by Julia Derek
As she heard how Larry and the others were leaving the living room, heading toward the hallway, she brought her knees up to her chest, which made the bed come several inches off the floor. She contracted her abdominals as hard as she could so that the bed rose another inch, then straightened her legs as quickly as she could back to flat on the floor. The bed caused a loud thudding sound as it crashed back down, landing in its original position.
Exhausted after the extreme effort, she inhaled deeply through her nostrils and heard how the footfalls in the hallway stopped.
“What the hell was that?” Larry’s voice said.
“It sounded like it came from the bedroom,” Juarez said. Footfalls sounded, nearing the bedroom and stopped a few feet away from the bed.
“I think something happened with the bed,” Cho said. There was some sound, and then Wil’s eyes connected with those of Larry, who had gone down on all fours next to the bed and was staring at her.
“Wil’s under the bed,” he said and reached for her. She felt his hands on her leg and arm, and he pulled her out. As soon as she was out in the open, he removed the gag from her mouth.
Gasping for breath, she said in a hoarse voice, “If you didn’t see them leave the building when you came, they’re in the basement. You need to go down there. He has a gun.”
“Juarez,” Larry said and sprang to his feet with impressive agility for a middle-aged guy who complained his best cop days were behind him. “Come with me. Cho, untie Wil, then come down and help us. We only have two more minutes before the deadline is over. We need to get this guy before it’s too late.”
As Larry and Juarez dashed out of the room, Cho dove to the floor and flipped Wil on her side. She could feel him tearing at the clothing and towels Trevor had used to tie her up with. Only seconds later, she was free to move her wrists and ankles again. She made circular motions with her hands and feet, feeling the blood stream into her limbs, awakening them.
“Here,” Cho said and extended a hand at her at the same time as he shot to his feet.
She took his hand and let him pull her up into a standing position.
“You okay?” he asked her, peering at her with slanted, dark eyes.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied. “Do you have an extra gun?”
He bent over and pulled out a gun from a holster around his lower leg, handing it to her.
“Let’s go,” she said and nodded to the doorway. They needed to get down and help Larry and Juarez. Cho took off and she set after him, her legs feeling wobbly. With all that she had she forced herself to maintain balance.
They ran out of the apartment and down the stairs. It struck her that the reason she hadn’t noticed Trevor as he came after her earlier must be because he’d come from the basement in that same moment. Not only had he spotted her as she’d entered the building when he left the basement, but he had also heard her talking to Larry on her cell, giving herself away. He must have planned on going down there all along and had been checking something there when Wil had entered. If Larry and the others didn’t see Trevor and the kids come out of the building, they had to be in the basement.
The sound of a gunshot rang through the stairwell then, followed by two more, and Wil’s blood froze.
Oh, please don’t let that be shots from Trevor’s gun, Wil prayed and picked up her pace, the hair at the back of her neck having gone erect. She and Cho were on the bottom floor now and spotted the entrance to the basement a floor down. It was eerily quiet around them now.
They rushed down the short flight of stairs. Placing her back against the side of the basement door that wasn’t fully closed, Wil rolled around the doorway and kicked the door open all the way. Standing wide apart, she pointed her gun into the darkness. Touching the wall at the side of the door, she felt for a light switch. Much to her surprise, she found one that she flipped and the basement was suddenly bathing in light.
She spotted a man on his back on the ground and another crawling beside him. A third was standing in front of the others, his back turned to her and Cho.
Just as she was about to call out Larry’s name, the man turned around and she saw who it was.
* * *
Chapter 46
It was Larry, thankfully, and there was a gun in his hand. Wil felt all the tension that had gathered in her body subside, and she exhaled, lowering her gun. She realized then that it was Trevor lying face-up on the floor, and Juarez getting up on all fours beside him. For a brief moment, Wil had been sure it was Trevor who was standing with his back to them—he and Larry wore similar clothes today, and Larry had on a hat that covered his dark head. Wil rushed up to Larry and Juarez, who was now squatting beside the sprawling Trevor. There was some blood seeping out around the blond man, turning the stone floor red. Juarez’s fingers went to the side of the blond man’s neck.
“He’s still alive,” Juarez said as he shot them a quick glance. “We need to get an ambulance here.”
Larry radioed in two ambulances, one for Trevor and one for Anna and Luis. Wil discovered that the two small children were sitting in a corner farther into the basement, looking scared and confused at the same time.
Wil rushed up to the kids and squatted in front of them. “How are you?” she asked Luis, placing her hands around both children’s shoulders.
“Fine,” he answered and tried to peer around her. “What’s wrong with Uncle Trevor? What’s he doing on the ground? Is he sick? Why did he become so mean and tie us up? Why did he take us from Mommy?”
“Because Uncle Trevor is a bad man,” Wil explained, ruffling the boy’s dark locks. “But he can’t be mean to you anymore. Wanna go see your mommy? She’s outside and I know she really wants to see you.”
“Mommy,” Anna said then, finally looking like she wasn’t in shock any longer. “I want to see Mommy.”
Wil got to her feet, picking up Anna into her arms. When she had situated the girl around her left hip, she extended a hand to Luis. He grabbed it and walked with her and Anna to the basement exit. The little girl was sucking her thumb, while Luis was looking around wherever he could. Wil did her best to stay far away from Trevor on the ground as she passed the others.
As the three of them left the basement, they nearly crashed into Kate, who was about to enter the basement. The tall redhead stopped dead in her tracks when she saw who was at the side of Wil’s hip, and at the end of her free hand.
“Luis! Anna!” she called out, opening her arms. Wil handed over Anna to the woman as Luis ran up and hugged Kate’s legs. Holding onto Anna, Kate sank to her haunches so that she could hug Luis and both toddlers disappeared into her embrace. She squeezed them hard, kissing their heads. “Mommy was so worried about you two. Are you okay?”
“Mommy,” Anna said in response, burrowing her face into Kate’s shoulder. Kate placed a protective hand on the little girl’s head, then looked at Luis, who seemed less distraught. “Are you okay, Luis?”
“Yes, Mommy. We’re fine now. Uncle Trevor was mean to us. He tied us up and put things in our mouths so we couldn’t talk. Why was he so mean to us? Have we been bad?”
Kate hugged the boy closer and kissed his head. “No, Luis. You have been a great boy. Both you and Anna have been great. Uncle Trevor is the one who’s been bad. He’s a very bad person, but he can’t hurt you any longer. Everything is going to be okay now. I promise.”
Wil placed a hand on Kate’s shoulder. “Let’s take them out of here,” she said quietly. “Take them to one of the cars and wait for an ambulance. They need to go to the hospital for a check-up just in case.”
Kate nodded and got to her feet. She took Luis’s hand. “Come on, Luis. We’re going out to sit in a car for a little while.”
“Okay,” the boy said and took her hand. As the three of them left the basement, Wil turned to Larry, who had joined a standing Juarez. The shorter man looked a bit ashen and clammy, and Wil realized he had been hit somewhere in his upper right side. The shirt underneath his lea
ther jacket was red and wet with blood. Larry had removed his jacket and was pressing it against the wound.
She stared at Juarez. “You took a bullet?”
“Yeah,” he nodded and gazed down at his right shoulder. “In the shoulder. But it’s not so bad. I can’t even feel it. It’s just a lot of blood.”
“I just called for a third ambulance,” Larry said. “He’s going to the hospital in a couple minutes.”
A couple of paramedics entered the basement then.
“These two need to go before the kids,” Larry said and nodded at the unconscious Trevor on the ground and Juarez in his hands.
“Okay,” one of the paramedics said. “I’m getting a stretcher for him.” He glanced at Trevor, then at Juarez. “Go with Drew. He’ll take care of you.” The paramedic jabbed a thumb at his friend, and Juarez left the basement with both of them.
“What happened?” Wil asked Larry.
“When we came down here, the door to the basement was closed,” he explained. “Assuming it was locked and that they were in there, Juarez and I debated what to do, whether to just shoot it open the way we had done with the building entrance. Since we had less than two minutes left of the deadline, we decided that our best recourse was to shoot it open. The sound of the shot should throw off Trevor for a couple of seconds at least, during which we should be able to overtake him. So it didn’t really matter if it was locked or not—the surprise element was most important for our success. But as we had reached the basement door and Juarez got ready to shoot it open, the door suddenly flew open and Trevor was standing in the doorway, firing at Juarez. Fortunately, he only got him in the shoulder once before I took him out. He stumbled backward into the basement and then collapsed on the floor. We followed him in and Juarez went down beside him to take his gun. The door must have slid shut as we stepped inside, and then you and Cho showed up.”
“Good work,” Wil said. “Thank God you got him so fast. So the basement door wasn’t locked then?”
“It doesn’t seem like it.”
“How do you think he knew you two were right outside the door?” Cho asked. He was standing beside Wil now. “Do you think he heard you come?”
“I doubt it,” Larry said. “It’s more likely he used some peephole to watch us come.” Larry walked up to the basement door and scrutinized it. “Yep. There is a small peephole here. He must have seen us come through that one.”
Wil joined Larry and checked out what he was looking at. There was indeed a tiny hole in the wooden door nearly six feet above ground. The perfect eye out into the stairwell for someone of Trevor’s size.
The paramedic returned then with a friend and a stretcher. They put Trevor on it, and then all of them left the basement.
* * *
Chapter 47
Kate was thinking of Diego when she knocked on the door to the apartment her twin sister shared with another woman, her roommate of a year. The roommate was at work, which would allow the two sisters some much needed alone time. It would be the first time they had gotten together since the kidnapping of Anna and Luis a week earlier.
Kate could hear someone nearing her on the other side of the door, and then the door swung open. Her sister was standing in the softly lit hallway, wearing a blue sweater and jeans. It was truly scary how much the two of them looked alike. They even seemed to have the same taste in clothes; the stuff her sister was wearing was something Kate could have worn today. Both had chosen to put up their long, red tresses in a ponytail, Kate’s a little sleeker than that of her sister’s. Kate felt as though she was looking into a mirror, seeing a slightly different version of herself.
“Hi,” her sister said and her naked lips stretched into a smile. “Thanks so much for coming. I really appreciate you making the trip all the way down here. It must have taken you forever on a Saturday. The trains don’t run very frequently exactly. Come in.” She stepped aside so Kate could enter.
“That’s okay,” Kate said and stepped into the apartment that smelled faintly of vanilla and cinnamon, a pleasant fragrance. “I really wanted to see you.” Her eyes went down to the other woman’s foot. “How’s the ankle bracelet? Must be a pain in the butt taking a shower.”
Her sister chuckled softly, then gazed down at the big monitor she was forced to wear around her ankle in order to be able to stay in her apartment as opposed to at Rikers until her trial. Because of how she and her parents had gotten her out of her crime the first time around, the judge had ordered her to wear it at all times despite that she had made bail.
“Yeah, it’s definitely a pain, but better than prison,” she replied. “Would you like some tea or coffee? Maybe hot cocoa?”
“Some tea would be nice,” Kate said.
“I have all kinds. What kind would you like?”
“Chamomile with no sugar?”
“Okay, I’ll get it for you. Why don’t you make yourself comfortable?” Her sister indicated the brown couch in the living room they had entered. Two candles were burning on the black coffee table before the couch, and Kate knew then why it smelled so nice in the apartment. She went over and took a seat. As her sister disappeared into the kitchen, Kate took in the living room. There was a soft, colorful rug covering half of the hardwood floor and one wall was covered with shelves filled with books. She couldn’t spot a TV anywhere, only a stereo with big loudspeakers. An aquarium with fish in it was placed on a table, and next to it on the floor was a round cushion on which a cat was curled up, sleeping. The sound of the street seeped in through the windows that were not fully closed; an ambulance was driving somewhere.
Her sister reappeared in the living room then, carrying two mugs in her hands, as well as a plate of cookies.
She placed the plate on the small coffee table and handed a mug to Kate.
“Careful, it’s hot,” she said and had a seat on the striped chair opposite Kate.
“Thanks,” Kate said and took the mug.
A moment of silence ensued before the other woman spoke.
“I still have nightmares about what I did to Kelly Anne, you know,” she said slowly and gazed out the window.
“Kelly Anne?” Kate said. “Was that the name of Trevor’s kid sister?”
“Yes.” She turned to look at Kate with those wide blue eyes they shared. “The dreams started the night after she fell down the stairs. But it took many years before I decided I needed to take full responsibility for what I had done. I’m actually glad I will stand trial for what I did at last. It’s what I deserve.” She sighed heavily. “I feel horrible for you and Luis and Anna, though. And Diego. If it hadn’t been for what I did, Diego would have been alive today.”
They had found out from Trevor how he managed to murder Kate’s husband that night; he was still at the hospital where he was recuperating before he would go to jail. Trevor had hired a professional hitman to do the deed, while he was with Kate, pretending to mourn his dead father. He had been determined to make Kate’s life hell, make her suffer the way he and his family had suffered, his mother especially. He blamed his mother’s slow decay entirely on what the Duchess had done to his kid sister. The Duchess was the name rich, spoiled Kate McBride had been known as back in high school, to friends and foes alike. If it hadn’t been for the Duchess, maybe at least Trevor’s sister would have been alive today still.
Kate forced back the tears that burned the back of her eyeballs and swallowed hard; what her twin had just said was very true. Had it not been for what she had done, Diego would have been alive today. But she couldn’t stay mad at her sister. Not anymore. She had been furious for several days, and then decided that she had to forgive and move on. She didn’t want to turn into someone full of anger and hate like Trevor. It did no one any good, least of all her children.
“Yeah, well,” Kate said, “it wasn’t like you knew what a psychopath her big brother would turn out to be. He’ll spend the rest of his life in jail.”
The other woman exhaled with sadness. “I guess tha
t’s true. How are Anna and Luis holding up?”
Kate smiled. “They’re doing fine. Surprisingly so actually. They’ll be okay. You’ll have to come and visit them soon.”
“I’d like that. And you? How are you doing?”
Kate’s airway felt suddenly raw again. She cleared her throat. “I’m okay. I have a good support system. Can you please tell me about our parents? You know about them, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do. Mostly about our mother. She was only seventeen when she had us. She was poor and lived outside New Orleans with her own mother. Both of them were junkies. Our mother got pregnant with some man she slept with one night. I don’t think it was her boyfriend, just a young guy she knew. He has his own family and lives in Louisiana still. He’s a mechanic and has two grown children. Two boys. Our half brothers. I haven’t sought any of them out. I think that I might one day. Maybe you can come with me?”
“Yes, that would be nice. I would like to meet my real dad.” She reached for a cookie. “So you don’t think he knew he got our mother pregnant then?”
The other woman shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably not.”
Kate nodded. “What about our mother? Why did she decide to give us up after almost three years?”
“She committed suicide. So it was her mother who decided to give us up for adoption. Well, me. She put you on the bus. Mixed us up, thinking I was you. She didn’t have the energy to deal with both of us, high as she always was. I spoke to her a couple of years ago, just before she passed away. Our mother and her mother weren’t bad people. Just really poor and screwed up.”
“Oh.”
Another moment of silence ensued. Then Kate looked at her sister and smiled. “Well, despite what has happened, I’m glad you came to find me.”
