Vengeance (Oak Grove Suspense Book 1) (31 page)

“Let’s look for a door to the bunker. The entrance could be in the floor,” I say, as I start to move things out of the way.

“Here!” Paul calls. He’s in the back corner of the building and there’s a trap door under a shelf. We move it out of the way easy enough, but there’s a pad lock.  “There might be a key or something we can use to cut through it.” He starts to look around and I do the same.

“Got it,” I tell him. I hold up a pair of wire cutters and snip right through the lock easily. Paul stands with his gun raised and ready as I open the hatch.

“Clear.” We shine our lights down into the hole. There’s a ladder, but its pitch black down there. “We going in?”

“Yeah, let’s just see what’s down there.” He nods and slowly descends the ladder. It’s nothing but a root cellar. “Well, that was anticlimactic. It doesn’t look like there’s another way out of here either. 

“It’s empty?” I ask.

“Not exactly. There are shelves lining all the walls. It’s dirt except for the floor and part of one wall. There are old jars of food and some empty wooden boxes, but other than that, I don’t see anything. There’s nothing that would lead to a door or path to the bunker.”

“All right. Let’s get out of here.”

A shout calls my attention outside. I see Paul clear the door and hurry out of the building to see what’s happening. Shayla is running to the opposite side of the house near the garage and Tom is chasing after her. I follow.

“Shayla!” Tom shouts.

She stops almost to the edge of the garage. “I have to find him.”

“Shay, baby. We’ll find him.” I’ve made it past Tom and I’m almost to her, when hands reach out and grab her. “Shayla!” I run after her. I skid to a stop as I round the corner. Mathis has her pressed to him with a gun to her head.

He smiles at me. “Perfect timing, Ryan.”

“You promised not to hurt me. I’m family,” Shayla tells him. I’m surprised by her bravado.

He laughs. “Well, your husband is delusional. Besides, the marriage license won’t be filed until morning. And I do believe that Ryan foiled my cousin’s plan to consummate, so you’re not family yet.”

“You know Trevor won’t see it that way,” she tells him.

He squeezes her tighter, making her squeak in pain. Tom, Paul, and I have our guns trained on him. One wrong move and he’s dead. He’d be dead if Shayla wasn’t in his arms right now.

“Let her go, Mathis. It’s me you want.” I’m hoping I can buy some time, or he will move just a few centimeters so I can have a clear shot and end this.

“No, it’s her I want. I want her to pay for everything you’ve done to me. You’ve ruined my life, Ryan.”

“You did that yourself.”

He laughs. “No, you’re the one who slept with my wife and wormed your way into my circle of trust. You’re the one who took down my organization. But you know what? You didn’t stop us. We still have plenty of people who are loyal. So loyal that they’ll do anything I ask, no matter what the consequences are.”

“Mom!”

The sound of my son’s distraught voice makes me automatically turn my head. Dylan is being dragged away by four huge men. Where are my people?

“Dad!” I start to move to him, but I need to get Shayla.

By the time I look back to Mathis, he is dragging Shayla away. I aim and fire. It hits him in the thigh. I pray to God that he bleeds out. He falls, taking her down with him, but before I can reach them, he’s up and firing at me. I duck behind a tree as a bullet whizzes by. I hesitate on firing back, afraid I’ll hit Shayla. When I look again, he’s gone. I call over my com, not worrying about procedure.

“Mathis has Shayla. I repeat, Mathis has Shayla. I’m going after them.”

Marsh comes back. “They got away with Dylan. We couldn’t get a clear shot without injuring him.”

I curse and kick several trash cans over. I don’t know what to do; go after my son or my girlfriend. Each would want me to get the other first, but I know Shayla would kill me if anything happened to Dylan because I was saving her. Growling, I take off running toward where my son was last seen.

“What happened?” I ask Marsh.

“We were able to subdue all targets except for the four who had Dylan. They made it around the outbuilding and disappeared. I’ve confirmed with Riley that no vehicles have left the property.” 

“So they went into the bunker. Paul and I searched all over and couldn’t find a door.”

Marsh claps a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll find him. Let’s go talk to Daniels and see if we can get answers.”

Talking to that man is the last thing on earth I want to do, but to find my son, I’ll do anything. Trevor is sitting in one of the chairs on the porch. It looks like they gave him pants and shoes, but he’s shirtless and shivering. Good. Freeze, psycho.

“Where’s the bunker entrance, Trevor?” I demand, punching him in the face. Marsh grabs my arm before I can land the second blow.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Trevor’s head rolls around lazily. He looks close to death, but he’s been patched up by the medic so it’s most likely drugs.

“Yes, you do. You built this place. There’s no way you wouldn’t know there’s a huge bunker under the ground.” I try to punch him again, but Marsh and Linc restrain me.

“Oh, that. It’s not a bunker. It’s just the old foundation of the house that was here before. It was a basement.” Trevor yawns and blinks his eyes widely, trying to stay alert.

“I don’t care what you call it. How do you get to it?”

“You can’t. It’s sealed off.” His head falls forward. He’s passed out. I growl and punch him before anyone can stop me.

“He’s lying. There has to be a way in. They didn’t just disappear.”

Tom and Paul come around the side of the house, panting. Tom is holding his arm as blood seeps out between his fingers. I run over to meet them.

“What happened?”

“Mathis shot me. I’ll be fine, but I need to see the medic.”

Paul and I help Tom over to the medic and once I make sure he’s really okay, I turn to Paul

“Where’s Shayla?”

“They went behind the garage, but disappeared. There has to be an entrance to the bunker somewhere close. People just don’t disappear. “

“No, they don’t. We have to find them soon.”

I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose Shayla and Dylan. Especially, after having Shayla in my arms. I will find out where my family is and I will bring them home safely if it’s the last thing I do. 

Shayla

After Ryan leaves to find Dylan, I slump down into the kitchen chair. I’m so tired. I haven’t slept in over twenty-four hours, which isn’t an unusual thing for a doctor, but with all the trauma I’ve recently suffered, it has left me almost useless.

Tom pushes my hair back on my forehead gently. “Nasty bump you have there. Do you need me to find a medic?” He asks as he sits in the chair next to me.

“No, I’m pretty sure I have a concussion, but it’s not that severe. I’m alert. I’ll get checked out after this is all over. Right now, I just want to know Dylan is safe.”

“I’m sure Ryan will find him, sweetheart.”

He squeezes my hand; making the ring Trevor gave me dig slightly into my middle finger. I jerk my hand away and pull the offending piece of jewelry off, laying it on the table.

“He really forced you to marry him?”

My father’s face is so sad. He’s seen me go through so much. I wish I could tell him that I wasn’t hurt and that everything was all right, but he’d obviously never believe it considering my current state.

“Yeah,” I finally say sadly. “It was awful, Daddy. He beat Dylan so that I’d cooperate. He used the fear of him hurting Dylan so I’d do what he wanted. I know it’s probably bad for me to say this, but I really hope he’s dead.” Anger flares in me. I’d love nothing more than to shoot him myself.

“I’m sorry you both went through this. Looks like I’ve failed to protect you once again.”

“Oh, no.” I grab his hand. “This isn’t your fault. You’ve always done everything you could for us. Please don’t feel like you’ve failed.”

“I’m glad you’re safe now. Your mother and I have worried non-stop. I was so limited in what I could do. I’ve been out of the game too long, everyone I know is dead or moved on to other things.”

I smile. Ryan really is so much like my father. “Looks like you’re back in now. I think Ryan will flip when he knows you are retired CIA.” I giggle. It feels so good to laugh.

Tom smiles. “Yeah, I’ve dropped a few hints to him. He looked pretty desperate to ask me about it, but we had to go.”

“You’re so mean to him.”

“I’ve gotta be. I didn’t do a good enough job with Todd, so I’m putting up extra effort with Ryan.”

“Dad,” I admonish with an eye roll.  

He laughs. “He’s a good kid, sweetheart. I would have helped you both back then, if you’d told us.”

I regret how I handled things, but back then I thought I was protecting our little family. I couldn’t see a future where Ryan wasn’t going to get carted away and thrown in jail for us loving each other.

“I wish I could go back and do things differently. We probably wouldn’t be here right now if I had made choices other than the ones I did, but Ryan has done so many great things with his life and career, which might not have happened if I’d told him about Dylan when we were younger.”

“Well, none of that matters now. Let’s just focus on your future. I expect more grandbabies to spoil.” He winks.

I can’t even think about that right now. I know what Trevor has done will cause me to need therapy. I’m sure I’ll have nightmares and who knows if I’ll even be able to let Ryan kiss me, much less work on grandbabies. He must sense the change in my mood and touches me on my shoulder.

“Sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to upset you. You take your time and get better.”

“I know. I just don’t know how all this is going to affect my relationship with Ryan. I don’t think I’ll be able to handle it if we can’t work it out.”

“You’ll work it out, sweetheart. That man loves you like no other. He looks at you the way your father looked at your mother. The way I look at Gail. He loves you.”

“I love him too. You know I miss my parents, but you and Gail are my parents too. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to truly see that.”

“It’s all in the past. I can get used to you calling me dad.”

“That’s what you are. You’ve never failed me. You’ve always taken wonderful care of Dylan and me.”

I hug him tightly. He has always been my rock. If it hadn’t been for him, Dylan and I probably wouldn’t have made it through those early years. We sit in silence for a few minutes before curiosity gets the best of me.

“Where’s Trevor?”

“He’s tied up on the front porch. Linc put two police officers out there to guard him and the medic is patching him up. The bullet is lodged near his clavicle.”

“Oh.”

“You’re safe. He can’t get to you.”

I nod. “I know. I was just thinking that I’d like to jab my finger into his wound.”

Tom guffaws. “I’ll take you out there if you want.”

I shake my head no. I’m not ready to see him. A loud disturbance outside has me up and running to the back door. It looks like there are more of Mathis’ men out there and they’re fighting.

“Dylan!” I yell as I whip open the door and run out into the cold. He’s being dragged away.

“Shayla!” I turn to my father.

“I have to help him.”

Ryan is running towards me. Seeing him sends a surge of relief through me, but I still need to save my baby. I didn’t see where the men went with Dylan.

“Shay, baby. We’ll find him.”

He’s almost to me when I’m grabbed from behind and a gun is pressed to my temple. There is a chuckle in my ear and I know exactly who has me. Fear ripples through my body as I try to figure out what to do to get out of this mess.

“Just what I wanted,” he says to me and then turns and shouts a bit louder. “Perfect timing, Ryan.”

I’m not going to lie, I’m terrified, but he made a promise and I remind him of that. “You promised not to hurt me. I’m family.”

He laughs. “Well, your husband is delusional. Besides, the marriage license won’t be filed until morning. And I do believe that Ryan foiled my cousin’s plan to consummate, so you’re not family yet.”

I have no idea how he knows that, but the thought makes me sick. His grip tightens and I cry out.

“Let her go, Mathis. It’s me you want.”

Ryan and Mathis go back and forth for a few minutes, but I barely hear them. My concern is for my son. I see him again; the same guys from before are now pulling him towards one of the outbuildings.

“Mom!”

I look at my son, unable to speak with Mathis holding me so tightly. Dylan looks so scared and lost. I fight against Mathis but his grip tightens. Ryan turns to our son and Mathis uses the distraction to pull us away from the group. His grip moves from around my shoulders to my arm, with the gun pointed at my back. I’m not sure how far we run when a gunshot sounds and Mathis screams, knocking us both to the ground.

“He shot me!” he says almost astounded.

He fires his gun back. I try to fight him, but he elbows me in the face, making me see stars yet again. He drags me up and behind the side of the garage.

“I’m so looking forward to killing him.”

“Leave him and Dylan alone and I’ll do whatever you want me to do.”

Mathis fires his gun again. I squat down against the wall and hold my ears to protect them from the noise and pray that Ryan is okay. Mathis grabs my arm and jerks me up.

“Get up.”

He pulls me along to the edge of the woods, right inside the cover of the trees. Why are we out here? I look around but don’t see anything. He bends down, feeling along in the brush until he finds what he is looking for; he pulls open a door and then shoves me inside.  I fall to the floor with a thud. It isn’t a far drop, so I’m not hurt, thankfully, but I’m a little stunned.

“What is this place?”

“One of the hideouts I built.”

“Does Trevor know about it?”

He snorts. “No. He’s been too obsessed with his dream girl to notice anything I did around here. He thinks the bunker is the old foundation from the house that was here a hundred years ago. It took my dad years to complete it and then I added a few more hiding spots here and there. My family is prepared for everything.”

“Is there another exit?”

I’m starting to feel panicky; it’s so small in here. You can’t stand and there’s barely enough room for the both of us. It’s also hard to see anything down here with only his cellphone flash light.

“No. I never got this one finished, that’s where you come in. You’re going to patch up my leg and help me escape.”

“Please, let me go. I want to go home.” I start to cry.

He huffs. “Shut up. I’ll let you go if you help me, but one day when you least expect it, I’ll come back for you.”

“So why should I help you then?” I ask annoyed.

He grins. “Because you can’t help yourself. You’re a do-gooder. It’s in your nature.”

I roll my eyes. “Will you tell me where Dylan is?”

He stares at me for a moment. “Fine, I’ll tell you where the kid is after you patch me up and help me get away unseen.”

“All right, I’ll help you.”

He tosses me a backpack from behind him. “There’s a first aid kit in there.”

I open the bag and pull out a generic first aid kit mostly full of bandages and antibiotic creams, which might help, but the only thing I can use to dig a bullet out with is a pair of plastic tweezers. I do find needles and thread so at least I can sew the wound up, but there’s no numbing agent. Of course, it might be a little satisfying being the one inflicting the pain for a change. I know that’s probably unethical of me, but I don’t care right now.

“This is going to hurt. There’s nothing in the kit to numb the pain.”

“Just do it.” He grabs the discarded backpack and pulls out a bottle of whiskey and chugs it.

“Let me use some of that to sanitize the area.” He rips open his pant leg and pours it on himself, grunting in pain. “It looks like the bullet went clean through. It’s not close to your main artery either. You’ll live.”

“Oh joy. Shut up and fix me.”

I huff. “You know I could just let you bleed to death.”

“I can kill you and then your son will eventually starve to death because they’ll never find him.”

“You won’t,” I say stupidly. I don’t know what it is about this man, but my mouth just flies off the handle when it’s just us.

He laughs. “And why is that?”

I run the first stitch and he hisses in pain. I fight to hide my smile as I continue. “One, because you want to see Ryan suffer. If I’m dead, then he can mourn and move on. Two, I look like your wife. Admit it or not, you really did love her and you probably regret your hasty decision to kill her.”

“Look and act like her, but it doesn’t really matter. I’ll do whatever I have to do to survive, even if that’s killing you. Are you done yet?”

“Yes, I just have to wrap your thigh.”

I hold up the gauze and tape. He motions for me to get on with it and I quickly finish up. I sit back against the wall with my knees up and yawn widely.

“Do you know what time it is?”

“It’s almost six. We need to move soon, or the sun will be up.” He stands testing his leg, then climbs up the short ladder, pushing the trapdoor open. “Get up here. You’re going out first. If you try to run, I’ll shoot you.”

I climb up the ladder and out into the darkness. On the horizon, you can just see the red of dawn starting to rise. In the distance, I can hear voices, but I can’t make out anything clearly.

“It’s clear,” I tell him.

He climbs out and looks around. “Okay, here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to go with me to the next bunker access point. As long as I can get there safely, I’ll let you go.”

“And tell me where Dylan is?”

“Yeah.”

We start walking. He doesn’t bother to aim his gun at me, he just holds onto my wrist and I follow behind him.

“Maybe they found the access to the bunker already.”

He snorts. “They won’t. It’s so well hidden that my men had to have a map and verbal instructions to find them.”

“Where does this access point lead?”

“I’m not telling you that, but let’s just say that by the time they find it, even if you tell them where it is, I’ll be long gone.”

I stare at him for a moment. He’s so sure of himself. I hope his overconfidence leads to his capture, or better yet, death.  We continue to walk for what seems like, at the very least, a mile until finally he points in the distance.

“That’s it.”

We’re so far in the woods that I can’t see the house or hear any chatter. We are really isolated from everyone and I’m starting to worry that I won’t be able to find my way back. The only sounds are the morning birds and insects. It’s creepy. He stops, then bends down to a tree stump and pulls it up. He’s used nature to cover his tracks so well that I’m not sure even a professional tracker could find them. He starts to climb inside and I panic.

“Wait! You have to tell me where to find Dylan and how to get back.”

He stops, only his chest and head remain above ground. “How to get back wasn’t part of the bargain.” 

“Jason, please.”

“I do love to hear you beg.” He smirks and I immediately glare at him. “Fine. He’s in a bunker, one of the unfinished ones. It’s 100 meters into the woods behind the outbuilding.” He starts to climb back down.