her.
“Okay, you win. You come with me.”
She whooped and leaped across the room to give him a quick hug. Before he could move and hold her longer, closer, she was gone, dancing back across the room. He prided himself on his quick reaction time, but as he had already admitted before on this job, he was slowing down. He didn’t think he was that slow, however. Hard to argue with the fact his arms were empty. Surprisingly, achingly, empty.
“Great, just great. We’re finally going to be doing something. I’m sure this is just what we need to find out who is doing this.”
“Whoa. This is probably a wild goose chase.”
She deflated like a small balloon. And he felt like a heel.
“But you’re right. It’s good to be doing something instead of running from things for once.”
Her smile nearly blinded him.
“What do we do until it’s time to go?” she asked.
Cutter thought he really must be more tired than he thought, or something, because everything she said his mind, and definitely his body, turned into a Double entendre. And he was sure she didn’t mean it that way.
***
The call came into Dom just as he was finishing his last turn around the exercise field. Exercise field. That’s a joke. It was really more of track enclosed totally by wire. But on a sunny day, it was a good place to walk and think. If it weren’t for the electrified fence surrounding him.
“Mr. Giancarlo?” The guard had a subservient look on his face.
Dom expected nothing less.
“There’s a call for you in the prisoner ward. You want to take it now or should we take a message?”
“I’ll take it.” Dom missed a lot of things on the outside, but the thing he missed the most was his cell phone. He’d already left instructions with his lawyer to bring it when he was released.
He walked into the guard area and picked up the receiver, laying on its side on a desk. “Yes,” he said.
“We missed her. Again.”
Dom closed his eyes and counted to ten. “How did this happen?”
“The marshal protecting her has eyes in the back of his head or something. It was as if he smelled us when we were on the reservation.”
Dom wondered briefly if he had a mole in his organization. It would make sense the way things had been leaked to the wrong side. No, that wasn’t possible. Ever since the fiasco with Willie, he had taken extra precautions.
“Who is this marshal?” he asked. “And can we get him on our payroll?”
“It’s Cutter Snead,” the voice said. “I’ll handle him when the time is right.”
“Well, I believe the time is getting to be right. Once we find him.”
“We think he headed southeast after leaving the reservation. It’s only a matter of time until we pick up his trail. When we do, we’ll have a net over him so fast he won’t be able to avoid it.”
Dom listened to the assurance in the voice. It was what he wanted to hear. “See you do. And handle it yourself this time. I don’t want any more screwups. Understood?”
“Understood. But this isn’t going to be quick. I don’t think we can handle it and get rid of the woman before you’re released.”
Dom smiled slowly pleased when the guards watching him stiffened at the sight.