32. Chapter 32
Chapter 32
“You’re not going with me.” Ezra slid his jacket on, zipped it all the way up as he glanced down the quiet street. He’d parked only a block away, underneath an oak tree with limbs extending over half the street.
“Well I can’t just sit here and do nothing.”
“All I’m doing is recon to see what’s going on. It sounds like your mom is under duress, likely your father too. I need to see who and what I’m up against.”
“Your team is twenty minutes out.”
“Yeah and by the time they get here, I’ll know what’s going on. I’ll be fine.” He tucked a pistol in the back of his jacket as he shut the door behind him and stepped onto the curb. Then he slid his earpiece in. “Call my phone.”
She did as he said, then he pressed the answer button.
He shut the back hatch of the SUV as he said, “Testing, can you hear me?”
“I can hear you.”
“Okay. I’m on my way.” There was so much he wanted to say to her, but every time he tried or thought he had a hold on things, the words got jumbled up in his head. They were both silent as he jogged down the sidewalk.
The neighborhood was all lit up with Christmas cheer, with a few cars driving by, but no one stopped to look at lights or him, it seemed.
When he reached the driveway to her parents’ house, he kept going, then hurried down the neighbor’s driveway. He knew this was a risk, but if the neighbors called the cops on a potential intruder, then there was nothing he could do. “I’m using the neighbor’s yard as cover. Sticking to the shadows,” he murmured.
“Which neighbor?” Magnolia asked.
“One on the left side if you’re looking at their house from the street.”
“It’s Wednesday so…you should be good. They go to Wednesday and Saturday Mass almost every week.”
He picked up the pace, racing down the line of hedges until he neared the back boundary between their yards. “There’s one car in the driveway. A dark green Land Rover.” One he recognized.
“Oh god.”
“Yeah,” Ezra gritted out, coming to the same conclusion as her. “I’m moving to the backyard, going quiet for a minute.”
“Okay.”
He hoisted himself up and over, glad the neighbor’s backyard didn’t seem to have any sensor lights, or at least not near the fence line. He was silent as he moved across their backyard, sticking to the shadows of trees. From the back, their house was dark except for one window. So he moved up to it, but could only make out shadows behind the gauzy curtains.
Someone, a man, was standing near a fireplace. Then two others, one he was certain was Magnolia’s mother, were sitting on chairs as the man paced, his actions jerky. Ezra texted Magnolia instead of risking speaking.
“Can you hear me?” she asked.
He texted back yes .
“Okay, I have an idea.” He heard the SUV engine flare to life, had to bite back his order as she continued. “I’m headed your way.
He eased back from the window, kept his voice low. “Wait, no, stay where you are. I’m going to sneak in.”
“No. I’m just going to pull into the driveway and call my mom and ask her to come out and help me with something in the trunk. I’ll pop it and then stay out of sight. If he comes outside, you take him down.”
“That is…not a bad idea. Do you have the pistol I gave you? ”
“I’ve got bear spray courtesy of Mari. She gave me a canister yesterday, called it an early Christmas present. Have you seen my parents? Do they look okay?”
“They’re alive.” They’d been moving, but he couldn’t see more than that. “How close are you?”
“Two houses down.”
“Okay, give me a minute to get into place,” he whispered as he approached the back door. “I’m at a back door. Tell me what I’m walking into.”
“It’s a sort of entryway. To the immediate left is a butler’s pantry and then that opens up into the kitchen.”
He worked quickly on the lock using one of his kits. “What’s to the left of the kitchen? I saw them sitting in a room with a fireplace.”
“That’s my dad’s study.”
“I’m in so I might not be able to respond.”
“Okay, I’m pulling into the driveway now. I’ll stay closer to the road and pop the trunk then make the call.”
“After you pop the trunk, head for the neighbor’s yard and get out of sight when you call. I don’t want him to see you at all or for you to be in the line of fire.”
“Okay. I’m hanging up so I can call.”
After she disconnected, he felt the loss as if she’d physically cut the connection between them, even though that was nonsensical. Or maybe it wasn’t because he’d been trying to keep walls between them, to save himself in case… In case what? Jesus, he wasn’t sure what was wrong with him.
Okay, lies, he knew. He was terrified of going for it again with her, then losing her. But not having her at all, not giving them a shot, was even more terrifying. And he felt the loss of what he was giving up all the way to his core.
Which is great timing, really.
As he moved through the kitchen on silent feet, he could hear a phone ringing in the distance.
“When I press the green button, you better talk normally to her!” an angry male voice snarled .
Ezra moved through the kitchen, closer to the voices. He stepped into a small hallway, could see light coming out from underneath a closed door a few doors down.
“Oh, hello darling.”
“Hey, Mom.” Magnolia’s voice slightly carried, so he guessed she was on speaker. “I’m here. I’ve got a few bags I need help with. Would you come out and help me carry them?”
“Oh, ah…of course, of course. I’ll be out in a moment, love you.”
“Why the hell did you say that?” Another angry snarl.
“It would be weird if I said no,” her mother snapped. “And you haven’t done anything you can’t take back.”
“Just shut up and let me think! Okay, okay…okay, I’ll head out and help her. Then when I get back in here, we’re going to have a nice little chat, all of us.”
“No—”
At the sound of a slap against skin, Ezra took a deep breath, dug for control. Right now he had to do things right. He called Magnolia back, but she didn’t answer. Shit.
When he heard the sound of the door opening, he ducked into the nearest dark room with the door open. A bathroom.
Footsteps moved in the opposite direction so he stepped back out, moving quickly. He ducked into the study, held a finger to his mouth when he saw Abigail and Arnold tied to two chairs. Arnold was groggy, one eye swollen and bloody, his nose broken. Abigail looked mostly unharmed except for a red mark on her face. There was also a wall safe open, empty. He catalogued everything in seconds as he moved.
Ezra hurried to her tied arms, freed one and handed her his knife. “I have to follow him and keep Magnolia safe.” Then he raced back out, his steps quiet as he followed in the same direction as the clomping boots.
He peered out into a living room, could see the front door starting to swing closed so he sprinted, racing through the living room and catching the door before it fully shut .
Pistol up, he eased it open to see Charles striding down the walkway on unsteady feet. The SUV trunk was popped open, but at this angle it was impossible to see who’d popped it.
Charles paused, his weapon held down by his side. A heavy-duty pistol that would tear someone apart. Maybe he sensed Ezra or sensed that the situation was off.
Either way, it was the end of the road for him. Ezra raised his SIG. “Put your gun down, Charles, then raise your hands and lie on the ground. It’s over.”
Charles froze, his body vibrating with rage as he stood there trembling. “You have no idea what I’m dealing with,” the man snarled, desperation clear in his voice. He took another step away from Ezra.
And Ezra wasn’t going to shoot someone in the back unless absolutely necessary.
Ezra moved after him. “Whatever you’re dealing with, you know Magnolia will help.”
Ooh, that had been the wrong thing to say. “She fired me today!”
That…didn’t sound accurate.
“Stupid bitch. She just doesn’t understand,” he continued his rant as he reached the end of the curved walkway onto the driveway.
Ezra stepped into the yard instead of following after him, wanting to cut him off before he could head toward the road.
That was when he saw the cluster of carolers strolling down the sidewalk. Oh, shit.
Charles saw them at the same time, raised his gun in the air and started firing upward.
Screams rent the air and the carolers scattered in all different directions. Charles dove into the hedges by the driveway and there was no way Ezra could risk hitting someone else.
He gave chase, racing down the driveway and rounding the hedges at the same time a gunshot rent the air. Once, twice, each sound an explosion.
On instinct he went down to one knee, aimed at Charles who was waving his pistol around wildly. Ezra pulled the trigger, nailed him in the chest.
Charles stumbled backward and everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Magnolia hiding behind the neighbor’s tree, bear spray in hand.
Charles fell to his knees, his eyes wild and manic, and he was still clutching his weapon.
He tried to raise it again, but Ezra fired again, hitting him directly in the chest. Charles flew back, landing at an awkward angle, not moving.
Ezra moved toward him, kicked the weapon out of the way even as he stumbled himself. Pain registered in his chest as he struggled to draw in a breath. At least Charles was incapacitated. Permanently.
“Ah, shit,” he rasped out, falling to one knee.
Sirens sounded in the background so at least someone had called for backup.
Suddenly Magnolia was leaning over him, her eyes filled with tears. “No, no, no!” she shouted. “You’re not going to die because I’m too mad at you. You’re going to be just fine!”
“Why are you mad at me?” he rasped out, pain lancing through his chest.
Whatever she was going to say, her voice broke on a sob.
Until he unzipped his jacket, knocked on his bulletproof vest, then groaned in pain. That had been a dumb thing to do. “Think he broke a rib. But I’m…okay.” He just felt like someone had taken a hammer and decided to play the drums with it on his chest.
She clasped his cheeks even as the sirens grew louder. “Oh god, you really are okay. I love you, you big dumbass. And I’m always going to want more from you.”
“Same. But you’re not a dumbass. You’re wonderful.” Even though it hurt to breathe, he forced the words out. “And I love you so much it hurts. I never moved on from you and…I haven’t been handling my emotions well, according to my friends. I thought… I don’t know what I thought. But I want to be more than friends with you. I want everything—the whole deal.”
“Ezra—”
“Ma’am, I’m going to need you to move out of the way.” Suddenly an EMT was there, nudging her to the side, then kicking Ezra’s SIG into the grass.
“She rides with me,” Ezra rasped out, aware of his crew showing up. He could see Tiago arguing with a uniformed police officer. “And her father needs help way more than me. He’s next door. He was roughed up.”
“We’ve got more than one ambulance,” the man said as he popped the gurney up. “Another team is with him right now.”
“Well, I’m fine. I don’t even need—”
“You’re not fine and you’re going to do everything this man says,” Magnolia snapped, clasping onto his hand tightly with both of hers. She basically bared her teeth at the EMT who tried to get her to move so the guy worked around her and got him into the back of the waiting ambulance.
He really was fine. Just really, really sore and yeah, okay, it hurt to breathe. He would just close his eyes for a moment.