by Sara Gauldin
“Avery, backup is almost there,” Kirk said.
“Good.” I hung up before he could tell me to wait. That wasn’t going to happen. I advanced the film, watching the man drag Genevieve into the lobby and out of the range of the camera. Could they still be in the building? I had to find her either way. It was my stupid sting, and she was taking the fall for it. Kirk had tried to warn me… I shook my head, trying to clear the gibberish of regret and clutter. There was no room for that now.
“Stay here, lock the door, and wait for the police.”
Cynthia looked at me like I was crazy, but after a moment’s hesitation, she nodded. “All right. Avery, don’t get yourself hurt.”
Why did she care? I never met this woman before a few days ago. “Sure, lock the door.” I rushed out, drawing my gun as I went. I was a free agent, a vigilante hunting the perp. It was all wrong and I didn’t care. I wasn’t about to let another person I could trust go down for me. I sprinted down the hallway and back to the lobby. They had been there only a couple of minutes before. I must have just missed them. I looked for all the ways they could leave the area. They could have gone down the hallway where I came from. They didn’t go back out the front door. That left the elevator or the stairwell. We came down the steps right after Genevieve’s call.
“The elevator... But why—how—would they take someone back out of the building?” I ran onto the elevator and looked at the options. There were too many floors to choose from. I doubted they were on the second floor; we were just there. Floors three and four remained. I pushed three on the edge, trying to preserve any prints, and hoped that for once, luck was on my side. As the doors of the elevator closed, I could hear the sirens approaching.
The elevator lurched to life and moved upward at a slow pace. I looked around while I was waiting, taking slow measured breaths to clear my head and prepare for whatever I found next. The elevator reached the floor with a loud ding that made me jump. I looked down the empty hallway for any sign of Genevieve and the creepy couple, but there was nothing that stood out. I made my way down the hall, straining my ears for any sign of commotion or places they could have taken Genevieve.
Each office door had a small rectangular window over the latch. The widows were safety glass, and I wondered if they were bulletproof. A fresh wave of dread hit me. To any innocents in the building, I would seem like a gun-toting lunatic. No uniform or badge would explain my rushed response. Biting my lip, I knocked on the first door. I waited, holding my breath. The door opened, and a man who looked more like a teen with a passion for neck tattoos opened the door.
“Oh, God lady,” he said, trying to slam the door.
“Wait.” I stuffed the gun back in its holster. “I’m here with the FBI. I’m trying to find my partner. She’s in trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“Somebody took her.” I gave a fast description of the couple.
“Look, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone like that around here.” He closed the door and locked it. I was on my own and no closer to finding Genevieve.
It went on like that, door by door, me leaving the gun in the holster and wondering how things would go down if everything went wrong. I made it to the end of the hall when an Asian man answered the door.
“I need your help, I’m looking for my partner, a man and a woman out front abducted her.”
He looked at me like I had said something insightful. “Well, that is a problem.” The thirty-something Asian man ran his hand through his black hair, as though he was considering what I told him.
In an instant, everything changed. He reached for a gun he had strapped in the small of his back. I saw the motion and went for my gun on a reflex. It was too late. By the time I had my hand near my gun I was looking down the barrel of his weapon.
“Don’t be a fool.” He glared at my hand on my gun. “Hands up.”
I put my hands up and rested them on my head. “Look, I’m a consultant for the FBI. I’m not here to threaten anyone.”
The man shook his head. “You knocked on the wrong door.”
We were screwed. I had no way out, and no way to find Genevieve before she… I wouldn’t think about that now. I couldn’t get free. I let myself succumb to the panic.
“In, now, and get down on the floor.” He snatched my gun from the holster. I flinched away from his uninvited touch.
“My partner is in trouble.” I did as he said. What choice did I have? I had to wait for my opportunity.
With my ear to the floor, I could hear heavy footsteps approaching from somewhere farther in the suite. “What’s going on in here?” a gruff male voice demanded.
“She was snooping around.” The same man still held me at gunpoint. He shifted his weight from side to side, as though he was nervous.
“What are you doing, man? You could have sent her on her way, and now we’re stuck with her. Did she see your face?”
“Yeah, idiot. I answered the door.”
“Well, we’ve got to get rid of her. He will not be happy if he finds out.”
“He won’t find out… unless you run your mouth,” said the man with the gun.
“Do you hear that?” asked the man I hadn’t gotten a look at.
“What?”
“Man, it sounds like the cops are here. I hear sirens outside.”
“They’re just passing by, don’t be paranoid.”
The second man crossed the room to peek out the window through a slit in the blinds. “Oh, man, they’re right outside. We have to get out of here.”
“You get the drives and go. I’ll take care of this.” The man with the gun kneeled and pressed the barrel of the gun to the back of my neck. “You. We’re going to take a little trip. You better not give me any trouble, or I’ll make your last moments much less pleasant.”
“You’re making a mistake,” I said. I tried to bring my elbow back. I felt the contact with the man’s face and knew I had made a point to him, but not enough to buy me an advantage.
“We have to get rid of this problem. It’s time to go.” The second man approached me. I could feel the floorboards protesting his bulk as he drew near. I thrashed underneath the first man who held me pinned.
I felt something heavy hit me in the back of my head, and the world went dark.
Chapter 24
“Avery? You shouldn’t be here.” Colleen Rich leaned against the column on a wide porch.
“Mom?” I ran to my mother. We hugged. I didn’t want to let go. I buried my face in her auburn hair and inhaled the familiar smell of her favorite shampoo. I sobbed as a wave of emotions I wasn’t expecting shook me.
Mom held me out at arm’s length to examine my face. “Now, why’s my girl crying? Avery, I know you’ve been through a lot, but now’s not the time to fall apart.”
“Now?" I tried to think of what that meant. Something about the when and where was fuzzy.
“All right, you. Take a deep breath. Chin up, don’t slouch. Now, that’s better.”
I nodded. It was strange, but somehow I believed her when she said everything was better. “How are you here? I don’t understand.”
“Well, I think a better question might be how did you get here?” Mom’s brow creased. She expected an answer.
I tried to think back. How had I gotten here? As I tried to remember, the back of my head throbbed. I grabbed it. “Ouch.”
“Did you hit your head?” Mom prompted.
“I… I think someone hit it for me,” I said.
“Bill always said you were just like me. What did you get yourself into?”
“I was trying to find my partner. Someone abducted her. But I found someone else.”
“Someone who didn’t want to be found?” Mom asked.
“Yes, I think I stumbled into something.”
“I think you’re right.” Mom pulled me in for a second hug.
“Let’s go to the swing.” Mom gestured to an oversized porch swing hanging at the far end of the
porch. “We have some catching up to do.”
I nodded and let her lead me to the swing. I sat down on the cushion and pulled the closest pillow into my lap. I chewed my lip for a while as I considered the situation. Mom sat next to me, letting me lean against her, as we swung back and forth. It reminded me of when I was a little girl. I cleared my throat. “Mom, you’re dead.”
“I’m afraid so, sweet girl.”
“And that means I’m dead, too.”
“Why would you say that?” Mom asked.
“Well, how am I here with you? It makes sense. But I didn’t expect this. I wasn’t ready.”
“Then don’t die.” Mom waggled her eyebrows at me the way she had when I was little to make me laugh.
I smiled despite myself. “Well, is there a form I’m supposed to fill out or something, or a time machine, so I can keep myself from being killed?”
“I don’t think you would need to do any of that. You could just wake up.” Mom patted my knee.
I sighed. “So this is a dream, none of its real.”
“Real is subjective. Haven’t you already realized that almost nothing is the way it seems?”
“Well, now that you mention it, I have some serious questions about the woman impersonating you and making it seem like you were still alive.”
“Right, that’s what I’m talking about. I should have told you so many things about me and you. I tried to raise you, so you could protect yourself from all the things I saw every day, but I failed you when I didn’t tell you what to expect.”
“You knew about all the corruption and nastiness that was going on. You knew—”
“I knew, and I spent my life fighting to expose that unsavory bit of human nature so the nicer parts could flourish.”
“You were in business, office supplies, or something. What are you talking about?”
“I never wanted this life for you, honey. I’m so sorry it found you. I hope I prepared you. I should have warned you, but I wanted you to have a chance at normal.”
“Normal life? I don’t understand?” The world went blurry and faded into darkness.
***
“Avery? Can you hear me?” It was my dad’s voice.
I tried to sit up. “Dad?” The bright lights in the room hurt my eyes. I squinted, trying to focus so I could see. “Where’s Mom?”
“Woah there, slow down.” I felt Dad’s hand on my shoulder, guiding me back down on… a pillow.
“I’m dead. Why are you here?” I grumbled.
“Dead? No, not today. But you sure seem to find trouble.”
I managed to make my eyes cooperate well enough to see my dad. He was sitting next to me looking gray. His hair was a little disheveled, and his eyes were bloodshot. “Why are you here?” I asked.
“You are my only daughter, and you are in the hospital. What kind of father do you think I am? Of course, I came. You gave me a scare.”
I stared at my dad for a long moment, trying to understand what had happened. The morning sun streamed in on us, and I wondered if he had been with me all night. “You were going back to California.” It was an accusation, and we both knew it.
“Well, that was my original plan but things changed. When Cynthia called me and said you were hurt, I came straight here.”
“Cynthia?” The vague realization that I had left her in the surveillance area of a building when everything went wrong crept in like an icy fog. “I have to go. They took Genevieve.” I tried to sit up, willing the room to stop spinning, and making things more difficult.
“Slow down, Avery. Every law enforcement agency in the tristate area is already looking for your FBI friend. They will find her.”
“She wasn’t in the building when they searched?” I asked.
“No, but they think she took the service elevator downstairs, and then they took her out through the garage area in the basement.”
“There’s a garage?”
“It’s just storage for a few renters, but they have video of a vehicle they think was used in the abduction.”
I nodded. “You know too much.” I glared at my father, daring him to deny it.
Dad put his elbows on the bed and put his head in his hands for a long moment. “Some things I’m not at liberty to discuss.”
I reached for Dad’s hand. “Whatever you’re keeping from me, it’s time to let go of it. You can’t keep this up.”
Dad looked up at me with bloodshot eyes. “Your mother made me promise I would make sure you had a normal life.”
“Right, and that’s going so well.” I gestured to the beeping conglomeration of equipment next to my bed.
He shook his head. “No, you’re right. I’ve known it for a while. But I was hoping I was wrong.”
I squeezed Dad’s hand. “What is going on with you? Whatever it is, we can deal with it together.”
“Not everything is my secret to tell.”
“Fine, tell me what you can.”
Dad nodded. “All right. You remember how Mom traveled for work, and sometimes it was just you and me for a week or two?”
“Right.” I took a deep breath and tried to slow down my pulse, but the machine was giving my anticipation away.
“Well, she wasn’t in the business you thought she was. Don’t think poorly of her. She couldn’t tell you. Neither of us could.”
“What was she doing?” My head throbbed. Whatever they had given me for pain was wearing off.
“She was in the CIA. You always wondered where you got the whole law enforcement thing from. Well, it was her.”
I considered what Dad was saying. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. There was the time Mom came home with a broken arm. She’d said she slipped but did she? I thought of another time when Mom came home without her auburn hair, and it appalled me that she’d dyed her hair black. “Mom was CIA? Why didn’t she ever tell me?”
“She couldn’t, sweetheart. Everything she did was classified. But growing up here, well, it was no wonder she tried to keep things quiet.”
“Here?”
“They built the entire town on a philosophy that makes this place a hotbed of trouble.”
“But Mom grew up here, too.”
“She did. And I think it shaped who she was. When I moved here, I had no idea. The things that were happening here would keep you up at night. But your mom was determined to change things.”
“She was trying to stop… whatever was going on?” I realized at once that Dad wouldn’t likely tell me what was happening.
“She was until it killed her.” Dad closed his eyes and shook his head.
“It killed her? She died in a car accident.”
“They ran her down with an armored vehicle that rammed her car.”
I shuddered. “My God. Why would anybody do that?”
“She was in the way. That was when I got you out of here. Some grudges run deeper than one lifetime.”
There was no doubt about that. “But she died. There is no way that she’s still alive.” I already knew the answer. She was dead. I felt it more now than I ever had. “There was a woman at your house—a woman who looked like my mom.”
Dad gazed down at our hands. “Yes, she was a decoy.”
“A decoy?” What was he talking about?
“She was trying to convince others that your mom was still around. She was supposed to draw some action off of you and disrupt some top-level folks here.”
“You put yourself in the line of fire.” I raised my voice. I needed my dad to stay safe, not to put himself at risk when I couldn’t protect him.
“I tried to keep you safe. I tried to help a dangerous situation. Besides, you put yourself on the line all the time. How is that any different?”
I stopped. He was right. Who was I to lecture him? He loved me and had to watch me put myself in danger. He was the one here with me now in the hospital after I rushed into a bad situation and ended up on the losing team. “All right, I understand what you’re say
ing.”
Dad squeezed my hand. “There, that’s my girl.”
I let the warmth of his hand linger for a little while as I tried to size up what was wrong with me. Whatever it was, I was in better shape than Genevieve would be if I didn’t find her soon. “Dad, I have to go. I have to find Genevieve.”
Chapter 25
“Avery, have you lost your mind? You’re lucky to be here at all.” Dad wasn’t reacting well to my plan to check myself out of the hospital.
I chewed my lip for a moment as I considered how to get past Dad. “How did I get here, anyway? Did the police find me?”
“Well, they were a little late for that,” Dad glanced toward the glass panel next to the door. “What? Why is he here?”
“Who?” I sat up, fighting back my reaction to the pain in my head.
A man knocked at the door. He looked familiar. A wave of nausea ripped through me as I realized why: he was the same man who had held me captive when I needed to find Genevieve.
“Call 911,” I told my dad. I was on my feet in an instant and then nearly hit the floor. I caught myself with my hands on the white tile, crouched like a caged beast. I had to be ready for the attack, even if my body wasn’t willing. I launched myself at the man, catching him off guard and knocking him to the floor.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” he cried, trying to shield his face from the punch I threw. A burst of fresh pain shot through my fist. The punch wasn’t my best, and somehow the fact that it hurt made it less satisfying than I had hoped.
“You’re sorry?” I spoke through my teeth. “What are you talking about?”
“Avery, sweetheart. Let the man up before you hurt yourself worse.” Dad put his hand on my shoulder.
“You’re crazy. He almost killed me. He let the creeps that took my partner get away.” I clenched my other fist to hit him again. He had raised his head from the floor, and the opportunity to use the space between gave me a new advantage.
Dad grabbed my elbow. “Avery, we both know that not everything is what it seems. I want this jerk out of here as much as you do, but I don’t think you can see things clearly from your current vantage point.” Lawyer speak, always making things sound more floral and neat than they were.
