Roman

by K. J. Dahlen

  “How the hell did he get out?” Briar asked.

  “He’s got someone on the outside helping him. He had someone take the grandchild of one of the prison doctors. He said that unless the doctor helped him he’d start sending pieces of the baby to the family.”

  “Oh, my god…” India whispered in horror.

  Cade turned his head and stared at her. “Yeah, the man is a real bastard and he has a hard on for my family. Since I put him away.” Cade looked at the floor for a moment then at the rest of his family. “If we’re together, he can’t do to one of us what he did to Marisa. I don’t want him to catch us unawares like that again.”

  Aaron reached for his phone and called his father. When he explained the situation, Levi promised to get his wife and be with them in a few minutes. Briar went over to the gun cabinet and opened it. He began passing weapons out to the others.

  Quinn went over to a roll top cabinet and pushed back the cover. A series of security screens showed the perimeter of the compound.

  India and T.K. watched everyone get ready in stunned silence. This was something they hadn’t expected.

  T.K. grabbed her hands and they backed out into the courtyard. T.K. reached for a cigarette and with shaking hands she said, “Wow, this is just great. There nothing like a psycho killer on the loose to get the old heart pumping, is there?”

  “What are you saying? This is no one’s fault,” India told her friend.

  “Maybe this is a sign we aren’t meant to survive this,” T.K. muttered.

  India walked closer to her friend. “We are going to survive this and we’re going to put our monster down too. We’ve come too far now, not to.”

  “What if this guy gets through Cade’s security tonight? What if he gets close enough to take even one of us out?” T.K. asked.

  “Cade and his brothers won’t let that happen,” India assured her.

  T.K. flipped her cigarette to the ground. “You don’t know that. For all anyone knows, he’s sitting out there in the dark watching us right now. And you know as well as I do that if he gets inside the walls, he’ll murder us all. He can’t leave any of us alive.”

  India nodded. “I know that, we all do. But I’ll be damned if I going to make it any easier for him. Fifteen years ago, I ran away and hid. I did what a child does when their scared but I’m not that little girl anymore. That was the wrong thing to do then and it’s the wrong thing to do now.”

  “Fifteen years ago we were nothing more than children. What else could we do?” T.K. argued.

  “We could have gone to the police. We could have told someone. We kept a killer’s secret all these years and god only knows how many women he’s murdered because of it.”

  “I’m afraid,” T.K. whispered.

  India pulled her friend into her arms and whispered back, “So am I.”

  “Ladies,” Aaron called from the doorway.” I think you both need to come inside now.”

  India and T.K. glanced his way. He was standing there with the light of the house behind him. He also had a gun in his hand. As they joined him, they watched as he locked the door behind them and pulled the curtain closed against the night.

  India made her way into the living room and when she got there, she saw Claire and Levi with an unknown woman. She watched as Aaron joined them and wrapped his arm around the other woman.

  “What do you think Daniels’ next move will be?” Claire asked her son.

  “I wish I knew,” Cade replied. “I don’t think he knows about this place yet.”

  “You’re wrong about that,” India told them. “He knows all about this place and what you do here.”

  “What?” Cade turned to her.

  India went over to her laptop and searched for an article she’d read. When she found it, she gave the laptop to Cade.

  Cade began to read it. After a moment or so, he handed the laptop to his brother Quinn. “Can you put this up so everyone can see it?”

  Quinn attached the laptop to the big screen TV in the room. Moments later, the article Cade had just read was visible to everyone. It was a reporter’s interview with Brock Daniels. The main picture was of the killer Cade and Elliot brought to justice but in the background taped to the walls of his cell were pictures of the Foundation and each of the family members. All five sons were circled in red.

  There were other pictures circled in red as well. Each member of the Foundation was circled, Faith, Fallon, Jerah and Kanan. Even Levi’s picture was up on his wall. Claire’s photo had a red heart around it.

  Everyone was stunned by what they saw.

  Cade raised his weapon to the grinning face of the man that killed his Marisa and India could see his finger tighten on the trigger. She could see the bead of sweat running down the side of his face and the look of fear and panic on everyone’s face.

  “You have to beat him at his own game in order to stop him,” she told the group quietly.

  Cade swung his head in her direction. “What the hell do you know about this?”

  His look of extreme hatred floored her but she replied calmly, “When I was in college I found this article. I didn’t know about you or the Foundation. I was researching serial killers and Brock Daniels’ name came up. I found this particular article about four years ago. I was curious so I looked further into Brock Daniels. The man is a sadist and he just plain likes to kill. The closest anyone ever came to finding him was you and Elliot ten years ago.”

  “I know that,” Cade told her. “He kidnapped and murdered my fiancée Marisa ten years ago.”

  “I know. He was using her as a lure to get you and Elliot in his crosshairs. He was going to kill all three of you that night. He told the reporter who wrote the article that much. Did you finish reading the article?” India asked.

  He shook his head.

  “The rest of the article says he used the months between Marisa’s murder and the time you finally caught him to work out a plan to murder the entire family. Then you found him and put him in jail before he could put his plan into action.”

  “That’s where he belonged!” Cade exclaimed. “He’s lucky I was a cop. I could have ended his miserable life but instead, I brought him to the courts. I wanted him to know he had the death sentence waiting for him. I wanted him to know that every day was one day closer to the day the state would put him to death legally.”

  “What did you mean a few minutes ago when you said we would have to beat him at his own game to stop him?” Levi asked India.

  She walked over to the TV and pointed at Brock Daniels face. “From what I understand, he’s a special kind of killer. He uses a person’s fear to control the outcome of his brand of murder. He gets as much pleasure from the fear as he does the actual act of killing, maybe even more from the fear itself.” She looked around the room. “My Psych professor used his case as an example in class one day. He told use that men like Daniels began his career by acting on impulse rather than thinking things through. He craved the thrill of the hunt almost more than the end results. When his kill was over there was always something missing for him and that’s what drove him toward the next kill. He said he was trying to reclaim the thrill he got when he committed his first murder only for him that thrill was gone.”

  “So you’re saying Daniels gets his rocks off over hunting rather than killing?” Aaron asked. “But that doesn’t make any sense. Why does he kill then?”

  “We need to take his reason away from him,” Cade told them. “I see where she’s going with this.”

  “Well, I’m glad you do because I’m more confused than I was a moment ago,” Quinn said.

  “By now, he knows we know he’s escaped,” Cade explained. “He thinks we’re cowering in fear of him coming after us.”

  “Aren’t we?” Claire asked.

  “Yes we are but that’s what he’s counting on. He’d never know that by learning as much as we can about the type of killer he is the less fear we’ll have when he actually makes his move against us
.” Cade turned to India. “What would your Psych professor expect us to do next?”

  “You need to clear your mind of the fear and think out a rational plan of action. Turn the tables on him and make him fear you. Make him make a mistake that will allow you to get the upper hand.”

  Cade took a few steps toward her and grabbing both sides of her head, he kissed her soundly. “Thank you sweetheart. You just saved the day.” He turned toward the group as a whole and outlined his plan. “She’s right. We need a plan of action. We know he’s coming here, so let’s batten down the hatches so to speak and get ready for him.”

  Briar growled and moved closer to India. Wrapping his arm around her shoulder, he pulled her closer to him.

  Levi grinned at the antics of Briar then turned to his other son and asked, “What do you want me to do?”

  Cade told his father, “We need to find a safe room for the women.”

  “Excuse me?” Jerah asked. She stood toe to toe with him. “I’m not going anywhere. If you’re taking a stand against this murderer than so am I.”

  “Me too,” Fallon told her boss. They both looked at Faith and weren’t surprised when she checked her weapon and stood with them.

  India broke away from Briar, went over to T.K. and wrapped her arm around the other woman’s shoulder. She could feel her shaking but she knew together they would be okay. “I hate guns but there must be something I can do to help.”

  “Now may not be the best time for this announcement but Karen is pregnant. I don’t want her or Mom to be caught in the middle of this,” Aaron said.

  “You’re right, now is not a good time. Congratulations by the way,” Cade told them. “But you’re right. I don’t want they caught in the middle either.”

  “I know of a safe place,” Claire said. “We’ll use the pantry. There is only one way in or out of there and the door can be barricaded from the inside.”

  “That sounds good to me.” Cade nodded. “Why don’t you and Karen go there until this is over?”

  “Is there room in there for one more?” T.K. asked shakily.

  “Of course,” Claire told her. She looked over at India.

  Raising her hands, India passed on the offer.

  Claire shrugged then took T.K. and Karen toward the kitchen.

  Quinn called India over to the security screen and showed her how everything worked. Then he opened a drawer and passed out communication devices to everyone. “India and I will monitor the grounds while you guys set up in other rooms. If we see anything, we’ll let you know. Good luck.”

  “What channel are we on?” Briar asked as he turned his device on.

  “Channel five,” Quinn replied. When the devices were all on the same channel, a red dot appeared on the screen. The layout of the house told Quinn and India exactly where everyone was stationed. “Now comes the hard part,” Quinn whispered as he snapped off the lights and the whole house went dark. The screen lit up a small area with a green light.

  “Will we see him coming?” India asked.

  “Yeah, we have sensors along the fence line and in various places in the yard. If he passes them, we can track his progress right up to the house. The sensors invisibly paint a target on anything that passes in front of it. Then we can track the progress by way of a grid that turns on when the sensors go off. All the windows and doors have a sensor too. I’ve got everything on silent mode so no alarms will go off.”

  “Why is waiting the hardest part of something like this?” India whispered.

  “Waiting always is. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait long.”

  They didn’t. About an hour later, something passed a sensor and a blue dot appeared on the screen.

  Quinn picked up his communicator and told everyone, “Heads up. We’ve got something coming towards the house.”

  Chapter Eleven

  India felt her heart beat a little faster in her chest as she watched the blue dot coming closer to the house. She put her hand on Quinn’s shoulder as they watched the dot stop near the front area of the house. Then the dot moved toward the back and Quinn picked up his device again. “He’s moving toward Kanan’s room now,” he whispered.

  “I’m ready for him,” Kanan’s voice whispered. “I can see his shadow through the window.”

  But the dot continued on around the end of the building. They watched it as the dot came closer to where they were. Then they saw a red light come up on the screen as someone tried to open a window in the bedroom India was using. “He’s in the house.”

  “Where?” Cade asked quietly.

  “In the bedroom next to yours,” Quinn told his brother and watched as the dot in India’s room moved toward the door. The infrared motion detectors followed the intruder where ever he went in the room once it was breached. He also watched as Cade’s signal moved toward the door in the room next to hers.

  India held her breath as the two dots moved closer to each other and stopped.

  Tension built as the dots waited with only a wall between them. Then the dot in India’s room moved. They didn’t hear the door open but when the dot moved into the hall, it was picked up by another sensor.

  “He’s in the hall coming toward the living room,” Quinn said then handed India the communicator and picked up the gun in his lap.

  India watched as the dot came closer to her then it stopped. When it moved again, it was back tracking toward the bedroom Cade was in. “It’s moving toward Cade,” she whispered into the device.

  ~* * * *~

  Cade reached for the handle of the door and pulled it open quietly. He waited in the dark knowing a killer was just steps away from him. He reached down and turned off the communicator Quinn had given him and waited. In the darkness, he could hear the footsteps coming toward him. He slipped off his shoes and moved toward the door. Then he saw the shadow of the man move past him.

  Cade stepped out behind him and raised the gun in his hand to the back of the man’s head. “Don’t you take another step,” he said quietly. The shadow stopped. Before he could turn around, Cade brought the gun down on his head. The shadow crumbled to the floor and something skidded across the floor.

  Quinn snapped on the lights and Cade looked down at the man on the floor in front of him. It wasn’t Brock Daniels. He’d never seen this man before. Cade called out to the others, “Man down.”

  Doors along the hallway opened and everyone came out. As they all stood in the doorway and looked at the man on the floor India called out on the communicators, “There is someone else outside.”

  “Damn,” Cade swore as he looked at the others. “He sent in a decoy.”

  The lights went out again. This time, Quinn’s voice came over the communicators, “He cut the power from the outside. We don’t have the sensors. Everyone be on your guard.”

  Everyone turned and went back into their rooms. Cade made his way toward the living room. A shot rang out and someone screamed. Cade hurried down the hall. The scream had come from the living room. Briar raced past his brother then skidded to a stop.

  When he got there, Quinn’s chair was tipped over and Quinn was unconscious on the floor. The door was open to the courtyard and India was nowhere to be seen. He took another step and saw a shadow struggling moving toward the front door. “Stop right there,” he called out.

  The shadows stopped and turned toward him. Cade took another step into the room. He could see Quinn moving around so he knew his brother was still alive. But Cade didn’t take his eyes off the two figures standing in the dark. He kept his gun trained on them.

  Moving toward the security set up, he snapped on the generator and the emergency lights in the house came on. In the orange glow, he could see the couple standing beside the front door. Brock Daniels was holding India hostage with a knife to her throat.

  The Brock Daniels standing in front of him was disheveled. His clothes were rumpled and bloody. He had gauze wrapped around his left arm and his sleeve was cut away from his shirt. Blood was seeping from a
cut on his arm but he held the knife in his right hand and Cade could see it pressed tight against India’s throat.

  Aaron had to hold back Briar when he wanted to rush to India. They were just out of sight, still in the hallway. They could see Quinn sprawled out of the floor.

  “Well, this is a surprise,” Brock told him. “You were ready for me weren’t you?”

  “Yeah, we were.” Cade growled. “Let her go. This is between you and me. It has nothing to do with her.”

  “Ahhh, but the moment I let her go, you’re going to shoot me. And as I value my life, I’d rather not.”

  “You always did prefer to hide behind a woman’s skirts than face real justice, didn’t you?” Cade jeered the other man. “You’re nothing but a coward and a killer.”

  “True,” Brock admitted. “But at least now, I’m a free man again. And I plan to stay that way.”

  “Not for long, you aren’t.”

  Brock shook his head. “I’ll never go back to prison and as long as I have her you won’t come after me.”

  “Don’t bet on that,” Cade told him as he took a step closer.

  Brock inched the knife up toward her chin and watched as Cade stopped. “You should know me by now. You know I won’t hesitate to kill her.”

  Cade knew a moment of panic as he flashed back to ten years ago. It was Marisa’s face he saw… not India’s. Then he noticed something Brock didn’t. He saw India clench her hand into a fist. At the last possible moment, she shifted her weight to her left side and brought her elbow up into his belly. Then she snapped her fist into his face when he bent over. The knife in his hand went flying and when he doubled over, she brought her elbow down on the back of his head.