Atlanta, Georgia
Lauren released the steering wheel, her hands cramping from the intensity of her grip. She had just lived the longest, most agonizing ten minutes of her life, and now that she'd finally made it to Angie's neighborhood, she realized her angst had only begun. Seeing Angie's car in the driveway, parked exactly where it was sixty minutes ago was not a good sign. During the multiple unanswered calls Lauren had made on the drive over, she had desperately prayed that Angie had taken the boys out to eat and had forgotten her cell phone at home.
So finding Angie's car left Lauren facing the increasing possibility that her sons and her best friend were in danger. She'd made a grave mistake. She'd always abdicated the protection of herself and her family to someone else, something else, or the Shepherds. She knew absolutely nothing about self defense. She didn't have a gun, didn't know how to use one, had never even touched one. Not that she would go barreling into Angie's house with a gun drawn like a TV show, but she fully realized 911 wouldn't have done her a damn bit of good against the gunman at her house. 911 only helped if there was the time and the opportunity to call for help, and the police were able to arrive in time to do any good. What were the odds all of those elements would work that smoothly every time?
SheThe front passenger's door opened and she barely stifled the scream rising in her throat as Jack slid into the seat. Her blind grab for the towel bar came up empty. It had fallen between the seat and the console. She made a mental note to get her hands on a better weapon.
"I'm about ninety-five percent sure you weren't followed," he said. "But there's an off chance I didn't spot a tail, so stay alert. The traffic and the short distance didn't work in our favor. Which house?"
"The tan one with the red Camry in the driveway. The car is parked exactly where it was when I left. They should be there. They should be answering the phone."
Jack reached over and touched her hand. His fingers were warm, comforting. The summery day was hot, but she was cold, an icy fear had wrapped her in a chilling grip.
"Hang in there. We'll find your sons and we'll keep them safe." His calm assurance brushed soothingly over her knotted angst.
She blinked back the moisture in her eyes and inhaled. She believed him. She had to.
He scanned the neighborhood. "I'm going to circle around and check out the house from the back. You can't stay here. You're a sitting duck parked in this car, especially if he managed to follow us. Come with me, but when we get close to the house you have to stay hidden until I give the go ahead. Got it?"
"Yeah." She'd crawl through fire to get closer to her sons. She had feared he would leave her behind; insist she stay in the stifling car. The wait would have driven her crazy.
"Bring the dogs with us. If your sons are being held hostage, the dogs might help." He didn't waste any more time. He checked the area again and exited the car.
She clipped on Sasha's and Sam's leashes then, at Jack's direction, she followed his lead, keeping to the shadows. The older neighborhood was lush with sprawling oaks, gleaming hedges and rolling lawns. Sunday afternoon in a populated city came at her, the drone of traffic and lawnmowers, a tinny radio, distant children shouting and laughing, a dog barking. Nothing sinister. Just an apple-pie-and-pass-the-grits normal day in the South, which made her situation even more surreal.
Alarms should be going off.
She should be screaming for help.
The world should be at a standstill instead of marching along as if nothing were wrong.
Even the fragrance of blooming tea roses and honeysuckle warmed by the afternoon sun were too cozy. The scent grated harshly over her nerves.
She stumbled as Sasha and Sam plowed ahead, pulling hard against their leashes. Jack caught her elbow and then reined the Shepherds in with a quiet, firm command that had them moving stealthily at his side. Move over, Dog Whisperer, there was a new Alpha in town.
Luckily there were only hedges to navigate through between this end of the block and Angie's house. Farther down were the fences, likely enclosing swimming pools as required by law.
In less than two minutes, they were one house away from Angie's. Since the boys' birthday party yesterday, the unfolding events had skewed Lauren's perception of time, tilted it sickly on some warped, metaphysical axis in her mind. She wanted everything to happen instantly.
Jack approached the house from the right side where a wealth of tree coverage went all the way to the windows of Angie's three bedroom ranch. Angie often complained about the oak's branches creaking during strong winds or a heavy rain, completely sure they'd land in her bed one day. Lauren waited one house away, beneath the dark overhang of a carport attached to a storage shed. Gardening tools and a lawn mower filled the space and she grabbed a trowel, figuring its sharp prongs could do some major damage. Jack silently moved to each window and peered inside then disappeared around the corner of the house.
She held her breath as precious seconds ticked by.
He came back looking grim. "The back door is ajar and the house is empty."
Lauren moaned, somewhere between a scream and a cry.
He grabbed her arms. "Listen. There're no signs of violence or a struggle, so don't go jumping to conclusions yet."
"Let me look," she whispered, her heart struggling to beat as her mind raced. Angie wouldn't have left the door open. And if a gunman had taken either Matt or Mitch hostage, there would be no signs of a struggle. Angie would have cooperated.
She might have left some sort of hint or clue, Lauren thought to herself and prayed to find something. How did mothers ever face this horror? Missing their child or children. Not knowing what was happening to them? If they were okay…hurt…oh God.
Trowel clutched in hand, Lauren followed Jack as he again cautiously approached the house from the back. Her stomach churned. A cold sweat had her palms damp and her body shivered as she crossed the threshold.
Silence, an ugly dark pit of it, surrounded her as she swept her gaze back and forth for any clue. The house-their stuff and Angie's belongings-was exactly as Lauren had left it a short time ago. The TV was on and muted. Thomas the Tank Engine filled the screen. Tears blurred her eyes and she sucked in air, realizing she had barely breathed since entering the house.
The scent of peanut butter smacked her. She went to the kitchen sink. "They ate PBJs." She located two lunch plates with crusts and two almost empty glasses of milk in the sink. Jack touched the milk glass.
"It's still cold." He marched over to the TV and paused the DVD. "How long ago did you leave here?"
"About sixty minutes."
"This has only been running for twenty minutes."
Lauren's eyes widened. "Which means that they were here and fine then."
Jack's gaze dropped to the floor, his expression darkened, his body tensed. The dogs suddenly pawed at the now-closed back door. Lauren ran the few steps to the door. "That's how they always greet the boys."
Jack's sixth sense screamed. "Wait, Laur-" But she didn't hear his warning, the dogs' barking had drowned him out.
Lauren jerked open the door, expecting to see Angie and her sons, totally not registering Jack's booming for her to stop until it was too late.
Before she could blink, she found herself sandwiched against the wall with Jack plastered to her back. Her trowel clattered to the floor as surprise left her fingers nerveless. His heat and the deadly tension in his hard body were overwhelming. He had is gun in hand. No one was at the door and the dogs barreled out.
"There're fresh muddy prints on the kitchen mat," Jack said harshly. "They're about size twelve men's shoe. My size, but they're not mine. So Angie had a welcomed or unwelcomed guest here within the past hour. My guess is unwelcomed and that someone could have been at the door. Opening it could have been a fatal mistake." She nodded, gulping for air. He continued, "You have to think before you react and remember EVERYTHING is suspect. The boys could have been outside with Angie and the muddy footprints could mean nothing at all, or the boys and Angie could have been being held at gunpoint. In which case, any edge that I might have had in sneaking around and surprising them from behind would have been lost when you opened the door. So look before you leap, or before you open a door in this case."
Lauren realized to her core that the world as she'd always known it was gone as effectively as if she had been transported to another planet. She looked at the mat by the sink Jack referred to. "The prints are new. They weren't there when I left. I know because I swept up cornflakes after Matt dropped the box while climbing up to the top of the pantry. And Angie was not expecting anyone to come over."
"Then we'll assume they're in danger." Sasha and Sam continued to bark and Jack grabbed her hand, pulling her with him as he slipped to the outside porch and scanned the area, his gun ready. "Stay close. Stay low, and do what I do. The Shepherds might be tracking your sons." Jack kept to the shadows, knowing how to blend in with the scenery and using that skill like a master.
Sasha and Sam went to a gate three houses away from Angie's and pawed the wooden privacy fence, begging to get inside.
Jack pulled back into the shadows. "Stay here. Let me check the area first. Whoever made those footprints could have left or could be on the other side of the fence."
He reached the fence and after checking through the cracks, he put his gun away, and stepped back. He signaled for her.
Lauren rushed up.
"Relax. They're safe." Jack motioned for her to go ahead. She almost stumbled as her knees went weak with a relief she couldn't quite grasp. What did the footprints mean?
Angie, harried and disheveled with her red hair a corky mop in the breeze, opened the gate. The Shepherds bounded inside, nearly knocking her over. She laughed. "You know. When you go on that sex date, we're going to have to get you a babysitter three days in advance. Otherwise you're going to be too tired to enjoy anything. These monsters are murder on energy."
Lauren froze, except for her mouth which opened and shut like a fish out of water.
Angie turned around, gasped then yelled, "Matt. Get down. I told you that you must ask your mom before you can use the diving board."
"But she's not here and I want E-hart to fly now."
At Jack's barely audible chuckle, Lauren unstuck herself and hurried through the gate, sure her face was beet red. Matt stood on the diving board situated at the deep end of the pool, bouncing with his race car in hand. Mitch had his race car at the shallow end of the pool and was racing it down the stair rail, thoroughly happy to stay within the safe parameters Angie had set.
"Off the diving board now, Matt." Lauren thanked God that she found her sons safe.
"But, Mom!"
"No buts. You disobeyed Aunt Angie and that means you forfeited your opportunity to use the diving board this time."
"But…but… MOM!"
"Now. Next time you'll remember that you can't just do what want to do without facing the consequences. When Aunt Angie is babysitting you, you have to obey her. Do I need to add another punishment as well?"
Matt shut his mouth and backed off the diving board. He had his jaw set at a stubborn angle though, telling her that he hadn't come close to learning any sort of lesson. The heat of Jack's body behind her penetrated her consciousness even before she heard him shut the gate. Both her sons and Angie came to a surprised standstill, their gazes wide.
"Oh my," Angie said. "Didn't realize you had company." Rather than appearing contrite at her sex date remark, she looked entirely too pleased. "I'm Angie Freemont." She stepped up and offered her hand.
"Jack Hunter." Jack shook her hand.
"I tried to call, and became really worried." Lauren said. "Someone ransacked my house at some point since last night." She again glanced at her sons, so thankful they were safe, but still fully aware they were all in a bad situation. Would they ever be safe again? Danger had parked a vulture on her shoulder that continued to tear at her heart. At the moment the boys were hugging Sasha and Sam and running their race cars down the dogs' backs.
"My phone took a swim." Angie waved her hand, drawing Lauren's attention then narrowed her gaze. "Looks as if you did too, my friend." She glanced at Jack. "What aren't you two telling me?"
Lauren looked down at herself and blinked with surprise. She'd forgotten the tear gas, the shower and that she was wet, or damp to be precise-a fact that had likely contributed to her earlier chill. Everything had flown from her mind when she thought Mitch and Matt were in danger.
Jack spoke up. "The ransacking visitor apparently didn't find what he was looking for and came back for your friend."
Angie's face paled and she clasped Lauren's hand, tightly. "Are you all right?"
Lauren squeezed back. "More than okay. Now." Matt and Mitch ran up and Lauren let go of Angie's hand to wrap her sons in her arms. Their blue swimsuits and gray tank tops were damp.
"Are you the police?" Angie questioned Jack sharply, her earlier welcome gone.
"No, but close."
"Which still needs to be explained." Lauren gave Jack a suspicious glance as she hugged Matt and Mitch close. She had to let Jack know that she expected some answers, and now that the immediate danger had passed, he needed to start talking.
"You fight bad guys?" Matt demanded, wiggling from Lauren's too-tight hug.
"My Uncle Jason does," Mitch added, pulling back from Lauren's arms and joining Matt in staring up at Jack. "He's in the army. We're going to go help him when we grow up."
"Keeping others safe is an important job to have," Jack said.
Unable to let go of her sons, Lauren rested her hand on each of their shoulders and reassessed Jack. His easy tone of voice, but still commanding manner as he met the twins at eye-level, man to man, had an interesting effect on her sons. They instantly focused their complete attention on him, their usual fidgeting gone, even their race cars came to a standstill.
"How do I know who is who?" Jack asked.
"Mole on the temple," Lauren said. "Matt's is on the left. Mitch's is on the right."
Jack's emotions gripped him hard once he got over the shock of seeing identical twins whom he literally could not tell apart and whose features were very similar to the man he'd killed in Lebanon. Lauren's boys stared at him with something akin to worship in their gazes. He'd been in their shoes as a boy, looking up at a large man and instinctively knowing that man embodied everything a little boy could dream of becoming. Jack's own father, career military, had been Jack's hero.
His gut knotted and his heart twisted. He'd killed their father. He hadn't had a choice in the matter, would have to make the same decision if he had to do it all over again, but those truths didn't diminish the emotional impact of what he'd done-nor how it would affect them for the rest of their lives. They were the same age Livy was when Jill moved out. Livy had had nightmares for a while because she missed having her father around. It was the one thing that had prompted Jill to tone down her bitterness. Jack tossed away the memories, but the ache for the boys still ripped him inside.
Intellectually, he had walked himself through the ins and outs of having to take another man's life in battle. He knew that man was a son, brother, husband or father to someone. He knew that man, be it right or wrong according to Jack's belief grid, was fighting for a cause, or a reason, just like Jack. Though, he didn't know if Bill Collins exactly fit that scenario or not. Bill's dying words didn't make it seem that way. Still, the emotional impact of taking a life in battle hit Jack harder and more deeply than ever before.
"So do you fight bad guys?" Mitch asked, repeating Matt's earlier question that Jack had side-stepped.
"Yeah." Jack's throat squeezed tight. He wanted to turn around and run the other way. Instead, he forced himself to meet the little guys head on. "My job is to make the bad guys go away."
"How?" Matt challenged, his face skewing with doubt peppered with morbid curiosity. "Like this?" He pointed his finger mimicking a gun. "Pow."
"Only if they are trying to kill someone else," Jack said even though that wasn't necessarily true anymore. Not since congress stuck their two cents into things, tying a soldier's hands in warfare, and making life and death second to political correctness. Jack fished in his pocket and held up a quarter for the boys to see. He showed them that his hands were otherwise empty. Then as he spoke he made the quarter disappear with a slight of hand. "We also do other things to stop the bad guys. Being a soldier is a lot of hard work and practice but it is important work and it starts with you obeying your mom and your Aunt Angie. If you can guess which hand it is in and promise to better obey then you can have the quarter."
"Pomise," they said in unison. "We give our solid oak," Mitch added.
Solid oak? Jack had to ask Lauren about that one. He held out his fisted hands. "Then choose."
The boys both picked Jack's right. He opened his hand and there were two quarters sitting in his palm. "Looks like there's one for each of you."
The twins squealed in delight, their eyes as wide as saucers as they each picked up a quarter with care, as if the coins themselves were magical.
"Oops, I forgot." Jack reached behind Mitch's ear, ruffled the boy's hair and pulled out another quarter. He handed it to the kid.
Matt twisted his neck around and dug at his right ear. "Do I have one too?"
"Let me see." Jack fished around Matt's ear, already seeing himself in the kid's impatience. "Hmm. Here it is. Must have sneaked to the other side when we weren't looking."
Matt laughed and grabbed the coin like a grand prize winner, then turned to Mitch and started a conversation about what they might be able to buy at the dollar store, a conversation that took them in the direction of the pool.
Jack stood and met Lauren's gaze, which held a stormy mixture of fear, relief, anger, and what he supposed was a healthy suspicion. "I really can't say what your husband-"
"Ex. Her ex," Angie said firmly, but in a low tone that wouldn't carry to the children.
"Ex?" Jack studied Lauren's expression, realizing that would go a long way to explaining some things.
"In another few days," she glanced at the boys. "Bill and I have been separated for about eighteen months. Even though you have literally been a life saver today and I don't know much about Bill's recent activities, I'm still not willing to talk about anything unless I know who you are and why you're here. You're the one who told me to consider everything suspect. Your convenient appearance in the middle of what is happening isn't coincidence."
"I don't know anything about what's going on here, but I am going to find out," Jack assured Lauren. He slipped his cell phone from his pocket, wincing at the dozen missed calls. Weston was probably about ready to court marshal him. Jack Googled his commander's name and pulled up the article on President Anderson's family on the lit display. He gave Lauren his phone. "Read this. Especially the last two paragraphs."
She took the phone and Angie moved over to read as well, their expression grew increasingly doubtful. "Your name's not listed," Lauren finally said. "Surely you don't expect me to believe you're related to the President?"
"No. I'm not, but my commander is his cousin. See, Lt. Col. Roger Weston." Reaching over, his hand steadying hers, he used his finger to scroll to Weston's name in the article. Then he pulled up his missed call list, which showed the dozen calls from Roger Weston. "Same guy." He released Lauren's hand and stepped back not at all pleased with how much he'd enjoyed touching her.
"Same name." She arched a skeptical brow.
"Hit the call button. Talk to him. He's not going to be happy. I left the hospital without being officially released."
Jack watched as Lauren pressed the button. He heard it ring and braced for what would be coming. Weston's voice boomed over the line. "Jack! Where in the hell are you? The hospital is all over my ass and there are major problems going down here at Bragg."
Lauren jumped at the shout. She pulled the phone away from her ear, wincing. Jack couldn't blame her, even his heart rate kicked up a notch at the anger raging through the phone. Jack took the phone from Lauren and answered his commander. "I'm with Collins's family. Can't talk right now, but I'll get back to you."
He hung up the phone before Weston could order him back. It was a small thing, but Jack could at least tell himself he may not be where he was supposed to be-a useless hospital bed-but he wasn't disobeying direct orders either.
He looked at Lauren and her friend and pled his case. "I'm going to check the cars and the area. When I get back, we need to talk. You think about it. All I can say is that if the people after you are the people I suspect your ex was involved with, then you're in very serious trouble. This isn't a local situation. This is international. The police aren't going to know what in the hell to do about it. I'm not even sure I can get the military on board either, because they don't quite believe me, which is why my commander has his boxers in a wad. But the professional assassin after you tells me I'm right."
From the look of fear and confusion on both women's faces, Jack's words had hit home. They believed him. He'd gotten his urgent point across. Still, he felt like hell as he turned away. He reached the gate, peered through the crack in the privacy fence, then made an about face.
"Time's up," he said softly, but deadly serious. "Men in black with guns are in Angie's backyard. Their alias might be Smith and Jones, but they aren't the Smith and Jones."
It wasn't easy to gauge three acres away through a smattering of overhanging leaves, but he was pretty sure one of the guys was the attacker from Lauren's house.
This joker had quick resources. Bad news.