Mercy Mild—Chapter Five

Victoria heard Daddy's voice, but it wasn't loud enough to make out what he was saying. At first she thought he and her grandpa were finished talking and were coming to the kitchen, but his voice got fainter rather than louder. Then she heard an angry man, realized it was Daddy's FBI friend. She looked at her mum. The FBI man sounded really mad, so she figured someone told him what Victoria had done.

Mummy must have heard him, too, because she went a little paler, met Victoria's eyes, and bent down to whisper, "Don't get caught."

She stared, startled. Mummy gave her a little nod and released her. As she made her way down the hall, she figured Mummy just wanted to know what was going on but couldn't leave Grandma Ariel and Aunt Emma alone in the kitchen. After all, Daddy usually grumbled about her grandma Ariel needing be under full-time guard.

It wasn't that hard to hear through the door because Daddy's friend was yelling at him about her. She was really sorry she got Daddy in trouble. Victoria wanted to go tell that man it wasn't fair to yell at him. She really didn't want him to yell at her, though, so she just stayed to the side of the door where they wouldn't see any shifts in the light underneath and know she was there. She listened carefully.

Maybe she was a coward, Victoria thought, as she strained to hear when things got quiet again. After all, she let that man yell at Daddy instead of yelling at her. Cowards were bad, she knew, though she once heard Daddy tell Uncle Chuck that sometimes being afraid was a good thing. That hadn't made a lot of sense to Victoria, but she hadn't wanted to ask what he meant because then he'd know she'd been sneaky again.

What she didn't count on was getting caught by one of the FBI women. This one didn't look very nice even though she was the one who had gone to get their dinner earlier. She wasn't all that tall, but she looked like she never smiled. Her eyes narrowed on Victoria, and she started bearing down on her. Victoria retreated down the hall back to the kitchen.

Mummy seemed surprised to see her back so soon, but she held an arm out to her. Victoria went to her mum, who wrapped the arm she held out around her and gave the FBI woman a stern look. The FBI woman went back the way she came after a few moments.

Grandma Ariel and Aunt Emma were talking about Grandpa Ben, who was gone to a conference and due back in a couple of days, so Victoria whispered to Mummy, "I got caught."

"So I saw," she said. "What did you hear?"

"Daddy's going to work for the FBI."

Mummy's expression worried Victoria. Looking closer, though, she decided Mummy just couldn't believe it. Victoria was sure she must have misheard that, but Daddy's friend had gone on and talked to Grandpa V. H. about it and gave Daddy some rules for being in the FBI that didn't sound like the real rules to her. She told her mum, "That man says that if Daddy doesn't toe the line, they will revoke something and burn him."

She hadn't liked the sound of that, worried what they might use to burn Daddy. Uncle Chuck had told Uncle Morgan and Alex one time about someone named Gruber Daddy had threatened to burn with a torch to try and get him to talk. Victoria didn't think Daddy could be that mean, and she certainly didn't think Daddy's friend should burn Daddy if he didn't follow orders.

Her mum, though, stifled a laugh, which confused Victoria because she had been sure Mummy would be mad that man threatened to hurt Daddy. "What else did you hear?"

She felt heat in her face. "He yelled at Daddy because I meddled, but Daddy and Grandpa V. H. told him my meddling at least got them a lead."

That was when she remembered Mummy didn't know yet. Her mum's expression was puzzled, but her eyes looked afraid again, so Victoria quickly explained what she'd told Daddy about what Tori and Karen saw. Mummy hugged her a little tighter, said softly, "You did very well, Victoria, but I think you should probably bow out of this investigation while you're ahead." Mummy stared into her eyes a few moments, and then she gave her a sad smile. "I'm very proud of you for that."

Her mum kissed her forehead then and wrapped her arms around her to pull her closer. Victoria snuggled against her mum. She was kind of tired, but she decided she'd stay awake at least until Daddy came back for them. She didn't want Grandma Ariel to pick on Mummy, and without Daddy there, Victoria was afraid she might.

Aunt Emma looked over at her and asked if she would like to go back upstairs. Victoria wanted to be there when the FBI man left, so she shook her head, and Mummy hugged her a little tighter for a second.

When her mum told her grandma, "We need to talk about Louise," Victoria wondered who that was.

Grandma Ariel leaned back against a cabinet and said, "I can have her or one of her minions here by morning."

Victoria knew she didn't mean minions like the ones in Despicable Me, but she thought it would be kind of cool if she did.

"That's what we need to talk about," Mummy said, and Victoria felt her mum stiffen a little. She wondered if they were about to have a fight. "John has to be protected, and that means we have to carefully control what's said about our family as well as the visuals. His boss will probably send someone to deal with the press, and since they've already made a connection to you, it would probably look better if whoever it is could claim to work for Louise."

Victoria watched her grandmother think. After a few minutes, she came and sat down at the table where Mummy and Victoria were. "There's no way anyone would believe it, Mariah."

Mummy lifted her chin. "If we were in Los Angeles or New York that would likely be true because they all know who Louise's people are. Here in Chicago, though, they will likely assume whoever it is really is a publicist."

Emma joined them then. "The media here would know anyone local, and Louise has an office here. Besides, what if someone checks with Louise?"

"That's why we're having this conversation," Mummy told her. "Mum, I need you to clear it with Louise. You and I both know what will happen if the government has to go to Louise and insist."

Victoria wondered who this Louise was. She sounded way scarier than Daddy's boss, so she wondered if this Louise was a redhead.

Grandma Ariel sighed. "I'll give her a call." She looked at her watch, and Victoria figured she was calculating the time difference. "I'll need to know who you're going to use so she knows what to say if someone checks their credentials." She studied Mummy a second. "You do know that there are those who will question Louise sending someone new—because it won't just be Chicago media—to speak for me and my family, don't you?"

Victoria looked at her mum, watched her chew her lower lip. Mummy sighed, and then said, "We'll simply have to risk it. I'm sure whoever Diane Beckman sends will have the right experience, but Louise will have to be on board." Victoria felt Mummy relax. "As soon as Dad and John finish talking to Alan Dietrich, I'll find out who the General intends to have handle the press."

"Have you given any thought to the fact that you have a houseful of guests due to begin arriving tomorrow?" Grandma Ariel asked.

Mummy rubbed her eyes with her free hand. "John and I will have to talk about that," she said quietly. "I suspect we'll simply call and cancel." All of a sudden, Mummy went absolutely rigid, and Victoria heard her breath hitch. She leaned away from her mum and studied her, hoped she wasn't about to have another one of those attacks.

"Oh, God," Mummy moaned. "I need to call Jane."

"Didn't your husband already do that?" Grandma Ariel asked. Victoria didn't like the snotty way she said it.

There was a horrified look on Mummy's face. "I don't know," she breathed. "He asked me if I had called you and Emma, but he never said whether he had called his own family."

That seemed to be Grandma Ariel's signal to be mean about Daddy. "Mariah, that husband of yours constantly puts his job before family, so I doubt he thought to tell any of them—though I'll bet he's called that little tyrant of his every hour on the hour." Victoria gave her grandmother a hard stare despite the fact that she agreed General Beckman was a little tyrant—and she was sure that's who her grandma meant. "He's a like a damned dog on a very short leash."

As her grandmother said those things, Mummy sat up straighter, and her eyes narrowed. She was flushed as she bit out, "John has good reason to put his job first, Mother, and I don't begrudge that. You will not denigrate that or him."

For the first time, Victoria wondered if her grandmother knew that making Mummy mad helped her control things. Daddy had certainly figured that out, so Victoria thought maybe Grandma Ariel, who'd known Mummy longer, might have, too. She just wished her grandmother would find some other way than being mean about Daddy to do it.

Her grandmother suggested, "It's getting late on the east coast. Why don't you call Jane and see if her son bothered to tell her about her grandson's kidnapping?" Then Grandma Ariel reached across and took Mummy's free hand, said gently, "I can call her if you'd like."

For one of the first times in her life, Victoria saw her mother's indecision. "I should let John tell her," Mummy said softly, "if he hasn't already."

Grandma Ariel rolled her eyes, which made Victoria mad. She knew her grandma was about to say something mean, and she knew it would hurt Mummy."

"If I haven't what already?" Daddy asked with a hint of angry underneath. Victoria relaxed, and so did Mummy.

"Told your family someone took your son," Grandma Ariel snapped.

Daddy blinked, looked at Mummy, and Victoria realized he probably hadn't told Grandma Jane after all. "I told Alex," he said silkily, "but I hoped we would know more before I called Mom and got her excited."

"Have you considered someone else might have already told her?"

From the sound of that, Grandma Ariel was mad for Grandma Jane, which made Victoria wonder if Daddy had done something wrong.

"Good point," he admitted. He bent and kissed Mummy, then he took his phone and walked out of the room.

"Leave the man alone, Ariel," Grandpa V. H. said. "There's no reason to deepen the wound."

"You would think he'd be more worried about his son, or, at the very least, be actually trying to find Jack," Grandma Ariel snapped back.

"Mum!"

They all looked at Mummy then.

"Give him some credit, Mother! He's been busy trying to find out what happened to Jack—and to Ellie and Clara Woodcomb, too—on top of trying to manage a vital operation for his government. He does not deserve your scorn, especially since he stayed with me and Victoria because I needed him. He could have just left me here while he chased any lead he could get!"

It had been a long time since she'd seen Mummy that mad. Mummy practically vibrated with it.

"For years, I've put up with the awful things you say about my husband," Mummy continued, "but I'm finished putting up with it. If you can't say anything that is at best neutral about John, simply don't speak of him at all, and if you can't do that, then leave our house."

Grandpa V. H. bit his lip, looked away, and Victoria had the impression he'd like to laugh. He thought a lot of things were funny no one else did. Then, she thought he might be proud of Mummy for standing up to Grandma Ariel. Mummy tended to let her own mum push her around sometimes, and Victoria had always wondered if she was afraid of Grandma Ariel.

Mummy's outburst shut Grandma Ariel up, but Mummy was still very angry. Victoria could tell from both the rigidness of her body and her expression. After a few moments, she stood and followed Daddy.

Her grandpa caught Victoria's arm when she started to follow them. "Your mum and dad need a few minutes alone," he told her. Then he smiled. "Why don't you tell your grandmother how well your dad trained you to be a spy?"

Blinking at him, Victoria stared. That was supposed to be a secret, but there was Grandpa telling everyone. She closed her mouth. Well, not everyone, she supposed since it was no secret to Aunt Emma and Grandma Ariel that Mummy, Daddy, and Grandpa V. H. were spies.

"V. H.!"

She could hear how appalled her grandmother sounded. Victoria turned her attention to her grandmother and because she was mad about the mean things Grandma Ariel had said about Daddy, too, she told her, "Actually, Mummy taught me a lot of it."

For a second, she thought she had just got Mummy in trouble, but then Grandma Ariel's expression turned skeptical. "Your mother doesn't want you to be a spy, so she would never do any such thing."

Lifting her chin, Victoria began reciting the lessons her mother had given her—from how to conceal herself, to listening covertly, to self-defense, to how to tap into someone's phone or computer—and then she explained the other skills Mummy had taught her, like how to hotwire Daddy's car and how to pick locks (Mummy was better at it than Daddy, so he had left her to teach that to Victoria, though Daddy had taught her to crack safes).

The best part about that recitation for Victoria was watching her grandmother's appalled look spread and deepen.

Then Victoria felt guilty. She and Grandpa V. H. might have just gotten Mummy in trouble with her own mum. She hoped her grandfather wasn't going to suggest she tell her grandmother what else Daddy had taught her. She already had a feeling Grandma Ariel was going to give Mummy a Talking To, and she'd rather she didn't give Daddy one, too, since theirs tended to be really ugly, so she said, "Mummy says I need to know how to do some things so I stay safe." All of a sudden, Victoria wanted to cry because she remembered again that no one had taught Jack anything—spy stuff or other stuff. She firmed her quivering lip and told her grandmother, "We should have taught Jack. Then he wouldn't have been stolen like Mummy was when she was a little girl."

That certainly hit a bullseye—assuming Victoria had meant her grandmother to be a target, which she kind of had. She'd never seen Grandma Ariel look quite like that. It was a little like someone had hit her really hard but had also unforgivably insulted her. Victoria refused to feel sorry for her, though, and she wasn't going to apologize for something that was true. It was time her grandma quit being mean to her parents, after all.

"Your granddaughter," Grandpa V. H. softly said, "managed to get the first real clue for the FBI to follow up on. In the morning, they're going to interview two of Victoria's friends who saw the vehicle the kidnappers used to take them away. If her parents hadn't taught her a thing or two about how to investigate and interrogate, the feds would still be trying to figure out where to look."

This time, her grandmother looked worried. "What did you do?"

That sounded a little like an accusation, but Victoria chose not to react to it that way. After all, Grandpa V. H. had sounded proud of her, and both Daddy and Mummy had been pleased with her. "I remembered a couple of friends who lived near the store who might have seen something, so I asked them."

"You went out alone?" her grandmother demanded. This time Victoria was sure she was upset because she was afraid something could have happened to Victoria.

She wanted to tell her grandma that she wasn't a dumb kid. Instead, she said, "No, I talked to them on FaceTime."

Grandma Ariel sat back, then she sort of chuckled, and Victoria realized how tense she'd been as she waited for her grandmother to be mean to her, even though Grandma Ariel never had been before. "None of them would have ever thought to ask children what they might have seen."

Victoria decided that was a compliment. It was true, though, that most grownups didn't think kids knew anything. The FBI people had only wanted to talk to her about the man, after all, but she'd seen more than that.

Mummy and Daddy came back, then, and Mummy looked at Victoria and said, "Bedtime—again."

"How's Jane?" her grandmother asked.

Daddy's terse, "Upset," made Grandma Ariel nod.

It was Aunt Emma who asked, "I assume she and your sister aren't coming then?"

"No," Daddy grumbled, "they're still coming."

That made Victoria happy because she liked her grandma Jane and aunt Julie and aunt Dena. Grandma Jane also made her other grandmother behave nicer towards Daddy.

Daddy curled a thumb into his belt and lifted his other hand to rub the back of his neck. He looked at Victoria a second, and then he looked at her grandfather. "I wondered if you'd be willing to pick them up at the airport."

"I can do that," Grandpa V. H. said. "Did you make arrangements for Alex yet?"

"I haven't had a chance to call Walker," Daddy said. "I'll do that when we get Victoria back to bed." He sighed. "We might as well get all of you sorted out first."

"I can figure out where to stash Mom and V. H.," Aunt Emma told him. "You go on up, see if you can distract Mariah with some . . . exercise or something."

It was kind of late for exercise, so Victoria thought her aunt probably meant Daddy would have to make Mummy tired enough she'd sleep. Like her, Mummy often had trouble sleeping, she knew.

After her parents tucked her in again, she lay in her bed, listened to them go down the hall and close their bedroom door. She heard footsteps upstairs, so she figured the rest of her family was in their rooms for the night.

She wondered where the FBI lady was.

Then she thought about her missing brother.

Jack wasn't in his room. Like Victoria, he sometimes didn't stay there. Victoria usually went and watched TV until she could sleep, but Jack often went and crawled in bed with Mummy and Daddy when he couldn't sleep. She couldn't remember when she was two, but she supposed she might have done the same thing when she was that little. She wondered if Jack was having trouble sleeping that night. It was hard to sleep in a strange place, she knew, so she figured he was. Not only that, but he didn't have Woobie with him, and her brother usually refused to go to sleep without him. Once he'd left Woobie at Grandma Jane's, and Daddy had had to go meet Aunt Julie halfway so Jack would stop screaming and crying.

Remembering how annoying Jack's tantrum had been, Victoria smiled at the ceiling and hoped he was having one for whoever took him. Her little brother could be really loud, and she thought it would serve those bad guys right if he gave them a really bad headache screaming for his Woobie.

Then she thought about how some grownups reacted when little kids wouldn't quit screaming and crying. Her parents would never do anything bad to them, but she knew other grownups lost patience, hit kids, and sometimes killed them.

She really didn't want anyone to kill Jack.

He could be annoying, it was true, but she didn't want him to die.

She started to understand how Mummy felt when she couldn't breathe as she lay there and worried about Jack. She tried to figure out how to help Daddy find him. Her mum and dad had said they didn't want her to be involved further, but she didn't think they'd be too upset if she found her brother. She simply had to think it through, find a way to find Jack so he could come home.

-X-

"I think you're the one who needs to explain," Casey growled, coming to his feet so he could intercept the other man before he drew the attention of the women in the kitchen.

"FISA warrant," Alan Dietrich growled right back. "What in hell possessed that girl?"

"My seven-year-old daughter got the only real lead you have—unless there's something you haven't shared yet," he reminded his friend as he stalked to the front door. He was mad as hell that they were tapping into their computers after all. He'd take that up with his boss as soon as he could.

Casey looked out the front door's high panes, hung up as Dietrich rapidly crossed the porch, and let the man in. Dietrich took one look at him and bit out, "Chicago PD gets their asses kicked next." He waited until they were in Casey's office to add in an only slightly less angry voice, "The SUV was leased to a local business."

That didn't surprise him, so Casey waited for the punchline.

"The company was tied to our operation this afternoon—one of Bridges' subsidiaries," Dietrich continued. "We picked it up on the cameras at the intersection of Orchard and Diversey. They headed east back to Clark and then south. I've got a team running it to ground."

Casey would have preferred knowing where they had ended up, but he'd take what he could get. It irritated the hell out of him that their route would have taken them right back past the market where his son had been kidnapped, likely about the time Riah and Victoria had begun searching for them.

Dietrich's face tightened. "Would you care to explain to me why your daughter thinks she can meddle in our investigation?"

"Only if you can explain how the cops missed two of Victoria's friends who actually saw something during their canvas."

"Gentlemen," V. H. sliced in, and from his inflection, it was more than clear he meant the term loosely. "Does it really matter why my granddaughter chose to investigate when she turned up something solid to pursue?"

If it wouldn't stroke V. H.'s ego, Casey would have agreed with the man—had already as much as told the FBI agent the same. Instead, he stared Dietrich down. The other man apparently decided it wasn't worth taking Casey 0n over it because he was the first to blink. "Tell your kid to butt out," he grumbled at Casey.

After squelching the urge to tell him to fuck himself, Casey decided to suggest he tell her himself—because Casey thought it might be entertaining to watch his daughter charm and dance her way around Dietrich. It was, after all, difficult to stay angry with his daughter when she went to work trying to soften you up. He conceded it was equally possible she would simply exhibit what his wife sometimes called typical behavior for him: an obstinate silence reinforced by a hard glare. He bit back the urge to encourage Dietrich to take it up with Victoria himself, amped up the glare a moment. "Already done," he admitted.

Mollified, Dietrich relaxed a bit. He reached inside his coat and drew out a thin, black wallet. "Your boss talked to my boss. Since you were spotted at the scene and because we don't work under the kinds of privacy rules your people do, your boss and mine decided this was probably the best way to keep you out of trouble and deflect any press attention." He tossed it on the desk in front of Casey. "Welcome to the FBI. Don't abuse it."

Reaching out, Casey flipped it open. Aside from the FBI badge, it held an identification card complete with his NSA ID photo proclaiming him Special Agent Virgil H. Atwater. He glared at Dietrich, who stared unapologetically back at him. He considered all the ways to make plain his disgust at having to pretend to be FBI.

"Why didn't you just put my wife's maiden name on it while you were at it?" he finally growled. It was bad enough they'd given him V. H.'s first name and middle initial.

Dietrich's smile was more than a little on the mean side. "Your father-in-law is a little too well known in the crowd we're after."

V. H. crossed to take the credentials, laughed when he read it, and then handed it back. Casey's father-in-law looked at Dietrich. "You realize that by making him an FBI agent—even a pretend one—you've just given him a license to take over your investigation, right?"

"Not the way it works," Dietrich said with a disgustingly happy tone. "Read it again. We gave him one of the lower ranks, though I argued we should make him a probationary agent. Still, he has to do what I say, since I'm the Special Agent in Charge on this operation." Casey narrowed his eyes, knew probationary was the lowest rank and special agent just above that. As SAC, Dietrich was the highest ranking officer on this assignment. "That means you ride shotgun, you're secondary in any interrogations, and if I say butt out, you butt out." He turned to V. H., added, "His boss promised mine that if he doesn't toe the line, follow orders, we can revoke it and burn him."

The amusement left Dietrich's face as he met Casey's eyes. "Your daughter can't play junior agent, Casey, and I'm dead serious about that. If anything goes wrong because she interferes, there's going to be hell to pay—and not just by you."

Since the FBI credentials gave him some leeway he wouldn't have had as an NSA operative, Casey was willing to play the game by Dietrich's rules, especially since his first order of business as Special Agent Atwater was going to be to talk to Victoria's friends and see what else could be learned from them. That would have to wait until morning, but there were still things he could do that evening. For some of them, he was going to need Walker and Bartowski. He needed V. H. and Dietrich both distracted, though, and he certainly wasn't going to use the phone now that he knew the FBI most likely wasn't following agency courtesy and was quite likely listening in on everything in his house. He'd get Riah settled and slip out later.

"Agreed," he said and shot V. H. a look. "Though God knows how far astray he'll probably lead her, Adderly can just babysit his granddaughter."

His father-in-law grinned even more broadly, and Casey momentarily reconsidered. Maybe he should draw up a list of approved activities in addition to approved conversation topics.

It served the purpose. Dietrich turned his attention to V. H. "Since her parents didn't have any luck, see if you can keep that girl under control."

Casey gave the man a furious glare. Victoria may have disobeyed instructions, but she hadn't disobeyed a direct order, and he had to admit he'd been careful not to phrase it as such. He wasn't sure he'd really expected her to successfully chase down usable intel, but he'd known she would snoop, had figured if it kept her occupied and she took no risks, it would probably be a good thing.

"We finished?" he growled.

Dietrich sighed, looked tired, and said, "Yeah—for now. I've got an appointment to yell at the district commander and the police superintendent."

He and V. H. followed the other man back to the door. Casey was weary as he closed and locked it behind Dietrich.

"Back to plot, or go check on our daughters?" V. H. asked.

Casey didn't need to think about it. When he walked into the kitchen, he heard Riah say, "I should let John tell her if he hasn't already."

It only took a second to size up the situation. Ariel looked angry, but Riah looked even more so. Victoria looked furious as well, so he wondered what his latest transgression was supposed to be. "If I haven't what already?"

"Told your family someone took your son," Ariel snapped.

He'd given thought to telling his mother earlier, but he'd never managed to get around to it. He blinked, shot a look at Riah. Casey supposed he was so used to protecting his mother and the rest of his family from the uglier parts of his job that it simply hadn't occurred to him he should let her know what had happened while it was still unfolding. He had a habit of notifying his mother—if he did at all—after the fact. The women in his kitchen looked incredulous, Riah excepted, since she simply looked guilty.

"I told Alex," he said silkily, "but I hoped we would know more before I called Mom and got her excited."

Ariel shot right back, "Have you considered someone else might have already told her?"

Curbing the urge to retaliate by pointing out Riah mostly learned what was going on in Ariel's life from newspaper and magazine articles, he instead breathed in and decided it would be best if his mother didn't find out about Jack from a newspaper. "Good point," he admitted. Riah looked apologetic when he bent and kissed her quickly, but he didn't think she needed to be so. She gave him a soft, sad smile, and then he took his phone and walked out of the room.

It was late, and that would worry his mother when she realized he was the one calling. He regretted that, but, truthfully, she would have worried whether or not he'd called as soon as he knew what had happened. He listened to the phone ring, and when his mother picked up and sleepily asked, "Johnny?" he felt something he hadn't in a long time.

"Mom," he said, mostly to buy a few minutes to organize his thoughts and squash the girlish flood of emotion.

"What's wrong?" she asked, sounding considerably more alert.

The words wouldn't come. He wanted to simply blurt it out, but he didn't want to panic her or upset her. He didn't think he could stand to do polite, meaningless conversation, either.

A hand slid into his free one, and he looked down to see Riah beside him. He tightened his fingers over hers and drew a deep breath. "I didn't want you to find out some other way," he began, watched as his wife gave him silent encouragement, "but this afternoon someone took Jack."

Aside from a sharp gasping sound, only silence came through the phone. He worried for a second he'd given his mother a heart attack—and then he remembered who Jane Casey was, that she wasn't the fainting flower kind of woman, and it would take more than what he'd just told her to make her keel over dead.

"What do you mean 'took,' Johnny?" his mother demanded.

Strangely, that made Casey relax. He was, after all, used to bossy women insisting he explain himself—or, in this case, others. "Riah and the kids went out with Ellie Woodcomb and her daughter this afternoon. While they were in a grocery store, someone kidnapped them."

"I thought you said only Jack was taken," his mother said sharply.

If Casey had had a hand free, he would have squeezed his eyes tightly shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Jack and the two Woodcombs," he clarified. "Riah and Victoria are safe." He went on and explained that they had separated in the store and what had happened, but he didn't detail much more than that. The fewer people who knew about Quinnell, the better.

There was a lengthy silence when he finished. Casey was about to tell her that she and his sister and her partner should cancel their flight in a couple of days and stay put until it was all over, but she said, "I'll get the first flight I can."

"Mom," he sighed, tried to find the argument that would keep her away.

"Johnny, I'll simply pester you with calls for more information, so I might as well be there where you won't forget to tell me when things happen."

And that was his mother—velvet sledgehammer when it came to noting his transgressions. "I should have called sooner," he admitted, and Riah's hand tightened briefly around his own, "but it would be better if you and Julie and Dena stayed away for now. We've got Riah's family here, and the FBI are underfoot—will be until we have Jack back."

"Then Mariah could use some help," she said briskly. "How's Victoria?"

He smiled, knew he was going to lose this one, and, he realized, glad someone who really would help Riah would be with her. "She's fine," he said, but he decided not to worry her—or earn a lecture about what he allowed his daughter to do—so he didn't tell her that thanks to Victoria, they had something to pursue. "If you're coming," he began, only to have her cut him off.

"Paul Patterson is in town, and we had dinner this evening." That news wouldn't normally have surprised him, but there was a note in her voice that raised some surprisingly vague suspicions. "Since he told me he was invited to Christmas with your family, I'll ask him to come with me—so you won't worry, of course."

Given his mother was anything but helpless, he was unlikely to have worried about her, but then he considered that they still didn't know why Ellie, Clara, and Jack had been abducted. That made his mother's safety a concern, so he said, "Fine."

His mother actually chuckled. "I'll let you—or Mariah—know when I have an arrival time." After a pause, she asked, "Are you alright, Johnny?"

Suddenly very, very weary, he told her, "I'm alright, Mom."

"I'll be there soon," she promised, and hung up.

Riah pivoted, and put her arms around him, held him tightly. "Are you alright?" she asked, and her eyes searched his face.

Until that moment, he thought he had been. His body sagged, and he tightened his arms around her. "I don't know."

A sad little smile lifted the corners of her mouth. He leaned down and kissed her before asking, "Can we send your mother to Ben's house?"

Her smile was a little more normal. "He's out of town, but I'd be more than willing to pay for a hotel room for her."

He bent and gave her a long kiss. "No promises," he said when he straightened, "but if I accidentally kill her—"

"I'll dispose of the body," she assured him with a soft smile.

That smile dribbled off her face, and he held her tighter. "That won't happen," he said. "We'll find them, and we'll find them alive."

They both knew he might be unable to keep that promise, but Riah didn't correct him, for which he was thankful. "Let's get our daughter back to bed."

As they walked into the kitchen, Riah told Victoria, "Bedtime—again."

"How's Jane?" Ariel asked.

"Upset," he told her tersely. Anyone who had listened in might not have thought so, but Casey had heard it nonetheless. Ariel nodded.

Emma asked, "I assume she and your sister aren't coming then?"

"No," he grumbled, "they're still coming." Casey knew his sister well enough to know that she'd be rearranging her own flight, so he hoped Dena came with her if for no other reason than his sister's partner actually kept her in check.

It wasn't hard to see that Victoria was glad they were coming, and Casey figured his daughter would be easier to manage if she had family to distract her. Unfortunately, Casey was going to have to juggle several arrivals and the investigation, so he considered how to manage it without any undue risk to anyone. He curled a thumb into his belt and lifted his other hand to rub the back of his neck and decided V. H. was his best bet on this. "I wondered if you'd be willing to pick them up at the airport."

"I can do that," his father-in-law agreed. "Did you make arrangements for Alex yet?"

"I haven't had a chance to call Walker," he admitted. "I'll do that when we get Victoria back to bed." He sighed. "We might as well get all of you sorted out first."

"I can figure out where to stash Mom and V. H.," Emma said. "You go on up, see if you can distract Mariah with some . . . exercise or something."

It was good to know some things didn't change, he supposed, though normally his in-law's fascination with his and Riah's sex life annoyed him. Rather than tell her he didn't think either he or her sister would be in the mood, he said nothing other than a general goodnight before he and Riah ushered their daughter upstairs.

Once they settled Victoria in her bed again, he took his wife to their room. Riah wilted after he closed their bedroom door, but she didn't dissolve into tears. Casey half wished she would so he had an excuse to hold her. Then he decided he didn't need an excuse. He simply wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

"He doesn't have Woobie," she choked.

Casey couldn't help the small grin, though what she said wasn't remotely funny. His son had a stuffed husky he insisted on calling a wolf, which was how the thing's name came about—Jack's inability to clearly enunciate "Wolfie." Riah's upset came from the fact that their son refused to sleep without his Woobie. Part of Casey enjoyed the idea of his son inflicting a full-fledged want-my-Woobie tantrum on his abductors. He sobered when he realized that if Jack had not been their target, they would be more likely to kill him than try to calm him.

"I keep trying to think of who would take him and why," she said, her arms settling around his waist. She lifted her head from his chest and met his eyes. Her expression slid to embarrassment. "Ellie and Clara, too, of course."

His wife had never been stupid, so he knew she had to have at least suspected what he had, though he conceded his certainty that the Intersect was at the bottom of it grew stronger as each hour slipped away without any demands made by the kidnappers. If it had been anything else, he was certain they would have heard from whomever had taken Jack and the Woodcomb women. Win Bridges might be connected to this, but since Quinnell apparently had a connection to Bridges and had an interest in the Intersect, it made it more likely he was right. It was possible Riah might not have made that intuitive leap yet. Then he realized no one had filled all the blanks in for her yet.

Perhaps, he thought, he ought to call Walker after all and see if there had been a demand made of Woodcomb. Then again, Walker would have called—or Dietrich—if a ransom demand or any other had been made.

Instead, he drew Riah to the bed, pulled her down with him, and held her.

Riah put her head on his shoulder and her hand over his heart. "We'll have to figure it out, John," she sighed. "I like Alan Dietrich, but I don't really trust the FBI."

He shared those exact sentiments. "The only thing we have to go on at the moment is that they left in a black SUV, Riah."

"I know." She burrowed a little closer, "but I don't think I can stand to simply wait."

After he pressed a kiss against the top of her head, he decided to tell her what she didn't know. "Warren Quinnell."

A shudder ran through her.

"I saw him on the store's security video," he admitted. "He was one of the men who took them—the one who took Jack."

"Then it's the damned Intersect again, isn't it."

Casey sighed. "Most likely."

His wife proved again just how quick she was: "They must think Jack's a better bet."

He frowned.

"Chuck's been the only genuinely successful, long-term Intersect," she reminded him. "Manoosh managed, though he never tried it for extended periods. I failed. Perhaps they think males have a better chance of succeeding."

Logic was on her side, but he protested anyway. "Why take Ellie and Clara, then?"

Her face turned thoughtful. "Because they saw them."

"Plausible," he conceded, "but maybe they're hedging their bets. If there is something to the genetics argument, Ellie and Clara are Bartowskis, which makes them good candidates to test the theory."

Riah nodded. "Right now, though, I think the more important question is where Quinnell took them." She sighed. "I doubt he'd use an alias he's used before, and I'm certain he wouldn't use his own name. I guess we need to know if he has associates in Chicago, and who they are."

Casey hated to say it. "That assumes they're still in Chicago."

His wife looked stricken for a moment. "They had to know they wouldn't have much time, that we'd be checking airports, trains, and any other way they could leave."

"Hide in plain sight," he mused. He cocked his head, met her tormented gaze. "Riah, they're going to have a hell of a time getting them out of the city by any ordinary means. That works in our favor."

He left unsaid that there were any number of extraordinary means, knew she could probably name several herself. He also didn't say anything about the fact that they could have been well on their way out of the city before Dietrich got to the scene. He kissed her, and then he told her the rest, explained that the SUV Victoria had chased down the lead on was registered to a rental company and leased to one of Win Bridges's companies. He reminded her that Bridges was the arms dealer they were there to bust.

Riah looked absolutely shattered by that bit of news. "Then it might be something else entirely."

He nodded. "Except for Quinnell's involvement, which I'm certain is not just a weird coincidence."

His wife studied him. Casey kissed her again, wished like hell they had the answer and their son.

"Mummy?"

Releasing Riah's mouth, Casey turned his head to see their daughter at the foot of the bed. Her stealth skills were improving if she had managed to get their door open and enter without either of them noticing. Of course, Casey was going to have to be more vigilant in future to avoid a repeat of a particular incident from when she was four.

Riah lifted her arm from Casey's waist and held it out to Victoria, who needed no further invitation. She quickly crawled up the bed on her knees, and Casey reluctantly moved a little so that she could continue her way up the mattress between him and her mother. She had something cradled in her arms, and as she flopped down between them, Casey realized Victoria had Woobie.

She must have made a detour to Jack's room on her way to theirs.

Riah's eyes met his as Victoria made herself comfortable.

"I couldn't sleep," his daughter announced. Casey dropped his eyes to Victoria. Her face wore concern and a hint of fear, an expression he wasn't used to seeing on her. "I don't think Jack can, either." That was said with a slight wobble in her voice as she clutched Woobie to her chest.

His wife was barely able to hide her own pain before Victoria looked up at her. "I don't suppose he can," Riah said carefully, and Casey knew that was to keep her voice from wobbling as their daughter's had. "I think he'd be glad you're taking care of Woobie for him."

Jack would probably jerk the beloved toy out of his sister's arms if he saw her with it, but Casey wasn't about to point that out.

"I think Woobie's scared without Jack here," Victoria told her mother.

Casey knew that was a classic bit of projection, and it was pretty telling. His daughter often came across as fearless, something that terrified him even when it impressed him, but she was still a little girl, something he often forgot. That was one of the reasons he squashed the sarcasm with which he often reacted to situations that frustrated him, didn't remark that he was sure that was why Jack insisted on sleeping with the ratty thing, because his wife would only firmly point out that that was not helping. "Then it's a good thing you're taking care of him," he told his daughter instead.

Victoria nodded. "Do you think the bad guys are hiding them somewhere nearby?"

He studied her earnest, little face. Her eyes said she wanted him to reassure her, wanted him to tell her the good guys were searching for them, that Jack would soon be home to take care of Woobie himself, and for the first time Casey understood why so many family members spouted insanely optimistic platitudes that their loved one would be returned to them alive if not completely well in the face of any and all evidence to the contrary—or, in this case, no evidence.

Casey couldn't lie to his daughter, despite the sudden desire to do so: "I don't know."

"There are a lot of people looking for him, Clara and Ellie, too," Riah added firmly. "Someone will find them."

That was undeniably true. Unfortunately, Casey also knew it was possible they wouldn't be alive when they were, but he kept that to himself. His daughter was clearly feeling guilt that wasn't rightly hers, so he wasn't going to add to that. Nor was he going to make his wife hurt more than she already was, worry more than she already did.

"Now," Riah said, "let's see if we can get Woobie to go to sleep."