by Susan Stoker
“Okay.”
Quint hung up the phone he’d been on and swore. Cruz turned his head toward him with raised eyebrows. “Where’s Dax? He needs to get his ass in here. There’s a development.”
Just as the words left Quint’s mouth, Dax walked back in. The knuckles on his left hand were bloody, but no one said a word about it. It was obvious Dax had heard Quint’s words, but he still went straight to Cruz and held out his hand for the phone. Cruz handed it to him immediately.
“Mack?”
“Yeah…here.”
“Okay, hang on, I gotta talk to Quint. He’s got an update for us. We’re getting closer. I swear.”
“I know. I’ll be here when you find me, Daxton.”
Dax muted the phone again and turned to Quint.
“A call just came in on the tip line. I’m going to read you what the caller said.” Quint looked Dax in the eyes. “Keep it locked down, Dax. Mackenzie needs you.”
Dax clenched his teeth. He had no idea how much more he could take. He nodded.
“The caller’s voice wasn’t altered this time. It was a man. He said, and I quote, ‘Jordan Staal here. I hope Ranger Chambers is having a good time talking with his lover. It really was too easy to get to her. He should watch over those he loves better. And that memory of first kiss is gonna have to be enough to tide him over for the rest of his life. Too bad he didn’t fuck her that first night.’”
The room was silent after Quint’s voice faded, until Dax broke it. “That fucker is listening. He put the damn phone in there with her so he could listen to her calling me.”
No one said anything. The level of Staal’s cruelty was becoming clearer as the minutes went by.
The ringing of Cruz’s cell phone broke the heavy atmosphere of the room. “Livingston. Yeah. Got it. Meet at Ranger Company in ten. Out.”
Cruz kept his voice low. “The SRT is ready. We have an address. Fucker screwed up. Gave a different address to the first company he worked at. It’s the same address his wife was reported missing from. It’s him this time. I can feel it. We’re headed out in ten. We’re going to get your woman, Dax.”
Dax nodded once and was on the move before Cruz had finished speaking. Ten minutes, it felt like ten hours. He clicked the phone off mute once again. “Mack?”
“…you find me yet?” Her voice was soft, but steely. It was obvious Mackenzie was scared out of her mind, but she was keeping a lock on it. She was hanging in there, believing he was coming for her.
“We’re working on it.” Dax didn’t want to say anything to alert Staal they were on their way right then to get him. He hated knowing that asshole was listening to his conversation with Mack, but he couldn’t let her know. Dax knew he had to act like he had no idea. Keeping it from Mack made him feel like shit, but he didn’t have a choice. Dax wanted to give her some hope, something to give her so she’d hang on until he could get to her. He took a breath and lobbed a Hail Mary, hoping she’d figure out what he was saying. “Remember when we had that conversation about Christmas, sweetheart?”
“Uh, no.”
“You know, you were telling me about the time Matthew brought you downstairs to the closet and told you that your parents were Santa Claus? You said you cried for a bit until he showed you how to unwrap just the end of the packages so you could see what was inside, then you could close it back up and no one would know you peeked?”
Mackenzie closed her eyes and tried to remember back to any conversation she’d had with Daxton about Christmas… Finally she remembered. They’d been talking about anticipation and how Mackenzie had no patience. She hated knowing she had to wait for something. She’d told Daxton she always preferred to be surprised than to know something was coming. Vacations, presents, holidays…they were all torture, knowing they were coming but not there yet.
“Oh, yeah, I remember now.”
“Well, this is like that.” Dax hoped like hell Mack understood what he so badly was trying to say.
Mackenzie frantically tried to read between the lines of what Daxton was saying. It was obvious he was trying to tell her something. “Okay, Daxton.” She thought about it…she thought he was saying that she had to hold on…have patience because he was on his way. It wouldn’t be a surprise; he was coming. She got that. Mackenzie decided right then and there anticipation wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“Okay, Mack. Cruz has his technicians working as hard as they can. We’ve almost got it. Swear. You just hold on. Baby? I have to put the phone on mute on my end, but I can still hear you. Okay? Just keep talking to me. I can hear you just fine. Whatever you need to say, say it.”
Mackenzie didn’t want Daxton to put her on mute. She wanted to close her eyes and hear the low rumble of his voice as he spoke with her. The silence pressed in on her when he muted his end of the line, making her tomb seem even smaller than it was, but she answered affirmatively anyway. “Okay.”
Mackenzie strained to hear anything on the other end of the line. She heard nothing. The coffin was airtight and completely silent. She started talking to break the silence; she couldn’t just lie there in stillness.
Dax kept his phone at his ear, listening to Mack talk about nothing. Her voice still stuttered in and out, but Dax didn’t care. She was talking, that meant she was breathing. He’d go with it. He opened the door to the garage, nodding in surprise at both Conor and TJ. They’d obviously been granted permission to be part of the entry team. He looked around in approval at the rest of the men assembled. The SRT was ready to go.
“I’ve sent the coordinates to Staal’s house to your GPSs. We’re going in silent. He’s got ears on the phone call between Chambers and Ms. Morgan, so when Dax gives the cue, everyone shut the fuck up. We want to sneak up on him. He can’t know we’re on the way. Got it?” Cruz told the men waiting for the word to go in and arrest a killer.
There were nods all around. Dax put his cell on the trunk of the car in front of him while he shrugged on the bulletproof vest. He wouldn’t be a part of the entry team, once again he’d leave that to Cruz’s people, but there was no way he wasn’t going with them. He grabbed up the phone again and sat down in the front seat of Quint’s patrol car.
Nine minutes. Dax would be able to look Jordan Charles Staal in the face in nine minutes and find out where he’d stashed his woman.
Chapter Sixteen
“Did you cancel…reservations for the hotel in Austin? Cos you can’t…waste the money. Make sure they…charge your card. Once I had a vacation planned…mom got sick…forgot to call and I had…dollar charge. They refused…take it off even…produced the doctor’s bill…mom was sick. Bastards. So it might…seem like a lot, but you shouldn’t let…get away with that shit. When you find me…we go there? It sounded…and I was looking forward…all weekend in bed…you.”
Mackenzie paused and panted. She had no idea if Daxton was even listening to her anymore, but she didn’t stop talking. Even though she was dizzy and her chest hurt to breathe, she didn’t stop.
“I hate math. I don’t know…I just do. I know we need…and…use it all the time but…suck at it. It’s stupid…not that hard. But I just have never…how to do it in my head. I always…the wrong column and end up…the wrong answer. Thank…calculators. Where would we be without…? I use the app…all the time. It’s embarrassing…break it out…day. I must look like…a six…kid.”
Dax listened to Mack ramble on with clenched teeth. Her voice had gotten lower and lower and he hated it. He wanted to tell her to stop talking, to save her breath, and conserve the air in her tomb, but he couldn’t make himself. Every word out of her mouth was being committed to his memory…just in case.
The vehicle stopped on a street in a nice neighborhood in northern San Antonio. The lawns were all well-kept and Dax could even see some people out playing in the yards. It wasn’t the type of neighborhood he expected to see a scumbag like Staal living in. He tapped his phone to unmute it.
; “Mack?”
“Daxton! I’m here, I’m here.”
Dax’s stomach hurt. Of course she was there. Where would she have gone? “I love you. You’re doing great.”
“I…it hurts to breathe.”
Dax shut his eyes. Fuck. “I know, but keep doing it anyway. The forensics team just came in and I’m going to be busy for the next bit, but I’m not hanging up. But don’t talk, baby. You need to save your air. Just relax for a bit, okay?”
“It’s too quiet…ringing in my ears. I don’t…it.”
Knowing he wouldn’t be able to reassure her for at least the next fifteen minutes or so, Dax suggested, “Would it help if I put my phone up to the radio? Then it wouldn’t be quiet and you wouldn’t waste your breath with talking.”
“Yeah, I’d like that. As long as…not the god-awful silence.”
“Okay, sweetheart. You know I love you, right? I’m gonna find you. Soon. You just have to hang on.”
“I’ll try, but…it’s getting hard. If you don’t…me, don’t blame…I wouldn’t change…about loving you. Not one thing. I’ve heard it doesn’t hurt…you know…that I’ll…basically fall asleep… The last thing…about is you. I’ll remember the feel…hands on my body and…lips on mine. Don’t mourn me forever, Daxton. That’s an order.”
Dax swallowed hard, ignoring the heavy hand Quint laid on his shoulder in silent support. “I’ll love you forever, Mack. No one will come close to replacing you in my life and my heart. You’re seriously the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Ever. Hang in there for as long as you can…but if it gets too much and you need to fall asleep…it’s okay. Don’t hang on for me if it hurts. You do what you need to do. I don’t want you in pain. Got it?”
Dax could hear Mack sniff. Her words were just a wisp of sound. “I don’t want to die. I want to live…fifty years with you.”
“I know, Mack. I know. God, baby.” Dax didn’t know what to say. He sure as hell didn’t want her to die either, but right this second, he had no idea how to prevent it. He was completely helpless to do anything for her, other than to try to reassure her.
“I love you, Daxton Chambers.” Her words fortuitously didn’t cut out.
Dax knew he had to get going. “I love you, too. I’m going to let you listen to some eighties music. Okay?” He heard her chuckle.
“Eighties music. What every girl stuck in…coffin wants to hear. It’s fine. Anything…be okay, as long as it’s not silence. Stay safe, Daxton. Don’t…anything stupid.”
Dax whispered his words. “I will. I love you, sweetheart.” He didn’t wait for her response, knowing it would tear his heart right out of his chest if he had to hear one more thing from her. He put his cell on the dash and took Quint’s phone that he held out. He clicked on the music app, pulled up the eighties channel, and waited for the music to start. He placed Quint’s phone face-down on his own, then closed his eyes, kissed his fingers and pressed them to the phones for a moment.
Abruptly he turned from the dashboard of the car and opened his door. He eased the door shut, making sure no sound could be heard over the phone lines, and nodded in approval as Quint did the same thing.
Neither man said a word as they got in position behind the Special Response Team. It was time to catch a rat in its hole…and hopefully pry the location of where he’d stashed Mackenzie out of him before it was too late.
* * *
Dax followed the ten men into the small, nondescript house. They’d used the breaching tool to break down the front door and had swarmed inside, quickly fanning out to find where Staal was hiding. Within seconds, there were shouts from the back of the house. Dax moved that way with Quint and Cruz at his heels and stood in the doorway of what was obviously an office.
Staal was sitting behind three monitors with his hands on his head, grinning. He didn’t bother to look at the officers who were pointing their AR15 rifles at him and ordering him to stand up and turn around. Cruz motioned for the officers to wait. Typically they would’ve grabbed him and cuffed him, but at the moment Staal had the upper hand. They didn’t know if he was armed, and they needed information from him. They’d give him space until they had to make a move. At the moment he didn’t look like a threat to them. They had to get him to talk.
“Well, well, well. Look who finally tracked me down. Took you long enough, Ranger Chambers.”
“Shut the fuck up, Staal. Where is she?”
“Who? Oh…poor little Mackenzie?”
“You know that’s who I’m talking about. Stand up and turn around, asshole.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. You didn’t think the game would be over that soon, did you? You really thought I’d stand up quaking in my boots and tell you where she was? That would ruin the fun now, wouldn’t it?”
“Why are you doing this?” Cruz demanded, impatience in his voice.
“Why not?”
“That’s not a fucking answer, Staal.”
Staal’s voice lost some of its easiness. “You want to know why? Haven’t your precious profilers figured it out yet? Where’d you get them anyway? Profilers-R-Us? They don’t know shit.”
“Why don’t you tell us then?” Dax tried to keep calm, when all he wanted to do was reach across the desk, over the fucking monitors blocking his view, and choke the shit out of the man.
“You ever seen anyone die, Chambers? I mean, not because you shot them from ten feet away, but watched them moment by moment as they took their last breath? It’s absolutely fascinating. If you watch closely enough, you can see the life literally drain from their eyes. I didn’t understand it at first. My mother did though. She made me see.”
“What are you talking about? Come on, stand up, and turn the fuck around.” Quint’s voice was testy.
“Oh, Officer Axton, you have no patience. My mother always told me I was the most patient little boy she’d ever seen. She taught me everything she knew. First, it was my little brother. He wouldn’t shut up, you see. So she had to shut him up. She made me stand in the corner of the room and watch. She put her hand over his mouth and nose. He wiggled a bit and made some grunts, but eventually he quieted. It was beautiful. His little eyes were glazed and staring at the ceiling. I was afraid at first, but mother made me touch him, made me see how beautiful it was.”
“Motherfucker.” The officer standing next to Dax breathed the words almost tonelessly.
“And it was beautiful, but she showed me that doing it that way was too easy. She trained me. She showed me how it worked. She’d hold me down in the tub, making me look her in the eyes as she held me underwater. Just when I didn’t think I could hold my breath anymore, she’d let me up. She went to an estate sale one year and bought a brand-new coffin. It was a piece of beauty. I wish I still had it today…but I’m getting ahead of myself.
“Mother would put me in it and close it up, leaving me there for what seemed like hours on end, but was probably only twenty minutes at a time. She showed me what it meant, how it worked. How beautiful death could be. The more I struggled, the better it was. She got me a birthday present when I was just six years old. We lived in a crappy neighborhood with crackhead parents who didn’t watch their kids. There was a little girl, Dorothy Allen. I’ll never forget her. She trusted me. I told her we were playing a game. She climbed into that coffin all on her own. Mother and I listened as she cried and beat on the lid for two hours. Mother walked me through what was happening. She understood. Finally when the fervor died down and no one cared about finding Dorothy anymore, mother let me open the lid. I’ve never experienced anything like I did with her that first time.”
Dax was appalled. Staal was sicker than they’d imagined. “Where. Is. Mackenzie?” Dax bit the words out, not wanting to hear the filth spewing from Staal’s mouth anymore.
“Calm down, she’s right here, Ranger Chambers.” Staal reached out and turned one of the three computer monitors around until Dax could see what Staal had been watching. It was grain
y, and had a greenish hue to it, but everyone in the room could see what it was. It was Mackenzie. Inside a box.
“She’s beautiful. So much more than any of the others. And I’ve come so far since Mother taught me what she knew. When she couldn’t teach me anything else, I put her in our coffin and listened as she died a beautiful death. I’ve honed my craft. The water gives them hope, makes them hold on just a little bit longer. Prolonging their deaths. I tried using a walkie-talkie, but that didn’t work at all, not enough range. I then found that using a special satellite phone, with extra strength, used by the toughest military teams in the world, was the key.”
Staal leaned over and pushed a button on a small console on his desk. The haunting notes of Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” sounded loud in the room. “Your last words to each other were beautiful. Epic. That’s what I’d been missing with all the others. They died, but no one knew. With Mackenzie, you knew. She knows she’s dying. You know she’s dying. You gave her permission to die. Fucking perfect. You told her to die, Chambers. It’s my masterpiece. A beautiful death. I’ve recorded every second so everyone around the world can watch it as well. Once the media gets ahold of it, I’ll be famous. Mackenzie will be famous. My beautiful death will be famous.”
Staal finally stood up, holding a small pistol pointing straight at Dax.
Dax knew what was going to happen seconds before all hell broke loose. He screamed out, “Nooooooo, hold your fire!”
Just as the men around him opened fire on Jordan Charles Staal.
The smoke in the air was thick and choking. Dax coughed once, then twice as the air slowly cleared around them.
“Steady. Hold your positions!” Cruz yelled out. “Hold your fucking positions!”
Dax moved as if in a trance. He walked past the officers standing with their rifles now pointed at the ground, and around the side of the large desk Staal had been sitting behind. Dax felt as if he were having an out-of-body experience, he couldn’t hear or see anything but Staal’s dead body. He’d fallen backwards with the force of the bullets hitting his body, knocking the chair over in the process. He was lying on his back, arms outspread, blood slowly seeping into the light-blue carpet under Dax’s feet. His legs were propped up on the seat of the tipped-over chair and his eyes were open, staring straight up. The gun, which Dax could now see was a fucking water pistol, lay next to his open hand, mockingly.
