The Spy Who Saved Christmas Page 11

Then Lara was there, pulling him inside, shoving him down behind the dashboard, taking the wheel, tearing the hell out of there, mud flying in their wake. A pro couldn’t have done it better. He wished she would have shown some of this common sense and acumen five minutes earlier. But just when he thought she was finally getting with the program, she slowed the car.

  “Are you all right?” she asked.

  His hip burned enough to take his breath away. “Go, go, go! Don’t stop for anything. What the hell were you thinking?”

  She slowed even more. “I can’t leave my babies. I can leave you out here. You can call for an ambulance. I have to go back, Reid.”

  She was a wild one, whether she wanted to be or not. Had more of her grandmother’s blood in her than she thought. No civilian in her right mind would want to go back into a hail of bullets once she’d been lucky enough to escape.

  “They don’t have the kids,” he ground out the words.

  “Are you sure?”

  “A hundred percent. Honey, if I weren’t, you couldn’t have dragged me out of there if you’d tied me to the trailer hitch.”

  She held his gaze for a long moment, then stepped on the gas at last, a fat tear rolling down her face. She wiped it away angrily. “What do we do next? We’re not giving up. I can’t give up, Reid.”

  “Nobody’s giving up. We’ll reestablish the parameters. Raise the stakes.” He was dialing his cell phone already. “Hi, Eileen. I’m Reid Graham. Thank you again for handing that CD over like you did. You’ve been a great help. Listen, we’ve hit a snag here and we have an emergency on our hands. Two little kids were kidnapped recently. We believe your sister’s boyfriend had a hand in it. We have to get to these kids and quickly. Can you tell me everything you know about Kenny?”

  The FBI had already asked her those questions when they’d first begun investigating Kenny, but back then she hadn’t answered, not wanting to incriminate her sister.

  “Of course. Let me think,” she said now.

  Apparently, Jen’s death had changed things.

  “Even the smallest detail might be helpful. Start with the first time you ever heard of him, ever met him.”

  “I only met him a couple of times. He was very, you know, just not like the family. Very condescending toward women. Had that whole male superiority going. He got the idea pretty fast that the family wasn’t crazy about him and he stopped coming around. Ordered Jen to stop seeing us, too. It was like he had a hold on her she couldn’t shake.” She sniffed.

  “So before things went sour, what did you talk about? Did he say anything about his family?”

  The FBI had tried in vain to track down Kenny’s family. They’d figured maybe they could get to him through his kin, but they’d given up on that path eventually and decided to go with the girlfriend angle, bringing Reid in.

  “He didn’t say much about his family,” Eileen recalled. “My mom asked one time, and he just said his parents were dead and his brothers were scattered. I don’t even know how many brothers he has.”

  Two. Both hidden, probably living under assumed names.

  “But one time I was talking to Jen on the phone. I used to call her anyway. Screw Kenny. And I could hear two men come into the room, and I thought it was Kenny’s voice, calling the other guy bro. Then he asked who Jen was talking to. And she said she was making a hair appointment and she hung up. That’s the kind of control he had over her.”

  “Do you know where she was at that time?”

  “At Robby’s up on Route 11. She said one of Kenny’s friends owned the place. They were picking up something from the back office. Does that help?”

  “Maybe. Thank you. And if you remember anything else, would you please call me? I’d really appreciate it.”

  Eileen promised, and he thanked her again and hung up at last, then punched Robby’s into the GPS. He’d heard of the place before. It was a seedy roadside bar. Not bad. They could be there in under an hour.

  He dialed Cade. “Hey, thanks for the cover fire.”

  “You still alive?”

  “Flesh wound. I think. What happened after we left?”

  “You took down four. I took three more. The drivers and another guy got away.”

  “You didn’t have to do this for me.”

  “I was just going to watch,” he said with a sigh. “I miss the action. Don’t tell Bailey. And call if you need anything else.”

  “You bet,” he said, although both knew he wouldn’t. They were way over the line on this one. Seven bodies. The colonel would be livid. Reid swore under his breath. The FBI would want his head on a plate. He’d gone rogue, as far as they were concerned. There were going to be consequences. He didn’t have time to worry about it.

  “Where are you now?” Cade was asking.

  He gave his location.

  “I know the place. There’s a small hospital in the next town, right on the main road. I did security consulting for them as a favor to a friend. Go to the E.R. and check in as Jones Smith. I’ll take care of the rest.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “I saw you. You can hardly stand. Your kids need a father.”

  He couldn’t argue with that. “Nice hit below the belt,” he mumbled.

  “You’re already hit below the belt. Don’t be stupid. Have them take care of it.”

  And because Cade was right—this wasn’t about only him, this was about Lara and Zak and Nate—Reid decided to do it. Of course, Lara insisted on going into the emergency room with him. He only put up a token protest since he couldn’t walk without leaning on her. He hated having to lean on anybody. He especially hated having to lean on Lara Jordan, because he was supposed to be protecting her, dammit.

  He bit the inside of his cheek against the pain and limped through the crowded waiting room up to the window. “Jones Smith,” he said.

  “Oh.” An older woman looked at him above the rim of her mother-of-pearl glasses. “Dr. Mifflin was just out here looking for you. He said you can go straight back as soon as you get here. He said no paperwork was needed?” She looked confused.

  “He has all my stuff on file.”

  “Insurance papers?”

  “I’m set. This way?” He looked toward the swinging doors.

  “Yes. Do you need a wheelchair?”

  He shot her a look that could have withered an oak tree.

  “Down, Rambo,” Lara whispered next to him.

  Dr. Mifflin saw them immediately, took the bullet out and shot him full of antibiotics, closed the wound, asked no questions. So far, perfect. Without Cade’s intervention, Reid would have had to show papers, go on record and the doctor would have called the cops, as required by law, since he was treating a gunshot wound. That would have brought a delay Reid couldn’t afford.

  “Thanks, Doc.” He moved off the examining table.

  But the physician said, “I’d like to keep you overnight for observation.”

  “I’d like you to give me enough drugs to numb my hip so I can function for the next forty-eight hours.”

  “I would advise against it.”

  “Duly noted.”

  “That’s what I thought. Cade said you were in the middle of something important. My brother is a marine. Good luck.”

  The doctor gave him two shots, one in the front of his left hip, one in back. By the time the doctor had packed up a handful of syringes and vials for his future doses, his hip was numb. Reid thanked him and walked out of the room without needing Lara’s help. Unfortunately, by the time they’d reached the exit, his left leg was numb down to the knee. By the time they’d reached the car, he couldn’t feel his left foot. Not good. Every once in a while, he had this response to certain painkillers, but never before to the one he’d just been given. Figured.

  And Cade’s car was a stick shift.

  He glanced at Lara, at the tight look on her face, the deep worry in her violet eyes. The last couple of days had been hell for her. And he had a feeling the worst wasn’t over yet. Sh
e didn’t need anything else to worry about. She didn’t need to know that he was half-incapacitated.

  He limped to the passenger door and leaned against it casually, held out the keys. “I’m bushed. I wouldn’t mind catching a half-hour nap. How would you like to drive, honey?”

  WITH THE DRUGS, REID couldn’t feel his left leg. Without the drugs, his hip hurt too much to put any weight on it. Luckily, by the time they’d reached Robby’s, a ratty old shack in the middle of a gravel parking lot just off the highway, the drugs had begun to wear off a little, so he was in some kind of in-between zone where he was able to function.

  The bar was closed, but there was an apartment upstairs. He decided to take his chances. Even if Kenny’s brother wasn’t here, if he was a regular at the bar, the owner—the most likely person to live above the place—should have an idea where he lived. And Reid knew a dozen tricks to get the man to share that information with him.

  “You stay in the car,” he told Lara.

  “I don’t think so. You’re hurt. You need backup.”

  “I’m fine. And I need backup out here. I’ll go in through the door. If the bastard comes out a window or something, I want you to stop him.”

  The look she gave him was full of suspicion. Rightly so. Considering that the apartment’s windows were a good twenty-five feet off the ground, he didn’t think whoever was up there was going to jump. “We can’t afford to lose this guy,” he said before Lara could realize the same thing. And then he hauled off, not giving her any more time to think. Not giving whoever was up there time to spot their car and run.

  The staircase wound up the outside of the building. He moved quietly and didn’t bother knocking. Instead, he smashed his shoulder into the door and busted it. Then he was inside.

  Someone was sleeping on a couch. A form shifted under the blankets.

  “FBI. Hands in the air!” Reid flipped on the lights, registered the weapon on the coffee table at the same time the guy moved toward it.

  “Hands in the air!”

  The man swore and stood, hatred burning in his dark eyes. Most of his face was hidden behind a scraggly beard.

  Reid moved forward and took the weapon, stuck it in the back of his waistband.

  “Get on your stomach on the floor.” He had to shove the man to make him comply. Cuffing him—hands and feet both—took only a second, but it was a second too long. He could hear a window open in another bedroom.

  Reid rushed into a bedroom, gun drawn. Too late. All he could see was the blur of a guy’s back as he vaulted through the window.

  Dammit!

  Reid leaned out the window, but couldn’t shoot at him. The bastard was smart enough to pull under the awning on the back of the building that had made his escape possible. He was on the side opposite where Reid had left Lara with the car.

  Except the first thing Reid had seen outside was that, although the car was still there, Lara was missing.

  He took the stairs three at a time, trying to ignore the pain. Maybe Lara had heard the window open and gone around. She was a good shot, but anyone could be taken by surprise. And the guy was probably armed to the teeth.

  He was pretty cool during missions. Someone had once compared him to the iceberg that sank the Titanic. But now his heart was going a mile a minute and he was sweating. He flew around the corner as fast as his leg allowed. Couldn’t see a damn thing from behind a stack of wood piled against the wall, and beer crates that stood like small hills.

  Then he cleared those and saw Lara at last. She stood with her back to him, legs apart in the stance he’d taught her, gun pointed at a prone figure on the ground. Man, she was the hottest thing he’d seen in a long time. Probably ever.

  “Don’t move an inch.” Her voice was a little shaky, but loud enough to show she meant business.

  Heat shot to Reid’s loins. It seemed to be a chronic condition for him around her.

  “I think I broke my leg,” the man moaned, clearly in pain.

  Reid moved closer. “It’s the least of your problems, believe me.” He grinned. Damn if it wasn’t his lucky day. The resemblance was unmistakable. The man on the ground looked like he could have been Kenny’s twin. He wasn’t, in fact. He had to be his younger brother, Billy. The other one, Joey, was bald as a bowling ball and just as thick. Kenny was the brains of the family. Scary thought. Billy was the baby they all protected. Perfect.

  He bent over the punk and looked at the leg. “Tough break, man. Something like this, you don’t get it set quick, you might not walk again.”

  The man swore.

  “You won’t walk for sure if the other breaks, too. Or you can tell me where Kenny is and we can head to the nearest hospital.”

  This time the answer was shorter. Two words only. The first one started with F.

  Reid shifted his weight to his left, which about killed him. The painkillers were wearing off with lightning speed. He lifted his right leg over the man, ready to stomp. “I’m kind of in a hurry.”

  “Wait. I don’t know where he is. I swear. I don’t know. I haven’t seen him in two days. When he wants to talk to me he just stops in.”

  Reid nudged Billy’s injured leg with his toe. The guy screamed. He wasn’t as tough as his older brothers, for sure. Reid shook his head. “The baby of the family.”

  In some sense. Certainly not in others. He was a member of the same antigovernment cell Kenny was in, wanted for the brutal beating of a state government employee up in Harrisburg and for the rape of another.

  He reached into the idiot’s back pocket with distaste, pulled out a cell phone, handed it to him. “I’m sure you have a way to reach your brother in an emergency.”

  “I don’t. I swear.”

  He had little patience for this clown. His little boys were somewhere out there in the hands of people just like this criminal, and it scared the living daylights out of Reid. “You can call now, or I can kick your swearing mouth in. Trust me, it’ll be a lot harder to talk with a broken jaw and no teeth.”

  Billy’s fingers shook as he dialed. “They got me. I’m hurt, Kenny!” he screamed into the phone like a girl.

  All Reid could do was shake his head with distaste as he took the phone away from him.

  “Those murderous dimwits you call your friends have something I want. I have your brother. I’m not gonna lie to you, Kenny. The boy’s in bad shape. I don’t think he’s gonna last long. We better make this exchange quick if you want to take him to a hospital.” Hell, Kenny couldn’t know how bad his little brother really was. All he could hear would be Billy’s moans in the background.

  “What do you want, man? I have nothin’.”

  “You guys have two babies.”

  “I had nothin’ to do with that. I swear!”

  “I believe you. I know you love this country. You just don’t agree with how it’s run. Hell, half the time I don’t agree with it either. But you ain’t no baby killer, Kenny. Your mama raised you boys better than that.” The Briggs brothers’ mother had died two years back from M.S. The boys had taken it hard. It was in their FBI files. And Reid wasn’t above using that information to his advantage. “She’d want you to help those babies. You know she’d want you to help your brother. And now that Jen and the baby are gone… Jen’s baby would have been your mom’s first grandkid….” He let his voice trail off. “Did you know Jen was pregnant?”

  “She wasn’t, man. She would have told me.”

  “She was. And believe me, your buddies didn’t ask questions before they shot her. They didn’t even try to miss her.”

  “They didn’t hit her. You have it wrong. Some bastard cop hit her in a cross fire.”

  “Two masked men in the back of an SUV. Nobody else got a single shot off. I was there, believe me. You already lost her and the kid to all this craziness, there’s no reason to lose Billy, too. Nobody expects you to sacrifice this much.”

  Silence stretched on the other end, then, “What do you want?”

  “You
lead me to those babies. That’s all I need.”

  “I don’t know where they are. I swear I don’t.”

  “Find out. And, Kenny? Don’t do anything stupid. Think of it this way. Whatever your buddies have planned can always be done another day. Whatever they want to blow up or damage will still be there next week, and the week after that. Your little brother might not be.”

  “I’ll get you what you need.” The voice on the other end was decidedly subdued. “Don’t hurt Billy.”

  “Hell, no. I wouldn’t do that. I didn’t want him hurt in the first place. He jumped out the window when he heard me coming. I’ll make sure he’s made comfortable until you call me back. Then if I get what I want, you get him.”

  Reid hung up halfway through Kenny’s promises that he wasn’t going to double-cross him. He put Billy’s phone in his pocket next to Kenny’s and his own. Then he bent down again, gripped the hoodlum’s bad leg by the ankle and yanked straight down as hard as he could.

  Billy howled loud enough to be heard a mile away. Then stopped. “What the hell did you do?” His small eyes were moist.

  “On second look, your leg wasn’t broke. It was only dislocated.” He handcuffed this crook, too, then yanked him to his feet. “Who’s your buddy upstairs?”

  Another round of swearing spewed forth.

  “Hey.” Reid shoved him toward the car. “Just because your leg isn’t broken, it doesn’t mean it can’t be.” But he didn’t push the issue. If Billy was even slightly less stupid than he looked, he could easily give a false name.

  Instead, he shoved the guy into the backseat, then called 9-1-1. The local cops could handle his comrade upstairs.

  “What is the nature of your emergency?”

  “There’s a known member of a domestic terrorist group in the upstairs apartment at Robby’s on Route 11.” Then he hung up. He was only guessing, but the guy had been sleeping on the couch at Billy’s place and carrying a weapon. Reid’s instincts said he was hiding from the law. And Reid trusted his instincts.

  He got in behind the wheel.

  Lara took the passenger seat. “I could drive.”

  “I’m fine.” His leg was pulsing with pain, but at least it was functional. At some point he’d have to give himself another shot, but not yet. “Actually, you did good back there. You did great.”