Evanesce (The Darkness #2)

by Cassia Brightmore

  “Ma’am, how far apart are your contractions?” A male nurse took the handles of the wheelchair, shouldering Gabe aside. Gabe’s temper spiked and just as he charged forward to bulldoze over the grabby nurse, Theo’s hand slapped onto his chest, Quinn hovering behind him.

  “Easy there, dude. They’re just doing their job. See?” He pointed to where the nurses were settling Nora onto a hospital bed in a patient bay. Gritting his teeth, Gabe nodded. “Did you two come together?” he asked, looking between Theo and Quinn.

  “Uhh, yeah. To save on parking spaces. You know. There’s always a shortage on those damn parking spaces. Hey look, there’s the doctor!” Theo almost shouted. Gabe sent him a funny look before hurrying behind the curtain of the room Nora was in.

  The doctor was a tall slender woman with cropped brown hair. Flipping through papers on a clipboard, she nodded and spoke in quiet whispers to one of the nurses. Gabe cleared his throat and stepped forward. Seeing him, she smiled.

  “You must be the father. I’m Dr. Wright,” she introduced herself. Gabe took her outstretched hand and shook it. “I’m Gabe Thornton, and yes, I’m the father,” he confirmed.

  “Well, Nora, Gabe. Let’s get you two ready to have a baby.”

  * * *

  Twelve hours and thirty-seven minutes later, Nora was holding their child in her arms. The labor had been exhausting and painful. All of that went out the window the second she peered into the tiny face of her newborn son. Gabe was over the moon that it was a boy, strutting around with his chest puffed out while Nora rolled her eyes. He had been by her side the entire labor, never once complaining or leaving. If it was possible, the love she had for him grew leaps and bounds in the miraculous moment when the nurse handed him the baby to place on her chest for their first skin-to-skin contact.

  Nora badgered Gabe into going home for a shower and a few hours sleep. The time would be soon upon them that neither of them would be getting much of that, she had argued. Best to make the most of it while they could. Gabe had reluctantly agreed and Nora settled in for some mother-son bonding.

  Staring down at him swaddled in her arms, Nora felt a warm contentment wash over her. He was so tiny and precious….and he was hers. The product of her unbreakable love for Gabe; they had created a life together and the happiness that realization filled her with spread a glow throughout her entire soul. Letting out a loud, unladylike yawn, she chuckled.

  “Better put you down, love.” She and Gabe had yet to come to an agreement on a name for their child, but deep in her heart she already knew she would win this battle. Her son’s name was Caleb Kenneth Thornton. Letting Gabe think he had a shot at winning this war between them over his name was just her way of humoring him.

  Laying Caleb down in his bassinet, she leaned over slightly and brushed her lips across his forehead, and on his tiny nose. There was nothing quite like the sweet smell of a newborn baby, and as she inhaled deeply, she reveled in the sense of contentment that flowed through her. Straightening up, a wave of pain washed over her, but she gritted her teeth as her hand moved to soothe the ache in her back. Climbing back into bed was a chore, but with careful movements, she was able to get settled without any assistance. Closing her eyes for what was surely only a second, she sighed and wished for Gabe.

  Jolting awake, she looked around. The room has fallen dark and silent. How long was she asleep?

  Rolling over, she swung her legs off the bed and stood on shaky legs. Taking a few unsteady steps, she made her way to Caleb’s bassinet, intent on cuddling him and attempting to feed him.

  Reaching down, it took her a moment to realize the bassinet was empty.

  What the…

  Caleb was gone.

  Her baby was missing.

  Snatched from his bassinet in the dead of night.

  The tortured scream that filled the air could wake the dead and crack even the hardest of hearts. Light flooded the room as nurses and staff rushed in to see what the commotion was about.

  “My baby! My son is gone!” Nora screamed, pointing to the empty bassinet. The nurse in charge peered into the bassinet and gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. Reaching out blindly, she grabbed the arm of one of the other nurses. “Call security and the police. Now!”

  Nora collapsed onto the bed as the room kicked into action around her. There was announcements on the overhead speakers, uniformed men were flowing in and out of the room, asking her questions and forcing her to drink water. Nora sat in a daze, unable to comprehend what was happening. Her baby. Her son.

  Gabe ran headlong into a room of people in his way. Letting out a roar, he cleared a path for him to reach Nora’s side. Spotting her sitting on the bed, sobs wracking her body, he snatched her into his arms, not caring that water spilled all over them from the paper cup in his hand.

  “Shhh, baby, I’ve got you. We will find him. I promise you, I will find him,” he spoke the words fiercely and meant every one of the. Whomever was responsible for this was going to pay. Pay dearly—with their life.

  Nora refused to leave the hospital, even days after she should have been discharged home. Leaving without her son just wasn’t something she could bear. She spent the days wondering the halls, hoping for a sign of him. That he would just magically re-appear and be back in her arms where he belonged.

  Gabe was working with the locals day and night, chasing down every lead. It was though Caleb had simply vanished. The security cameras had been cut, the staff had no recollection of seeing anyone suspicious. The only lead they had was the time frame of when the cameras went down and when Nora awoke and found Caleb missing. It wasn’t much, but it was all they had.

  Two weeks after Caleb’s disappearance, Gabe finally managed to bring Nora home. Watching her from the doorway of the nursery was heart-breaking. She spent every waking hour in there, touching the things they had bought for their child, crying into the tiny pillows and staring longingly at the sonogram photo he’d had framed for her and hung on the wall. He was losing her bit by bit, she was retreating farther and farther into her mind; into a deep depression. He had no idea what to say or how to help her and it broke him. The feelings of inadequacy, of anger were a heavy weight on his shoulders. His hands tightened into fists. He needed to do something.

  Brady stepped up beside him and gave an unhappy sigh at the sight of Nora crying in the nursery. “Hey man. How you hanging in?” he asked, clasping Gabe’s shoulder.

  Gabe didn’t answer. There was nothing he could say. Anything he was feeling, Nora was feeling it a thousand times worse. Caleb was a part of her, she had carried him for eight months and now he had been ripped from her arms cruelly. Gabe couldn’t bear the thought of where he might be or what might be happening to him. His main focus was searching and following every single lead that came in.

  “We have to get him back, Brady. We have to get him back or I’m going to have lost both of them forever.”

  The black hole of despair Nora had slipped into threatened to engulf her. To sink its razor-like claws into her soul and never let go. Excruciating pain hummed throughout her body, slicing like a thousand knives over her skin.

  Love.

  Comfort.

  Hope.

  All vanished in the blink of an eye. A hard black lump of coal formed where Nora’s heart used to be, bitterness a vile taste on her tongue.

  Fear.

  Terror.

  Dread.

  All were her new companions. Skittering down her spine and seeping into her skin ever since those fateful words were spoken.

  “They’ve taken your baby.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  “Nora. Nora, baby wake up.” Gabe hated to wake her as she got precious little sleep as it was, but it couldn’t be avoided.

  Her eyelids fluttered open and she blinked at Gabe. Shooting up, she looked around, a spark of hope in her eyes. Gabe hated that he didn’t have the news she wanted to hear.

  “The police are here again, baby and so is Brady and Gw
yn. They need to ask you a few more questions.” The light died in Nora’s eyes and she squeezed them shut, silent tears tracking down her cheeks. Intellectually, she knew that answering questions was part of the process; that it could somehow help find her missing son. But no matter how important it was, she couldn’t bring herself to care. She was lost in her despair—in her misery. Guilt plagued her night and day. Caleb was gone and it was all her fault. She didn’t know how Gabe could stand to look at her knowing that she’d failed to protect their child.

  Sadness was like a weight attached to her heart, digging in like an anchor and dragging her farther down into the pit of darkness. The deeper she sank, the harder it was to climb back out to be among the living.

  Nora gave a slight nod and ran an absent-minded hand through her hair to smooth it down. Two FBI agents, Agent Brown and Agent Williams were in the nursery with Gabe and behind them stood Brady and Gwyn. Gwyn had joined Brady a few days earlier, wanting to lend any help she could. Nora liked her, she was warm and sincere. In another life, they probably would have been great friends; but in this life—the one where he son had been stolen from right under her nose—such things as making new friends didn’t fucking matter. All that mattered was getting Caleb back.

  The first agent cleared his throat, Nora had met him before but couldn’t remember his name. It didn’t matter anyway.

  “Ma’am we don’t mean to intrude, but we did have a few more questions for you about the last few months if you don’t mind,” he explained.

  “Yes. It’s fine, please just ask them.” She wanted to get the questioning over with as quickly as possible.

  “In the hospital that night, you stated that no one unusual was in your room—do you remember that?” he asked. Nora nodded, so he continued. “Are you sure there wasn’t someone in your room that wasn’t there the previous night during the delivery?” Nora thought back, but the entire day was such a blur.

  “Not that I know of. Their faces were familiar to me. If there was a stranger there, they were very careful to blend,” she answered and looked at Gabe for confirmation. Gabe gripped her hand and whispered to her that she was right.

  “What about the months leading up to your son’s birth? Had you noticed any strangers in town? Did anyone approach you that may have caused you alarm?” Nora was getting annoyed answering the same questions over and over.

  “No. I already told you, I was never approached by anyone out of the blue…it’s a small fucking town you know,” her temper started to rise, her first real showing of emotion other than depression in weeks. “I see the same fucking people every day at the ranch, every time I go into town; it’s never anyone new—” she paused, something niggling at the back of her mind. Her eyes darted from side to side as she thought back. Everyone in the room was on the edge of their seats, waiting for her to finish her thought.

  Gabe gave her shoulder a light shake. “Nora. You remembered something, I can see it. What is it, baby?” he prodded gently.

  “Marcus Drake. I had a run-in with Marcus Drake in the shopping mart the day I found out I was pregnant. I—I—I forgot all about it. I was so upset that day, worried that you were going to leave me when you found out about the baby,” she raised pleading eyes to Gabe’s. “I completely forgot that he was back. I had meant to tell you and then with the engagement and everything…I just, well it slipped my mind.” Nora’s hands started to shake and a light sheen of sweat broke out on her brow.

  “That’s fine, Nora. We understand how much stress you are under and that makes it very easy to forget important details. Could you tell us please, who is Marcus Drake?” The agent kept his tone light but every sense in his body was tingling. He had a gut feeling about this pertinent piece of information; this was the break they’d been waiting for.

  Gabe answered for her. “His family is from around here. We all went to school together. He was always…interested in Nora, but nothing ever came of it romantically. He’s into some shady business from what I know about him. He left town several years ago to move to a bigger city where there was more action and clientele. Drake isn’t even his real last name,” Gabe added with an eye roll. The agent had been scribbling on a small notepad but looked up at Gabe’s last comment.

  “It isn’t? What’s his real name?” Agent Williams, the one that had been asking the questions asked.

  “Tanner,” Nora replied. Marcus Tanner. He’s actually from the next town over, Goodrich. He attended school here though. Nobody could really figure out why, there were a lot of rumors about his family being unstable.”

  “His family has a pretty large estate over there. Old money,” Gabe told them and the agents nodded knowingly.

  “This is good information, Nora, thank you. Did he happen to tell you what brought him back into town?” Agent Brown asked.

  “No, he didn’t. I believe I asked at first, but then I spent the better part of ten minutes crying all over the poor man. I was a bit emotional at that time,” Nora admitted, embarrassed.

  Gabe clenched his teeth at Nora’s admission. The thought of Marcus’s hands on her infuriated him, but he took a deep breath and let it go. That didn’t matter now, what mattered was bringing Caleb home. But if he found out Marcus was involved in any of this…the gloves were coming off.

  Agent Williams closed the notepad and smiled at Nora. “I think this is all we need for now, thank you again, ma’am. We’ll be in touch,” he shook Gabe’s hand and the two agents turned to leave. “Brady, walk out with us?” Agent Brown tilted his head towards the door.

  Gabe planted a kiss on Nora’s forehead and rose to follow. There was no way he was being left out in the dark about what their next steps were. Gwyn took the cue and took Gabe’s place at Nora’s side.

  Out in the hall, the men talked in hushed tones, not wanting the women to overhear. “You recognize the name don’t you?” Gabe asked, cutting right to the chase.

  Brady nodded, letting the agents know it was okay to trust Gabe with the info. “Yes, we know of Marcus Tanner. He runs in some pretty bad circles. He could be the one we’re looking for.” Agent Williams dropped that bomb and then grabbed Gabe’s arm when his neck turned red with rage and he headed for the stairs.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa, there son. We don’t know anything yet. We cannot make any type of a move until we are 100% on this. To go in now, blind—and be wrong…well that could cost your son his life. I’m not willing to risk that, are you?” Gabe’s breathing was heavy and all he could see what a black haze of rage. But he knew the agents were right. They needed to be smart. They needed a plan. Caleb and Nora were depending on him.

  Theo trotted up the stairs and into the thick of the heated discussion. Sensing the tension, he backed down a few stairs holding up his hands. “Alright you guys got me, I’m the one that strung all your underwear up on a line out there, but please, don’t punish Gabe for my errors,” he hung his head in mock shame.

  “Shut up, Theo.” Brady and Gabe said in unison.

  Theo laughed and joined the men. “Anyone want to fill me in on what’s happening here?”

  “We’ve got a lead,” Agent Williams began. “Brady, can you handle running a background check on Tanner, Drake whatever the hell his name is while Agent Brown and I get started getting a warrant?”

  “You got it,” Brady answered. “I’ll reach out to some of my New York contacts and see if they can dig anything up that may be useful.”

  “Good. Let’s meet down at the station in two hours and see where we’re at.” The two agents shook hands with Gabe, Theo and Brady before descending the stairs.

  Gabe waited until he heard the front door slam shut before he turned to Theo and Brady. “No fucking way am I waiting for a goddamn warrant. That’s my boy and I know he’s got him. I can feel it,” Gabe’s tone was fierce with determination.

  “Gabe, I have the same feeling, but you know the agents are right. You can’t go barging in there alone. You could get Caleb, or someone else killed.” Brady t
ried to be the voice of reason.

  Gabe looked each one of them in the eye. “I’m not going in alone, now am I?” Theo grinned at him in response. Brady shook his head several times. “No. Absolutely fucking not. We cannot break protocol like this, Marcus could end up walking,” he argued.

  “He won’t be fucking walking when I’m through with him,” Gabe promised. “Now are you in or are you out?”

  Brady sighed, defeated. “You fuckers are liable to both end up dead if I don’t watch your backs. Fine. I’m in.”

  Gabe smile was cold fury. “Good. Suit up boys, it’s time to bring my son home.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Gabe cut the engine and turned off the lights on this truck, letting it roll to a quiet stop. Theo and Brady were suited up and ready at his side, each having gone over the plan several times on the drive to Goodrich.

  Gabe pulled his gun from its shoulder holster and checked it one more time. He had another tucked into the waistband of his jeans and an ankle piece all locked and loaded. There was no way Marcus Drake was leaving that house alive.

  “We ready?” he asked as he started to open the driver’s side door. Theo and Brady didn’t answer, instead opened their doors and all three men climbed out of the truck.

  “Theo, don’t forget. Your priority is Caleb. If shit goes bad in there, you get him home safely to Nora. Promise me that,” Gabe looked at him hard.

  “You have my word, Gabe. But listen, I don’t do sappy shit so let’s just all of us get in and get out of there alive, got it?” Theo was as serious as Gabe had ever seen him. Gabe nodded and Brady offered a grim smile.

  “One more time. We all go in the back and then split up. I’m looking for survivors. Theo you find Caleb. Gabe—you’re going for Marcus. God help him,” he muttered under his breath. “We all meet back here and this truck does not leave unless the three of us are in it. You get in trouble, just fucking call 911 and be done with it. They will send back-up,” Brady laid out the plan with the skill of a seasoned officer.