Harlequin Intrigue, Box Set 1 of 2

by Delores Fossen

  “Faye, don’t,” Jake whispered.

  “An accident?” Quinn demanded.

  Ignoring Jake’s warning, she said, “I buried the journal in a metal box, only a foot deep. I thought it would be safe. But the marsh must have crept in during the rains. The journal was ruined. But that’s okay, because it means you don’t have to worry that someone will see the information. The evidence is gone.”

  Jake inched closer to Faye, slowly, so as not to draw Quinn’s attention. He should have come up with an alternate plan before they left the house, just in case something like this happened. But it was too late. All he could hope now was to try to get Faye to safety before all hell broke loose. He took another step, another...

  Quinn’s face paled. He shot a quick glance at Calvin. Calvin narrowed his eyes, his face flushing a bright red. Jake’s gaze fell to the ropes around Calvin’s waist. Was it his imagination or had they drooped?

  Quinn cleared his throat. “What about the account numbers in the journal? There were offshore accounts listed in there. Accounts that can’t be touched unless someone knows those numbers.”

  “I... I didn’t know that. This is my fault, not Calvin’s. Please don’t hurt him.”

  “Did you make a copy?” Calvin spoke for the first time since the standoff began. His tone wobbled with anger, not fear. Faye must have noticed it as Jake had, because she frowned, her brow wrinkling in confusion.

  “No, no I didn’t make a copy.”

  “The money then,” Quinn said, sounding nervous. “When your brother took the journal from Genovese’s safe, he also took two hundred thousand dollars in cash out of that safe. He said when you two were on the run, you tricked him and stole both the journal and the money. Where’s the money now?”

  Jake waited for Faye to deny what Quinn was saying. Calvin must have lied to Quinn, to save his own hide somehow, to focus attention on Faye instead. But the miserable look on Faye’s face when she glanced at him sent a jolt of dread straight to his stomach. No. No, not possible. She couldn’t have stolen that money. There had to be another explanation.

  “I don’t have it anymore. It’s gone,” she said.

  She didn’t have it anymore? Jake clenched his hands into fists beside him. If she had taken that money... No, no, she hadn’t taken it. She wasn’t that kind of person. He didn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe it.

  “It can’t be all gone,” Calvin said.

  Quinn glanced at him. If Jake didn’t know better, he’d think Quinn looked...scared?

  “I’m telling the truth. I don’t have the money.”

  Calvin roared with rage. The ropes binding him fell away. His hands came up from behind him. He was holding a pistol, Jake’s pistol. Jake lunged for Faye, throwing her to the ground as the pistol went off. He rolled with her, pulling her behind a tree.

  “I need those account numbers, sis!” Calvin yelled. “And I want that money!”

  Jake clamped his hand over Faye’s mouth when she would have replied. He shook his head in warning and peered around the side of the tree. He jerked back. The bark exploded where his head had been.

  Faye’s eyes widened. She mumbled something against his hand.

  He leaned down and whispered in her ear. “Quinn’s dead. Your brother shot him. I think he must have gotten the drop on Quinn before they got here. The rifle had to be empty or Quinn would have fired. And Calvin has my pistol. His ropes weren’t really tied. It was all an act. We have to get out of here before he kills us both.”

  She shook her head in denial and dived away from him. Jake grabbed her, pulling her back behind the tree as the pistol boomed again. She sagged against him, her eyes wide with shock.

  “You owe me, Faye! I protected you the whole time we were growing up. You owe me!”

  Calvin’s wild rantings told Jake just how desperate he was. Which meant he was extremely dangerous. Jake carefully peeked out from behind the tree. His blood ran cold when he realized what was happening. He jerked back behind the cover before anyone saw him, before any of the three men saw him. There were two others with Calvin now. Was that how he’d gotten the drop on Quinn?

  Jake sifted through the facts as he knew them. From what Quinn had said, he’d watched Calvin’s apartment and grabbed him, and forced him to take him to Faye. That’s how they’d ended up waiting at Eddie’s, because Calvin knew she was going to return there last night. Maybe some of Calvin’s thug friends had seen Quinn grab him. Maybe they’d followed them and after the standoff with Jake and Faye, they’d overpowered Quinn and come up with a new plan. Calvin must have promised them a cut of whatever Faye gave them. Either that’s what had happened, or Calvin had somehow planned this all along. Somehow Jake couldn’t see Calvin being that smart.

  Not that any of that mattered. Not now.

  “We have to get out of here. I need you to trust me,” he whispered in Faye’s ear.

  Another bullet cracked into the tree where they were hiding.

  She swallowed hard and nodded. He dropped his hand from her mouth.

  He looked around, judging the distances from each tree, mentally planning a path that would give them the best cover. He didn’t tell her about the other two gunmen. That would only make her more scared than she was right now.

  “Okay, we’re going to run, fast. Stick with me. Don’t stop or slow down to look back. Just do what I do. Got it?”

  “Got it,” she whispered, her voice breaking.

  After picking up a piece of decayed wood lying on the ground, he grabbed her hand and pulled her upright, using the thick cypress as cover.

  “Get ready,” he whispered. He tightened his hand on hers and threw the wood to the other side of the path. Gunshots echoed through the trees as Calvin and his men fell for the diversion.

  Jake yanked Faye’s hand and they took off running.

  * * *

  FAYE CROUCHED BEHIND a rotted tree stump, folding her arms in against her body to keep them from showing and making her a target. She couldn’t see Jake anymore, or—thank God—Calvin. Jake had learned a lot in the past few days following her as she was tracking Calvin. Now he was off making noises, bending tree branches, doing whatever it took to create a false trail and lead her brother farther and farther away from them. They’d argued before he left, because she wanted to lay the trail. She was afraid he’d end up lost. He’d rolled his eyes and told her he wasn’t quite as useless as she thought and had ordered her to stay put. His order rankled. But he hadn’t given her a chance to argue.

  She slumped farther down, covering her face with her hands. How naive had she been to believe she could change Calvin by taking the journal and the money? Every few months he’d called her about the money, begging her to give it to him, yelling at her, threatening her. But she’d never really thought he would try to hurt her.

  The arguments had gotten worse and worse in the past few months. She should have realized how desperate he’d become. He must have gotten himself into trouble with some thugs, or a bookie. She’d always known he didn’t have the same values as her, but she never would have expected him to actually kill anyone. And to turn on her—especially over money. He had to be really desperate. That’s all she could think. He wasn’t himself, wasn’t in his right mind.

  Some branches clicked together off to her left. She stilled, watching. Jake stepped from behind the tree across from hers, motioning for her to follow him. His gaze darted toward the trees on the other side of her.

  She jumped to her feet and ran to him. He grabbed her hand and hauled her close.

  “You okay?” he whispered.

  “I’m as good as I can be, given the circumstances,” she whispered back. “What do we do now?”

  “You were a good teacher about the marsh. I followed your instructions and led Calvin off a good ways in the opposite direction a
nd circled back to you. I’ve found another path, more or less, that will take us toward Mystic Glades, if you’re right about the direction you told me.”

  “I am. I know this area. I know the way back home.”

  “Okay. Let’s go. Lead the way. I wouldn’t want to get us lost.”

  She smiled a sad smile. She appreciated his teasing since she knew he was trying to keep her spirits up. But knowing this particular jaunt through her precious Everglades was because her own brother was trying to kill her...the horror of it was almost beyond what she could handle.

  When they reached a small clearing, she pointed to their right, directing him the way they needed to go. He started off ahead of her, as was his habit since this nightmare had begun. If they were going into any trouble, he wanted to be the first one facing danger. Before meeting him, she hadn’t even realized men that...good...existed.

  Something moved off the side of the path in front of him. She drew in a sharp breath and grabbed his arm.

  He stopped and raised a brow in question.

  She held her finger to her lips and pointed.

  A moment later, an enormous constrictor slithered across the path right where they would have been if she hadn’t stopped him.

  “Was that what I think it was?” he whispered.

  “Boa. Just like CeeCee.”

  “Great. Are there very many more of those around here?”

  “Probably.”

  He shuddered, then winked to let her know he was kidding. Her greenhorn was actually getting more comfortable with the critters in the ’Glades. She grinned back at him.

  He started to lead the way but again she stopped him.

  “What? Another snake?” He studied the path as if a whole family of boas was about to wiggle through.

  “No. This is the way I’d normally go to get back to town. But I think we should go back a different way. It won’t be as fast. But it might be safer. If we keep heading straight, we’ll end up hemmed in by some waterways on one side. Which would be fine if we didn’t have to worry about...about my brother. We could get trapped with nowhere to turn. And going into the water to get away is not an option. Trust me on that.”

  “Alligator snacks?”

  “Alligator snacks.” She waved her hand to the left. “If we head back that way we can circle around this section of the swamp and get to higher, drier ground. Then we can move back toward town again.”

  He gave her an admiring look. “You’re teaching me to get around in the marsh like a native Mystic Glades guy. And it looks like I’m teaching you to think like a cop. We make a good team. Let’s go. I don’t know how long my fake trail is going to fool Calvin.”

  * * *

  CALVIN WASN’T FOOLED very long at all. Neither were the two men with him. Jake spotted all three of them picking their way through the treacherous boggy soil, driftwood and scrubby pines that dotted this part of the ’Glades, several hundred yards out. The sun had glinted off Calvin’s rifle, which he was betting was loaded now. That flash of light on metal had given Jake the warning he needed to throw Faye and himself down behind a fallen tree before they were spotted.

  “There are three people after us now?” she whispered, her eyes going wide.

  “Actually, there’ve been three after us since the hunting cabin. I didn’t want to alarm you. I’d hoped we could outrun them before you found out.”

  She lightly punched him in the arm. “I’m not a delicate flower. We’re a team. Remember? If we’re going to survive we need to communicate better.”

  “Yes, ma’am. We need to get moving again. Which way?”

  She looked around. “Well, we can’t cut back toward town the way we were going to go, not without going through Calvin and his men.”

  “Then we circle around them.”

  She shook her head. “Can’t. This is the only clear area, the highest ground around here. If we go to the left or right of him and those men, we’ll end up in gator territory.”

  Jake peered over the top of the fallen tree again. “Well, we can’t stay here. They’re heading straight for us. Which means—”

  “We head deeper into the ’Glades, and try not to get trapped with the swamp at our backs. Exactly what we were trying not to do.” She chewed her bottom lip.

  He put his hand on hers. “As long as we watch each other’s backs, we’ve got a chance.”

  She nodded. They crept toward the trees, staying low so the fallen log would shield them from Calvin’s sight.

  Another handful of hours found them out of breath and trapped, just as Faye had feared they might be. Jake stood a few feet back from the murky edge of the canal that blocked their way. Behind them, Calvin and his henchmen were still on their trail. Now that Jake knew what to look for, he was able to catch sight of them in the distance every once in a while, and the distance between them was closing. One of the gunmen was obviously a skilled tracker and was able to follow their trail even though both Faye and Jake were doing everything they could not to leave one.

  If Jake’s guesstimate was right, their pursuers would reach them in about an hour, or less. He stared out over the water, fifty feet across. A quick swim. In and out, just a few minutes, and they’d be on the other side. He scanned the water and the bank on both sides. Not a gator or snake in sight. Just a few egrets and pelicans sunning themselves on the other side of the canal. No ripples in the water to indicate anything sinister lying in wait beneath the surface.

  “You sure there are gators in here? Maybe it’s the wrong time of day and they’re off in their nests somewhere, sleeping.”

  She snorted. “I grew up in Alabama and I know more about alligators than you do. I thought you were a Florida native?”

  “I am. I grew up in a subdivision. By the ocean. The closest I ever get to amphibians is the zoo.”

  She laughed. “They’re reptiles, not amphibians. And trust me. By the time you see them out here in the ’Glades, it’s usually too late. The water is full of them. And they can hide in the mud so well you might never see them. Don’t even think about going in the water.”

  He glanced nervously at the muddy bank around them, then back at the water. “I’m not sure we have any other options.”

  “Did you see the movie Jaws?”

  “Sure. Killer shark. Eats everything in sight.”

  “No one saw it until it was too late. Picture that waterway full of killer sharks. Do you still want to go for a swim?”

  “Okay, okay. We aren’t going into the water.”

  “Maybe I can try reasoning with Calvin. He can’t really intend to hurt me. He loves me. Maybe he’s just...confused.”

  “Yeah, shooting Quinn was probably an accident. He accidentally pretended to be tied to the tree and accidentally shot Quinn in the head. I’m sure he feels awful about it and will be happy to sit and talk with you.”

  She shot him a glare. “You have a better idea?”

  “Plan B.”

  “Which is?”

  “You hide and I take out the bad guys.”

  “They have guns. How are you going to take them out without getting shot? Even if you could sneak up within fifty yards of them, that golden tan of yours will make you a gleaming target. And how am I supposed to hide with this?” She flicked her bright green skirts, which swirled in the warm breeze.

  “Good point. I don’t suppose you’d consider going naked?”

  She gave him a droll look.

  He grinned. “Didn’t think so.” He turned around and looked down at the rich, dark mud. Her earlier reference to the movie Jaws had other ideas swirling through his head. “Ever see that movie Predator, with Arnold Schwarzenegger?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “Plan C.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Faye r
eluctantly handed Jake the veils she’d cut from her skirt. Without the veils, she was left with the lining, which resembled a short, black miniskirt of sorts, barely coming to the tops of her thighs. Thankfully she hadn’t gone commando today or Jake would be catching glimpses of a lot more than just her legs while she sat on the muddy bank beside the water.

  “You owe me a new skirt,” she grumbled. “I still don’t know what you want to do with the veils. Or why we’re sitting here in the mud.”

  In answer, he tied the ends of two of the veils together and tugged them tight. “Homemade rope, just in case I get lucky and sneak up on one of those gunmen before he sees me.”

  She swallowed at his reference to the gunmen, only too aware that they were closing in on them. “And the reason we’re in the mud?”

  He shoved the veils in his pockets before reaching down and scooping up two large handfuls of the black goo. “You gave me the idea earlier. You said gators can hide in the mud. We’re going to cover our bodies with this and blend in with our surroundings, just like in the Predator movie.” He leaned toward her and slapped the mud on her calves just above her boots.

  She stiffened in surprise, but that surprise quickly turned to heat at the feel of his hands sliding over her skin to the sensitive spots behind her knees. When her calves and knees were covered, he grabbed more of the mud, this time dabbing it on more gently and massaging it into her thighs. She should have made him stop. She could certainly put the mud on without his help, but God help her, she couldn’t have asked him to stop if a whole posse of gunmen were on their trail. His fingers on her skin felt too good, reminding her of their first meeting, when he’d pinned her to the forest floor. She’d been shocked at her body’s answering response to the stranger that night, and had later wondered if she’d imagined the jolt of attraction that had zinged through her core.

  Nope. She hadn’t imagined it.

  The teasing amusement on his face gave way to a taut tension as he continued to rub her legs. His fingers slid higher, higher. She closed her eyes, reveling in the feel of him, waiting, wondering just how high he would go. Wondering just how high she’d let him go.