Walker Revenge (The Walker Family Series Book 5) (22 page)

She took the bottle and ran back to the
front door. Gerald was still holding a towel to his mother’s head,
and she was moaning from the pain.

Ben had Russell lifted into a seated
position, and he slipped in and out of consciousness. Phillip was
on the front step on his phone.

Glenda batted her eyes and looked toward
Chelsea. “She took him. She took Lucas.”

Chelsea knelt down next to her as Phillip
walked back through the door. “She?”

“The nurse that came earlier, when Russell
was gone.”

Chelsea looked up at Phillip, who winced at
Glenda’s words.

“I just got word that Fiona Cleary left the
detox center three days ago. She just walked out.”

Chelsea sat back on the step right behind
her and put her head between her knees. This couldn’t be happening
again. She wasn’t sure her heart could take it.

Russell opened his eyes and leaned against
his brother. “Silver car,” he muttered. “Sped away.”

Phillip moved toward him. “You saw the car?
Did you see Lucas?”

Russell fought to keep his eyes open.
“Where’s Lucas?”

Phillip looked at Chelsea, and now tears
fell quickly. “Chels, we’re going to find them. Eric is headed to
town, too. Dane is in town, and he’s driving around. Now I can tell
them what to look for. All units are on the lookout, and an Amber
Alert has been issued. We’re going to have him back here before
bedtime, Chels. I promise.”

She lowered her head again between her
knees. This had to be a bad dream. All she wanted to do was wake
up.

Chapter
Twenty-Six

There was a police officer at each end of
the hospital hallway. The noises of the emergency room nearly drove
Chelsea crazy.

They’d given her something to keep her calm,
and she hated them for it. How could she possibly help find her son
when she drugged up seated in a chair next to her husband in the
emergency room?

Glenda had been stitched up, but they were
going to keep her for observation. As horrible as it sounded,
Chelsea was glad that she’d been hit with the gun, and not
shot.

It was nearly eleven o’clock at night when
Russell finally stirred. They’d given him an IV and monitored
him.

“Chels,” Russell said weakly as he reached
for her hand. “I’m sorry.” His voice was weak. “I couldn’t get to
them fast enough.”

“I should have been there, Russ. I shouldn’t
have let him out of my sight—ever.”

“Shhh, Phillip will find him,” he
promised.

She rested her head on the bed next to him,
and he smoothed his hand over her hair.

Before midnight, Phillip pushed back the
curtain and stepped toward the bed where Russell lay. Chelsea
lifted her head.

“Did you find them? Tell me you…”

“Not yet.”

Perhaps it was okay they’d given her
something, she thought now. Otherwise, she was sure she’d have had
a heart attack.

“The prints on Russ’s gun were Fiona
Cleary’s.”

Chelsea’s hand came to her mouth to keep the
sob from escaping. “She took my son.”

He nodded. “We’ll find them.” He stepped
closer to the bed. “We confirmed she was the one who sent Wesley
for the truck. She was the one at the bar who broke up your
fight.”

Russell blinked hard. “Was she there when
they arrested him?”

Phillip shook his head. “We think she might
have been the one to run you off the road.”

“Seeking some revenge?”

“Wesley’s head was a lot clearer in the past
few days.” Phillip snorted. “He suddenly knew who she was and
remembered her telling him about you. Seems as though when she
figured out who you were, she wanted you out of the picture.”

“I shouldn’t have been an issue,” he said,
his voice clear now. “Chelsea and I weren’t together.”

She reached for his hand. “It was a sore
spot in our marriage. I might have, on more than one occasion,
mentioned to Dominic that I’d wished I hadn’t left you.”

She expected him to be mad, but a smile
crossed his lips. “So, she was taking out revenge on me?”

Phillip nodded. “Seemed like if she could
get you out of the picture, all the better. But I think her main
purpose for getting the truck, was to get Lucas and head to
Dominic.”

Chelsea pressed her fingers to her temples.
“I can’t believe this is happening again.”

“He’ll be home soon, Chels.”

~*~

Chelsea had fallen asleep with her head on
the side of Russell’s hospital bed while she still sat in the
chair.

Now that his head was clear, he wondered how
she was even coping, because his heart was broken into a million
pieces. He hated that he wasn’t out there, trying to find their
son. Oh, and if he saw Dominic Cleary, he’d kill the man with his
bare hands.

As the nurse came in around four in the
morning, she smiled at him, noticing Chelsea with her head on his
bed.

“She doesn’t look comfortable.”

“I’m sure she’s not. I’m surprised she slept
at all. This has to be killing her.”

The nurse nodded. “They gave her something
to calm her. I guess it did the trick. They have your mom on the
fourth floor.” She looked at her chart. “You had elevated levels of
GHB in your blood. Enough to knock you out quickly, but your
bloodwork looks normal now. We’re going to start your
discharge.”

“Thank you.”

She rested her hand on his arm. “I’m sorry
about your son. I’m praying for him.”

“I appreciate that,” he said, but he wanted
to break down and cry. He wanted to get in the car and look for
him. He had seen the car. He knew what he was looking for. They
could be in Texas already, and the thought they might hurt Lucas
ripped him apart.

He took a few deep breaths. Maybe they’d
take care of him until they found him. Maybe, if Fiona were with
Dominic, together, they’d do what was best for Lucas. They had to
have done this to have him near, not to hurt him. Russell had to
believe that.

By six o’clock, Russell was signing his
discharge papers, and gratefully climbing into a wheelchair so that
his wife could take him home. Phillip pushed open the curtains, as
he had earlier in the night.

Chelsea ran right to him and placed her
hands on his chest. “You found him. Is he okay? You have him?”

Phillip took her hands and held them in his.
“Not yet. We’ve had sightings of the car though. I just talked to
Lydia. I think you should go to her house until we have more word.
You’ll be close by then.”

They both nodded. At that same moment,
Chelsea’s phone rang in her pocket. She quickly pulled it out and
looked at the number.

“I don’t know who this is,” she said, and
Phillip moved in.

“Answer it.”

“Hello,” she said with her voice shaking.
Russell watched as her eyes grew big, and tears began to stream
down her cheeks. “He’s okay? Tell me he’s okay. Where are you? I
want my son back!”

Her breath shook, and her chest heaved.
Phillip took her shoulders and guided her to the chair behind her
before taking his phone out.

She hung up and looked at them. “It was
Dominic. They are at my house and…

“Get the son-of-a-bitch,” Russell fired
off.

“Wait!” she yelled, and heads turned.
“Phillip, he has Lucas. He has his mother restrained. He doesn’t
want to scare Lucas so he wants us to go to the house and get
him.”

Russell shook his head. “This sounds like an
ambush.”

Phillip nodded. “We’ll be careful. This is
what we deal with. I’ll be in touch.”

“No,” she said again. “He said I need to
come. Phillip, I trust him. You didn't hear his voice. If he said
he’s going to give me Lucas…”

“You trust him?” Russell fixed his stare on
her. “How in the hell can you trust him? You’re crazy.”

“I have to. My son’s life is on the
line.”

“Our son, and what’s he going to do if this
is an ambush, and Lucas loses you?”

“I have to go.”

Phillip stepped in closer. “Let’s go. Both
of you in my car. I have units moving into place right now. No one
is getting hurt today.”

Chapter
Twenty-Seven

As was the way of the Walker family, Russell
noticed that everyone was there to rally for them. When Phillip
drove down the street leading to Chelsea’s house he saw the trucks
that belonged to each of his brothers, and Gia’s car. Jake and his
brother, Todd, stood on the corner a block away, and just beyond
them—their sisters, Pearl, Bethany, and Audrey stood on the next
corner.

Pride swelled in his heart. If the
son-of-a-bitch tried to flee, he’d feel the wrath of a Walker
revenge.

Phillip pulled up in front of the house and
turned on his spotlight. Two other police cars pulled up on either
side of him and pinned him in.

He turned to Chelsea in the back seat. “Do
you have that vest on?”

She nodded.

Russell winced at the thought. “I don’t like
this. Let me wear it and go for him.”

Phillip shook his head. “He wants to work
with Chelsea. You can’t even walk that far.”

Oh, but he would, he thought.

“I don’t have any plans that she’s walking
into that house. If he called her, he wants this to go down well,
right?” Phillip reasoned. “Call him,” he told Chelsea.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket,
turned it to the speaker, and redialed the number he’d called
on.

“Chelsea, are you with the cop?” Dominic’s
voice rang out in the car, and Russell bit back everything he had
not to go off on the man.

“I’m here. I want my son, Dominic.” Her
voice had risen with anger.

“You’ll get him. Let me talk to the
cop.”

“I’m here, Dominic,” Phillip said in a
stern, calm voice.

“Listen. I don’t wanna get shot. I broke
parole in Texas.”

“I know.”

“Yeah, well I did it coz I knew my mom was
going to go after Lucas.”

Phillip exchanged glances with Chelsea. “She
told you?” he asked.

“Yeah. She was going to head to me in my
truck, but she said she hit something.”

“She did,” Phillip kept him talking. “Is
your mother with you now?”

“Yeah,” he said and they could hear her
yelling at him. “I have her tied to a chair in the kitchen until
you take her in. Listen, like I said, I wasn’t in on this. My mom
has lost her mind I tell ya. Lucas is pretty scared.”

Chelsea covered her mouth and squeezed her
eyes shut.

Dominic continued, “She didn’t hurt him. You
need to know she just wanted to be with him. She figured it was our
turn to take care of him, but this ain’t the way to do it.”

Phillip rested his hand on her shoulder
before speaking again. “Do you have any weapons?”

“Just one. It’s a gun. It’s not mine,” he
clarified. “I took it from her when I ambushed her.”

Phillip's eyes widened. “You ambushed your
mother?”

“Yes, sir. I don’t want to be the one in
trouble here, and I don’t want the kid hurt.”

“Did your mom hurt him?”

Russell took Chelsea’s hand and gave it a
squeeze. He was fighting everything he had inside him not to run
into that house.

“No. She would never hurt him. She’s always
thought she should raise him and not Chelsea. She’s not right, sir.
But she wouldn’t hurt him.”

“Okay, Dominic, let’s make a plan. I have
armed police out here, and they’ll do what I tell them to. Now,
they have to take you in since you broke parole.”

“I know. Like I said, I did it so she
wouldn’t hurt the kid.”

Russell winced every time he called him
the kid
.

“Where is Lucas?”

“I put him in his crib and shut the door.
He’s crying a lot.”

“And your mother is in the kitchen?”

“Yes, sir. Tied to a chair.”

He motioned for officers to walk toward the
car. Nearly silently, he instructed two officers to go to the
bedroom and directed the other two to the back of the house, to the
door to the kitchen.

“Dominic, I have my men instructed not to
shoot. I want you to walk out of the house with your hands on your
head.”

“I want to see Chelsea first. I want to know
she’s here.”

“We don’t want to see her hurt,
Dominic.”

“No, sir. I would never hurt her—again. This
is for Lucas’s sake. I don’t want him going to anyone else. Like I
said, he's scared.”

“I’m going to step out of the car with the
phone. Chelsea will be right behind me.”

Russell stepped out of the car, opened her
door, and she slid out and stood next to him.

“Okay, I have Chelsea. Now I want you to
come out with your hands on your head.”

“I need to get Lucas.”

“No,” Phillip kept talking to him. “Lucas
will be fine. Come on out.”

“Okay,” he said, and they heard the phone
drop.

Chelsea’s heart had stopped and so had her
breath. She waited for a shot to come from the door and hit her in
the chest where she wore the vest, but she wasn’t so sure it would
protect her.

The door opened, and the lights from the
cars flooded the doorway.

Dominic Cleary walked out, just as Phillip
had told him to, with his hands on the top of his head. He walked
to the middle of the sidewalk, lowered to his knees, and then to
his chest.

Three officers ran to him, cuffed him, and
moved him toward a waiting car.

He turned his head and looked at her. “She’s
crazy, Chels. I never would have done this to him,” Dominic called
out as they put him in the back of one of the other cars.

A few moments later his mother was brought
through the front door with two officers who struggled with Fiona
Cleary. Her hands were cuffed behind her and she fought against the
officers.

“She shouldn’t have that baby,” she hollered
and it twisted in Chelsea’s gut. “She’s the one that stole him from
us.”