Blood Money (24 page)

CHAPTER 45

Mel Tarkington smiled as his informant updated him on Susan's whereabouts.

“She's home, but she's being watched. Her boyfriend took her home from the hospital and stayed until around three o'clock today. I guess he lives out-of-town. Around noon, a strange car showed up and didn't move until another one showed up at midnight. They look like cops.”

“Well, keep an eye on them. Change cars a lot so they don't spot you. I know how stake-outs work. After a while, they will get lax. It's a very boring job. Let me know when they drop their coverage.”

“I will, Mel.”

Mel sat back to ponder the latest news. As he saw it, it wouldn't be too much longer before she would go back to work, and the justification for the surveillance would pass. It was costing somebody a lot of dough to watch her around the clock like this. It had to end soon. If it didn't, he might have to change his plans slightly. He had a sniper rifle with him, but he wanted to stick to his original plan. He was patient and he was ready. He just needed the right opportunity to finish what he had set out to do.

CHAPTER 46

What's the latest with Mel Tarkington?” Dennis Peterson asked. He was having a review meeting with his ASAC, John Wellman.

“I haven't heard a thing. Agents have checked gyms and spas in every major city. There has been no activity anywhere on his credit cards or his cell phones. He has just disappeared down a hole somewhere. We picked up some of his known confederates, but nobody's talking; not even for money. For all we know, he could be in South America, or in a grave somewhere.”

“John, I don't know whether that's a good thing or not. Let's keep him on the list, but lower the level to three. I wish we could get closure on this. At some point I am going to have to pull the protection for Susan. She will probably be going back to Cybernetic Solutions soon. At that point, she's going to have to be on her own.”

“That's probably what she would prefer, anyway.”

“I know you're right. We haven't spoken about it in a while, but the last time we did she said I could stop it any time I wanted to. Let's just play it by ear.”

* * *

Six weeks passed since Sue left the hospital. She has made significant progress with her recuperation. Mark went with her to meet with Doctor Porter for a final post-op examination. The doctor found everything to be progressing as expected. He wrote another prescription for pain medication, to be used only if the pain became unbearable, then explained that the exercises that he wanted her to do would produce only mild pain. With that, he was done. He wished her well, and they left his office for the last time. Sue's family doctor would take over future exams.

On the way home from the doctor's office, Sue complained about having to wear the sling for a few more weeks. They both knew that despite doctor's orders, that wasn't going to happen. She wanted her mobility back. She wanted to jog. He'd been a good sport for the past few weekends, taking long power walks with her. He knew she needed to keep in shape, and he needed to work off some of the extra calories from all the restaurant take-out food they had been consuming.

“Will you jog with me next weekend? I would love to have the company. We will just do a light workout, a half-mile or so. I think that that's all I could do anyway. You might find that you like it.”

“Maybe I would. When I ran in high school, of course, it was competitive. Just running for the fun of it never occurred to me. I guess I'm a bit of a couch potato.”

It's not just for fun, exactly. I jog to tone myself mentally and physically. It keeps the weight off and helps me shake off the cobwebs in the morning, and it relaxes me at night after a stressful day. It is a lifestyle with me.”

“I never thought of it that way. I'd be willing to give it a try. Who knows, I might even come to like it. I usually listen to music and drink a few brews to mellow out, but I can see the merit in your approach.”

“You know, Mark, when I go out on an extended run, I sometimes enter a special zone. It usually happens when I reach five miles. I can't explain it. It is something very spiritual.”

“I've heard about that. I wouldn't mind the experience, but I don't see myself running any five miles at my age.”

“Age has nothing to do with it. Sometime, take a close look at the people running in marathons. You're in good shape, and it would do you a lot of good. Do you think you could substitute your breakfasts at Denny's for three miles of jogging every morning?”

“Whoa! Who says that I would have to give up Denny's? After that kind of a workout, I would have to fortify myself with a good breakfast. You know that men are built differently. Our metabolisms are different than women's.”

Susan scoffed at him, “You're impossible, but I am just happy that you're willing to give it a try. We will just have to let the chips fall where they may.”

“As long as they are potato chips, no problem.”

As they entered the condo, Sue said, “Give me a few minutes to take a shower.”

“Take your time.”

She turned and went into the bedroom. A few minutes later, he heard the shower start. Mark waited a few more minutes, and walked casually into the bedroom. The bathroom door was open and he could see her silhouette on the frosted glass of the shower door. Even her silhouette looked great. He couldn't help but wonder what their life together would have been like if they had we decided to give up their government jobs years ago. Would they have had a half-dozen red-headed kids running around? As he was pondered this, the water stopped and she stepped out of the shower. Mark wondered how he could be so lucky to have such a beautiful woman as this in his life.

She saw him watching her, but didn't make any attempt to cover up. There were no reddened cheeks this time. Mark walked over to her and pulled her into his arms. She was soaking wet, but that didn't matter. Nothing mattered at that moment, because they were about to make passionate love. They joined together right there on the bedroom floor mat, moving quickly in the rhythmic motion that was to raise them to explosive climaxes. As in the past, they reached them at the same time. The memory of the B & B flooded into Mark's brain. They were so perfectly matched for each other. He carefully rolled off her to her right so he wouldn't hurt her left shoulder. As he did, he noticed her wince a bit. He decided to distract her. He cupped his hands over her beautiful breasts.

“You know, I never did get a chance to decide which one of these babies I liked best. For now, I'm going to call it a tie.” He kissed both nipples tenderly. “But I assure you that I will not shrink from the challenge. I seem to remember something about a Lifetime Offer.”

He kissed and sucked on both nipples as she moaned and quivered. He continued to enjoy them until his body said it was time again. He gently lifted her and carried her to the bed. This time his stroke was slower, giving her the chance to raise her body up to meet his. They went on like that for several minutes until the fireworks went off again.

Before the weekend was over, they made love a half-dozen times, completely surrendered their bodies to each other. So much passion had built up over the years since their last encounter. They spent so much time taking baths together that his skin was wrinkly from the water and smelling good from scents that Susan insisted on adding to the water. The aroma from the scented candles was another thing that he was getting used to. He had to admit that he liked them. He also enjoyed the toweling off. He dreaded that he was going to have to leave on Sunday.

Finally, it was time to return to Quantico. Mark was starting his ninth week. It was the halfway mark.

“Well, I guess that's it.” He had just finished putting the last bag in the trunk of his car, and they walked back to the condo, arm in arm.

“I'm going to miss you, Mark. This weekend has me walking on clouds. I wish there was some way you could stay longer, although I am not sure my body could take it.”

“That would be nice, but unfortunately, duty calls. You know, I have to go down to Centerville next week to look in on things down there. I will stop here first. In fact, maybe you can come down with me. We could check out the new computers and christen my house with some passionate love-making. How does that sound?”

“I like the sound of that, but I can't promise anything right now. I am going back to work Monday, and I might have to work part of next weekend.”

“Let's play it by ear then. Either way, I'll be back Friday night.” Mark reached out for her and she melted into his arms.

“I miss you so much when I'm away. I love you more than I have ever loved anyone or could ever love anyone,” he said.

“And I love you. No one will ever love you the way that I do.”

Her kisses tempted him to kick the door shut and carry her off to the bedroom.

She sensed that and pulled back. “You drive safely, Mark.”

Women are always the practical ones,
he thought.
There is a time to love and a time to leave.
Unfortunately, for Mark, this was one of the latter.

“Bye for now. I'll call later.”

“Bye, Mark, drive carefully.”

This week, the trip would be harder. He was so glad that the training was half over. It was downhill from now on.

* * *

While Mark was away at Quantico, Dennis, having access to his house in Centerville, had arranged to have equipment added to his home computer array to duplicate the configuration in Susan's secret computer room. The equipment was tested and the area was sectioned off with a faux wall. They even set up his old laptop in his father's den to make it appear that that was the only computer in the house. It was done very professionally.

CHAPTER 47

Susan was already dressed for work. To avoid unnecessary criticism, she put the sling on her left arm. Restricting the use of the arm did ease the pain she still felt. She picked up her handbag and attaché case and went out to her car. Fortunately for her she was right handed, and having the left arm in a sling did not hamper her, except when she needed to use the turn signals.

On the way to work, Sue needed to stop at a lab to have a blood and urine test. The drugs she had been on and the pain pills she had to use off and on sometimes caused liver damage. Her doctor had scheduled tests for the next six months as a precaution. By the time she arrived at the mall where Cybernetic Solutions was located, the parking lot was very full. Why hadn't she applied for a Handicapped Card? Then she could have parked right in front of her door. She circled around for a few minutes until a spot opened up. It was close to her office. She felt lucky to have found such a good spot.
Maybe I should talk to mall management about having reserved spots for clients or visitors to the small group of offices.
It was a warm day, so she rolled down the windows about two inches before she got out and pressed the lock button on the remote keypad.

“Welcome back,” the receptionist said as Susan entered the office. “It's so good to see you again, Susan.”

“Thanks, Mary. It's good to be back.” Her staff was equally glad to see her back full time. The business was growing rapidly. Some of the new clients came as a result of the publicity surrounding the attempted robbery and her injury. As far as Cybernetic Solutions was concerned, some good was coming out of the whole situation. She busied herself checking the over 200 e-mails that her secretary had left on her computer. Most of the messages were of a personal nature, from the many friends Susan had made over the years. This was heartening to her. Some of the messages were from people she knew in college, many others were from people she had worked with in San Diego. They all expressed concern about what had happened and wished her a speedy recovery. Susan now wished that she had handled the e-mails while she was sitting around the hospital. There's nothing like hindsight. Between her home and office e-mails and the U.S. Mail, Susan had received over 500 messages.

Susan couldn't have any breakfast before her blood work, so she had just had a donut and coffee afterwards. She even forgot to eat the protein bar she usually had at the office as a mid-morning snack, so by the time noon came around she was famished. “I think I'm going to take an early lunch today,” she told Mary as she left the office. “I should be back by one.”

She started her car, and was backing out of the parking place when her cell phone rang.
It's too early for Mark,
she thought
, unless he just couldn't wait until later in the day. He is so sweet that way
. She put the car back into “PARK” and removed the phone from her purse. She looked at the display and saw that it was from an unidentified number in Hudson.
That's odd!
Sue pressed the “talk” button. “This is Susan.”

“I was hoping that you'd be out and about once your boyfriend left town. It even looks like you're without your babysitters, too.”

“Who is this?'

“Why, this is Mel Tarkington, Susan. I think you know who I am. You made a mistake ratting to the Feds. Now you're going to have to pay the price. I just wanted you to know that before you die.”

The instant she heard his name, Sue sensed the danger. She reached for the door handle, but it was too late. The bomb that Tarkington had placed under the driver's seat exploded.

*

Susan Harrigan was killed instantly, and a half-dozen bystanders were severely injured by flying glass and pieces of metal.

*

Tarkington was parked two blocks away when the bomb exploded. He smiled as he shifted into “DRIVE” and started his trip back to Muncie. He was already packed, and would vacate the Beacon Motel within several hours. His destination was the Cayman Islands, where he would close several offshore accounts that were in his and John Portman's names. They had trusted each other and set up the accounts as “EITHER/OR” on the records. After that, he could go anywhere he damned well chose. The score was settled. He was a free man, a very rich free man. It had been well worth the hassle.