Lawless

by HelenKay Dimon

  The one thing Joel didn’t see was people, no one on any floor, though the top one stayed eerily dark.

  Connor motioned for them to peel off and take their positions. He took the middle area and headed for the double doors off what looked like a dining room. Cam went left toward the garages and Joel took the right, aiming for a side door that led to something called a mud room. He assumed that meant a laundry or closet or something. Davis, who was knee-deep in renovating an old house, had tried to fill Joel in but he didn’t listen to the particulars.

  Pivoting around the outside furniture on the back patio and what looked like a heater, Joel hugged the hedge line. He skated away from the area just outside the doors, preferring the staggering darkness. Let Connor figure out how to stay unseen with spotlights hitting his head.

  The darkness of night bothered others, but Joel had trained to let his other senses run wild. Even now the smell of orange hit him, likely from flowers or a tree.

  Slipping around the house took Joel out of the line of sight of the others. He could no longer see what they were doing or assess their progress. But because Davis hadn’t reported a problem over the comm, Joel assumed there wasn’t one.

  The door was right where the plans said it would be. He reached up and turned the knob. It rattled in his hand but didn’t budge. The sound bounced around the quiet night and Joel pressed his back against the wall, ready for an attack from any direction.

  Wincing, he waited for a shrill alarm to sound. None came. He counted that as a win and let out the rough breath he was holding.

  The rule was radio silence. That meant limited talking and almost no communication back to headquarters unless an emergency arose. Headquarters could talk all they wanted, right into your ear, but Davis was a pro. He knew that broke concentration and he stayed silent.

  His breathing filled the line. Then a voice, no louder than the breath that came before, sounded over the line. “Open.”

  Joel reached up again and this time it turned. He held up the prearranged “go” signal in front of the helmet cam.

  Keeping the opening as small as possible so as not to gain attention, he slid inside. The side of the door scraped his back but he ignored the slice.

  Balancing on his haunches, he listened for any sound. This was a big house and the men could be anywhere. Good news was Davis reported only two people in the house, or such was the case a half hour ago when they did their check. They’d been watching ever since and no one else had come.

  Music or talking would help guide him, but Joel didn’t pick up anything. He heard the soft hum of the refrigerator and the usual creak now and then that all houses let out. Nothing that sounded like arguing or negotiating. Unfortunately. Looked like Tony was going to be unhelpful to the end.

  Standing taller, Joel walked past the washers—two of them, because that seemed necessary for two people. He waited at the door and when he failed to pick up footsteps or any other sliver of movement or noise, he crossed into the next room.

  This time he heard a sound. A thumping, loud and steady. It came from the area above his head. To sink through the floor and radiate through the house, it had to be pretty obvious upstairs.

  Shifting around the long marble counter, he grabbed a small knife out of the collection in the block. Never hurt to have an extra weapon. The size, easy to tuck into the edge of his glove, gave him one more advantage. Or so he hoped.

  In front of him loomed several doorways. He could see into a large room with a television. He closed his eyes and thought about the plans. He needed to go deeper into the house and find Tony’s home office. If that didn’t work, Joel would head for the stairwell.

  But the thumping kept grabbing his attention. With a brief look around, he skipped the downstairs check and headed for the bottom of the stairs. Cam met him there. He pointed up and Joel knew they shared the same idea.

  The double height of the entry let them study a wide area, but not every angle. The steps curved, so the top landing wasn’t fully visible. Someone could be hiding, but Joel bet not.

  Tony sat at a desk all day. He didn’t plan attacks. The one he had tried to handle ended up with two men dead and too many questions. Joel doubted that went as hoped.

  Careful to stay to the side and not to hit a creaky spot, they trailed each other up the stairs. Joel took the lead and kept his attention above them. The responsibility for scanning the area below and calling out about danger fell to Cam. Joel couldn’t think of another man he trusted more with his back. Cam spent most of his time traveling, but they stayed in touch. The trip to the woods had only cemented their trust.

  A huge chandelier hung over their heads, and the stair railing shone like it had been polished for days without stopping. There was one benefit to such an over-the-top house. Everything had a place. There wasn’t any clutter and the plush carpet silenced their steps.

  Nothing moved as they climbed, but the steady thumping grew louder as they reached the top. Though he tried, he couldn’t place it. Not a weapon or any machine he recognized.

  At the top, Joel stopped for a second to get his bearings. The master bedroom consisted of nearly a thousand square feet, more than the size of his last apartment, and sat to his right. He turned the corner and headed there. Cam followed right behind.

  The door at the end of the hallway was open. Joel could make out something scattered all over the floor. Clothes, maybe. Papers, certainly. He knew there was a large sitting area in there in addition to the bedroom and bathroom.

  He and Cam took positions on either side of the wide hall and stalked with their backs against the walls and their guns aimed in that doorway. Joel caught Cam’s attention and glanced down at the floor. Cam looked, then shrugged. Whatever was going on in there stumped both of them.

  The floorboard under Cam’s feet creaked and the thumping cut off. That meant the end to their covert advance. One more step and the boom of gunfire started.

  Both Joel and Cam dropped down. Joel crawled on his elbows, shooting as he went. Cam took the higher position but still kept low.

  They pushed forward, emptying their magazines as they went. Bullets flew and artwork crashed off the walls. Something made of glass exploded near Joel’s head and he ducked to avoid the shards.

  Plaster from the walls kicked up and curtains bounced and shredded. Joel could hear crashing and shattering as their bullets slammed into all the furniture in the bedroom.

  A mix of dust and smoke swirled around them. He sniffed for gas, because that seemed to be Charlie’s specialty, but only smelled the sulfuric scent of gunfire.

  A noise registered over all the banging. They stood just outside the doorway when Joel signaled for Cam to cease firing. It wasn’t hard to make out the yelling now. Loud and male and near hysterical.

  “No, stop!” The chant came from inside the room.

  Joel didn’t buy the surrender. He braced his body against the doorframe. “Come out.”

  “I can’t.” The thumping came in quick succession that time.

  Cam asked what it was, but Joel didn’t have a clue. “Why can’t you walk out there?”

  “I’m down.”

  Cam shook his head. Joel didn’t believe it either, but a standoff in a shredded hallway wasn’t his idea of a smart use of time. Not when they only heard one voice and there should be two.

  “It’s Tony Prather.” Davis had voice recognition software on his side and a pretty good memory. If he said this was their guy, Joel believed him.

  “Where’s Charlie?”

  “Gone.”

  A soft thud, almost hidden, sounded behind them. Cam spun around but dropped the weapon again when Connor’s head popped up at the top of the stairwell.

  “Who’s in there?” he asked.

  Joel repeated what he knew. “Tony.”

  Connor stepped around the worst of the debris, but small piles crunched under his feet. “I was in the office when I heard the shots.”

  “Help me.” Tony’s plea
sounded softer and breathy that time.

  Joel started inside but Connor held him back. “Tony, this is Connor Bowen. Where is Charlie?”

  “He left.” Tony’s voice filled with panic. He groaned and something fell.

  Connor looked to Joel, then Cam. “Believe him?”

  “No,” Cam shot back.

  Connor nodded. “Let’s go in and get him.”

  All three walked into the room with Connor in the lead. Broken furniture and clothes littered the floor. Papers and dust were everywhere. It looked as if someone had taken a wrecking ball to the place. Not a simple glass anything remained intact. Gunfire had shredded the comforter and curtains.

  Joel recognized some of this as their work. But not all. Someone else needed to take credit for the opened drawers and the empty bag on the bed.

  One thing was missing—Tony.

  Filing in, they opened doors to massive closets and a room with boxes in it that Joel couldn’t even identify. If it was a closet, it was a big one. To the right, Joel spied shoes. He snapped his fingers to get his teammates’ attention. They all stopped and aimed.

  “Come out, Tony,” Connor said in a stern voice. “This is over.”

  “Can’t.” The guy practically cried now.

  Joel recognized the tone as one of defeat and pain. He motioned them forward. The sight that greeted him would stay in his head for a long while. Tony slumped on the floor with blood soaking his shirt.

  He balanced against the sink cabinet with his legs in front of him and his hands limp at his sides. It looked like someone had taken a knife to him and enjoyed it too much.

  Tony’s head lolled to the side. Joel followed the line of his body to his foot. He jammed his heel against the door to another closet and it slammed against an inside wall.

  A phone sat a few feet from his foot and just out of reach. Joel could only assume Tony was trying to reach it and kept moving his foot when the rest of his body failed him.

  Connor squatted down in front of the seriously injured man and took his pulse. The guy’s eyes were open but glassy. He was fading, and they had minutes only. Even then Joel doubted help could get there in time.

  Connor glanced up at Cam. “Call for medical.”

  “Is anyone else here?” Joel thought about the report of his wife leaving and hoped they got that right.

  Tony shook his head but didn’t talk.

  Cam talked low in the background and Connor went to work trying to stem the flow of blood from Tony’s chest. Dropping to his knees, Joel took up the position on Tony’s other side. He grabbed a towel off the counter and pressed it against the man’s stomach. It stained with red almost immediately.

  Tony’s eyes closed on a hiccup of breath. Joel worried they’d lost him.

  “Hope.”

  Joel leaned in. “What did you say?”

  His heart clunked and Connor’s hands froze.

  Tony’s head drifted farther to one side. “He wants her dead.”

  Joel grabbed the man’s shirt in his fists to shake him awake again. This was about Hope and he didn’t care what he had to do to hear the message. “This isn’t the time for your bullshit.”

  Tony panted and his chest jumped up and down as he forced out words. “Charlie thinks she ruined everything.”

  Panic flooded through Joel as he sank back on his heels. He couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe. He’d spent so much time walking danger away from her and here she was, alone with a nutcase on her tail.

  “I’ll call and warn her,” Cam said.

  Joel’s entire world froze. He could hear Cam speaking and Davis saying something over the comm, but the sounds muffled and mixed until nothing made any sense. It was as if someone had fired a gun right next to his ear and taken out his hearing.

  Joel looked at his boss. “Connor?”

  “Take Cam.” Connor held out his hand and Cam dropped the phone in it. “I’ll wait for the ambulance.”

  A question finally pushed into Joel’s brain. “Did you reach Hope?”

  Cam shook his head.

  “He’s going to kill her.” Tony panted through the words but his eyes closed. His body became boneless as his hand fell open at his side. “I want him to fail.”

  * * *

  HOPE FORCED HER mind to stop racing. She needed to stay calm. A madman stood in her home and her alarm system was off. Joel wouldn’t be rushing in to help her. She didn’t even know if he was still in town.

  That left only a few options, the main one being to scream her head off.

  Something flashed and a cold hardness pressed against her throat. A knife. “Don’t try to be a hero, Hope. We’ve all had enough of that from you.”

  “I didn’t—” She inhaled as the blade broke skin.

  “One sound and I will cut you. Deep this time, whether I slice you or throw it at you. Do you understand?”

  “What do you want with me?” Her voice wavered, but she had to keep him talking while she thought of a new plan. The front door was the best candidate.

  “You ruined everything.”

  Charlie being here made no sense. He should be running. “I was just doing my job.”

  He shoved her against the couch and she fell deep into the cushions. Before she could bounce up again, he sat on the coffee table across from her. A second later he held her wrist in his grasp with the knife hovering right there.

  He tapped the flat side against her skin. “Mark was supposed to disappear, but you had to go looking.”

  “Yes.” She tried to pull away, but Charlie only tightened his hold.

  “I told you Mark was blowing off steam and to let it go.” Charlie shook his head and treated her to an annoying hum. “You never listen.”

  “But you killed him.”

  “That was the deal.” He waved the knife in front of her face this time. Back and forth. “Pay off the mortgages and in return I helped Tony with a little problem.”

  “Mark was a human being, not a problem. And Perry. Was he just an afterthought?”

  Charlie made a face as he stood up. “So many questions from the spoiled little rich girl, but I’m not going to play along. I’m not one of the men you have wrapped around your finger, like your daddy and Joel.”

  She watched Charlie move around her apartment, touching photographs and stopping at the front door to hit the lock button. The system chirped and the red light came on.

  As if that would stop her if she had a clear shot to the outside. She would run and scream and he would have to track her down. She would go out fighting.

  But she might be able to entice him with something he needed. “I have money.”

  “That’s why this will look like a burglary turned rage-filled attack turned fire.” He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a towel. “You die and I take some items and cash.”

  She bolted for the exit. He was on top of her before her hand hit the knob.

  He smashed her into the door hard enough for it to shake on its hinges. Then he grabbed her around the waist and threw her. Her legs went out from under her. She put out her hands to stop her fall but landed in a sprawl on the foyer floor by his feet.

  Her elbow hit the hardwood with a crack. Every part of her ached and her head throbbed. She didn’t even remember it slamming into the floor, but it must have.

  “That’s enough of that.” He crouched down in front of her. “Want to know what happens next, Hope, the expert hiker and climber?”

  “Joel will be here any minute.”

  Charlie laughed at her. “I was outside and saw him go. He left you. Looked pretty happy to be gone, if you want to know the truth.”

  “That’s not—”

  “Ran to his car to get away from you instead of staying the night. What guy does that?”

  She pushed that hurt out of her mind and concentrated on survival. Joel would want her to kick and bite and do whatever she had to do to survive. “He will come back.”

  “Not tonight. He’s busy with Tony.”<
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  A new horror spilled over her. More bodies. More death. “What did you do?”

  “My partner got greedy. Now he’s dead.” Charlie took the lighter out of his pocket and lit the kitchen towel. The fire swallowed one end in a second. “The trail leads to me returning to camp. Joel will go there, only to get the call there’s been an accident.”

  Fear swelled inside her. She’d battled back flames at the campsite and it had taken all of her strength. Seeing even this small fire twisted her stomach in knots. “You didn’t do so well with that before.”

  “This time it’s foolproof. You die and the town house burns down.” He stood up and threw the burning rag on the couch. The cushion lit with fire almost instantly. “I think Joel will get the message, don’t you? He may have stopped one fire, but he’ll be too late for this one. See, I made sure to be on the security cameras at Tony’s house. I slipped out the side, but he’ll think I’m still there, and in a house the size of Tony’s without help, Joel will be there for a while.”

  The fire crackled and she heard a whoosh. She knew she had mere minutes. And Charlie would want her dead before the fire took hold and raced through her house. “You’ll never get away with this.”

  “If I wanted to stick around, you’re right. But see, I have the money Tony planned to hide and now I can leave. Let the banks have the campground. I don’t care.”

  “Just go.” The new attack made no sense. He was free. He could run.

  “I’ve decided you need to be taught a lesson first.” He stepped away from the fire.

  She didn’t hesitate. Crawling on her hands and knees, she headed for the bow case. She’d never get off a shot, but her arrows were clipped inside and the pointed end could cause some damage. The hard thumps rattled through her and jarred her from head to foot as she went.

  Her hand had just hit the case when Charlie’s foot appeared in front of her face. He stepped on her hand and she screamed.

  “I warned you.” He used a scolding voice.

  It only emboldened her. Finding energy she didn’t know she had, she made a fist and punched the fleshy part right above his knee straight on and with all her might. It buckled and he doubled over, almost going down. The move took his weight off her hand and she made another lunge.