by H. P. Bayne
Now there was just this snow-covered road and a little girl at the other end of it who needed her dad. Needed them all.
Dez would die before he’d let her down.
Once again, he’d grudgingly allowed Lachlan to drive, his claims of having previously instructed the driving class at the police academy slightly outweighing the fact he still had a concussion. But Dez had to admit Lachlan had kept them on the road so far. They’d already passed three vehicles stuck in the ditch and long-since abandoned, and they were barely out of the city.
The drive started as a silent one, but conversation grew as they got closer to Lowell and Kindra’s estate.
“We should probably talk about what we’re going to do once we get there,” Lachlan said. “I’ve never been to Lowell’s. I have no idea as to a best way to approach the cottage. And we have to assume he’ll be armed as he’s already shot and killed two people.”
“Follow my lead,” Dez said. “Sully and I know how to get to the cottage.” He didn’t address Lachlan’s comment about Lowell being armed. He blamed his overwhelmed brain for not thinking of it himself. Had he been thinking clearly, he would have stopped at Emily’s and asked to borrow her revolver.
Lachlan solved that problem for him, tapping the large pocket of his puffy parka. “And so you know, I came packing tonight. That’s why I’d like to know what we’re doing before we get there in case I need to use this thing.”
Dez cast Lachlan a side-eye. “You sure you’re okay to use a gun? I mean, Kayleigh’s in there, and—”
“Christ almighty, give me some credit, Braddock. I’m not taking a shot if your daughter’s anywhere in range, all right? And I’ve taken my gun to the range a few times over the past month. I’m cleared to drive, and I’ve cleared myself to shoot. I’m solid, steady as a rock, same as always.”
Dez had to admit, Lachlan had achieved a reputation as an all-around solid cop. His ability to manage a near-perfect target, even under stress, was well-known. Dez wasn’t completely sure if Lachlan had indeed taught driving at the academy, but he had trained recruits in shooting.
Five more minutes and the approach to Lowell and Kindra’s estate came into view—though barely, amid the falling snow. Dez instructed Lachlan to pull in and park. He knew Lowell had a camera mounted above the gate, meaning he might see them arrive, but it couldn’t be helped. The entire property was surrounded by a tall fence, one rendered unscalable through a combination of height and the presence of long, iron spikes atop it. Dez also wondered whether the fence was electrified. It would be the sort of thing Lowell would think of.
“I don’t know, Braddock,” Lachlan said. “Something tells me no one’s about to buzz us in, and this gate looks too solid to ram through. Got a plan? Like maybe a keycard stashed away you didn’t tell me about?”
“Leave it to me,” came Sully’s voice from the backseat.
Dez turned. “What are you going to do?”
But Sully was already out, closing the door behind himself and stepping just in front of the vehicle so his back was illuminated by the headlights. He stilled, holding his position as if staring at the gate. A few seconds passed.
Dez jumped as the gate flew open with a loud metallic bang. Snow previously settled around its base swirled into the air, partially obscuring the gate as it shoved a path through until, at last, it came to a halt. Not quite far enough for a vehicle to pass through, but it didn’t matter. The way the road was filling in with snow, Dez wasn’t certain he wanted to chance taking the SUV in there. If they were going to get away from here after rescuing Kayleigh, they’d need to make sure they weren’t in a position to get stuck.
Lachlan shut off the SUV, then got out and pocketed the keys as he joined Dez and Sully at the hood.
Dez nudged his shoulder against Sully’s. “Glad you’re on my side, bro.”
“Me too,” Lachlan muttered. “Don’t know how the hell you did that, but I’ll take it.”
Eva joined them a moment later, Pax at her side. “Let’s go get our girl back.”
Dez met her eye, hoping his smile appeared more confident than he felt. “Ten-four.”
They stayed to the road a few minutes, Dez expecting the snow in the wooded areas on either side might be deep in places. While he didn’t think anyone minded ending up knee-deep in snow under the circumstances, it would make for an exhausting walk. And if they wanted to be ready for a fight at the other end, exhaustion was the wrong way to go.
Then again, with Sully managing tricks like he’d just done with the gate, maybe it didn’t matter what state the rest of them were in. Their roles in this might prove minimal.
Sully had taken the lead and Dez gained his side. “I know I wasn’t overly fond of Noisy Ned when I first met him, but he’s quickly becoming one of my best friends,” Dez said.
Sully’s smile was barely visible in the castoff glow from Dez’s flashlight. “I’m sure he’ll appreciate that.” The hint of humour faded as he veered back onto the topic of their mission. “We should probably get off the road soon. There’s a chance Lowell’s moved to the house, and I’d rather no one sees our lights coming in.”
Dez nodded and took over the lead, guiding the others from the road. Immediately, he sunk to mid-calf in snow—depth enough to come to the knees on Lachlan and Eva. He expected a grumble from Lachlan, was surprised when none came.
Turning, Dez saw him struggling to step in the pits his larger feet had created. “You okay?” Dez asked him.
“Getting myself focused,” Lachlan replied. “Shut up.”
Dez was happy enough to obey the command. He wasn’t much in the mood to talk, his thoughts running to dark places the closer they got to the cottage. He still didn’t know what they’d do when they got there, although his ex-cop brain was running through various scenarios as he moved forward.
Virtually all of them ended with him beating Lowell to a bloody pulp. If Lowell was lucky, Sully might use Ned to throw Dez off. Then again, Sully might start turning Lowell into sausage before Dez could even get a blow in. Anything could happen.
That was the problem.
He felt for the piece of wood Raiya had given him, its form a large bulge in the pocket of his coat. He hoped Raiya was right. It seemed a lot to ask, to put so much faith in a chunk of dead tree. But if Sully went dark again, Dez knew he’d have little to guide him but faith.
For now, he put that threat on the back burner. He needed to focus. The cottage, if memory served, was just a couple more minutes ahead.
He stopped, drawing a grumble from Lachlan as he ran into Dez’s back.
“What the hell, Braddock?”
Dez clicked off his flashlight. “Sull, the cottage. It shouldn’t be far from here, should it?”
Sully’s voice sounded from behind him. “I think so.”
“I figured on seeing some sort of lights on. Or were they sitting in the dark when you saw them?”
“They had a fire going,” Sully said. “And lights were on. You’re right. We should be seeing something by now.”
“I think we’d better leave our flashlights off,” Eva said. “If he sees us coming, this’ll be over before it begins.”
“Newsflash,” Lachlan said. “If he’s behind the judge’s shooting, he had a sniper rifle. He’ll have a scope and very possibly some sort of night vision or infrared device. We’ll be sitting ducks either way.”
Dez took the warning, crouching low, judging from the sounds behind him the others were doing the same. “Listen, we need to surround the place. I’ll take front. Lachlan, you’ve got the gun. There’s a back door. Circle the house and position yourself there. Sully, you go with him. Once I go in front, you can use Ned to blow the door open.”
“What about me?” Eva asked.
“Bedroom window,” Dez said. “If he sees us coming, he might try to stash Kayleigh in there.”
“If the lights are out, he’s probably already seen us coming,” Lachlan said. “It’s a bit early for bed, isn
’t it?”
“Not for Kayleigh,” Dez said. “Could be she’s tucked in and Lowell and Kindra have shut off everything else and are just sitting in front of the fire. If that’s the case, it makes sense we wouldn’t see anything yet. Let’s just stay low and keep moving.”
Dez fought instinct, his desire to get to Kayleigh outweighing everything else, including the need for caution. It took everything he had to press forward, one slow, stealthy step at a time rather than at a full-on gallop. Because the closer they got, the more he felt brutal realization slipping in.
Something was very wrong.
A quick break in the clouds brought both a temporary end to the snow and a glimmer of moonlight, enough to allow his eyes—now accustomed to the dark—to see a shadow rising before him straight ahead.
No question. It was the cottage.
The very dark cottage.
“Shit,” Dez said. Lachlan was right. It was too early for bed—for Lowell and Kindra, anyway. They should still be up, or at the very least, asleep with a fire going.
But there was no sign of a fire here. No smoke rose from the chimney. No subtle glow emerged from the windows.
Sully appeared at his side, pressing past Dez and sprinting toward the cottage before Dez could stop him.
“Sully, wait!” Dez called after him. The need for caution had passed. Sully was making enough noise to wake anyone inside who might be asleep.
Dez chased after Sully, reached him just as he kicked the door in. Dez tried to hold him back, intending to go in first, but Sully wasn’t cooperating. Empowered by Ned, he easily threw Dez off before entering the building and flicking on a light.
The bulk of the cottage boasted an open floor plan, living room melding into kitchen and dining areas.
It was empty, although clues suggested it hadn’t been for long. While Sully and Lachlan barrelled toward the sole bedroom, Dez peered down at the hide-a-bed, made down for the night and kitted up with fresh linens. Eva crouched next to the fireplace.
“It’s still warm,” she said. “They were here, Dez. They were here.”
Sully and Lachlan returned from the bedroom and Lachlan gave the bathroom a cursory glance.
Dez didn’t need them to say it. Lachlan did anyway. “They’ve flown the coop.”
Dez’s gaze settled on the nearest inanimate object, and he grabbed and hurled the lamp across the room with a roared curse. The lamp shattered against the wall, glass shards settling over the wood floor and area rug.
Eva stilled Dez before he could throw something else, grabbing him in a desperate hug he didn’t dare to break.
Looking over the top of Eva’s head, he met Sully’s eye. “You said they were here.”
“They were,” Sully said. “They must have left just a little while ago.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, figure it out, damn it!”
Sully flinched as if he’d been struck, and Dez struggled to reel himself back in. “I’m sorry,” Dez said. “I’m just….”
“I know,” Sully said. “It’s okay.”
Dez sought out Lachlan and spotted him in at the dining table, leaning over a piece of paper. He stilled as he read it, then held it up in one hand, lips forming a tight line as he approached Dez.
“Well, this confirms they were indeed the ones here,” Lachlan said. “In case anyone doubted it was them.”
He handed Dez the paper, and Eva pulled away long enough to read it with Dez.
It didn’t take long, made up of just two words.
Nice try.
21
Just as well Dez had already broken the lamp. It saved Sully having to do it himself.
Sully’s own rage wasn’t far below Dez’s, bubbling like a cauldron inside his belly. He seethed with it, with the desire to find Lowell. To kill him. To tear him apart, one limb at a time. Watch as what was left of him writhed in pain.
Sully took a breath. Those weren’t his thoughts, not really. His anger was an unlocked door for the hangman, one Sully needed to do a better job of guarding. As much as he’d be okay with turning Thadeus loose on Lowell, he wouldn’t subject Kayleigh to having to witness something like that. Nor could he be certain Thadeus would have the little girl’s best interests at heart. More than likely, he wouldn’t. Whether or not he’d been born this way, Thadeus was little more than a sociopath, no one more important to him than himself.
It was the kind of selfishness Sully couldn’t afford, not with his family in the middle of this war and increasingly at risk of getting caught in the crossfire.
Dez’s gaze, barely controlled panic caught in his wide-eyed stare, shifted from one person to the next in a desperate search for someone with a solution. “What do we do now? Oh, Christ, what do we do now?”
“We could look for footprints, vehicle tracks,” Lachlan suggested.
“And where does that get us? They’d be insane to go back to the main house, and the vehicle tracks would only get us as far as the highway before we lost them.”
Sully, seeing no sign of Flynn or Aiden, turned to Lachlan. “Did you happen to bring any more of the drug with you?”
“No, and I wouldn’t give you any more even if I had,” Lachlan said. “I’m not dosing you twice on the same night. It could fry your brain.”
“It won’t. When I was at Lockwood, they dosed me more than once during the same session sometimes.”
“Well, this isn’t Lockwood,” Lachlan said. “Anyway, you were essentially a basket case there. I’m not doing it.”
Sully looked to Dez, but found no help there, his face suggesting he was too deeply trapped within his own nightmare to grasp anything else.
Eva wasn’t getting onside either. “Lachlan’s right,” she said. “We can’t risk it. Besides, we’ll need you when it comes time to deal with Lowell.”
“How the hell did they know we were coming?” Dez asked.
“They might not have,” Lachlan said. “He told you they were going to be on the move. Could be that’s exactly what they’re doing.”
“But the note.”
“He might plan on leaving them everywhere they go, just to taunt you if we happen upon one of their nests. It would be the kind of cocky, asshole move I’d expect of him.”
Eva’s eyes drifted to the tree in the corner of the room, adorned in garlands and brightly coloured decorations. “They decorated the tree. Maybe it means they’re planning on coming back.”
“Not necessarily,” Lachlan said. “What if they did it just to keep Kayleigh busy? If her mind is otherwise occupied, if they make the situation as fun for her as possible, it’ll keep her from worrying too much. Last thing they want to deal with is a panicking kid looking for an escape route at every turn.”
“Goddammit,” Eva muttered. “I’m going to kill them.”
“Get in line,” Dez said. He returned his attention to Sully. “You don’t see them? Dad or Aiden?”
Sully shook his head. “They’re not here. No doubt they’re with Kayleigh.”
“Why won’t they come and show you where they are?”
Sully had given it some thought. “Could be they’re too attached to her right now. They might not be able to leave her. Or maybe they don’t know where they are yet. We might have to wait until they reach their next destination.”
“By which time it might be too late for us to reach them before they’re on the move again,” Dez said. His teeth ground together as his eyes scoped the room as if searching for something else to break. “It’s like he knows we’re right behind him so he’s managing to stay at least one step ahead.”
Lachlan lowered himself onto the edge of the hide-a-bed. “Okay, so let’s break this down. You folks know him better than most. Where might he go?”
“We know where he won’t go,” Dez said. “His place in the city or anywhere attached to LOBRA.”
“You’re sure about that? You didn’t think he’d come back here either, yet this is e
xactly where he ended up. Could be he’ll exhaust the places he feels comfortable and safe before he tries anything else. Anyway, he’ll know we’ve already checked those. He might think we won’t double back on places we’ve looked.”
“Driving around the city, searching random places, gets us nowhere,” Sully said.
“Do you have a better suggestion?” Lachlan asked. “I’m fresh out.”
“I kind of do,” Sully said. “But it’s going to involve us separating for a while.”
Sully expected the plan wasn’t going to go down well with Dez, and he was right. But the situation had changed, and the stakes with it. Under normal circumstances, Dez would have stuffed Sully in a trunk before allowing him to venture alone into The Forks.
But, for all of them, Kayleigh came first.
“You really sure this is a good idea?” Dez was not convinced.
“Snowy has abilities I don’t,” Sully said. “If I can persuade her to come with me, I’m hoping she’ll be able to sense Lowell’s thoughts once we get within range. It would help pinpoint him without us having to breach every building he might be inside. And we might be able to use Terrence’s army skills somewhere along the way.”
“I’m not sold on our part of the plan either,” Dez said. “You really think Ray Dunsmore’s going to help us?”
“By now, McPhee will have hauled in the police officers connected with the Circle. Chances are at least one of them’s been able to get word out to someone else in the group—likely a lawyer, given that’s a call they’ll have the right to make.”
“Shit,” Dez said. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Me neither,” Lachlan said. “My God, age and concussion have made an idiot of me.” He turned to Dez. “Sullivan’s right. We need to contact Paul and have him arrange a meeting with his father. If we’re going to stay on top of this thing, we need a Circle bigwig onside.”