James PATTERSON: Cross Fire

“Oh, James, James,” Bree joked some more, pulling me down onto the bed. “Ravish me, James, as only you can.”

And that’s what I did. One thing very quickly led to another, and our immediate beach plans got moved to sometime in the future. Still, we did manage to work up an appetite. By the time we were on our feet again, the sun was dipping down and we were both ready for a great meal.

I’m not sure which was better that evening – the French-Caribbean food at Dune, the amazing bottle of Pinot Noir we ordered, or just the feeling of having nowhere else I needed to be for a change, nowhere else I wanted to be either.

We made a full night of it, too, and stopped at the casino at the Atlantis Resort after dinner for some blackjack. Bree was up for a while, then I was, but we left around midnight a few dollars in the hole. And who cared? Not us.

We walked back to our place the long way, holding hands along the beach.

“Happy?” I said to Bree.

“Married,” she said. “Happily married. It doesn’t even feel real yet. This is the real world, though, isn’t it? I’m not dreaming this, am I, Alex?”

I stopped to put my arms around her, and we stood watching the moon’s reflection bouncing off the ocean.

“You know, we still haven’t been in that blue, blue water yet,” I said. My fingers started in on the top buttons of her shirt. “Up for a night swim, Mrs. Cross?”

Bree looked around. “Is that a dare?”

“Just an invitation,” I said. “But I’d feel a little silly, all naked and alone out there.” She was already working on my pants.

We left our clothes on the sand and swam out. I could hear steel drums coming from the hotel somewhere, but it was as if we had the whole ocean to ourselves. We kissed in the water for a while and then ended up making love again, right there on the shore. It was a little risky, and sandy, but just the kind of danger I’ll take any day of the week.

WE SLEPT IN LATE the next morning and took our time getting ready for the day. Bree was just looking over the room-service menu and I was pulling on a T-shirt when the phone rang. It was still early for the kids to be calling, but I didn’t mind. Actually I was looking forward to taking some razzing from them.

“Good morning!” I answered.

“Yes, it is.” Kyle Craig’s unmistakable voice wormed into my ear. “And how was the wedding?” he said.

I should have seen it coming. Should have taken more precautions. These calls had become a signature of Kyle’s.

Before I said another word, a plane roared overhead – and I realized with a sudden jolt that I could hear it over the phone, too.

I ran to the front window to look out. “Kyle? Where are you? What’s going on?”

“Did you notice I kept my promise?” he said. “I told you I’d let you get married, and I did.”

“Let me?”

There was no sign of him outside, but that didn’t mean anything, did it? He could have been hiding anywhere. Clearly, he was here. And close, too.

“And do you want to know why?” he asked.

My breath was heavy in my chest as I continued to check out the grounds. “No,” I said. “I don’t.”

“Because I believe in marriage,” he said, aping Nana’s voice. “Isn’t that what she said the other night?”

Suddenly I couldn’t breathe at all.

“And besides,” he went on, “a wife’s so much more fun to take from a man than a girlfriend. I’ve been patient, Alex, but it’s time to move on.”

“Move on? What the hell are you talking about?” I said, but I was afraid I already knew.

“Enlightenment, my friend,” he said. “Look down toward the water. See what you see.”

I threw back the glass door and looked out. It took me a second, but then I saw them.

Jannie and Ali were down on the beach, waving my way. A few steps behind them, somehow, impossibly, stood Max Siegel. He was in shades and a loud shirt, with a beach towel covering his right hand and a cell phone in the other. He smiled when he saw me, and then as his mouth moved, I heard Kyle Craig’s voice in my ear.

“Surprise,” he said.

IT FELT AS if my heart stopped and then started up again. My mind was racing. Kyle must have had some kind of major procedure. His face wasn’t Kyle’s at all.

“That’s right,” he said. “Everything you’re thinking right now is true. Except for the part where you save everybody. That’s not happening.”

Farther up the beach, Nana was watching from under an umbrella. Damon, the only one not to have met Max Siegel, was on a lounge chair beside her, listening to his iPod.

“What do you think, kids?” Kyle said, putting some Siegel back into his voice. “Want to go give your dad a good-morning kiss?”

He pocketed the phone and took up Ali’s hand, making sure to show me a flash of whatever was under that towel. A gun of some kind.

God, no. This wasn’t happening.

We’d left our own weapons back in DC, very much on purpose. Now that seemed like a horrible mistake. I’d have to improvise. But how? Using what as a weapon?

I whispered fast and low to Bree as they came across the beach. There was no time to consider options. There was just my instinct, and a quick prayer that we got this right.

“Hey, Daddy!” Ali called out as they came toward the terrace stairs. He tried to pull ahead, but Siegel – Kyle! – kept hold of his hand. It was everything I could do to stay where I was.

Jannie ran ahead of them. “Can you believe Mr. Siegel is staying here, too?” she said, and kissed me on the cheek. “Is that crazy or what?”

“Unbelievable,” I said. Neither she nor Ali seemed to notice how hollow my voice sounded.

“Sorry to drop in like this,” Kyle said, as Max. He was grinning at me, daring me with his eyes, obviously wanting me to make some kind of move. And the voice – it wasn’t Kyle’s, but it was Kyle’s. How could I have missed the similarities before? It’s amazing how the brain follows what the eyes see – or don’t see.

“No problem,” I said. I kept the charade up for the kids’ sake and moved back inside. “Come on in. Bree’s taking a shower, but she’ll be right out.”

Kyle put a hand on Ali’s shoulder, and my stomach turned. “Why don’t you go and get her?” he said, smiling. “I’ll wait here with the kids. I’m sure she’d like to know I was here. What a coincidence. Is this crazy?”

Something like an electric charge passed between us – something a lot like hatred. “Bree?” I called out. I moved toward the bathroom with my eyes still on Kyle. “Can you come out here?”

For just a second, I poked my head in. “Max Siegel just dropped by,” I said, loud enough for his benefit.

Bree was slipping out of her T-shirt and sticking her head under the running water while we stared helplessly at each other.

“Be right there!” she called back.

I turned to face Kyle again. He was still holding on to Ali.

Jannie was sitting on the edge of the unmade bed, but now she was watching me intently. I think she had started to sense that something was wrong.

“She’ll be right out,” I said, as naturally as I could.

“Good,” Kyle said. “Then I’m going to take you all for a drive. Kids, you up for a little adventure?”

“Sure!” Ali said. Jannie stayed quiet. The whole time, Kyle kept his right hand covered with that towel, his gun out of sight.

When Bree came into the room, she was in bare feet and wearing one of the resort’s robes. You’d never know from watching her that she was just as scared and pumped up as I was.

“Max, good to see you,” she said, and extended a hand as she came toward him.