Authors: Randi Cardoza
Chapter 9
Kenzi woke up to the sun shining brightly in her face but clouds were lurking ominously on the horizon. She quickly showered and brushed her teeth and hair. After dressing in a gauzy skirt in a rose hue and a tiny black tank top with a red rose etched onto it, she hurried down to Molly’s room.
Molly was still asleep and Kenzi gently woke her up. Molly wasn’t too happy to be woken up but didn’t complain overly.
Breakfast wasn’t exactly a cheerful affair for Kenzi as Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer were both glaring at her the entire time.
“What happened to your nose?” Molly asked staring at the beige bandage across the bridge of Mr. Mortimer’s nose.
“I ran into the door after your mother left it open last night,” he replied simply and left the table.
“Molly, your party starts at one o’clock. Make sure you wear that purple dress I bought for you. Go play in your room, Kenzi and I have something to discuss,” Mrs. Mortimer said a few minutes later.
Molly started to protest but Kenzi simply shook her head and Molly left without a word.
“I’m afraid that we will no longer be in need of your services, Ms. Evans,” Mrs. Mortimer said in a voice daring Kenzi to argue.
“Am I fired because I refused your husband’s advances or because Shawn wants me and not you?” Kenzi asked ignoring the tone of her employer’s voice.
“You may stay through the weekend and then a new nanny will be coming in from the agency. You broke my husband’s nose, that is not exactly complimentary to you.”
“You didn’t answer my question, Mrs. Mortimer,” Kenzi said in a quiet but clipped tone.
“You do not come to me when my daughter needs me. She calls for me at night but you do not let her come to me. You are not doing a proper job and will not receive a recommendation from us,” Mrs. Mortimer replied.
“Your daughter is prone to nightmares as you might now if you took care of her. She calls to you but is calmed by my presence enough so that she doesn’t have to disturb your sleep,” Kenzi said standing up.
“The child is dependent on you and not her parents. I think you’ve had a bad influence on her, that is why we are asking you to leave the position.”
“You aren’t asking me. You’re firing me and it certainly isn’t for that reason. You’re getting rid of me because I won’t entertain your husband so you can try to get Shawn to entertain you. He won’t entertain you, either, Mrs. Mortimer. I’ll go but you are going to be the one to tell your daughter,” Kenzi said leaving the dining room and going straight up to Molly’s room.
The rain started just as the guests started arriving for the party. It was pouring when the party ended shortly after five o’clock.
Mrs. Mortimer hadn’t said a word to Kenzi during that time and Kenzi knew that Molly wasn’t enjoying herself. All the
friends
invited were four to five years older than her and made fun of her rather than wishing her a happy birthday.
Shawn and Toby took luggage up to the bedroom suites used for each party attendee and her parent. The sky was lighting with all the lightning bolts as the girls finally excused themselves to rest before dinner was served at six o'clock.
“Molly, please come with me into the library. I must have a word with you for a moment,” said Mrs. Mortimer when the last guest ascended the stairs.
“I think I’ll go back to my apartment,” Shawn replied as Molly looked at Kenzi in alarm.
“Go ahead, Molly. I’ll be waiting to take you to your room to change for dinner,” Kenzi said sitting down on a couch in the sitting room outside the library.
The door closed and Kenzi knew the Mortimer’s were telling Molly that Kenzi would be leaving at the end of the week. She dreaded the girl’s response to the news.
Kenzi was looking out the large bay window near the library when thunder shook the house for about the thousandth time. The library door flew open and she could hear Molly screaming.
“I don’t want Miss Kenzi to leave! She loves me,” Molly screamed and ran from the room.
She didn’t see Kenzi but ran up the steps to her room and Kenzi could hear the door slam moments later. Kenzi grabbed the length of her skirt and ran up the stairs after her.
Kenzi gently tapped on the door and came in. Molly was lying on the bed sobbing harshly.
“She’s making you leave. She knows I love you and doesn’t want me to love anyone,” Molly cried as Kenzi pulled her into her arms.
“It’s alright, sweetheart. We still have the weekend to be together,” Kenzi crooned as she rocked gently back and forth.
“You can’t help me get home now,” Molly hiccuped looking up at Kenzi, her emerald eyes red from the tears she’d shed.
“Shush now. We’ll worry about that later. You just have a happy birthday. Everything will be all right, I promise,” Kenzi whispered into Molly’s hair.
Molly stopped crying soon and Kenzi wiped her face with a damp washcloth. They picked a pink jumper that was covered in little white daisies with a white tank top underneath for dinner.
Molly went to Kenzi’s room to help her decide what to wear to dinner.
“Miss Kenzi do you love Mr. Shawn?” Molly asked as Kenzi was pulling a gray pair of Capri pants and a white loose, ruffle collared blouse with three-quarter sleeves, and a gray tank top on in the bathroom.
“I don’t know. I might,” Kenzi answered evasively knowing Shawn could hear every word.
“Oh, is he gonna leave with you?” Molly asked bouncing on the bed as Kenzi came out of the bathroom.
“I don’t know. He might if he loves me,” Kenzi replied spraying on a gentle floral fragrance. “Do you want some?”
Molly eagerly held out her wrists to be sprayed. Thunder shook the house and Molly jumped a little.
“I hate storms. They’re really bad here,” Molly said with a shudder as lightning crashed outside the house.
“Storms aren’t bad. Think of it as a big sprinkler but you have to be careful when you’re out there in it,” Kenzi said holding out her hand to Molly. “Let’s go. Dinner is in thirty minutes and you have guests waiting.”
They walked down the stairs and Kenzi felt like she’d walked into a bad fashion magazine. The girls were all dressed too maturely for their ages. Some wore garish make-up and jewelry and even high-heeled shoes.
Most of them talked and simply ignored Molly including Mrs. Mortimer. The things they talked about Kenzi hadn’t thought about until she was in high school. Some were giggling that they’d already been making out with boys at school.
“Dinner is served, ma’am,” Helen announced as she adjusted her starched white apron.
“Thank you, Helen. Girls, shall we?” Mrs. Mortimer asked and gestured for the girls to crowd into the dining room for dinner.
The dinner wasn’t too unusual given the age group but it was disturbing for Kenzi to see pizza, tacos, and ice cream sundaes served by waiters in white dinner jackets.
They were almost finished with the ice cream sundaes and cake when thunder boomed overhead and the lights flickered off and then back on.
It was close to ten o’clock when the lightning struck a tree and the power flickered and went out. There were screams from the girls followed by a rustle when the waiters fumbled to find candles and light them.
Eerily, candlelight exaggerated the shadows and Molly clung to Kenzi tightly. The wind lashed at the windows and thunder was rumbling overhead.
Shawn, who was in his apartment, told Kenzi through her earpiece that they were still getting out that night. No one would think to check on Molly in the dark.
“I think I’ll take Molly to her room. She’s scared to death and maybe she’ll fall asleep a little better if I read her a story,” Kenzi said as she carried Molly up to her room in one arm and had a flashlight in the other hand.
Kenzi was reciting rather than reading a story to Molly when the lights flickered again but just as quickly went out. Around midnight Kenzi heard all the parents closing the doors to their suites.
Kenzi walked out in the hall and ran into one of the guests.
“Are the girls having fun? It’s an ideal night for a slumber party,” Kenzi asked the woman as she passed her in the hall.
“The girls, as you call them, are all tucked into their bed for the night. Proper young ladies do not have slumber parties,” she said in disdain and closed the door to her suite in Kenzi’s face.
Kenzi went back to Molly’s room to find her asleep. The flashlight was still on and Kenzi turned it off to conserve the battery.
Kenzi quickly went to her room to start packing. Mrs. Mortimer came in the room while she was packing and asked what she was doing.
“I’m packing, of course. I won’t have time during the day while I’m with Molly so I have to get as much done at night as possible. I figured I would get started on it tonight so Molly wouldn’t notice it so much as if I did it in front of her,” Kenzi said stiffly.
“Very well. You’ll receive your pay then and also a small severance for being let go with so little notice. Happy packing,” Mrs. Mortimer chuckled and left carrying the candle she’d come with.
“Bitch,” Kenzi muttered under her breath.
“Kenzi, this is better than we could have expected. The Mortimer’s flashlights just went out. With the power out, Mr. Mortimer can’t record you and he won’t know what you’re doing,” Shawn said through the earpiece.
“I didn’t think about that. Now that I think about it, the lights on the cameras are out. I’ll pack a small bag for me and then one for Molly meet me at the stables,” Kenzi whispered in case Mrs. Mortimer came back.
“Toby is an operative, so he knows the story. I didn’t know but once I talked to him about tonight we kinda blew each other’s cover, at least to each other,” Shawn said and then static crackled in the earpiece because of the lighting.
“Okay. Molly and I will be there soon.”
Kenzi quickly changed into the most comfortable and lightest pair of black pants she owned. She tucked a black tank top into them and topped that with a bulletproof cargo vest filled with just about anything they may need. She put an extra pair of socks, underwear, and her comb into a pocket built into the vest, and then placed a camouflaged cap on her head to cover her golden blonde hair. Last, she tucked her pants into combat-like boots.
Silently, she went to Molly’s room and woke the child. Molly looked at her fearfully at first.
“It’s me, Molly. It’s Kenzi. I’m taking you out of here right now. Me and Shawn are taking you home,” Kenzi whispered.
“You and Mr. Shawn?” Molly whispered.
“Shawn and I are cops, Molly. We came here to get you. You have to be very quiet and do exactly what I say. You have to change clothes. We have to hurry,” Kenzi whispered.
Kenzi quickly and quietly dressed Molly in an outfit just as dark as her own with the exception of a blue waterproof jacket. Kenzi picked Molly up and carried her silently down the hall and down the stairs to the kitchen.
She ran into Helen in the backyard. Helen looked at her in horror for a moment and Kenzi motioned for her to be silent.
“Agent Fromier? I’m glad they finally got someone in here,” Helen said before Kenzi could think.
“Are all the servants here operatives?” Kenzi whispered as she and Helen quickly made their way to the stables.
“Only Toby and I. We’re here to bust the Mortimer’s on tax evasion. We suspected the child was kidnapped and I told the old nanny to contact the FBI, specifically you, and tell them about the Mortimer’s. Good luck,” Helen said as she turned and made her way back to the house.
Toby and Shawn came out of the stable with two horses. Kenzi quickly handed Molly to Shawn and climbed on her horse then held out her arms for Molly again.
“No, I’ll take her,” Shawn said handing her to Toby and mounting his horse. Toby handed Molly to him and saluted before going back into the stables and out of the rain.
They reined the horses and headed towards the woods. They rode at a fast clip and were there before they knew it. The cliff rose up and Shawn stopped the horse feet from the edge. Kenzi stopped and nearly jumped from Tempest to get to Molly.
“Jump Kenzi. The water is calm right now and we won’t have another opportunity if we don’t go now,” Shawn said pushing her towards the edge while he still held Molly in his arms.
Kenzi walked to the edge, took a breath, and jumped. The water closed over her head in seconds and then she was up and climbing onto the rocks to inflate the raft. Shawn and Molly dropped into the water and surfaced moments later.
Chapter 10
The group of girls ran silently through the house. They found the door to Molly’s room in the dark and slipped silently inside. They tiptoed to the bed and leaned over to look at the huddled figure under the blankets.
They ripped the blanket upwards and screamed, “Boo!”
Looking at each other they realized that Molly wasn’t in her bed. She must have gone to bed with her parents or that nanny. Silently, they all snuck back to their suites to sleep.
Kenzi climbed into the raft as Shawn boosted Molly into it and then climbed in. He attached a small motor that he’d hidden under the cliff in a small crevice and started it. They’d made a silent escape but this was far from over.
They left the cove and were on the open ocean when a helicopter picked them up and took them to safety. Molly hadn’t said a word during the entire escape and Kenzi was worried.
“Molly?” she asked touching her shoulder.
“Can you call me
Janey
now?” she asked crawling into Kenzi’s lap.
“I sure can. My name really is Kenzi and his is really Shawn. Are you all right?”
Janey nodded and sleepily rubbed her eyes. Within moments she was asleep and Kenzi felt like closing her eyes and succumbing to sleep too but didn’t.
“Here, eat. We’re safe, as dry as possible, and now you need something to keep you awake,” Shawn said handing her a candy bar. “We’re going to be on a plane for hours after this, Kenzi, you can sleep then.”
Kenzi sighed and rubbed her weary eyes. “Shawn this was almost too easy. The Mortimer’s should have noticed sooner than this, they should have been right after us.”
“They didn’t love her, Kenzi. They don’t have that kind of connection with her. The kidnapping they committed was too easy, too. She was taken within two feet of her mother, just like Layla was,” Shawn said sitting on the floor of the chopper next to Kenzi.
“I know but shouldn’t they have noticed she was gone. Even without love, they should have checked on her when it was storming so badly and she was so scared.”
“Kenzi, it’s almost like you wanted to confront them with the knowledge of the kidnapping. We couldn’t do that and you know it. After we get in the chopper and radio the police, they'll notify her parents and then the police will arrest the Mortimer’s. From what Toby said it will be for more than kidnapping.”
“Maybe I did want to confront them, Shawn. Those monsters took an innocent little girl away from the people who loved her and didn’t care about her parents or her. Maybe we can go for the death penalty,” Kenzi sighed.
“More likely it will be life in a federal prison without parole for either of them since it's a federal crime to kidnap anyone and take them across state lines. They’d only get the death penalty if they’d molested, raped, and murdered her after kidnapping her, Kenzi. I know you wish the people who kidnapped Layla would die but it doesn’t matter when we don’t know if she’s alive or dead, or where she is,” Shawn said as he stretched his arms above his head.
It was closing on an hour after their pick-up when they landed at the airport. Within forty minutes the storm had calmed and they were in the air on a private plane to Chicago.
Kenzi slept fitfully while Janey finally slept without nightmares. Kenzi kept murmuring Layla’s name in her sleep and Shawn wondered how long she would have nightmares about their daughter. His had stopped after a few years but he still woke sometimes thinking he’d heard her crying for a bottle.
Four hours later, at around six in the morning., they arrived at O’Hara and traveled by unmarked car to the local FBI headquarters. They each had to file their reports and be debriefed. They didn't leave headquarters until around ten in the morning and would have been on the road another two and a half hours after that before reaching Farmington. A driver vetted by the FBI got them there in two hours.
Kenzi and Shawn were immediately called into conference with Mac. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson would be called in at 8 a.m. to come and get their daughter but Kenzi and Shawn needed to talk to her first.
Kenzi sat down with Janey and held her hand. “Janey, Shawn and I have to ask you a few questions about when Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer took you. Okay?”
Janey nodded and her tangled black curls bobbed up and down.
“Where did they take you from?” Shawn asked kneeling down to look at her face.
“We was at Farmington Inn. Mommy was workin’ and told me I had to be quiet. That woman asked me if I wanted some chocolate,” Janey said squeezing Kenzi’s hand.
“Is that when she took you?” Kenzi asked softly.
“No, she told me it was in her room and I didn't ask my mommy if it was alright to go get it. I went and Mr. Mortimer grabbed me when I got there.”
“Where did you go?”
“They got on a plane and took me to Really. They kept sayin’ they was leaving that day anyway so no one would think it was them.”
“’Really?’ Do you mean Raleigh?” Kenzi asked.
“Yeah, that’s it. I didn’t like it there. Can I see my mommy and daddy now?” Janey asked looking at Kenzi then Shawn.
“Sure you can, honey. Mr. Mac was going to talk to them when they got here. I think they’re in his office now,” Kenzi said rubbing Janey’s back.
Kenzi and Shawn walked with her to Mac’s office. The door opened before they got there and a woman with Janey’s features stepped out with a man with dark haired man that didn't look like he'd slept since his daughter had disappeared..
“Mommy! Daddy!” Janey cried and ran to them.
She was caught in Mrs. Wilson’s open arms and tears flowed from their eyes. Mr. Wilson picked her up and hugged her tightly to him.
“Oh, baby Jane, we missed you so much,” he whispered into her hair.
Mrs. Wilson gave Kenzi and Shawn a watery smile. With an arm wrapped around Janey and her husband, they walked over to Kenzi and Shawn.
“Thank you both so much for finding our baby. We missed her so much,” Mrs. Wilson said as fresh tears coursed down her cheeks.
“We’re just glad we could find her for you,” Kenzi said as she worked hard to avoid crying. “She’s a very special little girl.”
The Wilson family left and Mac called Kenzi and Shawn into his office. Kenzi collapsed wearily into a chair as Shawn stood gripping the back of her chair.
“What’s up, Mac?” Shawn asked.
“Our other operatives reported that shortly after all the guests left the police came in to investigate the kidnapping of Molly Mortimer.”
“Kidnapping? I hardly think so,” Kenzi scoffed.
“Well, we straightened all that out. They went back to arrest the Mortimer’s for Janey Wilson’s kidnapping and they had disappeared. There’s an APB out on them,” Mac said sipping his coffee.
“How did they get away? Toby and Helen knew they were kidnappers and possibly tax evaders. Why didn’t they arrest them?” Shawn asked running his hands through his hair.
“Ask them,” Mac replied and walked around Shawn to open the door. “Agents Murphy and Nelson, Agents Fromier and Douglass.”
Kenzi gaped at the young woman in front of her. She slightly resembled Helen but her eyes definitely proved it to Kenzi.
“Nice to know our disguises worked. I must say, I hate being old, though, huh, Nelson?” laughed the young handsome, blond man who couldn’t be anyone but Agent Murphy, Toby.
“What was the question? We’ve had quite a trip since this morning” asked Nelson as she took off her cap and let her dark red hair drift down her back.
Murphy smirked and replied, “Why didn’t we arrest the Mortimer’s?”
“Oh, that’s right. We had to let them think they got away with their little scheme or should I say schemes. They won’t get far,” Nelson replied with a crooked grin showing a small gap between her front teeth.
“How far will they get?” Shawn asked leaning against Mac’s desk.
“Oh, I don’t know, Shawn. Probably not much further than New York, I seem to recall that’s where they seemed to be heading,” Nelson replied crossing her arms behind her head.
“We’ve already got men on it, Shawn,” Murphy said as Shawn reached for the phone to call in the location.
“All we have to do is wait now. Coming Murphy?” Nelson said as she got up and left the office.
Kenzi had watched the entire conversation with little guarded amusement. Nelson seemed to be able to walk all over Murphy and he seemed to let her.
Kenzi yawned and decided more sleep was a definite necessity. Home sounded so good and her own bedroom without video cameras and microphones was more than appealing.
“We should probably talk Kenzi,” Shawn said sitting on the ledge of the desk in front of her chair.
“Not right now, Shawn. My bed is calling my name,” Kenzi said as she got up and left the room.
“Damn it, Kenzi! Are you ever going to be ready to talk to me?” Shawn thundered after her.
“I prefer to have my brain functioning when I do that, Shawn,” Kenzi said without turning and then left.