All or Nothing: A Trust No One Novel

by Dixie Lee Brown

  “David,” she whispered.

  “Your ex-husband.” Joe didn’t sound surprised.

  She couldn’t look at him but felt his gaze settle on her as the silence stretched. Cara knew what was going on in his head. Pity. Contempt. Outrage. She’d been here before.

  “That guy must be a real charmer. I think I’d like to meet him someday.”

  “Trust me, you wouldn’t.”

  He reached out to tip her chin up then gently brushed his fingers along her jaw. “Did he do this too? And this?” His hand dropped to her neck.

  She pushed his hand away and brushed angrily at a lone tear that escaped and rolled down her face, blinking furiously to keep the rest at bay.

  “Want to talk about it?”

  She laughed scornfully. “God, no!” The battle lost, tears slid down her face. She had to get away from him. Stumbling back onto the deck, she closed the slider and fell to her knees. Crying would help nothing, but she was powerless to stop the drops that ran down her cheeks and fell from her chin. Nor could she keep from despising Joe for the images that now crowded her mind. Images she would never forget.

  David snickered as he backhanded her across the face and knocked her to the floor… he yelped and swore when she jerked his little finger back until it broke and he dropped to his knees, yelling for his bodyguard. His eyes wild, he held his injured hand. He pulled a knife from his pocket. No, David, please don’t, please! He ripped her shirt off and threw her facedown on the bed. His men held her while he punished her. David laughed as he carved the word bitch in two-inch letters into the skin of her lower back.

  She’d been stupid to think she could inflict more damage than he could. The police were sympathetic, but they weren’t willing to go against the Dennelli family. She never went back. Left her clothes, her car, everything, and ran to Brian as soon as she got out of the hospital. She begged him for a gun that couldn’t be traced and enough money to disappear after she killed the son of a bitch. Brian talked her out of it.

  Cara knelt on the deck, her arms wrapped tightly around her middle so she wouldn’t throw up. Sobs came, rolling over her in waves of deep sorrow that went on and on. When the tears finally stopped, she stayed there, kneeling on the deck until the cold sea air and moist fog of the coast worked its way beneath her skin and chilled her. Shaking from the cold, she stood and went back into the room, hoping Joe had given up and gone away.

  He hadn’t. He met her at the door with a blanket and a cup of coffee and settled her in a chair by the heater. He rubbed warmth back into her arms and legs, kept her coffee cup filled, and didn’t press her to talk. She appreciated that she wasn’t alone.

  When she finally stopped shaking, she shrugged out of the blanket and stood. He handed her a pair of sunglasses and a baseball cap with OREGON COAST spelled out in sequins.

  “We have to go.” He studied her without moving for a moment.

  She got the impression he was asking… rather than commanding.

  She grabbed her bags and opened the door. He stopped her, taking the luggage.

  He smiled, fleetingly reminding her of the man from the casino. “Cara, stop fighting me. I’m on your side. That bastard won’t hurt you again.”

  His eyes said he meant what he said, but he didn’t have a clue what David was like. Not even Joe could keep that promise. David would win. He always won. She had to get away from Joe before he became terminally involved with the Dennelli family. Either way, she couldn’t stand him feeling sorry for her. She turned away.

  “Don’t pity me.” She bit off each word and winced from the pain she still felt, long after the knife was gone and the wound had healed.

  Chapter Five

  * * *

  Saturday, 10:50 am

  JOE FUMED AS he led Cara down a flight of stairs to the parking lot where he loaded their bags into his rental car then opened the passenger door for her.

  “Where are we going?” She rested her hand on top of the car door and turned slightly to look at him.

  “I thought we’d have some breakfast. That okay with you?” The moment the words were out, he regretted the brusqueness of his tone. He wasn’t angry with her. He understood where she was coming from. Her ex-husband, however, he didn’t understand. If that SOB were here right now, Joe could pretty much guarantee the man would never bother Cara again.

  She didn’t reply, but her chin came up and a glint of stubbornness flashed in her eyes. She was strong, but Joe sensed weariness deep in her soul. For a moment, the need to protect her was overwhelming. Far exceeding his obligation to a friend.

  Damn it. He had to get a grip. He couldn’t afford to get personally involved. Why the hell hadn’t Charlie listened? If he had, they’d be done with this now. Sinclair would be in jail, Cara wouldn’t be in danger, and Charlie… would still be alive, free to pursue her and make her his. Joe tensed, angry with himself for the pinprick of jealousy that shot through him. If he wasn’t careful, this job would be his undoing.

  He held her door and waited for her to latch her seat belt before he closed the door and crossed to the other side. He slid behind the wheel then started the car and drove out of the parking lot. Glancing sideways at her, the baseball cap pulled low over her eyes, partially covering the boyish cut of her hair, caused his lips to twitch with amusement and banished his annoyance.

  “I always seem to come off sounding angry with you. I’m not.” He wished he hadn’t given her those damn dark glasses so he could see her eyes. “It’s just… you’re so hell-bent on going it alone. Surely you realize that’s not possible anymore.”

  “Look, I appreciate what you’re trying to do. It’s just really hard for me to trust anyone. If you knew David, you’d understand. You can’t protect me from him.” She laid her head back against the headrest and sighed. “No one can.”

  “I get why you don’t trust me, but that has to change if we’re going to help each other. Charlie trusted me. Maybe you could give me the benefit of the doubt?”

  “Oh sure. Somehow it doesn’t give me a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing the last man who lied to me vouches for your trustworthiness.”

  “It wasn’t all a lie, Cara.”

  “I’m not buying.”

  “You don’t believe me? Charlie was a professional, and he never got involved with a woman undercover… until you. He couldn’t tell you the real reason he was there, but my guess is anything he told you on a personal note was probably true.”

  Her chin trembled, and she looked quickly away. Her shoulders slumped under a burden he could only imagine, and he wanted to bear some of it for her. She wouldn’t allow it. This was a woman determined to take care of herself, and doing a lousy job. At least she was talking to him. Maybe he could still salvage something from this chaos.

  “Who do you work for?” She sat erect in her seat again, evidently determined to change the subject.

  “I guess you could say I’m self-employed. Right now I’m helping Murphy on one of his projects.”

  “Who does Murphy work for?”

  “ATF.”

  “Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms?”

  Joe nodded without looking at her.

  “So, you’re what? A mercenary? Selling your services to the highest bidder?”

  “I’ve been accused of worse.”

  “Yeah… probably by me.” She turned away again, staring out the side window in silence.

  Joe parked in front of a small diner on the edge of town. Inside, the aroma of frying bacon and fresh coffee assailed him, and his stomach reminded him he hadn’t eaten in the past twenty-four hours. Cara looked like she could use a good meal too. He threaded his way through the tables to a booth in the back, where the man he’d arranged to meet them already waited.

  “Cara, this is ATF Special Agent Michael Murphy.”

  “Oh yeah, the medic, right? The one who drugged me last night?” She removed her dark glasses and scooted into the booth across from Murphy, skewering him with a challenging g
lare. Joe slid in next to her, suppressing an amused grin as Murphy’s confident demeanor wavered for a fraction of a second.

  “That must make you the former Mrs. David Dennelli.” Murphy’s smile didn’t reach his cold gray eyes.

  Joe recognized the name and caught himself before he reacted, allowing his gaze to slowly settle on her face. This was the piece he’d been missing. Everything was beginning to make sense now.

  A slight hesitation preceded her reply. “Do I know you?”

  “No, but I know you, since Joe asked me to find out everything I could about you.” He lifted a file folder off the seat beside him.

  She glared as Joe accepted the file. “I would have told you anything you wanted to know.” She spoke through clenched teeth.

  “Actually, I didn’t ask him to find out about you.” His gaze held a silent warning for the man across from him. Murphy smiled smugly, obviously enjoying the exchange. “I asked him to find out about your ex-husband—a subject you haven’t been completely forthcoming about. Now I know why.”

  “I told you I’d help you get Brian. David has nothing to do with that. What do you want to know about him anyway?”

  “Just whether the man has any weaknesses.”

  When she’d said Mafia connections, Joe hadn’t realized what an understatement that was. David Dennelli, mobster and one sick son of a bitch, if the rumors were true. No wonder she was scared to death of him. He studied Cara’s white face. How in the hell did she get involved with a creep like him?

  Another question bothered him as well. With all the background they had on Sinclair, how had they overlooked his connection to David Dennelli? Joe met Murphy’s gaze. The same question was reflected there. Someone had obviously gone to a great deal of trouble to bury that fact. Why? Prostitution, drugs, money laundering, even human slave trading were rumored to be in Dennelli’s portfolio, but never a whisper of gunrunning.

  “Murphy, do you have anything useful for me on Sinclair?”

  “He’s business-as-usual this morning. Breakfast with his wife. He’s a couple thousand dollars down at the craps table. He doesn’t seem concerned that his baby sister skipped town.”

  Cara’s gaze flew to Joe’s face. “What’s he talking about?”

  Just then the waitress came to take their order, and they fell silent until she left.

  “You sent Brian an e-mail late last night from an Internet café across the border in California,” Murphy said. “Told him you were taking some time off to look up an old friend in LA and you’d lost your cell phone but you’d keep in touch. To not worry. You get the idea.”

  She straightened and anger flashed in her eyes. “Is that how this is going to work? You do everything behind my back? No, let me rephrase that.” Her fist hit the table. “That’s not how this is going to work. From now on, I make my own decisions.”

  “Keep your voice down, Cara,” Joe said. “We did what we had to do.”

  She didn’t seem to notice him, concentrating on Murphy, whose arrogant smile appeared to make her angrier.

  “Do you even have a plan? I’m not sure you’re smart enough to lay a trap for Brian.”

  “Cara.” Joe’s fingers closed around her elbow and squeezed. “The last thing we want to do is attract a crowd.”

  She took a deep breath and seemed to compose herself.

  Joe released her arm.

  “As you know, our last plan didn’t end well.” No emotion shaded Murphy’s voice. Joe expected that from him, had almost gotten used to it, but this time it was Charlie Dugan’s life he trivialized.

  Cara swallowed hard and her face turned a sickly gray.

  Joe wanted to throttle Murphy, just on principle.

  “Charlie… what was he trying to do?” Cara stared at her hands on the table.

  “He was tracking shipments,” Joe said, “checking on buyers, investigating sales that didn’t look legit. Mostly he was hoping to be in the right place at the right time to find out when the next deal was going down.”

  “You said he found something.”

  “He called and said he found Sinclair’s notebook. I went to meet him.” Joe stopped, swallowing the anger that raged through him. “Somehow Sinclair knew and got to him before I did. You know the rest.”

  “If Charlie found the notebook in the plant, maybe I could too.” Cara looked at Murphy.

  “Did you forget your brother tried to have you killed last night? You can’t just waltz in there and let him have another shot.”

  “Let’s not dismiss the idea without giving it some consideration,” Murphy said.

  “We’re not sending her in there on a suicide mission.”

  “You said she was good with a gun. Give her one.”

  Joe fisted his hands and leaned toward Murphy. “You’d sacrifice anyone to get this job done. You don’t give a damn how many people die. We’re done here. Let’s go, Cara.”

  “No. I didn’t ask for any of this. Do you think it’s easy for me to go against my brother? He’s the only family I have. Now I don’t even have him. I can’t be sure he’s the one who sent those gunmen last night or if they were even after me. I only have your word on that, and I don’t know you.” She paused, cleared her throat, then met Joe’s gaze. “All I know is my brother’s voice was on that tape, and what he did was unthinkable. So I want to do this. Just tell me what I’m looking for.”

  “It’s too dangerous. Sinclair won’t let you walk out of there once he has you. It won’t work. We’ll think of another way.”

  She ignored Joe and directed her gaze at Murphy. “How soon can we go?”

  “The sooner the better. If we get to the plant in Portland before Sinclair returns home, you won’t have to worry about running into him.” A satisfied grin lit up Murphy’s face.

  “Damn it!” Joe said. “Sinclair wasn’t anywhere around when his assassins tried to kill her last night. You can’t guarantee she’ll be safe whether he’s there or not. You want this so bad you’d do anything to get it. Tell her.”

  “You’re right, Joe. I do want Sinclair pretty bad, but I think Cara does too. This is her decision.”

  “Okay, it’s settled then.” She sat back.

  “The hell it is.” Joe smacked the table hard. Other patrons turned to stare.

  Now it was Cara who put her finger to her lips. “Shhh.”

  He lowered his voice and leaned over the table. “The only way this is going down is if I go in with her, and it’s not happening today or tomorrow, or even next week. I need two weeks to teach her a few things that might save her life. She’s coming back to the ranch with me.”

  “This is my decision, Joe,” Cara said.

  “If you ever want my help on anything again, Murphy, you’ll give me this.”

  Murphy studied him shrewdly. “And if I don’t?”

  Joe leaned back. “Then I’ll have to kidnap her myself, and you’ll never see her again.”

  “Why is this so important to you?”

  “I promised Charlie.”

  “Well, obviously you two don’t need me.” Cara scooted over and shouldered Joe. “Excuse me. I’ll just run to the little girls’ room while you two decide the rest of my life.”

  Joe eyed her suspiciously but stood and she shoved past him. She walked toward the bathroom.

  He swung his attention back to Murphy. “Well, are you doing this with my help, or without it?”

  “Apparently, I don’t have much choice. We’ll do it your way for now, but I still don’t trust her completely, so watch your back. She is his sister, and blood really is thicker than water.”

  “Your opinion is noted. In the meantime, see what you can find out about the connection between Dennelli and Sinclair. I don’t like getting blindsided like that. If Dennelli is involved in this, the stakes just went up.”

  The waitress brought their breakfast and refilled their coffee cups. Joe dug into the scrambled eggs and strips of bacon. Murphy followed suit but kept glancing over Joe’s should
er.

  “Shouldn’t Mrs. Dennelli be back from the ladies’ room by now?” he asked a few minutes later.

  “Pretty sure she never intended to stop there. Don’t worry. She won’t get far. Thanks for breakfast.” Joe stood. “Get me that information as soon as you can.” He started to go, then leaned close to the other man. “And don’t call her that anymore. I don’t think she’s fond of the name.” He turned and strode from the diner.

  Chapter Six

  * * *

  Saturday, 10:58 am

  CARA WALKED TOWARD the bathroom, skirted past the door at the last minute, and headed for the back exit. Once outside, she hurried through the alley to the end of the block and looked for a cab. Seeing none, she pulled the brim of her hat lower, tried to dismiss the feeling she was making a mistake, and started back toward city center.

  She didn’t know where to go, but she’d had enough of Joe and Murphy manipulating her life. Let them fight over how they were going to use her until they discovered she was gone. Gradually, the outline of a simple plan formed in her mind. Get a rental car and drive to Portland, pack a few essentials, and hop a plane to someplace far away. Italy, maybe, or Greece. Surely she could hide herself there.

  She rejected the plan almost as quickly as it came. If Brian really wanted her dead, he’d find her. He could trace her through credit cards or any number of ways. It was smarter to stick to the original plan. Find a way to send him to jail. Cara didn’t need Murphy or Joe. She could go in to the office and look for Brian’s notebook on her own.

  Would he really kill her? He was her brother, for God’s sake. Bits and pieces of the tape replayed through her mind until she felt sick and wanted to scream out her frustration. If Joe was telling the truth, Brian had already tried to kill her once. What if it was too dangerous to go alone and unprepared?

  About a mile from the diner, Joe’s car passed her and parked along the curb up ahead. She slowed her pace. He got out and leaned his tall frame nonchalantly against the car. His gaze followed her as she drew closer. There was no anger in his eyes, even though she’d defied his will, putting herself in danger after he risked his life to save her. He had a right to be upset. A few feet away she stopped, biting her lip, and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. He waited quietly, giving away nothing of what he was thinking, his thumbs hooked in his front pockets.