The Sooner the Better (15 page)

She rubbed her eyes tiredly as she inserted the key into the security lock. Pausing, she glanced over her shoulder, surprised to note that the guard was nowhere in sight. So much for the promised protection.

The door clicked open and she walked inside.

“It's about time you got here.”

Jason Applebee sat in the living area eating grapes from a beautiful fruit basket.

The key fell out of Lorraine's hand and landed silently on the luxurious carpet.

“I hope you don't mind, but I helped myself. A very nice gift from your friend Catherina, by the way. You weren't going to eat all this fruit yourself, were you?”

“What are you doing here?”

He laughed at her question and shook his head. “Come on, you're smarter than that, Lorraine. Why do you think I'm here?”

T
he shock of seeing Jason Applebee in her hotel suite left Lorraine stunned. It took her a long moment to recover.

“How'd you know where I was?” she asked with unreal calm. That was probably one of the less important questions, but the first to surface in her confused mind. “What about…” She swallowed her inquiry about the armed guard rather than alert him to the fact that there was one on the premises. She sincerely hoped the guard had gone for a sandwich—and that he'd return any minute. Jason had killed at least once and she didn't think he'd hesitate to do so again.

“Your father was quite informative,” Jason told her before popping another juicy grape into his mouth.

“My father would never speak to you.”

Jason's grin mocked her. “He would if he thought he was speaking to Gary Franklin, your
dear
fiancé who's so terribly worried because he hasn't heard from you.” He mimicked a Southern accent. “We've had several
lovely
chats. He told me all about Jack Keller taking you to Mexico City. He even gave me the name of the hotel.”

“You told him you were Gary?” The idea of him pretending to be her fiancé infuriated her. But she directed
the brunt of her anger at herself. How she regretted that chatty bus ride from Mérida to El Mirador. What a fool she'd been to spill out the details of her personal life!

“Actually I thought I was quite clever,” Jason said smugly. “Your father bought right in to that cornpone Southern bit.”

“How'd you get my room number?”

“I have my ways.” He glanced around and gave a low whistle. “Pretty expensive digs you've got.”

“I want you out of here,” she demanded, putting on a brave front. “You've done enough damage as it is.”

“No problem,” Jason said, and sprang to his feet. “Just give me what's mine.”

Lorraine's heart sank. “I can't do that.”

“Sure you can.”

“How'd you get both pieces of the Kukulcan Star in the first place?” She had to find a way to distract him. The phones were out of reach; he'd grab her before she could get to one. Her only hope was to make a run for the door and pray the guard had returned. There was a chance, a small one, if she kept her wits about her.

“You know about the Kukulcan Star?” That appeared to surprise him.

“I have my ways, too.”

He nodded approvingly. “So it seems.”

“Really, I'd like to know,” she said, pretending to be curious. A man as self-absorbed as Jason would delight in bragging about what he'd done. “You couldn't possibly have managed this on your own,” she murmured. She wondered if she was overdoing it.

Apparently not. “Ah, but I did. Suffice it to say I'd been studying Professor Raventos's books for years. When I wrote, he was impressed by my knowledge of the Maya and my appreciation of Kukulcan. The two of us struck
up a friendship and he invited me along on the dig. He trusted me.”

Lorraine had trusted him, too.

Jason shrugged. “Unfortunately, after he found the Star, my esteemed colleague became…redundant.”

Lorraine shuddered, and he laughed.

“Some people assume it's luck, being in the right place at the right time. But it's not. It's careful planning. However, even the best-laid plans sometimes go awry. Sometimes another person interferes….” He advanced menacingly toward her. “Give it to me, Lorraine.”

She backed slowly toward the door, arms behind her.

“I've killed for it before. I'd hate to hurt you, but if I have to, I will.”

“What happened to you?” she asked. “You're smart. Why would you murder people? Why would you rob a country of its heritage? Is it greed?”

“You don't know, do you?” he asked, shaking his head. “You really don't understand.”

“No. Explain it to me. Murder, Jason?
Murder?
”

He shrugged again. “Actually, the first time was the hardest.”

“Oh, Jason.”

He stretched out his hand. “Give me my Star. It's mine, and when I have it I'll reveal myself to my people. Glory will return to the Maya.”

He was crazy. He had to be.

“I already told you, I can't.” She was close to making her move.

Jason released an exasperated sigh. “I was afraid you were going to say that. Lorraine, you're a disappointment to me.”

“
I
am? You're the one who tricked me into lying for you.” She had to keep him talking. “You planted both
artifacts on me. You knew I hadn't seen my father since I was a child, and yet you purposely destroyed our visit. You're despicable. You—”

“Yeah, well, there are worse things. Like what's going to happen to you if you don't give me back my Star.” He shook his head again, his expression sorrowful. “It would be a pity. I've grown quite fond of you. In other circumstances we might have been very good…friends.”

“I don't think so.”

He chuckled. “Trust me, Lorraine, you want me to have the Star. The alternative isn't pleasant.”

“
Trust
you?” She laughed incredulously. And then she ran out the door, slamming it in her wake. The first thing she noticed was that the guard was still gone. With no time to lose, she didn't even consider waiting for the elevator. Instead, she sprinted for the stairway. At the top of the stairs she caught sight of the guard's lifeless body. His throat had been slit.

Lorraine gasped at the sight. Fear and horror propelled her into action. She had to do something drastic or soon she'd be as dead as that guard.

Jason was directly behind her, but she had an advantage. Back in high school she'd learned how to slide down a stairway railing. It was quite a balancing act—and it was how she'd broken her arm. She hadn't tried it since then, but now… What other choice did she have? She eluded Jason long enough to hop onto the metal railing. The difficulty was in maintaining her balance. Perched sideways, with her arms held straight out, she slid down the first railing.

Jason was quick; the sound of his feet bounding down the stairs echoed in the narrow stairwell. He could shoot her, she realized, but she was of no value to him dead. He wanted the Star; what he didn't know was that she no longer had it.

The instant she started down, she screamed for help at the top of her lungs. Unfortunately she'd lost her travel dictionary and didn't know how to say it in Spanish. Not that it seemed to matter. No one heard.

She was a full staircase ahead of Jason when he shouted, “Don't make me do something I don't want to.”

For all the racket she made, anyone might have thought she was being murdered right then and there. Still no one came. She didn't want to believe that Jason would actually kill her, but after seeing the guard, she had no doubt he'd do it. He was insane. Completely and dangerously insane.

Lorraine stopped thinking after that, concentrating, instead, on her escape. Balance, slide, run across the landing to the next set of stairs. She did it three times, four. And never did she see or hear even a single person. Except Jason, who pounded remorselessly after her.

The stairwell came out by the pool. The area was filled with beautiful, tanned men and women lounging with grease-slicked bodies in reclining chairs, sipping tropical drinks and listening to a mariachi band.

Lorraine burst onto the scene, took a second to assess the situation and raced in the direction of the hotel lobby. She was shocked that Jason was so close behind her.

She had to hand it to him, he was quite the athlete. And quite the actor. He laughed and called after her in Spanish, words she couldn't understand. Most people weren't listening or paying attention, though, focused, instead, on the band.

Jason caught up with her between the pool and the entrance to the hotel. With almost no effort he threw her, kicking and screaming, over his shoulder and carried her off. His strength astonished her. He handled her as if she weighed next to nothing.

She pummeled his back with her fists like a madwoman. “Help!” she screamed, frantic to have someone, anyone, notice what was happening. “I need help! He's going to murder me!”

“If you ran up my credit cards, I would, too,” a man, obviously half-drunk, yelled back.

“This is no joke,” she screamed.

“It never is,” the same man shouted.

All Lorraine's struggles did was tire her. After a while she gave up, convinced it was useless.

“The time for fun and games is over. Where's the Kukulcan Star?” Jason demanded once more through gritted teeth. His hands tightened painfully around her legs.

“I don't have it.”

“All right, who does?”

“The Department of Antiquities.”

“Lorraine, you don't know how this disappoints me.”

“I'm sure it does. Are you going to kill me the way you did that guard?”

“Nope.” He continued walking toward the street. “I'm afraid I like you too much for that.” He set her feet back on the pavement. “Besides, I've already promised your friend here the pleasure.”

When he put her down, she whirled around to see Carlos. The man's smile was as ugly as his face.

“Oh, did I forget to tell you I'd run into a friend of yours?” Jason asked ever so sweetly.

 

He was going to drown his sorrows in a bottle of good tequila, Jack decided. But once he sat down at the sidewalk restaurant, the desire to get drunk left him. He ordered a beer, instead.

He recalled the last time he'd been in a cantina. La Ruta Maya. That was where Lorraine had left the boat
and gotten herself into a mess of trouble. He'd been lucky to find her when he did. Relieved, too—not that he'd let her know it.

Then he thought about Pucuro, that nasty little town with its nasty little dock. Or rather,
without
it. He laughed outright at the image; he was only sorry he'd missed the actual experience. Several people turned in his direction, openly curious about what he found so amusing.

His last bottle of finely aged scotch had been used for medicinal purposes, more specifically to cleanse his shoulder wound. Lorraine had painstakingly nursed him back to health. He remembered their many conversations, about their lives, about movies, and the night they'd lain together and stared at the reflection of the moon in the water.

What Lorraine had taught him during their time together was his own capacity to make himself vulnerable to someone. He'd told her more about his background and soldiering experiences than he'd ever told anyone.

He wouldn't lie to himself about the pain he felt. It was as agonizing as anything physical. Walking away from her had been the most difficult, dangerous thing he'd ever done. Dangerous because he wasn't sure he could become again the man he used to be. Without Lorraine and without his old beliefs, his old attitudes—where did that leave him?

He held up his glass and stared into the amber liquid, suddenly craving oblivion. All he could think about was Lorraine. Sitting in a sidewalk bar this close to her hotel made his thoughts inevitable.

Finishing his beer, he decided to catch a cab to his own hotel when he strolled by a telephone. Two steps past it, he stopped, turned and went back.

He dialed the operator and put the call on his credit
card, then waited for the connection to Boothill, Texas, to go through.

His best friend's wife answered on the third ring. “Jack, is that you?” Letty shouted.

The connection wasn't the best. “It's me. Is Murphy around?”

“He's vaccinating calves, but listen, I'm glad you phoned. Someone by the name of Thomas Dancy called for you today.”

“Thomas?” he asked in surprise. “I spoke to him last night.” But, in retrospect, he realized that he hadn't given Thomas a number, a place to reach him. He'd only mentioned the name of Lorraine's hotel, not where he himself was staying. And Thomas would've been able to track down Murphy easily enough; on more than one occasion, Jack had mentioned Murphy and the cattle ranch he owned in the Texas hill country.

“What's this I hear about you escorting his daughter out of Mexico?” An infant wailed in the background. Their third in four years.

“I'll tell you about it later.”

“Are you coming for a visit? Murphy would love to see you. So would I.”

“I'm thinking about it,” Jack admitted. One thing was certain: he had to leave Mexico for a while. Get away from the memories and the pain. Reestablish his emotional equilibrium. “Give the kids each a kiss from me,” Jack said, forcing himself to sound as if he hadn't a care in the world.

“Hold on just a minute,” Letty said. “I've got more news for you.”

Jack heard a clank as she set the telephone aside. Almost immediately the baby's cries ceased. News? The last time Letty had something to tell him it was about the third addition to their family.

“Are you still there?” Letty asked when she got back on the line.

“I'm here,” he said. He thought of joking that it was costing him five bucks a minute for her to burp the baby, but in reality he wouldn't have cared if it was ten times that amount. Letty and Murphy were as close as Jack had to a real family, and right now he needed them. Needed to know that couples in love could find happiness in this world.

“Okay,” Letty said, “getting back to that call from your friend Nancy…”

“Dancy,” Jack corrected.

“As long as you know who I mean. He was quite concerned about his daughter.”

“There's nothing to worry about.”

“Do you know anyone named Gary… Darn, I can't think of the last name. Anyway, he's connected to this Dancy's daughter, but I don't think he told me how. Not that it matters.”

Jack stiffened. “I know who you mean. What about him?”

Her voice seemed to be fading, and then it grew loud again. “Dancy said he'd been getting phone calls from this Gary guy, and then today someone entirely different contacted him and claimed to be the same person. Your friend seemed concerned about it.”