Call It Destiny (17 page)

„Yes, I know. You’re here to conduct business.“ Heather concentrated on the coffee she was preparing.
 

„What happens after your partner shows up and the two of you have finished your deal?“

She sensed his unpleasant grin. „You mean what happens to you?“

„Under the circumstances, I think it’s a legitimate question.“ Her fingers shook as she used an old rag to shield them from the hot handle of the coffeepot. But her voice was steady. A man like Rick Monroe would derive a great deal of pleasure out of inducing fear in her.

„Funny you should bring up the subject. I’ve been thinking about that little matter myself. I started thinking about it when I watched you give that other guy his walking papers. I’m going south after tonight….“

„South?“ She poured the coffee with unnatural care.

„Yeah. Mexico, or maybe farther. Maybe Panama. Somewhere I can enjoy myself and my money without having a lot of people asking nosy questions. Maybe, just maybe, if you’re real nice to me tonight and if you behave yourself while I’m conducting business, I might think about taking you along. Least for a while.“
 

Heather almost panicked at the leer in his tone. „And if I don’t want to go with you?“

„Well, babe, I’m sure you can understand that I’m not in a position to tolerate a lot of witnesses,“ he began calmly. „If you hadn’t gotten rid of that ex-boyfriend, for example, I’d have had to get rid of him myself. Permanently.“
 

Heather’s eyes squeezed shut for a fraction of a second in silent relief. The knowledge that Jake was safe steadied her as she sought to deal with her own precarious position.

„Since you’re in a mood to get rid of people on a permanent basis, I think my own decision is going to be rather simple. I’ll come with you, Rick.“
 

„I figured you would.“ His gaze mocked her cruelly as he sipped his coffee. „Just like old times, huh?“

„Do you really think so?“

„Well,“ he allowed smoothly, „there will be one major difference. I’ll be the one with the money and I’ll be the one you’ll have to please. That is, if you want to stay alive and healthy.“
 

„I’ve always believed in staying alive and healthy,“ Heather said lightly.

„Then we might get along real well together,“ he declared with nerve-racking satisfaction. „I always kinda wondered how it would have been between you and me. You ever wonder how it would have been if you hadn’t gotten on your high horse that day and told me to get lost?“

„Sometimes.“ The truth was she’d known at the time that she was lucky to be rid of him, even if it had meant hitchhiking all the way to California on her own.

Rick strolled toward her, surveying her as though he was examining new property. Insolently he stood in front of her, catching her chin in the fingers of his right hand. „We’ll have a chance to find out now, won’t we?“ His mouth came down on hers.
 

Heather cringed beneath the wet pressure of his mouth. Everything that she disliked and feared in the man was in his kiss.
Revulsion welled up in her and she was unable to hide it completely.
 

Angry at her lack of response, Rick crowded closer. „You can do better than that, babe. Remember you’re going to have to keep me happy if you want to stay alive.“ His lips ground down on hers.

Instinctively Heather tried to retreat and the movement enraged Monroe. He dragged her back against him, forcing her into an intimate contact that sent more panic through her.
 

„No! Rick wait, please.“

„Shut up, babe. Show me how nice you’re going to be to me. Show me how you’re going to pay your way to Mexico. I always wondered how you’d be in bed. Did
you know that? I figured that maybe if a man got control of you instead of being under your thumb he might be able to handle you. I was going to take over once I got my hands on some of your father’s cash. But I never got the chance. This time things’ll be different. This time everything’s going to be on my terms.“
 

My terms.
The words rang in Heather’s ears. How many times had she said that to Jake?
I’m coming back to Tucson on my terms.
The marriage was to have been on her terms. The Hacienda Strand was to have been run on her terms. As she listened to Rick Monroe make a similar declaration she realized haw appallingly arrogant she must have sounded to Jake.
 

„Rick, please, can’t we talk? It’s been so long and so much has happened.“

„I might as well tell you that I don’t like chatty females,“ he growled. „Never did. And you were always wantin’ to go on and on about something. All those years ago I didn’t have much choice except to listen. But that’s something else that’s going to be different now.“ He lowered his head again.

Heather endured the kiss, sensing that for the moment at least, Rick wasn’t going to go any further. He was too tense waiting for his mysterious partner to show up, she decided. She was in no immediate danger of rape. Monroe had other things on his mind, fortunately. She stopped fighting the disgusting embrace and Rick finally lifted his head, looking satisfied.
 

„That’s better. You just remember who’s in charge and we’ll get along okay, you and me. Okay.“ He nodded to himself and fingered the handle of the gun again.

It was the way he toyed with the weapon that disturbed her more than anything else. What was he going to do to that partner after the
deal had been transacted? Her own fate seemed even more precarious. There was so little chance that, even if he had understood that she was in trouble, Jake would be able to get help and get
back up this canyon. The storm was raging more violently than ever outside. The heavy cloud cover coupled with approaching night cast an impenetrable gloom over the entire canyon. Outside, the sound of the swollen stream was becoming louder, turning into a dull roar as it pounded down the mountain.
 

„I’ll remember you’re in charge, Rick.“ Desperately she sought to inject suitable meekness into her tone. It was an effort to force down the instinctive anger and rebellion that threatened to dictate her words. Her natural desire to fight back could easily get her killed.

„Good. Let’s have some more of that coffee. And see what you can rustle up for dinner. I’m going to get a lamp from the jeep. We got another hour or so to wait.“

„What will you do if your partner can’t get up this canyon tonight?“ Obediently Heather went into the kitchen area to select some canned goods from the supply she had brought.
 

„He’ll make it.“ Rick opened the door. „The road’s still passable. Believe me, this deal is too big. Joe will be here come hell or – “ he paused to snicker over his own joke „ – high water.“ Leaving the door open so that he could keep an eye on Heather, he dashed out to the jeep and grabbed a battery-powered lamp. A moment later he was back, slamming the door behind him as he turned on the portable lamp.
 

Heather warmed the soup and dug out some crackers. As the minutes ticked past she became increasingly frightened. Rick was concentrating on watching the road to the cabin through the broken window. He seemed more tense than ever.

If she was going to do anything it had better be before the man named Joe arrived. There was no sense in praying for rescue now. She had to accept the possibility that Jake had left earlier without having understood she was in danger. Chewing on her lower lip, Heather eyed the pan of bubbling soup. Perhaps if she hurled the contents
at Monroe she could make it through the door before he recovered.
 

Such an impossible long shot. And he had that gun. He was fiddling with it again, taking it out of his belt and examining it as if to be sure it was in proper working order. Oh, God. A pan of soup against a gun.
 

First she had to lure him closer to the stove, and somehow she had to get him to stuff the gun back into his belt. So impossible. So hopeless.

That last thought made her grit her teeth silently. The one thing she had always been was a fighter. She’d never lacked spirit even when the odds were heavily against her. With her own life at stake she certainly wasn’t going to get weak-kneed now!

„Rick, the soup’s ready.“

„Bring a bowl of it over here,“ he ordered negligently. „I want to stay where I can keep an eye on the road.“

He was bound to be suspicious if she walked across the room carrying the whole panful of soup instead of just a small bowl. The odds were getting worse by the minute. The only positive note was that he’d stuck the gun in his belt again.
 

Heather was standing very still, a bowl in one hand, the rag-wrapped handle of the soup pan in the other, when she saw the shadowy movement outside the side window. She barely stifled her gasp of alarm. Perhaps Rick’s friend Joe had some plans of his own this evening. He might have been the one she’d seen so briefly moving past the window. Or it might be rescue for her. Or nothing.
 

Rick was still staring out the broken panes of the front window, unaware of her frozen state. Heather was chilled with fear. If she had seen someone moving past the other window and that someone was Joe she was probably already as good as dead. Drug deals such as the one Rick apparently had going tonight all too often left the bodies of witnesses and former „partners“ in their wake.

And then quite suddenly a loud crash echoed through the room. It was followed by the sound of splintering glass and disorienting splashes of light and shadow as the battery-operated lamp went spinning to the floor to land behind the kitchen counter.
 

Heather cried out as the dark form of a man came hurtling through the side window. In the shadows it was impossible to see his face. Rick spun around, clawing for the gun in his belt.

Before he could get the weapon clear, the intruder had thrown himself against him. Both men fell to the wooden floor with a jolting thud.

8

The glaring light
of the battery lamp glowed bravely from its overturned position, but the only object in the room clearly illuminated by it was Heather’s stricken face. The far end of the room near the door was in almost total darkness as the two men on the floor fought savagely.
 

It took an instant for Heather to break the bonds of her own shock and then she was galvanized into action. Whatever chance she was going to have was here and now. The man who had come in through the window in such a dramatic fashion must be the mysterious Joe. He’d probably arrived in such a manner in an effort to rid himself of a no longer useful partner, Heather decided.

Dropping the bowl and the pan of soup she started to run for the door. Instinct made her hesitate, turn back and yank open one of the kitchen drawers she had searched earlier. She thought she had seen a flashlight inside.

It was there, although heaven only knew if it had any working batteries in it. There was no time to experiment. Whirling again she dashed for the door.

The fierce struggle on the floor spilled over into her path, forcing her to detour around the dark heaving shapes of the men. It seemed to her the battle was being fought in an unnatural silence.

No cries or shouts or screams of protest or anger sounded in the small heavily shadowed room, only sickening thuds and blows and muffled gasps. Somehow
the very lack of human yelling only served to emphasize the viciousness of the conflict.
 

Heather frantically danced around the unpredictable flow of battle, dodging first a foot and then an arm that was flung into her path. Breathing heavily, her pulse pounding, she grabbed the door handle and yanked.
 

Outside the rain was coming down as violently as the fight behind her was raging. The storm had turned into a nightmare of roaring water and darkness. Driving would be almost impossible now, even if she could get the Mercedes around the jeep that Rick had parked behind it.
 

Fumbling with the flashlight, Heather was relieved to find it still produced a weak beam. It must have been a light that Rick had left behind during one of his periodic „business“ trips up to the cabin, she reasoned.

She was standing on the porch poised for flight, trying to find the Mercedes keys in her pocket when, with muffled groans, the two men locked in savage combat burst through the doorway.

Heather’s startled scream was broken off abruptly as she dashed out of the way. Her pale flashlight beam swung jaggedly across the two figures as they tumbled past her and down the short flight of steps into the mud. The driving rain pummeled both as they were seemingly half absorbed by the elements.

It was as the beam of light darted haphazardly across a booted foot that Heather caught her breath. She recognized the low-cut desert boot even as it nearly tripped her.
 

„Jake!“

He didn’t answer, of course. He probably didn’t even hear her. Jake had his hands full from what Heather could see, as he tried to avoid being the one on the bottom while the two men struggled for supremacy in the mud.

„Oh, my God,
Jake!“
 

He had come for her. He had gotten her message; understood that she needed him and he had returned to rescue her.

That thought pounded through Heather’s head, nearly swamping the more practical considerations of the moment. The man she loved had returned to her side when she needed him.

The mud at the bottom of the steps seemed to be absorbing some of the violence. The blows the two men delivered required more and more effort. They were both tiring and the violence of the elements hindered the efforts each was making.

Frantically Heather tried to find a loose board or a piece of kindling wood, anything to use against Rick Monroe. Then it occurred to her that in the darkness, with only the aid of the weak flashlight, she would have a tough time determining which man was Rick at any given second. From what she could see both were thoroughly coated in muddy sand and grit.