The Belial Library (The Belial Series) (27 page)

Laney smiled back at him.   "Well, I think we need to keep that tradition alive.  I was thinking maybe you two could go ahead to the bookstore.  Jake should be back in a little bit.  When he arrives, we’ll meet you there and then go get a burger at that hamburger place that opened up near the bookstore.  What do you think?"

Henry nodded.  “I’m all for it."

Danny turned off his tablet.  “I’m ready.”

CHAPTER 60

Henry pulled his Suburban through the gates of the estate, waving at security as he drove past.  The country road was quiet, the sun shining up ahead, a few clouds dotting the sky.  The perfect day to take a little break.

Henry smiled over at Danny, who sat in the passenger seat, practically bouncing in place.   A trip to the bookstore.  For Danny, it was the equivalent of being let loose in a candy shop.  Henry knew the feeling.  There was something about new books that were full of possibility. 

“Do you think they’ll have De Grasse Tyson's new book?”  Danny asked.

“I don’t know.  We’ll have to see.”

"And what about the Marvel Encyclopedia of Superheroes?  The new edition was supposed to come out today.  Do you think they’ll have some in stock?”

“I’m sure they will.”

Danny chattered away happily next to him.  Henry was glad he’d taken the time.  Laney was right.  Time away was good.  And hopefully, it would allow them to look at the problem from a fresh angle. 

He glanced down at Danny, who grinned in response.  They needed this step back.  It reminded him there were other important things in life.

“Do you think we could stop for milkshakes before the bookstore?” Danny asked.

Henry gave a little laugh.  “I think-”

A prickling sensation rolled down Henry's neck.  He whipped his head to the left. 

A black pickup burst from behind the trees at the side of the road.  It broadsided their SUV, flipping them over and over again.  

CHAPTER 61

Henry shook his head, trying to stop the ringing in his ears.  He pushed the air bags out of his way.  The SUV was on its roof, the windshield a spider web of cracks.

Suspended upside down, blood rushed to his head.  He pulled out his cell phone, but there was no signal.  He wasn't surprised.  This part of the road was notorious for spotty cell capability. 

He looked over at Danny, who was looking dazed.  “Danny?”

Danny grimaced, a cut on the side of his forehead.  “I’m okay.  What happened?”

The squealing of brakes cut off his reply.  Through the windshield, Henry saw two trucks idling, four men exiting them.  Twisting his neck to look behind them, he saw another two men getting out of a truck behind them. 

“Henry?” Danny asked, fear in his voice.

“Stay here.”  Henry punched at his seatbelt, releasing himself.  He pulled on the handle, but the door was jammed.  Throwing his shoulder into it, it flung open. 

Henry stumbled out, quickly righting himself. 

Four men stood looking at him, another two held back at the pickup behind him.  They didn't speak.  All wore baseball caps, flannel jackets and were, in a word, non-descript.  Medium height, medium build, unremarkable features. 

"Now," ordered one of the men.

A man in a Red Sox cap ran at him, throwing a front kick.  Henry blocked the kick, jabbed the man in the face, followed by a cross to the stomach.  He grabbed the man by the throat and threw him towards the ground.   As the man hit the ground, another kicked at Henry’s back legs. 

Henry leaped out of the way, snaking his arm around the second man’s neck, pulling him into a chokehold.  “What do you want?”

The man didn’t respond. 

“Henry!”  Danny yelled.

Henry whipped around.  Two men dragged Danny from the car.  With a roar, Henry flung the man he was holding away. 

Seeing Danny in danger unleashed something inside of Henry that he'd kept carefully locked away for years.  The need to protect Danny overrode any other thought, any other emotion.  Logic was gone.  He was in pure predator mode.  He leapt over the car, ten feet in the air and eight feet across. 

The men holding Danny stopped to gape at his actions.  Without hesitation, Henry aimed a front kick into one of the men’s chest, sending him flying.  A crack told him at least one of the man's ribs had broken, if not his sternum.  Wrapping his hand around the other man’s throat, he swung him like a rag doll before throwing him across the road.

Danny stared at Henry, his mouth hanging open. 

Henry leaned down, grabbing Danny’s arms.  “Danny, you need to run.”

“No.  I’m not leaving you."

Henry could hear the men coming up behind them.  “Now, Danny, run.  Get help.”  He turned Danny around, pushing him towards the woods. 

Danny stumbled.  Then, with one last look, he disappeared into the trees.   

Henry turned just as a man pulled out a Taser.  He leapt to the side, barely missing the prongs as they sprung towards him.

He swept the man’s legs from him and landed a punch to his face.  The man’s head snapped back, his eyes rolling back into his head.

“Get the boy,” one of them yelled.  Two men sprinted towards the trees.

Anger surged through Henry.  “No!” 

Leaping towards one of the men, he tackled him to the ground.  With satisfaction, Henry felt and heard the bones in his face crunch.  He slammed the man's head into the ground for good measure.  The man screamed, clutching at his ruined face.

With a short burst of speed, he tackled the other man around the knees, dropping him to the ground.  Kneeing the man in the middle of the back, Henry grabbed him by the hair, slamming his face into the ground three times. 

Visions of the man hurting Danny raced through Henry’s mind.  “You don’t get to touch him,” he growled, slamming the man’s head into the ground one last time and releasing him.

He turned to face the other men.  A sting in his side sent pain shooting through him.  He crashed to his knees.  Reaching down, he yanked the prongs from the Taser out.  The pain disappeared almost immediately.  He stood, turning to the four men lined up behind him.

One pulled out a gun, but another yelled at him.  “No guns.  We need him unharmed.”

The men moved forward, slowly circling towards him.  One shot a dart at him.  Henry ducked out of the way at the last moment, avoiding it.  But he walked right into another one.  He pulled it out, but he could already feel the effects.  His movements were growing sluggish, his thinking muddied. 

He stumbled towards the men. 
I have to protect Danny
.  Another dart pierced his side.

He crashed to his knees and fell forward.  He couldn’t move, couldn’t think.

“Okay men, let’s load him up,” was the last thing he heard before unconsciousness claimed him.

CHAPTER 62

Laney jogged down the main drive of the Chandler Estate, before turning onto the country road.  Jake had just arrived back.  He had a few leads he wanted to run down before they met up with Henry and Danny.  It should give Laney just enough time for a quick run and shower.

She ran at her regular pace for two miles.  She glanced at her watch and picked up the speed. 

Five-minute mile, here I come
, she challenged herself. 

She flew down the road, focusing on her breathing, the cadence of her step.  Up ahead, she saw the mile marker and managed to coax just a little more speed out of her body.  A blur of dust trailed behind her. 

She crossed the mile marker and glanced at her watch.  Four minutes, fifty-seven seconds. 

“Yes!”  She threw her hands up in the air and did a little victory dance, with lots of deep breaths and a couple of bends at the waist.  She might not be superhuman fast, but she was pretty damn fast.  She sucked in a lungful of air. 
As long as I don’t have to run that fast for long.

Her breathing back under control, she turned around and headed back to the estate.  In the back of her mind, all the Ecuador facts and mysteries swirled.  She paid them no attention.  She needed to ignore them for a little while.  Right now, they were all jumbled together. 

The estate appeared in the distance and she smiled, thinking of the afternoon to come.  It would be nice to take a break from everything to spend time with her boys. 

Movement in the field to her right had her turning her head.  A small figure ran out of the woods towards the road.  

She paused, putting her hand up to shield her eyes from the sun and squinted.  Her heart hammered in her chest. 
Oh my God.  Danny
.

She sprinted across the road, vaulted over the divider, and into the field.  Her legs pounded down the earth as she flew towards him.  The closer she got, the more she could feel Danny's fear.

Her eyes scanned the field behind him. 
Henry.  Where was Henry?

She put on a burst of speed to reach him.  She dropped to the ground in front him, grabbing his arms.  “Danny?  What’s happened?”

Tears coursed down his cheeks, a small cut bled down the side of his face.  His chest heaved.  He struggled to get the words out, his sobs making him impossible to understand.  

Finally, he took a breath.  The words tumbled out, full of terror.  “They took Henry.”

CHAPTER 63

Laney called security from the field.  She grabbed Danny’s hand, running with him towards the road.  Two security cars shot out from the estate.  One raced ahead to the sight of the ambush.  The other halted at the guardrail near them.  A guard leaped over the rail, sprinting towards them.

When the security guard reached them, he grabbed Danny in his arms, and raced back to the car.  Laney ran behind him, her mind a kaleidoscope of fear and questions.  Who’d taken Henry?  Why?  How had Danny escaped?

The guard all but threw Danny in the back of the car.   Laney leaped in the front. 

"Has Jake been told?"
              she asked as the guard pulled the jeep into a U-turn.

"Yeah.  He's assembling a team for a search and rescue and taking point on the operation."

She nodded, glancing into the back of the car.  Danny's tears had dried, but he continued to shake as he stared out the window.   

Laney turned back to the guard.  "Do you have a tablet in here?"

"In the glove compartment."

She opened it up and pulled out the tablet.  Reaching over the seat, she handed it to Danny.  He glanced up at her, his eyes wide.  "See what you can find, Danny."

He nodded, grabbing the computer.  His fingers flew over the device as they sped along the drive. 

Pulling to a sharp stop at the front of the main building, Laney and Danny leaped from the car.  Danny sprinted up the stairs. Laney was right behind him, taking them two at a time.

Danny raced ahead of her, throwing open the doors to Henry's office.  He threw himself into a chair at the conference table, his eyes never leaving the screen of the tablet. 

Laney stopped in the doorway.  Jake was on the phone behind Henry’s desk.  She caught his eyes.  He shook his head and her heart dropped.

Danny pulled up to one of the monitors, still not talking.   He even ignored Moxy, who’d placed her head in his lap.

Jake hung up the phone and walked over to her.  With a glance to make sure Danny couldn't overhear, he spoke low.  “We’ve tracked the trucks by street cams.  But when our security reached them, they’d already been abandoned.”  He lowered his voice with a quick glance at Danny.  “These guys were professionals."

A shiver ran though her.  She reached for Jake's hand.  "And Henry could be anywhere.”

He squeezed her hand.  "We'll get him back, Laney."

She nodded, but she couldn't help think of the similarity to the Ecuador group.  Both were professional jobs, leaving little to no trace.  "Jake, do you think there's any chance this is related to what happened in Ecuador?"

Jake turned to her and Laney knew he’d had the same thought.  "I don't know, Laney.  I really don't." 

“I’ve got something,” Danny called from the table.  

The screen above the conference table flickered to life and showed the road where Henry had been taken.  She walked quickly over, Jake beside her. 

“Is this happening right now?” Jake asked.

Danny shook his head.  “No.  It’s a recording.”

“There’s a security cam out there?”  Laney asked.

Danny nodded.  “I developed a new type of camera.  I had prototypes strung along that street, to test how they worked in real world conditions.  You would never know they were there unless you looked for them.”

His bottom lip trembled.   He took a deep breath, steadying himself.  The move pierced Laney's heart. 

On the screen, Danny scrolled back, the images too blurry to make out.  He stopped the tape twenty-five minutes before and let it play. 

Two minutes later, Henry’s SUV entered the screen.  She flinched as it was broadsided by the pickup, flipping it multiple times until it came to rest on its roof.  Two other pickups pulled into view in front of the upended car.  The one that had rammed them pulled in behind it.