Together, they managed to make it back to the hotel. Matthew helped Ruth sit on the front porch steps and urged her to put her head between her knees and take deep steadying breaths. Ruth obeyed and after a couple of deep, sob-ridden breaths, she seemed to calm down. Matthew knelt beside her and took her hands in his. “What happened?” he asked again. “Can you talk now?”
Ruth nodded and wiped at the tears on her face. Her usually tidy bun was falling out of place, and a stray leaf was stuck to her graying hair. Her eyes were reddened from crying. She took a fortifying breath and clutched Matthew’s hand. “Patton,” she said. “He went to play outside without telling anyone. I saw him leave and got dressed to follow him. He was pretending to dry-fire with a stick.” Ruth covered her mouth like she was trying to hold in her own fear.
The hair on the nape of Matthew’s neck stood on end. “What happened?” he asked.
“I was going to tell him to come back inside, that he couldn’t leave without telling someone where he was, but then there was someone behind him. A man. He…he put a knife to Patton’s neck.”
“He did what?” Matthew said, hearing the sharp edge of rage in his voice. Anger flowed into his bloodstream at the thought that anyone would dare threaten his son in such a way. “Who was this guy?”
“I’ve never seen him before, Matthew,” Ruth said, sounding broken. “He had tattoos all up his arms and on his shaved head. He introduced himself as Colin. I’ve never seen him before in my life.”
“He doesn’t sound familiar to me either.” Matthew frowned and struggled not to bombard her with questions. Her panic had receded, giving her the familiar calm that Matthew was used to. He couldn’t push her. He didn’t want to cause her to break down again.
“He took Patton,” Ruth said. “He told me to turn around, and—I had to do what he said, Matt, he had a knife under Patton’s jaw and Patton was bleeding!”
“You did the right thing,” Matthew said, squeezing her hands. “It would have been worse to put him and you at risk by making the man angry.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Ruth said, as another volley of tears cascaded down her cheeks. “I just let him take my grandson. I didn’t even fight.”
“What could you have done?” Matthew asked. “This Colin was armed and had Patton in a terrible position. I would have done the same. But what could he possibly want with Patton?”
Ruth fell silent, her face collapsing into a guilty expression. She wouldn’t meet Matthew’s eyes. “Colin asked about Max,” she said quietly.
“Max,” Matthew stated, even as he saw red. That no-good son of a—
“Colin said he wanted to Max to meet him on the outskirts of Galena by sundown. That if he didn’t show up, Colin would…he would do something to Patton.” She collapsed back into a fit of crying and clutched her chest.
Matthew’s heart hammered in his chest. Of course, Max would come here bringing his problems. He liked the guy, sure, but there was something to be said about someone who got themselves mixed up with a cartel by running drugs. He didn’t know what beef Colin had with Max, but he was going to find out. Especially now that Max had brought danger to their doorstep.
“I’m gonna go talk to him,” Matthew said, and something in his face must have scared his mother because she looked at him with awed, if wide, eyes.
“Don’t do anything foolish,” she said.
“I’m going to find out why this person took my son. I’m not going to have my family mixed up in whatever crap Max is in,” Matthew said hotly as he stood up. “If anything happens to Patton, it’s on Max’s head.”
Ruth jumped to her feet and followed Matthew into the hotel. They walked up to Max’s room and Matthew burst in without any warning. His fear had ignited a new bomb of anger inside of him. First, David went against his wishes and went to the Carpenter Country, putting himself in all sorts of danger. Now, his brother-in-law had brought new problems to their door—problems that had resulted in his son being kidnapped.
Max was sitting up in bed and sipping on a bottle of water. He looked at Matthew with concern. “Hi,” he said but Matthew was done with pleasantries.
“Who the hell is Colin?” he demanded.
Max’s face went from exhausted-white to a gray-green color. “How do you know that name?” he asked softly.
“I’ll ask again, Max. Who is Colin?”
It seemed as though all words had left Max, and he seemed to be groping around for the right ones.
“Don’t even think about lying to me,” Matthew growled.
“Colin was in prison with me,” Max began, sounding as though he might be sick. “He was part of the cartel too. He’s been wanting to get revenge on me for accepting the plea deal I took. I gave up names and locations to the authorities in exchange for a reduced sentence, but doing that made me an enemy of the cartel. Colin has been after me ever since. I told you about the crashed car, but what I didn’t tell you was when I crashed the car, I was trying to escape them. Colin and some of his cartel friends had me cornered and were beating me up. That’s why I look like I do. They beat me up in prison, and then they beat me up on the road.”
“Why didn’t you tell us any of this?” Matthew demanded.
“I thought I’d lost them!” Max exclaimed. “I swear, Matt, I thought I escaped them.”
Matthew raised his eyebrow at Max. His brother-in-law was an expert liar, and he knew by the way Max tried to make himself look innocent—the earnest act—that he wasn’t telling the whole truth.
“He must’ve tracked me somehow. Maybe my marked-up map fell out of my backpack. I don’t know, but he must’ve found me somehow.” Max looked bewildered as though trying to present every scenario for consideration. “Matt, I would never willingly put anyone in danger.”
“You can tell that to Kathleen when you tell her that this Colin has kidnapped her son,” Matthew said, knowing his words were vicious and not really caring.
All the blood drained from Max’s face. “Colin has Patton?”
“Took him this morning,” Ruth said and crossed her arms. “Threatened him with a knife. To his neck. He said you have to meet him at the gas station next to the Galena Welcome sign by sundown or he’ll take out your crimes on Patton.”
“Oh my god.” Max swung his legs over the side of the bed. “I’ll get him back. Matt, I promise I’ll go right now. He can have me. I won’t let anything happen to Patton.”
Too little too late, Matthew thought. He stared at Max, wanting to strangle him. He wanted to haul the man down to Colin right this instant and give him up. The rage and fear that overwhelmed him was frightening. It brought waves of both recklessness and calm as he began to see everything in stark relief. Buying this hotel was supposed to create a peaceful, safe life for him and his family. It was meant to be an idyllic retreat, not just a business. Living in the mountains, being in nature, spending time together…it was all supposed to be a good thing. When the EMP hit, he thought the hotel would be a refuge from the outside. A place of safety. Now, it seemed as though the hotel had become a twisted representation of everything bad and wrong in the world. Even more than that, Matthew had been mistaken. No place was ever going to give him a sense of security or peace. Not in this EMP-transformed world. Not now. Not ever.
“I get why you lied to us,” Matthew said, wanting Max to hurt. “But why would you lie to Kathleen?”
Max went still.
“She’s the only one that matters to you anyway,” Matthew said. “You don’t care about me or your niece or nephew. As long as you can keep Kathleen on your side, she’ll always support you. So why would you lie to her about something like that? Did the prison really just let you leave?”
“Please don’t tell her that,” Max pleaded. “I do care about you and the kids. I’m not using Kathy, I’d never do that. I wanted to be home with my family. I can explain. She’ll understand.”
“With our son gone? I wouldn’t bet on it.” Matthew’s hands clenched into
fists.
“I escaped from prison,” Max said in a rush. “Colin was going to murder me. No one was going to stop it. Please don’t tell Kathleen. I’ll tell her in my own time.”
Matthew glared at Max. “Fine. But you will come clean about Colin, do you hear me? You will get my son back.”
“Yes,” Max said, getting to his feet and swaying unsteadily. “I promise you.”
Matthew called a family meeting. They sat down in the parlor, which Matthew had begun to see as a kind of courtroom. It was here that they’d decided on Jade’s desire to stay with the family. Here, they’d talked about and defeated Samuel West. Even though it had only been a few short weeks, it felt as though years had passed.
Matthew saw Kathleen give him a smile and then turn that smile into a supportive one to Max. Max didn’t return it, looking white as a sheet, and Kathleen frowned. Matthew reached out and took her hand. “What’s wrong?” Kathleen asked him in a lowered tone.
“Take a seat,” he said gently to her.
She did so next to Allison, her eyes flickering between Matthew and Max. Her hair was tied into a sturdy braid, and the dark circles under her eyes had lessened. Matthew knew the acceptance she’d cultivated regarding the things she had gone through on her travels to the hotel would soon be shattered.
“Where’s Patton?” Kathleen asked.
“Kathy, I gotta tell you something,” Max said in a rush, and even though the whole family and Jade had gathered together, it seemed he wanted to speak the truth only to her. “I…Kathy, I wasn’t released from prison. I escaped. The cartel were going to kill me. I was beaten up bad in prison. When the electricity started going out, guards started disappearing, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I ended up dead.”
Kathleen looked horrified.
“So I escaped,” Max said in a rush, “but then other people escaped, too. One of them, this guy named Colin, has had it in for me because of my plea deal. He’s with the cartel, and he wants my head. Well, he followed me here and this morning…” Max faltered, and he swallowed hard, as though finding his courage. “This morning he tracked me down and kidnapped Patton.”
David swore under his breath. Allison had gone pale. Jade’s mouth tightened into a thin line.
“This can’t be happening,” Kathleen said in a rush. “Patton’s been taken by the cartel? Max, how could you?”
“I’m sorry, Kathy,” Max pleaded. “I didn’t know. He wants to exchange Patton for me by sundown tonight, and I’m going to go to him, I swear, I’m going to get Patton back.”
“I can’t even look at you,” Kathleen hissed. “You lied to me. Again! Now my son is in the hands of some monster, and all you can say is sorry? He’s only a child, Max!”
“Kathy, I never meant for any of this to happen, but I’ll make it right. I’m going to make it right if it’s the last thing I do.”
“If you go to Colin, he’ll kill you,” Matthew said flatly. He studied Max’s face, looking for that overexuberance that indicated another lie, but instead Max looked solemn.
“I’ll do everything I can to get Patton back,” Max insisted.
“He’s going to kill you?” Kathleen asked, her voice rising into a screech of panic. A hand went up to rub along her eyebrow. “I can’t…Matthew, what are we going to do?”
Matthew bit his lips, resolved. He knew what they were going to do, and they’d do their best to save both Patton and Max in the process. He knew Kathleen would stop at nothing to get her son back, but losing her brother would do untold damage to her. He had to save his family—even if that meant saving Max so he could keep his wife. He turned to his father. “Do you think Wyatt Carpenter will still go for that trade? Water for ammunition?”
David’s face hardened with determination. “You bet he will. He’ll give us anything we need. He might even help us. We should try to convince him to come with us. He’s good people.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Matthew said and then turned to Jade. “Jade, I know you don’t think much of me, but you’re the best shot we have at getting Patton back. Please, I’m begging you. Stay and help me. You know Wyatt. You can help persuade him to come and help us get Patton.”
Jade studied him for a moment. A sinking sensation filled Matthew, and for a moment he was sure she was going to say no. She reached up and tightened her ponytail. “For Patton, I’ll help you.” She crossed her arms and fixed Matthew with a glare. “I’m still furious at you, Matt, but Patton deserves to be here with his family and not in the hands of some criminal. I’m doing it for him, though. Not you.”
“I’ll take it,” Matthew said. “Thank you.”
“I want to come too,” Max cut in.
Matthew shook his head. “I think we should stick with the three of us.”
Ignoring Max’s crestfallen face, he turned to his father, knowing they had a solid team to head into Carpenter Country with. “Let’s grab some supplies and head out to meet Wyatt.”
25
Max watched as Matthew, David, and Jade left the hotel through the front doors like heroes about to save the day. Now more than ever, he felt like the putz who ruined everything he touched. The laughingstock who ended up getting into more trouble than he was worth. Patton’s fate weighed heavily on him. He knew that even if—no, not if, when—they got his nephew back, Patton would still be traumatized. And all of that was Max’s fault.
Matthew was right to dismiss him. Even so, it didn’t stop the sting of rejection. He’d become a leper to the family and rightly so. First drug dealing, then prison, and now this. He wouldn’t be surprised if Kathleen chucked him out of the hotel right then and there. Closing his eyes, he cursed his stupidity. He should have been smarter and stayed away from everyone he loved. It was inevitable that he’d screw it all up and ruin everything, no matter his intentions. His heart climbed into his throat, and he felt he might suffocate under the weight of it all.
Behind him, the rest of the family stood in silence until Matthew and the others were out of view. For a moment, he considered turning away from the window, but he couldn’t find the courage to face their disappointment and revulsion. Soon enough, he heard the shuffling of feet moving away and out of the parlor until silence remained. Nausea clawed at his inside. His head swam. He needed to lie down and think. When he could finally tear himself away from the window, he plodded upstairs back to his room.
His ribs ached and his vision swam. When he opened the door to his room, he saw Kathleen sitting on the edge of his bed, staring blankly at the wall. Her hands were clasped in front of her. He leaned against the doorframe as dread settled into his bones. His body hurt, but it was nothing compared to the pain he experienced when she turned to look at him with such sorrow in her eyes. No matter what he did would never be enough to make it up to her, he knew.
“Sit down before you fall down,” she said and even her voice sounded a hundred years older.
Taking a deep breath, he inched around her to the other side of the bed and eased into it. As soon as he settled onto the mattress with the blankets flung over his legs and a pillow propping his head up, the nausea receded. He let out a shaky breath and prepared himself for the onslaught he knew was coming.
Kathleen remained motionless and seemed to stare at the wallpaper, taking a moment to reorient herself. Her shoulders hunched as if she dreaded their next conversation as well. She turned to Max and studied him, and Max was certain those few moments allowed her to peer into the very depths of who he was as a person.
“You lied to me, Max,” she said.
“Not exactly,” Max said and hated that he couldn’t, even now, admit the truth with humility. “I was in a car wreck. I just left out some of the other details.” He smiled sickly at her and felt a wave of self-loathing wash over him. He steeled himself for her to lash out and scream at him. They’d had some epic fights in their time, and he knew this one would outshine them all. Better to get it over with now, he thought, before it festers.
/> “It’s the same thing,” Kathleen said in a huff. Max recognized that indignation and he felt helpless—he wanted to be an adult and address the problem with a clear head, but he was getting pulled into old habits. Fighting with Kathleen was an old habit. Poking her weak spots was his specialty, and as the nausea returned, he realized he simply hadn’t grown up enough to act like he should toward his sister.
“I told you what I thought you should know. You didn’t want to hear about the crap I’d been through—”
“Why would you think that? Am I untrustworthy in some way? Unstable? Why would you think you could hide that from me?” Kathleen demanded
“It’s not that. I just didn’t want to get into it. I knew you’d react this way. You wouldn’t listen. All you’d hear is that I escaped from prison and committed another crime.”
“God, how can you be so irresponsible?” Kathleen said. “You never think about the consequences of your actions. This is just another example of that. All you do is think about Max. What about giving me a chance, huh? How did I become a person it was hard to tell the truth to?”
“How can you understand what I’ve been through?” Max demanded, sitting up in the bed. “I was terrified for my life. Someone was going to murder me, Kathy, and I had to look that man in the face almost every single day. I was constantly on edge, wondering when he was going to stab me in the back, or jump me when I was least expecting it.”
“You could’ve told the warden. What about the guards? They have protections against that kind of thing.”
“You see my ribs? The bruises on my back? I was kicked and punched until I was sure I wouldn’t get back up again. For the past year that I’ve been in prison, every day I wondered if it was going to be my last. Everyone I met might have been a potential enemy trying to get close to me. Don’t you get it, Kathleen? I was terrified every single day. The guards didn’t do anything. Sure, they pulled Colin off of me when they could, but the day I decided to escape, it was because I knew I wouldn’t live long enough to see my freedom. I couldn’t just take it lying down.”
EMP Catastrophe | Book 2 | Erupting Danger Page 18