Liam came back on. “I can’t rouse my officer. I’ll get a couple of patrol cars over there right away.”
“No, don’t,” Dallas said. “If someone is in there, he thinks he got in clean and now he’s in control. Tell your men to park around the corner and approach the house on foot, but tell them to make sure they’re not seen and not to go in. See if you can find a way to reach the patrol car without being noticed, though frankly, I’m afraid you’re going to find your officer dead or dying. Get help for him quickly, but do it without being noticed.”
“I’ll get it done carefully,” Liam promised. “Unless someone’s watching from a distance, I’ll get my man without being seen. But as for the house...”
“Liam, please, play this my way. Unless you hear screams or shots fired, don’t go in. That’s the best chance they have of staying alive. I’m begging you. Hannah and Kelsey have to play along, make him think they can and will help him. They have to pretend to give this guy what he wants.”
“Do they even have what he wants? Did you find something?”
“No, but he doesn’t know that. And—” He broke off, looking at Logan. “They’re smart. They’ll keep him talking. They’ll play the game.”
“Sweet Lord, I pray you’re right,” Liam said.
“Hannah tried to call me,” Dallas said. “She’ll know I saw and we’re on the way. Hold off, please.”
“I’ll call you back the second we’re around the corner, getting ready to approach the house.”
“If you burst in—”
“We won’t. Your case, your call,” Liam promised quietly.
“Thank you. I’ll go in myself and—”
“How the hell are you going to get in?” Liam asked.
“Well, I could just use my guest key. It’s a bed-and-breakfast, remember? I’m a guest,” Dallas said. “But I’ll play it by ear.”
“I’ll have my men placed discreetly as near the house as is safe. They won’t go in, but they’ll be ready.”
Dallas thanked him and hung up.
Logan drove fast, but with a dead-steady hand. “I’m going to park one street over. We’ll go through the alley.”
Dallas nodded. They were back on Roosevelt already. Logan had a true talent for dodging through traffic.
“You’re taking the back door?” Logan asked.
Dallas shook his head. “There’s a big avocado tree in the back. I’m going to climb it to the widow’s walk and go in through the attic, then play it by ear from there.”
Logan didn’t argue with him, and Dallas felt a solid sense of gratitude. Logan Raintree was a hell of a guy and the kind of leader a man could respect. He meant what he said when he handed over the reins, and he didn’t micromanage.
Dallas smiled grimly. They were going to pull this off. “I don’t think he wants to kill anyone, at least not until he has what he’s looking for—though why he thinks we have it, I don’t know. I need you to distract him while I come. He’s got some kind of a hostage thing going on. I’m sure of it.”
“So am I,” Logan said. He looked over at Dallas quickly. “If not, Kelsey would have shot him by now.”
Logan parked a street away, as planned. They made their way to the alley, then split up.
Logan headed to the rear door, moving silently through the foliage.
Dallas slipped around to the avocado tree and hoped the tree would hold him and get him where he needed to go.
*
“Bentley Holloway, what the hell are you doing?” Hannah asked.
It was so damned obvious, but at the same time it was ridiculously impossible to believe that the next-door neighbor she’d known since she was a kid was a killer.
A big guy with blue eyes. Hell. They’d never even suspected....
He ignored Hannah and looked at Kelsey. “Put your weapon on the ground. Now. Slowly, calmly and easily. I’m pretty much past caring whether I live or die, but this woman is a mother. She wants to live. Don’t you, Valeriya?”
Valeriya didn’t make a sound. She seemed barely able to breathe. Her terror was almost palpable.
Kelsey turned, then carefully lifted the Glock from her waistband for him to see.
“Down. Right there...yes.”
Kelsey set the weapon on the floor.
Hannah prayed that her cousin had something else in her arsenal.
“Step back,” Bentley said.
Kelsey obeyed.
“You always were a smart girl, Kelsey. I remember you both as kids. Hannah, you were like a light in the darkness. Even then, you knew every story about Key West. You knew all about the soldiers, the pirates, the spongers and the salvagers. You were like a sponge yourself, soaking up every piece of information that came your way.”
“I think he likes you best,” Kelsey said drily.
“Shut up, Kelsey. Try anything and sweet Valeriya dies,” Bentley said. “And you know I’ll do it. I’ve killed before. I won’t blink at doing it again.”