Chapter 10
FOR THE LAST YEAR, Harmony had to rely on others. She’d had no control of her life. The FBI told her what her new name would be. Her occupation. Where she’d live. She thought she’d be able to pretend to be someone else, but in the end, it didn’t matter what she changed her name to, she was still that girl who ran poker tables. She might have done the job willingly, but hindsight is perfect vision and she regretted ever saying yes to Lucas.
About anything.
“What are you thinking?” Mason asked as he pulled down Lincoln Street two towns over. The dark sky had started to lighten, but the sun’s rays were still hidden behind the horizon. It would be at least forty minutes before the sun would rise and with the dawn of a new day, Harmony figured she’d be starting a new life.
Again.
And this time she wouldn’t become attached to anyone.
Or anything.
She’d be that crazy lady that lived down the street that all the kids were afraid of and the adults ignored. She’d have to talk Sterling into making sure she was a computer geek or something. Anything where she could work out of her home and interact with not a single person.
“I’m wondering how Anna found me so quickly and what Lucas has to do with it.”
“Tim’s wife, Alice, is checking into your case. She’s got a pretty high clearance, which means she should be able to find out who knows about you,” Mason said, glancing in her direction. “Which begs the question: why would an agent give Anna, if this is indeed Anna, any information?”
“You don’t think it’s Anna?” She shifted in her seat, facing him as he pulled into the parking lot of a twenty-four diner.
“I don’t know what I think,” Mason said, shutting off the lights and unbuckling his seat belt. He had insisted they take her car, for authenticity, but then refused to let her drive.
The trust level wasn’t there, and could she blame him?
“What little I’ve read on Anna, or that you’ve told me, she’s not the type to go threatening children.”
“But she and her mom were close, and Anna blamed me for her mom’s failing health.” Harmony swallowed. “I didn’t know her mother had died, which gives us more reason to believe Anna is the one threatening to hurt your family.”
“Still doesn’t make sense to me.” Mason rubbed the back of his neck, something she’d seen him do a few times when he’d been deep in thought. “Sure, I can see her tossing threatening words around, but to go as far as break in and the puppy—”
“The puppy,” Harmony repeated. “A Shepherd just like Oscar.”
“Who is Oscar?”
“He was Lucas’s dog. Anna accused me of stealing the dog when her brother had gotten arrested, before I was taken into protective custody.” Harmony rubbed her hands up and down her thighs. “Maybe she was trying to set me up so that you’d have to fingerprint me and it would come back to—”
“We did get those fingerprints, and nothing came up in the Federal database, so your real name, and your prints, no longer exist.” Mason pushed open the driver’s side door. “We can go five rounds trying to figure this shit out, but its best we go to the source.”
“I don’t think meeting her together is a good idea,” Harmony said as she stepped onto the broken gravel. “What about your family?”
“You heard my buddy, they are safe and sound in my parents’ home.” He reached out, taking her hand in his. “Trust me.”
“Because trust comes so easily to either of us.”
He let out a slight laugh. “I trust you are telling me the truth about Lucas and your case, how is that for starters?”
No matter how truthful she had been, this thing with Mason was headed nowhere, fast. “You know I have to leave when this is all over.”
“No. I don’t.” He tugged her along the walkway and pulled open the door. “But we can talk about that later.”
She stepped over the threshold, scanning the restaurant with its dated metal tables with vinyl-covered, orange cushions. A woman with an actual beehive hairdo snapped some gum as she waved.
“Take any seat you like. I’ll be right with you.”
A man with his back to them sat at one of the booths on the right side of the room, but that was it. No Anna.
“We must be early,” she said.
“You’re right on time, Heidi-ho,” the man said as he slipped from his seat and turned to face them with a smile.
Harmony blinked as the room spun around her, blurring out everything but him…
“Come to Daddy.”
***
“That’s your father?” Mason asked. But her parents were dead.
Fuck. Harmony’s parents were dead, not Heidi’s. God damn it. He should have asked that question before they left his house.
“Guess my little Heidi-ho didn’t tell you about me.”
“My name is Harmony, and you’re dead to me.” Harmony squeezed his hand so tight it cut off the circulation. “I don’t even remember you.”
“Consider me back from the dead,” her father said with a smile. The man wore expensive Italian shoes and a designer suit. He looked like a diamond shining in a pile of shit, only he was of the fake cut. “And I know you remember me calling you Heidi-ho.”
“My mother called me that,” she said with a strained voice.
“Ah, yes. Mary. Poor woman. I was deeply disturbed when I found out she’d killed herself. I even thought about coming to get you, but I had some things to take care of.”
“What are you doing here, George?” Harmony asked with venom spewing from every word.
“I’ve come to reconcile with my Heidi-ho.”
“Don’t fucking call me that,” she said, her chest heaving up and down with each heavy breath. “I haven’t seen you since I was a little girl. What makes you think I want to see you now?”
Mason took a good look around the restaurant. The waitress had disappeared and not a single soul was in sight.
Not good.
“I don’t care if you want to or not, but you’re coming with me.”
“Like hell she is,” Mason said, snapping his attention in George’s direction.
George laughed, waving his finger. “Deputy Sherriff Mason, you are so damn predictable, and you’ve made this way too easy, taking away some of the fun.”
“What are you blubbering about?” Harmony asked, leaning against Mason.
“Gathering his family together. Smart, but stupid at the same time.”
He reached for his phone, but George pulled out a pistol.
“They are safe, for now, but if my little girl and I don’t walk out of here, the entire house goes up in smoke.” George made a poof motion with his hand like a magician would.
“What do you want with me?” Harmony asked, taking a step forward, but Mason tugged her back, pushing his shoulder in front of her. “You ran out on me and Mom when I was little and you never looked back. And now you show up out of the blue, in your fancy clothes, and if you think I’m going anywhere with you, you’re nuts.”
“I’m not nuts, and you are leaving with me. Together, we are going to run some major poker tables.”
“How do you know about that?” Mason asked. A hard object pushed against her hip.
His gun.
“The world is a tiny place and her ex, Lucas, and I, we had some business together, so when my little girl—”
“Call me your kid again and I’ll—”
“What? Heidi? What are you going to do? Run to the Feds? Well, I got news for you. Your handler, he’s in my pocket.”
“Sterling?” she asked in a long breath that sounded like defeat.
“No. Your new one, Ricko. He and I have a deal. And now I’ve got the best poker table runner this side of the Mississippi, one who had been right under my nose all along.”
Mason’s pulse surged. He’d hemmed and hawed about who to call in the FBI, besides his friend’s wife. Alice had recommended they contact the agent who had known her the longest, since she suspected the leak might be new, otherwise, why wait this long?
Made sense.
So, perhaps Sterling was close by, but if it was Ricko, they were fucked.
“That’s all you want from me is to run a few poker games?” she asked.
Mason could tell by the tone in her voice that she was ready to bolt, and not because she wanted to.
But because she had to.
A faint flash of light caught his attention from outside. He couldn’t see through the dirty windows to the darkness of early morning, but he did understand Morse code.
Hit the deck.
“She’s not running any poker tables with you,” Mason said.
“You really want to leave this place in a body bag, don’t you?” George said, taking a step forward, the beam of light flashing between him and Harmony, landing on George’s chest.
“That’s not how it’s going to go down.” He grabbed Harmony and tossed her to the ground, covering her body with his. A single shot rang out, hitting the glass, shattering it into a million pieces. Three or four grazed Mason’s back.
He gritted his teeth, keeping Harmony protected as he heard someone race through the front door.
“FBI, don’t move,” a man’s voice rang out.
“Mason, you okay?” a familiar voice asked.
Alice.
“I think I’ll live,” he said, lifting his head and brushing Harmony’s hair from her face. “What about you?”
Her eyes went wide as she struggled to breath.
“Get the paramedics,” he yelled, jumping to his knees, ignoring the tearing of his skin as he moved.
“You’re going to need some serious stitches,” Alice said, tucking her gun into her holster while some other agent cuffed George, holding a towel to his wound.
“Not for me,” he mumbled, checking over her body for wounds, but finding none.
She shook her head, trying to sit up.
“Stay still,” he whispered. “Where does it hurt?”
“It doesn’t hurt,” she managed to say through a choppy breath. “Wind…knocked…”
“Shhhhh.” He pressed his finger against her lips. “Breath slowly. I’m still going to have the paramedics take you to the hospital, just to be sure.” He glanced over his shoulder. “My sister? Her kids? He said something about a possible explosion or fire at my parents’ house.”
“Fuck,” the other man said as he tapped an earpiece. “Who has eyes on Ricko?”
Mason waved Alice over. “I need to make sure my family is okay. Can you stay with Harmony?”
“Ricko is one of us and he’s with your family,” the agent said. “But there was a small explosion at your parents’ house. My man was injured, but all are being transported to the hospital.”
Mason sucked in a deep breath.
“Go,” Alice said. “I’ve got her.”
“I’ll see you at the hospital,” he said, giving her a quick kiss before bolting to his feet.
“I’ll drive,” the other agent said.
“And you are?”
“Agent Sterling.”
“Fine,” Mason said, glancing one last time over his shoulder. He hated leaving Harmony like that, but he had to know his family was going to be okay. “Alice here will take real good care of you.”