He hit her with his body and she went tumbling head over ass. When she staggered to her feet, he ran at her and caught her in her belly with his shoulder, knocking her down again. Cait was dizzy now and she knew she was bleeding again. That was when Tucker decided to check in.
“What’s happening? I can hear you, but I don’t have the slightest—” Tucker had borrowed his sister’s head set for her phone and had Cait use her own device. He called her phone and made sure there was a good connection before she had ventured off. Cait was impressed. She had thought she was going to be on her own.
“Busy. Shut up,” she snapped when her assailant hit her in the face with his fist. She could not take much more in the way of abuse, she realized, and knew that she had to do something quick.
“Don’t tell me to shut up. I want to know what the fuck is going on. Are you in trouble?” At this point, Cait pulled out the modified Glock and shot the man drawing back his fist to hit her again.
“I have to hang up now. I’ll call—”
“You will not. I want to know what the hell you’ve been doing or I’m coming in,” Tucker screamed in her ear.
“Suit yourself.” She leaned over and started retching.
The truth of the matter was, she probably could have done it a lot quieter, but Tucker had pissed her off and she added a few more moans and sound effects than was really necessary. Her head was spinning when she knew she had sicked up everything, so she lay down.
“Christ! A little warning next time would not have hurt you one bit. Are you okay, kid? I think you should come back and let’s wait on the back-up.”
“No, I’m not...Tucker, I need a favor. When this is over, I mean.” She closed her eyes, but that only made her head pound more. She was in serious pain, first from earlier and now from the beating. Throwing up had not helped all that much either.
“What is it before I agree? I’ve not known you long, but I know enough about you to know that you don’t ask for help much.” She heard him chuckle, but she was too hurt to appreciate it.
“The last envelope, make sure that the instructions are followed. They aren’t just for my death, but arrangements for me today. I don’t care if you give Uncle...my uncle Paddy a policeman’s honor, but mine...just promise you’ll follow the instructions. All right?”
“Caitlynne, don’t do this. You’re going to get that little girl, the doc is going to see the error of his ways, and you’ll come work for me. All is good, you’ll see.” She didn’t answer him, but stood up and when the ground settled back down, she started moving across the lawn again. Hurting in places she didn’t know she had, she wondered how she was going to get Meggie out once she found her.
Moving along the perimeter, she made her way up to the house and next to the back door. She had seen movement in one of the lower rooms, but the head injury was making it hard for her to make out just who they were.
“I’m here. I can see three people in what looks like a study. There is a desk and shelves,” Cait whispered in the headset.
“How many people have you seen so far? There were what, three you’ve killed and now the three in the house? Not that I doubt your ability to do what you set out, but I still have to explain.”
Cait stopped progress in picking the lock on the door. “I thought you said that I needed to get in and get out. Can’t very well do that if I have to keep a body count, now can I? Back off, Tucker. I’m not killing anyone that hasn’t tried to kill me. Use of Force Continuum—I understand the rules.” She did too. Never use more force than necessary. When as adversary uses his fists, one couldn’t very well pull out your gun and shoot him. Tempting as it was, it wasn’t fair or legal.
The lock snapped open with a little click and she eased the door open. She could smell that she had entered the kitchen and quickly shut the door behind her when she realized the room was empty. There was another door across from her and a quick look showed it to be a large pantry. Moving toward the far door, she found another door that led to a small half bath. There was a huge block on the butcher block that held an assortment of knives. She took two of the thinner bladed ones and stuck them into her shirt sleeve, blades down. She drew her gun out again and went to the only door left.
This one opened into a dining room. The room had a large oval table with a dozen chairs around it. The chandelier was off, but there were several small battery operated candle in the six windows around the dark room. Cait could see the wall sized hutch filled with dishes and another one across from it that was filled with glasses. Moving to the open doorway, she could hear voices down the hall.
“I’m moving deeper into the house. If I don’t answer right away, don’t freak out on me again. I can hear people talking down the hall. I think it was the study I saw from outside,” she whispered to Captain Tucker, and smiled when he whispered back. No one could hear him, but he still did it.
“I don’t freak out, but all right. Heads up, the back-ups are here. Men I trust.
I’ll hold back until you have the little girl safe, then we’ll move in.” She kept to the shadows and was alert to anyone else who might be in the house. She was at the bottom of a staircase and looked up to see that it, like the rest of the house, was lit up. She could only see three doors and all but one was opened. And outside of it stood an armed man dressed in a dark suit.
She got as close to the study as she could and listened to see if she could hear what was going on and if she recognized anyone. There were three different voices and the one doing the most talking right then was Martinez.
“I don’t care what you think. I’m the one footing the bills and you’ll do it my way. I want that girl killed tonight. It shouldn’t be any problem to slip into her hospital room and do whatever necessary to take her out of the picture. Christ!
She has been hounding me since that partner of hers fucked up. I want her dead.” The accompanying slam of something hard against wood made her laugh to herself.
At first, she thought he was talking about Meggie. But he had only just met her, so Cait realized it was her. She didn’t know what he was talking about until Tucker whispered.
“I can hear him. I’m assuming that’s Martinez. Um, didn’t know it until just now, but you are apparently in the hospital in critical condition. The bus driver, a good citizen, called an ambulance when he had bus problems. Your phone was taken back to OSU. You should make a full recovery, though. Good to know.
What sort of flowers should I get you?” Her low growl made him chuckle.
She wondered how he had “just found out,” but decided it really didn’t matter right now.
“I got a man going there now. He’ll take care of her. What about the girls?
There is a ship sitting in New York with twenty-three prostitutes waiting to be put to work and nearly a ton of coke. I have to contact my guys up North to get it moved. They don’t like having something that huge sitting in the harbor.” Cait closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall for support.
She knew that her old boss Hunter was involved with Martinez, she just hadn’t known how deep. Tucker speaking again startled her.
“Cait, I’m recording this. Can you tell me who that was who just spoke? If not, then you’ll have to tell me later.”
“Hunter,” she whispered. “Captain David Hunter, of the Chicago Police Department. I have to go dark side for a few minutes. I’m leaving you here to listen in. Don’t do anything stupid.” She took the blue tooth off her ear and set it on the table next to the doorway. Tucker was talking and she had a good idea what he was saying, but she needed to see if she could find Meggie.
Moving past the dining room again, she found what looked like might have been an entertainment room. This room, like the kitchen, was dark and had no one inside. She crossed the room to another and found what she needed. A back set of stairs.
Quietly, she moved up them, keeping to the sides in case they gave away her position with a creak. She was nearly to the top when someone came out of one of the rooms and stopped and turned to the guard. She stepped back down until she could see over the stairs and the person talking to the guard.
“She won’t eat. And I can’t get her to say a damned word. Why the hell he brought her here is beyond me. I hate kids, especially stupid ones that don’t listen. Well, if she won’t eat then she’ll fucking go hungry.” Cait watched the woman move down the opposite set of stairs with a tray in her hands. The guard watched her and Cait slipped up the stairs and into the room the other woman had just left. Cait had just shut the door behind her when Meggie grabbed her leg.
“Oh baby! I’m so sorry. You can’t...let me look at you. Did they hurt you?” Cait touched Meggie and realized that someone had hit her. Probably the woman, but Meggie was upset enough without asking her to relive what had to be a painful hit.
Her little face was bruised badly and there was a small cut on her lip. She knew that this was all her fault. If she had not said she would watch over Meggie then she would be safe with her father right now.
“I want my daddy. Can you take me to him? Please, O’Malley, take me home. I don’t like it here,” Meggie told her.
“Me either. Yeah, we’ll go, but you have to do what I tell you. There are people in the house with guns and I don’t want you to get hurt anymore. When I tell you to move, you have to move.”
Meggie nodded and hugged Cait again. Pain reverberated through her body from the contact, but she needed the hug as much as Meggie did.
Cait opened the door slightly and looked out to where the guard had been standing when she had gone into the bedroom. He wasn’t there, but that didn’t mean he was not close. She had Meggie stay in the room as she went out into the hall.
He slammed the door into her back as she was stepping through the opening. The impact knocked her down and she skidded on the carpet, burning her arms and smearing blood onto the cream-colored carpet. When he leaned over her to pick her up, she brought her leg up and kicked him hard in the balls.
It took a full second before the pain registered on his face. When he dropped forward and onto her, she used the momentum to flip him back off of her. She misjudged how close she was to the stairs and he went over the railing. Before he hit the floor below, Cait was up and rushing toward Meggie.
Cait had to hide her because any minute they were all going to be coming up the stairs, guns drawn. Meggie was standing right where Cait had left her.
Grabbing her hand, she tugged her out into the hall and looked around. Taking her to the grandfather clock that stood along the outside wall, Cait opened the door and nearly sobbed in relief.
Sounds were coming from downstairs now and she dropped in front of Meggie. Cait was thinking of the best way to make her understand how important it was that she remain here until she or her daddy came for her when Meggie nodded and crawled into the space.
It was tight and once the door was closed, it would be dark. Thinking quickly, Cait pulled out her keys and gave them to Meggie. There was a small key light on it and she showed it to Meggie. Reaching into her front pocket again, she pulled out the picture of Meggie and her daddy that Devin had given her.
Kissing the picture, Cait handed it to her. Smiling huge, Meggie nodded and pulled the door closed.
Cait ran to the window and opened it just as three men appeared from the front steps and two at the back. One fired at her head and she stopped. Another grabbed her by her vest and threw her to the floor while another went to the window and looked out.
“You know, I’m fucking sick and tired of being thrown around by you fucks.
Have you ever thought to ask me to—” The guy who had thrown her to the floor kicked her in the ribs and she doubled up in pain. She pulled out the gun at her waist and fired three times.
The three men closest to her dropped. Cait turned to fire onto the other two when her gun was kicked from her hand. She knew that she was dead, but the familiar voice from the stairwell stopped all movement.
“Kill her and I’ll make you suffer in ways you cannot fathom. Ah, Caitlynne O’Malley, I presume? I’ve heard so many...shall we say, lovely things about you.
Quite impressive, you’ve managed to get past my guard and take out four of my men before we could apprehend you. Sad, don’t you think?” Anthony Martinez pulled out his gun and shot the remaining two men.
~CHAPTER 22~
Spencer listened to the noises coming through the phone. The clarity was amazing and sickening at the same time. He could hear the men talking about the ship in the harbor and what they planned to do with the young girls on it.
The coke, they planned to disperse all over the Eastern part of the United States.
“Why can’t we hear O’Malley anymore? I know you said she said she was going dark side, but I guess I’m not sure what that means exactly,” he asked the cop.
“It means that I’m going to beat that girl’s ass when I see her next time. She is not saying anything because she’s not carrying the only way of communication we have. I can understand why she did it, but I don’t have to be happy about it.” When Spencer and Dan had pulled up in front of the Donald Tucker’s car, he had them open their hood and if anyone came by they would think they were working on a broken down car. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now there were several cars around them, all police in their personal cars. Donald had told him that just down the road there were several other cruisers and an ambulance waiting for word from Cait to come running.
The captain had been ranting for the past forty minutes about how much he was going to enjoy writing O’Malley up and then he was going to put her on desk duty for an entire year. He said it would take that long for him to calm down enough to let her go out in the public again.
“Did she say she was going to work for you then? I thought she was planning to go back to her home after this.” Spencer knew as soon as the words were out of his mouth he had set the man off again. If it wasn’t so serious, Spencer might have enjoyed goading him into another rant.
“She damned well will be working for me. I need my payback. To think that I had my sister—”