by Dale Mayer
“Do that,” he said. He got upstairs to find Fallon in the open doorway, waiting for him, raising his eyebrows at the two large bags. “Hey, I’m hungry,” Kano said.
“Yeah, but it’s only for tonight though,” Fallon said, with a grin. Kano rolled his eyes at the joke, then said, “I had a talk with the security guard downstairs.”
“The doorman?”
“Yeah, but he’s fully trained security, in case you didn’t notice.”
“I noted how he moved,” he said. “I was glad to see it.”
“Right. I’d like to know what the hell’s going on here.”
“She has no clue,” Fallon said quietly, as they walked in.
“Where is she?”
“Changing, I think,” Fallon replied.
Kano looked around the small apartment. It had a high lofted ceiling and a huge expanse of windows, overlooking Paris. “This is a nice place.”
“And expensive,” Fallon said, an eyebrow raised.
He frowned at that. “Could be Mom behind it?”
“Or not. Catherine is a doctor.”
“Right. I have to keep remembering that. She’s come a long way.”
“But that’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?”
“Of course,” Kano said. “It needed to happen.”
“Right, so when it happens, you can’t be upset.”
“Not upset,” he said, “just adjusting.”
“Got it.”
At the kitchen table, they took out the food and looked around in the kitchen long enough to find plates and to set them out. When she walked out of her bedroom a few minutes later, she’d changed into leggings and a long tunic top. She looked about eighteen, with her face scrubbed free of makeup and her ponytail high up on the back of her head. It hit him all of the sudden just how much she looked like the girl he used to know.
She looked up, caught his gaze, and froze.
Chapter 7
Why did this man still have the same effect on her?
Immediately Fallon stepped between the two of them. “So back to the business at hand,” he said gently.
Catherine gave a headshake. “I don’t know what the business at hand is, so obviously I’m not going back to whatever that was,” she snapped, trying to clear her head.
“Says you,” Kano scoffed.
She glared at him immediately.
Fallon said, “Listen. I won’t sit here and referee the whole time,” he said, “so you guys deal with it. We need to get down to basics.”
“The basics right now,” she said, “are food.”
“Got it,” Kano said, motioning at the dishes. “I wasn’t exactly sure what to get.”
“Looks like you got the right things,” she said, “because this looks delicious.”
“Have you tried this place before?” Kano asked.
“Yes, but not for a few months.”
“Good,” he said, “maybe it’ll make for a good dinner then.”
They sat down to full plates, with Kano and Catherine studiously avoiding looking at each other. Kano was still struck by the lust that had surged through his system when he’d seen her tonight and had recognized the woman he used to know. And that woman had been nothing short of dynamite. Free and unencumbered by any other feelings of inhibition, she’d been glorious in her response to him physically, and even now he was doing all he could do to keep his thoughts in check. Not until Fallon reached over and poked him did he look up. “What?”
“She was asking you a question.”
He turned his attention back to her and said, “Sorry. What did you say?”
“I asked if you’d heard any update on my attacker,” she said quietly.
He shook his head. “Unfortunately, no.”
She frowned. “Do you think they’re doing that on purpose?”
“It’s hard to say,” he said. “Sometimes the news is a little slow in coming, but, most of the time, it seems like they’re right there, when it comes to a timely response.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
Then an ugly thought struck him as he sat back. He looked at Fallon. “Do we know if the police that picked him up were legit?”
Fallon gave him a sour look. “And how in hell will we know that?”
“I’m wondering if we can get Charles on it,” he said.
“Over here Charles has got no jurisdiction, though I don’t really know the extent of his reach. Maybe Ice would be better.”
“Why not try both of them?” Kano said. “Because we know who does have jurisdiction here.”
“I know. That’s what I was thinking about myself.”
“What are you two talking about?” she asked.
“Wondering if your mother had something to do with those men or with the fact that the police were very slow and with the fact that the media never showed up at all.”
She slowly put down her fork and frowned. “Meaning, she may have had him picked up?”
“That’s the question. One of them anyway.”
She immediately pulled out her phone, put it on Speakerphone, and dialed her mother.
When her mother answered, her voice was light. “So how are you feeling, after that little disturbance?”
“I feel just fine, until it occurred to me that there’s been no media coverage,” she said. “And, although I saw the prisoner—the man who attacked me—being led away, I don’t have any confirmation that it was actually cops that picked him up. Were those your men?”
A shocked silence was heard on the other end. “You don’t generally ask me about my business,” DeeDee said.
“That’s because I don’t really want to know,” she snapped. “The truth is, I don’t particularly like to hear details when it comes to your business, but, in this case, since I was the intended target, this has become my business.”
“I don’t know why,” she said.
“Maybe because I’m the one who was attacked,” she snapped.
“I think they were just a little overzealous at what they were trying to do.”
“They didn’t ask me to kindly get in the back of a vehicle to talk to somebody,” she said. “Instead, they tried to push me in by force, so I’m not sure how much communication those two Neanderthals are capable of.”
“I’ll have a talk with them then,” she murmured.
“Huh. So they are your men?” Sagging back, she asked, “Why, Mother?”
“They are rogue men,” she said, her tone slightly apologetic. “They haven’t worked for me for quite a while. But once I realized what had happened, I knew who started it.”
“And why me?”
Her mother hesitated.
“Because of me,” Kano said. “Right?”
“It would only make sense,” DeeDee said. “You see how far-flung that influence is?”
“It’s all bullshit,” Catherine snapped. “I don’t have anything to do with any of it and—”
“You came to dinner last night and were seen with him. So anybody who’s trying to put pressure on them would have thought they could use you for leverage.”
“And I presume you’re in the process of meeting with them?” Kano asked, his voice hard.
“Let’s just say, I’ll have a talk with the one, but I haven’t yet.”
“So is this a talk he’s likely to survive?”
“I would think so,” she said, “provided he is cooperative, of course.”
“Of course.”
At that, Catherine reached over, snapped off the phone, and glared at him. “Is this a joke to you?”
“Does it look like a joke to me?” he asked coolly, giving it right back.
“Is everything with you always a joke? You go back and forth, very lighthearted about things that are not lighthearted at all.”
“That’s because, in this instance,” he said, “we have to get to the truth of the matter. And your mother might have supplied a little more information, if you hadn’t shut her down.”
“Sh
e’ll call back,” she said, with an airy wave of her hand. “She hates it when I do that.”
“So you do it on purpose,” Fallon said shrewdly.
She gave him a smile. “Sometimes the only way you can survive in this world is to know just how far you can go and when you need to back off.”
“And do you think you understand your mother that well?”
“There is no understanding my mother,” she said. “That’s one of the first lessons.”
“Interesting,” Fallon said. “Everybody has motivations for what they do.”
“Maybe,” she said, “but you won’t get a clear answer from my mother over any of it.”
“She’s fascinating,” Fallon confessed. Immediately both Kano and Catherine turned to look at him in shock. “Not in that way,” he said, holding up his hand. “But I used to study psychology, and I do find she’s a very interesting personality.”
“Said the spider to the fly,” Catherine snapped.
“I’m not a fool,” Fallon said, “and I don’t have any interest in getting involved. But she does have an interesting mentality over what she’s entitled to do or to not do within her world.”
“Her own law has always been the only law for her,” she murmured. “It doesn’t matter if you agree with her or not, and, while you’re entitled to have an opinion, you’re not entitled to express it or to act upon it if it differs from hers,” she said.
“And that would have made it difficult growing up.”
“I just accepted the lies,” she said sadly. “I didn’t question because I wasn’t allowed to, and it wasn’t until somebody took off the blinders that I realized just how programmed I’d become.”
“And everybody likes to shoot the messenger,” Kano murmured.
She shrugged. “I don’t know why you even had to bother.”
“Are you happy I did or not?”
She thought about it a moment, then nodded. “Yes. It was the right thing for me,” she said, “but you didn’t have to be the one to do it.”
“I don’t think anybody else in your world was ready to do it or even could have,” he said quietly, and she nodded.
“Everybody was terrified of my mother.”
“Was?” Fallon asked.
“The only one who was never afraid of her was Kano,” she said, as she pointed her fork at him.
Fallon nodded. “That’s because we see people like her all the time, and we’ve committed our lives to pulling back the power they have clawed out for themselves, often at someone else’s expense.”
“Always,” she said, “because that’s what they do, isn’t it? They must have whatever it is that they need to make themselves feel better, and, in her case, it’s power. Always power.”
“Exactly,” Fallon said. “It must have been interesting to study your mother throughout your education because it would be almost impossible to separate what you were learning about children from what you saw in your own parent.”
“All parents and children have the same lessons, just at different times,” she said, with a half smile.
“I think that goes for everybody,” he added.
“Unfortunately that’s quite true,” she said. She finished the plate in front of her in silence. And, when she finally put down her fork, she nodded. “Look at that. You did buy enough.”
“I wasn’t sure,” Kano said, motioning at the bag and the dishes that still had food in them. “Do you want more?”
She looked at it, frowned, and then said, “I think I’m fine for the moment.” He nodded and helped himself to seconds. She smiled. “I forgot you had such a big appetite.”
“Fuel must always be available to utilize,” he murmured.
She sighed. “It’s always about the job, isn’t it?”
“It wasn’t,” he said. “It wasn’t always about the job.”
“But now?”
He sighed. “Maybe now it is again, yes.”
“You’ll have to get off that kick,” she said. “The adrenaline’ll kill you.”
“Maybe,” he said, with a bright smile. “But it hasn’t done so yet.”
“Yet somebody tried to stop you. Isn’t that correct?”
“There have been several attempts on my life,” he said, looking at her directly. “But it’s more about the whole team and our boss who’s gone missing. That’s why I’m after your mother for information.”
“I think you’re wrong about Bullard and Mom,” she said.
“I think it’s more about these rogue people who used to work for DeeDee,” Fallon said. “The question is, what do we have to do to get the information she’s holding back?”
“Me asking for it won’t help you,” Catherine said, as she sat back. “I have nothing to do with her work. She doesn’t tell me about any of it either. That’s the way we keep things a little friendlier between us.”
“I’m surprised you have anything to do with her at all,” Fallon noted.
“I tried not to,” she murmured. “And it’s one of those funny things about relationships like ours. As much as they are dysfunctional, they’re also very dependent. So, to have a relationship with her, I keep her in check, so it doesn’t become too dominant.”
“Is that working out for you?” Kano asked.
She gave a bitter laugh. “It’s a work in progress.”
“And, as long as it is,” he said gently, “you’re doing better than a lot of people.”
“I could just cut and run and have nothing to do with her,” she said, looking at him in honesty.
“And do you think that would work for her?”
“No, and that’s why I’m here and doing what I’m doing,” she said, “because this is the compromise that still allows me to be me and to not get involved in her BS.”
“I wonder if that’s even possible,” Kano said. “Just trying to separate from a parent like that and still have a relationship—”
“I know,” she said, “and I have no illusions, so don’t worry. I haven’t gone to the dark side. I woke up, found the sunlight, and chose to walk in it. She doesn’t understand, but, at the same time, she’s not up for any competition either.”
*
“No, I can see that,” Kano said. “Your mother will not tolerate anything except being number one.”
Kano had already had several battles with Catherine’s mother. DeeDee was nothing if not notorious for her short temper, her tone, and her cutting voice, which had brought more than one grown man to his knees. She also had a reputation for being completely unstable, cold, and ruthless, and DeeDee would do whatever she wanted to get the results she sought, regardless of the consequences to others.
It was long known that she did what she wanted for herself and for her personal gain. Kano had no idea how her daughter fit into the equation. He’d had many arguments with DeeDee, and he wouldn’t say that he’d won, but neither had she, so they would have to call it a draw. The blow had been when he realized how necessary it was for him to walk away from Catherine.
He hadn’t been prepared to do that, yet, once he realized it was necessary for her growth and for his freedom, it had been an unavoidable consequence. But he also knew that, as much as her mother didn’t want Kano in her daughter’s life, his leaving had hurt Catherine, and, for that, DeeDee never forgave him. It was kind of a damned if he did, damned if he didn’t scenario. And never a good end could come with that. The bottom line was, Kano and DeeDee were wary enemies, and he preferred it that way.
He didn’t trust DeeDee at all, and she didn’t trust him, and he could live with that. But whether she’d actually had something concrete to do with the assault on Bullard and the team was another point altogether. As far as Catherine believed, it was an absolute no, but was that for real? DeeDee was one of those little spiders that waited until your guard was down, and then she pounced when it was too late for you to react and save yourself. She was a necessary evil or someone he would have to deal with at this point in time because h
e needed to. Not because he wanted to, but, if she had any answers, he needed them. The trouble was getting any out of her. And he wasn’t sure just how much of an issue Catherine would be. He studied her for a long moment. “Do you think DeeDee will ever tell us the truth?”
Catherine shook her head. “Nope, not unless it suits her own purpose.”
He sat back, his fingers lightly drumming the table. “She said she had nothing to do with Bullard’s plane being blown out of the sky.”
“That I believe,” Catherine said. “I told you. She wants Bullard for herself.”
“Maybe she thought killing him would be the ultimate answer, so nobody else got him?”
“I would hope not,” she said, “but it is my mother who we’re dealing with.”
He looked at Fallon. “We need information,” he said bluntly.
“I know,” Fallon said, already on his phone. “I’m contacting Ice.”
“Why?” Catherine asked.
“To see what we can come up with for leverage.”
At that, Catherine leaned forward. “Leverage against my mother?”
He looked up at her, his gaze hard, as he nodded. “Yes. If she won’t willingly give us the information she has, we may need to force it from her.”
Catherine frowned at that, her fingers now assuming the staccato pattern on the table that Kano had been providing. “I get that,” she said, “but I would want to walk a very fine line.”
“Why?” Kano asked. “Because you don’t trust what she’ll do in retaliation, or you don’t want to see her get hurt?”
She winced at that. “Honestly I don’t want any of you hurt, and I would hope that it didn’t come to that.”
“Do you have any idea how to find out?”
She groaned. “No, I don’t.”
He nodded. “So we’ll follow along this avenue, until we come up with a better answer.”
She frowned at him, and just then her phone went off. She snatched it up and said, “Hello? … Yes, it is. What’s up?”
Chapter 8
“Jeremy? What do you mean, he’s been released from the hospital? I didn’t release him. And into whose care?” Catherine asked, bolting to her feet. “His father?” She turned to look at both men and watched as Kano was already on his feet, grabbing his jacket.
