You are Mine (19 page)

As Caroline watched, the model extended her
arm and pointed east. “There’s a cave about twenty yards that way.
Hurry!”

Caroline noticed she carried a phone and
said, “Thank you. My husband’s been shot and my bodyguard
is…is…hurt at Masco Cottage. Please call the police.” She took off
towards the cave, never questioning why Cesare didn’t offer to
help. She didn’t have the time to think about it. She was
determined that she would face Brickman down. She was tired of
running. Finding the cave, she ducked inside. She took a magazine
from her pocket and loaded her gun again, and she waited. She knew
Brickman would soon be there. She could hear him coming.

***

“FAN out,” Brickman told his men after he’d
lost sight of Caroline. “If you find her, don’t touch her, just
call for me.” He hurried off into the direction in which he thought
he’d seen her run. A few minutes later he realized he’d gone in the
wrong direction and stopped to assess his options. And then he
heard it: a sneeze. Smiling in anticipation, he turned in the
direction of the sound.

CAROLINE shivered and sneezed. She sniffled
and sneezed again, three times in rapid succession. She didn’t
bother to muffle the sound. She was rewarded a few minutes later
when Brickman came sauntering into the clearing in front of the
cave. She watched him, amazed that this pale little man who looked
so harmless was the monster who had been terrorizing her for the
past two years. She lifted her gun. “Don’t come any closer.”

Brickman stopped, and then to her amazement,
he smiled. “Why, you can’t possibly mean that, my dear,” he began
and took a step forward.

Caroline shot between his feet. He stopped
immediately, actually looking put upon. “I said don’t move,” she
warned between clenched teeth. The man is delusional, she thought
as she stared at him. His once spotless white suit was now covered
in grass stains and dirt and his blonde hair was lying flat in
areas and sticking straight up in others. But his eyes, she
thought. His eyes held an unholy light that bespoke pure evil. She
had to shoot him. She knew it and had relished the thought of doing
so all during her trip through the forest. But now that the moment
was upon her, she found it difficult to shoot.

“You won’t shoot me,” he said with full
confidence. “You’re unable to,” he finished and began walking
toward her again. Again, she shot between his feet, telling herself
that if he moved again, she’d take out his knee or leg.

“You won’t shoot me,” he said again and this
time there was amusement in his tone. Having no choice, Caroline
did what was necessary and shot him in the knee, but her bullet was
not the only one she heard. Another exploded from a gun at the
exact same moment and Brickman was spun around by its force.

“She won’t, but I will,” Brian said to the
man who now lay prone at his feet.

Caroline let out a cry that held both
surprise and elation and ran over to her husband. “You’re all
right,” she exclaimed. “Oh, Brian, you’re all right!” Making sure
she was careful of the arm held against his body in a makeshift
sling, she hugged him around the waist. “I was so scared.”

“Me too, baby,” Brian admitted as he looked
down at an unconscious Brickman while he pressed a kiss into
Caroline’s hair and held her close with his good arm. “Me too.”

***

BRIAN awoke with a start and automatically
reached for Caroline before he remembered where he was. After
making their way back to the cottage, he and Caroline had been
airlifted to a hospital in a town called Petoskey, which was about
forty-one miles away from the island. The island’s medical center
could have handled them, but he’d wanted to check on Jae as well as
get Caroline and himself looked at, and both of them needed rest.
Jae had been airlifted minutes after the police had arrived at the
cottage. The bullet had gone through Brian’s shoulder, leaving a
small exit wound in the back. Jae had been shot in both the head
and the arm. The wound to his head was only a flesh wound and the
bullet had creased his scalp, while the second bullet had not
exited his body, glancing off bone in his arm before settling near
his rib.

Jae was going to be okay, but he likely
would have died if emergency services hadn’t been called so
quickly. Brian sighed and shifted, wishing for his wife. She had
her own room down the hall and had been given a clean bill of
health by doctors. She and the baby were fine. He knew she was
resting, but he just had to see her. He threw the covers back off
his legs. He heard the door open, but didn’t look up, in no mood to
argue with the nurse about him leaving his bed.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Brian looked up and smiled. Her hair was a
matted mess and the hospital gown she wore was far removed from her
usual fashion style. His heart lifted. She was all his. “Hi. I was
just coming to get you.”

“You shouldn’t be out of bed,” Caroline
said, rushing across the room to the bed where she gently pushed
him back against the pillows and then began to fix the covers.

More tired than he wanted to admit, Brian
went down easy and let her fuss a bit before taking her hand. “I
miss you.”

She bent and kissed his forehead, her lips
lingering for a few seconds. “I miss you too.” She pulled a chair
over and sat next to the bed. “Are you in pain? Do you need
anything?” She put her hand on his forehead in the way his mother
used to do to check his temperature.

He took her hand and kissed her fingers. “My
temperature hasn’t changed in the quarter of a minute since you
checked when you kissed me,” he teased her and smiled when she
flushed guiltily. “I’m fine, temperature’s good. They’ve got some
powerful antibiotics here.”

“And good doctors. How’s your wound?”

“Aggravated and hot. In other words, as well
as can be expected. How are you two?”

“Baby and I are fine,” Caroline said with a
soft smile that appeared and disappeared just as quickly. “I want
to go home,” she whispered as if she were confessing a sin.

“As do I. I’m getting sprung tomorrow
morning,” Brian said with a relieved grin. “What about you?”

“This afternoon. They just want me to take
it easy and rest as much as I can.”

“Then that’s what you’ll do. Climb in here
with me.”

Caroline didn’t need any urging, and being
careful of his arm, joined him in the bed to take her usual
position with her head on his chest. She entangled her legs with
his. “I don’t want to leave here without you.”

“And I don’t want you to,” Brian said.
“We’ll see if they’ll bring a cot in or something.”

“Yes, but that will just be for show,
because unless it’s uncomfortable for you, I’ll sleep with you in
this bed.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Brian
agreed, but knew his words were falling on deaf ears because his
wife had dropped off to sleep.

AN hour later Brian looked up from the
newspaper he was reading when his door opened again. He shook his
head before Jack Winthrop could open his mouth to greet him. Moving
the newspaper aside, he showed him a sleeping Caroline and then put
his finger to his lips. “She needs the rest,” he whispered.

“Oh,” Jack said in understanding in a quiet
voice. “How is she? How’s the baby?”

“They’re both doing just fine,” Brian
answered and folded the newspaper to shake his friend’s hand. “How
are you, Jacques?”

Jack was lowering his long frame into the
chair next to the bed. “Quite well compared to you, thanks.”

“You didn’t bring Tracy with you?”

“She wanted to come, but had to attend a
closing on one of her properties. At any rate, I’m not just here to
see how you’re doing. I’ve also come to learn all you know about
Brickman.”

Brian nodded. “We’ve talked to everyone else
over the past twenty-four hours, why not you?”

Jack grunted. “Been bugged by the local
police, huh?”

Brian snorted. “And the state police, the
FBI and the DEA.”

Nodding, Jack said, “I guess the state
because much of what happened took place in the state park, and you
already know why the FBI and DEA are interested.”

“Right. Okay, so I’ll start with Jonathan
Brickman. Quite simply, he saved us. After all the smoke had
cleared from those flash bangs they’d thrown into the house and
Caroline had disappeared, he took care of my wound as best he could
and then told me where she had gone with Brickman hot on her
trail.”

“He didn’t say why he was doing it?”

“I didn’t ask. My primary concern was
Caroline, so I grabbed my gun and headed out.”

“And Jae? Did Jonathan Brickman take care of
him as well?”

“Yes, I believe so. He and the guy he was
with said they’d take care of my friend. They also said that they’d
already called 9-1-1 and told the dispatcher that Jae was shot
twice and needed a hospital. That’s why he was helicoptered out so
quickly.”

“Right, and it jibes with the 9-1-1
recordings. I stopped in to see Jae, but he’s sleeping
soundly.”

“That’s good. I’ll go by later to see him
again. Have they located Brickman’s brother yet?”

Jack shook his head. “Nope, nor the guy you
described or Ida Lopez. She’d cleared out of the hotel. On the
bright side, she left a nice packet addressed to the FBI in the
room. It contained several tapes, information about international
accounts and keys to several safety deposit boxes. And the tapes
are a bonanza. Care to guess what’s on them?”

“Just tell me.”

“The guy taped every damned thing. They
haven’t gone through all of them yet, but a couple from two years
ago have him giving orders to find a woman whom we assume to be
Caroline and kidnap her. And a more recent one has him murdering
the woman in Italy. Brickman, even with his injuries, is screaming
bloody murder.”

Brian narrowed his eyes. “Is he in this
hospital?”

“No, he’s not, so settle down, killer. They
got him and the other two goons that were with him in the forest
chasing Caroline.”

“And what about that model?”

“Oh, don’t worry about her,” Jack said. “My
guess is that she and her two wounded men were extracted, probably
even before you caught up with Caroline.”

“Well, I didn’t see her in the forest at
all.”

“No, I don’t expect you did, and you
wouldn’t have, even if you hadn’t only had your mind focused on one
thing.” He looked over at Caroline, who still slept curled up at
Brian’s side.

Brian looked at her too, his gaze going
soft. “That’s right,” he said simply before turning to look at Jack
again. “Did you get our house cleaned?”

“Yes. I arranged for a service this morning.
They’ll be finished this evening.”

“Thanks, I really appreciate it. I didn’t
want Caroline coming home to that. The doctor says she shouldn’t
have any more big upsets. Let me know what we owe you. I’ll just
add it to what we have to pay the hotel for the damage to the
cottage.”

“Don’t worry about it; it’s on Topnotch
Security. After all, it was my fault. I found out that Brickman
paid off one of my workers to turn a deaf ear to the alarm when he
broke in.”

“We did expect Brickman to try to get in,
though; any way he could,” Brian reminded his friend.

“Yes, but what I didn’t expect was for any
of my people to make it so easy for him.”

“Everything worked out for the best, so your
little cog in your vast wheel is the last person I’m going to be
mad at.”

“You don’t have to be; I’m mad enough for
the both of us. Anyway, I came in on a Winthrop Industries plane,
so you and Caroline can hitch a ride home with me if you’d like,”
Jack offered.

“Great, thanks. That certainly makes things
less complicated. I was not looking forward to another seven hour
drive. My plan was to book a flight, but now thanks to you, I don’t
have to. I’m sure there’s some way to arrange for someone to drive
our car back to Chicago for us.”

“Most likely. Say, did Caroline really shoot
out Brickman’s knee cap?”

“Yes, she did,” Brian said softly as he once
again looked at her. His pride in her warred with the shame he felt
for not protecting her like he was supposed to. He was surprised
when her eyes opened and she looked right at him.

“You’re much too quiet,” she chided gently,
“which tells me you’re on your me-Tarzan-you-Jane kick again. Stop
it,” she demanded. “You’re not Superman.” Her tone was still
gentle, but there was a definite ring of steel in it.

Brian kissed her nose. “You’re so cute.”

Caroline rolled her eyes and sighing, rose
into a sitting position. She smiled at Jack and held out her arms
for a hug. “Hi, Jack. How’s my second favorite alpha male
wanna-be?”

***

CAROLINE stood in the middle of her studio
trying not to cry. Equipment had been broken and stepped upon and
blank canvases had been cut up. She noticed that at least three
paintings that she’d completed for her next show were missing.
Brian and she had been home for an hour and she’d been standing in
the same spot for the last fifteen minutes, just taking in the
destruction. Anguished, she looked at the sculpture she’d started
before they’d left. It had been cruelly smashed in, and seeing it
made her want to weep. Suddenly, it was all just too much.

“Hey, you going to stay in here all
day?”

Brian’s voice came from behind her and she
surreptitiously wiped her eyes and cheeks. She cleared her throat
before responding. “I’m coming,” she tried to say clearly, but her
voice came out hushed and shaky.

She felt Brian come up behind her, his front
flanking her back. “Hey,” he began in a gentle tone as he rubbed
her shoulders “What’s the matter?”

All choked up now, Caroline shook her head,
but she had to sniff back tears that refused to stop falling.