COLLATERAL CASUALTIES (The Kate Huntington mystery series) (15 page)

            Rose raised the marker to the paper, then hesitated. “How the hell do I summarize that?”

            “Trying to cancel out insurance with counter threat,” Rob said.

            “Thanks.” Rose wrote that down. Then her throat closed. She turned around to face the others. “The kids are really vulnerable here.”

            Everyone nodded, their expressions grim. Skip’s jaw was tight, his knuckles white where they gripped his coffee mug.

            Rose turned back to the pad. The words blurred as she wrote. Those kids were her god-children, the closest thing to offspring she’d ever have. She and Mac knew damn well they weren’t cut out to be parents. She blinked hard. With her back still to the room, she asked, “Anything else we think?”

            After a moment, Mac said, “Can’t think of nothin’ else.”

            Swiping a forearm across her face, Rose tore off the page and tossed it on the table. On the next one, she wrote
What We Don’t Know
.

            “Who the hell’s doin’ this,” Mac said.

            “And why,” Dolph said.

            “Who’s making inquiries,” Rob added.

            “How to stop the fuckers,” Dolph said.

            “Yeah, well, that’s the next page,” Rose said. “Anything else?”

            “Who’s doing this and how to stop them pretty much covers it,” Rob said.

            Rose tore the page off and wrote on the next one,
What We Could Do
.

            “Send Kate and the kids away,” Skip said.

            Rose wrote it down but put a question mark after it. Turning around, she said, “I’m not sure they’d be safer somewhere else.”

            Dolph raised his hand. “Best problem-solving strategy is to write down all options first, without evaluating them.”

            Rose nodded and scratched out the question mark.

            “Blow the whistle on the damned ambassador,” Skip said. “Once the truth’s out there’s no reason to try to shut us up.”

            Rose wrote it down.

            “Try to figure out who’s behind all this ourselves,” Dolph said.

            Rose wrote
Investigate ourselves
.

            “Kill the ambassador,” Mac growled.

            After a moment of stunned silence, Skip said, “Write it down, Rose.”

            “Try again to impress upon the ambassador and his staff that we won’t tell if they leave us alone,” Rob said.

            Rose raised a skeptical eyebrow at that one, but she wrote it down. “Anything else?”

            After several moments of silence, they all shook their heads.

            Rose glanced at her watch as she tore the sheet off the pad. “Kate should be here soon.”

            Skip put his cup down so hard coffee sloshed over the edge. “You didn’t tell her what happened, did you?”

            “No, I told Manny to tell her everyone’s safe but there’d been a development.”

            “I don’t want her to know they came after me.” His voice rose. “She blames herself for Ed’s death. If she thought she’d brought killers down on me, it’d–”

            “Take it easy, Skip,” Rob said.

            The big man jumped up and turned to him. “You of all people know what I’m talking about.”

            Rob stood and put a steadying hand on his friend’s shoulder.

            “You can’t protect her from this,” Rose said gently.

            “Protect me from what?” Kate stood in the doorway, hands on her hips. “What the hell’s going on?”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

            Rob grabbed Skip’s arm and nudged him past his wife. “We need to get something from my office. Be right back.”

            Skip looked over his shoulder but he allowed himself to be dragged down the hall.

            Once in his office, Rob pointed Skip toward the sitting area off to one side of the room. Skip hesitated, then perched on the edge of a chair.

            Taking a seat himself, Rob cleared his throat, searching for the right words. He’d wanted to diffuse the tension, keep Skip from blowing up, but now he was wondering if he was stepping over a line. Finally he said, “When you were Kate’s bodyguard six years ago, when we were trying to track down Ed’s killer, what was your impression of her then?”

            Skip looked surprised by the question. He thought for a moment. “I was impressed by her strength. Especially after all she’d been through. And her courage.”

            “Did you love her then?”

            Skip shook his head. “I didn’t really give her another thought, not until you hired me to help your aunt.” He paused for a moment. “If we hadn’t connected up again that summer, she and I wouldn’t be. Billy wouldn’t even exist.”

            “Has she changed since then?”

            “No, not really, other than worrying too much about something happening to me.”

            “Which is understandable, considering. But the thing is, she needs to deal with those fears herself. If somebody’s stealing her purse or coming at her in a speeding car, by all means jump in and protect her. But if you try to protect her emotionally, it somehow...” Rob stopped, again reaching for the right words.

            “Diminishes her,” Skip finished for him.

~~~~~~~

            Kate was staring at
6. Kids vulnerable.
She tried to speak but her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. She coughed and tried again.

            “So they attacked Skip, and now you think they’ll go after the kids,” she was saying when Rob and Skip returned to the conference room.

            “You and the kids need to be someplace safe, as of tonight,” Skip said.

            “We
all
need to be safe as of tonight,” Kate said. Her stomach clenched. She turned to Skip. “Janice!”

            “Rose sent a guard to her office, but I’ll call and make sure she’s taking the situation seriously.”

            “Wait.” Mac leaned over to the box at his feet and then tossed a cell phone to Skip. “Pre-paid cells. Harder to trace. If your regular phone’s turned on, even though you’re not usin’ it, someone can track your location. These are good ’til you call someone who might be under surveillance. Once the phone number’s captured, these can be traced too.”

            While Skip was calling Janice, Mac pulled out more phones and passed several to each person. Then he passed around sheets of paper with the phone numbers listed next to their names. “The numbers are taped to the backs of the phones. The ones with the numbers in red, those you only use when both people are in secure locations. The others, once you’ve called somebody whose phone might be tapped, or either person’s somewhere the call can be intercepted, you destroy that phone.” Mac rattled the box. “More where those came from.”

            Skip disconnected. “Janice is apartment hunting. Our guard’s with her.”

            “How feasible would it be to send the kids away?” Kate asked. “Can we come up with someplace that would truly be safe?”

            “Three challenges,” Rose said. “Where to send them? How to get them away without them being followed? How to keep them safe once they’re there?”

            “You come up with a good place, I’ll get ’em there an’ keep ’em safe,” Mac said. “Got some old Army buddies who’ll likely help out.”

            “Do you think these guys would figure it out if we sent them to my mother’s in Ohio?” Rob said.

            “It’d probably take ’em awhile,” Mac said.

            “Are our siblings or parents at risk?” Kate asked.

            Mac thought for a moment. “Maybe, if the kids aren’t an option. But it’s a lot harder to hold an adult hostage. ’Specially for a long time.”

            Most of the others’ expressions looked as confused as Kate felt.

            “You can hide the fact that kids have been kidnapped,” Rose said, “by threatening to kill them if the parents tell anyone. And parents can readily cover for their kids’ absence. Nobody’s likely to question it if they say the kids are sick or visiting their grandparents. Holding an adult for any length of time is a lot harder. Somebody–a friend, co-worker–is likely to contact the authorities and report the person missing.”

            “These guys, they’re tryin’ to operate under the radar,” Mac said. “Last thing they want is a police investigation.”

            “The attack today,” Rose said. “They were probably planning to make it look like a robbery gone wrong.”

            “But they seriously underestimated you.” Rob grinned at Skip.

            Kate was surprised that she wasn’t more upset by the attack on Skip. She found the fact that he had fended off his attackers reassuring. Her husband really was quite good at taking care of himself, as he and Rob had frequently pointed out to her.

            “So sending the kids and Maria out to Rob’s mom would buy us a few days at least,” she said.

            “You’re going too,” Skip said.

            “No, I’m not. If I go with them, they won’t be safe.” Kate heard the sharpness in her own tone, but she wasn’t sure she regretted it.

            Skip opened his mouth but Rose cut him off. “She’s right. The kids disappear, that’s a lost opportunity to neutralize the threat. They may not even look for them. But Kate
is
the main threat. She disappears, they’ll assume she’s about to blow the whistle and they’ll look for her long and hard.”

            Rob jumped in. “I’d like to try to talk Liz into going with the kids. She can help Maria take care of them, and that gets her out of harm’s way.”

            “You should go too, Rob,” Kate said. “I never should’ve involved you in this.”

            Rob and Rose were both shaking their heads before she’d finished her sentence. “Same applies to him as you,” Rose said. “If these assholes know the ambassador came to see him today–”

            “That’s real likely,” Mac said.

            Rose nodded. “If any of the three of you disappear completely, they’re gonna try to track you down. You don’t want your trail leading them to the kids.”

            “But you don’t think they’ll be all that concerned about Liz?” Skip asked.

            Mac pursed his lips. “She probably hasn’t registered on their radar yet, but she will eventually. Now’s the best time to get her out of the game.”

            “I’d sure feel a lot better knowing she was with the kids,” Kate said. Then horror washed over her at another thought. “Rob’s girls!”

            Rob had gotten up to get a cup of coffee from the credenza. He turned back to the group. “I’ve thought about that. Hopefully they’re far enough away to be safe. Shelley’s out of the country.” His voice was calm but his face was ghostly pale.

            Kate’s eyes stung as she watched him put his coffee mug down on the table with a shaky hand.
I brought this into our lives.
She shook her head, pushing the thought aside. She’d deal with her guilt later. Right now they needed to make sure everybody was safe.

            “She’s on an archeological dig in Egypt,” Rob said.

            “What about Samantha?” Kate said. “They could send someone out to her school in California. Rose, can you get a PI agency out there to put guards on her?”

            “Be expensive,” Rose said.

            “Doesn’t matter. I’m paying.” Kate held up her hand as both Rob and Skip started to protest. “No arguments, guys. We’re in this mess because of my client, and I can afford it.”

            “I’ll call the girls and warn them,” Rob said.

            Mac tossed him another throwaway cell. “That one’s international. Don’t say too much over the phone.”

            “Let’s get over to the house,” Skip said. “I know there are guards there now, but still.”

            “What about looking normal?” Dolph said as they all stood and headed out of the room. “It’s not gonna look all that normal if we all descend on your house.”

            “
You
go home, Dolph,” Rose said. “If you’re seen at the house, then you and your wife will be in danger. The rest of you go in the front. Mac and I’ll slip in the back.”

            “I’ll call Liz,” Kate said. “Tell her to meet us there.”

~~~~~~~

            Janice had beat them to the house by just a few minutes. She was standing inside the front door when Kate and Skip arrived. Grinning, she held up a set of keys. “I found a great apartment, guys. And the best part is it’s vacant. I can move in as soon as I get some furniture delivered.”

            Her face fell as their expressions registered. She looked at Skip. “The guard’s not just a precaution, is he?”

            “No. We’ve got a pretty bad situation here.”

            Rob had lingered on the porch to wait for Liz, who had just pulled up. They came inside. Skip closed the door behind them, throwing the deadbolt lock.

            “Anybody going to tell me what’s going on?” Liz asked.

            Rose and Mac came around the corner from the back door. “You guys fill them in,” Rose said. “I’ll explain things to Maria and get her and the kids ready.”

            “Ladies, have a seat.” Rob gestured toward the sofa and armchairs in the living room.

            “Got some more calls to make.” Mac headed for the study and closed the door behind him.

            Rob sat down on the sofa next to his wife and took her hand in his. “That dilemma Kate had that I couldn’t tell you about, it’s morphed into something that affects us all.”

            He looked at Kate. She took a deep breath. As succinctly as possible she summarized the events of the last couple weeks. By the time she got to those of that day, both women’s eyes were wide. Janice’s mouth was hanging open. Liz’s was set in a grim line.

            “I know this is a lot to digest all at once,” Skip said. “But time is of the essence at this point.”

            “Mac’s taking the kids tonight to my mother in Ohio, to get them out of harm’s way.” Rob glanced nervously at Kate.