Allison Brennan - Fear No Evil

The only people living at the Kincaid house were Lucy, her parents, and Jack Kincaid. How long was Jack going to stay watching Lucy? Soon it would be just Lucy and her old parents.

Adam didn’t want to wait, but he was willing to. He had money-a fraction of his wealth, thanks to that idiot Paul Ullman, who didn’t have the brains to avoid the feds and let him know what was happening so he could transfer more funds.

He’d wait, but if he saw an opportunity he would act.

He drove by the doctor’s house again. Still dark. When would he be coming home? He wouldn’t be staying up north indefinitely.

But since the house was vacant now he had a place to hide. To put the finishing touches on his plan.

As soon as he had Lucy Kincaid again, he’d put her back online. Send the link to Kate.

Kate Donovan would walk right up to his door. And then he’d kill her and take Lucy with him, to serve him forever.

LUCY WAS BACK in the cabin. Tied to the floor. Trevor Conrad stood over her; Roger and Frank flanked him.

“You’re dead,” she said, but no words came out.

Roger and Frank disappeared, but Trevor remained. “I’m not.”

He poured gasoline all around her and picked up a phone.

“Patrick,” he said, “I have your sister.”

Patrick ran through the door. “Lucy!”

“It’s a trap! Run!”

The room exploded. Patrick flew through the air, his head bandaged. He landed in the wall. She smelled smoke and heard Trevor laughing at her.

Sharp steel sliced her neck.

Dillon jumped through the window, his face and hands bleeding. He grabbed Trevor by the neck and began to strangle him. Trevor took the knife and cut out Dillon’s heart.

Lucy jumped from bed, still half asleep. Frantic, she ran around her room, feeling the windows and the door. Cool. There was no fire. Her neck burned. She flipped on the light and looked in the mirror. The wild eyes that stared back couldn’t possibly be hers.

The bandage that had covered the wound on her neck was in her hands; the red welt throbbed and bled. She stared at her hands. Blood coated her fingers.

Her door opened. Jack stood there. “Lucy. It was just a nightmare.”

He crossed the room, concern on his face. Lucy must have looked frantic. She would never have imagined that Jack could be worried about anything.

Jack took the bandage from Lucy’s hands and together they walked to the bathroom. In silence, he cleaned the wound and reapplied the bandage. “Do you want to tell me about it?”

She shook her head. “I need to see Patrick.”

“Are you sure?” He looked at his watch. “It’s only seven.”

“Now. I have to make sure he’s alive.”

Jack hesitated, then said, “All right.”

Lucy relaxed. “I just need to get dressed. I’ll be downstairs in ten minutes. Okay?”

He nodded and left.

She sat in the bathroom for several minutes, gathering her strength, trying to push that awful vision from her mind. Her heart was beating so fast Lucy wouldn’t have been surprised to see it leap from her chest.

The dream had seemed so real.

Kate felt a million times better after a hot shower. She dressed in the same clothes she’d worn the day before, and went back to the interview room. No one was there. She found Quinn and Dillon in Quinn’s office. Both of them were on the phone.

Quinn hung up first.

“Any word on Adam Scott?”

Quinn shook his head. “Yes and no. He’s disappeared again. My agents out in New York have managed to track down some of his identities, but they’re old. We were able to put together his past movements, but we don’t know where he went. He could still be here in Seattle-or he could be halfway across the world.”

“What about the yellow Hummer?”

“We found it at the airport, long-term parking. We’ve brought it in as evidence, but there’s nothing to tell us what his plans are.”

“You think he flew somewhere?”

“He didn’t leave the parking ticket in the car, but security cameras indicate that it went through the kiosk at ten forty-five Sunday morning.”

“Right after Lucy left with her family.”

“I flew her out of a private airport. She wasn’t at Sea-Tac.”

“Maybe he wasn’t following Lucy. Coincidence?” She frowned and sat down across from Quinn and glanced at Dillon, who was watching her. He hung up his phone.

“That was Jack,” he said. “He’s taking Lucy to the hospital. We’ll meet them there at noon.”

Quinn pulled out some notes from a stack in the corner. “You and Dillon arrived at the island about two p.m. He brought Lucy to the helicopter at two fifty-six p.m. By the time we went back, found you, it was after four.”

“I can buy that he watched Dillon rescue Lucy. I think he would have monitored her online virtually the entire time he was gone. So he knew what happened, he couldn’t reach his people, he disappeared. Why not go to the airport right then? Why wait until Sunday morning?” Kate pondered.

“You think he was waiting for a chance to grab Lucy again?”

“Yes.”

“But he must have seen the security on her. Jack Kincaid could intimidate Osama with one look.”

“Right,” Kate said. “But he’s patient. He isn’t going to do anything stupid. And do you think Jack Kincaid is going to stay in San Diego forever? That man is itching to get back to whatever it is he was doing in Mexico in the first place. A week, if that. He’ll leave her in good hands, I’m sure. But eventually everyone will become complacent. They’ll assume Adam Scott left the country. And when they least expect it, he’ll get Lucy. We stole her from him. His ego took a huge blow. He’s not going to sit by and do nothing.”

“We’re not going to get complacent,” Dillon said. “I know what Adam Scott is capable of. He’ll wait a day, a week, a year to get to Lucy. And to you. But I don’t think we’ll have to wait a year.”

“Why?” Quinn asked.

“Because he’s been dealt a huge blow. That’s eating at him. We have Roger Morton in custody. Eventually, we’ll get information from him. Scott doesn’t know what or when. He’s fuming-betrayal by his supposed friend, Kate rescuing Lucy, Lucy back home.” Dillon paused. “I think he’s already in San Diego.” He opened his cell phone. “I’m going to warn Jack.”

Trask followed Jack and Lucy to the hospital. Visiting her near-dead brother perhaps? Interesting. Add another dynamic to the situation.

Just how loyal was Lucy to her family? What would she do to save them? She would be home soon enough, and he needed time to plan the next move.

He quietly broke into Dillon Kincaid’s house.

Trask walked through the small bungalow. He admired the doctor’s taste. Not quite minimalist, simply sparse, classic, and dark. Dark furniture against hardwood floors; luxurious rugs in the living room and dining room. The kitchen was well-appointed, with gourmet cooking utensils and state-of-the-art appliances. The master bedroom continued the dark theme, navy blue bedding and window treatments. The second bedroom had been converted into a home office.

Though the house was not even fourteen hundred square feet, it was well laid out. Particularly for his purposes. Set far back from the street with a long, narrow front yard and a long, narrow backyard. The garage was in the rear, detached.

Perfect.

Trask sat down at Dr. Kincaid’s computer and logged onto his private server. The feds hadn’t found it; even if they had, they wouldn’t be able to track him here before he was ready to reveal his location. He took out his equipment, set it up in Kincaid’s bedroom.