Unnatural Relations (Lust and Lies Series, Book 1) (40 page)

Dani heard the line disconnect and slammed her own receiver down.
Damn!
She didn't need to be psychic to know what Kyle was about to do. In a heartbeat she was off to warn the team that an amateur had just jumped into the ring and that they'd better get their asses in gear.

* * *

Matt could no longer feel his fingers, but he felt sorrier for Officer Kravitz and his mom than himself. The officer, because he obviously felt really stupid, and his mom, because she was in the other room all by herself and couldn't see that he was okay. Not that there was much to see except Tammy stomping back and forth, waiting for something. When someone knocked at the front door, she practically jumped out of her skin.

"Don't either of you make a sound," she hissed.

Yeah, right. Like we could if we wanted to.

"Tammy! It's Kyle. Decker sent me."

It worked! Kyle left the hospital AND remembered the elephant!
Matt would have danced around the room if he could have.

Tammy peeked out the front window. "Why would he send you?"

Kyle laughed. "Because I'm his very silent partner—the Hamilton everyone forgot, or at least tried to. I'm surprised you didn't figure it out. In case he couldn't talk Barbara into selling Matthew, I was the backup plan, but she caught on to me, and that ended that. It looks like this ransom demand of yours may be the only way any of us are going to get our hands on the Hamiltons' millions."

Matt could hear Kyle's words clearly and his stomach started to hurt again.
Is Kyle a bad guy too?

Tammy opened the door and waved Kyle inside. His left arm was in a sling and he squinted when he took a step.

Matt's eyes opened wide when he saw Kyle enter and tug on his left ear—the sign that meant,
everything I'm saying is a lie just to get us out of this.
Kyle did it again and Matt blinked back at him. That wasn't one of the regular signs but he figured Kyle was smart enough to know that it meant he understood.

Tammy looked Kyle up and down in a way that made Matt feel sick inside.

"Surprised hardly covers what I'm thinking right now," she purred. "But I can understand why Simon didn't tell me. Why would I want to play with him, when I could have been dealing with you?"

"From what I heard, you already had more than enough on your plate," Kyle said, looking at her the same way, like she was a huge stick of cotton candy.

"You mean Russ? He was just a distraction. I always knew he wasn't in my league... or should I say
our
league."

Kyle grinned at her. "So-o-o, where's the rest of the family?"

"You mean the lady of the house?" Tammy said with a laugh. "In her bedroom. Uh-uh," she said, stopping him as he took a step in that direction. "She can wait. First we talk."

Kyle nodded at the gun in her hand. "That's really not necessary. These guys aren't going anywhere and as you can see, I'm pretty much out of commission."

She ran her free hand over the gun barrel. "I like holding it. It's like having my very own dick. And this one never gets soft, either." She eyed his sling and clucked her tongue. "Poor baby. I suppose Russ knew who you really were and wanted you out of the way. This is the gun he shot you with, you know. I borrowed it from him before his, uh, unfortunate demise."

"I heard he was broken into a lot of small pieces," Kyle said as if he were impressed. "Did you do that?"

Tammy smiled. "Maybe. Maybe not. Why don't you tell me about Simon's problem?"

"He wants me to bring Matthew up to the Hamilton estate. They've refused to pay the ransom unless they can get a good look at him in person."

"That's ridiculous! They were already convinced that he's their grandchild enough to offer Barbara two million dollars for him."

"But that was different. That money would have bought them legal custody. This way, they'd be paying the money without any guarantee that they'd ever see him once Barbara got him back."

"I don't like it. Too much could go wrong if we move him."

Matt's eyes followed the conversation back and forth while watching closely for any new signal on Kyle's part.

"It's a risk we're going to have to take," Kyle said. "They've refused to pay any other way. Surely between the two of us we can control one boy on a car trip." Kyle walked around behind Matt and pulled on a strap. "There's not much time to spare. How do you undo this?"

"No. Something's not right here. You go back and tell Simon I want to hear this from him personally."

Kyle came back around in front of him and wiggled the fingers sticking out of the sling like he was scratching something. What was he saying? Matt caught Kyle's eye as he was turning toward the door.
I don't understand,
he thought to himself. As Kyle opened the door, Matt watched him bring his hand up behind him and scratch his own back three times.
Run as fast as you can.
But he couldn't run anywhere tied to a chair.

Suddenly Matt understood that Kyle was trying to tell him to get out of the way. As hard as he could, he shifted his weight to one side, then the other, toppling himself over.

"What do you think you're doing?" Tammy screeched and pointed the gun at him.

"No-o-o,"
Kyle cried and lunged at Tammy.

She raised the gun and fired. Then the front door crashed open, and several more deafening explosions followed. It happened so fast that all Matt could do was stare in horror as both Kyle and Tammy collapsed on the floor in front of him.

Chapter 20

"Hi," Kyle whispered as his eyes focused on Barbara and Matt on one side of his bed, and Dani and Detective Butler on the other. The pain in his right side was so excruciating he could hardly feel the ache in his left shoulder.

"This is for you," Dani said, showing him a small round tie tack with a target painted on it. She pinned it onto his hospital gown. "It's from everyone at the station. They thought you deserved a special medal for getting shot twice in the same week."

His mouth twitched into a semblance of a grin. "How are you, Matt? That body slam to the floor must have hurt."

Matt gave an embarrassed shrug. "Just a little. It was better than getting shot."

"He told us how you two used signals to communicate," Dani said. "Sort of puts all our high-tech equipment to shame. Listen, Neil and I will be back a little later to go over all the details with you. We just wanted to say hi and show you our appreciation for your bravery."

"What about Tammy?"

Dani shook her head. "She didn't make it."

"I think she killed Russ. She almost admitted it to me in front of Matt."

Butler nodded. "That's the way the file's going to read."

"And she told me he was the one that shot me the other night. Same gun."

"Right. Ballistics will confirm that."

"You know she was working with Decker?"

Dani and Butler glanced at each other. "We guessed as much," Dani said. "But it doesn't matter now. Decker had a massive stroke in his hotel room after he called the station. He lost the use of most of his body."

Butler said aloud what the others were thinking. "Sometimes the punishment does fit the crime."

"Come on, Matt. Neil and I are going to check out the cafeteria. You've got to be hungry by now."

He took his mom's hand and squeezed.

She smiled and nodded. "Go ahead. I'll keep Kyle company for a while."

After they were out of the room, Kyle patted the bed and she carefully sat down next to him.

"Matt says you saved his life. You can't imagine what all was going through my head while I was trapped in my room and couldn't see what was going on." Leftover tears welled up in her eyes, and she wiped them away. "Sorry, I guess I'm not quite over the shock yet."

"I'm sure it'll take a while."

"I just don't know how to thank you enough for what you did. She was insane. Matt could have been killed.
You
could have been killed."

He held her eyes with his. "I'd do it again... if it was the only way I could get you to talk to me." She lowered her eyes, and he brushed her hip with the back of his hand. "I need another chance, Barbara. I know I don't deserve it, but if you'd let me start over with you, I'd... well, I'd... you name it, and I'd do it."

She sighed. "So much has happened..."

He was encouraged by her hesitation. "You're right. I'd go very, very slowly this time. No rushing you into... anything."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Unless you wanted me to," he amended with a hopeful look.

She bit her cheek to keep from smiling. "Okay, we can start over." She stood up and took his hand in hers. "How do you do? I'm Barbara Johnson, but my name used to be Mancuso."

He quit trying to keep a straight face. "Hello. I'm Hamilton Kyle Treadwell."

She wrinkled her nose up. "I don't like the name Hamilton. I think I'll call you Kyle."

His expression became serious again. "Will you ever be able to forgive me?"

She bent forward and pressed her mouth to his, instantly reigniting the passion that had burned between them from the start. "Any other questions?"

Epilogue

"How's she doing today?" Dani asked as she walked in the door of her parents' house.

Her mother smiled softly. "She's been having a lovely time with her Barbie dolls—dressing and undressing them, over and over, in all those beautiful outfits you bought her."

Dani gave her mom a hug and kiss on the cheek. "Good. I'll have to buy her some more."

Mom wagged a finger at her. "What did I tell you about spoiling that child?"

Dani went on to her sister's room and waited for her to notice that she was standing there before moving too close. Her mother had referred to Janine as a child for as long as she could remember, and mentally, her sister was a child—a ten-year-old, preadolescent girl... in a forty-year-old woman's body. The doctors all said there was no biological reason for it. Janine simply chose to go back to that age and stay there after her trauma.

"Hi, Dani. Do you have time to play with me today?"

"Sure," she said, sitting down on the floor and picking up one of the dolls. They were all Barbies, not a Ken in the bunch. "I'm off for the rest of the day."

"Why didn't you bring your new friend to play too? Do you think she'd let me call her Barbie instead of Barbara?"

"I'm sure she'd be flattered," Dani said with a chuckle. "And I promise to bring her by the next time. She's just had a lot of trouble in her life lately."

Janine frowned. "But you're a policewoman. Can't you make her trouble go away?"

The memory those words triggered caused a quick surge of powerful energy to race through Dani's petite frame. With a reassuring smile, she stroked her sister's hair. "Don't worry, sweetie. I already took care of it... just like I did for you."

The End