Bound by Danger (17 page)

She peeked around the shower curtain. There was no sign of any snake. She took a deep breath to calm her pounding heart.

“Need my help in there?”

Dave was being cute. But right now was not the time. She’d heard sounds in her visions lots of times. Was it just a vision she’d experienced or the real thing? “I’m fine.”

He chuckled.

She hadn’t had any experience with poisonous snakes before. Could she strangle it with her bathing suit? No, not before it struck her with those lightning sharp, poison-filled fangs. And that rubbery neck of his needed a super sharp knife. Even after removing his head, those fangs would still be a menace. But it gave her an idea. What if she could use those fangs on her attacker? She’d have to kill the snake first though.

“Lunch is on,” Bill Hummer shouted from the kitchen.

“Deidre, lunch is ready.”

She’d heard already. “All right.” She pulled the curtain aside and screamed as the snake fell in front of her from the top of the pole.

“Deidre!” The doorknob rattled as it twisted back and forth. “You locked the door! Deidre!”

The banging on the door continued as Dave undoubtedly kicked at it to break it in, making the snake turn its poised head in that direction. Deidre jumped from the shower in a flash. After tossing a towel over its head, she fumbled with the lock to the door. The snake writhed in an attempt to expose its head again. She jumped back into the stall and grabbed at the shower curtain, covering herself as Dave barged into the room.

“Rattlesnake.” She pointed at the towel writhing on the linoleum floor.

He tried to pull her from the room, but she clung to the shower curtain.

“
Come on
, Deidre.”

“
No
, Dave. I’m naked. Get me another towel, or leave me your gun.”

“Nothing doing.” Keeping his eyes on the snake squirming under the towel, he shouted, “Get me a towel in here!” as five of the agents swarmed about the door.

Within seconds, one of the men shoved a towel at Dave, and he quickly handed it to Deidre.

She wrapped the towel tight.

“Deidre, come on out of there.”

Shots reverberated in the woods outside the house. Instantly, men’s footsteps tromped out of the place like a stampede of cattle shaken up by a crash of thunder.

A bullet struck the bathroom window. Dave jumped into the shower with her.

She shook her head. “They found us.”

Another shot punctured a hole in the glass.

“We’ve got to get you two out of here.” He pulled the curtain slowly aside. “Okay, now slip out of here behind me.”

Deidre walked out of the stall, but another shot struck the wood siding on the bathroom’s outer wall, and she ducked to the floor. Then spying a plunger slightly behind the toilet, she lunged for it.

Dave kicked at the towel wriggling on the floor with his cowboy boot and uncovered the snake’s rattle. The fanged head reared up from underneath the other end of the towel. Deidre nailed it with the plunger, cementing it to the floor with all her might.

Dave holstered his weapon. “Can you hold onto him for a minute?” He dashed out of the room.

“Dave?” She’d secured the towel around her body as tightly as she could but with trying to keep the snake contained, the towel was slipping and so was the plunger. “Hurry, Dave!”

He ran back into the room carrying a canvas laundry bag.

“Are you crazy? Where’s the machete to cut off his ugly head?”

“I did a lot of West Texas rattlesnake roundups. I’ll bag him. Guess the redheaded guy wanted to give us a little present from Texas…his calling card.”

She noted Dave’s interest in the towel as it exposed the side of her leg all the way up to her waist. “The snake, Dave. Get the snake.”

He grabbed it, then forced the five-footer into the bag. After tying the string closed, he carried it out of the bathroom while she shut the door. She dropped the towel and grabbed her bra.

“Did you get whoever it was?” Dave said to one of the other men.

“We got two of them,” she heard Bill say.

“And?”

“Sorry, chief. Both are dead.”

“Damn.”

“We’re ready to roll.”

“All right.” Dave knocked on the bathroom door. “Deidre?”

“Coming.” She finished dressing and hurried out of the bathroom. “I guess there’s no more staying here.”

“Nope.”

“Was one of the men a redhead?” she asked.

Dave looked over at Bill who shook his head.

Too bad. But she knew she’d have to face him on her own anyway, sooner or later. “Where to now, boys?”

Bill cleared his throat as they loaded into the SUVs. “The boss says that none of the documents Charlie had in his possession have given us any clues about what this is all about, Dave.”

Deidre buckled her seatbelt as Dave sat beside her. Bill sat on the other side.

Dave shook his head. “We have to know what this is about if we’re ever going to make any headway with the case.”

“What about the manuscripts the other editors or the faux literary agent had?” Deidre asked.

“Checked those first. If they’d had whatever the item was, they wouldn’t have gone after any of the others. So we figure Charlie has to have something,” Dave said.

***

As soon as the first vehicle pulled out, Deidre experienced a tightening in her forehead. The killers weren’t through with them yet. She turned to Dave. “Is your weapon loaded?”

The agents all chuckled. Leave them to make a sexual innuendo out of it.

Looking like he was fighting a smile, Dave patted her hand. “Loaded and ready.”

But she was serious. “Good, because they’re coming for us again.” Her stomach muscles grew taut as she readied herself for the inevitable.

They hadn’t even left the dirt road that circled around Swanzee Lake when an SUV slammed into the lead Feds’ vehicle from a clearing in the thick woods. Immediately, the rear SUV in the party, backed down the narrow road with Charlie’s and Deidre’s vehicles speeding backward to catch up.

Deidre clung to her seat and closed her eyes. She couldn’t envision the driver of the vehicle who crashed into their lead SUV though. She took a breath and opened her eyes to see Dave looking behind him. She turned to see the rear vehicle in the lead as they flipped the car around at a parking area for the beach.

She considered Dave’s concerned face. “What about the other car?”

“The guys will be all right. The killers aren’t after them.”

“Yeah, just Charlie and me.”

“They’re just trying to knock out some of our cavalry.”

“Too bad you guys can’t have a good old James Bond car…rocket missile launchers, oil slick tank.”

Dave squeezed her hand against his lap. “We’ll get there all right.” He spoke to the driver. “Don’t lose the caravan, whatever you do.”

She didn’t care for being in the rear car in the caravan. The dust and dirt from Charlie’s vehicle clouded their view from the front. Her neck hurt too much to turn around to see what threatened them from behind. Then again maybe the car that hit their first lead vehicle was out of commission, too. She relaxed her back slightly. Every bit of tension made it ache further.

Dave wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “Did you want to lay your head in my lap and get some rest?”

“Thanks, but I feel more comfortable sitting up for now.” She didn’t feel at ease at all, but lying down wasn’t going to do the trick either.

“Hold on!” Johnson shouted.

His warning made her tense again.

They’d finally made it to the paved road and immediately a vehicle dove at them from out of nowhere.

Johnson spun the car out of harm’s way. The offending vehicle rammed into a massive oak off the road with an explosive crash. Flipping the car back into line again with the caravan, Johnson chuckled. “Everyone all right back there?”

Deidre realized she’d gripped Dave’s hand so hard the tips of his fingers had turned red. She relaxed her grip. He leaned over and kissed her temple.

“Looks like that’s two of the bastards out of commission,” Johnson said.

Dave pulled Deidre close. “Good driving, Johnson. I’ll put in a good word for you for your next evaluation.”

“The driving part is what I like best.”

She was glad they had Johnson as their driver, hoping Charlie’s car was driven by just as good a driver.

Twenty miles up the road, cars littered the two-lane highway. Some were scattered in the ditch, on the shoulder, and others still hung precariously into the lane as if in the middle of an early September day the road had turned to ice.

What now?

The lead SUV blew two tires, swerved onto the shoulder and jerked to a stop. Johnson jammed his brakes on and parked on the shoulder behind the car Charlie rode in. Everyone sat still while Dave’s phone rang. “Yeah?”

“Hey, Boss, a truck loaded with nails apparently lost a load. The police are coming to sweep up the mess, but we blew a couple of tires.”

“We can’t afford to lose you as part of the escort. We’ll wait for you to change the tires. Take a spare from Ricky’s car.”

Bill unfastened his seatbelt. “You want me to help them?”

“No, they’ll get the job done. We don’t want to be ambushed in the meantime. If we run into further trouble, we’ll head on out.”

Bill buckled his seatbelt. Deidre slipped her head into Dave’s lap. He stroked her hair, and she closed her eyes. The sound of police sirens pierced the air. She tensed.

Dave said, “The police have arrived, Deidre. Just rest. They’ve got a cleaning crew sweeping up the nails. There are a lot of poor folks with two or more flat tires they’ve got to assist before this nightmare is over for them.”

Nightmare. Changing a couple of tires. If only her nightmares were as lame. “Where are we going, Dave?” She ran her finger over his knee in a slow circle. Her touch hardened him and she smiled. His hand slipped to the back of her neck.

She welcomed the massage and relaxed marginally. She couldn’t see any vision of the killers bothering them further anytime soon.

Dave groaned slightly as she moved her head in his lap, and she smiled. She wanted to stretch out with him in the back seat, just the two of them, cuddled together in a warm embrace. Then a rap on the window made her look up to see Marilyn peering into the darkened glass.

Dave rolled his window down. “What’s up?”

“Charlie wanted to know how Deidre was doing.”

“He could’ve called.”

“I needed to stretch.” She wore the simpering smile again. “Looks like you’re doing all right though.”

“How’s it going with the lead vehicle?”

“They’ve changed both the tires but we’re still waiting for the road crew to give the all clear. Since you have the last of the spare tires, we certainly don’t want to chance heading out of here until they give us the signal.”

“All right, well—”

“Charlie wondered if it wouldn’t be safer for Deidre to ride in the middle vehicle.”

Deidre shook her head and smiled as Dave moaned under his breath. Deidre said, “Tell Charlie I’m fine. Dave will protect me.”

“Yeah, well, just don’t distract him too much.” Marilyn slapped the door, then gave Dave the thumbs up. She strolled back to her vehicle as Dave rolled the window up.

As if Marilyn wasn’t distracted as she crawled all over Deidre’s brother!

The shaded glass cut out the sunlight, and Deidre moved her head again trying to get comfortable. “Am I cutting off the circulation in your leg, Dave?”

“No,” he nearly groaned, “that’s about right.”

Johnson turned his head to the middle row of seats. “Anything wrong, Boss?”

Deidre grinned at him. He winked at her, then faced the front.

Within half an hour, the traffic began to flow again, and they pulled onto the road behind the two SUVs.

They finally arrived at Boston’s Logan Airport, and some of the men hurried to check their bags while Dave and the rest of the agents escorted Deidre and Charlie to the VIP lounge. With sodas in hand, they sat at the tables in a corner of the room.

Deidre touched Charlie’s arm. “You’re awfully quiet, Charlie.”

“I can’t believe I’ve got you into this. If I’d just—”

“Shh, Charlie. Who’s to say if you hadn’t come to live with me they wouldn’t have tried to use me as leverage to get to you anyhow? We’ve done all right.”

She frowned when Marilyn’s hand slipped into her brother’s lap. Deidre couldn’t have one word alone with her brother without Marilyn making a play for him. Was she jealous of Deidre’s close relationship with her brother or something?

Deidre hopped from her chair, irritated to high heaven. She wanted to rip every strand of hair from the woman’s head. If Deidre stayed a moment longer watching Marilyn’s behavior with Charlie, Deidre would have had no recourse.

“I have to go to the little girls’ room.”

She nearly raced for the door of the VIP room to get away from them.

Chapter 13

“Marilyn and I will go with you to the ladies’ room, Deidre,” Dave called after her to her annoyance, her fists clenched as he hurried to close the gap.

The two escorted her to the restroom, and Dave leaned against the wall outside while Marilyn checked a stall for her. Finding it unoccupied, Deidre slipped inside and closed the door. “You know, Marilyn, my brother’s a pretty nice guy.” Her words laced with venom as her brow furrowed in anger.

“I’ll say.”

“I don’t see you as the kind of woman who sticks to one man.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Woman’s intuition.”

“Ah.”

“Well, you aren’t, are you?”

“Haven’t ever found the right kind of guy.”

“And now?” Deidre walked out of the stall and strode to the washbasin.

“Charlie’s great.”

“But?”

“No buts about it. He’s great.”

Deidre let out her breath in exasperation. The woman wasn’t interested in marrying her brother and settling down. She was just in it for the fun…the easy moment, an assignment—which she had to remind herself Dave was the same for her.

“My brother sees you as more than a fun time, Marilyn. He believes you feel more for him than I think you really do. He’s just the kind of guy who’s easily encouraged by a woman who, well, who makes the kind of moves you do with him.”