Calming, Samantha looked at him. “How many of Doc’s guards were you able to bribe?”
“Most of them. Okay, okay, eighty percent. There were three of them we couldn’t get to and there’s the house staff, such as it is. It’s going to be dangerous getting in there.” He leaned toward her. “Samantha, those guards carry guns.”
She took a deep breath. “Mike, I’m small. I can go places you and your muscled brothers can’t. I can climb fences and trees. What if you and your dad have to climb a fence? Who lifts whom? You can toss me over like a javelin if you need to.”
“And land on your pretty head?”
“Don’t you dare patronize me!” Putting her hand on his chest, her face softened. “Mike, you must take me. If there are any problems, Doc won’t kill me and I can protect you.”
“And what makes you think he’ll stop at killing you? You know you’re not his granddaughter.”
“Because now I know what happened to Half Hand’s money,” she said softly. “And if Doc hurts either of us, he’ll never see a penny of that money.”
32
They had to go over the wall.
When they hid their vehicle in the trees, under cover of darkness, and went to the gate to find that it was locked, Samantha’s first reaction was to turn around and go back to the city. According to Mike, Frank had bribed the men guarding the gate and it wasn’t supposed to be locked.
“We don’t have time for you to turn coward now,” Mike said. He was afraid for her, true, but he’d had a lifetime of experience of living with his older brother: If Frank said the gate was going to be open, then it was—they were probably at the wrong gate.
At the far back of the walled property was a tree with a sturdy branch hanging over the tall brick wall. Climbing the tree first, Mike then helped Samantha up behind him. After throwing a few small packages of very fragrant meat onto the uncut lawn to ascertain whether the dogs were penned as they were supposed to be, he lowered Samantha to the ground. Lifting her hands above her head, lacing her fingers, she made a handle for her body, then Mike stretched out on the tree branch, slowly lowered her to the ground, then jumped down behind her.
“Run,” he ordered and took off, Samantha on his heels.
As promised, the side door to the house was unlocked, and there were little night-lights on so they could see their way around furniture. Mike noticed that in a few places there were tables missing and places where chairs should have been.
When they sneaked past the kitchen, they heard voices, even though it was after midnight now and the house should have been asleep. Holding their breaths, they tiptoed past whoever was in the kitchen and went up the stairs.
One of the stairs creaked when Samantha stepped on it. Seconds later, a guard appeared, looking up the darkened stairs, but Mike’s quick thinking saved them, for he practically threw her up the two remaining stairs where she crouched behind a sideboard, while Mike pressed himself into a doorway.
“You’re getting nervous in your old age,” they heard a man say.
“There’s something going on tonight, I can feel it,” answered another voice. “You think the old man’s all right?”
“I think he’ll outlive us all,” was the answer, and the voice held no love for its employer.
When the men walked away, Samantha let out her pent-up breath and followed Mike when he motioned her to follow him. He seemed to have memorized the floor plan, because he knew where to go and which door to open.
Sitting up in bed, Doc was waiting for them. He wasn’t sleeping, he wasn’t reading, he was merely waiting. Fully dressed, on top of the covers, he didn’t so much as blink in surprise when they entered.
“I heard you on the stairs,” he said to Mike. “You would never have made a cat burglar.”
“I leave thievery to you,” Mike answered, then cocked his head at the man. “You’re going with us.”
“I had planned to. I want to see this party you have planned for me. It’s been many years since anyone went to such trouble for my benefit, and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“What do you know about us?” Samantha hissed at him.
When he turned to her, for a moment, Samantha’s blood seemed to grow cold, for in this dim light, he didn’t look like a pathetic, crippled old man but like a young, heartless gangster, a man who cared for no one and nothing.
“I did not live as long as I have by not knowing what goes on around me. I know that you have bribed most of my guards into leaving doors unlocked and penning up the dogs.” He gave a nasty grin. “I relocked the front gate. I didn’t want you to have it too easy, and in seven minutes I will have the dogs released.”
At those words Samantha thought she and Mike should leave, and quickly, as she didn’t want a wild run with snarling dogs nipping at their heels. This seemed to be Mike’s idea too, but before he left the room, he scooped Doc’s frail body into his arms, then took the stairs down two at a time, Samantha ri
ght behind him. By the time the two drowsy men in the kitchen looked up the stairs, the three of them were on their way out of the house.
Mike ran so fast Samantha could hardly keep up with him, but the idea of a pack of dogs coming after them, as well as a few men with guns, put wings on her feet. She had no idea where Mike was going, but she followed him as though her life depended on it—which it probably did.