Keepers & Killers (The Alchemy Series) (3 page)

"It
's not my fault. He told me to follow you," Buzz said.

If Dodd was Cormac
's right hand, Buzz was his left, and Cormac was right handed.

"Where are we going?" he asked as he fell into step beside me.

I looked up at the big blond. "I'll deal with you coming but you're on a need to know basis."

"Shit. That means I
'm not gonna like it." I saw a bead of sweat on his forehead. "What do I need to know?"

"Nothing," I replied as I kept to my brisk pace.

He silently kept step alongside me as we dodged between people on the busy Vegas Strip.

"Can
't we ever take a car?" I watched him eye up one of the many passing taxis longingly.

"I like the exercise." It was true, even in the heat. I liked the feel of my muscles pumping and my body moving. All I needed right now was an
iPod loaded up with some Imagine Dragons and My Chemical Romance. Too bad I was afraid to close off my hearing these days. I wanted to be alert to everything.

"But you don
't need any."

I knew I was thin and I took that to be his meaning. "Everybody
should get exercise. You do."

"No, I never exercise. Hate the stuff," he said, emphasizing the word hate.

"Then how are you so muscular…" My words died as realization hit me. My entire life, I'd always eaten as much as I'd wanted but I had always burned it off running. Well, I've still been eating like a pig but haven't been running at all. I'd also not gained a pound. "You're right. How does that work exactly?"

"No clue. Ask Cormac."

"I can't. I'm not speaking to him until my trailer is back where it's supposed to be. I've been living in his garage for two days and I don't like it." We crossed another street, nearing our destination.

Buzz let out a deep belly laugh in response
.

"Why is that funny?"

"Cause he's never gonna move it back," He said and continued to laugh loudly. A few people stared at him as we walked past thanks to his loud guffaws.

"And that
's funny?" I asked, getting a little more irritated with each second.

"Yeah…isn
't it?" He wiped a tear from his eye.

I threw him a frosty glare as I sat on a bench across the street from the Paris Casino.

"Now what are we doing?"

"Waiting." My desire to enlighten him was even less so than before.

"For what?"

"Them." I tilted my head in the direction of the crowd. I watched as the large, blond, Viking throwback ogled the crowd.

I pulled out sunglasses and a baseball cap,
shoving my long blond hair through the hole in the back of the cap, and opened a newspaper. I watched over the top of the page as the people poured in and out of the casino.

"If you are staying, can you try to be a bit less conspicuous? I
'm not sitting here actually
reading
the paper." I shook it out as I emphasized my point.

He sat down and crowded the small bench. "Sports?" He held his hand out to me as he waited.

I handed him his requested section and he fell quiet for all of five minutes. "Why do we care about these people?"

"I can
't tell you. You'll spill the beans to Cormac," I told him as I scanned the travel section. Which part of the Caribbean was best…hmmm, decisions, decisions.

"I won
't." His voice sounded slightly hurt.

I turned my head toward him and raised my eyebrows. "Really? I tell you and that
's the end of it?" He at least had the courtesy to blush when I called him out on his lie. Why I felt bad about hurting his feelings was beyond me.

"Maybe I
've reported on you in the past, but I won't this time if you tell me." There was hope in his voice. I hated squashing hope.

"You go running and blathering to him, I swear, every time you tail me we
'll be shopping." I used my sternest schoolmarm voice.

He visibly swallowed, remembering the two weeks he followed me around the mall. "That really sucked."

"There's a town hall going on in one of the venue rooms in there." I looked back at the Paris Casino again, the crowds still filing in, and wondered if there was a back entrance he had used or if he'd already been inside when we'd gotten there.

"What
's that?"

"It
's basically when a politician holds court." There were Secret Service stationed by the doors; he must be in there.

"And why would…Oh no, we gotta go. We gotta go
now
!" Buzz stood and grabbed my arm, pulling me with him. "Cormac doesn't like this guy and I was specifically told to not let you go near him!"

I pulled at my arm
, still firmly in his grasp. "I'm not going anywhere and if you try to drag me, I'll scream so loud, everyone within five miles will wonder how you're torturing the sweet little blond girl." I accented my words with the sweetest innocent smile I could fake.

"Cormac…" his words died abruptly.

"Cormac what?" I pulled at my arm again, stuck in his beefy unyielding grip.

"Caitlin?" A male voice yelled from a short distance away. His voice rang in my head and nipped at my memories. "Caitlin! Oh my god, it is you!" his voice was as shocked as I felt.

I turned to see Rick's face and I was speechless; sweet Rick who had shared a foster home with me. The same Rick who had given me a Monet book I had duct taped together and still have to this day. My childhood protector, alive and well, and fully grown. I hadn't seen him since he was a teenager, but even then, he'd been something special.

"Is this guy bothering you?" He eyed Buzz warily as he stood next to
me.

"No, he
's a friend," I said, once I finally found my voice. I pulled my arm from Buzz's now loose grip.

"Yes, I
'm
Caitlin's
friend," Buzz said.

"You look fantastic!" he exclaimed as he looked me up and down.

"So do you." And he did look good. He had the same tawny hair and warm chocolate eyes, kind eyes.  My child's heart recognized the boy in the man. I remembered looking into those eyes and feeling just slightly less alone in the world.

"I really want to catch up with you but I
'm working right now. If I don't get inside in the next couple of minutes my boss will have my head! Here, take my card and please call me." I took the card and he embraced me suddenly.

"I will," I said as I hugged him back, not remembering the last person I
'd hugged.

He left and I watched him walk brisk
ly into the Paris Casino and my mouth grew dry as foreboding filled me. I looked down at the card. Rick Tabarnink, Aid to Senator Core.

"
Caitlin.
And I don't have to keep that a secret because you didn't tell it to me." He gloated and all my feelings of guilt disappeared.

"Buzz, you
're really pissing me off today. I swear, keep it up and I'm going to need some new shoes." I walked away from him, leaving my observation post. If a man I hadn't seen since my teens spotted me, I needed to find a better place to perch, because my disguise wasn't cutting it. I couldn't take the chance that Rick would draw attention to me if I was in the same place when they came out.

"Yeah
, Boss?" Buzz answered his phone as I scoped out a good hidey hole that could fit him as well as myself.

"Gotcha." He shoved his phone in his pocket and looked at me. "Cormac wants us back."

"You head back. I'm busy," I told him as I eyed up smaller spots. If he was leaving, finding a spot would be easier.

"Jo, the boss wants you back. Please don
't make this hard on me," he pleaded.

"We are standing in the middle of the Vegas Strip. You can
't man handle me back there without drawing one hell of a crowd. I'm doing my thing. Deal with it and go handle yours."

Then I made the mistake of turning my back on him.

"Just remember this wasn't my choice," he said. 

I turned, a bad feeling
forming with those words, just in time to see him hit me over the head. My vision went fuzzy, then black.

Chapter Three

"What did you think you were doing?" Cormac
's voice pierced my brain.

I was just coming to. How did he know I was even awake yet?

"I can't believe that bastard whacked me on the back of the head. That's just wrong." I felt along my scalp but couldn't find the bump that rightfully should've been there.

"He knows how to follow orders." I loved the deep timbre of Cormac
's voice, even when what he said pissed me off.

I felt a bed underneath me and
, even though I wasn't ready to look at him, I opened my eyes to see where the hell I was. My trailer? That was a bit unexpected. And there, at the foot of the bed, loomed Cormac, one foot resting on the frame of the bed as he bent over slightly, leaning his crossed arms on it. His crisp white shirt sleeves were rolled up, as always. I couldn't decide if he didn't button them to show off his muscular arms or because he hated the confinement of civilized clothing. Not that he came off as ill mannered, but there was something just beneath the surface that pricked at my senses in the most disconcerting way and whispered of baser origins.

"Aren
't all of you people really old? That's what Tracker told me. So, are you like chivalrous type old? Or are you club a girl over the head kinda old?" I watched his stone expression, which didn't crack a bit. "Because between the shooting and now the hitting, I'm starting to harbor some suspicions about what era you people really come from. Chemists, my ass."

His face was still stone.

"Get up, Caitlin. I want to talk." He pushed off the bed and straightened to his full height.

"First off, don
't call me that. My name is Jo, and I'm not going to be civil to you until this trailer is back in its proper location." I threw my arm across my eyes as I lay there, knowing it was futile. These guys never took the hint. "I don't know which is worse, that you had me shot or that you moved my trailer. You know what, Cormac? You need to learn boundaries."

"I don
't believe in boundaries." I heard him rustling around my room but still wouldn't look at him. "I'm not leaving 'til we talk. I'll be in that little box you call a living room, waiting for you." I heard his footsteps retreat.

I sat up. If talking to Cormac
meant him leaving me alone right now, I'd get up. I walked in and found him riffling through my fridge.

"Don
't you keep any food in this hovel?" He asked as he moved on to my limited cabinets.

"No," I said. "What time is it?" I asked. I didn
't have a clock in the living room.

"One t
hirty" he said as he glanced down at a platinum watch.

I held up my finger, and motioned for him to give me a minute as I paused by the front door. Thirty seconds later, the rap came. I didn
't need to ask who it was, I just opened it.

"Good afternoon
, Miss Jo." A man in a Lacard uniform came in carrying a tray.

"Hello Alex," I greeted him. I
'd had the same waiter every day.

"Oh, hello
, Sir! Was there to be something additional today? I didn't see it on the schedule." He fumbled into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out his pad to locate the details.

"No, just the usual," I answered to save him the trouble.

He smiled, relieved to not have forgotten the owner's food. "Would you like it in your regular spot?" he asked.

"That would be wonderful," I said as I stepped out of his way to allow him access to the spot in front of the sofa.

It took him a few moments to arrange everything as he carried in a table and set it up. He covered it in a white cloth and set down the silver service.

As he
finished up and was about to leave, I hit Cormac in the arm. "Give me a twenty. I don't have cash ready for him. I
overslept
," I said, as I laid the sarcasm on liberally.

He pulled a wad of cash, held by a gold money clip, out of his black pants. "I
've only got hundreds," he said, fingering through the bills.

"That
's fine," I said, as I took the first bill off of his bank roll.

I handed Alex the bill. He smiled and told me he
'd be back in an hour to clean up as he left.