Game Of Risk (Risqué #3) (22 page)

She didn’t need to be reminded and she especially didn’t appreciate being reminded in such a condescending way, but Blaser was right.

‘I know that, but once the story is out there, the danger goes away, doesn’t it?’

‘Maybe, maybe not,’ Colt said. ‘What’s Jansen’s plan?’

‘He said he plans to lay low, maybe get out of the state with Serendipity for a while until the circus dies down.’

‘Smart,’ Colt said. ‘Once the story is out there, the rest of the media will take over the digging, and the DA will have to investigate. He can’t be seen to be complicit in Ashcroft’s games.’

‘That’s what Ruger said,’ Layla admitted.

‘Never thought my baby brother was that smart,’ Blaser said.

Ruger came in now, but he didn’t come over to the island, he went to the living room door. ‘Lay, can I have a sec?’

She didn’t like how solemn his expression was. Ruger wasn’t known for being so grave. ‘What is it?’ she asked, sliding off her stool. ‘Is it Drew?’

Ruger trusted everyone here, but he still took the time to look at them all before he came over to her and took her hands. ‘The story is going out tomorrow.’

‘Tomorrow? That’s sudden.’

‘Everyone reads the Sunday papers,’ Colt said.

Layla kept her attention on Ruger, who gave her a squeeze. ‘I guess they got the confirmation they needed. This is going to get serious very quickly.’

‘Where’s Drew?’

‘On his way back to Serendipity. He wants to get back there as fast as he can and he asked me to look after you.’

So either Drew didn’t want her there or he still had concerns about keeping her safe while attending to Serendipity. ‘Ok,’ Layla said, trying to process as quickly as she could. ‘Ok.’

Withdrawing her hands from Ruger’s, she went back to her job peeling vegetables. ‘You don’t have to be here,’ Lyssa said. ‘Both of you, if there’s somewhere you need to be or—‘

‘No,’ Layla said. ‘There’s nothing that needs to be done. Now we just have to carry on and the party is going to be great.’ Forcing a smile, those around her began to relax.

‘Ok, you heard the woman,’ Ruger said, clapping his hands together. ‘Let’s get into the party mood. Who wants some music?’

They had talked Ruger out of music in favour of getting the work done as quickly as possible. The women were still preparing food, and the men were in their trucks, preparing to pick up all of the items needed for that night. Pru was outside on the drive handing out final lists to the men of what tasks had to be completed and when they should be home for.

‘Pru really knows what she’s doing,’ Suzette said. ‘She’s a real god-send.’

‘She’s been wrangling those males for years,’ Lyssa said. ‘She is well-practised.’

‘Something you’ll be in a couple of years,’ Layla said to her.

‘Oh, Lyssa already knows how to push all of their buttons,’ Bri said. ‘Reading people is something she does well.’

‘It’s part of the job description,’ Lyssa said, taking the trays of completed canapes over to the counter to be covered before she refrigerated them.

‘How long has Pru been out there though? It must be half an hour at least, do you think we should worry?’ Bri asked.

‘I’m here. I’m here,’ Pru said. ‘Sorry, I got talking to one of your guests who arrived early, but he’s not shy and he says that he’ll help us out, isn’t that sweet? I didn’t realise your well of friends ran so deep, Lyssa.’

This statement intrigued them all to stop what they were doing and turn to see who was going to come in behind Pru as she came further into the room. All of the others drew in breath when Governor Ashcroft walked into the Warner kitchen.

‘Call the cops,’ Lyssa said.

‘Now don’t do that,’ Ashcroft said, holding up both hands in surrender. ‘I just came here to have a conversation. You wouldn’t begrudge me that now, would you? Not when you’re about to take a man’s life.’

‘What’s going on?’ Pru asked with a tremor in her voice suggesting she recognised her misstep.

‘Don’t worry,’ Bri said. ‘We can call Blaser and—‘

‘Is that your man?’ Ashcroft asked, putting a hand on the back of Pru’s neck to bring her closer to the girls. ‘I watched this nice lady pull weeds for a clear ten minutes before I approached and we talked for more than ten after that, your men are all gone, ladies.’

‘It’s me that you want,’ Layla said, pulling off her kitchen gloves and hopping off her stool. ‘Leave these kind people out of it.’

‘I want to have a conversation with you, Layla, see if I can’t make you see sense,’ Ashcroft said, giving Pru a nudge forward so she hit the centre isle. He unbuttoned his jacket and pulled half aside to show a gun in his belt. ‘And if these kind people like you, they’ll let us have this conversation in peace and not do anything stupid.’

Ensuring they all saw the gun, he examined every face and then he dropped the flap of his jacket to take Layla’s arm and urge her along with him into the living room.

‘What’s this about?’ Layla asked, pulling her arm out of his hand and folding her arms. ‘You’re insane to show up here to try and intimidate me. It only makes your case worse.’

‘I’m not a monster,’ he said, holding open his arms. ‘I’m a patriot. I love my country and my state and everything I’ve done, I’ve only done it to make sure that Jersey gets what it deserves.’

‘You’re going to get what you deserve when the media takes you apart. What you’ve done was just to selfishly line your own pockets. Since you’ve been found out, you’ve sent men to threaten and intimidate. Do you feel proud of hurting defenceless women?’

‘I came here to show you that I am not an evil man. I don’t want to hurt you or your friends. All of this has gone much further than I thought it would. I’m not a murderer, and that’s why I’m here,’ Ashcroft said, beseeching her with clasped hands and an open expression, though Layla wasn’t going to be taken in by him and so she remained defiant. ‘Some of my men are sure that the only way to silence your brother and his woman is to take one of you out. I’m not sure I could live with that on my conscience. Taking bribes is one thing, but murder, that’s on another level I’m not comfortable with quite frankly.’

‘And that’s supposed to show me that you’re a redeemed man?’ she asked, taking careful steps back toward the picture window.

‘To best serve my state, I had to make sure that my personal life was taken care of, you understand. That meant I couldn’t have mundane worries like money and such.’

‘So you were corrupted to ensure personal fiscal stability? Don’t you receive a salary for what you do? Somewhere to live, perks? I’ve seen the mansion. It’s palatial. Are you telling me that what you receive for doing your job isn’t enough?’

‘You can’t understand the pressure I’m under,’ he said, skirting the couch to come toward her.

‘You signed up for it. More than that, you campaigned, begging to be put in office. This is what you wanted.’

‘And that justifies what your family is doing to me?’ he asked, lunging over to grab her upper arms. ‘I don’t want to hurt any of you. Stop the story. You call up your brother and tell him to let it go.’

‘He won’t do that,’ Layla said. ‘This is too important… and he shouldn’t do it either. The public deserve to know what you are.’

Throwing her from his grip, Ashcroft turned his back on her. ‘You’re really going to make me do this.’

‘You can still do the right thing,’ she said, worried about the way his voice faded. ‘You can go to the press yourself, make a statement, and explain it to them like you explained it to me.’

She didn’t think that anyone would buy all the, “I did it for my country” bullshit, but it was better to convince him that they would because then he might just walk out of here without hurting anyone.

‘You’re appeasing me,’ he said. ‘But it won’t work.’ Spinning to face her, his expression was closed. ‘Your brother and that piece of shit girlfriend of his, they’re not going to know what hit them. I’m going to tear them apart. My advisors will—‘

‘They’re prepared for that,’ she said, taking on his anger and throwing it right back. ‘The only person at fault in this situation is you. You can throw all the mud you like, and yeah, some of it might stick. But that won’t change the fact that you acted illegally.’

‘You can’t prove it. You can’t prove anything.’

‘The paper wouldn’t be running with the story if they weren’t sure there was truth to it. And your connection to the DA is going to create such a shit storm for him that I guarantee he’ll be throwing you to the wolves to protect his own ass. There is no honour among thieves these days, is there?’

‘Ask your brother, he knows enough of them.’

Ashcroft thought he could bully and intimidate her, maybe he’d come to her because he thought she was the weakest link. But appeasing him hadn’t worked and Layla wasn’t going to play it feeble and let this guy think he’d won. He was in all sorts of trouble now and the pride she had in Drew only grew when she saw how pathetic Ashcroft was.

‘Do you think that’s a fault? My brother used to be a cop—‘

‘And he resigned in a scandal. Don’t think I don’t know everything about him,’ Ashcroft spat.

‘He’s not the only cop I know,’ she said, leaning closer, thinking of Colt and the Warner connections to the force. ‘Getting information from official channels isn’t as hard as you might think, even for those who don’t pay or accept bribes. We know everything about you.’

Layla hadn’t read the specifics of Serendipity’s story, but she didn’t need to. Witnessing Ashcroft unspooling here in front of her betrayed his guilt and his despair over the idea of losing his cushy life. Pressing his buttons would ensure he acted more erratically and the bigger mess he was tomorrow the less credibility he would have, which would lessen his chance of discrediting Drew and Serendipity with any success.

Just to look at the initially bold man now, Layla could see that the tarnish was beginning to fade. His eyes were shifty and there was sweat forming on his high forehead.

‘As you’ve pointed out,’ she carried on. The paranoid creature in front of her wasn’t the polished politician groomed by advisors to spit out sound bites. He was a man on the precipice, about to lose everything. ‘We have contacts in the underworld too.’ Ok, so she didn’t really have contacts, and the word, “underworld” made her sound like some kind of vampire sorceress, but the statement worked.

‘Are you threatening me?’ he asked.

‘I’m not the one who showed up here flashing my gun,’ she said. ‘I’m telling you that information can be obtained from all sources. We’re connected too. So if you think you can discredit my brother and his girlfriend and we’ll just roll over then you’re wrong. A man like you doesn’t need to take bribe money unless he’s fuelling a vice. So what is it Governor Ashcroft? What’s your vice? Are you a drinker? Or maybe it’s a little powder pick-me-up you need to get you through the day.’

‘Drugs? No! I do not take drugs.’

‘It doesn’t matter. We can find that out,’ she said, strolling around him. ‘Maybe it’s gambling, or is it the ladies you like?’ He whirled around and his wide eyes spoke for him when his lips would not. ‘I guess that’s what it is then. Would your wife like to know about that? Drew hasn’t told me everything. I was happy to read the story in the paper with the rest of the country. You don’t strike me as a party animal, but I guess the best of them never do.’

‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘I do,’ Layla said. ‘You’re chasing your own personal high, like the power and influence you had wasn’t enough. You wanted to show off. Your own greed got you into this and now there’s no way out. The lucky part for you is that you have a little bit of time. If I were you I’d make sure my family knew what was about to hit the headlines. Talk to your advisors and decide if you do have a future in your party. Over the next few days, you’re going to find out who your real friends are, and I’d bargain that there aren’t too many of them.’

‘You’re enjoying this. You’re a sick, twisted, vile—‘

‘I’m not enjoying it,’ she said, removing all smugness to glare at this tyrant. ‘I resent the fact that you enjoyed what you did. That taking money from people to fuel your own misdeeds came at the expense of what was best for the people. You were elected to take care of your constituents and instead you abused them. Do what you will to my family, but I hope you rot in hell for what you’ve done to the credibility of this country.’

Finished with him and this conversation, she headed for the kitchen, ready to tell him to leave or she herself would call the cops. What she didn’t expect was for him to pounce upon her from behind and with a handful of her hair, he forced her to her knees on the carpet.

‘You cost me all I love,’ he said and the barrel of his gun dug into her crown. ‘Now I’m going to make you pay for what you’ve done to me.’

Ruger had been in his truck with Blaser when the phone rang. Before Colt had finished relaying what Lyssa had told him, Ruger had turned the vehicle around to head for his parents’ house again.

With the story so close to print and with Layla in a group, Ruger had believed she was safe. Cursing himself for leaving her unprotected, Blaser tried to soothe him by pointing out that no one expected Ashcroft himself to show up and if a strange thug like Padget had appeared, their mom would’ve called the cops for sure.

‘What’s going on?’ Ruger asked, as he leapt out of his truck and ran toward Colt who was on the perimeter of a police barricade setup around their mother’s house.

‘He’s in there with all of them,’ Colt said. With his arms folded across his chest, Colt watched the house. He showed such little emotion that Ruger got a chill.

‘I’m sorry, man, I…’

‘It’s not your fault,’ Colt said.

Blaser was beside him with his fingers linked on his head. He slid them down to rub his face then squeezed his hands into fists. ‘We can’t just stand here,’ Blaser said and tried to walk forward, but Ruger held him back.

There were a dozen police vehicles strewn across the street at various angles and SWAT had to be somewhere around too. A group of plainclothes men stood in a huddle in the centre of the mess and it seemed that the one with the bullhorn hanging loose at his side was in charge.

‘Is that…?’ Ruger asked, squinting at the man.

‘The Chief,’ Colt said. ‘Yeah… I guess when politics are involved it goes all the way to the top. I can’t even get over there. No one will tell me anything.’

‘This is…’ Blaser was pacing. ‘We can’t just do nothing.’

‘What else can we do?’ Colt asked, still fixated on the house. ‘They’re all in there, Mom, Lys, Bri, Lay… your unborn child, Blase… We could lose it all, this guy. This one guy could take everything from us, just like that.’

Ruger didn’t like that idea at all. Blaser was still pacing, Colt stared, and off to the side, Ruger saw his father battling with a uniformed cop for information. The kid looked no older than nineteen. The rookie wouldn’t know a thing, but their dad had to feel like he was doing something.

‘Has he made demands?’ Blaser asked.

‘No,’ Colt said. ‘Lys called the cops after she called me. Her line to the operator died when a bunch of Ashcroft’s men stormed the house and rushed them. Ashcroft must have given them instructions to enter if he wasn’t out within a certain timeframe, I don’t know.’

So Ashcroft and his men were holed up with all the women they cared about and there wasn’t a damn thing they could do about it. That Layla was in there made Ruger mad and yet he was terrified that he could lose her before he got a chance to say the things that he wanted to say to her. Worse than that was his responsibility for what was happening. Not only might he lose the woman he loved, but his father and brothers could lose their women too.

This standoff had to be bringing back memories for Colt who had watched Lyssa’s house as she was trapped inside with a mad man. But that conflict had been over quickly and they knew what the stalker wanted. This was different, Ashcroft wanted something none of them could give.

‘Do you think we can get in from the back yard?’ Ruger asked, leaning back to try and see what he could of the houses parallel to the back of his parents’ home.

‘They’ve shut down three blocks,’ Colt said. ‘We’re lucky to be this close. There’s a governor in there for Crissakes, they’re probably ready to call the National Guard. The FBI will be scrambling as we speak.’

‘Maybe Marine One will drop by to help,’ Ruger said. Humour helped him process, but his brothers didn’t appreciate it. ‘Don’t they want to keep this quiet? It’s embarrassing for the establishment, isn’t it?’

‘Except they probably think he’s the target not the perpetrator,’ Colt said.

‘Where is his security?’ Blaser asked.

‘Got me,’ Colt said. ‘Those who were complicit are probably in there. But if he wanted to have a private conversation with Layla then he might have left the jobsworths at home.’

‘I have to call Jansen,’ Ruger said, retrieving his phone from his pocket. He’d put this off for long enough and if Jansen was anywhere near a radio or TV then he probably knew it was happening already. Media vans were pulling up at a further perimeter being manned by more uniformed cops who had just poured out of a squad of vans.

‘Someone should call Gus,’ Colt said, finally taking his eyes away from the house, he faced his brothers.

‘Gus?’ Ruger asked. ‘Why?’

‘He and Suzette are seeing each other,’ Blaser said, pulling his own phone out. ‘I’ll do it. But Mattie is not welcome at this party.’

Mattie was Gus’ brother and a crime boss in the area, so Ruger shook his head. ‘With this many cops around, I don’t think Mattie will want to be a part of this.’

But none of them wanted to be a part of this. Ruger and Blaser were dialling, so Colt went over to console their father, who had just given up trying to talk sense into the cop. With a hand on his shoulder, Ruger watched the most responsible of the brothers reassuring their patriarch. This whole situation was out of control. Ruger couldn’t picture the end game.

Ashcroft had to know that this wouldn’t end well for him. Not now that he was being watched by people all across the world. Just like them, Ruger and his brothers were braced for his next move.

‘I am so sorry about this,’ Layla said. She had been apologising ever since Ashcroft’s men poured through the back door and took the women in the kitchen by surprise. They had guns, big, scary looking machine guns, that they held in what looked like military poses. These were thugs who knew what they were doing.

The women had been put on their knees next to where Layla was and all had been guarded by a man with a gun while the others tailored the environment to what they had in mind and by the way the place looked, nothing good was going to come out of this.

They had closed drapes, duct-taped the edges and the centre then piled furniture in front of the entrances. As for their hostages, they’d taped chairs together in a circle, facing outward, and then taped the women one at a time to the seats. All five of them had their hands taped together and forced over the backs of the chairs, which was an awkward position meant to make them uncomfortable. But it meant they rubbed arms, which offered some comfort.

‘This isn’t your fault,’ Bri said. ‘The man is crazy.’

Ashcroft wasn’t in the living room where they were anymore. He’d gone into the dining room to talk to some of his men, but he left them under guard. Layla didn’t appreciate being left trussed up, but she felt worse that these wonderful women had to endure this humiliation as well.

‘My boys will think of something,’ Pru said. ‘We don’t have anything to fear.’

Each of the women had faith in the Warner men and Layla knew that Ruger would do everything in his power to help her, except there wasn’t much he could do. The sirens outside had come thick and fast and although there were no more wailing sirens, there was a buzz of constant activity outside the house.

The phone rang and each of the women tensed and shifted, but none of the men guarding them flinched. ‘Isn’t someone going to answer that?’ Suzette asked in a loud voice that wasn’t necessary because the room was suspended in silence. ‘Hello! Governor!’

‘Aggravating him isn’t going to help,’ Bri said.

‘Neither is him ignoring the phone,’ Suzette said. ‘We can’t stay in here forever.’

No, they couldn’t. Ashcroft came in here wanting to persuade Jansen and Serendipity to hold the story, except now there was a whole new story. The old one would still be of interest because now Ashcroft was current and maybe that was his plan. But as the bad guy, he couldn’t expect much sympathy.

Ashcroft strolled into the room from the dining room and picked up the phone only to drop it back into its cradle. His attention remained on the women as he sauntered closer.

‘All of this was caused by you and your family,’ he said to Layla. ‘Are you proud of what you’ve done?’

‘I’m not the one holding the gun,’ Layla said. ‘You can let them go. My brother won’t care about their safety. If you want to persuade him to drop the story then the only person you need is me.’

‘The story just got bigger, didn’t it?’ Ashcroft asked. ‘Look at this situation. Do you think anyone will care about a couple of bribes with all of the sensational material they have now? The world’s media is outside, reporting live. I bet if we turned on the TV, we would see it play out ourselves. Would you like to do that?’

‘There’s nothing wrong with my ego,’ Layla said. ‘I don’t need to see squat.’

‘You do have a temper, don’t you?’

‘When someone threatens people I care about, yes, I do.’

‘I have an idea,’ Ashcroft said, coming closer still. If her legs weren’t taped to the legs of the chair she would lash out to kick him, but she didn’t have the scope to do that, no matter how much she squirmed.

‘Your ideas haven’t worked out very well for you today,’ Layla said. ‘Do you still think coming here was a good idea? Intimidating me didn’t work and now you’re in hotter water than you were before.’

‘Let’s call your brother,’ Ashcroft said, snapping his fingers at one of his goons. He pointed at the phone for the thug to retrieve it and hand it over, which he did. ‘We’ll call your brother and he can bring his lady friend here. Do you think they would cover this story?’

If this situation was all over the news then Layla would bet that her brother and Serendipity were probably already on their way, though she had no idea how long it would take them to get here.

‘Is that what you want? To take more innocent people down? Drew and Serendipity won’t walk in here unless you let these other women go.’

‘And when they’re here, we might consider that,’ Ashcroft said. ‘Now what’s his phone number?’

‘I don’t have it,’ Layla said. She knew her brother’s phone number, but she wouldn’t call him up and tell him to come here when it would mean certain death. ‘Is this about revenge? Why do you want him here?’

‘He tried to tear apart my life and now I want him to witness his own demise.’

‘You can kill him, you can kill me, you can kill all of us. It won’t make a difference. The story is still out there.’

‘Politicians aren’t the only professionals who can be bought. Newspaper editors are partial to a pay-off too.’

‘Even if you’ve already done that, you can’t erase this.’

‘I wouldn’t want to… Once your brother is here, you’ll see just how this can work in my favour. I won’t be villainised. I am going to be the hero.’

Layla couldn’t envision how he would make that happen until the sound of feedback heralded a voice from outside. ‘Governor Ashcroft, are you safe? We need to negotiate with your captors. Please, ask them to pick up the phone.’

The phone in Ashcroft’s hand began to ring again and he smiled at her. ‘You see? They do not see me as the aggressor. I am in peril, I am a victim, and this is going to be my greatest hour.

‘They think he’s the victim?’ Ruger said to his brothers who were huddled together on the sidewalk, still beside the barricade. Their father had regained some of his composure and although Ruger could see his hands shaking, he did his duty consoling neighbours. ‘That’s not going to fly.’

‘What are you going to do about it?’ Blaser asked.

Ruger was speed-dialling Jansen again. ‘I’m going to make sure the media get wind of the truth before the cops cock this up.’ Lifting the phone to his ear, he listened to it ring and looked to Colt. ‘If you can think of anyone you can call to get the story straight, start dialling.’ And his brother did just that as Jansen answered the phone.

‘What?’ Jansen asked. Ruger couldn’t tell if it was anger or concern that saturated his voice. No doubt there was an element of both.

‘You need to get on the phone with this editor who’s printing your story. This is happening fast. The media are running with the cops’ line that Ashcroft is the victim.’

‘How can he be the victim?’ Jansen demanded. ‘He had no reason to be there, no reason to be in your parents’ house threatening my sister.’

‘Maybe not, but the media haven’t done their checking yet. It’s all misinformation and assumption now. But you have to get the truth out there before the cops start shooting at the wrong people.’

‘Ok. Ok,’ Jansen said. ‘Serendipity is calling now… If Ashcroft wants to come out of this as a hero…’

‘Then he’ll have to kill everyone in that house,’ Ruger said, pinning his own sights on the house. He could understand the numbness that had overcome Colt earlier.

‘He could be setting up one of his own men as a patsy.’

‘It will never work out,’ Ruger said. ‘You have the story. You’ve sold it to the newspaper and then there’s all of us. We would never let him triumph. If he takes out the women in that house then the rest of us have nothing to lose.’

‘I’m sorry about this, Warner. I got you in way deeper than you signed up for.’

‘Falling in love with your sister’s done that to me. I’m not going to lose her to this maniac’s delusions.’