Daddy Defender

by Janie Crouch

  “Phillip has a mind like a computer. He can spot traffic deviations and dangers before I could ever begin to see them. If something is going down near us while we’re driving, he’s a good person to have around.”

  “Okay.” Summer felt better. Kind of.

  “Unless he gets on the radio and starts talking about the need for a revolution. Dude is a fanatic about how law enforcement needs to evolve in order to stay ahead.”

  Thankfully the ride to the airport was uneventful except for Chloe’s irritation at being kept awake. But once she was given free rein to toddle down the airport hallways, she perked up again.

  Summer checked them in and true to his word, Tyrone walked them through security all the way to the gate. Summer gave the man a hug and Chloe blew him goodbye kisses as they walked down the corridor and onto the plane, one of the first ones on since they needed the extra time to get situated.

  She attached Chloe’s car seat to the seat next to her and put Chloe in it, immediately giving her a sippy cup and cereal to feed herself. Then she sat back and watched as the other people loaded onto the plane.

  Something ached in Summer’s chest. A worry about Ashton. She knew how talented the Omega SWAT team was but just couldn’t shake the bad feeling she had in the pit of her stomach.

  Ashton had to be okay. He had to.

  She reached partway over Chloe to look out the window. She felt a tear leak from her eye before her daughter’s tiny hand reached up and caught it on her cheek.

  “Ah-ta,” Chloe said soberly.

  Summer kissed her forehead. “Yes, Ah-ta. We’ll see him soon.”

  The rest of the people boarded and Summer prepared for the flight—and days—ahead. Days without Ashton.

  Then an announcement came from the front.

  “Summer Worrall, if you’re onboard the plane, please press your flight attendant call button.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Summer pressed the call button, wondering what in the world was going on. Soon two flight attendants made their way back to her.

  “Ma’am, there’s a federal agent back in the terminal that has asked that you come off the plane. We can help you with the baby and your luggage.”

  Tyrone? “Was it a tall, African-American man? Young?”

  The female shrugged, giving her a sympathetic smile. “I don’t know. I’m sorry. They just called it down to us.”

  Something must have happened. Maybe they already caught Curtis Harper and Ashton was trying to keep her from leaving.

  Her stomach clenched again. Or maybe something really bad had happened.

  “Okay,” she told them as she began to unhook Chloe from the car seat. One of the flight attendants got her suitcase from the overhead bin and the other carried the car seat while Summer made her way back up the aisle, feeling everyone’s eyes watching her.

  It wasn’t often someone was escorted off a plane right before it was scheduled to take off.

  When they got to the terminal, it wasn’t Tyrone waiting for her or even the creepy Phillip Carnell, it was a different middle-aged man. He looked vaguely familiar. She must have seen him at Omega sometime the last couple of days.

  “Where’s Tyrone?”

  The man shifted just slightly. “He was called away to a scene so Ashton Fitzgerald asked me to escort you.” He pulled out a badge and ID that looked just like Ashton’s. “I’m Agent Jennings. We need you to come back to Omega Sector immediately.”

  “Is Ashton okay? Did something happen?” She still couldn’t shake the bad feeling she had in the pit of her stomach.

  “Honestly, ma’am, I’m not sure exactly what is going on right now. If you want, I can radio once we get to the car and see if I can get any information for you.”

  She nodded. “That would be great.”

  Refusing to let herself think the worst, she walked back through the airport with the agent. Chloe was already beginning to fall asleep on her shoulder, a dead weight, but thankfully Agent Jennings carried her suitcase and the car seat.

  “I’ll hook the seat in for you, ma’am,” Agent Jennings said at the car. “I’ve had two of my own go through the car-seat age.”

  Summer smiled, thankful. She slipped her phone out of her purse. She knew Agent Jennings said he would ask through official channels when they got in the car, but if she could just text with Ashton, know he was okay, maybe it would ease this sick feeling in her stomach.

  I know you probably can’t talk. I just need to know if you’re okay.

  She sent the text. He probably didn’t even have his cell phone with him. She remembered what he looked like in his SWAT gear. Personal cell phones probably weren’t part of the equipment the team took with them.

  “Do you want to put her in the seat or do you want me to?” Agent Jennings asked.

  She smiled at him. “I’ll do it. Hopefully I can keep her asleep. I’ll sit in the back with her, too, if that’s okay.”

  “Smart.” The other man smiled back, looking so familiar to her.

  “Did we meet at Omega in the last couple of days? It’s been so crazy. I don’t mean to be rude,” she asked as she slid Chloe into the car seat, careful not to wake her.

  “We met but it was very briefly. I don’t expect you to remember me.”

  Her phone buzzed in her hand.

  Hasn’t your plane already taken off? You shouldn’t be using a cell while in flight you know. Talk to you soon.

  Relief flooded Summer. Ashton was safe.

  “Was that Agent Fitzgerald?”

  She nodded. “Yes. He’s fine. I was worried. It’s been a stressful couple of days.”

  The agent smiled. “Did you tell him you were off the plane and I was bringing you in?”

  “No.” Summer shook her head. “He was actually fussing at me for...”

  She trailed off. Fussing at her for using her cell phone on the plane. Where he thought she was. Summer suddenly realized what a mistake she’d made. She’d been so worried about Ashton’s safety she hadn’t even stopped to think that he wouldn’t have sent someone she didn’t know without preparing her. Especially if he had access to his phone.

  She turned and looked at Agent Jennings, who was now standing right behind her.

  But he wasn’t really an agent at all, was he?

  It came to her. “You’re the man from the woods last night.” He looked different. His hair was lighter, thinner. His eyebrows were bushier. But it was definitely him.

  He shrugged. “Like I said, you only met me very briefly. I don’t expect you to remember me.”

  She felt a sharp pinch in her arm and realized he’d injected her with something.

  “What do you want?” The world began spinning around her. Summer grasped the car to keep from falling.

  “To use you as bait.”

  It was the last thing she heard before everything faded to blackness.

  * * *

  THE FIRST THING Summer knew when she woke up was that she wasn’t in a car. She was lying on some sort of couch. An old, dirty, smelly one. She sat straight up, moaning and grabbing her head as dizziness and nausea assailed her. She realized her hands were tied in front of her with a zip tie.

  “Careful there, Summer. The effects of benzodiazepine can be pretty long lasting. You’ll probably be dizzy for several hours.”

  It was the man who had called himself Agent Jennings. The one who had tried to kill her in the woods last night.

  “Where’s Chloe?” she croaked the words out, struggling to open her eyes to look for her daughter.

  “Right next to you in her car seat. I thought it better to keep her strapped in. Not that she’ll be waking up for a while.”

  “What did you do to her?” Summer could see her now, a few feet away. Sh
e tried to stand but found her hands tied to the couch by a longer piece of rope. “Did you drug her?”

  “Your daughter has only been given diphenhydramine, Ms. Worrall. There won’t be any long-lasting effects from that but should keep her sleeping for a few hours.” The man narrowed his eyes at her. “I’m sure you’d prefer that anyway.”

  Summer struggled to push through the fog in her head. Diphenhydramine. That was an allergy medicine. Benadryl. It shouldn’t have lasting ill effects on Chloe. Just cause her to have a nice long nap.

  If the man was telling the truth. At this point, Summer just had to pray he was.

  But he was correct about one thing: Summer would prefer Chloe be asleep as long as possible until she figured out how to get out of this. She could see Chloe’s little chest moving as she breathed. That was enough for now.

  “What do you want? Why are we here?”

  “I’m about to give you to Curtis Harper as part of the grand plan for him to get his revenge on your boyfriend.”

  None of this made any sense. “But last night you were about to kill us in the woods. Why don’t you have a gun pointed at me now?”

  “Oh I do. It’s just a different sort.”

  Summer wasn’t sure what that meant but knew it wasn’t good.

  She heard loud music blaring from a car outside as it pulled up. Most of the windows in this house were knocked out and it looked like it hadn’t been occupied in years. The couch she was attached to had definitely seen better days.

  “Ah, here’s Mr. Harper now. I’ll just go ahead and apologize for him. He’s a little difficult to bear.”

  “Alright, Damien. I’m here. What’s your brilliant plan?”

  The younger man came storming into the house, half tearing the door off the hinges, obviously not caring how much noise he made. This house—such as it was—definitely must be pretty isolated.

  “Here’s the lovely Ms. Worrall and her daughter. All that you need to get Agent Fitzgerald out here alone.”

  “You really think he’ll fall for that?”

  Freihof smiled at Summer. “Oh most definitely.” He stood from the dusty armchair where he’d been sitting. “But don’t worry, I’m not going to leave you alone to deal with him.”

  Harper walked farther into the room, leering at Summer in a way that had her flinching back from him. “You won’t?”

  “No, I’ll be outside with a gun trained on Fitzgerald. All you have to do is lead him into this room and right next to the couch. From there, I’ll be able to take him out. You’ll finally have your revenge.”

  “What about Summer here?”

  Freihof smiled. “You can do whatever you like with her.”

  Summer felt revulsion rip through her as Harper took a step closer. She realized this was the man who had broken into her house. “You touch me and I’ll break your nose again like Ashton did. I don’t need him here to do that.”

  Harper’s eyes lit with fury, but at least he stopped moving toward her.

  Summer wanted to point out all the flaws in this plan to Harper and Freihof. Ashton wasn’t going to come alone, he was part of a SWAT team, for heaven’s sake. They worked together to secretly infiltrate places and rescue hostages for a living. Did Harper really think Ashton wouldn’t bring the team just because Harper wanted it that way?

  The Omega team might not walk through the door with Ashton, but Summer had no doubt they’d be around.

  Summer studied the two men. Freihof knew. Harper may not be smart enough to see the holes in the plan, but Freihof did.

  Freihof was creating the holes.

  Creating discord between the two of them was probably her best bet.

  “He’s playing you, Harper.” She turned to the younger man. “Think it through. You’re the one in here with a member of SWAT, probably a whole team of SWAT.” She stuck her thumb toward Freihof. “He’ll be outside, easily able to get away.”

  Freihof’s eyes narrowed at her. “Probably best to stop talking now, Ms. Worrall.”

  “Why? Because I’m smart enough to see what he can’t? That you’re using him to—”

  Freihof walked swiftly over and backhanded her. Dizziness assaulted her again as she fell onto the filthy couch.

  “You’re just trying to save your lover’s life. Curtis won’t fall for your lies.”

  “But she’s right,” Harper said. “I’m the one left here. The one taking all the chances.”

  Freihof walked over and put his arm around Harper. “She’s just trying to save herself and Fitzgerald. To make things more complicated than they need to be.”

  Summer wanted to argue further, to try to make Harper see what was really going on, but she was afraid Freihof would hurt her, or worse, threaten to hurt Chloe.

  “With this plan, you’ll get to be up close and personal when Fitzgerald dies,” Freihof continued. “Your face will be the last thing he sees. His body will fall in your father’s house like we talked about.”

  Harper’s smile became wider. “Yes, I like the sound of that.”

  Freihof squeezed his shoulder. “And we’re a team, you and I. We’ve been in this together since day one. You can trust me to take care of Fitzgerald. You can trust me to take care of everything.”

  “Okay. I trust you, Damien. And Fitzgerald will finally get what he deserves.”

  Freihof smiled. “All you need to do is lead him over to the couch. I’ll have a clean shot from there and will take care of the rest. Look, I even got these so we’ll be able to communicate with each other.”

  He pulled out two communication earpieces and handed one to Harper. “So we’ll be able to talk through it and make sure everything is going according to plan.”

  Harper visibly relaxed. Obviously Freihof had regained the younger man’s trust. “That will be pretty cool. Like a movie and stuff.”

  “Exactly. Like a movie and stuff. You do your part of the job and trust that I’ll do mine.”

  “What about her?” Harper looked over at Summer.

  “I suggest you gag her, first off, so she doesn’t warn Fitzgerald. But once he’s gone, really you can do whatever you want with her.”

  Summer shuddered as Harper looked her over.

  “Okay. I’ll call Fitzgerald. It’s a good day for him to die.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  The woman—her name was Tamara Snell—was dead long before SWAT ever arrived at her apartment building. But due to the pandemonium, they hadn’t realized it for a while.

  911 had received multiple calls about a gun being fired in Tamara’s building. Most callers couldn’t give an exact apartment number, but one person had. The same guy who had said he saw Ms. Snell’s abusive ex-boyfriend holding her hostage.

  Well, there was no abusive ex-boyfriend around now and Tamara was definitely dead. Shot twice in the chest.

  The SWAT team had established a normal hostage situation perimeter. After a bit of reconnaissance, Ashton had determined his best angle for a sniper shot, if needed, would be across the street out on the fire escape of another set of apartments. After communicating with the team where he was going, he got into place and waited.

  And waited.

  He listened as Derek Waterman attempted to make contact through the victim’s cell phone. No one picked up. And nothing—no movement, no light—could be seen behind the thick curtains covering Tamara’s windows.

  When both a visual and audio wire probe under the door obtained no results, everyone began to fear the worst. When a second probe through the apartment upstairs had shown a shot woman on the ground, the team had immediately breached the door.

  They’d been too late. Way too late to help Tamara Snell.

  Local investigators would come in from here and take over. Ashton was just a little pissed t
hat they’d come all the way out here and hadn’t been able to do a damn thing to help. Especially when he could’ve delivered Summer and Chloe to the airport himself.

  Then he’d gotten her text.

  I know you probably can’t talk. I just need to know if you’re okay.

  Ashton had shaken his head. It was nice that she was worried about him. But she should’ve already been in the air by then. The flight must have been delayed.

  Hasn’t your plane already taken off? You shouldn’t be using a cell while in flight you know. Talk to you soon.

  He hadn’t heard back from her again, so she must’ve started following airline rules and put her phone away.

  Lillian and Roman met him at the SWAT truck.

  “Her ex-boyfriend must have run out immediately after he shot her,” Roman said. “Because that scene was about as cold as any hostage situation I’ve ever been to.”

  “I’m no profiler.” Lillian shrugged. “But generally, domestic violence cases are more personal in their violence. Yeah, the vic was tied up and yeah, she was shot. But there were hardly any other marks on her.”

  Ashton shrugged. Lillian was right, domestic cases tended to be some of the most brutal ones they worked. But he was glad the victim hadn’t suffered a great deal before she died.

  The locals would be taking over the investigation from here. Omega SWAT had been called because they were best at first response, but now it would be taken over by the Colorado Springs detectives.

  “Let’s get back to HQ.” Derek shook his head as he walked toward him. “There’s nothing we can do here.”

  Everyone helped secure the equipment and soon they were on their way back.

  “Anybody heard about any action happening anywhere else?” Derek leaned back against his seat as they drove down the highway.

  “Like, trouble?” Lillian asked.

  “Yeah.”

  Everybody doubled checked their phones to be sure.

  “No, nothing,” Lillian said first, then looked around. “Anyone else?”

  “What’s up, Derek?” Roman asked from the driver’s seat.

  “911 dispatch said the man who called this in said Tamara Snell’s violent ex-boyfriend was back. Had a gun and was holding her hostage. That’s why we were called rather than just the locals. A number of other 911 calls confirmed that shots had been fired.”