Chapter 20
When the text appeared on the monitoring screen, Barrett was still in Sullivan's office.
He'd been sitting across from the detective's desk in the aftermath of Olivia's interview, processing what they had heard and what it meant.
The call between Olivia and Kal had confirmed everything.
Olivia was panicking. Kal was dismissive.
The relationship between them was exactly what Barrett had suspected, a handler managing an asset who had outlived her usefulness.
Sullivan was making notes in the case file when the alert chimed. He looked at the screen and his expression changed.
"New text from Kal's phone," he said. He angled the monitor so Barrett could see.
The message was sent to Olivia's number. It read: Urgent, come to Stratton House.
Barrett realized that the situation had shifted. Cadie was at Stratton House. She'd gone to meet with Jaxon Boone. Barrett had kissed her goodbye and told her to text when she arrived.
She had not texted.
Barrett stood. The chair scraped against the floor behind him and the sound was sharp in the small office. Sullivan looked at him, and Barrett saw the same recognition in his eyes. The detective was already reaching for his phone.
"Go," Sullivan said. "Right now." His tone conveyed the immediacy. "I'll handle things here and get there with backup. We don't know what you'll find."
Barrett was already at the door. He turned back for one second and met Sullivan's eyes.
"I won't let anything happen to Cadie," he said.
Then he was moving down the corridor past the interview rooms, through the bullpen, where detectives looked up from their desks at the sound of his footsteps, out the front entrance and across the parking lot to his car.
He had the engine running and the car in gear before the door was fully closed.
He drove fast but controlled. The streets of Charleston's historic district were narrow and tree-lined, and Barrett navigated them with the focus of a man who had driven under far worse conditions.
His mind was operating in the mode that years of SEAL training had built, compartmentalized and clear, emotion separated from action, fear acknowledged and then set aside so that it could not interfere with the task at hand.
He did not know what he would find at Stratton House.
He did not know if Kal was already there or if Olivia had arrived, or if Cadie was alone or in danger or hurt.
The uncertainty was a variable that he could not eliminate until he had eyes on the situation, so he did not waste energy on speculation.
He drove, and he prepared himself for whatever awaited him.
The drive from the police station to Stratton House was short.
Barrett made it shorter. He turned onto the street where the building stood and immediately began scanning.
Cadie's rental car was parked on the curb in front of the building.
Farther down the street, a sedan that Barrett recognized as Olivia's was parked near the corner.
If Kal had driven separately, his vehicle could be parked behind the building or on a side street.
Barrett did not have the luxury of circling the block to check.
He parked behind Cadie's car and killed the engine. The street was quiet. There were no pedestrians, and there was no movement visible through the windows of Stratton House. The building sat on its corner lot, but its ornate architecture revealed nothing about what was happening inside.
Barrett got out of the car and closed the door quietly.
He moved toward the building with the deliberate, measured steps of a man who was trained to approach unknown situations without announcing his presence.
His eyes tracked the windows, the entrance, and the sight lines from the street.
He listened for sounds from inside the building but heard none.
The front door was unlocked. Barrett pushed it open slowly, keeping his body to the side of the frame in case the doorway was being watched. The entrance hall stretched before him, empty and dim.
He stepped inside and eased the door closed behind him. The latch engaged with a soft click that was barely audible in the stillness.
Then he heard voices.
They were distant, coming from somewhere deeper in the building. Barrett could not make out the words, but he could hear the cadence of conversation, the rise and fall of two voices. One was male. The other was female, and it was not Cadie's.
Barrett moved through the entrance hall toward the sound. His footsteps were silent on the wooden floor. He passed the doorways to the smaller rooms and performance hall, then continued down the corridor toward the event room.
As he approached, the voices became clearer.
Barrett slowed his pace and brought his breathing under control, moving into the steady, measured rhythm that preceded every tactical engagement.
He reached a position near the doorway of the event room and pressed himself against the wall where he could hear without being seen.
Olivia's voice came first, pleading in desperation. "Tell them it was my idea," she said. "Tell them you were just trying to help me. We can still be together."
Then Kal laughed. It was not a sound of amusement. It was cold, the laugh of a man who found another person's vulnerability entertaining.
"Together?" Kal said. "You actually believed that?"
Barrett remained still, listening and absorbing every word.
"You were just a means to an end…nothing more." Kal's voice was casual, almost bored, as though he were discussing a business arrangement that had run its course. "You had access to the old woman."
Silence from Olivia. Barrett imagined her expression as hope collapsed.
"I said whatever I needed to say to get what I wanted," Kal said. "The property is all that ever mattered."
"But you said you loved me. You said we'd build a life together." Olivia's voice sounded choked with tears.
"I said whatever would keep you useful." Kal's tone did not change. There was no remorse in it or recognition that he was destroying another human being. "You were just a tool. A gullible, pathetic tool."
Barrett heard Olivia make a sound that might have been a sob.
"You murdered for me," Kal said, "because you were stupid enough to believe I'd actually want someone like you."
The words hung in the air. Barrett stood against the wall with his back pressed to the plaster.
When Olivia spoke again, her voice was different. The desperation was gone. "I'll testify," she said. "I'll tell them everything."
Kal did not respond to that. The dismissal was total. Olivia had ceased to exist for him the moment she stopped being useful.
Barrett moved closer to the doorway. He shifted his position until he could see into the room without exposing himself to anyone inside.
The scene assembled itself before him in a single glance.
Kal was at the front wall reaching inside a dark canvas bag.
Barrett spotted Cadie in a chair in the front row of seating with her arms behind her back.
Her wrists appeared to be secured. Olivia leaned against the front wall with her arms wrapped around herself, her body rigid and her face wet with tears.
She was a good distance from Kal, as if to separate herself from his activity.
Kal appeared agitated and snapped at Olivia, "Help me. Keep an eye on Cadie."
Olivia did not move. She stared at Kal as though she were looking at a stranger. She didn't respond to his order.
Kal looked at her with disgust, then turned back to the bag. He pulled out a large container, the kind used for camping fuel, and unscrewed the cap. The sharp chemical smell of accelerant reached Barrett immediately, cutting through the dust and old-wood scent of the building.
"I'll burn this place to the ground. I don't need this building, just the property," Kal said. He spoke to Olivia, but his attention was on the container in his hands. "Once this fire gets going, the smoke will knock out our victim. I have masks for us, so we'll be able to get out."
Barrett's agile mind processed the tactical situation with the speed of a man who'd spent years making life-and-death assessments in seconds.
Kal intended to commit arson with Cadie inside the building.
The gasoline would turn the old wooden structure into an inferno within minutes.
The fire would destroy the building and kill Cadie to eliminate the evidence.
It was an old property with deteriorating wiring and decades of deferred maintenance.
It would appear to be a tragic accident.
Barrett needed to move. But the timing had to be right. If he entered the room while Kal held the gasoline, he might panic and ignite it immediately. Barrett needed to wait for the moment when intervention would save Cadie rather than endanger her further.
Kal began pouring the gasoline along the base of the wall.
The liquid splashed against the old plaster and ran down to the wooden floor, spreading in dark lines that glistened in the dim light.
The chemical smell intensified, filling the room with fumes that Barrett smelled from the corridor.
He was calculating his approach, the angle of entry, the distance to Kal, the position of Cadie relative to the accelerant.
Then Cadie moved. She leapt from the chair and tossed aside what appeared to be a zip tie. Her hands were free.
Barrett watched with a jolt of surprise. She did not run for the door or freeze in place. She launched herself forward and raced toward the wall. Without hesitation, she jumped onto Kal's back, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his waist.
Simultaneously, she shouted, "No! Stop!" Swiftly, she wrapped her right arm around Kal's neck with her elbow against his throat. Using her left hand, she pulled her right arm tighter, trying to choke him.