That he couldn’t convince Stephanie to accept their relationship on his terms didn’t lessen his resolve to protect her as they entered the most precarious stage of their mission. If anything, it reinforced it. It was going to be twice as hard safeguarding a woman of virtue. Alex’s FBI experience taught him that idealists were unpredictable creatures who were far more likely to take stupid risks in the name of principle than people who had the good sense to make their own welfare a top priority.
An earlier conversation with Sheikh Darin ibn Shakir left little doubt in his mind that Dr. Birkenfeld was growing more and more desperate by the minute. Since desperate men were known to take desperate measures, Alex’s concern about Stephanie’s safety was well founded. The thought of anything happening to her made his stomach ball up into a tight fist. He wondered if it was possible that his loss of objectivity might jeopardize their mission.
He proceeded to lay out the plan for the rest of the day with a precision designed to bolster Stephanie’s nerves—if not his own.
“First we go downtown and pick up the money that Darin’s wiring us from the Club.”
Alex smiled bleakly.
“I hope you enjoy the irony as much as I do, knowing that the cool five hundred thousand dollars stashed away in the Cattlemen’s safe for just this very purpose is the same money that Natalie stole from the very people with whom we’re about to do business.”
Stephanie nodded, taking grim satisfaction in the news before offering up her own thoughts on the subject.
“Hopefully that money can eventually be used to ensure that all the stolen babies are reunited with their grieving mothers as well as to help facilitate proper adoptions for any couple who unknowingly played a part in this shady operation.”
“First things first,” Alex reminded her.
Having played the part of a doting husband who wanted to give his wife a child at any cost gave him a broader perspective on such a couple’s despair as well. Still, just because Stephanie’s big heart went out to everyone involved in this sticky web didn’t mean they could afford to get ahead of themselves.
“I moved our meeting with Larry to seven o’clock specifically because I want every employee in the adoption agency out of the building when we break into it.”
Stephanie offered no protest to this revelation beyond a wry observation. “What’s breaking and entering added to my growing list of criminal activities?”
Since her heart itself had just been broken into and vandalized at will, she was, at the moment feeling too numb to worry about a little thing like her own personal safety.
Alex gave her an encouraging smile.
“I knew I could count on you. Quitting time should be no later than five o’clock this afternoon. That gives us less than two hours to gain entry to the office and gather the documentation that will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Dr. Birkenfeld is illegally supplying the agency with stolen babies.”
“Piece of cake.”
Though Alex thought it said a great deal about Stephanie’s character that she could be so flippant in the face of grave personal danger, he rued the day he’d talked her into participating in such a perilous scheme. The kind of people who stole babies from defenseless young women wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone who got in their way. And as much as he despised the thought of putting Stephanie in the line of fire, he also knew it was too late to back out now without risking the entire outcome of their mission.
When Alex had signed on as a member of the Texas Cattleman’s Club he had taken an oath to uphold their motto of “Leadership, Justice and Peace.” He truly believed that the words emblazoned upon the iron-studded sign hanging over the entryway of their sanctum were worth risking his life for in the line of duty. He did not believe, however, that Stephanie should be subject to the same level of risk.
He reached under the bed and pulled out a black carrying case that was approximately the size of a school lunch box. Sliding the fasteners on each side of the handle open, Alex set the container upon his lap. Noting Stephanie’s gasp as he opened the lid, he gave her an apologetic smile.
“No point in taking any unnecessary chances,” he said. “As the Boy Scouts like to say, one should always be prepared.”
Nestled inside the container upon a bed of egg crate-shaped black foam were a small black gun and two clips. No bigger than the extension of Alex’s hand, the pistol looked more like a toy than an actual weapon. The Glock.40 weighed no more than a couple of pounds. He checked to make sure the gun and all the clips were fully loaded, then pointed the pistol at the wall. A tiny red dot appeared upon the white textured surface.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Stephanie demanded to know.
“Making sure the laser sight is functional.”
Though horror was evident in her eyes, she did her best to make light of a situation over which she no longer had any control.
“I’ll never be able to use a laser light in a library lecture again,” she said. Up until now she had only considered them a nuisance in the hands of mischievous children.
“How did that get in here?” she asked.
“I didn’t smuggle it on board the airplane if that’s what you’re thinking. Suffice it to say, the Cattleman’s Club is very well connected. It helps to have friends all over the country.”
Though Alex had hoped to put his partner’s mind at ease by letting her see how well protected she was, his efforts appeared to have the opposite effect upon her.
Her legs went suddenly wobbly beneath her, and Stephanie reached for the edge of the bed. She looked at Alex as if she were trapped with a madman in some surreal dream.
“Do you really think a gun is necessary?”
The expression on Alex’s face spoke for itself. Dead serious about the task at hand, he strapped on a shoulder harness and put the pistol next to his heart. Then he slipped a jacket on. Had Stephanie not known what was beneath it, she would never have guessed he was packing heat.
“Don’t forget to grab the list,” he told her, trying to take her mind off his firearm.
He was referring, of course, to the record of names that Natalie had cross-referenced back when she had worked for Dr. Birkenfeld—before she surmised what a monster he really was. As mindlessly as a robot, Stephanie did as she was told.
“It’ll all be over soon,” Alex reassured her.
He longed to take her in his arms and make her forget the ugliness of their situation by kissing her completely senseless, but he restrained himself. She had made it perfectly clear that once their mission was over, so was their relationship. He refused to be blackmailed into marriage. His old man had taught him that particular lesson all too well before passing on and leaving four ex-wives clamoring over the estate he’d left entirely to his only son.
“Very soon,” Stephanie repeated dully, reaching for the tiny microphone that she would wear at tonight’s final rendezvous with fate.
Hearing that, Alex couldn’t help but assume she was eager to get back to a life that wasn’t fraught with the dangers of tracking underworld criminals—or laying her heart on the line for a man who didn’t deserve to kiss her feet. What he didn’t know was that her brave facade hid the dread of returning to a life that would be empty without him.
After picking up the money that the Texas Cattleman’s Club wired them, they proceeded to stake out the office where Larry was busily typing up false adoption papers and thinking about how he was going to spend his share of the cash he’d be collecting in a short couple of hours. A couple wearing earnest faces was leaving just as Stephanie and Alex pulled up. They parked a safe distance away to avoid detection.
“You know, if we’re successful, couples just like us will be forced to give up babies they’ve come to love as their own.”
Alex sighed. Stephanie’s words carried a weight of responsibility that he refused to accept.
“It’s not up to us to play God, Steph. Our job is to right a great wrong. You can take some con
solation from the fact that Natalie made off with over half a million dollars from these scoundrels that can be used to reunite babies with their rightful mothers and also to help couples like us use means to adopt a child legally.”
Stephanie took what comfort she could from his words. Both of them were surprised and aggravated by the work ethic that had Larry locking up the place a half hour after the end of a regularly scheduled workday. At 5:33, he left the building with a blond bombshell hanging on his elbow. Alex scoped the twosome out using a diminutive pair of high-powered binoculars. The woman had some dry cleaning draped over her free arm. When she hung it up in the back of Larry’s gray Lexus, it revealed itself to be a white uniform.
“What do you want to bet she’s playing the part of the nurse Larry promised to bring along to tonight’s meeting?”
“Bad casting,” Stephanie muttered, turning a critical eye to the woman she secretly dubbed Nurse Goodbody. If memory served her right, this was the same receptionist who had made her feel so transparent during their first visit to this office.
They waited only long enough to make sure the place was deserted before Alex suggested they take a walk around to the back of the building. Stephanie felt as if she should be wearing a black ski mask and matching cat-burglar suit instead of a pair of dark slacks and a blazer. Taking a small case from his pocket, Alex proceeded to pick the lock with the kind of quick precision that led Stephanie to believe this wasn’t his first attempt at breaking and entering. A moment later the door swung open.
Stephanie produced a list of names and dates from her purse as Alex switched on the computer. While he attempted to break into the electronic files, she started rifling through a metal file cabinet. That process took far less time than one would anticipate. The number of files on hand was surprisingly small, but if any of the infants’ footprints upon the birth certificates Stephanie collected matched those on the death certificate given to Natalie Perez when she was told her baby had not survived its birth, it would provide the concrete evidence the authorities needed to shut down the ring for good and put the perpetrators behind bars for the rest of their natural lives. The fact that Alex was having trouble getting into the system led them both to believe that was where the goods were.
“Check the desk drawers and look for anything that might be a log-in and password,” Alex said, checking his watch.
Could the answer be staring her right in the face? Stephanie studied the only photograph in the room that didn’t prominently feature Larry’s family. In it, he had his arm around the shoulders of a smiling buddy who had apparently liked the picture so much that he had signed and dated it in the corner.
“Didn’t you say that Birkenfeld’s first name was Roman?”
“Uh-huh,” Alex replied, still intent on his quest.
A queasy feeling came over Stephanie as she studied the boat in front of which the picture had been taken. Could anyone really be so callous that they would actually brag about purchasing a luxury sailboat from the proceeds of stolen babies? The arrogance of such a subliminal boast indicated just how sick a man Roman Birkenfeld was.
“Try R.B.’ s Baby,” she suggested, offering him the name painted on the boat.
“Bingo!”
Stephanie couldn’t draw her gaze away from that disturbing photograph. “If we don’t come up with something concrete soon, I’m afraid the good doctor will be out of the office indefinitely—and hard to reach once he sets sail for the high seas and world-class luxury ports of call.”
The sound of computer keys tapping at a frenzied clip beneath Alex’s fingers reiterated his sense of urgency. Unfortunately, none of the names on Natalie’s list were leading anywhere but to frustration. Alex ran a hand through his dark hair and checked his watch for the fourth time in five minutes.
“Unfortunately, their files are more complicated than their back door,” Alex muttered. He pierced Stephanie with his gaze. “We can’t take a chance on being late to tonight’s appointment. If they smell a skunk, the whole operation could be jeopardized.”
“That leaves us only two options,” she responded with the kind of logic and grit that Alex had come to expect of her. “Either you go back to the hotel and meet with Larry and his nurse and stall until I can get there with the goods, or I do. What’s your preference?”
I’d prefer to turn back the hands of time and nullify anything I had to do with involving you in this whole ugly mess, he thought miserably.
His decision ultimately had nothing to do with whom he thought was the better actor. Alex simply would not consider leaving Stephanie alone with Larry under any circumstances. Thinking she would be far safer interfacing with a computer than with known criminals, he chose the former of her two suggestions.
“I’ll go back to the hotel restaurant and tell them you’re out shopping for last minute baby items to make the trip home as comfortable as possible. At a quarter to seven, there will be a cab waiting to meet you at the stoplight at the end of the block. Whether you’ve located anything incriminating or not, you will be in that cab and headed back to the hotel. Hopefully Larry’ll be excited enough about receiving a briefcase with over a hundred thousand in cool cash that he won’t worry if you show up a little late.”
Stephanie urged Alex to give up his seat in front of the screen before time betrayed them both. “As a librarian, I know a few things about computers myself. In seedier circles, I’m known as the scourge of interlibrary loans.”
Alex balked. “I don’t have a good feeling about this. I hate leaving you alone and—”
“Go on,” Stephanie told him. “While I’m copying the files, you can be signing the paperwork that should put these SOB’s behind bars for life, which is what we’re here to do. Don’t waste another minute of precious time worrying about me. I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll leave my cell phone on in case anything goes wrong. You do the same,” he insisted, unwilling to cut off all communication completely.
Stephanie’s courage was enough to bring Alex to his knees. Why he ever thought he could live the rest of his life without this woman was as silly as thinking one could make a computer work without electricity. He had every intention of telling her that, of setting the record straight and having it out with his own heart—just as soon as this nasty business was behind them.
Now, however, was not the time to tarry. Not when a baby’s life was on the line and time was quickly running out.
Twelve
Stephanie had a full half of the computer files copied when she heard the back door open. Thinking it was Alex, she started to call out to him, but a high-pitched giggle paralyzed her before she could open her mouth.
“Sorry I got you so distracted that you forgot your paperwork. I’m so happy that Roman’s cut of the deal should be enough to get the loan sharks off his back.”
“If only he’ll use it for that…”
Stephanie recognized the second voice as Larry’s. Before shutting off the light switch, she glanced at the computer screen.
68% copied
“I’m afraid my old friend’s propensity for gambling is matched only by his propensity for violence. And both have compromised our business arrangement. Just so you know, this will be my final favor to my old college buddy. After tonight, I’m done.”
“I can’t imagine you pulling the plug on such a sweet, lucrative deal. Surely you don’t plan on maintaining the lifestyle to which your wife and family have become accustomed by chasing after ambulances again.”
“No need to, Mary,” Larry replied dryly. “My days as a working-stiff contingency lawyer are over. It’s too bad that Perez woman threw a monkey wrench into this operation, but she did. If Roman knows what’s good for him, he’ll cut his losses and get out while the getting’s good.”
Stephanie took a quick look at the computer screen and tried to force air into her lungs in deep enough breaths that she didn’t risk hyperventilating. The voices outside the door were becoming more distinct the closer the
y came.
87% copied
“What he’s planning on doing is cutting that Perez bitch’s throat and getting back all the money from the last botched job. I’d hate to be her when Roman gets his hands on her. I bet he’ll make her suffer before he kills her.”
Stephanie’s hand went to her own throat, and she felt her heart beating there. The green glow of the computer turned her hands a ghastly shade.
100% copied
She snapped the computer switch off and grabbed for the disk at the same time.
“If he knows what’s good for him, he’ll pay off those loan sharks and hightail it out of the country before anyone connects him with the death of Dr. Belden. The smartest thing he could do is sail around the world and into anonymity—just as I intend to do.”
Larry’s voice was just outside the door. Stephanie ducked beneath the desk and began frantically digging through her purse for her cell phone, when the door swung open. She froze, afraid to so much as breathe too loudly.
“I left the stuff right on your desk.” The woman sounded petulant. “Of course, considering what we were doing on it just before leaving, I suppose I’ll have to forgive you knocking the paperwork on the floor.”
Stephanie worried that the sound of her heart beating out of control would draw them to her hiding place. Beneath her left knee was the piece of paperwork that they had come back to retrieve. In the waning evening light filtering through the window, she could see the distinct imprint of a baby’s foot pressed in black ink against the white sheet of paper.
She pushed it as far away from her as she could without drawing attention to the act and tried to make herself as small as she could beneath Larry’s desk—and makeshift bed.
“There it is,” Mary squealed, spying the paper on the floor.
Stephanie had only a partial view of the woman as she bent down to pick it up. Her ample bosom almost brushed against the floor.
“Are you sure we don’t have time for a quickie before we head to the Eureka?” she offered with a purr.
The Millionaires’ Club: Ryan, Alex & Darin Page 24
