Authors: Desiree Holt
He was sitting at the table head in hands, when Linda came in from the study.
"How's Anya?" she asked.
"Sleeping. We didn't get much rest last night and she's been strung tight as a wire today. I told her to take a good nap."
"She seems very nice, Gus." Linda busied herself taking salad fixings from the fridge. "I'm really glad you found someone."
He blew out a long breath. "Listen, Linda," he began.
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"It's all right." She turned and smiled at him. "You don't have to say a word. We had nothing but lust between us ten years ago. I should apologize to you since it was really Rafe I wanted all the time."
Gus gave her a tired smile. "I think I knew that. Back then, though, I was a hothead with more balls than brains."
"No more than your brother. Good thing I tamed him." She winked. Rafe came in through the back door, slapping his hat against his leg to shake off the dust and hanging it up on a peg by the door. "How's our girl?"
"
Our
girl?" Gus cocked an eyebrow. "I think you only get to steal one woman from me." But he grinned to show he was joking. Then he ran his hands through his hair and leaned back. "I think I'm out of ideas, Rafe. I'd better come up with something quick. It's great finally being back here, but Anya and I can't hide out here forever."
"How about you and I have a drink in the study and get out of Linda's way while she fixes dinner. You can run everything by me and see if a fresh mind helps."
"I'd like to help with dinner."
Everyone turned to see Anya standing in the doorway. Gus was pleased to note that she looked more rested than before, but the lines of strain around her eyes and the shadows beneath them were still there.
Linda beckoned her into the room. "Come on, then. I can always use help."
Despite the fact that Gus laid everything out for his brother and they looked at the problem every way possible, Rafe didn't come up with any more solutions than Gus had.
"What I'm thinking," Gus mused, sipping on aged bourbon, "is I might ask if I can leave Anya here with you and head back to the city myself. There's a better chance I could dig up more in person than trying to chase people by telephone."
He'd resisted the idea when Jimmy first mentioned it, but then they'd been talking about an FBI safe house. This was a lot different. A definitely more unknown. 68
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"Have you talked to Jimmy again?"
"I thought I'd try him after dinner. See if he's come up with anything. I know he's been home all day locked up with his computer. No doubt involved in all kinds of illegal hacking."
"Hey. If it gets the goods on the rogue agent, it's worth it, right?"
"Anything's worth it," Gus agreed, "if it means Anya is safe again."
"You got yourself a real prize, bro. Congratulations. I'm glad you found someone, too."
A lot of unspoken words lay between them but neither felt it necessary to say them. After Anya helped Linda clean up the kitchen, Gus took her elbow and steered her out the front door.
"Where are we going?" she wanted to know.
"I haven't kissed a girl under a Texas Hill Country moon in a long time," Gus joked.
"Thought it was about time I did so. And I want to do it in a favorite place of mine."
He took her hand as they walked away from the house toward the road, into the thick forest of trees that covered the ground from the house to the road and for a good way off to the left. They were only a few steps into them when they were swallowed up in a darkness still familiar to Gus. This had been his refuge, his playground, his sanctuary. Even his makeout spot when he'd brought a date home to take a walk in the moonlight. A few more steps and the house was barely visible.
"I'm surprised your parents never cut these down," Anya said. "Everything else around here is so open."
"They always said they deliberately left these here so they'd at least have the illusion of a forest," he told her. "My mom grew up in Maine, which as you know has more trees than people. Besides, all these trees in the front yard used to be good cover for Rafe and me."
"How so?"
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"We'd sneak out of the house and smoke cigarettes, then sneak in so our daddy couldn't catch us." He laughed. "We didn't know he could see the lighted tips from the house and was just lying in wait for us. Same thing the night we snuck out here with a bottle of his whiskey. But he waited until we got good and sick that time before laying into us."
"I'll bet you were hellions," Anya teased. He was glad to see she'd relaxed a little. Being here was good for her.
"Oh, yeah. We used to play cowboys and Indians in these trees, too, when we were just kids. Sometimes we'd have friends with us. If one of us was captured, we'd yell to the other one. Some dumb shit like 'I'm looking for the moon.' We had stupid signals we made up."
"So what would happen?"
"Whichever one of us was free would get a plastic rifle we had, sneak up on the other side of the trees and capture the offender. Gave us a good chance to practice the tracking skills one of the ranch hands had taught us."
She shook her head. "Cigarettes. Toy rifles. Times sure have changed since then."
"These old trees sure have seen their share of action." He chuckled. "Sometimes I used to walk my dates out here, steal a kiss where no one could see us. Maybe try some other things."
Anya wrinkled her nose. "I don't think I want any more details." She looked around. "I like the trees. They give you a lot of privacy from traffic on the road."
"That's why we made such good use of them." Gus walked her into the thickest part of the trees and turned her to face him. "Time to get my kiss."
"Make it a good one," a voice said from inches away. "It may be your last one."
Anya stifled a small scream. Gus froze in place. Slowly he turned, putting Anya behind him. Jimmy Broughton, holding a 9 mm in his hands, stood inches away from him, outlined in the shards of moonlight that managed to poke through the canopy of 70
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trees. And swore because he hadn't taken his gun outside with him because he was so sure this was the one safe place in the world.
"I'm probably the only one who knows this used to be your home," Jimmy told him. "No one else would think to look here for you."
"You bastard," Gus spat. "It's you, isn't it? You're the inside man." But the question was rhetorical.
"More like silent partner," Jimmy bragged. "Virgil and I have made some hot money over the years."
"You protected him," Gus guessed. "That's how he avoided getting caught all these years."
"And if hadn't been for that little bitch hiding behind your back, I'd still be riding the gravy train. But I'm taking care of that now." He sighed. You just wouldn't listen to me and send that bitch away, would you? I could have taken care of her with no one the wiser." He gave a short laugh. "I told you it would be your funeral."
Gus could hardly believe the man he'd considered his best friend was his worst nightmare come true. "My brother and his wife are right in that house, Jimmy. I don't know how you expect to get away with this."
"Easy. We're just going to walk out of here, using the trees for cover, hop the fence and get in my car."
"You'll have to shoot me, because I'm not moving." Anger poured through Gus, but he kept it carefully controlled. He couldn't afford to let emotion distract him. A door slammed. "Hey, Gus. Y'all out there?" Rafe, on the front porch. "You okay?"
"Tell him you're fine. You'll be there in a few."
"I'm looking for the moon," Gus yelled.
There was a moment of silence before Rafe answered him. "Okay. Gotcha."
The door slammed again.
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"Now then," Jimmy said. "Let's just move along quietly. "I've got a...friend waiting at the car to help me with you two."
Gus could feel Anya's fingernails digging into his waist where she was holding him. He blessed her for being the kind of woman who could keep her head in a situation like this and follow his lead.
"If you're going to shoot us, Jimmy, you might just as well do it here, because I'm not moving."
"Maybe I'll shoot the bitch first," he spat.
"You'll have to go through me to do it," Gus pointed out, still keeping his body between Anya's and the agent. "And how will you explain two dead bodies on my brother's ranch?"
"Maybe I'll just shoot you and take her with me," Jimmy sneered. "Have some fun with her before I get rid of her. After all, she was one of Virgil's girls, right?"
"Wrong," Gus spat out, "and you know it. And if you're that slime's 'business partner', you know most of the women did not go willingly."
Keep talking. Keep him focused on me. Come on, Rafe, get a move on.
"Doesn't matter. Anyway, I'm done talking." He gestured with his head. "Let's get going. Now."
"I wouldn't plan on going anywhere, if I were you." Rafe's voice was a disembodied sound in the darkness, but moonlight glinted on the gun barrel he now pressed against Jimmy's neck. "Drop the gun."
"Shoot me and I shoot them." Jimmy's voice had an ugly tone to it.
"Maybe. But think about the damage a rifle blast can do to the back of your neck. They'll be looking for pieces of your head in the next county. That what you want?"
Gus kept his eyes glued to Jimmy's face but it was hard to make out the look on it in the absence of real light. He wanted to tell Anya to run, head for the house, but he was afraid that Jimmy would be stupid enough to try to get a shot off. 72
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"Better drop the gun, Jimmy." He kept his voice low and even, despite the rage surging through him.
For a long moment nothing happened. Then Jimmy lowered his hand and dropped the gun to the ground. Rafe's foot swept out and hit Jimmy's legs, knocking him to the ground. The two men were on him instantly, immobilizing him with the rope Rafe had looped over one shoulder. Then they frog-marched him back to the ranch house, Rafe's rifle pointed at the man's back the entire time.
"Good thing you remembered that signal," Gus commented, still shaking with anger.
"Some things you never forget," Rafe told him. "Like the fact that brothers are always brothers no matter what."
With that the final storm window sealing his past cracked and shattered and the first threads of peace stole through Gus.
* * * * *
It was one o'clock in the morning before everything had been wrapped up. Jimmy was taken away by two agents who'd helicoptered in from the San Antonio office. The car with Jimmy's friend was long gone but Dean Barton, who'd flown in with the agents, assured everyone when they swept up the pieces of Virgil's organization they'd no doubt catch him in the net. At last he stood on the back porch shaking hands with Gus.
"I can't tell you how sorry I am you had to go through this," he said, not for the first time. "I should have been smart enough to see what was happening. Or to put someone else on the case when we couldn't find where all Virgil Branson's support was coming from."
"Spilled milk," Gus told his boss. "No one could have seen it."
"We got into all his personal files and discovered a bunch of properties he owns, around here as well as in other states. I'm running a coordinated effort to hit them all at 73
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once I'm sure we'll find Virgil in one of them and that will be the end of him. I'll see to it personally."
"Thanks. And I appreciate you taking care of this yourself."
Dean shrugged. "It's certainly the least I can do."
A few minutes later the helicopter lifted off. Gus watched until it was just a dot in the sky before turning back into the house. He wanted to tell Anya again how proud he was of her for the way she'd handled herself. He knew she'd been scared to death but she'd just stood silently, trusting him to take care of her, falling apart only after they'd returned to the house and she could let the tears flow. He sat with her on his lap and fed her tea with brandy, murmuring soothing words to her until her eyelids began to droop.
Everyone finally went to bed, only to be awakened seven hours later by a call from Dean Barton that Virgil Branson was in custody. The nightmare was finally over.
"I'm going to pick up the kids," Linda announced when they'd finished breakfast.
"They'll be excited to finally meet their Uncle Gus."
"We'll be heading out later today," Gus told her. "The excitement's over and we need to leave y'all in peace."
Rafe and Linda exchanged a long, knowing look.
Rafe cleared his throat. "We'd really like it if the two of you could spend a few days here. Give us all a chance to rebuild this family."
"I don't think--" Gus began.
Anya put a small hand on his arm. "Thank you. We'd like that very much. I'm sure Gus hasn't said anything to you, but my family life gave a new meaning to the word dysfunctional. This means as much to me as it does to Gus."
"It's settled then," Rafe said. "I need to get out and work with the cattle a bit while Linda gets the kids. After lunch let's talk about things and make some plans."
Gus nodded. "We'd like that."
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When it was just the two of them left in the house, Gus picked Anya up from her chair, cradled her against his chest and kissed her like a man who was starving.
"It's over, darlin', and I've got a great way to celebrate. What do you say?"
"I say yes," she told him, still trying to catch her breath.
She loved being naked with him, nothing between them, skin to skin. His hands were like artist's tools, touching her in all the right places, lighting fires everywhere.
"I love you," he whispered, straddling her body.
He bent his head to capture a nipple with his mouth, sucking it hard, pressing it against the roof of his mouth with his tongue. Anya threaded her fingers through the thick silk of his hair, pressing his head to her body. When he'd teased one nipple to throbbing hardness he went to work on the other one. His fingers lightly pinched the nipple still wet from his mouth. Twin spikes of heat shot straight to her cunt, making her move restlessly with growing need. She was startled when he lifted his head and shifted his weight so he was farther up on her body. His engorged cock lay between her breasts, the dark plum head scant inches from her lips. Her tongue snaked out and she swiped it over the soft skin, pleased to see it flex with every touch.