Garret's Gambit by Dale Mayer (book club books .TXT) 📗

the best. “So maybe she’s not missing then. Maybe she just took off on her own?” She faced Garret with a frown.

“Maybe. They want to know where she is though,” the second man said. “They won’t stop until they find her.”

“What is this information she has that they are after?” Kano asked.

“Kingdom Securities.”

“What about them?” Garret said, glaring directly at him. “What about Kingdom?”

“Some question of loyalty there.”

“What does it matter to them?”

“They didn’t get paid for something,” he said. “A big job, somebody was supposed to be involved, and they didn’t get paid.”

“So?”

“There’s some discrepancy as to who in Kingdom hired them.”

“Does this have to do with the flight?” Garret asked.

“Well, they hired the subcontractors and had to pay that out. But it was a big, big plan that didn’t come to fruition, and they didn’t get paid.”

“Well, if they failed at the job, why would they get paid?”

“They told him there was a slim chance of success, so they wanted payment regardless.”

“Let me get this straight,” Garret said. “You think they got hired by somebody within Kingdom who didn’t have the backing of the company?”

“Yeah. Like a private deal.”

“And who was it that set up this private deal?”

“That’s why they wanted her.”

“Why?” Garret said. “I want to hear it. Why?”

“Because it was her boyfriend, and a lot of money is involved. They think she has the money or at least access to it. And, if not to the money, they think she can lead them to him. Gregg. His name is Gregg.”

*

The two men were gone. Jonas had taken them away, and Garret was back in Astra’s room, pacing the floor.

“You don’t have to believe him,” she said.

“I don’t believe him,” he said. “I know Amy came between my brother and me, but I’d like to think me and my brother had a whole lot more between us than her.”

“Do you think she could have poisoned the relationship that much?”

“I would like to think not,” he said, but his tone was cold, cutting. The last thing he wanted right now was to analyze his brother’s relationship with Amy. It was bad enough that Garret was even here, having to deal with Gregg’s disappearance. And that Gregg’s girlfriend, and apparently the mother of his child, had obviously booked it and was hiding out somewhere. But to think that his brother actually had a hand in the plane crash that nearly killed Garret, that was taking things farther than Garret was comfortable with. He spun around and stared at Kano. “There has to be another explanation.”

“There will be,” he said comfortably. And that was one of the great things about Kano. He was always there to be on your side. If they found out that it would be something uglier than Garret wanted to look at right now, they would both deal with it later.

Garret took a long slow deep breath. “Right.” He spun and looked at Astra. “Think about places that she could have gone,” he said. “Where would she go, if she’s hiding out because she’s terrified?”

“I’ve been trying to figure that out,” she said, feeling bewildered. “I just don’t know where she would go.”

“Do you have any other property? Or does she? Did your parents have any property?”

“Oh, crap,” she said, staring at him in surprise. “Remember the cabin? You guys went there, and I met you there that one day. Remember?”

He nodded slowly. “Yes. What about it?”

“She used to always go there, when she was upset. We both did. It gave us time to think.”

“Which is why she was there then, after I proposed, but I thought it was her favorite place.”

She gave him a sad smile. “No, that’s where she used to go to make the major decisions in her life.”

“That’s where she told me that she would marry me,” he said, frowning.

“I know,” she said. “I presume she was struggling with her answer because that’s where she goes when she has those kinds of troubles.”

“How far away is it?” Kano asked.

“About an hour, hour and a half or so from here,” she said. “Up the coast.”

“Well, let’s go then,” Kano said. “Because I’d put money down on this one.” When they didn’t jump up, he looked at Garret on the left and Astra on the right, from one to the other. “So, have you got any other ideas where she could be?”

“No,” she said slowly. “That would be my bad.”

“Then let’s go.” At that, the three of them jumped up and headed downstairs.

“Wait. We don’t have a car,” she said.

“Yeah, we do,” Kano replied. “It’ll be here in a minute.”

“Whose is it?”

“Charles’s,” he said. “I’ll have to remember to thank him. So far, we haven’t even seen him yet on this trip, but some trips are like that.”

“Unfortunately a lot of our trips are like that,” Garret said. He looked at Astra, who was standing outside, her hands in her pockets, her purse slung over her shoulder, and her long blond hair blowing back in the breeze. She was stunning. How come he hadn’t noticed that before? Well, he had, but it hadn’t been kosher at the time. She was his girlfriend’s little sister, after all, so he’d always kept the looking to a minimum. But no need to do that any longer, and, man, she was gorgeous.

She turned and looked at him, noticed the look in his eyes and then frowned. “What are you looking at?”

“A beautiful woman,” he said, and she frowned even more. “Still don’t know how to take a compliment, huh?”

“Haven’t received very many of them in my lifetime,” she said. “Not enough to get comfortable with it anyway.”

Kano looked at them, frowning, as he picked up on the conversation, his gaze going from one to the other. Then he gave half a headshake and turned away.

She looked at him. “What was that look for?”

“Nothing,” he said. “I just see the cycle happening again. It’s bloody amazing.”

“If you say so,” she said, obviously not understanding.

But Garret understood. He gave a