by Jody Klaire
I WAS THANKFUL I brought my gloves as I tried for the third time to grip hold of the ledge above me. The metalwork was so cold that it felt like it would sear my fingertips off, even through the thick padding. I had a jacket on but the snow was falling thick and fast. The wind had whipped up and it danced around my shivering self. I looked around the alleyway for something that would help but there was nothing but white mush.
“Need another layer,” I muttered.
I was half ready to take my t-shirt off to use until I remembered that I had a hanky. Nan had instilled one odd quirk and that was carrying hankies. It wasn’t much but it would do.
I wrapped the cotton around my stronger right hand and leapt for the ledge once more. The cold still jabbed through like blades but I hoisted up my body weight and clambered up the rest of the way. Thank cotton for Ursula Franken-Frei and her punishments. No way I’d have been able to lift my considerable frame up that far before boot camp.
After smacking my elbow on the framework, I scrambled over to the door and looked at the keypad. Then I glanced down at the empty alley. The fire escape swayed in a gust of wind and I held onto the wall and tried not to think about the whole thing crashing to the ground. Logic would state that the engineering would keep the structure in place and safe but I was feeling anything but logical.
I punched in the code McKinley had given me. The door released and I clambered inside. My jaw clattered and chattered as I shivered and quivered, trying to calm my shuddering breath as I headed down the corridor. I had to get a handle on my body. Yannick could probably hear my teeth from here.
I stopped and closed my eyes. I focused my energy on warmth and felt the cold slowly seeping out of my body as my temperature and my breathing returned to normal. Renee needed me calm, focused.
My experiences back in Oppidum had taught me a lot. One of those things was rushing head long into a lunatic’s clutches was going to do nobody no good.
Eyes still closed, I felt Renee’s presence somewhere below. It was faint, much more so than the last time I had been in the station. I was losing her. I swore I was going to keel over with the pain that gripped my heart. I couldn’t lose her.
“I’m comin’, Renee,” I whispered. “Just hold on.”
I got to the stairway and something in me told me to stop. It wasn’t a vision or a sense . . . it was just like I knew I had to. Yannick would be down those stairs, I couldn’t see what danger was down there. Walking into a hail of bullets was not gonna help nobody.
Think, think! What had Franken-Frei said to do in this kind of position? Come on . . .
“What can you use to make the invisible seen?” I mumbled. Frei had meant mirrors or something, I was sure, but bar from ripping them from a toilet stall, I didn’t have any such devices to hand. I grinned. I had something better.
“Nan,” I whispered. “You there?”
The gust announced her arrival. “What’s up, Shorty . . . Your grandpa is on the ropes, he’s got no chance so I—” Her voice cut off as she took in the sight of me and, I guessed, the situation. “What you need?”
“Can you see what’s going on down there?” I whispered. “Renee is in the cell but I don’t know where Yannick is.”
“Now, Shorty,” Nan said. “You know that you shouldn’t mess with—”
“It’s Renee,” I cut in. “If you don’t help me, I’m gonna go tearing down them stairs anyhow.”
Nan’s sigh made the hair on my arms stand up and dance as the breeze tickled them. “Guess you got your mother’s knack for blackmail.”
I felt her leave me and wondered if I should go and look for the ammunition cache that McKinley had mentioned. It was one step too far for me. I wasn’t cut out to fire nothing.
“The creep is in there,” Nan said to me. “There’s a fella with a bad head and leg, kinda weedy, and a woman tied up to the bars.”
“And Renee?” I asked.
“The woman looks unhurt pretty much but she got a shiner comin—”
“And Renee.” This time my voice was almost a growl. The panic thudded around my body and a burning pain seared through my face. I gripped hold of it, wondering what had hit me until I lifted my hands away and saw nothing.
There was only one person I cared for enough to feel her pain. “Renee!”
I didn’t care if Yannick had an Uzi, nothing was gonna stop me getting to her.
YOU STROKE HER mousey blonde hair and trail a finger across her cheek. Tess thinks that by hiding inside she can stop you finding her. Silly girl to think that she could go anywhere without you. Does she not realize that you own every inch of her?
The deputy stirs to your left. He will live until you pull her from hiding. It’s no fun if she can’t witness your greatness.
“Hal . . . Hal . . . are you alive . . . please be alive.”
The woman tied to the bars has done nothing but whine and wail.
“Whining, crying, complaining . . . It is all that you do. You are pathetic!”
She squirms as you flick the scalpel through the air.
“Silence!”
You turn back to Tess, your Tess. “You were so special to me. We had so many good times, do you remember?” You hum the tune to her that was playing. “The night we met she sang so sweetly, her voice so smooth.” You sing the lines to her, knowing that she will hear it.
“My sweet love, you were more wonderful than anything in Paris that night. Do you remember how I pursued you, how I gave you flowers and sang our song beneath your window?”
You sing the tune once more but she does not respond and your rage bubbles over.
“You told them I followed you!” The blade touches her cheek and you slice into it.
“You lied!”
You slash her other cheek.
“You were meant to be mine.”
You cut her chin.
“You are mine.”
You stare down at her face, a mess, blood oozing from her gashes. Serves her right.
“Hal . . .” The woman tied to the bars whimpers again. Has she no intelligence?
“You won’t come to me,” you whisper to Tess. “I will make you listen to her scream.”
With that you turn to the sobbing wench. She cowers as you walk toward her.
CHARLIE SUCKED IN his breath as he hurried onto the station’s portico, sliding in the blood on the concrete. Brad Jewel’s blood coated everything and Charlie swallowed. At least it would have been quicker than the doctor’s fate.
“James, where is he?”
McKinley’s frown lowered his already prominent brow. “In the cells. Aeron has used the fire escape so I’m hoping she can cut down the back stairs.”
“Aeron?” Charlie peeked through the glass. “She have a gun?”
McKinley shook his head. “He’s jammed the door too, can’t get it open.”
Charlie walked to the fire extinguisher and took it off the wall. McKinley stood aside, gun at the ready. Charlie took aim and slammed the metal into the handle. It didn’t budge an inch.
“Again,” McKinley said.
Charlie tried but the handle was immovable. “Damn security door.” He looked around. “What about one of the fire axes?”
McKinley shook his head. “Blast proof door.”
“What about the fire escape?”
“Not unless you can pull yourself up,” McKinley answered. His coat was covered in dust. He had a nick on his right arm and his boots were covered in Brad’s blood.
“Guess the glass took your bullets too.”
McKinley shrugged. “You said reinforcements . . . any idea on ETA?”
Charlie shook his head. Lilia hadn’t mentioned when her people would arrive but he prayed that it would be soon. All he and McKinley could do now was wait. Wait and pray that Aeron could take on Yannick alone.
Chapter 27
URSULA FREI PUSHED the team’s pace as they hit the steep incline that led into the little town. She could see the lights twinkling through
the thickening white all around them.
“You two, take the left flank.” Two of the men hurried ahead.
“Take five—seal the perimeter.”
Ursula switched to her radio link. It was useless outside a few hundred yards in this forsaken storm but it would do to address the team for now. “This is an SOS order, I repeat an SOS order.”
Her jaw flinched as she saw Ewan come toward her. She was not explaining herself now.
“Ma’am,” he said, lowering his voice. “Shoot on sight?” He glanced at the other CIG members. “You know what Lilia said after Oppidum.”
“Lilia isn’t here.” Ursula had issued the same order back in Oppidum. Lilia had taken issue with it but Ursula stuck by her decision. It had been the right one, the mess with Yannick proved it.
“Ma’am,” Ewan tried again. “You know our protocols. We start dropping suspects, the government starts asking questions and they will pull the op.”
“Yannick is a serial killer,” she snapped. “He has more kills under his belt than you have years of service.”
Ewan flinched. She was reminding him of his inexperience and he knew it.
“That guy has a gun, a knife, even his bare freaking hands and he is going to use them.” She glared at Ewan. “So, if you see him, drop him.”
Ewan sucked in a breath. The guy had a heart of gold. He was a damn fine agent and she liked him but there was no time for nice. No, nice, legal, and neat had gotten Yannick locked up in a facility that he’d talked his way out of. Nice had gotten five victims since his breakout and that was before he got to this little town.
“These people don’t stand a chance,” she said, hoping that her softened tone would ease the sting to Ewan’s ego. “There’s three civilian police officers and that’s it.”
Three ready packaged victims.
“But they have Renee,” Ewan said.
Ursula swallowed the rising bile. None of the other CIG members knew of Renee’s state or her past with Yannick Boucher. If they did, none of them would hesitate to pull the trigger and that was why she had kept it from them.
If they killed Yannick, she wanted it to be a clean kill, a simple doing their duty. The minute the words “vengeance” and “justice” came into the psyche, their days as a CIG member were numbered.
Lilia didn’t make exceptions to that rule.
As they approached the town, Ursula slowed and watched her men for the all clear signal. It came in seconds, and she strode up the main street and stopped outside the police station. Broken glass.
“In there.” The team regrouped around her. “You two, climb the escape. Someone has popped that door and I don’t want him leaving by it.”
“Ma’am.”
“Ewan, you’re with me. Everyone else, eyes trained on this building. No one in or out until I give the word.”
She didn’t wait for the response, but ran up the steps. Two officers were hammering away at the blast door. “He in there?”
“Yes,” the older of the two answered, his receding hairline glistened with sweat. She assumed he was the sheriff. “Aeron has gone through the back. Deputy is in there, one woman and your agent.”
“Why can’t you override it?”
The younger man grunted. “He’s done something to the damn lock.”
Ursula looked at the bullet-proof glass, two bullets jutted out.
“He was standing behind it,” the younger man explained.
Ursula ignored him and looked at the bullet, something on the other side was reflecting light onto it. A red LED. Typical. “Ewan, get everyone back.”
“What?” the younger officer asked.
She gritted her teeth and turned to Ewan. Why did she need to explain herself all the time? “IED on other side of the door.”
Ewan muttered a “Ma’am,” and tried to get the two officers to leave. They wouldn’t.
“One of ours is in there,” the younger man said. “I’m the damn sheriff . . . If I don’t at least try—”
“Sir, there is nothing you can do. We need to handle this from here,” Ewan explained.
Ursula didn’t deal with people when she could help it. Instead, she pulled a pack from a box in her pocket and started to check up and down the walls with her hands.
“What is she doing?” the sheriff asked, fending off Ewan’s restraint.
Ursula stopped where she knew the wall was structurally weak but enough away from a supporting beam, and the rigged door. She attached the plastic to the wall and set up the explosive’s detonator.
“Aeron isn’t armed,” she heard the older man say as she worked on the wiring. “She only has a ski-jacket on.”
He sounded concerned. A part of her smiled at the fact Aeron had gained respect here. The woman deserved a break.
“Let us handle this,” Ewan urged the two officers.
Ursula walked past them to the steps.
“Where is she going?” the sheriff asked.
Ursula simply held up the transmitter for them to see.
“Oh hell, she’s gonna blow the damn thing!”
The three men hurried to hide behind her.
“On three,” she said.
Ewan and the other men plugged their ears. “Read—”
“Three.” She hit the button and the wall exploded outwards.
YOU MARVEL AT the sight of her fear. The moment when a victim realizes just how powerful and masterful you truly are. Her eyes are wide as she pleads and begs with you. You motion to her face with the scalpel. “Time for a remodel.”
“No . . . please . . . no.”
“Marie!”
The scalpel clatters to the floor. You’re shoved into the hard iron bars. Your nose splits on them, blood gushes into your mouth. You turn and thump the imbecile. He drops back to the floor where he belongs. You kick his bloodied leg and laugh in his face as he grunts in pain.
“Pathetic . . . you think you could hurt me?”
You laugh again and grab the woman he is so obsessed with. Ah, so she holds his heart.
“C’est Parfait,” you tell him. “You will not love her when I have finished with her.”
“No.” He tries again and you smack him to the floor.
Tess murmurs and you leave the wretch and go to her side. Yes, she could never resist the pain of others.
“That’s it, my love,” you tell her. “I will find you . . . you will watch—”
“Aeron?”
Her voice so soft, so gentle, full of hope and affection. It ignites fury in you. Never once did she sound so welcoming to you.
“Who is Aeron?” you demand.
“Aeron?” she mumbles again. “Aeron, please.”
You slap her torn features. “You are alone. Do you hear me. Always alone. There is no one to save you!”
You slap her harder, the rage so vivid that your eyes blur from it.
“Where is your Aeron now?” You sneer into her face. “Where is this Aeron?”
You feel a hand on your shoulder. You turn to hit the deputy once more but you are staring at a broad chest. Your gaze travels upwards, up, and up, until you meet the ogre’s narrowed muddy eyes.
“That would be me.”
The last thing you see is her sizable fist speeding toward your face.
Chapter 28
URSULA PUSHED FORWARD through the debris from the blast and stopped in her tracks as she took in the scene in front of her. “Where is he?”
Ready to sprint up the stairs, she spotted a groaning heap on the floor. Yannick was there, right there.
“Ewan!”
He dashed past her into the cell and he and the two officers started grappling with him. Ursula hurried to the wounded man on the floor.
“Are you alright?”
He groaned. “Marie . . . is she . . . did he?”
Ursula took the keys off his belt and unlocked the woman’s handcuffs. “She’s just fine.”
The woman threw herself at him as soon as she was freed and
sobbed into his shoulder. His leg was in pieces but he would live.
“Aeron?” Ursula said. “Is she?”
Aeron was shaking, her eyes fixed on Renee. Wide eyes. Shocked eyes. Ursula got to her feet. She looked down. A cold, sick feeling twisted her gut.
Oh no.
Yannick had slashed open Renee’s beautiful face. He’d done it in a manner that would leave irreversible scarring. It was such a mess.
“Watch, he’s—”
Yannick threw Ewan and the sheriff from him. A flash of metal. His hand stopped mid-air. Aeron gripped his wrist. She lifted him clean off the ground and plowed him into the bars. His head hit them. His eyes glazed but Aeron was too energized to notice. She lifted him off the bars and slammed him into them again.
“You want to pick on someone.” She slammed him into them once more. “Try me!”
Ursula touched her shoulders. “Aeron . . . he’s out . . . let him go.”
Aeron was too fixated on him and Ursula gripped her arm.
“Let him go,” she said, softening her voice. “Renee needs you.”
Aeron dropped him and robotically went back to Renee.
Ursula pointed to the scalpel on the floor. “You might want to bag that,” she told the sheriff.
As she turned, Aeron was lifting Renee into her arms.
“Where are you going?” Ewan asked.
“I’m taking her back to the cabin,” Aeron grunted. “Anybody got a problem with that?”
A series of shaking heads greeted her question. No one was going to argue with her in this mood, and she carried Renee out.
“You got straightjackets?” Ursula asked the sheriff.
He shook his head.
Great. She pointed to the bars. “Handcuff him through them. One hand to a set of bars so he can’t reach.”
“Why aren’t you guys—?”
“We were never here,” she said. “Blast happened when he set it off.”
“But what about Aeron and—?”
“They were never here either.” She stepped forward, her composure slipping with the want to rip Yannick’s head off. He was right in front of her. She could nail him and who would argue with her? “Neither woman ever appeared in St. Jude’s. Whatever they told you or said, you will forget.”