Stolen Vengeance: Slye Temp book 6 (28 page)

Chapter 32

What was Geoffrey thinking to pull this stunt?

Valene kept her head down and stayed close to Dingo as he walked them into the newly remodeled mall. She’d seen a spot on the news about it opening again, where the reporter followed the developer through new service areas and the open-air mall that offered seating outdoors where people could have coffee or eat.

Her anger at Geoffrey had shifted into worry on the way here once she realized he wasn’t trying to snake her deal on the scroll. Based on his note to Henri, Geoffrey was playing “superhero like Valene” and trying to impress Henri.

Geoffrey had it all wrong.

She was not a superhero by any stretch of the imagination. She might have thought she was pretty badass at one time. But Geoffrey hadn’t seen the wreck she’d become when her dad first got sick and she’d wandered through an apartment where smells and sounds of Dingo ghosted through the air.

When this was over, she had to make Geoffrey understand that she was not a threat to his relationship and not someone to emulate.

But that wouldn’t happen unless she delivered him back to Henri in one piece. Henri would never forgive her if Geoffrey got hurt, even if his significant other had landed in trouble only because he was a big fat wad of insecurity.

Dingo slowed as they passed around an enormous circular fountain. He said, “If I was meeting someone and wanted to do it in public, it would be as out in the open as possible.”

“There are areas to sit on the next level up.”

He nodded and led the way to an elevator instead of the escalator. He didn’t explain and she made a quick guess that it was to avoid
them
being exposed on an escalator.

When they exited on the top level, Dingo’s gaze moved over the crowds and the people seated along the rail, eating and visiting.

“We got company,” he murmured.

“Who?”

“Have no idea.”  He gave her a judgmental glance. “If I knew who all the players were I might be able to make a guess.”

“Point the person out to me.” She started to look around, but he grabbed her and spun her to look in the opposite direction.

“You can’t just stare at him or he’ll know he’s been spotted. Sort of blows the whole disguised approach.”  Dingo tinkered with her hoodie and leaned in to kiss her, just as a boyfriend might do at a mall.

One more kiss and she’d go up in smoke. She warned him, “Stop that.”

“Why?”  The devil grinned at her.

“Because there’s no reward at the end of that tunnel.”

He hooked his arm around her shoulders and turned her to walk, whispering. “There’s plenty of reward at the end of that tunnel. You just have to take the gamble and come after it.”

That sounded like the Dingo she’d known a long time ago. She’d missed his joking around. He had her halfway around the top floor when she realized he’d distracted her from looking.

“Okay, I won’t stare.”

“Good because I think I found your friend and his client.” He caught her cheek before she turned her head.

This whole surveillance business was too confining.

She liked action more than watching. “I’m not turning.”

“You’re sure this time?”

“Yes.”

“Keep your head facing straight ahead and cut your eyes to those two men in suits sitting at a table to my left. Do you recognize either one?”

“Yes. The slender guy with the black frame glasses in the hairpiece that looks like a bad Saturday Night Live skit is Geoffrey. Guess that’s Geoffrey’s idea of going incognito. I don’t know the bald guy who could stand to lose thirty pounds and looks like he could be a chain smoker the way his knee is bouncing and he keeps touching his mouth.”

“Let’s get close enough to hear what they’re saying first.”

“Why not just break it up?”

“Aren’t you curious to know if Geoffrey has found the scroll?”

She’d been so focused on finding Geoffrey and thrown off balance when Dingo said someone else was here, she’d forgotten about the stupid scroll for once.

What about the other guy Dingo had called company? She asked, “Is someone still watching?”

“Yes, but he’s keeping an eye on these two and hasn’t noticed us yet.”

“I don’t care who anyone else is or what they have. I want to get Geoffrey out of here.”

Dingo squeezed her shoulder and she took that as a sign that he liked her answer. That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to make Geoffrey tell her everything right down to phone numbers, but she wanted him out of harm’s way first.

“I’m going to ease my arm off your shoulder and we’re switching into angry-at-your boyfriend mode.”

“Do you want tips? Oh, never mind. You have that down pat.”

“Very funny. Just keep walking no matter what we do.”

The two men were positioned in the middle of a patio with plants scattered around. The client opened his trench coat–could he be any more stereotypical?–and showed Geoffrey a small tube he had stuffed into an inside pocket.

Valene’s quick intake of breath gave her away.

Dingo had just removed his arm. “Is that the scroll?”

“Could be.”  Had that guy really brought the scroll here? Or was he trying to pawn off a copy on Geoffrey? She could not risk anything happening to that tube in case it was the real deal.

Dingo grabbed her arm, his hand and fingers looking like he clenched hard, but he was not hurting her. He growled a noise and said, “Stop flaunting yourself at every asshole in this place!”

It took a second for the shock to pass then she snarled, “Let go of me. You’re hurting my arm.”

Dingo barked, “Shut up.”

They sounded just like two people without any grooming in etiquette, who would air their dirty laundry in the middle of a beautiful mall.

As they got closer to the two men, Dingo kept a clamp on her arm and she struggled for real, trying to break lose. He was pretending, but she knew he could hold her as long as he wanted. He was coiled power waiting to unleash, and she pitied the person who dared to threaten her.

Geoffrey and his client looked up as Dingo and Valene continued arguing.

Valene changed the sound of her voice to keep Geoffrey thrown off just in case he recognized it.

But Geoffrey turned to watch them, perturbed over their abominable behavior.

Just as she was sure she knew what Dingo was going to do next, he whipped her around and grabbed her other arm, shaking her. “You want to act like that? I’m done with your shit.”

He shoved her and she landed in Geoffrey’s lap.

The shock on Geoffrey’s face would be comical if not for worrying over how the unknown observer was taking this.

“Get out of here,” Geoffrey’s client shouted. He started looking all around. “Go away.” 

The man was having a serious panic attack.

Valene grabbed Geoffrey by the collar and pulled up close to his face to say, “This is Valene. You’re in danger. Go with my friend.”

Geoffrey didn’t show any appreciation for her effort.

He shoved her off his lap and yelled, “You stupid bitch. You’re screwing up everything.”

Dingo said, “Shut up, Geoffrey.” He ordered Valene, “Get out of here. Head out the same way we came.”

She was not leaving without either that scroll, or the guy who had it.

Chapter 33

Dingo checked on the guy who had been pretending to be just another mall rat and not surveilling Geoffrey and his scroll client. The guy keeping tabs leaned forward, but had not moved yet.

That meant Dingo had a chance at getting these two men and Valene out of here alive, if she’d do what she promised and follow his orders.

Or he might have had a chance if Geoffrey’s client hadn’t panicked.

Scroll guy had jumped up and was looking all round.

He took off running back the way that Dingo and Valene had come, which meant...

“
No, Valene!”
  But she was gone, racing after that damn scroll.

Now
the guy who’d been spying headed this way, plowing through people and turning this into an official clusterfuck.

Worse? Dingo recognized the guy as one of Navarro’s men and the bastard was angling in the direction that Valene and scroll guy had just gone.

Geoffrey stood there like a dumbass, which might be due to a bad case of shock.

Shit. Dingo had one play to keep that goon away from Valene, but he had to get Geoffrey onboard for any hope of making it work.

Dingo put on his death face and pointed a finger at Geoffrey who took one look at Dingo and Geoffrey’s expression corrupted into terror. Perfect. Now that Dingo had his attention, he said in a tone meant to shrivel a man’s balls, “When I shout, if you don’t run for the exit behind you
immediately
, I’m killing everyone who slows me down from reaching Valene before she gets hurt.”

That drained the blood from his face.

Navarro’s man broke out of the congestion and sprinted.

He was almost close enough...

Dingo backed away from Geoffrey and shouted, “I don’t give a shit about them. I did my part. We got the scroll. Fuck ’em. Let’s go.
Now!”

That did it. Geoffrey took off for the exit like a scalded piss ant.

Navarro’s man skidded at that and did an about-face.

Dingo put on his best Oscar-winning face of someone surprised to see one of Navarro’s goons.

Navarro’s man shoved his hand into his jacket.

Dingo tore off after Geoffrey, who had just reached the exit door and flung it open.

Gunshots boomed.

Two bullets struck chairs Dingo passed. He zigzagged until he could dive for the open door and yank it shut. Geoffrey sounded like a herd of buffalo pounding down the emergency exit stairs.

If buffalos screeched like their hair was on fire.

Dingo still reached Geoffrey before he hit the bottom landing.

A door banged open above them and shots pinged off the metal stairs and concrete walls. Footsteps banged in fast repetition on the way down.

Getting out of here alive would be easier if Dingo didn’t have to drag Geoffrey, but at least he wasn’t dead weight.

Yet.

He let Geoffrey run out the exit that set off alarms and held the door open as if it was stuck.

Navarro’s goon was too intent on the hunt to realize his mistake until Dingo bashed him with the door. That only stunned him. Dingo caught the goon’s gun hand, slamming it against the metal railing, then cold cocked him.

He opened the door, breathing hard.

Now, he had to catch Geoffrey, who was still racing away. Then he had to figure out how to find Valene.

Chapter 34

Valene ran after the man with a cylinder that just might hold the priceless, one-of-a-kind scroll everyone was after. She’d bet he was the thief who had stolen it from the Vatican, because everything he did screamed amateur.

He was not an expert at this espionage stuff like Dingo.

She had no idea how she was going to find him or Geoffrey again, but she trusted Dingo to get Henri’s honey bunny out safely.

The thief shoved his way past everyone and started running down the escalator, stretching his lead.

She hooked the shoulder strap of her purse across her body to keep from losing it and pushed her way down past people first complaining at the guy with the scroll, then cursing Valene for being just as inconsiderate.

Someone jammed an elbow into her ribs. Ouch.

She was losing him. Valene yelled, “
Get out of my way! He’s got a gun.”

Moses couldn’t have parted the Red Sea any faster.

People sucked to each side of the escalator with faces frozen in fear. Valene dove forward, thumping down the moving steps as her target reached the bottom and speared his body into a crowd.

But she was in better shape and she was starting to gain on him.

The crowd got into the spirit and raised voices everywhere, shouting about a guy with a gun.

Screams ripped through the throng.

An opening formed behind her guy as they realized someone running might just be the man with a weapon.

Valene stretched out her stride and tackled him, taking him to the ground. People scattered. She reached in and grabbed the aluminum cylinder that was cool to her touch. He latched onto her arm with both of his, yelling, “No. You can’t have it.”

She shouted back, “It’s not yours to keep.”

“Fuck you, bitch.”  His eyes were small and dark, glittering with rage as he struggled to get a hold on the tube.

“Is that any way for a priest to talk?” she said too low for anyone else to hear.

His eyes widened.

Bingo.

People went in all directions as she fought him for the tube. He kicked her leg and rolled sideways, but she kept her grasp on the cylinder while they rolled around. He let go long enough to grab her throat, covered by the hoodie still pulled tight, and choked her. Stars burst in her vision. She hit him hard in the gut, but he was in better condition than she’d realized for a bishop or whatever he was.

Did they even work out? His elbow whacked her in the jaw. Lucky punch, but it still hurt because he hit the bruised side.

All the frustration she’d bottled up over the past months came roaring to the surface.

She hit him hard in the nuts and he let go.

She might feel bad about doing that to a guy, but anyone who had stolen from the Vatican and tried to strangle her deserved it.

He made gargling noises, but he wouldn’t die. Hopefully she’d crushed any chance he had of donating a mini-me, thieving bastard sperm.

Men sounding like mall security shouted nearby. “Clear the way!”

Police would be here any minute and she’d lose her chance to escape.

She didn’t need to capture this guy, just get the scroll back.

Valene snatched the tube and jumped up, yelling, “He said he has a bomb.
Runnn!”

She was going to hell for all these horrific lies.

Pandemonium broke out with everyone heading for an exit.

That should keep security off her back. She yanked the hoodie down tighter over her face and hoped she wasn’t headlining the security tapes.

The chaos gave her the break she needed to run.

“Police! Halt!” yelled behind her.

She had a choice of stopping and getting caught with a rare scroll that she had no way to explain or making a run for it, which would turn her into fair game for any law enforcement who got close.

Some choices just weren’t that tough.

She picked up her pace and hoped they didn’t decide she was a terrorist and shoot her. Using what she recalled from the report on the mall remodeling, she headed for the closest exit that would dump her out far from the main entrance to the mall.

If she got out of here without being arrested, her next hurdle would be to find Smith before anyone figured out that she had the scroll. Charlie should have a hotline to Smith.

Of course, Smith said he’d find her.

How was he going to do that with her running for her life?

She raced around and found the door she’d been hoping to locate. The door had a bright yellow and black sign warning to not exit that way.

Probably because of the hideous alarm that triggered the minute she shoved it open.

Sirens cried in the distance, getting louder as police headed for the mall.

Her heart tried to fight its way out of her chest. She shoved the tube inside her hoodie and looked around, trying to choose the best direction, but the sirens sounded as if they were coming from everywhere.

Tires squealed and a muscle car came roaring up on her right.

Dingo slid the GTO to a stop with the passenger door in front of her and yelled, “Get in!”

She was inside and pulling the door shut when he hit the accelerator.

“Are you hurt?” Dingo asked.

“Few bruises. I’ll survive.”

“Don’t do that again. Scared the shit out of me.”

“I was following directions.”

Dingo shifted a wry look her way, telling her that he knew she’d only followed his orders once the guy with the cylinder ran in the same direction.

He slowed the GTO’s speed, motoring out the back parking lot as if they weren’t part of the fiasco going on inside the mall. The police hadn’t figured out to block the exits yet, but they would soon.

Valene heard raspy breathing behind her.

She turned to find Geoffrey, and she had a bone the size of Texas to pick with the man, but one look at his pasty skin and the way he trembled toned back her anger. Shock probably gave him the chills. She thought about pulling off her hoodie to give him, but that would expose the tube she had tucked against her right arm to hide the bulge. Once things calmed down, she wouldn’t fool Dingo with that placement.

She offered to Geoffrey, “If Dingo’s okay with the heat, I’ll turn it on to warm you up.”

Geoffrey tossed a look of disdain at her and talked around the shudders racking his body. “Leave the heater off. I don’t want anything from you. Ever.”

He was going to be that way, huh?

In that case, she had something to get off her chest, too. “Why did you go to meet this guy without saying a word to Henri? I was supposed to negotiate the scroll exchange.”

Geoffrey bared his teeth, tarnishing his pretty looks. “You ruined everything. The scroll is lost to us now. Raul will never meet with me again. You caused me to fail. This is all your fault.”

Dingo pulled onto the interstate into light afternoon traffic. He lifted a warning gaze to the rearview mirror and told Geoffrey, “Let’s get something clear right now. She actually saved your life. There was a third party waiting nearby to take the scroll from you and he wouldn’t be giving you a lift home. That level of muscle works for some very nasty people who expect him to deal with loose ends without leaving a bloody trail.”

Geoffrey twisted his face into a pitiful grimace and argued, “If that’s the case, then
you
saved me, because she abandoned both of us to do what she always does ... racing after the next big deal.” He had no problem glowering at Valene. “But you blew it this time or you’d be waving the scroll in front of me, showing off how you got it without having to give up anything. I’ve heard about your phenomenal skills when it comes to hunting something down and negotiating, but I still don’t see what Henri ever saw in you.”

After that verbal slap, he turned to look out the window in sulk mode.

Dingo looked over at her and she could see the question in his face. “Want me to drop him at the next exit to make his own way home?”

Geoffrey looked at Dingo and his lip trembled.

Valene said, “No. I promised Henri we’d bring him back safe.”

Dingo gave her an if-you-say-so shrug. “What happened to the guy with the tube?”

“He was faster than I expected.”  She gave a little shake of her head that she hoped Dingo took to mean she came up empty-handed.

The rest of the ride was made in silence, which allowed her to consider how she was going to move forward. If she opened this cylinder and the Galileo scroll was inside, she’d give Geoffrey a chance to redeem his miserable butt by certifying it. But she couldn’t do that until Dingo was out of the picture, because the only valid reason she could find for his interest in her client Smith was if Dingo’s people had been informed of the theft and were trying to return the scroll.

Which might mean that Orion Hunters had infiltrated Dingo’s people and he didn’t know it. If that had happened, the hunters were pulling strings to get the scroll found for their own benefit. Dingo wouldn’t be a part of that willingly, but he just might be trusting the wrong people without knowing it.

What other reason would he have for wanting information on Smith?

Dingo made a quick stop at a gas station because she asked, claiming her bladder wouldn’t survive the bumper-to-bumper traffic they’d be stuck in on the way back to Pasadena.

  She kept expecting LAPD to come roaring up with lights flashing every minute that passed, but they reached Henri’s shop without getting stopped.

Geoffrey barely allowed Dingo to park before he leaped out of the car and strode ahead of Valene and Dingo.

She’d gotten two steps inside the shop when Henri shouted at the sight of Geoffrey and rushed to hug him. Geoffrey was mumbling an apology for losing the scroll and that he almost had it in his hands, and if Valene hadn’t interfered ... then he babbled about having shots fired at him and almost dying.

Henri glared at Valene over Geoffrey’s shoulder.

When Geoffrey’s string of woes tapered off, Henri stepped out of Geoffrey’s grasp to address Valene. “Someone shot at him. You
never
said a word about this being dangerous.”

She took a step. “It wouldn’t have been, Henri, if–”

“The police are after him.” Henri pointed at Dingo who didn’t flinch at that news. “His face is all over the news.”

That’s because Dingo had given her his hoodie to protect her identity. She’d deal with that in a minute, but first she needed to know how bad this was. “Did they mention Geoffrey on the news?”

“No. Not yet.”

“Okay, good.”  Her relief at one person being safe was short-lived.

“No, this is not good!” Henri shouted. He sliced his hand through the air. “I’m done with your devil-may-care attitude! You go too far this time.
Leave!
I’m done with all of this. Do not call me. We have no reason to do business anymore.”

Taking a bullet to her chest would have to hurt less than hearing him say he never wanted to see her again, and she knew that was exactly what Henri meant.

She stood there, torn between begging Henri not to walk away again and wanting to rail at Geoffrey for destroying the fragile friendship she and Henri had been mending.

She refused to cry, but holding back was a strain.

Not here. Not now.

She wouldn’t give Geoffrey that satisfaction.

Dingo made a move and she knew it would precipitate an angry exchange of words, but this wasn’t his fight.

Besides, she had to get him somewhere safe.

What a mess she’d gotten Dingo into.

Unable to talk past the knot in her throat, she put a hand on his arm and turned away to leave. He stayed planted. Moving a tree would be easier.

She avoided looking at Henri’s face, not wanting her last view of him to be yet another that was angry and hurt. When he’d ended their marriage, he’d been considerate and polite, but now he believed she’d put the person he loved at risk.

A part of her understood, but that didn’t make the pain any easier to handle. She squeezed Dingo’s thick arm and managed to whisper, “Please don’t.”

He turned and fell into step with her when she continued outside.

She’d lost Henri.

The minute she handed over the scroll to Smith without telling Dingo, she’d lose Dingo, too. Henri might hate her at this point, but she still owed him for all he’d invested financially and personally on this project, and her father still needed treatment.

Dingo told her to trust him to do his job finding Geoffrey and she had.

She wanted to tell him to trust her to do her job, but with Navarro looking for her, an empty-handed thief running lose and Dingo a wanted man, she had to unload the scroll as quickly as possible and without involving Dingo.

During the gas station break, she’d checked and even with her limited knowledge of the scroll, she could tell the ancient parchment appeared genuine and Galileo’s signature looked like the ones she’d seen over and over. Her niggle of worry came from knowing people like Geoffrey were skilled in creating masterpiece copies.