I Hear Voices(17)

The ecstasy roaring through me fizzled out at the utter horror in his voice. “Gee golly mister, it’s not contagious.”

“I don’t do virgins.” His voice was hard, implacable. “I like women who know the score and don’t expect happily ever after.

I flinched. That was cold. “Then you might want to remove that finger you have lodged inside me.”

He jerked his hand away like I had cooties.

Why did it feel like I had just been kicked in the stomach? I knew this would end badly. I gave myself a mental head smack. Because I was a total idiot; for a few fleeting seconds I had truly believed Derek really wanted me. How dumb was that? “Don’t worry, sugar, I wasn’t expecting a wedding ring.”

“It’s nothing personal, Angel.”

“Neither is this.” Sucking in a lungful of air, I screamed bloody blue murder. I couldn’t let a whole roomful of cops go to waste. Now could I?

The Tomb Raider clamped a hand over my mouth. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Escaping,” I mumbled against his hand.

His heavily muscled arms clamped around me.

“There’s no escape for you, Angel. You’re mine until I say otherwise.”

“I’ll never be yours,” I muttered as a tear rolled down my cheek. I was as bad as psycho bitch, wanting something I could never have.

Dozens of pistols cocked. “Police! Let her go,”

Officer Jensen commanded.

With a growl, Derek released me and raised his hands. “I’m a federal officer and this woman is my prisoner.”

Officer Jensen snorted, “You kiss and fondle all your prisoners?”

“It is as I told you. This is the man that beat her,” Fabian said.

Derek shot him a savage look. “I did not beat her.”

I let out a heart-rending sob. “He won’t leave me alone. He follows me everywhere. He killed my cat and threatened my family.”

“Hands behind your neck and get on your knees,” Officer Jensen growled.

“You’re tap dancing on my last nerve, Angel,”

Derek snarled and dropped to his knees.

“It’s my gold,” I hissed and jumped back when his hand shot out.

An instant later dozens of Taser electrodes turned him into a pin cushion. A guttural groan tore from him as the charges violently shook him. Derek collapsed to the tiled patio, gave a final twitch and seemed to stop breathing.

“Omigod! You killed him,” I cried.

Fabian grabbed me and dragged me away. “You need to leave before they realize he’s telling the truth.”

At the patio doors, I looked back. The officers had cuffed Derek and were removing his weapons.

“Goodbye numb nuts,” I muttered under my breath.

Derek opened pain filled eyes and mouthed, I will find you.

I mouthed back, not a chance.

Ed stepped out of the shadows and commanded, “Federal agent drop your weapons.”

I had been wondering where they were. Wait a minute. There was no tactical team it was just Ed.

What was up with that?

Fabian shouted, “Do not believe him. They are members of the Mexican drug cartel.”

Officer Jensen yelled into her radio, “We need backup now.” Her fellow officers trained their guns on the heavily armed Ed and lo and behold, we had a Mexican standoff.

One twitchy trigger finger and it would be a blood bath. “We’ve got to stop this before someone gets hurt.”

My cousin yanked me into Doctor Rossi’s suite.

“I will deal with them.”

“You? I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“My actions brought them here.”

“That’s true, but…”

He opened up the closet and pulled out the good doctor’s old woman disguise complete with wig and fake boobs. “Hurry, get dressed. I will delay them as long as I can.”

“I won’t go off and leave you behind. You have no idea of what Derek’s capable of.”

Fabian puffed up. “I am Dragos and la Polizia has met his match.”

I rolled my eyes. Here was a prime example of testosterone at its finest. His pride wouldn’t let him back down. “Fine but don’t expect me to visit you in jail.”

“There isn’t a jail made that I cannot break out of,” my cousin answered arrogantly.

“Okey-dokey smokey, I’ll leave you to it.”

Fabian grabbed a set of keys off the dresser and handed them to me. “It’s the black Porsche by the office.

I leaned up and kissed his cheek. “Be careful.”

My cousin smiled down at me. “He will wish he had never met the Dragos clan.”

“I think he already does.”

“Hurry.” Whipping off his towel, Fabian strutted to the patio door and shouted, “I have no weapons.”

Peeking out the window, I took in all the stunned looks and laughed. He had certainly gotten everyone’s attention. I quickly dressed, stuffed my feet into a pair of oversized white orthotics and calmly shuffled out the front door.

To my surprise, no one stopped me. It made me wonder what had happened to Derek’s tactical team. Had the CIA cut him off? I climbed into the Porsche and headed for Phoenix. I needed to pick up the medallion and my tool kit.





Chapter Nine


A good thief is a master of strategy. Uncle Aldo’s skillful tactics included commissioning a variety of realistic face masks to be used when things went badly and you needed to evade la Polizia. Like I did now.

I stared at the reflection in my compact mirror and grinned. An elderly woman complete with wrinkles, age spots and sagging jowls stared back at me. The only downside was the mask itched like crazy.

My stress level dropped considerably when there had been no roadblocks at the entrance to Sky Harbor Airport or extra security milling around the terminals. Either the Sedona Police Department still had Derek in custody or he was on his own.

Without the CIA resources, he would never find me.

Bummer.

The uniformed Sky Cap pushed my wheelchair through security and delivered me to the checkin desk. Opening my psychic eye, I mentally scanned the area. Yee-ha! There was absolutely no sign of Derek or his crew.

Granny Annabel popped in on the counter, wearing a fight attendant uniform. “You evil, evil child, they almost killed your man.”

“Hey! I had nothing to do with that and Derek is not nor will he ever be my man. The dude hates virgins and your grand plan for happily ever after just went up in smoke.”

“Are you all right, ma’am?”

I looked up at the concerned, slightly twitchy flight attendant. Hopefully she thought I was a senile old bat and talking to myself. “I forgot to take my medication. Could you be a dear and fetch me some water?”

“Of course I will but I think you’ll be more comfortable in the VIP lounge with your sister.”

“Honey, you don’t have to go to all that trouble.” Wait a minute. Did she say my sister?

“No trouble at all.” The flight attendant grabbed my wheelchair and suddenly we were zooming down a restricted corridor like it was the Grand Prix.

Whoa! “What’s the hurry, honey?”

“I have a deadline,” she panted, shoving my chair into a plush lounge area complete with a buffet table and a staggering choice of beverages.

A deadline?! What the hell was going on?

The flight attendant quickly shut the door and propelled me towards the dining tables.

I did a double take at the woman chowing down on a plate loaded with goodies. We could pass for twins and we were even wearing the identical outfit right down to our white orthopedic shoes.

What were the odds of that happening?

The old woman looked up, eyed my disguise and winked.

I stared back in fascinated horror. Was this some kind of horrible joke? The woman had an enormous black mole on her upper lip with two long black hairs protruding outwards like antennas.

Ewww! It kinda reminded me of a big black roach.

The stressed-out flight attendant wheeled me over to the table. “I found your sister.”

“About time,” Roach Lady responded.

What the hell was going on? My appetite died a sudden death at the food stuck in her rather snarly teeth. I patted the flight attendant’s hand. “We’re not related honey, but I can see how you would make that mistake.”

The old woman snorted, “Forgot to take your meds again, didn’t ya?”

The flight attendant handed me a bottle of water. “Here you go. Do you have your pills in your purse?”

“Yes, but I don’t know her.” I made a big production of looking for the pills in my cavernous purse.

“Don’t worry missy, it’s just her dementia.

Remember? My name’s Maude,” the old woman said and shoveled another forkful of food in her mouth.

The two black hairs quivered madly as she chewed.

Dementia!? This was obviously some kind of con but who was conning who? “Yes, now I remember.

I’m Zelda and you’re Maude,” I responded in my quavering, slightly confused old lady’s voice. I

watched in disbelief as she kept stuffing food in her mouth at an alarming rate.

“I’ll leave you two to get reacquainted and I’ll be back in about fifteen minutes to pre-board you.” The flight attendant smiled brightly and fled.

Coward. “Who the hell are you?”

“Like I said I’m your sister Maude. Bet you forgot about your six kids, too?”