by Debra Webb
Ian mimicked every step Chambers made toward the door, refused to lower his weapon but he made no move of aggression. Mary Jane wished he would just let them go. Then Matt would be safe…Rebecca would be safe.
Chambers dragged Mary Jane out onto the porch. He’d backed all the way to the steps without taking his eyes off Ian when another voice caused him to stall.
“Let her go, Chambers, or I will put a bullet in your brain. You have until three. One…”
Shane. Mary Jane’s pulse leaped. He was here. Thank God.
“Two,” Shane warned.
“No way!” Chambers roared. “I know what you’ll do if I let her go.” His hold on Mary Jane tightened. “You’ll kill me. You people have been looking for an excuse for more than a year. No way am I giving you the opportunity. If I die, she dies.”
Mary Jane clutched at his arm when his hold tightened to the point of cutting off her airway. She struggled to get a breath.
“Three!”
The bullet exploding from the weapon was deafening.
Chambers’s weapon flew out of his hand. He stumbled backward. Mary Jane collapsed onto her knees on the porch and gasped for air. Her gaze landed on Chambers, expecting to find his head blown apart. Instead, the man wailed like a banshee, blood spurting from his right hand.
“Don’t move,” Shane warned as he crouched down to check the man’s injury.
Mary Jane wasn’t sure exactly what had happened, but she was very glad that it had. Three more Colby Agency investigators, Simon Ruhl, David James and a man she hadn’t met before, rushed toward the porch. The sound of a siren in the distance allowed her to draw in a deep breath for the first time in days.
Rebecca rushed out onto the porch. Ann Martin was right behind her with the boy in her arms.
“He’s still alive?” Rebecca shouted as her attention fell on Chambers. “Why didn’t you shoot him?” She stumbled back several steps. “I’ll never be free until he’s dead!”
Mary Jane pushed to her feet and went to her sister. She held her in an attempt to comfort her. Rebecca resisted at first, then she surrendered, collapsing against Mary Jane’s shoulder as her body convulsed with sobs.
Ian took over for Shane so that he could take Matt, who was calling his name. Tears welled in Mary Jane’s eyes. Thank God. Matt was safe. And no one else had died.
Her attention settled back on the woman in her arms. Wherever Rebecca had been hiding for the past year, whatever had happened before she disappeared, the woman hanging on to Mary Jane right now was not the sister she had known as a child.
Rebecca Brooks was alive…but Mary Jane’s sister was dead.
MARY JANE SAT AT HER KITCHEN table and ate a bowl of cereal as she watched the fish dart around in the tank sitting on her counter. Two weeks had passed, and she still felt exhausted from all that had happened.
Anthony Chambers had not facilitated the sale of secrets to enemies of the state.
Rebecca had. With the help of Special Agent LeMire.
The two had made millions and then tried to pin the whole thing on Anthony Chambers. Mary Jane was certain the complicated ruse that had played out would make a fantastic mystery novel. She was also certain that no one would ever know all the details of what had really happened.
Except for the part where her own flesh and blood was one of the bad guys.
Rebecca and LeMire had had it all planned out and then something had gone wrong. The lab had made a mistake. They’d had no choice but to wait it out. Anything either of them might have done would have triggered suspicion. Once the remains were confirmed as Rebecca’s, the plan was set in motion and the race was on to get Anthony Chambers out of the way. He was supposed to end up dead. Then Rebecca and LeMire could go on with their lives and their millions and no one would have been the wiser.
The phone calls. The package. The whole elaborate hoax had been planned and executed, at least in part, by her sister. Whoever had gotten in the way had died. Like Detective Bailen. He had started asking too many pointed questions of LeMire. Jose Torres had been the only other person besides LeMire who had known Rebecca was still alive. He’d kept his mouth shut, played his part and still they had killed him just to tie up loose ends.
Rebecca was a murderer and a traitor. She had convinced LeMire to align with her when he started investigating Chambers. Rebecca had known she would need an ally.
Mary Jane wasn’t sure she would ever get over that hurt. It still seemed impossible. Ambition had turned to greed…greed had evolved into something uglier.
She had no family left…except for Shane. She smiled as he shuffled into the kitchen, his lounge pants riding low on his lean hips. His gorgeous chest bare.
“You didn’t eat all the cereal, did you?” He grabbed the box and shook it.
God, she loved looking at him. The warmth that filled her at his mere presence chased away the chill that thoughts of her sister had elicited. “There might be enough left for you,” Mary Jane teased. She suddenly wished she had pulled on something a little sexier than this pink flannel gown this morning.
He poured a bowlful of the crispy flakes and nuts. “I’ve been thinking,” he said. “We should take a vacation. Get away for a while. It would be good for both of us.”
“What about Matt and Christmas?” Sharon had decided that Shane deserved visitation rights. She and Derrick Mitchell would be moving to Denver as planned, but with an open invitation for Shane to visit anytime.
Shane dropped into the chair across the table from Mary Jane. “Okay, so after Christmas.” He poured milk over his cereal. “Someplace warm.”
He’d asked her to marry him already, but she’d been putting off giving him an answer. They had needed time to get to know each other…for the dust to settle. They actually meaning she. With all that had happened, she’d needed time to adjust…to think.
“Okay,” she agreed.
He hesitated, the spoon halfway to his sexy mouth. “You’re agreeing to a vacation with me?”
She smiled. “That and I’m agreeing to your earlier question.”
Those dark eyes melted with emotion. “You’ll marry me?”
She nodded. “Yes. Someplace warm right after Christmas.”
He dropped his spoon, stood, pushed his bowl aside and leaned across the table so that he could brush his lips across hers. “It’s about time,” he murmured.
He kissed her for real, and she forgot all about traitors and murderers and her treacherous sister. This was about her. Mary Jane Brooks. From this day forward, her life was going to be very different.
Her fingers dove into Shane’s silky hair. Oh, yes. She had lots of catching up to do.
Starting right now.
Two days later…
Colby Agency
VICTORIA COLBY-CAMP stood by her beloved window and watched the pedestrians rush to work. It was early and it was a beautiful morning, even so close to Thanksgiving. She lifted her coffee mug to her lips. All was as it should be. The agency was fully back on its feet after losing its home of more than two decades. Her outstanding staff was settled in and performing in the same superior manner clients had come to expect from the best of the best. Not a single glitch anywhere to be found. The world was as it should be. And, any day now she would be a grandmother for the second time. Her son, Jim, had launched his own firm, the Equalizers, and business had increased to the point that he would need to hire a couple more new associates. Though his decision was not the one Victoria expected, she respected his determination and ambition. Just a few months ago Jim had begun taking his first university classes toward a law degree. He and his young family were truly on their way to a bright future.
After twenty-five years of pain and anguish Victoria’s life was finally back on track. One way or another, one case at a time, she intended to see that it stayed that way. Someday she would tell Colby Agency stories to her grandchildren. Maybe even write her biography. But, for now, she was perfectly happy being Victoria Colby-Camp.
The intercom on her desk buzzed and she smiled. Time to get to work. She moved to her desk and pressed the necessary button. “Yes?”
Mildred, her long-time friend and personal assistant, quickly explained that a potential client had arrived. This client didn’t have an appointment, but she was desperate.
“Send her in,” Victoria announced, then looked up as the door to her office opened. “Welcome to the Colby Agency.”
The young woman looked uncertain, but didn’t hesitate to stride right up to Victoria’s desk and offer her hand in greeting. “I hope you can help me,” she implored, emotion welling in her eyes. “I’m at the end of my rope.”
Victoria indicated one of the chairs stationed in front of her desk. “Don’t worry, you’ve come to the right place.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-0858-6
COLBY REBUILT
Copyright © 2007 by Debra Webb
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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