Chapter 17: Darwin

I shifted to try to get my leg in a more comfortable position just as Tara walked into the cabin. Agent Stratton followed her in.

“What the hell is he doing here?” Delaney glared at the special agent with annoyance.

Tara shrugged, oddly artificial. She held up a thick stack of folders. “He’s trying to help. He got me copies of what they found in Billy’s bolt hole. It was a long term no-tell motel rental room.”

“We had help; Judge Knowlton’s staff issued a release for the information so I could share it without problems.”

I thought about that for a second and glanced at Delaney. She cocked her head.

Tara caught it. “Maybe it’s a peace offering.” She had a hopeful tone in her voice.

“It could be.”

Ben was looking at Tara, and I could see a very “not-professional capacity” look on his face. Unfortunately, Delaney caught it too. She looked between them slowly in disbelief. “You have got to be fucking kidding me. Benjy?”

Worry darkened Tara’s face. “Look, let’s keep this...”

I could see something in Tara’s eyes that said this wasn’t a casual relationship. I took a deep breath. “Your life is your life. We’ll support you in whatever you do.”

With me stuck in the chair, Sheree walked over and took the folders from Tara. Sheree smiled delightedly but didn’t say a word.

Delaney echoed my deep breath and gave a not-very-convincing smile. “What he said.” She stopped and focused on Benjamin. “You hurt her, Benjy, and I swear to God, they’ll never even find your fucking body.”

That, at least, sounded convincing.

Tara’s reaction caught me off guard. She just smiled a little softly as she looked at him. “I did warn you. They’re a little overprotective.”

He didn’t even look disturbed. “I can live with that.”

I studied him for a moment. He was too damn clean-cut, way too goddamn earnest. He actually meant well. I looked at Delaney. “Jesus, we have a lot of work to do with this one.”

She looked at him in mock horror. “I know, he’s like a good guy or something.” She shivered in revulsion. “I didn’t think those even really existed. I thought they were like unicorns or something.”

Ben had a flicker of amusement, but Tara ignored our comments. “I think we have a pretty good idea of what’s going on.” She looked over at us. “Delaney’s inheritance? It’s actually a bounty on her head.”

“What?” Both Delaney and I said it at the same time.

“We found an account list in his papers. It totals to just over a hundred thirty-five million dollars. If Delaney dies, the money goes to a Croatian unregistered trust. It looks like the ownership of the trust passes to different entities. Could be people or organizations.”

I eyed her. “And who would that be?”

Benjamin answered. “We don’t know. I’m pretty sure we can chase that all we want and never get an answer. But the ownership passed to William Douglas Halston three months ago and passes to the next owner in three years and nine months. And it will transition to someone new every four years after that.”

I looked at him. “That’s legal?”

“Judge Knowlton’s staff looked into it. It’s legal. Nothing says that the holder of the trust has to kill Delaney; they could just sit and do nothing.”

“But we don’t know who.”

Tara nodded. “We don’t know. But I’m betting this isn’t a good thing.”

Benjamin looked at her. “Not if Halston is an example of the type of people who will get it.”

“So I’m worth a hundred thirty-five million dollars dead.” Delaney’s eyes widened, and she made a sound that might have been a suppressed laugh.

“To some really bad people.” Stratton had his agent face on as he looked at all of us in turn.

“And my old school principal said I’d never amount to anything.” Delaney fell back with a slightly unhinged giggle.

“This is some kind of fucked-up game that Calloway set up.” Tara slapped another folder down.

“No ... no.” Delaney sat up. “No. He meant what he said. Darwin.”

“Darwin.” I looked at Delaney. She’d understood before I had. “That son of a bitch set it up as a fucking test.”

Delaney’s lip curled in a snarl. “Worthy. That old fucker wanted to make sure I’m worthy.”

I closed my eyes for a moment. “That’s why he bought that platinum-plated health insurance for her and ensured she could take any classes she wants. He wanted to make sure she was at the top of her game for this.”

Sheree pursed her lips and adjusted her glasses, looking over the stack of papers. “Billy didn’t get the papers for the ownership of the trust until after they shot up the salvage yard. That’s why he protected Delaney and went after Adidas. He didn’t want to risk losing the money on a technicality.”

Delaney grimaced. “Shit. I thought he liked me, at least a little.”

I shifted myself in the chair; the damn leg was going to hurt for a long time. “I think he did, as much as he liked anyone. But that wasn’t going to stop him from getting the money.”

“So what do we do?” Tara stared through the table.

I leaned back. “We make sure she’s worthy.”

Sheree nodded thoughtfully.

The agent looked at Delaney for a moment then back at me. “What does that mean?”

I looked up at the ceiling. “We’re in the jungle now.”

Delaney completed it for me. “And if you’re in the jungle, you’re in the food chain.”

Both Tara and her newly minted boyfriend looked at us, puzzled.

I snorted and looked at them. “First rule of the jungle.”

“Don’t be food.” Delaney’s answer was harsh and flat. “Or be a porcupine. Be so much trouble to eat you’re not worth the effort.”

“A hundred and thirty-five million dollars is worth a lot of effort.” Ben held a hand up helplessly.

“You can’t spend money if you’re dead.” I straightened up. “We know some people who can help. I’ll call Kurt and see what kind of deal we can set up.”

Delaney’s lip twitched as she turned to look at me. “I’m not hiding out at Camp Mayhem until I’m an old lady.”

“It’d be suicide for anything short of an army to go after you there, but Billy’s dead, and it sounds like we have almost four years before the next transfer. That’s a fuck long time to prepare.”

“Who the hell is Kurt?” Ben looked at Tara in confusion.

“He runs a private military company down in Texas. They train bodyguards.” Sheree smiled disarmingly. “Oh, and Delaney goes to a sort of ... summer camp there.”

“Mercenaries.” Stratton said it flatly, but I could see he was starting to get the barest glimpse of the kind of shit he’d managed to land in.

Sheree smiled disarmingly. “Mercenaries are illegal, some kinda UN thing, back ‘fore you were born.”

Delaney bared her teeth. It was probably supposed to be a smile, but it was more like the hungry grin of a hyena than anything else. “I’ll work for Kurt. He’d take it personally if anything happened to me. Even if they get me, they won’t live long enough to enjoy it.”