by Kahlen Aymes
“We’ve asked them not to come right now. They heard about Remi and Dylan on the news. Chase said he called them back when they were cleaning me up, and that my baby was sent to NICU. With the police, FBI, and most likely the press, we felt it best for them to wait until we get Remi and Dylan back,” her voice cracked on a sob.
“I bet you wish you never met me,” I said. My vision blurred and my voice caught on the last word.
Teagan shook her head. “Oh, Missy, don’t think that. Of course, I’m glad. I love you, and you’re so good for Jensen. I love Dylan. And Remi,” her voice broke again, and she put her wrist to her mouth. “Oh, God!”
“We have to have faith, Teagan,” I said the words, but my own was shaking. I was so scared.
“I’m trying,” Teagan answered, sadly. “We shouldn’t have let them go to that birthday party.”
I lifted one shoulder in a defeated shrug. “I said the same thing, but Derrick wouldn’t have stopped until he found another opportunity.”
“How could your ex do that to his own child?”
I blinked to clear my vision. “He’s a sociopath who only thinks of himself. He lives for control, and he doesn’t care who he hurts in the process. I don’t know if he ever wanted Dylan, in the first place. He was just another way to hurt me. I think he just wants to punish me. I wish I’d never met him.”
“If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have your son. You can’t be sorry about having Dylan.”
Teagan was right, but once again, I wished more than anything, that Jensen were his father. “I don’t. Not for a minute.”
“When Remi was sick, I thought God hated me and that He was punishing me for not telling Chase about her. I cried because I couldn’t take away her suffering, and I couldn’t take back what I’d done to Chase or Jensen… but I’m so glad I had her. We all thank God for her every day.”
I smiled through my tears. “I know you do, and believe me, I see how much Jensen adores her. As do I. She’s a blessing, and so is your new baby!” I tried to turn the conversation to a happier one despite my heavy heart. There was nothing either of us could do to get Remi and Dylan back. We had to put our faith in God, the authorities, and our men.
Teagan smiled sadly. “He’s so perfect. He looks just like Remi did when she was born. It’s hard to be happy when we’re so scared about Remi and Dylan. Chase cried.”
“Of course, he did. I can’t imagine the tumultuous mix of emotions you two are going through.” Another rush of guilt and grief came over me. It was all I could do not to burst into tears all over again. “A baby is a precious miracle. He’s okay, then?”
Teagan nodded, reaching for a Kleenex to wipe at her nose and eyes, then pulling another from the box and handed it to me. “Yes. He has a little touch of jaundice. His liver doesn’t process properly yet, but a little suntan action under ultraviolet light and he should be fine in a few days.” She smiled sadly. “The nurses said they’d take me to see him in a few minutes. You can come with me.”
“I can’t wait to see him. What’s his name?”
“We aren’t sure yet, but I want something that sounds similar to Chase, and I’d like Remi to help choose. Is that silly?”
“No.” I swallowed at the growing lump of pain in my throat. I could see the love Teagan felt for Chase and Remi shine out from within. I was sure I’d feel the exact same way, if I were lucky enough to ever have a baby with Jensen. “I think it’s perfect.”
JENSEN
Once we got outside the hospital, Agent Daniels got on his com inside his vehicle, and we all piled in. He spoke with his commander and then called dispatch for an update on the case.
A list was compiled of all single men, or those with children, who checked into area motels. The parking lots of the motels were patrolled and searched for rentals or stolen vehicles. One vehicle description matched as one stolen, but the plates on it did not coincide with the registration.
A woman from FBI dispatch was talking. “A stolen vehicle has been identified in the parking lot of the Motel 6 at 311 Courtland, Atlanta. Agents have confirmed the description of a male in room 26 matches the suspect in the Atlanta child abduction, though no children had been seen. Agent Mills is already en route to the location and requests back-up. Proceed with caution.”
“Bingo,” Daniels said, starting the engine. “Here we go.”
“That’s about a half mile from here,” I said, disbelieving Missy’s psycho ex would hide out so close. Everything in me wanted to race over there and storm his room.
I was in the front seat. Chase and Ben were both in the back, though they were hunched forward as they listened on with interest.
“What happens now?” Ben asked impatiently.
“I make a call, then we can figure out our best course of action,” the agent returned.
We all listened intently as the FBI agent conversed with who I assumed was Agent Mills. It had been several hours since I’d spoken with him at the PlayDaze, but it was apparent they were all working overtime, and I was grateful for their dedication.
“Webster tells me you have Mr. Jeffers and Mr. Forrester with you.”
“Yes, sir. Ms. Ellington’s brother, Ben Brady, also.”
“That’s a break in protocol, Daniels.” Mills sounded irritated.
“Yes, sir. They were going to look for the perp on their own. I felt this was my only course of action to control the situation.”
“We’ll discuss it later. Right now, we have to figure out how we’re going to get those kids out of that motel room unharmed.”
“What’s the plan, sir?”
Chase, Ben, and I sat silently taking it all in. All three of us were still as stone, but if expressions were anything to go by, Chase and Ben were wound as tight as I was.
“We can wait until morning and hope he emerges from the room for some reason, or we figure out a way to get in there tonight without a shit storm and someone getting hurt. I don’t want to wait until the banks open Monday because those kids are suffering. We know where he is, and he more than likely has the kids with him. I think we take a chance of losing him if we let him move again,” Mills’ voice came through the radio.
Daniels drove the short distance to the motel, but by the time we arrived, three unmarked vehicles were already blocking off the parking lot entrance, but none of them had their lights flashing. By now, it was 2 AM, and there wasn’t much movement on the streets. Only one or two of the rooms had lights on inside, but the curtains were drawn, leaving only a sliver of illumination peeking through.
“Can we coax him outside to take him down?” Agent Daniels inquired. “Are we sure it’s the suspect in the identified room?”
“We don’t have any witnesses that saw him with any kids,” Agent Webster’s voice filled the silent vehicle. He must also be proceeding to the scene. “Tilly said the desk attendant identified Ellington from a screenshot she took from his company website.”
I clenched my teeth, and the muscle in my jaw flexed. Every instinct I had propelled me to rush the hotel room. I met Chase and Ben’s eyes as we waited, and I was sure they were thinking the same thing.
“He wants money,” Chase reasoned. “Can we use that angle to approach him?”
Agent Mills was able to hear Chase’s question from the open com. “Maybe, but we’d have to be able to contact him, and we have no way to do so. He ditched the phone he used to make the second call. We don’t want to let him know we’ve got him surrounded. He might do something desperate, and our main concern is getting those kids out safely.”
“I think we all agree, that’s all of our first priority,” I added.
“But, who in the hell wants to put those kids through another day of being terrified?” Ben interjected.
“Right,” Chase agreed. “Can’t we do it tonight? I can’t sit here knowing my scared little girl is only yards away.”
“They could be injured, hungry or dehydrated,” Ben put in angrily. “I think we should break the fu
cking door in.”
“And beat that son of a bitch until he can’t walk,” I added.
“He’ll never believe we just happened to know where he is and in possession of the three million dollars he’s asked for. If we storm the room, we risk someone getting hurt,” Agent Daniels said.
“It’s an inside room, so the only way in or out is through the front door or the window next to it,” Mills said over the com. “Never-the-less, I have agents positioned on all sides of the building in case he makes a run for it.
“Who cares if that bastard questions how we found him?” I huffed, furious. They had FBI agents out the ass surrounding this place, in the parking lot, overhead… so what the hell were they waiting for? “Let’s just go in there and get Remi and Dylan.”
“Yes,” Chase agreed. “Let us go.” He used his hand to indicate himself, Ben and me. “I’ll knock on the door and tell him I have his money and all I want is my daughter back. I can make him believe I’m alone and he can keep his son with him.”
“The FBI can hang back. Be there, but wait just until he opens the door,” I coaxed the FBI agents, desperate to do anything I needed to so they would move, now. “Then, move in.”
“It’s too dangerous.” Agent Daniels shook his head. “I can’t risk civilians.”
“We’re aware of the risk,” Ben was adamant. “We’ll be responsible for ourselves, right, guys?”
“Yes!” Chase and I insisted simultaneously.
“Your conviction is admirable, but what about those children in there?” Mills asked angrily over the com. “Do you accept responsibility if anything bad happens to them?”
“I’m a firefighter; I take risks like this daily. If I can take a forest fire head-on, I can take on this little fucker.”
I sucked in a deep breath. Chase was equally frustrated, throwing himself back into his seat. “What the hell are we supposed to do, Agent Mills?” he wanted to know. “Sit here all night? As Ben already pointed out, we don’t know if he’s fed them, beat them, or given them anything to drink. Dehydration can kill them!”
I decided to take a different tack and changed my tone. “Look, we’re all just desperate to get Remi and Dylan back. What if they were your kids who had been snatched by this nut job?” I implored. “Their entire world has been turned upside down. Can you imagine how traumatizing that must be?”
“I think we know about the trauma. We do this for a goddamned living,” Daniels added, his tone getting pissy. “Child abductions are all that we do. Day in and day out, we deal with these dirty fuckers over and over again.”
“Yeah? What’s your track record?” Chase demanded.
“The odds of retrieval are better when it’s a friend or family member. Children are less likely to perish.”
“Well, as comforting as that is, this guy is crazy,” Ben’s tone and sarcasm elevated, his words dripping with animosity. “He’s hurt my sister and my nephew many times already! And what about my sister’s lawyer? Apparently, Ellington admitted to having him killed!”
“Wait, what?” Chase asked urgently. “That’s it!” He opened his door and got out of the SUV and Ben joined him.
“Wait!” Agent Daniels demanded, opening his door and hopping out. “Stop!”
As I followed Chase and Ben, exiting from the passenger side, the door of one of the other vehicles blocking the driveway opened, and Mills got out in a hurry. He’d been listening over the walkie talkie, and he rushed over with one of his hands held out; silently indicating to the agents in the other cars they should hold in place.
“Okay, hold on, now. You gentlemen need to slow your roll. If we’re going to do this, we have to do it right.” He made another motion, and four FBI agents crouched down and silently moved in two wide arcs through the parking lot to take tactical positions, on either side of the door to room 26. They were dressed in dark clothes and carrying weapons, and they plastered themselves tightly against the building making certain they couldn’t be seen from the room’s window. Mills put his walkie talkie to his mouth. “Is the bird close?”
“Yes sir,” a man said in response. “We’re ready. If the suspect runs, we’ll follow with the spotlight.”
The place was crawling with agents, but the parking lot was deadly silent. The only sounds were those of traffic from the nearby interstate and the sudden soft whir of helicopter blades high above us.
“Okay,” Mills said in a whisper. “This is against my better judgment, but it might be our best chance. Daniels go with them but hang back to the left. The three of you create an arc around the door to the room, so he can’t see much beyond the three of you, especially you, Mr. Forrester. Get him outside the room if you can. We want to make the arrest as quickly and quietly as we can and keep the commotion to a minimum. We can’t fire weapons because we can’t risk hitting the kids or civilians in adjoining rooms with stray bullets. Give me a few minutes, and I’ll get a sniper in place.”
I sighed, sucking so much air into my lungs that I thought they would explode.
Ben was leaning back against the black SUV with his arms crossed, and Chase was pacing back and forth. When his boss indicated it was a go, Agent Daniels nodded and pulled a Glock from the holster inside of his jacket and cocked it just when an armed Agent Webster reappeared, walking in from the perimeter of the parking lot.
Daniels glanced over his shoulder apparently seeing what he needed to see. “Mills is ready for us to move,” he said, calmly. He motioned with his gun for us to go toward the building. “We’re right behind you. Be careful. We don’t can’t know if he’s working alone, so keep on high alert.”
“Holy shit,” I said quietly as we hunched down and then hurried stealthily through the parking lot and toward the room. There were more agents huddled behind some of the cars of the motel patrons closer to the building with guns drawn but hidden out of sight of Ellington’s hotel room. My blood was pumping like a raging river, my heart pounding the adrenaline through my veins. I glanced at Chase and Ben. We hadn’t considered he might have paid thugs with him.
“I’ll knock first,” Chase said. “He demanded the money directly from me, so it will be more realistic if I make the offer.”
“Right, and when he emerges, I’ll jump out between you both and grab him,” Ben offered. “The two of you go in and get the kids out.”
I wanted the whole thing over, but it was playing out in slow motion, like a scene from a crime drama. All I wanted was to hold Remi and Dylan in my arms and let them know that they were safe.
“He’s completely off his rocker if he expects to get away with this,” Ben said with bravado. “I can’t wait to get my hands on that fucking moron.”
“Be careful,” Daniels warned him. “Don’t get involved in an assault that we’ll have to charge you with.”
“What if his face just happens to fall into my fist? Multiple times,” Ben said stoically, a seriousness to his expression. The corner of Daniel’s mouth lifted in amusement, but he didn’t say a word.
The four agents dressed in black tactical gear were waiting in their positions against the wall on either side of the hotel room door. They looked more like a SWAT team, or military unity than FBI agents.
Chase and I stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the door, with Ben on his haunches behind us. Webster and Daniels were crouched just off to either side behind two parked cars. There was a goddamned militia poised to take down, what we hoped, was only one man.
Chase and I shared a knowing look, and we both tried to calm down. His hand crept forward so that the bent knuckle of his right index finger could knock softly, and I covered the peephole with my thumb.
Seconds ticked by and the curtain on the window moved. Ellington was looking to see who was knocking.
“Derrick, it’s Chase Forrester and Jensen Jeffers. We have some of the money you requested. We brought as much as we could get our hands on, now, but we will get more from the bank on Monday.”
“We just want the kids, Ell
ington,” I said firmly. “We just want our kids, back safely.”
The door cracked. The deadbolt released, but the chain was still in place. “You’re not getting Dylan, only the girl,” his eerie voice rasped out. “Missy knows that. Get the rest of the money; then we’ll talk.”
Dawn had not yet started to break and thankfully, we were still under a veil of darkness.
“Open the door, so we can talk, Ellington. This is just a negotiation. I’m sure you don’t want to hurt those little ones. Maybe we can get the police to back off.”
“Do you think I’m an idiot? Show me the cash, asshole!”
Chase glanced at me from the corner of his eye. He didn’t have any more money than he normally carried, and I only had a couple of hundred on me. We both knew what we had to do. It was unspoken between us.
“Not until I see Remi!” Chase proclaimed, louder now.
“Daddy!” Remi cried from inside the room! “Jensey! Help us!” Her voice was weak and scratchy as if she’d been crying hard for a long time.
“Shut up, you stupid brat!” Ellington screamed, and there was a loud clatter and the sound of shrill screaming from both of the children from inside the room.
“Remi, you and Dylan get into the bathroom, right now!” I called out, furious, but grateful to hear her voice.
“Jensey! We can’t!” I heard Dylan’s voice coming from inside the room for the first time as we both bolted into action.
“Let’s move,” Ben said softly from behind us. “We have to go before he gets the deadbolt back in place.”
“On the count of three,” I said under my breath. Chase and I were poised to use one foot each to bash in the door, hoping our combined strength would move the locked door. “One, two, three!” The force of our combined effort caused the loud crack of splintering wood as the door gave way from its frame and sent an unexpecting Ellington reeling backward: the heavy door crashing down on top of him and into the room.
Ben flew between us, bolting over the fallen door that was lying on top of Derrick Ellington. He threw all his muscular weight into action, bouncing up and down a little more than he had to. The man beneath it groaned in pain, clearly pinned to the floor by the door, and the force Ben was applying. “How do you like it, you twisted fuck?”