by Pam Richter
"You idiot," Juan snarled angrily at the younger man. He turned back to Julia. "We might let you go if you have something that belongs to Mr. Quijada. We didn't say nothing about killing."
"You don't have to. Let me die outside in the mountains," Julia asked. "Please?" Time was what she needed. Time for Robin to come back.
"You say there is something you have?" Juan asked.
There was a loud crack, like a gun shot, and Julia almost screamed at them, "Get my purse from the closet."
Another crack from outside.
"What was that?" The young guy was striding to the window.
"Please," Julia yelled, to cover up the sounds of the motorcycle. "I need to pray outside."
She got up and ran to the closet. She had moved so quickly that the young guy turned from the window.
"I do have something," Julia said, hoping to distract the men. She bent down and got her purse.
Juan Carlos grabbed it from her roughly. He turned it upside-down and dumped the contents on the bed. Her wallet fell out, along with a compact, some lipstick, a comb and the rolls of film.
"See. There it is," Julia yelled.
"You don't have to scream at us," Juan said.
"It's the rolls of film. Open one. You'll see. Pictures of Mr. Quijada's ledgers. I couldn't read the Spanish, so I took pictures. That's what I do, you know. I take pictures." Julia's throat was getting sore from yelling so loud, but she had to warn Robin.
Julia looked at Juan Carlos. He had pried open one of the small canisters and was holding the film up to the light. It was difficult to make out anything on the dark brown film, but evidently he recognized pages of the ledgers. As Julia watched him she knew that this man, Juan Carlos, was the most dangerous of the two. She had a dreadful gut feeling that he had murdered her brother.
"There it goes again," the younger man said when there was another loud crack. "Maybe Mr. Chavier is back."
"Go see," Juan said.
"No one is here but me," Julia said loudly. "You must let me prepare for my death." She was yelling again, demanding time to see the sky and the stars before she was gone forever. She shouted that she knew that they were going to kill her and repeated, again and again, that she had to go outside. Through all the yelling she tried to remain in control and not panic.
Finally Juan Carlos got fed up with the hysterics. He leaned over and cuffed her hard on the side of the face, "Shut up."
It hurt like hell and almost knocked her over. Julia knew there was nothing else she could do. She would not cry. Acting weak with these volatile men would escalate the level of violence. If they took her for a victim they would treat her like one.
Juan looked at her suspiciously and then turned to the other man. "I'll go look. Give me the gun."
The young guy obviously wanted to keep the gun and Juan said something in harsh Spanish. Then he added, scornfully, "She's just a puny girl. Surely you will be safe with her?"
Juan left the room with the gun.
Now that she had one man alone, the weaker of the two, Julia started whispering desperately. "You really don't want to kill me. Murder a woman in cold blood? I don't think so. Why don't you tell Juan Carlos to let me go?"
The man was shaking his head and actually backed up a few steps. He was just a muscle-bound adolescent trying to act macho.
"I can tell you're a nice man," Julia said softly. "You're big and handsome. They're using you to do their dirty work. Maybe they gave you drugs. Maybe they promised money. But in the end these men will only exploit you, bring you death."
Julia got up and started walking toward the young guy.
"Sit down, lady. Don't come any closer." He sounded angry.
"I don't even know your name," Julia said, walking very slowly toward him. She was trying to smile. She thought she had heard something from below. A thump. As long as the gun didn't go off she would have to believe that Robin was all right. She had to keep this guy's attention on her. And keep him up here.
"Tell me your name," Julia said commandingly.
"Mike."
"It's very warm in here, isn't it, Mike?" Julia took off the parka and threw it on the bed dramatically, like a stripper. Then she started unbuttoning the pajama top. She noticed that she had Mike's full attention now. She unbuttoned slowly. Then she took it off.
The one piece thermal underwear she had on was form fitting and quite snug, showing off her breasts to full advantage. Never before had Julia been so glad that she was well endowed. She had always considered herself almost embarrassingly lush, but Mike was looking at her like he had never seen a woman before.
Julia was cold and knew that her nipples would be standing out. There were tiny buttons from the neck down to the waist of the garment and Julia started playing with the buttons. She unfastened a few so he could get a good look at her deep cleavage as the tight garment spread open a little at a time as she unbuttoned. She stretched her arms up, yawning, saying she was very sleepy, practically waving herself in front of his face.
Julia bent down so that he could see down the front of her clothing, see her breasts fall forward, and took off the boots, letting them thump on the floor so he wouldn't notice the noises from below. Then she took off the bottom half of the pajamas.
As she stepped out of the pajama pants, Mike was now gazing at the form that was revealed before him; the tiny waist and the long slim legs.
Julia looked at the guy from under her eyelashes as she started at the top again, unbuttoning more of the buttons. His eyes were riveted on her chest. He didn't seem to be aware that there were some more thumps and a dragging sound from down below because Julia had almost reached the buttons at her waist.
She hoped that Robin had brained Juan Carlos with his own gun and wondered what was taking him so long to get up here. She was scared he might be hurt. Julia was positive Robin would come for her if he could. She had the horrible idea he might already be dead. She felt tears sliding down her cheeks, but Mike was intent on her body and didn't see them.
Julia glanced down at herself and saw that the underwear had parted to reveal most of her chest. She felt like grabbing the material and yanking it together again. What was taking Robin so long? There wasn't much more she'd be willing to do with this muscled moron if Robin didn't hurry up.
The man reached his hand out, as if to touch her, and Julia started backing up, smiling at him, toward the door. "If I let you touch me, you have to promise that you won't kill me." She was trying to sound playful. It almost made her sick.
Julia kept backing up and Mike was still moving forward. She thought if she could get to the doorway she might be able to make a run for it. Or, if he came too close, she could give him a good kick in the crotch. If he got hold of her she could never break away. The guy was big as an ox.
She wished she hadn't taken off the boots. Kicking hard enough to disable him with her bare foot wouldn't be easy.
"Hold it right there," she heard from behind her.
Julia whirled around. Robin was in the doorway, only a few feet from her. She had never felt such relief. He was holding Juan Carlos's gun, she noted with satisfaction.
"What took you so long?" Julia asked, almost dizzy with relief. "I was getting worried."
Robin didn't say anything.
When she saw where he was looking, she became infuriated. She had been so worried about him and there he was, gaping at her chest. "For God's sake! Guys are so easily distracted."
"Well, that's a lot of fine skin you have showing, Julia." He was chuckling and it made her more furious. She turned away and started buttoning up.
Robin directed Mike to lie down on the floor and fold his hands behind his neck.
"I had to distract him. It sounded like thunder down there. What happened?"
"I bet he didn't even notice," Robin said. He seemed very amused.
Julia had finished buttoning and she pulled on the parka. She was really angry. She had been fighting for her life, and as far as she was
concerned he could take a flying leap.
She turned around, now that she was covered, to confront him and really give him a piece of her mind.
He looked at her, suddenly horrified. "I'll kill them if they hurt you." Robin went to Julia and touched the side of her face delicately. Just a gentle touch with one of his fingers caused her to wince.
She had forgotten all about the whack Juan Carlos had given her. "You were looking at me before, and you didn't even see my face? They were going to shoot me. I'm not big and muscular. It was tacky, but what could I do? And you. You were laughing."
"You're wrong," Robin said. He stepped forward and put his arms around her holding tightly, and stroking her hair soothingly. "I was amused that you had such guts. That you were so inventive. The yelling warned me as soon as I got off the bike. Then you kept this man from going down to help Juan Carlos. It would have been much harder for me to take on both of them. You were so brave. I was just...shocked."
Julia looked up at him and smiled a little lopsidedly. "I was scared to death. But it was pretty funny, at that."
"I'm lucky you're so beautiful, that you could distract the kid over there," Robin said, motioning with his head toward the man on the floor. "We have to get ice on that cheekbone. It's already starting to swell."
"Hey!" It was the man lying on the floor.
"Just stay there," Robin said irritably, not taking his eyes away from Julia.
"What happened to Juan Carlos?"
"He was bumbling around in the dark. I just bashed him on the head when he got close enough."
"Good thing you're a cop," Julia said.
Robin laughed. "Lets get some rope and tie this bastard up."
CHAPTER 20
Julia and Robin tethered Mike's legs since he was strong and they wanted him safely secured. Each of them took a foot and dragged the heavy fellow into a bedroom down the hall.
Mike started an incoherent one-sided discursive yelling through the door; Julia was a devil woman, a tease, and he would get them both. Just wait and see.
"Should have gagged him," Robin said, shortly.
Juan Carlos was still at the bottom of the stairs, unconscious. They tied him up, too. He was a tiny guy and Robin dragged him by himself into the pantry.
Then Robin took Julia into the kitchen. He rummaged around in the freezer and pulled out a plastic package of frozen baby peas.
"This makes a good cold compress." He pressed it delicately to her cheek bone. "My mother always had peas in the freezer for emergencies when I was little. It's better than ice in a cloth. Doesn't drip."
He was right. The frozen peas molded against her hurt face and the whole area went numb after a while.
Julia sat on a bar stool in the kitchen, holding the plastic bag to her face, and listened while Robin called the police to inform them about the intruders. Then Robin called Tony. Julia heard parts of his side of the conversation as she started boiling water for coffee.
"...yeah, you were right. I know we should leave. When his henchmen don't call in, Quijada will probably send the troops to check it out, but we're out on our feet. ...Yeah, they slugged Julia. She needs to rest. I'm going to chance it, stay here tonight. It's icy on the roads and we only have the Harley. ...Thanks. See you soon."
When Robin hung up, Julia was shocked to see blood all over the white telephone receiver.
"Robin! What happened to you," Julia asked. She ran over to him and took his hand very gently in hers. "Where are you hurt?" She was turning his hand over carefully, oblivious that she was getting blood all over herself.
"It's nothing," Robin said, because she'd gone absolutely white.
"Nothing! You're dripping blood all over the floor."
Robin looked down, and then held up the hand so he wouldn't drip. "Juan Carlos had a knife."
Julia helped him take off his snow jacket, noticing that the sleeve had been cleanly slashed through. It was obviously painful for Robin to move the arm, now that she knew he was hurt. He had on a black sweatshirt and she helped him peel it away from the blood that had coagulated underneath. It must have hurt dreadfully but his thick black eyebrows knit in a frown for only a second. He ducked down and she slowly pulled the shirt off over his head.
"Just a flesh wound," Robin explained as he checked his arm. He had a an ugly, irregular knife slash that went from the bicep all the way to the middle of his forearm. It was still bleeding.
"You've lost a lot of blood, Robin."
"It's okay, Julia. Nothing to fuss over."
"Oh, stop acting so macho," Julia said irritably. "I know it hurts like hell. That sweat shirt sopped up most of the blood or it would have been noticeable immediately. You should have told me."
Robin allowed himself to be led to the bathroom. As Julia was washing and disinfecting the knife wound, Robin said, "It's a good thing both of us were hurt, actually. Quijada just lost two men. The police will never let them out on bail. Breaking and entering. Concealed weapons. Bodily harm. They're going to be locked up for some time." He looked pleased.
Yeah, it's great to be the walking wounded, Julia thought cynically as she tied the bandage in place gently, trying hard not to hurt him. "Maybe we should have waited to bandage this up. It looked gory as hell. All that blood. Probably impress the police no end."
Robin laughed.
"It's not funny, Robin," Julia said, stalking out of the bathroom.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Julia said. She went into the kitchen and made two cups of instant coffee, handing one to Robin.
"Come on. Something's bothering you," Robin said, leaning back against the kitchen counter.
"Oh, no," Julia protested, waving her coffee cup. "How could that be? We're being hunted by killers. My only brother died. I practically have to do a strip tease. And you would probably rather have bled to death than let me know you were hurt."
"I was busy, Julia."
"Right." She didn't know why she was so angry. Taking it out on Robin was certainly the wrong thing to do. She irrationally felt like crying. Just sitting down on the kitchen floor and bawling like a baby.
"You're exhausted and those two thugs were going to kill you. You're having an emotional reaction."
"Don't you patronize me." She irrationally didn't want him to be reasonable.
They were both relieved with the knock on the door.
The police, two of them, both young and wearing the traditional blue uniforms, were surprisingly quick and efficient. They took Robin's statement first. Then Julia's. She told them exactly what had happened, but omitted the reason that Mike had not gone to the aid of his partner when Robin arrived back at the cabin. Also omitted was mention of Aaron Quijada's role in what was characterized as an attempted burglary. But Robin made sure the police knew that there were death threats against Julia and that both of them had sustained injury. He handed the gun and knife over to the police as evidence.
Julia sat in the living room by the fire and watched as Robin helped the police herd Juan Carlos and Mike, both now hand-cuffed, outside to the waiting police vehicle. They seemed angry and sullen, but subdued to silence, as they stumbled past her. Juan Carlos gave her a vicious look with his beady black eyes as he passed by, but Julia barely noticed.
She sipped her coffee and realized the reason she was so angry was that Robin didn't tell her he was hurt. The other, more distressing reason, was that she wanted to make love with him.
These were unusual circumstances. She tried to rationalize, deciding it could just be the result of an accumulation of emotional trauma. There had certainly been enough of that in the last twenty four hours. On top of that, she had a throbbing headache from the blow to her head. And Robin had been right when he said she was exhausted. But Julia knew with absolute clarity that she would ever find anyone remotely like Robin again. Mechanic or cop, it didn't matter to her anymore. He was everything she had ever wanted in a man. He was right here, right now, and she had to acknowledge she wanted him
desperately.
That little fact would have to be kept a dire secret, Julia thought, smiling to herself, as Robin came in with a blast of cold air and closed the door behind him. Shock his shoes off if she mentioned she had a profound desire to get physical.
She wondered what her grandmother, Charlotte, would say if she told her she was in love with a mechanic. She would deal with that when the time came. Now she had to find out if Robin really cared about her, or if it was merely a physical attraction. She knew he was interested. He had made that obvious just about an hour ago, when she saw his look after she practically stripped to keep Mike from going downstairs.
The important question was if he had some emotional attachment besides. When she thought about it, she couldn't see why he would. She had gotten Robin into an awful predicament. She had disagreed with how they should go about getting the information on Quijada. She winced when she remembered that she had fought him on just about everything.
Robin sat down beside her on the sofa and started sipping the cold coffee. "You're angry at me."
"No," Julia said abruptly. "Well, yes. But only for hiding the fact that you were hurt. And don't say anything. That knife wound is just awful."
Robin nodded. "You have every right to be angry. I never should have left you alone. It was a stupid thing to do, knowing how desperate Quijada is."
"It's over and done with, and I don't blame you one bit," Julia said, smiling at Robin. "You've been absolutely wonderful. Don't drink any more coffee or you'll never get to sleep. I want to hear all about your fight with Juan Carlos."
"Really?" Robin asked. He suddenly seemed like a small boy trying not to look pleased.
Julia knew he was dying to tell. She nodded solemnly.
"Well, I faxed the ledgers to the D.A.'s office in Los Angeles and deposited all the material, including the videos, in a safe. Tony set this all up with an attorney friend of his. Then, when I was riding back, I could see the cabin reflected in the lake because there were lights going on and off quickly in different rooms. It seemed odd. It occurred to me that you wouldn't be roaming around turning lights on and off."
