In the Air Tonight (37 page)

S
he was in the attic with Jeffrey—and no one knew he was here, or that she was in danger. Mace was giving statements and dealing with the crowds … and she was facing her ultimate nightmare alone.

This was the way it had to be.

“It’s so nice to see you twice in one week, Paige. Like Carole Ann said, family’s important.” Her brother wore a new flannel shirt and jeans—she wondered if he’d stolen them or if Carole Ann had provided them for him.

“How did you get here?”

“I was sick, Paige. And a nice nurse helped me out. Because that’s what nurses do, right?” He cocked his head and twisted his mouth into a frown. “It was a perfect plan … and she was all too willing to help. Most women are. Except for you. I tried and I tried, but you never wanted to.”

She wanted to tell him he was always beyond help, but she knew that would agitate him even more. He appeared much more wound up and unstable than he had just days earlier at the prison, and she wondered if he’d stopped taking his meds after her visit.

No, this escape had to have been well planned. “You were coming here no matter what … whether I visited you or not.”

“I figured you were too much of a goody-goody not to come after hearing my message.”

“Why now?”

“People had started to forget me. I was a footnote. Losing respect. A book and an interview wouldn’t be enough.” He paused. “You knew I was in the woods
just now, watching you. You felt me there. We were always really connected.”

She fought an outward shudder as he moved forward and caressed her shoulder.

“You could’ve helped me, Paige, at the trial.”

“Mom and Dad bought you the best defense money could buy,” she told him. “You were found guilty because you are guilty.”

Jeffrey shrugged like it didn’t mean anything, because to him it didn’t. It was a mere annoyance, a fly in the ointment.

That’s all the murders were to him.

“Why did you torture me all those years?” she asked. If she could keep him talking, it would buy her time. She could make him feel all important, because he was the one with the gun pointed at her. “If you hated me that much, why didn’t you just kill me?”

“I’ll answer you, but first, on your knees, Paige.” He motioned for her to move and she had no choice, knelt in front of him.

“I wanted to kill you, so badly, but I needed you more. You were my cue card,” he said. And she finally understood. In fact, during the court procedings, every time she cried, he would bring himself to tears as well. The jury just didn’t buy it.

“Mom and Dad were scared shitless of what they’d created,” he said with an unmatched glee, as if it made him proud. “They weren’t that blind. I used to hear them talking about me at night.
What are we going to do with him
?”

“What did they want to do?” she asked as calmly as she possibly could; Jeffrey had just put the barrel of his gun to her forehead.

I should’ve known
.

“Dad thought it was boy stuff, that I’d grow out of it. Mom wanted me put away somewhere—she was starting to believe you, but not enough. I wanted them to know how much power I had. I wanted a blaze of glory, and now I’ll live forever in the annals of history. I wasn’t about to waste my time with petty shit. I wanted something big—and I wanted you to know I was serious.”

She’d known—God, she’d known—and she’d been terrifed, had forgotten just how much until now, kneeling, in front of him with no barrier and no one to protect her.

He had turned the lights off, surely, to make this more terrifying, like when he used to search for her and she’d have to hide in a dark closet, praying he wouldn’t find her.

Fear lodged in her throat.

Time had made him smarter. Meaner. He was ready to finish the job.

You’ll get out of this alive
. “I know a lot about family.”

“We’ll see how much you’ve learned.” He smiled. “By the way, if you’re waiting for your friends to save you, keep waiting. The one who came with you to the jail … he went down so easily. Didn’t expect me at all, because you really didn’t warn him. You didn’t think I could escape. Thought you were safe.”

The screaming was loud, so loud that she couldn’t hear Jeffrey’s laughter, just saw him throw his head back, saw the mirth in his eyes.

It was only then that she realized the screaming wasn’t only coming from inside her head. When her
throat went raw and nothing else came out, she knew he’d nearly broken her.

She summoned what remaining strength she had left and prepared to save her own life. Because Mace would never go down without a fight—and neither would she, if for no other reason than to honor him. “I don’t believe you.”

All she could manage was a whisper.

“I thought you knew by now not to doubt me.”

“You’d want to watch me suffer while you killed him.”
Keep him talking. Mace will come to save you
.

“Carole Ann’s hurt,” she blurted out, hoping to distract him.

“I don’t care if she’s dead. Carole Ann would do anything I asked her to do,” he said ruthlessly. “The bitch should’ve waited for me. That was the plan, to take you away from here. Your friend got in the way.”

Caleb
. He’d been through so much because of her. They all had. And the thought of them getting killed by her brother …

No. She didn’t believe it.

Jeffrey was still talking. “You used to hide in your room with the door bolted. You were always so scared. I could’ve gotten to you anytime … but I liked the thought of you in there, terrified. Alone. Waiting for me.”

He was closer—too close—and she closed her eyes and balled her fists instinctively. He took the gun away from her forehead and his hands were on her then, forcing her fingers open to the point of pain.

He laughed when she cried out and she wondered if
this was the way it was meant to be, that she’d been meant to suffer and die by Jeffrey’s hands.

She pushed at him, but she was still on her knees and had no leverage. He slammed her against the wall, her head knocking against the wooden slats hard enough to momentarily disorient her.

The medication she’d taken earlier wasn’t helping either. When she opened her eyes again, everything seemed hazy, and Jeffrey was putting one of her hands palm down against his. “My hands are meant for killing. Yours are meant to relive it for me. A perfect pair, if you’d been willing to help.”

“I’d never help you,” she said groggily.

“See what I’ve done, Sis?”

She did—waves of violence and pain radiated from him, the images too sick for her mind to take in. Flashes of him torturing people—she felt their utter fear and heard their screams—their screams were the worst. It was as if the man had a living hell inside of him and was dragging her down with him.

“I can’t … please …” She was begging, trying to pull her hand away. Finally, she succeeded, because he released her.

He was laughing and the screaming continued inside her head. She picked up the thing nearest to her and flung it at her brother—it was an old wooden box, and he ducked it easily.

And then he came for her again.

She was about to fight for her life, when a crashing sound made Jeffrey turn his head. Instinctively, she ducked down to the floor, and heard the shots—two of them, in rapid succession … and then there was only quiet.

M
ace pulled Paige as far away from Jeffrey as he could, sat with her on the old attic floor, with the smell of dust and blood around them, and waited for her initial shock to wear off.

He was sure the sounds of the shots still rang in her ears—they did in his, thanks to the close quarters. Across the floor, the remains of his childhood were scattered out in the open, and he didn’t give a shit—because Paige was safe.

With her wrapped tightly in his arms, on his lap, Mace willed himself to fucking relax. He was wound so tight—too tight—and he couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t over.

It’s just because it’s all gone on so long. This is a normal reaction
.

Yeah, if he repeated that to himself a million times, maybe he’d believe it.

Jeffrey had gone down with two bullets—one to the head, one to the heart. One would’ve sufficed, but the man had been sent from hell and Mace wanted to make doubly sure he ended up back there.

For a long time they stayed in the one place Mace had always counted on to protect him, Paige remained mutely in his arms, both of them quiet.

“Mace,” she whispered finally, touched a palm to his face. “It’s over—really over.” He felt his throat tighten when she gave a small smile and the color returned to her cheeks.

“He can’t hurt you anymore.”

“You said you’d take care of me … and you did.” She paused. “Now it’s my turn.”

With that, Mace carried her down the steps and into the bar, only taking his hands off her to call for Ed.

Ed came with Doc to collect Jeffrey’s body, followed closely by Reid, Caleb and Vivi. Paige got up to look at her brother one last time before Doc took him away, zipped inside a body bag.

“It’s over,” she’d whispered. “It’s really over.”

Ed left a little while later, and the five of them remained in the bar. It was well after four in the morning, but none of them wanted to go to bed. Vivi put on coffee and Reid scrounged up some junk food from the kitchen. Their collective nervous energy soon turned into a sugar rush—which led to an adrenaline crash.

A phone rang, cutting through the silence.

“It’s mine,” Caleb said. “It’s Kell,” he said after looking at the caller ID, and clicked on the speakerphone
button, so everyone could hear. “Kell, where are you?”

Silence, and then, “Why the hell am I on speaker, Caleb. You know I hate speaker.”

Mace smiled, Reid laughed out loud, and Caleb said, “Because your team is here, man, and we’ve had a hell of a night.”

“Because I’m here, and I’m going to fucking kill you for not calling me back,” Reid added.

“Are you all done? Anybody else?” Kell asked.

“No,” Caleb said.

“Good. Because I’m looking at two bodies, about fifteen miles downriver from the old DMH compound, where you were held. They’re in a shallow riverbed. They must’ve washed down with the heavy rains. I had a hell of a time finding them.”

Mace ran a hand through his hair. “Identities?”

“They’re pretty badly decomposed, but it looks like they’re the DMH guys. I’ve got someone helping me—we’ll take them to a morgue and try to do a positive ID,” Kell said, and relief swept over Mace.

There was a long pause—Caleb dropped his head against Vivi’s shoulder and she put her arms around him. Whispered something in his ear that made him smile.

“What’s going on there?” Kell asked.

“Caleb’s about to get laid,” Reid said. “Now get your ass home.”

“I don’t have a home.” A typical Kell answer, to which Mace replied, “Yeah, you do. I’ll expect to see you at the bar within the next twenty-four hours.”

He waited to hear Kell’s argument and was surprised—and relieved—when none came.

——

I
t was late afternoon before the men were all up and functioning again, the women still sleeping. None of them had slept all that well—they were still pretty wound up.

Typical after a mission, but after all that had been confirmed last night, it was far from typical.

Mace had called Noah first thing and confirmed what Kell had told them. Noah wanted to know when Mace thought they’d be getting back to work.

Mace had no specifics to tell him, just
soon
.

“He asked me the same thing when we talked before,” Reid admitted, staring into his half-full coffee cup. “Kell’s not going back, though.”

“Why not?” Caleb asked, as he came down the stairs, the bandage on his neck a reminder of the previous night. He looked tired but pretty good for a man who’d lost a good amount of blood recently. He hadn’t needed a transfusion, but had been ordered to rest for the next week. Mace would see to it that his friend did just that.

“Kell wasn’t on official orders,” Reid said. “The Army’s grateful enough to let him out without any black marks on his record. The CIA wants him, but he refused.”

“He won’t refuse me.” None of them had heard Dylan come through the front door, followed by Cam. They weren’t particularly surprised to see them, though.

Reid tapped his fist against the table. “You’re probably right.”

Dylan went over to his brother rather than answering
Reid. They hugged for a long moment and when Dylan pulled back, he said, “You look like shit.”

“I got cut. That a good enough excuse for you?” Cael asked.

“What the hell’s been going on here?” Dylan demanded. Cam had already joined Reid and Mace at the table. Caleb and Dylan pulled up chairs as the men filled their former Delta teammates in on what had been happening in this small town—and why.

“Sounds like you guys have been busy,” was all Cam said.

“It got me my memories back,” Caleb pointed out.

“It nearly got you killed,” Dylan retorted angrily, with a glance at Mace.

“Ah, Dylan, cut the shit,” Reid muttered, running a hand over his face. “We’ve been to hell and back more than a few times. We don’t know if we want in or out.”

Cam stayed quiet. He looked so much more at ease than the last time Mace had seen him. He wanted to know his secrets.

And then Dylan started talking and Mace realized they were being let in on them. “I’ve already got a call in to Kell, who says he’s on his way here, under Mace’s orders. He can work for me. With me—and Cam,” he corrected.

“We’re not done with the Army till the Army’s done with us, remember,” Cael pointed out.

“It doesn’t matter if you stay in. What does matter is that you’ll have a place to land in between missions … or when you’re done with the military. People to look out for you and your families, your
girlfriends and wives and kids, especially when you’re gone.” Dylan paused to let his words sink in.

“So what, we’re all going to be mercs for hire?” Reid asked. “Talk about out of the fucking frying pan.”