Chapter 24

Renata pulled to a stop in front of her house and saw Lee waiting on her porch. She got out of her SUV and took her bag and briefcase out of the back seat. "Hi, Lee, what's up?"

Her friend had a serious look on his face as she walked up the porch steps. "I've got to tell you something. Elaine Howard has been visiting George Russell in jail, and she's been interviewing him for a book she's planning to write. After she left today, they say George had a heart attack. They're going to transfer him to the hospital, where he can get more specialized care. He'll be moving out of the jail soon, in the next couple of hours."

Renata shivered. "I'd say I'm sorry to hear that, but it really wouldn't be true."

"Believe me, I understand. I just wanted you to be aware of what's happening. I know they're going to try to keep it quiet, but you know Washington. There are a couple of guys who will keep me posted on whatever goes on, so we won't have any surprises. With a little luck, he'll check out okay and be back in jail soon."

"Okay, thanks, Lee. Would you like something to drink?"

"No, I'm going to stick close to my office until I know that scumbag is back in a cell. Is Gabe going to be here tonight?"

Renata smiled a little self-consciously. "Yeah, Gabe is here most nights."

Lee chuckled. "That's good. The two of you look right together. He's a good guy."

"I have to agree with that. Tell Jo hello for me. You two will have to come over for dinner soon."

"I'll do that. You take care now."

Renata watched him drive away and then went inside to start dinner. She'd had a good afternoon at Graythorn House, and she was ready to relax. It was only an hour later, when Gabe pulled in and she greeted him with a kiss.

"Hi, darlin', how was your day?"

Renata told him about her afternoon with the kids while she bustled around the kitchen. When she finally stopped talking, Gabe asked, "Have you talked to Lee?"

"Yes, he told me. I guess you've talked to him too."

"Yeah, I don't know why they don't just let the guy stay in the prison hospital." Gabe didn't like any of it.

"I guess they have to take good care of him until they get him to trial."

"It'd suit me if they just put him out of his misery."

"Not me," Renata said firmly. "I want to see him spend years and years in a little bitty cage for everything he's done. It'll be torture for him."

"I guess you're probably right about that," Gabe said, bending to kiss her again. "And what are you cooking? It smells great."

"It's spaghetti sauce with meatballs. We'll eat in an hour."

Gabe nuzzled her neck. "Mm, that gives me time to eat you, right?"

Renata pushed him away, laughing. "Not if you want to eat in an hour. This dinner is not done yet. How about a beer?"

Gabe heaved a huge sigh. "Okay, I guess I can settle for a beer."

Renata said, "Help yourself. I'll have one too."

"See how you are? I even have to serve the beers."

Renata laughed at him again. Lee called later and said that George had been successfully transferred to the hospital and was under armed guard. The evening passed quietly, and if Gabe checked all the locks and the alarm system twice, they didn't talk about it. He spoke to Lee again shortly before they went to bed, and nothing was out of order. Gabe left after breakfast in the morning, and Renata worked on her computer for a couple of hours on Graythorn House projects. Late in the morning, her phone rang, and Renata was startled to see that the caller ID read Elaine Howard.

"Hello?"

"Renata." Elaine's voice was tense. "Are you alone?"

Renata frowned. "Why would you ask me that?"

"Look, Renata, I know that a terrible thing happened to you, and I'm sorry about that, but this is an emergency. I need your help really badly."

"What are you talking about, Elaine? What's going on?"

"I'm at Brian's house. I don't know if you know that George was taken to the hospital, but he's here," Elaine blurted out.

"Who's there? You mean George? He's under armed guard."

"Renata, he got away, I don't know how, but he's here. Brian is gone somewhere, and George is going to kill Logan. Please, you have to help me. Surely, you don't hate Logan that much." Elaine spoke in a panicked rush.

"I'll call for help right away."

"No! No, Renata, George says if anyone but you comes, he'll kill Logan. Please!"

"Elaine, this is crazy. I don't think I believe any of this."

"Just a second, I'm going to show you."

A moment later, Renata was looking at Logan's pale, terrified face and George Russell holding a gun calmly to his head. The color drained from her face and she frantically tried to figure out what to do. "Elaine, you know I can't come. You know what that son of a bitch did to me."

"Renata, please! He'll kill Logan. Remember, he didn't actually hurt you himself. He had his hired goon to do it for him. He's too weak to do that to you himself."

"So he'll shoot me instead of Logan." Renata's tone was grim, and she told herself not to even consider going.

"He actually admires you. He always thought Logan was nothing without you. He's hoping that he can talk you into making a deal for him, so he can get a better sentence."

"That's ridiculous; you know that's impossible. What he's done is about much more than me. None of this makes any sense. I'm calling for help."

Elaine began to weep and beg for her help, nearly incoherent and hysterical. So Renata didn't hear the soft sound of the back door opening until it was too late, and George, Logan, and Elaine were in her house. Renata gasped, staring at them in disbelief. Elaine was no longer hysterical, glaring at her with venomous hatred. George was looking calmly at her, his gun still at Logan's back, and Logan was just stiff and pale, clearly terrified.

"Don't make a sound, and don't try to scream for help, or I'll shoot him," George said pleasantly.

"How did you get in here?" Renata was struggling to understand how any of this could have happened.

"Oh, Renata, have you forgotten that this farm was Logan's before he signed it over to you? Of course, he knows exactly how to get in and how to avoid the cameras."

Of course, he was right. She turned her gaze onto her ex-husband, and he flinched and dropped his eyes, unable to look at her. "I had to do it. He was going to kill me. I made him promise not to hurt you."

"And you believed him?"

Elaine stepped closer to her and poked a finger at her chest. "You caused all of this. You ruined everything. My father is going to go to jail for the rest of his life unless we can get him out of here. You had everything! Everything! You stupid bitch, why the hell did you ruin it all? We were all going to get what we wanted, and you stabbed every one of us in the back. You should have died when they beat you up like that. You stole everyone else's lives. Why should you have yours?"

George said smoothly, "She's right, Renata. You committed the ultimate betrayal of everyone who loved and supported you. You don't deserve a life now."

Logan's head shot up in a panic. "No! George, you promised not to hurt her."

"And I'll keep that promise. I'll make sure it's quick and easy. It won't hurt."

"No! You can't do that."

George shook his head in disgust. "What the hell is wrong with your head, Logan? This bitch ruined your entire life and dozens of others as well. Why should you give a shit what happens to her? She married you on purpose, to set you up. She played you the whole time you knew her, and then she destroyed you. You should want to see her dead more than anyone."

"Why?" Logan looked at her in despair. "Why did you do it? We had a great life; we were going to do great things. Why couldn't you just let it go? It wasn't hurting you."

Renata was swept with rage. "It wasn't hurting me? Your whole money game destroyed my family. My father was set up, sent to prison, and murdered for the sake of your ambitions, all of you. My mother's life might as well have been over, she was so broken by what happened to Papa. My brother went away, and I had no idea what happened to him. He and I both devoted years of our lives to proving that you all were guilty of everything you did. I lost everything because of you and your filthy operation. Every one of you deserves exactly what you're going to get."

Logan's face was shocked. "I didn't do anything to your family. You can't put that on me. I had nothing to do with the operations in Portugal."

Renata shook her head in disbelief. "Your corruption was responsible for the destruction of my family. It doesn't make any difference which parts you were directly involved in. Your corruption destroyed so many lives, and all for your own selfish gains. You're all sick."

"Well," George said, "what shall we do now? We can't stay here, and we need to make a plan to get me out of the U.S.. That's where you come in, Renata. You need to arrange to get a private jet ready to go, and then you need to take us there and get us safely on that jet. Elaine, you picked up the package, correct?"

"Yes, I have it."

"I thought you had a heart attack," Renata said.

"Ah, that was my dependable Elaine's doing. She brought me a little something that brought on all the symptoms. Quite realistically, as it turns out. That's enough talk. Get the jet ready."

Her mind raced while Renata went through the task of getting a jet ready to go. She had to get help before they got on that plane, or she knew she would be dead soon. After she got the flight arrangements made, she finally had an idea. She didn't know if it would be enough, but she had to try.

"I need to call Nick."

George looked irritated. "Who the hell is Nick?"

"He's my stable manager. He's expecting me to ride soon, and he'll be getting my horse ready by now. If I don't show up, he'll worry that something's wrong and come to check it out or send someone."

George looked at Logan. "Is she telling the truth?"

Logan nodded dully. "Yes, that's exactly what would happen. She lets Nick know what time she wants to ride, and he saddles up her horse and gets him ready to go. He would definitely worry if she didn't show up for a ride."

George hesitated then gave a curt nod. "All right. Call him and cancel the ride."

Renata calmly dialed the barn, and Nick picked up. "Nick, I'm sorry for the late notice, but something's come up and I'm not going to be able to ride after all. I know you've probably already got him saddled. I'll make it up to you."

"Renata, something's wrong."

"That's right. I'll see you soon. Thanks, Nick."

Elaine paced, fretting. "I don't trust her. I'll bet she made all that up."

Logan said, "No, riding is the biggest reason she likes it here. That's exactly what she does just about every day she's here."

Nick was on the phone to Lee immediately. Lee switched on the security monitors in the house, something he didn't normally intrude on. "Shit! We've got big trouble. Call Gabe and tell him to get to my house fast and come by the back gate. I'll get some of my guys. Hurry, hurry, we've got no time to waste!"

In a matter of minutes, there was a group of highly competent men in Lee's office. They were all shocked as they looked at the monitors and realized what was happening. Lee briefed them quickly, "It appears they made Renata arrange for a private jet, and they're planning to have her take them to it and somehow get them on it. We've got to take them down before they get to the airfield. When they move to get in Renata's SUV is going to be the easiest, unless we just pick them off from outside the house. I don't like that; it's too easy to hit Renata, and only Russell has a weapon. I don't know exactly what Elaine's involvement is, but I don't know that taking her out would be justified. So let's plan on taking them when they come out of the house."

He quickly mapped out the plan and they geared up, ready to go. Lee looked at the naked fear on Gabe's face and clapped him on the shoulder. "We're going to get her out safely."

"We'd better. She's my life."

"Okay, guys, let's roll."

They streamed out of the house and loaded silently into Lee's black pickup, stopping before they were close enough to be heard from Renata's house. Lee was wearing an earbud that picked up conversation from the house. His men stealthily took their positions, and Lee put a scope up to a window in the living room, where the small group of people was. He could hear Elaine berating Renata yet again for what she'd done, and he heard George impatiently telling her to shut up. Lee had sent Nick to manually close all the farm road gates and disable the keypads, so there was no way they could drive off the grounds unless they went over the fields and through a fence. They were effectively closed in.

"How long before that plane is ready?" George asked again.

"An hour and a half. That was the fastest they could get it done. The airfield is ten minutes away."

"Good girl," Lee whispered. She had just let him know what kind of timeframe they had to work with.

Elaine was seething. "I don't trust her. How do we know she's telling the truth?"

Logan spoke up. "The airfield is ten minutes away. And an hour and a half is pretty quick."

"I still don't like it."

"Knock it off, Elaine. All that's important is that we get out of here and in the air. In a few hours, I'll have my life back."

"Yeah," Elaine said bitterly. "Everything we've worked for all our lives is just blown all to hell because of her. We're supposed to be on our way to the top. Now we're on the run."

George rounded on her, taking his attention off Logan. "You can afford to cry about what you don't get to do now. You're not looking at life in a box. Now, shut up, you ungrateful bitch, or I'll tie you to a chair and leave you here."

Elaine's mouth fell open in shock. "B-but, Daddy—"

One look from him stopped her words. "And don't ever call me that again. Fucking whiny bitch."

Elaine was clearly stunned and humiliated, her eyes full of tears. She turned away and kept quiet.

"What have you got to eat around here?" George asked restlessly.

Renata stared at him for a moment then shrugged. "Leftover spaghetti."

George rolled his eyes. "Jesus. I'll wait until we get on the jet."

A few minutes crawled by, the room weighed down with heavy silence and George checking his Rolex every thirty seconds. Elaine watched him, turning often to send a piercing glare Renata's way. The tension could have been cut with a knife. Suddenly, there was the sound of a dog barking outside. Logan frowned.

"Is that normal?" George asked quickly.

"No. Lee's dogs don't come over here unless he's with them," Logan answered.

Renata spoke up quickly. "Nick's been bringing his dog over now and then. He wants to get him used to being in other places and behaving when he is."

"Is that right?"

Logan said, "I guess. Nick has a dog. I saw it in his truck once."

George had let Logan sit down. He didn't seem to be any kind of a threat; he was defeated and listless. Elaine was still pacing nervously, and George was sitting on the couch, seemingly as comfortable as he would be in his own living room. The time crept by. George got up regularly to peer out the windows, looking for any trace of a person.

"Where is this Nick you've been talking about?" George asked.

"He's in the barn at this time of day. He's got a pretty full day." Renata knew Nick's schedule like the back of her hand.

"Can he see the house from the barn?"

"No. He can't even see the house from the barnyard; the barn sits at a different angle than the house."

Logan nodded in response to George's look. "Okay. We're going to be moving soon. That's your vehicle right outside the front door?"

Renata nodded.

"Good. I want everyone to get in quickly and quietly. Renata, you get around to the driver's door damn fast. Elaine, you get in the back from the passenger side and slide across. Logan you get in right beside her. I'll be in the front passenger seat. I want you two in the back to stay down and out of sight. Renata, don't even think of pulling any heroics. I'll have my gun on you, and if I'm going down, you're going first. Got it?"

Renata said through gritted teeth, "Clearly."

"Everybody got it?" The others nodded. "Then be ready and move fast when I say the word."