Their eyes met and she started to apologize, “I’m sorry I gave you such a hard time about everything. Maybe if I’d believed you earlier I could have–”
“There’s nothing you could have done.”
“I’m sorry about your finger.”
Michael smiled wanly. “It’s my gaming hand.”
She was quiet for a moment. “Why did you stop playing?”
He turned his face away from hers. “Things haven’t been going very well for me. I guess I’ve been depressed … I didn’t think you’d notice.”
“I looked for you everyday.” Her voice lowered, “I thought you were angry with me.”
He turned back to look up at her with surprise. “Why would I be mad at you?”
The door creaked open and an old woman entered bearing a tray that held a huge steaming bowl. She barked out a command to Mina in Korean and stood back, waiting.
Mina gestured to her, “Michael, this is my grandmother. She made you some soup. Can you sit up?” Mina asked him.
He struggled to pull himself upright without dislodging the tubes from his hand. Mina rushed around the other side of the bed to help him, fluffing some pillows and stacking them up behind his back. Once he was settled the old woman placed her tray down before him and started speaking. Michael nodded politely, looking to Mina for translation.
“She says it’s medicinal. It’s a special detoxifying soup.”
“What’s in it?”
“Korean Ginseng and chicken.”
He looked at her grandmother and smiled. “It smells good. Thank you.”
She nodded, pleased. She said a few more things that Michael could not understand, and he watched as Mina shook her head and rolled her eyes. The old woman’s tone was scolding, and she was muttering under her breath as she exited the room.
“What did she just say to you?” Michael asked.
“Nothing.”
He looked worried. “It didn’t sound like nothing. Is she mad that you brought me here?”
“No! Not at all. I think she likes having someone to take care of.”
“So… What then?”
Mina sighed, finally confessing, “She wants to know if I’ve come to my senses. She wants me to give up all this crazy cop business to get married and have some babies.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Oh. Do you get that a lot?”
She nodded. “I’m kind of the black sheep of the family.”
He laughed out loud. “An FBI agent? You have got to be kidding.”
She shrugged. “They wanted me to stay in town and marry the boy next door.”
“Really?” he asked. “Is there literally a boy next door?”
She laughed at his serious face. “Close enough … I used to date the son of one of my father’s closest business associates.”
“Were you serious?” he asked.
“We were engaged in college.”
“Oh … So why didn’t you?” he asked, “Marry him, I mean.”
She looked a little flustered, answering, “I didn’t want to.”
Michael kept prying. “Why? What was wrong with him?” he asked.
“Nothing at all. He’s very rich and successful.” She changed the subject, “You’d better eat that soup or my grandmother will be offended.”
“Is she the one who made you drink the ginger tea?” he asked.
She smiled, pleased that he remembered. “Yes.”
She turned to leave, “I’m going to see if anybody needs anything. I’ll come by to check on you later.”
“Wait!” he called out, just before she closed the door. “Who changed my clothes?”
She just smiled and pointed to the soup. “Try it… It really works.”
~
Layla and Cali sat on the bed of the room Mina had shown them to. Both of them knew that their ordeal wasn’t really over, and they grappled with the fact that now they had a much more dangerous enemy than Professor Reed to contend with.
“You were right, “ Caledonia told Layla, “They won’t ever quit.”
She nodded vigorously, sending her red curls bouncing on her shoulders. “We can’t go back home. We need to go somewhere where no one knows us and start over.” Her face clouded over, “I wonder if I could sneak back into town to see Ramon…”
“Never!” Cali cried passionately. “I won’t let them drive me away. That land is our heritage. It was my father’s and your mother’s. It’s where I belong.”
“I can’t live like that anymore,” Layla said. “Always waiting for the other shoe to drop. They nearly killed Calvin and they might do something to Ramon next time.”
Thinking about what had happened made Caledonia’s blood run cold, and she swore to herself that she’d never see Calvin put in jeopardy again. Her face hardened in a way that Layla had never seen before, and her eyes were deadly serious when she spoke. “They won’t stop coming at us, so we have to stop them.”
“What should we do?”
“We’re going to do what we have to do.”
Layla nodded solemnly. “Okay.”
This time, Caledonia had no illusions about what needed to happen. It was kill or be killed, and so they made their plans, stopping their discussion abruptly when Mina knocked on the door. She came inside bearing a stack of clothes, handing them to Cali. “I thought you might want to change.”
“How’s Michael?” Layla asked. “What did your brother say?”
“He’s awake now, and Sam says that he’ll be fine. He can stop the intravenous antibiotics later tonight.”
“Thank God,” Cali heaved a sigh. One less thing to worry about put her one step closer to getting home to Calvin.
“Sam said that you did a very good job wrapping the wound, but he wants Michael to rest in bed for a few days while he fights the infection.”
“A few days?” Cali cried. “I can’t wait that long. I need to get home! I have to get back to Calvin right away!”
Layla thought for a moment, turning to Mina. “I can take Cali to the airport tomorrow. Can you give me a ride back to my rental car?”
Mina shook her head no. “That’s a bad idea. The kidnappers are probably watching that car, waiting for you to make a move. I’ll have a couple of my father’s men pick it up and return it to the rental company. They can take Cali to the airport.”
Layla and Cali exchanged a look, and Layla focused her laser beam eyes on Mina’s, “I’d prefer to take her by myself. I have some errands to run.”
“Okay … Sure …” Mina said.
“I’ll need a car,” Layla told her.
“Why don’t I loan you mine?” Mina asked as if it was her own idea.
“Perfect!” Layla smiled with a knowing look to Caledonia. “We’ll go shopping tomorrow and I can drop you off at the airport afterwards. I’ll come back here until Michael is okay to travel.” She turned to face Mina. “Do you mind if I stick around for awhile?”
“Of course!” Mina said, “You’re welcome as long as you’d like.”
Caledonia watched Layla work her synesthesia on Mina, impressed by her cousin’s refined technique. For the first time, she felt no remorse about the manipulation. There was important work to be done.
“Thank you for everything,” Caledonia told Mina, flipping through the clothes. “I don’t know where we would be without you.”
“I’m glad to help,” Mina said honestly.
Caledonia got up to embrace her before she left the room. “I’m going to go wash up and change.”
Alone with Mina, Layla patted the bed next to her. “Can we talk?”
Mina sat down next to her, surprised to see Layla looking at her so intensely. “Who are these men that work for your father? Exactly what does your father do?”
Mina didn’t like to talk about her family, but when she looked into Layla’s green and brown eyes she lost all her inhibitions. She started to talk, spilling her guts about everything, telling family secrets that she’d kept bottled up insi
de all of her life.
“My family owns half the restaurants and nightclubs in town. My father is involved with illegal gaming and private banking too, so half of the town owes him favors… including the police and local politicians.”
“Are you involved with his business?” Layla asked.
“No. I want to make it on my own. That’s why I left home.”
“Do your parents know what me and Cali can do?”
“No! Of course not!” Mina answered truthfully.
Layla was relieved. She’d had enough dealings with people working outside of the law, and she’d grown increasingly wary of people who might want to use her for her powers–especially people that had connections to her brother.
“What are your intentions towards Michael?” she asked, embarrassingly direct.
Mina’s face flushed with color, and her confused swirl of emotions told Layla all she needed to know. “I–I really like him … I haven’t felt this way in a long time,” she responded truthfully, completely against her normally reserved nature.
“Just be careful with him,” Layla suggested. “He’s been through a lot. I’d hate to see him disappointed.”
“I understand,” Mina nodded earnestly.
“Good,” Layla stood up, satisfied. “Can I go and see my brother now?”
“Sure,” Mina said, getting up to show her to Michael’s room. “Right this way.” She suddenly stopped with her hand on the doorknob, turning to look at Layla with wide eyes. “Did you just make me tell you all of that?”
Layla shrugged sheepishly. “Sorry, but I needed to know if I could trust you. Michael and I have suffered enough already.”
Mina knew she should be angry, but she couldn’t help but smile. “I swear, you really should be an interrogator. You’d make a great cop. You could do a lot of good with that.”
“Me … A cop?” Layla laughed.
“Why not?” Mina asked.
Layla frowned. “All I’ve ever done my whole life has been wrong. I’ve never done anything but make a bunch of money for some very bad people.”
“Then why not work for the good guys for a change?”
“Would they want me?”
“Are you kidding? You’d be great at police work! You should become a special agent.”
“How would I go about that?” Layla asked, her eyes brightening.
“You’d have to attend the FBI academy in Virginia.”
Her face fell. “Oh … I see. That’s all the way on the other side of the country.”
Mina looked at her shrewdly, not too bad at reading emotions herself. “Did you know that Ramon always wanted to be an FBI agent?”
Layla cocked her head, considering it. “Really?”
Mina nodded. “You should both apply.”
“Do you really think they’d let me in?”
Mina laughed out loud. “Something tells me that you’ll be a shoe-in.”
~
“Who’s there?”
Ramon was sleeping on a fold-out couch in a study where Mina had made up a bed for him. He startled awake when he heard the door, groping for the switch on the bedside light in the unfamiliar room. He squinted at the shadowy figure coming closer, outlined by the city lights filtering in through the window shades.
“Layla?”
“It’s only me… I couldn’t sleep,” Layla whispered, lifting the blankets to crawl under them. She snuggled up against him, her hands roaming under his shirt.
This time his voice was reproachful, “Layla.”
“Don’t be mad at me,” she breathed, wiggling closer to him.
“I’m not.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
“I know,” he sighed, embracing her and stroking her hair. “I still can’t believe what happened. You were amazing today–that was some very good shooting,” he told her, pride in his voice.
“I learned from an expert,” she whispered into his ear. She rolled on top of him and started unbuttoning his shirt, kissing his neck between buttons.
“Layla … wait a minute … I don’t think we should–”
“Shhh,” she put her fingers on his mouth, replacing them with her lips. After a long, lingering kiss she sat up to look down on him, her voice husky, “Do you really want me to stop?”
He took her by the waist, pulling her back down onto his chest with a groan.
Layla smiled in the darkness, knowing she was going to get her way.
~
Chapter Thirteen
RETRIBUTION
~
“They what?” he screamed into the phone. “You IDIOTS!”
When Frankie learned that the two girls had eluded him once more the anger that had been boiling within him all morning mushroomed into a torrent of white-hot rage.
“Get back to the cabin right now!” he bellowed.
He hung up the phone and started pacing in earnest, trying to figure out what his next move should be. Without the redhead, he’d be on the run with only half of the money he’d planned on, and there was no telling what the blonde might do next. She could destroy him with what she knew, and he’d clearly underestimated her.
That little bitch had somehow worked her magic to find the most insular place in LA, a place where he had no friends and no connections. Nobody he knew did any business in Koreatown, and the people there lived by their own set of rules. She might as well have taken shelter inside an impenetrable fortress; it would have been better for him if she’d gone to the police.
Even his friends on the force couldn’t help him now.
The anger in his belly was slowly being replaced by a cold knot of fear. If his higher-ups caught wind of what he’d done they’d squash him like a bug, and he knew it. They didn’t care about the drugs and girls he ran on the side, but by robbing a cartel member, Frankie had gone rogue, threatening to bring their whole house of cards tumbling down.
His job was to keep the senator in line and in elected office, not to incur the wrath of a powerful criminal enterprise. Frankie risked connecting his union bosses to an organized crime turf war, thereby threatening the cash cow of an entire state’s worth of corruption. It was an unpardonable affront, and if word got out, his bosses would replace him without a moment’s thought.
He shuddered to think what they might do.
He still hadn’t heard back from the men that he’d sent to pick up the redhead, and his hopes of making one last big score before he left town were fading fast. He cursed himself for not taking care of the blonde himself, and as far as he knew she’d just reduced him to only two able bodied men. He’d need to keep them around just long enough to help him make his escape.
“Frankie…” A feeble voice called out. The wounded man had dragged himself over to flop onto the couch, and his moans were getting harder and harder to ignore. “Frankie? Can you get me some water?”
“Shut up!” Frankie snapped. “The boys will be back soon… We’ll take care of you then.”
~
Layla snuck out of Ramon’s room early the next morning, kissing his peaceful brow and slithering carefully out of bed while he caught up on his lost sleep. He’d worry when he woke up to find her gone, but there was nothing to do for it. She flushed with bitter shame when she thought about how it had felt to use her powers on him, and she didn’t want to risk a repeat performance.
If he caught wind of her and Cali’s plans he would never approve.
She slipped into the guest room to find Cali sitting up and waiting for her. She looked like she hadn’t slept at all, and Layla wondered if she was going to be up to the task at hand.
“Are you ready?” Layla asked.
“Yes,” Caledonia nodded.
Layla studied her cousin with concern. Cali had always been the stronger of the two, both emotionally and physically. Now her disheveled state made Layla feel strangely protective. “Are you sure?”
“This is the only way,” Cali said through gritted teeth, absolutely convinced
that all of their futures depended on tying up one last loose end.
Layla was a firm believer in girding herself for battle, so she asked Mina for directions to the nearest mall, took her car keys and hustled Cali down to the garage and into the car. When they pulled into the entrance of a shopping mall Caledonia’s disappointed face said it all.
“We’re really going shopping?” she asked, “Are you serious? I thought you only said that to throw Mina off our trail!”
Layla smiled condescendingly. “You don’t honestly expect a cartel kingpin to take you seriously dressed like that, do you?” Caledonia looked down at her sweat pants and t-shirt with a frown. Apparently, Mina’s hand-me-downs didn’t meet with Layla’s approval.
“Besides,” Layla said, parking and reaching for her purse, “I need to get some things for Michael, and you wouldn’t want me to go all by myself.”
Caledonia sighed, trailing behind her reluctantly. All she wanted to do was get on a plane and get back to Calvin. “Make it quick.”
Layla dragged her into the finest department store she could find, making her cousin try on several outfits before dressing her in a tailored blazer over a silk blouse and pencil skirt. When Layla finally settled on a look she liked for each of them she had the saleslady bag up the clothes they’d arrived in. “We’ll be wearing these things out the door, thank you.”
“We look like a couple of lawyers, “ Cali grumbled, looking down at the expensive spectator pumps on her feet.
“Thank you,” Layla replied, taking it as a compliment.
They stopped at the makeup counter where Layla did her best to smooth Caledonia’s curls, pinning her hair up and applying makeup to her impatient cousin.
“Look up and hold still,” she commanded, focusing on painting Cali’s thick golden lashes black.
“Is all of this really necessary?” Caledonia grumbled.
“Think of it as war paint.” Layla replied, completely serious.
Their last stop was the men’s department, where Layla picked out some shoes, socks and an armload of shirts and pants, tossing them over her cousin’s outstretched arms. Caledonia heaved a sigh of relief when they finally made their way to the checkout stand, signaling that her ordeal was nearly over.
The Redcastle Redemption (The Athena Effect) Page 11
