John walked over to the bedroom and peeked inside. His shoulders relaxed.
“See,” I said, walking over to him. I looked over his shoulder and smiled at my sleeping son. “And you don’t have to worry about him going anywhere. I gave Jake something to help him sleep.”
“Good idea.” John closed the door and turned to me. “Speaking of ideas, I think it’s time.”
I frowned. “I thought we were waiting until after we were paid?”
“There’s no reason to. It will be less for us to clean up later.”
Letting out a ragged sigh, I move out of his way. “I suppose you’re right.”
“You want one last kiss?” he asked with a smirk.
I looked at Pete, who was staring at us curiously. He had no idea what John meant. The guy wasn’t much brighter than his brother. I blamed it on the many times he’d been hit in the head with a baseball.
“No. What’s the point?” I replied.
John pulled out his gun and aimed it at Pete.
“What are you doing?” he asked, looking stunned.
Without answering John shot him in the chest and he crumbled to the floor.
“Peter!” cried Dan, his eyes filling with tears. He rushed over to his brother. “You killed him!”
“Don’t fret. You’ll be joining him soon enough,” said John, before shooting him as well.
I let out a sigh. As much as I’d been looking forward to their deaths, it wasn’t as satisfying as I thought it would be.
“Check to make sure they’re both dead,” said John.
I walked over to where Pete was lying and nudged him with my shoe.
Nothing.
I did the same with Dan. He was gone.
“They’re both dead,” I told him.
“Good. Now, didn’t you say there was an old well nearby?” he asked.
“Yes.” The house we were in belonged to Pete and Dan’s aunt, who’d died three months before. “It’s less than a mile from here, near an abandoned farmhouse.”
“Where about?” he asked.
I told him how to get there.
“Thank you. You’ve been very helpful.” He turned the gun toward me.
“What are you doing?” I cried, staring at him in horror.
He smirked. “No witnesses. Remember?”
“I’m not a witness, John. I’m the one who set this thing up. Please,” I begged. “Don’t shoot me.”
“Actually. I was the one who set it up,” he corrected.
“But, you needed me.”
“Yes, you’re right. We did. But now… we don’t.”
“But… but Jake needs me. You can’t do this,” I said, pleading with him. “He needs his mother.”
“From where I’m standing, you’re the last thing he needs,” he replied and then pulled the trigger.
Realizing that I’d made a very bad mistake, I screamed in anger and then everything went black.
26
Mia
After John stopped the car and got out, it seemed like it took forever for him to return. Even worse, it was hot and I could barely breathe. When he finally made it back to the vehicle, I felt like I was going to die from heat stroke.
John opened the trunk.
Shielding my eyes from the sun, I glared up at him.
“Sorry, Mia,” he said, holding out a gloved hand. “I had to do this. It really was for your safety.”
“Your idea and my idea of safety are two very different things,” I muttered, climbing out.
He stared at me with concern. “I’m sorry. You’re sweating. I didn’t even think about how hot it would get in there. Are you okay?”
“I’m better now that I’m out. Where are we?” I asked, staring at the old, white house behind him. It was a single level home, surrounded by trees, and obviously very rundown. Parked next to us were two vehicles, one a white Mercedes and the other, a black pickup truck.
“This place belongs to a friend of a friend,” he replied.
“Oh. I thought you wanted to keep me a secret?” I asked, wondering why he’d let me out of the trunk.
“There’s no reason to now.”
I frowned. “What does that mean?”
“You’ll see soon enough,” he said, walking over to the Mercedes. He popped the trunk open and started moving things around. Pulling out a pair of black, leather gloves, he held them up. “Perfect. I guess she wasn’t as dumb as I thought she was.”
“Whose car is that?” I asked, wondering who he was talking about.
“Marissa Stryker’s,” he replied.
My eyes widened in surprise. “She’s actually here?”
“Yes and no.” He walked over to me and held out the gloves. “Here, put these on. We don’t need your fingerprints on anything.”
I did what he told me to do.
“So, where is she?” I asked, following him up the stoop.
“Inside,” he said, opening up the front door.
I stopped. “But, I thought you didn’t want anyone to see me?” I whispered.
He chuckled. “Relax. You have nothing to worry about, Mia.”
Chewing on my lower lip, I followed him into the house, ready to meet the monster who had made Damian’s life hell during and after their marriage. Not to mention how she’d used her own son to extort money. I hated her already.
“Watch your step. There might be blood on the carpeting,” said John.
“Oh, my God,” I gasped, seeing three shrouded bodies lying in the middle of the living room.
He walked over to them and looked at me. “Sorry. I should have warned you,” he said with a smile. “But I like catching people off guard. It’s much more fun that way.”
“Are one of these Marissa?” I asked, shaking. I couldn’t believe that we were standing over three dead people and he was grinning like a lunatic.
He tapped the smallest body with his foot. “That’s her. Do you want to see what she looks like?”
“No,” I said, staring at him in horror.
“I just meant… I know you were probably wondering what his ex looked like. She used to be quite the looker.”
“I don’t care what she looks like,” I replied, the bile rising in the back of my throat. The man was insane. I couldn’t believe that I’d once shared a home with someone like him.
“It’s probably for the best. If I were to unwrap her, she’d bleed all over. The less blood now, the less I’ll have to clean up later.”
I looked back down at the bodies. It was obvious that the other two were taller than Marissa and not child-sized. “Where is Jake?” I asked, frightened of his answer.
Our eyes met. “In the first bedroom,” he said, nodding toward the hallway.
My chest tightened as I walked around him and headed toward the bedroom. I told myself that as evil as John was, he still needed Jake alive. At least until he was paid.
“Mia,” said John.
I stopped outside of the bedroom doorway, afraid of what I might find inside. “What?”
“I wouldn’t go in there,” murmured John, coming up behind me.
I could feel blood rushing to my head as I grabbed the door handle. “Why?”
He took my hand away from the knob. “Because you’ll wake him and we don’t want the boy seeing what’s in the living room.”
I released my breath, an overwhelming sense of relief washing over me.
Jake was still alive.
Thank God.
“Come on. Let’s get rid of the bodies,” he whispered near my ear. “And then we’ll wake him and get out of here.”
I nodded.
27
Damian
We tied up the last gunman and covered the other bodies.
“I think it’s time we got the authorities involved,” said Reed.
I could only agree, especially now that I knew Marissa was involved. I had to believe that Jake’s life wasn’t in immediate danger, but the sooner we found him, the better. And then
there was John, who pissed me off even more than my ex. As much as I hated her, she was too flighty and stupid to be anything but a pawn in this operation. I blamed John for this, along with Mia’s death. We’d need the police to help locate him.
“Do you think it’s possible that John picked up something on one of the wire-taps?” asked Marshall. “I mean, he could be aware of the change of events on the boat.”
“He hasn’t called my phone or any of the others,” I replied, hoping to hell that he didn’t know what was going on. We had all of the gunmen’s satellite phones in our possession and had been monitoring them for calls. So far, there’d been nothing.
“Maybe they’ve bailed?” he suggested.
“I guess it’s possible. Especially if they know that we are aware of Marissa being involved,” I replied.
“We’d better act fast before she does something crazy, like leave the country with Jake,” said Marshall.
“I’m on it,” I said.
I called the Coast Guard and explained to them what was happening. They told to me to stay put.
“They’re on their way,” I said, hanging up.
“You should try contacting Marissa,” suggested Marshall. “Don’t accuse her of anything, but try and feel her out. Maybe she’ll give something away.”
I’d been thinking the same thing. I pulled out my phone again and dialed her number. It went straight to voicemail.
“Hey, Marissa,” I said, trying to sound as pleasant as possible. “It’s me. Call me when you get a chance.”
“No answer, huh?” said Marshall.
I put my phone away. “Nope. It went straight to voicemail.”
“Maybe you should call Pete?” he suggested.
I scowled. They were living together. Something told me that he was part of the operation. Although, I couldn’t imagine him risking his baseball career.
“He won’t tell me anything. We’ll let the FBI deal with him and Marissa,” I replied.
“If they can find them,” said Marshall.
“There’s that,” I said.
“Let me call Kendall and let her know what’s happening. I’m sure that the police are going to want to talk to her as well,” said Marshall.
“Let her know we’ll be seeing her soon and that I’m thinking about her,” I replied.
“Will do,” said Marshall.
I ran my fingers through my hair. I felt frustrated and so damn useless at the moment. Time was ticking by and I had no idea what was happening with my son. I wanted to call John and threaten him. To tell him that most of his men were dead and he wasn’t going to get away with this. That he’d better give me back my son. But, I couldn’t afford to fuck this up because of emotions. If we were going to find Jake, we’d have a better chance of doing it by surprising them. All I could do was wait for the authorities to get involved and hope they didn’t fuck this up.
28
Mia
John carried Marissa’s body to the trunk of her car.
“I need you to help me with the others,” he said, setting her inside. “They’re a lot heavier.”
“Can’t we just leave them here?” I asked, horrified. The thought of touching, let alone carrying, a dead body was mortifying.
“No. It’s evidence and I need to get rid of it.”
“What are you going to do with them?” I asked.
“There’s an old abandoned well, not far from here. I’m going to drop them inside.”
I pictured the scene in my head and it made me shudder. It was as if I was living in a real-life horror movie. I half expected a man, wearing some kind of ski-mask, to come running up with a chainsaw blaring.
“Mia? Wake up.”
I blinked.
“I know this is a lot to absorb, but the sooner we get this done, the better.”
I followed him back into the house, my eyes scanning frantically for some kind of a weapon.
“What are you looking for?” John asked, noticing that I was a little preoccupied.
“There’s a lot of evidence sitting out. Like, the booze bottle and glasses,” I said, thinking of something quickly.
“I know. Before we leave, we’ll clean up a bit,” he replied.
“Okay,” I said, noticing something out of the corner of my eye. It was Jake and he was peeking through the bedroom doorway.
John kneeled down next to the second body. “You take that end and I’ll take the other.”
“Right,” I said, wishing that I could say something to the boy. I couldn’t imagine what he was thinking.
The body was heavy and it was a bit awkward carrying it. But, we got it outside and into the trunk. As John was rearranging the two corpses to make way for the third, I turned around and couldn’t believe my eyes. Jake had somehow gotten out of the house and was running toward the trees.
“There,” said John, brushing his hands clean. “That should work.”
Knowing that he was about to turn around and see Jake, I tried distracting him, by pointing to something in the trunk. It appeared to be an earring. “What’s that?”
“Shoot. Her earring must have fallen off.” He picked it up. “I’ll take care of it.” As he was slipping it into his pocket, I heard a cry from Jake’s direction. We both looked and my heart stopped when I noticed that the little boy had fallen.
29
Jake
Although I was groggy, I’d heard my mother arguing with the man, when I’d been lying in the bed. When she screamed, I’d bolted upright, frightened that she was hurt. I quickly rushed over to the door and cracked it open. I saw my mother on the ground and a man standing over her.
I started to cry and quickly closed the door, so he wouldn’t hear me. I heard his footsteps and ran back over to the bed. I crawled back under the covers and pretended to be asleep when he opened the door to check on me. I could feel his eyes on me and held my breath until he closed the door and walked away.
I have to get out of here, I thought, my heart racing in my chest. He was going to kill me, too.
I had recognized the person’s voice and knew it was the man from yesterday. The one who’d been wearing the scariest of all masks and the one who’d taken me from my house. They’d called him John. He was a very bad man and I knew that with my mother gone, there was nobody else to protect me.
After several seconds, I heard the front door open and close and wondered if he was going away. If so, it probably wasn’t good news for me. Especially knowing that my mother was gone. I tried not to think about her, lying dead on the floor, but it was so hard.
The front door opened back up and I could hear voices. I couldn’t tell what they were saying, but after a few seconds, the bedroom door opened and I could hear whispers. After a few seconds, they left and I sighed in relief. Then I heard the front door open.
I pushed the covers away and got out of bed. I walked over to the bedroom door and peeked out. I saw a woman holding the front door open for John, who was carrying someone wrapped in a sheet. Realizing that it had to be my mother, my eyes filled with tears again.
“Can’t we just leave them here?” the woman said, shortly afterward.
John stepped back inside and I closed the door. I heard them talking and peeked through the doorway again. The woman was looking my way and I could tell that she saw me.
Scared, I shut the door and ran to hide under the covers, waiting for one of them to come inside and yell at me for spying on them. Nobody did, which surprised me. Instead, I heard them talking and then the front door open and close again. I could tell that they’d left the house once more, so I walked quickly to the doorway and opened it. This time, when I checked the living room, I saw that there was another body lying on the floor and wrapped in a sheet. Thinking that if I didn’t get out of there, I’d be next, I raced out of the bedroom and into the bathroom. I closed the door, quickly removed the window screen, and climbed out of the window again. I started running toward the woods and looked back once, to see if they’d n
oticed me. It was a bad idea because I tripped over something in the grass and twisted my ankle. It hurt so much that I cried out in pain as I went down.
30
Mia
Swearing, John ran toward Jake. I quickly followed. When we reached him, the boy was sitting on the ground, crying and holding his ankle.
“Are you okay?” I asked, crouching down next to him.
“My ankle,” he sobbed. “It hurts.” His face was covered with tears and it was obvious, from his expression, that he didn’t trust me.
“You shouldn’t have been running away,” said John, angrily. “Serves you right.”
I gave him a dirty look and then turned back to Jake. “Here, let me look at it,” I said gently, reaching my hand toward his leg.
He immediately backed away from me.
“Thankless brat,” said John, glaring at him. “She’s trying to help you.”
“I want my dad!” he cried.
Jake looked so scared and frightened. I knew how much he’d been through in the past few hours and my heart went out to him.
“It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you,” I said in a soothing voice.
“Don’t touch me!” His eyes stared at me with accusation. I knew he believed I was on the kidnapper’s side. I wanted to tell him that I was on his and would do whatever I could to help him escape.
“Jake, I know you’re scared. You have no reason to be frightened of me. I won’t hurt you. I promise,” I said, pleading with my eyes.
He hung his head down low but didn’t say anything.
“I’ll try to be as gentle as possible,” I said, touching his foot and ankle carefully.
“What do you think? Anything broken?” asked John.
The boy was shoeless and not wearing socks. I wasn’t a doctor, but it didn’t feel like anything was broken. It was probably just a sprain. “I don’t know. We should get him to a doctor. Just in case.”
Billionaire at Sea 2 Page 10
