Dangerous Abduction (O'Connor Brothers Book 2) (30 page)

It seemed like days they’d been waiting for word on Marina, but in reality it had only been a few hours. Sandy called and said she had some news and needed everyone together. Keith said it sounded important. So here he paced waiting for her to show up.

“Wait until you see what I found out.” Sandy struggled in through the front door carrying her laptop and a bunch of papers. Ian of course was the first to help her out. She thanked him but that was the extent of her conversation with him.

His kitchen looked like a command center with all the police and equipment around the room. Sandy was busy opening laptops and Keith was spreading out papers on the counter. Everyone else including the rest of his brothers, his father, uncles, aunts, cousins and Marina’s parents were crowded into the kitchen.

“So, where do I start?” Sandy stood back as everyone’s attention was on her. “Okay, when I found that alias Marc used I decided to do a nationwide check on that name, and boy what I found out was insane. Not only did Marc live in Edmonton, he also lived in Toronto and has a warrant for his arrest on a drug charge five years ago.” Sandy handed a paper to Keith.

“Wait a minute, that’s impossible,” Stephanie said.

“I’m afraid not. That paper is the warrant and the file on Martin Tapper,” Sandy said as she shuffled through more papers.

“Marina met Marc six years ago. They would have been married five years last month,” Stephanie said. The room went completely quiet, but Sandy didn’t seem the least bit shocked by the statement.

“That’s because Martin Tapper and Marc O’Reilly are not the same person. They are however, wait for it, identical twin brothers.” Sandy held up a picture with identical boys. “You see, I did some digging into Marc’s time in the orphanage. The place was shut down a few years after Marc was adopted because they were not being completely honest with the adoptive parents. From what I can gather, Marc’s adopted parents didn’t know he was a twin, and only adopted Marc. Martin ended up in the foster care system, and was eventually adopted by a family in Edmonton when he was ten.”

James’ head was spinning with all the information he was getting from Sandy, but he didn’t know what this had to do with Marina.

“He was removed from that household when he was fifteen because of physical abuse and remained in the foster care system in Alberta until he turned eighteen. He was in and out of jail for minor offenses. Then he moved to Toronto, where he got heavy into drugs and ran when he was going to end up doing hard time.” Sandy took a deep breath and held up a finger.

“Here’s where it gets interesting. I was talking to the sketch artist with the NPD and she put together this sketch of the skull they found at the trailer.” She held up the sketch. and James’ jaw dropped open.

“That’s Marc.” Janet gasped.

“I searched for dental records for Marc and discovered the last time he was at the dentist was eight years ago. I know, gross. Anyway they had x-rays of his teeth and compared them to the remains. It’s definitely Marc and they’re estimating his time of death as at least five years. Which means Marc isn’t the one that has Marina.”

“Dear God. No wonder there was such a drastic change in his personality. It wasn’t the same guy. He killed Marc and took his place.” Janet sobbed.

“So how the hell does this help us find Marina?” James snapped. He just couldn’t wrap his head around what Sandy had told them.

“I did a search on property owned by both Marc and Martin and found a lot of land close to where the trailer is. There’s a cabin built on the land and it was bought by Marc just before he and Marina got married. I’m assuming that it was going to be a gift, but he never got to show it to her. There’s something else and I think it’s what Martin is looking for. Their biological parents were well off and had a will that stated their estate was to be divided up between the brothers when they turned thirty. I contacted the lawyer that showed on the estate, and he said that he’d sent all the information to Marc. The lawyer said Marc was in shock because he didn’t know he had a brother. He told the lawyer to hold off until he found his brother.”

“Sandy, can you just forget all this and tell us where the damn cabin is?” Kurt seemed aggravated.

“Sorry, I just find all this amazing. She turned her laptop around and showed them where the cabin was located. James could see it was close to the trailer, but it had been far enough away that they’d never have thought to look there when Danny was missing.

“Son of a bitch.” John growled. “We were right next to that when Danny went missing.”

James had barely heard the rest of the conversation since he was pulling on his jacket and grabbing his keys. He was going to get Marina and nobody was stopping him, or at least that was his plan until Kurt grabbed him by the collar.

“Don’t even think about it,” Kurt warned. “You can’t go in there half-cocked. He could have a gun or worse.”

“You’re not keeping me out of this, Uncle Kurt.” James pulled away from him.

“If you go in there all Rambo like, you know it could screw up any case we have against him.” Kurt was right but at this point James didn’t give a damn.  This guy had already beaten Marina before and he wasn’t letting her get hurt again by this man.

“I don’t give a fuck about the case. He’s not going to hurt her again.” James suddenly found himself slammed against the wall.

“I said calm the fuck down so we can make a plan to get the bastard and get Marina out safely.” He should have known better than to disobey Kurt. He could kill a man with his bare hands.

“Now, Kurt, ya calm down before I bust yar arse. Jimmy has every right ta be worried. Now get yar hands off yar nephew and help him get de woman he loves home safe and sound.” Nanny Betty stepped in between him and Kurt. She was probably the only one of the family who didn’t care what kind of skills Kurt had. To her he was still her little boy and she had no problem making him feel that way.

“Jesus Christ, Mudder, I’m not a kid anymore.” Kurt groaned.

“Watch yar language.” Nanny Betty slapped Kurt on the back of the head. “Dat goes fer all a ye. Ya can do all dis without using da Lord’s name in vain and using bad language. Dere are two lads upstairs sleeping and they don’t need ta hear any a dat. Now get ta work and get our girl home.” James met Kurt’s eyes and he couldn’t help it, his lips twitched when he saw Kurt roll his eyes. Nanny Betty was the one in charge, just like any other time she was in a room.

“Well, I guess we better get to work.” Keith tried to hide the smirk.

James paced the floor while Keith, John, Kurt, Aaron, Greg and Rick made a plan to infiltrate the cabin, but they really weren’t sure if he was even there. It was possible he’d taken her somewhere else. They really couldn’t have a perfect plan until they could see the cabin and know for sure that Marc was still there. No, it wasn’t Marc. It was Martin. James still couldn’t get his head around that bit of information.

He couldn’t sit still in the rear of the truck because his whole body was on high alert. Kurt had sent in a team from the St. John’s department to get a better look at the cabin and give him the information. They were warned not to go in unless they suspected Marina was being hurt. So far they were still just watching. The last report was that the suspect was outside the cabin pacing the front deck and talking to himself. The curtains of the windows were all closed and nobody could see inside to check if Marina was okay. That was the worst feeling in the world not knowing if she was safe.

They were all dressed in tactical gear with earpieces so they could keep in contact as they moved through the woods towards the cabin. Nobody wanted to do anything to let Martin know they were coming. He wondered if the asshole had told Marina that he wasn’t Marc and that he’d been the one to kill her husband and take over his life. It was still surreal to him that someone would do that to his own brother.

“Sir, we just found a body out here.” James heard the voice of one of the tactical team through his ear. He froze.

“Male or female?” Kurt asked and James held his breath waiting for an answer.

“Male, sir, and it looks like he’s been dead for a while,” the guy said.

James almost fell to his knees.

“Stay there and give the coordinates to the coroner.” Kurt said. James felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned around. John stood behind him.

“Let’s get her out of there,” John whispered.

“Thanks, bro.” James continued towards the cabin.

“Suspect is entering the cabin again. Will we move in, sir?” James knew the voice. He’d worked with Greg for years and had been in this situation many times with him, but this was the first time James was terrified of what would happen.

“Is everyone in place?” Kurt asked and everyone except James answered, but John replied for him.

“Move in slowly and see if you can get eyes on Marina before you go inside,” Kurt ordered.

James had a full view of the front of the cabin. It was a quaint little house that would be great for spending a weekend away from everything, but now it looked ominous. He was ordered by Kurt not to interfere with the team and he wasn’t permitted to enter until they had Martin secured. It was the hardest thing in the world for him to do knowing Marina could be hurt or worse.

“F
or the hundredth time. I don’t have anything that belongs to you. I don’t know what box you’re talking about,” Marina said.

“I know you’ve got it somewhere because he told me it was in the attic.” Marc growled and Marina was starting to wonder if the man had completely lost his mind. He kept referring to himself in third person and he wanted a box that was in the attic. Even when they lived together, there was no attic because they lived in an apartment.

“Marc, please listen to me. I don’t know what you’re talking about. You never showed me any box.” Marina tried to keep her voice soft and calm.

“Stop fucking around and don’t call me by his name again,” he yelled, and her first thought was he really had lost his mind. She didn’t know what he wanted her to call him.

“Wh... What am I supposed to call you?” She needed to know how far gone he was, and how much danger she was dealing with.

“I can’t fucking believe you’re that stupid that you couldn’t tell the difference.” He laughed and it sounded more like a cackle than a laugh.

“The difference between...” His hand hit her cheek hard enough that her head snapped to the side and her ears rang.

“I don’t want to hear another fucking word out of your mouth except to tell me where I can find that box.” He bent over so his eyes were level with hers and she tried not to cringe at his closeness. It was hard because his breath smelled of smoke and bad halitosis.

“I don’t know what box you...” The back of his hand hit the other side of her mouth, and she whimpered.

“What the fuck did you do with the rest of his things that were left at the apartment?” He grabbed her face and squeezed it hard. “I’m going outside for a smoke, and when I come back you better have an answer or I swear I’ll beat you until you remember.” He pushed her face, and she fell back against the couch.

The door closed and she couldn’t stop the tears. She had no idea what he was talking about but if she didn’t tell him, he was going to kill her. She couldn’t believe that she’d been so stupid as to not check with James or Bull before she’d left the office building. She’d just been so tired and wanted to go home, so when her secretary told her James had called and wanted her to meet him at the back exit, she didn’t think twice. Of course, her phone was dead so she couldn’t text him before she left or she would have known that it wasn’t James that called.

When the receptionist told her something was wrong with Danny, she didn’t even check outside before she stepped out. Then it was too late. Marc was there with a gun to her ribs. He never said a word, just shoved her towards the truck and made her get in. How could she be so stupid?

She could see his shadow going back and forth on the front porch and knew she didn’t have long to come up with an answer. She had to tell him something, or he was going to kill her. She just had to stall for time until someone noticed she was missing and come find her. Who was she kidding? Nobody was going to think to look for her here, and she didn’t even have her cell phone.

The door opened again and he stomped back into the cabin. She readied herself for him to ask her again, but he went straight to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of whiskey. She’d never known Marc to drink anything that hard before. He put the bottle to his lips and guzzled half of it before he lowered, he turned and glared at her. This was it, he wanted an answer, and like a gift from God an idea popped into her head.

“Well, where’s the box?” He didn’t come closer to her, but he stood holding the gun in one hand and the bottle in the other. She swallowed and met his gaze.

“I stored all of your things in the shed behind my dad’s house.” She hated the thought of Marc going close to her parent’s place, but she knew they’d been staying with Stephanie and John since all of this started. It was a safety measure John and Keith had come up with, but John made it seem like it was all her dad’s idea.

“So the box is there.” He scratched his head with the barrel of the gun. It made her quiver.

“Everything belonging to you is there.” She wasn’t being dishonest because when he left, her sister helped her pack up the rest of his things, and what his friend didn’t take, her father stored it.

“Is that prick home?” he snapped.

“No. Mom and Dad have been staying with Steph.” She really didn’t know if the box was there or not, but at least it seemed to appease him that it could be.

“We’ll wait until midnight and then you’re going to show me exactly where the stuff is.” He walked towards her. “Maybe we could have some fun until then.” Marina pulled her knees up to her chest and shook her head.

“Please, Marc, you don’t want to do this,” she begged. After everything he’d done, now he was going to rape her. When he stood in front of her, she closed her eyes and waited for the attack.

“You’re right. I’d throw up if I had to stick it in you. I really don’t know what he saw in you.” He turned and walked to a door in the back that she’d assumed was a bedroom or a bathroom.