All Due Respect (27 page)

“You shouldn’t have run away from me. Especially not to Seth Holt.”

She cocked the receiver so both she and Seth could hear. “What do you want?” she asked Karl.

“I want you. You’re my wife, Julia.” He paused, and when she didn’t say anything, he added, “Evidently, you’ve forgotten that, but I’ve found a reminder for you so you won’t forget again.”

“I’m not your wife.” She leaned against Seth, grateful for the feel of his arm around her. “Not anymore.”

“You’ll come running to me, sugar. That’s a promise.”

“I can’t imagine how.” He had to be suffering delusions—or planning a new version of hell he felt confident of dragging her through.

“Didn’t you find the present I left for you?” Karl let out a humorless laugh. “Ah, never mind. Hold on a second.”

The line went silent. Julia cast a fearful look at Seth. Then she heard a weak little voice.

“Dr. Julia?”

Jeff! God, how she prayed Camden had listened. But he hadn’t. And now Karl had Jeff. Her knees went weak. Frantic, she squeezed Seth’s side.

“Stay calm,” Seth mouthed, holding her tighter. “Be strong for him.”

Her pulse pounded in her ears so hard she had to struggle to hear. “It’s me, honey. Are you all right?”

He sniffled, then began crying. “I’m … scared.”

Julia’s heart slammed into her throat. “Is he the mean man?”

“Uh-huh.”

Seth talked into the phone. “It’s okay, buddy. We’re going to help you.”

Karl came back on the line. In the background, she heard Jeff crying. “Shut up, kid,” Karl said. “You still there, Julia?”

“I’m here.” Her arm muscles went into riot. Clenching her teeth, she leaned heavily against Seth. “Karl, do not hurt that child. I mean it.”

“Well, I’d say his safety is up to you, sugar.”

Cocky bastard. The spasms intensified. “What do you want?” She hissed in air, fighting against the pain, and Seth began massaging her arm.

“Meet me in two hours at Holt’s cabin.” Karl paused to yell at Jeff. “Come alone, Julia, or I’ll kill this squalling kid—and bring me everything on Home Base.”

Julia stared into Seth’s eyes. She’d been right; Karl was connected. Seth nodded for her to agree. She blinked hard. “Will Jeff be there?”

“Yeah, he’ll be there.” Karl dropped his voice, deep and menacing. “Don’t hold out on me, Julia. I want it all. Everything you’ve got on it.”

“Why involve Jeff in this?” she asked. “He’s just one of my students.”

“Don’t try to con a con, sugar.” Karl guffawed. “You love the brat. Your mistake,” he said. “You promised to love me, but you lied. Now, you’re gonna make it right with this Home Base stuff, or everyone you love is gonna die.”

Julia clutched at Seth’s side, knowing Karl meant it. He would kill everyone who mattered to her.

Everyone.

Jeff and Seth.

A pin dropping in Julia’s apartment would have sounded like a brick of C-4 exploding.

She stood in the kitchen with the phone in her hand, glaring at Matthew and Seth, certain both men had been invaded by idiot aliens. “Look, I don’t give a damn what either of you say, I’m -calling Camden. Jeff is his son. He has a right to know the child has been kidnapped.”

“This is my fault.” Seth leaned a shoulder against the door frame and crossed his chest with his arms. “I knew he was a latchkey kid. I knew it. But I thought in his neighborhood, he’d be okay. I thought with Grace PD watching him, he’d be safe.”

“No one Karl Hyde targets is safe, Seth.” Julia let some of the steam seep from her voice. “But you couldn’t know that. It’s not your fault he got Jeff. I warned Camden that Jeff had been threatened. If anyone’s to blame, it’s me. I knew Karl was going after Jeff and I didn’t get him out of there myself.”

Seth gave her a negative nod. “No, I knew Camden was abusing him. I saw the bruise. I should have gotten him out of there.”

“Bruise?” Julia clamped the phone in a death grip. “What bruise?”

“The one Camden gave Jeff.”

“Oh, God.” Julia turned her back to Seth and Matthew

and began dialing. “How dare that bastard hit Jeff? How dare he?”

“Hold it a second.” Matthew hit the hook button. “You calm down before you call anyone.”

“Calm down?” Julia guffawed, feeling as if the top of her head were going to explode. “He bruised Jeff and you want me to calm down?”

“Yeah, I do.” Matthew paused and the look in his eyes showed both his own anger and his understanding. “You call Camden, making accusations, and you’re liable to make things worse.”

Julia tried to be rational, to hear Matthew with her head, but her heart wouldn’t let her. “Jeff is not going back to that man. Ever.”

“We’ll deal with that,” Matthew said. “But first—”

Julia glared at Seth. “You should have told me.”

He lifted his hands in supplication. “You would have cried.”

That had to be the most ridiculous remark ever to come out of Seth Holt’s mouth. “I’d cry, so you leave Jeff there to get beaten?”

“I wouldn’t do that. I had no choice but to do what I did, Julia.” Seth walked toward her, where she stood at the wall phone. “I called his social worker. She’s involved, okay?”

The truth hit Julia like a sledge. “You saw the braise. That’s when you sent Jeff to wash his face and you threatened Camden.”

“For Christ’s sake, Seth,” Matthew interrupted, his voice elevating. “Have you forgotten your hands and feet are lethal weapons?”

“I didn’t put a hand on him.” Seth reeled his gaze to his ex-Special Forces team member. “We came to a verbal understanding.”

“Yeah.” Julia grunted. “Camden didn’t hit Jeff again or you’d hit Camden.”

Seth shrugged. “Actually, I said I’d kick his ass, but that’s close enough.”

Matthew’s relief was obvious. “Look, at the moment all of this is academic. Before we can adjust Camden’s attitude toward kids, we’ve got to get Jeff back alive.”

Julia stiffened against the wall. “Karl won’t kill him.”

“How can you be sure?” Seth raked a hand through his hair, more worried than Julia had ever before seen him.

“Because if Jeff is dead, Karl can’t use him to torture me.”

“He could torture Jeff.” Seth looked up from the floor. “Would he torture Jeff?”

“To get to me”—she blinked hard—“he’d do anything.” God, but it hurt to admit it. It hurt even more to know it was true. “Matthew, get your plan together. We’ve got less than an hour.”

She picked up the phone.

“Don’t blow this, Julia.” Matthew’s warning came out low and controlled, but it carried a huge punch. “Jeff will pay the price.”

She swallowed hard, harnessed her rioting emotions and sending them to that place strong emotions belonged, and then dialed the phone.

Camden answered on the second ring, and Julia licked at her lips, her mouth stone-dry. “Mr. Camden, this is Dr. Warner.”

“What is it now, Dr. Hyde?” He sounded exasperated.

“Jeff’s been kidnapped.”

“Don’t you ever give up?” He grunted. “Jeff is playing football at Travis’s house.”

“He’s not.” She stared at the wall above the phone. “My ex-husband just called. He has Jeff.”

Camden grunted. “You’re one crazy lady. Karl hasn’t put a finger on,Jeff.”

Even now he didn’t believe her. Silently screaming, she remembered Matthew’s warning, stared into Seth’s worried eyes, and forced herself to calm down. “I talked to him. He—”

Wait. Wait. Karl?

The truth body-slammed her, and her world spun out of

control. “I’ve—I’ve warned you. That’s all I can do.”

“Whatever.” Camden dropped the receiver.

The dial tone droned in Julia’s ear. She couldn’t make herself move, yet she needed to sit down before she fell. She dropped the phone, lunged at a bar stool and held on.

“Julia, what’s the matter with you?” Seth helped her get on the seat.

She leaned forward, ducked her head between her knees, and forced herself to breathe slow, even breaths. “Dear God.”

“Julia?” Seth stood at her side, placed a hand at her shoulder. “What the hell is it?”

“Camden let Karl kidnap Jeff,” she gasped out. “He let him do it.”

Matthew frowned at Seth. “Did Camden admit that?”

The dizziness subsided. Julia straightened, then slumped over the bar, smoothing her face with a shaky hand. Her left arm was so full of spasms she couldn’t tell when one stopped and the next one started. Grimacing against the intense pain, she told them. “He used Karl’s first name and he denied the kidnapping. They’re working together on this.”

Seth understood and explained to Matthew. “Camden never wanted Jeff. The boy told me only his mother wanted him. Camden never loved him.”

“So Camden gives Karl permission to kidnap his son?” Matthew shook his head, unable to imagine it.

“No.” Seth disagreed. “He gave Karl permission to kill Jeff.”

“Good God.” Matthew frowned. “Wait, I can see it. Karl uses Jeff to manipulate Julia on Home Base and Camden gets rid of his unloved burden and never dirties his hands.”

Julia went for her purse, pulled out the .38.

Seth grabbed her arm. “What are you doing?”

Tears rolling down her cheeks, she jerked out of his grasp. “I’m going to kill that son of a bitch.”

Seth took the gun, passed it to Matthew, and pulled Julia into his arms.

She slumped against him. “How could he do this? How could anyone? The man has no soul, Seth.”

“Honey, we’ll deal with Camden. I promise you that. But first we’ve got to help Jeff.”

She pulled back, looked up into Seth’s face. “No, not we. I have to help Jeff. Karl said to come alone or he’d kill him. If I go alone, Jeff’s got a chance.”

“Julia, you can’t do that.”

“I have to, Seth. If I don’t, Karl will kill Jeff. I didn’t think so, but he has Camden’s blessing, and I’d have the guilt—forever. Karl knows it. He will kill him. How am I supposed to live with that? I can’t live with that.”

“Honey.” Seth softened his voice, hoping to soften the blow, and stroked her hair back from her red-rimmed eyes. “Karl plans to kill Jeff, anyway.”

“I know that, damn it. Don’t you think I know that? I have to stop him. I have to try, Seth.”

Matthew cleared his throat, interceded. “I agree with Julia, Seth. She’s got to go in alone.”

“What?”

“She’s Jeff’s best shot.” Matthew reached for the phone.

Seth disagreed, but he recognized the signs. Things were not as they seemed. Matthew was trying to save Jeff and Julia’s life, and he’d have to do it in spite of her. “Who are you calling?”

“Colonel Kane. He’s working the AID angle of this operation. For what I’ve got in mind, we’re going to need a little assist.”

No one brought in the Air Intelligence Defense for a “little assist.” Julia pulled away from Seth. “What exactly do you have in mind?”

Matthew’s eyes gleamed. “A covert operation to extricate Jeff and take Karl down.”

“No.” Julia put her foot down. “I’m the reason Jeff is in this situation and Karl will know I’m not alone. I won’t risk it. You listen to me, Matthew, because I swear I’ll shoot anyone who gets between me and that baby.”

“Would you stop threatening to shoot people?” Seth

frowned at her. “Look, let’s talk turkey. You go in alone, your odds of getting Jeff and yourself killed are about ninety-nine percent. With Kane’s Special Forces assisting, we stand a chance of getting him and you out.”

Unconvinced, Julia persisted. “What are the odds on that?”

Matthew answered. “A hell of a lot better.”

Ignoring Matthew’s cryptic answer, she turned to Seth and lifted a questioning brow.

“I don’t know. But they’re trained specialists, Julia. They’re better equipped and they’re not emotionally involved. You go into situations like this with your emotions engaged, you get killed. You get other people killed—usually, the ones you’re trying to save. You’ve got to shut down. That’s a fact.”

She folded her arms over her chest. “Speaking from experience?”

“Yeah, I am.”

Surprised he’d admitted it, she sighed. “Are you going to be on that team?”

He nodded.

“Well, we’re screwed then.” She frowned at Seth. “When it comes to Jeff, you’re as emotionally involved as I am. So where does that leave us—and our baby?”

“I’ll shut down, Julia. I’ve had plenty of experience.”

He was talking about his family. “Haven’t we all?”

Matthew hung up the phone. “Let’s go. Colonel Kane’s meeting us at the OSI office in ten minutes. He’s scrambling a team.”

ANTHONY sat on the veranda, staring out over the gardens. Not much was blooming, but the evergreens gave him a sense of peace and solitude absent in his life lately. This whole matter was about to blow up in his face. He knew it as well as he knew his name. As well as he knew Hyde was out of control.

Killing Hyde wouldn’t stop it. Not now. Not with the boy involved, and not with Anthony missing the deadline

to transfer the technology to his Eastern associate, as promised.

Nothing would stop it now.

“Anthony.” His mother touched his shoulder, then walked around to his side. “We need to talk, darling.”

Roger had gone to her. She was twisting her pearls. “About what, Mama?” Anthony saw the worry in her eyes and the resolve. Inescapable. It was the beginning of the end.

“Elise tells me you aren’t sleeping. And your daughter looks at you and cries.”

“Why?”

“Have you checked a mirror lately, son? They’re terrified. You look like death.” Daisy sat down beside him and her pink skirt flared around her calves. She clasped his hand. “I don’t know what your challenges are, but I do know that you must pull yourself together. If you learned nothing else from your father, you should have learned that a leader doesn’t have the luxury of falling apart during crises. Too many others depend on you.”

“I am not falling apart, Mother,” he said stiffly.

“I’m glad to hear it.” She paused, then went on, her resolve even stronger. “I’ve buried a lot of people I’ve loved, Anthony. I refuse to bury you, too.” She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a prescription bottle. “Dr. Stanley recommends these for you.”

“Drugs and alcohol are not permitted. Not to the chairman. You know that, Mother.”