In the Air Tonight (36 page)

But the scream—a woman’s scream—stopped him from doing anything more than wounding the enemy, stopping her …

Her?

“Cael … Cael … shit …” Mace’s voice sounded far away. Vivi’s too … Vivi … what the hell was she doing here?

He blinked twice, hard. Looked around, and realized he wasn’t in that underground hole. But he was holding a knife and there was a woman on the ground in front of him. He’d knocked her out cold and taken her weapon, but not before she’d gotten in a nice slash to his neck. A little too close to the carotid for comfort, and he pressed the cloth Mace handed him to staunch the blood flow.

“Cael.” Vivi’s hand was on his shoulder, his chest, even as Mace took the knife he had gripped tightly in his hand. And the nightmare was finally over. His body sagged in relief … except …

Paige
. “Paige was tied up,” he heard himself say.

“Paige is safe, Caleb. You saved her life,” Mace told him, but it was all a rush of words and pictures
and everything was a roar, until he wanted to sit down and cover his eyes and ears until it all went away.

But, with Vivi’s arms around him, he made his way out of the dark woods.

He’d been to hell and back, for sure. They all had. And finally—
finally
—he was on his way out.

M
ace was next to her. Untying her. Gathering her in his arms.

“I’m not going to the hospital, I’m fine,” Paige mumbled against his neck, the bright red around her throat taking the place of the bruises she’d worn when she’d first arrived.

God, he hated seeing her hurt like that. If Caleb hadn’t been outside …

Fuck.

“Sorry, Mace. Shouldn’t have come out here by myself. Was looking for Cael … You were right,” Paige murmured.

“It’s okay, baby. None of that matters now. Nothing does, except that you’re safe,” he told her.

The area where Paige had been held was now illuminated by headlights and searchlights—they were maybe forty feet into the woods. The doc and Ed had come along with a stretcher and handcuffs and Mace lifted Paige off the ground, held her in his arms.

“Who the fuck are you?” Mace demanded after the woman was placed on the stretcher. “Who sent you?”

“Harvey,” she spat. He didn’t believe her. That didn’t make sense on any level.

He didn’t realize Paige was looking at her too. He
heard her gasp and looked to see her pressing her fist against her mouth.

“You know her?” Mace demanded.

“She … it’s Carole Ann.”

The one she’d worked with at the hospital. The one she’d trusted. Connecting this with Vivi’s suspicions, it all clicked into place. “She visited your brother using a hospital patient’s ID,” he explained. “That’s why her name isn’t on the list.”

She stared at Mace. “She said I didn’t know about family. She thought Caleb was Jeffrey, coming to get us.”

“You know about family, Paige.”

She looked pale as hell as he walked her out of the woods and toward the open doorway of the back room, where Vivi was leading Caleb. And then the doc was behind them, telling Ed to take Carole Ann to the hospital and telling Caleb he’d need to go too and maybe get a transfusion.

Caleb was looking a little pale and Mace made a mental note to make sure his friend didn’t deny treatment.

“I’ll need to take a statement from Caleb and Paige,” Ed called before they went inside.

Mace nodded, walked Paige inside and set her down on his desk. Doc went to her and started to examine her, despite her protests.

The raised ligature mark along the smooth skin of her neck made Mace freeze.

She caught the movement from the corner of her eye and immediately called to him. “Mace, I’m okay.”

Her words echoed but didn’t register. Because he’d
almost lost her and hadn’t realized how much he cared for her until that happened.

Well, he’d known, but he hadn’t wanted to admit it to himself.

“Mace, please, say something.” She was next to him now, and he grabbed her palm in his and let the force of that gesture speak for itself.

She gasped, low, eyes wide, and then … and then she smiled through the tears. She hugged him, her hands drifting everywhere … his face, his hair, his neck.

It was going to be all right. He knew it too.

He loved her. And as he hugged her tightly, her palms came up to his neck, touched him. And she whispered, “I love you too,” against his neck.

M
ace let Doc finish with Paige when Caleb sought him out. The confused look in his eyes was gone, replaced with a fire Mace knew all too well.

“I remembered. Everything,” Cael told him as they sat in the corner at one of the tables, a bottle of whiskey and two shot glasses between them that Doc had shoved there earlier. So far, they remained untouched.

“Tell me,” Mace said, because as much as he hated living in the past, there were pieces of that night he needed filled in as well.

“I didn’t get to Gray in time, I went to Reid—he was unconscious but he had a pulse. I left him to find you and … shit, you were lying on your back on a mattress on the floor, bleeding out from your neck … just like Gray. But then your eyes opened and everything changed.”

“You were still carrying the knife.”

“I was. I dropped it and came to you and I heard a voice—calling our names—and I just ran with you. I told them where to find Reid and then … that’s where it becomes a blur again.” Cael shook his head.

“From what they tell me, you were pretty out of it. The drugs and the adrenaline crash knocked you out pretty good,” Mace explained. “We got on the chopper and I think we both passed out around the same time. The DMH guys had OD’d you. If the rescue team had been any later …”

But they hadn’t been. Led by Kell and Noah, they’d gotten there in record time—thanks to Caleb’s signal—he’d shot off a flare. Somehow, he’d been enough in his right mind to do that.

“I just keep thinking, if I’d been quicker. A few minutes sooner …”

“The coroner said Gray was cold, Cael. He’d been dead for hours. Maybe a full day. There was nothing you could’ve done. You were waiting to take your chance.”

It was true. He’d been lucky to wake up at all. They’d never meant him to, had tried—and failed—to turn him into some kind of monster.

“You saved me then. Just like you saved Paige tonight. And Vivi, before that. I hope to hell I never have to return the favor, but I would,” Mace said. Cael heard the swell of emotion behind his voice and leaned forward to clap his hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“We go forward from here,” he said.

“Forward,” Mace repeated, and he meant it.

——

P
aige slept a little—she’d made Doc only give her half a dose of pain meds because she didn’t want to be out of it. She was still too on edge and the thought of sleeping made her uneasy.

It was still crazy downstairs. She heard the chaos, clear as day, but it was comforting. She wasn’t alone. But was she finally safe?

According to Vivi, Carole Ann had been the mastermind, putting Adrienne up to following Paige here—Vivi had managed to break into a password-protected message board as well as the women’s email addresses. The police in various states had been notified of the other women Carole Ann had messaged as well, although they couldn’t do anything unless they actually committed a crime.

She crawled out from under Mace’s comforter, still a bit groggy and disoriented. She hadn’t yet wrapped her mind around the fact that the woman who had been the closest thing she’d had to a friend in years had set her up like that.

The poor thing was delusional too—waiting for Jeffrey to arrive in the woods like that.

Carole Ann knew who you were all along
.

She shook that thought from her mind, unable to deal with it now. Instead, she padded to the bathroom. She’d changed out of her wet clothes into a fresh pair of sweats when she’d come upstairs, since her clothes had been covered in blood and mud.

According to Ed, they were evidence. So they were in a pile on the bathroom floor, waiting for him to retrieve them.

She stared into the mirror—the ligature mark was raw, red … so fresh. All she should’ve felt was relief.

But she didn’t.

You’re still hyped up
. Probably an adrenaline thing, a refusal to crash yet. As she splashed her face and neck and wrists with cold water, she tried to convince herself of that.

Carole Ann had been watching her for the past several months. Jeffrey had told her what to do and when to do it. Love could make people do strange things but coupled with her brother’s ability to manipulate, his girlfriend’s love had been twisted beyond the pale.

And again, so much blood had been spilled because of her. More guilt that she would need to carry with her—another mess she couldn’t clean up before it overflowed onto innocent people.

Dizzy, she sat on the closed toilet seat and dropped her head between her legs.

It’s not over
.

Unsure from where—or why—that thought came to her, she glanced at the wet, bloody clothing and saw something sticking out of one of the back pockets of her jeans. She leaned forward and reached in to pull out a small medal, similar to the one Arthur had been holding when he’d been killed.

It’s not over, Paige. It’ll never be over. Not as long as I have breath in my body
.

She was holding another one of Jeffrey’s St. Christopher medals and repeating his words—his thoughts—out loud. She dropped the medal and it landed on the tile floor with a swift clatter.

That noise ended quickly. The noise inside her head didn’t follow suit. Couldn’t.

She’d touched evil again and again. It had seeped in slowly, relentlessly, and it was refusing to leave. But even though she’d made peace with the fact that she’d never be normal, she didn’t want Jeffrey’s legacy to follow her forever.

She stood and headed out, swung the bathroom door open and stared. There was no shock or surprise at what was on the other side of it. Only numbness about what was to come.

How much more could she endure?

It’s not over
.

“It’s not over till I say it’s over,” Jeffrey said, with just the trace of a smile.

T
he chaos was finally waning. Reid packed Cael, Vivi and the doc into Mace’s truck to take them to the hospital, after Doc assured Mace that Paige was fine.

“Medical professionals make the worst patients. Second only to soldiers,” he said with a smile as they drove off.

Keagen had gotten the last of the people out of the bar and was currently parked at the bottom of the main road, stopping any more curious visitors. He told Ed he’d wait for the state troopers and would escort them up to the bar.

And then Mace’s phone rang, and Ed was telling him, “There’s a problem.”

“Another one?” Mace muttered.

“You haven’t checked your phone,” Ed continued. “The warden’s been trying to reach you. Jeffrey’s escaped.”

“Escaped how?”

“He was complaining of abdominal pain—the nurse on staff at the hospital was convinced his appendix had burst. Once inside the hospital, he managed to get out,” Ed explained. “He had a gun and they think the nurse was in on the escape. They can’t find her either. The hospital went into lockdown while they searched for both of them. They didn’t find Jeffrey, but they found the nurse a mile away. She’d been killed.”

“By Jeffrey,” Mace said.

Ed nodded. “That’s the theory anyway. The warden called the station a few hours ago—he didn’t want this to get out and cause a panic.”

“So Jeffrey could’ve been in the woods, just like Carole Ann said.”

“Yes. You’re at risk.”

“No,” Mace said evenly. “He’s at risk. Let him try something. It’ll be the last time you’ll have to deal with him. I promise.”

“I have to stay at the hospital with Carole Ann until the state police come to collect her,” he said. “Will you and Paige be all right there?”

“We’d probably be safer at a hotel or something, but I don’t want to risk being on the road with him on the loose,” Mace said.

“Maybe Keagen can ask a few of his OA friends to keep watch around the property,” Ed suggested. “I’ll talk to him. In the meantime, you’d better break the news to Paige. And lock up.”

When Ed left, it was finally dead quiet. Mace locked the doors and set the alarm—he’d sent Reid off with a set of keys so that he could get inside later. But for now, he didn’t need anyone dropping in unannounced.

He grabbed his Sig and tucked it into the back of his jeans. And then he headed up the stairs to talk to Paige.

That’s when the quiet began to unnerve him.

He looked, noticed that the bathroom door was open and the light was on. Was about to close the door when he spotted a glint in the corner on the tile. Walked over and found himself staring at a St. Christopher medal.

He picked it up and turned it over in his fingers. It was similar in size and shape to the one he’d found the other day … but it wasn’t the same. That medal was at Ed’s station, locked away as evidence.

Paige’s words echoed in his ears.

He was a saint—and then they took that away. That made him really angry
.

Jeffrey was still angry.

He moved silently, checking all the rooms, knowing he wouldn’t find Paige there. He kept calm, as per his training, tamping down the panic in favor of action. There was no way for Jeffrey to sneak her down the stairs during the chaos. Which left one place.

Mace’s favorite hiding spot when he first moved here.

He was pretty sure Jeffrey would’ve brought Paige up the side steps.

He was also pretty sure Jeffrey wouldn’t have known about the side hatch door that led through the crawl space.

There was no time to call anyone and so Mace undid his boots and took off his socks, and—moving as silently as he did through jungles—he crept toward his prey.

Besides, this time, he wasn’t helpless. He would make Paige’s nightmare go away, once and for all.

——