Chapter Forty-Three
KNOX
In the quiet of the summer afternoon, all hell broke loose.
A shot rang out from inside the house. Then another. Before we registered the live fire, the house shook, a plume of smoke rising from the side of the garage.
One of the charges had blown. At the sound of the shots and the explosion, Tsepov’s men scattered like rats, melting into the woods.
Cooper shoved the bag at Tsepov and took off in a sprint. I was on his heels, Andrei forgotten. Cooper threw himself at the door, stumbling as it gave easily, unlocked. He bellowed Alice’s name.
No answer.
I opened my mouth to scream for Adam, then stopped. I didn’t want to scare him. Cooper’s shouts were bad enough.
The house was silent except for the crackle of fire faintly coming from the direction of the garage. The acrid scent of smoke drifted down the hall.
Cooper bolted toward the basement, skidding to a stop at the open door of the utility room. The tile floor in front of the printer was piled with paper, all of it bearing the same message.
HOUSE SURROUNDED. GET TO SAFE ROOM.
HOUSE SURROUNDED. GET TO SAFE ROOM.
HOUSE SURROUNDED. GET TO SAFE ROOM.
HOUSE SURROUNDED. GET TO SAFE ROOM.
It was hard to tell if the pile had been disturbed, but from the single sheet crumpled by the door, I thought Alice had gotten our message.
Cooper must have thought the same because he was at the basement door a second later, his feet pounding down the stairs.
He shouted Alice's name. At the anguish in his tone, my heart stopped. Alice lay crumpled at the base of the stairs, my Walther PPQ inches from her open hand.
Ten feet away, deeper in the basement, lay a second body, this one dressed in black like the rest of Tsepov's men.
Cooper knelt at Alice's side, his fingers at her throat, feeling for a pulse. The pool of blood beneath Tsepov's man told me I didn't need to do the same for him.
“Alice?”
“Alive. Heartbeat stable.” His hands slid gently beneath her head. “Hell of a bump here,” he said, his fingers lingering behind her ear.
Alive. It was all I needed to hear. I was at the safe room door, punching in the code. I tore the door open the second the lock disengaged.
Adam sat cross-legged on the floor, his lip caught between his teeth as he studied a puzzle laid out on the carpet, a juice box and a bowl of goldfish by his side.
He looked up to see me and grinned.
“Mr. Knox. Where'd Alice go? We're playing a game, but she didn't come back. She's getting cookies.”
“We'll get you cookies in a minute,” I said, relief giving my words buoyancy. “Are you—” The house shook above us, the steel-lined concrete of the safe room stable as everything around us shifted.
Cooper moved like lightning, scooping Alice into his arms and bolting up the stairs. I did the same with Adam, holding him close to my body to shield him. I had no fucking clue how much C4 was left on the house or what set it off.
Had the explosion been an accident or were they going to take the house down around us?
Another charge went off, this time at the back of the garage. This close it was deafening. The house shook again, the floor rolling under our feet. Cooper stumbled, almost going to his knees with Alice before he caught himself and lunged for the door.
Feet pounding, conscious only of Cooper ahead of me and Adam's hot breath in my ear, I ran for the SUV. It was still where we'd left it, but the sedan was gone, gouges in the grass beside the driveway evidence of Tsepov's escape.
I wrenched open the back door. Cooper lay Alice down along the seat, her eyes still closed. Evers emerged from the woods, Griffen beside him.
Griffen took one look at the situation and jumped behind the wheel, throwing the vehicle into gear before Cooper had his door shut. I stepped back, giving them room as he reversed down the drive and out of sight.
Evers scanned Adam and then me.
“He okay?”
“He's okay,” I confirmed. Evers touched the mic at his ear. “Call it in. Cooper has Alice. They're headed to the hospital. Adam is unharmed. He's with Knox. Have someone take Lily to my house.” To me, he said, “Alice?”
“Unconscious, with a bump on her head. No other visible injuries.”
He nodded, eyes worried. Alice had been with us for years. She was family. If anything happened to her—
Evers shook off his worry and smiled, moving into Adam's line of sight. Adam burrowed into me, his eyes wide and a little wild after our crazed flight from the house.
“Hey, Adam, I'm Evers, Knox's brother. I didn't get to meet you before. You like swimming?”
Did he like swimming? What the fuck was Evers talking about?
My heart pounding at our narrow escape, relief had slowed my processing power. I got it when Evers said, “I live right around the corner. Unlike Knox, I have a pool. You want to go swimming?”
“I left my bathing suit inside,” Adam said, his face falling as he looked back at the house and caught sight of the garage engulfed in flames. “Are the firemen coming?”
“They're on the way, kid,” Evers reassured. “It's my pool. I don't care if you want to swim in your underwear.”
Adam brightened and looked up at me. “Can I swim in my underwear, Mr. Knox?”
“It's good with me, bud.” I shot Evers a grateful look.
“One of the guys is bringing my car around. Lily will be there soon. This'll be easier with you guys out of my way. I have to deal with the fire department and call Agent Holley. What are we looking at inside? Anything?”
“Alice got one. Basement. Weapon looked like mine. Any clue what happened?”
“Nope. My guess? The one in the house was looking for leverage in case the hand-off went bad.” Evers sent a meaningful look at Adam. “I was on the wrong side of the house to see, but the explosion feels like an accident.”
We wouldn’t know until Agent Holley had time to examine the scene, but Evers’ analysis made sense. There was no denying that the sight of Adam with a gun to his head would have tilted negotiations in Tsepov’s favor.
“Makes sense. Good thing Alice remembered her training.”
Evers gave a nod. One of our black SUVs nosed down the drive. I slapped his shoulder once and took off at a jog, Adam in my arms, belting him in the back as soon as it stopped.
We didn't have a booster seat, but this one time I didn't think Lily would mind. I owed Evers big time for handling all the bullshit that was about to rain down on his head.
I backed down the drive, turning away from my burning house without the slightest twinge of regret.
It was a house.
Adam was safe. Alice was a little banged up, but Cooper said her heartbeat was steady. Until I heard differently, I was going to assume she was fine. Two for two. If I counted getting Tsepov off our backs for good, it was a complete victory.
In light of that, I wasn't worried about my garage. At the wail of sirens, I relaxed even more. The fire department would stop the flames before they spread much further.
Evers' house, as he'd told Adam, was around the corner. We beat Lily there. Using the key on the ring from the SUV, I let us in, directing Adam to the bathroom as soon as we cleared the threshold.
After almost five weeks with the kid, I knew any transition required a bathroom break if we wanted to avoid disaster. The tiny bit of normalcy steadied me like nothing else could.
Adam was safe. I waited by the door for Lily, taking a minute to send Tsepov one last text.
You have the money and the box. This is done.
I'm coming for your father. Stay out of my way.
I ignored the stab of regret as I answered.
He's all yours.
Then Lily was there, bolting out of the SUV in the drive and flying up the stairs to me, her eyes wild. Adam was just leaving the bathroom, wiping his wet hands on the front of his shirt as she flew through the door, her eyes landing on him immediately.
“Adam!” she cried, darting forward and scooping him into her arms, holding him close, her face buried in his neck, tears streaming down her face.
“Mom, there's a fire, and Mr. Knox and his brother said we could go swimming.”
Oh, to be a five-year-old, where a house fire and swimming ranked the same level of excitement. I wrapped them both in my arms, pressing my cheek to the top of Lily's head, her soft hair tickling my nose.
“Everyone's okay, Lily. Everyone's okay.”
Well before she was ready, Adam started to squirm, not understanding his mother's desperate need to hold on to him.
“Mom, put me down. I wanna go swimming. Mr. Knox said I can swim in my underwear. Can I? Can I?”
With a Herculean effort, Lily loosened her grip and set Adam on his feet. Her voice wobbly and her eyes wet, she said, “It's okay this time, baby.”
“I'll show you where the pool is.” I led them out to Evers' deck and down the stairs to the pool. Adam tore off his clothes as he ran, screeching with delight before he cannonballed into the shallow end.
Taking Lily's hand, I led her to the steps, and we sat, getting rid of our shoes and dropping our feet in the cool water.
“Alice?” she asked. “They said Cooper took her to the hospital.”
“No word yet. She'll be fine,” I said, hoping I was telling her the truth. I filled her in on everything else, forgetting I hadn't told her about the bombs before I left her at Sinclair Security.
She smacked my shoulder twice before she shoved with both hands, trying to dump me in the water. Despite her effort, she barely moved me an inch.
I had it coming. Leaving out the bombs was a pretty big omission, not that I regretted it. With a sigh, Lily let it go, shifting from anger to remorse.
“Your house,” she said, “oh, Knox, your beautiful house.”
I leaned over and plucked her from the edge of the pool, settling her into my lap. “It was only the garage, Lil. The fire department is already there. They'll catch it before it spreads. Anyway, I was thinking we need a bonus room.”
Too stunned to follow, she asked, confused, “A bonus room? What are you talking about?”
“A bonus room. Like a playroom kind of thing.
We only have the three bedrooms. Ours, Adam's, and the other one can be a guest room, or maybe another kid's room if that's how it works out.
Either way, we need a playroom. Kids need space.
And maybe, while we're at it, I'll put in a pool. Adam needs a pool.”
“A pool?” Lily asked faintly. I stroked the side of my thumb down her arm.
“Don't you want a pool?”
“I—” Her voice failed her as she looked at Adam, splashing at a bug, then back at me.
“You—” I prompted. Lily leaned back to look up at me, her mouth gaping open and closed like a fish.
I caught her full lower lip in my teeth for a second before resting my mouth on hers. Her lips moving against mine she whispered, “Kids?”
“If you want more,” I said.
“Do you?”
I pressed my mouth to hers again before I said, “I have you, and I have Adam. That's all I'll ever need. But if you want more, I wouldn't mind another.”
“What if I can't?”
“Then we'll adopt. Or we'll foster. Or we'll be happy with Adam. Seriously, Lily, I don't give a fuck. As long as I have you two, I'm good.”
Lily scowled at the profanity. That's when I knew the shock was fading and I had her back.
“I wouldn't mind trying for more,” she confessed, shifting in my lap so she had a better view of Adam, happily doggy paddling from one side of the shallow end to the other, splashing as much as a five-year-old could in a limited space.
He saw her watching and stopped, treading water long enough to shout, “Look, I can do a handstand underwater,” before disappearing beneath the surface, his little feet popping up and wiggling a moment later. Lily clapped in appreciation when he surfaced.
“I'm all about trying for more,” I said. “I think we should start right away.”
Lily's eyes flared. “Right away?”
“Maybe not right away. We should probably let things settle for a while.”
We watched Adam splash in the water. He'd had enough upheaval in the past year. In the past few weeks. A new baby might be too much. And we had time.
“I think we should practice,” Lily murmured. “Make sure we know what we're doing.”
“I like that plan.” I nuzzled her neck, sucking a little at her warm skin. She squirmed on my lap.
“Not right now,” she protested, breathless.
“Not right now,” I agreed. “Tonight. After our little chaperone is asleep”
“Tonight.” Her eyes warmed, and she relaxed, settling into me, resting her head on my shoulder.
“I'm not too heavy?” she asked.
I wouldn't have moved her even if she were. I told her the truth. “No, Lil. You're perfect. And I like you right where you are.”
In my arms, exactly where she belonged.