“Do you believe in Karma?” she asked, biting her lip. “Because I don’t think I have very good luck. I’m starting to think that me and Layla are somehow doomed…”
He chuckled, grimacing when it made his head pound.
“I’m serious,” she protested. “No one that has… IT…. ever seems to get a happy ending. And all the stories about curses and everything… I’m afraid… I’m afraid that past is prologue.”
“What does that mean?” Calvin asked, feeling stupid again.
“That history has a way of repeating itself.”
“Cali,” he whispered in her ear, “I swear I’ll spend my whole life doing whatever it takes to give you a happy ending.”
She shivered a little, because his sweet colors told her that he meant it.
“Now,” his voice rumbled in her ear, “Can you do anything to help an idiot with a hangover?”
She smiled wryly, wriggling to press closer into him, “Sorry, but you’re on your own there.”
~
Chapter Twenty
THE PLAN
~
Over the course of the next week Calvin started to slowly heal in more ways than one. When Cali was by his side he was able to respond to his father’s overtures with less hostility, and they reached a sort of truce, both of them tacitly agreeing to ignore the painful past when it reared its ugly head.
When they were alone, Cali started to draw him out about it little by little. “Your father feels really terrible about what happened,” she pointed out gently. “He’s hurting as much as you are.”
“So what,” he bristled, “It doesn’t change anything. We were never close before the accident anyway.”
“Remember how you said that your father’s family wasn’t very happy? It seems to me that maybe you weren’t that close to your father because… Well, because maybe he didn’t know how to be close to his family.”
“My father was a bully,” he countered.
“People change,” she pointed out.
“We’ll see,” he said, and she wisely left it at that.
As Calvin grew stronger he started taking Caledonia for bike rides in the countryside, and they went to visit his grandparents, spending the afternoon playing with Rufus. They avoided talking about Michael and Layla’s predicament, but it was always there, an obstacle to their future happiness hovering maddeningly just out of sight.
Caledonia spent hours trying to plan out ways to get her cousins away from Max, but short of murder she couldn’t think of a way to keep him from coming after them. They would have to hide out like her parents had, or find a way to assume new identities, and the problem preyed on her mind.
Jarod kept trying to draw Calvin into his new business venture, constantly nudging his brother and father together. Caledonia was impressed by his persistence, growing fonder of Calvin’s brother daily as she witnessed his awkward attempts to heal the rift in his family. She was torn, feeling terrible about drawing Calvin away from them, while at the same time consumed with guilt about leaving Layla under Max’s control.
As unpleasant as it promised to be, she knew she had to face the big brute down again.
Calvin knew what she was planning, and whenever he thought about Max getting anywhere near Cali he was filled with dread. Eventually, he sat down on the couch with Jarod and spilled the beans, telling his brother nearly everything that had happened. He described how they had taken Layla away with them, only to have her brutally snatched back by the same man that had Tased them both in the very same house they sat in.
“That bastard!” Jarod exclaimed, “I’ll kick his ass!”
Calvin sighed, because this was exactly why he had waited to tell him, “It’s not that easy. This guy is ruthless… I think he would have killed us if…”
“If what?”
“Nevermind… We were just lucky to get away alive.”
“I don’t get it… Why did he want to get her cousin back so bad?”
Calvin told him that Max was using the twins to launder his blackmail money, lamenting the fact that Cali was busy hatching a plan to help her cousins escape again.
“It won’t be easy this time. We’re gonna have to figure out a way to get them out and keep Max from coming after us.”
Jarod was perplexed. “Why don’t they just call the cops on him?”
“They know too much about all the blackmail scams he’s been running, and he’ll take them right down with him. Plus, he’s crazy– He’d sooner kill them both than let them go.”
“Why don’t you just let it go?” Jarod asked in horror.
“Cali won’t… She can’t… And I can’t let her do this on her own. I’m afraid he’s gonna hurt her.” There was despair in his voice when he wondered out loud, “So how do you scare a guy like that into backing off?”
Calvin’s father stepped out from where he’d been sitting unnoticed at the kitchen table. “I have an idea.”
Both of his sons looked up at him expectantly.
“You get an even badder guy to do it.”
~
Caledonia was lounging on her side, lost in a book when Crystal ducked her head into Calvin’s room. She came in to plop down on the bed with a happy smile, “They’re finally talking.”
Cali looked up, coming back to reality. “Huh?”
“The guys,” she smiled, “The three of them are sitting out there with their heads together.”
Crystal glanced over at the shopping bag by the bedside and bent down to pull out a pair of mouse ears. “You went to Disneyland!”
Caledonia nodded yes, closing her book. “My cousin really wanted to go. That’s all her stuff.”
Crystal reached back into the bag to produce a couple of stuffed animals, a snow globe with a castle in it and a princess fairy wand. “She went a little crazy with the souvenirs,” she observed. “Does she have a kid?”
A lump formed in Cali’s throat, remembering how Layla had dragged her into every souvenir shop in the theme park. Her joy had been infectious, and she had bought all kinds of trinkets with childish delight.
“No, she just always dreamed of going there.”
Crystal picked up Layla’s purse. “Damn… That’s a pricey bag. Hers too?”
Cali nodded sadly, “Yes.”
“You know, you can tell a lot about someone by what they have in their purse… Mind if I take a peek?”
Caledonia shrugged. “Go ahead.”
Crystal unceremoniously dumped out the contents onto the bed, setting aside a few paperback novels to sift through a pile of cosmetics and perfumes. “She’s definitely a girly girl,” she pronounced. She held up a few cash register receipts, scrutinizing them. “And she has expensive taste in jewelry!”
She reached back into the bag, unzipping some side compartments, and then looking more closely. “Check this out… There’s a false bottom! What in the…”
She turned the lining inside out and reached in to pull out four thick stacks of cash.
“Oh My God!” Crystal exclaimed, “No wonder that dude wanted her back! She must have been ripping him off royally!”
Caledonia sat up, surprised, “She did say she had some money…”
“Some money? Cali– This is a lot of money!”
~
The two brothers sat and listened to their father, who told them about sharing a jail cell with a man who used to work as an aide to a powerful and wealthy state senator. His prison roommate had bitterly described the senator as a depraved man, a man unwilling or unable to control his perverse compulsions.
“Apparently the guy spends all of his time in Los Angeles, hanging out with the rich and famous, but he has a dirty little secret. The senator is totally owned by mob-connected union bosses. He rubber-stamps any legislation they want, and uses his connections to steer government contracts their way. We’re talking really, really big money, and even bigger secrets.”
“What do they have on him?” Jarod asked.
“He nea
rly killed a hooker– And the wise guys have the goods on him.”
“So how do you get him to take out Max?” Jarod asked.
“Not him, his handlers. You see, they try to manage him– but apparently the pervert can’t resist going rogue. It wouldn’t be too hard to set him up and try to shake him down… And isn’t what this Max guy is all about?”
“Yeah…” Calvin’s mind was racing. Max did it so well because he had Layla.
“You see, if these mob guys find out that Max is trying to get his hooks into the senator, he’ll be in big trouble. My cell mate was so afraid of going up against them that he took the rap for beating up the hooker. The girl got paid off, the senator walked away scot-free and my buddy ended up doing two years for assault and battery.”
“That sucks,” Jarod grumbled. “But how do you get Max to go after the senator? He’s not gonna listen to us if we just show up and tell him what to do.”
“We approach one of his guys… Make him think it’s his idea to bring the big fish around for Max to catch.”
“And if he catches it?” Calvin asked.
“We rat him out to the bad guys– Turn Max over to them in exchange for Cali’s cousins.”
Calvin thought about how easily Cali had disarmed the dressing room guard. With her talents, it would be entirely possible to set the plan into motion. It was risky, but it might just work.
“It could be dangerous,” Calvin said, thinking of everything that could go wrong. “And Max knows what me and Cali look like.”
“I doubt he’d remember me,” Jarod said.
“And he doesn’t know me,” his father added. “We would have the element of surprise.”
Calvin hated the thought of bringing Caledonia anywhere near Max again, but he knew that he couldn’t talk her out of trying to help her cousins. It would be nice not to do it on their own… The thought of the two of them going up against Max and his crew alone was daunting.
“I don’t know…” he wavered. “I need to think about this.”
“I’m not going to let you and Cali go without backup,” Jarod said, looking at his father. “The three of us can do this together.”
“I shouldn’t let you risk it…” Calvin was wavering.
“Do you have a better idea?” Jarod said.
Calvin shook his head, “No.”
Jarod looked to his father, “What do we need to do it?”
Jim thought for a minute. “We’d have to flash some money around to get Max’s attention. He’d have to believe that we were players.”
Jarod winced. “I wish you’d have told me sooner! I just ordered a bunch of equipment for the shop… I still have some of the money left though...”
“No,” Calvin shook his head, “You’re gonna need all of that for the business.” He stood up, “I need to think. I need to talk to Cali.”
When he walked into his room he found Crystal and Cali sitting on his bed with thousands of dollars laid out between them.
“Where did that come from?!” he exclaimed, shocked.
Cali looked up, “It’s Layla’s. She was saving it to get away.”
~
Chapter Twenty One
LIVE BY THE SWORD
~
He walked into his favorite sports bar, took a seat at the counter and ordered a beer. Within a minute he was joined by a pretty blonde who looked strangely familiar.
“Hello,” she said, smiling and holding out her hand. She gestured to a snappily dressed older man, “This is my friend Jim.”
“Mark,” he replied, making the mistake of looking directly into her eyes.
“We’re in town from Vegas,” she said. “Do you know a good restaurant around here?”
He returned her smile, and even though they were strangers, he felt completely at ease. The more he relaxed the more he started talking. Before he knew it, he was sharing all of his favorite spots with two of the nicest people he’d ever met.
Soon the men were laughing and joking around like old friends. They talked about football, cheering on the same team and making friendly wagers. The girl laughed at everything they said like they were the two funniest men in the world. Mark was having the time of his life.
Eventually Jim spun a tale of woe, explaining that he needed to collect some money from a little weasel that had backed out on a “business deal”. It’s just me and my girl though, and I don’t know if I can take this guy… Hey… You’re a pretty big guy, would you be willing to back me up? I can make it worth your while…”
“Uhm… I don’t know…” The alarm bells in Mark’s head were stifled the moment he looked back at the girl.
“Oh please?” Caledonia breathed. “It would mean so much to us.”
He accompanied the pair to a cheap motel room where a belligerent biker reluctantly coughed up a plastic bag full of cash. Cali was impressed by Jarod’s acting skills, but Mark was already inclined to believe everything they told him, so their little charade went off without a hitch.
Before Mark knew it he found himself sitting down to an expensive steak dinner, two thousand dollars richer from his generous share of the take. Jim lavished compliments on him, and Mark was feeling supremely satisfied, basking in the glow of high praise and easy money.
“Man, if I could find a few more guys like you, I could sure make some coin. I have a line on the score of a lifetime… Rich, famous and a man with a whole lot to lose. If I could only put a crew together, we could eat off this turkey for years!”
“Who is it?” Mark asked.
Jim leaned in conspiratorially, “Have you ever heard of Senator Blackwell?”
~
Mark set up a meeting, picking Jim up at his expensive hotel room and taking him to Max’s estate to make a pitch directly to the boss.
“Where’s your girlfriend?” he asked, surprised to realize that he never did get her name.
“I sent her back to Vegas with the cash. I owe a few people some money, and I sure wouldn’t mind making some more…. This Senator Blackwell is a sure thing.”
When Max heard the tale of a rich and easy target he was practically salivating. He hadn’t had a new score in a while, and his regulars were starting to get tapped out. One of his most reliable cash cows had recently cracked under the pressure, killing himself rather than facing the shame of exposure.
Calvin’s father did his best to be convincing, explaining that he got his insider information from the senator’s former driver. “The man is as rich as a king, and he has twice as much to lose, if you know what I mean.”
He went on to spin a tale of a powerful state senator with a vicious sadistic streak; a man from a wealthy family with a squeaky clean reputation. He knew for a fact that the senator could not resist a pretty young girl, and that given the right bait, it would be an easy score.
If Max had been a little less eager, he might have been a little more suspicious, but greed clouded his judgment, and he failed to look this gift horse in the mouth. If he would have only asked a few more questions, he might have learned that Jim’s companion had been a compelling beauty with curly blonde hair and an angel’s face.
You can’t cheat an honest man, Jim thought, watching the big fool lick his lips at the thought of a wealthy man with a predilection for abusing young girls.
“So what do I need you for?” Max asked Jim, “If I do all the set-up and provide the girl?”
“Hey…” Jim looked alarmed. “You wouldn’t have even known what a freak he was if it wasn’t for me! I could take this information to someone else…”
“Well,” Max was condescending, “Maybe we can give you a finder’s fee. If your tip pans out.”
“Fifty-fifty?” Jim said hopefully.
“How about ten percent?” Max said.
“Twenty five,” Jim shot back, with just the right amount of hopeful defiance.
Max laughed, believing that he had the upper hand, “Deal.”
“Just be ready when I call you,” Jim said. “
I’ll try and get a line on where we can get close to him.”
He went back to the hotel room where Calvin, Jarod and Cali were waiting, explaining that they needed to find a neutral place for Max to approach the senator. Jim expected tracking him down to take weeks, but once again, Caledonia surprised him by boldly approaching his waiting limo driver at a Hollywood campaign event. They watched from their rented car while she spoke with the man, returning with the information they needed.
“He’ll be at a cancer fundraiser tonight. It’s at the Westin hotel.”
~
Max and Layla were dressed to fit in with the crowd when they approached the entrance to the ballroom. Michael and Julie followed behind them, looking like a couple of teenagers on their way to the prom.
“Party of four,” said Max. “We’re on the guest list.”
The hostess looked into the big man’s mirrored glasses, taken aback. Her eyes flickered to Layla’s and she looked back down at the clipboard. She bit her lip, “I’m sorry… But I don’t see you listed here.’
“Surely that won’t be a problem,” said the girl with the fiery red hair. “There must be some sort of mistake. You should make an exception for us.”
The girl looked into her interesting eyes. “I’ll make an exception for you,” she repeated, speaking as though the words were her own.
They recognized the senator from his pictures, and zeroed in on the distinguished looking older man. He was graying at the temples, clad in a sharply tailored suit, and standing arm in arm with an elegantly dressed older woman. He excused himself to go to the men’s room, and that’s when Max moved to pounce.
He removed his glasses. “C’mon, everyone… It’s showtime.”
The second the senator stepped out of the restroom and into the hallway they were on him.
“My daughter here would sure like your autograph,” Max gestured to Michael’s girlfriend, and she smiled coyly. She wore a low cut dress with lots of lacy frills, her hair pulled into a ponytail on top of her head.
“I’m Sugar,” she said.
Mackenzie Legacy, The Page 16
