11
Where’s the Lady Marie?” Snake Man growled.
Emily’s insides shook. He’d asked her the same question three times and the fact that she didn’t change her answer infuriated him. “I’m telling you I don’t know! I don’t know anything about a houseboat sinking on any lake, and you repeating the question isn’t going to make me know it.” When his hand hovered over the weapon resting on the desk, she drew in a deep breath. “But I . . . I can try to find out for you.”
Snake Man reached for her and she stumbled backward into a hard chest. The man behind her shoved her forward and her thighs hit the edge of the desk. Snake Man picked up his weapon and aimed it at her head. Emily shut her eyes and wondered if her heart would explode from the frantic beat. Was she going to die for information she had no way of giving even if she wanted to?
Another man entered the office. “Boss? Got something you need to see.”
Emily opened her eyes to see Snake Man stiffen. “What?”
“Not sure. Looks like some movement next door. Might not be anything, but I think we need to check it out.”
Snake Man jabbed a finger at Emily. “We’re not done.”
“I want to see my mother and sister.”
He jerked his head at the man with the goatee who’d met her at the door. “Lock her in with them. The rest of you check the area.” Goatee gripped her bicep in a bruising grip. At least it wasn’t the wounded arm.
“You don’t have to hurt me,” she said, keeping the tremble from her voice through sheer effort. “I’ll go where you want me to go.” Especially if it meant her mother and sister were there.
He didn’t bother to acknowledge her—or loosen his grip. Instead, he drew to a stop at the room next to the office, pulled a key from his pocket, and unlocked the door. He shoved Emily inside, and her ears registered the dead bolt clicking into place even as her eyes landed on the woman and child huddling on a wooden bench in the far corner.
“Emily?” the woman asked.
“Mom?”
Emily’s mother held a young girl against her. Sophia. Eleven years had passed since she’d been in the same room with her mother. Eleven long years.
“What’s going on? What do they want?” her mother whispered.
“I’m not exactly sure.” Emily answered automatically, but for a moment, she was suspended in time. Her gaze never left the two on the bench. Her mother’s never left her.
“You look good,” her mother said.
“Still on the heavy side, though, right?” She snapped her tongue with her teeth. Keep your mouth shut and the past in the past.
With a flinch, her mother pushed her gray-flecked brown hair from her narrowed eyes. She still wore it in the same style Emily remembered from her teens. “They kept telling us not to be afraid, that they were going to let us go.”
Shocked—yet relieved—that her mother didn’t acknowledge the jab, Emily crossed her arms. “Let you go?” She wasn’t sure she believed that. Neither her mother nor Sophia wore any kind of blindfolds and their captors hadn’t worn masks.
In fact, she was quite sure that as soon as the men got what they wanted, they were all three going to die. “Of course they’ll let you go,” she said. “And as soon as they tell me what they want, I’ll give it to them and then we’ll all go home.”
“I know you,” Sophia said.
Emily smiled and walked over to squat in front of the girl. “I’m Emily.”
“I’ve seen your picture.”
“And I’ve seen yours.”
“Mom said you’re my sister. Why don’t you ever come to visit?”
Her mother stiffened and Emily swallowed. “It’s a long story. Right now, I need to focus on getting us out of here, okay?”
Sophia gave a nod. “Okay. Please. I really want to go home.”
“Yeah, me too.” Emily stood and examined the room. As far as she could tell, it was 10ʹ × 10ʹ with Sheetrock walls and tile drop-ceiling panels. Further investigation revealed a bathroom and another small office attached on the other side. “We’re trapped,” she murmured.
“I know. I’ve already checked,” her mother said.
Of course she had. Emily closed her eyes and pictured the office building and the surroundings. Located at the edge of Columbia, the building was one of many separated by alleyways and streets, and it blended well with the others. Even the bars on the windows wouldn’t be suspect in this area of town.
She walked back into the room where her mother still sat holding Sophia’s hand and studied the girl. Sophia had been just barely four weeks old when Emily had left after that horrible night.
“Get out! Get out! This is your fault! You killed him!”
So she’d run and never looked back. Much.
As far as Emily was concerned, she needed to put that out of her mind and let the past stay in the past for now. “Can you two get up for a minute?”
They stood. Emily examined the bench and gave a satisfied grunt. “That might work,” she whispered to herself.
The bench rocked slightly under her hard shake. “This. As a weapon of some sort. It’s not very sturdy. I think I can pull it apart and use one of the pieces as a weapon.”
Her mother hadn’t taken her eyes from Emily, tracking her every movement. “A piece of wood against a gun?”
Emily shot her a hard smile. “I’m counting on the element of surprise.”
“They used us to get you to come here. Told you they’d hurt us if you didn’t.”
“Yes.”
“And you came.”
Emily blanched. “Of course.”
Her mother blinked and looked away. Emily’s heart hurt at all the unresolved issues, but she had to focus—and pray there would be time later to talk. She slipped her jacket off and ripped the sleeve of her T-shirt from her unwounded arm.
Her mother gasped. “What happened?”
Emily saw she was staring at the bandage around her other arm. Blood had seeped through. Probably from all of her activity.
“Just a little incident.” Emily strode to the window and gave it a shove. To her surprise, it opened. “Guess they’re not too concerned about us crawling out of here with these bars.”
“Guess not,” Sophia said. “What are you doing?”
Emily tied the shirt sleeve around the bar at the lowest point, hoping no one would be able to see it when they opened the door—or notice it on a security camera. She shut the window. “Leaving a signal in case my friend was able to follow me.” She turned to Sophia. “Now, how good are you at climbing and hiding?”
“Anything at the back?” Brady asked. The drone moved and he narrowed his eyes. “What’s that? In the window?”
“Not sure. Looks like a piece of material. We need eyes on the inside more than anything,” Linc said. “SWAT—and Derek—are on the way.”
“Can you take care of the cameras on the back of the building where that piece of cloth is?”
“Why? You think it’s something significant?”
“I don’t know, but Emily’s done really well leaving us a trail to follow. She left me the note, then made sure she took a taxi that I could trace. She even managed to get me a text where they were rerouting her to.” He nodded at the window. “And now there’s a piece of material hanging on the bars of the window. I think she’s trying to tell us she’s in that room.”
Linc pressed a finger to his earpiece. “Cameras are out in the back,” he said. “It’ll cause some concern when someone notices.”
“I don’t plan for this to take long. Can we get a thermal image of the room?” With that equipment, he’d be able to detect if someone was inside the building in the room signaled by the material tied to the bar on the window. If that was Emily sending him a message, they needed to know—and act. Linc walked over and Brady tucked his phone into the front pocket of his jeans.
“SWAT’s going to approach,” Linc said. “They’ve got the thermal imaging equipment.”
Brady shook his head. “I’m going with them.”
“Your knee—”
“Is holding up. I’m going.” He rubbed his eyes and sighed. “But I promise, if I think it’s going to interfere or cause a safety issue, I’ll stand down.”
“Ruthie said you ran out on the MRI.”
“Didn’t have a choice. She gave me a brace. It’s helping.”
“Then suit up. You’re not going in without a vest on.”
By the time Brady slipped on the combat gear, law enforcement had the entire building surrounded. And it was confirmed there were three people inside the room. “Two adults and a kid, right?” Brady said. He shoved the earpiece Linc had provided into his left ear.
“Yeah. Looks like the kid is in the ceiling,” Linc said. “They can see inside the room with the binoculars, but whoever’s in there is staying to the side.”
“Smart.” Brady paused. “Don’t breach until I’m in position.”
“Stand by,” Linc said to the men and women waiting for his command to go. “They’ve got the cameras at the front on a loop too, so it looks like everything is okay out there. Also thermal imaging is picking up five people in the main area. They’re all gathered in a room off the main floor.”
“So, they’re distracted?”
“Yeah. For now.”
“I’m going to knock on the window where I think Emily is.”
“What if it’s not her in there?”
“Then I guess I’m going to figure out who it is. But I think it’s her.”
Brady took one more look at the blueprints and drew in a deep breath. He could let SWAT do this, but for some reason he . . . couldn’t. He’d rescued Emily several times already and he wasn’t going to entrust her safety to people who didn’t know her.
Which made absolutely no sense and he knew it. The people he worked with were more than skilled in hostage negotiation and rescue.
But he wanted to be there. He had to be there.
He held his weapon in his right hand and made his way to the side of the building. Fortunately, the window was low to the ground. Unfortunately, the bars were solid. He had to find a way to get her out of there. If it was her.
He lifted a hand and knocked.
Emily heard a yell from outside her door the same time she heard the noise at the window. Her fingers gripped the bench leg she’d yanked off and planned to swing like a bat at the next person who entered the room. “Was that a knock on the window?” she asked.
Her mother stood in the bathroom doorway, looking at the window. “Yes.”
Still gripping the wooden leg, Emily moved to the window and stood to the side to peer out. One thing she’d learned on the streets. Don’t be seen until you know who’s looking. “Get in the bathroom, Mom, and shut the door. No matter what you hear, don’t come out unless I yell for you or law enforcement does. Okay?”
“What about you?”
“I’ll be all right, but you need to protect Sophia. Please?”
To Emily’s amazement, the woman nodded and obeyed. Emily turned her attention to the window and could see a man in law enforcement gear. Hope leaped. With her free hand, she pushed open the window and recognized the eyes under the baseball cap. “Brady?”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Is that Sophia in the ceiling?”
She blinked. “Yes.”
“Good move.” His eyes traveled the small room. “Where’s your mother?” She’d been in the room just seconds before.
“In the bathroom guarding Sophia’s hiding place.”
“We’re going to work on getting these bars off without them realizing it. Then we’ll—”
The door slammed open. Brady jerked to the side out of sight and Emily spun, the piece of wood hidden behind her.
The man who’d shoved her into the room stood in the doorway. “Get away from that window!” His eyes flicked around the room. “Where’s the old woman and the kid?”
Old woman? Her mother was only forty-eight. “In the bathroom.”
He shut the door behind him and strode toward the bathroom. As he passed her, Emily swung the bench leg with all of her strength. Pain shot through her wounded arm as the wood connected with her captor’s head, but satisfaction flowed when he slumped to the floor.
She darted to the door, twisted the knob, and opened it a crack. Three of the remaining four men were focused on the front window. Snake Man still sat behind his monitors. “See what’s taking Chico so long,” Snake Man called.
The man closest to the office headed toward her. “I don’t like this, boss. Something’s going down.”
“The monitors don’t say anything, but yeah, I think you’re right. Get the Chastain woman and kill the other two,” he said. “Dump them in the lake. We’ve got to get out of here.”
Emily shut the door, wishing she had a way to lock it, and ran to the window. “Brady!”
“I’m here.”
“They’re coming to get me and I heard one of them say to kill my mom and Sophia and dump them in the lake.” She couldn’t help the edge of hysteria in her voice.
“Stand to the side of the window,” he told her.
She stepped aside as the latch clicked on the door.
“Breach now!” Brady’s sharp whisper came through the window, then the door opened.
“Chico, what’s going on in—” The man’s eyes fell to his unconscious comrade on the floor, then shot to her. “What’d you do?”
She hefted the wood and dropped into a defensive stance. “I hit him and I’ll hit you too.”
“You’re dead.” He lifted his weapon. One shot came from outside the window.
Her captor dropped. His weapon clattered to the hardwood.
Emily screamed and jumped back, heart pounding. She ran to the doorframe to peer out in the large area. All she could think was two down, three to go.
The front door burst open. Law enforcement swarmed the building. Gunfire sounded and Emily slammed the door.
The bathroom door opened and her mother appeared.
“Go back,” Emily said. “Shut the door.”
Her mother’s eyes landed on the man with the bullet hole in his head. She turned and retched but slammed the bathroom door.
The other door opened and Emily turned to see Brady enter. His gaze went to the two men on the floor and she gestured to the dead man. “Was that you?”
“No, SWAT.” He hurried to cuff the unconscious man on the floor and pat him down. He removed two more guns.
“That’s why you wanted me away from the window.”
“Yes.” He moved to the dead body, cuffed him, checked for a pulse, confiscated another weapon, then stood. “Get Sophia and your mom and stay in the bathroom until I come back for you. It’s the safest place at the moment. They’re not all in custody, but will be soon. Be ready to move fast.” He nodded to the men on the floor. “Cover Sophia’s eyes. She doesn’t need to see that.”
Emily bolted into the bathroom. Her mother leaned against the sink, rinsing her mouth. Emily stood on the toilet and removed the ceiling tile closest to the wall. In her desperation to find a hiding place for her sister, she’d pushed the tile up and discovered a small “shelf” that jutted from the wall just above the toilet. “Sophia?”
“I’m here.” The child’s voice wavered and Emily’s heart clenched.
Her mother stood next to her, arms reaching up. “Come here. Lower yourself down and I’ll help you.”
“I heard some loud noises,” Sophia said. “Like shooting. I don’t want to come down if someone’s shooting.”
“The cops are here now,” her mother said. “You’re going to be fine.”
The girl’s legs swung down and Emily helped her mother lower her to the toilet, then jump down. The little girl looked up at her. “I want to go home.”
“I know.” She wanted to offer a hug, but Sophia didn’t know her. Not like she should. She was a stranger to the child and she had only herself to blame for that. Yes, her mother had kicked her out, but it had been Emily’s choice to stay away for so long. Sophia ran to her mother and buried her face in the woman’s stomach.
Shouts, gun blasts, and screams echoed from the outer room.
“Stay here,” Emily said. She ran out of the bathroom.
“Emily! Get back here!”
For a moment she froze. Her mother actually sounded concerned, but she ignored the order, cracked the door, and peered out. Law enforcement swarmed the warehouse floor, weapons raised, shouting orders to the scattering men with the snake tattoos.
Another shot rang out, followed by three more.
Emily pressed her back against the wall until the shooting stopped, glanced at the now-closed door of the bathroom, then took another look at the floor.
Controlled chaos reigned. The man she’d slammed with the piece of wood was awake and in the grip of a SWAT officer, being led from the building.
Another man lay on the floor, hands cuffed, three dark holes in his chest. An officer held a hand to a bleeding bicep but didn’t look too concerned. Where was Snake Man?
And where was Brady?
“Clear!”
“Clear!”
“All clear here!”
The shouts came from all directions. Men and women in their gear, rifles and other weapons held ready.
And then Brady was in her line of sight. He caught her gaze and frowned at her as he hurried toward her. “Thought I told you to stay back.”
“You did. Did you get them?”
“Two of them. There were five in all, right?”
“We got all but one. Two are dead and two in custody. Their other buddy escaped somehow, but we’ll get his face off a camera from somewhere and put him through the recognition software. It won’t take us long to find him.”
He sounded more hopeful than she thought he should. Not everyone was in the system. Although Snake Man didn’t exactly look like he was new to a life of crime, so maybe they’d get a hit. Brady looked over her shoulder. “Everyone okay?”
Emily turned. Her mother and Sophia stood in the bathroom door, watching wide-eyed and scared. She didn’t blame them. “What now?”
“Officers will want to get your mother’s statement and talk to Sophia.”
“Of course. Then what?”
“Then we make sure your mother and sister are safe while you help us figure out who is so desperate for what you have that they’re willing to pull this kind of stunt.”