CHAPTER 79
CHAPTER
RHETT TEMPLE LANDED HARD ON the floor, but he quickly regained his footing.
Walter Nash stared at him from next to the bed.
“What the hell!” exclaimed Temple.
Nash glanced at Mindy, who was sitting up and glaring at her stepson.
“You were going to murder me,” she snapped at Temple. “You’re out of your head, Min. What, are you sniffing glue now?” Temple turned to Nash. “And what are you doing here? You broke into my house.”
“No, he didn’t. I let him in,” said Mindy.
“Why?” barked Temple.
“Because he was afraid you were going to come to kill me. And he was right. Then we heard noises and he told me to pretend to be sleeping. Then you came in and tried to smother me. And he stopped you.”
“Come on, Min, you are way off base. I’m. . .I’m not a killer. I had already pulled the pillow off you. You must have realized that.”
“You killed your father,” she shot back.
Temple roared, “And you were right there when I did it. So I go down, you go down, too!”
Nash said, “We can go round and round on this if you want, Rhett. Or we can cut to the chase and do something productive.”
Temple glowered at him. “Meaning what, exactly?”
“Meaning you can work with us, or else you’ll suffer the consequences.”
“Work with you? Doing what?”
Nash glanced at the door to the bedroom. “Okay,” he said.
Victoria Steers appeared there.
When Temple saw her, he immediately took a step back.
“Son of a bitch! I spent all this time and money trying to get away from her, and you just ruined everything. Well, my turn to do the same to you, asshole.” He called out to Steers.
“Hey, guess what, he’s Walter Nash. The guy you’ve been looking for all this time?
He’s right there, lady. I found him, just like you asked me to. So I am out of here for good. Bye-bye.”
However, Nash blocked his exit.
In a tone of disbelief, Mindy exclaimed, “You’re Walter Nash?”
Steers stepped fully into the room and looked at Temple. “This I already know.”
Temple shot Nash a look. “She knows! What the hell is going on?”
Nash said, “Things have changed.”
“Meaning what, exactly?”
“You want a get-out-of-jail-free card?” he asked.
“No, what I want is to kick your ass. And now I can.” He swung a haymaker at the other man’s jaw.
Nash ducked under it and let the momentum of Temple’s attack carry the man right into the wall. He bounced off it and came back at Nash, swinging and kicking.
Nash blocked every blow. “This is counterproductive, Rhett,” he said.
“You’re not the only one with muscles and moves now, bro,” retorted Temple.
He kicked once more at Nash but Nash caught the leg, forcing Temple to hop on one foot.
“Are you going to listen to reason or not?” asked Nash.
“I’m done listening,” said Temple. He reached into his jacket and pulled out his gun.
The foot caught Temple on the side of the head. Nash let go of his leg at the same time, and Temple spun around and dropped to the floor unconscious, his gun falling to the floor. Nash scooped it up.
Mindy looked at Steers, who had struck the blow, and exclaimed, “Holy shit. You’re like some kind of kung fu girl.” Mindy then smiled broadly. “That was awesome.”
Steers looked down at the senseless Temple, strode into the bathroom, came out with a glass of water, and dumped it on Temple’s face.
Gagging and sputtering, he came to and sat up, looking around in a daze.
He glared at Nash. “You sucker-punched me.”
“I did nothing to you. She did,” added Nash, pointing at Steers.
She said, “Do you want to live or do you want to die, Mr. Temple? That is the question you have to answer.”
He scrambled to his feet. “Of course I want to live, who doesn’t?”
“Then you must listen to Walter.”
“Is it just Walter, or Walter-san?” Temple said sarcastically.
Nash sat on a chair and said, “We know you murdered your father. We know you were going to kill Mindy tonight.”
“You know shit!”
Nash held up his phone. “I have it all recorded on here, including your confessing to killing Barton. Up to you. The police, or you work with us?”
Temple started to blurt something out, but then seemed to recalculate. “I’m listening.”
And Nash explained about his and Steers’s roles with the FBI and CIA, respectively, and the sale of her business to Connor Lord. When he was done Temple looked at him and then Steers.
“Since when is a mole at the top of the pyramid?”
“That is irrelevant,” said Steers. “It is what it is.”
“Well, then I’m outta here.” He started for the door, but Nash quickly rose and blocked him again.
“No, you’re going to stay here. In fact, you’re going into Sybaritic and take back the CEO position from the woman you appointed.”
“But won’t that piss off the new owner, this Lord guy?”
“Probably, but you’ll just have to prove your loyalty to him.”
“And how the hell am I supposed to do that?”
Nash said, “You’re a lot smarter than your father ever gave you credit for, Rhett. You think quickly on your feet and you have excellent survival instincts.”
“Well, I appreciate you saying that, Walter-san. But what am I supposed to do as the CEO?”
Steers answered. “Ingratiate yourself to Lord. Tell him how things can be run better with me out of the picture. Oh, and you’ll also have to convince my mother.”
“Your mother is a fucking psycho,” barked Temple.
“She is mentally disturbed, but you can use that against her. I will show you how.”
“And with what endgame? You told me the CIA has everything it needs to bring Lord down.”
“This will buy us some more time, Mr. Temple. And distract Lord from finding me. And one can never have too much evidence.”
“Okay, you want me to risk my life and help you? Why should I?”
Nash said, “Well, for starters, you screwed my wife. Second, you ruined my life. So it’s time you started working on your salvation.”
Mindy interjected, “He screws everything, including his own stepmother.”
“Shut up, Min,” snapped Temple. He looked at Nash. “Those two points don’t really do it for me. What else you got?”
Nash held up his phone. “Well, then, you won’t have to go to prison for the rest of your life. Hard to be a true billionaire behind bars. Take it or leave it.”
Temple rubbed his face. “Shit, this is so . . .”
“Difficult?” said Steers. “Yes, it is. For all of us. But we are giving you an opportunity to avoid the serious consequences of your actions. Most people do not get that chance.”
“Yeah, but the most likely scenario is I get killed by these people.”
“You’ll have a chance,” said Nash. “That’s all I had.”
Temple eyed him and let out a long breath, and with it the man finally seemed to really calm down. “Okay, I get it, you got fucked, Walt, and I was part of that. And you lost your daughter too.”
Nash had not told him about Maggie being alive. He needed the man to feel as guilty as possible. “So you’ll do it?”
Temple looked at Steers, then back at Nash.
“Why not just turn me in to the police? Like you said, you have the evidence. I’m up to my armpits in crime. Yeah, it was because my old man lost his fortune and hoodwinked me into this shit. But so what? Nobody’s going to be crying tears for me. And I’m part of the reason Maggie was killed.”
“I don’t think you’re really like your father, Rhett.
You showed courage and fairness in Myanmar.
I know you love your sister, Angie. And you told me about your mother and what Barton did to her.
I think who you are is a byproduct of how Barton treated you.
But that doesn’t mean he gets to define you now.
He’s dead. You’re not. He has no more chances to get it right, but you do. ”
A long moment passed and Rhett Temple, his expression, surprisingly, one of contriteness followed by resolve, said, “Okay, I’m in. So how do we beat this Lord guy? And the dragon lady?”
Steers stepped forward to face him. “I will tell you exactly how.”