Flirting with Disaster

by Jane Graves

  Dave nodded. They sat in silence, the wall clock ticking away the seconds. Then Lisa turned to him, her voice fading to a near whisper. “Do you remember when you were talking to your daughter the other night on the phone, when she was watching Cinderella with John and his wife?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Do you know I’ve never even seen Cinderella? Or Bambi, or Snow White, or Mary Poppins. . . .” She looked at Dave, tears clouding her eyes. “Please don’t think you’re spoiling Ashley with all that stuff. Please, please don’t. A kid needs those things so much. . . .”

  Dave slipped his arm around Lisa and hugged her close, knowing that from now on he was going to look at his life, and his daughter’s life, in a whole new light.

  “Even after all that’s happened, he still doesn’t want to do anything to hurt his brother,” Dave said. “Can you believe that?”

  “Yeah,” Lisa said. “I can believe it.”

  Dave thought about how she’d held out hope about her own brother to the point of traveling hundreds of miles to San Antonio on the off chance that he’d taken a turn for the better. If anybody could understand how Gabrio felt, it was her. And she promised she’d be there to help him when they got to San Antonio, a promise he knew beyond all doubt that she would keep.

  I don’t want to depend on anyone, and I don’t want anyone depending on me.

  Dave hadn’t bought that when Lisa said it two nights ago in Monterrey, and he sure wasn’t buying it now.

  Gabrio returned a few minutes later carrying a tattered canvas bag.

  “Anything else?” Dave asked.

  The kid glanced helplessly around the filthy little house, then reached up and rubbed a crucifix he wore between his thumb and forefinger. Finally he shook his head.

  Dave stood up. “Then let’s go.”

  chapter nineteen

  Sera picked up a tray of drinks off the bar, wishing she knew what was happening at Gabrio’s house. Forty-five minutes had passed since she’d phoned Dave to tell him Ivan was here. It would take ten minutes for them to get from her house to Gabrio’s. What in the world was happening?

  She glanced over to Ivan’s table, where he, Juan, and Enrique sat drinking as usual. So far, so good.

  The bartender had slipped away for a moment, so she ducked behind the bar, made a couple of drinks to fill an order, and put them on a tray. Coming back around, she scooped up the tray to take it to one of the tables.

  “Sera.”

  She turned back, shocked to see who was standing behind her.

  Robert Douglas.

  At nearly six-foot-two, he towered over her, staring down at her with dark eyes that had once seemed merely unapproachable. Knowing what she knew now, they seemed cruel and merciless.

  What did he want?

  Calm down. He comes in here all the time. Nothing new about that.

  She set the tray of drinks back down on the bar, hoping he couldn’t see her hands shaking. “Hello, Robert.”

  He settled onto a bar stool. “I just wanted to let you know that I’ve got a charter flight coming down tomorrow afternoon to take me back to San Antonio for Adam’s memorial service on Thursday morning. I know the two of you were close. I thought maybe you’d like to come along.”

  You bastard. The words beat at her mind, clawing to get out. He was playing it straight down the line, as if he weren’t the one who’d ordered Adam’s execution, as if he weren’t the one who had sabotaged Lisa’s plane, as if he weren’t the one who had caused this terrible chain of events that just might end up with a young boy getting killed. Of course he’d show up for the memorial service. People would question it if he didn’t. And he would stand there with a pious look on his face, listening to one person after another saying wonderful things about Adam, a man whose shoes Robert wasn’t fit to lick.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I wish I could, but I’ve been sick for the past few days and missed work. I really shouldn’t miss any more. But if you’ll extend my condolences to his family I’d appreciate it.”

  “I will.” He shook his head sadly. “Adam’s death was such a shame. He was a good friend.”

  Sera swallowed the anger that boiled into her throat, warning herself to say very little. The last thing she needed was to tip off Robert that she knew more about this situation than she should.

  “Yes,” she agreed. “I’m going to miss him.”

  “Did you see the news report about Lisa Merrick?”

  Sera’s heart beat frantically. “Uh . . . yes. I did. It said she survived the plane crash that killed Adam. And that she was smuggling drugs. I can’t imagine that she would do such a thing.”

  “I’m afraid it’s true,” Robert said. “Of course, no one believes Adam had anything to do with it. He was just flying back with her on a regular run when she also happened to be carrying contraband. He was nothing but an innocent bystander who got caught up in a drug war.”

  Your drug war, you bastard. “They said she was arrested trying to smuggle something on a plane into the U.S. Is that true?”

  “Yes.” Robert shook his head sadly. “Some people do things that the rest of us will never understand.”

  To her surprise, he reached out and covered her hand with his where it lay against the bar, giving her a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “If you’d like to reconsider attending the service, I can arrange a hotel room for you for tomorrow night and then fly you back down here after the service on Thursday. Are you sure you won’t come with me?”

  His hand tightened against hers, and Sera thought she was going to be sick. “No, Robert,” she said, extracting her hand from beneath his. “As I said, I have obligations here.”

  “I understand. I’ll be flying out at four o’clock tomorrow. If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

  With that, he tossed a few hundred pesos on the bar and walked out the door. She hated him with every ounce of her being. If he never got what was coming to him in this world, she prayed he’d get it in the next one.

  She picked up the tray of drinks again. When she turned, she saw Ivan rising from the table where he’d been sitting with Juan and Enrique, tossing down money at the same time.

  No, no, no!

  She set the drinks back down on the bar and hurried over as nonchalantly as she could, pretending to be clearing the table behind where he’d been sitting.

  “Leaving so soon, Ivan?”

  “Yeah. I’m done.”

  Sera felt a jolt of panic. “Why, I don’t think that’s possible. There’s still alcohol behind that bar.”

  “Got lots to do.” He paused, eyeing her up and down. “Unless you’d like to pull up a chair and join me.”

  The very thought revolted Sera. “Now, Ivan, you know I’m working. Ario doesn’t like us messing around on the job.”

  “Now, you know I’m one of Ario’s best customers. Do you really think he’s going to mess with me?”

  Sera couldn’t think of anything to say. Absolutely nothing. If she didn’t sit down with him, he was liable to walk right out that door.

  “Uh . . . sure,” she said. “I’ll sit for a minute. Just let me get this round of drinks to some other customers.”

  Without so much as a backward glance to Juan and Enrique, Ivan moved to a table for two along the wall, where he slumped down in one of the chairs. Sera took the drinks to the customers who had ordered them, moving as slowly as she could, praying every moment that the phone would ring.

  Nothing.

  Finally, when she couldn’t put it off any longer, she sat down beside Ivan. He leaned toward her, moving so close she could smell the alcohol on his breath. She hated the way his eyes narrowed when he drank, with a lethal expression that set her nerves on edge.

  “I like that nice, big farmhouse of yours,” he said. “We could have a really good time there. Maybe even tonight.” He paused. “Maybe even now.”

  “What? You’re not even going to buy me a drink first?”

&n
bsp; A thin smile came across his lips as he clearly saw himself leaping the first hurdle. He had no idea that very soon he’d be landing on the other side facedown in the dirt.

  “Sure,” he said. “Whatever you say.”

  “Sera!” Ario called out. “Phone for you.”

  Sera’s heart leapt with hope. She started to rise from her chair, but Ivan wrapped his fingers around her wrist. “Tell Ario to take a message.”

  “I can’t. It could be one of my pregnant mothers with a problem. I have to answer.”

  He tightened his grip. “We were just starting to have a good time.”

  “Small delay,” she said, staring him directly in the eye. “That’s all.”

  Slowly he released her, then leveled a gaze at her. “Come right back.”

  “Sure, Ivan.”

  Sera slipped away from the table and hurried into the kitchen. She grabbed the phone. “Hello?”

  “Sera. It’s Lisa. We’re back at your house, and everything’s fine. Gabrio is here. He’s coming with us.”

  “Oh, thank God,” she said. “Thank God.” Sera breathed deeply, feeling as if the concrete block that had been pressing against her chest for the past two days had finally lifted.

  “Is Ivan still there?” Lisa asked.

  “Yes. And I’m leaving right now.”

  Sera hung up the phone and glanced back out to the bar, where Ivan sat sprawled in his chair waiting for her return, clearly on his way to becoming a monumental drunk. She slipped out the back door and hurried to her car, thinking that if there was any justice in this world, he’d drink himself to death.

  When Adam heard the front door open downstairs, he sat up suddenly, praying to God that everything had turned out okay. A few minutes later, he heard footsteps on the stairs and Lisa appeared at the doorway.

  “Gabrio?” he said.

  “Downstairs. He’s coming with us.”

  Adam exhaled with relief. “I knew you could do it, Lisa. I knew you could. Thank you.”

  Lisa came into the room and sat down in the chair beside Adam. “I’ve got to tell you, though. He’s pretty freaked out right now.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “When Dave and I got there, he had a gun to his head.”

  Adam just stared at her, blinking with disbelief. “He was going to kill himself?”

  “I can’t say for sure that he would have done it. But he was really shook up. Dave had to talk the gun out of his hand.”

  “But why would he want to kill himself?”

  “Because he’s the one who informed on us. That led to Robert trying to kill us, so he thinks he’s the cause of everything. And with the possibility of his brother coming after him . . .” Lisa sighed. “He thought it was his only way out.”

  “Is he all right now?”

  “He’s still a little shaky. Not thinking too clearly. But he’s made the decision to come with us.”

  “Thank God. Send him up here, will you? I want to talk to him.”

  Lisa patted Adam on the arm and stood up. “Sure. I’ll go get him.”

  A few minutes later, Adam heard footsteps on the stairs. Gabrio appeared at the doorway. Hollow half circles darkened the area below his eyes, eyes that radiated a wariness so ingrained that Adam wondered if it would ever go away.

  “Come in,” Adam said.

  Still the kid stood there, uneasiness shouting from every muscle in his body. His gaze went to the bandage on Adam’s head. Gabrio rolled his eyes heavenward for a moment, his chest heaving with a harsh breath.

  “Oh, man. I’m so sorry about what happened. I should have stopped them. I should have—”

  “No. You couldn’t have.”

  “I should have done something. Anything but let them . . .” Tears filled his eyes. “Anything but let them shoot you.”

  “Come here,” Adam said.

  Gabrio paused, his lips tight, and even from across the room Adam could see him trembling. Slowly he walked toward the bed.

  Adam sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. “Sit down for a minute, okay?”

  Gabrio looked down at the overstuffed chair.

  “It’s okay,” Adam said. “Just sit.”

  The kid sat down, his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped in front of him, refusing to meet Adam’s eyes.

  “Listen to me,” Adam said. “You couldn’t have stopped them. If you’d tried to, you would have gotten both of us killed. You did exactly what you should have.”

  The kid just stared at his lap, shaking his head slowly.

  “Gabrio.”

  Slowly he looked up.

  “It was one of the bravest things I’ve ever seen any man do,” Adam said. “You saved my life. I’ll never be able to repay you for that.”

  Adam held out his hand. Gabrio looked down at it, as if he hadn’t the faintest idea what to do. Adam continued to hold his hand out until finally Gabrio reached out hesitantly and shook it.

  “I’m sorry for what Ivan did,” Gabrio said, his voice quivering.

  “You’re not your brother. You don’t have to apologize for anything he’s done.”

  Gabrio nodded a little, falling silent.

  Adam could tell Gabrio still didn’t fully believe anything he was being told and years might pass before he found the capacity to trust anyone. But even though he had a long road ahead of him, at least the worst was over. At least now he’d have a chance at a decent life, and Adam was going to do everything he could to make sure he got one.

  Sera parked her car in front of her house and got out, blinking against the late afternoon sun streaming through the windshield. Hurrying inside, she found Lisa and Dave waiting in her living room.

  “Where’s Gabrio?” she asked.

  “Upstairs with Adam,” Lisa said.

  Sera was overcome by a flood of emotion, so grateful for what they’d done that she could hardly put it into words. “Thank you. Both of you. I don’t know what I’d have done without you.” Her eyes filled with tears. She put her arms around Lisa and gave her a hug, then did the same to Dave.

  “No doubt about it,” she told him, sniffing a little. “I’ll be putting in your application for sainthood the minute we get to San Antonio.”

  He smiled. “I’d have settled for angel wings.”

  Lisa stole a glance at Dave, and Sera could tell that her contention that he was just a friend wasn’t even close to the truth. There was something so real, so telling, in Lisa’s gaze—admiration, attraction, appreciation, all those things that signaled just how much this man meant to her.

  Friends, maybe. But that certainly wasn’t all.

  “Okay,” Dave said. “We need to get out of here.” He turned to Lisa. “Take one of the cars, drive out, and get the plane ready to take off. I’ll get everyone packed up here. By the time we get there, you’ll have the plane ready and we can leave.” He turned to Sera. “Do you have your things together?”

  Sera nodded. “Everything’s packed and sitting by the back door.”

  “Do you have some extra blankets we could bring along?” Lisa asked. “The heater in this plane isn’t the best, and Adam needs to stay warm.”

  “I’ll get them right now.” Sera walked to the stairs, then turned back suddenly. “Oh! The ponies! If I’m going to be gone for a while, I need to turn them out to pasture.”

  Dave held up his palm. “You get the blankets. I’ll turn the ponies out.”

  “There’s a twenty-acre pasture with a stock pond to the west of the barn. They can stay there for the time being.”

  “Okay. Then meet me at the back door and we’ll load up.”

  Sera nodded. As Dave and Lisa went to the back door, Sera went up the stairs into one of her guest bedrooms and fished through a closet to find two blankets they could take along, grabbing an extra pillow at the same time.

  She came back down the stairs and had almost reached the bottom when she heard a knock on her front door. She jerked to a halt, her hand tighten
ing on the banister.

  Three more loud raps.

  Who could that be?

  She prayed it wasn’t a woman in labor. She couldn’t deal with that now.

  Trotting down the final two stairs, she spilled the blankets and pillow onto the sofa, then walked toward the front door, stopping first to peer through the curtains to the porch.

  Ivan.

  A chill of fear swept through her. She knew he’d be angry that she’d left, but she never for a moment imagined that he’d follow her to her house. What if he saw Adam or Gabrio? Or even Dave and Lisa? What would he do?

  He’ll go away. Just say nothing, and he’ll go away.

  He beat on the door again.

  Sera squeezed her eyes closed, willing him to leave. For a moment, she heard nothing. Then she saw the doorknob turn.

  She gasped softly, unable to remember if she’d locked the door or not. She felt a call for help rising in her chest, but she stifled it immediately. It would only bring Gabrio down the stairs, and if Ivan happened to get inside she had no idea what he might do if he saw his brother here. She stood there, immobilized by panic, watching as the knob twisted ninety degrees. Then the door clattered in its frame.

  Yes. Thank God. It’s locked.

  Relief gushed through her. A few moments passed. Then she heard something rattling around in the lock.

  What was he doing?

  Seconds ticked by. The knob turned again. This time, the door opened, and Ivan stepped into the house. Sera’s heart slammed against her chest.

  Their gazes met, and a drunken, malevolent expression spread across his face. “You ran out on me. Not a smart thing to do.”

  She raised her chin and spoke sharply. “That door was locked.”

  He gave her a mocking laugh. “You think a lock keeps me out?” He clicked his pocketknife shut and slid it back into his pocket, then shut the door.

  “I think you’d better leave,” Sera said.

  “Oh, yeah? Is that what you think? How about if I tell you I’m not interested in what you think?” His gaze slid all the way down her body and back up again. “You got a couple other things I’m interested in, though.”

  You have to get him out of here. Now.