by Cindy Dees
She’d gone and put that final nail in Joe’s coffin. The intensity of her shock and grief was such that she wasn’t using her head. She couldn’t see this lie by Eduardo for what it was.
“Grab him!” Eduardo ordered, a small smile playing around the corners of his mouth. “And take him downstairs.”
About half the table charged Joe. Shit. He was going down. But he couldn’t leave Cari like this. He couldn’t die with her believing that her sister was dead. Hands shoved him and he fell back into his seat. He looked up and noticed that, oddly enough, Gunter hadn’t moved. Eduardo’s chief of security hadn’t budged when it was revealed that one of his boss’s archenemies was sitting at the dinner table.
As fists rained on his head and rough hands snatched at him, dragging him from his seat, Joe snatched the cell phone out of his pant pocket. Under the table, he flipped it across the floor in the direction of Gunter’s feet.
“Cari,” Joe shouted over the din of yelling men, “make the call! She’s not dead!”
And then he went down, under a punishing barrage of fists and feet, and his frenzied thoughts turned to the immediate necessity of blocking the worst of the blows pummeling him from all sides.
“Take him downstairs!” Eduardo ordered again.
Joe was dragged to his feet, the beating suspended for the moment. Somebody had landed a vicious kick to his right kidney, and the shooting agony from that overrode most of the other contusions and injuries.
He vaguely heard Cari sobbing, and the sound tore at his heart. He’d tried so damned hard to spare her more of this violence at her father’s hands. And he’d failed. How much more pain had he set her up for in his clumsy efforts to protect her?
He registered Gunter’s voice comforting Cari. Herding her out of the room. He had no idea whether or not Gunter understood his last shouted words to Cari. Furthermore, he didn’t have the slightest idea whether or not the German would give her the phone. He could only hope the man thought enough of her to spare her the unnecessary misery of wrongly believing her sister was dead.
A phalanx of thugs dragged him into the kitchen and down the same stairs he’d explored last night. They shoved him into a darkened room and someone started punching him again before the lights were even turned on. Aww, hell. He was going to get to see the business end of that padded interrogation room, after all.
Cari was only dimly aware of Gunter’s strong arm around her shoulders, guiding her upstairs and away from all the shouting and swearing downstairs. The quiet in her room was shocking, in contrast.
“Come in here, child.” She was startled when Gunter led her not to her bed or to the sofa but rather into the bathroom. He closed the door behind her, propped her against the counter and turned on her shower’s hot-water tap full blast.
“What are you doing?” she gathered herself enough to ask.
He smiled gently. “You didn’t honestly think I didn’t know about your safe room, did you?”
She stared at him in surprise. “Is it really safe? Or do you have something in here that I haven’t found?”
He shook his head. “No, those little jamming devices you installed are top-notch. Even if I hadn’t decided to let you have a certain amount of privacy, they would have been difficult to overcome. You designed them well, querida.”
A fresh flow of tears gushed at the endearment that Julia had used with her so often. Gunter handed her a tissue and said quietly, “You and I need to talk.”
She blew her nose ungracefully and grabbed another tissue to swab at her eyes. “About what?” she mumbled.
“Joe gave you a message and gave me something just before he was taken out of the dining room. You and I need to figure out what to do with them both.”
“I hope Daddy kills him for what he did,” Cari spat out. “He could’ve told them not to kill her, but he didn’t. He let them kill my sister!”
“Ah, Cari. You are so young. So naive.”
She frowned. Joe had said the same thing to her in this very room not so long ago. “I wish you all would quit treating me like a child! I’m not, you know.”
Gunter smiled. “No, you’re not, are you? You’ve grown up. And now it’s time to make a grown-up decision. Joe told you to make a call. And then he threw this to me.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out Joe’s cell phone. The same one she’d modified so he could call Charlie Squad. What did it mean?
“I assume you know what ‘call’ Joe was referring to? I’m guessing you know how to get in touch with Charlie Squad?”
She frowned. “Not really. Although I could probably figure it out. He called someone on that phone earlier today.”
She stared at the small instrument lying in Gunter’s callused hand. “It won’t make any difference. They’ll lie to me the same way Joe did. They’ll tell me they didn’t kill Julia. Except I’ve seen the pictures with my own two eyes.” Her voice broke into a sob and she fell apart again, crying uncontrollably as her grief swamped her anew.
Gunter shrugged. “I don’t know what they’ll tell you. You won’t know until you make the call. I do know this, though. It’s possible to see what you expect to see when sometimes the truth is very different.”
“You think I should talk to those bastards?” Cari asked incredulously.
“I think you should act as an adult. I think you should not take what just happened at face value and I think you should decide for yourself exactly who is telling the truth here.”
She stared at the German long and hard. He’d worked for her father for as long as she could remember. He’d always been loyal to her father, steadfast in his duties as Eduardo’s chief of security. Was he actually going behind her father’s back here? If so, it was a monumental event.
She looked up at Gunter. “You think I should make the call, don’t you?”
He looked her in the eye. Seemed to search for the right words. And then said, very slowly, as if each word weighed heavily on his conscience, “I’ve stood by over the years and watched your father do some terrible things. But this—” he swallowed thickly “—this is too much. If it were just Joe, I’d let Eduardo kill him. But I can’t stand by and let your father take away a man who loves you like that boy loves you.”
Cari stared at him long and hard. Finally, she whispered, “What are you saying?”
Gunter closed his eyes. His face looked pained. He opened his eyes and looked right at her. “I swore I would never betray your father. And I won’t,” he ground out. “But I’m telling you there’s more to what you just saw downstairs than meets the eye. You need to decide whether you are always going to be your father’s daughter and take him at face value or whether you’re going to be your own person and think for yourself.”
Had he and Joe compared scripts with each other? Was she nothing more than her father’s daughter? Was she bought and paid for in blood, trained too well to do Daddy’s bidding to ever stop jumping when he ordered her to? She didn’t like the person who had accepted jewelry in payment for prostituting herself, who let men like the Slav paw at her to please Daddy. She didn’t like being used. Not by her father and not by Joe.
She closed her eyes, the pain of his betrayal so raw she didn’t know if she could stand it.
Gunter had taken a huge risk in picking up Joe’s phone, and an even bigger one in giving it to her.
“Why?” she asked him.
“Why what?”
She half-laughed, half-sobbed. “Why couldn’t you have been my father?”
The older man gathered her in the first hug he’d ever given her. “Aww, honey, I wish I was.”
She buried her face against his shoulder and let out a shuddering breath.
Slowly, she opened her eyes. Reached out. And took the phone. She’d make the call. But not for Joe. Not because Gunter asked her to. But for herself. Because Gunter was right about one thing. It was time for her to stand on her own two feet. To make decisions for herself.
She stared at the phone for a few s
econds, pondering how to find out the last number Joe had called. Could it be as easy as hitting the redial button? What the heck. She gave it a try.
The phone connected and began to ring at the other end. She started when a male voice barked in her ear, “Go ahead.”
“Uh, hello. My name is Cari. I’m calling to…” Who was she calling to speak to?
“Miss Ferrare? Has something happened to Joe?”
“Uh, yes. But that’s not why I’m calling….” God, this was hard. Was she supposed to just blurt out a demand to know if this guy had murdered Julia?
“What’s happened?” the man asked urgently.
She took a deep breath. Quelled an urge to disconnect the phone and flush it down the toilet. “A man came to the house tonight. He had pictures.”
“Pictures of what?” the man prompted with gentle urgency.
“Of my sister. Dead.”
“What?” the man exclaimed. “How? When?”
“He said it happened last night. She was shot.”
The man at the other end of the phone swore violently. “Just a moment. Stay on the line. I’m going to make another phone call. Okay? Will you wait for me?”
“Uh, okay.” She’d hung in there this long. What were a few more minutes?
Somebody knocked at her bathroom door. Her gaze snapped over to Gunter, who signaled with his hands for her to send away whoever was out there. Didn’t he want anyone to know he was in here with her? The size of the risk he was taking by being here, by handing over Joe’s cell phone, struck her forcefully.
“Go away,” she called out. She didn’t have to fake the wobble in her voice.
“Miss Cari. Your father told me to make sure you’re all right.”
It was Grace. Her longtime maid. “I’ll be okay, Grace. I just want to be alone.”
“You’re sure, ma’am?”
“I’m sure,” she called back firmly. “I’m going to take a shower and see if I can relax a little.”
“All right. I’ll be right outside your room. You just call for me if you need anything.”
“Thank you,” she replied in genuine gratitude.
“Still there?” the man said in her ear.
“Yes,” she answered.
“Julia’s fine. I just spoke with her on the phone.”
Cari blinked. Her brain couldn’t seem to wrap around the words. “You didn’t kill her? Charlie Squad didn’t murder her?”
“Good Lord, no!” the man exclaimed. “What the hell’s going on over there?”
“A visitor showed my father a message from you—from Charlie Squad—to the Pentagon, saying that Julia died in an accident. The guy also had pictures of her. Lying on the ground. Shot in the heart. And the man standing beside her, holding a pistol, was the man who drove Joe and me to get married.”
“Listen, Cari,” the man said tensely. “I’m the man who drove you and Joe to Judge Cabot’s house. My name is Colonel Tom Folly, and I’m the commander of Charlie Squad. Julia is alive. Nobody shot her. At least, not last night. She was shot last month, though.”
“Last month?” Cari exclaimed.
Folly added hastily, “She went to a meeting with her father and some of his men. Charlie Squad was there, too, and shooting broke out. Your father tried to kill one of my men and Julia dived in front of him to take the bullet. She was hit in the chest. But Joe was able to control the bleeding and we got her to a hospital in time. She’s still recovering from the wound, but she’s going to be fine. You must have seen photos of that incident.”
“You could just be saying she’s alive to save your man,” Cari said.
“I’m going to give you a phone number. I want you to call it. Julia will be there. Talk to her. When you’ve assured yourself that she’s all right, call me back.” He rattled off a phone number and Cari repeated it aloud. Gunter nodded, took out a little notepad and jotted it down.
Cari’s hands fumbled so badly she could barely dial the number. But in a few seconds, the phone started to ring.
A female voice cried out on the other end “Cari? Is that you?”
Cari’s knees collapsed out from under her and she sank to the floor, sobbing in relief. “Julia?” she choked out.
“Oh, God, Cari, it’s me. I’m alive. I’m fine. Colonel Folly told me what Daddy did to you. I swear to God, I wasn’t shot last night. I took a bullet last month, but it was daddy dearest who shot me. He was aiming at Dutch, but… It’s a long story. I’ll tell you some other time. Are you okay, honey?”
“I am…now,” Cari hiccuped.
“Colonel Folly asked me not to talk too long with you. He needs to speak to you again as soon as you know I’m okay. I can’t wait to see you. I’ve got a ton of stuff to tell you.”
Cari laughed through her tears. “I’ve got a ton of stuff to tell you, too. And, Julia?”
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too, little sister.”
She hung up, and Gunter lifted her gently to her feet. Cari couldn’t help it. She flung her arms around the older man and sobbed her relief into his shoulder. “She’s alive, Gunter. She’s alive!”
“I’m glad to hear it, sweetheart. But I’m afraid your young man won’t be alive for too much longer if you don’t do something soon.”
Joe. Oh, God. Joe. He was down in the basement, no doubt being beaten to a pulp. And it was her fault! No. Delete that. It was Eduardo’s fault. He’d set the trap for Joe and used her— again!—to set up the man she loved. What an unmitigated son of a bitch!
She checked her mounting fury. She didn’t have time to be angry at her father right now. First things first. She had to rescue Joe, and then she’d strangle her father.
She hit the Recent Calls button and redialed Colonel Folly. He answered on the first ring.
“You were right. Thank you so much. I’m sorry I believed the worst.”
“It’s all right. I’m glad we got it straightened out. But we’ve got more pressing matters to deal with. We’ve got to get you out of there. Now. Let me speak to Joe.”
“Uh, my father has Joe. He knows he’s in Charlie Squad. I…I let that slip when I thought Charlie Squad murdered Julia. I’m so sorry—”
Folly cut off her apology. “No time for that. You say Ferrare’s got Joe?”
“Yes. He’s probably in the basement.” Gunter nodded beside her. “Yes, he’s definitely in the basement. My father’s got a—a torture chamber…down there. He’ll do terrible things to Joe before he kills him.”
“We don’t have anywhere near enough firepower to storm your father’s house,” Folly replied. “Is there anyone inside who can help you? We need to get you out. Now.”
“Yes, there’s someone who’ll help me. But I’m not leaving without Joe!”
“This is no time for heroics, Miss Ferrare. My job will be easier if you’re not running around in the line of fire. When we come in, I don’t need to be worrying about pulling you out, too.”
“I won’t go,” she said stubbornly. “Besides, I can help you. How close are you?”
“I’m looking at your father’s house, as we speak.”
“I can probably drop some of the perimeter security systems and let you in. I’ll call you back when I’ve done it.” She disconnected the line before Folly could argue with her anymore.
Gunter’s brow furrowed. His betrayal of her father might extend to passing her Joe’s cell phone, but it might not extend to letting the enemy in the front door.
“We’ve got to save him, Gunter,” she said earnestly. “It’s my fault that he’s in trouble. We can’t let him die. I love him!”
Chapter 18
Gunter sighed heavily. “I took a vow once that I would never betray or harm your father. He saved my life and, in turn, I swore I would never turn on him.”
“I’m not asking you to kill Eduardo,” Cari pleaded. “I’m begging you to help me save Joe. Please. If you’ve ever cared for me, do this now.”
They left the bathroom and headed for the hallway door. And stopped short when the knob wouldn’t turn under Cari’s hand. Gunter tried the door. Shook his head. It was locked.
She called through the panel, “Grace? Let me out.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Ferrare,” a male voice said outside. “I can’t do that. I’m under orders to keep you in your room until further notice.”
Gunter called out, “Guillermo, it’s Gunter. Let me out.”
“I’m sorry, sir. Eduardo was explicit. No one comes into or goes out of Miss Cari’s room until he says otherwise.”
Cari blinked. And stared at Gunter in dismay. Had Eduardo figured out what Gunter was up to? Had the German just thrown his own life away in the name of rescuing Cari from her grief?
The German shrugged, his face set in grim lines.
“I’m so sorry, Gunter,” she choked out.
“I knew something like this might happen. It was my decision. I accept my fate.”
Her eyes narrowed. One thing she’d learned from Joe was never to say never. She wasn’t going to roll over and play dead yet. There had to be a way to get out of here and help Joe.
“The ladder,” she whispered to Gunter, acutely aware of the bugs in her room.
A grin broke across his face. He nodded and the two of them sprinted across the room toward her balcony. Gunter grabbed her arm and stopped her from bursting outside. He stood to one side of the French doors and peered out from behind the curtains.
She whispered in his ear, “Joe says that the cameras all line up facing away from the balcony every few minutes. We can slip out then.”
Gunter’s eyebrows shot up. “Is that how you two got out for that skinny-dip?”
She smiled briefly and nodded.
“How long is the coverage gap?” he muttered.
“About fifteen seconds,” she replied.
“We’ll have to be fast, then.” He glanced down at the high-heeled sandals on her feet. “Go put on tennis shoes while I watch for the cameras to line up.”
