Get Blondie

by Cassidy, Carla

  She dove into the water, pleased to find it the perfect temperature with just enough chill to be invigorating. There was nothing worse than swimming in water warm as a bath.

  She swam twenty laps before coming up for air, then rolled over on her back and floated for several minutes. The time bomb in her head ticked loudly this afternoon. While she was back floating in a swimming pool, Adam’s plans moved forward minute by minute.

  Had he given her clues she hadn’t picked up on in the conversations they’d shared? She racked her brain, trying to replay every word of every conversation they’d shared in the past eight days.

  A shipment of drugs as big as what Kane had implied would have to be arriving by truck, but they didn’t even know if the drug had been manufactured here or in another country. She wondered if Kane and the agency had had any luck in finding out where the drugs were being manufactured.

  It was possible Adam had a lab right here in town, transforming ordinary marijuana and cocaine into the magical Blue drug.

  Who was working with him? He couldn’t be doing this all alone. The people who were putting the poisonous ingredients into the drugs had to be aware that they were involved in a huge murder plot.

  Certainly drug dealers wouldn’t be a part of that process. They weren’t about to be part of something that would halt their livelihood and cut down on the number of gold chains they could wear.

  It had to be his cohorts from MAD. She thought sardonically how Men Against Drugs had somehow become Men Arranging Death. A good thing taken to such extreme that it had gone bad. Extremists were always dangerous.

  She did another twenty laps, then got out of the pool and dropped into one of the sinfully comfortable loungers. She removed the goggles, slathered on some suntan lotion, then stretched out on her belly and let the sun bake her backside.

  She snoozed off and on. In the moments of awakeness her thoughts whirled with her assignment and how she was going to get what she needed. In the landscape of dreams she suffered visions of a sneering Burt with his gun, memories of Rick, her mother’s boyfriend’s hot hands stroking her back, the vision of the pickup truck as it pulled away from her. Finally the vision of Kane lying in a hospital bed and her inability to accept the fact that she was responsible for putting him there—even if inadvertently—tormented her dreams.

  She wasn’t sure how long she’d been lying there, half asleep, when she heard his footsteps. She had come to recognize Adam’s walk…long strides, determined and confident, unlike Kane who never made a sound when he walked.

  Pretending to be asleep, she kept her eyes closed even as every muscle in her body tensed.

  “Now that’s a lovely sight,” he said.

  “Adam!” Her eyes flew open in mock surprise and she started to sit up.

  “No, no, don’t get up,” he said and sat next to her on the lounger. “I see you took my advice and decided to have a nice leisurely day.”

  There was nothing in his voice to indicate anything had changed between them and a touch of relief fluttered through her. He gestured her to lie back down, then grabbed the bottle of suntan oil and squirted some into his hand.

  Cassie fought a flinch as he applied the lotion to her back, stroking her skin with long, languid strokes. “Beautiful,” he murmured. “You are so beautiful.” His hands pressed harder, feeling feverish even against her sun-baked skin.

  “I find myself thinking of nothing but you, thinking about making love to you all the time.” He leaned forward and kissed the skin in the center of her back. “Don’t you think I’ve waited long enough, my love? I think it’s time you moved into my bedroom. I’ll have somebody move your things there this evening during dinner.”

  He left her no room to wiggle. As far as he was concerned it was a done deal and it was obvious from his voice that he would brook no argument from her.

  Dread ripped through her. Tonight she would be in his bed. She raised up just enough to turn and catch his eye. She smiled. “I’d like that,” she said simply.

  “Good, then it’s settled.” He continued to rub her back for several minutes, then stood. “I’m going to go back inside and shower and work a bit in my study. You just enjoy the rest of the afternoon and I’ll see you at dinner.”

  As he walked away, Cassie got up and dove back into the pool, needing to erase the feel of his hot hands, his wet kiss off her back.

  She’d hoped to be out of here before this moment came. The last thing she wanted was anything intimate with Mercer. But he was right. He’d been more patient than she’d thought he would be.

  Still, it was bad enough that she hated even looking at slimy bugs, it made her positively ill to think that before the night was over she’d be sleeping with one.

  Chapter 13

  There was no denying the expectancy in the air, the simmering energy of anticipation as Cassie and Adam ate dinner that evening. The air of expectation only served to plump up the ball of anxiety in Cassie’s stomach.

  Adam spent the meal telling her about his day. He told her nothing specific, but talked in generalities, sharing with her the lunch he’d had with a business associate and an irritating two hours spent at a passport office to renew his passport.

  “I don’t suppose you have a passport?” he asked.

  Cassie laughed. “I didn’t exactly need one to move from Des Moines to Kansas City.”

  “We’ll need to see about getting you one. I think we’ll be doing a lot of traveling in the near future.”

  So he intended to leave the country. She certainly wasn’t surprised. In the weeks and months following Blue hitting the streets, Adam would be a likely target for every drug czar in the world. He probably had a hideout all ready for him, a place where he could claim himself king. He definitely showed signs of suffering from delusions of grandeur.

  “I’ve never been out of the country before,” she replied. “I’ve never even been out of the Midwest.”

  “Then you are in for a treat. There are places on this earth so beautiful it brings tears to your eyes. Of course, before we do any traveling, we’re going to have to see to your wardrobe.”

  Cassie frowned and ran a hand down the front of the sundress she wore. It was another cotton dress, worn and faded from too many washings and obviously cheap. She feigned a look of hurt.

  Adam laughed. “Don’t feel bad, my dear. I know such materialistic things don’t mean a lot to you, that’s what makes you so dear to me.”

  His eyes gleamed with a light she’d never seen before…it wasn’t the possessiveness she’d come to expect. It wasn’t desire or tenderness, it was something she couldn’t quite define. “Unfortunately I’m a bit more materialistic than you are and it’s important to me that the woman I’m with look good.”

  Cassie worked a blush to her cheeks. “I’m sorry if I embarrass you.”

  “Darling, of course you aren’t an embarrassment to me. I’d just like to buy you a new wardrobe. We’ll go shopping tomorrow in celebration of our first night truly together.”

  “That sounds nice,” she agreed.

  “Good, then it’s settled.” He smiled, the gesture not directed at her, but rather inward, as if he were immensely pleased with himself.

  Maybe the excitement that simmered in the air wasn’t just the fact that tonight he intended to sleep with her, but also because his plot was mere days away and things were on track.

  When dinner was over they moved to the living room, as had become their custom in the time she’d spent in the house. There Adam turned on soft music and poured them each an after-dinner drink.

  As usual, Adam talked. He liked to talk about himself and his work. The man who had briefly courted her, hanging on her every word, gazing lovingly into her eyes, had disappeared over the last couple of days. She knew she was seeing the real man now…a smug, arrogant egomaniac.

  As she listened to him explain the workings of his rehabilitation centers, she tried to keep her mind off the night to come. But it was difficult
to avoid thinking that within hours she’d be beside him in his bed.

  Maybe then he’d bare his soul to her. Maybe then he’d tell her of his plot to avenge his daughter’s death. If she got the information she needed to take back to Kane and the agency, if in the afterglow of sex he spilled his guts to her, then it would be worth it. Saving others would make it all worthwhile.

  She thought of the drug users she’d be saving. It wasn’t just the street addicts who would suffer if Adam’s tainted drug hit the marketplace. It would be businessmen who took a cocaine break at noon to get them through the rest of a long day. It would be young people experimenting for the very first time. It would be housewives and doctors, college kids and lawyers. And just maybe it would be her mother.

  Drug use crossed economic, ethnic and age lines. Almost everyone had a friend or a family member who suffered from some form of drug addiction or another. She might save her mother or her brother.

  As always thoughts of her family shot warring emotions through her. Deep need mingled with anger, hunger battled with pain. All she’d ever wanted was to find her family.

  The address that was burned into her brain was a bonus of the job. But it was the death cries of all those people who would die that had driven her to this place and this time. Adam had to be stopped.

  All too soon, Adam sat next to her on the sofa and placed an arm around her shoulder. “I think it’s time to retire to our bedroom, don’t you?” His blue eyes looked more arctic than usual, as if the fire of desire didn’t burn hot in him, but rather cold.

  “All right,” she replied.

  He stood, grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. “I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to this.” He ran a hand down her back, his hand hot, almost feverish even through the material of her dress.

  They climbed the stairs together, trepidation beating through her with each step climbed. She glanced into her bedroom as they passed it and saw that it looked as if she’d never been in there.

  When they reached Adam’s room and stepped into the door, she saw that all her possessions were stacked in a pile near the foot of the massive king-size bed. Cassie was vaguely surprised by the careless assemblage of her things. She’d assumed her clothing would have been hung in Adam’s closet, her toiletries placed in the master bath.

  Burt stood nearby. Although no expression played on his blunt features, a glint of something ugly shown from his eyes.

  “What’s he doing in here?” she asked.

  “Is that everything?” Adam asked Burt as he gestured to the pile of her belongings.

  “Right down to her toothbrush,” Burt replied.

  “Good.” Adam turned to Cassie and smiled. “There’s been a small change of plans in the night’s activities.”

  In those words, an invisible gust of danger blew cold through her. Danger snapped and crackled in the air, like lightning portending a particularly damaging storm.

  “What do you mean? What’s going on here?” she asked. Every muscle in her body tensed.

  “It seems you have a bit of a problem, Ms. Newton,” Adam said.

  If Cassie’s blood had been cold before, it froze solid now. He knew. She looked at Burt and for the first time a smile curled his lips, like the rictus of a skeleton as he pulled out his gun and pointed it at her.

  “I don’t understand…why did you call me that?” she tried to bluff. “What’s going on here? Adam, you’re frightening me. Why does he have a gun?”

  “Don’t waste my time with your feeble protests,” Adam snapped. “Cassandra Newton, member of the Kansas City Police Department and snake in my grass.”

  Adam stepped closer to her, so close she could feel the chill emanating from his eyes. “There’s a mouse in your house, Ms. Newton, and the mouse has whispered in my ear that you aren’t just a cop, but a SPACE invader as well.”

  Cassie stepped backward from him, shock making her knees momentarily weak. A mole. There was a mole in the agency and whoever it was had sold her out.

  Her switchblade burned the skin inside her bra, but there was no way she could get to it before Burt could pull the trigger of the gun that was pointed at her midsection. From this distance, she couldn’t hope that he would miss her.

  “Sit down, Cassandra.” Adam pointed to the bed and a new fear shot through Cassie. She would force Burt to shoot her before she’d allow the two men to rape her. “Don’t make me tell you again,” Adam said when she didn’t move.

  She weighed her options and decided compliance was the best one to take at this moment. She moved to the edge of the bed and sat.

  Adam paced the floor nearby, careful not to step between Burt’s gun and her. “I must say, I was quite disappointed when I learned your real identity this morning. I had high hopes for us. But now the cat is out of the bag so to speak.”

  He stopped pacing and looked at her with a touch of amusement. “I must confess, you were quite good. If it hadn’t been for my source, and the nagging suspicions of Burt, I would have swallowed your act hook, line and sinker.”

  He paused and looked at her as if expecting her to say something witty or charming. She said nothing. “I know what you want, and I’m going to tell you all about it. I’ve been eager to share it with you anyway.” He began to pace once again, pride radiating from every pore in his body. “You must admit, the plan is pure genius. I paid top dollar to produce a product so pure every user would want a piece of it. I flooded the market with it and created a demand the drug market has never seen before.”

  He seemed to grow in stature as he spoke, as if his self-important words pumped him full of air. “And I’ve paid top dollar for the new, improved product that is set to hit the marketplace on Independence Day.”

  “Does Burt know the new drug is poison? Does he know he’s not dealing a good high, but instead is dealing death?” she replied. All she could hope for is that Burt didn’t know and she could create dissention in the ranks.

  Her hope died bitterly in the sound of Burt’s unpleasant burst of laughter. “I don’t give a damn if the dope turns everyone into aliens or instantly stops their heart. I get my cut the moment the stuff is distributed and I don’t intend to hang around to see what happens after that.”

  “This morning a shipment of furniture from Central America arrived in San Francisco. The furniture isn’t stuffed with foam. It’s stuffed with Blue.” It was as if Adam felt compelled to tell her everything, as if he wanted her to hear and recognize his genius.

  “What about inspectors? How do you expect to get that kind of shipment by the inspectors on the docks?” she asked.

  Adam looked at her as if she were an imbecile. “I’ve bought all the people I need to make this a successful operation. Tomorrow the shipment will leave San Francisco by truck and will arrive at the point of distribution on the morning of the Fourth of July. From there it will be distributed to top dealers in the country and the rest, as they say, will be history.”

  As he told her the details she knew she was hearing her death sentence. Now that she knew the plan there was no way he intended her to leave this room alive.

  “I guess now we get to the part where you kill me,” she said, a strange calm descending upon her. There was no way she could take out both of them with her knife, no way she could do much of anything as long as Burt had the gun.

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Adam scoffed. “I don’t dirty my hands with such jobs. I leave that for Burt. He seems to enjoy this kind of thing.” Adam walked to the bedroom door and opened it. “Goodbye Cassandra, it’s a real shame that you weren’t who you pretended to be. I was quite fond of Jessica.” He turned his attention to Burt. “Try not to make a mess like you did with Nicole. Blood is so difficult to get out of a bedspread and carpeting.”

  He walked out of the bedroom and closed the door behind him, leaving her to face Burt and his gun.

  Cassie certainly wasn’t surprised to have confirmed the fact that poor Nicole had met her death at the hand
s of the burly, bald Burt.

  But she didn’t have time to grieve for the woman she’d never known. The moment Adam had left the room he’d bettered the odds for Cassie. All she had to do was get the gun away from Burt and the odds would be even.

  “You aren’t so full of smart talk now, are you,” Burt said, his Elvis sneer returning to his lips.

  “Adam said not to make a mess,” she replied. “If you shoot me I promise you I’ll bleed all over the room.”

  Burt walked over to the door and locked it, his gaze and the aim of the gun never leaving her. “I’m not into death by gunshot…not intimate enough.” He lowered the gun and her muscles bunched, growing taut in anticipation of what was to come.

  There was one final piece of information Adam hadn’t given to her. “Just tell me one thing, Burt. Where is the distribution to take place? If you’re going to kill me, I’d like to die with all the answers.”

  He shrugged. “You mean Adam’s ex-wife? She has a warehouse on the north side of town. The bitch doesn’t have a clue about it, but that’s where it’s going down.”

  If she just lived long enough to get the information to Kane. The feel of her knife in her bra was reassuring, but she didn’t want to get it out yet. If she got it into her hand too quickly there was a possibility he might take it away from her. She had to wait until the right moment to take it out and use it to save herself.

  “Besides, I don’t want to kill you until I’ve had a little fun with you.” There was no mistaking the excitement that lit his eyes, the sexual excitement of a predator.

  To her surprise he emptied his gun, turning the barrel to allow the bullets to spill to the floor. He then set the gun itself on top of the walnut highboy.

  The moment his fingers released the gun, Cassie stood. She didn’t intend to sit passively and wait for his attack. She wasn’t going to allow him to rape and beat her without a fight. If she went down, she’d go down like a wildcat, fighting and kicking, scratching and stabbing until the last breath left her body.