Chapter 13 #2
“I’m sorry to make you come here,” she said while pulling her other hand free of his, “but I—”
“No apologies.” He tucked the coin in his pocket.
“You’re like me.” Her little hands became fists at her sides. “I can tell.”
“I am?” He smiled at her words, even though he didn’t understand.
“Smart.” She looked up to find his eyes. “You see things how I do, don’t you?”
“And how do you see things?”
“I . . . I can take pictures with my mind—like a camera.”
His heart stammered. “I take pictures with my mind, too. You’re right.”
She grinned and reached out to hug him, and his body went still. “I knew it!”
He tried to remember what he was supposed to do in situations like these. He hadn’t been around kids all that much.
Hug her back! He lifted his arms to hold her.
“I took some pictures with my mind of anything and everything I could while those bad men had me.” She let go of him, and he stood tall. “When you and your friends saved me, at first, I thought maybe you were bad men and there to hurt me, too—but you’re a good man.”
“And I promise we’ll keep you safe.” He considered his next words. “It’s better if we move to another place first before we talk, though. I—”
“My mom died,” she said, cutting him off. “She was smart, too.”
“I, uh, know.” He crouched to eye level again. “I’m so sorry.”
“I don’t think you should tell Miss Maria where I am right now. She wasn’t home when the bad men took me, but I’m afraid they would’ve hurt her if she had been . . . and they might try and hurt her if they think she knows where I am.”
“Maria’s who’s been taking care of you?”
“Yeah. I was supposed to be at school, but I snuck away and went back to the house, and that’s when those bad men got me.” She scratched her nose, her long lashes lifting and falling with a few quick blinks. “I don’t like school.” She swallowed. “I get bored.”
“I used to feel the same.” He could never pay attention in class. He was always five steps ahead of the teacher, especially in math.
“See, I knew you were like me.”
His heart was going to split into two. Shit.
She nodded. “Okay. Let’s go to the next place.”
For being only eight, she was handling everything like she was one of the guys on his team. She was a little champ.
She’d been scared out of her mind when his people rescued her, but like she said—she trusted them now, and so, damned if he wouldn’t stop until he knew the kid was safe.
She reached for his hand, and he held on to her little palm as they left the room.
“Hey.” Jessica’s eyes went to their clasped palms once they joined the team. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah.” He didn’t know what else to say because this was outside his comfort zone.
“We can roll out, then?” Asher closed his laptop and stood.
“Should we find out what Elaina knows before we go?” Don leaned against the far side window with crossed arms and one booted foot propped to the wall beneath the window pane.
“I think it’s best if we wait until we’re at the next location,” Liam said, knowing his team would agree. Elaina’s safety was the priority.
“We can take Elaina in our car,” Don said, but Elaina’s shoulders slumped at his words, and she scuttled closer to Liam’s side. “Why don’t you ride with us, Emily? She might prefer—”
“I, uh, think Elaina wants to stay with us. And Emily rides with me,” Liam was quick to reply.
Don kept his hand on his unsnapped holster—something no agent would do unless they were on the verge of grabbing their weapon. “Well”—he cleared his throat—“let’s do this then.”
Liam angled his head and reached around to secure a grip on the gun tucked at his back, hidden beneath his shirt. “Did someone get to you?” His gaze darted from Don’s holster to his face.
Beads of sweat dotted Don’s scalp despite the blowing A.C., and a touch of red moved up the column of his throat.
Jessica drew her weapon at the same time as Asher and Knox.
“Hold up.” Jared patted the air, trying to diffuse the situation.
Liam kept the girl close to his side and backed a few steps away, not wanting her near the drawn weapons.
“He’s on our side, guys.” Emily moved to stand in front of Don, offering herself as a shield, and Liam cursed under his breath.
Wrong man to defend. Wrong fucking time.
The son of a bitch wrapped a hand around Emily’s abdomen and pulled her tight against him, training his pistol at her temple while keeping his back to the window. “I’m sorry,” he said, and Liam wasn’t sure who the hell Don was apologizing to, and it didn’t matter.
The bastard had a gun on his wife, and there was an eight-year-old kid in the room.
“What the hell, Don! Put the gun down.” Jared focused his Glock on Don now, too. “Don’t you dare tell me this thirteen mill has you—”
“I’m sorry,” Don said again, his hand shaking. The sweat on his brow dripping down the sides of his face.
Liam shifted Elaina around to stand behind him, then retrieved his gun with his free hand. “Let her go.” He removed the safety on his firearm. “It’s five to one. You know you can’t win this.”
“You won’t take the shot. You can’t risk I’ll shoot Emily.” Don’s words nearly rattled.
Liam tightened his grip on Elaina’s wrist as she stood behind him, and Emily closed her eyes but remained still, her palms in the air as if in surrender.
“Why are you doing this, man?” Knox spoke up. “Put the gun down and let’s talk.”
“I-I don’t have a choice.” Desperation flowed through Don’s tone. “Please.”
“Who were you texting back there?” Liam asked, remembering Don’s phone when he’d arrived in Elaina’s room. “Who got to you?”
“Just tell us what’s going on,” Jared demanded. “You don’t have to die today.”
The president had trusted Don; something didn’t add up.
“Tell us so we can help you.” Jared kept his voice level. “You could’ve taken Elaina when you were on watch last night, or even shot me and taken her earlier before these guys arrived. Why wait until now? What happened?”
Don blinked a few times. “I don’t want to do this, but . . . they have my wife.” His voice caved in, and the arm pinning Emily to his body loosened a little.
“They have Becky?” Jared lowered his gun to his side.
“I got a text this morning. They said if I don’t give them Elaina and Emily, they’d kill Becky.” Tears welled in the man’s eyes.
“Emily, too?” Liam’s heartbeat rose even higher, and Emily opened her eyes at the sound of her name.
Jared holstered his weapon and raised both palms in the air and sidestepped Liam’s teammates. “You don’t have to do this. I can’t imagine what you’re going through, but you can’t trade one life for another.”
“I can’t lose Becky. The baby. She’s four months pregnant.
We didn’t want to tell anyone and jinx it, but .
. .” He finally released Emily and lowered his gun.
Asher quickly pulled Emily away from Don and secured his weapon.
“I’m sorry. I panicked.” He sank to his knees. “I’m so sorry, Emily. Elaina.”
Liam tucked his gun away as Emily hurried across the room to get to him. He wrapped his arms around her, thankful she was out of danger and okay.
When he released his hold of her, Elaina approached Don. “I forgive you.” Her words had Don’s silent tears turning into the sob of a man who’d lost the love of his life.
But they wouldn’t let that happen. They couldn’t.
Too many people were in danger, though, and it didn’t make any damn sense.
When Elaina turned back toward Liam, she smiled and pointed at Emily. “Is she yours?”
“My what?” he asked, bending forward to meet her eyes.
She lifted her shoulders. “You know . . . yours.”
“I, uh.” He blinked and stood back up.
The kid was unflappable.
“We’ll get Becky back,” Jared said, pulling Liam’s attention to the situation at hand. “I promise.”
Don extended his phone out to Jared. “They sent me this video of Becky. She’s strapped to a chair. It’s not at our house.”
Jared dragged his free hand through his jet-black hair and cursed as he watched the video.
“Can you trace it?” Don looked at Jessica.
“Maybe.” She sounded grim as she took the phone from Jared. “What were your next instructions?”
“To text that number back once I got away with Emily and Elaina.”
Jessica bowed her head for a moment. She was thinking. Strategizing. And she was the damn best person to have in their corner in a situation like this.
“Here’s what you do,” Jessica began, “tell them you have Emily, but Elaina ran off during the fight. And now you need some time to hunt her down in the woods.”
“What?” Jared stood before Jessica, his brows snapping together with concern.
“We need to buy ourselves some time,” she explained. “Send them a picture of Emily as proof, then tell them you’ll text as soon as you have Elaina.”
“You want to strap Emily to a chair and tie her down for—”
“If it keeps Don’s wife safe, it’s fine,” Emily interrupted Liam, sitting down in the chair she’d been in before as if preparing herself to get tied up.
“They want Emily for a reason.” Jessica glanced at her. “Two people were sent out last night. One went after Emily, and the other after the AG. I’m betting the guy who got away, the one the AG scared off—he’s who has Becky now.”
“And you think he’s pissed his partner was killed, and he wants Emily for payback?” Liam pressed two fingers to his left temple, processing the news.
“Which might help me narrow down a suspect list,” Jessica said. “I’ve already got Harper working on the identity of our dead guy, and once we get to the next safe house, you can give me the fingerprints and blood you pulled off the vic to speed up the process.”
“Find out who died last night, and we might be able to link him to whoever he’s working with,” Liam said, following along Jessica’s line of thought. “This could work.”
“Let’s send Echo Team back to D.C.” Jessica handed Don’s phone to Jared. “We need them there and ready for when we locate Becky.”
“I’m going, too. I have to be there for her.” Don surveyed the team, a look of panic a permanent feature in the set of his brows.
“I can’t let you go and risk—” Jessica started.
“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Jared said. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t get hurt or in the way of your team.”
Jessica peered Asher’s way.
“Your call,” Asher said even though she hadn’t asked him anything.
“Fine.” She pointed to Don’s phone. “Buy us as much time as possible so we can get our people to D.C.”
“I hate to say this, but we should probably film a video of Elaina, too,” Jared said. “I’m sure whoever has Becky will want evidence Don managed to capture her.”
“We need to wait until Echo Team is in D.C. to send it. When our abductor uploads the video, that’ll be my best chance to track his location. Are you okay with doing that?” Jessica looked to Elaina, who then tilted her chin up to view Liam as if asking his opinion on the matter.
“It’s up to you.” He didn’t want to pressure her into doing anything.
“Okay,” she said as casually as if she were saying yes to going to a movie or out for ice cream—something she should’ve been doing. Not this.
“We’re going to get Becky back.” Jessica’s tone remained steady. “The baby will be okay.”
“While you’re en route to D.C., we can try and identify who on the task force hired these men to get Elaina in the first place,” Knox said to Jared. “If we find that person we can get them to point us in the right direction to find Becky as a backup plan.”
“Doubtful they’ll talk. Not fast enough, anyway. But we need to find the traitor regardless,” Jared answered.
Jessica’s eyes darted back to Elaina who was observing them and taking inventory of every detail. Liam knew what that was like, a habit he couldn’t shake.
“You okay?” Liam gripped her shoulder.
“Who wants me this badly to do all this?” she softly asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “But we’re going to find out.”