No One to Trust (18 page)

“I’m sorry. Was he a good friend?”

“No. But I’d known him for a long time.”

She was silent a moment. “He’s dead because of me.”

“He’s dead because he didn’t get the hell out of Dodge. You shouldn’t feel guilty.”

“I do feel guilty.” She stared directly into his eyes. “But it wouldn’t stop me from doing it again. I can’t worry about anyone but Barry. I can’t let anything else matter.”

“You’re not talking about Carmichael. I scared you last night, didn’t I? I knew I would.” He got a paring knife out of the drawer. “Get those red potatoes out of the bin, will you?”

“Are you listening to me?”

“Of course I am. You’re scared you may feel something for me and you’re warning me that you might have to sacrifice me on Barry’s altar.” He got the potatoes himself. “It doesn’t matter. I’ve known that all along. We’ll get through it. Barry has the edge, but give me another six months and you’ll be surprised what inroads I’ll make.”

“Galen, I don’t want—”

“You’re going to say we shouldn’t sleep together again. Don’t be hasty. You like sex these days. You like me. I won’t be discouraged no matter how far you distance yourself, so we might as well enjoy. Right?”

“Wrong.”

“Okay, I’ll compromise. Just until we hear Chavez is on the move.”

“It’s not fair.”

“You’re worried about my tender feelings?” He grinned. “No problem. Maybe I’ll get tired of you. You know how restless I am.”

She was silent for a moment and then smiled with an effort. “You really do look ridiculous in that apron.”

“Just for that you can peel the potatoes.” He handed her the paring knife. “Sit over there at the table where I can watch you.”

“You don’t trust me to do it right?”

“It’s not that,” he said quietly. “It just makes me feel good to look over and see you. It … warms me.”

“Damn you, Galen.”

“Don’t get all misty. Can’t help it. My mum always said I was an optimist who—oops.”

“Oops, indeed.”

“It’s going to be difficult not relying on old Mum.”

“Who knew you were an optimist.”

He nodded. “And that I believed in enjoying the moment. So sit over there and let me enjoy this one. Okay?”

She gazed at him with a multitude of expressions flitting over her face before she slowly moved over and sat down in the chair he’d indicated. “Bring me those potatoes.”

“Mrs. Russell?”

“What is it?” Clara looked over her shoulder at the two men who’d appeared from beneath the staircase. Her hand tightened on the keys she’d gotten out to unlock the door of her apartment, her fingers moving to the pepper spray on the key chain. Her son had given it to her six months ago and told her to use it if she had any trouble. Paul was always worried about her working nights in the city with all those creeps around. These men didn’t look like creeps. She knew expensive suits when she saw them. She had worked in Menswear at Macy’s for years before they transferred her to Shoes. They didn’t look like IRS either. They were too … slick. Both were dark-haired and swarthy. Maybe Mexicans. The Mexicans seemed to be taking over California. “What do you want?”

“May we come in?”

“No. Who are you?”

“Carlos Gomez.” He smiled. “I need to see your son.”

Maybe they
were
IRS. She stiffened. “I don’t know where he is. I haven’t seen him in years.”

“I don’t think that’s true. We need to talk.”

“No, we don’t. Find him yourself.”

Gomez took a step closer. “You’re being uncooperative. That’s not very smart.”

“Get the hell out of here.” She raised the pepper spray. “I don’t want you—” She gasped as Gomez ducked to one side and closed his hand on her wrist, numbing it. The key ring fell to the floor. “Get the keys. Open the door,” Gomez said to the smaller man as his other hand covered Clara’s mouth. “Quick.”

She struggled, her foot lashing out and connecting with Gomez’s shin. She heard him grunt as her teeth bit down on his hand.

“Shit.” He pushed her inside the apartment and slammed the door. “Bitch.” He punched her in the stomach and then backhanded her across the face.

The pain. She couldn’t breathe. She sank to her knees, gasping. She could see him towering over her through a dark haze.

Gomez smiled. “Now, let’s begin again. I need to see your son.”

“We need to talk, Galen.” Judd Morgan was standing in the door of the library. “Got a minute?”

Galen nodded and tossed his book aside. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s been several months and Logan hasn’t been able to get the agency off my back.”

“He’ll do it.”

“But how long will I have to wait? I like your ranch, but I don’t relish feeling like a prisoner while those bastards in Washington are running around free. I’m tired of waiting. It’s time I did something on my own.”

“What?”

“I’m thinking.” He smiled crookedly. “When I decide, you’ll be the first to know. I’m not whining. I just wanted you to know I’m not your problem any longer.” He turned and started toward the door. “Is it okay with you if I stick around here until I’ve made up my mind?”

Galen nodded his head.

“Good,” Judd said gravely. “Because I can’t wait to see you in that apron again. Did I tell you how cute you looked?”

“Destin, his wife, and their child are dead,” Manero said. “Destin’s car went off the road into the ocean in Antigua.”

“When?”

“Yesterday. Suspicious circumstances. I have a man in San Francisco on the way to contact Clara Russell. She didn’t answer her phone.”

“Contact, hell. Get her out of there. Tell him to hurry.” He hung up the phone. It might be too late already. He’d only met Clara Russell once, but he got the impression of a tough,
hardworking, home-loving woman who was a little too loyal to her son for her own good.

It had been only one day since Destin died. But Chavez’s men would move fast. Chavez was behind them, goading them on.

They were getting too close to Elena. He had to sit down and run through the possible scenarios to see if he could find a solution.

“The woman phoned Paul Russell,” Gomez told Chavez. “We’re supposed to meet with him in two hours. She was very convincing. He won’t be suspicious.”

“It took you a long time to break her,” Chavez said.

“Seven hours. She was very stubborn. Mothers usually are, aren’t they?”

“Yes, indeed,” he said with a note of irritation. “Let’s hope her son won’t be as obstinate. I’m getting impatient.”

“I’ll be calling you back within five hours.” He hung up.

Five hours. Excitement began to course through Chavez. In a short time he’d have the information he needed to find his son.

And that bitch who had stolen him.

“Chavez is on the move,” Manero said. “He left Colombia in his private jet two hours ago.”

“Jesus.” Galen had known it was coming, but the news still exploded like a thunderbolt. “Clara Russell?”

“My guy just found her in her apartment. He wished he hadn’t. Messy. I don’t know anyone who would have withstood that kind of punishment without spilling everything they knew. What do you want me to do now?”

“I’ll get back to you.” He hung up and got to his feet. They had to move. Now.

He took the steps two at a time. “Elena!”

She looked up from the book she was reading with Barry. “What is—” She stopped as she read his expression. “It’s happened?”

He took a step nearer and knelt by Barry. “Time to have another adventure. Want to camp out in the hills?”

Barry’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

“Really.” Galen swatted him on the butt. “Now, go and tell Dominic. We’re all going.”

Elena rose to her feet as Barry ran out of the room. “How much time do we have?”

“I’m not sure. Chavez left Colombia two hours ago, but Gomez is ahead of him. At any rate, we’re out of here. Better pack quick.”

She went to the closet. “I’m almost packed.” She took out her duffel and reached up and got her gun from the top shelf. She tucked it into the duffel. “Now I’m completely packed.”

“That’s what I like. A woman who’s always ready,” Galen said. “I suppose I should have expected it of you.”

“Yes, you should.”

“But I ask myself if you were ready for an emergency exit or if you were planning on taking off on your own.”

“One reason is as good as another.”

“No, it isn’t.” His lips tightened. “But we’ll let it go for now. Get Barry and Dominic. I’ll go tell Judd we all have to get on the road.”

“He’s coming with us?”

“Would you rather leave him for Chavez? He’d enjoy questioning him; it would be a real challenge trying to break someone like Judd.”

“Yes.” She started toward the door. “But he’d enjoy breaking you more. Remember that.”

Judd was shoving his cases into the bed of the pickup but looked up as Elena and Galen came out of the house. “I’m going to run my dog and the kittens over to your nearest neighbor and ask him to keep them for a while. Have to take care of the pets with company coming.” He carefully stored the box with the three kittens on the floor before whistling for his German shepherd. Mac jumped into the cab and Judd started the ignition. “I’ll meet you at the camp.”

Galen nodded absently as Judd drove away.

Elena barely heard Judd as she threw Barry’s keyboard into the trunk of the car. “You’re absolutely sure he’s on his way?”

“I’m sure. Gomez left a trail of bodies behind him to find this place, and Chavez left Colombia a couple hours ago. It’s reasonable to assume he found out what he wanted to know.”

“He’s coming.…” She stared at the mountains. Chavez would soon be here, coming down that road. From the moment
Galen told her about Chavez she had felt numb, frozen. She’d waited for this moment for six years, and now that it was here she was almost in shock. And she was feeling fear, she realized. She hadn’t expected to be afraid. She had thought the hatred would be violent enough to overcome any fear. Yet memory of that other time was weakening her. Block it out. Fear was the enemy. Chavez would feed on it. Don’t give him the chance.

“Elena.”

Her glance shifted to Galen’s face. “Do you have any explosives?”

He smiled. “You’re thinking of blowing up my house with Chavez in it?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t have any explosives. It’s not something I keep on hand when I’m here. So my house is safe from you.”

“I would have found a way to pay you for it.”

“I was joking. But I can see your sense of humor is seriously impaired at the moment.”

“Are we really camping out?”

“For a little while. I know those hills, and there are a hundred little pockets for us to hide in. I sent Judd up a few days ago to set up a camp where we would be safe and could still observe the ranch. I don’t think Chavez will suspect we’re sticking around. He’s too used to people running from him. I want to make sure Chavez is really here.”

“So do I.” She looked back at the hills. “So do I.…”

“They’re not here?” Chavez got out of the car in front of the ranch house. “What do you mean they’re not here? You’ve failed me, Gomez.”

“They were here. There’s fresh food in the refrigerator. Clothes in the closets.” Gomez held out a children’s book. “This was in one of the bedrooms.”

“But they’re gone. She got away again?”

“We checked the barn and the entire area around the house.”

“Damn
you.”

Gomez took a hurried step back. “He must have been tipped off.”

“You said that about the vineyard. It was because you didn’t move fast enough.” He looked up at the hills. “Search the foothills.”

“They wouldn’t stay here if they knew we were coming. They’re probably halfway to Portland by now.”

“Search anyway. She was a guerrilla. She’d be comfortable in the hills.”

“We’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning. It’s getting dark. The men I have here aren’t trackers. They’ll only blunder around. We’ll need the daylight.”

Chavez’s hands clenched. “Daybreak. I want every man out there by first light.” He turned to look at the hills.

Are you there, Elena? I’m coming for you, bitch.