by Ali Vali
Remi put it on speaker. “Hello.”
“It’s done, and my debt’s paid,” Jorge said.
“Just remember the rest of our deal,” Remi said, putting the phone to her ear. “There’ll be no forgiveness next time.”
“What’s he talking about?” Nunzio asked.
“Jorge did a job for you, and now he did one for us,” Remi said. “He paid your father a visit, only I asked him to make the shot through the head. Junior’s dead.”
“You’re dead,” Nunzio screamed and lunged toward Remi. “You’re fucking dead,” he said again from Lou’s arms.
“Actually it’s my turn to hit back,” Remi said.
Nunzio stopped struggling and watched as Simon took a blade from her belt and sunk it into Kim’s chest as if she stabbed soft butter. Kim let out a small gurgle and coughed, which sprayed her white shirt with blood.
She dropped to her knees and Simon took her knife back before Kim fell forward, dead before her head hit the ground. Simon wiped the blade on Kim’s back before putting it back in her sheath.
“It might be hard to hear this, Nunzio, but it’s important for you to understand,” Cain said, making Lou tap Nunzio’s face to make him stop staring at Kim’s limp body. “The casino is ours. We’re letting you go, but if you return to Mississippi with thoughts of causing problems, that’s where you’ll end up.” She pointed to Kim. “You tried and it didn’t work out.”
“The casino’s mine,” Nunzio said, his voice despondent.
“Richard was who we needed,” Remi said. “That was your last strike.”
“If it takes me the rest of my life you aren’t getting away with this,” Nunzio said. “Why Kim?”
“Why Remi?” Cain asked in return. “We all have our reasons and we have to live with the results of our decisions.”
“This has you written all over it, so I’m coming for you first,” Nunzio said to Cain. “When I’m done, you’ll lose people you—”
Katlin’s phone rang and Nunzio shut up. “What? Slow down,” she told whoever was calling.
Cain’s phone rang next, followed by Lou’s. “Cain, hurry, it’s Emma,” Carmen said when Cain answered. “They took her.”
Cain felt like Simon had stabbed her through the heart. The panic rose so fast she came close to throwing up. Lou stopped her from running out the front door, but they sprinted the entire way back to the office where Nick already had the car running.
“What the hell happened?” Cain asked, part of her afraid to hear, and she didn’t expect answers—not yet.
*
“Do we have enough escorts for the movers?” Emma asked Merrick. They were in the den at Jarvis’s house and Emma had her date book out. “I made that mistake already and I don’t want a repeat.”
“I took care of it. Since we’re only moving small stuff, we didn’t need to hire that many guys.”
“If that’s the case, let’s go pick up Hayden’s gift.”
“The gunsmith called about that already?” Merrick asked, sounding surprised as she pulled her jacket on to cover her double holster. “He must’ve put in some time to finish so quick.”
“One of his assistants called this morning after Cain left and said he worked late last night to get it done. I would’ve thought all that engraving would take more time too, but I guess he wanted to make Cain happy.”
Emma followed a foot behind Merrick as they walked around the workmen, her hand on her stomach the entire time. The morning sickness hadn’t kicked in until she’d actually eaten something, making her regret she’d chosen waffles.
“It’s Hayden who’s going to be thrilled.”
Emma laughed. “I think my boy’s thrilled most days just with the fact that he’s Hayden Casey. The shotgun’s an added bonus—lagniappe, as Cain likes to say.”
The hunting trip Cain was taking him on was only part of Hayden’s gift for his thirteenth birthday. They had ordered a twelve-gauge shotgun identical to the one Cain owned, with a vine of Irish roses engraved along the barrel and the Casey family crest carved into the stock. Cain’s had been a gift from her father on her fifteenth birthday.
“True, but it’s nice that it’s ready a few days early,” Merrick said.
They turned right out of the drive, and Merrick glanced in the rearview mirror.
“Why do you suppose these guys are always so interested in our little shopping trips?” Emma asked when she saw Merrick’s attention still behind them.
“Shit,” Merrick said, speeding up.
“What?” Emma asked, squeezing the armrest to brace herself. The car rammed them from behind, making Merrick sideswipe a parked car. She righted them and punched the accelerator, but the car hit them again as they crossed an intersection.
In the more open space they were rammed hard enough that the car Merrick was driving turned sideways. The attacker then slammed his brakes on and threw it in reverse to give him more room to speed up and hit them again. This blow to the driver’s side pinned Merrick behind the wheel and broke her left arm.
Even though she was hurt, Merrick tried to get to her phone as Emma lay unconscious beside her. The last impact must’ve slammed Emma’s head into the window, because Merrick could see her blond hair was dripping with blood.
“Emma,” she yelled, trying to revive her. “Open your eyes,” was all she was able to say as her window shattered beside her from the force of Juan Luis’s gun butt.
“She’ll be easier to move if she’s out, bitch,” he said as he placed the gun correctly in his hand.
Merrick forgot about the phone and went for her weapon instead, as someone flung the passenger-side door open.
Anthony Curtis unbuckled Emma and jerked her from her seat and over his shoulder. Merrick framed the word “No” on her lips, but Juan pulled the trigger before she could get it out.
All Juan could do was laugh and stare at Emma in the backseat as they sped away. Anthony’s plan had gone off flawlessly, and he had what he’d most wanted from Cain.
“I’m going to enjoy this,” he said to Emma, even though he knew she couldn’t hear him. “And I promise it’ll be slow and long.”
“This is the beginning of Cain’s end,” Anthony said and laughed. “If that bitch had a weak spot, it’s ours now to do with as we please.”
“Are you sure you know where we’re going?” Juan asked.
“I got the address from the file before I quit. It’s the last place Casey will look, which will only prove she’s not the big shit everyone thinks she is.”
“Let’s go have some fun then.”
Chapter Fifty-Three
The police had barricaded the intersection where Merrick’s car sat mangled. An ambulance was screeching away, and the police had to hold Cain back to keep her from chasing it down.
“It’s not Miss Emma,” Carmen told her over and over. They were only a block from the house so most of the staff was outside waiting on news. “It’s Merrick, she’s been shot.” Katlin shut her eyes and brought her fist to her mouth.
“Katlin, go,” Cain ordered. “You’ll be of no use to me here.”
“You don’t need to—” Katlin said, looking at her as if Cain had punched her.
“If you love her, go. Some things are more important than anything or anyone else. If you have to concentrate on something let it be Merrick—she deserves it.”
“Boss,” Lou said. “The cops said Emma wasn’t here when they arrived, and the people who called it in said only Merrick was in the car.”
“Miss Emma left with Merrick, I saw her,” Carmen said.
“Somebody rammed them and took her,” Lou said, as if Cain hadn’t figured it out. “Emma’s gone.”
Cain roared like a lion that had lost its mate. “No one saw anything?”
“Our boys said a black Tahoe followed the car out but they figured it for feds,” one of Cain’s men said.
“The feds,” Cain said, as she scanned the crowd and found Joe and Claire looking on. “
Who was it?” Cain asked Joe. “You vultures are always watching, there’s no way you missed this. Tell me who.”
“We tried, Cain, but our people didn’t get here in time, even if that isn’t their job.”
“Your job is to protect the innocent. My wife’s done nothing to deserve this, so your job was to protect her.” Cain grabbed Joe by the lapels and shook him. “Tell me who, you son of a bitch.”
“It was Juan Luis,” Claire said, “and we’ve put out an APB on the car.”
“Well, if you did that I can go home and put my feet up and wait for Emma to come home. Your job’s done and I’ll buy you a drink later,” Cain said sarcastically. “Was your fellow agent with him? Because we all know Juan couldn’t find his ass by himself if someone put a gun to his head and said go.”
“If you want us to work with you, you need to calm down,” Joe said. When Cain couldn’t hold her anger anymore and reared back and coldcocked him, he bumped into three other cops standing around. His nose was oozing blood when he straightened up, and he was in an attack stance. “I know you’re upset, but if you try that again I’m taking you in and you can do your worrying in a cell.”
“You can kiss my—” Cain was about to completely lose control when her phone rang. “What?” she screamed. Just as quickly she calmed as she held the phone to her ear and said nothing. “Which house is it?” She hung up and strode around the accident scene, not trading any more conversation with Lou or Claire.
“Where’s she going?” Joe asked.
“It’s got to be the house or someplace close, because she’s walking,” Claire said. “All we have to do is wait and do what she thinks we do best—watch.”
Cain started toward Jarvis’s but met Muriel halfway there. The house Cain stopped at belonged to an elderly woman who’d been watering her plants and witnessed the black SUV slam into the car they were chasing, and what came after. Joe and Claire stood a good distance away as Cain talked to her, obviously asking questions. Then she shook hands with the woman and walked to the house.
“Think she’s going to stay in and not do anything?” Claire asked.
“I don’t see that happening, not unless she has a crystal ball in there that gives her all the answers. I’m not sure where we start searching. What I do know is that Agent Hicks will probably have a warrant out for Anthony and Juan before the hour’s up.”
“Let’s head to the van just in case.” Claire glanced back at the car Merrick had been driving one last time and shivered. The agents they’d left watching the house had tried to get to Emma before the two men had taken her, but Anthony had left Merrick’s car blocking the intersection from both directions.
“Wait a minute,” Joe said and started running down the street. “Shelby,” he said when he was inside and struggling to get his phone out.
“She stayed to sit on Anthony, but none of the guys said they saw her when this went down.”
“If I know Shelby, she wasn’t too far away,” Joe said and pressed the call button on his phone.
*
“Muriel,” Shelby said, “please don’t hang up.”
“This isn’t a good time, Shelby.” Muriel said her name since Cain was looking straight at her.
“I was tailing Anthony when it happened.”
“Where is he now?” Muriel asked, making Cain stand up. “You lost them? How in the hell did that happen?”
“I’d love to tell you that since I’m in the FBI I’m perfect, but I’m not. Once he made it into the neighborhood, Lionel and I didn’t have a lot of places to hide, so we had to hang back. Then the bastard left that car in the perfect place on the street, and we had to go around a few blocks and pray we could catch up, but we lost him.” Shelby sounded genuine in wanting to help.
“Ask her which way he was headed,” Cain said.
Muriel talked for a minute more, then hung up. “She lost them when they stopped at the house. From what she said, someone called the house and talked to Emma, pretending to be the gunsmith’s assistant, and told her the gun you guys ordered was finished. Before Shelby had a chance to figure out what he was up to and make it over here, Emma and Merrick had left and fallen into Anthony’s trap. It was Anthony who lured her out of the house, and with the moving going on, Merrick and Emma left by themselves.”
“Which way was he going when she last saw him?” Cain asked.
“Toward St. Charles, but then he must have doubled back down some of the side streets because there was no sign of him when she got to the avenue.”
Cain sat down and buried her fingers in her hair, wanting more than anything to cry. New Orleans might not be New York in size or population, but right now it could be Podunk USA and she wouldn’t have time to find Emma before Juan did something unspeakable to her.
“You can’t give up, think,” Muriel said.
“They could be anywhere by now, and no amount of thinking will make me pull the answer out of my ass.” Cain came close to hitting Muriel as well, but knew she was only trying to help. “It’s like Marie all over again. I travel with all this muscle and then leave the most vulnerable of my family unprotected. I should be fucking shot for letting this happen again.” She was on a roll as the weight of her failures started to pile on her shoulders, the weight of them threatening to swamp her. Then it came to her. Her greatest failures and how someone would use them to stick it to her and make it hurt as much as humanly possible.
“What?” Muriel said as Cain grabbed her and yanked her toward the back door.
“There’s no way he has the balls for that, but then it’s Anthony with his hand up Juan’s ass making his lips move,” Cain said. “Lou, get the men ready to roll and I want every cop out there covered, because we’re leaving and I don’t want an audience.”
Muriel’s phone rang again. “Yes?” she asked, and talked for a minute before disconnecting. “Shelby found the Tahoe, but there’s no sign of Anthony or Juan.”
“Give her a while and she’ll come up with the right answer, but I don’t have time to drop breadcrumbs for her.”
Five cars pulled out ahead of them and blocked the street from sidewalk to sidewalk as Lou turned in the opposite direction, the FBI vehicles hemmed in. Despite the blowing horns and sirens, the cars didn’t move until Lou and his passengers were out of sight.
“Where to, boss?” Lou asked.
“The house where we taught Danny the lesson on how to kill a goat. Get there fast but don’t get pulled over.”
“There’s no way he picked that house,” Muriel said. “How would he even know about it?”
“Juan wouldn’t, but Anthony had access to all the files that pertained to us and our business, including the dark, bloody chapters. He didn’t go with Juan because he had a burning desire to lead a life of crime—he did it because of me. Kyle’s a dead subject, but he wasn’t the only one working for the Bureau who hates me enough to bend the rules when it comes to dealing with me.”
Cain couldn’t control the bounce in her legs as she willed the car to go faster. “I had other plans for Anthony but that’s changed. When I find him I’m going to string him up and shove a cattle prod up his ass and turn it on. He wanted to watch me twitch for him when he brought me down, but he doesn’t know the meaning of the concept.”
Lou slammed his brakes on in front of the old abandoned shotgun house that now belonged to Cain. She’d bought it before she’d taken Danny there, wanting to watch the place fall in on itself eventually. It was, like she’d said, the site of her greatest failure, and as long as it stood it reminded her not to let her guard down.
In front, parked haphazardly on the grass, was a beat-up car whose hood was still warm to the touch. Lou ran slightly ahead of them with his gun drawn and kicked open the front door, and Cain saw Lionel standing in the first room. On the table where Marie had met her end, Emma was tied spread-eagle and gagged as Shelby tried to work the knots free on her hands.
“Emma,” Cain said, and slid next to the table. From he
r pocket she took Dalton’s switchblade and cut her hands free and pulled the gag away from her mouth. “Are you okay?” Her face was caked in blood and the wound on her head was still seeping. Lou finished cutting away her bindings so Cain could hold her.
“I’m okay, honey,” Emma said, but clutched Cain as if she’d disappear if she let go. “He didn’t get a chance…” her voice faded away, and Cain didn’t want to hear the end to that statement as much as Emma seemed not to want to say it. “I need to get out of here.”
“I have to get you to a doctor, lass, so calm down.” Cain held her as tight as she dared and exhaled into her hair as she shut her eyes to try to keep the tears from coming. But she couldn’t deny the swell of emotion that actually having Emma in her arms brought from her heart.
“I’m sorry I left the house and let this happen,” Emma said, as if trying to comfort her. “He told me as he was tying me up that he’d killed Merrick. Please tell me that’s a lie.”
“She’s hurt but she’s alive,” Cain said, hoping it was still true. In all the excitement she hadn’t had a chance to call and check on Merrick’s condition. “Lou, give me your gun and bring the car closer.”
“Cain,” Shelby said from the next room, “they’re gone. They ran out the back the moment Lionel and I arrived, and didn’t have time to take Emma with them. If you want, we’ll escort you to the emergency room.”
“I don’t want to go to the emergency room,” Emma said, but as she stood up a sudden gush of blood ran down her legs. “No,” she said as she doubled over.
Cain picked her up and cradled her in her arms and headed for the door. “Muriel, call ahead and see if Sam or Ellie will meet us at the hospital.” As they headed away from the house, Cain promised herself to come back and burn the damn thing down. She needed no more monuments to the past, and the walls of that horror house had seen the last of its share of cruelty aimed at her family.
“Hang in there, lass,” she whispered to a whimpering Emma, “we’re almost there.”
