Unbelievably, Ben was free, exploding toward the opening, screaming like a fire engine. "Shit!" "Grab him! "Catch him!" "Go, kid! Go!"
"Run, Ben!" As her captor's grip on her arm slackened with surprise, Kate slammed her stiletto heel back into his knee with every bit of strength she possessed. He yelped, and she was able to jerk free. But the doorway was blocked and she couldn't get out, so all she could do was scream like a steam whistle and dodge her captor, who came after her with a roar, as she sought a way out. Then she realized that it was Tom in the doorway, Tom struggling with Ike and the man who'd been holding Ben, keeping them from going after her son, whose screams as he raced away echoed her own. Blows were falling thick and fast. The sickening thud of fists on flesh filled the air. As Kate, darting around the wooden crates with her captor in hot pursuit, glanced back in horror, Tom doubled over as if he'd taken a fist to
the stomach.
Crack. Crack.
"Ahh!"
The gunfire was just a few feet away, definitely inside the warehouse. The sound was so loud that Kate felt her ears ring. The cry was hoarse, pain-filled, sounding like someone had been shot—was it Tom? Her heart exploded with fear for him, her pulse leaped into overdrive, and for a moment the world seemed to slow down as she tried to see just who was down.
All the noise was sure to bring help, but would it be in time?
Please, God, please ...
Then she heard the most welcome sound she had ever heard: Willets's voice shouting, "Freeze, FBI!"
Moments later, when the lights had been turned on and the bad guys had been cuffed and Kate was standing next to Tom, who wasn't wounded but had managed to wrest away Ike's gun and put a bullet into his leg to boot, Ben came trotting in with Fish. He still looked pale and small and tired, but the fear had left his face. He ran to her, Kate wrapped her arms around him, and they hugged as if they would never let go.
"You were so brave," Kate told him when he pulled out of her arms at last. "I can't believe you bit that guy."
"Somebody had to do something or we were all gonna die." Ben looked at Tom. "Okay, I've done my part. I saved her life. Now it's over to you for a while."
Tom looked surprised. Then he grinned and ruffled Ben's hair.
"Fair enough," he said, and wrapped both Ben and his mother up in a hug.
C h a p t e r 31
EIGHT MONTHS LATER, Tom stood in the front of Our Lady of the Sorrows Church and watched his bride walk up the aisle toward him. Charlie, his best man, stood at his side. Fish and the brothers-in-law (no way was he getting away without including them) were ranged beside Charlie. Already having walked down the aisle in front of Kate, his sisters and sister-in-law plus Mona wore lacy lavender dresses and were lined up on the other side of the altar.
His mother was blotting her eyes and beaming at him from the front pew.
And the church was filled to overflowing with every relative, friend, acquaintance, or associate of all of the above, approximately five hundred strong.
The thing was, all he and Kate had wanted was a civil ceremony. Second wedding for both and all that. Co to the courthouse, get married. No fuss, no frills.
And this was how it had worked out.
Not that, right at the moment, he minded.
Because Kate, looking beautiful in a long, white dress, was smiling at him. And Ben, who was walking her up the aisle and looking surprisingly grown-up in a black tux just like the one Tom was wearing, was grinning at him, too.
In about half an hour, give or take a long-winded speech or two by the priest, whom he had known all his life, they would be a family.
Every once in a while, you just get lucky.