SAVED BY THE GLASS SLIPPER

by

Markee Anderson

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PUBLISHED BY

Markee Anderson on Smashwords

Saved By The Glass Slipper

Copyright © 2010 by Markee Anderson

http://www.markeeanderson.com

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

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This story is a mystery, dedicated to my mother and siblings, and in loving memory of my sister, Diane, and my father, who all loved mysteries.

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SAVED BY THE GLASS SLIPPER

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Chapter 1

I had to get away from the man in black, chasing me down the sidewalk in downtown Devon, Florida. Something like this always happened in the movies—but not in my life. The mild-mannered bank teller decides to take a break at the beach nearby and wham!—she’s attacked by a huge man who’s always dressed in black—usually at night. It would be cool to see it on the big screen, but this was different. This was reality, it was lunchtime, and I was the victim.

Running into the middle of a busy street, I knew the man in black with the big dark eyes wouldn’t be stupid enough to follow. While I waited on the yellow lines, cars blasted their horns as they passed. This wasn’t exactly one of my brightest ideas, but being chased by a muscle-clad man isn’t an everyday occurrence either. As I glanced back at him still standing on the sidewalk from where I’d started, he glared at me, then watched the traffic pass by.

When the traffic light changed, I finally got a break, so I dodged waiting cars and ran to the other side. Some Asian men on the sidewalk watched me approach, but I ignored them, checking for the big man in black running after me.

Taking off down the sidewalk, I ran south, dodging pedestrians. The small town was crowded for a Friday morning in May, a small break in time between Spring Break and summer vacation. Located on Florida’s west coast, Devon was a small often-forgotten town between Fort Myers and Naples.

At the next intersection, I turned west on another sidewalk, finally able to see the Gulf of Mexico in front of me. I could feel the man in black lessening the distance between us and glanced back to verify my thoughts. For some reason, the Asian men were behind him by about a hundred yards, making me wonder if they were going to the beach, too. But why would they run? The ocean wasn’t going anywhere. Maybe they were just tourists, excited to be here.

Once I hit sand at the end of the brick building, I turned a corner and ran smack-dab into a beautiful specimen of a man with blue eyes and short brown hair.

He stopped me with both hands on my shoulders before I bowled him over. “Slow down.”

“Sorry,” I said, then gasped, moving to run past him.

He grabbed my arm and held me back. “Are you out jogging?”

“Not exactly.” I looked behind me. The man in black wasn’t there but I was sure he was hiding somewhere.

“Why are you running, then?”

“Someone’s chasing me.” I extracted myself from his grasp and took off down the beach. Running for all I was worth, I knew I could outrun the man in black. I’d practiced running distances for some time, in case something just like this would happen. I knew it was just a matter of time, but never thought my chaser would be so large and evil looking.

The adorable man caught up then ran in front of me right just as I reached the water line. He was a fast runner, because I’d been in training for a while.

“Stop!” he yelled, trying to breathe.

I pushed past him. “I can’t. I’ll be killed.”

He took hold of my hand and pulled me toward him, gasped for air, and searched my face with his eyes. “Why?”

I wished I’d had my purse with me for defense, just in case. He was stronger than I was, because I couldn’t pull myself from his hand. I leaned down to catch my breath for a moment, then stood up. “Are you a serial killer?”

Mr. Adorable began to laugh. “No. What’s going on?”

I sucked in some air and faced him. “There’s a huge man in black chasing me. He looks like a murderer.”

The man searched the area behind me, letting go of my hand. “There’s no one there.”

I spun around. The beach was empty, except for a few families with kids, about a hundred yards away from us. “Where did he go?”

He looked at me as if I were nuts as I faced him again. “I have no idea. I’m friends with the local cops if you need help.”

“I don’t know what I’d tell them. How can I prove someone’s after me if they’ve disappeared?”

“You’re right. If you said anything, it would look like you’re crazy. Have you eaten lunch yet?”

The man in black was chasing me and this guy was thinking about lunch? How odd. I should’ve said ‘no’ and gone back to work, but for some reason, I felt safe with this man. I doubted the man in black would return when this guy was near me. “No, I wasn’t going to eat lunch. I was just out to walk on the beach, but someone else had other ideas.” Reaching down, I took off my flat shoes and poured out the sand. Running in a skirt wasn’t fun, but at least I wasn’t wearing heels.

As soon as I replaced my shoes on my feet, the man grinned, grabbed my hand, and shook it. “The name’s Mark Dallas, and I’d like to take you to lunch.” He watched me for a minute. “That is, if you’d like to come with me.”

“Oh, I can’t impose—”

“No imposition whatsoever and I promise.” He checked my left hand. “No husband coming to hunt me down, so you’re free, right?”

“No, no one…anymore. I’m free.”

“Anymore?”

“It’s a long story, but definite history.” The guy’s smile was endearing, and I couldn’t refuse those eyes anything they wanted. I had to remind myself to be wary. “I’m Amy Watson, by the way.”

He rested my hand in the crook of his elbow and walked with me up the beach toward a small hotdog shop. “I guess I’m just lucky to be here over lunch today. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to save you from whoever was chasing you.”

“I guess so.”

He glanced my way. “Why were they chasing you?”

I could only imagine, but this guy didn’t need my baggage or any of my secrets. If someone was willing to chase me for it, he certainly didn’t need to be involved. “I have no idea. I’m a nobody. It’s not as if I have money hanging off me or anything.” I turned toward him. “You’re not friends with the man who was chasing me, are you?”

He pointed toward himself. “Me? Do I look like someone who’d be friends with a chaser?”

“Not really. I just have to make sure you’re not a serial killer or something.”

“That’s the second time you mentioned that. But, think about it. If I’m friends with the police, could I possibly be a serial killer? I highly doubt they’d consider the police their friends.”

“How do I know you’re friends with the—”

A cop walked out of a shop right near us, as if right on cue. “Mr. Dallas! How are you doing today?” He shook Mark’s hand and smiled.

“Oh, I’m fine, Craig. Hope the kids are doing better.”

“Yes, they’re fine now. It was just the flu. Take care.” The policeman walked back the way I’d come from around the corner.

“I stand corrected,” I murmured. “How do you know him?”

“Oh, the whole police station comes over to work to make sure we’re safe. We feed them donuts to guarantee they’ll come back.” He leaned closer to me. “They’re suckers for donuts, especially the filled ones.”

“Where’s work?”

He straightened back up to his full height, about four inches taller than me, at least. “Work is near here. I just came to the beach for something to eat so I could get outside.”

“Near here where?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. I couldn’t think of any subversive businesses close by that might harbor serial killers. However, I should’ve brought my purse with me, because not only did I carry things that could be used as weapons, it made a great club if I hit someone just right.

Without answering me, Mark opened the door to the restaurant with a grin and we stood at the back of the line to order.

“I work at Madcap Software,” he finally said. “Ever heard of it?”

I felt my mouth drop. I’d finally met someone from there. “It’s the best place to work in the area. If I just had the background in programming games, it would be my top choice for employment. What do you do there?”

Mark leaned up to the clerk. “I’d like two hotdogs with the works and two colas.”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Dallas.” I never got service with those kinds of comments and clerks didn’t know my name, either.

Mark smiled, then looked at me. “I program games. What’s your background?”

I glanced at the clerk then back at Mark. “They know you here?”

“Sure. A lot of people know me. I guess I’m just a likeable guy.”

I dug some emergency cash from my pocket. “Well, likeable guy or not, I’m paying my way.”

“No, this is mine,” he said, putting his warm hand on mine. “I have to save the damsel in distress. It’s my job.”

I laughed at him, but stood firm. “No, I have to pay the prince for saving me. That’s just the way it is.”

“A prince?”

“Yes, sir. I don’t know how you did it, but the man in black was gone after you appeared. You’re either a prince or a knight in shining armor…or you have a death wish from a chaser.” I kept digging in my skirt pocket, but had to keep looking toward the door for the man in black.

My pocket was empty. Where was the rest of my money? I should have more than two dollars with me—or did I forget again?

Mark wrapped his fingers around my hand, making my head pop up to meet his very blue eyes staring me down. “You’re not paying. I insist.” He pushed my hand away from my pocket, but kept my other hand in his grip.

My mouth fell open, just from the power and masculinity of the man. On my scale of ten for a perfect male, I’d have to give him a twenty, at least. I used the scale to determine whether a man was worthy of me or not. Mark was good; there was no doubt about it. He was better than Connor, who’d only gotten a maximum score of five the entire two years we’d been dating. Since I’d found out he was also married, that score went down to a negative seventeen. However, I didn’t trust anyone for a reason, and if Mark was out to get me, I was a dead duck. I had to keep my distance.

I must’ve looked like an idiot as I stared at Mark, because he chuckled when paying the bill. While he carried the tray of food to a small table, I just followed, feeling like a little puppy. Sitting across from each other, he handed me a hot dog and a soda.

“You okay now?” he asked.

I had to look behind me at the door, just to make sure it was okay. I didn’t see the bad guy, so I figured I was safe for the time being.

I turned around and faced him again. “Sure. Thanks for lunch.”

“No problem.” He leaned up closer to me. “I have my reputation to uphold, being a prince and all.”

“And I feel like Cinderella with the stupid glass slipper, too. I bet she couldn’t run in her shoes either. That’s probably why she lost one on the stairs.”

Mark laughed as he bit into the hot dog. He swallowed, then faced me just as I took a bite and got ketchup all over my face. He picked up a napkin before I could move, wiping the red goo off my lips. He was powerful and the type of man who could handle anything. If knights in shining armor existed, Mark would be the one leading the pack. But I imagined the devil would look good and appear to be a knight if he wanted someone to fall for him, too. So I had to appear neutral on what I thought of Mark.

“What’s your background?” he asked.

I swallowed, popped back to reality, and took a drink. Would he even understand me? Only one way to find out. “I’m working on my master’s degree in Mathematics and Business Computing so I can get a real job.”

He didn’t seem to be fazed, which was interesting in itself. “How many more classes do you have to go?”

He was smarter than I thought, because most men would’ve been running out the door by this time in the conversation. “Just the one I have right now. I have a test tonight, one project to turn in, and I’ll have my master’s degree. I can’t wait, either.”

“What then?” he asked, definitely interested.

I couldn’t believe it. Men like Mark didn’t have brains…or did they? “As soon as I write my résumé, I’m out of Florida. Time to move on.”

His face looked sad and confused. “Before you leave, you should try Madcap.”

“No, because my classes aren’t in games programming. It’s much different.”

“What class are you taking right now?” He took a huge bite then stared at me with those adorable eyes.

“Data administration.”

Mark coughed, choking on his hot dog. Hopping to my feet, I ran to his side of the booth and patted him on the back. “Are you okay?”

He coughed some more, put up his hand, then took a drink and nodded. “I’m fine. It just went down the wrong way. Did you say data administration, as in management and modeling?”

How did someone like him even know what I was talking about? “That was the old title for the class. Why?” I returned to my seat.

“That’s a very difficult class, from what I hear.”

“How do you know that?”

He studied my face for a moment then leaned closer. “Why are you so defensive? Are you in trouble? It would all fit if you’ve been chased. What are you hiding? Is it something you want to tell someone, just in case, or do you want protected?”

I sat back. That was an odd statement from him, as if he knew more than he was saying. “No, I’m not in trouble. I just wondered how you knew about the class I have right now.”

“Oh.” He waved me off as if it were no big deal. “I know some people who’ve taken the same class. It’s with Dr. Urban, right?”

“Yes, it is. Do you know him?” Something didn’t seem right. How would he know people who’ve taken a class in data administration if he programmed games? Maybe there was more to games programming than I’d imagined?

His gaze met my face. “I don’t really know him, but have heard rumors that he’s tough. How’s the class going?”

I leaned closer, making sure no one would hear. “I have the highest grade in the class, but that’s a secret.”

“Why is that?”

“Dr. Urban and I have…history together. I’ve had him for many classes, and I usually give him notes on the side so he can actually teach the course.”

“You tell your own professor how to teach?” Mark sat back and studied me. “What other courses did you take from him?”

I shrugged, not wanting to tip my hand. “Oh, you know, different things. Why?”

“Just wondering.”

The bell over the door of the restaurant tinkled, making me turn around and stare to see who’d walked in. An Asian man entered the restaurant, watching me. I ignored the man and turned back toward Mark, because men gawked at me all the time from my blonde hair and blue eyes, or so they told me. I usually blew off any man who was that superficial.

Mark thrust his hand into his pocket, pulled out his cell phone, and pressed a number. “Join me.” He ended the call, picked up my hand, and kissed the back of it.

“What was that about?” I whispered.

“Protection,” he whispered back, leaning up closer to me. “You’re very pretty. I have a request.” Hearing concern in his voice and watching him frequently glance toward the door made me worried. Was the man in black in the building? I was scared to even look.

“Protection from what?” I probably sounded a bit hysterical, but considering Mark kept watching the door, I figured I was justified.

“Forget about it. Now about my request—”

I didn’t even remember what he’d asked me. “Forget the request.” Even though I tried to keep my voice down to a whisper, it was sounding more and more like a hiss. “What’s going on? You look like you’re staring at a ghost or something.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He looked up at the door and nodded. I tried to turn around, but he pulled my chin toward him and gave me a kiss…a knock-you-out, make-your-knees-weak kiss. As soon as he moved away, I fell back to my seat and closed my eyes, wondering how to recover. I couldn’t fall for this guy, because he might be the enemy—a well-rehearsed enemy.

“You okay?” I heard fingers snapping near my face.

I opened my eyes slowly. “I think I’m in your power. Now quit freaking me out and taking over here. I don’t know if I trust you yet, and don’t like being accosted with your lips.”

“Sure.”

I don’t think he even heard what I said.

He glanced back at the door again, nodded and grinned, then put his phone in his pocket. “Now about my request—”

“Uh-huh,” I said, watching him massage my hand. “Ask away—anything you want, because I don’t remember any request after a kiss like that.” Or even before a kiss like that.

“One kiss and you’re mine?”

“Appears so, even though it’s against my will and I’d rather not fall for any man right now.” I met his eyes. “Whatcha want?”

“Oh, we have to fix that kiss thing. Go out with me tonight—that’s my request.”

I shook my head, returning to the present. “Oh, I don’t know. I’m on the rebound and just don’t know right now. You could be the devil or something and I need to protect myself.”

“On the rebound, huh?”

“Uh-huh.” I guess he either was the devil and wanted me to fall for his advances, or ignored the comment about protection. Regardless, I crossed my arms, wondering about his hearing. He didn’t look that old to be deaf.

He stroked my hair and stared into my eyes with a grin. “Why would someone let a beautiful blonde-haired, blue-eyed princess like you get away?”

I smiled and backed away. “Some come-on line. Now are you going to explain everything to me?”

“Nope.” He leaned closer, making me look up at him. “I was being serious. You’re absolutely beautiful. Why are you on the rebound?”

“I got rid of some…dead weight. That’s why I was going to the beach today. I needed to be alone.”

“Who is this ‘dead weight’?”

“His name’s Connor. He’s a psychology professor at the University. It’s not that big of a deal, really, and it’ll make it easier to move away when I get my master’s degree.”

“Go out with me tonight to celebrate getting rid of Connor?” He almost begged me, but I couldn’t relent. I had to keep my distance.

“I don’t think I can date right now.” I leaned up closer to him. “Besides, how do I know you’re not a crazed psycho or something?”

He chuckled, appearing more than amused with me. “I’m not a crazed psycho.”

“Uh-huh.” I crossed my arms. “And I’m to believe you? You think I’m going to date you now?”

He sat back, letting out a huge breath. “Not a date, just a celebration. Please? We’ll be out in public, too, so you can trust me.”

His tone and beautiful eye contact got me. I should’ve walked out the door, but I was in his power and had no choice. No other woman would’ve argued with me that Mark Dallas was worth it—he was a perfect twenty out of ten, after all. Also, he knew the cops, which was a definite plus. But there was something there that seemed almost secretive about him.

I studied him for a moment, thinking it through. He’d be fun to play with, at least, until I figured out how bright he really was. I didn’t date beneath my intelligence level, not because I was a snob, but I didn’t want them labeling me as a nerd or something.

I nodded. “Fine. I’ll meet you somewhere, but I pay my way. I don’t want to owe anyone anything.”

“It’s my treat, and I insist.”

I leaned closer, challenging him with my narrowed eyes. “I’m not helpless.”

“I know that.” His voice was almost a whisper as he chuckled. “But I want to treat you right. Please?”

I was in big trouble, because the butterflies were doing double wing-flaps in my stomach. What was it about this guy? Was it the invisible dimples that only showed up when he grinned, or was it the compassion oozing out of him? It was hard to tell because I was a sucker for both of those things. I still couldn’t trust him. “We’ll see. What time and where?”

He checked his watch. “After your class at Luigi’s.”

“I’m done around six. I’ll meet you there, and it’s not a date.”

His smile and dimples were endearing but not as mesmerizing as his blue eyes. “Not a date. Got it. Just dinner and a celebration.”

I finished my hot dog and drink, then glanced at my watch. “I have to go back to work. Thank you for lunch.”

“Where is work?”

“Near here. I’m a bank teller.”

His face sported confusion. “You have your college degree and you’re a bank teller?”

“It pays the bills until I can get a real job. A 4.0 GPA in Mathematics for undergrad doesn’t exactly pull in the jobs.”

Mark smiled, making me wonder what was going through his mind. He was probably figuring out a way to get rid of me—and my brains. “Tonight at six at Luigi’s.”

I stood to leave, but Mark was at my side in an instant. “I had a thought,” he said. “Why don’t I walk you back to work?” He kept glancing out the door, then grabbed my arm.

“Why? It’s very close to here.”

“In case that man returns who was chasing you. I want to make sure you’re safe. That’s all.”

“You’re a true knight, but I bet your girlfriend won’t be too happy about that, though.”

He walked me outside into the sunshine. “No girlfriend, no wife. You’re in luck.” He began walking at a fast pace, checking behind us every so often.

I didn’t see anyone following us, but just played along. “So, are you from around here?”

“No, my family lives in the Washington D.C. area. Yours?”

D.C.—governmental. I had to be extra careful, just in case, after being warned against governmental types. But this guy was just a games programmer, so he couldn’t be governmental. I had to give him the benefit of the doubt. “I’m alone here. What brought you to Florida?”

“Oh, the job. You know, nothing earth-shattering.” We rounded the corner near the street to where I first saw the chaser, but the man in black was now gone, as well as the Asian men.

Mark took my hand and we waited until the light turned green, then walked across together. “Do you come down to the beach often?” he asked.

“Not really. You probably do, since you seem to know everyone in that hot dog shop.”

He smiled. “Not really, but people seem to know who I am.”

“Well, I don’t. Are you on the news or something?”

“No, not the news. I just like treating people well, and it seems to follow me no matter where I go.” He seemed cryptic, making me wonder what he was hiding.

We stood in front of the bank and he faced me. “Well, have a great afternoon at work.” He handed me his card. “If you have any problems, give me a call.”

I glanced at his simple white business card, containing his name, phone number, and the words ‘Madcap Programmer’ under it. “I will. Thanks for lunch and—”

He pulled me to him and studied my face. With one arm around my back, he stroked my hair and seemed to glance behind me.

“Is he back?” I whispered.

“No, I don’t think so. But I’m watching out for you. Want me to meet you after work to make sure you’re safe?”

“I’ll be fine. I’ll have the security guard walk me to my car.”

Mark moved closer, his lips touching mine gently at first, then turning passionate, while I kissed him back. Oh, he was hot and the things his kiss did to me—oh baby…I was in big trouble if he were the enemy.

Mark backed away with a grin, making his dimples appear just slightly. “If you need me, call, please?” He asked in such a warm tone, I had to remind myself we were out in public.

I felt my mouth drop and my cheeks heat up while feeling my breath hitch. “Sure.”

He left go and took a few steps away from me, then turned back suddenly. “Six. Luigi’s. Don’t forget.”

“Yes, sir.” Upon entering the bank, I told Benny, the elderly security guard what had happened, and went back to my teller’s window. What a weird lunch. The first thing I did was call the cops.

“Devon Police,” a surly man answered.

“My name is Amy Watson, and I’d like to know about someone named Mark Dallas. I just met him and I want to know what you’ve got on him.”

The man laughed for a long time before clearing his throat. “He’s one of the most well-respected citizens in Devon. He’s friends with everyone here at the station and in various surrounding police departments. Why?”

“Well, he was worried about someone in the restaurant and called for someone to join us, but they never did.”

The man’s voice turned from jovial to serious. “What restaurant was it?”

“Sal’s hotdogs, down at the beach. Why?”

“I’ll take care of it.” Click.

I stared at the dead phone, not sure what had just happened.

“That’s a phone, Miss Watson. Now get to work!” Spinning around, I saw my boss, Mr. Johnson’s, angry face.

“Yes, sir.” Unlocking my teller window, I got to work. My mind wasn’t on the job, but on the situation from the beach. Why would someone run after me? It made no sense.

Within fifteen minutes, a strange looking man wearing blue jeans and a white polo shirt walked into the bank. I was working with a customer, but the man in the white polo looked odd and out of place. Every since I’d had some things stolen from my apartment in the past, I always seemed to be looking over my shoulder for some reason.

“That’s two hundred dollars,” I said to Mr. Perkins. He was at least a hundred years old and couldn’t hear me anyway, but I counted it out in front of him.

“Thank you, Amy. I love coming in here just to see you.” He patted my hand and gave it a squeeze. Offering him a half-smile, I watched as he took his walker and headed past the man in the jeans and white polo who was leaning against the wall with crossed arms, staring at everyone—especially me.

I picked up my phone and dialed the number for the security guard. “Benny, who’s the guy at the wall wearing the white shirt and jeans?” Benny was old, maybe sixty, with coke bottle glasses and a hearing aid. He didn’t do much to make me feel safe, but he was better than nothing.

“Guy? Wall? Jeans?” He yelled over the phone so loudly, everyone in the place could hear him, and all turned to see him on his cell phone—even the man in jeans.

I turned my back to the door. “Benny, not so loudly! He’ll hear you.”

The door to the bank opened with a tinkle of the bell, but I ignored it. “Benny, I have to go, but keep an eye on things.”

“Sure!” he yelled. I didn’t need to listen over the phone, because I could hear him yelling the whole way across the room.

A rapping at my station had me spinning around while I hung up the phone. My mouth fell down as I stared in shock. “Mark? Dr. Urban?” Both men stood in front of me, and neither one looked very happy.

“We need to talk to you,” Mark said.

“You do?”

“Yes, we do,” Dr. Urban said. “I was pulled out of my class just to come to see you.” He opened a folder in his hand, took out a stapled set of papers, and laid it on the counter.

Studying the top page, I realized it was the final exam for my class. “What? But I’m taking this tonight. Why do you have it here, now? I have to work.”

“You’re done,” Mr. Johnson said, from behind me. “Take the rest of the day off, and you can use my desk to take the test.”

“Do you have your final project done?” Dr. Urban asked.

“Sure. It’s in my car. But what’s this all about?”

Mark leaned closer, looking almost grim. “Someone from the police department just called me. It seems that my lunch date wanted to know who I was, and I figured we needed to get to know each other better. So, I’ve made…arrangements for you to finish your test early, get out of work early, and go to dinner with me. Right now.”

“Dinner? At one o’clock in the afternoon? You can’t do that. I have to take the test tonight and finish my work.”

“Nope. All expenses paid vacation day,” Mr. Johnson said, still standing behind me. “Now go to my office, get the test done, and hand in your project. You’re done for the day.”

I glanced over at the man in jeans, then leaned closer to Mark and Dr. Urban, motioning for Mr. Johnson to join us. The four of us stood close in a huddle.

“Look. That man at the wall dressed in jeans has been standing there since I got back from lunch. I don’t trust him and can’t just walk away. What if he’s a bank robber?”

All three men turned toward the man in jeans. “What man?” Dr. Urban asked, facing me again. “Are you delusional, suffering from burnout from too many classes?”

I looked up. The man was gone. I looked a second time, but he was definitely not there. “Where did he go?”

Mark picked up the test and handed it to me. “Doesn’t matter. Take the test and let’s get going. I have a schedule.”

“A schedule?”

Dr. Urban checked his watch. “Me too. Hurry up.”

“I can get your project from the car,” Mark said, holding out his hand. “I need your keys.”

“I can get it.” I pulled my keys from my purse, under the teller’s window.

“No, you have a test to take.” Mark kept his hand outstretched for the keys. “Which car and where is it in the car?”

I put the keys in his hand, the warmth of the touch incredible as I tried to remember his questions. “The project’s on the passenger’s seat in a manila folder. My car’s the blue clunker across the street at the grocery store.”

Mark looked confused. Welcome to my world, buddy. “Why are you parked across the street?” he asked.

“Because her car’s an eyesore,” Mr. Johnson answered. “We have a reputation to uphold.”

“Oh, I see.” He nodded, but he didn’t look like he got it.

Wait until he saw my car. He’d really understand, then.

I took a deep breath, grabbed the test and a pencil from my station, then walked into Mr. Johnson’s office. As soon as he closed the door behind me, I could hear the three men laughing and whispering. Whatever floated their boats.

After answering everything on the very simple final exam in about twenty minutes, I walked out to see the three men sitting in the lobby, drinking sodas. They were all laughing, and I was sure it was about me. I grabbed my purse at my station on the way to join them.

“Oh, you’re done!” Mark said to me. “Just in time.”

“For what?”

“Oh, you’ll see.”

I handed the test to Dr. Urban, who graded it right in front of all of us, which was our arrangement. He put an A+ at the top, grinned, then stood up.

“It was a pleasure having you in my class,” he said, shaking my hand. “Now I have to go back to work.” He turned toward Mark. “I’m glad I could help.” He shook Mark’s and Mr. Johnson’s hands, then walked out of the bank. It was the oddest thing I’d ever witnessed. What did he help Mark with, anyway, other than harassing me early with a final exam?

“Good luck,” Mr. Johnson said, patting me on the back. He walked away.

“Ready to go?” Mark asked me.

“To dinner?”

“No. We have a few stops to make, first.” He took my hand and walked me toward the door. “You need a new car. I agree with your boss.”

“What kind of stops?”

He just grinned and walked outside with me toward a small red sports car.

“Is this your car?” I asked, pointing.

“Sure. Why?”

“They pay programmers well at Madcap.”

He chuckled, then bit his lips. “Sure do. Now I have a few places to take you. Are you game?”

“Where are you taking me?” For some reason I trusted this guy, which made me worried. I knew better.

“Just some fun places. I promise it’s very innocent.” He unlocked the passenger’s side door with the remote on his key chain, then opened the door for me. “Why are you so untrusting?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

I started to get into the car, but his hand on my arm stopped me. “I will worry about it.” He leaned closer. “What’s going on?”

He probably thought I was psycho, so I bit my lips and pasted a smile on my face. “Nothing. Now what did you want to show me?”

“It’s now a secret. Two can play that game.” He helped me into the bucket seat on the passenger’s side of the car, then walked around to his side. He got in, revved the motor, pulled out, and drove down the street.

“I’m not playing any games,” I said, crossing my arms. “Put yourself in my shoes for a minute. I’m chased by a man in black over lunch, run into you, literally, and when we’re eating lunch, you make a phone call to someone while watching the door. And to top it all off, you pull some sort of strings that get me out of work and make me take my test a few hours early while a potential bank robber is watching me. What would you think?”

“I guess I’d be a little leery, too.”

“So where are we going?” We passed by some businesses on the streets, then I turned back to him when he didn’t answer me. “Well?”

He glanced in the rearview mirror. “Just sit back and relax. We’re going to have fun today.”

“Great.” I just hoped it wasn’t psycho fun.

~~~~~

Chapter 2

Something wasn’t right. Opening my eyes, I saw sunshine, then slammed them shut from the pain caused by the bright light. Reopening them just a bit, I looked around the room. I was in a bed but didn’t recognize any of my surroundings. Knowing I wasn’t supposed to be here, I hoped I was still on the west coast of Florida.

It suddenly hit me. This was probably Mark’s house. What was I doing in his bed? I hardly knew the guy.

The shower turned off and I spun toward the noise. My head hurt and I really needed to go home. Pushing myself up was tough, and I fell back to the bed. This was harder than I thought. I shouldn’t have gone to meet some of his programmer friends at Madcap the day before, shouldn’t have traveled up the coast to see the beaches, and certainly shouldn’t have had dinner and shared a bottle of wine with the man. I had to get out of this place.

Just as I forced myself up to a sitting position and put my foot on the floor, Mark walked into the room. When I turned toward him, I fell off the bed with my face landing in the thick, soft carpet.

Mark lifted me and put me back in the bed. “How do you feel?”

I closed my eyes. “I think I want to die. What time is it?”

“Ten.”

“Ten? In the morning? I have to get to work! I’m late.” Even though I tried to sit up, he pushed me back on the bed, hovering over me as he sat down beside me. Now I knew why I was here. He was a nice guy and protected me from the thug following me at the beach the day before, and even bought me lunch and dinner...I think. The whole day was kind of a haze in my mind.

“You called in sick today,” he said.

“I did? I don’t remember that.” Oh man. That was some wine.

“I did it for you.”

“The bank manager isn’t going to like that. The nasty one’s on duty today.”

He stroked my hair. “I think you’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.”

I held my head and ears. “Can you do me a favor?”

“Sure.”

“Can you quit yelling? You’ve been so nice to me and I hate to ask you, but my head is killing me.”

Mark tried not to laugh as he moved off the bed and knelt in front of me. “Is this better?” he whispered.

“It’s still loud,” I whispered back. “But I bet that’s as quiet as you can get, huh?”

“Yeah. Is the room still spinning like it was a few hours ago?”

“Not really, but don’t tempt it. It might start. Rooms are tricky things and you never know.”

Mark stroked my hair while chuckling.

“Did I say anything I’d regret last night?” I asked. “Wait, don’t answer that, because I really don’t want to know, do I?”

“Are you talking about before or after you pulled me onto the bed?” he whispered.

“You’re kidding!” Holding my head, I tried to lessen the pain from the noise I made with my voice. I really hoped I didn’t do anything I’d regret, because I hardly knew the guy.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I will worry about it. You probably hate me and want me to leave right now. I can’t blame you.” I tried to get out of bed, but he stood and pushed me back to the pillow, then leaned over and kissed my cheek.

“I’d rather be nowhere else but right here with you. I really enjoyed our date.”

“Date? I thought we were going out for a celebration after you showed me your job and we went up the coast?”

“Well, after you hugged me, I figured—”

“I hugged you? I don’t really remember much of any of that.”

“You hugged me in the restaurant, then saluted me. Don’t you remember that?”

“Not really. What else did I do?” I could only imagine.

His smile was adorable. “I’ll tell you some time. Would you like something to eat?”

“I don’t think so. I really need to get home.” As I looked downward, panic filled my thoughts. “What happened to my clothes?” I was wearing someone else’s tee shirt and sweatpants and they definitely weren’t the skirt and blouse I’d worn the day before.

“You kind of vomited on your clothes, so I helped you out.”

My face paled while staring at him, imagining the worst. I yanked out the front of the tee shirt and stared down my top. “What happened to my bra?” My hands flew to my ears and I winced from the sound of my own voice.

Mark shot me a sheepish grin. “You kind of tore it off and swung it around the room,” he whispered.

I kept my hands on my ears. “I what?”

“Don’t worry about it. I laughed, because it was funny.”

“Not funny. You must think I’m a floozy or something!” I had to run away from this adorable man and never show my face in public again. Considering he knew the cops, I was doomed.

He grinned and held my hand, then leaned down and gave me a gentle, probing kiss. Backing away, he stroked my cheek. “You’re not a floozy, but you’re fun when you’re drunk.”

I touched my lips from the heat, trying to remember anything. “Did I…”

“Kiss me?” he asked.

I nodded. “Or anything else?”

“Before or after you tried to undress me?”

My hand flew up, covering my eyes. “I’m not like that. I’m a good girl.”

“Nothing happened, but I did enjoy it.”

I had to face him and I knew it. Removing my hand from my eyes, I returned my gaze to his beautiful smile. “I just bet you enjoyed it. I need to go home to get my own clothes and a shower. I’m too embarrassed right now.”

He nodded down to my chest. “You can stay here in that if you want. I don’t mind. There’s no reason to be embarrassed.” He glanced at my outfit. “You’re really cute in my clothes.”

“Oh, very funny.”

“I was being serious. But I’ll take you home if you want, on one condition.”

I faced him with one eye shut while holding my head from the pain. “What’s that?”

“I get to stay with you. I don’t want you being alone like this.”

“You really don’t have to.”

“But I want to. Since you were being followed at the beach yesterday, I want to make sure you’re safe.” His smile and dimples were just getting annoying. “You’re also a lot of fun, especially when you’re drunk.”

“Don’t remind me,” I whispered. “My head really hurts. What’s good for a hangover?”

“I have something ready for you, whenever you’re ready to take it. I found the best cure on the Internet.”

“Bring it on.”

He left the room with a chuckle. After returning with a big glass of something reddish orange, he handed me the drink and some aspirin.

“Bottom’s up.” After sitting up and popping the aspirin, I downed the huge drink with a gulp and a smile, then wiped my lips with my arm. “Oh, that was fun. Have any more?”

“No, but I have ice for your head.”

“Really? Think that’ll work?”

“I know it will.” He left the room with my empty glass and returned with a bag of ice, plopping it onto my head.

“That’s really cold,” I said with my eyes closed.

“I think that’s part of the definition of ice.”

I put my head in my hands. “Can I go home now?”

“Sure. Need help getting out of bed?”

“I’m fine.” I put my foot down on the floor and held onto the ice. As soon as I stood up, my knees buckled and I started to fall, but not before Mark caught me.

“Yep. Thought so.” He lifted me up and carried me out into the hallway while I held the ice on my head.

“You really don’t have to carry me.”

He carried me down the stairs while I watched his face. “Yes, I do,” he said. “I’m the one who made you drink the wine.”

“So this is a guilt release? Take care of me and you won’t feel guilty?”

He began to laugh, almost dropping me. “No.” He took me out the garage door then put me into the passenger’s side of the car, buckling my seat belt. “When a woman tells me she loves me and wants to have my children on the first date, then begins to even name the children—”

“I what?” I held my head and closed my eyes. Everything hurt.

He laughed as he closed my door with a loud bang and walked around the car to the driver’s seat. After he got inside, he reached over and touched my arm. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to cause you pain.”

“Can you close the car door quietly?”

He yanked it shut—but it was still loud—then opened the garage door with a remote, the sound of the gears grinding in my ears.

“I’m so sorry for saying I wanted to have your children,” I said. “Are you sure it was me?”

“Absolutely sure, and I liked some of the names you picked out, too.” He chuckled, then started the car and backed out of the garage, lowering the garage door. “I find it interesting that you didn’t apologize for telling me you love me. Does that mean you love me?”

“I hardly know you,” I whispered. “Don’t confuse me with the facts.”

Mark tried not to laugh, but it wasn’t working. “Do you think you can drive now?” he asked me.

“I have no idea.” The sun was killing me, but I forced my eyes open, making them water from the bright light.

He glanced over at me then looked back at the road. “I was going to get your car, but I don’t think that’s a good idea. Where do you live?”

I directed him to my apartment and he parked in the front. He helped me out of the car then grabbed my purse. “Are your keys in here?”

“Yes.” I pulled them from inside my purse, fiddled with them for a minute, then held one key in my hand. He took them from me with a smile, then carried me to the door, because I was wearing no shoes, while I held the bag of ice on my head.

After Mark put me down at the front door, he unlocked it then helped me up the old stairs to my apartment on the third floor. He unlocked my door with a second key while I checked the hallway all around us.

“Looking for someone?” he asked.

“Just checking.” It was routine for me to look for bad people, but he’d never understand. No normal person would.

We entered the tiny apartment and I locked the door behind him, flipping the deadbolt as well. The apartment had an open floor plan with a small living room beside a kitchenette with a center island and space for a table beside that. The bedroom was down a hallway off the living room, across the hall from a small bathroom.

“Are you scared in here?” he asked, watching me.

“No, not at all.” I threw my purse on the island and the ice in the kitchen sink, then picked up a baseball bat leaning by the front door. Lifting the bat, I slung it onto my right shoulder, then went into the bedroom and bathroom, flipping on lights as I went. As soon as I entered the living room again, I put the bat back by the door.

Mark shook his head, his eyebrows furrowed. “Are you sure you’re not scared?”

“No, why do you ask?”

He pointed to my weapon of choice. “The baseball bat, maybe?”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m going to take a shower, if that’s okay with you.”

“No problem.” Mark looked around the apartment. “You don’t have much furniture, do you?”

“I have what I need, and that’s enough.”

“But you have two folding chairs, a TV on plastic boxes, and what else?”

“I have a bed. It’s enough.” I hated people looking down on me. They didn’t get it.

“You don’t have a table in this place? No couch, no dresser?”

He must not have been a minimalist. “Don’t need them.”

“Or is it that you can’t afford them?” he said. “You know, Madcap would love to talk to you with that background of yours. Those people yesterday enjoyed our conversation about their programming, because you understood what they did and even had more ideas for them they hadn’t considered.”

I faced him, ignoring his attempt at pleasantries. “How do you know about my background and what I can afford?”

He looked like a deer caught in headlights. “You told me last night when you were drunk. You said you’d taken a course in cryptology and I told you to put your name in with Madcap. You said—”

“Madcap just programs games! I’m not a games programmer. I told them that yesterday, too.”

He grinned. “So you remember the conversation.”

“Not really, but it’s the truth. My master’s degree will be in Mathematics and Business Computing, not games programming. Why would the best gaming company want to talk to me, anyway?”

“You’re smart? You had some great ideas for them yesterday, and when we drove up the coast, you gave me some more fantastic innovations that’ll keep my bosses happy for years.”

He was making a mountain out of a molehill. “I’m not what Madcap wants and you know it.”

With his hand on my arm, he stopped me from going to take a shower. “I really want you to put your résumé in with Madcap, please? You’d be able to live in a more secure place and actually have furniture.”

“I do have furniture.” I waved my hand toward a folding chair. “Make yourself at home.” Walking toward the bedroom, I ignored his comment, grabbed some clothes from my closet then went into the bathroom. After I undressed and warmed up the water for the shower, I stepped inside and let the trickle pour over my head. I had the worst headache, but at least it was starting to feel better. Mark’s cure might just work.

I poured shampoo on my hair and worked it into the long strands, wondering about his company. Granted, the programmers were nice enough, but they certainly wouldn’t want me with my background.

Suddenly, the door to the bathroom creaked open.

“Amy?”

I kept my voice calm. “What are you doing in here?”

“I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

I closed my eyes and let the water pour over my hair. “I’m fine, thanks.”

“Can I help you?”

“No, you don’t need to see me naked.” What was he thinking?

“I already saw that after you stripped and danced naked for me last night.”

“I…what?” I covered myself and could only think the worst.

“Don’t worry about it. Nothing happened. Are you sure you don’t need help?”

“No thanks. I’ll be out in a few minutes. Just wait for me in the living room.”

“I can’t. I’m worried that you might fall over.”

“I’ll be fine, I promise.” Facing forward, I leaned against the wall of the shower with my eyes shut. I didn’t feel very well. Never again would I drink a drop of alcohol.

“You don’t look fine to me.” The voice came from behind me inside the shower. I jumped, turning my head to see him.

“I’m fine,” I answered, covering myself with my arms. “I’ll be out in a minute, and I promise.”

“Nice body, by the way.” He chuckled, closed the shower curtain and left me alone.

“Thanks, I guess.”

I heard him walk out of the bathroom, then took a deep breath and finished my shower. He was either a psycho or he really cared about me. Considering I was still alive after whatever happened the night before, I was leaning toward the latter.

I turned off the shower, grabbed a towel, then dried my hair inside the shower, squeezing out the water from the ends. Mark kept going through my thoughts. What really happened the night before? Bits and pieces came back to me, the more I thought about it. We’d spent time together at Madcap, then took a trip up and down the coast, hunting for seashells and walking on different beaches. After spending a wonderful afternoon, we walked into the restaurant and sat down at a table filled with red roses. He poured us some wine, and that was all I remembered until I woke up.

I dried myself off and inched back the shower curtain, checking to make sure I was alone. The door to the bathroom was shut, so I opened the curtain farther, stepped out and got dressed. After I combed my hair, I brushed my teeth, then applied some makeup over my pasty, hangover-looking skin. Alcohol was not my friend and I decided that was my new mantra.

The phone rang as I applied some makeup. “Can you get that?” I yelled into the living room.

“Sure.”

I heard a ‘hello’, then ‘yes, this is her apartment’. I didn’t hear much more, because I decided to dry my hair, since it was dripping. Whoever it was could wait, because the only people who ever called me were my brothers, telemarketers and…Connor. Uh-oh.

I flipped off the hair dryer and ran into the kitchen, where Mark was in a heated discussion on the phone.

“No, she’s with me today.”

Uh-oh, just as I thought—Connor. I held out my hand for the phone while Mark smiled and shook his head.

“Sorry, buddy, it’s over and you lost.” He hung up the phone and grinned.

“Connor?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

He nodded, his hands flying to his waist. “How long has he been playing psychological games with you, anyway?”

“Two years, and I’m not sure if they’re psychological games either.”

“Oh, yes they are. He even has you doubting his technique. I’m really glad he’s gone and you were at the beach yesterday.”

“Yeah?” I asked with a grin. “I vaguely remember that. Hot dogs, right?”

“Yep. You’re better off without that psycho. He was even trying to get into my head.”

“He’ll be here soon. He lives about a mile away, and I don’t keep that bat at the door just for security purposes.”

“I say we leave right now.”

“But I was going to eat breakfast.” I pulled a bowl out of the cabinet, then opened a drawer for a spoon.

“You don’t have anything to eat in the fridge anyway.” He put the bowl away then grabbed my hand. “Come on, let’s go.”

“But—”

“No buts,” he said. “I’m paying.”

I stopped him before he opened the door. “You think of me as a charity case, don’t you?”

“No. I think of you as very strong, very bright, and independent.” He looked around the living room. “Anyone who has the tenacity to stay here by themselves is a force to be reckoned with.”

I put Mark’s clothes that I’d been wearing into a bag and we left the apartment. Just as Mark opened the passenger’s car door for me, an older four-door lime green car pulled into the parking lot.

“Who’s that?” Mark asked.

“Connor. Let’s get out of here.” I hopped into my seat.

Before Mark could run around to his side, Connor—a small wiry man with thick glasses and a black beard—got out of his car and stormed over toward us. I looked at Connor—Mr. Negative Seventeen—then at Mark—a definite twenty, who was muscular and much cuter than Connor could ever be. What was I ever thinking when I went out with the psycho idiot? Even Mark’s red sports car was a lot cooler than Connor’s lime green clunker.

“Who are you?” Connor yelled.

“I’m a friend of hers,” Mark said. “And she’s with me today. You’re out of luck.”

Connor ran to Mark with his arm swinging toward Mark’s face. Mark ducked, grabbed Connor’s arm and twisted it behind him, slamming his head down onto the hood of the red sports car.

“I don’t think you want to do that,” Mark said, getting closer to Connor’s face.

Just as I’d opened the door and gotten out of the car to protect Mark, a van pulled up and four huge men hopped out, approaching Mark and Connor.

“Is there a problem here, sir?” the biggest of the men asked.

I couldn’t believe my ears. “Sir?” I looked at Mark with my mouth opened then stared at all of the men. They had muscles upon muscles and appeared to be military in their mannerisms. They were dressed in black pants and black polo shirts that had a logo of a hat on the shirt, with the name ‘Madcap’ under the logo. I recognized one of them as the man in black who was following me at the beach the day before, and another as the man in the bank with the white shirts and jeans. Taking a step backward, I just watched them, more out of curiosity than fear. This was weirder than I’d ever imagined. Why would Madcap men follow me on a walk to the beach and stand in our lobby at the bank?

“I’d like this man arrested for attempted assault,” Mark said, nodding toward Connor. “Tell Larry to keep him for a while, because I don’t want to be bothered today.”

“Right, sir,” the beach stalker said. He took Connor’s arm and led him to the van.

Mark straightened up, smiled as he held the car door while I got in, then walked around to the driver’s side. As soon as he sat in his seat, he stared at my mouth, hanging open so far, I was sure bugs were burrowing into my gums.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

“What was that? Who were they?” I pointed toward the black van. “That one guy was the one following me yesterday at the beach and another guy was the man at the bank who I was sure was a bank robber.” I leaned in closer. “What’s going on and I want a real answer.”

“All in due time.” He leaned over and kissed my cheek. “You’re adorable, by the way.”

My hand flew to the hot spot on my cheek where he kissed me. “I don’t like that answer and kisses aren’t going to do it, buddy. Who are they and who are you? You are friends with a chaser. You lied to me!”

“No, I’m Mark Dallas, games programmer for Madcap.” He sighed. “We went over this yesterday and last night. Don’t you remember?”

“I remember that part, silly. That’s not what I’m referring to. All I remember after our little innocent field trip was arriving at the restaurant last night and seeing the roses on the table. Then you handed me a glass of wine and that was it. I’m talking about—”

He just laughed, then leaned in for a kiss, which was very hot. He was hot, and intrigued me. I knew I should’ve gotten out of the car and walked out of the relationship that I was barely involved in, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. I was suddenly very attracted to him, and, at the same time, wanted to hit him for it. What game was he playing, and what type of person had bodyguards? But most of all, why were they following me?

“Who’s Larry?” I asked, moving from his lips.

He backed away from my face then pulled out of the parking lot. “The Chief of Police of Devon.”

Surely this wasn’t reality. “You know him by first name?”

“Doesn’t everyone?”

“No. That’s not normal.” I looked behind us to see if we were being followed, but saw no one, so I turned back around. “Do the Madcap thugs follow all programmers around?”

“Only the really extra-special important ones,” he said with a wink and a grin.

“Oh, so you’re extra-special and important to Madcap?”

He shrugged, with major nonchalance covering his face. “You could say that.”

“I’d love to hear more.” I crossed my arms, not buying whatever he was dishing out.

“In due time. First, I really want you to send your résumé to Madcap.”

“You keep telling me that, but…” I lowered my eyes with a sigh. “I don’t have a résumé.”

“Why not?”

I looked out the window. “I was saving up for a computer and a printer so I could write one. It’ll take me some time.”

“Well, you’re going to write one today, then. We’ll go to my place and get it done. I’m really good with résumés.”

I tilted my head in his direction. “You are? Why is that?”

“No reason.”

He pulled into the parking lot of a nice restaurant and turned off the car.

I opened my door, but he stopped me. “No, I want to help you get out,” he said. “I don’t want you falling over or something.”

Silly man. He thought of me as helpless. I was far from helpless. “I don’t think I’ll fall over.”

“After seeing you leaning against the wall in that shower, it can happen. Just wait for me.”

“Fine.” I hated the thought of someone taking care of me, especially someone as good-looking as Mark.

As soon as he got out of the car, I opened my door and stepped out, holding onto the car for support. I was lightheaded, but didn’t want Mr. Model to know it.

He ran to my side and held onto my waist as I bent over so I could function. I closed my eyes for a moment, then tried to act as if nothing had happened.

He leaned closer to my ear. “See?”

“See what?”

Slamming the car door shut, he put his arm around my waist, so I returned the favor just to stay upright. My head was a mess.

“You almost passed out.” He helped me walk toward the diner door.

“Did not. Now I want to know all about you and I don’t want you to hold anything back.”

“You know enough,” Mark said, holding the door to the restaurant open for me.

“You don’t have to hold the door for me,” I murmured as I went through. “No one’s ever done that for me.”

“I think I do need to do that for you,” he said. “You deserve to be treated well, and I mean it.”

I studied his face. Who was this man and why was he so kind to me? There seemed to be more than what met the eye to what Mark knew. What had I told him the night before?

We walked into the restaurant and up to the host. The man raked his eyes down over me and whistled. “You’re adorable. You taken?”

“Yes,” Mark said, before I could say a word. “If you don’t stop what you’re doing, you’ll be unemployed.”

“You think you’re all that?” the man asked.

“Yep.” Mark tightened his arm on my waist.

Reaching up, he snapped his fingers and a man came running. “Is there a problem here?”

“Yes,” Mark said. “Your host is flirting and isn’t a very nice man. I want an apology for both my date and for me.”

“Yes, Mr. Dallas.” The older man turned to the host. “Apologize or you’re gone.”

He put his hand on his waist. “Why?”

“Do you know who this is?” the older man whispered.

As the host shook his head, the older man leaned toward his ear, covered his mouth, and said something to the host.

The host’s face lost its color as he faced Mark and me. “I’m so sorry. Please accept my apology. If there’s anything I can do to make it up to you, let me know.”

“It’s fine,” Mark said. “We want to be seated out of the way, please.”

“Certainly.” The man grabbed two menus and we followed him. “I’m truly sorry. If I’d known you were someone of your caliber, I’d have greeted you differently.”

“Why?” I asked the man.

He turned toward me. “Don’t you know?”

“No, because someone won’t tell me much of anything.” I shot Mark a dirty look, making him chuckle.

The man glanced toward Mark, then smiled. “And I won’t, either.” He took us to a booth in the back. “Enjoy your meal.”

We both sat down on adjacent sides of the table, the corner of the table separating us. The waiter came to our table, kneeling beside me and away from Mark. “I’m your waiter and my name’s Kevin. Would you like anything to drink? And I mean anything.” He pulled his card from his pocket and wrote something on the back. “My number’s on there, too, if you think of anything after you leave here.”

It was the most glaring and obnoxious flirtation behavior I’d ever seen.

“Sweetheart,” Mark said, moving close to my face. “Want anything to drink?”

“Sure. I’ll just have wa—”

“The buffet and a cup of coffee,” Mark said. He looked over at Kevin, who moved his hand to my knee. I pried it off me and moved my chair closer to Mark.

“Make that two,” Mark said.

I grabbed Mark’s arm. “But…”

Mark glanced at me and smiled, then turned to the waiter. “Make it tea for her and coffee for me with the buffets. You’re right, honey. We have to think of the baby.”

“Baby?” I mouthed, my face turned away from the waiter.

Mark nodded and smiled, glaring at me.

Kevin stood up. “Oh, I see. Yes, I’ll get you those things.” He held out his hand. “Can I have my card back, please?”

I almost laughed, but handed the card back to the guy. What a loser.

“Thank you.” Kevin walked away and my head hit the table with a thud.

“Good morning sickness fake out,” Mark whispered into my ear.

I lifted my head and faced him. “Psycho. I can’t believe you said that!”

“I couldn’t believe that guy’s come on lines, with me right here. You’d think the manager would have warned him about who I am.”

“His hand was on my knee, but it’s okay. He’s gone now. Who are you to get that type of attention, anyway?”

“No one you need to worry about. I’m more upset about Kevin. What a scummy man.”

“Jealous?”

“You bet.” He took my arm and helped me to my feet. “How do you feel?”

“Like hurling. How did you know I don’t like coffee?” I asked while we walked to the buffet.

“From last night. You told me.”

I sighed and put my hand on my hip. “How did that conversation even come up?”

“I tried to get you to drink coffee in the restaurant.”

None of it made sense to me. “And why were you trying to get me to drink coffee?”

He leaned closer to me and handed me a plate, then took one for himself as we walked down the buffet line. “You were drunk, remember?”

As we put things on our plates, I just stared at him. “You thought coffee would work?”

“Yep.”

Just as we both returned to the table and sat down, two beautiful blonde women entered the restaurant. As they got closer to our table, they both smiled at Mark.

“Hello, Mr. Dallas,” one of them said.

“Hello.” Mark nodded, then turned back to me.

“Hi, Mark,” the other one said, then reached down and touched his hand. He gave her a dirty look, pulled his hand away, then turned back and faced me with a grin.

“Who are they?” I asked, watching them saunter away in their high heels and short skirts.

“They work…with me.”

“They work at Madcap?” I whispered. “They’re not programmers are they? I didn’t meet all the programmers, did I?”

“Oh, no. They’re definitely not programmers. Now, tell me about your school work.”

I couldn’t just let that pass. “Wait just a minute here. Two beautiful women flirt with you and you want to talk to me about my boring schoolwork?”

“Yes, actually, I do.”

“But they’re beautiful and obviously have a thing for you. I completely understand if you’d rather be with them. I can call a taxi.” I pulled out my wallet and opened it up, but to my surprise, it was completely empty. “What happened to all my money?”

“It’s in the front of your purse.”

I furrowed my eyebrows and glared at him. “How do you know that? Were you going to rob me?”

Mark laughed then lifted his coffee cup and took a sip. “No. You left about a hundred-dollar tip for the waiter last night, but I took it off the table and put it back in your purse. I’d tipped the guy already.”

“I what? That’s all the money I had for—” I shut my mouth. Mark didn’t need to know any of that.

“For what?”

“Nothing.” I took a bite of waffle and turned the other way. Never again, I kept telling myself. Alcohol wasn’t good for me and wasn’t my friend.

I felt Mark’s fingers under my chin, then he moved my face in front of his. “What was that money for?”

I lowered my eyes. “Food and gas for the rest of the month.”

“But it’s the second of May! You’re going to eat and fill your gas tank on a hundred dollars for the rest of the month?”

I smiled, looking at his face. “Sure. That’s a lot, actually.”

Mark shook his head. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Go ahead.” I ate some of the waffle and wiped my mouth on my napkin.

“How much money do you make a year?”

I sighed. “In a good year—”

“In a good year? You don’t make the same amount every year?”

“No, I’m hourly. I make minimum wage.”

“What? That’s less than twenty grand a year?”

Twenty grand. I wished. “Well, usually less than that, because I don’t always get full-time hours.”

He leaned up closer to me. “Starting salary for kids just out of college at Madcap is over fifty grand, and all extra schooling is paid for. That’s a salary too, so if they need to take time off for school, they aren’t docked any pay.”

My mouth fell open as I stared at him. “No…they wouldn’t hire me. I don’t have gaming experience. My background is in cryptology and other things.”

He smiled. “I know for a fact they’d hire you in a heartbeat. What kind of cryptology background do you have?”

“Well, I wrote my thesis early, discussing the latest techniques and some upgrades.”

“Upgrades?”

“Yeah, but that’s boring. So what’s your background in?”

“What kind of upgrades?” he asked again.

I sighed. No one in their right mind would be interested in any of this. “I’ve been sworn to secrecy for details. I wrote it all in a book and it comes out next year through a private backer. That’s all I’m allowed to say.”

“Has this ‘private backer’ approached you to work for them?”

I glanced around the room. “No, and I probably shouldn’t be talking about this.”

“I wonder why they haven’t approached you.”

I lowered my eyes. “I don’t think they can find me, actually, which is a good thing.”

“Why can’t they find you?”

I faced him again. “No reason. So what’s your background in?”

He paused as he stared at me, trying to get into my head, but it wasn’t working. “I have a bachelor’s in computers and an MBA. Why can’t they find you?”

“Because I choose to remain hidden. That’s all you need to know.”

“I see.” He looked down at my plate. “Do you want more to eat?”

“No. And I’m paying for this. I don’t like owing anyone anything.”

“No.” He got Kevin’s attention and handed him his credit card.

I pulled out my wallet. “You can’t afford this. You’re going to have a huge bill by the end of the month and I’m going to feel really guilty.”

Mark just showed off his dimples with a smile, pushed my wallet back into my purse, and took my hand. “Don’t worry about it.”

Kevin returned with the receipt, and Mark filled it out with the tip. As we stood to leave, Kevin stopped me and whispered into my ear. “If you ever need to get away from him, give me a call.”

He pressed the same business card into my hand, but I handed it back to him. “Sorry, but he’s the father and won’t let me leave him.”

“Oh, I see. Come back to see me sometime.”

Mark pulled me to his side as the man walked away. “Having fun?”

“Oh yeah. You’re quite a tyrant and won’t let me leave you because of the baby.”

“Very funny.” We left the restaurant while the two women called Mark’s name and blew him kisses.

“Would you rather be with them?” I asked, pointing over my shoulder. “I can get a cab…or go home with Kevin.”

“No. They have no brains. What you see is what you get with them. As a matter of fact, I’m going to have a chat with their bosses on Monday and teach them proper etiquette out in the real world.”

“You can’t do that…can you?”

He clenched his teeth and narrowed his eyes as he faced me. “Watch me.”

I got into the sports car with Mark’s help and watched him get into his seat. He was one amazing man.

“So, you like brains?” I asked, just making small talk.

“Absolutely. And you’re the brightest person I’ve ever met—and the prettiest.” He winked, then pulled out of the parking lot, heading down the street. “Considering Kevin thinks you’re carrying my child, I think I’ll keep you.”

“Do I have a say in the matter?”

He shrugged his right shoulder. “If you want to. Do you ever see yourself married with kids?”

I looked out the side window and watched the palm trees breeze by. “I have no idea. Right now, I’m concentrating on getting out of school and what happens after that.”

“After you get a job, do you see marriage and kids in your future?” He was being very nosey.

“I guess so.” I looked over at him. “How about you? Why aren’t you married?”

“Well, that’s a tough answer. I guess I’m married to my work, but that’s about to change.”

He stared at me with a strange grin, forcing my eyebrows up in terror. “What’s that mean?”

“Oh, nothing.” From the smirk on his face, he had something up his sleeve, for sure.

“What are your plans here?” I asked, crossing my arms. “What am I to you?”

“Let’s see.” He flashed me his adorable smile. “Besides carrying my baby, after last night, I got the distinct impression you wanted to date me in the worst way, so I think I’m going to be dating you.”

“Why did you get that impression?”

“From some of your comments. You really like my eyes and body and told me what you’d like to do to me.”

I stared at him with my mouth agape. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope. I’d love to show you what you told me, but…” He rubbed the back of his neck.

“But what?”

“You also told me about your past.”

“My past?” Oh great. I could only imagine. “What did I tell you?”

“You’ve only dated Connor and as much as he wanted to take your relationship…um…to the next level, you didn’t let him.”

“Oh no! I told you—”

“And I promise I won’t be the one to take that innocence away from you, unless you ask me or the relationship changes.”

“So you’re kicking me out the door without even going out with me?” What kind of guy was he?

He chuckled, the scum. “No. We spent most of the day together yesterday and we’re spending time together today. I’m not kicking you out the door, but you can kick Connor out of the state if you want.”

“Oh, I intend to do that. You’re much nicer and cuter—” I covered my mouth. “Sorry about that.”

“You can tell me that any time.” He parked in his garage and turned to me as the garage door went down. “You’re adorable yourself.” He pulled my chin toward him with the side of his finger and kissed me lightly on the lips. Oh, he was hot, and the feeling of near-seduction hit me like a lead balloon, even though it was just a kiss. Everything ached for him, and my stomach was suddenly home to an entire flock of butterflies, if there was such a thing.

I felt him leave my lips and slowly opened my eyes. “Do that again?” I begged.

Mark laughed and kissed me again, but with more power. I was definitely under his spell. If he were the enemy, I was in big trouble.

~~~~~

Chapter 3

“You’re amazing,” I said, looking at my newly written résumé later that afternoon. “I could never have done this. What kind of training do you have to make me shine like this?”

Mark sat back in front of the computer and smiled. “Years of experience, and you, my dear, don’t need a résumé to shine. You shine all by yourself.”

“Me? I don’t think so.” I studied the beautiful piece of paper in my hands. “Are you sure Madcap will want to see this? I feel so inadequate compared to that company.”

Mark chuckled then pulled me to his lap. “I can guarantee they’ll make you an offer. Now, would you like to make dinner with me?”

I laid the beautiful piece of parchment on the desk and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Do you trust me?”

“Yep.” His lips were gentle on mine as he stared at me. “Steak on the grill?”

I frowned. “I don’t do grills. No experience there.”

“No?”

I shook my head. “What else do you want to eat?”

He helped me off his lap and stood up. “Let me surprise you.” He took me by the shoulders from behind. “You go in the living room and find something to watch on TV and I’ll make dinner.”

I shrugged, figuring this was a good test for the guy. If he couldn’t cook, he was out the door. “Sure. Whatever you want.” Having a slave wasn’t that bad an idea, either.

I walked into the living room and flipped around the dial, eventually stopping on the local news.

“So, tell me the latest on the people in the Devon jail?” a female reporter asked the man sitting beside her. The bimbo acted like it was a fun story, making me disgusted.

“Well, we’ve heard they’re from mainland China and the police are looking into the possibility that they’re terrorists. They were heavily armed, but since they only spoke Chinese, they’re waiting for an interpreter and a federal official.”

The footage of two Chinese men flashed on the screen and my heart suddenly stopped beating. “Mark! That’s one of the guys down at the beach!”

“Who is?” Mark asked, walking into the living room.

I pointed to the television set. “That guy! That Chinese guy! They said these guys were heavily armed too!” I turned toward him. “I was near a heavily armed man?”

He picked up the remote and turned the television off. “I wouldn’t worry about it. Ready for dinner?”

“But you just started making it!”

“Yep. It’s about done.” He took my hand and walked into the kitchen with me. The huge dark wooden table was set with fine china and a centerpiece of red roses.

“Where did you get the flowers?”

“Outside,” he said, pointing. I walked over to the sliding glass door and saw huge flowerbeds containing roses of every color, manicured with decorative mulch and stones around each stalk.

“Gorgeous,” I whispered.

“Yes, you are,” he answered, walking past me with a plate. He slid the doors opened, walked outside and returned with two giant steaks, right off the grill, putting them on the table.

“You think I’m gorgeous?” I couldn’t let that one slide.

“Yep. Ready to eat?”

“But…”

He walked right up to me and put his face in front of mine. “Are you ready to eat?”

I swallowed hard, just from the presence of this man. “I guess so. Are we eating in front of the television?”

He stepped away with a chuckle. “I was going to eat where the plates are, but if you want to go in there, that’s fine.”

“No, the table’s fine, but I’m just not used to having one. I was curious about the Chinese guy we saw. I can’t believe I was that close to a terrorist.”

He grabbed some baked potatoes from the microwave and brought the plate to the table, then pulled a salad and dressing from the refrigerator. “Why don’t you have a table?”

“It’s too hard to move.”

We both sat down and he began to eat his baked potato. “Care to explain?”

“No.” I ate a bite of the meat. “You make a great steak.”

Mark took a drink then turned to me. “Why don’t you have much furniture?”

“I didn’t need much. Besides, it’ll be easier to move when I’m done with school.”

“I’d love to know your past,” Mark said, leaning up to me.

“No, it’s boring.” I avoided his eyes. It would be too dangerous for him to know anything more about me. “So, tell me about this house?” I looked all around. “I bet you had someone decorate it for you, didn’t you?”

“Sort of. The builder did it and I just moved in, pretty much. I’m not much of an interior decorator. As long as it’s simple and functional, it’s good enough for me.”

“Why aren’t you married? Don’t you date?”

“I used to, a long time ago.” He ate another bite. “But I’ve never found a woman I could settle down with before. I’m looking for a prize, and she’s got to be something special.” His eyes met mine, as if he was figuring out what he wanted from life.

“What kind of special? As in looks?”

“Not really, but I like blondes.” He reached over and touched my hand. “And love blue eyes.”

Even though he was describing me, my eyebrow rose while I studied him. “Like the bimbos in the restaurant?”

He began to laugh. “No, not quite, because brains really do intrigue me. I wonder how bright you really are?”

I popped a bite of steak in my mouth, the juice oozing out everywhere with incredible flavor. “I don’t know and don’t care. Intelligence tests are rigged to make you look smarter than you are, because they’re written by amateurs.”

“Amateurs? Have you ever taken any?”

“Sure, but that’s not important. It doesn’t get you a real job and doesn’t pay the bills.”

“How about college prep tests?” he asked. “What do you think of those?”

“Easy. Almost too easy. I could write better ones that would weed out the riff-raff before they even got to college.”

He shook his head slowly with a grin. “Madcap wants to see you, for sure.”

“Why is that?”

“We’re thinking of writing an intelligence test game, and need someone to stump the best of the best. We want the brightest people brought down a few pegs. That way, customers will buy the product, trying to prove themselves.”

“That would be fun,” I said. “When it’s done, I want to be in a room with the person who gets the highest score and take them down.”

“Oh, I bet. I’d like to see it, too.” He finished his meal then he stood up from the table and took his plate to the kitchen. “Are you about done? I’d like to get your car if you’re game.”

“Sure.” I stood up and grabbed a few plates, walking them into the kitchen, as well. “I’ll stop for some dessert on the way to my place.”

As I returned to the table to get more plates, he studied my face from across the table. “Your place? I was hoping you’d spend the night here.”

Lifting my half-full glass, I took a quick drink then stared over at him. “You come over to my place and I’ll get you dessert.”

Taking a few steps, he stopped right beside me. “You’re such a tease.” He moved in front of me, his hands going to my upper arms while his eyes met mine. “What dessert did you have in mind?”

I swallowed hard, realizing what I’d just said. How could I be so intelligent yet so dense. “I didn’t mean…” I shook my head with a sigh. “Want some ice cream?”

His hands moved to my shoulders, then he pulled me in for a hug and kissed my neck. “I’d rather have you, actually.”

I definitely went too far. “Me?” The sound of my voice came out more as a squeak than a question, making me clear my throat.

He moved his mouth upward and nibbled on my ear. “No pressure. I was thinking we could watch a movie on TV together. That’s it. You, me, and the couch.”

“I need to get my car,” I whispered, closing my eyes. I felt the burn from my head to my toes, hitting everything important the whole way down.

“Yeah. That.” He stroked my hair. “You know, you’re the type of woman I could—oh, never mind.”

“Could what?” I grabbed my glass and wiped it on my forehead to cool off my libido, then took a drink.

He picked up some dishes and walked into the kitchen. “Fall in love with.”

I choked on my drink and tried to breathe, but it was tough, so I leaned on the table and tried to suck in some air.

Mark ran to me and patted me on the back. “You okay? Did you swallow wrong?”

“Uh…” I coughed and tried to breathe. “It depends.”

“Depends on what?”

“What you’re dishing out.” I straightened up and stared at him. “Did you just say that I’m the type of woman you could fall in love with?”

“Sure did. Why?” He seemed so nonchalant, making me wonder about him. That wasn’t something most people just dished out.

“Oh, it’s just kind of shocking,” I said. “I’ve known you for what, a day?”

Dipping his head, he kissed me with his arms surrounding me in one fell swoop. When he backed away, his blue eyes seemed to go straight through me.

“Yep,” he said. “I work fast. I know what I want and go for it. That’s how I got to where I am today.”

I shifted my weight to one foot and crossed my arms. “Which is…”

“A secret for right now. Ready to go to your place so you can get some clothes and stay here with me tonight?”

“Mark, if you’re suggesting—”

“It was just so nice to have company last night that I was going to ask you if you’d just join me tonight.” His eyebrows actually danced.

“And go to church tomorrow? I’ll feel guilty!”

“No, you won’t feel guilty. I’ll even join you.”

He must be smitten, for sure, but I was enjoying this game for some reason. “So, if I spend the night with you, you’ll go to church with me tomorrow?” I asked.

“Absolutely. I’d love to.”

“And it would be innocent tonight?”

“Yes. You can even sleep in a different room if you want. I don’t like the idea of you sleeping with a baseball bat in your possession because you don’t feel safe.”

“I keep it beside the bed, and if I stay here, I’ll be on the couch.” I even pointed so he’d get the message.

“The couch. I don’t think so,” he muttered. Mark shook his head and cleared the rest of the table while I helped him put the dishes in the dishwasher. “Let’s get your car.”

I grabbed my purse. “Sure. I think I can drive now, in case you’re wondering.”

He walked me toward the door. “But the question is, will your car make it?”

“That’s the million dollar question, and it’s always an adventure with that thing.” We walked out the door and he helped me into the passenger’s seat, then got into the driver’s side, lifted the garage door, and headed out, toward the bank.

“So,” he finally said. “Did that hangover cure work?”

“I guess so. I feel better, if that’s what you’re asking.” I had to collect my thoughts. “So how embarrassing was I last night? I have to apologize for that, because I’m nothing like that.”

“You weren’t too embarrassing. If we were married, it would’ve been even funnier. I know you’re not like that—”

“Married? What are you saying?”

“Oh, nothing. Just know I really enjoy being with you and think we make a great team.”

“Team. As in couple?”

A smile lit his lips as he glanced my way. “If you want. I’m letting that up to you. Just know I’m game for whatever you want.”

I crossed my arms, looking out the windshield. “You don’t understand. As soon as that diploma’s in my hand in the next few weeks, I’m moving out of state. I have to hide out and getting off the grid is my first priority.”

“Why is that?”

“No reason you need to worry about. After seeing that terrorist guy on television, it might be sooner than I think, too. I might have to get out of town and have them send me my diploma for a better job.”

“Madcap wants to talk to you, remember.”

“Yeah, right. You know they won’t want me, right?”

He shook his head. “Someday, I’ll explain this to you. You’re dead set against a place that really will want you, as if you’re not worthy. But after looking at your résumé, I know better.”

“How do you know better? Do you know the owner or something?”

He chuckled. “Something like that.” He pulled into the parking lot across the street from the bank. I opened my door and got out as he leaned down to see me. “I’ll follow you. Don’t speed or I’ll call the cops.”

“Very funny. My car barely goes the speed limit.”

He laughed as I closed the door. I got into my car, and he practically tailgated me. I glanced in the rearview mirror, seeing him talking on the phone the whole time. I couldn’t imagine who he’d be talking to, other than his bodyguards. I just hoped he didn’t have other women on the line, or I’d be ticked. Yeah, I was jealous and no one was standing between this nice guy and me. My time in Devon was limited, so he was just a boy toy until I had to get out of town.

As soon as I parked in front of my apartment and got out of my car, Mark joined me and we entered my building.

“What type of car do you want?” he asked as we walked up the stairs together.

“Why? I like my car, as long as no one notices the muffler falling off.”

“You need a new car, and I think I’m going to buy you one. What kind do you like?”

“You’re not buying me a new car. I don’t want to owe you that much money.” Besides, I’d be able to afford another car when I moved out.

He grabbed my waist, turning me toward him. “You owe me nothing. I’ll worry about you in that car, because it’s going to let you stranded some day. What kind of car do you want?”

“None.” I turned back to go the final two steps, but he stopped me with his hand on my arm.

“If you don’t tell me, I’ll buy you what I like. Do you want that?”

“No, because my car’s fine.” I put my hand on his shoulder. “Relax.”

He muttered while I walked to my door, then walked up the stairs to meet me, taking my hand. “I’m serious.”

I reached out for the doorknob to my apartment, but when I touched it, the door swung open a few inches and my heart stopped.

“We locked that, right?” Mark whispered.

“Yep.” I reached into my purse and grabbed a small can.

“You keep mace in your purse?” he whispered, staring at the label.

“Yep.” I pulled out a long knife as well, putting it in my other hand. Mark stared at me with complete shock on his face.

Just as I was about to push the door open, he grabbed the knife, put it back into my purse, took my arm and dragged me back outside. While punching in a number into his cell phone, he forced me into his car and ran to the other side, then locked our doors and spun out of the parking lot.

“Yes, that’s the place,” he said into the phone. “Someone broke in and I want it checked out. They may still be inside.”

I crossed my arms. “Let me guess. The miniature army that protects you, right?”

Mark smiled and ended the call. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Thank them from me. I hope they’re armed.”

“They can take care of themselves, so don’t worry.”

“I will worry. Do they have—” Two police cars with sirens and lights came speeding past us. “I guess that’s a yes.”

Mark smiled as he glanced at me. “They have backup. Remember, I know their boss.”

“About your army men. That one from this morning was the same guy who followed me at the beach. You never answered me before and I want an answer.”

Mark glanced in his rearview mirror. “If I hadn’t been there, it could’ve been worse.”

“What does that mean?” I faced him, turning fully to the side. “You didn’t answer my question…again.”

“I know. Let it go for now.”

I leaned closer and lowered my voice. “Does this have anything to do with the Chinese terrorist?”

He bit his lips and said nothing. This man was so frustrating, I was ready to haul off and slap him silly. I held my hands in my lap so I wouldn’t hurt him, then stared out the front window. “Where are we headed?”

“Back to my place. There’s no way you’re staying at your place tonight, and I insist.”

“But—”

“If you argue, I’ll have the police take you into protective custody.”

I faced him in anger. “You wouldn’t.”

“This is nothing to play with.” He glanced over at me as he drove. “What did you do the other times you were robbed?”

My mouth dropped and my eyes widened. “How did you know I was robbed before?”

He sighed and shook his head. “You told me when you were drunk.”

“Why did I tell you that?”

“I have no idea. What did you do the other times?”

I turned in my seat, facing forward again. “I’d pack up all the things in my car and get out of the area. Then, I’d call the apartment manager and end my contract, usually having to pay extra.”

“What about your bed? It won’t fit in your car.”

“Yes, it does. It’s a blow-up bed.”

I’d been found again. I was so tired of running. My life was filled with running away from someone I didn’t even know, which made no sense to most people, but to me, it was my world.

“Now it all makes sense why you have no furniture,” he said. “Where did you live before this apartment?”

“I’d rather not say. I had to take evasive maneuvers to finally find a place where I was safe...at least I thought it was safe.”

His eyebrows rose considerably. “Evasive maneuvers?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Was your dad military?”

I snapped my head toward him. “How do you know about my dad?”

“I keep forgetting you don’t remember the conversation from last night. You told me your dad was a political science professor in Pennsylvania but your parents were murdered in their home. Was he military as well? It would all fit if he was.”

I wondered what else I’d blabbed. “At one time, but he served his time and moved on.”

“What part of the military was he in?”

“He was in the Army, in a super secret area, so I don’t know the details. Why are you asking me this?”

I must have sounded impatient, because he just smiled my way. “Just curious.”

We got to his house and he took me inside. He set the security alarm, flipped on the television to a sitcom and took the remote with him. “Have a seat.”

I listened to him, realizing I had no other choice.

Mark walked away for a moment, then leaned over the back of the couch and handed me a soda. Reaching up, he grabbed the can of mace, still in my hand. “I promise you don’t need that here. I have tons of security around this place, and you definitely don’t need the knife.” He slipped the mace back into my purse and straightened back up, standing behind the couch while sipping on his soda.

“Do you need the security here?” I whispered.

“No, but I’m glad I have it.” Mark’s cell phone rang and he walked into the kitchen to answer it. I couldn’t hear his side of the conversation, but I was sure it wasn’t good, just from his tone. I sat back, sipped on my drink and watched the stupid show on television. Mark joined me a few minutes later, plopped down onto the couch beside me and turned off the television with a click of the remote.

“That was my main bodyguard,” he said.

“I don’t think I want to hear this, do I?”

“Probably not. You’re needed at your apartment to figure out what they took.”

“Is it safe?”

“I think so,” he said, staring at me. “I just have to warn you. They found something you’re not going to like.”

“Is there anything I will like there?”

His eyes stayed on my face. “They found a dead man in your apartment.”

I sat up and faced him. “What? Who?”

“They’re not sure. We’re to go over there right away to see if you recognize the guy.”

I got off the couch and wiped away a tear. “Did they give you a description?”

“Yes, and it’s not Connor, if that’s what you’re thinking.” As we walked into the kitchen, he turned off the security alarm, then we headed toward the garage.

“I knew that,” I said. “He doesn’t have a key or the knowledge to break into an apartment. I was more worried about my brothers, if they came into town for some stupid reason.”

“You have brothers?”

“Yeah. Two of them. They don’t live around here, and I’m not to mention them to anyone.”

“Not to mention them…why is that?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Mark pushed on a remote button on the wall and the garage door rose. After we got into his car, he backed out between two police cars, parked in front of the house. As soon as we got to the road, we were escorted by the police to my apartment.

“I think this guy was older than your brothers,” Mark finally said. “How old are they and what do they look like?”

“They look a lot like me. John lives in Colorado Springs and is 32. Randy lives in Atlanta and he’s 30. I’m 27, so I’m the baby of the family.”

Mark glanced at me. “Did your parents or you have any enemies?”

“I don’t, and I didn’t think my parents did, but considering they were murdered and I’ve been found yet again, I’m rethinking that.”

“It’s time to talk to your brothers. You and I need to have a big chat after you call them.”

“Why?”

“I need to come clean with you, but I don’t want your brothers to know anything.”

I turned to face him. “What does that mean?”

He stared out the window. “In due time.”

Interesting comment. Was he someone I shouldn’t trust, after all? At least I wasn’t reading the signs wrong that he was holding back secrets.

We got to my apartment with police cars in front and behind us. The officers at the scene were everywhere and escorted us into the apartment.

An officer approached us and stared at his notes, then at my face. “Miss, we need you to look at the body.”

“I’m not good with this,” I said to him. “I doubt I know the person.”

“We still need you to see if you know him.”

I walked with the officer into my bedroom. The person was covered with a white sheet and I felt the tears fill my eyes. Someone else was probably in my bedroom and killed this person.

“How did he die?” I asked.

“Shot to the chest,” the officer replied.

I sucked up my fear and took a deep breath. “I’m ready.”

Mark put his arm on my shoulders and the officer pulled back the sheet. I glanced at the man’s face. He was much older and going gray. He looked a little bit familiar but I didn’t know who he was. I stared at him again, trying to remember where I’d seen him before.

“Do you recognize him?” Mark asked.

“I think so, but I don’t know his name. He looks really familiar to me.” I turned to the officer. “Did he have any identification on him?”

“None. It was like he’d worked as a spy, too, because we tried to get prints from him and they were burned off.”

“His fingerprints were burned off?” Mark asked the officer.

“Yes, sir,” the man replied.

“Can we get a picture of his face?” Mark asked, then turned to me. “Your brothers might recognize him.”

“If either one does, it would be John, since he’s the oldest.” The officer took a few pictures of the man, then covered the body again. I looked around my apartment. There were papers everywhere, and my bed was shredded down to just plastic and sheets. Tears formed in my eyes and Mark pulled me to his chest, with my face in his shirt.

He stroked my hair. “It’s just stuff. It’s going to be okay and I promise.”

“Yeah, but it’s all I have left,” I sobbed. “And it’s all destroyed.”

“But you’re okay.” Turning me around, we walked out into the living room, where I saw my chairs smashed and the TV lying in a pile of glass. In the kitchen, every plate and glass lay in a heap of trash on the floor.

After entering the hall to the bathroom, I opened the closet door and studied the box at the bottom. It looked undisturbed, so I pulled it out, opened it, and stared inside.

“What are you doing?” Mark whispered.

“I want to see if the rest of my life is missing.” Lifting the box, I took it to the kitchen center island, removing each paper, knickknack, and small picture from the box while I studied them.

“Souvenirs and pictures are the rest of your life?”

I glared at him and he bit his lips.

“I’m sorry I said it,” he said. “You’re absolutely right.”

I looked over the cover of each photo album, wading farther into the box. At the bottom was a small pink child’s jewelry box.

I opened it. The ballerina danced in a circle to the soft music, making me cry.

“Hey, I promise it’ll be okay,” he whispered, massaging my back.

“My dad got me this for my seventh birthday.” I tried to hold back the tears but it wasn’t working. “Mom said that some day I’d put my jewelry into it, but as you can see, it’s still empty. That’s the story of my life.”

Mark hugged me and I held onto the jewelry box in my hand, hugging him in return. The thing was bulky for one hand, and I was so interested in getting comforted, that I dropped it with a thud. As Mark backed away from me, I picked up my jewelry box.

“Your mom was right,” he said. “You’ll have jewelry some day, but be thankful you don’t have any right now. Otherwise, they’d have stolen it.”

Nice comment, but he was right. I wiped my eyes and he took the jewelry box from me. As he put it down, it rattled. We both stared at each other in confusion.

“It was empty, right?” he asked.

“Yes. I never had anything to put inside.” I took the pink box from him and opened it to see the ballerina dance again to the music, but there was nothing else inside left to rattle. I turned it over and shook the thing, but it only rattled. Mark and I searched all over the box, but the mysterious rattle wasn’t obvious.

He turned it over, studying the bottom. “Do you have a knife?”

I turned toward my kitchen. “On the floor with glass all over it. Why?”

“There’s a secret opening to this box on the bottom. I bet this is what the people who’ve been breaking into your apartment have been searching for.”

“A rattle?”

He put it up to his ear and shook it. “I bet it’s something like a key. I also bet your dad put it in there and it’s very important or it wouldn’t have been hidden.”

“Why wouldn’t I have heard it before now?”

“It probably jarred loose when you dropped it. We need to take this to my place and see what’s in here.”

I turned and walked toward the bedroom. “I’ll just get some clothes.”

Mark grabbed my arm, stopping me. “No. Anything in here may have been compromised. Don’t take anything except for the things in this box. There may be more clues here.”

“Compromised? But I need my toothbrush—”

He leaned closer and put his finger to my lips, cutting off my sentence. “If they wanted to, they could kill you by putting cyanide on your toothbrush. They could do the same thing to anything in this apartment. Are you missing anything in this box?”

I looked through the things that I’d taken out. I leafed through the photo album and suddenly frowned. “Old term papers and family pictures are missing.” I looked at Mark. “Why would they take those things?”

“I don’t know about the term papers, but they’d have pictures of your brothers. We have to call them now. Their lives are in danger.”

“Oh, no,” I whispered in disbelief. “John has two little girls and Randy’s getting married in the fall.”

“Did you have their addresses anywhere in this place?” he whispered.

“I carry all of that with me in my purse in case I need it. No, I don’t.”

“How often do you call them?” he asked.

“Once a month. Why?”

He looked around the room at all of my papers. “Where are your phone bills?”

“I throw my bills away once I pay them.”

“They could go through your trash, too.”

I covered my mouth and walked to the kitchen trashcan. “I just threw one out yesterday.” I searched inside. “Uh-oh.”

“Yep.” Mark walked over to one of his men and had a quiet conversation, then finally returned to my side. “We’re leaving. There’s nothing else you can do here, and you’re not coming back to this apartment.”

“Where will I live?”

“With me for now. I can’t have you always looking over your shoulder worrying. You’re too valuable.”

“Valuable?”

“We need to have a chat, and we’re going to my place to do it.” He put the music box and the other items back into the cardboard box and spoke to the officer who’d shown me the body. The officer nodded and we walked toward the door to leave my apartment.

“Wait.” I leaned down and picking up the bat at the door. “I have to take this with me.”

Mark took it from my hand and put it back in its place. “But you don’t need it. I promise no one will get into my place.”

“It’s a family heirloom. Randy gave it to me when I was robbed the first time and told me to keep it no matter what.” I looked around the rest of the room. “There’s nothing else left in here for me, so I doubt I’ll want to come back.”

He stared downward while still holding onto the box containing the rest of my life. “A baseball bat is a family heirloom?”

“Absolutely.” I had no idea if it really was a family heirloom, but just knew that Randy made sure I’d never lose it.

After I grabbed the bat, we walked out of the apartment complex, got into Mark’s car and headed for his home.

I looked behind Mark’s car and started to get nervous. “There’s some big black van following us.”

“I know.” He glanced into the rearview mirror. “They’re from Madcap.”

“They really take care of you at that company. I’m very impressed.”

“Right.” He blew out a big breath. “We’re going to have a big chat.”

“We are?”

He nodded with a sigh. “Right after you talk to your brothers.”

He drove to his home and after we got inside, he reset the alarm. He walked out of the living room and made a phone call, then returned while I looked through the items in the box, ending the call.

While picking up a stack of things from the box, he sat down beside me on the couch. “What are these?”

“My passports.”

His eyes met mine. “You have more than one?”

I sighed. “It’s a long story. I doubt you’d even understand.” I took the bundle of passports and tied the rubber band another loop to make sure they wouldn’t come apart.

“I think you’d be amazed at what I understand about your life.”

“Fine.” I untied the passports and started with the one on the top. “First, Dad said we always needed to have a passport in case we needed to get out of the country quickly. He wanted us to have one even if we were just going to Canada or Mexico, back before they were necessary to go across the border.”

“Why would he say that?”

“I’m not sure, but I made sure I always had one.” I opened the one on the top. “This one is from when I moved down to Devon. It was right after the last time I was robbed.” I handed it to him. “I didn’t travel anywhere for that one, so it hasn’t been used.”

Mark glanced at the picture then at me. “You were much younger here.”

“Right.” I opened the next one. “This one was from when I lived in Gainesville and was going to graduate school there. If you notice, I changed my name when I moved down here. The name on this one is Amy Duffy.”

His mouth dropped. “You changed your name? Why did you do that?”

“I’ve done it more than once. When my parents were alive, they sat us all down at the dinner table after Dad retired from the Army. I think I was about nine years old. He was scared about something. He told us to always stay in touch and if anything happened to any of us, to change our last names and move far away from each other and deny we were related.”

“Why?”

“I’m not sure, but when my parents died, John, Randy, and I scattered. We changed our names and call once a month to see if anything else had happened.”

“So, you’re Amy Duffy in this one. Your real last name isn’t Watson, is it?”

I nodded. “Yes, it is, now. I had it legally changed every time.”

“That explains a lot,” Mark murmured.

“Why?”

“I’ll tell you in a minute.” He looked over at the remaining passports. “Why did you change your name for this one, five years ago?”

“That’s when I was robbed the first time.”

“I see. What’s the next one say?”

“This one is from when I moved to North Carolina. I transferred from the school in Pennsylvania and really got my degree from North Carolina, even though most of my coursework was done in Pennsylvania. That’s why I say I went to undergrad in Pennsylvania. My name on my undergrad degree is Amy Charles. I changed my name for that one because my parents had just been killed.” I handed him that passport.

“Amazing,” he said, leafing through the pages. “So you traveled to France on this one?”

“After graduation, John and Randy gave me a gift of a trip to France with a tour group. I went just to be nice, but was always watching over my shoulder. When I got home, I found that I’d been robbed. It was the first time it happened. I walked into my apartment as soon as I got back, and everything was strewn everywhere.” I picked up the last passport. “This was my first passport. I got it right before Dad and Mom were killed. I was in college near Philadelphia, and it was my junior year. My real name is Amy Summers.”

I handed him the passport and he looked it over. “You didn’t travel at all before they were killed.”

“No. Dad wanted us all to be incognito and off the radar. I’m surprised John and Randy gave me that trip to France, actually. If Dad had been alive, he’d have been livid.”

“So, let me get this straight. You started out as Amy Summers, then your parents were killed. You became Amy Charles and moved to North Carolina to finish undergrad. You took a trip to France and when you got home, you were robbed, so you changed your name to Amy Duffy and moved to Gainesville to go to graduate school. You were robbed again, and transferred here where you became Amy Watson.”

“Absolutely correct.” I smiled at him. “You’re very bright.”

“It’s not rocket science.” Mark bundled all of the passports with the rubber band again and looked through some more of the things. “Your birth certificate,” he said. “Your birthday was last week and you’re 27.”

I waved him off. “I never celebrate it any more, so it doesn’t matter.”

He had a puzzled look on his face. “You don’t celebrate your birthday?”

“No. It doesn’t mean anything because my family isn’t here.”

“Didn’t Connor ever ask you about your birthday?”

I looked toward him in surprise. It’d never dawned on me before. “No. The more I think about it, you were completely right. He really was a loser.” I smiled at Mark. “You’re much nicer, anyway.”

Mark stood up and started to pace. “Hold that comment until I tell you something.”

“What do you want to tell me?”

“I have to tell you a bunch of things, but I’m not sure where to begin. I’ve been keeping things from you.”

I hopped off the couch and backed away from him. “Are you a serial killer?”

“No,” he said with a chuckle. “It’s a long story and I want you to understand things from my side before you judge me. Does that make sense?”

“No, but I’ll try to have an open mind.”

“Let’s call your brothers first. I have to make sure they’re safe.”

“You’re stalling.”

“Absolutely.” He smiled, grabbed the phone from beside the couch, and handed it to me. “Call John first. He’s the oldest.”

“But your phone bill. I can’t do that to you.”

“Don’t worry about it. I can call anywhere for one fee, so it’s all covered.”

I grinned. This was getting better and better. I pulled out my address book and dialed the number. It was about seven at night, so in Colorado, it would only be five, or dinnertime.

“Hello,” my brother said.

“John, it’s Amy.”

“We’re sitting down to eat,” he barked.

“Right. I figured that. I’ll be brief. Someone broke into my apartment…again.”

“No,” he said, stretching out the word. I was sure he was now sitting down. “Did they take anything?”

“They took term papers, family photos and possibly my phone records. I’m worried for your safety.”

“They’ll never find us. Call Randy, though. He’s closer to where you live. Where are you moving to this time?”

“I’m staying with a friend right now.” I glanced over at Mark and smiled.

“I don’t like the sound of that. What friend?”

“His name is—”

“His name?” John yelled. “Amy, what are you doing? You come out here right now and stay with us.”

“No, sir. We’re to stay apart, remember?”

“Yes, I remember.” I was sure he was running his hand through his hair because he sounded frustrated. “But I don’t like this. How long have you known this man?”

“A little over a day.” He began to scream something nasty, so I held the phone away from my ear while wincing.

“I don’t think he trusts you,” I whispered to Mark.

Mark held his hand out to take the phone.

I interrupted John’s tirade. “John, Mark wants to talk to you. Now, be nice, or you’ll never hear from me again. Got it?”

“Yes, and I can’t have that happen,” he answered, calming down.

“Why not?”

“I can’t tell you over the phone. Someone might be listening. Can you fly out here to see me?”

“I can’t afford to fly out there,” I said.

Mark grabbed the phone from me. “I’ll talk to him.” He left the room and I heard him act like a professional. I couldn’t hear what they were discussing because the doorbell rang. Mark turned off the alarm and answered the door while he talked to John. He walked back into the living room and handed me at least six big bags, then left again, resetting the alarm with a series of beeps. He paced from room to room, making me worried about what John might be telling him.

I turned to the big white bags that Mark had given me instead. The first one was the smallest and contained a bunch of toiletries. All of them were brand new and exactly like what I had in my apartment. There was even an electric toothbrush as well as a regular one, and all my other personal items, exactly my brands. Who did this?

When opening the second bag, I saw tons of bras, underwear, and many nightgowns, all in my size. At least I’d have something to wear. The next group of bags was filled with dresses and shoes that matched. There were pantyhose and everything I’d need for work. Whoever did this was really good, too, because it was all my style.

The last set of bags must have contained at least ten pairs of jeans, tons of shorts, sweatpants, tee shirts, two pair of sneakers and many, many polo shirts, which were my favorite. Every color of the rainbow was represented. I even saw a bathing suit that almost matched my red suit, exactly. They must’ve spent a bundle on those bags alone. I’d have to repay this person.

Mark entered the room with a grin, still talking on the phone. “Thank you very much for the invitation. We’ll treat you and your family to lunch.”

He said goodbye, ended the call, and sat down beside me. “Like it?”

I closed the bag in my hands and stared at him. “Why? How? How much do I owe this person?”

He kissed my cheek. “You had no clothes, so I had someone pick some out according to what you had in your closet. You owe them nothing.”

“But I can’t—”

“Yes, you can and you’ll take them. You had nothing. There are new suitcases at the door. I couldn’t carry them along with all the bags and the phone.” He watched my mouth hanging down. “Your brother is very nice, by the way.”

I winced because I knew better. “Did he beat you up on the phone?”

“He started to, but we worked it out. He’s got a temper, doesn’t he?”

I lowered my head. “Yes, sir.”

Mark pulled my chin upward. “I don’t have a temper, Amy. You don’t ever have to bow down to me or call me sir.”

I didn’t believe him, because all men were controlling. “I have to call Randy, too, right?”

“John’s going to do that. We’re all meeting.”

“We’re meeting with my brothers? How?”

“We’re flying to Atlanta to pick up Randy in the morning, then out to Colorado for a few days.”

“But your job? My job? The plane tickets.”

“You quit your job.”

“I did?” I asked. “That’s news to me.”

“I had one of my guys call it in. You’re done as a bank clerk and you have a new job as soon as you feel safe.”

“I do?” Everything was so odd all of a sudden. My life was turning upside down.

The doorbell rang again and Mark stood up to turn off the security alarm. “I’ll explain it to you in a minute.”

He was insane. I looked at all of the clothes in front of me and sighed. I now had no job, no home and was heading off to see my brothers in the morning. But, to look on the bright side, I got to take the tags off all of these new clothes and add up the final bill. At least then, I’d have an idea of how much to pay back Mark and his friends. I wondered how much he had to pay his friends to do such nice things?

~~~~~

Chapter 4

Mark returned from the door and reset the alarm. He walked into the kitchen then entered the living room with two spoons and a box.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Dessert. We didn’t get any from dinner and I wanted some, so the people who dropped off your clothes brought us some.” He opened the box, revealing two beautiful hot fudge sundaes.

“And why aren’t you married?”

He sat down and picked up one of the sundaes. “I didn’t find the right girl before.” He pointed to the other sundae. “Eat it. You’re going to need it. I know I do.”

“You do? What is it you wanted to tell me?”

“Let me go back to the beginning. Two days ago, I went to the University in town to see what courses they were offering for some people who work at Madcap. I saw that they offered cryptology classes and looked up the professor who taught it.”

“Dr. Urban. But why would you be interested in that course?”

“In a minute. I had a big chat with him and asked him who his best student was. He gave me your name.”

“He what?”

“I didn’t know you were taking the data administration course and still had him as a professor.” He took another bite of ice cream, sat it on the coffee table and stood up. He kept glancing at me, then paced.

“Spit it out, Mark. What happened?”

“You need some more background information and I’m not sure how to tell you.”

“Why?”

“Well, it’s about Madcap Software. I…uh…” He plopped back on the couch. “Madcap is an acronym for something very, uh, personal.”

“It is?” I wasn’t following this at all, and it seemed to me that he was making more out of it than he needed to. I just watched him stare at me, obviously trying to figure out how to say something. I waited with baited breath. “Tell me! I’m dying here!”

“Madcap stands for…” He looked at me again. “I don’t know if I want to tell you or not. Only a few people at the company know what it stands for. Do you promise not to tell anyone if I tell you?”

“Who would I tell?” His stare made me sigh, so I raised my right hand and rolled my eyes. “Fine. I swear not to tell anyone.”

“Anything else I tell you about the company is confidential and you have to promise to marry me or I can’t tell you.”

“What?” I got to my feet. “Are you feeling okay? I’ve known you about a day and you want me to marry you?”

His eyes were glued to mine. “Yes, I do. At least promise you’ll marry me some day. I can’t let this information out.”

“Let me see if I understand this so far. You went to Dr. Urban and asked for his best student in cryptology. Why would you care? Madcap Software programs games, and does nothing with cryptology, right?”

He stared at me with those adorable blue eyes. I fell onto the couch beside him and watched him. “They don’t only do games, do they?”

“No. That’s the front business. They have other businesses to bring in the bulk of the cash.”

“And I’m guessing one of them is to work with cryptology. Do they do the cryptography end or the cryptanalysis part?”

He grinned. “Will you promise to marry me now?”

“I don’t know. That’s kind of sudden, but I know that your secret is very safe with me. Now what does Madcap stand for?”

He swallowed hard as he stared at me. “Mad stands for Mark Andrew Dallas.”

I felt all of the blood drain from my face. “What?”

“Not too many people know I own the company either. They think I’m just a games programmer who’s a really nice guy.”

“You own Madcap?”

“Yes, I do. The ‘cap’ part is what’s so secret. It stands for CIA and Army Programming.”

I put my untouched ice cream sundae on the coffee table, trying to remain calm, but suddenly shook on the inside. “So you work with the government?”

“Sort of. Let me start at the beginning. When I got out of college, my father told me he wanted me to do something that he didn’t have the opportunity to do. He wanted me to get a Master’s degree. The jobs weren’t very abundant for new graduates at that time, so I got my MBA to make Dad happy. After I graduated, Dad and his associates from the State Department approached me and told me they were doing some work for the CIA. They needed a place where they could get programming done quietly and quickly. They’d help me establish a company that would be a cover for their programming needs, and most of my employees wouldn’t even know about that part of the company. They set it up in Florida because it wouldn’t be in the public eye as much as it would be in Washington, D.C. I’ve never told this story to anyone except for my most trusted and highest level employees. That’s why most of my employees don’t know what Madcap stands for.”

“You work with the government.” I couldn’t get past that part.

His face turned confused. “I think I just said that, right?”

“No, you don’t understand.” I crossed my arms as I faced him. “Dad worked with the government and he told us to never, ever trust anyone showing up at our door who worked for the government. How can I trust you?”

“I didn’t show up at your door?” he said with the most innocent face ever.

“Very funny. You just happened to run into me at the beach instead. Was that planned too, since you knew about me from Dr. Urban? You probably did a background check on me to find out where I worked, where I lived and everything else about me, right? I bet your personal army was checking me out, too, which is why your man in black was following me. I also would put money on it that the man in the bank with the jeans and white polo was one of yours too, right?” I already knew the guy was with Madcap, but had to mention it anyway. I wasn’t happy, and Mark knew it.

“Yes, you’re right about all of it. I guess this means you won’t marry me now, will you?” he asked, wincing.

I waved him off and turned toward the huge picture window at the side of the room. “You weren’t serious about that anyway, so stop it. You don’t even love me and all marriages should be based on that. What happened next?”

“I was serious about that,” he said while I turned back toward him. “I do love you, more than you know.”

I wasn’t buying it and he had to know it from my angry face, but he continued anyway. “After I found out where you worked, I had you tailed to the beach over lunch hour. I was there because I just wanted to meet you. I didn’t know you’d be turning the corner when you did and I really didn’t know you’d be so pretty or nice. That messed with my head, actually.”

“Oh, really? What were you expecting? An old fat chick? Would you have flirted with her, too?”

“I wouldn’t have flirted at all, but you were so vulnerable and adorable that I had to ask you out. I also knew Connor had broken up with you that morning, because I had spies listening to your phone conversations at work.”

I shook my head slowly in disbelief. “You stalked me?”

“It’s not what you think. Anyway, I had Connor checked out, and he’s not what you think. He has a criminal past.”

“He does?” I leaned back on the couch.

“Yes. He used to be a cat burglar, dealing in rare gems and diamonds. When he was in jail, he worked on his degree in psychology and finished up when he got out.”

My mouth fell open. “So you saved me from a burglar? Do you think he robbed me?”

“No, because he’s still in jail for assault from this morning. He’s also not married any more. His wife threw him out about a year ago for beating her up. He probably would’ve done the same to you.”

“I don’t know about that,” I said.

He nodded. “Oh, yes you do know about that. You told me he was rough when you were drunk.”

Wow. I guess I talked a lot when I was drunk. “I told you that?”

“Yes, and I might have saved your life.”

“Well, thank you. That still doesn’t excuse the fact that you had me checked out. What did you find?”

“My people found out that Amy Watson didn’t exist until a few years ago.”

“No surprise there. You know that, right?”

“There’s a red flag on your name from the National Security Agency, or NSA. They do know where you are, by the way.”

I blew out a big breath. “Great. No wonder someone got into my apartment.”

He shook his head. “It wasn’t them.”

“How do you know?”

“They’ve known for five years where you were, ever since you went to France, but they didn’t mention your name changes to me. However, if they were going to get to you, they would have by now.”

“I thought you said you worked with the CIA and Army. Do you also work with the NSA?” Considering they knew who I was from my coursework, it wasn’t that big a deal for them to know where I lived.

He studied my face for a minute. “They’re our new clients. They’re sending me a copy of your thesis, by the way.”

“They’re the only ones who have it. I had to take it off the computer at school, scrub the computer clean, and destroy all copies of it.”

“So I hear. That brings me to the problem at the beach.”

I faced him completely and crossed my arms. “I really want to hear this one.”

“My men were watching you since I talked to Dr. Urban, but for a reason. Someone from another country is after you.”

My arms fell to my lap. “What?”

“The NSA has been keeping tabs on you ever since you wrote that thesis. Someone talked to Dr. Urban right before I did, asking him about cryptology students. It seems his class is one of the best in the world for that topic. Anyway, the man who asked was an American, but the NSA had him checked out, at Dr. Urban’s request. It was a man by the name of Bobby Delaney. He was representing someone in China and he told his boss your name. Some men from mainland China were following you and know all about you, so my men were watching you as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if the man in your apartment had something to do with it, looking for your thesis or notes. That might be why they stole old term papers.”

“How do you know all of this?”

“I talk to my contacts a lot. I also called them when you were in the shower, the bathroom, and any other time I was alone, because you’re still being followed. The NSA wants to use your theories and is very impressed. The U.S. Government isn’t after you, Amy. You’re very valuable to them…and to me. I’m more worried about China getting to you.”

This was just too weird. “Why do you say I’m valuable to the U.S. Government? It sounds like they have what they want and I’m not needed. I’d think they’d want to get rid of me, actually, because I know the secrets they’re working with and might give those secrets away to the Chinese.”

“They don’t want rid of you. They want me to hire you in the worst way, but I have to talk to you about that first. I have other clients who need data modelers, using the ideas in Dr. Urban’s class. Do you like that kind of work?”

I couldn’t quite believe this. “Wait. You want to hire me? Why did we do that résumé if you already knew you wanted to hire me?”

He sat up and sighed. “Here’s what I wanted to do. I wanted the rest of my governmental team to meet you and decide for themselves if they wanted to hire you. I already knew the answer, but wanted their input, just from your résumé. I also wanted it to be your decision before you even knew I owned the company. I didn’t want you to be swayed because of who was at the top. I wanted to surprise you.” He picked up his ice cream and took the last bite. “But things changed when you were followed and robbed. I can’t have you going back to work at the bank or going back to that apartment. You’re too valuable and vulnerable.”

“I can’t believe you’re telling me all this. So you really did know me before I ran into you at the beach?”

“Sure. I also already kind of knew what you looked like before I went to the beach, but you’re much prettier than I was told. What did Tony say? Oh yeah, ‘she’s hot. If you don’t want her, I’ll take her and leave my wife.’”

“Who’s Tony?”

“He’s the man who took Connor off our hands today. The team leader for the day shift. He’s also the one you saw at the beach. He was hot on the trail of the Chinese contacts and trying to protect you, but the main man just disappeared along with his coworkers after we left the restaurant. It sounds like your call to the cops had them hunting the terrorists down, because now two of them are in jail.”

I couldn’t believe what he was telling me. “What would the Chinese want with me?”

“Your knowledge. Knowing the NSA is using your theories, if they can figure out what the NSA is using them for, they can break any code the NSA uses. Now does it make sense?”

“Sure, but I don’t even have a copy of what I did, let alone remember all of it.”

“You probably remember more than you think. What about the term papers someone took?”

“They were mostly for businesses…and maybe some discussions about national security.”

His eyebrows flew upward. “National security?”

“You have to understand. Dad and I used to talk about the news all the time, and things about national security always intrigued me. So, whenever I could write a paper on it, I did.”

“Do you remember any of their titles?”

“Well, one was keeping our secrets a secret and how to encrypt anything we have. I think I wrote that in high school. Another was about how someone could effectively take over another country without anyone knowing until it was over.”

“Why would you write something like that?”

“It was interesting to me? I don’t know. I was in college, maybe? I think it was for English lit or something.” I was silent for a moment, remembering the rest of Mark’s comment. “Tony really said I was hot?”

“Yep.” Mark smiled as he did the once-over for me. “I agree with his assessment. He can’t have you, though.”

“Isn’t that my decision?”

“Absolutely, but I’d fight him for you.” He watched my one eyebrow go up. “Wait. You have mace and a knife, so let me rephrase that. I’d rather you chose me.”

“What about those two bimbos at the restaurant?”

“‘Bimbo’ is a good word for them. They work in the cafeteria at Madcap and have no idea who I am. They think I’m a nice programmer, just like everyone else.”

“What else do you know about me?” I asked.

“Pretty much everything you are right now. Your financial situation, where your brothers live—you name it, and I probably know it, but I had to play dumb. I don’t know a lot of your past.”

This was getting annoying. “How can I even trust you are who you say you are? You knew all about me but acted like you didn’t.” I crossed my arms. “What are we…in high school?”

He laughed at me, the brat. “I played the game just so you wouldn’t consider me a stalker. You kept asking me things like that last night, and I didn’t want to scare you off. You can trust me. I can give you names at the way top of the military ladder who know who I am if you want.”

I covered my face with my hand. “Unbelievable. I’m to trust military people.” I turned to him. “Am I considered a national threat?”

“Not yet. However if you work for Madcap, you’ll be protected, just like I am. If you marry me, it’ll reduce resources.”

I was on my feet again. “Reduce resources? So I’m considered a line item for your company finances? Is that why you asked me to marry you?” He wasn’t winning points here and he knew it, from the look on his face. It was almost as if he was playing chess and hadn’t thought out the few steps ahead of me.

He sat back on the couch and watched me. “That’s exactly why I didn’t want to tell you any of this. No, Amy, I want to marry you for myself. I told you, you’re the type of person I could fall in love with, and have fallen in love with.”

“You’re in love with me? For real?”

“Yes. I haven’t lied to you yet. Held back information, yes, but lie, no.” He studied my face as I paced. “Are you mad at me?”

“I’m trying to decide. Don’t interrupt me right now.” He was an interesting man, all right. Was I angry with him? He did save me more than once, but was that enough for not telling me who he really was and that he’d done a background check on me? Heck, he’d even quit my job for me. That was probably a good thing, the more I thought about it. “I’m not mad. A little frustrated that you didn’t tell me all of this, but not mad.”

He smiled and pulled me back to the couch. “Good.” He kissed me, taking my breath away. I realized, from the kiss, that I’d made the right decision, and wished I’d known him better so I could tell if he was the real deal.

He backed away from my face. “Now, about the jewelry box.” He stood up and returned with the box, a knife, and a screwdriver then laid them on the coffee table.

I pulled him back to the couch. “I’d rather talk about me being mad.” I moved up against him, smothering him with kisses.

Mark laughed at me. “Don’t you want to see what’s inside the jewelry box?”

I sat back up, pushing my hair out of my face. “I guess so.”

I sighed while leaned he over and kissed me with a grin. “Frustrated…much?”

“More than you know. Connor just wasn’t right, but you…I need to find out.” I leaned up to him again, touching my lips to his, but he backed off.

“Can’t we just see what’s inside the box?” he asked.

My back hit the couch with a thud while I folded my arms tightly across my chest. “Sure. I’m dying to know.” Yeah, I was definitely frustrated.

“You want to know more than making out with me?”

“It’s your choice. I just don’t know what comes over me sometimes.”

“You really are frustrated,” he said as he laughed.

“Guess so.” He was just so hot; I couldn’t control myself. I was very glad I wouldn’t be sleeping with him. There was no way I’d be able to hold back, then. I didn’t even know if I even wanted to hold back any more.

“We’ll take care of that but you need to be patient…it’ll make it worth the wait.” He worked with the box while I held it still on the coffee table. After struggling for a while, a small rectangular piece popped off. We both peered inside the hollowed-out opening, but saw nothing. Mark turned the box over and out fell a piece of paper and a small key.

I picked up the piece of paper and studied it. “I think the key was wrapped in this. That was probably to keep it from rattling, until I dropped it.”

“Good thing you did, too.”

I unrolled the piece of paper. “This has some numbers on it. If I didn’t know better, I’d say this is a combination.”

He looked over at the piece of paper. “36-24-36? Sounds like a woman’s measurements.” His eyes raked over my body. “Maybe yours?”

“Not quite. I’m 34-22—oh, never mind. What do you think this opens?”

“I have no idea. When I talked to John, he said to bring the jewelry box and the baseball bat from Randy’s house.”

“The baseball bat? I knew it was something special. John told us to hang onto our special mementos from home. The only thing I had was the jewelry box, until Randy gave me the bat.”

Mark went to the kitchen, studying the baseball bat as he returned. “Do you see anything that looks different on this?”

We both examined it.

“Nothing,” I said. “Do you think it has a secret compartment too?”

We checked out every inch of the thing. It was a normal baseball bat with a logo on it.

Mark laid it on the coffee table. “We’ll find out tomorrow. We’re flying to Atlanta, then to Colorado Springs to meet John.”

“Did you get tickets?” I asked.

“Don’t need them.” He grinned. “Private jet.”

“Private jet?” My eyebrows went as high as possible. “What’s that like?”

“You’ll find out tomorrow, my dear.” He glanced at my ice cream. “Want any more?”

“Sure. I think I’ll need it.” I drank the rest of the melted sundae and checked my watch while he took the plastic containers to the trash can. “It’s about bed time,” I yelled to him because he was in the kitchen. “Can I sleep here tonight?”

“Where else would you go?” He returned to the living room and sat beside me. “You don’t have an apartment any more, remember? The dead guy kind of moved in and took over. You’re not safe there.”

“I mean, on the couch. I don’t want to impose on you.”

“You don’t have to sleep on the couch. I have more than one bed upstairs.”

“But I don’t belong here.” I sat back with a thud. “I don’t belong anywhere any more. I don’t even have a television to my name.” I lowered my chin in my hands while my elbows rested on my thighs.

He wiped the tears from my cheeks and smiled. “You belong here with me and I mean that.”

“That room where I slept before. That’s the master bedroom, right?”

“No. That’s a guest room. I put you in there because it was closer to the bathroom in case you got sick.”

“Good thinking. But that room was huge.”

“And not the master bedroom.” He took my hand, picked up the bags of clothing and we walked upstairs. The downstairs was gigantic with an open floor plan of a humungous kitchen, a very large and cozy family room, a dining room, an office, a library and a formal living room—so I could only imagine what the upstairs looked like.

We walked to all of the guest rooms first. There were four of them, all decorated differently, and all with their own bathrooms. Then, Mark took me to the master bedroom.

“Oh…my!” I was stunned. It was gorgeous, painted in burgundy below the chair rail and off-white above. The dark wooden dressers and giant television reeked of money, while the California king-sized bed didn’t even put a dent into the space in that room. I think it was about twice the size of my apartment.

He took me into the walk-in closet that could hold my car, then showed me the bathroom that was bigger than my kitchen, bedroom, and living room all put together.

“You live here alone? You could house an entire third-world country in here!”

“Yes, alone, and it gets really lonely, too.” He looked at me as if I should understand what he was saying.

“What?”

“I’d really appreciate it if you’d stay here with me tonight. I don’t like being lonely and if I could just—”

“Mark, we’re not married. I don’t feel right about this, and if John even suspects something tomorrow—”

He grabbed me and kissed me with such passion, I felt it move the whole way down to my toes. I threw my arms around him and returned the kiss. After a few minutes, he backed off from my lips with a grin. “You were saying?”

“I don’t remember.”

He kissed me again. “Good. It’s settled then. Like I told you, I won’t compromise your morals unless you ask me to or the relationship changes.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Marriage, like I said before. You know, Colorado’s not too far from Vegas. We could do a quick marriage and be back before you know it. Your name would be changed and I’d make sure you were protected.”

“Don’t you want to make sure I’m the right one before you jump into marriage?”

“I already know. I’m just waiting for you to decide and you’re taking a very long time.” He gave me another sweet kiss, his arms still around me.

“A very long time? I’ve only known you since yesterday. Are you insane?”

“Probably,” he admitted, almost laughing. He backed me toward the bed and forced me to lie down. He lay on top of me and stroked my hair. “You’re so beautiful. Know that?”

“Yeah, and Tony thinks so, too. I wonder what his wife thinks about that.”

“Don’t know.” He smiled and kissed me again. “I promise we’ll just sleep tonight. Will you join me?”

I pushed him to the side and turned to face him. “What will people think if I marry you after just two days?”

“I don’t care.”

“Mark, you’re really rich, obviously. Don’t you think they’ll say I married you for your money?”

“No one knows I’m rich.” He stared at me again. “I am rich, by the way. You wouldn’t have to work at all if you didn’t want to. I could even hire a nanny to take care of the kids—”

“Kids? Did you think this through up to the kids already?”

“Sure, and so did you. You told me you wanted to have my children last night and even had them named.” He looked up at the ceiling, counting the names off on his hands. “There was Jenna, Billy, Samantha, Laura, Daniel, Alyson, and…oh yeah. Ralph.”

“Ralph? Seven children? Are you insane? Are you sure you remembered them right?”

“Sure.” He leaned closer to me. “I really wanted to remember so I could tell you all about it.”

“Gosh, Mark. Let me see…I was drunk! Do you think I might not have known what I was saying?”

He just laughed at me. “You seemed perfectly coherent when you said it.”

“Well, get this through your head. You told me about this marriage stuff about what, an hour ago, and you’ve already thought about kids?”

“Yep. Here’s what I think. Your biological clock is beating overtime, and you’re having a really tough time dealing with it. Take my offer and you’ll be able to have a wonderful life, free from stress and worry and the fact that you’re robbed regularly.”

I sat up. “You’re insane.”

He pulled me back to the bed beside him. “I only know I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” He stroked my hair, then my arm. “You’re fun to be with and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Before last night, I wasn’t able to enjoy myself. But seeing you drunk—”

“You’re basing marriage on seeing me drunk?”

“You get to know a lot about people when they’re drunk,” he replied, defending himself.

I sat up and studied him. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Sleep with me. That’s all I’m asking right now.”

“I’ll sleep with you, but it’s just sleep. As much as I’d like to, I don’t know you well enough for any more.”

“Plus you’ve never had sex before and I understand your apprehension.”

I rubbed my head. “Apprehension’s not quite the word for it. It’s just that everything’s hitting me all at once.” I stared into his baby blue pools for his eyes. “But you…I just don’t know.”

He raised his right hand. “I understand and I promise. Just sleep.”

I must have been the stupidest person alive to agree to this. I knew that once he showed me his vulnerable side, I’d be hooked. There was no turning back after that because I’d agree to anything, including marriage.

I changed in the bathroom, brushed my teeth and looked down at the beautiful white silk nightgown someone had bought me. It was exactly my size, about mid-calf in length, with a slit up the side. I loved it. I turned around and stared into the mirror. Having personal slaves wasn’t so bad. It was certainly better than sleeping in a hotel room with few or no clothes.

I walked out of the bathroom, watching Mark’s mouth fall. When he finally stopped staring at me from head to foot, he actually whistled. “Joan outdid herself!”

“Joan?”

“One of my personal shoppers.”

My eyebrows must have hit the roof. “You have personal shoppers?”

“I don’t have time to shop, and she’s really good at it. She helps us keep up the image we need to have at the company, making sure we’re dressed to impress.”

“Well, thank Joan for me.” I looked down and touched the silky fabric. “She did a great job and I love this nightgown.”

He walked to me, pulled me into his arms, touching his lips to mine. “I love what’s in that nightgown.”

“You don’t really mean that. You’re playing with me again.”

“No, I’m not playing with you. It’s like I told you before. Now that I know what you’ve been up against for the past few years, I can honestly say I’m in love with you, even more than before.”

I pushed him away from me. “Slow down, Romeo.” I knew this was exactly what I needed to hear. He was tearing down my barriers and I was almost hooked on Mr. Mark Dallas.

He tried to contain his grin. “Right. Romeo.”

“And no, I’m not Juliet yet. Give me a week and we’ll talk.” I stared at the bed and bit my lip. “Maybe I should sleep in that guest bedroom?”

“You promised. Which side do you like?”

“I never had a ‘side’ before. Where do you sleep?”

“I’m usually on the side with the phone. That way, if it rings, I’ll be right there.” He pointed to the phone on my right.

“Then the left it is.” I headed for the left side of the bed and after sliding down between the silk sheets, I watched Mark get in beside me. I stared at him. “I know this is a stupid question, but I know nothing about proper bed etiquette.”

“Whatever you want.” He moved closer to me and kissed my cheek. “Just don’t kick me out of bed.” He moved down my neck and I stared at the ceiling. He kissed me down to the base of my neck, and I closed my eyes. It just felt so good.

“I don’t trust myself,” I whispered, almost out of breath. “If I reciprocate…”

“Feel free to reciprocate.”

He lifted his eyes and stared at my solemn face, then moved to my chin. “You’re just so hot.”

I turned to him and smiled. “If I just knew you a little bit better.”

“That’ll change.” He leaned over to his side of the bed and flipped off the light. “You’ll see.” He pulled me to the center of the huge bed and snuggled with me.

I kissed his forehead. “Good night, sweet prince.”

“Is that all I am to you, a prince?”

“I’d dub you king, but I don’t think they have those in this country, at least I’ve never heard of any. You’re the prince and I’m getting the glass slipper after you saved me.”

He laughed. “Whatever works for you. But remember, I’m king in the workplace. I just need a queen by my side. By the way, I never got an answer. Want to work for me?”

“Can I meet some of the governmental people before I make that decision?”

“Oh yeah. I guess that might be a good idea. Which area of the company do you like the most?”

“I’m not sure. Explain the games programming that you do.”

He went into a great lengthy discussion about the type of programming and the software languages they used.

“I could do that, too,” I said. “I’ve done things very similar to that type of work in undergrad. I even made a game about secret agents saving the world. I wonder what ever happened to that? The professor never gave the paperwork back to me.”

“A game about secret agents?” he asked. “I wonder if that would work for our company?”

“It was a fun game, too. You get to shoot the bad guys and take over the evil empires, with rules according to the country you chose. I loved that game.”

He stared at me as if I was insane, but continued. “Well, we have a few tiers of workers. If you did work for the government, you’d make a lot more than the games programmers make. Also, the clients really want you badly and are willing to make you an extra offer as a bonus.”

“Really?”

“Yes. If I remember correctly, if I sign you on, you’d get fifty thousand dollars off the bat. You have to stay a year, though.”

“Did you say fifty…thousand…dollars?”

“That’s just a signing bonus. Your salary would be six digits.”

“Six digits? Like a hundred grand?”

“At least.” He pulled me closer to him and started to kiss me again. “And if you marry me, you get my billions too.”

I backed off. “Did you say billions?”

“Yeah. I’m worth close to a few billion right now, I think. I don’t worry about money at all.”

“A few…billion?”

“Sure. When you own a company, you have a lot of investments that’ll pay off.”

“Must be nice, but I’ll stick with my six digits if I take the job.”

I studied his face and allowed myself to stroke his cheek. Gosh, he was really good-looking. I leaned over and kissed his lips while he just grinned at me. The kiss turned into more and I rolled on top of him, attacking his grin with extreme passion. Yep, I was definitely hooked now.

“Don’t you think we should go to sleep now?” he asked as I kissed down his chest, pulling his tee shirt over his head.

“Huh?” I stopped what I was doing and stared at him.

“Remember, you wanted to wait until you knew me better?”

“I did? Oh yeah. I guess I did.”

He pulled his tee shirt back down over his beautiful chest, running my hand down his six-pack abs in the near dark. A nightlight gave the room a romantic ambiance, which didn’t help my libido.

“When did you say we could go to Vegas?” I asked.

“Tease,” he whispered. “You just want me for my money, don’t you?”

“No. From what you’re saying, I’ll have my own, so you can keep your money.” I stroked his head. “You’re just such a nice person.”

“Now you understand what I’ve been saying all along. It’s about time, huh?” He cuddled up to me and kissed me, then closed his eyes. I heard him start to breathe slower, then I drifted off into the sweetest slumber I’d ever had in my life. I was safe, I was loved, and I felt like I was finally home.

~~~~~

“A-my.” The voice sounded very far away, so I turned over to my stomach and ignored it. It would go away, eventually. I was in a wonderful nest of a bed, and no matter what someone did; it wasn’t going to change. My dreams were even sweet. I think it was the smell of the sheets, because they almost smelled like roses.

“A-my.”

It was that annoying voice again. It was a nice voice, and I really didn’t want to wake up. But it seemed that it wasn’t going away, so I had to answer.

“What?” I whispered.

“Don’t you want to wake up today?”

“Not really.” My eyes stayed shut.

“A-my.” It was that voice singing to me again. I opened my eyes and saw the sheets around me filled with rose petals. Tons of petals of every color were everywhere. I looked all around me and they covered every inch of the bed.

“Mark! We’ve been attacked by aliens disguising themselves as rose petals! Quick! Take cover!” I threw the pillow over my head, hearing him howl in laughter.

“Amy, sweetheart,” he said, sticking his head under the pillow covering my face. “They’re not aliens. I promise.”

“Are you sure it’s safe to come out?” I whispered.

“You do have an imagination, don’t you?”

I smiled at him. “You’re so sweet. I didn’t want to wake up because it smelled so nice. I was afraid it was all just a dream.”

“No, my dear, this is reality. How do you feel today?”

Taking the pillow off my head, I stretched my arms and smiled at him, then kissed his cheek. “I feel great. Best I’ve felt in years, actually.”

“Good, because the plane leaves in an hour.”

I sat up and hopped out of bed, careful not to hit any petals also covering the floor. “An hour? I don’t have enough time! I have to clean up these rose petals, we have to get through security—”

“Private jet. Remember? An hour means about fifty minutes with ten minutes for travel time to the plane. And the rose petals aren’t your job. You’ll be fine.”

“Oh.” I sat back on the bed with a thud. “Did you have a shower yet?”

“Yes, I did, but I can join you again if you want.”

Studying his grin, I considered it, but knew it wasn’t a good idea. “I think I’ll be fine. I have to see John today and he’ll know if anything happened. He’s weird like that.”

Mark started to walk out the door. “Breakfast will be ready whenever you come downstairs.”

“Did you make me breakfast?” I asked.

“I would have, but I didn’t know what you wanted. The chef is here, so—”

“Chef?” I’d died and gone to heaven.

He stopped and turned toward me. “Sure. Someone from the company only comes in when I ask them to, and I figured you’d want something good to eat. We’re kind of pressed for time.”

“I’ll be down in about fifteen minutes or less.” I ran into the bathroom and hopped in the shower. I threw on some clothes, did what I had to do to make myself presentable and ran down the stairs, almost running into a woman standing in Mark’s kitchen. She was very pretty and about my age. Interesting development. So was Mark the type to have mistresses on the side, or what?

“Amy, I’d like you to meet Brenda. She’s my chef.”

“Hello, Brenda.” Why didn’t he date her?

“Hi, Amy,” she said in a very high-pitched voice that was worse than fingernails on a chalkboard. I tried not to wince, pasting a smile on my face. So that’s why he didn’t date her. Mark walked away, biting his lips while trying not to laugh.

“What’ll it be?” she screeched.

“Uh, what do you have?” I asked in a low tone, trying to counter that voice.

“Anything you want.”

I just wanted her to be quiet. “I’ll have cereal, thanks. I can get it, too.”

“There are cinnamon rolls out there…and tea,” Mark yelled from the living room.

“Thanks.” I turned to Brenda. “So where are you from?” Mistake. Big mistake. She told me…no, she ‘dissertated’ at me, telling me at length about her childhood, her move from the big city of Fort Myers when she was three that gave her psychological scars, and so on, and so on and so on. I felt so sorry for her. No one, if they still had eardrums, ever talked to this woman. They probably didn’t want to hear her talk. I sat at the dining room table and listened to the woman prattle on as I ate my cereal and drank my cup of tea.

“Ready to go?” Mark asked, interrupting Brenda’s lecture on the uses of cleaning supplies in the kitchen.

“Sure,” I said. “I have to get my suitcase.”

“It’s in the car.”

“Huh?” I asked with my mouth hanging down. “But I didn’t even pack.”

“Don’t worry. The chauffeur took care of it.”

“Chau…” I shut my mouth. I wasn’t used to this sort of service, and I guess it showed, according to Mark’s peeling laughter.

“Have fun!” Brenda screeched.

“We don’t know when we’ll be back,” Mark said, picking up the jewelry box, the key, the piece of paper with the combination, and the baseball bat.

“Are you going to a ballgame?” she asked.

“Something like that,” I answered. I still wanted to lower my voice when I spoke to the woman. I wondered if she knew she was terribly annoying.

As soon as Mark and I left the house, the chauffeur opened the door to a big black limousine. I got inside the extremely spacious back, with seats facing in each direction. After Mark joined me, the driver closed the door. Mark raised the divider between the driver and us and immediately moved closer with his arm going around me.

“What do you think of Brenda?”

“I can’t possibly see why you didn’t date her,” I quipped, staring at his face. “She’s just your type.”

He laughed while touching his lips to mine. “You’re so funny. How did you like the rose petals?”

“Absolutely wonderful. How did you do that…and why did you do that?”

“I wanted you to have sweet dreams. You were so still all night long that I was worried you’d wake up from a deep sleep with a nightmare.”

“Did you get any sleep at all?”

“Sure. I slept like a log.” He kissed me again. “I liked having you there, more than you’ll ever know. It felt like I had a family.” He touched my nose and grinned. “You’re really cute when you sleep, too. Did you know that?”

“How long did you watch me sleep?”

“Just this morning for about an hour. I had some things to work out in my head and watching you sleep really put everything into perspective for me. I know where I’m headed now.”

“Care to share?”

“Not yet, Miss Poet.” He glanced out the window. “Oh, we’re here.”

I joined my gaze to where he was looking and saw a huge plane on a private airstrip. The driver pulled up beside the stairs and we got out of the car. As I walked around the back to get my suitcase, Mark pulled me to him. “Not your job.”

“But they’re my things, sort of.”

“They are your things, but not your job. Now, come with me. I have to talk to you.”

“Sure.” Having no idea what he was going to discuss, I was sure it wasn’t good from his tone. I hoped he didn’t want to throw me out of the plane while in flight. That would just tick me off…until I hit the ground.

~~~~~

Chapter 5

“I guess I’m not going to church today,” I whined as we stepped inside the beautiful private jet. It was decorated in silver, red, and black, with overstuffed chairs rather than airplane seats. There were tables near some of the seats and Mark moved me toward one of the biggest tables. Sitting across from him, I felt like I was in the principal’s office.

“No, you’re not going to church,” he said. “Because you’d be a sitting duck there. If they’d kill the man in your apartment, it could be you next. Sorry, but no church.”

“I knew you’d get out of it,” I muttered, looking around at the leather chairs.

“I need to talk to you anyway.” He walked to the back of the plane and grabbed a folder, a laptop, some paper, and a book. “Buckle your seatbelt. The pilot’s ready to take off.”

“Sure.” Doing as I was told, I realized I was riding backward. I hoped I didn’t get sick.

Mark sat down, buckled his seatbelt and opened the file in front of him. “This is what the NSA told us they needed.” He stared at me with those blue eyes and I wanted to die. “This is completely confidential. Got it?”

“Sure. I’m good with confidential. You should know that by now.”

He read over his papers. “Not when you’re drunk.”

“What was that comment?”

He looked up at me and leaned over the table while whispering. “If the enemy ever finds out that you can’t hold your liquor, we’re all in big trouble. I’m supposed to desensitize you to that.”

“You are?”

“Yes. I had a meeting this morning with some very high up and classified members of the government.”

I leaned closer so I could hear him whisper. “You did? When?”

“While you were sleeping. It doesn’t matter.” He sat back and looked at his papers again. “You need to explain some of your thesis to me.”

“Considering I don’t even have a copy of it and finished it a semester ago—”

He handed me a book. It was plain and had a brown cover, with the title ‘Jolly Old Cryptology’ on it.”

“Who thought up this title?”

“Some joker. It’s your thesis.”

“It is?” I opened the first page of the thick book and read over it. It sounded like my thesis, but my name was nowhere to be found. “So it is. What do you want to know?”

“Explain the part in chapter twenty-one. The NSA guys are having problems programming it.”

“Programming it?”

“Yep.”

“I see. Have you read to chapter twenty-one?” I leafed through to about page one-fifty.

“Not yet, but if you can explain it to me so it makes sense, it’ll make sense to the NSA guys when you tell them.”

I lowered my voice and closed the book, handing it back to him. “Oh, no. I’m not dealing with government agents. They’ll probably kill me if I even sneeze.”

Mark started to laugh, handing the book back to me. “They’re not going to do that. I promise. Remember, this is all under the radar and no one in the government knows the NSA is coming to us at all.”

I sighed, hating being in this position, then turned to chapter twenty-one again. “What do you want to know?”

“I want to know how you do it. Explain your thesis to me.”

“Oh, that’s easy, but I need a laptop.”

He opened the laptop in front of him and plugged it into a hidden outlet in the floor, then turned it on. I watched as he clicked on a few things, then he moved it to face me and showed me some code. “This is as far as they got. Explain it to me.”

I studied the code with my mouth hanging. They’d programmed some of my thesis, for real?

The plane taxied to the runway and in the meantime, I went back a few chapters and explained what the current mindset was, then showed him on paper. The plane took off and as soon as it leveled, I explained some problems they had with their programming. I showed him a diagram of how things could be bent to change what they were currently using into something better, then told him in vague terms what would need to be done to the program to make it work, but never gave him exactly what he needed, on purpose. I still didn’t trust anyone. However, he had enough to keep the NSA guys going for a while.

Mark stared at me with his mouth hanging wide open.

“Does it make sense?” I asked.

“Absolutely. It’s completely clear to me and I’m wondering why no one else has thought of this before. It seems like a natural progression for breaking any code. How did you come up with that?”

I guess I had him snowed. “Research and a computer. Why?”

“I wonder why the NSA didn’t talk to you themselves?”

“I think they talked to Dr. Urban. I went on vacation when they were in his office and drove up the coast. I really didn’t want to talk to them.”

“How long were you gone?” he asked.

“About a week.”

“And they never called you?”

“I kind of moved apartments within the same complex, and changed phone numbers. I really didn’t want to be found.”

He leafed through the rest of the book. “Is there any way you can do more than you’ve done so far?”

Tilting my head, I stared at him for a moment. “Are you asking if I’m marketable or if I’ve hit a wall?”

“Sort of. Can we make them promises we can deliver on?”

“I think so. In chapter twenty-five, I hint at more possibilities but they were outside the range of my resources at the time. This computer program will certainly keep them going for a while.”

“You know what that means?” he asked, his blue eyes meeting mine.

“Sure. They’re really going to hunt me down now. I’m doomed, aren’t I?”

“No, you’re more marketable. Name your price and it’s yours.”

I shook my head. “I’m really not good at that. What do you think?”

“You need to do some real thinking about your future. What do you want out of life?”

“I have no idea. I live from day to day.” I studied his face, which seemed to go blank. “Is that bad?”

He smiled. “With your brains, yep, that’s bad. You can go anywhere with your talent, but I’d like you to stay with me and work for Madcap.”

“Is that a job offer?”

“Yes, it is. Name your price and I promise you’ll get it. If the NSA is willing to offer you a fifty thousand dollar signing bonus, they’ll be willing to give you whatever you want, plus protection from bad people.”

“Can I think about it?”

“You have until the end of this trip to do that.” He reached over and touched my arm. “Don’t forget my offer of marriage, too. That’s on the table as well, and I intend to prove I’m worthy of you.”

I suddenly felt guilty for not telling him everything I knew about my thesis, but had made a pact not to. “Worthy of me?” I asked, my hand flying to my chest and my eyebrows hitting the ceiling.

“Absolutely. You can run circles around me with your brain. It’s almost…scary.”

“I scare you? Are you insane?”

He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it while his eyes seduced me. Oh, he was hot, for sure. “Absolutely.”

The stewardess came to our table and took our drink orders.

“Just water, thanks,” I said.

“I’ll have a soda and Amy will have some champagne.”

I couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t even noon yet. “Champagne? At this time of the day?”

“Yep. No time like the present to start that desensitization.” The stewardess walked away, chuckling.

I leaned closer and lowered my voice to a whisper. “So you’re going to keep me drunk? Is that how you intend to make me marry you?”

“No. That’s going to be your decision and I’d never make you marry me. For the alcohol, we’re starting slow. Eventually, you should be able to drink two drinks without hunting for your silverware on the floor and hula dancing in a restaurant.”

“I didn’t…” I felt my head shake in denial.

“Never mind.” He chuckled as the stewardess brought us our drinks, then walked away. “Now tell me what you know about data modeling.”

So this was going to be a working trip. I didn’t mind that much but would rather have just sat on a couch and made out. Describing what I knew, I explained how just a few modifications to the current way of doing business could save companies tons of money if they just thought outside the box. I sipped the champagne, but stopped after about half a glass. I was done and didn’t want to push it.

He shook his head. “You’re amazing. Do you know what this means?”

“I gave you what you wanted and now you’re going to throw me out the window?” I glanced toward the side of the plane. “I don’t think I’d like that, and would hunt you down if I lived.”

“No. I’d never do that. You’re even more marketable, but extremely untrusting.” He sat back and studied me for a moment. “I wonder why that is?”

“No reason.” I took another sip of the champagne and diverted my eyes away from him.

“You’re hiding something and it’s huge.” He leaned closer. “Why are you hiding something from me?”

I faced him. “If I’m so marketable, then why couldn’t I get a job when I moved to Devon?”

He smiled. “You didn’t look in the right places. I’m so glad you quit working at the bank. I really want you to work for Madcap now. Some of our new clients are loaded and have nowhere to turn for help with their data administration needs. They can’t find good people.”

“So if I’d approach any of those other companies, they’d hire me?”

His face became very solemn and he sat back. “You wouldn’t do that to me, would you?”

I grinned. “Probably not. You’re quite a worrier, aren’t you?”

“What’ll it take to get you to Madcap?”

So I had the upper hand. I had no idea what I could ask for, considering I was living in absolute poverty. I was sure he was playing with my head. “You’re teasing me, right?”

“Not at all. I never tease about business.”

“I don’t know how to answer you,” I said.

“Think about it. The sky’s the limit, pretty much. You’d report directly to me, because what you’d be working on is too sensitive to report to anyone else.” He glanced around. “The CIA has some other things to be done, too, like new ideas for gathering information worldwide, how to find out what people are doing in this country using mathematical models and data analysis, and so on, but it’s all under the radar.”

“I’ve read some of their reports in my classes, because Dr. Urban wanted us to know what was out there.”

“I know. I read the syllabus for the class.”

I studied him for a while, trying to put it all together. “Let me get this straight. You want me to marry you and report to you at the same time? Wouldn’t that mean we’d be together every day, all day?”

He grinned while nodding. “Yep. And I can’t wait.”

“What if you get sick of me and want to divorce me?” I thought this was the most diplomatic way to say that I might get sick of my boss.

“I don’t think that’ll ever happen, however if the tables were turned and you wanted out, I wouldn’t hold you back from either your personal or professional life. I’m not kidnapping you or holding you hostage. Also, when we had kids, you’d probably only want to work part-time at the most.”

“Kids.”

The plane started to descend.

“Yes. Assuming you want kids, like you told me before. I’m willing to do whatever you want, you mean that much to me. It’s all up to you.”

The plane landed and screeched to a halt, but Mark’s eyes continued to stare at me.

“I have no answer for you right now,” I said.

“I figured as much. It’s too much like a fairytale and I can’t blame you. I don’t know what I’d say to these offers either. It’s almost too good to be true, if you ask me.” He leaned up to me while the stewardess opened the door to the plane. “But look at it from my standpoint.” His voice lowered. “I found everything I need in you and am willing to make any sacrifice to keep you happy.”

“I see.” But he made no sense.

He stood up, unbuckled my seatbelt, and helped me to my feet, while I kept my eyes on his.

“Wait,” I said. “Are you saying you’re making sacrifices in your life because of me? Are you just trying to keep me happy to get me to work for you?”

“No, and I intend to prove that to you. Even if you weren’t what I wanted in my business, I’d still be very attracted to you. Trust me, Amy, you’re the whole package and I mean it. I just hope you don’t get sick of me.”

We walked down the stairs to the plane and onto the blacktop toward the terminal in Atlanta.

“But you’re the real catch here. Who could ask for more? Even if you weren’t loaded, you’re still amazing.”

“Oh, about that. Let’s keep my secrets away from your family for now. I’m just a programmer and make above average wages.”

I nodded in agreement. “Good idea. I don’t want them thinking I’m with you for your money.”

“With your talent, you could far surpass me.”

“I highly doubt that,” I said and took his hand. “You’re an amazing businessman and no slouch yourself.” Plus, I could snow him and not tell him all my secrets, and he’d fall for it.

He pulled me to him with a kiss. “I wish all of this were over with and we were married right now.”

“Yeah, I know.”

We were just a few feet from the building when some men began running toward us, wearing casual clothes with guns in their hands. They appeared to be Asian, too.

“Mark!” I screamed, pointing. He pushed me toward the building, and we got inside just in time. As soon as I saw my brother and his fiancée, I pulled both of them with us while running.

“Follow me!”

“Amy, what’s this about?” Randy asked, trying to keep up.

“I’ll tell you as soon as we’re safe.”

We followed Mark around a corner and to the back of a small clothing store, behind a rack of t-shirts. Mark pulled out his cell phone and pushed a number on speed dial. “Tony, we’re being chased. Call the FBI, and get them here right away. They look like the Chinese nationals.”

I closed my eyes. This wasn’t happening.

“What’s going on?” Randy asked me. “Are you going to tell me now?”

“Shhh! Someone’s chasing us. Just be quiet! The police are on their way.”

Mark pulled me to his chest and stroked my hair. “I’m so sorry this is happening. I should’ve just kept you at home.”

“Are you two married?” Randy asked.

Mark held me to his chest so tightly; I could hardly breathe. “Yes, we just got married on a stopover before we got here,” he said. “We didn’t even have time to get rings yet.”

I pushed away from his chest and faced him with surprise on my face. “Married?” I mouthed.

His eyes danced while he faced me. “Now, sweetheart, I know this is supposed to be your honeymoon, but until we get these guys off our tail, it’s just going to have to wait.”

I bit my lips to stop from laughing, but had to play along. “Yes, dear. Just know I love you in case we get killed.”

His eyebrows rose and I saw him trying to get into my head. I just nodded with a wink. It was the weirdest thing, but I did love him. He was the nicest man I’d ever met, and he protected me. He really was that prince I’d been searching for, and I wasn’t going to let him get away.

A commotion outside had me ducking my head closer to Mark’s chest. He wrapped his arms around me and whispered into my ear. “Did you mean what you said?”

I nodded.

“You really love me?”

Men had to have everything spelled out to them. “Yes, Mark. I do,” I whispered, looking back up at him.

He pulled me back from my brother and his fiancée. “When we get to Colorado, we’re getting married. I can protect you better that way. I don’t have the ring yet, but will you accept my proposal of marriage?”

I’d never gotten a proposal before, but you only live once, I figured. “Yes, sir,” I whispered with a nod.

He grinned as he moved to face me, then kissed me, hard, tongues and all.

“Hey, I thought you were in danger. What’s going on with the kissing?” Randy asked.

We ignored him and continued to enjoy ourselves. Mark finally pulled away from me and moved toward my ear while hugging me very tightly. “I love you, Amy, and I promise to be the best husband and give you a nice home.”

“It’s already much nicer than what I have now.”

“Very funny,” he whispered. “Now, we have to get out of here. Any ideas?”

“What’s going on?” Randy asked.

I turned toward him. “We’re trying to figure out how to get out of here.”

“By kissing?”

“Hey, if it works,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “We just got married, silly.”

The woman standing beside Randy shook her head. “But marriage is just to save on bills, not for kissing.” She thrust out her arm and shook both of our hands. “I’m Brandy, by the way.”

I was stunned. “You really believe marriage is just to save money?”

“Oh, yes,” she answered.

I turned to my brother. “Do you believe that?”

“Not really.”

“When are you getting married?” I whispered.

“September.”

I just shook my head in disbelief. My family lived far away from me for a reason, and it was plainly obvious what that reason was.

Mark’s phone rang and he answered it. “Mark.” He listened for a moment then glanced at me. “I understand. We’re on our way.”

He took my hand and walked past the busy sales clerk. “Can I help you?” the woman asked.

“Oh, you already did…more than you’ll ever know,” Mark answered with a grin. We went into the hallway and Tony came running toward us.

“You okay?” Tony asked.

“Sure,” Mark said. “But I have a little job for you to do on the way to Colorado.” He glanced at me with a grin, then walked ahead of us with Tony.

“So, the wedding’s in September?” I asked Brandy. “I’m Amy, by the way.”

“I figured,” she said. “What was all that about?”

“Well, someone broke into my apartment, and we think they’re chasing us. That’s why we have to protect everyone in my family.”

“And you got married this morning?” she asked.

“Yes, we did.” I pointed ahead of us. “That’s Mark, my husband. My last name is now Dallas.” Well, it would be, soon, if Mark had his way.

Randy picked up their luggage beside the outside door. “John didn’t tell me you were even dating.”

“It’s a long story,” I answered. “But I’d rather talk about you two.”

We left the airport with an FBI and police escort and walked onto the plane.

“Wowee!” Randy yelled. “Will you look at this? What kind of business do you work for, Mark?”

Mark put the laptop, the papers and the books away before either my brother or future sister-in-law saw what they were, not that they’d understand any of it.

“I work as a programmer for a software company,” Mark said. “I’m good friends with the owner.”

Me too, I thought to myself. Since I was now pretend-married to him, it was even sweeter.

We all sat in chairs that swiveled and talked about the upcoming nuptials for Randy and Brandy. It suddenly hit me that even their names rhymed. It instantly made me want to hurl. I was sure Brandy thought it was cute, so I kept that fact to myself.

Right before we took off, the door to the cockpit opened and Tony and another huge thug walked toward us. Just seeing his face reminded me how he’d helped put Connor in jail and also chased me at the beach. Those little incidents seemed so long ago.

“Sir, we need to talk to you,” Tony said. He smiled and winked at me, and I lowered my eyes. Each of the two bodyguards was so tall, they had to stoop slightly in the huge plane so they wouldn’t hit the tops of their heads.

Mark kissed me as he stood, then winked at me. I was ready to deck him. “I’ll be right back.”

He left and Randy faced me. “How long have you known Mark?”

“Oh, a little while. He’s really worried about me, since I was robbed again.” I had to keep prattling or he’d want details. “By the way, John asked us to bring your bat, so I have it with us.”

“Do you still have that old thing?”

“Sure do. I use it every time I enter the apartment.”

“Well, I guess you’ll be moving in with Mark now, so you won’t need it any more, right?”

“Guess so.” I had to change the subject, fast. “So what are the plans for the wedding?”

“Well, we pretty much told you everything on the way to the plane,” Randy replied.

That was it? A wedding in September? That wasn’t the details.

I turned toward Brandy. “What colors are you going to have for your bridesmaids?”

“Whatever they have in their closet. I don’t care.”

What sort of woman didn’t care about details for her wedding? What was I thinking—I didn’t even care, but just wanted to stay alive.

I faced Randy. “How’s work?” I was stalling for time until Mark got back, hoping it wasn’t obvious to the rhyming couple—Randy and Brandy.

“I’ve been promoted to head chef,” Randy said, sticking out his chest. “I’m also developing some new dishes that I’d love to try out on everyone.”

“Maybe when we get to John’s place?” I asked. Mark thankfully returned to his seat, and I turned my gaze to him. “What happened?”

“Nothing major.” Mark stared at me. “It was just the boss calling to congratulate us on our marriage.”

Huh? I stared at him and he gave me a look I’ll never forget. It was a ‘talk to you later’ look and I didn’t like it one bit.

The plane took off and Brandy started to turn green. “Is there a bathroom near here?” she asked.

Mark pointed to the room at the front of the plane that said ‘bathroom’ and she ran to get there in time. Randy rolled his eyes and stood up. “She’s never flown before. She’s terrified.”

“You’d better go help her,” I said. As soon as he was gone, I faced Mark. “Spill it.”

“The NSA wanted to know what happened. They’re keeping tabs on you for some reason. I can’t imagine why.”

I ignored his facetious comment. “Why did you tell Randy we were married when we’re not?”

He glanced around to make sure we were alone. “So I could stay in a hotel room with you tonight. I want to make sure you’re protected.” He touched my hand and leaned closer. “It’ll be okay. Trust me,” he whispered into my ear. “We’ll make it legitimate in Colorado.”

“John’s going to want to know what happened and why we’re suddenly married after knowing you for such a short amount of time. I didn’t think about that before I accepted your offer.”

“That’s what Tony and Andrew are for. They’ll keep John in line.”

“You brought your thugs to take care of family issues?”

“They’re not my family…yet,” he whispered. “But they’re an interesting group.”

“You have no idea.”

“You’re the normal one, aren’t you?”

I just nodded because the rhyming couple were headed our way.

“Feel better?” Mark asked Brandy.

She sat down, her head falling to her knees. “Not really.”

He motioned to the stewardesses and they appeared at his side in an instant. He whispered something to them and they brought Brandy some ginger ale and crackers. Mark checked his watch and nodded to the stewardesses again. They went into a back room and brought all of us some drinks.

“Champagne…again?” I asked.

“Drink up,” Mark said. “We’re celebrating today.”

“We are?”

“Sure,” Randy said. “Your wedding, remember?”

“Oh yeah.” I chugged the whole glass of champagne, making bubbles go up my nose forcing me to hiccup.

Mark chuckled, leaned over to me and lowered his voice to a whisper. “This desensitization is going to take longer than I think. At least you’ll be fun for our wedding night.” He elbowed me and I leaned back in my chair.

It was going to be a very long flight to Colorado.

Randy and Mark started to talk about Florida attractions, while Brandy’s head was in her hands. She left frequently to use the bathroom and I knew I didn’t want to be involved. I found some magazines, and must have dozed off, because I was awakened when the plane hit the tarmac, arriving in Colorado about two hours, local time, after we left Atlanta. A limousine was waiting for us, and after getting off the plane, we all got inside. My head hurt, but I tried to paste a smile on my face.

“Gosh Mark, you must do all right for yourself,” Randy said. “My employers would never get me a limo.”

“They like me,” he said.

Tony and Andrew were in a car behind ours, and I just rested my head on Mark’s shoulder.

“You okay?” he asked.

“I have a headache.”

“You’re not going to be sick, are you?”

“You’ll know when I vomit all over you. How’s that sound?”

Randy leaned forward from the other side of the car. “Amy, tell me the truth. Did you have to get married?”

“No.”

Mark put his arm around me and stroked my hair. “Too much to drink, huh?”

“I think so.”

The rhyming couple started to whisper to each other, probably about me. I was sure it would clinch my idea of vomiting, because the two of them made me sick. Mark whispered into my ear, too, but it was hardly sweet nothings.

“The FBI is going to be watching over us from now on,” he said. “They don’t like us being threatened. Something’s going on, for sure, and they think you’re in real danger and are encouraging us to get married. If you would have been in your apartment—”

“It didn’t happen, so let it go,” I whispered back. “I had my mace and my knife, anyway.”

Mark shook his head. “These guys will try to get you no matter what. We’re trying to figure out what triggered everything. What do you have that they’d want, other than your thesis?”

“I have no idea,” I said. “Could it be my project I just turned in?”

“What was it about?”

I swallowed hard, knowing he wouldn’t like it. “Optimizing threats from a population.”

“Can you speak English for me?” he whispered.

“If you look at the entire population in the United States, what’s the chance that any given individual could be a terrorist? I created an algorithm for every individual for a threat assessment using data analysis and modeling. That’s the basis.”

His face paled as he stared at me. “You just wrote that?”

“Yes, and that’s the project you just handed in for me on Friday.”

“Uh-oh.”

“What?”

He pulled out his cell phone. “You’re now considered a national treasure and you need top security.”

“Great.” I whispered into his ear. “I get all the brain cells for the family and now my life’s the one in danger. Do you see a problem with this?”

“Yep. One we’re going to take care of. The man in your apartment has a name, too, and my guys told me as soon as we landed.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“He was a friend of your father’s and served with him in the Army. He even moved closer to you guys and was friends of your family before there was a big fight between your father and him. His name was Jack Niles.”

I turned toward him. “How do you know all of this?”

“There was a third man in the group in the Army named Ned Putnam. He kept in touch with the other two as much as he could. He lives in Maryland and knew there was some sort of dispute, but never found out what it was about. The FBI questioned him this morning as he was leaving the house. Now the other two are dead and the story died with them.”

“Maybe, but John might know something.”

He dialed the phone and I listened to his side of the conversation. “Sir, it’s Mark Dallas. I need to have a meeting with you as soon as possible about another matter.” He glanced over at me. “Yes, sir. I understand. I’ll be available at about seven this evening, your time.” He said a few other confirmations of things then ended the call.

“Who was that?” I asked.

He glanced at the rhyming couple then back to me. “You don’t want to know.”

We were driven to John’s home on the outskirts of Colorado Springs. I’d never been there, but from what I saw, he was doing all right for himself and his family.

His two young girls were playing outside, looking up when the two cars pulled into the driveway.

“Daddy! Someone rich is here!” yelled the oldest one when Randy opened the door to the limo. They were both blonde and very adorable.

“Ready, Uncle Mark?” I whispered.

He just grinned and we all got out of the car. I walked over to the girls and smiled. “I bet I know your names.”

“Betcha don’t!” the younger one said, with her hands on her hips.

I pointed to the older one. “You’re Rachel and you’re six.”

“Hey, how did you know that?”

“And, you,” I said as I pointed to the younger one. “Are Bethany and you’re four.”

“Mommy said to never talk to strangers,” Rachel said.

“But we’re not strangers. I talk to you all the time on the phone. I’m your Aunt Amy.”

“No! She’s old and gray!” Bethany said. “You can’t be her.”

“But I am. I promise.”

John walked out of the house, followed by his wife, Annemarie. “Amy! Randy!”

John said. “It’s so good to see you!”

“You are Aunt Amy!” Bethany exclaimed. She ran to me and gave me a huge hug. I scooped the child into my arms, hugging her back.

We all hugged each other and Randy introduced Brandy to them.

“And this must be Mark,” John said. He shook his hand, glancing over at the limo. “You guys travel in style.”

“Wealthy employer and they got married this morning,” Randy murmured. “They’re also being chased.” He always was a tattletale.

I saw John’s face suddenly turn red. “What? You just met the other day! Amy, what’s going on?”

“It’s a long story,” Mark said. “Needless to say, she’s being protected from the person who killed Jack Niles.”

“Uncle Jack?” Randy asked. “Why would someone kill him?”

“He was killed in my apartment,” I said. “I don’t even know him and he was dead when I was robbed.”

“You didn’t tell me this on the phone,” John said, crossing his arms. “I want to know exactly what’s going on.”

Annemarie lowered her voice. “Why don’t we go inside and talk. The neighbors don’t need to hear any of this.”

John glanced at his wife, then at Randy and me. “Right. We’ll go inside and talk.” He looked at his two daughters. “Bethany, Rachel, go inside to play.”

“Yes, Daddy,” Bethany said. The two adorable girls ran inside the house and ran up the stairs.

We all entered their home and sat in the cozy living room that looked like a cabin with bare wood on the walls and floor. Annemarie brought us all soft drinks and I sat my glass on the coffee table. All my head needed was a soda on top of the champagne.

“I want to know what’s going on,” John said. “Start at the beginning, Amy, because this is your story, not ours.”

“Well, since you two have never been robbed, let’s go back a few years. First, after you guys sent me to France, I was robbed at my apartment in North Carolina. I moved to Gainesville, where I was robbed again. After that, I moved to Devon, as you both know, and now have been robbed a third time. Each time, they take family heirlooms—never any money or expensive things.” I glanced over at Mark. “We were working on some things at Mark’s house and went back to my place. When we got to the door, it was open, so Mark called the police and they found Jack Niles’ body in my bedroom. Everything was destroyed, even my bed.”

“How can your bed be destroyed?” Randy asked.

“Well, that’s kind of a weird story. Because I’d moved so many times, I only had things I could move in my car. I had a blowup bed so it would be easier to get out quickly. I had folding chairs and a television. Other than clothes and dishes, that’s all I had to my name. It was easy to move things that way. They destroyed my blowup bed and pretty much everything else.” I wiped a few tears from my eyes while Mark moved closer and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

“You’re safe now,” he whispered. “You’re fine.”

I took a deep breath. “Anyway, when we were going through the things in my apartment, I remembered a box of keepsakes in my linen closet. I had family photos and both of your pictures were missing. I’m worried about your safety. They also took my phone records, and your phone numbers were on those papers from when I call you both every month.”

Annemarie’s hand flew to her chest, horror covering her face. “Can they find us?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I’m also not sure why that man was in my apartment and why someone killed him. It’s just weird.”

“Jack Niles was a friend of Mom and Dad’s,” John said. “He used to visit our house all the time, then suddenly stopped coming. That’s probably why you don’t remember him.” He stared at Mark and Brandy then turned to me with a solemn face. “Did you bring the jewelry box and the bat?”

“Yes, sir. We found something in the jewelry box.”

“Show me.”

Mark went out to the car and brought the bat and the items from the jewelry box into the house. John took them to the dining room table and laid them all out.

“This combination is to a lock on a storage building, and the key is to open something inside the building. You weren’t to find these things, and Dad had me promise not to tell any of this until I was forty.” He glanced at all of us. “That’s eight years from now. The storage building was paid up for that long. On my fortieth birthday, I was to contact both of you and ask you for the bat and the jewelry box.” He glanced at his wife. “I wrote all of it in a paper next to the will, in case anything happened to me.”

“I understand the jewelry box, but the bat?” I asked.

John took a black marker out of the desk in the dining room and pulled off the cap. Under the logo for the bat was a blank area that looked completely normal. He started to color it with the black marker and suddenly an address stood out in yellow.

“How did you do that?” I asked.

“Special markers. They were working on codes like this in the Army when Dad was in. You can get them at any toy store now.”

We all leaned forward and examined the bat. “415 West Acre Avenue, Lancaster, Pennsylvania?” I whispered.

“It’s where the storage building is located. Dad wanted us to have what’s inside.”

“What is it?” Randy asked.

“I have no idea. He made me promise not to say anything to either of you until I was forty, and I intend to let whatever’s there stay there for eight more years.”

“But Amy’s life’s in danger!” Randy exclaimed. “It might be the key to saving your sister!”

“Tough,” John barked, crossing his arms. “I promised Dad.”

“You’re heartless!” Randy said. “Your promise is more important than Amy’s life?”

John looked at me, then at Mark, then back to me. “I think she’s in good hands with her new husband.”

Both Randy and I sighed. We were at an impasse and John wasn’t going to budge.

“Can we have a little talk outside?” Mark asked John.

“Why?”

“Trust me. It’ll only take a few minutes.”

Mark and John went outside, while Randy, Brandy, Annemarie, and I sat back down in the living room.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Randy asked.

“I can only guess.” I was sure it was something about who was chasing me, that we hadn’t gotten married yet, and that I hadn’t even slept with Mark…well, other than sleep with him. I could only imagine what he was telling John about me being drunk.

We waited in silence, and after a few minutes, Mark and John re-entered the house. They were laughing, the type of belly laugh that you couldn’t stop even if you wanted to.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“Nothing,” John answered. “Annemarie, pack up the kids. We’re all headed to Pennsylvania…together.”

“When?” Annemarie asked, sitting up suddenly.

“Tomorrow morning. I’m calling off work and we’re going on vacation.” He glanced at Mark. “All expenses paid.”

I should’ve guessed. I lowered my head and covered my face with my hands. Mark was paying off my family to get what he wanted.

“You okay, dear?” Mark asked, touching my arm.

“Just tired. I’m not good at flying.”

“You can take a nap in our bedroom,” Annemarie said. “I have to make up the beds in the guest bedroom, and—”

“No,” Mark said. “We’re all going to a hotel in town tonight and it’s already reserved. I’d feel much safer if we were somewhere else in case you’re being targeted.”

“I’ve never been in a hotel,” Brandy said. “What’s it like?”

Mark smiled. “You’re going to love this place. It has a water park attached to it for the kids…” He looked at me. “And the kids at heart.”

“But I don’t have a bathing suit,” Brandy said.

“No problem. Leave it all to me,” Mark answered then looked at John. “We can leave as soon as you guys are packed.”

John and Annemarie left the room and I bit my lips. If I said anything, I was sure it wouldn’t be pleasant. Mark had no idea what he was getting himself into. Some fake honeymoon this was going to be.

~~~~~

Chapter 6

“We have to make a little detour before we go to the hotel,” Mark said to me as we rode in the back of the four-door car with Tony in the front passenger’s seat and Andrew driving. The rest of my family rode in the limo with another thug I hadn’t met yet, named William.

“Why?” I asked, facing Mark.

“We’re going to get married, remember?”

“Now?”

“You told me it was okay, remember?”

“Yeah, but it seems so sudden.” Was I ready for this?

“Look, Amy. I can’t lie to these people, and if you want, you can have it annulled back home later.”

“I won’t have it annulled. Let me just get over my fears.”

“Fears?” he whispered.

I shot him a dirty look.

He continued. “They’re opening City Hall just for us and the Justice of the Peace will be there in about twenty minutes.”

Oh, he was so cute when he begged. I sat back and studied his face, just making him suffer. I crossed my arms. “I’ll do it, but this isn’t our honeymoon.”

He kissed my cheek and smiled. “You’re right, and I promise you won’t regret it, either.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. “I love you, Amy, and I promise to be the best husband I can be.” He opened the box and showed me a huge diamond.

I uncrossed my arms and pointed at the tiny box with the huge rock. “Holy smokes! Where did you get that?”

“My guys took care of it,” he said with a grin, looking up at Tony and Andrew. Tony turned from the front passenger’s seat and winked at me.

“Look. If I’m marrying Mark, you can’t wink at me. It’s just not right.”

“Just remember me when you give Mr. Dallas the boot,” Tony said.

“You’re married!” I said, staring at Tony.

Andrew looked at me in the rear-view mirror. “Put me next.”

I stared at him in the driver’s seat. “I don’t even know you!”

“You don’t know Mr. Dallas much, either, and you’re marrying him.”

I sat back and closed my eyes. “Tell me I’m asleep and this is all a dream.”

Mark nudged me. “Okay, you’re asleep and—”

“Comedian.”

“You love me for it. You do love me, right?”

I looked at Tony and Andrew, who were both waiting for my answer. If I played this right, they’d all leave me alone with Mark.

I faced my future husband. “Yes, Mark, I do love you. I wasn’t lying about that before.”

“You mean it’s not his money that you really love?” Tony asked.

“I’m not that kind of girl. Besides, that’s his money, not mine.” I folded my arms to get my point across.

“R-i-g-h-t,” Tony said, nodding. All three of the other men started to laugh.

“Whatcha doing tonight after the family get-together?” Mark asked, nudging me with his elbow.

I glanced at him from the side. “Sleeping, since someone made me drink champagne that gave me a huge headache.”

Mark’s voice changed suddenly to a very professional tone, staring at his employee in the front of the car. “Tony. Aspirin. Now.”

“Great.” I lowered my head. I was about to get married to someone I hardly knew and be deflowered that same night. I certainly hoped he had protection. All I needed was to get pregnant, too.

Mark handed me a bottle of water and opened an aspirin container. He shook out two tablets and handed them to me. “Now be a nice Amy and play along. I promise you’ll never forget this.”

“Oh, I’m sure I won’t.” I took the aspirin and sucked down the water. I couldn’t imagine anyone ever agreeing to this arrangement, just to protect themselves from dying.

I studied Mark’s face. I knew, deep down, that I really was in love with him, as silly as that sounded. He was everything I was looking for, even without all of his cash. I didn’t care about that part at all.

After we arrived at City Hall, Tony and Andrew took us inside. Mark handed me his wedding ring, which was gold and very expensive. How he got the rings was beyond me.

We filled out the necessary forms and Mark paid the fee for the marriage license. He even had both of our birth certificates, but I didn’t know how he’d done that.

Tony and Andrew were our attendants, and I’m sure they’d beat each other up if I chose one of them to be my maid of honor. They stood behind us and the Justice of the Peace performed a simple ceremony. We both said our ‘I do’s,’ exchanged rings, and at the end, Mark gave me a nice kiss. I didn’t want it to be over, so I turned it into more. He certainly had it coming.

“I think you’re married now,” the Justice of the Peace said, watching me attack Mark with force. “You can leave for that honeymoon now.”

The Justice of the Peace was an old man, maybe ninety, and had his extremely hairy eyebrows raised, because I wouldn’t let Mark go. My arms were around his neck and I was kissing down his chest.

“Right,” Mark said. “Amy, let’s get going.” He unwrapped my arms and legs from around him and gave me a dirty look.

“Sure, Mark, honey,” I said in a very high bimbo-like voice.

He raised his eyebrows at me and smiled. “Tease.”

We thanked all of the employees who helped us, then Mark and I got into the car.

“Well, Mrs. Dallas, where shall we go?” Mark asked. He moved closer and nibbled on my ear.

I crossed my arms. “To see my family.”

“After that little show you gave that old man?” he asked. “I thought he was going to have a heart attack just watching you perform.”

I moved away from him and glanced his way. “That was just to get you back. I think I’m going to like this little revenge thing I have going.”

“Revenge?”

“Oh yeah. This is going to be much more fun than anything I’ve ever done in my whole life.”

He pulled me to his lap. “Well, ma’am, I’ll have you know that I always win. Just remember that.”

“We’ll see. Now, what’s our cover story for ditching my brothers?”

“We were getting rings since we didn’t have time this morning for the first wedding.”

“Right. And where did we get the rings again?”

“A jeweler on Sixth,” Tony said. “His name is Oscar. He was really nice to open just for us, too.”

“Us? You two went to get rings…together?” I asked, pointing at Andrew and Tony.

“Yep. I even picked out the engagement ring…” Tony stopped short and stared at Andrew, sitting beside him. “You don’t think…”

“Naaahhh,” Andrew said. “That guy never would’ve thought…”

I laughed aloud at the two of them. Mark joined in and started to tickle me.

We got to the hotel less than an hour after we left John’s home and walked into the huge lobby. “How did you get rooms in here?” I asked Mark, looking around.

“I had William set it all up.” He was the third thug I didn’t know. “We have seven rooms, but not on the same floor. Tony and Andrew are in rooms on either side of us, and Randy and John have rooms on a lower floor. The FBI guys and William are going to watch over them on their floor.”

“How convenient,” I whispered.

“You bet, lady.” We walked up to the front desk and Mark checked us in. “The rest of our party is here, right?”

“Yes, Mr. Dallas. They’ve already gone into the water park and are enjoying themselves. We’re keeping an eye on all of them, just as you requested.”

He grinned. “Thank you so much. We’ll be in our room for a little bit, then we’ll be joining them. Dinner’s at six, right?”

“Yes, sir,” she said, nodding with a grin. I didn’t trust her, and I had a feeling I’d feel that way with any woman around Mark. “In the private dining room,” she said with a wink. “Just as requested.”

Mark handed the woman a twenty. “Keep up the great work.”

“Yes sir.”

We went up to our room, followed by the bellhop. Mark tipped him well, and we were finally alone. I pushed him to the bed, straddled his legs and sat on his lap. Since women wanted him, I had to make sure he knew that he was now mine.

“So your first wish came true, and I married you,” I said.

“Yes, and I couldn’t be happier for that.” He sat up, kissed me gently but I pushed him back on the bed, leaning my hands on his shoulders and making my long hair tease his face.

I smiled as deviously as I could. “You know you have to be punished for turning me bad and lying to my brothers. That’s why I have to get revenge.”

He started to laugh. “I didn’t know that, but…sure.”

I attacked his lips with mine and started to unbutton his polo shirt. “Oh, Mark, you’re so hot.” I made sure he’d get flustered just so I could get him back.

He flipped me back onto the bed and lay over me. “I thought you wanted to see your brothers?”

“Oh, but you turn me on so much.” I pulled his lips to mine, then yanked his shirt up, massaging his chest. “I think I’m going to like married life.”

“You’re teasing me, right?”

“No, sir,” I said in my most seductive tone yet. “I want it, right now.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“I’ve never been more sure in my life, stud muffin. Take me, please? I can’t wait any longer.”

He grinned and started to kiss down my neck. He unbuckled his pants and threw them to the floor, only wearing his bright red boxers.

As he started to pull my shirt out of my jeans, I leaned up to his ear. “Do you have any protection?”

“Uh…”

Revenge is sweet when it’s done just right and I was good. I looked him in the eye. “I don’t think this is a good idea. I don’t need to get pregnant on my wedding day, right?”

His eyes met mine. “Are you sure you don’t want to try?”

Men were such simple creatures.

“No, sir,” I said, shaking my head slowly. “That really wouldn’t be good, because I really wouldn’t get time to know you first.” I pushed him off me and stood up, then tucked my shirt back into my jeans. “I’ll be downstairs with my brothers if you need me.”

I walked toward the door, but Mark hopped off the bed and held it shut behind me. “You didn’t win.”

“I didn’t? What are you talking about?”

He walked over to his suitcase and produced a condom. “Guess what? I had a few—actually a whole box. I was ready, just in case.”

Uh-oh. I was playing with a master, and he knew it.

“Would you believe I changed my mind?” I asked, my voice going up a few octaves.

He walked to me with a devious grin, playing with the package in his hand. “Nope. Try again.”

“Bad time for me?”

“Nope. I even looked into that. You’re fine.”

“How do you know that?” I asked, my hands flying to my waist.

“I have my ways. Try again.”

“I’m terrified?”

He stopped suddenly and the grin left his face. “Really? You were serious back in the car?”

“Yep.”

“Is that why you never did anything with Connor?”

“That…and he was married.” I rolled my eyes because men didn’t seem to remember things when it came to sex.

“You mean I have to warm you up to the idea?”

I crossed my arms. “See what you get for not dating me first?”

He lowered his head. “I never thought of that. So do you ever intend to—”

“Yes, but that first time is going to be tough.”

He moved very close to me, almost touching my nose with his, except he was a few inches taller than me. “I promise I won’t force you into anything and I’ll never, ever hurt you.”

I stayed silent.

“Tell you what,” he said. “We’ll go join your family and have a good time. After that, we’ll just come back here and watch some television. Sound fair?”

“Sure,” I answered, wiping a tear.

“What’s the matter?”

“You’re just such a nice guy, that now I feel guilty for leading you on.”

Mark kissed me with a grin. “I knew what you were doing and let you go. I wanted to see how far you’d take it.”

“You knew?”

He just nodded. “That was a fun game, wasn’t it?”

The scum. “Sure. Just peachy.”

“Grab your bathing suit and we’ll go downstairs.”

We left our room, changed into our bathing suits at the water park and joined my family. Mark and I played with my nieces, rode a few slides and finally were relaxing in the slow river on inner tubes. Mark pulled me to him and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling my head to his chest while we floated backward along the slow river of water around the park.

“So, do you like my house?” he asked.

“Sure. It’s better than what I have.”

“Very funny. You have no house. What about the job? Have you given it more thought?”

“Actually I have. I want to know why you’re using the gaming section as just a front and not using it to make money.”

“Well, it wasn’t designed that way. That’s why.”

“Is it making money?” I asked.

“Sort of.”

I stared up at the ceiling, which was painted to resemble a tropical waterfall with colorful birds and lush greenery. “Why not make it worthwhile and make it a real front?”

Mark was quiet for a moment. I closed my eyes and suddenly felt him stroke my hair while I rested on his chest.

“That’s a brilliant idea,” he said.

“What is?”

“Make the gaming section really work. Make it a real front and expand the business to actually bring in more money. You’re a genius!”

I turned my head and glanced over at his face. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“No. It’ll need a complete overhaul, too. Any ideas?”

“Sure.” I gave him a few ideas, told him to branch out into the business area and become a true figurehead.

“You should be running my company.”

“Are you upset with me?” I asked.

“Not at all. Do you mind if I use your ideas?”

“Go ahead. I don’t mind at all, considering I only laid here on the river and talked to you. It wasn’t like a big energy drain on me or anything.”

“I’m rethinking your position in the business, actually. I think you should be moved up closer to my level, and be made in charge of a few of the departments.”

“You’re just saying that because I married you,” I murmured.

“No. The problem with moving you up is because you married me. It’ll look bad to bring my new wife in and clean house. It’ll have to be done quietly and under the radar.”

I smiled up at him and suddenly cringed when I saw what was coming up on the river. I hid my face and Mark turned around right as a waterfall hit us from above. He was drenched, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Oh, very funny,” he whispered. “Just for that…” He dumped my inner tube into the water and I went face first into the three-foot gentle stream. I came up from under him and dumped him as well. Fair enough, if you ask me.

“Oops! Did I make you fall in?” I asked, covering my grin as he came up for air.

“No, that obviously was my fault,” Mark said. “I think it’s time for dinner anyway.” He checked his watch, which fortunately was waterproof. “I have a phone call to make, too.”

We both pulled our inner tubes to the nearest stairs and exited, dropping them into the huge pile of tubes. Mark grabbed a towel for each of us and wrapped one around me, then encircled me with his arms from behind, his mouth close to my ear. “Are you warm enough?”

He really did care about me? How thoughtful! I was sure, now, that I was in love with Mark—regardless of the fact that I was also his wife. I thought about telling him more about my thesis, but didn’t trust his contacts. No, it could wait.

Mark told everyone to meet back in the lobby at six and we went to our room. It was about four-thirty, so I hopped into the shower to get the chlorine out of my hair.

The door to the bathroom opened just as I was getting my hair wet.

“Can I join you?” Mark asked.

“Well, I guess since we’re married—”

The shower curtain opened and I instinctively looked down. “Oh my—”

“You can bow to me later. Right now, I just want to get cleaned up.”

“But…” I pointed at where I was looking, then pasted a smile on my face and raised my eyes.

“You just wait till later,” he whispered. “Then we’ll see how excited you’ll really get.”

He adjusted the nozzle to the showerhead toward both of us and picked up the shampoo. He spun me away from him and poured some of the shampoo in my hair, massaging it gently. It was so sensuous that I had to moan.

“Oh, you like that.”

“More than you’ll ever know.” I reached back and pulled his body against mine. Oh, he was hot all right. Hotter than hot. This marriage thing was feeling better and better.

Mark turned me around to face him then lifted my chin. “Close your eyes.” His voice was low and it was almost as if he was seducing me already.

I’d never had a nicer shower in my life. He rinsed out my hair and took the soap in his hands, which then moved behind me, lathering me all over my back. His lips met mine and he moved his hands to the front.

I took the soap from him. “I can do that part.”

“I want to do it,” he said. “You have a beautiful body and such creamy skin.”

“Yeah, and you’ll get turned on and I’ll end up flat on my back and pregnant.”

Mark started to laugh, then kissed me again. “I want to do this. Just enjoy it.”

I watched as he lathered up his hands and kept his beautiful blue eyes on mine. I could have stopped him, but really didn’t want to. We were married and I deserved to be loved.

He started at my neck and moved ever so slowly down to my chest then moved his hands to my sides and began massaging me. The anticipation was incredible, but we were suddenly interrupted by the phone ringing.

“I guess I should get that,” I moaned.

“Uh-huh.” He held on tighter, not letting me move. Just as his hands began to roam farther, the phone stopped ringing.

“Oh darn, I missed it,” I said, out of breath.

“Uh-huh.”

Within what seemed like seconds, someone banged at the door. “Amy! Let me in!”

“Ignore it,” Mark said.

“I’ll call management and have them let me in!” he yelled from the door.

“It’s stupid Randy,” I whispered. “He’ll do it, too.”

Mark backed away and grabbed a towel before he got out of the shower. “Save my place.”

I winked and blew him a kiss, then continued my shower. Mark was still talking to Randy at the door when I wrapped myself in a towel. The voices silenced and I left the bathroom.

“Is he gone?”

“Yep.” Mark walked back into the room wearing only a pair of jeans. Oh man, he was hot.

I raked my eyes over him, subconsciously licking my lips and swallowing hard.

Mark laughed at me. “You’re in bad shape.”

“No.” My eyes settled on his jeans. “Terrified.”

“Oh, I doubt that, not after that shower. You were to wait for me.”

I returned my eyes to his. “I was done. Did you want me to get all wrinkled?”

He walked to me, put his hand on my cheek, caressing it. “You’d be adorable then, too.” He studied my eyes and I could’ve sworn he was seeing through me and into my soul. He leaned forward, touching his lips to mine.

I stopped him from backing away and attacked him. The door flew open, and I stepped back from Mark.

“Amy, what are you doing and why don’t you have any clothes on?” Randy asked, standing beside Brandy.

“Didn’t I say to give us an hour?” Mark asked Randy.

“Yeah, but I didn’t think you meant it.”

“Well, I did. Now go away and leave us alone, please?”

“We’d rather stay here,” Randy said, folding his arms over his chest. “I have to protect my sister.”

“Out!” I yelled to my stupid brother. I pointed toward the door, but my towel began to slip, so I had to grab it.

Randy walked in, sat on the bed and picked up the remote. Brandy joined him and they both glanced over at me while I tried to readjust my towel.

Mark shook his head and took me by the shoulders. “Go in the bathroom and I’ll bring you some clothes.” He leaned up closer to me. “I’ll even help you get dressed.”

“In the bathroom?” I whispered back.

“Yep.” He winked. “It’s a challenge from the lack of space.” He spun me around and pointed me toward the bathroom, so I walked inside and dried my hair.

Within minutes, Mark walked into the bathroom and locked the door behind him. “They’re watching game shows. That’ll keep them busy for a few minutes.”

“It’d better.”

Mark laid the clothing on the counter and removed my towel, studying me. “Gorgeous.”

“You know they’re right out there,” I whispered.

“Yep. And we have to hurry or he’ll call the cops.” Mark picked up the underwear and helped me put them on, massaging me the whole way up my legs. I was a little bit uncomfortable with him dressing me, but he seemed to enjoy it, so I let him go.

“You’re hot.” He picked up the matching bra and studied the clasp. “Why do they make these things so hard to deal with?”

I showed him how it worked and he tried to put it on me, but he couldn’t figure it out, so I laughed and helped him. I lathered on my deodorant and he helped me put on a polo shirt, then pulled on my jeans for me, taking time to snap them and zip them up, massaging me everywhere as he went. The message was loud and clear. He really wanted to have an uninterrupted wedding night and I was going to have to be deflowered. There was no doubt about it. Considering how he made me feel, it made me want to help him out.

I yanked on my socks and shoes while he brushed my hair, stroking it carefully. As soon as I applied some makeup, I turned to him and smiled. “Did you enjoy that?”

He grinned and pulled me to him. “Probably even more than you did.” His kiss was sweet, making me moan when he touched my teeth with his tongue.

He checked his watch and we both re-entered the bedroom. Mark walked out onto the balcony to make a phone call while I dealt with the rhyming couple.

“Is it a good show?”

“Shhh!” Randy said. “I want to know the answer to this question.”

“What question?”

“Who is the current President of the United States,” he said.

“Oh, brother!” I said.

“Yes, he’s your brother,” Brandy replied. “Isn’t he incredible, wanting to learn more about the world?”

I walked out onto the balcony with Mark. There was no way I was related to Randy, and for Brandy wanting to marry him, it made me want to be sick.

Mark nodded, listening on the phone. “Yes, sir, I understand. That might be why she’s being targeted by other nations as well.”

“Other nations?” I whispered.

Mark just nodded. I fell into the overstuffed chair, not believing my ears.

“We’ll keep an eye on her and make sure everyone’s safe. How many agents are going to be in this area?” Mark sat beside me and held onto my hand. “Uh-huh. Right.”

Why did life have to be so eventful? This was my wedding day, I was being hunted down by terrorists, the government wanted me to work with them, and my own brother didn’t know the name of the President of the United States. I wondered if Randy had the right idea. He didn’t have any of the problems I had.

Mark ended his call, letting his head fall into his palm with his elbow on the other side of the chair.

“Not good?” I asked.

“It’s nothing for you to worry about. What’s your brother doing?”

“He’s trying to figure out the name of the President of the United States.”

He sat up and faced me, trying not to laugh. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Would I ever kid about something like that? Brandy thinks he’s wonderful because he’s trying to learn new things.”

Mark stood up, helped me to my feet then took my hand and walked with me into the bedroom. “Randy and Brandy, go back to your room and watch television because they’re not expecting us until six.” Mark shot me a very interesting grin. “We’re going to…discuss a few things here, and we’ll meet you at six.”

“We’d rather stay with you,” Randy said, flipping the channel on the remote.

I rolled my eyes at Mark and he sighed in frustration. “Fine, then let’s go to the bar,” he said.

“That sounds like fun,” Randy said.

“Does John drink?” Mark asked me.

“Yep. Like a fish. I’m the only teetotaler in my family.”

“Good,” he said with a huge grin. “Let’s go.”

We all walked out of our room and Mark pushed the button for the elevator. His arm was around my waist, and I returned the favor. I would rather have been in our room alone, to see how far Mark could go before having to meet the in-laws, or before I chickened out.

We entered the elevator and Mark pulled me to the side. Brandy and Randy stared at us, looking as if they were confused about our relationship.

“Are you two always lovey-dovey like that?” Randy asked.

“Sure,” Mark said. “It kind of goes with being married, right?”

“No,” Brandy answered. “Marriage is just to save money.”

“No,” I said. “Marriage means two people are in love and want to share their lives together.” I stared at Mark and his eyebrows hit the roof while he grinned. Fortunately, his back was to my brother and his rhyming fiancée.

“Well, for us,” Brandy said. “It’s to save money. We have it all figured out. We’ll be more like roommates.”

I stared at the woman. “I don’t think Randy would want that, and really think you two need to talk it over.”

“We have already,” she answered.

Mark faced me, and I understood exactly what our mission was. We had to save the rhyming couple.

The elevator hit the bottom floor and we all got out. Mark steered us to the bar, where we took a seat at a table. I was beside Mark, and Randy was across from me, with Brandy on the other side of me.

Mark ordered each of us a beer, then turned to my brother and his fiancée. “So, about marriage. It really should be about love and not roommates.”

“I agree,” Randy said, then turned to Brandy. “What ever made you think otherwise?”

“I thought that’s what you wanted,” she answered. “You always told me it’d be like being roommates, with extra perks.”

“You misunderstood.”

Mark leaned over to me while they continued to debate their relationship. “Want to go back upstairs with me and make out?”

“I’d love to.”

We got up from our seats when John and his family entered the bar.

“We can’t win, can we?” Mark whispered into my ear.

“Nope. Guess I’m going to be scared forever, too.”

“Not if I have anything to do about it,” he murmured. “I think that wall of fear is breaking down, brick by brick.”

“Good analogy.”

We all went into the private dining room, with giant tables in the middle, forming a circle. Mark sat down beside me at the end of the table closest to the door, with three empty spaces to my left.

“Order whatever you want, because it’s on me,” Mark announced as he stood up. “The wait staff will take your order whenever you’re ready.”

John was seated with his family at the other side of the circle of tables. His mouth fell down as soon as he opened his menu. “Mark, did you look at the menu yet?”

“Sure, why?” Mark sat down and removed his silverware from his napkin.

“Did you look at the prices?”

“Sure. It’s fine.” Mark leaned over to me. “Wait for it…” he whispered.

“Huh?”

“It’s coming. Just wait,” he answered in barely a whisper.

“What did you say you did for a living?” John asked.

“Am I good or what?” he whispered into my ear. He turned to my oldest brother and smiled. “I’m a programmer. Why?”

“You must make a bundle.”

“I like treating people well. That’s all.” My darling husband grinned and I almost lost it. If these people knew even half of what I knew…

We were suddenly joined by the three bodyguards, William, Andrew and Tony.

“I’d like to formally introduce some co-workers of mine,” Mark said as the three thugs sat in the empty seats to my left. Mark pointed to each of them when he introduced them. “Tony, William, and Andrew. They’re on staff at our company as security personnel. They’re accompanying us since Amy’s apartment was compromised.”

“You have bodyguards at a computer company?” Randy asked.

“It’s a software company,” Mark said with a grin. “We have to make sure the competition doesn’t steal our ideas.”

“Right,” Randy said, nodding. I was sure everything after the word ‘software’ was over his head.

A waitress appeared at the table and whispered something to Mark. He glanced over at me. “Yes, red wine would be good to start.”

I watched my two nieces squirm in their seats down near John. He picked up Bethany and sat her in his lap.

I motioned to the waitress who was walking away. “Miss?”

“Yes, Mrs. Dallas.”

I almost turned around to see who she was talking to, but kept my composure. “Can you get something for those two to eat while we’re waiting?” I pointed to my nieces and the woman looked and smiled.

“Of course.” She wasn’t gone more than a minute when she returned with crayons, children’s menus and two plates of fruit. Both of the girls smiled and thanked the woman, then she walked away.

After we were given our drinks, we ordered our meals. Just as our meals arrived, the doors to the room burst open and two men dressed in dark suits with sunglasses walked in, holding guns.

“Is Amy Summers here?”

“Uh-oh,” I whispered.

Mark swallowed what he had in his mouth and stood up. “Who are you?”

“FBI,” said one of the men, flashing a badge. “We need to take Amy with us.” They walked toward me and one of them grabbed my arm, pulling me out of my seat.

“Wait just a minute.” Mark glanced toward his thugs before returning to the newcomers. “You can’t come in here and take my wife from us.”

“Your wife?” the one who was holding onto me asked. “She’s not married.”

Mark gave his bodyguards a nod. They all stood and drew weapons on the two men. The man who was holding my arm tightened his grip.

“We’ll be outside, sir,” Tony said. He pried the man’s arm off my elbow and I massaged it.

The three of them walked outside with the two FBI men, and Mark leaned over to me. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

“I’m fine,” I said, examining my arm. “I think I’ll be black and blue, but I’m fine.”

He whispered into my ear. “Want to play doctor?”

My laughter was cut short by the sound of gunfire in the hallway. We all ducked, and John pulled both of his children under the table. The doors flew open and William ran inside. “Tony’s been hit!”

~~~~~

Chapter 7

Mark ran into the hallway, so I followed him. I wasn’t about to let him out of my sight. I knew I could take the bad guys if they tried to hurt Mark.

“No. Amy, stay in there,” he yelled.

“But—”

He gave me a look that melted my knees, so I listened to him and returned to my family, all hiding under the table. The two girls were crying, while Annemarie tried to calm them down.

“I want an explanation,” John bellowed. “Now, Amy!”

“If I had one, I’d tell you,” I said, joining them. “I know the FBI was called in to protect me and that’s all I know.”

“Why would the FBI come in to protect you?” he asked.

“I have no idea, except Mark thought it would be a good idea. He’s worried because the dead man in my apartment was a friend of Dad’s.”

“Is that why he had armed bodyguards come with you?” John asked.

“Yes. He’s worried about me, and seeing what just happened, I’m worried myself.”

“Are we all in trouble?” Randy asked. He was always a wimp.

“Probably,” I whispered. “If they know about me, chances are they also know about you, too.”

I heard the door open, hearing Mark chuckle. “I think you can all come out now.”

I looked up at him and grinned. “We weren’t sure what was going on.”

“I realize that. Those two men weren’t FBI, and I knew it. The FBI guys aren’t to get here for another hour, and they already know we’re married.”

We all crawled out from under the table and I dusted off my shirt and pants. “And those two didn’t know it. Makes sense to me.”

“If they’d been FBI, they wouldn’t have drawn weapons on us, either.”

How’s Tony?” I asked, fearing the worst.

“He’s going to the hospital. They shot him in the arm, but he’ll be okay.”

“Mark, we’d like to take our kids to Annemarie’s mother’s house,” John said. “Can we do that? We don’t want them to worry about being s-h-o-t.”

Rachel looked up at her father’s face. “We won’t be shot. I know it. Uncle Mark’s going to protect us with those big men.”

Mark faced John, sighing deeply. “I didn’t think someone would track us. It’s like they know where we are.” He glanced at my young nieces. “I’d worry about the girls at their grandmother’s house. If they can track us, they might be able to track them too. The FBI might have a solution to all of this, so let’s wait for them.”

My brothers both mumbled, returning to their seats with everyone else.

“Where are William and Andrew?” I asked, still standing beside Mark.

He pulled out my seat and helped me into it, then sat beside me. “They’re waiting for the ambulance with Tony. They’re right out in the hallway.”

I heard a siren in the distance and smiled. Tony was going to be okay, and I knew it. I really liked him, too.

“Mark, you said they’re tracking us.” John asked, playing with his food. “Do you know that for a fact?”

“No, but it seems really coincidental that they should know exactly where we were in the hotel, doesn’t it? I mean, we didn’t make reservations in advance and didn’t reserve this room that far in advance either.”

“There might be another explanation,” John said, with a sheepish look on his face. Oh, he was either guilty of something or knew something big. I could tell from the look on his face.

“What would that be?” I asked.

Randy kept eating, looking like none of this was a shock to him. I guess nothing got between him and his stomach. “I have to get the recipe for these potatoes,” he said. “I wonder if they’d give it to me?”

I shook my head and faced my older brother. “Well?”

The sirens were loud, suddenly stopping in front of the hotel. I glanced at my nieces taking their hands away from their ears, only imagining how they felt.

John stared at Mark, then at me before he began to explain what he knew. “When Dad got back from the Army, he was really scared. He used to have nightmares that someone was trying to kidnap us kids. So, he had tracking devices put into our arms, but told us they were immunizations. They were secret technology and made out of plastic so we wouldn’t be detected in airports.” He glanced at my other brother. “Randy and I had ours removed, but we didn’t tell you, Amy, in case anything ever happened to you. I have the codes for all three of them, just in case.”

My mouth fell open and I faced Mark, who was also stunned.

“No wonder my apartment’s been broken into more than once and you guys weren’t touched,” I said, turning to John. “When were you planning on telling me this?”

“Never, actually. It was a foolproof way to make sure you were safe, but someone figured it out, I guess.”

I chugged a huge swig of wine. I really needed to be drunk to deal with all of this. “How would they do that?”

John lowered his voice. “It would’ve been in the Army’s database. It was considered to be classified, so whoever knows the code would have to be high up in the Army or government.” He glanced at Mark. “It could even be the FBI for all we know.”

“I don’t think so,” Mark answered. “I’ll talk to them when they get here.” He glanced around the table. “Everyone needs to eat and enjoy yourselves. As soon as the agents get here, I’ll make sure we’re all protected. In the meantime, don’t leave. My guys called the police, too, so we should be fine.”

I leaned over toward Mark. “The fake FBI guys got away, didn’t they?”

“Yep. Some wedding day, huh?”

“We’ll be able to tell our grandchildren about it,” I answered, taking another swig.

He turned to me with a grin. “You know, to have grandchildren—”

“Yep.” I emptied my glass and handed it to him. “May I have some more?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yep.” I whispered into his ear. “I want to be plastered for tonight’s activities.”

He chuckled then moved my glass on the other side of his. “Nope. Not going to happen.”

“No?”

“Too easy. Not challenging at all.”

“So that would take the fun out of it?”

“You know it,” he said. “I want you fully aware so you enjoy…the television show.”

I swallowed hard. There wasn’t going to be any television show, but just carnal sex. Mark was a typical man and I was sure he was looking forward to playing brain games with me just to get his way.

The door to the room opened. William and Andrew took their seats next to me once again.

Mark leaned up in front of me to talk to Andrew. “Is he okay?”

“Yes, sir. He’ll be fine. It wasn’t bad.”

“Did you call?” Mark asked.

“Yes. Our backup guys will be here in about four hours or so. They’re taking the bigger plane.”

“Bigger plane?” I asked, turning to Mark.

“Don’t worry about it,” he whispered, then turned back to Andrew. “Did you get the extra rooms?”

“Yes, sir. It’s all covered. You’ll have two of us upstairs and two downstairs.”

“And the FBI?”

“They’ll be up with you guys in two other rooms. You should be fine.”

“Good.” Mark leaned closer to them. “Do I need to be armed?”

“No, sir,” Andrew said, looking at me. “Not on your wedding night, if you know what I mean.”

They both laughed and I glanced at each of them. “I don’t get it.”

“You might want to use a gun if you don’t like what happens,” Mark whispered into my ear.

“Oh. Stupid male humor. That I understand.”

“Stupid?” Andrew asked.

“Understand I grew up with two brothers,” I whispered. “Take a good look at them and tell me I’m not justified.”

I glanced toward Randy, who was using a fork to dig in his ear, while John was throwing his rice in the air, trying to catch it in his mouth. Yep, those men weren’t the brightest.

Andrew watched my brothers and nodded. “I understand completely.”

Someone knocked at the door and Andrew answered it with his hand on his gun. As soon as he opened the door, two men dressed in suits and dragging suitcases behind them entered the room.

“Mr. Dallas?” the dark-haired one asked Andrew.

“No, he’s over there.” Andrew pointed to Mark.

The two men approached Mark who took a big drink then stood up. He shook their hands.

The dark-haired one seemed to be in charge. “I’m Al, and this is Jeffrey. We’re from the FBI.” They both flashed their badges, giving Mark and Andrew enough time to read them. “We understand congratulations are in order for you and your new bride, Amy.”

Mark, Andrew, and William smiled at each other.

“Yes, thanks,” Mark said, grinning at me. “This is Amy. Can we have a brief conversation outside?”

“Sure,” Al replied. Jeffrey had brown hair and just followed along. He was younger than Al and probably a rookie.

The two remaining thugs from Madcap joined Mark and the FBI agents while the rest of us continued to eat. I’d only eaten half of my steak, but I was done. I knew I had to be on top of things later on, probably literally, for my wedding night. I was dreading it. Most people would be excited to consummate a marriage, but after fighting Connor off for so many years, it had become a real barrier in my mind. Even though I kind of hoped that Mark would be true to his word and we’d just watch television, I really wanted to explore the possibilities of what might have happened after the shower.

Mark returned and sat down beside me. “You have an appointment at the hospital tomorrow.”

“I do?”

“They want to take out that tracking device. It won’t take long. Then the FBI is going to meet us in Pennsylvania to help protect us.”

“Have you told them why we’re going?”

He leaned closer. “We’re hunting for a family heirloom that might be the key to this. That’s all they know.”

“I have a feeling that whatever’s in that storage building is the answer to at least the death in my apartment. Where are the key, the bat, and the combination?”

“They’re on the plane. My guys took them there after they dropped your family off here. They’re under lock and key and the pilot and stewardesses are watching over all of it.”

“Good.”

He leaned up to my ear. “Hurry up. I want to watch TV. My favorite program’s coming on soon.”

I glanced at the smirk on his face as he stared at me. “I want more wine,” I said.

“Nope.”

“Meanie,” I whispered, then took a drink of water.

“You betcha.” His laughter almost mocked me.

Everyone ordered dessert except for Mark and me.

“Done?” he asked.

“Yep.”

He stood and faced everyone else at the table. “Amy and I are going upstairs. It’s been a very long day for us, but feel free to take your time down here. You’ll all be protected by my men and the FBI. If you have any questions, ask Andrew.”

“Good night,” John said, and winked at me with a grin.

“You too.” I waved to everyone as Mark and I turned to leave the room.

“Oh, John,” Mark said, turning back around. “Al and Jeffrey recommend that your daughters stay with us. It’s safer, unless you want to take them to a safe house in a different state.”

“I think we’ll keep them with us,” he answered.

Mark took my hand and walked out of the room with me. “Ready for…television?”

“Sure.” I knew we wouldn’t be watching any television.

Mark pushed the button for the elevator and pulled me close to him with his arm around my waist. “Just television. I promise.”

“Yeah. I know how men think, too.”

He turned toward me. “Have I ever lied to you?”

“Not really, but you haven’t told me the complete truth. I’m not sure what to believe any more. I have to undergo the knife tomorrow, too.”

“It’s an easy procedure. You won’t even be knocked out for it. The FBI guys are flying in a specialist tomorrow morning to do it, and you’ll be in and out in less than an hour, if they can find it.”

“If? You mean they may not be able to find it?”

“They need the tracking code. John and I will be going to his house tomorrow morning to get it.” The doors to the elevator opened and we both entered. The thing was empty, and Mark pressed the button for our floor. As soon as the door shut, he looked up at the numbers and ignored me. I couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t even going to try to get what he wanted. What kind of game was he playing with me, anyway?

I crossed my arms and joined his gaze on the numbers while he kept his arm around my waist. I felt him glancing at me from the side, making me angrier. Two could play this game, and I intended to show him that I wasn’t going to take it lying down…literally.

The elevator stopped on the fifth floor and we both stepped out. Mark let go of me while he fished the key card out of his pocket. We got to our door and he unlocked it, then pushed it open slowly. I looked inside. The room was filled tons of vases of red roses.

“What? When? How?” I was speechless. He pulled me over the threshold and I took a deep breath of the beautiful aroma from the many vases of roses.

“You must have spent—”

“You’re worth every penny,” he whispered, pulling me to him. His kiss was sweet and sincere, taking my breath away.

“I love you, Mark.” The words slipped from my mouth, but I meant every syllable. It almost sounded foreign to me because I hadn’t said it much.

“I love you too,” he whispered.

I touched my lips to his, feeling the warmth. “You’re more than I ever could have imagined, even without the business or your money.”

“So you really didn’t marry me for my money?”

“No. It’s your money—not mine—just like I said before.”

He wrapped his arms around me and captured my lips with such force, I thought I’d pass out from the feeling. He backed away with a look like a child in a candy store. “Now about those grandchildren…”

“Yes?”

He backed off and let go of me. “Not tonight. I promised you and I meant it. Just television. I don’t want you to be scared of me, either.” He walked across the room to his suitcase.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Getting ready for bed, why?” He pulled off his shirt and I stared at his adorable chest. I watched as he took off his shoes, his socks and finally his jeans. He was a beautiful specimen and I didn’t want to tempt fate, so I walked to my suitcase as well. I chose a nice dark blue nightgown Joan had picked out for me, and undressed while Mark went into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

After changing, I joined him as he washed his face. His face was dripping wet and his eyes were closed. Grabbing a hand towel, I dried it off for him. As his eyes opened, he watched me while I stopped wiping his face. He took my hand and kissed the palm of it, seducing me with those beautiful blue eyes of his. It was as if something suddenly dawned on him and I think it was a good thing. A tear glistened in his eye, and he lifted his hand and caressed my cheek with the back of it. Even though no words were spoken, it was a very intimate and touching moment.

“Ready for bed?” he asked.

“I have to brush my teeth and I’ll be right there.” I smiled at him and felt such inner peace for some odd reason. I’d never felt such harmony with anyone like that before.

He left the bathroom and I was alone. After I brushed my teeth and washed my face, I studied my reflection in the mirror. My cheeks were slightly red and even looked like I wanted to jump on Mark. Maybe that’s what he saw? I wasn’t sure.

The television turned on and I heard the sound of the channels flipping. I finished up and walked around to the far side of the bed.

“Will you look at that?” he said. “I’ve been waiting to see this flick for a long time.”

After sliding between the sheets, Mark pulled me closer to him with his arm around me. Both of us were propped up on pillows, so I moved my head to his shoulder.

“What movie is it?” I asked. The opening credits were running and the title was already over.

“Nymphs on Maniac Island,” he said.

I looked up at his face. “What kind of movie is that?”

“Oh, a movie about these elves on a nutso island. It’s supposed to be funny. I think it’s a kid’s movie.” He looked over at me and smiled. “I think you’ll like it.”

“Oh yeah? Nymphs?” I was sure it was a pay movie and definitely not G-rated.

“You know—woodland creatures.”

A naked woman was running through the forest. “Some woodland,” I whispered. “I’d hate to show this to my kids.”

“I was sure…hmmm.”

The naked woman on the screen ran past two people engaged in intercourse, licked her lips while she watched them, then ran on.

“This isn’t the movie I thought it was,” he said.

“Sure it’s not.” I couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of my voice.

The woman was stopped by a big naked ogre. When she looked down, she started to smile and they began to kiss.

“So, why aren’t you changing the channel?” I asked.

“Oh, I’m interested now. He’s so much bigger than she is.” Mark looked down at me with a grin.

“Let me guess. You’re watching this for the plot, right?”

“Absolutely. I’m sure that in the end, it’ll be one of those happily ever after movies—a chick flick.”

“An ogre and a nymph—a happily ever after movie—a chick flick?”

“Otherwise, why bother making the film?” he said.

“Ah, I see.” He was so full of it.

“Yep.”

We watched them move on from kissing to other things. I tilted my head to figure out how they were doing what they were doing.

“Interested?” he asked.

“Maybe. Why?”

“Want to try it, just for research purposes?”

“Maybe.” I looked up at him. “I want to see where the plot heads next.”

“Right. The plot,” he said with a grin.

We watched for a few minutes more and Mark leaned down to kiss me. That’s all it took, because I rolled over on top of him and we had a good wedding night after that. We didn’t get much sleep, but we laughed and enjoyed ourselves.

When we took a break, at about two in the morning, I was laying up against Mark and felt wonderful. I could feel his heart beating and we were both very quiet and tired.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

“Better than I’ve ever felt. I feel so comfortable right now. I’m at peace.”

He rubbed my back and started to chuckle. “Satiated?”

I looked up at him and grinned. “I’m not sure. I think we’ll have to find out, actually.” I rolled on top of him, and kissed him, forcing him to laugh.

“I can’t believe you’re the same one who was terrified,” he said. “I just want to mention that.”

“Yep. You turned me bad with all of those positions.”

“I was just trying them out from the movie. That’s all.”

“Liar. You do it badly too.”

He rolled me over then lay on top of me. There was no way either of us was going to get any sleep.

~~~~~

I heard noises in our hotel room and knew we’d just gotten to sleep. Glancing at the clock on Mark’s side of the bed, I saw that it was almost four in the morning. Mark was fast asleep with his arm around me. He was so cute when he slept.

Something fell from the desk across the room with a thud.

“Mark!” I whispered, hitting his chest.

“What?”

“Someone’s in the room!”

The door opened and the light poured in from the hallway. I saw a tall, dark figure run out of the room.

Mark sat up and got out of bed.

“We’re naked, remember?” I whispered.

“Right.” He grabbed his pants from the floor and pulled them on, then headed out the door. I turned on the light on my side of the bed, yanked on some underwear and my nightgown, then went out into the hallway with Mark.

Andrew and William were in shorts, running toward the elevator. Mark returned into the hotel room with me, pulled me inside and gave me a big hug.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I think so. I heard something over there.” I pointed to the other side of the room.

We walked over to the desk where the lamp was laying on the floor.

“Don’t touch anything,” Mark said.

A knock at the door had us both turning. Al and Jeffrey entered the room and looked all around.

“Someone was in here,” Mark said. “The door was locked and dead bolted, and someone got inside.”

Al moved us both back from the scene. “Don’t touch anything. All of your personal effects may have been compromised. I’d suggest you buy new.”

“I had the same thought,” Mark said with a sigh.

Al looked at me. “Our surgeon is landing in about half an hour. Can you get dressed in something warmer and go to the hospital?”

“Sure. Can I take a shower first?”

“Yeah, but no shampoo, don’t use your toothbrush, and find other clothes.”

“No shampoo?” I asked.

“I’ll get you some, and a toothbrush and toothpaste and whatever else I can find,” Andrew said, walking into our room. “I’ll be right back.”

“Clothes, too,” Mark yelled after Andrew.

“Yep.”

I plopped down on the bed and Mark sat beside me. There was nothing I could do.

“Frustrated?”

“You have no idea,” I said. “I’ve been living this same nightmare for a long time, and it follows me wherever I go.”

“Hey, it could’ve been worse.”

“Yeah, we could’ve been killed.”

He leaned over and smiled. “No, they could have come in an hour earlier.”

“Oh yeah. That would have been really funny. Thank you, by the way.”

“For what?”

“For making my wedding night memorable. I’ll never forget it, or…” and I looked all around the room. “All of these beautiful flowers. You’re incredible.”

His arm was behind me as he leaned on the bed. “I never knew it was possible…” he looked at the FBI men who were taking inventory, then leaned toward my ear, “…to do what we did so many times in one night.”

My face reddened and I could feel it. “That’s not normal?”

He kissed me and I felt his eyes connect to mine. “For you it is. I bet you’re tired, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, but I’ll be okay. I’m sure they’ll give me something in the hospital to make me sleep.”

“Not really. They want us out of here quickly. Since someone knows where we are, we’re sitting ducks.”

Andrew returned a few minutes later and handed me a bag of things. Where he got them so early in the morning was beyond me.

I went into the bathroom, joined by Mark. We both got into the shower and let the water bathe us. After an hour of lathering up, finishing our showers and getting dressed in new clothes, we left the bathroom and saw my whole family waiting for us.

“Why are you all here?” I asked.

“We’re waiting for you two,” Randy said. “What were you doing in there, anyway? And together?”

John and Annemarie both laughed, rolling their eyes at me.

“Randy, you and I need to have a chat,” John said. “Obviously, you have no libido gene, and I’m going to have to teach you a few things.”

“Want some help?” Mark asked him.

I slapped his arm. “No, he doesn’t want any help. He doesn’t need to hear stories about me, thank you very much.”

Mark and John laughed aloud while Annemarie hid her smile. Brandy and Randy were clueless with blank looks on their faces. Even the FBI men laughed, but I didn’t see the humor.

“So you had flowers in your room?” Brandy asked, looking all around.

“Mark got those for me,” I answered. “It was our wedding night, remember?”

“Oh, I get it now,” Randy said. I was ready to smack him over the head. He was worse than pathetic.

“Breakfast?” Mark asked.

“I have to pack first,” I answered.

“No, my guys will take care of this. It’s a crime scene now.”

“Can they at least keep some of the roses for me?”

“We’ll see,” Mark said, wrapping his arm around my waist.

We all went down to the restaurant, which was just opening for a free buffet. Everyone filled their plates while Mark and I spoke to Al.

“Can I eat?” I asked Al.

“Sure. They’re using a local anesthesia, so you can eat. It’ll be quick. Mark can even be there if you want. Jeffrey and I’ll be there to protect you, too.” He leaned up closer to me. “According to our contact for the NSA, you’re very valuable to them. Is that right?”

I glanced at Mark and he nodded. “More than you’ll ever know,” he whispered back.

Mark and I grabbed some plates and ate at a table for two. My family was spread out all over the dining area, and I was just glad to be alone with Mark. Just as we started to chuckle and play footsies under the table, Randy pulled up a chair.

“I need help,” he said.

“With what?” Mark asked, shoveling some cereal into his mouth.

“Brandy,” Randy whispered. “I want what you two have together and she just doesn’t understand.”

“Start slow,” Mark said, glancing at me from the side.

“I tried that. Last night when I tried to take her clothes off her—”

“That’s not slow,” Mark whispered to him. “That’s fast. With someone like that, it’ll take weeks to get to that step.”

“Explain it to me?”

Mark took a napkin from the table and pulled a pen from his pocket. He wrote down the steps for poor Randy to follow to seduce Brandy, like he was an expert. All he had to do was rent that Nymph movie and she’d be putty in his hands.

I didn’t want to hear their disgusting stupid man discussion, so I went to get a cup of tea. John stopped me just as I put a teabag in the cup.

“So how’s lover boy?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Does he satisfy you?” He was always obnoxious, which was why I rarely dated when I was at home.

“None of your business.”

I tried to walk past him, but he grabbed my arm. “Did you get any sleep last night?”

“Sure.”

“How much?”

“An hour, maybe?”

John grinned. “Yep. He’s worthy of my sister.”

I hated John. I was so glad Mark was nothing like him.

Mark walked up to me with a smile. “Ready to go?”

“Sure.”

He turned to John. “We’ll need to go to your house for the tracking information. The FBI doesn’t want the person who knows the information to know we’re trying to get it. They’re going to take the chip on a little trip away from us and see if they can track the guy.”

“Makes sense. Let me tell Annemarie and I’ll go with you.”

John walked away and I all but stuck out my tongue at him.

“Did he say something to upset you?” Mark asked, his eyes meeting mine.

“He wanted to know about our sex life, the pig.”

“Oh, I’ll tell him,” Mark said. He turned to talk to John, but my fingernails in his arm stopped him cold.

“Over your dead body,” I muttered. “Don’t worry, he said you’re worthy of me.”

Mark laughed, removed my hand from his arm and pulled me to him, his hands around my waist. “Oh, did he?”

“Yeah. I told him we got an hour’s sleep. That’s all he needed to know to fill in the rest.”

“But some of that was spent watching the movie.”

“Yeah, to get more positions. Did you tell Randy to rent one of those? It’ll speed things up a bit.”

“I guess I should have. You’re right.” He walked away and pulled Randy aside, writing more on the napkin. I’d created a monster.

John joined us and we took an SUV with Andrew to John’s house. How and why they rented all of these vehicles wasn’t my concern. All I knew was that John was in the front directing Andrew as he drove and I was laying on Mark’s lap in the back while he stroked my hair and whispered sweet nothings into my ear, making me smile.

Andrew pulled into John’s driveway and I sat up.

“Uh-oh,” John said.

I looked at the front of the house and saw where he was looking. We all jumped out of the car and Andrew drew his gun while Mark pulled out his cell phone and made a call.

We stood at John’s slightly open front door, where a huge kitchen knife was shoved into the wood, with blood all over the handle. Under the blade was a note in big black letters that read, ‘Where is it?’

~~~~~

Chapter 8

“Don’t touch anything,” Mark said, moving the phone from his mouth. “Everyone’s supposed to get out of here in case the guy’s still here.”

We all ran back to the car and high-tailed it out of there, heading back for the hotel and passing some police cars with their sirens blaring and their lights blinking.

“Think it’s for a donut raid?” John asked, looking back at us.

“Absolutely. A Monday morning coffee stop, for sure,” Mark answered. They both laughed. Stupid men humor.

“So, Mark, did you have a nice night?” John asked.

“You bet we did, right Amy?” He glanced at me and I gave him a dirty look. “We watched a great movie on television.”

“You watched TV on your wedding night?” John asked.

“Yep. Oh, it was a good one, too.” I saw him wink at John and they both started laughing.

“Did you even follow the plot?” John asked me.

“Sure. Want a blow-by-blow account?” As soon as the words were out of my mouth I turned away, feeling my face turn red. All of the men in the car howled, and I was afraid Andrew would run the car off the road.

Mark put his arm on my shoulders. “That’s my Amy!”

“You guys didn’t get married in Georgia, did you?” John asked.

Mark glanced at me, then back at John. “No, but don’t tell Randy. We got married here, and it was for protection for Amy. That poor Justice of the Peace—”

“Don’t tell that story,” I whined.

“He probably had a heart attack after we left.”

“You know it,” Andrew said. “I saw him fan himself and take some medication after you two walked out of the building.”

I hid my face.

“Why was that?” John asked, almost laughing.

“She attacked me in front of the guy, just to get me back,” Mark said, pointing at me. “For what, I’m not sure.”

“You deserved it, dragging me to get married so soon. But…” All eyes were on me.

“But what?” Mark asked.

“It was worth it.”

He kissed my cheek. “I knew it would be.”

“Did you guys take off work this week?” John asked Mark.

“I did, and Amy’s kind of out of work right now. She quit so no one would track her to her job.”

“Oh, I get it. So Amy, you’re living off Mark?”

“Not really. It’s a long story, but I’ll find a job.” I glanced over at Mark and he raised his eyebrow. I was sure he thought I’d be looking for a job somewhere else. I couldn’t tell John that I intended to work for Mark. I’d tip my hand.

We arrived at the hotel and walked back inside, while Al talked on the phone. Al and Jeffrey whisked us into a room off to the side and sat us down. The rest of my family was nowhere around.

“This is confidential,” Al said, ending his phone call as we all sat down. “I don’t want anyone else to worry. There was a dead body in your house, John.”

“What?” he said, jumping to his feet.

“It was Ned Putnam,” Al explained. “He was in your living room and our guys are securing the scene. I wouldn’t advise going back there any time soon.”

“My living room? Ned was a family friend, just like Jack Niles, but he only visited my parents a few times.” He glared at me. “This is all your fault, you know.”

I pointed toward myself. “My fault?”

“Yes. If you wouldn’t have come out here, they never would’ve found me.”

“Look,” I said to my brother. “If you would’ve told me about that stupid tracking chip, none of this would’ve happened, from what I can see. No one would’ve tracked me wherever I went. You and Randy could’ve told me.”

“Regardless,” Al said. “Someone is following your every movement. As soon as we get that tracking device from Amy, I want everyone to leave town.”

“How can I get the codes for the tracking chip now?” John asked.

“Tell me where we can find it, and I’ll have my guys take care of it.”

“It’s locked in the desk in the dining room.” He took his keys from his pocket. “I have the key here.” He went through the many keys and displayed a small one.

“Give it to me and I’ll have Jeffrey take care of it.” He glanced over at me. “In the meantime, I want you at the hospital. Our doctor is waiting for you.”

“Yes, sir.” I stood up and Mark walked out of the room with me. Andrew followed us and we headed for his SUV. He drove me to the emergency room and introduced us to the doctor who’d be performing the test.

“Is this going to hurt?” I asked, heading for the examining room.

“Not at all,” Dr. Gilbert said. “We give you a shot to numb the area then take the thing out. You’ll have a few stitches, and that’s it. When’s the last time you had a physical, anyway?”

Darn. I was afraid of that. I glanced over at Mark and he gave me a dirty look.

“It’s been a while,” I said, lowering my chin a bit.

“Fine. We’ll take care of that too. I don’t want to operate on someone who might have other problems.”

Mark put his arm on my shoulders and got closer to my ear. “Looks like this was a good thing after all.”

“Meanie.”

He chuckled and I entered the exam room. “I’ll be right out here waiting for you,” Mark said. “I wouldn’t want to spoil your fun.”

“Sure.”

The doctor instructed me to strip down and put on a gown, then returned for a full and lengthy physical. When he was done, he checked all of his notes. “You’re fine. They also found the code for the tracking chip, but I’m pretty sure it’s on your arm. You even have a scar there.”

“Where?” I asked, looking down at my upper arm.

He pointed high on my left arm and showed me an almost invisible scar. “Right here.” He took a small electronic device and put it up to the scar. The thing started to beep. “Yep. That’s it.” He moved a tray of cutting instruments closer to me and I noticed a huge needle on the tray. That’s all I remember, because I think I passed out.

~~~~~

“Amy, can you wake up?”

I hated hearing that. I opened my eyes and saw Mark and the doctor looking at me, almost laughing.

“Sure. What’s for lunch?” I asked.

“She’s fine,” the doctor said. “You don’t like medical procedures, do you?”

“No.”

“You passed out before I even numbed your arm, so I went ahead and took out the chip. You can get dressed and leave now.”

I looked at the stitches in my arm and grimaced. “Yuck. Why do they have to be black?”

“So they’ll be easy to see when they need to come out,” the doctor explained. “They need to come out in a few days. In the meantime, try to keep them dry.” He handed me some bandages. “Use these. It’ll help.”

Mark helped me to my feet and I pulled on some clothes. We left the hospital with Andrew, who drove us directly to the plane, where my family, Al, Jeffrey, and the other three Madcap thugs were waiting for us. I was introduced to the two new ones, who were named Don and Troy. Al and Jeffrey talked to Mark for a minute, and after they left the plane, we were finally allowed to take off.

Mark and I sat at the back of the plane and watched the rest of my family. As soon as we were at altitude and able to take off our seatbelts, the two girls started to dance, laughing hysterically. The rhyming couple was trying to learn how to hold hands and I was leaning against Mark’s arm.

“Tired?”

“Yeah, you?”

“Come with me.” He took my hand and we walked toward the back of the plane. Mark opened a door that seemed to be hidden, and we both walked into the room. It had two couches and some overstuffed chairs with a big table in the middle of the room. He sat me on the couch, then went to a closet and retrieved some pillows and blankets. He put one pillow on the end of the couch, moved me down to it and covered me with a blanket.

“Sleep well, dear Amy,” he whispered, kissing my cheek. “Because tonight you have meetings.”

“Meetings?”

“Yep. With me.” He grinned and I just closed my eyes. Whatever.

He left me alone and I fell asleep almost instantly.

I must have been having a nightmare because I heard someone singing really badly. Opening my eyes, I realized it wasn’t a dream. It was Randy. As soon as I pulled the pillow over my head, I heard someone start to laugh. I moved the pillow and saw Mark sitting in one of the overstuffed chairs, reading my thesis.

“That’s awful,” I said.

“Yep. That’s your family.”

“Sorry you married into it?”

“Nope.” He gazed over at me. “Not for the prize I got.” He looked at the brown front cover of the book. “You’re worth all of it.” He opened the book to the middle. “Is there anything you left out of your explanation to me? Something’s not jiving with the NSA guys.”

He was going to figure it out. I couldn’t let him know anything else, because it wasn’t safe for him. “It’s been a while since I wrote the thing. Now, did anyone eat out there? Is that why they’re singing that awful stuff?”

“Not exactly. I gave each of them a laptop to keep them busy, and they’re playing old Madcap games that are out on the market. One of the games is a karaoke machine.”

“I bet that was a big seller,” I said in a sarcastic tone.

“Actually, it’s our biggest seller.”

I turned to him in shock. “You have to come up with something better than that.”

“Any ideas?”

“Actually, I do.”

“Wait. I need to write this all down. You’ve got a head for business and I need to make sure I don’t forget anything.”

After he got some paper and a pen, I gave him ideas for four more games for untapped markets. I even drew some of the graphics needed for the games.

“Even if you don’t take a job with Madcap, we’ll pay you for all of this,” he said, looking over all of my notes. “Do you have any more ideas for my company?”

“Tons of them, but it’s not important. How close are we to Pennsylvania?”

“We’ll be landing in about ten minutes. You were asleep for a long time. We even all had lunch.”

“You wore me out, stud muffin,” I whispered as I yawned. “You and the nymphs.”

“Don’t forget that ogre, either.”

“Oh yeah. The size was just like looking in a mirror for you, huh?”

He started to laugh then put the book and all of the papers away. “Is it okay to have lunch after we land?”

“Yeah, I’m not that hungry anyway.”

“Want to join your family?”

“Do I have to?”

“Well, it’s only the polite thing to do. I think Randy and Brandy are getting further in their relationship, and John was actually smiling at his wife.”

“They don’t get along, do they?” I asked.

“I think it’s strained. You really are the most normal of the group.”

“I guess so. That’s a scary thought.”

We walked into the main room of the plane and joined everyone. They were all playing computer games, and Randy had finally stopped singing. Brandy and he were competing for some intelligence game, and I could only imagine which one would win. The girls were playing dress-up on their games, and John was saving the universe by killing all the bad guys. Annemarie was searching through recipes. I just glanced at the four thugs, and they all shook their heads at me and rolled their eyes in unison. Yep. My family embarrassed me.

We all buckled our seatbelts and the plane finally landed. Two cars were waiting for us to take us to the address written on the bat after stopping at a fast food drive-thru for me.

John and his family were with us in one SUV, with Mark beside me in the back. We landed in Philadelphia, which meant about a two-hour car ride with them to Lancaster.

After ten minutes of listening to John and his wife arguing, Mark leaned over to me. “I should’ve brought the laptops.”

“If they’d just stop fighting, my head would stop pounding.”

He pulled me to his lap. “Take a nap,” he said. “I’ll think of something.”

I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the bickering and crying. It was nasty, and made me realize that Mark and I would never fight like that. Their girls were well behaved, but I couldn’t say the same thing for my brother.

I must have fallen asleep because when I woke, John had switched seats with Annemarie and he and Mark were having a jovial discussion about politics. I couldn’t believe it. John always tried to pick a fight, no matter if he agreed with the other person or not, but Mark was doing very well holding his own. I sat up and Mark faced me. “Better?”

“Oh yeah.” I grinned. “Thank you, more than you’ll ever know.”

He smiled and kissed my cheek. “You’re welcome. We’re almost there.”

I looked out the window and recognized the landscape. It was definitely Pennsylvania. The sight of the rolling hills and deciduous trees brought back many memories, most of which were good.

Andrew went to West Acre Avenue, with Annemarie’s direction, and stopped at a storage business. The other SUV was behind us, and I only hoped we’d change passengers around for the next leg of the trip.

“I have to talk to you for a minute,” Mark said. “After we’re done here.”

“Why? What did I do?”

He grinned. “Paranoid much?”

I shot him a dirty look and he leaned toward my ear. “I got a phone call while you were sleeping. It was from the Denver agents.”

“Oh. I understand.” At least it wasn’t about my thesis.

Everyone got out of the SUVs to stretch their legs. Mark and I went into the small office and I approached the desk.

“May I help you?” asked an overweight woman with a huge smile.

“I hope so,” I answered. “My father opened a storage building a long time ago, and my brothers and I just found out that it existed. Is there any way we can see what he had inside?”

“Sure. Do you know the number of the building?”

I stared at Mark and sighed. “The number, huh?”

“John might know,” Mark answered. He turned to the woman. “We know the name on the account. Does that help?”

“I’ll need that too, just to verify it. But you have to have the number of the shed before I can let you go back there. Company policy.” She smiled again, and I was ready to slap the smirk off her face.

John entered the building. “Can we go in?”

“No. Do you know the number of the storage shed? We can’t get in unless we know it.”

“Dad made me memorize a saying to remember it. Let me think…” He stared at the ceiling, his finger tapping his mouth. Great. Our entire future for this mission depended on John’s memory. We were sunk.

John sighed. “Let me see…it was something like, ‘three primes, separated by two, backward in order, the shed will find you.’”

I hit his arm while Mark made notes on a piece of paper from his pocket. “What kind of clue is that?” I screamed. “It makes no sense at all, the shed will find you, my foot!”

“Wait, Amy, ignore that part,” Mark said. “Think about the other three lines. Three primes.”

“Well, if it’s three digits, which is most likely, then the numbers can only be 2, 3, 5 and 7. Those are the only primes that are one digit.”

“What about the number one?” John asked.

I wasn’t about to go into the reason using theorems, history, or ring theory in Mathematics. “Because the definition of a prime says it has to be higher than one.”

“How do you know that?” he asked.

I rolled my eyes at him. “I’m getting my Master’s degree in math and business computing in two weeks. I just finished all my coursework. Don’t you listen to my phone conversations when I call?” I was ready to smack him over the head for the umpteenth time.

“Oooohhh, a Master’s degree,” he said in a childish voice, the scum.

Mark sighed and turned to me. “So we’re looking at 2, 3, 5 and 7. The second part says ‘separated by two’.

“That would probably mean that the digits are two from each other, as in 3, 5 and 7.” I glanced at his paper. “Backward in order, probably means the answer is 753.” I turned to the woman. “Did you have a storage shed with a number 753 on it?”

“Yes, we do. Under what name?”

“Gerald Summers,” John said.

The woman pulled out a huge file of index cards and began to leaf through them while she hummed some old hymn. At least someone was good and moral and got to go to church on Sunday.

Mark wrapped his arm on my shoulders and whispered into my ear. “Recognize the song?”

“Yep,” I whispered back. “I’m Waiting Till Eternity.”

“Very funny,” he whispered. “I was being serious.”

I listened some more, but couldn’t remember the title. “Not really.”

“Oh, so you must need to get to church more.”

Smart aleck. I was ready to slap that smirk right off his face.

“Here it is,” the woman said. “All paid up for eight more years, too.”

John shot me a dirty look, but I ignored it.

“You may go through those gates and the shed will be the last one on the end of the second row from the left.” She pointed toward our left, so I didn’t have to ask the obvious if she meant our left or her left.

“Thank you,” I said.

As we left the small office, Mark pulled the key and combination out of his pocket. The rest of the group followed us, parading down the long row of storage sheds and to the end of the second row on the left.

Mark unlocked the shed with the combination, but before he could open it, he faced everyone. “Whatever’s in here should be divided equally between the three kids. Agreed?”

Everyone nodded. He opened the door and there, before us, was one giant trunk. He flipped on the light and we all stood around it.

“How are we going to divide one trunk?” Randy asked.

John slapped him over the head. “Idiot. It’s what’s inside that’s important.” I hated my family sometimes, and now knew why I lived so far away from all of them.

Mark knelt down to the lock and opened it with the key. He pushed up the top and we all looked inside. John removed what was inside, a huge painting covered in clear plastic.

“Holy smokes!” Annemarie exclaimed. “Do you know what that is?”

“A painting?” Brandy asked.

Annemarie shot her a dirty look. “I was an art major in college. This looks like a painting that was stolen from the Louvre after the Second World War, and no one has been able to find it.”

John checked the corner and swallowed hard. “It says Danais,” he whispered. “So Dad was a thief?”

“Jacques Danais? The famous French painter?” I asked. I left my gaze study the thing, a gorgeous painting of fields of white tulips with a boy riding a horse through it, heading toward mountains. “This thing must be worth millions!”

“At least,” Annemarie said.

Mark pulled out his cell phone. “Dad, I need help. Do you still have your contacts with the CIA?”

“No government employees!” John yelled.

“Hold on a minute,” Mark said into the phone then faced John. “These guys are retired and kind of operate outside the law. They’ll never tell. Trust me.”

“I don’t want to go to jail,” John whined. He looked at the painting then put it down carefully, wiping the sides. “I don’t even want my fingerprints on this thing.”

Mark walked outside, talking to his father on the phone, then motioned for someone to come to him. As soon as Andrew approached him, he whispered into his ear. Andrew left, then returned a few minutes later with the SUV. They loaded the painting into the back, and Mark ended his call with his father, walking back inside the shed.

“Not to worry,” he said to John with a friendly slap on his back. “Dad and his friends are on it, and they ‘found’ it but don’t remember where. It’ll all be taken care of, and very anonymous.”

“Why would Dad have that painting?” I asked, staring into the empty trunk.

Mark joined me, then began knocking inside the trunk. He finally knocked on the bottom, turned to me and grinned.

“False bottom?” I asked.

He nodded and John helped him lift a panel from the bottom of the trunk. Inside was one piece of paper. He picked it up into his hands and stared at it.

“Amy, time to get that program written,” he whispered.

I looked at the paper and sighed. Whatever was there was in code. Great.

“That’s it?” Randy asked. “A stolen painting and a piece of paper with junk on it?”

“There’s the trunk,” John said. “I’ll take that, you can have the stolen painting and Amy gets the piece of paper. Deal?”

“No deal,” Randy said. “I don’t want to be caught with a stolen painting. No way, no how.”

“I think we should load up the trunk and close out the account,” Mark said. “No use keeping the shed if it’s only for this trunk.”

“I agree,” John said.

I was still studying the code when Mark leaned over to me. “Anything?”

“Oh yeah,” I whispered. “I think I need a pen and some paper.”

They loaded the trunk into the back of the second SUV, moving the back seats to accommodate the huge trunk. We pulled out of the storage area, and John and Mark went to settle the account. I continued to work on the puzzle in front of me, solving it in a few minutes.

“Where to?” Mark asked me as soon as he got into the car.

“To the house,” I answered.

“You solved that jumble of letters already?”

“Sure. Piece of cake. Dad and I used to do cryptograms all the time.”

“I never could get the hang of those,” Randy said. “What does it say?”

“We’re going to the house,” I answered. He didn’t need to know the specifics because he’d just ask more questions that would be more than he could handle. However, I could play with his head. No, I’d have an unfair advantage, unless if I quizzed him on the name of the President of the United States. He probably figured out that answer.

We all got into the SUVs. Since John and his family got into the other SUV along with the rhyming couple, Mark and I could finally be alone, along with Andrew, William, the trunk and painting. The other two thugs were in the other SUV.

“The CIA guy is meeting us,” Mark said. “I also got a call from the FBI in Denver that your tracking device has become a big deal. They’ve arrested two Chinese guys and a Greek man trying to find you.”

“Greek? How did they get the code for it?”

“Someone at the top of the U.S. Government has probably been handing it out, but I don’t know why. You’re safe for now, because the FBI has been trailing us since we landed in Philadelphia.”

“I’m glad. What would two governments want with me, anyway?”

“The NSA thinks it’s either your thesis or the project you just turned in. They’re investigating Dr. Urban and the entire University to see if there was any way anyone could get access to it without you knowing. That project is being studied carefully, and the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are very interested in talking to you.”

“Because of that project?”

“Yes. You don’t do racial profiling in it, but assign weights to each individual, giving them a positive or negative score according to their life habits. If they get a positive score, then those are the ones they should go after, reducing their load unbelievably. Also, you get your data from sources other than driver’s licenses, because no one can really live off the grid in the United States.”

“It was only obvious,” I answered. “It’s not rocket science.”

Mark faced me. “To them, it is, and they want you to work in a remote town with barbed wire around you and the compound, with military men surrounding you all day, every day.”

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“No, I’m not. I promised them I’d keep you safe, but we’re going to have to step up security. If just one terrorist thinks you have their number, you’ll be killed.”

“All because I enjoy this type of work?”

“That, and you’re good at it,” he answered with a kiss to my cheek.

I had to change the subject. “So are you missing much at work today?”

“No, actually. I took the entire week off last week. I was going to go visit my family.”

“You were?”

“I was going to take you with me, too.” He gave me his best puppy dog eyes, and I almost melted.

“Why?”

“To introduce you to them and show you around.” He took my hand. “I was serious about that marriage thing back on Saturday, too.”

“I see that. Granted, I didn’t believe you. When did you take the week off?”

He glanced around the car, then leaned toward my ear. “Last week, before I even met you.”

“Do you know how much I appreciate everything you’ve done?”

“You can show me later,” he whispered, then winked.

“I’m serious. I really do appreciate it. The roses, the flights, the meals, the wedding. I appreciate it all.”

“You’re welcome, but you’ve paid me back a thousand-fold, my dear.”

“I have?”

He just nodded and smiled.

We drove to my parent’s house in Chester County, to the east of Lancaster. As soon as we pulled into the driveway, a flood of memories hit me, forcing me to wipe a few tears.

“You okay?” Mark whispered.

“Yeah. It’s almost as if Dad and Mom are still alive. I’m just waiting for them to run out of the house to say hello.”

He took my hand, gave my cheek a kiss, and we got out of the SUV. I saw John and Randy wiping their eyes as well, so I didn’t feel quite as badly for being sentimental. We all missed our parents and our lives at our old house.

Another car drove into the driveway and two FBI men got out and introduced themselves to us. As we all walked up to the house, I held my breath while John unlocked the front door. As soon as he opened it, those great memories of my childhood all faded. Someone had been in the home, because papers and furniture were strewn everywhere. That person really wanted to find something, leaving no corner unturned.

~~~~~

Chapter 9

We all stood staring inside at the front door.

“Think the cleaning lady was angry?” John asked.

“When’s the last time someone was here?” I asked him.

“I had someone check on the place every month,” John answered. “Dad didn’t want it sold until my fortieth birthday, in case one of us needed a place to live. I was paying utilities and had someone check up on it.” He glanced at the date on his watch. “They would have been here last week.”

“Who was supposed to check up on it?” I asked.

He glared at me. “Ned Putnam.”

“You don’t think he was going to Colorado to meet with you, do you?”

“I have no idea.” John walked into the house, careful not to disturb anything on the floor. “Uh-oh.” The FBI men followed him, their guns drawn, followed by Mark’s thugs.

“What is it?” Randy asked, taking a step backward.

“Don’t come in here,” John said. “Randy, take Brandy, Annemarie, and the kids back to the car. Now!”

Randy did as told, while Mark and I glanced at each other. We finally took a few steps to stand beside John and the small army with him. There, in the kitchen, lay a dead body.

“Oh no,” I whispered. “Not another dead body!”

“Don’t they say deaths come in threes?” Mark answered. “Jack, Ned, and now this guy.”

One of the FBI men pulled out his cell phone and called for backup while we walked back into the messy living room. He walked out of the kitchen, then faced Mark. “Sir, we’re going to advise you get out of this area. We’ll take care of things here, and we’d like you to meet someone in Maryland to protect you.”

“Good idea,” Mark answered. “Can we come back after this is cleaned up? There are some personal things inside the house that these people want to get.”

“I understand. We should have it all cleaned up by morning.” He leaned closer to Mark. “However, if that’s who I think it is on that kitchen floor, this place will be crawling with reporters.”

“Who is it?” I whispered.

“It looks like Timothy Thayer, a four-star General with the U.S. Army, but I might be mistaken.” He pulled his partner over to talk to Mark and I returned to the SUV. Mark joined me in minutes, and we began down the road toward Maryland, talking to the Madcap thugs during the almost three-hour trip toward Washington, D.C., stopping just north of the city in Maryland. Mark made a few phone calls during the time as well, while I tried to get all the facts straight with Andrew’s help.

When we got to the outskirts of D.C., Mark ended his latest phone call and faced me. “We’re going to drop your family off at a safe house, then head out to visit my parents.”

I glanced down at my clothes and straightened out my hair. “I look like this and we’re going to visit your parents?”

“Relax,” he answered. “They don’t know we’re married.”

I searched in my purse for a brush. “Men just don’t understand some things.”

His arm was around me instantly. “They’ll love you.” He moved closer to my ear. “I know I do.”

Andrew spun around from the passenger’s seat while William drove. “So this is a real marriage after all?”

“Yes, sir,” I answered. “It’s the real deal. Mark’s a good guy. Anyone who can put up with my family and not get angry over their stupid comments is golden in my book.”

“I am?” Mark asked.

“More than golden. But don’t let it go to your head. I still have to live with you.”

He chuckled, then gave my cheek a kiss.

We stopped at a huge home north of Washington, D.C., where we were met by various members of the military. One big man pulled Mark aside, so I joined him.

“Sir, we’d like for all of you to stay here tonight.”

Mark checked his watch. “I have one stop to make, then we’ll be back.”

The man took Mark’s arm. “No, you don’t understand. The Chinese are in town. The murderers left a calling card at the home in Pennsylvania, and it was from the Chinese people after your wife. They threatened both of you. Also that was a four-star General who was found dead. His body has been identified.”

Mark glanced at me. “I see. Can I bring my parents here to see us? I really have to talk to them.”

“Let me call my superiors. Oh, and someone wants to take the possession off your hands and return it to its rightful owner.” The man grinned and winked.

Mark smiled. “So Oscar’s in town?”

The man grinned. “Sure is. He’ll be here any minute.” The man walked away and we were ushered inside the mansion along with my family.

“Oscar?” I whispered.

“Ex-CIA,” Mark said. “He’ll love this mission. He’s going to take the painting back to the Louvre and put it at the back door. It’ll be all over the news in a few days. Just wait for it.” Mark walked me to a corner of the large living room, while the rest of my family checked out the home. I heard them spout words of amazement from everywhere, impressed with the layout. I couldn’t blame them. The place could’ve been featured in any magazine, with the price astronomical.

“Amy,” Mark whispered. “What was in the note you found in the trunk?”

“It said to check for the hidden room in the basement,” I whispered into his ear.

He sat back in surprise. “Hidden room? Did you know about that?”

“No. That’s why I have to go back and see what’s in there. I hope it clears Dad’s name for the painting in his possession.”

“Was your dad friends with any generals in the army?”

“Not that I know of. But he didn’t talk about his days in the military much at all. You know, if I didn’t know better, I’d wonder if his background had something to do with me being chased.”

“It appears so.” Mark took my hand and led me to the kitchen. “What’s for dinner, by the way?”

“You want me to cook for everyone?”

He began to laugh. “No.” We entered the kitchen to see three men in chef’s uniforms working at cleaning the stove. “Do you mind if we make dinner?” Mark asked.

“Dinner?” replied a man at the stove. “Have you all eaten yet?”

“No, we haven’t,” I answered.

The man grinned. “That’s what we’re here for. What would you like?”

Mark checked his watch. “It’s about five. What do you have?”

The three men smiled at each other. “Give us an hour,” said the first man. “We’ll have something for all of you. How many of there are you?”

“Eight, plus four bodyguards and however many other men watching over this place,” I answered.

“Oh, and my parents might be here,” Mark answered.

The two men began to extract pans and things from the refrigerator, and we just walked away. We didn’t want to be in the way, so Mark and I went upstairs to check out the bedrooms.

“Your room’s on the far end, away from everyone,” Randy said. “Are we going to eat dinner?”

“Randy,” I said. “I want you to go down to the kitchen. There are three chefs down there right now making dinner.”

“Chefs?” he asked, his face lighting up. “Brandy! Let’s go!”

Mark and I chuckled as we headed for our room. “Want a quickie?” he whispered.

“But your parents—”

“That’s why it has to be quick,” he whispered back.

“Mark, are you in here?” a male voice said from the front door.

Mark sighed, took my hand and we headed back downstairs. Darn. Opportunity lost.

“Oscar!” he exclaimed as we descended the staircase. “You came to see me.”

The man was much older, but he hid it well. His hair was black, but graying, and he was tall and thin.

We approached the man and Mark shook his hand, then gave him a brief hug. “Oscar, this is Amy.”

Oscar shook my hand, then kissed my cheek. “Congratulations on the wedding,” he said. He winked and grinned at Mark. “Smart move, if you ask me.” I could only guess what was going through his head, the old coot.

“I have a little job for you,” Mark said, pulling the man aside. “We’ve…stumbled across something that needs to go back to its home overseas.”

“Got it. Undercover?”

“I was just thinking if you could, say, leave it at the back door, they’d never know it was found in someone’s possession, if you’re understanding me here.”

Oscar grinned. “I have just the man for it. I’d rather hang out with you here.”

Mark glanced at me with a grin. “I was hoping you’d say that. I have a lot to tell you.” We walked into an office and Mark shut the door, then proceeded to explain all of it to Oscar. He only left out the wedding night details.

“Very interesting,” Oscar said. “Have you told your dad all of this yet?”

“No, but they’re coming here.”

“Tell him everything, but don’t tell your mom. She doesn’t need to worry.” Oscar turned to me. “You’re safe as long as you’re with Mark. They’re not going to hurt him, which is why the Chinese guy at the hot dog place didn’t touch you. He has too many friends, and everyone around the world knows it, too.” He studied my hair for a moment. “You don’t look like a brainiac, which is to your advantage. Ever think of working for the agency?”

Mark cleared his throat.

“Oh yeah. You’d be working with Mark. Sorry.”

“I haven’t accepted the job yet,” I answered, arms crossed. “I want to meet some of the people first.”

“And we’ll do that,” Mark insisted. “Once we get out of this mess and keep you safe. That’s my number one goal here.” He turned toward Oscar. “What do you advise?”

“Well, considering the dead man is Timothy Thayer, this is going to be all over the news.”

“Why is that?” I asked. “Is it because he’s a four-star general?”

Oscar leaned closer to us. “He’s also Ron Augustino’s brother-in-law.”

“Who?” I asked.

Mark shook his head and turned to me. “He was a big-shot in the army, went to work for the CIA, became a Senator from Virginia and is now running for President.”

“Oh,” I answered. “I don’t watch much of the news.” At least I knew who the president was, though.

Oscar nodded. “Trust me, you’d know his name if you watched the news. Everyone and their brother is trying to figure out his past, and it’s been wiped clean by the CIA. Even the CIA is missing huge chunks of his past. The only people who know what he did in the army are the people who reported to him and most of them are dead.”

“The Army?” I asked. “I wonder…”

“Doubtful,” Mark said. “Your dad was in intelligence, and Augustino’s far from intelligent.”

“Don’t underestimate him,” Oscar warned. “I worked with him briefly on a mission overseas, and he’s very shrewd. I’m not allowed to talk about it, but if I could, I’d take it right to the press.”

“Why would Thayer be in my parent’s house?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Mark said. “But I bet we’ll find out when we get back there.”

“Unhand me!” a man ordered from outside the room. Mark and I glanced at each other in surprise, then were both off our chairs in no time. We exited the room with Oscar behind us, running to the foyer.

“Mom! Dad!” Mark yelled.

Both members of the couple were older, but resembled Mark. Randy and John were trying to throw them out of the house, and I simply walked up to them and removed their hands from my new in-law’s arms.

“Behave,” I said.

My two brothers lowered their heads and took a step backward.

Mark almost laughed at me. “Mom, Dad, I’d like you to meet everyone here. First, this is Amy.” I shook their hands with my right hand, while shoving my left hand with the rings into my pocket. Mark proceeded to introduce my brothers and the older couple finally shook hands with Oscar.

Mark glanced at me, then at Randy. “Is dinner ready yet?”

“In about ten minutes,” he answered.

“Go check on it, because I want to have a little chat with my parents,” he said to my brothers. “Both of you. Please?”

Mark ushered his parents, Oscar, and me into the study once again, and everyone sat down except for Mark. “Mom, Dad, I hate to give you a bunch of information all at once, but we have ten minutes to do this. First, Amy and I got married.”

“What?” his mother yelled, suddenly on her feet. “You got married and didn’t tell us?”

I took a deep breath and sighed.

“Mom!” Mark said. “Sit down and listen. It’s for her own protection. She’s going to be working for me and the different agencies I have at my business.”

“Oh, I see,” his father said. He thrust out his arm and shook my hand. “I’m Bob, and this is Doris. Welcome to the family.”

“Thank you, sir.” I shook both their hands, and Bob finally pulled me in for a big hug, followed by Doris.

Mark cleared his throat. “Here’s what happened. Amy’s been through a lot since before I met her. She started out as Amy Summers—”

“Summers?” Bob asked. “Was your father Gerald Summers?”

I was stunned. “Yes, he was. Why?”

“That’s why your brothers look so familiar. I saw pictures of your brother John when I was in the Army.”

“What?” Mark asked.

“Gerald came into my outfit for about a year before I shipped out and he went into intelligence.” He faced me. “You’re Gerald and Mary’s daughter? How are they doing?”

I glanced at Mark.

“They were killed,” Mark said. “Someone broke into their home about five years ago and murdered them.”

Bob’s mouth hung open. He finally faced me. “Have you gone through everything that was your father’s yet?”

“Not yet. We just found out he had a storage shed.”

“I bet he had that Danais in there, didn’t he?”

Oscar and Mark faced Bob. “How do you know about that?” Mark asked.

“Oh, my son, some awful things happened in that outfit. We had a commanding officer that was as crooked as they come. He stole that painting from the Louvre while they were cleaning it, and Gerald knew it was wrong. When the C-O wanted to ship it back, Gerald volunteered to send it, then put his own address on the trunk. He was a smart one, that Gerald.”

“So he didn’t steal it?” I asked.

“No way. It was the man in charge. He got away with a lot of other things too, from what I heard, but I didn’t witness any of it. He came in with Gerald, and went into intelligence with Gerald, too. As a matter of fact, our old buddy Jack Niles—”

“Jack Niles?” Mark asked, then fell into a chair.

“Sure. He was just visiting us today.”

“That’s not possible!” Mark yelled. “His body was in Amy’s apartment on Saturday!”

Bob stared at Doris. “He was at our house today, right?”

“Sure. I made a big lunch and he ate right with us. We talked about his ex-wife and how he’s keeping up payments on that big house.”

Mark and I were both stunned. “If Jack’s alive, then who was in my apartment?” I asked.

The door to the study opened and Randy’s head popped in. “Dinner’s ready. It’s amazing too!” He closed the door behind him and left us alone.

“Can we eat in here?” I asked. “I’d rather continue this discussion without my brothers knowing all of it.”

“Why is that, dear?” Doris asked, then leaned toward me. “Are you pregnant?” she whispered. “Is that why you married my son?”

I sighed and slyly rolled my eyes at Mark.

“No, Mom, she’s not pregnant. I’ve only known her since Friday.”

“What?” Bob asked, hopping to his feet. “You married a girl you just met? When was the wedding?”

“Sunday,” I answered.

Mark touched his father’s arm. “You don’t have all the facts. I knew her before she knew me, and it’s all for protection. Honestly.”

“Do you even love each other?” Doris asked.

“Yes, I do,” I said, nodding.

“Me too,” Mark answered.

“How is that possible?” Doris replied. “This is ridiculous!”

Oscar, who’d been sitting silently in a chair, suddenly stood up and faced Mark’s parents. “You two have no reason to judge them and you know it. Now, knock it off and let’s get something to eat. Bob, you need to hear the rest of this, and Doris, I suggest you make nice with the in-laws in the kitchen. Got it?”

Both of the older couple were surprised, but were quiet, listening to Oscar. As soon as the three older people walked out of the room, I pulled Mark back to me for a minute. “What was that all about?”

“Mom and Dad only knew each other one day before they got married in Las Vegas. Dad was shipping out and didn’t want to die with no one left behind. I was born about nine months after their wedding day.”

I bit my lips to stop from laughing. Yep, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

We filled our plates, then Mark, Bob, Oscar, and I went back into the study after apologizing to everyone. Doris stayed with my family, laughing right along with everyone, before we even got out of the kitchen. She knew the thugs from Madcap, which helped.

We all sat back in the study and I kept quiet while eating some sort of wonderful casserole. Mark went back to the beginning and told the whole story to Bob, leaving out the part about the ogre, the nymph, and the wedding night.

Bob sat back and stared at me. “So you’re as smart as your old man?”

“I don’t know about that, because I know Dad was a very bright man. He never really told us what he did in intelligence, so I have no idea what his background was really in.”

“He was a code breaker,” Bob replied. “He even worked with Timothy Thayer at one point, but that commanding officer was such a thorn in everyone’s side, Gerald couldn’t get as far as he wanted to.”

“What was the name of the commanding officer?” I asked. “I might remember him talking about him if I knew his name.”

“Ron Augustino.”

Mark had just taken a drink of lemonade and he began to choke on it. I put my plate on the desk, and patted Mark on the back. “You okay?”

He coughed a few times, took a few deep breaths and faced his father again. “Did you say Ron Augustino, as in ‘running for President’ Ron Augustino?”

“One and the same,” Bob answered. “Jack Niles told me some stories, but none of the good ones.”

“Jack knows about Ron?”

“Sure. He was in our outfit in the army, and went with Gerald and Ned Putnam to intelligence. Ron was their commanding officer, too.”

“What did Jack tell you?” I asked.

“Oh, he just said Ron was as crooked as the day is long, but never any real details. I think your dad had more dirt on Ron than anyone. I bet that’s why your dad was killed, too. Since Ron’s running for office, if there’s any proof, he’d have to destroy it before anyone finds out or he’ll lose his bid for office. I hear he’s way up there in the polls.”

I turned to Mark. “What would the Chinese government have to do with this?”

“I have no idea, but they must know who you are, or they wouldn’t have been in your parent’s house,” Mark answered. “I think we’re done here, and really need to be out with the in-laws.”

“Do we really have to?” I whispered. “My brothers aren’t exactly refined.”

Bob started to laugh. “You know, Amy, I’m glad my son married you. You’re one tough cookie with a level head on her shoulders.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said.

“No, call me Bob or Dad. I always wanted a daughter.”

“What?” Mark asked.

“Oh, after you, of course. But it never worked out.”

I wanted to laugh at Mark’s confused face, but faced Bob instead. “I’ll call you Bob, because I don’t want to forget my own parents.”

“I understand.” He gave me a hug. “Welcome to the family.” His face turned puzzled as he backed away. “Your last name is Dallas, right?”

“Yes, sir,” I said. “I’ve been living under so many last names, at least now I have one that’ll stick.”

He smiled and I could’ve sworn he was about to cry.

“Let’s go,” Mark said. “I think they have chocolate cake for dessert.”

We all walked out of the study and into the kitchen. As soon as I saw my brothers, I knew they’d been adopted or something. John was trying to balance a spoon on his nose, while Randy was standing up with a plate on his head.

“Your family,” Mark whispered to me.

“Don’t remind me.” I turned toward them. “Guys! What are you doing?”

The plate fell with a crash from Randy’s head, while John just grabbed the spoon from his nose and sat back in his seat.

“Nothing,” John said. “It was all Randy.” He pointed at his brother, hitting him in the head with his hand on purpose.

I just sighed and took a seat beside Doris, who was in hysterics. She could hardly stop laughing long enough to breathe.

“If you laugh at them, you’ll encourage them,” I murmured.

“I’m not laughing at them,” she said. “I’m laughing at you! They’re fine, but you look like you’re going to have a nervous breakdown.”

Mark sat beside me and started to eat some cake. I put down my fork and took a big drink of water.

“Are you PMSing, dear?” Doris asked me.

I swallowed the water fast and began to choke.

“You okay?” Mark asked, his hand on my back.

“I’m fine,” I whispered, still coughing, but faced Doris. “Did you just ask me—”

“Yes, I did. Are you PMSing? Is that why you have no sense of humor?”

“Mom, stop it,” Mark murmured. “That’s none of your business and you know it.”

“They’re idiots,” I said, pointing to my two brothers. “It’s not even funny!”

Doris leaned up and faced Mark. “It is my business if I’m to have any grandchildren.” She faced me. “You can have children, right?”

“I have no idea,” I said. “I never tried before.”

“So you’re a virgin?” she exclaimed.

I closed my eyes and covered my face with my hand. My brothers started to laugh and I finally lifted my eyes to see everyone staring at me. I calmly stood up and walked out of the kitchen, heading upstairs for the bedroom.

“Amy!” Mark yelled from the bottom of the stairs. I ignored him and went straight to the room, curled up in chair in a corner and wiped my tears. What had I done, marrying into this family? They were no better than my own family.

The door to the bedroom opened and Mark walked inside, then turned on a small light beside the bed. He sat on the bed that was beside the chair, then leaned up and wiped a tear from my cheek.

“She had no right to say that,” he said. “I’m very sorry for her behavior.”

“Did I do anything wrong?” I asked.

“No. You were being an adult and your brothers were…well…not. You have nothing to apologize for.”

“Should I have answered her? What would I have said?”

“You could’ve told her I turned you bad,” he said with a grin. His phone rang and I listened to his side of the conversation. “Hello, Mark here.” He stared at me, listening intently. “I understand. We’ll be right there.” He ended the call. “We have to leave and not tell anyone,” he whispered. “I want to bring Oscar, Andrew, and Dad with us. We’re going back to your parent’s house.”

“I understand. When?”

“As soon as possible. I’m going to have Andrew meet you at the front door and escort you to the car. I’m going to tell Dad I need him and Oscar because you’re not a happy camper.”

“Don’t lie,” I said. “Just tell them I remembered something from our conversation.”

“Then Mom will want to come with us. Do you really want her with us?”

“I think I’d rather die first.”

“I’m going to have the jet fly us to Lancaster.”

“Why didn’t we land there before?”

“So the FBI could meet us and tail us,” he whispered. “They didn’t think we were in as much jeopardy as we’re in. We’re going to meet them in Pennsylvania.”

“Got it,” I said. “Should I take any clothes?”

“No. We’ll be back in about two or three hours, I think.” He pulled me to my feet and kissed me. “I love you, by the way. Ignore Mom.”

“Not a problem. I love you too.”

We walked out the door and down the stairs. Mark went into the kitchen and Andrew walked out. We left the home and got into the SUV, with Andrew taking care of dealing with any guards along the way. A few minutes later, Mark, Bob, and Oscar got into the car, all laughing, while Andrew drove away from the home and headed toward Dulles International Airport.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“Oh, Mom,” Mark replied, wiping his eyes from laughter.

“What happened?”

“She thinks you hate her now. She’s going to drag you out shopping so she can make it up to you.”

“I hate shopping!” I moaned. “I don’t hate her, either. What made her think that?”

“Oh, something Mark said,” Bob replied.

I nudged my darling husband beside me. “What did you say?”

“That you hate her.”

“I don’t hate her, though! Why would you lie to her like that?”

“To protect our cover. You’re now pouting in your room, and she’s to stay away from you all night long. Dad and Oscar were coming upstairs to console you with me.”

“You’re insane.”

“Yep. Everyone bought it, too. I think your brothers were a little bit leery, but they didn’t say anything.”

By the time we got to Dulles, the plane was waiting for us. We got onboard and flew to the tiny airport in Lancaster. When we landed at the airport, two FBI agents met us and we all got into an SUV and headed toward the house in Chester County, about a half hour from the airport. I didn’t know how Mark was going to pull this off, being back in three hours, because half the time was spent getting to the house.

The house looked the same, except for the yellow police tape all around it.

“Are you okay?” Mark asked.

“It reminds me of when they found Mom and Dad. They had police tape around it then, too.”

“It’s not your parents and you’re fine,” he said.

“I know. I just want to see what’s in there.”

“From what Jack told me, I can probably guess what it is,” Bob said. “Augustino was very crooked, and I bet there’s proof of it in that house.”

As soon as Andrew pulled into the driveway and we got out of the car, we were met by two FBI agents. Mark and Oscar talked to them for a minute while Bob pulled me aside.

“Doris didn’t mean anything by her comments,” he said. “She’s very lonely and bothers everyone.”

“I kind of figured that,” I answered. “I’m a very private person and don’t talk to anyone like that.”

“You know, if you just have a kid, she won’t be bothering you about yourself, but asking Mark about the baby instead. Her mother was the same way, which is why we had Mark right away. She stayed away from both families until Mark was born, then let them ask whatever they wanted about Mark. That poor kid was naked his first three months of life because the in-laws kept undressing him to make sure he was human.”

I started to laugh, just thinking about it. I was really happy we lived far away from the in-laws.

We walked into the house with Mark and Oscar, and the body had been removed. The four of us went to the basement, while the two FBI agents and Andrew secured the rest of the house. We walked down the long and narrow staircase, right into the main room of the basement.

“This is really weird, having it empty like this,” I said. “All our toys used to be down here and this was our playroom.”

“Where could something be hidden down here?” Mark asked.

“I have no idea.” The basement was divided into four rooms, with one large room on half of it, then three smaller rooms on the other half. Two of the smaller rooms were offices and storage, and the third room was unfinished, housing the furnace and water heater.

“We’re looking for a secret room or hiding place,” Mark said. “Amy, what did that paper say exactly?”

I pulled it out of my pocket. “In the hidden room in the basement is the proof you need. Like toys in the night, it might disappear, so be careful.”

“What?” he asked.

“The only thing is the word ‘toy.’ This big room used to be our toy room. Mom and Dad used to put our toys away in a big toy box over in that corner every night, and we always thought some elf or fairy did it.” I pointed to the far southern corner.

“Makes sense to me,” Mark said. He went over to the corner and started knocking on the wall. “The lighting’s not good over here, so I’d guess this is the place.”

I turned on the light for the office, across the room from the area where we were looking, and it lit the corner as well.

“Good thinking.” He knocked on the wall a bit, then finally, we heard a hollow sound. “Pay dirt,” he said, smiling.

Bob and Oscar bent down and began lifting paneling. Suddenly, a whole piece of it lifted up like a sliding door, revealing a whole room through the opening that was about five feet by five feet. Mark went in first and found a light switch on the wall, flipped it on, and there, in front of us was an old desk.

“So you finally found it, huh?”

We all spun around to see a man standing in the basement behind us who was almost the spitting image of the dead man from my apartment.

“Jack Niles?” Bob asked.

The supposed dead man was alive and well, and pulled a gun from his pocket. Sometimes, it’s just as well for the dead to stay that way—dead.

~~~~~

Chapter 10

“Freeze!” yelled the FBI agents standing behind Jack.

“I thought you four came here alone!” Jack said, dropping the gun and putting his hands into the air.

“Guess again,” Oscar said. “Stupid move, if you ask me.”

“Who are you?” he asked while the FBI guys frisked him and pulled his hands back to cuff him.

“The name’s Oscar. I’m ex-CIA and if you ask me for my last name, I’ll have to shoot you.” He didn’t even crack a smile, but I saw Jack swallow hard.

“What are you doing here?” Bob asked Jack.

“I want everything in that room. It’s my meal ticket.”

“What?” Mark asked. “How could this stuff be your meal ticket?”

“Gerald and I were blackmailing Ron Augustino with that stuff and I haven’t worked since I got out of the army. If Ron knows where it is, he won’t pay me off any more, and I’ll have to work.”

“Dad was blackmailing someone?” I asked.

“Yeah, and he put you through college with some of the money, no doubt,” Jack answered.

“Did you kill the man in the kitchen of this house or Ned Putnam?” Oscar asked.

“No, I didn’t, but I wish I knew who did. Ned was my buddy and I’d like to find the guy who did him in.”

“How did you hear that he died?” I asked.

“His sister called me. He was blackmailing Ron, too. I fell badly for Thayer, but I didn’t kill him.”

This wasn’t right. “Wait. If you’re Jack Niles, who was killed in my apartment?”

“That was my stupid brother Bart. He thought you had this stuff, and has been robbing you for years, just trying to get a piece of the action.”

“But I didn’t even know him. How did he know where I was?”

“He knew your chip code. We all did. For being so smart, you’re really stupid, know that?”

“Hey! Watch it buster,” Mark barked. “No one talks about Amy like that.”

“Or the fact that you two were naked in bed at that hotel room?”

“You were the one in our hotel room on our wedding night?” I asked.

“Sure. You know, you really should put covers over yourselves.”

“It was dark in that room,” I said.

“Infrared,” Jack grinned, then gave me the once over. “Nice body, by the way.”

“Take him out of here,” Bob said. “Throw him away for a long time.”

The two FBI agents took him out of the room and Bob put his arm on my shoulders. “Ignore whatever he said. He’s an idiot.”

“Thanks, Bob,” I said with a grin. “I like you. You’re okay.”

“I think Mark did a great job in picking a wife.”

“I agree,” Mark said. “Now, what’s in here?”

We walked further into the room and Mark opened the desk. All our mouths opened in surprise as we stared at a glass box full of diamonds and six big bars of pure gold.

“Is it legal to have gold?” I whispered.

“It wasn’t at one point in time, but it is now,” Oscar said. He picked up a bunch of papers. “Stocks too…and good ones.”

Bob opened one of the drawers and removed a folder then started leafing through it. “Holy smokes! This is the mother lode!”

“What is it?” Oscar asked.

“Proof of Augustino’s…indiscretions. There are pictures of him and a prostitute…” Bob turned the picture in different directions as he studied it. “They’re definitely doing…something. It’s Augustino for sure, too.” He put that picture at the bottom of the pile. “Here’s the same woman dead, and there’s a time and date stamp on the back of them.”

“So he hired a prostitute then killed her?” Oscar asked.

Bob handed me a small book. “Looks like your dad’s journal.”

I leafed through it. “He’s made a ton of entries, all about Augustino. Dates, times, the whole thing.” I stopped on a page that simply said ‘Suzette’ at the top that had a picture wedged in the middle, then read it aloud. “That woman was named Suzette and Ron had some of his men hire her for him. They were in France, and the men got the woman to Ron’s apartment, then rigged a camera to take pictures. Afterward, they got shots of him shooting the woman.” I picked up the picture. Ron was pointing the gun and the cameraman had taken the picture right when the shot hit the woman, because she was bent at the stomach.

Mark took the picture. “Looks like the smoking gun, literally.”

I went through the whole diary. “He also killed a shop keeper for not opening the shop for him at night for cigarettes and he threatened Dad for knowing any of this stuff, even after he got back to the States.” I looked over at Mark. “That’s why he told us never to trust the government.”

Oscar took some of the papers from Bob. “I’ve suspected some of this for years.” He studied a few of the papers. “Oh, will you look at this! It’s a thank you note from the Chinese government to Ron for handing over CIA secrets.”

“Why would they give him a thank you note, and why would Dad have it?” I asked.

“I have no idea,” Oscar said. “Unless he did it while in the Army. Thayer would’ve had information that Ron could’ve used to get something from the Chinese.”

“What would he want from the Chinese?” I asked.

“Backing for a Senate or Presidential seat, maybe?” Mark replied. “It would all fit.”

“So who would kill Thayer?”

“Someone who didn’t want him to get this stuff,” Bob said. “He must have known it was here. He could’ve gotten anything he wanted if he blackmailed Ron.”

“So you think Ron killed Thayer—his own brother-in-law?” I whispered.

“I wouldn’t put it past him. Thayer may have been killed while looking for the goods, knowing it was all here. Or it could be the Chinese.”

“The Chinese?” I asked. “Why would they kill Thayer and put a note on the body threatening me?”

“Maybe they did the actual murder, but Ron was behind it,” Oscar said. “I’m thinking Ron and the Chinese are in this together.”

It still didn’t make sense. “How do I fit into this, though? Why would they come after me?”

“I don’t know, Amy,” Mark said. “But we’ll figure it all out and I promise you’ll be safe.”

Andrew entered the basement. “Everything’s clear. Is there anything else I should do?”

“No,” Mark said. “I think we’re done here. We need to take everything out of here and keep it with us.” All of the men grabbed the gold and diamonds, while I took the folder, the pictures and the stocks. I went through the rest of the drawers, but they were empty.

“We’ll get the furniture out of the house and sell the place, if that’s okay with the three of you,” Mark said.

“Fine with me,” I said. We turned off the light but left the room opened so the movers could find the desk.

We all went back to the car, filling the back with all the items in our hands. I kept Dad’s diary and the folder of pictures with me, just in case. We all got inside and started down the road toward the plane.

“What do we do with everything we’ve found?” Mark asked.

“I’ll take it to the big director of the FBI and some of my friends in Congress,” Bob said. “It’s not a problem. He’ll fry for what he’s done. The money from the gold and diamonds will go to the three kids. It’s only fair.”

“Be careful who your friends are,” I said, reading Dad’s diary. “There are two men listed here who became Congressmen, and they’re friends of Augustino’s from the Army days.”

“Who?” he asked.

“Lee Donalds and Ray Lewiston. I think they’re Senators for Maryland and West Virginia.”

“I know them, and Ray was one I was thinking of going to,” Bob said. “I wonder how many people Ron has in his pocket? I wouldn’t be surprised if he had control of some people high up in the FBI or CIA.”

“I have no idea,” I said. “I think it would be better to take everything to a few reporters up on Capitol Hill. I bet they’d have a field day with all of this.”

“Good idea,” Oscar said. “I’ll take care of it. Augustino was going to debate Paul Garrett this Thursday at the University of Maryland.”

“The presidential candidate from Massachusetts?” Mark asked. “I thought they were friends and their platforms were almost identical?”

“Yep. That’s why they felt it necessary to debate, to show that they’re not the same. If we present the information at that debate, all the cameras will be there and we’ll be able to broadcast it to the world.”

I opened the folder in my hand and looked at the pictures in front of me. The ones that struck me the most were the ones with Augustino having sex with the prostitute and the one of the woman being shot with a clear shot of Augustino holding the smoking gun. I wanted them to be with me for some reason. I didn’t trust them going to the Senate, so I ignored the rest of the conversation around me and slipped them under the insole, inside my shoe. If anything happened on the way to Maryland, I wanted those pictures intact.

“What are you going to do about my mother?” Mark whispered into my ear.

“Nothing.” I faced him. “What would you like me to do?”

“Debate her in public and get it out in the open. That’s the only way she’ll back down.”

“No way. That’s not my style, and I’m not bringing her nastiness out in the open for all to see.”

Mark crossed his arms. “She’s not nasty, she’s my mother.”

“Sure.”

“No, not sure. She has to be put in her place and you’re the one who has to do it.”

I couldn’t believe it. The other men in the car were suddenly quiet and stared at us. “I’ll discuss this with you later. Right now, I have to figure out how to get these pictures in front of the media. I don’t think just confronting Augustino is going to do it.” I looked down at the folder in my hand.

“No, you’re not going to get involved with this,” Mark said. “It’s not your job. Let Oscar take care of it. He has contacts—”

“And Augustino’s going to know where it came from. No. I have to do this to avenge my parents and everything for my family.”

“Amy, your life’s in danger. Don’t you get it? The more you do things like this, the more danger you’re going to be in. Not only will the other countries be after you, but followers of Augustino will hunt you down. No. My wife’s not going to risk her life over someone as sleazy as Augustino. You’re coming with me, and we’ll let Oscar and his operatives take care of it.”

Oscar turned from the front seat. “I’m also going to investigate your parent’s deaths. I’m wondering now if Augustino had something to do with their murders.”

I shook my head. “The police ruled it a robbery gone bad. They didn’t find who did it, but some money was missing, along with my parent’s credit cards. But whoever took them didn’t use the credit cards.”

“Precisely,” Oscar said. “Sounds fishy to me.”

We drove back toward the airport, pulling up close to the private plane.

“We’ll meet you guys in a minute,” Mark said, taking my hand. “We have something to discuss then we’ll be there.”

The other men nodded, and Mark waved them on as soon as we got out of the car. He pulled me to the side and faced me. “My family is your family now. So, if you have issues with Mom, get it out now, or it’ll fester and you’ll hate my whole family for it.”

“No. I won’t start a family fight over your mother’s comments. I like your dad and if we just stay away—”

“No. We’re not going to stay away from my family. Our kids need to know their grandparents.”

“Kids? Who said we’re having kids?”

“Did you change your mind?” he asked. “You told me you wanted kids. That’s why we didn’t use protection on our wedding night. Remember?”

I crossed my arms. “Yeah, I do, but not until your mother isn’t an issue. I’m not pregnant yet, and I won’t tolerate her insensitivity.”

His voice rose considerably. “You want to wait until Mom dies?”

I crossed my arms. “If she won’t be an issue until then, that’s fine with me.”

Mark’s mouth dropped and he shook his head. “Maybe we should never have gotten married? I had no idea that my family would get in the way. Do you even love me?”

Before I could get a word out of my mouth, a shot rang out and hit Mark in the back. He fell, while I watched in horror.

“Mark!” I tried to bend over to see if he was okay, but someone grabbed me from behind, something was shoved over my mouth and nose and everything went black.

~~~~~

Chapter 11

“Amy Summers. We finally meet.”

I pushed my eyes open and faced my nemesis—Ron Augustino. I’d recognize that face anywhere, after staring at the pictures in that folder, even though he was much older now.

Looking around the room, I saw only the chair I was tied to, Ron standing in front of me with his arms crossed, with a thug standing beside him. There was no other furniture in the room, which I found very odd. It was a small room with white walls and a white door and no windows.

I faced the evil one. “Ron Augustino. So the big man himself feels threatened by me?”

The thug standing beside Ron hauled off and slapped my face. I felt the pain immediately, realizing that I’d been roughed up before I came to, because other parts of my body started to ache as well.

Ron leaned closer. “Let that be a warning to you. You don’t mess with me, and as soon as I get what I want, you’ll be with your parents.”

“Why? What do I have that you want?”

“You already know that.” He straightened up. “My contacts at the NSA need one piece to give to the Chinese and they’ll rule the world, then fund the rest of my campaign, guaranteeing that I’ll be President. You’re the key, Amy.” He walked behind me, returning with my thesis in his hands. “Now. Chapter twenty-one. Tell me how it works.”

“No.”

“Look. You told Mark, he told the NSA and they have most of it programmed already. They need one more piece and that’s it.”

“I don’t understand this. You expect me to tell you the one thing the Chinese need so you can kill me and sell this country down the sewer? Do you think I’m stupid?”

“No. But I don’t like what you’ve done for the security of this nation, because, according to Bobby, you’re going to help the government weed out all terrorists. I don’t like that, and neither do my backers. They have people in place so we can make the world a better place.”

“Tell me, Ron, have you had any psychiatric help? I think you need a lot.” I wasn’t in any mood to put up with his questioning.

He chuckled slightly. “A chip off the old block. Your dad thought he was funny, too. I guess he thought otherwise when he was killed.”

“Did you kill him, or did you have one of your thugs do the dirty work? Maybe your brother-in-law?”

“No, not family. I can’t soil the name, because it’ll come back to haunt me. No, it was someone who can’t talk any more.”

I felt my lip get fatter. “Who?”

“I’m not even sure. Ned hired them and then had the murderers killed in a tragic car accident. Wasn’t my doing, and Ned was paid handsomely for helping out. However, he didn’t find what I was looking for, and told me he’d get it, if I just gave him time. Looks like his time ran out when he didn’t find it at your brother’s house.”

“What were you looking for?” I asked. Blood ran down my chin, and I hoped it would get all over his white walls somehow.

“Oh, you know. Things that your father held over my head for years. Now, tell me what I want to know and I’ll go easy on you.”

I almost laughed at him. “Go easy on me? To kill me? I don’t think so.”

He got closer to my face. “What do you know?”

“About chapter twenty-one?”

“For starters.”

This man wasn’t very bright, that was for sure. So, I started spouting off various mathematical theorems, making both of the men’s mouths fall open. I wasn’t even close to explaining chapter twenty-one, but they had no idea what I was saying. I figured I could filibuster for years with everything I’d learned in my classes.

“Wait. I’m not ready for this yet. I have to have help.” He opened the door, and Dr. Urban was pushed inside, handcuffed behind his back.

“I’m so sorry, Amy. I had no idea—”

“Let it go. They want to know about chapter twenty-one, so I’m telling them everything I know.”

He glanced over at the two men. “Everything?”

“Oh yeah. Everything.”

Dr. Urban nodded, smiling slightly. “I see. Start at the beginning and I’ll see if I can translate for the NSA. I never did understand all of it, but it was an interesting read.”

The thug brought Dr. Urban and a chair, then pushed him into it, facing me. I began to talk, discussing ring theory and nothing about chapter twenty-one, when Dr. Urban stopped me.

“I need paper and a pencil. This is major what she’s saying, and I won’t remember it.” Great actor, that man.

The thug glanced at Ron, who nodded, then left the room. Dr. Urban winked at me, and I knew what he was saying. Codes. This should be fun.

“Where is the rest of what I want?” Ron asked me.

“Like what? Your dry cleaning, or something?” I asked. “Want me to go out to get it for you?”

“Smart aleck. No, I want the painting and the pictures.”

I put extreme innocence on my face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He hauled off and slapped my face. “You do know about the pictures, at least. I found out from Ned that your dad had the picture of the prostitute from Amsterdam.”

I knew the pictures were from France and not Amsterdam, but said nothing. I wasn’t about to tip my hand. “Sorry. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, I think you do. Where’s the painting?”

“Let me get this straight. From what you’re asking me, it sounds like you painted the prostitute then took a picture of it. It seems a little odd, but am I right?”

“Oh, very funny.” He leaned up closer. “My man told me you found it. Where is it?”

“Who’s your man?”

“One of Mark’s men. It’s amazing what a little money will do for you, huh?”

Mark. I remembered. He’d been shot, and I felt the blood drain from my face. Everything about him came back to me, full force. “Is he dead?”

“Oh, so you have questions for me now, huh?”

“Answer me! Is Mark dead?”

“Sorry. I don’t answer questions. I ask them.”

The thug walked back into the room, untied Dr. Urban and handed him a pen and some paper. The thug leaned over to Ron, whispered something, then Ron nodded and left the room.

I stared at Dr. Urban, trying to give him the code to fake the things for chapter twenty-one. He did understand it, because we had a long meeting to discuss how they’d put it to use. He even wrote the program, longhand, to make it work, then destroyed the papers.

Ron walked back into the room, smiling. “One of my friends at the NSA is coming to visit, just to make sure you’re telling the truth.”

“You don’t trust me?” I asked.

“Not as far as I can throw you.” He turned to Dr. Urban. “And I don’t trust you, either. You had us steal Amy’s paper on terrorists, because you wouldn’t part with it. Fortunately, your boss was on our side.” He faced me again. “Now where’s my stuff?”

“Well, the painting is out of the country, in case you need to know that.”

His face turned confused. “Where?”

“Well, it’s probably at the Louvre right now, back where it belongs. Oh, and don’t worry. Your fingerprints are all over it, I’m sure. They’ll be hunting you down in no time, and you know the French police. I wouldn’t doubt they’d love making you the laughing stock of everything. If it were me, that’s what I’d do. I’d destroy both your political career and your personal life, then make you a prostitute in the French jails.”

Dr. Urban, sitting in front of me, just smiled.

“You’re bluffing,” Ron said. “You don’t know where the painting was.”

“Sure. Let’s go with that,” I answered. “Tell me, Mr. Augustino. How do you expect the American public to fall for your antics? You’ve killed people, stolen, and now are selling the United States to the highest bidder. What happens when they find all of this out?”

“They won’t. Even if you or your friends talk, you have no proof of anything.” He glanced at both Dr. Urban and me. “Both of you will be dead, so you won’t have to worry.”

I looked him straight in the eyes. “I think my contacts can get something together before your town hall meeting.”

Ron checked his watch. “You mean the town hall meeting in three hours?”

Three hours? What? “What day is it?”

“Thursday,” Dr. Urban said. “May 7. Why?”

“What happened to Monday night, Tuesday, and Wednesday?” I asked.

“Oh, we’ve been playing with your head during all that time,” Ron answered, just smiling.

I looked down. “Have you changed my clothes? These look like the same clothes I was in on Monday night.”

“No, we didn’t. But we had nurses taking care of you. You talked a lot under our medical procedures, but never told us what we wanted to know.”

“About what?”

“That’s what you’d always say, like you’d forgotten. Did you even write your own thesis?”

Dr. Urban grinned.

“Yes, I did.” I was glad I was able to store that thesis way back in my memory so he couldn’t get to it and could also protect the location of the picture of Ron shooting the prostitute in my shoe, because it sounded like he didn’t have that, either.

“Where am I?” I guessed I was close to Maryland, somewhere.

“Washington, D.C. I have enough people on my side to help hide you.” He looked around the room. “You’ll never get out, in case you’re wondering.”

“You’re probably right. Oh well. I guess you’ll never get what you want, either, then. We’re at an impasse.”

A knock at the door had Dr. Urban and me turning out heads. Ron crossed the room and opened the door.

“Nicole, I’d like you to meet Amy Summers and her mentor, Terry Urban.”

A well-dressed and coiffed woman walked into the room, making Dr. Urban’s face pale.

“Terry, how are you doing?” she asked, then kissed his cheek.

“You? But you were working for the NSA!”

“And still am.”

“But we dated,” he said.

“Sure. I had to get my hands on what you were doing, and it really paid off. Now I’m making millions from other countries. Greece has a ton of cash, backed by many other countries.”

Dr. Urban wiped his eye. “But I was in love with you.”

“Sucker,” she muttered. Nicole turned to me. “Now explain chapter twenty-one to me.”

“I already did, but you missed it. Sorry. One explanation per customer.”

She hauled off and slapped me so hard, my head turned toward the left, and my teeth rattled. She pulled my face to hers. “Tell me now! We couldn’t get it to work, even with Mark’s explanation.”

Dr. Urban and I glanced toward each other.

“What are you hiding?” she asked me.

“We changed the real solution on purpose,” I said. “No country needs to have the solution to this, because they could hurt others, or it could be sold to other countries, hurting the United States.”

“What’s the real answer then?” she asked.

“Neither of us know, because we created it with a third party, who has the key,” Dr. Urban said. “We have it hidden with that person someplace very close by.”

Nicole smiled, facing him. “I never thought you were that bright. No wonder you’ve taken more than one trip to Washington. It’s near here, isn’t it?”

“Our very good friend is in Washington, and he’s protecting it for us,” Dr. Urban said. “He won’t tell anyone without me being there in person, and to get the entire truth, you’ll need both of us in the same room with him. Also, it has to be at his house, because he doesn’t even know which objects we each chose that contains our key.”

“I don’t believe it,” Ron said. “What made you think of some stupid security system like that?”

Dr. Urban and I started to laugh.

“For idiots like you,” I said. “We talked about scenarios, and something just like this came to our minds almost immediately.”

Ron and Nicole stared at each other. “What now?” he asked her.

“We have to take them. We’re out of time.”

“Out of time for what?” I asked.

“It’s not your problem,” Ron answered.

I leaned forward. “Yes, it is my problem. What’s going to happen at that town hall meeting?”

Ron ignored me, then turned to his thug. “Untie her and take us all to the house.” He checked his watch. “You’d better make this quick, too.”

The thug untied me, and I massaged my arms. Dr. Urban helped me to my feet, and gave me a hug. “You okay?”

“Yep. I don’t like losing a few days, but I’ll survive.”

“You look awful, in case you need to know that. People might stare, you look that bad.”

I could tell I’d been beaten. “Thanks for the positive thoughts. I feel a lot of it, but I’ll be okay.”

The thug pushed us to the door.

“Do you know if Mark’s okay?” I whispered to Dr. Urban as we were taken to the hallway.

“I don’t know. What happened?”

“We were getting on the plane in Pennsylvania, and Mark pulled me aside to talk about his mother.”

“Oh, the future mother-in-law.”

“Try current. We got married in Colorado.”

“So soon?”

“Yes, for protection. We were standing at the side of the rental car, and before I could even pull out the big guns about the evil witch, someone shot him in the back and grabbed me.”

“Nothing was reported about it, from what I heard,” he said. “But they took me Tuesday night, so it’s hard to tell what happened.”

“Where are we?” I whispered as we got to the end of the hallway and the thug opened a door.

“The basement of the Capitol,” Dr. Urban whispered.

“How did we get in here?”

“Ron has friends in high places. More than you know.”

“I know. I found Dad’s journal,” I whispered back.

We were driven to Chevy Chase, Maryland and it was still light outside. Dr. Urban directed them to the home of his friend, Dr. Antonio Giovanni, who taught Mathematics at the University of Maryland, the same place housing the town hall debate. That was one thing in our favor.

Dr. Giovanni was an interesting man, originally from Italy, in his upper sixties and widowed. He loved the United States, and he and I had corresponded on various occasions about different things we, as mathematicians, could do to save the world.

The thug pulled up to his small home and parked in the driveway.

“No funny stuff,” Ron said, showing us the gun in his hand from the front passenger’s seat. Nicole was on the other side of Dr. Urban, who was in the middle. She also held a gun.

We got out of the car and walked up to Dr. Giovanni’s house, and Dr. Urban knocked on the door, with a code knock. It was three raps, then two, then three. I knew what that meant.

“Coming!” I heard from the other side of the door. I hoped Dr. Giovanni remembered our long talk on the phone. “Just give me a minute.”

He did. That phrase was our code phrase.

“It’s Terry,” Dr. Urban answered.

“I’m not so young any more. Wait, and I’ll get there, eventually.”

“Take your time,” Dr. Urban answered, glancing at me. “We just want to see your clocks.”

“Uh-huh,” Dr. Giovanni answered. “Oh, my knees are so sore. I’m almost there.”

Good. He had the cops on the line and was ready for us.

“Clocks?” Ron asked.

“Where we stored the key,” I answered.

We waited a few more minutes and Ron began to get antsy, trying the locked door. “He’d better hurry, or I’m going to blow the lock off.”

The door unlocked from the other side, and Dr. Giovanni opened the door. “Sorry I took so long. I’m old and you have to understand.”

We all entered the house, where every wall of every room was lined with some sort of clock.

Dr. Giovanni’s mouth fell open when he saw me. “They beat you…a lot.”

“Seems so,” I said. “I haven’t seen my face yet, but it hurts.”

“Don’t look,” he whispered. “It’s not good.

“Do you have a clock fetish?” Nicole asked Dr. Giovanni, looking around the room.

“Oh, I like clocks from the old country,” he answered. “However, some are the key to a very important puzzle, and only Amy and Terry know which ones they chose for the key. I know mine only, so if you’re here for that—” His eyes rested on the gun in Ron’s hand. “And you are, from what you’re holding.”

“Yes, we are and we’re on a timetable.”

Dr. Giovanni looked over at Dr. Urban. “What happens if we tell?”

“Death,” Dr. Urban whispered.

“Oh, I see,” Dr. Giovanni answered with a nod. “So I guess they want the right answer?”

Another key phrase. Because I was the youngest of the three, I was to give the right answer, and both of them would give the wrong answer, just to keep everyone guessing.

“I think so,” Dr. Urban answered, glancing at the thug and Ron.

We all studied the clocks. I walked into the kitchen and chose an Austrian cuckoo clock, removed it from the wall and turned it around. I flipped the time to 12:00 and when the bird came out to sing, I held him in my hand, reached in and retrieved a small piece of paper.

“Give me that!” Nicole said, grabbing it from my hand. She unfolded the paper and studied it. “It’s in code! What’s the answer?”

I smiled. “I don’t remember exactly what the code was, but I’ll have to work on it for a moment.” I took the paper back from her hand and sat at the table, then faced her. “Do you have paper and a pen?”

She fished through her purse and handed me a pen that said NSA on the side. How ironic. I’d be giving away a secure secret using an NSA pen.

Dr. Urban and Dr. Giovanni both chose a clock from the wall. I had no idea whether it was the right clock or the wrong clock, because we’d each chosen two—one for the real answer and one fake answer.

They each sat at the kitchen table with me, deciphering their codes. We figured we could buy some time by having to do that little exercise.

“Hurry up!” Ron yelled.

“I don’t have time for this.” Nicole grabbed each of our papers and walked toward the door, then faced the thug. “Kill them all.” She grabbed Ron’s hand and they left the house.

The thug pointed his gun at Dr. Giovanni first. Dr. Urban and I hopped to our feet and overpowered the thug, wrestling him to the ground. Dr. Giovanni put his foot over the man’s arm and the gun went off, hitting the baseboard of the living room wall. Dr. Giovanni grabbed the gun, flipped on the safety and turned it toward the thug.

“Even with a fake hip, I can still do it.” He faced both of us. “You both gave the fake code, right?”

“No, I was to do the real one, and you each were to do fake.”

“Oh no! I did real,” Dr. Urban said.

“Me too,” Dr. Giovanni answered. “I guess we have a job to do now, right?”

Two cars pulled into the driveway, and four officers stormed the house.

“This man is evil,” Dr. Giovanni said. “Take him away from trying to kill us. We have a job to do, and if you need me, call my cell phone.” He handed the first officer his card.

“What happened to you?” the officer said, staring at my face.

“Car wreck.” Well, sort of. I didn’t need to have them get upset and take me to the hospital just yet. I had to save the world first, and didn’t need a police escort. But I did need to make a phone call. I picked up Dr. Giovanni’s phone and faced him. “Can I use your phone?”

“Sure.” Dr. Giovanni turned back to the officer while I dialed. I just hoped Mark was still alive. I had to tell him I loved him.

~~~~~

Chapter 12

“This town hall meeting will show that the two candidates, Senator Paul Garrett from Massachusetts and Senator Ronald Augustino from Virginia have different viewpoints. It’s up to you to figure out how they’re different, so the American people can decide who to vote for.”

The place erupted in clapping and cheers, while Dr. Giovanni, Dr. Urban, and I stood behind the guards.

“Think we should just rush the stage?” Dr. Giovanni asked.

“No. Let me stand in line.” I reached down and took off my shoe, then pulled out the insole. Beneath that lay the two pictures that would put Ron Augustino away for life.

“So you had them all along?” Dr. Urban whispered, glancing at the photos.

“Yep. I had to hide them in case anything happened. They’re the smoking gun…literally.” I watched the line forming for people who’d been prescreened to ask questions. We hadn’t exactly been invited, but Dr. Giovanni had friends in high places who’d gotten us in.

The three of us huddled together. “Since I’m the youngest,” I said. “I’ll run up there and take the microphone. If Ron sees me standing in line, he’ll call the guards and I won’t get any words out of my mouth. I can run faster than both of you guys.”

“I’ll tell my friends over here,” Dr. Giovanni whispered, nodding to the guards. “They’ll give you a few extra seconds before the cops get up there.”

“Thanks.” I looked behind me, and as soon as I saw his face, I smiled. “Mark!” I whispered. I ran to him and gave him a huge hug while Dr. Giovanni walked over to the security guards and had a short chat with them.

“What happened? Are you okay?” Mark asked.

“I’m fine.”

He stared at my face and winced. “You don’t look fine. I’ll take it from here and you go to the hospital.”

“Oh, no. This is what I’ve been destined to do and I want to see Ron’s face when he sees me. I’m supposed to be dead, according to his wishes.” I pointed to my cheeks. “I want the world to see what he and his thugs did to me.”

“I’m coming with you, then.” He hugged me again. “I’m so glad you’re alive! We looked everywhere for you.”

“Are you okay?” I backed away. Even though he told me he was fine over the phone earlier, I had to make sure.

“Yeah. They used bean bags.” He leaned closer to my ear. “It seems they need me alive for some reason. I’m not sure why, but it might have to do with this town hall meeting. William shot one of them and he’s talking like crazy.”

“One of your guys is in on it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Ron told me. Be careful.”

Dr. Giovanni looked over to me with a grin, nodded, then winked. It was time.

“Go get ’em,” Dr. Urban said to both of us.

I nodded, then I ran full-force to the now-empty microphone. “I have something to say and I promise it’ll change this town hall forever!” Mark was at my side, his arm on my waist.

Ron Augustino looked surprised, to say the least, but hopped to his feet, regaining his composure while pointing at me. “Arrest her!”

The police started toward the stage, but the campus security guards held them back.

“I have proof of Ron Augustino’s crookedness.” I lifted the two pictures in my hand, showing them to the people on the stage, then the cameras, and the people in the audience. “This happened when he was in the army, when he had sex with a prostitute, then shot her in cold blood.” I held the one picture in my hand. “This picture shows him clearly shooting the woman in the stomach.”

“I object!” Ron yelled, walking toward me. “That’s not me!”

“Also, he stole a famous painting from the Louvre, which is on its way back to the famous French art gallery and should have his fingerprints all over it. That’s just the tip of the iceberg!”

One of the campus security guards held Ron back, while the police stood still, dumbfounded at what I was saying.

“What else?” a reporter yelled, with his microphone suddenly in my face.

“I have knowledge that he and Nicole from the NSA…” I turned and pointed to her, walking out of the room. “She’s leaving! Stop her!”

Dr. Giovanni and Dr. Urban ran to her and forcefully pulled her up to the stage. “I have proof that they are in the process of giving China our secrets from the NSA, and Mr. Augustino has major backing from China for those secrets.”

“What happened to your face and how do you know this?” the reporter asked me.

“Because I helped develop those secrets for the NSA and I’ve been held captive for three days by Mr. Augustino and his cronies, who are trying to figure out how to make it work, even though they’ve been given fake code.” I hoped they bought it, too. “Mr. Augustino also arranged to have my parents killed, and has blood on his hands from various other murders he’s committed, all so he could get ahead. I wouldn’t be surprised if he even arranged to have his own brother-in-law, Timothy Thayer, killed.”

The place was silent. Mouths were hanging agape, and Ron seemed frustrated. He began to walk off the stage, but was stopped by a circle of police.

“Is this true?” Senator Paul Garrett asked.

“I want my lawyer,” Ron answered, crossing his arms.

“I’m not surprised.” Paul Garrett looked at one of the cops. “I’d like Ron and Nicole arrested, as well as anyone else in their company.”

“You can’t do that!” a man from the crowd yelled, standing up. I recognized him as one of the senators from Dad’s diary, and turned toward him.

“Oh, and Senator Lewiston, you and Senator Donalds are close associates of Mr. Augustino. I’d watch my step if I were you. I know a lot from my father’s diary, and trust me…neither of you have lily white hands, either.”

“Is there a way we can get a copy of that diary?” a reporter asked.

“No,” I replied. “It goes to Senator Garrett. He’ll take it to Capitol Hill and they’ll figure out what to do with it then. It’s in a safe place right now, along with other evidence against Mr. Augustino.”

Mark nodded. “I have it stored in a very safe place, and I promise it’ll be at your office, under guard, within the hour.”

“What’s your name?” someone else asked me.

“I’d rather not say.” I backed away and began to walk out of the room with Mark at my side. My head was pounding from the lights, and I just wanted to sit down.

I heard someone run up behind me and I spun around.

“Andrew, we need an ambulance for Amy,” Mark said. “I want it to be—”

“She doesn’t need an ambulance,” he replied. His face turned angry. “She needs a morgue.” He pulled out a gun, and before either of us could stop him, he pulled the trigger. I felt searing pain in my stomach and fell to my knees. Two cops opened fire and Andrew fell down, right in front of me.

“Amy! Hang in there! Don’t leave me!” Mark’s hand went on my shoulder as I fell to the floor. “I love you. Don’t leave me alone with Mom!”

It wasn’t anything I could control, because everything dimmed in front of me and that was it.

~~~~~

“Doctor, she’s coming around.”

It was a woman’s voice but I didn’t care, as long as it wasn’t Doris. My eyes tried to open, but they weren’t cooperating all that well.

I finally forced them open and focused on an older gentleman in a white coat standing over me, grinning. “How do you feel?”

“Awful. Do you have anything stronger you can give me?”

Laughter erupted throughout the room, making me try to sit up. The doctor held my shoulder to the bed and put that stupid light in my eyes. “Just a minute. You’re very lucky to be alive, do you know that?”

“I figured. Ron Augustino has a ton of clout.”

“No, you were shot in the stomach and you had blood pressing on your brain from when they beat you. We had to operate more than once.”

My hand flew to my head, but I could only feel bandages. “No! And I survived? Am I still beautiful?”

The doctor laughed. “You’re very lucky.” He flipped off the light, then turned around and nodded. “You can see her now.”

“Who?” I asked. “Wait! Am I still beautiful?”

“Me and yes, you’re still beautiful.” Mark walked up to the bed and I bit my lips then felt the tears fill my eyes.

“Mark?” I reached out and hugged him. He was my rock, and anyone who didn’t want to have to deal with Doris alone was my hero.

“Party’s over,” I heard, and could’ve sworn it was Dr. Urban. I heard people leave the room, but couldn’t see who was there, because Mark’s face was all I saw.

He leaned over to me and gave me a gentle kiss. “You did really well. I’m so proud of you.”

“You are? Are you sure you still want to be married to me? I bet your mother is angry, isn’t she? I never should’ve gone up front to confront Ron and I’m sure she’ll never let me live it down, either.”

He began to laugh. “Don’t worry about Mom. You exposed a mole in my operation I had no idea we even had.”

“Is he…” I was almost afraid to ask.

“Dead? No, Andrew’s still alive, but he’s going to jail. He was giving secrets to Ron for the money. His brother was friends of Ron’s daughter.”

“Oh, Mark, I’m so sorry. If you want a divorce—”

He held his finger over my mouth. “No, I’m sorry. I’m glad I married you and don’t regret a minute of it. I love you with all my heart, and I hope you can forgive me for putting you in the situation you were in. When you called me after being kidnapped, I didn’t have time to tell you how much I’d missed you. I didn’t have time to tell you anything, and I want to make it all up to you.”

“I missed you, too. Did Nicole get the code to the Chinese?”

“No. We stopped it and the real code is now in the hands of the NSA. I wasn’t even allowed to see any more of it. Now explain to me why you felt it necessary not to give it all to me when I first asked?”

“It was for security purposes only,” I said, lowering my voice. “Dr. Urban, Dr. Giovanni, and I decided that the code was the key to too much power. We didn’t want to give it to someone who didn’t know how to use it, and for some reason, these guys didn’t trust anyone. I agree with them, given how it all turned out.”

“But you never gave me the whole thing and didn’t feel like you could trust me?”

His eyes looked very sad and with his frown, I felt very badly. But I persevered. “I couldn’t. It wasn’t in the thesis on purpose and I couldn’t tell anyone without the other two.” I stared into his beautiful blue eyes. “I trust you, Mark. Honestly, I do. I promise, no more secrets, either.”

“I understand. Ron’s in jail, Congress is working with your dad’s diary, and Senators Donalds and Lewiston are in hot water. Nicole and two other men from the NSA are under arrest and we have Bobby Delaney in custody. He’s the one who was selling your latest paper to terrorists overseas using the internet, and had talked to Dr. Urban before I did, before I met you.”

“What? Did any of the terrorists see the paper?”

“No, fortunately. The FBI was working undercover as buyers and nailed him.” He leaned up and kissed my forehead. “Now, as for us, is there still an ‘us’?”

“I’d like there to be. I was so worried you’d been killed, it made me realize that I’ve never loved anyone as much as I love you.”

His grin covered his face. “Me either.”

“You love yourself too?”

He started to laugh. “I’m glad you’re back. They had you under for a whole week, and it was touch and go. We were all really worried. I’ve been staying in this room the whole time.” He pointed over at a chair, then put his hand on my arm. “I didn’t want to lose you, Amy. I never want to lose you.”

“Oh, Mark, go home and get some sleep. I’m fine.”

“Yes, you’re fine. You’re both fine.”

I did a double take. “Both?”

He leaned closer to my ear. “You’re carrying our child.”

I felt my cheeks heat up, my eyebrows raise and my mouth fall open. “I’m…”

His smile was adorable. “Pregnant. That’s right. I guess the ogre and the nymph did the trick.”

“No, it was the ‘we don’t need any condoms, it’s our wedding night’ that did the trick.” I was silent for a moment. “I’m so sorry. I’m going to mess up your plans now, aren’t I?”

“What plans?”

“The one where I work for you and get all those clients—”

His lips were on mine. “It’s fine. I just want you for you. You don’t have to work at all, and I want you to take it easy. Our baby needs a stress-free life right now, after what it’s been through. The bullet just missed him or her, but he or she is okay and a fighter like its mom.”

“I’m so sorry. I couldn’t stop from being kidnapped and didn’t know I was even pregnant. If I could’ve stopped Andrew—”

“I know. I have someone to wait on you hand and foot, by the way, and you’ll be protected.”

“Who?”

He bit his lips, trying not to laugh. “My parents. Dad’s even armed, and Oscar’s moving closer to us. You’re everyone’s hero, and Oscar and his friends have formed a posse to keep you safe. They’re all working for me.”

I cringed, trying to keep from frowning. “Your mother is going to wait on me?”

“Yep. She’s really sorry for upsetting you and wants to make it up to you…for the rest of her life.”

I covered my face with my hand. “No.”

“She’s even bought our child some clothes and is shopping right now for maternity clothes for you.”

I lifted my hand off my face. “You’re making me upset. You know that, right?”

“I see that. I intend to take a lot more time off, too, to help you deal with her. I quit my programming job so I can only be the head of the company, but I have others to do most of my job for now. Oh, and the two bimbos from the cafeteria have been fired for various reasons.” He picked up my hand and kissed it. “Your brothers are here, too, but will be going back to their lives as soon as you’re out of here. Brandy and Randy are going to do marriage counseling, as are John and Annemarie.” He looked almost sad, staring into my eyes. “When you almost died, I couldn’t help but thinking life’s too short to over-schedule myself. I want to be the best husband and father there is, and watch my children grow up, while standing right beside you.”

“Thank you, Mark. I guess I finally got the glass slipper after all, because you’re quite a prince.”

“Not at all, but, thank you for making my life whole.” He kissed me again, and I knew I now had a real family, not one states away from me. It was nice to be loved.

###

Visit Markee Anderson at http://www.markeeanderson.com.

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Saved By The Glass Slipper