Familiar Vows

by Caroline Burnes

  So she settled back against the seat and kept her mouth shut.

  Outside the vehicle, Lucas gathered Familiar into his arms. He was a lot gentler with the cat than he had been to her. Then again, Familiar hadn’t screwed up.

  He put Familiar in the backseat and slid into the front, forcing her to climb over the console.

  “You aren’t going to drive with me cuffed to the steering wheel, are you?” Now that was a recipe for screwing up.

  He considered it. “I guess not.” He unlocked the handcuff that was latched around the wheel. In a quick movement, he attached it to his buckled seat belt. “There now. You happy?” he asked.

  “You are a sadist,” she said softly.

  “And you are not going to give me the slip again. Whatever you do, I do with you.”

  “E-e-e-e-YOW!”

  The cry came from the backseat just before a spray of bullets tore some of the glass from the SUV.

  Michelle felt her head pushed down. Lucas started the vehicle and spun out, slinging mud behind him as the wheels finally gained purchase, and the big machine roared forward and into the side of the vehicle that had come so quietly down the secluded camp road.

  “Damn it all to hell.” Lucas backed up, rammed the car again, then reversed and sped around it. As they made the first curve, another spray of rapid gunfire took out the rear window of the vehicle.

  Glass tinkled all around them, but Lucas didn’t stop. Michelle kept her head down. She squinted her eyes shut and prayed. She’d never considered what it might feel like to be shot at twice in as many days. Lucas had warned her—repeatedly—that the Maxims were killers. It hadn’t completely penetrated. Not until now. She wasn’t fooling around with school-yard bullies. These were trained killers.

  This wasn’t some foolish adventure where she could dodge successfully ten steps ahead of her hunters. The men she sought to elude had found her twice, quickly. Had Lucas not been there…She would be dead. Possibly tortured first.

  “Get my cell phone out of my pocket,” Lucas instructed her. “Call nine-one-one. Get some officers out here fast.”

  This time she did as she was told without a second’s hesitation.

  LUCAS DISABLED THE BAD GUYS’ car, which will get us out of this particular pickle. But they’ll get another car. And they’ll find us again. The question is how.

  Those killers were on us almost as soon as we crossed the Mobile-Tensaw Delta area. They didn’t recognize the rental when we passed them on that little county road. Or if they did, they knew the cops were hot on their trail, so they didn’t try anything.

  But they were at the condo in a matter of moments from the time Miss Shutterbug placed the call. Yes, even a bad guy could put it together that she’d found the cell phone in the condo. It was a likely possibility. But they’d sprayed the building with bullets, as if they knew where she was.

  And now to turn up in this abandoned camp. As if there weren’t thousands of miles of secluded areas in which she might have hidden.

  And why are they trying to kill her? Lucas said they’d want to grab her and torture information out of her. Make her tell where Lorry might be. Because Lorry is the witness, the one person who can identify Antonio Maxim as the man who’d murdered Harry West.

  We’re back out on the county road. I hope the humanoids realize that lunchtime has come and gone. Out here in the country, where folks work hard each day, the three regulars need a bit of supplementation. An afternoon snack and then a bit of bedtime sustenance.

  One of the few bad things about my job is that whenever I’m on a case, I lose weight. Clotilde likes a tomcat she can wrap her paws around. None of that sleek, alley-cat charm for her. Well-fed, well-groomed and well-loved. That’s the ticket that turns my Clotilde on.

  Let’s see if I can convince these two that we need a food break as soon as we get close to some sort of civilization. I hate to say it, but even a fast-food burger would taste delish now.

  “YOU CAN TAKE THE CUFFS off.”

  Lucas almost swerved off the road as he glanced at Michelle. She actually sounded contrite. And judging by her expression—the tinge of pink in her cheeks and the willingness to meet his gaze completely—she was sincere. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…I’m sure you know the old Scottish saying.”

  “I do. And I won’t. I realize that I’m wrong. I’ve been acting like an idiot.”

  Lucas glanced at her again. It was difficult to judge the depth of her remorse. The winding road that went through deep forests and then patches of clear-cut, bald land with startling curves and steep drops took all his attention. For a Texas man who’d considered Alabama to be a Gulf Coast state, he found the land to have a surprising degree of roll.

  “And I should believe you?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Give me one good reason.”

  “Because I want to help Lorry. So far, I’ve only made it impossible for you to help her. I see that now. Those men will kill me or anyone else who gets in their way. I’m a danger to everyone I come in contact with.”

  Had she really grasped the enormity of the danger she faced? He wanted to believe her. Strange how much that was true.

  He’d forced the image of her coming out of the lake from his mind. He’d caught her unaware, and it had made him feel like a Peeping Tom, so he’d tried to eradicate it from his mind. But he couldn’t. If Michelle would actually work with him, there were ways she could help.

  “I want to believe what you’re saying.” He left it at that.

  “I can’t undo what I’ve done. God knows I would if I could. Everything I did, though, was an attempt to make things right.”

  He nodded. “I do believe that part.”

  “Okay.” She shifted in her seat so that her handcuffed wrist rested an inch from his leg. “Now I understand that the best way I can help is to do what you say.”

  “Just that fast?”

  “I’ve been shot at twice. Those men managed to find me in the most out-of-the-way place on earth.” She shrugged. “I have to say I’m outclassed. I don’t know the rules of this engagement. Worst of all, I suspect there aren’t any rules.”

  She was bright, that much was evident. “Hold the wheel,” he told her. They’d hit a straightaway, and she could steer from the passenger seat. He fished the handcuff key from his pocket and gave it to her.

  She unhooked herself, returning both key and cuffs to him.

  “What are we going to do?” she asked.

  “Call Marco at the gallery. He’s worried sick about you. And your parents.”

  Dismay flickered briefly across her face. She’d rather face the Maxims than call her folks. That said a lot.

  He passed her his cell phone, and she took it and dialed.

  “Hello, Marco. It’s—” She stopped, her expression shifting to stricken. “No.” Tears slid down her cheeks.

  “What is it?” Lucas asked. He slowed and looked for a place to pull over.

  “Are you sure?” Michelle asked.

  Lucas couldn’t hear the answer, but when Michelle lowered the phone, he took it from her hand.

  “Marco, it’s Lucas West here. What’s going on?”

  “Kevin Long seems to be missing. He failed to show up for a job, and he hasn’t spoken with any of his friends since last night.”

  “Do you think someone abducted him?”

  “Kevin isn’t the kind of man who misses a photo shoot. Not one for Vanity Fair.”

  “Who saw him last?”

  “He was at a restaurant, having dinner with friends. They all left together. Kevin got into a cab, and no one has seen him since. I went to his apartment. I don’t think he made it home last night.”

  “Has anyone reported him missing?”

  “Not yet. Tell me what to do. Should I call the police?” Marco asked.

  “Don’t call anyone.” Lucas was playing with Kevin’s life. A wrong decision…

  “Why not?” Marco asked.

/>   “I don’t trust the feds, and I’m not sure who I can trust in the NYPD. Let me handle it. I’ll make sure they’re looking for Kevin.”

  “How is Michelle handling this? Does she understand how serious this is?”

  “I don’t know.” She was already beating herself to pieces about her involvement with Lorry’s situation. Kevin was a direct link to her. She’d never forgive herself if anything happened to her friend.

  And she’d never forgive him if his decision not to call in the FBI cost Kevin’s life. He was trying to balance the protection of Lorry, Michelle, and now Kevin.

  Funny how the first woman he’d felt this kind of visceral attraction to seemed destined to be taken from him. He sighed. “Keep me posted if you hear anything from Kevin. Right now we’ve got to find a safe place.”

  “Can I do anything to help?” Marco asked.

  “Call her parents, and tell them she’s okay. And then take a vacation. Go somewhere no one would ever think to look.”

  “Good advice.”

  “If you hear anything, call back at this number.”

  “Will do.”

  Lucas hung up and found a dirt road that looked unused. He turned down it. Michelle sat stone-faced in the passenger seat. She looked neither right nor left, and one lone tear hung on her cheek.

  When he stopped the SUV, he brushed the tear away. “This isn’t your fault.”

  “Right.”

  “It isn’t, Michelle.”

  “Then whose fault is it?”

  “The Maxim brothers. You stumbled into this. You didn’t ask for any of it to happen.”

  “Neither did Lorry. All she did was the right thing by testifying.”

  “That’s true.”

  “And now I’ve ruined her new life, and my friend has been abducted by gangsters who will torture him because he’s my friend.” Her voice broke, but she managed to hold back the sobs.

  Lucas put a hand on her shoulder, and without further encouragement, she turned into his chest and began to sob. He held her, gently stroked her arm and back and let her cry it out. When the storm of emotion had passed, she eased away from him.

  “I’m sorry.” She defiantly brushed the tears from her eyes. “I’m not normally a crybaby.”

  “I don’t think you’re a baby at all,” Lucas said, and he meant it. He pushed a strand of her beautiful red hair back from her eyes. “You’ve been pulled into a lifestyle of violence and cruelty. You didn’t deserve this, Michelle. And you’re right. Neither did Lorry. But I want you to understand I’m here by choice. And we’ll figure out a way to find Kevin. My brother still has some friends in the NYPD. I’ll make some calls.”

  “Would you?”

  He nodded. “But we have to move out of this area. The Maxims have found us once.”

  “Won’t they be in jail? We called the deputies and nine-one-one.”

  “I’m sure they had another car somewhere close. They were likely picked up and on the move by the time we were ten miles down the road.”

  “How many of them are there?” she asked.

  “If I were an apocalyptic kind of guy, I’d say legions.” He smiled to show her he was gently teasing.

  To his utter surprise, she leaned across the console and kissed his cheek. “Thank you. I know you’re trying to make this easier for me.”

  Lucas merely nodded. Now he was the one bearing the cross of guilt. Her friend was held captive by ruthless thugs, and he’d given her hope that Kevin might be okay. His was a deliberate act of deception.

  Chapter Twelve

  As Lucas drove across the long span of bridge over the Mobile-Tensaw Delta waterway, Michelle composed herself. The only other time she’d fallen apart had involved her parents and their attempts to thwart her career plans. And that was a place she didn’t want to go.

  Guilt, shame, self-doubt—all of those things she was familiar with. She’d been well-trained by well-meaning people who truly wanted her to achieve her “full potential.” She didn’t fault her parents, but she’d learned how quickly they could erode her budding self-confidence and belief in herself.

  The news about Kevin had triggered all the self-doubt she’d worked so hard to leave behind.

  Lucas was kind to tell her she wasn’t responsible, but none of this would ever have happened if she’d given him the negatives and memory card from Lorry’s wedding. If she’d done that one thing, she’d be in New York now, celebrating her photography exhibit and sipping champagne with Kevin and Marco. Her life would have advanced toward the goals she’d so carefully chosen and worked so hard to attain.

  The black cat seemed to sense her thoughts. He leaped from the backseat into the front and crawled into her lap. The wind whistled through the broken windows of the car, and she wasn’t surprised when Lucas pulled into the first big service station.

  Dozens of cars were lined up in the park-and-ride beside the station. It wasn’t until Lucas cruised the area that she realized what he intended to do.

  “You can’t steal a car,” she said.

  “I’m actually very good at it.”

  “I don’t mean you physically can’t. I mean it’s wrong.”

  He gave her a look. “We can’t drive around in this vehicle. In case you haven’t noticed, the air-conditioning system comes from a series of bullet holes.”

  She caught the laugh in her throat and then let it out. She’d never have believed the man could make her laugh, especially not about such a dire situation. “Why can’t we just rent another car?” she asked.

  “Because the first car I rented is back at that camp. This is the second one. I don’t think the rental agency is going to be happy to see this car. It’s a little the worse for wear.”

  He had a point, but he was also a law officer. Well, he once had been. “Couldn’t someone make a few calls on your behalf?”

  He hesitated. “I’m not sure I can trust anyone.”

  What he didn’t say spoke volumes. Michelle felt the chill travel up her spine. If Lucas didn’t trust other law-enforcement agencies to help him, where did that leave them? “I wonder how Maxim’s thugs found me,” she said.

  He stopped beside a Volvo and appraised it. “Yeah, I’m wondering the same thing. I can’t afford any more chances or mistakes. We’re lucky to be alive. Or at least I am. If it wasn’t for Familiar warning us, I’d be dead, and you’d be wishing you were.”

  “Why are they trying to kill me?” Michelle asked. “You said they want to capture me and force me to tell where Lorry is.”

  “They aren’t trying to kill you.”

  Michelle knew her face showed incredulity. “Automatic-weapon fire. Twice. Car destroyed, condo sprayed with bullets.”

  Lucas parked two rows down from the Volvo and shut off the engine. He turned to her. “Make no mistake about it. If Robert had given the word to kill you, you would be dead. This is all a game to him, Michelle. He thinks he’s in the catbird seat, and he’s having fun.”

  “Fun? That’s insane!” She was outraged.

  Lucas smiled and shook his head. “My point exactly. The Maxim brothers are insane. They’re savage and ruthless, and they take pleasure in the suffering of others. What sane person could ruin the lives of innocent young girls?”

  She didn’t have an answer; it was just another step in her reeducation. The world was not all a place of art lovers who grew misty-eyed at the sight of a photograph of the Hudson River landscape or one that captured two little girls in a state of total bliss as they played together.

  That was her world, but it wasn’t a place where the Maxims lived.

  “Why is Robert Maxim so arrogant that he feels he can play with us like this?” She had to know. What kind of man defied the law so openly—to the point of killing a law officer?

  “Right now we can assume that Robert has Kevin, and he expects that will bring you to heel. He’ll call in a bit and tell you. He’ll make you decide whether Kevin lives or dies.”

  She could see how
hard it was for him to tell her, but he was preparing her. “I don’t know anything.” She spoke softly, but it sounded like a plea.

  “I know that.”

  “How can I make him believe me?”

  “I don’t think you can.”

  “Because I told him I knew.” She turned her face away and struggled to compose herself.

  “You did what?” Lucas asked, as if he hadn’t clearly understood her.

  “I used a cell phone I found at the condo and called him and told him I knew.”

  He fought not to show his dismay, but she saw it. “I brought this on Kevin, didn’t I?” she asked.

  Lucas had gained control of himself. “Robert would have been looking for some leverage no matter what you did or didn’t do. Because of the wedding photograph, he believes you know Lorry or something about her. He didn’t need encouragement to jump on this. I told you that at the beginning.”

  She swallowed the lump rising in her throat. On top of everything else, she wasn’t going to be a crybaby. She eased the phone from her purse and started to punch in the numbers.

  “What are you doing?” Lucas asked.

  “I’m going to call Robert and tell him I’ll give him what he wants if he lets Kev go.”

  Out of nowhere the cat’s paw reached up and snatched the phone from her hand, flinging it into Lucas’s lap. He grabbed it and slammed it shut.

  “What is wrong with you?” Michelle fumed. “Give me back that phone.”

  “Not on your life.” Lucas examined it. “This could be how they followed you.”

  “The phone?”

  “It’s possible that the Maxims have sophisticated tracking devices and systems installed. Highly possible.” He popped the back of the phone open and removed the battery. A tiny chip rested in the corner of the battery compartment. Lucas fished it out and tossed it through one of the blown-out windows of the SUV.

  “Is that it?” Michelle leaned forward, ready to grab the phone. As soon as she got a chance, she’d call Robert. She’d trade herself for Kevin. He was totally innocent, and she was to blame for all this.