The home belonged to a friend of Jessica’s father. The woman’s husband had passed away recently and she had decided to move to California to be near her son and his family. She was looking to sell the home as furnished, and the woman had very good taste. The house was spectacular, and although the price tag was high, furnished as it was, the home was a bargain.
They were five, Jessica, her husband, Maggie, and the two babies, Emma and Liam, who were both walking and had celebrated their first birthday weeks earlier.
No sooner had he sat his son on the floor, then the boy went toddling off to explore. Maggie followed after him while carrying Emma.
Jessica grinned at her husband.
“We can really afford this?”
“Yes, thanks to the money we made from the 3-D project, but as I said, we have a week to decide.”
“It just seems so much to pay for a vacation home. I mean, we’ll only be using it a few weeks a year.”
“True, but it’s also a good investment, and we have to put the money to work somewhere.”
Their son came back, laughing, as Maggie tried to keep up with him. He ran towards his father and was scooped up into his arms.
“He’s getting fast,” Maggie said, as she handed Emma to Jessica, “And you should see the kitchen, it’s huge.”
He handed his son to Jessica, as Maggie went outside to get her suitcase.
“I’ll bring in the bags and we’ll get settled in, and afterward, I’ll give Lawson a call.”
Jessica’s face clouded.
“I forgot this wasn’t strictly a vacation.”
He gave her a kiss.
“It is a vacation, but I still want to keep an eye on Jack. Lawson made it sound like he was doing something that could be dangerous.”
“I hope he’s careful,” Jessica said.
“I’m sure he will be, and from what I understand, his assignment also has its perks.”
***
Jack Beck rolled onto his back and waited for his pulse rate to return to normal.
Lying beside him in bed was a young blond woman named Angie. Angie was twenty-six and knew Beck by the name, John Martin.
As John Martin, Beck was playing the role of a novice real estate investor who was recently widowed and retired.
Angie Margrave was part of a con designed to separate John Martin from his money. It was a con that she and her partner had run before, and although technically legal, the con had proven to be personally and financially devastating to their marks, one of which had been a man named Herbert Dyer, Special Agent Robyn Dyer’s uncle.
The con was a simple one. Harlen Brisbee was the black sheep and grandson of Walt Brisbee, the man who had founded the Brisbee Entertainment Empire. The eighty-one-year-old Brisbee owned land that was adjacent to one of his family’s theme parks and claimed to be searching for a buyer due to ill health.
When prospects saw that the land was in sight of the famed Magical Kingdom, they assumed that it would someday be used for expansion, and would then be worth a fortune.
Dyer’s Uncle Herbert had fallen for Angie’s considerable charms and subsequently was talked into joining a purported consortium of investors going after the land. That’s when the legal maneuvering took place.
Herbert Dyer was investing a quarter of a million dollars. That would have given him a two percent share in the land which he assumed would be worth immeasurably more once a new theme park was built atop it, which he was assured was soon to be the case.
One delay or another occurred and soon the consortium’s 90-day buy option expired, presumably because they had fallen short of the full amount needed for purchase.
That’s when Herbert sold his home back in Connecticut and sunk nearly half a million more into the new 90-day buy option, a buy option he was coerced into signing by Angie, who would visit Herbert in his rented apartment and fill his head with thoughts of easy riches.
Again, the ninety days ran out, but this time, Herbert’s money went along with it, because he had signed a document that stated his funds would be forfeit and placed in a General Fund to be used for the expense of future endeavors.
The bottom line was that Herbert Dyer had been fleeced. Angie broke things off that very day, and Dyer eventually showed up on his niece’s doorstep looking for a place to stay, while on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Robyn had wanted to go after them legally, while still realizing that it would do little more than shut the con down and scatter the con artists running it.
Robyn’s lover, Thomas Lawson, had another idea, and enlisted Jack Beck to help him carry it out.
Angie rolled over and draped an arm across Beck’s chest.
“Damn, Johnny, you still got it in the bedroom. How old did you say you were?”
“Sixty,” Beck said. It wasn’t true, but it was close enough.
“There are guys half your age who can’t keep it going that long.”
Beck smiled.
“You’re good for an old man’s ego, Angie, but tell me something, when do I get to meet Mr. Brisbee?”
“He never meets anyone, but his representative, Mr. Roberts, will be in tomorrow, but first, Roberts has to verify your finances.”
“No problems there, but you know, I do have that other deal in the works, and if I can find the right partner, I’ll be leaning that way.”
Angie pouted.
“But I promised Mr. Roberts that you would invest with us.”
“And I still might, we’ll see after I meet with him tomorrow.”
“So I have one more day to sway you our way, hmm? What will we do with the time?”
After saying that, Angie slid down Beck’s body, while leaving kisses along the way.
Beck grinned, and reminded himself to thank Lawson for this assignment.
CHAPTER 3
Keri freed the knife from the tall boy’s belt even as his weight crushed the air from her lungs.
The boy holding her had a grip on her elbows, but Keri could still move her wrist, and she did so, flicking it around so that the blade sliced the boy attempting to rape her.
The boy shot to his feet, yanked the knife away, and tried to kick her, but Keri had already rolled to her right, a move that also caused the boy holding her to lose his grip.
She leapt to her feet as she gulped in air, and raced towards the corner where her pocketbook sat near the metal shelving.
The tall boy was examining the wound on his side, but the other boy was rushing towards her. There was no time to free the stun gun from her bag, and so she swung the pocketbook by its strap and slammed it across the boy’s face.
The impact didn’t hurt him, but it did cause him to stand still, and that’s when Keri reached out, grabbed the metal shelving, and tipped it over.
The boy took a step back, but decided too late to try to catch the metal rack instead, and Keri watched in satisfaction as the front of one of the shelves caught the boy on the nose and caused him to cry out.
As the boy fell to the floor beneath the shelving, the tall boy approached, but the other boy and the metal rack atop him were too wide to step over. Seeing this, the boy raised up the door, thinking to grab Keri as she attempted to run away, which she did, however, there was a rusted chain link fence at her back and the alley was the only exit.
When the boy saw that she was just standing there, he looked puzzled, but understood when her hand emerged from the bag with the stun gun.
The boy grinned at her with crooked teeth.
“This knife is better than that stun gun.”
Keri didn’t argue, she was easing away from the other boy, as he rose from beneath the shelf with a bloody nose. Her heart was beating faster than she thought possible, and she knew that if she didn’t get away that she would not only be raped, but possibly murdered.
She let out a scream. It was loud and long and when she finished there was no response.
The 7-Eleven was just yards away, but the traffic out on the avenue
created a steady hum, and she didn’t know if there was anyone out front to hear her. Still, she had nothing to lose, and so she screamed again.
There was no response, but the boy with the bloody nose charged at her. Keri gave him a taste of the stun gun and the boy fell to the ground and trembled. That’s when the tall boy slashed out with the knife and cut her left forearm.
The wound stung wildly, but the sight of her blood dripping out caused Keri to cry in fright. She was scared to death, and the tears were blurring her vision. She thrust out with the stun gun but missed, and barely avoided being cut again as the boy slashed at her.
“Goddamn you, leave me alone!” Keri shouted, as anger began to vie with fear for her heart.
She and the boy thrust and parried at each other again, both missing, and then, to her horror, she saw the other boy rise up and lean against the fence.
If they both came at her again it wouldn’t end well, she knew that, and so she tried to run, but the tall boy blocked her path.
A door banged open at the rear of the 7-Eleven and a Hispanic boy stepped out carrying several garbage bags. He took two steps, saw the drama taking place, and dropped the bags to grab his phone off his belt.
“I’m calling the cops, so you’d better leave her alone.”
The boy with the knife started towards him and the kid grabbed a length of wood that was lying near the dumpster. That stopped the tall boy in his tracks, and caused him to swivel his head back and forth between the kid and Keri.
“Fuck it, c’mon Razor, let’s get out of here.”
They fled down the alley and Keri rushed over to the kid holding the length of wood. He dropped it and winced at the sight of her bloody arm.
“You need a doctor, lady.”
“What’s your name?”
“I’m David.”
Keri hugged him about the neck with her good arm.
“I’m Keri, David, and you’re my hero.”
David shrugged, as he dialed his phone.
“I was just taking out the trash.”
A moment later, he had a 9-1-1 operator on the line.
CHAPTER 4
Jack Beck gave Jessica a kiss on the cheek before settling down with her husband in the office of their Florida retreat.
After Jessica excused herself to see to the children, Beck plopped across from her husband in one of a set of matching green leather recliners.
“This place is sweet, kid, are you really going to buy it?”
“We’re leaning that way, but we haven’t decided yet.”
He looked at Beck with an uncharacteristic smirk on his face.
“What’s that smile for?”
“You’re enjoying your assignment, aren’t you?”
“Hell yeah, this girl, Angie, she’s doing her best to fuddle my brain with sex, and as ordered, I’m letting her. She’s a real hotty too, but her heart must be as cold as a freezer. According to what Lawson found out, they’ve pulled this con on at least four other men.”
“And Brisbee knows nothing about this?”
“Lawson doubts it. Brisbee is suffering from Alzheimer’s and he’d have no reason to sell that land. This Mr. Roberts I’m to meet tomorrow really is his personal assistant, but it looks like he’s abusing his position, and all the money has passed through his account.”
“Passed through? Does that mean the money is missing?”
“Yeah, but it has to be somewhere.”
“Why not just go to the law?”
“Lawson wants to get the money back, and that’s where I come in. Once all the players are assembled, I’m to get... persuasive.”
“You mean violent, but what if this Mr. Roberts refuses to hand over the money?”
Beck smiled without a trace of warmth.
“That’s not an option.”
“Take me along as backup. It’s risky to try to handle him and the woman together by yourself.”
“We’ll be meeting on Roberts’ boat, with nowhere to run, they’ll be easy to handle.”
“And once you have them transfer the money, then what?”
“I disappear, and that’s when Lawson sics the cops on them, but first he wants to get Herbert Dyer’s money back.”
“This can’t be a sanctioned mission,”
“No, this is me doing Lawson a favor, or maybe he’s done me one, considering how much fun I’m having.”
Maggie appeared in the doorway. When she spotted Beck, she walked over and kissed him on the cheek.
“Heather said you were in the area, and she says she’s having fun at her grandparent’s farm.”
“Yeah, we used to spend the summers there when her mother was alive, and I figured that Spring Break was a good time for her to visit.”
Maggie looked at her brother. She was wearing a striped beach robe that had a hood hanging down, and beneath it, she wore a bikini.
“I’m going down to the beach and boardwalk to have a look around.”
“By yourself?”
Maggie sighed and lowered her head to glare at him.
“I’m not a little girl, you know? I’ll be in college soon.”
“Does that mean you don’t need any spending money while we’re here?”
She smiled.
“I have money saved from my part-time job.”
He nodded, while taking out his wallet.
“You are growing up, but this trip is on Jessica and me.”
He waved her over and gave her cash.
“Have fun, but call if you won’t be home for dinner. We’re going out.”
“I’ll be back in time; I just want to have a look around.”
Maggie kissed him on the cheek and left.
Beck pointed at the doorway.
“Where’s that boyfriend of hers? I’m surprised he didn’t follow her down here.”
“He had to work.”
“What kind of work does he do?”
“Our kind,”
“Ah, you know I never caught that vibe off him. Does he work for Tommy?”
“Yeah, and the kid is good too, once you get past the smart mouth.”
***
“Yo Lawson, I ain’t no cabbie man, and why can’t you drive yourself anyway?”
Lawson sighed at Jace as he stared at him through the partition in his black Town Car, as the two of them moved along a highway near Washington D.C.
“I told you, my regular driver is on vacation, and besides, this is the job I told the judge you’d be doing when I had you released into my custody last year.”
“I still don’t see why you can’t drive yourself.”
“I work while I’m traveling, or I usually do, since my regular driver doesn’t insist on talking to me.”
“Oh, so what, you want me to shut up?”
“I would like some quiet, yes.”
“I can take a hint, but when am I going back out on a mission?”
“As soon as something comes up that I feel suits you.”
“Like what?”
“I’ll know that when it happens.”
Jace looked into the rear view mirror and saw Lawson dial his phone.
“Who are you calling, your girlfriend Robin?”
“Agent Dyer and I are... friends.”
Jace smirked. “Yeah, I bet you get real friendly with her.”
Without a word, Lawson raised the tinted glass and closed the partition.
***
Maggie left the house and headed towards the beach, which was only a block away.
As she neared the home of their closest neighbor, the front door opened and a boy stepped out carrying a surfboard. The kid was muscular, blond, and as Maggie noted with widening eyes, good looking.
The boy waved to her.
“Hey, are you one of the new neighbors?”
“Um, maybe, my brother and his wife are thinking of buying it.”
“Great, by the way, I’m Cole, Cole Renner.”
“I’m Maggie Walker, Cole, and it
looks like you’re headed to the beach too.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna hook up with a few friends, do you want to come?”
“Um, sure, but I don’t know how to surf.”
“I can give you a lesson.”
“Your girlfriend might not like that.”
Cole’s eyes grew sad.
“We broke up in January, well... she dumped me, but what about you, do you have a boyfriend?”
“Yes, but he’s not here, and it’s just a surfing lesson, right?”
“Absolutely, we’ll keep it friendly.”
They walked together towards the beach and Maggie asked Cole about himself.
“Are you in college?”
“High school, but I’m waiting to hear back from Harvard.”
Maggie grinned.
“Me too, oh isn’t the waiting unbearable? I hope they say yes, I really want to go there.”
“Both my dad and my mom went there; it’s where they met.”
“My sister-in-law is an alumna, and she showed me around while we visited the campus.”
Cole smiled at her, and he was so handsome that Maggie felt her heart flutter.
“We could be neighbors and classmates, that’s something hmm?”
“Yes,” Maggie said, “That’s something,” and as they walked along, Maggie came to the conclusion that Cole’s ex-girlfriend must have been a fool.
CHAPTER 5
The wound to Keri’s left forearm didn’t require stitches, but she did receive a tetanus shot to go along with her bandage. An officer took her statement about the attack, but gave her little hope that the boys who assaulted her would be found.
As she was leaving the hospital, she placed several of her flyers around, and as she was securing one to a light pole in the parking lot, she felt a hand touch her shoulder.
The attack had left her in a state of apprehension, and so she shrieked at the slight touch, but when she spun around, she saw a grandmotherly woman in a blue nurse’s uniform.
The woman sent her an apologetic look.
“I’m so sorry, dear; I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
Keri smiled as she caught her breath.
“That’s okay, I’m just a little on edge.”
The TAKEN! Series - Books 13-16 (Taken! Box Set Book 4) Page 35
