by Seton, Cora
“I’ll go to the bank today, pay off Smith, and my parents will probably know by tomorrow.” She shook her head. “I would hope that I could get through one last Christmas with them… I don’t think it’ll happen, though.”
“I wish I could get you to stay.”
“They’re going to hate me, Jesse. I really don’t want to stick around for that.”
“Family will never hate you.”
“If only that were true,” she replied.
Charlie’s phone rang in the silence of the early morning, and the door swinging open next to us followed it. Mrs. Morgan all but flew out of it. “Charlie! Thank goodness!” She ran down the steps and straight into Charlie’s arms, pulling her tightly against her. “Oh, my goodness. I was so worried.”
“What’s wrong, Mom? I told you I would be next door.” Charlie glanced at me briefly, worry and concern swirling inside her dark eyes. She embraced her mother, trying to sooth the emotionally wrecked woman.
“It’s Damien. He’s missing.”
“What?” Charlie’s face paled. “What do you mean, missing?”
“He never came home. He called and said he was staying at Fred’s house last night. But Fred’s mother called this morning, and asked me why I kept Damien home!” Sylvia Morgan’s face was wrecked, not by tears, but fear and panic.
“And you checked everywhere? All his usual places?”
Her mother nodded. “Yes, of course.”
“Okay, Mom. I’ll go out and look. Call the police and talk to them about Damien. I’ll go check out all his usual haunts and see if I can’t find him, okay?”
Sylvia wiped under her eyes, drying away the tears that had obviously been coming a while. She shook her head. “But it isn’t like Damien to not call. He always calls.”
I could see the rigidness of Charlie’s body. Tension and worry rolled through her. I swallowed, knowing the conclusion that Charlie was already coming to. “Where would he go on his own?” I asked.
“All over the town, really,” Mrs. Morgan sniffled, turning red, puffy eyes on me. “He hangs out at the garage sometimes. He’s quite fond of the cars. Sometimes, he likes the theater. Or the park.” A strained shudder rumbled over her. “Where could he be that he didn’t call?”
“We’ll find him, Mom,” Charlie said. She was remarkably calm on the exterior. One had to look close to see the tension. And since I’d spent an entire night getting to know her body, I’d have considered myself an expert at that point. “Go, call the police. Okay?”
Sylvia nodded. “Where are you going?”
Charlie stiffened. “I’m going to drive around and check out his usual places.”
“Okay,” her mother replied. “Yes, call. I should call.”
Charlie watched her mother as she went back up the steps, and then turned around and headed for her Jeep.
“Where are you going?” I called after her.
“To find my brother.”
I grabbed her wrist as she threw open her door and whirled her around. “It’s dangerous.”
“That’s why I have to go,” she said, pulling her wrist away. She got in the vehicle. I sighed, and ran around to the other side and got in. She stared at me. “What are you doing?”
“Someone’s got to have your back.”
“I don’t need help.”
“Never go into a situation without backup, Chuckles.” That was always Rule One. No matter how easy or safe it looked, you always had to have someone nearby.
“This is my brother, Jesse.”
“I know. Even more important to have someone around.”
She stared at me for several long seconds before she nodded. “Fine. I have to stop by the bank first.”
I buckled up as she peeled away from the curb. Silence fell around us, except for the roar of her engine, and the wind as we raced down the county road.
Finally, she spoke again. “I’m scared,” she whispered. “My brother is missing. And it’s my fault.”
“No. They’ll find him.” I kept my voice low and gentle. I could see the panic simmering just below the surface. Fear of never seeing her brother again. Fear of being rejected by her adopted family. Fear made a person do funny things. Fear made a person reckless. And right now, fear was making Charlie very, very reckless.
Chapter Fifteen
Charlene
‡
Getting my money from the bank was a production. They wouldn’t do twenty thousand in one day, so I took out five thousand. I sent Smith a text message and then he returned with an address. I frowned at the answering text on my screen. The old church. Why would he be in the old church? Unless that’s where he found Damien. It was one of Damien’s favorite places to hide when he was upset.
While I was in the bank, I made that phone call to Jason, and told him where I’d be if I disappear. It took some pleading to get him to let me do it. It wasn’t standard police procedure, so Jason naturally had trouble with the concept.
“I don’t like it,” he’d said. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Jesse’s with me,” I told him. There was a long pause on the other side, so I continued. “I’ll be fine. No one might even be there.”
“Jesse’s not going to let you in there, either.”
“He’s not in charge of me,” I replied.
“Fine. Just wait for backup to get there if you’re dead set on going in.”
“I’m not waiting, Jason. I’m going to get my brother.” If I waited for police, they’d never let me in. I needed to be there when my brother was rescued. I needed to watch Smith fall. I needed all that like I needed my next breath.
“Charlie—”
I ended the call. He’d just try to delay me now, and I was ready to end this. Yeah, it was a little stupid not letting the police handle this, but I’d had it drilled into me as a child that the police couldn’t account for everything. Bad guys didn’t have rules, didn’t care about keeping people safe, so police were fighting with one hand tied back. I didn’t have that problem, either.
Jesse was waiting in my Jeep still, when I went back outside. He slid his phone back in his pocket, and took the bag of money from me when I got in, setting it down in the floor board. It was hard to keep it all from him. I’d wanted to keep it honest… but he’d have tried to stop me. And one way or another, I was going in and I was going to get my brother back.
“So, what’s your plan?” He asked. How could he be so calm? So collected? Inside, I was such a mess. So scared, and worried, and afraid.
“Plan?” I laughed, hoping the nervous laugh covered my lying ass. “I’m going to throw money at him and hope he takes pity on me.”
His eyes regarded me closely. I knew he didn’t agree with my decision, but I didn’t know what else to do. I needed my brother to be safe, and I needed Nick Smith out of my life. If that meant I had to give up my life in the process, then that would be what I did.
“Where are you meeting him?”
Normally, I met him in the alley behind the bar I worked at. But there, Smith had the advantage. It was a small area, and he was much bigger than I was. The church was unknown territory. At least, for him. I’d been there a lot. It had been one of my favorite places to hide when I first came to Sugar Falls. I think maybe I’d been the one to turn Damien onto it.
“Charlie?”
I glanced at Jesse. “What?”
“Where are you meeting him?”
“Um, the church. The old church.” Between the cops, the old busybodies, and the general gossip mill, there weren’t a lot of places someone could stay unnoticed. And every time I’d called Smith for pickup, he’d given me a time within twenty minutes. That meant he was sticking close to the town. Had he been at the church the whole time?
“So you’re just going to go barreling in with no plan?”
“If you have something to say, Jesse, just say it.”
“I just want you to be safe.”
I shook my head. “You don’t get it. That�
��s my brother that’s missing. And I know Smith has him. So, I’m going to get him back.”
“And if he kills you in the process, who will save your brother?”
I slid my gaze to him. “My incredibly sexy boyfriend?”
“Is that what I am? Your boyfriend?”
“Well, maybe. If you want to be.”
He didn’t say anything for a minute, which notched up my nerves to a new level of anxiety. “Smith is dangerous. You need to call the police.”
I put the Jeep in gear and pulled out from my parking spot. “That’s taken care of.”
“Oh,” he said. He looked surprised. “So… why again are you going?”
“I have to.”
“Just let the police get him.”
I stopped at the street light and looked at him. “Jesse, as a SEAL, do you have rules to follow? I mean, in combat?”
“What do you mean?”
The light turned green, so I accelerated down the road. “The thing about people like Smith is that they don’t follow any core set of ethics or morals. They don’t have them. So while a SEAL wouldn’t hold a child hostage, a guy like Smith would.”
“Chuckles, I have seen some truly awful things. A guy like Smith doesn’t even hit the list. Now,” he sighed. “I’m sticking with you. If you’re going to insist on being stupid and going in there alone, then I will go with you.”
“Jesse—”
“Don’t. I know that you’re going to pack up and leave as soon as your brother is safe. I don’t care. This is where my rules come in. I will never walk away from someone that I love.”
Stunned, I turned the next right and kept driving. He’d said that he loved me before, but it seemed more real now. He’d said it so matter-of-factly that I’d almost missed it. “Jesse, now isn’t the time to discuss this.”
God, I was losing my mind trying to keep my heart from engaging, and he was sitting here aggravating it further, making it more difficult to say goodbye.
“Now is the perfect time.”
I turned the next left again and pressed my foot down on the gas. “You’re not going to be here either, are you? After Christmas, you’re going to pack up your clothes and you’re going to be gone, back to your glamorous life of being a SEAL.” I wasn’t sure if it was actually glamorous, but it sounded good coming out of my head.
“You could come with me.”
The sentence seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere. And I didn’t have time to answer him because we turned onto the road that led to the church. This wasn’t the current church everyone used. This was the old abandoned one, with the messed up structural supports that had barely survived the last tornado. I pulled up to it and stopped, staring ahead at the building.
I got out of the car slowly. Jesse followed suit. I stared up at the building, suddenly feeling the courage and anger I’d had bleed away, leaving only fear behind.
“We should wait for the police.”
“And by the time they get here, if he’s in there, if my brother is in there, they’ll be long gone.” I turned toward Jesse. “You don’t have to come in.” I grabbed the bag from the seat and clutched it to me tightly.
“Someone’s got to keep your crazy ass safe.” His hands were in his pockets. He didn’t take them out as we stepped toward the building. My feet were heavy and sluggish with fear as I took each step up to the front door. Maybe it would have been better to sneak in one of the back doors, but I couldn’t fathom trying to do it. No, Smith needed to know that I wasn’t afraid of him, and the best way I could think of was to walk in the front door.
Maybe he had an army inside waiting for me. Maybe they’d shoot me on site. But considering he’d never shown up with goons in the past, I had my doubts. Was he working alone, siphoning money from unsuspecting family of his debtors? Maybe he was double-dipping, taking money from both me and Brent. Then why had Brent sent me the necklace? There was something in that necklace, or rather, about it that was important. It was a strange thing to think of right then, but the idea was there. Why had Brent sent me the necklace?
I turned the door knob, and gently pushed open the front door. It creaked loudly as it opened into the dark church. The building really wasn’t that bad off, but the church had decided a new church was ultimately cheaper than rebuilding the old one. It was really dark inside, especially since the windows were boarded up.
Weren’t there horror movies with beginnings like this? I reached behind me and latched on to Jesse’s hand, holding his tightly in mine. He didn’t say anything, but he let me keep him close. I was starting to wonder if I hadn’t made a big mistake in not listening to him.
A bright light appeared and that was when I realized that Jesse had at least been smarter than me and grabbed the flashlight from my Jeep. He flashed it around, but there was no one here. The whole place smelled of old wood and dust.
He glanced at me, his features super defined by the shadows the flashlight created. “What do you want to do?”
I sighed. “Let’s look around a little bit more. Maybe the office. I have a feeling.”
“Okay,” he replied. No hesitation. Were all SEALs like that? Simply accepting of the situation at hand? No questions? He’d been full of them before, trying to keep me from this building.
I made my way to the pastor’s old office, Jesse’s hand in mine. That was when Jesse grabbed me and pulled me to the side. The flashlight went out. “Wait.”
“What?”
“Look at the bottom of the door.”
There was a light on the other side of the door, and movement. My breathing was ragged, shallow. He really was here. “What should I do?” I asked for the first time, but I had put myself in a place that was so far out of my element.
There was shuffling beyond us, and Jesse tensed. He turned on the flashlight and the light fell on a woman. Her features were obscured by the darkness of the church, and her voice echoed as she spoke. A woman’s voice echoed. “I think the two of you should go in. Now.”
Jesse kept a careful, tight hold on my hand as his light fell on her gun. His face was impassive, not even blinking at the brightness of the light. Instead, he pushed open the door behind us, and we walked in together.
Chapter Sixteen
Jesse
‡
We entered the room, and suddenly, I was wishing I’d kept Charlie home, sitting by our fireplace, watching the Christmas lights blink. Or maybe hanging out at my house, trying to avoid the mistletoe in the house in case Coby was around. Not here, where there was nothing Christmas-like about this room.
I’d been in a lot of dark and scary places in my life, but this one was… dim and dreary. There was a scratched up desk against one wall. It was the pastor’s desk, or rather the old one. He had a shiny new one these days, at the new church that didn’t at all smell of death and darkness.
“Glad you could join us, Charlene,” Smith said. He stood not too far from us. A portable light illuminated the room, enough that I could see the occupant of the only chair in the room.
“Damien!” Charlie breathed.
“Charlie!” He started to get up, but one look from his captors and he sunk back into his chair in silence, but his eyes remained on his sister. Okay, the brother was okay. I slid my hand into my pocket, around my phone. All I had to do was hit the call button. The number was already dialed. I slid my thumb over the screen and heard the soft, almost inaudible click.
Rage fumed from Charlie as she turned to see the other two people in the room. I recognized Smith, but the woman standing next to him wasn’t from Sugar Falls that I knew of. Charlie’s face had reddened, a small vein beginning to protrude from her forehead.
“We had an agreement, Nick,” she said. “You said you’d leave my family out of it.”
“It was a little extra insurance. There’s a lot of money on the line. You’re early, I’m hoping this bodes well.”
“I couldn’t… They wouldn’t let me take the whole amount out,” she sai
d.
Smith sighed. “Tell me you’re not going to be late, Charlene. I don’t like late.”
Charlie glanced at Damien, the turmoil in her eyes easy to see. “I’ll get your money. It’s just going to take a few extra days because of the holiday.” She glanced at Damien. “Let me take my brother home. I promise you’ll get your money.”
“No.” The woman’s voice echoed, low and flat in the silent room. Who was she?
Charlie’s eyes flitted over her, narrowed and suspicious. “Threatening my family will not get you money any faster. I can’t take out all that money at once. Just give me a few days.”
“I said, no,” the woman repeated. She strode over Damien and grabbed the kid by the arm. She pulled him against her as he yelped and produced a knife she held in front of him. “The money, now.”
Smith took a few small steps to stand close to Charlie. I’d remained quiet until now, and continued to do so, only because I was waiting for the right moment. If I tried to take control at this point, the kid would suffer. I should have called the police. I knew that, but it was too late to change that.
Smith leaned over Charlie. “She’s a feisty one, Charlene. You get that from her.”
Charlie’s sharp inhale echoed in the room. She didn’t speak otherwise.
Smith circled her, obviously trying to bait her. “Brent was smart enough to give you up all those years ago, but not smart enough to keep your whereabouts under wraps.”
“You’re lying,” Charlie growled.
“I really thought you’d just lie down and take it. That’s what most of you little sheep do.”
Anger began to build inside me as the pieces fell into line. But they were falling faster for Charlie.
Charlie took a breath. “I’m the mark. Of course I am.”
“Charlie?” Damien’s voice was shaky as he was held.
She glanced at him and then back to Smith. “It’s okay, Damien. I’m here.”
Her phone chirped with a message. Smith frowned. “What’s that?”
“My phone. It’s probably my parents wondering where I am. It is Christmas Eve, after all.” She was far too calm. I was not used to seeing this side of her, the confidence, the sheer comfort with which she conducted herself.
