David Morrell: The Spy Who Came for Christmas

“ Meredith?”

“ What?”

“ Hurry into the living room. Somebody’s coming. Does your husband have a mustache? Is this him?"

Kagan heard her footsteps on the brick floor as she scurried through the darkness. Again, he didn’t need to remind her to stay low.

“ I…” She stared out the window. A breath caught in her throat. “Yes. That’s Ted.”

The front door was to the right of the window. Kagan shifted to the left. Remaining in the shadows, pressing himself close to the window, he stared along the front of the house. He didn’t see anyone hiding there. Not that he could see the entire length of the house. But he saw enough to take a chance.

The angle the man followed would lead him to the side door, and Kagan didn’t want him entering from that direction. There wasn’t a window. Kagan didn’t have a way to check for anyone hiding beyond that other door. It would be easy for someone to rush in behind Ted.

“ Meredith, open the front door. Tell him to come in that way.”

She studied Kagan. Even in the shadows, he saw the contour of the swelling bruises on her cheek and the side of her mouth.

“ He won’t hit you again. I promise.”

Meredith nodded, ending her hesitation. She twisted the dead bolt and opened the door. The outside light exposed her. As cold air streamed into the living room, she called out, “Ted, come in. Over here.”

“ Meredith?” The voice was unsteady, perhaps from alcohol. “Are these footprints out here? The snow almost filled them, but they seem to go toward the house. Did someone show up while I was gone?”

“ Get inside,” Meredith told him firmly.

“ Did I hear a baby cry a few seconds ago?”

“ Ted, for heaven’s sake, it’s cold. Get in here.”

Ted approached the door.

“ Meredith, I’m begging you to forgive me,” he said. “The worst thing I ever did in my life was hit you. I’d give anything to take it back. I can’t tell you how sorry I am.”

Snow flurried in.

Ted took off his gloves and stepped through the door. He cast a shadow from the outside light. “Those footprints-who made them?”

Meredith quickly shut and locked the door.

In a rush, Kagan knocked Ted’s legs from under him, dropped him chest first on the floor, pressed the Glock against the back of his head, and told him, “Put your hands behind your neck.”

“ What’s going on? Is that a gun?”

“ Put your hands behind your neck, and link your fingers.”

“ Who the-”

Kagan gripped Ted’s hair and rapped his forehead on the bricks.

“ Ouch!”

“ Do what you’re told. Meredith, keep looking out the window.”

She took Kagan’s place in the chair.

Trembling, Ted obeyed Kagan’s orders and put his hands behind his neck, linking his fingers. His breath smelled faintly of whiskey, but his speech wasn’t slurred, making Kagan think that he hadn’t drunk any alcohol in a couple of hours.

“ What the hell is going on?”

“ Pay attention,” Kagan ordered. “Is anybody out there?”

“ What do you mean? Who’d be-”

Kagan rapped Ted’s forehead on the bricks, harder this time.

“ Hey, you’re hurting me!”

“ That’s the whole idea, Ted. Who’s out there?”

“ It’s Christmas Eve, for heaven’s sake. Plenty of people are out there.”

“ In the lane?”

“ No, on Canyon Road.”

“ I asked about the lane.”

“ It’s deserted. This far from Canyon Road, there aren’t many decorations. Why would anybody be in the lane? Who the hell are you?”

“ Hold still.”

Keeping his pistol against the back of Ted’s neck, Kagan used his injured arm and painfully searched him. He started at Ted’s right ankle, moving up his leg, probing his hips and groin.

“ Hey!” Ted objected.

Kagan ignored him, checking his left leg and then the rest of his body. He didn’t find any weapons. He did feel a wallet, but not what he was searching for.

“ The cell phones,” Kagan said. If he could get his hands on one of them, he could call for help. “You left here with two cell phones, yours and Meredith’s.”

“ How did you know that? Why do you care about-”

“ Where are they?”

“ Stolen.”

“ What?”

“ On Canyon Road,” Ted answered. “Somebody knocked against me and kept going through the crowd. Then I realized that my coat felt lighter. I reached in my pockets. The cell phones were gone.”

“ Somebody took the cell phones but not your wallet?”

“ In my coat pocket, they were easy to get, but my wallet’s under my coat. Meredith, who is this guy? How did he get in the house?”

“ Shut up while I decide if I believe you,” Kagan told him.

“ Why wouldn’t you believe me? I don’t know who you are, buddy, but this is between my wife and me, okay?”

Kagan’s instincts told him to let Ted keep talking, on the chance that he might inadvertently say something useful.

Ted looked imploringly at his wife.

“ Meredith, I swear I’ve never been sorrier for anything in my life. Whatever this guy wants, you and I can deal with him. But we can’t solve anything if you don’t forgive me. After what I did to you, I walked and walked. I felt so bad, I’d have stepped in front of a truck if Canyon Road hadn’t been closed to traffic.”

“ You can come to your hands and knees,” Kagan said.

“ Everybody was enjoying the carolers and the Christmas lights, but all I wanted was to kill myself.” Ted’s voice was strained as he glanced around the murky living room. “I don’t know what made me notice it, but I saw an old adobe building with a sign that said, ‘The Friends.’ It struck me as some kind of…”

“ Come to your knees,” Kagan ordered. “Put your hands in your coat pockets.”

Ted obeyed, shifting his knees to avoid the folds of his coat, awkwardly stuffing his hands into the pockets. He kept talking the entire time.

“ Think about it, Meredith. The one night of the year I surely needed a friend, somebody to straighten me out, and here’s this sign.”

Kagan remained at the side of the living room, away from the window. “You can stand now.”

In the shadows, Ted rose unsteadily, almost losing his balance because his hands were in his coat pockets. He seemed too nervous to stop talking.

“ I went in, and there were people sitting on benches along the walls of a big room. Nobody said a word. They had their heads down. I didn’t understand until I saw a plaque on the wall: ‘The Religious Society of Friends.’”

Ted paused. Again, he looked around the living room.

“ They were Quakers, Meredith. I remembered reading in the newspaper that the Quakers have a meeting hall on Canyon Road. The people with their heads down-they were praying. I sat on one of the benches and realized that it had been years since I’d prayed. I’d almost forgotten how to do it, and God knows I had lots to pray for. You. Cole. The strength to quit drinking.”

Ted kept looking around the living room. Although Kagan couldn’t say why, there was something about Ted’s behavior that made him uneasy.

“ After a while, they raised their heads and began talking with each other. Their voices were so peaceful. Their faces almost glowed. They looked at me as if I was the most welcome person in the world. One of them brought me a cup of coffee. They didn’t pry, but I knew they understood the pain I was in.

“ That’s where I’ve been all this time, Meredith, waiting to get sober enough to come home. I couldn’t help asking myself where my life was going and what I was doing to you and Cole and… Cole? Where are you, son? Are you okay?”

“ I’m here.” Cole’s muffled voice came from a corner of the living room.