Untraceable (49 page)

I knew what he was doing; he was
taking my temperature. The doctor wanted me on antibiotics since
Ryan didn’t have time to ‘scrub up’ before delivery, but I knew
whatever I took would be passed to Joshua. I told him I’d be fine,
but he gave me a prescription anyway in case I started showing
signs—like running a fever. “I just need some rest, and I’m
starting to feel more soreness than earlier this
morning.”

“
You should get some
sleep. Your mom said Joshua will be okay for about another hour
before you feed him. Close your eyes, baby.”

For once, I didn’t argue. My eyes
closed and I drifted away.

Micah and I both woke to the sensation
of gentle pressure on the bed. I opened my eyes to see my mom
sitting down with the baby. “Sorry, sweetheart, but if you won’t
let me give him formula, then you need to wake up. He’s getting
fussy.”

This time, I actually felt like I was
getting the hang of it, even if it was still uncomfortable. I did
find it funny though when David came through the doorway that
connected our rooms. He blushed a dark shade of maroon and then
turned to leave.

“
You’re okay,” I said,
catching him before he could vanish. “This isn’t something
dirty.”

He turned around slowly, never making
eye contact as he walked toward the bed, staring at his feet the
whole way. “I was just going out to pick up some lunch and I
thought I’d ask…” he glanced up and then immediately down again.
“You should really have the door closed between our rooms,” he
blurted.

“
Well I think you’re just
going to have to get used to this because I plan on feeding him
this way until he’s at least one.”

“
I’ll stay away then until
his first birthday,” he teased, but he still wouldn’t watch the
baby nurse.

“
Ah look,” Micah stated in
genuine wonder, “Joshua is smiling.”

And he truly was. It was so cute. His
eyes were wide open and a smile was pulling the corners of his tiny
mouth. David was suddenly rapt, looking all big eyed, and grinning
like an idiot—and then Joshua lost suction and my nipple came out
of his mouth.

“
Ah, geez,” he said
turning and walking away. “I’ll just bring you back whatever
licks—“ he screwed up and he knew it, “I mean, whatever
looks
good.”

“
No onions,” I giggled as
he disappeared. “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen him
be a sissy about anything.”

Mom and Micah both laughed.

I’d had a short rest, fed and changed
Joshua (who was now sound asleep on my bed) and felt ready to
stretch my legs. Micah had taken off with David and Jonathan. I had
a feeling he was getting ready for his ‘meeting.’

Ryan was down by the pool on a
lounger, intermittently dozing and watching Kimmy play. Matt and
Bev were supposed to be joining us (now that they knew most of what
had transpired). They were supposed to bring Matt Junior for Kimmy
to play with for a while. It felt strange for life to be semi
‘normal,’ like we were on some short vacation, when it was not that
way at all. But, for Kimmy’s sake, we would keep up the façade
until we could go home and truly resume our lives.

“
What are you doing
downstairs?” Ryan questioned.

I was passing the pool area, heading
for the corridor that led to the parking lot.

“
I need something to drink
besides the bottle waters; I think my body needs sugar right now.
Can I get you anything?”

He rose from the lounger and headed my
direction. “I’ll go with you. I want something but I don’t know
what. Kimmy,” he said, looking where she had wrapped herself around
the pole to the stairs. “Stay in the shallow end until I get
back.”

She stuck her tongue out at him, “I
can swim!”

“
Yeah, you can, but do it
in the shallow end until I get back.”

“
You know,” I said quietly
as we headed down the corridor, “she swims like an
Olympian.”

“
Yeah, well swimming like
an Olympian doesn’t help if she hits her head, or gets a
cramp.”

“
God,” I laughed, “you are
such a mother-hen!”

We turned the corner to the small
alcove in the outer corridor where the ice machine and vending
machines were kept.

I had my drink in hand, and Ryan had
just put his money in the machine when I heard a female voice say,
“Hmm, now what do we have here?”

I knew who it was; my heart
stopped.

I turned to see Sharon and an
unfamiliar man standing there—the man had a gun in his hand and it
was pointed at Ryan.

“
Do you want me to kill
him here or—”

“
No, not yet. I don’t want
a shot to alert anyone. Besides,” she said with that depraved smile
on her face, “he might be exactly what we need to keep her
cooperative. Am I right, Leese, or should we splatter his chest all
over the concrete wall?”

“
No, no, don’t hurt him.
I’ll go with you, just leave him—”

“
Not a chance in hell.
You’re both coming with us. If you help me out, maybe I’ll feel
generous and only kill you. Get in the car,” she said as she
motioned us to a new, blue Chevy Camaro. “Hurry up!” she growled as
we climbed into the back seats.

The next thing I knew, the tires were
screeching across the pavement as we tore out of the lot. “Now,”
she purred as her companion turned the car onto the main road, “do
you want to explain to me how everyone got so damn
chummy?”

I just stared at her like I was
stupid, hoping she’d clarify what she knew so I didn’t accidently
reveal too much.

“
Oh,” she said, finally
paying closer attention to me, “you must have popped the little
bastard out. That must have been fun for Giovanni,” she quipped.
“Did
it
survive?”
she asked with a malevolent emphasis on ‘it.’

I squeezed Ryan’s hand to let him know
to remain silent.

“
He’s fine.”

“
I wondered what was going
on yesterday,” she said. “I flew into a small airport in Mobile and
then drove over so that excessively attentive husband of yours
didn’t catch me coming into an airport around here. I was passing
the hotel when who should I happen to see, but Giovanni and you
dropping off your mother and your sister—and then he let you
drive—all smiles and sweetness, so I knew something was wrong. I
thought about tailing you,” she said and then gave me a
half-genuine smile—the kind of smile someone gives you just before
driving a knife into your back. “But Micah told me about your
skills behind the wheel.” She winked at me, “Pillow talk, you
know.”

My temperature and my hatred both
inched upward. Maybe I didn’t think it was fair to her father to
watch someone shoot her, but, all things being equalized, I
wouldn’t mind beating her to a bloody pulp.

“
So I watched the hotel
instead, trying to figure out how your wacked out mother got
involved, and then she leaves yesterday and returns late with David
Gavarreen—quite a surprise. Who were you with this morning, pretty
boy?” she asked Ryan. “He looked rather important.”

“
Her
father
,” Ryan stated. “He’s—”

I squeezed his hand, again. I could
tell that she had never met my father. Evidently all their plotting
had been done over the phone and she had no clue that the man she
saw was Leonard Caprizio—had she heard his voice she would have
known.

“
So why is Giovanni
apparently working with your husband? Hmm? Caprizio won’t tolerate
traitors.”

“
And what are you?” I
asked before thinking twice.

Her eyes narrowed in putrid, vile
hatred, “I’m the person who’s going to make your brat an orphan—or
maybe I’ll just make him a bastard by killing his daddy. That would
do more damage to you wouldn’t it, Leese? Yes,” she stated rather
darkly, “it hurts more to do without him.”

I realized she was speaking from her
own experience. I could tell she’d gotten too close to Micah. I
knew, only too well, that he could capture a woman’s heart without
trying—he only had to let a woman near his influence. There was
something about him that left women feeling breathless and undone,
sexual and vulnerable. I could see now, she was insanely jealous
over Micah, but I also realized she’d rather put a bullet in him
then to let him live a life of happiness with me.

She picked up her companion’s gun and
then twisted carefully in her seat to get a good aim at Ryan. “Now
you can be snide, and then watch me start by shooting him in an
arm. Hopefully he won’t bleed to death before he gets too many
holes, and you wise up. Or you can tell me how Giovanni got in with
Gavarreens.”

“
I—I don’t know everything
but—” I observed her finger tightening over the trigger. She was
really going to shoot Ryan! I watched Ryan brace for the impact.
“
Don’t, please!
Just let me explain what I know. Please Sharon, I’ll tell you
everything, just stop pointing the gun at him.”

“
Tell me everything you
know—now,” she said lowering the gun.

“
It has something to do
with a truck filled with cocaine,” I said thinking fast. I didn’t
know how much she would believe, but Micah told me she had one of
the biggest veins of coke coming into the U.S. “Jonathan,” I said,
seeing no reason to change what I called him, “said Micah was
willing to let him have it all—and he said there’s more—practically
billions of it that can come in through New Orleans.”

“
Caprizio isn’t
stupid—he’ll find out what Giovanni is doing and then—”

“
Not if Micah and David
take out Caprizio,” I uttered and then swallowed. Now I’d see just
how gullible she really was. “Micah told Jonathan that he and David
are the only ones who could pull of such a big hit. They’ll take
out Caprizio and anyone else they need to, to make Jonathan the
Capo dei Capi.”

A look of pure amazement came over her
face, “And what does Micah get?”

“
Me—and to take
Botachelli’s place.”

“
And what else? I bet he
told Giovanni he wants me dead, didn’t he?” she growled.

I knew how much Sharon wanted to kill
my husband for coming back to me, but if I could play my last card
right, perhaps she wouldn’t try to shoot him on sight—at least not
until she discovered that I was lying, and then, hopefully, someone
could stop her.

“
No,” I said, suddenly
sobbing, “What did you do to him?” I gave the best act of my life,
using all my fears to force the tears down my cheeks. “He—he
said—to leave you alone! I don’t understand why he
doesn’t
want you
dead.”

She smiled slightly.

I could tell she liked what I had
said.

Her smile grew broader, “He’s crazy if
he thinks it will be easy to take out Caprizio—and crazier yet if
he thinks I’m giving up my imports. But we can bargain for that
later, I want my drugs out of his hands before Caprizio figures out
Giovanni switched sides. Now, I’m going to gamble that you know
where my drugs are, don’t you?”

I didn’t want to answer. If I told her
about the beach house who knew who she’d see there—like her
father—and that would be extremely bad. But the last I knew,
Jonathan drove off with the truck. It might not be there at all, or
they might be at the dolomite pit. I honestly didn’t
know.

I shook my head no.

She didn’t like that. “Your turn,
gorgeous,” she said to Ryan.

He shook his head no.

“
Isn’t that sweet—a pair
of liars.”

Her companion laughed.

She unbuckled and twisted completely
around, getting an extra strong grip on the gun. “Place your palm
over the barrel,” she told me.

“
Why?”

“
Do it.”

I released Ryan’s hand and placed my
trembling open palm against the barrel. I thought about trying to
wrench it away from her, but if it went off there was a good chance
that either Ryan or myself would get shot in the process. And, her
driver had another gun in his other holster.

I was screwed.

“
I think one of you knows
where my truck is. At the count of three, I’m blowing a hole
through your hand. You better scoot closer to the door so you don’t
get hit, handsome. Hopefully one of you will be intelligent enough
to tell me the truth before I pull the trigger. One,
two…”

“
All right,” Ryan spoke up
sounding panicked. “I think I know where it’s at.”

“
No, Ryan!”

“
Smart boy,” she said,
taking the gun away. “I may have to save you for later.” She winked
at him and then she made an exaggerated show of interest by placing
her elbow on the console between the seats and cupping her chin in
her palm; she smiled sweetly, “Go ahead,
Ryan—
impress me
.”

“
There is a beach
house—”

“
Ryan stop,” I
pled.

“
No, Leese—those drugs
aren’t worth someone getting hurt over.”