Whatever it was, they could do it while the girls rested.
Bethany got Megan to the bathroom then into bed where she promptly rolled over and closed her eyes. This whole day was an emotional rollercoaster. Even Bethany was wiped out and all she’d done was sit and watch TV.
“I’ll see about something to eat,” Bethany said once Faith vacated the bathroom.
“I don’t even care about food.” Faith crawled into the big, king sized bed.
“We still need to eat.” Bethany didn’t feel like it, but she knew better. “I’ll go figure that out.”
She turned toward the door and braced herself.
Deep down she was hurt that Kyle hadn’t kept that promise to keep them safe. There was nothing safe about having her life blasted all over the country, not when she was trying so hard to stay away from the family she’d cut out of her life. Kyle had promised to keep her safe from everything, but except from getting Megan back, everything was worse.
It wasn’t fair to be angry with him though. Not after his dad had just died. But she was scared and mad and hurt.
She took a deep breath and pushed the bedroom door open, ducked out and shut the door.
Shane carried a bag out through the back door into the darkness of night.
Kyle stood at the bar, looking at his phone. He glanced up at her that plastic smile of his rubbing her the wrong way. It was so damn fake. Didn’t everyone else see that?
“Are there food plans?” she asked. She’d have rather talked to one of the others, but he was there.
“I believe Merida has something being delivered, but that’s on my list to check.” This wasn’t Kyle she was talking to. It was a version of him. A mask. A face he put on. He’d shut her out.
“Fine.” She had faith in Merida. That woman seemed to know how to spin all the plates and drop nothing.
“Yup. She texted me the delivery confirmation.” He flashed her his phone screen.
“Good.” She turned toward the door before she said something she shouldn’t.
“Beth? Do you have a minute?” Kyle circled the bar.
“For?” Bethany paused halfway to the door and glanced over her shoulder.
“I just wanted to explain some things so maybe you’d better understand the rules we have to work within.” He braced his hands on the kitchen island.
“Like?” She couldn’t wait to hear this.
“We try very hard to play within the bounds of the law. In this case that means we have to cooperate with Roger as much as we can.” His shoulders lifted.
“And risk that crazy guy finding us? Risk Faith’s husband finding her again? Risk Megan’s family dragging her into their shit?” And that didn’t touch on Bethany’s problems.
“We never anticipated this happening. I’m sorry.”
“But you knew Roger might do this or you wouldn’t have tapped his phone. Which I’m pretty sure is illegal.” She crossed her arms over her chest. It was fine and dandy to do that one law breaking thing, but they couldn’t protect them?
“We have to at least appear we’re working with them, Beth. If we didn’t they’d come after us and take the three of you and put you God knows where. Yeah, Zain hacking Roger’s phone is illegal, but it was our best play to do what we had to and keep you safe.”
“That’s great for you. Way to keep the authorities happy while screwing us over. I trusted you, and now...” Tears prickled Bethany’s eyes.
Damn him.
She’d looked at Kyle and saw someone good. Someone she could trust. It was why she’d come to him in the first place. And now part of her regretted that.
Was this fear talking?
She couldn’t tell.
For all she knew, she could have a front-row seat on the crazy train blasting its way into the horizon.
“I—we—are going to keep you safe, Beth.” Kyle came around the island until he stood in front of her. “I know we had a hiccup with Roger, but we’ve made it clear to him that we’re not communicating with him about anything except details. He’s not going to know where we are now.”
“But it’s too late. Faith’s husband is going to know where we live. Anthony—my family—know where we live now. Megan’s parents know where we live. And if they know that, how long until they know where we work?” Bethany sucked down a deep breath.
What if Anthony showed up at work one day? She did a few hours in the main office every week taking care of paperwork. There were only ever a few of them there. If he showed up, he’d charm the receptionist. Then there was the two ladies who did scheduling. They always liked a pretty face, and Anthony did know how to sweet talk someone.
He’d have to work for all of five minutes before he knew everything about her and how to control her again.
“Beth?”
“Let go of me.” She pulled out of his arms and stepped around him.
She needed air.
She needed space.
Everything was closing in on her again and she couldn’t take it.
“Beth—wait.”
“Stay away from me,” she snapped.
It wasn’t Kyle specifically. She just needed to be alone. Her knees shook and tears leaked down her cheeks. She ducked out into the back yard under the shelter of trees and a moonless night. The cool, damp air soothed her fraying nerves. All that openness above and around her. She could get away from the pressure, from the demands.
Kyle couldn’t control everything. He’d followed the rules and did what he had to. That made sense, and yet it hurt. It hurt that after sharing with him a little of what she’d been through, she was now going to have to face everything she’d fought so hard to leave.
She bent over and braced her hands on her knees, closing her eyes.
This was panic. She hadn’t felt it in so long she’d almost forgot what it was like.
Deep breaths.
In and out.
Again.
Once more.
She repeated the breathing exercise she’d learned in her first therapy session. That was before she’d left Anthony and she’d used the breathing to keep herself calm.
The grass rustled.
Kyle coming to scold her for going outside, no doubt.
“I’ll come back inside.” She straightened and tipped her head up, looking at the canopy of leaves.
Kyle grunted, and before Bethany could turn something hit her in the back of the head. She pitched forward, going to her knees in the grass. A hand dug into her hair and something cold pressed against her cheek.
“Don’t scream. I’ll shoot whoever comes out of those doors first,” a man whispered.
A man who was not Kyle.
Her throat closed up.
Kyle was in the kitchen.
He’d be the first out, and he’d taken off his bullet-proof vest.
She couldn’t let anything happen to Kyle. Or the others.
“I-I’ll do whatever you want, just leave them alone,” she whispered.
KYLE PACED TO THE front of the house and through the formal dining room. They’d repurposed it as their surveillance room since this house was smaller and lacked an office to stick the equipment out of the way.
Isaac glanced up from the monitors and whistled.
“One guess who has you by the balls.” Isaac’s grin was positively gleeful.
“Fuck you,” Kyle muttered.
It was getting harder and harder to hold on to his calm. He couldn’t afford to fuck up. not now with so much up in the air.
“You both seemed a little testy. Trouble in paradise?” Isaac tapped away at the keyboard. “I’ve got the right side of the house on the monitor, Shane.”
“Do we have cameras up in the back yard?” Kyle knew Bethany needed space, but the idea of her out there with no one keeping an eye on her made his insides twist up.
“Not yet. We’re doing those last,” Isaac said.
“Shit.”
Kyle turned and paced the dining room.
&nbs
p; If he’d stayed in the kitchen, he’d have followed her, and then they’d have it out. He knew it. The signs of panic were written all over her. It did something to him. He wanted to fix this. Make her feel better. Protect her.
Mom used to get like this and they’d go for a bike ride to clear the air. Even if it was raining, they’d go find somewhere to explore, away from dad.
Kyle wanted to do that for Bethany, except he was the one she wanted to get away from.
“What’s got you bugging?” Isaac asked.
Kyle kept his mouth shut. He wasn’t giving Isaac any more ammunition tonight.
“Come on, TL, talk to me.” Isaac leaned forward at the table, his expression so earnest Kyle almost believed him.
It was a ploy.
Isaac would get him to talk then use whatever Kyle said to fashion a noose.
Sometimes Isaac was an asshole. Today was clearly one of those days.
“Girlfriend giving you fits?” Isaac got up and circled to the end of the table where the cords ran to outlets.
“Get Shane to go check on Bethany on the back yard.” Kyle peered out the door through to the sliding glass still standing open.
“Shane, need you to go check on Kyle’s lady love. You know, Kyle, if you want some tips I’m sure Shane can dish. He’s the one who went and got himself engaged and all.”
“Shut up, Isaac.” He closed his eyes. If he could just get a minute to find his balance.
“If she’s too much for you to handle, we could always call Ryan or Vito in as backup.”
It wasn’t Isaac’s words that had Kyle’s vision hazing red, it was that little snicker at the end.
Kyle clenched his fists and whirled around.
Somewhere between looking at the living room and turning he lost track of time and his limbs. The next thing Kyle knew he stared down at Isaac sitting on the floor, blood trickling out of his nose. Kyle’s fist throbbed.
He glanced at his knuckles, all angry and red.
“Shit.” Kyle held out his hand. “I shouldn’t—I’m sorry.”
Isaac grasped Kyle’s wrist and got to his feet.
“Damn. Think you’re wound a bit tight there?” Isaac shook his head.
“Kyle? Isaac?” Shane called from the back of the house.
“Don’t mind the noise,” Isaac called out.
Bethany.
Kyle turned and caught sight of Shane’s wide eyes.
“Bethany, she’s not out there,” Shane said.
Fuck.
Kyle pushed past the other man and strode to the master suite. He knocked once then opened the door, throwing a long square of light on the bed where two figures lay asleep.
“Beth?” he called out.
No answer.
He closed the doors, his hand starting to sweat.
“Get flashlights. Let’s check the block. Maybe she went for a walk or something,” he said.
“Yeah, she’s probably just outside,” Isaac said.
Kyle wanted to believe those words, but he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.
SUNDAY. UNKNOWN, SEATTLE, Washington.
Jay rolled the driver’s side window down and let the breeze wash over him. He loved the damp, Seattle air. Some people thought the city was gloomy and depressing. It smelled of promise and excitement to him. He leaned back into his seat and whistled that ditty Mom used to sing when he was a kid.
After so much going wrong, things were back on course.
He had Bethany.
The sweet, docile woman would be the easiest of the three to manage. He should have started with her in the beginning.
Now that he had one he could proceed. If he couldn’t tease the other three out of hiding, he’d take what he could get and shelve his plans for the night of glory until later. He had a list of candidates prepared. A year wouldn’t be that much time to wait.
Everything would be fine.
MONDAY. SECONDARY AEGIS Group Safe House, Seattle, Washington.
Kyle should be out there. If he walked the block again, maybe he’d see something the others had missed. Like when Bethany found the purse.
He stared at the map. All the circles blurred together into a bunch of dots that made no sense.
Bethany was gone, and it was his fault.
She’d panicked, and he didn’t know how to calm her down. He’d done what she asked and given her space. The whole time he’d thought it was okay. They had cameras. Shane was outside. No one had followed them.
He’d underestimated the enemy and now Bethany was paying the price for his fuck up.
She shouldn’t have trusted him. Her gut instinct was right, and he’d tried to tell her otherwise.
God, this was his fault.
“You hoarding the coffee, too?” Roger asked.
“Hm?” Kyle straightened and glanced at the other man.
“The coffee?” Roger nodded at the machine on Kyle’s left.
“Oh. Go ahead.” Kyle picked up the map and turned, spreading it out on the island.
“Unit went by their house. The Hunts are there for some photo op, but no sign of Bethany,” Roger said.
The killer wouldn’t go back to the house. There was no tie there. Nothing about it linked to his system.
“If you’d let us keep a detail on you, this wouldn’t have happened,” Roger said for the God-only-knew-how-many time since he’d arrived shortly after midnight.
Kyle focused on the circles.
Each one was color coded with a decade. Circles were dump sites. Check marks were abduction sites. Dots were where the girls lived. With as much data as they had now it was easier to see some sort of pattern. It wasn’t quite clear what that pattern was, but everything seemed to happen in a ten-mile radius each time.
“What do these clusters tell us?” Kyle gestured to the red section from the nineties. “What are we missing?”
“They’re all areas that had a high amount of vacancies during that time period,” Roger said. “I’ve been looking at this stuff for a long time. You should have trusted me more.”
Kyle bit back his words.
They wouldn’t be in this situation if Roger hadn’t wanted the public validation he so desired.
The bedroom door creaked open.
Kyle glanced at the clock.
Nine o'clock.
He wasn’t looking forward to this conversation.
18.
MONDAY. SECONDARY AEGIS Group Safe House, Seattle, Washington.
Kyle picked up his coffee cup and took a fortifying drink.
Faith and Megan shuffled out of the bedroom. They were still in pajamas, their hair a mess and sleep lines on their cheeks from the pillows. The two women stopped next to the fridge and blinked at the people quietly working.
Rogers task force had taken over the house so they could maybe work together.
“What’s going on?” Megan asked.
“Where’s Bethany?” Faith rubbed at the side of her face.
Kyle glanced at Roger who must be finding the answers to life in the swirling black coffee filling his cup.
“Sit down?” Kyle gestured to the breakfast nook table that was still mostly unused. “Want coffee or something to eat?”
“What’s wrong?” Faith’s eyes widened.
“Sit.” Kyle crossed to the table and pulled out chairs for Megan then Faith before sitting across from them.
“Start talking,” Megan demanded.
“Bethany went out into the backyard for air last night before we got the cameras up and running. She didn’t come back.” He pushed the knot of worry down deep. His personal feelings had no place here. He was doing his job.
Faith and Megan stared at him with similar expressions. Wide eyes, parted lips, lifted brows.
“Where is she?” Megan asked, recovering first.
“We don’t know. Everyone’s looking for her,” Kyle said.
“He got her, didn’t he? The man who took Megan?” Faith’s voice quivered.
/> “We don’t know that.” Kyle swallowed.
“But that’s what makes sense, isn’t it?” Megan sat up straight, her glare aimed straight at him.
“Without evidence otherwise, we don’t know.” Kyle spread his hands.
“Oh, come on.” Megan slammed her fist on the table. “What else makes sense? It’s Bethany. She’s not going to go off and leave us alone. That’s not like her.”
“You’re all under a great deal of stress. Stress makes people—”
“Don’t give me that bullshit.” Megan stood. “My parents paid you to keep us safe and all you’ve done is made us a target. I’m getting the idea we’re safe anywhere but with you.”
“How could you let her go out there?” Faith stared at him as if he were the monster. And maybe he was? Her words hit home that was for sure.
“Come on.” Megan shoved her chair away from the table.
“Megan?” Kyle stood. They couldn’t fall apart now.
“Bethany trusted you. She believed in you.” Faith stopped in front of him, her chin thrust forward.
“We’re going to find her,” he said.
“Stop saying that.” Faith swung her arm back.
Kyle grit his teeth and stood his ground.
Faith’s hand slapped against his cheek. It wasn’t a hard blow, but the sound of it was enough to cause a moment of stunned silence through the house.
“You lie,” Faith said between gasping breaths.
“We’re leaving,” Megan said.
Kyle stood there, his words failing them. Maybe they were better off without them. He sure as hell hadn’t been able to keep Bethany safe.
“Ladies, please? We’re doing everything we can to find Bethany. Just give us a chance, okay?” Isaac crossed to the kitchen, his expression an easy smile.
“No, way. Fuck this.” Megan turned to Faith. “Where’s your phone?”
“On the nightstand.”
“Call us a taxi or something.”
Faith nodded and returned to the bedroom.
Kyle kept his mouth shut. To the two assets, he was the bad guy here. He’d made the call that put them all at risk not only once, but twice. He wasn’t going to be the one to convince them to change their minds.
“If you ladies really want to go somewhere, I can have a cruiser take you.” Roger sipped from his coffee.
Dangerous in Charge (Aegis Group Alpha Team Book 5) Page 21
