by Harper Allen
As he got to his feet he looked past the three of them, his gray eyes narrowing. Following his glance, Susannah saw another dust cloud roiling its way along the access road, although this one was approaching at a more sedate speed than Tye’s Harley had.
“It’s the Effa-Bee-Eye,” Jess said laconically. “Now that it’s all over bar the shouting, Virge shows up.” He caught Susannah’s eye and shrugged sheepishly. “Connor’s a good guy, but he and I always seemed to rub each other the wrong way.”
“That’s because you were always jerking his chain,” Del said with a return of his normally dry manner. A corner of his mouth lifted, but Susannah saw that the shadows remained in his eyes. “I’m glad he’s here. Maybe he can help make sense of this. I’ll be back in a second.”
“Hell, I guess I should bury the hatchet, at that,” Jess said with a grimace. He picked up the duffel bag at his feet. “I’ll go throw this in the back of my car, and do the manly handshake thing with Mr. Straight Arrow.”
“Those two were always getting into it with each other,” Tye said as, with a martyred air, Jess disappeared around the corner of the porch. “But when a few Last Chance toughs ganged up on Jess once, Virge showed up and single-handedly took on the whole lot of them. He’d been sent to the Double B for street fighting and the local boys didn’t stand a chance.” He shrugged. “Virge would prefer to forget those days. Like Jess says, he’s Mr. Straight Arrow now.”
He turned to her, his expression softening. “Jess is leaving today. We could, too—you, me and Dan the Man. What do you say, Suze?”
“Leave for California?” She blinked, taken unawares by the suddenness of his suggestion. “Today?”
“Why not?” As if it was the most natural thing in the world, casually he took Danny from her, holding his small namesake easily in one arm. With his other hand, gently he tipped her chin up.
“I don’t blame you for not feeling completely safe yet, honey. You’ve been on the run for so long it’s going to take a while for you to realize it’s all over. I’ve got state-of-the-art security systems in the Malibu beach house and the Beverly Hills place, plus I can assign trained professionals to watch over you on a twenty-four/seven basis when I’m not around. If the FBI want to talk to you, they can do it there. Give me the word and I’ll book us on the next flight out of Gallup.”
She’d told him once that when she looked at him, she wanted to be different. He’d told her the same, Susannah thought, meeting that heaven-blue gaze and feeling the tears welling up behind her own eyes. They’d both been so wrong. He loved her for who she was, and she—
Oh, admit it, she told herself happily. You gave him your heart the first day you met. Angel or devil, you handed it over to him without a second thought, and you knew even then you’d never be able to get it back.
Her tears spilled over, but a joyful little bubble of laughter rose in her throat. “Yes,” she said simply. “Oh, yes, Tye. Let’s start our new life today.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” He brought his mouth to hers, gently brushing a kiss against her lips. “Maybe this letter Del mentioned will unlock the whole mystery of why Scudder bore a grudge against you, Suze. Maybe the FBI will come up with the answer one of these days. But you’re right—from now on we’re going to put the past behind us and make our own life.”
“We’ll have to tell Del to book a flight, too,” she said, blushing slightly. “Oh, not until Greta’s out of the hospital, of course. If he’s going to give me away, I want her to be my matron of honor. Do you think it would be wrong for me to wear a real wedding dress, Tye?” she said, sudden doubt assailing her. “I know I’ve been married before, and of course Danny’s going to be there to see his mama get hitched, but I’d love to have the kind of dress I used to dream about when I was a little girl. Lace,” she added dreamily. “Enough lace to choke a billy goat, and satin shoes that I’ll never be able to use again.”
“You want Del to give you away?” There was an odd note in Tye’s voice, and she looked up at him, a little confused.
“I wish my own daddy was alive to walk his daughter down the aisle, Tye, just like I wish my mama was here.” Her smile wavered. “But Del and he were as close as brothers once, so I figure some part of him will be there on my wedding day.”
“Suze, I don’t think you under—” Tye broke off as Jess rounded the corner of the porch. Accompanying him was a dark-haired man, wearing a suit and a tie and a ticked-off expression.
It looked as if Virgil Connor and Jess Crawford had already butted heads, Susannah thought. Her amusement was overlaid with a touch of frustration that they’d shown up just when they had, although she was pretty sure she knew what Tye had been about to say. She did understand, she told him silently as she watched him shift Danny’s weight slightly in his arms and grip Virgil’s outstretched hand with real affection.
They would be living together as husband and wife. Waiting for Del and Greta to be able to attend their wedding would mean it would be that much longer before their status was formalized, not only in the eyes of the law, but according to her most basic beliefs.
Granny Lacey wouldn’t approve, she thought guiltily. A few weeks ago, she herself would never have believed she was capable of taking such a step. But that had been before she’d met the only man she would ever love.
It might be as long as a month before their marriage was blessed by a preacher, but it was important to her to have Del give her away, she thought. Tye would understand once she explained how she felt.
With a start, she realized she’d just been introduced to Virgil Connor and the dark-haired man was regarding her with a bemused expression. Hastily she stuck out her hand and shook the one he was proffering to her, just as Del appeared once more.
“I—I’ve heard all about you,” she said shyly, and under straight brows Connor’s green eyes widened briefly.
“All good, I hope?” he said politely.
“Pretty much all bad,” she answered with raw honesty.
His laugh was startled, but genuinely amused. “So Tyler finally got himself a plain-speaking woman,” he said with more warmth than he’d previously shown. “I always told him he needed a good dose of reality to keep himself balanced out there in La-La Land. This is your little boy?”
For the next few minutes Danny was duly admired. He didn’t take it in stride. Even as they all began to sit down, Susannah’s nose caught an unmistakable whiff. By the time she returned with a freshly diapered Danny, it was obvious from the conversation that Connor had been filled in on those details he hadn’t previously been aware of.
“I’m with Tye, Del,” he said with a frown. “What’s the relevance of Jasper Scudder’s age?”
“He’s the right age, that’s why it’s relevant.” Del reached into the snap-fastened breast pocket of his Western-style shirt, and pulled out what looked to Susannah’s puzzled gaze like a postcard. His features tightened. “He’s the right age to have served in ’Nam,” he added hoarsely. “Take a look at this.”
It was a postcard. Since she was sitting next to Del, Susannah was the first one he passed it to, and the photo on the front, as garishly overcolored and unreal as it was, evoked the same instant response in her that she’d experienced when she’d inhaled the perfume Tye had given her.
The Beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, West Virginia, ran the caption. She looked up at Del, and the lines in his face relaxed for a moment.
“That’s right, sweetheart.” He nodded. “Your home state. But turn it over.”
She did as he said. Her gaze flew back to his in shock. “I don’t understand,” she said, her voice uneven. “That—that’s the symbol of the Double B’s, Del. And those words written underneath—what do they mean? Who sent you this?”
“Maybe Jasper Scudder,” he said heavily.
Distractedly she passed the card, with its crudely drawn picture of two bees fighting to the death and its scrawled message—“Does this still mean something to you?”—t
o Tye, and saw Jess and Connor draw in closer to study it with him.
“And maybe it wasn’t meant for me at all,” Del continued. He met her eyes. His own were bleak.
“I think it was meant for Daniel Bird’s daughter,” he said softly.
Chapter Fourteen
“That’s why it’s a West Virginia postcard, instead of New Mexico or Texas or any other state,” Del went on. “I wish I could make out the postmark, but it’s practically invisible.”
“The Bureau labs can bring that up to legibility,” Connor said crisply. “Hold it by the edges, Jess. Even if the sender didn’t use gloves his prints have probably been overlaid with those of a dozen or so postal employees, but we might as well be careful.”
“Something happened over there all those years ago, didn’t it?” Tye’s question was quiet, but at it Susannah saw Del’s strong hands clench. “Something so terrible the four of you original Double B’s never spoke of it to anyone, am I right? And whatever it was, you think it came back to target Susannah for some reason.” His last sentence wasn’t a question, it was an accusation. Del’s head jerked up.
“I don’t know, dammit!” His tone was raw. “Scudder’s dead, so even if my worst fears are right he’s no longer a threat. But if I thought that anything I did—anything the four of us did over there—had put Susannah through the hell she’s endured these past nine months I’d never forgive—”
“If I thought that I’d find it damn hard to forgive you, too,” Tye said tonelessly. “Especially if by telling me sooner you could have prevented what almost happened last night.”
“There isn’t anything to forgive.” Susannah spoke loudly enough to ensure she had everyone’s attention. She went on in the same tone, her voice steady. “Those boys didn’t ask to be sent over there. A whole bunch of them never came back, and those that did sure didn’t get no hero’s welcome, from what I hear. Now they’ve got a wall in Washington, D.C., and Greta told me there’s another memorial right here in New Mexico, built by a daddy who lost his son in that war no one wanted to remember.”
“Angel Fire. Near the Taos Reservation,” Jess murmured, looking down at his hands.
“That’s right, in Angel Fire,” she agreed. She met Del’s anguished gaze. “A couple of memorials. Some movies with pretty actors I figure don’t come close to telling it like it was. Bracelets like the one you told us about, Del, with the names of young men, some of them never ever accounted for, put away in drawers near thirty years ago and long forgotten.” She took a deep breath. “I wonder how you can forgive us,” she said softly. “Whatever happened over there, I know you would have always tried to do the right thing, Del. I know my daddy would have, too.”
“We tried. I’m not sure we succeeded in the end.” His voice was barely audible. “Beta Beta Force was only as honorable as the four men in it, and one of them never should have been a soldier, let alone a member of a covert operations group.”
“MacLeish?” Jess said. “The one who killed his wife and then himself?”
Del looked up in faint surprise. “Not John, no. Zeke Harmon.”
“You said he died over there,” Susannah said, confused. Del nodded.
“His remains were found and identified. That was after he rigged the bomb that left me like this.”
He made an impatient gesture toward his stiffly splayed-out legs—his prosthetic legs. He went on, his tone low, and she realized he wasn’t just retelling the past, he was reliving it.
“Our jobs weren’t pretty and there wasn’t a rule book, but like you said, we tried to remember we were men, not beasts. At some point Zeke must have forgotten that. Stories began to circulate about a rogue killer who didn’t care who he targeted—soldiers, civilians, the enemy, American boys. Beta Beta was assigned to find the killer and bring him in.”
“And eventually you discovered he was right there, hiding in plain sight?” Connor asked. “One of the Double B’s?”
“Eventually.” Del passed a hand across his eyes. “We probably should have figured it out sooner, but he was one of us, dammit. Zeke had saved my life more than once, and I’d saved his. He and John were best buddies. So maybe we bore some responsibility for the last few murders he committed before we arrested him. I know when it all came out afterward more than a few who’d lost friends figured we’d been part of a cover-up. I was told there’d been threats made against the remaining Double B’s lives.”
“And you think Scudder might have been one of those who wanted revenge. He looked up my daddy, found he was dead, and went after me and the people I cared for?” Susannah shook her head. “I can’t credit that, Del. Not after all these years.”
“He’s been incarcerated for the last fifteen of them,” Connor interjected. “In and out of prison on a regular basis prior to that, although I’m going by what I’ve been told. I haven’t seen his criminal record yet.” He shrugged. “How else to explain that postcard?”
“Unless it was sent by a Double B who needs your help,” Tye murmured, almost to himself. “John MacLeish’s body was never found, remember?”
Jess snorted. “For God’s sake, when Del needed our help, did he send us a cryptic postcard that had us scratching our heads? No, he picked up the phone and called us. If this MacLeish was still alive and in trouble, why wouldn’t he do the same?”
Tye smiled ruefully. “You’re right, of course. I just don’t like loose ends, and a supposed suicide who doesn’t leave a body is a loose end in my book.”
“Maybe that loose end’s been tied up in the intervening years,” Connor said. “I can check into it, see if his death was ever solidly confirmed. But as much as I hate to, I’ve got to agree with Jess on this one, Tye. Your theory’s a hard sell. Del’s makes a kind of sense, if we go on the assumption that Jasper let his hatred of the Double B’s fester all the years he was in prison. It’s a starting point for the Bureau’s investigation into the late Mr. Scudder’s motives, anyway.”
“You said Harmon rigged the bomb that—that—” Susannah foundered, unsure of how to put her question. Del helped her out.
“That took my legs?” His smile was wry. “I’ve been without them now longer than I had them, sweetheart. It doesn’t bother me like it used to, although I was pretty bitter for a long time afterward, which is why I let things like old friendships lapse. In the end a woman gave me back my sense of worth,” he added quietly. “But that’s a story for another time.”
He sighed. “We arrested Harmon, like I said. Brought him in, handed him over, and were told the Double B’s were being disbanded. The official reason being that the war was winding down,” he grimaced. “The real one being that no one wanted us around anymore. So they split us up and started shipping us home, one by one. Your father was discharged first,” he added to Susannah.
“How did Harmon rig a bomb when he was in custody?” Jess asked dubiously.
“He didn’t. He rigged it after he escaped and MacLeish and I were sent to bring him back.”
Del’s tone was brisk, and Susannah had the feeling the briskness covered anger that had never really gone away. His next words seemed to prove her right.
“All of a sudden they remembered our existence when they realized they needed us for one last job. Harmon had the rep of being able to melt into the jungle like a ghost, and only another Double B stood a chance of recapturing him.” He waved a weary hand. “The rest is pretty boring. John and I took different trails, and by the luck of the draw I caught up with Zeke first. He pulled a gun, I shot first, and he fell. I started to walk toward him and I saw him lift his head and grin at me, just like he’d done a thousand times before when we were friends. And I knew. I knew even as my foot hit the ground that he’d set me up. They told me later that John dragged me out, fifteen miles on his back. He left Harmon’s body there to be collected later, which it was.”
He pushed himself with an effort from his chair, steadying himself with his cane as he stood. He was still Greta’s tough old mustang, Su
sannah thought with a pang, but reliving these memories had taken a lot out of him.
“If my theory about Jasper Scudder is right, sweetheart, I wish he’d come after me instead,” he said, his voice sharp with regret. “I’d have done anything to take the nightmare of these past nine months away from you. Thank God it’s finally over.”
“That sounds like my cue,” Jess said easily, reaching for the duffel bag beside him and getting to his feet. “I’ve got a meeting later this afternoon,” he explained. “Besides, if I hang around any longer, I just know I’m going to be roped in to help give that ungrateful hoss its daily dose of antibiotics.”
His comment had the effect of lightening the moment, raising a dry chuckle even from Del. Jess always would lighten the mood, Susannah thought as he clapped Tye on the shoulder and dropped a quick kiss on her cheek before ruffling Danny’s hair.
“Take care, you,” he said sternly to her son. “And you take care, too, Susannah,” he added, his grin fading but the warmth in his eyes remaining. “I’m glad I got the chance to know you.”
“Thanks for everything you did for me, Jess,” she said softly. “I’m glad we met, too.”
She would ask him to the wedding, she decided, as he and Del and Connor left the porch and crossed the yard. As with Del and Greta, Jess had been there for her during the darkest hours, and she wanted him to share her joy, too.
She hadn’t realized she’d announced her intention out loud until Tye spoke.
“That’s something we have to talk about, Suze.”
She shook her head. “Uh-uh, Tye. The rule is that the wedding is the bride’s big day, and she gets to make all the important decisions. Heavens, don’t you know the groom’s only there to even up the numbers?” He was standing by the porch railing, and she smiled happily up at him. “They’re our friends. They should be at our—”
