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“I don’t like how close everyone is to Charlie,” Gus admitted.
“I know what you mean.” Declan pressed his lips in a tight line. “But we can’t smother her. She’s already angry with us for assaulting the reporter.”
“I didn’t assault him,” Gus said. “I only patted him down.”
Declan’s lips twitched. “Find anything?”
“No,” Gus admitted.
“Then we should just stand back and let Charlie do her thing. As long as we keep an eye on her, she should be all right.”
Gus nodded. “Sounds like a plan that will work for her.”
For the next hour, they followed Charlie around the ballroom as she spoke with everyone, laughed, joked and talked about the need for funds to help keep children from being sold and trafficked in the US as well as abroad.
“Gentlemen, I shall be retiring to the ladies’ room for a few minutes.” She held up her hand. “I will not need your services in that area. Feel free to get a beverage and some of the appetizers. I don’t plan on being here more than another hour.”
Gus clamped down on his tongue to keep from saying thank God. He’d read that the gala started around 6:00 p.m. and didn’t end until well into the wee hours of the morning.
At least Charlie didn’t feel the need to dance into the night. She’d made that clear up front. They’d stay for a couple hours and then head home.
One hour down, one to go.
The patent-leather shoes he’d rented with the tuxedo were chafing at his ankles. He’d love it if he could kick off the shoes and walk barefoot through the crowd.
Gus and Declan followed Charlie through the throng of beautifully dressed people toward the hallway where the facilities were located. They gave her just enough room that she wouldn’t feel crowded but stayed sufficiently close to get to her should someone try to jump her.
Out of the corner of his eye, Gus noticed a woman dressed in a long figure-hugging black gown standing near a giant potted tree. She had hair as black and silky as her dress and deep, dark eyes almost as black as her outfit. Striking was the word Gus would use to describe her. But what drew his attention to her was that her gaze never left Charlie. It followed her all the way into the ladies’ room.
“Wanna go for that drink or appetizers while I stay and guard the door?” Declan asked.
“No,” Gus said, his attention on the woman in black.
Declan must have heard something in Gus’s voice. He frowned, glancing around. “Something bothering you?”
“My gut is sending up warning flags,” Gus murmured.
Declan stiffened. “About?”
With barely a lift of his chin, Gus motioned toward the woman in black. “Her.”
“Wow. She screams black widow in that killer dress,” Declan said. “You are talking about the black-haired beauty near the potted tree, right?”
“I am.”
The woman looked left, then right. She spotted Declan and Gus and the slightest frown appeared and then disappeared on her brow.
“Did you see that?” Gus asked. “She frowned when she noticed us watching her.”
“I thought I imagined it, but yes. I saw it.” Declan turned his attention to Gus and smiled. “I’ll pretend we’re having a manly discussion about sports or something while you continue to watch.” His grin broadened, and he spoke a little louder. “How about those Patriots?”
“You know I’m an Alabama fan,” Gus said, also in a conversational volume. In a whisper, he added, “She’s moving.”
“Which way?” Declan asked. “Alabama is college football. The Patriots are a real team.”
“Toward us,” Gus muttered without moving his lips. Then he snorted. “I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree.”
“Yeah. You watch your team. I’ll watch mine.”
The woman in black sailed past them, her head held high, her silky black hair flowing around her shoulders, her chin tilted upward, displaying a long, regal neck.
Damn she was beautiful. But something about her didn’t fit in with the other women in the room. She was thin, but athletic, and she walked with confidence and purpose.
Perhaps it was the purpose that made her different than the other women in the room. Most were content to socialize and mingle. Not the woman in black. She appeared to have something on her mind and was in a hurry to get it off.
“Passing you now,” Gus said, his gaze remaining on the ladies’ restroom as the woman in black walked away.
“Got her in sight,” Declan affirmed. “Appears to be in a hurry.”
“Unlike every other woman in the room.”
“Maybe she forgot to let the dog out at home.”
“Yeah.” Gus relaxed a little, since the woman in black appeared to be leaving and, as such, no longer seemed a threat.
Charlie emerged from the ladies’ room laughing and talking to another guest similar in age to the wealthy widow. When she spotted Gus and Declan, she nodded, letting them know she was okay. Then she walked away with the other woman, rejoining the crowd in the ballroom.
Gus and Declan followed, not too far behind.
Several men came between Charlie, Gus and Declan.
Before Gus or Declan could work their way around the group of men, the woman in black appeared beside Charlie and hooked her elbow in her grip.
“She’s back, and she’s got Charlie,” Gus said to Declan.
Gus shoved his way through the men, without excusing himself. He didn’t have time for pleasantries when someone had Charlie and was leading her toward an exit door.
Caught in the group of men, Declan fell behind.
Trying not to stir up panic, Gus half walked, half ran after the two women who disappeared through the exit door into another part of the grand hotel.
His heart beating faster, Gus gave up trying to keep it cool and broke into a sprint, hitting the exit door hard, just seconds behind the two women.
The woman in black was hustling Charlie toward another door at the end of the hallway, talking in a low tone as they moved.
Charlie skipped to keep up.
Her abductor shot a glance over her shoulder, spotted Gus and glared.
“Stop!” Gus shouted.
The woman didn’t follow his command, just kept moving, dragging Charlie along with her.
Unencumbered by another person, Gus caught up to the two women as they reached the exit door to the outside.
“Gus,” Charlie looked over her shoulder. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Let go of Mrs. Halverson,” he demanded.
“Not until I have some answers,” she said. “She’s the only one who can help.”
Gus pulled the gun from beneath his jacket and pointed it at the woman. “Let go of Mrs. Halverson.”
The black-haired woman released her hold on Charlie and raised her hands. “I don’t want to hurt her. I need to talk to her.”
“Then set up an appointment when she’s not at an event and when we can properly vet you,” Gus said. “For all we know, you could be a criminal. Perhaps you should come with me and talk to the security guards. Are you even a registered guest?”
The woman’s eyes widened briefly. Then as if a shutter slid down over her face, she became completely expressionless. “No.”
“No, you’re not a guest?”
“No, I won’t go with you to the security guards.” She backed up a step, then another.
“Charlie, get behind me,” Gus warned.
“It’s okay. She said she wouldn’t hurt me.”
“Please, do as I say,” Gus insisted.
Charlie frowned, but moved behind him.
“Now, either you come with me willingly, or my partner and I will take you there unwillingly. Your choice.”
She shook her head. “I can’t.” In a flash, she turned and slammed against the door, pushing it outward enough to slip through and out into the night.
Declan came running down the hallway. “Charlie, are you all right?”
“I’m fine, but I don’t think that woman is.” Charlie shook her head.
“Stay with Charlie,” Gus said. “I’m going after her.”
“I’ve got her,” Declan said. “Go.”
Gus raced through the door and out into the night. Two guards caught him before he’d gone three steps. They pulled his arms up behind him and disarmed him. “What the hell. Let me go. There’s a woman I need to catch.”
“She said you’d come flying out the door after her,” the guard holding his right arm said.
“She also said you had a gun and you were going to kill her.” The man on the left held his pistol.
“I have a conceal carry license. I’m here as bodyguard to Charlotte Halverson. That woman tried to abduct her. You should have captured her, not me.”
“Right. And I’m Santa Claus.” The guard on the right snickered.
Two men raced around the side of the building and ground to a stop, silhouettes in the darkness.
“Gus?” one of them said. “Did you find her?”
“Mack? Snow?” Gus called out.
“Yeah,” Mack responded. “What’s the problem?”
“She got away, thanks to these guards.”
“Don’t come any closer, or I’ll shoot,” said the guard holding Gus’s Glock.
Mack and Snow held up their hands. “Don’t shoot. We’re here as bodyguards to Charlotte Halverson.”
“I told them the same, but they’re not buying it,” Gus said. “Call Declan. Tell him to notify the man in charge of security that their guards are holding up the wrong person.”
The guard holding his arm up between his shoulder blades pushed it up higher.
“Hey, you don’t have to break it,” Gus said. “I’m not fighting you.”
Gus could hear Mack talking to Declan through his headset. A moment later, the radios clipped to the belts of the guards holding him hostage both squawked.
“Peterson, Rawlings, check the identification of the man you’re holding,” the voice said. “If his name is Augustus Walsh, you can release him. He’s here with Charlotte Halverson and needs to get back to her.”
The man holding his arm gave it one last shove up between his shoulder blades before he released it. “Sorry,” he said, though he really didn’t sound sorry at all. “Just doing our jobs.”
“I get it,” Gus said. “I was, too.” He rubbed his sore arm. “If you see that woman again, detain her. She tried to take off with Mrs. Halverson.”
“We will.” The guard holding his weapon handed it back. “No harm, no foul.”
“Yeah.” Gus holstered his Glock and straightened his tuxedo jacket. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we have to get back to work.”
“By all means.” The guard who’d jacked up his arm waved him by. “You’ll have to go back around to the front of the building. The door you came through doesn’t open from this side.”
Gus took off, jogging. He met up with Mack and Snow.
“Did you see a black-haired woman in a long black dress?”
Mack and Snow both shook their heads.
“If you do, keep an eye on her. She tried to take off with Charlie.” Gus moved past his teammates, hurrying back to the entrance of the hotel. Declan was capable of handling Charlie’s safety on his own, but Gus wanted to be there in case the woman in black returned for a second attempt.
Chapter Three (#u5bb46a2b-8996-564c-bb42-931a142361d3)
She should have known Charlotte Halverson would have multiple bodyguards protecting her. A woman of her wealth and status might as well have a target on her back at all times. A person could collect a significant amount of ransom money if he successfully abducted her.
