Love On the Run Read online

  Dennis hugged her and went to find the suitcases in the garage. There was something else he was going to do before he left. He was going to write a letter explaining everything. Maybe someone would understand that he had made a necessary choice.

  * * *

  “SLEEP WELL?” CASSI MET JARED outside his room the next morning.

  He grimaced. “As well as can be expected for a man who slept alone on his honeymoon, I suppose.”

  Cassi put her arms around his neck and gave him a solid kiss. “You don’t look very rested.” She wondered if he’d had the dream again and shivered. What would it have been like to have been kept a prisoner for days, knowing you were the only thing standing between your friend and death? But Jared had stood up to Laranda, and in the end it was she who had died, not their friend, Trent. “I love you, you know.”

  “I know,” he said, kissing her back.

  Sophie came into the hallway where they stood. “Breakfast is ready. Hope you’re hungry. Where is that boy, anyway? I’ll bet he could use a good old-fashioned English breakfast.”

  Jared thumbed at the door. “Still sawing logs. I’d better wake him.”

  “Shouldn’t we call Fred again?” Cassi asked as Sophie disappeared into the kitchen.

  Jared glanced at his watch. “It’s the middle of the night there. Let’s eat, do a little shopping for something to wear, and then we’ll call him. This place is out of the way. I think we’re pretty safe.”

  The cabin had also been out of the way, but Cassi didn’t bring that up. How had Quentin found them in the first place? “You know, we might want to go into London,” she said as they went into the kitchen. “The FBI is sure to have a field office or something attached to the Embassy. We could pick up the things we need quickly and go there to contact Fred.”

  “Good idea,” Sophie said. “There’s better shopping in London, and we have the apartment there, if you need a place to stay.”

  After breakfast, Grant and Sophie drove them to London. There, they bought one suitcase each and several changes of clothing. Sampson insisted on paying for everything. “Your card could be traced,” he said. “Mine can’t. Or at least not very easily. My dad said so.”

  Cassi looked over at Jared with a silent question in her eyes. “Let him pay,” he said quietly. “I think he needs to feel a part of all this. And after all, his father is responsible for putting us in the middle of this mess.”

  “Okay, Sampson,” Cassi agreed. “Go right ahead. Buy it all.”

  Giving her a smug grin, Sampson presented his card. Cassi watched the money add up and hoped the card really was active and had a high enough limit to pay for everything. She soon found she had worried for nothing. Quentin had obviously taken steps to make sure his son would be well cared for.

  Why?

  The question kept coming back. Why was someone after Sampson? With Quentin alive and Sampson’s uncle in charge of the business, killing Sampson would benefit no one. Unless Sampson’s uncle had decided to take over his brother-in-law’s business. Cassi felt sick at the only logical explanation.

  At that moment, Sampson met her gaze. He appeared for all the world like any other young boy. His face resembled his father only in his chin, but even that fragile connection was enough to bring Quentin’s face to Cassi’s mind. At one time she had thought Quentin was an ally, but he had ordered the death of her friend and mentor, Linden Johansen. In the end, he’d almost killed her and Jared.

  “Are you okay, Cassi?” Sampson asked.

  Quentin’s face vanished, and once again Sampson became an innocent victim she wanted to protect. “I’m just hungry,” she said with a smile. “Shopping takes a lot out of a person. What do you say we dump this stuff in the car and get to the Embassy? Fred should be awake soon.”

  “But I’m hungry,” Sampson complained.

  Jared laughed. “With all you put away at breakfast?”

  “That was hours ago.” He glared at Jared.

  “A growing boy needs lots of food,” Sophie said. “My two boys used to eat more in one meal than I’d eat in two days.”

  Grant put his arm around his wife’s plump shoulders. “There’s a good restaurant a few streets over. We can grab some take-out. That won’t delay us much. I’m sure whoever is looking for you hasn’t come this far yet.”

  “Can I pay?” Sampson asked, flourishing his card.

  Cassi sighed. How did Quentin ever expect to teach his son the value of money? Sending him off to Europe alone with an apparently limitless credit card was not a good start.

  “We’ll see.” Cassi picked up a stack of purchases and watched as the others did the same—except Sophie, who fished in her purse for the keys and led the way to the car.

  The streets were busy but not overcrowded. Ordinarily Cassi would have felt content, but the overcast sky added to her unease. She searched the street, looking for someone who did not belong. Relax, she told herself. They couldn’t have followed us here. We’ve been too careful.

  Near the car, Sophie pushed a button on her keychain. A chiming noise signaled that the alarm had been deactivated and the doors unlocked. Grant opened the trunk and began to supervise the package placement, while Sophie headed toward the passenger side door. As she opened it, there was an explosion that blew her short frame backward into the street. Cassi gasped as she struggled to maintain her own footing. Sampson cried out.

  Grant stumbled to his wife’s side as she lay motionless on the street, her face and clothing blackened from the blast. Cars backed up behind them.

  “Over there!” Jared said, pointing. Two dark-haired men had appeared in the doorway of a small shop about a hundred feet down from the front of the ruined car. As Cassi glanced at them, they each raised guns, taking aim. “Get down!” Jared shouted. Cassi grabbed Sampson and scrambled with him for the pavement behind the car. She was too late. Something sharp and painful pierced her upper chest. Her vision grew dim. Her last sight was of Grant, clutching his wife to his chest while tears rolled down his pale cheeks.

  * * *

  JARED WATCHED AS CASSI GRABBED Sampson and hit the pavement. The boy cried out in fear, but stayed under Cassi where he had fallen. Jared also ducked behind the car, hoping it wasn’t on fire in some place he couldn’t see. Would it blow up and take them all with it?

  Jared dared a peek at the men who had fired, and with terror saw them approaching. Grant was still in the middle of the street with Sophie, yelling for someone to call an ambulance. One or two people had stopped to stare, but the shots had driven them back to their cars or into the nearby buildings. There was no one to aid them.

  Helplessly, Jared glanced at Cassi. She still lay on top of Sampson, unmoving. “Cassi!”

  No answer.

  “Cassi?”

  Sampson slid out from under her. “She’s not moving. Her eyes are closed. I think they hit her.”

  Rage boiled up in Jared. Was Cassi dead or dying? A heavy load of agony fell upon him, and he shut his eyes momentarily with the pain.

  When he opened them, the men had moved closer. Sirens filled the air, overshadowing the sounds of the halted traffic around him. The men increased their pace. “You get him,” one grunted. “I’ll get the woman and the boy.”

  The words chilled the rage into something more dangerous inside of Jared. He was not going to let anyone mess with Cassi again. He crouched closer to the ground, taking stock of the approaching feet. Two sets. If he could knock out one on the first rush, it would be a fair fight.

  Wait, he told himself. Not yet. Let them come closer. In one more second they would reach the back of the car.

  Jared leapt from his hiding place, hitting both men and knocking them off balance. Rapidly, he brought up his foot in the most powerful kickboxing move he’d ever learned. The man he hit crumpled to the cobblestone sidewalk and lay motionless.

  The second man stepped back and pulled out a gun. On his rounded face was a mocking grin. His watery brown eyes showed anticipation. J
ared didn’t wait, but launched himself at the man’s feet. He didn’t realize how large the man was before he felt the impact throughout his entire body. Still, the thug fell. A shot rang out and hit the car. But the sound was odd to Jared, not at all as he’d expected—and he’d heard more than enough shooting in the past three and a half months to last a lifetime.

  A police car rushed up to the scene and the man on the sidewalk cast Jared an ugly stare, jumped to his feet, and was gone. Jared thought about following, but turned back to Cassi, needing desperately to see if she was alive. How could he face life without her? Please be all right!

  Sampson had rolled her over onto the blacktop. Her face was pale and inert, her eyes shut and shadowed by her dark lashes.

  “Look!” The boy held something in his hand, shaped like a dart. “It was in her chest,” he said. “I tried to wake her, but she’s not moving.”

  With a raw cry, Jared fell to his knees by her side.

  CHAPTER SIX

  FRED GLANCED UP AS JUSTIN came into Fred’s office Thursday morning. He could tell his friend had news. “One of the guards at the prison didn’t show up for his job this morning or to take the lie detector test. There’s no answer at his house, and his children haven’t been in school. A friend of his at the prison received a faxed confession. Here’s a copy.” Justin slid it onto the desk. “I’ve done some checking, and I believe he’s headed to Rio. I can have our people pick him up when he arrives.”

  Fred read the guard’s confession thoroughly before replying. “He seems sincere. I think he’s telling the truth.”

  “Poor unlucky sucker.”

  “What would you have done under the same circumstances?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Me either.” Fred stared at the paper for another minute. “About Rio . . . could you be mistaken?”

  Justin hesitated. “I guess there could be another Dennis Faron traveling with his wife and two children.”

  “There’s nothing more he can add,” Fred said. “He doesn’t know who did it. He was just a poor unlucky guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  Justin ripped a paper from his small writing pad. “It’s our call. If we delay, he’ll have time to hide. Perhaps he’s suffered enough.”

  “Oh, he’ll suffer much more. That’s not a good life, always glancing behind you. Wondering how long until you’re discovered. Picking up and moving every time someone suspicious looks your way. We’d be doing him more of a favor if we picked him up.”

  Justin tossed his pad onto Fred’s desk and crossed to the paper shredder in the corner. He put the sheet of paper he had torn from the pad into the opening. “At least he’ll be free and with his family.”

  The men stared at each other for a long, silent moment as the shredder hummed quietly.

  The intercom buzzed and Fred answered it. “Yes, Cherral?”

  “Brooke Erickson here to see you.”

  “Send her in.”

  Justin didn’t hide his smile. “I tell you, she likes you.”

  “What she wants is a story. Besides, she wears a wedding band.”

  “Maybe it keeps the creeps away.”

  “Maybe she’s married.”

  Their conversation broke off as Brooke came into the room. “Hi,” she said cheerily. “Have I missed anything? Have the Landines called?”

  “Not yet. But we’re hoping they reach us soon.”

  “What about the guards? Did they all pass the lie detector test?”

  Fred exchanged an amused glance with Justin. There was certainly no fooling this woman.

  “Come on. You know I’ll find out soon enough. Give me the scoop first.” Brooke sat down on a chair and crossed her shapely legs. Fred focused on her face.

  “The police department will make a statement.”

  “I won’t hear it. I’m here with you.”

  She had a point. “Okay. One of the guards didn’t show up. We think he’s the one who—”

  “Passed the envelope. Of course, it had to be. You guys knew it even yesterday. So did you get him?”

  “Nope. Just his confession. You can read it if you’d like, just don’t quote it directly, please.” He handed her the faxed paper Justin had given him earlier. “It makes you feel sorry for the poor fool.” Fred glanced again at Justin.

  “What aren’t you telling me?” Brooke’s eyes seemed to delve into his soul.

  What did she have—a radar for the exact truth? “The rest is confidential.”

  Two spots of red appeared on Brooke’s cheeks, marring the porcelain skin. Her jaw set in determination. Fred had never been much of a praying man, but he prayed now. Anything to change Brooke’s focus. The FBI letting a guilty man go, despite extenuating circumstances, wouldn’t go over well in the legal circles, even if public opinion might support the gesture.

  The phone rang. Maybe there really was someone up there after all.

  * * *

  CASSI OPENED HER EYES AND saw nothing but a white mist. Was she dead?

  “I think she’s coming around.” The voice belonged to a stranger.

  “Cassi? Cassi?” Now that voice was very familiar—and very worried. Someone clutched her hand.

  She opened her eyes again. “Jared?” Was he dead, too?

  The fog slowly dissipated and Jared’s face appeared, wavering slightly. Around her, she recognized the familiar furnishings of a hospital room—white sheets, monitors and equipment, and three other beds, currently unoccupied. A uniformed nurse watched her from a distance.

  So she wasn’t dead. Relief swept through her. Believing in heaven, she didn’t fear death exactly, but she wanted to make more memories with Jared. She wanted to have a family. “What happened?”

  Jared stroked her hand. “You were hit. But it was some kind of sleeping drug. The police arrived just in time.”

  “Did they catch them?”

  “One, but he’s not talking. And he’s got a very high-powered lawyer on the case.”

  “A drug.” Cassi’s thoughts returned to that first bit of information. “Then they didn’t want to kill us. Not right away.”

  “It seems so. But they did find a real gun on the man . . . and there was the car bomb.”

  Cassi struggled to sit up, her memory raging back. “Sophie! Is she all right?” Dizziness flooded over her.

  “You need to lie down for another hour or so until the effects of the drug wear off completely,” the nurse said. Her British accent made her voice clipped, but she gave Cassi a warm smile.

  Cassi lay back on the bed. “Is Sophie okay?” she asked more calmly.

  Jared’s face tightened with worry. “They don’t know yet, but she’s been holding on all day. I think she’ll pull through.”

  “It’s all our fault. We shouldn’t have dragged them into this.” She swallowed hard. “Where’s Sampson? They didn’t . . .?”

  “No, he’s waiting in the hall. When the dart caught up with you, you passed out on top of him. He’s been worried.”

  “Well, send him in.”

  “Are you sure you’re—”

  “I’m fine. Really.” She glanced at the nurse. If the woman hadn’t been in the room, Cassi would have tried to sit up again. “Doesn’t this bed move? I’d like to be propped up so I can see.” Jared worked the controls and Cassi once more felt a wave of vertigo, but it passed quickly.

  “Look,” he said, “before the boy comes in, I wanted to talk with you about something.”

  “We can’t leave him.”

  “It’s not that. Grant says he knows some people who know some other people who have a friend who has a little cabin by a dam in Portugal where we can hide out. He says there’s no way it could ever be traced. Apparently, they rent out the cabin to recommended strangers for vacations. I’m thinking we’ll call Fred, or contact the FBI field office, and then we hide out there while Fred and his crew figure out what’s going on. We’ll be safe, Sampson will be safe, and we could get in a few days of
peace.”

  “They could give us some guards, couldn’t they?”

  Jared’s face darkened. “After all that’s happened, they’d better.”

  “What about Sophie?”

  “There’s nothing we can do now but pray. And staying here will put her in more danger. The police said that only the front doors of the car were wired to blow, and they would only go off when triggered by remote control. I think whoever did it was watching us this morning, and they knew that Grant and Sophie were riding in the front. When Sophie tried to get in, boom, they had the distraction they needed. They didn’t care what happened to Grant and Sophie, just as long as we were vulnerable.”

  Cassi let out a long sigh. “How could we have been so stupid? We should have gone straight to the FBI. We didn’t need clothes.” She met his eyes, searching for something to assuage her guilt. His understanding was enough. “I guess I hoped we’d lost them. I feel so terrible about Sophie.”

  “We all do.”

  She squeezed his hand. “You go call Fred now. But send Sampson in, okay?”

  “Okay.” Jared leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss on the mouth. Her arms went around his neck.

  “Oh, Jared, how did we get caught in this again?”

  He shook his head grimly. “I don’t know. But maybe Fred does.”

  She let her arms drop and watched him walk out the door. The nurse approached. “Your vital signs are completely stable now, but that wasn’t always the case. There was a lot of the drug in your system.” She motioned toward the door with her head. “He was beside himself, you know. You have a great man there.”

  Cassi smiled faintly, love filling her heart and blotting out some of her fear for Sophie. “I know. Thanks.”

  Sampson shuffled slowly into the room. The nurse turned to leave. “Push the red button there if you need anything. I’m just down the hall. You slept through supper, but I can bring you something whenever you want.” She was gone before Cassi could reply.