WindSwept Narrows: #23 Molly & Natasha

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  “We’ve verified all the paperwork we need,” Farraday said after a quiet pause. “Is your wife going to be a problem?”

  “Candy is a good girl and does what she’s told,” Ben answered, his voice cold and exact. “The kid attracts too much damn attention from nosy teachers who want to elevate her into more advanced classes,” he parroted mockingly. “It’s interfering with my business transactions.”

  “I can see where that would be a problem,” he responded coldly. “We require an interview with the child. When…”

  All their heads went up when the alarms sounded.

  “What the fuck?” Ben was on his feet, glaring at the man that rushed from behind the desk to the door.

  “Remain in here,” he ordered. “It’s the external alarms. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  Tasha stood up when the door closed, her gaze on Ben. She watched him slip a hand into his pocket and then he nodded at her. She moved without a word to the desk and opened the expensive laptop. She had it up and out of sleep mode in seconds, the portable drive shoved into the slot as her fingers sped over the keys.

  She was tapping, copying and searching all at the same time. She added more and more files, her head shaking and brow furrowed at the contents she was able to locate on their connected systems.

  She glanced up just enough to see Ben move to stand by the door, his foot blocking it from opening. Just in case.

  She continued opening and taking files, her eyes flitting over the contents before dumping and moving to another section. When the voices caught her attention, she quickly finished, exited and put the computer back to sleep. The necklace hung beneath her jacket when she fell back into the chair.

  Ben continued to pace, his growl low when the door opened.

  “What kind of game are you playing with us, Farraday?”

  “Relax, Mr. Barker. Our children are gifted and sometimes create things that set off alarms,” Farraday crossed to the desk and sat down. “I’ll expect to see you and the child in the morning. The transaction will be completed then, provided she meets our requirements.”

  “You haven’t given me a figure,” Ben stood beside Tasha’s chair, his thumbs hitched in the pockets of his jeans.

  “Oh, I’m sure you’ll be more than pleased with our recruitment fee. And your daughter will receive a first class education. I understand she specializes in electronics and robotics. Both are in high demand by our clients,” Farraday picked up a pen and scrawled something on a piece of paper before sliding it across the desk to Ben.

  He reached down and took it, nodding his approval. “Nice. Tomorrow. Let’s go, honey. We got some packing to do.”

  Tasha took the hand he offered. Mostly to keep herself from shaking. She couldn’t wait to get the data opened and only hoped they’d let her help sort it.

  “Not a word,” he said as they walked, his voice barely audible. “We’re being watched from so many angles, it’s ridiculous.”

  She kept her face as flat as possible as she put the helmet on, glaring at the bike.

  “If you throw up on my bike, I’m gonna be pissed.”

  “Oh, gee…thanks for your concern,” honey brown eyes rolled behind the lenses of the sunglasses as she pulled them free. She was certain whoever was watching them received a nice look at the black eye she was sporting, thanks to expertly applied make-up.

  “Just hold on,” Ben mumbled, kicking the stand down and waiting while she climbed behind him. “And relax, will you? I’m gonna end up with bruised ribs.”

  “Sorry,” she murmured with a slight wince. Her eyes squeezed closed, her knees tightened around his hips and her hands went into instant grip when he shot forward and down the long driveway.

  She knew she was mumbling. She was praying a little, apologizing to Dell a lot and hoping he was as good as The Fontaine’s believed he was. She planned to spend the weekend having wild sex on Dell’s ranch and really wanted to stay alive to enjoy it.

  She really was sorry if she bruised his ribs. So sorry that she didn’t even think about it once they made it to the Federal Building and dismounted. She was in such a hurry to get inside, she forgot the sunglasses and never noticed the stares she received. Or the very riveting set of eyes following her from the parking lot to the building.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Dell started his truck and drove off. He needed to think. He wasn’t stalking her. He knew whatever she was doing had to do with her job. It was a part of her he wouldn’t step into the middle of. At least, that’s what he told himself as he drove back to the ranch and threw himself into work.

  That lasted until the next morning. He’s spent too long burying himself in work because every time he stopped, he saw Tasha with a black eye, roaring off on a motorcycle. He was at the Federal Building early, waiting. He had to know because not knowing was killing him inside.

  Ben Murphy had just dismounted when the hand tapped him on the shoulder. He turned just in time to catch a full jaw on strike from a closed fist that packed one hell of a wallop. He bounced back against the bike, his hand going beneath his jacket. His fingers stopped the instant they wrapped around the butt of his nine mil, ready to shoot first and ask questions later.

  But He recognized his assailant from a photo.

  “Fuck. I should just shoot you and accept the paperwork,” Ben released his grip and withdrew his hand from inside his jacket. He rubbed his jaw, matching glare for glare with the cowboy. “You must be Dell Russell.”

  “Yeah.”

  He continued rubbing his jaw with one hand, extending the other. “Ben Murphy. I should arrest you for assaulting a federal agent, but I think love makes you a little nuts.”

  Dell accepted the hand. “Federal agent?”

  “For twenty-nine more days, at least,” Ben leaned back against his bike, ankles crossed. “I’m guessing this is about Tasha Banks.”

  “I saw her yesterday. Here. With you. And a black eye,” Dell kept his gaze on the man in front of him.

  “Make-up for the scam,” Ben said quickly, not relishing another of those punches. “Damn…you fight for a living? I’ve been belted by pros that hurt less,” he twitched his jaw back and forth.

  “Sorry about that…really…I…” Del pulled in a slow breath. “Where is she?”

  “You do know she was only with me because of the job, right?” Ben accepted the curt nod and flipped his phone from an inside pocket. “Last I heard, she was holed up with the computer guys going over the stuff she downloaded from the school system. I haven’t seen her since yesterday,” he paused and held up a finger. “Henry? Is Miss Banks around the building?” He listened, straightening slowly, frowning. “Thanks.”

  He snapped the phone closed.

  “What?”

  “He hasn’t seen her. She left about eight last night and was supposed to go home.”

  “She doesn’t have her phone with her. She left it in her apartment,” Dell said, staring past the motorcycle. He pulled his phone out. “Maybe…Jonathon? It’s Dell…is Molly around?” He listened, nodding. “Can you make certain? I can’t locate Tasha and the people she was working with sent her home last night. Yeah, I’ll be here.”

  “Why is my neck twitchy…” Ben exhaled and climbed on the bike. He turned the key, listening to the hum when the phone sounded.

  “Yeah…shit…no, I’m on my way to the resort. I’ll get with Cassidy. She was supposed to have someone with Molly at all times until this was over. Thanks.”

  “I can get us there faster,” Ben said simply, handing the spare helmet to the cowboy with one arched brow. “Your girl managed not to puke on my bike.”

  “I’ve ridden before and thanks for that. Now I’ll never get her on mine,” Dell growled, mounting behind Ben and gripping the bar behind him. “Nice set up.”

  “Thanks. No one knows where she is?”

  “Jonathon said Cassidy is out looking. The guy assigned to watch her hasn’t checked in and Molly isn’t at the clinic.
She’s over an hour late,” Dell told him, the edge in his voice sharpening with each passing minute. “I don’t like the feeling I have, either. The school was one angle; the three guys that had been tracking Molly, a whole different problem.”

  “We thought they were connected,” Ben said thoughtfully, his voice traveling through the mic connecting them.

  “So did Tasha. Hell, I don’t know. They might be. I know the young one makes me twitchy,” Dell thought about the young man who had been watching Tasha. “I think he’s more the key than the other two. I just don’t know how…”

  “Yeah…intuition bites at times,” Ben agreed tensely. “Especially when you have a reputation of being right too often. I’m not real big on coincidence. When she left the feds, she was done. We have what we need. The school was shut down last night, the kids all relocated.”

  “Then she would have come to me…to the ranch. Or at least, she would have called me,” Dell stared through the tinted visor, his jaw clenching tighter with each mile that slid beneath the tires of the bike.

  “I won’t risk getting hit again by asking if you’re sure of that,” Ben let the humor flow in his voice, trying to a lighter mood. “Seriously, I don’t think she knew the helmet had a mic in it. She kept working on this ‘how am I going to explain what the bureau talked her into doing’ speech through most of the return trip.”

  “And that was?”

  “Pose as a perspective parent. Get into the main office and download files from their system,” Ben breathed slowly as he took the exit off the highway and toward the resort. “I stood guard for her. Believe me, she was perfectly safe at all times. I wasn’t keen on taking a civilian on an op with me. They used makeup to make it look like she had a black eye, which would explain the glasses. If we’d gone in without glasses…her eyes give every fucking thing away. They’d never have believed she was willingly giving up her kid.”

  “No…no, I can’t see Tasha doing that,” Dell agreed quietly.

  Ben pulled before the valet at the side of the resort entrance, his hand inside his jacket and badge pulled out.

  “Official and I want it left here,” he ordered without hesitation. He kicked the stand into place and removed his helmet while the valet nodded briskly. He waited for Dell to step off and return the helmet before he climbed free of the bike.

  “Cassidy? It’s Dell…” He stepped to the side about to speak when Cassidy Parker-Lawson came at him, her long legs taking up strides that had her in front of them.

  “We’ve found them,” she said, quietly nudging with her head and leading them into the expansive lobby of the resort. She kept silent until they were in the elevator heading up, just the three of them.

  “What’s wrong, Cassidy?”

  “Who’s your friend?” She asked, glancing at Ben with a little frown. “New guy for Hunter’s Cruise line. Just got the paperwork. Are you armed?” She waited while he lifted the side of his jacket. “Good.”

  “Cassidy,” Dell ground her name hard.

  “Melville has them in four-twelve. He registered last night using his own name and we didn’t catch it. No one saw him as the problem. We were busy watching Harriston and Hamilton,” she strode off down the hall to the right once the elevator came to a stop. Her pace slowed, her voice lower. “We haven’t been able to locate them, either.”

  Ben had his gun out of the holster, the safety cleared when she came to a stop.

  “You think they’re all in there? How did you pinpoint them?”

  “Molly’s phone is one we issued. It has a locater in it, regardless of being on or off,” Cassidy said simply. “She knows it’s there, but evidently they don’t.”

  Ben shrugged out of his jacket and laid it on the floor before stepping very slowly down the hall to four-twelve. He only heard one voice. One male voice.

  ****

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  He hadn’t tied them up.

  That was the only good thing Tasha could think of at the moment. He’d ripped the phone from the wall in the bedroom and locked them in. Or at the very least, she was pretty sure he stood on the other side of the door with a gun pointed at them.

  Molly held a finger to her lips, listening with her ear at the door. She brushed the platinum bangs from her forehead and stepped back.

  “He’s talking to himself…” she wrinkled her nose at Tasha and winced. “Or he’s talking to…them,” she said with a little gulp. Her frown deepened when Tasha’s face lost a little more color. She crossed the room and pulled Tasha to the bed, pushing her down. “Sit. Head down and breathe.”

  “Molly…there are two dead guys in the living room!” She hissed with her head pushed between her knees, taking in deep gulps of air.

  “I didn’t kill them. They were that way when he got me here,” Molly answered with a shrug. “And I know I should feel sorry for them, but…”

  “No. No, you should not. That isn’t what I meant. What I meant, was he killed them and we’re in here…waiting to be next,” Tasha pushed against her knees and shot upright. “And I am not a cow to slaughter.”

  “We can’t get out the window,” Molly said softly. “And we can’t get anyone’s attention, ‘cause there’s no one on this side of the hotel…but unused property and eventually, the ocean.”

  “No, but we can ask for food. Get him talking to us…I only saw one gun.”

  “One gun in the hand of a crazy person!” Molly returned in a low whisper.

  “There is that…” Tasha shoved ten fingers against her skull, pulling at her hair as she paced. “He took your phone.” She stopped and stared at Molly, her smile slight.

  “Yeah. So?”

  “He took your phone,” she whispered excitedly. “Someone has to be looking for you! I hope Dell is looking for me, although explaining all this might take a lot of talking and wincing…but still…you should have been at the clinic. Your bodyguard…”

  “He let me check him,” Molly said softly. “He had a concussion…but he was breathing.”

  “Then someone is looking for you. The first thing they’ll do, is activate the locator,” Tasha told her, watching the information dawn on her friend.

  “They know where we are,” Molly felt her knees shake, her fingers up and over her lips to stop the quivering.

  “Which means…we have to do something to keep him distracted,” Tasha dropped her head, her hands still clenching her hair and eyes closed for a long minute. “Even crazy men are distracted by naked women.”

  Molly stared, mouth open and then snapped shut. “I don’t have a thing to argue against that with,” she admitted with a hard swallow. They stared at one another for a long, silent minute before each dropped to the floor and pulled shoes free first. When everything was lying on the bed in a couple piles, they both closed their eyes.

  “We need to talk loud. So if they are in the hall…” Tasha swallowed and stepped forward, her hand on the doorknob but not turning yet.

  “Right. Let them know we’re okay…” Molly nodded swiftly and dragged in a deep breath. “Okay…let’s get this over with…”

  Ben took a quiet step back from the door. Keeping his voice very low he kept his eyes on the door.

  “Only one voice. Like he’s talking to himself,” Ben told them.

  All three heads went up at the next sounds.

  “Hey! We’re hungry!” Tasha called out loudly.

  “Can we order some food? Aren’t you hungry, too?” Molly added her loud question. “And it’s hot in here…have you noticed? I think the heater’s broken. Can I take a look at it?”

  “Stop! What the…where the hell are your clothes? Get the fuck in that room…”

  “We’re going high…” Ben announced quickly, looking at Dell. “You go low and get those idiot women on the floor as soon as you can. Ready, Cassidy?”

  “Yeah…” she moved to the right and let Ben have the left side. She counted and waited, watching his heavily booted foot come up and right where th
e lock would be. It only took one carefully placed boot and the door bounced open.

  Molly and Tasha looked up, stunned at the explosive sound of the heavy door bouncing off the wall. They took one look at one another and made a wild dive for the hand that was rising from Todd’s side. He’d relaxed just enough. Or so they thought.

  Loud retorts of guns sounded through the room.

  They had managed to grapple with his legs, pulling him off balance just after his gun had gone off. Then Dell had grabbed both of them around the middle and pulled them to the side.

  Todd went down on his knees, his head bent and staring at the spreading bright red stain at the front of his t-shirt. He looked up to see Cassidy and Ben standing at the door, their guns trained on him. Neither lowered until his head had tipped slightly to the side, the gun slipped from his hand to the floor and his body did a slow motion collapse.

  “Logan’s gonna be pissed,” Cassidy growled, her head shaking. “I hate paperwork,” she pulled her phone free and dialed up their liaison with the police, Natalie Templeton. She was going to love this one.

  “Christ, someone get clothes on them,” Ben groaned before dropping to one knee, his gun hanging limply in his hand.

  “Oh-my-god,” Molly jumped up and ran to him. “Get me towels, Tasha! And ice! Now! Call up the health center, tell them to send a car and have a room prepped for a bullet wound…help me,” she ordered the stunned Dell when she reached around Ben. “It didn’t exit…damn it…”

  “Jesus, lady…clothing…” Ben winced when she prodded his shoulder.

  “Nothing major hit…but you’ll be sore for a while. It tore through your muscle…” Molly took the towels and bag of ice Tasha had fixed. “Ease him onto the floor, Dell.”

  “Hi,” Tasha said with a little wave when Dell stared at her. “Oh…well…we kind of had a plan to distract him. I am so sorry, Ben…”