“I’ve gotten involved with someone who made me realize you can’t judge someone by their file,” I said slowly, unsure how much I should reveal.
My cousins prompted me silently with their stares. There was no easy way out of this. So I spilled my guts. I told them everything. About how this woman made me question everything around me. And how Dekker had become my father confessor. And most of all, how I was just sick and tired of the violence and death that surrounded us.
I went into more detail about Ronnie. There was something very intimate about relating the story of my relationship to my cousins. I guess I’d gone it alone so long I didn’t think I’d ever need someone to talk to. Gin, Dak, Liv and Paris listened patiently as I started with meeting Veronica in Nebraska to our angst-filled meeting when I dropped off the envelope containing Senator Anderson’s sins. I guess I gave them a welcome distraction from our immediate problem. Once I finished, Gin pulled out her cell phone and ordered pizza while Dak ran across the parking lot to score a case of beer.
“Wow,” Liv said softly. The look in her eyes told me she was impressed.
“And you didn’t want to kill him?” Dak asked. Gin punched him in the arm. “Not even a little bit?”
I laughed and took a swig of beer. “Yeah, okay. Maybe I did a little bit.”
Paris stared into space, chewing thoughtfully. “There were rumors of murder after Anderson’s death.” He shrugged. “I knew he was a prick so I never thought anything about it.”
“Well, you can’t serve Veronica up to the council,” Dak said. “That’s a bit of a deal breaker.”
Gin punched him again. “And what about this Drew thing? Why didn’t you give Veronica a chance to explain? Maybe once she found you, she didn’t want him anymore.”
Liv nodded. “You should have told her how you felt, Coney. Maybe that would’ve changed things.”
Paris leaped to my defense. Good man. “She totally played him! This Ronnie never told Coney she was already in a relationship.”
“Love is a little more complicated than that, little brother,” Liv said. “You should never assume anything.”
Gin nodded. “Coney can’t do this by himself. And we can’t let things keep going as they are.”
“But you’re retired!” Dak cried out again. “This doesn’t even affect you!”
Gin shook her head. “As far as you guys are concerned, it does affect me.”
“Okay,” Liv said. “So let’s do it.”
Chapter Thirty-one
John Smith (at anniversary dinner in fine restaurant): So what do we do, Jane? Shoot it out here? Hope for the best?
Jane Smith: Well, that would be bad because they would probably ask me to leave once you are dead.
—MR. & MRS. SMITH
“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” I said to Sartre as I drove the remaining sixty miles to Iowa City. The guinea pig looked up at me from the passenger seat as if to say she didn’t think she should be riding without a seat belt.
My cousins and I had agreed on this course of action the night before, but we’d had a lot of beer and may not have been thinking clearly. What we were about to do flew in the face of the Bombay family creed. We were confident that Missi would be on board with it, but there were five other cousins we hadn’t consulted. Were we making a mistake?
Sartre wheeked, implying that I was driving too fast. Maybe I should have put her back in her cage.
The thought of seeing Ronnie again twisted my intestines in a way I did not find very comfortable. Seeing Drew again was a necessary evil. Seeing them together would probably burn out my eyes. But if I left them here and went off to confront the council, they might just get picked up anyway. The safest place for Ronnie was with me. Unfortunately, the council could use Drew to get to her. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, both had to come with me.
I pulled off of I-80 and coasted into the very edge of the city. Stopping at the first car rental agency I found, I traded my RV for a black Kia minivan. What? Obviously I’m beyond the whole image thing or I wouldn’t be driving a motor home, in the first place, and I’d have a rottweiler instead of a guinea pig in the second.
It only took fifteen minutes before I pulled up in front of Ronnie’s house. This would have to be done very carefully. Carolina would have had time to alert the rest of the council to do…what? I had no idea, but I knew better than to underestimate them. Many a Bombay has been quite surprised to find their mother bursting through the door to gun them down. It has been known to happen.
This plan had me torn up inside. I wanted to help Ronnie because…well, because I loved her. I also did not want to help Ronnie, because she loved someone else. Oh, the philosophical questions.
Looking both ways, I raced up to the house and knocked on the door.
Veronica answered. “Cy? What the hell is going on?
I pushed past her into the house. “Where’s Drew? We’ve got to get going.” I worked my way through the rooms while she followed.
“Stop! You can’t just barge in here and make demands like that!” She grabbed me by the shoulder but I shrugged her off. “Cy! Dammit! Listen to me!”
I spun around to face her. “Ronnie. You and Drew are in danger. I need to get you out of here right now.”
She folded her arms over her chest in a move I’d seen so many times before. “Don’t be ridiculous. Why would Drew and I be in danger?”
“You met the kind of people I deal with back in Ulaanbaatar. I’d consider trusting me if I were you.” Yes. Trust me. Not like I can trust you, Ronnie. But you should trust me.
She went pale, and I could see the name Arje Dekker on her lips. For a moment I thought I saw an unasked question in her eyes. She wondered what I had done with him. Something stopped her from asking.
“Drew?” she called. “Drew! We have to run an errand!”
Drew came down the stairs wearing nothing but a pair of jeans and deck shoes. His physique was flawless. The boyish way he smiled at me made me feel sick. I said nothing as he pulled on a T-shirt and followed us out to the van.
“Sartre!” Ronnie squealed as she scooped up the pig and buried her face in its fur. Sartre purred with glee. I drove the car as the woman I loved showed the man she loved my guinea pig.
“Where are we going?” Drew finally asked. He must have been incredibly trusting. Why on earth would he get into a car with a man he didn’t know without asking before we left the house?
“Yes, Cy.” Ronnie narrowed her eyes at me. “Where are we going?”
I could see Drew frowning in the rearview mirror.
“You mean you don’t know?” he asked her.
Veronica looked at him, then me. She chewed her lip. In spite of myself I thought that was pretty damn adorable.
“Ronnie?” Drew asked. What kind of moron was he? You don’t get into a vehicle with someone you don’t know to go to an unknown location!
Veronica decided to answer him. “Remember when I told you about that guy who jumped me in Mongolia?”
“Is he after you?” Drew asked with surprise. Of course he’d be shocked. This was a man of education. In his world, men didn’t beat one another up. They used words. And I used to be one of those bozos.
“No,” I answered. “It’s someone else.” I glanced at Ronnie to check her reaction. Fear played across her features. She must have thought I’d killed Dekker eventually. Of course, she couldn’t possibly know that I’d kept him alive for relationship advice and then refused to kill him.
“Then where are we going?” Drew was starting to grow a pair now. I wanted to hate him. I really did. But this wasn’t his fault.
“Someone else is after you. We are going to the airport to board a private plane there.”
Veronica and Drew simultaneously shouted, “Who?”
I said nothing, because there was nothing more to say.
Ronnie grew angry. “Who is after us?”
“No one is after you…yet,” I said finally.
“But you said—” she started.
“I said nothing specific.”
She looked at me, then glanced back at Drew, who now leveled his gaze on me. Well, really on the back of my head.
“It’s just safer if you come with me,” I said through gritted teeth.
“What? Why? Who would threaten our safety?”
We pulled up at the airport. It only took a moment to clear security and make our way to the hangar where the Bombay jet waited for us. As we boarded, I introduced Veronica and Drew to Gin, Dak, Liv and Paris.
My cousins started talking to Drew as I made my way toward the back of the plane.
“That’s it, Cy!” Ronnie whispered urgently. “You are going to tell me what’s going on, and you are going to tell me now!”
I turned to face her. “Did you tell Drew about me? Did you tell him what happened in Mongolia?”
She looked taken aback. “What are you talking about? And why is this all about you? You’re the one who showed up demanding we go with you! Tell me right now who is after Drew and why!”
The look in her eyes stopped me short. She still had control over my emotions. And as much as I fought it, there was no denying that I was in love with her. “Apparently, I am the one who is a danger to you.”
Chapter Thirty-two
Marv: I check the list. Rubber tubing, gas, saw, gloves, cuffs, razor wire, hatchet, Gladys, and my mitts.
—SIN CITY
“What…what did you say?” Veronica was shaken now. Her lip trembled, and immediately I wanted to take all the things I’d said back.
“Look.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “Just go and sit down. I have a few phone calls to make.”
“Cy! I want to—” she started, but I didn’t let her finish.
“Dammit, Ronnie! Just go up front! I’ll join you after I take care of something!” I’d never shouted at her before. I really rarely shouted at anyone. It wasn’t my way. Anger wasn’t my thing. So how did this woman inspire so much of it in me?
I didn’t wait to see if she left before ducking into the back room. Using Missi’s cell phone, I called the one person who could help us once we landed.
When I joined the group, there was enough tension in the air to choke a goat. A large goat with an enormous trachea. Ronnie sat alone in one of the seats, staring sullenly out the window. Drew was making banal conversation with Paris…something about research methods. Gin and Liv were looking at me meaningfully. Dak inclined his head toward Ronnie.
“I’m sorry,” I said as I took the seat next to her. Ronnie glared at me before turning her attention back to the window.
“I shouldn’t have come to your house and frightened you like that.”
“Did you kill Dekker?” She asked the one question I wasn’t expecting.
“No.” I wasn’t lying about that. Granted, I could’ve told her he was still alive, but I thought the less she knew, the better.
She turned her attention back to the window. I said nothing. Minutes passed. An hour passed. I was glad she didn’t speak. Mainly because I didn’t want to answer.
“How dare you?” she growled finally once we were flying over Mexico.
“Oh. You are talking to me.”
“You are so arrogant! Where do you get off treating people like that?”
“Well, I—”
“You think you have it all figured out, don’t you?” She was just warming up. “What makes you think you know me so well?”
“Clearly I didn’t know you at all,” I said softly.
She turned to face me. “And what in the hell do you mean by that?”
“You lied to me. You played me for a fool. And I fell in love with you,” I said simply, because there was no other way to say it.
Her face softened. “You…you fell in love with me?”
“Well,” I said, “don’t let it go to your head. Now that I know what you really are.”
And then her face hardened. The angles were so sharp and fierce you could open a bottle on them. “And what am I really?”
“A con artist.”
“What?” I was pretty sure her shriek could be heard on the ground.
“Like I said earlier: You played me. And you did such a good job I fell for it. Way to go.”
“How did I play you? What are you talking about?”
I was getting tired of this wordplay. My head hurt, and I was concerned that my upcoming actions would have irrevocable consequences. Arguing with Ronnie would only dull my wits, and I needed them.
“You led me to believe you were single…unattached. You led me to believe you were innocent and naive. Hell, you even told me you lived in an apartment when you really had a huge house!”
Veronica opened her mouth. Then she closed it. She opened it again, but something stopped the words from coming out. Clearly she needed time to construct an argument now that she was busted. I got up and moved to sit with my cousins. We had some work to do.
“I can’t believe we are doing this!” Liv whispered. “It’s so exciting!”
Gin smiled and patted her best friend’s hand. “Just remember to stick to the plan. If we all agree then there’s nothing they can do.”
Dak spoke up: “I love you.”
His sister turned to him. “What?”
Dak continued. “It’s true. You don’t even need to be here. And yet you are. Way to go, sis.”
Paris leaned in. “Are you sure we should land on the island? Maybe we should land in Ecuador and get a speedboat or something.”
I shook my head. “No good. We have to make a statement. You all called your parents, right?”
Liv nodded. “I read Dad the riot act first. I want him to know what he’s up against.”
“We are taking a huge risk here,” Paris replied.
I looked at my watch. “Let’s hope we’re right. Let’s hope this works.”
As if in answer to my words, the plane dropped in altitude. Within minutes we’d be arriving on the tarmac at Santa Muerta. And while I was hoping we’d survive the day, there was no way of knowing for sure.
“Cy.” Veronica laid her hand on my arm as I prepared to exit the plane. “I need to talk to you.”
“Not now, Ronnie.” And I meant it. I needed to keep my focus sharp.
“Okay. But at least let me thank you.”
This brought me up short, and I stopped in my tracks. “For what?”
“You are thinking of our best interests.” She looked back at Drew. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Believe me, Ronnie, what I am about to do will help me as much as it helps you.” Provided we didn’t die horrible deaths at the hands of our parents, that was.
“When you get back, I really need to talk to you.”
I really didn’t want to hear it. Sorry, Cy. But I love him. Even if it wasn’t that, it would be something equally as hurtful. Maybe dying at the hands of my mother would be less painful.
“Fine,” I answered, even though I didn’t mean it. “We’ll talk when I get back.”
I had given Ronnie and Drew strict instructions not to leave the plane. It was for their own good. Granted, the council had no idea they were here, and why would they? It was the safest place for them to hide—right out in the middle of the battlefield.
The five of us Bombays made our way to the headquarters, where a weird family showdown was about to take place. A sort of bloodless intervention, so to speak. Only this would lead to our not killing anymore instead of not drinking or doing drugs. It was kind of poetic, once you thought about it.
We found the council in the conference room, waiting for us. Mum was there with her brother, York. On her left were her cousins, Carolina and Pete. To their right were her other cousins, Cali, Missi’s mom, and her brother, Montgomery. For some reason the European branch was not represented, as their cousins Burma and Asia were missing. I didn’t mind having fewer dangerous council members to deal with. The Europeans were pretty laid-back. If we cou
ld make this happen, they would go along with it.
“Sit down, kids.” Mum motioned to the opposite side of the table. We took our seats. This was going to be a little awkward.
“It has come to our attention,” Uncle York began, “that you don’t approve of our policies.” He said it as though we were naughty employees in the boardroom. Hell, he was even wearing a suit.
This was unexpected politeness. With many families there was at least shouting and expletives…maybe a hurled beer bottle. In our family at this point the pistols usually came out. Mexican standoffs were de rigueur. We were trained at the age of eight in how to deal with that situation.
“That’s right,” Gin said loudly.
Carolina shook her head. “Gin, you shouldn’t even be here. You’re retired.”
Gin slammed her hand down on the table. “Why does everyone keep saying that? I’m really getting pissed off about that!”
“She really is,” Dak said in a stage whisper to his mother. “You should’ve heard her on the plane.”
Carolina turned to me. “Coney, are you refusing to accept your assignment?”
I nodded. “That’s right.”
Mum clapped her hands together. “You have to kill Dekker. You have to bring Veronica Gale here.”
I shook my head. “No.”
My mother looked from her left to her right. “We have a contract to honor. And we need to know more about Gale and her friend.” She looked at the folder in front of her. “This Drew Connery could be a terrorist.”
“No. Being a Rhodes scholar does not qualify him as a terrorist. The Republicans tried that with Clinton and it didn’t stick. Both Veronica and Drew are innocent of what happens here.”
Uncle York spoke up. “Look, I don’t care about the other two, but we have a contract for Dekker’s head. We can’t ignore that.”
Cali agreed. “The Bombays have given out assignments to be accepted without question for four millennia. Why should you get to question things?”
I Shot You Babe Page 18
