Forever My Love (21 page)

Her eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness. She felt ill and terrified, aware that the loaded gun was against her head and that Brent was helpless on the floor. She didn't know if he was still breathing.

She couldn't comprehend that Robert…They'd gone to school together.

Then she realized that Brent was definitely alive. His eyes were open.

“He's awake,” she said flatly. She had to stay calm. She couldn't panic. She had to reason with this man…when all she wanted to do was scream and scream and scream.

“Let him up. Uncuff him. I'll get him to give you what you want.”

Robert kept the gun steady on her. He handed her a key. “You uncuff him. And remember, killing gets easier after the first. Not that I'd kill either one of you right away. A shattered kneecap can make lots of people talk really quickly.”

Her fingers were shaking so badly she could barely undo the cuffs. Brent's eyes remained open, golden and warning on hers. She released his hands first, and he ripped off the gag and unlocked the steel cuffs on his feet. He staggered up and had to accept Kathy's help.

Blood trickled down his forehead from the gunshot wound. He faced Robert then, shoving Kathy behind him.

“I'll kill her. You know I'll kill her,” Robert warned him.

“Yeah. And what guarantee do I have that you'll let us go once you have the diamonds?”

“None. But you know I'll blow you away if you don't.”

“We're at a stalemate then, aren't we?” Brent said.

“No. Because I'm going to shoot Kathy somewhere within the next five minutes if we don't get the diamonds.”

“All right. Let's go try warehouse number twenty-two,” Brent said. “I don't have damned guarantees to give you, just an idea.”

He started to stride by Robert, holding Kathy's hand tightly in his own, trying to keep her at his rear. Then he pushed her in front of them when Robert fell behind them.

It was almost completely dark. Shadows surrounded them. Kathy looked around Brent, still unable to comprehend that Robert could be at the root of all of this.

“Why?” she asked him incredulously.

“Why?” He smiled. “Have you ever taken a real good ride around here? Have you ever wondered how so many people can have so much money? Hell, the drug traders get off with good lawyers. The lawyers get rich on the drug money. Everybody's getting rich. I went so long without it, and then I just wanted a piece of it. There was a guy who needed to escape in the night. He gave me the location of some of his stash, and I took a chance. I let him go. And it was there, a whole cache of diamonds. And it was mine. Just for letting that thug go before the courts could do it instead. I learned a lot from that. But Harry Robertson turned out to be a pathetic little rat. And then he held out on me. I had to have him killed.

“But I want the diamonds. The game is up. They'll buy me a place and security for the rest of my life. I always liked you, Kathy. Always. I'm sorry. I wanted to keep you out of it. I didn't have any choice. Brent, open that damned door, now.”

“You killed Keith's wife!” Kathy gasped, horrified.

“I thought Keith was the man at first. I needed to scare him. To get him off guard.”

“So you killed her.”

“And I'll kill Kathy,” he reminded Brent.

Brent eyed him, then looked at the electronic combination lock. He played with some numbers. Nothing happened. Seconds ticked by.

Robert wrenched Kathy to his side and shoved the gun against her face. Tears stung her eyes. She could almost taste the metal.

“Now, Brent, now.”

“Then what?” Brent demanded. “You've got the gun down her throat right now. What am I giving you the diamonds for?”

“All right, listen. You get me the diamonds. We leave Kathy here, and you come with me. She won't say a word to anyone because I won't let you go until we're far out at sea.”

“Let her go now,” Brent said.

Robert hesitated.

“Let her go,” Brent repeated.

Robert shoved Kathy away. “Get down the walkway,” Brent commanded her. “You stay away, you hear me?”

She nodded jerkily.

Brent pushed more numbers. The vault slid open.

Robert waved his gun in the air. “Get the diamonds.”

Brent disappeared into the vault. Robert turned the gun on him. “Get over here, Kathy. Or I'll shoot him right now. He's too dangerous to take with me. It has to be you.”

She stood still. He aimed his gun toward the vault. She cried out and raced toward him. A second later he had her in a hammerlock. “Give me the diamonds, Brent. And for every one that spills, she loses a finger. Push them along the ground.”

Brent reappeared, staring at Kathy and Robert. He bent down and slid the velvet sack of diamonds on the floor to Robert. Holding the gun to Kathy's face, Robert stooped with her to pick up the satchel. Then he started to back away. Brent followed. Robert aimed the gun at Brent's face. Brent followed anyway.

They moved across the stone and the earth to the docks. And still Brent followed, keeping his distance. Then Robert stopped in front of a motorboat.

“Give me back my wife. You've got the diamonds, and you're free.”

“Can't trust you, Brent, sorry,” Robert said. There was about a three-foot drop between the dock and the boat. Robert shoved Kathy off the dock, and she cried out, landing hard on the boat's deck. He leaped quickly behind her, untying the rope that looped the boat to the dock. He stepped forward, his gun aimed at Brent, while he pulled the cord on the engine.

The small motor seemed to cough and wheeze and leap to life. “Stay there. She'll come back to you,” Robert said.

“Like hell!” Brent swore. “You'll shoot her out at sea and dump her body. You won't have any other choice.”

Suddenly, they heard the sound of barking. It was enough to distract Robert, if only for a second. In that split second, Brent leaped from the dock to the boat, landing on top of Robert. The gun went flying. And the boat moved from the dock.

Kathy staggered up from beneath the fallen men. The motorboat was spinning in circles as the two men viciously battled at her feet. She tried to slam her fists against Robert's back, but the boat careened, and both men went overboard.

In the murky darkness, she couldn't see either of them. They could be anywhere, beneath the motor…

With a scream she lunged forward and cut the motor. The barking was suddenly very fierce and she noticed that Sam was on the dock, going crazy. Jerry and Steve were behind him, searching the water with a flashlight.

The boat pitched precariously, catching her off balance. She tumbled into the darkness of the water and sank into the dark green depths.

There were fingers in her hair. Her lungs burning, she twisted and tried to see. Robert had her. And he was dragging her down.

But he was wrenched away and she kicked furiously, desperate for air. She surfaced. “Brent!” she screamed. He didn't come up. Someone touched her and she tried to fight. “It's me—Steve. Let me help you.”

“No, no. Brent—”

“You can't help him. Don't you see? The lieutenant keeps using you against him!”

She let Steve pull her away. Jerry dragged her onto the dock and Steve went into the water. She breathed heavily, trying not to panic.

“It's all right, it's all right,” Jerry was saying.

No, it wasn't. Brent wasn't coming up.

But then there was a burst from the water. Straining to see, she made out Brent coming to her with strong strokes. Sobbing, she sank to her knees and reached for him. Jerry reached for him, too, then Brent was up and out of the water, lying flat on his back on the dock. For long moments he gasped for breath with his eyes closed and his heart thundering. She was still so afraid.

Then Sam was there, licking his face. Brent touched the dog and his eyes opened and saw Kathy.

“I would have done better. Honestly. It wouldn't have taken me so long except for this damned nick on my forehead.”

She started to laugh with relief, then she was crying again. Then she was in his arms. Jerry was smiling, too, and Brent paused to put an arm around the anxious Sam. “You're a good old dog. With good instincts. He never did like Robert,” he reminded Kathy.

No, Sam had never liked Robert.

Steve searched the water until the team Jerry had called for came with masks and diving equipment. Within an hour, they found Robert. He had become entangled in the seaweed beneath the dock.

By then Kathy was sitting in a car, sipping coffee, a blanket around her. Brent told her the news, and he explained to her that the numbers had been in the main chords to the song—C, G, E. All he'd had to do was count their place in the alphabet, and he had it.

“Why Harry did that to us…” Brent murmured.

“Maybe he thought it was his only chance to live and see justice come to his tormentor, too.”

“But he died.”

“How did he know he was going to die in prison?” Kathy said. Brent, hunkered down before her, shrugged, and she knew he understood.

Keith arrived on the scene, Jerry had remembered to call him. He and Brent embraced, and Brent apologized. Keith hugged Kathy. When she whispered again that she was so sorry, he told her it was all right. He had his little son, and they were going to make it.

Steve and Jerry drove Kathy, Brent and Sam to her place. Inside, Brent shook their hands and thanked them both. “We were lucky you came. After all, you had no reason to doubt Robert. He was your lieutenant.”

Steve shrugged. “Yeah, well, it was hard. He turned bad. We had to stop him. But that isn't the norm, you know, it really isn't.”

Kathy smiled and pushed past Brent. She kissed Steve on the cheek. “You guys are the best. And I'll always believe in you.”

Steve smiled. “He kind of soiled the badge, you know.”

“He tried to,” Brent corrected. “And he tried to ruin the music, too.”

“Yeah, well, that's why we figured you were probably all right in there with him. He was after your wife and, in a way, all the things you believed in. I'll never think badly of musicians if you promise never to think too harshly of cops.”

“It's a deal,” Brent promised with a grin.

Then they were gone, and Kathy and Brent were alone. They were both crusted with seaweed and dried salt water. Suddenly Kathy started to shiver. She whispered, “It was Robert. Oh, Brent, it was Robert all the time.”

“Don't think about it,” he told her, sweeping her into his arms. “Don't think about it.”

He carried her into the bathroom and set her down, still shivering. He started a bath and filled it with bubbles. He peeled away her clothing and set her in the water. She leaned back, and when she opened her eyes, he was with her, holding two glasses of wine.

Naked, he joined her. They drank the wine as he held her against him. She was soon drowsy, and though the pain of a friend's betrayal and death did not disappear, it was banished to a corner of her mind.

After some time he picked her up, and he laid her out on the bed. He dried her naked flesh. Then he made love to her more tenderly than he had ever done before. She slept in his arms.

In the morning, she awoke and found him fully dressed, standing by the window. He seemed to sense that her eyes were on him because he turned to her, and she could see all the anguish in his face. He walked to the bed and sat beside her.

“I was…I was going to leave while you were sleeping,” he told her. “But then I felt I had to say goodbye.”

She didn't say anything. The tears were welling in her eyes. He kissed her, a light kiss. But it became a deeper kiss, long and lingering.

“Don't go,” she breathed to him.

“Kathy, I have to. If I ever hurt you again—” He tore away from her. He was on his feet and heading out the door.

She paused, her heart hammering. Then she was up, slipping on a terry robe and running after him.

He was already out the front door, heading down the walk.

“You idiot!” she called after him, and he paused, his back stiff. “You dumb idiot! Brent, I swear it, the only way for you to hurt me is to leave me! I could stand anything, anything at all, if you're with me. Don't you understand that? Brent, I love you. For the love of God, don't walk away from me again. Brent, I need you.” She paused, then added softly, “Forever, my love.”

She waited, and it seemed that the earth spun full around the sun, and still he stood there.

Then he turned, and he was running to her. When he reached her, he was suddenly on his knees, and he was holding her against him, his face against her belly.

Her fingers lingered over his hair. Then she held his face up to her and she whispered, “Please, don't leave me again, please.”

“Do you really think we can make it?”

“I know we can.”

“My temper is horrible.”

“So is mine. But that's okay, Brent, don't you see? Oh, Brent you were never out of control, never, never. It was just that with what happened, you thought…you lived with the belief— Brent, it just wasn't true! Oh, Brent…”

He was on his feet, lifting her into his arms. He stared into her eyes and said, “Kathy, I love you. Forever.”

She smiled and touched his face. “Good. You can marry me again. And quickly. Okay? Enough of this living in sin. I'll even invite Marla to the wedding.”

“And I'll let Axel come. Maybe we can introduce them to each other.”

“Maybe,” Kathy said.

He closed his eyes, then opened them. “Kathy, I'm scared.”

Her eyes widened. He was never scared. She loved him for his honesty, for so many things. “I'm scared, too,” she whispered. “But don't you see? It doesn't matter if we're together.”

He walked with her slowly toward the house. “I hate that other place. It was always new and empty. We'll live here.”