“Yes, I’m the person in the pictures that he has. And you’re right. I think you’ve both suffered enough at this man’s hands. But the issue isn’t that bad, as no one believes him. You didn’t even believe him, did you, Jamie?” He said that he didn’t. “Neither does anyone that he works for. And you were only on the job because you were new, and didn’t know that he’d been told not to look into the case any longer. Doing that and being a nasty sort to his employees is what got him into hot water, and now he’s been fired. But that hasn’t stopped him from coming here and trying to make a name for himself. And to be honest with you, I had only thought that he wanted to make this great discovery. Now it turns out that he’s been made aware of what would happen to me should they capture me, and he doesn’t care. I can’t let that go unpunished.”
“I had no idea that I wasn’t to look into it. As you said, I was new, but now that I think on it, Bates had me meet him in strange places when I had information, and my office was so far removed from everyone else’s that I never got to talk to anyone else. I guess he wanted to keep me in the dark a great deal.” Emerald said that’s what she’d heard too. “So, all this, have I lost my job as well?”
“No, and you won’t either. I’ve convinced the higher ups that you were only doing as told.” Jamie asked Chase if he wanted to know how he’d done that. “You might, but all I did was suggest that you were a good employee that has been put under too much stress to find this nonexistent woman. And that is why you had your minor heart attack…at least that’s what they’ve been told about what happened to you. Also, there could be a lawsuit out of you having a heart attack when you did. Not against you, but Bates himself. I believe that is why he ran when he did. They’re assuming that Bates sent you here and it was too much.”
“Thank you. I don’t...I’ve not been happy there since I started. And I’ve been working for Bates the entire time. He is a bastard, and it doesn’t surprise me at all that he was handling others worse than he did me.” Kristie looked at her husband when he glanced at her. “I kept working at this job because the benefits were good, and it was keeping a roof over our heads. With the baby coming, you can see why this was important to me.” Kristie kissed her husband, not realizing until then how much he’d suffered for them.
“We understand that.” Emerald stood up and started pacing the room. Kristie noticed that she did that when she was thinking. Chase continued as she walked the length of the room. “You’re going to remain under sick leave for the next several months. The doctors here, friends of ours as well, have sent in all the necessary paperwork to keep you paid, as well as here where you have relatives. I’m your cousin, as far as they know.”
Emerald stopped moving and spoke then. “Basically, we’ve decided that we want you both to remain here, well after this is all finished. Chase and I have talked it over, and we’d very much like for you to become a part of our family. Extended, yes, but we both like you and want you to be safe.” Kristie said that she liked them as well. “Bates is in trouble with his firm. As in, just yesterday, he not only lost his job, but his pension, as well as a few other perks he was getting. While I don’t care what he tries on us, I don’t want anything to happen to the two of you. Nor the babe that you carry.”
Kristie had seen a doctor just that morning. Emerald had set it up. Also, all their things had been moved to a nice little furnished house. It was close to the hospital so that she could walk if she wanted, but a car had been provided for her should she want it. Things were starting to click into place, and she’d just realized how wealthy and connected these people were.
“What are you?” Kristie was embarrassed as soon as the question came out of her mouth. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude, but you’re not a vampire, are you? And I don’t think you’re a shifter, or whatever they’re called.”
“I’m a protector and warrior. I am also the queen of the ice dragons.” Kristie knew this, of course, but she’d yet to meet the creatures. They’d be very noticeable, she thought, if they were around. “Until they’re called upon to war, they’re small, no bigger than a pixie or a faerie.”
“I see. And are there many of them?” Emerald put out her hand and a little lizard like thing appeared. Standing up, Kristie got closer and could see that it was indeed a dragon, and as brilliant as a diamond. And small. “May I hold him?”
“She. And if she allows it, yes.” Kristie put out her hand and the little dragon flew to her palm. She was cold, which Kristie was sure was the point of her being an ice dragon, and when she spread out her wings and sat up, Kristie noticed that even as tiny as it was, it was very scary looking.
When she left her to land on Jamie, Kristie felt her baby kick and move. Rubbing her swollen belly, she thought of what Emerald had said. They got larger when there was a need. They were commanded by her. Looking at the woman again, Kristie took a step back. Emerald was dressed from head to toe in glass...no, not glass, but ice. Sitting down, she knew that no matter what Bates threw at them, they’d all come out all right. They had a warrior on their side.
Chapter 7
Harold didn’t care for this little town. First of all, there wasn’t a good place for him to get a cup of coffee. Oh sure, he could have some coffee, but it wasn’t anything that he’d pour over his plants. Just plain old ground coffee without a hint of any other flavors, and the cream was just cow’s milk. Disgusting. Not to mention, they actually served it in cups. Not the tall paper kind that he could carry around with him, but cups that were too small for him to enjoy. The place was so backwater that he wanted to scream at them to come to this century.
The second thing was, there wasn’t any sort of night life. Not a single bar that was open that didn’t just serve beer. He could have bottled, canned, or on tap, but no designer beers. Nor was there any way for him to order a relaxing drink. When he’d asked the girl at the little dive he’d eaten at for an old fashioned, she asked him old fashioned what, then went on to tell him that all their dinners were freshly made, and they even made their own pies.
He’d eaten fried chicken, not baked. White bread…no, there wasn’t any other kind, he’d been told. Mashed potatoes that had been made with real potatoes, which he didn’t understand the difference, and green beans with tiny bits of bacon in them. Harold concluded that they were all going to die of heart failure, and he’d be the only healthy person around when it was said and done.
That wasn’t to say it wasn’t good, because it was, but the way they slapped gravy on everything, slathered butter atop the bread like it was a condiment, and served tea so sweet that it hurt your teeth, he knew he’d be dead within a week of living here. No, he thought, the sooner he was out of here, the better health-wise he’d be.
As he walked around the place, looking for some sign of life, he found that it was much like that little town on television that Don Knotts had played the idiot in. Only Harold thought that the entire town was full of Knotts, and he was the only sane or educated person there. As he made his way into the hotel again, he saw the men that he’d hired and asked them to meet him in the room he’d rented. He told them to be there in thirty minutes. The man, he couldn’t for the life of him remember his name, said that they wanted to speak to him as well. Good. The sooner that they were all on the same page, the better and quicker things would go for him.
Harold had asked about a room he could use, one with Internet service and a fax machine, as well as phones. Harold had been taken to a room about the size of a barn and was told that they could bring in phones, just to tell them how many, and the local drug store had a fax service. After inquiring about the phone numbers he’d use, they told him they’d all have to be the same one, as they only had one number for the place. And if he might need more than one line coming in, they’d have to ask the owner.
“Podunks.” Harold went to the room in plenty of time to set up, then waited. He had had reprints made of the woman that he was looking for, as well as pictures of Nash and his wife.
That woman of Nash’s was going to tell him she was sorry for getting him fired. And Harold was going to make her call his boss back, tell him that she was sorry for causing trouble, and that it was because she was fat. Well, pregnant, which was basically the same damned thing.
The men came in all together. They were prompt, which he liked, but he thought they should be dressed a little more respectfully to his position. Shirts and ties and shoes. They were in T-shirts, jeans, and boots. He could also see that they were all armed, which he was glad for, but he couldn’t help but be just a little nervous about it.
“This is the woman that we’re looking for. I’ve heard that she might be here, but I can’t get any of the people around here to give me any information on her. Also, I have an employee and his wife around this town as well. At least, this is where I’ve tracked them to.” One of the men asked if they were getting paid triple for the work. “Triple? What are you talking about? There is no reason for you to think you should be getting triple for anything.”
“We’re here to find a woman, that one I’m guessing. There wasn’t any mention of a wife and man. You want us to find them, then we will be getting triple the money you are to pay us.” The rest of them just nodded, and Harold had a thought that they were mute, or they only spoke through one of them. Their leader, so to speak.
“No, you’re thinking of this all wrong. These people, the man and his pregnant wife, are here, and I’m betting have some information on the first woman. See, I’m helping you, if anything. And you’re to bring them to me so that I can question them.” The man that had been doing all the talking since Harold had hired them stood up and said they were gone. “What do you mean, gone? What the hell are you talking about? You said you’d work for me.”
“Yeah, we did. And now we’re saying that we’re not.” The rest of the men left the room, leaving him and talker there. “You should have looked into things before you hired us, anyway. The man in that picture, with that woman you want us to find? He’s a friend of mine. I don’t hunt for friends.”
“You’re a fucking hit man. Your kind doesn’t have friends. Much less people that they like. Mother fuck, what is this world coming to?” Talker threw the pictures back on the table and started away. “Where is my refund? When I hired you before I came to this place, I gave you quite a bit of money. Where is that now? I expect to have all of the money I fronted you, as well as the money for your hotel stay. My job is no longer paying me, and I have to keep all my money close to the vest, so to speak. So, hand it over. Now, as a matter of fact.”
Talker laughed. “Yeah, you have fun trying to get that back. It’s not like you can go to the police. What would you say to them? ‘Hey, this guy stole money from me when he wouldn’t kill or kidnap who I wanted him to. Can you please get it back for me?’ Yeah, that’ll go over well.”
Left standing in the big room alone, he heard the distant sound of a phone ringing and had a sudden thought. They were using the hotel number in this room for him. But right now, it mattered little. He was without help. His men, they’d left him hanging.
Harold sat down and tried to think around the anger that felt like a part of his body. They weren’t going to help him. And worse yet, he wasn’t going to be able to use the money that he’d already paid them to hire someone else to do the job. What the hell was wrong with this world? No wonder they needed his department. This world was going to hell in a hand basket, as his old grannie used to say.
There was only so much money he could reasonably spend on this project. If he could get the woman to tell him how she’d lived for so long, he would be able to sell that information and make more money to pursue even his wildest dreams of owning an island. But therein laid the problem. He needed money to make money. And at the rate he was going, he was going to be able to watch as someone else took credit for his findings.
“And all because some upstart of a fat woman had to go and stick her nose into something that didn’t concern her. Nash’s wife, she’s going to pay for this, I’m thinking. Even if I have to do it myself.” He decided to go to the hospital and see Nash. “He might be able to have better luck with his wife than I would.”
It had been easy to find out what hospital Nash was in. He’d called his secretary, hoping that she’d not found out about his firing, and was pissed when she told him she was glad he was gone and hoped he rotted in hell. He’d not done a damned thing to her, and this was how she repaid him? Then he’d decided to call all the hospitals in the Columbus area. He’d hit luck on the first one.
The trip to the big hospital was long and boring. He had no cell phone to use to email anyone, not that he had anyone he wanted to anyway. But with his privileges taken from him, it was impossible to hold anyone accountable for their actions. He could not wait to get his job back. And he would too. As soon as things started going his way.
The hospital was a nightmare. He just wanted to see one person, and that person seemed to have disappeared. Harold held his temper as well as he could, but he knew that a couple of times he’d lost it. Thus the reason he was sitting in the emergency room, waiting for someone, a manager, to come and talk to him. The security guard that was with him was not only armed, but he seemed to have an eye on him that made Harold feel like he was going to the chair.
“Mr. Bates?” He told the woman he was Agent Bates. “Not according to your old boss, you’re not. He asks that we tell you to come home and forget this nonsense.”
“I see. And is there, by chance, a person, a man that is your boss, I could talk to? I don’t mean to be rude here, but you must have a man around that is in charge of things. Perhaps you’re good at your job and all, but I need to talk to someone in authority.” She asked him if he was serious. “Yes, very much so. We both know how you got your job. And if you could just send him down here to talk to me, I’m sure you can get back to your position under his desk in no time flat.”
When she walked away from him, he sat back down. He knew she was going to go upstairs and help out her boss in looking presentable, and he’d be right back down. Of course she’d be pissy, but that wasn’t his problem. Harold needed results, not emotional women that messed around in a man’s world. No woman, as far as he could tell, had ever gotten anywhere in big corporations without blowing the boss under his desk. Or on it. Not that it mattered to him.
It was why he’d never had a woman in his offices. Not that he didn’t enjoy a little sex once in a while, but he never let a woman rule his dick. He promoted on work ethics and morals. Things that women nowadays had none of. And he was sure that they never had, as far as he could see.
Harold felt the sting of something hit him in the forehead. Then he was not just being escorted out of the building, but being dragged across the floor by his legs, his hands cuffed behind his back and a knot on his forehead as big as his fist.
“What is the meaning of this?” The police cruiser, this time one from the state and not campus police, was right in front of the hospital. Turning to the officer, he asked him what was going on.
“Well, you mean other than harassing the president of the hospital? Or do you mean calling her a slut? Either way, we don’t treat woman like that around here, Mr. Bates.” He corrected him about being an agent. “You show me a good badge with your name on it and I’ll get this cleared up. But from what I was just told, you aren’t an agent any more than you’re a nice guy. Now, Mr. Bates, get into the car here or I’ll put you in. And trust me, with the day I’ve had, you don’t want me to put you anywhere.”
Harold got in, but he was no happier about it than the officer that helped him. The woman had called the cops? For what? Him being honest? Harold was going to get to the bottom of this shit if it was the last thing he did. And he was sick of being treated as if he were some kind of monster. He’d about had it with women and their sensitive ways about them. He thought the world, now that he thought on it, was way too sensitive about every little thing that happened to them that they didn’t like.
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Taken to the police station, he was immediately put into a cell. There were others in the cell with him, deviants for the most part, and he sat in the corner and ignored them all. Harold only wanted to see his employee. To enquire about what he’d been able to dig up on the woman in question. And now here he was, stuck in a cell waiting for someone to come and talk to him about what he was to do about getting out of here. Then it hit him…he’d have no representation now, as he’d been falsely fired.
It took him several tries to get someone to come and talk to him. Mostly it was because when he shouted for someone to come, the others in the cell did as well. Mostly obscenities, but they were louder than he was. When the officer showed up, he banged on the cell bars and told them all to shut up. Harold reached out to grab him so that he’d not leave him before he had a word with him. There wasn’t any way that he was going to be in with these people without someone explaining to him what it was he’d done.
The pain in his arm nearly had him throwing up. The baton had come down on his elbow like a bullet in his body. Harold was screaming now in great pain, while the officer stood over him until he calmed enough to speak. The anger coming from the man was almost palpable. Like he was wearing it like a suit of armor. Harold asked him what the hell that had been for.
“You do not reach for my gun.” Harold tried explaining to him that he’d only been grabbing for his arm. “I don’t care if you were grabbing for my dick, you don’t touch me at all. Now, I’ll see if I can find a doctor that will come see you about your fucking arm, but I’d not expect too much. You did piss off a lot of people when you called the president of the hospital a whore.”
Chase_The Sons of Crosby Page 8
