Eyes Only by Fern Michaels Page A

five miles. All the lies he’d told lately were starting to eat at him. His placid life was now full of stress and intrigue. His guests last night had seemed the best so far, but he was still glad he had held back. At the present time, he didn’t trust anyone. Hell, he couldn’t even trust himself. He’d betrayed his best friend. What did that say about him? Not much, that was for damn sure.
    â€œCrap!” It was an explosive sound. So loud, his cat hissed his disapproval and flew out of the room.
    Zack rummaged in one of the kitchen drawers for the prepaid cell phone he’d bought at Target a few months ago. He’d used it only three times, and that was to call Greg Albright in England. It took only one meeting with the gun-toting visitors to tell him they were more than capable of checking the calls he made on his own cell phone or any other cell phone that used a SIM card, like a TracFone.
    He didn’t watch Law & Order on TV for nothing. He knew how it all worked. Even though he’d done his best to stay under the radar, he was absolutely positive that he was under surveillance. Too many strange faces around, too many times that the hair on the back of his neck warned him things weren’t normal. So he took a deep breath and hit the only programmed number on the prepaid burn phone. He thought he’d been clever when he asked the mother of one of his students to pick up the phone. He’d given her cash, and she’d done as he asked and brought the phone to him before class.
    â€œGreg, it’s Zack. Listen, I had another batch of visitors last night. I think you need to relocate, and just to be on the safe side, I’d get some new identity cards if you can. This thing seems to be heating up. Look, they found me, not that I’m that hard to find, but sooner or later, someone is going to tie you to me. There’s only so much I can do. And before you can ask, no, I have not been able to get in touch with Gretchen. So, are you going to take my advice?”
    Zack listened to the voice on the other end of the phone. His stomach roiled at the torment he was hearing. “Greg, you’re the father of the twins. Gretchen’s father wants your kids to carry on his bloodline. With you in his corner, he can get the kids, and the Domingos lose. You lose, too. Trust me on that. Is that what you want? I know you didn’t know any of this when you did what Gretchen asked you to do. I think now that she was trying to protect you from her father the only way she knew how. She wasn’t counting on being in that killer accident.
    â€œThe good news is she never told her father about you. I don’t know this for a fact, but I would guess that she probably said something like she had too much to drink and had a one-night stand. Something like that. Otherwise, they would already have you in their hot little hands. Do not forget for one minute that he’s the richest man in the world, or at least that’s what he says. Money is power. If he wants you, you’re his. That’s the bottom line. Run, buddy, as far and as fast as you can. If you need me to do anything, call only this number. Let’s set a time for calls. Let’s say, nine o’clock my time. I’m usually home by then. Good luck, buddy.”
    When the phone was shoved back into the kitchen drawer, Zack realized he didn’t feel one bit better. He immediately took it out and shoved it down in the bottom of a box of cornflakes. If anything, that made him feel even worse. He poured himself a cup of coffee and drank it as he paced the spacious kitchen. Then he poured a refill as he thought about the people who had visited him last night. There was something different about them, as opposed to the gun-toting jerks who had confronted him earlier. The foursome seemed like they were on the Domingos’ side, and rightly so. It would be cruel to rip the twins away from the only parents they had