The Caledonian Inheritance (The Athena Effect) (28 page)

“Surely that can wait for another day,” Cali said, catching the girl’s eye again and administering a powerful dose of lighthearted apathy. “Now is not a good time.”

Agent Kim nodded in agreement. “Sure thing. No problem,” she smiled.

Ramon didn’t have much experience with the all-business FBI Agent, but he
knew enough to realize that her relaxed demeanor was completely out of character. He exchanged a glance with Layla.

“Will you stay and eat?”
Michael asked Mina hopefully.

“No thanks, I should be on my way. I have an early start tomorrow.” She nodded to Ramon, “
I’m meeting the radar crew out at the ranch tomorrow.”

“Oh… that’s good,” he said, trying to sound normal as he fought to keep his jaw from dropping.
These girls were truly amazing.

Mina
turned to Michael, “It was really nice meeting you.”

“I’ll walk you out,” he replied, heading towards the door with a nervous glance back at Caledonia.

As soon as the door clicked shut Layla visibly relaxed, finally able to let her guard down. “Thanks Cali. I really didn’t feel like dealing with all of that right now.”

“C’mon, Caledonia said, taking her by the arm. I’ll draw you a bath.”

Layla nodded, allowing her cousin to lead her away. She stopped at the base of the stairs to address Ramon, “Will you wait for me?”

He pulled out a chair and sat down. “I’ll be right here.”

After the girls were gone Ramon asked Cal, “Do you ever get used to that? You know… That thing they do?”

“It takes awhile,”
Calvin smiled wryly. “And there’s no keeping
anything
from them.”

After a few minutes Michael
came back inside, looking worried and unhappy. “Where’s Layla? What the hell happened to her?”

“You better sit down,” Cal said. Michael reluctantly joined them at the table, looking at Ramon uneasily.

“So what happened to Layla?” he asked again.

Cal
vin frowned. “Professor Reed tricked her into meeting him. He tried to kidnap her, but Ramon and Cali found her.”

“What? I told her to
stay away from him! What was she thinking? Why would she go anywhere near him?”

“She thought she was going to meet her father,” Ramon said.

Michael looked at Ramon and back at Cal.

“It’s okay,”
Calvin said, “He knows everything.”

“Everything?
!” Michael exclaimed. Before he could say anything else Caledonia came down the stairs and slipped into a chair next to Calvin.

“Layla’s feeling much better,” she announced. “I think she’s gonna be
alright.”

“
What about Mina?” Michael asked. “She seemed pretty spacy when she left. I hope she’s okay to drive.”

“Don’t worry, she’ll be fine. I only made her lose her curiosity. I’m sure
it’ll be back.”

“So am I,” added Ramon.

“Hey–” Calvin interjected, asking Michael, “Exactly what were you doing in your room with the lady cop anyway?”

“She’s a federal agent,” Michael corrected him. “They only handle major crimes, like bank robbery and kidnappings.”

“So what were you doing in your room with the
federal agent
?” Calvin asked. Ramon leaned forward, curious. He wanted to know too.

“We were playing computer games… It turns out she’s actually a gamer I’ve played
online before.”

“Really?” Calvin was surprised. “Small world.”

Cali cleared her throat. “Michael… There’s something else you need to know about what happened today.”

When she spoke Senator Blackwell’s name Michael leapt to his feet in a panic. His stomach twisted as he
vividly recalled the piles of bodies they’d left behind as they fled Los Angeles. “Oh my God! He knows we’re alive? That means he probably knows where we live!”

Calvin nodded, adding ominously, “Or he’ll find out real soon.”

Ramon was confused. “
The
Senator Blackwell? What? Are you sure?”

“We have to leave!” Michael said, pacing the kitchen.
“We have to change our names!”

Cali pounded her fist on the table
, stopping him in his tracks. “No! I’ve spent enough time running. This is my land. This is where I belong, and I’m staying right here.”

“What does
Senator Blackwell want with Layla?” Ramon asked, looking between Cali and Michael. He was surprised at their intensity. “What’s going on? Why are you so afraid of him?”

Calvin and Cali exchanged a look with Michael.

“
He’s a cop
!” Michael reminded them.

“He also loves your sister,” Caledonia said, meeting Ramon’s shocked eyes.

Calvin smiled wryly, inclining his head towards Ramon. “Like I said, it takes a little getting used to.”

The three of them
took turns talking, telling Ramon all about how Layla and Michael were taken from San Francisco by the brutal and ruthless Max, a former employee of the professor. Caledonia described how she’d first freed Layla, only to have her tracked down here last fall and forced back to his compound.

Ramon flare
d with protective anger when he learned the truth about how she’d been abused. “I knew there was something weird going on that day!” he cried. He still harbored hazy memories of pulling Cali over and seeing a beaten Calvin in the passenger seat. “Why didn’t you just tell me what happened? I would have helped you!”

“We didn’t know you… And Michael was in danger.”

Michael looked down, ashamed, groping for the words to explain. “Max was using me to make Layla do what he wanted the whole time… He made me feel important, and I liked living with him better than Teddy. I didn’t believe Layla when she said he threatened to kill me. He knew how to work her… She’s been protecting me her whole life, only Max was a lot more hardcore than the professor.”

“Until today,” Cali said.

“I still don’t see where the senator comes into
all of this,” Ramon said.

The three of them exchanged another glance, and then told him the entire story, explaining their plan to free Layla and Michael, and how it went, awfully, terribly, awry. When they were finished
Ramon just sat shaking his head. “And you were too afraid to go to the police.”

“You saw what happened today,” Cali said. “The man is powerful.”

“So, the people running the senator… The mob… You think they’re the ones who killed Max and his crew?”

“I know they are,” said Michael. “I tipped off his driver and he called them in that night. I
t seems they try to keep him on a pretty short leash.”

“They were going to kill everyone in the house to protect him,” Cali said
, “Only Layla was able to save herself and Michael.”

Calvin scowled.
“The senator is valuable to them, pulling strings for them and awarding their cronies big fat government contracts. Kickbacks… Bribes… They can’t afford to have him compromised. Our plan was to turn Max over to them eventually. We thought we could trade the dirty blackmailer for Layla and Michael.”

“Only w
e didn’t count on the senator fixating on Layla,” added Caledonia.

“Or on
his handlers being so trigger happy,” Michael grumbled.

“So
Blackwell came looking for her and the professor sold her out?”

Caledonia nodded.
“Layla wrote the professor from Max’s address, so there must have been a link to him at the house.” Her face hardened. “I knew I should have killed
Teddy
when I had the chance.”

Michael
glanced at Ramon, surprised to see him nodding in agreement. “Do you think the senator will come here looking for her?”

“I don’t know.” Cali looked thoughtful. “We were
prepared to let the whole thing drop, and I sure don’t think his handlers would be too happy to find out he’s stirring things up again. I’m afraid they’re even more dangerous than he is.”

“
Layla and I saw what they did,” Michael added. “We were never supposed to leave that house alive.”

“Maybe it’ll blow over again,” Cali said hopefully. “
We should keep a close watch over Layla and keep our eyes open for strangers. It’s possible the senator will give up.”

“Maybe,” Cal said, fielding a skeptical look from Michael.

Ramon nodded with disgusted resignation, looking at Cali. “Do you mind if I crash on the couch tonight? I want to be here just in case.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Cali said. “I’ll make up a bed.”

“Can I go see her now?” he asked.

Caledonia led
Ramon up the stairs, knocking gently and ducking her head in the door to find Layla sitting on the edge of her bed, combing her damp hair. “Is it okay if Ramon comes in?” she asked.

She adjusted a
silky robe around her lacy nightgown, tightening the sash. “Sure.”

Cali left and h
e came in to sit down next to her, “How are you feeling?”

She forced a smile. “A lot better
now.”

“Can I see?” he asked, taking her arms to inspect the sc
rapes on her wrists. He winced, looking into her eyes with pale yellow sympathy. She didn’t want him to look at her like that. She wanted to go back to the way they were, back before he knew about her painful past.

Back when all he wanted to do was kiss her.

She looked down. “So is that FBI agent going to come back?” she asked to change the subject.

He nodded. “
She’ll keep trying. She knows that something’s up. She thinks that you’re a hypnotist or something.”

She laughed a quick bitter laugh. “I suppose I can handle that.”

“I can’t believe she came all the way out here. She must be crazy to come to your house this late to question you! That’s not very professional.”

Layla looked
back up at him quizzically. “But
you
did… You came here the night after the shooting.”

He stifled a sheepish smile. “Yeah… You could have come in the next day to file your report.
It could have waited.”

“
Then why did you come?”

“In case you haven’t noticed, I kinda have a thing for you.”

“A thing?” she echoed.

When their eyes met his face softened.
“Layla,” his voice cracked. “I’m so sorry.”

She
tasted his pity and sighed with resignation, “I know.”

“I’m sorry for everything that happened to you. Cali told me about last year… About the senator…”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said, folding her arms across her chest.

He
was quiet for a moment, looking around her beautifully appointed bedroom. From the elaborately carved headboard behind them to the Persian rug on the floor it screamed money. His eyes landed on her open closet door. “Do you think you have enough clothes?” he chuckled.

She looked at
all the things she’d amassed since they’d moved into the house and it struck her all at once. “I’m going to have to leave it all behind again.”

The smile fell from his face, “Don’t say that. Cali says t
hat he’s not going to make her run away.”

“He’s not going to stop
hunting me.”

“I’ll stop him,”
Ramon swore, all bright blue determination and sweet heartfelt honesty. “I’ll never let anything like that happen to you ever again.”

Layla
realized with horror what he would be going up against, and she could feel the tears start to burn her eyes. She covered her face with her hands, trying to dismiss the images of Max and his men, their dead eyes staring up at her.

She
dropped her arms and shook her head no with determination. “I want you to stay out of it.”

He wrapped his arms around her tenderly. “I’m already in it.”

He felt solid,
comforting and safe, and she leaned on him with relief, turning into his neck and to feel his warm skin against her face. She was going to have to leave him behind too, she thought, for his own good. She never even got the chance … She squeezed her eyes shut again, trying to block out the bitter reality. He rocked her like a baby, rubbing her back until she yawned, relaxing despite herself.

“You need to sleep,” he said, standing to pull back the covers. She watched in a daze as he lifted her feet and tucked her into bed. She reached out, groping for his wrist.

“Don’t go.”

He bent down to kiss her on the forehead. “
Don’t worry, I’ll be downstairs all night, keeping an eye out. We’ll talk in the morning. Now go to sleep.”

Ramon
left her room and went down the stairs to return to his seat at the table. He looked from Calvin to Michael to Cali and back, taking a deep, determined breath. “So… What’s the plan?”