Gray, Ginna (28 page)

Sam and his friends filed into the courtroom on the opposite side
of the hall. Court was in session but everyone was so absorbed in the
proceedings that they barely drew a glance as they slipped into the last two
rows of seats at the back of the spectators gallery. They were careful at all
times to keep Lauren in the middle of the group.

"Now what?" she whispered to Sam when they were seated.

"Now we wait until Dad comes and tells us they're ready for
you."

They didn't have long to wait. Barely fifteen minutes later
Augustus poked his head in the door and nodded to them.

Sam saw the panic in Lauren's eyes and felt the shudder that rippled
through her. He pried her hands apart and gave one a squeeze, then hauled her
to her feet. He bent and kissed her, then looked deep into her frightened eyes.
"C'mon, babe, let's go. It's time to kick ass and take names."

The others surrounded Lauren and Sam, and as one they walked
across the hall past the stern faced Federal Marshals. Todd and Scud had moved
inside Judge Bruno's courtroom and stationed themselves on either side of the
door.

Sam and his friends created a commotion when they entered. Immediately,
the agents standing around the perimeter walls moved to block them.

"Here now! What is this!" Judge Bruno thundered, banging
his gavel. "Order. Order in the court!"

Sitting in the front row, Augustus leaned forward and whispered
something to the prosecutor, who promptly jumped to his feet.

"Your Honor, these people are merely escorting the witness
into the courtroom for her protection."

"I strenuously object, your Honor!" a member of the
defense team shouted. "This is nothing but theatrics, staged to prejudice
the jury."

"Not true, your Honor," the prosecutor fired back.
"There have already been several attempts on Ms. Brownley's life."

The judge pondered for a moment. "Objection overruled. Which
one of you is Lauren Brownley?"

Lauren glanced up at Sam. Her eyes swam with terror. "You'll
do fine," he whispered, and gave her hand one last squeeze before
releasing it.

She swallowed hard, then nodded and squared her shoulders.
"Here I am, your Honor," she said, stepping forward.

Sam and the others took their seats at the back of the room, but
he covertly kept an eye on the agents standing around the perimeter of the
room. He also noted that Harvey Weiss sat in the front row, two seats down from
Augustus and Walter.

Though Lauren's voice was not quite steady, she gave a clear and
detailed accounting of the events of that January night at the Club Classico.
When the defense tried to poke holes in her story she remained composed and
resolute.

Through it all, Carlo fumed. Even from behind, Sam could see the angry
color that rose in his neck and ears. When the judge excused Lauren and she
started to step down, the old mobster jumped to his feet and exploded in rage.

"You bitch! I helped you when you had nobody! And this is how
you repay me! You're dead! Do you hear me? Dead!"

Two guards rushed over to restrain Carlo, but he somehow managed
to shake them off and grab a gun from one of the men's holsters.

"Shit!" Sam sprang to his feet and bolted for Lauren.

Several agents rushed to join the fray and all around pandemonium
erupted as shouts and screams went up and people dove for cover.

"I'll kill you myself, bitch!"

From several feet away, Sam made a dive for Lauren. They went down
together just as Carlo got off a shot. At the same instant another agent
managed to knock the old man's arm up, and the bullet went wild and embedded in
the ceiling.

The lawmen finally gained the upper hand and wrestled Carlos to
the floor.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Sam demanded, anxiously
running his hands over Lauren.

"I'm okay. Just...shaken up is all."

Sam rose and helped her to her feet, but his worried gaze
continued the examination. During the tackle her hat and scarf had been knocked
off and now her auburn hair hung around her face and shoulders, its vibrant
color accentuating her pallor.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, Sam. Really."

He was about to say more when he glanced toward the back of the
courtroom and spotted Todd, sidling out the door. Sam grabbed Lauren's arm and
hauled her down the aisle to where Larry and the others were getting to their
feet. "Larry, look after her, will you?" To Lauren he said,
"Stay here. I'll be right back."

In the hall outside the courtroom people were scurrying this way
and that. Sam craned his neck and searched through the crowd for Todd but he
didn't see him anywhere. Then he noticed the door to the fire stairs at the end
of the corridor was slowly closing.

Sam sprinted down the hall and jerked the door open again.

Startled, Todd paused on the landing a few steps down and looked
up.

"Hello, Todd. Going somewhere?"

"Sam? Damn, is that you? You look like— Hey! What's with the
gun, ol' buddy?"

Sam eased down the stairs, his revolver pointed squarely at Todd's
chest. "It's over, Todd. I know you're Giovessi's man. One of them,
anyway."

Todd started to argue, then thought better of it and sighed.
"How did you figure it out?"

"You were the only one I ever told about my aunt and uncle. I
knew the moment those agents came up their driveway."

Todd rolled his eyes and grimaced. "Damn. You always were quick."

Disappointment rose like bitter gall inside Sam. Though he'd known
better, deep down he'd hoped his friend would turn indignant and deny the
accusation, that he would somehow explain everything away and prove him wrong.
He wouldn't even have minded if Todd had exploded in righteous anger and taken
a swing at him. Anything would be better than this.

"Those guys in Utah? Were they on Carlo's payroll, too?"

"Naw, they were just agents out of a local office following
orders."

"You want to tell me who else is in Carlo's pocket?"

Todd grinned. "I think I'll wait until my lawyer is present
to do any more talking."

"Dammit, Todd. Why?" Sam ground out. "You were
always a by-the-book guy. How could you sell out to scum like Giovessi?"

"Ol' buddy, you'd be surprised how easy it is to turn off
your conscience when the money's right. Hell, I got tired of working my butt
off for peanuts. And for what? So our judicial system can turn the bad guys
loose again? I figured if I couldn't beat 'em, why not join 'em and rake in my
share of the dough. I woulda cut you in on the action, except I knew a
straight-arrow like you would just slap the cuffs on me and start reading me my
Miranda rights."

"You got it." Reaching the landing, Sam motioned with
the gun for Todd to turn around. "You know the drill. Hands above your
head, against the wall, and spread 'em."

Todd was about to comply when the door to the landing above them
burst open and banged back against the adjacent wall. Sam's head swiveled toward
the sound, and his heart leaped right up into his throat as Lauren rushed into
the stairwell and came clattering down the metal steps.

"Sam! What is going on? I was so worried when you ran out
like th—"

"Lauren, get back!" Sam shouted, but he was too late.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Todd shoulder-butted Sam out
of the way and grabbed Lauren. Before Sam could recover, Todd had her in a
choke hold and his revolver in his other hand, the barrel pressed against her
temple.

"Drop it, Sam."

"No! Don't do it, Sam!"

"Shut up, woman!" As punishment, Todd squeezed Lauren's
neck tighter, making her gag.

"Let go of my wife, Berringer."

"Your wife!" Todd shot Sam an astonished look then
laughed. "I don't believe it. You married our
witness?
Man, she
must really be something in bed."

Rage ripped through Sam. He took a half step forward but jerked
back when Todd pressed the gun tighter against Lauren's temple.

"Back off, or she gets it right now!" he snarled.

"Hurt her and you're a dead man, Berringer. That's a
promise."

"Very touching, Sam. But if you don't want her hurt, all you
have to do is drop your gun and back off.
Now,
dammit! Or so help me,
I'll kill her right here, right now."

"I suggest you do as he says, Sam."

Startled, Sam looked over his shoulder, and saw his boss, Charley
Potter, standing on the landing above them, his gun pointed at Sam's back.

"You? You're in on this, too?" The heavy weight of
disillusion pressed down on Sam like wet cement. Charley was the last man in
the Denver office he would have suspected of being on the take. He would have
no problem believing it of Harvey Weiss, but not Charley. Sam had always
believed his long-time friend and boss was incorruptible. He would have staked
his life on it.

"Drop the gun, Sam. It's over."

"Noooo!"

Lauren's outraged cry as she grabbed the barrel of Todd's gun and
knocked it skyward startled all three men, but Sam recovered quickest. Before
the echo died away, he spun around and fired. Charley slammed back against the
wall behind him, then slowly slid to the floor, a red stain blossoming on the
front of his white shirt.

Sam spun back just in time to see Lauren gouge Todd in the eye.
Howling, he dropped the gun and grabbed his face as the weapon clattered down
the next flight of stairs.

"Why you—" With an enraged growl, Todd made a lunge for
her, but in a move so fast even Sam didn't see it coming, she hauled off and
kicked him as hard as she could in the groin.

Todd dropped like a stone and curled into a fetal position,
screaming and writhing.

"God, sweetheart." Sam snatched Lauren into his arms and
held her tight against his thundering heart. "Are you all right?"

"I—I think so."

"Oh, God, Lauren, don't ever scare me like that again. I
thought I was going to lose you." He began to rain frantic kisses over her
forehead, her eyelids, her cheeks, the side of her neck. "I couldn't bear
that," he declared fiercely. "I love you. I love you. Ah, little one,
you're everything to me. Everything."

"Oh, Sam." Joy gushed up inside Lauren. "Sam,
I—"

It took the better part of an hour for Lauren and Sam to explain
all that had happened since he had spirited her out of Denver the previous
January and to convince Harvey and the local police and the Federal Prosecutor
that Todd and Charley had tried to kill them. They were helped on that score
when another agent stuck his head inside the room they were using to tell them
that Carlo had suffered a heart attack on the way back to his cell.

"He's in the hospital now, under guard. The docs say his
heart is so bad they doubt he'll make it." The agent chuckled. "He
was so pissed that the agents he paid to protect him didn't keep him out of
prison that he squealed his head off all the way to the hospital. Gave us the
names of seven agents he'd bought." The man tore a page out of his notepad
and handed it to Harvey. "You're not gonna believe whose names are on that
list."

Finally, everything was sorted out. After promising to come into
the Bureau office the next day and make a formal statement, Sam and Lauren left
and joined Augustas and Walter and the rest of their group, who were waiting
outside in the hallway.

"How'd it go, son?" his father asked the instant they
emerged.

"Good. Especially considering that I just blew away my boss
and I've been hiding a federal witness without official sanction for over four
months."

Lauren watched Sam shift from one foot to the other, and she knew
something was bothering him. Sometime during the session with Agent Weiss and
the other lawmen, he had retreated back behind his stone-mask expression. She'd
also noticed that he wouldn't look directly at her.

The joy she had begun to feel earlier had seeped away. Replacing
it was a growing knot of uneasiness.

"C'mon, let's get out of here," Sam said. Without
waiting for anyone to agree, he headed for the stairs and loped down them at a
fast clip, as though he couldn't stand still another moment.

Lauren and Augustus exchanged a puzzled look and followed more
slowly with the others. When they stepped outside, Sam was waiting, impatiently
pacing back and forth at the top of the courthouse steps.

He swung around, and Lauren's heart contracted when she saw his
grim expression. "We have to talk."

"All right," she replied calmly, but inside she was
shaking. His expression and tone told her that she wasn't going to like what he
had to say. She clasped her hands together to stop them from shaking and
waited. The others stood by quietly, looking back and forth between them.