Get Blondie

by Cassidy, Carla

  At six-fifteen on the evening she was to meet Kane, she entered the basement of the Holy Family Catholic Church.

  The basement was dismal. Old stone walls bore the ancient age of the church. What wasn’t stone was painted an institutional gray. A large cross hung high on one wall, the only ornamentation in the room.

  Along one wall, members of the congregation served up helpings of chicken and noodles, green beans and canned fruit cocktail. The rest of the room was filled with picnic tables and benches.

  Even the savory scent of cooked chicken couldn’t override the smell of poverty, the odor of the streets that clung to the people seated at the tables. It was the scent of stale sweat and vomit, of unwashed bodies and oily hair. It was the odor of hopelessness and mental illness, of despair and loneliness.

  Cassie got in line with the other lost souls, her stomach rumbling with hunger. She’d eaten dinner here every night for the past two nights, sitting alone and not speaking to anyone.

  Thankfully the people who worked here didn’t pretend to be social workers. Their goal wasn’t to change things, or provide counsel. They were here only to feed the hungry.

  On this night she took her tray and settled in as she had the previous two nights, at a table facing the door with her back to the wall. From this vantage point she could see everyone who entered the basement.

  Kane would be here soon and hopefully he would have news about what the agency had learned about distribution and a plan to get her inside when the action took place.

  She wanted to see Mercer’s face when he realized she wasn’t dead, when he realized all was lost. She needed to see his defeat stamped on his arrogant, handsome features.

  She was tense. The past two days had been difficult ones, stirring up old, unwanted memories at the same time making her worry about who on the street might recognize her.

  She was aware that it would only take one sighting by a street punk or dope dealer to negate the story of her death.

  Cassie noticed the soup kitchen was unusually busy. It would be closed in two days for the holiday. Apparently nobody realized the homeless got hungry on holidays, too. So tonight and tomorrow night the homeless would come to eat enough to last through the Fourth of July. It wasn’t long before the basement was congested.

  An old woman sat down on Cassie’s right. Despite the heat of the evening, the woman wore layers of clothing. The homeless traveled light, usually wearing or carrying all they owned in the world.

  A man eased down on her left. Cassie glanced at him long enough to note the gray scraggly beard and the dirty fishing cap on top of his head.

  She ate the chicken slowly, her gaze focused on the door, expecting Kane to walk in at any moment. It had to be six-thirty by now. Where was he? He was never late.

  What if something had happened? What if the mole in the agency had given him up and Mercer had gone after him? A hollow ache pierced through her stomach. She refused to even contemplate such a scenario.

  “Your disguise isn’t as good as mine.” The low, familiar voice came from her left and she turned her head to look at the man seated next to her, the man she had dismissed earlier.

  Beneath the rim of the fishing hat she saw the rich luster of dark hair. The sensual lips above the disgusting beard turned upward in a smile she’d recognize anywhere. And those eyes, those gorgeous dark gray eyes were impossible to disguise.

  Thank God. Relief coursed through her at the sight of him. “I didn’t have access to developing much of a disguise,” she replied softly. “And yours isn’t that good. If I’d really looked at you, I’d have recognized you.”

  “It’s good enough that I’ve been sitting here next to you for the past ten minutes and you didn’t notice me.” He paused a moment. “You okay?”

  “I’m dirty and cranky and ready for action. So what’s up?”

  “We have a plan, but we can’t talk here. I’m going to get up and leave. You wait a few minutes then follow me. I’m parked down the street to the right on the north side. It’s a navy-blue sedan. I’ll meet you there.”

  He returned his attention to his plate, eating like a man who had been too long without food. When his plate was empty he carried the tray to the bin where dirty dishes were collected, then shuffled, shoulders stooped, out of the basement.

  Cassie took several minutes to finish eating, then disposed of her tray and stepped outside. Even though it had to be just after seven, the sun still ruled with the humidity and heat indicative of midsummer weather in the Midwest.

  By the time she found the blue sedan, Kane had removed the ugly beard and his hat. She slid into the passenger seat and breathed in the soothing coolness coming from the air conditioner.

  She took off her sunglasses and eyed him. “So tell me the plan.”

  He reached out and touched her chin. “Looks like you caught a right cross.”

  “Courtesy of Weatherby.” She leaned back, away from the touch of his gentle fingers.

  He put the car into gear and pulled away from the curb. “The first step in the plan is to get to my motel room and let you take a shower. Not for nothing, honey, but you smell terrible.”

  She nodded, knowing he was right. Two days in the elements without benefit of a bathtub had definitely taken a toll on her personal hygiene. “Have you pinpointed where the drugs are going to be distributed?”

  “Not specifically, but we’ve got men covering Mercer’s house, his ex-wife’s three warehouses and the shelter that he closed down. We think it’s probably going to be the shelter. It’s a huge building with a loading dock in the back. It’s a perfect place to bring the drugs.”

  “Any activity at any of the places?” she asked.

  “Nothing so far. However, there’s been some rumors on the street that the dry spell is just about over and Blue will come in with the fireworks display.”

  “So that implies the date hasn’t changed,” she said.

  “We have to function on the possibility that the moment you left his house he changed the location and time.” He paused a beat, then cast her a sideways glance. “We got the mole.”

  “Who?” She sat up straighter in the seat.

  “Carolyn.”

  Cassie gasped in surprise. “Ms. Clean Pores herself? The makeup magician?”

  Kane’s expression was dark. “She won’t be putting makeup on anyone for a very long time. She’ll certainly never get a chance to spend the money she received for betraying you and the agency.”

  Cassie stared out the passenger window and thought of Carolyn. She wondered vaguely how much the woman had thought Cassie’s life to be worth, but decided not to ask. It didn’t matter now. “How did they discover it was her?”

  “She made a foolish mistake and deposited a large sum of money into her bank account. When she was questioned about the source of that money, she fell apart and confessed.”

  Within minutes they were at the motel where Kane had rented a room. “Help yourself to the bathroom,” he said as they entered. “I took the liberty of getting you some clean clothes. They’re on the counter in there. We’ll talk after you’re finished.”

  Cassie bee-lined for the bathroom. As the shower sluiced away the grime of the past two days, she mentally prepared herself for what was to come.

  The game was on. Sometime tomorrow or the next day those drugs would pull into the city and Mercer would attempt to distribute them for his holiday of death.

  She had no idea what the plan was, but knew Kane would be in the thick of it. And she intended to be at his side. There was no way she was going to sit out the finale after coming so far.

  The clothes he’d chosen for her indicated he, too, expected her to be at his side. Black jeans, a black T-shirt and a black stocking cap awaited her when she got out of the shower. She dressed in the jeans and T-shirt, then carried the hat out of the bathroom with her.

  Freshly showered and clothed, she was pumped with adrenaline and ready for whatever came next. Kane sat on the en
d of the bed and for just a moment she thought of what it would be like to move into his arms and make love with him.

  She knew the taste of his mouth, the touch of his hands on her body. She loved the scent of his skin, and realized that despite the years that had passed he was still in her heart, still deep in her soul.

  It would be wonderful to take an hour, forget about a plot to kill people, forget about tainted drugs and just be with Kane.

  But that’s what had happened before. They’d made love mere hours before going into the last assignment they’d worked together and Kane had nearly died because he’d sacrificed himself for her.

  “Cassie?”

  “Let’s get down to business,” she said briskly. Business, that’s what she needed to focus on. “So fill me in.” She didn’t join him on the bed but rather leaned with her back against one wall.

  “My gut instinct is that this is probably going to go down in that shelter Mercer closed down. There has been no news coverage of the place shutting its doors, no publicity whatsoever. We know the original plan was to use one of his ex-wife’s warehouses, but he’d be a fool not to change that the minute you escaped from his house.”

  She nodded and he continued. “We’ve had the shelter under surveillance for the past forty-eight hours. There are no guards posted, no security whatsoever. Apparently Mercer is confident that the shelter is safe and maybe he thinks that posting guards around the area would draw unwanted attention. So, as soon as it gets dark, you and I are going inside.”

  “How?”

  He stood and began to pace the small space in front of the bed. “I checked out the place last night. There’s a small basement window that we can crawl in. We’re taking a three-man team in with us.”

  “Then what?” Raw energy pumped through her. The thrill of the game, the chill of impending danger.

  She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so alive. She hated to realize that she’d missed it…and had missed Kane.

  “Then we find someplace inside to hide and we wait. John has assured me that when it’s time for more backup, backup will be there.”

  Cassie said nothing, although she hoped he was right. She hoped John Etheridge could be trusted. She hoped Carolyn the mole didn’t have rat friends that went all the way to the very top of the agency hierarchy.

  “Backup or not, we have to see to it that those drugs don’t leave that warehouse,” Kane said, his jaw clenched with determination. He walked over to the closet door and pulled out a thick, long rope.

  “We need to check this and make sure it’s ready to go.”

  Cassie got up and grabbed one end. “What’s the rope for?”

  “The shelter is a four-story building. The rope is in case we find ourselves on the roof with nowhere to go but down.”

  Together, him starting from one end and her working from the other, they checked the rope for frays or cuts that might prove deadly to one or both of them.

  When they’d assured themselves that the rope was in good shape, he moved to one of the nightstands and withdrew two guns. He tossed one of them across the bed toward her. “I’m assuming you’re weaponless.”

  She reached into her T-shirt and pulled out her switchblade. “Not entirely.”

  He grinned at her. “Some girls have a favorite purse or pair of shoes. My girl has a favorite knife.”

  She wanted to vehemently protest his use of the term “my girl,” but decided now was not the time to create undue tension. He followed the gun with a box of ammo and for the next several minutes they each loaded the weapons.

  When the guns were loaded, he handed her an ammo belt. She strapped it on and filled it with additional ammo. With each bullet that clicked into place in the belt, her adrenaline spiked higher.

  The weapon and bullets did nothing to give her a false sense of security. She knew it was quite possible the bad guys would have bigger, more effective firepower. But the guns might buy them time, or make life a temporary hell for several of the bad guys.

  When they were ready, they got back into Kane’s car and headed for the shelter on the north side of town. Night shadows chased the last of the daylight from the sky and it was to their benefit that it looked like it was going to be a cloudy night.

  The city skyscrapers disappeared in the rearview mirror as they continued north. “The shelter is near the North Kansas City Hospital,” Kane said as he took an exit off the Interstate. “Years ago the building belonged to a small potato chip company. The company went out of business and since then the building has changed hands several times. Mercer has leased it for the past ten years.”

  Cassie wondered if her mother had ever been in the shelter. Had she sought help in this particular facility? Once again she was struck by the fact that the people she was saving were the very people who were often responsible for misery in the lives of the people who loved them.

  Kane pulled into the hospital parking lot. “We’re going to meet the rest of the team here. The shelter is about a mile from here, across those railroad tracks. We’ll leave the car here and go in on foot.” He pointed to a white panel van parked nearby. “And that’s our team.”

  Together he and Cassie got out of his car and walked to the panel truck. As they approached, the side door swung open and three men got out. Cassie had never seen any of the three men before.

  “This is Hawk, Falco and Tiny,” Kane made the introductions, using what Cassie knew were code names. “And this is White Rose.” All three of them had earphones in, indicating to Cassie that they were in constant communication with the surveillance team.

  They exchanged quick greetings, then with the darkness of night cloaking them, they took off walking. “So far the surveillance team reports there has been no suspicious activity around the shelter,” Falco said as they crossed the railroad tracks.

  “Mercer is smart, he won’t do anything to attract unwanted attention until the deal is imminent,” Cassie said.

  They slowed as they approached a group of four buildings. The grass and brush around the area was high, and they crouched down in the grass behind the third building, a four-story brick structure.

  “The basement window is the best way to access the building,” Kane said. “It’s unlocked and big enough for us to crawl in. Unfortunately, I don’t know what the access might be from the basement to the rest of the building.”

  “We’ll figure it all out once we get inside,” Hawk said. He handed Cassie and Kane earphones hooked to small transmitter boxes. “This will keep us all in touch with one another.”

  Cassie placed the earphone into her ear, then clipped the transmitter box on the front of her shirt.

  “We go into the basement, then we’ll do a general sweep of the building and decide final positions,” Kane said.

  “Let’s go.”

  Together the five of them ran through the brush and overgrown grass. Hawk led the way, a nimble black shadow. When they reached the basement window, Hawk, Falco and Tiny went in first.

  Cassie was about to go in next when Kane grabbed her by the arm and twirled her around to face him. “Just in case I don’t get a chance to do this again,” he whispered, then pulled her into his arms and captured her mouth with his.

  The kiss was devastating. Hungrily his mouth claimed hers. She raised a hand to his chest with the intention of pushing him away, but before she could summon the strength he released her.

  For a long breathless moment he held her gaze, then turned and slid through the window.

  Cassie felt scalded, not only by the heat in his eyes, but also by the lingering fire of his kiss. She’d tasted all that she’d turned her back on, all that she’d walked away from in his lips. For the first time in those five years, she wondered if perhaps she’d made a mistake. And she wondered, if she lived long enough, if she intended to do anything about it.

  Chapter 16

  Cassie followed Kane through the window, still shaken by the kiss and by that moment when their gazes had lo
cked. Don’t think about it, she told herself. They had a job to do and she couldn’t let thoughts of Kane and his kiss distract her.

  The basement of the shelter was nothing more than a concrete room filled with a few boxes of nonperishable supplies. As the three other men went up the stairs to check out the rest of the building, Kane and Cassie checked the contents of the boxes. She was grateful for any activity to keep her mind from replaying that kiss.

  The boxes contained toilet tissue and paper towels, napkins and a variety of other paper products. No drugs. Nothing suspicious whatsoever.

  From the basement Kane and Cassie moved to the first floor of the building where Hawk awaited them. “There’s bed frames in some of the rooms and a couple of old desks in what looks to have been an office, but other than that the place is pretty much empty.”

  “Where are Falco and Tiny?” Kane asked.

  Hawk pointed up. “They’re setting up on the roof. From that vantage point they’ll be able to see anyone coming. I was hoping that the three of us could hole up in the loading dock area, but there isn’t much cover.”

  “Let’s check it out,” Cassie said.

  In a large storage room a huge aluminum garage door took up half of the back of the building. It was easy to imagine a truck backing up to the dock and being unloaded into the huge room.

  “There’s not any cover,” Kane said. The room was completely empty, making hiding places impossible.

  “There’s a bathroom there.” Hawk pointed to a door.

  Kane frowned. “We’ll be sitting ducks in there.”

  “We’ve got agents ready to move in at the first sign of an approaching truck,” Hawk said. “Our backup should be able to burst in before any of the men decide to visit the bathroom.” He didn’t sound overly confident with his own plan.

  Cassie stepped toward the bathroom and shone her light in the small, windowless room. She frowned. She didn’t like it. She couldn’t help but worry about backup she hadn’t seen. She couldn’t forget that she’d been sold down the river and they had no idea what additional information Carolyn might have told Mercer while she was selling Cassie’s soul.