Knight Before Dawn

by Kristi Cramer

  “They’ve got Denise.”

  “What? Who?”

  “Who do you think?”

  “Oh, no.” Cassie quickly pulled on her coat while Nick lifted Alex and brought him to the plane. “What do they want?”

  “We’re supposed to go to Pop’s house tonight.”

  Nick loaded Alex in the back of the plane and helped Cassie inside. “Cassie, the game is up.” He knelt beside her seat, giving in to the despair he felt at having his fears confirmed, and put his head in her lap. “I should have known. All the clues were there. I should have known.”

  “Shhh,” Cassie stroked his hair. “He’s your father. You love him. Come on now. I have a plan.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  As the taxi drove away, Cassie stood looking at the huge mansion, the extensive estate grounds eerie and silent in the early dark. Only a few rooms near the great doors were lit, and she wondered which one Denise was in.

  “C’mon,” Nick said tensely. “Let’s get this over with.” He took Cassie by the arm and led her up the steps to the doors. He reached for the handle, then hesitated before knocking. “At my own house,” he muttered. “Damn you, Pop.”

  The door opened and a black-suited man stepped aside to let them enter the marbled foyer. Cassie noted the bulk of a weapon beneath his arm as he gestured them inside. She wished again that they had brought the .357.

  It wouldn’t have done any good. As soon as they crossed the threshold, two more men came forward and began to frisk them for weapons. Cassie gasped involuntarily when she recognized the man who checked her, the scar at his hairline exposed as he leaned forward to check behind her back. At her reaction, he looked her in the face and smiled.

  “Hello, little lady.” His gruff voice sent a shiver down her spine as she remembered another instance of hearing it, just before she got another shot of knock-out juice. “You’re causing a lot of trouble, you know that?”

  Cassie opened her mouth to make some response, but closed it without saying a word. There was no way to respond to that.

  “Hello, Frank,” Nick said calmly. “How’s the wife?”

  “She’s fine, Nick. She’ll be real disappointed in you, though. She’s always liked you, but you’ve blown it now.”

  Nick shrugged. “I suppose I have. That’s the trouble with good guys, we always want to stop the bad guys, but we aren’t heartless enough to let a friend die to do it.”

  Frank took a step closer to Nick and brandished a beefy fist in front of his nose. “You forced his hand, Nick. God knows he loves you. Why’d you have to get involved?”

  Anger flared in Nick’s green eyes. “Because it’s not right, dammit! If you think....”

  “Enough.” The authority in the quiet voice made every head in the room turn. Anton Knight stood at the foot of the stairs. He stepped toward the sliding doors to the next room. Yet another black-suited man hurried to open the doors and turn on the lights.

  Frank jerked his head at Nick and Cassie and followed them into a room that turned out to be a den. Leather-bound books lined cherrywood cases behind deep-cushioned chairs and a leather couch. Floor-to-ceiling windows on one wall looked out to an atrium with a blue-lit, indoor swimming pool.

  Anton stood at the mini bar, fixing drinks. He came over and offered one to Cassie, who took it in silence. He offered one to Nick, who shook his head and walked over to look out at the pool, a deep frown lining his face.

  “Where’s Denise?” Nick asked.

  “She’s safe, for now.” Anton’s gaze was inscrutable as he looked at Cassie. To cover her discomfort, she sipped at her drink, trying not to wheeze at the strong whiskey vapor. “It is a shame Felicity is not here to see you,” he said softly. “She would enjoy this.”

  “You didn’t kill her, did you?” Cassie asked before she could stop herself.

  Anton gave a dry chuckle. “How could I kill her? I cannot even find her. Besides, I do not wish to kill her.” Anton took a moment to sip his own drink, then he moved to sit on a wingback leather chair, crossing one leg over the other at the knee. Absurdly, Cassie took note of the high gloss of his polished black shoes and the red argyle pattern on his otherwise black socks. “Please, sit.”

  Cassie remained standing, and Anton shrugged slightly and turned to look at his son. “Felicity is a remarkable woman. She was my companion for a time. When she left, she took something with her that she should not have. I simply want it back. It was an unfortunate mistake that you came to be here, Cassandra. It is an error I wish to rectify.”

  “It’s gone way beyond that, Mr. Knight.” Cassie put her drink down on the coffee table and glanced at Nick.

  “What on earth could a stripper take from you that warrants kidnapping her to get it back?” Nick demanded. Cassie took note of the range of emotions crossing his face. Frustration, disbelief, anger, disgust. “And what the hell kind of companion does a stripper make?” he sputtered. “I know Mom died a long time ago, but a stripper...?”

  Nick took a step toward Anton, and Cassie thought he looked ready to fight, until Anton raised a hand to command attention.

  “Frank, you and the others leave. I want to speak to my son alone.” Anton flicked his long fingers at Cassie in a dismissive gesture. “Take her to see Denise.”

  Frank came to Cassie and offered her his arm as though escorting her at a red carpet premiere. She took it hesitantly, looking for and receiving Nick’s nod.

  In the foyer again, Cassie heard the doors slide shut behind her, but she didn’t take her eyes off Frank. Expecting a worst case scenario, Cassie’s imagination went wild: If they were taking her to Denise, then they could both die right now.

  Frank escorted Cassie up the wide wooden stairs and down a hallway lined with idyllic pastoral landscapes hung above cherrywood wainscoting. In the guest bedroom at the end of the hall Denise lay on her side on the bed, staring at a man sitting in a chair. Her hands were tied in front of her stocky form with a cable tie, but otherwise she looked okay.

  Cassie went to the bed and sat down beside her. Surprised, Denise sat up, grasping Cassie’s hands in hers. “Cassie?” she asked, her round face expressing thorough dismay. “They got you too?”

  “Shh,” Cassie said, pressing her hands to comfort her. “We came on our own.”

  “We? Nick’s here, too?”

  “Yes.”

  “You shouldn’t have come. He’s dangerous. Something bad is going to happen.”

  “They would have hurt you, Denise. That’s why we came. But everything’s going to turn out all right.”

  “I was at work with my uncle,” Denise said, almost apologetically. “He went outside for a cigarette, and these guys busted through the door. On our way out, I heard my uncle in a closet, shouting and trying to get out. They must have jumped him, then locked him in there. I hope he’s okay.”

  * * *

  Nick didn’t shift away from the window when Cassie left the room in the company of four henchmen, half of whom he didn’t know. Concerned for her safety, he didn’t want to be separated from her, but he knew protesting would not move his father.

  His father sighed when the doors slid shut, watching him, but Nick was still waiting for answers. He raised his eyebrows expectantly.

  After another heavy sigh, Anton spoke. “It isn’t what you think, Nicolas. Felicity met needs of mine I had ignored far too long, but not carnal needs. She kept me company, laughed at my clumsy jokes, let me just look at her because she is beautiful. She reminded me of what it is like to be a man in the company of a woman. I don’t expect you to understand. You are too young.” Anton waved his hand as if brushing the subject aside. “As for what she took.... Besides a thumb drive with some rather sensitive information on it, she took your mother’s wedding ring.”

  “Sensitive information,” Nick repeated, focusing on what seemed like the more pertinent item. Regardless of the romantic notion, the ring was a moot point. “Like incriminating evidence? Why’d you do it, Pop? Any of
it?”

  Anton sighed again. “You were not there, boy, when I first came to America. I had come to work on the docks, but the other longshoremen drove me away because I was a Russian defector and they were suspicious of me. I was poor. I lived hand to mouth for years, fighting like a dog in the streets to survive. By fortune, I was given the opportunity to help build the Alaskan Pipeline in 1975. When it was done in 1977, I came to Juneau, where I met a man who gave me a job. I was hungry and I did not ask any questions. I worked hard, and Mr. Chevalier was kind to me. In time I learned the way of his business, and I married his daughter, your mother. It was opportunity, son. I became used to living well.”

  “And after Mother was murdered? Why did you go on with the business?” Nick went to the mini bar and poured a shot of whiskey, though he didn’t drink it.

  “Who told you she was murdered?” Anton didn’t take his eyes off his son, and his voice took on a guarded edge.

  “I figured it out, Pop. All the little pieces started coming together.”

  “I sent you away to protect you.”

  “While you fought it out with your rivals. Why didn’t you just give up? Go straight?”

  “It is not so easy, Nick. There is more involved than you know.”

  “More than I care to know. What were you going to do, Pop? Leave the family business to me when you die? I don’t want anything to do with it.” He paused, cocking his head to the side. “Now I don’t want anything more to do with you either.”

  “You are your mother’s son, Nicolas. She was an innocent too. The business would have died with me. I never wanted you involved.”

  “Well that certainly didn’t happen, did it?”

  Anton sighed and stood up, going to his son. “What are you doing with Cassandra Reyes, Nicolas? She should have gone back to Seattle.”

  “She should never have been brought here, Pop.”

  “Then convince her to go home and forget this ever happened.”

  “It’s too late for that, Pop. It was too late the minute your man brought her to my hotel. I love her.”

  “So.” Anton looked at his son for a long moment before returning to the mini bar to refresh his drink. “You love her. Does this mean you will set aside your love for me?”

  “Dammit, Pop. Don’t make it about that.” Nick set his whisky down without drinking a drop. “You know I love you, but you’re breaking the law. Apparently you have been for years. Yet you raised me up to do right, so I can’t let this go on. Not when I can do something about it.”

  “And what,” asked Anton flatly, “are you going to do?”

  Nick sighed, finally flinging himself down on the sofa. “We have Alex, Pop. He’s confessed to his involvement and everything he knows about your operation.”

  Anton went still. He obviously hadn’t anticipated this development. “You have taken him to the police?”

  Nick looked at his watch. “Well, I doubt he’s been interviewed yet. The doctor said he won’t be in any shape to speak to anyone until tomorrow at the earliest.”

  “Doctor?”

  “Yes, doctor. I shot him just before Frank radioed out to Blue Sky. He lost a lot of blood on the plane ride back, and he was already in surgery when we left the hospital. But he will speak to the police, Pop. It’s just a matter of time.”

  “I wish you had not done that, Nick.” Anton went to the door and opened it, then spoke in low tones to the man outside. He turned back to Nick, frowning deeply. “This complicates matters. I had hoped to work things out with you and Cassandra without involving the police. Now I see that cannot be done.”

  * * *

  Cassie and Denise sat side by side on the bed, leaning against each other a little as they watched the television and waited. The old romantic comedy on the satellite channel, apparently chosen to put the women at ease, only served to remind Cassie of her ‘date’ with Nick and the promise of the life they could have together.

  The movie had reached what she called the switch, the part where the two characters realize they truly love each other, when Cassie heard the footsteps coming up the hall.

  Frank entered the room, looking grim. In silence he gestured for the man by the television to cable-tie Cassie’s hands too. Then they all trooped down the hall, back to the den.

  “...Being taken care of.” Anton was saying as they entered.

  “No!” Nick said, clenching his fists at his side. “You can’t do that. It’s a life, Pop!”

  “Life is valuable, Nick. Not sacred. Every life has a value, and Alex’s is next to worthless.”

  “I can’t believe I’m hearing this from you, Pop!” He paced forward, but Frank stepped into his path, gun drawn.

  Cassie slowly realized that Anton was talking about killing Alex. Not only was Alex their only witness, he couldn’t defend himself now. She felt so totally helpless. She and Nick had gambled and lost. It was all over now. The only question remaining was what Anton would do with them.

  She watched in horror as Anton took the gun away from Frank. He approached Nick, and to Cassie it looked like the gun was leveled at his heart. She couldn’t believe her eyes. He was going to kill them all, even his own son?

  Anton began to speak, but Cassie didn’t wait to hear his words. She leapt forward and jumped on his back, bringing her tied hands down in front of him to trap his arms at his sides.

  * * *

  With a rising sense of dread, Nick watched Cassie hurl herself at his father. He dodged to the left, rushing the closest man. Denise screamed. A gun went off. Glass broke somewhere, but Nick was too busy wrestling for the gun in the other man’s hand to see what else was going on. Suddenly the room filled with shouting, and red and blue lights flashed into the room from outside.

  “Everybody, freeze!” A voice barked from the doorway. The man Nick wrestled with looked toward the door and froze. Nick seized the moment to tear the gun away and slide it under the couch. Then he looked up to find the room full of policemen. Two officers approached him, and he put his hands in the air and climbed slowly to his feet. The other man did the same.

  Nick’s eyes searched the room for Cassie, but he couldn’t see her. He turned his attention to the questions of the police, the knot of worry in his stomach growing bigger.

  “There were two women. Are they okay?” he asked. “Have you seen them?”

  “Just settle down, sir. We’ve got a big mess here, and we need to know who you are, for starters.”

  “I’m....”

  A voice calling out from across the room distracted him. “We’ve got a GSW here. Somebody call an ambulance.”

  “Cassie!” He stood on his tiptoes, trying to see her light green parka around or over the blue uniforms and black suits. “Cassie!” Ignoring the policeman’s protests, he began pushing his way through the little crowd.

  Cassie sat on a couch, holding her bare foot in her hands, blood soaking the handkerchief wrapped around it. Alive and alert, she spoke to the officer next to her, who jotted notes in his notebook.

  Anton sat hunched over in defeat not far from them, holding his head in his hands and not looking at anyone.

  “Cassie?” Nick asked, coming to an abrupt halt in front of her. All that mattered was her welfare.

  She looked up, the smile on her pale face strained. “Nick,” she said, her voice only shaking a little. “I got shot in the foot.”

  A laugh of half relief, half panic escaped him as he came to sit beside her, putting protective arms around her. “At least you didn’t pull the trigger yourself,” he said, and she laughed. “How’d the cavalry know?”

  “I took the liberty of making a phone call while you were getting Alex admitted to emergency,” she said with no remorse. “They took their time about it. I was starting to think they wouldn’t get here in time.”

  Epilogue

  The sun setting across the little cove made the breaking waves look red at the crests, and puffy clouds glowed pink against the rose-wine sky. A flock of long-
tailed ducks arrowed north on their spring migration route, silhouetted against the darkening sky. A great wave crashed against a rock, sending up spray that turned to rubies in the fading sunlight.

  Cassie clicked the shutter open, praying that this time it would turn out right.

  “That was a good one,” Nick called from the top of the hill as she stood up. “Did you get it?”

  “I think so,” she called back, looking at the camera’s screen. “I’ll know better once I see it on a bigger screen.” She’d had just enough success to encourage her photography. But sometimes, like after the last photo shoot, she felt like she was never going to get it right. “I’m through for tonight. Give me a hand?”

  “Sure thing, love.” Nick ran nimbly down the last few feet to join her. He began helping her gather her gear and put it in her bags. It didn’t take long before they had bundled everything up, ready to carry it up the slope.

  Cassie limped a little as they started up, and Nick held out a hand to steady her. “How does the foot feel today?” he asked.

  “Stiff. The doc said it’s almost a hundred percent, though. She’d shoot my other foot if she knew I was out here.” The wound had been relatively superficial, grazing but not breaking the bone just below the ball of her right foot.

  “She’s a mother hen. You’ve been well able to get around for months now.”

  “I know. And I have been getting around for months. Longer than you, in fact.”

  Nick groaned. “Thanks for reminding me.”

  He had only just come out of the legal red tape he’d been mired in since Anton’s arrest. The fact had surfaced that Nick’s business was founded on the seaplane Anton had purchased for him with dirty money. The D.A. took the position that Fly by Knight was forfeit as part of Anton Knight’s seized property, and he pursued allegations that Nick’s business acted as a money-laundering front.

  Nick’s lawyer argued that Nick had put himself through flight school on his own money, earned with his own sweat in several jobs. He also argued that Nick had helped arrest Anton, whose organization the Feds had tried to infiltrate for years.