“I’ll be there.” Writing down the information, what little there was, she asked Voice how she would know when he got to the airport. She said his wife would contact her. “All right. What else can I do for you?”
“For me? Nothing. I need nothing from you or anyone else right now.” Harris wanted to stomp her foot and tell her to give her what she wanted. When she spoke again, Harris stiffened in her chair. “Hang on.”
The wait seemed to be an eternity. But when she spoke again, Harris was standing up and ready to go to her. If only she’d allow it. The pain she heard in her voice, the noises that she could now hear, made Harris know that something else was going down.
“I don’t have an address.” Harris told her she’d find her if she needed it. “I’m shot to fuck here, Harris. It’s an ambush coming to the Columbus airport. I can only think they know that Avery is coming in.” She heard cursing and had to smile. She did it in several languages too. “His family is safe. They’ll be at the hotel I’ll name in a minute. Go and get them. Guard them with your life or so help me, I’ll hunt you down and make it look like you fell into a chipper feeder.”
Shivering at the way she’d die—there was no doubt that Voice would indeed do what she said—Harris vowed that she’d protect them. When the line was suddenly cut off, her phone indicated that there was a message. Not only did it have the longitude and latitude to the hotel, but also the street address. When she started to put the phone down, having just the title of unknown on it, she received pictures of the entire family coming in. When it beeped the third time, it said safe or die.
Calling for backup, she was shouting orders to everyone she came across. Even Shep, who had been in the backyard, came running when she yelled for him. Time, she knew for some reason, was running out for Voice.
On the road in less than twenty minutes felt like it was too long. Harris still didn’t know where Voice was or how she was supposed to get to her.
Less than an hour later, they were pulling into the hotel drive. Leaving the car, she knew her men were all over the place. She counted three of them in the lobby as soon as she came through the door.
The gun to her head had her pausing and putting her hands up. “I’m Agent Marshall. I’ve come to get the Avery family.” The gun pressed harder into her head. “I have a text message from the woman that sent me. She said there was a showdown at the airport, and I needed to get you out of here.”
“Show me your library card.” Confused, Harris reached for her wallet and then her card. “Hold it up where I can see the number on it.” After what seemed like an eternity, she was told that she passed. Asking about the library card, the person who she turned to look at laughed. “No one thinks about the shit they have on them at all times that might give them away to someone. And no one thinks about a little thing like I asked you for when I was to use it to ID you. See? Smart cookie, Voice is.”
The young man who was standing there with his gun at his thigh just stared at her. Harris didn’t know him. However, she was sure that if asked, he’d be able to tell her anything about herself. Asking the kid how old he was, he grinned at her again.
“Seventeen. You’re lucky I was the one that drew the short straw. If Mom had come out here for you, you’d have been knocked around more. She’s not good with strangers.” Harris asked if all his family could handle a gun like he did. “Yes. Or we’d all be dead.”
Just like that, “We’d all be dead if we didn’t know what the hell we were doing.” As Harris was being dragged to the elevator, he said nothing. Apparently, he’d been told not to make small talk. She knew for a fact that it would give you away every time. Once inside the room, she looked at the people there.
“You must be James Avery.” He put out his hand but didn’t speak. She looked at the woman standing next to him. “Intel on you says that you have four children. A wife as well as a couple of dogs.”
“I have three children, no dogs. My middle child you’ve met—Jamie. The oldest is Beth—she goes to places like this as my wife. My youngest child is in the bathroom with a gun loaded and pointed to where you’re standing right now. We don’t fuck around.” Harris said she could see that. “My wife was killed five years ago when someone figured out who I was. Anyone in my family gets hurt, and I’ll do to you what I did to him. My family is all I have in the world.”
“I believe you.” She started to turn away and looked back. There was something there, a click of something that she needed to think about. “Holy fucking Christ. Voice, she’s related to you. Sister, I’m betting.”
Before anyone could tell her yes or know, she felt the sting of something in her arm and turned toward the girl and watched her as she faded in and out. They’d given her something. Something to knock her on her ass. At least she hoped so.
“It’ll not hurt your child. But I can’t have you going around spouting off shit that you have no right to. Just relax, Agent Harris, and have your husband Shep take my kids to your house. I’ll come and get them soon. I have to find
