Nauti Nights (38 page)

me, Crista.”

“Yes sir,” she snapped teasingly. “Any other orders, sir?”

He turned at the door and lifted his brows. “Be naked when I return?”

“Only in your dreams.” She rolled her eyes and waved one hand back at him. “Bye-bye, Dawg. Catch you

at lunch.”

He chuckled as he left the office, amazed now at the feelings running through him. He was still so damned hard his jeans were uncomfortable, but that knot of discontent, which had followed him all his life, was easing. Because of her.

Shaking his head, he moved quickly down the stairs, threw Layla a wave, and made a mental note to talk

to her about her husband before heading to the back of the store. Bedsford was obviously going to have to go; Dawg just wanted to find out first why he was sabotaging the supplies Mackay’s Lumber was in

charge of.

TWENTY-TWO

Summer displays were as important as winter and Christmas displays, but a hell of a lot harder without the time it took for preparation.

Crista spent the first several hours staring out the tinted windows that overlooked the floor of the store, 162 of 183

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her gaze narrowed as Layla worked at the desk behind her to get a count on the proper items they were

going to need to create the design Crista wanted.

The front of the store was important. At the moment, it was all parking lot. There were no fenced areas for the summer displays and landscaping. Nothing for shoppers to get curious about as they drove in front of Mackay’s to reach the large grocery store and outdoor strip mall housed farther up the road.

“Do we have the gazebo plans at least?” Crista asked Layla.

Dawg had ordered only a small amount of the gazebos, which were steady sellers through the past few

years.

“We have several plans.” Layla moved to the lateral files on the other side of the office. “I put them in here after the last gazebos shipped in. The supplier sends the plans or they’ll build them for you. It would be incredibly cheaper if Dawg would pay a few of the younger workers to put in some extra hours to put

them together.”

She pulled a file free and laid the first plan out on the coffee table. “These are the ones that are selling best at the moment.”

The smaller gazebos had a two-seat swing with a bench on the other side. Crista stared down at the

design, pursing her lips thoughtfully. “We have the swings?”

“Plenty of those.” Layla nodded. “And we could get the flowers you were talking about within three days.

There’s a local greenhouse owner I know who would make certain Mackay’s has only the freshest blooms.

They’ll train the employees to care for them and check them every few days. What we don’t sell, we don’t pay for. Especially the perennials, flowering bushes, and trees, because they can be planted in the fall and sold to landscapers the next spring.”

Crista made a few quick notes on the clipboard she carried, around the sketch she was making of the

outdoor display she wanted.

“Are your boys working this summer?” she asked Layla.

Layla shook her head quickly. “They haven’t applied for anything yet. They have summer classes at the

college, so it would be hard for them to work most places right now.”

“Could Mackay’s hire them for evening work and weekends?” she asked. “We’ll need someone to build

the gazebos and to put the displays together. There’re a few of the girls working the floor right now that I have in mind for the gardening section, but I’d like to get this taken care of first.”

“That would work perfectly for them, Crista.” Layla nodded.

“Let me find Dawg.” Crista turned and looked out over the floor once again. “He was supposed to be

talking to Bedsford about the Connelly order.”

“I saw him in the lumberyard before you called me up here. They were loading the items missing on the

inventory sheet. He called Connelly and got an agreement to hold off on buying the items elsewhere if

Dawg would take care of the orders personally. I heard him arguing with Connelly on his cell phone,”

Layla admitted with a shy grin. “Dawg can be persuasive. I’d guess he’ll go after Jim around closing

instead. The lumberyard is pretty busy right now.”

How many orders was Bedsford messing up in the meantime, Crista wondered, a frown working at her

brow at the thought of the other man.

She knew Jim Bedsford, not well, but she knew him.

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Her heart jumped in her chest then, an odd memory flashing in her head. She had seen Johnny and Jim

one night. It had been late, after she got off at the diner. Jim had been getting into Johnny’s car, but she hadn’t seen Johnny. Oh Lord, she had seen a woman. A woman with long hair and shadowed features. It

had been too dark to see much, but it had felt odd, out of place, because she knew Johnny was gay. She

thought he had loaned his car to a friend; he did that sometimes. She had borrowed it herself once.

It had been Johnny, dressed as her, and Bedsford had known it.

Jim was a bit taller than Johnny, broad, with a barrel chest and a perpetual scowl on his pitted face. He had been discharged from the service for medical reasons, she had heard, though there had been no

specifics.

“I have to find Dawg,” she whispered, her heart in her throat.

Layla looked back at her in surprise. “He should be finished in the lumberyard by now. He’s probably on

the floor. Is something wrong?”

“I need to talk to him about the outside display so we can get started on it,” she said. She also needed to talk to him about Bedsford and Johnny. “Could you stay up here and watch the phones while I’m gone?”

Layla nodded. “I have Crystal watching the floor right now. That won’t be a problem.”

“I’ll be right back.”

Crista left the office quickly and moved down the metal steps. Her gaze scanned the rows and aisles as she headed across the floor toward the end of the building where the lumber and building displays were

arranged. Some of the stock was kept inside for small purchases, while the majority of it was kept in a

covered hangar behind the store.

As she entered the lumber section, she paused, frowning when she didn’t see Dawg. Turning up one of the

narrow aisles, she walked quickly toward the back of the store, then headed toward the other side when

one of the stock boys mentioned seeing him in appliances.

Damn it, they needed a few walkie-talkies. She didn’t have her cell phone on her, and right now she could have used a clue as to where the hell he was. She made a quick note on her clipboard to have him set up a system for the employees. It would also make helping customers much easier.

“Bradley.” She stopped in appliances by one of the young stock boys loading a washing machine onto a

metal roller cart. “Have you seen Mr. Mackay?”

“He just went back outside.” Bradley nodded his shaggy head toward the employees’ door that led to the

side parking lot.

“Thanks, Bradley.” Nodding quickly, she moved for the door, pushing it open and stepping outside as she

shaded her eyes to stare around.

“Hello, Miss Jansen, can I help you?” Jim Bedsford stepped from between several delivery trucks, tossing a cigarette to the ground as he stared back at her with a heavy scowl.

“I was looking for Dawg.” She gave him a cool smile, fear suddenly lashing inside her. “Perhaps he’s

inside.”

“He’s in the lumberyard.” Jim moved closer. “He fired me, you know.”

Crista froze as he blocked the way around the side of the building.

“I’ll discuss it with him.” She attempted to bluff her way back to the door.

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“Miss Jansen, open that door, and I’ll shoot you.”

She turned back slowly, her eyes widening at the sight of the black barrel beneath the dark ball cap

Bedsford was carrying in one hand.

She glanced up at the camera. There was no way to tell that the man was carrying a weapon.

“You’re going to come with me, nice and easy like.” He smiled coldly. “We need to talk.”

“Dawg will know who I left with, Jim,” she warned him. “Dawg will know.”

“Don’t try to run your mouth at me, bitch.” His voice didn’t raise or lower, it remained cold, vicious. “Just get in the fucking van and stop arguing with me before I have to kill you. I don’t want to hurt you, but I’m not above it.”

Crista stared around the parking lot desperately.

“If I have to kill you, then I’m going to have kill Dawg, too,” he pointed out in what she assumed was a reasonable tone. “It won’t be hard. He’s not the only Somerset boy who went through stealth training. Or the only one who can play assassin. Now, are you going to cooperate, or do I have to get pissed off?”

Dawg would miss her soon. Crista looked up at the camera desperately, her fists clenched by her sides as she moved out of the range of the blinking eye and realized that the monitor probably hadn’t even picked up Bedsford. But he would know, she told herself. Dawg would know, and he would come for her.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” He opened the door to a small panel van and pushed her in before following

her. “Get in the driver’s seat. We’ll drive out of here nice and easy.”

“Why are you doing this?” Crista moved into the driver’s seat and took the keys with a shaking hand. “I’m sure you could find a job somewhere else, Jim.”

A rough laugh met her words. “Hell, you think this job means shit to me?” He sat on the floor behind the passenger seat, the gun held firmly in his hand and leveled at her. “Lady, I couldn’t give a shit about this job except for the fact that it helped us keep an eye on Dawg. We needed to know what he was up to, so I worked here and kept up on things. Kept him busy where I could.”

“We?” She pulled from the parking lot, praying someone had seen her, that someone would know who

she had left with.

“Come on, you’re not a stupid bitch,” he clucked in amusement. “Johnny knew this morning that he’d

been set up by Natches. Someone figured it out. He did a damned good impersonation of you until Dawg

hooked up with you and was able to track your movements. We just needed a little more time, and we

would have had the money while those nasty little terrorists would have believed it was you. Even those

yahoos who helped steal the missiles didn’t know who Johnny was. Or you, for that matter. Until the other day.”

“He told them who I was?”

Bedsford laughed again. “Walked right into the detention center and flashed your ID and signed your

name. They all know who you are now. I don’t think Dawg’s going to be able to keep you safe. The men

who helped Johnny steal the missiles think you have them. The men who paid half down on a shipment

they’re never going to get think he’s you.” His smile was satisfied. “You’re dead, no matter what.”

He wasn’t going to let her go. Of course, Crista had figured that one out already.

“So why not just shoot me now and get it over with?” Her hands clenched the steering wheel hard as she

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turned down the road leading to the highway.

She didn’t believe in going easy. She had one chance, and it would be risky. At the end of the lane was a traffic signal. It was green right now, but if she timed it just right, she might have a chance to escape.

Her heart was racing, fear thundering in her head as she drew closer.

“You know, I won’t mind blowing your head off if you try something crazy.” The gun shifted in his hand,

the barrel pointing up as she brought the van to a stop as the light turned red. “Wouldn’t it hurt so much less to just go along with me and pray your boyfriend rescues you?”

He couldn’t rescue her if he didn’t know where she was or who had taken her. And he couldn’t rescue her

if she had a bullet in her head.

She glanced at the gun again, then up at the scowl on Jim’s bulldog face.

“Dawg will kill you,” she told him, knowing he would. But she would still be gone if she didn’t do

something. Fast.

Johnny’s warning look earlier in the day had assured her that she had taken the wrong side. He would

show no more mercy toward her than he had the transport driver whose truck he had hijacked.

“Dawg won’t kill me if all he has to do is clear your sweet little name and I’m nowhere to be found,” he grunted. “Look bitch, we just have to do one more thing. That’s all. If you’re missing when it goes down, and we fly out of here, then we’re in the clear, no matter what you say. Your word against ours, plain and simple. And it won’t matter anyway. Johnny’s going with me to Nicaragua. I have some friends there.

Some contacts.”

“Are you crazy, Jim?” she asked as she pulled onto the highway, amazed at the man’s gullibility. “Do you think Johnny did this just so he could escape to some damp jungle? He has no intentions of leaving

Somerset with you or of letting me go.”

“I don’t really care what he does with you.” There was a shrug in Jim’s voice. “And he promised. We’re

going to take the money and set up in a nice little hacienda there. We have it all picked out.”

Crista blinked in surprise, directed a look back at him, then jerked her eyes back to the road.

Bedsford was in love with Johnny? She could hear it in his voice. It softened, and the scowl was no longer on his face. His expression radiated with emotion, and his dark brown eyes gleamed with purpose.

“Johnny couldn’t live without being close enough to his cousins to throw their failure in their faces,” she whispered painfully, knowing she was driving herself to her own funeral.