You are Mine (17 page)

Caroline shifted in her seat. “That’s true.
But I can’t believe the government would use someone that
young.”

“Oh, they would, all right,” Jae said
enigmatically.

“I guess the world is too dangerous a place
for them not to use anyone they thought would be useful,” Brian
said into the pregnant silence; a silence in which Caroline had
been staring at Jae with full-blown curiosity. “Anyway, Jack also
said that if we can hack it, we shouldn’t contact local police just
yet.”

“Why?”

“Because Brickman is wanted for questioning
in most cases, but if they actually catch him in the act of doing
something illegally then they will have a better chance of keeping
him in jail.”

“But he did kidnap Jack and Tracy last
year,” Caroline argued.

“He
had
them kidnapped, and those
charges would be good for a start, but if he tried something here,
it would make the case against him even stronger. The hope is that
once they have him in their custody, they’ll be able to turn
someone in his organization. Of course, I don’t like the idea,”
Brian admitted with a sigh, “because I want you out of danger as
soon as is humanly possible. But -- ”

“But the safety would be tenuous at best,”
Caroline said, feeling her stomach drop suddenly with trepidation
once again, “because there’s a possibility that they would have to
let him go because of lack of evidence and then maybe he’d come
after me again. And if he does, we’d be in the position of being at
square one for a second time.” Tension straining her spine as she
thought about all they’d been through, she said so passionately
that the words came out as little more than a whisper, “I don’t
want to start all over again. I want our lives back!” No one was
more surprised than she when tears sprang suddenly and her voice
broke. “Damn it! I want our lives back!” She blinked back the tears
but they could be heard in her voice as she said angrily, “So, yes,
let’s lure him in and set him up! Fuck him!”

Brian covered her balled fist with his hand
and squeezed. “That’s right: fuck him. You keep that happy thought
until we actually do.” He rubbed her shoulder. “You all right?”

She nodded. “I’ll be better once this is
over.” She looked at both men. “So, now we wait.”

“Now we wait,” Brian agreed quietly.

Eyes narrowed, Jae inclined his head. “Let’s
do this shit.”

***

FROM a mile and a half away, Brickman took
the binoculars from his eyes. “Unfortunately, I can’t read lips,
but if I had to go by body language, I’d say they’re expecting us.
Ms. Singleton appears to have had a small tantrum, and they were on
that terrace for two hours, about thirty minutes longer than usual,
as if they were waiting for someone.”

“So, what do we do now, boss?” Ivan asked as
he took the binoculars and put them in their case.

“Well, they’ve finally gone in and if them
turning off the lights is any indication, they’re in for the night.
We’re going to stick to the second plan I came up with. We’ll
strike early in the morning when I think they’re getting ready to
go. They will at least be distracted at that time with checking out
and all that that involves. Right now they’re surely on guard and
will most likely be so for most of the night and into the morning,
thinking I’ll strike in the dark. Well, we’ll get them right at
dawn.” He turned to the second man with him. “Where is this empty
house you’ve secured for the night for us, Jasper?”

“Up the road a piece, boss, north of here.
Your brother is already there.”

Brickman frowned at the mention of Jonathan.
He’d felt that in order to get his brother to come and behave he
had to remind him that if he went down, he’d bring him down right
along with him. Jonathan hadn’t responded and had only snatched up
his jacket and left the room. He believed he could bring his
younger brother in line again; he just didn’t have time to do it
now. “When this is all over, I’ll take care of him,” he
muttered.

“Sorry, sir?” Jasper queried. “I didn’t
quite hear you.”

“Lead the way to our lodgings, Jasper. We’ve
got a busy dawn ahead of us, and I need to rest up for it.”

***

“COOP.”

“Jack. How are you?” Cooper had been
expecting to hear from Jack Winthrop. He’d heard through the
grapevine that Jack was looking for information about Paragon, and
he’d known that it would only be a matter of time before he reached
him.

“I’m fine. Cesare. Who is she?”

Cooper didn’t even pretend not to know her.
“Sorry, but you would need a security clearance that you don’t have
in order for me to share that information.”

“All right. White hat?”

Coop hesitated, and sensing it, Jack
pounced, “Let me put it this way. Her safety in the situation on
Mackinac, which I damn well
know
those jackasses that you
work for are damn well aware of, depends on your answer.”

Coop bristled. He knew his bosses’ decision
not to share nicely with others would come back to bite him in the
ass; that wasn’t the problem. “Are you threatening her, Winthrop?”
he asked quietly.

“Not a threat. You know as well as I do that
it’s important to know who the players are in any fight and just
who they’re fighting for.”

“Let’s just say that this thing with
Brickman isn’t her fight, so she shouldn’t be involved.”

Jack was quiet for no more than a few
seconds, and then, “Ah, so you’ve got a rogue in your midst. Went
off the reservation, did she? Either way, we both know that by
making contact with the Keenans, your girl made it her fight. So my
information needs have not changed: is she still a white hat, or
has she abandoned the reservation entirely?”

Coop swore quietly. If Cesare had been
standing in front of him at that moment, he would have cheerfully
strangled her. “There’s been no abandonment,” he finally told Jack.
And to ensure that Jack knew without a doubt that she shouldn’t be
touched if it could be helped, added, “on either side.”

“I’ll let the Keenans and my man on the
ground know that she was trying to help. Of course we’re grateful
to her for the heads up, Coop, but she sounds like she needs to be
reined in.”

Coop hung up, angrier than he could ever
remember being. No, Cesare was not supposed to be involved with the
Brickman debacle, whatever it was, but he had no idea if she was or
not. She’d turned off her phone, so he’d been forced to go to the
hotel. And, of course she was no longer there.

Chapter Twelve

Upstairs bedroom, Masco Cottage, 5:59
a.m.

“I certainly wish he’d hurry up and get here
if he’s coming,” Caroline muttered as she tossed her makeup kit in
her suitcase and shut and locked it. Nervously, she picked up her
gun, made sure the safety was on, put it back in her purse, pulled
it out again…put it back. “At least the storm has ended,” she said
to Brian, who was checking the room to make sure they hadn’t left
anything behind.

“Yes, but it knocked the fucking power
out.”

“Well at least we had the forethought to get
those hurricane oil lanterns at the store yesterday when we heard
about the storm.” Brian only grunted in response, and Caroline
sighed. They were both working on frayed nerves. Neither one had
slept during the night and they were worried about their home.
Brian had thought to call Jack and ask him to have the house
checked on just in case Brickman had gotten in, and Jack had called
back to report that he apparently had broken in, and had trashed
the house.

After hearing that, she’d again found
herself fighting back tears. This would make the second time that
mad man had invaded her home. The first time, when Brian and she
were dating, someone had actually died and she hadn’t been able to
face moving back in after decamping to Brian’s while cleanup took
place. The condominium had gone on the market immediately after the
cleanup. “Well, we’re not moving this time,” she decided.

She looked at Brian. Normally, his six foot
frame projected an air of confidence and prowess, but while both
traits were still there, tension and fear could also be added to
the list. She walked over to him and rubbed his back. “Didn’t count
on your skinny old lady being such a heavy burden, did you?”

He smiled and pulled her into his arms. “Oh,
I knew what I was getting,” he said fondly, his chin resting on her
head. “A damsel in distress wrapped up in this beautiful package.
Knew it and went for you anyway. I couldn’t resist.”

“Not sure I like the whole damsel in
distress description,” she murmured as she burrowed in and took
comfort in his familiar scent, “but I guess I’ll put up with
it.”

“Well, you weren’t in distress when we first
met,” he conceded. “At that point I just knew I had to have you, or
find myself a moor somewhere to wander, all the while howling at
the moon, and wondering futilely what fresh hell I’d brought upon
myself by letting you slip through my fingers.”

Caroline raised her head and shook it at
him, a wry smile on her face. “Both Emily Brontë
and
Dorothy
Parker in one sentence? Geez, you are stressed.”

“Hush,” he said and pushed her head back
down. “I’m not finished. Now where was I? Oh yes, crazy-assed
Brickman suddenly entered the picture deciding for some unknown
reason that
he
just had to have you. It’s been trying, but I
never once considered giving you up.”

“Never?”

He didn’t answer, but lifted her chin and
seeing his intent, she stood on her toes to meet his mouth. Slow
and methodical, the kiss was all the more intimate for its comfort
and reaffirmation. Eyes closed, Caroline sucked gently and briefly
on his seeking tongue, before slipping her own into his mouth where
he did the same.

They broke from the kiss and he rested his
forehead on hers. “I’m going to go downstairs and get Jae so we can
check the rest of the house, all right?” he whispered.

Eyes still closed, she nodded and pursed her
lips in mute request for another kiss. When he obliged, she pushed
back from him. “Go on, do your manly-man thing. I’ll be down in a
minute.”

A quick grin flashed across his face and he
patted her butt suggestively. “You and I know
which
manly-man thing we’d both rather I be doing right now, but
unfortunately the other has to take precedence for the time
being.”

She snickered and pushed him away. “Go!” she
commanded laughingly. The humor disappeared abruptly when he
snatched up his gun from the dresser before heading out.

***

OUTSIDE perimeter, Masco Cottage,
6:04:00

Barely able to contain his excitement over
the knowledge that he was finally going to get even with his
brother for what he’d done to him, Jonathan studied Alex as he
awaited his next orders. They, Ivan, Jasper and another lackey
named Darren were yards from Masco Cottage, once again going over
the best way to achieve access.

“All right, boys, the sky is starting to
lighten. Ivan and Jonathan, you take the front and Jasper and
Darren, you take the back. I’ll make my entrance once one of you
gives the all clear.”

Make his entrance
. Jonathan refrained
from shaking his head in disgust. His brother talked like this was
some sort of Hollywood production. “Hell, he may as well have said
‘I’m ready for my close up, Mr. Demille’,” he muttered in a low
tone. That had been the problem all along. In his brother’s mind,
he was above the fray, a fray he’d created. He never usually got
his hands dirty, coming in after all the smoke had cleared. Or in
his mind, Jonathan thought snidely, coming in dramatically
through
the smoke, as if it were a scene that called for
London fog and him looking mysterious in a trench coat and a
fedora.

“What did I just say Jonathan?” Brickman
asked coldly, making Jonathan jump guiltily. He tried to snatch
parts of the conversation he heard from the ether, and then
remembering that they’d already been over this a half dozen times
and that his brother never varied the order of things, said, “You
were saying how it has to be a coordinated attack, and that time is
important.”

“
Timing
, baby brother,” Brickman
corrected. “Timing is crucial so let’s make sure your watches are
synchronized.”

As you wish, Ms. Desmond, ma’am.
Jonathan saluted his brother and then pretended to look at his
watch. Looking up again, he caught Ivan’s gaze and gave an
infinitesimal nod.

***

MACKINAC Island State Park, 6:04:30

CESARE kept her crouch behind a stand of
bushes and using her scope, watched the five men carefully. She was
trying to decide if she should just kill Brickman outright or call
the police and have them arrested.
Killing him makes the most
sense, of course
.
And he’d be easy enough to pick off from
here.
She checked her magazine to make sure it was loaded, and
then patted the pockets on her flak jacket to make sure she had the
extra clips.

Though camping in the state forest wasn’t
allowed, she’d spent the night there, holing up in one of its caves
with a sleeping bag and rain gear. She hadn’t been able to resist
coming back. After delivering the note warning the Keenans, she’d
turned to look back and had seen Caroline cupping her stomach in
that way pregnant women are prone to do. Just that one glimpse had
reminded her of her own mother and her mother’s three sisters.
Caroline had a similar build and skin tone, and seeing those things
had made Cesare long for home and the nurturing culture of the
women folk of her family.

She couldn’t go home of course, but she’d
grown sentimental and thought if her mother or one of her aunts
were in danger she’d want someone like her looking out for them.
And being her mother’s daughter, she also felt the same sense of
sisterhood with Caroline that she always felt for other black
women, whether they felt it or not.