Page 56 of Ace
“Yes, suh.” RJ pulled a remote from his pocket. Instantly, a fine vapor drifted down from a latticework of PVC pipes overhead. “This is why I needed all these trailers modified. With one button, I can now put everything in it to sleep.”
Oh shit!Keller ducked his nose and mouth into his shirt collar.
“It’s my own special blend,” RJ explained while a bored Mr. Fontenette looked on. “It’ll keep this shipment quiet until they gets to where they’re going. Yes, suh, quiet and undetected by even the smartest cops on the road, even that bitch, Brinkman. You’ll see. It’ll be smooth sailing now.”
“Except for that FBI agent,” Fontenette growled.
“Don’t you worry none about him,” RJ purred. “I got friends in low places who gonna take care of him.”
I’ll just bet you do,Keller thought. Like some rednecks in a monster truck and another who likes to play with bombs and remote detonators.
The vapor drifting over the cargo had to be some kind of anesthetic. Keller took a deep breath before it settled over him. He had to get out of there. Once RJ closed and locked the door, he’d be as useless as Junior.
Palming his phone, he hit redial and turned the screen to capture a view of the two men. But he was too late. Keller sagged into the narrow space he’d wedged himself into. The gas was getting the best of him. As darkness closed in, he could only hope Tucker was half as smart as Tucker thought he was.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Savannah had one of her feelings. Something was wrong, but something else was also right. She cocked her head, puzzling out the odd sensation swelling inside her mind. Familiar yet different. Manly, yet oddly detached. Then nothing at all.
After lingering in a relaxing warm shower earlier, during which she’d used up the body wash and most of the fantastic smelling shampoo the hotel provided, she’d toweled dry, then dressed in a pastel orange bra and bikini panties, one of the several matching sets of intimates Keller bought for her. It warmed her down to her toes thinking of him handling these silky, sexy underwear. She’d studied her gorgeous self in the bathroom mirror, modeling various angles, thrilled at the way her new bra bolstered her breasts, making them look higher and plumper than they really were. How’d he know about stuff like that?
Feeling especially feminine, even a little pretty, she selected the coral tie-dyed tee-shirt to go with the jeans he’d also bought. Man, he wasn’t half bad at guesstimating her sizes. But those purple running shoes and those ankle socks… too much! By the time she’d dried her hair and left the steamy bathroom, she was jonesing for that man. She couldn’t wait to see the glint in those amber eyes when she modeled for him. Would he stalk her like one of the few bayou panthers? She hoped so!
Red whined at her feet, interrupting her reverie, his brown eyes filled with worry. Until then, he’d been sound asleep. Now he rubbed his muzzle up her leg, pushing as if he needed her to move.
“You feel it too, don’t you?” she asked as her fingers sifted over the scars beneath the soft, silky fur at the top of his pointed head.
Roger Tanner had finished walking the dogs hours ago. Galahad had instantly taken to his crate, while Red stayed with Savannah. Keller wasn’t back yet. Something had changed, but she had no cell phone and no way to reach him. She didn’t even know his number. Or did she?
Tipping back against the comfy deck chair on her private ground level lanai, she projected her mind northward to a city of monumental ego, searching for the one person she knew would help.
‘Good afternoon, Savannah,’Isaiah said easily.‘What can I do for you?’
‘I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m worried, Isaiah. Keller left this morning, and he said he’d be back soon,only I can’t sense him anymore. Can you?’Until now, she’d maintained only a light ‘sense’ of Keller’s whereabouts. She hadn’t read his mind. That wasn’t fair or right. Gran Mere had taught her early on that people’s thoughts were private, not to be trifled with or manipulated. Yet until now Savannah had always been able to sense him. She hadn’t even had to work hard at it to smell the addictive scent of his skin and breath. Which was why she now sensed only a void. Everything Keller was missing. She couldn’t get so much as a hint of his angry vibe from the universe.
‘Hold that thought,’Isaiah murmured as a tiny infant’s sigh came through their psychic connection.
‘Is that your son?You had a baby since yesterday?’
‘Yes, ma’am. Yesterday’s excitement proved too much for him, so he showed up early this morning, as in the wee, wee hours. Roxy’s here, too.’
‘How wonderful! Is Roxy okay? No problems? He’s not too early, is he?’
‘No, he’s perfect. His mama’s perfect, too. But… did you actually hear him sigh?’
‘I did. He’s definitely your son.’
Another more masculine sigh flooded Savannah’s mind. She could clearly see Isaiah stroking the shoulder and arm of the dark-haired Hispanic woman tucked into his side. In his other arm, the tiniest little dark-haired boy slept soundly. What a sweet picture.
‘Aw, you’re right. Heisperfect,’Savannah cooed, her throat thick with tenderness and a titch of jealousy. Isaiah had everything she’d just lost—a family.‘I shouldn’t have bothered you, I’m sorry. You’re stillrecovering, and here I am disturbing a new father who’s lucky to be alive and—’
‘Nonsense. I just need a second. Hmmm. You’re right. Keller is unresponsive. His heart’s barely beating. That’s why you can’t sense him.’
A phone rang on Isaiah’s end, and Savannah listened while he whispered, “Yes, Boss, I’m already in contact with Miss Church. No, we can’t reach Keller, either.” A pause. “Excuse me? He’s what?”
Closing her eyes to concentrate on the other end of Isaiah’s conversation, Savannah eavesdropped as a tense-sounding man snarled,‘You heard me. He’s been gassed. That rat bastard Fontenette has Kell. Lucky for us, he was smart enough to leave his cell on. I saw the whole fucking thing go down. Don’t know the idiot Fontenette’s working with, but U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s onto him now. Word is Fontenette thinks he’s untouchable.’
Fontenette, as in Mr. Bruce Fontenette, the owner of the famous racehorse Sand Dollar? Savannah hadn’t realized she’d leaned so far forward until she fell back into the deck chair, gasping at that startling information. She’d always wanted to meet Bruce Fontenette, his horses too. The man owned a stable of brilliant racers. But now?
