by Marnie Perry
Again he nodded knowing where she was going. She said, ‘but if Sullivan or Leyton find out you lied them and to Sheriff Taylor you’ll be in trouble, serious trouble.’
‘I knew that when I made the call.’
She was astounded, he knew he might get into trouble, no, that he would get into trouble and yet he had done it anyway…for her. She felt her throat tighten and her eyes filled with water. Lando looked very uncomfortable and to cover it he said rather harshly, ‘it ain’t no cause for you to fret, you have enough to concern yourself over without worrying about what might or might not happen to me.’
‘But it’s because of me that you’ll be in trouble, of course it’s my problem.’
He stood up quickly, ‘I been in worse trouble as well you know, I don’t need no woman grievin' and frettin' about me, so forget it.’
But…
He turned his glare on her and barked, ‘I said forget it.’
She didn’t want to forget it; she didn’t want to forget what he had done. That all the time she had been in that shack with Hennessey thinking that no one gave a damn about her; he was making calls and lying to a sheriff trying to get information about her, trying to make sure she was safe. But she knew better than to pursue it so said nothing further.
He stood a moment looking down at her then with a sigh sat back down.
He shouldn’t have yelled at her like that, she was just concerned for him and when had someone last been concerned for him? But he couldn’t let her take on the responsibility of his problems too, problems of his own making not hers, she hadn’t asked him to lie.
He knew there were a lot of things he shouldn’t have said and done since she’d arrived here, but he seemed to be fighting a constant war with her, with himself, or more accurately with his libido. He had a woman in his home, a young, attractive, sexy woman. A woman who was soft and feminine yet strong and tough. When she was angry and stood up to him, when she faced him down, he felt an overwhelming urge to throw her to the floor rip off her clothes and have fierce, passionate, hot sweaty sex with her. But when she was insecure and vulnerable, like when she had gripped his shirt and clung to him as she lay helpless in his arms, he had wanted to lay her gently down on the bed, take off her clothes slowly and seductively, run his hands over her soft smooth skin, fondle her lovely, creamy breasts and make long, slow, sweet tender love to her. He was fighting an almost unwinable battle with his lust, and he had no doubt that’s all it was, just lust, pure and simple, although there was nothing pure or simple about the thoughts going through his head. Seven years for fuck’s sake. The sooner he got her out of here the better, for more reasons than one, and for both their sakes.
He said, ‘I’ll see to the animals then when you’re ready I’ll take you into town and to the sheriff’s office, I’ll explain how I found you then you can tell him the rest. As you say with any luck Leyton and Sullivan will be there then you won’t have to tell your story twice.’ He paused for a moment as if contemplating the wisdom of what he was about to say next. ‘I’ll go with you wherever they take you, make sure you’re okay and that Sullivan and Leyton treat you right. Anyway, they’ll probably want me to explain why I lied earlier.’
There was both amazement and anxiousness in the look she gave him. He said, ‘you should call a lawyer from the sheriff’s office get him to meet you in Mississippi. But if the feds want to talk to you I’m not sure where you’ll end up, but your lawyer will be there, and me too.’ He smiled wryly, ‘I doubt your lawyer will be within my financial means, but he might know someone willing to take me on.’
He expected her to smile at his little joke at least out of politeness, she didn’t, just stared at him with that mixture of doubt and concern so he cleared his throat and said, ‘you’ll be all right, I know the routine I won’t let them railroad you.’
To his utter amazement she said, ‘no.’
He frowned, ‘no?’
‘No, Mr. Lando. If you would walk me into town that will be enough. I don’t want you to come into the sheriff’s office with me’
He scowled and opened his mouth to reply but she held up her hand and said softly but firmly, ‘no, you had your say, you informed me of your feelings in no uncertain terms please allow me to do the same.’
He said nothing but waved his hand impatiently indicating she could continue. ‘Thank you. You told me not to worry about you, not to go “frettin'” myself over your problems so I’m saying the same to you. If you come with me and tell them that you lied to the police, that while you were telling them you had not seen me I was hiding in your barn, you’ll be in real trouble, they’ll find out about Sheriff Taylor too. I heard what Sullivan said to you.’
He arched his brows and she knew what he was thinking, that if she had heard Sullivan threaten him she also heard what he had said about his wife. She said, ‘I can’t let you go back to prison because of me, Mr. Lando, and my reasons aren’t purely altruistic either, I don’t want that on my conscience for the rest of my life. So I’ll tell the detectives and the FBI, if they’re involved, that I was kept longer by Hennessey than I really was then escaped. That I wandered around the woods for ages then hid out somewhere. There’s an old deserted hut about three miles from here I’ll say I hid there. Your name will never have to come into it.’
He studied her for a full two minutes before saying, ‘and what if I decide not to go along with you? What if I tell them you’ve been here for more than 24 hours?’
She was not perturbed as she said, ‘I’ll deny it.’
‘And what if we meet the cops on the way to town, how will you explain that? Say, oh we were just on our way to see you, detective.’
She ignored his sarcasm, ‘I’ll say you found me in the woods and brought me to the sheriff’s office that’s all. If you persist in your side of the story I’ll just keep denying it, they think you’re crazy anyway and they can’t prove anything without evidence.’
He gave a half smile which was more of smirk as he reached over opened the coffee table drawer and pulled out the piece of hair she had cut off. She looked at it in dismay.
‘And how will you explain this?’ He asked smugly.
She stared at him stricken then stood up and leaned over him saying angrily, ‘why? Why would you persist on getting yourself into trouble? Is it some kind of guilt trip, I am to be your way of atoning for your past crimes. If so there are easier ways of punishing yourself, why don’t you just buy a hair shirt or beat yourself with whips, or sleep on cold hard floors. Do what you like, but don’t involve me in your self- confragulation.’
He shot to his feet his fists clenched. She knew she had not only angered but hurt him too she could see it in his eyes, she would rather the anger. But she did not take back what she had said nor apologise. She had to make him mad enough to tell her to leave, or to throw her out and tell her she was on her own. There was no way she would let him sacrifice his freedom for her, what about the animals, who would care for them if he went to jail? No, she would rather he be hurt and angry than lose his freedom again.
He closed the space between them until they were mere inches apart; his eyes no longer showed any hurt only fury. His expression could only be described as lethal, and despite her resolve not to back down her throat constricted and she shuddered. In that moment she could see how someone seeing him now might believe him capable of killing.
He took another step closing the already short gap between them.
Just when she thought he might put his hands around her throat and choke the life out of her, Dante, who had moved away when Lando had stood up so furiously, growled low in his throat. Lando and Adela both turned to look at him as the sound of a vehicle approaching could be heard on the gravel followed by the slamming of car doors. Holding their breaths and looking at the door. They waited then once again hammering came to them from the other side of the door.
CHAPTER 39.
Lando reacted instantaneously, he grabbed Adela’s arm and roug
hly dragged her to the other side of the room. He flipped a rug covering part of the floor with his foot then bent down and still holding onto her he pulled a ring which was embedded in the floor revealing a small space. He pulled her to him and whispered, ‘get down there and stay there until I come for you. I’ll knock three quick times before I open the door, and don’t open it for anyone else. If anyone else tries to get in there’s a small door to the left, run into the woods and don’t stop until you reach town then go to the sheriff’s office and tell them to come out here. But don’t risk it unless you’re cornered and have no choice.’
He pushed her down towards the opening in the floor but she resisted and turned to him her face ashen, ‘but what about you, why can’t we both go.
‘Because it might only be the cops again and how would it look if I didn’t answer? They might search the place then all that “I’ll tell them I was never here,” will be moot. And if it’s Glissando’s men I have the animals to think of.’
Just then another even louder knock came to them almost knocking the door from its hinges and someone shouted, ‘Jonas Lando, FBI open up.’ Adela froze but Lando pushed her forcefully down the hole, luckily it was only a feet few to the ground so all she received was a bruised knee. He said, ‘there’s a torch on the bottom step.’ Then the trap door was dropped firmly but quietly in place and she was in darkness. She felt around until she found the torch but didn’t dare switch it on.
She knelt on the floor of the crawlspace, not daring to move or even breathe, not even feeling the pain in her knee from her abrupt landing.
In the living room Lando opened the draw of the coffee table and took out the Smith and Wesson and shoved it in the waistband of his jeans. Then he hid the hair he had shown to Adela in the coal bucket. He knew that if they did a thorough search they would find it, but if they had a warrant to search his premises he was in trouble anyway.
There was more banging on the door and the same voice yelled, ‘Jonas Lando, we know you’re in there, open up.’
Dante ran and hid in the bedroom as Lando propped his rifle against the wall next to the door. Then taking a deep breath he opened the door.
Two men stood there, there they were almost exactly the same height and both were dark and both had fed written all over them.
The same man who had yelled said, ‘Jonas Lando? I’m Agent Tully and this is Agent Benson, we need to ask you some questions.’ Then proceeded to barge his way into the cabin.
Lando blocked his path and said simply, ‘I.D.’
The man laughed and Lando thought, twice in less than two days I’ve had to ask law enforcement officials for their I.D. He took the badges from their hands and the two feds looked at one another. Lando looked closely at the badges, they certainly seemed genuine. The first man snatched his back saying, ‘satisfied?’
Lando handed back the silent guy’s badge, ‘what you want?’
The first man said, ‘I told you, we need to ask you some questions.’
‘About what?’
Neither man replied but tried again to barge past him and into the house and once again Lando stood in his way. ‘I said, ‘about what? Not come in and make yourself at home.’
The talkative man curled his lip derisively, ‘this may be your idea of home, pal but it ain’t mine.’
Lando said, ‘I thought you said you were here to ask me questions not hurt my feelings.’
Any other time Adela would have laughed at Lando’s sarcasm but at this moment she was too consumed with fear not only for herself but for Lando.
She held her breath as the man said, ‘we have reason to believe you’re harbouring a fugitive from justice, Lando. We need to search your place, barn, outbuildings and all.’
‘Sure, as soon as you show me your search warrant.’
The man again gave a scornful laugh, ‘we’re federal agents, Lando, we can do what the hell we like.’ He tried to side step Lando but again he was thwarted.
Lando said, ‘y’all may be federal agents but that don’t give ya carte blanche to search without a warrant, nor to step on folks’ rights.’
Tully laughed out loud now, ‘you hear that, Benson? The guy knows French.’
The silent man, Benson, spoke for the time, ‘he sure does, Tully, know his rights too. Maybe 'cos he’s a cop, oops sorry, was a cop.’
Lando rolled his eyes, ‘I don’t have to be a cop, ex or otherwise, to know my rights.’
Tully said, ‘there must be a reason you don’t want us to search your place, Lando, maybe you hiding something. Maybe a fugitive.'
He’s been talking to Sullivan, Lando thought. He knew government agents could be arrogant pricks, expecting everyone to be so impressed and overwhelmed by them that they caved in to their demands, but even for a fed it was unusual to expect to be able search someone’s home without a warrant. His suspicions grew with every passing second.
He said, ‘tell you what, I want to cooperate with the FBI, so you come back with a warrant and you can search until Christmas, 'til then I’m asking you to leave, don’t make me have to tell you.’
Tully’s face grew dark as he stepped forward followed by the other guy, crowding Lando from both sides. Benson said, ‘I’ll tell you what tough guy, why don’t we take you to headquarters and ask our questions there.’ That wasn’t a question but a threat.
Adela closed her eyes tightly and silently prayed; please don’t let them take him.
Lando said, ‘you can’t take me anywhere without just cause.’
‘Oh we have just cause, Mr. Lando, you’re non -cooperation, your aggressive attitude, your smart ass remarks, take your pick.’
Lando curled his lip, ‘yeah, that’ll look good on the charge sheet, make you look like a real badass fed.’
Both men approached menacingly cutting of any escape route. Lando reached behind his back getting ready to draw his weapon. He didn’t want to do this but his gut told him that once he was in there vehicle he wouldn’t be going to any headquarters.
Just as he gripped the handle of the Smith and Wesson in his hand Dante began to bark ferociously. Both agents turned to the bedroom door as another sound came to them, this time from the barn, Josie neighing and whinnying. All three men looked at each other for a second then Tully drew his weapon followed very quickly by Benson. But neither was as quick as Lando. He dodged the bullet from Tully’s gun at the same time pulling his own weapon from his waistband. He aimed and fired at the nearest man. which happened to be Tully; he went down a bullet shaped hole in his forehead.
If Lando had had time he would have congratulated himself on his speed and accuracy, it had been almost eight years since he had fired this weapon, he was sure he would be out of practise, but it didn’t seem so judging by the fact that Tully was dead and he wasn’t. But he didn’t have time to crow, there was still Benson to deal with. Fortunately…for Lando that is…Tully’s body had knocked against his partner as he had fallen sending the bullet Benson had fired a good few yards to Lando’s left.
Lando fired again and hit Benson in the arm causing him to drop his weapon. Lando said, ‘get down on the floor, Benson, unless you want to wind up like your partner.’
Benson hesitated then seeing the lethal look in Lando’s eyes he lay down saying, ‘you’re in very serious trouble now, Lando, you just killed a federal agent.’
Lando knelt beside the man and began searching him, ‘I’m getting used to trouble, Benson, it’s second nature to me now. So now, how many in the barn?’
Benson didn’t answer so Lando pressed his knee into his injured arm, the man cried out and Lando repeated, ‘how many in the barn?’
The man found it hard to speak with the pain but managed to grunt out, ‘one.’
Lando pressed his knee into the wound again the man moaned and said louder this time, ‘one, I swear.’
Lando believed him. He found Benson’s handcuffs and pulling the man’s arms behind him cuffed his wrists together causing the man to moan in pain
. Lando looked down at him for a moment then said, ‘you in pain?’
The man nodded and Lando said, ‘this should help.’ He raised the gun he held and hit the man on the back of the head with the grip, the man lost consciousness immediately and Lando said, ‘told ya.’
He stood up and looked behind him making sure the woman wasn’t trying to leave the crawl space, she wasn’t. He couldn’t hear Josie neighing now but knew the third man was somewhere about; he had probably heard the shots and was waiting on the outcome before he showed himself. He knew there was no chance of anyone else hearing the shots, even if anyone was passing by, which was doubtful, they wouldn’t think twice about gunfire since they knew he hunted, or at least they thought he did. Anyway, they wouldn’t think anything out of the ordinary was happening, he was very happy with that arrangement and today even more so.
Lando opened the door slowly and cautiously then looked back at Dante who was peeping around the bedroom door looking terrified, but he wasn’t growling so the third man was not close to the house.
Lando pulled the door all the way open and stepped outside then made his way along the side of the house to the barn. He could hear the excited and panicked sounds of the various animals in the hospital side of the barn so knew the man was still in there. There was a side door into the barn hidden by some old sheets of wood he used for repairs; he made his way towards it. When he got there he listened for any sound from within the barn but could hear only the animals. He very carefully and quietly began to remove the strips of wood from the door then unlocked it with his key grateful he kept the lock well oiled.
Being as quiet as he could he opened the door, the first thing he saw was Josie and her foal who was hidden underneath her mothers belly, he let out a sigh of relief that they were safe. Josie made a blowing sound with her lips as he approached and he put his fingers to his own lips and patted her reassuringly she seemed to understand because she made no further sound.
