chapter Sixteen
“It makes no sense.” Cade drained his bottle of beer and started picking at the label on the wet glass.
“I don’t know why you’ve been so paranoid about Prospero. Jack Coburn runs a tight ship. Everything over the past few days has been according to protocol. As far as I know, internal affairs dealt with Horace Jimerson.” J.D. checked his watch. “And we won’t be privy to his punishment for a while.”
Cade picked the sticky label from his fingernails. “What about the situation at the warehouse?”
“That, I can’t tell you. Why is Beth so sure Zendaris didn’t ambush her and Curson? She didn’t even see her attackers.”
“It’s not just Beth. If Zendaris’s guys hit that warehouse and killed Curson, why didn’t they wait for me and Jenna? They had to know we were going to show up. They’ve been chasing us all across the Southwest. Why give up an opportunity to snatch Gavin and hold him until I cough up the plans?”
“That whole setup seems screwy to me.” J.D. kicked a boot up onto the chair across from him and crossed his arms behind his head. “You didn’t see any attackers. Why didn’t they kill Beth, too? Curson dies and Beth gets a bump on the head?”
“You’re not suggesting Beth is working with Zendaris, like Jim, are you?”
“No, but maybe she screwed something up.” J.D. tipped his chair back. “That woman has a lot of issues.”
“She does?”
“She had a major crush on you for one thing.”
“No way.” Cade tracked back through his memories of Beth in the office, at the get-togethers and most recently on the drive to Texas. “No way.”
J.D. snorted. “Man, you’re so hung up on Jenna you wouldn’t notice if another woman stood in front of you doing the shimmy shake.”
Heat blasted Cade’s face. “Yeah, I think I would.”
“Really? ’Cuz those two lovely ladies in the corner have been eyeing us for a good half hour, and I swear you couldn’t tell me right now if they’re blondes, redheads or brunettes.”
Cade slid a gaze to two women giggling over a couple of margaritas.
“Without looking.” J.D. shook his head.
“So the fact that Beth had a crush on me means she has issues?”
“It’s not just that. She’s really self-conscious about those disfiguring scars on her back. It’s done a number on her self-esteem.”
“What are you talking about?” Cade’s brows snapped together. “Beth doesn’t have any disfiguring scars on her back.”
“You’ve seen her back lately?”
“She stayed in our hotel room with us the other night.”
J.D. lifted one eyebrow. “Was she running around naked or something?”
“Why do you keep bringing up naked women?” Cade kicked J.D.’s chair. “She slipped off her sweater when she got into bed. I didn’t notice any scars.”
J.D.’s chair snapped to the floor. “That’s weird because I’ve seen them and it’s not something she can hide. They’re scars from burns.”
“How did it happen?”
“I’m not sure. Some accident involving her sister when they were children.” He leveled his finger at Cade. “Another thing that’s weird is how you ended up in Texas for your resettlement.”
“Why is that weird?”
“Was Beth so tongue-tied around you she never talked about herself? She’s from Texas. I think her mother still lives here, and if I’m not mistaken, it’s somewhere near San Antonio.”
“Coincidence.”
“Maybe, but not too smart if she wants you to keep your distance from everyone connected to Prospero. Maybe she just wants you within striking range if she ever decides to go for you.”
Cade chewed the inside of his cheek. Why hadn’t Beth mentioned that fact?
J.D. checked his watch again. “Hey, man, I need to catch my flight. When I see Gage down in South America, I’ll see if he heard anything about the warehouse. He’s more removed than we are, but that guy always seems to know everything—it’s those connections in high places.”
Cade shoved back his chair and shook J.D.’s hand. “Thanks for stopping on your way down. Keep me in the loop if you can.”
J.D. pumped his hand and slapped his shoulder. “I’d keep an eye on Beth Warren if I were you.” He cocked his head. “And ask her about those scars.”
Cade tossed a couple of bills on the table. Yeah, right. He was going to ask Beth Warren about the scars on her back, or lack thereof.
He dropped onto the driver’s seat of the car he and Jenna had dubbed Old Faithful, and cranked on the engine. His phone buzzed. Had J.D. found something out already?
He lifted the phone from his pocket and stared at the display, his mouth dry. Speak of the devil. “Hey, Beth. Is everything okay?”
“No, no.” Her voice cracked and she ended on a sob. “They’ve taken Jenna and Gavin.”
* * *
CADE CAREENED DOWN THE highway, his jaw tight, his eyes burning. He’d left them. He’d left his family again and they’d been snatched.
Beth hadn’t been able to tell him much. They’d put Gavin to bed. She and Jenna had watched TV and had a glass of wine. They both fell asleep on the couch and when Beth awoke, Jenna and Gavin were gone.
How could that happen? Nobody woke up Beth? Nobody injured her? Or would she have another bump on the head?
His tires squealed as he took one of the exits to Grenfield. He knew Beth was no agent, but how did she end up bungling every assignment?
He steadied his hands on the wheel and took a deep breath. He couldn’t run in the house accusing her of anything. He knew how it felt to believe nobody trusted you.
He swung into the one-car driveway to the house, rolling over the curb. He threw the car into Park and was halfway out the door before it even stopped.
Beth met him on the porch, her hands trembling, her face blotchy with tears. “I’m so sorry, Cade. I don’t know how it happened.”
He ran his hands along her arms, strangely warm. “Did they hurt you?”
“N-no. I told you. I was sleeping.” She pushed open the door and backed up over the threshold.
“Someone broke into the house while you were all sleeping and managed to abduct my wife and son, and you didn’t hear a thing? You didn’t wake up?”
Her dark eyes welled with tears. “I’m so sorry. It was the wine. We drank quite a bit and both of us passed out more than fell asleep. It was stupid, but I never dreamed they’d find us here.”
“Neither did I.” He circled the room, taking in the two empty wineglasses on the coffee table. One chair had been upended. He followed the hallway to Gavin’s room, his fists curling as he saw the empty bed.
His gaze tracked across the windows, shut against the night air. “How did they get in?”
Beth waved her arms. “I have no idea. I haven’t looked around yet.”
He glanced at the half-full wine bottle on the kitchen counter and his gut knotted. His gaze tracked to a pair of shoes by the door, blades of grass sticking to the wet toes.
Cade strolled to the front door and stood with his back against it. Then he pulled out his weapon. “Show me your back...Beth.”
Her eyes widened, glowing with some internal fire. “Your wife and son are missing and you want me to take off my clothes? Like father, like son.”
Releasing the safety on his gun, he growled. “Show me your back.”
She turned slowly, gripping the edge of her blouse and glancing over her left shoulder, a small smile playing over her lips. She yanked up the blouse to reveal a smooth swath of skin.
His muscles coiled and his grip tightened on his gun. “Who are you?”
“Funny.” She dropped her blouse and spun around, gripping the weapon he’d left in the cupboard. “I could’ve sworn Beth said she never told you about her lovely scars.”
“Who are you and where are my wife and son?”
“They’re safe...for now.” She took a step forward and extended her left hand. “I’m Abby, Abby Warren, Beth’s older and stronger twin sister.”
Cade clenched his jaw so his mouth wouldn’t drop open. He ignored her hand, no longer trembling. “Where’s Beth?”
“Dead.”
“Did you...”
“Yes, I killed her. I tried before, you know, when we were twelve. I threw scalding water at her. I was aiming for her head, but it hit her back instead.” She shrugged. “Then I decided it was better to keep her around and live vicariously through her.”
“If you were the stronger twin, why live through your sister? Why not live your own life?”
She made a face with an exaggerated frown. “They watched me, especially my father. I could always wrap my mother around my little finger. But Dad—” she pursed her lips “—he was always after me to take my meds. You can’t live your life all doped up.”
Cade steadied his gun. She must be seriously mentally ill—and she had Jenna and Gavin. “You’ve been posing as Beth? Why?”
“Why?” She blinked her eyes. “To get you, of course. Well, you and some big bucks from that arms dealer Nico Zendaris.”
“What are you talking about?” His stomach sank. He could handle Beth...Abby, but if she’d called in Zendaris or already turned Jenna and Gavin over to him, he had a bigger obstacle in front of him than some psychotic woman with a gun.
“Beth wanted you. Didn’t you know that? She had a crazy, wild crush on you. She showed me your picture, slobbering all over it. So I told her to go for it, but she’s weak.” Abby put on a childish, whining voice. “He’s married, Abby. I’m just going to have to forget all about him.”
She snapped her fingers. “Why should that stop you from getting what you want? So I set out to prove her wrong.”
“How exactly did you plan on getting me?” Cade’s phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out.
Abby narrowed her eyes and leveled her gun at his heart. “You can call the police or Prospero or all your buddies on Team Three, but I still have your wife and son and I can make them die on my command. If you try to respond or make a call, I’ll make you die, too. Beth might be mad, but I can live with that.”
Cade held up his phone and shifted his gaze to the display—a message from J.D. Another weird factoid Beth’s mom lives in Grenfield 590 Burrows watch your back.
Cade hit the button to delete J.D.’s message and took a deep breath. Jenna and Gavin must be two doors down at Abby’s mother’s house. But who else was there? Zendaris’s thugs?
“I’m not calling anyone, Abby. So what is your plan and what does Zendaris have to do with it?”
She giggled. “I thought you’d never ask. Beth is good with statistics, facts and figures and logic. I’m even better. I like computers, Cade. I like computers a lot.”
“You hacked into my computer and stole the plans.”
“Aw, it was easy.” She hunched her shoulders and almost blushed. “I already had a head start because I had some of your emails to Prospero. From there it was a breeze to get into your computer and lift those plans.”
“You wanted money. Why didn’t you just sell them to Zendaris?”
“I wanted you and the money. Just to prove I could do it. I figured I’d let Zendaris stew a little, blame you, go after Jenna and Gavin and maybe even succeed. But you were too good for him, Cade. The idiots he hired couldn’t keep up with you. So I decided to help him.”
“How was that plan going to help you get to me?”
“You’d be so distraught at losing your wife and son, you’d need a shoulder to cry on, and I would’ve been there for you.”
His laugh was a sharp bark of disbelief. “Never. Would’ve. Happened.”
“Or—” she twirled a strand of hair around her finger “—I could be the bad guy and sell those plans to whoever I want for big bucks. I’d share it all with you. You, Beth and I.”
“Beth’s dead.”
Her brow wrinkled. “No, I’m doing this for Beth, too. I always made things right for Beth. I taught her how to cheat on exams. I...uh...handicapped the competition in a big race she had. This horrible professor was bothering her and I got him in trouble. Beth didn’t know how to go after what she wanted, so I made sure she had it. Now I’m going to make sure she has you.”
Abby’s loose hold on reality could only help him at this point. “You would share that money with me?”
She stopped twirling her hair and yanked some strands from her head. “Yes.”
“I really wanted to hang on to those plans myself, but I just couldn’t do it.”
She nodded. “You see, I can do those things that you can’t bring yourself to do. I’m not bothered by my conscience. I know you worry about being like your father, but you don’t have to. I’ll be him for you.”
A chill seized the back of his neck. How did she know so much about him? “What happened in the warehouse, Abby?”
“I shot Jeff and hit myself on the side of the head. He was going to get you and Jenna all relocated in some nice, cozy place. I couldn’t allow that.”
Sweat dampened his brow. How was he going to get to Jenna and Gavin? If he tried to walk out now, Abby would shoot him, and God knows what would happen to his family.
“Of course you couldn’t allow that. What now? Should we go to your mother’s house and tell Jenna our plans?”
Abby’s jaw dropped and the gun wavered—for a second. “M-my mother doesn’t live near here.”
“Come on, Abby. You don’t think I knew all along that your mother lived two doors down on this same street?”
“Why didn’t you say something before?”
“I wanted to wait and see how this all unfolded. I didn’t realize you had the plans. That changes everything.”
“I’ll take you there on one condition.” She pointed to the floor. “Give up your weapon and slide it toward me.”
Every instinct in his body screamed no, but he had to get to Jenna and Gavin. He had to see if they were okay.
He reengaged the safety on his gun, ducked down and slid it toward Abby’s feet. Keeping her weapon trained on him, she scooped up the gun. She shoved it between the cushions of the couch.
“Now open the door slowly and don’t try anything.”
As he opened the door, he could feel her breathing down his neck.
“Turn to the right and keep walking. It’s the house with the flower box at the window, but then you already know that.”
If only J.D.’s text had come sooner. The house with the flower box would’ve been Cade’s first stop.
Low lights seeped from beneath the drawn blinds. When they reached the porch, Abby tossed him a set of keys. “The big, gold one opens the dead bolt and the lock on the handle.”
Cade shoved the key in the dead bolt and stopped. “Is there anyone else in there?”
“Not yet, but I have one of Zendaris’s men on speed dial, and he’d be more than happy to collect his cargo.”
Gritting his teeth, he pushed open the door. His gaze swept the dimly lit room, and a pulse throbbed in his temple. “Where are they?”
“The house isn’t that big. They’re in the back. Your kid’s sleeping. I gave him a little something to help him along.”
Cade’s fingers itched to wrap around Abby’s throat, but he put one foot in front of the other to get to his family.
Abby jabbed him in the back with the gun. Could he spin around and take her right now? She’d have no problem shooting him.
“It’s this room.”
Cade pushed open the door, and his blood percolated through his veins, hot and rash. Abby had bound and gagged Jenna and she lay diagonal across the bed. She hadn’t bothered with Gavin, parking him on the floor in the corner.
His little legs were drawn to his chest and he had one arm curled beneath his head to act as a cushion from the hard floor.
Jenna’s eyes widened above the gag and she choked.
“Don’t get too excited, Jenna.” Abby lined her back up against the wall and leveled the gun at Cade. “We’re here to tie up loose ends and you’re one of them.”
“Has Jenna properly met you, Abby?”
“No, she wasn’t in any condition to carry on a conversation after I spiked her wine.” She waved the gun at Jenna. “Take her gag off.”
Cade crouched by the bed and loosened the tie behind Jenna’s head, cupping her face as he did so. Her eyes, as blue as the Pacific, told him everything. She trusted him with her life right now and the life of their son.
And he wouldn’t let them down.
“Step away.”
Blocking his action from Abby, Cade caressed Jenna’s cheek before he pushed away from the bed, the gag dangling from his hand. “This is Abby, Jenna. She’s Beth Warren’s twin sister and has decided to take her sister’s place at Prospero. She’s the one who hacked into my computer and stole the anti-drone plans.”
Cade allowed Abby to babble on about her plans so that Jenna could understand how truly crazy she was.
Jenna took it all in, peppering Abby with questions. Jenna was playing it just right—not panicked, not fearful, not whiny. When had that adorable rich girl he’d married turned into this strong, capable woman?
Must’ve been when she had to.
“So, what’s the upshot, Abby?” Jenna rolled to her back, toward the edge of the bed, giving Cade a hard stare.
His pulse leaped. Could she roll off the bed toward the wall and cover Gavin with her body while he tried to take down Abby? What happened if he missed? What happened if Abby shot him?
Jenna and Gavin would be at her mercy with nothing standing between Abby and whatever evil plan she concocted next.
“The upshot—” Abby straightened her spine along with her aim “—is that I’m going to call my contact with Zendaris and tell him his hostages are waiting. Then I’m going to sell the plans to the highest bidder.”
Jenna scooted closer to the edge of the bed. “What’s the point of that now? When Zendaris has me and Gavin in his clutches, it’s not like Cade is going to run to your arms for comfort.”
“But you’ll be out of the way.” Abby’s brow wrinkled. “Cade will need someone, and Beth will be there for him.”
Cade tensed every muscle in his body. “Beth or Abby?”
“B-both of us.”
Jenna whispered. “You killed Beth.”
Abby’s hand began to tremble for real this time. “No. I did this for Beth, and Beth is part of me. She’ll never die.”
As a sob wracked Abby’s body and the gun wavered, Cade yelled, “Now!”
He ducked and charged at Abby. The thump from the other side of the bed told him Jenna had rolled off the mattress.
He drove his shoulder into Abby’s midsection while grabbing for her gun hand.
She wailed and got off a shot. Cade smashed her body against the wall, his fingers encircling her wrist. She yelped in pain but wouldn’t release the gun.
He twisted her hand so that the gun was pointing away from him. Slowly, slowly, he turned the gun toward Abby.
Her panting stopped. Her dark eyes bore into his, and then she squeezed the trigger.
Through the blood spattering his face, he watched the light die from Abby’s eyes.
Jenna screamed. “Cade? Cade?”
“I’m okay. It’s Abby. She’s dead.”
Epilogue
Cade grabbed the chains of the swing to slow it down so Gavin could jump out of it for about the hundredth time that morning. When Gavin’s legs got closer to the ground, he launched himself out of the swing, flying in the air for a few seconds before landing in the sand.
Cade grinned at his son rolling over and over in the sand. Daredevil. Like father, like son—and this time, that was okay.
Gavin hopped to his feet and scampered toward the yellow plastic slide to join another boy heading down on his stomach.
Holding up his hands, Cade yelled, “I’m taking a break.”
A woman sitting near the slide looked up from her book. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”
“Thanks. I’ll be right over there.” He pointed to a picnic table with Jenna sitting on top and J.D. straddling the bench.
He joined Jenna on the table. “I think the SEALS could adopt some training from the playground.”
J.D. punched him in the leg. “Man, you need to get in shape. All that lolling around in hotel suites has made you soft.”
“Ah, I think we were in that suite for maybe six hours.” Jenna grabbed Cade’s hand. “You owe me some pampering. I had to wear flea market clothing and makeup from the drugstore.”
“There’s the girl I married.” He kissed the side of her head.
“You’ll get lots of pampering where you’re going. Wish I could get an all-expenses-paid trip to Europe.” J.D. reclined on the bench and folded his hands behind his head.
“I wish we could go home.” Jenna squeezed Cade’s hand tighter.
“We will. I can feel it, right, J.D.? This old cowboy’s going to pick up where we left off and if he doesn’t nail Zendaris, Gage will.”
“Damn straight.” J.D. crossed one booted ankle over his knee. “We’re getting close, and now that Zendaris knows Abby Warren had the plans, he’s going to get sloppy in his haste to get them back.”
“But what did she do with the plans?” Jenna waved at Gavin playing with his new friend. “Maybe she already sold them.”
Cade shook his head. “No way. That girl was nuts—brilliant and calculating, but nuts. She didn’t know what to do with the plans once she hacked into my computer.”
Jenna asked, “You know for a fact she had them?”
J.D. nodded. “We know she sent the first page to Zendaris as proof. We confiscated that computer, but that’s all she had on there—the first page.”
“So where’s the rest?”
“While you two head off on your European vacation, I’m going back to D.C., where Abby lived before she took up residence in her twin’s life.” J.D. hoisted up to his elbows. “I’m going to find those plans, and then Gage is going to find Zendaris.”
Cade laced his fingers with Jenna’s and kissed her pursed mouth. He wanted to kiss away her worries forever. “If anyone can do this, Prospero Team Three can.”
“Look, Daddy!” Gavin was dangling by one arm from the top of the slide like a monkey.
Cade knocked J.D.’s legs from the bench with a well-aimed kick. “You look too comfortable. Go do your duty as an honorary uncle.”
J.D. eyed him and Jenna through half-closed lids as he hoisted himself off the bench. “I can take a hint.”
While J.D. loped toward the slide, Cade turned to Jenna and cupped her face in his hands. “I can’t wait to start our lives together, even if that life begins in Europe.”
She cinched his wrists with her fingers and met his gaze. “That life began the moment I met you, Cade Stark. You were always the man for me.”
“Even when you lost faith in me?”
“I never lost faith in you—could’ve strangled you for doing the right thing when you left us to keep the secret of Gavin’s birth from Zendaris, but never lost faith in you.”
“You’ll teach me to be a good father.”
Turning her head, she laid her lips against his palm. “You don’t need lessons. All Gavin needs is your love and protection, and you’ve provided that over and over.”
And then, even with his son hooting and hollering at them, Cade took his wife in his arms and kissed her long and deep.
* * * * *
Brothers in Arms: Fully Engaged continues next month.
Look for Carol Ericson’s CONCEAL, PROTECT
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