“Soon. Right now, I think you need to move away from the window. Just to be safe.” He held her upper arm and gently steered her to an interior wall of the office.
But when he had positioned her away from sight, he didn’t—couldn’t—let go. They had peace and quiet, if only for a moment. Grasping her other arm, he turned her toward him, and she collapsed against him. He encircled her in his embrace, stroking her hair and praying that it would ease away her exhaustion and frustration and fear.
With his parents deceased and his aunt and uncle uninterested, it had been years since Derek had felt the warmth and comfort of physical touch. It was a balm to his soul. How he had missed that human connection, and now he was here, again, with Hannah.
She lifted her head, a question in her eyes. But before she could speak, Derek touched his lips to hers, a gentle inquiry that zinged to his toes. He pulled away while he still had the self-control, overwhelmed by her beauty and the effort it took to catch his breath. She gazed up at him, apparently not appalled at his liberties, but not seeking another kiss, either.
“Do you think there’s any—?” He cut himself off. He wanted to ask if she thought there was any chance for a future together, if her father would be more accepting of him now, if she could ever care for him again. But what would be the point? Just to hear again that it couldn’t work?
Hannah swayed away, a pink tinge to her cheeks. “Any what?”
Derek cleared his throat. “Any chance for rain?” He peered out the window. “No, I think we’ll be fine.” He took a large step away and steered her toward the door while filling his lungs with oxygen that he prayed would clear his mind.
Hannah hitched her purse on her shoulder. “Time to go?”
“Reid is probably here with his vehicle.” He wasn’t sure where he would drive, but he’d figure it out on the way.
They grabbed the elevator and stepped inside. Derek pushed the button for the first floor, more than a little frustrated with himself. Would he ever have the courage to broach the topic of renewing their relationship? He shifted his weight from one leg to the other, but nothing eased his discomfort.
A ding signaled their arrival at the first floor. As the doors opened, Derek looked out, both ways, then stepped out with Hannah following close behind. The lobby was clear, and he turned right toward the parking lot, where Reid would pull up his Cherokee.
“Derek!”
He spun to see the burly man from the courthouse with his meaty paws on Hannah. The man clamped his hand over her mouth and dragged her around the corner from the elevator.
Adrenaline spiked through Derek, his skin tingling with the rush to high alert as he drew his SIG and followed Hannah. As he turned the corner, a service door out to the side of the building rose up before him. He opened the door slowly, but before he could open it enough to see what was on the other side, a crack sounded. Pain ripped through his arm as well as his heart. What would they do to her? He released the door and grabbed the site of the wound, blood sticking against his fingers. A glance at the wound revealed that the bullet had only grazed him, and he returned his focus to finding Hannah. He had to save her, even if it was the last thing he did.
He cracked the door again, keeping himself shielded behind it. When no other shots were fired, he opened it farther. The thugs were forcing Hannah into a large SUV in an alley behind the office building. His gut clenched at the thought of those heavies with their hands on her. She caught sight of him as they were pushing her head into the vehicle. A loud gasp tore through the air, her eyes locked on his bloody wound.
The wiry man turned back and aimed his weapon at Derek. But someone called to him from inside the SUV, and he jumped in, slamming the door. As the vehicle moved away, Derek stepped out to the alley, desperate to see which direction they headed. His breath puffed in short spurts as panic threatened to overtake him.
A moment later, Reid tore around the corner in his Cherokee. He squealed to a stop and stepped out. “I heard the shot and figured they were at the other door out of the building.” His gaze swept up and down the alley. “Where’s Hannah?”
Derek raced around to the driver’s side. “They have her. I need to go.” He slipped into the seat, gripping the wheel and throwing the vehicle into Drive. A second rush of adrenaline pulsed through his arteries, and he pushed the Cherokee out to the main road, turning in the same direction they had taken Hannah.
TEN
Hannah couldn’t tell if the man driving was eager to finish off whatever they were going to do to her, or if he was just a maniacal driver, but the shops and galleries and restaurants along County Line Road sped past at a rate that made her eyes jiggle. The bright afternoon sun was another irritant, but when she turned her face to the interior of the vehicle, she was assaulted with the view of the guys who had kidnapped her and her stomach churned as if she might be sick. As they left the business district and headed out into the countryside, clouds began to gather to the west. A storm was brewing, and rain would begin soon.
Dread paralyzed her, but she managed to squeak out a request to crack the window to let in fresh air. The driver grunted and lowered her window a half inch. The sounds of late spring in Indiana filtered in, the soothing music of tree frogs and mother birds chirping as they gathered for their young. Tiny sprouts of corn had pushed up and unfurled new leaves, and the earthy smell of warm soil sifted in from freshly plowed and planted fields.
Indiana had been her home for as long as she could remember, but had it always been her home state? She didn’t even know where her life had started, but perhaps she would find out soon. The two men in the vehicle were the men they had seen in the courthouse, and they had remained silent. No answers would be forthcoming from them, either. As much as she cared about her own safety, she had seen blood on Derek’s sleeve. He had been shot, but she had no idea how bad it was. Could it have been fatal? Would she ever see him again? Ever get the chance to tell him that she loved him? A tear slipped down her cheek, and she swiped it away with the back of her hand. She had fallen for him all over again, and now any hope for a relationship had been dashed almost before it had even begun.
She needed to stay strong for Derek. To survive this and to make all his efforts worthwhile. She turned to the man next to her in the backseat. “How much longer until we’re there?”
He remained silent without even a glance in her direction.
“Where are we going?” The breeze from the window blew hair in her face, and she pulled back some strands to tuck behind her ear.
Still no answer.
“Am I going to meet my birth father?”
That question elicited a sneer from her seat companion, but he returned his attention to the front without an answer.
Her window powered up, and she glanced at the driver to see his finger on the controls. There went her fresh air.
About forty-five minutes outside of Indianapolis, the driver turned off the highway, and the sign for Crooked Branch Park rose tall. As they passed through the unmanned gate and into the heavily wooded park, a shiver crept up Hannah’s spine. She licked her dry lips and bowed her head to utter a silent prayer for protection and safety. Derek had been well-armed and knew how to use his weapons. But he wasn’t here. And if he was ever outgunned, what would all of that training and experience matter anyway?
If only she had some training. A weapon, at least. But she’d always been too busy with her studies to bother with it. Well, weapon or not, she had the best protection a woman could have—the protection of God Almighty.
Would she meet her birth father at the end of this road? Did it matter anymore? She already knew who she was, what she was doing and why. Her faith in God had led her to those discoveries, no matter what her past had been. The news that she was adopted had been a shock, but if she had known all about her adoption and birth family growing up, would s
he not be in law school, on a course to a life of charitable giving, unmarried and alone? No, she had to admit, if only to herself. Law school was God’s will for her. Knowledge of her birth parents would not have changed that.
She clenched her hands together. She would rely on God the Father like she never had before. He was the One who knew what was best, all the time.
The SUV turned a couple of times before the road led them to a deserted picnic pavilion with several trailheads. The driver pulled into a parking spot next to another large SUV. Hannah scanned the woods around them, but didn’t see any sign of help. Would this be her last breath?
She grabbed her bag as the thug in the backseat pulled her out his door, his fingers pressing into her bicep.
The driver led them to trail five, a narrow, grassy path. They were forced to walk single file with Hannah in the middle. She stared at the back of the head in front of her with an occasional glance around. But memorizing her surroundings was useless. What she wouldn’t give to be following behind the man with the broad shoulders, quick reflexes and FBI training. But he was compromised, no one else knew where she was and her grave was probably just a few yards down the path. Large boulders sat on either side of the trail, and the shadowed sun was blotted out by thick overhead foliage. Happy little buttercups bloomed by the trail, a stark contrast to the somber moment that was surely coming.
The packed-dirt path deep in the woods led around one of the largest boulders Hannah had ever seen and then widened into a clearing. She stumbled over a root sticking out of the ground and, unable to regain her balance, she fell into the clearing.
The burly thug yanked her to her feet.
A woman who was an older version of the photo in the newspaper stepped from behind a boulder. A stricken expression on the woman’s lined face tore at Hannah, and she longed to rush forward to hug the woman who must be her birth mother.
A thick hand on her shoulder held her in her spot as a man stepped from behind the woman. Black hair with a salting of gray fell over his forehead, and he stared at Hannah with small black eyes. He held a gun pointed at the woman.
“Susan?” Hannah whispered.
Her birth mother nodded, a lone tear trickling down her drawn face. Hannah touched a hand to her own face and found that it was damp.
“See? I knew we would all be reunited someday. One happy family.” A sinister smile snaked across the man’s face, twisting his expression. “Come give your dear old dad a kiss.”
So this was it. The reunion no one had dreamed of. Her birth mother staring at her, a mixture of what seemed like grief and love in her eyes. And her birth father held a gun to the poor woman.
He signaled to the thug near Hannah to join him on the other side of the small clearing, and she was left standing alone, facing the barrel of the weapon her own birth father pointed at her.
She caught a motion in the woods out of the corner of her eye. It must have drawn her birth father’s attention as well, as he moved to the side of the clearing. “Come out, hero boy,” he called into the woods.
Derek stepped out from behind a boulder, his hands empty. His bloody shirt stuck to him, but he held his wounded arm steady, and Hannah prayed that that meant he was not seriously injured. Keeping his focus trained on the men with guns, Derek joined Hannah and grasped her hand. Comfort and encouragement shot up Hannah’s arm and straight to her heart.
“So, here we all are. Our happy family, plus now the boyfriend.” A jeer marked the man’s face. “You apparently found the tracking device in the watch I sent you. And then you gave my guys the slip at the courthouse. What else could I do but invite you here? I wanted to meet my baby daughter.” His sarcasm cut through her heart. “So after years of searching for Susan, I finally found her. And now I have you, too.”
Hannah’s mind spun in a million different directions until dizziness threatened to overtake her. She wanted to sink down on the ground and just cry. No, she wanted to rush her biological father and clobber him. Not even that, she wanted to grab her birth mother and make a run for it.
Derek gripped her arm to hold her back. He must have sensed her confusion, but she knew she could never get close to that monster. She glanced at him to find a strange mixture of recognition and repulsion on his face.
She turned her attention back to the man who claimed to be her father. “Could I at least have your name?”
Her birth father shrugged. “Sure. Why not? This won’t last long. I’m Sean O’Shea, and apparently I’m your real father.”
Bile rose up in her throat at his words. “Real father? No way.”
A look of venomous anger seized O’Shea’s face. But in the man’s distraction with Hannah, Derek whipped out his SIG Sauer and aimed it at the Mafia man. “Enough, O’Shea.”
O’Shea looked at Derek and his weapon and grinned, the anger gone. “Well. See? I knew you were our hero. Have you come to seek permission to court my daughter? How touching to see a polite, old-fashioned young man again. You’re well-groomed, steady and serious enough, and you certainly know about self-defense. But one problem. You’re a little too late.”
“Too late for what?” Derek was rigid next to her, all muscles tensed and ready for a fight.
“You should have let her come alone rather than play the Good Samaritan. Now, you’ll have to die as well. That’s too bad. It looks like you could have had a promising career with whatever agency you’re with.”
O’Shea shoved her birth mother away, and she stumbled toward Hannah. Without thinking, Hannah pulled away from Derek and drew the woman in close. Derek followed until the three were huddled in a group.
O’Shea chuckled. “There’s no chance here, hero boy. Three guns against one? Surely you knew I had a few associates with me.” He turned his gaze on Hannah. “Now, I’m sorry that you won’t be able to complete law school, but there’s just too much at stake. Any questions you want to ask your father before we have to end this little family reunion?”
Hannah spoke through gritted teeth. “Like I said before, you’re not my father. Willford McClarnon is my father.” A gasp escaped. What would this monster do to him once he was done here?
“Willford. Rather hoity-toity, isn’t it? But don’t worry about him. He has nothing to contribute here, so he’ll get to live. He’ll live with the grief of the violent death of his beloved adopted daughter.”
A sob escaped Hannah. How could she have come to this point in such a short period of time? Tears began to trickle down her cheeks in earnest. Tears that had been threatening to pour out all day.
Her birth father held out his arms, but his face contorted with malice. “Sweetheart, give me the doll, and we’ll be done.”
Her heart twisted at the idea of that man calling her a term of endearment. Worse yet, the doll? The handmade one? Hannah darted her gaze to Susan, who only looked at her, her face tearstained and forlorn. She pictured the doll nestled in her bag. That was what he wanted? “Why?”
“Susan told me all about it as we got reacquainted. I figured you would have gotten rid of it, and then I wouldn’t have had to bother you. But I needed to make sure, to do my due diligence. Guess what I found online? Your little blog. That photo of all that stuff you called your special keepsakes. I know you have it. So, if you won’t hand it over, do I have to go search the family home? I’m sure it’s packed away there somewhere.”
“Father?” The word escaped her lips, half in concern for her adoptive father and half a prayer to her heavenly Father.
“He may have raised you, but a DNA test would surely show that I’m dear old Dad.” He gestured with his weapon. “You know what, though? It doesn’t really matter, because only one of us is going to survive this little reunion.” He eyed Derek, then Hannah, then Derek again. “Oh, I see another tragedy forming here today. Hero boy is sweet on you, Daughter. Too bad it won’t come to anyth
ing, like...” He hummed a few bars of a popular wedding march.
Derek stood tall and looked her birth father in the eye. “You’re right, Mr. O’Shea. I love her.” His hand grasped hers. “I love Hannah. I’ve always loved Hannah. Not that it matters much, if you kill us all. But why don’t you just let her go? She can’t do anything to you, and then you’ll just go back home and continue with your...work.”
“Maybe you’re not as bright as you seem, son. Either that, or you think I’m an idiot. You know what she knows. It’s too much. She’s no longer an asset to the family. She’s a liability. And liabilities must be eliminated. Then I’ll find what I’m looking for myself, starting at the family home.”
He leveled his weapon at Hannah, the image of his gun blurred by her torrent of tears.
* * *
A drop of sweat trickled down Derek’s temple, but he ignored it. “I don’t think you really want to hurt her. So we’re going to walk on out of here, and go back to our normal lives. Got it?” His adrenaline had spiked as he’d followed the SUV down the highway earlier. And when they had turned into the wooded park, he’d sped up. The remoteness and seclusion of the area had led him to speculate that the Mafia thugs would shoot Hannah and bury her in the woods. And now? Was that what was coming next if he couldn’t get them out of there?
O’Shea moved his weapon to point at Derek, exactly as Derek had wanted, although intense anger still twisted O’Shea’s face. “Who do you think you are, hero boy? Giving me orders? And how could you possibly know what I want and don’t want?”
If Derek could keep him talking, that could give Hannah and Susan a head start to get away. The pressure of the knowledge of who Sean O’Shea was, exactly, swarmed around him like a cloud of mosquitoes. When he had joined the FBI, he knew he wanted to fight organized crime. But he never imagined his first assignment would bring him face-to-face with a killer, and that that killer would be the biological father of the woman he loved. He glared at the Mafia hit man in front of him. “She’s your daughter, O’Shea. Do you really want to do this?”
Deadly Disclosure Page 14