NaturesBounty(22)
“I’m not the only guy who can put on a costume. Now be quiet a minute.”
He ran through the whole scenario again, from the minute they kicked in her door to the way they had targeted him. As though he, not the bond jumper, were the actual threat.
He dialed Asa’s number and waited for him to pick up.
“There’s a whole lot of something fucked going on,” Nate said. “This was supposed to be a cake job. Go out easy with a decent severance, you told me.” He glanced at Lydia in time to catch the look of disgust. “Instead it’s turned into a clusterfuck. I should raise my fee.”
“What do you mean?” Asa asked. “You didn’t get her?”
“What I got was a pair of wannabe cowboys rammed up my ass. What the hell’s going on, Ace? Who were those assholes who just crashed my farewell tour?”
“You’re not making any sense. What assholes?”
“A couple phony bond agents just broke down the door where the jumper was holed up. They tried to put a bullet in my parade.”
He heard Asa swear. “They showed up there?”
“Yeah. And who’s ‘they’? Do you know those guys?”
“I’m sorry, man. It wasn’t supposed to go down like that. They must have followed you there.”
Nate, who was still staring at Lydia, frowned. She frowned back, even though he was reasonably certain she couldn’t hear the other end of the conversation.
“What wasn’t supposed to go down like that?” he asked.
Asa paused for a moment.
“God damn it, Ace.”
“They were going to do it nice and clean and quiet once you got back over the state line. They swore it.”
An ugly tingle crawled up Nate’s spine. “Do what? You better tell me exactly what the fuck is going on.”
“Did they take the girl?”
“No.” He paused. “I have her.” As soon as he said it, he wondered whether he should have. He’d known Asa for years and worked for him almost as long. It never would have occurred to him not to trust the man.
“Where are you now?”
Nate shook his head. “Uh-uh. First, you tell me who the freak jobs were and why they’re here.”
“I can’t, not over the phone.” Asa sighed. “Look, just get here as fast as you can. I’ll tell you everything then. I promise.”
“No deal. Tell me now.”
The man lowered his voice. “Not over the airwaves. I’m guessing it’ll take you about twenty hours and change to get here. Don’t be late.”
He clicked off the call. Nate swore and dropped the phone in his lap.
“What is it?” Lydia asked. “What’s wrong?”
“He played me,” Nate said, looking out the rear windshield for anything suspicious. “I don’t know how or why, but he played me. Damn it!”
“So those men really aren’t bounty hunters?”
Nate shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“Then who are they?”
“No idea. But I’m sure as hell not going to waltz into the bail bonds office to find out. Asa’s far too eager for me to do that.”
“Asa’s my bail bond guy.”
“Yeah.” He started the car again and drove off.
“So we’re not going back to Colorado?”
“Not yet.”
“Wait.” She started wriggling in her seat, a motion that shook her full breasts back and forth until he had full-color memories and images in his head that he shouldn’t be thinking about. “You’re supposed to take me back. Stop.”
He put on the brake and glared at her. “You stop. Quit fidgeting around or else I’ll hogtie you in the back seat.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Try me. Spare car keys aren’t the only thing I’ve got stocked in my trunk.” She settled down, and with a satisfied nod, he drove off again. “Are you really in that big a hurry to go back to jail?”
“No, seeing as how I’m innocent.”
He snorted. “Funny, I hear the same thing from pretty much every skip I collar.”
“Except it’s the truth this time.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I have proof. Copies are sitting in two different states in case the original got lost or stolen.” She sighed. “And since that’s back at the beach house, I’d say it’s gone. And as for you, I may not be anxious for my boss to succeed in framing me, but that doesn’t mean I want to be a hostage in some game of yours. This is kidnapping.”
He shot her a glare. “I’m not a kidnapper. I was duly authorized to bring you in.”
“Yeah, by a guy you apparently think is up to no good.”