TWICE UPON A TIME

by Jennifer Wagner

  "I've made a decision," Dana announced, walking back into the room. "I'm going to get myself frozen, you know, that cryo-thing they do, and in twenty-five years they can wake me up. That way, I'll be the perfect age for Rafe."

  "You're insane," Anna said, chuckling.

  Lina was smiling, too, as she deftly cut the cake.

  "No, I'm not. That is one gorgeous boy you have in there. He's going to be breaking hearts before he's nine."

  Anna shuddered. "Please, don't even talk about it. I'm not ready."

  "Moms are never ready for their kids to leave the nest," Dana said, opening the fridge and grabbing a can of soda.

  "That is true," Lina said quietly.

  Anna busied herself by getting a drink.

  "Hey, Anna, by the way, I need some posterboard for work. Where do you buy the stuff you used for my comic strip?"

  "That board I picked up at the arts and crafts store, but any office supply store sells it. How much do you need?"

  Dana held up her hands, measuring in the air.

  "Do you need a color?"

  "No, it's for work. I just need to have a sturdy background for a sign we need to post. Why? Do you have some?"

  "Yeah, I think I have that size in blue, green and white. Let me go check."

  "You are a lifesaver!"

  She took the stairs two at a time and as she jogged past the bedroom, she thought of Rico.

  Please God, let him he all right, she prayed. Please.

  * * *

  Rico studied his friend in the confines of the car. Unflappable, with the kind of intelligence that made even the highest government officials nervous, he'd seen the man rattled once. At the time, Mike had been half carrying him from the Balangerio estate while their buddies unleashed the full force of their fury on the guards. Mike's disjointed apologies amidst the gunfire, combined with his being unable to look at Rico, had made him realize just how hurt he'd been.

  "We're missing a piece," Mike said, his low, distracted voice pulling Rico from his mental jungle.

  "What are you saying? That we still have no clue who's behind this?"

  "Something's not adding up," Mike said, flipping through the papers in his lap. "Whoever masterminded this is doing so for personal reasons. No one made a move to pick up the reins of the Balangerio's businesses, and now it's been split up and given to the other families. So, the only other motive is revenge. The question is, who's still alive to want it this bad?"

  Rico leaned an elbow on the door and pinched the bridge of his nose. The only living member of the Balangerio family was Enzo Balangerio, the ailing patriarch who'd been bedridden since his massive stroke two years ago.

  "What's Enzo's status?"

  Papers shuffled and glossy black-and-white photos landed in his lap.

  "Those were taken two days ago. He hasn't left the hospital since admission. He's completely paralyzed on his left side, his speech severely limited. The doctors are giving a week. Two, tops."

  Rico nodded, still looking through the pictures. There were aerial shots of the massive family compound he'd been held in, as well as at least one shot of each Balangerio family member. Some pictures captured one or two members together. It was those that he kept going back to.

  "Who's she?" he asked, holding up a picture with two men he recognized and a woman he didn't. With his other hand he slid one more picture from the pile.

  Mike ached a brow, and a sharp gleam entered his eye. "Figures you'd pick her out. She's the only one we don't have a full dossier on. She's a friend of the family, and not one background search turns up more."

  Rico opened the file Mike gave him. Cecilia Jordana Sciozzi, twenty-three years old, 110 pounds, five-seven, blue eyes, blond hair. Very pretty, probably more so when smiling.

  "How long ago was this one taken?"

  "Four years. That's our last good picture of Joseph and Mario together."

  She had on sunglasses and was listening attentively to whatever Joseph was telling her. Joseph, second in command of the Balangerio family, stood to the left of her, and Mario, his eldest son, stood to the right.

  Rico looked again at the file, reading what little facts Mike had found.

  "She's Mario's type," he mused. "Right age group."

  "Maybe," Mike answered, tapping his fingers on the bottom of the steering wheel, checking the side and rearview mirrors religiously. "Maybe she's a friend of one of their daughters."

  Rico stared at the two pictures, looking back and forth between the two images of the young woman, trying to find a scar or identifiable mark. The pics were taken from too much of a distance to be completely reliable but—

  "Oh, no." It couldn't be.

  "What?" Mike bulleted the question at him. Please, God, let him be wrong. He looked at the pic again and back at her dossier picturing her hair black. Please let it be a coincidence. His heart thundered, pushing heat into his face. He felt light-headed.

  "Dammit, Rico! What?"

  "It's Anna's friend. Her neighbor." He'd let them down. He'd let his family down. "It's Dana."

  * * *

  Chapter 11

  «^»

  "You're sure?"

  He ground his teeth. "It didn't click until I saw her middle name. Jordana. Dana for short. I don't know her connection to them, but I know it's her."

  The cell phone rang and his heat dropped.

  Mike said one word. "Who? When?" Long silence followed. "Who is? How many are down?" He bit out a curse. "Stay with her. No! Don't let that woman out of your sight. We'll be there in ten."

  He ended transmission and looked at Rico, simultaneously starting the car. "An ambulance just pulled up in front of the house. Anna met the EMTs outside and said something about your mother."

  "Son of a—" He bit off the curse and gripped the dashboard as hard as he could until pain made him ease up.

  "Rico?"

  He looked back, turning cold at the grim look in Mike's eyes.

  "Dana's there."

  As the car screeched into gear and swung into a 180, Rico pulled out his Beretta and checked his ammo.

  "Back seat. Blue gym bag." Mike drove as he spoke. No wasted time or motion.

  He twisted and reached back, pulled the bag up front and rifled through the assorted clips and rounds as the car sped through the mountainous back roads.

  "You going to be able to handle this?" Mike asked, and Rico knew what he really meant. Would he be able to handle the violence?

  He only nodded, and began to pray.

  * * *

  "An-na," Lina gasped, her hand grasping Anna's with bruising strength. "Some-thing wrong."

  "I know, Lina, I know," she soothed, jogging to keep up. The paramedics wheeled the gurney over the front lawn with surprising speed. Lina's skin glowed with a sheen of sweat, pasty-white, her eyes burning like coals. "No … Anna."

  "Ma'am. We need you to try not to speak. Relax the best you can so we can take care of you." The young paramedic spoke calmly, helping to put the gurney into the back of the ambulance.

  "Can I go with her?" Anna asked, wringing her hands and looking back over her shoulder at the twins. Rafe stood beneath Dana's sheltering arm. Rebecca stood crying silently in front of them.

  "Actually, I think it's a good idea. We need some help calming her down."

  "Anna! How about I bring the twins? We'll follow the ambulance."

  Anna's mind whirled. She looked around, but Rico was still not back. How could so much have happened in such a small amount of time?

  She couldn't see the agents, but they must have notified him. He was probably on the way.

  "Ma'am, we only have room for you and we need to go. Are you coming?"

  A crash came from inside the ambulance. Lina had swung out an arm, toppling a basket of supplies.

  "Dana, thank you. I need to be with her. I'll meet you all in the emergency room, okay?"

  Dana nodded, and Anna stooped to give the children a hug. "Don't worry, you guys. The doctor
s will take care of Grandma."

  They nodded and the paramedic's "Ma'am?" had her spinning toward the ambulance and jumping inside.

  Please let Rico show up. Please let him see the ambulance. I need him right now. I need him so much.

  She sat on the vinyl bench, gripping Lina's hand and praying, as the piercing wail of the ambulance's siren broke the silent peace of the neighborhood. How much more could her family survive?

  * * *

  Two police cars sat facing each other in front of Anna's house, lights off and sirens quiet. Curious neighbors had returned to their homes, leaving the two deputies to discuss the unusual situation.

  Mike braked to a stop next to the first car.

  "Where is everybody?" he asked, looking down at the young officer's chest. "Lansing."

  "Who are you?" the rookie asked. His bright-red hair, freckles and wide eyes gave him an Opie-like appearance and screamed his inexperience.

  "FBI."

  The other deputy, standard-issue toothpick traveling around his lips, slapped the rookie on the arm. "See, told ya they'd call in the Feds on this one."

  The rookie's awe as he stared at Mike had Rico biting his lip to keep from yelling.

  "Give me a report," Mike ordered.

  "Our sergeant is at the car around the corner if you want to check it out. We've cut off all access to the side road. Three men were DOA on our arrival. They were discovered by some kids when the ambulance showed up at this house for a heart-attack victim." He jerked a thumb toward Anna's house.

  "Thanks. We'll check it out. Any idea who they are?"

  "No, it's weird, man. No IDs, parked back on one of the old mountain access lanes. One guy on the ground behind the car, one in the trunk and the other in the back seat. They were up to no good, that's for sure." The voice warmed to its subject. "We haven't had a homicide, much less a triple around these parts for over twenty years!"

  "Anna's car's still here," Rico said, he and Mike exchanging looks.

  "Maybe Dana's driving."

  Mike took off with a brief thanks, swinging into a driveway and turning around. They roared down the lane and were at the hospital within eleven minutes.

  * * *

  Anna rubbed her aching right hand, still amazed at Lina's strength. The loud beeping of the emergency room monitors bothered her aching head, adding to the churning in her stomach.

  They took Lina up to the cardiac unit for more tests, but at least she was stabilized. Now Anna needed to comfort the twins and hopefully find Rico.

  Her sneakers squeaked on the shiny floors as she wove her way out to the waiting room. She expected to find her children either crying or running around the room checking everything out.

  She found neither. Immediate panic hit, and she had trouble catching her breath. Feeling people looking at her, she saw only a young couple, an elderly man and a young man with a bleeding hand sitting in the deliberately cheerful room.

  She approached the couple, trying to appear calm.

  "Excuse me, have you seen a woman with two small children? A boy and a girl?"

  The woman, her friendly brown eyes sparkling said, "Twins? Oh, I'm so hoping we'll have twins."

  Anna noted the flush on her cheeks and her husband's hand lying over hers on the woman's still-flat tummy.

  "Yes, they're twins and they're a double joy as well as a double handful," Anna said quickly, then added a smile.

  "No, we haven't seen them. I wish we had, we've been here for so long already." The husband smiled at his young wife, his whole expression adoring.

  I wish Rico had been around to look at me that way when I was pregnant.

  "Thanks, anyway," Anna said, barely managing to control her panic. "Best of luck to both of you."

  The couple beamed, and Anna headed for the rest room. Her heart beating double time, she searched the bathroom, calling their names. Nothing.

  Stay calm, she told herself. Maybe they'd been rambunctious and Dana took them out into the sunshine. If she was right, there was a small park area on the side of the church next to the hospital. She should have told Dana to keep them inside no matter what! What if the people watching them tried to grab Rafe again? Or maybe both of them this time.

  She threw open the door and halted, blinded by the piercing sunlight. Shading her eyes, she began walking quickly, then jogged to the park, searching the grounds at the same time. Halfway there, a blue car screeched to a halt in front of her. She didn't recognize the man in the driver's seat.

  Blondish-brown hair, military short. Light skin tone, wide mouth. Dark glasses hid his eyes.

  Run!

  She pivoted and took a step back toward the hospital, adrenaline soaring.

  "Anna!"

  She knew that voice! Whipping back around, she stared at the man standing on the passenger side of the car.

  "Anna, it's me!"

  Rico! Relief rushed through her. Combined with the emotional upheaval of the past few hours and her abrupt spin, little black spots floated across her vision.

  Rico caught her as she swayed, and she vaguely wondered why she didn't notice him running toward her.

  "Here, sit down," he said, gently pushing her down onto a curb and forcing her head down against her knees.

  "I'm okay, I'm okay," she protested. "No, let go. I'm fine. I have to check the park."

  "For what?"

  "The twins. I think they're out here. Then you need to come in and see your mom. Do you know everything that's happened?"

  "Anna, who's with the kids?"

  She looked at him then, at the white tightness around his mouth and the lack of any expression in his eyes.

  "Dana. Dana's with them."

  "Damn."

  She looked around Rico to the unfamiliar voice. "Anna, this is Mike."

  The man from the driver's seat. "Yes, hi. Why did you say that? What's wrong?"

  Rico took both her hands in his. "Dana's the one we've been looking for."

  She shook her head no. "Are you sure? How can you be sure?"

  "Do you trust me?"

  "Of course, but I still—"

  "Anna, I don't have time to go into it all, but we think she killed the three agents watching the house. We have to find her."

  "Oh, God. I gave her my babies!" The panic took over. "She offered to follow the ambulance. I should have known. But Lina needed me and—"

  "Hush. It's not your fault." Rico pulled her into his embrace and stood, then walked them quickly to the car. "If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. I shouldn't have left you all alone."

  Mike's cell phone began to ring.

  "Yeah. Who's this? What?" Mike began pacing and listened with a contained scowl. "Yeah, I'm glad you're there, but someone's ass is going to end up in a sling. Hold. Anna, do you know where the old maintenance building is on Shreveport Road

  ?"

  She focused her chaotic thoughts. "Yes."

  "She knows. Give me directions starting from there, then." Mike pulled out a small notebook and scribbled furiously. "Okay. Stay put and I'll make some calls. We'll be there ASAP, but if that plane moves, I don't care what you have to do. Good, I'm glad we understand each other." He flipped the phone closed and faced them.

  "Who was that?" Rico asked, still hugging Anna to his side.

  Mike looked at her. "Your friend, Joncaluso. He's a bit more than a small-town cop. He's FBI, undercover."

  Rico shook his head. He should have known.

  "We'll get into the details of all that later, but the good news is he saw Dana turn off instead of following the ambulance, and he followed her. Our man had been tailing her when his engine blew up. Apparently the car flipped over the median. I suspect Dana had the cars rigged in case one of the men lived."

  Mike was shaking his head, obviously unnerved by the downfall of trained agents. Terror filled Anna as she realized the extent Dana was willing to go to get what she wanted.

  "Joncaluso was behind him, radioed the accident in and stayed on Dana
's tail. She's at an old airstrip outside town. She has the kids on a private plane."

  "Are they okay?" She didn't realize she'd reached out and gripped Mike's forearm.

  "He says they look a little scared, but they're unharmed."

  "Thank God."

  "Now I'm going to make a few calls and get us some help. Rico, you need to see your mom?"

  "How is she?" Rico asked, looking down at her, concern and regret in his eyes.

  "She's stable, and they're running more tests. I don't think they'll let you see her for a few hours."

  He nodded. "Mike, let's go. I'll drive. Anna, sit in the front and give me directions."

  His withdrawal into impersonal, military mode startled her and then filled her with a sense of relief. He knew what to do.

  He would get their children back.

  * * *

  Rico needed to drive. He needed to control something, and controlling the car as they sped along snake-winding roads through the back country would have to do for now.

  He wished the wheel was Dana's neck.

  Anna sat beside him still as stone. Her instructions clipped, she didn't ask a question or worry out loud. Her silence confirmed what he already knew.

  This was his fault. He'd brought this danger into their lives.

  Now he had to remove it.

  "Rico, I want to get a take on Dana for the negotiators," Mike said from the back seat. He'd been busy on his cell phone, ordering authorities to the site, calling in favors and making promises of retribution to those who'd kept him in the dark about Joncaluso. "If Dana's just a friend of the Balangerios, why would she take the children? What would be the purpose?"

  He ground his back teeth. "Damned if I know. It makes no sense. She's not a family member. She doesn't kill my children. How is that revenge?"

  "How do we know she won't kill the children?" Anna asked, turning in the seat to face them. Her face was white but composed. In her eyes he saw the need for reassurance and the fear that she already knew the answer.

  He didn't want to answer, but knew she needed to be prepared.

  "We don't."

  * * *

  Rico slowed the car beneath the forest's thick, emerald umbrella of leaves, small branches and underbrush popping beneath the tires. All around them the forest grew wildly, untouched by man. Unable to drive further on old ruts that were once a ranching road because of the denser trees and high grasses, Anna looked around in amazement.