One Lucky Lady (4 page)

Alex hit the number to return this call on her cell phone. Tom answered on the first ring and said “Hello, beautiful. I know you have to be hungry. Please, let me take you to dinner.”

Alex told him ‘yes’, gave him her address and a time to pick her up and hurried home to shower and change.

They talked about everything at dinner. It was as if no one else was in the restaurant. He told her about him. She told him about her. He never took those brown eyes off of her. She was pretty sure she didn’t take her eyes off of him either.

They had been dating for six months when he asked her to marry him on the front porch of her house. She said ‘yes’, then he asked “Is next week okay with you?” Alex laughed as he held her, nodding her head ‘yes’.

It had been a very private affair. They got their wedding license on Monday, and by Wednesday they were standing in front of the judge, apparently, a friend of Tom’s. Pedro was the only person in attendance. Alex would have sworn there were tears in his eyes, but it was kind of hard to when she was looking through her own tears.

Alex was sitting in the overstuffed chair, with tears rolling down her face.
When will the tears stop? I need chocolate.
It was late afternoon. It would be dark in a few more hours. Alex would wait until then to go to the corner store. It was not far. Probably three or four blocks away.

The delivery boy had left two bags of groceries on her side porch. In one of them was a note from the grocer with the address and phone number, just in case Alex needed anything else. The address was on the same street as the house. It should be easy to find.

Chapter Four

(Present Day)

Alex was out of breath when she opened the side door and ran into the house. Her cell phone rang twice on her way home, but she didn’t feel safe enough to stop and answer it. Pedro was the only one with the number. He must be worried by now. The phone rang again. This time she answered with a breathless “hello?”

Yep, Pedro was pissed. Alex noted that his voice was also a little shaky. He sounded
very
worried. Alex was trying to listen to what he was saying, but was having trouble hearing him over her own breathing. She did catch the “I’m on my way” just before he hung up.

Looking at her watch, Alex knew if he left now, he would be here around three AM. She concentrated on slowing her breathing and went to take a shower.

Alex awoke at about one-thirty. Someone was opening the door. She heard the beeps as the alarm was disarmed, then re-armed. It was too early for Pedro to be here. Alex quietly took the gun from the night stand and slid to the floor on the side of the bed away from the door.

Mac heard a faint, familiar click. Okay, she was awake,
and
she was going to shoot him. Mac stopped in the kitchen. He said loudly, “I’m looking for Pedro Rodriguez. I’m a friend of his.”

Alex remembered what Pedro said. This must be the man he sent to babysit her. Alex called, “I’ll be out in a minute.”

Mac waited in the kitchen. He liked her already. She was willing to shoot him.
Smart girl
.

A very slight woman came around the corner into the kitchen. She stopped and turned white, well, whiter.

Mac immediately went to her and helped her to a chair with his good arm. He knew who she was. He realized it just before he passed out. Pedro told him that he would know it was her by her eyes. He didn’t remember Pedro telling him what color they were, but he knew the young man in the alley was her.

The man in the kitchen was favoring his left shoulder. His left arm was held secure by a sling. His predatory, almost wolf-like gaze was on her. He had little lines around his eyes, and a mouth that looked like it smiled more than frowned. It was frowning now. It was the man from the alley.

Mac was a little worried when the color drained from her face. He figured she was a slim person, but the sweats didn’t do her figure justice. She was now wearing a pair of pajama bottoms that hugged her hips and a snug little tank top. He felt his body start to respond when he noticed she wasn’t wearing a bra. Mac cleared his throat. “Are you okay?”

“You should be in the hospital.” Alex was keeping her eyes on him. She saw the way he looked her over. She felt way to warm all the sudden.

“That’s what they kept telling me as I was leaving. They gave me a lot of fluid and some pain medicine. I feel much better. They told me I would have bled to death if someone had not stopped the bleeding and called 911.” Mac smiled. Alex felt weaker, not to mention warmer, by the minute. “Apparently, that little knife barely nicked an artery. The bleeding stopped before I got to the hospital. They stitched me up, said they were going to admit me for the night, just to make sure I didn’t start bleeding again. I promised to take it easy for a few days.” He paused for a minute and grinned. “Pedro is going to kill you. He sounded pretty upset when you called him. “

“They started asking questions I couldn’t answer. Like, who put that dressing on me? And what was my name. It’s Mac, by the way. Mac Rogers. I know you’re Alex. You have beautiful eyes. Pedro said I would know you because of your eyes. He also told me you just lost your husband. I’m very sorry”.

Mac shook his head. He still had a small smile on his face. “That’s not for me to tell you. Pedro will tell you when he’s ready. Now, I have some questions. Why were you out of the house?”

Alex looked away, feeling like a chastised child, and tucked her chin. Men did not understand a woman’s need for chocolate and she’d be damned if she was going to explain herself to him. “I neededandyar.”
Mac started laughing, but winced putting his right hand to his shoulder. “You needed what?”

Alex still would not look at him. “A candy bar. You know. Chocolate”

Mac was laughing hard, now, causing pain in his shoulder and not caring. “Well, your need for chocolate saved my life. Thank you.” He bowed slightly at the waist.

Alex turned back to Mac. “You’re welcome. How did those kids take you down? You’re a big guy.” Alex waived a hand from his toes to his head. Her eyes had followed. Her eyes were so intense he could feel her gaze like a touch.

Mac stopped laughing. Hell, he stopped breathing. “It was a trap. The girl pretended the little guy was kidnapping her. When I realized what was going on, I turned to leave and literally ran into the second guy’s knife. The bigger of the two is trouble. I think he’s killed before. I did tell the police as much as I could, leaving out the parts that could compromise you.”

Mac was breathing okay, again. Kind of. This woman saved his life so he could die a slow and much more painful death in her company. Pedro said she was attractive, but that was an understatement. The woman before him was unusually gorgeous. She was, he guessed, around five foot three or four, and had very slim hips and long legs for her height.

“Why do you think that? “

Mac voice caught. “Why do I think what?”
Did I say that out loud?

“You should have stayed at the hospital,” Alex said, narrowing her eyes, but letting her argument drop at that. “How do you know he’s a killer?”

Mac shook his head and took a very deep breath.
Maybe it’s the pain medicine.
“He smiled at me. He had no remorse. His eyes were cold. He knew I would die, and he seemed to enjoy the thought.”

“I saw them. They walked right past me.” Alex shivered. “They gave me the creeps. Then I heard something…well…you, and forgot about them.”

“What if they would have come back?”

“I was carrying a gun. My husband taught me how to use it.” Alex felt almost sick at the thought of ever having to use it. It must have shown on her face because Mac was looking concerned.

Mac thought about what Pedro had said. “Alex,” Mac said quietly, “not everybody is good. If it comes down to your life or someone else’s, it is not the same as just pulling out a gun and shooting an innocent person. “

“I know. I just don’t ever want it to come down to that.” She had whisper it.

Mac nodded his understanding. “Okay, what have you got to eat around here?” Mac pulled open the fridge.

Chapter Five

A little while later, after he had eaten a sandwich and cleaned up some, Mac found Alex sitting in the chair in the living room. He went and looked out the front window, just barely moving the curtain. “You should be safe here. Pedro has a top of the line security system and apparently bullet-proof windows all through the house. Talk about paranoid.”

“Does he have a reason to be paranoid?” Alex asked.

“Yes.” Mac said cryptically, while still looking out the window.

“Why?”

“He can tell you himself. He’s here.” Mac looked back, Alex looked tired and worried. And sad. His heart hurt for her. Pedro said Alex and her husband had been happy. He wished he could see her smile.

Pedro came in the side door and disarmed and re-armed the alarm. Alex stayed in the living room. Mac went to the kitchen to meet Pedro. Alex heard some hushed talking, but couldn’t understand what they were saying. She could tell by their tones that they were both worried.

Pedro walked into the living room and over to the chair, placing a fatherly kiss on the top of her head. “Mac said you had some questions.”

Mac came in and sat on the couch, while Pedro sat close to Alex on the ottoman. Pedro looked tired, Alex noticed, but started with “Do you know who killed Tom yet?”

“No. If the senator’s in on it, he’s a very good actor. He actually sounded upset when he got the news. Of course that doesn’t mean anything. Tom didn’t mention any threats to you, did he?”

“No. He never told me much about his work. Attorney-Client privilege and all.” Alex waived her hand in the air. “Everybody loved him as far as I know. If he told anybody anything, it would have been you.”

“I know, but he didn’t mention anything recently. He’s received a few threats from client’s spouses, but I think that was pretty benign. The last one he told me about was before you two met, I guess. I think it was Lucy’s husband.”

Alex wondered why Tom had not told her about that. “Is Lucy okay?”

“Yes. I called to check on her this morning. She and her sister are at a rent house under her sister’s name. They should be safe. She is supposed to call me if something comes up.”

Alex was usually pretty tactful, but tonight she didn’t feel like that would serve her purpose. “Who did you work for before you started doing PI stuff?”

Pedro looked down. She could tell he was having an internal debate about whether or not to tell her. Then he shook his head and said, “The FBI.”

Alex should have tried to look surprised. Instead, she just shrugged her shoulders and said “Tom told me he thought you had to be an ex-agent or something. Why did you leave the FBI?”

“I was involved in a very bad case, investigating some very bad men here in Atlanta. My partner, Jimmy and I were in contact with the DEA and the Atlanta PD. We were close to arresting the head of the largest human trafficking ring in the US. But somewhere, somebody had a leak. We were called with some information about a shipment that was supposed to be moved from Atlanta to Texas. We were sitting outside a warehouse in an unmarked car. There were several other cars there. Ours was chosen to blend in. Nobody should have known we were there, except our informant, who was in custody, and agents or officers in the assorted agencies involved.” Pedro rubbed his hand over his face, and continued, “I still can’t remember what happened next, but I woke up a couple of days later in a hospital in Mobile. I had one helluva headache. There was a local police officer by my bed. He never said anything to me, just punched some numbers in a cell phone and handed it to me.” Pedro sounded a little horse, but he turned his head to look at Alex, then to look at Mac. “My director was on the phone. He told me Jimmy, Mac’s dad, was dead. He also said as far as anybody else is concerned, so was I. Apparently, the car exploded. They think something like a grenade was fired into the car. It hit Jimmy’s side. My name has been Pedro Rodriguez ever since.”