Jack Del Rio: Complete Trilogy: Reservations, Betrayals, Endgames

by Richard Paolinelli

  Del Rio pressed the button to open the gate. Then he went and got his gun, just in case. Sanders was waiting for him at the front door.

  “What do think this is all about?” she asked.

  “Not sure,” Del Rio replied as he opened the door. But that feeling of peace he’d had earlier in the day was quickly fading away.

  “You look pretty good for a dead man, Jack,” Archer said as he walked up to the door, a touch of accusation in his tone.

  “Getting a lot of rest,” Del Rio said unapologetically. If Archer knew where he was it was because the President had told him where to find Del Rio, which meant Archer had been filled in on why Del Rio had faked his demise. “It’s what we dead people excel at.”

  “I suppose you do at that,” Archer replied. “I suppose you couldn’t send me a wish you were here card in the mail at that. It’s good to see you Jack.”

  “Likewise,” Del Rio said, taking the hand that Archer extended. It was all the apology either friend would ask for or need. “So you want to tell me what the hell is going on now?”

  “Sure, just as soon as you close that gate up.”

  The third car had taken up position in front of the gate, but had not crossed the fence line. Del Rio reached over and pressed a button on a wall panel and the gate swung shut.

  “Who’s in the other car, Dave?”

  “Three people in need of shelter for a few days in a place where no one will look for them, until we can be certain they’ve lost their pursuers.”

  “And why here?”

  “Because I think you’ll want to help these three people.”

  “I should ask who first,” Del Rio said after a moment. “But what the hell. Bring them in.”

  Archer turned and waved at the two cars parked out front, starting a flurry of movement. Four men, heavily armed took up guard positions, clearly against any attempt from the outside to get past them and into the house. A fifth man bundled a smaller figure and what had to be a small child out of the back seat of the second car and hustled them toward the door, an umbrella blocking the rain as well as keeping Del Rio from seeing who they were. The trio hurried inside, followed by Archer and Del Rio closed and locked the door.

  “Okay, now that we’re all inside,” Del Rio began. “How about some introductions…”

  His voice trailed off as he recognized the two adults he’d let enter his home: Tom Callum and his former lover, Laura Cassidy. But his attention was drawn to the child, a little girl. Everyone in the room who didn’t already know had little doubt that Jack Del Rio was her father or, by the look on his face, that this was the very first moment when Del Rio found out that he even had a daughter.

  TEN

  “Hey there, sweetie,” Sanders said, breaking the silence. “Why don’t we go get you dried off and see about some hot chocolate, what do say?”

  She led the child away and both Callum and Archer withdrew as much as they could to allow the child’s parents some measure of privacy.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Del Rio said softly, but the accusation and the hurt carried through loud and clear. “I would have come back to London for both of you.”

  “That’s why I didn’t, Jack,” Cassidy replied. “I told you that last night in London, you had your life to live back here. I would have told you eventually, but then you went and got yourself killed and I thought it was too late.”

  “What’s her name?”

  “Jacquelyn.”

  “Jackie?”

  “Yes. It seemed only natural and she’s as stubborn as her old man already.”

  “I’d say she gets a little bit of that from both of us. Does she know about me?”

  “She knows her father was a good man who had to go away but I never told her he was dead. I thought I’d wait until she was older to tell her about that.”

  “And now?”

  “We need to talk about that and a few other things too. But first…”

  “Business,” Del Rio said bitterly, waving a hand at the two men to come back into the room. “I know. So who wants to start telling me what’s going on and why you’re here?”

  “I’ll start it, lad,” Callum replied. “Laura here was embedded with a remnant of the old IRA that’s trying to get a foothold in Ireland again. Making matters worse, they appear to be coordinating with some militant Islamic groups. Somehow her cover was blown and we damn near lost her and Jackie before we could get them out of the country.

  “We set a trap for whoever’s coming for them in the Falklands,” Callum continued. “And we think we’ve shook them off the trail. We want to hole up here and see if we’ve done it, then move them to the final destination where they’ll stay until we round these bastards all up.”

  “You haven’t found the source of the leak yet?” Del Rio asked.

  “No. Whoever it is they’re well connected and even better informed. This last jump I didn’t tell anyone about but Dave here and that only so he could help get us here after we landed in Arizona. All I told her Majesty – she’s says hello lad – was I needed her to speak with your President about telling Dave where to find you. I’m thinking we’ve lost them, but I want to be certain.”

  “Well, they’ll be safe here for sure.”

  “Maybe,” Archer interjected. “Jack, we haven’t rounded up everyone connected to that little shindig you threw on your way out of town four years ago. We think they’re still after you and may be coordinating with the same folks after Laura and your daughter.”

  “Damnit, the Irishmen,” Del Rio swore softly.

  “Who?” Callum asked, alarmed.

  “The authorities in Window Rock mentioned a couple of Irishmen asking around for Jack Del Rio, but they didn’t seem to have a clue about John Rivers. Maybe they didn’t connect the dots and moved on to another reservation nearby.”

  “Let’s hope so,” Callum said. “Otherwise everything we’ve done the last several days have been for nothing.”

  “At the very least we have time,” Del Rio said. “Even if those Irish hounds come back onto the Res to sniff around, it will take them some time to find us here. We might even catch a break and have the NNPD find them first and toss them in Tribal Jail as long as we need.”

  “Without charge?” Archer asked. “Are you sure they’d do that?”

  “I think I can call in a favor,” Del Rio said, walking over to the security controls. “Right now, the best thing we all can do is get some rest. Tell your boys outside the fence not to try to enter without getting the all-clear from me first. Same goes for whoever is out front. Tell them not to get too nosy and stay near the car or the front door.”

  “Why?” Archer and Callum asked in unison.

  “Because,” Del Rio replied, tapping in a series of commands. “I just set my security at its highest setting. If anything larger than a flea gets into the wrong area outside there won’t be enough left of it for a DNA sample.”

  “Damn, Jackie,” Callum swore.

  “I’ve had four years to get ready for the day the wrong people found out I was alive and where I was at. I can keep out unwanted visitors.”

  “What about from the air?” Archer asked.

  “I wouldn’t want to come from that direction with this thing on,” Del Rio replied, tapping the control panel.

  “I suppose I don’t want to ask what all you’ve got here,” Archer said. “Or how you went about getting your hands on it.”

  “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t.”

  “Fair enough,” Archer relented. “So, how are we going to bunk six people in here?”

  “You and Tom get those nice cushioned armchairs,” Del Rio said. “The women can take the bed.”

  “What about that couch?” Callum asked, pointing at the comfortable looking centerpiece of Del Rio’s living room.

  “That’s mine,” Del Rio answered.

  “That’s not being a nice host, Jackie,” Callum joked.

  “My house, my rules, my couch,” Del R
io replied in kind. “I’ll bring us some blankets.”

  Del Rio started to lead Cassidy to the bedroom when Sanders walked out.

  “How is she?” Cassidy asked.

  “Fell asleep almost before I finished making her hot chocolate,” Sanders reported. “I’ve got her tucked in bed.”

  “Thank you,” Cassidy said, walking on into the room to check on her daughter.

  “Jack,” Sanders said. “I can go back to Flagstaff and check into the hotel again…”

  “No,” Del Rio said firmly, taking her hand. “I told you that you can stay here as long as you like. I meant it.”

  “But now that they’re here…”

  “Doesn’t change the fact that I want you to stay. We’ll work this out, somehow. But for now, please stay.”

  “Okay, Jack.”

  Del Rio retrieved three blankets from the closet, pausing for a moment to look at the sleeping girl, my daughter, he corrected himself mentally, still coming to terms with her existence.

  “She’s a great kid, Jack,” Cassidy said, watching him watching his daughter. “She’s gone through all of this better than could be expected.”

  “There’s so much I missed already,” Del Rio said softly. “So much I want to know.”

  “You’ll get a chance, Jack, I promise you we’ll find a way.”

  Del Rio simply nodded then turned to leave the room with his bundle of blankets without saying a word, leaving the two women and an uncomfortable silence behind.

  “Well,” Sanders said finally. “It looks like we’re bunking together.”

  “Indeed. Fortunately the bed’s is more than big enough for the three of us. The floor doesn’t look too inviting.”

  “No, it doesn’t.”

  “Well, it will give us a chance to talk at least,” Cassidy said, sitting down next to her daughter. “I’m sure you’re dying to ask me about Jack before you met him and I’m dying to find out about him since we broke up.”

  “I might be getting the better end of that deal,” Sanders said, sitting on the other side of Jackie. “He’s still a bit of a mystery to me.”

  “That’s just Jack being Jack,” Cassidy said with a wan smile. “How did you two meet? I suppose our arrival has bollixed up things a bit.”

  “Maybe,” Sanders allowed. “I think we’re still sorting things out between us right now. As for how we met… well let’s just say that I was chasing a big story and I went out looking for him.”

  “Obviously you found him.”

  “Yes. And then he wound up saving my life, maybe even from something worse than dying too. That’s when I realized I had found something more than just a big story. Like I said, we’re still figuring it out. Sometimes I think maybe it happened a little too fast.”

  “Sometimes the best things do,” Cassidy replied.

  “How about you two?” Sanders asked. “How did you two meet and wind up with a daughter together.”

  “Now that, dear,” Cassidy said. “Is a very long story.”

  * * * * *

  “Alright boys, here you go,” Del Rio said, tossing a blanket in the direction of each man in the room.

  “You got anything to drink around here, lad,” Callum asked, looking in the area of the kitchen.

  “Aside from water?” Del Rio answered, knowing what Callum really meant by drink. “Not a drop.”

  “Lad, that’s inhuman.”

  “I live on an Indian Reservation,” Del Rio said. “I’m not about to import alcohol, even to stash around here. It would be disrespectful.”

  “Damn, I could use a drop.”

  “You and me both, Tom. You and me both.”

  Del Rio turned off all the lights, letting the glow from the security panel serve as a dim light in case the other two men got up during the night. Within minutes, all three were sound asleep. Even without an alarm clock of any kind, Del Rio figured he would easily be the first to awaken in the morning.

  He was wrong.

  A feeling of being watched roused him from a deep sleep and there was just enough light for him to make out the form of a little girl, standing next to the couch he had slept on, silently and intently looking at him.

  “Good morning,” Jackie said, whispering. “Are you my daddy?”

  For a brief instant he thought of evading his inquisitor so he could discuss with Cassidy exactly what to tell the little girl. But he couldn’t find it in himself to allow a lie to be the first words he spoke to his daughter.

  “Good morning,” he answered in a matching whisper. “Yes. Yes I am your daddy.”

  “Where have you been?”

  “Well,” Del Rio stalled, suddenly realizing how deep in trouble he was in. “That’s kind of a long story. What do you say we get some breakfast first and I’ll tell you all about it, okay?”

  “Okay,” she acquiesced, holding out a hand to “help” him up from the couch. Del Rio took the offering and made the appropriate grunts as she “helped” him off the couch. Somehow, between her giggles and his grunts, they managed not to awaken the others as they made their way into the kitchen.

  “So,” Del Rio asked as he opened the pantry. “What sounds good?”

  “Bangers and mash.”

  He’d been expecting a request for cereal. But as he recalled, during his time in Britain, bangers and mash had been one of his favorite breakfasts over there. He had the potatoes but doubted he had any sausage.

  “Looks like I’m out of sausage,” he reported after checking the refrigerator.

  “Awww.”

  “But can I interest you in some eggy bread?” he asked, remembering at the last second that the British had their own name for French toast.

  “With hot chocolate?”

  “Done and done,” he said, grabbing the eggs before shutting the door. Within a few minutes he was having his first breakfast with his daughter.

  “So where have you been?” Jackie asked around a dainty bite of the toast..

  Damn, I was hoping she’d have forgotten, Del Rio said to himself.

  “Well,” he said slowly, stalling for time. “You know how you mommy has a job she has to do?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, I kind of do the same thing. Only my job took me a long way away.”

  “So you will come home soon, Daddy?”

  “I’m not sure,” Del Rio said, still coming to terms with being called “Daddy” on such short notice. “But I promise you this. I’ll make sure I come and see you as much as I can. Deal?”

  “Deal,” she said, extending her hand. Which Del Rio promptly and solemnly took and shook.

  “Good. Say, what do you think about horses?”

  “Oooh,” she squealed in delight. “I love horses, Daddy. Why?”

  “Because I happen to have a few horses outside.”

  “Can I ride one? Can we go out right now?”

  “Only if you finish all of your breakfast, young lady,” Cassidy said. She and Sanders had quietly come up on the father-daughter moment and held back so as not to spoil it. “And only if Mister…your father says its safe for you to ride one.”

  “You heard that?”

  “No,” Cassidy said with a sigh. “But I know you two too well. She probably asked you right away and you probably answered her. She’s too much like you, you know.”

  “I’m noticing.”

  “Well at least you didn’t make her bangers and mash. That’s all she ever wants for breakfast.”

  “Hey, I may be new to this dad thing but give me some credit.”

  “You don’t have any sausage here, do you?” Cassidy said with a knowing smile.

  “Never stock it,” he admitted. “But don’t tell her that, I’d hate to get off to a bad start on my first day.”

  “Your secret’s safe with me. So, what do we have for the rest of us.”

  “Not enough for ten more,” Del Rio admitted, suddenly wondering if he needed to head in to Tuba City for supplies for this mini army camped at his p
lace.

  “Not to worry,” Archer said as he walked in with Callum. “My boys are heading in to get enough to carry us over while we’re here as we speak. By the way, is it safe yet for Callum’s men to move around out there?”

  “Yes,” Del Rio answered. “I set the system to allow them to wander about without starting anything when I got up.”

  “Why don’t the two of you check out those horses while we put together a proper breakfast?” Cassidy suggested.

  Jackie was out of her seat and halfway to the door like a shot. The parents exchanged a bemused look before Del Rio took off in pursuit of his daughter.

  “You boys should have some breakfast in a minute,” Del Rio said to Castleton as he led Jackie out to the stable. She didn’t give him any time to get an answer from the man, who was talking into his cell phone.

  “Oh they’re beautiful,” she cooed when she got a look at the four horses. “They’re all yours?”

  “Yep.”

  “Can I ride one? Please?”

  “Well, they’re all a little too big for you to ride alone. But you pick one and I’ll throw on a saddle and we can both ride it together.”

  “I want that one,” she said, pointing right to the palomino. “He’s pretty. What’s his name?”

  “Well, I call him horse.”

  “That’s not a name. Can I call him Kingston?” she asked earnestly, looking up at him.

  “I’m going to have to work on saying no to you, aren’t I?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Alright,” he said with a defeated sigh. “Kingston it is.”

  “Come on, Kingston,” he said to the horse after saddling him, drawing a look and a snort from the animal. “Don’t give me that. Take it up with her.”

  Kingston looked away and shook his head then allowed Del Rio to lead him out. Swinging Jackie into the saddle first, Del Rio climbed aboard and started the horse out toward the outer wall. Taking their time, they made their way around the canyon, with Jackie asking about everything they came across.

  “It’s really nice here. Can I come back?”

  “As often as you can, Jackie,” Del Rio answered. “And when you and your mother get settled where you’re going I’ll come see you too.”