by Liliana Hart
“Fine,” he agreed. “But you’ll have to be satisfied with a verbal agreement. Organization at my office is a little spotty right now.”
Chapter Four
Rachel breathed easier for the rest of the trip into Dallas. She’d found comfort in Shane’s anger. She needed a clear head now more than ever, and keeping Shane Quincy and his scorching kisses at arms length was exactly what she needed to get through this ordeal with a clear head and an unbroken heart.
The rain had disappeared as soon as they’d crossed the border into Texas, and the sun was shining brightly despite the briskness in the air. They’d stopped at Wal-Mart just before lunch, and Shane had run in and grabbed her some clothes and a pair of shoes. She’d changed in the cab of the truck while Shane had switched license plates with the car next to them.
“So where are we going to get the list?” he finally asked. “Did you send it to a friend down here?”
“No, I sent it to a lawyer who tried to prosecute Dad several years ago. I figured it would be safe in his hands. He’s stuck with client privilege since I pay him a retainer. I think it would be best for both of us if we could get the list without having to go to Chicago. Angelo has eyes and ears everywhere, and they’ll know the moment I step foot into the city.”
Shane knew she spoke the truth. The farther they could stay from Chicago, the safer they’d be. “It was a smart plan. Very smart,” Shane acknowledged. “I’ve got a couple of pay as you go cell phones in the bag. Grab one and give the man a call. Let him know we’re coming to see him.”
Rachel’s own cell phone was still back in her apartment, so she had to call directory assistance to get his number. She wished now she would have thought to grab it before Shane had thrown her out the window. It had all her important contact information in it.
She waited patiently for the operator to connect her to the law offices of Decker and Marsh. It was just after three o’clock in the afternoon, and she hoped she’d be able to catch him in his office.
“Decker and Marsh,” a perky receptionist answered. “How may I help you?”
“I need to speak with Galen Marsh. It’s urgent.”
“Mr. Marsh isn’t taking calls right now. Can I take a message?”
“This is Rachel Valentine. I believe Mr. Marsh will take time to speak with me.” Rachel heard a rustle of papers over the line and a few whispered voices. It must have been a new girl in the office.
“Hold please,” the perky voice said.
Easy listening music came over the line, and she waited less than a minute before her attorney answered the phone.
“Rachel,” Galen Marsh said, his voice cracking. “Where have you been? I haven’t heard from you in months.”
Something was wrong. It was impossible to ignore the nervousness in his voice. Galen Marsh hadn’t been thrilled when she’d “put him on her payroll” as he liked to call it. He never let an opportunity pass to remind her where she came from and that he thought no more of her than he had of her father. In Galen Marsh’s eyes, anyone with the last name of Valentine should be locked behind bars. But it hadn’t stopped him from taking her money. And despite his personal feelings about her family, she knew he wouldn’t compromise his career by betraying her trust. It was just like she’d explained to Shane. Money talked, and there was such a thing as honor among thieves.
“What’s going on, Galen?” Rachel asked, cutting right to the chase.
He sighed over the other end of the line, and she could imagine him shifting his considerable bulk behind the polished wood of his antique desk and reclining back in his chair. No doubt if he could have lifted his feet from the floor to the desk, they’d be propped there.
“You’ve got quite a few of your people looking for you, Rachel,” he finally said.
“What do you mean, my people?”
“Your family. They seemed worried about you. Wanted me to let them know where to find you.”
“You didn’t tell them, did you?” she asked, panic evident in her voice.
“Of course not. Anyway, it’s not like you’ve been keeping me up to date where you’ve been hiding.”
“What’s the problem then, Galen? And keep the lawyer speak to a minimum. Just the truth in a hundred words or less.”
“It’s just that they somehow found out that you’ve hired me.” His voice had turned whiny and it was everything Rachel could do not to cringe at the petulant tone in his voice.
“And that bothers you because if they were able to find out I’m a client, then others might be able to find out as well. Am I right?”
“It’s true I’d have preferred to keep our business relationship quiet. It won’t make my other clients feel too comfortable when they’re told that known criminals keep me on the payroll.”
Rachel’s voice turned icy and she wished she could have reached through the phone to strangle the pompous man on the other end. “As far as I know, Mr. Marsh, your clients don’t include any criminals, known or otherwise. Make sure you relay the message. Am I clear?”
“Sure, sure,” he said. “I just don’t want any trouble. Your relatives make quite a statement, and I’ve got a family to think about.”
“Just do your job and keep telling them you don’t know anything,” Rachel said.
“I don’t know anything. Maybe you feel like enlightening me.”
Rachel softened her voice and tried her best to add a little charm, but sometimes even she couldn’t work miracles. “If you play your cards right, Mr. Marsh, you’re going to be one of the most famous attorneys in the United States. I can guarantee you that much.”
He laughed indulgently. “And how do you plan to pull that off, Ms. Valentine? You’re father’s as good as dead, so there’s not much of a chance for me to put him behind bars where he belongs.”
Rachel gritted her teeth and held back all the vile thoughts that came to her mind every time her attorney opened his mouth. “No, but you might have heard my uncle is controlling certain areas of the business now.”
“Sure, but everyone knows it’s only a matter of time before he’s taken out. He doesn’t have the charisma that Dom had. Word is there’ve been a few problems on the inside.”
“Could be. I don’t keep up with the family business. I have bigger fish to fry. Like catching the bastards who took my father before he was able to testify.”
“Yeah, it’s a damn shame they couldn’t have gotten him after he spilled the information on all his rivals. It would have been a hell of a coup for the Justice Department. A victory all around.”
“Exactly,” Rachel said, hating the man more with every word that came out of his mouth. “I sent you a certified letter and a package several months ago with instructions to keep the package in a safe place and never open it. Do you have the package close by?”
“What’s in that package, Rachel?”
“Do you have it close by?” she repeated.
“Yeah, it’s in my office safe with all my own personal papers.”
“Good. I need that package today. We’re about half an hour from your office. I’ll swing by and get it.”
“No, I don’t want you coming here. There have been too many people asking about you lately. I’ve already told them I don’t know anything, but I’d hate to think of what they’d do to me if they thought I’d been lying all this time. The office closes at five. Meet me in the parking garage across the street at five thirty. I’ll bring the package as long as you promise to find another attorney when this is all over. I’m too close to retirement to have to worry about looking over my shoulder every time a Valentine comes in to town.”
Rachel was silent for a few seconds. She wanted to demand he put the package in her hand now, but there was no reason not to wait and play things his way. She wasn’t completely heartless, and she did understand his reasons for wanting to stay clear of her.
“Five-thirty, Mr. Marsh,” she finally agreed. “And I’m sure I don’t have to remind you not to tell anyone of
our conversation.”
Rachel hung up and turned in her seat to look at Shane. She hadn’t even noticed he’d parked the truck in an abandoned parking lot just off the highway.
“I take it there’s no love lost between you and your attorney,” he said with a smile.
“You could say that.” Rachel hadn’t realized how much tension had gathered in her shoulders once she’d heard the sound of Galen Marsh’s voice. She slowly exhaled and stretched her sore muscles.
“He won’t give us the package until office hours are over,” she said to fill the empty silence as Shane’s gaze never left her. The pulse at the base of her throat began to flutter and her palms started to sweat. The man made her more nervous than anyone she’d ever met, and considering some of the people she’d known in her lifetime, that was saying something.
“Well, I guess we’ll have to find something to do to fill the time,” he finally said.
Unfortunately, that’s what she was afraid of.
***
What Rachel hadn’t expected was a trip to the zoo.
“Excuse me, Mr. Hot Shot Investigator, but I was under the impression we were running for our lives. Not taking a vacation.”
Shane pulled a black ball cap out of his bag and put it on, along with a pair of dark sunglasses. “Has anyone ever told you that you need to have a little faith sometimes?”
“No, and if you’d come from my family you wouldn’t have faith in anyone or anything other than yourself either.”
“Good point,” he acknowledged. “I need to make a call to someone at the FBI and see if he has any information that could be of use to us. I need to know who to contact once we make it to Chicago. The zoo is always crowded, there are plenty of places to get lost if we need to, and do you see all of these towers surrounding us? They’ll confuse the phone signal and give us a little extra time to get away if someone’s listening in on my conversation.”
“Do you think we lost the guy who shot at us in New Orleans?”
“I haven’t noticed anyone tailing us, but it never hurts to be careful. I would never underestimate anyone who works for your family. They are professional and persistent.”
“You seem to know a lot about my family.”
Shane kept his face blank while wishing he could kick his own ass. It was in everyone’s best interest for Rachel to never find out how well he knew the major players in her father’s organization. “Everyone who has ever worked for the FBI knows something about your family,” he hedged. He took her hand and led her into the zoo. “From what you told me about the conversation with your attorney, they could already have Marsh’s phones tapped. Stay alert. If it is your uncle behind the attacks you might recognize someone.”
“Doubtful. My father had more than two hundred employees, but I would bet that my Uncle Angelo has moved his own men up in the ranks. Just to ensure loyalty. It’s what I would do.”
They found a shaded spot near the elephants that was relatively quiet, and Shane pulled out one of the disposable cell phones. He dialed a number that had a few too many digits and waited as he was connected to Washington, D.C.
“I need to speak with Director Boyle. Tell him Shane Quincy is on the line.”
“So the prodigal son returns,” Harlan Boyle said after a few minutes. His voice was dark and rich like expensive chocolate, and a hint of the south still lingered no matter how hard he tried to get rid of it. “I knew you’d come back, boy. A man like you isn’t meant to sit behind a desk.”
Shane felt comfort in his old supervisor’s words because he knew they were sincere. It hadn’t been Harlan Boyle’s fault that Shane’s last job had turned into his own personal hell. Harlan Boyle had only been Deputy Director at the time. “Sorry to disappoint you, sir, but the desk suits me well.”
“Doubtful, but I’ll let you have your illusions. To what do I owe the honor of this phone call?”
“I have information on the Dominic Valentine situation. I need to know who the contact is in the Chicago office.”
Director Boyle let out a low whistle. “That’s a pie you don’t want to stick your fingers in, son. People have a tendency to disappear when they know too much about the Valentines.”
Shane glanced and Rachel out of the corner of his eye. Her dark head was tilted back against a shade tree, her eyes were closed and her breathing was slow and even. He would have thought she was asleep except for the way her hands were clamped together in a white-knuckled grip.
“I know, sir. But sometimes you just have to do what’s right. I’ve got information that could potentially save a lot of people and a witness I’m trying to protect. There are very few people I can trust right now.”
“I guess I should be flattered I’m on the short list,” Harlan said. “But I’d prefer you not tell anyone you got the information from me. Director Shaw runs the Chicago office, and Special Agent Culver was one of his men. Shaw wasn’t too happy to find Culver practically decapitated and fed to the fishes, and he’s lost two other agents since then. You can imagine why no one works too hard to find where Dominic Valentine and his infamous list ended up.”
“You think there’s a leak on the inside?”
“They haven’t found any evidence to prove it, and believe me, they’ve looked. I believe the agent who headed up the internal investigation is a buddy of yours. Jones Daugherty.”
“You’re kidding me? He’s working IA?” Shane was speechless. Jones “Wildcat” Daugherty had been the team leader of the Alpha Squadron, a unit of seven men specialized in taking down terrorists. The Alpha Squadron had done two tours in Iraq together, but Shane had lost touch with everyone he’d served with after he’d left the FBI. The last he’d heard, Wildcat was climbing up the military career ladder.
“I can’t see Wildcat Daugherty working for the FBI. Talk about someone who shouldn’t be sitting behind a desk.”
“Word around the Bureau is that he’s damned good at it,” Harlan said. “He’s cleaned up a lot of messes in just a few months, but the Valentine situation isn’t one of them.”
“Thanks for the information, sir. I owe you one.”
“I’ve got a job here for you whenever you’re ready to come back.”
“I don’t owe you that much,” Shane said with a laugh and hung up.
“Did you get the information you needed?” Rachel asked.
“Some of it. I don’t want to make contact with the Chicago office until we’re on the move again.” Shane stood and stretched his muscles. He grabbed Rachel by the hand and pulled her into his arms, rubbing the knotted muscles at her shoulders.
“I don’t mean to tell you how to do your job,” she said, “but there’s a man in a hat over there who seems awfully interested in us.”
Shane pulled her closer so it looked as if they were embracing and whispered in her ear. “Yeah, it took him about five minutes to find us after I called my old headquarters.”
“I thought the towers were supposed to give us a little time.”
“Theoretically. But I know for sure now that Angelo has a plant inside the FBI. There’s no other way they could have tracked us that fast otherwise.”
“What are we going to do?” Rachel asked.
Shane took advantage of their situation by nipping lightly at her ear. She sucked in an unsteady breath, and he felt her quiver in his arms. “We’re going to head to the food court and maybe check out a couple of those souvenir shops. Don’t look at him and don’t lose your cool. There’s probably another man by the front gate.”
A rush of adrenaline shot through his system, but he tamped it down. It was what he missed most about his previous jobs—the chase, the thrill of excitement and the chance that only one man would be left standing in the end. Shane grabbed Rachel by the hand and they strolled to the food court, stopping to grab an ice cream on the way.
Shane picked up another follower out of the corner of his eye and squeezed Rachel’s hand when she started to turn and look at him. “You’ve only g
ot eyes for me, Sugar.”
“That’s a hell of an ego you have.”
“I’ll be glad to back it up once we get out of here.”
The sun was shining and Shane thought it was probably close to eighty degrees outside, but both men wore lightweight jackets to cover their shoulder holsters. Not good. The last thing he wanted to do was give them reason to open fire in such a crowded place.
Shane spotted several souvenir shops that were overrun with tour groups, and he gently pushed Rachel into the crowd. The air was cool inside the shops and sent chills over his sweat slicked skin. Tables were filled to overflowing with t-shirts and knick-knacks, so he took his cap off and put it on a display table and replaced it with a straw hat, hoping it would buy them some time. He didn’t stop to look over his shoulder, though the itch at the back of his neck had turned into a burn. Shane picked up the pace when he saw an employee entrance behind one of the souvenir shops that led to a parking lot, and he kept Rachel in front of him, protecting her body with his own.
People scrambled and screams filled the air as the first sound of gunfire rang out behind him.
“Go, go!” he yelled to Rachel. “Stay low.”
Wood splintered above Shane’s head and a splinter sliced his cheek. Blood dripped steadily down his face, but he ignored it and kept his eye on the prize—a way out and their only chance for survival. He knocked over tables as he passed them and souvenirs littered the aisles.
Shane and Rachel pushed through the door at the back of the shop and the bright sun left tiny spots dancing in front of his eyes, but they forged ahead, adrenaline and instinct taking over. Another shot rang out and chips of concrete exploded in a cloud of dust at their feet.
“Almost there,” Shane said, eyeing the gate of chain link that led into the employee parking lot at the back of the zoo. Sirens roared in the distance, overpowering the screams and sobs of the crowd behind him. Rachel ran full force into the gate and it swung open with a violent clang of metal hitting metal. The gate crashed behind him and he knew the men were hot on their heels.
