* * * *
Nina Fisher watched from the minivan--which they’d traded the old car for--parked down the street as the woman climbed back into her silver Volkswagen Bug. Money that one. Where in the hell was the little girl she’d had with her? Didn’t matter. “Where’s the girl?” Rod asked.
Maybe he was a bit smarter than she gave him credit for. “Well, I guess she’s still inside.”
“I don’t know about this, Neen.”
She hated his nickname for her. Neen. Bean. Clean. Then again she’d always hated her freaking name too.
“Don’t know about what?” She straightened her crisp blue shirt. “We’ve watched them for two days. The SPOC up there in that unmarked.” Like the damn cops were so smart. Idiots. “The rich doctor leaves at all hours to deliver babies.” Good looking doctor too. Ms. Reese remarried, another rich man, this one a baby doctor. Nina would bet he knew how to really please a woman.
Her glance shifted over to Rod with his bleached hair. Unlike some people. Not that Rod was completely incompetent, she’d had worse, but then again, she’d also had a hell of a lot better.“Look, just stick to what we talked about okay?”
His head shook. “I don’t know.”
“Dammit Rod, I want my kid back. We hope the doc’s out, but if he isn’t, then we still hit them.” It was a good plan. Nina was rather impressed with herself. She wouldn’t be breaking and entering. No, the door would easily be opened for her by the very people she was plotting against.
Costumes were wonderful things. She buckled the belt on, replacing the fake gun, with her own nine millimeter. The world was a strange place. Yeah, this plan would work.
Easy as one, two, three. Not that she really
wanted
the brat. It was the principle of the thing. And from what she had seen of the doctor, the newest sucker of one Taylor Reese, he came from money. If he was at home, she’d have to make certain they didn’t kill him. After she acted out her little fantasy against the new Mrs. Doctor, perhaps he’d pay to have the little bastard back. Not that she’d give the kid over.
“What about the cop?” Rod asked.
What happened to the days of working with smart people? “You think he’ll think twice when I walk up to him? You let me worry about Mr. Bodyguard.” Nina climbed from the back into the driver’s seat, her uniform completed. “You just get dressed, pull the car around and wait for me. If you see I need some help, then get off your ass and help me. Got it? Just don’t screw it up. They
have
to open the door for us, or it’s all lost.” The alarm she didn’t know how to work around, or have the time to find out.
Her gaze was pulled to the house. One happy freaking Brady Bunch. Probably made certain the kids’ seat belts were buckled and all that shit. She started the engine and took the next block,
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driving over three and parking the van. In this neighborhood, a dumb-assed minivan would look as at home as a daisy in a flower bed.
“And we know when to hit ‘em. Timing is everything.” She flicked the lid of the console and got out her bag of stash. It glinted pale blue in the sunlight, pure as new-fallen snow.
“You really need that?” Rod nagged.
“I say we get ready. Ready to rock-and-freaking-roll.”
The powder hit her nose, tingling, stinging until it numbed. When it dropped, she felt the constant irritation she felt towards Rod start to fade.
Rock and Roll. ‘Bout damn time.
The waiting was the hard part, but wait she would. Half an hour later, she climbed out and shut the door. Rod wore his old uniform, close enough for the neighborly glances.
“Give me five minutes, then pull around to the front of the house,” she told him.
Nina walked quickly down the sidewalk.
“Afternoon,” a woman waved from her porch.
Nina stopped, put a finger to her hat. “Afternoon. Have you seen any unusual people hanging around the neighborhood, ma’am?”
“Why, not that I can think of. What’s happened?” the woman asked, all full of concern.
“Not a thing, ma’am. Not a thing. If you happen to see anything unusual, please let us know.” It was all she could do not to laugh.
“Okay, I will.”
Nina walked on down the sidewalk and turned the corner. There was the unmarked sedan.
Carefully, she unclipped the gun. Walking up, she planned to tap on the window, but realized the man inside had already rolled it down.
“What’s going on?” he asked, his gaze raking over her.
“Just a patrol of the neighborhood. No one’s seen anything out of the ordinary, sir,” she told him companionably.
“I didn’t know about any canvass of the neighborhood.”
Nina smiled sweetly and brought the gun up into the window. The two silenced pings were lost in the interior of the car.
The man slumped in the seat.
“That’s because there isn’t one.” She carefully shifted and put the gun back in her holster.
Scanning the neighborhood all was quiet. As if she had every right to be there, Nina walked across the street towards the house.
* * * *
Gavin dug around in the pantry looking for plates. “I like the princess one,” Tori said.
There they were. Paper plates were one of man’s greatest inventions in his opinion.
“That’s a girl’s movie. How about the other one with the underworld guys?” Ryan tried yet again.They were still arguing over what movie to watch. Taylor was upstairs. Gavin tossed the plates to the table and watched as the two kids left the kitchen.
“How ‘bout the one with the girl warrior? I like that one,” Tori compromised, her voice
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fading as she and Ryan walked down the hallway.
Okay, plates. Gavin shook his head. He turned back to the pantry. They needed cups and paper towels. The pizza should be here any minute.
The doorbell rang.
“Pizza!” The kids yelled.
Gavin leaned into the hallway. “Wait, I’ll get it.”
A uniformed blue shirt shifted through the glass top of the door. Gavin tossed the cups on the table and started down the hallway.
“Ryan, wait,” Taylor said coming down the steps.
But, Ryan had already unlocked the door and started to open it. Suddenly, he went white, gasped and froze. Gavin had seen that look before. In the car when he’d ‘seen’ something, the night on the stairs when he’d ‘seen’ something, and the night he ‘saw’ the Shepard shooting.
“What’s wrong?” Tori asked Ryan.
Gavin started running. The door flew open, knocking Tori back.
A uniformed officer grabbed Ryan and pressed a gun to his head. “Stay back.”
Gavin skidded to a halt.
A woman. The officer was a woman. Dark short hair. Nina. God help them and she had a gun. Her eyes flashed at him, Ryan squirmed in her grasp. “Be still.” She tightened her hold on his son.
His.
“Let my son go,” he told the woman.
Her head tilted. “Your son?”
She tsked and Gavin saw her arm squeeze tighter. Ryan twisted and turned.
“Don’t hurt him. Please, don’t hurt him,” Taylor pleaded, from the stairs.
Damn it, why couldn’t Taylor just be quiet. Gavin couldn’t see her, but he knew she was above him.
The woman’s eyes swiveled at the sound of his wife’s voice, and her mouth lifted in a grin.
“Ms. Reese. Long time no see.” Nina pulled Ryan harder against her. The long black silencer too damn close to Ryan’s head. “I’m just retrieving some stolen property.” She glanced at him, then back to Taylor. “You don’t mind, do you?”
“Please,” Taylor begged. Gavin saw her pale hand on the banister. “Please just let him go.
Don’t hurt him.”
Again, the woman smiled and it was far from pleasant. “Now, why would I hurt him? He’s my flesh and blood. Mine.” Her eyes pierced them both. “Mine.” She shrugged and looked to Taylor. “But he’s not the one I
want
to hurt, is he?” She brought the gun up and aimed it at Taylor. He could see the intention in her eyes.
“No!” Gavin shouted.
Two short pings shot through the air.
“Mama!” Ryan screamed.
Gavin heard Taylor fall down the stairs. Oh, Jesus. He took three steps forward.
“Stay.”
Her gun leveled back at Ryan. Gavin stopped. Taylor lay on the floor, blood pooling
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around her. Her eyes stared at him, blinking and unfocused.
Oh God, baby. Hang on.
He looked back up to see Ryan still squirming in her grasp as she inched closer to the open door. He could rush her, but what if she did hurt Ryan? What if she just shot him? He couldn’t chance that. God, what the hell was he supposed to do?
“Let him, go,” Gavin rasped.
Her throaty chuckle answered him. “Not a chance. He’s my ticket to better things in life, doc. You, know, I was going to leave you alive, but.…” She started to bring the gun around.
Ryan leaned down and bit Nina’s arm.
“You little shit!” Her hold slackened and Ryan wiggled free.
Gavin flew at her, slamming her back against the wall. Another ping sounded and ice burned across his upper arm. Gavin knocked the gun away. It clattered into the living room.
“Run, Ryan! Run!” God the woman was strong.
“Mama.” Ryan just stood there.
He heard a whimper from behind the door. Tori!
Nina Fisher was much stronger than she looked.
Her eyes flashed an evil fire at him. “You’re pissed cause I did your wife? Trust me, you were wasting yourself on her,” she spit out. Her nails raked down his face.
They grappled and wrestled. Pictures flew off the walls as they stumbled into the living room.Her fingers clawed down his neck.
Gavin hooked his leg around her knees and pulled them both down.
Bitch.
“Run! Ryan!” Gavin glanced over his shoulder to see Ryan holding Tori and pulling her towards the door. Taylor lay still on the floor.
The alarm shrilled out.
Gavin didn’t care. A red storm raged through him. He squeezed her throat. “You’re not getting your hands on him.”
“No!” Ryan yelled.
Nina slapped her fist against his ear right before something crashed into the side of his head and the world grayed and blackened.
* * * *
“ ‘Bout damn time,” Nina told the man who hit Gavin over the head with the little round entry table. Ryan tried to push Tori back behind the door. They’d set off the alarm. Gavin lay on the floor, not moving. His arm and face bleeding. Was he dead? Had they killed his dad too?
Taylor. Taylor. His mama…. Blood seeped slowly across the floor.
“Get the kids,” Nina said, her voice raw.
Ryan tried to make himself move, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t leave Gavin, and Taylor and Tori.
The man’s hands closed around his arm. The contact broke him out of his stupor. Ryan fought against the hold. “Let go! Let me go!”
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“Help! HELP!” Tori screamed. “Help!”
“Be still.” Nina stumbled into the entry, grabbed Tori, and hit her. “Shut up. You,” she pointed to Ryan. “You do what you’re supposed to and I won’t have to hurt your little playmate here.”“Just leave her here,” Ryan tried. Please let her leave Tori.
“No.”
They all stumbled into the harsh light.
“But you don’t need her,” Ryan tried again. “She’s just scared. Leave her here.”
The man picked him up. “Be quiet kid.”
A van waited out by the curb, the back door open.
Where were the cops? Why wasn’t anyone helping them.
“Goddammit Rod, move your ass!”
Ryan was tossed into the van, Tori was thrown in after him.
“Down. Get down on the fucking floor, now!” Nina hopped in after them, aiming the gun in their direction and sliding the door shut.
Tori crawled to him, wrapping her arms around him. He held her and prayed that they’d both be safe.
He’d been right all along, happy endings never happened.
* * * *
Someone kept screaming. Why wouldn’t they stop? “Ryan?” Taylor croaked out. “Gavin?”
It felt like someone lit a fire in her chest. Taylor licked the side of her mouth. The coppery taste of blood thick on her tongue.
Someone was screaming. Weren’t they?
What was she doing down here? She didn’t remember falling, didn’t remember tumbling down the steps.
The world grayed around her.
Nina!
No. The kids. Oh, God, please protect the children.
Gavin?
Taylor lay on the floor. She could feel the blood seeping out of her, could see the smear of it across the wall above her.
Her chest no longer burned. It was cold, so cold. As though death breathed over her and sat waiting in her living room.
Ryan. Her poor little boy. She didn’t protect him, and Tori. Oh, God.
She turned her head. Gavin. No. His eyes were closed and blood slithered down from his hairline. Please God, let him be alive. Please.
Something … she had to help. Help. Get help. Taylor tried to move her hand. Tried to move….
The ceiling pitched and rolled above her, the walls tilted.
Someone help. Please, God help my child, protect them both
….
The world went black.
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