“Now get up and walk.”
“But there might be bears…” he began anxiously.
“Yeah, and there might be bullets,” I countered, sighting on him and wishing I could just pull the trigger and rid myself of him once and for all. “Move it. Hands on your head.”
He dragged himself to his feet and limped toward the trees, tags of torn fabric flapping from his shirt and pants. Begrimed and grass-stained, with spruce needles in his dishevelled hair and spots of blood staining his shirt where the barbed wire had scratched his skin, he didn’t look much like the smooth businessman who had taunted me only yesterday.
When we were far enough into the woods that Hellhound’s SUV was only visible as a few sparkles through the trees, I snapped, “Stop.”
Labelle turned slowly, hands still locked on top of his head. “Look, I have a deal for you…”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that before,” I snarled. “Why have you been following me?”
“Because I have a client who’s interested in your services.”
“If they want a bookkeeper they can call me directly.”
Labelle hissed out a frustrated breath. “Would you drop the bookkeeper bullshit? You’re holding me at gunpoint in the middle of nowhere and you just took down a bear, and me, with weapons I’ve never seen before.”
“Which still doesn’t answer my question.” I let my gun track downward. “Next time you evade a question, it’s going to cost you a knee. Why are you following me?”
“I’m sorry!” His voice rose frantically. “I’ve been following you because my client told me to make absolutely sure you weren’t an undercover cop! He would have killed me if I was wrong!”
“Well, how’s that for irony?” I drawled. “’Cause now I’m going to kill you just for fun.”
“No, please!” Labelle actually dropped to his knees. “Look, it’s worth a lot of money to you! You’ve got designer weapons; I’ve got clients. I was Nick Parr’s weapons broker and I can do that for you, too!”
“Yeah, and stab me in the back the first chance you get. I don’t think so. You’re more trouble than you’re worth. And I hate your tongue,” I added in what might have been a slight non sequitur. I sighted at his head again.
God, I was exhausted. I could hardly hold my gun steady.
Maybe I should just shoot him. Tell Stemp he’d attacked me and I’d had to react in self-defense…
Labelle was babbling something and I yanked my attention back to him. Hell, I really was tired. Zoning out while holding a man at gunpoint. Not a good sign.
“Okay, fine,” I interrupted whatever he was saying. “Give me the name of your client and I’ll have my people look into him. If he comes up clean you can set up a meeting for us. If he’s a cop…” I gave him a hard-eyed glare. “You’re going to wish I’d let the bear eat you.”
“Okay, no, he’s legit, I swear! His name is Benoit Riel, and he and Nick did business for years!”
“We’ll see.” I backed away, keeping him covered. “Stay here until we drive away. If I even catch a glimpse of you I’ll shoot you on the spot.”
“Don’t leave me here!” He lurched forward, hands outstretched in supplication, but stopped with a jerk when I slipped my finger onto the trigger. “I lost my gun in the woods! I haven’t seen another vehicle the whole time I’ve been out here and there are bears…” His voice rose in a tearful tremolo, and I showed him my teeth.
“Don’t worry, pretty soon there are going to be more vehicles than you can shake a stick at. Stay on the road and you’ll be fine.” I continued to back away. “And if you’re smart, you’ll tell them you went into the woods to take a piss and saw a bear. You ran scared, and you got lost. If you’re not smart…” I trailed off with a shrug and left him kneeling there staring fearfully around him and snivelling.
When I emerged from the woods, Hellhound shot a look behind me. “Did ya kill him?” Then he shook his head. “Shit, sorry, forget I asked that.”
I handed him my Glock and swung over the fence again. “I didn’t kill him.” He returned my gun and I sighed and headed for his Forester. “Wanted to, though.” I extracted my bug detector from my waist pouch and sighed again at the sight of the flashing red light. “He must have tagged you in Rocky Mountain House. He probably tagged John’s truck, too.”
Moving closer to the SUV, I watched the detector’s cadence speed up until it led me to the rear of the vehicle. There I detached a small device from under the bumper and pitched it into the ditch.
Looking up at Hellhound’s thunderous scowl, I said, “Okay, let’s go.”
“Fuck!” He glared at the bumper. “I shoulda checked it. I been so wrapped up in this thing with Daniel…” He trailed off, his shoulders squaring into parade rest and chin rising as if bracing for a reprimand. “Sorry, Aydan, no excuse. I led him right to ya.”
“It wasn’t your fault, and it worked out fine. I got what I wanted from him.” I reached up to kiss him. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 46
Back on the road again, we drove in silence except for the soft rumble of Kane’s voice in the back seat while he told a delighted Daniel one of the stories from his unfinished children’s book.
As soon as my phone picked up a signal, I hit the speed dial for Stemp.
“It’s Aydan,” I said after his brusque greeting. “I had an issue with the delivery, but it’s solved now. I’m going to be about an hour late getting there, so could you please let them know? And John will be in Silverside to meet with you by ten PM at the latest.”
“Very well.” He hesitated. “Am I to deduce that there has been a development in the kidnapping case?”
My lips creaked into a smile as though they’d almost forgotten how. “Yes. We found Daniel and he’s safe.”
“Oh…” Stemp said nothing for a moment, and when he spoke again his voice was deep with emotion. “That is excellent news.”
“And there’s more,” I said eagerly. “I had a break in my official case because of my work on Daniel’s case. So you can tell the chain of command I’ve achieved the objective.”
This time I could hear the smile in his voice. “That is excellent news indeed. I will look forward to your report.”
My next call was to Spider. He answered on the first ring, sounding anxious. “Aydan, are you okay? What’s happening?”
“I’m okay.” I glanced around the car, my heart swelling with slow relief. “We’re all okay. Including Daniel.”
“What?” I imagined his smile dawning like a sunrise and he let out a triumphant whoop. “You’ve got him? He’s okay after all?”
“Yes, and yes!” The cold armour around my emotions melted under the warmth of his enthusiasm and I grinned wide enough to make the stiffened muscles of my jaw crack. “We’re taking him home. I just wanted to let you know I’ll probably be back around ten tonight, or maybe a little earlier.” My joy dampened a little. “Oh, and Tyler Brock will do the security scans at your wedding tomorrow.”
My happiness trickled away, leaving an anxious void. Shit, I should have forced Labelle to tell me whether he’d been behind the attacks on Spider and Linda.
And now I’d threatened and humiliated him and abandoned him out in the woods. And he’d have a ride back to his vehicle as soon the police arrived, so he’d be less than two hours behind me.
If he decided to seek revenge…
“…Sorry, what…?” I asked as Spider’s voice filtered through my unpleasant thoughts.
“I said, would you be able to do a really big favour for me while you’re in Calgary?” he repeated. “It won’t take long, but-”
“Sure, what is it?” I interrupted, still contemplating the many ways Labelle could wreak havoc.
And if it wasn’t Labelle after all, Spider and Linda’s enemy was still at large. Shit, shit, shit.
“Could you stop by a bookstore and pick up a hardcover copy of Murray Stout’s new book, ‘Mack Force, Objective: Blue Star’?” Spider asked
. “Brock is a huge fan, so I’d like to get it for him as a thank-you.”
I nearly choked. “Seriously?”
When he began to apologize, I interrupted, “No, I didn’t mean… I meant, I don’t mind at all. I’m just shocked he actually admits to liking something. I’ll grab it on my way out of town. See you soon.”
When I disconnected, Kane leaned forward from the back seat. “We’ll need to call the police soon.”
“Okay…” I eyed him anxiously, but Daniel was still absorbing the conversation and I didn’t dare say anything he might repeat.
Kane gave me a significant nod and leaned back in the seat again, tucking his arm around Daniel. “Would you like another story, Daniel?”
Daniel snuggled close, his eyes shining with hero worship. “Uh-huh.” Then he corrected himself with a small frown of concentration followed by a proud gap-toothed grin. “Please.”
We drove in silence while Kane spun out another tale, his voice blurring into a soothing rumble that threatened to sink my eyelids shut despite my worries.
By the time the rumble stopped I was fighting sleep, and Kane’s touch on my shoulder startled me into a violent twitch.
“Sorry,” he murmured, leaning forward and keeping his voice low. A glance into the back seat showed Daniel fast asleep, slumped sideways in the boneless repose only children can sustain without waking up crippled.
“So what are we going to tell the police?” I asked softly.
“The truth,” Hellhound said. “We were investigatin’ the exes’ friends, an’ when Kane questioned Murphy he panicked an’ said he’d take us to Daniel if we didn’t call the cops. He brought us out here an’ the bears attacked so we ran for the fort. When we got inside we found the ladies in the shed, grabbed Daniel, an’ barely got outta there alive. We dunno whether the bears got Murphy an’ his buddies or not an’ we didn’t dare go back, so we drove out to where we could get a phone signal an’ called the cops.”
Kane and I parsed his edited version of the truth in silence. “That should work,” Kane agreed after a few moments’ thought. “I’ll tell Mayweather I rode with Murphy in his truck so there won’t be any suspicion if they find my fingerprints or any other physical evidence in there. After that, the chewed-up corpses in the woods should clear us of any suspicion.” He hesitated. “…As long as they don’t do any drug tests during the autopsies. Because three of those men will likely still have traces of tranquilizer in their bodies.”
“Four,” Hellhound corrected. “I tranked the sentry outside the gate, too. But the trank’ll be gone. They were already startin’ to wake up by the time I got ‘em dragged outside.”
I swallowed rising fear. “So they might still be alive. What if-”
“Nah,” The Killer said in emotionless tones. “I found the dog food they’d been feedin’ the bears an’ stuffed their pants full of it.”
I stared at him, not sure whether to laugh or throw up. “So even if they managed to empty it all out…”
“They’d still be reekin’ like bear bait,” he finished. “An’ they ain’t gettin’ back inside that fort.”
Realization dawned. “But… you handled the dog food. The smell would be all over your hands. The bears could have just as easily torn you apart.”
He shrugged, staring impassively through the windshield.
Throat tightening, I laid a hand on his muscular thigh to reassure myself of his presence. Kane reached forward to thump an affectionate fist on his shoulder.
“Thank you,” he said softly. “Both of you. I can’t tell you how good it is to know you’ve got my back.”
“Always do, Cap,” Hellhound said.
I seconded that with a murmur of agreement and Kane gently squeezed my shoulder before leaning back to punch a number into his phone.
After providing his report, he disconnected and leaned forward again. “RCMP and emergency vehicles are on their way to the compound, and Mayweather says to take Daniel directly home. He’ll want a statement from each of us so he’ll meet us there.”
Hellhound nodded, and Kane subsided into his seat again with a long exhausted sigh.
A few minutes of silent driving later, I peeked back to see his eyes closed, his arm cuddling Daniel close to his side while his chest rose and fell in a slow steady rhythm.
“Finally down,” Hellhound murmured. “About fuckin’ time.”
The hypnotic sound of tires on pavement changed as our speed slackened. I lurched upright, blinking the sleep out of my eyes and wiping the corner of my mouth in case of drool.
“’Mornin’, Sunshine,” Hellhound teased as I yawned cavernously and eased the kinks out of my neck.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you,” I apologized, but he reached over to pat my leg.
“It’s okay, darlin’, ya needed it.” A smile softened the corners of his mouth. “Not as much as him, though.” He nodded toward the back seat, where Kane and Daniel still slumbered peacefully.
“Yeah, it’s a pity to wake him,” I agreed. “But I guess we’ll have to soon.”
“Mmhm.” The smile slid off his face.
I wasn’t feeling much like smiling myself. There were still so many things that could go wrong…
A few minutes later we pulled up in front of Alicia’s house. The Forester had barely stopped moving before she flung herself at the back door, jerking fruitlessly on the handle until Hellhound punched the lock release.
The sound woke Kane, who started violently and tightened a protective arm around Daniel, his free hand clenching into a fist.
“It’s okay, we’re in Calgary,” I said hurriedly, hoping to God he’d wake up enough to realize Alicia wasn’t a threat.
A second later she was in the back seat, smothering a sleepy Daniel with frantic kisses and tears. He blinked, then blinked again, his eyes widening.
“Mommy!” He threw chubby arms around her neck. “The bad man said you died!”
“Oh, sweetheart…” She buried her face in his dirty hair, running her hands over and over him as if to reassure herself that he was truly there. “Come on, let’s get you in the house and cleaned up.” She spared a glance for Kane at last. “Thank you.” Her tears began afresh. “Thank you, all of you.”
Behind her, a white-haired man and woman clung to each other, tears trickling into their smiles. Mayweather stood back in a formal-looking parade rest, but he was smiling widely and his eyes were soft.
Hellhound let out a breath. “Well, let’s go do it.”
“Do what?” Alicia gave him a suspicious glance.
“We need to give our statements,” I explained in my best non-confrontational voice. “Is it all right if we come in and do that?”
“Oh, of course! Yes, of course, I’m sorry…” She shook her head, still clutching Daniel, who was beginning to squirm in her embrace. “Please come in.”
We trooped up the walk behind the little cluster of Daniel and his mother and grandparents, who reached to touch him every few steps. A glance at Kane showed he had his cop face on, but his eyes looked bereft.
Our reports didn’t take long. While we filled out the forms Mayweather received a couple of calls, and when he hung up from the last one he was grinning from ear to ear.
“That was the RCMP,” he announced. “They just found the other boys alive.”
“Wh… what…?” Gasping around the expanding bubble of hope in my chest, I stared at him. “Alive? Are they… okay?”
Mayweather’s expression darkened. “Traumatized, of course, neglected and undernourished, but overall in good health. Murphy had locked them in a root cellar in his basement. He rotated through them, pretending each was his son until they displeased him somehow, and then he’d put them back in the root cellar and try the next one. It was actually Peter Bruner who completed the Grade One equivalency exam in Matthew’s place.”
I swallowed hard. “Thank God. I thought they’d be dead for sure.”
Mayweather shook his head
. “Fortunately Murphy was obsessed with having replacements for his dead son, so he kept them all. His wife knew what was going on, but she lived in fear of Murphy so she kept quiet. She and their two daughters have basically been captives on that acreage for the past eight years.”
“Are they…” A memory of haunted eyes and toothless mouths rose, twisting my guts. “Are they… injured?”
“Physically nothing serious; just some bruises. Mentally…” Mayweather sighed and tilted his hand back and forth in an equivocating gesture. “They’re still interviewing Mrs. Murphy, but it looks as though Murphy was targeting sons of single mothers because he believed women were unworthy to bring up boys. And he pushed Buck into arranging the camping trip so he could abduct Daniel and frame Buck for it.”
Despite the twisted wrongness of Murphy’s actions, suddenly I couldn’t stop smiling. “So all the moms will get their sons back.”
“Yes.” Mayweather smiled back. “Yes, they will. We’re calling them now.”
“All except Mrs. Murphy,” Kane said quietly. “Have they found Matthew’s remains yet?”
Mayweather sobered and shook his head. “They’ll bring in forensics to excavate the pit as soon as possible.”
“Did Mrs. Murphy have any idea why Daniel wasn’t put in with the rest of the boys?” Kane asked.
“He was, originally.” Mayweather frowned. “I suspect our investigation prompted Murphy to move Daniel, and he likely intended to move the other boys as well. When Arbuckle Murphy’s death was declared a homicide, the RCMP contacted Scot to notify him since he was the next of kin. He likely figured we were getting too close to the truth.” He eyed Kane gravely. “It’s lucky he was obsessed enough to simply relocate Daniel.”
The words, ‘instead of killing him’ hung chilling but unspoken in the air.
The Spies That Bind Page 37
