A Bid for Love (22 page)

Jared hit him again, this time in the head. There was a loud pop as the hard case inside the bag made contact, and the man reeled. He took a couple of steps backward and roared with anger. Fists clenched, he came at Jared, his eyes murderous. Jared dropped the Buddha, thinking that its condition hardly mattered anymore. It was a fake and worthless, shattered or not.

He feinted and then jabbed at the man’s face, hitting flesh. Jared was smaller than his opponent, but what mattered now were the long hours he spent at the gym each week. His reflexes were sharp and his punches hard. The man he fought was also experienced, but unlike that night at the hotel in L.A., there was only one to fight. Now Jared’s trimmer build worked to his advantage as he made a smaller target for the man’s potentially lethal strokes.

He stepped to the side to avoid a blow, feinted twice, and then scored on the man’s jaw. Enraged, the thug came toward him, punching without pausing. One of his blind punches hit Jared in the stomach and another in the chest. Jared gasped in pain but didn’t step back. Instead, he moved closer, swinging hard. The man retreated slightly and Jared pressed his advantage, no longer feinting but trying to make each punch score, while dodging the ones thrown at him.

Finally the man gave a grunt of pain and dropped to the blacktop, still breathing but unconscious. Jared’s hand ached from the blow that had felled his large opponent, and his sore chest heaved. He threw the bag with the Buddha on top of the man and dragged them both up a short ramp to the back door of the gallery. With his key he opened it and pulled the man inside, locking it securely after him and rearming the gallery’s alarm system. They were in the packing department, and Jared quickly found some thick packing twine to tie the man’s hands. He looked like he might be out for a while, but it was possible he would come to and sound the alarm to his employer. He needed to stay inside the building until help arrived.

Slow clapping alerted Jared that he wasn’t alone. He turned to see Laranda sitting calmly on one of the packing tables, watching him. “Very good, Jared. I knew you would make it here.”

“This man tried to get the Buddha,” Jared said.

She shrugged and slid off the table. She wore a glittering, skin-tight red dress that flaunted her ample bosom to good advantage. Matching stilettos set off her lovely ankles, and her neck, ears, and wrists sported expensive diamond and white-gold jewelry.

She glanced at the man on the floor before focusing on Jared. “He doesn’t matter. You do. I underestimated you.”

“What do you mean?” Jared asked. Laranda wasn’t making sense.

“Give me the Buddha,” she said, ignoring his question.

He handed her the duffel bag. “Uh, it got a little beat up.”

Her expression was bemused. “How do you expect me to sell a broken statue?”

“It’s a fake, so we should get reimbursed by the auction company.” The words tumbled from Jared’s mouth as she opened the bag. “That’s not all. There are diamonds inside the Buddha. Someone’s using the statue to smuggle them into the country, probably from India where the Buddha came from, or maybe from somewhere else. I don’t know. We need to call the police. The FBI might already be involved, but there’s at least two other groups that have been chasing me. If I’d known about the diamonds in California, I would never have tried to bring them here.”

Laranda paid no attention to his rambling. She drew the Buddha out of its case, significantly more damaged than the night before. Diamonds flowed into her hands, and she gave him a calculating smile. “They’re beautiful, aren’t they?” Her voice echoed eerily in the large room. She rolled them around on her palm, watching the full range of colors they reflected. Some seemed to glow like icy fire, as if reflecting Laranda herself.

Jared felt suddenly cold inside. He glanced around for the first time, realizing that the room was empty of the regular employees. “Where is everybody?” he asked.

Laranda tore her eyes away from the diamonds with apparent difficulty. “Taking the day off.” She turned back to the diamonds, inverting the Buddha to let them all slide into the case.

“But—” Suspicion crept slowly over Jared. “I’d better call the police.”

Laranda laughed. “Come with me. I have something to show you.” She picked up the case of diamonds and walked to the large vault in the corner of the room. Without looking to see if Jared followed, she twirled the dials. “We can’t call the police,” she said. “I’ve yet to complete the deal with my buyer.”

Before Jared could object, she opened the heavy door and stepped inside the vault. She walked quickly to the back and unlocked a drawer with a key, stepping to the side. “Open it,” she directed when he caught up to her.

Jared did as he was told. He gasped as he saw a Buddha identical to the first, except that it was uncracked and whole. Understanding flooded through him.

He stared at Laranda. “You had the fake Buddha made.”

She nodded. “By copying the original I bought a few years ago in India.”

“Then you—” Jared’s eyes swung to the diamonds she carried.

She smiled her icy smile. “Of course it was me.” With one hand she shut the drawer with the Buddha and turned abruptly, leaving the vault.

Again Jared followed her. “But how did you know I would get it at the auction? I mean, there was another man who seemed very interested, and a woman who might have outbid me.”

“The man bidding against you was the one who hooked us up with the diamond suppliers,” Laranda said. “He was there simply to make sure you bid the proper amount for my last payment—which, incidentally, is only a tiny margin of what I’ve already paid for the diamonds. The woman was unimportant. As the price of the Buddha went above its real value, all others would lose interest. Wasn’t that so?”

Jared nodded. “But just in case, you told me to get it no matter what the price. You couldn’t risk that someone would find out about the smuggling.”

Laranda shrugged and ran her fingers through the glittering stones in the case. “These diamonds are worth much more than I paid for them. Much, much more.” She smiled once again at Jared, and then jerked her head toward the doorway that led to the gallery itself. “Ivan!” she shouted. A block of a man appeared with a gun. Jared’s idea of calling the police and turning Laranda in vanished even as it formed.

“Yeah, boss?”

“Untie your useless companion over there. I’ll hold your gun while you free him. Then come and guard this man for me while I decide what to do with him.”

“They work for you?” Jared’s betrayal knew no end. Not only had Laranda used him to buy the Buddha, but she had sent these thugs first to rob the hotel safe in Los Angeles and then to search his apartment.

“I didn’t want you to find out.” Laranda leaned back against a table and rubbed a long fingernail over her red-painted bottom lip. Her other hand held the gun steadily. “When you started talking about staying longer and about the Buddha not being quite right, I knew you wouldn’t be satisfied until you had some answers. So I hired them to steal the Buddha before you figured it out, only you didn’t put it in the safe like you promised.”

Jared snorted. “You didn’t give me a chance. When I went to put it there, the safe had already been broken into and the Feds were there.”

“How nice of you to avoid them for me.”

He gritted his teeth. “I wish I hadn’t.”

Laranda laughed, sounding genuinely amused. “You kept away from my competition, too. That was smart of you. They are very unhappy that I’ve taken over so much of their business.”

A horrible thought came to Jared’s mind. “You mean this isn’t the first time?” He’d been hoping to convince Laranda of the uselessness of her situation, but now his hopes were failing fast.

“I’ve been doing it for several years now. Not only smuggling, but paying my suppliers by bidding high on certain objects. Remember that painting you didn’t want to buy and I assured you I would triple my profit?” She laughed. “Well, that was a first payment for some lovely rubies that came later in another statue. It has all been working out quite nicely. Only now it appears everyone’s catching on. Fortunately, this is my biggest and best deal, and when it’s done, I’m going to lose myself in Europe. I’m quite wealthy now, you know.”

Jared found he wanted to touch her beautiful throat, but to choke, not to caress. “How could you do this—”

“To you?” she finished. “Oh, come on now, Jared. This isn’t personal. You never let it become that, did you?” She shook her head in mock sadness. “It’s too bad you found out about the diamonds. I had thought to leave you in charge here while I retired in Europe, but now I’m going to have to kill you.” Her voice was calm, but her eyes sparkled with excitement.

“You wouldn’t do that.” Except that Jared couldn’t be sure of anything about Laranda anymore. He considered reaching for his own gun, but knew he wouldn’t be able to use it on her—even if she didn’t shoot him before he drew it from his holster.

“Oh, Jared, don’t be silly. Of course I would.” She laughed again. “Ivan, aren’t you finished yet? I’ve got things to do.”

That reminded Jared of how Ivan and his companion had broken into his apartment. “A key. They had a key to my apartment. Where did they get that?”

Her brow creased in puzzlement. “How did you know that they—oh, never mind. I had a copy made when I borrowed your car a couple of years ago. I thought it might come in handy one day. Only I’d originally had a different idea in mind.” She gave him a suggestive wink.

Jared shook his head in disbelief. They had been friends! He had trusted her.

Ivan lumbered over. “I’ve untied him, but he won’t wake up yet. He must have been hit pretty hard.”

“Yes, Jared’s a man of many talents.” Laranda handed Ivan the gun. “If he makes a move, shoot him.” She moved closer to Jared and put her hands on his chest caressingly, moving them further inside his jacket. “Ah, here it is.” She slipped the gun out of his holster. Jared’s face fell, and Laranda laughed. “You didn’t think I would forget this, did you? I’m not stupid.”

“You were never that.”

She looked at him as if trying to see his sincerity. Then she continued her search, finding and relieving him of his cell phone as well. Satisfied, she tied his hands together behind his back.

“You could come with me, you know.” She ran a finger slowly down his cheek. “We would be happy in Europe together.”

“Until you tired of me.”

“At least you would be alive.”

Jared knew there was no way he would ever go with Laranda, especially now that he’d glimpsed the depth of the darkness rooted in her soul. She stood for everything he was against, and even to save his life, he couldn’t give in to her. “I thought you were my friend. How can you possibly think a relationship would work between us? Can’t you see? We’re too different. We believe differently.”

“Because you found religion?” sneered Laranda, drawing back from him as if she had been slapped, her beautiful face twisting in anger. “There is no God, Jared. When are you going to understand that? The only thing you get out of life is what you can grab, and that’s what I’m doing. Even if God existed, He couldn’t save you now.”

She whirled and walked toward the door Ivan had come in, trying to move more quickly than her skintight dress allowed. She reminded Jared of an animal stalking its prey.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Cassi ran nearly all the way to the address on Meela’s paper, feeling as though everyone stared at the uncomfortable bulge under her shirt. Only as she reached the corner of the gallery’s street did she pause to catch her breath and take stock of the situation. It was an older, yet well-kept part of town. The streets and sidewalks were crowded with cars and pedestrians, and she couldn’t tell for sure if there was anyone watching the gallery. How awful it would be if she tried to save Jared but ended up leading the thugs to him, or if the FBI stopped her before she could arrive.

The more she studied the situation, the more confused she became. She couldn’t just walk up to the gallery, could she? For an instant, she wished Linden was around so he could help her. She felt horrible now for suspecting him.

“He’s not here, so he can’t help,” she muttered aloud. “It’s up to you to save Jared. Oh, I wish I’d never seen that stupid, ugly Buddha.”

“Want a paper?” asked a boy in front of her.

“Huh?” Cassi focused on him.

“Do you want a paper?”

“No, thank you.” Cassi shook her head and lifted her gaze back to the gallery down the street.

“I know about the Buddha,” the boy said.

Cassi looked back down at him sharply. “What did you say?”

“The Buddha. I heard you talking to yourself about it. I know something about where it is.”

“You do? What?” Surely this was a joke. The boy was trying to panhandle her. Cassi sighed, wishing she could once and for all break the habit of talking to herself.

“Before I help you, I want to know whose side you’re on.”

“The good side, of course.” How else could she explain it to this child, who may or may not have some information?

“People are watching the gallery,” the boy said, though whether he spoke because he was satisfied with her response or because he wanted to prove he knew something, she couldn’t say. “See those two men in front? There’s another one here by the alley, and one in front of the alley on the other side, too. I’ve been watching them, and they haven’t moved. Even before that man came along.”

Cassi’s hopes rose. “What man?” If this boy had seen Jared, maybe he could tell her how he slipped past the men and into the gallery.

The child gave her a passive stare. “You tell me.”

She stared at the boy, coming to a quick decision. “Okay, I’ll tell you. My friend, Jared, came this morning to the gallery. He was dressed in jeans, a white button-down shirt, and a tan jacket. He was carrying something in a green duffel bag.”

“The Buddha?” the boy asked, an eager glint coming into his eyes.

Cassi nodded. “He was supposed to take it to his boss at the gallery, but a lot of people have been after him for it, so he had to be really careful. He thought if he could get it to her, she would call the police and everything would be okay. Except I just found out that she’s the one behind the whole thing. The Buddha is fake and full of smuggled goods. Jared doesn’t know about her, and I’m afraid when she finds out he knows about the Buddha, she’ll kill him.”