by James, Ed
“What did you do?”
“Landon, I swapped my sperm for yours.”
“This is bullshit.” Landon stepped away. “I’m Ky’s father. Not you.”
Zangiev pointed his gun at Landon’s chest. “Landon, Jennifer was only half the problem. You’re infertile.”
“Shut your mouth.”
“Landon, you’ve got a gun pointing at you and you talk to me like that?”
“Shut up!”
“Mr. Bartlett, I’ve been looking for leverage against you for years. One of my employees dug into the one business I couldn’t get close to. The adoption agency, but he found another way. Just a shame that I let your brother go before I learned this. I almost regret murdering him, as he was incredibly useful. But I can’t have traitors in my midst.”
“What are you talking about?”
Chase rubbed his forehead. “Landon, you’d been trying to get Jennifer pregnant from your sperm for months and nothing happened. IVF, you name it. You used our foundation’s clinic. I know Kim Harwick, she told me your sperm had really low motility. I paid Kim to swap your sperm for mine, and bingo, the egg was fertilized and Kaitlyn got pregnant.”
Landon glanced down at Chase. “And you just… You just pretended he was my baby? That nothing happened?”
Chase held his gaze. “And you took a fertility test, right?”
“I AM NOT THE PROBLEM!”
“No…” Jennifer scratched at her hair, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Landon, the doctor said if we concentrated the sample, that… Oh my god.”
Chase looked over at him again. “It’s the truth, Landon.”
The room fell silent, the hammer of heavy rain off the roof and the swooshing of distant cars through the water.
“This is such bullshit.” Landon picked up a chair and slammed it against the wall. “YOU’RE LYING!” He screamed into Chase’s face, his own going a deep red. He grabbed Chase’s hair and jerked him forward. “I’LL KILL YOU!”
Chase’s scalp was on fire. His knees cracked off the floor. He couldn’t speak.
Zangiev pointed the gun at Landon again. “Stop it. Now.”
Something snapped inside him, and his rage dissipated. He let go of Chase’s hair and stared hard at him, everything twitching. “You’re lying…”
Zangiev kept his gun pointing at Landon’s skull. “How about you show me to your son?” His smile was like a snake’s. “Although, from what I hear, he isn’t yours.”
“He is my son!”
Zangiev pushed Landon toward the stairs. “Come on, my friend.”
“I’m not your friend. And I’m going nowhere.”
A clatter came from the kitchen. No sign of Jennifer. She raced out of the kitchen, wielding a kitchen knife.
“Jen, no!” Landon charged after her. “Don’t do this!”
Jennifer dashed past him and stormed over to Chase, the knife raised high, ready to strike.
Chase grabbed her wrists, but she was wriggling, squirming out of his grasp. Something sheared his forearm, but he grabbed her ring finger and bent it back. The knife clattered to the floor and landed in a pool of blood.
Chase reached down for it. His sleeve was soaked blood red. He rolled it up. A long gouge ran up his forearm. “What the hell…?” The pain started to flare up his arm, burning and searing.
Zangiev nodded at the door. “Marie, keep an eye on them, please.”
Marie walked in, desert boots clumping off the wood. Long hair hauled back in a severe ponytail, khaki pants and a tight black coat, she posed with another gun. With her free hand, she grabbed Chase’s wrist and twisted, pushing him to his knees. “Just behave yourselves and we’ll get along famously.” She pointed her gun at Jennifer. “You, take a seat.”
“I’m not doing—”
“Jen.” Landon grabbed Jennifer around the waist and carried her over to a chair. “Look, we need to—”
Bolts shot out of the pistol. Jennifer shook and convulsed, then slumped forward. Marie jabbed something into her neck, smiling.
“Now, if you don’t want to be shot, I suggest you go up there.” Zangiev gestured with his gun.
And Landon stomped up the stairs.
His arm bleeding like crazy, Chase spotted Kaitlyn looking at the stairs, thinking about how she could get up there, steal Ky again and get the hell out of there. It was impossible. “Don’t.”
“What you said you did, is it true? Did you swap the sperm?”
Chase nodded.
“Duke was right. Bringing Ky back here was stupid. I can’t let them do anything to my boy.”
“This was the right thing.” Chase tore off some shirt material and wrapped it around his arm. Didn’t seem to stop the bleeding any. “The mistake’s mine. I was grieving, self-medicating. I was so angry. Jen betrayed me. Hooking up with Landon… So I just did it. I’ve felt guilty about it ever since.”
Marie was paying too much attention to their chat.
Chase got up and walked over, his blood dripping on the floor. “How much is he paying you?”
Marie laughed at him. “Don’t think you can buy me.”
“Edwards is your brother, right?”
“Uh huh. Well, was.”
“Zangiev killed him?”
“So? That doesn’t change my loyalties. My brother knew exactly what he was doing.”
Whatever poker hand Chase thought he had wasn’t worth playing.
Steps creaked above them and Landon walked down, head bowed.
Zangiev skipped down after him, carrying Ky in his arms, taking it way too fast. Everything in Chase clenched tight. One slip and— “Such a cute little man.” He was down to their level now, smiling. “Just like his father.” His grin widened, his focus switching between Chase and Landon. “But you look so alike, don’t you? Who is your daddy, eh?” He took Ky’s tiny finger and pointed it at Chase. “Are you my daddy?” Then he shifted it to Landon. “Or is it you?”
“Give him back.” Landon reached out, eyes pleading. “Come on.”
Zangiev tutted. “Now, I can’t just do that, can I?”
Chase spotted Kaitlyn easing a knife up her sleeve. The knife Jennifer had slashed him with. Didn’t look like Marie and Zangiev had seen it. “What do you want from us?”
“Now, that is an interesting question.” Zangiev caressed Ky’s cheeks. Chase wanted to cave his skull in with a hammer. “You two are going to help me. Both of you.”
“I’m doing nothing until I get my son back.”
“Landon, Landon, Landon. You’re going to help me, then I’ll decide whether you get your son back.”
“Shut up!”
The Russian’s smile vanished in a flash. “Do not press me, Mr. Bartlett.” His tongue flicked over his sharp teeth. “Unless you play along with me, I will kill him.”
Kaitlyn walked over to them, that knife still cupped in her hand. “You wouldn’t.”
“Wouldn’t I?”
She was going to get Ky killed!
The Russian craned his neck to stare down at Ky. “What are we going to do with you, little man? Mm? Your father, whoever he is, doesn’t seem to want to save you.”
Landon raised his eyebrows. “You promise to let him go?”
“You have my word, Mr. Bartlett. And you should know by now that I mean every single word I say.” The Russian stared hard at him. “I need your cooperation. Both of you.”
Landon stared at his brother, fire burning in his eyes. “Fine.”
“And you, Chase?”
“I can’t trust you.”
“You just have to trust your brother.” Zangiev walked over to the door, still holding Ky. “He can’t trust you, obviously, but you’ll just have to trust him.”
Kaitlyn raced over, pushing the blade against Marie’s throat. “Drop it!”
Her Taser thudded off the floor.
Kaitlyn pushed the knife against her skin. “Give me my son back!”
Zangiev turned around, casually. “Or?”
“Or I’ll kill her!”
“Miss Presswood… You disappoint me.”
“Give! Me! My! Son!”
“First, I don’t believe you’re a killer. Second, I don’t really care about her; she’s just the help. And third, angering me is an incredibly unwise course of action.” He raised the gun, pointed it right at her.
“I’ll kill her!”
“Your biggest worry should be about the sound of this gun harming your son’s hearing for life.”
“Stop screwing with me!”
“Then you leave me with no choice.” Zangiev pressed Ky against his chest and covered Ky’s ears with his free hand. “Last chance. Drop the knife. Let her—”
“NO!”
Chase’s ears exploded.
Sixty-Four
CARTER
14:53
Carter pulled up outside and stepped out into the teeming downpour. A car swooshed through the rivulets running across the pavement. The place was quiet. Too quiet. While the mobile command center was long gone, there should have at least been a beat cop stationed outside, one inside as back-up.
Something was going down.
A gunshot echoed around, deadened by walls and doors. The trail of reverberation led it back to the Bartlett house.
Carter broke into a run and sprinted along the sidewalk. The house gates were wide open, bright lights burning in the house behind. He took out his cell and dialed. “This is SA Max Carter. I need urgent back-up to the Bartlett home on Washington Boulevard. Send all available units and an ambulance.” He skittered through the yard, passing Landon’s Tesla and Jennifer’s muscular SUV in the afternoon rain.
Carter slowed as he approached the house. No signs of life inside, no telltale shapes by the windows. The door was hanging open. Gun drawn, he nudged the door open wide and peered inside.
Jennifer was slumped at the dining table, face against the wood. Sleeping? Dead?
Zangiev, Landon, and Chase stood around. Ky was in Zangiev’s arms, gurgling and cooing. Whatever had been going down, he’d been largely protected from it.
Part of Carter slumped in relief, but the rest tightened around the fear at separating Ky from Zangiev. He trained his gun on Zangiev, staring down the barrel and trying to get a clean shot. The table blocked his legs, the baby his torso. And he couldn’t risk a shot with the child so close. Not that he was going to tell Zangiev. “Stay right there.”
Zangiev had his own pistol, and he pointed it straight at Carter. “I suggest you leave.”
Carter kept his gun trained on Zangiev as he made his way over to the table, scanning all corners. He reached over with his free hand to inspect Jennifer’s neck. Got a strong pulse, slow and steady. Sleeping. Someone had Tasered her, by the looks of it. Then a little something else. “What’s going on here?”
Zangiev laughed. “That’s quite some story, my friend.”
Carter gripped the gun with both hands now, kept it trained on Zangiev’s gun arm, meaning a shot was likely to make him drop it and not the baby. “Give me the boy.”
“No.”
Something cold and metallic touched Carter’s neck. “Drop your gun.”
Carter chanced a glance. Marie Edwards stood there, pressing a Glock into his flesh. Dressed in military style rather than her usual flouncy getup. “Last time I saw you, sugar, I had to hit you with a MacBook.”
She was the one pretending to be Gabi. No doubt casing the joint, looking for leads of Kaitlyn’s whereabouts.
Carter didn’t have a choice here. Ky was in his reach, but he was outmanned and outgunned. “Give me the kid. We can work out the rest of it.”
The brothers both looked stunned. More than just Zangiev had happened here. A pool of blood by the chesterfield. A bloody knife near the door, the trail leading to Chase’s arm.
“My friend, I know your role here is to rescue children. I know your tortured past, about how you were—”
“Shut up.” Carter’s finger rested on the trigger. One slip and he’d shoot. And he was close to slipping. “Give him here. Give him to his father.”
“That would be a difficult choice to make.”
“What?”
A knife pressed against his throat and Marie’s hot breath hit his face. “Gun or knife? Your choice.”
The Taser lay on the floor near her feet.
“HELP!” A scream came from deeper in the room. A woman lay on the floor in front of the staircase. Kaitlyn Presswood, groaning. “Help me!” Blood pooled out from her torso.
Carter didn’t have a choice here. He dropped the gun, as close to his feet as possible without Zangiev or Marie telling him to kick it away.
“Shoot him when we leave.” Zangiev switched his gun to point in the direction of both brothers. “Now, come on.” He motioned with the gun. They took one look at each other, then filed out the door, heads bowed.
Carter waited, hoping against hope that the police would return.
All he heard was Landon’s Tesla driving off.
“Sit over there.” Marie pointed toward the table, to where Jennifer was slumped.
“You happy with this?” Carter took his time walking over. “He’s kidnapped a baby. Shot the mother.”
“Dude, I get paid. That’s it.”
“You’re holding an FBI agent hostage.”
“I’ll kill you soon enough.”
Carter motioned at Jennifer. “You haven’t killed her.”
“No, but you’re something else.” She pointed the gun at the chair. “Sit.”
Carter spotted the blood trail again, thick spots leading from the sofa past the table over to the hallway. He could use that, maybe. “You injected her with something, right?”
“You want a round of applause?” He got another look at her. More muscular than he’d noticed back at the station and the Field Office. Desert boots smeared with oil and mud. She motioned with the gun again. “Sit.”
Carter grabbed the chair and pulled it back until the leg touched the blood trail. In one fluid motion, he swept the chair around, ducking low and twisting as he tossed the chair toward her.
A loud explosion deafened him.
No searing pain. No sharp digs.
He dodged and rolled over toward his gun.
Marie fired again. Grazed his arm as he slid. A flash of pain. He tried to ignore it but he couldn’t get hold of the gun. He could stay and try to get the gun, but she’d shoot again, so he rolled again. Another shot and glass smashed.
He grabbed the Taser and fired it at her, the darts shooting out. One missed, spooling over her shoulder, but the other hit her bare right arm. She squealed, juddered, and collapsed to her knees, then slumped forward.
Carter pushed up to standing and clicked out his cuffs, snapping them onto her wrists. He secured her to the chair and knew he had a choice. Go after Zangiev or help Kaitlyn.
No decision.
Carter sank to his knees and started inspecting her. He found a gunshot wound in her abdomen. Messy as hell. He applied pressure to the gaping hole, squeezing the flow of blood into a river.
“PLEASE! THEY TOOK HIM!” Fists pounded at his arms. “My son. Ky! They took him!”
Carter used his free hand to probe at her back and felt an exit wound the size of a child’s fist.
Something rumbled outside the house.
Kaitlyn wretched, but nothing came up.
Carter checked the wound from the front again. He needed more time, but it looked like a clean passthrough. Nothing severed. But there was so much blood. “Stay with me!” He raced over to the door.
Through the drizzle, an ambulance was parking, a female EMT already hopping out.
Carter waved over to her. “Hurry!”
The EMT gave a thumbs up and ran toward him, lugging a heavy medical bag. “You’re lucky. We were in the neighborhood.”
“Thanks. Gunshot wound to her abdomen.”
“Okay.” She knelt down and shone a light on Kaitlyn’s exposed stomach. �
�What’s your name?”
“Find Ky!”
“It’s Kaitlyn. Her name’s Kaitlyn.” Carter stood there, scanning the room again. Someone needed to secure Marie. He needed to go after Zangiev. He crouched next to them. “Kaitlyn, did Zangiev say what they were doing?”
“He was getting them to do something. Something about payments.”
Sixty-Five
CHASE
14:54
Landon’s Tesla was almost silent as he weaved them in and out of traffic along the backstreets near his home.
Chase felt sliced right down the middle. He sat in the passenger seat, gripping his thighs tight. All he could do to stop from lashing out, from grabbing Zangiev’s gun and shooting him. “Max Carter will get you.”
“My friend…” Zangiev was dancing Ky on his lap in the back seat. Staring out of the window like they were three dudes out for a nice drive to the ball game. “All Max Carter will get is a bullet in his throat. Or a knife.”
Chase knew he had to do everything in his power to save Ky. His son. For so long, he’d been in denial about what he’d done, kept himself away from his brother and his ex-wife so the pain didn’t sting, so the reality didn’t hit so hard, so the guilt didn’t swell and bloom in his stomach. “Why are you so confident?”
“Because I am leaving this country.”
“Please, let Ky go.”
Zangiev looked around at Chase. “You think I would kill a baby?”
“I don’t doubt you would. Not for a second.”
“I am no monster, Chase, but I know how to leverage people. I search for weaknesses. Like this situation between you and Landon here.” Zangiev nudged Landon’s arm, but got no reaction. “This loser thinks he is Ky’s father!”
