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

be not too far away. But we have to get there before anything else happens to Gregg.”

“I wonder why the courier backtracked, protecting Gregg?”

“Something Gregg said maybe.”

“It’s possible. Who the hell knows?” Kano stood up experimentally and gave his head a shake. “Damn, that’ll be a bit of a bitch for a while.”

“That’s okay. You’re up. You’re moving. You’re alive,” Garret said. “We’ve got to remember that.”

“Yeah, and I owe that asshole for the headache,” he said. He turned to face the house. “How many in there?”

“That’s the problem,” he said. “I only saw one, and that makes no sense to me.”

“He’s the guard on duty? Maybe he’s the one waiting for the others to come back.”

“Most likely,” Garret said, “so we don’t have much time.”

“No, we don’t have any time,” he said.

“So let’s go, if you’re up to it.”

Kano shot him a hard look. “Oh, I’m up to it,” he said. Blood still trickled down the side of his head, but he ignored it and said, “Let’s go.”

Chapter 13

Seated in the kitchen, Astra watched the gunman’s movements. He kept looking out the window constantly, as if waiting for somebody else.

She whispered to Amy, “Is anybody else here?”

Amy looked at her and looked at him, but he appeared not to have heard. She held up three fingers and then shrugged.

So three people were here, or at least Amy had seen three, but where were the other two? Were they still around here or had they left the property, out looking for Gregg?

It was a case of so many questions and no answers again.

“I still don’t understand why you want Gregg,” Astra stated, facing the gunman.

“You don’t have to understand,” he said. “I told you to shut the fuck up. Do I need to tell you again? Because I’ll tell you with my fists the next time.”

She shut up for a while, looking at Amy.

Amy nodded and turned her head a bit, so Astra could see the side of her face, which was puffy.

Her glare deepened. “You actually hit a tied-up woman?” she said. “What kind of an asshole are you?”

“An asshole who doesn’t have a problem hitting her nosy sister either,” he said. “I’ve got things to do and places to be, and I really don’t need to be here, listening to you.”

“Ahh,” she said. “So you’re waiting for somebody now, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I am,” he said. “And they ain’t coming any faster with your noise rattling around.”

“Sorry,” she said cheerfully.

He just glared at her.

“You know that, if you put us in a bedroom and let us lie down, we wouldn’t be bothering you,” she said.

He looked like he would almost consider it; then he shook his head. “No way,” he said. “I’m keeping you right where I can see you.”

“Okay,” she said agreeably. He looked at her suspiciously, but she just sipped her tea. She was totally okay to be here too, because it meant that the men would find them easily. As she sat here, Amy looked at her.

“I don’t know what happened to Gregg,” she said tearfully.

“Just have some faith,” she said, “that this will all work out.”

The guy sneered. “Oh, yeah, it’ll all work out.” And then he gave a big laugh. “Such a loser.”

Amy’s face twisted again.

Astra held up her hand and said, “Don’t bother, Amy. It’ll be fine. Don’t cry.”

Taking several long deep breaths, Amy searched her sister’s face.

Astra tried to give her a reassuring smile, but it was a little hard, considering the asshole remained in the room with them. Astra nodded toward the front door.

Amy frowned at her, looked toward the front door, and back. She raised one eyebrow and then gave a clipped nod. Immediately Amy sank back and stared.

Astra shrugged, sipped her tea, and motioned at Amy’s tea. “Drink up the tea,” she said. “It will make you feel better.” Amy sipped it quietly, as Astra studied the gunman.

He walked from window to window and back again, obviously struggling with impatience. And frankly, as long as he was impatient, that was good news for them. Now all Astra needed was for the good guys to come. She could only hope that Kano was okay and that he was there to help bolster whatever move Garret decided to make. Charles was right; she had to trust in their skills, ability, and judgment to do whatever they needed to do in any given situation. Regardless of how that might look to anybody else.

So many things in life were important that nobody really understood, and this was one of them. It was all about trust. And, for Garret, that was an even bigger issue now. Astra didn’t agree with what her sister had done, but, after seeing Amy and Gregg together, witnessing how deep their feelings appeared to run, Astra understood. They could have proceeded with their relationship in a better way, but, at the same time, at least it left an open field for Astra and Garret.

The gunman turned and looked at Astra. “What’s that look on your face for?” he snapped.

Immediately she dropped her expression and stared at him steadily. “I was thinking of happier times,” she said.

“Yeah, well, keep thinking of them,” he said, “because all you’ll have is memories.”

“And why is that?” she said.

“Because, by the time this is over,” he said, “you’ll probably be dead.”

“No need for that,” she said. “I don’t know anything, and neither does my sister.”

“Says you,” he sneered.

“It’s obvious you’re waiting for somebody to come,” she said, “so I don’t know why you’re getting all pissy at me, when it’s them you’re mad at.”

“Because you are where you don’t belong,” he snapped.

“I was looking for my sister,” she said, with a motion at Amy. Amy stayed quiet and just shuffled a little closer to her. “What else would I be doing?”

“Well, you shouldn’t have come,” he said, turning to lean against the counter. And, just as he did that, she thought she saw movement behind him.

She nodded slowly. “I get that. So