Lunatic Fringe

by TL Schaefer

  And we were at a standstill.

  It was back to good old police work and instincts.

  I turned to Heath, stepped next to him, spoke low so no one else could hear us. “She’s gone to ground somewhere. My gut says you know where, even if you can’t think of it now. We need to talk through it.”

  He pulled away from me, his eyes positively glacial. “I wouldn’t keep something like that from you,” he said, his words clipped.

  “I know. But can you work with me on this? Can you give them,” I nodded my head to the rest of our crew, “a bit more of yourself? It might make all the difference.”

  He held my gaze for a long time, long enough for the others to begin to notice, before he dipped his head. “For you, Moni. Only for you.”

  My heart did a barrel roll in my chest. The trust he was extending me... it was devastating. I would do my very best not to fuck it up.

  “Thank you,” I said, and ran my hand down his arm. I’d thought, just this morning, that we needed to keep our gestures in check. Screw that. Heath and I had a long way to go, but I’d be damned if we started off whatever it was we had on rocky, uncertain ground. Not when it came to something as simple as declaring a side. An allegiance.

  We turned to face the others as a unit, then stepped to the table and settled into chairs. The others followed, none of them looking surprised at my gesture.

  “Can you get Jonah in on this via videoconference?” I asked.

  Arin nodded and went to work calling him and then broadcasting it onto the big screen at the head of the table.

  “Kavenaugh, give me five minutes, and then if you think differently, we’ll defer to you.” He was the lead on this, and the smile he gave me showed he understood that I had an idea I needed to run with, but that I acknowledged he was still the alpha in the room.

  We waited until Jonah was online and settled. “We need to do good old police work,” I said. “We need to get into Grace’s head. Let’s walk through this. Heath knows her better than any of us, but as strong women, Arin and I can temper y’all’s male opinions if need be.” I grinned the tiniest bit to soften the words.

  “Let’s go back to two days ago. I think we’re all agreed that Grace wasn’t in the house with us, that she was viewing it from an undisclosed location. She’s at her cushy hidey hole, riding high, and she’s done it. She’s got Heath and me and Tori, she’s got the basics of her version of CASI somewhere. Grace thought she had it all. Until she heard what happened to Trang. Until she saw the FBI storming the house. Where would she go?”

  “To the kids, or wherever she’s been planning to recreate CASI,” Heath said immediately. He looked at me as he said it, at no one else, as if we were the only two people in the room. “But let’s assume she has found some children, just as a worst-case scenario. She’d be careful. Just in case we were watching. She’d reach out to O’Donnell first, see what allies she can muster. If he rebuffed her, and I think that’s a big if, she’d go to the kids. To her weapons.” He paused, took a breath. “It’s what I’d do.”

  “Except you’d be sheltering the kids, not using them as either hostages or weapons,” I said. I didn’t care what the others thought. Heath could be fucking mercenary in his own right, but when it came to the CASI children, to his own kids, he took no prisoners.

  “Where would she keep the kids?” I asked.

  Kavenaugh answered. “We’ve been going over her financials, but she’s got a shit ton of assets. Everything from warehouses and shipping companies to broad swaths of acreage, both here in Colorado and across the country. It’ll take us a year to put eyes on everything.”

  “She’d stay close to home,” Heath mused. “Thumbing her nose at me, showing me she’s the better, more successful person, would be important to her. She’d also want to look in on them personally. To ensure things were moving to her liking. Look in a sixty-to-ninety minute circle, then bring me the results. I’ll find her.”

  The surety in his voice had Kavenaugh going still. “Do you know where she is now? Don’t fucking hold out on us, Farrell. These kids’ lives may be at stake.”

  The Heath Farrell that answered was the man I’d known for so many years. Ice cold. “No. But I’m basically Grace with balls. I control people because I excel at it. I’m narcissistic. I have the money and power to make things go my way. Bring me the holdings and a map, and I’ll find her for you.”

  HEATH PORED OVER THE list of Grace’s properties and investments as Kavenaugh and Arin chatted with our kidnapper’s lawyer.

  Our perp’s name was actually Eugene Young and he was, as we’d surmised, a contractor. He’d been paid to snag Heath and me and deposit us in the house we’d been discovered in. Trang had paid him, but something about the whole set-up had seemed hinky to him from the start, so he’d followed Trang. Straight to Grace Pearce’s palatial estate, then to a warehouse out by the airport.

  Young hadn’t seen Grace herself, nor had he stepped foot in the warehouse, but he remembered both addresses well enough and was more than willing to disclose them for reduced charges.

  Kavenaugh excused himself and entered the observation room. “Do you believe him?” he asked Heath and me, since we were the only people who’d actually interacted with the guy, no matter how minutely, or criminally.

  “Yeah, I do,” I said, then looked at Heath.

  He nodded. “He’s got nothing to lose.”

  Kavenaugh blew out a breath. “What about the reduced charges? I’ll hold him federally if you want me to.”

  I turned to Heath. While Grace had stolen my daughter, stolen both of us, in the end, Heath had lost something of himself in that house. Had lost his control. Had lost his veneer, to a certain extent. So I’d let him answer.

  “He drugged us and kidnapped us. But nothing else. Unless Monica has objections, I think his information is worth enough to give up federal charges.”

  “I agree,” I said. “But if I ever see his face again, I’m kicking him in the junk.”

  That brought the smile I’d hoped for from Heath. “I’ll hold him in place for you.”

  Kavenaugh let out a harsh laugh, then headed back to the interview room to make the deal.

  KAVENAUGH AND TEAM deployed to the warehouse, leaving Heath and I behind, just like they had after the last tip.

  Neither of us was overly pleased, just like yesterday.

  Heath continued to pore over the maps while I paced. The warehouse part just didn’t work for either of us. There was no way a bunch of kids could slip in and out of a busy area like the industrial complex near Denver International Airport. While I understood the fact Kavenaugh and company had to rule it out, it didn’t strike me as a real lead.

  Heath stood, and I could read the frustration in his body language. “They’re not going to find anything at the airport, you know that as well as I do. Everything else in town is viewable by the general public. The only piece of land that could possibly support a school in secret is up near Ft. Collins and is purely forest and field. We don’t even know if she found any Talented children.” He shook his head, paced in a circle. “I think she’s at CASI. The school she’s always wanted.” I felt him withdraw, until he felt a million miles away. “I’m going to CASI. I’m going to fix this.”

  “Good try, Heath, but you’re not going anywhere without me. It’s insulting that you’d even think that.” It also hurt in a way I’d never felt before.

  He turned, as if getting ready to walk out the door and I grabbed his arm in response. “Don’t just walk away from me, Farrell.”

  He spun, shaking my hand loose. His expression was pure fury. “You don’t seem to understand, Monica. I’m responsible for this, responsible for Grace, for Burke and Gordon. I knew she was unhinged, but I did nothing. I sat on my fat bureaucratic ass and let her do what she wanted. Because I couldn’t conceive that a member of my family would even consider such atrocity.” He was breathing hard, his usually icy expression flushed with anger and what looked like
frustration.

  I reached for his arm again, this time to stroke, to comfort rather than restrain. “It’s Grace’s fault this has happened,” I said, and when he shook his head I continued. “I know you don’t believe that, but please understand it’s something all of us know. I agree we should head down to CASI, now that we’ve gotten what we can from Trang. But we go together. We don’t break up the team.”

  “No.” He pulled his arm from my grasp again, this time more gently. “You’re staying here or going to stay with the kids. I’m doing this alone.”

  His words pushed me from hurt to pissed. Really, really pissed. “Since when do you think you can tell me what to do? I’m not one of your fucking employees, Heath. I’m your partner in this little venture, at least for right now.” I left it hanging that last night we’d agreed to see where that partnership might go, once this was all over.

  “I don’t want to watch you fucking die,” he roared, all composure gone now. He ran a hand over his face. “I can’t lose you. I won’t. I’m going alone. It’s where everything started, it’s where it’ll all end.”

  I stood there, dumbfounded, even as warmth and a bit of denial coursed through me. I knew we wanted each other physically, and desire had led to our microaggressions over the last decade. But I’d never even guessed he’d felt so deeply he’d shatter his icy composure because of me.

  Emotions I’d shuttered away burst through me, feelings I’d thought hopeless, futile, a betrayal of my marriage.

  “When you went after Trang this morning and then collapsed, I was helpless. And I felt the monster start to slip its leash. I was afraid, Monica. Truly afraid of what would happen if I couldn’t contain it. I’m going to CASI and I’m going to end this. You’re staying here. Or going to Tori. But I can’t abide the thought of you being in danger, and I can’t do what I need to if I think that might happen.”

  He bent his head and kissed me. Hard, rough, possessive. And the woman inside reveled in it even as an alarm at the back of my brain begin to sound. I kissed him back until we were both breathless anyway, because dammit, he was a most excellent kisser.

  He ran his hands down my arms. “I need to go now, Monica, otherwise I won’t. I’ll stay here with you and we’ll lock the door. As much as I want that, as much as I want to pretend we can just make the world go away, we can’t. Please let me go, please let me do this and know you’re safe.”

  As much as his declaration jerked at my heartstrings, it was what he didn’t say that rang loud and clear. What had been blaring at the back of my mind even as my heart was turning in a different direction.

  I was no longer a tactical asset. If I’d crumpled by trying to hurt Trang, how in the hell could I go into a battle? And I was quite sure that was what was going to happen with Grace.

  Something inside me curled up and died. And as it went I felt a surge of anger. At what I’d become. At how helpless it made me feel. My freaking weapon didn’t even feel right in my hands anymore

  Now I was sending Heath out to do something I had been perfectly capable of doing a year ago. Before Grace Pearce invaded my life. Almost took my sanity. Kidnapped my kid. Tried to kill my ex and remove him as a parental complication.

  Made me a useless appendage, only good for something after the battle was said and done, and then to heal the wounded. Jesus. I’d been ragey when they took Tori, but this was a different kind of anger. It was an anger born of loss. Because from here on out my life would be forever changed. Whether I wanted it to be or not. Whether Heath was even in it or not.

  And that eclipsed any good feelings his words and his lips might have imparted. Because dammit, every once in awhile it had to be about me. About what made me tick and function and bother to get up the next morning.

  As that anger perked through me, I also felt a dash of fear. Because what I was about to say would probably destroy everything Heath and I had discovered over the last week. But as good as it had been, the truth was just as important.

  “Go then,” I said. “You’re right. This is your responsibility. Grace fucked everything up including me, and now I’m a liability to you. To everyone until they need to get patched up. Go, be the white fucking knight and save the day.”

  He started to open his mouth to deny my words, then closed it again. And his face, which had been so beautifully open, closed down. Became ice. “You’re not the only one who’s lost something, Monica. My credibility is shit, I’ve spent a small fortune on protection, and I’ve outed my Talent. I’ve lost control of this entire situation and the respect of almost everyone I’ve ever worked with. Settle down and stop being a martyr.”

  My head snapped up at his words and the apology I’d been ready to deliver withered on the vine. “So that’s the way it is, huh? Your precious power and respect trump all, eh? Good to know.” I was suddenly so very tired. Tired of the drama. Of the uncertainty. Of the constant adrenaline rush that now seemed frighteningly normal. “Go find Grace. Finish this. Then we can all get back to our normal lives. Whatever that might be.”

  I walked into my bedroom and began to pack. And my heart only broke a little when the front door closed behind him.

  Chapter Fifteen

  WHAT CAME BEFORE...

  I finished pouring the vodka down the sink, then pushed the bottle into the trash. In the living room, Mama was cursing me loudly, drunkenly, from the couch.

  Her latest boyfriend had peeled out of the gravel driveway fifteen minutes before, his worldly goods jammed into the bed of his shitty truck. It had nice rims though. Very shiny. And a Confederate flag in the back window. It was all very sophisticated.

  “You shouldn’t have threatened him,” Mama wailed. “He was good to me!”

  She wasn’t wrong about me threatening the asshole. I hadn’t actually pulled my personal Sig on him, but it’d been a close thing. I knew they’d been drinking their way through the money I sent them, which would have been okay (not really), but when the mortgage payment for the trailer didn’t make it to the bank for two months in a row—even though I sent it home—I’d been done.

  With all of it, but especially with Mama and the fact I’d been enabling her for far too long.

  So the asshole was out, and tomorrow she was going to see a counselor. Someone who’d been recommended to me by a mental health provider who specialized in treating alcoholics.

  We’d deal with her need to wrap her whole world up in a man next. She was never going to find another man like Papa, and it was time someone other than me told her that.

  Now... Denver

  I walked out of the bedroom, still angry, still heartbroken and with nothing to really do. Heath was off on his grand quest. The others were following their lead at the airport warehouse. And me? I was waiting at home like a good little girl.

  It didn’t sit well. Didn’t sit well at all.

  I texted Sara to find out how to connect with them and sat down with a cup of much-needed herbal tea, willing myself to calm the hell down as I waited.

  Texted Kavenaugh and told him Heath was on his way to CASI and I was heading to the safe house. Because Heath needed backup, even if I was mad as hell at him.

  When my cell rang and it was Tori, I was thrilled. She was reaching out, and my heart soared.

  “Hey sweetie, how are you doing?”

  “Did you actually think you’d succeed?” The voice on the other end of the line was definitely not my daughter’s. And even though I’d never heard her voice before, I knew who it was. Grace Pearce.

  “I think you have the wrong number,” I said, scrambling for a pad and paper. She’d surprised me, so recording the call was out unless I wanted to put it on speaker, and I didn’t think Grace would appreciate that.

  “Oh, I’ve got the right number, says Mom right here in the contact list.”

  My gut clenched and my body went ice cold.

  “Let’s not play, my dear. You know very well who this is. I have your daughter—again—along with all the other children.
Your husband and friends are corpses.”

  I knew she was lying then. No way could she get past Sara and Jonah. Not when they were in full-on protect mode. And no way would Tori have gone without a fight. Not when she was Teflon and nothing Grace could do would compel her.

  And in that second, Asa’s vision about earplugs made perfect, logical sense.

  I stood and grabbed my purse, headed for the door with my cell still glued to my ear. I had to keep her talking until I figured out where she was, so I could call in the cavalry. And even though I was useless in the field, that didn’t mean I couldn’t reconnoiter. Couldn’t get the best possible intel for the people who could do the job of bringing her down.

  “What do you want?”

  “You. Your future children. I’m going to text you an address. You have thirty-five minutes. I’ve generously factored in traffic. Your clock starts now, Ms. Foudy. Tori will be...disappointed if you fail her.”

  Panic clenched at my chest even though I knew, deep in my heart, my soul, that she was lying. Because even if she didn’t have Tori, she likely had another child with her. And that child would come to harm if I didn’t take action.

  As a mother, there was no way I could look away, not when a child’s welfare might depend on my actions. I just hoped the team could get there in time.

  The text came through. I knew the northern part of Denver just enough to think I might make it, barring any accidents or morons.

  But that quickly, most of my options went out the window. Kavenaugh was too far north to make it in time, Heath too far to the south. The only two FBI agents I knew and trusted were with Kavenaugh.

  Given O’Donnell’s pull, there was no way I was calling in the locals. Not with the unknowns regarding Grace. I wouldn’t be responsible for one of them losing their life because I couldn’t hack it.

  I slid behind the wheel of the last remaining rental car we’d contracted. The car that was supposed to take me to Tori and Joe.