Holdin' On for a Hero (36 page)

“What the hell’s going on?” They both heard the shout from the door.

Greg moved away from her and turned to the man who was entering the room. “Just having a little fun. What’s the big deal?”

Winston Holling moved to stand beside the bed. He looked at Chance for a few moments before recognition flared in his eyes. “Jesus fucking Christ!” he exploded and turned on Greg. “You stupid jackass! Do you know who the fuck this is?”

“Daven Porter!” Greg shouted back at him. “The reporter. Have you suddenly gone senile? We talked about this, remember?”

Winston grabbed Greg’s arm and steered him out of the room. “You moron!” he hissed as soon as they were out in the hall. “That’s Maurice’s daughter!”

“Maurice Davenport?” Greg’s eyes widened in surprise then he shook his head. “No way. She’s just some—”

“She’s Chance Davenport, you dumb fuck! I’ve seen her goddamn picture enough to know. Goddamn! Maurice is going to shit a gold brick! I might have known you’d find a way to fuck things up.”

“Me? You can’t dump this shit on me! You’re the one—”

“Shut up!” Winston pushed him up against the wall. “Now listen to me, boy. There’s no way I’m going to let Maurice know that we’ve roughed up his precious daughter. You know how goddamn picky he is about her. What we’re going to do is tell him that we grabbed her because we found out that Wyatt was going to kill her to get even with Maurice. As much as he hates Wyatt, he’ll fall for it.”

“Why does he hate Wolfe? For that matter, why do you?”

“That’s my business. Now, you get in there and untie her and make damn sure she’s cleaned up proper then bring her to the house. I’ll smooth the way with Maurice. You got it?”

Greg nodded silently and after a moment his father walked away. Greg combed back his hair and entered the bedroom. Chance was staring at him with daggers in her eyes. He smiled and started cutting her free. “Hey, I’m really sorry,” he apologized then laughed as if it were all a big joke. “Really, I wasn’t going to hurt you, I was just having a little fun. Besides, I had to keep you here. It’s the only place you’re safe.”

“Safe?” Chance jumped up as soon as the last of the ropes were removed. “This is the last place I’d consider safe.”

“But it’s where your father thinks you’ll be safe.”

“My father?” She looked at him in surprise. She had overheard bits and pieces of his conversation with Holling in the hall, but not enough to make any sense of it. “What does my father have to do with this?”

“Why don’t we go ask him?” Greg motioned toward the door. “He’s at the main house waiting for us.”

Chance’s first inclination was to run as fast and as far as she could. If Maurice was there, it was a sure bet that he and Holling had something awful planned. But she found it hard to run from a fight, especially one that had been building up for so long. “Fine,” she agreed, which seemed to surprise Greg. “Let’s go.”

He ordered his men posted at the gatehouse to join the others who were standing guard around the perimeter of the grounds then led Chance to the main house. Seeing all the armed men who were patrolling the grounds made Chance more than a little nervous. She hoped she could get word to Wyatt that she was all right before he found Tsa’li’s abandoned truck and started looking for her. With all the men Holling had posted, there was no way Wyatt would make it to her without being killed.

Her thoughts were centered on worries for Wyatt as she followed Greg inside the house. She paid no attention to the opulence around her, but followed him mutely as he led her to the massive den at the rear of the house.

As soon as they walked into the room she saw her father bolt to his feet from a chair near the fireplace. “What in god’s name are you doing here?” he demanded angrily.

“I think a better question would be, what are you doing here?” she asked in return.

“I happen to have business with Holling. Not that it’s any of your concern.”

“What kind of business?” She walked across the room to face him. “Arson, murder? Do you have any idea the kind of atrocities that are being committed against the Cherokee?”

“Atrocities?” He cocked his eyebrows at her. “Young lady, you have no concept of what true atrocities are. Why those red-skinned bastards are—”

“That’s insulting!” she cut him off. “And how dare you stand there and call—”

“That is enough!” he shouted then lowered his voice when everyone turned and gave him a surprised look.

Chance smirked at the expression on Winston’s and Greg Holling’s faces then looked at her father. “Enough of what? What is it you’re afraid I’m going to say, Father? That your friends here are killing people in cold blood or that the murders they commit are premeditated? Better yet, maybe what you’re afraid of is that the truth will—”

“I said that’s enough! I will not tolerate this kind of behavior from you. I’m calling the airport and having my plane stand by. One of Winston’s men will drive you there and you will return to the estate in Charlotte and wait there for me to return.”

“No, I won’t do any such thing.”

“You—” Maurice’s face flushed bright red in anger. “You what? Did I hear you defy me?”

“Yes, you did. I’m not going anywhere until all of this is settled and the people responsible are brought to justice. So save your commands for someone who’ll follow them. You see, Father, I’m not some ignorant afraid child anymore. I know what you really are and I’m not going to let you get away with it. In fact, I’m going to—”

A stinging slap cut off the rest of her words. “How dare you! I should have known something like this would happen the morning you called looking for that…that bastard whelp. He’s been nothing but trouble from the moment I first laid eyes on him. But you, oh, you just couldn’t stay away from him, could you? Chasing him around like a bitch in heat the entire time you were growing up wasn’t enough for you, was it? You just had to come up here and wallow in the filth again. If I had known I would have—”

“Shut up!” Chance yelled loud enough to startle everyone with her outburst. Maurice stopped talking but his mouth hung open in surprise.

“You can say what you like about me,” she said in a cold calm tone. “But I won’t tolerate you speaking that way about my husband. You’ve caused him and his family enough hurt and it ends now. Do you hear me, Father? It ends.”

Maurice’s lips were moving but no sound was coming out. His eyes were wide and his face had lost some of its color. Chance found a measure of satisfaction in seeing him that way. He could not seem to find his voice.

“Your husband?” Winston Holling, however, had no trouble with his voice. “Are you telling me that you’re married to that son of a bitch?”

Chance turned on him with her eyes flashing. “Don’t ever let me hear you say that again! Especially you, Mr. Holling. After all you’ve done, you have no right at all. All of this is your fault. Wyatt was just an innocent victim. But you—” she turned and glanced at Maurice, “and you. Both of you are the lowest, most vile, and poorest excuses for human beings that I’ve ever seen. You both deserve to rot in hell for what you’ve done.”

“You’re married?” Maurice rasped, finally finding his voice. “Goddamn you to hell, you’re married to that Indian?” His last question came out in a full-fledged shout.

“Yes!” she shouted back at him. “I’m married and I’m going to stay married and there’s not a thing you or anyone else can do about it.”

“You’re lying!”

“You wish.”

“This is just your way of getting back at me. You think if you tell me you married that bastard it’ll hurt me. But your little scheme won’t work. I don’t believe you.”

“Then how about me?”

Everyone turned in surprise at the sound of John’s voice.

“How did you get in?” Winston yelped in surprise.

“Your guards aren’t very efficient,” John replied calmly.

Just then a man ran into the room behind John. “Sorry, Mr. Holling!” he panted and raised his gun at John’s back.

Winston frowned angrily as Maurice looked over at John with narrowed eyes. John smiled in return. “It’s true. She and Wyatt were married not long after she came here. Tsa’li and I were present as witnesses along with two of Wyatt’s friends. They are married, Maurice. Just as they were meant to be. Despite all that has happened in the past, all that’d been done to prevent it, fate was stronger. Chance and Wyatt were meant to be together. Their love was stronger than your hate. And now it is that love that will defeat you. You can’t stand against Wyatt. You are surely doomed unless you stop this madness.”

“Let me tell you something, you ignorant bastard!” Maurice took a step toward John. “You and your bastard son can both go straight to hell for all I care. In fact, that’s just where you are going. Just as soon as the old man gives me the crystal, I’ll put a bullet through all your heads.”

“So that’s what all this is about?” John asked. “Well, then you’re fighting a losing battle. Wyatt doesn’t have the crystal. He never had it. And Ts’ali will go to his grave before he gives it to you. So you go ahead, Maurice. Kill me. But it won’t get you that crystal.”

Chance walked over beside John. “Wyatt’ll never let you harm his father and you don’t stand a chance in hell against him.”

“I’m sick to goddamn death of Wyatt Wolfe!” Maurice shouted. “Have been since the day that Indian bastard child set foot in my house.”

“Then why did you let him stay?” Chance asked.

“Well, why the fuck do you think, Chance? Are you that fucking stupid?”

Chance stared at her father in shock as it all became clear. “It was the crystal. Oh my god! It was you. You and Holling. You killed Sarah! You were trying to get it from her and she wouldn’t give it to you. And since Tsa’li would never have given it to you, you figured Wyatt could. That he would know where it was.”

“But the whelp would never tell me,” Maurice confirmed her theory. “No matter how good I was to the little bastard he kept to his story of not knowing where it was.”

Chance cut her eyes over to John and could see the shock and pain on his face. “You?” he croaked. “You and Holling? You’re the ones who killed my Sarah?” After all these years, the shock of finally knowing the truth overwhelmed John.  He had considered the possibility from time to time during the years, but never wanted to believe that it could be true.  Knowing was almost like a physical blow.

Maurice didn’t have a chance to respond to John before Chance started in on him. “You’re despicable, Father, and I feel sorry for you when Wyatt gets here. He’ll break you in half. And I’ll cheer him on. You deserve it. You betrayed John’s friendship, killed his wife and tried to use his son to further your own greedy ambitions and you didn’t care who got hurt in the process. Not even your only child. You deserve everything that’s coming to you, but I’d advise that you make peace with whatever you hold holy now, because sure as sunrise, Wyatt’s going to send you straight to hell where you belong.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Greg, who had been silent up until that point, spoke up. “I think I just might have a thing or two that will change things considerably.”

Chance turned to see him smiling smugly. He walked over and leaned down close to her ear. “Just so happens I have hubby’s granddaddy all nice and cozy in the barn. And I made sure the boys left Wyatt a note so he’d know just where to come.”

Chance looked up at him with narrowed eyes. “Then say your prayers, white boy, ‘cause you won’t live to see dawn.”

Greg laughed in her face. “Is that so? Oh, of course, I forgot. Wyatt Wolfe, the Navy SEAL, the big bad-ass who can take on an entire army single-handedly. Well, here’s a newsflash for you, honey. I’ve got a dozen armed men just waiting for a glimpse of your little hubby and a ten-thousand-dollar purse to the man who brings me his head on a platter. So, if I was you, I’d start thinking about how I looked in black, ‘cause sure as shit, you’ll be a widow by morning.”

Chance turned to her father. “You have to call this off. If you don’t, people are going to die and it’s going to be on your head. Stop it now, while you can.”

Maurice seemed to regain some of his former composure. He poured himself a healthy glass of brandy and swirled it around, watching the light from the fire play on the liquid. “Greg’s right,” he said arrogantly. “Your bastard Indian will be dead by morning and then I won’t have to worry about my only child being reduced to living in squalor and bearing half-breed whelps. No, I don’t think I’d like to stop it just yet, dear. Not until I see Wyatt’s lifeless body, that is. And he will surrender, you know. He always did have to play the hero for you and that’s what’s going to kill him. When he sees that we have you, he’ll surrender. And then—well, then he’ll die.”

Chance knew it was no use to argue with any of them. They were all set on killing and nothing would deter them from the path they had set down.

Greg looked as if he was about to speak but Winston jerked his head toward the door. “Come on, let’s go see to the old man.”

Greg walked to the door of the den but before he could leave the room Chance spoke up, “And what makes you think you can keep me silent if you kill John and Tsa’li?”

Winston and Maurice both looked at her and Greg paused. “I know the truth. And even if you kill him you’ll still lose because I’ll go public with what I know and both of you will be lucky if you’re not executed.”