“She’s not your wife, Walters…or should I call you Bobby Swinton?”
Brad stumbled slightly, and Zach got the satisfaction of surprising the Chameleon.
Just as they reached Gabe’s house, Luke shot through the door. “Zach, get in here. Now!”
Zach pressed the gun at the base of Brad’s neck. “Move it.”
Seth opened the door and snagged his duffel. He pulled out some zip ties to secure Brad’s hands and feet. “Sit down and shut up.”
“What do you have, Luke?” Zach could barely get the words out as he studied his brother’s pale features.
“I just received this,” Luke said, pointing to an e-mail on the laptop’s screen.
“A message for Zane Morgan, aka Zach Montgomery. An eye for an eye.”
Seth stared at Zach, in awe. “You’re Zane Morgan. Holy shit. You’re a freakin’ legend.”
“Most of it’s just rumor.”
“Bro, that dog don’t hunt no more,” Seth said. “But I understand why you chose to be a hero in disguise.”
“What I’ve done doesn’t matter. Click the link,” Zach ordered, his stomach roiling.
A fuzzy image showed on the screen. A Middle Eastern man stood in front of the camera. A man Zach knew.
“What the hell?” Zach shouted.
“Zane Morgan?” The man raised a photograph into the camera. “Remember these people?”
Zach squinted at the grainy picture. Two bodies. Oh God. Pendar and his wife, Setara, riddled with bullets.
“You recognize? Pendar was guilty. His wife…they k…killed her because she belonged to him. She was my sister and you killed her.”
The man stepped to the side. “An eye for an eye.”
Zach’s knees shook.
Jenna was strapped to a chair. Blood trickled from her mouth.
“You want your woman returned, Zane Morgan? Then you wait for my message. You come to me. Alone.”
The screen went black.
* * *
Chapter Sixteen
* * *
ZACH HEARD NOTHING, only terror roaring through his mind. He reached out a hand and touched the black screen of Luke’s laptop.
The room was silent.
Zach struggled to breathe against the clamp of emotion squeezing his chest. Jenna’s desperate fear nearly stopped his heart. He had to save her.
With a shaking hand, he reclicked the link. The feed was gone.
Jenna was gone.
He rounded on Luke. “Tell me you can track the signal.”
His brother’s agonized expression shredded Zach’s hope.
“I won’t give up until I do.” Luke pounded on the keyboard for a few seconds, then muttered a curse. “Zach, you have to know…if he’s smart enough, I may need another feed before I can hone in.”
Zach’s eyes closed and he raised his head to heaven. That meant Jenna would be at the madman’s mercy. “Pendar was executed, Luke. I refuse to watch Jenna and Sam being gunned down over the damned Internet by the guy’s brother-in-law.”
Brad cut in. “What do you mean Sam? He wasn’t there.” The assassin stood, his face had gone pale. His hands tugged against the bindings.
“Tie him to the damn chair,” Zach growled, pressing the gun into Brad’s temple, “or I swear to God I’ll shoot him. For all I know the asshole that kidnapped her is working for Walters.”
“Think what you want, Montgomery, but I’d never put my son in danger like that.”
“Yeah, you’d only beat the crap out of his mother so he thinks that’s normal.”
Seth pushed Zach aside and grabbed Brad’s collar. “If Zach doesn’t kill you,” Seth said, smiling, “I’ll enjoy taking a wife abuser like you apart piece by piece.” The soldier slapped duct tape over Brad’s mouth. “I should let Zach kill you now. Be thankful we have more important business.” Seth glanced at his watch. “She disappeared less than two hours ago. They’re still in Colorado. He’d be hard-pressed to get her out of the Denver area and to another location, even via plane.” He looked at Luke. “We need more help.”
“I already sent texts to Gabe and Jazz. Once we locate this guy—” Luke sent a quizzical look to Zach.
“Farzam,” Zach replied. “His name is Farzam.”
“Right. Once we locate the asshole, we’ll need support.”
“What about SWAT?” Seth asked.
Zach paced back and forth. He shoved his hand through his hair. “I can’t risk it. I don’t know who in law enforcement we can trust. Not after the FBI involvement. We’re on our own to find them.”
He forced his mind to calm and replayed the scene in his head, frame by frame, using every observation skill he’d ever learned—as an actor and an operative. “The walls were void of anything personal. The room was small, abandoned. I only saw the one chair.”
Luke pressed a button and leaned in.
The video played on his computer.
“You recorded it?” Zach bit, wanting to look away, but unable to stop staring. He pushed Jenna’s beautiful, pained eyes away and studied the surroundings. “Loop it. Turn the sound up.”
Luke complied. For several minutes they stared at the screen. It wasn’t long before Jazz and Gabe joined them.
She went directly to Zach and hugged him tight. “I’m so sorry.”
“Tell me what you see,” he said to the woman whose sniper eyes took in more details than Zach could fathom.
The video played again.
“I recognize the sound in the background,” Jazz said. “Train. I grew up not far from a set of tracks in New Mexico.”
Luke pulled up a Denver map on the laptop, clicking an icon to reveal the railroad lines crisscrossing the area.
“We need to narrow it down more. We can never cover that many square miles of territory,” Gabe said.
“Small house. Boarded up, abandoned,” Seth commented. “Wood. On the inside anyway.”
“Not enough to go on.” Zach’s gut ached. He rubbed his temples. This couldn’t be happening. Not again. Was he about to lose someone else he…loved?
Yes, damn it, he loved Jenna. And Sam.
And now, his life—his own actions—had come back to destroy everything.
First his father, now Jenna.
Zach straightened and thrust his hands through his hair. No. Not this time.
“We have to find them,” he said to his family. “We have to find a way.”
Seth placed a hand on his shoulder. “We will.” Gabe, Luke, and Jazz nodded in agreement. “We’ll get them back for you,” they vowed.
Zach clung to the long shot. He refused to accept he’d found Jenna and Sam only to lose them now.
The small room closed in on Jenna, and she couldn’t stop the chill invading her body.
Her captor closed the phone. “The fool will come. You are his weakness.”
The man was going to kill Zach. Of that Jenna had no doubt. Unless she got away.
“Why are you doing this?”
Her kidnapper didn’t respond. He left the house and returned with a squirming Sam in his arms. “Be quiet or I’ll stuff the rag back in her mouth,” their captor warned. He turned to Jenna. “You love your son?”
Jenna’s heart stuttered. “Of course.”
“You would do anything for him? Even kill?”
Jenna swallowed.
“Well, so would I.”
Sam whimpered.
The man’s phone rang. He stared at the screen, his mouth screwing in disgust. “Yes.”
He listened, then laughed. “I will not give you Khalid’s location, not until I return to my home…and my son.” He glanced at Jenna. “I will have completed my part of our bargain very soon.”
Oh God. She had to warn Zach. She worked her wrists against the handcuffs, but they were too tight and cut into her flesh.
“Wait!” Dread laced the man’s voice. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Jenna froze.
Something had gone wrong
.
He began pacing the room, back and forth, his movements jerky.
“Tell me,” he said, his voice low.
He dropped the phone to the floor and fell to his knees.
“Noooo!”
The tortured scream ricocheted through the room. Jenna shrank away from his crazed motions.
“It cannot be true. My son, my Hamed!” The man howled in torment, banging his head against the floor.
Sam sobbed, his little body rocking against the restraints that bound him to his chair. Jenna strained against the handcuffs, but it was no use. She couldn’t help her son.
“Shut up, you sniveling American brat!” he screeched. He threw the phone at Sam’s head.
He ducked. The device smashed against the wall.
Jenna’s entire body stilled in dread. Until now, her captor had been calm, businesslike. Now, his eyes were wild with pain. He shook, muttering and pacing the floor like a caged animal.
“My son can’t be dead. He can’t be. Have to call. Learn if it’s true.”
Wailing he picked up the pieces of the shattered phone, cradling them next to his face. “Hamed? Setara, what do I do?”
Their captor circled through the room, prowling. He slammed his fist into the wall, digging a hole into the flimsy wood. Finally he rounded on Jenna.
“Zane Morgan did this!”
Hatred flared in the man’s eyes. “The American must pay. He will feel my pain.”
The man gripped the stick at his side and pointed it at Jenna.
“You. He loves you. You must die as my sister did. As my son did.”
He crossed toward her and lifted the wood.
She shrank back as far as she could into her seat.
“Don’t hurt my Mommy!” Sam yelled.
The man whirled on her son. “Shut up, shut up, shut up.”
“Sam, be quiet. It will be OK,” Jenna whispered, praying she spoke the truth.
“That’s what I told Hamed. I lied,” her captor said. “Hamed will be avenged. Zane Morgan will know my pain.”
Her captor raised the stick. Jenna stared up at him. Frantic, she twisted her wrists in the handcuffs. The wood slammed down on her arm and she cried out.
He raised the wood again. “The liar will know my pain!”
Anna’s tears refused to dry. Even when she couldn’t cry more of them, they burned behind her eyes. John Garrison lay pale and still in the bed next to her chair.
He hadn’t so much as shifted since she’d convinced Caleb to wheel her to the hospital room over an hour ago. She squinted at the sketch of John’s attacker on her lap. She shaded in the man’s hair. He seemed so unremarkable, but he’d almost killed John.
She clenched the pencil in her hand. If she’d even been a moment later…
The door swished open. “Mom,” Caleb said, his voice soft. “You need your rest. Let me take you to your room. You won’t do him any good here.”
She straightened and glanced over at her son, the doctor. “You’re wrong. We’re both calmer when we’re together.” She made a last few adjustments to the sketch, then smiled. It was him. “Get Nick. I’ve finished the sketch.”
Caleb hesitated.
“Right now, I don’t need a doctor as much as I need law enforcement. Your time will come again soon enough.”
Caleb nodded, leaving, then when he reentered the room with his twin, she handed Nick the drawing. “This is the man who tried to kill John.”
Nick glanced at the sketch and let out a soft whistle. “I’d forgotten how good an artist you are. I’ll make sure the cops get this right away.”
“Send Zach a copy, too,” Anna said. “I have a feeling—”
Caleb groaned. “Those feelings always get you into trouble, Mom.”
“No. Most of the time, my feelings tell me when you boys are in trouble.”
“I’ll send it right now.” Nick hurried from the room.
Caleb knelt by her chair. “Please. You need to rest. We thought we lost you,” he said softly. He examined her face. “None of us could stand that.”
“I need to be here.” Anna glanced over at John. “Medicine has done all it can for him. So have you. Now, I wait for John and God’s decision to be made.” She pulled the rosary beads from her pocket and worried them in her hands. “Please understand. I can’t leave yet.”
Caleb kissed her hair. “I know that stubborn expression all too well. I’ll give you another half hour, then you have to sleep. Doctor’s orders. You were hurt, too.”
She smiled at her son. “Yes, Doctor Montgomery.”
“Nick and I won’t leave either one of you alone. You’re safe,” he said. “I promise.”
“I know—and thank you.”
The door softly clicked closed. Anna clutched John’s hand. His eyes were closed, but his face had lost that grayish tinge that had terrified her when Caleb had first brought her into the room after she’d regained consciousness.
The heart monitor beeped steadily, its regular sound soothing.
She laid her head against his chest, feeling the sturdy thud of his heartbeat. “I thought I’d lost you. I was so scared. Please don’t leave me. Not when we just found each other.”
Fingertips fluttered against hers, the slightest of movements.
She stilled, holding her breath.
Please God, let it be.
He sighed and his hand squeezed hers. “Anna.”
She lifted her head and looked into his eyes. His open, beautiful hazel eyes.
“John?” Her voice was choked through the emotions welling inside her throat. “John!”
She hugged him tight. He grunted in pain and she pulled back. “Sorry.”
He licked his lips. “Water,” he croaked.
She reached over to a cup of ice chips and fed him a spoonful.
John swallowed, then reached his hand to her face. “I’m sorry, Anna. I asked too many questions. Patrick. Something strange about his death. Didn’t…protect you…”
His halting words nearly broke her heart. Closing her eyes, she leaned into John’s warm touch, a touch she’d been afraid she’d never feel again. She turned his hand and kissed his palm. “I almost lost you. Do you remember what happened?”
“Bomb.”
“You saved my life,” she said. “I won’t leave you again, John Garrison.” She pressed the call button. “We’re going to be all right now, and I’m going to wrap you up so tightly and care for you so much…” Her voice broke.
His eyes fluttered opened.
“Love you,” he whispered. “My Anna.”
He squeezed her hand and closed his eyes, his breathing slow and steady.
“Oh, John. I think I could love you, too.”
Icy water splashed against Jenna’s face. She sputtered and immediately groaned. Pain, agony seared through her body. The crazy man…oh God…where was Sam?
She heard no crying, no whimpering. She forced her eyes open.
Her son stared at her, tears streaming down his face, utterly silent, his body frozen. She blinked at him, but he didn’t move.
Her captor chuckled. “The boy knows when to be quiet, like my Hamed. He doesn’t want to die.”
Jenna tried to smile at her son, to give him comfort from across the room. She had to get Sam out of here.
She struggled to think past the pain. Her captor had hit her and hit her and hit her, again and again and again. Each time he struck he invoked the name Setara, his murdered sister.
“Wake up!” he yelled, throwing more water in her face. “We are not finished.” He grabbed her hair and yanked it back. “You have no courage. Not like Setara. She went through the fires of hell on earth before they killed her. So shall you.”
Jenna swallowed and licked her cracked lips, swollen from his fists. “Please,” she whispered. “Don’t.”
“Yes. Beg. Like my sister begged. To no avail.”
The man leaned in and grabbed her chin. “Beg me,” he said. “Me, Farzam. Beg me
for your life.”
He ran his palm across her face, then pulled his bloodstained hand away. He walked to Sam and smeared her blood across her son’s cheek. “Beg for your son’s life—as I couldn’t beg for mine.”
“Farzam, let my son live. Please. I’ll do anything you want.”
“Say it again. Louder.”
She heard a small clicking noise.
God, was that a gun?
She wrenched her wrists against the cuffs and moaned as they cut deeper into her open wounds. The pain was nothing compared to her inability to help Sam. She hated being powerless. Brad had made her feel that way for far too long, but this madman evoked a terror like she’d never known. He could kill them both, at any moment.
She could only plead.
“Please. Please,” she begged, sobbing. “Kill me. I don’t care, just let my son live.”
Brad couldn’t look away from the laptop screen.
Sam’s face, covered in blood. Jenna pleading for his life.
Farzam struck her again.
Brad’s mind swirled with memories.
“You went to the cops!” his father screamed at his mother. She bent over, coughing up blood. Streams ran down her face. “You’re as weak and stupid as your son.”
He raised the belt. “You.” Smack. “Will.” Slap. “Not. Talk. To. Them. Again.”
With a cry, Bobby ran to his mother and hugged her tight. Wet dampened his face, but not tears. Never tears. Bobby wiped his cheek. His hands turned red. He looked at his mother. Her eyes were swollen closed. Blood dripped from a cut on her forehead. She whimpered even as she held him close, trying to protect him from his father’s wrath.
Martin Swinton grabbed Bobby by the waist and threw him against the closet door. His father’s huge hand gripped Bobby’s throat. “You listen and listen good, boy. There is no room for mistakes. No room for talking too much.”
His father threw Bobby into the closet. He locked the door.
Bobby hated the dark. He threw himself against the old oak. “Mommy! Mommy!”
“You won’t be talking to the cops again, will you?” A loud smack. A thud. Again and again.
Behind the Lies (A Montgomery Justice Novel) Page 25