Bree walked past the large sign that said No Entry and warned of legal prosecution for trespassers, a sign she'd ignored many times before.
The lock and chain on the front door of the school had been sawed off. It didn't look to be a particularly old lock, maybe that had been recent, but when she entered the building, a nasty stench made her gag. Rats scurried away as she stepped over broken bottles, discarded needles, and other garbage.
She moved into the hallway and looked both ways. There were three classrooms on the left plus the principal's office and three classrooms on the right. In front of her was the multi-purpose auditorium. There were stairs at both ends of the hallway, leading up to the second floor, where six more classrooms could be found as well as restrooms.
She'd been in every single one of those rooms at one time or another. She'd even climbed out onto the flat-top roof that overlooked the river. She could do this. She could find her daughter.
Pausing, she listened for some sign of life.
Why was it so quiet?
She could hear her heart pounding and felt like a sitting duck. A shooter could come out of any of the classrooms or the offices or the auditorium, and she would have no escape.
But she didn't think she was going to die that fast.
The game was coming to a climax, and she could do nothing but play along.
The sound of crying made her pulse race. It sounded like it was coming from the auditorium.
She ran forward, pushing through the large door at the back of the room. The rows of seats had long since been taken away, and huge chunks of the ceiling now covered the floor. There was more garbage in this room, and it was cold and dark with barely any light coming from the boarded-up windows.
Squinting in the darkness, she stepped over more trash, making her way to the stage. The curtain was drawn.
That seemed a portent of the show to come.
Licking her lips, fear ravaging her insides, she heard a child's sobbing get louder. The thought of Hayley being kept in this hellhole turned some of her fear into anger.
She walked faster.
She went up the stairs on the right.
The curtain suddenly opened.
A bright light hit the stage and there was Hayley sitting in the middle of the floor, arms around her knees, rocking back and forth, crying her little heart out.
She ran toward her, dropping to her knees, knowing that they were both spotlighted for whoever was watching, but she didn't care.
"It's going to be okay, Hayley." She wrapped her arms around the little girl—around her daughter. She could hardly believe she was holding her. "I'm here. I've got you."
"I want my mommy," Hayley said, looking into her eyes.
The simple phrase broke her heart. "I'm going to take you to her."
"She's not dead? They said she was dead. And my daddy, too."
"Your family is fine," she reassured her, mentally taking note that Hayley had used the word they. "Who brought you here?"
"A tall man and a short man," she said with another sob. "They smell bad."
"Do you know where they went?" She looked around, but with the light on, she could barely see anything.
The light suddenly went off. She blinked in the darkness, and jumped to her feet, pulling Hayley up with her, putting her body in front of her daughter's as a man appeared in front of her. He was definitely the tall man, well over six foot seven, and when he came out of the shadows, he had a gun trained on her.
Her heart leapt again as all the clues fell into place. "Stix," she murmured. "Stan Tix."
"I'm glad to see you haven't forgotten me, Bree Larson—or I guess it's Adams now. You left this shit-filled city and made a new life for yourself. Some of us didn't get to do that."
"You did all this for revenge against me and Johnny?"
"Surprised? Did you really think I'd ever forget the two people who ruined my life? I was on my way to a pro basketball career. I was going to be rich, famous—I was going to have everything. But I lost it all, because of Johnny, and because of you."
"You did it to yourself. I didn't do anything."
"You lied to the cops to protect Johnny. You backed up his story. You told them Johnny couldn't possibly have assaulted that kid, that he was a good guy."
"I didn't say any of that. I just said he was at the fashion show. He was in the audience. I didn't know anything."
"He wasn't in the audience. He was here, beating up a college kid for trying to take over his drug turf. I arrived just in time to save that kid from dying, and I ended up with blood on my hands. But it was the knife in the back that took me down, the one placed there by Johnny, and left there by you."
"That kid said two guys beat him up. You were one of them. He identified you. There was DNA evidence."
"I didn't do the beating. The second man was Baker—Johnny's right-hand man. And the kid saw me when I was trying to help him. But he had serious head injuries. He couldn't remember when I'd entered the room."
Was that true?
Frowning, she thought about the other part of his statement. "You said Baker was there, too."
"He was."
"But he has been working with you. He's part of this kidnapping. He made the ransom call. Why wouldn't you hate him, too?" she asked in confusion.
"I did hate him. So, I used him. Now he's dead."
"You were at the silos. You shot him."
"I was done with him. And I didn't need him talking to you."
"You could have taken me out at the silos."
"That wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun."
As he shifted his weight, the light glinted off the big ring on his hand—the World Series Cubs ring.
"You took Hayley out of the auditorium," she said. "How did you get her to go with you?"
"She wanted to come with me. I had her bunny," he replied.
She put her hand on Hayley's arm, feeling the little girl's body shaking as she clung to Bree's waist. "I can't believe you kidnapped an innocent child to get back at Johnny and me. She's not part of this. You want me; I'm here. Let Hayley walk out."
"Oh, I don't think she's going anywhere, not until we have a happy family reunion."
"Johnny isn't coming."
"I think he is."
"Look, I don't know anything about that night, Stix. I didn't set you up. I didn't know what happened."
"Pretty girls never know anything about what their bad boyfriends are doing," he said, a bitter note in his voice. "Well, my pretty girl left me. She had a baby with someone else. She got married and forgot all about me."
"I'm sorry. But I still don't understand why you went to such elaborate lengths to mess with me. Why did you send me all over the city? You sent that girl—Emma—to talk to me on the train. And now I guess the photo at the shelter makes sense, because that was the night all this happened. But it's so complicated. How long have you been planning your revenge?"
"Since the day I went to prison."
She shook her head, seeing the crazy anger in his eyes. He was obsessed, fanatical; he would not be talked out of anything, but she still felt like she had to try. "Is Emma all right?"
"Who the hell is Emma?"
"The little girl on the train. Now you're confused?" Was he completely out of his mind? "Why focus on me? Johnny was the one who really hurt you."
"I know exactly what's happening. And don't worry, Johnny is part of this. He should be here any second. My men will make sure of that. You see, I've put together my own army. I found a lot of good soldiers in prison. They taught me how to fight someone like Johnny, and how to win."
He'd no sooner finished speaking when the doors to the auditorium opened, and Johnny was shoved toward the stage by another man with a gun. Johnny looked worse than he had after his fight with Nathan. His clothes were ripped, and he was barely able to walk.
As he got closer, she saw that his leg was bleeding, and someone had tied a rag around it. He'd been shot. The warfare at the automotive shop must have come from Stix and his associates.
Hayley cried louder as the men drew closer.
Johnny gave her what felt like a reassuring look, but she wasn't comforted. He could barely walk. What the hell kind of help was he going to be? And he appeared to be alone.