I failed Kathleen. I wouldn’t fail Brianna. Or Cassidy.
“Where’s my mom?”
A little panic came into her voice then. Kevin happened to pull into the parking garage of a large hotel where we’d thought ahead and had a room reserved. Brianna followed me out of the car and let me help her to the elevator, my arm around her waist. She nearly collapsed as we boarded the elevator car, her eyes rolling back in her head.
“She needs water,” Kevin said.
I just nodded as I scooped her up into my arms. Once we were in the room and Brianna was resting on the king-sized bed, I told Kevin to leave.
“I won’t get you mixed up in all this.”
“I’m already mixed up. Besides I want to be here.”
“No, Kevin. Rent a car. Drive to Palo Alto or wherever. Go visit some friends. I don’t want you here for this.”
“Pops—”
“I won’t have another of my sons mixed up in this bullshit. Go.”
Kevin reluctantly left. I flipped the security lock on the door and grabbed a handful of water bottles from the bar before going in to sit with Brianna. She was conscious, but weak. I helped her sit up and held a bottle to her lips.
“Your mom’s been super worried about you. She was afraid they might have hurt you.”
She lay back with a heavy sigh. “No,” she said. “The worst part was the zip ties they put on my wrists whenever they took me out to make the video. But they never hurt me. They let me have a shower once a day and they fed me decent food twice a day.”
“What about the drugs?”
Her eyebrows rose. “What drugs?”
Must have been in the food.
I offered her more water, and she took it, lying back again with a heavy sigh.
“You’re my father, aren’t you?”
I wasn’t sure what to say. But I could hardly deny it.
“I am.”
“Did you know about me?”
“No.” I took her hand and pressed it between both of mine. “How did you know? She said she never told you.”
A slow smile slipped over her lips. “My dad has jet black hair and brown eyes. My mom has dark brown hair and blue eyes. Where did the red hair and green eyes come from?”
I smiled. “Maybe there’s Irish in your mom’s ancestry.”
She shook her head. “All my nieces and nephews have dark hair and dark eyes. My uncles have dark hair and dark eyes. Even my aunts are mostly dark haired with dark eyes. My mom’s eyes…I don’t know where they come from, but there’s no Irish in that family.”
I ran my hand over hers, slipping it over her wrist. “Does she know you know?”
“I doubt it. We never talked about it.”
“She did it for you, you know.”
She nodded. “I know.” She sighed, closing her eyes as she did. “My grandmother was a tough woman. My grandpa let her get away with a lot of stuff, never realizing the impact it had on my mom and her siblings. They were all afraid of my grandmother right up until the day she died.”
She peeked at me from under her lashes. “I know my mom would support me if I came to her, pregnant and alone. But my grandmother? She would have kicked her out of the house and cut her out of the family, denied her of her rightful place. She would have had nowhere to go.”
“And your dad?”
She smiled softly. “He loved her. Still loves her.”
I was glad for that. As much as it hurt to hear, I was glad for that. Cassidy deserved to be with someone who loved her even if she didn’t return the feeling.
“Was he good to her? To you?”
“Oh, yes,” she said, a soft sigh emerging with her words. “He would have done anything for either of us. We’re still close. I talk to him every Sunday…at least, I did. Before this.”
“You should call him. But not yet.”
Her eyes moved over my face. “You wouldn’t mind?”
“Why would I?”
“It doesn’t bother you? That another man was my dad?”
I took a deep breath, considering that question. “I’ve known about you for all of three days. I don’t think I have the right to make a claim on you. I’m only grateful I’m able to meet you, and that we might have the possibility of getting to know one another.”
“No wonder she loved you so much. You’re a good man.”
“No, I’m not.”
Her brows knitted together as she studied me then.
“Do they have my mom?”
I dropped my head, pulling her hand to my lips as I brushed her knuckles with a light kiss.
“I don’t know, but I’m afraid they do.”
She sat up suddenly, pushing against my shoulders so that I would look at her.
“You have to find her. You have to get her back.”
“I know.”
“You don’t understand. They’ll hurt her. One of the guys said things…” She’d paled even more than before. “They’ll hurt her.”
“We’ll find her.”
I said it firmly, with confidence. I only wished I felt that confident.
I left Brianna alone in the bedroom after a few minutes, watching as she finished drinking one of the bottles of water and began on the next. She seemed stronger even as she curled up and fell asleep. I was worried, but I was pretty sure she’d be okay.
I’d take her to see my doctor when we got back to Boston.
“What’s going on at the condo complex?”
Ian cleared his throat. “Cops everywhere. I don’t think whoever they were are coming back.”
“We’re at the hotel. Come pick me up.”
“What’s next?”
I didn’t know, but doing something was better than sitting around here, waiting.
***
We drove. There were an infinite number of places Cassidy could have gone after leaving the airport. We could drive all night and never see hide nor hair of her. But we drove anyway.
“Someone had to have taken her from the airport.”
Ian shook his head. “I called a friend. There were no disruptions at the airport, no reports of a struggle. Wherever she went, she went freely.”
“Just because no one reported—”
“This day and age? With all the increased security? You look at someone funny in an airport these days and someone will report you.”
“Did you call taxi services?”
“No one fitting her description took a taxi from the airport in that time frame.”
“What about—?”
“She didn’t pay for a ride, Pops. Someone picked her up.”
“Call the local wrecker services. See if someone’s abandoned a car recently.”
“I did. Nothing yet.”
I was trying to think of everything we could do, but it seemed like Ian had thought of it all.
“If she’d kept her phone…”
“That’s probably why they made her leave it behind.”
Ian nodded. “Whoever’s doing this, he’s smart.”
“Brianna said there were several people.”
“But I’d bet there’s only one leader. And he’s the one making the plan, the one sending the messages, the one doing the videos. He’s the one making sure we can’t trace him.”
“And he’ll be the one who’ll want to show me how smart he is. He’ll contact me.”
Ian glanced at me. “He will. I’d guarantee it.”
I nodded, my thoughts spinning like a top.
“Let’s go back to the hotel and wait for him there.”
Chapter 27
Cassidy
They dragged me out of the van. I had no idea where we were or what they were doing. I wasn’t even sure of how many people were still with me. I’d heard the doors of the van open and close enough to allow a dozen people to come and go. There were hands on my upper arms and someone carrying my feet. I was still tied up. We’d moved after the phone call came, so I guess there weren’t as many chances for them
to get caught wherever we were.
I tried to ask where we were, but it only came out in jumbled sounds.
“Do yourself a service and be quiet,” Ricky whispered near my ear.
I stiffened when I realized he was the one holding my arms.
They took me inside. I could tell by the change in light filtering through my blindfold and the dustiness of the new location. We were in an old building of some sort. And then there was a new voice.
“Put her in the chair.”
I was dropped, my feet slapping the floor. Someone cursed—I thought it might be Ricky—and then I was set carefully into a chair. The blindfold was suddenly ripped away and I found myself looking into the face of the Phantom of the Opera. At least, that’s what he looked like with his mask on.
“I’m going to take off your gag,” he said softly. I knew his voice. It was Ricky. “I’ll try to be as gentle as possible.”
He picked at the edge of the tape. After a minute, another masked man moved up behind him.
“Just tear it off.”
“I don’t want to hurt her.”
“She’s getting much worse than this very soon.”
Ricky pursed his lips, but he tugged at the tape, pulling it off a little faster than he seemed to intend. The pain was sharp and immediate, but it only lasted a second. He pulled a knife out of his pocket and my heart sank into my belly, but he only used it to cut my ties.
“Don’t try to go anywhere.”
He stood up and moved back. A bright light came on and suddenly I couldn’t see beyond a camera that was set up just a few feet in front of me.
“You’re going to record a message for Brian,” the new voice said. It was low, rough, as if whoever was speaking was purposely trying to alter the sound of his voice. “You’re going to tell him he needs to choose. He needs to choose between you and his daughter.”
The breath flew from my lungs.
“Don’t touch my daughter!”
“Not yours, sweetheart. She’s already been released.”
Relief made my shoulders sag.
“Brian has two daughters. Yours and young, sweet Stacy. She’s just gotten engaged to be married, you know.”
“You wouldn’t hurt her.”
“Don’t put it past me. And don’t take for granted that Brian would choose you.”
I strained to see past the camera, but the light was too bright.
“You can’t do that. You can’t make him choose.”
“I won’t. You will.”
I shivered, remembering the feel of the knife against my throat. But Brianna was safe. She was going to be okay and that was all that mattered. They could do whatever they wanted with me just as long as Brianna was okay.
“Okay,” I said into that light. “I’ll do whatever you want.”
There was silence for a long time before the voice came back.
“This is what you say…”
Chapter 28
Brian
Brianna was still asleep when we let ourselves back into the hotel room. We’d only been there a few minutes when my phone beeped.
A video had come over a text sent by a number I didn’t recognize.
Ian took my phone without asking, touching the button and holding it out so we could both see it. Cassidy, her pretty face pale, stared at the camera, tears in her eyes even as she was clearly trying to remain stoic.
“I’m okay,” she said, her voice low and well controlled despite the tears. “Please know I’m okay. And thank you so much for finding Brianna!”
“Get on with it,” a deep voice said, but not without kindness.
She glanced off to the side, apparently looking at the speaker. Then she focused on the camera again.
“They want you to choose.” She took a deep breath. “They said you can have me back, but if you choose me, they’ll go after Stacy. They’ll kill her.”
Ian glanced at me, but I was staring at Cassidy. An anger like nothing I’d ever felt before was building in my chest, threatening to explode. My hands shook. My breath came in short gasps. I needed to hurt someone.
“I love you, Brian,” Cassidy said. “I know what you have to do. It’s okay.”
The video went dark.
I shook my head.
“No, no, no!”
“Pops…”
“She’s telling me not to come for her. She’s saying she wants me to protect Stacy and to let her go.”
“Listen to me—”
“I won’t do that. I won’t turn away from her again!”
“Pops!” Ian grabbed me by the shoulders. “They screwed up. I know where they are.”
“What are you talking about?”
Ian pulled up the video again, pausing it just seconds after it began. He touched the screen, pointing to some vague writing on the wall behind Cassidy.
“Do you see that?”
“I can’t tell what it says.”
“I can. That’s the logo for Luli Farms. They must be at one of their old warehouses.”
“But they must have dozens.”
“I doubt it. They were pretty small before they went out of business.”
“Then how do you know…?”
Ian shrugged. “I absorb information. I came across a story about them in the Wall Street Journal some time back.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive.”
As he said it, my phone buzzed again. I took it from him and read the text that had just arrived from the same number as the video.
You have three hours to decide.
I turned away, the image of Cassidy in that video burned on my cornea. She looked so frightened until the very end. Until she told me she knew what choice I’d make and that it was okay. I felt sick to my stomach. She was comparing this decision to the one I made all those years ago. She knew I would choose responsibility over happiness because I did it once before. But that wasn’t me anymore. As much as I loved each of my children, I couldn’t turn my back on Cassidy in order to protect Stacy. I wasn’t like her. I couldn’t do whatever it took to keep my child safe. I wanted them both.
I wanted to save Cassidy, but I wanted Stacy to be okay, too.
What was I going to do?
I was going to save them both.
“Find the warehouse. I’m going to call Killian and get him updated on all this.”
“Pops…”
He brought me my phone. Another text message had come in.
Do you really think sending Killian to New York will stop me?
Chapter 29
Cassidy
It was only Ricky watching over me now. He led me into a small room off of the main, cavernous room where we filmed the video. I assumed the others were still out in the warehouse, but they told Ricky to take me away. He sat me in a chair off to the side of a small desk.
“Do I need to tie you up again?”
I shook my head. “I’d prefer if you didn’t.”
“You won’t try to run?”
“No.”
He stood in front of me, watching me as if I was a bug under a microscope. Then he leaned close and touched the side of my face.
“You said you loved him.”
I turned my face away, trying to avoid his touch without offending him.
“I do love him.”
“Why? He went back to his wife all those years ago.”
I jerked a little, just as he went to touch me again. “How do you know that?”
He tilted his head, his eyes narrowed through the holes of his mask. “We know everything about you. We know that you met him while you were attending Boston College’s nursing program. We know that you spent six months together, six months during which his wife was pregnant. She was about to give birth when she went to him and asked him to come back to her and the children. She had just started working as a social worker, but she’d have to take time off when the baby came and she was afraid. She wanted him there with her.”
I d
idn’t even know some of that. I stared at him as he rattled this information out as if it didn’t matter. Like no one had gotten hurt. But what he left out was how much I loved Brian, how desperate I was to be with him, and how crushed I was when I saw Abigail come out of his room and understood who she was.
She was so pregnant that it was almost impossible for her to get down the stairs. And I just stood there and watched, too frozen with fear to do anything.
Just a week before, two-year-old Killian had come to visit his father, and I imagined what it would be like, the three of us living together, my own belly swollen with a child of Brian and my own.
He didn’t mention the more than fifteen years of marriage that I’d spent committed to a man I didn’t love. He didn’t mention the nights I lay awake and thought of what might have been. He didn’t care about the hurt and the anger I nursed all those years. And he didn’t know that I could have found love. I could have found someone else after I left Sam. But I didn’t because I knew the man I loved was in Boston living his life with the woman he loved.
“He did what was right.”
“But he left you alone with a baby in your belly.”
“How did you know about Brianna? How did you know she was Brian’s?”
He was quiet for a moment, and I thought that he might not answer. But then he tilted his head again.
“He saw her. Saw the red hair and the green eyes, and he guessed. He targeted her only because of you, but when he saw her, he knew.”
“He? Who is he?”
“My friend. My boss. The guy running the show.”
“Who is he?”
“That’s not really important right now. But you should know, he has a lot in store for Brian. If I were you,” he leaned close to me, “I’d get as far from Brian as possible because he’s about to suffer. A lot.”
“Why? What does this guy have against him?”
“Do I need to spell it out to you? Brian Callahan is a user. A criminal. A fool.”
“He’s also a father, a husband, a lover.”
Ricky touched my jaw, and it took everything I had not to flinch. He leaned close.
“I bet I could show you a much better time than that old man can.”
COLE (Dragon Security Book 1) Page 45
