Vision of Truth (Vision #3)
Chapter One
Something was very wrong. Julie pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and wrapped her arms securely around the six-year-old who was perched in her lap. The little girl’s father had told her to conduct Sabrina’s therapy session on the second floor of the family’s sprawling estate, as he had business to see to on the main floor. The words important colleagues and high stakes reverberated in her ear, even as she strained to listen to the explosive shouts that traveled up from the first floor. Prickles of anxiety swarmed her chest. Her heart thumped wildly, keeping the pace with Sabrina’s soft auditory stim, ninn, ninn, ninn. Her little friend was picking up on tension ballooning through the house. Had stopped playing with her favorite toy—a ring of keys that opened a series of plastic doors. A rapid succession of pops made her chest hitch.
“Sabrina, let’s play a matching game.” With quick, gentle hands she helped Sabrina stand and led her into the adjoining bathroom, sitting her in the empty porcelain bath. She ripped the Velcro puppies off of the laminated page and handed both to the girl. “Sabrina, match.” Her straight blonde hair swayed as she rocked, clutching the page with both hands. When Sabrina began to stick each puppy with its counterpart on the page, she released a quick breath and retreated from the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Her fingers trembled as she stuffed them into the pocket of her jeans for her cellphone. Sabrina would be safe while she determined the level of danger. Had shots really been fired? And who was the intended recipient—Sabrina’s father or his business associates? She paused in the hallway, just outside of the girl’s bedroom.
“We’re in deep fucking shit.” One voice boomed. “The Director said to turn up the heat on Vesey, not put a bullet in him.”
There was a sharp hiss. “He was reaching into his desk—I-I didn’t mean—”
The familiar sound of flesh slapping against flesh made her take a step back. One of the men let out a pained cry.
“Enough. Take the body. Put it in the trunk.” The man’s voice had dropped an octave. “That kid is somewhere here.”
“Kid doesn’t talk.”
She was beginning to separate the two men downstairs by their voices. This one had a distinctive breathy whistle, as though he couldn’t get enough air through his nose. The one who seemed to be in charge had a thick Boston accent.
“You fucking idiot. Didn’t you see the teacher’s car outside when we pulled in?” Julie lifted her phone and pulled up her brother’s group text. She forced herself to punch in the message, even as voices continued to carry downstairs.
25 Lavender Grove, Newton. SOS.
She’d just hit SEND when footsteps began pounding up the grand staircase. She spun and darted into Sabrina’s room. Once inside she pushed one of the pink and white dressers in front of the door, grabbed the noise cancelling headphones from the top drawer, and slid into the bathroom. Sabrina glanced at her with clear green eyes, then reverted her gaze back to her matching page. She did her best to project calm even as her insides were churning. Living with three brothers involved in some aspect of military and law enforcement had trained her to think on her feet. She’d noticed the gentle slope of the roof from the bathroom window before, and how the big oak beside it needed a trim so badly, its branches reached out and brushed the shingles. “Sabrina,” she knelt beside the bathtub, and drew in a breath. There was violent pounding on the bedroom door as someone fought to push the dresser. “Remember the monkeys we watched on your tablet? I’m going to give you a monkey ride. You have to hold on really tight and have a safe body while I carry you. Okay?”
“Okay.” Hearing Sabrina’s high pitched falsetto never failed to hit her with a shot of warmth. Julie placed the headphones over Sabrina’s ears, then crossed the room, yanking open the window and pushing out the screen. The metal and mesh slid down the roof and clattered to the ground. She lifted Sabrina and settled the thin girl on her hip, positioning her arms around her neck and her legs around her waist. “Okay. Arms and legs around me. Very tight.” There was a clash and splinter of wood. This was it. The intruder was inside the bedroom. She used the toilet as a stepping stool and with one hand braced on the outside of the window, slid on her right hip out the window, sheltering Sabrina from hitting the frame with her free hand. The child was following instructions, gripping her tightly. She crab walked toward the edge of the roof.
“Get back here, bitch!”
The voice boomed right over her head. Her heart leapt into her throat. She didn’t look behind her, but squatted and leapt. By some miracle she didn’t go tumbling through the tree. Her feet landed on the thickest part of the branch and she started her descent as fast as she dared. She’d known a tree like this once, outside her brother Gus’s window. When Dad came home, alcohol on his breath and rage in his eyes, they’d shimmy into the branches until he’d passed out. Shots thundered from above. The branch above her exploded into fragments. Sabrina’s heart was thumping wildly, nearly matching the rhythm of her own. With about ten feet left, she released her grip and dropped to the ground. Pain spiked up her right ankle. There was a burning sensation along the side of her abdomen. Run.
Gritting her teeth she ran toward the tree line, repositioning Sabrina at her front as bullets continued to fly. The girl had gone completely still, her body rigid. Each time Julie’s battered ankle hit the ground, she clenched her teeth to hold in the cries that were on the tip of her tongue. Branches tangled in her hair, scraped her face, and provided her and Sabrina with the cover they’d need to get the hell out in one piece.
They were close to a steep ridge. One Mr. Vesey had warned her to keep his daughter away from. Right now it was going to be their lifeline. The man behind them was closing in. Each crunch of dead leaves seemed closer than the last. Sabrina’s face was now pressed into her collar bone. Arms and legs still bound around her. Adrenaline was pounding through her as she dropped to her butt on the edge of the ridge and began to slide. The rocky ground showed no mercy as she careened down, the rough surface scraping every inch of exposed skin.
Something sharp sliced up her outer thigh, tearing a large swatch from her jeans. She’d feel the bumps and bruises tomorrow, but right now her sole purpose was getting Sabrina to safety. Her teeth clashed together, jarred by the terrain. Almost there. The ground was starting to flatten, a sure sign they’d slow to a stop soon. They’d made it. Movement caught her eye. A blur springing from the shadows.
An unfamiliar man planted his boot on the ground. Rolling to either side might harm the girl in her arms, so she braced. The man’s extended leg connected with her groin, the power of the collision throwing her to the side. She forced herself to suck in breath to regain the air that had been knocked from her lungs. The quick slide and snap of steel cemented her muscles in place. The man looming above them pointed a pistol at her forehead.
Air whistled through his pinched, upturned nose. “Could have some fun with you.” The man wheezed, his cheeks full and red. His eyes snaked over her form.
Cold swept down her body like a curtain of ice being lowered. She nodded. A painful lump constricted her throat. “I’ll go. Let her get to the tree line.” She made a small gesture to Sabrina. “I’ll go without a fight. Too much work to take us both.” Her heart hammered as the man hesitated. “There’s no risk to letting her go. She didn’t see anything. Even if she did she couldn’t tell anyone.” That was a lie. Sabrina was incredibly bright and used her tablet to communicate. In certain situations, she was able to verbalize as well. The man in front of her? Not so bright. That would benefit both her and Sabrina. She’d gotten her friend this far, and she had no doubt her brothers and their wives would be scouring the forest at any moment. They’d cross paths with Sabrina and get her to safety.
“Lower your weapon.” A gruff voice ripped through the air. She didn’t need to look up to know it belonged to her biological brother, Gus.
“Now,” Easton, one of her foster brothers, growled out the warning, but not before a single pop echoed through the trees. She flinched. Warm liquid splattered against her cheeks and forehead. The man who had his gun trained on her tumbled to the ground, a single gunshot wound to his temple weeping a crimson trail that dripped down his ear and cheek.
“Flinched toward his trigger.” Kinley, Easton’s wife and Gus’s law enforcement partner, pushed past the body and dropped to the ground. “Are you okay, Jules?”
She nodded, even though she wanted to burst into tears. Not in front of Sabrina.
There was only one thing that would make her okay right now.
Isaac.