The Cursed

“Get in. Get in again, and I don’t care how. Even if it kills you. You get in—even if you die in the process—and your baby will live. You will get back into the house. You will find it. Or when I come back next time I will not leave you standing, and I will not stay outside your house—and I know you know what I mean. And one more thing. I’ll be watching you, so don’t think you can lie to me. I’ll see everything you’re doing, and if you don’t do what I told you to...”

 

 

His hands moved around her neck and squeezed tight, then tighter. She couldn’t breathe. Darkness punctuated by bursts of stars started to descend around her. Then she felt herself being shoved forward, and she slammed against the side of the house.

 

She was scared, hurting. But she was alive.

 

She turned quickly, but she was too late.

 

He was gone.

 

Just as if he’d never been there at all.

 

She closed her eyes and prayed her thanks to God.

 

She was alive!

 

She was filled with dread, but she was still alive—for now.

 

*

 

From never really liking guns, Hannah had become determined to master one.

 

She practiced with Kelsey’s Glock in the kitchen, loading it, unloading it, taking lessons on aiming from Kelsey.

 

Melody and Hagen were out, patrolling the grounds. Melody, in particular, was determined that she was going to find whoever was watching them.

 

Kelsey’s phone rang. Logan had returned.

 

Hannah accompanied Kelsey to the door. Looking out, she saw that Logan had stopped to speak with the officer out front. The minute he came up the walk, Hannah asked anxiously, “What happened? Did you find out anything?”

 

Logan stepped in and closed the door behind him, locking it, while Kelsey waited patiently for him to speak. “Dallas here yet?” he asked.

 

“He’s back at the police station.”

 

Logan nodded. “I know. I just thought he might be back by now.”

 

As Logan spoke, Hannah saw Dallas’s car coming down the street.

 

“He’s here,” she said, surprised at just how much pleasure his return gave her, and equally surprised by the thundering of her heart. It was so loud she found herself hoping no one else heard it.

 

“Good, we’re all here,” Logan said.

 

Dallas saluted the officer in the patrol car, and a minute later they were all in the kitchen, since the day was hot and everyone was ready for something cold to drink.

 

“Please, tell us what’s going on,” Hannah pleaded.

 

“You start,” Dallas told Logan.

 

“All right,” Logan said, pulling out a chair at the table.

 

The others joined him.

 

“I don’t think Jose’s sister is involved with Los Lobos, other than that she might have met someone who’s a part of it,” Logan said. “She’s been missing several months now. The police had her things moved into storage, and her apartment’s been rented, so there wasn’t anything for me to find there.”

 

“Why do you think she’s not involved? Where do you think she is?” Hannah asked. She didn’t like the way Logan’s expression clouded over as she asked, “You think she’s dead, don’t you?”

 

“I don’t know what to think. She didn’t take her car or any of her belongings. Her keys were there, her makeup. Even her contact lenses. I talked to her neighbors. They’ve been worried about her. She’d told them about her past and that she’d gotten clean, but they thought she was on something the last time they saw her. So what I think is that Jose was right. Someone in Los Lobos got to her and found out she had a brother in the FBI.”

 

“So they took her to get information on Jose?” Kelsey asked, but her tone said she already knew the answer.

 

“That’s what I think, yes,” Logan said. “I think initially the Wolf was hoping to use her as leverage to get Jose to be his inside man at the Bureau. But from talking to her, he realized no one was ever going to be able to turn him. Then, when Blade brought Jose into the fold, the Wolf figured out that he was the brother she was talking about, and realized he knew too much and had to die.”

 

“Where do you think she is?” Hannah asked.

 

Logan let out a breath. “The Wolf doesn’t leave things where they can be found. Keeping a hostage would be dangerous. I believe he had her killed once he got what he needed from her.”

 

“But her body has never been found,” Hannah said.

 

There was silence at the table for a minute.

 

“Hannah, it would be great if she were alive, if we could find her,” Dallas said. “But you’ve got the Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Straits—hell, the whole Atlantic Ocean. He could have disposed of her at sea and no one will ever find her.”

 

“But you’re not just going to give up on her, are you?” Hannah asked.

 

“Of course not,” Dallas said.

 

“Why don’t you come back up to Miami with me tomorrow?” Logan suggested to him.

 

“I have a better idea. Let’s go through all the right channels and get a search warrant for the apartment. Even with new people in there, the crime scene techs can pull up the carpet, go over everything with luminol. Who knows? We might get blood. That would help us know what happened, whether she was grabbed there or not, and whether she was...hurt.”

 

“Good idea. We’ll call tomorrow and get it done,” Logan agreed.

 

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