Wickingham Way (A Harbour Falls Mystery #3) (7 page)

Erin blushed and whispered in a nowhere-near-convincing tone, “It’s not what it looks like, Adam.”

“Uh-huh,” Adam replied skeptically.

I was still by the door and suggested we take the conversation inside, as the snow and winds were picking up.

“Hey,” Adam barked as he placed a hand on Stowe’s shoulder, halting his step across the threshold. The large man bristled, but Adam was undeterred. “You make one wrong move, you’ll be sorry.”

Stowe glanced down at Adam’s now-secured firearm. “You think you’re fast enough?” he taunted.

Adam scoffed, “I don’t need a gun to stop you.”

Stowe rolled back his broad shoulders, and Adam stood up straighter.

The two men, both powerful in their own right, sized each other up. I wondered who would win in a fight. Stowe was slightly taller and bulkier, but I knew Adam’s lean build gave him an edge in quickness. No doubt it’d be a hard-fought battle, one I didn’t care to witness any time soon.

Thankfully, Erin broke the tension when she gave the two men a withering look and stated, “Look, guys, it is fucking freezing out here. Let’s move this dick-measuring contest indoors, all right?”

I giggled a little at her irreverence. I was beginning to like Erin a little more. Her comment got the guys moving too. Stowe stepped into the cabin, and Adam followed, keeping his stormy eyes on his nemesis’s back.

Once we were all settled inside, I offered to make coffee. Adam, though, demanded I stay while he was told how it had come to pass that Stowe was now on the government’s payroll.

“It’s a long story.” Erin sighed. “One we’ve been working on since way before the hit went out on you, Adam.”

“You never mentioned anything,” he retorted. “Shouldn’t I have been apprised of these developments before today?”

“I couldn’t say anything,” Erin insisted. “I hadn’t yet received clearance. When I was told it was okay to let you in on Stowe’s involvement, it wasn’t like I could pick up the phone and call you out here.” She sighed. “Adam, I apologize for everything. I’ve wanted to say something for a long time now. I just…couldn’t.”

There were a lot more details, ones I figured weren’t for my ears, so I excused myself to the kitchen to start brewing the coffee. When I returned to the great room, a tray of four steaming cups in hand, everyone seemed more relaxed with each other. However, I sensed there was another problem at hand. Worry hung in the room, making the air feel heavy. I just knew something bad had happened back in Harbour Falls.

Adam sat on a chair, positioned diagonally to the sofa, where Erin and Stowe were seated close together.

As I approached, Erin glanced at Adam. “We may as well tell Maddy,” she said, her tone sad. “She’s going to find out soon enough.”

With a shaky hand, I set the tray on the coffee table. Stowe reached for a cup, but Adam and Erin remained still.

“Tell me what?” I queried, worried as to what could have possibly happened to have everyone looking so dour.

My eyes met Adam’s, his blues filled with pity.
Huh?

Adam looked away, and Erin stared at Stowe’s cup on the table.

“Well…” I held out my hands beseechingly. “Is anyone going to say anything? What’s going on?”

“You should probably sit down, Maddy,” Stowe said.

Adam shot him a disdainful look, then stood and put his arm around my shoulder. He guided me to the chair he’d been sitting on.

My heart began to race. What was the problem here?

I slumped down to the chair, and Adam knelt down beside me. He held my hand and said, “Maddy, it’s your dad—”

“What? What?” I started to stand, but Adam nudged me back into place.

I grasped and held his arm. “Adam, please, if something has happened to my father, I
have
to go back now.”

A million scenarios ran through my head: heart attack, stroke, accident. But I never would have guessed this one:

“Maddy,” Adam said, “your father has been kidnapped.”

Chapter Five

M
y whole world spun. I was glad Adam had urged me to sit back down.

“No, no, no,” I kept muttering.

“We’ll get him back,” I heard Adam say. “We have to return to Harbour Falls as soon as possible, though.”

“But…we can’t,” I mumbled. “I mean,
you
can’t.”

My mind was a mess. I knew there was some reason why we couldn’t go back, Adam in particular. But what was the reason again?

Oh, that’s right; the hit was still out on Adam. And I, consequently, was in danger too.

But I couldn’t lose my dad. Somewhere along the line, a sacrifice would have to be made. I waited for my eyes to fill with tears, but nothing happened. I felt too numb to cry.

It was then I realized I was slumped in the chair, still in the great room in the cabin, and Adam was still kneeling next to me, trying to get me to take a drink of water.

Oh, jeez. Had I passed out? For how long?

Stowe was leaning forward on the sofa, and Erin was crouched down next to Adam.

Agent Lenehan touched my forehead with a cool washcloth. “Everything will be all right, Maddy,” she said.

I held the washcloth to my head. Erin let go, and I sat up straighter. I took a sip of the water Adam pressed to my lips.

Once I regained my composure, I sat up straight and demanded, “Who took my father? The organization you’ve been dismantling?”

Adam nodded grimly as he set the glass of water on the floor.

“How did this happen, Adam? Why would they take my dad?”

Erin and Adam exchanged a meaningful glance.

Adam exhaled loudly, then said, “Maddy, your father was a soft target, easy to reach. They made a grab for Nate, but he was too hard for them to get to.”

“Nate’s under protection like you?” I asked, even though I suspected that was the case.

“Yes,” Adam confirmed, “as is Helena.”

So, Nate was as involved as Adam in the Wickingham Way project. Not really a surprise there. And Helena being afforded protection was due to her being married to Nate. But my father, who I had worried for since the start of this trouble, had been left to fend for himself. And he’d never even been made aware he was in any trouble.

“Why wasn’t my father protected?” I snapped.

Adam replied, “I’m sorry, Maddy. We had no idea anything like this would ever happen. Not to someone not directly involved with the Wickingham Way project.”

“But Helena and I are under protection,” I argued. “We’re not directly involved. Why would my father be left unprotected?”

Adam sighed. “Decisions were made early on, calculated decisions. We expected Ruslan’s organization to target spouses, girlfriends…but never
their
loved ones. You have to understand, Maddy, the only real threat left out there is Ruslan himself.”

“And a few of his leftover henchmen,” Erin chimed in.

Adam and I glanced at Stowe, and he put up his hands. “Not me. I’ve been out of it for a while now.”

“So, why was my father taken?”

Stowe replied, “Because Ruslan is desperate, Maddy. He’s grasping at straws.”

Suddenly, all my anger, all my frustration, was redirected to the man who’d up until very recently been a part of this damn organization.

“You,” I ground out, eyeing Stowe Hannigan. “This is all your fault, every last bit of it. You—you—you…bastard.”

I couldn’t help myself; my nerves were frazzled. So I launched myself at the one person who maybe could have stopped my father from being taken. Landing squarely on my former neighbor, my small fists began to make contact with his solid form. I hit and hit, pummeling away, until Adam dragged me off of Stowe.

“Shh, shh, Maddy, calm down,” Adam whispered soothingly into my ear while wrapping me up in his arms.

He held me in place as I struggled to escape. “Let me go,” I panted, ready to attack whoever was near.

When I finally calmed down, I glanced at Stowe. He appeared contrite but completely unharmed from all my punches. The only injury was the one to his jaw—still swollen from the punch Adam had thrown earlier out on the porch. And in that moment, I recognized that I wasn’t really angry at Stowe. He was just bearing the brunt of my frustration.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled as I cast my eyes downward.

“No need to apologize,” Stowe said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more to stop your father from being taken. But I promise from this point on that I’ll do whatever it takes to rescue him.”

I nodded and relaxed into Adam.

Adam sat down on the chair and positioned me on his lap. I curled up in his arms while he, Stowe, and Erin discussed where Ruslan and his minions may have taken my father.

“I think Ruslan is probably holding Mayor Fitch somewhere in Harbour Falls,” Stowe stated, “or somewhere very close by.”

Erin agreed and added, “Unfortunately, Maddy’s dad was taken from his home, not from his office at city hall, so there’s no video of his capture.”

“That would have been very helpful,” Adam chimed in.

“Definitely. Then, we’d know what”—Erin glanced at me, then quickly away—“condition to expect him in.”

Adam cleared his throat. “It’s very unlikely Mayor Fitch was harmed in any way.”

Adam was saying that for my benefit, I knew it. However, I felt far from confident that my father, if unharmed upon capture, would remain so. I knew this organization had been deadly in its prime. And now the members remaining—ones on the run—were angry. The Wickingham Way project had left their organization in tatters, and they wanted Adam dead because of it. It hurt me to know I would have been the preferred target to lure Adam out of hiding. But I was here at the safe house with Adam. Because of my inaccessibility these evil people had gone after my father after trying, and failing, to capture Nate.

The conversation turned to strategies to employ when we returned to Harbour Falls, which, if all went well, would be by late tomorrow afternoon. Sadly, I didn’t have a thing to contribute.

What could I do except get in the way?

I half-listened to everything Adam, Stowe, and Erin discussed, wishing I had something to add. But what it really came down to was that I just wanted my dad back. I didn’t care how they did it, and I didn’t need to be an integral part. I’d just do whatever was asked of me.

To my dismay, though, the only thing being asked of me at the moment was to make dinner.

“Everyone’s getting hungry,” Adam whispered to me. “Would you mind throwing something together?”

“Of course not,” I replied. And then I went into the kitchen to get started.

When dinner was ready, everyone assembled around the table. But we ate in relative silence. I supposed we were all worn out. Erin and Stowe appeared especially tired, but even Adam seemed weary. Me, I was exhausted, though more mentally than physically.

After dinner, everyone pitched in to clean things up. And then we made our way upstairs to retire for the night.

Adam and I led Stowe and Erin to two separate bedrooms down the hall from where Adam and I slept. Erin turned to Adam as we neared the end of the hall and told him she and Stowe needed only one bedroom.

Adam’s eyebrow rose. “Not what it looks like, eh?” he scoffed, making reference to her earlier comment regarding her relationship—or lack thereof—with Stowe.

Okay, so the two of them had something going on. They were obviously sleeping together.

Adam mumbled something off-color about them sleeping in the same room, and Erin smacked his arm and shot back, “Shut up, Adam.”

To my surprise, despite her comment, Erin didn’t seem angry at all. Adam chuckled, and Erin smiled.

I once would have been jealous of the easy camaraderie Erin and Adam were displaying. But now I valued it. The fact that Adam and Erin worked so well together—and got along like brother and sister—boded well for finding my father. I was relying on their good partnership. And having Stowe on board could only help…I hoped.

Once Adam and I were in our own bedroom, I asked him what he thought about Stowe switching sides. “Do you think he’s legit?”

I tugged the sweater I was wearing over my head and discarded my jeans, leaving me in just a camisole and underwear. “Can he really be trusted?”

Adam stripped down to his boxer briefs. My gaze moved upward, and I watched as the muscles in his shoulders and arms flexed, especially as he pulled the bedding back from the bed.

“I do think his switching-sides is legit,” Adam stated after a thoughtful pause. “I didn’t at first…obviously”—a reference to his attempt this afternoon to shoot Stowe—“but I have to say I felt more sure after speaking with Erin privately. It’s actually a smart move on Stowe’s part—better to side with your enemy than be crushed by it.”

Adam had a point, but…“Can he be trusted?”

Adam shrugged. “I don’t know, Maddy. But Erin sure seems to think so.”

“Is she a good judge of character?” I asked, truly curious.

“Time will tell.”

“That’s not very reassuring,” I scoffed.

Adam sighed. “I’m not supposed to say anything, Maddy, but Erin told me in confidence that Stowe has been on board with the Wickingham Way project for a while now…a
long
while.”

“How long?” I asked, curious since this bit of information could determine just how committed Stowe was to helping us.

Adam held my gaze and replied, “Since December.”

“December…” I echoed as we crawled into bed at the same time, me on one side, Adam on the other.

Huh.
No wonder Stowe had been so kind to me from the first day I’d met him. He’d been looking out for me as far back as January. All because I was with Adam, even though neither Adam, nor I, knew Stowe’s true identity—or intentions—back then.

I am not the bad guy
, Stowe had said to me.

His switching sides must have been what he’d been referring to all along. He knew I’d eventually find out he was an assassin, and he knew word would get back to me that there was a hit out on Adam. He also knew there might never be a way to tell me he was on the good side of the Wickingham Way project.

And that begged the question: Had Stowe purposely left those files out on the table in his dining room? Is that why he’d left his house that morning and stayed away for such a long while? Stowe was quite familiar with my curiosity issues. He had to have surmised I’d go snooping around after what had happened at Willow Point—after Stowe had saved Helena and me from her psycho stepfather.

I’d thought at the time that Stowe was just completing a directive for the criminal organization we mistakenly thought he was with at the time. But perhaps he’d truly been protecting
me
.

Well, in any case, one thing was certain: Stowe on our side was better than Stowe against us. After all, he
was
a calculating killer. Switching to our side didn’t change that little fact. But the question remained: Would Stowe kill to save my father?

That I didn’t know. But I did know my father didn’t deserve to have been pulled into this mess.
I
should have been the one who’d been taken.

“Ruslan chose my dad to lure you out,” I stated, turning to Adam, who was lying on his back.

I suspected as much but wanted confirmation.

“Yes.” Adam shifted so he could face me.

The small lamp by the bed was on, and Adam’s face was bathed in a warm golden glow. I reached over to trail my hand down his cheek. When I reached his jaw, there was the slightest hint of stubble. I cupped him there. “So, you have to put yourself back in danger in order to save my dad?”

The lump that had taken up residence in my throat made it difficult for my words to pass freely.

Seeing how upset I was becoming, Adam gathered me into his arms. “Maddy, Maddy,” he said as I choked back a sob. “I will be fine. We’ll get your father back, even if it means a trade.”

“What?” I glanced up at Adam. “A trade? What trade? Adam, you can’t do that.” My voice went up an octave. “No way. They’ll kill you.”

Adam kissed my forehead. “Let’s not think about it right now, okay? We’ll know more once we’re back in Harbour Falls. We’ll assess the situation then.”

I murmured a halfhearted, “Okay.”

My father was a “situation”; Adam risking his life was a “situation.” I wasn’t sure how I felt about all that, but I did know I wanted to forget everything for just one night—tonight.

“Kiss me, Adam,” I breathed out.

“Maddy…” His hand fisted in my hair as he pulled me closer.

Our lips met in a heated frenzy. Adam seemed as hyped up as I, but I sensed his urgency had more to do with his nemesis, Stowe Hannigan, sleeping down the hall.

If Stowe had been sleeping, though, he wasn’t for long. Things grew noisier and noisier as Adam handled me roughly, hauling me up on all fours.

Foreplay was rushed, but it didn’t matter; I was more than ready. Still, when Adam sheathed himself inside of me to the hilt with one stabbing thrust, I cried out. I felt a mixture of pleasure and pain, but I begged him not to stop. I needed to be taken like this in order to forget. Most of the sex we’d been having at the cabin had been rather tame, gentle, and loving.

Hell with that.

It’d been a while since Adam had behaved so aggressively, so forcefully. But he manhandled me now, his fingers digging into my hips as he held me in place and fucked me raw. His savagery brought me to orgasm again and again.

When Adam came, he flattened me to the mattress with his body. His teeth latched on to my neck as I felt him empty into me. I cried out, but the sound was muffled by the pillow.

Once Adam regained a steady breath, he shifted his weight off of me and made sure I was all right.

I rolled my eyes as he checked my body. “I’m fine, Adam.” I sighed, feeling perfectly contented.

Adam’s fingers lingered where he’d left a light bruise mark on my hip. “I’m sorry,” he said, his lips kissing the mark tenderly.

I insisted again that I was fine, and I was. I’d wanted things rough, same as Adam.

“I’ve had worse bruises from bumping into furniture,” I told him, my words true.

“Still,” Adam muttered.