CHAPTER NINE
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Tammy forced herself to walk calmly back to the house and not look back, in case anyone was looking at the security cameras closely. But inside she was a whirlwind of plans.
First she needed to find the business card that Luc Marrec had left when Mom threw him out of the house. Would it still be in the dish on the table in the foyer?
It was. Relief. She stood on the polished Spanish paver tiles of the foyer and felt for her phone. But she couldn’t talk to him here. She ran up the stairs and into her room, shutting the door quietly before she dialed. The phone rang in her ear.
She sure hoped she could make Mr. Marrec help her. What if money didn’t motivate him? But of course it would. He’d admitted he hired out his services as a mercenary. And he was a bad-ass if she’d ever seen one. But how much, exactly, would it take to get him to help her?
And there was another reason he might help her. Mr. Marrec wanted a rapprochement with the family. She sort of thought Daddy did too. He hadn’t even known he had a son. But her mother wanted nothing of the sort. Tammy could understand. Mr. Marrec was a product of Daddy’s liaison with a woman he knew before Mom. Jane said Mom had told Mr. Marrec not to return. Well, Tammy could be his way back in. But she didn’t want to lead with that. He might not admit it. And pushing a man like Marrec might make him turn her down.
On the third ring a deep, rough voice said, “Yeah?”
“Is…is this Luc Marrec?”
“Could be.”
Wow. Not exactly forthcoming. But the faint French Canadian accent said it was Marrec. “This is Tammy Tremaine.”
There was no sound.
“Mr. Marrec, are you there?”
“I’m here.”
“I…I have a job for you.” She rushed on. “You said you wanted to provide bodyguard services to the family. Well, that’s what I need. I’m willing to pay.”
There was another long pause. “And why do you need these services?”
This was tricky. Mr. Marrec didn’t know about the magic, even though, since he was Daddy’s son, he had a pretty good chance of having the gene himself. But he didn’t seem the type to buy into magic genes and true love, so she had to leave that part out. She mustn’t scare him away. He did know about the Clan and that the family was under siege. In fact he knew a little too much about that. He’d been watching The Breakers for some time, apparently. “I want to meet a man. I want to spend a couple of days away from here with him—just to find out, well, if we suit. But my parents won’t let me go because of the danger. And Michael can Find me.” She wouldn’t go into exactly how Michael could Find her. “But you and Michael are both military. He’d feel like I was okay if you were with me.”
“A threesome, how charming.”
“Well, I mean, you’d be nearby, but not actually with us.” Oh, this was a disaster. “I’d pay you well.”
“Cash?”
“Of course. What…what price did you have in mind?”
“How many days?”
“Uh. Three. Three at the most.”
“Where do you plan to go where no one will find you?”
Oh, she was cleverer than that. “You don’t need to know that yet.”
“Me, I do not come cheap.”
She tried to make her voice hard. “How much?”
“Fifteen thousand.”
Tammy swallowed hard. She knew where she could get the cash, of course. Kemble had a stash of money in the safe in the office wing for family emergencies. The family all knew the combination. It was a lot more than fifteen thousand. She’d need a couple of thousand to pay her way too, since Thomas didn’t have any money. Doable.
“Deal.”
“Your parents, they will be very angry with you, and with me too, n’est pas?”
“Maybe, at first. But this man also has information the family needs.” Maybe Thomas had information. “When I bring it back to them, they’ll forgive and forget.” There, she’d laid the bait.
“And Michael, he will not come after us? I would not like to face him in a conflict.”
The two had hit it off, since Michael had been Delta Force and both had seen horrible things and probably done horrible things in the name of winning a war. But they’d be tough adversaries.
“I’ll get Michael on our side.” Would Mr. Marrec do it? She was counting on the fact that he wanted a connection with the family. Later he could tell them she was going to run off with this guy anyway, and it was a choice of him protecting her or letting her go it alone. He’d come off a hero for bringing her back.
“Me, I think he will put an end to your plot. But that is your responsibility. Assuming you can overcome this obstacle, how do we proceed?”
A man like Mr. Marrec was asking her? She took a breath. Well, he should. She was the leader of this little escapade and it was her plan. She straightened her shoulders. “There is a delivery of laundry this afternoon. In about an hour. Are you close by?” He might not have realized she needed immediate help.
“I can be.”
Tammy breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ll be in the laundry truck.”
“And how do you propose to escape notice as you get into this truck?” His voice was carefully neutral, but she knew he thought she was a rank amateur. Perceptive of him.
“I will create a diversion.” Well, actually, Lance and Bagheera would create the diversion. “Then we’ll go pick up Thomas. I…I expect you can provide transportation?”
“Yes.”
So…that was it?
“I’ll call you when the laundry truck makes its next stop and I can get out.”
“You will not.”
What?
“You will leave your phone and any tablets or other electronic devices behind. Do not worry, I will come for you and this laundry truck.”
She blew out a breath. “Okay, great. See you then.”
There was a click at the other end of the line.
Well! That was abrupt.
Just as well. Now she had to find Michael. And she had to separate him from her sister Drew, who wouldn’t go along with this whole plan in a million years, even though she’d pulled off something similar to go after Michael. Tammy just hoped Michael would go along with it. If he didn’t, her little intrigue would never get off the ground at all.
*
Jason let himself into Morgan’s offices, the nerve center of the Clan compound. She was pacing behind two guys who scanned the array of security cameras, her damned bird on her shoulder. The bird cocked a beady black eye at him and cawed.
She stopped in mid-stride. “Well?”
“I’ve interviewed everyone. No one saw him.” He glanced to the screens. “I assume he’s not inside?”
“He’s not.” Her mouth was a grim slash, red with lipstick, and her golden eyes glittered with anger. “We’re checking the historical tapes now.” She jerked her head to a man and a girl scrolling through tapes.
“That will take a while.”
Her murderous look told him that stating the obvious wasn’t good for his health.
“That leaves the desert.” Too obvious?
“How could he have gotten out? And if he is out there, it’s a hundred and eight degrees and he can’t be equipped for a long trek.” She left the consequences of wandering around in the desert without supplies unstated, but Jason didn’t need a recitation.
“I’ll get teams on it.”
“We should have started the search outside sooner,” she fretted. That wasn’t like her. She was always supremely self-confident. “I just thought he couldn’t…” She shook herself and turned on Jason. “We have to find him.”
“We will.”
“There isn’t anyone else, and we have so little time until the Pentacle appears.” She gave him a penetrating stare.
Oh, he knew the consequences of not finding the boy all right. Both to her ambitions, and to himself. “We’ll find him.” He turned on his heel and went to organize the search parties. They’d take the jeeps of course, and the off-road four wheelers. But it might be time for the helicopter as well. That way they could cover more ground.
He hoped the stupid young shit at least took water with him. Likely they’d find him with a broken leg at the bottom of some ravine. He could still serve his purpose at least. Jason sure hoped they didn’t find him dead.
*
Tammy made her way quietly into the office wing of The Breakers. She passed the conference room, where Kee and Dev had their heads together in front of a computer screen, looking at the image of a crumbly old manuscript.
“Does that say ‘bestial’ or ‘celestial,’ do you think?” Kee asked, pointing to the screen.
“If it’s about the Pentacle it wouldn’t say bestial,” Dev said. “I’m going with celestial.”
She slid along the corridor, past Kemble’s office. Drew was in there and Kemble was taking notes. “There’s an altar,” Drew said. “So it’s some kind of a ceremony.” Drew was slumped in her chair as if she was exhausted, unlike the sophisticated woman she usually was.
“So we must discover the purpose of the ceremony.”
“Or just disrupt it,” Drew offered.
“Do we dare bet on Anzo Borrego? It could be near the San Bernadinos.”
The voices faded as she went into the little room that held the sink, the coffee pot, and a small fridge for snacks and such. It also had a large safe set into the wall.
Tammy’s heart was in her mouth. It wasn’t like she was stealing. The money was there for the family to use. But if someone discovered her, she’d end up having to explain. No lie occurred to her that would cover why she needed eighteen thousand dollars. That’s what she’d resolved to borrow. She’d need clothes, and it wasn’t like she could take a suitcase with her. It looked like Thomas had nothing with him.
She touched the keypad to enter the combination. How would she ever pay the family back when she had no means of earning money? It didn’t matter. What good was being rich if you couldn’t use the money for what you needed? And she needed Luc Marrec. The safe opened with a clunk that made her jump. She looked around, but the voices in the other rooms continued in an unintelligible drone. She took a breath to steady herself as she stared at the stacks and stacks of money inside, along with a metal file box of important papers. She put bundles of money into the big purse she’d brought.
She closed the safe as gently as she could and spun the dial, then tiptoed out into the hall. She didn’t have the courage to make her way back the way she’d come. She hurried down the corridor toward the security guys’ domain. The last thing she wanted was to rouse the suspicion of Edwards and Ernie and the guys before they got the call from the police. But just outside their offices there was a door. She slid outside on the south side of the house, near the pool deck that was nestled behind a windscreen of star jasmine to protect it from the onshore ocean breezes in the afternoon.
Now, she had to find Michael. There was no time to practice what to say to convince him. But she better not tell him that Thomas was Clan. And she couldn’t tell him that Thomas was only a couple miles down the road or he’d never understand why she couldn’t just invite him inside the gates. She sure hoped his experience with Drew worked to her advantage.
Where would Michael be? Well, he’d been trying to Find the Clan once an hour. That means he hadn’t been getting much sleep.
She headed over to the back terrace and slipped in through the door that led to the old servants’ stairs, and up to Drew and Michael’s room on the second floor. The door was closed but not locked. She opened it quietly. Her brother-in-law lay on the deep blue satin comforter. His eyes were closed. He was wearing one of those tee shirts they called a wife-beater, and its white contrasted starkly with his olive skin. The man had muscles, for sure.
She’d taken but a single step into the room when he lunged up, forearms up in front of him in a defensive posture, looking ready to kill anything or anyone in sight.
*
Michael blinked twice, trying to get the rat-a-tat of AK-103’s out of his head. Slowly, the noise faded and he saw that he was in Drew’s old room at The Breakers. Boy, that hadn’t happened in a while. Must be the tension over the Pentacle and the Clan.
Tammy stood just inside the door with a horrified expression. “What are you doing here?” Michael asked, his voice a little rougher than he planned.
“Sorry to startle you,” she said, her turquoise eyes wide. Her red hair was pulled back in a clip of some kind. She wore jeans and boots and a tee shirt. He kinda missed the frilly dresses she used to be so fond of. Still, she was carrying a big black purse. That was girly. Actually, it was a little strange. “I wanted to talk,” she said.
Michael motioned her over to the wing chair in the corner and moved to the ladder-backed chair at Drew’s little escritoire. He pulled it up under himself, facing her. “Shoot.”
She looked a little lost. He shouldn’t be surprised. Tammy had been lost ever since Brian’s injury. He’d been worried about her. They all had. Lately it seemed like she’d been drifting away from the family, from who she had been, and there was nothing any of them could do about it.
He didn’t press her. Whatever she wanted was important to her. She’d never sought his counsel like this. He saw her mouth set itself in a determined line.
“I need to get out of The Breakers for a couple of days. And because you can Find me, I need your help to do that.”
What? “Bad idea.” He saw her expression harden. Okay, okay. Regroup. Tammy could be stubborn. “Why do you need to leave the security of The Breakers?”
“For the same reason Drew left.”
Ohhhh. The boy Drew had seen in her visions. Tammy’s Destiny, bad timing though it was. And he understood why she wouldn’t want to subject a burgeoning relationship to the white-hot attention of the family. At least some members (mainly male) would be hard on the guy. Being the baby girl in the family wasn’t easy. And Brina would hover and match-make the two within an inch of their lives. Then there was the teasing and “advice” from her sisters. But that didn’t mean leaving The Breakers was a good idea. “You sure about this guy?”
“That’s what I want to find out.” She looked grim.
He knew from Drew’s vision that Tammy was right. If the guy was the same boy Drew had seen. Could be someone else entirely. So he’d make her prove it. “Not good enough. How do you know?”
She looked incredulous. “I’m not discussing my…physical reactions with you, Michael Redmond. But I can feel where he is.” She hesitated.
Michael frowned. “Drew and I…”
“Don’t go there,” she interrupted. “I know you usually don’t know where your…your Chosen One is until you’ve like…done it together. Well, we haven’t. So maybe I’m wrong.” She took a breath. “Which is why you have to do this for me. I’ve got to go get him, see if…well, if this is what I think it is and if he’s, uh, good for me. So don’t make me go all Lanyon on you all and do something crazy. Help me.”
Michael understood the threat. Lanyon had become totally unmanageable when he decided he couldn’t be cooped up at The Breakers anymore. He escaped every day, until the only choice was to chain him to a ring buried in cement, or lock him in the basement. That was Kemble’s plan actually, until they all talked him out of it. Even then Lan would probably have found a way to escape. Or to hurt himself. Those were dark days for Lan. So they let him go, and he started living in a trashy motel in Hollywood. Tammy wasn’t threatening suicide now. But she wasn’t kidding about crazy. Michael had been pretty suicidal when his first wife, Alice, died. Once you’d discovered true love and lost your soul to it, life without it didn’t seem worth living.
Thank God Drew had found him. By escaping from her family and trekking across the country to the Florida Keys.
He sighed. “Just invite him here, Tammy. Yeah, it’s uncomfortable, but at least it’s safe.”
Tammy was about to say something then thought better of it. “No dice, Michael. What if he doesn’t know about this Merlin’s DNA stuff? He’ll bolt. What if Daddy and Kemble and Tris scare him away before we can, uh, get to know each other? Nope. I’m getting out of here, one way or the other. I’ll break it to him slowly. I’ll see if this is real. Maybe it’s just me and he doesn’t feel it. Maybe I’m wrong. You can help or you can tell the family and Kemble can lock me up. I just don’t know how I’d bear it.” She was twisting her hands together in a way that was actually pretty disturbing and the desperation in her eyes was real. She have must seen his reluctance. She turned away, convulsively, and then whirled back. “You’d be dead if Drew hadn’t thought of more than just her safety and come to get you.”
Michael had seen a lot of desperation in his time. He felt bad. He did. But still…“Tammy, that was ten years ago, before the Clan was engaged so directly in trying to wipe us out. I can’t let you go out where the Clan can pick you up.”
“I know we’ll need protection.” She lifted her chin. “I’ve called Mr. Marrec. He’s going to protect us.”
She did what? This wasn’t like Tammy. Sure, she was desperate. But she’d put thought into this. And if he dismissed her out of hand, Tammy would hate him and they were back to chaining her in the basement.
So he stifled his protest. After all, Marrec probably had more combat experience even than Michael in even more dangerous situations. Mercs worked under the worst of circumstances if the pay was right. He’d put out feelers when Marrec had first showed up at The Breakers and discovered that Marrec was one of the best, taking the most difficult assignments. Michael hit it off with the guy, though being Brian’s bastard son meant most Tremaines weren’t Marrec fans.
But Marrec was one man. That wouldn’t be enough protection for Tammy. He knew why Marrec would take the job. He wanted into the Tremaine family, and unlike Kemble, Michael didn’t think it was for mercenary reasons. The man had never belonged anywhere. He was in his early forties by Michael’s calculations. Sometimes a drifter like Marrec just wanted to put down some roots. Protecting Brian’s precious baby daughter might just get him some quality time with his father. “He agreed to this?”
Tammy nodded earnestly. “I have a plan to get out.”
“You have a plan?”
Tammy looked insulted. “Yes. I have a plan. Lance and Bagheera will create a distraction, and I’m going to climb into in a laundry bag that the laundry guys will just put up into the truck. Mr. Marrec will stop the truck and get me out.”
“The laundry truck comes today.” Shit. He’d thought he’d have time to talk her out of it.
She nodded, blue eyes big. “It’s got to be today. Right now, in fact. You in, Michael?”
Shit. Shit. Shit. Keeping her from her Destiny would drive her crazy. Especially if she had it as bad as she said. The kid would probably try to find her, break in, and Ernie and Edwards or one of the other guys would shoot him.
But no. Drew saw Tammy and the boy in the future, together, on a beach. And Marrec was on the hill above them, watching. And later, or earlier (you could never tell the order Drew’s visions would actually occur), the boy saved Tammy from a fire. Did that mean Michael should help her get together with him? And then there was the fact that under the desert stars, with the family all around her, she appeared to Drew to be dead. Damn. Living with a woman who could tell the future made life even more complicated. But Drew had seen Marrec watching over Tammy on a beach. Tammy’s plan was going to be successful, no matter what Michael did.
Tammy leaned forward and put her hand on his forearm. “I just need a couple of days to see if this is real, and if…if it can work out. The Clan is busy prepping for whatever happens when the comet makes the Pentacle. We’re not their priority. Kemble says so. There’s nothing I can do here to help. Mr. Marrec will get me back home at the first sign of trouble. We’re just going to Catalina. The Clan would never suspect one of us would go there. I promise I’ll bring Thomas back here if he really is the One and he wants to try and make a go of it. We can face Daddy and Kemble, if I’m sure. If he’s sure. Please, Michael.”
She was going to Catalina. On an island. With beaches. Like in Drew’s vision. Damn times two. What could he do? Actually… “Okay. But I’m going with you.”
He was surprised when she seemed to panic. “No, no, no! You have to stay here and reassure the Parents and Jane and everybody that I’m okay. If you go too, if there’s no one to explain…just think how worried they’d be.”
“We’ll call them.”
“Then Kemble will trace the call.”
“Burner phone.”
“You’re just too big, Michael,” she said, bluntly. “Everyone would notice if you got into the laundry truck and didn’t come out. You’re way too big to hide in a bag. And don’t say we can just walk out the front gate, because there would be a huge scene and Kemble and Tris and the security guys would try to stop us, and there’s just no time for all that.”
“Why right now?”
Tammy chewed her lip, deciding. “Because Thomas is close. I just met him at the fence by the cliff. He got a ride over here from one of the P.V. cops, who just happens to know Mr. Edwards. Thomas thinks the cop is going to rat us out, and soon.”
Damn, damn, damn.
Was she right? She might be. Her plan was a decent one. Maybe he’d have to trust Marrec. Of course, he wasn’t going to let Marrec do this alone. But if Michael couldn’t go…
Aw, hell. Wasn’t this just peachy keen? The family would find out she was gone, of course. Probably in a matter of hours. They’d come running for him to Find her. He’d have to lie and say he couldn’t see her, or send them on a wild goose chase to buy her time to get clearly away. He’d be the one holding the bag here. And when he got backed into a corner but refused to say where she was, the shit would hit the fan. He glanced at his watch. Laundry arrived at six. The Breakers was the last stop. It was already five-thirty.
“You have money?” He nodded to the purse.
She nodded vigorously. “Eighteen thousand dollars.”
That surprised him. “Why eighteen?”
“Well, fifteen for Mr. Marrec and three for expenses. I’ll need a change of clothes. I can’t exactly pack a bag, and Thomas didn’t have one. I’ll have to pay for the hotel and food.”
Damned merc. Charging the kid fifteen K. Hmmm. Actually, he could have charged a lot more. That confirmed Michael’s suspicion about his motives. “How did you contact Marrec?”
She fumbled in the purse and produced a card. “He left this on the hall table when he Mom kicked him out the other night.”
Michael took it. “Give me your phone.”
“I don’t have it with me. Mr. Marrec said to leave it behind.”
“Well, bring it to me. If Kemble gets hold of it, he’ll know you called Marrec.” He might have to tell them about Marrec eventually, but he wanted it to be his choice.
She nodded as though she was afraid to say too much or he’d change his mind. Wise kid.
“Then, get down to the laundry room and climb into a bag. I’ll take the cart out to the front and load you in, so no one will notice the bag’s a little hefty. That way we don’t need any animal distractions.”
“Lance will try to come after me.”
“So lock him in your room. I’ll let him out after you’re gone. Go on.”
She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks, Michael. I mean, really. Thanks.”
“Just obey Marrec, will you? If he thinks it’s too dangerous, this whole thing stops and you come home, Destiny or no. Understood?”
She nodded, turned and dashed for the door. At the last second, she turned. “You’d better follow up with Mr. Edwards to make sure the cop doesn’t raise his suspicions about Thomas.”
Then she was gone. When she had pulled the door closed, Michael pulled out his phone and dialed the number on the card.
“Marrec.” The voice had a familiar ring even through the French Canadian accent. Not a shock that he was related to Brian.
“Michael Redmond.”
“Ahh. Me, I told her you would object.”
“I’m going to let her do it, fool that I am. She deserves a chance to be happy.” Not a word about visions of the future. “But you’re a fool if you think you can do this by yourself.”
“I have a few friends who wish to take a few days of vacation.”
“How many?”
“Eight. And there is me also, bien sûr.”
Well, that was better. “Skilled?”
“All men of skills.”
And they weren’t doing this for fifteen thousand. “How much?”
“We will discuss that when I have brought the estimable young lady back safe and sound to the bosom of her family, along with the young man, if you so desire. Or without, if that would be more convenient.”
Blackmail? “First, let’s get this clear. With the boy. In good health. And I’d rather get a price now. May have to raise the money.”
“And who says the price will be money, my friend? I will take care of le petit lapin. That is all you need to know at this time.”
Michael gritted his teeth. But there wasn’t much choice. He didn’t have time to recruit help and he could no more do this by himself than Marrec could.
“I hear the wheels grinding. But she is a determined young lady. If it is not this time, it will be another. And is it not better to protect her than have her escape alone?”
“Yes, God damn it. Crap in a hat.”
“This is one thing I will not do, Redmond. I like my hat.” The voice rumbled a chuckle in his ear. “Now, I must cut this delightful conversation short if I am to be ready as according to the so-intrepid young lady’s plan.”
“I’ll see she gets on the laundry truck,” Michael said through gritted teeth.
“And me, I will take it from there. Call from a burner when they discover she is gone.”
The line clicked off.
Michael was going to regret this. He only hoped his only reason for regret was Drew and her family yelling at him, and not because anything happened to Tammy.