by Sylvie Kurtz
“It’s amazing what people are willing to tell a stranger for the price of a donut and a cup of coffee. Your deep dark secret, aren’t you curious as to where I found it?”
He wouldn’t give Willy the satisfaction of admitting the fact intrigued him.
“That little clerk in your communications department. The divorcée who’s always trying to get your attention through her son.”
Connie Weil. Of course. She’d met Juliana briefly six years ago, and sensed more than she’d been given about her relationship to him.
“A cup of coffee, a donut, and an attentive ear. That’s all it took.”
“And you used what you got out of her to manipulate me.”
“See, you understand more than you think. Juliana was your weakness. Then I found her weakness. And, as they say, the rest is history. Too bad we’re on opposite sides of the fence, so to speak. You’re the first person I’ve met who’s worthy of my admiration. Like father, like son.”
Lucas tensed. “What does my father have to do with this?”
“You have no idea who I am, do you?” He pouted. “And I left you so many clues. You’re proving quite a dissappointment, not-so Special Agent after all. No appreciation of the subtle.”
Lucas didn’t move a muscle, but a dim memory suddenly popped into his mind. A silent alarm tripped at a selectman’s home. His father was the first officer on the scene and apprehended a young man. That young man’s father: Wilbert Putnam II. He’d made a big fuss about the whole mess, and his son had gotten a mere slap on the wrist for his misdeed.
Will smiled pleased. “I see you do remember. Yes, that was me. Your father taught me a valuable lesson that day. I’ve never let an alarm get the best of me since then. Imagine my pleasure when I discovered it was you who was pursuing me with such lust. It was my turn to teach. You are like me—just like me.”
“Why steal stones? You have money. Why not buy them?”
He shrugged. “They were mine.”
“They belonged to others.”
“They called to me. They knew I was worthy of their power.”
Willy’s greed knew no logic, but Lucas would have to convince him it did. “Let them go. You don’t want them.”
“But you do. Haven’t you guessed what I want?”
“Not the Sapphire.”
“No, not the Sapphire. Not anymore. It was to have been your daughter for the jewel. Now it must be her life for a life. You took away my Bijou. I’ll take away your Briana. Juliana is a bonus. After all, you care for her still.”
Weapon gripped hard, pointed at the Phantom, Lucas could not shoot, couldn’t risk hitting Briana, killing his own child. He stepped forward for a better aim.
“Tut, tut.” Will shook the gun at Lucas and snarled. “Back off, Vassilovich!”
“Let her go.”
“You don’t want me to put a bullet through her head, now do you?” He pushed the .22’s safety button.
Resigned, Lucas took a step back, raised his hands in capitulation.
“There, now that’s better. Two more steps. That’s a good boy. One step to your right. Now sit in that chair by the door.”
Sitting in that confining wing chair, Lucas felt like cornered like a rat. No way to escape, no way to help the people he loved.
“Put the gun on the floor. Nice and easy. That’s it. Give it a little shove in my direction, if you would.”
Against all instincts, Lucas obeyed. The weapon twirled across the aged Aubusson carpet and stopped halfway between him and Willy.
“Once again, you’ve ruined my plans, Vassilovich. I had such a scene in mind.”
Cindy’s posed death came back to him in a sudden, vivid flash. “There’s no need now. I’m here.”
“I can flow with the situation.” Willy laughed. “But you already knew that, didn’t you? At the museum. At the airport. I showed you that.”
Willy waived the Colt in Juliana’s direction. “Her?” Then at Briana. “Or her? Which one goes first? Your choice. Watching them die might prove a greater blow than simply finding them arm in arm with your counterfeit Nadyenka Sapphire between them.” He feigned a pout. “That wasn’t very nice of you, Agent Vassilovich. Giving me a figment of my desire. Bijou knew the difference. She needed the jewels’ power. You deprived her. You killed her.”
“It’s not them you’re angry at,” Lucas insisted, keeping his tone neutral though his anger boiled over. “It’s me. They’ve done nothing to you. They’re victims. Just like you are.”
“Yes, you’re right. Simple victims of your ambition.”
“Let them go. Let’s settle this between us. Man to man.”
“You took everything I had from me. I want to give you the same experience.”
Become him. “What you really want is to remove that obstacle in your way. Destroy what’s destroyed your life.”
“No,” Juliana said. “Lucas, don’t—”
“It’s me you want to hurt. It’s me you want to kill. I represent everything you hate, Will, everything you despise. Law, order. And I’m smart, smarter than you are. You know that. You hate that. If it hadn’t been for my boss, you’d be in jail now. And you know that I’ll never let you go. You can kill Briana. You can kill Juliana. But I’d still be out there ready to destroy you. And you know you won’t get me. Because you’re right, Willy, I am just like you.”
Willy straightened. “When you’re right, you’re right, Special Agent Vassilovich.”
The Colt discharged.
Briana screamed.
Something thudded against the side of his head.
“No!” Juliana launched forward, chair and all.
“Juliana!” His voice sounded far away. He tried to rise to shield her from Willy’s raised weapon. Keep her safe. Keep them safe. “Juliana—”
The floor slapped up to meet his face.
Everything went black.
Chapter 18
From her vantage point on the floor, Juliana saw Lucas lying still on the carpet. Willy ambled over to Lucas, kicked him in the ribs, gaining a groan.
Lucas is alive! Her joy was quickly eclipsed. With utter calm, Will cocked his gun once more and pointed it at Lucas’s head.
He’s going to kill him in cold blood.
Working furiously, she yanked one hand free of the handcuffs, shredding her skin in the process. Blood trickled warm and sticky down her arm. Her thoughts raced in a maze like a mouse on speed.
If she tried to help Lucas she risked getting hurt and leaving Briana at Will’s mercy. If she chose instead to scoop up Briana and flee, Will would execute Lucas.
She tore her second hand free, swallowing her scream of pain. Scooping her purse from the ground, she launched it. The leather ball connected with Will’s arm, knocking the gun off target. The weapon discharged, then clattered to the floor. The bullet shattered the bulb of a lamp on the table between the two windows, throwing the room in sudden darkness. Sparks frizzled, arced. The curtains ignited.
“Fire, Mommy, fire!”
“Hang on, sweetheart. Hang on. I’m coming.”
Growling, Will charged at her. Without thinking, she heaved the chair and hurled it at him, knocking him to the ground.
While Will struggled to get up, she scrabbled for the gun. She patted the ground, connected with the cold handle.
The flames greedily ate the curtains, licked at the furniture. Too close, much too close to Briana.
“Mommy!”
Light puffed up. Heat filled the room. Acrid smoke swirled in a dark cloud above them.
Will’s hand came out of nowhere, jostling her for the gun. She kicked at him, would not release her grip on the weapon. She bit the back of his hand, gained possession and aimed the barrel at his chest. She couldn’t miss this target. Huffing and scuttling backwards, she got up, never taking her gaze from him.
Will just smiled. “You won’t shoot. It’s not in your character.”
She swore, and in the heat of her anger, squeezed the trigger. The b
ang startled her backwards. The concussion stung her hands.
Will stared at his bleeding shoulder and crumpled to the ground.
I’ve killed him!
“Mommy! Hurry!”
Shaking, she rushed over to Briana, untied the rope.
“You’re such a brave girl, Briana. I know I can count on you. I need your help. We have to help Lucas outside.”
Briana sniffed, wiping her nose with the sleeve of her jacket, then with Juliana, moved toward Lucas’s inert body. As they grabbed Lucas, Juliana noticed Will roll over, blood stained the front of his white shirt red. He reached for his wound and groaned. She shook her head. Her first priority had to be Lucas and Briana.
Together, she and Briana half-carried, half-dragged Lucas to the front door. Once they had him safely on the grass, Juliana took Briana’s hand.
“See that green car, sweetheart?” Juliana asked.
Briana nodded.
“I want you go to that car. There’s a radio in there. I want you to call for help. Just press the button on the mike and tell the people who answer you need help.”
Briana frowned, started to do as her mother asked, then hesitated.
“What’s wrong, Briana?” Juliana asked, struggling to keep her voice calm.
“The car. It’s green.”
Not now, Briana! There isn’t any time for this. Juliana swallowed the hurtful words that sprang to mind. “Close your eyes, sweetheart. Once you’re inside, it’s all beige. You’ll be safe. You’ll be all right. Hurry, Briana. Good girl.”
Briana hesitated again at the Jeep’s door. “Lucas really needs your help, sweetheart. Squeeze the button on the microphone and tell them Lucas is hurt.”
Once she was sure Briana would enter the Jeep, she raced back inside the house. As much as she hated Will, as much as she wanted to see him dead, she couldn’t let him burn alive. She would have to let justice run its course.
Smoke already poured out the back parlor into the hallway. Willy had clawed his way to the base of the stairs. Coughing, she hooked her arm through his and she dragged him to safety. Once outside, she bound his hands with the belt from her jeans.
Taking Lucas’s gun from her waistband, she pointed it at Willy, and made her way backward to Lucas.
“They’re coming, Mommy,” Briana called from the Jeep’s open door. “They’re coming.”
* * *
The distant wail of sirens penetrated the pounding ache in his head. Will opened his eyes. Where was he?
The house. Yes, the house.
He was outside. On the grass. Why?
The stench of smoke reached him. The heat of fire blistered him. And when he turned his head, he saw the house ablaze.
Wind whipped up the flames, devouring the dry wood, reaching higher and higher, straining for his treasure, his power.
“No!” He coughed, tried to stand up, and fell back on his face. “It’s mine!”
“Don’t move!” A woman’s voice. Oh, yes, Juliana Shales.
He ignored her command and struggled up once more.
“I’ll shoot,” she warned.
But he didn’t care. He had to go in. He had to find it.
“Stop!”
She fired a shot, but he didn’t have to look back to know she’d aimed above him.
He had to get them. He had to save them. The treasures were his power, his life, his soul. With a deft twist, he freed his hands, discarding the belt.
Intent on his goal, he had nothing to fear. Not bullets. Not flames. His treasures made him invincible. The power of the stones would heal him. He entered the house, paused once at the assault of smoke, then pushed in. Up the stairs he went, up into the secret space. Coughing, he crawled to the big, black safe. He spun the dial, opened the door. There they were. Waiting for him. His treasures. Just waiting for him. He gathered an armful of jewels, cradled them, and the small brass urn containing Bijou’s remains to his heart.
“I’m here. I’m here.”
* * *
Rain poured from the sky, plastering Juliana’s hair against her skull. With stern resolve, she put Will out of her mind. The man had to be crazy to return to a house completely engulfed by flames.
“They’re coming, Mommy. Can you hear them?”
She held her grief in check, would not add to her daughter’s confusion. “Yes, sweetheart. I can hear them. You’re such a brave girl. I’m so proud of you.”
Briana shuffled on the wet grass.
“Stay in the car, sweetheart,” Juliana said. “You’ll get all wet out here. The people on the radio, they need to hear your voice.”
She removed her sweater, made a pillow for Lucas. She tore the long sleeve from her T-shirt and with shaking fingers, sought to stanch the flow of blood.
“You’ll be fine,” she said to Lucas, keeping her voice light. “We still have a lot of talking to do, you know. Don’t think you can get out of it just because you have a little bullet wound on the side of your head. That’s just not acceptable. Briana needs to know her father. She has a lot of questions. Wants at least a hundred more of your stories.”
The sirens drew closer. Silently, she urged them on. She looked helplessly at the man on the ground, the man she loved.
Finally, an ambulance braked to a halt next to them.
A flurry of activity ensued. Questions from the police, the FBI, flew at her fast and furious, but she didn’t hear any of them. Her focus remained on Lucas.
“You’ll be all right,” she kept telling him. He had to be all right. “Briana needs you.” Her voice cracked. “I need you.”
As the paramedics lifted the gurney, Lucas squeezed her hand.
“Jewel.” The sound of his husky voice flushed her with joy. “I’m still here.”
And as they loaded him into the ambulance, she blurted out her heart’s secret. “I love you, Lucas.”
He smiled at her crookedly. “It’s about time.”
Epilogue
The sun, the moon, and the stars. Growing up, Juliana had wanted it all, had had it all, only to have it all taken away. Now this precious treasure was hers again. She’d been handed a second chance and she was determined to make the most of it.
By nearly losing Briana and Lucas, she’d finally realized that closing her heart hadn’t provided her with the security she’d sought. Instead it had deprived her of living life to its fullest, of feeling all the shades of love, of knowing true joy.
Family and friends had gathered in May to celebrate Jonah and Caitlynn’s union in the small chapel in the village by the lake. Now in June, they had assembled once more to share in hers and Lucas’s celebration of love. People filled all the benches. Her heart overflowed with happiness.
The organ music started. Caitlynn bent down and whispered to Briana, “That’s your cue.”
Smiling broadly, Briana started down the stone aisle, scattering rose petals as she went. Caitlynn, the matron of honor, followed.
“Are you nervous?” Jonah asked, taking Juliana’s arm. He’d honored her by agreeing to give her away.
“No.” When she looked toward the altar, Lucas stood there, framed by the jeweled colors of the stained glass windows, waiting for her—just as he’d promised. “Not at all.”
She’d lost and gained too much to fear the future.
Will was dead and buried—no longer a threat. Beside his charred remains, the FBI had found the loot of jewels Will had stolen. His makeup case was in the trunk of his car, along with his disguises, and cards of thin latex skins imprinted with other people’s fingerprints. A brilliant mind gone awry. Juliana shook her head. She wouldn’t let any cloudy thoughts darken her happy day.
The Nadyenka Sapphire, carefully restored after its trial by fire, gleamed on the bodice of her dress. Hope, that’s what Lucas had told her Nadyenka meant. And hope filled her today.
Briana had readily taken to the idea of having a father, especially one who could tell such great adventure stories.
Lucas was stil
l trying to sort his career options. Only a small scar remained from his ordeal. The mark added character to an already dear face.
Juliana had sold her shop to Callie and Ben. All she needed was a small corner to design her jewelry—and she could find that wherever Lucas was.
They were both learning to take one day at a time.
When the ceremony ended, Juliana exited the chapel with her new husband and their daughter. A family finally together.
“Oh, look, Daddy,” Briana said from the crook of Lucas’s arm. “A rainbow! Ella says there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Can we go find it?”
“Not today, Briana,” Juliana said laughing softly. Briana’s spirit of adventure had dimmed only temporarily by her terror at Willy’s hand. “We have a party to go to. You have a grandmother to visit, and cousins to play with, and aunts and uncles to terrorize.”
“Don’t you want to find the treasure, Daddy?”
Over their daughter’s head, Lucas looked at Juliana. In his deep, dark eyes she saw all she needed to feel secure, in his kiss tasted all she needed to feel hopeful. “I have all the treasure I need right here with me.”
The End
Page forward for
Ella’s Banana Scuffins recipe
followed by an excerpt from Sylvie Kurtz’s
One Texas Night
A Romantic Suspense Novel
Ella’s Banana Scuffins
A scuffin is a cross between a muffin and a scone. They’re not quite as fluffy as muffins or as rich as scones, but have a crumbly texture that’s quite addictive.
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat white flour
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
3 tbsps. raw sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/4 cup chopped dates
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 egg whites
3 tbsps. coconut oil, melted
1 ripe banana
1/3 cup low-fat milk
cooking spray
Preheat oven to 400º F. In a large bowl, mix flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Stir in chopped dates and nuts.
