Читать книгу One Night In Texas - Jane Sullivan - Страница 11

DEREK STEPPED OFF the elevator and walked through the parking garage, moving quickly and decisively even as his mind was spinning in a dozen different directions.

When he’d grabbed Alyssa in that closet, for a few seconds he hadn’t been able to move. To think. To believe who he had his arms around. But there was no mistaking that mass of blond hair, those green eyes and that slight, willowy figure he remembered as clearly as if he’d seen her yesterday. He’d known she worked in a building that was identical to this one in Seattle, but he’d never imagined that he’d find her here. He’d asked her what her name was just to ensure that the concept most people believed in—that everybody has a double somewhere—hadn’t come into play.

It hadn’t. It was Alyssa.

And then she’d said his name. Softly. Tentatively. Even after six months, she’d still recognized tiny details she never should have remembered. His ring. His scar.

His voice, for God’s sake.

He’d hated like hell having to manhandle her the way he had, not to mention having to tie her up and leave her there. But he had to make sure Owens got to the airport ASAP, and she clearly hadn’t been in the mood to listen to anything he’d had to say. Until he had the chance to calm her down and find out just how inclined she was to tell the world what she’d overheard, restraining her had been his only option.

He exited the parking garage and walked to the van waiting on the street outside the building. After climbing into the driver’s seat, he tossed his backpack down and shut the door.

Kevin emerged from the back of the van and flopped into the passenger seat. “What the hell was going on up there? I lost communication with you for a few minutes.”

“Somebody was in the apartment. She heard everything.”

“She said your name. She knows who you are.”

“Yes. She’s…” The last thing Derek wanted was to delve into his history with Alyssa. “She’s an acquaintance.”

“Oh, boy. So where is she now?”

“Tied up in the bedroom.”

Kevin stared at him, dumbfounded. “What?”

“I left her tied up in the bedroom.”

“So what are you going to do with her?”

Derek paused. “To tell you the truth, I’m not sure. Once we get Owens on the plane, I’ll come back and deal with her. By that time I’ll have something figured out.”

“And if you let her go and she talks?”

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t.”

“But how—”

“I said I’d handle it.”

Kevin looked at him skeptically, but he’d never been one to overstep his bounds. Finally he simply nodded.

“Did you get in touch with the team?” Derek asked.

“Wilson and McManus say they’ll have no trouble grabbing Owens. But there’s a problem with Lambert.”

“A problem?”

“He’s got the flu. Woke up with it this morning. A hundred and three fever. Can’t stop puking. Says he couldn’t possibly get a plane off the ground.”

Derek just stared at Kevin, unable to believe that not a damned thing was going right with this job. First, the blackmailing problem he’d set out to solve was far bigger than he’d realized. Then he’d had to take a woman hostage to keep her from talking—a woman he never would have considered tying up in bed unless she’d smiled pretty, got naked and asked him to. And now he had a pilot who couldn’t stop hugging the toilet long enough to fly to Washington.

Derek hated this. Hated it. His team’s reputation was built on jobs going off cleanly without a hitch, and now he was on the verge of having to phone Washington and admit he couldn’t pull this one off because he had no pilot.

No. He wasn’t going to do that. Failure was not an option.

Derek started the van.

“Where are you going?” Kevin asked.

“St. Andrews.”

“The church?”

“Yes.”

“Wait a minute. Isn’t that where Gus is getting married tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

Derek wheeled the van away from the curb and hit the gas.

“You’re gonna get him to fly the plane?” Kevin asked.

“That’s right.”

“But he quit the team a year ago.”

“Do you know any other pilot we can get on short notice who can fly a Learjet to Washington and who won’t wonder why he’s transporting a guy in handcuffs and handing him off to federal agents?”

Kevin sighed. “Good point.”

Ten minutes later Derek pulled up in front of St. Andrews. He turned to Kevin. “Get in the back. I don’t want Gus to see you and think we’re double-teaming him.”

“And if he won’t come?”

“That’s when we can double-team him.”

Derek parked behind a black stretch SUV. Nearby, several men milled around whom he took to be the other groomsmen. A white limousine was parked in front of the black one. Clustered around it was a group of young women who appeared to be the bridesmaids.

Derek checked his watch. It looked as if the rehearsal was over and the men were heading out to the golf course before the rehearsal dinner tonight.

As soon as Derek stepped out of the van, Gus spotted him and walked over.

“About time you showed up,” he said with a smile, clapping Derek on the shoulder. Then he lowered his voice. “Tell me the truth. You asked for that job just to get out of the rehearsal, didn’t you?”

Derek was relieved to see Gus in a better mood now than he had been when Derek had phoned earlier to tell him he had to miss the rehearsal. Of course, as soon as Gus found out why he was here now, that smile would be history.

“Sorry, man,” Derek said. “Duty called.”

“That’s the story of your life.”

“Used to be the story of yours, too.”

“Not anymore.” Gus leaned in and spoke quietly. “Guess I should have expected something like this when I asked you to be my best man, huh? ‘Sorry, buddy. Can’t make the rehearsal. Gotta tend to a congressman with his pants down.’ Or his panties down, as the case may be.” He gave Derek a smile, his voice still low and confidential. “So how’d it go this morning?”

“Not well,” he said quietly. “That’s why I need a favor.”

Gus’s grin evaporated. “What favor?”

“I need you to fly the Learjet to Washington.”

Gus just stared at him. “Come again?”

“Learjet. Washington. ASAP. I’m in a bind, and I need you.”

Gus held up his palms. “No way. I’m out of that business.”

He turned and walked away. Derek followed, finally grabbing his arm, but he shook it off.

“It’ll take a few hours, max,” Derek said.

“I’m getting married.”

“Not until tomorrow.”

“So why aren’t you sending Lambert?”

Derek sighed. “He has the flu.”

Gus looked flabbergasted. “The flu? The flu?” He glanced over his shoulder, then dropped his voice to an irate whisper. “I once flew a C-5 Galaxy over enemy territory when I had malaria, for God’s sake. Tell him to get his ass out of bed and fly the freakin’ plane!”

“I was with you when you flew that plane. My life flashed before my eyes.”

“This is my wedding we’re talking about. Find yourself another pilot.”

Derek glanced over to see a few of the groomsmen staring at them. He lowered his voice. “Look, I know it’s a hell of a lot to ask. But there’s a guy I have to get to D.C. for interrogation, and I have to do it right now. I took this job, and it’s my responsibility to see it through.”

“Right. Your responsibility. Not mine.”

“Gus—”

“No! There’s a reason I’m out of the business. So I can have a life that doesn’t involve having to do this short-fuse crap anymore.”

“Fly to D.C., hit the tarmac, unload the cargo, do a one-eighty and head back. That’s all I need.” Derek could see his friend starting to waver. “Come on, Gus. Haven’t we always watched each other’s backs? Always?”

Gus blew out a breath. “Playing the loyalty card is really low.”

“Hey, I’m stuffing myself into a tuxedo for you tomorrow. The least you can do is fly to Washington for me today.”

Gus closed his eyes and shook his head.

“It’s really no big deal,” Derek went on. “You’ll be back in time for the rehearsal dinner tonight. Hell, all we were going to do this afternoon is play golf anyway.”

“I like golf.”

“You also like to fly. Get in the van, and I’ll fill you in on the way to Love Field.”

“I need to talk to Sally first.”

“No. If you talk to her now, you’ll never get out of here. Phone her from the airfield. Tell her something came up, but you’ll be at the rehearsal dinner tonight.”

Derek opened up the passenger door. Gus stared at the van, then back at Derek. “You owe me for this.”

“You bet. Just name your price. After you get the guy to Washington.”

Gus hauled himself into the van. Derek stepped into the driver’s seat, started the engine and hit the gas. He wanted to get out of there before Gus saw his bride and changed his mind.

“Unbelievable,” Kevin said from the back of the van. “He talked you into it.”

Gus gave Kevin a deadpan look. “I’m a sucker for a sob story.” He turned back to Derek. “So, fill me in. Who’s my cargo?”

Derek gave him the short version of the predicament they were in, judiciously leaving out the part about Alyssa. No need to go there, particularly when it was a loose end he planned to tie up on his own later.

“So we’ve got to get this guy to Washington for interrogation,” he told Gus, “or come Monday morning, either the president’s trade bill is going down because a few congressmen don’t want to see themselves in compromising positions all over cable news, or cable news is going to have a field day when they get hold of—” He stopped short, looking in the rearview mirror. “Damn it.”

“What?”

“Somebody’s following us.”

Gus glanced in the side mirror. “That blue Mustang?”

“Yeah. He’s been hugging my bumper for the past few miles. This makes the fourth time I’ve changed lanes and he has, too.”

“It’s Barry Sutton,” Gus said. “Hard to miss that car. I saw him getting into it as we were leaving.”

Derek came to a red light and braked to a halt. “Any idea why he’s after us?”

“He’s a reporter who used to cover big stories but got busted to the society section. Maybe he’s looking for news from my wedding that’s a little more interesting than what color the mother of the bride is wearing.”

“Then we’d better lose him.” Derek put two hands on the wheel. “Hang on.”

Derek hit the gas and wheeled hard to the left, hopped the curb to the median and made a U-turn against the red light. He gunned it for fifty yards, then turned into a strip-center parking lot and headed down the service alley. Checking his rearview mirror, he saw Sutton’s Mustang still sitting at the red light.

“He’s not following,” Derek said.

“Hell, no, he’s not,” Gus muttered, rubbing his neck. “Did you have to jump the damned curb?”

Derek grinned. “You’ve gotten soft, Gus. That’s tragic.”

“No. Tragic is having to miss my golf game this afternoon.”

“Golf. Now, there’s some excitement.”

“It’s all the excitement I’m looking for these days.”

“Come on. Think about all the fun we used to have. You loved every minute of it.”

“Yeah. I did. But I love Sally more.”

He spoke with such conviction that Derek knew there was more to his relationship with his fiancée than some hot sex with a pretty lady. Gus had quit the team and started his own business for one reason only: so he could have that one special woman to come home to for the rest of his life.

When Derek thought about that, for some reason Alyssa’s face flashed through his mind.

No. Stop thinking about her like that.

He told himself, as he had for the past six months, that thoughts like those would eventually get him into trouble. Soon he’d be roped and tied like Gus, playing house with his wife and golfing with his buddies. But he just wasn’t cut out for that kind of life, and he had yet to meet a woman who could convince him that he was.

FORTUNATELY THE REST of the job went off like clockwork, which was a big relief for Derek after everything that had gone wrong. Wilson and McManus had Owens waiting at Love Field when they arrived. In fewer than three hours, the blackmailer would be in Washington. With any luck, Owens would crack and give the interrogators the name of his client and the location of the blackmail material. Then they’d call Derek in one more time to retrieve it, and this problem would be put to bed once and for all.

But right now he had to deal with Alyssa.

Kevin stayed in the van across the street from the Waterford, punching his computer to let Derek back into the building. As Derek ascended the elevator to the penthouse, his heart was pounding a little harder than usual. He’d rather take a beating than face Alyssa after what had happened in there.

As the elevator doors opened, he spoke into the microphone, telling Kevin he’d be out of touch for a short time and to stay put until he contacted him again. Then he flipped the microphone off and made his way to the master bedroom.

Alyssa sat on the bed exactly where he’d left her, but the anger she’d displayed earlier seemed to have disappeared. Instead, when she looked up at him, her green eyes were full of the pain of betrayal. And he was the reason why.

Stop beating yourself up. You had no choice.

When he settled beside her on the bed, she shrank away from him. He sighed heavily.

“I’m going to untie you,” he told her, “but I can’t let you leave yet. We need to talk. Agreed?”

She nodded.

He removed the gag first, easing it away carefully, wincing when he saw the red, irritated skin at the corners of her mouth. She stretched her jaw stiffly, refusing to look at him. When he untied her ankles, then her hands, he was dismayed to see the ties had left their mark there, too.

“I can’t believe you did this,” she said, rubbing her wrists. “I can’t believe—”

He touched his hand to her arm. When she jerked it away from him and stood, he wondered if she intended to bolt from the room. Instead she merely walked several paces away and stopped, her back to him, rubbing her upper arms with her palms.

“You left me in Seattle,” she said, her voice quivering as if she were on the verge of tears. “After a whole week together, suddenly you were gone. And now…and now this.”

“Alyssa—”

“How could you do this to me?”

With that, she dropped her head to her hands and began to cry.

Derek felt a shot of apprehension. He’d sailed through military combat with flying colors. He ran a team of stealth operatives, keeping his cool in situations unimaginable to the average man. His pain tolerance was legendary. He had very few weaknesses.

But watching a woman cry was one of them.

He’d expected her to be fighting mad. That he could have dealt with just fine. But now that she was falling apart, he had no clue what to do.

“Alyssa…”

He rose from the bed and went to her, putting his hand on her shoulder. To his surprise, she turned quickly, ducked her head and fell against him. He automatically wrapped his arms around her and she laid her head against his chest, her body shaking with sobs.

“You’re a liar,” she said, crying so hard she could barely speak.

“I know, but—”

“And a thief.”

“Well, technically I am, but—”

“And a bully.”

A bully? Now, wait a minute. He’d been called a lot of things in his life, but never that. He liked to think he wasn’t one of those guys who acted tough just for the sake of intimidating people, but clearly she thought he was.

But even as she berated him with one accusation after another, she clutched her arms more tightly around him, as if she was begging him to tell her that none of her words were true.

Unfortunately most of them were.

“Alyssa, sweetheart, listen to me. I had no choice. I had to—”

All at once she slid out of his arms and pushed him away, so hard that he stumbled backward. It startled him so much that a second passed before he realized what else she’d done.

She’d grabbed the gun from the small of his back.

He started toward her, but she’d already raised the weapon. Stopping short, he held his palms in the air, unable to believe that the woman he’d thought was crying had a face as dry as dust.

“You’re right, Derek,” Alyssa said. “We have some talking to do.”