Watched from a Distance

by Allison B Hanson

  Molly tugged on her hand, and Lena quickly pulled her lips up into a reassuring smile. They’d been driven to the police station and were now ensconced in a comfortable interview room with Officer Lucas, the cop who’d brought them. Molly’s little sister, Hannah, had been hanging onto Lena like a baby monkey ever since she’d woken up from the gas.

  Molly had finally been able to tell them their last name.

  “We haven’t found any missing persons reports on Molly or Hannah Myers,” the officer said with his brows pulled together. “Why wouldn’t they have reported their kids missing?”

  Lena swallowed and said, “The man who kidnapped them would have threatened their lives if the parents went to the authorities.” She turned to Molly. “Sweetie, do you remember your phone number yet?”

  They’d asked the little girl twice already, and she’d just started crying. Lena decided to try a different approach when it appeared the same thing was going to happen again.

  “I have an idea,” Lena said while using her free hand to make a drawing motion. The officer handed over a piece of paper and a jumbo crayon. It was brown and broken, but holding it seemed to calm Molly slightly.

  “Let’s play a game,” Lena said to her. “Can you write your name for me?”

  Molly nodded enthusiastically and took up most of the paper to draw her name, both “Ls” were backward, but Lena smiled and praised the little girl.

  “Can you draw me a picture of your house?” she pressed, having to change to another piece of paper when she asked her to draw her school.

  “I ride the bus to school. Hannah still goes to baby school.”

  Lena grinned conspiratorially. “What is the name of your big-girl school?”

  Without hesitation, the little girl spouted out, “Waldo Pafford Elementary.”

  Officer Lucas let out a quick breath and started typing on a laptop computer. All Lena could think was how glad she was the girl didn’t go to a school with common name.

  “Hinesville, Georgia,” the officer said.

  “Do you girls live in Hinesville?” Lena asked excitedly. They both nodded. “Officer Lucas, can you give us a hint on that phone number?”

  The younger officer looked up at her for a second, then nodded. “Let’s see. I’m going to guess your phone number starts with…” He made a show out of pretending to think really hard. “Nine-one-two?” He waited with his face scrunched up until Molly laughed and nodded.

  “Good job, Officer Lucas. Can you guess the next three?”

  “Hmm. Maybe…eight-seven-seven?”

  Molly clapped her hands. “Yes!”

  Myers was a pretty popular last name. Lena would gladly help to call every one of them in the phone book. They could wait until the next morning to contact the school and follow up that way, but it would be quicker and easier if Molly could just tell them her number. “Molly, your turn. What are the last four numbers?”

  Using her fingers, she held up each number as she said them.

  The officer gave her a thumbs-up and turned away with the phone.

  Not being familiar with Georgia, Lena wasn’t sure how far Hinesville was from Savannah. It turned out it wasn’t far, at all.

  Less than an hour later, their parents came rushing into the station. The girls screamed with excitement and ran into their open arms.

  Lena hated the twinge of envy that washed over her a second before she allowed herself to be happy for the family and hopeful that she would soon be reunited with her own daughter.

  “Good job,” Officer Lucas said, patting her on the shoulder.

  At the parents’ request, Lena sat with them while they were questioned about what had happened. Mr. Myers explained that he had worked for Viktor only long enough to figure out what was going on. He’d contacted the local police, but they’d brushed it off as a disgruntled employee making trouble for his employer. Viktor had grabbed up his kids to make sure he didn’t push any harder to be heard.

  “I tried to do the right thing,” the father said, “but if I had contacted the police, he would have killed them.”

  Or worse, Lena thought, as fear stabbed through her chest.

  What would Viktor do to Kenzie when he found out Lena had betrayed him?

  At that exact moment, her phone rang.

  She was about to find out the answer to her question.

  Chapter Seventy-Seven

  Seeing Viktor’s name pop up on the display produced an exponentially higher level of terror than normal. Glancing at the police officer, she excused herself and ducked out of the room so she could answer without alerting the others to her own horror.

  “Hello?” she said, trying her best to sound normal.

  “My, my. Haven’t we been busy?” Viktor sounded almost amused. As if this were simply entertainment to him. It was clear he knew what she’d done.

  Time for some damage control.

  “It’s not what you think,” she rushed to say. “Ryan got away from me right after I called you last time. I had no idea what he was planning.”

  “Spare me the poor acting,” Viktor drawled. “I sent Butch to meet up with you in San Antonio at the hotel where you said you were staying. You weren’t there.”

  “No, I was.” She wasn’t about to give up.

  “You were in San Antonio this morning, but somehow you drove to Savannah in eleven hours?”

  That would be impossible. She should have made sure she had a backup plan.

  “Viktor, please don’t hurt Kenzie. This isn’t her fault. He threatened me. Told me to do what he said or he’d have me arrested.”

  “So you chose to deal with me rather than the police? Certainly, you misjudged the greater threat with that decision.”

  “Viktor, please. I’ll do anything you want.”

  “You seem to like hanging out with the police. I wonder how they’d feel if some evidence turned up proving you’d murdered your ex-husband?”

  Lena choked. She’d long assumed Brandon was dead, but she hadn’t had anything to do with it.

  “They always suspect the spouse,” Viktor said with a chuckle.

  “Please, Viktor,” she pleaded knowing her begging only amused someone as callous as Viktor.

  “You’ve proven to be unreliable. I’ll get Vanderhook myself and make a nice profit on your daughter.”

  Before Lena could say anything else, the phone went dead. Only a few minutes later, the phone was deactivated.

  Oh God. She had messed up. She’d trusted Dane to help her get Mackenzie back. But now her daughter was in more danger than ever. And Lena had no leverage to work out a deal with Viktor.

  Dane had caused her to lose her daughter, probably to a horrific fate.

  It didn’t matter if he came back. It was too late for Kenzie.

  Lena wondered if Dane had ever hated her even a fraction as much as she hated him at this moment.

  She didn’t think it was possible.

  Chapter Seventy-Eight

  Dane arrived in Vancouver and was whisked off to the hospital by a waiting car. His heart beat frantically with worry. Toby was safe, but someone on his team was hurt. It happened occasionally, but it never got any easier.

  The team had all rushed to his side every time he’d been injured. They might joke and tease one another, but when it came down to it they were there for each other without question. Just like family.

  “What’s happened?” he asked the driver who looked familiar, but wasn’t on their team.

  “I’m not sure. Thorne just told me to pick you up.”

  “Thorne’s here?”

  “Yeah. He just got in an hour ago.”

  Garrett stood as soon as Dane stepped into the emergency room. Seeing him answered the question Dane had been about to ask. If Garrett was in the waiting room, it meant Justin was in the emergency room.

  “How is he?” Dane asked, quickly glancing around to see if Tobey was there, too. He wasn’t.

  Garrett shook his head as Thorne came
to stand next to him.

  “It doesn’t look good,” Thorne answered in a tone that might have sounded cold to someone who didn’t know him better.

  “What happened?” Dane asked.

  “We thought we were clear. We had Tobey and the other boys between us. Tobey was the last one, and Justin was pulling up the rear. Someone from the roof fired into the group. Justin grabbed Tobey and pulled him down under him. Justin was hit before I could take out the shooter.”

  It was plain to see Garrett blamed himself for not reacting faster. It was normal to feel like you should have acted faster, or anticipated an attack. The problem was, they were humans, not superheroes.

  Later, when Garrett was thinking straight, he would see he couldn’t have done anything differently. Rather than tell him it wasn’t his fault, Dane remained silent. Eventually, Garrett would understand.

  “Dad?” Tobey was speeding down the hall in a wheelchair.

  Seeing him took Dane’s breath away. Thank God! “Are you okay?” he asked, eyeing the wheelchair.

  “Yeah. I hurt my knee, and they didn’t want me to walk on it.” Tobey rolled his eyes.

  Dane smiled. It seemed like such a grown-up reaction. Dane kept thinking of Tobey as that five-year-old he’d left at home that morning so long ago. But he was growing up.

  “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

  “The other man…?” Tobey looked concerned.

  “They’re taking care of him right now. I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

  Over Tobey’s head, Dane saw a doctor step into the waiting room looking grim. Garrett and Thorne went over to him, and there was a brief exchange.

  Seconds later, Garrett bent over at the waist and let out a strangled sound.

  Oh God. Justin hadn’t made it.

  Dane swallowed down his grief for the moment so as not to upset his son. He’d deal with it later. Or try to.

  “I’m so glad you’re okay,” he said again, and gave Tobey a big hug.

  His son hugged him back, then looked up. “I’m glad you’re okay, too. I thought maybe I had been dreaming you were there when I got kidnapped. But you really were there.”

  “Yeah. I’m real.” Dane ruffled his boy’s hair and frowned. “But I have to be a complete secret. Just you and me, buddy. No one else can know I’m really alive. Okay?”

  “Why not? I bet Mom would tell Randy to leave so you could move back in.”

  Dane gave him a weak smile. As if it would be that easy.

  “No. That’s not how it works. Besides, I left because some bad guys were trying to keep me from telling on them. If they knew I was still alive, they might try to use you and your mom to get to me.” Dane figured it was best to tell Tobey the truth. As much as possible anyway.

  “Oh.” Tobey frowned. “So, I have to pretend I didn’t see you?”

  Dane crouched down to be at his son’s eye level. “Do you think you can do that?”

  Somehow, it seemed unrealistic. Dane remembered being this age when his mother died. If he had seen her alive again, he would have told the whole world.

  “I guess so.” Tobey bit his lip and his cheeks flushed.

  “What is it?”

  “Mom already knows I talk to you.”

  Chapter Seventy-Nine

  Dane froze, wondering how Tobey would already have had a chance to tell Caroline he was alive. Had the cops called her immediately?

  Damn. And Dane had gone to all this trouble to keep them safe. Now what would he do?

  Then Tobey looked away, his cheeks still slightly pink as he shrugged.

  Ah.

  Dane understood. His son had conversations with him. Even though he wasn’t there to offer any help or advice.

  He didn’t think he could hurt any more than he already did, but his heart fractured into microscopic pieces.

  “What kind of things do we talk about?” he asked with an encouraging smile.

  “Well, I told you I liked Lucy Arnold even though she has a boyfriend.”

  Dane hiked a brow. “Lucy Arnold sounds like trouble if she has a boyfriend.”

  Tobey made a face. “I don’t like her anymore.”

  That was good. Ten was a bit too young to have The Talk. Not that it was Dane’s responsibility. Caroline would freak out if Tobey learned the facts of life from his invisible dead dad.

  “What else?” he asked with a smile.

  Tobey let his head fall to the side as if weighing whether or not to tell him this next thing.

  “I asked you if it was okay for me to call Randy my dad. He told me it was okay, and he said you wouldn’t mind. But I wasn’t sure, so I went to our special place and I asked you.”

  “Our special— You mean the fort?” Dane asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “It’s still standing?”

  The two of them had built the fort in the woods behind the house. It was nothing fancy. Just particle board and an old pallet. Tobey had wanted a treehouse, but both Dane and Caroline were worried he’d fall out of it and break something. They settled on a fort instead.

  Tobey grinned proudly. “Yes. I fixed it myself when the one side fell down.”

  “Good job.” Dane ruffled his son’s hair, just as proud.

  “So, should I?” Tobey asked.

  Dane pretended to have gotten lost in the conversation. “Should you what?”

  “Should I call Randy dad?”

  Dane’s first reaction was hell no. That guy wasn’t Tobey’s father.

  But then the more sensible part of Dane’s brain kicked in. The part that knew Randy was a stand-up guy. And it would probably mean a lot to Randy to have the official title, since he was filling the role. If Dane really were dead, he wouldn’t be here to complain. And even now, he felt a sense of gratitude to the man who was taking care of his family so well, when he wasn’t able to do it himself.

  “I think he would like that. What do you think? He is a dad to you, right?”

  “Yeah. I guess.” Tobey pressed his lips together.

  Dane knew what he was going to say next. “I’m still your dad,” he told his son. “And I always will be. Okay?”

  Tobey nodded.

  “But if someone else is being your dad, too, and you want to call him dad, it’s okay with me. Don’t feel pressured, either way. Do whatever makes you feel comfortable.”

  Tobey nodded again with a little more enthusiasm. “Will I see you again?”

  Dane swallowed down the “Yes” he so much wanted to say.

  “I’m going to be around sometimes. It’s still super dangerous, but I might check in with you from time to time, now that you know the truth. Because I love you so much. As long as it stays a complete secret. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “But this is the only secret I want you to keep from your mom,” he said firmly, making sure he did the right thing.

  “It’s kind of a big secret.” Tobey smiled at that, and Dane agreed.

  “I’m sorry you have to keep such an important secret. It’s not fair to you.”

  Tobey straightened, looking much older than his ten years. “I don’t mind. As long as you’re not really dead, I’m okay with it.”

  Dane winked and gave him a hug. “Good. Now we’d better get you back to your mom. She’s so worried about you. Are you ready to call her and tell her you’re okay?”

  Tobey’s eyes lit up and he nodded.

  Dane cocked his head at Thorne, asking him to come over.

  “We’re ready to call Caroline. Is it okay if I stay with him?”

  “Sure. He knows how important it is that no one knows you’re alive, right?” Thorne looked down at Tobey. “If someone found out your dad is still alive, they might try to hurt you and your mother.”

  “I made it clear,” Dane assured the other man, wishing he hadn’t brought it up again. Thorne was a little scary to adults. To a child, he must be even more frightening.

  Tobey’s eyes went wide. “I won’t tell anyone,” he promise
d.

  Thorne held out his phone, and Tobey dialed his mother’s number.

  “Mom?”

  “Tobey?” Her voice was so frantic, Dane could hear it from a few feet away.

  It made him think of Lena and what she was going through right now. She must be terrified. He planned to call her as soon as he had Tobey squared away.

  “I’m okay. I’m in…” Tobey turned to them, and Dane almost supplied the answer but realized he couldn’t speak. He was dead.

  “Vancouver,” Thorne offered. “We’ll be bringing you home.”

  “Deputy Marshal Thorne says he’s going to bring me home. He has a badge and everything.”

  After a few more words, Tobey handed the phone over to Thorne so he could assure Caroline that Tobey was okay and homeward bound.

  After they hung up, Tobey asked, “What about the other kids that were with me?”

  Dane almost melted with pride that his son’s first thought was for his fellow captives. “I’m sure they are on their way home to see their parents, too,” Dane assured him.

  Thorne gave him a single nod. “You ready to go home?” Thorne asked Tobey with a smile that didn’t make him any less terrifying.

  “Yeah.” Tobey turned to Dane, tears suddenly filling his eyes. “I’m glad you’re not really dead, Dad.”

  “Me, too, Son.” Dane bent down for one last hug. “I love you so much. I’ll see you sometime. And if you ever need me, come to the fort and talk to me. I just might hear you.”

  Tobey wiped his tears with a sleeve. “Okay. Tell Garrett and Justin I said thank you for saving me.”

  “I’ll let them know.” Dane swallowed down the burn of his own tears for his friend, who’d given his life to keep Tobey safe. A debt Dane could never repay in a million years.

  He walked Tobey out to the car waiting for Thorne, his arm around his son’s shoulders.

  “I’ll make sure he gets home safely,” his boss said.

  Dane took a steadying breath and one last, lingering look at his son as he climbed into the car. “Thank you. For everything.”

  When the car was out of sight, he went back inside to help Garrett make arrangements for their fallen hero.