Illicit Liaison (8 page)

He grabbed Lolita. She reacted out of instinct, her reflexes making her stronger. She yanked Jamie off her feet and half-dragged, half-carried her as she ran beside Darien, ducking below the windows and avoiding the doors, which were crashing in under heavily booted feet.

The three landed behind a large door, Lolita slammed it shut and they ran down a hallway, heading for the nearest exit but that exit did not pan out, more bullets rained down at them. Darien yelped as one caught him in the shin, barely grazing the flesh but leaving a stinging pain behind anyway.

They dashed into a bedroom on the right and Lolita held Jamie, who had begun to wail loudly in fright. “I need you to be quiet,” she whispered into her sister’s ear. “Please sweetie, we have to play a game right now and we have to be very quiet to win, okay.”

Tears ran down Jamie’s face. Clarity sunk into Darien, he instantly understood why Lolita was so protective of her sister. He stared around at the room, looking for way out other than the windows. Seeing none, he motioned Lolita toward the bathroom.

There was large sunken marble tub in the middle of the floor. They climbed in it, ducking low. Lolita shielded Jamie’s body with her own and Darien took the front section, hoping to protect them

Lolita patted Jamie’s shaking shoulders and cradled her close. If they got out of this alive, she was going to retire, she had enough money, and she could do it. She wanted a peaceful life; she wanted love and a family…

Darien’s warmth spread through her body. Her own body responded and tears soaked down her cheeks. It figured. As soon as she found the man she had been waiting for her entire life a shootout came along and ruined everything. A small smile rose at that rather ridiculous thought but it faded immediately when a bullet whined off the rim of the tub, sending a sharp sliver of marble into her right hand.

Pain lanced into her but she dared not cry out. Jamie was on the verge of hysteria and she had to keep her quiet, had to, or risk all their lives. Blood leaked down her fingers and she bit her lips to keep from making a sound.

There were screams of pain from the other rooms and doors squealed and shattered. The attackers were systematically going through the rooms. They heard Carmen’s voice and Lolita went stiff as the situation became terrifyingly clear.

The bullets had ceased, it seemed as if all of the people who had been shooting from outdoors had come inside to finish the job.

“Stay here,” Darien whispered. Lolita peeked over the tub as he crawled to the ruined windows and looked down. He signaled back to her and she clambered out of the bed, helping a whimpering Jamie out as well. They crawled on the floor. Broken glass cut Lolita’s knees and palms; she could see blood dotting the floor beside her and knew Jamie was suffering too. Guilt smote her, she should have been more careful, should have taken better care of her sister.

They made it over the windowsill but the balcony was ten feet above the ground. It would have been an easy jump for Lolita and Darien. Jamie was terrified at the prospect however when they decided to try it.

“I’ll fall and get hurt!” She wailed while Lolita tried to hush her.

“I’m going to hold onto you,” Darien said in a calm voice that made Lolita’s eyes jerk towards his face. “We are going to play leapfrog and try to land right there on that little hill, the one with the flowers, see it?”

“The yellow flowers?” Jamie asked.

“Yes, the yellow ones. Hold onto me now.”

“She won’t,” Lolita began but Jamie went into Darien’s arms and over the balcony without a murmur.

The three of them ran for a car parked on the lawn. The keys were not in the ignition but that did not matter, Darien started it up with a quick yank of wiring and they zoomed out of the gates. They had not gotten very far when a loud explosion rocked the ground.

“They blew the place!” Lolita gasped.

“Somebody else blew it up.” Darien said

“What is happening, Darien?”

“There is only one way to find out.”

His face was set into hard lines when she glanced at him, “How?”

“I have to go see Jimmy.”

“Are you nuts?” Lolita asked. “He is in a federal prison Darien. Prison, which is exactly where you will end up if they catch you.”

“Lolita, he had to be the person who gave them the codes for your panic room. He set it up—the whole damn thing. All of us: Antony, Carlos, Carmen, you and me. He wanted us all together in one place and he made it happen. He knew Antony wanted the ring back, he sent us both after that necklace knowing you would come after me, or I would come after you. He got us all together and then he had someone blow up the place he thought we would all be in.

“It was not enough to hope that Carlos and Antony would kill each other and we would get caught in the crossfire, he had to make sure.”

“He’s planning something big.”

“He’s planning on making sure there is nobody around who knows who he is.”

Lolita stared at him, baffled by that conjecture. “Why?”

“There is only one reason a man like Jimmy would be afraid of people on the outside recognizing him.”

“He’s going to escape!”

Jamie stuck her pretty face over the backseat. “I lost Jasper. Can we go back and get him, please?”

“No honey, we can’t. As soon as we can stop I am going to get you a new friend.”

Jamie replied, “Can I have a doughnut too?”

“Yes, you can have a doughnut.”

She sank back into the seat and started to hum a little tune. Lolita could not look at Darien; sure she would see pity on his face. She hated it when people pitied Jamie.

“I’m jealous. I never knew what it was like to be that innocent.”

His words cut Lolita to the core. They were empathetic and genuine. She reached for his hand, twining her fingers into his. “Neither have I.”

The seconds passed. The road emptied out onto the highway and they watched for signs that they were being followed but saw none. They did not dare stop though until the needle of the gas gauge buried itself in the red and the car was shuddering.

Cars and semis filled the parking lot of the truck stop. The scent of exhaust hung over everything and there were groups of men and women standing around smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee and talking. None of them seemed to notice the three newcomers as they bustled into the place, bought shirts and blankets, a few stuffed animals, an insane amount of food stuffs and then sat down to eat giant hamburgers topped with extra cheese, fried onions and mushrooms and rich ketchup.

They did not fill the car up; instead they paid for tickets on the bus lines whose agent stood behind a neat little counter on one side of the place. The bus pulled in half an hour later and they boarded. Jamie fell asleep almost as soon as Lolita draped a blanket over her and tucked the clever little travel pillow under her head but neither she nor Darien could rest.

Their future rested on the shoulders of a man they could no longer trust.

**

Darien sat across from Jimmy. In the years between his release and now, Jimmy had aged substantially. His skin had gone the soft gray that came from spending too much time within stone walls, his hairline had receded, and he looked ten years older than his age.

He enjoyed privileges others would have killed for: private rooms and conjugal visits by women who had names like Strawberry Passion and food that was prepared fresh with ingredients that had to be brought in especially for him. Time was slow behind bars though and it took a toll, no matter how easy the time was.

“You got balls coming here,” Jimmy said as he lit a cigarette.

“I did not have a choice and you know it. The minute the body count came up short you would have known we got out. Not to mention you are hooked into just about everything we do.”

Jimmy laughed. His teeth were perfectly even and very white. His blue eyes crinkled at the corners. “This is true.”

“What will it take to make you leave her alone?”

“Your life.” Jimmy sat forward.

The room was empty but for the two of them. Jimmy was never subject to the same rules that governed the other inmates, the two million dollars he put into the warden’s private account every year guaranteed that. The visitation room with its bulletproof glass and phones was not Jimmy’s style; instead they sat in a room designed for the conjugal visits that some prisoners other than Jimmy received.

“What?”

Jimmy laughed. “I want out of here. I need someone to take my place. I figure you owe me. Look at the life I gave you.”

Anger rose up, but Darien did not let that show. His face never changed expression and his tone stayed even, “You gave me? I earned everything I ever got.”

“You stole every single thing you have. Did you honestly believe nobody would ever try to take it all away?”

“You better come up with a better reason. I owe you nothing.”

“You have gotten really attached to Lolita. What would you say if she were captured? She is tough; she has been in prison before after all. Did you know she killed her step daddy? Makes you wonder what she might do to a husband, doesn’t it?” He laughed at his own wit.

“Leave her alone.”

“You can make sure she has a nice life, her and that half-wit sister of hers.”

Darien’s fist shot out and landed in Jimmy’s face. The chair he sat on toppled backwards. His feet were straight up in the air and his back hit the floor so hard that his breath escaped from him in a long and breathy exhale. Before he moved to check on Jimmy the guard grinned and gave Darien a discreet thumbs-up.

Therefore, the guards knew that Jimmy was protected. They might not, or may have, known why and were helpless to stop the favored treatment but that did not mean they liked it or him. As far as Darien was concerned that was a plus.

Blood pooled over Jimmy’s fingers and stained the collar of his prison jumpsuit. No money bought better clothes it seemed. “That is your only warning.”

“You listen to me,” Jimmy’s voice was muffled by his hands. “I hold your life in my hands. I have all the data I will ever need to put you away forever. I was going to just kill you so when I got out you could not finger me but I have a better idea.”

“What’s that?”

“We switch places.”

Darien laughed. “That is insane.”

“No, it is not. I will give the warden a one-time payment of twenty million dollars and he will see to it that I—you—are moved into an isolation cell. None of the guards over there have ever seen me.

“I will walk out in your clothes and you will walk to my cell in mine. We can do that tomorrow. It can be arranged with a wire transfer. In return I will destroy all the files I have on Lolita.”

“If I say no?”

“I will make sure she does time in the hardest of prisons Darien. All of your money will be gone. I know where all the accounts are, I helped you to set them up, remember? You will be on the run with no aid and no money and she will be in prison with women who kill for a pack of smokes. That is your other option.”

His chair scraped along the concrete floor. “See you tomorrow,” was all he said before he walked out, Jimmy’s cackled ringing in his ears.

**

“You can’t!” Lolita was aghast at the idea when Darien explained it to her. “I won’t let you!”

“We don’t have a choice.”

They were staying in a cheap hotel on the outskirts of the small town that housed the prison. Jamie slept peacefully in one bed, a small yellow stuffed duck tucked under her chin, and her ash-blonde hair spread out on the pillows.

“Yes, we do.” Lolita said fiercely.

“What would you do instead?”

“I cannot let you go in there for the rest of your life.” The words were fierce and her eyes were stony. “I will not let you do it.”

“Lolita, if I don’t he will put you in prison.”

“I am sick of running Darien.”

“So am I.”

He picked her up and her legs wrapped around his waist. Their mouths met in a hot and primal kiss, their tongues twisting and thrusting into each other’s mouth. He carried her into the bathroom and set her down on the floor, his fingers already tearing the thin tee shirt from her body.

It hung off her lean frame in ragged pieces that she shucked off. Darien pulled his belt off and tossed it onto the sink. They undressed one another, kissing the entire while. Darien bent her over the sink and stuffed a washcloth into her mouth to keep her cries from being heard.

He doubled his belt and held the heavy leather loop in his hands, wondering if it would be too much for her. He brought it down lightly at first but Lolita’s pert ass cheeks kept rising up toward him with every blow, a silent plea for more and he hit her harder, the belt leaving red welts that soon had her moaning and clutching the sink with white-knuckled fingers.

The sound of the belt was loud in the small room, it echoed off the surfaces, her nipples scraped the cold sink and her head kept banging into the mirror behind it.

Her hands hit the faucets once by accident and the hot water rushed into the basin, nearly scalding her face but none of that mattered compared to the pleasurable agony he was bestowing upon her.