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Midnight Crusader Page 22
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"What?"
Roxanne jumped up suddenly, her mood tense, her reply evasive. “I don't know for sure."
A lie. Why the sudden lie after she'd revealed so much? What had she seen? What did she know?
"Roxanne, what am I supposed to do?"
"I can't see it clearly.” Still lying, and the girl was a bad liar. The truth was imprinted upon her furrowed brow.
"Roxanne, please."
Unable to avoid answering, the girl sought to diffuse the power her reply would carry. “I must be reading it wrong."
"What do you see?"
Then Roxanne fixed her with a still, unwavering stare, as if she were looking right through her and seeing another. “For her to find peace, you have to die so she can live through you."
Before Naomi could recover from that startling revelation, a cry arose from the other room. Tonya, waking up in a strange place, began wailing for her mother. As Roxanne wearily went to calm her baby sister's anxieties, Naomi was left to wonder how to quiet her own on this strange night of impossibilities.
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Chapter Twenty-two
A knock on the window of Marcus Sinclair's Bonneville jolted him awake. He rolled down the window to sheepishly take the cup of coffee Naomi Bright offered.
"What are you doing here, Marcus? Guard duty?"
A moth pinned to a mounting board, he saw no reason to flail his wings. “Gabriel asked me to keep an eye on you and the girls."
"Since when are you and Gabriel such close compatriots?"
Hoping to forestall her grilling with vagueness, he replied, “We're sort of in the same line of work."
Naomi blinked. “You're a cop?” Then her expression took on a speculative gleam that made Marcus squirm. Justifiably, when she asked, “How are you at picking locks?"
"My personal specialty. Why? Did you lock yourself out?"
"In a manner of speaking."
And before he knew it, she'd talked him into giving her a ride to the Amazon. The girls were told to lock the doors and stay inside. Roxanne, who appreciated the gravity of the situation, nodded. As long as it was daylight, Naomi figured they'd be safe.
Look at me. Believing in fairy tales about the undead.
As they drove into the parking garage, Naomi finally asked, “Marcus, what else is Gabriel?"
Without missing a beat, he said, “I'm not sure, but I'm glad he's on our side."
It was Sunday and even though that meant next to nothing in Las Vegas, the crew had been given the day off with orders to finish the final touches the next day for the Monday night grand opening. Only a few security guards were in the building, and Marcus knew their pattern of surveillance. It was ridiculously easy to slip inside unnoticed, dodging both guards and cameras. Using her security card, Naomi and Marcus started up in the private elevator.
"What exactly am I breaking into?” Marcus whispered lest the elevator was monitored.
"Files. Mr. Zanlos’ files. If he's not guilty of anything, he should have nothing to hide, should he?"
Marcus raised a brow but said nothing.
The executive floor was empty, with only the dim security lights burning. Office staff would come in at eight. Until then, they had the place to themselves.
She headed straight for Zanlos’ suite.
"Can you get us inside?"
Marcus slipped a thin case from his jacket pocket and selected a pair of delicate picks. With a few expert jimmies and a quiet curse or two, the door came open.
Naomi had expected guilt to settle in at some point, but what she experienced when she crossed the threshold into the office was an apprehensive distress. Reluctance and dread seeped in to drag upon her determination. Agitation stirred into a seething foment in her belly. Each forward step increased the level of anxiety until she was sure she was going to be sick.
But then she saw the files. Then she was able to push aside her misgivings.
"I need access to what's in there."
Marcus went to work and soon was sliding out the file drawer.
Hesitantly, Naomi peered at the tabs, unwilling as of yet to touch them.
He'll know. He'll find out that you betrayed him.
It wouldn't be the first time if what Gabriel said was true. She'd helped Zanlos’ former partner gather information in D.C. If her treachery was discovered then, why was she still in a position of power within Zanlos’ business?
Because he's aware of everything you do.
She knew it. She could feel him as clearly as if he were standing behind her, looking over her shoulder as she prepared to break his trust.
After all he's done for you.
What exactly had he done? That was what she needed to know.
Put up a wall using your will. She could hear the voice of a woman she could almost see. You can keep him out if you stay strong. Nicole. Her name had been Nicole. She remembered an attractive, dark-haired woman with eyes like freshly cut emeralds. She was in the woman's house, a guest but also a prisoner. She'd been weak, ill, wild with fear that she'd betray ... whom? Whom would she betray if she didn't remain strong?
Gabriel.
It had been Gabriel.
"Miss Bright and I are leaving now. I wouldn't suggest that you think to follow immediately. But I will be disappointed if we don't meet again."
"Yes, we will. And when we do, I will kill you for putting your hands on her."
When had these words been spoken about her between her boss and her lover? The answers were close, prickling just beneath the surface, just waiting to be uncovered.
Her fingers skipped along the tabs until she came to one listing her own name. She pulled out the jacket and took a breath before looking inside.
Nothing. There was nothing of any help to her. A fact sheet listing her home address and her medical coverage. Nothing prior to her position here. No records, no medical or mental evaluations. No resume listing next of kin or previous employment. It was as if her life started with this job in Las Vegas. Disappointment overcame the sour taste of betrayal. If her boss had footed the bill for her psychological breakdown, why wasn't there any kind of paper trail, at least for tax purposes?
"Find what you need?"
Replacing her woefully incomplete folder, Naomi shook her head.
"Then do you mind if I poke around a little to find out what I need to know?"
Her attention sharpened. “And what's that?"
"More about Zanlos’ silent partner. We, Gabriel and I, think he's calling the shots. Not that your boss is a Snow White, but Zanlos is a doer not a dreamer. He's the one who figures out how to make things happen once someone else sets him on it. I want to know who that someone else is."
"You've got about a half hour tops."
So Marcus made the most of it.
He rifled the files and had her make copies of whatever he felt might lead to something important.
"Alexander Cross,” he mused then looked to Naomi. “Does that name ring a bell with you?"
Naomi shrugged. “I've heard it.” But when she mulled it over, her mind went maddeningly blank. As if her thoughts were concealing the information from her. She shivered as the image of the man in the mask flashed through her head like heat lightning.
Put up the wall.
She took a breath and made her thoughts clear, shoving back the thick mists of confusion until an image took form. A man with fair hair and pale eyes and a smile both filled with charm and menace. Alex Cross. She'd seen him once, had stumbled in inadvertently upon a private meeting. She hadn't recognized him. But then again, she had. Not the face, not the voice, but what lay beneath both those things. Beneath the mask.
Her voice was small but sure. “He's the one you want."
With a nod of affirmation, Marcus went back to his digging. “Bingo,” he cried after long minutes ticked by. He jerked out a fat file. “Banking transactions. Converting Peruvian gold into working capital for the hotel. Who the hell is this guy?"
/>
The overhead fluorescents snapped on, blinding them like deer in headlights.
"You can ask him yourself."
They turned like guilty children caught taking change from their father's pants pockets. Rita stood in the doorway, one hand on the light switch and the other holding gun metal not quite as cold as her glare. Seeing she meant business, Naomi decided to go for the bluff. There was a chance, at least, to keep Marcus out of it.
"Rita, you scared me. I was looking for some of my medical records. Those headaches are back, and Marcus was going to run me to the clinic before work."
"Then what are you doing in those files?"
"Mine's empty.” She held up the folder to demonstrate. “I figured that they'd been misfiled. Mr. Zanlos’ secretary isn't exactly a nuclear physicist."
"And you're no rocket scientist either if you expected me to buy that.” She gestured with the barrel. “Both of you take a seat."
"I'm really not feeling well. Mr. Zanlos won't be pleased if you keep me here against my will."
"Surprise, Little Miss Sunshine. I don't work for Zanlos. And I don't take orders from your buddy McGraw, either. Though if I were you, I'd rethink that relationship. What kind of man has a stranger come cross country to spy on a woman he supposedly cares about? He called in a favor from one of my former cop buddies and had me come out here to baby-sit for you. That's right, I'm a cop. Used to be a cop.” She paused to assimilate that difference but quickly toughened up to that new reality. “Guess I'll earn my keep tonight, because you're not getting into any more mischief."
Seeing Naomi's stricken expression, Marcus sought to deflect the hurtful attack. “And what's this Cross paying you to betray someone who took you in?"
"Not money, but someone like you wouldn't understand that, would you? You've never had an original thought of your own that didn't get you into trouble. Cross appreciates me."
"He's using you, doll, just like he's been using up the other girls. And when you get in his way, you'll end up just like Charmaine Johnson."
"And what happened to that pushy bitch? She get fired?"
"She got dead,” Marcus corrected bluntly.
For an instant, something flickered behind Rita's inanimate stare. Naomi was quick to take advantage.
"But you didn't know that, did you? You couldn't have known that and just let it happen. Not to one of our girls. Not the way it did to Jeannie."
A sweat broke out on Rita's brow. “Sit down and shut up. You're just trying to confuse me."
"Rita, Cross is killing our girls or worse. We can't let that happen. We can't let him hurt them."
More shadows scuttled through her glazed eyes. “He's not hurting them. He's rewarding them for their loyalty. Something you'd know nothing about."
"You're wrong, Rita. I'm loyal to the girls. I'm loyal to my friends. I'm loyal to my boss, even though I'm very afraid he doesn't deserve it. And I'm loyal to you."
Agitation increasing at that impassioned plea, Rita argued, “You're a bleeding heart, Nomi. You only see the good in people. They'll disappoint you every time. Every time."
"It's not too late, Rita. Come home with me. We can get this straightened out. No one else has to get hurt."
There was a glint of ruthless steel as Rita swung the pistol. The butt of it struck Naomi in the temple, and she went down without a sound.
"I guess you're wrong there, sweetie. Dead wrong."
* * * *
Pain came and went in shivery waves. Naomi was vaguely aware of the couch's fabric beneath her cheek. When she dared slit open her eyes against the pin dots of sickness, she saw Marcus's big hands braced upon his knees, flexing in frustration and helplessness. She ventured a look farther to see Rita's pacing interrupted when someone else joined them.
"A party? How lovely."
Jeannie.
Panic closed about her heart. Naomi no longer believed that the former dancer was human.
"Caught them snooping around and figured I'd better see what Cross wants done with them."
Jeannie's laugh rippled low and menacing. “One guess."
"Enlighten me."
"The same thing he does with anyone else who gets in his way.” You moron, her tone said.
"Like Charmaine Johnson?"
"And our old friend Kitty Parsons. It's good to have powerful friends."
Naomi sat up slowly, drawing the attention of the two women. Scenting the blood on her temple, Jeannie's gaze flared red and hot.
"Good evening, Miss Bright. Nice to see you again."
Naomi regarded her with pity and regret instead of fear. “I'm so sorry, Jeannie. I should have known something was wrong. I should have protected you and all the girls better. I had no idea of the danger you were in."
"And if you had, what would you have done?” Jeannie sneered. “Issued a memo? Hidden under your desk? Lucky for you, you're Zanlos’ puppet, or you'd be like Kitty and Charmaine."
"They're dead.” Naomi clarified flatly.
"Duh."
"Like Jack?"
At the mention of her boyfriend, Jeannie's expression crumpled slightly in confusion and pain. But her cockiness returned too quickly. “That was a mistake. I was still learning what I was.” She shrugged. “It's for the best, I guess. He would never have accepted what I'd become."
A vampire. Naomi finally admitted that truth to herself. Jeannie was a vampire. Kaz Zanlos and his unseen partner, too. And Gabriel.
And Gabriel.
"Good evening,” Kaz Zanlos drawled in his honeyed-accented voice, and for a moment Naomi fought the urge to laugh hysterically as she cast him in Bella Lugosi's role. He gave her a perplexed look then his expression hardened. He took his displeasure out on the other two women.
"What's going on here?"
"Rita caught them going through your office."
"And you thought that presented a prime opportunity to share all our secrets with them?"
Jeannie gave him a sulky glare. “What does it matter? Cross's is going to kill them anyway."
"This isn't his affair."
Her laugh was sharp enough to cut glass. “You think you're in charge here? You're just his front man, his lackey, his stooge. You don't have a say in anything he does. This is his show."
Naomi was surprised by the sudden sense of invasion within her thoughts and mind, like fingers hooking about the edges of an orange in an attempt to tear back the peel.
What have you done? Whom have you told?
The questions speared through her already aching head with such force she barely had time to fling up a defense. Then there was just the insistent pounding, tolling out with each painful beat her betrayal at the hands of a supposed friend.
Frustration briefly touched Zanlos’ expression at his failure to reach her. It did little for his mood. He turned upon Cross's creation.
"Leave."
Jeannie opened her mouth to protest, but Zanlos shut it with a slicing stare. She gave an elegant shrug. “We'll see what Cross has to say."
"Run tell him, why don't you."
"Oh, I will."
He gestured at Rita. “You go with her. And take him. Don't let him out of your sight.” To Marcus, he said, “A shame to lose you. Good help is hard to keep."
Marcus flipped him a finger gesture and preceded Rita out of the room. Zanlos was chuckling at his bravado as he turned back toward Naomi. Turning right into her surprisingly forceful slap.
"You lied,” she accused, her voice shaky with hurt and anger but amazingly not with fear. “I never had a mental breakdown, did I? There was nothing in my past you were trying to protect me from, was there?"
"Alas, your past was painfully uneventful. It was only the recent developments I had to block from your memory. Like the fact that you betrayed me to McGraw and my associate, Mr. Flynn. You can't know how badly that hurt my feelings."
"So you stripped me of my thoughts and of my identity so I could work for you as your slave.” She spat that at him, too i
rate to show proper caution.
"It was for your protection, my dear. I couldn't risk your disaffection a second time, especially not while doing business with Cross. He isn't as ... forgiving as I am. If he saw you as a liability, he would have disposed of you. I've tried to keep you safe from his agenda."
"Why? Because good help is so hard to find?” Tears glistened in her eyes. How naive she'd been, so puffed up with pride about her position, so blinded by the notion of his faith in her.
"Because I enjoy you, Miss Bright. You are efficient, hard working, witty when you allow yourself to be, intelligent—"
"And a pawn for you to hide behind to keep Gabriel at bay."
He inclined his head. “There's that, too. He and his friends stripped me of one very lucrative venture. I have no plans to lose another."
"And silencing me will keep your secrets safe."
"Oh, my dear, you have no idea how deep my secrets run. You were the one bright light in my grim existence. I'd look at you and see that, yes, there was good in this world. A shallow and selfish interpretation, perhaps, but you never failed to lift my spirits. And though you would never credit yourself, you have an amazing courage and resilience. You are the only one who has ever been able to block out my commands. You say you were my slave? No. You are a treasure, Miss Bright. And I shall miss you."
He was going to kill her. Or allow Cross to do the deed for him. She pinched her lips together so he wouldn't see them quiver. He'd commended her for her courage. She couldn't let it fail her now.
When she continued to face him with her shaky show of bravery and resignation, Zanlos smiled sadly. “I'm giving you your severance, Miss Bright. Go. I don't know what Cross had planned for you, but I vow it wouldn't be pleasant. It was never my intention to let him ... abuse you after all your years of dedication and loyalty, however misplaced it might have been. But I fear after Jeannie tells him of this little incident, he will break his vow not to harm you. I can't have that on my conscience. And I am a bit surprised to discover I have one left. You brought out the decency in me, Miss Bright. Allow me to make this gesture of thanks. Run. Run far away and hide. He'll come after you, and I won't be able to stop him. I know I should do more to protect you but, admittedly, I am not that decent nor is my conscience that troublesome."