Lillian Duncan - Until Death Do Us Part (21 page)

CHAPTER 53

Denny Reagan stood at the front of the stall glaring down at them. His boots were scuffed and worn. His long black hair and handlebar mustache made him appear to be the typical bad guy in those old western movies. All he needed was a black cowboy hat to complete the picture.

Reggie refused to look at him.
Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing her fear. From his general body build and height, she was sure he was the man who’d thrown her in the closet. And from that very short encounter, she’d learned he was a bully who liked to wield his power over other people.

If she didn’t look at him, he couldn’t see how scared she was.

“I told you I needed Billy and Dylan here.” His voice had the same twang as Robbie’s.

“They wouldn’t come. Some people were coming about the fire. I tried.” Robbie’s voice bordered on a whine.

Denny’s eyes glittered with anger. “I’ll find a way to get them here.”

Theresa glared at the man. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. If you do that, Billy’s going to tear you apart limb by limb.
What you need to do is untie us before this thing goes any further.”

The man
threw his head back and laughed. “Really. I don’t think so. I’m the one in control. Your wonderful Billy Clyde has been running around like a chicken with his head cut off. He has no idea what’s going on here.”

“So you think.” Her voice challenged him.

“So I know. And he won’t have any idea until it’s too late for him to do anything about it. Now, you’re going to help me get him here.”

Theresa’s chin jutted out, and she shook her head.
“Not going to happen.”

Reggie admired the woman’s spunk
. She was terrified and wasn’t afraid to admit it. Theresa had been with Billy Clyde a long time. Guess his courage had rubbed off on her. She only prayed she’d have that much time with Dylan.

From the looks of things, she didn’t think she would.

He pulled out his gun and aimed it at them. “Oh, it’s going to happen.”

“H
er cell phone’s out in her purse. In the truck.” Robbie walked back into view. His voice sounded panicked. Reggie had the feeling the young man didn’t want any part of this mess. “I can call him and tell him she needs her medical bag. He’ll bring it to her. I know he will.”

Denny Reagan pulled his eyes from Theresa’s and looked at Robbie.
“I suppose that would work. Go get—.”

“Robbie, are you in here?” A young woman’s voice.

No. No. No. The last thing they needed was another person here

“LaTisha. Stay out there. I’m coming.
Don’t come back here.”

Her voice came closer. “Why? I can come—”

“Stay out there, babe.” Robbie’s voice held a twinge of panic. “Don’t come back here. Go outside and wait for me.”

LaTisha must not have any
idea what was going on.

A moment later, a beautiful young African-American woman ambled around the corner. Her stomach led the way. “What are—” Her gaze fell to Theresa and Reggie propped up against the horse stall. Her mouth dropped open. “Miss Theresa.”

She turned to her husband. “What is going—”

Denny Reagan walked over to her.
“It’s none of your concern. It’s family business. Robbie, you get her up to the house. I’ll take care of things down here.”

A
myriad of emotions played on LaTisha’s face. “Oh, Robbie. What have you done?”

“I ain’t done nothing.”
He wouldn’t meet his wife’s eyes. “Just taking care of the family.”

Her hand covered her mouth.
“Robbie. What did they talk you into?”

Denny moved closer to the pregnant woman.
“I said take control of that wife of yours or I will. Now, boy.”

LaTisha turned on Denny. “You, this is all your fault. I should have known you were up to no good.
All that whispering every time I walked into the room. I’m not letting you do this.”

“Too late, m
issy. It’s all ready been done.” He looked at his watch. “In fact, just a few more hours and we’ll all be rich. We just gotta keep Billy Clyde from figuring it out before we can hit the trucks.”

Reggie stared at him. Money. It was about money and not the president. They’d been on the wrong track completely.

“Oh, you mean about the Treasury Department? Too late.” Theresa’s voice held a taunt. “He’s all ready figured it out. You better call it off and go home. It’s all over. When you go for the trucks, you’ll be arrested.”

Fury flamed from the man’s eyes. He turned away from LaTisha and back toward Theresa, his face a mask of anger.
Not sure if that was the tact she’d have taken, but Theresa had a mind of her own.

Anything
to keep them busy so he wouldn’t notice what she was doing. She twisted her fingers searching for the end of the rope tying her hands.

“What are you talking about?” He glared down at Theresa.

There she had the rope. Now if she could just untie it.

Theresa glared back at him.
“You heard me. Did you really think Billy wouldn’t figure it out? You know how smart he is.”

“Then why are
n’t they here arresting us?”

Theresa shrugged.
“It’s only a matter of time.”

Her finger pulled the rope through one of the knots.
The rope shifted.

“He didn’t know who was behind it. Just what the plan was.
It’s a trap. A trap that will lead the police right back here—to you.”

Denny Reagan
uttered an oath. He pointed the gun toward LaTisha and Robbie. “Get her up to the house and call your daddy. Tell him not to do it.”

Robbie grabbed her elbow but LaTisha pulled away from him. “I’m not going anywhere with you. I can’t believe this. How could you do this?”
LaTisha’s caramel brown face darkened, her voice filled with the horror of the situation.

“I told you I didn’t have a choice.
It’s not my fault.” Robbie whined. “They were going to take away our land.”

“You said it wouldn’t affect us.”
She put her hands on her stomach. “Our baby. Why would you do this to our baby?”

“It wasn’t supposed to be like t
his. Uncle Denny said it would be easy money, but he had to get inside Miss Theresa’s house to get to the computers. He needed the computers. We weren’t going to hurt anyone.” His voice broke. “It’s not my fault.”

“That’s right. It’s not his fault. It’s the government’s fault and we’re going to borrow some of the government’s money to get this family out of the mess they’re in. And you’re going to help us.”

Reggie pulled another loop through the knot. It was only a matter of time until her hands would be free. Keep them busy, LaTisha. As long as LaTisha was the center of attention, they wouldn’t notice what she was doing.

LaTisha
put a protective hand around her belly. “I’m not helping anyone. I have no idea what’s going on, but this is going to stop right now.” She moved toward them. “I’m untying them.”

Denny m
oved toward LaTisha, his face contorted with anger. He pushed the pregnant woman and she toppled against Reggie and Theresa.

CHAPTER
54

“I feel more worthless than a tick on a hound.” Dylan paced in front of the cabin. Billy sat on a chair he’d rescued from the deck.

“I know. My own house and they kicked us out.” Billy Clyde laughed. “Like we were in the way or something.”

Mark Johnson walked out of what used to be the garage, looking more like an insurance salesman then a spy. That phone seemed permanently attached to his ear. Since he’d arrived, Dylan hadn’t seen him off the phone for more than thirty seconds at a time.

At least the man had a smile on his face this time. Dylan had been wondering if he knew how to smile. He walked over to them. “Things are under control. The president wasn’t happy about the change of plans but he’s
already on his way out of town for an unannounced visit to Dallas.”

“Sounds good.”

Mark Johnson nodded. “And as far as you’re concerned, the investigation’s over. We were able to recover the information, thanks to your backup system. No harm—no foul.”

“So,
we’re down to one problem.” Billy Clyde looked grim. “Who’s responsible for this mess?”

“We’re working on it.” Mark Johnson shook his head. “They aren’t finding any usable prints at the moment but the key is that file they had you delete. We’ve got people rounding them up. We’ll find out what’s going on. Don’t worry about that.”

Billy Clyde looked grim. “I do worry about that. We’re assuming the president was the target but we don’t know that for sure and until we do know it for sure…”

Dylan understood where the big man was going with his line of thinking. “Then whoever’s responsible for the kidnapping and house fire is free to do whatever they want.”

****

LaTis
ha sobbed and held her stomach as she glared up at the man who’d just pushed her down.

Robbie rushed to his wife. “Are you ok?” He star
ed up at Denny Reagan. “You got no right to put your hands on my wife.”

This wasn’t good. Things were getting out of control and when that happened people got hurt. Reggie tugged on the rope and felt it fall away from her wrists.
Thank you, God.             

Denny marched toward them.

She grabbed the rope and twisted it around her wrist.

He stopped in front of Theresa. “You tell me what you know or I’m going t
o kill your friend right now.” He slowly aimed the gun at Reggie.

LaTisha sobbed.

Theresa’s shoulders sagged. “I don’t know anything. I just said that in hopes you would let us leave. Billy has no idea what’s going on. He thinks this is about an assassination attempt on the president not stealing money.”

Denny’s mustache twitched as he smiled.
“Good to know. Good to know. Robbie, call your dad and tell him it’s a go.”

“Do not listen to him.” Theresa’s eyes landed on Robbie. “You haven’t done anything at this point that can’t be fixed. It can be worked out. You want to be
able to watch your child grow up, don’t you?”

Denny’s hand darted out and slapped Theresa across the face. “You shut up. Or you’ll be sorry.”

Blood trickled from her lip.

“I will not shut up. Why should Robbie and LaTisha’s life be ruined because of your greed?
Billy was right about you.”

His hand raised up again. Reggie flinched waiting for him to hit Theresa again. “You don’t know nothing about it. It’s so easy for you, thanks
to Billy and his money. But life isn’t like that in the real world.” His hand lowered but was still in striking position.

Theresa licked at the b
lood oozing from her lip. “I understand how upset you’re are. But let me help me. Like you said, Billy has money. We can help.”

Denny’s threw his head back and he laughed. “Yeah, right. You’ll help me right to a jail cell.”

“Billy knows people. He can help. He can fix this.”

Denny pointed the gun at her. “I don’t need nobody’s help. I take care of my own.”
He looked over at Robbie and the still sobbing LaTisha. “Tie her up. We gotta get going. They’ll be safe here while we’re gone. I’ll take care of them later.”

“I’m not going to tie up LaTisha.”

“Look boy, you gotta. If you don’t, she’ll be calling the cops the minute our backs are turned. We ain’t gonna hurt her. It’s just to keep her here until we’re finished. Once we got the money, she’ll be singing a different tune.”

Robbie’s eyes darted around the horse stall. He shook his head and looked as if he might be ill. “I can’t.”

“Fine. Go out to the truck and find that cell phone of hers. I’ll take care of things here.”

“Don’t hurt her.”

“I won’t.”

Robbie stood up. His hand trailed LaTisha’s arm.

“Robbie, don’t leave me. You can’t trust him.” She grabbed at him but he was out of her reach. “Robbie.”

“It’ll be all right, Tish
. Just for a few hours and then it’ll all be over.” He turned his back.

Denny grabbed some rope draped over the stall. He turned back to
LaTisha. She crawled backwards away from him. When her back hit the wall, a look of panic crossed her face. “Yea, just a few hours and it will all be
over
.”

“Don’t fight him, LaTisha. You don’t want to hurt the baby.” Reggie cried out.
She’d be able to free all of them after they left and get far away from these crazy people.

“No.” Her foot kicked out at Denny.
“Don’t trust him.”

“Let him tie you up. He
said he wouldn’t hurt you.” Theresa urged the young pregnant woman.

“Listen to your friend, LaTisha. I’m not going to hurt you. I just gotta make sure you don’t do something stupid like call the cops while we’re gone.”

LaTisha sobbed and kicked at him but it didn’t matter. He managed to tie her up. He stood and walked to the stall door.

He turned back, a cruel glint in his eyes.
He sneered at them and said, “Robbie’s right about one thing. In a few hours it will all be over.”