Missy's Gentle Giant (22 page)

“Get my attorney up here on the
double.”  Ben frowned and reached for his office door.  “Bring some
coffee.” 

Once inside he put his face in his
hands.  Take care of the annulment first, then—no!  He couldn’t just drop
Missy.  If he did, some guy like Eduardo would come around again. She
needed to go to college—she needed a chance to fulfill her dreams even if she
thought them impossible.  Still he couldn’t just send money.  Missy
would think he was buying his freedom.  Well, surely by now her family
must know she’s not in a family way and nothing had happened.  It’s what
this was all about.  Right?  So the annulment could wait a couple of
days.  First things first—he picked up the phone and called his
banker.  If nothing else, he’d financially pave a way for Missy to do what
she wanted.

When his attorney walked in, Ben
forced a smile.  “There are two things I want you to do.”  For the
rest of the afternoon Ben worked with his attorney and made phone calls to
friends and DEA agents he knew who could get some information for him. 
The secretary brought in lunch from the cafeteria, put it on Ben’s desk and
left shaking her head at the few words she heard.  At five she covered her
computer, buzzed Ben she was leaving and shook her head again.  The man
was possessed!  It was after nine before Ben worked everything out with
his attorney.  When they were both sure it would work, they drank a shot
of scotch.  Ben tried to ignore his feeling of emptiness when the attorney
left.  He slowly locked up.  Once in his car, he had no desire to go
anywhere, forced himself to start the engine and drive, then became angry with
himself when he realized he was in Missy’s neighborhood.  He forced
himself to drive home to his empty, lonely house.  In the library he
picked up a bottle, carried it to the living room, sank down, drank and talked
to the stars until near dawn when he passed out.

Bright burning sunlight awakened
Ben and made him cover his eyes.  He groaned loudly and went upstairs,
considered a shower and dropped on his bed instead.  All he felt was
emptiness.  Around eight-thirty he rolled over, called his secretary and
said he wouldn’t be in.  It was pretty obvious by then.  He told her
to put Juan Garcia in charge since he was the most capable, and Ben wasn’t sure
but thought he might take off a day or two.  Considering how much he’d
been working lately up to twenty hours a day plus all the other mess, his
secretary felt relieved.  Ben dropped the receiver, rolled over and went
back to sleep.  Damn, if he couldn’t have Missy in real life, then he
could at least have her in dreams!

Just after noon a new Lincoln Continental pulled to a stop in front of the Sanchez house.  A man got out,
looked around nervously and went to the door.

“Is this the Sanchez residence?”

“Yes.”

“I’m looking for a Melissa Sanchez,
about twenty or so.  Would this be the right house?”

“Oh my, yes!”  Mrs. Sanchez
smiled.  “She’s my daughter.”

“Her father is Gonzalo senior,
right?”  The man smiled.

“Yes, yes, my husband but he’s—”

“Finally.  I’ve got the right
house!  It’s Melissa I’ve come to see.”

“Well she’s—”  Mrs. Sanchez
glanced worriedly toward the stairs.

“Is she here?  I bring good
news.”

“Yes, please come in.  I’ll
see if she’ll come down.” Mrs. Sanchez blinked.  She ushered the man toward
a sofa and rushed for the stairs.  Ricardo wandered into the living room
wearing a headset hooked to his music.  He jerked and bounced to the
rhythm but stopped it when he saw Missy following their mother downstairs.

“You want to see me?”  Missy’s
expression showed absolutely no emotion.

“Oh yes!  I have something
good to tell you.”  The man smiled brightly.

“Which is?”  Missy dropped
tiredly on the sofa.

“I have a check for you—ah,
retribution.”

“For what?”  Missy’s eyes
opened wide, but she was suspicious.

“For what happened to you!” 
The man smiled widely.

“I don’t understa—”

“It’s a law when a person is wronged,
he or she is supposed to receive retribution.”

“Are you sure?”

“I must admit it rarely happens,
but this is a government check.”  He lifted the check.  “And I was
sent here.”

“But it’s been three years—”

“Yes sometimes it takes a long
time.”  He held out the check.  “But here it is.”

“This is for—”  Missy’s eyes
opened in shock.

“Retribution ma’am and all yours.” 
He smiled. 

“Who’s paying it?”

“As I said, it’s an action of the
court.  Sometimes the government sells off a criminal’s property, and the
proceeds go to the victim.”  The man held out some papers.  “All I
need is for you to sign these, and the money is yours.”

“But this is a quarter of a million
dollars!”

Ricardo’s earphones had gone dead
when he saw Missy come downstairs.  He listened and watched the man. 
When Missy said a $250,000, Ricardo silently pulled himself up and went to the
kitchen phone to call Gonzalo.  For Missy to come by money twice seemed
like too much.  Gonzalo agreed and suspected Ben.  He could see what
Ben was trying to do.  But what the hell could they do when Ben apparently
didn’t want anything to do with the family now?  For several minutes
Gonzalo tapped his pencil on his desk; then he picked up the phone because
there might be one thing left he could do.

Chapter Eleven

Ben was in the kitchen at three in
the afternoon when the doorbell rang.  At first he ignored it, then
angrily he shoved his way to the door and yanked it open.

“Mr. Ben Spinelli?”

“Yes, what the hell—”

“A message sir, your secretary said
you were—”

“Yes, thanks.”  Ben reached in
his pocket, pulled out a bill for the boy and took the envelope.

“Thank you, SIR!”

Ben slammed the door, touched his
aching head, went back to the kitchen and dropped the envelope on the table
before he reached for a cup.  The four aspirin he took hadn’t
helped.  Slowly he poured a cup of coffee and sat at the table.  He
closed his eyes waiting for the coffee to cool.  When he opened his eyes
the envelope loomed at him.  He drank down his coffee, got up for another
cup and then looked at the envelope again.  Hell, he might as well open
it.  Something serious might have happened with the construction.  Or
his father wondered about the sudden drain of Ben’s money and wanted to tell
him he did something stupid.  Ben no longer cared and slid his finger
along the edge of the envelope. 

He began shaking after reading the
first line.  “Missy got the money, but I don’t think she’ll accept it if I
tell her, whose retribution it is.  Missy was coming to tell you what the
doctor told her to do when she saw you with the woman.  We took it
wrong.  Isn’t it time for peace?”

Ben couldn’t catch his breath and
dropped the letter on the table.  An unexplainable rage hit him, and he
threw his cup at the coffee pot.  Glass shattered, coffee spilled
everywhere, and Ben watched it as it ran down the cabinet into drawers, down
cabinet doors and to the floor.  What the hell was wrong with him? 
He never gave up on anything!  Why should he now?  He glanced at the
clock, which said ten after four, grabbed the letter and raced for the phone in
the library.  It was well after six before Ben laid the receiver down for
the last time.

He received several packages during
the next two hours and eventually went upstairs to pack two suitcases.  He
stopped only long enough to write out an extensive note to Mrs. Diaz about
cleanup and for her to go to Missy’s house the next day; then he paced again.

At precisely eleven that night a
pickup truck silently pulled to a stop in front of Ben’s house.  He was
waiting outside.  “Everything set?”

“Ready and waiting.”

Ben gave the suitcases to the man
and climbed into the pickup; the guy showed a thumbs up sign and waved as Ben
left.  Half an hour later, the pickup pulled to a silent stop next door to
the Sanchez house.  Ben climbed out, closed the door halfway and reached
for the ladder.  Carefully he carried it and placed it against Missy’s
window.  Hearing every squeak, he slowly climbed up and prayed her window
wouldn’t be locked.  He felt the window give, slowly stole into Missy’s
room, walked over to her bed and covered her mouth.  He felt her
stiffen.  Frantically his hand sought hers.

“It’s Ben.”  His hand flew
down to hers. “I love you and want to work things out.  I’ve come to
kidnap you, again.  Do you want me to?”

“Ben?”  Her fingers
asked.  “You love me?”

“Yes, I always have; do you want me
to kidnap you?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“I plan to keep you for a long
time.”  His fingers flew.

“Yes, I know.”

“I’m going to take you far away
from here.”

“All right.”

“I love you.”

“Yes, I know, and I love you.”

“I want us to work this problem
out.”

“I do too.”

“If I uncover your mouth, will you
be quiet?”

“Yes.”

“Promise?”

Missy nodded her head as she
answered with her hand.  Slowly Ben uncovered Missy’s mouth, turned her
around and gently touched his lips to hers.  Instantly her arms flew up to
his shoulders in response.  Ben tasted her lips, and she opened hers in
response.  His kiss deepened until he was forced to pull away for
air.  He licked at the salty tears rolling down her cheeks, brushed her
hair back and picked her up.  At the window, he exited first; then helped
her down the ladder.  Silently they climbed into the truck and sped
away.  Several blocks away, Ben stopped behind his big rig. 
Grinning, he climbed from the truck and carried her to the big rig.

“Are we going somewhere in this?”

“Just back to your house to let
them know you’re all right.”  Ben squeezed her hand.

Just as Ben reached for the horn at
the corner, a helicopter began to descend toward the street in front of the
Sanchez house.  Ben kept the horn blaring, and its noise combined with
that of the chopper caused the entire neighborhood to instantly come
alive.  When he pulled to a stop, Ben stopped the horn.  He climbed
from the cab, pulled Missy into his arms and quickly ran to the chopper. 
It all happened so fast Gonzalo was just reaching the front door as the chopper
ascended into the air. 

He put his hands on his hips and
grinned from ear to ear.  “Charger, dammit, you’re crazy!”  He shook
his head, saw the big rig was still running and went to turn it off. 
Inside on the seat he picked up a note telling him to keep the damn truck for their
business, stay out of their marriage and leave them alone.

“The nerve of Ben, doing it again.” 
Marco shook his head.  “Pop says he actually used a ladder this time.”

“Not Ben, Charger this time.” 
Gonzalo put his arm over his brother’s shoulder and laughed.  “Marco,
everything’s going to by all right.”

Half an hour later Ben dropped
Missy lightly on a bed in the suite of his father’s private jet.  His
smile widened when he dropped down beside her and kissed her nose.

“Where are we going?”

“To a private place I know
about.”  He kissed her nose again.  “There won’t be a way of leaving
or contacting anyone for at least a week.  Do you mind?”

“We’re going to work out our
problem then?”  She bit her lip when his large hand brushed her hair back.

“Yep, and if it’s not solved by
then, I’ll tell the pilot to come back in another week.”

“You’re going to keep me a
prisoner?”

“Sure am.”  He laughed and
rose.  “Get comfortable honey, while I see if I can scrape up something to
eat.”

Missy wasn’t sure what she should
think and was even a little afraid to look around.  Ben acted
different.  He’d changed.  Before his kisses always led to painful
separations, but this time he didn’t even seem disturbed.  What could have
happened to settle him?  Finally she sat up slowly and glanced
around.  She drew her legs up and pulled her nightgown down, then hugged
her knees.  When Ben came back carrying a tray, a bottle of wine and two
glasses she smiled at him.  He put everything down and sat on the side of
the bed, placing the tray between them.  Before opening the wine and
pouring it, he popped an olive into her mouth.

“Everything’s going to be all
right, Missy.” Again he reached up and caressed her hair. “You’re so beautiful
sitting there with the light shining in your hair.”  Her dimples drove him
wild.

Grinning, Missy reached down and
pushed an olive into Ben’s mouth. “You’re beautiful too.”

When the plane landed five hours
later, they waited in a tiny office while a jeep and their baggage was
unloaded.

“Next week this time Ben?” 
The pilot smiled.

Ben glanced at Missy for signs of
fear, saw none and nodded. “And if we’re not here at the office just leave
supplies and take off for another week.”

“Will do.”  The pilot smiled
and waved as he walked away.

Quietly they watched the plane take
off before Ben helped Missy into the jeep.

“Just a little bit more and we’ll
be there.”

“Where’s there?” Missy was
tired.  Even though she’d dozed some on the plane, it wasn’t a relaxing
sleep.  It worried her not to even know where they were.

“It’s small private island in the
Pacific.”

“Who owns it?”

“My father.”

“Does he know we’re here?”

“Yes, I called him.”

“He owns the whole thing?”

“Yep.”  Used to come down here
just to get away from the world when business bogged him down.  I spent a
summer alone here after coming back from Iraq. I needed the time to think and
decide what to do with my life.  Spent another couple of months here
recovering from an injury once.”