Reed (A Redemption Romance Book 5)

by Anna Scott

  "Okay, well, I need help with my after school program. I have so much interest that I have a waiting list. What do you think about coming out in the afternoons and teaching with me?"

  I looked at my friend in astonishment, and seriously considered her offer before I replied. "I love the idea, but I have Kelly, I'm not sure I could work it out." My brows were furrowed, trying to work it out. It would be great, I would have my mornings free for school and could possibly take on more classes, finishing my degree faster, and it would give me some experience for possibly starting my own business someday, but without anyone to pick her up, I wasn't sure how I could do it.

  Miranda nodded, then went on. "I have a class for little ones starting at one Monday and Wednesday afternoons, Tuesday and Thursday classes start at two. I'm done by six everyday, but the last class is the older, more experienced riders. I don't need much help with them. If you could be here an hour before starting and stay until five everyday, one Saturday a month as well as work the camps we provide during school breaks, I think it would work out well for both of us." Miranda's smile was wide and I sat, thinking for a minute before accepting her generous offer. It was exactly what I wanted to do, it would give me plenty of time for school and home, time with Kelly and I could pick her up from preschool in the evenings. I would have to work out Saturdays, but only one each month seemed doable.

  Another hour passed while Miranda and I talked more about her business, and each of our lives before Kelly bounded out onto the porch with a shriek of happiness.

  "She doesn't seem to be doing too badly," Miranda remarked quietly, as we watched the little one get down and play with the dogs. It took a few minutes before I was able to pull her away from them to take her inside and get her changed and cleaned up after her nap. We enjoyed a nice dinner with my friends before I forced Kelly back into the car for our drive home.

  All the way, she chattered on and on about the horsey, the puppies and all the other wonderful things she'd seen. I was so tired by the time I pulled up in front of my house, that I didn't notice the man sitting in the gold Lexus just three doors down.

  Chapter 11

  Reed

  "What the hell has gotten into you man? You're never this anxious on a stake out." Tyler's irritated voice caught my attention. My head turned quickly so I was facing him and away from the cell phone I held in my hand. I had texted Gillian earlier in the day and hadn't heard one word back from her. Things had been off between us and I knew it was my fault, but I didn't like it. She had gone silent on me once before, right before the first time I took her, but this time seemed different. My heart ached with concern that I'd royally screwed up.

  When we'd run into Sandy at the mall, I had pulled back. It hadn't been intentional but I was so consumed with questions, I couldn't understand how I had ever thought that I loved Sandy or how I thought that I could have lived with her forever. She wasn't the one for me and now, with Gillian's beauty standing beside me it was clear. I knew that I loved Gillian, she was kind, gentle and sweet but she had one hell of a backbone too. She'd been so strong dealing with everything after Missy's murder and caring for Kelly.

  She was a natural with the little girl and I couldn't get the image of her with our children out of my mind. The entire thing had shocked me into silence, knowing I had been a fucked up mess. I had tried to keep my heart safe like some delicate idiot from the one woman I knew I could trust it with, I had to change, had to let her in all the way.

  The call from my mother on Monday night, asking me about the strange shopping trip had given me pause and I had to wonder what exactly she had told Gillian. I knew she wanted some time with her parents, they were old school and wouldn't be okay with me sleeping in her bed every night before I put a couple of rings on her delicate fingers, but the distance was killing me.

  "What?" I asked Tyler, glaring at my friend.

  "You're completely distracted; you keep looking down at your phone like it holds the answers to all your problems. How'd you fuck up?"

  "You seriously want to have some kind of heart to heart right now?" I asked, incredulous.

  "Not really, but I figured maybe you needed some help, or a punch in the jaw."

  With a loud sigh, I told him. He already knew about my past with Sandy, the long quiet nights cooped up in a surveillance vehicle were so boring, many of us opened up like drunks to a bartender. He knew some about Gillian too, but when I told him about the mall catastrophe and how I had behaved afterward, he laughed. Tyler laughed right in my face and didn't stop until I glared at him.

  "You totally fucked up. I bet she thinks you are still hung up on your ex-bitch. When was the last time you talked to her?"

  "Yesterday."

  "And, how was that?"

  "Strained."

  "Uh huh, yeah, you're fucked - or not I guess. You're not getting fucked anytime soon buddy."

  "Shut the hell up. Jesus Christ. Why the hell did I tell you shit?"

  "Look, you fucked up, gave her too much time to be in her head, worried or whatever. Women do that shit, they turn stuff over in their minds and get it all twisted up. If you let her go too long, she'll be convinced that you are stepping out on her or getting back with the bitch."

  Tyler always called Sandy "the bitch," which was fitting, if I were honest. Maybe I should have adopted that name for her years ago. My worry right then though was about Gillian and how the hell I was going to fix this mess. With her parents at her house, I couldn't just storm in and climb in bed with her, then fuck her until she knew just where my heart was. I had to find another way, and that was damn hard to do with DeMarco popping up again. His organization was on the move, we'd been watching one of his known warehouses south of Fort Worth for weeks, but hadn't seen much activity until early Monday morning. A low level arms dealer had been picked up by Fort Worth PD and in exchange for a lightened sentence, he was willing to talk, and talk he did. He heard that a large shipment of semi-autos was expected to arrive sometime before Friday and DeMarco was expected to be on sight to receive it.

  I had to find a way to get Gillian to listen to me, but until I had a chance to get a little bit of sleep there was no way in hell I was going to be able to make any sense to her. The rest of the long night, I checked my phone but didn't hear a word from Gillian. I wasn't worried about her, the alarm system would go off if something had happened and Dan Dupree would call me if there was a problem - right?

  Dan was a good guy, and I had talked to him about the guy I'd seen in Shreveport. I told him about Gillian's cousin being murdered and how Gillian was now taking care of Kelly. He had promised to talk to his commander and have extra patrols drive by Gillian's house. Since nothing had happened since the odd phone call, I tried to relax, but that old prickle at the back of my neck wouldn't let up and I knew better than to ignore it for too long.

  The long night continued and the team was able to pick up three of DeMarco's soldiers. We hoped that they would be able to provide some much needed information. So far, they were staying silent, but hopefully in the days to come that would change. DeMarco's mistress and her children were missing; it was assumed that he had hidden them somewhere far away.

  On my way home, I drove passed Gillian's house. I slowed and stopped on the curb across from her car and surveyed the area. There were no other cars near by that didn't belong to her neighbors. Had I gotten it wrong? Were her parents not staying with her? If they had already gone home, there was no reason that I needed to stay away. Since I hadn't talked to her, my own fault I knew, I didn't have any idea what was going on. Every fiber in my being longed to park and go inside and slide into bed with her. I would pull her into my arms and after proclaiming my love and giving her my apology I would slide between her milky thighs and love her all night. With the uncertainty of her parents visit and the knowledge that I would probably just pass out, I didn't.

  My bed was too big and cold. I didn't like sleeping alone anymore, I missed the sweet scent of her hair filling my no
strils all night.

  My dreams were filled with a strange cacophony of images. I could see Gillian's face streaked with tears, Kelly's small hand covered in blood and DeMarco's shadowy figure standing over them, lording above the two most important girls in my life. My sister's face, wrought with the illness she suffered from at such a young age joined the nightmare. Just before I startled awake, I saw my father, standing in the barn of the ranch we lived on when I was young. He stood there, his eyes hollow and pure white, a strange vision for sure. I didn't understand what I was seeing, until he raised his right hand and placed the pistol into his mouth and pulled the trigger. When I ran over to his lifeless body, I realized that I wasn't the boy I had been, but a man and it wasn't my father's body I could see, but Gillian's.

  I sat straight up in the bed and looked around. My body was covered in sweat. Blazer stood on all fours on the bed next to me, completely alert to whatever the danger was. The remnants of the dream wouldn't leave me, and I couldn't wait any longer. I had to hold her, no matter what her parents thought about it, I needed Gillian in my arms. I needed to see that she and Kelly were safe.

  Snatching a pair of jogging pants from the drawer, I pulled them on, grabbed a tee and shoved my feet into a pair of running shoes. Grabbing the keys to my truck, I put Blazer out back and rushed out to the truck. I didn't know what I was going to say, or do, but I had to be next to her.

  As I pulled up in front of Gillian's house I saw a McKinney police car racing toward me from the opposite direction, lights flashing, but the siren was quiet. I pulled to the curb and turned off the truck as I watched, wondering where the officer was headed. It wasn't until he pulled up in front of me, bumper to bumper that I realized it was Dan. My heart stopped beating in that moment as I turned my head to look at the house. It was dark, save for the front porch light and the door was standing wide open.

  Without another thought, I jumped from the truck, grabbed my off duty weapon from the safe under the front seat and jogged to follow Dan. Within seconds, two more cars pulled up and officers began to surround the house.

  "Stay back Reed, let me see what's going on," Dan commanded in a whisper.

  "What the fuck happened?"

  "Someone pushed the panic button."

  My heart began to race with the implications and I had to pull up every bit of self-control I had to keep myself from storming into an unknown situation. I had to get my hands on her, had to hold her and see that she was okay. She had to be okay.

  As I waited, feeling impotent and useless, I pulled my phone from my pocket and sent a text to Tyler, Jake and Luke. I knew they would spread the word and within minutes, the entire scene would be filled with every police department and federal agency they could find.

  "Let's go," Dan called as he emerged from Gillian's house. He looked at me and I had to brace myself. The grim look on his face couldn't be ignored. He was worried, either about my reaction or what he had seen, I wasn't sure.

  "Is she?" I started to ask, but he cut me off.

  "They're gone, no one is here."

  I let out a breath, at least there was hope, if only a little bit. The nightmare I'd been having right before I ran over wouldn't leave me and the cold chill of dread and fear ran up my spine.

  The front door had been kicked in, why I hadn't been alerted to the alarm breach, I didn't know but I was glad at least someone had hit the button to call for help. There had obviously been a struggle. Gillian was an obsessively tidy housekeeper, so the throw blanket she kept on the back of one of the side chairs in the living room on the floor, the two kitchen chairs knocked over and the broken vase of flowers I'd brought her several days before all gave the house an ominous feel. It was deadly quiet, and my stomach tightened as I imagined what could be happening to my girls right in that moment.

  "Reed!" Luke yelled from the front yard. I heard his pounding footsteps and turned to see him as he pushed passed the officers out front who tried to hold him back. "What's going on?"

  My text had worked, apparently, it had only been about seven minutes since I'd sent it and already the cavalry was starting to arrive.

  "Don't know, Gillian and Kelly are gone, someone hit the alarm." I explained with as few words as possible. I was too close to the edge to say any more, not that I knew anything. Remembering how Trent had been when Amber was taken by his father, I understood how distraught he had been, but now I could sympathize way too much. I didn't ever want that kind of understanding.

  Luke's face paled, he nodded and turned to look at Dan. We moved about the house, surveying the signs of struggle. When I saw Kelly's little stuffed puppy lying on the floor just outside her bedroom, my throat just about closed and I had to fight the terror. I had to stay focused. My girls needed me.

  Within thirty minutes, the small house was filled with officers, investigators and agents. Everyone was mindful of the scene and was careful not to disturb the possible evidence. Tyler had taken off to the office to speak to the Agent in Charge and find out what assistance he was willing to throw in. Tyler and I had been relieved from our surveillance just a couple of hours before, but I knew the agents who took our place were able to glean even more intel that we had been. DeMarco was moving, no one knew what he was doing, but it was obvious that his organization was crumbling around his feet.

  DeMarco's second in command had been caught trying to cross the border into Mexico just a few hours before. He was being brought back up for questioning and I knew that our AIC was anxious for his arrival. Normally, all that would have been good news, a long investigation finally coming to a head, but in that moment, I couldn't even think about DeMarco and all that was going on, I was so focused on Gillian and Kelly. My terror at what might be happening to them even in that very moment was too much for me to take.

  I was almost crippled with worry and regret. I hadn't told Gillian that I loved her, I wasn't with her when I should have been. As I remembered my nightmare once again, I dreaded finding her as I had in the seconds before I woke.

  "Reed, look at this," Dan shouted from the open doorway leading down into the basement. I rushed down the narrow passageway and wondered what on earth he had found.

  Laying on the ground was an open file folder, papers strewn about. As I took a closer look, I recognized the paperwork Gillian had received from Child Protective Services in Shreveport. I was careful not to touch anything, but scanned the documents carefully. Kelly's birth certificate was lying off to the side, crinkled, as if someone took it in their fist and balled it up. What was the significance of that? I had no idea, but it was a clue. It had something to do with the Lexus I had seen, the phone calls, there was a link, possibly to Kelly's father.

  As other officers and agents joined us, I relayed all I knew to the group. We didn't know who Kelly's father was, but I had gotten a message earlier in the day from one of the officers investigating Missy's murder. Since we had been deep into the DeMarco mess, I hadn't called him back. Luke took the information and left the circle of brothers bound by the job, to contact him. Regardless of the hour, we needed their help and any information they could provide. I prayed that they had something, that they would know who the man was that had my girls and they would soon be returned to me.

  I had failed them. In my own frustration with myself, I had created a distance between myself and Gillian, I'd lost it, had lost my way with her, 'please God' I prayed silently, 'please help me find them'. They should never have been taken. Had I been with them, they wouldn't have been. I was falling apart, I knew it, I was devastated and knew that if we didn't find my girls, my life would be over. I wouldn't, I couldn't go on with out Gillian. I fucked up and I needed her, I had to find her, I was fucking losing my mind with fear, with dread, with terror, I had to find them. They had to be okay.

  "Where are her parents?" I broke into the murmur of conversations around me and asked.

  "What?" Jake asked.

  "Gilli's parents, they were in town, I thought they were staying with her.
That's why I wasn't here." It wasn't a total lie, it was why I was at home, but there was so much more to it than that.

  "No idea, there wasn't any sign of anyone else here, nothing in the other bedroom," Dan responded, a confused look on his face.

  "Give me their names, I'll find them," Jake demanded, in his normally gruff and take charge manner.

  I relayed what I could remember and glanced up in time to watch him head upstairs and saw Luke come back down. Luke's face was devoid of any emotion; it was a look that gave me no comfort what so ever.

  "What is it?" I asked impatiently.

  Luke shook his head and nodded toward the far wall, apart from the group. I followed him over, my gut tightening more with each step.

  "I'm not sure what this will mean to you, but they recovered some DNA from the scene." I nodded with frustration hoping he would just hurry up and spit out whatever he had to say when he paused. "Okay, it was from a man with several aliases, but his birth name is Rodney Brooks."

  "Brooks?" I asked to confirm what I just heard come from his mouth.

  "Yeah, does that name mean anything to you? Your face just lost all its color."

  I swayed on my feet and prayed I wouldn't pass out with fear. No matter how big Luke was, I still would be too big for him to catch me. I took a deep, steadying breath and tried to calm my racing heart. "He's, fuck, he's involved in the case I'm working right now. He's one of the higher ups in the organization, one we haven't been able to find. I have to call, fuck, I have to call my partner." I turned abruptly and rushed upstairs to find privacy. Regardless of the fact that the entire room was full of trusted men and women, this shit wasn't anything I could share with them. We were in the middle of a highly sensitive investigation and there was no way I could spill any part of it.