Chapter 55
Nick's "fancy" equipment lived up to its name and as far as Bo was concerned, was worth its weight in gold. With a few keystrokes on his laptop, Nick pulled up a local map with two tiny black circles, one steady and one pulsing. Nick pointed to the steady one.
"This is where we are." His finger moved barely a centimeter to the other dot. "And this is Mom's phone. It's still emitting a tracking signal so that means it's still on."
"That's great, son, but where is that?" Roman asked.
Nick's fingers flew over the keys. "I'm putting in the latitude and longitude coordinates to get a physical address."
Less than sixty seconds later, Bo was reading the address of a destination that was less than three miles from the home he shared with Carly. The knowledge that his wife was so close to him – yet so far away at the same time, with the dangerous whimsy of a madman separating them – made his heart stop.
A quick search of the county probate records revealed that the property, a house and two acres, had been on the market for nearly two years. It had been purchased eight weeks ago by Katerina Alamain.
"What the hell?" Bo muttered as he and the others stared at the PDF copy of a deed.
Nick only shook his head, turning from the image on his laptop. "This is my father's classic M.O; a first-class, grade-A mindfuck."
"But why all the subterfuge? I mean, Lawrence revealed himself in the first letter he sent to Carly," John pointed out. "Why purchase the property in Carly's name? Hell, why purchase it at all?"
Bo thought a moment before responding. "It's a message to me, pure and simple. The bastard is telling me that Carly – Katerina – is his. He purchased a place close to us to drive home that point. It's his way of invading Carly's privacy. He'd know that she feels safe with me, and holding her captive practically next door to our own goddamn house, well, he's trying to take away her sense of safety. Nick's right, this is the way Lawrence operates, especially when it comes to Carly."
John nodded thoughtfully, filing away Bo's analysis for later perusal. Something didn't sit right with him, but he couldn't quite weed through it at the moment.
Roman made a quick call to Rafe, informing the other man of their findings. Rafe asked to be put on speaker-phone so that he could talk to all of them. "I can get you five agents, plus me, and a couple of snipers," he told Bo. "It'll take me about thirty minutes to get everyone assembled. We'll rendezvous at your place in an hour's time."
Bo growled at the time constraint and Rafe heard it. "If you get the bright idea to run over there and confront Alamain alone, Bo, don't. Getting yourself killed won't help Carly at all."
Bo growled again, but Roman clapped him on the shoulder. "He won't go anywhere until you get here with your team. In the meantime, we'll get the Department's SWAT team over here and ready to go."
Rafe hung up, and Roman made a call to dispatch the SWAT team, telling them to bring extra vests for Bo, John and himself. "That was Dunne," Roman said at the end of his call, referring to the SWAT team's leader. "They'll be here in twenty minutes. You and I need to look over a map and figure out a way to get there without alerting Alamain to our presence."
Bo nodded and turned to Nick, wanting his step-son's help in checking out different maps online.
Nick was gone.
"Where's Nick?"
More than a dozen heads turned in different directions searching for Nick.
"He was just here," Bo pointed out. "Which way did he go?"
"I wasn't even looking," John said.
"Me, neither," said Phillip. "Dad and I were talking."
"He walked past me, but I thought he was headed into the kitchen," Melanie said, then slapped her forehead. "He's gone after Mom, I know it!"
"Goddamn it!" Bo shouted and tore off through the kitchen to the garage. Sure enough, Nick's black Beamer was gone. Carys stopped short beside him, hand at her throat.
"Nick believes he could've done more to protect his mother. He thinks he failed her by allowing his father to turn him against Carly. He won't allow himself to fail again," she finished with alarming alacrity.
Bo nodded, quickly coming to a decision. He couldn't let Nicholas face Lawrence alone; the boy would never survive that sort of confrontation, not with Carly between them. Feet moving before he processed the action, Bo went to his bedroom and opened the footlocker in his closet. He donned a Kevlar vest, loaded his service revolver and tucked an extra clip into his belt.
Roman was in the doorway, arms folded across his chest, watching, when Bo noticed him.
"You know I have to follow him, Roman. I can't wait."
Roman nodded and stepped aside, falling into step beside him. "Yep, and you know that John and I can't let you go alone, right?"
"No way," Bo ordered. His tone was non-negotiable. "Look, I'm not leaving my family unprotected when Larry is the one pulling the shots. I need you and John to wait here until back-up arrives. You're the only ones I can trust."
"Bo…" Roman tried again, but Bo waived him off, stopping in front of his mother and Ciara. The room fell silent as all eyes trained on Bo and his daughter. Bo brushed Ciara's hair back from her shoulders and tapped the end of her nose with his fingertip.
"I have to go out for a while, Little One. I'm going to get Mommy and bring her home, okay?"
Ciara nodded, sniffed, trying to act brave. "Are you going to bring Nick home, too?"
"You bet I will. I know that you're scared right now, sweetheart, but I need you to be brave for just a little while longer. Can you do that for me?"
Though her lower lip trembled and her eyes glistened, Ciara nodded swiftly. Then she leaned over and kissed her daddy's left cheek. "That's for you, Daddy." She moved to his right cheek to bestow another kiss. "And that's for Mommy."
Melanie, feeling very much like a child herself, cried at the exchange. Philip tucked her into his arms, whispering that everything would turn out all right, praying to a diety he'd never really believed in that it was the truth. He didn't even want to think how Melanie would react if something happened to her family.
Now Bo was the one trying to hold onto his courage, determined eyes sweeping over the faces gathered around him. He focused once more on Ciara. "We'll be home soon, baby, I promise."
Without a backward glance, he strode purposefully from the room.
Nick crouched in the bushes outside the house where he now knew his father was hiding. He'd spent a few moments there gauging his surroundings, taking in the sounds of the night, trying to ascertain any clues that might help him on his quest.
Lawrence Alamain had taught his only son, his heir, to hunt and to track the wild boars and other game that roamed their homeland. Nicholas had spent every summer and school holiday with his father and whatever expert Lawrence had acquired to teach Nick a particular skill. By the age of 15, he could spear a boar through the heart; he could shoot geese on the wing and fell a deer with an arrow.
He had also been schooled in fencing, small swords and martial arts.
Nick had no problem whatsoever using any and all of the training his father had given him against the man himself.
Nick slowly moved to his feet…and found himself flat on the ground, staring into his stepfather's face. Bo looked pointedly at him and lifted his hand from Nick's mouth.
"I couldn't wait," Nick whispered fiercly.
"I know, but if I let you get yourself killed, your mother will kick my ass."
"He won't kill me," Nick countered.
"You don't know that," Bo said reasonably. "We don't know what he's truly capable of, Nicholas. He might very well try and hurt you, if only to make your mom suffer. That's why you're gonna wait out here on Rafe and Roman and John and the others."
"Oh, hell, no!" Then he spotted what lay on the ground next to Bo and said, "And obviously you know that or else you'd not have brought an extra vest. So are you gonna let me wear it or what?"
Bo allowed Nick to get up then and handed him the vest. He was not surprised when Nick produced a wicked looking Smith & Wesson revolver. "I have a permit," he told Bo, as though that were the most important issue at hand.
"Back-up should be here in about fifteen minutes. It could get sketchy with the snipers that Rafe is bringing. I'm not sure how well they'll be able to see and depending on how many men your father has with him, things are probably going to get dicey. Promise me that if I tell you to do something, you will, even if it's getting your ass outta there."
"I'm not leaving without Mom," was all the young man would say.
"I suppose that'll have to do. Go slow, follow my lead, got it?" Not waitng on a response, Bo headed for the open portion of the yard. He made it to the porch without incident and signaled for Nick to follow.
Together again at the door, Bo opened it, forcing it against the wall quickly. He stepped into the room, Nick right behind him, checking the other side for attack. The kid had good instincts - Bo had to hand it to him. It was all for naught, though, as nothing and no one lurked in the outer room.
A single door lay directly in front of them, pale light spilling underneath it.
"You're done taking things from me, Carly!"
Bo and Nick turned to one another in disbelief. Bo would know that voice anywhere. Hope? Nick recognized her voice, too, and his eyebrows merged almost comically with his hairline.
Throwing off his initial surprise, Nick burst through the door, and several things happened at once. Carly screamed at the sight of her son just as Hope wheeled around to confront the intruder. When Bo appeared over Nick's shoulder, Hope's face went white with shock. Nicholas trained his gun on Hope, but before he could even issue a threat, Hope grabbed Carly around the neck and placed her own gun against Carly's temple.
Nick's finger itched to pull the trigger, and Hope knew it. "Don't even think about it. I don't care how good of a shot you think you are because from where I'm standing, I can't miss," she sneered. "Now put the gun down."
"Nick, do as she says," Bo cautioned.
"But, Bo…"
"Do it."
Nick relaxed his grip on the gun, lowering it to the floor, but never took his eyes off of Hope.
Carly, petrified, could barely breathe around Hope's arm locked across her throat, but she tried to take even, deep gulps of air in an effort to stay calm. Or as calm as one can be when one's husband's lunatic ex-wife is holding a gun to one's head, she thought.
"You, too," Hope nodded towards Bo, who hesitated too long to suit her. "I mean it, Brady. Put down the damn gun or watch me decorate the walls with her brain matter."
"Hope, this isn't you," Bo said even as he, too, laid down his weapon. "Whatever Alamain is forcing you to do, you aren't a killer. I know you."
"You don't know anything about me, Bo. You don't even see me anymore."
"What the hell are you talking about, Hope? I see you just fine. I just don't believe what I'm seeing."
Hope cocked an eyebrow in an-all-too-familiar manner. "What's so hard to believe, Bo? Haven't you ever heard about a scorned woman's wrath?"
"Hope, please, think about what you're doing. Why would you want to help someone like Alamain? The man's a monster!"
Something passed over Hope's face, then, and Nicholas, as his mother had earlier, came to the swift conclusion that his father had nothing at all to do with any of this. "You aren't helping my father, are you, Hope?"
"Very good, Nicholas. Like mother, like son, eh? Your mom worked it out pretty fast, too."
"What?" Hope's presence had blindsided Bo, not to mention he was coiled as tightly as a spring waiting on Lawrence to make an appearance.
Nicholas spoke to Bo, but he continued to watch Hope like a hawk. "My father is dead, like we've thought all along. Hope is behind this. She's the one who's been sending the letters."
"It was you?" Bo asked, and Hope answered him with an enthusiastic bob of her head.
"But those letters, they were so…awful!" How could Hope, the woman he'd loved for so long, created children with, shared a life with, how could that woman have concocted those heinous threats? He was horrified to think that Hope was capable of such evil, but the truth of the matter was staring him in the face.
"I had to convince all of you that the letters were from Lawrence," Hope replied with a shrug. "But I meant every single word, Bo. As I was explaining to Carly when you two dropped in, she has taken everything from me that I have ever held dear and I will take it back tenfold.
"From the minute she showed up, all you could see was Carly. I disappeared. It was all about her – her child, her abusive husband, her sad and pathetic life. You stopped caring about me and our children. You forgot about how I've suffered over Zach's death and Ciara's kidnapping and your infidelity with Billie. You were obsessed with Carly, and it made you abandon me. You moved your whore into my house, Bo; you fucked her in my goddamned bed! No one existed in your mind except for Carly. But don't you understand? If Carly's gone, then you'll be able to see me again. You'll come back to me and we'll be a family with Ciara. With Carly dead, her hold over you will be broken. You'll forget about her, and things will go back to normal."
"Hope!" Bo cried. "Nothing about this is normal! What's happened to you?"
"Carly Manning happened to me! All I have to do, Bo, is pull the trigger, and it all goes away. She'll be dead, and you'll be mine."
Bo stepped forward and Hope ground the business end of the gun hard into Carly's temple. Carly cried out, more from the pain of the contraction that suddenly erupted than anything else, but the sound forced Bo to stand still. Hands up, palms out, he looked deeply into Carly's eyes, trying to convey his plan to her. The second she got it, Bo started talking to Hope.
"Hope, please, I'm begging you." Tears spilled freely down his cheeks as he spoke. "Please, I'll do anything you ask, anything at all, if you'll just let Carly and Nicholas walk out of here."
"Right," Hope scoffed. "What, do you think I'm an idiot, Bo? I let her go and I'm as good as dead." She nodded in the direction of his gun lying dormant on the floor – close enough that Bo could reach it if he really wanted. And Hope knew that Bo's aim was dead-on.
Bo kicked out swiftly, sending his gun sliding across the room. "There. Hope, I do know you. Remember when we first met? I loved you the moment I saw you. I wanted you, would've done anything to get you. You were beautiful and sweet and funny, but most of all you were good. You had such a good and kind heart. That's the Hope I fell in love with and married. That's the woman who made me laugh, who made me want to be a better man, the woman who I mourned when I thought death had taken her from me. Hope, somewhere deep inside of you, under all of the shit and the grief and the hurt, I know that woman, my Fancy Face, still lives. Let me see her. Let Carly and Nick go, and show me that you're still who I know you are."
Nick was stunned. His mother had tears streaming down her face. So did Bo. He wanted desperately to know what was going on, what Bo was playing at, when he noticed the tiny red dot dancing on the wall above his mom and Hope. Then, he understood. His mother, even though she couldn't see what he and Bo could, understood, too.
Hope didn't have a clue. She only had eyes for Bo, and by some tiny shred of a miracle, the woman was listening. Her hold on his mom slackened just a tad, enough that Carly could breathe more freely.
"If Carly and her son leave, you'll stay with me?"
Bo nodded. "I swear to God, Hope, if you'll only let them go, I'll stay right with you. I won't go anywhere without you."
"You're done with her." It was an order, not a question, and Bo's head bobbed affirmatively, no hesitation. Nick knew his stepfather meant it, too; Bo Brady would do whatever was necessary to get Nick and his mother to safety.
"I'm going to start walking towards you, Hope," Bo took two baby steps to test Hope's temperament. "You let go of Carly, and she's going to walk real slowly towards Nick. Then the both of them will leave, all right?"
Hope nodded and let her arms drop so suddenly that Carly almost stumbled. The baby felt so low and heavy in her belly and walking wasn't the easiest thing. She began taking plodding, determined steps towards Nicholas, watching her son so that she wouldn't look at Bo. She just knew that if she locked eyes again with her husband, she'd crumble.
She passed Bo when another contraction hit, driving her to her knees. Searing, white-hot pain ripped across the very center of her being, and she screamed Bo's name before she could stop herself. Bo fell beside his wife, cradling her in his arms.
"Carly!"
She clawed at him, locked in the battle between her body and her baby, as he held her tightly and told her to breathe, breathe, Princess!
Nick watched his mother and stepfather, who had forgotten all about the woman behind them with a gun – a gun that was now pointed right at his mother's back. The intent of Hope's heart was painted on her face and Nick leapt forward with everything in him, diving between his mother and certain death.
When the bullet rent his flesh, he screamed, but his was drowned out by the one Hope emitted when two members of the Salem Police Department's SWAT team crashed through the windows and tackled her mercilessly to the floor.
The next thing he knew, Hope was being bodily removed from the house, still shrieking, and his mother was kneeling over him, fighting through her own physical anguish to see about him. Her hands shook like leaves in a windstorm so it was Bo who ripped the Kevlar vest from him. He'd taken the bullet to his left shoulder, and though it hurt like a bitch, Nick knew it was really just a scratch. Then he felt something wet against his arm and his eyes widened.
"Mom, Mom, I'm fine, really!" He batted away his mother's hands, trying to sit up.
"Nicky, you're bleeding!" Carly protested, even as the paramedics rushed in. "Let me help you!"
"Mom, listen! You're the one most in need of medical attention right now, not me." He looked at the medic team standing over them and issued no-nonsense orders for them to get his mother to the hospital.
"Why won't you let them take you first, Nicky?" Carly asked. "If this is out of some need you have to protect me, then you can just get over it because I'm your mother and I'm a doctor and…"
"And your water just broke, Mom," Nicholas interrupted. "To be honest, it's kind of gross."
Carly blinked stupidly at her eldest child, and that was all the time the paramedics needed to shift her onto a gurney. Bo bolted after Carly only to come to a skidding halt at the door. He looked back at Nick who assured his stepfather that he was fine. "Go take care of my mom and my kid sister."
