Deadly Abandon (19 page)

“You aren’t alone in this.” Sully tipped her chin with a knuckle and brushed a kiss along her temple. “We’ll keep Cody safe. You have to believe we are going to nail the bastard.”

Breeana savored the temporary respite and relaxed for a few seconds against him before pushing away from his chest with her open palms. “Give me a minute to grab my purse and freshen up. Then we’ll go.”

The freak summer storm began just as Breeana watched her father and Hunt jog across the street. They would all catch a quick bite and bring back take out for Micah and Law.

“Come on, Sully. I’ll race you before we both get soaked to the skin.”

“You’re on, cookie, but be prepared to lose.”

They both took off, laughing and jostling for position, although Breeana knew Sully measured his pace to let her keep up with him. He would not let her out of range, not even for a second.

Thunder boomed above their heads. A deluge of rain mixed with hailstones pummeled the steaming pavement around them. Lightning flashed in the distance, enough for Breeana to see Reece, Hawke and Theo close the gap on the diner. She increased her own speed, determined to beat Sully across the parking lot.

For the first time in weeks, she felt lighthearted. The icy terror gripping her for days lessened with every splashing footfall against the asphalt. Faster and faster she ran, swerving around Sully and sprinting ahead of him. Just as she closed the distance to the restaurant, an uneasy feeling gathered in the pit of her stomach. Something was wrong. Terror gripped her and wouldn’t let go.

Go back to the hospital now! Cody needs you!

Sully overshot her and skidded to a halt, swiping the rain from his eyes. “Hey, why’d you stop when we’re almost there? Don’t tell me you’re afraid to lose?”

Cody’s in danger!

With no logical explanation for the thought, Breeana knew she was right. She didn’t hesitate. She pivoted and tore back in the opposite direction. A moment later, she flew through the hospital doors before Sully could stop her. There was no time to try and convince him.

Her blouse and slacks were rain-soaked. Rivulets whipped off her clothing as she sprinted through the corridors. Sully shouted behind her, but she didn’t slow down. He made it to the service elevator in time to shove his arm through the slot before the doors closed on his face. Once inside, he seized her roughly by the shoulders and shook her.

“What in bloody hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Cody’s in trouble!” The horrifying words spilled from her lips like dialogue from a horror flick. “I know I’m right!”

His eyes grew cold. His jaw tightened. She couldn’t blame him for thinking she was insane.

“Listen, my own gut instincts have been right more times than I can count. If you sense Cody’s at risk, I’m willing to bet the farm you’re right.”

He drew his firearm and pushed her behind him. “When these doors open, I want you to stay on the elevator and wait for the others to get here. Is that clear?”

“Yes,” she agreed.

Adrenaline surged her bloodstream as they slowed to a halt on the sixth floor. She tasted bile, swallowing hard to push it back. Body vibrating with fear, her white-as-a-sheet reflection bounced off the metal interior and mocked her.

By the time the doors slid open, she could barely stand.

A tall, hospital-garbed man wearing pop-bottle glasses and a surgical mask leaned against the elevator wall. He stood beside a blanketed body on a gurney.

A foot protruded from the blanket with a toe tag attached. Breeana recognized the blackened big toe of the foot—Cody’s foot. And Cody’s ankle—a strawberry colored birthmark etched on the bony nub.

“Cody! Dear God, we’re too late!”

“Police! Get your hands behind your head!” Arms holding a firing stance, Sully’s gaze locked on the man standing in front of them. “Put your hands behind your head and step away from the gurney. Do it now!”

“You murdered my son! You son of a bitch!” Breeana lunged without thinking. She threw herself out of the elevator, clawing and kicking, punching with her fists. Sully grabbed her from behind and tossed her against the elevator wall. Too late. He lost his shot.

The bastard plowed the gurney into them and knocked them both to the floor. Then he disappeared into the nearest stairwell.

Cody toppled from the gurney, a moan escaping his lips.

“Jesus, he’s alive. Bree, stay with him.” Sully leapt to his feet and shoved the gurney aside. Leading with his gun in a two-handed grip, he left her cradling her son on the floor.

Chapter Twelve

Another elevator pinged. Theo stuck his head out the door.

“Hold up!” Sully shouted. “Hawke, the perp’s in the stairwell. Get after him. Reece, watch Breeana and Cody.”

Sully boarded the second elevator while medical personnel lifted Cody back on the gurney then charged down the hall with him. He hit the button for the garage. Where the hell were Micah and Law? No answer on either of their cell phones. He assumed the worst—they were either down, or dead.

“I’m going to kill the sack of…” He watched the numbers above the door as the elevator descended, got on his phone to brief Millette. “Lock the hospital down.”

“I’ll call it in. We’re on our way.”

Hospital security and local law enforcement would have to do the job until his homicide team arrived.
Fuck.
He flipped his cell phone shut and clipped it back on his belt. “I hope we’re not too late.”

“We’ll catch the bastard if we beat him to the garage,” Theo said. “He has to have some kind of transport. How else would he get Cody’s so-called corpse out of here?”

“If you get a bead on him, take him down.”

“No problem.”

The elevator doors slid open at the garage entry level. Oversized laundry trolleys lined the walls in front of the first bay door. Theo leveled his Glock while Sully took his boots to them, knocked them flying. No one hiding inside.

A second loading area contained pallets of supplies being unloaded from an 18-wheeler. Theo boarded the box and herded two men off. A few others stood around having coffee, including the driver. Sully scanned their faces and body types, lowered his gun, and flashed his badge. “Everyone take off. Now.”

The third stall was empty. Lightning reflected off wet pavement beneath the partially raised door as the other men ducked under it and fled.

A hearse from a local funeral home loomed large in the fourth bay.
Bingo!
Sully held his weapon in a two-handed grip, approaching along the far wall, while Theo took the driver’s side.

They moved in sync, staying low as they inched forward. Heart pounding, adrenaline rushing, Sully’s finger steadied on the trigger. The slightest movement, or sound from inside the hearse, and he’d fire, straight down into it. He knew Theo would do the same.

Brothers in arms and not just by blood, they had fought side-by-side for years—often in worse situations and always watching each other’s back. He’d give his left nut for his brother’s safety, but hopefully, not today. The hearse was empty.

Theo whispered in the gloom. “You figure it’s stolen?”

“Hell, yes.” Sully eyed the hearse and faked a yawn. “I’m tired, bro.”

“Uh-huh. I suppose you want to take a nap?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Pleasant dreams. And keep your head down. I might miss when I take the shot.”

Theo edged toward the semi again and crawled under it. Sully almost laughed as he slipped inside the hearse. Hiding in back was only a precaution. Theo wouldn’t miss. He never did.

****

The hearse was a bust, an hour wasted before Sully headed back up to the sixth floor. He reached the double doors of the Intensive Care Unit and peered through the glass. A beehive of activity surrounded Cody, Micah and Law. Hawke had called him to relay the news. His guys were still alive and kicking.

He couldn’t see Breeana, but he knew she was with Reece and Hawke in the adjoining waiting room. She wouldn’t stay away, not while medical staff worked to revive her son. Sully could only imagine how devastated she must be. He and his team had let her down. A powerful rage shook him, but he shoved it aside. He couldn’t indulge now. He had work to do.

Five minutes later, he stood grim-faced with Jacques Millette and Sal Clemente in Cody’s hospital room. The psycho had left his calling card. A rosary hung from the IV stand clamped to the kid’s bedrail. But, it was the letter taped to a wall and addressed to Breeana that floored all of them.

“What did you just put in an evidence bag?”

Sully turned and saw her standing at the foot of the bed, pale-faced and shaken. Something inside him unraveled.

I don’t want to scare her more than she already is, but someone has to open her eyes to what the beast is capable of. She has to send Cody away for his own protection, and forget the insane scheme of hers to set herself up as bait.

Watching her tear across the hospital parking lot—away from him and into danger—had been enough to make his knees grow weak and his heart stall in his chest. The evil bastard had slipped through his fingers again, almost succeeded in taking Cody with him this time.

Theo still watched the hearse in the garage, but Sully figured their perp had escaped before the hospital was locked down. He shrugged, sealed the evidence bag, and handed it to Breeana.

“Here, see for yourself.”

“What are you doing, Lieutenant?” Millette shot him a disapproving glare. “She doesn’t need to see it.”

“Oh, I think she does, Sergeant. Dr. McGill needs a reality check.” Sully watched Breeana’s knuckles whiten and her fingers tremble as she clutched the evidence bag and read the computerized words, printed on standard stock paper.

****

Dear Breeana,

Are you missing your son? If you come to me, I might let your boy go. Otherwise, I’ll send him back to you one piece at a time. I wonder…can he still play hockey without his fingers and toes? His fate is in your hands.

I’ll be in touch.

The Shepherd

Sully pried the evidence bag from her gripping fingers and handed it off to Clemente, who monitored the crime scene techs working her son’s hospital room.

“Cody’s leaving here tonight, Bree, as soon as the doctor says he’s fit enough to travel. Any more objections?”

Breeana could barely nod her head in agreement. She was speechless with horror after reading what The Shepherd had in store for her child. He would have killed her son in front of her; she had no doubt, once she showed up for her own slaughter. She started to list to one side but Sully moved to support her, encircling her waist with a strong arm and guiding her out of the stuffy room. He waved off Hawke and Reece who stood in the hallway by the door.

“Easy, cookie. Take shallow breaths.”

Breeana clung to him, paralyzed, no longer capable of holding herself up, or placing one foot in front of the other.

“I’m sorry I let you read the letter.”

At the sound of his voice, Breeana’s temper flared and got her sea legs under her as nothing else could. “That’s the biggest load of bullshit I have ever heard you shovel, Sauvage. You’re not sorry. You
wanted
me to read that abomination. You’re punishing me, because I haven’t been the good little soldier you expected me to be.”

“You couldn’t be more wrong. I just want you to face goddamn reality. Let your son go. He needs to get off the lunatic’s radar before it’s too late. He needs to get the hell away from you.”

“Are you taking the boy to a safe house?” Millette’s voice cut in from close behind them.

“That’s need-to-know information and you
don’t
need to know,” Sully snarled.

Breeana winced. It wasn’t Millette’s fault the hunt for the man, who called himself The Shepherd, decomposed faster than road kill in the noonday sun.

Sully turned to the sergeant and clasped his shoulder. “Just do what you do best, Millette. Focus on the evidence and follow-up on any leads. And make sure Clemente has the crime scene techs go down to the garage after they finish up here. I want the outside of the hearse gone over before it’s towed to the lab.”

“Right, Lieutenant.”

Sully let out a long breath and turned back to Breeana. She knew her gaze was hateful. She couldn’t help it.

How dare he act like I don’t give a damn about my son’s safety?

“Do you think I can’t figure out my son is in danger?”

“Can you? Then try acting like it. Do you understand what a psychopath is? Can you even say the word?” Sully struggled to lower his voice with visible effort. “Cody was lucky this time, if you want to call it that. I’m begging here…let my team move him somewhere safe. I couldn’t stand it if anything else happened to him. And I know you couldn’t live with yourself if this maniac makes good on his threats.

“He will use every means at his disposal to get you where he wants you, Bree. Please, if you don’t care about your own life, at least eliminate the risk to your son, before it’s too late.”

“I care about Cody’s life,
and
my own life!” She choked back a sob and her voice hardened with conviction. “All right, you can take Cody out of here, but only on one condition. My father goes with him or the deal is off.”

Sully sent her a tight smile. “Consider it done.”

The letter was Breeana’s wake-up call. She understood her father’s life wouldn’t be worth the price of a gumball if the killer moved on to him next. Sully pulled her to his side, his arm wrapping around her like a steel band. She didn’t resist, since his next words almost choked the life out of her.

“By removing Jack and Cody from the mix, The Shepherd will come straight for you now. Which means, no more charging off in dark parking lots, or anywhere else. From here on in, Bree, you’ll toe the line and do as I say.”

The Shepherd…what sort of moniker was that for someone without a conscience or a soul? Did he really believe himself to be compassionate and kind?

I’ll see you in hell! You won’t get my son in your clutches again!

Stiffening her spine, Breeana pushed herself from Sully’s embrace and swallowed her panic. “Put your plan in motion for Cody’s and my father’s safety. I’ll be in ICU if you need me.”