Dangerous Abduction (O'Connor Brothers Book 2) (25 page)

“Do you need a hug?”

Marina nodded and knelt on the floor in front of him as his small arms wrapped around her neck. She closed her eyes and tried to hold back the tears. She didn’t want him to see her cry. He was trying to make her feel better, and if she was crying it would upset him.

“That’s from me and Danny,” he whispered against her cheek, and she couldn’t stop the tears anymore. They rolled down her cheeks as she hugged Mason tightly against her, and he didn’t flinch. It was as if he had some sort of instinct that Marina needed to just hold him for a while.

“Thank you, Mason.” She kissed the top of his head and he put his head on her shoulder. When she opened her eyes, James was standing in the kitchen with his hands in his pockets. The glistening in his eyes said he was moved by his son’s concern. She’d grown to love this child as much as her own.

“Mason.” James’ voice cracked as Mason turned around. “It’s time for bed, buddy. You go get ready, and I’ll be up to tuck you in.” Mason gave her another hug and she couldn’t hold the tears back anymore.

“Don’t cry, Auntie Marina. Danny’ll be home soon. I know he will.” He seemed so sure and she wished she had his confidence.

“I hope you’re right, sweetie.” Marina kissed the top of his head and he ran out of the kitchen. She stood and turned back to the window. James walked up behind her and wrapped his strong arms around her. She knew he was missing Danny, too because she’d saw him staring at the flyers his family made. It was as if he was willing the picture to tell him something. Marina turned into his arms and pressed her cheek against his chest. His hands stroked her back and she closed her eyes.

A few minutes went by, and she heard Mason call out from upstairs. James kissed the top of her head and she felt the loss immediately. The cold thoughts entered her head again. She couldn’t think the worst, but sometimes her mind just went there. Would she ever see her son’s smiling face again?

Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she frantically fished it out. She glanced at the screen and although she loved her parents, she was disappointed that it wasn’t someone telling her they’d found Danny.

“Hi, Mom.” Marina held the phone to her ear.

“Is there any news on your end?” her mother asked.

“Not yet.” Marina sighed as she stared out of the window.

“He’ll be home soon, honey.” As positive as her mother was trying to sound, Marina could hear the doubt.

“What if Marc’s not taking care of him?” Marina didn’t know where the tears were coming from but they’d started again.

“I can’t believe he’d do anything to hurt his own son. He’s just trying to hurt you, honey.” That wasn’t all he wanted and she knew it. Marc wanted something but she had no idea what it was.

“I hope you’re right, Mom.” Marina wiped the tears from her cheeks.

“If you need anything let us know.” Janet said. “Your father is out with Sean and Kurt searching the woods.”

Marina hadn’t even realized they were still searching since it was snowing and dark. “I hope they’re not too deep in the woods because the snow is starting to get heavy out here.” Marina said.

“I’m sure they’ll be smart enough to get in out of the weather.” Janet said and Marina shivered. The thought of Danny being out in bad weather with someone he didn’t know was making her want to throw up. She tried hard to keep the contents of her stomach down and talked to her mother for a few more minutes. Her mother ended the call just after her father had arrived home. Janet wanted to find out if Doug had found out anything. Marina wanted to know, too, but when she was about to ask her mother to talk to him, she heard James yelling.

J
ames sat on Mason’s bed reading but he noticed his son kept glancing at Danny’s bed. Mason had to be missing Danny so much. The boys were like two peas in a pod. They did everything together, especially since Marina moved in but over the course of the last day or so, Mason had become really quiet.

James was almost finished the book when Mason took it from his hand and crawled onto his lap.

“Daddy, if someone told you to keep a secret but the secret was something that could make everyone happy again, would you tell?” The expression on Mason’s face had James hair standing on end.

“What are you talking about, buddy?”

Mason seemed to be struggling with his thoughts as he stared at Danny’s bed.  

“Mason, is there something you need to tell me?” Mason jumped down from his lap and walked to Danny’s bed. He glanced at James for a moment and then got onto his hands and knees and pulled something from under Danny’s bed. When Mason stood up, he was holding a small box about the size of a ring box. He held it in his hands as he stood in front of James.

“You can tell me anything, Mason, you know that?”

He put it in James’ hand and put his hands behind his back. James opened the box and inside it contained a piece of paper with a key. James opened the paper and on it was instructions to opening something with the key and a phone number.

“What’s this, Mason?”

Mason crawled onto the bed, but he kept his head down. He still seemed to not want to break Danny’s trust.

“Mason, if you know what this is, you need to tell me,” James said firmly and when Mason glanced up at him, and James felt terrible for raising his voice. Mason’s lower lip stuck out like it always did when he was about to cry.

“I’m sorry, buddy, I didn’t mean to raise my voice. It’s just this could be really important and I know you promised to keep a secret, but this could help us bring Danny home.”

“Daddy, ‘member when the man took Danny at the park?”

James nodded.

“He gived Danny that box and told him that he needed to find a box with a lock on it that Auntie Marina had and it belonged to the man. He said Danny had to open the box with that key and when he got all the stuff in the box he had to phone him on that number.” James’ mouth hung open as he listened to what his son was telling him.

“Did Danny give him the things in the box?” James was trying to stay calm but the phone number could lead them to Marc and Danny.

“No, ’cause we couldn’t find it. I even helped him but we couldn’t find any box with a lock, and Danny was ’fraid to ask his mommy because the man said she’d be real mad.” Mason huffed out a long breath. “Daddy, did I help?”

James smiled at Mason and kissed the top of his head. “I hope so, buddy. Thanks for telling me, but you need to get some sleep.”

Mason snuggled down in the bed and yawned. He seemed relieved to have it off his chest.

“Goodnight, buddy.”

“You don’t have to sing the tough boy song tonight, Daddy. I’ll wait until Danny’s home.” Mason closed his eyes, and James hurried from the room.

James wasn’t sure if the key and number was going to help find Danny, but at least they had an idea of what Marc wanted. James just wanted to know what was in the box. He bounded down the stairs two at a time, calling out to Marina.

“What’s wrong?” She was still in the kitchen in front of the window.

“I need you to think really hard about this. Do you still have anything belong to Marc? Like a box that this key would unlock?” James held up the key, and Marina stared at it.

“I don’t have anything that belongs to him. When he left I packed everything and he had one of his friends pick it up. Anything that was left, Dad stored for me.” Marina took the key and studied it. “But this key looks familiar. Where did you get it?” James led her to the living room and told her what Mason had said.

“Mason said he and Danny looked for the box but couldn’t find it,” James finished.

“I’ve got no idea what box he’s talking about,” Marina said.

“I’ve got to call Keith and see if he can find out anything from this phone number.” James pulled his phone out of his pocket.

“Maybe you could call Greg and your uncle first and let them know about it.” She stared at the key in her hand as if willing it to tell her something.

Keith arrived not a minute before Kurt and Greg walked into the house. John, Aaron, Nick, Ian, and Mike arrived a few minutes later. Stephanie, Kristy, and Isabelle showed up together and kept Marina company while Keith was on the phone with Sandy, seeing what she could get from the phone number.

James paced the floor and Marina’s phone rang almost every ten minutes because her parents wanted an update. James had stopped answering his phone since Nick started to keep their parents and Nanny Betty up to date. Not that there was much to find out. The phone number they found belonged to a Martin Tapper, but Sandy believed it was an alias Marc was using because the photo ID came up with Marc’s picture. Keith asked her to keep searching for anything and ended the call.

“So the phone number is no help,” Keith said.

“It’s a burner I’m guessing,” John said.

“I’m not sure, but Sandy’s going to do a search on this Martin Tapper alias Marc is using,” Keith said. “She wants me to find out how much Marina knows about Marc’s past. Some of what she can tell us might make the search faster.”

“Is that really necessary?” James knew the answer before he asked the question.

“I’ll try not to upset her,” Keith promised.

James followed Keith out of the kitchen and into the living room where the women were sitting. James didn’t need to look to know that the rest of the men were following as well. Marina met his gaze and he nodded as Keith sat on the coffee table in front of her.

“Marina, I know this is probably going to be hard, but I need to know everything you can tell me about Marc,” Keith said.

“Like what?” Stephanie answered for her.

“Everything you can remember he ever told you about his past.” Keith said. James sat next to her and she immediately leaned into him.

“He didn’t talk much about his past. The only thing I know is his biological parents were killed in a car accident when he was three and he was placed in an orphanage. The O’Reilly’s adopted him when he was four. Mr. O’Reilly was killed in an industrial accident when Marc was eighteen, I think, and Mrs. O’Reilly was so devastated she killed herself just over a year after that. Everything was left to Marc because he was their only child, but they didn’t really have much. He used the money that he got from the sale of their house to put him through chef school. I met him just after that.”

“Do you know the names of his biological parents?” Kurt asked.

“He never told me and I never asked because it was hard for him to talk about.” As hard as Marc had it, James didn’t feel any sympathy for the man because of what he was putting Marina through. A difficult childhood was no excuse to put someone through this turmoil.

“You don’t have any idea what box he’s talking about?” Greg asked.

“I told James, I’ve never seen any box.” Marina sighed.

While they were talking to Marina, the front door burst open and Sandy ran in struggling to catch her breath. James didn’t miss the glare she gave Ian, but she hurried by him and right to Keith.

“Why don’t you answer the damn phone?” she snapped at Keith and James couldn’t help but smile.

“It didn’t ring.” Keith stood up and she didn’t back away. She put her hands on her hips and glared up at him.

“I called ten times.” Keith reached in his pocket to pull out his phone but didn’t find it. He hurried into the kitchen and came back with it in his hand.

“Sorry, I left it on the kitchen table. What’s up?” Keith shoved the phone into his pocket and James chuckled when Sandy mumbled something under her breath about brothers being alike.

“Well, if you had not left your phone on the table, I could have told you that I pinged the phone and have a location where to find it.” She held out a tablet in her hand.

“This is in town,” Keith scanned the tablet.

“Not exactly. Shea Heights is kind of in town and out of town but it’s way up in Maddox Cove Road,” Sandy said pointing to something. “It’s like it’s back in the woods.”

“Wait, Marc’s family used to go up there camping when he was a little boy. They even towed an old trailer up there.” Marina stood and looked over Sandy’s shoulder. “I went up there with him once. It was way back in the woods, but you couldn’t drive in there. We had to take a four-wheeler but we only went there once because it was in pretty rough shape.”

“Would you remember exactly where it was?” Keith asked.

“I don’t know. That was when we first started dating.” Marina shook her head. “I do remember there was a big yellow sign at the entrance of the path that said ‘O’Reilly’s get away,’”

While Marina tried to give them directions on how to get to the camping spot, Kurt called the station to set up a team to go. James, John and Aaron were only permitted to go if they stayed back and let the others go in first. Keith never agreed and made it clear to their uncle he wasn’t his boss.

“I’m going with you.” Marina was heading out of the living room behind Kurt.

“I’m sorry, Marina. I can’t let you go. I’m already bending the rules by letting James, John and A.J. go.” Kurt was pulling on his jacket.

“He’s my son.” Marina stepped right in front of Kurt with her hands on her hips and her face inches from his uncle.

“That’s why you can’t be there.” Kurt was calm. Probably because Marina was doing a good impression of Nanny Betty at the moment, and Kurt had dealt with his mother’s wrath a time or two.

“Why, because I’m not some big bad cop?” Marina was poking Kurt in the chest with her index finger. “I’ll have you know your daughter has been teaching me a thing or two about self-defence and the way I’m feeling right now I could probably kick your butt.” Kurt’s lips twitched as if he was trying to hold back a grin. James couldn’t hold it back and as he glanced around nobody else was either.

Kurt wasn’t worried about Marina kicking his ass in the least. For one the man was a fourth-degree black belt and taught him and his brothers as well as his own daughters. Jess, Ian, and Keith stuck with the sport over the years. The rest of the brothers and cousins got as far as brown belts.

“Marina, it’s better if you stay here. It would be safer for Danny because if Marc sees you he may do something.” Stephanie had pulled Marina back from Kurt but there was still rage in her eyes. She seemed to be like a caged animal as they all got ready to leave. He had to admit he was pretty proud of her standing up to his uncle the way she did. Kurt was a big man, but his mother always said a mother bear will do anything for her baby. Even if it endangered her own life.