Lillian Duncan - Until Death Do Us Part (18 page)

CHAPTER
46

Reggie knew the taunt from the kidnappers wouldn’t go down well with either man. She waited for a reaction but both men simply stared at each other without a word passing between them.

But she knew they didn’t need words to communicate
.

Billy shrugged
and sat down beside Theresa.

“He didn’t know.
” Theresa was the first to speak.

Billy shook his head.

“Didn’t know what?” Reggie asked.

“That I
escaped.”

“Oh.”

Dylan made a show of stretching and yawning. “We’ll deal with it tomorrow. For now everyone is safe and accounted for and a good night’s sleep is just what the doctor ordered for all of us.”

Theresa l
ooked at her husband then at Reggie. “Don’t play this game for our benefit. I want to know what’s been happening around here and I’m not going to bed until I do.”

Billy chuckled. “It was worth a try, Monroe. But I didn’t think these women of ours would just go take a nap after b
eing kidnapped and tied up. So why don’t we start at the beginning? Which means you’re up first, my sweet.”

The
resa moved off the bed and walked around the room. “I was on my way home when I saw what looked like an accident, but apparently wasn’t. I stopped to help. A man was standing by a car. He said his wife needed help. When I bent down to look, he put a rag over my mouth and I was out. Probably ether.”

“
Did he look familiar to you at all?”

“Never saw him before in my life
.”

“What about the car? Did you see the license plate or what kind it was?”

She sighed. “Sorry, you know how I am with cars. They all look the same to me.”

“Don’t worry about it, hon.
What’s the next thing you remember?”

“I woke up i
n a bathtub. At least I think it was a bathtub. I was blindfolded so I never saw it.”

Dylan grabbed another burger.
“Yeah, been there myself. Were there snakes in it?”

Theresa’s eyes grew wide.
“Not that I know of. Why?”

“We’ll get there in a minute, hon. Let’s have you finish up your story
first. Did they hurt you in any way?”

“Not at all. They fed me
once while I was in the tub and didn’t bother me. Other than the time they slapped me when I told you not to do it. And the two of them had an argument after that.”

“Two of them? Were there more?”

“I think there might have been one other person, but I never saw them. When they brought me out to talk on the phone, I sensed another person in the room but I was blindfolded so I don’t know for sure. But they didn’t talk or make their presence known so I might be wrong about that.” She cleared her throat and looked around the room.

Dylan was up on his feet
. “Need something to drink?”

“It would be nice.”

“Your wish is my command.” He handed her a glass of soda.

After taking a sip, she looked at Billy.
“What did they want you to do?”

“Not much actually. Just erase a file from the Secret Services investigative branch.”

What did that mean? Reggie looked at Billy. “I thought the Secret Service protected the president. They have an investigative branch?”

“It’s their job to keep the US money system safe. So
they investigate financial crimes as well. And that’s what the file was I deleted.”

Theresa shook her head.
“Billy, I told you not to do it.”

“Yeah, li
ke I was going to listen when your life was in danger. I didn’t have a choice. And I’d do it again.” He popped the top on his can of root beer and looked at Reggie. “Your turn.”

“Oh, I don’t think so. I think I want to hear how Dylan ended up down here.”

When Dylan got to the part about finding Billy locked in the bathroom with a gunshot, Theresa jumped up and demanded to see it. After inspecting it, she looked at Dylan. “Looks good. No signs of infection. You may continue.”

“Well not a whole lot more to the story. We used the trackin
g system on your car to find its location, but it didn’t really give us any leads. We went back to your house and they finally called. Then they told us what they wanted Billy to do.” He went on to explain what happened at Mrs. Miller’s house.

“Oh, my goodness. You must have scared the old woman half to death.”

“Well, maybe but I think it was the most fun she’s had in a long time.” Dylan chuckled. “She’s quite the woman. You should have seen her handle that shotgun. Not to mention the great cookies. Anyway, we made sure she was safely on her way, and then we went back to the cabin. I gave the big man some pain meds and he fell asleep.”

“Yeah, and when I woke up Dylan was gone.”

“Is this where the snakes and the bathtub come into play?”

“Yep.”
Billy opened a bag of chips. “You wanna tell us how the bad guys got the drop on you, Monroe.”

“I wouldn’t say they got the drop on me.”

“Really? Then how did you end up hogtied in the bathtub with the snakes?”

“OK, maybe I got a little careless. I did check the house and thought it was empty, but obviously I was wrong.”

“What kind of snakes?”

“Rattlesnakes, but get that panicked look off your face. T
here was no venom in the bites. The medic on the helicopter confirmed that.”

“
Helicopters? I knew it. I was in the cabin staring at a helicopter and I remember thinking that it had something to do with the two of you. I can’t believe I was right.”

Billy wagged a finger at her.
“You’re in the hot seat now. Tell us what happened.”

“Do you want to hear about what happened when I got to your house or maybe you’d like to hear how I rescued a woman and her two kids
from an abusive husband?”

The looks of surprise on the other’s faces made her smile. “Nah, I’ll save that for later.”

When she’d finished, they all looked at each other. “Pretty unbelievable.”

“N
ot to mention a lot of work to get one simple file erased.” Theresa added.

Dylan grabbed the last burger off the table and unwrapped it. “That’s what I thought until
Billy Clyde explained a lot of terrorist groups get caught because of their illegal activities to fund their terrorism rather than through the acts of terrorism.”

Reggie stared at them.
“That’s a scary thought.”

“And now that everyone has a general idea of what’s being happening to everyone else the past few days, it really is time to go to bed. And let God rest our bodies and our minds.” Billy Clyde stood and reached for Theresa’s hand
. “We’ll all be much better prepared to handle this situation in the morning.”

They walked out leaving Reggie and Dylan alone. Her eyes met his. “A lot of craziness going on
in a few short days. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about my suspicions that Billy Clyde was in trouble. It wasn’t because I didn’t trust you, it was—”

“Because you wanted to keep me safe.”

He grinned at her. “Such a smart lady, I married.”

“
I know we said until death do us part, but I was hoping that would be seventy or eighty years from now.”

“Amen to that.”

His arms encircled her. He leaned down and kissed her. She pulled him closer and their kiss deepened.
He moved away. “You must be exhausted.”

She smiled
at her handsome husband. “Not in the least.” Her arms moved to his neck and she pulled him to her.

CHAPTER
47

“We need a plan.” Dylan grabbed his third egg burrito and unwrapped it.

Billy blew on his coffee then looked over the cup at them. “Don’t need a plan until we know who it is we’re dealing with, Monroe.
That’s the key. We’ve got to find who’s involved.”

Unbelievable. She shook her head and glared at her husband. “
Have you lost your mind? All of us could be dead right now and—”

“But we’re not.” Dylan smiled
as if to lessen the sting of disagreeing with her.

“But we could be.”

“Relax, Reggie.” Dylan’s blue eyes twinkled with love as he touched her shoulder. “Whatever Billy Clyde and I decide to do it won’t involve you or Theresa. The two of you are safe and we plan on keeping it that way.”             

They were in the hotel room eating breakf
ast after deciding their conversation wasn’t one they wanted anyone else to overhear. After rehashing the events of the past several days, everyone had a good idea of what everyone else had experienced.

“Whether you like it or not.”
Billy chuckled. “And I’m assuming the not part.”

Reggie se
t down her carton of orange juice on the table. “You assume right. Your safety is just as important to Theresa and I as ours is to you. And we—well I won’t presume to speak for Theresa, but I am not going to sit here and let you put yourself back in danger.”

Dylan popped the last of the
breakfast burrito in his mouth. “We know that, sweetheart. What I meant to say was we have no plans to put you in danger.”

“You’re just making it worse, Monroe?” Billy whispered under his breath.

Reggie arched her brows at her husband. “Why? Do you think I can’t take care of myself? I managed to rescue a woman and her two kids from an out-of-control husband all by myself, but you don’t think I can help you because I’m some fragile woman.”

Theresa took a sip of
juice and giggled. “Give it up, Dylan. Tell her you’re sorry. Don’t make that hole any deeper that you’re digging for yourself.”

Dylan ran his hands through
his curly locks. “Why? I’m telling the truth. There’s no way I’m going to let Reggie be in danger. When I saw—”

“Let me?” She threw her hands up in the air. “Let me?
Are you living in another century, Dylan?”

“Sounds like the honeymoon is over, Mo
nroe.”

“
I didn’t mean it like that. But, Reg. All Billy Clyde and I want to do is check out the situation. We aren’t going to do anything dangerous.”

Theresa shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what you plan to do, Dylan. The two of you are like magnets when it comes to trouble.”

“Us?” Billy Clyde shook his head. “I don’t know how you can say that, hon. Really? We weren’t the ones kidnapped or locked in a closet, were we?”

“No, but you were shot and he was thrown in a tub with rattlesnakes.
” Theresa stood and walked to the mirror on the wall, checking out her hair. “I wouldn’t call that a trip to Disneyland, would you.”

Theresa looked beautiful again. Sometime during the night while the r
est of them slept, Billy managed to go shopping and bought Theresa everything she needed to put herself back together. And brought back fresh clothes for her and Dylan as well. And amazingly enough, they fit.

“
You’ve got to admit something’s wrong with this whole thing. You hit the nail on the head last night when you said that was a lot of work for one simple file.” Dylan looked at the others. “Kidnapping, setting fires, attempted murder. Doesn’t make sense.”

Billy
nodded. “No matter how important the file. And this one didn’t seem particularly important from what I could see.”

Reggie
sighed. She needed to make them understand. “But it’s over and we’re all safe. Let it go.”

Billy smiled. “I’d like to agree with you but the problem is it’s not over. It won’t be over until we catch the people who did this. This can’t be about the file. There’s more to it.”

Theresa set her juice cup down. Her hair, normally relaxed, looked adorable in the tight little curls that framed her face. “But aren’t you a little curious, Reggie, about what’s really going on? Are you really willing to let them get away with kidnapping me and setting my house on fire with you in it? Not to mention shooting Billy and putting Dylan in a tubful of rattlers.”

Her, too. She’d thought Theresa would see the value in quitting.
Living with Billy all those years must have made her immune to good sense. “Whatever’s going on, it isn’t worth any of our lives. Let the authorities figure it out.”

Billy stood.
“Only problem with that, Reggie dear. I am the authority.”

These people were impossible. Was she the only one who understood how dangerous these people were?
She sat down in the chair and stared at them. “I know, Billy. It’s just….”

Theresa leaned over and hugged her. “I know. It was terrifying
for me, too, but these people can’t be allowed to get away with it. And they could be up to something very dangerous.”

“But who says Billy and Dylan have to be the two to find them? That’s all I’m saying. Let someone else do it this time.”
Tears filled her eyes. “I’m tired and I want to go home.”

“And I think that’s
exactly what you should do and Theresa can go with you. We’ll be along in a few days, Reg.”

“As if I would even consider letting you stay down here without me.”
He started to say something but she held up a hand. “Forget it. I don’t want to hear another word about me going anywhere if you aren’t going, too. Remember until death do us part.”

“But—”

She stood. “I’m going for a walk.”

Dylan jumped up.

“Alone.”

****

Reggie opened the motel room door. The three of them stopped talking and stared at her as if they were school children and she the principal. Good. Let them think she was upset. Maybe then they would listen to her.

Of course, it was easy for her to go home. It hadn’t been her home that was burned down.
She walked into the room and closed the door behind her. “He said he was sorry, said I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Something about the fact nobody was supposed to be there.”

No one spoke for a few moments. Instead, they looked at her
and each other as if deciding whether it was safe to talk in front of her. Dylan took the chance, first. “That’s interesting. We felt like we were being led on a wild goose chase all day long.”

“T
hey wanted me out of the house and out of their way.”

“But w
hy?”

Billy Clyde took another sip of his coffee and looked at Reggie. “How long were you in that closet before he came in and poured the gasoline?”

“I’m not exactly sure but it seemed like hours. I could hear them moving around and whispering. That’s why I didn’t try to get out sooner.”

“Hours? That doesn’t make sense. What could they have been doing in there all that time?” Theresa looked as puzzled as Reggie felt.

“And then there was the banging. It sounded like it was coming from the basement.”

“I’m afraid I might know
.” Billy’s dark chocolate complexion paled. “My computers.”

Reggie stared, a funny lump in her throat.
“Your computers?”

“Sure they ga
ve me a very simple assignment to erase a file. They wanted to see if I had access to the Secret Service’s servers. And obviously I did because I told them I’d deleted the file.”

“I’m still not understanding, Bi
lly.” And a part of her didn’t want to.

“Once they knew I had access, they wanted that
same access. So, they kept Monroe and me busy all day looking for Theresa so they’d have time with my computers.” Billy looked as if he wanted to kick something.

“Well, they didn’t have your passwords.” Dylan’s tone was hopeful.

“That’s why they needed several hours. To use a password code breaker. It can sometimes take hours to find the right code.”

“But your computers would be hard to break
into, right?”

Billy sighed
and shook his head. “Not as hard as you think. I spend more time and effort keeping them from being cyber-attacked. My actual computers aren’t that secure because I didn’t think anyone would be accessing them from inside my house except me.”

Regg
ie’s pulse sped up. “So, what could they find out if they used your computer?”             

“A lot. B
ut let’s stay focused on the Secret Service site. Since they obviously wanted to make sure I could access it.”

Theresa spoke up. “
What could they find out using that site?”

“Oh, not much. Just
the when, where, and how to get access to the president, his family, or any other important politician.”

The lump in Reggie’s
throat expanded to her stomach. This couldn’t be. “You mean the President of the United States?”

His gaze met hers.
“That’s the one.”