“How’s the bug picking up?”
Sal put the headphones back on before answering. “Excellent.” Then, she removed them and set them on her lap.
“Then why aren’t you listening?”
Sal grinned. “It’s voice-activated. See this green light? It goes on as soon as someone near the bug speaks. I don’t even need the headphones, but Josh’s ears are sensitive, so I do it for him.”
Delta nodded in understanding as she stared at the console. “This is a little complex for my tiny brain.”
“Not really. Bugs have drastically improved since Watergate. We have a prototype in the works right now that can tune out all existing sound except human voices. Josh and I are planning to use it when we open our PI business.”
Delta and Connie both turned and stared at the little woman. “You want to be a private detective?”
Sal nodded. “You bet. There isn’t anybody out there right now who can match our technology. After hanging with you guys for a case or two, we’ve got a hankering to get out there and see if we can solve some cases ourselves.”
“Well, with all this stuff, you’d certainly be in demand.”
Josh nodded. “Why not put it to use, you know?”
Sal grinned at Josh, and for a second, Delta wondered if there wasn’t something else going on between them.
“Is Mac coming soon?” Sal asked Josh, who only nodded. “Good. Try to keep each other out of trouble.”
“Yeah, yeah. Be careful, Salamander. Hanging with these two seems to be more trouble than anyone I hang with.”
Delta and Connie looked at each other with feigned hurt. “Hey,” Connie said, “we resemble that remark.”
“You resemble trouble, man.” Josh said, rising and stepping out of the van, turning to look back in at the three of them. “And as much as I like you both, I’ll still have to come after you if anything happens to Sal.”
The diminutive woman was a connection to a man, a past, a lifetime that had changed the lives of these men forever. Sal was more than just the daughter of an army buddy; she was the glue that bound them together. She was the reason Josh didn’t blow his head off when he returned to a hostile and insensitive country; the reason Mac turned away from the drugs once he settled into the reality of a warless nation. Delta looked into the eyes of a man who had killed in cold blood, and she knew he would, indeed, come after them if anything happened to Sal.
“Well, we won’t let that happen, now will we, Con?”
“Go on, Josh. You know I can take care of myself.” Sal grinned at him, and he seemed to melt there on the spot. As Josh lumbered away, Sal whispered, “He’s slightly overprotective.”
“Slightly,” Connie and Delta said in unison.
“Well, ladies, all we have to do is wait for Wainwright to hang himself.”
Delta nodded as she, too, stepped out and away from the van. As Connie exited and stood at Delta’s side, Delta could have sworn she heard the springs of a trap being set.
Taylor checked her watch before pulling her cap over her ears. It was getting colder now—unusually so, from what she gathered in the news. She was beginning to look forward to her trip back to Brazil, where the air was fresher and the nights warmer. Though she often returned to the little town of San Dumont after her crime sprees, she’d never stolen a thing from the Brazilian people. They were so loving and so incredibly beautiful with their golden skin that she could never bring herself to violate their trust. She missed their hospitality after being in the cold, impersonal United States, but it was time. She had played with Delta Stevens and had even beaten her. The joy of the challenge no longer existed for her. She would go back to Brazil and play in the sun until she got bored once more. Now, this game was coming to an end.
Delta had proven a worthy opponent, even if she’d never really come close to catching her. Even their rooftop encounter had been engineered by Taylor. Delta Stevens was good, but she had only come as close to Taylor as Taylor wanted. Actually, the best part of the caper had been at the bar. Being so close to Delta, touching her, rubbing against her, watching her neck turn pink, gave Taylor the goosebumps. But how many nights had Taylor watched Delta go home to a dark and empty house? What woman would be foolish enough to leave that gorgeous woman alone for too long? Delta’s powerful frame, proud stature, and bedroom eyes surely drew women to her like a magnet. Whoever held Delta’s heart needed to wake up before someone else came along and stole her away.
The thought of stealing Delta someday made Taylor smile. Ah, to have those eyes gaze down into hers would be her life’s fait accompli . Delta Stevens was an easy woman to fall for, and Taylor wished there was some way that she and Delta could have met under different circumstances. Maybe they would have been lovers. Better yet, maybe they could have even been friends. Wouldn’t that have been fun? To have someone in her life who liked riding the edge as much as she did.
More than once, Taylor had been tempted to break into Delta’s place just to look through her things. She was dying to know what Delta Stevens read. Mysteries? Biographies? Cartoons? Was she sloppy, or compulsively clean? Did she put the toilet paper over or under? What kind of underwear did she wear? And what did she eat? Taylor had lain awake at night wondering about the idiosyncrasies that made up Delta’s personality. What kind of music did she listen to? And whose picture was in the frame on the top of her desk?
Ah, yes, Taylor had given into the urge to peek into Delta’s world, but she had far too much respect for Delta to invade her private space. Besides, after what she’d read about Delta, messing around in her private life or with her loved ones was a good way to end up splattered all over the pavement or with a bullet in your head. Neither scenario appealed to Taylor.
So, she was forced to keep their relationship strictly professional and would only allow herself to dream about what it would be like to lie on the beautiful beaches of Rio, drinking mai tais with the ever irascible Delta Stevens by her side.
They were late, Taylor realized, Delta and that Italian sausage of a partner. But then, this house actually sat on the border of Delta’s beat; they would cruise by less often. Taylor had worried about this job, since no amethyst had been brought in for a cleaning for quite some time. Stealing an aquamarine gemstone would have been a drag, since the amethyst, as Delta’s birthstone, was far more poetic. Fortunately, her diligence paid off, and an amethyst had arrived for cleaning. And boy, was it a beaut. Not worth much money, but it was the final letter and her final snatch.
Unzipping one of her pouches, Taylor pulled out the letter she planned to leave for Delta and read it for the fourteenth time.
Dearest Delta—
I regretfully inform you that this has been my last job here in River Valley, and I will no longer plague you with my presents (ha). You’ve truly been a good sport, and though I expected more competition from you, I am not the least bit disappointed. You’ve been a most enjoyable and pleasurable experience. Matching wits with you has been just as exciting as I knew it would. However, due to the confining limitations of space and time, I must be off to new adventures and foreign lands. You’re great fun, Delta Stevens, and I sincerely hope the universe is kind to you. And though I know you won’t keep it, the piece I’m sending you should show you how deeply I respect you and your abilities. You are one of a kind—
Thanks for the memories,
Love, Taylor.
Taylor grinned. It had taken her six drafts and almost an hour to get just the right words. She had agonized over a paragraph which spoke of their evening together at the bar, but opted to omit it, since the words wouldn’t come out right. Being with Delta that night had been more than fun.
Glancing at her watch one last time, Taylor strained to see through the darkness. If Delta was to respond to the incredible alarm system in this house, Taylor had to time her entry perfectly. She had to make sure Delta’s patrol car was in the neighborhood before setting it off; otherwise, some other cop would respond.
Getting into a house with such an incredibly complex alarm system would be a real thrill. Whoever this paranoid individual was, they had certainly protected themselves with a system few thieves would even attempt to get past.
Seeing a pair of headlights turn the corner, Taylor crouched lower behind the bushes, her leather outfit creaking as she moved. She knew even before she saw the sleek black and white that it was a cop car; the slow, deliberate movement, the way both heads turned from side to side, told her all she needed to know. She envisioned Delta laughing at something stupid her partner said as her eyes probed through the darkness. Was Delta thinking about Taylor now?
As the patrol car cruised by, Taylor barely saw the side of Delta’s head as she gazed out the window. She looked preoccupied; didn’t appear as alert as usual. Maybe she wasn’t feeling well.
Taylor frowned.
This was it, then. When the tiny, red taillights shone like pinheads in the distance, Taylor slid out from behind the bushes and made her way to the back fence. Within seconds, she climbed up the chimney, cut a hole through the window, and was in the master bedroom before the second counter on her watch ran past the zero. Timing was everything now.
Scanning the room, Taylor grinned. Having already done her homework on this house, she patted the pocket where a special pair of glasses that would enable her to clearly see the laser lights crisscrossing the hall sat. But, seeing the jewelry box, she didn’t bother removing the glasses she didn’t need right now. Taylor reached out and carefully opened the box to paw through it. When she didn’t find the amethyst, she opened the closet door and found the wall safe tucked neatly behind a stack of army jackets. She had planned for a side trip like this. Seeing all the security equipment upon her initial recon, she figured that someone this insecure would have a safe. After removing her leather gloves, she adjusted the surgical ones she wore beneath them.
Cracking this one would not be difficult. The tumbling mechanism had been made in Europe; she’d cut her teeth as a child on devices like this one. Grinning, Taylor cracked her knuckles. When she stopped, she thought she heard another crack.
Suddenly, before she could move, blink, or even finish her thought, the unthinkable happened.
Someone turned on the lights. The goddamned lights.
“Looking for this?”
Taylor spun to find Delta leaning against the door frame, holding the large amethyst in the palm of her hand. “This is what you came for, isn’t it?”
Taylor stepped outside the closet and back into the bedroom, her disbelief written clearly on her face. Delta saw her eyes flicker to the side, as though gauging distance between Delta and the window.
“Don’t even think about it Taylor. The fall would break your neck.”
“How did...it’s not possible. I saw—”
“You saw what I wanted you to see.” Delta smiled. The sweet aroma of success tingled her taste buds.
Dropping the amethyst in her pocket, Delta stopped leaning against the door frame and stood straight. She didn’t think Taylor would try to get by her, but she knew that desperate people often broke all the rules.
“You seem surprised,” Delta said flatly.
“Shocked is more like it. I didn’t think you had a clue.” Taylor shrugged. “Guess I underestimated you, huh?”
This made Delta grin. “Guess so.”
Taylor’s grin matched Delta’s. For someone going to jail for a long, long time, she seemed exceptionally calm. “I’m glad you didn’t let me down, Delta. For a minute there, I thought you were going to go down without a fight. I’m happy to say you proved me wrong.”
“I almost didn’t. You’re very good.”
Taylor shrugged again. “So are you. So, now what?”
“Unfortunately, I’m going to have to bring you in.”
Folding her arms across her chest, Taylor continued grinning. “You know I can’t let you do that. I’m deathly allergic to cells, and prison food. I’m also incapable of eating salad and pancakes with a spoon. So, you’ll have to excuse me if I beg off.”
Delta admired Taylor’s wit under pressure. “You should have thought of that before.”
“Before what? Before I starved to death at the age of six? Tell me, when should the orphan have thought about not stealing?”
The smile faded from Delta’s face. She hadn’t expected this flare of passion from Taylor. Her glibness, yes, but not her tenacity.
“Maybe before you chose to take me on.”
“Take you on? I would have thought you’d be flattered. No one, Delta, no one has even come close to catching me. I gave you the chance to play. I thought you’d enjoy it.”
Delta’s lip twitched, betraying her true feelings. “I did...I mean...I have...I—”
“You and I are not so unalike, Delta Stevens. We both strive for perfection—we live life completely on the edge. We’re immensely passionate about the people and things we care for. And... we’re viciously competitive. That’s why I came here. You know how to gamble it all and win. You gambled in that warehouse, you gambled against Elson Zuckerman, and you gambled in that inferno of a house. And each time, you came out on top. And you know why? Because what rules you can’t bend, you break. Hell, you even make up new rules as you go along. That’s one of the things I admire most about you. It’s what sets us both apart from the rest. And we are set apart, you know. We don’t settle for the mundane. We deviate, we challenge, and we dare the world to give us something more than average. We don’t just live life, Delta. You and I make life happen.”
Delta just stood there, enraptured by Taylor’s words, caught by her demeanor, and her candid appraisal of Delta’s very essence.
But Taylor was far too calm, far too controlled considering the circumstances. This was a woman who had to be holding a trump card, and Delta wondered just how long it would be before she played it.
“I know what you’re thinking, Delta. You’re wondering how I can be so cool when it appears as if I’m getting ready to go make license plates. Right?”
Delta shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Maybe? Come on. You can do better than that.”
Delta’s lips curled up slightly. “I’m wondering what card you’ve got up your sleeve. I’m wondering if I’ve missed something along the way.”
“Perhaps you realize that I have no intention of spending one day, let alone the rest of my life in a six by six cell.”
“Oh, is that it? You have some fancy, high-priced lawyer to get you off?”
“Not even remotely.”
“Then what?”
Taylor took a step toward the window. “Draw your gun, Delta.”
“What?”
Taylor took another step. “I said, pull your gun. You see, you have one of two choices; you’re either going to have to shoot me or let me go. There are no other options.”
“You’re crazy.”
“Maybe. But we both know you can kill men. You have before and you will again, if you need to. I’m willing to bet that shooting another woman would not be as easy.” Taylor was standing in front of the open window now. “I’d say the chance of you shooting me in the back is one in a million.”
Delta stepped further into the room, calculating the odds of her reaching Taylor before Taylor could scoot out the window. Since Taylor was only a foot from the window, and with Delta clear across the room, those chances were slim.
“Believe me, Delta, I’ve jumped from much higher than this.”
Delta laid her hand on the butt of her gun, still resting in its holster against her hip. “So, this is it, then? I either shoot you or let you go?”
Taylor nodded. “There will be no jail time for this bird, Delta. I either fly or die. The decision is yours.”
Slowly unhooking her holster, Delta withdrew her silver revolver. “I can’t just let you go, Taylor.”
“I’m disappointed,” Taylor purred. “I’d have bet my millions that you respected me enough not to try and bluff me.”
&n
bsp; “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. But you are bluffing, Delta. That much I know.”
Delta pointed the .357 at Taylor. She might as well have been pointing a water pistol at her for all Taylor seemed to care.
“Explain one thing to me, Taylor. You have more than enough money to live the rest of your days in luxury. It’s the thrill, then, isn’t it?”
Taylor put one leg over the windowsill. “I could ask the same of you, Delta. If I gave you one of my millions, would you still choose to stay in uniform and risk your life for people who don’t give a shit if you live or die?”
Delta nodded imperceptibly. “You know I would.”
“Right. And for what? For the thrill, the excitement? For the satisfaction that you’re the best there is? Come on, Delta, in another life, you and I were soul mates. We were on the same side riding the same wave of adventure. And now here we are, in this life, still riding it, but this time we’re on opposite teams.”
Delta wrapped her finger around the trigger and raised the gun. “Yes, we are. And my side just won.”
“Have you? I’m afraid the only thing you’ve won is the dubious honor of deciding whether to let me go.”
“You really believe those are the only two choices open to me?”
Taylor nodded. “Yes. I’m going out this window, and I’ll wager all I own that you won’t shoot me. And not just because of the fleeing felon rule and all that rot, but because it’s not your style; and Delta Stevens, you have some kind of style.”
Delta raised the revolver just a touch. “You’re really willing to bet that I won’t shoot you?”
Taylor nodded.
“How can you be so sure?”
Taylor ducked her head back inside and smiled warmly at Delta. “Another day, another life, and you and I really could have had some fun. You’re an incredible woman, Delta, with ethics of steel. You could no more shoot me in the back than you could shoot yourself in the head. If we ever meet again, and I know that we will, I do hope it’s under more pleasurable circumstances. But I really must go. If I stay much longer, I’m afraid I’d fall in love with you, and that simply wouldn’t do. Ciao.” With that, Taylor slid out the window, leaving Delta staring at the spot where Taylor had been.
Taylor Made Page 18
