by Terry Spear
“I’ll visit anytime that I can, but I’ll have to be discreet. Maybe I’ll take up skiing.”
Kate sighed. “I don’t ski either. I’ll have to come with you, and we’ll stick to the bunny slopes. But maybe we’ll get lucky and catch a couple of cute ski instructors.”
Lexi chuckled, but then she glanced at Ryder to see his take on it and he quickly said, “No need. I can teach you how to ski.”
“Sounds like he’s a man for all seasons,” her father said.
She was thinking the same thing as she smiled at Ryder, his ears tinging a bit red.
Now they just had to reach her mother before Tremaine’s men did.
Chapter 16
Suspecting they had a tail on the way to the airport, Lexi said, “Do you see—”
“Someone’s following us.” Edward called one of his men on his cell phone and said, “Hey, I believe we’ve got a tail. If you can intercept him, that would be great.”
The black SUV behind them sped up to reach them, but another car, a little yellow Bug, tried to pass him.
“Hell, that’s Don’s car,” Ryder said.
“I hope he didn’t discover my father is with me.” Lexi was annoyed with the paparazzo. There was no such thing as just being friends with the guy.
“He’s making a bad move,” Edward said. “If Tremaine’s thugs are driving the SUV, they’re sure to believe he’s pulling up alongside them to take them out.”
“We’ve got to do something then.” Lexi didn’t like that Don was still trying to get a news story out of this, but she didn’t want Tremaine’s men injuring him or worse.
“Slam on your brakes,” Edward told the driver. “Everyone brace for impact. If this goes sideways, we might not reach the airport on schedule.”
“If they’re Tremaine’s men, we might not anyway,” Lexi said.
Ryder reached over and held Lexi’s hand. She took a deep breath and glanced at him. He was frowning, a gun in his right hand, ready for whatever came next. Shots were fired at Don’s car, and he swerved into the SUV. A Bug against an SUV didn’t stand a chance.
The driver of the SUV was so busy concentrating on Don that he didn’t have time to react when Lexi’s driver slammed on his brakes and the SUV rammed into the back of the van. Both vehicles stopped, and the Bug caught fire. Edward grabbed a fire extinguisher from the van. Mike and Ryder and the other men jumped out of the van to assist.
* * *
“Stay with Lexi and Dr. Summerfield,” Ryder said to Kate, then hurried after the others. He just hoped no more of these guys showed up.
He and Mike and the driver made their way to the SUV, while Edward put out the fire in Don’s car. Ryder and the others had to ensure the thugs didn’t come out shooting, so that was their priority—taking them into custody and calling the police.
Ryder tried the driver’s door, but it was locked.
“They’ve got bulletproof windows,” Mike said. “Look at the thick black frame around the dark windows.”
“Fine. We’ll wait for the police to get here and arrest them then.” Ryder called the police and told them the situation. While Mike and the other man helping them kept an eye on the SUV, Ryder stalked off to assist Edward in opening one of the Bug’s car doors.
Both were putting their backs into it, trying to open the jammed driver’s door to reach Don. As soon as they tore it open with a crunch, Ryder and Edward pulled Don from the smoke-filled car.
“Told you it was dangerous messing with this bunch,” Ryder said, while Don was coughing his lungs out from smoke inhalation. They moved him to an area away from the smoke still billowing out of the car’s engine where he could breathe in the clean air. “The police and an ambulance are on their way. Just keep taking deep breaths of the fresh air and lie still.” Ryder pulled off his T-shirt and rolled it up so Don had a pillow for his head.
Don’s skin was a little gray and his dark eyes red from the smoke. He opened his mouth to say something, but all he could do was cough some more. Ryder thought that was the first time Don couldn’t have the last say.
Ryder glanced at the van and saw both Kate and Lexi peering out the back window. “I’ll be right back,” he told Don and Edward.
“Not going anywhere,” Don said, his voice hoarse and he coughed again.
Ryder opened the van door. “Hey, as soon as the police and EMTs are here, we’re heading to where we were going until all this happened.”
“Can we see Don?” Lexi handed Ryder a blanket from the van.
“No. We can’t get the thugs to open their door, so we can’t confine them. If they suddenly come out shooting, I don’t want you at risk.”
“I should tend to the man,” the doc said.
“There’s nothing you can do, short of giving him some oxygen. He’s fine.” Ryder thought he heard the faint sound of sirens in the distance. “Sounds like everyone’s on their way. We don’t want Don to see you in any event, and the same thing goes for you as far as Tremaine’s men coming out shooting. Particularly since you’re their real target.” Ryder took the blanket from Lexi. “Thanks.” Then he took it to where Don was lying down, and Ryder and Edward moved him on top of it. “Courtesy of Lexi,” Ryder said. “She wanted to check on you, but we couldn’t risk it because the other guys are holed up in the SUV and still armed. What the hell possessed you to try to take out Tremaine’s men?” Ryder assumed Don was just trying to pass the other vehicle to make sure he didn’t lose the van. He probably hadn’t realized Tremaine’s men were in that car, unless he had a death wish.
Don gave him a big smile, then had another hacking cough.
Ryder smiled back and patted his arm. “Hang in there, man. The troops are on their way.”
As soon as the police verified who everyone was, they took Don away in an ambulance, but not before he pulled the oxygen mask off his face and thanked Ryder and the others for saving his ass. “I owe you, man.”
“Do right by Lexi,” Ryder said, “and we’ll be even.” He shook Don’s hand, and then he left with the others. Tremaine’s men had a standoff going with the police, but law enforcement didn’t want Edward and the others to help out. At least Ryder and the others hadn’t been involved in a shoot-out, so they were able to keep their guns after showing the police they had licenses to carry.
“Is Don going to be all right?” Lexi asked.
“Yeah. We can call him later to see how he’s doing.”
“The question is, did he see my father and was that why he was trying to catch up to us?”
“I don’t know, but I suspect he thought he was going to have a story one way or another. Tremaine’s men might have figured you were meeting with your dad or that he was already with you. They weren’t the two men our guys knocked out with tranquilizers at the cabin.”
“Were they injured?” Lexi asked.
“The driver had blood on his forehead. The passenger had a bloodied nose.”
“But they still wouldn’t leave the vehicle.”
“No. I’m sure they know they’re going to jail, and they’re waiting out the inevitable. They’re only making it worse for themselves. Maybe they thought we’d kill them if they exited the vehicle. I don’t know. Anyway, the police have control of the situation now, and though I didn’t want Don injured, now he’s off our backs. He won’t know where we went.” Ryder squeezed Lexi’s hand.
“That’s good.”
They kept watching for anyone else to follow them, but they didn’t see anyone, and they were glad for that. They finally reached the airport and headed for the helicopter and boarded it. None of them had any luggage, but at least onboard there were bottles of water for everyone. Glad they were going to be on their way and away from the trouble here, they settled down to sleep for the four-hour flight to San Antonio, including a refueling stop along the way.
* * *
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They were so exhausted, they didn’t wake until they landed at the airport in San Antonio. There, they took a van to the hotel where Lexi’s mother was staying. Lexi was apprehensive, worried her mother truly wouldn’t recognize her. Trying to get her mind off it, she asked her father, “What was your job when you were in the Witness Protection Program, Dad?”
“Well, you know how much I love to bake, so I went to work at a bakery.” Kurt patted his stomach. “Gained a few pounds too.”
“And a beard. I almost didn’t recognize you.”
“There’s some advantage to not having to shave, but in the summer, it’s hot.”
She smiled at her father.
They parked at the hotel and everyone got out.
Edward escorted them to Adelaide’s room. “We’ll stay at the hotel until our reinforcements arrive, and then we’ll take all of you to the airport.”
Lexi was hoping they could just get her mother and leave, feeling the only safe place for her parents was in Silver Town right now. But Edward knew better how to manage their safety, so she just agreed.
As soon as Lexi’s father knocked on the hotel room door, her mother answered it looking just like she had before she left for Brazil, her dark hair tied back into a ponytail, except that her green eyes were now filled with tears. Her father hurried to embrace her mother, and she hugged him back. “Once I remembered who I was and that you were my mate, Kurt, I missed you so. It took me a while to make it back here though.”
“Momma?” Lexi hoped her mother would recognize her, too, but she didn’t want to upset her by hugging her if she didn’t remember who she was.
“I don’t know who you are,” her mother said, but Lexi knew by the way her mother’s voice hitched that she was telling a story.
Why? Because her mother was afraid if she let on that she knew her, Lexi would be more at risk?
Her mother glanced at Kate, and Lexi said, “This is Kate, my personal assistant and bodyguard. I hired her soon after I was living in California—”
“California?”
“Yes, and after Dad witnessed Joe Tremaine murder the DA.”
Her mother looked at Ryder, Mike, and Edward and two other men on the team who were setting up perimeter watch. She probably hadn’t ever met them before. “Who are you?” she asked the men.
“Protection, ma’am. This is Mike Stallings,” Ryder said, motioning to his partner. “I’m Ryder Gallagher. We work for Dr. Aidan Denali as his bodyguards, and Edward and his men work for Rafe Denali. But for now, we’re here for you, your mate, and Lexi. I ran into Lexi and Kate at Redwoods National Park while I was vacationing there. Let’s move this inside, okay?”
“Is that how you knew about Lexi and me meeting?” Kurt led his wife back into the hotel room.
“Yeah. Not at first. Not until some of Tremaine’s men started causing trouble for her. Not to mention Don Morgan was there,” Ryder said.
“The paparazzo?” her mother asked. “Did he know about Kurt?”
“No, he didn’t know Kurt was coming to see Lexi,” Ryder said.
“Don was after me. Mom, you don’t remember me?” Lexi asked, shutting and locking the door.
Her mom looked at Kurt, as if she was waiting for him to tell her it was okay to speak the truth.
“They’re after Lexi, too, watching to see if she tries to meet up with me. If you recognize her, let her know, Adelaide,” her father gently said.
“Mom, you’re denying you know me because the man who is after Dad will come after me too? I didn’t go into the Witness Protection Program. I couldn’t because I didn’t want to give up my business. It’s too successful now. I would have had to give it all up. And I couldn’t. It’s something I always dreamed of having.”
“How is it going?” her mother asked, reaching out to hug Lexi.
Lexi smiled and hugged her mom. “Basically, I’m a billionaire. I couldn’t have done it without your and Dad’s support.”
Outside the room, Edward and his men continued to keep an eye out for trouble.
“You’ve really made that much?” Her mom put her hand over her heart and let out her breath. “You can support your father and me now.”
Lexi laughed. “I would, too, if Dad would let me.”
“I’m so proud of you. After all the fretting and thinking you couldn’t do it, I knew you could,” her mother said.
“I did have my doubts, you’re right.” Lexi glanced at Ryder. He was smiling at her. She hadn’t wanted him to know how stressed out she’d been to make this work.
Her mother sat down on a chair, and Lexi wondered about the ordeal she’d gone through to return here, and about the memory loss. But she was thrilled her mother recalled who she was.
“What happened?” Lexi asked. “We were devastated when we received word that you had to have drowned. We always held out hope that you hadn’t, and Dad and I were there for weeks talking to people and looking for you. We hired more people to search for you, but we couldn’t find any leads. It was as if the Amazon River had swallowed you up and you were gone.” Lexi sat on the edge of the bed.
Her dad sat on a chair next to her mother, a small table between them. Kate sat on the bed with Lexi. Ryder and Mike stood nearby and waited to hear her mother’s story.
Her expression weary, her mother slumped in the chair. “I nearly died in the river. A man rescued me downstream from the accident, but I didn’t remember who I was or where I was from at the time. He was a good man, but he wanted me to stay with him to take the place of his wife who had died the year before. When I began to regain my memories, I remembered I had a mate and a grown daughter. I knew I was a wolf, but I couldn’t shift. I’m sure it had all to do with the head trauma. Still, it was better than shifting and not being able to return to my human form or shifting at the wrong time.
“I couldn’t remember what had happened. Only bits and pieces. Then I remembered flying to Brazil, taking care of the sick Mexican wolf pup shifters, and living with a pack there for two months. I recall the pack’s children recovering from their illness and then leaving when they were well again. I don’t remember anything about the bridge or the car plunging into the river. I only recollect being pulled onto the shore, soaking wet, and there was no bridge in sight. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t even dredge up my name or where I was from or why I was in the water.”
“The authorities said they couldn’t find your body or the passengers from the other car that fell from the bridge. But everyone on the ferry survived,” Lexi said, her father holding her mother’s hand, giving her comfort.
“I…I don’t remember anything about that.”
“The man who rescued you had to have assumed you had family. That your car was one of the ones that had crashed into the river when the bridge collapsed,” Lexi said, irate. “Why didn’t he call the authorities? For a year we thought you were dead.”
“I believe he needed me in his life. He thought I was an angel sent to him to bring him out of his depression. It took me a long time to figure out I wasn’t his wife, that I didn’t belong there. Because of being a wolf, I was confused about having a human husband. At least I remembered being a wolf.”
Lexi couldn’t believe that the man who had rescued her mother had lied to her. What a horrible thing he’d done to all of them—her mother, father, Lexi, and everyone in her mother’s life. Lexi glanced at her dad, hoping he wouldn’t be upset with her mom for being with another man for the past year when wolves mated for life and stayed true to their mates. But her dad patted her mother’s hand comfortingly. Her mother smiled at him.
“How did you get away?” Lexi asked.
“We heard a Jeep pulling up to his house a few days ago. Smelling of rampant fear, Miguel urgently told me to hide in the jungle. I worried about him and wanted to stay, but he forced me out of the house, telling me these men
were dangerous. As much as he feared them, I assumed they had to be. They knew him, and from the heated conversation they were having with him, he owed them a lot of money. Four men entered the house and the shouting began. ‘Pay me what you owe Tremaine, Miguel. He ordered us to kill you if you don’t pay up this time,’ one of the men said. ‘I don’t have it,’ Miguel said. ‘Hey, Miguel, we know your wife died and you took a new wife, but we heard she’s an American. She wouldn’t be the woman missing from the bridge accident, would she? Adelaide Summerfield?’
“I nearly died when I heard them mention my name. It was as if an electrical shock forced the memories to flood back through my mind—who I was, who I was married to, why I’d been in Brazil. The men were so vile. I was confused. I knew who Tremaine was. Your father had saved his godson’s life when he’d had an asthma attack. I wondered if his men wanted to rescue me then. I felt numb that Miguel had lied to me all that time. I understood the grief he’d been through, but he’d helped to cause more grief for us as a family.
“I heard Miguel praying, and they said prayer wasn’t going to get him out of this. ‘If you hand her over, Tremaine can use her for leverage and will forgive your debts.’”
“The bastard,” Lexi’s father said.
“I agree. I couldn’t understand how I could be used for leverage. I was afraid Miguel would give me up. But he didn’t. ‘Last chance,’ the man said. I knew they were going to kill Miguel whether he told them I was there or not. If I could have, I would have stripped off my clothes and shifted and attacked them, but I hadn’t been able to shift since the accident. Then shots were fired. One. Two. Three. I felt terrible, because even though I knew Miguel had kept me at the house under false pretenses, he had saved my life, and he had been kind to me. He had taken care of me until he died. The men began ransacking the house, but then they got into the Jeep and tore off.
