Chapter Eleven
India felt her heart beat a little faster in her chest as she watched the blue dot coming closer to the house. She put her hand on Quinn’s shoulder as they watched the dot stop near the front area of the house. Then the dot moved toward the back and Quinn picked up his device again. “He’s moving toward Kanan’s room now,” he whispered.
“I’m ready for him,” Kanan’s voice whispered. “I can see his shadow through the window.”
But the dot continued on around the end of the building. They watched it as the dot came closer to where they were. Then they saw a red light come up on the screen as someone tried to open a window in the bedroom India was using. “He’s in the house.”
“Where?” Cade asked quietly.
“In the bedroom next to yours,” Quinn told his brother and watched as the dot in India’s room moved toward the door. The infrared motion detectors followed the intruder where ever he went in the room once it was breached. He also watched as Cade’s signal moved toward the door in the room next to hers.
India held her breath as the two dots moved closer to each other and stopped.
Tension built as the dots waited with only a wall between them. Then the dot in India’s room moved. They didn’t hear the door open but when the dot moved into the hall, it was picked up by another sensor.
“He’s in the hall coming toward the living room,” Quinn said then handed India the communicator and picked up the gun in his lap.
India watched as the dot came closer to her then it stopped. When it moved again, it was back tracking toward the bedroom Cade was in. “It’s moving toward Cade,” she whispered into the device.
~* * * *~
Cade reached for the handle of the door and pulled it open quietly. He waited in the dark knowing a killer was just steps away from him. He reached down and turned off the communicator Quinn had given him and waited. In the darkness, he could hear the footsteps coming toward him. He slipped off his shoes and moved toward the door. Then he saw the shadow of the man move past him.
Cade stepped out behind him and raised the gun in his hand to the back of the man’s head. “Don’t you take another step,” he said quietly. The shadow stopped. Before he could turn around, Cade brought the gun down on his head. The shadow crumbled to the floor and something skidded across the floor.
Quinn snapped on the lights and Cade looked down at the man on the floor in front of him. It wasn’t Brock Daniels. He’d never seen this man before. Cade called out to the others, “Man down.”
Doors along the hallway opened and everyone came out. As they all stood in the doorway and looked at the man on the floor India called out on the communicators, “There is someone else outside.”
“Damn,” Cade swore as he looked at the others. “He sent in a decoy.”
The lights went out again. This time, Quinn’s voice came over the communicators, “He cut the power from the outside. We don’t have the sensors. Everyone be on your guard.”
Everyone turned and went back into their rooms. Cade made his way toward the living room. A shot rang out and someone screamed. Cade hurried down the hall. The scream had come from the living room. Briar raced past his brother then skidded to a stop.
When he got there, Quinn’s chair was tipped over and Quinn was unconscious on the floor. The door was open to the courtyard and India was nowhere to be seen. He took another step and saw a shadow struggling moving toward the front door. “Stop right there,” he called out.
The shadows stopped and turned toward him. Cade took another step into the room. He could see Quinn moving around so he knew his brother was still alive. But Cade didn’t take his eyes off the two figures standing in the dark. He kept his gun trained on them.
Moving toward the security set up, he snapped on the generator and the emergency lights in the house came on. In the orange glow, he could see the couple standing beside the front door. Brock Daniels was holding India hostage with a knife to her throat.
The Brock Daniels standing in front of him was disheveled. His clothes were rumpled and bloody. He had gauze wrapped around his left arm and his sleeve was cut away from his shirt. Blood was seeping from a cut on his arm but he held the knife in his right hand and Cade could see it pressed tight against India’s throat.
Aaron had to hold back Briar when he wanted to rush to India. They were just out of sight, still in the hallway. They could see Quinn sprawled out of the floor.
“Well, this is a surprise,” Brock told him. “You were ready for me weren’t you?”
“Yeah, we were.” Cade growled. “Let her go. This is between you and me. It has nothing to do with her.”
“Ahhh, but the moment I let her go, you’re going to shoot me. And as I value my life, I’d rather not.”
“You always did prefer to hide behind a woman’s skirts than face real justice, didn’t you?” Cade jeered the other man. “You’re nothing but a coward and a killer.”
“True,” Brock admitted. “But at least now, I’m a free man again. And I plan to stay that way.”
“Not for long, you aren’t.”
Brock shook his head. “I’ll never go back to prison and as long as I have her you won’t come after me.”
“Don’t bet on that,” Cade told him as he took a step closer.
Brock inched the knife up toward her chin and watched as Cade stopped. “You should know me by now. You know I won’t hesitate to kill her.”
Cade knew a moment of panic as he flashed back to ten years ago. It was Marisa’s face he saw… not India’s. Then he noticed something Brock didn’t. He saw India clench her hand into a fist. At the last possible moment, she shifted her weight to her left side and brought her elbow up into his belly. Then she snapped her fist into his face when he bent over. The knife in his hand went flying and when he doubled over, she brought her elbow down on the back of his head.
Brock crumbled to the floor stunned by the attack. He tried to get the knife back but India stomped on his outstretched hand. He screamed in pain.
Cade rushed toward him, grabbed the back of his shirt, and kicked the knife out of reach. He pulled his arm back and with a closed fist rammed it right into the other man’s face.
Brock went down again.
Cade lifted his foot and kicked the man.
India had to push him away from the unconscious Brock to stop him. Then she went over to Quinn and helped him back into his chair. “It’s okay, Brock is down,” she called out to the others.
Soon, they were all standing in the living room.
Cade was binding Brock’s hands behind his back when the other man came to. Brock struggled to get free but Cade wouldn’t allow him to. Brock looked around and saw the man he’d sent in first laying bound beside him. Then he glared at India. “You bitch. This is all your fault.”
India smiled slightly but didn’t say anything. Instead, she went over to Briar and was folded into his arms immediately.
Cade walked around to face his nemesis. “You are going back to prison where you belong.”
“Why didn’t you just kill me?” Brock asked with a sneer. “I know you wanted to. I could see it in your eyes. You wanted to shoot me.”
“Yes I did,” Cade admitted. “When I saw India with the knife at her throat I wanted very much to kill you.”
“Then why didn’t you?” Brock demanded. “I would rather you shoot me than go back to prison.”
“Because I’m going to be right there in the first row when the state puts a needle in your arm and my face is going to be the last thing on this earth that you’ll ever see. You have been found guilty in the courts and it’s the state that’s going to end your life not me.”
Brock wanted to scream but he didn’t. “But you were the one that was supposed to end it.”
“End what?” Cade asked.
“My life. That’s what this was all about.”
“Was what was all about?” Cade asked.
“My escape,” Brock said. “My escape was my last plan. You were supposed to shoot me before the state could execute me. I wanted you to know how killing a man felt. I wanted you to kill me for killing her.”
Cade realized what he was talking about in that second of time. “You thought I would kill you for Marisa, didn’t you? You came up with this elaborate plan to make me kill you. Why?”
“Because my death would have made you one of us.”
“One of us?” Cade questioned.
“By killing me, you would have become a killer yourself.”
Cade grunted. “Maybe in your eyes but not in the eyes of the law. Now I get to watch you die anyway.” He turned toward the other man. “Who is this?”
Brock turned his head and looked at the other man. “He’s my brother, Jared.”
“Well, you can rest assured he’ll be right there with you in prison.” Cade told Brock. “He’ll live longer than you and every day when he wakes up and looks at where he is, he’ll think of you.” Cade then looked at his father. “Call the police. I want this trash out of my house.”
“They’re already on their way,” Levi told his son.
Cade walked over to India and asked, “Are you all right?”
India nodded from the safety of Briar’s embrace. “I’m glad this is over.”
“Me too. When I first saw you, I figured he would kill you just to get to me. I must say I was stunned by what you did.”
“You and me both,” India admitted. “At first I was scared to death, then something flashed into my mind and I couldn’t let him win.”
“What flashed in your mind?” Cade stared intently at her.
“The fact that I have my own killer to stop. If I let him win, another killer would walk away free and I wasn’t going to let that happen.”
T.K. joined them and touched a small cut on India’s neck. “What happened?” she asked.
India smiled and said, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
The state police arrived and hauled Brock and Jared off to jail. Brock didn’t go quietly. He tried to struggle but the police got him in the car anyway.
~* * * *~
While they were giving the police a statement, Briar began backtracking Brock’s movements to the fence line. He went out the door Brock came in and followed his steps back to the utility box. Using a flash light he saw the box was still open. When he pushed it open further, he saw something attached to the wiring. Following the added wire down to the ground, he saw a backpack sitting there. Kneeling down, he saw the extra wire went down into the backpack. Very carefully, he widened the gap at the top of the backpack.
His eyes widened and he fell backwards. Getting to his feet, he ran back into the house. “Everybody get out of the house. Now!” he shouted.
“What’s the matter?” Levi asked his son.
“Daniels put a bomb on the utility box,” Briar explained. “We don’t have much time.”
Everyone started for the front door. When they were all standing outside the house Cade went over to the police car that Brock and his brother were sitting in. “You bastard. You came here to kill us one way or another didn’t you?”
Brock just sneered at him.
Cade turned to Jared and said, “I hope you’re as willing to die as he is.”
“Why? I didn’t do anything,” Jared complained.
“That isn’t the way the law works,” Cade informed him. “If the bomb had gone off and anybody in the house died, you would be sitting on death row, probably in the same cell as your brother, waiting your turn with the needle.”
Jared turned to his brother and growled, “You really are a bastard.” Then he turned back to Cade and said, “The bomb won’t go off until the power is turned back on from the outside at the source.”
“Shut up you fool!” Brock screamed at him.
“You shut up! None of this was my idea in the first damn place. I didn’t want to be involved.”
“But you came when I needed you,” Brock countered. “That makes you as guilty as I am.”
“You threatened to kill me if I didn’t,” Jared swore. “I’ve known you long enough to take your threats seriously. I watched you kill before.”
“Shut up! Damn you,” Brock screamed at him.
“No I won’t shut up. I’ve kept your dirty little secrets long enough.”
“What dirty little secret would that be?” Cade asked. He motioned for an officer to come over to the car.
When they were both standing there, Jared told Cade, “I know where he keeps his souvenirs. When he went to trial, the state couldn’t mention his earlier kills, they couldn’t link him to more than your girlfriend’s murder, but I can.”
Brock struggled to shut him up. He managed to get his legs up on the seat and was going to kick his brother to shut him up. The officer opened the back door and pulled Jared out of the car before Brock could do anything to hurt him. He slammed the door shut just as Brock’s feet hit the window. Leading Jared over to the other police car, they could still hear Brock shouting at him.
As the officer shut the door on Jared, he shouted back at his brother, “Go to hell!”
Levi watched the drama unfold and shook his head. One of the police officers came up to them and said, “The bomb squad is on the way. I suggest we stay out of the house until they have the bomb cleared away.”
“It isn’t supposed to go off until the power comes back on, but we’ll stay out here anyway,” Cade told them. “Meantime, you might want to get the District Attorney to meet you at the jail. I think Jared is willing to turn state’s evidence against his brother. We can finally nail Brock for each and every murder he committed.”
Hours later, the bomb squad was gone, the state police were gone, and Aaron had taken his wife home. Claire and Levi had already gone home too. The rest of them were sitting in the living room and each had a drink in their hands.
“Let’s hope the state can finally put him down like the dog he is,” Cade raised his glass. He turned to the picture of Marisa above the mantle and wished she were here to celebrate with him.
That’s one chapter closed, let’s get another one closed,” Briar said looking down at India and T.K.
“Let’s all get a good night’s sleep before we tackle that one,” Quinn begged. “I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m exhausted.”
“I think we could all use a good night’s sleep,” Briar said. He got up, grabbed India’s hand, and led her down the hall to his room.
T.K. shook her head while smilig and watched as the door closed behind them.