End Game (Games Thriller Series) (9 page)

“Jess. I can’t promise that.”

“Then promise me you will talk to Eric first before you do anything.” Jessica headed down the stairs, replacing the worried frown with a smile as her son came bounding onto the basketball floor with the rest of his team.

Eric caught her eyes as they began their warm ups and then looked up at his father. H
is smile faltered and Jessica muttered under her breath. He shouldn’t have to worry about this right now. She slid into her seat, giving Chris a warning glare before refocusing on the warm ups.

Eric
passed the ball to a teammate and walked over to the sidelines to say hello to his family, his eyes never leaving Daniel’s.

“Dad, I’ll explain later, I promise,” Eric whispered giving his father a quick hug.

“Hey.” Eric smiled over at Chris and stepped away from Daniel.

“Give ‘em hell.” Chris smiled back

CJ and Tommy jumped up and yelled “Hi Eric!”

“I’ll see you after the game.” Eric pointed at the boys and headed back onto the basketball floor.

Daniel sat and handed LeAnn her diet soda. He turned and looked at Jessica, his eyes questioning her silently.

“Let it go,” Jessica said softly and then looked over at Chris.
I could just wring your neck
.

CJ started to laugh. “Mommy’s mad at you, Daddy.”

* * * *

“I know,” he whispered to his son
and looked sideways at Jessica, sending his awkward smile that always disarmed her.

Daniel
turned and Chris shrugged, taking in the glares aimed in his direction from both his wife and her ex-husband. He ignored the silent daggers and focused on the floor, feeling the brunt of the guilt eating away at his stomach.

After the first quarter,
Chris leaned over. “I’m sorry for fucking up your life,” he whispered so only Daniel could hear. Daniel stiffened in the seat, not acknowledging Chris had spoken and Chris sat back in his seat and watched the game.

At half time, Daniel turned around and looked at Chris. “You didn’t.”

Chris glanced over at Jessica; she was busy talking with LeAnn about the kids. The boys were playing their handheld games quietly while they waited for Eric to come back out. This left Chris and Daniel just staring out at the cheerleaders in silence.

“Want another beer?” Chris asked after a few minutes.

Daniel nodded and the two men headed up the stairs to get another beer.

“I’m supposed to be watching my son in the regional semi-finals and you lay this on me?”

“You asked.”

“You could have just lied like you have been for the past five years.”

“You already knew.” Chris looked back at him. “No matter what I said, you had your mind made up. You are right about one thing though.”

“What’s that?”

“My life is nothing without her.” He stepped to the counter. “Two beers.” He peeled off a twenty and handed it to the concession stand attendant. “Keep the change,” he said and handed Daniel one of the beers.

“Who else knows who you are?”

“Besides Eric and Jess?” Chris looked over at him.

“Does Tom know?” Daniel remarked as they stood in the hallway.

Chris nodded. “Emily knows as well.”

“Emily knows?”

Chris nodded and took a sip of his beer.

Daniel turned away
his free hand curled into a fist and his jaw tightened. “Why do my kids care about you so much?” he asked and turned back.

Chris shrugged. “You’ll have to ask them.”

“I’m asking you.”

Chris took a deep breath. “Eric seems to think I’m some kind of hero that was put on this earth to look after his mother.” He laughed and shook his head. “That’s funny if you really think about it.” He took a sip of his beer.

Daniel glanced down at his beer. “I remember how angry Eric had been when he had saw you on the television. He kept saying you were supposed to protect Jess.”

“Yeah, I was supposed to, but I didn’t know what Frank had in store for us and was stupid enough to leave her there with him,” Chris replied
.

“What about Emily?”

A shadow passed over Chris’s face and he looked away from Daniel. “Let’s just leave it at that, Dan. You don’t want to know what happened to your daughter. All you need to know is that I stopped it.”

Daniel stepped back when Chris looked at him again. “What happened to Emily?” he asked, this time reaching out and grabbing Chris’s forearm.

“Do you believe in ghosts?” Chris asked, gauging Dan’s reaction.

“What?” Daniel let go of his arm, looking at him like he was insane.

“Okay. Did you ever wonder how all those mirrors broke?” Chris looked at him sideways, shifting gears.

“Yes,” Daniel said. “Tom said he would tell me someday.”

Chris laughed. “Sorry. I just find it funny that Tom would even entertain the idea of telling you what was really going on.” He looked at Daniel. “Frank’s ghost came after us,” he said and chuckled at the look on Daniel’s face. “All of us.” He raised his eyebrows to convey his meaning. “And his ghost was just as twisted as he was in real life.”

“What happened to Emily?” Daniel whispered,
his face going red.

Chris looked at Daniel and didn’t say a word, but the look on his face said it all. “I sent him back to hell,” he finally said and walked back into the coliseum.

Daniel’s thoughts swarmed and Chris walk away until the word rape crossed Daniel’s mind. Chris stopped and slowly looked back, meeting his gaze and sending a slight nod in his direction. All the color drained from Dan’s face.

“Sweet Jesus
,” Dan whispered and made his way down to where Chris stood.

“You might want to block those thoughts,” Chris said as CJ turned and looked at them. “Both CJ and Eric can hear your thoughts without trying
. It’s a little tougher for Jessica, since she has to concentrate.”

“And you, what do you have to do to hear what others are thinking?”

Chris laughed, ignoring the question. “You haven’t figured out how to block your thoughts? I’d have thought years with Eric would have made you an expert by now.”

“How do you block someone from reading your mind?”

“Random thoughts. You think of inconsequential random images. It comes across like static, nothing is clear.”

“But how do you
think
if you’re concentrating on random things?”

“You learn to do both at the same time. Multitasking for your brain.” He smiled.

“Can I ask you another question?” Daniel said as they stood at the top of the steps looking down at the basketball court.

“Shoot.”

“How did you live after being shot four times in the chest?”

Chris pointed to the basketball court. “Your son. Ironically, he’s the reason we are both standing here today.” He trotted down the steps and joined Jessica as the second half began, leaving Daniel standing on the landing above.

Eric had better have a good reason for doing what he did.
Daniel thought.
Because we’re all now accomplices to mass murder
.

Jessica’s gaze snapped to Chris.

“Uncle Danny?” CJ asked.

“What’s up little man?” He smiled back at CJ.

“What’s an accomplice?”

“It’s a helper.” Daniel answered and
his thought transmission cut off.

“Oh, ok
ay.”

The basketball game ended up in double overtime and Eric’s team squeaked the win in the final seconds of the game, putting them in the regional finals. The finals would take place the following Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.

Jessica and Chris exchanged a smile. They were going to be in the city anyway, so that would work out pretty good. “Eric will already be in the city with us next weekend. Perfect timing.”

“Are you coming down Saturday night?” Chris asked Daniel and LeAnn as he stood.

“We hadn’t thought about it.” Daniel replied. “Odds were against them winning this game.”

“Would you like me to make arrangements for you?” Chris asked, surprising both Daniel and LeAnn.

Daniel glanced at LeAnn and shrugged. “Arrangements?”

“Do you want to come to the city next Saturday and stay overnight somewhere?” Chris clarified. “Or were you just planning a day trip Sunday?”

“As I said, we hadn’t thought about it,” Daniel said, glaring at Chris.

Chris put his hands up. “Ok
ay, I get it. But the offer stands; if you want to stay it’s on me.”

“You can’t buy me off,” Daniel said under his breath as they walked up the stairs.

“I’m not trying to.” Chris glanced over his shoulder at Daniel.

“Bullshit.”

Chris started to laugh as they walked out to the parking lot. He turned to say something and saw Daniel’s fist coming toward him. He blocked the punch easily and took a defensive posture. “I’m a third degree black belt, Dan. You don’t really want to try that again.”

“Danny, what the hell are you doing?” LeAnn balked.

Jessica had both boys in front of her. “Danny, don’t do this.”

Daniel
’s eyes burned with fury and he swung again and this time he found himself against the nearest pole with his arm twisted behind his back.

Chris held him there. “Dan, I understand you’re angry and you have every right to be. But you have to know, if you try to take me down, you take everyone that knows with me too. That’s the way it works and as I told Tom, yo
u have absolutely no proof whatsoever. For all intents and purposes I am Christopher Ryan and I had no clue what my brothers were doing.” He spoke softly so only Daniel could hear the conversation and then let Daniel’s arm go.

Daniel glared at Chris and stepped toward LeAnn.

“What are you doing?” LeAnn snapped at him as he approached her.

Daniel shook his head. He looked toward Jessica and the boys. “I can’t believe you love him.”

“I do. And I’m marrying him on Friday.”

“Eric’s not going,” Daniel snapped.

“Yes I am.” Eric walked out into the garage. He smiled and winked at CJ and Tommy. Eric turned and looked at his father and LeAnn. “I think this conversation is better suited for a private dining room in one of the local restaurants. Don’t you?” He looked over at Chris.

“I think we will pass. We will pick Eric up on Thursday.”

“No.” Daniel glared at Chris.

“Danny, what has gotten into you?” LeAnn yanked his arm.

“Dad,” Eric said, walking into his father’s line of sight. “I’m going to Mom’s wedding.”

“The hell you are.” Daniel swiveled his angry gaze toward his son.

“Daniel Spenser Connor,” Jessica said loud enough to get everyone’s attention. She stood with her hands on each of the boy’s shoulders, her eyes swirling with anger. Moving the boys aside, she walked until she was standing toe to toe with Daniel. “I would like my son at my wedding.”

“Not if you are marrying him.” He pointed at Chris.

“You don’t have a say in who I marry.”

“But I do have a say in whether my son attends the wedding or not. And I don’t want him to have anything to do with that man ever again.”

“’That man’ is the best thing that ever happened to me,” Jessica shot back. “And because of him you were able to find the best thing that ever happened to you.” She pointed at LeAnn. “So don’t stand there and act all sanctimonious on me.”

“Sanctimonious?” Daniel gawked at her. “What
is sanctimonious about not allowing my son to associate with a killer?”

“Danny?” LeAnn looked at her husband and then over at Chris.

Chris had picked up both of the boys. “I’m out of here,” he said and walked away with the boys in his arms.

“Daddy, what was Uncle Danny talking about?” CJ asked.

“My past,” Chris said as he looked at his son and then glanced over his shoulder. Jessica was still having it out with Daniel.

“Uncle Danny is really mad at you,” Tommy said as he looked back at his mother arguing with Daniel.

“He’ll get over it.”

“I’m not so sure,” CJ replied.

Chris laughed softly. “You are probably right.”

* * * *

“Danny, what is going on?” LeAnn asked again.

Eric and Jessica exchanged a look.

“Chris is the man who kidnapped her,” Daniel said and glared at Jessica.

LeAnn looked at Jessica and then at Chris walking away with the two boys. “I thought Ty Aris kidnapped her.”

“Chris
IS
Ty Aris.”

LeAnn looked at Jessica, Eric and then back at her husband. “What in
God’s name are you talking about?”

“Dad, he isn’t who you think he is. We changed him.” He pointed between Jessica and himself. “He has saved a lot of people since we changed him.”