Capitol Offense (Texas Heroines in Peril) (16 page)

She sat there, sipping her drink until it
was half gone. She had the illusion of being fixed in one spot as
the room around her revolved. She braced herself as she sat on the
sofa. She felt as if she might fall off.

Then she realized what McNally had done to
her.

"Richard!" The name from her own lips
sounded ridiculous. It wasn't her voice. It sounded as if she were
calling through a huge tin cylinder.

"Yes, Lacy, I put something in your drink to
help calm you down. I'd prefer it if you'd sleep until Pete
comes  and after he gets here, too. I detest hysterical
women."

Chapter 19

Lacy desperately fought the drug. After all,
she told herself, she had drunk only half of the drink. Since
McNally made it clear he would not tolerate a hysterical female,
she had no desire to let him know she wasn't yet unconscious. She
sat on the sofa in a stiff, almost lifeless position, determined
all the while not to twitch a muscle.

But she could not bring herself to let the
light out, so she sat there, rigid, with her expressionless eyes
wide open.

To keep her mind alert, she tested herself
in arithmetic. One and one are two. Two and two are four, and on
until she got to the point where she couldn't go on without aid of
a pencil and paper or calculator. Then, she switched to a narration
of her life's memories, starting with the first. She remembered
very little of her childhood. She remembered family holidays, a
smattering of some of her later school teachers. Then, she
remembered high school vividly, but no one incident seemed to stand
out in her memory. It wasn't until she got to college that her life
seemed to become a series of incidents.

Wherever her thoughts strayed, they kept
coming back to Mike Talamino. She clearly recalled the
circumstances surrounding their first meeting. She had met him in
the law library where she was doing research for her libel course.
The chivalrous young law student had come to her rescue, helping
her find the right books and volunteering to help her prepare
briefs. They had seen each other exclusively after that. She
remembered their first kiss so vividly she could almost feel his
warm lips on hers.

She remembered how he looked then and how
little the years had changed him. It was while she was thinking of
him that she saw his face through the window facing the sundeck not
ten feet from where McNally stood.

McNally's back was to the window.

At first sight of Mike, her heart
jumped.

Then when she looked back again and he
wasn't there, she began to doubt her senses. Under the diffusing
effects of the drug, she really could not be sure of what she saw.
She could easily be hallucinating herself a savior, and since she
had been thinking of Mike, there was no better candidate.

It would have been difficult for her or
McNally to have heard any light noises, such as a stealthy climb of
the stairs, over the music from the CD player. She wanted to
believe Mike was on the sundeck waiting to save her. If he were,
though, why didn't he act? She waited a few more minutes. Still
nothing.

As she tried to console herself, a flurry of
footsteps barged up the stairs. Footsteps of a single person –
probably a woman, since they were light. Then a frantic knocking at
the door followed.

"Richard, it's Vivian. Let me it."

McNally gave a quick jerk, then raced to the
door. Just prior to opening the door, he tucked the gun at his
waist.

When the door snapped open, a tall, huskily
built man cut in between McNally and his wife, his gun drawn.
"Hands up, McNally. I'm with the FBI, and you're under arrest."

At that same moment, two more armed men
dashed into the room.

One of them was Mike . His eyes locked with
Lacy's. "Thank God you're here. And alive."

McNally was surrounded. With tears brimming
in his eyes, he lifted his arms over his head. The man accompanying
Mike searched McNally and removed the gun from his midriff, while
the other agent informed McNally of his rights.

There was such a whirl of activity, Lacy
barely noticed Vivian standing near the doorway, weeping.

Mike came to stand in front of Lacy. "Anyone
else here?"

She shook her head.

A look of deep concern crossed his face, and
he immediately buried her in his embrace. "Are you okay?" he asked,
his voice tender.

She nodded. "I'm okay. Really I am. It's
just that Richard put something in my drink."

The two agents had not taken their eyes off
McNally, nor had they quit pointing their guns at him. They
apparently had no handcuffs with them.

Mike picked up his gun again and slowly
stepped over to McNally. With hatred in his eyes, he thrust his gun
almost within McNally's grasp as he aimed it directly at McNally's
face. "What did you put in her drink?" Before giving McNally time
to answer, he continued, "If this girl dies, you will too."

With his hands still overhead, McNally said,
"I swear all I put in her drink was something to make her sleep for
a while. Here," he started to tuck his hand into his breast when
Mike shouted, "Stop it! Don't try anything."

McNally stretched his hands back toward the
ceiling. "In my pocket," he motioned with his eyes toward his shirt
pocket, "you'll find the powders I put in her drink. They're
harmless."

Mike removed the plastic bottle from
McNally's pocket, walked to the kitchen and drew a glass of water.
He approached Vivian McNally.

"What do you say, McNally," Mike said, "to
letting your wife have one of harmless tablets?" He held the pill
out to her.

Red eyed, she looked up at her husband
questioningly. McNally's voice cracked as he spoke. "Viv, I love
you so much. I never meant to hurt you." He turned from her to
Mike, his voice gathering its natural strength. "If you want her to
sleep, let her have it. I swear, even if my word doesn't mean much,
they're harmless."

Vivian McNally drew a deep breath and moved
to her husband's side. Instead of pumping her now broken
husband and chiding him for his illegal deeds, she silently stroked
his back.

In all the excitement it seemed everyone,
including Lacy, had forgotten her plight. Her hands still were tied
behind her, and the tightly drawn twine cut away at her raw
wrists.

Mike finally took a knife from the kitchen
drawer and cut her loose. When he saw her wounds, his brows drew
together and he cursed at McNally.

Although the other two men kept a close
watch on McNally, they also watched Lacy and Mike. The larger of
the two gave a scornful expression at Lacy's mangled wrist.

"Are you okay except for that?" Mike
asked.

She nodded. "How did you get out of your car
theft charges?"

"Oh, you knew about that, did you?"

"Jim found out when he called Capitol
security to get you. Seems they already had you."

"Yeah. Right in the middle
of my heart attack some guy says,
Ok,
Buster, your gig is up. I'm placing you under arrest for the theft
of Senator Marshall's car.
I nearly did
have a heart attack then."

Lacy smiled .

"I didn't completely trust the Capitol
guards  afraid they might be too close to
Chambers  so, I thought I'd oblige and go down to the
police station where I could demand to see the FBI agents. And
Eddie and Jacob came down to the station and vouched for my
credibility  we've worked together before. I gave them
the gist of the case, and they backed me one hundred percent."

Eddie eyed Lacy, a smile on his face. "We
woke up Judge Gonzales to issue a search warrant, and I think we
found enough in Chambers' office to hang him. There's plenty of
stuff to go through still, but our first priority was to find
you."

Mike looked at Lacy and smiled. Then he put
his arms around her and pulled her to his chest. "God, I'm glad
you're okay."

"I'm glad
you're
okay. Jim sent a
guy named Bernie to kill you when you left the police
station."

One of the agents' gaze shifted from Lacy to
Mike. "Sounds like still another charge against Chambers."

Mike nodded. "And I guess you two scared old
Bernie off."

"How'd you find me here?" Lacy asked.

"Blind luck, I guess." Mike smiled and
seized her hand.

"Jim wouldn't tell, huh?"

Mike shrugged. "We haven't talked to him
yet. Not able to find him. He wasn't in his apartment. We got Mrs.
McNally when she tried the knob to Chambers' apartment. She told us
about the phone call. She said she had been concerned over her
husband and had tried to call Chambers' number but kept getting a
busy signal."

Vivian addressed her husband. "What happened
to your cell?"

"Jim made me turn it off."

"I was worried to death about you," she
said, hitching a sob. "With good reason, apparently."

"By that time we had men all over town, and
none of them could turn up any helpful information on Chambers'
whereabouts," Eddie said. "The highway patrol, though, saw a car
meeting the description of McNally's Mercedes heading out of town
on Highway 290. We asked Mrs. McNally if she knew of any place in
the direction of 290 her husband might be. She suggested this place
and came along to show us the way."

Terror struck Lacy as swiftly as a sudden
kick. "You mean to tell me that Jim hasn't been apprehended
yet?"

"There's an all points bulletin out for
him right now, but as of yet, he hasn't been located."

Her face lost its color, her lashes lowered,
then she snapped back, her voice more strident. "My God, they know
we're here. Jim was to send the redhead here to kill me. He may be
close."

The taller of the two agents took a short
step toward Lacy. "Don't worry. We'll protect you."

"By the way, Lace, this is my friend Eddie,"
Mike said, nodding at the taller agent. Then his glance skipped to
the other agent. "And this is Special Agent Jacob Miller."

She thanked them.

Mike turned his attention to McNally. "You
know, McNally, your wife was a tremendous help to us. Of course,
she had no idea you could possibly be mixed up in this sordid mess.
She was convinced you were the innocent bystander. It's to your
credit that she aided the FBI. It will also be to your credit if
you cooperate with us. If you can help us get a conviction against
Chambers, we may be able to get you off with a very light
sentence."

McNally nodded.

"It's also to your credit that Lacy wasn't
killed." Mike turned to Jacob. "I'd feel better if you stand out on
the deck – in case the hit man shows up."

The door burst open. "Too late." The voice
was Jim's. Everyone turned as he and Pete burst into the room. Pete
dove at Mike and brought him down.

Jim grabbed Lacy and jammed his gun to her
temple. A third man bust through the doorway and aimed his gun on
the agents who had been guarding McNally.

Jim butted the gun into Lacy's skull. "Throw
your guns over here, or she gets it," he said to the agents. They
obliged, tossing the guns toward the man Lacy presumed was Bernie.
Pete and Mike had been struggling until Mike realized Lacy's peril.
Jim looked down at him. "Get up, Talamino, and put your hands over
your head or I'll kill Lacy."

Mike rose immediately. Pete took his gun but
still frisked him until he was certain Mike was disarmed, then told
him to stand by the other captives.

For the second time in one night, Lacy faced
death. This time she was somewhat more composed. "Jim, you must
have heard Mike just before you came in when he said police all
over the state are looking for you. It would be to your advantage
to come clean, to cooperate with the FBI."

"Wrong, Baby. We're going to take Richard's
boat to Mexico. It will be much better if we don't leave pointing
fingers like the lot of you behind." He looked at McNally. "I've
taken all our ready cash from your office safe and made a few phone
calls to raise some more. How much fuel do you have for the
boat?"

"Since this place is so isolated, I always
keep a surplus of gas. We've got enough to get down into
Mexico."

Jim nodded, then called McNally over.
McNally stopped to retrieve his gun, then the two men spoke in
muffled tones. After a brief conversation, McNally walked toward
the door.

"I better go check on the boat," McNally
said as he walked outside.

"May I sit now?" Lacy asked Jim.

He nodded.

She sat on the couch. Opposite her, Mike and
the others remained standing, while Pete and the other man aimed
guns at the three men. Vivian had taken a seat at the glass-topped
dining table.

Jim backed up to where he could see Lacy and
the others in the same glance. "Pete?" he called.

"Huh?"

"What do you think's the best way to get rid
of them?"

"At sea."

Jim nodded. "Bernie, maybe you'd better go
check Richard."

"Whatever you say, Gov." He kept his gun out
as he left the house.

As soon as he stepped from the house,
several shots were fired. It sounded as if they came from the
sundeck.

At the instant Jim's gaze flicked toward the
door, Mike dove at him. Jim's gun went off, grazing Mike's
forearm.

Screams ripped from Lacy and Vivian.

Despite that Mike's blood was spewing, he
grabbed Jim and knocked the gun from his hand. But Jim was much
bigger. Much stronger. He locked his arms around Mike, shoving him
into the tile floor and bashing Mike's head repeatedly into the
floor.

The door snapped open. McNally burst into
the room and blasted Pete with gunfire.

Jim let go of Mike and went for his gun.

McNally turned his gun on Jim, but he wasn't
quick enough. Jim had already pulled the trigger.