HUNTING (PAVAD) Page 23

  “Bad. He’s unconscious. But there’s more...”

  How could there be more? “What?”

  “There’s evidence that Julia was at the house when it happened. Al will tell you more when we get there. I’m sending Fin’s team to your house now, along with Marianna’s people from forensics.”

  ***

  Malachi only half-breathed on the eight minute drive to the hospital. Al met them in the lobby. She threw herself into Malachi’s arms and he held her, trying to block out the sight of her bloodied blouse. “Oh, Mal...”

  “Al, tell us. Mick?”

  “He’s unconscious and has lost a lot of blood. They were prepping him for surgery. They think the bullet or bullets are still in him.”

  Malachi tried to reassure himself that his brother was a big man, and had a lot of blood to lose. Mick was big, strong, and in perfect health.

  “What happened?” Ed asked from behind Malachi. “Start at the beginning.”

  “There isn’t much. I pulled in, parked behind Jules’ car. I thought she was inside with Ruthie.”

  “No. I don’t know why she was there; she wasn’t supposed to be. Mom has Ruthie. She and Dad were taking her to see the latest Disney movie.” His parents. Did they know? “Mom and Dad know?”

  “I called them after I called PAVAD. They’re safe and on their way.”

  “Where was Julia?” Ed asked as the waiting room began to fill with agents from PAVAD and the local field office, and even the local and state police. When an agent-down call went out there was immediate support. Malachi had seen it before.

  “I don’t know. She wasn’t inside, we know that much. But I found her scarf—the one my mother gave her for Christmas—pressed against the gunshot wound on my brother. And this was in the snow beside Mick. I didn’t give it to the responding officers. I didn’t want it going into their evidence lockup. I know what it means to...”

  She dangled something between them. Malachi immediately recognized it. His grandmother’s necklace. But what froze his heart were the three rings hanging with it. He reached for those rings. “It was in the snow? She wouldn’t…”

  “Beside what I think were knee prints in the snow, right beside where I think she knelt. Mal...there was an awful lot of blood in the snow. I’m not sure it was all Mick’s.” Al wrapped her fingers around his where he clutched the trio of rings.

  Rings that meant so much to Julia. No, she wouldn’t have just left them, not purposefully. She’d done so deliberately, so he would know. So he would realize she was in trouble. And he’d failed her.

  “Excuse me? Miss?” A male police officer interrupted and Malachi turned toward him. Al answered.

  The police officer continued. “Do you know the possible significance of these? One was found near your brother, and these two were found inside your home, on your table.”

  In his palm rested a clear evidence bag. Containing black and white chess pieces.

  Malachi’s curse had everyone in the waiting room looking his way. “He’s got her!”

  Ed grabbed him by the shoulder. “We’ll find her, son. I swear. We won’t stop until we do.”

  Chapter Sixty-Five

  * * *

  Mick’s blood still coated her hands, though she’d wiped some of it on the leather seats of the madman’s car. He wouldn’t like it when he found it, but it gave her a small perverse thrill to know she’d ruined that leather. Her DNA would be in that car for a long time, long time. Possibly long enough for Malachi to know what had happened to her...and Paige. Why had he hurt Paige?

  He left Jules in his garage, cuffed inside his car, garage door down, and engine running while he carried Paige inside. Jules knew he was just toying with her. Frightening her so that she would be more docile. He wasn’t going to kill her in his car. He had other plans for her, and he’d enjoyed listening to himself tell her all about those plans on the ride from Malachi’s home to this place. His sick fantasies revolted her.

  Was it his home? It was eerily similar in appearance to Malachi’s.

  He looked like Malachi, and he lived in a home similar to Malachi’s. And he was an adolescent psychiatrist, while Malachi was a child psychologist. Had he been mimicking Malachi for that long? Hadn’t someone mentioned he and Malachi had grown up together?

  That was more than just sinister—it was bizarre. And sick. Very, very sick.

  He came back for her, long before the car exhaust would have killed her. They both knew that. Yes, he was just enjoying toying with her. And he probably wasn’t finished.

  He uncuffed her and she studied him. No weapon in his hands. He must think he had her contained. Did he know she was an agent as well as a doctor, and had gone through some damned rigorous training? No, she’d like to think she was a bigger threat to him than he realized. But then again...Knight had been an agent and a damned good one. A strong one, too. And Nathanial had managed to get the best of him. And Paige. How had he gotten to Paige?

  “Where’s Paige? Have you hurt her? Why did you take her?”

  “Paige has an important role to play in this game of ours.” He didn’t drag her into the house, but the hand he had clamped around her neck ensured her cooperation. For the moment. She’d need to find what he’d done with Paige before she did anything.

  She was not leaving this house without her friend. Somehow, she had to find a way to get them both out. Or neutralize this freaking bastard until Malachi could find them.

  And he would find them. Hopefully he was already looking...

  Jules knew he wouldn’t stop hunting until he found her. She just hoped he’d found the second message she’d left for him.

  “Where is she? What did you do to her?”

  “It was a mere matter of drugging her tea. You know she likes peppermint tea. I simply had one already waiting on her when I gave her a ride home this evening. Her car, don’t you know, has been giving her real fits for several months now. And nothing the mechanics look at seem to be the cause.” He laughed, and Jules suspected she was looking at that cause.

  “What are you going to do to her?” She had been incidental. He hadn’t meant to take her from Malachi’s. Jules knew that. He’d said as much, several times. And was angry that his plans were derailed. But what he spoke of told her he’d definitely planned to take Paige today. “Are you planning to kill her?”

  “Unfortunately, yes. For though she is quite exquisite and I at one time intended to make her my wife, my plans for her have had to change.”

  “Why?” Jules studied the house as he pushed her ahead of him into a kitchen so eerily like Malachi’s she wanted to vomit. Even the color scheme was similar. “I thought the two of you were friends.”

  “Paige is one of my closest friends. But sometimes in this game, you must make sacrifices in order to accomplish checking the king.”

  “This isn’t a freaking game. It’s people’s lives. How many have you killed now in this insane parody of a game?”

  “Counting Mikhail, whom I really didn’t intend to use as a pawn, enough to win the game. Thirty-two in our last game. And the eight pawns sacrificed for each side. A few others who had special significance, such as Allan Knight. How could I resist, with such a perfect name?” He pushed her up the stairs, and into what she knew had to be the master bedroom. It was as coldly put together as the man, though it did resemble Malachi’s room. But Malachi’s had warmth, whereas this room had none.

  “And me? What were your intentions?” Why wouldn’t she have caught his notice? He’d been at that damned party on Thanksgiving. He’d been with Paige in the hospital when Malachi had slept in her room. He’d been with Paige at church, even. And he must have seen her and Malachi growing closer. And his biggest goal was hurting Malachi.

  “You. I was going to have you taken, and kept for a week or two. Just long enough, you understand, to make Malachi very uncomfortable. Then after you were rescued—and I killed him—I was going to court you myself.”

  She choked at t
hat. He was more looney tunes than she thought. “Excuse me? You just thought you’d do what?”

  Her reaction angered him, and for a moment she regretted it. Then she pushed that regret away. She’d fight this freaking bastard on everything until the moment he killed her. How could she not?

  Jules was finished being a coward. And now was probably as good a time as any to stop. “What about my feelings on the matter? Did you stop to consider how that would make me feel? Kidnapped again, the man I cared about murdered? Do you think I would really have been ready for another relationship? And what makes you think I’d have what...courted...with you to begin with?”

  He didn’t like to be questioned. Didn’t like that at all. She was half afraid he’d hit her, but he didn’t. Self-control, he had tons of it.

  How could she use that to her advantage? If she made him lose sight of what he intended it would go either two ways—he’d kill her or he’d make a mistake. She was hoping for the latter.

  “You would, of course, be reluctant. But I am a charming man, and I know what you like.”

  “Do you?”

  He stepped closer, and Jules fought the urge to step back. Only knowing that taking a farther step away from him put her closer to the bed had her frozen in place. His hand rose, and he stroked her jaw. Then her lips. For the first time since he took her, Jules recognized obvious real sexual heat in his gaze.

  And that’s when she understood just what the first part of his plans for her were. He’d take what Malachi had, and that included Jules. Especially Jules.

  He smiled, cold enough to freeze Florida. “I know you love Italian food, and that after that child goes to bed, you snuggle under a quilt Meredith made you and read romance novels. I never would have expected such from you. But you devour those books like candy. I know, my dear, how you love soaking in a hot bath for close to an hour, but you only do it when the little girl is asleep. I think you like the soft touch of the water on that beautiful skin of yours...” He gripped her chin in strong fingers. His eyes darkened with sudden hatred. “I know what your body looks like when you are fucking Malachi Perfect Brockman. I know what it looks like when you orgasm underneath him. And I don’t understand how a woman like you can be with a man like him. He’s a charlatan, don’t you realize? He’s a statue, a mannequin, an act who gets by on false charm and sleazy back scratching. He’s earned nothing he has. Nothing. And yet he has...you. He did. But now I do.”

  He released her face, and yanked the coat from her body. Jules fought, but he was a damned strong man. He pulled the cardigan she wore to fight the morgue’s chill next, popping the three blue buttons with little thought. Was he going to strip her and rape her right there in his bedroom?

  He grabbed her, a hard arm behind her waist and lifted her. Jules kicked at him, as hard as she could. It did little good. He was just too damned big. And too damned determined to have her.

  He kissed her, grinding his mouth against her lips until she tasted blood. He grabbed her chin again, and pried her mouth apart, forcing his tongue inside. Jules employed the only defense she could. She bit down, hard.

  He would not rape her, not without one hell of a fight.

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  ***

  Within heartbeats of the cop’s bombshell, Ed Dennis sprang into action, commandeering a conference room right there at the hospital. Malachi appreciated the older man’s not wanting to waste time by rushing everyone back to PAVAD. And it was obvious Ed understood Malachi’s conflicting needs to be with his brother and family now, and his need to find Julia.

  His parents had arrived moments after the chess pieces were discovered, and they’d brought Ruthie. She’d rushed up to him and hugged him. Clung to him, obviously sensing something was seriously wrong, and needing the safety of the familiar. Now she was with Dan’s wife Ally, who Malachi knew would take good care of her. Ally’s youngest child was a little girl a year or so older than Ruthie. Ruthie would be fine with Ally.

  At least until he found her mother.

  Al was with their parents, giving them as much comfort as she possibly could. They seemed to understand that Malachi’s attention had to be on finding Julia.

  He didn’t know how he’d survive if he didn’t.

  Was this how she had felt, seeing her husband die that day? Or was it so much worse because she had built a life with that other man? He wouldn’t let that fear and loss hit him, not until he had the answers he sought. And not until he found Julia.

  Marianna, Ed’s fiancée, had coordinated with the local police via phone and video conferencing to have all the physical evidence collected at Malachi’s house taken to PAVAD headquarters after it had been photographed, and photos sent to Malachi and the others. Hopefully in that evidence, scant though it was, would be something to reveal just who had taken Jules.

  “Other than Allan Knight, did you have anyone in mind?” Ed asked, files spread before him.

  Malachi alternated between studying the white board, and pacing. “A few. It had to be someone who I had known, even peripherally, for the past five years. Since New York. I was only there for a year. Allan and I worked a few cases together—he was assigned Newark field office. And everything else just seemed to fit him.”

  “Him and someone else.” Lorcan pointed to the board. “You have other names here. Who are they?”

  “Rocky Hurt. CIA. Also in both New York and St. Louis near the same time periods. Quin Bowman, New York and Kansas City field offices. We weren’t ever on the same teams, but were in the same unit. And this one is a far leap. Nate Collins. He was a childhood friend I lost touch with in junior high. But he ended up moving to New York. He transferred here about a year or so ago. But he’s not a work associate. He’s really more a friend with my mother than me or Mick or Al.”

  “That’s the guy who hangs around Paige, isn’t it?” Lorcan asked.

  “He’s got a bit of thing for her, I think.” Malachi honestly didn’t see it being any of the three men on the board. They were all his friends. But it was possible, wasn’t it? And if it wasn’t one of them, who had he missed? It had to be someone close to him, right?

  Wouldn’t a close personal friend be able to do the things the chessmaster UNSUB had managed without coming across Malachi’s radar simply because they were friends? Because it was always harder to see the enemy within your own camp compared to the one across the battlefield?

  But which one, and why?

  “Guys, has anyone noticed who else is missing?” Ana asked quietly, drawing everyone’s attention her way.

  “Who?” Ed asked, moving to the woman’s side. She was the only female in the room, the rest of the room consisted of Ed, Hell, Dan, Lorcan, Fin, and Malachi. The top of PAVAD. Georgia was overseeing the waiting room crowd of agents, prepping them to be deployed in any way that her father and Malachi needed.

  “Paige. Sebastian, has anyone on your team heard from her?”

  Lorcan shook his head. “No. And we should have. Dammit. If she knew it was your family in trouble, Mal, Paige would be right here in the thick of things. Right by Al’s side. I should have noticed, dammit!” He grabbed his phone and dialed.

  But Malachi suspected they all knew what had happened.

  “There were three pieces found tonight...” Ana whispered. “Black pawn by Mikhail. White queen and black queen in the house.”

  And they had never found a piece without a body. Other than those at Allan’s house—they’d confirmed the pieces were probably from a similar set as those other pieces in evidence. Why hadn’t they noticed earlier? Put it together and realized Paige was a victim as well? If she was... “Julia isn’t the only one he’s got.”

  “So who? Which of these three men would be the best candidate?” Fin waved his prosthetic at the white board.

  “I say we don’t worry about choosing which one and send teams to all three.” Hell stood and stepped toward Malachi. “We’ll find Jules, and we’ll find Paige, if she’s even missing. None of us w
ill stop until we do.”

  Chapter Sixty-Seven

  * * *

  Al held her mother’s hand and waited for news from the surgeons. Or from Mal. When that news from her oldest brother came, it was not good. And was a harder blow.

  Al squeezed her mother’s hand, and then shifted her mom’s palm into her dad’s. She stood, looked her brother straight on. “I’m ready.”

  “You stay here.” He nodded toward their parents. “Take care of them. Wait on word of Mick.”

  “No. I’m going with you. That’s my partner who’s missing. And one of my friends. And it’s my brother who was shot, too. Remember? No, I’m going. And you’re not stopping me.”

  Sebastian, her team leader, patted her on the back, his green eyes filled with compassion and understanding. “We’re rolling with Fin’s and Mal’s teams. Are you sure you’re up for this?”

  “More than.” He better than anyone, knew her capabilities as an investigative agent. It was why she was his second-in-command. “Let’s roll.”

  Her mother and father understood, she could see it on their faces.

  The bond between her and her brothers was strong, but Paige was her partner, and Jules her friend. There was extreme loyalty there, too.

  And no one questioned that Jules meant more to Malachi than just a friend and colleague. Everyone looking at him could see that. Her brother loved Jules, and that alone was enough for Al. That made Jules her family, too.

  She’d find her friends, or die trying. It was as simple as that. “Let’s go.”

  They were halfway out of the hospital when Ed’s fiancé Marianna Glendower, head of the forensics department, met them. “Sebastian! Agent Brockman!”

  “What is it?” Malachi asked. She had an envelope in her hands, and he could easily see on her face that it was important. “What do you have?”

  “This! It’s your brother’s shirt that was cut away in the ambulance.” She pulled on gloves then slipped the envelope open. She pulled out a bloodied undershirt. “We found this on the front abdomen. Do you know what it means?”