Deadly Arrival (Hardy Brothers Security Book 16) (3 page)

“Grady, I want cameras on every single inch of this building,” James instructed, checking the monitor on his office desk. “Most of it is covered now, but I want backup locations in case someone finds one of the cameras and disables it.”

“I’m on it,” Grady said, moving toward the storage room. “How many cameras do we have in here?”

“Plenty,” James answered. “I don’t care if you think you’re going overboard. Put cameras everywhere. I want you to take a monitor home, I’m going to do the same, and we’re going to make sure someone is watching this building at all times.”

“We should get Maverick down here,” Jake suggested, referring to Hardy Brothers Security’s computer guru. “He might know a few tricks we don’t.”

“That’s a good idea,” James said. “Get on that. Tell him to get his scrawny butt down here. I don’t care what video game he’s playing today. I’ll make it worth his while.”

“He’ll probably come just to see the women,” Jake said, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. “You know how he likes to drool over them.”

“I don’t care how you get him down here,” James said. “I want him here in twenty minutes.”

“Speaking of the women, how do you expect to keep them upstairs while we handle all of this?” Grady asked, walking out of the storage room with an armful of cameras. “Sophie is enraged. She’s going to be hard to wrangle.”

“No offense to you, but I’m not particularly worried about Sophie,” James admitted. “Pritchard is going to go after Emma first. That’s a given. When he realizes he can’t get to her, he’s going to try to grab one of the other women and use her as leverage. Sophie is the last one on that list he’s going to want to risk going after. He’s not an idiot. He’ll figure out who she is and exactly who he’d have on his tail if he tried to touch her.”

“I hope Peter can help us,” Grady said, his face somber. “If Peter’s men could get their hands on Pritchard before the police … .”

James knew what he was insinuating. “No one is going to cry if Lance Pritchard shows up dead in the Detroit River,” he said. “We have to find him first.”

Jake shoved his phone into his pocket as he walked back into the office. “Maverick is on his way,” he said. “He’s not happy about it, but he’s coming. I told him it was an emergency. I wasn’t sure how much you wanted him to know about Pritchard … and why he’ll be coming after Emma.”

“We’re going to have to tell him everything,” James replied, grim. “He’ll be more likely to work his ass off if he knows the real stakes. He’s not so tactless he would say something to Emma. If he does … well … I’ll thump him for good measure.”

Jake smirked. “Do you want to leave Finn upstairs with the women while we do this, or do you want him to come down and help?”

“Leave him up there,” James answered. “Emma is a mess and Finn is the only one who can make her feel better. The women will do their best, but they can’t understand Emma’s terror. They have no basis for extrapolation because they never dealt with the horrors she did as a kid. They’re desperate to help, but Finn is the only one who can get through to her right now.”

“Okay,” Jake said. “I’m going to help Grady with the cameras. I’ll call you when we need you to double-check that the feeds are working.”

“Good,” James said. “While you’re doing that, I want to make sure we have alarms for every single window in this place – including the second floor.”

“Do you think Pritchard is going to bring a ladder?”

“I’m not leaving anything open to chance,” James replied. “Emma is going to give birth any day now. The stress of her father escaping might cause it to occur early. If that happens, I want to make sure there’s no way Pritchard can catch us off guard. We’re going to have to come up with a contingency plan to get Emma to the hospital if she goes into labor.”

“And we thought Finn was a mess before,” Jake lamented.

“I can’t imagine being in his shoes,” James admitted. “This is … .”

“The worst thing that could’ve happened,” Jake finished. “Let’s get ahead of it.”

“HE’S
going to try and take our baby,” Emma said, pacing as Finn and the other women helplessly watched her fall apart. “He’s going to take him and … hurt him.”

“That’s not going to happen, sweetie,” Finn said. He’d given up trying to get her to sit down. “I won’t let it happen. I promise. I’m not going to leave your side.”

“Emma, why don’t we put your new stuff away?” Ally suggested, trying to distract her distraught friend. “You like to organize things. Let’s do that.”

“I don’t want to organize,” Emma shrieked. “My father is coming to get me. Do you know what he’s going to do when he gets his hands on me?”

“Emma, that’s not going to happen,” Finn said, his eyes filling with tears. She was terrified. He could feel it wafting off of her. “I promise.”

“I testified against him in court,” Emma said. “I didn’t say what happened to me because I was embarrassed, but I testified about some of the other kids. He told me then that he was going to kill me.”

Finn rubbed the back of his neck as he watched. “Guys, I need you to go downstairs,” he said, focusing on Mandy, Ally, and Sophie. “Emma and I need some time alone.”

“We understand,” Mandy said, getting to her feet and grabbing Ally’s arm. “We’ll leave you two to talk.”

“If you need anything, we’ll be right downstairs,” Sophie offered. “Call on the cell phone and we’ll handle it.”

“I’ll be down in a few minutes,” Finn said. “I want to talk to James about a few things. I just need a few minutes with Emma first.”

Ally moved to Finn’s side and gave him a warm hug, whispering something only he could hear before separating. While all the Hardy siblings were close, Grady and James had the tightest relationship. That was followed closely by Finn and Ally’s relationship. They were closer in age so they bonded as children. Ally more than anyone knew how to make Finn feel better.

“Thank you, Ally,” Finn murmured, kissing her cheek. “I love you, too.”

Finn watched the women leave before turning his full attention to Emma. His heart rolled at the pained expression on her face. She was losing it. “Sweetie, I’m going to draw you a bath,” he said. “You need to relax. I’m going to make you some of that calming tea you like.”

“How am I supposed to relax? He’s going to … .”

Finn closed the distance between them, pulling Emma to him and holding her as tightly as he could manage given the circumference of her stomach. “I won’t let him touch you, sweetie. You’re my heart. I will protect you with everything I have. I won’t let anything happen to you or the baby. Please … have a little faith.”

“I’m trying,” Emma said, bursting into tears. “I’m so afraid.”

“I know you are,” Finn said. “I’m not leaving your side, though. I promise.”

“I love you, Finn,” Emma sobbed. “If something happens to me, I need you to know that.”

“I love you more than I’ve ever loved anything in this world, Emma,” Finn said. “I won’t let anything happen to you. Believe me.”

“HOW
are things up there?” James asked, arching an eyebrow as Mandy, Ally, and Sophie joined him on the main floor.

“Rough,” Mandy replied. “She’s so panicked she won’t listen to anything but her fear. Finn is doing his best, but … .”

James pressed his lips together, worry for his brother momentarily overtaking him. There was nothing worse than trying to protect the woman you love when she was terrified. It was a helpless feeling.

“Hopefully a good night’s sleep will help her,” Sophie interjected. “She’s overwrought right now. She can’t think straight.”

“Hopefully the police will catch up with Pritchard by morning,” James said. “That would be the best possible outcome.”

“The best possible outcome would be if Peter caught up with Pritchard first,” Sophie countered. “Then he’d know a little bit about pain and fear before he disappeared from the face of the Earth.”

James arched an eyebrow. Sophie’s bloodthirsty side reared its head occasionally. This was one of those times. He opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it shut when the bell over the front door rang and the door opened to allow Maverick entrance.

The twenty-year-old slacker didn’t look thrilled to be there. He was dressed down in pants that looked as if they were about to fall off his hips – and some gaming T-shirt James didn’t recognize – and his attitude was surly from the moment he greeted everyone.

“This had better be good,” he said. “I was in the middle of an important online tournament.”

“I don’t care,” James replied, straightening. “We have a huge situation. Have you been watching the news?”

Maverick shook his head. “The news is depressing. I don’t like to be depressed.”

“You make me tired,” James muttered. “You’re going to have to brace yourself to be depressed. Four men escaped from the Jackson prison. We believe one of them is on his way here. We need this building locked down. I want every window wired. We’re adding cameras outside. I want additional feeds to a monitor upstairs. I also want feeds to monitors at Grady’s house and mine.”

“That’s a lot of work,” Maverick pointed out. “I’m going to want a big paycheck.”

“I don’t care how much it costs,” James shot back.

“Why is this guy coming after you?” Maverick asked, casting a sidelong look at Ally. “You’re still as hot as I remember.”

Ally made a face. “Focus on your job.”

Maverick rolled his eyes until they landed on James again. “Who is this guy?”

“His name is Lance Pritchard,” James said, wetting his lips. “I … .”

Maverick tilted his head to the side, his greasy hair spilling over his shoulder. He looked as if he’d been too busy playing video games to shower … for at least four days. “Why do I know that name?”

“Because he was big news here several years ago,” Sophie supplied. “His trial was on every news channel. You were probably young enough that you only heard about him secondhand when you got older.”

“What did he do?”

“He’s a child molester,” James answered, opting not to mince words. “He molested like forty kids in Eastpointe, although he wasn’t tried on all of those counts because some of the victims didn’t want to testify.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember that guy,” Maverick said. “I was like thirteen at the time and my mother was scared for me to leave the house – even though we didn’t live anywhere close to Eastpointe – and everyone watched his trial on television every day. She was convinced I was going to be grabbed off the street.”

“Now do you understand why this is so important?” James prodded.

Maverick shook his head. “Why are you guys involved in this?” he asked. “You weren’t even in operation when that went down. You didn’t put him in jail, did you?”

James exchanged a quick look with Mandy, flustered. “I … .” Telling Emma’s secret pained him.

Mandy took the onus of the conversation off her husband and moved to Maverick’s side. “Emma is Lance Pritchard’s daughter,” she explained. “He went after his own kids, too. Emma is going to have a baby any day now. Do you understand how serious this is?”

Maverick’s mouth dropped open. “I … .”

“Don’t be a pain in the ass,” Mandy warned. “Emma is freaking out. She testified against her father. He wants revenge. He promised to kill her in court. I know because I was sitting right there when he did it.

“She’s got a baby inside of her and she’s extremely vulnerable right now,” she continued, her eyes narrow slits of blue. “If you say anything to her, I’m going to drag you to the salon and have them wax your whole body bare. It’s going to hurt and all the other nerds are going to point and laugh … even more than they already do.”

“I understand,” Maverick said, leaning away from Mandy. “You’re hot but terrifying, by the way. You’re the one who doesn’t wear underwear sometimes, right?”

James cleared his throat. “Don’t make me beat you.”

“I’m on it,” Maverick said. “You could’ve told me what was going on without the threats. I don’t want anything to happen to the hot pregnant chick. I don’t have any love for child molesters. There’s no reason to go all … Hulk … on me.”

“Oh, I won’t be as nice as the Hulk,” Mandy threatened. “If you piss me off, I’m going to turn into the shark from
Jaws
and there won’t be any pieces of you left big enough to identify when I’m done with you.”

Maverick swallowed hard. “So, I should probably get on this right now, huh?”

“That would be great,” James said, ceding his desk chair so Maverick could take over the computer. “I don’t want any mistakes. You make sure every angle is covered. I’m going to leave Jake here with you while I run an errand with Grady, Mandy, and Sophie.”

“As long as you take the scary blonde with you, I’m good,” Maverick said, casting Mandy one more nervous look. “Is it wrong that I’m more turned on now that I know you’re a badass?”

“That’s my wife,” James said. “I will thump you.”

“Man, you guys are wound up,” Maverick said, focusing on the computer. “I would hate to be this Lance Pritchard guy when you get your hands on him.”

“You have no idea,” James said.