by Tory Hayward
I watched him park his jeep a safe distance from the house. Step out of it, cocky and sure of himself, shoulders back, head up, looking around. No idea someone watched. No idea he walked into a trap.
Outrage mixed with scornful amusement. Stupid man. No doubt he assumed I was naive, spoiled and incapable, just like so many others did. I leaned closer to the screen, the detail was hard to make out, even with the superb cameras, but he looked familiar. We’d met before.
With the flick of a switch I shut off the electric current that ran along the boundary of the property. If anyone bothered to notice the dilapidated-looking fence that surrounded the place, they’d never have guessed it hid a sophisticated anti-intruder system that threw up a six-foot high wall of electric current. Not enough to kill, but enough to shock badly.
He walked towards the house, so assured he was almost amusing. When he stopped to glance at my car, I left the screen and slipped silently through the house. I peered through the peephole in the front door and, with a dull snick, unlocked it. Then shrank back into the shadows.
I could barely hear his footsteps as he came up the wooden stairs that led to the porch. But the wood creaked and gave, as if the house tried to warn me that trouble was coming.
I slipped my gun out of its holster at my hip and flicked the safety catch off. Adrenaline started to flow, my heart began to thud, and I took a slow silent breath, opening my mouth to let in more air. I controlled my body as it slipped into fight or flight mode.
His steps halted at the front door. I lifted my chin and raised the gun, waiting.
A thought crept into my mind, making my concentration wobble, just as the door handle began to move.
It was my mother’s birthday. This man had chosen to invade this sanctuary on the day my mother would’ve turned fifty.
I tried to push the thought aside, but grief, still raw after all this time, moved uneasily beneath my heart, mixing with the adrenaline. I blinked rapidly, to clear the stupid tears that suddenly blurred my vision. The hand that held the gun wobbled. I stared at it as if it belonged to someone else. My hand had never wobbled before, not like that.
Slowly the door swung open, I could hear his breathing, hitched and uncertain, unable to believe his luck that it was unlocked. A cold gust swirled in, picking up dust on the floor and making the hairs prickle on my forearms. In a tiny gap of silence, between my breath and his, I heard my mother’s voice whisper, ‘Steady, Merry. Steady.’
I calmed instantly. The moment of raw emotion went as quickly as it’d arrived.
He took a tentative step into the house, and then another.
‘Can I help you?’ I hid my anger behind icy calm. ‘Is there something you want?’
He startled violently and reached for something beneath his jacket, but then thought better of it. Instead he held out his hands in a gesture of surrender.
‘I’m sorry to disturb you.’ He peered into the shadows, trying to make me out. ‘I’m lost. I’ve been out all night with no water and no fuel. I hoped you have a phone? I’m on a cheap plan and my phone has no coverage outside the city.’
I lowered my gun, just a few centimetres, so it pointed at his crotch. A wry smile hovered on my lips. His voice was low and sexy, ringing with sincerity. Totally believable, utterly trustworthy. But I’d seen him gesture towards his jacket when I’d frightened him. He had a weapon there, but thought he’d try his luck with charm rather than force.
‘Who are you?’ I thought of the moment on the beach that’d sent me sprinting headlong towards the caves. He’d been there, watching me. It hadn’t been a trick of my imagination. He was after the jewels.
‘Jack.’ He took a small step forward, and I raised the gun again.
‘Just Jack?’ I asked, keeping my voice clipped and unfriendly. Making sure he’d know his dubious charm would not work on me.
He hesitated, considering my question, and I let out an impatient sigh. ‘Do not enter my house in the dark without permission and then falter in revealing your identity to me.’
‘Jack Jones.’
I knew him instantly then. Jack Jones. Of course. If there’d been any doubt in my mind that he was after the jewels, it was gone forever. There could be no other explanation for his presence. Mr Jones was a notorious treasure hunter. Diving on lost wrecks and finding legendary Spanish gold, disappearing into China for months and emerging with priceless Ming jade. His instincts and ability to find things were alternately lauded and disparaged across the antiquities world.
We’d met at a gallery opening in London, years before. His eyes had met mine and held them a moment too long and I’d felt a very disconcerting tremor of response at the bold, knowing gaze. Then he’d noticed the boyfriend standing beside me, nodded coolly, and disappeared into the crowd. I remembered it because the boyfriend had seen the glance and accused me of encouraging the handsome Jack Jones. Our relationship had not lasted long after that.
‘Well, Mr Jones. I’m sorry but I can’t help you. There is nothing here.’
‘Isn’t there a phone? I just need to make a call.’ There was pleading in his voice.
The sky behind him was getting lighter, and within a few minutes I’d lose the sanctuary of the shadows. It was easier to see him too. Before he’d been an indistinct shadow, but now I could make out his sandy blond hair, longer than was fashionable and swept back with no obvious attention to how it looked, his tanned handsome face, strong features and stubble that looked like he hadn’t shaved in a few days.
The word scruffy came to mind.
‘You need to leave now.’ I bit the words out, cold and unkind, leaving no doubt that I wanted him gone.
‘I’ve had no water. Not for hours. I’ve got no fuel.’ He stepped towards me, hand outstretched. Confident that he only needed to appeal to my sympathy and I’d do anything to help him. A thin leather bracelet lay on his wrist, had a carved ivory charm attached to it.
‘Leave now. I won’t warn you again.’
‘Warn me?’ There was hint of amusement in his voice, as if I couldn’t possibly pose a threat.
Irritated, I stepped out into the thin light so he could see me and my gun. ‘I’m armed. I’ll hurt you if you don’t leave,’ I said.
His hand started to move inside his leather jacket. I shook my head. ‘I don’t think so. Take your weapon out slowly, and place it on the ground. One wrong move and I’ll reduce your kneecap to pulp.’ I aimed at his knee.
He pressed his lips together as if he hid a smile. ‘I’m not armed. You’re all on your own out here, aren’t you?’
‘Do it.’
‘C’mon, you’re being silly.’
‘Silly? An inadvisable choice of words.’ I tipped my head on one side, aimed the gun and shot past his ear. The noise was stunning in the enclosed space.
He flinched reflexively, arm flying up, then turned and looked at the wall behind him, disbelief in his face. The small hole the bullet had made in the doorframe was clearly visible.
‘Do you think I’m silly now?’
He shook his head. ‘Not anymore, Lioness. Now I’m going to get out my gun like you asked and put it on the ground, okay?’
Lioness? I hid my surprise. I could’ve blown his head off, and now he was flirting? It seemed the stories of his reckless courage hadn’t been exaggerated.
I kept my gun pointed at his head as he carefully did what I asked.
‘Now move back towards the door.’ I stepped forward and kicked his weapon behind me, far from his reach. ‘You can go now.’ I gestured outside with a jerk of my chin. ‘If you’re quick I won’t let the dogs out.’
He frowned, unsure whether I was serious or not, and I felt a moment’s pleasure to see the hint of vulnerability. ‘You don’t have dogs, there’s no barking.’ His voice was uncertain.
‘Do you want to find out?’
He glanced back down the driveway as if calculating how long it’d take him to sprint to his jeep.
‘C’mon, Lioness, I
need fuel and a phone. Then I’ll be on my way.’
‘I know you’re lying.’ Tired of the conversation, and pretty unimpressed with the whole lioness tag, I wished he’d give up and realise that he was leaving empty-handed.
‘Do you? What do you think the truth is then?’
‘No chance.’ I wasn’t telling him a thing.
He raised an eyebrow and bumped up the charm. ‘I do like mysterious women.’
‘You are starting to bore me, Mr Jones.’ I wanted him to leave. He was making things complicated. I needed to get the jewels back to Sydney and swap them for Dad.
My phone started to ring in my pocket. The cheerful ringtone filled the air and anxiety twisted in my stomach. The distinctive tune meant it was the one call that I always answered without fail. Not taking my eyes off Jack, I slipped the phone out of my pocket and answered.
‘Bit busy right now, Lib,’ I said.
Jack assumed an expression of slightly miffed patience and looked around, getting his bearings as the light improved.
‘Merry? You’ll never guess what,’ gushed Libby Davis, my dearest friend, who was, as usual, not listening. ‘Jamie’s lost his first tooth, can you believe it? He’s getting so big. The tooth fairy … wait … wait … just a sec, he wants to tell you himself.’
I smiled, partly in response to the delight in Libby’s voice, and partly from relief that the call hadn’t brought bad news. Jack Jones drew in a deep breath, his eyes fixed to my face, and muttered beneath his breath. ‘Oh, Lioness.’
His tone made something twist deep in the pit of my stomach, an uninvited niggle of response to his seductive tone.
I put all my feelings about being called ‘Lioness’ into a glare. But he merely quirked an eyebrow, folded his arms across his chest and patiently waited for me to finish my conversation.
His obstinate certainty nixed the niggle.
‘Aunty Merry?’ My godson Jamie came on the line.
‘How are you, handsome?’
‘Lost a tooth, got two dollars. So cool.’
‘I’m really proud of you.’
‘Yeah. Dad says that if I lose all my teeth then it’ll cost him ninety-six dollars. Can you believe it?’
‘Ninety-six dollars, you’d better start wobbling the others.’
‘Already am.’ He sounded a lot like he had his fingers in his mouth. ‘With that much money I’ll be able to buy Dad a cure.’
I swallowed back a wave of sadness at the innocent hope in his words.
‘How are you going to chew anything if you wobble out all your teeth?’ I asked.
He giggled. There was a rustle and Libby came back on the line. ‘You okay? Woke up thinking of your mum this morning.’
‘Taking care of something right now, Lib. Out at the beach house. I’ll call tonight, okay?’
‘Talk then.’ Used to interruptions, Libby was gone in an instant.
I slipped the phone back in my cargo-pants pocket and jerked my chin at Jack. ‘Get out.’
‘Merry? That’s so cute.’ He rolled his eyes, lifted his shoulders and pressed a hand to his heart, accentuating his sarcasm. He’d obviously been able to hear the whole conversation. ‘When do I get to see the Merry bit of Meredith Taylor?’
I considered shooting him in the head. But I’d never actually killed anyone, or even injured them. Though I was good at hiding things, like emotions, I suspected that when it came to disposing of bodies I might find myself out of my depth.
‘Go away.’ I gestured with the gun this time.
His lips pressed together in a narrow line. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’
‘Don’t make me shoot you.’
‘You’re not going to shoot me, Merry. You might be a crack shot.’ He glanced behind him to the bullet hole in the wall. ‘But you don’t strike me as the murderous type of girl.’
The sound of a helicopter started to get louder.
‘Do you hear that?’ I began to relax, just a tiny bit. Help was about to land.
‘I’d have to be deaf not to.’ His eyes slid to a window, looking for the chopper.
‘That’s backup. That’s men with guns who are very good at shooting anything that moves. I pay them to do it.’
The cocky amusement went out of Jack’s eyes, his shoulders drooped as his confidence and swagger ebbed fractionally. I sensed that I’d won.
‘Go. Take yourself far away in your little jeep. Don’t come near me again. The jewels are mine and not for one such as you. Do you understand me?’
‘The jewels?’
‘I know all about you, Jack Jones. Did you really think I don’t know who you are and why you are here? My God, you are not nearly as smart as they say.’ I had to raise my voice over the sound of the chopper.
Still he didn’t move.
‘Get out.’ I snarled the words, losing patience with him and his greedy eyes that roamed all over me.
He turned on his heel and sprinted out of the house, back towards his car.
‘Thank God.’ I kicked the door shut behind him and deadlocked it. Then, after pausing briefly to glance at the damage the bullet had done to the doorframe, I moved quickly to the back of the house where the chopper was landing on the wide flat headland. In the kitchen I activated the electric field, which would prevent Jack Jones from entering the property again.
I’d have quite liked to hang around and watch when he tried.
Because he would try.
But instead I grabbed the khaki holdall, stuffed with the old money, fetched the jewels from the safe, then locked the lonely beach house down.
Chapter Five
Jack stood by his jeep, watching the chopper lift off. He raised an arm in a wave as Meredith Taylor’s pale face peered down at him, and then pressed it over his heart. She’d nearly shot him in the head. Damn it. He was always a sucker for the beautiful ones with a foul temper and a touch-me-not attitude. He scratched his belly absently.
The chopper swept her away, over the cliff and into the endless blue void of sky and sea.
‘See you later, Lioness,’ he murmured.
Relief warred with exhausted fear.
She had the jewels. He’d get them.
She bought and sold stuff. He had the money.
It was only a matter of time now.
He’d been chasing them for months. Staying one step ahead of Wuu and his dire threats, using nothing but charm, words and wit. The man was impervious to money. He had more than enough of it. Jack ran a finger down the dark red scar that curved across the inside of his forearm. An unpleasant reminder of Wuu’s general attitude to everything.
Wuu Sing Chow wanted the jewels and was quite prepared to kill Jack if he didn’t get them.
He lifted his phone; he hadn’t lied about the cheap plan, and no network connection had miraculously appeared since he last checked. Then he glanced towards the house. Given it was empty, it’d do no harm to have a little look around. See what he could find out before he got on her trail again.
He didn’t think for a moment she’d left the jewels behind.
He strode back up the eroded driveway, looking for anything unusual. There were no broken windows or graffiti, and people always loved to burn things when they thought no one else was looking. But the house was untouched by anything but weather.
Something glinted to his right and he stopped abruptly. The hairs on his forearms prickled and tickled, as if someone held a statically charged balloon near them.
He stepped back cautiously. An electric charge? Here? It wasn’t possible.
He looked more closely at his surrounds, but could see nothing. Fishing in his pocket, he pulled out a silver fifty-cent coin and threw it towards the house; there was a sharp snap and the coin appeared to bounce in midair and was thrown back at him.
‘Son-of-a-bitch.’ Some kind of electric barrier. Must be pretty high-tech. He couldn’t see any hint of how it was run.
He rarely made mistakes, and never made them twice. But it seemed
the ‘don’t underestimate Meredith Taylor’ lesson was not sticking. Maybe it was the curvy body and the rosy lips? Her beauty and his fundamental weakness for a pretty face were definitely a bad combination.
He needed to remember her stunning looks were as deceptive as the neglected look of the beach house. They both hid something stronger beneath. He’d do well to focus on that, rather than her fair hair and the moment her golden-brown eyes had softened, when she’d talked to the little boy on the phone.
He scooped up a stone and turned it in his palm. Would it go through the electric field? How high should he throw it?
‘Oh for shit’s sake.’ He threw the stone aside, irritated. Then, unable to resist the impulse, scooped up another and pitched it high in the air. He watched as it sailed a good thirty metres and landed close to the house.
Jack smirked. Miss Meredith Taylor’s barriers were not as unassailable as she might think.
There might still be a few roadblocks between him and the jewels, but he’d find a way around them. Nothing was impossible.
He hurried back to the jeep. Took it in a tight circle and headed back towards the nearby beachside town. He needed to call people back in Sydney and the sleepy place had phone coverage. He’d stock up on essential supplies for the drive back to the city as well; Minties, bacon-flavoured chips and Coke. A lot of them. It was a long drive.
Chapter Six
Three days later Jack stood by the huge windows of his hotel room, watching white-sailed yachts as they raced towards the cliffs at the entrance to Sydney Harbour. A towel was wrapped around his waist and his hair dripped onto his shoulders.
He picked up the high-res binoculars that sat on the low windowsill and focused for the hundredth time on the suburb of Mosman, clearly visible from the thirty-fourth floor of the Four Seasons Hotel. He brought Meredith’s house into view. All glass, two swimming pools—one indoor, one outdoor; a speed boat and an obligatory yacht bobbing smugly in the water, both moored at the end of her private jetty. The Sydney residence of Meredith Taylor was one hundred per cent tricked out and wanted for nothing.
The day before he’d travelled to the north of the city and prowled around the Taylor family horseracing stud. But he’d only found sleek well-fed stallions and stroppy girls in jodhpurs. There’d been no sign of life at the Taylor mansion since he’d arrived back in Sydney either. Meredith was nowhere to be seen, and his optimism about the jewels had ebbed away.
