Fraud: A Stepbrother Romance (8 page)

DEREK

Like all brilliant ideas, it was
deceptively simple.

All we had to do was fake my death.

That would take the heat off of me for a
while, so that Randy and the rest of Alpha Team could step up the surveillance
activities on King.

We could amass enough evidence so that
Judge Turner would never be able to deny us a warrant for anything regarding
that bastard!

It was easy enough to come up with a
story.

The hardest part was doing it so that The
Old Man didn’t know about it.

Admiral Reginald Decker was a real prick,
and they kind of officer who liked to micro-manage operations.

He was a strictly by-the-book kind of man.

And,
he
wrote the book.

So, when Randy and I came up with our
plan, we needed to make sure that all the other Alpha Team members were on
board as well.

Once they knew the full extent of the problem,
we brainstormed some options.

The one that held the most promise for the
operation, and allowed me to concentrate on getting Megan to a safe place, was
going to be a bit difficult to pull off.

Luckily, we were well-versed in psy-ops,
and also disinformation campaigns.

We contacted our man (actually a woman
reporter at the Miami Herald named Rose) and gave her all the details we wanted
disbursed. A formal-looking fake obituary was circulated among the Team, to see
if it passed muster.

It had to be believable, and yet not too
much so.

Of course, while we were sending stuff
around, some wag had put a picture of an actual seal on the press release.

I think it was Clyde or Seemore, one of
the
Miami Seaquarium
stars.

A sea lion, really.

But, we got the joke.

“It looks just like you,” said Randy.

I got a different look, one I hadn’t ever
seen before on him.

He winked.

Once we had our laugh, we got down to
serious business.

The plan was for me to find Megan and
extricate her to a safe house, while the rest of the Team boarded the yacht.

That second part was not quite firmed up,
as we hadn’t any legal authority to go on-board.

But, Randy felt it was only a matter of
time until we heard some mention of drugs, and then the DEA would fall over
itself to get warrants.

Any judges involved would be spraining
their wrists to sign those warrants. It was a good bust, and there would be
mucho kudos to go around.

And, unfortunately, I would not actually
be able to participate in those festivities, at least not as Derek White.

It was a fair trade, though, as I saw it.

Megan would be safe, and maybe, we could
finally face each other with honesty.

When I told her I loved her, I would hope
she would see what that meant.

I didn’t harbor any illusions of being
able to be with her or become her husband.

I just wanted to let her know how much she
really meant to me.

I was going to get that chance.

Or die trying…

*****

“Okay, the trap is set!” said Randy.

“Then, let’s do it,” I said.

We got into our trademarked blue Ford
F-150 pickup, that had been upgraded to have the complete armor package.

Ironically, it was Sam’s and my
stepfather’s business who had developed the special, light but strong materials
used for protecting us.

It was astonishingly resilient, and made
of woven titanium and other metals. There was also some kind of resin used, to
make it even stronger.

The end result was one tough son-of-a-bitch
vehicle.

It had four-wheel drive, skid plates, LED
off-road lighting, and a supercharged V-8. On the technical side, it
communicated via secure, encrypted satellite links to the military and police,
air traffic control, and local emergency, plus HAM. It even got Sirius / XM.

The hacking tools built into the PC would
have made any tech geek wet their pants.

All courtesy of Uncle Sam…both of them.

The gas mileage wasn’t all that great,
though.

We drove silently for a while, and then
Randy looked at me.

I knew this one…

“I love her, Randy,” I said. “It’s as
simple as that.”

He drove on, but in the uncomfortable
silence, I could read his mind.

“I know, I can’t let my feelings
jeopardize the mission,” I said. “They won’t. I know my priorities.”

Randy looked at me, and blew out his
cheeks with a puff of air.

“Derek, old son,” he replied, “Your
priority better be to get that little lady to safety, and damn the torpedoes!”

I smiled at him, and then we both laughed.

*****

We were driving along the streets of
Miami, near Bayside.

I liked that place.

It was an open-air mall, anchored by a
Hard
Rock
café and a series of bars that always were generous with the rum and
tequila.

Suddenly, I saw someone I never thought
I’d see - Peg.

She was standing at the side of the mall,
on the sidewalk. She looked as good as any woman her age could. She was peering
around, obviously prepared to meet someone.

Then, I saw Megan!

What the hell was she doing here? I
thought.

She was breathtakingly beautiful. She wore
a business suit, and was carrying a purse. Sunglasses framed her gorgeous face,
and she was wearing a light scarf to keep the sun off her head.

“Randy, look there!” I pointed.

He veered the F-150 towards the two of
them.

Just then, Peg saw Megan, and started to
walk towards her. She was waving frantically, and not really paying attention,
it appeared to me.

Megan reached into her purse, and just
then I saw George Tanner, in a black Mercedes. He was watching the two of them
like a cat about to eat a mouse.

“Randy! Punch it!” I yelled.

He gunned the engine, and headed towards
them.

Peg and Megan were closing the gap between
them.

As they were only about twenty feet apart,
Megan stopped, her hand coming out of her purse.

She had a gun!

Tanner suddenly accelerated out towards
them, and the Mercedes took dead aim at Peg.

Megan aimed the gun at the onrushing car,
and Tanner spun the wheel. The Mercedes fishtailed, and the back end hit Peg,
knocking her off the sidewalk, and into the path of an oncoming Metro Bus. She
screamed once as the bus ran over her.

The bus driver slammed on the brakes, but
it was too late.

Peg’s body sat at an odd angle, with her
head completely under the back wheels of the bus.

Megan stood, shocked into inaction, the
gun limp in her hands.

I grabbed Megan, and she spun around.

“Derek?” she said.

“It’s me, Megan,” I said,

She looked into my eyes, and hers filled
with tears.

I hugged her, and then we ducked into the
F-150.

“Get us out of here, Randy!” I yelled,
slamming the door behind me.

“What the hell, Derek? What about that
woman?” he said.

“We can’t do anything to help her, and …”
I started to reply.

A staccato noise interrupted us, then a
series of thuds as gray blotches appeared on the window by my head.

Tanner was shooting at us from the
Mercedes!

He was aiming a pistol, and the rate of
fire and impact pattern told me it was likely a Glock 18. That was the
fully-automatic machine pistol that was the favorite of assassins the world
over.

This one was suppressed, as well.

People were screaming, both from the
gruesome display of Peg’s body under the bus, and from the gunfire.

A police officer ran towards Tanner,
weapon drawn, but Tanner gunned him down.

“Move it!” I shouted.

Randy threw the truck into gear, and spun
the wheels, as Tanner roared out of the Bayside parking lot.

He smashed through a shopping cart being
pushed by a homeless woman, who jumped back out of the way barely in time.

Then, the Mercedes took the ramp to I-95,
accelerating as it disappeared into the traffic.

“This is Alpha One Romeo,” Randy was
saying into the microphone headset.

“We have a black Mercedes-Benz, license
tag BCD-104, northbound on I-95. Suspect is armed and dangerous, likely a Glock
18, suppressed. May have other weapons as well,” he continued.

“Aren’t you going to call an ambulance for
Margaret? For Peg?” said Megan.

I shook my head, trying to think.

Megan was shaking from all the emotion she
was experiencing, I could tell.

I knew the signs of shock. But, there was
something else going on, as she hugged me tight.

“Derek! Oh, Derek! Thank God you’re all
right!” she cried.

Megan was racked with sobs, and I held her,
hugging he back as tightly as she did me.

“Shhhh! Baby, it’s ok! You’ll be ok,
Megan,” I said, trying to sooth her.

“Oh my God! Poor Peg!” she wailed.

Just then, I remembered something.

“Where’s your gun?” I asked.

“In my purse,” she replied, still sobbing.

I reached over and rummaged through her
purse. In it was a toy gun.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I said, more
harshly than I intended.

“What the hell were you thinking?” I
asked. “You could have gotten yourself killed!”

“I just wanted to scare Tanner off! I
didn’t think he’d try to kill us!” she said. Megan’s eyes were brimming, and
the realization of all of the recent events finally hit her.

She began to shake all over.

“Randy, we still have the emergency
blanket?” I said.

“It’s in the glove compartment, amigo,” he
replied.

I took out the package and opened it. A Mylar-foil
blanket was inside, and I unfolded it and covered Megan.

“Here, baby, put this around you, for
warmth,” I said. She was going into shock, and I wanted to be sure we could
deal with it.

“Any pursuit? More vehicles?” I said to
Randy.

“Negative. And, Tanner ditched the
Mercedes off 112th, and is gone. They think he might have gone onto a boat in
the canal over there,” said Randy.

“Or maybe he’s headed out to the airport,”
I said.

Megan perked up.

“King has a Sikorsky S-76,” she said,
mechanically. “It seats eight, and has the capability for a water landing. The
flotation devices are under the leather seats. There is a red handle for
exiting the aircraft in case of an emergency. Only people who are physically
capable of operating the latch should be seated by the window…” she droned on.

I let her talk for a while, hoping that
she might snap out of it.

“This is Alpha One Romeo, there is a
strong indicator that suspect may be fleeing to the Miami International
Airport. I need a manifest of all helicopters, specifically the Sikorsky S-76
and variants, business-class, that are currently inbound, outbound, or
stationed there, over,” said Randy into the headset.

“King’s chopper is black, with orange
trim,” said Megan.

She seemed to have come around.

“Derek, oh, Derek!” she said. “I’m so
confused, right now! How can you be here?”

I grabbed her chin and tilted her
beautiful head up, so that I could gaze into her eyes. I saw the love there, but
I was still too unsure of our situation to commit to anything.

“Megan, I missed you,” I said. I gave her
a small kiss on her cute nose.

Megan grabbed my head and shoved her mouth
against mine.

Randy cleared his throat, politely letting
us know he was still there. I got another of his patented looks.

Megan kissed me harder, and I felt her
opening her mouth. I grabbed her head with my hand, and really leaned into it.

Her tongue was like a small animal, trying
to burrow into my throat. I heard her making tiny moans, and I sucked on her
tongue, stroking it with my teeth. I plunged my own tongue deep into her mouth,
and felt a white heat in my face. My dick was coming to life, and I realized
this was going to go way too far, in a hurry.

So, I pushed her back, away from me. Her
eyes blazed with passion, and I couldn’t help but notice that her nipples were
poking out from the sheer fabric of her blouse. Her lacy, tan bra strained, as
her breasts heaved and her breath came in gasps.