Acquiring Trouble (20 page)

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His
eyes shot open. Something had made his geese very upset. His hand automatically reached behind the headboard and pulled out the handgun he kept there.  He slid out of bed and pulled on a pair of black athletic
shorts. “Bill, come here boy.”
Bill quietly growled as he trotted over to him. “I need you to stay in the bathroom, okay? Be quiet. No barking.” Bill reluctantly laid down on the bathmat and put his head on his paws.

Miles’
s
bare feet padded over the hardwood toward the
staircase
. With the gun in his hand he quickly looked around the corner and down the stairs. Faint noises came from the kitchen as he quickly and silently came down the stairs. Instead of getting to the kitchen from the living room, he cut through the dining room. A figure in black was le
aving the kitchen and making
his
way to the living room. Miles tossed a look around and saw that the power had been cut. No lights flashed on the oven and the motion detecting lights were off in the backyard. No wonder the alarm didn’t go off. He bet the phone lines were similarly cut.

Miles felt the darkness
from inside
overtake him. His mind and breathin
g slowed. The heavy gun became
part of him. A quick glance
showed that the intruder was alone and armed. Miles evaluated the exit points and devised his
strategy for attack in seconds.

Miles crept back through the dining room and waited. He knew his breathing was soundless as he tuned into each noise the intruder made. Miles heard him make his way through the living room and to the base of the stairs. He heard the man look up toward the bedrooms and place his foot on the bottom stair. That’s when Miles made his move.

Miles lunged from the shadows and took the man
down to the hard floor. He
wrapped
one of his arms
around the man’s midsection. He used the other arm to reach for the man’s weapon. Miles exhaled as the man’s elbow connected with his gut. They rolled toward the front door and crashed into it. The gun went flying from
his
hand as the man timed another elbow to the midsection at the same time Miles hit the door. He didn’t feel th
e pain shooting across his back though.
He didn’t have time
to even recognize the hit
.

Miles scrambled to his knees as the man lunged for the
gun on the floor. With a growl
,
Miles launched himself on top of the ma
n.
He
delivered a series of swift hits
to the man’s midsection
with his
knees. The man grunted and tried to roll away from the attack.

The man bounced to his feet and kicked out hard and fast right at Miles’
s
face. Miles grabbed the man’s foot and with a sharp twist heard the ankle break. The man shrieked and fell to the ground in pain. Miles was on him in seconds. He straddled the man with one fist full of the attacker’s shirt.
He held his fist up in the air, poised to slam into the man’s
face.

“What are you doing in my house?” Miles growled.

“Robbing you, what does it
look like to you?” he sneered.

Miles unleashed his hand and smashed it into the man’s face. He howled and tried to cover his broken nose. “I’ll ask you again, what are you doing in my house?”

“Okay! Okay!” the man took a breath, “I was sent to rough you up a bit.” Miles gave a wicked grin in the dark and the man shuddered. “She didn’t tell me you were Captain America.”

“Who didn’t tell you? Who ordered this?”

The man took a deep breath and then looked Miles in the eye, “Morgan Hamilton.”

Miles bounded up the stairs to Morgan’s hotel once again. Marshall and Noodle had shown
up soon after and dragged the intruder away. Miles hadn’t told Marshall what the man had told him. No, he wanted Morgan all to himself. He would get every last bit of information out of her before he
handed her over to the police.

Miles’
s
long stride ate up the hallway and he approached her door. Not caring that it was three in the morning he lifted his fist to the door and pounded. The door shook under his attack, but
didn’t
open. He was about to pull out his credit card again when he heard the ding of the elevator. Miles looked down the hall and saw a tired Morg
an step off with a carry
-
on bag
rolling behind her.

“Where the hell have you been?”
Miles roared. Mor
gan’s head shot up in surprise.

“What
are you doing here in the middle of the night?”
s
he countered. Miles noticed she failed to answer
the question.

“You’re under the delusion that you have the right to ask me such a thing.” Morgan’s head snapped back as if she’d been slapped. “
You’ll
keep your mouth shut and tell me exactly what I want to know or
I’ll
call the police and have you arrested immediately.” Miles advan
ced on her and ripped the carry-
on out of her hand.

“If you wanted me arrested I would be already so drop the attitude. What do you want Miles? I’m tired and if you don’t mind hurrying this up, I’d like to
get to bed.” Morgan reached into her purse and pulled out her key card.

“Fine, I have one question for you. Is there a reason you sent someone to break into my house and try to beat me up?” Miles ground out between his clinched teeth.

“What the
hell
are
you talking about?”
Morgan snapped back.

“You heard me. I had a nice conversation
with the man who tried to attack
me and do you know what he told me?” He watched as Morgan simply raised her eyebrow. “He told me you hired him to do so. Imagine my surprise. Here I had thought the sex had been pretty good. If you wanted to break up, you
could’ve
just not called me the next day.”

“Oh shut up Miles. You don’t have to be such a smartass. I didn’t send anyone to kill you. You know how I feel about you and it’s so absurd to think I’d do that
.
I don’t even know how to respond. So, I’ll just say this
—i
f you think I’d do something like this, then you’re not the man I fell in love with.” Morgan opened her door and then slammed it in his face.
Miles looked at the closed door in stunned s
ilence. If this woman wasn’t trying
to kill him, he might just have to marry her.

Morgan locked the door
and hurried to the desk in her hotel
room. She plugged in her laptop and pulled out her car keys. On it was a silver horse. She pulled at the saddle and the horse separated, revealing a flash drive.
As she inserted the device into her laptop she wondered if she should feel guilty for what she was about to do.

She pulled up the documents she had stolen and reviewed them.
She flipped from page to page and reviewed all the data and notes as quickly as possible.
She had to find out if she was right or not. If not, she envisioned herself a jailhouse victim of a random act of violence. She didn’t kid herself. If she didn’t find what she was looking for she might have to gra
b her bag and run for her life.

Morgan continued to review the documents. It only took a couple of minutes to find what she was looking for. She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and started to shake. She had found a way to stay alive. Morgan
copied the documents onto a new flash drive and
picked up her phone.
She dialed the
number she knew by heart
and waited for him to answer.

“I know how to bring them to their knees.” She waited for his respons
e and then nodded. “By the end of the week
it’ll
be done.
Just hold up your end of the bargain.”

Morgan hung up her phone and stripped out of her suit. She climbed into bed, hugged the pillow to her chest and cried. She cried for the loss of a love she’d never have, for the pain of Miles’
s
words, and for the fact that she was just crying. She hadn’t cried since her mother passed away, but it seemed a constant struggle against the pain of
her
past in Keeneston. The tears finally stopped flowing, her nose stopped running
,
and
she finally fell asleep.

Morgan woke up as the sun filled the room with light. She moaned and rolled over to look at the clock. It wasn’t even seven in the morning yet. She wished she had gotten more than three hours of sleep, but there was nothing she could do about it. She needed to get to
town and hear the local gossip.

Morgan rolled out of bed and scrubbed the sleep from her face in the shower. There was no better place than the Blossom Café to find out if she’d been discovered. It was sort
of
like stepping into the lion’s den, but the rewards could be just as grea
t. And they had pecan pancakes.

An hour later Morgan pus
hed
open
the front door to the c
afé. The noise hit her at the same time as the smell of eggs, bacon
,
and sausage. As customary, everyone turned to see who was joining
them
for breakfast. The talking stopped so suddenly that the only noise Morgan heard was the sizzling of bacon.

Morgan tried to smile, but
all
eyes were narrowed
on her
and she decided that they
believed
she had betrayed them. She held her head up high and headed to the empty table in the middle of the room. Slowly th
e whispers started and soon there
was so
much gossip flying around that s
he was afraid she’d be hit in the face with it.

“Did you hear about Glenn Myers’
s
farm? His hay barn was burned down last night. They caught it before it spread, thank God,” Morgan heard
Miss Daisy tell Tammy as she handed
her a to
-
go coffee.

“Oh my gosh! I hadn’t heard. Morgan, did you hear that?” Tammy turned and looked at
Morgan and Morgan cringed. The c
afé went quiet again except for the sound of chairs scraping the floor as the
patrons turned to look at her.

“No. I hadn’t heard about that. I’m so sorry for him and his family,” Morgan announced to the room instead of just to Tammy who had c
ome to stand next to her table.

“Everyone has been donating bales of hay to him all morning. I don’t have any just laying around,” Tammy laughed, “but
I was going to head over to the
feed store and buy one for him. Well, I’ll see you later.
Toodles
!” Tammy gave a little
wave and bounced out the door.

“I’m going over there too after bre
akfast.”

Morgan looked
at
the seat across from her and
saw her sister standing there.

“I could p
ick one up for you if you want,” Pam said.

“Thank you, Pam. I would.” Morgan reached into her wallet and handed Pam some money. The patrons took notice and started talking again. Apparently she was still suspected, b
ut the gossipers couldn’t decide
for sure if she was respo
nsible for these criminal acts.

Morgan looked at her older sister and sighed. Pam wasn’t going back to her table. “Would you care to join me for breakfast?”

“Thank you.” Pam sat perfectly straight in the chair and smiled.
Just as quickly her head shot up as the bell over the door chimed.
“Oh! My husband is here earlier than I thought. He had to go get the truck to transport the hay.” Pam stood up abruptly, suddenly looking nervous. Morgan turned to find a handsome
middle-aged
man
with dark brown hair. He w
as average height, average build
,
and had a warm smile on his face.
He was perfect for
P
erfect Pam.

“He looks very nice Pam.
Why
doesn’t he join us for breakfast?” Morgan asked as she scooted over to make room for the
brother-in-law she’d never met.

“Oh, um. No. Not today. Sorry Morgan, I just love my husband too much to introduce him to you. I can’t take that chance again.” Pam hurried from the room.