Rule 1 trust no one, p.1
Rule #1: Trust No One, page 1
Rule #1: Trust No One
By Nanisi Barrett D’Arnuk
Published by JMS Books LLC
Visit jms-books.com for more information.
Copyright 2019 Nanisi Barrett D’Arnuk
ISBN 9781646560677
Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com
Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.
All rights reserved.
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This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Published in the United States of America.
* * * *
Thanks to Karma, Debbie, Ti, and Victoria for sticking with me. To Suzanne who was Michael before Michael ever met her. And to the memory of Dr. Connie Kay, who was always my guardian angel, my Dr. Maggie.
* * * *
Rule #1: Trust No One
By Nanisi Barrett D’Arnuk
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Prologue
Cameron Andrews sat on the last stool at the back of the bar. She’d come in here for a drink each evening for the past week. Her newly found apartment was just a block and a half away, so she brought a book or newspaper with her and tried to keep a low profile. She wanted to get her face known without attracting too much attention. She needed to be just another neighborhood face. That was what she hoped to accomplish.
“Can I freshen that up for you?” The young bartender broke into her thoughts as she read the help-wanted section of the daily newspaper.
“Yeah, sure.” Cam pushed her almost empty glass toward him. He took it and dumped the old ice cubes and watered-down scotch into the sink, then proceeded to refill it.
“You looking for a job?” he asked, eyeing her newspaper. His shiny black hair curled forward over one eye.
“Looks like it,” Cam answered in her friendliest manner. “I’ve gotta find something soon. It’s just been so long since I’ve had to look for a job, I’m a little rusty.”
“Yeah, job hunting can be a bitch,” the bartender, Ralphie, agreed, placing the glass on a clean cardboard coaster. “What kind of work do you do?”
“That’s a good question.” Cam smiled, as she ran her fingers through her short brunette hair; a habit that she didn’t even know she had. “I don’t really know. I haven’t had to look for a job in years.”
“I hear that.” Ralphie grinned. A warm smile covered his face. He was short and thin for a man but his exuberance made up for his lack of bulk. “Now, bartending will never go out of style. Someone will always need a drink.”
Cam raised her glass to toast him. “You can say that again!”
“You just moved to the area?” he asked.
Cam nodded. “I was upstate for a while. Before that I lived over on Bolton Hill.”
“Fancy neighborhood; Bolton Hill!” he was impressed. “What brought you to our part of town?”
“You go where you can afford.” Cam admitted. She folded the newspaper and leaned over the bar to toss it into the trash barrel. Then she fell back into the explanation she and Maggie had perfected: “I got in trouble a couple years ago. I did some time in prison.”
Ralphie stepped back. “No!” he exclaimed. “You look too smart for that.”
“Not smart enough, I guess.”
Just then, a customer at the other end of the bar called for Ralphie’s attention and he went to open a few more bottles of beer and pour some drinks
He hadn’t been gone but a minute when Talia, a young waitress, stood beside Cam at the service station, obviously waiting for Ralphie to fill some orders. Cam smiled at her and was smiled at in return.
“Come on, Ralphie. Don’t take all night.” Talia shouted in a loud whisper.
Cam chuckled to herself.
“I really want to get out of here. Ten more minutes and I’m on my way home,” Talia grumbled to Cam as she waited for Ralphie. “I don’t have to close tonight. I get to go home to my kids.”
“That’s great. How many kids you got?” Cam asked as she took another sip of scotch.
Talia started to respond, but Ralphie interrupted her and she placed her order with him.
“I’ve got two kids. Seven and three.” Then she was gone with the tray of beers.
Cam sat back and sipped her drink. Across the room were tables of couples, talking, holding hands, all in quiet conversation. Men and women together, never men with men or women with women. If one wanted to feel comfortable sitting with someone of their own gender for a late evening, romantic chat, they went just a few blocks further west to the one gay bar in the district, but not to a place like this.
Cam noticed one dark-haired woman at the back of the restaurant sitting with two men. She looked so familiar that Cam stared at her for a moment before she focused her attention back into her scotch. Where had she seen that woman before? She couldn’t figure it out. Maybe she really didn’t know her at all. After all, she wasn’t Cam’s type. It seemed in the past few years that Cam had only dated blondes. But this woman was striking; a beautiful woman with deep dark eyes, the kind of woman Cam looked at but never had the nerve to approach. She took a deep breath, then downed the rest of her drink.
“Can I get you another?” Ralphie asked, taking the empty glass from in front of her.
“No.” Cam shook her head. “I’d better get going. It must be getting late.” She looked at her watch—1:05. Maybe she’d just take a ride to Maggie’s house. She had the keys and codes to get into that beautiful house that sat overlooking Chesapeake Bay. Maybe that was what she needed; the fresh air, the relaxing scenery. It always looked so easy when she was out of town. Besides, Maggie wouldn’t be there and there was always food in the freezer. The kitchen wasn’t empty like at her own apartment, which barely had part of a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, and enough coffee to make breakfast in the morning. Of course, if she did grocery shopping more often there might be something, but she ate at the apartment so seldom that it seemed a waste.
Cam laid enough money on the bar to pay for her tab and a good tip. Then she grabbed her jacket and headed out of the door. The air outside felt good for this time of year. It’d be really sticky by the end of the month.
Cam walked slowly around the side of the building to the lot where she’d parked her bike. It wasn’t a Harley Davidson like the one Michael had in Montreal, but it had enough power to get her where she wanted to go and enough poundage to make the highway drive to Maggie’s bay house enjoyable. Better still, this bike was so scratched and dented that it didn’t look like it was worth stealing, so Cam had the added luxury of not having to worry so much about it. She also didn’t have to pay really high insurance rates.
As she mounted the bike and rolled it back off the kickstand, she was suddenly aware of some loud voices near the cars at the back of the lot where the lot curved behind the buildings. It seemed to be several young males and one female. Cam was concerned by the tone of the woman’s voice so she kicked her bike into gear and slowly drove around the middle row of cars. Just then the woman screamed and Cam could see some wrestling going on. Out of sheer habit, she reached around to the back of her belt, expecting to find her revolver. The gun had been taken away a long time ago.
“Hey! What’s happening here?” she shouted. The boys, who looked underage, whirled around to face her. Between them, she recognized Talia, the waitress from the restaurant. Her makeup was running down her face and her blouse was ripped.
Two of the young men merely sniffed at Cam in contempt. The other took a step toward her as she backed the bike onto the kickstand and dismounted.
“Back off, bulldyke.” He sneered at her. “Unless you want some of what she’s getting’.” He nodded toward his buddies.
“I don’t think so.” Cam took a step toward them, but the first tried to intercept her. He reached out and grabbed her by the arm. Cam twisted quickly and broke his grasp but he
“What the…” the second young punk turned on her. She evaded his punch and met him with a hard left elbow to his solar plexus, which knocked the wind out of him. Her well-aimed kick between his legs brought him crashing to his knees with a loud groan, holding his groin. Cam looked up as the third one started to back off. Talia looked from him to Cam, then broke into a run back toward the bar.
Out of the corner of her eye, Cam saw the first man moving and dodged him as he lunged for her. A quick pivot brought her around to face him.
“Fuckin’ bitch.” moaned number two, still holding himself as he cowered on the ground. “Beat the shit out of her!”
Number one lunged for her again, but this time she caught him in the stomach with a strong punch. Cam whirled around and the back of her fist flattened his already tender nose. It sent him reeling backward, holding his face.
Cam shook her left hand as the feeling of pain came into her consciousness. She looked down at blood where her knuckles had made contact with his belt buckle. Her hand was already starting to swell.
The third punk looked up as he heard yelling coming from the street, then turned and vaulted over the car to escape through a hole in the wire mesh fence that enclosed the lot.
Cam turned as she heard running behind her. It was Ralphie and two other men she’d seen in the bar. Talia was right behind them.
“That’s them!” she pointed to the two men on the ground. “They were going to rape me!”
Cam stepped back as the other two men pushed past to grab the two thugs.
“You all right?” Ralphie was at Cam’s shoulder.
She flexed and stretched her hand. “I’m okay.” she said.
He took her hand gently to hold it out to the light. “You need some ice on this,” he said as he turned toward his two friends. “Bring those two pieces of scum inside,” he ordered, gesturing with his lips to the two men who both held appropriate parts of their bodies trying to stop the pain. “Come on. I’ll get you some ice.” He started to lead Cam and Talia back into the bar.
“Wait. I can’t just leave my bike sitting here.” Cam stopped.
“Go on inside. I’ll park it for you.” Ralphie said matter-of-factly, then stepped close enough to Cam to whisper, “Make sure Talia gets inside safely. She’s really freaked.”
Cam smiled at his obvious ruse to get them both out of the parking lot, but nodded and started inside as Ralphie rolled the motorcycle into a parking space.
After Cam had washed her hand and made sure that the cut wasn’t deep enough to require stitches, Ralphie gently wrapped her hand in a bar towel he’d filled with crushed ice.
“That should do it,” he said. “You sure there’s nothing broken?”
“It’s fine,” Cam assured him. “I just caught it on his belt buckle. It looks worse than it is.”
“Where did you learn to fight like that?”
Cam looked up into a face she’d previously only seen in the photos at Maggie’s house. It was Maurice Gardiner, the restaurant’s owner.
“I saw what happened from my office window upstairs,” he said, answering her silent question. “I was going to yell down for some help but I saw you had things under control. You fight pretty well.” Cam waited for the rest of that sentence. “And not just for a girl. You fight well.” He smiled.
“Thanks,” was all she said.
Corrie, the other waitress came up behind Maurice. “The cops should be here any minute,” she said.
Cam looked around quickly. “Cops?! Shit, I got to get out of here.” She started to leave, but the wail of a siren could be heard as the black and white pulled around the corner. Cam looked around in panic.
Before she could move, the short, dark-haired woman Cam had seen earlier grasped her arm.
“Go into the Ladies Room. They won’t know you’re in there.” She nodded toward the door in the far corner.
“Thanks,” she said to her. Then to Ralphie, “You can take credit for them.” She nodded toward the two who were hunched over a table at the far side of the room. “Just keep me out of this. Please,” she added as she looked from Ralphie’s to Talia’s to Maurice’s face.
Maurice nodded as he pushed Cam toward the bathroom with the other woman. Had she thought it would happen like this when she got her assignment three weeks ago?
Chapter 1
Three weeks earlier
Cameron sat back and released a deep sigh. The day was finally done. She’d been poked, prodded, bled, X-rayed, stressed, and peered at through strange instruments. No part of her body had escaped. It had been one of the longest days she could remember in years. Even her mind had been invaded with question after question.
“Well, sweetie, feeling better now that you’ve eaten? Do you want any more of anything?”
Cam looked across the table at her best friend, her mentor, her psychiatrist and, most of all, her “control.” Maggie was the woman who supervised her actions as a deep-undercover federal agent. More important at times, Maggie was also the person that everyone thought was Cam’s lover. Everyone, that is, except those few who knew the real truth. They had first met when Maggie had been assigned to be liaison when Cam went undercover as a convicted felon into a women’s prison.
Cam was always amazed at how unruffled Maggie looked. Never was any of the short dark hair, sprinkled with gray, out of place. There was never a wrinkle in the sleek, colorful, natural fiber clothes or even a scuff on either of the expensive leather pumps. There was never a smudge in her makeup. But then, Dr. Margaret Thomason was supposed to look that way. She just was.
Dr. Maggie had impeccable taste. And, she had a very successful private practice so the cost of the items she wanted didn’t seem to matter. The fact that Dr. Maggie was a respected psychiatrist and was also employed by the Federal Justice Department in the capacity of overseeing, evaluating and supervising undercover agents of the CIA and the DEA did nothing to tarnish her charisma.
“I’m exhausted, Maggie,” Cam answered, running her fingers through her short dark hair. “Thank you for this marvelous dinner. You definitely know how to treat a woman. Are you sure you’re not a lesbian?”
“If I were, you’d be the first to know, darling.” Maggie smiled at her. She placed glasses in front of each of them: Cam’s scotch and spring water; and hers, vodka and tonic. Then she sank down into the chair across the table from Cam. “The doctor says you’re fit again for another year. How do you feel about that?”
“Is that a personal question or the beginning of a professional evaluation?” Cam retorted.
“Ah! Starting to answer questions with questions again.” Maggie chuckled. “Yes, you’re ready to go back to work.”
“I’ve been ready for months. I don’t know what the problem was,” Cam groused.
“We just wanted to be sure that there are no lasting effects from your last injuries. I still worry about you, you know.”
Cam sat forward as she sipped her drink. She smiled at Maggie. “Is that a concern for the person or for the agent?” She chuckled.
“You stop that, young lady! I’m the one who’s supposed to be asking questions here!” Maggie shook her head as she sat back.
“Well, I’m sure there’ll be other injuries in the future.” Cam sighed.
Maggie watched her with a look that straddled the line between concern and despair. “Yes, and telling you to be more careful seems to be an exercise in futility. You’ve been very lucky so far.”
She looked back up at Maggie. “I don’t go out looking to get hurt. It’s just part of the job.”
“Yes, sweetie, I know. That’s what makes me worry even more.”
Cam smiled across the table at her. “But we haven’t had the chance to talk in so long,” Cam complained. “Don’t I get a chance to find out how you are?” Cam picked up her drink and walked to the large picture window overlooking the bay. It would be dark soon and the lights across the water were slowly coming on. That window was one of Cam’s favorite views of Chesapeake Bay. It faced west, across one of the fingers of the bay and caught all of the afternoon sun. She felt ultimately at peace here. She never felt that at any other place she knew. The early evening sunset glistened off the tides, creating sheen off the placid water that looked like folds of silk. It had a visceral effect that soothed her no matter how stressed she’d been before coming here.
