High Stakes

by Fern Michaels

  Dennis was up and literally running after Pilar Sanders before anyone at the table knew what was going on. Mia was close behind.

  “This can’t be good,” Abner said out of the corner of his mouth. “You don’t think those guys are going to rumble, do you?”

  “No. I think, and I could be wrong, but I think they’re here to cover their investment, to make sure the Sanders woman toes the line and nothing goes wrong. Just her expression alone tells me she does not want to be here. For all we know, she could be their prisoner. They’re more or less operating on the fly. Los Angeles is where they’re comfortable. Now that things are heating up for them, and Miami is new turf, they’re naturally a little nervous. Plus, there’s the fact that they are sitting in the nation’s capital. My money says they’re all illegals. They need to stay under the radar in case Sanders decides she wants out. I’m thinking she does, but she’s between a rock and a hard place right now,” Jack said.

  “Ten minutes to showtime,” Ted said, looking at a sparkly watch on his wrist.

  “I wonder what’s going on in the restroom,” Espinosa said as he fiddled with a curly ruffle on his pink blouse, which matched to perfection the color on his artificial nails.

  “Mia’s in there, so nothing will happen. Young Dennis is safe,” Charles said quietly as he picked at the twice-baked potato on his plate.

  Charles was right; there was nothing happening in the ladies’ room. Dennis was in a stall, with his ear pressed against the door, but he could see through the side where the door didn’t fit flush with the frame. He sighed with relief when he saw Mia enter and head toward the row of sinks.

  “Ms. Sanders! What a surprise! My friends and I just had a lovely dinner. The food was absolutely scrumptious,” she trilled. She continued to babble as she washed her hands, then leaned closer to the mirror to observe her flawless complexion.

  “Oh, Mia! I forgot that tonight was the night you were coming to the club. I’m sure you and your friends will have an enjoyable time. Toby is an excellent performer.” Pilar Sanders eyed the one-hundred-forty-dollar tube of lipstick Mia was applying. But her eyes were really on Mia’s sixty-five-hundred-dollar Chanel purse. The same exact purse as the one that she’d sold off with the other purses this very afternoon. Jealousy rivered through her veins.

  “This is just the best lipstick.” Mia giggled. “Stays on all day, and it’s true, it is kiss proof. Toby is the proof. Is something wrong, Ms. Sanders?”

  “Wrong?” Pilar frowned. “Why do you ask?”

  Mia dropped the lipstick back into her purse. She shrugged. “I don’t know. You look sad or scared. Maybe nervous. Are you worried that the boys won’t perform well? I guess I would, too, if I were in charge. Toby told me you told him that important people would be in the audience tonight, and you wanted them all to be at their best.”

  Pilar nodded. “I’m like a mother hen sometimes. And, yes, I do worry about my boys. I guess I’m not very good at covering my emotions. Really, I’m fine.”

  “Are the important people who are here for the performance the ones at your table? Will Toby and the others be able to see them from the stage?”

  Too many questions. This girl is too sharp. Pilar looked at her watch instead of replying. “Three minutes till the lights go down. You need to hurry, dear, so you don’t trip and fall over the steps. Everyone needs to be seated when the bell chimes the three-minute warning, and it’s going to chime any second now.”

  Inside the stall, Dennis flushed, then opened the door. Neither woman looked at him as he headed for the sink to wash his hands. He did it lickety-split and was right on Mia’s heels as they headed toward their respective tables.

  Dennis slid onto his seat and started to mumble. “For all of you who have ever wondered what a ladies’ room looks like, it’s pretty and smells like powder, perfume, and hair spray, and it is clean. Mia really didn’t get anything out of her, and she tried. The girl is a real pro. Sanders is jittery and nervous. Her table companions are the important people she told Toby would be watching him and the other dancers. By the way, that chime you heard was the three-minute warning to the start of the show. No one can move around once the lights go down.”

  The words were no sooner out of Dennis’s mouth than the room went totally dark. Three minutes later, the stage came to life, with the blinding white klieg lights overhead. The primitive sound of drums could be heard as a hush came over the room. The sound built to a breathtaking crescendo just as the curtains parted. The room turned silent; then a siren, along with pulsing music, erupted as five bronzed and oiled cops hit the stage. The sound of the music increased until it was deafening to the ear, and women screaming as the dancers jumped and thrust and pivoted added only more volume. When the cops’ hats flew into the audience, Charles caught the first one. Mia caught another and waved it in the air. She hopped up on a chair and yelled at the top of her lungs, “More! More!”

  “Yeah, yeah,” the women shouted as they, too, climbed on their chairs.

  Jack looked around. “When in Rome, girls . . .”

  Dennis didn’t need to be told twice. He was already on his chair, twirling a dinner napkin in the air. Harry followed suit, not realizing his eyelash had come loose again. Jack reached over and plucked it off and mouthed the words, “Rip the other one off.” Harry obliged as he hooted and hollered with the rest of the women.

  It was Mia who noticed the “deer in the headlights” look on Toby’s face as he stared down at the tables below the stage. His step faltered. Mia strained to see what he was seeing and decided the woman in Toby’s line of sight was his ex-fiancée. Damn.

  Then, in an unprecedented move, Mia hopped off her chair and made her way to where Carrie was ogling Toby. She grabbed her by the arm and pushed her up onto the stage, jumping up as well. “This guy is mine. You got that!” Mia said as she pointed to Toby, who was too befuddled to do anything but continue to dance.

  “Toby! It is you! I had no idea. Wow. You are something else. Who is this person?” Carrie said, trying to shake off Mia’s viselike grip.

  “Like I said, bitch, he’s mine. All mine.” Mia rubbed her hand up and down Toby’s oiled chest as she licked at her bloodred lips.

  It was all Toby needed. His day had finally arrived. He winked at Mia to let her know he could handle it from here on in.

  And then it was the dance of unrequited love and revenge, with the other dancers taking a backseat to what was going on right in front of them.

  Toby reared back, planted his feet firmly on the stage floor, and let out a roar of pure animal lust before lunging forward until he was body to body with his ex-fiancée. The room went deathly silent as the drums beat a steady, sensual throb. He moved like a cat, a big, sexy male panther, as he stalked his prey, his pelvis jutting forward, his muscles moving to the beat of the music.

  Dennis squirmed in his seat. “Holy shit!”

  “I second that,” Ted hissed.

  “Oh, that guy is good,” Abner said, breathing hard.

  “Damn good,” Jack said.

  “I say we give him all the money Charles is holding,” Harry said. He followed that up with, “If I ever find out Yoko comes to a place like this, I’ll strangle her.”

  “You really need to get over yourself, Harry. The girls used to come to one of these clubs every Friday night for their weekly girls’ night out. It’s just fun for them,” Jack said.

  “Look! Look! Something is going on between those two, and the audience senses it.” The tempo of the drums increased to bear out what Charles was saying.

  Everyone in the room watched what was playing out on the stage, not realizing they were holding their breath for what was to come.

  Dennis knew what his friend was doing: he was getting his pound of flesh for all the hurt Carrie had inflicted on him. He saw Toby smile; then he grinned. He saw the sparkle in his buddy’s eyes as he let his bronzed, sleek muscles go to work. He felt his jaw drop when Toby grabbed Carrie’s shoulders and
pushed her down to her knees. She looked up at him, awestruck, as he danced inches away, did a whirligig, then a pelvic thrust.

  “How’s this for earthy?” he bellowed before he danced away to join his fellow dancers. At that moment in time, Toby felt more powerful than he’d ever felt in his life. His gaze sought out Mia, and he flung off a sharp salute. She giggled as she watched Carrie’s friends help her off the stage.

  “Nice going, buddy. Bet you feel like a million bucks right now,” Dennis whispered to himself.

  The women in the audience roared, whistled, clapped their hands, and stomped their feet as they called out for more, more, more, waving dollar bills in the air. Mia’s fist shot in the air, the signal to Toby that he’d pulled it off.

  “Is that guy something or what?” Dennis squealed in excitement for his friend.

  Jack’s eyes were on Pilar and her guests as the houselights came up, and the dancers hopped off the stage to mingle and accept the bills that were finding their way to their G-strings.

  It looked to Jack like Zuma Delgado was saying, “What the hell was that?”

  Pilar Sanders was laughing. “That, Mr. Delgado, was perfection.” She got up and walked over to Toby, who was standing at Mia’s table, and put her arms around him. “That was an A plus, kiddo. Your best performance yet. You made me proud tonight. I’m just sorry Gabe wasn’t here to see it.”

  Toby laughed as he bent down to kiss Mia. The clinch was long and sweet. When he finally broke away, he led her over to Carrie. “I’d like to introduce you to my fiancée. Mia Grande. Carrie and I were once engaged.” He turned and said, “Come backstage with me, honey.”

  Mia patted Carrie on the shoulder. “Like I said, he’s all mine. Every last inch of him, and don’t you ever forget it.” What totally stunned Mia was the realization that she meant every word she’d just said aloud. God help her. She had just fallen in love with Toby Mason.

  “Now what?” Harry asked.

  “Now we sit here and pretend to drink until the next show. Or if Sanders and her guests leave, then we can leave, too. This is how they make their money. On the drinks between shows. Toby told me they base their profits on each customer’s ordering three to four drinks. Doesn’t matter if it’s soda or plain water. The price is the same,” Dennis said. “On a really good night, some of these guys can make as much as a thousand dollars, and it’s clear money. No one but Toby claims it all on his taxes. He’s honest that way. Pilar told him he had to stop doing that because he was a threat to all the others, who might get audited. He said he told her okay, but he claims it, anyway. That’s just the kind of guy he is.”

  With the houselights up, the patrons were walking about, taking bathroom breaks, and chatting each other up. A young woman approached their table with a napkin and pen in hand. She homed in on Harry and said, “I know you. You’re Lisa Ling. I love your show. Can I have your autograph?”

  Harry’s jaw dropped as he fiddled with one of his earrings. Jack kicked him under the table. “Shhh. Don’t tell anyone,” Harry whispered as he scribbled the name Lisa Ling on the paper napkin.

  “Ooh, this is just so wonderful. I won’t tell anyone till after you leave,” she gushed and then walked away from the table.

  “I should have videoed that,” Espinosa grumbled.

  “Oh, look. Mia is coming back to the table. Good, good. She’s coming to our table,” Ted said.

  Mia sat down, her face flushed. “I don’t have anything to report other than Ms. Sanders said she was proud of Toby’s performance. No one said anything about my performance. I didn’t know what Toby would do when he spotted his ex. I just reacted. He’s just so sweet, you want to knock yourself out to protect him. Don’t look now, but the Sanders party is about to leave. What’s the game plan now?”

  “The game plan is we get out of these ridiculous clothes, and the sooner, the better,” Harry said through clenched teeth.

  “If the Sanders party is leaving, then there’s no reason to stay behind. Did Toby share with you what she said to him at the meeting earlier?” Charles asked.

  “He said she seemed brittle. Like a gentle breeze would snap her in two,” Mia replied. “That was the word he used. He also said she looked like she had been crying and had extra makeup on to cover up the ravages. I can attest to that since I saw her in the bright light of the restroom. Her eyes were red and bloodshot. Mr. Snowden has someone outside waiting to follow all of them. That’s all I know, other than I am to stay here until Toby gets off work and take him home. I better get back to my table so you all can do whatever you have to do.”

  The gang made a pretense of gathering up their shoulder wraps and purses. They waited for Charles to tally up the bill; then they all left.

  The night had turned chilly, and there was a harvest moon. The wind was brisk as they chatted quietly among themselves as they headed for the van. This time Ted climbed behind the wheel, and Espinosa rode shotgun.

  “I don’t see Sanders or her guests. They sure did leave in a hurry. Charles, check with Avery to see who is tailing them and where they’re going. It might help us decide what our next move is going to be,” Jack said.

  Charles obliged. Then he waited for a return text. When it finally came through, he looked at the others and said, “This is interesting. He thinks they’re headed to the Sanders condo, but he isn’t sure. Delgado is in Ms. Sanders’s car with her. The others are behind them in three tail cars. What’s interesting is the discussion Ms. Sanders had in the parking lot with Delgado when they left the club. He said it started out calm enough but then turned ugly. Sanders stood up to him. He wanted to know where the husband was, and Pilar told him the truth.

  “I guess originally she must have lied to him and said he wasn’t around, or something to that effect. He threatened her for lying to him. She got in his face and told him not to threaten her again, because he needed her. Then he got verbally rough and told her he no longer trusted her and was leaving a man to guard her. As in live in her apartment with her. She belched fire, but Delgado would not budge. That’s it. And, by the way, Avery’s operative was successful in planting the listening devices in the Sanders condo, so that’s a good thing, and it will give us a leg up as to what is going on.”

  “I just had Espinosa send a text to Zack,” Ted said.

  Espinosa rattled off the incoming text. “He’s in the parade following the Delgado team. He said there is a real turf war going on in Los Angeles with Dito Chilo’s incarceration. Everyone is jockeying for position to take over the drug cartel. Seems that the guy Delgado has to ace out is some vermin named Diego Sanchez. A real badass dude, according to Zack. He wants to meet up for breakfast in the morning. He plans to work through the night. I’m not sure what that means, so I’m going to okay it. Denny’s at nine o’clock.”

  “Okay, folks. We’re here. Time to shed all these lovely outfits and pray to God we never have to see them again,” Ted said as he slipped the van into PARK and cut the engine. They could hear Cyrus’s sharp barks as he waited to welcome them home.

  “Getting nippy out here. Temperature is dropping,” Abner said. “Listen, guys, since I took off today, I need to head out to Langley and put in some time. Otherwise, I might lose my job, and the CIA needs me. You need me. I need me.” He was ripping at the wig and the false eyelashes as he tripped along behind Jack and Dennis.

  “Listen up, all of you. Go ahead home. I’ll put everything back, since I know where it belongs. Alexis is really fussy about stuff being misplaced. I’m already home, so it’s no problem,” Espinosa said.

  Thirty minutes later, everyone but Espinosa piled back into the van. This time, Dennis drove.

  “Where to?” he asked.

  “Since all our cars are at the BOLO Building, I guess that’s our destination,” Jack said. “My skin is itching from that damn latex,” he grumbled.

  “Use that lavender lotion Espinosa gave you,” Charles said. “It works wonders.”

  Cyrus barked. No one knew or
cared why. They were tired and just wanted to go home.

  “I don’t ever want to be a female again,” Ted said. “I prefer to admire them from afar and not wonder or worry about why they are what they are and do what they do and wear what they wear and smell like they do. You with me, guys?”

  Every hand in the van went straight up in the air. Cyrus barked three times.

  “Tomorrow is another day,” Jack said wearily. “I think Cyrus and I will crash at the BOLO. You guys are welcome to stay. We have plenty of cots.”

  “No takers, Jack,” Charles said. “We’ll be in touch in the morning.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Halloween came and went, with barely anyone noticing. Maggie never ended up having her Halloween party, as she was too busy with the investigation. What the boys did notice was that nothing constructive was going on that would help their mission. The days crawled by, each one as stressful as the day before. By the end of the third week of November, Jack called a special early morning meeting. Everyone, even Maggie, showed up.

  “Coffee and bagels and fresh fruit,” Jack said, pointing to the sideboard in the conference room. “We’re here today to make some hard decisions. We are fast approaching the time when Pilar Sanders and the dancers head off for Miami. As it stands now, and for the first time since we started doing what we’re doing, I am disappointed in all of us.”