“You’ve already made inroads,” she said sarcastically. “She thinks you’re cool.”
He was silent a moment. “Does she?”
“She’s a kid and she doesn’t know you.”
“I’m properly deflated.” He paused. “She’s extraordinary, Grace. You’ve done a remarkable job.”
“I did my best. She’s very special.” She added harshly, “And nothing’s going to happen to her. So you’d better do a damn good job of planning and executing.” She hung up.
It was done. She was committed.
She went back over to Frankie’s bed and looked down at her. Beautiful. Sleeping, she still had the glowing vulnerability of a much younger child. “We’re on our way, baby,” she whispered. “It’s not what I wanted, but I think it’s best for you. Jesus, I hope it’s best for you.”
5
Ready?” Kilmer asked when Grace opened the door.
She nodded. “Frankie’s in the bathroom. She’ll be right out.”
“How’s she taking it?”
“Good. She’s very resilient. I told her we had to find a place to go that would be safe, and she accepted it.” She made a face. “I think she’s more worried about me than she is about herself.”
“It wouldn’t surprise me.” Kilmer flipped open his phone. “Dillon, come up and get the bags. It’s a go.”
“Did you think I’d back out at the last minute?”
“There was a possibility. You weren’t too enthusiastic about—”
“Hi, Jake.” Frankie had come out of the bathroom.
“Hi, Frankie. I was glad to hear you’re going with us. We’re going to need your help.”
She frowned. “Doing what?”
“Taking care of the horses at the ranch.”
Her eyes widened. “Horses? How many?”
“Three. I didn’t get the particulars, but I imagine they’re going to need plenty of exercise and care.”
“Horses always do. Mom didn’t tell me we were going to a ranch. Is it your ranch?”
“No, I’m just leasing it for the next few months. I hope by that time you’ll be able to go back home.”
“Where is it?”
“Outside Jackson, Wyoming. It’s supposed to be a nice place.”
“Out west. A ranch . . .” Frankie’s eyes were shining. “Like Roy Rogers.”
He smiled. “But I’m afraid there’s no Trigger. If you want a wonder horse, you’ll have to train him yourself.”
“Can’t we take Darling? I’ve already started to train him.”
“Not right now. Maybe later.” There was a knock on the door and Kilmer opened it. “Frankie, this is my friend Dillon. He’s going with us to the ranch. Will you show him where your bags are?”
“Sure.” She led Dillon through the sitting room. “Are you a cowboy?” she asked as she pointed out the bags beside the bed. “You don’t look like one.”
“I’m a cowboy in training,” Dillon said. “Maybe you can give me a few pointers.”
“Maybe.” She looked doubtful. “But I don’t know much about cows. Charlie didn’t like cattle. Only horses. Are there any cows, Jake?”
“Not that I know about. We’ll have to find out together.” He grabbed one of the duffels. “But that will only make it more of an adventure.” He looked at Grace. “Okay, so far?”
“We’ll see once we get to this ranch. How do we get there?”
“We drive to a private airport outside Birmingham and board a jet to Jackson Hole. We take a rental car to the ranch from there.”
“No trail?” she asked.
“No trail,” Kilmer said. “You know me better than that.”
“I knew you nine years ago.”
“I haven’t changed.” He met and held her gaze. “Not about the important things.”
With an effort she pulled her gaze away from his.
He turned back to Frankie. “Go on down to the car with Dillon, Frankie. We’ll do the usual check of the drawers and closets and be right behind you.”
She looked at Grace. “Okay?”
Grace nodded and Frankie took her overnight case from Dillon. “I’ll carry this one. . . .”
Grace picked up her jacket from the couch as Frankie left. “Talk to me. How safe is this place?”
“As safe as I can make it. I’m bringing most of the team to the ranch to protect the two of you. I’ve buried the paperwork; except for the horses, the ranch is self-sufficient, so there won’t be any locals around.”
“Why a ranch?”
“I told you I’d make Frankie as comfortable as possible.”
Her gaze narrowed on his face. “But there’s something else, isn’t there?”
His lips turned up at the corners. “You know me too well.”
She stiffened. “My God, you’re actually going to try for the Pair.”
“Not while it will impact you.”
“You’re crazy. You lost three men at El Tariq nine years ago. Isn’t that enough?”
“Too many. Even one would have been too many. That’s why I won’t give up. They were my men and I didn’t get them out in time. You did get out but you’ve spent years hiding from the bastard, afraid to have a normal life. Any minute he could show up and take everything you’ve built away from you. Including your life, Frankie’s life. I’m not going to have that threat hanging over you any longer.” He paused. “I’m not going to let Marvot sit fat and sassy running his little empire. He’s going to lose everything and then I’m going to kill him. And I’m going to start with the Pair.” The last words were spoken without expression but with absolute conviction.
Marvot dead. A surge of fierce satisfaction exploded through her at the thought.
“You still hate the son of a bitch.” Kilmer was studying her expression. “I remember at the time you couldn’t decide who you wanted to kill more. Me or Marvot.”
“Marvot. By a hair. He killed my father, but you kept me from saving him.”
“And I’d do it again. How did you manage to keep yourself from going after Marvot all these years?”
“Frankie.” She tried to suppress the emotional turmoil that anger against Marvot had ignited. Nothing had changed. The reason she had run and hidden and let Marvot go his way was still present and valid. “I’m out of it. I won’t help you.”
His brows lifted. “Who asked you?”
“Crane.”
“I’m not Crane. I don’t want your help.” He gestured for her to precede him. “I just want the two of you safe. I’ve taken care of business quite well without you all my life, Grace. The Pair will be no different.”
“Good.” She passed him and walked toward the elevator. “Because the moment I see any sign of you going after the Pair while Frankie is at that ranch will be the moment we’re gone.”
Robert!” Frankie jumped out of the car and ran across the tarmac to where Robert Blockman stood beside the hangar. She hugged him boisterously. “Why are you here? I thought you—”
“So did I.” He picked her up and swung her in a circle. “But then I thought about how much you need me to get you from brown belt to black belt. If I let it go too long, you’ll lose all your moves. So I decided to come along.”
“Great.” She hugged him again and turned to Grace. “Isn’t it great, Mom?”
Grace nodded. “We wouldn’t want you to lose your moves.” She met Robert’s gaze over Frankie’s head. “But you have a lot more to lose than Frankie. Unless Crane changed his mind?”
Robert shook his head. “I was told to go mind my own business when I tried to talk to him.” He smiled down at Frankie. “And since I’d recently received a business offer difficult to refuse, I took his advice.” He glanced at Kilmer. “I called Stolz—my contact at the head office at Langley—and he’s trying to track down the leak that led Kersoff to Grace.”
“Time frame?”
Robert shrugged. “I don’t know.” He took Frankie’s hand. “Let’s get on the plane. I brought a
long a DVD of Sarah Chang’s latest concert. I thought you might want to see it.”
“I do.” Frankie nodded eagerly as she walked beside him toward the plane. “You know, she started young like me. But she actually performed with the New York Philharmonic when she was eight. I don’t think I’d like that. It would get in the way. Maybe later . . .”
Grace turned to Kilmer as soon as they were out of earshot. “Why?”
“I promised you a comfort cushion for Frankie. He’s part of her life.”
“So you lured him away from a government pension?”
“He won’t suffer for it, and all I did was dangle the carrot. He’s the one who grabbed it. He cares about you and Frankie and he was ready to try something new and different.”
“Being on your team will certainly fill that bill,” she said dryly. “If you don’t get him killed.”
“I promise I won’t play David to his Uriah,” he murmured. “No matter how tempted I am.”
“David and Uriah.” Her forehead wrinkled in puzzlement. “Who were—”
“Never mind.” He was striding toward the plane. “Let’s get out of here.”
David and Uriah.
Then it came to her. The biblical King David and Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, who had been sent to his death by David because the king had lusted after his wife.
Lust.
No, she wouldn’t think about Kilmer’s words.
Jesus, but how the devil could she stop thinking about it? It had triggered memory followed by tingling sensuality, as dark accompanied night.
He’d meant her to remember. Subtle son of a bitch. He’d wanted her to know that it wasn’t over for him. He’d dropped that reference to the biblical passion that had been all-consuming and then made her associate it with the sexual frenzy that had—
Stop it.
He wasn’t David and she wasn’t some biblical bimbo who took baths on rooftops. What they’d had together was over.
She just had to make sure it stayed over.
The ranch was the Bar Triple X. The name was emblazoned on the wooden post beside the gate.
“Let me undo the gate.” Frankie jumped out of the car. She stopped, her head lifted. “It’s cooler here than home.” Her gaze shifted to the stark grandeur of the Grand Teton Mountains. “And pretty. Real pretty. But it’s different. . . .” She frowned, trying to get it right. “Charlie’s place was like a gentle pony, and this is . . . a bucking bronco.” She chuckled. “That’s it.” She opened the gate wide, waited for the car to drive through, closed the gate, and got back into the car. “But different is interesting, isn’t it, Mom? And you’ve broken a lot of bucking broncos. You were going to break that two-year-old, but you—” Her smile faded. “Everything happened.”
“I’ll do it when we go back.” Grace slipped her arm around Frankie. “But you’re right, it’s different here. We’ll just have to see what we can make of it.” She turned to Kilmer. “I haven’t seen any security.”
“They’re flying in tonight.” He glanced down at Frankie and smiled. “You’ll have a lot of cowboys wandering around tomorrow.”
She smiled back at him. “But no cows. I didn’t see any cows.”
“I’d bet a few of those cowboys have never even been on a horse,” Dillon said with a grin. “I hope so. I don’t want to be the only one.” He pulled up in front of the two-story brick house and jumped out of the car. “I’ll get the bags. At least I’m good as a pack mule.”
“I’ll help you.” Robert grabbed a duffel and two suitcases and followed Dillon up the steps. “What bedrooms, Kilmer?”
“Frankie and Grace have the first one at the top of the stairs. The others are up for grabs. After you finish, will the two of you check out the stable? Don’t forget the hayloft.”
“Sure.” Robert disappeared into the house.
Frankie got out of the car and ran to stand on the porch. “Pretty,” she murmured. “And listen to the wind. It . . . sings.”
“Does it?” Kilmer squatted down beside her. “And what’s the song?”
“I don’t know.” She gazed dreamily out at the mountains. “But I like it. . . .” She sat down on the steps. “May I stay out here for a little while, Mom?”
“If you don’t wander off.” Grace rumpled her curls as she passed her. “Thirty minutes.”
“Okay.”
“If you like, we’ll go take a look at the horses as soon as the stable’s checked out,” Kilmer offered as he took Frankie’s keyboard out of the backseat, where she’d insisted on keeping it, and climbed the porch steps.
Frankie shook her head. “Not now.” She leaned against the porch rail, her gaze on the mountains. “I just want to sit out here and listen. . . .”
“By all means,” Kilmer said as he held open the door for Grace. “Getting acquainted with the horses can wait.”
The decor of the interior of the house was more mellow, fine-hewn craftsman than western, Grace thought. A huge stone fireplace occupied one wall, fronted by a comfortable beige corduroy-covered couch. Several leather easy chairs were scattered about the room, and a splendid Tiffany floor lamp loomed over one of them. “Nice.”
“I’m glad you approve.” He was heading up the stairs with Frankie’s keyboard case. “There are four bedrooms. I’ve put you and Frankie in the first one.”
“You might as well leave the keyboard down here. She’s going to want it pretty soon.”
He looked back at her. “The wind singing?”
“Maybe.” She shrugged. “Or maybe it’s about something else. She was talking about needing the piano the night before last, even before we knew about Charlie.”
“It’s the first time I’ve seen this side of her.” He glanced thoughtfully back at the door. “It’s interesting. One minute a horse-crazy kid and the next . . . interesting.”
“It’s all Frankie. I’ve tried to make sure one side of her doesn’t unbalance the other.” She started up the stairs. “For instance, she’s not allowed to shirk her chores just because she’s toying with a melody.”
“Heaven forbid.”
She glared at him. “It’s important. Yes, she has to be encouraged, but building a strong character is just as vital.”
“I’d say she has a damn strong character.” He held up his hand. “I’m not criticizing you. You’ve done an incredible job and I’ve no right to interfere.”
“That’s the truth.”
He smiled. “But may I say I feel a certain amount of pride that my share of genes gave you the material to work with?”
“You can say it to me. As long as you don’t say it to Frankie.” She passed him and continued up the stairs. “Is Donavan coming tomorrow too?”
“No, I have him staking out Marvot. He’s the one who tipped me about Kersoff being one of the players who showed up at Marvot’s compound. I won’t pull him until I need him here.”
“And who else was invited by Marvot to try for the bounty?”
“Pierson and Roderick. Those were the big players, but I’m sure Marvot threw the game open to a number of smaller fish too. He wanted to stimulate enough competition to make sure he got what he wanted.”
“Bastard.”
“Yes. But by making them compete, it turned out lucky for us. No one was going to risk one of the others discovering they’d found you before they’d actually caught you and turned you over to Marvot.”
“Or gave him our heads in a basket.”
Kilmer nodded. “At any rate, it gave us time to get out, since no one was reporting directly to Marvot.” He turned and headed back downstairs with the keyboard. “I’ll put this by the couch in the living room. I guess I should have arranged for a piano.”
“She’s fine with the keyboard.” Grace paused at the top of the stairs to look back at him. “You told me the amount of the bounty Marvot put on Frankie and me. What’s the price on your head?”
“Enough to set up a small kingdom.” He straightened and headed back to the porch
. “He’s a little irate with me. Imagine that.”
A shudder ran through her. Why the hell hadn’t he just turned his back on Marvot as she’d done? No, he’d had to dig in and bide his time and risk everything.
But had she really turned her back on Marvot? That surge of sheer ferocity she’d felt had taken her again by surprise.
Feelings weren’t actions.
It was Kilmer’s decision to go forward. The only thing she cared about was keeping Frankie safe.
The bedroom Kilmer had indicated had two queen-size beds covered with embroidered floral quilts. The picture window across the room revealed the same breathtaking mountain view that had enthralled Frankie.
She went over to the window and looked down at the paddock. A gray and a chestnut were ambling lazily around the area. Handsome horses. Small bone structure. Arabian blood?
The blue-eyed Pair at El Tariq were white Arabians, she suddenly remembered. Splendid in every physical detail, and those blue eyes made them even more unusual.
And smart. Very smart. She’d never handled smarter or more responsive horses. They’d seemed to sense her every thought, every emotion.
And she’d known them. It had been totally exhilarating being with the Pair. At first, it had been impossible to think about them singly. They were always just the Pair to her and everyone else at El Tariq. But toward the last she’d been able to start separating them, make them respond as individual beings. They’d been frisky and high-strung and totally fascinating. Would they still be that way? They were almost ten years old now. . . .
Stop thinking about them.
She’d told Kilmer she wanted nothing to do with the Pair, and she meant it. It was too dangerous and they had already cost her too much.
She turned away from the window and lifted her duffel to the bed and unzipped it. After she’d finished unpacking the bags, she’d take a shower and then go down to the kitchen and see what she could find to fix for Frankie’s supper. Her daughter was usually a healthy eater, but during these periods of creating she was a bit abstracted and had to be reminded to eat.
On the Run Page 7
