The Belial Search

by R. D. Brady

  Behind them, the door to the courtyard opened, and Danny and Moxy stepped through. Moxy sprinted to the enclosure and began racing up and down beside it, as usual.

  Lou stepped back to let them race without her as an obstacle. She looked at Danny. They had all agreed to find the animals, but Danny had been coming up with one excuse after another as to why they shouldn’t go. Lou opened her mouth to once again to try and convince him that they needed to go and find the animals before they told Laney and Henry anything.

  But Danny spoke first. “I’m ready to go,” he said. He held out his phone.

  With a frown, Lou grabbed it. On screen was a picture of a man who was easily four hundred pounds. He sat in a chair, a rifle nestled in his arms. At his feet were a black leopard and a smaller cub. Blood stained the cats’ faces.

  Lou gasped.

  “That’s Mark Hanover. He had two leopards brought to his compound, where he killed them.”

  “That guy couldn’t outrun an ant,” Rolly growled.

  “He didn’t have to,” Danny said. “They brought the leopards in and drugged them. He sat on his back porch and waited until they stumbled into view. The whole kill is on video. The cats could barely stand before he shot them.”

  Lou’s blood began to boil. “How the hell is that a sport?”

  Danny looked at Lou with unshed tears in his eyes. “I’m sorry. We should have gone sooner. If we had, maybe these two would still be alive.”

  “But you’re ready now?” Lou asked.

  Danny nodded. “Yes, I’m ready.”

  “Okay then,” Rolly said. “We’re going to need to figure a way off campus. They’re not just going to let us walk out of here.” Ever since the latest threat, the security had been incredible. Lou was pretty sure inmates had more freedom than they did.

  “Don’t worry. I’ve figured out a way,” Danny said.

  Rolly threw an arm around each of them, hugging them into his side. “Oh, this is going to fun.”

  CHAPTER 62

  Henry held the phone out to her. “Laney? It’s the Baltimore Police Department.”

  Laney looked up in surprise. “For me?”

  “What did you do?” Jen demanded.

  Laney put up her hands with a smile. “Nothing, I swear.” She took the phone from Henry. “Hello?”

  “Dr. McPhearson, this is Sergeant Kevin O’Malley. I tried to reach you on your cell phone but didn’t get an answer.”

  Laney pulled her cell out and looked at it. “Oh, sorry. I must have turned the volume off. What can I do for you?”

  “We have a situation down here that we could use your help with.”

  “Okay, what’s going on?”

  “A man has taken six people hostage at a coffee shop on Bennett Place. And he’s demanding to see you.”

  “Me? Who is it?”

  “His name is Charles Garner. I’m sending you his DMV picture. Do you know him?”

  Laney clicked over and opened the photo. The man on the screen was about forty, with light brown hair, small eyes, and a big smile. Laney frowned. “I’ve never seen him before in my life.”

  “Well, he seems to know you. And he says if you don’t arrive here within the hour, he’ll kill the hostages.”

  CHAPTER 63

  Laney and Jake pulled to the side of the street, and Jen and Henry pulled in a few spots behind them. Bennett Street was blocked off with yellow police tape, and the police were keeping people back.

  “One of the analysts just texted me,” Jake said. “There’s a live video feed coming out of the coffee shop.”

  Laney turned to him in surprise. “The coffee shop has security?”

  “No, but someone’s watching the place.”

  “So he is working for someone else,” Laney murmured. They had gone over and over again what the man could possibly want with Laney. It was possible he had a personal grudge against her, but they’d both thought it was more likely he was working for someone else. Laney had a feeling Samyaza may finally have decided to stick someone else’s head out. Although why do it this way was beyond her.

  “Can you see if they can set the outgoing video on a repeating loop?” Laney asked. “If someone’s watching, they want to see me. And I’d rather we didn’t let them.”

  “Already arranged it.”

  Laney surveyed the street. Sharpshooters that had taken position on rooftops, and a few stray civilians were being escorted behind the barricade. She watched it all with a growing sense of dread. How many innocents were going to lose their lives today?

  Her hand on the door, she said, “Okay. Let’s get this show on the road.”

  Jake grabbed her other hand. “Laney.”

  She looked back at him. He squeezed her hand. “Just be careful and take as few chances as you can, okay?”

  She leaned over and kissed him. “You got it.”

  They stepped out of the car. Henry and Jen joined them. “You sure you don’t want me to go in with you?” Jen asked.

  “Thanks, but no,” Laney said. “He asked for me. Let’s do what he says for now. I promise to yell if I need help.”

  “And I’ll come running,” Jen promised.

  Laney spotted a terrified woman and her young daughter hurrying to get outside the perimeter. The stirrings of fear rumbled in her own stomach. “I’m counting on it.”

  CHAPTER 64

  The coffee urns lined up behind the counter in Java Joe’s seemed to be beckoning Charles Garner, known to one and all as Charlie. The smell of coffee made his mouth water. He hadn’t had his second cup this morning, and now he was beginning to get a headache. But he couldn’t risk stopping to pour himself one.

  A refrigerated display case stood next to the counter, holding sandwiches and cakes. Along the other walls were tall built-in refrigerators and shelves with snacks.

  And right now, six people sat on the floor in front of those shelves. Only two were men, both in suits. One was in his fifties, the other probably his thirties. The thirty-year-old was trying to look strong, but a sweat had broken out on his forehead. It was the older man, Charlie thought, that he’d have to worry about. He had the eyes of a man who’d seen a lot.

  Two of the women were in their twenties, in workout clothes. They sat close to one another, trembling. A third woman was in her late sixties, maybe even early seventies. She kept repeating, “Oh dear, oh dear.” The fourth woman was in jeans and a fleece. She glanced between Charlie and the door but made no movement. In fact, she was sitting back, her legs bent. Not a position you’d be in if you planned on breaking into a sprint.

  Besides, Charlie knew he’d be able to catch her before she’d taken two steps.

  “What do you want with us?” the older man suddenly demanded.

  Charlie’s gaze flicked over to him. “Nothing. Someone’s coming. When they arrive, you can leave.”

  “Could you just let us go now?” one of the young women asked.

  “No!” Charlie barked. The woman cringed, and tears sprang to her eyes. Her friend wrapped her arms around her.

  “No,” Charlie repeated in a softer tone. “But you’ll be free to go when she arrives.”

  “And none of us will be harmed?” the man asked.

  “You’ll all be released unharmed.” But I can’t say the same for Delaney McPhearson.

  Charlie resumed his pacing, his heart beating heavily in his chest. Delaney McPhearson—he’d never heard the woman’s name before this morning. And he still knew nothing about her—except for one simple fact.

  He was going to kill her.

  CHAPTER 65

  Laney pulled on her bulletproof vest and zipped her jacket over it. She closed the back of the SUV.

  Henry stepped up next to her. “You ready for this?”

  “Well, seeing as I’m still not really sure what ‘this’ is, I guess.”

  Henry frowned.

  “Hey, none of that. I’ll be fine. Come on.” Together, Laney and Henry headed to the police divider,
Jake and Jen falling in step behind them. They showed their badges to the police officer at the tape.

  “Where’s O’Malley?” Laney asked the officer.

  The officer nudged her chin toward a balding man across the street, who was addressing a group of officers. Laney and the others walked over to him, and Laney pulled out her badge. “I’m Delaney McPhearson.”

  “You’re a fed?” O’Malley asked, his eyes going wide.

  “Yeah—with the SIA.” At his blank look, she added, “It’s a small agency. You’ve probably never heard of it. So, what do you know?”

  O’Malley nodded to his officers, who dispersed. Then he turned to Laney and jerked his head toward Jake, Henry, and Jen. “Who are they?”

  “More feds,” Laney said. “Garner?”

  O’Malley eyed each of them, his eyes growing a little larger at Henry’s size, then shrugged. “Okay. Charles Garner, age forty-two, married with two kids. He’s an electrician. No priors, just two speeding tickets over a decade old. The guy coaches his son’s basketball team.”

  Laney frowned. Not the typical criminal background. “And what’s this all about?”

  O’Malley shook his head. “I don’t know. He won’t say anything except that he will kill the hostages if you don’t go in there. We called his house, got no answer. I sent some uniforms by, but no one answered. The kids never made it to school today, and the wife never made it to work.”

  “Did you search the house?” Jake asked.

  O’Malley nodded. “Yeah. But there was nothing. In fact, the place is under renovation. We don’t think they’re even living there right now.”

  “So what are you thinking?” Henry asked.

  “Not sure, but I’m hoping we’re not dealing with a family annihilator.”

  Laney cringed. “Annihilators” were men who one day, seemingly out of the blue, killed their entire family. Motives were a little murky, but the most common seemed to be financial difficulty or marital disruption—and more recently, honor killings had occasionally come into play. There’d been a couple of cases where annihilators were also spree killers, going from place to place killing family members. Laney really hoped that wasn’t what they were seeing here. And it didn’t seem likely that an annihilator wanted to speak with her, unless he was another long-lost brother.

  “Anything from the neighbors?” Jake asked.

  “Not really. We spoke with one who said they seemed happy, but that could mean anything. And he admitted he didn’t know them well. No one was home at the other houses.”

  “Nothing about why he wants to speak with Laney?” Henry asked.

  O’Malley shook his head. “No. But we just learned about all this just under an hour ago.”

  “Okay, well, let’s see what he has to say,” Laney said. “Do you have a line into the coffee shop?”

  O’Malley handed her a phone. “Hit one.”

  Laney did, waiting while the phone rang out.

  Someone picked up. “I told you I don’t want to speak with you. I only want to speak with Delaney McPhearson.” Charlie Garner sounded stressed, worried. But he didn’t sound angry.

  Interesting, Laney thought. “Mr. Garner, this is Delaney McPhearson.”

  There was a pause. “You came.”

  “You asked, and here I am.”

  “You need to come in here,” he said in a rush.

  Jake shook his head. Laney kept Jake’s gaze. “I understand you want that, Mr. Garner. But I’m going to need something from you first. I’m going to need a guarantee that you will release the hostages once I’m inside.”

  “Yes, yes. Of course.”

  “As a show of good faith, how about you send two out right now?”

  “And then you’ll come in?”

  “And then I’ll come in.”

  “Okay.” He disconnected the call.

  Officers moved in next to the coffee shop. Ten seconds later the front door flew open. An older woman in her seventies came out, helped by a man in his fifties. Officers grabbed them both and pulled them out of the line of fire, toward waiting ambulances.

  “This doesn’t make any sense,” Jake murmured. “He gave up two of his hostages just like that.”

  “He’s not a criminal mastermind,” Laney said. “In fact, he sounded scared.”

  “So what does he want?”

  “I guess I’ll go find out.”

  CHAPTER 66

  Running her thumb over her ring, Laney left the security of the police. She walked slowly toward the coffee shop and raised her hands up. Halfway there she felt the familiar tingle roll over her skin.

  She managed to keep walking, but her mind was racing. She wanted to signal to her group, but she didn’t know if Garner was watching, and she didn’t know how he would react if she turned back. Oh, I don’t like this. She was walking in blind, and she didn’t know whether the Fallen was one of the hostages or the kidnapper. Although her money was certainly on the kidnapper.

  Heart pounding, she eased open the door to the coffee shop. She had on her body armor, but she knew that with certain bullets, that protection would be useless, especially at close range. And she also had nothing covering her head, so there was that.

  The bell hidden beneath the rug at the front door jangled as she stepped in. Four hostages sat along one wall—three women and one man. None of them looked hurt, but all of them looked terrified.

  Laney only spared them a glance. Her focus was on the man standing in the back with his handgun trained on her. He looked just like his driver’s license picture except for the sweat on his forehead and the fact that he was shaking. And she was certain now: he was a Fallen.

  Laney worked on keeping her voice calm and non-threatening. “Mr. Garner? My name’s Delaney McPhearson. I’m here. So how about we let these hostages go?”

  Garner nodded, and his gun bobbed up and down, making Laney wince. “Yeah, yeah, okay.”

  Keeping her eye on the gun, she waved the hostages toward the door. “Everybody out. Now.”

  The hostages stumbled to their feet. One of the women paused, but Laney said, “Go.”

  With a nod, the woman followed the others out of the building.

  Garner held the gun on Laney. His hand was shaking so hard, Laney worried he’d jerk the trigger. Tears appeared in his eyes. “I’m sorry. I don’t have a choice.”

  “Put the gun down,” Laney ordered.

  The man started to lower the gun. His eyes grew wild. “No.”

  “Drop the gun and kick it away from you,” Laney said.

  The man did as Laney said, although he shook his head disbelievingly the whole time. “How—?” Then he sprinted at Laney so fast she didn’t have time to think, only react. As he reached her, Laney dropped onto her back, brought her legs up, and kicked him up and over her. He slammed into a display behind her.

  Laney rolled to her feet and put up her hand. “Stop fighting me.”

  The man strained to move toward her. Tension radiated from him and a tear rolled down his cheek. “Please,” he said, “I have to. You don’t understand.”

  “What don’t I understand? Why are you doing this?” Laney asked.

  “They have my family.”

  “Who?”

  “I don’t know. But if I don’t kill you, they will kill them.”

  Laney stared at the man. What the hell is going on?

  CHAPTER 67

  Laney turned the steering wheel sharply around the corner. “You good?”

  Jake slammed the magazine into his Glock. “I’m good.”

  As soon as she had Garner incapacitated, Laney had handed him over to Jen and Henry, quickly explaining about the man’s family. The video feed was still on loop, which meant whoever was watching hopefully wouldn’t realize what had happened. But they couldn’t hope to fool them for long.

  Now Laney and Jake were rushing to Garner’s sister’s home, which was where the family had been staying while their house was under renovation. Jen was behind t
hem, but she’d turn off well before they arrived.

  It would just be Laney and Jake. Explaining everything to the police would have taken way too long, and Laney couldn’t chance bringing Jen or Henry along, not if one of the people holding Garner’s family was a Fallen. They couldn’t risk them sensing their approach.

  “Are you up for this?” Laney asked.

  “Shooting only.” Jake grinned. “Well, maybe a few punches.”

  “Jake,” Laney warned.

  “Laney, you walked into a hostage situation because there was no choice. There’s no choice here either. You can’t go in alone, and unless you want to waste time explaining to the police about Fallen angels, I’m your backup.”

  Laney wanted to object, but she knew he was right.

  “Any ideas who grabbed his family to get to you?” Jake asked.

  Laney shrugged. “You want a list? But my money’s on Samyaza, although I really don’t get the play. Why send someone to kill me now? And why this guy? I mean, he’s got nothing in his background but a few speeding tickets. He’s one of the law-abiding Fallen. You should have seen him—he was terrified. This guy is not a killer, or even much of a fighter. And no offense, but he’s going against me. Someone a little more seasoned makes more sense.”

  “So why send him?”

  “I don’t know. But once we grab these guys in the house, we’ll be sure to ask them.”

  “Are we sure they’re even at the house?”

  “No, but according to Charlie, that’s where they were this morning when this all began. So we have to hope that’s where they’re waiting it out. After all, it’d be easier than trying to move the family.”

  “Assuming they kept them alive.”

  Laney didn’t say anything. For now, she had to assume the Garner family was still alive.

  “The house is on the next block,” Jake said.