Bringing Benjy Home (Security Ops) (24 page)

The softly spoken words hung in the air. Their gazes met, clung. Her face, usually so transparent, was blank, as still as the rest of her. She seemed to become aware of her unsteady hands and clasped them instead, at her back.

“Of course you do,” Again her voice was level, inflectionless. “You’ll want to be with Lauren when she tries to identify the man. Do you think you’ll have difficulty getting a flight so soon?”

He hesitated before answering, his mind puzzling over her matter-of-fact attitude. “No, I don’t think so. I’ll want to take some precautions, of course. I don’t want anyone to be able to follow us.”

She offered him a cool smile. “Of course not. And I’m going to really shock you and let you make my ticket back home on a
plane
.”

He missed the rest of her sentence, focusing on the words that seemed to ring with an ominous sound. “Back home?”

She nodded. “I’m anxious enough to get back to Arkansas that I’ll even fly. I’m going to pray to all the airport gods to spare me from getting sick this time, but at least I can be home in a few hours.”

“You’re in a hurry to get home, then,” he said slowly, his eyes fixed on her.

“I’ll want to check on Granny, of course, although she’d hate the thought of that. She’s visiting her sister and her husband in the next county. I may decide to go over there for a few days to say hello.”

He was silent for a moment. “You’ll want to know how this all turns out, won’t you?”

Her eyebrows arched. “Of course. Call me. I can’t wait to hear that Lauren and Benjy are completely safe once and for all. Now, I’m sure you’ll want to leave as soon as possible. I’ll go pack.”

He watched with narrowed eyes as she walked through the adjoining door to her room. The door closed behind her with a gentle, irrevocable click.

Minutes ticked by, and still Trey sat on the edge of the bed, staring. He wondered why that closed door seemed to represent so much more.

And he wondered why his gut felt like someone had just tried to do surgery without benefit of anesthesia.

Chapter 15

Jaida busied herself with meaningless chores around the cabin. After unpacking and doing her laundry, she swept the spotless floor, then polished the already gleaming furniture. Those tasks done, she mixed a pitcher of lemonade that she wouldn’t drink and made a large dinner for one that she wouldn’t eat.

The cabin was almost eerily silent without Granny. Jaida had rarely been here alone. She had called Granny first thing when she’d arrived home, and it had been soothing to hear her voice. Her pointed questions, however, hadn’t been soothing at all, and Jaida had brushed them aside feebly. She wasn’t up to Granny’s insightful comments right now.

The plane ride home had been interminable. She’d watched, with an odd sort of calm, as Trey had taken over at the airport. After checking the flight schedules, he’d gone from window to window, making arrangements, using cash to buy tickets to places they wouldn’t be traveling. He’d returned, his face once more a determined, emotionless mask, and given her her instructions. “Your flight leaves right before mine, but I have to go across the airport to reach my gate.” He handed her three different sets of tickets. “The flight to Little Rock is on top. I want you to wait until the very last boarding call before you make a move for that plane.” She’d taken the tickets and nodded her understanding.

“Here.”

She’d frozen at the sight of the money he was holding out to her. “I don’t want it.” Her voice had been strained, harsh. That instant had come very close to shredding her carefully comprised composure.

“Take it,” he’d ordered, “Your purse is gone, and so are your money and credit cards. You’re going to need a way to get from Little Rock home, and I sure don’t want you to have to make arrangements for a bus. Not in the state you’ll be in after the plane ride.”

She’d known he was right, but had made no move toward the money.

“It’s for expenses, Jaida.” His words reminded her of what she’d once told him when they’d discussed a fee she didn’t want, wouldn’t take. Slowly she’d reached for the money, and had taken extraordinary care to avoid touching him.

It hadn’t mattered, though. She took a deep breath, remembering the way he’d drawn closer, as if he couldn’t help himself. He’d raised a hand and caught some of her long hair between his fingers. His face had drawn nearer, and he’d whispered her name.

For one heart-stopping moment she’d thought he was going to kiss her, and after a first foolish leap of her heart, she’d panicked. She’d been very much afraid that if he kissed her, if he so much as touched her, the steady, calm facade she’d strived for would shatter, and she’d be left a trembling, pleading mess.

The image of her begging, clutching him with needy hands, crying pitifully while he watched, his face a mask of distaste, had had her spine stiffening. She’d pulled away from him with a jerk.

He had regarded her with enigmatic eyes and she’d wondered if he had expected the scene she’d just imagined. She’d allowed herself one last, thirsty look at him before she’d whispered goodbye. And then, with all the dignity she could muster, she’d turned and walked away.

She hadn’t looked back. Oh, how she’d longed to look back. But she knew if she allowed herself the indulgence, she’d see nothing more than the back of him, striding away from her, heading out of her life. She’d spared herself that.

She’d forced herself to concentrate on the nightmare of the plane ride. No one had boarded after she did. She was late enough to earn herself reproving frowns from the plane attendants. When she’d found her row, she’d stopped short and swallowed hard. The three passengers that she was going to have to crawl across to reach her seat had eyed her with suspicious, long-suffering looks. She’d steeled herself once again, reached for her tattered guard, and plunged through them.

Jaida shuddered at the memory. Coupled with her persistent nausea on the trip, it had been enough to keep thoughts of Trey if not forgotten, at least at bay.

It was a couple of hours before sunset when she’d finished scraping the remainders of her meal into the garbage. Washing the few dishes took less time than she would have liked. She’d stood staring at the cabin rooms, their emptiness evocative of the way she felt inside. Making a swift decision, she’d strode to her room and repacked her suitcase.

Her great-aunt Nora and her husband, Bob, would be delighted to have Jaida visit. Somehow she didn’t think Granny would be surprised at all to see her. A couple of days away would give Jaida some time to reconcile with the fact that she was once again alone, in a way she hadn’t been before.

And it would give her time to figure out a way to live the rest of her life without Trey Garrison.

Trey sat on the couch of the borrowed mountain retreat, with Lauren’s hand clasped in his. Benjy had just been laid down for an afternoon nap. After initial resistance to sleep, he’d insisted on Trey being the one to tuck him in. Trey had obliged willingly. He’d needed the time alone with Benjy, as well. He’d never understood how it was possible for one small creature to arrive on the scene and so naturally hold all the adults’ hearts in his hand. It was a long time before he would lose the memory of the terror they’d been through when they’d lost him.

Afterward he spent a fruitful fifteen minutes on the phone to Detective Reynolds. Then he turned on the fax machine to await the copy of the mug shot the detective would be sending them.

“You have something to tell me,” Lauren prompted him gently. Her green gaze, so like his own, was steady.

He nodded. “Yeah, honey, I do. I talked to Reynolds twice today, and Maria Kasem spilled everything she knows. They have the name of the other kidnapper. Reynolds is getting ready to fax us a picture of the guy.”

“What’s his name?” she asked.

Trey watched her. “Tony Franken.” She blinked once. That was all. Her eyes remained on him, but she faded away. She wasn’t seeing him anymore. She wasn’t seeing anything.

“Oh, God,” she whispered, her voice raw with anguish. She began to rock in her seat, faster and faster in rhythm with her mindless litany. “OhGodohGodohGod . . .”

He grasped both her shoulders in his hands. “Lauren,” he said urgently. “Do you know this guy? Who is he? How the hell do you know him?”

Her lips were trembling. “Oh, Trey, oh, Trey, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? He’ll find us—I know he will—I’ve always known it—”

“Tell me!” Trey ordered her. “Who is Tony Franken, Lauren?”

She pressed a hand to her mouth, as if to still the trembling there. “He works for William. Ever since I met him, Tony was one of the men who followed us everywhere.” She gave a big gasp for air. “He was the one guarding the house the night you helped me escape.”

Trey folded his sister’s shaking body into his arms, calming her with his strength.

“You know what this means, Trey. William has found us. Just like I always feared he would. We’ll never be safe again, never, never . . . .”

“Yes,” Trey promised tersely, “you will.” The words were a vow. “Calm down and listen to me. Lauren?”

Taking a few deep gasps of air, she eventually pulled away and faced him.

“Good,” he said soothingly. He took one of her hands and squeezed it reassuringly. “According to Maria Kasem, Franken didn’t talk much about his past, and apparently she’s not the type to ask questions. But when she met him, he wasn’t working for Penning—he was a baggage handler at O’Hare. They lived together for about eight months in Chicago. One day about two months ago he never came home from his job. She didn’t see him for about a week, and when he did return he was all excited about a plan he claimed was going to make them rich.”

Lauren closed her eyes tightly, as if to shut out Trey’s next words. “Oh, no.”

“I’m afraid so, honey,” he said grimly.

“He must have seen me returning from a business meeting with Jack.” Jack Saunders was a former client of Trey’s, and Lauren’s boss. After Benjy’s birth, she’d wanted a place of her own. Jack offered her a job and the use of the guest house on his property. She’d accepted both. He ran his computer-analysis business from his home. Her duties as his personal assistant ranged from the secretarial to the very occasional business trip.

“He saw you and recognized you immediately, I’m sure,” Trey agreed. “And why not? You very likely cost him his job with Penning.”

Lauren’s eyes met his and she nodded slowly. “When William found out I was gone, he must have been . . . enraged.” Not a very descriptive word really for her husband’s probable reaction. She shivered. Even now, years later, it was hard not to react when she thought of her husband.

“The fact that Franken is walking around on two good legs leads me to believe that he didn’t stick around for Penning to find out you were gone. He must have been so scared that Penning would blame him—”

“He would have,” Lauren asserted.

Trey nodded. “So he took off before Penning could take his rage out on him.”

“People who disappointed William were punished,” she whispered.

“At any rate,” Trey continued grimly, “it was sheer bad luck that had him working at an airport you were passing through. He followed you to L.A., probably hoping to get into Penning’s good graces again by finding out where you lived and letting him know.”

“This doesn’t make sense, Trey,” Lauren cried softly. “If he wanted to make an impression on William, he’d have taken me and never mentioned Benjy. With all the time he spent with William, he would surely have known how he felt about children.”

“And he would just as surely have known about how your in-laws felt about them.”

Lauren stared at her brother. “Oh, my Lord.” Her voice was almost soundless.

“Kasem said finding out about Benjy delighted Franken. He hadn’t been eager to contact William again, even with the news of your whereabouts. He couldn’t predict his reaction, especially when Penning found out about Benjy. But it probably didn’t take him long at all to figure out how to turn the situation to his advantage. Everyone knew how desperately William’s parents wanted grandchildren. Leo Penning could be counted on to pay big bucks to get his hands on his only grandchild.”

“And Franken is still out there.” Lauren raised her visage to his, dry eyed. “We’re not safe while he’s free. What’s to stop him from telling Leo or William about us? What’s to stop him from searching for us? We’ll have to hide the rest of our lives, living in fear . . . .”

“No,” Trey said firmly. “I won’t let that happen. Since Franken is the guard who let you escape William in the first place, he’s got no credibility with the Penning family. He probably fears for his life at the thought of contacting them right now, because without Benjy, he’s got nothing.

“Don’t worry,” he reassured her softly, tightening his arm around her. “I’m going to make sure we never have to worry about Franken again. Or your bastard of a husband.” He didn’t ask himself how he was going to accomplish that feat. His mind was already working overtime on the problem, and he didn’t doubt that he’d find a solution to this mess.

The lives of his sister and his nephew depended on it.

A couple of days spent with Granny had kept Jaida’s loneliness at bay for a time, but the cabin seemed no less empty when she returned. She made a trip back into Little Rock, because Dixon Falls didn’t have something as elaborate as a courthouse and she needed to get her missing driver’s license replaced. The woman in the picture on the front of the new one looked as forlorn as she felt. It would be an unwelcome reminder for the next five years of just what, or who, had put that despair in her eyes. While she was there she went to the pharmacy and had her prescription for the pain medication refilled. Then she returned home.

She spent the afternoon completing every task she could think of in the cabin, before starting on Granny’s garden out back. Weeding was a chore that kept her body, if not her mind, occupied.

She hadn’t attempted to return to her songwriting. It was too soon, her separation from Trey too raw. Right now she feared that if she even tried to set pencil to paper, the emotions would spill forth like water from a levee. And that was something she definitely wasn’t ready for.

She’d thought she’d been prepared for their parting, thought she’d known what to expect in his absence. But this . . . God, this felt as if a giant vacuum had gone through her and removed every bit of feeling, every scrap of anything that mattered, leaving nothing in its wake but a giant void. But no, that wasn’t quite right, either. Because a void was an absence of feeling. And the pain of being alone was too intense, too sharp for that.

She knew she’d done the right thing, though. Trey was an intensely private man. He’d spent his whole life building walls around his emotions. How could she expect him to be comfortable with her, with someone who could read him through a casual touch?

She made dinner, and surprised herself by finishing the entire meal she’d prepared. She took the return of her appetite as a good sign. Perhaps she had underestimated the soothing impact of seeing her grandmother again.

The knock on the door came while she was lingering over washing the few dishes she’d dirtied. Peering out the window, she noticed a stranger standing on the porch. She used an unfamiliar caution when she opened the door, leaving the chain on. She might not be a security expert, but she had a normal amount of sense. The cabin was isolated enough to warrant being careful at any time.