Tidal Falls (Wounded Hearts Book 1) (23 page)

Tom nodded
towards his man, his hard stare focused solely on her. “Your
little
friend has a bit of a problem minding her manners. We had to have a tiny chat. I think she understands much better now, don’t you, my sweet?”

Hatred
flared in Fiona’s bright green eyes as she rubbed the circulation back into her wrists and arms, her cheeks a fiery red after their release from bondage. Sara knew her friend well and gave a slight shake of her head, warning her not to stir the pot. She knew from previous, painful, experience Tom was looking for a reason to explode; it was there in every hard line of his face, in his clenched fists. She moved closer, trying to center his attention on her, hoping she could intervene if Fiona didn’t heed her warning.

Placing her hand pleadingly on his linen sleeve, she tried to strike a s
ubservient pose. “Look, Tom, why don’t we sit down and talk this out. We’re all adults here; surely we can come to a mutually beneficial arrangement that works for both of us?”

His gaze
dropped to where her hand rested against his arm, a softness entering them for a fleeting moment, then he looked up and around Tess’s small cozy living room filled with knick-knacks, handmade doilies and warm, comfortable furniture, and something about the homey atmosphere caused his anger to return. He picked her hand up, carefully inspected the faint smears of blue paint that had not quite faded yet, then squeezed hard enough to bring tears to her eyes before dropping it and turning to Sam. “We’ll be staying here tonight,” causing Sara’s stomach to drop sickeningly, “take a man and check the area. We don’t want any surprises.”

Sam nodded
to one of the men holding Fiona, the other dragged her further into the living room and forced her down onto a wooden rocking chair that occupied a coveted spot in front of the red brick fireplace. Sara hoped Tom wouldn’t notice the family pictures on the mantel. In one Tess sat on her flowered sofa flanked by two other women, obviously her sisters, while Ty, two young women and a handsome man in a police uniform stood tall behind them.

But i
t was the picture on the other end of the mantle that worried her most. A candid shot of Nick, Jessica and herself taken outside in their backyard. Jess was trying to teach Jake to roll over while Nick coached her, laughter shining out of those gorgeous blue eyes. The Sara in the picture stared up at him as if he held the secrets to the universe. Not good.

There was no s
ound from the back of the house. She hoped Tess and Grace had heard her and run for help. She wasn’t sure how long she could keep Tom occupied. Moving past Fiona, she brushed her hand over her shoulder in comfort before seating herself on the edge of the couch, her back up against the wooden arm.

Tom did as she’d hoped and followed her into the room, facing away from the mantle. “Search the house. M
ake sure that there is no one else. Where is
our
good friend Nickolaus? I would have expected him to be here, protecting his interests.”

Sara gripped the back of the couch, “He stepped out for milk. L
ook, it doesn’t matter where Nick is. This is between you and me. Let’s cut the chit chat and get down to business. You have my friend and I have your precious file. We trade and you can go back to that mausoleum you call a house and live happily ever after, without us.”

Anger flared in his eyes, changing swiftly to laughter
. He joined her on the sofa, settling excessively close. She almost fell into him as the cushions sagged beneath his weight, before regaining her balance and leaning back hard, the wood digging into her back.

“You’ve developed some attitude while you’ve been away, I like that. It’s so much more enjoyable than sparring with the dishrag you were
back home.” He ran his finger down her cheek and goose-bumps broke out over her skin.

She jerked away.
“If I was subservient to you then, it was because you left me no choice. My God, Tom, you threatened to harm our daughter. It was bad enough how you treated me, but that was unforgiveable. Surely, you can understand why we had to leave. You changed from the man I married; the man I cared about would never have hurt me the way you did.” Emotion rose up choking her. She thought she’d managed to put all of those feelings behind her, but now they bubbled and boiled inside, an angry brew that threatened to erupt.

Regret showed briefly in his eyes before s
liding away. “I wasn’t the only one in that relationship to change. You knew how I felt about children, yet you went about your merry way and got yourself pregnant anyway. I asked that you show decorum as befitting your new lifestyle and forget about your bohemian friends.” He shot a cold look at Fiona and she glared right back, “instead you went out and flaunted your relationship all over town, making me look like I couldn’t even control my own wife.
That
, my love, was unforgiveable.”

Misunderstandings, their whole marriage had been nothing but a series of ever-growing misunde
rstandings. She wished now she’d paid more attention to the signs that were now obvious to her. Sara remembered trying to talk to him about getting pregnant but he’d always turned the conversation to something else, or said he had to get to work, they could talk later. And she’d wanted a baby to love so badly, she’d gone blithely ahead, without waiting for him to be ready.

Guilt filled her.
That had been wrong. Her own culpability in the breakdown of her marriage was a hard pill to swallow. She should not have presumed such an important decision without him. But she would never be able to forgive him for everything that went wrong afterward.

“Look, this is getti
ng us nowhere. Why don’t you agree to give me custody of Jessica, leave Fiona here, and you can have that file with my blessing. We can finish this now and you can be back in Boston by tomorrow. Come on, Tom, let’s end our relationship amicably.”

In the backgro
und she listened as Tom’s man did a sweep of the house. He was in one of the bedrooms at the moment. She needed to give Nick time to come up with a plan. It was only a matter of time before he brought something of Tess’s to Tom’s attention. She didn’t want him realizing this wasn’t her house. All thoughts of handling this on her own had gone by the wayside the moment Tom arrived with Sam and the others. Sara had a feeling she and Fiona were on borrowed time, she’d noticed the distinct outline of a shoulder holster on the man searching the house, which meant the others were probably carrying also. That file was a flimsy shield, especially against potential bullets.

Tom had risen and was pacing the room, agi
tation in every step. He moved to the side of the curtained window. Giving them a hard stare that dared them to rise from their seats, he pushed the linen aside to scan the dark yard before letting it fall back in place.

The hit man as she called him
, due to his flat black eyes and expressionless face, re-entered the room carrying what she could only describe as a granny dress over one thick forearm, the blue floral material looking rather incongruous against his muscled chest. He held it aloft for his boss to see and it was more than apparent it wasn’t hers. While not exactly frumpy, it was definitely old fashioned, with a big crocheted collar and trim.

“I can explain…
”

The front door slammed open, causing both women to jump, and Sam came in at a run dragging Grace behind him like a sack of potatoes.

“Grace!” Sara leapt from the sofa and raced over to the older woman, catching her as Sam pushed her away.

“Who the Hell i
s that? What’s going on, where’s Brad?” Tom barked over the sound of the slamming door and Sara’s cry.

“We found her and another old hag trying to slip through the back fence. The other one set up such a racket when we grabbed them that some asshole came along and clipped Brad against the side of the head, he went down like a ton of bricks and I got the fuck out of there.”

“Cut the lights.” Sam reached out and hit the switch casting them all into dark shadows. “Did you get a look at the guy?”

“Not really, just an impression of height and agility, the
fucker was fast on his feet. We never even saw him coming until it was too Goddamn late.”

“Grace
, are you okay? God, I’m so sorry,” Sara whispered, “was it Nick?” She carefully checked the older woman by touch, all but blinded in the sudden darkness.

“Sara
, where are you? I can’t see a blessed thing.” Fiona’s voice rose when she tripped over the two of them crouched on the floor near the fireplace, “Ouch!”

“Ssh, we’re right here.” She grabbed Fiona’s hand where it
had landed on top her head, pulling her down with them. “It’s okay, Nick’s out there. We need to stay calm and be ready.”

Grace’s voice trembled in the gloom,
“Tess and I couldn’t believe it when we heard you warning us. I wanted to stay, but Tess convinced me our best bet to help you was to get ourselves next door. We almost made it too, you’d be so proud of Tess, she put up such a fuss when those beastly men grabbed us I’m surprised the whole neighborhood didn’t show up.” Her body shook and her arms quivered in Sara’s hands.

She squinted
through the darkness, trying to discern where the other three were. They’d gone silent, which worried her. She was scared Nick would make some grand entry to save them and get himself shot.

Suddenly
, from much closer than she expected, “Spread out, we have company out there.” Tom’s harsh whisper came from about three feet to her right. She gently pressed her friends’ arms, warning them to be silent.

Stretching out her hand, she touched the poker
she’d remembered seeing earlier and lifted it towards them, cringing as it scraped slightly against the brick hearth.

“What was that?” From hit-
man, his voice sounding queer as it echoed down the hall giving away his position, the kitchen.

“I didn’t hear
anything.” Sam’s voice, coming from the back bedroom.

“Would you two idiots lik
e to send out party invitations? KEEP IT DOWN!” Tom’s harsh whisper reverberated through the old house, causing a frightened gasp from Grace. Sara squeezed her arm again in comfort, at the same time she lifted the poker and set it down in Grace’s lap, showing her by touch what she was holding. At least she would have some kind of protection if things went sideways, it was the best she could come up with, for now.

“Look
, Tom, let’s keep things simple. I’ll give you the file, and you can take your
friends
and leave, okay?” She tried to sound firm but a tremor made her words come out with a distinct tremble instead.

“What’s wrong, my dear, are you afraid I might hurt your lover?” Sarcasm dripped from the words
, and she knew this was not about the file anymore, she had tweaked his male pride.

“It’s no wonder S
ara left you, you arrogant jerk. If she’s managed to find herself someone good and decent then hooray for her. Why don’t you move on, go and scare some other poor chumps and leave us the hell alone.” Fiona had contained herself for as long as she could; now her very redheaded temper came spewing forth in a venomous cloud of loathing.

“Fiona, you’re not helping m
atters, please.” She pleaded with her friend to not escalate an already volatile situation.

“I see something.” Hit-
man’s calm voice again, as if this were a day at the park.

“Yeah, me to.
I’ve got at least three bogey’s out here.” Sam, much more excited, a day at the park with fairgrounds.

Then, out of the dar
kness, a voice Sara feared hearing, but had desperately hoped for at the same time. “Let them go, Sheridan. I have what you’ve come for. If you want it, let them out.”

Her heart leapt
into her throat, as if it could break the bonds that held it to fly straight into his safe arms. Nick. She was so relieved he was out there, but at the same time so very frightened. She had to warn him. “They have guns. There’s three and they have…” She screeched as a rough hand grabbed her by the hair and wrenched her to her feet.

“You fucking little bitch.
You couldn’t just sit there and keep your dumb trap shut, could you.” She felt like a rag doll as he shook her before pulling her around in front of him. The other hand, the one holding a FREAKING GUN, went around her neck in a chokehold that threatened to cut off all her air supply.

Grace and Fiona screamed at him to let her go,
beginning to rise up after them. Tom changed gun hands and fired, once, twice, hitting the wall behind them, plaster and glass flying everywhere as one of the pictures crashed to the floor. “Hold. Still. Just fucking hold still. The next time I won’t miss.”

Outside they could hear Nick’s
desperate shout, “Sara, Sara honey, talk to me. Sara!”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Nick was going through seven kinds of Hell, as he stood behind the Aspen in Tess’s postage stamp size
d front lawn. He couldn’t believe how dumb he’d been. Tom must have laughed his ass off after their phone call. It would have been a simple matter for him to find out where it had originated from. What a fuck-up. He couldn’t believe he’d missed something so obvious, and now Sara was paying the price. If Sheridan hurt one hair on her beautiful head, he would die.

Checking the illuminated dial o
f his watch, he was surprised only half an hour had passed since he’d walked out of the house next door to check on Sara, only to come up short when he heard thumps and cries coming from the break between the two yards fences. Racing silently over, heart pounding, he came upon Tess and Grace, both women fighting off attackers three times their size, Tess screaming like a banshee.

Gliding through the moonless shadows, Nick crept up on asshole number one and with a swift upper cut to the jaw; he was down and out for the count, yanking poor Tess to the groun
d as he fell. Dropping down to her, he made sure she was unharmed, losing precious seconds, before turning on dick number two, only to see him pulling a resisting Grace through the front hedges and up the steps into Tess’s house, slamming the door behind him.

Hurrying back to Tess’s side he quickly stripped off his shirt, tying numb-nut
’s hands behind his back, and then used his belt to tie his feet tightly together before leading the shaken woman into the kitchen and setting her down amidst his friend’s concerned eyes.

“There’s a t
ango outside by the back fence. Someone drag his sorry ass in here, we need to have a little chat.”

Crouching beside the dazed female, he took one of her frail
hands in his own, sharing his warmth as quakes shook her lean frame. “Can you tell me what happened, Tess? Is Sara still there? How many men did you see?”

“Let her catch her breath, you can see how upset she is,
just give her a minute. Would you like a cup of tea, ma’am? My momma swears tea is a cure all.” The scent of honey and bergamot drifted from Frank’s hands as he brought her over a delicate cup, all but lost in his giant mitts.

“Here, I found this in the living room,” Maggie said as she draped a soft
multi-colored afghan over her hunched back.

Jared came back into the room
with a swarthy looking man with dark shaggy hair draped over his shoulder. He gave a heave and dropped the dead weight in a corner of the room, the solid thunk proving the guy was still dead to the world.

“I’m sorry for rushing you
, Tess, but I’m worried about Sara. Is there anything you can share with me?” Nick asked, his chest tight with fear.

Taking
a fortifying sip of the hot brew and a sharing a shaky smile aimed at Maggie for her kindness, Tess looked to Nick. “I know, honey. I’m every bit as scared as you are. I’m not quite sure what happened. We were sitting in the kitchen talking about that scoundrel ex-husband of hers when the doorbell rang and Sara jumped up to get it, no doubt thinking it was you. Only it wasn’t.”

She shook her head in bewilderment. “
We heard her hollering at someone named Tom, her ex I’m sure. She warned us he wasn’t alone, and we could tell from her tone she didn’t want him knowing we were there. Grace wanted to stay, to help her, but then I remembered you were over here with your friends.” She glanced at each of them before turning back to him, “so we tried to sneak out the back door and across the yard. We almost made it to, if not for those creeps that came out of nowhere and snatched us.”

Jared slammed a fist into the wall above the lump on the floor, leaving a nice crack in the plaster. “Fuck.” He swung away, stomping into the living room. Nick knew how he felt, both their loved ones were in that house.

He turned his gaze back to Tess who shrugged helplessly. “You have to help her, Nick, she’s in terrible danger. I looked down the hall as we were leaving and saw a young woman with those men. They had her hands tied behind her and her mouth was covered, but worse than that, her face was all bruised like she’d taken a bad fall but I don’t think she did. I think they hurt her, and now they have our Sara.”

Nick
stood paced the room. He wanted to rush out and force his way in, he needed to be there. Anger fought with the fear that was building inside his chest, crushing his lungs and making his heartbeat slow and sluggish, his worst nightmare and there wasn’t a fucking thing he could do about it, or was there? He still had the all-important file. It wasn’t much, but he hoped it’d buy him a little time, at least until they could figure a way into the house that wouldn’t get the women killed.

“I assume you came prepared for a little action?” He looked at Adam standing by the kitchen
sink staring out across the dark lawn at the shadowed forms moving beyond the closed curtains next door.

“Of course
, Maggie and I both have Glocks. What about you guys?”

“I still have a license for my Sig
Blackwater, and practice regularly, if things go to shit over there and he hurts her, I’m going to kill that bastard.”

“I know you’re upset but you have to remain calm, going off the handle isn’t going to help you or your girlfriend.” Special Agent Holt warned him.

Whatever. He had more than enough on his plate already; he didn’t care if he censored his words in front of federal agents, as long as Sara was returned safely they could toss him behind bars and throw away the keys, if that’s what they wanted.

“Relax
, Maggie, he’s blowing smoke, right buddy?” Adam stepped between them, ever the peacemaker.

“You
want to explain to me how the hell he managed to get by your team who supposedly had the airport covered. Want to explain that,
buddy
?” He was spiraling out of control and knew he had to reel it in. He was no help to Sara this way, but fuck, he had promised her that son-of-a-bitch would never have the opportunity to hurt her again. He’d failed.

“We all need to calm down an
d figure out a course of action. If we go in there half-cocked someone is going to get hurt.” Adam said as Maggie moved closer as if to protect him, probably a good idea right now.

“I know that, but my gut is
telling me we don’t have much time. We need get pro-active and take the power out of his hands. I want to offer him the file. We all know how important it is to him. I think it’s our only chance.” Nick looked to Frank, hoping he’d at least agree, “After he makes the exchange and Sara is safe, you guys can go in and do your thing, I don’t give a shit; all I want is to have her out of there.”

“I agree with Nick
, time is of the essence, hashing over who screwed up where is not going to accomplish anything. Jared and I can go around back, find a way in. You, Adam, and Agent Holt can flank Nick and make sure he doesn’t get his sorry ass shot.” Frank pushed himself away from the old wooden table, the chair legs groaning their relief. “Nick, you can be our voice. Give him the ultimatum, and with any luck he’ll accept and the rest of the mission will go like clockwork. If not, we’ll be there, and he’ll wish that he accepted.”

For a too brief moment, the thrill of the chase brought an answering smile to each of their faces, before the gravity of the situation reasserted
itself, wiping the grins away and replacing them with intent. Hooyah.

Nick went to gather up the scattered file pages o
n the table, pleased to see Tess’s color looking better, her nerves settling. Now they were moving forward his were also, he centered himself on a successful outcome. Nothing else was acceptable.

Handing the elder woman a
heavy cast iron frying pan they had used to make pancakes for Jessica just a couple of days ago, he told her, “I need you to do me a big favor. Watch that guy,” He pointed at the still unconscious bulk in the corner. “If he wakes up make sure he stays put, can you do that?”

“You bet your britches I can; it’ll be my pleasure to teach that toad some manners,” she answered, sitting up straight, her myopic eyes squinting at the lump.

“Thanks, Tess, I knew I could count on you. Okay, are we ready?”

“Already gone,” F
rom Jared and Frank as they ducked out the door, both of them armed with an assortment of kitchen utensils.

“Waiting for you
, my friend.” Adam and Maggie moved to stand by the front door, both checking their guns and ammunition.

He grabbed his own weapon from where he had stashed it in the cupboard above Sara’s fridge, just in case. File in
hand he stepped past his buddy, glad to once again have him at his back.

Gliding through the thick shadows the three of them made it to Tess’s front yard without incident, the other two peeling off into the gloom.

Holding his breath, he counted to ten, and then let it out, praying like he’d never prayed before. “Let them go, Sheridan. I have what you’ve come for; if you want it, let them out.” He stood inside the gate, belly up to the giant Aspen that dominated the small yard, his heart pounding uncontrollably. Fuck, he’d not been this scared on any of the missions he’d been on before. He knew every day was a crapshoot. They trained for that, prepared for it, but he was not prepared this time, when the stakes mattered so very much.

Suddenly he heard Sara’s voice shouting, followed by a horrifying screech and then som
ething that made his heart stop. Gunshots.

“Sara, Sara honey
, talk to me. Sara!” As he leapt for the front stairs, ignoring Adam’s whistle to remain in place, his sole focus was getting inside that door. Using his foot, he nailed it close to the handle causing it to crack wide open, thankful that his eyes had adjusted to the darkness as the lights inside were extinguished. He stuck close to one wall and slid through the entry, his gun leading the way.

A
ssessing the situation, a feeling of hopelessness threatened to overcome him. Sheridan had Sara held tightly in front of him, an arm around her throat pulled her head back against his shoulder exposing her fragile neck. The other hand had a tight grip on a gun, an M&P 9mm by the looks of it.

Off to the side Grace and another young woman, probably Sara’s friend Fiona, sat huddled together on the floor
, bits of plaster and glass all around them explaining the gunshots.

In his peripheral vision
the fast moving shadow of a man as he dodged from one bedroom forward to the next, and a slight scrape from the kitchen let him know of at least one more. Okay three, he could handle three, if only one of them were not holding the love of his life in his hands. Shit.

“Has no one every taught you how to knoc
k? We’re kind of busy right now. Why don’t you toddle off, and no one,” Tom grunted as he tightened his grip and Sara’s feet came off the floor, harsh choking noises emitting from her throat, “will get hurt.”

Though there was nothing he wanted more than to look into Sara’s beautiful eyes, to reassure her that it was going to be okay and they would find a way out of this, he kept his attention trained on his nemesis
, searching for any weaknesses. Unfortunately for now Sheridan held the winning hand. He’d placed himself in a corner of the room with an inside wall at his back, and no blind spots. He also made sure he kept Sara firmly centered in front of him, her head blocking his own, even though it forced her up onto her toes, the prick.

“Look, you want
your file back, so take it.” Keeping his gun trained on the inch of Sheridan’s forehead he could see, Nick pulled the file out from where he had tucked it into the back of his jeans, waving it back and forth like a white flag before throwing it to the floor where they heard it land with a soft slap. “Let the women go, Tom, all they’ll do is slow you down, you don’t need them. Your little girl needs her mother.”

He knew instantly he’
d said the exact wrong thing, Sheridan’s already constricting hold on Sara turned malevolent, her neck squeezed so tight he could see the whites of her eyes as they rolled back in her head, the cock-sucking, fucking, prick.

“Look man, do what you want, I don’t give a shit
, but she promised me some big dough so why don’t you relax there before you do irreparable damage and we’re both out, cause no cash, no file.” His finger tightened on the trigger, desperate for a shot.

“You must think I’m an idiot. First, you fuck with my co
ntacts in Iraq,” he said coldly as he moved the gun from his aim of Nick’s chest down to his crotch, causing his balls to practically climb up his ass in reaction. “Now you want me to calmly turn over my
wife
so that you two can go riding off into the freaking sunset together? I don’t think so.”

The simultaneous sounds of grunts and the slap of fist against skin coming from both the kitchen and the bedroom as Frank and Jared made their en
trance gave Nick the break he’d been looking for. As he leapt towards Sara he sensed Adam and Maggie as they burst through the door right on his six, but then as he set his right foot down his leg buckled beneath him at the same time he registered a fiery pain.

Adam and Maggie caught him under his armpits stopping his downward momentum.