Nick glanced over at Rachel from his lounger next to her, admiring the black bikini with very little material. Oh yeah. “You’re welcome. Man, am I lucky the Excalibur had this cabana available for rent.”
“Jean can be a bit difficult when she has her mind set on one thing and it doesn’t work out.” Rachel laughed. She looked out at the giant pool with splashing children and adults with what Nick thought was satisfaction. “At least you found a place with lots of kids.”
“Tell me about it. How was I to know they closed the ‘Wet & Wild’ back in ‘04?”
“Are we taking a big chance coming here?”
Nick shrugged. “I have the beard going a little. With this ball cap, I doubt any book fans will recognize me. It’s not like I’m a movie star.”
“I don’t know.” Rachel turned on her side, lowered her sunglasses and peered speculatively at Nick. “You look pretty good in swim trunks, Psycho, six pack and all. Navy blue is your color. Growing the beard does make a difference, especially since you razor trimmed it. I was surprised you had a whole other identity here.”
“It wouldn’t do much good to hide out in a place under my real name.”
“Ouch! I was just making conversation. What in the world made you pick Roscoe Weatherby?”
“Roscoe Nikolas Weatherby to you. It took me a while to establish the residence and driver’s license under the Roscoe name, so show some respect. Don’t forget, you’ll have to pick out a different name if you’re asked around here. I was thinking you can get away with Rachel Weatherby.”
“I like it.” Rachel reached over and stroked Nick’s thigh. “Jean’s excited. She ran into a little girl and her brother who live around the block from you on Ketchikan Street. They knew Fort Bowie Street right away when Jean mentioned it. The brother’s her age and the sister is only a year and a half older.”
“Oh good.” Nick shook his head, looking up at the sky, his thigh feeling as if it were on fire. “This is what happens when I assume facts not in evidence, like the need to not volunteer information to strangers. My bad.”
“I was playing around with them in the pool and I happened to mention your house was on Ft. Bowie. I’m sorry, Nick.”
“Forget it. Stop stroking my thigh.” Nick turned toward her, breaking contact. “Any more of that and I won’t fit in my trunks. We’ll get better at this. I have to think like I’m not alone. It takes some getting used to. You didn’t meet the parents and invite them over for dinner or anything, did you?”
“No!” Rachel reached for Nick, but had her hand enveloped in his instead. “I said hello to their Mom. They pay for access to the Excalibur pool. She wasn’t real friendly after hearing we had rented a cabana. How are you paying for all this, Nick?”
“I have credit cards to go with Roscoe, but only as a reference when they demand it. I pay cash. Trust us psychos to be flush with cash. We’re also paranoid to a fault about leaving financial trails. I keep a fund here at the local Citicorp bank, too, under my Roscoe ID.”
“I want you,” Rachel whispered.
“I’m not that easy,” Nick responded casually while trying to keep from jumping Rachel right there in the cabana. Lord have mercy, did that ever sound good. “Okay… maybe I am. I’m disappointed in you though.”
“Huh?”
“You never questioned me at all so far about my taking you and Jean out in the desert.”
“I’ve accepted my need-to-know position.” Rachel pulled Nick’s hand over to her bare side. “Being two steps behind in this from the beginning gave me an inferiority complex.”
“I like your instincts.” Nick ran his hand lightly over Rachel’s hip. “There’s nothing inferior about you. This will hurt a bit, but Rick gave up the Sarasota safety deposit box location and your maiden name on it.”
Rachel swung her legs over the lounger and sat up, grasping Nick’s hand in both hers. “What do you know?”
“I know Tanus wouldn’t have killed Rick until he gave up the location. It’s only in the movies that people endure torture without breaking. If you hadn’t gathered Jean up and gone to the cops immediately, Tanus would have had you down in Sarasota with the key. He’d have had someone with a knife at Jean’s throat until you opened the box for him.”
“My…my keeping the keys kept us in it?”
“I can’t say. Tanus may have considered you and Jean as loose ends to be dealt with. It was lucky you had the keys and saw Tanus at your apartment. The rest is water under the bridge.” Nick pulled his hand free while swinging his legs over and around Rachel’s. He took both her hands in his, their faces only inches apart. “I doubt they want you dead, Rachel. I think the shooter’s mission was to put you on the run, out of the program where they could take you down to Sarasota. They figured to get Grace and Tim running around with you and Jean. I’ve done something similar in the past. When they chased you to the right spot, it would have been goodbye Grace and Tim, hello safety deposit box, and the end of all loose ends. Then I got involved. The people who run me probably had a hand in this all along.”
“But Tanus sent you to kill me.”
“I believe Tanus was going to cut his losses. When he fingered you, I’m thinking he cleared it with someone over me. He wouldn’t have needed you, with an outfit capable of obtaining a federal warrant to get into your safety deposit box. Now, any number of folks are watching the bank in Sarasota expecting us to waltz in there with the keys to the kingdom.”
“Why bother telling me all this now?”
“Need-to-know, and you need to know. We’re going down to Sarasota and stir things around. If I can find out who their people are watching the bank -”
“We take them out, get the flash drives, and vanish.”
“I love it when you talk psycho,” Nick whispered, covering Rachel’s mouth with his own.
“Hello!” Jean called out, peeking into the cabana, with her two friends giggling behind her.
Nick pulled away reluctantly as Rachel had not moved from him at all. He waved at the kids in the cabana entrance. “Look who’s here, Rachel, our long lost daughter, Jean. Her timing is remarkable as usual.”
“Your…oh…” Jean caught on quickly. “Yeah, Dad, my friends and I want to watch the plasma for a while and eat.”
“Fine,” Nick agreed, reaching behind him and grabbing two towels. He pulled Rachel to her feet. “We’ll go for a swim. Don’t wreck the joint. It’s only rented.”
“Okay…Dad,” Jean agreed happily, gesturing her friends inside.
Rachel poked Jean’s shoulder. “Of course you know, my daughter – this means war.”
“Oh bring it, Mommy. Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad. Don’t drown.”
Nick and Rachel swam together for a time, before Rachel pulled Nick over to the side of the pool. She moved into his arms, giving him a quick kiss.
“It just occurred to me how weird your involvement in all this really is, Nick.” Rachel encircled her feet around Nick’s ankles and pulled close to him. “One glimpse of me and you turn the world upside down. I think that’s kind of hot.”
“Considering the body count so far, Wonder Woman,” Nick whispered, the center of his being turning to molten lava, “we better keep the coals white hot.”
“I had a great time, Nick!” Jean cried out from the backseat. “I’m going to see Kelly and Garth tomorrow. They asked if I could come over to their house and hang out. We don’t have Terminator duty tomorrow so it should be okay, right Mom?”
Rachel looked over at Nick, who shrugged noncommittally.
“I guess it’s okay. They seem like nice kids. You have to be careful what you say, just like in Pleasanton.”
“I’m Jean Weatherby. My Dad is Roscoe Weatherby, and my Mom’s name is Rachel. We’re staying here for a little while because my Dad’s a killer and we have to hide out until the coast is clear.”