Royal Opposites (4 page)

“He’s gaining.” The straight stretch allowed the guard’s more powerful car to eat up quite a bit of the distance Tom had put between them. To her surprise, she felt the car slow abruptly.

“What are you doing?” She turned around to see they were fast approaching Ocean Park. The smaller streets had little to no traffic. Ocean Park was a whole different story. Sometimes there was a lot of traffic, other times it was quiet. She prayed now was one of those other times.

She braced herself, seeing that he wasn’t going to stop at the intersection. Coming from that direction, they had no idea of knowing if any cars were traveling on the boulevard. They shot out onto the busier street and Tom pulled the wheel hard to the right.

Their sudden appearance was met with honked horns and screeching tires, but miraculously no crunching metal. A stream of headlights were speeding toward them from the opposite direction, but that didn’t stop Tom from jerking the wheel hard to the left across oncoming traffic and back onto a smaller side street.

Joan whirled in her seat to watch for the guard. No other car followed them. Moments later, Tom turned left and slowed their pace.

“No need to tip him off if he happens to see us.”

Joan sighed and settled back in the bucket seat. “Agreed.”

“Now, we go to the police.”

Joan focused her attention on him. “You and me? We are definitely on the same page.”

Tom gave her a tight smile in response. A light on the dashboard flashed accompanied with a light ‘ding’ drawing his awareness. Joan tensed up.

“What is it?”

“We’re almost out of gas.”

Joan smiled. “Is that all? After the day we’ve had, I think that sounds pretty darn normal.”

“Again. That same page thing you mentioned a few moments ago.”

Tom eased off the gas a bit so they coasted more than drove to the gas station. He stopped at a pump and powered off the engine. “Keep an eye out for our friend. I’m sure he’s figured out where we’re headed.”

****

Joan nodded and watched the street while Tom got out and pumped the gas. What in the world had they stumbled onto? He was positive this couldn’t be a normal reaction to what amounted to nothing more than a customer complaint. He pulled out his billfold and noted he was getting low on funds. He had under five hundred dollars on him and one credit card not linked to his royal name. He had a couple thousand back at his place, but he couldn’t imagine the currency had survived the intrusion. Assuming they got this straightened out tonight, it should be enough to see him home.

After he paid the clerk, he leaned against the side of the car to ponder the situation while the fuel flowed into the tank. He found it hard to focus because the pump TV kept intruding on his thoughts. When the news bulletin came on, he stood riveted for a different reason. He knocked on the window to get Joan’s attention.

Once she looked at him, he beckoned for her to get out of the car.

“This can’t be good.” He commented and gestured to their faces in the graphics behind the newscaster with the headline,

‘Attempted Bank Robbery’ stamped below.

Chapter Four

“What in the world?” Joan asked when she walked around the car to stand at Tom’s side.

In awe they listened to the reporter announce that the couple seen in the picture was wanted on charges of attempted bank robbery. Tom felt his blood boil when the teller he’d dealt with that morning dabbed at her eyes with a tissue and told all about how scared she’d been when that man had accosted her and demanded she hand over his money.

“‘His money’ was just how he put it, too. Like he had a claim on the hard earned cash our customers deposit.” With that statement she broke down in sobs. The anchor smiled back at the camera, ignoring the woman’s dramatics.

“This can’t be good.” Tom finished pumping the gas and returned the nozzle to its holder. Joan walked back around the car then met his gaze over the roof.

“The sooner we get to the police and straighten all this out, the better.”

“Agreed.” They exchanged nods then climbed back in the car. They made the short journey to the station in silence.

When Tom tuned down the small street that led to the garage entrance, he looked at Joan. She had her hands clasped tightly around the camera in her lap. He didn’t blame her. The video footage she shot was the sole proof of their innocence.

When Tom was about to turn into the garage adjacent to the public safety building, Joan sat forward all of a sudden and stared hard out the windshield. Puzzled, he slowed the car and followed her gaze.

An officer stood at the entrance of the building with a woman. Everything about his stance screamed that the cop was beyond furious. Still, it was the woman who drew his gaze.

“Is that…?” Tom frowned and leaned forward, too.

“Yep.” While they watched, the officer pulled the teller from the bank into a tight embrace and held on like he’d never let her go.

Joan slumped back in her seat and rubbed a hand over her face.

Tom knew just what she was feeling. There was no way they could waltz in there now. Especially if they had to pass the now kissing couple to do it.

“I think it’s time we rethink our plan,” Tom said.

“What other plan could we have? We know we didn’t try to rob that bank.”

“We need to deal with this from a position of strength, Joan.

They’ve already shown us they can get to us. And now this?” He gestured toward the cop while the man brushed the hair from the woman’s face. Even in the waning light, there was no doubt he adored her. “We have to fortify our position.”

“Fortify our position? What kind of talk is that? You act like we’re going into battle.”

“No. We’re not going into it. We’re already there. Until we know how and why, we’ve got to get away from here.”

“Away? And go where?”

Tom started to respond, but he noted a police cruiser pull up at the intersection a few yards from them. “We need to go.”

Joan followed his gaze and then gave him a reluctant nod.

He eased toward the stop sign, desperate not to attract either cop’s attention.

He breathed a bit easier when the cruiser continued through the intersection without sparing them a look. Tom flicked on his right blinker, heeded the stop sign and then wheeled the car to the right. The cop with the teller remained engrossed with her. While they sat at the light just a short distance away, Joan risked a look at him.

“He’s looking at us.”

“Just be calm.” Tom reached over to give her hand a squeeze. Joan settled back in the seat when the light changed. He pressed the accelerator and went with the flow of traffic onto the onramp of the Santa Monica Freeway.

“We need to get out of the city. Once we’re out of their grasp, we’ll have some breathing room and can figure this out.”

Joan stared at him. “We? Don’t you mean me? Aren’t you heading out of the country tomorrow?”

“First of all, I’m not about to abandon you in this mess. After all, you’re in it because you tried to help me. Second, my tickets and my passport are still in my apartment. I won’t be flying commercial anytime soon.”

“So we’re just going to flee the city like common criminals?”

“Unless you’d prefer to stay and face those very determined guards.” He looked at her miserable face in the dim light. “I don’t like this anymore than you do. But my gut is telling me that we need to handle this once we’ve marshaled all available resources.”

“You say that like we have some resources available. I can’t for the life of me figure what they are. Especially if the police are out of the question.”

Tom smiled at her. He wondered if now was a good time to let her in on the fact that she’d been palling around today with Rafferstonia’s King-‐-to-‐-be. The smile faded a bit. Knowing Joan, she wouldn’t believe him for a moment. In fact, it was more probable she’d decide he was a crazy person and jump from the car at the first opportunity. He couldn’t allow that. Not that he’d blame her.

Americans were far removed from the notion of royalty. Still, he was serious about protecting her and helping get her life back on track. After all, she wouldn’t be in this mess if not for him.

“Let’s just say that I know some people.”

He heard her suck in a deep breath when they took the entrance to the Santa Monica Freeway. “I hope it’s the right people.”

“They are,” Tom confirmed and returned his attention to the thick traffic heading away from the beach community toward downtown Los Angeles. His mouth tightened into a grim line.

Crown Prince Saracen Tomas de Raffertias du Bacoeur had a lot more weight than Tom Rafferty. He was quite looking forward to shedding his Tom Rafferty persona and start throwing that weight around.

But he had to do in the proper way. The last thing he wanted to do was to allow any hint of scandal to touch his ascension to the throne. Him being fingered, as the Americans put it, as a bank robber would put his county’s considerable financial interests at risk. It appalled him to think that such shame could be brought upon his nation because of him. That was the last thing he’d allow to happen.

****

She must be plumb out of her mind to be riding along with a complete stranger like this. Joan went over her options in her head and had to admit she didn’t have many. Options, that was. If she were honest with herself, she had to confess, part of her was glad not to be facing this nightmare alone. At least Tom seemed to have a plan. The only thing she could think to do at the moment was curl up into the nearest corner and bawl her eyes out. The fact he seemed so sure his plan would work is what kept her from demanding he drop her off so she could find that corner.

She studied him. Joan could just make out his strong features in the dim light. The reddish tint from the brake lights of the car in front of them didn’t make it any easier. Her memory supplied his handsome features for her. Although, those features seemed a bit drawn in anger at the moment. Seeing that told her they were, indeed, in this together. Truth be told, she was ticked off, too.

Who were these people that they felt they could just screw with folk’s lives like this? When she wasn’t feeling like an idiot for letting them bilk her out of sixteen grand, she was downright mad.

Her hand clenched around her camera case prompting her to revise the figure. So it was sixteen thousand, eight hundred. Big whoop.

That didn’t change the fact that she was on the run from a couple of the bank guards and the police who’d somehow been convinced she tried to rob the place. She glanced over at Tom’s strong profile.

With him, nonetheless. What was the world coming to?

She hoped his plan included some serious retribution beyond just straightening the mess out. Someone needed to go to jail behind this. And Joan was darn skippy it wasn’t going to be her. Memory of the news report surfaced and she bit back a groan.

Joan’s face had been all over the television for everyone to see with the label “bank robber” beneath it. No. It was worse than that.

They’d called them “attempted bank robbers”. So not only was she a criminal, but also incompetent. For some reason, the incompetent part bothered her a whole lot more than the criminal part. That clinched it. She was insane. Joan pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes.

“Everything is going to be okay. I’ll make sure of it.” Joan took one palm away to look at Tom. Whatever was in his expression calmed her accelerating heart rate. She had no reason to trust him, but Joan did. She nodded.

“So, what’s the plan? Where are we going?”

“It seems wise to put much distance between us and them.”

So much for trusting him. “You think we should run? From the police?”

“Joan, it’s not just the police.” His eyes narrowed and he rested his index finger along his top lip until he spoke again. “I keep thinking about the fact that the guards broke into our places.

Both
of our places. How did they know how to find us?”

“They have our addresses on file,” Joan supplied, not quite following his logic.

“Are you friendly with any of the employees? They know you by sight?”

She snorted. “Oh, yeah. Pushing a person into serious debt is a perfect friend-‐-winning movement.”

“Precisely. I know how they knew who I was. I’d swiped my card.” He looked at her. “But how did they know who you were?

You were still at the back of the line.”

Her eyes widened when she understood his line of reasoning. “That’s why we’re running. You don’t think we’ll be safe in police custody.”

“I don’t think you’ll be safe–”

Warming to the subject she talked over him. “You think they have someone at the station waiting to… kill us if we were to show up?” She gripped the seat belt in her rising panic. Someone wanted her dead. How did this happen? She was boring little Joan Smith who never did anything to rock her nice, safe, little boat outside of schooling an inept cashier here or there. Until this morning, anyway. The moment she’d decided to videotape her transaction with the teller she’d signed her fate. She stared at the camera nestled in her lap. Worst forty-‐-nine cents she’d ever spent in her life.

“Joan, stay with me, now. No one is going to kill you. I’m not ready to go quite that far. I don’t want to take any unnecessary chances. I prefer to be wise and get out of town. We’ll find a place where we can deal with the authorities on our own terms.”

Joan nodded, but kept her eyes on the camera. “It’s not like we don’t have proof what really went on in there, right?”

Tom smiled. “Exactly.”

“Once we’re out of the bank’s reach, we’ll go to the authorities, turn over the memory card, and they can protect us.”

“Yes.”

“It’s all so simple.” Joan relaxed her hands and stretched her legs out in front of her. Yes, simple. Wasn’t it?

Chapter Five

Simple. That was what Joan had said hours ago. However, it was becoming anything but. She fell asleep once they hit a stretch of highway free from bumper to bumper traffic. They cleared the vast metropolis of Los Angeles County and he began to look for a place where they could rest overnight. While he was searching the GPS in his phone for suitable lodging, the traffic slowed again.