Worth Dying For (23 page)

“Yeah, I thought about that, too.”

“When are you hooking up with Caroline again?”

“I was supposed to go over in the morning, but I called and cancelled. I need to give myself a little rest and figure out how to cover all these bruises.”

“All right, you get some rest and give me a call tomorrow afternoon so we can go over our next step.”

“I’ll talk with you later, then.” Rheyna hung up the phone and leaned back on the couch. She stretched her legs out on the coffee table. They looked as if someone had run a metal rake over them. It had taken her quite awhile to pick the tiny pieces of wood out of her skin.

She grabbed the tube of ointment off the table and spread the cream over her cuts, flinching from the sting. It would be several days before she would be able to wear shorts around Caroline without generating questions. She was thankful that bruises and cuts were all she had ended up with. She would have had one hell of a time trying to explain a broken arm or leg—or worse, a bullet hole. She leaned her head back against the couch and closed her eyes.

Chapter 17

Artie parked his rental car directly in front of the bank. His hand trembled as he removed the key. He pulled a hanky out of his jacket pocket and mopped the sweat from his forehead. He glanced at the manila folder lying on the seat beside him. Surely, it had been more than enough time, he thought as he picked it up. He rubbed his hands together in an attempt to circulate his blood. After a few seconds, he held his hands out, palm down. He breathed a small sigh of relief. The shaking had almost subsided. He smiled as he rifled through the ashtray for some change.

He got out of the car and walked over to the meter. He looked up and down the street and then inserted a quarter into the machine. As he turned to go in the bank, he found himself looking directly into the chest of a young man. The force nearly knocked his glasses from his face.

“I am so sorry,” the young man with dark, wavy, slicked backed hair said as he jerked headphones from his ears.

“Why don’t you watch where you’re going?” Artie yelled. He bent down to pick up the documents that were now strewn all over the sidewalk.

“Here, let me help you,” the young man said as he picked up several papers and a white envelope.

Artie snatched the items from the young man’s hand. “I can do it myself,” he snapped.

“I’m … I’m really sorry,” the young man repeated.

Artie’s nodded at the MP3 player attached to the young man’s waistband. “In the future, maybe you should turn that thing down a notch and not look at the ground when you walk.”

The young man smiled, gave Artie a mock salute, and put the headphones back on. “I’ll try to remember that. Have a good day.”

Artie watched him walk down the sidewalk.
Kids these days just don’t listen to anything they’re told
, he thought as he walked through the bank door.

###

Ron looked up at the sound of beeping. He glanced at the large, flashing red letters on the computer monitor for several seconds, and then moved his mouse pointer over the link. He stared at the screen as the form began filling in the blanks. He couldn’t believe it—his program had worked.

He pressed the ‘enter’ key on the keyboard and waited for the printer to spit out the report. He tore off the printout, and laid it on his desk. He pulled out his laptop drawer, grabbed a ruler, and used it to scan down the lines of data. He highlighted several rows and then walked over to the filing cabinet, pulled out the top drawer, and thumbed through the folders until he found the one he was looking for. He took the folder and sat back down at his desk, flipping open the file to compare the numbers.

“This can’t be right.” He double-checked the numbers again to be sure. He turned back to the monitor and started tapping on the keyboard. He looked at the list of case files, shook his head, and then picked up the phone. “I don’t believe this.” He started to dial a number when a knock at the door stopped him. He laid the phone back in its cradle. “Come in.”

Sarah Avery poked her head around the door. “I have your mail.” She handed him a magazine and a large, white envelope. “The envelope was hand-couriered about fifteen minutes ago.”

“Thank you, Sarah.” He waited for her to leave and then removed the rubber band, tossing the magazine to the side. The envelope had ‘Urgent Delivery’ stamped across it.

He ripped the top of the envelope off and pulled out the contents. He flipped through the photos and then picked up the phone. “Come on, come on. Pick up, Kyle,” he urged as the phone rang repeatedly. “Damn,” he said when Edwards’ voicemail answered. “Kyle, this is Ron. I need you to call me back as soon as possible. I think I found our leak.” He hung up the phone and picked up the top photo. He shook his head in disbelief, not believing what he was seeing.

###

It had been two days since Rheyna had snuck into Bayshore, and Edwards and Laura were busy doing their own Intel regarding the smuggling operation. She had been able to get out of seeing Caroline on both days, but Caroline was not about to let her get away with a third brush-off. Today was the day they had made plans to have dinner with Phil and Jesse, and Caroline was not taking no for an answer. Regardless of how much her shoulder hurt, she wasn’t about to try to get out of it.
 

She watched Caroline walk across the driveway. Caroline opened the car door and slid in beside her. Rheyna waited for her to clip on her seatbelt before pulling out of the driveway.

“Are you hungry?” Caroline asked.

“I’m starving.”

“Good, I think you’re really going to like this place.”

“Where am I heading, then?”

“University Avenue. We, my dear, are going to the Cheesecake Factory.”

Rheyna’s look was incredulous. “Cheesecake Factory? I want real food, woman, not dessert.”

Caroline patted Rheyna’s knee, still fresh with bruises, and it took everything in her not to flinch.

“Oh relax, why don’t you? Live a little. Besides, they’re only famous for cheesecake. They do sell other food,” Caroline said as she opened the glove box. She fumbled through the stack of CDs. “Mind if we listen to some music?” she asked, and then selected one without waiting for Rheyna’s answer. She slid the CD in and turned up the volume.

They drove in silence with Sophie B. Hawkins playing in the background. They slowly made their way through downtown and after a few minutes, they came to the main intersection.

“Make a right at the next light and find a spot wherever you can,” Caroline said.

Rheyna got lucky and pulled up in front of the restaurant just as a minivan vacated a prime spot.

Jesse was standing in the lobby, waiting for them. He rushed over and then quickly ushered them to a table in the back where Phil was waiting with a very handsome waiter.

“Hello, Ladies. I’m Josh, and I’ll be your server tonight. What can I get you to drink?”

Caroline slid into the seat next to Rheyna. “Hello, Josh. I’ll have a glass of white Zin, please.”

“And I’ll have a bottle of Michelob Light,” Rheyna said.

He placed the menus on the table. “Okay, I’ll be right back with your drinks and give you a chance to look at the menu.”

“So, how have you two been since the last time we saw you? Staying out of trouble, I hope?” Phil teased after the waiter walked away.

“Now Phil, you know I’m a good girl,” Caroline chided back.

“That’s not what I heard,” Jesse continued the tease.

Caroline pretended to be hurt. “Ah, come on, Jesse. I thought you were on my side.”

Jesse put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “You know that you’re my best, best, bestest friend in the whole wide world,” he said as he planted a big, juicy kiss on her cheek, complete with sound effects.

She playfully pushed him away. “Jesse, you just aren’t right.”

“You think that’s bad, wait until I tell you my latest joke.”

“Oh no, Jesse, not that one again,” Phil said, rolling his eyes heavenward.

“Come on, Phil, honey. You know it’s not that bad,” Jesse teased his lover.

Rheyna laughed at the playful banter going back and forth between the two men. They fit together like a pot and lid, and she loved it.

She shook her head at Jesse. “Okay, Jesse, the suspense is killing me. Will you please tell us the joke?”

He waited for Josh to set down their drinks. “Nope, I’m not going to tell you now.”

Caroline shook her finger at him. “Jesse, you can’t string us along and then not tell us.”

He looked at Phil.

“Oh, go ahead and tell them,” Phil said in resignation.

Jesse smiled and then leaned in closer to the table. “Okay, here goes. A woman went to see her doctor and said, ‘Doctor, I have this terrible rash.’ She raised her blouse to reveal a large ‘T’-shaped design on her chest. ‘Now, that is the strangest rash I’ve ever seen,’ the doctor said as she examined her. ‘It’s from my boyfriend,’ she explained. ‘He goes to Tennessee and refuses to remove his letter jacket when we make love.’ The doctor took out her pad and wrote out a prescription for a tube of ointment.

The next day, a different woman came in with a very similar rash in the shape of an ‘O’. ‘How did you get that?’ the doctor asked. ‘My boyfriend goes to Ohio State and won’t take his letter jacket off when we make love.’ The doctor smiled and wrote out another prescription for ointment.

The next day, a very beautiful woman came in to see the doctor. She also had a rash on her chest but in the shape of an ‘M’. So the doctor took one look at it and said, ‘Let me guess: your boyfriend goes to Michigan?’ The woman shook her head, smiled, and said, “No, actually, my girlfriend goes to Washington.”

Rheyna looked at Caroline and Caroline looked at her and then they looked at Jesse. The look on his face was priceless. He looked as is if his joke was the best thing since the invention of the wheel. Rheyna and Caroline lost it. Rheyna was laughing so hard, that she had to use her napkin to wipe away the tears. Phil’s face was dead serious and that made them laugh harder.

“You know, when he first told me that joke, I didn’t get it. I couldn’t figure out how she got the ‘W’ to look like an ‘M’ if she went to Washington,” Phil said.

“Please, please, you two have got to stop. I can’t take anymore,” Caroline begged as tears ran down her cheeks.

“No, he’s right,” Jesse nodded. “Would you believe that I actually had to draw him a diagram?”

“No, you didn’t!” Rheyna managed to get out before another fit of laughter took hold.

Jesse hung his head in a solemn fashion. “I’m afraid so,” he said. “Yep, I had to explain that it had to do with numbers, the numbers of six and nine.”

If Rheyna laughed any harder, she thought she would break a rib.

They were still laughing when Josh reappeared to take their order. “I must have missed a really good conversation,” he said as he replaced their drinks with fresh ones.

Rheyna nodded her head. “You sure did,” she said, trying to pull it together.

“Well, in that case, I’m sorry I missed it.”

“Oh no, be glad you did,” Phil said with a grin.

Josh pulled out a pen and paper pad. “Okay, then. Have you folks decided what you’d like to order?” he asked.

The four of them looked at each other and busted out laughing.

Jesse was the first to recover. “I think you might have to give us a few more minutes.”