by AJ Lange
“Car,” he barked to the kid beside him. “I need a car. Now.”
The officer scrambled in his pocket for keys. “Here you go, sir.”
Matt gave him a black look and the kid blanched.
“Oh, right. Sorry. It’s the navy four-door, there.” He pointed to an Oldsmobile parked on the shoulder.
“Dom,” Matt called. “I’m going.”
“Wait!” Dom passed Gina to the waiting EMT’s as the ambulance screamed to a stop. “Matt,” he said, pulling him aside. “Give me two minutes. Let me talk to Burke. We have to be smart.”
“We don’t fucking have time to be smart, Dom,” Matt bit out.
“Hang on,” Dom urged, squeezing his arm. He jogged to the open ambulance doors, jumping into the back with an agility Matt envied.
Matt followed him, needing to see for himself again that Gina was unharmed. She was lying on a stretcher, a warm white blanket wrapped around her. Matt winced at the state of her once beautiful hair. But she was alive.
She was the first; he had never known one to make it out, get away. Gavin would be the second. Or Matt would die trying.
“Dom,” he urged again. They were running out of time. Gavin was running out of time.
“Shit,” Dom said under his breath. He leaned over Gina’s form on the stretcher and kissed her gently. “I’ve got to go, babe. I’ll be at the hospital as soon as I can.”
“Go,” she urged. “Go find Gavin and Antonia.”
Dom hopped down from the back of the ambulance. “Let’s go.”
“Gavin ditched them,” Matt said bluntly when they were in the car. “Micah’s playing a game with us.”
“And Burke just lost him? Gavin’s good, but he shook five patrol cars?” Dom shook his head. “Jesus,” he breathed.
They sped through the night, heading back into town. Burke urged them to return to the precinct. They would tap Gavin’s phone, ping the cell phone tower and see if they could triangulate his last location.
Matt was listening intently, Burke’s call on speaker, when he noted the blinking icon in the upper right corner. An envelope.
“Fuck,” he swore, yanking the phone from Dom’s hand.
“What? What!”
“Voicemail,” Matt ground out, hanging up on Burke and dialing. They were at the edge of town when Gavin’s voice came over the line.
He met Dom’s eyes over the console, gripping the armrest, Dom banking a hard right at the next crossroad; St. Simon’s was only a few blocks away.
“Please tell me you had a good goddamn reason for hanging up on me,” Burke growled.
Dom relayed Gavin’s new location. “We’re almost there.”
“I suppose it would be fruitless to tell you to hold back ten minutes, let us get into place.”
“Yes,” Matt interrupted, before Dom could answer.
“Then I suppose you also don’t want to hear that some nutjob is here, waving a crazy ass story and claiming to be your brother?”
Matt sucked in a breath.
“Bring him,” Dom said. “We might need him.” He ended the call, not waiting for Burke’s answer. He glanced at Matt. “Drew?”
Matt inclined his head as spotted a familiar car on the street. “There.”
Gavin groaned, the ache in his temple sharp as he regained consciousness. He startled into awareness, looking around him frantically, disoriented. His wrists were pinned above his head and he yanked furiously against the chains. He was naked from the waist up.
“Gavin,” Antonia whispered. “Thank God.”
“Mom.” Gavin swallowed an enraged surge of anger at the pale violet bruising along her cheekbone. She was in the closest of four cells, six feet to his right. They seemed to be underground, the basement probably. He pulled on his chains again, struggling to his feet. There was enough slack for him to stand, but he couldn’t pull his hands forward past his shoulders.
Clever.
He grimaced when he noticed the bloodstains on the floor beneath him, dried bits of what appeared to be flesh embedded in the links of the chains, dotting the walls and concrete.
“Where did he go?”
Antonia shook her head. “I don’t know. He said he would be right back.”
“Is there anything in there, anything you can toss me? Use for a weapon?” Gavin rubbed against the filthy wall, callously ignoring the bits of whoever he was dragging across the butt of his jeans. His holster was empty. “He has my gun.”
Antonia paced the small cell, but it was bare, empty. The cot held a thin mattress and sheet. “I can’t find anything,” she whimpered, and Gavin could hear the panic in her voice.
“Mom.” He pulled on the chains again, straining, testing their hold. “Mom, look at me.”
Antonia stopped, chin trembling as she clung to the bars that separated them.
“It’s going to be okay,” Gavin lied. “Dom and Matt are on their way. With a whole fleet of Kansas City police officers behind them. Just hang on.”
Antonia’s eyes warned him they were no longer alone.
“Wonderful,” Micah said. “It’s about time Matt and I had a little family reunion.”
The chains clanked together when Gavin lunged for him, arms held taut by the too-short length. “I am going to kill you, you son of a bitch.”
Micah chuckled, twirling a long knife in his hands. “Is that so?” He raised his eyebrows and shrugged. “I’m inclined to believe you could, Gavin. I’ve always enjoyed that spark of danger you carry about you.” He leaned as close as he dared, face inches from Gavin’s. “It’s quite alluring,” he whispered.
“Fuck you,” Gavin spat, pulling hard on his tether. The shackles bit into the flesh of his wrist.
Micah inclined his head, nonchalant. “Not really my area of expertise, although,” he grinned, “I might be willing to make an exception since Matt will be upon us soon.”
He stroked Gavin’s cheek, and Gavin jerked back, banging his head into the wall hard enough to see stars. Micah laughed.
“Wouldn’t it be poetic, Gavin?” He ran his palm lightly down Gavin’s bare chest, stepping neatly away when Gavin lunged again. “If Matt walked in to find you in the throes of passion with yet another of his siblings?”
Gavin thought he could feel his very soul blackening with the venom of hatred. He repositioned his stance, hoping Micah was too busy gloating to notice. If he could leverage his weight on his arms, he thought he might be able to use his legs to knock Micah off his feet. He only needed an ounce of luck to place him close enough to smash a boot in his face.
“Do you remember that night, Gavin? Nikki was so frightened. She was a virgin, you know.”
“Shut up,” Gavin warned.
“She begged for her life before I slit her throat. Apologized that she had been unable to fulfill her duty.” Micah scoffed. “Apparently, you refused her overtures, you daft pig.”
“She was just a kid,” Gavin said low. “She was a confused kid and you whored her out. And for what? Because you and daddy couldn’t stand the fact that Matt was so fucking normal? That despite a lifetime of exposure to you sick freaks, he was better than either of you?”
Micah loomed over him, the knife poised above Gavin’s heart. “How dare you speak of my father!”
“No!” Antonia’s cry drew Micah’s glance and he relaxed, pulling the knife back.
“Don’t worry, Antonia. I can blindfold you before I start if you prefer.” He studied her, then glanced around the small space. “I’m afraid that sound does echo a bit down here though. The screams can give you quite the headache after a while.”
He crossed to a shelf by the door and grabbed a worn strap of leather and a stainless steel bowl. He set them both just out of reach of Gavin’s feet. He cocked his head, rubbing a finger along the sharp blade of the knife. “Why did you refuse her? Out of curiosity?”
Gavin saw the shadow appear in the stairwell; someone was hovering, just out of sight. He held Micah’s gaze.
“Because I would never do that to Matt.”
Micah snorted. “What? Are you going to feed me some bullshit line about your one true love? Really DeLuca? A hot piece of ass like Nikki couldn’t tempt you away? I seem to remember you were quite the ladies man in your day.”
Gavin leaned against the wall casually, letting his arms relax. His hands tingled from their prolonged above-shoulder position. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand it, but yeah.” He smiled jovially, watching Micah’s eyes narrow on his face. Come a little closer, you sick son of a bitch. “I will love Matt until the day I die, and probably even after that.”
“I’m rather glad we get to test that theory today,” Micah murmured. He leaned in. “She was supposed to kill you, you know. You were going to be her first. In every way.”
He took his eyes off of Gavin’s to smile at the knife in his hand, arm poised to strike.
Gavin knew he wouldn’t get another opportunity and dropped, his body weight nearly wrenching his arms from the socket. He swung his legs out, and up, sweeping Micah’s feet out from under him. The knife clattered across the floor. Micah rolled, but not before Gavin got one swift kick to his jaw, smiling when he heard the loud crack of a bone breaking.
It was enough, and Dom was through the doorway, pouncing on Micah as he struggled to his knees, knocking him flat to the concrete floor. They scuffled but Dom was too big, too fast, and he pinned him while he reached for the cuffs on his belt.
Matt was already kneeling in front of Gavin, hands running over his face, his head. His expression was grim, but Gavin smiled crookedly, never so fucking glad in his life to see someone. He nodded to the wall by the door.
“Keys.”
Matt grabbed the keys from the hook, hands shaking as he struggled with the lock on the shackles that held Gavin in place. One hand was free when Antonia screamed.
“Dom!” Antonia’s voice was anguished.
Micah had fallen on top of the knife and he flipped neatly over, plunging it into Dom’s side.
Dom grunted in pain, dropping the remaining cuff. He rolled, pinning a thrashing Micah under him, but he was weakening and Micah was gaining the advantage.
“Matt, hurry,” Gavin urged.
Micah broke free, service revolver wrested from Dom’s belt.
Gavin’s remaining cuff fell open in the exact instant as the deafening report from the gun sounded, a millisecond before Gavin lunged, knocking Matt out of the way.
“No!”
Gavin thought he might have heard his mother cry out, or maybe that was Matt. They were both thrown to the ground by the force of the bullet tearing through Gavin’s chest. His ears rang painfully and he squeezed his eyes tightly shut at the second shot.
When he didn’t feel the burn of another hit, he blinked, confused.
Matt’s hands were frantically pressing against the wound in his chest, pushing down on it painfully hard and Gavin wanted to laugh, he was alive, but it hurt too fucking much, and his breath seemed to be missing.
He fell back onto Matt’s legs, sinking to the floor, but before he blacked out he saw him, Micah, slumped against the bars of Antonia’s cell, a hole neatly bore through his forehead, eyes lifeless.
And a figure on the stairwell steps, gun steady in his hands.
Drew.
“Ow, fuck.”
Gavin blinked at the words. “Dom?” He struggled against the hands that held him in place.
“Easy,” Matt murmured. “Lie still.”
Gavin tried to focus on the dark shape looming over him, wincing at the hard pressure against his chest.
“Is he awake?” Dom scooted off of the gurney in the back of the ambulance, ducking around the EMT.
Matt nodded, suddenly glad he was sitting down.
“You all right, Matt? You look a little peaked,” Gavin rasped, grimacing at the fire in his shoulder.
“Shut up,” Matt huffed weakly, dropping his forehead to Gavin’s chest. “Just shut up, you stupid bastard.”
Gavin chuckled, then groaned. “Goddammit, that hurt.”
Dom carefully squatted beside the stretcher. “Yeah, well that’s what happens when you jump in front of flying objects. Like, say, a bullet.”
“Stop, drop and roll,” Matt whispered.
Gavin felt, more than heard the words. He started to laugh. “Ow,” he complained.
Dom chuckled. “You did good, Gav.” He gripped Gavin’s arm tight for a moment. “Now, someone wants to see you.”
Gavin looked toward the ambulance door, where his mother and father stood, Angelo’s arm tight around her shoulder. He had aged ten years since Gavin had seen him last week.
“Mom,” Gavin whispered, eyes burning. He held out a hand and Matt scooted aside, swiping at his own eyes.
Antonia bent over Gavin, gently kissing his forehead. “You saved my life, sweetheart.”
Gavin shook his head. “No, I think that was a joint effort.” His eyes met Matt’s. He remembered then. “Drew?”
Matt nodded. “He’s with Burke.”
“Gina?” Gavin tried to sit up. He winced in pain and Antonia urged him back down.
“She’s fine. She’s at the hospital, waiting patiently for this ambulance to get there so she can see her family.”
“So it’s over,” Gavin breathed.
Antonia nodded. “It’s over.” She kissed his forehead again. “I’ll see you at the hospital.”
Gavin waved to his dad, then dropped his hand to the sheet, exhausted. “It’s over,” he said again.
Matt watched him, scooting back into place at his side. “I’m riding with you,” he said sternly, as if he expected an argument.
Gavin chuckled. “Fine by me.” He toyed with Matt’s fingers, glancing down at the large swath of gauze wrapped around his shoulder. “How bad is it?”
“You were lucky,” Matt said quietly. “Clean shot, broke your collarbone, but other than that, you’ll be okay.”
“Hey, we’ll have matching scars,” Gavin exclaimed. They must have some pain meds in his IV drip; the world was starting to fuzz around the edges.
“Shut up,” Matt complained again, “God.” Then he was kissing him.
Gavin could feel the desperation and fear lingering in his lips, and he brought his free hand up to gently comb through the hair at Matt’s nape. “It’s okay,” he soothed between kisses. “I’m okay.”
The EMT poked his head in the back. “Ready to roll?” He kept his gaze carefully averted and Gavin grinned.
“You can go ahead and ride up front, Roger.”
Roger snorted. “Sure thing, Gavin.” He slammed the back and the locks clicked into place. A moment later the ambulance began to move, the loud beep beep, indicating they were backing up.
“Want to lie down?” Gavin wagged his eyebrows.
“You just lie still,” Matt said firmly. “You still have a bullet lodged under that pretty skin.” He dropped his mouth to kiss the edge of the bandage. His eyes were solemn when he sat back up. “You took a bullet for me.”
Gavin smiled and linked their fingers. “I guess that means you owe me.”
Matt chuckled. “Oh no. I don’t know if I like the sound of that.”
“It will bear some careful thought and consideration,” Gavin mused. He blinked sleepily, letting the soothing sway of the ambulance lull his eyes closed. “And Matt?”
“Hmmm?”
“I’d do it all over again.”
Chapter 17
“Get over here.”
Matt looked up from the months-old Sports Illustrated he was thumbing through. Gavin’s voice was scratchy and tired.
“You’re awake.” Matt smiled, tossing the magazine into an empty chair. He crossed to the foot of the hospital bed, smiling at Gavin’s sleepy face.
Gavin frowned. “You’re not close enough,” he grumbled.
Matt laughed softly, sitting carefully on the edge of the mattress, as close as the retractable metal side would allow. “Somebody
woke up crabby.”
“Shut up and kiss me,” Gavin whispered, eyelids too heavy to keep open. He smiled when he felt the warm, soft brush of lips on his own.
“Better?” Matt nuzzled the side of his face before sitting up reluctantly. “How’s the shoulder feel?”
Gavin blinked to clear the drowsy fog that threatened to drag him under again. “Hurts,” he mumbled.
The surgery to remove the bullet had taken more than an hour. Even though it was more routine than not, Matt had paced the waiting room throughout the procedure, until Drew had joked that he was going to wear a groove in the floor. Finally having been released from Burke’s custody after giving a lengthy statement, Drew had stayed with Matt while Gavin was in surgery, leaving afterwards for his hotel for a much-needed shower and some sleep.
Although the danger was past, Matt and Drew remained the Kansas City PD’s only connection to the horror that had been the Laurel household. They had both quickly agreed to help the cold case division sift through the research Matt had collected over the years in his storage unit, along with other cases that fit the Laurel profile. Drew had done a good job of protecting Matt over the years, limiting his exposure to the Laurel family business during their childhood and adolescence, but collaboratively their memories and experiences would provide a massive amount of useful material. The entire precinct was energized at the prospect that several missing persons cases were on the verge of being solved, bringing closure to many families.
“How’d it go?” Gavin swallowed; his mouth was cottony.
“The surgery or giving my statement to Burke?” Matt asked, reaching for the cup of ice water on the side table. He tipped the straw in Gavin’s direction so he could take a sip.
Gavin noted the slight furrowing on Matt’s brow. “Don’t tell me I need to kick his ass,” he said gruffly. “I may need a day or two to regain my strength first.”
