Shattered Legacy (18 page)

Teresa was staring at him intently. Tyler leaned toward her to hear her over the thunderous music.

“Relax,” she told him.

Tyler’s face broke into a grin. “I'm fine,” he replied loudly.

“You don't like it here, do you?”

“It’s all right,” he replied, glancing around. Perry was standing by the brass railing near the entrance to the dance floor, hands folded before him. He didn’t look particularly happy. Tyler figured it was because he had to protect his client in such a public place. It didn’t help that Tyler’s suit and tie made him stand out from the crowd.

“You're acting like you've never been to a club.” Teresa reached out and grasped Tyler’s arm. “Come on, old man. Out on the dance floor!”

“I’ll get us drinks,” he said, pulling away without being obvious about it. “Do you want a shot of something? It might loosen me up a bit.”

“Sure. Whatever you’re having.”

Motioning for Perry to stay put, Tyler left the table and made his way around the edge of the dance floor. He worked his way to the bar, where he flashed some cash to get the bartender’s attention and make his order.

Moments later, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

He turned to face a medium-height woman. Her straight, jet black hair was parted to one side. It covered the right side of her face, and fell over her shoulders. She wore small, oval-rimmed glasses with smoky lenses that obscured her eyes. Her cheeks were dark with rouge, her thick lips appearing almost black in the dim light.

“How are you, stranger?” The flashing lights from the dance floor cast shadows across her tightly featured face. She was dressed in a black leather dress, open enough in the front to reveal a hint of cleavage.

“I’m fine,” Tyler replied with a polite nod. The woman was attractive, but he wasn’t interested. He turned back to the bar. Then the woman pressed up behind him and slowly ran her hand under his jacket and across his chest. “This isn’t your type of place, Samson,” she said into his ear. “I thought you had more important things to do than party and drink.”

“Merrick,” he said, recognizing the voice.

She eased up beside him, the smile never leaving her face. “I see you brought a date.”

He kept his eyes fixed on the rows of liquor bottles behind the bar. “How did you find me?”

“That doesn’t matter.”

The bartender placed two shot glasses on the wooden counter, followed by two beers. Tyler dropped cash on the bar and carefully pushed one glass before Merrick.

“What’s this?”

“It's Jägermeister. Let’s do a shot.”

Merrick glanced up. “I’m not drinking tonight.”

“One shot. Come on. I’ve already paid for it.”

“Well, I guess I can’t pass up a free drink.”

Tyler smiled at her. “To secrets revealed.”

Merrick remained stone-faced. Then, slowly, she lifted her glass, being careful not to spill the dark green liquid. Tyler lifted his own glass in a silent toast, and then they both downed their shots.

Merrick was obviously not used to the black licorice taste. She set her glass back down on the table, cleared her throat, and swallowed several times. Smacking her lips, she offered Tyler an uncomfortable smile.

Tyler slammed his own glass down on the bar as he felt warmth spread through his gut. “Another?” he asked.

“Let’s talk business.”

Tyler glanced over Merrick’s shoulder. Teresa was still waiting for him at the table. Perry was watching him carefully. He looked as if he would come over at any moment. “Whatever you have to tell me, make it quick.”

“When your company committed securities fraud a few years back, you had -”

“No,” Tyler interrupted. “There was no fraud.”

“Your company was cleared on technicalities, loopholes that you helped exploit. Being
found
innocent isn’t the same as
being
innocent, Mr. Tyler.”

“The company
was
innocent,” he stated, leaning in close. “I was involved in the case. I saw the evidence.”

Merrick shrugged. “Believe what you will.”

“I don’t like all this cloak and dagger crap, Merrick. If you have something to tell me, just say it.”

“Fine. You’re missing the big picture. This new government investigation is a front for something more personal.”

“What do you mean?”

“Who has it in for Sinclair Dorian?”

Tyler’s eyes narrowed.

She smiled back. “Let’s just say that sometimes motives are … political in nature.”

“Political?”

“I have to go,” Merrick said abruptly. Tyler glanced back and saw Perry making his way to the bar. Merrick began to slide away, but Tyler reached out and grasped her arm. She looked up at his face, her face tight.

“Next time, make an appointment through my secretary.”

Merrick grimaced and twisted free. She pushed her way through the crowd and disappeared onto the dance floor.

Tyler released a long breath. Perry sidled up beside him, looking in the direction that Merrick had gone. The bodyguard arched his eyebrows questioningly.

The two returned to the table with the beers.

“You know, I think I’m beginning to like this place,” Tyler said, glancing around. Merrick was nowhere in sight.

Teresa picked up her drink. “I thought you were getting us shots.”

“I changed my mind.”

“Who was the lady at the bar?”

“The lady?” Tyler shrugged and surprised himself with how smoothly he lied. “I don’t know. She wanted me to buy her a drink. I didn’t have the heart to say no, so I drank the shots with her.”

Teresa accepted the explanation without comment. “It’s great here, isn’t it?” she began drumming her fingers on the table in rhythm to the music. She looked out at the dance floor, and then back to Tyler. She lifted her eyebrows suggestively.

Tyler ignored the hint. He took a large swallow of beer to wash the remaining taste of liquor from his mouth. He looked around again.

Teresa reached out and grasped his hand. “Let’s dance.”

“I don’t -” He didn’t have a chance to finish before he was yanked from his seat and dragged away from the table. The two wound their way through the crowd to the center of the dance floor, where they found a small opening in the sea of people. Tyler felt self-conscious while everyone around him gyrated.

“Come on,” Teresa shouted over the music. She put her hands on his waist. “Move a little. For God’s sake, Samson, bend your knees!”

He shook his head and reluctantly began moving. He looked over and saw Perry standing beside their table, arms crossed, watching with amusement.

He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to face Merrick, who, without a word, grasped his face with both hands and kissed him deeply. His eyes widened in surprise as she wrapped her arms around his neck to keep him from pulling away.

After a long moment, she broke free and put her mouth to his ear. “Senator George Wilcox,” she told him, giving his earlobe a lick. “That’s your connection. Like I told you, it’s political.”

Then, as quickly as she had grasped him, she released him. Throwing Teresa a grin and a wink, Merrick melted away into the crowd.

Teresa was staring, openmouthed, in the general direction that Merrick had disappeared as Perry came over.

“Are you all right?” Perry asked Tyler. “Want me to get her?”

“No.” Tyler touched his lips, slowly shaking his head. “No. It’s all right.”

He turned to say something to Teresa, but she was gone.

***

He caught up with her in the narrow corridor leading to the rest rooms. The bass still thundered in the background, but the noise was at a level that allowed normal conversation. Perry stood nearby, scanning everyone around even more intently than before, speaking into his cell phone.

“What is it?” Teresa asked, after Tyler called out to her for the fourth time. She spun around and slammed her back against the glass of an old-style enclosed pay phone. “What do you want?”

“I don’t -” He spread his hands and tried again. “I know what you saw back there, but -”

She raised her hand. “I don’t want to hear it.”

He took a small step back. His first reaction was to take her hands into his own, but he stopped himself. She didn’t look ready to be touched.

“I don’t know why that woman kissed me. She was probably drunk.”

Teresa looked away, jaw clenched, her arms crossed over her chest. “Hell, I don’t even know why I’m upset.” She shook her head. “How many other women are there, Samson? No, forget it. I don’t want to know.”

“You’re not being fair. Hear me out -”

“I’m not being fair? You told me that woman was a stranger. How many
strangers
greet you with a tongue down your throat?”

“Teresa, that’s…It’s not what you think.”

“So I’m to believe
you
over my lying eyes?”

Tyler knew he wasn’t going to win this fight, and she was only getting more upset with each denial. The only way he could get her off this path was to call her bluff.

“Are you breaking up with me?” he asked.

She looked at him askance. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? It would save you the guilt of doing it yourself.” She looked away. “At least you could have cheated on me with someone better looking. I didn’t think black leather was your style.”

He stared at her, knowing that for all her bravado, she was deeply hurt. He wanted to tell her why he lied. He wanted to tell her everything that was happening to him.

But the words didn’t come in time.

She turned back and lifted her chin. “I think you should go.”

Tyler stepped back as a man brushed his way between them. It was late, and he was exhausted. Nothing he could say right now would fix the situation.

“I’ll have Perry take us home.”

She shook her head. “I’ll find my own way home. Just leave me alone.”

Tyler gazed at her for a moment, and then nodded solemnly. With that, he turned and headed for the main doors, with Perry falling into step behind him. Teresa stared after him for a long time.

She pressed back against the wall, lost in her own thoughts, oblivious to the throbbing music and people around her. It wasn’t long before a guy in a black leather vest and pierced eyebrows stepped close. He gave her a crooked grin, nodded over his shoulder, and asked if she wanted to dance.

She looked him up and down appraisingly.

“Oh, what the hell,” she said, and she joined him.

THURSDAY

(AP) In a Nightline interview, Representative James Boreman (R-Texas) suggested that Congress eliminate the NASA program. Boreman stated “while NASA brought us to the threshold of space exploration, private industry must continue the mission. There is no reason to waste tax dollars on a bloated government agency whose time has passed.” – Over two million toy “Naiad” orbiters have sold in the last six months. Priced at $49.95, the toy has been a favorite target for counterfeiters. Templar Enterprises urges the public not purchase counterfeit merchandise. “Purchasing counterfeit goods only benefits the counterfeiters,” explained a company spokesman. “It's worth paying for the genuine article and knowing that you are truly supporting an endeavor of exploration and discovery.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“I once had this girlfriend who didn’t take our breakup very well,” said Perry Newbold as he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “She was a vicious, jealous little woman. After one of our fights, she ended up reporting me to the police. Said I slapped her around. I didn’t, of course, but for the next few months she spread all kinds of nasty rumors to our mutual friends and co-workers. She almost ruined my life.” He shook his head. “Hell hath no fury, man.”

In the darkness of the black armored Ford Explorer, Samson Tyler suppressed a yawn. It was nearly twelve-thirty. He glanced over at his bodyguard, who was driving. “So, what happened to the girl?”

“Nothing. Some other guy started sniffing around and she forgot all about me. A new love helped her get over the old one and all that. But I know what it can be like with a vindictive ex.”

“Perry, that woman at the club wasn’t an ex-girlfriend.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

“That was probably her intent.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing.” Tyler pointed toward the corner. “Pull over here, will you?”

“What's wrong? You gonna be sick?” Perry pulled the truck to the curb and kept the engine running. He looked over, his eyes hidden in shadow. “Is there a problem, Mr. Tyler?”

“I need to make a call,” he explained, unfastening his seat belt. “I want to leave a message for someone. My phone battery is dead.”

“Here.” Perry reached for his own cell phone. “Use mine.”

But Tyler was already reaching for the door handle. Newbold started to protest, but Tyler stepped out of the vehicle. Before he slammed the door shut, he said, “I'll only be a minute.”

He walked to the corner, breathing the warm night air. Now that he was away from the club, he was starting to feel fatigued. He had been awake almost twenty hours now, and he wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep.

Then he remembered that he didn’t
have
a home anymore.

He went to the pay phone in the shadowed entranceway of a small deli. There were two private calls he needed to make. Because Merrick had shown up at the club as she did, he didn't trust making calls with his cellular phone. And after tonight, he didn’t trust his bodyguards either. This was why he was using the pay phone.

He dialed Teresa’s home number, hoping she was back at her apartment. He had asked Perry to send another bodyguard to the club to keep an eye on her. Tyler wanted to make sure she was safe. He was concerned that Merrick might cause more trouble. The phone rang until her answering machine picked up, then listened to the short, perky message left by Teresa and her roommates.

“It’s me,” he said after the beep. “If you’re there, pick up.” He waited a few moments before continuing. “Listen Teresa, I know that what you saw tonight looked bad, but it wasn’t what you think. Give me a call when you get in. Please.”

He hung up and glanced over his shoulder as he fished more change from his pocket. He dialed his assistant. It rang three times before she answered. She sounded as tired as he was beginning to feel.