No Mercy (16 page)

disbelief crossed her features.

“That’s not all.” Curtis turned back to Christie. “Marta’s in the hospital.”

Christie’s fear fil ed eyes widened. “Is she going to be okay?”

“The doctors don’t know.” Curtis looked at Salvatore. “I don’t have time to explain anymore. I

believe we need to get everyone in the circle to safety. I think we’re all being targeted.”

“Of course.” Salvatore held Christie closer. “I won’t take any chances with my wife’s safety.”

“Where is everyone?” Christie looked terrified.

Curtis shook his head. “We don’t have time to discuss it. You should leave your house now. For

all we know, a bomb could be set to blow in your house.”

“I have my keys.” Salvatore reached into his pocket.

Dylan shook his head. “We know my truck is secure. Come with us.”

Salvatore’s mind worked through this unexpected problem. He hadn’t planned on being

expected to go into hiding. Perhaps he should have.

Everything incriminating he owned was tucked in the safe, all of it handwritten. He kept nothing

that would be of use to the police computerized. Nate, however, had put much on his own laptop.

Fortunately, Salvatore had “acquired” the laptop and he had destroyed the hard drive himself in one

of the two rooms beneath the house that he accessed via the bookcase.

Even an explosion wouldn’t open that safe. He had no reason to be concerned.

As far as going with Curtis, this might be a very good thing. He would be able to keep tabs on

the rest of the circle and in the loop about what progress was being made on the five remaining

postcards.

Christie looked up at Salvatore and he gave her a nod. “We wil go with him.”

She wrapped her robe more tightly around her as they stepped over the threshold and Salvatore

locked both the front and security doors behind them.

When they reached the truck, he saw that Belle was sitting in the front passenger seat. He heard

the locks click as Dylan gave her an obvious signal to unlock the doors.

“Oh, thank God,” Belle said as Christie climbed into the back seat.

The two women hugged, tears rolling down both their faces. Salvatore found it difficult to wear

a concerned expression when all he wanted to do was take a gun with a silencer and shoot all three

of them in the head right now. He could picture the blood spatters and imagined himself calling the

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As Christie put her seatbelt on after she sat behind Belle, Salvatore eased into the seat behind

Curtis.

Yes, he would have to kill Christie. It might put suspicion on him if she were the only one who

did not die, and he couldn’t take that chance.

If he had his handgun with him, he could pull it out and shoot the fucking federal agent in the

back of the head then kill the other two bitches before they knew what was happening.

Even though he’d loved his wife since high school, he had never been able to forgive her for not

bearing him sons. It was time to take care of her, along with the rest of the circle, and move on.

***

***

Belle had a hard time pulling herself together, but she felt she needed to for Christie’s sake.

They got out of the truck after Dylan parked in the hospital parking lot. Christie still looked pale and

shaken, and kept her bathrobe and one of Dylan’s jackets tightly around her. Belle hugged her friend

with one arm as they headed to the front doors of the hospital.

Salvatore walked behind them with Dylan, who was answering most of Salvatore’s questions

but dodging others. Some information Dylan seemed to be holding back, and she assumed it was

because of the investigation.

The glass doors slid open and they walked into the lobby. The hospital had been remodeled and

smelled like new carpet and paint. Belle waited with Christie as Dylan showed his credentials at the

information desk and asked where Marta’s room was. He was given directions and then they headed

that way.

When they reached the nurse’s station, Salvatore, Christie, and Belle were told they would have

to take a seat in a small waiting area. Dylan had once again shown his badge and he went down the

hall and out of sight.

Belle and Christie sat next to each other as Salvatore paced the room. Christie rested her head

against Belle, who stil had her arm around her friend’s shoulders.

The horror of the day weighed on Belle. They’d just had Nate’s memorial, and now Tom was

dead and Marta was clinging to life.

“What’s happening?” Christie’s voice was thick from crying. “What’s in those postcards that

makes us all targets?”

“I don’t know.” Belle swal owed back the fear enhanced by Christie’s words. “Whatever it is, it

has to be bad.”

“It’s a nightmare.” Christie was dry eyed now as she raised her head and looked at Belle. “How

can any of this real y be happening? I feel like I’m going to wake up and find out it was all a bad

dream.”

“I wish it was a nightmare.” Belle stared at her lap. “Because then none of this would be real.”

She fingered the hem of her sweater, feeling its softness between her fingers. That small

movement helped to ground her in a strange way, like a touch of what was real when everything

around her was so unreal.

What was going on? Why were they being targeted? What was in those damned postcards?

She knew Nate would never intentionally put them in danger. He must have thought that he

could give them clues to something big, knowing that they would all discuss the cards if something

happened to him. He must have been certain that he wasn’t going to survive whatever trouble he’d

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Nate,
she thought, her chest hurting with the pain of all that had happened,
what did you get us

all into?

~~*~~

Dylan strode down the hallway to Marta’s room. He didn’t recognize the BPD officer at the

doorway, but his name patch said Hathaway. Dylan showed his creds.

“Lieutenant Marks said to expect you.” Hathaway opened the door to the room and let Dylan in.

His gut sank at the sight of Marta amongst all of the tubes, along with a horrifying-looking

instrument inserted into her skull. Marta was not a small woman but with the way she was hooked

up on a life support system, the bed seemed to swallow her. Seeing his friend like that sent a sharp

pain through his gut.

A blonde woman sat in a chair beside the bed, holding Marta’s hand in hers. The woman’s blue

eyes were red and it looked like she was holding onto her composure by a thread.

She met Dylan’s gaze as he stopped directly in front of her. “I’m Special Agent Dylan Curtis with

DHS. I’m also a friend of Marta’s.”

“I’m Nancy.” The woman looked at Marta and back to Dylan. “I’m Marta’s wife.”

“Marta spoke of you with love and pride.” Dylan studied the pretty woman’s face. “I’m sorry

meeting you wasn’t under better circumstances.”

Nancy looked at Marta. “She’s talked about you and your Circle of Seven many times over the

years.” A tear squeezed from one of Nancy’s eyes. “She commented on how she’d wished you all

had done a better job of staying in touch.”

“I agree.” Feelings of regret ran deep, burning Dylan’s soul like a white-hot river of lava. Nate,

Tom, Marta. People he’d loved but hadn’t taken the time to keep up with. Even with Nate, Dylan felt

he should have been there for his friend far more than he had.

He took the only other empty chair in the room and sat close to Marta. “What can you tell me

about what happened tonight?”

It looked as though Nancy was struggling to speak. “I had a late shift.” She brushed hair from

her eyes. “When I got home, I checked on the kids and both were sound asleep. Sometimes Marta

waits up for me, sometimes she’s asleep. I didn’t see her in bed, so I went into the bathroom.”

Nancy’s eyes welled with tears and her voice was thick when she continued. “Marta was on the

floor by the toilet, blood in a pool by her head.”

Dylan’s gut tensed as he leaned forward in his chair and braced his forearms on his thighs.

“Take your time.”

She took a deep breath then let it out again. “I called 9-1-1. While I was waiting for them, Marta

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cheeks. “The paramedics made it just in time. They were able to resuscitate her and brought her to

the hospital where they induced the coma.”

Dylan waited for her to go on.

Nancy wiped tears from her face with the back of her hand. “Why would someone do this to

her?”

Dylan studied Nancy. “Did you see anyone around when you got home?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Where are your children?”

“With my mom.” Nancy looked back to Marta. “She lives close to us.”

Dylan pulled his phone out of its holster. “I want you to call your mother and tell her a law

enforcement officer wil be coming to take her and the kids somewhere safe.”

Nancy’s eyes widened and she put her hand over her mouth before lowering it. “You think our

sons and my mom might be in danger?”

Dylan hesitated. “It’s a precaution. We don’t know what we’re dealing with yet.”

Nancy released Marta’s hand and reached for a purse on the floor by the bedside table. She

pulled out a cell phone and pressed a couple of icons.

By the time Nancy had her phone to her ear, Dylan was already speaking with Sofia Aguilar, the

Resident Agent in Charge, and explaining the situation. Sofia was at her home, but took calls all

hours of the night when it came to something as important as this.

His RAC didn’t drill him about the cards, but he knew she would later. She focused on the

problem at hand. “Give me the address and we’l get the kids and grandmother to a safe house. I’l

get a couple of agents to the hospital for security. I’l also see to safe houses for Salvatore and

Christie Reyes as well as Belle Hartford.”

Dylan caught Nancy’s attention from her phone call and got the grandmother’s address before

relaying it to Sofia.

“I wil call you back with information.” Sofia’s voice was a little harder. “You and I also have a few

things to discuss.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Dylan blew out his breath as she disconnected.

Nancy set her phone on the bedside table. He could see her hands were shaking.

She turned back to him, fear in her eyes. “Are the kids going to be all right? Can you keep them

safe?”

“We wil .” Dylan took her hands in his and squeezed. “Stay with Marta. I’l have someone bring

you a tray at mealtime. I don’t want you going anywhere without an escort.” As the fear in Nancy’s

gaze magnified, he added, “Just as a precaution.”

“Whatever you can do, do it.” Her expression turned hard. “And find whoever did this to my wife.”

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going to find the one who did this and kil them myself.”

“We’l find him.” Dylan stood. He placed a hand on Nancy’s shoulder and squeezed. “You can

count on it.”

She looked at him for a long moment then nodded and turned back to Marta. He went to the

opposite side of the bed and took Marta’s other hand in his. Her fingers were warm but her body so

still, so lifeless. A lump rose in his throat as memories of times long ago scrambled in his brain. So

many memories of all of them and he hadn’t bothered to make new memories with his oldest friends.

Now they were being taken away from him one by one.

“I’l see you soon, Marta.” Dylan squeezed her hand one last time before he turned away and

walked to the door. When he opened it, he stepped back into the hallway and closed the door behind

him.

He stopped in front of Officer Hathaway. “DHS agents wil be here to relieve you within the hour.”

The officer acknowledged Dylan, who turned and walked to the nurse’s station where two nurses

were talking. The nurses were red-eyed and he could tell they’d been crying. He overheard one of

them say, “Dr. Zumsteg was a wonderful man.” Her voice cracked.

The other nurse looked up and saw Dylan. She’d been the nurse he’d shown his credentials to

earlier.

The curly-haired brunette nurse stood and approached the divider. Her badge had her picture