Of All the Luck! (16 page)

* * *

Xavier, or Theodore Zane, his real name… the one he never shared since he was a small kid and his father was arrested and put in prison for the rest of his life for killing Theodore’s mother and his two sisters… knew he was being hunted.  It was a feeling he had, and the feeling was growing stronger with each passing day.  He tried to convince himself that there was no way in hell that either Ian or Griffin, or that bitch Victoria, could find him living in his hometown.  Shabby was a small coal town, and the mines had played out some time ago.  It was where Theodore was born to Maize Mae Zane when she was fifteen and his father only seventeen.  The biggest news in town in the last fifty years was when Bellows Zane broke his thumb at work and came home early to find his wife in bed with another man.  He killed the man first, and then turned on Maize and his two daughters.  Theodore had no doubt that he would have been killed, too, but for the fact his old man couldn’t find him.  He’d hidden then, and he was hiding now, but he didn’t feel safe.  That sense of self-preservation that had saved his butt many times over the years was warning him that he was close to discovery.  It was time to pack anything he wanted to keep and run while he could.

* * *

“I can’t believe that Xavier was born in this place,” Ian commented so quietly that Griffin had to strain to hear him.

“I can’t believe he came back here to live.”  Victoria was well and truly shocked.  She never would have suspected that the man with such refined tastes could be from here.  It did, however, explain a lot about his personality.

“You all looking for that Zane boy, Theodore?”  An elderly woman approached them to demand in a loud voice.

“We’re just traveling through the area and stopped to get out and walk around a bit, ma’am,” Ian replied with a practiced smile that was purely charming.  “Have you lived here long?”

“All my days,” she answered.  “Thought you city folks could be lookin’ fer Theodore.  He up and left without a goodbye to no one,” she offered that news.  “Never did think that boy was any good.  He’s like his Pa.  Bellows had a terrible temper, and he got his in prison.  If you do see that Theodore, you tell him he owes me for two dozen eggs!  I want my money!” she insisted, then demanded.  “You look like city people to me; you sure you don’t know him?”

“No, ma’am,” Ian answered.  “We don’t know any Theodore, do we, brother?” he asked of Griffin.

“No, little brother.  Not that I am aware of.”

“You are both wrong,” Victoria promptly argued.  With the wig and glasses she was wearing, she looked nothing like herself.  “The man who owns the hardware store back home; his name is Theodore.”

“His name is Bud.”  Griffin glared at her from behind his sunglasses.

“That ain’t his real name, honey bunch.  It is Theodore Crapmire.”

Griffin was going to spank her butt!  Ian was trying hard not to laugh, and Victoria was doing her best to plague them both!!  “His name is Bud, dumplin’.  And this lady don’t want to hear you fussing at me, Sarah Jean.  “You have a great day,” he said, nodding pleasantly at the older woman.

She watched them suspiciously as they sauntered down the street, stopping in one store to buy ice cream cones before returning to the old, used truck that Griffin bought for the trip.  Nothing flashy, and nothing to draw undue attention.  He wouldn’t be surprised if Xavier made a point of calling the old woman and humbly apologizing to her for forgetting to pay her for her eggs while writing down her address to send her the money, and pumping her for information to see if anyone was looking for him.  Hopefully, the woman wouldn’t give them another thought.

As it was, they would have to go home and regroup once again.  Xavier was in hiding.

* * *

Victoria was stunned when the package arrived.  In the months since Xavier disappeared, she and Griffin had remarried and were living in her beautiful home.  Griffin was now acting as a security consultant for corporations who could afford to pay his fees.  His business was soaring, but the price for that was a lot of time traveling to different cities.  Victoria packed up her laptop and traveled with him when she could, but sometimes she just needed to stay home and work in the peace and quiet of her own home.  This was one of those times.  She had an approaching deadline, and she was behind.  She also hadn’t been feeling well, and just didn’t feel like traveling to Chicago again.  When the package was delivered, she was in that space between the one where her characters lived and the real world she existed in.  Her mind was occupied with asking herself, “What would I do in that situation?”  The doorbell sent her on automatic pilot to answer the summons and sign for the box.  It wasn’t a bit unusual for Griffin to send her a gift when he was gone for several days, and she also ordered things off the internet that she couldn’t buy in the small lake town where she lived.  Her mind was still plotting as she absentmindedly opened the box to see what it contained.  She couldn’t risk hurting Griff’s feelings if he called by telling him she hadn’t bothered to open something he sent… All her senses were drawn to what was in the box, and she had cold chills racing up and down her back as she realized that Xavier was the one who sent it.  She looked at the printed address on the label and frowned when she realized she wasn’t meant to open the package.

The telephone rang, interrupting her thoughts.  She checked the caller ID and immediately answered.

“Hello, sweetheart.  How are you feeling today?” Griffin asked, and she could mentally see the smile on his face.  It warmed her heart.

“Hi yourself, darling.  I’m okay.”  She was lying, but Griffin didn’t need to know that.  He would simply insist she go to the doctor for a checkup and she didn’t have time to bother with that right now.  “How did the big meeting go?”

“It went okay; for some reason one of the owners isn’t on board with having me do a security audit.  He claims there isn’t a problem, so why fix it…?  His partner is suspicious and thinks that the man might be skimming the profits.  I’m inclined to agree.  I am going back tonight after everyone is gone for the day to investigate.”

“You’d best be careful, Griffin.  If the partner is embezzling funds, he might go to great lengths to hide it.  I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“I will be very careful, Mrs. Conway.”  She could hear the humor in his deep voice.  “What are your plans for today, Victoria?” he asked.

“I’ve been working.  My characters have got themselves into a real pickle.”  She went on to explain the problem, wondering what he would have to say.

“If it was me…” he answered, and proceeded to give her a solution that she found absolutely inspirational.  Not only would it work, it was perfect in its simplicity, and it was certainly viable.

“Thank you, darling,” she said, meaning the words.  “If you get tired of running all over the country, we’ll set up a desk for you and you can write your own books!”

“I couldn’t sit still that long,” he told her, laughing at the very thought.

“I’ve seen you sit for hours on a stake-out,” she reminded him.

“That is a different sort of sitting, honey.”  She heard a knock on the door to his hotel room.  “I need to go now, Victoria.  You behave, and call the doctor.  If you don’t take care of it before I get home, I’ll make the appointment for you and take you there with a red butt.”

“You are so charming, Mr. Conway!”  Victoria was angry but not about to let it show right now.  She had other business that she needed to deal with, and it was imperative that she not earn her husband’s ire and bring him home earlier than planned.  If he knew what she was about, he would lock her in a closet… after blistering her bare butt, of course.  “I love you, darling.  Please be safe.”

“I love you, too, Mrs. Conway,” he replied, then said a final goodbye before hanging up the telephone to go and admit his visitors.

The second she was off the phone, Victoria examined the package once more.  There was nothing on the surface to tell her who the package was from, or where it was sent from, but then, Victoria was trained to look below the surface.  She didn’t give one royal damn that the package was supposed to be for Griffin’s eyes only; she wouldn’t have opened it if she’d looked at the label first, but since she hadn’t… Well, too bad!  She wanted to find that son of a bitch Xavier and make him regret hurting her husband.  It was bad enough that he’d sold them out before, but a second time was just too much.  Add to that the fact that he’d casually taken the loyalty that Griff and Ian gave him and betrayed them… Xavier deserved to be put down.  Victoria wanted to be the one to bring the bastard to his knees.

Less than thirty minutes later she was on her way; she knew where Xavier was hiding.

* * *

“DAMN!” Griffin banged his fist down on his wife’s desk.  When he got his hands on that little spitfire he was going to tan her bare seat until she couldn’t sit for a month of Sundays!  How dare she go after Xavier alone?  What the hell was she thinking?  He took out his cell and hit a number.  When there was an immediate answer on the other end, Griffin said, “Ian, I need help.”  He quickly explained the situation, and wasn’t surprised when the other man was upset, too.  Griffin wasn’t stupid, and he knew that Ian would love Victoria if he weren’t in the picture.

“I’ll meet you at JFK as soon as we both can get there, and that little wife of yours can be thankful she is yours and not mine,” he added.

“She won’t think she is so thankful when I get my hands on her, Ian.  She needs a damned good spanking that she won’t ever forget, and if she is still in one piece when we find her, that is what she can expect.”

“I understand, man.”  Ian was nodding his head in agreement, and still fuming ten minutes later when he was on his way to the airport to catch a flight to New York.

* * *

Of all the damn times to get sick!  Victoria closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to shake off the nausea that made her feel so faint.

“Are you all right, Miss?” an elderly gentleman asked.  “May I help you to a seat?” he offered.

“Thank you, but once I check in I’ll go upstairs and lie down for a bit.”

“Clerk!” The man called out impatiently.

“Sir?” the man questioned.

“This young woman is ill and she needs to check in immediately and be shown to her room.”

“But of course.”  The young man quickly agreed.  He scanned her credit card, and then said, “Jubal will show you to your room now, Ms. Jenkins.  If we may assist you with anything, please advise us.”

“Thank you,” Victoria answered.  She turned to the elderly man and thanked him as well, and was thankful that Jubal was carrying her bags.  She was dizzy, and in this condition she couldn’t possibly hope to match wits with Xavier.  The only thing in her favor was that he couldn’t know she was on his trail.  Her biggest problem right now wasn’t Xavier… it was time.  By now it was possible that Griffin was home and searching for her, and she wanted to be the one to find Xavier.  She wouldn’t get the opportunity if Griffin got here before she tracked down Xavier’s hiding place.

After resting for a while, Victoria felt much better.  She made a telephone call, and then met with a friend for coffee at a café across town.  It did not take long to learn what she needed to know.  The lady loved Victoria’s books, and each time she read a new one, she sent Victoria a box of her chocolates.  Xavier’s sweet tooth once again was proving to be his Achilles’s heel.  The woman knew nothing of the Internet, and she worked out of her own kitchen.  Her ‘store’ was a table in her living room, and if not for the fact that she read Victoria’s books, Victoria never would have recognized the chocolates that Xavier sent along with his threatening letter to Griffin.  Griffin wouldn’t have known where the candy came from.  Xavier was in the area, and she knew exactly where he was living.

* * *

“How is your consulting business going, Griff?” Ian asked, trying to take the other man’s mind off his errant wife.

“It’s doing better than expected, Ian.  Are you sure you wouldn’t like to come in as a full partner?”

“That hardly seems fair, friend.  You’re the one who’s laid all the ground work, and then I come in as a full partner and reap the reward…?”  Ian gave Griffin a look that expressed the fact he thought him crazy for making the offer.

“Are you ready to give up the government work?” Griffin asked.  “I’m serious when I tell you that I have more business than I can handle by myself, and I would like a partner I can trust.”

“Let me think about it, Griff.”  Ian knew that Griffin Conway was a man to offer his friendship to very few, and the fact that he was being chosen to be a business partner meant the other man trusted him.  Ian trusted Griffin, too, and it was time to settle down.  He wanted to marry again and have a family.  “I actually don’t need to think.  If you seriously want me for a partner, then I’m your man.”  They shook hands, and that was all the contract either man felt was needed.

They finally arrived at their destination and Griffin gave the cab driver an address for the hotel that his wife preferred when she was in Paris.  The grim look on his face warned that she had better be staying there.  They walked into the tastefully decorated lobby, and Griffin immediately pulled aside one of the bellhops and described his tiny wife.  The man’s eyes lit up with recognition even though he insisted he wasn’t permitted to give out any information about guests.