NaturesBounty(34)

He laughed. “I may have been the one diverting funds for personal use, but you were the one who went on to commit additional crimes. You and your bounty hunter.”

“Because you gave us no choice. So do we have a deal? Surely you can swing one more favor to make this all go away.”

He cocked his head at her. “Why does it matter to you whether he gets arrested? If he’s just some asshole bounty hunter, you should be happy to see him pay for trying to take you to jail.”

“I want to walk away with a clean conscience. The guy was just doing his job.”

“And then some.” He eyed her for a long moment before glancing up at his men. “Let’s double the guard outside, shall we? Just in case anyone happens to be skulking around doing their jobs.” He nodded to the guy on her right. “Check in with Art.”

The man got on his radio while the other one went out the door.

“I told you, he’s not here,” she said. “I stole his car and left him stranded in Arizona. He knows nothing about this meeting.”

“Are you sure about that?” Andrew asked.

“All clear,” came the return report on the radio.

She shot Andrew a smug look. “See? You’re wasting time. Let’s finish this deal and get the hell out of here. The sooner we ‘part ways professionally’, as you put it, the better I’ll like it.”

“Very well,” he said. “I’ll call the attorney first thing in the morning. The embezzlement charges will be dropped after my discovering that the entire incident was due to an unfortunate accounting error. Once your account is unfrozen, the money shifted there will be removed. Twenty percent will be diverted to you in a separate account as your fee for keeping quiet about the bank statement you stole.”

“And my other request?”

He shook his head. “There truly is nothing I can do about any other charges. You had no prior record, however. Get yourself a good lawyer. I’m sure he can talk the jail time down to a minimum.”

She curled her lip at him. “You just used ‘good’ and ‘lawyer’ in the same sentence. That’s funny.”

“It’s your own fault that you broke the law by running. If you’d have stayed put, this would all be behind us.”

So, she would still be a fugitive, and so would Nate. And if he was so inclined to press charges, she was a car thief as well.

“Fine,” she said.

The radio crackled to life. “I have movement out here,” said someone on the other end. The message was broken up by a weak signal, but then she heard, “Hey, you! Stop right there.”

The goon beside her flinched, but Andrew shook his head. “You stay here.” He shot Lydia a glance. “She supposedly escaped a bounty hunter. Keep an eye on her. Feel free to watch from the point of your gun if she does anything stupid.”

He stalked over and snatched the radio from the other man’s hand. “Five, what’s going on?”

Silence followed for a while before the answer came. “Negative. Some homeless drunk was trying to get in the back door.”

Andrew’s eyes narrowed as he regarded Lydia. “And does this drunk in any way fit the description of Nate Antillean?”

She stiffened. It couldn’t be. No way could he have gotten to her so fast. Even if he’d escaped the cuffs, how would he have been able to find her?

That’s when she thought of the smart phone tucked in her jacket pocket.

“Negative,” came the reply. “It’s some old, short guy who needs a bath in something other than booze.”

“Get rid of him. We’re almost ready to leave.”

He turned and headed for the smoldering trash bin. His back was still turned when the ceiling somehow caved in. Something large and dark dropped down behind the man guarding Lydia, and he was suddenly pushed to the floor. She jumped aside, startled and wide-eyed, at the sight of the gun that appeared beside her. Her hands flew up in automatic surrender, a pose she was becoming far too used to these days. While the commotion didn’t allow her to register the voice shouting commands at Andrew, a glance upward along the gun arm showed her who was pointing it.

“Nate,” she whispered.

This was a very different man, however, from the one who had handed her balloons or even cuffed her back at the apartment. He had on his badge, along with a flak vest and a highly focused, determined expression that left no doubt that he meant deadly business.

Cops burst into the room in a scene similar to the one that had resulted in broken furniture and a mad dash down a fire escape back in Venice. Andrew’s hands were on his head as he sank to the paper-littered floor. Lydia did the same, but she wasn’t the focus of attention. One officer stood over her, his gun pointed at her head, while the rest dealt with her former employer.