Her voice is gentle, but her sarcasm is lost on Kreichek. “Were you mean to that nice lady?”
He attempts to crawl away from the threat. It makes her laugh. “And where do you think you’re going?”
A cat peers at her in the darkness. “Hi, kitty!” she says with a cute little wave.
Then she chambers a round.
“I guessed you and Hutnikov were told to kill me, so I filed down the firing pins. My bad, as they say, but better safe than sorry. If I was wrong, I hope you’ll forgive me,” she says, standing up. “If it’s any consolation, you were a pretty good fuck. I thought you’d like to know.”
She gazes the framed photos on the walls, fall fun in the pumpkin patch, wet dogs and lakes. Katrina’s gallery of lies. She was enjoying a very nice life. Elayna sees one particularly good shot of Katrina and her boys and places it in her coat pocket. In the living room, she finds Kreichek’s gun and picks it up, thinking it will come in handy again.
Back to her dying partner, she sees that he’s made some progress, having crawled
partially into the closet to hide. “Well, I’ve got to run, love. Thanks for all your help. Dosbindonya, and pleasant dreams.”
The single shot to the back of his head sends the cat running for cover.
Chapter 33
Willow Grove NAS
“Jesus! It’s about time you got here, McDowd,” Edwards says as he enters the hangar.
“My sister was having a party,” he reminds them.
“Well, don’t take your coat off. We have a party of our own to go to.”
“So fill me in,” McDowd coaxes.
“On the way.”
They’ve almost out the door when Edwards’ phone rings. At the same moment, Freaks shouts across the room. “Hey, McDowd! Get back here!” Seeing McDowd has sparked his memory.
“Hold on,” Freaks says, going back into the history of McDowd’s search. When he finds it, he points the screen. It is Kate’s DMV picture.
“My sister’s neighbor, what about her?”
Freaks then drags another picture next to it. It is considerably older, but frighteningly similar.
It takes McDowd a second to process what Freaks has already figured out.
Panic, fear and dread hit him all at the same time. “Sweet Jesus.”
“You know her?” Bob asks in disbelief.
“I was just with her.” McDowd feels sick.
Edwards comes over, still on the phone. “Linda Carpenter found a name at the tire store to run,” he tells them. Looking at the name on the screen, he realizes they won’t have to.
“Kate Wilson,” he says.
“Where she is now?” Bob asks.
“I just walked her home from my sister’s party.” Then another thought hits him.
“Oh shit! She’s got kids in the house!”
He bolts.
“Freaks, Dave, go with him!” Bob says, but the two men are already moving. As Freaks grabs his AR-15, Bob adds, “Tommy, alive this time.”
“That’s up to her.” Freaks says in a warning.
Cops and agents from Val’s rush to the Wilson house, but McDowd gets there first. He’s out of the car before it stops.
“Dan! Wait up!” Freaks calls out, trying to get him into a vest before rushing into the dark house. When they get to the side door, they see that it’s open. Linda Carpenter, and her people arrive nearly silently and the agents in dark FBI raid jackets jump out with guns drawn. She points some to the front and others around back, then joins the others at the side. Once everything is set, she issues the order softly into her radio.
“Go.”
Freaks leads the way with night-vision goggles, fast and quiet.
“Movement!”
He comes within a nanosecond of shooting the cat, trying to scamper out the door. Flashlight beams slice the darkness as they sweep from room to room.
“Tango! Center hall!” The radio crackles.
“FBI! Freeze!”
Freaks and McDowd move from the kitchen to the hall. On the floor in a pool of flashlight beams is a male body. Freaks checks for a pulse and shakes his head.
The search goes on, with the dead body kicking up the intensity and McDowd’s anxiety.
He is reliving every moment with Kate, now recognizing the signs he’d missed. Her accent, the way she handled herself, even the way she drove. His “Chiller” sixth sense had been blinded by her spell.
“That could be me,” he thinks, stepping over Kreichek. The shock deepens, metastasizing like a cancer into his bones. Despite this, he still believes the truth he knows about her. “You can hide darkness, but you can’t hide the light,” he remembers hearing once. “That’s why I’m so afraid for her and the kids.”
The “all clears” come from the various parts of the house, and the tension eases.
They meet back at Kreichek’s body, and Carpenter finds the lights.
“Signs of a struggle,” she says. “On top of this big-ass knife in his back, she gave him a shot to the head,” Carpenter observes, taking a closer look.
“She might have gone to my sister’s house!” McDowd starts.
Carpenter grabs him before he runs out. “Wait, you’re not thinking. If all those cars out there are for her party, you’d be scaring a shit load of people.”
“Let him go in there first to sniff her out, see if she’s there…quietly,” Freaks suggests.
Carpenter agrees. “Go,” she says, handing him a radio and earpiece.
McDowd enters his sister’s kitchen from the back yard patio while the tactical team takes up perimeter positions outside. The party is still going on, driven on by the pros. Julie, trying to get a jump on cleaning, is surprised to see him.
“You’re back?” she says all tipsy.
“Have you seen Kate or the kids?”
“No, but she left some of her stuff behind. You fucking my girlfriend?” she asks with a sly smile.
He grabs her and pulls her outside.
“Dan! What’s going on?”
“Has anyone come looking for her?”
“No.”
“Do you have any idea where she might go if she was in trouble?
Julie looks past him, her eyes drawn to the moving flashlights in Kate’s backyard. Then she notices her brother’s jacket and bulletproof vest. “What’s happening, Dan?”
“She’s in deep shit, Sis.”
Julie laughs in his face. “Kate Wilson? Mrs. America? Are you kidding me? That woman shits ice cream.”
“She’s not who you think she is.”
“Who is?” Now she gets angry. “Stop it, the woman’s a saint. Do you have any idea how she helped me through Tim’s death? Do you have any idea how she’s turned her own life around, what she’s been through? She’s like my sister.”
Linda Carpenter comes down the driveway. “Any luck?”
“No. Linda, this is my sister Julie.”
“Pleased to meet you, Linda Carpenter.”
She turns to McDowd. “We’re trying to find the husband. Seems he’s not at work and isn’t responding to text or phone. Does Kate Wilson know what you do?” she asks.
“No. I never told her.”
“So you don’t really know her that well,” Linda presses.
“She’s my sister’s best friend. We became friendly, their kids hang out together, karate school.”
“What else?” She continues to press.
McDowd has to think about that. Anonymity, the program, his job and the question of whether or not to give that up, and what about Kate’s? He has to be honest. “She’s in a twelve-step program.”
She sees the hesitation. “How do you know?”
“Because I am too,” McDowd relents.
She raises an eyebrow. “Really. Well, you’re in good company. I used to be in narcotics,” she assures him with a wink. “Does she have a good program?”
“Yo
u mean, will she do the right thing?”
“Exactly,” she replies.
McDowd has to think about that one. In every room of AA, there are one or two members who talk the talk and walk the walk, but never get honest. As the Big Book says, “Those who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves, there are such unfortunates.”
What Carpenter really wants to know is if Kate has a conscience. Both of them know it’s the key to successful sobriety. He searches his mind to justify the answer he wants to give. Then he remembers the night before when taking the kids to karate class. She said she had allergies, but now he knows she’d been crying. He also recalls the feeling he got seeing her in the rearview mirror driving away, just standing there, until they were gone. She loves her two sons. Then again, how can we ever really know someone else, when most of the time we hardly know ourselves?
“You can hide darkness, but you can’t hide light.”
“She’ll do the right thing,” he finally says.
“How do you know?”
He remembers when she kissed her son Tom, and how she closed her eyes to savor it.
“I just do.”
She eyes him warily as Freaks walks up to them. “Her car is gone. Looks like she packed stuff for the kids and herself. I found a small stash of weapons in the basement. I’d say she’s on the run.”
“With kids in tow,” Carpenter laments.
“Where the hell is Haddad?” Freaks asks.
Seeing her dismay, McDowd pulls Julie out of earshot. “It’s a very long story that I can’t talk about, but her life is in danger.”
“Oh, my God!”
“If you hear from her or think of anything, call me on my cell.”
“Is she going to be all right Dan?” Julie asks.
“I don’t know, Sis. I really don’t know.”
Chapter 34
The Warehouse
The full moon provides the only illumination inside the beat-up old building, spilling through the broken skylights and windows. Haddad has a flashlight but doesn’t use it. The light would let him see, but others could also see him. Water drips somewhere in the distance, and besides the occasional scurry of a rodent, the place seems empty. He’s about to turn around to leave when a tingle enters his consciousness. At first he thinks he’s imagining it. He strains to listen.
Music. From a radio…
“Shit.”
He heads in the direction, slowly, trying hard to mind his footing amid all the debris. He gets about fifty feet across when he inadvertently kicks a bottle across the floor. It seems to roll forever, sounding more like an avalanche than an empty Bud light. He freezes for a long time to see what happens.
Nothing does. The radio plays on. He advances again, this time with the flashlight. Panning the light around, he reveals bleachers and a makeshift MMA octagon.
“This is stupid, call for backup,” he tells himself. Usually pride trumps common sense, but not this time. He takes out his phone, but he can’t get a signal. Reluctantly, he presses on. The radio draws him to a stairwell. The heavy metal music is becoming louder with every step. It’s real head banger stuff, more shouting than singing. He moves tactically, the gun moving in sync with his eyes in sweeping motion, following the flashlight beam. He begins to make his way down the stairs. Reaching the bottom, he pauses to listen. The music is to his left, down the black corridor, yet he senses something to his right…
The beam stops on the open eyes of a dead man, mouth open in a gasp.
He jumps.
Then he senses movement behind him. He spins. All he sees is a muzzle flash.
He doesn’t even hear the gun.
Chapter 35
Oak Lane Apartments
Ellen Washington is sitting down for 11 o’clock news when her buzzer rings. Getting back up, she knows she won’t miss anything, just more of the same yellow crime scene tape, flashing lights, fat white cops and dead black people. Boo has stayed home tonight, not ready yet to venture into his new fatherless world. Little Russ is already out cold on the couch. The buzzer sounds again.
“I’m coming,” she says, ambling to the intercom. “Hello?”
“Ellen? It’s Kate Wilson. Can I come up?”
Perplexed, Ellen looks at Boo. It must be important for her to be calling so late. “Come on up, dear.”
She turns to her grandson. “Now, what do you think this is all about?” but all he can do is shrug.
When she opens the door, the sight of Kate with her boys makes her smile at first, but after reading her face, she thinks differently.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Ellen asks, watching them come in, the boys with backpacks.
Kate takes her lightly by the arm, down the hallway away from the boys. “Ellen, I need your help.” Her eyes are welling up as she speaks. “I’m in trouble. The story is too long to explain. I need to leave the boys here with you.”
Ellen hesitates.
“Only for a few hours. My husband or a friend will come for them.”
In Kate’s eyes, Ellen sees desperation and cannot resist.
“They can put their stuff in James’ old room.” Ellen says.
Kate hugs her. “Thank you.”
Robbie is practically asleep, so Kate carries him down the hall.
“Tom, grab your stuff,” she grunts, following Ellen to the room. Ellen stands next to the door to Bone’s room but does not follow them in, closing the door behind them.
Kate collapses onto the bed with her little boy, then pauses there, capturing the image of his little freckles and long brown eyelashes as he nestles into sleep.
“Robbie sweetie, be a good boy.”
“Good night, Mom, love you,” he says sleepily.
She kisses his cheek deeply. “I love you too, sweetie.”
“Are you going to finally tell me what’s going on now, or am I going to have to keep guessing?” Tom demands with a tinge of anger.
She continues to look at Robbie as she answers. “I don’t know how much he’ll remember of this, but if he asks, tell him that I stabbed the man. Not him. It was a bad dream.”
Turning, she slides over to the end of the bed and grabs her bag.
“Sit down,” she says, unable to make eye contact with him. If she did, she’d lose it. “I need to show you this.”
Unzipping the bag, she removes one of the 9mms. Tom’s eyes grow wide from all the stuff in it. “This is the safety. If you can see the red, the safety is off and the gun will fire.”
Despite all her resolve, she begins to sob her way through the explanation while angry tears run down Tom’s face.
“You release the magazine this way.”
“Mom! Why are you doing this?”
“The magazine is full. There are fourteen shells.”
“Stop it!”
“Shut up and watch, Tom! You pull back on the slide and the first round goes into the chamber. Now it’s loaded and the safety is on.”
She places it into his backpack. “Just in case.” Tom yanks her arm, but she pulls it back until the gun is safely put away.
“When you get back home, go see Dan McDowd and give it to him.”
Time freezes for a moment, both overloaded with emotions, waiting for their brains to catch up.
Slowly, Kate slips on the bed next to her firstborn. She has regained a measure of control again, prepared with steely determination for what she is about to say. “I have to leave you, go away. I’m a part of a something I thought would never happen, and now I may be the only one who can stop it.”
“That guy was Russian…”
“So am I, Tom… and so are you,” she says with a hint of pride.
“Then why did he want to kill you?”
“I can’t tell you, Tom, for your own good.”
“You told me never to hide from the truth.”
Kate closes her eyes again. “Tell him, Kate, the fuck
ing truth that everything he knows about you is a fucking lie.”
It’s hard to speak, so hard to do, so hard for her to say goodbye. “You’ll hear things about me, but only one thing matters, regardless of what anyone says. I am, and always will be, your mom,” she says. “And I will always love you and your brother. I will always be with you.”
“Why you? Why now?” Tom begs, choking in tears.
“I guess it’s the way God wants it to be, honey.”
He slumps into her, a young man but still a boy. She comforts her son, as she had many times before, but now for what could be the last time. Tom weeps into her shoulder, hugging her tight. As Kate strokes his hair, she looks up to the ceiling, looking for God.
Her resolve slowly returns. She has to stay strong now, for Tom. “Sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do, but we have to do them because it’s the right thing.” Her upward gaze turns into a scowl. “I don’t know what will happen, but I promise you,” she hesitates for a moment, afraid of telling another senseless lie even though it will ease Tom’s pain. “It will be all right.”
Kate lets him cry for a little while longer. “God, if you won’t watch over me, watch over them. They are good boys and they’ll serve you well,” she prays. “Besides, they’re all better off without me anyway.”
Finally, it is time, and with a final squeeze she pushes him away. “I have to go.”
“Mom, please tell me what it is you have to do.”
Kate pauses. “I have to stop a war.”
She lays her hand on his cheek. “Mind your father, and forgive him for being who he is. Watch over your brother. Say a prayer for me.”
Kate kisses him on the head. “One day I hope you’ll be able to forgive me. I love you,” she says, melting away from him, and abruptly she is gone.
Chapter 36
Woodcrest Road
The Wilson home is now a crime scene, in more ways than one. Now that the lights are on, McDowd can see what was once a happy family is now shattered beyond repair, a crime in itself. Their faces are everywhere; her husband must be into photography. He comes upon gorgeous shots of a younger Kate, all with her mischievous eyes. They are different now, worn by having seen too much of life.
“So now Elayna still has two more targets left, since this guy screwed up,” Edwards says, standing over Kreichek.