Shadows and Light: The Complete Series, page 53
There was no way he could leave Anna and Calista in the car while he checked out the offices on the sixth floor. Without stopping, he made his way out of the city, pulling into one of the lighted parking spots at the New Carrollton metro station fifteen minutes later. He took great care opening the door without a sound so as not to wake Calista and Anna. He unlocked the trunk and pulled out Calista’s laptop. A few minutes on the computer would confirm what his heart already mourned.
It took seconds to break through Calista’s security code. Breaching Colin’s security measures to access the main controls took a little longer. Once he had control of the building’s camera footage, he worked his way through the firm, room by room until he reached the inner office. Adam had set those cameras himself. With one final click, his heart dropped into the pit of his stomach.
Colin sat at his desk, his face beaten beyond recognition. His body was strapped into the chair with coils. Ludis had used a battery to torture his friend before he placed a bullet between his eyes.
Adam slammed the laptop and practically threw it into the trunk. He eased back into the car for his cell phone and called 911. He couldn’t save his friend, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to leave him alone until the staff showed up.
His friends were dead. Why was Ludis so desperate to find him that he would go to these lengths?
“Are you okay, Daddy?”
Anna’s soft voice broke through his anger. He glanced at the rearview mirror and met her gaze. “I’m fine, sweetheart. Go back to sleep.”
Her lower lip quivered as her eyes filled with tears. “I want Mommy.”
Adam swallowed a lump and clenched his jaw, his teeth grinding into the enamel. “I know, sweetie. She didn’t want to leave you.”
He swallowed again, hard. This time his teeth bit the tender skin inside his mouth, drawing the metallic taste of blood. “She loves you, baby girl. Very much.”
Anna nodded and let out a shaky sigh. By some miracle, his words gave her some comfort because she laid her head on Calista’s lap and closed her eyes. Moments later, her breathing slowed and she drifted back to sleep.
Adam had never felt so damn helpless in his life. He had no idea how to help his daughter. She had to be in shock and in need of medical attention, the kind he was ill-equipped to give her.
The crazy telepathy … where in the hell did that come from? How was she able to let him know Rina needed him? If it wasn’t for the lingering pain that pulsed from his frontal lobe to the back of his head, he could easily believe he had finally plunged into the deep end of insanity.
But Anna was communicating with him through her thoughts. He was going to have to get his little girl to open up to him. How much did she witness? Did Ludis see her? Could she identify Ludis? Did she witness that bastard hurting her mother? He needed to know what she knew.
Adam worked his way around the Beltway to the Washington/Baltimore parkway. Once in Baltimore, he exited onto Pratt Street. He rolled his shoulders as his mind settled on one conclusion: he’d fucked up somewhere and led Ludis right to Rina’s and Anna’s doorstep. Anna was motherless because of him. He rubbed his abdomen with a slow circular motion and welcomed the churning acid. It was his penance, and he didn’t care if it ate him alive from the inside out.
Calista jolted awake. “Where are we?”
“Baltimore. We’re about five minutes from a bed.”
He slowed as he drove through downtown past Camden Yards, Inner Harbor, and into Fells Point where he turned into a large empty church parking lot. He cut the headlights, maneuvered around the back of the church, and backed into the darkest spot, facing the two-story rectory.
“Why are we stopping at a Catholic church?” she asked, unable to hide the fatigue in her voice from him.
Adam paused. How much of his plan should he share with Calista? “I have a friend here who can help us, but I need to check it out first. Lay Anna on the seat and come up front.”
Calista did what he asked and crawled over the console into the passenger seat. He reached for her hand and held it between his two large hands. “Same rules apply as at the hotel. If I’m not back in five minutes, get the hell out of here.”
He nodded toward an alley off the back of the lot. He caressed the number he penned on her wrist with his thumb. “Take the alley to Pratt. Keep your lights off. Find a place to lay low and contact the man on your wrist.”
He pulled the Glock from his holster and set it on the driver’s seat. He watched as Calista swallowed. Fear etched in her eyes and he wanted to kick himself. His first mistake—he should have hurled Calista’s butt out of his car on the damn entrance ramp, called her a cab, and drove away. And what was he thinking giving into Anna’s pleas? It was a little late to earn Father of the Year votes.
“Calista, this is a safe place. I’m just being cautious.”
Adam exited the vehicle, shutting the door without so much as a click. He kept to the shadows, working around the shrubs that surrounded the porch. Nothing felt out of the ordinary. He pulled out a pick and had the door unlocked in seconds. With one quick glance at the CR-V and the lot, he slipped into the dark foyer.
The familiar waxy scent of linseed and lavender oils filled his nostrils. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. A hardwood floor beam creaked and the silhouette of a man appeared in the doorway of the living room. He clenched the butt of his weapon but kept it pointing down at his side.
“Relax, Adam. It’s me.” The man was dressed in black pants and a black clerical shirt with a white plastic strip at the collar. “I have a doorbell, you know.”
The tension drained from his body. “Sorry, Robert. It hasn’t been a good night. Are things good here?”
The priest stiffened and nodded. “What’s going on?”
Adam raised his hand and reached for the door. “I’m not alone. Give me a sec.”
He left the rectory as quietly as he entered. This time he called out to Calista as he approached the car. “It’s me,” he said, and opened the back door of the vehicle. He reached in and carefully lifted Anna into his arms. She wrapped her hands around his neck and set her head on his shoulder but remained asleep. Calista scrambled for the quilt and stuffed elephant, got out on her side, and moved around to the back of the CR-V. Adam opened the trunk and reached for Calista’s cello, but she grabbed the handle first.
“I got it, Calista.”
“Yes, but I’ve been tugging this around since fourth grade. You have your hands full.”
“Is there some personal reason you can’t follow the simplest order? If there is, I really need to know that now.”
Her eyes narrowed and she yanked the cello from the trunk. “My cello, my responsibility. I’m not a soldier and this isn’t the military. And since when do I take orders from you?”
“The instant you got out of that damn car.” Adam took her hand and practically dragged her into the home. As soon as he closed the front door, Robert lifted a strand of hair off the child’s face and gasped.
“Good God. Is this Anna?”
“Yes. This is my daughter.” He drew Calista close to him. “And this is Calista Martin.”
The priest took a moment to study Calista before he raked both hands through his hair. He reached for her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Father Robert Anthony, but everyone calls me Anthony.” He glanced at Adam and said, “Except this guy.”
He turned toward Adam. “It really hasn’t been a good night, has it?”
Adam shook his head.
“What can I do?”
Adam handed him the keys to the CR-V. “Move the vehicle while I put Anna down.”
The priest took the keys. “Make yourself at home.” He nodded toward the second floor. “You know where the guest room is.” He turned and left the house.
Adam placed his free arm around Calista’s shoulder. A shiver raced through her body and into Adam’s heart. In his saner moments, when he wasn’t trying to stay alive, he could appreciate the misguided instincts that landed her in the middle of his hell. Years ago, that could have been him.
“I had my reasons for getting out of the car, Adam. I’m not a complete idiot.”
He gently pulled her into an embrace, totally expecting her to punch him in the gut. Shockingly, she laid her head against his chest, circled his waist with one hand, and hugged Anna with the other.
“God, Calista. I’m sorry … it wasn’t supposed to be like this. Your night wasn’t supposed to turn into … this.”
They stood quietly for several moments until he broke the silence. He placed his hand on her cheek. “You’re safe for the moment. We’re all safe here.”
“Your friend―a priest? I wasn’t expecting that.”
Adam chuckled. “He’s my old commanding officer. The closest thing to Batman you’re ever gonna meet.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Don’t let the collar fool you. He’s a one-man army when he has to be.” He sighed and rubbed his tired eyes with his fingertips. “But Robert left that life behind when he entered the seminary and doesn’t like it when he has to revisit it. We’ll only stay here tonight.”
He took a step toward the staircase and repositioned Anna in his arms. “As soon as I get Anna settled, we can talk. I’m sure you have some questions.”
Calista followed Adam to the second floor. He opened the door at the end of the hallway and laid Anna in one of the two twin beds, covering her with the quilt. He removed a loose strand of hair from her cheek, slipping it behind her small ear, and tucked the stuffed elephant in her arms.
“Rina made the blanket with some of Anna’s old baby clothes.” He stood and rubbed the back of his neck. “I have a couple of picture albums and few odds and ends, but not much to show for her mother’s life.”
Calista ran her hand over the stitching on the bottom corner of the quilt. “It’s beautiful. Anna will cherish it.” She glanced up at Adam. “She doesn’t need boxes of her mom’s stuff to remember her. What you’ve collected will be enough as long as you …”
Calista lowered her head and shifted.
Damn, had he been such an intimidating jerk that now she didn’t feel she could be open with him? Keeping her safe would be almost impossible if they couldn’t communicate.
He placed a hand on her arm. “As long as I what?”
She cleared her throat and swiped at a lone tear. “Share Rina with Anna. She needs to be able to talk about her mother with you. That is how she will heal―spending time with you, talking about the woman you both loved.”
Adam moved toward the window. From the corner of his eye, he watched his daughter’s chest rise and fall in a blissful sleep. Every ounce of love he had for her gripped his heart in a vise lock of regret. “That’s not possible. She’s safer away from me.”
“Well, damn it, Adam, make it possible. You’re all she has left. If not you, then who?” Calista tucked the covers around Anna’s shoulders. “She is all that matters now. She needs you.”
Adam leaned his head against the cool glass of the window, eyeing the quiet neighborhood. How in the hell was he going to justify his plan for Anna to Calista?
He knew a little of Calista’s story through Pete. She lost her parents at a young age. She understood exactly what his little girl was feeling. Calista’s choice to stay with him tonight was pure, heartfelt emotion. Adam spent years alone and kept a tight clamp on his emotions. He functioned on reason except when it came to Anna―and apparently Calista.
But that had to change. He had to keep his heart out of the equation to keep Anna safe. Calista was the type of woman who would never forgive him for walking away from his own daughter. But to keep Anna alive, that was exactly what he planned to do.
He cleared his throat. “I have never lived with Anna. While I saw her as much as I thought safe, we’ve never been out of Rina’s home together. I don’t know how to help her … raise her.”
“Learn how, Adam.”
She made it sound so easy. If you want something badly enough, you can make it happen. Maybe in Calista’s normal world, life worked like that. It sure the hell didn’t happen in the one he lived.
“I know how to hunt down the men who killed Rina. I can extract information from them and discover where Ludis is hiding. I can kill Ludis with these,” he said, lifting his hands.
“Adam …”
“No, Calista. That’s exactly what has to happen. This nightmare that’s my life has gone on too long. It’s time to end it.”
She let out a shaky breath. “Then end it. Do what you have to do and come back to Anna.” Her eyes narrowed. “Who is Ludis? Rina mentioned another name, Vasnev.”
She had no business knowing about his other life. But now that she was in the middle of it, she had to understand what he was up against―what she was up against if she decided to stay with him.
“Ludis is my uncle, my mother’s brother.” Calista stiffened, though he doubted she did it consciously. “The other man, Emil Vasnev, is my grandfather. My mother hid me from her family to protect me from their world. But like me, she couldn’t stay away from her only child.”
He cracked open the window. The musky scent from the harbor filled his lungs. He took in another breath of the evening breeze and tried to slam the door to his memory of the last time he saw his mother alive.
Annija Vasnev had brought him into the world, and then sacrificed everything so his life would be different than hers.
But their lives weren’t different. Tonight, their lives mirrored each other.
“My Aunt Annija was my favorite person in the world. I had no idea she was my mother.” He let the silence soothe him a moment. “My grandfather controls the most brutal crime syndicate in Eastern Europe. His hand reaches into every major government in the world. There isn’t anything he hasn’t done. Ludis, his only son, is his right hand. If my mother gave birth to me under her father’s roof, Emil Vasnev would have owned me. So she ran, found a couple to raise me as their own. But like I did, she led Vasnev and Ludis right to me.”
Adam never shared the first time he came up against Ludis with anyone. How he found his adoptive parents tied up, tortured―dead.
His parents were a kind, soft-spoken couple who spent their days unearthing lost cultures. They never had a bad thing to say about anyone. To live their last moments on earth with a man like Ludis Vasnev was unthinkable. The only reason Adam hadn’t put a bullet between his uncle’s eyes years ago was because Rina stopped him, told him he was a better man than that.
“Ludis must have tracked Annija’s numerous visits. The day my parents and Annija died, I had just turned eighteen and was clueless to the secrets surrounding my birth.”
A rush of hatred gushed through his veins as his heart thumped between his ears. Fuck being a better man. He should have killed the bastard the day he learned who he was.
“Annija was too late to save my parents. She handed me a backpack just like this one.” He lifted Anna’s pack off the floor then dropped it. “She told me to run and I did. She drove away, drawing Ludis away from me, and ended up at the bottom of a canyon.”
“My God, Adam. Why?”
“Simple, Calista. Evil breeds evil. My grandfather wants me. I’m a Vasnev, his to control. He sent his trusted son to find me.” He curled his fingers into his palm. He felt Calista place her hand on each of those fists. That simple gesture eased the revulsion crashing through him. He sucked in a breath through his clenched teeth and let it out slowly before he spoke.
“Emil Vasnev is sick, dying. Ludis has just been biding his time until the day he takes control of his father’s empire. My mother was in his way.” His gaze landed on his sleeping daughter. “Anna and I are now in Ludis’s way. Rina knew all of this. That’s why we gave up our lives, faked our deaths, and hid Anna.” He raked both hands through his hair. He wanted to rip it out by the roots, anything to escape the pain.
“Ludis won’t give up. I know his next move and I have to warn them.” His hoarse voice fell to a whisper.
“Who?”
“My father’s family.” He shoved his fisted hands into his pockets. “He’ll go after them next. Like my adoptive parents, they will be caught completely unaware.”
“I don’t understand.”
Adam turned from the window and faced Calista. “My father’s family … I know who they are and even spend time with them, helping them out when I can.” Adam swallowed the lump in his throat before he could continue. “They don’t know who I am.”
“Wait, your father knows you, but doesn’t know you’re his son?”
He could only nod. “My mom never contacted him when she discovered she was pregnant with me for the same reason she gave me up.”
He raised Calista’s arm, traced his finger over the phone number he wrote on her skin and cleared his throat. “But that last day, she gave me his number just like this, and told me if ever I needed him, he would help.” He fixed her with a stare. “Rina and I chose to live in this area so I could be close to my father. I wanted to look out for him and his family in case they ever needed me.”
Adam leaned both hands on the windowsill. His fingernails bit into the old wood. “Now I have placed his entire family in the line of fire.”
“His family? You mean you have brothers … sisters …?”
“Four half-brothers and one half-sister. And I’m about to rip their world wide open.”
Chapter Five
Adam stood at the window, his body tense, and a hard tightness around his eyes. The walls of the small, sparsely furnished guest room appeared to close in on him. He was so closed off, Calista didn’t dare approach him.
Anna moaned and shifted slightly in her sleep. It was if she could feel her father’s anguish. After the bizarre evening Calista just lived through, she didn’t doubt the telepathic connection also gave her access into his emotional state―a lot for a four-year-old little girl to deal with.
