Youd better find it, Dillinger said.
Help will come! Betsy said defiantly. This is crazyyoure crazy! SWAT teams arent but a few miles away. Someone
Youd better hope no one comes, Dillinger said. He walked over to hunker down in front of her. Because thats the whole point of hostages. They want you to live. They probably dont give a rats ass one way or the other, either, but thats what theyre paid to do. Get the hostages out alive. But, to prove we mean business, well have to start by killing someone and tossing out the body. And guess what? We like to start with the big-mouths, the wise-asses!
He reached out to Betsy and that was all the impetus Kody needed. She sure as hell wasnt particularly courageous but she didnt waste a second to think. She just bolted toward Dillinger, smashing into him with such force that he went flying down.
With her.
He was strong, really strong.
He was up in two seconds, dragging her up with him.
Why you little bitch! he exclaimed as he hauled his arm back, ready to slam a jaw-breaking fist into her face.
His hand never reached her.
Barrowwith swift speed and agilitywas on the two of them. She felt a moment of pain as he wrenched her out of Dillingers grasp, thrusting himself between them.
No, Dillinger, no. Keep the hostages in good shape. This one especially! We need her, Dillinger. We need her!
Bitch! You saw hershe tackled me.
We need her!
The hostages had started to move, scrambling back, restless, frightened, and Capone shoved someone with the butt of his gun.
Barrow lifted his gun and shot the ceiling.
Plaster fell around them all like rain.
And the room went silent.
Lets get her out of here and up to the library, Dillinger. Dammit, now. Come onlets do what we came here to do! he insisted. Im into moneynot a body count.
Kody felt his hand as he gripped her arm, ready to drag her along.
Dillinger stared at him a long moment.
Was there a struggle going on? she wondered. A power play? Dillinger seemed to be the boss, but then Barrow had stepped in. Hed saved her from a good beating, at the least. She couldnt help but feel that there was something better about him.
She was even drawn to him.
Oh, that was sick, she told herself. He was a crook, maybe even a killer.
Still, he didnt seem to be as bloodthirsty as Dillinger.
Dillinger stepped around her and Barrow, heading for the stairs to the library. Barrow followed with her.
Hey!
They heard the call when they had nearly cleared the room.
She turned to see Capone standing next to Betsy Rodriguez. He wasnt touching her; he was just close to her.
He moved his gun, running the muzzle through her hair.
Dakota Cameron! he said. The worldwell, your worldis dependent on your every thought and word!
She started to move toward him but Barrow stopped her, whispering in her ear, Dont get them going!
She couldnt help herself. She called out to Capone. Youre here because you want something? Well, if you want it from me, step the hell away from my friend!
To her surprise, Dillinger started to laugh.
Weve got a wild card on our hands, for sure. Come on, Capone. Lets accommodate the lady. Step away from her friend.
From behind her, Barrow added, Come on, Capone. Im in this for the money and a quick trip out of the country. Lets get her started working and get this the hell done, huh? Beat her to pieces or put a bullet in her, and shes worthless.
Miss Cameron? Dillinger said, sweeping an elegant bow to her. My men will behave like gentlemenas long as your friends let them. You hear that, right?
I can be a perfect gentleman! Capone called back to him.
Tell them all to sit tight and not make troublethat you will manage to get what we want, Barrow said to her.
She looked at him again.
Those eyes of his! So deep, dark, blue and intense!
Surely, if she really knew him, shed recognize him now.
She didnt. Still, she couldnt help but feel that she did, and that the man she knew wasnt a criminal, and that she had been drawn to those eyes before.
She shivered suddenly, looking at him.
He didnt like blood and gutsthats what Dillinger had said.
Maybe he was a thief, a hoodbut hated the idea of being a murderer. Maybe, just maybe, he did want to keep them all alive.
Hey! she called back to the huddled group of captives. I know everything about the house and all about Anthony Green and the gangster days. Just hold tight and be cool, please. I can do this. I know I can do this!
They all looked at her with hope in their faces.
She gazed at Barrow and said, They need water. We keep cases of water bottles in the lower cabinet of the kitchen. Go through the music room and the dining room and youll reach the kitchen. I would truly appreciate if you would give them all water. It will help me think.
But it was Dillinger who replied.
Sure, he said. You thinkand well just be the nicest group of guys youve ever met!
Chapter Two
Nick Connollyknown as Barrow to the Coconut Grove crew of murderers, thieves and drug runners who were careful not to share their real names, even with one anotherwas doing his best. His damned best.
Which wasnt easy.
Nick didnt mind undercover work. He could even look away from the drugs and the prostitution, knowing that what he was doing would stop the flow of some really bad stuff onto the city streetsand put away some really bad men.
From the moment hed infiltrated this gang three weeks ago, the situation had been crazy, but hed also thought it would work. This would be the time when he could either get them all together in an escape boat that the Coast Guard would be ready to swoop up, or, if that kind of maneuver failed, pick them off one by one. Each of these guysDillinger, Capone, Floyd, Nelson, Kelly and Schultzhad killed or committed some kind of an armed robbery. They were all ex-cons. Capone had been the one to believe in Nicks off-color stories in an old dive bar in Coconut Grove, and as far as Capone knew, Nick had been locked up in Leavenworth, convicted of a number of crimes. Of course, Capone had met Nick as TedTed Johnson had been the pseudonym Nick had been using in South Florida. There really had been a Ted Johnson; hed died in the prison hospital ward of a knife wound. But no one knew that. No one except certain members of the FBI and the hospital staff and warden and other higher ups at the prison.
None of these menespecially Dillingerhad any idea that Nick had full dossiers on them. As far as they all knew, they were anonymous, even with each other.
Undercover was always tricky.
It should have been over today; he should have been able to give up the undercover work and head back to New York City. Not that he minded winter in Miami.
He just hated the men with whom he had now aligned himselfeven if it was to bring them down, and even if it was important work.
Today should have been it.
But all the plans hed discussed with his local liaisons and with Craig Frasierpart of the task force from New York that had been chasing the drug-and-murder-trail of the man called Dillinger from New York City down through the Southhad gone to hell.
And the stakes had risen like a rocketbecause of a situation hed just found out about that morning.
Without the aid, knowledge or consent of the others, for added protection, Dillinger had kidnapped a boy right before they had all met to begin their takeover of the Crystal Estate.
It wouldnt have mattered who the kid was to Nickhed have done everything humanly possible to save himbut the kidnapped boy was the child of Holden Burke, mayor of South Beach. Dillinger had assured them all that he had the kid safely hidden somewherewhere, exactly, he wasnt telling any of them. They all knew that people could talk, so it was safer that only he knew the whereabouts of little Adrian Burke. And not to worrythe kid was alive. He was their pass-go ace in the hole.
That was one thing.
Then, there was Dakota Cameron.
To be fair, Nick didnt exactly know Kody Cameron but he had seen herand she had seen himin New York City.
And the one time that hed seen her, hed known immediately that hed wanted to see her again.
And now, here they were. In a thousand years hed never imagined their second meeting would be like this.
No one had known that Dillingers game plan ended with speculationthe vague concept that he could kidnap Dakota, take her prisonerand hope she could find the stash!
Dillinger planned the heists and the drug runs; he worked with a field of prostitution that included the pimps and the girls. He had South American contacts. No one had figured hed plan on taking over the old Crystal Estate, certain that he could find a Cameron family member who knew where to find the old mob treasure.
So, now, here he wassurprised and somewhat anxious to realize that the lovely young brunette with the fascinating eyes hed brushed by at Finnegans on Broadway in New York City would show up at the ticket booth at a Florida estate and tourist attraction.
Craig Frasier, one of the main men on the task force Director Egan had formed to trace and track Dillinger, aka Nathan Appleby, along the Eastern seaboard, spent a lot of time at Finnegans. The new love of his life was co-owner, along with her brothers, of the hundred-and-fifty-year-old pub in downtown Manhattan.
Nick and Kody Cameron had passed briefly, like proverbial ships in the night, but he hadnt had the least problem recognizing her today. He knew her, because they had both paused to stare at one another at the pub.
Instant attraction? Definitely on his part and he could have sworn on hers, too.
Then shed muttered some kind of swift apology and Craigs new girlfriend, whod come over to greet them, explained, Thats Kody Cameron. Shes working a living theater piece with my brother. Sounds kind of cool, right? And shes working here part-time now, making the transition to New York.
Whats living theater? Nick had asked Kieran Finnegan.
Kevin could tell you better than me, she had explained, but its taking a show more as a concept than as a structured piece and working with the lines loosely while interacting with the audience as your character.
Whatever she did, hed hoped that hed see her again; hed even figured that he could. While Kieran Finnegan actually worked as a psychologist and therapist for a pair of psychiatrists who often came in as consultants for the New York office of the Bureau, she was also often at Finnegans. And since he was working tightly with Craig and his partner, Mike, and a cyber-force on this case, hed figured hed be back in Finnegans, too. But then, of course, Dillinger had come south, met up with old prison mates Capone, Nelson, Kelly, Floyd and Schultz, and Nickwho had gone through high school in South Florida and still had family in the areahad been sent down to infiltrate the gang.
The rest, as the saying went, was history.
Now, if Dakota Cameron saw his face, if she gave any indication that she knew him, and knew that he was an FBI man...
Theyd both be dead.
And it didnt help the situation that she was battle readyready to lay down her life for her friends.
Then again, there should have been a way for him to stop this. If it hadnt been for the little boy who had been taken...
He had to find out where the kid was. Had Dillinger stashed him with friends or associates? Had he hidden him somewhere? It wasnt as hard to hide somewhere here as one would think, with the land being just about at sea level and flat as a pancake. There were enough crack houses and abandoned tenements. Of course, Nick was pretty sure Dillinger couldnt have snatched the kid at a bus station, hidden him wherever, and made it to the estate at their appointed time, if he had gone far.
But that knowledge didnt help much.
Nicks first case when hed started with the Bureau in the Miami offices had been finding the truth behind the bodies stuffed in barrels, covered with acid and tossed in the Everglades.
He refused to think of that image along with his fear for the child; the boy was alive. Adrian Burke wouldnt be worth anything in an escape situation if he was dead.
Nick wiped away that thought and leaned against the door frame as he stood guard over Kody. Capone was now just on the other side of the door.
Like the entire estate, the library was kept in pristine shape, but it also held an air of fading and decaying elegance, making one feel a sense of nostalgia. The floors were marble, covered here and there by Persian throw rugs, and built-in bookshelves were filled with volumes that appeared older than the estate itself, along with sea charts and more.
Kody Cameron had a ledger opened before her, but she was looking at him. Quizzically.
It seemed as if she suspected she knew him but couldnt figure out from where.
Youre not as crazy as the others, she said softly. I can sense that about you. But you need to do something to stop this. That treasure hes talking about has been missing for years and years. God knows, maybe its in the Everglades, swallowed up in a sinkhole. You dont want to be a part of thisI know you dont. And those guys are lethal. Theyll hurt someone...kill someone. This is still a death penalty state, you know. Please, if you would just
He found himself walking over to her at the desk and replying in a heated whisper, Just do what he says and find the damned treasure. Lie if you have to! Find something that will make Dillinger believe that you know where the treasure is. Give him a damned map to find it. He wont think twice about killing people, but he wont kill just for the hell of it. Dont give him a reason.
Youre not one of them. You have to stop this. Get away from them, she said.
She was beautiful, earnest, passionate. He wanted to reassure her. To rip off his mask and tell her that law enforcement was on it all.
But that was impossible, lest they all die quickly.
He had to keep his distance and keep her, the kidnapped child and the others in the house alive.
Capone was growing curious. He left his post at the archway and walked in. Hey. Whats going on here? Dont interrupt the woman, Barrow. I want to get the hell out of here! Ive done some wild things with Dillinger, but this is taking the cake. Makes me more nervous than twenty cartel members in a gunboat. Leave her be.
Yeah. Im going to leave her be. And shes going to come up with something, Barrow said.
Hed barely spoken when Schultz came rushing in. While Capone knew how to rig a central box and stop cameras and security systems, Schultz was an expert sharpshooter. He was tall and thin, not much in the muscles department, but Nick had seen him take long shots that were just about impossible.