by Lexy Timms
The problem was, he couldn’t quite figure out the why of it. What had brought them here? Why had Benny wanted them? Was this about Edwin Rinehart, or was there something he wasn’t quite seeing? Nothing made sense. Luke didn’t like the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. Though some of that might have been the bruising. He’d taken a pretty solid kick to the solar plexus back in Benny’s office.
But, then, so had Dani.
He frowned a little as he waited for the bride to appear. He hadn’t seen her since the debacle two days ago, and was more than a little worried. Soon she’d make her appearance at the head of the aisle. He tried to picture her walking between the beribboned arches, down the flower-strewn carpet toward him. Oddly enough, he kind of liked the idea. Just... in a different setting. Maybe with wedding guests who weren’t quite so bloodthirsty.
It was a pretty thought. And very distracting. Luke shook himself, drawing his attention back to the present. So far every avenue of escape looked pretty hopeless. Maybe if one of the guests were sympathetic...?
His gaze lit on a couple of late arrivals.
Benny slipped in through a side door. His date caught Luke’s attention, and a chill ran down his spine.
It was Randy.
His boss and, as of now, former friend, stood next to Benny. Taking a seat front and center, just like the right-hand man of the man he was sworn to capture and prosecute, Randy simply looked at Luke evenly, without expression as he sat down.
The fury began somewhere deep inside. By the time Luke broke free from the shock and started down the aisle, he could see nothing but Randy’s face through the fine red haze that covered his vision. Never had he thought he could kill a man with his bare hands until this moment.
Jimmy’s hand grabbed his arm. Luke tried to pull away.
Benny caught Jimmy’s eye and waved him off negligently. Jimmy released him and resumed his stance behind David, who only stared at the empty seats in front of him.
“I should’ve figured it out,” Luke said as he leaned over the empty seat in front of Randy, his hands coming down hard on the back of the pew. “I just didn’t figure you for selling out.” His fingers flexed, gripping so tight that his knuckles had gone white. In a moment it would be Randy’s neck in his hands like that. Squeezing real slow.
“You need to show a little more gratitude.” Benny relaxed against the pew and grinned. “When Katie told me you were a cop, I immediately planned to have you killed. Then I found out you’re one of Randy’s, so I didn’t have to bother.”
Wait, he didn’t know I was Randy’s until after Katie told him who I was? Why didn’t Randy tip off his best worker from the start?
“Katie didn’t know I’m with... Randy.” He couldn’t bring himself to say FBI in front of that crowd. “Was with Randy. Until he betrayed me.” He turned his attention to Randy, who was sitting staring straight ahead and ignoring him, like he wasn’t leaning right over him, about to tear his head off. “How much was our friendship worth, Randy? How much did he pay you to kill your friend?”
“You’re not exactly dead, boy,” Benny snarled. Randy remained stoic.
“No?” Luke turned to Benny, “and when Dani’s daddy doesn’t show, then what? When this farce has reached a conclusion and your pretend niece has a pretend husband, what then? You expect me to believe that you’re going to pretend that none of this ever happened? You want us to make pretend babies, so you can become a fake great-uncle?”
“Don’t think so highly of yourself, Agent McConnell.” Benny smirked, and crossed a leg over his knee. “You really aren’t that significant, not now.” He laughed at Luke’s expression, “Yes, I know your real name now. I also know your military background, your training, all of it. I had my boys do some checking. It really wasn’t all that hard. And you’re right. Once Edwin arrives, I really don’t give a fuck about you.”
Luke growled and reared back, half turning away then coming back to stand in front of him. “Damn it, Randy, say something!” He hit the back of the pew with his fist.
Randy turned and stared at him for a long moment.
“There’s nothing to say, Luke,” Randy said quietly. “Nothing to add to that.”
“Why now? Why show up here, big as fucking life and make your... association known?”
Randy simply looked straight ahead and said nothing.
“Agent McConnell,” Benny said pointedly, nodding in Jimmy’s direction. “If you’ll be so kind as to return to your place. Or do I need Jimmy to place you there?” Benny smiled again, obviously enjoying this whole scenario to the max, “...using as many meds as he needs to accomplish it? Or, I can simply put Jimmy in your place. Maybe he can make some babies for me.”
Luke straightened and glared at Jimmy. No fucking way that man was going to touch Dani. Over my dead body. He gave Randy one more withering look. What the hell. Nothing’s making sense. Randy said he was deeply invested. For years. But he didn’t warn Benny that he had a mole in his house, namely me. Sullenly he returned to his place, standing once more beside David, and waited. He felt like a freak on display in front of the entire underworld. The cop was marrying the daughter of a runaway mobster. Her uncle, the king of the underworld, waited with a sadistic grin for the nuptials to be performed over the dead body of the bride’s father, for all to enjoy.
He was embedded in the most perverse and damn ridiculous farce he’d ever heard of.
He was alone. The only hope for rescue now sat in the rows of men and women who came here to see blood spilled on a white wedding dress. And Randy, the one guy he would have trusted with his life, refused to meet his eyes.
Luke’s fists curled up, fingernails digging into his palms. His knuckles were white and the tremor of anger that ran through his body left him shaking. He was well and truly caught. And to make matters worse, he was in the deep end with Dani. This he couldn’t forgive himself for. Dani’s life was in as much danger as his. Possibly worse.
He looked around the room again, his training coming to the fore. How many man could he take out? Enough to get away? Dani was a hell of a good fighter; between the two of them, could they break through?
Then what? Run past the entire underworld? Hide in a ditch somewhere?
Well, it’s obvious I can’t go to the police. Luke couldn’t look at Randy. He was too angry. Why did he come out now? What made him... if he wanted the guest list, he could have gotten it from Benny. He refused the USB stick the first time, then changed his mind. He was trying to protect Benny and then wanted the evidence to what, destroy it?
But Randy had demanded the guest list... Luke closed his eyes for a moment, trying to see his thoughts more clearly. Randy had asked for the list as a way to...
His eyes shot open. Every time Randy talked about that damn guest list, it was a way to get Luke to go back. He demanded it as a condition of Luke’s rescue, even when Luke got out and reported...
Fuck! That “message” from Benny, that so called, “she marries or she dies”. Did Randy just make that up? That would explain how he’d heard it so fast. It would explain a lot of things.
He looked around the room again. He tried to turn the tables in his mind, being the one on the right side of the glass and they were the ones on display. What did he see?
People who held power. A lot of power. People who didn’t answer to Benny, as far as Luke knew. People who were business partners though, according to intelligence, occasional partners only. People who were rivals, people who coated the chapel with a pall of suspicion and distrust.
Why in the hell would he invite people he would most likely rather see...
When the answer hit him he had to bite down on his tongue, hard, to keep from screaming.
DANI!
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“There are times when I really wish I wasn’t so damn little!” Katie stomped a foot. For all the pique, it was a careful and delicate stomp. The girl was wearing spiked heels, so anything too expressive could easily snap the s
hoe, or an ankle. She turned quickly, letting the hem of her dress swirl around her and settle again.
Dani stifled an urge to scream. If this were her actual wedding, the last thing she’d do is dress the bridesmaids in anything pastel. She hated pastels. And here was Katie, all dolled up in the most ethereal baby blue creation ever seen. A short baby-doll fashion, with a top cut low enough that it looked better suited for a porn video. She shuddered.
Remember, this is not your actual wedding. And the last thing you need to do is to get worked up over the choice of dress. When did you become a freaking girl? Focus, Dani. Your life, and Luke’s, depends on it.
Katie turned to the mirror again and spent several minutes fluffing at her hair, adjusting it in some way that made no difference at all that Dani could see. “I always wanted to be like you,” Katie said wistfully. “Strong, broad shoulders, that masculine physique. You’re so lucky.” Katie reached under the top of the dress to adjust herself. “Of course, I like having larger breasts, but you know, to each her own.”
That did it. Dani passed a few moments imagining Katie without hair and covered in hot tar and feathers. It was petty, but so was Katie.
It’s only a small indulgence. I’ll be vigilant in a minute.
“I don’t know what I did to you, Katie,” Dani said, carefully getting up from the stool she’d been balancing on carefully so not to wrinkle the dress. She smoothed at the skirts, testing movement, trying to decide if she could run in it if she needed to. “I always treated you nice.”
“Yeah.” Katie smiled like she was meeting an old friend to rehash the golden years. “Yeah, you really did. But you treated your brother better, so...” With an eloquent shrug, she turned and squealed in delight. Dani whirled around and looked around for whatever it was that Katie had seen, positive that at the very least a dozen thugs had to be trying to get into the room.
“No! No! Turn back around! You look so pretty!” Katie squealed.
Dani blinked in surprise and glanced in the full-length mirror, really looking at herself for the first time since she’d put on the dress. The gown was white—she figured if no one asked, there was no reason to tell—and floor-length. A risqué cut opened the front of the skirt nearly to the crotch, and her left leg was bare and draped by the cloth. It set off the tan nicely. More than that, she’d picked this style because it looked like a wedding dress, but afforded her infinite movement in case she had to run. Or fight. She only needed to pull up the extra cloth in back and she would be free to attack or flee as the occasion called for. Or so she’d hoped. There was a little less give in the fabric than she’d counted on.
It brought new life to the term ‘runaway bride’, but she wasn’t about to walk into her own funeral because the dress was too fluffy. A shorter skirt would have been easier to run or fight in, but the longer skirt could conceal any manner of weapon. Now all she needed was weapon to conceal.
Thank goodness Benny hadn’t done the dress shopping. He would have come back with some Southern belle creation complete with hoop skirts. Or something refined in a straight skirt. Either way, there would have been no moving in either.
Satisfied that she at least looked the part, and that part of her plan was coming together, as haphazard as that was, Dani turned and looked Katie in the eye, wondering just how far she could push the girl. With any luck, she’d do something rash like put down that freaking gun or get distracted enough to where Dani could disarm her. Either way would be a winner at this point.
“Katie, David had nothing to do with you being sent away. He was sold out to his father; he didn’t try to cause trouble for you...”
“Dani.” Katie took one of her hands, holding Dani like she was her very best friend and this was an emotional send-off for an actual wedding ceremony. The effect was surreal. Especially when she kept that damned gun pointed at her the whole time. “You really don’t know David at all, do you?” She laughed, coquettish and shy, leaning in as if to tell the biggest secret in the world. “David likes wearing girls’ underwear and frillies. He likes wigs and makeup and being called a dirty little girl.”
As far as secrets went... well... Dani certainly hadn’t seen that one coming. She shouldn’t have been surprised. Since coming home, why would anything surprise her? Dani wrenched her hand free and pulled away. “I really don’t need to hear this.”
“I asked him about it once,” Katie said. “We were in camp, we found an isolated part of the woods, off behind the cabins. There was mandatory workshop, so we had the run of the place for a few hours. He knelt to me, Dani. Me. Katie. The girl whose father sucked up to yours, the girl whose family depended on yours, the cute, forgotten little Katie. The great scion of the House of Rinehart knelt to me. I asked him about it, why he liked it so much. You know what he told me?”
Dani refused to play into the trap, but she wouldn’t back away from it either. Let the girl say what she would. There was no way for Katie to hurt her. Not anymore
“He said,” Katie continued after a moment, “that you were a better son than he could ever be.”
Dani spun and walked away. The room was small, so there was precious little room for indignant stomping; she couldn’t get far enough to block out that incessant voice. She found herself backed into the corner. Katie didn’t need a gun; her words were bullets enough.
“You thought to protect him? You emasculated him. You tried to get between him and his father? Congratulations, you did that admirably well.”
Dani turned resolutely from the girl. Another second and she’d put her fingers in her ears and start saying ‘la la la’ like a child, just to drown out Katie’s voice. Or, better yet, she’d rush the gun and pray that Katie shot true.
“He started doing drugs because you were the man in the house, and thus he was a ‘failure’. His words, not mine. He thought he was a failure all these years because you were a better man than he was.”
“Shut up!” Dani whirled on Katie, but Katie was ready.
“Prove me wrong,” Katie said, the .38 held steady right between Dani’s eyes. “Show me how genteel and feminine you are, kick the shit out of me. Break a chair over my head. That’ll show everyone that you’re a real girl and not a soldier in a dress.”
“I will kill you.” Dani spat out the words, pacing back and forth, ignoring the gun. Ignoring the fact that there were one-hundred armed men out there. Maybe more. Whatever was outside of that room was just that. Outside. This was between them now. “I will absolutely fucking destroy you.”
“What good will that do? Just so you can go back to pretending it was your father’s fault the whole time? I’m just the quiet voice of reason. The villain in this story is you. David’s gone; he’s fine if he can shoot up, but the drug wears off and so does his confidence. It’s too late for him. Hell, he’s out in the chapel right now staring at dust motes and trying not to drool.” She shrugged. “Though he might be good for a laugh or two for old time’s sake.”
“Why? Why are you doing this?”
Katie rolled her eyes. “You have no idea how boring you are. I explained all that several times, Dani. I’m sick to death of picking it up again, so... for the last time, I’m breaking free of you and your family. I’m getting out from under, and if I have to stand on your family tomb to get it, so be it. Your daddy stole from Benny. I was given the perfect reason to call Benny.” She held up her free hand and pointed to the window. Dimly Dani could hear the opening strains of ‘The Wedding March’ wheeze into being from across the courtyard. “Hear that? That’s our song.” She waved the pistol. “Let’s go.”
Dani gave her hard look and turned. Katie didn’t want out. She was stuck in this shit-hole as much as everyone else. The only difference was, she was thriving in it. Dani straightened. She wasn’t going to be a victim. She’d get Luke out of there, David, too. She just needed a plan. A tremor of doubt slid up her spine. Was Katie right? Had she babied David too much? Been too much of a man, when he couldn’t? She shook her head. S
he had never forced him to be anything more than who he was. She didn’t care about who he was, as long as he was happy. She hoped she had the chance to one day tell him that. She opened the door and walked out to the strains of music. Katie held her flowers over the pistol and kept the gun aimed at Dani.
The room that was chosen for her was in a separate building from the chapel. It was two stories, meant for corporate retreats and the occasional convention. The primary focus of the place was for weddings, the resort complex having absorbed the old church into their grounds, and connected the whole thing with pretty walkways and gardens, all the better for the wedding photographs (photography provided at an extra charge). Benny, in typical over-the-top fashion, had rented the entire building; the reception was already set up, from the smell of things.
I can’t believe we went with the Cornish game hens.
In order for Dani to get to her wedding, they went through a long hallway and the exit door that opened just off of the nave of the church rather than take the more dramatic and scenic route outside. She could only imagine the discussion that had taken place where Benny and the powers that be had convinced the resort staff that a service hallway was the better option for the bride’s grand entrance. Once in the nave, she would make a hard left and show up just inside the front doors, with a clear shot down the aisle.
All this Katie explained to her as they moved out into the hall. Surprisingly, there was no one there but the two of them.
I could take her.
But if she did, then what? Luke was still in the church, surrounded by how many armed men? Taking Katie out would do... what exactly? Indecisive, she lagged, pretending that the dress was making it difficult to walk.
