by Emma Slate
While Katherine sat in the backseat of her car, Ash and I stood in the alleyway in the chilly air discussing what we were going to do with the information; we’d learned Hawk’s location. My first inclination was to arm myself and blast the shit out of anyone in the way when I went to get my son, but luckily rationality returned.
“How can we trust anything out of her mouth,” Ash asked.
“When we came into the wool store, do you remember her reaction? She was terrified of me. Katherine can’t lie to save her life.”
“We’re just supposed to take her word for it? That she overheard Winters on the phone discussing Hawk’s location? You don’t think she’s setting a trap for you? We should tell Duncan. Let him handle this.”
I rolled my eyes. “I know how that would go.”
“He’ll tell Flynn, you mean?”
“Yes.”
“Well, he should tell him. And then we can wait until Flynn gets back—”
“No, we have to move on this information. Now. And while I trust Duncan, we still have a potential coup on our hands, so we don’t know who’s loyal to whom.”
“Duncan is called The Tracker for a reason, Barrett. You’re too close in on this.”
I ran a hand across my tired face. I felt like I’d been awake for days. Maybe I wasn’t thinking clearly.
“We’ll take Katherine to the house. We’ll check out her information and if it’s solid, we can let her go—after we get Hawk back,” I said.
And then I could spend time with Flynn plotting how to destroy Winters and Arlington. Rage simmered just below the surface of my skin, but I contained it, forced it back. Thinking with anger always resulted in reckless behavior. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath.
“You’re right,” I said to Ash. “Let’s take her to Duncan.”
“What do we do with our driver waiting for us at the bar?” Ash asked.
“Leave him there for a few hours,” I said. “Because we don’t know if we can trust him.”
We got back into the car and drove to Duncan’s estate. Katherine was quiet, her gaze trained on her lap. She probably expected the worst considering she knew how violent and relentless the SINS could be.
I wondered what Katherine’s childhood had been like, growing up in the shadows of the SINS but not really participating in it. It was a patriarchal group, very similar to a mafia family. The men were the soldiers, they doled out violence, and the women knew about it but weren’t involved.
“Do you believe in the SINS?” I asked Katherine and shattering the silence.
She flinched. “Believe in them? Like believe in the cause?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I won’t betray your confidence. I’m just curious.”
“I would love a free Scotland,” Katherine began hesitantly, “but I don’t like how the SINS go about it.”
“The violence?”
“Aye. I also don’t like that—well—women aren’t involved in any real way. We don’t contribute. I have friends who…” she trailed off, looking nervous.
“Go on.”
She took a deep breath. “I have friends—female friends—who would very much like to be,” she paused, searching for the correct word, “warriors, soldiers.”
“But not you because of the violence.”
“I don’t have the stomach for it.”
Ash snorted.
In a brief show of fire Katherine pushed back. “I don’t.”
“But you clearly had no problem helping someone kidnap a child.”
Katherine looked at me, wanting me to see her earnestness. “I know what your husband can do to me—and yet I still made sure you saw my face, so you’d know to come to me for information. I couldn’t knowingly seek you out because Felix—Fred,” she corrected, “keeps watch on me. He thinks I don’t know, but I do.”
“Fuck,” I said.
“I second that,” Ash said as she pulled the car into the garage on the estate.
“If you want to get your son back, you have to move fast,” Katherine went on. “Because it’s only a matter of time before Fred learns that I—”
“You’ll be safe here,” I said to her.
She nodded, but didn’t like she believed me. Maybe she wasn’t so naïve after all.
“You did what!” Duncan thundered.
I wasn’t intimidated by his anger. He was like a Scottish storm, blustery and angry, but it would blow over soon.
“Okay, you have the right to be worried,” I said. “But if I hadn’t gone, we never would’ve known that Arlington is working with Winters.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Duncan grumbled, running his hand through his hair. He looked at Ash who was sitting quietly in a leather chair. The door to Duncan’s study was closed, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Elliot in the dungeon could hear Duncan’s displeasure.
“Don’t look at me,” Ash stated fearlessly.
“You aided her in this preposterous idea to accost Katherine McConnell in a public place!”
“And now she’s safely locked up in the room where we kept Jane,” Ash went on, not afraid of Duncan’s anger any more than me.
Duncan realized he was losing control of the situation. “Why didn’t you come to me?” he asked me, his voice softening, his brogue thick.
“First, there wasn’t time. Second, I didn’t want anyone to know.”
“You’re reckless.”
“Winters has my son!” I faced off with Duncan whose glare was back in full force. “Arlington stabbed us in the back! It was his word that sent Flynn and Sasha to London on a fucking wild goose chase. Why do you think he did that? Huh? He wanted me alone so Winters could talk to me.”
Duncan inhaled a shaky breath and then nodded for me to go on. I’d filled him in on most of my day, but it was still patchy and full of holes. There was so much to discuss and time was against us.
“You think Katherine is telling the truth about Hawk’s location?” Duncan asked.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Intuition,” I stated. And hope. Blind fucking hope because what else could I think?
Duncan cursed in Gaelic and then, “We have to call Flynn and tell him. We’ll get him home and he and I, with a trusted few including Sasha can—”
“No,” I stated. “There isn’t time. Don’t you get that? We have to go now. The three of us. I don’t trust anyone else.”
“Wait,” Ash interjected. “What do you mean ‘the three of us’? You might have some nerves of steel and can operate a gun no problem, but I’m not cut out for this.”
“Getaway car,” I said.
“Ah.”
“You’re both kidding, right? You both get this isn’t a joke? We go in there, not having vetted the situation, we could die. Hawk could die.”
I swallowed. “I know, but I—I don’t know what else to do, Duncan. Winters wants Flynn. He said he’d give Hawk back if we gave him Flynn, but what if he’s lying? In fact, I don’t believe for a second that Winters is actually telling me the truth. It would be just like him to take Flynn and keep Hawk from me. I ruined his career. He want’s to ruin me back.”
“Flynn is going to kill me,” he mumbled.
“Does that mean you’ll do it?” I asked with hope.
“As you pointed out, we have a very small window. Give me half an hour.”
Lord Elliot leaned against the wall of his dark cell with his eyes closed. I approached, but he didn’t open his eyes. He might’ve been asleep, but his chest didn’t rise and fall like a man in sleep. He’d been held for days, the bruises from Ramsey’s fists had faded. I hadn’t seen him since I’d shown him my own scars and pleaded for him to help me save my son.
I watched Elliot for a moment. Resignation and weariness coated his body. His eyes finally opened and we stared at each other, not exchanging words.
I gripped the bars of his prison cell, wanting to end the man’s life, but it wasn’t mine to take. Though I’d promised Elliot a quick death, it
wouldn’t be at my hand.
“Why did you come, then?” he asked. I hadn’t spoken, but he recognized the look on my face, what I wouldn’t do was reflected in my eyes.
“I don’t know,” I said truthfully. I didn’t need to see Elliot in order to bring on my rage. Maybe I just wanted a final goodbye before I went to get Hawk.
“How’s Jane?” he asked, showing some life, showing concern for his daughter.
“Fine.” As far as I knew, she was. She was with Ramsey and who knew what battles they were fighting. Lust, anger, love. Sometimes they all melded together.
“Any news about your son?” he asked.
I couldn’t hide my surprise that he would care to ask.
He gave me a wan smile. “Why is it the innocent always pay in the war of the guilty?”
“The way of the world, I guess.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “We all think we’re right, you know? We all think we have life figured out, that our cause is the right one, our religion the superior, our lives worth more. But we’re all just here, aren’t we? Until we’re not.”
“I’m not in the mood for philosophy.”
“Are you in the mood for advice?” he asked.
“Giving or taking?”
“Taking.”
“Go on,” I allowed.
“No mercy,” he said softly. “Not when it comes to protecting your child. Anything goes.”
I nodded, suddenly grateful for his advice. Though he was technically my enemy, we’d reached an understanding.
“Will you be there? When they execute me?”
I’d done my own share of violence, but could I watch Duncan or Flynn end a man’s life? Was Elliot’s death even about me? In the last moments of Elliot’s life, would he look at me and go to his grave with peace, knowing that his daughter was safe because I had vowed to protect her?
Not all innocence had to be lost.
“Yes, Elliot,” I said. “I’ll be there.”
Chapter 29
The sliver of moon peaked out through the clouds and drowned the rolling hills in silver. When I was younger and had visited Scotland for the first time, I’d been fanciful. It had been easy to get caught up in the magic of Scotland. The earth was different here; the land pulsed with energy. A unique heartbeat. Now that I was older, I was still caught up in the magic of the land, but my love for the country had grown deeper. I’d planted my own roots here, binding together with Flynn and Hawk. Scotland was mine. This place was my home, and foreigner or not, this country owned a part of me, stole a part of me.
The SINS hadn’t been my cause; I wasn’t born to it, weaned on it. But I believed in it. Would I die for it? No. Would I die for my son? My husband? Yes. They came first. They would always come first. That was my true religion, my true reason for being.
It was nearly four AM when Duncan pulled the car to a stop on a modest neighborhood street in Edinburgh. He turned off the engine; the headlights dimmed and then went out. We sat in silence a moment, all of us unsure.
“Why Edinburgh?” Ash asked finally. I could hear the exhaustion in her voice. I was completely wired.
“Close to an airport,” I said without thought. “A way to get Hawk out of the country quickly.”
We fell into silence again. I stared out the back side window of the car, gazing at the moderate white home about twenty feet away where Hawk was supposed to be. There were no lights on in the windows, but there was a small gas lantern porch light that illuminated the red brick walkway up to the house.
“Are we clear on the rules?” Duncan asked.
“Yes,” Ash and I chimed together.
“I’ll go first. Check it out. When I’ve deemed it safe, I’ll text.”
Before Duncan got out of the car, he hauled Ash to him and kissed the breath right out her. It was carnal, it was hot, it wasn’t a goodbye kiss. It was a promise to return. I averted my eyes and wished Flynn was with me.
Duncan leaned back and released Ash who sank into the passenger side, looking like all her bones had melted. Duncan got out of the car and closed the door softly. He walked towards the house and disappeared into the shadows.
Ash climbed over into the driver’s seat, just to be prepared, just to make ready. In case.
“How long do you think we’ll have to wait?” Ash asked.
“I don’t know.”
Time seemed like it was moving in reverse. I started at my phone, willing it to buzz with a text from Duncan. That never worked. Ten minutes later, I was ready to sit on my hands to stop myself from texting Duncan.
“Any minute now,” Ash whispered, no doubt trying to appease me and keep me calm.
My phone buzzed. Fumbling, I dropped my cell. “Damn it.”
I found it on the seat floor, underneath the driver’s side seat. I opened the text and choked on a sob. It was a photo of Hawk’s sleeping face.
“He’s in there,” I said, showing it to Ash. There was another text, this time directions to the nursery by way of the back entrance.
I squeezed Ash’s shoulder and then was out of the car, jogging towards the white house. I dashed around the side of the house to the back, tromping across manicured grass. My heart thudded in my ears, the sound of it obliterating anything else.
Grasping the knob, I hesitated only a moment before turning it. I entered the dark house. I rushed across the kitchen to the stairs and took them two at a time until I was in a long hallway. Passing room after room, I came to a halt, suddenly wondering why all the lights were still off. Trepidation skated along my spine, crawling up my neck.
A baby began to cry. I recognized the sound of Hawk immediately. I knew my child. I began to move again, wondering why Duncan wasn’t tending to him. Unless of course he was busy dispatching those that had been entrusted to watch Hawk. I pushed open the nursery door. One lone lamp was on casting its warm glow. I went over to the crib and sighed in relief. Hawk was healthy and whole and completely angry. I scooped him up, immediately noticing how much more he weighed since the last time I’d held him.
Three bloody weeks.
I rocked him against me, breathing in the scent of him. He took a few moments to calm down, but I walked around the room with him. As soon as I had Hawk under control, I wondered where to find Duncan.
The light to the nursery flipped on and I turned, expecting to see Duncan. My arms around Hawk tightened ever so slightly and my son made a surprised squawk.
“You make my job so easy,” Fred Winters said with a malevolent grin, a pistol in his right hand.
“Where’s Duncan?” I asked, far more calmly than I felt.
“He’s fine. Stabbed him with a syringe the moment he came through the door. He’ll wake up in a few hours.”
“That’s your new MO, huh?” I said. “Why didn’t you kill him?”
“Not for me to do. I just promised to deliver him. Anyone else come with you?”
I hesitated and then, “My friend Ash is waiting in the car.”
“Toss me your cell phone,” he demanded from the doorway of the nursery, the gun by his side, letting me know he was still armed.
I struggled to get the phone out of my back pocket while holding onto Hawk. “What are you going to do?” I asked.
“I’m going to text her. The last thing I need is her coming in here blowing this all to shit.”
“Fine. But before you send it, let me read it.”
“Why?”
“Because if you try to sound like me and you don’t, she’ll know something’s up.”
He nodded. I tossed him the phone which he caught easily with one hand. He clicked a few times and then he was texting with one hand. “Here’s what I said, ‘Hey, all is good. Gathering some stuff for Hawk and we’ll be out in few minutes’.” He looked at me for confirmation.
“Sounds like me, but add a smiley face or something.”
He frowned. “Why?”
“It’s what Ash and I do.”
“Okay. Whatever. You kids and
your dumb emoticons.” He sent the text and then we waited for a confirmation. My phone buzzed. “She said, ‘Great’ and then gave you a thumbs up.” He shoved my phone in his pocket before giving me his full attention.
“How did you know I’d find this place?” I asked.
“I knew Katherine overheard me on the phone. I knew she’d bait you into a trap and you’d be emotional enough to get caught.”
I inhaled a shaky breath. “Not here, okay? Not in front of Hawk.”
He nodded. I moved to the crib and gently set Hawk down on his back. I leaned over and pressed a kiss to his forehead, closing my eyes and committing him to memory. I pulled back and looked at Winters.
“I don’t have any weapons on me.”
“Pull up your pant legs,” he said. “Good. Now your shirt and turn around.”
I did as commanded.
“Okay. Let’s go.”
I walked to him and he gestured for me to go out of the doorway first. He put the gun to my back, and I swore I could feel the cold metal through my clothes. Or was that the icy ball of fear in my stomach spreading through my body?
We went down the front stairs that opened up into a foyer. The living room was directly in front of me and I could see Duncan’s prostrate form on the ground. But I couldn’t worry about him now. If I survived this, then I could worry about him.
The pistol jutted into my back with a little more force when Winters realized I had stopped walking. I immediately began moving again, past the living room and back towards the kitchen.
“Open that door,” Winters commanded, motioning to the door in the hallway on the right.
He flipped on the light switch and we traveled down another staircase until we were in a basement with a wood floor and stone walls. Cardboard boxes were stacked against the back wall, but otherwise, the basement was empty.
“You’ve thought of everything,” I murmured.
“Yes. Took long enough to plan, but it’s all come together quite nicely.”
“Oh?” I asked with curiosity.
He grabbed my arm and spun me around, getting close to my face so that I could see brown soulless eyes staring into mine. “You’re about to die. I’m not about to confess how fucking brilliant I am. I’m not a braggart.”