Chasing Second Chances (17 page)

“Victoria?” he asked.

“Geez, no one calls me that anymore. Who is this?”

“I’m a friend…an assistant of Mr. Lloyd Marrick,” he invented hastily.

“And what does Mr. Marrick want now?” she asked, annoyed. “I was just about to paint my nails.”

“I…he…just wanted to ask about the deal you made.”

“He and Bill already talked that over.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Tell him he better not be chickening out or…” she stopped talking as a child’s scream pierced through the background. “Oh, shit, there he goes again. That brat really gets on my nerves, though I guess he’s easier to take care of than that little witch. Tell Mr. Marrick he better deliver or I’ll skin him alive, you hear?”

“Y-yes, ma’am.”

“Good.” There was another scream. “I better go.”

She hung up and Bryan held his phone in his hand, staring at it as he tried to make sense of the conversation he had just had.

And tried to recall where he had heard that scream before.

When he remembered, his eyes widened in shock, then narrowed in confusion.

What was going on?

No matter how he tried, he could not come up with an answer, and so he took out his keys and stared at them, wondering instead what he should do.

After a while, he rose from the couch, his mind made up.

He might not know what crazy stuff—and he had a feeling it was some really crazy stuff—was going on but he was going to find out.

* * * *

Gwen could not believe what she had just found out.

For the past few days, Mrs. Stevens had been feeling worse, and so she had been fussy and irritable, not only testing the limits of Gwen’s patience but also taking up most of her time and energy, and so she had not been able to watch the news or go online.

Today, however, Mrs. Stevens felt better and so Gwen finally had the chance to check her social networking account, and after scrolling down for nearly fifteen minutes, something caught her attention.

A news article about two missing children.

She was about to skip it when she noticed that the girl in the picture looked a lot like the girl she had seen trying to run away from Mrs. Lawrence’s house two days ago.

And she had the same name, too.

Gwen swallowed. That had to be more than a mere coincidence.

For a moment, she debated on whether or not to pick up the phone and call the cops, hesitating because she did not want to get into trouble. After a while, however, the voice of her conscience won out.

Besides, her life had been boring lately. Helping to catch some kidnappers would be a nice change. Who knew? It could even land her on the news and make her famous.

She picked up the phone and dialed 9-1-1.

After a few rings, a male operator answered. “9-1-1. What’s your emergency?”

She took a deep breath. “I think I have some information regarding a kidnapping…”

Chapter Twenty-two

“Do you think the police will show up?” Kate asked Lloyd warily as she gave another glance over her shoulder, sighing in relief when she did not find any vehicle following them.

The clock on the dashboard read 8:06 and the closer they got to the appointed time of meeting the kidnapper, the more nervous she became. The fact that it had started raining a few minutes ago did nothing for her nerves, making her feel even more fearful, and she only hoped that a thunderstorm would not break out and make things worse.

“Do you think Bryan will tell them where we are?” Lloyd handed her a question of his own.

She paused to think about it, then shook her head. “He wouldn’t.”

If she and Bryan were still together, he probably would help out the police if he thought she could be in danger, but Bryan had already walked away from her and so she doubted that he cared about her right now.

“You’re still thinking about him, aren’t you?”

“I’m trying not to,” she told him. “You were the one who brought him up.”

He grimaced. “My bad.”

“I just want to focus on getting the kids back right now,” she went on. “I can’t wait to hold them in my arms again.”

“You’re excited.”

“Of course, I am,” she said. “But perhaps more afraid.”

“Afraid?”

“Well, for one, I’m afraid that things might not go smoothly and I won’t get them back,” she answered. “And then, I’m also afraid of what will happen once I do get them back. Will they be mad at me? Will they have nightmares?”

He squeezed her hand. “Everything’s going to be all right, Kate. We’ll get them back tonight, and I’m sure they’ll be thrilled to see you. And if ever they do have nightmares, I’m sure those, too, will pass.”

She nodded. “As long as I get them back, I don’t care what I have to do afterwards. I’ll make it up to them. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to them.”

“You’re blaming yourself again,” he said. “Don’t. Once all this is over, you deserve a break. You deserve to be happy, too.”

“Once all this is over,” she repeated softly.

They drove the rest of the way in silence, reaching the warehouse at 8:40. Once there, they got out of the car, Kate looking around for any sign of the kidnapper but finding none. Lloyd took the bag containing the money out of the backseat and together, they walked inside the warehouse, Kate doing her best to keep herself from shaking.

“Remember what I told you, Kate,” Lloyd spoke. “Let me handle everything.”

She nodded. She was more than happy to let him take care of everything, especially since she didn’t trust herself to deal with a criminal right now, her emotions in turmoil within her. She did her best to keep them inside her, but she was afraid that at any moment, they would explode.

Please, please let everything go smoothly.

They waited in the darkness, Kate wrapping her coat tighter around herself to ward off the chill that seemed to come both from inside her and outside, drifting in through the gaps of the old warehouse as the rain seemed to intensify. Briefly, she wondered what the building had once been used for and how long it had been abandoned, but set the questions aside, knowing none of those mattered now.

All that mattered was that this warehouse would be where she got her children back, or so she hoped.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the door creaked. A man who seemed to be just a little less than six feet tall, wearing a black ski mask and a blue, hooded jacket entered, a gun in his hand.

He was all alone.

“Where are the children?” Lloyd asked, sounding dismayed.

“In the car,” he answered gruffly. “Where’s the money?”

“I have your money,” Lloyd said. “All the money we agreed on, but I won’t give it to you until I see the children.”

“Do you want to see your children dead?” the man threatened.

Lloyd said nothing while Kate shook her head.

“Then give me the money,” the man demanded, holding out his arm.

Kate looked at Lloyd, wanting to plead with him to give the man the money. True, there was no guarantee that they would see the kids after they handed the money over, but at least, they had a chance. They had to take that chance. If they didn’t, then the kids wouldn’t have a chance of coming out of this alive at all.

Lloyd, however, did not glance at her, his eyes straight ahead at the masked man, narrowing in anger.

“This was not what we talked about,” he said slowly.

The man laughed. “Oh, right. You had plans, didn’t you? Well, I’m sorry. I realized that you weren’t the boss here. I am. You do as I say, not the other way around.”

Lloyd gritted his teeth.

“Plans? What plans?” Kate asked, confused, feeling as if she was missing out on something important. “The two of you have spoken before?”

“You could say that,” the kidnapper was the one who answered. “In fact, you could even say we’re friends.”

“Friends?” Kate blinked.

“Don’t believe him, Kate,” Lloyd told her. “He’s trying to confuse us so he can get the money and get away.”

“So you never intended for me to leave with the money, after all,” the man said. He made a clicking sound with his tongue. “That’s very bad of you, Mr. Marrick. See, it’s a good thing I decided not to go along with your plan.”

“What plan?” Kate asked again, feeling frustrated. She turned to Lloyd. “What’s going on, Lloyd?”

“Yeah, what’s going on, Lloyd?” the kidnapper mimicked. “You see, Ms. Evans—or shall I call you Kate?—your husband—oh, I’m sorry, your ex-husband – decided to play a little game with us. It’s quite clever, actually. He…”

The kidnapper stopped speaking because Lloyd was suddenly on top of him, pushing him to the ground with such force that the gun fell from his hand, the thud echoing throughout the warehouse.

For a moment, Kate just stood there, confused, shocked and afraid, not knowing what to do except watch the two men exchange blows. Then, realizing that the gun was still on the floor, she slowly walked towards it, though Lloyd grabbed it first before she could.

As soon as he did, the kidnapper grabbed his hand and Kate could only watch as the two wrestled with the gun, keeping her distance for fear that it would go off any second.

Bang!

Kate knelt on the floor, squeezing her eyes shut as she covered her ears. At first, she thought it was simply a loud crack of thunder, but when she opened her eyes, she saw Lloyd on the ground, holding on to his leg with an expression of pain, his hands stained with blood.

“Lloyd!”

She was about to run to him but the kidnapper pointed his gun at her, his other hand wiping the blood from the cut on his lip before he walked towards the backpack with the money lying on the floor.

“I wouldn’t worry about him if I were you,” he said. “He was the one who asked me to shoot him, after all, though not like this exactly.”

“He asked you to shoot him?” Kate asked in disbelief.

The man nodded. “He wanted to be…”

“Shut up,” Lloyd ordered the man, trying to sit up but failing, wincing in pain.

“No, you shut up.” The kidnapper pointed the gun at him for a second, then turned back to Kate. “He wanted to be some kind of hero, you see. Wanted himself to get shot while trying to save you and the kids. Said it would make you crawling back to him.”

Kate could only gape.

“Ah, here’s the money.” The kidnapper knelt beside the backpack, opened it and began counting the money. Then, he frowned. “Doesn’t look like it’s two million, though.”

“Lloyd…arranged the kidnapping?” Kate asked as she found her voice, which trembled as she dreaded the answer to her question, somehow knowing what it would be but praying she was wrong.

“Oh, come on, don’t give him all the credit,” the man said as he stood up, slinging the backpack over his shoulder. “We did the kidnapping in the first place. He just stepped in and made things a little complicated.”

“But he knew…he knew that you had the kids all along?” she asked, the seed of pain growing inside her.

The man only laughed. “Looks like you’re in trouble, Mr. Marrick,” he taunted as he knelt in front of Lloyd. “Ironic, isn’t it? You wanted it all—the kids, the money, the girl—but now, you’re not going to get any of them.”

He stood up and started to walk away.

“Wait!” Kate called out. “Where are the children?”

“You’ll get them when I get the rest of my money,” he said. “Or maybe not.”

Kate collapsed on the floor, feeling her strength fade at the words.

My children…

She buried her face in her hands as the tears began to flow, but looked up when she suddenly heard a sharp cry and a thud.

The kidnapper was on the floor, a knife planted in the back of his thigh. He reached for his gun but Lloyd got it first, shooting him on the chest once, twice.

He fell.

For a moment, Kate just knelt there, seemingly glued to her spot, a heavy haze surrounding her so that she was unable to understand what had just happened – one moment the kidnapper was walking away triumphantly and the next, he was dead—or what she should do. Then, as Lloyd gave a cry of pain, she ran to him as if a button had been pressed somewhere inside of her.

“Lloyd…”

“Just go, Kate,” he told her, pushing her hand away before she could help him apply pressure on his wound. “You don’t have to try and save me. I don’t deserve that after all I’ve done to you.”

She looked at him, feeling torn, a part of her wanting to let him die after learning everything he had done and another part wanting to save him because he was still the father of her children, because in spite of the fact that he had worked with the kidnapper, he had still killed him, in the end choosing to make everything right.

“Go, Kate,” he repeated, taking his car keys out of his pocket and tossing them at her. “The kids are in New Jersey, not far from here. The address is in the glove compartment of the car.”

At the words, hope surged through her. Slowly, she picked up the keys, feeling as if she had just been handed the keys to salvation. Could it be? Could it be that she could really finally see her children again?

“Go, Kate.” This time, it was Bryan’s voice, Bryan appearing behind her from out of nowhere that she almost thought he was a mere apparition, a mere figment of her imagination.

The hand that squeezed her shoulder, however, was very real.

“Go to your children, Kate,” he said. “I’ll take care of Lloyd.”

She looked at him, wanting to tell him a hundred things but unable to say anything.

“Go.”

She turned and ran, keys in hand. Outside the warehouse, she stopped, spotting a bolt of lightning in the not too distant clouds, followed by a crack of thunder which made her cover her ears.

A thunderstorm.

For a moment, she just stood there, crippled by fear, but at the thought of her children waiting for her, almost within her reach, she gathered her courage.