Thanks to Angie for the beta!
Chapter 8
Laura settled the curly ebony wig on her head and rechecked her makeup. When finished, she smoothed her hands down over the short skirt; part of the maid's outfit she wore. When she turned around, she was startled to see her husband, arms crossed, leaning against the door jam.
What surprised her even more was that he didn't crack a single joke about her outfit, sexual or otherwise. Yet another clue that something was bothering him. His silence on the subject was more unnerving that she let on. They left their beachside oasis for the evening and checked into the posh Casa Fuster Hotel, two floors below Natan Abalian's suite, with their plan and disguises already set.
She would replace the evening maid who had been hired to care for the infant and he would deliver room service promptly at eight. They had already ensured that Mr. Abalian would be out of the suite for the evening, drawn to a potentially lucrative business opportunity conveniently set up by Carlitos on Steele's behalf.
It was a good plan and Laura couldn't help but be a little perturbed at the speed and single minded focus with which he'd pulled it all together. If this was how he'd planned heists in the past, and she'd seen for herself a few instances of the man he used to be, she was astonished that he'd so willingly settled into the life of a, by comparison, boring private detective.
"Ready?" he asked but she noticed the longing in the intense blue eyes that slowly scanned her body from head to toe and back again.
She glanced one more time in the mirror. "Ready."
He lifted himself off the door jam and she moved closer to give him a gentle kiss. She wrapped her arms gently around his back as his lips hungrily deepened their connection; the promise of more to come intimately clear.
Laura waited patiently as the elevator ascended to the top level; presidential suite. In her hands, a silver tray on which sat a chilled pitcher of milk. When the elevator door slid open, the passive look on the burly guard's face turned to a lecherous smirk. Her demeanor firm and unrelenting, she approached the man standing outside the entrance to the suite.
"Llegas tarde," he reprimanded with a stern sneer.
Her spanish was sketchy but she knew tarde meant late. The young maid whose place she'd taken had put up a pretty fight – until they'd paid her three times her normal rate to forget about this particular job.
"Lo siento," she replied with a demure apology and a shy gaze through long, overextended eyelashes.
The guard licked his lips, gave her a lecherous once over that left no doubt as to his intentions when her job was complete - and opened the door.
Once inside the foyer, Laura leaned her back against the wall and exhaled a breath of relief.
She could hear the murmur of a soft voice and as she drew closer, she could see Carolina rocking the sleeping baby in a small bassinet.
When she noticed Laura approach, the young mother glanced up with a desperation that made her heart ache. It wasn't until Laura reached her side that she could see the bruising. She set the tray on the coffee table and approached, hands raised in harmless supplication.
"I'm not here to take him from you," Laura said, her voice soft and soothing. "I want to help."
Carolina stared at her with disbelieving dark eyes. "No one can help me."
"I can."
Dark eyes scanned her with a skeptic gleam. "Why?"
"Because I'm the reason he found you."
Carolina's eyes widened and she snatched a vase off a nearby end table so fast, Laura could only retreat and hope the impact didn't bring in the guard.
But the mother only stepped in front of the bassinet, fingers white where they clutched the glass vase.
"My name is Laura H-ah - Steele." 'And I'm here to rescue you', her silent inner movie voice supplied. Her husband would be proud. Aloud, she continued. "I'm a private investigator from America who was hired to find you."
"And so you did." The words were full of venom and delivered with such spite that made Laura's skin crawl.
"We didn't realize your situation when we took the case." Laura should have questioned her client more rigorously. She only hoped the apology was sincere enough to get the frightened mother to trust them. "I'm so sorry."
"We?"
"My husband will be taking care of the guard outside any time now."
The vase wavered in the young mother's hand until she finally set it down. "If you found me, someone else will, too."
"My husband has – contacts. He can make sure you disappear."
The door snicked open and Carolina reached for the vase, eyes darting wildly in confusion. When a service cart preceded an immaculately tailored Steele in a server's uniform, Laura shot him a delighted grin.
A dark eyebrow disappeared into his hairline as he glanced between the two women.
"Oh," Laura said quickly, hoping Carolina wouldn't hurl the vase at him. "My husband and partner, Remington Steele."
"We're here to…"
"Rescue her," Laura finished for him.
"Star Wars. Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness, 20th Century Fox. 1977." He supplied with a raised eyebrow and customary wink.
The woman stared between the two, confused. But only for a moment. "How can I trust you? Why should I?"
Steele swept a bundled bag of clothing out from beneath the tablecloth that covered the two level service cart and tossed it to Laura.
Hands outstretched in a non-threatening manner, Laura watched as her husband approached the skittish mother. "Our agency did you a disservice. We intend to rectify it."
Laura pulled open the drawstring bag and removed a blond wig, some dark drab clothing that would look more at home on a hobo, and approached Carolina.
"You need to be disguised when we take you out," Laura explained, hoping the young mother would understand. The hotel was high class enough that it had monitoring systems capable of seeing her in the vicinity of the property.
The woman glanced skeptically at the items Laura held and then at Steele.
"I've arranged private transport to get you out of the city immediately," he offered helpfully.
"To where?"
"Safety." Laura put all her determination into that one word.
"And my baby?"
"He will travel with you, of course."
"We must hurry," Laura said as she helped a suddenly compliant Carolina pull the dark, scratchy wool over her chic clothing.
Once done, Carolina looked nothing like herself and her baby had been wrapped in a soft woolen blanket.
Steele motioned beneath the service cart. "Added precaution."
Laura held the bassinet while Carolina situated herself beneath the cart, then settled it carefully in her arms. With one last encouraging smile, Laura allowed her husband to flip over the cloth, obscuring view of what lay beneath.
Laura leaned close. "I'll meet you at the car." He nodded and she trailed him to the foyer where the still unconscious guard lay. The cart rolled effortlessly out the door and Laura shut it behind him. Thinking quickly, she ripped the power cord attached to an elegant lamp out of the wall and bound the guard's arms behind his back with it.
Just as she stood to leave, the door opened to admit a surprised Natan Abalian. He glanced down at his unconscious guard and then leapt for her, hands sliding around her neck before she could dodge out of the way.
Steele helped Carolina settle into the back of the car and placed the baby carefully on the seat beside her.
"Where is she?" The impatient fear in her voice was difficult to miss.
"She'll be along. She'll be along," he answered with a confidence he didn't feel. But he was a master of disguise and he had no trouble forcing a convincing smile.
He checked his watch. Again. It shouldn't have taken her this long to go through the service entrance. He swallowed hard around the growing lump in his throat. If she took too much longer… They'd gone over this and she'd wheedled a promise out of him that if she was delayed, he would leave without her and get Carolina to safety.
But now, faced with the realization that he may have to do exactly that, he wasn't sure if he could. Something or someone had delayed her and his fingers itched to run to her rescue.
"Should we just be sitting here?"
Steele tamped down his growing irritation and smiled tightly.
"We've got a few more minutes."
They did have a backup plan; a reservation at a lower-end hotel across town in the name of Richard and Laura Blaine.
"He'll find me."
It didn't take a private detective to hear to growing panic in her voice. Steele glanced back toward the exit door and clenched his fists. With a reluctant hiss, he slipped into the seat and motioned to Carolina.
"Stay down."
Her head vanished from his rear view mirror. As he drove away, he stared hard into it, wishing to see Laura appear, safe and unharmed.
The door remained closed. And beside it, his discarded server's jacket and service cart.
TBC
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