Chapter 3
HANNA
“Stop talking.”
In emphasis, the man who’s holding us hostage—who I’ve nicknamed Bad Breath Needs a Shave, because in dire circumstances like this, any amount of levity helps—kicks one of the empty chairs and sends it spinning across the room. “Stop talking,” he repeats. “Or I’ll shut you up myself.”
Georgia flinches. Her chin wobbles. Her cheeks are wet with tears. “Please,” she whispers. “Just let me be with my baby.”
“Shut. Up!” he shouts. Then he aims his gun at Georgia. “I’ve had just about enough of you already.”
“She’s scared,” I interrupt, flashing him an angry glare. “You took her little girl away from her. And—” I tilt my chin at Charlie. “She has a little boy in the other room, too. You can’t possibly expect them just to sit here and not ask to see them.”
Bad Breath Needs a Shave jerks his head in my direction. He looks surprised that I have the nerve to talk back to him. Honestly, I’m a little surprised, myself, given the whole he’s holding a loaded gun and the rest of us are tied up part of the situation.
But.
He took Charlie and Georgia from their babies. And of all the shitty things he’s done so far, that’s right up there with the worst of them.
Actually, shooting Rylan was pretty terrible, too.
So was putting those reddening bruises on Georgia’s neck.
Okay, everything he’s done since he got here has been awful.
Breaking in, to start—I’m still not sure how, aside from thinking it must have something to do with this crazy power outage that didn’t just knock out the regular electricity, but our generator and cell phones as well.
Then grabbing Georgia, hurting her, and using her as leverage to take the rest of us hostage.
I’m not likely to ever forget Charlie opening her front door to the sight of Georgia with a gun held to her head.
And Bad Breath Needs a Shave snarling, “Come with me. Now. Or I’ll shoot her first, then both of you. ”
Even though Charlie and I both know self-defense, with Noel and Sam still asleep inside Charlie’s apartment, we couldn’t risk it. And not with Georgia’s life hanging in the balance.
Oh, and this jerk shot Rylan. I can’t forget about that. Thankfully, it doesn’t look too serious, but still. He shot him.
And now Bad Breath Needs a Shave is holding us hostage in the main conference room, while Maya, Elle, and all the babies are locked in the windowless storage closet across the hall.
Apparently, even our captor draws the line at hurting children, because after he rounded all of us up, he shuttled them off with Maya and Elle while keeping the rest of the adults in here with him.
“You can’t get out,” he said smugly before he shut the door behind them.
“Not without windows. And the door will be locked. So don’t even try.
” Pausing, he narrowed a menacing glare at Maya, who looked like she was about to argue.
“If I hear a sound coming from in here, I’ll tie up the kids, as well. ”
My jaw tightens at the thought of him scaring the babies.
Or rather, scaring them more than they have been already.
Thankfully, the boys are too little to understand what’s going on.
But Clara and Lily are older. Even with Maya and Elle in there to comfort them, they have to know that something’s wrong.
What kind of monster scares little kids like that?
What kind of monster breaks into a home the week before Christmas and takes everyone inside hostage?
Which leads to the next question—what does he want?
Money? But if it were that, why would he come here when there are multi-million-dollar estates just minutes away?
Our friends, Cash and Ari, for example—and not that I want anyone to break into their place, either—live in a giant mansion just across town.
Of all the places to target for a robbery, it would be a place like that, not the renovated office building Blade and Arrow uses for its headquarters.
But do I really think he’s here for money, given what B and A does? Given that it’s not the first time one of the members has been targeted for revenge, my own husband included?
Selfishly, I’m glad Finn isn’t here. It’s not that I don’t want him with me. I do. But in Boston, he’s safe. There’s no chance of him being shot. And if something does happen to me, Finn will be around to take care of Ansel and Porter, who are still safe up in our apartment.
I guess that’s a small silver lining, so to speak. Since I was taken from Charlie’s apartment, Bad Breath Needs a Shave never made it to mine. So he never saw the dogs. Never knocked on my door and heard them bark.
A shudder runs through me at the thought of our captor discovering Ansel and Porter. After all, just because he won’t hurt kids doesn’t mean he won’t hurt dogs. And the idea of Ansel or Porter being hurt, possibly killed…
I swallow hard against the rising lump in my throat.
Some people—non pet owners, usually—brush off having pets as a poor substitute for kids. They say things like, Oh, you can’t love a dog like a human. Or they assume Finn and I only have dogs because we can’t have kids, rather than because it’s the life we choose.
I mean, Finn and I could have kids, if we wanted.
I’m only thirty-five, and I know women in their forties who are still getting pregnant.
But we like our life as it is. We can travel when we want because we always have someone at Blade and Arrow to watch the dogs.
We can take Ansel and Porter to the dog-friendly stores and restaurants in town. We can bring them hiking with us.
Who knows. Maybe in a year or two, we’ll change our minds. But for now, I’m happy with our furry family of four.
Plus, I have my friends’ kids to spend time with.
I love all the babies fiercely—and yes, I still call Clara a baby even though she’s three and a half, and she recently informed me in her most grown-up voice that, “I’m not a baby, Aunt Hanna.
I’m a big girl.” And I’d do anything to protect them, including drawing the attention of our captor if it helps Charlie and Georgia get back to them safely.
The gun drifts in my direction as Bad Breath Needs a Shave regards me. His thick brows arch up. His upper lip pulls into a sneer. “Who do you think you are?” he asks with disdain. “And why do you think I care what you say?”
Charlie, who’s tied up in the chair beside Georgia, glances at me. She’s crying, just as Georgia is, but there’s a spark of anger in her eyes as well.
I don’t blame her. If some asshole shot Finn, I’d be beyond furious. All I have to do is think about that guy who tried to blow Finn up, and my face gets all hot and my hands start to shake. If that jerkface hadn’t died in jail, he’d have to worry about me coming after him once he got out.
“I don’t think I’m anyone special,” I reply, doing my best to keep my voice from trembling. “And I don’t know that you care. I’m just asking, could you please let them go to be with their kids? Whatever you want, surely the two of us”—I nod at Rylan—“can help.”
Bad Breath Needs a Shave stares at me. Then he barks out a laugh. “Help? With this shitshow? I doubt it.”
“Then leave,” I fire back. “If it’s such a mess, just leave. We won’t say anything. We can just pretend this never happened.”
Lie. Of course, we’d call the police the second he leaves. But I have no qualms about lying to this guy if, by some small sliver of a chance, it convinces him to let us go.
But it’s clear from the skeptical look on his face that he doesn’t believe me. “Right,” he replies sarcastically. “The perfect Blade and Arrow team is going to let this go? After someone broke into their precious sanctum and held them hostage? I don’t think so.”
The faltering spark of hope that this whole thing is random fizzles out. I knew it was a longshot, but still… The idea that he knows where he is, who he’s dealing with, and he still doesn’t care? That makes me extremely nervous.
I mean, who voluntarily breaks into the headquarters of a security company that employs six former Green Berets and a Night Stalker?
Well-trained employees who make no secret of their background?
It says it right on the website, for Pete’s sake—The Blade and Arrow staff has over sixty years of shared Special Forces experience between them.
“What do you want?” Rylan asks. He’s paler than usual, and his features are pinched in pain. But his expression is fierce as he pins our captor with his glare. “You went through all this effort to get in here. Obviously, it wasn’t random. So, why are you here? And what do you want?”
By the time Rylan finishes speaking, his normally controlled tone is close to a shout. His fury is a visible thing, snapping fire in his eyes.
“Don’t worry about why I’m here,” Bad Breath Needs a Shave snaps. “Just…” He scowls. “Just be quiet and let me think.”
Just let him think?
Shouldn’t he have, I don’t know, thought about this whole plan before he did it? Rather than halfway through?
I exchange a quick glance with Rylan, and it looks like he’s thinking the same thing as me.
“Listen,” Rylan says, now more pacifying than threatening. “If you have a problem with Blade and Arrow, then you should take it up with me. Not with the women. Just let them go, and we can discuss this, man to man.”
“Ry,” Charlie whispers. She turns a desperate gaze on her husband. “No. I need you. So does Sam.”
“Sam needs you,” Rylan replies. “As long as you two are safe, that’s all—”
“Isn’t this sweet?” our captor interrupts. He casts a sneering look at Rylan. “Offering to sacrifice yourself for your girlfriend—”
“My wife,” Ry bites out. “And I will do anything to protect her. And my son. It’s clear you’re here because of Blade and Arrow—”
“You weren’t supposed to be here!” Bad Breath Needs a Shave shoots back. “You’re supposed to be out of town. I called to check. All booked up until after the holidays. That’s what the lady who answered the phone said. All booked up!”
Rylan blinks. “You called us?”