DarkestSin (22 page)

When she finally pulled into her driveway, she couldn’t go
in. She knew if she did, she’d be cooking up a storm. She didn’t want to be
alone with her thoughts anymore, so she killed the engine, stowed the gun in
the glove box, and walked over to Roxie’s house, hoping she’d be up and have
coffee made. Xan knocked on the door and her neighbor opened it a few minutes
later with a concerned look on her face.

“Hey, girl. Everything all right?” She tugged her robe closer
to her body and smoothed her bed-rumpled hair.

“Sorry I woke you—”

“No, no. I was awake. Just bein’ lazy, you know. Readin’ in
bed with some yummy coffee. Wanna cup?” she asked as she stepped aside and let
Xan in.

“Sure. I take it the boys are still asleep.”

“Um, Chad is, but—hey, have you been cryin’?”

“Long story,” Xan sighed, knowing she’d have to tell Roxie
everything, but actually feeling a little lighter knowing she’d get to vent her
feelings, rather than leaving them all bottled up to fester. At this rate,
they’d eat her insides. “What about Scott? Surely he’s not up?” She almost
chuckled at that ridiculous thought.

Roxie furrowed her brow. “I don’t know. He’s not here, hon.”

Xan froze. “What do you mean, ‘he’s not here’?”

“I went to bed early last night while the boys were playin’
video games. When I got up around two this morning to make sure they’d turned
off the TV, Chad was in bed and Scott wasn’t here. I figured he went home last
night when they got through.”

Oh God! Xan took off in a sprint. She bolted out the door,
across Roxie’s yard and into hers. She never thought their houses were so far
apart until this very moment.

Xan would’ve heard Scott come home. She knew she would have.
Being a light sleeper on the run from a killer tended to make that a necessity.

When she finally busted through her door, she yelled for
Scott, screaming his name repeatedly as she ran to his room. When she opened
his door, her heart sank. “Oh God, oh God, oh God.”

He wasn’t here.

Xan screamed Scott’s name again as she ran through the
house, out the back door, and around her yard. He wasn’t here. Her baby wasn’t
here. Roxie came running up to her. She’d put on some jeans and a t-shirt.
“What’s goin’ on? Is he not home?”

Xan couldn’t answer. She kept scanning her yard, turning in
circles. Then out of the corner of her eye, she saw a man dressed in all black
running up to her. She gasped and prepared to run but then recognized him.

“Hunter? What are you doin’ here?”

“My turn to watch you. What’s wrong?” He was pulling out his
cell phone when he asked and put it up to his ear. “I’ve got her,” he said to
the person he’d just called.

What the hell?
I’ve got her?
Had Hunter taken Scott
and was now here to take her? She blanched and started to turn around to make a
run for it, but he grabbed her arm as he spoke into the phone.

“She’s freaked out about something, running around
screaming, so I had no choice,” he barked into the phone. Then he looked at
her. “What’s wrong?” he asked gently.

“S-Scott’s missing,” she croaked. It didn’t matter that
she’d already been crying this morning and would probably cry at baby kittens
because this was her son she was talking about. Her
son
.

“
Shit.
Okay. Um, she said Scott’s missing. I’ll look
around.” He hesitated and nodded, glancing at her. “Got it.” Then he hung up
the phone.

“Who was that? Who were you talking to, and why are you
here?”

He rubbed her arm where he’d been holding it. “That was the
boss. The guys will be here any minute. And I can’t tell you why I’m here, but I
think you know.”

She yanked her arm out of his grasp and started for her
porch. Roxie followed quickly behind her, but she was going to lose. After all
these years, Marco had finally caught up with her…and he’d only been out for a
couple of months. Oh, she didn’t have proof this was his doing, but she didn’t
need it.

“We have to call the police,” she said frantically. “W-we
have to call them right now.”

“Wait until everyone gets here, okay?” he said calmly. Oh,
he was out of his damn mind if he thought she was waiting around.

“What in hades is going on here?” Roxie asked, pulling Xan
around to face her once they were inside and distracting her from her impending
meltdown. When Xan turned, she noticed Hunter had followed her too.

She took a deep breath and quickly relayed everything to
Roxie who’d already known some of this, but now she knew everything. Hunter
stood to the side, arms crossed, watching her like a hawk.

Roxie started to respond when Xan finally paused, but the
roar of an engine and squealing tires outside caught Xan’s attention and she
turned toward the door.

Where Brody came barreling through like a charging bull. She
hadn’t expected to see him again so soon and looking at him broke the final
thread of her control. She covered her face and sobbed, and Brody rushed over
to her and took her in his arms.

“I’ll find him, baby,” he murmured. She knew she should push
him away and get to that killing thing she’d threatened him with just a little
while ago. Hell, she should’ve just killed him and been done with it when she
had her chance. This was just one more reason why she should continue to avoid
men. They made her crazy. But even as she considered what she should be doing,
she couldn’t seem to muster the energy to let go of him. So she held him and
tried to rein in the waterworks. Crying wouldn’t bring Scott back.

She nodded into Brody’s chest as she eased away from him.
She wiped her eyes and faced the other guys in the room. There were more of
them now. “What’s the plan? I mean, I know this just happened, but we have to
do something. Hunter wouldn’t let me call the police until you got here.”

“Roc was already out looking for you, so I called him, told
him to look for Scott,” Colonel said. “Gage is making some calls. I told him to
contact your agent, and he’ll notify the proper authorities. When was the last
time you saw Scott?”

Roxie stepped forward. “He was at my house last night. I
thought he went home, but I’m not sure.”

“Where’s Chad?” Bear asked suddenly, and Xan didn’t miss the
way Roxie’s eyes lit up at Bear’s attention.

“He was sleepin’ when I left.”

“Go get him,” Colonel ordered.

Xan saw Roxie turn to leave as Bear watched her closely.

“Tell me how you found that photo.”

Xan looked at Colonel with narrowed eyes. What did that
picture have to do with Scott being gone? She didn’t want to think about that
photo, but she understood why he wanted to know. It couldn’t be a coincidence,
so she tamped down her irritation and relayed the story—without looking at
Brody. Bringing that damn picture back up ignited her anger toward him.

Colonel looked away from her when she’d finished and to the
other guys. “We’ve got to find Dale Adams, Dave Simmons and Jeff Coleman.”

Xan grabbed Colonel’s arm and turned him to face her. “Who
the hell is Dale Adams and why are you looking for Dave Simmons and Jeff
Coleman? They’re former agents, right?”

“Dale Adams is—”

“Brutus,” Colonel cut him off. “I don’t think it’s smart to
go in to this.”

Brody squared his shoulders and started toward Colonel, but
Xan was just as pissed at the blatant dismiss. “I don’t give a damn what you
think, Colonel. We’re talking about my life here. My
son
. So back off or
start talking.”

Brody looked at her. “Dale Adams showed up in town shortly
after you did. We think he’s connected to Collins somehow, but we haven’t been
able to find him.”

“Well, except that one time he and some dude beat the shit
out of us…” Blade said but trailed off at Brody’s warning look. “Never mind,”
he mumbled.

Brody turned back to Xan. “Dave Simmons and Jeff Coleman worked
on your case. We’ve been looking at everyone who could possibly have motive,
opportunity,
balls
to sell you out. Those two haven’t been cleared as
possible suspects yet.”

“That’s ridiculous. I haven’t seen or heard from Cole since
the night Marco attacked me. And Dave’s retired.”

“Cole? Is that what Jeff Coleman went by?” Blade asked.

“Yeah.” She shrugged. “He was my primary contact once I was
assigned some agents, but I never met him in person. I didn’t start meeting my
contacts in person until after the trial.”

“So you’ve seen Dave Simmons, then?” Brody asked.

She turned to him and suppressed the urge to fall into his
arms again. She was hurt. But she was scared and looking at him gave her a
little bit of security. She hated that. She did
not
want to feel safe in
the arms of the man who’d killed her daughter. He might not be that same man
anymore, but he couldn’t erase his past—even with amnesia. “Yes,” she said a
little too tersely. “He retired after his wife settled some medical dispute
from some botched surgery. The bills were paid, and she was given a lump sum
for pain and suffering. He was close to retirement anyway, so left to be home
with her.”

“I’ll check that out,” Blade said. “If Simmons’ wife settled
out of court, the doctor could’ve had those records sealed as part of the deal,
which could be why we hadn’t made that connection.”

“And then we’d only have one suspect,” Brody mumbled.

Blade nodded and turned to leave as Roxie came running
through the door, clutching her cell phone. “C-Chad won’t wake up. I’ve called
an ambulance.”

Xan gasped and started for Roxie as she turned to leave and
head back home. Why was Chad not waking up? What had happened to him? Xan was a
nurse, so she needed to check on him and do what she could until help arrived. But
Bear damn near knocked her over as he shoved away from the group of people
circled around each other and bolted through the front door, heading to Roxie’s
house.

Everyone followed suit.

As soon as Xan saw Chad, she went into clinical mode,
checking his vital signs. He was breathing but his heart rate was slow. She
asked Roxie if Chad was allergic to anything as she continued her examination.
From all accounts, he was a healthy boy. Nothing like this had ever happened.

Then she shifted his body and noticed a little dried blood
on his shoulder. There was only a tiny bit, which looked suspiciously like…like
a needle prick. “Oh shit,” she gasped. “I think he was drugged.”

Roxie staggered and Bear caught her, stroking her arm and
murmuring something into her ear that made her breath catch.

“Whoever took Scott must’ve done this,” Colonel said as the
ambulance sirens got louder as it neared the house. No one commented because
there wasn’t a need. It was obvious to Xan that what he’d said was true, so she
knew the others felt the same way.

Bear left Roxie to escort the paramedics in, and everyone
stood back and watched as they loaded Chad on the stretcher. Xan relayed what
she’d discovered while they started an IV. When they carried Chad out to the
ambulance, Roxie started for her car. Then cursed. “My tire’s flat.”

“Again?” Bear asked as he walked over to her.

“What do you mean ‘again’?” Roxie asked, her voice heavy
with suspicion.

Hmm, that was right. Bear hadn’t been at the shop that day
Roxie took her car in. Xan had ridden with her, so she knew this for a fact.
Great. Now she was getting paranoid. Surely one of the other guys had told him
about her car.

“I do get a log of everything done in the shop, Roxie,” Bear
said, clearly reading Roxie’s and Xan’s thoughts since they seemed to have been
on the same page here.

“I’ll take you,” Xan said, walking up to her and rubbing her
arm. Jesus, she was shaking like a leaf. But Xan was probably shaking just as
badly.

“No,” Bear said, slicing his hand through the air with an
aura of finality. “I’ll take her. You have to stay here in case Scott comes
home.”

Xan glared at him, but he was right. She wanted to be with
her friend because that was the nice thing to do and because she felt as if she
were to blame, but inside she was screaming her own agony. Her son was missing
and she needed to comb the streets to find him.

Brody stepped over and rubbed his hand along Xan’s shoulder
and she stiffened. Moving away from him, she walked up to Roxie and hugged her.
“Call me when he wakes up, okay?”

She nodded, pulled away and followed Bear across the street
to his truck. Xan followed because everyone had parked at her house.

After Bear and Roxie had left and Brody, Blade, Hunter and
Colonel had followed her inside, Colonel pulled out his phone again.

“I’m going to call in some help to sweep these two houses
for any clues.”

When Colonel walked back out to make the call, Xan walked
into the kitchen for a glass of water…and to get away from Brody’s probing
eyes. He was watching her as if he expected her to keel over, or run, or shoot
him. Yeah, she was ready to do any of those things, but she couldn’t take being
gawked at. She was under enough pressure as it was.

After getting her water reprieve, she numbly walked into the
living room. Brody and Blade had been whispering, but promptly stopped as soon
as she entered. “Don’t mind me,” she said sarcastically.

“Baby,” Brody breathed.

“Don’t!” Her hands flew up as she cut him off. “Don’t call
me that.”

Brody sighed but nodded.

She squared her shoulders. His pitiful look was not going to
affect her. It. Was. Not. Instead, she looked around the room and noticed a
minor change. “It seems you’re missing a crony.” Hunter was no longer here.

“Yeah, Hunter left to research Jeff Coleman. We still don’t
know anything about him, so anything he finds will be an improvement.”

The front door swung open and Colonel stalked in. Brody and
Blade jumped to their feet. “Roc called. He found the boy. He was sleeping in a
parked car outside Walmart in Conway.”

“Is he okay?” Xan asked timidly.
Oh God, please let him
be okay.

“Roc got him to come to. He said Scott’s still a little
groggy, but he’s talking.”

She walked to the table and grabbed her purse on impulse.
“Is he taking him to the hospital?” She’d just meet them there.

“Yes, but you’re not going.” Colonel stepped up to her and
blocked her exit.

“Bullshit.” She might have reservations about killing Brody
right now because her love for him was still too strong, but she didn’t mind
one bit killing this prick if he kept her from going to her boy. Her
mother-bear instincts were roaring.

“I’ll go with her,” Brody said. “Keep her safe.”

Colonel turned to him. “You can go. Someone needs to protect
him, and I’d rather you do that and let Roc contain the scene until I can get more
people out there since he was the one who found him.” He turned to Blade. “And
I need you to hunt down that Dale Adams asshole. If Dave Simmons’ story checks
out, that’s one less person we have to worry about. We don’t know where the
fuck that Coleman guy is, but we know Adams is here. Find the punk.” He turned
to Xan and took a deep breath. “Help is on the way. Once the feds get here,
they’ll want to question you. Once they’re through with you, you can go see
your son. I’ll stay with you until your agent gets here to make sure you’re
protected.”

Xan hated the idea of staying here when her son was going to
the hospital, but she knew Colonel was right. Jack would want to talk to her
and look around. It didn’t make any sense that Scott would be taken and Chad
drugged. This could be all one big setup. She could go running to her baby boy
right now, but she wouldn’t be any help if Marco got her while she was on her
way to the hospital. For all she knew he was here, sitting back, waiting for
his opportunity to take her. She wouldn’t be any use to Scott dead.

And she didn’t know how to feel about Brody being the one to
protect her son. When he could’ve been the one to kill her daughter. How could
a man take the life of one of her kids but protect the other? She couldn’t wrap
her head around that. Unless Marco still had some crazy-ass idea about having
an heir to take over the family business and was still using Brody to make that
happen. Could Brody be one of Marco’s minions? She didn’t know what to believe,
who to trust. She looked at Brody and his eyes softened. He was staying away
from her, but she got the feeling that he didn’t like it. Too bad. What they
had was damaged and when this mess blew over, she’d probably be literally sick
with the idea of loving a man who’d done something so vile. “Don’t you hurt
him,” she choked.