The Ties That Bind

with a bad case of the stupids . That guard he had assigned to watch your cottage was probably meant as much to keep an eye on your activities as it was to protect you. Sheridan doesn't take chances."
    "You're crazy."
    "No, but I am getting anxious. Time is running out. You and I have to talk business. Have you handed the bid over to your client?"
    "I haven't handed it over to anyone!"
    "Good. I figured that if you had already made the transfer, you might have been dumb enough to keep a copy. I was willing to buy a second copy from you if that's all that's left. Kenyon doesn't need to know someone else has also paid for and gotten the information. But it's safer for both of us if you've still got the one I brought to the party. How much do you want for it, Shannon?"
    "Not one thin dime, you fool. I'm not selling it to you," she snapped.
    "I must have it, Shannon. You don't know Kenyon."
    "What can he do to you that's any worse than what Garth will do when he finds out what's happened?" Shannon taunted.
    "Kenyon's promised me a job running his new R & D branch in Tucson. He's going places and he's going to take me with him. It's become obvious to me during the past year that Sheridan isn't going to keep expanding. I think he's getting tired of the business. I don't want to hang around with a firm that's starting to go soft. But between the two of them, Sheridan and Kenyon can ruin me. I need Kenyon to protect me from Garth if and when he finds out what happened. I want to be safely on Kenyon's payroll and out of the state when the time comes.
    "But if you don't deliver to Kenyon he'll turn his back on you. Then you'll be caught between a rock and a hard place, won't you? Garth will have his revenge and you won't have anyone to protect you from him. You'll be lucky to get another job in the field."
    "You've got it. So now you must see why I'm willing to talk business. Name your price, Shannon. It'll be much safer for you to make the deal this way rather than trying to cut your own."
    "No."
    "Don't be a fool," Wes exploded. "You're nothing but a two-bit hustler who's trying to cash in on a lucky break. Don't think you can go up against me and get away with it. I want that bid. I'll take it the hard way if you won't sell it to me."
    "You tried taking it the hard way last night," Shannon pointed out. "It didn't work."
    Wes reached out and grabbed her arm. "Come on. We're going back to the cottage. I'm not leaving until I have that bid."
    "I haven't got it," Shannon said with a calm she was far from feeling. "Garth took it with him this morning."
    "The hell he did. How would he know you've got it? You sure wouldn't have told him. I'll bet when you called the cops last night you made up some line about a prowler without bothering to explain just what that prowler really wanted. Now move!"
    Wes jerked her forward, causing her to stumble. Shannon started to struggle but this time her opponent was ready for her. She found her arm twisted painfully behind her back. Without another word, Wes shoved her toward the cliff.
    Shannon began to climb reluctantly, her arm aching from the grip Wes had on it. She could only hope that Ted Walters had returned from lunch.

* * *
    GARTH HAD BEEN on the road an hour when he decided to make the call to his office. He picked up the phone and spoke crisply to the mobile operator. His mind had been running in high gear ever since he had left Shannon, and he didn't like the various directions his thoughts kept taking. The need to get the situation under control was gnawing at him, and he became increasingly impatient with the long drive. Briefly he considered driving as far as Santa Rosa and chartering a plane back to San Jose. But common sense said that by the time he could make the arrangements and get from the airport to his office, he would have chewed up nearly as much time as the drive would.
    He should have pushed that locksmith, Garth thought while he waited for his call to go through. He should have insisted Shannon's locks be installed several days ago. Maybe the intruder would never have gotten inside the cottage if there had been decent locks on the door.
    But perhaps good security wouldn't have helped at all, he decided. The guy might have simply waited outside the cottage and grabbed Shannon when she opened her door.
    The only thing that might have deterred the intruder would have been Garth's presence. And Garth had been two hundred miles away when Shannon had needed him. The memory