looked worried.
J.B. patted Gage on the face. “Find my granddaughter.” The mobster turned and walked toward the door, but stopped at the sound of his cell phone ringing. He motioned for Death and Destruction to go on ahead of him with Gage, then reached in his pocket and pulled out the phone.
“Yes?” he barked, then listened. “You got Diana? Does Kincaid know yet? Good.” He smiled as he snapped the phone shut and put it back in his pocket. “So now Governor, I have your daughter and soon to be born grandchild. How does it feel?”
Jesse winced as if he’d been kicked in the stomach. Crowe had kidnapped the governor’s daughter, Diana. The governor’s pregnant daughter.
He swore under his breath and he jumped down from the crate and ran along the edge of the building. He knew how dangerous it would be for Diana and her unborn baby to be taken in retaliation for Susannah’s kidnapping.
There was no love lost between J. B. Crowe and Governor Thomas Kincaid, not since the governor had declared war on the mob in Texas. But Jesse suspected there was something else between J.B. and Thomas, something more personal.
Hurriedly, Jesse ran along the edge of the building. He could see the Lincoln and knew he couldn’t reach it in time. Nor could he let Gage see him again.
Jesse stopped at the corner of the building, caught. He watched as Gage went straight to the dark-colored Caddy. The driver hopped out as if surprised to see Gage back so soon. It was obvious he’d been asleep, Jesse realized with silent thanks. There was a good chance the driver hadn’t seen Jesse get out of the Lincoln then.
Gage climbed into the back of his Cadillac and the driver closed the door.
J.B. stood with Death and Destruction as if waiting for Gage to leave. Gage looked as if he couldn’t wait to get away as his driver climbed back into the front of the car and started it.
Forgetting about Gage, Jesse considered the spot he found himself in. There wasn’t any way he could get to the Lincoln without J.B. seeing him. For a moment, he actually considered just taking off and not looking back.
But blowing his own cover now, when he was so close, wasn’t his style. He’d bluffed his way into the chauffeur job, he could bluff his way through this. He hoped.
Gage’s driver gave the Caddy a little too much gas as he left. Jesse saw J.B. smile in the glare of the Cadillac’s headlights. About then, however, J.B. seemed to notice that his own driver wasn’t at his post, and the smile faded.
Jesse ambled out from the dark edge of the building and walked leisurely toward the Lincoln.
“I thought I told you to stay in the car?” J.B.’s voice sounded at once suspicious and furious.
“I had to take a leak,” Jesse snapped and moved ahead of the mobster to open his door. He could feel J.B.’s gaze on him and looked up to meet the man’s dark eyes without flinching. It took all his nerve.
J.B. held his gaze for a long heart-stopping moment, then he shook his head as if in disgust or disbelief, and slid into the back seat. It’s so hard to get good help these days, Jesse thought sarcastically.
Death slid in beside the mobster and Destruction strutted around to the other side, giving Jesse a smug grin that hinted that he was looking forward to the day that he got to kill Jesse.
Jesse had made it a point to never be cowed by J.B., but it was getting harder and harder not to let the mobster see him sweat.
“Home,” J.B. ordered the moment Jesse slipped into the driver’s seat.
Still shaking inside, he gripped the wheel and drove. He didn’t dare look in the rearview mirror again. No one said a word from the back seat.
Jesse tried to relax but he couldn’t forget how close he’d come to having his cover blown. Gage Ferraro had seen him talking to Amanda in the alley earlier. Fortunately, Gage hadn’t gotten a good look at him.
But now Jesse wasn’t sure how long his luck would hold. It seemed he and Gage were looking for the same thing. Amanda’s baby, Susannah. And even if, as Jesse suspected, Gage was lying through his teeth to Crowe, their paths were bound to cross again. And it was just a matter of time before Gage recognized Jesse as the cop who’d arrested him for drug possession three years ago.
Chapter Four
The phone rang early the next morning, jerking Jesse from a not so sound sleep.
J.B.’s deep voice filled the line. “I won’t be needing your services today but should Amanda want to go anywhere, I want you to take her. I don’t want her driving herself. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, sir,” he said, heart pounding.
“By the way, I appreciate you keeping an eye on my daughter last night when she went out again.”
He swore softly under his breath and sat up, suddenly wide awake. “Yes?”
But J.B. hung up without another word, leaving Jesse off balance. Had Amanda told him just as Jesse and Dylan had known she would? Or had J.B. just figured it out from what Gage had reported to him? The guard at the gate hadn’t been at his post but the surveillance cameras would have picked up both Amanda—and Jesse right behind her. Still, Crowe couldn’t know that Jesse had followed Amanda to the café.
Either way, it did not bode well. But why would J.B. order him to drive Amanda? Why didn’t J.B. fire him? Or have him killed? And why hadn’t he asked him to report back on where Amanda went? Maybe J.B. had Gage for that. Or at least J.B. thought he did.
One false move, Jesse knew, and he was toast. Who was he kidding? His cover could already be blown wide-open. He could be living on borrowed time and just not know it. J.B. was probably setting him up. Giving him enough rope to hang himself.
He shook his head, amazed at the spot he found himself in this morning. Right between Amanda and her old man, a very dangerous place to be.
But in the meantime… He tried to still his racing heart. Amanda couldn’t leave the Crowe estate without him. He couldn’t help but grin, thinking how furious that must make her. Would she be angry enough to finally show her hand? He could only hope.
While he knew he could be walking into a trap J.B. had laid for him, Jesse still felt pretty cocky as he headed for the shower. This might prove to be just the break he’d been waiting for. If he was right, and Amanda and Gage had done something with the baby, then she must be running scared now that her father had people spying on her. She’d try to cover her tracks. She’d slip up. And when she did, Jesse would be there to nail her. So to speak.
He drowned that thought in a cold shower, disgusted with himself because of his body’s reaction to the woman. Afterward, he called the main house to let Amanda know he’d be available to drive her and maybe to rub it in a little. He could only assume that she’d tried to get him fired. Or killed. And had failed. At least temporarily. He was feeling pretty pleased about that.
But he couldn’t get his call past the housekeeper. Ms. Crowe, Eunice said, wasn’t up yet.
He polished several of J. B. Crowe’s fleet of expensive cars, watching for any sign of life behind Amanda’s closed curtains. None.
