"We'll go this way," I decided as I opened the door and shoved Riley through it.
This level had carpeting and multiple doors. Very slowly, too slowly, it dawned on me that we were in the Japanese Embassy.
"Keep moving," I whispered. I told Riley where I thought we were. He nodded and kept going.
The PA system came to life. "Ms. Wrath, Mr. Andrews, please turn right and join us in the conference room."
"Like that's going to happen," I hissed, pushing Riley further down the hall. We were getting out of here.
The two suits who brought me here appeared at the end of the hall. Both had guns trained on us. A door on the right popped open, and Leiko Ito stood to one side, waiting for us to enter. We had very little choice. I could rush one of the guys, but I didn't think Riley had it in him to take out the other.
We entered the room to find the table laid out with food and drinks. That was unexpected. The two goons joined us and took up positions on either side of the only door, guns still drawn. Riley and I sat down. We would have to do what they wanted until we came up with something better.
Ms. Ito sat across from us, pouring herself a glass of tea and picking up a donut. Looking at her svelte frame, I wondered if her body would reject the donut and throw it across the room. Sadly, that didn't happen. Once she took a bite and had a sip of tea, I reached for the pitcher and poured glasses for Riley and myself. Always fuel up if offered the opportunity. James Bond never turned down martinis from the bad guy, even if he knew they were poisoned—which, now that I thought about it, probably wasn't the best idea.
We ate and drank in silence for a while. Clearly Ito was expecting me to say something. Probably a full confession on how I kidnapped her mom, brought her to the US (violating her being on the No Fly list), and murdered her in my kitchen. Well, I wasn't going to because I didn't do it.
"Mr. Andrews has been our guest for a while now," Baby Ito said. "We're so happy to have you join him."
"Yeah," I said, "about that…neither of us wanted to be your guest. So I guess now that that misunderstanding is cleared up, we will be on our way." I got to my feet.
"Sit down!" Ito barked. "I was just being polite. If you want blunt, I'll admit that you two are our prisoners. That is, until we get what we want out of you or we kill you."
"What is it you want out of us, exactly?" I asked.
Ito laughed. "I think you know what we want."
I shrugged. "Not really, so why don't you tell us?"
Riley said nothing. He just sat there, eating and watching. He was building his strength back up and sizing up the situation. The man had been here for a long time, but I'd bet he wasn't as damaged as he'd led them to believe. That meant he could spring into action if the time came to do so.
Riley knew what they wanted to know. The question was, had he told them already?
Leiko Ito sighed heavily before getting to her feet. "What I want is for you to tell me how and why you killed my mother."
It was kind of refreshing, really, to hear that question finally spoken aloud. Oh, I suspected that was the thing. But it was still nice to hear it outright.
"We didn't kill your mother," was all I said. Important spy tip—never give more information than they asked for. People tended to blather on when they thought their life was at risk. She didn't need to know that Riley and I had found her mother's lifeless body and dumped it two and a half hours away in Chicago.
"You are lying," Ito said. "We know you disposed of her body. Therefore, you must have killed her."
I shook my head. "Nope. We didn't kill her. Sorry for your loss, by the way."
"Yes." Ito's face was turning an alarming shade of purple. "You did. And I want to know why before I kill you."
Riley looked at me for a moment. He was trying to tell me something with his expression, but I had no idea what it was.
"Then we are at an impasse," I said. "Because we can't tell you something we don't know. And you won't listen to anything other than what you want to hear."
It might sound like I was calm and collected. I wasn't. I was very concerned. We were technically on Japanese soil. These people didn't look like they were going to let us leave alive, even if we told them what they assumed was the truth. I needed a plan.
Ito Jr. snapped. She started pounding on the table and swearing in Japanese. The two men covering the door looked startled. I knew Leiko was extremely dangerous and more sadistic than her mother had been. At some point, she'd just torture us until we gave her something. And then she'd probably still kill us. The odds weren't stacked in our favor.
She looked at the men with guns. "Shoot her. Then maybe he'll talk."
One of the men raised his pistol and aimed it at me. This wasn't good. I nudged Riley's foot under the table, and he gave me a brief nod. Together we dropped down to the floor, flipping the conference table over, and started shoving it toward Ito and her men.
The table jammed the three up against the wall hard. One of the goons dropped his pistol, and it landed on my shoulder. I snatched it up. Before the other guy could aim, I trained the gun on his chest. To my surprise, he handed his weapon to me. I passed it to Riley.
Ito stood there fuming as the two of us walked around the table. I kept my gun pointed at them while Riley—who was now on an adrenaline surge—yanked the table back from the door.
Just as we were about to walk out, I saw Riley give Leiko a hard uppercut to her chin that made her head snap back. She fell to the floor, unconscious. We ran out the door.
We encountered no more resistance as we fled the embassy and ran toward the street. Maria pulled up in the van, and we got in before she squealed away.
"Thanks," I said. "Nice timing."
Maria nodded. "I knew you were in there. But we have no jurisdiction in the embassy, so I waited outside, hoping you'd make it out." She looked back at Riley.
"He's alright," I said. "But we can't go back to the hotel. And the girls aren't safe there."
"They're at the Irish Embassy," Maria said with a grin. "I figured the Japanese weren't likely to invade Irish territory, so that was the safest bet. Liam's giving them a tour."
"You have the girls here?" Riley roared from the backseat. "What were you thinking? You could get them killed!"
Riley had a small soft spot for my troop. He'd been mobbed by them last time he visited. While he wasn't the settling-down type or even the type who liked kids, he seemed to make an exception where they were concerned.
"You knew I was bringing them for a trip. You had to know I was here when you first called," I said.
"I already told you, I didn't call you. They must've made a mash-up recording of my voice. I would never have called you."
"But that means you said my name to them. You implicated me somehow."
He shook his head. "I didn't implicate you in any way."
"I want to hear the whole story," I said. "But first, we have to get somewhere safe."
Maria smiled. "I'm already on it. I've got just the place. I'll park you two there and go back for the girls."
I nodded and leaned back in the seat. My body gave up the ghost. I was too tired to move. The adrenaline rush was over. Maria was in charge now. I closed my eyes and tried to rest until the van came to a stop.
"You've got to be kidding," I said as I opened my eyes. "We're staying here?"
We were parked in front of The USS Enterprise. Not the spaceship. A fantasy suite hotel for Trekkies. I remembered reading about this. There'd been some controversy when it was built. The rooms were all designed to look like they were part of a spaceship but with Jacuzzis and swimming pools. Trekkies flocked from all over the world to stay here, and I'd heard rumors of a Star Trek swingers group that rented the whole place a couple of times a year.
I got out of the van and opened the door for Riley. "How did you get us in here? I heard it's booked two years out."
Trekkies were nothing if not the first to mob the newest thing.
"I h
ad a little pull." Maria smiled as she handed me a set of keys. "My sister-in-law works here. You go ahead and get Riley inside and cleaned up. You're in the Federation Starfleet Suite."
We walked into the lobby, and immediately the concierge gave us the split-V Vulcan greeting. People moved around dressed in the original series garb. Most of the staff wore blue or yellow costumes, but occasionally we spotted a red shirt. I wondered if they had a high turnover.
The suite was on the second floor, and as we entered, I realized this must have been their version of the presidential suite. The furniture was all chrome and futuristic. The walls were curved upward with weird ductwork crisscrossing overhead. In front of the giant flat-screen TV were two recliners that looked like Captain Kirk's command chair. The remote control was a phaser gun. That was kind of cool.
"You'd better get in the shower," I said as I shoved Riley into a bathroom designed to look like Dr. McCoy's sickbay. "The kids will freak out if they see all that blood." Okay, so they'd probably be more fascinated than freaked out. But he didn't need to know that.
Riley closed the door behind him, and moments later I heard the shower running. I explored the rest of the suite. I didn't see any of the fabled swimming pools they supposedly had, but there was a Jacuzzi big enough to hold an Andorian star cruiser. Yes, I was a bit of a Trekkie.
I gave silent thanks to Maria for dropping off my suitcase so I could change into a swimsuit and ease my creaking bones into the warm, oscillating water. Grateful for the opportunity to relieve my sore muscles, I wiggled out of my clothes.
The cell in my back pocket immediately buzzed, and I answered it.
"Maria just told me you're alright." Dad sounded exasperated, and I felt bad for having Rex call him. Since I couldn't squirm into my swimsuit while holding a cell phone, I threw one of the complimentary robes on. It was blue, with the triangular Starfleet insignia on the left breast pocket. Nice.
"I'm fine. And I found Riley. And I kind of caused some trouble inside the Japanese Embassy," I said.
There was silence on the other end.
"Remember when you joined the Agency," Dad said, "and I asked you not to tell me about all the times you'd been in danger?"
"Yes." It had been the only condition my parents had. They didn't want to worry obsessively about me, so they came up with their own fantasy where I had a nice, safe job. A few years ago, I overheard Mom tell a neighbor that I was a math teacher. A month later, Dad told Aunt Clara that I was a process engineer for a farm equipment manufacturer. Parents.
"Well, that goes for fighting other people too. Especially when it's political. There really is such a thing as plausible deniability."
"Right. Let me start over. I'm fine, and Riley's safe. We just got back from a stroll through the Japanese Embassy," I said.
"I'm glad you're okay," he said. "But I do have to warn you about something…"
Dad was interrupted by a knock on the door. I started toward it.
"No problem, Dad. Really. Everything's okay," I said as the knocking continued.
"Well, I think you might be a little angry with me," he said.
I came up to the door and looked through the peephole.
"I kind of flew Rex out here," Dad said.
I already knew that because standing out in the hallway, angrily pounding on the door, was my boyfriend, Rex.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
What was a woman to do in a situation like this? Well, obviously, answer the door, but I was kind of hoping for a typhoon to suddenly hit, my troop to show up, or maybe Bigfoot to wander through the room arm in arm with Mr. Spock.
No such luck. I did hang up on Dad…that felt a little bit better.
"Rex!" I said as I opened the door. "What are you doing here?" So I knew Dad just flew him out, but he didn't know that I knew.
The gorgeous Iowa detective stormed into the room and threw his arms around me. His lips met mine, and all the pain in my body turned into something wonderful.
Rex pulled away, "You're alright! Good! Because now I can be mad at you!" He was frowning. I didn't like it when he frowned.
"I'm fine. Dad shouldn't have brought you out here," I insisted. "It's all under control."
He put his hands on his hips. "Your dad told me everything. At least, I think he told me everything. But you'd better start at the beginning."
I nodded. "Okay. I owe you that much."
I filled him in on everything, leaving nothing out, because I was an awesome girlfriend. To hide something now would have been stupid. I was busted. Time to confess. So I told him everything. Starting with Midori's murder. He didn't seem to like that part. I mean, what police officer would? I'd basically covered up a crime right across the street from where he lived.
Rex's body tensed, but he said nothing. Once the adrenaline wore off and he was over me being in danger, I had no doubt I'd get a lecture. To be fair, I didn't know him then. He had just been a local cop. I'd have to remember to tell him that. He listened quietly to my entire story, looking angry each time I mentioned the girls or danger. But he listened. He got props for that.
By the time we finished, we were sitting on a couch that looked like it was made of tribbles. It was a very uncomfortable sofa. Who made a couch out of a hundred stuffed, furry balls?
"Why didn't you tell me the minute it started?" Rex finally said. He didn't sound so angry anymore, which was good. "I know your background requires classified information, but I could've helped."
He was right. I had nothing. So I shrugged.
"Hey…" Rex started looking around. "What's the deal with this place? Looks like the deck of the Starship Enterprise." He pointed to the bubbling hot tub. "You were about to get in?"
I nodded. "I kind of had a rough day." I made my fingers into a gun and fired.
Rex relaxed. He was probably still mad at me, but at least he was getting over my treachery. He got to his feet and started walking around the room, checking out the weird décor.
"I'm a bit of a Trekkie," he said.
I faked shock. "That may be worse than what I've done." He didn't need to know I was one too. It was too early in the relationship for that.
"Oh, I doubt it…" Rex frowned again. "Seriously, Merry, you have to keep me informed on this kind of thing. And we are going to talk about it more in depth later. You're not off the hook yet." He closed the gap between us and pulled me into his arms. "I was very worried. And you just, out of the blue, say you're in trouble, and I need to call someone." He looked into my eyes, and I was lost. "I should be that someone. I should come to your rescue."
And then he kissed me again. I leaned into it, giving in completely. My beyond-gorgeous boyfriend wanted to be my knight in shining armor. Granted, I didn't really need one, but here he was anyway. It was a romantic, mind-numbing gesture.
Rex had dropped everything and flown halfway across the country just to make sure I was safe. I'd have to get used to that, but it was awesome to have someone feel that way about me.
I pulled back to get some air and smiled at him, like a goofy, lovestruck puppy. This was definitely the guy. How did I get so lucky? When I was forced into early retirement from a job I loved, I thought nothing good would ever happen to me again. I was wrong. And for once I didn't mind being wrong.
"Are the girls sharing this room with us?" he said softly. "Or can we use that hot tub right now? I'm pretty sure I can ease those aches and pains."
Wow. My body temp went from cold and bruised to hot and bothered in seconds.
"I didn't ask," I said, kicking myself for not asking Maria what the arrangements were. "They could walk in any second. But maybe we could go on a little trip of our own after we get home."
Rex pulled me tight against him, and I melted. "I'm going to hold you to that." He looked at the door. "I forgot my bag. It's in the hall. I'll just grab it."
I reluctantly let him go and watched as he turned the door lock inside out to prop the door open. Wow. I'd really dodged a bullet there. Re
x had every right to be furious with me. At least he was less so now. And with a few more kisses, I was pretty sure I could melt that fury away.
Rex walked back in, pulling a small rolling suitcase behind him. He was wearing a formfitting black T-shirt and jeans. I couldn't help sighing. Rex was athletic but lean like a cowboy, and it was totally hot. Riley was more muscular…
Oh damn. I knew I'd forgotten something.
"Hey, Wrath." Riley stepped out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. Water beaded on his muscular chest and shoulders.
"You should see the shower. It looks like that teleporting thing they had on Star Trek!"
Rex froze, his face hardening into a mask. Riley spotted him and actually had the nerve to blush. Huh. I'd never known him to do that before.
I was in trouble. Big trouble.
"Rex." Riley reached out to shake his hand. "How're you doing, man?"
Rex took the hand and shook it out of politeness.
"I know how this looks," I stammered. "But it's not what you think. I was going to get into my swimsuit before getting into the hot tub. But then Dad called, and you knocked, and I didn't have a chance."
Riley nodded. "Nothing happened." But did I detect a little hint of regret? Had Riley wanted something to happen?
Rex took in the bruises, gashes, and swelling on his rival and relaxed a little. I'd told him earlier about rescuing Riley. He was putting it all together. That made him a good detective. They didn't jump to conclusions but let the facts speak for themselves. And it saved my butt this time.
"Okay, Evelyn is helping the girls settle in next door." Maria burst into the room. She took one look at me in the robe, Riley in the towel, and Rex glaring at both of us, and she started laughing.
"Oh, my God!" Her body shook from exertion. "This is so classic! How did I miss this? I should've been here!" Maria doubled over with hysterical giggles.
Marshmallow S'More Murder Page 17