Titanium (18 page)

Back in Riley's apartment, Wilson went to the kitchen, which
had no mics or cameras that we'd found, and called the Chef Way
plant. Someone there told him a few trucks made Saturday deliveries
to some restaurants in town. That made sense. Although Wilson
made up some shit about one of the deliverers driving recklessly and
even gave them the description Charlie had just shared, they
wouldn't cough up a name.

I checked my watch when he got off his cell. Twenty-four-
minus-five hours and counting. I started pacing, my anxiety level
escalating.

Dom's Firestone contact called him to say I had new tires on
my truck. I paid him five-hundred dollars by credit card over the
phone. To keep me from kicking in a wall, Sparks and I headed back
to the cabin to get it. We left Dom at the house. As for Wilson and
Simms, they said they'd had an idea they wanted to follow-up on.
Desperate, I told them to go for it.

"Does your leader really go by 'Titan'?" I asked, keeping my
tone light. If this guy was the weak link, I wanted to make him feel
comfortable talking to me. "I mean, that's pretty lame."

"We call him Ti."

"T-i, the symbol for Titanium? That makes sense, I guess.
How'd he get to be boss?"

"He's a genius."

"In a mad-scientist sort of way?"

"Nah. Ti's all right. The biggest and best fan your dad could
have."

"Are you for real? I've never met anyone as sadistic, evil, and
mean."

"That's not Ti; that's Panther."

"Are you telling me that Panther's calling the shots?"

"No way. Ti calls the shots. Panther's just the muscle."

"Is he a fan, too?"

"I doubt he can read."

"So he's just Ti's cruelty consultant." Things were starting to
make sense. While Ti wanted to force my father's hand, he didn't
actually have the stomach for inflicting real pain. Could I use that to
my advantage? Only if I could drive a wedge between him and
Panther.

Although I tried to keep my guard engaged, I got silence for
my efforts. Impulsively, I sang a couple of lines of "Titanium," the
amazing David Guetta song sung by Sia that Zander had picked for
the ringtone on his cell phone. The haunting lyrics touched me every
time I heard them because they painted a portrait of someone who'd
been hurt to the point of becoming "bulletproof," but only because
there was no feeling left.

"Ti loves that song."

"Big surprise. Zander does, too. Should I be worrying about
him? Do you know if he's okay?"

"I'm done talking."

I made myself switch gears. "What are the rest of you called,
Fe, V, Mo, and Al?" I jokingly rattled off the names of chemical
elements with which Titanium could be alloyed--iron, vanadium,
molybdenum, and aluminum.

"How could you possibly know that?"

That got me since I'd only been kidding, but I ran with it.
"Ti's not the only one with brains around here. Who are you? Mo?
V?"

"Al. I'm Al."

"Nice to meet you Al. I'm Riley, but you knew that."

He didn't answer.

"What's really going to happen if Steve doesn't cooperate?
Will Ti have Panther kill me?"

"Can't talk about it."

"I called the police after the parking lot thing, you know.
Sergeant Brian told me he'd check mall security tapes. He's probably
already looking for you guys."

"Can't--"

"Are you talking to her?"

My heart sank. Someone had undoubtedly come to relieve
Al. Someone who probably wasn't going to chat with me.

"I was just--"

"Get out of here!"

"But I didn't tell her anything."

I heard footsteps that quickly faded away to nothing and a
rustling near the door. "Hello out there."

"Shut the hell up, bitch."

Yikes. I retreated to my wall, my tail tucked between my
legs.

Forever passed before I heard another sound besides my
own breathing. My head ached. My throat felt scratchy again. One
minute I sweated; the next, I shivered. Alone with my thoughts, I
tried desperately to focus on the positive things in my life, the
biggest one the fact that I had money. Way more than I'd ever had.
And I had my father, of all people, to thank for it.

I wondered briefly if he'd written me letters or sent gifts I'd
never received. But surely Leslie wouldn't have gone that far to keep
us apart. Didn't she get that I missed out, too? I thought of the
information Clint had shared. I could imagine how betrayed Leslie
felt when her boyfriend hooked up with her big sister in secret. That
would be hard to forgive, and his constant presence in her life a
painful reminder of what had happened. Could I now forgive her for
keeping secrets? I knew I had to if we were to move forward as a
family.

Family.

They came in all shapes, sizes, and colors, and most of the
time you were stuck with what you got, which could get messy and
often did. Bottom line: I had a biological father who'd deserted me
and a maternal aunt who hadn't. I had to give her credit for that, and
I wouldn't have stopped loving her no matter what she'd done. So,
yeah, I could forgive her. Had already, in fact, though I still had some
confusion and resentment.

I hoped she'd helped me out of loyalty to her sis, but had to
wonder if a teeny-tiny part of Leslie's motivation was revenge--her
only way to keep Steve out of my life. As for Clint, he was the un-
father with no blood ties who'd taken me in, managed my money,
and offered a crap load of solid advice. How could I ever forget what
he'd done or let a man I barely knew replace him in my heart?

"Do you need a bathroom break?"

I startled. Had the guard changed again? I sure hadn't heard
it. "Yes, please."

We did the blind, trip-down-the-hall thing. "Who are you,
Mo, V, or Fe?"

"Someone's got a big mouth."

"Or someone else got an A in chemistry."

He didn't comment.

I took care of business and stole a couple of minutes to test
the boards over the window. First I peeked out, but saw nothing.
Was it night? And when I tried to raise the window it squeaked. My
heart leapt into my throat.

"Hurry up, would you? I don't have all night."

So it was already night. Saturday or Sunday? Or maybe he
simply meant he'd be on duty all night. I flushed the toilet and
started toward the door only to brake when an idea popped into my
head. I put my mouth to the door. "I need my purse."

"No way."

"Come on, man. I really need it."

"You heard me. No freakin' purse."

"But I need a tampon. You know what that is, right?"

I got dead silence in response. I waited, fingers crossed, my
ear pressed to the wood. Just beyond it, a hushed one-sided
conversation took place. I couldn't make out a word.

"Ti says you can't have it."

"Are you kidding? Let me talk to him."

"He's not here."

"Oh my God. I can't believe this. Can't you just dig one out,
please? They're in the red make-up bag. Ti won't even have to
know."

I heard footsteps retreating and moments after, returning. I
heard the zipper of the make-up bag. Would he pass me one of the
tampons? Or do what most guys would do, make sure there wasn't a
gun with the makeup and hand whole thing over?

The deadbolt slid back. He thrust the bag into my hands. "Be
quick."

"Thank you." Poking my fingers into the bag, I took out the
emergency tampons and what looked like a tube of lipstick. Only it
wasn't. I showed everything to the man in the mask as I returned the
bag. "I'm keeping these plus the gloss. That tape wrecked my lips."
When he didn't answer, I stuffed everything in my back pocket and
prepared for the walk back. "Some water would help them, you
know."

"There's a sink in the safe room."

Safe room? That was another question answered. "How was
I supposed to know? It's black as pitch in there."

Just as we got back to my door, I heard footsteps over our
heads. Someone joined us a second later.

"Here." Second guy took my hand and put a paper sack in it.
Delicious smells emerged. My mouth watered.

"Thank you."

"Take your drink."

A Styrofoam cup bumped against my fingers. I took it. One of
them pushed me through the doorway and yanked off the mask. I
heard the door click shut and the sliding of the bolt. With a sigh, I sat
down right there in the dark and ate my chicken sandwich and fries
while they were still halfway warm.

At least the guys who had me were varying the menu.

Sometime later, my head dropped and woke me from a fitful
doze. Clueless as to whether it was day or night, I gave in and
stretched out on the cold, hard floor. Everything would look better in
the morning.

Not that I'd know when morning got there.

Ti's raspy voice woke me from a heavy sleep. I sat up with a
start, confused until the last remnants of a vivid dream about Zander
faded to nothing. My situation came back in a rush when the beam of
his flashlight shone right in my face. I'd never felt so sad, so empty,
so scared.

"Do you mind?" I covered my poor eyes.

He lowered the light. When my pupils adjusted, I saw he had
Panther with him. I also saw that he held another cell phone. "Time
to call daddy again."

"It's Sunday noon already?"

Sparks and I got back to Riley's place around five or six on
Saturday in the pouring rain. The sky looked black dark. I saw a
strange car parked in the drive. Surely it wasn't McConnell. He
couldn't have gotten there that freakin' fast.

Frustrated and feeling pretty damn judgmental, I got out of
the truck and made it all the way to the porch before Sparks, who'd
followed me back, caught up. He blocked my path. "Keep your cool.
This might be your woman's father."

"Doesn't deserve to be."

"Yeah, well, that's not for you to say. And Riley might not
thank you for beating the shit out of the guy now that he's popped up
again."

If the army had known Sparks could read minds so
accurately, I'd have been out of a job.

We found Dom sitting in the recliner and Steve McConnell
on Riley's computer. They both jumped up. Dom introduced us.

"How'd you get here so fast?" I ignored the hand McConnell
offered me.

He lowered it. "My jet. I travel a lot. Are you and my
daughter...?"

I could tell by his expression what he meant even though he
didn't finish. "No."

"Ah." McConnell ran his hand through his dark hair, his
glance bouncing from one to the other of us. "I'm guessing you know
that Riley and I aren't close."

"Yeah," I said. "And for the life of me I just don't get why any
man would desert his own kid when her mom had just died,
especially a daughter as sweet and beautiful and amazing as
her."

"I had my reasons. Not that I owe you an explanation."

I bristled and squared my shoulders. Dom broke in. "Why
don't we all sit down so Mr. McConnell, here, can catch us up?"

We did.

But I didn't let it go. "What made you email her last week? Is
her aunt right in assuming you need a kidney or something? Or did
you just now figure out she's all grown up and won't be a bother?
Whatever the reason, if this is just a flyby, you can get the eff out of
here now. You're not hurting her again."

Sparks winced. Dom laid a heavy hand on my shoulder as if
he thought I might go ballistic. Well, maybe I would. I'd been
hovering on the brink all day, and if any man on the planet could set
me off, it was this lowlife.

McConnell heaved a sigh. "I made a mistake, okay? I let
someone convince me that it was in Riley's best interests for me to
just go away."

I couldn't believe my ears. "Are you really blaming your bad
decisions on someone else?"

He shook his head. "No, no. It was me. Me, a case of Jim
Beam, and a shitload of guilt."

Was he lying? My gift told me no, and whether I wanted to
or not, I totally got the guilt thing.

"I've regretted it ever since." McConnell crossed his arms
over his chest and didn't flinch even though I stared him down. "The
rest is for Riley's ears. Now you obviously have friends with skills.
I'm hoping we can get past whatever
this
is--" he flicked a
finger between the two of us "--and find a way to bring my girl
home."

"
This
is me thinking you've got no business here. But
that's not my call." I took a deep breath. "What do you know?"

McConnell told us a story crazier than anything he'd ever
thought up--a tale about Titanium freaks taking their devotion to the
extreme. He also explained how he'd rigged his home security
cameras so that it looked as though he and his family were there
even though his wife and kid were safe at her mom's. When he
finished, I jumped up and began to pace. This Jason-Titan dude was a
sicko with incredible resources, and I had no idea how to get to
him.

I turned to Dom. "Where are the others?"

"Talking to your neighbors. If this guy has been around
during the day, somebody might've noticed something that --"

The buzz of McConnell's phone brought us all to attention.
He stepped into the kitchen to privately answer it.

Only I wasn't about to let that happen.

"Hello?"

Ti held the phone so we could all hear. "Hello, Steve."

"You told me I had until Sunday noon."

"What can I say? I don't like waiting. What's your status, and
you damn well better have progress to report."

"I want to talk to Riley first."

"Not until you tell me why 'Entertainment Tonight' didn't
announce that you'd soon have a really big story to share."

"They're too busy reporting the latest celebrity break
ups."

"Don't screw with me!"
Ti caught Panther's eye. That
giant of a man with his crazy contacts stepped toward me. I backed
into the wall, turning to face it when he got to me. That didn't faze
him. The creep simply grabbed me from behind, lifting so he could
nuzzle my neck.