Every Precious Thing (30 page)

Just a few more miles and the girl would be secured.

And this annoying aberration in her well-run program would be erased.

C
HAPTER
S
EVENTY

S
ARA LEANED FORWARD
and pointed at a sign ahead. “That’s it. Tapo Canyon Road. Take that exit and go right.”

Richard eased the car into the slow lane.

According to Logan’s last conversation with Ruth, Dr. Paskota had been delayed as she passed through downtown, so they had actually arrived in Simi Valley first with a five-to-ten-minute lead. He hoped to God that was enough.

Once they were off the freeway, Sara guided them to another street that took them up the gentle slope of a hill and past a middle school. After that, they zigzagged through a well-kept, middle-class neighborhood until they reached Summit Avenue.

“This is it,” Sara said. “About halfway down and on the left.”

As Richard slowed the car, Logan’s phone beeped with a message from Ruth.

E
XITING
T
APO
C
ANYON

“They’re only a few minutes behind us,” Logan said.

“I thought we had more than that,” Sara said.

He did, too. “We don’t.”

“Which one?” Richard asked.

Sara turned back around, studied the homes, then pointed. “There. That one.”

As they neared, Richard made like he was going to pull into the driveway.

“Don’t,” Logan said. “If they see your car parked there, they’ll ask Alan if it belongs. Even if he lies and says yes, they’ll see through him.”

Richard looked at him in the mirror, unconvinced, but Diana nodded.

“On the street,” she ordered.

Her brother rolled his eyes, but did as she said.

As they climbed out of the car, Sara asked, “What if they don’t open the door?”

“They will,” Logan said.

“But what if they won’t?”

“It’s not going to be an issue.”

They crossed to the other side, and walked up to the porch. Sara was closest to the door, while Logan stayed in back. She stood there, doing nothing.

“Sara, you’re wasting time we don’t have,” Logan said.

She nodded, hesitated a second longer, then knocked.

They could hear footsteps on the other side, and the porch light flicked on. The door, however, remained closed. The dim light that had been visible through the peephole turned black.

There was nothing for a moment, then, “What do you want?”

“Rachel, please open the door,” Sara said.

“You can’t just come in here and take her.”

“That’s not why I’m here. Please, just let me in.”

“Who are those people with you?”

Sara glanced behind her. “My sister and brother, and—”

“Your what? Since when do you have a sister and brother?”

“I’m sorry. I never talked about them, but—”

“There is
no way
I’m letting you in.”

Logan knew she meant it. “Keep her talking,” he whispered. He moved off to the left, along the front of the house.

Behind him, the conversation faded as he slipped around the corner into the side yard. Halfway down was a cinder-block fence walling off the back. He didn’t even bother trying the wooden gate built into it. He simply scaled the fence and hopped down on the other side.

The section of the yard he landed in had been set up as a dog pen. There was a wire fence continuing out from where the house ended, making a squared-off area of about ten feet by ten feet. The dog it was meant for was nowhere to be seen.

Logan passed through the open gate, prepared for the animal appearing at any second, but when he peeked into the main part of the backyard, he was happy to see it was unoccupied. The dog must have been inside for the night.

Like most California homes, there was a sliding glass door, this one opening onto a small brick patio. The screen was closed, but the door was open a few feet, letting in the pleasant evening air.

Logan stopped at the edge of the door and listened. Rachel was saying something, but it didn’t sound like she was talking to Sara.

Then a male voice said, “Just ignore her. She’ll go away.”

Kurt the husband, Logan figured.

“I’m going to call Alan.”

“He’s going to tell you the same thing.”

Logan chanced a look. Just inside was a brightly lit family room. The TV was on, and there was a bowl of chips on a table in front of the couch. A fat, old golden Lab lay sleeping on the sofa. Beyond the room, Logan could see a portion of the entryway at the far side of the house. While the sister was hidden from view, the back of the man was visible. Kurt was short, maybe five six or five seven, but he carried the weight of a man a foot taller.

Logan frowned. He wished he could do this a different way, but there wasn’t time. He pulled out his gun, and quietly slid open the screen. The dog didn’t even stir.

He crossed through the family room, and stopped ten feet behind Rachel and Kurt.

Leaving the gun at his side, but visible, he said, “Open the door, please.”

For half a second, he thought he’d given the man a heart attack. While both of them had turned around in surprise, Kurt had actually grabbed his chest and fallen against the wall with a thud.

“What do you want?” he said. “How did you—”

“I want you to open the door,” Logan replied.

As Rachel fumbled with the lock, Logan heard the dog roll off the couch and walk slowly into the foray.

“Get in!” Logan told Sara and the others the moment he saw them.

They rushed in. As soon as the door was closed again, the dog began roaming between the visitors, sniffing their hand.

“Reggie, don’t do that,” Kurt said.

The dog glanced at him, and continued what it was doing.

“No, Reggie. Go lie down.”

Reggie ignored him.

Logan focused on Rachel. “Where’s Emily?”

She shot an accusing glance at Sara. “You
did
come to take her.”

“No. We came to save her, and you,” Sara said.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“That’s something we’ll have to discuss later,” Logan said. “Where’s Emily?”

Rachel shook her head. “You can’t have her.”

“If you stay here even a few minutes longer, there’s a good chance you’re going to die,” Logan said.

Both Rachel and Kurt couldn’t help but look at his gun.

C
HAPTER
S
EVENTY
-O
NE

“
I
’M
NOT GOING
to kill you,” Logan said.

Sara wasn’t about to stand there any longer. She raced toward the hallway.

“Hey!” Rachel called out. “You leave her alone.”

Sara heard someone running after her. She glanced over her shoulder, thinking it might be Rachel trying to stop her, but it was Diana.

“Hurry,” her sister said.

Rachel and Kurt’s house was a single story with three bedrooms. They had two sons, both away at college, so Sara guessed Emily would be using one of their rooms. The first was Troy’s, but it was empty. The second was Cory’s.

Sara stopped in the doorway, frozen in place by the sight of the small form sleeping on the bed.

Emily
.

She had almost convinced herself she’d never see her daughter again, but there she was, peacefully asleep. Sara could even hear her breathe. It was like music.

“Did you find her?” Diana asked, stopping behind her.

Sara pulled herself out of her trance and raced into the room. She pulled back the covers, put her arms under her daughter, and lifted Emily from the bed. The girl rolled against Sara’s chest, then seemed to realize something was different.

Her eyelids fluttered, and opened. She stared at her mother for a full second. Then her eyes grew wider than Sara had ever seen them, and she threw open her arms and wrapped them around Sara’s neck.

“Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!”

Sara hugged her daughter tight. “It’s me, sweetie. It’s me.”

“We gotta go,” Diana said.

Sara remained motionless, wanting to remember this moment for the rest of her life. Then she nodded, and carried Emily out the door.

C
HAPTER
S
EVENTY
-T
WO

A
S SARA AND
Diana ran from the room, Logan checked his watch. They were almost out of time.

He nodded at Rachel and Kurt, and said to Richard, “Keep an eye on them.”

He made a quick circuit of the formal living room, dining room, and family room, turning off all the lights and the TV. Reggie, apparently deciding to be his shadow, followed happily behind.

“Why are you doing that?” Kurt called out.

“He’s trying to save your life,” Richard said.

Ignoring both men, Logan stepped over to a window that faced the street and pulled back the curtain. At the moment, it was quiet, no cars in either direction as far as he could see, but he knew that wouldn’t last long.

He heard footsteps and turned to see Sara and Diana walk back into the entryway. Emily was in Sara’s arms, hugging her.

“Can I see her?” Richard asked.

Logan realized this must have been the first time Sara’s brother ever laid eyes on his niece. Diana, he knew, had seen her earlier that summer when she visited Sara in Riverside. But as wonderful as that moment should be, this wasn’t the time.

“You need to go, now!” Logan ordered.

Richard looked annoyed, but he turned from his sisters and opened the front door.

As the others moved to follow him, Rachel reached out to grab Emily from Sara. “You’re not taking her anywhere.”

“You
all
go!” Logan yelled.

Emily started to cry.

“It’s okay, sweetie,” Sara said. “It’s okay.”

“Go, go!” Logan said.

“Go where?” Kurt asked.

“I don’t care,” Logan said. “Away.”

“Why?”

Both Richard and Diana had already disappeared outside, but just as suddenly, they came running back in.

“Car,” Diana said as Richard shut the door.

Logan moved back to the window.

A car was heading down the road toward the house.

“Keep going,” he whispered. “Keep going.”

But his mojo wasn’t working this time, and the vehicle started to slow.

“Out the back,” he said quickly. “Go over the fence to the next yard!”

“What are you taking about?” Kurt said. “I’m not going over any fence. You’re going to tell us what’s going on, and you’re going to tell us now.”

“Go, dammit, go!” Logan said. He pulled out his phone and dialed Dev.

No one seemed to move. Instead everyone started arguing.

Outside, the car was only half a block away, its speed at a near crawl now.

“Logan?” Dev said.

“Where are you?”

“I’m in Simi. Maybe five minutes away.”

Five minutes was too long. “I’m in the house. It appears the others are just pulling up.”

“I’ll get there as quickly as I can.”

Logan hung up, and looked back. Everyone was still there.

“Do you all not get it? There is only one person in this house the people who just got here want alive, and it’s not any of you, or me.” He glanced at Emily, then scanned the others. “Get the hell out of here
now
!”

They started to move. Even Rachel’s husband seemed shaken enough not to put up a fight.

Logan returned his attention to the street. The car was only one house away now, angling for a section of the curb directly behind the car Logan and the others had arrived in. As soon as it parked, its lights went out, but the doors remained closed.

Logan looked down the street, wondering if they might be waiting for reinforcements, but, as of now, there were no other cars heading this way.

He heard one of the sedan’s doors open, and looked back at it.

Not one door, but two. Dr. Paskota exited the front passenger side, while one of her goons climbed out of the backseat. Logan could see three shadowy forms still inside—Alan and Harp in the back, and a final man still behind the wheel.

Logan clearly saw what he needed to do. Divide and conquer.

He stepped over to the front door. Leaving the deadbolt undone, he turned the knob lock just enough so that it was partially engaged, then looked through the peephole to be sure the woman and her friend were definitely heading his way.

They were.

Logan moved quietly through the house, with Reggie lumbering slowly behind him.

“Scoot, scoot,” he said to the dog, pushing him through the open sliding glass door, and following right behind.

As soon as they were outside, he shut the door and took a quick look at the back fence. Richard was trying to help Kurt get over the wall, but it was obviously a struggle. The others were gone.

“You guys need to hurry,” Logan whispered. He patted Reggie on the head. “Come on.”

With a hand on the dog’s collar, he guided Reggie along the back of the house into his pen, and closed the wire gate.

“Be a good boy and stay quiet, okay?”

Reggie licked his hand and chuffed once.

“No, no. Quiet,” Logan said, holding his finger to his mouth.

This time the dog sat down.

“Good boy. We’ll be back for you soon.”

Hoping he was right, he stepped to the fence and eased himself over the top.

C
HAPTER
S
EVENTY
-T
HREE

A
S HARP WATCHED
the woman and Clausen walk across the street toward the house, he’d never felt so hopeless and frustrated in his life. There had to be something he could do. If they could just overpower the guy who’d been left with them—Clausen called him Markle—then maybe they could get help, but he wouldn’t be able to do that alone, and Alan was barely holding it together. He kept looking at the house, then out the front window, then back at the house, his hands shaking as if he were freezing to death.