Vow to Protect

by Ann Voss Peterson

  Nikki shot him a look as if to say the debate wasn’t over.

  “So what happens now?” Cord asked.

  “I’ll take the three of you somewhere safe for the night.”

  “And Mel and Ethan? What about getting them out of town?”

  McCaskey gave him a nod. “That sounds like a good idea. Give me a destination, and we’ll get them to the airport tomorrow. And in the meantime, we’ll figure out what to do about Kane.”

  Cord let out a breath but he didn’t relax. He wouldn’t until that plane was off the ground and Melanie and Ethan were on their way to some far-off place where Kane couldn’t reach them.

  And neither could he.

  JANET BLANKENSHIP couldn’t believe her luck. Swinging her BMW to the curb on Gorham Street and straight into a vacant parking space just around the corner from State Street, she let a wide smile spread over her lips.

  Tonight was definitely her night. Not only had Adam gotten his hands on tickets for the sold-out production of Wicked at the Overture Center, but the Pilates class was really starting to pay off. As evidenced by how incredible she looked in her new Alberta Ferretti cocktail dress.

  She slipped on her prized pair of Jimmy Choo slides with heels so high she couldn’t drive in them and took one last look in the visor’s vanity mirror.

  The movers and shakers in Madison wouldn’t know what hit them.

  She started to open the door when a shadow appeared outside. The door tore from her grasp. A hand shot into the car and grabbed her by the hair.

  It had to be some kind of mistake. Some kind of joke. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  Ice-blue eyes focused on her. Thin lips pulled back from white teeth in a chilling smile.

  Fear cut through disbelief. She opened her mouth to call for help, to scream.

  “Shut up.” His other hand came up. A knife gleamed dully in the streetlight. “Unless you want me to cut out your voice box. Might be fun.”

  This couldn’t be happening. Not just yards away from a busy street. Not to her. “Take the car. Go ahead. I won’t tell anyone.”

  Using her hair for leverage, the man shoved her over the center console and climbed into the driver’s seat. He slammed the soundproof door closed.

  She tried to breathe, to think. Her chest felt as if it was being crushed, as if she couldn’t get enough air. “Take the car. It’s worth a lot of money. And my purse.” She shoved her black Prada handbag at him.

  Those eyes drilled into her, cold and sharp. The cool mint of his breath fanned her face. “I want more than your car.”

  “My husband will pay you. He’s a respected eye surgeon. He’ll give you anything you want. Please. You can’t do this. You don’t realize who I am.”

  “Yes I do.”

  She dragged in a breath, the air still not coming easy, but at least it came. “Then you know. You know what my husband can do for you. You know he’ll pay.”

  “But I don’t want him to pay.”

  “What do you want? Anything. I can get it for you.”

  He brought the knife up, under her chin. Tracing the blade’s tip down her chest, he stopped at the vee neck of her dress. “I don’t want your husband to pay. I want you to pay.”

  Panic congealed in her veins. She couldn’t move. She just stared at the knife nestled in her cleavage.

  He brought the blade down. The black silk gave way. The light tearing sound ripped through her ears like a scream. Tears rose in her eyes, blurring his face. He reached the hem. Her dress gaped open.

  “You can’t do this.” Her voice hitched and trembled.

  He fitted the blade between the cups of her bra. The fabric slit under sharp steel and fell away. He moved to her pantyhose.

  “I thought you said you know who I am, what I can do for you.” A sob worked up her throat and choked her.

  “I do know who you are. I know better than you do.” He stared at her naked body with dead eyes. No arousal. No emotion. He raised the knife to the notch in her collar bone. “You’re nothing.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Cord, Mel and Ethan had their essential belongings packed and ready to go in less than five minutes. They followed McCaskey into the stairwell and descended the five stories to the garage level.

  “You’re going to have to leave your truck,” McCaskey said, shoving open the garage door.

  Cord let Mel and Ethan step into the garage first, then spared his truck a glance. “When will I get it back?”

  “Not sure. The techs will need to go over every inch.”

  Great. So much for the window-washing business. Not that there was anything left even if he had the truck. The builder would be upset enough to learn he was camping out in his luxury condos. Cord was sure he’d be extra thrilled now that the property was the scene of a serial killer’s “display.” He’d be willing to bet that would put a crimp in the upscale condo market. “Just get us somewhere safe.”

  McCaskey led them to an unmarked sedan parked near the garage’s door. Mel and Ethan climbed in the back, and Cord took the front passenger seat. McCaskey climbed behind the wheel and started the engine. “Sit low in your seats. If Kane is out there waiting, we don’t want to give him an easy target to follow.”

  Mel and Ethan disappeared behind Cord’s seat. Folding his legs against the dash, Cord slid as low as he could manage.

  McCaskey gave one of the cops in the garage a signal. The garage door lifted, and they drove out into the night.

  Bands of illumination from streetlights moved through the car in stripes. The hum of the engine blended with the whisper of tires on pavement.

  McCaskey stopped and started, negotiating stop signs and lights. Finally they blended with the flow of traffic on East Johnson Street. “You can sit up.”

  Cord unfolded his body. He glanced around, noting the swarm of headlights shining through windows and in the rearview mirror. Any one of those cars could have Kane behind the wheel. He could be hanging back, watching, following, and they’d never know. He’d be just another set of headlights in the flow of weekend traffic.

  In the backseat, Melanie and Ethan sat up and looked around. “Where are we going?” Mel asked.

  “We need to talk about our next move. We’re going to meet with Diana and Sylvie.”

  “So you are considering Nikki’s plan?”

  A pained look flashed across McCaskey’s face. “A version of it. Maybe.”

  “Why did you let her believe you weren’t?”

  “Perreth was there.”

  “Perreth?” The detective was a dick, but… “You like Perreth for the police department leak?”

  “Let’s just say I found something at Meredith Unger’s house that makes me wonder.”

  “What?” Mel asked from the backseat.

  “Phone messages he left.”

  Interesting. Cord wanted to know more. “About Kane?”

  “About trying to get a date. Seems Meredith wasn’t returning his calls.”

  “That doesn’t mean he’s the leak,” Mel said.

  “No. But it does mean I’m not going to take a chance by letting him know what I’m planning.”

  “What are you planning exactly?”

  “We’ll talk about it later. Nikki was right about one thing. If I don’t include Diana in this discussion, I might as well turn in my wedding ring right now. I learned that the hard way.” His lips turned up at the corners, a mixture of annoyance and pride. “We have more important things to figure out before we get there.”

  “Like what?” Still clutching Ethan’s hand, Mel leaned forward in her seat.

  “Like where you and Ethan want to go.”

  Mel’s eyebrows rose. She looked to Cord for an explanation.

  “I talked to McCaskey about getting the two of you some plane tickets.” Just saying it made his chest tighten. After tomorrow, he would never see Mel and Ethan again. He’d put them on a plane and watch them fly out of his life. And when they returned to Wisconsin
, he’d be gone.

  Mel held his gaze for a moment, as if she was envisioning the future, too. But as much as Cord would like to think her warm brown eyes were filled with regret, he knew that was probably not the case. More likely she felt relieved.

  She looked away from him and down at their son. “What do you think, Ethan? Should we go to Disney World?”

  “Could we?”

  “I don’t know why not.” She looked up at McCaskey. “I’ll give you my credit card if you make the arrangements.”

  The detective gave her a nod in the rearview mirror.

  She smiled at their son. Hands down one of the most beautiful things Cord had ever seen. “Disney World it is.”

  “Cool. Is Cord going, too?”

  Ethan’s question plunged into his gut and twisted like a Christmas tree shank. He waited for Mel to answer.

  She hesitated. “No, honey. He can’t.”

  He peered over the seat at his son and swallowed into an aching throat. “I can’t make it. I have to work.”

  He dropped his gaze to his hand cradled in his mother’s. “Oh.”

  Cord peered out the window again, trying to focus on anything but the disappointment in his son’s voice. And the disappointment lodged in his own chest.

  The headlights behind them thinned as they traveled farther away from the heart of the isthmus. One car turned off toward the interstate. Another veered into a neighborhood. They arched north around the curve of Lake Mendota, the opposite shore to the isthmus where the city lights stretched. Soon only dark highway twisted ahead.

  And one car still followed behind.

  “Do you see that?” Cord said to McCaskey, careful to keep his voice too low for Mel and Ethan to hear.

  McCaskey glanced in the rearview mirror and nodded. Judging from his reaction, he not only spotted the car, he’d been watching it. “It’s been with us since we got on East Johnson. I’m going to call in the plate.”

  MELANIE’S HEART JUMPED at the intensity ringing in Cord’s and Reed’s voices. She might not be able to hear what they were saying, but she didn’t have to. Something was going on.

  She tightened her grip on Ethan’s hand.

  “What’s wrong, Mom?”

  “Nothing, honey. I’m just tired.” She plastered a smile to her lips. She hadn’t meant to show her tension to Ethan. She didn’t want to upset him. God knew he’d been through enough. “Are you looking forward to Disney?”

  “I guess.”

  “What do you want to do first? Epcot Center or the Magic Kingdom?”

  He glanced up at the front seat. “Is somebody following us?”

  So much for her sunny act. She let the false smile fall from her lips and wrapped an arm around Ethan’s shoulder, pulling him close. “I don’t know.”

  Reed held his radio to his mouth and talked in a low voice.

  Melanie reached into the front seat and touched Cord’s shoulder.

  Cord looked back over the seat. Shadows cupped the edges of his face, settling into the fine lines beginning to fan out around his eyes.

  Strange, just a day ago, she’d thought the dashboard glow and shadows made him look hard. Now she could see the man under the thick shell he’d grown. The shell of tattoos and muscle. “What’s going on?”

  “McCaskey’s calling in the license plate of the car behind us. He’s just making sure it’s nothing to worry about.”

  She let herself fall back against the seat. Cord was probably right. It was probably nothing. At least she would hold onto that hope.

  The buzz of a voice sounded in the front seat, but she couldn’t make out the words.

  Reed said a few more unintelligible things into the radio, then glanced at Melanie in the rearview mirror. “The car is registered to a woman named Janet Blankenship.”

  The name held no significance for her. She waited for him to go on.

  He returned the radio to the dash. “She lives in the general area. Over toward Middleton. Probably on her way home. You might as well relax.”

  Melanie wanted to relax, God knew. But she doubted she could. Not until she knew her son was safe. At least for the night.

  Reed swung the car onto a remote road flanked on both sides by forest. Behind them, the car whizzed by on the highway, going west toward Middleton.

  She let out a breath. Thank God.

  Reed accelerated through oak forest and down a winding road. A half mile down, the forest thinned. Lake Mendota opened up alongside the road. Across the black waves, the city lights twinkled. The capitol dome glowed like a tiny white beacon. Melanie narrowed her eyes on the road ahead, trying to see through the darkness. “Where are they staying out here?”

  “You’ll see.”

  Mailboxes dotted the shoulder of the road ahead. Houses too large for their lots crowded shoulder-to-shoulder along the shore.

  She tried to stifle the unease shifting inside her. It didn’t seem very secure. Not as secure as the condo downtown. But she couldn’t believe Reed would leave his wife’s safety to chance. Would he?

  She turned around and peered out the back window at the darkness. No one following. She let her gaze linger over Ethan. He stared out the window at the houses. He looked so tired, as tired as she felt. It would be good to get away. To have some fun. To fill his eyes once again with that shining joy.

  The joy she’d seen when he was washing windows with Cord.

  She turned back around and focused on the road ahead. The line of houses ended and the shoreline opened into a park. Swing sets and jungle gyms etched dark against the sparkle of waves kicked up by stiff wind. A long pier jutted into the water. A large boat bobbed at the end.

  Reed pulled into the parking lot.

  “The boat? They’re on the boat?” she asked.

  “A boat on the lake. Can’t get much more secure than that.” Cord nodded with approval.

  They climbed from the car. Next to her, Ethan’s eyes grew wide. “We get to go on it?”

  Reed nodded. “Yup. You’re going to sleep on the boat tonight.”

  “Cool.”

  Melanie let a smile surface to her lips. Maybe things were looking up. A night on a boat. A plane ride to Disney World. Days of fun in the Magic Kingdom. Maybe it was just what they needed to leave the trauma of the past few days behind and go on with their lives.

  Lives of which Cord couldn’t be a part.

  After loading down with sleeping bags and duffel bags, they stepped onto the pier. Wind whipped at Melanie’s face, lashing her hair across her cheeks and into her eyes.

  “Here. Let me take that.” Cord lifted her bag from her shoulder, freeing one hand to hold the hair out of her face.

  She wasn’t used to getting help. Not from anyone. She was used to doing things on her own. But right now, with all that had happened the past few days, she appreciated the gesture far more than she should. “Thanks.”

  “No problem.”

  She looked ahead, focusing on the boat. On Ethan. On anything but Cord. They continued down the long pier. The boat loomed large in front of them. It had to be one of the biggest she’d ever seen on Lake Mendota. A boat more suited to Lake Michigan or trolling along one of the coasts.

  The shadow of a man appeared on the deck, a small rifle in his hands.

  “It’s us, Bryce. Ethan, do you want to go first?” Reed motioned to a ladder on the back of the boat. Holding out a hand, he helped Ethan step from the pier to the ladder.

  Melanie tried to keep her pulse from jumping at the sight of the weapon. Soon this would be over. Soon she would have Ethan far away from guns and violence. Soon he’d return to a carefree, fun-loving boy again.

  A boy without a dad.

  “Melanie?” Reed helped her to the ladder.

  Gripping the cold rungs, she climbed to the boat’s deck behind Ethan. Cord followed, then Reed. Once all of them were aboard, Bryce and his weapon disappeared to the front of the boat. The engine rumbled to life, its low grind vibrating through the vessel
. The boat pulled away from the pier and headed out on black waves.

  “Where are Diana and Sylvie?” Cord asked.

  Reed gestured to a narrow staircase leading to the boat’s lower level. “Go ahead.”

  Melanie started down the stairs, Ethan behind her. It was warmer down here away from the whipping wind. But without the pier or land or distant lights to judge the boat’s movement by, she felt dizzy and unsure, as if the steps would fall out from under her at any moment. She gripped the railing to keep some sense of balance.

  A warm light shone on wood paneling below. Although the boat looked huge from the outside, everything seemed tiny inside. A miniature kitchen opened at the base of the stairs. Two small cabins flanked the kitchen, one on either side. She headed for the cabin that glowed with warm light. Stepping inside, she met two sets of familiar light blue eyes.

  One of the blond twins jumped to her feet. “You must be Melanie. I’m Diana.”

  The other blonde remained seated, one hand cradling a slightly bulging belly. A diamond eyebrow ring sparkled in the light. “Sylvie, here.”

  Cord’s sisters. Melanie offered a genuine smile. “Melanie. It’s great to finally meet you.”

  “It’s great meeting you, too. I haven’t even met my brother yet.” Sylvie smiled, though she looked a little green. Whether from seasickness or pregnancy, Melanie couldn’t tell.

  After Cord and Reed joined them and they finished the round of introductions, Diana gave Reed a kiss and they all carved out spots in the cramped little cabin.

  Diana smiled at Ethan. “Would you like to watch a DVD? We have a bunch in the other cabin.”

  Ethan jumped at the chance. And as much as Melanie wanted him close enough to touch, she knew from the exhausted look in his eyes that the TV suggestion was a good one. She left him splayed on the bed in the other cabin watching a superhero movie and returned to find Cord talking quietly with his sisters.

  For a moment she just stood in the doorway and stared. They looked so much alike, the eyes, the cheekbones, that for a moment she couldn’t breathe. She’d never thought of Cord having a family before. She’d known his mother, but there had been no connection between her and Cord. She had acted as if he was an intruder in her life, someone she didn’t trust, let alone care about.