“Shh.” She patted his bottom, soothing him. Her heart broke as she listened to his little cries. He had no idea what was going on. All he knew was he wanted his mommy, not some complete stranger. “It’s okay, Landon,” she whispered. “I’ll take care of you. You’re going to be okay.”
She wrapped her arm around Melanie’s shoulders and pulled her against her chest, snuggling her close.
“I’m scared, Mommy,” she muttered.
“It’s okay, baby.” Olivia kissed the top of her forehead. “Daddy’s coming.”
“How do you know?” She tilted her head and Olivia met her eyes…those same green eyes as Alexander’s.
Since she was taken less than forty-eight hours ago, Olivia wanted nothing more than to hold her in her arms, to stare into those green eyes once more, but not like this.
She didn’t know how it happened. It was all a blur. One minute, Martin was driving her through the tunnel toward the Prudential Center in Boston. The next, the SUV was surrounded. She tried to fight, but they were outnumbered. The last thing she remembered was someone pointing a gun at her head, ordering Martin to tell them where they were hiding the girls. If it were anyone else, she knew he’d never disclose that information.
But it wasn’t.
He would have taken that information to his grave, but he wouldn’t let Olivia do the same. She had felt a stabbing pain in the back of her head, then blacked out. The next thing she knew, she was opening her eyes, staring at the living room of her old house on Commonwealth Avenue…now one of the security company’s safe houses. Despite Olivia’s connection to Alexander, it was impossible to trace the safe house back to either of them.
“You know your father loves you very much, don’t you?” she asked her daughter. Melanie nodded. “Because of that love, he’ll stop at nothing to keep you safe, even if that means putting his own life on the line.”
“But I don’t want Daddy to get hurt because of me.”
“That’s what Daddies do, princess. They sacrifice everything they hold dear to keep those they love safe.”
“And Mommies, too?” She looked at Olivia.
She met her eyes, becoming more aware of the little baby in her arms. Glancing down, Olivia studied his peaceful face, having finally fallen asleep, completely oblivious to the armed men standing watch.
“Yes, sweetheart. Mommies, too.”
“Are you going to be the baby’s mother now?”
“No. Selena will always be little Landon’s mother. But I’ll try to keep him safe as long as I can.”
“Just like a mother would,” Melanie said.
“Yes, love. Just like his mother did.”
She pulled Melanie back to her, wishing she could use her arms to shield her from all the horror she had witnessed in the past forty-eight hours.
Closing her eyes, she tilted her head back. She couldn’t remember the last time she actually prayed. She couldn’t say whether she believed in God or not, but she did believe there was some higher power. For the first time she could recall, she pleaded with that higher power to watch over her family. It was all she could do.
Chapter Thirty-Six
December 20
5:05 PM
ALEXANDER THREW THE SUV into park just outside an FBI perimeter that looked more like a construction zone. He glanced to Moretti. “Are you sure about this?”
“Do you think your wife would really want you to trade those girls’ lives for hers?”
“No, but—”
“This will work,” Moretti assured him, narrowing his gaze. “I’m damn good at what I do. I know you’re damn good at what you do. Together, we’ll take this group down, but will do so without putting any more civilian lives at risk.”
Alexander nodded, taking a deep breath. He’d never felt so nervous and unsure of an operation before in his life. There was always a human factor to what he did, but this time, he could lose everything. He’d already lost Martin. He couldn’t stand the thought of losing Olivia and Melanie, too.
Opening the door, he stepped onto the snow-covered pavement, the usually busy Boston street alarmingly quiet. Commonwealth Avenue was typically a main thoroughfare of the city. The lack of life was a little distressing.
“A team of agents have advanced the area and were able to evacuate all the residents within a five-block radius of the safe house. They told them some bullshit story about a gas leak,” Moretti explained, walking with Alexander, handing him an earpiece and radio.
“And you weren’t worried about it raising any suspicion?”
“I’m sure they expected us to evacuate. This woman wanted you to know exactly where she was, that she was able to outsmart you. The warehouse was probably a setup, probably part of her plan all along.”
Alexander briefly closed his eyes, knowing Moretti was right. In investigations like this, it was sometimes difficult to see past what was a trap and what was a viable lead. He had been so anxious to finally get Melanie back, he should have known it was too good to be true. Now, Martin was dead. It was probably all part of her plan to catch him off guard, and it worked.
Trying to shake it off, Alexander followed Moretti to a staging area that had been set up in Boston Common Park, fire personnel and paramedics on standby in case it all went to shit. Moretti’s plan was dangerous, particularly with no way to communicate with the girls in the house, but it was the best they could come up with on such short notice.
As they approached a pop-up tent, silence fell over the chatter between several agents armed with Benelli M3 shotguns, making it readily apparent that Moretti wasn’t messing around. This wasn’t an operation to simply disarm and detain. He wasn’t anticipating any of the perpetrators to walk away with their lives.
Checking his watch, Moretti addressed the team. “We have five minutes. You’ve all been briefed?”
“Yes, sir,” one of the agents responded, catching Alexander’s attention. He turned, noticing Agent Long. Then he surveyed the rest of the agents. Every last one of them was female. Now it all made sense.
“Mr. Burnham will do his best to lure the captors out. Based on the video, we believe there are five heavily armed militants, gender unknown, and one woman. Once the girl is safe, I’ll give the signal. Let’s move out.”
“What about the rest of the women they’re holding captive?” Alexander asked, running to catch up with Moretti as he strode through the park.
“My priority is getting your daughter out safe and in one piece. I’m hoping if you do as you’ve been told, we’ll be able to take down the perps, then extract the rest of the women. Your daughter needs to be our priority.”
“But they have my wife, too!” Alexander bellowed over the wind.