She ended the call as Tracy said they'd be right there. Then she ran across the roof and squatted down next to the heating unit. She held out her hand. "It's over, baby. The bad men are gone."
Hayley crawled out and wrapped her arms around Bree's neck. "I'm going to see my mommy now?" she asked.
"Really, really soon." She hugged the little girl as tightly as she could, closing her eyes, memorizing the moment, because she knew it would probably be the last time she ever held her daughter.
A few minutes later, the roof was swarming with police and FBI. She set Hayley on her feet and then stood up, but Hayley still held on to her arm, as if she couldn't trust whatever was coming next.
Tracy came over to her, and Bree couldn't really imagine what she was going to say—probably that she was done being an agent. But the words that came out of Tracy's mouth shocked her.
"Nice work, Agent Adams."
Bree met her gaze, knowing that while Tracy might be a territorial hard-ass, she'd also wanted to save Hayley. "Thanks."
Tracy gave Hayley a smile. "I'm Agent Cox. I'm going to take you to your parents."
"No. She's going to take me," Hayley said, clinging to Bree's arm. "She promised."
"I did promise."
"Okay," Tracy said. "That's fine. Her parents are at the hospital. There's an ambulance downstairs. They can check Hayley out on the way."
"I know it's against protocol for me to go with her—"
"But you should go with her," Tracy said, meeting her gaze.
"Thank you."
"You did it all yourself. I think we both knew you would."
As Tracy stepped away to speak to ASAIC Hobbs, Bree looked at Nathan. "I need to stay with Hayley."
"Of course. I'll meet you at the hospital."
"You should get checked out, too. You don't look so good."
He smiled through his bloody bruises. "Really? Because I never felt better in my life."
She had so many things she wanted to say to him, but first she had to return her daughter to the family who loved her.
Twenty
On the way to the hospital, the female paramedic checked Hayley out with a careful, reassuring smile, as Bree held Hayley's hand. It didn't appear that Hayley had been physically injured during her time in captivity. She had some bruises, but she told Bree that the tall man had taken her to a house, and a woman had brought her food and given her a book to read.
Hayley didn't know what the woman's name was. She described her as having dark hair and eyes but couldn't provide any more detail. She said the woman had told her that she'd be okay if she did what she was told. She also said no one had hit her or hurt her in any way, for which Bree was immensely grateful.
The emotional trauma of the kidnapping and the captivity would be very difficult for Hayley to deal with, but at least she wouldn't have to suffer through memories of physical or sexual abuse.
Apparently, Stix had been willing to kill Hayley, but only because she was Johnny's blood and her daughter, the two people he'd blamed for the destruction of his life, not because he just wanted to hurt a kid.
She still had so many questions, but for now the only thing that mattered was that Hayley was safe.
When they arrived at the hospital, they were escorted up to the fifth floor, bypassing the ER since Hayley was not in physical peril. What she needed most was to see her parents, and they were waiting in Mark's hospital room.
It wasn't until they entered the room, and Hayley saw her mother sitting on the bed next to her father, that she let go of Bree's hand and ran into her mother's arms.
Lindsay and Hayley cried together at their reunion, while tears dripped down Mark's face as he leaned over to put his hand on his daughter's head.
She'd seen reunions like this before, parents overjoyed at the return of their beloved child, but this one hit home. This was her child, her daughter. She wanted to be part of the circle, but she couldn't be.
An arm came around her shoulder, and she looked up into Nathan's warm, compassionate gaze. He was probably the only one who knew exactly how she was feeling.
"She's going to be okay," she told him. "Stix didn't hurt her."
"I'm glad." He paused. "Are you really not going to tell her you're her mother?"
"How can I? She thought she lost her family, and now she has them back. Look how happy she is—how happy they are."
"She has a right to know who her mother is."
"When she's ready to know, that's when they'll tell her."
"You're letting them call the shots?"
"She's their daughter." As she said the words, she realized how true they were. "I gave birth to her, but they've raised her and loved her for the past ten years. Who's to say they don't have more right to her than I do?"
"You sound like a mother, Bree."
"I want to make the choice that's right for her and not the choice that's right for me."
"Maybe one day it could be right for both of you."
"One day," she echoed, turning her gaze back to the Jansens.
Lindsay helped Hayley onto the bed, so she could hug her father. Then she turned and looked at Bree, enormous gratitude in her eyes, as she mouthed the words, "Thank you."
She nodded, her eyes blurring with tears, watching as Lindsay wrapped her arms around both her daughter and her husband. She knew she should step outside, but it was so difficult to leave knowing that she might never see Hayley again.
Finally, she forced herself to move. They stepped into the hallway, and she shut the door to Mark's room, wanting to give the family a few minutes of privacy.
The corridor was already filling with police and agents, and the media would be swarming in front of the hospital. Thankfully, this story had a happy ending.
Tracy moved over to join them. "We have a lot of dead bodies and a lot of questions," she said. "We're going to need you both to come into the office."
"Nathan needs to see a doctor," she said quickly.
"I'm fine, Bree," he said.
"You're not fine. You could have a broken rib or a concussion."
"I've arranged for Mr. Bishop to be seen in the ER," Tracy replied, motioning a nurse forward. "Nurse Collins will escort you down there. When you're done, an agent will bring you to the office."
"I really don't need a doctor," Nathan complained.
She gave him a smile. "Just get yourself checked out."
"All right. But I am fine."
"I hope so."
As Nathan left, Tracy gave her an assessing look. "Is something going on with you two? I thought you were just childhood friends."
"It goes deeper than that," she admitted. "Nathan and I have been through a lot together, not just this week, but at other times in our lives."
"He knew your deep, dark secret."
"One of a very small number of people. He's the one who helped me get out of Chicago."
"He seems like a good man."
"The best. I wouldn't have made it through this without him."
"Maybe you'll want to transfer to Chicago."
"I'm sure your team would love that."
Tracy smiled. "I must admit I didn't want you here."
"Really. I'm surprised to hear you say that," she said dryly.
"I admit that I can get a little territorial. And we have a past. When you showed up, I knew what would happen. You would become the center of everything, and that's exactly the way it went down."
"That wasn't what I was expecting. I really thought I would just be consulting on a case."
"I never thought that. You're too independent, too damned smart, and too good at your job to just sit on the sidelines."
"Wait—you're complimenting me?"
Tracy shrugged. "I'm just stating the facts. I don't like the drama that follows you around. And I still think you act on emotion far too often, but you're also very intuitive and good at reading situations."
"Thank you. You're a good agent, too. We might approach things
differently, but we usually end up at the same place. I wish you didn't see us as competitors."
"I'm starting to realize that's a weakness of mine."
She was surprised at Tracy's words. "We can both be good agents."
"Yes. I suppose we can."
"That is if I keep my job after all this."
"I suspect you'll find a way," she said with a knowing gleam in her eyes. "So, tell me what went down at the school. Who was behind all of this?"
"Stan Tix."
"The deceased individual we found in the river?"
"Yes. We called him Stix because he was so tall. He was a red-hot basketball player in college and was going to go pro, but instead he went to prison for a violent assault that he claims my ex-boyfriend Johnny committed. Stix also blamed me for his prison sentence, because I was Johnny's alibi."
"Did you lie for your boyfriend?"
"I didn't think I did. I was modeling in a fashion show that night. I saw Johnny before I went backstage and then after the show, about two hours later. I told the police I was sure he'd been at the show the whole night. But according to Stix, Johnny and Calvin Baker were at Howard School beating up a rival drug dealer while I was walking the runway. Stix said he tried to stop it, and that's why his DNA and fingerprints were found at the scene. He went to prison for ten years. During that time, he plotted ways to get back at us."
"But why was he working with Baker, if Baker was part of it?"
"He said he was using him. And when he was done, he shot him."
"That's cold."
"He was clearly out of his mind with plans of revenge." She paused. "I still don't know how Stix found out about the baby I gave up for adoption, or how he knew so much about my past. He said something about someone telling him, but he didn't give me a name." She thought about that for a second. "Maybe it was Charles Benedict."
"You said last night you had concerns about the detective, but that's still a big leap."
"Maybe not. Benedict worked for Johnny's father when I got pregnant. Maybe he figured out that I left Johnny because of that. I need to talk to him."
"I'm sure you'll get that chance. Did Hayley say anything to you on your way over here?"
"She told me that there was a woman taking care of her at a house. They didn't take her to Howard School until earlier today. Thankfully, she wasn't hurt."
"She's lucky. She seems quite attached to you. Did you tell her who you really are?"
"No, and I'm not going to. The Jansens are her parents, and I'm going to let them decide if and when they want to share that information."
"That decision must be killing you."
"It's rough, but I always wanted her to be safe and happy, and now she truly can be. There's no threat left to her. The Jansens are great parents. They love Hayley, and she loves them." She gave a helpless shrug. "That's why I gave her up—so she could have that kind of family. I'm not going to take it away now." She cleared her throat. "Anyway, we can go over all this."
"Oh, we definitely will," Tracy promised.
"I did want to ask you if you've heard what's going on in New York. Dan told me earlier that the real White Rose Kidnapper struck again."
"Yes. But we actually got good news from your team an hour ago. They caught the kidnapper and saved the child."
"Oh, my God, that's amazing. How did they do it so fast?"
"The kidnapper was in a rush this time, angry that someone was impersonating him here in Chicago. He made mistakes he hadn't made before, and your team was able to track him down."
She could hardly believe the man they'd been tracking for three months had been found so quickly. "Who is he?"
"He's a forty-two-year-old delivery driver for a flower shop in Williamsburg, New York. His mother left him with his abusive father when he was thirteen. But she took his eleven-year-old sister with her. Apparently, he hated his mother for leaving him behind and hated his sister for having the life he wanted. Those emotions formed the foundation of his desire to target girls of that age. He wanted to be famous. He wanted people to know him, to be afraid of him. He quite liked the name the media had given him, and he didn't like news of a copycat."
"So, this case actually helped solve the other one. I'm glad some good came out of it."
"We should get down to the office."
She had a feeling she was headed for a very long night. But it didn't matter. She'd tell them whatever they wanted to know. There were no more secrets to keep.
* * *
Nathan opened his apartment door for Bree a little after nine p.m. After four hours of questioning, both individually and together, they'd finally been allowed to leave.
They'd taken a cab to his apartment after leaving the FBI office. His truck was still at the hospital, but he'd get that tomorrow. Right now, he just wanted to hold Bree, and as soon as he closed the apartment door, that's exactly what he did.
She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder. Her silky hair brushed his chin, and he held her tight, grateful that Hayley was safe and that they were both still alive. The day could have ended so much differently.
"It feels like a decade has passed since we had breakfast here together," she told him, lifting her head.
He smiled. "I think we still have some Chinese food from last night, if you're hungry."
"Tracy got me a salad earlier. But if you're hungry—"
"No, the agent interviewing me also got me some food."
"I'm glad. That was a hellishly long session."
"There was a lot to explain. Speaking of explaining…I heard some of what Stix was saying to you on the stage, but not everything. I know he was out for revenge, but there's a part of this whole thing that just doesn't really make sense."
"Which part?"
Seeing the new tension in her expression, he was sorry he'd brought it up. "Never mind. It doesn't matter."
"You're talking about the way Stix orchestrated my trip through time—Emma coming up to me on the train, the flyer for the shelter, the photo for the fashion show. Although, the photo makes more sense now, because that was the night Stix was charged for attempted murder, and I gave Johnny an alibi."
"But all of that—the threatening calls from the kidnapper with the altered voice—was that Stix? Or was it Calvin?" Nathan asked.
"I don't know."
"And why all the attention on you? Why wasn't Stix gaslighting Johnny?"
"I wish I could have asked him all that. I still don't know who told him I had a kid. He mentioned some mysterious friend. And how did he find Hayley? I'm hoping we'll get more information as we investigate his life since he got out of prison. There's a woman somewhere who took care of Hayley. Maybe she'll know something."
"I hope so, but it's over, and that's what is important. Stix was obviously sick in the head—kidnapping a little girl, hiding her away, pretending to impersonate some other serial kidnapper, staging that whole scene at the school. You can't make logic out of crazy."
"No, but I wish I could." She moved her hands from around his back and cupped his face. "Your beautiful face is so bruised. It almost hurts me to look at you. I know you're in pain."
"Hey, the other guys I fought are dead, so I'm doing okay. I'm just sorry Stix ever got up to the roof. The man was strong. He threw me over the stage. Want to tell me how you pushed him over the edge?"
"I waited until he was standing right by one of those tall heating ducts. I ran forward, grabbed the duct, kicked up my legs in my best martial arts move and connected with his chest. I knew I needed to hang on to something, or I'd go into the river with him. He tried to grab my foot, but I kicked him again, and down he went, flailing his arms like a desperate bird."
He shook his head in amazement. "And to think I ever worried that you couldn't take care of yourself."
"You did take care of me today, Nathan. You came after me when Johnny's men grabbed me and took me to the shop. You jumped down from the beam over the stage like some superhe
ro and tackled a man with a gun, giving me a chance to escape."
"Johnny put himself in front of a bullet for you," he couldn't help saying, even though the last thing he'd ever imagined himself doing was praising Johnny.
"I was shocked he did that. I guess his instinct to protect his daughter was stronger than his instinct to protect himself."
"Or it was his instinct to protect you."
She shrugged. "We'll never know."
"I heard his last words, Bree."
Her eyes widened. "What did he say?"
"He said to tell you that he finally did one good thing. He hoped it was enough."
Moisture filled her eyes, and he didn't know how he felt about her sadness for a man who had been his rival, his enemy—a man who had almost killed him once. But he couldn't look away. He couldn't ignore her feelings, whatever they were.
She blinked back the tears. "I'm not crying because I'm sad that he's dead."
"You're not? It kind of looks like you are."
"I'm sad because I wish he could have found that goodness in himself a long time ago. What a wasted life."
"You always saw the good in him."
"No, I didn't; I just wanted to see it. It was never really there. It was only in my head."
"Well, today it was there."
"I'm grateful he saved me, and he saved Hayley. But I'm not going to mourn him. He lived a life in a violent world, and he contributed to that violence. He hurt a lot of people, including you, most of all you," she said, running her hand down his cheek. "I have put you through so much, Nathan. I don't know why you're still with me."
He smiled as he rested his hands on her waist and drew her close. "You know why. I love you, Bree. I've been in love with you since I was thirteen years old. I think it happened the first time I saw you. You've always been the one for me, even when you weren't. I know it wasn't the same for you. I know you've loved other people."
"I'm sure you have, too, Nathan."
"I've cared about the women I've been with, but honestly Bree when you showed back up in my life, you made a mockery of all those feelings. I was just kidding myself thinking I felt anything close to what I felt for you with any of the women in my life."
Reckless Whisper KO PL B Page 23
