In the Shadow of Vengeance

by Nancy C. Weeks

  A new calm settled over her the instant she held her daughter against her. It didn’t matter what Spencer had done or who the man with the gun was. All that mattered at that moment was protecting Erin from the storm that raged overhead. There was only one safety net and Elizabeth had to find it fast. If this field was anything like her father’s, there would be a narrow dirt road. And where that dirt road intersected the paved road, there should be a storm drain.

  As if her very thoughts summoned it to her, her hand landed on a raised mound. She quickly turned and searched the road for Spencer, but the sky opened the floodgates and sheets of rain pounded down on top of her. She couldn’t have seen her own hand in front of her face, and the howl of the wind was deafening. With one hand shielding Erin’s head, she felt for the cemented half-circle opening, and crawled into the dark, wet drain. Settling her back against the side, she removed the soaked blanket and tried to calm her screaming infant.

  She didn’t have a clue how long she hid in the storm drain, but one minute, the heavens were raining terror down on her and the next, everything was completely calm. The wind died down and the rain turned to a drizzle. She hugged her daughter and slowly eased out of the drain.

  She stumbled backward at her first glance at her surroundings. The road was so completely covered in debris, she couldn’t see the asphalt. Rows of corn were flattened to the ground.

  She climbed the wet slope to the road. Where was her car? Spencer and his gun-happy friend were nowhere in sight. Taking in a shaky breath, she wrapped both arms around Erin, who had finally stopped screaming.

  She remembered every sickening event that led her to this place, but her mind couldn’t focus on what she was supposed to do next. Placing one foot in front of the other, she headed down the center of the road.

  This must be what shock feels like.

  Time stilled as she cradled Erin. The closeness seemed to calm both of them. She followed the sounds of sirens that grew louder the closer she got to a small, one-road town. Wandering down the center of what had to be Main Street, she wanted to scream out to turn that damn siren off, but she couldn’t muster up the energy.

  The few people in the street had the same dazed look on their faces Elizabeth assumed was on hers. The tornado had done a number on the buildings. Very few stood upright. Fragments of the drywall, glass, twisted lumber, and trash covered the road and sidewalks.

  A woman approached. “Dear, are you all right?”

  She wasn’t sure how she found her voice, but Elizabeth answered. “Yes, ma’am. My daughter and I are fine.”

  The woman glanced around her. “It came up out of nowhere. I was in my garden and barely had time to get into the basement.”

  She didn’t know what to say to that. Instead, she asked the only question on her mind. “How close is the interstate from here?” She didn’t care where she was, only how to get back home.

  The stranger placed a hand on Elizabeth’s arm. “It’s about three miles down the road. I need to go check on my husband. He runs the boot shop there,” she said, pointing across the street. Her voice cracked as she said, “You are welcome to wait on my porch. My home, by God’s grace, wasn’t hit.”

  Elizabeth nodded her thanks and watched as the woman made her way to her husband. Instead of settling on the porch, however, she headed toward the car in the driveway. It hadn’t been touched either. Looking inside the driver’s side window, she spotted the keys in the ignition. Before she could talk herself out of what would be the second stupidest thing she did that day, she opened the car door and got behind the wheel. Wrapping the seat belt around her and Erin, she pulled out of the driveway and drove back the way she had come. The words just borrowing the car seeped across her consciousness. She never glanced back as she headed toward the highway.

  Even though the road was covered in cornstalks and wreckage, she made it to the interstate and headed toward Omaha. The closer she got to the city, the less storm damage there was.

  Elizabeth had a choice to make. She could take the beltway around the city and head due east toward her childhood home. Her parents would know what to do, and she had never needed them more than at that moment. But at the turnoff, instead of taking the exit east, the fear of bringing this nightmare to her parents’ door compelled her to take the exit for downtown instead. She drove several blocks and slowed when she reached a ten-story white building she had always been curious about but never had any reason to visit. Entering the short driveway, she drove up to the guarded gate. Behind the iron gates was a large insignia that hung on the side of the building: Federal Bureau of Investigation.

  Elizabeth turned off the car and unbuckled her seatbelt. Glancing down at her soiled, wet clothing, she ran a hand over her hair and tried not to look like she felt: unbalanced. The guard approached her as she got out of the car.

  “Ma’am, you need to stay in the car.”

  She cleared her throat as she zoomed in on the guard’s hand moving toward the handgun at his side. “Tornado … not sure where,” she blared out in a strained whisper. “I had to borrow this car. It’s not mine. I don’t know what happened to my car.”

  “Ma’am, are you hurt? The baby you’re holding …?”

  Elizabeth touched her lips to the top of her child’s head. “Erin’s my daughter. I need to talk to someone. There’s been a murder.” She sucked in a deep breath. “I think it’s a murder, not sure … I’m not sure of anything.”

  Chapter Two

  Thirteen years later

  Fells Point, Baltimore

  How did he always get himself drawn into other people’s messes? Noah McNeil had his own problems and this wasn’t one of them. If thirteen-year-old Danny Merlot was acting out, then let his mother deal with it.

  While that logic made perfect sense to him, his nosy sister-in-law had other ideas. How she always got him into this crap bugged the hell out of him. All Jennie McKenzie McNeil, his twin brother Jared’s wife, had to do was put on that schoolteacher face, promise Noah a batch of homemade chocolate-chip cookies, and he was her puppet. Today, she wanted him to check on one of her former students. And since he and Danny had a little history, maybe Danny would open up to Noah when he didn’t seem to be talking to anyone else.

  Danny Merlot was a McNeil problem. It had been more than three years since Elías Mendoza’s enforcer kidnapped the kid from inside Jennie’s elementary school. Mendoza’s personal vendetta against Jennie and the McNeil family should have never landed on Danny’s young shoulders. Mendoza chose Danny out of Jennie’s students because he knew she had a soft spot in her heart for the boy—the perfect leverage.

  Noah leaned his long frame against the side of his truck and scanned the block. Since Jennie married Jared three years ago, this section of Fells Point was almost home to him more than his own place. He glanced at his watch. An instant later, the sound of St. Luke’s church bells echoed through the neighborhood. The bells were followed by his stomach grumbling. The aroma of garlicky, well-seasoned tomato sauce and pizza dough cooking on an open brick oven that wafted across the street from the Italian bistro always made his mouth water. If he didn’t expect Danny to be walking past on the way home from school, he would grab a slice.

  “Hey, amigo. Are you going to lean there all afternoon holding up your truck, or are you coming in?” Raúl Ibarra yelled from the doorway of his flower shop.

  Noah couldn’t help smiling at one of his best friends. Raúl Ibarra had semi-retired from the FBI three years ago and bought Jennie’s landlord’s brownstone, turning it into a flower shop. He had spent years working undercover as one of Mendoza’s top lieutenants. When Danny disappeared, he broke cover and tried to protect the kid. His sacrifice failed. He was captured and tortured. Even from where Noah stood, he could make out the deep facial scar carved into Raúl’s skin. There were others beneath his T-shirt, the same scars Jared carried with him.

  Noah relaxed his fisted hands and strolled across the street. “I was trying to figure out som
ething.”

  “Yeah, what’s that?” Raúl asked, shaking Noah’s hand.

  “Whether I wanted to grab a pizza pie from Firenze’s or beg one of your wife’s fabulous dinners.”

  “Ah, but Anita is going to a PTA meeting up at the school tonight. We’re ordering pizza. You’re welcome to stay.”

  Before he could acknowledge the invitation, his attention was drawn to the boys heading down the street. “I thought TJ walked home with Danny Merlot.”

  “So that’s why you have graced my neighborhood with your presence this fine afternoon. Jennie has you doing surveillance on Danny.” Raúl let out a deep laugh. “Just don’t let Elizabeth Merlot catch you. She can be one scary, protective mom when it comes to Danny and Erin.”

  Noah chuckled. “Yeah, I’m not her favorite person. Maybe it’s my mug,” he said, rubbing a hand over the stubble on his jaw.

  “I always wondered why you never asked her out. I figured it was a natural progression since you were spending time with her son.”

  “I hung out with Danny because he seemed to want me around. Since we both had the pleasure of Mendoza’s company, we formed a bond. I like the kid. To hit on his mom would make me a first-class ass.”

  “Yeah, but his mom is smokin’ hot. Her legs go on forever and that face! Gorgeous, doe-like cocoa eyes, lips that beg to be kissed. She’s not my Anita, but man oh man …”

  “If your wife ever heard you call Elizabeth Merlot anything but a great mother, she would have your balls in a vise grip.” Noah nudged his friend out of his path and picked up a small vase of tiny roses. “Elizabeth hated me on sight. Every time I go anywhere with Danny, she eyes me like I’m on a most-wanted poster.”

  “No woman on this planet hates you, amigo. All you have to do is wiggle your brow and they line up around the block.”

  Noah let out a laugh and shook his head. “Not Elizabeth. Maybe she hates all things McNeil. She has even stopped talking to Jennie. They used to be great friends.” Noah shoved his hands into his pockets. “I guess I don’t blame her after what happened to Danny. Maybe life is just busy and they have gone their separate ways. But Jennie’s hurting and that pisses me off. She blames herself for Mendoza using Danny to get to her. Stupid logic. Mendoza’s sins are his own. The bastard’s been locked away, but neither Jennie nor Danny can heal.”

  “We all want Danny to be his old self. We don’t see much of him these days.”

  “Jennie mentioned he has cut himself off from most of his friends. Does TJ still hang out with him?”

  “Not much. He quit the soccer team, which he was damn good at. As his coach, I did what I could, but he won’t open up to me. TJ says he spends most of his time in his room playing video games or up at the gym taking Jim Hoe’s martial arts classes. He’s in there five times a week.”

  Noah’s spine stiffened. “At thirteen? Why? Is someone picking on him?”

  “No. Danny watched Mendoza put a bullet between his enforcer’s eyes. It’s hard to get over that kind of violence. I think he’s still dealing with his kidnapping by trying to learn to fight.”

  “The enforcer is roasting in hell, and as for Mendoza, he’s serving a life sentence on the other side of the country. Who does Danny need to fight?”

  Before Raúl could answer, the bell over the flower shop dinged and TJ entered.

  “Hi, Uncle Noah.”

  TJ was doing well in his new home. The intense, quiet eight-year-old from three years ago was now a thriving preteen.

  “Dad, I’m hungry.”

  “And I’m talking. Your mom’s upstairs,” Raúl said, nodding to the staircase. “The Os are playing the Nationals tonight. Get your homework done.”

  The kid fist bumped the air and began to race up the stairs.

  “TJ, wait. Have you seen Danny Merlot today?” Noah asked.

  “Yeah. He ran right past Trevor and me. Didn’t even stop to talk.”

  “Where was he heading?”

  “He said he was meeting some guy at the arcade on Lombard Street.”

  “Some guy? Does that strike you—?” Noah asked Raúl.

  “Nope. I don’t like the sound of that one bit.”

  “I think I’ll take a rain check on that pizza.” He nodded to his friend and left the shop.

  A new sense of dread hit Noah as his long legs ate up the sidewalk toward the arcade. The couple of times he’d reached out to Danny after the kidnapping, they ended up at the arcade. Elizabeth always accompanied them, never taking her eyes off Danny for a second while also watching Noah like a hawk. It had been almost a year since he’d even received a text from Danny. Noah just assumed he cut off communication because he was getting on with his life. And what teen wanted to hang out with an old guy like him, and a cop, at that?

  Noah crossed through the open doors of the arcade and moved past Danny’s favorite games. The place wasn’t busy. If he were there, Noah would find him.

  Heading toward the rear of the building, he turned a corner and spotted Danny talking to some guy in his early twenties in the short hallway that led to the restrooms. The guy scanned the crowd over the top of Danny’s head, grabbed him by the elbow, and exited through the back door. Noah retraced his tracks to the entrance. Racing around the side of the building, he entered the alley that ran parallel to Lombard Street. The stench of rotting garbage and other odious smells he chose not to identify assaulted his senses. At the next block, he spotted Danny handing the man something, and in exchange, Danny grasped a crumbled paper bag.

  Noah slowed his pace and spread back his sport coat so his badge and gun were in view. “Hey, how’s it going?”

  The guy took one look at Noah, clutched Danny’s collar in his fist, and whispered something in his ear. He then heaved him against the chain link fence and ran full out down the alley.

  Noah reached out a hand to steady Danny. “Should I go after him?”

  “What are you doing here?” he asked, shrugging out of reach.

  “What’s in the bag, Danny?”

  Color drained from his face as he stared at his hand. He swung his shoulder pack off and stuffed the bag inside. “Nothing important.”

  A car backfired and Danny almost jumped out of his shoes. Tucking his head down, his eyes on the asphalt, he nudged past Noah. Reaching out, Noah placed a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “That’s not an answer. Again, what’s in the bag?”

  “It’s none of your business.” Danny’s eyes narrowed and a deep blush of anger edged into his cheeks.

  Noah had seen Danny scared shitless, depressed, even nostalgic, but the raw anger in his eyes was new.

  “Sorry, son. I think it is.”

  “I’m not your son. I’m not anything to you.”

  Noah raised both hands out. “Okay, bad choice of words. I thought we were at least friends.”

  “I haven’t seen or heard from you in almost a year. I don’t need friends like you, Detective McNeil. I have to get home.” Danny body slammed him, knocking him off balance, and stormed down the alley toward the street.

  Understanding be damned. The kid didn’t get a break when he jammed himself up with dumb-ass, stupid decisions. Noah rushed ahead and repositioned his body so it blocked Danny’s path. “I don’t get to choose the cases I’m assigned. I let you know I was going undercover. I couldn’t even call my own mother while on assignment. Now I’ve been back for months, and if you recall, I did contact you, but it was you who blew me off, not the other way around.”

  Danny tried again to edge around him. The kid was really pissing him off, but Noah’s temper wasn’t going to get him anywhere. “What did you buy off that guy? From the colors he wore and the tat on his arm, he runs with the—”

  “I don’t know the guy or who he runs with.” Danny’s fists clenched at his side and a deep blush swept across his cheeks. “He was just a guy, so drop it.”

  Like hell he would drop it. Noah wanted to punch the wall. What was going on in this kid’s life to make him so damn angry? He
didn’t have to guess what was in the bag. Something made Danny desperate or angry enough to purchase a weapon off a local gang member. Noah’s badge gave him the right to search the bag after what he had seen, but that would destroy what little trust Danny had left in him. There was only one play left and it placed a nasty taste in Noah’s mouth.

  “You don’t want to show me what’s in the bag, fine. I know someone you will listen to,” he said and tugged on Danny’s arm. He strolled and half dragged the kid toward the entrance of the alley.

  “Let go of me,” he spouted, pulling at his elbow.

  Noah tightened his hold. “No.”

  “Am I under arrest?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Then what the fuck—”

  Noah stopped in his tracks and Danny slammed into his arm, then jerked back. “Watch your mouth, kid. I’m pissed off enough. Don’t push me.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “Show me what’s in the bag and we can part company right here.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Don’t act like you have no choice. I know what’s in the bag. You’re not keeping it, and you’re going to tell me the name of the guy in the alley.”

  “Like hell I am.”

  Noah headed down the sidewalk. Two doors from the flower shop, he stopped at a red brick townhouse. The bright red door held a wreath with orange ribbon, two white paper ghosts that fluttered in the breeze, and several small pumpkins. He slammed the brass knocker three times, hard. “Last chance, Danny. Give me the bag.”

  “I can’t believe you’re doing this.”

  “Desperate times and all that.”

  The door opened and a breath caught in Noah’s throat. He didn’t forget the impact Elizabeth Merlot had on him for an instant. It was the face that visited him in his dreams for the last three years. She, on the other hand, was clueless.

  Noah’s fingers twitched. The strand of wavy auburn hair that rested over her shoulder screamed out to be brushed away, and that full bottom lip had a magnetic pull. He shoved his hands into his jean pockets before he embarrassed himself.