“I—I guess we’d stay at—at the motel until…”
“Don’t you think whoever is after you knows that? If you’re there, they’re in danger—all of them. Do you understand now why we can’t take that chance? I was afraid to leave them without protection. I called the police and told them what was going on. I know the police are at the motel right now. It’s their only chance to stay safe until this person figures out you’re no longer around.”
The steel grip softened as what he said registered. He pulled me against him and I let the pain and anguish flow out of me. There would be no chance to tell them goodbye, and I knew I’d never see my little sister again.
“Is that why you almost collapsed at the car? Do you really think,” he whispered, stroking my hair as I began to calm, “that I’m planning to kill you tonight?”
I pulled away and kept my face down, trying to wipe away the tears. “’When I saw your gun case, I… You have what you wanted. All you had to do was to get me to leave with you. I’m here and everyone knows I left with you willingly.”
He tipped my chin upward, “Leese, you hired me, too.”
“I know, but…” My eyes went to the cell phone in his shirt pocket. I put my hand on it and he clasped his hand over mine and slowly took it away from the phone. “Tell me what you’ve learned. I know you called someone.”
He slumped back in his seat, his hand going up to grip his temples and then gliding back into his hair. “We need to get back on the road. We can talk on the way.”
“I guess it doesn’t matter, but where are we going?”
“Louisiana,” he said and then turned the car back onto the asphalt.
“New Orleans?” I was asking, but I was pretty sure of the answer.
“We could have, but I decided some place quieter would be better.” He changed the direction of the conversation. “You need to call Bev and tell her you’re with me and that you’re safe. I told the police to check their house. This kind of rogue isn’t afraid to blow one up.”
“Rogue?” I asked
“He isn’t your normal hit man. He’s the kind of guy that’s messy, but it doesn’t matter to him. He isn’t paid to do a job by instructions; he’s paid to simply get the job done.”
“Why would someone pay you to set this up so carefully and then turn around and pay someone else to ruin everything?”
I’d seen that look on his face before; he didn’t want to tell me.
“Please,” was my single word request for him to go ahead and say it.
“Because it’s two different people paying.”
“So you’re telling me that your contract is still good and his is good. It’s just a matter of who kills me first?”
I could see that he swallowed before answering, “Yes.”
“And you’re also saying this guy probably wasn’t hired by my—by Robert?”
“He definitely wasn’t hired by the same person who is paying me. When my contact heard about the shooting, he called to find out from his contact if the plans had been cancelled, and that person said definitely not.”
“But maybe this is some freak coincidence. Maybe this person just happened to pick our school and…”
“No, Leese. I already checked it out. In the circles I run in, word spreads.”
“Don’t stop. Tell me, Evan. Who is the other person?”
“I don’t know who, but I do know it’s a woman—and she wants you dead quickly.”
I didn’t know many adult females besides teachers and a few of Mom’s friends. None of this was making sense any more. Things had become clear for a while when Evan found the information about Robert, but who was this new threat? A gentle touch on my arm shook me from my thoughts.
“Call Bev and tell her you’re okay.”
As hard as it had been for me to accept the fact that I wouldn’t get the chance to say goodbye, it was even harder to convince Bev and Matt of the same thing. After nearly twenty minutes on the phone, I finally said they were just going to have to trust that I knew what I was doing. They put Kimmy on the phone and it felt like my heart was crumbling. I had to stay strong, no sobbing, no weeping, just be positive, even cheerful.
“Hey brat,” I teased. “Are you enjoying the motel?”
“If they’ll let me go swim!” she said with that tone that told me she was going to pitch a fit pretty soon.
“Well, I’m sure they’ll let you eventually—if you’re good,” I added.
“I’ll try,” was her candid response. “When you get here, Leese, will you bring my swimsuit?”
“I—I won’t be able to make it. I’ve got to go on a short trip so I may not see you for a while.”
“During school?” she asked incredulously.
“Yeah, what luck, huh?” I was trying to keep our last moments together light and happy.
“Can I come?” she pleaded.
“Not this time, squirt—this is business.” There was a long pause as she must have considered what business I might possibly be doing. She knew her father was away all the time on business, but never Mom or me. “But I love you. And, please be good for Bev and Matt.”
“Okay,” she relented and then she told me that she loved me too and the line went dead.
I knew I had to make one more call. I dialed my mother’s cell phone. This time she answered quickly. The first thing I said was, “Mom, I’m okay.”
She was really upset. She was saying she wanted us home right now.
“Mom, you always said I had a good head on my shoulders. I need you to believe that right now.”
“I do believe that, Honey, but…”
“Mom, I’m not coming home.” She started babbling right away, but I had to stop her, she had to focus on what I was saying. “Please, Mom, trust me. I’ll get this figured out; then no one will do this to our family again.”
She was still upset, but within a few minutes she began to accept that I might actually know what I was doing. That was the great thing about my mother; she had faith in me.
“Dad wants to talk to you, Honey, hold on.”
I didn’t know if I was that good of an actress. I didn’t know if the words would come and if they did, could I make them sound genuine?
“Leese, what’s going on?”
I felt as if I could now discern the fakeness in his voice and it infuriated me. “I—I’m okay, Dad.”
“Where are you and who’s with you?”
I wondered how he would respond to a tidbit of information. “It’s okay, I’m with a good friend from school.”
He paused for a millisecond, “The boy you like?”
“Yeah, but it’s okay, he’s really trustworthy. He’ll keep me safe until this blows over.”
“Call us when you can. We trust you, Leese.”
It was as if I could hear the tinge of excitement in his words, ‘Yes, go with him. It’s exactly what I wanted you to do.’
“I’ll try. I—I love you.” I couldn’t quite get those words out without a small stumble. I closed the phone.
Evan reached over and rubbed my arm gently, “You did good. Do you think you could get a little sleep?”
“I’m exhausted but, no, I’m too keyed up.”
“Close your eyes and try.”
It made me wonder if he didn’t want me to see where we were going. I leaned the seat back slightly, opened my purse and pulled out my iPod, put in my ear buds and closed my eyes. Every fiber within me began to relax as the sounds that had been holding my life together lately began to course through me. His fingers stroked along my arm gently as the rhythm of the engine lulled me into sleep.
I woke a few hours later as I felt the car slow and pull off the main highway. It was dark now. I sat up straighter and was surprised to see we were pulling into a super Wal-Mart. “What are we doing here?” I yawned before I could stop myself.
“You don’t have any other clothes and we need to get fuel. I know this isn’t exactly high fashion, but it’ll do for n
ow.”
“Yeah, that sounds good, these gym clothes kinda stink,” I said, lifting the tee-shirt to give it a sniff.
We walked around as I picked up several tops, a few pairs of jeans, a couple skirts, a pair of black flats, sandals, flip flops, and then I turned the buggy down the lingerie aisle and watched his face for a hint of discomfort; all he did was look at me and give a slow smile. I grabbed a couple packs of cotton, low-rise string bikinis and then two extra bras. I gave a disappointed sigh as I moved toward the night-clothes.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, slightly amused that I didn’t shake him by dragging him through the ‘unmentionables’ aisle.
I looked at him and rolled my eyes, “I’d kill right now for a Victoria’s Secret.”
The smile got bigger. “You like Victoria’s Secret?”
“They just fit better, that’s all. That and they have a bigger selection.”
I picked out something to sleep in and then headed for cosmetics. The only time I actually managed to embarrass him was when I went down the feminine aisle. Within two seconds he vanished.
I started pushing our cart toward check out when he mentioned I’d need to get a swimsuit.
“Why?”
“Well, you still have nearly five weeks left, and I have a big pool.”
If I hadn’t asked for a kiss as my last request, I would have planted one on him right then and there. If ever there were a little glimmer of heaven in the pits of my despair, it was hearing that he had a pool. I grabbed two bathing suits, and, beaming a big smile, headed back toward check-out.
“You realize,” I said, pulling the visa out of my purse, “I’m actually spending your money.”
“No,” he replied quickly, taking the visa from my hand and dropping it back into my open bag. “I’m paying for this.” He pulled out his wallet as the cashier told him the three-hundred and seventy-eight dollar total. Four one-hundred dollar bills hit the counter.
I started to rebut, until I saw the look he was giving me that said he’d explain as soon as we were out of the cashier’s hearing.
We walked out the automatic doors and he looked at me, “Don’t use your visa. That’s one of the easiest ways for someone to track you down. People that use those things might as well rent a billboard and write their address and phone number on it.”
“But then that means that I actually don’t have any money.” I was uncomfortable with that feeling. Even when I was just little Miss McKinnis, I had money. I just didn’t go crazy with it.
He noticed the distressed look on my face. “Don’t worry, I have more than you can spend.”
“Don’t be so sure,” I smiled with a haughty attitude. “Given the proper places, I bet I could put a serious dent in your finances.”
We were almost to the car, but he stopped anyway and turned me to face him. “I know you come from big spenders, but I could put you on a private jet tonight, fly us to Paris for a shopping trip down Champs Elysées, then have the jet fly us to Hong Kong to finish off our day on Causeway Bay. We could return to the States and stop at the Porsche dealership and pick you out a new 911 and that day wouldn’t put a dent in my finances.”
There was only one thing that I could possibly even think of to respond to that, “Good grief, how many people have you killed?”
His face went dark and he moved forward and unlocked the trunk of the car. “Did it ever occur to you that I might make money in legal ways, too?”
I felt like a jerk for my momentary lapse of humanity and humility. He only agreed to be a gentleman for my purchased five weeks of life; I never specified that he had to be kind to me. And, for all intensive purposes, he had been kind to me.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come across like an arrogant, spoiled brat. That’s not me. I guess I’m…”
He sighed as his hand slipped softly around the left side of my face, his thumb caressing my cheek, “Leese, don’t apologize. Under the current circumstances, I’m surprised you’re even civil to me. I only wish…”
I was so involved in the moment that I didn’t realize he’d stopped talking. I was looking into that striking face, feeling the warmth of his hand and the nearness of his muscled body, and I forgot almost everything else. And then the words, ‘I only wish,’ came back into focus.
“What do you wish?” I asked softly, my hands finding a resting place on his waist.
“Why couldn’t I have met you some other way?”
“God does everything for a reason, but you have no idea how much I wish the same thing.” He started to pull away from me, but for once I was the one who didn’t want to let go. “Micah,” I whispered, surprising him since he knew I refused to call him by his real name. “If my life could go back to normal right now, just by having never met you, I wouldn’t do it.”
His head was shaking side to side slightly as his arms pulled me into his embrace, “You’re killing me, Leese. I never thought my job could be this hard.”
I couldn’t stay in his arms; if I kept wanting to be near him, if I kept telling him how I felt about him, I was going to get him killed.
I pulled back and turned away. “We’d better get going.”
We continued on I-10 through New Orleans. He was talking about his favorite restaurants in the French Quarter. Since I was in my gym clothes and I wasn’t changing with him in the car, I declined his offer to try one tonight. He also had a few casinos that he wanted me to try, but I pointedly reminded him that I wouldn’t be eighteen for another three months; I wasn’t legal. He gave a light laugh and told me he’d have his mother make me a Louisiana (or any other state I wanted) driver’s license and I could be any age I desired.
“We have a house in the historic district on St. Charles. If you want, I can pull in, I’m sure she’s still up.” He wasn’t teasing.
“No,” I said, feeling uncomfortable. “Let’s just get where we’re going.”
We left the bright lights of the city and continued along the interstate for about twenty minutes. He took an exit onto a two lane highway that wound around back into the darkness for another ten to fifteen minutes, finally making an abrupt right down a long and winding drive. I was actually starting to get scared because it seemed we were driving into the woods. That was an unsettling thought, but around another bend in the drive, a beautiful two story plantation style home came into view. Its front columns illuminated, but even if they hadn’t been, the house was in a clearing and bathed in moonlight. Sitting in the circle drive was a silver Mercedes S550.
“Wow—this is…”
“Why is Mom here?” he stated with amazement. He had told me she was back in New Orleans, so this was evidently a surprise for him, and a very uncomfortable surprise for me.
He pulled the car around to the back to a long garage with triple bays, but he didn’t open the doors. Instead, he parked outside. He grabbed the Wal-Mart bags. We came in through the back, past the manicured hedges around an enormous pool, complete with a rock waterfall, and built in Jacuzzi and up onto a house length back porch and then through the kitchen door. Immediately I smelled something wonderful. We continued through the gourmet kitchen and into what appeared to be a family room, only very masculine in every detail.
“Mère?” He called out in French.
A very beautiful woman with shoulder-length dark haired pulled back into a pony-tail was coming down the hallway. I couldn’t help but stare at her. She was probably about fifty, with a long slender nose and prominent cheek bones and a slightly wide mouth set against flawlessly creamy skin. It wasn’t until she was close to me that I noticed the same deep green eyes I’d been staring into for the last seven days.
“Micah, I was wondering when you would get in. I thought you said you’d be in around eight-thirty?”
“I’m sorry, Mom, we had to make a stop,” he said lifting the Wal-Mart bags slightly and promptly setting them down next to a large leather recliner.
“Annalisa Winslett, this is my mother, Celeste Gavarreen
.”
“Hello,” I said extending my hand.
She grasped it warmly in both of hers. “Hello, Annalisa, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Mom, what are you doing here? I thought you’d be in New Orleans?”
She released my hand, turned and gave him a surprised look, “Well, you said you would be bringing company and I knew it would be fairly late, so I decided to come make you some dinner and get the house ready.”
“You didn’t have to do that,” he said, sounding younger by the minute.
“I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to—and I wanted to meet your guest.”
My face felt as if it instantly flamed red. She knew what I was to him and I wasn’t exactly a guest. I was his target.
“I hope you like chicken parmigiana, Annalisa.”
“Oh, yes I do. I smelled it when we came in the house. Just the aroma alone is wonderful. Please, call me Leese.”
“Wonderful, Leese, I’ll show you where you can wash up.” Then, turning to him with a very large smile, she said, “Elle est une très belle jeune femme, Micah.”
My face flushed with color again, and I could see the embarrassment hit him as well.
“Ah, Mom, she speaks French.”
“Oh—that’s a wonderful surprise.” But if it embarrassed her that she just told him she thought I was beautiful, it never made it to her cheeks.
She showed me to the downstairs bathroom so I could clean up before the meal, and he took my bags to a bedroom just down the hall on the left.
I thought at first it would be awkward having her here, but I actually felt relieved that we weren’t alone in the house. The meal was wonderful. She had cooked everything from scratch, fresh chicken breasts, mozzarella, with a very thick and rich tomato sauce. She steamed wild rice and made a wilted spinach salad with bacon dressing and cut a loaf of French bread. I hadn’t realized just how hungry I was until I began to eat.
She joined us for the meal, saying that she was getting ready to head back to New Orleans as soon as we were finished.
“You should stay, Mom. It’s too late for you to drive back now.”
“It’s only a quarter to eleven and…”
01 Untouchable - Untouchable Page 17
