9
San Francisco
“Mrs. Russell?”
“What is it?” Clara looked over her shoulder at the two men who’d appeared from beneath the staircase. Her hand tightened on the keys she’d gotten out to unlock the door of her apartment, her fingers moving to the pepper spray on the key chain. Her son had given it to her six months ago and told her to use it if she had any trouble. Paul was always worried about her working nights in the city with all those creeps around. These men didn’t look like creeps. She knew expensive suits when she saw them. She had worked in Menswear at Macy’s for years before they transferred her to Shoes. They didn’t look like IRS either. They were too … slick. Both were dark-haired and swarthy. Maybe Mexicans. The Mexicans seemed to be taking over California. “What do you want?”
“May we come in?”
“No. Who are you?”
“Carlos Gomez.” He smiled. “I need to see your son.”
Maybe they were IRS. She stiffened. “I don’t know where he is. I haven’t seen him in years.”
“I don’t think that’s true. We need to talk.”
“No, we don’t. Find him yourself.”
Gomez took a step closer. “You’re being uncooperative. That’s not very smart.”
“Get the hell out of here.” She raised the pepper spray. “I don’t want you—” She gasped as Gomez ducked to one side and closed his hand on her wrist, numbing it. The key ring fell to the floor. “Get the keys. Open the door,” Gomez said to the smaller man as his other hand covered Clara’s mouth. “Quick.”
She struggled, her foot lashing out and connecting with Gomez’s shin. She heard him grunt as her teeth bit down on his hand.
“Shit.” He pushed her inside the apartment and slammed the door. “Bitch.” He punched her in the stomach and then backhanded her across the face.
The pain. She couldn’t breathe. She sank to her knees, gasping. She could see him towering over her through a dark haze.
Gomez smiled. “Now, let’s begin again. I need to see your son.”
“We need to talk, Galen.” Judd Morgan was standing in the door of the library. “Got a minute?”
Galen nodded and tossed his book aside. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s been several months and Logan hasn’t been able to get the agency off my back.”
“He’ll do it.”
“But how long will I have to wait? I like your ranch, but I don’t relish feeling like a prisoner while those bastards in Washington are running around free. I’m tired of waiting. It’s time I did something on my own.”
“What?”
“I’m thinking.” He smiled crookedly. “When I decide, you’ll be the first to know. I’m not whining. I just wanted you to know I’m not your problem any longer.” He turned and started toward the door. “Is it okay with you if I stick around here until I’ve made up my mind?”
Galen nodded his head.
“Good,” Judd said gravely. “Because I can’t wait to see you in that apron again. Did I tell you how cute you looked?”
“Destin, his wife, and their child are dead,” Manero said. “Destin’s car went off the road into the ocean in Antigua.”
“When?”
“Yesterday. Suspicious circumstances. I have a man in San Francisco on the way to contact Clara Russell. She didn’t answer her phone.”
“Contact, hell. Get her out of there. Tell him to hurry.” He hung up the phone. It might be too late already. He’d only met Clara Russell once, but he got the impression of a tough, hardworking, home-loving woman who was a little too loyal to her son for her own good.
It had been only one day since Destin died. But Chavez’s men would move fast. Chavez was behind them, goading them on.
They were getting too close to Elena. He had to sit down and run through the possible scenarios to see if he could find a solution.
“The woman phoned Paul Russell,” Gomez told Chavez. “We’re supposed to meet with him in two hours. She was very convincing. He won’t be suspicious.”
“It took you a long time to break her,” Chavez said.
“Seven hours. She was very stubborn. Mothers usually are, aren’t they?”
“Yes, indeed,” he said with a note of irritation. “Let’s hope her son won’t be as obstinate. I’m getting impatient.”
“I’ll be calling you back within five hours.” He hung up.
Five hours. Excitement began to course through Chavez. In a short time he’d have the information he needed to find his son.
And that bitch who had stolen him.
“Chavez is on the move,” Manero said. “He left Colombia in his private jet two hours ago.”
“Jesus.” Galen had known it was coming, but the news still exploded like a thunderbolt. “Clara Russell?”
“My guy just found her in her apartment. He wished he hadn’t. Messy. I don’t know anyone who would have withstood that kind of punishment without spilling everything they knew. What do you want me to do now?”
“I’ll get back to you.” He hung up and got to his feet. They had to move. Now.
He took the steps two at a time. “Elena!”
She looked up from the book she was reading with Barry. “What is—” She stopped as she read his expression. “It’s happened?”
He took a step nearer and knelt by Barry. “Time to have another adventure. Want to camp out in the hills?”
Barry’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Really.” Galen swatted him on the butt. “Now, go and tell Dominic. We’re all going.”
Elena rose to her feet as Barry ran out of the room. “How much time do we have?”
“I’m not sure. Chavez left Colombia two hours ago, but Gomez is ahead of him. At any rate, we’re out of here. Better pack quick.”
She went to the closet. “I’m almost packed.” She took out her duffel and reached up and got her gun from the top shelf. She tucked it into the duffel. “Now I’m completely packed.”
“That’s what I like. A woman who’s always ready,” Galen said. “I suppose I should have expected it of you.”
“Yes, you should.”
“But I ask myself if you were ready for an emergency exit or if you were planning on taking off on your own.”
“One reason is as good as another.”
“No, it isn’t.” His lips tightened. “But we’ll let it go for now. Get Barry and Dominic. I’ll go tell Judd we all have to get on the road.”
“He’s coming with us?”
“Would you rather leave him for Chavez? He’d enjoy questioning him; it would be a real challenge trying to break someone like Judd.”
“Yes.” She started toward the door. “But he’d enjoy breaking you more. Remember that.”
Judd was shoving his cases into the bed of the pickup but looked up as Elena and Galen came out of the house. “I’m going to run my dog and the kittens over to your nearest neighbor and ask him to keep them for a while. Have to take care of the pets with company coming.” He carefully stored the box with the three kittens on the floor before whistling for his German shepherd. Mac jumped into the cab and Judd started the ignition. “I’ll meet you at the camp.”
Galen nodded absently as Judd drove away.
Elena barely heard Judd as she threw Barry’s keyboard into the trunk of the car. “You’re absolutely sure he’s on his way?”
“I’m sure. Gomez left a trail of bodies behind him to find this place, and Chavez left Colombia a couple hours ago. It’s reasonable to assume he found out what he wanted to know.”
“He’s coming.…” She stared at the mountains. Chavez would soon be here, coming down that road. From the moment Galen told her about Chavez she had felt numb, frozen. She’d waited for this moment for six years, and now that it was here she was almost in shock. And she was feeling fear, she realized. She hadn’t expected to be afraid. She had thought the hatred would be violent enough to overcome any fear. Yet memory of that other time was weake
ning her. Block it out. Fear was the enemy. Chavez would feed on it. Don’t give him the chance.
“Elena.”
Her glance shifted to Galen’s face. “Do you have any explosives?”
He smiled. “You’re thinking of blowing up my house with Chavez in it?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t have any explosives. It’s not something I keep on hand when I’m here. So my house is safe from you.”
“I would have found a way to pay you for it.”
“I was joking. But I can see your sense of humor is seriously impaired at the moment.”
“Are we really camping out?”
“For a little while. I know those hills, and there are a hundred little pockets for us to hide in. I sent Judd up a few days ago to set up a camp where we would be safe and could still observe the ranch. I don’t think Chavez will suspect we’re sticking around. He’s too used to people running from him. I want to make sure Chavez is really here.”
“So do I.” She looked back at the hills. “So do I.…”
“They’re not here?” Chavez got out of the car in front of the ranch house. “What do you mean they’re not here? You’ve failed me, Gomez.”
“They were here. There’s fresh food in the refrigerator. Clothes in the closets.” Gomez held out a children’s book. “This was in one of the bedrooms.”
“But they’re gone. She got away again?”
“We checked the barn and the entire area around the house.”
“Damn you.”
Gomez took a hurried step back. “He must have been tipped off.”
“You said that about the vineyard. It was because you didn’t move fast enough.” He looked up at the hills. “Search the foothills.”
“They wouldn’t stay here if they knew we were coming. They’re probably halfway to Portland by now.”
“Search anyway. She was a guerrilla. She’d be comfortable in the hills.”
“We’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning. It’s getting dark. The men I have here aren’t trackers. They’ll only blunder around. We’ll need the daylight.”
Chavez’s hands clenched. “Daybreak. I want every man out there by first light.” He turned to look at the hills.
Are you there, Elena? I’m coming for you, bitch.
He turned toward the house. “I’m going to go through Galen’s personal papers and see if I can come up with anything. Did you check for booby traps?”
Gomez nodded. “It’s safe.”
“Safety is a very fragile thing.” He started up the porch steps. “You might keep that in mind, Gomez.”
“A tall, muscular man, not bad-looking, gray at his temples.” Galen adjusted the powerful binoculars. “Is that Chavez?”
“It sounds like him,” Elena said. “Let me have the binoculars.” She slowly lifted them to her eyes. Jesus, she didn’t want to see him again. She forced herself to look at the man standing on the porch.
Power. Strength. Cruelty.
The mat.
She hurriedly lowered the binoculars. “That’s him.”
“Then you were right: Barry did draw him here,” Galen said. “I wasn’t sure a selfish bastard like him would actually come after the kid.”
“I was sure. Coming after him was all about selfishness. He wants to play God.” Her lips tightened. “Not with my Barry.”
“Easy.” His hand clasped her shoulder. “Your muscles are in knots.”
“How do you expect me to feel?” She drew a deep breath. “When are we going to leave here?”
“Tomorrow morning.” He lifted the binoculars to his eyes again. “I count eight men in those two cars. They seem to be settling down at the house for the night. Remind me to burn the bedsheets when we return. Come on, let’s go back to camp.” He started down the slope. “I’ll check on them again later.”
She took one more glance at the ranch house before she slowly followed him back to the encampment.
Barry was sitting beside Judd Morgan. “Judd’s teaching me how to whittle, Mama. Did you see his big knife?”
She had a memory of that switchblade pressed against Galen’s throat. “Yes, I’ve seen it.”
Judd smiled. “I won’t let him use it. That’s advanced play.” He glanced at Galen. “See anything interesting?”
“What I expected to see. There are a few animals out there. Nothing to worry about, but it wouldn’t hurt for us to take turns on guard.”
“I’ll take first watch,” Elena said.
“I wasn’t going to insult you by leaving you out of it,” Galen said. “But you take second watch. That way you can get Barry to sleep first.” He went over to the cave. “I don’t think we’ll light a fire tonight, so I’ll have to see what I can come up with in the way of cold rations. I’m sure I can concoct something perfectly splendid.”
Galen’s digital phone rang as they were finishing up the meal.
“Where are you, Galen?” A deep voice, heavily accented.
Galen tensed. “Chavez?”
Elena’s gaze flew to his face.
“Yes, I’m getting impatient. I want my son. Give him to me.”
“Screw you.” He got up and moved out of the cave and beyond Barry’s hearing. “You don’t have a son. He belongs to Elena. It’s going to stay that way.”
“It won’t stay that way.” He paused. “I was very angry at your interference and I wanted you punished. But I’m a reasonable man and I know how to cut my losses. I’m willing to pay to have my son turned over to me. Five million dollars. You set up the terms of the drop-off.”
“No way.”
“Ten million.”
“We’re not trading, Chavez.”
“I’ll go higher.”
“And you’ll get the same answer.”
“The bitch isn’t that good a lay.”
“I’m terminating this conversation.”
“Think about it. I’ll give you my phone number.”
Smother the anger. They might be able to use it. He took out his pen and pad. “What is it?”
Chavez rattled off a number. “Be reasonable. I’ll get him anyway. If you hand him over, you become a very rich man.”
“No deal.” He hung up.
“What did he want?”
He turned to see Elena and Judd standing behind him.
“What he’s wanted all along. Only he offered to pay for him.” His lips twisted. “The last offer was ten million, but he would have gone higher.”
Judd gave a low whistle. “That’s impressive money. It would cause a lot of men to turn traitor. You may have a tough time keeping the kid if he’s spreading that kind of money around.”
“You took his phone number down,” Elena said to Galen.
“Oh, for God’s sake, I thought we might need it. Did you think I was hedging my bets?”
“No.” She looked away. “I don’t know what to think.”
But she had doubted him for that moment. What else could he expect? From the moment she had learned Chavez was on his way, she had changed. She had gone back into the battle mode she had learned from childhood—wary, tense, trusting no one.
It hurt, dammit. “No, I’m not going to take the damn money.”
Judd glanced from one to the other and changed the subject. “Who takes first watch?”
“I do,” Galen said curtly. “I need some space.”
He walked away.
Elena could see only one guard circling the house.
She crawled slowly, silently, grasping the rifle with her left hand.
There wasn’t much brush in this level meadowland, and she had to keep low and move with painstaking care.
The lights in the office were burning. Chavez was probably trying to find a way to trace them.
Once she reached the barn, it would shelter her until she had a look around. She would have to take out the first guard, and she’d already spotted another man at the corral. If she took him out too, then she might be able to get to the hou
se.
Her gaze was fixed on the window of the study as she crawled forward.
I’m coming, Chavez. Do you feel it?
She could imagine him in her sights, sitting at the desk shuffling papers. No, don’t think about it. Just do it. She had to distance herself, as her father had taught her. Just do the job and the—
A heavy weight dropped on her.
She struggled over onto her back, reaching for her pistol.
“No,” Galen whispered, pinning her down. “You shoot me and Chavez’s men will all run out here, and Barry won’t have a mother. Is that what you want?”
She froze. “What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to stop you from getting yourself killed.”
“Get off me. I’m not going to get myself killed. I know how to do this. My father sent me out to—”
“You’ve told me. But that doesn’t mean you can take down Chavez when he’s being guarded by fifteen men.”
“There are only eight men.”
“That’s what I thought. The others must have arrived after dark. Where were you headed? The study? There’s a man around the corner and one inside with Chavez. They’re all over the place, and they’re pretty good. I almost got caught when I was scouting the area.”
“Scouting? When?”
“When I was supposed to be on watch. Do you suppose you’re the only one who hoped we could end this thing with one bullet? It’s no good, Elena. I was going to tell you the chances were nil, but when I came back to camp you’d already left.”
“Let me go.”
“Not until you tell me you’ll go back to camp.”
“The only thing I’ll tell you is that if you don’t get off me, I’m going to break your ribs and then crush your nuts.”
“Oh.” He studied her face for a moment. “What a persuasive woman you are.” He released her. “Now what?”
“We go back to camp. I’m not stupid.” She turned and started crawling across the meadow. “But don’t you ever strong-arm me again, Galen.”
“It seemed the only way to catch your attention. Now I suggest we shut up until we get back to the hills.”