by Aimée Thurlo
“Done,” Tony said quickly.
“Not so fast,” Raymond argued. “I want to hear the tape first.”
After they’d replayed it, Amanda watched both men. Tony’s eyes shone with a dangerous edge, but Raymond’s expression was hooded.
“I don’t like this. What did they mean about your harming your own pleasant family?” Raymond asked Amanda. “To me, that didn’t sound like a threat against Hope. It sounds more like you’re being blackmailed.”
Somehow Amanda managed to control her voice and meet his gaze calmly. “I have no idea what they meant. Really.”
Raymond said nothing for a few moments, then finally spoke. “This isn’t a good time to hold back.”
Amanda knew she had to think fast in order to convince both men. “The conversation is all there in the recording. I know nothing more than you, but once before, they did threaten me. They reminded me I could be sent to jail for delivering a file that was stolen from the FBI. I think this is their way of telling me they can blow the whistle at any time.”
Raymond nodded, seemingly satisfied. “They’re confident they have total control over you because of your love for your daughter. The fact that you’re not willing to play completely by their rules and go without backup will give you a slight edge.”
Amanda glanced at Raymond, then Tony. “Can I count on you two to work as a team?”
Raymond looked at Tony, who nodded. “We’ll both be there,” Raymond said at last.
“What kind of disguises will you be wearing?”
“It’s better if you don’t know,” Tony answered. “I don’t want you to look around for us, either. Trust us to be there and concentrate on following their instructions.” He stood up, retrieved the tape from the machine, and placed a new one in it. “We’ve got a lot to do before tomorrow. We better get going. Will you be all right?”
Amanda stared at Tony. Nothing was all right. What an incredibly irritating question. “I’ll manage.”
Raymond picked up on her tone. “Just say the word, and both you and your daughter will be in protective custody.”
“But for how long?” Tony countered. “You’ve got to see this through, Amanda. You know that as well as I do. You can’t afford to back out now.”
“I’ll see it through.”
Amanda escorted the men to the door. As soon as they pulled out, she locked it tight. The house was quiet. After checking on Hope, Amanda went to her bedroom. A great heaviness settled over her spirit. If she ever lost her daughter because she’d failed to protect her, nothing else would matter in her life.
Amanda lay down, staring into the darkness. She felt cut off from the one person she would have given anything to be able to lean on...Tony Ramos. The one man who was, in reality, probably her worst enemy.
* * *
THE FOLLOWING EVENING, Amanda took Hope to the movie theater. Hope, oblivious to the danger, was excited and barely able to sit still.
“This is great, Mommy! A play day!”
Amanda took Hope’s hand firmly in hers and, keeping her close to her side, stood in line to purchase tickets. She wasn’t surprised that the line was long. The new release had been highly promoted, and this was the only theater in town showing it.
Hope clutched the small shopping bag tightly, eager to help with grown-up things as she’d been asked. Amanda glanced at the young crowd. No one seemed particularly interested in her or her daughter. After waiting several minutes, she purchased the tickets and they went inside.
Seats were quickly filling up, and with the crowd pressing in on them from all sides, Amanda could barely sort out the faces surrounding her and Hope.
Amanda selected two aisle seats near the middle of the theater. From here it would be easier to escape if necessary. The crowd was noisy, but soon the lights went down and the show started.
Hope fidgeted constantly, the shopping bag by her side on the seat. Yet as the minutes dragged on, no one approached them, not even passing along the row to go for popcorn. Hope fell asleep against her arm and Amanda began to relax. Maybe the kidnappers had underestimated the size of the crowd and had decided the theater was too full to make their move.
When the film finally ended, Amanda gently nudged Hope awake. As she stood up, she saw someone waving at her. Ricky Biddle was directly across from them on the other side of the theater. She waved back, glad that the moving crowd would never allow him to cross over to them. He was the last person she needed near her now.
Hope clutched the little shopping bag as Amanda led her by the hand. They could have waited, but Amanda wanted the safety of numbers around them right now. People pressed in on them, but her grasp on Hope’s hand was firm. Amanda resisted the urge to pick Hope up and carry her, knowing how her daughter disliked it. A fussy three-year-old was just about the last thing she needed to contend with at this point. They were near the exit doors when the crowd for the next showing suddenly swelled in, forcing them apart. As Hope’s tiny hand slipped out of hers, Amanda bent down, frantically reaching out for her daughter among the mass of people.
“Hope!” Amanda yelled. A cold hand seemed to wrap itself around her heart, and panic surged wildly from the depths of her soul.
An instant later, a tall bearded man wearing an old fatigue jacket carried Hope back to her, setting her down beside Amanda.
“The pickup was made,” he whispered.
Amanda recognized Tony’s voice, but there was no time to talk to him. In the blink of an eye, he turned and disappeared into the crowd.
Hope clung to Amanda’s skirt, crying. “Mommy, some man took away my bag!”
Amanda picked her daughter up into her arms, comforting her as they quickly left the theater. This was the last time. No matter how many promises anyone made, she would never bring her daughter along again on something like this. Each of her daughter’s sobs pierced her heart. “Hush, Peanut. It’s okay. Are you hurt?”
“No, but I was mad, Mommy!”
“It’s okay, Peanut. The bag isn’t important, and Mommy won’t ever let anyone separate us like that again. That’s a promise.”
Amanda spoke with conviction. It was a message meant for whoever was listening—from Tony and Raymond to the kidnappers.
* * *
THIRTY MINUTES LATER, as Amanda entered her home, she heard the phone ringing. Once again, the caller’s number had been blocked. Ready to do battle, she picked up the receiver.
“You handled things well tonight,” the electronic voice said.
“Listen to me and listen well, you witch!” she whispered hoarsely into the phone. “You think I’m not a threat to you, but you’re wrong. If you ever threaten my daughter again, or even come near her, I’ll hunt you down myself. Without her, I’ll have nothing to lose.”
As Amanda slammed down the phone and turned around, she saw her daughter had opened the door for Tony and Raymond. Tony still wore the fatigues, but he was no longer wearing the beard. He was staring at her in surprise.
“That wasn’t them, was it?”
Amanda knew who he was referring to, though out of deference to Hope, he hadn’t specified. “You bet.”
Raymond passed by Tony and came in wearing a shoulder-length wig in keeping with the traditional Navaho style and clothing several sizes too big. “I think you did the right thing. You’ve shown them that there are limits to your cooperation. They’ll rethink their approach.”
“Or not call back at all now that they have the papers,” Tony said, his voice taut and without emotion. As Hope ran down the hall to get a doll she’d left beside the bookcase, he added, “You may have just cost me my kid.”
“And protected my own,” Amanda said defensively, her voice lowered. “She’s my first priority, just like Carmen is yours.”
Tony nodded slowly, his anger still obvious, but under control. “You’re right. I can’t fault you for what you did. But please, if they call again, no matter what time it is, let me know immediately.”
Without
another word, he walked out the door. Raymond stood in the entrance. “He’ll work it out, Amanda. You made the right move.”
Amanda watched both men drive away, then locked the door. Hope was sitting on the sofa, watching her.
“Tony was mad, wasn’t he, Mommy?”
“Yes, but that’s something he has to settle himself. Right now I need a promise from you, Peanut.”
“Okay, Mommy.”
“Never, ever, open this door to a stranger. Only Bernice or me. Agreed?”
“Tony’s not a stranger!” the child objected.
“New rules, Peanut. I don’t want an argument. Just do it.”
Hope nodded. “Okay, Mommy. Now can we eat dinner? I’m hungry!”
Amanda fixed Hope a potpie dinner and a dish of applesauce. After their ice-cream dessert Hope’s eyes were almost closed. It wouldn’t take long for her daughter to fall asleep tonight.
Amanda bathed her daughter quickly, and tucked her into bed. Glad for a chance to sort things out in her mind, she walked to the living room. She’d just sat down on the sofa when she heard a soft tapping at the door. Recognizing Bernice’s familiar knock, Amanda invited her friend inside and waved her to a seat.
“I’ve been worried about you, Amanda. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve been doing some investigating of my own.”
“What kind of investigating?” Amanda asked quickly.
“I’ve been trying to find out more about Tony Ramos. He’s the heart of all your troubles, you know.”
Amanda smiled thinly, knowing there was more truth to her friend’s statement than she realized. “What did you learn?”
“A few months ago, Tony dated a records clerk at the police department. He apparently talked her into compromising her work because she started passing confidential information along to him. After she got caught and fired Tony never dated her again. He cost her her job, then dropped her the second she was no longer useful to him.”
“Is that what you think he’s doing with me?”
“Amanda, his priority is his child, not you. You can’t trust anything he says or does, no matter how badly you may want to.”
“I know that, Bernice.”
“Tell me you’re not falling in love with him, Amanda, and I’ll stop worrying.”
“How could I possibly be falling in love with him? I don’t know him, not really. All I know about Tony is what he chooses to tell me, and that isn’t anywhere near enough.”
“That’s not an answer. That sounds more like an argument you’re using with yourself.”
“It is,” she sighed. “There’s an attraction, sure. But it’s not love.”
Bernice stood up. “You’ve answered my question. It’s already too late for warnings.”
Amanda walked her friend to the door. “I know this can’t go anywhere. Tony isn’t the type of man I’d want as a father for my daughter. I knew that right from the start. But the heart doesn’t always listen to reason.”
Bernice gave Amanda a hug. “You’re a strong person, Amanda. You’ll be hurt, but you’ll survive and go on.”
After saying good-night to Bernice and locking up, Amanda walked to her bedroom and crawled into bed. She’d never been so exhausted in her life. The pleasant coolness of the sheets and the soft weight of the summer blanket soon wiped all thoughts from her mind. Before she knew it, the world of reality receded and she began to drift into dark oblivion.
Then, out of the darkness, an image of light came toward her. A woman, shrouded in mist, appeared, standing before her. A blinding light seemed to radiate from her, making it impossible for Amanda to see her face.
“You don’t have to worry. Your daughter will be yours forever.” The voice sounded like wind chimes dancing in the summer breeze.
“Who are you?” Amanda heard herself speaking, yet no words came out.
“I’m a friend, nothing more. I came because you needed me. I, too, lost my daughter once. I thought I’d failed, that I’d lost everything, but I was wrong. Love found a way.”
Another scene unfolded before Amanda. She saw a woman trying in vain to reach her crying infant. A veil of some kind stood between them. Though the mother was desperately trying to comfort her baby, the child seemed not to see or hear her.
Amanda felt the woman’s anguish as keenly as if it were her own. Then the scene faded. “The possibilities for good are endless,” the soft voice said. “For a trusting heart, sadness is never the master of joy.”
Amanda woke up abruptly, the reassuring words still echoing in her mind. It was only a dream, yet it had seemed so real! She felt tears rolling down her cheeks. The anguish of the mother in her dream lingered like a cloud over her heart.
No good could ever come from having a mother separated from her child. What she’d had was some sort of crazy nightmare. No mother could ever think otherwise.
* * *
AMANDA WENT TO WORK as usual the next morning. She hadn’t heard from the kidnappers since she’d hung up on them. Perhaps they’d decided to use someone else as intermediary, or maybe they were planning to let her worry for a while.
Tony dropped by her office around ten, wearing his maintenance-man disguise. He closed the door behind him before he spoke. “If you hear from the kidnappers, call my pager number. I’ll get in touch with you.”
His voice was low, like rumbling thunder, and the pain in his eyes was too real not to wrap itself around her heart. Up to now, she’d thought that not hearing from the kidnappers would set her free of her worries, but the possibility that Tony would walk out of her life now, filled her with despair. “If I could call them and force them to deal directly with you, I would,” she said.
“I know.”
Amanda swallowed the lump in the throat. She wanted to step into his arms, to somehow soothe away his pain, but she couldn’t will herself to move and knew there was nothing she could do to comfort him.
“If I could only figure out what they’re after.” Tony looked out the window, as if searching for something. “I’ve been racking my brains, trying to find some connection between the Henderson file and the forgery case, but there isn’t one. My gut feeling is that they’re trying to hide what they’re really after because it’ll give me a lead to them. I don’t think they’ve asked for what they actually want yet. If I’m right, they’ll call back.”
“I know I shouldn’t have hung up on them. I just had to do it. Please don’t hate me for that,” she whispered as he started out the door.
Tony stopped in midstride, closed the door, then faced her again. “If you truly want to know what’s in my heart, come over here and I’ll show you.”
Amanda should have stood her ground. Heaven knew she’d meant to. Yet primitive forces she couldn’t resist compelled her to do as he asked, and she stepped into his arms. His touch filled her with a delicious sense of expectation.
“My Mandy, my sweet Mandy,” he murmured, pulling her closer. Long, powerful fingers laced through her hair, cradling her head as his mouth dipped down to take hers. His tongue played on her lips until they parted, then penetrated the moist recesses slowly and erotically until her entire body trembled with desire.
Tony held her tightly, letting her feel the effect she had on him, telling her without words what he felt. As her intercom buzzed, he released her. “I am the man destined for you, Mandy, and you are the woman I intend to make mine. But first there are things we must accomplish together.”
The utter conviction in his voice excited as well as frightened her. If it was only a line, it must have been a well-practiced one, because she couldn’t detect any hesitation or deception in it.
She moved toward her desk, but he reached out for her again, sweeping her back into his arms. His kiss, filled with hunger, was demanding. Her knees almost buckled, but he held her firm until fires too hot to suppress raged within her.
“If you ever doubt what is happening between us, think back to this moment, and you’ll know the truth in your heart,” To
ny uttered softly, then left the room.
Amanda reached behind her, touching the bookcase to her right for balance. She couldn’t stop trembling. More so than she had ever dreamed possible, need pounded through her, making her feel empty and lonely.
As she dropped into her chair, Bernice poked her head inside. “I’ll be away from my desk for a while, helping out in the nursery. I have to cover while Doris has lunch.”
“All right.”
Amanda leaned back, eyes closed, trying to gather her thoughts. Despite her best efforts to deny it, Tony had carved a place in her heart. The knowledge that she’d have to walk away from him when the time came, pierced her like a cold blade from a killer’s hand.
The sudden ringing of the phone cut into her thoughts. Amanda picked up the receiver. Her skin prickled as the electronic voice greeted her.
“We have a new message for Ramos. Tell him to get a blank New Mexico driver’s license for us. We’ve got a plan worked out, but he’ll need your help.”
“For what? Getting arrested? There’s no way either of us can get something like that without stealing it.”
“You can get away with it, though, if you follow my directions. An elderly guard sets the forms out on a desk behind the counter each morning, and puts them away at the end of the day. If you distract the guard and the counter workers by creating a diversion, Ramos will have enough time to get around the counter and steal a blank form. He’ll have to work fast.
“Once Ramos is out of range of the security camera that covers that area, he’s to drop the form into your purse. The guard behind the monitor will probably see the theft. As he goes after Ramos, you’re to leave the building. Ramos will be arrested, but they won’t be able to hold him without the incriminating evidence.”
“What am I supposed to do with the form once I’m outside?”
“Drop it through the open window of the blue-and-white pickup that’ll be parked in front of the south door.”
“I can’t agree to this without talking to Tony. You’re asking him to risk everything without giving him the information he needs to find his daughter.”
