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  Glenn tapped his foot as the phone rang.

  “Yes.”

  “Josephine, Marion Claude just called me.”

  “And?”

  “And he’s going to kill my fiancée, if I don’t call Saint off. What the hell is going on, Josephine?”

  “Nothing that concerns you.”

  “What? Did you hear what I just said? He’s going to kill my fiancée.”

  “Don’t worry about him. He has more important things to worry about than sending someone to kill you precious fiancée.”

  “He doesn’t have to send anyone. They’re already here, in the Theatre.”

  “Really?”

  “Call Saint off, Josephine, please.”

  “I’m sorry, Glenn.”

  “Josephine, please don’t do this.”

  “Good bye, Glenn.”

  Glenn kept begging on his phone long after Josephine hung up.

  “Glenn are you okay?” Mr. Seeger asked as he walked up on him.

  “I have to get Grace out of here.” He tried to push past him but the fifty year old caught him off guard when he slammed him against the wall. “You listen to me very carefully. You have a show to do and you’re going to do it. You try and get Grace out of here, Marion’s men will kill her.”

  Glenn’s complexion paled.

  “Marion called me as soon as he hung up with you. He wants you to call off Saint.”

  “I can’t.”

  “And we don’t want you to.”

  “We?”

  “My men will be sitting right behind Grace and Olivia. I give you my word, nothing will happen to them. By the end of the show, Marion Claude will be dead, and you will have nothing to worry about.” Seeger backed away from him as one of the models headed toward them.

  “Glenn, I can’t get this latch to stay fastened,” she said, turning her back to him to take a look at it.

  “Stay focused.” Seeger flashed him a crooked smile and walked off. Glenn pushed the model out of his way and threw up in the wastebasket.

  Van knocked on Josephine’s suite five minutes after she called for him. She opened the door and let him in. she was wearing a nightgown and her hair was pinned-up.

  “Were you asleep?” she asked.

  “I won’t sleep until we’re out of this grimy city,” Van spat.

  “New York City isn’t so bad.”

  “It’s terrible. When are we leaving?”

  “Soon. I just got a call from Glenn Lemora.”

  “And?”

  “He’s having a show at the Apollo tonight.”

  “You already know that.”

  “What I didn’t know was Marion Claude called him, threatening to kill his fiancée if I didn’t call off Saint.”

  “Figures he would do something like that.”

  “And he has men in the Theatre.”

  “He probably does.”

  “Do we have anyone there?”

  “Why?”

  “Do we?”

  “No, I didn’t see any reason to send anyone. Should I now?”

  “No.” Josephine walked to the door.

  “Goodnight.”

  Van walked to the door and acting as if it was an afterthought said, “You want me to stay?”

  “If I wanted you to stay, I wouldn’t be standing at the door saying goodnight.” She watched the vein on is forehead appear and then throb. Van nodded and left.

  Saint continued driving on the main road. The rain had stopped momentarily, and the sun was just ducking below the horizon. He looked up in the rearview mirror when he saw the flashing lights and smiled. He was looking for the police. Instead, they found him. Well he would have to improvise. He pulled over to the shoulder of the road and rolled his window down.

  The officer climbed out of his yellow SUV and walked up to Saint’s window. “Sir, it’s pretty nasty out here. You should be indoors. This storm is going to get worst.”

  Saint had his map in his lap. “I’ve seem to have lost my way, and I can’t make sense of this thing. I’m trying to get here to my hotel.” He pointed at a location on the map.

  The officer bent down to get a better look.

  Saint grabbed him by the collar and yanked. The officer’s head bounced off the edge of the car’s roof. He stumbled backwards, falling on his butt. Saint was out of the car and over the dazed officer before he had a chance to react. Saint punched him twice in the face, knocking him out cold. The chances of anyone driving by anytime soon was highly unlikely, but he acted fast. He hoisted the officer up and slid him in the back seat of his rental. He quickly undressed him and then cuffed his hands in front of him.

  He took the officer’s clothes, keys, and gun, and ran to the SUV. Quickly rummaging through the truck’s cargo area, He found a pair of binoculars, a cigarette lighter, and a roll of duct tape, flares, a canister of gasoline, and some rope. Up front, He found a pump shot gun, a bullet proof vest lying in the passenger seat, and boxes of ammo in the glove compartment for the shot gun and the Glock he’d taken from the policeman. He ran back to his car and tossed a walkie talkie into the back seat with the unconscious cop. He got back into the officer’s truck and sped off.

  Marion’s estate was tucked away in northeastern La Gomera. It’s landscape was dotted with palm trees, banana plants, and prickly pear cactuses. He studied the estate from the SUV while listening to the weather and police radio. A news bulletin came over the radio, urging residents to stay indoors and to have candles ready. The winds were nearly bending trees in half as they swayed and rocked. The rain fell in buckets, soaking everything. Saint cocked his head as he listened to the police band. The officer who he knocked out was radioing the station for help. In his Spanish tongue, the officer rapidly told the dispatch officer what happened.

  Okay, Saint thought to himself. In approximately two minutes someone from the station is going to call you, Marion. The minute you landed in LA Gomera, I know you called your contacts at the police station and told them to give you a heads up on anything that happens out of the ordinary. I think an officer getting jacked qualifies as being out of the ordinary. Saint closed his eyes as he felt his body starting to tingle. Showtime!

  “How’s Glenn holding up?” Olivia asked Grace.

  Both women were sitting in the front row, center seats.

  “He’ll be fine. You know he gets all schizo right before a show. He’ll be fine once he takes the stage.”

  Two burly men approached Grace and Olivia from either end, and sat next to them.

  “Umm, excuse me, but these seats are reserved,” Grace said.

  “Sorry, Maam. Mr. Seeger has instructed us to sit here.”

  “What for?” Olivia asked with an attitude.

  “We just do as we’re told, Maam,” the man sitting next to Olivia said. She felt a chill run down her spine. She sensed something wasn’t right. Saint popped into her mind. Was he all right? Where was he right now? Is what he had to do have something to do with these two goons sitting next to them? She didn’t know why, but she turned around and caught a man quickly averting his gaze from her. He covered his mouth with his hand and began talking to a gentleman sitting next to him. Olivia’s heart started to race.

  Glenn must’ve let Josephine’s number ring fifty times before he began banging his head against the wall. God, this can’t be happening. He started pacing, trying to think what Saint would do in a situation like this. He peeked from behind the curtain and his chin nearly hit the floor when he saw the two men sitting on either side of Grace and Olivia. Think, think, think, what would Saint do? He ducked back behind the curtain and hit speed dial.

  “Hello.”

  “Olivia,” Glenn yelled into the phone. “Don’t say a word, just listen.”

  “It’s him!” Marion screamed into the phone. The police chief called him the moment his deputy told him about the call that came over the radio.

  “Calm down, Marion,” The chief said. “I’m going to send a car over—”


  “No! Don’t’ send anyone over. Wait a minute. I need you to do something for me.” Marion smiled, believing he knew Saint’s plan.

  “Bobby,” the police chief’s voice sounded over the radio.

  “I’m here, boss.”

  “I need you to go to the Claude estate.”

  “Roger that.”

  “How quick can you get there?”

  “In this storm, thirty minutes.”

  “Radio in when you get there.”

  “Roger that.”

  The chief spoke into the phone’s receiver. “Marion are you there?”

  “Yes, excellent. I owe you one.”

  “Now, you know that no one is coming right?”

  “Someone is coming. Just make sure you call that deputy on his cell phone and tell him to stay far away from here.”

  “I don’t want a war breaking out on my Island Marion.”

  “Don’t worry, it’ll all be over in the morning.”

  Saint heard the conversation between the chief and the deputy over the radio. The officer said he would be there in thirty minutes. That gave him twenty to prepare.

  “He took the cop’s uniform and his truck,” Marion said to Jean, as he paced back and forth in his study. “You see what he’s trying to do right?”

  “He won’t get ten yards within our perimeter,” Marion’s new head of security, Roberts, said.

  “I agree,” Jean chimed in.

  “The chief of police assured me that none of his men are coming here, so as soon as he drives up to the gates, open fire.”

  “You don’t think he’s just going to drive right up to the gates and expect us to let him in, do you?”

  “I have to expect everything from him. Just do as I say. You see a cop, shoot him, you see that yellow police vehicle, riddle it with bullet holes, we’ve got plenty of ammo.”

  “Yes, Sir,” Roberts said, leaving the study.

  Saint drove down into the muddy valley, and parked the SUV two hundred yards away from the estate. He parked it where it couldn’t readily be seen. He jumped out and got to work. It would only be a matter of time before the rain eased up, and the truck would be spotted.

  “What’s up with these dudes crowding us?” Olivia said into the phone.

  “Who’s that?” Grace asked.

  “Olivia! Please, just listen. I couldn’t call Grace, she would’ve freaked out.”

  “You’re freaking me out.”

  “Who is that?” Grace asked again. Olivia waved her off.

  “The men who are sitting next to you and Grace are Mr. Seeger’s men.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “There are some men in the building… Marion’s men.”

  Olivia turned around and stared at the man she caught looking at her earlier. This time, he didn’t avert his gaze. Olivia turned back around.

  “I need you to remain calm and most importantly, keep Grace calm.”

  “Does this have something to do with S—”

  “Don’t say his name!” Glenn told Olivia everything that was currently going on. She listened without looking at Grace, afraid that her facial expression would make Grace panic. “Just remember what I said. Stay calm, and don’t leave your seats for any reason.”

  Olivia started to say something, but Glenn hung up. She looked at the man sitting next to her and noticed that while his arms were folded on his chest, his right hand was inside his jacket. She imagined it wrapped around the butt of a gun hanging from a shoulder holster.

  “Who was on the phone?” Grace asked, getting irritated.

  “Nobody.”

  “Nobody? You did a whole lot of talking to a nobody.” Grace folded her arms. “Fine, if you don’t want to tell me who he is, that’s your prerogative.”

  “He?”

  “The one you’ve been seeing on the low. I didn’t want to press the issue when I walked in that morning and saw you knocked out on your couch in your office. I just figured you needed time to tell me.”

  “There is no he.”

  Grace’s eyes lit up. “It’s Clayton, isn’t it? He came back.”

  “No!” he didn’t. “And keep your voice down.”

  Grace looked at the man sitting next to her. “Check this out, I don’t care what Mr. Seeger told you, but y’all are going to have to find some place else to sit.”

  “Maam—”

  “Maam, my ass,” Grace said standing up. “You and your friend need to step off before it gets real ugly up in here.”

  Olivia turned around and saw the two men stand up. “Grace, sit down, and leave them alone.”

  “What?” “Whose side are you on?”

  “Grace, please, just sit down and let’s enjoy the show. The last thing Glenn needs is to see you causing a scene.”

  Grace rolled her eyes at both men and plopped down into her seat. Olivia folded her hands together to keep them from shaking. She turned around and saw that the two men sat back down. Just as Olivia started to calm down, Grace jumped back up.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To the bathroom.”

  “Wait! Do you have to go now?”

  “Yes, I have to go now.” The man sitting next to Grace stood up.

  “I know, you’re not going to follow me to the bathroom.”

  Olivia turned around and saw the two men stand back up. “C’mon,” she said, standing up. “I’ll go with you.”

  “I’m not going with these dudes following us.”

  “Then just sit down, please.”

  Grace could see the worry in Olivia’s eyes, and then realized that something was going on that she didn’t know about.

  Chapter 14

  “Mr. Claude,” Roberts said, entering the study. “One of my men spotted the officer’s truck.”

  Marion’s lips trembled involuntarily. “Wh-where?”

  “It’s a couple hundred yards away. He tried to conceal it with fallen branches and leaves. I sent three of my men to check it out.”

  “Just three? Are you out of your mind?”

  “They’re well-trained, with orders to shoot anything out there that moves.”

  “Idiot! Haven’t you been listening to anything I’ve been telling you about this… Saint?”

  “With all due respect, Sir, he’s just a man.”

  Marion, Roberts, and Jean flinched when they heard a shotgun blast. It was quickly followed by automatic fire, and then there was silence.

  Marion got up in Robert’s face. “I suggest you take ten of your men out with you to that truck. Take a good look at the remains of those three men you sent to their deaths, and then you tell me if he’s just a man.”

  Roberts took ten of his men out to where the truck was spotted. “Jesus.” His men formed a perimeter around the truck as he tried to piece together what happened. The truck’s driver side door was open. Attached to it was fishing line. He followed the end of it to the shotgun that was propped under the truck. He now knew how the first man’s feet were blown off. The other two were laid next to the first, but he could tell they weren’t killed there. He followed the blood trails where the men were obviously butchered and then dragged to the first one.

  “Their weapons and ammo are gone, Sir,” one of Robert’s men said.

  “Yes, I know, but that’s the least of our problems.” He radioed into Stevens, his second in command, who was in the estate. “We have three men down. I repeat, three men down.”

  “Copy that, Sir.”

  Marion closed his eyes and shook his head.

  “Stevens,” Roberts barked. “You’ve got five men with you. You know who they are, correct?”

  “Of course.”

  “Good,” Roberts said, as he stared at the led man’s naked corpse, “cause our ghost may be wearing one of our uniforms.”

  Marion ran his hands through his hair. “Did he say what I think he just said?”

  “Don’t worry, Sir, everything’s fine.”

  The living room turned pi
tch black.

  Marion screamed when Jean screamed. Ten seconds later, the lights came back on.

  “What the fuck!” Marion was looking around deranged. Jean had darted into a corner and hugged herself as she cried. “I don’t want to die, Marion.”

  “Neither do I, you stupid bitch.” He turned to Stevens. “What’s happening?”

  “I don’t know if it’s the storm or our ghost, but the main power went out. The lights are back on, but their dim which means we’re getting juice from the back up generators.”

  “It’s not the storm. Tell Roberts to get his ass back in here.”

  “Be there in five.” Roberts looked around the dense landscape. He could feel Saint staring at him. He felt raindrops beginning to pelt the top of his cap.

  “Sir,” one of the men called out.

  “Grab them up,” he said, referring to the three men. “We’re heading back in. Keep the formation tight, and—” Roberts eyes widened as his men lifted one of the dead off the ground. “Grenade!”

  Before Saint left the area, he had taken two grenades from one of the men and placed them under him. He pulled the pins, knowing they wouldn’t go off until someone tried moving the body.

  Boom!

  Jean yelped at the explosion. Marion grabbed Stevens. “What the hell was that?”

  “I don’t know, Sir.”

  As soon as the two grenades went off, Saint popped up from the shallow grave he dug for himself and calmly picked off the disorientated soldiers, one by one, with the MP-5 he’d taken from the lead man earlier. He left one man alive. The one he figured to be the leader. The one who would tell him what he needed to know.

  Roberts tried blinking away the cobwebs as he groggily got to his feet. He reached for his sidearm when he saw Saint running toward him. He blinked and he was gone. He wildly fired into the underbrush. The rain was falling in slabs, making it hard for him to see five feet in front of him.

  “I know you’re out there,” he screamed. His ears were still ringing from the grenade blasts. He winced and looked down at his right thigh. Shrapnel from the grenades were biting into his flesh. He spun around and started shooting again at shadows, tree trunks, and leaves swaying in the wind until his gun clicked. He groped at the MP-5 hanging across his chest and switched it to full-auto. “Show yourself!” He hiccupped when he felt the blade bite into his neck.