Jamie Hill Triple Threat (24 page)

She smiled but didn’t open her eyes. “Now that sounds lovely. But I wonder what we’ll do with our children?”

“Foiled again. Well, a man can dream, can’t he?” Jack kissed her lips lightly and headed to work. He was halfway there when he realized what she'd said, and for the last half of his drive he wore a ridiculously huge grin on his face.

* * * *

The house seemed unnaturally quiet to
Crystal
. She wandered around and found everything as it should be. Their police guards out front hadn't moved all day. She shrugged off the feeling. Maybe it felt too quiet because after the boys fought over their video game earlier, she shut the TV off and made them take naps. Now they were drawing quietly at the dining room table—but not very happily, she realized and chuckled to herself.

“Let’s see what you’ve got.” She walked up between them.

“I made a pumpkin!”
Devon
showed her.

“Oh, yeah!” She admired it. “Geez, Halloween is coming up, isn’t it?”

Devon
looked up at her seriously. “Do you think we’ll be able to go trick-or-treating, Crystal?”

She ran a hand over his head. “I don’t know, honey. I don’t think Jack will go for that, until his case is solved. Maybe it’ll all be over by then.” She looked at Mark’s picture. “What did you draw?”

“Nothing.” Mark crumpled his paper and threw it across the room. “This is stupid. I want to play Playstation.”

“Okay,”
Crystal
agreed. “You’ve been behaving nicely this afternoon, so go ahead. Just no arguing you guys, please.”

Mark jumped up and was off to the front room before she could change her mind.
Devon
said, “I want to draw some more. Could you show me how to make a face on my pumpkin, please?”

“Sure.”
Crystal
smiled at him and sat down. “Use triangles, like this, for the eyes and nose.” She demonstrated, but before she could draw the mouth they heard an unusual yelp from Zeus in the backyard. “What the heck?”
Crystal
went to the sliding door and opened it the inch that she could with the broomstick blocking in the track. “Zeus! Come on Zeus!” she called, but he didn’t respond.

“He sounded funny,
Crystal
.”
Devon
looked out with her.

“Yeah, he did,” she sighed and removed the broomstick. She opened the door fully and took a step out. “Zeus, you big dummy, wh—” A hand clamped over her mouth and someone shoved her backward into the house.

“Hey!”
Devon
yelled before a second man muscled his way in and clamped the boy’s mouth as well.

Crystal
’s heart raced as the man shoved her up against the door that led to the garage. He ripped a piece of duct tape off a roll and covered her mouth with it. She tried not to panic, forced herself to remain calm and breathe through her nose.

He tore off another piece of tape for
Devon
’s mouth.
Crystal
looked around wildly for anything she could grab. The telephone was right there, but she had no hope of dialing even if she reached it. The answering machine sat next to it. She focused on the buttons for a second, and as the attacker grabbed her again she managed to punch the Record button.

He thrust her into a dining room chair and duct-taped her hands to the chair behind her. She watched him do the same thing to
Devon
. She tried to catch the boy’s eyes to reassure him. But what could she tell him silently? She wanted to convey that they were going to be all right. Jack would come for them, and everything would be fine. She wanted to tell
Devon
she loved him and would always take care of him. But she knew her wide eyes probably only telegraphed terror. That she was as afraid as he was.

She watched the other man go into the front room, and prayed that Mark would somehow not be in there. The man was gone several minutes and he returned alone. He said to his partner, “I thought there were supposed to be two kids.”

The stranger behind
Crystal
said, “There are.”

“Then where’s the second brat?” He stormed down the hall and
Crystal
heard doors fly open and slam shut again. She wondered where Mark could have hidden, and hoped when they found him they wouldn’t be too rough on him. But the man returned alone once more. He glared at
Crystal
and ripped the tape from her mouth.

“Ouch!” She shook her head, and he grabbed her face.

“Where is the other kid?”

“He’s not here,” she lied quickly. “He wanted to get out of the house, so Jack took him to the grocery store. They’ll be back any minute.”

“Don’t lie to me.” He slapped her across the face. She offered a stony glare. He changed his tactic and removed the tape from Devon’s mouth, being slightly more gentle than he'd been with
Crystal
. “Where’s your brother?” He glowered menacingly at the child.

“At…at the store. He wanted to pick out his own cereal. Jack kept buying stuff he didn’t like.”

Crystal
’s heart soared when
Devon
picked up on her lie and backed up the story. She looked at the two men, who were conferring now about what to do. The angrier of the two walked into the front room again.

She stole a quick glance at the answering machine. The tape was still recording. She truly hoped it wouldn’t shut off with a noisy snap while they were standing in here. She eyed the man pacing before her, and noticed a big tattoo on his arm. She took a chance and said, “That’s a cool red dragon tattoo on your arm. Did it hurt?”

He looked down at his tattoo and then back at her. “Not really. When they first started, I thought—”

“Shut the fuck up.” The second man came back in. He opened the garage door and looked out. He pressed the button and the big overhead door went up. He turned to his partner and ordered, “Go pull the truck into the garage, and shut the door. We’ll take these two before the cop gets home with the other kid.”

The tattooed intruder did as instructed.
Crystal
pleaded with his partner, “Please don’t take us. We don’t have anything you want.”

He grinned wickedly at her. “Don’t be so sure of that, baby. But it’s not really what you
have
that we’re after. It what we can trade you for.”

She shivered at his implications, but tried to reason with him. “You have to know that we don’t have the money. Jack’s a cop. He turned it in as soon as we found it.”

“So you did find it. Must have been one hell of a hiding place. We’ve been tearing that place apart for over a week now.”

Crystal
nodded and decided to tell him, hoping it would help somehow. “It was under the bathroom sink, behind some stained sheetrock. It was hard to see. Believe me, if I’d have known it was there, we wouldn’t be sitting here today.”

He chuckled grimly. “I believe that. A person could disappear far, far away on a quarter of a mil. Erickson got greedy.”

Crystal
glanced at
Devon
sadly and then back at the man. “Dave stole it from you, then?”

“Dave was a liar, a thief, and a junkie.” He looked at
Devon
. “How does it feel to know that about your old man, kid?”

Crystal
started to speak but
Devon
looked him squarely in the eye. “My dad had problems, but he was a nice dad.”

“Yes he was.”
Crystal
smiled at the little boy, so proud of how he was holding up. She could only hope Mark was faring as well, wherever he was, and that he could somehow get to Jack. She looked at the stranger. “Take me and leave the boy. Please. You don’t need him. He’ll slow us down.
Please
.”

The tattooed man returned through the garage and said, “We’re ready to go.”

“Please,”
Crystal
implored the first man. “Just take me.”

“We’re taking you both, for insurance. There were supposed to be three of you, and we’re going to catch enough hell for that. Now come on.” He ripped her hands free of the chair and tied them behind her back with the tape, while the tattooed man did the same to
Devon
. They pushed them both toward the garage.

Crystal
prayed neither of them would look down and spot the answering machine tape circling. She leaned down to Devon and said softly, “I love you,
Devon
. It’s going to be okay. Jack will find the two of us.”

Devon
smiled nervously at her and answered, “I know he will. Jack’s the best,
Crystal
. I love you, too.”

The door opened and
Crystal
saw a black SUV in the garage.

Devon
asked hopefully, “Is that Jack’s truck?”

“No, but it looks like it. Jack has an Explorer. This one is the same color but bigger. An Expedition, I think they call it.”

“Would you shut the fuck up?” The assailant shoved
Crystal
out and into the back seat of the truck. “Lie down.” He wrapped a strip of tape around her ankles. He commanded his partner, “Put the kid down on the floor. Tape his feet, and both their mouths. That talkative bitch is driving me crazy already.”

Crystal
grimaced as the tape covered her mouth again. She tried to make eye contact once more with
Devon
, but his head was opposite hers and it was too dark. She nudged her knees over to him, and he leaned up and rested his head on them. She felt comforted somehow, and hoped he did as well. Even a little bit.

She'd done everything she could think of to give Jack some clues. It was up to him now. She thought about the angry intruder and the way he looked at her. She didn’t think they'd kill her right away. They were using her to get the money. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t do other things to her while they waited.
Hurry Jack
, she pleaded in her mind.
Hurry
.

Chapter Eleven

The first thing Jack noticed when he arrived home was that his garage door stood open. The second thing he noticed were the bullet holes in the heads of the two police officers in the patrol car outside his house. “Damn! Damn! Damn!” He reached across the driver’s body for the police radio. “This is Dunlevy. I’ve got two officers down at my house,
2325 Sycamore Lane
. I need a wagon for sure and maybe a bus.”

He knew the cops were dead, and dead bodies were transported in wagons. He wasn’t sure what awaited him in the house—a bus in cop lingo meant an ambulance. “And I need backup. Get Brady Marshall and a team over here. My witnesses are either gone or…” He couldn’t let himself say it. “Just get me some backup,
now!
” he croaked into the microphone and dropped it.

“Ten-four detective,” the radio chirped back at him. “Be advised that backup is en route. You are instructed to wait until they arrive before proceeding.”

He was already in the garage with his gun raised and his hand on the doorknob. He knew he needed to wait for backup. The first thought that struck him was if he found three dead bodies inside, he might very likely turn his gun on himself. But he had to know. He couldn’t sit outside waiting when
Crystal
could be inside dead or dying. He pushed open the door and entered slowly.

There were signs of a struggle in the dining room—things knocked over and duct tape on two of the chairs. But there were no bodies, no visible signs of blood. He said a silent prayer and went to the front room. The Playstation had gone into pause mode, meaning whoever had been playing left in a hurry. Music blared from the TV, but he ignored it and inched his way down the hall. It took just a few minutes to discover the house was empty, with no signs of blood anywhere. He slapped off the TV and the video game as he walked back through, and leaned against the sofa. 

They were still alive…
so far
. He let himself be comforted by that for a moment, then went back into the dining room. The broomstick lay next to the door. The creeps had probably gotten in when
Crystal
was letting Zeus in or out. Where was Zeus? Jack went into the backyard and didn’t see him, until he got clear out by the gate. He saw his dog lying quietly with a bullet hole in his shoulder.

“Son-of-a-bitch!” Jack knelt by the dog. Zeus raised his head feebly. “Hey buddy, you’re hanging in there. Thank God! You just sit tight. I’m going to call the vet.” He nuzzled the dog’s neck and pulled out his cell phone. He called the police dispatcher and said “Hey, this is Dunlevy again. I need a vet to pick up an injured canine officer at my address. You still got it?”

“Yes, detective. We’ll find one and get them right over there.”

“Where’s my backup? I’ve got a hell of a situation over here.”