DeliciousDanger (26 page)

Kelly looked at Xena who was pacing from room to room, nose
raised in the air, that low rumble echoing in her throat. “Xena’s not
satisfied,” she pointed out.

There is still danger.

The dog’s voice snapped into her brain.

We can’t find anything. Two teams of men searched
everywhere.

He’s there. The shadow man. He’ll strike when you least
expect him to. Do not let Rick near the doors or windows. Close your eyes and
see what I see.

Kelly obediently closed her eyes and instantly the image of
the shadowy figure in black popped into her brain. He was still holding
something long and narrow, his face turned away from her. Then a spark, like a
roman candle and he disappeared.

The shooter is coming, right?

Get Rick away from here.

Xena lifted her head to look Kelly in the eye, then padded
over to drink from the bowl of water they’d set out for her.

“What?” Rick asked, his eyes on her face.

“Xena says we have to get you out of here, so you have to do
what Dan wants.”

“Remind me to give Xena a big thank you,” Mark muttered.
“Okay. Here’s what we’ll do. Tonight we’re moving you out of here. When it’s
dark. Meanwhile, I’m moving Alpha Team out to secure a four-block perimeter.
And I think I should stay too. Inside. With both of you.”

Rick shook his head. “Not necessary. If everything outside’s
been checked and you’ve got men watching, we can handle it from here.”

Still, Mark seemed reluctant to leave.

“Go on,” Rick insisted. “We’ll just wait for Xena to let us
know if something’s wrong.”

Mark shrugged, then leaned down to Xena. The huge dog looked
him straight in the eye. “Take good care of these people,” he said. When he
looked up he shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m talking to a dog.”

Kelly laughed. “I do it all the time. And she answers me.”

As if on cue, Xena moved to the front window and the low
growl rumbled from her throat again. She moved back and forth across the wide
expanse of glass, nose raised as if a scent had reached her through the solid
material.

“Something’s going on,” Kelly told Mark.

“If you say so. But I’m telling you, we checked everything
around here. It’s hard to know who’s where in the daytime because half of these
people work but we didn’t find anything unusual around the empty homes. I still
think I should hang out.”

“We’re fine,” Rick insisted. “Go. Do whatever you have to.”

“We have to finalize arrangements for tonight,” Mark
reminded him.“I think the cabin’s our best bet.”

“We’ll discuss it after I talk to Dan. Have him call me when
you get back to the office. I don’t want to interrupt his warm conversations
with the alphabet agents.”

Mark made a disgusted sound. “Jerks. Okay. I’ll check in
with you later.”

* * * * *

They were all edgy the rest of the day. After another short
trip to the backyard, Xena paced the first floor from front to back, refusing
to allow either Kelly or Rick near doors or windows. After Mark left, Kelly
made a late breakfast which she insisted Rick eat but which she herself picked
at.

Driven to try to solve the puzzle that had thrown their
lives into such an upheaval, Rick pulled a pad of paper from his desk drawer in
the den and, with Kelly sitting next to him and Xena pressed against them both,
began to list everything he could think of relating to Iraq, Grainger Caldwell
and the arms shipment.

By the time the afternoon sun had set and the darkness of
night settled over them, he’d accumulated pages and pages of notes but nothing
had connected in his brain. Disgusted, he threw down his pen and picked up the
soft drink Kelly had brought him.

“It’s the damnedest thing,” he said. “It’s like there’s
something stuck in my mind and I can’t knock it loose. Something I know but I
don’t know.”He looked at Kelly. “Does that sound too weird?”

“No, not at all. It’s apparent somebody thinks you know
something or they wouldn’t be trying so hard to kill you. There’s a reason they
think that.” She pushed the pad of paper away from him. “Give it a rest for a
while. If you try too hard you’ll block it out.”

Rick and Dan talked three times about the arrangements for
leaving but after the last call everything was still unsettled.

“Get back to me when you figure it out,” Rick said before he
disconnected the call and turned to Kelly. “I hate this, you know. I feel like
some sniveling coward sneaking away from the scene of the action.”

“Better a sniveling coward than a dead hero. Come on. I want
to let Xena out again and get her taken care of. Let’s give her a few minutes
in the yard, then I’ll fix us some dinner. It’s been a long day and we haven’t
eaten since breakfast. Then we’ll get ready to leave.”

They both checked their guns and Rick punched the code to
turn off the alarm but Xena didn’t seem any too eager to go outside and take
care of business. Instead she hung back, whining.

“Come on, girl,” Kelly coaxed. “Rick and I want to eat and
you may not get another chance at this before we leave.”

Urging the dog along, she finally got her to move into the
laundry room toward the back door. Again she dug in her claws.

Kelly looked at Rick who’d come up behind her. “I think
there may be something out there,” she said. “You know I don’t usually have
this trouble with her. She’s got all the signs of needing to take care of
business but she won’t budge.”

“Let me check. Get behind me.”

“No, damn it.
You’re
the one they want. Let me open
the door and see what’s out there.”

But Rick pushed her out of the way and reached around Xena
for the doorknob. He had barely opened the door when Xena leaped in the air and
knocked him down, banging his head on the floor.

“Xena. What the hell?”

At the same moment he was trying to push the huge dog off
his body, he heard the soft
whomp
of a suppressed rifle shot and felt
the whisper of air as a high-velocity bullet whizzed past him and buried itself
in the wall.

“Kelly, get down,” he shouted, tugging her to the floor with
him as a second bullet, lower, barely missed him.

She fell in a heap beside him, kicking the door shut with
her foot.

“Are you okay? Are you hit? Kelly? Answer me, damn it.”

She gulped in a lungful of air. “I’m fine. You?”

“Okay. I’ve got to reset the alarm.”Rick managed to roll to
his knees away from Xena and edge to the panel in the hall, then crawled back
to her. “Keep down. I’m calling the agency. Pulling those guys from the team
back was a lousy idea. Just be ready to shoot if you have to. I don’t know if
we got the alarm reset in time or not.”

“Shouldn’t we move to another room?” she asked.

“No. There are no windows here for anyone to see through.
Anyway, I don’t think our guard dog is going to let us move.”

He pulled out his cell phone and punched in the emergency
number for Phoenix. This time it was Mike who answered.

“Get the hell over here,” Rick snapped. “Now. Use your key
to get in and don’t mind the alarm. Who did you leave in charge here? I need to
talk to him.”

Seconds later he had the team leader on the radio, relaying
what happened and scattering the team to search the area.

Fifteen minutes later Dan and Mike came charging in,
stopping short at the sight that greeted them. Kelly and Rick were backed into
a corner of the laundry room where they could see the front and back doors,
guns drawn, the enormous Ovcharka pinning them in place.

“Well,” Dan said. “I’d say the shit’s really hit the fan.”

Chapter Eleven

Damn it all to hell, anyway.

Greg Jordan climbed stealthily down from the tree where he’d
been perched for three hours. He’d watched carefully while men in phony utility
uniforms scoured the neighborhood and been edgy when he saw another team had
been in place. But more luck fell his way. Or so he thought. Everyone was
pulled to a wide perimeter, leaving the area around Latrobe’s house wide open.

Stupid. I thought these people were smarter than this.

Then he chuckled to himself. They didn’t expect someone as
smart as he was to show up. Their mistake.

Knowing the people next door to Latrobe didn’t come home
from work until late, he’d climbed up as soon as the area was clear. His
opportunity would come as soon as the back door opened to let that infernal dog
out.

It didn’t matter to him who opened it. If it was the woman,
he’d shoot her, then get Latrobe when he came to help her. If it was Latrobe,
one shot and he’d be done.

But that damn dog had ruined everything. He couldn’t afford
to stay around to take another shot. Latrobe would be calling in the troops.
Besides, the alarm would be reset by now and he didn’t want to hit one of the
sensors.

Time for him to get lost.

He harbored no illusions that the man who’d put this all
together would take the news kindly. But it was time to cut his losses and let
someone else chase Latrobe. This hadn’t been part of the deal anyway. He needed
out and right away.

Just to protect himself, he’d transferred the money he’d
been paid three times and it now sat waiting for him in a safe place. All he
needed was to get out of the country and live long enough to spend it.

Disassembling the rifle, he zipped it into its canvas bag
and tucked it under his windbreaker. Forcing himself to walk slowly, he made
his way to his car at the end of the street. He knew Latrobe’s men would be
hitting the area any minute. Looking carefully to make sure no one was paying
attention to him, he cranked the engine and pulled away from the curb.

He didn’t draw a full breath until he was out of the
neighborhood and headed toward the interstate.

* * * * *

Dan Romeo still had his cell phone clapped to his ear when
he and Mike entered Rick’s house. He didn’t appear any too happy about the call
he was on.

“No, Charlie,” he was saying, “I’m not trying to blow you
off. I realize how serious this is. Someone just tried to kill Rick for the
third time, so you can believe I’m taking this seriously.” He paused. “You can
forget that. No way am I making him available to the alphabet guys. He’ll be a
sitting target. Uh-huh.” Another pause. “I said I’ll handle it, damn it. Go
take your medication and lie down.”

He snapped the phone shut and walked over to where Rick and
Kelly were scrambling up from the floor, Xena standing protectively in front of
them.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s have it.”

While Rick talked, Mike was busy digging the bullets out of
the laundry room wall.

“It’s a .50 caliber slug,” he told them, walking into the
kitchen with them in the palm of his hand. “That could fit a lot of rifles.”

“That’s a lot of firepower for close range,” Rick said. “He
didn’t just want to kill us. He wanted to pulverize us.”

“Whoever he is,” Dan added, “he wasn’t taking any chances
this time.” He punched more numbers into his cell. When he hung up, he said,
“People will be searching the neighborhood in less than ten. We had one team in
a meeting nearby.”

“They won’t find anything,” Rick argued.

“You never know what these guys can find.”

Kelly had made fresh coffee and filled a mug for everyone.
Now she sat at the kitchen table, Xena pressed against her leg, trying to keep
from shaking. The last thing she wanted was for these men to think she was a
wimp. Rick needed her. Her and Xena. She didn’t want to be left out because
they didn’t think she could cut it.

Rick slanted his eyes at her, reached over and covered her
hand with his.

“You okay, Red?” he asked in a soft voice.

She nodded. “I’m fine.” When he quirked an eyebrow at her
she said, “Really. Totally okay.” She forced a smile. “Xena was right on again,
you know.”

He put his mouth close to her ear. “I might have to marry
you just to get Xena.”

Kelly started. “M-Marry?” She stumbled over the word.“Did
you just say what I thought you did?”

Rick pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “I’ll say it again,
just in case you misunderstood. I want to marry you. I know this is fast but
time is precious. The best decisions I’ve ever made are the split-second ones.
You never know when you’ll lose it and I’m not about to waste it. I want you in
my life, Red.”

“Ohmigod.”

“Don’t answer me now because you might say no. But when this
is all over, that’s first on my agenda.”

A warm feeling flooded her and for a moment she couldn’t
breathe. He wanted to marry her! Ohmigod! She knew she was blushing and lowered
her eyes but not before she saw Rick wink at her and turn back to Mark.

Dan brought his coffee and sat down opposite her. He studied
her face for what seemed to her an interminable moment.

“Kelly, we have to make some decisions here and you’re going
to have to be part of them.”

“That’s not a problem.” She took a healthy sip of the hot
liquid. “Xena and I will go wherever Rick does.”

“She comes with a handgun and rifle too.” Rick gave them a
small grin, trying to lighten a very heavy situation. “And if it hadn’t been
for Xena, neither of us would be alive right now.”

“Okay,” Dan told them. “Here’s the deal. Rick, you know I
said earlier we need to keep you away from the feds because you were the point
man for the Iraq shipment that disappeared. We wanted to have more time to dig
into this before you had to answer any question. That’s why we’re moving you
out of here.”

Rick nodded slowly. “And I agreed, although I’m not happy
about it.”

“I don’t know any other way to say this except straight out.
The feds think you’re the one who stole the shipment and sold it to some rebel
group in Iraq. The one operating in the northern corner of the country. And
they’re yanking Charlie Grainger’s chain to put pressure on us to produce you.”