Moonlight Lady Read online

  In spite of everything that had happened, Lisa didn’t regret coming to Jamaica. It was beautiful, an island in the sun, and when this was over she wanted to come back. She wanted to lie on a beach with Sam, swim in the sea with him, dance under the stars with him. Make love with him.

  He had never said he loved her. Perhaps for him the word did not come as easily as it did for her, or perhaps he hadn’t fallen in love with her as she had with him. Maybe in time he would. Falling in love might be difficult for a man like Sam. He had his work, which meant so much to him. And he’d been married before. Maybe he’d decided he never would again.

  And he’d lost a child. How terrible that must have been.

  She wanted children. She’d told Philip that before they’d married, and he had agreed. “At least three,” he’d said. But almost as soon as the minister had said the words uniting them as man and wife, he’d changed his mind. “Let’s wait a few years,” he’d said. A few years became seven.

  She’d love to have Sam’s children. The thought that she might already be pregnant was a little frightening, yet it excited her. She’d stopped taking birth-control pills when she and Philip separated. There hadn’t been any need to take them because she’d had absolutely no intention of being intimate with anbody else for a very long time. She needed peace, time to search for direction. Time to rebuild her life.

  This with Sam had happened so fast there hadn’t been a chance to run to her friendly neighborhood pharmacy to refill a prescription. She wasn’t a fool; she’d known the risk she was running. Yet she hadn’t had the willpower to stay away from him.

  She leaned her face against his back and tightened her arms around his waist. And wondered what he’d say if she really was pregnant. Would he blow a fuse? Head for the hills? Or would he make an honest woman out of her?

  The Harley slowed and she saw that they had almost reached Maroon Town. Ahead, under the shade of bamboo trees, was a roadside stand that sold roasted corn and beer and soft drinks.

  “I’ll leave you there while I go into town,” Sam said.

  “No.”

  He pulled to the side of the road, climbed off the motorcycle and tried to look ferocious. “Did you say no?”

  “You bet I did. If you think you’re going to leave me sitting here while you go back to the hotel, you’ve got another think coming. Every time you leave me alone something awful happens to me. From now on I’m sticking with you.”

  “No, you’re not.” It was said with his chin thrust out and his eyes narrowed angrily. “For all I know, Montoya and his men might be sitting in the hotel lobby.”

  “And for all you know they might be sitting behind the bamboo trees waiting to grab me.” She shook her head and, with a grin, said, “From now on I’m sticking with you, Sam. Through thick and thin, till death us do...”

  He stepped back as though he’d received a mortal blow. Lisa didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Bullets or bad guys didn’t scare him, but the words till death us do part made him blanch. She wondered what he would do if she told him she was pregnant. Smite his chest and faint dead away?

  She had a few unpleasant thoughts about men in general, but managed to keep them to herself. “I’m staying with you,” she said. “And that’s final.”

  He’d been right about her. She might be little but she packed a powerful punch. He had a sudden vision of her squaring off, small fists doubled up at her hips, saying, “Pick up your socks. Take the garbage out. Clean the garage. And that’s final.” God help him!

  “Okay,” he said, knowing he’d lost the battle. “But if I tell you to stay put, you stay put. Got it?”

  “Of course.” She smiled, sweet as a piece of sugar cane now that she’d gotten her way.

  He was ticked off when he got back on the Harley, but the minute she put her arms around his waist his anger vanished. He didn’t want to deal with his feelings right now, but once this was over he had a lot of thinking to do.

  Ten minutes later they drove into Maroon Town. He parked the Harley at the open-air restaurant next to the hotel. There were other people there so he was pretty sure Lisa would be okay.

  “I’m going into the hotel,” he told her. “You go to the restaurant.”

  “You could pin a star on my chest and make me your deputy.”

  “I’d like to pin something on you all right.”

  Lisa stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. “Anytime, anywhere, partner.”

  “You’re a shameless wench.”

  “Damn straight,” she said. “If you need backup, holler out.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  He started to turn away, but she grabbed his arm. “Be careful, Sam.”

  “I always am.”

  They looked at each other, She snapped his a salute. He turned and walked quickly to the hotel next door. She watched him go, then went to the outdoor restaurant.

  The man behind the counter looked up when she came in. He seemed to study her for a moment before he said, “Be with you in a minute, lady.”

  “That’s all right,” Lisa said. “I’m not in a hurry.”

  He left the counter and went into the back, where she couldn’t see him. The three other customers, all men, looked at her curiously. She nodded, then turned her attention toward the hotel, hoping and praying that Captain Hargreaves was still there, and that, if he wasn’t, he would have left one of his men.

  But what if, instead of the Jamaican police, some of Montoya’s men were there? What if Sam was walking into a trap? She wanted to be with him. He’d told her to stay here and she would. For a while. Fifteen minutes. If he wasn’t out by then she’d go looking for him.

  The counterman came back. “What you be havin’?” he asked.

  “ Hot tea if you have it.”

  “I have it.”

  He went back behind the counter and Lisa turned to watch the hotel entrance again. It was all she could do not to get up and go after Sam. When the man returned with the tea, she asked for a piece of lemon.

  “We got lime,” he said.

  “That’s fine.”

  He brought it, and she squeezed some of the juice into the cup. The man didn’t move. He just stood there watching her.

  “You want anything else?” he asked.

  “No, thank you.”

  He stood there a moment longer before he turned and went back behind the counter.

  She sipped the tea and worried about Sam, wanting desperately to go charging into the hotel after him. She wasn’t comfortable here alone. The waiter kept watching her; the other three men whispered among themselves. She drank half of her tea. It was good, with an odd flavor that she found intriguing.

  A breeze came in through the open sides of the restaurant, but she was warm. From the hot tea, she supposed. She took a tissue out of her bag and wiped her face.

  Heat waves rose up from the street and everything began to look a little fuzzy.

  She took another sip of tea. Suddenly her stomach felt queasy and she felt dizzy. Maybe this was morning sickness. But it wasn’t morning. Something was happening. It was hard to...to keep her eyes open.

  She looked toward the counter. The man behind it was staring at her, as though he was waiting for her to say or do something.

  She said, “May I—may I have a glass of—of water?” Her voice was slurred. She looked down at her cup. The tea was all gone.

  She pushed back the chair. Had to get to Sam. Sam could help her. Sam... She tried to stand. Knees wobbly...legs like wet noodles. She looked toward the three men. Their faces were indistinct. She said, “Oh,” and felt herself starting to slip. She sank back down in the chair, whispered, “Help...”

  Then the darkness closed in all around her.

  * * *

  The same man was at the reception desk. He looked up, startled, when Sam strode in, and reached for the phone. Sam ran across the lobby, stretched his arm over the desk and grabbed the man by the front of his shirt.

  “Let me go!”
the man cried. “Take your hands off me.”

  Sam belted him across the face with the back of his other hand. “I’m looking for a man by the name of Hargreaves,” he said. “Is he still here?”

  “What are you doing? Let me—”

  Sam hit him again. “Is he still here?” he repeated.

  “He—he and his friends left two days ago.”

  “Anybody with him stay behind?”

  “No.” The man’s eyes were wide and frightened.

  Sam let him go and reached for his gun. “Put your hands on your head and stand right there where I can see you,” he said. “You make one move and you’ll be singing soprano for the rest of your life.”

  He picked up the phone and dialed Kingston. “Hargreaves,” he said when somebody answered.

  “Who shall I say is calling, sir.”

  “O’Shaughnessy. Hurry it up.”

  “Yes, sir. Right away, sir.”

  The desk clerk sidled toward the door leading into the private office. In a deceptively soft voice Sam said, “Stop right there.”

  The man froze.

  Hargreaves came on the line. “Sam?” he yelled into the phone. “My God, Sam, is that you?”

  “Yeah. Finally.”

  “Where are you?”

  “At the hotel in Maroon Town. Just got here.”

  “Where have you been? Why didn’t you wait for me?”

  “Somebody nabbed Lisa. I had to go after her. I got her and headed farther up into the mountains. Knew I couldn’t wait around until you got here.” He looked at the man with his arms on his head. “The guy who works here behind the desk is in on it. So’s the waiter in the restaurant. As soon as you can you’d better send some of your men to pick them up.”

  “Is the woman still with you?”

  “Yeah, and I’m going to keep her with me until somebody from your office can get her to Kingston where she’ll be safe.”

  “Let me think a minute.”

  “Take all the time you need.” Sam leveled the gun at the desk clerk. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “All right, Sam, here’s what we’d better do. Time’s running out. We’ve got to get Montoya before he sends the shipment and skips the country. Do you still have the motorcycle?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you’d better head toward Port Antonio. I’ll meet you there with backup. Fort Royal Hotel. Meantime I’ll send a couple of men to Maroon Town to clean out the hotel.” Hargreaves hesitated. “I don’t like the idea of the woman being with you. It could be dangerous for her.”

  “I can’t leave her here.”

  “All right then. As soon as you get to Port Antonio I’ll assign one of my men to her. How soon can you leave Maroon Town?”

  “I’m leaving right away. Lisa’s next door. I’ll pick her up and we’re on our way”

  “Be careful, Sam. It’s beginning to look as if there are more people involved in this than we first thought.”

  “Don’t worry. See you in a couple of hours.” Sam put the phone down, ripped the cord off it and said to the clerk, “Okay, bozo, hands behind your back.”

  “You can’t do this,” the man protested. “You don’t have the authority.”

  “Wanna bet?” Sam came around the counter to jerk the clerk’s hands behind his back. When he’d tied them, he pushed the man toward the private office. Before he could open the door he heard a footstep, a scraping sound. He turned and saw the waiter, saw the gun in his hand. He shoved the desk clerk to the side just as the waiter fired. He heard the whomp as the bullet meant for him hit the clerk.

  Sam crouched down. He got off a shot. The waiter stumbled back, clutched his shoulder and fired again. So did Sam. This time the man went down for good.

  Two down. He wasn’t sure how many more might be around, just knew he had to get the hell out of here.

  He put the gun in his pocket, but kept his hand on it. A couple of dozen men were standing in front of the hotel when he went out. Nobody said anything. He elbowed past them and strode into the open-air restaurant next door. Lisa wasn’t there.

  Dammit to hell! Why couldn’t she just once do what he told her to do? He’d told her to stay put. Why hadn’t she?

  “There was a woman here,” he said to the man behind the counter. “Where’d she go?”

  The man shrugged. “That not be my business.”

  Sam’s jaws clenched. He walked over to the man, slowly, deliberately. He’d had one hell of a morning. He wasn’t in the mood to fool around.

  “I’m going to ask you one more time, pal. If I don’t get an answer, I’m going to climb over the counter and beat the crap out of you. Where did the lady go?”

  The man backed away. “She—she ask me if there be a shop for ladies. Maybe she go look in the shops.”

  Sam swore under his breath. Lisa knew they were in a dangerous situation, but she hadn’t listened. She’d gone shopping! He wanted to throttle her. Would as soon as he caught up with her.

  He hurried out of the restaurant and looked up and down the street. There were two stores. One looked like it might be a general store, the other had clothing in the window. He went there first.

  There were no customers, only a bored-looking young woman who gave him a stem-to-stern once-over when he entered.

  “I’m looking for a young woman,” he said.

  She fluffed her curly black hair. “Nobody here but me. Will I do?”

  He looked her over. Cute. Skin the color of polished mahogany. Tight red blouse, black skirt halfway up to her hiney.

  “Sorry, honey,” he said, “but I’m afraid not. My wife’d cut my heart out if I even looked at anybody else. Especially somebody like you.” He glanced around the room. “She’s small and blond. She was probably here in the last twenty minutes or so.”

  “Hasn’t been nobody but me here all mornin’.”

  “Is this the only clothing store?”

  She nodded. “But they sell some things down at the general store. Maybe she’s there.”

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  “If she isn’t you can always come back here. I got no plans for the rest of the day.”

  “I’ll keep it in mind.”

  He muttered under his breath all the way to the general store. They had to get going. If they didn’t they’d be stuck on the road to Port Antonio after dark. He didn’t want that. Damn the woman! Where was she?

  He pushed open the door of the general store. There were a couple of people at the counter. One woman was buying coffee. Lisa wasn’t there. He went up to them.

  “‘Afternoon,” he said. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m looking for my wife. She’s a small blond woman. Has she been in here?”

  “No, sir,” the man behind the counter said. “No lady like that been in today.”

  Where was she? His anger was all mixed up with fear now. What if something had happened to her? This was the middle of the day. She’d been in an open-air restaurant. What could have happened?

  He said, “Thanks,” and went out of the store. He looked up and down the street. Where could she have gone? Where was she?

  “Hey, mister!”

  He turned and saw the young woman from the clothing store hurrying toward him.

  He waited until she caught up with him. “What is it?” he said when she did.

  “A man came into the store almost soon’s you left. He gave me this envelope and told me to give it to you.” She handed it to him. “He said it was important.”

  “Thanks.” The young woman started to turn away, but he said, “Wait a minute.” He tore open the envelope and pulled out the folded paper inside.

  We got your lady. She’s our insurance. You plan on seeing her again you take the first plane out of Jamaica. Sooner you be gone better it be for everybody, most ’specially for the lady. It be real shame if we gotta cut her throat.

  He felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. As though his insides were made of mush. He stood there, crumpl
ing the note in his hands. Lisa. My God, they had Lisa!

  “Are you all right?” The girl was looking up at him. “You feeling bad?”

  Sam tried to focus. “Who gave this to you?”

  “Mean-looking dude.”

  “Jamaican?”

  She nodded.

  “Have you got a phone?”

  “Yes, but—”

  He grabbed her arm and hustled her down the street. “I’ve got to use it,” he said. “It’s important.”

  “Somethin’ bad happening?”

  “Something real bad.”

  They went into the store and she handed him the phone. He called Kingston. “This is O’Shaughnessy. Has Captain Hargreaves left yet?”

  “A moment, sir. I’ll see if I can catch him.”

  Sam went silently crazy while he waited. Lisa had been right: he shouldn’t have left her alone. He should have taken a chance on keeping her with him, no matter how dangerous it might have been.

  They were using her to get at him. Get rid of him. If anything happened to her he’d never forgive himself. She’d been through hell because of him. They’d grabbed her because of him. They might—

  “Sam?” It was Hargreaves’s voice. “What’s happening?”

  “They’ve got Lisa.”

  “Good Lord!”

  “I just got a note telling me to leave the country. They said if I didn’t...” For a minute Sam couldn’t go on. “They said they’d kill her.” He gripped the phone so hard his knuckles popped. “I’m going after her, leaving now.”

  “Maybe you’d better let us handle it.”

  “But they’ve got Lisa!” he shouted.

  “Yes, yes, I understand. We’re leaving now, Sam. We’ll be in Port Antonio before you. Check in with my men as soon as you get there.”

  “Yeah, sure. But listen, wait till I get there before you go in.”

  “If we can.”

  “Filoberto?”

  “Yes?”

  “I know you’ve got a job to do, but Lisa’s life is at stake. She...” Sam stopped. “She means a lot to me.”

  “I understand, Sam. Believe me, we’ll do everything we can to keep her from getting hurt.”

  “Okay. I’m on my way. See you in Port Antonio.” He put the phone down.

  The young woman was staring at him. “You be a policeman?” she asked.