“When I couldn’t find it in the files, I checked to see if I could find the news article. Look here! 116 Eastside Lane, in the center of Wisteria Estates over in Stapleton. I was right. That’s about thirty minutes from here,” Shonda said and adjusted her laptop screen so the men hanging over her could see the estate.
“You’re shitting me! The same address? What are the chances of that?” Mason asked.
“Pretty good. You’d be surprised how many duplicates there are and in a fairly close vicinity, too. It made showing houses a nightmare some days.”
“I’m not surprised. To Christie it would be the ultimate joke. Any way we can get a blueprint or floor plan?” Zack asked her.
“This time of day, all the courthouse offices for permits and planning are closing. But let me call a friend.”
Twenty minutes and an email later, they had memorized the online layout of the house.
“Pull up maps. Let’s see if we can get an aerial view of the landscape and neighboring houses,” Zack directed Shonda.
“Smart,” Mason muttered.
“I have my moments.”
“No house directly behind,” Shonda pointed out. “But on either side the neighbors appear to have tall, wooden fences.”
“Think she’ll be looking out the back for us?” Mason asked.
“If I had to guess, she will have put Erica in the front room and Jacob in the back of the house.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Erica is the bigger threat if she got loose. She’d want to have her within sight at all times. It stands to reason if Christie is watching out the front for any attack, then she would have Erica tied up in there with her.” He ran a hand through his hair in agitation. “I don’t think she would view Jacob as a potential problem. She’d be more inclined to leave him alone for longer periods. But in a rear room, he’s far enough from the road that if he yelled, he probably wouldn’t be heard.”
“Makes sense.” Mason nodded agreement. “Zack, I think we should call the police. A swat team might get in there with no casualties.”
“They won’t show up without fanfare. I don’t trust that she won’t set the house on fire the second she sees someone,” he said raggedly. “I can’t take the risk.”
They all shared a worried look. Shonda was the first to break the silence. “Okay, here’s what we do… I have a handgun in the safe. One of you can take it. I’ll grab the first-aid kit and be waiting out by the fence line. We get Jacob out first. Have him run to where I am, if he’s capable. If not, shoot me a text, and I’ll come get him. That leaves you two to split up and search for Erica.
“Once I have Jacob, we’ll run for the car and phone the police. So you’ll only have about seven or eight minutes to get to her from the time you rescue Jacob. Mason should have the gun.”
“You think he is the clearer headed one of the two of us?” Zack asked, shocked she would think so.
“In this case he is. Otherwise, I would say you most definitely are.”
“Thanks for the show of support,” came the caustic reply of the man in question.
“Hey, you’re the firm believer in people telling it like it is,” she said with a hint of spite in her tone and expression.
Zack promptly changed the subject. The conversation could only deteriorate from here. “Where did you learn tactical planning?”
“I’ve helped Erica plot a few novels.”
Her cheeky grin had Zack laughing and dropping a quick kiss on her lips.
“Hey!” Mason warned.
“Snooze you lose, pal.”
“Whatever. Let’s get going. We only have a half hour before she calls again. It might take us that long to get there. If she leaves in the meantime, we’re screwed.”
Mason wasn’t wrong, and his comment had Zack rethinking getting the police to the location. Instinct shouted against that course of action. He’d learned the hard way to trust his inner voice.
By the time they arrived on the road behind the house in Wisteria Estates, Zack still had ten minutes before Christie was due to ring him. The two men carefully walked the wooded lot they’d discussed earlier.
The lot was wider than it was deep. Zack decided it could work in their favor. Mason went back for Shonda, just as the phone rang.
“Christie?”
“Hello, lover.”
“Tell me what you want. How do I get you to give me back Jacob and release Erica.”
“You don’t want her back, huh?” she asked. He detected a change in her demeanor from earlier. She sounded more combative. “I guess you won’t mind me killing her right now in that case.”
“No!” he shouted, then winced. If the sound of his yell echoed through the empty lot, she might hear it in the house and realize he hid feet from the back door.
His brother and Shonda appeared in his peripheral vision. He made the universal “wait” signal. “What I mean to say is, I don’t want anyone to die. She’d planned to go to Florida today. She was leaving me. Wasn’t that what you wanted? Can’t you just let her go? What do I have to do to get you to let them both go unharmed?”
He realized he’d taken on a begging quality, but he wasn’t too proud to plead with her for the lives of his loved ones.
“I’ll tell you what, you come into the house—don’t think I don’t know you are close—and I will let you pick which one gets to live.”
“What are you talking about?”
He flashed a terrified glance at his brother. How had she known? Mason, unable to hear the conversation playing out, stayed focused on him, frozen in place next to Shonda. Their fingers interwoven, locking them together.
“Lie to me and they both die, Zack,” Christie snapped. “Come into the clearing. Bring your brother and his friend.”
She disconnected and once again, Zack was helpless and frustrated she’d managed to best them.
“She knows we’re here.”
“How the fuck could she…” Mason trailed off and studied the trees, searching for something. He dropped Shonda’s hand and retraced his steps. “There.”
“What is it?”
“A camera,” his brother said, disgusted. “How the hell did we not allow for her to have set up security measures?”
“She wants us to step into the backyard. There’s no guarantee she won’t pull something or shoot us where we stand,” Zack sighed heavily. “I can’t ask you to take that risk.”
In that moment, an explosion rocked the ground and debris landed mere feet from where they gathered dumbfounded.
“No!” he screamed as he dashed toward the house.
Mason grabbed him when he would have flung himself into the flames. The two of them crashed to the ground. His brother’s arms were secure around his head and shoulders, unwilling to let him endanger himself on a lost cause.
“Jacob!” he sobbed.
Zack sat in the back of the rescue vehicle as paramedics treated the minor cuts and burns he’d received. Heartbroken and mind numb, he was unable to answer any of the questions the police put to him. Mason and Shonda took up the slack.
As he stared at the charred, smoldering mess, he wondered what he could have done differently. Once the body bags were brought out, he shrugged off the first responders’ ministrations and made his way to the bodies. He needed to see. When he would have reached for the zipper, Bucky grabbed his hand.
“No, Zack. There’s nothing to see. You don’t want to remember them like this.”
“Any sign of her?” he asked, throat raw from crying and smoke.
“None yet. But we will find her. She won’t get away with this.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that tune sung before. Pardon me if I don’t believe it.” His tone was cold and hard, matching what had once been a warm, beating heart. He had nothing left. “I’m going to kill her.”
“Zack,” Bucky warned.
He raised dead, colorless eyes to his friend. His only reason to live now was revenge on Christie.
“I’ll take him home.” He heard Dane say.
His younger brother had shown up sometime around an hour ago. Zack assumed Mason or Shonda had called him.
“I can’t go back there. Not tonight.”
“Okay. No problem. I’ll take you back to my place. You can crash there.”
“I can’t…” What? Sleep? Eat? Live?
“Zack, let Dane take you home,” Mason suggested. “I’ll see to everything here.”
Zack studied the other man. Haggard could be the only word used to describe him. Perhaps haunted worked, too. Shonda stood silent and mourning by his side. He nodded his agreement and climbed into Dane’s black Enclave.
If he could summon up an ounce of concern, he would have felt terrible for how heavy the smoke stench clinging to him was. Had it been his vehicle, he’d have been pissed it would take multiple detailings to remove the smell. He stared unblinking through the front windshield, watching the powwow between his siblings and Bucky. A heated debate ensued with Mason at the core.
Let them sort it out. He couldn’t play referee right now. Fatigue hit fast and furious. Closing his burning eyes, Zack rested his head against the seat. The last thing he remembered was wondering how he would pick up the pieces of his shattered life.