“No more apologies,” he said, pointing authoritatively at her with a spatula. “I’m fine, and I understand why you might have thought that was your only option.”
“I wasn’t really worried,” Angel said as she burped the baby. “You still had the safety on. If you had pulled the trigger, nothing would have happened.”
Lena’s jaw dropped in surprise. “Oh.” That should have made her feel better, but now she just felt more embarrassed.
“She should learn how to handle a gun,” Justin said with a grin. “We have time after breakfast. I’d be happy to show her.”
She was glad he wasn’t glaring any longer, but that grin looked like trouble.
“Good idea,” said Thorne.
Awesome. She barely ate anything. If she’d been nervous before, knowing she was going to be handling a firearm made it even worse.
Her lack of appetite gave her a chance to watch the camaraderie between Dane and the other members of Task Force Phoenix. They really were a family.
She knew blood and DNA didn’t dictate who qualified as family. Her in-laws, Denise and Alan Scott, had always felt more like real parents to her than her own. She hated that she had been keeping them out of this nightmare since the beginning. They probably thought she was avoiding them, or was attempting to cut Kenzie from their lives. No doubt, they’d been calling her old number, asking to see her.
But she wasn’t getting those calls since Viktor had taken her phone.
She would have been able to call them, but she didn’t know what she would say. She didn’t know how she would tell them their son had betrayed his child in the worst possible way.
She didn’t know how to explain how powerless she was.
Except, she wasn’t powerless anymore. The people in this room were ready to help her get Kenzie back. If they were successful, it would be easy to gloss over her lack of communication and beg Denise and Alan to forgive her.
But she had to get her daughter back first. Thankfully, the people here were committed to help with that.
And teaching her to shoot was a step in that direction.
Despite their offer to help, she knew she was still an outsider. And she was more and more certain the looks they threw her way had nothing to do with what had happened the night before, or her inadequacies when it came to firearms. This was something else.
There was a dire warning in their eyes as their gazes flicked between her and Dane.
Don’t hurt him, was practically written on their faces.
They could rest easy. Hurting Dane was the last thing she wanted to do. She wouldn’t be this close to finding her daughter if it weren’t for him.
Originally, she hadn’t wanted him to know about Kenzie, afraid he would use her story to punish her. But he hadn’t. Instead, he’d offered her compassion and understanding, as well as whatever new connection they’d made in bed together.
She had no idea what would happen next. She was too afraid to plan anything beyond that day. Not until Kenzie was safe. But she knew no matter what happened, she would always be grateful to the man with the warm, brown eyes sitting next to her.
She finished off her coffee and stood to go prepare for her firearms lesson, but before she made it away from the table her phone rang with the familiar happy ring tone.
Kenzie was calling.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Every one of Dane’s team members turned to stone, then, as if on cue, burst into action.
“Let it ring two more times,” Dane said, coming to stand in front of her so he could offer his support without being seen in the background. Six-year-olds were curious and he didn’t want Kenzie to ask questions about him.
Lena glanced behind her. She was up against the pine paneling. She could be anywhere. He nodded and smiled, hoping to relax her.
Angel had handed the baby to Colton and pulled her laptop to the place where Garrett had taken her plate. Her index finger raised in a wait gesture, then she nodded and dropped her hand, meaning she was connected into the tracking software.
The usual strained smile fell into place on Lena’s face as she answered.
“Hi, baby,” she said as, beside her, Justin pushed the button to record the call so they could all analyze it when it was over.
“Hi, Mama. Will you be coming to see me today?” Kenzie asked, going right for the kill.
Angel winced and Colton leaned down to kiss John on the head. Even as new parents, they must have understood the pain this question caused Lena.
“I’m not sure,” Lena said. “We’ll have to see.”
“Are you busy working?”
“Yeah. Kinda.”
“Daddy said you have to work a lot, and that was why you couldn’t come stay with us.”
Lena cocked her head to side. “Is Daddy there? Can I talk to him?” she asked.
“No. He had to go away a long time ago. He told me to listen to Mr. Viktor.”
Lena swallowed and nodded. “Yes. You should do that.” No doubt the flatness in her voice was caused by the restraint it took to keep from telling her daughter to do the opposite. To fight and try to get away. But that wouldn’t do Kenzie any good right now.
Justin held out a note to Lena, and Dane moved so he could read it, too.
“Is Mr. Viktor there with you today?” she asked.
“No. He wasn’t at breffast.” Lena smiled at the word, and Dane smiled at her. “I had waffles.”
“Were they good?”
“Yep.”
“Are you going swimming today?” Lena asked, and Justin started scribbling on the pad.
“Yes. I love to swim.”
“I know you do.” Lena read the note. “Where is the pool?” she asked, sounding nonchalant.
“Out there.” Kenzie’s little hand waved around vaguely.
“Can you show me?” That was Lena’s own question, to which Angel nodded approvingly.
“I’m not supposed to go alone.” Kenzie shrugged.
Justin was writing again, so Dane moved so he could watch what he wrote.
“Ah. Is the pool close to your princess bedroom?” Lena read.
“Nah. My bedroom is waaay over by the fountain.” More waving.
Justin pumped his fist in success and backed off to go look at the sat map.
Angel smiled in the way that meant she found something interesting. “She’s calling from this building,” Angel confirmed quietly.
“Her bedroom is here, by this fountain,” he murmured, pointing.
They were homing in on Mackenzie Scott’s exact location. It would just be a matter of breaking into the complex and getting her out.
They didn’t have nearly as much information on Tobey. And that made Dane nervous.
Chapter Fifty-Six
For the next hour, the team picked over the footage from Lena’s phone call with Kenzie. What she’d thought was just an everyday conversation with a few leading questions mixed in was a lot more.
They studied every detail, from the angle the sun was coming in the room at the time, to the person who’d made and disconnected the call—the nanny, who’d only been on screen for a fraction of a second.
By the time they were done, Lena was stunned that they had nailed down which building housed the main residence, and where Kenzie slept, where she swam, and where she ate her “breffast.”
“I have an ID on the nanny,” Angel said, looking up from her laptop. “There’s a missing persons report filed for her.”
The team all glanced over the report.
“So, she’s also a captive. Damn.” Justin banged his fist on the table. “I was hoping we could catch her offsite and use her to get us in. Scrap that, I guess.” He ripped a piece of paper from his notebook and, after balling it up, shot it into the trashcan in the corner.
The trashcan was overflowing with ideas that had been passed over.
Lena glanced over at Dane. He was sitting quietly at the end of the table. He hadn’t offered anything or made a
ny suggestions in quite some time. He seemed to be somewhere else.
She thought she might know where.
While she’d been caught up in the energy and excitement of tracking the details of her daughter’s prison, nothing had been done about Tobey. There were still a lot of blanks on that side of the white board.
Maybe there was something she could do about that.
With a strength she’d thought long gone, she pulled Justin’s notebook over in front of her and started working on a series of questions. Justin nodded at it before turning it back around and adding a few more.
Then she wrote out a little skit, similar to the one she and Dane had been given the night before. While she wished she could have practiced, they’d told her it came off sounding more sincere if done without preparation.
At the time, she’d thought it was more about amusing themselves with her discomfort, but she understood better now.
“I’m calling Viktor,” she announced, handing Dane a piece of paper.
His eyes widened. “Now? I thought you had until eleven. There’s still half an hour.”
“Yeah, but you’re getting impatient, and I’m worried you’re going to blow it today when we pick up Evan Masters. Just run with it,” she said with a wink.
Angel threw up her hands. “Give me twenty seconds.”
Lena punched in the phone number but waited to hit the call button until Angel gave the thumbs up.
Viktor answered after three rings. “This is not the time I gave you.”
“I know, but everything is going to hell here. I didn’t know what else to do.”
Justin threw a chair, creating a loud crash. All according to the script.
“What is happening?” Victor demanded.
“Dane is losing it. We were getting ready to meet up with Masters, and he exploded. He’s convinced his son is already dead, and that turning over Masters won’t get him anywhere. What should I do?” she asked, laying on the desperation in her voice.
Justin tossed another chair.
Victor swore. “Give me ten minutes. I’ll have the boy call.”
“Fuck this bullshit!” Dane yelled on the other side of the room, and slammed the bathroom door.
“Would you be able to let him see Tobey? Like a video call? It really helps me to know Kenzie is safe when I get to see her.”
“I’m not in the habit of helping anyone feel better, Ms. Scott,” Victor ground out. “But I’ll see what I can do. He needs to calm down. We can’t risk this meeting when we’re so close to getting our hands on Mr. Masters.”
Lena hated how Viktor always used everyone’s last name. As if he was so dignified and cultured. He was nothing but a common thug.
“Okay,” Lena said, feigning uncertainty. “I’ll try to keep him from wrecking the hotel room. I might have to pay for the television.”
“Put it on the card.” Viktor sighed, as if Dane losing it was an inconvenience, rather than a desperate father breaking down.
She disconnected the call and turned to the marshals. “Tobey will be calling,” she announced with a smile, and everyone flew into action once again.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
“I can’t believe you did that.” Dane took the phone and moved into position by the wall where Lena had called Kenzie. He was pretty damned impressed.
“I had to do something. We don’t have enough information on Tobey, and I want to help in some way.”
He kissed her hard, so happy to have her on the team. Even if she didn’t know how to shoot, she was smart and she cared about him.
He wasn’t sure if Lena’s performance would earn him a video conference with Tobey, or if it would only be a regular phone call, but the team would be ready for anything.
“Remember,” Justin reminded him. “You were really angry and have just calmed down enough to take Tobey’s call.”
“Right.” Dane nodded, dropped to the floor, and did ten fast push-ups, keeping his bum leg in the air. When he stood, he felt flushed and was slightly out of breath. Just as he would have been if he’d lost his shit and trashed a hotel room.
The sound of the phone brought on an immediate silence, other than his hard breathing.
“Ready?” Lena scanned the group to get a nod from each member.
Angel was last. She rubbed her palms together eagerly. “I’m ready.”
Lena answered the phone and immediately frowned into the screen. “Butch,” she said, even though no one had spoken yet.
“Can you see me? I don’t know how this shit works,” the giant complained.
“Yeah, I can see you,” Lena said.
“You’d better be taking care of my Jeep.”
Dane ground his teeth impatiently.
“I am. Where’s Tobey?” Lena asked, reading his expression.
“Right here. Make it quick.”
Lena let out a breath and handed the phone to Dane.
For a moment, he had the urge to run away from the phone, as if he were being handed a snake rather than a piece of technology that would allow him to connect with his son.
He was just worried about the possibility of messing things up. Once again, he felt that pain for what Lena went through every morning when Kenzie called.
“Tobey?” he said as his son’s face came into view. “Hold the phone out farther. I can’t make you out. You’re all blurry,” he said, more because they wanted to see the room he was in than because he was truly out of focus.
“Is this better?” Tobey asked.
“Much.” Dane could see the entire length of the room he was in. “I see you have some friends there.”
“Yeah. Guys, wave to my dad,” he called back to the others.
Three boys in the room waved, then went back to the board game they were playing. At least they didn’t play video games the entire day.
“How are you doing?” Dane asked his son. “Still eating a lot of pizza?”
“Sometimes we have cereal for dinner.” Tobey frowned and looked over his shoulder. “That guy”—he pointed to Butch, who was taking his turn in the game—“ate all the crunch berries out of the cereal and left the rest. Who does that?”
Tobey’s tone of disgust made Dane smile. If that was the only injustice in the way they were being treated, he would sing Butch’s praises for the rest of the man’s short life.
Focusing on the script, he put on his worried father expression and asked, “Do you ever get to go outside?”
Tobey shrugged. “Sometimes. We’ve gone up to the house to watch movies.” He gestured in the direction of what Dane assumed was the house he was speaking of.
“Do you have clean clothes? Are you able to take a shower?”
“Yeah. They got me this shirt.” Tobey frowned down at his T-shirt with a Canucks logo. It was too big, but it appeared to be clean.
Dane let out a breath. His son was okay. “Are you doing all right?” he asked, just to make sure.
“I miss Mom and Randy. And you.” It was clear he’d added that last part for Dane’s sake.
He understood Tobey wouldn’t miss him. Dane wasn’t in his life for his absence to be noticed. Still, it stung a little.
“I’m going to meet a man today,” Dane said. “And you will be able to go home.” It didn’t hurt to reinforce that they were planning to move on Masters today. Even if it was all BS.
“Time’s up,” Butch yelled. “And it’s your turn.”
“I gotta go,” Tobey said, looking wistful.
“Yeah. Me, too. I’ll talk to you soon, okay?”
“Okay. Love you, Dad.”
“Love you, too.”
In his struggles to turn off the phone, Butch accidentally gave them a 180-degree view of the room they were in. Yes!
When the call was disconnected, everyone took a deep breath and started working.
Dane walked out of the lodge and broke down.
This time for real.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
It was obvious t
o Lena when Dane rushed out of the lodge that he needed a minute. Whether or not he needed a minute alone was unclear.
She wanted to go to him, to offer support or a shoulder, but she wasn’t sure if he wanted her there. She looked to his family for the answer to her silent question.
“Go make sure he’s okay,” Justin offered as Garrett and Angel nodded in agreement.
Not wasting a second, she hurried out and found him heading for the lake at a pace she wouldn’t be able to catch. Even with his injury, he was moving like a man looking for a place to implode. He was probably in so much pain over Tobey, he didn’t even notice the pain in his leg.
She found him sitting on the dock, his head on his knees and loud sobs racking his body. She’d been there. She knew there was nothing she or anyone could say to make him feel any better.
Instead, she quietly sat next to him and wrapped her arms around him. He allowed himself to fall against her, and she felt his hot tears on her neck as he struggled to get through the agony.
Eventually, he caught his breath and was able to speak. “I don’t know why I’m losing it now. I mean he’s fine. He has food, a place to sleep, and even a new fucking T-shirt. What is wrong with me?”
“Nothing is wrong with you. You’re just seeing the truth between the lies.”
He sat up and looked at her.
It was better to rip the bandage off and deal with it. No matter how much it hurt. “It doesn’t matter that Butch is playing a game with those kids,” she said. “They are not safe. At some point you realize if Viktor gave Butch the order, he would put down his cards and hurt those kids. It’s all an illusion.”
He looked pained. “I want to leave right now and get him out of there, but I know we have to be smart about this, because we won’t get another chance. It’s just taking too goddamn long.” He rubbed his temples. “How have you survived this for all these months by yourself?”
He reached for her, pulling her against him. Giving instead of taking. His arms around her and the strength he provided felt so good.
Watched from a Distance Page 13
