Brother's Keeper II_Liam

by Stephanie St. Klaire

  Pushing past the pain and frustration, he forged on. They all needed to keep a clear head if this was going to end with a happily ever after. Liam was smarter – they were stronger – they were faster. He silently chanted that as his inner mantra. They would overcome this. They’d all be home, together, tonight.

  Up the stairs at the end of the tunnel, they found themselves in the maintenance shed, just as Chance had described. A quick search of the fairly open space revealed it was empty. There were footprints in the dirty floor, hand prints on the door, but no way to tell who they belonged to. It was a maintenance shed that also held what looked like track and field equipment. The place was well used so there was nothing that indicated anyone had just been there.

  Cars pulling up out front prompted them to leave the building. And that’s where they found their sign – a clue. Reagan’s carnation that Chance had given her lay in the gravel behind a set of deep tire tracks. Between the tracks, multiple sets of footprints, one on top of the other. There had been a struggle.

  “They were put in the trunk,” Liam said quietly, looking to each of his brothers. “The trunk.” His voice was full of seething anger, escaping him as a near scream.

  “City is smart. She’ll keep Rage safe until we get to them.” Luke’s voice was ominous – until we get to them – if only they knew where they were.

  Liam’s smartwatch began to sound – alarm after alarm. “Son of a bitch.”

  He jumped into one of the nearby cars, pulled his laptop from the back, and went to work. “I’ve got alarms all of the city. Power going out, bridges blocked, accidents everywhere.”

  “Grand finale – this is his firework show,” Luke said.

  “The girls’ phones are on the move, one headed south, one north,” Liam said. “He wouldn’t split them up. Would he?”

  “Hard call. We can tail both of them – two teams,” Luke replied.

  Another alarm came from Liam’s watch, prompting him to dig into his keyboard once again. “Watermark’s been breached. Someone got in,” he called out. “Garage, black car, just pulled in. That’s all I can see. Something…something happened. I’m locking down the building.”

  “Three teams – north, south, and Watermark – Watermark is probably a distraction, but we need an all clear,” Luke rambled in the background while Liam stared off in the distance trying to piece it all together.

  “Wait,” Liam interrupted. “They’re all at Watermark. He’s tearing apart the city, making it hard to tell where he is and to distract us, maybe even just slow us down. The phones are a ploy. He needs them both, so he has them both. He wouldn’t separate them and risk losing a bargaining chip. It was too hard to get them in the first place, and he knows we’re better than him. They’re all he had over us.”

  “So how do you know Watermark isn’t just another decoy?” Declan asked. “You need to be sure about this. Think with your head, not with your heart on this one.”

  “I can’t see Watermark. That’s how I know they’re there. Who else knows me and my work well enough to shut me out? It’s a fucking clue. A message.”

  “Felicity.” Luke nodded with a grin.

  “And if I’m wrong, which I’m not, we hunt down the phones from the air. She’s there, and she wouldn’t do shit for that asshole unless she had Reagan in sight.”

  CHAPTER 24

  “You have to stay calm, Reagan. Okay? We have to use our heads. Your dad and uncles are probably right behind us, honey.” Felicity felt around in the dark for Reagan’s hand and held it. “Can you do that for me?”

  “I’m scared, City,” the girl cried.

  “I know baby, but we’re going to be okay. These guys aren’t going to hurt us,” Felicity said.

  “How? How do you know that? They put us in a trunk. I’ve seen that in movies!”

  “Honey, they need me to get what they want. They need me on the computer. They need you to get me on that computer and to keep your dad and uncles from becoming their worst nightmare,” Felicity assured her, trying to convince herself that was true. “We’ll be fine. I won’t let them hurt you. Understand?”

  “We’re in a trunk, City.”

  “Only to scare us. Don’t let it work. I have a plan. Your dad is right behind us. Promise.” She hoped like hell she could keep that promise.

  Truth was, she didn’t know what he would do with her once he realized that she really didn’t have the money he thought she had. One thing she did know – Wells was Dunham. He’d played her all those years ago, and he’d continued to play her now. The minute she saw him in the locker-room it all came together.

  He disappeared because he was Wells, not because he stole from him and ran. Dunham had to get to San Francisco, to his warehouse, because he knew the Feds were closing in on him and the O’Reillys tipped him off. He faked his own death in that building. Lainey’s too…maybe her mother’s.

  He had a gun, and with Reagan there, she couldn’t afford to fight. She wouldn’t risk Reagan’s life. It was safer to go with him for now. The glowing emergency trunk release, inside, was dismantled because when Felicity had gone to pull it, nothing happened.

  The car came to an abrupt stop, the engine turned off, and a car door slammed.

  “Get out,” Dunham said after opening the trunk. “Now. We don’t have all day.”

  Felicity was first to climb out before helping Reagan. She tucked Reagan behind her for protection and took a step backward, forcing Reagan to do the same. “Why are you doing this, Dunham?”

  “Just following orders, City. That’s what they call you, right?” Dunham laughed at her, shaking his head in disgust. “You pay for this? That how those Irish fucks got a building like this?”

  “Pay for the building? Are you serious? How would I…”

  “You shouldn’t have taken the money and faked your death. Thought we had something.” He sneered.

  “Money? Faked my death? Wh-what are you talking about?” Felicity wasn’t sure if he was threatening her or he’d totally lost his mind. “Where’s Lainey?”

  His glare sharpened. “Safe. Surprised you care.”

  “Why wouldn’t I care?” she questioned, taking another step backward toward the open elevator.

  “What game are you playing, Felicity? I know what you did,” Dunham replied, taking a step closer, forcing Felicity to take another step back.

  Before she answered, in quick motion, she shoved Reagan into the elevator and smacked her hand against a caution sign that was posted next to the elevator. Reagan’s scream disappeared behind the elevator doors as the whooshed closed. Felicity let out the breath she had been holding when her scream faded in a quick ascent as the elevator pulled her to safety.

  “What the… What the hell?” Dunham grabbed Felicity by the arm. “Get her back down here!”

  “I wouldn’t, even if I could. She’s gone – a safe room. That elevator was the only way up.” Felicity smiled in relief. She’d breathe easier knowing Reagan was safe and no longer part of this. “Where’s – my – sister?”

  Felicity began to fight, breaking away from Dunham as she did, which gave her more range, and she used it. He tried to fight back, got in a few good blows, but adrenaline masked the pain, and she fought on. With every blow, she felt stronger. He couldn’t keep up, and she was going to get away. But not until after she locked him in Watermark for the O’Reillys to deal with.

  Dunham went down to one knee, then a second, finally falling to all fours when the sound of a car door opening and that of a cocked gun grabbed Felicity’s attention. After one last kick to the face, she spun on her heals, ready to face whatever was behind her.

  Felicity’s body sagged, and her arms fell to her side as if the wind had been knocked from her lungs when she faced the person at the other end of the gun aimed on her.

  Felicity’s voice cracked, fervor overwhelming her as the pieces continued to come together, putting together a truth she hadn’t seen coming. “Oh my God. It’s…you. You’re…
Wells.”

  When the brothers got back to Watermark and saw that the black car was gone, but the caution sign next to the elevator was green, not red like it typically was, they knew someone was there. The elevator closest to the sign was inactive, confirming the vault was in use.

  The vault was a safe room that made up the top floor of Watermark Tower. It was only accessible through one elevator, and once accessed, the line to it shutdown. You wouldn’t find a numbered button leading there on the interior of any of the elevators, just the hidden safe button on every floor, disguised as a caution sign. To the outside world, the floor didn’t even exist – that was the point.

  It was furnished, stocked with non-perishable food rations and other items, completely sustainable for up to a month. Once up there, there was only one way out – through the hidden passage that could only be accessed from the rooftop or by deactivating the elevator which could only be done from the vault. If you knew how.

  Filling the lair, the men went to work, preparing for a rescue while Liam tried to get their system back online so they could see who they had held up in the vault.

  “They were definitely in here,” Liam said. “The system was taken offline despite putting it on lockdown from the school.”

  “Felicity?” Luke asked. “There is no way anyone else would know how to do it but her. I don’t care how good of a hacker they are.”

  Liam smiled. “Good girl, City,” he said under her breath.

  “Mind filling us in? Trying to get gear together. What are we fighting and where is it?” Dace chided.

  “She’s not in the vault, at least I don’t think so. Whoever is in there accessed from the garage – the sign. She couldn’t have done any of this from in there. Felicity was in here. No doubt about it.”

  “They were separated,” Luke clarified. “Or, got away from them when they tried to take off?”

  “Appears that way. I almost have the system up, and I’ll be able to see everything again. She basically took us offline by moving us to a temporary server, made it look like we’re out of business, but really, it’s just sleeping. Smart,” Liam prided.

  He continued to run his fingers over the keyboard until the screens on the wall lit up, one at a time. “I think they got spooked, couldn’t do what they wanted and ran. They must have needed more time. They had her looking for the money. They still think she has it. She left a trail, everywhere she looked.” Liam laughed. “She stalled…took them on a wild goose chase.”

  “So, who is in the vault, Liam?” Luke asked, knowing full well why Liam was avoiding the question. If they were in a hurry or off their game, there was a good chance they all went up to the vault after they were in the lair. Sure, it was activated from the garage, but nothing said it was before or after the lair.

  “I, uh, I’m looking now.” Four screens, perfectly centered on the wall, switched to surveillance. Each camera scanning a different room of the top hidden floor. “Reagan. I see her. I don’t see anyone else. It’s just her.”

  Liam bolted from the lair and straight for the rooftop where he climbed the metal ladder on the side of the dormer that housed the elevator shaft. Removing a metal plate, much like a manhole cover, Liam revealed a key pad atop a metal hatch door. The hatch held another metal ladder that ran behind the elevator shaft, then to a narrow-recessed platform with a steel door and another keypad.

  Bypassing the final barrier, Liam ran down the shallow hall and burst through a door that opened into a bedroom and started calling his daughter’s name. She leapt in his arms and began to sob. Felicity saved her. Felicity was gone.

  After a quick debriefing, they found that they didn’t get any more from Reagan than they already had. Until all of their watches sounded with an alarm. A schedule reminder. Each of the brothers looked to their watch and shared a similar confused look. Except Liam. He just smiled.

  Liam looked at the men in the room and said with excitement, “I know where she is.”

  With Reagan safely stowed at Watermark, protected by Ronan and Ryker, the brothers loaded up, along with Carter Landry. Wells was a wanted fugitive, and they were on his ass. Landry wanted him. He’d prosecute him with every federal crime he could down to tampering with U.S. mail if he had to. These people were family to him, and he’d do anything for them. This gave him great pleasure.

  “I still don’t get it…” Luke questioned. “Yoga?”

  “She buried the alert so it would pop up once we were back online when she knew we would get it,” Liam said.

  “That doesn’t explain the cryptic message,” Dace questioned from behind the wheel.

  “Um. They do yoga…there,” Liam answered, snorts coming through the two-way radio from the other car.

  Dace shook his head as he took the turn off a mile up the road from the resort. With both vehicles parked, they got into their gear and hiked a full mile in. When they reached the cliff that crested their target destination, they hunkered down and took in their surroundings so they could formulate a plan. Sure, Felicity was supposed to be there, but with acreage of this size, dozens of outbuildings, and a vast forest surrounding them, she was a needle in a haystack.

  “You said we were going to the Blue Moon Resort,” Dace’s whisper came with a surprise

  “We are. This is the stuff you miss when you take off on your secret missions.” Wylie snickered.

  “Blue Moon Resort is a uh…nudist resort. They do…yoga. That was the clue,” Liam replied.

  “He took her to a fucking nudist colony?” Dace’s eyes went wide. “Why does this feel like a trap?”

  “I don’t think it’s a trap. I think he needed help and there is only one other person in this town, he knows, who can do what Felicity does. Her friend…Big Johnson.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me. So, he halls her off to the nudist camp…”

  “Resort,” Wylie corrected.

  “Resort…to kidnap another guy…a naked guy named Big Johnson. Shit just got weird.”

  Liam was working on his portable computer, trying to source anything out of the norm, which was saying a lot, considering where they were. “Just keep looking out there while I keep looking for…anything. God, let there be a signal or something I can pick up.”

  “Out of the norm? We’re spying on a group of naked old people – yes, they all appear to be old – and you want us to look for something out of the norm.”

  “It’s just another job, Dace. Think of it as another job, but this time, we’re rescuing family,” Liam said, his eyes never leaving his screen.

  “Got something. It’s small, probably a jammer, but it’s definitely there and not supposed to be. This place doesn’t have Wi-Fi or a nearby tower, so this is something.”

  “You can detect a jammer? I thought the point of a jammer was to jam frequency and hide,” Luke asked.

  “It is, unless you know how to get around it.” Liam smiled. “Here’s a map. The signal is coming from that outbuilding – probably a cabin – perfect setting. It’s away from pretty much everything out here on the opposite end of the resort.”

  Luke led the team on a route he pulled from the map Liam provided. They moved through the woods, in a stealth-like manner, avoiding the hiking trails and any of the scattered buildings. Their destination was nearly a mile away on the opposite side of the property from where they started. Not their best vantage point, but they wouldn’t be seen coming in from any angle, hiding under the shadows of the forest at dusk.

  There was no telling what this Wells guy – or Dunham, rather – was up to. Reagan had said it was just him, and he was really angry, yelling at Felicity. He sounded desperate. Their tactics to tick him off and bring him out of hiding had worked, but now he was pissed off and had Felicity. That left an uneasy feeling that Liam wasn’t willing to face, not until he had her back, and this was all over.

  Luke stopped, putting up a fist signaling them to do the same. He gestured for two to go right and two to go left and flank the target because
there it was. The cabin.

  CHAPTER 25

  Liam watched as Carter and Declan went one way, Wylie and Dace the other, and he stayed with Luke who’d always had his back more than anyone else had.

  A loud crash came from the cabin, followed by a guttural scream – a man’s scream. Liam’s stomach sunk. Was she in there? Was she the reason he was screaming? Had she not cooperated and now he didn’t have a way out or a way to get what he thought she could get her hands on? Push it down, Liam told himself. Don’t go there.

  With their weapons drawn, fire ready, Luke and Liam moved in, aiming for the front entrance. The curtains were drawn; only shadows could be seen moving about, perhaps those of the same person but it was hard to tell. The light from inside flushed through a gap around the door. It was open.

  When Luke took the first wooden step to the door, it creaked beneath his foot. He paused, standing statue still, waiting to see if whoever was inside had been alerted to their presence. The movement within matched that of Luke’s – stone quiet. Luke looked over his engaged weapon and nodded at Liam. He knew where this was going.

  When the movement inside merged to a full speed bolt out the backdoor, Luke and Liam engaged in a chase. Through the cabin, then the backdoor, he was only a handful of yards ahead of them when Wylie stepped out of the shadows and clotheslined the guy, knocking him to the ground with a mighty force. So mighty, the guy couldn’t breathe.

  “Get up, asshole,” Wylie said, weapon aimed on him.

  The man gasped for air and didn’t move, so the brothers each grabbed an arm and dragged his ass inside the cabin where Wylie kicked a sideways chair to upright and tossed him in it. Dunham. Beat to hell, Dunham.

  “Where is she?” Liam asked.

  “I-I don’t know,” he said, still gasping. “It’s… It’s not what you think.”