by Joanna Wayne
“I understand, but the pressure is on me and the department. Give it until morning. If Hadley hasn’t heard from the kidnapper by then, get an arrest warrant and book her. In the meantime, I’ll give you all the manpower you need to do everything possible to find those girls. Dead or alive, we need answers. For everyone’s sake.”
Lane couldn’t argue with that.
* * *
SOMEHOW ADAM MADE it back to the ranch and spent the rest of the afternoon playing roulette ice packs. Hadley had practically gone into shock when he’d stepped through the door covered in bruises and still not standing completely straight.
She wanted to call for an ambulance, but he’d vetoed that. All he wanted was a clear path to the sofa.
After he’d downed a couple of pain pills, he explained to Hadley, R.J. and Fred how his outing had gone from bad to worse. Since then, they’d all pretty much left him to suffer in peace except for Hadley’s checking on a regular basis to make sure he didn’t need anything.
R.J. had presented him with steak cut from Dry Gulch beef for his left eye which was swollen almost closed earlier in the afternoon. He’d grilled four more steaks for their dinner. Hadley had baked potatoes and made a salad.
Surprisingly, Adam had eaten his fair share. His muscles were on fire, but he’d hurt worse. Much worse. Compared to the night of the ambush, today’s beating seemed like a pillow fight.
He was pretty sure there were no internal injuries and no concussion. All in all, he wasn’t in too bad a shape for a man who’d been treated like a soccer ball by men who could have played for any team in the North American League.
He’d retired to the family room after dinner, this time settling in the recliner. Fred joined him.
“Do you think we’re just wasting your time here?” Adam asked.
“Absolutely not. The kidnapper’s not going to turn his back on five million dollars. But since we haven’t heard from him yet, he may need some encouragement in taking this to the next step.”
“What kind of encouragement?”
“The knowledge that the police are closing in and about to make an arrest.”
“Have you heard something I haven’t?”
“No. But that doesn’t mean that the information can’t be leaked to the local media.”
“I don’t think they’d print something from an unnamed and unproven source.”
“They’d print it if the information came from the lead detective in the case.”
“And exactly how would we get Lane to agree to that?”
“You can always call and ask. It’s worked for me before. Just tell him what we’re trying to do. After all, it’s the lives of two little girls that are on the line.”
“Let’s run it by Hadley first.”
“Run what by me?” she said from the doorway.
Adam and Fred explained the proposal.
“Call him now,” Hadley said. “If he agrees and he acts on it quickly, it might make the ten o’clock news.”
Adam made the call. To all of their surprise, the detective agreed without an argument.
R.J. joined them in the family room and they talked for a while, mainly about Quinton. They were all in consensus that he was guilty as sin, but no one had a clue why he was dragging it out so long.
Hadley finally called it a night though Adam doubted she’d get much sleep. He followed soon after.
Once in his bedroom, he stripped and got under the hottest shower he could stand. He let the water sluice over his bruised, aching body.
His mind slipped back into the past, to three and a half years ago when life as he’d known it came to a painful end. He couldn’t stand in a shower that night or for many nights to follow. He hadn’t been able to even move his legs.
The doctors had said he might never walk again.
And he didn’t need to relive that tonight. He stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around his waist and went back to the bedroom. He was bending over to get an undershirt from the chest when his bedroom door squeaked open.
He spun around, but one look at Hadley’s face told him it hadn’t been quick enough. She’d seen the scars and the burned, clotted welts of skin that deformed him.
The look of horror would give way to one of pity. And then she’d know, but she would never understand. The deeper scars were more than skin-deep.
“Oh, Adam. Your back. What happened?”
“I was in a fight.”
“No, not the bruises from today. The scars. The burns.”
He yanked the shirt over his head. “Yeah, hideous, aren’t they?”
“They’re ghastly. The injuries must have been near fatal.”
“They weren’t that bad.” Unless you considered misery laced with agony a bad experience.
“What happened?” she asked again.
“I took a little heat in Afghanistan, the same way a lot of guys have. That’s war.” His attempt at nonchalance sounded forced even to him.
“When?”
“Does it matter? The worst is over now.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“And saddle you with a husband who might have been an invalid forever? You were young. You had everything going for you. You wanted a big family.”
She closed her eyes. Tears slid from the corners and rolled down her cheeks. His heart felt as if it were breaking all over again.
Hadley stepped into the room and closed and locked the door behind her. “There was never another woman, was there?”
Chapter Thirteen
Adam didn’t answer her question, but Hadley knew the answer. He’d invented the other woman to protect her from the truth. Only she’d never wanted to be protected. She’d only wanted to be loved the way she loved him.
A surge of mixed emotions tore her apart. “How could you?” she asked. “You told me you loved me. We were going to be married. How could you go through that and not tell me? How could you shut me out?”
“Hadley, this isn’t the time for this conversation.”
“No, the time was years ago. You left me alone and pregnant and thinking you wanted no part of me in your life. You shut me out when I needed you most. You shut me out when you needed me the most.”
“I did what I had to do.”
“Really? Just tell me how you came to the decision that our love was dispensable.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Then tell me what it was like for you, Adam Dalton, because it was pure hell for me. And I didn’t get the chance to do any of the deciding.”
“You don’t want to hear this, Hadley. Not now. Now with all you’re facing.”
“Stop it, Adam. Stop deciding what I do and don’t need to know. Just tell me what happened to you in Afghanistan. I deserve at least that much from you.”
He turned away as if he couldn’t bear to face her with the truth. “A contingent of eight marines from my platoon were on patrol when we ran into an ambush. I managed to escape and take cover. Not everyone did.
“I went back for them. I got one out without any problem. But when I went back for Charlie Pitt, an enemy shooter had moved in closer and I took three bullets to the back. One of them dangerously close to the spine.”
“Charlie. Your best friend. You talked of him when we met. Were you able to save him?”
“I managed to pull him to safety, but he died minutes later from his wounds.”
Always a hero and never even thinking about himself. It was one of the things she loved about him. And what she’d feared the most. In the end, it was the quality that had torn them apart.
“How did you get burned?”
“An explosive came too close while we were trying to retreat. My clothes caught on fire. One of the guys rescued me, but I don’t really remember that part or anything that followed. I didn’t learn until days later that only four of us survived the attack.”
She’d nursed her anger toward him for years. Now all she could feel was his pain, his anguish. He was still facing
away from her, so she walked over and put her arms around his waist, letting her face gingerly rest against this scarred back.
“And that’s when you wrote me and told me you were involved with someone new?”
“Not immediately. I was in a coma for a few days. When I came to, I’d been moved to a hospital in Germany and was living on painkillers. I’d had one surgery but the doctors told me there were more to come and that the paralysis in my lower body might be permanent.”
So he’d written her and told her there was another woman. He hadn’t trusted her with the truth. She wondered if she’d had done the same if the circumstances had been reversed.
They’d had a whirlwind affair. Fireworks and excitement and dancing until dawn. Making love until her thighs had ached.
But they hadn’t really known each other long enough to build unfailing trust. He hadn’t stood by her the way he had since the girls had gone missing. She hadn’t known the Adam she knew now. She’d never loved him the way she loved him now.
And she did love him, so very, very much.
Finally, he turned to face her and pulled her into his arms. He held her so close she could feel his heart beating aginst her own chest. When she tilted her chin and looked him in the eye, she could see love there, as well.
He kissed her, and she melted into the need and emotion. Part of her ached to stay in his arms and find comfort tonight. But nothing about that felt right. She pulled away.
“I’m sorry,” Adam said.
“For the kiss?”
“For everything. Mostly for not being here for you or for the girls.”
“You’re here now, Adam. We’ll work this out once they’re safe. But right now, I can’t deal with anything else.”
“I understand. And I’ll be here, as long as you let me stay.”
Somehow she knew that this time he meant it. And she’d be here for him. True love didn’t have an expiration date.
* * *
MARY NELL HAD JUST bathed the twins and put them in the pajamas she’d washed by hand and dried on the back of the headboard. They were getting used to her now and they talked more and more. They loved the puppets she’d made them out of the worn washcloths.
They were on their pallets now, eating the chicken nuggets and fries Sam had brought them.
“Let’s take the girls for a ride, Sam. They’re as tired of this motel room as I am.”
“You’ll get plenty of chance to ride once we get to Mexico City.”
“I thought you said last night that we were going to Rio.”
“The plans changed.”
“How many more times are they going to change before we get the money?”
“None. This is a done deal.”
“Does that mean you’re calling Hadley tonight?”
“I’m thinking we’ll call right now.”
She rushed over and threw her arms around him.
“Watch it, woman. You’ll spill my beer.”
But she could tell he was as excited as she was.
He took out his phone. “Where is that voice disguiser?”
“I put it in the drawer next to the bed.” She reached over and got it for him.
Someone tapped on the door. Mary Nell froze, the excitement dissolving so fast she grew sick.
“Take the girls into the bathroom and keep them quiet,” Sam whispered. “Don’t come out or make a sound no matter what you hear.”
She forced her body to move, whispering to the girls that they were playing the quiet game and must be as quiet as sleeping mice.
Lacy giggled but stopped when Mary Nell shushed her with a finger over her lips. But the loudest sound in the room was the pounding of Mary Nell’s heart.
She heard the door open and then an unfamiliar voice call Sam by name. Mary Nell put her ear to the bathroom door and listened closely so that she’d hear every word.
“Quinton. What are you doing here?”
“Just stopping by to see my favorite nephew. Looks like you’re not alone, though. Two little pallets on the floor. A doll. A woman’s handbag. I never took you for a family man.”
“How’d you find me?”
“Finding you was easy. It was figuring out that you kidnapped Hadley O’Sullivan’s daughters that took some time.”
Mary Nell held her breath. If Sam’s uncle Quinton knew, the police were probably not far behind. In a way she’d be glad this was over. But she didn’t want to go to jail.
“You’re not going to turn me in, are you?”
“Turn you in?” Quinton’s laugh seemed loud even behind the closed bathroom door. “I’m here to help.”
“I don’t need any help. I’ve got it all worked out. I was just about to call Hadley.”
“Your plans just changed. I’m taking over. I expect a 70/30 split. The seventy goes to me, of course.”
“I did all the work and took all the risks.”
“Doesn’t look to me like any money has crossed hands and you’re still hanging out waiting for the police to find you. Looks like you need a lot of help to me. How much ransom did you ask for?”
“Five million.”
Quinton emitted a low whistle. “Boy, I like the way you think.”
“I’m not a boy. I’m almost nineteen. I want fifty percent. That’s more than fair and you know it.”
“Spunky. I like it. Where are the girls now?”
“In the bathroom. Mary Nell, you come out now. It’s only my uncle. Everything’s going to be all right.”
Sam opened the bathroom door.
“Want my cookie,” Lacy said.
“Me, too. Me, too.” Lila ran across the room to get her doll from the pallet.
“Shut those kids up,” Quinton ordered. “This isn’t a friggin’ preschool.”
Lila started to cry. Mary Nell got the cookies, sat down on one of the pallets and pulled them both onto her lap. She had a good mind to just take them and go sit in Sam’s old Buick, but she wanted to hear the rest of what Quinton had to say.
“Here’s the new deal,” Quinton said. “First thing to remember is that the girls are dispensable. It’s the money that’s essential.”
Dispensable. The word itself was horrifying.
“I’ll talk to Hadley and make all the arrangements. We’ll promise her both girls, but when we get there, we change the terms. We exchange one of the twins for the money. The other flies with us to Mexico. If we get there safely with no cops on our tail, we release the second twin in Mexico and they can come and pick her up.”
Sam nodded.
Mary Nell lost control. “That’s not the way we planned this, Sam. I would have never agreed to taking one of the girls out of the country.”
Quinton glared at her. “I hate to tell you this, sweetheart, but you’re dispensable, too.”
She was so mad she was shaking. She’d never bargained for this. And she had news for Quinton.
He was dispensable, too.
* * *
HADLEY HAD JUST fallen into a restless sleep when she was wakened by a ringing phone. She reached for her cell phone and then realized her mistake. The ringing phone was the one the kidnapper had provided.
Her pulse raced and her hands shook. She took a deep breath and picked up the phone, knowing Fred would take over after she said hello.
She pushed her hello through a lump in her throat.
“Good evening, Ms. O’Sullivan. I’m glad I caught you at home. For a second there I was beginning to wonder.”
She held her breath. Fred’s voice came on the line. “We were starting to wonder about you, too. But glad you called. The five million dollars is ready and waiting.”
“I deal with Hadley and no one else.”
“If you want the money, you deal with me, but I’m just here to simplify things. I’m not a cop or in any other kind of law enforcement. Hadley wants her daughters back. You want five million dollars. Think of me as a facilitator who only wants to protect the girls.”
His w
ords were met with silence. Panic squeezed hard on Hadley’s chest until the kidnapper started talking again in the same weird voice that he’d used before.
“I’ll call tomorrow night at exactly 9:00 p.m. and tell you where to meet me. When I call, I expect you be at or near the Marshall exit on I-20 between Dallas and Shreveport. I’ll tell you where to go from there. But if I see any sign of a cop, Hadley will never see her girls again. Got that?”
“No cops,” Fred agreed. “You were clear on that point. Now I’ll share our demands. The exchange has to be in the open. No deserted houses or barns or anything where either one of us has the advantage over the other.”
“Go on.”
“The money in exchange for both girls. No tricks. Bring your friend. We know you have an accomplice. One of us will deliver the money. One of your team will deliver the girls to a point halfway between our two vehicles. We’ll put the money out in the open. You’ll walk the girls to it and then let them go. Then the money is yours for the taking.”
“We’ll check the bags for the money before the girls are released.”
“I’d expect you to. There is one more thing. Before we proceed, we need to know that both girls are alive.”
“I figured you would. Lacy, you and Lila come tell your mother that you’re ready to come home.”
Hadley heard their squeals as they raced to the phone. Her heart melted and the ache to hold them in her arms became physical pain.
“Come get me, Mommy.”
“Me, too, Mommy. I love you.”
Hadley could keep quiet no longer. “I love you, too, Lila. And I love you, Lacy. I’m coming to get you soon.”
And then the line went dead.
* * *
HADLEY WOKE AT six the following morning after a night of short periods of restless sleep accompanied by tormenting nightmares. The twins and her running toward each other but the distance between them constantly increasing. Hundreds of twenty-dollar bills flying away in the wind while the kidnapper drove away with the girls’ faces pressed to his car’s windows.
Adam on fire, flames shooting into the air while his flesh melted and dripped from his bones.
She threw her legs over the side of her bed and padded to the en suite bathroom. She glanced in the bathroom mirror, almost not recognizing the haunted eyes staring back at her. She looked and felt at least ten years older than she had four days ago.
