Page 56 of Allie's Shelter

He debated for only a second. If Dale had bugged the car, his next order could get his team busted. But Allie’s safety trumped his concerns about theoretical sanctions. “Check the financials on Cochran’s staff.”

“Will do.”

“And don’t let anything happen to her.”

He disconnected before Eva could pester him for more details.

* * *

Bradley Roberts watched the Midnight Rooster from the second floor of the health club across the street. His contact in town had done an excellent job scaring her out of the woods and back into his reach.

This small, close-knit town made his skin crawl with their friendly and genuine concern, but he knew how to mingle, how to offer answers in line with what the other person needed to hear. Sure, he was a stranger, but he had them convinced he was a friendly sort looking for a place to retire.

That seemed to be the golden phrase. Every time one of the natives heard that, the response was another rendition of the myriad benefits of Haleswood. It was an example of his tremendous fortitude that he hadn’t shot himself out of boredom.

Being charming was getting old, but he was so close to the goal now. The light at the end of the tunnel was glowing bright as the sun on his personal stretch of tropical beach.

Soon he’d have Allie at the business end of a gun, unlocking his bank codes so he could get the real retirement party started.

He’d drained that worthless charity fund, putting an end to the annoying whining of his contact at the FDA. The bug of a man had panicked at the first hint of trouble. As if the allegations of someone like Allie Williams, from Hickville, couldn’t be managed even if she found someone to believe her.

Bradley forced himself to put that behind him and focus on the end game. The storage drive was the only obstacle standing between him and a leisurely life of independent wealth.

He increased the pace on the treadmill while he reviewed his conversation with Carpenter, the turncoat recovery expert. More money down the proverbial drain, but he had a chance to reward the man’s poor choices with lasting pain.

Allie was no fool. She probably made copies of that data. The real question was: could he get to her, extract the passwords, and get out of the country before it mattered?

While he hadn’t heard any official statement, he was sure Little-Miss Community Concern had managed to get her way and keep that drug off the market. He didn’t give a damn about the innocent masses. No one was going to make the fortune they’d planned on and he probably wasn’t the only one angry over the development. But he was probably the only one with a workable contingency plan to stay out of jail and live out his years the way he deserved.

Being declared dead had liberated his thinking. He didn’t care if his business reputation was ruined as long as the news hit after the life insurance paid out. He’d paid in a lifetime of premiums, it was past time they paid him back.

Which meant he still needed the stolen data files before he could escape this tidy little backwater.

He sighed, sending a commiserating smile to the fifty-ish man huffing and puffing on the next machine. The loser was probably exercising to avoid medicating high blood pressure. Roberts laughed to himself, thinking he knew of the perfect cure. At least for 4 out of 10 people.

Forty percent of people would have no real trouble on the new drug, but that wasn’t good enough for his overly compassionate assistant. Not even when another twenty percent would tolerate the side effects of insomnia and low-libido for the over-riding benefits. There were other pills to deal with the side effects, after all.

“Need a towel sir?”

Roberts accepted the towel. He never would have understood Allie’s fascination with community if she hadn’t stolen the data and made him follow her into this pathetic little town. He supposed being raised here, where people cared about your feelings and your health, had in effect brainwashed her. It still amazed him how his ideal PR manager believed her “people matter more than money” message, becoming such a thorn in his side and refusing to see logic on this simple issue.

Too bad he hadn’t found a better pressure point before she’d taken off with enough data to indict most of the board of directors and an entire research facility. If the story broke the way he imagined Allie wanted, maybe he’d come back from the dead in a few years and show the world how much her lofty ideals had cost them.

As if he’d summoned her, she emerged from the restaurant with a loaded tray to serve the group gathered in the tiny sidewalk courtyard. He’d been watching for nearly an hour now, looking for ways to get in, and more importantly, ways to get her out.

He’d hoped to grab her before Carpenter returned from his jaunt to the FBI office, but having her surrounded meant it wouldn’t be quite so easy. She had to have the data stored somewhere on her person. He knew she had the bank numbers and passwords locked in her head.

Roberts continued to watch the small restaurant as the man beside him moved on to the next portion of his training. Checking the time, he changed his own program and started a cool down. No sense adding inexhaustible runner to the novelty of being a stranger.

He would make his move soon, and offer Allie a choice guaranteed to satisfy him. She could give him what he wanted, and her aunt and friends would live. Or she could be stubborn, stick to her outdated ideals, and watch them die one by one until she gave him what he wanted.

Then he would be on his way to the life of luxury he deserved. After he killed her, of course.

* * *

Allie soon settled into the morning, taking a perverse joy in the expected scolding from Jeannie, who managed the Midnight Rooster in Ruth’s absence. Surviving both the reprimand for not stopping by sooner and the crushing hug of welcome, Allie tied on an apron and pitched in.

Aunt Ruth had created an invaluable hub with her coffee bar and restaurant, serving breakfast all day and naming unique, favorite coffee concoctions after the diehard patrons who ordered them regularly. The college kids came through in droves to fuel up for studying or escape the workload for a time, but the Haleswood locals made the place tick.

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