They Come by Night (3 page)

“Dad!” Luke was struggling, but he was no match for the man who caught him around the waist and threw him into the van.

“Don’t you hurt my kids!” Ben tried to jerk free, tried to get to his children, but his arm was wrenched higher and there was a sickening pop. The brothers surrounded him and began pounding and kicking him.

Wave after wave of burning pain inundated him, and he crumpled to the ground.

V

G
ETTING A call from your oldest son to learn you had another grandchild never got old.

Getting a call from… someone else… informing you your oldest son was being taken to a hospital it would take you hours to get to… not so much.

Joe Small had been working on a jobsite when he received that call, and it was an experience he could live without repeating.

“Your son Ben has been attacked, Mr. Small.” He’d never heard that voice before, but there were tales of it, like cool silk being drawn over your skin. He knew immediately who it was—it might be early afternoon here in the States, but it was past sunset in Romania. “His right elbow is dislocated, and he’s been badly beaten. He’s being transported to St. Michael’s Hospital in Charleston. Meanwhile, we’ll be looking into this, rest assured.”

Within five minutes, the police called, telling him pretty much the same thing, but ending with, “I’m sorry, that’s all the information we have at this point.”

He’d called his other sons. Dave lived in Greenville, like Joe did, but his job was an hour away. “I’ll be there ASAP, Dad. Does Maggie know? And who’s got Matt, Luke, Sarah, and Beth?”

“I’ve got no idea about Maggie, Dave, but I assume Mrs. Kuhn has the kids.” The Kuhns, a middle-aged couple, lived next door to Ben and Maggie, and Mrs. Kuhn would watch the children on occasion.

“I’ll find out, Dad.”

“Thanks, Dave. I’ve got to call Phil now.” His youngest son, who’d moved when he was eighteen, lived in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, an airline flight away. It would take some time before he arrived.

“Okay. Do me a favor and drive carefully, okay?”

“Shouldn’t I be telling you that?”

“I got my lead foot from you. I’ll pick up the kids from Mrs. Kuhn and meet you at the hospital.”

“All right. Bye, Dave.”

“Bye, Dad.”

Joe drove like a lunatic to get to St. Michael’s—when Ben regained consciousness, he’d find his father watching over him—and fortunately the cops were busy elsewhere.

He was also fortunate enough to find a parking space right off the emergency room. It was a tight fit for his SUV, but not as bad as it could have been. He’d have climbed out of the window if he hadn’t been able to open the door.

Joe jogged through the parking lot, dodging cars, and then had to wait until the doors to the emergency room slid open. A harried nurse pointed out the bay where his oldest son was being treated, and he rushed to it and moved aside the curtain.

Oh Jesus!
Ben looked like death warmed over. His arm was splinted and in a sling, his left eye and cheek were turning green and purple, and his nose had a bandage over the bridge. Had it been broken?

A doctor stood at the side of the bed, making notes in Ben’s chart and talking to the nurse who was adjusting the IV line.

“I’m Joe Small. This is my son. What can you tell me about his condition?”

“Fortunately, he regained consciousness long enough to give me verbal permission to share that information with you. Right now we’ve given him something to make him comfortable.” The doctor observed him seriously. “I won’t try to sugarcoat this. Your son has taken quite a beating. His kidneys have been pummeled—”

Joe put a hand to his face. That probably meant Ben would be pissing blood for a week.

“—and his testes….” The doctor shook his head. “I’m sorry. It’s unlikely he’ll be able to father any children. On the plus side—”

“There’s a plus in the middle of all this shit?”

“Yes. An X-ray reveals no bones are broken, and the arteriogram of his arm shows no arterial infringement. There doesn’t seem to be any damage to the nerves, and he should be out of the splint in two to three weeks.”

“Will he have to stay in the hospital for that length of time?”

“No. You know how it is with insurance companies. In the meanwhile, he’ll stay here in the ER until a room becomes available. If you need anything, the nurses will get it for you.”

“Thank you.”

“
Dr. Holly to bay 8.
”

“Sorry, that’s me. I have to go. Mrs. Cross, would you get a chair for Mr. Small?” The doctor gave him a preoccupied nod and hurried away.

The nurse brought a chair for him and he sank into it. She rested her hand on his shoulder. “He’ll be all right. We’ve had men here in the ER who’ve been beaten worse, and they walked out.”

“All of them?”

She shrugged, and he was grateful she hadn’t lied to him. “As Dr. Holly said, let me know if there’s anything you need.”

“Can I… can I hold his hand?”

“Of course. Talk to him also. It will give him some comfort, even if he doesn’t seem to be aware.”

Joe took his son’s hand. He wasn’t a praying man, but he didn’t think it could hurt.

“D
AD
. H
OW
’
S Ben?”

“Dave!” His middle son had arrived. Joe surged up and hugged him. “He’s pretty beat up.”

“That’s putting it mildly.” Dave stared at his brother in horror, then touched Joe’s arm and lowered his voice, although no one was close enough to hear what he had to say. “I’ve been up to see Tyrell.”

“How is he?”

“Quieter than they’d like, but he’s eating and pooping, so they’re just keeping an eye on him.”

“And the other children?”

“They’re not with Mrs. Kuhn. Mr. Kuhn said she’s out of town visiting their daughter.”

“They must be with one of Maggie’s friends, then. Have you seen Maggie? How is she taking this?”

“I’ll be damned if I know, Dad. She checked out earlier, AMA, according to a pretty ticked-off PA.”

“What?”

“Against medical advice.”

“I know what AMA is, David. What I want to know is
why
?”

Dave shrugged. “A big, white-haired man left with her.”

“Crist?”

“It sounds like it.”

It suddenly hit Joe. “Wait. Maggie left the baby?”

“Yeah.”

Joe bit back a curse. He’d never liked the man, hadn’t liked any of that family, and he’d regretted that Ben had fallen in love with Magdalena Crist. He’d hoped her family’s beliefs would prevent her from running away with Ben, but she’d been too enraptured by him. When they returned from the justice of the peace after a whirlwind courtship, Noah Crist had been rabid with fury, and Joe knew he wasn’t being over-the-top with that description. Crist had been literally frothing at the mouth and threatened all kinds of dire punishments. Joe had had no choice but to get the two young people out of town.

Their kind tended to stay in one place, but he’d decided he couldn’t take any chances with his other two boys, especially given what Phil was. Joe had told Dave and Phil to pack what they’d need. Because the garage was attached, no one had seen them pile boxes and suitcases into Joe’s SUV, and as soon as night fell, he’d gotten them out of the house in Pennsylvania, where they’d grown up. Eventually they’d settled in Greenville, a town near the South Carolina/North Carolina border, a little more than a three-hour drive to Ben and Magdalena’s place in Charleston. Joe would have preferred to be closer, but if Crist was determined enough to track him down, he wanted as much distance between his oldest son and his wife as he could provide.

“Dad!”

Joe looked over his shoulder to see his youngest son barrel into the room. “Phil!”

“I got here as soon as I could.”

Joe didn’t ask how Phil had managed to arrive so quickly. The owner of the voice that had informed him of this disaster had no doubt ensured Phil got transportation.

“Thank you.” He had never been reluctant to show affection to his sons, and he would have hugged Phil now, but he didn’t. He hadn’t touched him since Phil had turned thirteen and developed an aversion to being touched. “I’m so glad to see you.”

“Dave!”

“Hello, little brother.” He made no attempt to touch Phil either.

“How’s Ben?”

Joe nodded toward the bed, and the three of them approached it. “He’s pretty battered,” he said again.

“I went up to see the baby,” Phil said. “They’d only let me look at him through the glass. I tried to tell them I was his uncle, but something had happened….”

“Crist was here,” Dave told him, and Joe frowned at the tightness that suddenly appeared around Phil’s mouth. “And Maggie’s gone.”

“She left the baby?” Phil sounded as appalled as Joe had been. “How could she do that?”

“That’s the $64,000 question. And how did Crist find out where they were?” Joe demanded, although he knew neither of his sons would have an answer.

“Maggie called him.” The voice was low and hoarse.

“Ben!” He returned to the bed. He’d worry about his daughter-in-law later. His son was all that mattered right now. “Do you want some water?”

“The kids, Dad. Where are my kids?”

“We haven’t seen them.” Joe exchanged startled looks with his other sons. “We thought they were with a friend of Maggie’s.”

“No.” Ben was only thirty-three, but just then he looked about forty years older, and Joe wanted to find Noah Crist and cut out his heart, if the bastard even had one. “Maggie’s father and brothers took them. She signed a paper saying they could.” He tried to sit up but fell back with a groan.

“So they’re the ones who did this to you.”

“Yes. Dad, I can’t let my kids be raised with that kind of hate and fear!”

“Stay put. We’ll look into it.”

VI

B
EN HAD been admitted to a four-bed ward on the medical/surgical floor. He was trying to ignore the fire burning his balls while he fed himself left-handed, and he wasn’t being too successful with either one.

“Here, Ben. Let me help you.”

“Dad!” His heart began pounding. “Did you find them?”

“No. You’d think eight men, a woman, and four kids would draw some kind of attention, but they’re gone. I’ve got some… connections who are looking into this.”

“Did they learn anything?” Ben knew better than to question what those connections might be.

“No. Crist’s place in Delaware County is empty, and none of the neighbors seem to know anything.”

Although Ben had never seen the farmhouse, he knew from what Maggie had said that it was enormous, since all of Noah Crist’s sons and their families lived there. How had they managed to get all those people out of there so quickly?

“Could they be lying?”

“To the cops, maybe,” Phil, the baby of the family, chimed in. “But not to—”

Their father cut him a glance, and Phil shut up.

Ben shuddered, and then regretted the act. He ached all over. He needed pain meds, but more than that, he needed to be able to think clearly. “Is Tyrell all right?”

“We stopped at the nursery to see him. He looks fine. I just don’t understand why they didn’t take him as well.”

“I know why,” Phil stated flatly.

He would, if any of them did.

Ben started to raise his hand to rub his face, but then winced as pain sliced through him. He lowered his arm cautiously.

“Yeah. Dad, don’t blame Maggie. I made a promise to her, and I broke it. You should have heard the words she was screaming when she realized….” On second thought, it was better if his father and brothers never discovered the knee-jerk reaction she’d had to this baby. He shook his head, then regretted that movement too. Even his eyelashes hurt. “I knew we were pressing our luck when we had Beth, and even though everything worked out okay, I was going to make sure she was our last.”

Ty came as a total surprise, when the condom failed.

Neither of them had considered an abortion—Maggie had been overjoyed, and Ben… he kept his concerns to himself, but he wanted this baby also. It wasn’t a matter of being pro-life or even a strong religious conviction. It was something that was hardwired into their genes, both his and Maggie’s, although what Maggie’s ancestors had done down through the years….

Of course he’d known about the Crists. His father was a conscientious man, and he’d made sure Ben was aware of what Maggie’s people were like. They never married out of the family, cousins marrying cousins, and how they hadn’t wound up with numerous hereditary problems was a mystery. In addition, they were prolific. Her brothers had anywhere from seven to ten children, and the number would have been greater if certain babies were… allowed to survive.

But Ben had taken one look at Maggie and fallen head over heels. It was at the West Chester Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade, and he’d persuaded her to have a coffee with him. All the stuff in love songs… sweet kisses and gazing at each other with stars in their eyes, standing on the street where his beloved lived and looking up at her window… well, he would have if the Crists hadn’t lived on a farm surrounded by eight-foot walls, but it was the thought that counted. They were just like Romeo and Juliet, and he’d known their love could overcome anything, that she wasn’t like the others in her family.

He’d been wrong, and now his children—but most of all, this little boy—were going to pay for it.

“To tell the truth, turning thirty hit Maggie hard, and she was so depressed I was trying to talk her into seeing a psychologist. When she realized she was pregnant again, she was thrilled.”

Although he knew if his wife had been aware of the very special child she carried, she would have aborted the fetus without thinking twice about it, and there would have been nothing anyone could have done to stop her, short of keeping her in a locked room for the duration of the pregnancy. And even then he wasn’t certain the infant would have survived.

“Ben, I hate to bring this up, but how safe is Ty going to be?” His father looked worn, and Ben hated like hell that it was because of him.