Fate and Destiny (21 page)

She glared at Andrew, her
leg bouncing up and down on the ball of her foot.

“
Why do you want to call
Sammy now? Can’t Doug and I just turn ourselves in to Matt now so
we can get this over with and start working on clearing our
names?”

Relaxing, Andrew took
advantage of the easy chair, sitting back and crossing his
legs.

“
You still think that’s
the answer? Turning yourself in?” He leaned forward, anger
returning to crease the skin across his forehead.

“
What good will it do you
to sit in jail?”

“
What other choices do I
have? I can’t go back and get any evidence. I can’t show my face
anywhere. I can’t hide forever. What can I do?”

Voice cracking, fighting
the urge to let her emotions go and tell them everything, Destiny
dammed the tears that moistened her eyelids.

“
We can call my brother.
That’s where we start. You can’t go back and get evidence, but
maybe we can bring evidence to you. Samuel Greer majored in
computer programming in college. When he received his share of the
inheritance from our grandparents, he decided he didn’t want to
work anymore. Instead, he became addicted to the wide world of
computers and all of their possibilities.”

Andrew battled between
anger, irritation, and amusement. She had unknowingly given them
the key to this mess when she said the files were on several
computers. Sammy just had to get into one of them, transfer the
files, and they could build the case against Charles DeMont,
freeing Destiny so Andrew could finally take her to California with
him. He only had to get through to her and make her stop being so
damn stubborn and bullheaded. Deep down, he realized the he knew as
soon as she took off in the truck she wasn’t in any type of
alliance with Doug and Lenny. The jealous side of him shoved out
all of his normal reactions and thoughts, but seeing her, knowing
she was safe, restored his sensibilities.

“
What Andrew is trying to
say without really admitting it, is that Sammy is a computer
hacker. A very good hacker.” Matt’s eyes narrowed when he saw the
frown on Destiny’s face.

“
Don’t give me that look,”
Matt said to Destiny. “He hacks into computers, but he doesn’t
steal government secrets or tap bank accounts or anything like
that. Generally, he hacks into corporate computer systems to show
the developers their weaknesses. Then he shows them how to patch
the holes so others with malicious intent can’t hack in. He usually
doesn’t do any illegal hacking. Or at least, he doesn’t broadcast
it when he does.”

Matt grinned at her, his
brown eyes twinkling.

Matt joined Destiny on the
couch, at ease in the room. Destiny would not bolt, Doug would not
try to kill anyone with his bare hands, and Andrew was not going to
shoot anyone.

At least not
today.

And to top it all off, they
were going to help Destiny. Everything was once again right in the
world, for the moment.

Matt became a good lawman,
using his abilities to remain calm under stress, his powers of
persuasion, and a truckload of gut instinct to get the job done.
Watching Destiny, his instincts were currently shouting alarms.
There was a lot more going on inside her head than getting to Vegas
to get evidence. She emanated a severe sense of desperation, fear,
and hopelessness. If they didn’t convince her to trust in them
soon, she would not be able to recover from this ordeal, eventually
being unable to lead any type of a normal life. Matt refused to let
that happen. He would even risk a lifetime of his own goals and
desires before allowing this one woman to sink into the abyss of
despair.

The atmosphere in the room
had lightened considerably since the moment when Andrew and Matt
walked in. Doug seemed to be enjoying the conversations that flowed
around him. There was camaraderie between him and the other men.
They all had the same purpose in mind. To protect Destiny. Hearing
Matt discuss calling Sammy reminded Doug of the task Lenny assigned
him. He avoided making the call to Charles. How could he tell him
Destiny was alive? Charles would expect him to finish the job, and
Doug couldn’t do it.

“
I have to call
Charles.”

The sudden statement
brought silence to the room as all eyes turned to Doug.

“
Lenny told me to call
Charles and tell him I would finish the job and Lenny went to
jail.” Matt had forgotten Doug mentioned he was supposed to call
Charles. The first time Doug made the remark, Matt was still
concerned with getting to the bottom of the situation and diffusing
his cousin’s temper. Ideas spun so rapidly through his mind that
Matt needed a second to clear them out and concentrate on them one
at a time.

“
You have a phone number
for Charles?”

Doug nodded, forehead
creased from the power of his dilemma.

“
It’s in Lenny’s cell
phone. Lenny left it in the truck for me to call
Charles.”

Matt unconsciously began
nodding in unison with Doug, hanging on each word Doug
uttered.

“
We can tap the line and
record him. It would be nice if we could actually get him here. We
could wire you, maybe get a confession out of him, then arrest him.
If he confesses, Destiny’s off the hook. If we get him here to do
it, then he doesn’t have a chance to run.”

Excitement spread through
the room as each of them realized the importance of Doug being a
contact to Charles. Even Doug quickly understood the enormity of
this information.

“
Destiny would be free?
And Charles would go to jail instead? That’s a great
idea!”

His open expression quickly
closed, brows rejoining in the middle of his forehead as a new
thought occurred to him.

“
Does it hurt to be wired?
‘Cause I’ll still do it for Destiny, but I want to know how much it
hurts so I can be ready for it.”

Laughing, Andrew was the
first to recover enough to reassure Doug.

“
No, buddy, it doesn’t
hurt. They hide a recording device on you and it records both of
you talking.”

The lines across Doug’s
forehead erased as he smiled, relieved they weren’t going to run
electrical lines from him and plug him in, imagining his body lit
up like a Christmas tree. The thought was funny until he imagined
instead of Christmas lights, they wired him to an electric chair.
That thought wasn’t nearly as nice. They would send him to prison
for his part in Destiny’s kidnapping and attempted murder, but he
came back here understanding the possible outcomes.

Matt sat forward to the
edge of the couch.

“
Doug, I’m going back down
into town to call Sammy. Even if we get a confession out of
Charles, it will still be nice to have some hard proof to go with
it. I want you to go with me so we can make that phone call to
Charles too. Don’t worry, Big Guy, I’ll help you through it. We can
even practice what you are going to say until you are confident
enough to do it.”

At Doug’s determined nod of
approval, Matt glanced at Destiny, then turned to Andrew sitting
comfortably in the chair across the room.

“
I need to talk to Destiny
alone for a minute. Will you two gentlemen step outside and behave
like gentlemen at least until I get there?”

Doug nodded, already rising
to his feet then folding up the blankets he slept with. Andrew
leaned forward in his chair but didn’t stand up to
leave.

“
I think whatever you need
to say to her, you can say with me still here.”

The look Andrew shot Matt
warned him Andrew was not in a gentlemanly mood. Matt fired the
same look right back at his cousin.

“
No, I don’t think I can.
I think you can take your happy ass outside and cool off while I
have a couple of words with Destiny. It’s her future on the line
here, not yours.”

Chagrined, Andrew rose from
the chair. Pulling his hood over his head, he stomped out the door,
one foot hitting the floor heavier than the other. Doug quickly
followed after replacing all of the candles, blankets, and heater
back where he found them. Except for the broken glass, no one would
ever know they were there.

The room now empty except
for the two on the couch, Matt turned to Destiny and spoke quietly
so the men outside could not hear through the glassless
window.

“
Why did you leave
Andrew’s cabin?”

Despite the gentle, soft
tone, Destiny detected the barely controlled anger that simmered
under Matt’s cool exterior.

“
Do you know how crazy out
of his mind Andrew was that you were gone? You take off in his
truck while he’s limping around the woods looking for Shadow. The
dog is fine, in case you want to know.”

Destiny nodded. She
understood the lost feeling Doug must have most of the
time.

“
What did Andrew do to you
that scared you so much you thought you had to take off like that?
It’s a miracle neither of you died. You could have been killed
driving on icy mountain roads. I assume you have never done that
before since you couldn’t control the truck. He could have been
killed chasing you through the snow, with a bad leg, in freezing
temperatures. I’m just glad one of you retained a little common
sense. He stayed put until I got there. What happened?”

Intent on Matt’s facial
features, Destiny realized she was wrong. It wasn’t anger that
lurked in Matt. It was concern and worry. The gentle lines of his
face shone with the old soul contained within. Matt was not judging
her, simply trying to understand her.

“
Matt, he’s already in too
deep. You don’t know what happens to people who get close to me.
They die. He put everything at risk to help me, not knowing who I
was, but now I have a choice in the matter, and I choose to save
him from the fate of being near me.”

“
What are you saying? You
think you’re jinxed or something? The fate of being near you? What
about his choices? Doesn’t he get a say in this at all? Don’t you
think he can handle making his own decisions?”

Destiny shook her head at
all of the questions. She couldn’t make Matt or Andrew
understand.

“
Andrew has such a full
life. A career he likes, a huge family, friends. A little getaway
cabin in the mountains. If he risked anything more because of me,
and it turned out badly, I couldn’t live with myself knowing it was
all my fault.”

“
A full
life? He goes to work every day because he thinks it’s his duty.
His paternal grandfather started the company he works for.
Stockholders own it now, and Andrew and Sammy hold the largest
amount of shares. Andrew doesn’t have to work, but he does because
he thinks he owes it to his grandfather. He doesn’t come up here to
get away from anything. He comes up here to get
 
back
 
to things. He forgets how it
feels to be part of a family when he’s out there in California.
That man is lonely. He comes back here because he needs us. Then he
gets depressed because he sees all of the cousins he grew up with
married and having children, and he’s jealous because he wants that
life, but his imaginary duties keep him from having it. When he
gets like that, he packs up and goes back. It’s an endless
cycle.”

Matt stood, restlessly
pacing the few steps between the couch and chair. 

“
His mom lives here, his
brother lives here, and our grandma still lives here. He grew up
here. The only reason he went to California is because he was a
young kid with hopes and dreams of making his grandfather happy.
The old man spent his life at work, creating a legacy for his kids.
That’s what he was doing when his son, Andrew’s dad, died. Andrew
was six when his dad lost control of the car and it flipped down an
embankment. Andrew was in the passenger seat. No one could believe
he lived. Somehow, he came out of it without a scratch. The car
ejected his dad on one of the flips. Died instantly. Grandpap was
on patrol and found Andrew walking down the side of the road near
the wreck. He was covered in blood and Grandpap thought he was on
the verge of death until he realized none of the blood was his.
Andrew held onto his dad long after he passed on. The poor kid
finally walked back up to the road for help.”

“
That’s awful. How tragic
for a child.”

The tears filling her eyes
warmed a path down her cheek. Memories of her own tragedies
swelled, although now they felt different. Andrew had horrible
memories of his childhood too, but he didn’t shun people. If
anything, he embraced them, surrounding himself with his family and
friends, and they were there when he needed them.

“
I can’t let your family
get hurt by what’s happening to me. When something bad happens to
Andrew, it will be my fault, and none of you will ever forgive me,
and I won’t be able to forgive myself. Andrew needs to go back to
California, find a good woman and bring her here so he can have the
full family life he wants.”

Matt’s eyes softened, his
lips quirked into a smile. Her voice belied her words. She was
beginning to doubt herself, thinking of the possibilities of
Andrew’s life after this nightmare ended.