Daniel (15 page)

“I have no idea where you got that
notion, but that certainly isn’t true. You may be another man’s bastard, but
you don’t have anything of him in you.” She brushed angrily at the tears on her
own cheeks. “My sister wasn’t a great person, but she kept you safe. Safe for
me. And any person, man or woman, that calls you that is going to have to
answer to me. Understand?”

“Yes, ma’am. But he—”

“But he nothing. It’s us, Benny, and no
one else. Daniel is a nice man, but he has his own guidelines that he runs his
life by. You and I aren’t much different. Don’t you have things you want,
things you desire?” He nodded. “Well, so do I. And if I have to give up certain
things to make them happen, then so be it. I’m sure Daniel is doing that.”

He stared out the window for a long
time. He didn’t speak again until they pulled into the gate and pulled in the
garage door. As it lowered, she got out and pressed the code to engage the
electric in the fence and to disable all codes as of now. She pressed in the
numbers the tumbler near the key pad had spit out for her and programmed the
gate to those. They were locked in for the night.

“Reilly, did you leave the back door opened?”
It was his voice that terrified her. He had spoken low, but she could hear the
fear there. She shook her head and pulled out her cell. She was dialing the
police even as she pressed the first numbers in the key pad. The woman that
walked out of her house had her shoving Benny behind her.

“He’s on the property. Go back.” Before
the girl could continue, she dropped to the ground. Blood blossomed on her
shoulder. “Get inside and I’ll try to hold him off.”

“Sure you will.” Reilly looked at Benny.
“You know what to do. Go.”

Reilly lifted the woman off the ground.
She had no idea why she trusted her, but something in her did. Reilly watched
as Benny sprinted toward the studio and paused long enough to key in the code
before going inside. By the time the woman and her got there, if they got there,
she knew there’d be no trace of him.

“You have to let me go. I’m only slowing
you down.” The girl had taken more than the bullet to her shoulder, Reilly
could see now, but also one to her upper thigh. “I can hold him off for a few
minutes until you get to safety.”

“I’m not leaving you. Either help me or
shut the fuck up. I don’t have the energy to argue with you right now.” She
looked at her phone again and realized she hadn’t hit send. Doing so now could
be a mistake. She knew enough about the bad guys to think this guy had to know
how to get in her compound and out again without changing the code. It had been
programmed to reset if someone tried more than three times to get in.

The next two shots sounded, and she felt
the pain as it ripped through her upper arm. With the second shot, she felt the
concrete of her driveway cut her cheek when it broke from a stray bullet. Then
the glass to her kitchen window behind her shattered. She pulled the girl to
the large concrete wall she’d had built in after she had the place revamped.

“You should know that I have plenty of
bullets here with your name on them, Mrs. Harlequin. I certainly hope that your
husband hasn’t called the police. It might not go well for your kid.”

She knew that he was bluffing about
having Benny. She’d seen him go into the building. No one but she and Benny had
the codes to the room he was supposed to go into, and when the outside lights
over the door started flashing, she knew he’d made it safely.

“Who the fuck are you, and what do you
want?” Reilly realized that he wasn’t the man who’d been calling her, and she
knew that if he had been Carver, he would have killed her the first time he
shot at her. The man was reputed to be an expert shot.

“Give me what my boss wants and I’ll let
you and the kid go.” The voice, male and incredibly stupid if he thought she
would believe him, laughed. “Of course, the bitch next to you has to die. He
won’t be happy that you doubled back on him.”

Reilly looked at the girl. She shook her
head. “He’s going to kill us all, and you have to know it. And I know you don’t
have the backpack. I spoke to an agent yesterday that said he had it. And don’t
ask. I haven’t the slightest clue who he is.”

Think, Reilly,
she thought.
He
knows where you are, and the shots came from in front of you.
She looked
that way.
Okay, there was a tree and several bushes, but they weren’t big
enough to hide Benny, much less a man.
She looked at the trajectory mark in
the driveway. It had come from high up. She scanned the garage and saw a spark
of something. The second pain hit her in the same arm. She knew it wasn’t bad,
but she saw him this time.

Now it was a game of waiting, which she
knew she was no good at. She put her finger to her lips to tell the girl to be
quiet and started to stand. She wasn’t going to give him a big target, but just
give him enough that he’d stand. When he did, she didn’t even think about it
but fired at him before he was in position to shoot at her. When he tumbled off
the garage and into the bushes below it, she heard the sirens. Benny had done
his job.

Chapter
15

“His name is Dotson, Collin Dotson, and
he’s a semi-big time hit man. Been looking for him for over three years. We
have him on a couple of hits we thought he’d done, but he’s pretty good at what
he does.” Alan smiled. “
Was
good at what he did, I should say. Until
today, that is.”

Daniel didn’t give a shit. He wanted to
see Reilly. Benny, too. But she was being questioned about what had happened, as
well as being treated for her wounds in the hospital ER, and he couldn’t get
within five feet of her. He looked over at his brother when he laughed.

“What would you be doing right now if that
was Kylie in there and they wouldn’t let you see her?” His brother shrugged. “Oh,
so you wouldn’t be worried and terrified out of you mind?”

“Nope. Because, unlike you, she’s my
wife, and Reilly is not. Why don’t you sit down and tell me again how much you
aren’t in love with her and you’re not going to—”

“I never said I wasn’t in love with
her.” That shut Curtis up. And Alan looked shocked, too. “I’m very much in love
with her, but I’m not going to marry her. We’ve agreed to play this out until
we both have had enough. Then we move on. End of relationship and no sticky
entanglements at the end.”

Curtis looked pissed for several
seconds. Then all of the sudden, he brightened. It was the smile that should
have warned Daniel, but he was going to make sure that everyone understood that
this thing he had with Reilly wasn’t going to lead either of them down the aisle.

“So your plan is to what? Live together?
Have sex whenever you want, then go your separate ways?” He shrugged again. “Sounds
sort of boring. What if she gets knocked up? Or what if that kid of hers wants
to start calling you ‘Dad’? Will that make you run quicker in the opposite
direction?”

“And what if she decides to see other
people?” Alan chimed in. “Could be she doesn’t feel like waiting for you to get
to the unstickyness of the relationship and moves on beforehand.”

Daniel felt a sudden pain in his chest. He
wasn’t sure how to answer those questions. Sure he’d been okay with thinking
he’d be all right in ending things his way, but what if she did want to see
other people? He decided that he’d simply have a talk with her about it. She
was a very reasonable person. He rubbed his chest again.

“We’ll end things when we end things. Not
that it’s any of your business, but I don’t think the kid figures in this at
all.” Curtis cleared his throat and nodded, but Daniel had a point to make. “I
don’t ever want to saddle myself with kids, and I don’t think that having sex
with someone who has any should be a factor in the relationship at all.”

“So you’re only in this for the sex.” Daniel
didn’t like the way his brother had said that and didn’t say anything. What
would be the point? He knew what he wanted, and soon so would she.

“Aren’t you her lawyer?” Daniel turned
to the man standing behind him. He figured him for a doctor the way he was
sporting a lab coat and stethoscope. “That girl they just brought in, aren’t
you her lawyer?”

Daniel looked at the double doors, then
back at the man. “Yes, I am. Can I go and see her now? She might need me.”

He didn’t wait for an answer but went to
the doors and through them. Daniel had to stop a nurse once to see which area
O’Reilly was in but found her after a few minutes. She was sitting on the side
of the bed with a gown over one side of her. The blood on her arm had him slow,
but he moved forward when the nurse glared at him.

“This is an examination room, sir.
You’ll have to wait in the lobby with the others. There are enough people in
here as it is.” The nurse looked around the room before looking at O’Reilly
again. “I really wish you’d let me give you something for this. It’s going to
hurt a great deal, and if you jerk away, it’ll take a bit longer.”

“I’m not going to jerk. Just put the
flipping stitches in or whatever you’re going to do so I can get out of here.” She
looked over at him, and he could see the pain in her eyes. “What the hell are you
doing here? Don’t you have orphanages to close down or something?”

Daniel smiled. She was spitting mad, and
he didn’t care. Seeing her sitting there, he wanted more than anything to touch
her. Moving forward, he was nearly to her when she shook her head at him.

“Don’t.” He nodded at her and pulled her
mouth to his. Her soft sigh had him wanting to lay her back on the bed and take
her, but he remembered only slightly that they weren’t alone. Instead, he
poured all he was into the kiss.

Everything else seemed to fade from
them. Daniel had never been so lost in a kiss before. When she opened under his
mouth, her tongue touching his, he moaned. He found he wanted to pull her from
the bed and then lay her back onto it to make love. But someone poking him in
the back had him lifting his head slowly.

“Mr…whoever you are, we’re conducting an
interview here and you’ll have to leave.” Daniel didn’t recognize the man
standing there or anyone else in the room. He looked back at O’Reilly and
smiled at the dazed look on her face. He knew just how she felt.

“I’m her attorney. And I’m staying. And
until you show me some identification, she’s not answering any more questions.”
When she started to speak, he leaned down to her ear. “Go with me on this or so
help me I’ll figure out a more…sensual way to clear the room.”

She blushed from the top of her head to
where her neck was covered from his view. He wondered if she was pink to her
nipples and decided he’d better not ask. She may have been embarrassed, but she
didn’t look any less pissed off.

The door opened behind him, and he heard
the nurse swear. With a lift of his brow at her, she flushed as well. She muttered
something about Grand Central and sat back on the stool with her mask on.

“Everyone out. Right now. I’m officially
taking over this case as of this second.” He glanced behind him to see his
family doctor, Dana Gardner, and his mom right behind him. “Out. And if you try
any of your ‘agent has rules’ shit, I’ll call your father and give him a few insights
on his son’s activities of late.”

“Now see here. This is a Federal case,
and she murdered someone.” The man looked ready to say more, but Annemarie stepped
in front of him.

“Scott Davis, you get your bottom out of
this room this minute, or so help me,
I’ll
call your mother. The nerve. Don’t
you see that this woman has been shot? Twice? She’s not going anywhere, and
right now she needs medical attention more than she needs you badgering her
about killing a man who, from all accounts, was trying to kill her.”

The agent looked ready to argue but
stood up straighter before speaking. “Mrs. Hunter, you know as well as I that
you have nothing on me. My mother won’t believe a word you say.” He held up his
hand when Daniel’s mom started to speak. “But you’re right. She has been shot. But
I will expect her full cooperation when she’s stitched up.”

He turned on his heel and left, taking
the other men with him. None of them would look his mother in the eye because
she was using that
I know what you’ve been up to
look on them. He’d seen
it used before.

Before the door was completely closed,
the nurse cleared her throat. “Can I finish now? I do have other patients to
see today.”

“Yes. Please, go right ahead.” Daniel
sat on the bed and held O’Reilly while the nurse finished up. O’Reilly never
looked at him, but he wasn’t concerned. He was going to protect her even if
that meant from herself.

“I can’t hang around here. I have to go
home. Benny is there, and he is all alone.” She looked at his mom and still not
at him when the nurse left. “I was wondering if you could please use some of
your powers for motherhood and get me out of here.”

“Where is he? Benny? Where…I thought he
came in with you.” She shook her head. “You didn’t leave him there all alone
with that maniac out there, did you?”

He knew the moment the words spilled
from his mouth that he’d been a little loud, and when she stood up, so did he. Daniel
was sure he was going to be picking his ass up off the floor after she wiped it
up with him.

“You egotistical pig headed prick. You think
you have all the answers and no one but you can do a damned thing, right? Well,
I got news for you, buster. I’ve been doing just fine on my own and will
continue to do so.” She ripped off the gown and tossed it on the floor as she
continued. “You think I just figured out this stuff yesterday? I may not be as
great at it as your mom, but I can protect us better than you can.”

He couldn’t hear past the buzzing in his
head. She was standing before him in just her bra and pants, and his cock
swelled in his pants. He had to physically reach up and close his own mouth or
risk drooling on himself. Then she turned around.

“Mother fuck, what happened to you?” He
forgot his mother was in the room until she moved toward the two of them. “Who
did that to you?”

She tried to pull away from him, but he
wasn’t having it. He heard his mother say something, but he was concentrating
on trying to figure out what had bruised her lower back.

“I hit the ground when the first bullets
began to come at me. Let me see…a bullet tearing through my chest or a cut on
my lower back? Silly me, I thought getting out of the way of them was much
better than wondering if I was going to hurt myself.”

The bruise was about five inches wide
and the entire length of her back. He was sure it was lower than he could see
with her jeans on, but he didn’t want to risk his life asking her to pull them
off.

Dana came in as she was trying in vain
to get away from Daniel. He wasn’t any happier about this injury than he’d been
with the bullet wounds. He ordered her into the bed and told her that he was
going to run some tests. He said he was concerned about her kidneys.

“It’ll only take an hour, and maybe by
then the—”

“I can’t stay here another hour. I have
to go. I’ve things I have to take care of.” She looked at Daniel with real fear
in her eyes and lowered her voice so that only he could hear. “I have to go let
him out. He won’t leave until I go and get him.”

Daniel looked at her. She needed to get
Benny, but he couldn’t let her leave injured. He told her he’d go and get him
and keep him safe until she could leave. The kid wasn’t all that bad, and he
had enjoyed his time before with him. Daniel asked to speak to his client
alone. When they left, he sat on the bed and watched her pace. She’d pulled the
gown back on, much to his disappointment.

“Can you call him?” She shook her head. “Then
tell me how to get him, and I’ll go.”

“He won’t…. He likes you, but he won’t….
Christ, I wish I’d stayed away.” She paced some more and then sat down. When
she did, he could see the pain in her eyes. She was really hurting.

“Tell me how to find him and I’ll bring
him to you. I’ll go—”

“You can’t bring him here. Someone
will…don’t bring him here. Just…just leave him at the house. I’ll be home soon,
and we’ll be out of your hair. I know you hate kids, so if you’ll just tell him
to stay in the house until I get there, then we’ll be fine.”

He was stunned by her comment that he
hated kids. He didn’t hate them. He just didn’t want to be around them, much
less hang out with them. Benny was all right. He wasn’t annoying like a lot of
his friends’ kids were. But before he could tell her that, she started
explaining how to get into their safe room.

“There’s a picture on the wall to the
right as you come in the door. It’s a newspaper thing with a picture of me and
some guy. Walk up to it and press in the guy’s head. You’ll hear a pop, and
then the wall will move behind you.” She was writing down something as she
continued. “Once the wall is moved, you’ll see a panel. Press this code in,
then step back. The floor will open, and you can go down a flight of winding
stairs.”

“Will Benny be able to see me when I
come down, or will he be standing there waiting with a gun in his hands?” He
was only half kidding. This was becoming more like something he’d read in a
book and not in real life.

“No. He’s not allowed to point the gun
at people unless he has no choice. He can fire well, but we still need to work
on when he needs to kill and when he needs to simply frighten. The stairs will
lead you to a door. There is another panel there. That one is the second code. He’ll
be on the other side. You have to give him the safe word or he won’t go with
you.”

“Sierra. Its sierra, right?” She shook
her head. Of course they would change it. It would be stupid to keep using the
same one over and over. She looked away before turning back.

“He’s all I have in the world. Please
don’t let him get hurt.” She wiped at the tears and he felt his heart ache for
her. “It’s ‘gold Oscar.’”

He repeated it twice for her, as she
wouldn’t let him write it down. He pulled her to him briefly and kissed her. She
was quickly becoming a habit, and he wasn’t all that unhappy about it.

He stepped into the hallway and asked
the doctor to see her. He took his mom down to the waiting room and was
surprised to see his family there. Daniel felt relief at seeing them there and
asked if Royce would go with him, just in case the kid really did shoot him.