Chapter 17 #2
Brielle took a quick look around before slipping out the door. Despite the thick pile carpet she treaded softly, sure the slightest sound would alert them. When she reached the lounge she pressed her ear against the crack in the door, holding her breath for fear she would muffle the sound.
“Are you sure Malcolm was telling truth? Is a man like that really trustworthy?”
“Why would the jerk lie?” Frank replied. “Listen, we have to get that tape or else we’re all in deep trouble.”
Brielle didn’t need to see to know Geoffrey was the other man in the room. She pushed closer, straining her ears, her stomach pushing against her throat.
“If Harrison has it, why hasn’t he turned it in?”
“Probably to protect Brielle from conspiracy charges. He’s waiting for you two to leave the country,” Frank said then lowered his voice. “But you and Brielle aren’t the point. What I care about is getting that tape from Harrison.”
“How do you propose we do that?”
“We eliminate him.”
“You mean kill him? You just said he’s a federal agent. That’s a big deal.”
“Geoffrey, keep your voice down.”
Brielle covered her mouth with her hand. She pushed closer to the door, her legs quivering in the awkward position.
“I thought you wanted to play with the big dogs now,” Frank said, frustration lacing his voice. “Sometimes you have to bite before you get bitten. You know what I mean? That’s the business.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“I already have a guy on it.” Frank assured him. “Don’t you worry. Frank Riley always covers his bases. Once we clean up this mess, we can make a new one.” They laughed and the sound drew Brielle from behind the door.
She stormed in the room, her legs weakening under her. When her father saw her, he smiled as if he knew she’d heard every word of their conversation. “Is that what this is to you? A mess?”
“Brielle, I’m glad you’re here! I watched your match. You do your father proud.”
“You don’t give a rat’s ass about me.” She fisted her hands at her sides, just so she wouldn’t wrap them around his thick neck. “You’re my father. You’re supposed to protect me from people like you. What kind of monster are you?”
He didn’t answer. Snapping his lighter open, he lit his cigar.
“First you use me as a pawn, now you want to kill the only person in the whole world who has ever done right by me?”
“Brielle, darling,” Geoffrey cooed. “I think you are misunderstanding your father.”
“And what kind of fool do you take me for, Geoffrey? You two set me up, used me and what has that left me? Nothing.”
“Nothing!” Frank challenged, getting up from his seat. “You call this place nothing? This whole Vitalie compound is yours thanks to me. You and Geoffrey will be happy here.”
Brielle shook her head. “I don’t know how you roped Anston into all of this or how Geoffrey acquired all of his property. But I know it’s because of your dirty work and I sure as hell don’t want any part of it!”
“Geoffrey, get her out of here.”
Brielle ripped the engagement ring off her finger and tossed it in his face. “No need,” she said, snagging the car keys from Geoffrey’s sweat jacket pocket. “I’ll show myself out.”
On her way out the door, she spotted Leslie at the stairs with her phone tight against her ear. “I tried calling Callum but he won’t answer,” she whispered. “I’m trying Diggs but he’s in Tampa at the field office.”
“There’s no time for that.” Brielle said. “I’ve got to find that tape.” She bounded down the stairs, Leslie tailing behind her.
“Brielle, wait! What are you doing? You can’t just take off by yourself.”
Brielle knew the danger in betraying the plan, but running to the ends of the earth wouldn’t save their lives.
Rain spilled from the sky as she darted across the lot with her dress sticking between her knees.
She kicked off her heels and ran barefoot through the puddles, scanning the rows for Geoffrey’s Jag.
When she found the car, she quickly piled in, her wet skin dragging loudly against the leather. In her rear view mirror she could see Leslie coming at her. A flash of lightning illuminated her panicked face as she peeled away from her into the night.
Callum stepped into the shower. The hot water scalded him but he didn’t mind. Maybe if he concentrated on the burn, the pain of his broken heart wouldn’t seem so bad.
He had watched the coverage on ESPN when he got home from the court. Even her smiling face on the damn TV screen was enough to knock him off his feet, and he sat on the couch a good hour after just thinking about it. He wanted to remember her just that way. Happy.
When his skin was red and raw he turned off the water and grabbed a towel from the rack.
He eyed his gun and the cassette sitting on the counter across from him.
As long as he still had it, he would have to be extra careful, but there was actually a small part of him that would welcome Frank’s retaliation.
One well-aimed shot and Brielle would be free of him forever.
The second he heard the front door open, he dropped the towel and threw on his jeans.
Stowing the tape in his pocket he snapped off the lights and waited in the darkness.
His car sat in the driveway, but the house was blacked out.
Good. If whoever had come in thought he wasn’t home, Callum wasn’t about to correct them.
The creak of his bedroom door brought his hand to his gun. Footsteps, quick and urgent crossed the tile and stopped at his dresser. Drawers flew open, wood clattering, contents spilling onto the floor.
Callum stayed still, breath shallow, listening.
Come and get it you bastard he thought, before lifting his gun and throwing the door open.
Thunder crashed and lighting lit up the room.
He lunged on the figure and pinned him to the bed, pulling his arms against his back and smothering his head in the comforter.
“What the hell are you looking for?” Callum demanded.
“If it’s a bullet in the head you’ve come to the right place.
” He thrust his gun into the figure’s temple, digging it into his skull.
The rain pounded against the roof, making the muffled pleas of the intruder inaudible. With a grunt, Callum hauled him off the bed, then threw him against the wall.
“Callum, don’t hurt me. It’s me!”
“Brielle?”
He stumbled away, stunned before snapping on the light. “What the hell were you thinking?” he yelled, glaring at her. “I almost shot you! Why didn’t you say it was you?”
“You didn’t give me a chance. The place was dark and you didn’t answer your phone.”
Callum searched her eyes. She looked pale and weak, winded, and disoriented. “Sweetheart, look at me,” he pleaded with his thumb on her cheek. “Are you okay?”
“Where is that cassette?” she croaked. “You need to give it to me.”
“What?”
“Frank! He wants to kill you.” She gasped, rubbing her stomach with an unsteady hand. “He was at the reception with Geoffrey and I heard them talking.” She brought a hand to her head as if she might faint.
It was obvious she wasn’t well. “Brielle, what’s up? Did Frank hurt you?”
“I can’t do this anymore!” she blurted. “I’m sick of living my life in fear. I don’t care what happens to me.”
Thunder clapped loudly overhead. When the lighting flashed, he could see her wild eyes, tearful and desperate and his heart ached in response. “Listen to me. You could lose everything, your career, your freedom and maybe even your life. I care about you too much to let that happen.”
“What about you, Callum? You stand to lose as much as I do. You’ll never have a chance at my father again.”
“I don’t care about that!”
“But I do…” her voice trailed off. Her teeth were chattering now as she sat down and gripped the comforter.
A sweatshirt hung from his open middle drawer. He pulled it over her head then took her in his arms. “Shh, just relax.”
“Leslie called Earl. They know you have the tape. You have to turn it in.”
Another flash of lightning lit the room. He cursed, his stomach hitting his throat. “Damn it, why are you doing this?”
“Because I love you, Callum.”
He looked down at her, incredulous.
“I realize now my career doesn’t love me back, but even if you can’t either, at least I know your life won’t be ruined twice at the hands of a Riley.”
“Are you crazy? You are the farthest thing from ruining my life.” He brushed the hair from her eyes and held her cheek to his. “You saved me. Before I met you, I didn’t care if I woke up in the morning. But you changed all that. I love you. I just want you to be happy.”
“Then please give me that tape!” She jammed her hand down his pockets. Finding what she was looking for, she pulled away from him and ran out the bedroom door.
“Brielle, wait!”
“I’m going to drive this to the field agency in Tampa if I have to.”
“No need for that.”
Frank’s voice pierced the silence, the orange light of his cigar glowing in front of them. He was flanked by a stooge on each side, but the darkness hid their faces.
Callum placed his hands on Brielle’s shoulders. He shoved her behind him when he saw the silver gleam of the goon’s revolvers poised in their direction.
“I’ll be happy to take that off your hands,” Frank said. “Save you the time and trouble. Come on Brielle, be a good little girl and give Daddy the tape.”
“No.”
Callum looked Frank in the eye. “I should have killed you when I had the chance.”
“Shut up, Harrison.”
“Look, you have a problem with me, you deal with me,” Callum warned. “But let Brielle go. She’s your daughter, for Christ’s sake.”
Frank’s cigar glowed and, a cloud of grey smoke rose in front of his face. “You know, you two have a lot in common. Blessed with talent but cursed by fate. Too bad it has to end in your untimely death, Harrison.”
“Daddy, please don’t hurt him.”
“This guy is nothing but trouble for you, Brielle. Daddy’s only righting a wrong here.”
Callum felt her shudder against him, her fingers clutching his waist. Reaching around, he held her fingers in his, just as much an effort to calm her as it was to calm himself.
He took one last glimpse around as best as he could in the darkness.
He was cornered and defenseless, but a part of him didn’t care.
He didn’t want to live his life without the woman he loved and if it was his fate to die here, with her hands in his, he couldn’t think of a better way to go.
Frank gave a nod to his stooges and they raised their guns in unison. He closed his eyes and held a breath.
“Freeze! FBI!”
Leslie’s voice echoed in the room, louder than the thunder. A flash of lightning revealed the gun in her hand, as a herd of officers stormed in behind her.
“Brielle, get out of here!” Callum yelled, moving toward the closest stooge. “Go! Now!”
He saw her run out the door, past Leslie, who let her go and he jumped the guy, grabbing a hold of the gun as they wrestled for it.
A yellow explosion went off as Callum wrestled the stooge to the floor, pushing his face into the tile and pulling the gun from his hand.
Leslie had the other stooge at gunpoint.
“Good timing, partner,” he told her.
Another surge of uniformed men barged through the door with guns wielded and voices raised. Earl and his men followed. They barked orders in rain slickened trench coats before Callum signaled to them for help. The agents cuffed the other stooge and two of them held Frank.
In seconds it was over.
Callum turned to Earl. “You’re late. Leslie beat you here.”
“Looks like it’s a good thing, too. You were close to being fish food.”
Callum nodded, looking over at Frank. An agent was handcuffing him. “Well, at least we can add attempted murder of a federal agent to the list of charges.”
Earl laughed. “Either way you got your man, Harrison. Congratulations. Now where’s the tape?”
Callum exchanged a look with Leslie, who stayed silent. She wouldn’t betray him. But Brielle had made it clear. She would turn over the tape if he didn’t. “Brielle has it. She should be hiding outside.”
Again Callum regarded his nemesis and hers, as the agents lead him toward the door. Frank was smiling. Totally cool. Like the prospect of jail was nothing but summer camp. “You look pretty happy for a man who’s going to rot in Federal prison for the rest of his life,” Callum called after him.
“We’ll see about that. But in the event I will be away for a while, I have a request, Harrison.”
“Oh yeah, what’s that?”
“You look after my daughter.”
Callum stood there a moment, silent as Frank was led away.
He’d imagined that in this moment, he would feel healed and vindicated.
Like a huge weight would be ceremoniously removed.
But he now understood that regardless of whether justice was served, his heart would always be heavy. Unless he could be with Brielle.
“Hey Harrison!” Earl bolted across the room breathless and soaked from the driving rain outside.
“What’s up? Did you get the tape from Brielle?”
“Yeah we got the tape, but it’s Brielle. Come quick. We just found her outside.”
“What?” Callum sprinted after Earl, with Leslie following him out the door and down the marble stairs. At the bottom on the lawn Brielle lay unconscious, dark blood matting her blonde hair.
“What the hell happened!” Callum demanded, kneeling beside her on the muddied grass.
“She must have fallen down the stairs,” Earl said. “We just found her like this.”
The medics brought over a stretcher and Callum lifted her on it. Pushing her soaking hair from her face, he kissed her as if it would jar her to consciousness.
Leslie grabbed his arm and pulled him off her. “Callum, let them take her.”
Callum stepped back, watching her motionless body disappear into the ambulance. He stood there till the ambulance disappeared over the rise.
He felt Leslie’s hand on his shoulder. “Come on. I’ll drive you to the hospital.”
He nodded but didn’t move as his tears mingled with the raindrops streaming down his cheeks.