Of All the Luck! Read online

  The key was in the lock and the door swung open. Cal and Liz walked inside and Liz let out a scream when Jacobson and Griffin pointed guns at them. Cal pushed Liz behind him protectively and demanded, “What the hell do you want? We don’t keep money here.”

  “I’m sorry, Liz. It’s all my fault,” Victoria explained. “Would you two put those guns away, please!” She whirled to yell at Griffin and Jacobson. “Liz, we are in terrible trouble. I needed a place to hide, and this was the only place I could think of where I was certain we would be safe,” Victoria explained, walking over to put her arms around Liz and give her a reassuring hug. “I’m so sorry we frightened you, and you, Cal.”

  “All you needed to do was ask, Victoria,” Cal scolded. “We would have helped you.”

  “That is my fault, Cal. I’m Griffin Conway, Victoria’s husband. Victoria has a stalker who is determined to see her dead now that we are back together. He is very wealthy and has hired all manner of people to track her down. We’re sure he’s sent people into Liz’s salon, trying to learn if Liz knew where Victoria was hiding. We didn’t want to risk them overhearing a telephone call. I sincerely apologize for barging in here without permission. It really is a life or death situation.”

  “And how do you fit into this mess?” Cal asked Jacobson.

  “I’ve been assigned to protect Victoria and Griffin. The name is Jacobson. Please come on inside and let’s lock that door… just in case you were followed.”

  “Who is this awful man who is stalking you, Victoria?” Liz asked, horrified. “We all need to know what he looks like just in case he shows up here. We simply won’t answer the door if he knocks,” she said decisively.

  “He won’t knock, Liz. He is very, very dangerous. He’s out of prison for health reasons, but he hates me so much he has spent a fortune trying to find me and kill me.”

  “How on earth did you meet someone like that?”

  “It’s a long story, Liz. I used to do some pretty dangerous police work. When Griff and I separated I gave up that life and started writing full time. Then that man came looking for me, and Griff showed up to protect me… as did Jacobson. They are one hundred percent on my side. I’m sorry that you and Cal are here. It isn’t safe to be around me, and I really do wish you would go back home and forget you saw us.”

  “No!” Jacobson announced. “It’s too risky. They need to stay here until we get the all clear.”

  “You can’t hold them prisoner, Jacobson!” Victoria calmly reasoned.

  “All it would take for one person to mention this cabin in front of one of his agents and the expression in their eyes would give it away. No. They stay,” he said firmly.

  She whirled to face Griffin. “Do something!”

  Griff looked at her, then at Cal and Liz. “I’m sorry, but Jacobson is right. Even if you didn’t say a word, your facial expressions would give it away, and Weatherby would have you tortured to find out what he wanted to know. You are safer here with us. I do apologize for involving you in this, but now that you are here, you need to stay.”

  “I’ll move my things out of the large bedroom so you’ll have a bed to sleep in. I can take the small room with the bunks in it,” Jacobson said, moving to do as he said.

  “Just one minute,” Liz stated. “You are not going to tell Cal and I what we can and cannot do. This is our cabin, and if we want to leave, we will. I would never tell anyone that Victoria is here. She is my friend!” The blond was insulted and she was furious with Jacobson. “I’m leaving right now. Come on, Cal.”

  “No, Liz. Jacobson is right. Now that we are here, we are staying. It could prove dangerous to go back, especially if this man is as crazy as I think he is.” Cal was thinking of her safety.

  “Don’t tell me you are afraid of this bozo?” Liz taunted him. “Well, I’m not! And, what’s more, I’ll damn well tell him so to his face!”

  “Oh boy, here we go,” Cal said, rolling his eyes. “Liz, did you hear what Victoria and Griff told us? The man is insane. I refuse to take a chance with your life. Now, let this be the end of it.”

  “It is not the end of it. I am leaving, but you can stay here if you like!” Liz had a terrible temper, and she didn’t like being told what she could and couldn’t do. “Give me the keys!” she bossed, holding out her hand.

  “I’ll give you a reason not to wish to sit for the drive home,” he threatened her in a low voice. “Consider yourself warned.”

  “I. Am. Leaving. NOW!” She snatched his keys from his hand, and then headed for the door. Cal moved quickly to intercept her.

  “You aren’t going anywhere except to our bedroom for a good talking to,” Cal promised. When she pulled back her arm and took a swing at him, Cal ducked, then put his shoulder to her midsection and lifted her over his shoulder.

  “You lousy son of a—OUCH!” Liz cried out when Cal reached up and slapped the seat of her jeans with his hand. “I’m going to cut your heart out!” she promised.

  Cal took a wooden spoon out of the jar on the counter and headed for the bedroom that Jacobson was vacating.

  Victoria started forward with every intention of protecting her friend, but Griffin grabbed her arm and shook his head ‘no’. “Let me go, Griff! It’s all my fault that Liz is so upset. I can’t let Cal punish her!”

  “Stay out of it, Victoria. It isn’t our business.”

  Victoria jerked her arm free and gave Griffin a dirty look, but she didn’t try to follow after Cal and Liz. “I think you are terrible, Griffin Conway! How could you permit Cal to beat on Liz when it is all our fault she is so upset? You didn’t have to mention torture to Liz, either! And you…!” She pointed at Jacobson, “… You had no right to order them to stay here! Liz is a good friend of mine, and after this mess she will probably never speak to me again! I’m mad at you both!” she said, and then she stomped toward the bedroom.

  “Oh no you don’t, Griff!” Ian spoke up when the other man moved to follow his wife. “I got stuck with the dishes at lunchtime. You’re going to help me this time.”

  “Oh, for Pete’s sake!” Griffin growled. His wife needed her rear end paddled… for several very good reasons, and Jacobson was worried about the damn dishes!

  Ian laughed at him, but said, “Wash or dry, friend?”

  * * *

  Xavier cursed when another five hours passed with no word from Ian or Griff. His operatives were trying everything they could think of to find General Weatherby’s whereabouts, but had no success. Xavier wondered how damned hard it could be to find an elderly man wearing an oxygen mask wherever he went, but the General seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth. Xavier paced the floor, deep in thought. He had an idea, and went to his telephone. “Get me a list of every agency in the city that provides home health care. General Weatherby can’t be without oxygen… or a nurse to give him pain injections every so often. If we can find his nurse, we can find him.”

  Excited, Xavier paced the floor, waiting for his new secretary to get the information he requested. Finally, the woman entered the office. “I found his nurse, sir. Her name is Peggy Burns. I have her address.”

  “Bring my car around,” Xavier ordered.

  He cleared his desk of anything important, and then put on his jacket and cap. Hopefully Peggy Burns could help them find General Weatherby and he could bring this case to an end. The man needed to be locked up for the rest of his life and Xavier couldn’t imagine any judge permitting the General to run free after hearing of all the people whose deaths he was responsible for, including his own granddaughter’s. The car pulled up to the curb and Xavier got inside. “We need to go to 124 Price Avenue, Garrett,” he ordered. When the car headed in the opposite direction, Xavier tapped on the window. “Did you hear me wrong, Garrett? You’re headed the wrong way.” Xavier heard the driver laugh, and when his eyes met Xavier’s in the rearview mirror, Xavier realized that General Weatherby had found him!

  Chapter Eight

  Xavier tried to
open the car door to throw himself out, but the doors were locked and he couldn’t open them. General Weatherby had him and there was no way out of the situation. His life was worth nothing when the General stopped the car and he knew it.

  “You can spare yourself a lot of pain, Xavier, by telling me where that bitch is hiding. I want her. I’ll give you millions if you want it, but if you prove stubborn, I will make you wish you were dead, and eventually you will talk. Where is she, Xavier? Where is Victoria Conway?”

  “Why aren’t you dead, Weatherby? Your time is up and you look like the walking dead.”

  “Flattery, Xavier?” The elderly man laughed his hoarse laugh. “You know I have precious little time left; I want Victoria Conway, and I am willing to do anything to get her. Think about that. Think about all the painful ways I can encourage you to talk. Think of how lovely it would be to retire with millions in an account in the Caymans. Why shouldn’t you benefit from turning that bitch over to me? I know there is no love lost between the two of you. Think about it, Xavier. You have until this car stops to make up your mind. Then it will be too late to spare yourself excruciating pain.”

  * * *

  Cal shut the door to the bedroom with his foot and then carried the cursing Liz over to the bed. “You are having a tantrum worthy of a ten year old, Liz,” he announced. “You need your rear paddled until you calm down.” He took a seat on the bed and then dropped her over his lap. When she struggled and tried to get free, he wrapped his left arm around her waist and put his right leg over her calves, effectively holding her down. His hand landed on the worn seat of her tight fitting jeans, and his eyes opened wide! Her butt was nice and hard and there was no way he was going to kill his hand trying to spank some sense into her. He picked up the wooden spoon and used it to make his point.

  Liz was angry and Cal wasn’t doing one thing to calm her down or appease her. He was taking that dunderhead’s side and allowing him to boss them around! She didn’t like being told what to do and she wasn’t going to permit it now. “Let me go, damn it!”

  “Not until you start singing a different tune, Liz.” He peppered her backside with the wooden spoon while she bucked and fought him as hard as she could, her language so blue that he was amazed at her extensive list of curses and invectives. “You are only making this spanking worse,” he told her.

  “You can go straight to hell!”

  “Elizabeth Jane!” Cal remonstrated with her. “I am about to wash your mouth out with soap.”

  Liz immediately went still. She knew that Cal wasn’t joking, but she was shocked he threatened her with that. He knew how she felt about soaping, the horrible experience she had when she was younger, and yet, he threatened her with something so awful it was horrifying. “You wouldn’t really do that to me, would you?” she asked, her voice sounding small and terrified to her own ears.

  Cal stopped spanking her to say, “I don’t like being told to go to hell by the woman I love and want to spend the rest of my life with. If you can say something like that to me, knowing how it makes me feel, then I can punish you in the manner you deserve, Liz.”

  “I’m sorry,” she immediately responded. “I’m so sorry, Cal. I never will say that to you again. I’m sorry I did it just now. I was terrible.”

  “When you lose your temper, Elizabeth, you lose all control. You say horrid things you don’t mean, but words hurt. They have a lot of power, and they can damage a relationship. I watched my father suffer my step-mother’s vicious tongue for years and I swore I wouldn’t tolerate that type of talk from anyone. Do you remember my telling you this?” he asked.

  “Yes, Cal. I am very sorry.” Liz wished she could recall the words. “I feel so awful, honey. I would like to take them back, but I can’t. How can I make it up to you?” she asked. “If it will help, I’ll take the soaping,” she offered, tears running down her face and falling to the rug.

  “I know how soaping makes you feel, Liz, and I won’t do it this time. This time you are going to stand up and take down your jeans and panties and then ask me to spank you soundly for saying something so hurtful.” Cal was ready to get his ears singed with curses and promises to cut his heart out, but instead, Liz got to her feet, undid the fastenings on her jeans, and then she pushed them down to her knees.

  “Cal, I am so sorry I said something to hurt your feelings. I know I deserve punishment, and would ask you to give me the spanking you feel I deserve.” Liz was doing her best not to cry. She was embarrassed as could be and felt as though her pride took an even worse spanking than her butt was going to receive. She put herself into position over Cal’s lap and braced her hands on the floor. This time she was going to have to submit to the spanking, and that meant staying in position without Cal’s help.

  “I’m proud of you, Liz. I know how hard this was for you to do, and it shows me how sincere you are with your apologies. I’m going to spank you hard because I am very serious about how hurtful this is to our relationship. I want you to feel that hurt transferred to your butt every time you try to sit down for the next couple of days.”

  Liz was shocked when the first smack landed on her tush. Cal was using his hand, and it really hurt. He wanted her to feel his palm on her skin and know that he was taking this personally. The second spank was even harder and she cried out in pain. She didn’t see Cal nod in satisfaction, but she felt his displeasure as he spanked her over and over, setting her fanny on fire before moving to her thighs. She begged him not to spank her there, but he warned her to accept the spanking she earned, and he continued to spank until she was a sobbing mess.

  “Now we’ll get real serious, Elizabeth Jane. Your sit spots are not going to be happy with your tongue,” he warned and then he spanked the tender area between her bottom cheeks and her upper thighs. He spanked hard, over and over, his hand turning her sit spots a dark deep red. Cal gave her one last spank and then he asked, “Do you feel how hurtful those words were to me, Liz?”

  “Yes,” she sobbed her reply.

  “Good. I want you to get up now and go and stand in the corner until I return. While you are standing there, you are not to touch your bottom at all. In fact, I want you to put your hands on your head and keep them there.”

  “Don’t make me do that, honey! I’m not a little girl!”

  “You threw a tantrum like a child, and you will stand in the corner like a child. Consider it a time out if you will. Think about the impression you made on Victoria’s husband and friend. They are in grave danger.”

  “He, that Jacobson, was telling us what to do in our own home!” she complained, only to have Cal whack her sore butt once again. “OW!”

  “Liz, calm down and think. Victoria told you she did some secret work. What does that tell you? Those men out there are probably just as dangerous as the one hunting for Victoria. Jacobson is trying to protect us as well as them. You stand here and think, young lady. Put that temper on hold, and put yourself in their shoes for now. In the corner.”

  “But, I don’t want…” He picked up the wooden spoon and targeted her sit spots. She hollered and cried and finally begged Cal to let her stand in the corner. He put her on her feet and marched her over and moved the rocking chair aside so she would have room.

  “Stay put, little girl.” He turned and after a couple of minutes to watch and make sure she was actually settled, he left the room, closing the door behind him. He had questions and he wanted answers.

  The two men looked up when Cal came out of the bedroom and walked into the kitchen. “I’m sorry about Liz’s temper,” he offered, hoping they would understand.

  “She didn’t expect to find us here, Cal. I understand,” Griffin offered apologetically. “Victoria is angry with us because Liz is in trouble with you. I’m sorry for causing trouble between the two of you.”

  “She would have found some reason to explode,” Cal said diplomatically. “My girl needs to have the lines drawn every so often.” He looked at Jacobson and asked, “May I assume
that you are CIA?”

  “Something along those lines, but I’m not at liberty to say. So is Griff, and Victoria is, too. She just took a break for a while. She doesn’t like our boss,” he added with a grin. “She also writes books; that isn’t a falsehood.”

  “How much danger are we in…? What are the chances of them finding us here?” Cal wanted to know.

  “If they followed you here, we’ll know it shortly. They’ll give us some time to relax and think you made it here without a tail, and then they’ll hit and hit hard. The thing is, if you weren’t followed, then we are safer here than we would be anywhere else. Do you agree, Griff?”

  Griffin nodded. “I think we should stay here and be ready just in case.”

  “The one thing that might keep us all safe is the fact that we’ve been planning this vacation for the last three weeks, and Liz has been telling her clients that she would be off for this entire week. Victoria didn’t call her, and hasn’t been to the salon in at least eight weeks now.”

  “You keep track of Victoria’s hair appointments?” Griffin wasn’t quite sure how to take that bit of news.

  Cal grinned. “No… Liz was going over a list of people she should have called but didn’t, and she mentioned Victoria. I told her that if those people called the salon, one of the girls would explain that she was on vacation and they could make an appointment for when she returned.”

  Griffin nodded. It made sense. “It might just be enough to keep us all safe, but we can’t count on it. We’ll keep watch tonight; take turns so that all of us can get some sleep. I recommend staying dressed and keeping guns handy.”

  Cal nodded grimly, and then went to a decorative shelf on the wall. He pulled it out, and then unlocked the door behind. To their surprise he had several guns and lots of ammunition tucked in there.