Concealed

  And still no sign of the police. Or Wade.

  Where was he?

  She hadn’t allowed herself to think about him much, but the fact that he hadn’t driven his truck through the wall trying to get to her made her heart sink. Charles must have killed him. That, or he was so severely injured that he couldn’t get to her. There was no other explanation as to where he could be or how Marcy had gotten his cruiser. Nothing else would have kept him away. With a rage and fury she had never known, she screamed.

  “Faith!” Sydney ran through the house, shouting her name and calling out to Agnes, begging them to come out. “We have to get out of here, hurry!” But the house remained silent. She ran into Agnes’ bedroom thinking that would be the most likely place for another safe room. Crazed, she began pounding on the walls and jumping up and down on the floor trying to get their attention wherever they were hiding. Hysterical and now desperate to find her daughter, she grabbed a bookend and started tearing into the wall, hoping to reveal a secret panel or something that would lead her to Faith. Tears streamed down her face as she clawed at the drywall.

  “We have to go. Come out! I swear it’s safe now, but we need to go. Faith, where are you?” Her desperate pleas were met with silence. She threw the bookend across the room, her anger finally flaring at being left to deal with all of this alone.

  He swore he’d protect her and keep them safe. How many times had he told her he wouldn’t let anything happen to them? But when she needed him most, he was nowhere to be found.

  “Where are you, Wade?” she screamed to the heavens as if somehow he was going to magically appear. “I need you!” The possibility of Wade’s death sent Sydney staggering.

  As she frantically scanned the room one more time for a clue as to where Faith might be, something on Agnes’ dresser caught her attention. Right in the center of the walnut antique was a framed picture of Sydney, Faith, Melissa and Agnes, one they had taken at the Fall Festival. The four of them looked so happy together as they stood next to the town’s largest pumpkin, which she remembered had tipped the scales at just over four hundred pounds this year.

  So much had changed since then.

  She was tracing the elaborate swirl along the edge of the frame when an odd thought popped into her head. If only she’d known this picture was here, she could have showed it to Amanda and let her see her daughter once before she killed her. She could see so much of Amanda in Faith. All the emotions she had buried bubbled to the surface.

  “Oh, Faith, what did I do?” Sydney asked as she reached up and clutched the frame to her chest.

  “You left the gun in the kitchen, idiot,” Charles laughed from behind her. “And now you’re going to die.” She stood inside the bedroom, blood dripping down her shoulder where Sydney’s bullet had made impact. The arm hung limp at her side but the other had a firm grasp on the gun as the barrel pointed at Sydney’s head.

  Sydney considered making a run for the door when there was a flash and the gun fired.

  She screamed then fell back, hitting her head on the dresser. In the darkness that followed, she heard Wade shouting her name, telling her to run. She staggered to her feet and saw him wrestling with Charles for the gun.

  “Get out of here, run to the front door!” Wade barked out the order as the gun skidded out of their reach and Charles connected with a nasty right hook to Wade’s face.

  She’d never been so happy and terrified to see someone in her whole life.

  “She also has a knife, be careful!” Sydney screamed, unwilling to walk away and leave Wade on his own with a crazy woman who had shown near superhuman strength earlier. The silver of the knife flashed and soon Wade had smears of red all over his chest and arms as his skin was ripped open by Charles with each movement of the knife.

  His eyes met hers and she saw how desperate he was to get her to safety. He would take care of Charles and whoever else might pop out of Amanda’s sick head. He had to, because Sydney couldn’t imagine her life without him in it any more.

  Wade knocked the knife out of Charles’ hand, blood spattering as it crashed into the wall beside them. Somehow, Charles spun and lunged for the gun that was then immediately pointed up at Sydney. She was running from the room when Wade shouted her name then a gunshot rang out behind her. A sharp pain hit her side and then she had the sensation of falling. For a second, she thought she had been shot, but then she realized it wasn’t a bullet that hit her. Wade had tackled her to the ground, knocking the breath out of her as he catapulted her into the hallway.

  As fast as he had hit her, he was gone. The weight of his body vanished, leaving Sydney disoriented and shivering on the ground. She could hear things breaking in the bedroom and tried to go help, but her vision was blurred by the blood running down her face and into her eyes. There was more commotion, then a single gunshot rang out.

  A chilling silence followed.

  The thought of anything happening to him was too much to process. “Wade!” Sydney closed her eyes and screamed his name until her throat burned. Sydney felt herself pulled down the hallway. She tried to fight at first but when she felt the warm press of Wade’s body she relaxed, and didn’t stop moving until they hit the kitchen.

  “Are you okay? You’re bleeding.” He was out of breath as his hands frantically ripped open her shirt exposing the deep puncture wound from where she had been stabbed in the car earlier and the other cuts from Charles’ knife. He grabbed a towel from the counter and began wiping away the blood so he could get a better look at her injuries. He held the towel in place and applied pressure to the one on her abdomen to try and slow the bleeding.

  “We have to go. We have to get out of here!” Sydney dug her fingers into Wade’s shoulder and knew she was hysterical as she tried to writhe out of his grasp, but she couldn’t help herself. She’d been trapped in this house with a crazy woman and all she wanted was to get herself, and Wade, to safety. “We have to find Faith before we leave. Do you know where she is?”

  Never in her life had she been so torn. She wanted to be leave and run away from this house, but she needed her daughter. No matter how scared she was, Faith was probably more frightened and she’d die before she’d let Marcy or Charles get her hands on Faith.

  “Where’s the gun?” Sydney asked. Wade tightened his grip on her, holding her in place. She had to make him understand, they had to be able to protect themselves. Charles wanted them all dead. “Did you leave it in the bedroom? We have to go back for it.”

  “You’re not going in there.” His voice was stern and calm, the complete opposite of Sydney’s agitated state. Wade’s eyes roamed over her face, his jaw clenching as he released her with one hand to wipe the blood off her forehead.

  Desperate to get away from the awful scene around them, she pushed him away. “Stop. We have to get Faith out of here, Marcy will come back.”

  He looked her right in the eye and gave a single shake of his head. “She’s dead. I killed her.” Sydney’s eyes roamed over his pale face. The exertion from the fight and blood loss was starting to take its toll on him physically.

  “S-She had the gun and w-was going to shoot me,” Sydney stammered, unable to stop shaking. Everything had happened so fast there hadn’t been time to process everything, but now it hit her how close she had come to dying.

  Wade shook his head. “I pushed you into the hall and then went back.” Sydney let out a strangled gasp at his admission. “I got the gun away from her and killed her. A shot to the head. She’s dead, Sydney. And she can’t hurt you, or Faith, anymore.”

  It was too good to be true. All these years, whenever she thought she was safe, the danger would return. Could it really all be over? She almost didn’t dare hope. “Are you sure, Wade?”

  “I wouldn’t lie to you about this. She’s dead. She’ll never hurt you or Faith again.” The truth was in his eyes. Any doubts she’d had vanished when she saw the look on his face. Her happiness was short-lived. “Luke!” Wade yelled, still tending her wo
unds.

  “H-He’s dead, Wade. Charles shot him.” The words stung as they came from her mouth, the guilt she felt a bitter reminder of her part in his death.

  “He’s too stubborn to be dead,” Wade grumbled as he stormed to the front door and threw open the locks. Luke limped in, his thigh bleeding through his jeans. “Send in Sam and Billy. Then tell the ambulance it’s safe to come now.”

  Luke nodded. The pain appeared to be more than he wanted to admit. He gave Sydney a brave smile and tried to lighten the mood when he noticed her concern. “Chicks dig scars, I hear.”

  “You’re okay?” The words came out as a strangled whisper. “I thought you were dead.”

  “He’s fine. He was wearing a vest. If she’d have shot him in the chest, he wouldn’t have had a mark on him,” Wade said thumping Luke in the chest for good measure.

  “Next time you need help, you go cause the diversion and I’ll save the beautiful woman.”

  Wade offered Luke his hand with a genuine smile on his face and the two shook hands. “Agreed.”

  Luke stepped out of the house and Wade returned to her side, inspecting her other injuries. All the while he worked on her, blood ran down his arms from the gashes Charles had inflicted. His wounds dripped blood onto the floor at his feet, but he didn’t seem to notice the pain he had to be feeling. His entire focus was on Sydney.

  “You’re bleeding, and your eye is swelling shut. You need a doctor, Wade.”

  He kissed her forehead. “I’m fine.”

  “No, you’re not! Those cuts…there are so many of them and blood’s everywhere. You could have a concussion—” Her hysterical rant was cut off by his massive arms wrapping tightly around her.

  “I’m fine.”

  “She said she shot you like she shot Luke.” Sydney shuddered against his chest.

  “She lied.”

  “How’d you get into the house?”

  “Secret passage way.”

  Sydney sat back in surprise. “Seriously?”

  “Yes,” Wade said with a grin. He wiped the blood from her face with such tenderness, it melted her heart. But it wasn’t over yet. And they still had to find Faith.

  “Faith.” Her daughter’s name flew out in a rush. Her heart rate speeding up as the panic returned. “W-We have to find her. I-I can’t find my baby. I looked everywhere, Wade.” Sydney broke down into hysterics, the emotions she had kept hidden overwhelming her. The pain, the fear, and the desperation were too much to contain. Her past had caught up with her and there was enough death and destruction in Agnes’ house to prove it. Every awful thing she ever imagined happening paled in comparison to the truth as she looked around at the blood stained kitchen.

  However, in Wade’s arms, she knew it was finally safe to let it all go. So she cried, and screamed, and wailed until she nearly hyperventilated, and he held her through it all.

  With a gentle strength, he held onto her as tightly as he could, rocking her back and forth like a child, telling her she was safe. He knew where Faith was hidden and he promised her that her daughter was fine. But even his reassurance couldn’t ease the tears.

  “I was so scared for you,” Wade admitted when Sydney’s sobs had finally run their course. “George had built a bolt hole, but the door wouldn’t give.” He shuddered. “I was afraid I’d make noise prying it open so I had Luke start banging on the door to distract Amanda and cover up any sounds you might hear. I didn’t know if I’d get to you in time. I damn near ripped the door off its anchors, but the moment it opened, I ran all the way here.” Sydney glanced down at his hands and saw his bloody fingers were horribly swollen and bruised. Proof of how hard he tried to reach her.

  “I love you.” The words had been at the forefront of her mind since the moment he rushed into Agnes’ bedroom to save her. Now they slipped effortlessly from her lips, without regret or hesitation. In that moment, the wide smile that crossed Wade’s face assured her that everything would be all right. They would be all right.

  “I love you, too.”

  “Oh, Wade,” she gasped, caught off guard for a moment by his admission. Then Sydney kissed him, her head still spinning with the knowledge that he loved her too. It wasn’t the trauma of the evening or the fear she had felt, it was the knowledge that he was someone she could count on, in any situation for the rest of her life. He’d seen her at her worst and stood by her side. And loved her. How did she get so lucky?

  “When I thought something happened to you…” Her voice trailed off, unable to find the words to express the fear and anguish she felt. A hollow feeling filled her at the mere thought, but then Wade cradled her face in his hands and kissed the pain away.

  “Nothing on this Earth could ever keep me from you. I’ll always come back to you, Sydney.” The sincerity and strength behind his words left no doubt in her mind: he was the one. There would never be anyone else. They were going to make a wonderful life together, with Faith.

  But first they had to end this ugliness and face whatever legal issues stood in their way. As if reading her mind and sensing her worry, Wade offered her a smile.

  “It’s over.”

  Was it really? Amanda Washington was dead along with Charles and Marcy. Wade had killed them and now the police were going to be involved. It was only a matter of time before the truth of it all came out. It was only a matter of time before there was a chance Sydney could lose Faith. For good.

  “I need Faith.” With a wince, Sydney pushed herself to her feet, the edge in her voice not going unnoticed by Wade.

  “I know this is taking a while, but I don’t want Faith to be scared when she sees you. She’s a smart kid and is going to know something’s up. You are cut and bruised from head to toe, Syd. I don’t want to scare her so let’s get you cleaned up a little more before we see her. I swear on my life, she’s safe.”

  Wade asked Sam to go look around the house for a clean shirt for Sydney. Luke happened to have a spare sweatshirt in his car and brought that in for Wade so he could get rid of his shredded T-shirt.

  Numb, Sydney sat in a chair and drank a large glass of water while Wade tended to the rest of her cuts as best he could. The paramedics quickly wrapped the worst of her injuries but agreed to let Wade transport her to the hospital as soon as she saw Faith. She had a number of visible cuts and scrapes that they wouldn’t be able to hide from Faith, but at least the bleeding had let up and she wasn’t as dizzy anymore.

  “When we see Faith, we’ll tell her there was an accident and we’re fine but you need to spend the night in the hospital, okay?” Wade watched her reaction closely, making sure she felt like composed enough to see Faith without terrifying her. “Are you ready?”

  “Absolutely,” she murmured, lacing her fingers in his outstretched hand.

  She tried not to wince as she moved. Now that the adrenaline was gone, her injuries seemed to hurt a lot more than they had earlier. He led her out of the kitchen and toward the guest bedroom where Charles had found the safe room. Sydney shook her head vehemently. “She’s not in there. Earlier C-Charles found the room but they weren’t there.”

  “Actually, they were. She just didn’t look closely enough.” Wade led her inside the safe room and pulled back the door all the way, exposing the small five by five room. He ran his finger along a nearly invisible seam in the concrete. Finding what he was looking for, he smiled and pressed a tiny black button.

  “Middlemist Red, Agnes. Middlemist Red.” There was such relief in his voice as he pulled Sydney against his chest and kissed the top of her head. He wasn’t the least bit surprised when the concrete moved to the side and he found Agnes standing at the top of a narrow staircase, with a shotgun aimed directly at his chest.

  “Better safe than sorry,” she said with a shrug as she lowered her weapon. “Jesus, you two look like hell. But I’m damn glad to see you.”

  They followed her into a huge underground bunker that probably took up half the yard beside her house. It was enormous, stocked with en
ough food to last a few years from Sydney’s guess. It had all the amenities of home as well as a full arsenal of weapons locked up somewhere, she heard Agnes explaining to Wade. Just then she saw Faith curled up in a beanbag chair watching a movie on the tiny television in the corner. The headphones on her head kept her from even noticing they had walked into the bunker.

  “Is the woman dead?” Agnes asked, startling Sydney. She motioned to the tiny monitor that showed not only the guest room but the safe room as well. “I saw her drag you in there, but I knew she’d never find the door to the bunker.” She beamed with pride. “My George was one hell of a construction man.”

  “He was at that,” Wade said ruefully as he held out his bloodied hands. “I had a heck of a time breaking into the bolt hole he put in the garage.”

  “The old coot told you about the tunnel, too? Sonofabitch, that man couldn’t keep a secret for anything.” With a teary laugh Agnes pulled them both into a hug. “I was so scared for the two of you. And if you tell anyone I said that, I’ll smack you both.”

  “I cannot ever thank you enough for what you did for Faith today, Agnes. She’s my whole world. I hope you know that, and remember that even after you f-find out what I did to bring all this upon us.”

  Agnes touched her face gently, careful to avoid her many cuts and bruises. “I don’t care what you did. There’s nothing that’s going to change how I feel about you. We’re family. Now and forever.”

  They embraced and shared a more tears until Faith finally noticed they were in the room. She yanked off the headphones and ran over, stopping a few feet short.

  “Mommy! Wade! What happened to you?” Her blue eyes were wide with worry as she looked at their injuries.