The day was long past when she could be railroaded into making decisions before she had answers. “Hmmm. Point one: I don’t like being pushed. Point two: I don’t trust you, which makes me think you’re afraid I’ll see what’s off about this if you give me time to think about it. So, okay, here’s your answer-”
“All right, all right!” He sounded grumpy, which she enjoyed. Given the age difference between them, in their admittedly juvenile arguments during the brief time their parents had been married, she had never gotten the best of him. But she wasn’t thirteen now, and she knew her own mind. “A hundred and fifty thousand.”
“I’m not bargaining for more money, but thank you. I’ll keep that number in mind if I agree,” she said coolly.
“Look.” For the first time in her memory, there was a tone in Axel’s voice as if he were addressing her without mockery, with dead seriousness. “I know this is an unusual situation. Your particular circumstances make it ideal for my purposes, though. No one would tie us together-”
“Thank God,” she said, unable to resist the admittedly juvenile verbal jab.
“Ditto. But you have resources, you’re isolated without having to move him too far away in case I need him, and most of all, you need the money.”
There was that. Since her colossal career misjudgment seven years ago, money-or the lack of it-had been behind every decision she’d made. She’d learned how to make smart choices financially, to be an adult and do what had to be done, which was work two jobs. Occasionally part of her still yearned for the heady feeling of taking risks and coming out on top, but at the same time she was mostly happy where she was. It was a learned happiness, but happiness nevertheless.
She wasn’t embarrassed by her financial situation. It was much better now than it had been, and she’d dug herself out the pit. Still, how did Axel know anything about her life at all, much less her finances?
As if he’d read her mind, he said, “I did some deep digging on you.”
“If you’re so anxious to hide him, wouldn’t that leave a trail?”
“If one knew where to look, yes, but I went through intermediaries, in-person and verbal instruction only. There are a lot of layers between us. I made sure you’re protected and anonymous.”
It wasn’t like Axel to be conciliatory or even agreeable, which told her how important this was to him. Being safe would definitely be important to Morgan Yancy, at least while he was in his current condition. She wasn’t a bleeding-heart-type person, but neither was she callous, and she already knew she couldn’t send him away for the simple reason that he wasn’t in any shape to drive. He’d be spending the night here, regardless. Whether or not he was any stronger tomorrow remained to be seen.
A hundred and fifty thousand dollars…
Then she sighed. No matter how much money he was offering, she had other people to consider. “It won’t work,” she said flatly. “If he has a killer stalking him, I won’t endanger the people around here. I just won’t.”
“You won’t be,” Axel assured her. “There’s no connection to make, no way of tracing him to you. Just give him a place to hide out. I guess I could send him to a safe house, but security has been breached so none of those would be safe-and that’s why I’m contacting you out of network. The problem is internal.”
The dilemma was immediate, and maddening. She needed the money, but she didn’t trust Axel. She didn’t want a strange man-and a wounded one, at that-staying with her, but he wasn’t capable of leaving. So he was staying for at least a short while, whether she wanted him to or not, unless she called Jesse or an ambulance and had him hauled… where? There was a local doctor, but as far as she could tell, Morgan Yancy didn’t need medical care, he needed time to heal and regain his strength. If she had him taken to a hospital, he’d be in the computer system, which meant that if she believed Axel even a little bit, she’d be endangering the man’s life.
Okay. She didn’t trust Axel, though to be truthful she didn’t know if that was because he truly wasn’t trustworthy or if it was simply because she disliked him so much. He evidently had some kind of government job but, considering the government, that wasn’t really much of a recommendation.
She said, “Hold on,” and held the phone down against her thigh to cover up the speaker so Axel couldn’t hear. Approaching the SUV, she said, “Yancy?”
He opened his eyes halfway, a gleam of blue in the grayness of his face, and muttered, “Yeah?”
“Axel said there’s no way to trace you to me.”
He took a deep breath, or tried to. She caught the sudden hitch, as if his chest muscles protested. His throat worked as he swallowed, then he said, “That’s why I drove. No record, and the Tahoe is clean, can’t be linked back.”
“Drove from where?”
He gave a small shake of his head, meaning he wasn’t going to tell her. Given his condition, he had probably come a fair distance, either that or-Damn it! “Exactly when did you get out of the hospital?”
“This morning,” he said, and let his eyes close again.
Double damn it.
She might regret it, almost probably she would regret it, but a hundred and fifty thousand was a lot of money and even though she didn’t trust Axel, she could see for herself that the man in front of her wasn’t a threat-not now, at least. Even more, he was relying on Axel not to betray him, and presumably he knew her former stepbrother better than she did, which really wouldn’t take much at all because his father and her mother had been married a grand total of eight months. Morgan Yancy was betting his life he could trust Axel.
She lifted the phone to her ear again. “All right,” she said, keeping it brief. “But if the money isn’t in my account in two days, I’m putting him on the road.”
“It will be,” Axel said. “It’ll be there tomorrow.”
Now that the decision had been made, for good or ill, Bo turned her mind toward practical matters. “Let me get my bank account routing number.”
“Please.” The word was full of disdain. “I already have it.” The phone clicked and the connection was gone; he’d hung up.
She thumbed the button to cut the connection on her end, then stood looking at the phone. “Now what?”
Yancy shifted in the seat and lifted his head slowly, as if the effort was almost more than he could manage. He held out his hand, and Bo placed the phone in it. He deftly took the phone apart and removed the battery, as if it were something he’d done a thousand times.
Having decided enough was enough, Tricks gave another bark, this one special. She had a whole repertoire of different sounds she used to bend humans to her will, and the plaintive, high-pitched puppy bark was her ace in the hole. It was her “Mom, help me!” call, and even though Bo knew she was being manipulated, she was usually so amused that she did whatever Tricks wanted. Right now, Tricks wanted out of the Jeep, which was simple enough.
“I’ll be right back,” she said, leaving him where he was and walking back over to the Jeep. She began shivering and pulled her denim jacket closer around her. The temperature had dropped easily ten degrees just since she’d pulled into the driveway. She opened the passenger door and put the pistol in her jacket pocket while she freed Tricks from the harness. She was no longer afraid Yancy was going to jump her, but, hey, it didn’t cost anything to be careful.
Tricks grabbed her tennis ball and bounded out of the Jeep, her whole body wiggling with joy. Before Bo could grab her collar, she was gone, racing over to the Tahoe and around to the driver’s side. Tricks loved to meet people, but Morgan Yancy might not be an animal lover or in any mood to be licked and nudged to throw the ball, which to Tricks was the greatest honor she could grant someone.