I don’t have time to worry about him.He’s a soldier, I remind myself. He knows how to take care of himself. Right now, my focus has to be on the kids. We agreed to that early on: Our kids come first, above all else.
Right now, my number-one priority is getting to Lanny and Connor.
I turn to the valet stand. “I need a taxi. Now!”
The young boy’s eyes go wide, and he nods and reaches for a phone, but he’s not moving fast enough. I’m about to snap at him that it’s an emergency when I notice a presence at my elbow. It’s Madison. I have no idea how long she’s been standing there. “I can drive you.” She already has her keys out and starts jogging toward the parking lot. “My car’s right over here.”
My thoughts erupt into war. Every ounce of my maternal self screams to follow her and get to my kids.Now. But the rational part of me refuses to move. This woman is still a stranger. She’s told me a pretty story about how she’s not really my enemy and doesn’t wish me or my family any harm, but what if it’s just that? A story.
The valet solves the problem for me. “It will be about fifteen to twenty minutes,” he says after hanging up the phone.
I can’t wait that long. Not when it involves my kids.
I feel the weight of my Sig Sauer under my arm. Carrying a firearm isn’t a substitute for making smart decisions, and just because I have a weapon doesn’t mean I should put myself in a compromising situation. Still, it at least gives me some comfort.
Under other circumstances, I would tell Madison no. But this is about my kids. “I’m on my way,” I tell Lanny.
I chase after Madison as she leads me to a small SUV parked under a light nearby. I slow as I approach the car, my hand under my jacket as I quickly scan the inside. Several bankers boxes are stacked in the back—presumably the files she promised me. But no one is crouched and waiting to ambush me, which is all I’m focused on.
Madison clearly understands that this is an emergency and already has the car started before I jump inside. She’s pulling out of the parking lot by the time I get my seatbelt buckled. “Where to?” she asks.
I rattle off the address, knowing that we’ll never use that safe spot again, and she types it into her phone with one hand while navigating traffic with the other.
“I’ll be there soon,” I tell Lanny. “Get back in the car and lock the doors. Go ahead and call the cops. Tell them what you saw. I’m going to try to reach Sam again.”
I hang up and brace my hand against the dash as Madison takes a left turn on a yellow light, causing several cars to blare their horns. I expect her to bombard me with questions, but she remains quiet. I appreciate her silence, but that doesn’t mean she’s not absorbing every second and won’t use it against me later. I hate that I’ve involved a journalist in my private business, but it was the lesser of two evils.
I guess I’ll see how sincere she was in her earlier apology by what she does when all is said and done. If she keeps this to herself, I might start believing her.
I call Sam, and it rolls to voicemail. Where the hell is he? I recheck the location app. His name is still grayed out. I text him.
Gwen
Ineed you to call me.
I stare at my phone, willing it to ring. Nothing. It’s not the first time his phone has dropped off the location app. Usually, though, it’s because he put his phone in airplane mode or turned it off while flying. Sometimes, he forgets to turn it back on. It’s never been an issue before, though. I rarely pay attention to his location—the app is really for me to keep an eye on the kids and Vee. Not that they haven’t figured out a way around the app in the past.
I’m incessantly reloading the map when the blare of a horn and screeching tires jolts me back to the present. Madison veers across oncoming traffic and into the gas station. Forgetting Sam for the moment, I point to the far corner where my SUV sits, idling under a bright streetlight. Madison heads in that direction, and I already have my seatbelt off and the door open before she pulls to a complete stop.
I leap out of the car and lunge toward my kids. The minute I have Lanny in my arms, her shoulders begin to heave with silent tears. “I’m here,” I tell her, holding her head against the crook of my neck. “You’re safe, I’ve got you.”
Connor comes around his side of the car, and I grab him too, wrapping my arm around him and holding them both tight. “I’m okay, Mom,” he grumbles against me, but I don’t care. I need this. I need the feel of my kids safe and sound and protected. For a moment, we stand there, the three of us.
“Mom, what’s going on?” Lanny’s voice is steady. I pull back and see that her tears have dried, leaving her eyes red and puffy. I’m so damn proud of how strong she’s been through this and how well she’s held it all together.
“I don’t know,” I tell her. It’s a feeling I despise. If I don’t know what the danger is, how can I protect my kids from it? “Have you heard from Sam?”
Her eyes go wide with worry, and she shakes her head. Connor does as well. “I thought he was with you?” His voice trembles.
Before I can think of what to tell him, my phone vibrates with acall. My knees go weak with relief when I see that it’s Sam. I press a hand against the hood of the SUV to steady myself as I answer. He’s already talking before I can even say hello. “I know I’m running late; I’m almost to the hotel and?—”
“Sam.” I cut him off. He goes silent instantly, the tone of my voice making it clear that something has happened. I can practically feel the shift in his energy through the phone—the fear taking hold.
“I’m okay,” I immediately tell him. “The kids are too. They’re with me right now. We’re at the gas station on Central.”
At the mention of our bug-out rendezvous spot, I hear a squeal of tires followed by a blaring horn. “I’m on my way. Ten minutes out.”
For so many years, I faced the threats against my family by myself. It was just me in charge of keeping Lanny and Connor safe and I lived in terror of something happening to me, thus leaving them alone with no one to act as their shield and protector.