Opening the door, the guard ushered me inside, putting his hand out to stop Esposito from following. “I’ll take it from here,” the guard said. “Mr. Carson will be here shortly. You can go.”
“If it’s all the same, I’ll wait,” Esposito said, pushing past the guard to follow me inside. After Ramos’ threat, he wasn’t about to take any chances with my safety. The guard shrugged and closed the door behind us. With a frown, Esposito unlocked my handcuffs and motioned for me to take a seat on the couch.
Rubbing my wrists together, I gratefully sat, feeling the stress of the whole day come crashing down on me. It was after ten, and my purse with my phone and Mylanta were still at the Club. Everything I needed to survive was in my purse. It was stupid, but I sure hoped Ramos got it for me when he went back to pick up the money.
Esposito paced back and forth, unable to sit still while waiting for Carson to show up. He was thinking that he’d been in Carson’s employment for several years now, and should be used to this, but this time he was filled with unease. Ramos and I had to be affiliated with someone bigger than Carson, and Esposito worried it could come back to haunt him. If Carson was in this much trouble, maybe Esposito should find Ramos and cut a deal to help him find me. He’d rather be on the winning side if things went bad, and he had a feeling things were going bad fast. Of course, dealing with Ramos could be worse. He had a feeling Ramos would just as soon shoot him, as work with him. Maybe it was just better to stay out of it and live another day.
I tensed at the sound of a car pulling up to the house, knowing it was probably Carson. The guard immediately opened the door to greet Carson and his two men. Carson frowned at Esposito, wondering why he was still there.
After taking in the look on Carson’s face, Esposito wondered the same thing. “Just wanted to make sure nothing happened to her before you got here,” he said to explain. “Ramos wasn’t too happy.”
Carson huffed, thinking everyone was so scared of Ramos, they forgot to be scared of him. “Uh-huh, well…now that I’m here you can go.”
Esposito nodded and quickly left, taking my small sense of safety with him. Carson didn’t have those same feelings of self-preservation, and it made me nervous.
Carson turned to his men. “You two should head out to the marina now and get everything set up. Text me when it’s ready, and wait for me there. It shouldn’t be too long before I get a call from Ramos, and I don’t want to give him a chance to get there before we’re ready.” Carson was thinking about his boat, and his plan to use it in the exchange, but I couldn’t get the full picture before his thoughts turned to me.
Two of the guards left, leaving one outside to watch the door. Carson took a seat in the wingback chair across from me and sighed. He wished things were different, but with his assets drying up, and people not making their payments, he didn’t have money to lose. He needed that million dollars to stay in business and couldn’t afford to let Manetto walk off with it.
He’d been convinced I’d never win it from him, and now look what had happened. This was all my fault. What had I done? How had I cheated him? He had to know. Somehow, he’d get the answers out of me. Even if it was the last thing he ever did.
Yikes! This was bad. I needed to make up something really good to tell him, but what? Something like a hidden camera inside the table that let me see his cards? That might work. He might even believe it. I mean, it made more sense than the truth, right? I’d hold out as long as I could, so that he’d believe I’d only told him under duress. Unless he tried to torture me, then I’d spill right away and hope for the best.
I was about to blurt that if he harmed me he was a dead man, but I figured that would backfire, because Manetto would never let him live after kidnapping me anyway, even if I came through it alive. On some level, Carson probably knew that, but he was too busy blaming me for the mess he was in.
“I know you cheated me,” he began. “I just can’t figure out how you did it.”
“I didn’t cheat,” I said. “But I’ll tell you how I won if you’d like.”
“You’d tell me?”
“I might, if you call this off and let me go.”
“Okay,” he agreed. “You can go. Now tell me how you did it.”
“Do I look stupid?” I blurted. “My uncle told me to never trust a liar, a cheat, or a scoundrel, and you’re all three. So we have to make a deal. You want to know how I cheated, and I want to go home. What can we do to make that happen?”
“Nothing,” Carson said. “Because I hold all the cards, and that means you’re not going anywhere until you tell me what I want to know.”
“Fine, I’ll tell you,” I said. “But you’re not going to like it.” I paused dramatically. “You have a huge big tell.”
“What?” His eyes widened in surprise. “No I don’t. Now you’re just making this up.”
“No, I’m not. But if you don’t want to know...”
“Oh, I want to know all right, and you’re going to tell me the truth, not some stupid thing like me having a tell. I know what I’m doing and I’m an excellent poker player. So you’d better come up with the truth this time.”
“Or what?” I asked.
“I’ll break your thumbs.” He lurched over to me and tried to grab my arm, but I jumped out of his way. Not wanting to chase me around the room, he went to the door and called for the guard to come in and hold me down.
“Fine,” I said, as the guard came inside. “I’ll tell you. Just sit back down and we’ll talk like normal people.”
Carson stared at me with narrowed eyes, but he could tell I was rattled, so he waved the guard away and resumed his seat across from me. He raised his brow, and I knew I had to tell him something, so I went with my next story.
“We had a camera set up in the table that allowed me to see your cards. That’s how I did it. Whenever you had a good hand, or a better hand than me, I always folded. Think about it, I always knew when you were bluffing, and I always knew when I held the winning hand. Because I knew what your cards were. That’s how we did it.”
Carson pursed his lips. “A hidden camera?” He had a hard time believing that, especially since his men had gone over the room with a fine-tooth comb. He always checked for devices like that. How had he missed it? In order to see his cards, it would have been placed just in front of them, probably in the leather elbow rest. But how had he missed it? “If there was a camera, how did it get to you?” he asked.
“Um…well,” I said. “I had a screen that I pulled down from under the table in my lap. I’d just glance down at it when you looked at your cards and that’s how I’d see them.”
“And the screen was hooked up under the table?”
“Yeah.”
Carson snickered. “That’s the most unbelievable lie I’ve ever heard. You just made that up. My men checked the table before the game and there was nothing under it. But I mostly know you’re lying because you’re blushing and chewing on your bottom lip.”
I shook my head and frowned like he was the big liar. “Whatever.”
“That’s a huge tell of yours by the way. Whenever you have something, you always chew your bottom lip.”
“But I also do that when I don’t have something, so you can’t always know if it’s one way or the other.” I knew that was true because he’d thought that during the game.
He narrowed his eyes. “Do I need to pull off your fingernails? Or are you going to tell me the truth?” When I didn’t answer right away, he walked over to a desk in the corner, and opened the bottom drawer. He pulled out a box that looked like a tool kit. Bringing it over to the coffee table, he sat across from me and opened it up to show me all the nasty little devices inside. Most of the tools had sharp edges, and one looked like it could cut off a finger. It was enough to make me light-headed.
“Okay,” I said, swallowing. “I’ll tell you the truth.” Besides Carson’s cold smile, his calculating thoughts made me realize he wasn’t kidding. “I’m a psychic.?
??
“Huh?” That surprised him.
“Yeah. I just know things before they happen.”
Carson was shaking his head. “I don’t believe it.”
“But you can tell I’m telling the truth, right?” I asked.
“Mmm…maybe.” He studied me, wondering if it was true. It explained a few things, but not how I’d beat him so handily. Just then, his phone rang. He glanced at it, before holding it to his ear. “Yes.”
I could hear Ramos talking in his thoughts, telling him that he had the money and was ready to meet. Lucky for me, he also told Carson that if I was harmed in any way, the deal was off. Carson glanced at me, thinking he hated to lose his boat, but this was the only way he could get his money back and kill us at the same time. “We’ll make the exchange in one hour. Bring the money to the Titusville Marina, Dock A.”
He ended the call, thinking it would take Ramos that long to get there from the club. If we left right now, we’d arrive in about forty minutes. Good thing he’d sent his men on ahead to set everything up. His plan was simple. He’d tie me to the boat to insure his getaway, and while Ramos untied me, BAM, we’d be dead. We wouldn’t even know what hit us. He could hardly wait to push the button on the explosives. It was perfect.
“Time to go,” he smiled at me. Glancing at the guard he said, “Bring the SUV around front.”
The guard left, leaving me alone with Carson. I knew this might be my only chance to get away, but how? My hands were free. Maybe I should hit him over the head with a lamp or something. Because of his weight, he didn’t move very fast. I glanced at the lamp. It was pretty big, but I figured I could still lift it up and smash him with it.
“Don’t even think about it,” Carson said.
I jerked my gaze back to him, and my eyes widened. He pointed a gun at me, and his eyes held a certain coldness that froze me in place. Like he was daring me to make a move, just so he could shoot me.
“That’s what I don’t understand,” he said. “Your face shows everything. You’re so easy to read. How could you beat me?”
“I told you…”
“Shut up,” he barked. “I don’t believe that. You were cheating. It’s the only thing that makes sense. Besides, if you’re a psychic, you’d have known the police were going to arrest you.” His eyebrows lifted as he contemplated a new idea. “If you’re a psychic, why don’t you tell me what’s going to happen to you now.”
I swallowed and shrugged as if I didn’t care he was waving the gun at me. “You’re going to kill me.”
“How?” he asked, practically screaming. He growled and raised the gun to my face.
“Don’t,” I said forcefully. “If you shoot me now, you’ll never see a penny of that money you want so badly.”
Defeated, he lowered the gun. “That’s probably true. All right. I won’t shoot you. In fact, I’ll let you live if you’re that good. Just tell me my plans for getting the money and getting rid of Ramos.”
I sniffed. “After you get the money, you’re planning on killing Ramos and me at the marina. You’re going to blow us up on your boat. What I don’t understand is how you think you can get away with it. You see…you’re already dead. The minute you took me hostage, you signed your death warrant. Uncle Joey will come for you. He could be on his way right now. Make no mistake about it…he will kill you. There’s no place you can hide from him.”
He blanched and his breathing quickened. He was thinking that I was right, and he was a fool. His life here was over. The only way out now was to leave everything and run. He knew Manetto would come after him, whether I was dead or not. So it wouldn’t really matter if he killed me now. He had nothing to lose, and it would sure feel good to pull the trigger.
As he raised his gun, the lights went out.
I dove for the floor seconds before Carson fired, feeling the couch jolt as each bullet hit the cushions. The door burst open with a crash, and more gunfire erupted. Then all went quiet.
“Shelby? Shelby!”
“I’m…here,” I said, my voice straining against the sudden thickness in my throat. My ears were ringing, but I’d recognize that voice anywhere.
“Are you okay? Where the hell are you? Nick! Dammit! Get the lights back on! I can’t find her.”
The room suddenly flooded with light and I opened my eyes to find Ramos shoving the coffee table out of the way and kneeling beside me. Pieces of foam littered the floor, along with a slowly spreading pool of blood. I caught sight of Carson’s open eyes before warm hands pushed the hair out of my face, and gently pressed against my shoulder to turn me over. “Are you hurt?” Ramos asked, searching for signs of blood.
I swallowed. “I don’t think so.” I pushed myself into a sitting position and glanced down to make sure I was okay, experimentally moving my legs and feet. Seeing no signs of blood, I relaxed and gazed up at Ramos. “He missed.”
Ramos’ shoulders slumped before he grabbed me, pulling me into his arms in a hug. “Damn it Shelby. I thought we were too late.” He held me close, nearly crushing me to death. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” He helped me stand, keeping his arm around my waist for balance.
Glancing down at Carson, I said, “He was going to kill me.” Then it registered that there was a bullet hole, right between his eyes. “You did that? In the dark? Holy cow!”
“My gun has a light on it,” he said to explain. “Plus I could see where he was sitting from outside the window before I came in.”
“What about the guard?” I asked.
“That’s what took us so long. We couldn’t make our move until the guard came out to get the car, but you did great. You kept him occupied long enough for us to take the guard out and get the lights turned off. I was telling you to keep him occupied,” he pointed to his head. “But I wasn’t sure you heard me.”
“I didn’t.” I glanced up at him. “I had no idea. I can’t hear through glass or doors.”
Ramos swore in his mind, and I laughed at the irony. He shook his head, thinking I was the luckiest person he’d ever known, and pushed that other thought to the back of his mind. The one that chilled his blood, whispering that I’d almost died.
Nick cleared his throat, and I stiffened, wondering how long he’d been standing there. That’s when I realized they were both dressed in their black-ops clothes and had planned this attack.
“How did you know where I was?” I asked.
“Nick followed us from the club,” Ramos said. “He picked me up as soon the cops let me out, and we followed you here. We even got here before Carson. We had all our gear stowed in the trunk and decided to get you out before Carson could put his plans in place.”
“We’d better leave,” Nick said. He glanced at Carson, his eyes widening with admiration for Ramos’ shot. He was good, better than good. He offered me a small smile, amazed that I wasn’t dead too. Miracles. If he didn’t believe in them before, he did now.
Nick opened the door and followed us out. Ramos kept his arm around me as we walked down the drive to the gate. It was a good thing, since I was shaking so badly and kind of in a daze. “Carson was going to kill us both at the marina,” I said. “He was going to tie me to the boat and blow it up when you came to untie me. I didn’t know what to do. I’m glad you didn’t wait.”
“Me too,” Ramos agreed. “What did you say to him that made him decide to kill you instead of waiting like he’d planned?” He was a little upset with me for that, thinking I should have played along a little better. Besides nearly dying, I’d almost given him a heart attack.
“Hmm…yeah, you’re probably right. That was not the smartest thing I did, but he had already figured it out anyway.”
“Figured what out?” Ramos asked.
“I told him for double-crossing Uncle Joey, he was already dead, he just didn’t know it. It wouldn’t have bothered him so much except deep down, he knew it was true. He figured that if Uncle Joey was going to kill him anyway, he’d at least get his revenge by killing me
first, but before he could pull the trigger, the lights went out.” The realization that I’d almost died hit me like a ton of bricks, making me shiver all over, and Ramos tightened his grip.
We came to the gate, and Ramos frowned in apology. “Sorry, but you’ll have to climb over. Do you think you can make it?” He hoped I wouldn’t be too embarrassed, and hoped even more he could keep from looking up my dress.
“Shut up.” I said. “Besides, that won’t be necessary.” I pulled him to the panel and pushed the code I’d memorized from Esposito’s mind. “Ta-da!” I waved my arm as the gate opened.
Show off, Ramos thought.
I nodded, giving Ramos my superior smile, and we hurried through. After a short walk, we came to the car, and Ramos disentangled me from his arms to slide like a wet noodle into the passenger seat. The shock of my ordeal was starting to go to my head, and I couldn’t stop shaking. After buckling up, I crossed my arms around my waist in an effort to stop shivering. I was alive, but that was way too close. It was not an experience I ever wanted to go through again.
Ramos started the car and rubbed my hands with his for a moment, hoping to warm me up. He asked Nick to hand him his jacket from the back seat and tucked it around me. My pale face and constant shivering was making him worried. It also made him want to kill Carson all over again.
“Listen.” Ramos turned up the salsa music. “Focus on the music. Listen to the beat. Nice, huh?” He was trying to take my mind off what I’d been through, and he moved his head to the rhythm. I joined in, nodding my head and feeling my muscles gradually relax.
Ramos smiled encouragingly, pushing a button to open the sunroof. As the warm night air rushed over me, we sped away. Living in the moment, the drive home passed with me in musical oblivion, and it wasn’t until we pulled into the driveway that I realized we hadn’t stopped at the club for the money.