His own smile grew slowly as he moved his cards toward the table. “Nice hand, Moreno, just not nice enough.” With that he spread his cards out relishing the disappointment on both Moreno and Barone’s faces.
Chapter 12
“Read ‘em and weep, Shaunessy.” Salazar Moreno gloated, his eyes gleaming wickedly in the dimly lit room. “Time to pay up.”
Meg’s whimper drew his attention as Augustus Barone, his plump fingers clamped around Meg’s arms, pulled her into his lap. She twisted, but the fat man’s strength was too much for her.
“Let her go, Barone. I’ll get the money. I’ll pay up. Just stop touching her.”
Moreno chuckled but there was no humor in it. “You know what the price is. And you know what the consequences are if you don’t pay up.”
His stomach knotted, fear wrapping itself around his heart. Barone was holding Meg too close, touching her too intimately.
“I won’t let you do this.” He took a step forward but his attention was drawn to a figure in the corner. A dull-colored scarf covered ink-black hair. Brown eyes, sad and tortured stared back. Samira? What was she doing here? He looked around at the Afghan mountains, destruction everywhere.
“You can’t save her,” the girl whispered, shaking her head. “Like you didn’t save me. Or my brother.” Tariq appeared beside her and Chris shivered at the memory of what had happened to them. All because they wanted to help. The sound of guns echoed among the hills and the two young people fell to the ground. Samira lifted her hand beckoning for help. He couldn’t move, couldn’t get to her. He tried but he was frozen in time and space.
“Payment is due,” Moreno’s voice sounded behind him. “In full. You know what happens to people who don’t pay me what they owe.”
Chris was suddenly staring at a drawer in a morgue, Eddie Ballantine’s face stared back at him, eyes open wide and accusing.
“You shouldn’t have gotten her involved in this,” Ballantine accused. “Now she’ll end up just like me.” He was dead. He shouldn’t be talking.
Meg’s scream echoed through the room and Chris ran toward her. Barone held her down on the card table and Moreno pressed a gun to her head. Strong hands grabbed his arms and kept him from moving forward. Sonny and Gunther held him tight, vicious smiles on their bruised faces.
Samira’s voice floated through the room. “Don’t fight it. There’s nothing you can do. You can’t save her. You can’t save anyone.” Her face wavered before him, a bullet hole in her forehead.
Moreno cocked the gun and the sound had Chris whipping back to face him. Chris rammed his elbow into Sonny’s side. He heard Meg call his name but he needed to get the goon squad off him first. He’d get to her. He would.
Gunther pulled on his arm again and Chris grabbed him and threw him on the floor.
“Chris?” Meg’s voice rang out, terrified.
“Chris?”
He opened his eyes to look into Meg’s frantic ones from her position underneath him. What? Where? He’d been…
“Chris, are you all right? You were having a nightmare.”
He squeezed his eyes shut and when he opened them again, he was hovering over her gripping her arms. A dream. He’d been having a dream.
Damn. What had he done? Pushing himself up, he sat back, his breath as shaky and labored as if he’d been on a ten-mile hike in full gear. He ran trembling hands through his hair then over his face. He didn’t want to look at her and see fear on her face. Fear and disappointment. Maybe even pity.
A soft touch on his arm brought his eyes up. He tried not to flinch. It had only been a dream. Okay, a nightmare like she’d said. It wasn’t real.Get over it, man. Pull yourself together. He was supposed to be strong for her. Help her get through this crap of a life she was in.
“I’m fine,” he breathed out, trying to get his heart rate to slow down. “Sorry I woke you.”
“It’s okay. I was using the bathroom and I heard something. Thought you were sneaking the last of the Oreos. Figured I’d come and catch you at it.”
Her impish smile dashed away some of the quivers still attacking his nerves. He took another deep breath and smiled back.
“You wanted them all to yourself. Admit it.” He could do cool. Had to so she wouldn’t see how freaked out he was right now. How screwed up he was inside over something that had happened years ago. The card game and Eddie’s murder must have nudged it from the place in the back of his mind where he’d hidden it all this time.
He stood up and walked to the kitchen, flicked on the light over the sink then took a glass from the cabinet.
“Want to grab the Oreos and a glass of milk for me while you’re there.”
She didn’t sound upset or any different than she usually did. He glanced her way and found her staring at him. She turned her head. Was she embarrassed? That was rare for her. He opened the fridge and…shit, he only wore a pair of black boxer briefs. Had she been checking him out? Or simply making sure he didn’t go schizoid again.
