Now the SOB had his son.
“He warned me if I involved the FBI or police, I’d never see my kids again, said I had twenty-four hours to turn over the skull before he’d start hurting them.” He hadn’t been fast enough, strong enough. But with the evidence he’d recovered, he was going to expose them all. He’d make sure they never hurt his family again, never hurt anyone’s family again. “I know what I’m asking you to do, Ana. I know you don’t want to be here, but these people went after my family. You’re the only one who can help me find my son before it’s too late.”
Pain throbbed at the base of his head in rhythm with his racing heart rate.
“Then it’s a good thing I came into town for my parents’ surprise wedding anniversary.” The hardened exterior she’d hidden behind the moment she’d stepped into his daughter’s hospital room cracked as one corner of her mouth lifted into a smile. She put the SUV back in gear and pulled into traffic. “There’s a safe house the FBI has secured outside of town. You and Olivia can stay there while I collect your bodiless friend from the fireplace. After that, our forensics unit can run dental and DNA for an identification and hopefully trace the victim back to the kidnapper. If he wants the evidence so badly, there’s a reason. I’m going to find out what that reason is so we can get your son back.”
Water and snow kicked up alongside the SUV as they headed out of the city, Main Street passing in a blur. In this quiet, Smokey Mountain town of less than 20,000 residents, there wasn’t much in the way of scandal and crime, but when it hit, it hit hard and left a wake of grief behind. Plowed streets disappeared under a new layer of snow, the trees growing thicker as they headed southeast along the highway. Oliva’s soft snores and the high-pitched clearing of slush beneath the tires coaxed him to relax, but he couldn’t ignore the strained silence between him and the woman who’d amazingly put herself in harm’s way for his daughter. “Thank you for taking the case. I didn’t know who else to call.”
“No need to thank me.” Thin lines around her eyes deepened as though she was in the middle of an internal battle of some kind. “This is my job. This is what I’m trained for.”
Was that all this was to her? A job? His gut clenched. He should’ve known better; should’ve realized reaching out to her wasn’t going to change anything. He should’ve had enough sense to let the past die, but he hadn’t been able to stop the loop of what-ifs since that morning he’d woken alone in his bed. Until he caught sight of the stain of blood pooling on her slacks. Benning jerked forward in his seat. Hell. She’d gotten shot, her wound had been bleeding this entire time and she’d kept it to herself. “Damn it, Ana, you’re hurt. Pull over.”
“I said I’m fine. It’s been six hours since your son was taken. If we get stuck out here, we’re not finding Owen before the deadline.” The muscles along her throat worked to swallow. Her left arm hung limp at her side, her free hand gripped so tight around the steering wheel her knuckles threatened to split the translucent skin. “Besides, I’ve survived a lot worse than a bullet wound. Tell me about Owen.”
A lot worse? What the hell did that mean?
Hesitation gripped him hard, but he couldn’t argue with her logic. Every minute they were on the run was another minute his son didn’t have. “He hates peanut butter. Won’t go near the stuff. All he wants to do is sit on his tablet and watch those stupid videos online of other kids playing with toys, but I let him because it makes him happy.” Adrenaline from the shootout at the hospital drained from his veins the longer he talked about Owen. “The kid can’t go anywhere without the blanket I bought for him while Lilly was pregnant with them. Sleeps with it every night, takes it with him wherever he goes. Except school. That’s where I had to draw the line.”
That damn blanket was still right where Owen had left it in the middle of the living room floor during the abduction. His son must’ve dropped it when the kidnapper had rushed him out the door. Only now Benning wished he would’ve brought it with him, had something to hold on to of his son’s. A minute passed, maybe more.
“I’m sorry about Lilly. I wanted to...reach out, but I wasn’t sure after what’d happened between us...” She cleared her throat, redirected her attention out the driver-side window. “Has it been hard? Not having her around?”
He let her words settle, focusing on the topic of his late wife.
“At first.” He couldn’t really remember single moments of the first few months of the twins’ lives. It’d been a blur of diaper changes and spit up, of having to take a leave of absence until he’d found the right nanny to take over, of trying to make sense of being a single father. Of trying to forget about the rookie federal agent who’d extracted herself from his life as quickly as she’d appeared. He studied the snow as it melted against the hood of the SUV. “My entire world got turned upside down. I had to start thinking of things like formula temperature, not being able to sleep for more than an hour at a time and which diapers worked better for girls compared to boys. To be honest, I still don’t know what I’m doing or if I’m making the right choices for them.” He scratched at the spot of dried mud on his jeans as heat flared into his neck and
