“You can’t make me represent you guys. That’s…coercion.”
“That’s real life. You don’t have a choice.” He indicated Dylan with his gun again.
He wouldn’t really hurt Dylan, would he? Frank wouldn’t do something like that, but she didn’t know this guy. She couldn’t take a chance.
She quickly ran through her options. No weapon. Dylan in danger. Her only advantage seemed to be that this man needed her alive. Needed her legal skills.
“What’s your name?” she asked him. “If I’m going to represent you, I’ll need that info.”
“Steve.”
Steve. It seemed like such an innocuous name for a hostage-taking criminal.
“Okay, Steve. Speaking as your potential lawyer, you need to let this boy go. You made a big mistake grabbing him. Everyone’s looking for him. The entire town of Lost Harbor is searching. His father is pacing the driveway out there, worried out of his mind. Did you know his father is the fire chief?”
“I know, I know,” Steve grumbled. “He told me. He wasn’t part of the plan, but now he is.”
“This so-called plan of yours, walk me through it?”
The word “so-called” made him give her the side-eye. “We’re going to leave together and you’re going to tell everyone your father is sick and needs you. As soon as we’re on a plane back to civilization, you’re going to call someone and tell them about this kid.”
“They’ll arrest you at the airport.”
“At least I’ll have my lawyer with me.” He offered that obnoxious con-man smirk again. “Take this.” He slid a dollar bill into her pocket. The contact made her skin crawl. “Can’t tell on me now, can you? Client privilege.”
Kate grimaced in disgust as the dollar bill crinkled in her pocket. “Did you see that on some TV show?”
“You trying to insult my intelligence?”
“The last time I saw you, you were wearing a bell boy uniform, so excuse me if I’m not sold on your scheme here.”
Fury twisted his face and for a terrifying moment she thought she’d gone too far. He still had a gun. He could still hurt Dylan. Or herself.
“But you got lucky,” she said quickly. “I’m actually Dylan’s lawyer too. We can work out a deal with him so he doesn’t file charges. Right, Dylan?”
From his spot on the rug, Dylan nodded his head. Steve walked toward him and stood over his prone body, his back to the sliding door that led to the deck with its spectacular view of Misty Bay. The bright sun blazed through the glass, making her blink.
And then something caught her eye. A figure rose slowly into view from below.
Darius. Crouched in some kind of big bucket at the end of a crane—like the kind on a fire engine.
Chapter Thirty-Five
As Darius gained enough height to see through the glass, Kate watched him assess the situation. His face hardened and he tapped something into his phone. Then he met her eyes and put a finger to his lips. Keep quiet. She got that message loud and clear. Then he gestured toward Steve and made a talking gesture with his hand.
Talk. Keep him distracted.
She swung her gaze back to Steve. He was no longer looking at Dylan. His attention was now focused on the rug.
Talk about the perfect distraction.
“Pretty naughty rug, isn’t it?” She laughed lightly. “It was a present from my grandmother. I claim no responsibility for it. I hope you don’t find it too embarrassing.”
He squinted at the naked entwined figures. “What am I looking at here?”
“I believe it’s a threesome,” she told him. “Best I can make out. And that over there…” She pointed to a voluptuous woman adorning the far corner of the carpet. “I think that’s a self-pleasuring situation.”
With an amused cackle, he scanned the rug. He stepped closer to it, searching greedily for more poses. She shot a quick warning glance at Dylan to make sure he didn’t do anything reckless while Darius was executing whatever his plan was.
She barely dared to glance toward the deck for fear she’d give herself away. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Darius swing himself out of the bucket onto the deck. Immediately it lowered back down and he stepped to the side of the glass door, out of sight. Then she saw his hand reach for the lock, holding some kind of jimmying tool.
Keep talking. She needed to cover any sounds he might make while he tried to pry open the door. Well, if there was one thing she knew how to do, it was spill a bunch of words.
“This rug is based on the Kama Sutra, as a matter of fact. Have you ever heard of it? It’s an ancient Sanskrit text from India devoted to sexual and emotional fulfillment. I looked it up after my grandmother gave it to me. There’s a lot more to it than sex, but that’s the part most people think of. I guess you can see why.”
He was riveted by the play of figures on the rug.
“You really should have picked a more appropriate place to put this poor kid. He’s a minor, you know. Hmm, I wonder if this would count as corrupting a minor? I’ll have to look into that. It could add extra charges, so we’ll have to come up with a strategy for that. Obviously, it helps that you didn’t know about the rug. Who could predict something like that? Oh, here’s something about our lawyer-client relationship. You’re going to have to tell me everything so I can represent you properly. Everything about my father, your connection with him, how you got here, how you got into my apartment, so on and so forth. The more I know, the more I can help you.”
The door slid open enough for Darius to slip through. Still holding the tool, he advanced toward Steve with murder in his eyes. Even though Steve had a gun and Darius only a jimmy, with that look Kate gave the advantage to the infuriated fire chief.
Steve wheeled around. He must have caught a glimpse of Darius’ reflection or a shift in the light. With a vicious snarl, he charged toward Darius, lifting his gun arm as he went.
“Gun!” Kate shouted to warn Darius. She couldn’t see where it was at the moment, but she knew Steve still had it.
Her heart nearly stopped as the two men lunged at each other. Any second, the gun would go off, Darius would spin back, wounded, dead…
In the midst of his headlong dive into battle, Steve suddenly stumbled. He lurched to the side. Fighting to regain his balance, he staggered a step, then lost control and crashed onto the floor. On top of Dylan’s bound feet.
Amazingly, Dylan had managed to scoot down the rug and trip up Steve before he could get off a shot.
Darius pounced on Steve and slammed his gun-bearing hand to the floor. The gun skittered away. Kate chased after it and kicked it into the corner. She wanted nothing to do with the thing. Too many people in close quarters.
Instead she dropped down next to Dylan and carefully took the duct tape off his mouth. “Are you okay?”
He nodded and wetted his lips. “Hands?” he croaked.
She examined his wrists, which were wrapped in several layers of tape. His hands were going to be harder to free.
In the meantime, Darius turned Steve onto his stomach and tied his wrists behind his back using his own roll of duct tape.
“Don’t move a muscle.” His lethal tone left no doubt about his seriousness.