Deadly Ties (36 page)

Mark hit the hospital elevator button twice. When the door failed to open, he told Joe, Selene, and Gwen, “You wait. I’ll take the steps.”

He double-timed it upstairs. Ben, Kelly, Peggy, Harvey, and Clyde stood in the little waiting room. They looked excited, and that could mean really good or really bad news. At this point, he was afraid to ask.

Kelly ran out to meet him. “Annie’s awake. She’s talking and everything, Mark—and asking for Lisa.”

Relief had his eyes burning. But how would he tell her about Lisa?

He rushed through the heavy wooden doors into the unit. Jessie stood at the hub, smiling. “She’s okay?”

Jessie nodded. “Asking for Lisa and you.”

A knot in his throat, he stepped up behind Nora.

“Here’s our boy.” She brushed a firm hand over his shoulder and moved aside so he could get closer to Annie’s bedside.

Nora was the only one who called him boy, and it always sounded good. Almost like an endearment. He smiled and gingerly hooked his pinkie with Annie’s. “I’m glad you decided to wake up, Annie Harper.”

“Mark.” She rubbed his hand with her thumb, smiled with her eyes. “Where’s my daughter?”

He cleared his throat and tried to keep his fear buried. “She’s quite a hero, Annie.” He went on to explain all that had happened.

Annie took it all in stride, and he saw firsthand where Lisa had gotten the trait. It was amazing how much like her mother Lisa was. “Masson took her. I don’t know where, but I’m betting Dutch is with her.”

“Why?”

“He needs someone to blame. Dutch is the logical choice, and apparently he thinks so too. He’s dropped out of sight. Do you know where he’d go to hide out?”

“I don’t.” Annie paused a long second. “Dutch is a man with a lot of secrets.”

Nora blew out a sharp breath. “You can bet he was right in the middle of it, whatever it is. Ain’t he the nervy one?” She sniffed. “Having the gall to call my cell phone not three hours ago.”

An unseen hand nudged Mark to pay attention to that. “Dutch called you?”

“Sure as spit did. I talked to him myself,” Nora said. “The man’s got more nerve than sense, my boy. He said to tell Annie he had nothing to do with any of this.”

Annie nixed that. “His friend Karl attacked me. He’s Karl Masson, Mark. I didn’t know his last name, but Kelly Walker showed me a picture the police artist sketched. It was him.”

Nora grumbled. “Kelly says he came back here to kill her.”

So Dutch had paid Karl Masson to attack Annie and abduct Lisa. “He might have, but if so, that plan’s been interrupted. He’s got more immediate challenges now.”

“Well, that’s good news for Kelly.” Annie tugged at the edge of her sheet. “But if he’s got my daughter, that’s not good.”

“Where’s your phone, Nora?”

She pulled it out of her pocket and passed it to him. “It’s turned off because it messes up the machines in here.”

“Turn it on.” Annie frowned. “I’m fine without these machines. I am not fine without Lisa Marie.”

Mark looked at the number. “Area code 504.” He must have used a public phone. Definitely not his cell.

“That’s Louisiana,” Nora said. “My twin sister lives in New Orleans and that’s her area code.”

“Where would Dutch be in Louisiana, Annie?”

“He could be checking his stores or down in the French Quarter, I suppose. He likes the
Vieux Carré.
”

“He’s hiding. He’s got Lisa—I know it.” Mark couldn’t explain it, but he was as certain as if he’d seen Dutch snatch her. “Where would he hide with Lisa?”

She gasped. “Lafitte. The fishing camp!”

“Where’s that?”

“Near New Orleans. You cross the Mississippi River over to the west bank. Head down to Marrero and then down Barataria Boulevard to Lafitte.”

“Have you been there with him?”

“No, he hasn’t been there for a while—at least as far as I know. But I bought him one of those GPS devices and he stored it. I saw it a hundred times. I don’t know why he stored it. It’s not as if there’s a road to the camp. It’s on a little bayou—you have to park your car and take a boat to it.”

“Is there anywhere else you think he’d be more likely to take her?”

“No. The fishing camp is isolated. If Lisa got away from him, she still wouldn’t be able to find her way out of there.” Annie’s worry shone on her face. “Go get my baby, Mark. You promised. I remember it.”

When she’d been in a coma, he had promised. “You heard me?”

“I heard all of it. I know you love her. And I know she loves you too.”

His throat went thick. “Annie, I-I—”

“Have faith.” She squeezed his hand. “You won’t fail.”

She had heard and remembered everything. “I might. I’ll do everything I can,” he swallowed hard, “but I might.”

“You won’t. I know it.”

He glanced from her to Nora, who nodded her agreement. “You won’t, my boy. We believe in you.”

“We do.” Annie sniffed. “Now you go get my Lisa.”

“She might not be there. I’ll go, but if she calls—”

“We’ll let you know,” Nora said.

“She’s there, Nora.” Annie shifted on the sheets.

“I know, dearie. I feel it too.”

Mark left the unit and joined the others in the waiting room. He caught them up on what he’d learned from Annie and Nora.

“We’re coming with you.” Nick motioned to Tim, who was on the phone. “I think you guys better stay here in case Masson makes another attempt on Kelly or Annie.”

Kelly shuddered and Ben Brandt slipped a protective arm around her shoulder. “Do you think he will?”

“Honestly? I think he’ll disappear and stay so far underground he’ll be beyond the reach of light—at least until things cool down. But he’s probably not thinking clearly at the moment so we need to be prepared.”

“Some of us should go with you, bro.” Joe frowned. “You’ve got no idea what’s going on there.”

“Maybe nothing. I could be wrong, and this is NINA, remember? And, well, this is—”

“Something you need to do yourself.” Joe got it. Joe always got it.

“Yeah.”

“We’ll get you an exact location and radio it to you.”

“Thanks.”

Ben put his cell away. “The plane’s waiting, and Mel will have a car waiting for you at the airport in New Orleans.”

“Thanks.” Mark looked at the faces of the people he’d come to know, depend on, and love. Selene and Gwen seemed to fit right in. “Pray.”

Peggy Crane stepped forward. “The prayer warriors are all over that, Mark. Don’t you doubt it for a second.”

“Keep me posted on Annie.” He turned and left the hospital.

28

J
ust stop lying, Dutch.” Lisa contorted and finally got her feet through her bound looped arms, so her wrists were in front of her body rather than secured at her back. “You hire NINA to kill my mother and abduct me for a fate even worse than death, and you’re going to tell me you didn’t have Masson bring me here?”

“I didn’t.”

Lisa paused to catch her breath and glared at him. “I don’t believe—” She stopped midsentence. “You were already here, hiding. You knew Masson would come after you. Why would he do that?”

“After the fiasco in Mexico?” Dutch harrumphed. “You don’t think he’s going to take the fall for that, do you? NINA lost millions on that botched operation. I paid in money. NINA wants blood. Whose do you think it’s going to be? Masson’s? No way. That leaves me—especially since you and your Shadow Watcher friends were responsible for the fiasco.”

“What’s a Shadow Watcher?”

“Spies, you idiot.”

“That’s crazy.” He knew Mark and his team were spies?
Oh no
. “You’re blaming me for Mexico? Me?” She curled up her knees, sitting on the floor, and began to work at untying the ropes binding her feet. They weren’t budging. Masson tied impossible knots. If she could get free of the ropes, she could get to the drawer for a knife and unbind her hands.

If he tied them, then they could be untied. She studied the knots, then found what she thought was the weakest point to start. “I’m a victim—your victim. You did this, and you’re not dropping the blame for any of it on me. You own it.”

“You were going to take Annie.”

“I still am,” Lisa shot back at him. “You’ve abused her for the last time, Dutch. I promise you that.”

“She’s my wife.”

Lisa gave the rope a hard jerk. The knot broke free. “She’s your prisoner.”

“I took care of her. She’d have been on the street with nothing if not for me.”

“She would have had me. I’m not nothing.” The rope fell slack. Lisa began unwinding it from her ankles. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore. You twist things. You always did. You’re a mean, vicious man, Dutch. And my mom and I are through with you.”

“You’ve always been in the way. Nothing but trouble.”

Lisa ignored him and pulled herself to her feet. Stiff and sore, she moved to the open kitchen area and began pulling open drawers, looking for a knife.

“You think you’ve got all the answers, don’t you? Untying yourself, slamming drawers in there. But I’ll tell you a secret, Dr. Harper. You’ll never leave here alive.”

“Watch me.” She glared at him over her shoulder. Why wasn’t he trying to get free? “Are you planning on dying here?”

He lay still on the floor where he’d fallen when she’d knocked the chair out from under him. He hadn’t moved at all. “We’re both going to die here.”

“No, we’re not.” She shoved the second drawer closed and then opened the third. “I’m going to get us out.”

He laughed. “Right. You’re going to give me my freedom. Spare my life. That’s rich.”

“I never said anything about your freedom.” Inside the third drawer she spotted several knives. She reached in and grabbed one, then leaned over the countertop so if her precarious hold on the handle slipped, she wouldn’t stab herself.

Carefully, she tipped the knife end over end and then began sawing the rope. “You’re going to jail. I’m going to be free—and so is my mother.”

“So Annie is still alive.”

“No thanks to you. But, yes, she’s alive and doing well.” Lisa prayed it was true.

“No matter. We’ll be dead within an hour, and she’ll still be alone.” He scooted on the floor to the wall and then shouldered his way into sitting up. “You’re out of your mind if you think you’re going to escape.”

He shifted his weight, leaned back, and grunted. “Such a shame things worked out like this. I was looking forward to getting monthly tapes of you fighting for your life. But knowing you’re going to die with me will have to do.”

She spun and squared off at him. “I am
not
going to die.”

“We both are.” His eyes were laced with a knowledge that turned her blood to ice. “Being a doc and all, you’re surely not stupid enough to think Masson would leave us here unless he was certain we’d die. He’s a professional cleaner, girl. They don’t leave loose ends.”

She had deduced the same thing, and Dutch had a point. Masson was a professional. One of the ropes binding her wrist sliced in two and fell free.
One down, one to go
. “We’ll get untied and walk out of here.”

“Hate to break it to you, but you’re a lousy listener. We’re on a very small island. Islands are surrounded by water. Like Masson said, the only way to walk out of here is if you can walk on water. Contrary to what your mother thinks, you can’t. There is no boat. There is no ferry. There are no neighbors. And this”—he pointed to his abdomen—“is no belt.”

Belt?
She looked over and saw explosives strapped around Dutch’s middle. “Did you do that, or did—?”

“Masson.” Dutch grimaced. “He’s got tripwires rigged all over this place, inside and out. In fact, I’m surprised you haven’t already snagged one.”

A chill slid up Lisa’s back.

Dutch chuckled. “See, I told you. Deader than dirt.”

Lisa refused to believe it. “Did you see where he put them?”

“Some of the explosives and wires, yes. Others, no. I just heard them. But it doesn’t matter. Here or somewhere else, I’m a dead man. NINA won’t let me live.”

Lisa tried to focus, to think, sawing at the rope. “You could turn state’s evidence. Tell all you know on NINA and enter a witness-protection plan.”

He laughed. “You’re stupid and insane. NINA members turn up everywhere. Nobody outruns ’em.” He blew out a long breath. “I’m dead. And that’s a fact.”

The rope fell off her wrist. She quickly untied the other piece and tossed the rope onto the countertop, then put down the knife and glanced out the open door to the little porch. They were surrounded by water. “So if I cut you loose, you’ll refuse to leave. You’ve decided to just sit there and die, right?”

“Actually, that’s not my plan.”

Frustrated, she shoved her hair back from her face and swiped the grit from her hand on her red dress. “Okay, so you’ve been blowing smoke, trying to get me all freaked out and weepy. I’m not a kid anymore, and I don’t get weepy. So spare us both your stupid games and just tell me. What is your plan, Dutch?”

“I’m going to get out of here and blow the place up so NINA thinks I’m dead. Then I’m going to get Annie out of the hospital, and we’re going to take off for parts unknown. I plan to live for a long time.”

“You’re not getting near my mother, but the rest of your plan works for me. Let’s go.”

“No, Lisa.” He separated his arms as if they weren’t tied at all. “You’re not going anywhere.”

Reaching for his side, he pulled out a gun and took aim at her. “Sit down.”

Lisa didn’t pause to think. She lunged toward the table, using it as a shield, dropped to the floor, and rolled out onto the porch. At its edge, she shot a quick look for stumps, saw none close, and flung herself off.

“No!” Dutch’s scream followed her.

The ten-foot drop into the water seemed to happen in slow motion. She hit the water, sank down, then floated up and broke the surface. The loud splash still echoed through the bayou. Cold water surrounded her, stole her breath. She bumped the soft, squishy bottom and shoved off, heading away from the camp.

The water wasn’t deep, four to five feet, but it was likely teeming with water moccasins. Dutch had talked about shooting them off the porch all the time. Were they out in winter?

Having no idea, she grabbed a frosty gulp of air and stared up at the door, thankful she hadn’t hit one of Masson’s tripwires.
No sign of Dutch
.

Daybreak was coming, and in the sleety gray, she studied the piers beneath the house. One after another was strapped with explosives and charged with tripwires. Everywhere.

For once, Dutch hadn’t been lying. And it was a miracle she’d moved inside at all without tripping one.

Dutch still could
.

Her heart still careening, she swam out away from the house and tried to get some bearing of which way to go. In the distance, something metallic glinted in the weak morning light. She started swimming toward it—and heard a gunshot.

Forced air streaked past her ear, whistling. Water off her right shoulder splashed. She dove, kicked hard, propelling herself farther away and out of his line of fire. When she thought her lungs would burst, she surfaced and dragged in air, stole a look back toward the house.

He stood on the little porch, his feet and hands oddly bound. He would shoot her like he had the snakes, and he’d had a lot of practice, so he was probably good at it.

Terrified by that truth, she sank low so only her nose protruded above the water.

“You can’t hide from me.” He took aim to shoot.

She dove deep and swam a jagged path toward that metallic glint.

When she next broke the surface, Dutch was shouting at her, cursing, raging. “I’ll kill you! You’re going to see what happens when you get in my way, girl. You’ll find out just like your daddy did. I hated him and I hate you. You hear me, you sniveling brat? I’ll kill—”

He’d killed her father. Killed him because he was in the way. Dutch wanted her mother and to get to her, he had to—oh no.
No
. The Spider hadn’t randomly abducted her the first time. It’d been deliberate. Dutch had done it. He’d paid Masson to kill her father and abduct her!

Logic told her to be quiet. Her heart wouldn’t let her. All of her fury erupted in a shout. “Why did you do it? You killed my dad! You murderer!”

A memory snapped in her mind. Dutch at the dinner table with her mother and father. Lisa had complained about dressing for dinner, and her mother insisted she be respectful. Dutch was their guest. “You were there. You were at our house. I saw you at our house. You ate at our table.”

“Your father was a fool. Taking his money was like taking candy from a kid.”

He swindled the money from her father in a Ponzi scheme. “You stole it.” She gasped. “You tried to steal my mother, but she loved my father. She’d never have left him for you. So you stole his money and—”

“He left her.” Dutch cackled.

Dutch had done it all. Outrage burned like acid, and Lisa bellowed, “How dare you destroy our lives!”

Dutch shot at her again. And then again. Both bullets landed far to her left. He’d lost her, and her voice was echoing off the water; he couldn’t peg her position.

His raging turned to a guttural scream that echoed over the water and pierced her ears. She covered them and lurched back until only her nose to the top of her head was out of the cold water.

Cursing her, Dutch moved closer to the edge of the porch. He tripped and fell. Prone on the wooden deck, he fired yet again; rapid-releasing bullets wildly into the air, into the water, hoping to hit her. Water sprayed and showered her face.

The house exploded.

Dutch went flying, his clothes on fire.

Lisa jerked, watched debris fly aflame and smoke billow from the house. Horror flooded her. He’d hit a tripwire.

She should swim back. She should—she had to—swim back.

The battle to let him die or try to save him was fierce. He should die. He deserved to die.

Vengeance is Mine
.

Disappointment hit her hard. She had to go back—or become like him.

Paddling in an arc, she saw Dutch draped on a tree stump, sticking up from the water like a spear. His head hung at an odd angle. His back bent in a way it shouldn’t be. The explosives on his body hadn’t detonated.

A secondary explosion went off.

Flames shot up into the sky; burning debris fell like rain. Keeping a safe distance, she swam in a wide circle over to Dutch. Still and lifeless, he appeared dead. She felt for a pulse but found none.