01 Untouchable - Untouchable (27 page)

David’s words were like acid in my
ears, filled with the worst vulgarity possible. He wanted to know
what had gotten into Micah. Why did he bring me here, when I could
now tell others where I had been? The shouting increased and I
realized they were coming down the hallway. I thought about the
fact that David could very well over-power him, especially since
his side was exposed and his brother sounded like the type of
person who would use that weakness against him.

Now I was feeling panic; trapped panic.
I went to the window and turned the latch, pushing it open yet
wondering if I should slip out. It wasn’t far to the ground,
perhaps six feet. I could easily make the jump, but should I? Where
would I run? I didn’t know this place. The only thing I was wishing
at the moment was that I had the keys to Ryan’s car.

The bedroom doors swung open, smacking
the walls, as the three of them entered the room.

I must have looked like some frightened
animal caught in the roadway that didn’t know which way to turn. I
could see a small stream of blood coming from his side, apparently
from trying to restrain his brother from getting to where I was. I
knew the sting of the glue tearing and the wound trying to reopen
must have been agonizing, but he showed no signs of pain. They both
were terrifying to watch. These were two trained killers and the
battle was only going to get worse.

David gave a contemptuous laugh when he
saw me, “And now I see why we have a problem.”

“
There is no problem,” Evan
growled loudly. “She knows what’s going to happen. She’s just
buying time…”

“
Have you slept with her
yet, little bro?”

I felt the color drain from my
face.

“
David!” his mother
delivered with commanding authority. “I told you to drop it! This
is Micah’s job. He knows what he’s…”

“
You haven’t, have you?”
David continued looking from his face and then to mine. “That’s the
problem,” he said, laughing and smacking his palm against his
shoulder. It wasn’t a light hit, but he was immobile like granite.
“You need to do this thing and get it off your mind. She’s playing
with you, bro.”

“
Get out of my house,” he
ground out the words so deeply it was more like a rumble of distant
thunder than a human voice.

“
If she’s too much for you,
Micah, I can help you out.”

It was as if I was watching a lit fuse
disappear into a stick of dynamite. The explosion was getting ready
to happen.

“
Because if you can’t shoot
her…” He moved so fast. His hand had reached behind his back, and
in one smooth motion was coming in front of him with a gun pointed
my direction, “…I sure as hell can.”

Evan was on top of him.

There was no time to think, I was
outside on the ground running for my life. I heard a shot and my
mind was crying out in terror wondering if I’d just lost Evan. Past
the hedges and around the far end of the garage until I realized it
was a long open run for the woods.

I glanced to the right and remembered
what was in the back of the Trans Am. The doors were unlocked and I
ripped the front seat forward, climbing into the rear, grabbing and
pulling with all my might at the back seat to get it to come loose.
It wouldn’t budge, but then my fingers felt the latch and it came
down hard. I reached in the darkness for the case that I knew was
right on top. It had slid off center, but it was still there. I
gripped it firmly and stumbled out of the car to the side away from
the house and quickly opened the box. The clip was lying beside it.
I didn’t know exactly what to do, but I knew enough to slam it into
the bottom of the handle.

I heard the sound of footsteps running
from the back porch, and across the pool deck at break-neck speed.
It would only be a matter of seconds before he reached me. My
breathing was too loud and I was trembling so hard, it felt as if
the gun would shake completely out of my hand. I put one palm
around the grip, a finger on the trigger and the other palm under
the butt of the gun to steady it. I could hear their mother
screaming and more footsteps running toward the garage.

There was no more time to cower in
fear, I stood and swung the gun toward the sound of the approaching
person. It was David. His shoes slid across the asphalt as he came
to a full stop. I could see he never expected to find me with a gun
in my hands. Then Evan was through the bushes taking aim. Their
mother wasn’t far behind screaming for them to stop it. David’s
hands slowly went up. Evan’s eyes were unrecognizable as I saw him
prefect his aim.

“
NO, MICAH, NO!” I heard
Celeste yell. “Stop it now, or regret it forever!”

“
Wow, I’ve got to admit,
Bro,” David spoke, ignoring the grave danger he was in. “You’ve
found yourself a little wildcat.”

“
You’re going to get in your
car and leave right now! Don’t come back here!” He
spewed.

David turned slowly and began walking
around toward an ice-blue BMW parked at the edge of the front
circle. “I’m gonna want my gun back, Micah,” he stated as if he
wasn’t concerned by the fact that it was still pointed his
direction.

“
You can get it from Mom,”
came the careful reply.

David continued to laugh and then
opened the car door and turned to look at me.

I wasn’t aware until that moment that I
was still clutching the gun and pointing it his
direction.

“
Well, Annalisa, it was fun
to have met you. I hope we can do this again—without my brother
around.”

“
Leave!” Evan
barked.

The car cranked and pulled away as I
crumpled to the ground sobbing.

He was beside me, carefully removing
the gun from my hands.

His mother was vehemently angry with
him, rambling on about why this never should have come to
this.

I wasn’t hearing all she said as I
looked at him. “Are you okay,” I sobbed, my hand touching his bare
chest and then moving toward his bloody side. “We’ve got to stop
the bleeding,” I continued, my hands still vibrating with fear as
they slid across his skin.

“
Leese, it’s okay. It’s only
a small tear. I’ll be fine. Are you okay? That was a hell of a jump
and run you made.” He was pulling me up onto my feet, looking me
over. I could only nod.

That was when I noticed his mother had
become silent.

She was just standing there, her eyes
riveted on the two of us. She suddenly seemed to snap out of her
abstraction and her line of sight went to his side. “Let’s get you
inside and clean that up,” she finally said.

“
It’s not bad.” Then he
paused. “I’m sorry—about all of this, but I knew what he’d be like
when he got here.”

“
I know,” Celeste replied
gently. “I know you don’t believe it Micah, but he doesn’t want to
see you get…” she paused, looking at me, and considered her word
carefully, “hurt.”

I knew that wasn’t it. He didn’t want
his little brother to get killed.

We went into the house. He insisted
that he would clean and dress his own wound, leaving us standing in
the family room as he went upstairs. I wanted to say something to
her. I wanted some way to apologize, although I knew it wasn’t my
fault that this contract had been placed on my life. Yet, I needed
to let her know how much I didn’t want to hurt her son. I wanted so
much to tell her that I was deeply in love with him, but I just
stood there like a mute.

She turned, evidently seeing the
distress on my face, and put an arm around me. “Sit with me,
Leese,” she asked, guiding me to the couch. She smoothed my hair
and looked at me carefully, “You’re in love with my son, aren’t
you?”

It was like a weight tumbled off my
shoulders. It had been so apparent on my face that she knew the
answer without doubt. I swallowed and then whispered, “More than I
can say.”

“
Micah has never fallen in
love with anyone. This life our family lives is very hard on my
boys. What woman could understand a man with an empty heart? The
problem is you’ve woken something inside him that he doesn’t know
how to handle. This is foreign ground for him, Leese. He’s in love
with you and it’s going to destroy him one way or
another.”

“
No,” I began to sob again.
“I won’t let it. I just want to save my mom and my sister. When
they’re safe—I—I don’t know what I’ll do—but if he can’t—if he
can’t… I’ll do it myself before I’d let someone hurt
him.”

She wrapped her arms around
me in a grip that was surprisingly similar to his steel embrace.
“Good god, Leese, don’t let him hear you say that. I’m going to
help him clear up this mess. I only hope that we can find a way
out, a way for
both
of you.”

She had no idea how much I wanted that
same dream. I wanted a way to come out of this together. Yet, it
was only a dream; there would be no way the two of us would
survive. He had said that he could complete his task at the end of
our time together and, for his sake, I was now hoping he was
right.

I could hear the sound of his footsteps
moving down the stairs as the two of us straightened innocently and
turned to him. His side was wiped clean and a fresh, small bandage
covered the wound. “See, it wasn’t that bad. It’s mostly healed
except that small spot on the end.”

His mother rose and met him half-way.
“I’ve got to head back to New Orleans and do some more research on
Leese’s situation. Do you need me to bring anything back for you?
You’re shelves and freezer are pretty well stocked, but you might
need some fresh items.”

“
No, that’s okay. I’m
thinking I might take Leese down to the French Quarter for dinner
tonight so if I need anything in town, I’ll get it. I might stop by
and show her the house, if you don’t mind.”

“
Of course not. You know
that would be fine.” Then she seemed to reconsider, “Call first
though, I want to be sure David isn’t over. I think you two need a
chance to cool off before you run into each other.”

He kissed her cheek.

She told me good-bye and she was
gone.

He closed the front door and returned
to where I was seated in the family room.

Suddenly everything seemed a little
different because we were alone.

He came over and sat down beside me on
the love seat, his arm outstretched along the top of the cushions,
his hand reaching out and feeling my hair.

“
Leese, I want to do
something…”

That sent a garden full of butterflies
loose in my stomach. I could only look at him with
expectation.

“
You don’t know much about
guns, and if you get in another situation like this morning, I want
you to know how to handle one.”

The statement was an odd relief, but I
still couldn’t speak so I just nodded.

“
How about you and I take a
ride down to where I like to practice and I’ll teach
you.”

I wanted to say yes, but I was honestly
so exhausted, mentally, emotionally and physically that I needed
some sleep. “Would it be okay, if we just took a breather for some
rest before we go? I didn’t sleep very much last night
and…”

“
Me neither,” he added
softly. “All right, it’s only a little after nine, how about we
take a few hours and then hit the range around noon?”

I nodded.

“
You can relax. It’s just
you and me here now. I’m going to lock up the house and turn on the
alarm. You’ll be safe. David won’t come back.”

I went down the hallway into my room.
The window was still open, so I pulled it shut and turned the lock.
There was a bullet wedged in a hole in the wooden floor which was a
too poignant reminder of my near catastrophic morning. I closed the
blinds and drew the curtains, making the room blissfully dark. I
didn’t pull back the thick comforter on the bed. I just laid down
and let my head come to rest on the pillow. I heard my bedroom door
open, causing me to sit up quickly.

“
I’m sorry, I’m just
checking your window,” he said as he crossed the floor.

“
I locked it.”

He looked anyway and then left me
alone.

Once again, my head went down to the
pillow. I don’t know how long I slept, but when I rolled over I
actually felt rested. I checked myself in the mirror and ran the
brush through my hair before stepping out into the hallway to find
him.

I could hear unusual metallic sounds
and a sound that I was becoming, unfortunately keenly aware of, the
chamber of a gun sliding and locking in place. I walked slowly,
though for some odd reason, I wasn’t afraid. I peeked into the
family room, but saw no one. I followed the sound toward the large
formal dining room, but when I looked around the corner I was
shocked at what covered the table. He was there with his large,
flat gray case from the car. It was open on the table revealing two
rifles and four handguns. His black case was also open and he
appeared to be cleaning his black pistol.

“
Hey,” I said softly. I
certainly didn’t want to startle someone with that much fire
power.