Cold Blooded (6 page)

“Deke, buckle up, you’re in for a bumpy ride. Sorry, but no hanging out the window this trip, buddy.”

Great, now I’m talking to the dog
.

Nick sat in the driver’s seat, closed the door, and opened the leather case. He took out his satellite phone and a MAC 10 machine pistol with a forty round clip. Nick popped the clip into place and set the weapon on the passenger seat. With the phone in its Velcro cradle installed on top of the center storage compartment, Nick drove away from McDonalds within sight of the Buick. Instead of entering the freeway, Nick drove onto Gillman Road, heading East.

The Buick followed, nearly a hundred yards back. Nick called Grace’s number, putting it on speaker. He turned off his lights, wheeled hard left, feathered the brake pedal, and slid smoothly in the reverse direction. Nick passed the Buick and repeated the maneuver, bringing the Malibu up behind the Buick.

“Grace Stanwick.”

“Grace, I have a bogey here and I’m wondering if it’s one of yours.” Nick flashed his lights on and hurriedly read off the license plate number as the Buick’s brake lights lit up.

“How’d you get through without your ID flashing on my screen, Nick?”

“Quit talking and get looking, Grace,” Nick ordered, swerving around and ahead of the Buick once again, glancing back to make sure Deke was still okay. The dog had spread his paws to stabilize motion.

“Wait one, damn it, I’m checking!”

Nick accelerated far ahead of the Buick, turned out his lights, and reversed his direction once again. This time, he opened the driver’s side window, picked up the MAC 10, and cradled it over the window frame.

“Hurry, Grace, time’s running out.” Nick calmly slowed the Chevy. The Buick decreased speed but kept coming. Nick anchored the MAC 10, the top pad of his right index finger gently beginning to squeeze the trigger.

“They’re ours, Nick! Where are you and what do you mean time’s running out?”

Nick turned on his lights, set the MAC 10 down, and accelerated back toward McDonalds. “I’ll be with Kim and Sarah in a few minutes at a McDonalds on Arroyo Circle in Gilroy. I’ll let you find out what this is all about. Call in to Kim’s cell-phone, okay?”

“Count on that,” Grace retorted angrily, ending the call.

Slowing his Malibu down, Nick picked up the MAC 10, cradling it next to his chest as the Buick Lacerne shot by him. A block away from the McDonalds parking lot, Nick packed away his phone and weapon. He let Deke jump to the front while Nick reformed the baggage in the rear passenger compartment. Nick shook his head in disbelief as he entered the McDonalds parking lot and saw both Rachel and Jean standing outside the door. Nick parked the Chevy. He eased out of the seat looking over at Rachel with undisguised disappointment.

“Do you have any survival instincts at all?”

“Grace called me. She said we no longer have a tail and to call her when I saw you.”

“Can we at least go back inside please?” Nick motioned them to the restaurant door. “I’ll get another iced tea and then give Grace a call. Please don’t come out in the open again when we’re still determining our situation.”

“Sorry…I’m glad to see you,” Rachel added.

“I’m growing on you, huh?”

“No, I left my purse in your car with all our money and credit cards.”

Nick laughed, pointing at Rachel. “Good one. Want anything else to drink.”

“No…and neither do you,” Rachel said to Jean, just as the little girl was about to order.

A few minutes later, Nick had his iced tea, and Rachel’s cell-phone with Grace on the other end of the line.

“It will amuse you to know my co-workers in the Buick never saw anything like what you pulled off out there on the road in the dark.”

“I -”

“Already read it, Nick,” Grace cut him off. “Our Diego learned racing skills for
Racing Terror
, and of course you again have a cover for your antics. Do you have any idea how annoying you’re getting to be?”

“Shouldn’t we be talking about how I grew a tail in spite of complete secrecy?”

“I’d rather not.”

“I’ll bet,” Nick chuckled. “Someone’s watching you and Tim. Do you know either of the people in the Buick?”

“Both of them, and yes, Tim and I will be talking to them tomorrow morning in Sacramento. I wish I could tell you how confident I am about your trip home and continued anonymity. We shouldn’t have brought you into this but we’re in over our heads now. Think of this as a writing research bonanza, Nick.”

“I’m going to give you a huge black mole right on your nose in the book, Grace, and you’ll be a bed wetter, and you’ll scratch inappropriate places, and even the pet gerbil you’ll have as your only companion will hate your guts… and -”

Nick paused as Grace had already lost it and was howling in laughter while trying to repeat his threats to Tim. She didn’t come back on for a minute.

“Okay, Nick, head home, watch your back.”

“And you’ll have an ‘I Love Dad’ tattoo on your ass, and…” Nick heard Grace losing it again and then the disconnect. He handed the phone back to Rachel, who had been playing Hangman with Jean on a sheet of notebook paper.

“That sounded like a very strange conversation,” Rachel noted.

“Can we go now?” Jean asked.

With Mother and Daughter both looking at him almost with the same expression, the resemblance was startling to Nick. The blonde hair tied back coupled with light blue eyes made him smile. “This is like traveling with the Double-mint Twins.”

Rachel laughed but Jean looked at him as if he had just landed from outer space.

“C’mon, we can go now. The good part is we’re not all that far from my place.”

An hour later, Nick pulled into his driveway, stopping where he could carry their bags into the house easily. Rachel gasped as motion detector security lights came on and she saw the huge Victorian house with a white picket fence.

“I’ve never seen anything like this.” Rachel stepped out of the Malibu and stared up at the house front. Is there a place for Deke in the back?”

“If he’s housebroken and doesn’t chew on furniture, he can stay inside. I do have a fenced-in backyard he’ll like. I’ll check my security system and then we’ll go inside. I’ll haul in the luggage after I let you three in.”

Nick led them up the stairs in front to his porch where he checked and then deactivated his security system. He left the door open so Deke could rove around his small front lawn while he unloaded the car.

“Oh my God.” Rachel stared around her. “This is gorgeous.”

“Thanks.” Nick pointed straight ahead. “The kitchen is in there and there’s a bathroom on the way. I’ll go check my upstairs security cams before I unload the car.”

Nick jogged upstairs and did a room by room search. He never left the house without locking away all his gear in a small vault within the safe room downstairs. After making sure the safe room upstairs could be shown and all else was in order, Nick went downstairs to begin unloading the Chevy with Deke dogging his every step. When the luggage was inside, Nick went into the kitchen, where Rachel and Jean sat in a comfortable but awed silence.

“We can take whatever necessary bags you need upstairs now and you two can unpack the rest tomorrow,” Nick offered. “Help yourself to anything in the cupboards and refrigerator.”

“Nick…this is too much.”

“Too much what?”

“We’ve never stayed in a place like this before,” Jean said. “Not even in New York.”

Deke ‘grumpfed’ and laid down on the kitchen floor, head on paws.

“Deke doesn’t look that impressed so follow his lead. Pick out the bags you can’t sleep without and I’ll take you to your rooms.”

Other than having Carol and Dan over, Nick had never had anyone inside his house. He did his own housecleaning and gardening. Rachel and Jean picked out a couple of bags to take with them upstairs, and followed Nick to their adjoining rooms to the right of the staircase.

“You two can fight it out as to who sleeps in which room,” Nick joked. “I’m down at the other end of the hall if you need me.”

“Where do you usually write?” Rachel asked, after Jean called first and ran into the room on her right.

“I have a balcony you probably noticed from below. Normally, I do most of my writing out there. I take my notebook computer along everywhere I go when I’m on my home turf, so if I get some inspiration, I have the tools along with me to work. Lighthouse Avenue is my favorite walkway and the beach is usually my destination.”

“I don’t know what to say. I envy you.”

Nick gestured with his hands. “I love this place. Would you like to see the balcony?”

“Do you have to ask?”

“Nick!” Jean ran out of the room she had picked and grabbed Nick’s hand. “Can we go to the ocean?”

“Sure, I’ll take you with me on my morning walk down to the beach. Deke will probably need a bath before he can come back in the house afterward though. How is Deke with strangers he meets on a walk?”

“Real good,” Rachel answered. “He only gets upset if someone grabs at either Jean or I. Will it be safe for us to go out?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Nick admitted. “Grace and Tim wouldn’t like it, but I’ll leave it up to you. Why don’t I get us some wine, and a juice for Jean. We can drink them out on the balcony and talk it over.”

“Thank you.” Rachel leaned in and kissed Nick, her lips softly brushing against his, sending a chill through him all the way to his feet.

“You’re welcome. I’ll be right back.”

“Mom, why don’t you marry Nick?” Jean suggested, her face alight with the possibilities. “Then we could -”

“We’re here for a couple weeks, kid,” Rachel interrupted, stroking her daughter’s face. “Let’s enjoy the stay here without scaring Nick any more than he already is.”

“I don’t think Nick gets scared, Mom,” Jean replied, looking over the rail.

On the balcony with Deke at their feet, Nick poured wine for Rachel and himself. Jean sat as close to the railing with her juice as she could get, looking out at the incredible view of Pacific Grove and the ocean beyond. The fog had begun moving in ever so slowly, beginning to obscure the housetops below them.

“I’m no wine connoisseur. I hope this Berringer White Zin is okay.”

“Wow, something you’re not an expert at,” Rachel said in mock surprise. “White Zin is my favorite. I don’t know how you ever leave this place. It’s incredible.”

“It’s not easy to leave here, but it makes me appreciate what I have more when I finally return. I’m going to like seeing it through your eyes. I take a lot for granted.”

“It gets pretty cold down here, huh?” Rachel pulled up the collar on her jacket more as a chilly breeze blew in off the ocean.

“I hate hot weather. I can adapt to about anything, but I sure wouldn’t choose to live in a furnace like Pleasanton. Then again, you didn’t either. What -”

Jean nodded off where she sat, nearly pitching off the chair. Nick righted her in the chair before she ever knew what happened, stunning Rachel with how fast he moved.

“I think someone needs some sleep if they want to hit the beach tomorrow.” Nick leaned down to look into Jean’s half-lidded eyes.

To Nick’s surprise, Jean wrapped her arms around his neck. With a smiling nod from Rachel, he picked Jean up gently and carried her to bed. Pulling the covers down, Nick tucked the little girl in. It was the first time he had ever tucked anyone in. He turned on the miniature lighthouse nightlight, and turned off the room light. Nick returned to the balcony.

“Jean and I are kind of pushy, huh?”

“I’ll get over it. Did you think any more about how you want to handle your stay here?”

“If Grace or Tim don’t come unglued, I’d rather live like a normal person.”

“Tanus is dead, Kim. Why -”

“My name is Rachel Hunter,” Rachel interrupted. “I don’t like the name Kim and I detest the name Kimmy.”

“Which is why Grace calls you Kimmy.” Nick laughed. “I like the name Rachel; but unless we’re alone like this, I think you’d better stick with Kim. Why do you think they’re still taking shots at you, since Tanus is dead?”

“My husband worked as a computer security consultant for Tanus’s firm.” Rachel took a gulp of wine and looked at the eerie fog-covered vista below. “We lived in a tiny apartment on the East side. Rick was always complaining about money. He tried blackmailing Tanus, threatening to turn the flash drives he’d made up over to the FBI. I had no idea what he was doing.”

Nick watched Rachel pause as she glanced over at him speculatively. She maintained eye contact with him in the low light of Nick’s balcony.

“I had taken Jean to school, hanging around as a teacher’s aid in the mornings to cut down on our tuition costs. Returning to the apartment, I fumbled with the keys at the door, and heard Rick’s muffled screams…and…and I ran.”

“Lucky you did,” Nick replied gently. “If you hadn’t, you would have joined Rick. You didn’t actually see Tanus then?”

“I ran to the end of the hall. We were only a few doors down from the stairwell. I hid in the stairwell and phoned 911. Only a minute after I called, our apartment door opened, and Tanus came out with two other men. Thank God they took the elevator. I stayed in the stairwell with the 911 operator on the phone until the police arrived. They didn’t get what they wanted from Rick. That’s why they’re still trying to kill me.”

“Meaning the flash drives are in a safety deposit box somewhere and there’s someone a rung up the ladder from where Tanus was.”
Well, maybe I’ll get off Frank’s shit list after all
.

“I know where the box is located and I have the key.” Rachel leaned over and took Nick’s right hand in both hers. “I didn’t know if the Marshalls could actually protect us. I didn’t turn over the key because I figured if they found us, I could buy Jean’s life with it.”