Untraceable (29 page)

“
I have a meeting with her
tonight to go over the layout of her father’s vacation home. If she
knows it was me, then I’m sure she’ll have some men waiting. If I
don’t make it—”

“
Don’t talk like that;
you’ll make it.”

“
Gwen, if I don’t make it,
you’ve got to find Leese before she…” He couldn’t say it, he didn’t
even want to think it. “Come down on Sharon hard. Botachelli said
he’d help, but speak to him directly and tell him about the
leak.”

“
Micah, I don’t normally
encourage you to do what you do best, but if it comes down to a
fire-fight, make sure you put a bullet between that bitch’s
eyes.”

“
You have no idea how
badly I want to do that, but she may be the only way to get Leese
back. I don’t think Vitale Moretti will approve of what she’s done,
and I think he’s the only one who can put enough pressure on her to
make her crack.”

“
Be careful, Micah,” she
paused and then caught him before he hung up. “Micah?”

“
Yeah?”

“
I know I never say it,
but—but I love you, little brother. Don’t get killed.” There was
nothing but dead airspace—and then something that completely
surprised her.

“
I love you, too. Bye,
Gwen.”

And the line went dead.

Two hours before his meeting with
Sharon, she called and tersely told him she was changing the
location. He felt he knew why; she couldn’t have him murdered in
the hotel lobby.

It was dusk when he turned down the
long, winding road to the remote beach house. If he was planning to
ambush someone this would have been the kind of place he would have
chosen, too. He pulled one Glock from his harness and took off the
safety. Sable Palms, palmettos, and pines densely lined the shell
drive, and he expected at any moment to see armed men burst from
the foliage and open fire.

As he turned a bend in the drive, the
native greenery gave way to a lushly landscaped yard with a
two-story house on brick piers. He could see the dunes and sea oats
beyond the house, and he could smell the heavy salt in the air.
There was still plenty of cover for hiding gunmen, but he saw
Sharon standing on the porch. He doubted she’d be within his firing
range if a battle was about to take place—but then again, she
probably wanted the pleasure of watching him die.

He cautiously holstered his weapon,
and then he stepped from the car onto the drive. She was wearing a
thin, lemon colored, gauzy beach cover-up that was excessively
sheer, and underneath she had on what appeared to be a white thong,
but she wasn’t wearing a bra or a bikini top. She’d obviously been
sunning herself topless earlier in the day. Her skin had a rich,
rose colored glow that revealed she had stayed in the sun slightly
longer than she should have. Once again, she was working the sex
appeal angle, making Micah believe, with a sigh of relief, that she
wasn’t aware who tipped off Botachelli.

“
You look surprised,
Micah,” she stated with a little rise to her eyebrows. “Did you
expect an army to greet you?”

“
Should I
have?”

She smiled and turned toward the front
door, “I hope you put the safety back on—I’d hate for you to have
an accident with that thing. After all, we are alone.”

“
I don’t think
you’re
that
stupid.”

She opened the front door and turned
to motion him in, “Oh, handsome, I’m certainly not stupid, but I’m
also not afraid of you.”

Then you are pretty stupid, he
thought, but said nothing as he followed her inside.

The floors were polished pine and the
foyer gave way to an expansive great room. The furniture appeared
to be mahogany with wicker inserts along the backs and sides. Palm
tree designs covered the cushions and there were abundant pillows
ranging from cream to camel, from green to gold. She had the wall
of sliding doors opened as the Atlantic breeze filled the
house.

“
What will you have to
drink?” she asked as if this was a pleasant dinner party invite
instead of a discussion about murdering her father.

“
Nothing. Give me the
information I need and I’m leaving.”

She laughed as she walked to the bar
and grabbed a bottle of champagne and two glasses. “I guess that
means I get to choose what you’re drinking. I forgot to tell you
you’re staying the night.”

“
I’m not
staying—”

“
Oh, Micah, you’re so smug
and confident, I’m really going to enjoy stripping that armor off
of you,” she said with a wink. She seated herself beside him on the
couch, the lighting just right to make her covering extra sheer.
She was, rather obviously, aroused; her nipples were hardened into
tight pebbles. “Open this for me,” she demanded handing him the
champagne.

He gave her a void and uncooperative
stare.

“
Please
, open this for me,” she asked slightly nicer than
before.

He clinched his jaw muscles in
frustration, but then turned the bottle directly toward her chest
and began slowly lifting the cork.

She was giving him a defiant
expression as if she wasn’t afraid of his innuendo, but when the
corked popped (although he held onto it) he watched her flinch and
then swallow; she was more frightened of him then she was willing
to show.

She took the bottle from his hands and
then filled her glass. When she moved to his, he put his hand out
over the rim. “Tell me something, Micah,” she stated as she waited
for him to move his hand, “are you avoiding alcohol so you won’t
lose control and shoot me?”

“
Trust me, it isn’t for
your benefit. I can control my urge to watch you die,” he stated
evenly, “for now.”

“
Then you might as well
have a drink. It’ll help make your punishment easier to
take.”

He didn’t move. He didn’t blink. He
didn’t breathe.

“
You’ve been a bad boy,
Micah,” she continued in her sultry tone, “You
never
should have told your boss
what you learned about my latest shipment.”

“
I don’t know what
you’re—”

“
Don’t make the mistake of
playing me for a fool, darling—ever. Did you think I was stupid
enough not to have someone else on the inside? I know how your boss
got the information, and although I found it very clever for you to
intercept my transmissions, I won’t make that mistake again, and of
course even if I do, you’ll never, never-ever, tell anyone my plans
again because it just isn’t worth what you’re getting ready to
pay.”

“
If you kill her, I
won’t—”

“
Oh, yes you will Micah,
because I’m not going to kill her, but I am going to make sure that
I hurt her, and you’ll know you are the person
responsible.”

She picked up her phone from the
coffee table and was bringing it to her ear. He knew she was
getting ready to make a call to tell Giovanni what to
do.

He was so fast she didn’t have time to
react as he pulled the phone from her hand and ended the call.
“I’ll kill you right now,” he warned, his free hand reaching for
his gun.

“
It’s your choice, Micah.
I told him if he didn’t hear from me in fifteen minutes then she
was to be executed. I called him just before you pulled in, so,
let’s see, that gives you about five minutes to hand me back my
phone and be grateful that it’s just going to be a little pain and
nothing more.”

The phone felt frozen to his palm. He
couldn’t give it back to her knowing that she would give the orders
to hurt Leese, but he had to or it would cost him far more. He
placed the phone back on the table. “You win, but don’t hurt her.
I’ll do whatever you want without question.”

“
You’ll do that anyway,
ignorance,” she chided him. “You will learn to obey me completely,
but you won’t learn if you don’t pay.”

“
P—please…” the word
caught in his throat. “Don’t do it—I’ve learned my
lesson.”

She rolled her eyes and picked up the
phone and put it back to her ear. “Much better,” she stated
quickly, evidently happier with the speed at which Giovanni
answered the call. “He’s here with me right now. If I get
interrupted on this call,” she said as she watched Micah’s hands
clinching, fighting his urge to pull his guns and blow her away,
“then I want you to kill her. I’m going to call you back in five
minutes, if I don’t call you back, then it means he couldn’t handle
being punished and you need to go ahead and finish this, but for
now he’s got to pay for what he almost cost me this week. I want
you to hurt her—”

Micah’s hand moved reflexively to
snatch the phone from Sharon, but he stopped himself as he replayed
her words in his head, “If I get interrupted…”

Sharon smiled as she took her free
hand and grabbed his frozen gesture and placed his hand on the
couch, keeping hers on his with a feather touch. She wanted to be
sure he understood that strength on his part would be subdued by
even the most infinitesimal leverage on her end.

“
I don’t care what you do
to her, except you aren’t allowed to give her a life-ending injury.
Be creative, darling. I want something he’ll feel on this end when
he sees it. I don’t care if you remove a finger, or put a nice scar
across that pretty face, come up with something and I’ll call you
back in five minutes so he can see what insubordination costs in my
Family.” With the touch of the screen the call ended.

Micah had never been so close to the
edge in his life without going over. The line was so defined and
sharp in his mind that he felt he could literally see it as he
teetered between restraint and murder. “You shouldn’t have told him
to hurt her,” he said, swallowing hard.

“
You’ve got to learn that
I don’t play games, Micah. Whatever he deems as her punishment,
you’re going to have to take it. One wrong move on your part and
this will all be over. You’ll be more than happy I’m sure to put a
bullet in me, but if you do then you might as well know that you’ve
put one in her, too.”

The minutes ticked by at an unnerving
pace when she finally pressed the screen and called Giovanni. “All
right, Mr. Creative, let’s just see how dirty you play. I already
hear her so I’m sure I’m going to like it. Send me the feed.”
Sharon’s hand kept the phone turned to her so she could review what
he’d done first.

Micah could hear the struggle and
Leese’s cries without the visual, she was begging over and over for
him to stop whatever was taking place. Everything inside him seemed
to implode as the knowledge that he was responsible for what she
was going through pierced his heart.

A huge smile spread across Sharon’s
face as she stared at the screen. “Well, I have to admit, Giovanni,
you did pick something he’ll definitely feel on this end. It’s not
what I expected, but to tell you the truth, darling, I think it’s
going to work even better. I’m getting ready to let him see the
video—expect the call to end, but if I don’t call you back in five
more minutes, you can finish what you’re doing and then kill
her.”

Sharon handed the phone, face-down, to
Micah. Leese’s pleas were louder as she begged Giovanni to stop.
Micah’s hand was trembling as he turned it over, knowing no matter
what he saw, he couldn’t kill Sharon. When he turned it over, his
heart simply died in his chest.

The phone was far enough away for
Micah to clearly see what was about to take place; Giovanni was
nude between Leese’s legs. Her skirt and panties were already gone
and he was trying to pin her arms with one hand as he worked to
remove her blouse with the other. Micah could only watch in
defenseless horror. He’d never in his life had nausea instantly
well up inside him, but he was suddenly sick as he watched his
beautiful wife beg the man on top of her to stop his advance.
Giovanni appeared oblivious to her pleas as his hips
descended.

“
I’ll do
anything
—call him
off!”
came his desperate
response.

Sharon smiled. “Giovanni,
stop,” she ordered, but to no effect. “
Giovanni, Fermati adesso!
”

The sharply barked Italian words
caused Giovanni’s face to turned slowly toward the camera, “You
said—”

“
I know what I said,” she
replied acidly. “It’s enough for now. If he gives me anymore
problems then she’s yours and you can do what you want.”

“
I can do what I want
anyway,” he shot back; his eyes were wild as he peered out from
under hair that had tumbled forward in the fracas. A glimmer of
sweat had begun to bead on him as he continued to hold down the
crying woman.

“
You. Are.
Mine!”
she roared.
“You
will
follow
orders or be shot!”

“
What is wrong, mia
regina? Sei gelosa?”

“
If I have to call
Caprizio…” she let the threat dangle in the air.

He backed into a seated position over
his heels, exposing his erection for the camera,
“Meglio?”

“
Leave her alone. Is that
clear?”