Mission: Irresistible (22 page)

He bit down hard on his bottom lip to keep from crying out. He was underneath the van’s back tire, and when he rose up he bonked his head on the axle.

Son of a wh—

Something fell off the undercarriage.

He peered at it, blinking. It was a small oblong black box with a magnet on one side.

A hide-a-key. He smiled. He was saved.

Hope spurring his recovery, he scooted from underneath the van, slid open the box, and retrieved the key. He was just about to hop behind the wheel and take off when he heard a pounding noise coming from the back of the van.

Was someone in there?

You don’t have time to mess around. Get moving. Get out of here.

Bam, bam, bam.

Get in the van. You can look in the back later.

He hopped inside, started the engine, and drove away just as Froggy Voice and Nike came bursting from the warehouse. Cutting the corner so short that the van bounced up onto the curb, he stomped the accelerator and careened three blocks through heavy traffic. All the while the knocking in the trunk was growing louder and louder.

Damn, shut up.

What if it was Kiya? The thought suddenly occurred to him.

Okay, that did it.

He pulled over to the shoulder, left the engine idling, and got out.

Vehicles blew past him. Someone honked.

Cautiously, he inched his way to the rear of the van. He grabbed hold of the door handle. Preparing to run at the first hint of trouble, he gingerly pulled the door open and peered inside.

The person bound and gagged on the floor looked familiar, but he couldn’t place the name. Slowly, the mummy approached. A pair of gray eyes beseeched him.

“Hey,” said the mummy. “Am I supposed to know you?”

CHAPTER 16

C
lyde’s the mummy?” Harrison fingered the bolt of linen.

“No.” Cassie shook her head. It reassured her that he looked genuinely confused, and reinforced her trust in him. “There’s no way. The mummy was stabbed in the back.”

“Unless the stabbing was faked.”

“No. It was real blood, and Clyde was in the museum looking fine just minutes after I found the mummy in the courtyard.”

“Could he have stabbed the mummy?”

“Maybe.”

“Or,” Harrison said.

Their eyes met.

“Clyde and the mummy were working together,” they said in unison.

Cassie was certain that Harry was as surprised by this insight as she was. Ahmose had to be wrong about him, that’s all there was to it.

“I’m guessing the mummy created the distraction while Clyde doused the lights and snatched the amulet,” Harrison said.

“But if Clyde and the mummy were in cahoots, then who stabbed the mummy?”

“Could it have been a third party?”

“Somebody horning in on Clyde and the mummy’s caper?”

“But who?”

“Maybe it’s the same person who ransacked my apartment.”

“Or maybe Clyde ransacked your apartment. Maybe the mummy double-crossed him. Or perhaps Mummy Man was the one who trashed your place.” Harrison set the bolt of linen back in the cabinet.

“I’m telling you that mummy was in no shape to do anything more than breathe—and he was doing very little of that—much less ransack and double-cross.”

“And then there’s the central question.” Harrison brushed his fingertips against his pant legs.

“Yeah,” Cassie said. “Who’s the mummy?”

“Adam?”

“What now?”

Harry took the djed from his pocket and fingered it, a faraway look in his eyes. He seemed to use the thing to help him think. “My brother’s in trouble,” he murmured.

“Call him again.” Cassie handed Harry her cell phone. “I’ll check out the cedar chest.”

Palming the djed, Harry accepted her phone and pulled out the antenna. Cassie sank to her knees beside the cedar chest, praying there were no mice inside there either.

She undid the clasp and cautiously eased open the lid, not sure what to expect. She was slightly disappointed to find sweaters. She lifted them out one by one.

“I can’t get any reception down here,” Harry muttered.

About halfway to the bottom of the chest, underneath all the sweaters, Cassie found something disturbing. It was a Minotaur mask and a wax seal with the sign of the Minoan Order engraved into it. She caught her breath. The implication was clear. Clyde was a member of the Minoan Order.

She started to call out to Harry to tell him what she found, but then she hesitated. As much as she did not want to believe Ahmose, the part of her that had trouble trusting any man whispered in her head. What if Harry and Clyde were in this together?

But then why had Harrison brought her here?

She pivoted in her squatting position to see where Harry was and if he was watching her, and that’s when she realized she was alone in the cellar.

And the door at the top of the stairs was swinging closed.

It clicked shut with an ominous sound.

Cassie freaked. She totally lost it. Terrified, she flew up the steps and charged the door. No, no, she could not be locked in a cellar. She would die. No place to go to the bathroom. No food to eat. Not enough air.

Help!

Her knees were rubber, her body instantly drenched in sweat. She slammed both palms hard against the door. “Let me out! Let me out! You can’t lock me in here!”

Two seconds later, Harry wrenched the door open and she tumbled out onto the floor, gasping frantically. He stared down at her. “It wasn’t locked.”

She swatted his leg. “I told you I didn’t like cellars, and you left me down there alone.”

“I thought you were following me. I had my mind on Adam and I—”

“You forgot me,” she accused. She was
not
going to cry. She would not.

“Not on purpose. Why are you clenching your fist? You gonna hit me?”

“Maybe.” No crying. Stop sniffling.

“Jeez, Cassie, I had no idea you were so claustrophobic.” He bent down to help her up, but she squirmed away from him.

“You forgot me.” Her bottom lip trembled.

“Okay. I forgot you. I’m sorry. I was focused on calling my brother, and when I focus on something I get absentminded about everything else.”

He looked remorseful, but she wasn’t letting him off the hook. Five minutes ago she’d been sure Ahmose was completely wrong about Harrison; now she wasn’t so sure.

“Just calm down,” he soothed. “Take a deep breath.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.” She pushed past him, headed for the back door. For fresh air and freedom.

He followed her. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“I’m not crying,” she said, drawing in great gasps of air, the morning sun warming her face as she walked out into Clyde’s backyard.

“What’s this then?” He caught up with her and reached out to stroke her cheek damp with tears.

She jerked her head away and glared. “I’m not crying.”

“Oookay, if you say so.”

“You can be a big ol’ jerk, you know that?”

“Do you want to tell me why you’re overreacting?” he said calmly.

His calmness made her want to punch something. “None of your damned business.”

He raised his palms. “All right, obviously you have a thing about getting locked in a cellar, and you don’t want to talk about it.”

“Damn skippy.” She rubbed a tear from the end of her nose with the back of a hand.

“Please forgive me for leaving you down there. Sometimes I get so caught up in my mind, I forget what my body is doing.”

“Gee, way to make a girl feel special, Einstein. Explains why you’re not married.”

“I suppose I deserved that.”

She felt safer now, less haunted, more like her cocky self. The farther she got away from the cellar, the faster the past receded. She shouldn’t have freaked out on him. It wasn’t Harry’s fault. He didn’t know about Duane and the cellar.

Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth to tell him about Duane, but got no further because a man darted out of Clyde’s back door.

“Harry!” she cried as the man in Nike sneakers slammed into her and knocked her to the ground.

Immediately, Harry took after the guy. Cassie struggled to her knees. The guy was holding something in his hand that looked sort of like the keyless entry remote from a set of car keys. The man had a small head start, but Harry was closing the gap.

“Stop!” Harry hollered.

And to Cassie’s amazement, the guy did.

But no one could have predicted what he would do next. The man pressed the button on the remote in his hand, and Clyde’s house exploded.

The force of the blast blew out the windows and knocked Harrison sprawling to the ground.

“Cassie!” He crawled back across the lawn.

“I’m here; I’m okay.”

He reached for her and tucked her body under his, protecting her from the debris raining down around them. His heart was thumping madly and his mouth was bone dry.

Harrison had trained his mind not to react to his body’s emotions so well that he was able to feel the spurt of adrenaline rushing through his system but still process his thoughts rationally. They’d checked every inch of the house, and it had been empty. The man had clearly slipped in the back door while they’d been in the cellar and set the bomb.

But who was he, and why had he blown up Clyde’s house? What did all of this have to do with Adam and the missing amulet?

He didn’t know, but he was determined to find out.

First, they had to get out of here. The police would be arriving soon, and they’d be hard-pressed to explain their presence here. They had no time for police questioning.

“Sweetheart,” he said, the strength and clarity of his voice surprising even him. His chest was pressed into her back. “Are you all right?”

She nodded. He clambered to his feet. She rolled over and looked up at him, her eyes dazed. He held out a hand to help her up, but she scooted away from him on her butt.

“Stay away from me.”

What was the matter? Was she shell-shocked? Had something hit her on the head? She appeared to be okay. He took a step toward her.

“Don’t come any closer.”

“Cassie, I’m not the enemy.”

“Aren’t you?”

The look in her eyes rattled him to the bone. She was scared of him.

“You were going to lock me in the cellar so your accomplice could blow me up in the house.”

“No!” He said it more vehemently than he intended because her fear of him tore a hole in his heart. When she cringed, he dropped his voice. “How can you even think that about me?”

“There was a Minotaur mask in Clyde’s cedar chest and other things that looked like they could belong to the Minoan Order.”

“There is no Minoan Order.” Had she hit her head? Did she have a concussion? Was that why she was accusing him of such crazy things?

“Oh yeah? Then who detonated the house?” She stared at him as if he’d sprouted a pitchfork and devil horns.

“That guy in the Nikes—you just saw him.”

“How do I know it wasn’t staged for my benefit?”

“Look around. I think the bomb was real.”

She blinked. “I’m so confused.”

“Please believe me. I didn’t try to hurt you. I’m on your side.”

Siren screams. The emergency vehicles would be here soon.

“Let’s get out of here. I’ll take you somewhere quiet and safe. We don’t need to get tangled up with the police.”

“I don’t know what to believe.” She drew her knees to her chest. She looked so lost sitting on Clyde’s debris-strewn lawn with bits of grass in her hair.

He kept his hand extended. “You’re just going to have to trust me.”

“I’m not good at that.” She shivered and rubbed her hands over her upper arms.

He squatted in front of her, took her chin in his palm, and forced her to look him in the eyes. “Cassie, I swear, I would never, ever hurt you.”

Poor kid. She was shell-shocked. He couldn’t blame her for jumping to ridiculous conclusions. He had left her alone in the cellar after she’d told him she was claustrophobic. He had been caught up in his own agenda, and he hadn’t paid attention when the cellar door swung shut behind him.

He’d treated her like an afterthought.

When he thought about it from her point of view, he could understand why she’d come uncorked. A woman never wanted to feel trapped by a man. Had he learned nothing from having a mother like Diana? If she knew what he’d done, she would give him hell.

And then it hit him like a kick to the gut. Cassie had almost died in that house.

So how are you going to make it up to her?
He had to do something to gain back her trust. He had to apologize. Big-time.

“I’m an ass,” he said. “An A-number-one dillhole for being so insensitive, but we’ve got to get out of here before the police show up. Are you coming with me?”

He held his breath, waiting. The sirens screamed nearer.

Cassie reached out and took his hand.

* * *

A crowd had gathered on the lawn, but everyone was so intent on staring at the devastation that no one really took note of them as Harry gently escorted her toward the Volvo parked on the street by the Taco Bell. The first fire truck arrived just as Harry started the engine. By the time the second truck pulled to a stop, they were turning the corner onto a main thoroughfare.

“I feel like we’ve done something wrong, sneaking off like this,” she fretted

“We don’t have a choice. The police would question us for hours, and we simply don’t have the time. We have to find Adam. Besides, how would we explain being in Clyde’s house?”

He was right and she knew it. She did her best to throw off her anxiety. She’d never been much of a worrier. That was Maddie’s job. Everything would turn out all right. She had to believe that, and since she’d chosen to go with him, she had to trust her instincts and believe in Harrison, no matter what Ahmose suspected him of.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“It’s a surprise.”

“I’m not really in the mood for any more surprises,” she said. She’d had enough of the unexpected for one day, thank you very much.

“It’s nearby. Just a short detour. I want to go somewhere we can relax and catch our breath for a minute.” He took University Drive to the Fort Worth Zoo.