All the Way (24 page)

“Adriano, I'm cold.”

He lifted her from the photo blanket, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and yawned. He was driven to take care of all her needs. No matter how small. He placed her carefully on the bed, covering her with a blanket. She had fallen asleep again by the time he climbed into bed with her.

Chapter 26

Jake opened the door to the suite, and Lisa Hail barged in. “What the—”

“Is Norwood here?”

“I don't know.” Jake, Ethan, and Patrick had just gotten back from driving end to end of North Carolina, visiting every coroner's office in every county, leaving Cimino's dental records for possible identification of any John Does.

“Norwood, get out here!” Hail flung the bedroom doors of the suite open in search of Adriano. “Now, Norwood!”

Jake followed her, wearing only his boxers. “You can't bust in here demanding to see Adriano like this. What's the problem?”

Lisa flipped around on her heels, making her trench coat balloon around her short, stubby body. She poked her finger in his chest. “Don't mess with me!”

Ethan woke up from where he'd fallen asleep on the sofa.

Patrick appeared in the living-room area, tying his robe. “What's going on? Has something happened to my sister?”

Adriano joined them in the living room. “What is it? Has something happened to Payton? Your men are supposed to be looking after her. If you can't—”

Lisa trudged up to him. “Listen to me good. All of you. I don't know who you think you are, but you will not interfere with my case. I've already had to compromise with the stud here”—she hiked her thumb in Jake's direction—“who was beat near to death by a woman.”

“A woman?” Ethan asked, amused.

Lisa continued her tirade. “The FBI is on my back. Grazicky's men are still out there somewhere—watching and waiting for their chance to make a move. Which brings me to you. Loverboy.” She pointed at Adriano.

“Did something happen?” he asked, but Jake, Ethan, and Patrick watched her histrionics in silence.

“Someone followed you to the hotel where I'm keeping Payton and all your buddies set up camp outside. They're hungry for a story, but I don't have one to give them because
you keep interfering in my case!”
She whirled on Jake again. “Don't think I don't know about your road trip.” She turned in a complete circle, looking at all the men in turn. “Because of your antics, I had to move Ms. Vaughn again.”

“You moved her?” Adriano asked, already alarmed about not knowing where she was. “Moved her where?”

“That you'll never know,” Lisa answered. She let the realization settle in before she went on. “I know you all care about Vaughn, but can't you see what you're doing is more harmful than helpful? Did you consider what would happen to her if I had to cancel her as a witness? Grazicky would never say forget it and let her walk away, and I wouldn't be able to protect her any longer.”

“Can I see her?” Patrick asked.

“No!”

“I want to talk to my sister.”

“None of you will have any contact with her until I think it's safe. Keep it up, and you'll all go to jail,” Lisa hissed.

Patrick objected. “But—”

“Let me be clear, gentlemen. One more stunt and I'll have all of you arrested and tossed in jail.” Lisa stomped out the door, slamming it behind her.

Patrick lunged at Adriano, and they hit the floor together. Jake and Ethan fought to separate them, pulling them apart and holding them at arm's length.

“Remember,” Jake shouted, “you both want the same thing—Payton safe.”

“You're putting my sister in danger,” Patrick shouted.

“You'll get her killed.”

Jake cut off Adriano's reply. “Adriano wouldn't do anything to hurt Payton. He sacrificed everything to help her when she was a complete stranger to him. What do you think he'd do for her now that he's fallen in love with her?”

Patrick stopped pressing into Jake's outstretched arm.

“Can you two stop fighting and concentrate on helping Payton?” Ethan asked.

Adriano and Patrick let their fighting stances slowly fade.

“All right, shake on it.” Jake took a step back. “We need to work together on this.”

Adriano offered an apology. “I've only wanted to help her from the first. I won't let anything happen to your sister. I love her.”

Patrick stared at Adriano, resenting his sincerity. It would have been more satisfying to tear him apart with his bare hands. “Where do you think they took my sister?”

“I can make some phone calls.” Jake went to the bedside table and lifted the phone receiver.

“No need.” Adriano blew out a long breath.

Jake, Ethan, and Patrick all turned to him, waiting.

“If I know Payton like I know I do, she's on the way here.”

 

 

“This is your last day, your last chance,” Sherman told Hiram, but Hiram already knew.

Payton was back in Charlotte, heavily under guard. The police hadn't taken chances hiding her this time. Not after the Adam's Mark incident and the drive-by shooting of the FBI agent. They'd get her story, keep digging until finally they dug up some obscure piece of evidence on Sherman. And then they'd all be dead.

“You have twenty-four hours,” Sherman said. “And then you're dead.”

Hiram turned to leave. There was nothing left to say. The only reason he wasn't dead over the Patrick screwup was the press. Sherman knew his eagerness to get the girl had caused him to make a mistake. Against Hiram's advice, they'd let her brother go. It was like Payton had something on the old man.

“Don't bother going to my wife. She can't save you.”

Hiram left the house, his mind swirling. He placed a call to Kellie the second he drove away from the sprawling mansion.

“You got eyes on the girl?”

“They moved her,” Kellie answered. “Blocked all the streets in a three-mile radius to do it.”

Hiram cursed. “We have to do this.
Today.
”

She read his meaning clearly.

“We finish this today. Get the girl to the old man, and then go. Don't bother to pack.”

“Where should I meet you?”

“Back at the hotel. Call all the guys.”

He disconnected, dialing Cecily immediately. She was lethal, but smart. She'd tell him the best way to get to Payton. Despite her ruthlessness, he knew she had a soft spot for him. He hadn't performed like her little sex monkey for months for nothing. This was his insurance, and he was cashing it in.

 

 

From sunup to sundown, Payton answered questions about Sherman Grazicky, the murder she'd witnessed, and her adventure with Adriano. The FBI investigator joined the party, firing question after question. When he stopped for a sip of water, Lisa Hail and her team started.

Adriano had compromised her safety, Lisa said, so Payton had been moved from her hotel before breakfast and taken to a safe house. The three-bedroom brick ranch sat clandestinely in the center of a middle-class Charlotte neighborhood. She knew as the police drove her in the back of the unmarked car what she had to do if she ever wanted to see Adriano again. That's why she committed to memory every detail of their route.

At nine o'clock, her day ended and her plan started.

She showered and dressed in her pajamas. She smiled and joked with the police officers playing cards in the living room, serving them snacks and drinks, offering to clean up their mess. She hung up their coats, taking the cash from the wallet of one of the overly amorous officers and hiding the crumpled bills in the pocket of her robe. Mission accomplished, she turned in for the night.

The night-shift officers soon came on duty. It astounded her that these trained professionals worked the graveyard shift every night but couldn't keep their eyes open after midnight.

She dressed in jeans and a pullover sweater and retrieved the knife she'd stolen from the kitchen from under her mattress. It took a little work to chip away the old paint around the window, but then it opened effortlessly. She slipped over the windowsill and out into the night.

Anxiety tied her stomach in knots. She climbed over several fences. She moved briskly past the unmarked police cars keeping surveillance on the safe house. The officers watched the nondescript woman walking on the opposite side of the street but were satisfied she posed no danger and let her pass unmolested.

Her memory wasn't as good as she believed, and she got lost roaming through the neighboring streets. She started to question her sanity. She couldn't blame her behavior on fear this time. The force pulling her to escape protective custody and run to Adriano could only be attributed to the magic powers of love.

She knew Adriano meant what he'd told her: he would find a way for them to be together. But he couldn't keep his promise if he didn't know where she was. They shared more than a sexual attraction. Their future was uncertain, but it existed. Not even Lisa Hail would keep them apart. Payton was tired of being her prisoner.

Traffic noise ahead made Payton hurry. At the end of the block was a main thoroughfare. She ran to the pay phone outside a convenience store and dialed a taxi service.

 

 

Adriano sat in the wingback chair facing the door of the hotel lobby. His head bobbed, eyes ebbing with every shallow breath. Exhaustion claimed more of his body as the seconds ticked by. He had tried to get some rest after Lisa Hail blew out of their suite, but failed. His mind churned with thoughts of Payton and wouldn't allow him to sleep. Headstrong and afraid, she wouldn't consider her own safety. She wanted to be near him, and she would get there—no matter what she had to do to accomplish it. If Lisa had been more cooperative and given him Payton's whereabouts, he could have tried to talk sense into her. But Lisa was clear and unyielding—no contact of any kind between them until her investigation was over. So Adriano sat exhausted in the lobby of his hotel waiting, playing out every minute of his time with Payton, asking when she stopped being a source and became the love of his life.

Jake grasped Adriano's shoulder. “Maybe she's not coming, A.”

He rubbed his sandpapery lids with two balled fists. “She's coming, all right.”

“Ethan's still on the phone trying to find out where they moved her to. I made a ton of calls. We'll track her down soon. Why don't you get some sleep? I'll keep watch for her.”

He checked the time. “I could take a shower and change, but I can't sleep until I know she's all right. If Lisa would stop being such a—if she would tell me where she's keeping Payton, I could go to her and make sure she knows how I feel about her.”

“You haven't told her?” Jake asked.

“I did, but . . . there are things to work out. How are we going to be together, Jake? Do I give up everything I've worked for at
Chicago City
now that it's this close? Or do I ask her to leave her home to follow me to Chicago?”

“Why don't you just ask her what she wants? It's not so far off she might want to be swept off her feet and come to Chicago with you. Women get off on that kind of stuff.”

Payton wasn't an ordinary woman.

He stood and stretched the angry kinks knotting his shoulders. “I'll be back in thirty minutes.”

“From everything you've told me, Payton is tough mentally and physically. She'll come out of this on top.”

He gave a cautious nod of agreement before leaving Jake. He went to the bank of newspaper machines near the gift shop. The inset of one newspaper still headlined a picture of Payton being led away from the bus station by the police. He searched for coins and purchased a paper from the box. Standing at the elevators, he scanned the articles. He read the titles; each announced the return of the star witness against Sherman Grazicky—charges pending for his “alleged” crimes.

Screams rang out, piercing his concentration. He dropped the paper and ran back to the lobby.

Mass confusion. Jake wasn't sitting in the wingback chair where he'd left him. Hotel guests scrambled to get out of the way. A bellman struggled with a big, burly man. A loud pop resembling gunfire rang out, and the crowd screamed collectively. Adriano rushed against the current of people seeking cover and spotted Jake wrestling through the crowd toward the entrance. Adriano followed, reaching the turnstile of doors just in time to see Payton shoved into the back of a white cargo van.

Seeing Jake sitting across the lobby, Payton sighed with relief. She'd made it to Adriano. She hurried in his direction.

A large man stepped into her path. “Payton, what are you doing here?”

She clutched her chest. “Carter. You startled me. I didn't get a chance at the bus station to thank you personally for coming out to support me. It meant a lot.” She glanced in Jake's direction. A waitress had him engaged in conversation.