Snowed In (16 page)

Chapter Eighteen

In the kitchen, Sarah explained the situation to Slim and his children. “When I first made the catering arrangements, I thought we’d just be feeding the wedding party, the general’s aides and the senator’s speechwriter, which is ten people. Then the band showed up and I added another three.”

“Si, trece,”
Slim said. “Thirteen.”

“But now, the twins and the stripper are staying. So it’s sixteen. And, of course, you’re going to need to eat.”

“We can work it out,” Marisol assured her. “If you’ve got heavy drinkers, we might run short on wine. Otherwise, we’ll spread the portions around.”

“Feel free to use anything in the pantry,” Sarah said.

“We don’t like to get into our clients’ supplies,” Marisol said. “But we might need to, especially if we’re snowed in all day tomorrow.”

She didn’t even want to consider that possibility. If they were stuck here after Sunday, she’d claw her way out with her bare hands. Pasting on a smile, she turned to Emily, who she was dragging along with her to help with preparations. “Next problem is finding somewhere for everyone to sit. We’re going to be really crowded around the dining room table.”

“Send the band and the twins into the game room to eat,” she said. “I would say to send Honey with them, but the boys will drool all over her food.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Together, she and Emily arranged the dining table with her best china, a fragrant white rose centerpiece and several candles. Other candles were scattered around the room, creating a romantic glow as they glistened on the silver. Sarah stepped back and took a look at their handiwork.
Beautiful!
She remembered why they were here: to witness a wedding. Rituals were important, even more so in the presence of danger and threat.

“I’m so happy for you, Emily.”

“It’s really pretty, isn’t it? I’m glad we didn’t run off to Vegas.”

If this had been a more typical wedding, this fancy dinner would have come after the rehearsal for the ceremony. But they didn’t have a justice of the peace, and the ceremony wasn’t going to be anything more than Emily and Jeremy stating vows they had written while Ollie and the Dewdrops played in the background. Not much practice was required.

Blake and Jeremy strode into the dining room together. Both wore guns at their hips. Their matching expressions were preoccupied and concerned and aggressively masculine.

“Ladies,” Blake said, “is everything under control?”

“I believe so,” Sarah answered.

Emily checked her wristwatch. “We have just enough time to dress for dinner.”

Sarah didn’t want to bother. “I can wear this.”

“No way,” Emily said. “You had a spa day. Your nails are gorgeous. And you’re wearing makeup. You need to dress appropriately for a five-star dinner of crab cakes with a beet salad, beef bourguignon with fresh-made pasta, peas and pearl onions and chocolate mousse dessert.”

“Do you think the food will care if I wear jeans?”

“That’s fine if you wear a nice top,” Emily said. “I think the gray silk.”

The two couples went through the front room where the Dewdrops and the stripper were sitting by the fireplace waiting for the feast. Sarah wasn’t sure where the others were and wondered how Blake was keeping track of the suspects. Or if he had narrowed the list. While Jeremy escorted Emily into their room, she went with Blake into hers and closed the door.

As soon as they were alone, he held her and kissed her hard. The muscles in his arms tensed. Her breasts crushed against his hard chest. He held her so tightly that she could hardly take a breath, and she liked his strength. His fierce need matched hers. She wanted him.

All afternoon, she’d been pretending that nothing was wrong, and the strain of holding back her emotions was nearly unbearable. She was angry, furious that they were caught in this situation through no fault of their own. And she was scared, desperate to escape.

She wanted to absorb herself into Blake, to bring him inside her. There wasn’t enough time. They should get back to the others, to make sure they didn’t kill each other.

Forcibly, she disentangled her arms. Breathing in heavy gasps, she looked up at him. His blue eyes were on fire.

Hoping to lighten the mood, she reached for the tip of his nose. Before she could honk, he grasped her wrist. “Don’t,” he said. “I don’t want to relax. I need to stay alert.”

She didn’t argue. “What have you learned this afternoon? Who do you suspect?”

“Everybody,” he growled. “And nobody.”

“Frustrating.”

“You’re damned right it is.” He paced across her bedroom and sank into a chair by the small round table. “I’m inclined to let Ollie and the Dewdrops off the hook. We checked them out before we lost communication, and Kovak ran them through his criminal database. I guess there’s a chance that they’re using fake identities, but Alvardo has good sources.”

“His name comes up a lot,” she said. “Alvardo has the internet connections. He keeps track of the threats to the general. He’s like a big, fat spider sitting in the middle of his web.”

“I’m more suspicious of him than anyone else.” He flexed his shoulders and stretched. “Alvardo goes for a run every morning, which would be a time when he could sabotage the terminal or rendezvous with other conspirators. He could be using his internet connections to chat with just about anyone.”

“But he’s the general’s aide, a lieutenant.”

“A job he’s held for almost a year,” Blake said. “And he works at the Pentagon, which means he’s gone through some pretty intense security checks himself. If the threat is connected to any known terrorist organization, Alvardo isn’t a part of it. I can guarantee that.”

“And Maddox?”

“He has two older brothers who served under General Hamilton and credit the general’s leadership with saving their lives. Maddox fought to win his position as the general’s aide, and he says he’d do anything for him.”

“Do you believe him?”

Blake scowled as he considered. “My gut tells me that Maddox is loyal.”

“Your gut is good enough for me.” She crossed the room, sat on his lap and breathed into his ear. “Do we have time to make love before we join the others?”

“I’d like nothing more.” His hand cupped her breast. “Every time I see you, I want you.”

“I know.” She nipped his earlobe, agilely jumped from his lap and went to her closet. “Getting dressed for dinner seems ridiculous.”

“Come on, princess. You like being beautiful.”

She didn’t change out of her jeans or boots, figuring that if she was sitting at the table nobody would notice the lower half of her body. If she was up and running around, helping serve or fetching more wine, the jeans and boots were appropriate. Inside her closet, she yanked her sweater over her head. The gray silk blouse Emily had suggested flowed over her skin with a subtle whisper. She added a fitted, black velvet jacket for warmth.

She stepped out of the closet and posed for him. “Ta-da!”

“Nice,” he said.

She sashayed across the room toward him. “Give me one last kiss before I put on my lipstick.”

She heard a loud popping noise.

The lights went out.

* * *

I
N
NEARLY
TOTAL
DARKNESS
, Blake leaped to his feet and reached out for her. The instant his hand made contact with her arm, he pulled her protectively against his chest. His gun was drawn.

“Wait,” she said. “Over here on the dresser, there’s a flashlight.”

He’d noticed the plastic flashlight. “Were you expecting a blackout?”

Taking his hand, she led him across the bedroom and picked up the flashlight, which she immediately turned on. “I thought with the phone lines down, the electricity might go next. I had the twins put flashlights all over the house.”

“What’s the procedure for when the power goes down?”

“I don’t know. It’s never happened when I was in charge. We should start in the basement. The fuse box and the generator are down there.”

Outside her bedroom, several people were calling out to each other. A flashlight beam appeared from across the hall, and Blake saw Emily and Jeremy.

“Stick with us,” Blake said. “Let’s get everybody rounded up and settled in the front room near the fireplace.”

With Sarah and Emily holding the flashlights, they climbed to the second floor and went down the hall to the general’s room. Jeremy knocked, “Dad? Are you in there?”

“We’re here,” Maddox answered for him. “Is it safe?”

Blake appreciated the caution. “We’re gathering everyone in the front room.”

The door cracked open and Maddox stepped back, his handgun held at the ready. The general, clad in his uniform with a chest full of ribbons and medals, stepped into the hallway. “What happened?”

Sarah answered, “A power line might have blown down.”

“I heard a snapping noise just before the lights went out. Have you checked for fire?”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Sarah said. “Blake, we need to get down to the basement right away.”

At the other end of the hall, the senator and Rebecca waved flashlights. “What’s going on?” Hank asked. “Is everyone all right?”

“Come with us,” Emily said.

From downstairs, they heard a huge crash, followed by a shout, a scream and another crash. Moving as quickly as possible, they descended the staircase. The beams of their flashlights showed the shattered remains of the beautifully set dining room table. Skip and one of the Dewdrops stood yelling at each other. It wasn’t clear which of them had stumbled first, but Sarah’s best china had taken the brunt of their clumsiness.

“Make sure all the candles are out,” Sarah ordered as she hurried through the dining room into the kitchen. He followed her into the mudroom and down the staircase into the basement. The pitch darkness in the windowless room was intense. Sarah’s thin flashlight beam barely made a difference.

“I don’t see a fire.” Relief was obvious in her voice. “We need more light down here.”

In his rental SUV, he had a heavy-duty, high-beam light, which he should have brought inside before the snow became impassable. “Didn’t you say you had camping gear stored down here?”

She turned her beam toward the shelves beyond the laundry area. “I have Coleman lanterns.”

Another flashlight beam shone down the staircase. One of the twins called down, “Have you checked the fuse box yet?”

“I need more light,” Sarah said. “Would you come down here and help me with these lanterns?”

They carried three lanterns and the container with fuel back up to the kitchen where the Ramirez family was trying to keep cooking with no stove and no burners. Blake left the twin and Sarah in the kitchen to prepare the lanterns and went to the front room where everyone had gathered.

A quick head count showed him that they were two short. In the weird illumination of the flashlights, he saw expressions of excitement, anger and confusion. “We’re missing two people—Ollie and Alvardo. Has anyone seen them?”

“Ollie was taking a nap upstairs,” said a Dewdrop. “Should I go look for him?”

Blake didn’t want to start sending people off on solo missions. “Go with John Reuben and Maddox. Find Ollie and bring him down here. Now, where’s Alvardo?”

“I was talking to him,” Honey said as she wrapped a multicolored shawl around her neck and shoulders. “Then the lights went off, and I don’t know where he went.”

They’d have to organize a search. Alvardo could have disappeared due to a perfectly logical reason, like falling and hitting his head. Or Alvardo could be lying in wait, taking advantage of this moment of confusion.

“When the boys get back with Ollie, we’ll search. In the meantime, make yourselves as comfortable as possible. We’ll try to get the generator working.”

Back in the kitchen, he was pleased to see all three lanterns with mantles burning brightly. He gave one to William Reuben. “Take this into the other room. Keep an eye on the people in there and don’t let anybody wander off.”

“Yes, sir.”

“We’ll leave another lantern in the kitchen,” he said.

“Gracias,”
Slim said. “We can finish dinner.”

Blake gave the third lantern to Sarah and headed back toward the basement. The light flared brightly around them as they descended the staircase and crossed the concrete floor. When he touched her arm, he felt her tremble.

“It’s going to be all right,” he said.

“You don’t know that for sure.”

Her fear was natural, and her doubt. “I need for you to be strong.”

“I’ll do my best.”

He remembered how she’d handled their first chase and how she’d managed to climb down the rocks to rescue Franks. If anyone could hold it together in a tense situation, it was Sarah.

The door on the large metal fuse box hung open. Burn marks streaked across the concrete wall. Shards of plastic and metal wires scattered on the floor. From his years in the Middle East, Blake had dealt with a variety of bombs, and he recognized this setup. There had been a small, targeted explosion at the fuse box.

The blackout wasn’t a result of the power lines going down. The power had been deliberately sabotaged. Someone wanted them in the dark.

Chapter Nineteen

Sarah was beyond being surprised or shocked by what they’d found. Expecting the unexpected was the order of the day...or the night. The fear and confusion that had been rattling inside her head went silent. She didn’t have the luxury of allowing her emotions free rein. “This wasn’t an accident.”

Blake squatted down and picked through the scrap littered below the metal box. “If I had to guess, I’d say that a small charge was fastened onto the box with a plastic clip. It was detonated from somewhere else in the house.”

“Like Franks’s backpack,” she said. “But how could that be? The cell phones don’t work.”

“Old-fashioned technology,” he said, “like a detonator button.”

Anger sparked inside her. They were being manipulated, driven by one circumstance after another toward an unknown end. “Why is this happening? If someone wanted to hurt the general or the senator, why would they wait until they were here in my house? Why would they want to destroy the wedding?”

“It’s a message,” he said. “The general was right about that.”

“Well, I don’t get it, and I’m not going to waste time thinking about it.” She picked up the lantern and started toward the staircase. “I need both of the Reuben twins in the basement with me to get the generator working.”

“Both of them? They’re my go-to men for security.”

“They grew up in their father’s hardware store, and they’re good handymen, especially when it comes to emergency repairs. The boys might patch things up with a wad of chewing gum and a roll of duct tape, but it works.”

He caught up with her at the foot of the staircase. “Sarah, I appreciate your determination, but I—”

“You should appreciate me,” she said. “You should be really glad that I’m not a true princess who sits in the corner and combs her lovely hair. Bottom line—I’m the tough peasant chick who keeps things running.”

She had a lot more to say, but he silenced her with a kiss that took her breath away. A shimmer flashed inside her head and eclipsed her angry frustration. All she really wanted was to keep kissing him and holding him. If her problems could just fade away, that would be just fine with her.

He gazed into her eyes. “Like I was saying, you tend to get real determined when you set yourself a goal.”

“Do I?”

“Like jumping into a car and refusing to get out.”

She recalled that first night when she wouldn’t let him boss her around and had ended up witnessing a police takedown. “Are you saying that’s a bad thing?”

“I wouldn’t have you any other way.” He lightly kissed her forehead. “For right now, you need to be careful. Don’t go anywhere in the house alone.”

“Do I need a weapon?”

He paused to think. “There are already too many guns. Both the Reuben boys are armed. Stick with them.”

“Not a problem.”

She expected to spend the next couple of hours in the basement trying to get the power back on.

* * *

W
HEN
B
LAKE
RETURNED
to the dining room, he found William Reuben and one of the Dewdrops helping Ollie get settled on the sofa. In the blackout, Ollie had slipped coming down the staircase and sprained his ankle. Alvardo still hadn’t been located.

While Rebecca tended to the injured man, Blake pulled Jeremy to one side. Outside the circle of light provided by the lantern, they stood in shadow. He quietly confided, “The fuse box in the basement was purposely blown, and Sarah needs both of the twins to help her get the generator working. You and I have to divvy up the protection and search duty.”

Jeremy nodded. They’d worked together so long that he didn’t need further explanation. “I’ll take protection,” he said. “Everybody stays in this room. No exceptions.”

“And I’ll look for Alvardo.” Blake’s suspicions about the general’s aide appeared to be correct, which meant that everything Alvardo had okayed—including the IDs for the band, the stripper and the caterers—couldn’t be counted on. “I’m going to take the senator with me.”

“Good idea,” Jeremy said. “The last thing I need down here is for those two old guys to get into a scuffle.”

“It’s likely that your father is the primary target.”

“Agreed.” His voice tightened. “I’ll protect the old man.”

Blake gave Jeremy the walkie-talkie the twins had been using so they could stay in touch. Then he stepped into the light from the lantern to address the others. “Listen up, people. Sarah thinks we’ll be able to get the power back on. Until then, we’re in the dark. I don’t want anybody else to get hurt so we’ll all stay together in this room.”

“We’re on the buddy system,” Jeremy added. “Nobody goes anywhere without telling me or without taking a buddy.”

“What about dinner?” Ollie asked.

“I think we can manage that,” Jeremy said. “Emily and Maddox, start cleaning up the mess on the dining table.”

Blake said. “Hank, I want you to come with me. We’ll try to locate Alvardo.”

The senator followed him as he crossed the room to the central staircase. He paused at the front desk to pick up the keys. The first place to search was Alvardo’s bedroom. Though both he and the senator had flashlights, navigating through the dark was clumsy. Hank groped along the walls until he stood opposite the desk. “What do you need for me to do?”

“I know your position on gun control, sir. Do you know how to handle a firearm?”

“Yes.”

Blake unlocked the front closet where they had been keeping the weapons and found a handgun. He checked the clip and handed it to the senator. “The safety is off.”

“If my friends in Congress could see me now, I’d never live it down.”

“Keep your eyes open and watch for a threat.” Blake climbed the staircase with his gun held at the ready. On the landing, he waited for Hank to catch up. “Are you ready?”

“Why did you choose me to come with you? Any of the younger men would be better at this.”

Blake shrugged. “I can trust you. I know you’re not working with the bad guys.”

“I assume we’re considering Alvardo to be a threat,” Hank said. “Are we looking for anyone else?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t have to worry about what you tell me,” he said. “This isn’t a political situation, and I have no intention of using any information.”

Blake hadn’t thought of politics and how the threat might look to a senator. If he mentioned terrorists, would he be hearing his words parroted back on a CNN interview? “Before this night is over, things might come out that cast an unflattering light on the general.”

“Charles,” he said. “We’ve been getting along. At least, we haven’t ripped into each other.”

“I would appreciate...” He paused to rephrase. “I’m sure that your daughter and your future son-in-law would appreciate your discretion.”

“I don’t hold with secrets. That’s how conspiracies get started. Everything needs to be aboveboard.”

“Even if it hurts your family?”

The senator didn’t answer. Blake listened to the shuffling of their footsteps as they went down the hallway. Outside Alvardo’s room, he turned to the senator. The glow from his flashlight showed a scowl on the older man’s face.

“I can’t promise to stay silent,” Hank said. “If the events at this wedding lead to a greater truth, it’s my obligation to speak out.”

“Charles is part of your family,” Blake reminded him. “You owe him a measure of loyalty.”

“This isn’t easy for me. I don’t want to alienate Emily. She’s my only child.”

And his life would have been easier if his daughter was getting married to a liberal English professor at Berkeley. But that’s not what happened. “Emily fell in love with Jeremy, a good man and a soldier.”

“I’m proud of Jeremy and his service to our country,” Hank said. “And I respect Charles. Damn it, Blake, I’m not trying to be difficult.”

“Was I right to trust you?” It was a serious question. “Do you have my back, Hank?”

“Yes.” He straightened his shoulders. “I’ll do whatever is necessary to protect the people I love.”

“Welcome to the war zone, Senator.”

Blake flipped through the keys and opened the door to the bedroom. He’d noticed before that Alvardo was careful to keep his door locked. If they were lucky, they’d find clues here.

After making sure the man wasn’t hiding in the closet or under the bed, he searched the obvious places—the dresser, a drawer in the bedside table, shelves in the closet and Alvardo’s suitcase. In the top drawer of a small desk, he found a silver ring, intricately carved with flower designs.

Hank peered over his shoulder. “It’s too small for him. Did Alvardo have a girlfriend?”

“Not that I know of.” Ironically, the person who had all that detailed background information about the people in the house was Alvardo himself.

“A wedding ring?”

“There’s an inscription inside.” Blake held the flashlight so he could see the carved letters. “It’s in Arabic. It says ‘My Beloved Daughter, Salima.’”

“Not a wedding ring.”

“Muslims don’t usually exchange rings,” Blake said. “But there are gifts of jewelry for the bride. Like this ring.”

Alvardo had suggested a terrorist connection to the general. If the ring was evidence of that plot, why had he hidden it in his desk drawer? Instead of finding answers in this search, he was turning up more questions. Alvardo had more secrets than anyone knew.

Under the pillow on the neatly made bed, Hank found a Glock, which he handed over to Blake. The gun was loaded, ready to go.

“This isn’t right,” Blake said. “The reason for sleeping with a gun under your head is to be ready to react and protect yourself. If Alvardo is an assassin, why would he be worried about somebody sneaking up on him?”

“Maybe he didn’t trust the people he was working with,” Hank suggested.

That suggested other attackers, outside the house. But the charge that sabotaged the fuse box had been planted by someone on the inside. Had Alvardo turned out the lights? Why?

Blake grabbed the briefcase that Alvardo took with him everywhere. Inside were folders, envelopes and reports. He passed it to Hank. “Hold on to this. The material in here could become evidence.”

Hank frowned. “Charles won’t be happy to see me with all his personal correspondence in hand.”

“When we go downstairs, you can hand it over to him. It’d be a nice gesture, a show of trust.”

“You’re more of a politician than you think, Blake.”

* * *

I
N
THE
BASEMENT
, Sarah decided that the best way she could help was to assign herself to guard duty, leaving the twins free to work their magic. She paced behind them, holding the handgun and moving the lantern when they needed to see.

Their first plan had been to get the generator hooked up, but they’d found enough fuses and parts in her toolbox to think they might repair the main fuse box.

“I want this done fast,” she reminded them.

“That’s how we do it,” John said.

William added, “Our dad always says, ‘Do you want it done fast or do you want it done right?’ We tell him, ‘Both.’”

From where she stood, she had an unobstructed view from one end of the basement to the other where it faded into darkness, and she was glad that she never allowed this area to become a repository for broken furniture and other junk. At one time, she’d considered making part of the basement into a wine cellar, but those plans had faded along with the economy.

John twisted a screw and sparks shot out from the box. He guffawed. “I guess that wasn’t the right place.”

“Are you all right?” she asked.

“It takes more than electrocution to keep me down.”

“Seriously,” she said, “is it safe for you to be working on this?”

William answered, “Don’t worry. Most of the cabins around here have ancient electricity that has to be twisted and tweaked. We can figure it out.”

As she watched, ten minutes passed as slowly as ten hours. Her gaze lifted to the ceiling, and she wished she could see through the floor and know what was going on in the main part of the house. Had they located Alvardo? Was the food being served? And where was Blake? She imagined him prowling through the halls, gun in hand and ready for action.

She looked back at the twins and asked, “Are you guys getting hungry?”

“Oh, yeah.”

Silly question. The twins were always hungry. “I’ll run upstairs and get a couple of plates of food.”

“Wait,” William said, “nobody is supposed to go anywhere by themselves.”

She wasn’t talking about wandering around. “Just up to the kitchen, and I’ll be right back.”

William hitched up his jeans and came toward her. “I’ll go with you.”

“Then you leave John down here all alone.” She started walking toward the staircase. “Here’s the deal. You come over here to the edge of the stairs. Then you can keep an eye on me and your brother at the same time.”

Without waiting for an answer, she aimed her flashlight beam on the staircase and rushed up. After the oppressive dark of the basement, it almost felt light in the mudroom. Through the window in the door to the kitchen, the glow of a lantern spilled across the floorboards.

She looked toward the storage bin for firewood. Blake had been busy, probably too busy to worry about tending the fire. She could grab a couple of logs on her way.

Holding the flashlight in one hand, she lifted the lid with the other.

Alvardo stared up at her with sightless eyes. A knife had been buried up to the hilt in his chest. His white sweater was soaked with blood.