Nick drove off the exit he knew led to the McDonalds and noticed the pair of headlights he had been watching leave the freeway too. In the McDonalds parking lot Nick, watched the car go past. It was a tan colored late model Buick Lacerne. The Buick kept going without slowing down and Nick could not get an angle to see the plate. He ordered and paid for the food after only a slight debate between his charges. They took the order over to a table Nick had picked out away from the front windows. Nick let Rachel divvy up the drinks and food, staying on his feet while sipping from the iced tea he’d ordered.
“Let me have Deke’s leash and one of his waste bags. I’ll take him for a walk.”
“They came off the freeway with us, didn’t they?”
“I’m going to see if they’re parked where they can see who gets into or out of my car. Relax, I’ll be right back.”
Rachel nodded hesitantly and handed Nick the dog’s leash and a baggie she had brought with her, planning to walk Deke after having something to drink. Nick took his iced tea with him. He leashed the overjoyed Deke and walked him out of the parking lot. Nick stopped every time Deke sniffed anything, allowing the dog to stay engaged with whatever aroma appealed to him. Nick drank his iced tea, looking around as Deke proceeded slowly up the street. The Buick was parked in the darkness nearly fifty yards away, facing Nick from across the street. After continuing another thirty feet, Nick took a look up at the sky casually and tugged Deke toward the parking lot.
Rachel smiled at Nick in relief as he walked toward their table after returning Deke to the car. “How we doing?”
“Not so good.” Nick sat down. “I’m going to take them for a little ride. I’ll call Grace while I’m doing it. If I’m not back in half an hour, call a cab and have the cabbie take you to a hotel. I’ll have to take Deke with me.”
“Why not call Grace right now?”
“You’re not going to hurt Deke!” Jean chimed in.
“Calm down you two,” Nick urged. “Deke and I will lead these clucks away, ID them, and be back in no time. I’m covering all our bases. If they’re dangerous people, Deke and I will lead them on a wild goose chase until Grace and Tim get here.”
“Okay…okay, we’ll wait,” Rachel agreed, picking up her cell-phone. “You’ll call me, right?”
“I’ll have Grace call you. Sorry this trip’s taking longer than we figured but we need to be careful.”
Nick walked out to the Malibu and opened the trunk. He moved luggage out of the way until he could reach the rear trunk area. Lifting up a section of fiber board, Nick took out a small leather case. He reloaded the car and took the case up front with him. Deke looked at Nick from the front seat expectantly. Nick laughed and opened the rear passenger door. Spreading the bags out on the floor and seat, Nick evened the surface before motioning Deke into the rear passenger compartment.
“Deke, buckle up, you’re in for a bumpy ride. Sorry, but no hanging out the window this trip, buddy.”
Great, now I’m talking to the dog.
Nick sat in the driver’s seat, closed the door, and opened the leather case. He took out his satellite phone and a MAC 10 machine pistol with a forty round clip. Nick popped the clip into place and set the weapon on the passenger seat. With the phone in its Velcro cradle installed on top of the center storage compartment, Nick drove away from McDonalds within sight of the Buick. Instead of entering the freeway, Nick drove onto Gillman Road, heading East.
The Buick followed, nearly a hundred yards back. Nick called Grace’s number, putting it on speaker. He turned off his lights, wheeled hard left, feathered the brake pedal, and slid smoothly in the reverse direction. Nick passed the Buick and repeated the maneuver, bringing the Malibu up behind the Buick.
“Grace Stanwick.”
“Grace, I have a bogey here and I’m wondering if it’s one of yours.” Nick flashed his lights on and hurriedly read off the license plate number as the Buick’s brake lights lit up.
“How’d you get through without your ID flashing on my screen, Nick?”
“Quit talking and get looking, Grace,” Nick ordered, swerving around and ahead of the Buick once again, glancing back to make sure Deke was still okay. The dog had spread his paws to stabilize motion.
“Wait one, damn it, I’m checking!”
Nick accelerated far ahead of the Buick, turned out his lights, and reversed his direction once again. This time, he opened the driver’s side window, picked up the MAC 10, and cradled it over the window frame.
“Hurry, Grace, time’s running out.” Nick calmly slowed the Chevy. The Buick decreased speed but kept coming. Nick anchored the MAC 10, the top pad of his right index finger gently beginning to squeeze the trigger.
“They’re ours, Nick! Where are you and what do you mean time’s running out?”
Nick turned on his lights, set the MAC 10 down, and accelerated back toward McDonalds. “I’ll be with Kim and Sarah in a few minutes at a McDonalds on Arroyo Circle in Gilroy. I’ll let you find out what this is all about. Call in to Kim’s cell-phone, okay?”
“Count on that,” Grace retorted angrily, ending the call.
Slowing his Malibu down, Nick picked up the MAC 10, cradling it next to his chest as the Buick Lacerne shot by him. A block away from the McDonalds parking lot, Nick packed away his phone and weapon. He let Deke jump to the front while Nick reformed the baggage in the rear passenger compartment. Nick shook his head in disbelief as he entered the McDonalds parking lot and saw both Rachel and Jean standing outside the door. Nick parked the Chevy. He eased out of the seat looking over at Rachel with undisguised disappointment.
“Do you have any survival instincts at all?”
“Grace called me. She said we no longer have a tail and to call her when I saw you.”
“Can we at least go back inside please?” Nick motioned them to the restaurant door. “I’ll get another iced tea and then give Grace a call. Please don’t come out in the open again when we’re still determining our situation.”
“Sorry…I’m glad to see you,” Rachel added.
“I’m growing on you, huh?”
“No, I left my purse in your car with all our money and credit cards.”
Nick laughed, pointing at Rachel. “Good one. Want anything else to drink.”
“No…and neither do you,” Rachel said to Jean, just as the little girl was about to order.
A few minutes later, Nick had his iced tea, and Rachel’s cell-phone with Grace on the other end of the line.
“It will amuse you to know my co-workers in the Buick never saw anything like what you pulled off out there on the road in the dark.”
“I -”
“Already read it, Nick,” Grace cut him off. “Our Diego learned racing skills for Racing Terror, and of course you again have a cover for your antics. Do you have any idea how annoying you’re getting to be?”
“Shouldn’t we be talking about how I grew a tail in spite of complete secrecy?”
“I’d rather not.”
“I’ll bet,” Nick chuckled. “Someone’s watching you and Tim. Do you know either of the people in the Buick?”
“Both of them, and yes, Tim and I will be talking to them tomorrow morning in Sacramento. I wish I could tell you how confident I am about your trip home and continued anonymity. We shouldn’t have brought you into this but we’re in over our heads now. Think of this as a writing research bonanza, Nick.”
“I’m going to give you a huge black mole right on your nose in the book, Grace, and you’ll be a bed wetter, and you’ll scratch inappropriate places, and even the pet gerbil you’ll have as your only companion will hate your guts… and -”
Nick paused as Grace had already lost it and was howling in laughter while trying to repeat his threats to Tim. She didn’t come back on for a minute.
“Okay, Nick, head home, watch your back.”
“And you’ll have an ‘I Love Dad’ tattoo on your ass, and…” Nick heard Grace losing it again and then the disconnect. He handed the phone back to Rachel, who had been playing Hangman with Jean on a sheet of notebook paper.
“That sounded like a very strange conversation,” Rachel noted.
“Can we go now?” Jean asked.
With Mother and Daughter both looking at him almost with the same expression, the resemblance was startling to Nick. The blonde hair tied back coupled with light blue eyes made him smile. “This is like traveling with the Double-mint Twins.”
Rachel laughed but Jean looked at him as if he had just landed from outer space.
“C’mon, we can go now. The good part is we’re not all that far from my place.”
An hour later, Nick pulled into his driveway, stopping where he could carry their bags into the house easily. Rachel gasped as motion detector security lights came on and she saw the huge Victorian house with a white picket fence.
“I’ve never seen anything like this.” Rachel stepped out of the Malibu and stared up at the house front. Is there a place for Deke in the back?”
“If he’s housebroken and doesn’t chew on furniture, he can stay inside. I do have a fenced-in backyard he’ll like. I’ll check my security system and then we’ll go inside. I’ll haul in the luggage after I let you three in.”
Nick led them up the stairs in front to his porch where he checked and then deactivated his security system. He left the door open so Deke could rove around his small front lawn while he unloaded the car.
“Oh my God.” Rachel stared around her. “This is gorgeous.”
“Thanks.” Nick pointed straight ahead. “The kitchen is in there and there’s a bathroom on the way. I’ll go check my upstairs security cams before I unload the car.”
Nick jogged upstairs and did a room by room search. He never left the house without locking away all his gear in a small vault within the safe room downstairs. After making sure the safe room upstairs could be shown and all else was in order, Nick went downstairs to begin unloading the Chevy with Deke dogging his every step. When the luggage was inside, Nick went into the kitchen, where Rachel and Jean sat in a comfortable but awed silence.
“We can take whatever necessary bags you need upstairs now and you two can unpack the rest tomorrow,” Nick offered. “Help yourself to anything in the cupboards and refrigerator.”
“Nick…this is too much.”
“Too much what?”
“We’ve never stayed in a place like this before,” Jean said. “Not even in New York.”
Deke ‘grumpfed’ and laid down on the kitchen floor, head on paws.
“Deke doesn’t look that impressed so follow his lead. Pick out the bags you can’t sleep without and I’ll take you to your rooms.”
Other than having Carol and Dan over, Nick had never had anyone inside his house. He did his own housecleaning and gardening. Rachel and Jean picked out a couple of bags to take with them upstairs, and followed Nick to their adjoining rooms to the right of the staircase.
“You two can fight it out as to who sleeps in which room,” Nick joked. “I’m down at the other end of the hall if you need me.”
“Where do you usually write?” Rachel asked, after Jean called first and ran into the room on her right.
“I have a balcony you probably noticed from below. Normally, I do most of my writing out there. I take my notebook computer along everywhere I go when I’m on my home turf, so if I get some inspiration, I have the tools along with me to work. Lighthouse Avenue is my favorite walkway and the beach is usually my destination.”
“I don’t know what to say. I envy you.”
Nick gestured with his hands. “I love this place. Would you like to see the balcony?”
“Do you have to ask?”
“Nick!” Jean ran out of the room she had picked and grabbed Nick’s hand. “Can we go to the ocean?”
“Sure, I’ll take you with me on my morning walk down to the beach. Deke will probably need a bath before he can come back in the house afterward though. How is Deke with strangers he meets on a walk?”
“Real good,” Rachel answered. “He only gets upset if someone grabs at either Jean or I. Will it be safe for us to go out?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Nick admitted. “Grace and Tim wouldn’t like it, but I’ll leave it up to you. Why don’t I get us some wine, and a juice for Jean. We can drink them out on the balcony and talk it over.”
“Thank you.” Rachel leaned in and kissed Nick, her lips softly brushing against his, sending a chill through him all the way to his feet.
“You’re welcome. I’ll be right back.”
“Mom, why don’t you marry Nick?” Jean suggested, her face alight with the possibilities. “Then we could -”
“We’re here for a couple weeks, kid,” Rachel interrupted, stroking her daughter’s face. “Let’s enjoy the stay here without scaring Nick any more than he already is.”
“I don’t think Nick gets scared, Mom,” Jean replied, looking over the rail.
On the balcony with Deke at their feet, Nick poured wine for Rachel and himself. Jean sat as close to the railing with her juice as she could get, looking out at the incredible view of Pacific Grove and the ocean beyond. The fog had begun moving in ever so slowly, beginning to obscure the housetops below them.
“I’m no wine connoisseur. I hope this Berringer White Zin is okay.”
“Wow, something you’re not an expert at,” Rachel said in mock surprise. “White Zin is my favorite. I don’t know how you ever leave this place. It’s incredible.”
“It’s not easy to leave here, but it makes me appreciate what I have more when I finally return. I’m going to like seeing it through your eyes. I take a lot for granted.”
“It gets pretty cold down here, huh?” Rachel pulled up the collar on her jacket more as a chilly breeze blew in off the ocean.
“I hate hot weather. I can adapt to about anything, but I sure wouldn’t choose to live in a furnace like Pleasanton. Then again, you didn’t either. What -”
Jean nodded off where she sat, nearly pitching off the chair. Nick righted her in the chair before she ever knew what happened, stunning Rachel with how fast he moved.
“I think someone needs some sleep if they want to hit the beach tomorrow.” Nick leaned down to look into Jean’s half-lidded eyes.
To Nick’s surprise, Jean wrapped her arms around his neck. With a smiling nod from Rachel, he picked Jean up gently and carried her to bed. Pulling the covers down, Nick tucked the little girl in. It was the first time he had ever tucked anyone in. He turned on the miniature lighthouse nightlight, and turned off the room light. Nick returned to the balcony.
“Jean and I are kind of pushy, huh?”
“I’ll get over it. Did you think any more about how you want to handle your stay here?”
“If Grace or Tim don’t come unglued, I’d rather live like a normal person.”
“Tanus is dead, Kim. Why -”
“My name is Rachel Hunter,” Rachel interrupted. “I don’t like the name Kim and I detest the name Kimmy.”
“Which is why Grace calls you Kimmy.” Nick laughed. “I like the name Rachel; but unless we’re alone like this, I think you’d better stick with Kim. Why do you think they’re still taking shots at you, since Tanus is dead?”
“My husband worked as a computer security consultant for Tanus’s firm.” Rachel took a gulp of wine and looked at the eerie fog-covered vista below. “We lived in a tiny apartment on the East side. Rick was always complaining about money. He tried blackmailing Tanus, threatening to turn the flash drives he’d made up over to the FBI. I had no idea what he was doing.”
Nick watched Rachel pause as she glanced over at him speculatively. She maintained eye contact with him in the low light of Nick’s balcony.
“I had taken Jean to school, hanging around as a teacher’s aid in the mornings to cut down on our tuition costs. Returning to the apartment, I fumbled with the keys at the door, and heard Rick’s muffled screams…and…and I ran.”
“Lucky you did,” Nick replied gently. “If you hadn’t, you would have joined Rick. You didn’t actually see Tanus then?”
“I ran to the end of the hall. We were only a few doors down from the stairwell. I hid in the stairwell and phoned 911. Only a minute after I called, our apartment door opened, and Tanus came out with two other men. Thank God they took the elevator. I stayed in the stairwell with the 911 operator on the phone until the police arrived. They didn’t get what they wanted from Rick. That’s why they’re still trying to kill me.”
“Meaning the flash drives are in a safety deposit box somewhere and there’s someone a rung up the ladder from where Tanus was.” Well, maybe I’ll get off Frank’s shit list after all.
“I know where the box is located and I have the key.” Rachel leaned over and took Nick’s right hand in both hers. “I didn’t know if the Marshalls could actually protect us. I didn’t turn over the key because I figured if they found us, I could buy Jean’s life with it.”
I have fallen into the shit pile and emerged smelling like the proverbial rose.
“Nick, aren’t you going to say something?”
“Putting aside your seemingly legitimate distrust for the US Marshalls’ service, I think you acted very well under pressure. You did consider Tanus’s boss is implicated on one of those flash drives, right?”
“Yes…but listen…those guys have more money than God. They buy and sell politicians, police, and judges. I’d hand over the key. The cops get the files. The files get lost, and I’m a dead mom with a dead little girl. Fingering Tanus was my ticket out of New York to a new life and possible safety. Even after a year, Tanus was only now coming up for trial to be indicted. The chance of anyone arresting the guy above him is a joke.”
“I’m having trouble faulting your logic,” Nick admitted. “Since you have to be signed in on their list to get into the safety deposit box, having the -”
“I am signed in on the box,” Rachel cut in.
“Where’s the box located?”
“Sarasota, Florida. Rick opened an account with five hundred dollars and obtained a safety deposit box attached to the account. Any fees would be debited from the five hundred dollar balance. He did it while we were on vacation with Jean and the account is under my maiden name. Jean is my daughter’s real name.”
“Jesus…” She’s good. “I can really understand your reticence in giving over the key. I’m sure the same questions popping into my head would have been popping into the cops’ heads.”
“I didn’t know what he was doing, Nick.” Rachel squeezed his wrist with attitude as if she could physically press the point into Nick. “Rick put gold and silver coins in the box he had showed me. He said they were our little nest egg the government wouldn’t know about and if something happened to him I would have a little safety line. I saw him put a small plastic baggy with the flash drives in there. Rick told me they were backups to our financial records.”
“Easy, Rachel… I believe you.” No, I don’t. You picked the wrong guy to tell this story to. I don’t believe anyone. Shit list, here I come. “Your explanation is plausible. I only meant I can understand how you would think the FBI might look at what you’ve told me.”
“No one will believe me now. I am so screwed.”
Birds of a feather. Nick smiled at his own weird commiseration with Rachel.
Rachel let go of Nick’s wrist. “You think this is funny?”
“I write fiction for a living. That means I’m a paid liar. Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a computer security guy, married to a beautiful blonde haired, blue-eyed woman and they had a beautiful little blonde haired, blue-eyed daughter. The computer security guy tells his wife all about some of the very strange dealings the company he’s working for is into. Wifey suggests digitizing the strange dealings for a rainy day, just in case they run across something they need. The computer guy’s a little uncomfortable with this idea but it sounds like a nice insurance policy.
“Computer guy copies the company’s strange dealings. He and wifey then take the daughter down to Florida on a nice vacation, where they set up their emergency nest egg. Low and behold the day arrives when wifey thinks they’re not living quite the way she thinks they should and talks computer guy into cashing in on their insurance policy.”
Nick paused, watching Rachel’s shoulders slump as she turned in the chair, picked up her glass and drained the wine. She poured another glass out of the bottle on the table with a shaking hand.
“How’d I do?”
“On a scale of one to ten on my annoyance meter, you’ve blown the top cap on the tube,” Rachel stated tiredly, keeping her eyes on the fog.
“That good, huh?”
“I killed Rick as sure as if I had put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. He…he was a good man. Jean idolized him. He created computer games for her, and…and taught her how to play softball.”
Rachel’s lower lip trembled as she took another gulp of wine. “He didn’t want to do it.”
“And he died without revealing your part in the nest egg,” Nick added quietly.
Rachel nodded, unable to speak without bursting into tears.
“Rick stepped up,” Nick continued. “What are you willing to do?”
Rachel turned to him, setting her wine glass aside. “What do you mean?”
“I mean it appears you’ve figured out what matters in life now, and dangerous games can and will get you killed. You want to make sure nothing happens to Jean. What would you do to keep her safe?”
“Who do I have to kill?” Rachel asked, without a hint of tremor in her voice.
“That’s the spirit.” Nick poured himself another glass of wine.
“Who the hell are you, Nick?”
“I’m what they call a ‘Jack of all Trades’. I think I can help you and Jean.”
“You’re already helping us.”
“You’re going to need more help than a place to hide out in for a couple weeks.”
“How would you be able to help with that?”
“I have contacts but I don’t plan to get on the wrong side of the US Marshalls Service. I will make a few calls tonight and do some bargaining. Something I’ve been working on in a peripheral way is the leak in the Witness Protection Program. Our friends Grace and Tim may be on their way to closing it. Whoever jumped the gun and sent US Marshalls to follow us tonight either is the leak or knows exactly who the leak is. I’m thinking one of my contacts has already closed the leak. What took place tonight did not go unnoticed.”
“That would mean we’re safe here.” Rachel wondered where the conversation was headed. Who is this guy? Is he delusional?
“Not a hundred percent but probably around ninety-five percent. If I manage to help you work things out, I might have a proposition for you.”
“Damn it, Nick! Who the hell are you?” Rachel demanded again in frustration.
“I’m a cold-blooded psychopath with just a tiny thread of humanity left,” Nick answered, patting her hand.
“Oh, c’mon, Nick, I’ve seen you with Jean and Deke.”
“I killed a woman once while I petted her dog. I blew Tanus’s head off with a fifty caliber sniper rifle and had brunch in Pennsylvania later in the day. Tanus hired me to kill you.”
“Oh my God!” Rachel pulled her hand away. She stared into Nick’s unblinking eyes and knew the truth. “You’re Diego?”
“Diego’s a campfire girl compared to what I am,” Nick replied bluntly. “Now that we know a little about each other, what say we work out a way to keep you and Jean in one piece?”
“How…I mean…I don’t know any more than I already told you.”
“I figure it this way, if the leak is plugged, my boss will get the hell off my back. It will make him more amenable to my taking on a team. We’re going to visit your safety deposit box and I’ll get a name or possibly a couple names. I’m going to trade the flash drives to my boss for an okay to sanction the top of the Tanus ladder.”
“What do you mean take on a team?” Rachel whispered, with sudden dawning realization of what team Nick meant.
“As you said, I have a nice place here. After ten years in this business, I’m getting a bit frayed around the edges and in a position to pick and choose what I want to do. Business takes me all over the world and -”
“…and you need a cover,” Rachel continued for him with growing horror. “You think your novelist persona is wearing thin. With a family, no one would suspect what you are.”
“I knew you were smart.” Nick smiled. “The only way this works is if I make it safe for you and Jean to get famous and photographed. Being a best-selling novelist’s wife will mean a lot of exposure, so naturally, all the people who want you dead are going to have to die first.”
“And if I refuse?”
“I return you to Grace and Tim. You and Jean hit the outlaw trail again with Deke. Maybe everything will be okay once the leak in the program is patched.”
“What if I go with Grace and Tim and trade your ass for something nice?” Rachel continued to stare directly into Nick’s eyes.
Rachel shivered slightly as a cold smile wavered and spread outwards on Nick’s mouth. The smile did not stretch to his eyes.
“Why don’t you sleep on it, and let me know what you decide when we walk to the beach tomorrow morning?”
“Does this proposition involve partnering up with you in the biblical sense?”
“You can sleep on that too.”
“When I saw you the first time at the restaurant, were you staking me out?”
“No, I was deciding whether to take Tanus out or not. The picture I had of you reminded me of someone from long ago. You still reminded me of her when I saw you in person.”
“And if I hadn’t?”
“Then I wouldn’t have been there to pull you out of the way last night.”
“Is this what they mean by being caught between a rock and a hard place?” Rachel nodded with a smile at Nick’s admission.
“No, this is between a rock and a cold, hard place,” Nick replied, smiling back.
“Nick.” Rachel looked up as Nick stood and gathered the glasses and wine bottle. “The woman you killed, she was bad…right?”
“She was to someone.”