Chapter Twenty-Nine

Catching A Very Large Rat

I've always found muscle memory to be a strange and curious thing. The very moment Michael placed the butt of his backup piece into my outstretched hand, my fingers closed around it with an intuitive familiarity I'd long forgotten until that very second. It was like greeting an old friend.

I'd quickly checked the weapon with the ease of long practice and chambered the first round. Michael watched me with grim approval and a hard grin that promised to do Bridges some real serious harm if he managed to get his hands on the man.

"Let's go…" I nodded, knowing I felt the same.

The people in this house were my family and I would protect them all to the very last drop of my blood. Bridges had been foolish enough to bring the fight to us. Now there could be only one outcome and it would never be in that coward's favour. The tension of the impending hunt tightened every one of my muscles almost to a screaming pitch.

The need for action - any kind of action - rippled through me on wings of fire. The adrenaline rush was very addictive and heightened my powers of observation.

The years rolled back and now I was grateful to have a weapon in my hand. I'd detested feeling naked and exposed in the dawn light while Ian Bridges crept around the house, seeking the easiest entry point to secure what he was looking for.

Beside me now, in the slowly dawning light, Michael crouched in the doorway to the living room scanning for any signs of our quarry. He pointed two fingers toward the dark, crouching figure that passed across in front of the glass patio doors. I nodded tersely, watching Bridges slowly working his way across the front and then down the side of the house.

I knew that, outside in the darkness, there were several pieces of bulky patio furniture and a multitude of large potted plants to be avoided. Cactus and thorny desert plants figured prominently among them. Any blunder or misstep could lead to a very painful injury.

By necessity, the intruder's progress was slow and stealthy as he picked his way forward. Of course, Bridges expected to be able to gain access at the back of the house, quickly find what he wanted, and depart before he was detected.

The rear garden was not overlooked by any neighbouring houses and being of a westerly aspect, it would still be deep in concealing shadows.

Once Bridges gained the shelter of the enclosed back porch he would not be seen and think himself safe enough to force an entry. Did he have a key or would he force his entry?

I smiled grimly. Behind us, Edward covered our backs as we eased backwards into the hallway and moved along the hallway toward the back of the house. My son's deft handling the gleaming Winchester rifle he'd taken down from above the fireplace, had won my unspoken admiration and quick nod of approval.

It was almost as if he'd been born with it in his hands. I felt very proud of him in that moment.

My son grinned at me in the semi-darkness and gave me a thumbs-up signal. He looked as keen as me for some action. I returned his approval and placed one hand on his broad shoulder as Bridges worked his way around to the back of the house and the three of us turned and silently followed.

※※※※※

"Cobarde…" Maria whispered again as we both eased our way up the basement steps to crouch behind the closed door that allowed access to the rear of the kitchen. "He's no better than a cornered rat."

"I think I can hear him…" I murmured close to her ear. "He's moving around outside on the living room patio. He's coming this way…" My hand clenched around the butt of the handgun I held.

"Yes…" Maria nodded, hefting her shotgun and caressing the twin barrels lovingly. "Let him come on. He will get more than he ever bargained for…"

I frowned as I turned and glanced back down at the clustering shadows below us. The two mysterious figures I'd seen behind the stairs had now dissolved with the rising dawn light. The familiar outlines and shapes of prosaic things like the washer and dryer, ironing board and cane wash basket had taken their place. I shook my head in bewilderment.

'Why were they here, at all? To help us in our fight? What could they do?'

"Crazy…" I said again.

I shrugged at the deeply fanciful notion. One of the figures was entirely the fictional creation of my imagination and the other had been lost at sea for more than fifty years. It made no sense at all. I had to put it down to my lack of sleep and the tightening tension of the adrenaline that was now simmering through me on wings of fire.

"He is el loco…" Maria agreed as she saw my distraction and elbowed me gently in the ribs. "You okay? You look like you've just seen a ghost. Ian Bridges will never hurt you ever again. We'll make sure of that this time."

"I know and I'm fine. I was just… thinking…" I replied, helpless to explain what I thought I'd seen just now.

Maria lifted a warning hand. "Listen… He's made it around to the back. He's now on the back porch and trying to break in…"

She put one hand on my shoulder and drew me forward. Together, we pressed our ears to the wooden door, and I could hear the handle of the back door to the kitchen being rattled.

"Just as well I had all the locks changed after I threw him out," I murmured as I heard Ian trying to force a key into the door lock.

He muttered a low expletive with feeling when he found the key no longer fitted as it once had. I smiled grimly as my fingers clenched around the weapon in my hands.

It took all my strength and resolve to remain hidden behind the basement door. Outrage and indignation coursed through me in equal measures. I badly wanted to confront him and shout at him in my outrage.

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I followed Michael and my father as they both eased into the kitchen, tucked into low crouches below the line of the kitchen windows. The back door handle rattled as Ian Bridges tried to open it. It was locked and refused to budge.

Then I heard him mutter a harsh expletive as he attempted to force a key into the lock. I grinned as he pulled it out again and tried another. It also didn't work. I was glad my mother had taken my advice and changed all the locks as soon as the man was gone from the house. I knew Ian harboured ill feelings toward my mother. I'd long suspected he'd try to return once more, to try and claim what he saw as his, and Boston was a long way from Santa Fe.

Dad and Michael silently eased their way across the room to rise and stand their ground, each now concealed on either side of the back door. Dad waved to me and pointed two fingers toward the basement door on the far side of the room.

I nodded and worked my way across the kitchen to take up a position where I would be concealed behind the large double-doored pantry but still able to cover the basement door if anything unforeseen happened and Bridges made it that far.

I hefted the familiar weight of the rifle in my hands. If the intruder did make it to me, he wouldn't get any further. I waited, with adrenaline running through me. The staid confines of any courtroom battles had nothing on this.

The simmering tension of the moment tightened every single muscle in my body almost to screaming pitch. I could feel the need for action - any kind of action – now rippling through me on wings of fire. The adrenaline that surged with was deeply addictive and it heightened all my senses. I couldn't remember the last time I had gone hunting with the weapon in my hands.

I sighed, long and low. Maybe it was past time I got out and joined the real world once more. I'd never felt so alive and primed for action.

I heard Bridges finally push some kind of flat implement into the door frame to try and force the lock. In his frustration, he'd given up trying to be stealthy. He managed to bypass the lock. He pushed the door open and stepped inside…

※※※※※

In the end, it was almost too comically easy to capture and subdue the man. He never saw it coming.

Michael and I waited until Bridges had fully entered the kitchen and was now committed to his criminal course. There would be no chance of his being able to lie his way out of it now.

He moved in a half-crouch, working his way across toward the other side of the kitchen to where the telephone hung on the wall. No doubt he was looking for any envelopes or letters carrying Carolyn's new address. His attention was completely on his nefarious task, and he didn't sense us standing behind him, watching his every move. He made a very poor burglar.

As he passed beyond both of us, we could see the large handgun tucked into his belt at his back. It gave us even more grounds to have him arrested. Or shot on sight. My fingers clenched around the butt of my handgun. I managed to keep my finger away from the trigger.

Michael nodded to the gun in Bridges' waistband, and I smiled grimly. I almost wanted the intruder to find an excuse to draw it. But, within the confines of the kitchen, I knew that would be a very dangerous thing if he panicked and the gun went off accidentally.

Michael waved one hand toward the intruder's back view with a shrug and questioning look at me. The invitation was obvious and very welcome.

I nodded in reply as I silently slid the safety catch forward on the weapon in my hands and firmed my grip. Then I took three, quick steps forward and jammed the barrel deep into Bridges' unprotected spine, making him jump and yelp with fright. I pulled the gun from his belt and handed it backwards to Michael before Bridges could gather his wits and reach for it.

"What the hell?" Carolyn's ex-husband turned and fell back against the counter behind him. He pressed one hand to his chest as he glared at me with real fear in his eyes.

"What're you doing in my house?" He tried to suck in his gut, away from the business end of my weapon. "I'm not doing anything wrong."

"Your house?" I took pleasure in pushing the barrel of my weapon deeper into his soft belly as Michael quickly checked him for more weapons. "You know it's no longer yours and you're trespassing."

"I…" The man squirmed backwards against the pain of the barrel. "So what? I just needed some information, that's all. And I need money. I'm not doing any harm. I just wanted to talk to Maria. She's stopped returning my calls." He said it like it was some kind of crime.

"So, you decided to pay her a nocturnal visit." Edward reached out one hand to turn on the lights, making us all blink in the sudden glare. "Why did you come armed, then?" he asked in a tone brimming with distaste. "Who were you planning on shooting if you didn't get what you came for?"

"Edward?" His stepfather's eyebrows rose in shock. "What on earth? Why are you here? Look, just give me a minute. It isn't what it looks like. I needed the gun for protection. You've got to understand. Some bad men're after me for what I owe them. I need to see your mother. If you'd only give me a chance, I can explain –"

"We're all here and we don't want to listen to a single word you have to say," Carolyn replied as she walked out of the open basement doorway followed by Maria, who was carrying a very impressive double-barrelled shotgun.

I smiled as I also noted the handgun my love was holding expertly, and I had to admit my level of satisfaction for a good night's work rose even higher. I didn't need to ask where she had found the weapon.

If we were alone, right now…

My gut cramped with need. I could have almost laughed at the situation if it wasn't so deadly serious. Bridges had been prepared to do physical harm if he didn't get his way. But then, he thought he was invading the house of a defenceless woman.

I glanced back at Maria as she broke and unloaded her shotgun. She pocketed the shells and stood the weapon aside in the corner. "I think we could all do with some good, strong coffee. And I'm starving." She didn't even look at Bridges.

Carolyn nodded as she attended to her own weapon and laid it aside. "Good idea. I'll give you a hand. I'm hungry too. What's for breakfast?"

She glanced meaningfully at me as she crossed the kitchen. There was a burning need shining in the back of her gaze.

"Luciana…" I whispered. I wanted to catch her close and kiss her as she walked past me.

I wanted to make her as aware of me as I was of her. I breathed her in and sighed. I wanted to do a whole lot of things that would have to wait until much later. I glared at Bridges with dislike as I urged him backwards toward the nearby kitchen chair with the point of my gun. He'd interfered where he wasn't wanted.

"Sit!" I ordered him in a tone that said I meant business if he tried to flee.

He sat down with a frustrated glare. "Look, I've made a few bad investments lately and I need money, Carolyn. Just a loan to tide me over. Remember you took half of everything I had when you left me. I know you won't miss it and I really need it. I'll pay you back."

He avoided my eyes as he held out a pleading hand toward her. "For old times' sake. We had something, once…"

"You'll have to tell your sad story to the judge," my love replied sharply, not bothering to even look at him as she set the kettle to boil on the stove. "No one here is interested in anything you have to say."

She busied herself with the food preparations while she talked with Maria. She completely ignored Bridges' outstretched hand and pathetic look of long-suffering.

Multiple sirens wailed in the distance, coming closer. Red and blue lights flashed through the windows in the strengthening dawn light. The comms link on Michael's wrist beeped.

"Michael?" Kitt asked softly. "I saw the lights come on in the house. The state police are here now. Is everything all right? Did you get him?"

"Yeah…" Michael grinned at me. "It couldn't be better, bubby. We caught the bad guy. Everything's all right. We're just about to have some breakfast." He laughed.

"Breakfast, I see. Well, if you are through here then we do need to get back home," Kitt replied quickly. "Bonnie called to say she's just landed a huge new case and she needs our help. She and RC are already swamped. She needs you, like yesterday, she told me to say."

"If you need to get back," Edward replied, as he hitched one hip onto the table next to his glowering stepfather. "I'll stay here and deal with him and the cops. I'll go down to the station and give my formal statement of the events."

His hard look dismissed the man next to him. "Then I can get things rolling for the sale of the house. It'll make everything go much smoother if I handle everything and we set a price guaranteed to sell it fast."

"Of course, I'll be staying too. I'll help Maria pack everything up that she wants to take," Carolyn replied as she delivered our cups of coffee. "That way we'll be done quicker. Then we can finally put Santa Fe and all its bad memories behind us for good."

She avoided looking at her ex-husband who was still glaring at her. I knew he wanted to jump up and accost her, but he didn't dare. Not with us watching his every move and my gun still trained on his worthless hide.

Edward nodded. "Yeah, when we're done, we'll hire a U-Haul and then we can all drive back in Maria's car. Then I'll fly out for Boston." He looked disappointed at the prospect, but we all knew it was the best solution.

"I'll be sorry to see you leave us…" I frowned, as I remembered a radical idea that had been niggling at me for some time now.

It was something Michael had said. I first needed to discuss the idea with him. But now wasn't the right time. It could wait until we were back in Montecito. I could only hope my son would agree with it. It was the ideal solution to an already thorny and ongoing problem.

"If you're staying, then I'm staying as well," I added, watching Bridges scowl at Carolyn when she didn't offer him any coffee. "We can make good use of your last three weeks. I'm just sorry we can't spend it back at the house."

I was aware none of us had been unwary enough to mention either LA or Montecito. Bridges did not need to hear any clues about where Carolyn and I were living now.

"Me too. And I'd like that," Edward acknowledged with a nod. "We still have a lot of years to make up for."

"What about me?" Bridges whined as Michael opened the door to allow three burly state police officers to walk in. "What do I get out of it? I told you I need money. I'm broke. I need cash and I need it now! Why won't anyone listen to me?"

"Because, as Carolyn said, we don't give a damn about you or what you want. All you get is a cosy eight by six cell," I replied as I pushed my handgun into the waistband of my trousers. "And you'd better be grateful for that small mercy. We could have shot you out of hand."

I watched Bridges and his furious reaction as Michael made his statement to the officers. Then the man was read his rights before being handcuffed and taken away. He was still loudly protesting his innocence and making demands as he was pushed into the back of a police cruiser.

I followed them out of the house to make sure he was finally gone. I distrusted the man completely. He was like a cornered rat, still vicious and desperate to escape. The sooner he was locked up for his crimes, the better I'd feel.

He still looked ready to do someone harm, and it wasn't going to be anyone I loved or cared for. I would make very sure of that in the short time we had left in Santa Fe.

※※※※※

It was early in the morning now and somewhere in the distance, a clock chimed the house of three o'clock. The house was silent and still. Michael and Maria were asleep in their rooms.

It had been a very long and hectic day. After Michael and Kitt had left to return to LA, we all began the task of clearing out the house and settling my affairs in Santa Fe for good.

I would not be coming back to the city. It was no longer my home.

I'd already taken the things from the house that I wanted. Maria would pack up her things and the rest would be either given away or sold with the house. It no longer mattered to me. I wanted to get back to my life in Montecito. That was where I belonged. And I had so many tasks I needed to get back to.

Edward took Maria's car and drove into the city to see a lawyer she'd had recommended, while the three of us carried on with the work. He came back with the required paperwork and was soon on the telephone to a real estate agent.

When the sun finally sank into the west, we sat down to a delicious meal of Chinese takeout and agreed we'd all made some excellent progress. The wine was free flowing, and the conversation was easy and enjoyable.

Not one of us mentioned my ex-husband. I'd certainly banished him from my mind, and I knew Edward no longer wished to speak about him. Ian Bridges was now as good as dead to us and he needed to stay that way.

After a hard day's work, I ached in every limb and sinew. But it was a good ache of a job well done. Tomorrow would come soon enough.

When Devon had suggested we all have an early night, I didn't demur. I wanted him as badly as he wanted me. I'd seen the wanton look in his eyes every time his gaze had settled on me throughout our meal. I knew I'd never felt more alive tonight. And it wasn't just the wine I'd consumed.

Now, a full moon cast long streams of soft white light into our bedroom through the un-curtained windows. Beyond the glass, the desert sky was inky black, spangled with countless stars and seemed endless.

We'd taken our time, long and slow, to reaffirm the strength of the bond between us and our love of the life we now shared. Then we'd slept a little, close-held together, before making love again in the hushed quiet of the early hours.

We couldn't seem to get enough of each other after the adrenaline-filled events of the previous morning. In the darkness, it truly felt as if the intervening years had rolled away and we were back in our tiny flat in London.

I muffled my cry of need in the hollow of Devon's broad shoulder as we both touched the very edge of heaven once more before we tumbled over the edge of the world and back into the wide, rumpled bed that looked like a storm that had just torn through it. I smiled, knowing it would always be this way and I was content.

"I love you, my Luciana. More than life itself…" my love whispered raggedly after he'd finally caught his breath.

"As I love you…" My heart squeezed tight.

I rose on one elbow to look down into the shadowed depths of his loving eyes. "'I do not know what it is about you that closes and opens. Only something in me understands. The voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses. Nobody, not even the rain, has such incredible hands…' I smiled as I changed one word in the last line of the poem to suit. My eyes never left his as I lifted one of those incredible hands to my mouth to kiss his strong palm.

I ran the tip of my tongue across his warm skin. "I always loved it when you quoted that poem to me. It turned me on."

He watched me closely. "I'm glad it did. I always meant it to do so. And the sight of you with that gun in your hands…" He chuckled with need.

"I know. Me too…" I sighed as I lay down again and he tucked me close into his side.

I felt sleepily satiated. But I was not yet, asleep. I had a tale to tell and now seemed to be the right time when shadows whispered, and things could be seen in the darkness that surely should not exist on this plane. I told him then of what I'd seen at that moment down in the basement. Or thought I had…

"I swear I saw them both as clearly as I'm seeing you now," I whispered as I traced lazy circles across the muscles of his chest with one fingertip.

"Grainger and Captain Greig?" Devon questioned softly, putting one hand over mine to still my teasing touch. "Both of them?"

He shook his head slowly as he lifted my hand to his lips and kissed the backs of my fingers. "I know adrenaline can make people see and hear things that aren't there. It's happened a thousand times on many battlefields in the heat of the moment…"

He moved his shoulders. "But one isn't even real and the other we only know from that painting you found in the attic. I think that's your answer. They both live inside your vivid imagination and the powerful emotions of the encounter with Bridges brought them out."

"Yes, I can understand all of that," I replied quickly, moving my fingers against his mouth to encourage him to explore further. "I know what rational thinking would make of it. But they seemed so real, and they were looking right at me. They both smiled and gave me their approval."

I looked up to study his expression closely. "I guess I could have imagined them. I can't think of any other explanation. And yet…"

"Go to sleep…" Devon tucked me closer to him and reached down to draw the covers up over us against the chill of the morning. "Things will look different in the morning. Trust me. You were only imagining them being there."

"Oh, I trust you…" I murmured against his chest. "But I still think there is more to the Captain's tale than Kat has told us. When we get home, I'm going to start researching him. I want to write his story. I think he deserves that."

"If it'll put your mind at ease…" Devon shrugged as he kissed my hair. "Now go to sleep. We still have a great deal to do tomorrow. We need to get it all behind us so we can go home…"

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