Chapter 10
Barron pulled up in front of his house, looked around at the vehicles parked here and there, and shook his head at having to deal with this on top of the issues he was having with Emmalyn. Stomping up the stairs to his porch, he coached himself on being polite and not taking anyone’s head off. When he reached for the door, it opened and Havoc was standing in front of him.
“I don’t know where she is, but I know that Analise knows where she is, and she’s safe.”
“I found her.”
“Where?” Havoc asked.
“She’s at Hellen’s house.”
“Right down the street from us!” Havoc said. “How’d you find her?”
“I had just about narrowed it down. She wasn’t with anyone else, all the other houses checked out. She’s not in the extra house. The only one I hadn’t checked was Hellen’s. So, she’d managed to get off the property quickly and across onto Kaid’s compound, or she was still here. I was pretty sure she was hiding out, letting us make us search ourselves silly. Then Bam called and told me where she was. I was already driving in that direction so I just pulled right in.”
“She’s a lot of damn trouble,” Havoc said.
“She’s worth it, though,” Barron said. He glanced past Havoc and realized that everybody from their generation was there. Their entire clan, except for Emmalyn.
“I hope so,” Havoc said. “She’s a pain in my ass, personally.”
“Because you’re mated to her sister. And you love her, you’re just more like siblings so she torques you.”
“Hey! You talk to her?” Brandt called out from the kitchen.
“No. I begged until I was practically hoarse, but she’s still ignoring me. I started getting mad, so I left. I’ll go back later.”
“I’ll keep an eye on the place this evening,” Havoc said.
“Appreciate it.”
“Alright, people. Let’s get everybody brought up to speed,” Brandt said.
“About what?” Analise said.
“About your sister and what’s happening with her,” Brandt said.
Analise, who was sitting with Harley looked from Brandt to Havoc, then around the room. Remi, Ronan, Daisy, Angelle, Christian, Addie, Shawn, Abby and Kiernan and their two kids were all there. The only one missing was Emmalyn, and of course the younger of their clan. “I don’t know that I like this taking place without her here to defend herself.”
“It’s not that kind of situation. We planned this to go over a heightened sense of security, which has led me to the realization that we all should be more telepathically connected, like our parents’ generation.
“Oh. What’s it got to do with Emmalyn?” Analise asked.
“The reason for the heightened security is that she has a stalker. It’s the reason she was sent home.”
“What?!” Analise said, getting tense. “How dangerous is this situation?”
“It’s not good,” Barron said, not sugar-coating anything. “But we’re all aware. We have been for a few days. We’ve been watching everyone, keeping doors locked. Making sure the women are all accompanied, no kids are playing without supervision.”
“This is why you’ve been unbearable for the last couple of days,” Analise said, glaring at Havoc.
“I am not unbearable. I’m loving and attentive,” Havoc said haughtily.
“Thing is, this is Emmalyn’s business. And I get that she wants to handle it her own way. But it’s spilled over to the rest of us. And we take care of our own, so whether she likes it or not, we’ve got her back on this. She’ll be thankful when she realizes she can relax some because she’s not alone.”
“I doubt she’ll let you or Barron help her out with anything at all. Our parents maybe, but not you and not Barron.”
“What did I do?” Brandt asked defensively.
“You laughed when Barron said he’d lied to her,” Analise said.
“I did not, not like she thinks.”
“Whatever. She’s angry at both of you. And I can’t help but be angry for her. You both know how hard it is for her to trust.”
“If anything that conversation clarified just how much I love her and the lengths I’d go to for her. She just didn’t stick around to hear the rest,” Barron said.
“That’s neither here nor there. Point is, other than a few of us, Barron and me, Emmalyn — believe it or not, we’re not all actively connected,” Brandt said, tapping his temple. “We need to be. You, too,” he said, indicating Kiernan and his family. “It’s much more efficient in the face of emergencies, or sudden news that needs to be shared. Does anybody have an issue if we start utilizing that part of our abilities to communicate rather than always relying on cell phones. Phones are great, but if I’m in the middle of an emergency, I’d rather be able to just think the information to you without having to type it out and create a group text to send it through, or ask somebody to send it on to everybody else.
“Agreed,” Ronan said.
“Everybody else?”
“Agreed,” everyone echoed.
“Good. Now, the thing with Emmalyn… we didn’t tell you girls because we didn’t want you to be on edge. First we didn’t know if it was just our imagination like Everly thought when she first came to me, or if someone was actually watching her, and us by default. Main reason being that if there really was someone watching her, we didn’t want them to notice a difference in our daily habits and figure out that we were on to them. We don’t want them to leave.”
“Why wouldn’t you want them to leave? Wouldn’t that be a good thing?” Abby asked.
“No. If they get spooked and leave, they can regroup and come back at any time, or pick another place and time to go after her without us there to help keep her safe. We need to…” he stopped and looked at Harley, who hung on his every word, looking more and more nervous, and the other two little ones in the room. “Maybe this isn’t for little ears.”
Angelle stood up, “I’ll take them into another room.”
“The extra bedroom is right there, off the kitchen,” Barron said.
Angelle went to Abby and extended her hands. Abby handed her the baby, then gave KJ some of his toys and sent him with Angelle.
“Harley, you go on and help Angelle with the babies, okay?” Analise said.
“I want to stay here.”
“Angelle needs help and this is an adult conversation. Go help Angelle,” Havoc said firmly, but not unkindly.
“I don’t like being a kid,” Harley grumbled, getting up and following Angelle out of the room.
“There’s a television in there. I’m sure there’s cartoons or something on it. I pay enough for the freaking satellite access,” Barron called out.
“I’ll find something,” Angelle assured him as she closed the bedroom door. A few seconds later they heard the sounds of everybody’s favorite big purple dinosaur and his friends pouring out of the television.
“I cannot believe they still have that show on,” Christian said.
“They’re animated now, but the voices and music are exactly the same,” Analise said.
“Animated?” Christian asked.
“Yeah, it’s lost some of its charm since it’s no longer people wearing big over-sized suits, but it’s still the same premise.”
“You watch it often?” Remi teased.
“Yes, I do. We have a little girl, remember?” Analise asked, tossing a throw pillow toward Remi.
“Oh, okay. Just making sure you didn’t have a thing for big purple dinosaurs. Because if you do, then I have to make sure Havoc is aware of that,” Remi said, winking at Havoc.
“Y’all are terrible,” Analise accused, shaking her head.
“Okay, anyway, if there is someone here, I want to take him out now. There will be no lingering threat. He dies. Here, and not only Emmalyn is safe from now on, so is everyone else that might have been his victim.”
“What did he do?” Christian asked. “How bad is this guy? And wouldn’t we scent a stranger?”
“Well, considering that he was an FBI agent, and was working on the team that was trying to identify him, I’d say he’s pretty slick. Add to that the reason they were trying to identify him was that he was collecting women and keeping them as part of his collection, like zoo animals in cages, I’d say the guy’s a freaking psycho,” Brandt said. “I have no answer as to why we haven’t scented him.”
Everybody’s mouth fell open.
“Holy fuck,” Havoc finally managed.
“Yeah. And Emmalyn identified him. He knows her and knows she was the profiler working on the team so he knows it was her who pointed the finger at him. This is not good,” Barron said.
“How do you know all that?” Analise asked, her voice almost a whisper now.
“Your father. She confessed to your mom, who told your father, and he called me and Brandt. He knew we were looking for Emmalyn because she ran when she got angry.”
“We knew it was a possibility before that, though, because your mom came to me and told me she felt she was being watched. We didn’t know until this morning, though, exactly how dangerous this situation could be. All we knew was that it was a possibility that Emmalyn was being watched.”
“He threatened her on Christmas day,” Addie said, sitting beside Christian with her hand in his.
“How do you know that?” Brandt asked.
“She sent me in our house to get changed so I could go back to her house for Christmas and get a chance to spend some time with Christian. When I came back out she was standing with her back to me, yelling at someone on the phone. It was clear she was shaken up, and she was threatening someone right back. She was angry. But as soon as she realized that I was there, she smiled at me, ended the call and told me that I didn’t hear a single thing. Nothing at all. So I never said anything. She seemed more defiant about the call than upset, and she made some pretty violent threats so I didn’t think anything of it. Especially after I learned she was an FBI agent. I figured she could handle it. And she was so happy and upbeat the rest of the day, I didn’t really think about it again.”
“She’s been dealing with this for months,” Barron said.
“But we know now. And we’ll all do whatever is necessary to get this guy and put a stop to it,” Remi said.
“Hell yeah,” Ronan said.
“Tell us what you need. Anything,” Kiernan said.
Brandt smiled coldly. “We’re going to find this guy, and we’re going to kill him.”
“Yes, indeed,” Shawn said.
“In the meantime, keep the lines of communication open and available. Anything you see, anything you remember, send it through so everyone gets it. Keep an eye on your women, keep an eye on your kids, keep your own eyes open. I don’t think any of us are in danger, I think this is about Emmalyn in particular,” Brandt said.
“Should she be over there alone?” Analise asked.
“I tried, Analise. She won’t let me in. She won’t even respond to me trying to talk to her. I know she heard me. I was close enough to be able to smell the roast she’s cooking from inside the house. She acted like she wasn’t there.”
“I don’t like being here while she’s there alone.”
“Call her. See if she’ll answer,” Barron said.
Analise sent out a telepathic message to her sister, not even bothering with the phone. Hey, you good?
Eating. I made a roast.
Analise smiled. We’re having hot dogs. Everybody is here at Barron’s.
Glad I’m not. I hope he chokes on his hot dog. Tell everybody else hello. Except Brandt. I hope he chokes, too.
I’m not saying that. Want to know why we’re all here?
Guessing it’s clan business.
It’s about you and helping to keep you safe.
I knew they’d tell! Mom had no right to tell everybody. She’s making a much bigger deal out of it than it is. And she knew not to tell Barron at all!
They already knew. And they did have a right to tell. Your safety and everyone else’s could be at stake here.
Don’t you think you’re being a little dramatic?
No. I think you’re being a selfish asshole who needs to pull her head out of her ass.
You don’t know anything you’re talking about!
I know you called me on my bullshit, and now I’m calling you on yours. Grow up Emmalyn. We’re all just trying to take care of each other and be the best people we can be, and this time it’s you we’re worried about.
Emmalyn didn’t respond, but she did shut down the connection she shared with her sister.
“Well, I guess that didn’t go well,” Analise said.
“What’d she say?” Barron asked, hovering nearby, anxious to hear the gist of their conversation.
“That Mom had no right to tell everyone her business, especially not you. She’s downplaying any danger at all. I told her to get her head out of her ass and grow up.”
“I’m sure that made her happy,” Barron said.
“She shut me out.”
“So, now what?” Remi asked.
“Now, we have some hot dogs. Get the kids and Angelle back in here and laugh a little bit. Then we do whatever we have to do until someone spots this guy.”
“I’m going back to watch Hellen’s,” Barron said.
“I’ll come with you,” Remi said.