Page 23 of Hidden Resolution (Stonebrooke #2)
“You’re shitting me! The same address as Zack’s? What are the chances of that?” Mason asked, stunned there were two listings.
“Pretty good. You’d be surprised how many duplicates there are and in fairly close vicinity, too. It made showing houses a nightmare some days.”
“I’m not surprised. To Christie, it would be the ultimate joke. Any way we can get a blueprint or floor plan?” Zack asked her.
She didn’t look optimistic. “This time of day, all the courthouse offices for permits and planning are closed. But let me call a friend.”
Twenty minutes and an email later, they had memorized the online layout of the house.
“Pull up maps on your laptop. Let’s see if we can get an aerial view of the landscape and neighboring houses,” Zack directed Shonda.
“Smart,” Mason muttered. His brother’s clarity during this crisis revealed a whole new side to him. Who knew he had a tactical mind?
“I have my moments.” Zack shot him a wry grin, but his eyes lacked any matching humor.
“No house directly behind,” Shonda pointed out. “But on either side, the neighbors appear to have tall, wooden fences.”
“Could we plan a backyard approach? Think she’ll be on the lookout for us?” Mason asked.
Zack paused to consider, finally nodding his head. “If I had to guess, she will have stuck Erica in the front room and Jacob in the back of the house.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Erica is the bigger threat if she got loose. She’d want to have her within sight at all times.
It stands to reason if Christie is watching out the front for any attack, then she would have Erica tied up there, where she could keep an eye on her.
” Zack ran a hand through his hair in agitation.
“I don’t think she would view Jacob as a potential problem.
She’d be more inclined to leave him alone for longer periods.
In a rear room, he’s far enough from the road that if he yelled, he probably wouldn’t be heard.
” He shared a look with Shonda. “Erica wouldn’t call out and risk Christie hurting Jacob in retaliation. She cares about him too much.”
“I agree,” Shonda said.
“Makes sense.” Mason considered the angles. “Zack, I think we should call the police. A SWAT team might get in there with no casualties.”
“They won’t show up without fanfare. I don’t trust that she won’t set the house ablaze the second she sees anyone close,” he said raggedly. “I can’t take the risk.”
They shared a worried look. Shonda was first to break the silence.
“Okay, here’s what we do. I have a handgun in the safe.
If you know how to use it, one of you can take it.
I’ll grab the first-aid kit and be waiting out by the fence line.
We get Jacob out first. Have him run to where I am, if he’s capable.
If not, shoot me a text, and I’ll come get him.
That leaves you two to split up and search for Erica. ”
The plan was a good one, and Mason couldn’t find any holes.
“Once I have Jacob, he and I will run for the car and phone the police. So you’ll only have about seven or eight minutes to get to Erica from the time you release Jacob. Mason should have the gun.”
“You think he is the clearer-headed one of the two of us?” Zack asked, apparently shocked she would believe it.
“In this case, he is. Otherwise, I would say you most definitely are.”
“Thanks for the show of support,” Mason replied caustically. One would think he walked around beating his fists on his chest, the way everyone spoke about him.
“Hey, you’re the firm believer in people telling it like it is.” Her sourness wasn’t unwarranted. There was a lot he could unpack, but he didn’t dare. Not only would the timing be shit, but it wouldn’t make a difference in the end.
The two of them were done. They had to be for both parties’ emotional and mental well-being.
If he allowed himself to truly care, when she finally left him—as she doubtless would—he’d be incapable of putting all the pieces of his heart back together as easily as he had in the past. The other times weren’t necessarily a walk in the park, but Shonda, yeah, if he ever allowed himself to love her, there would be no recovery. Alone was better. Safer.
“Where did you learn tactical planning?” Zack cut in. Probably afraid Mason would fall back on his baser impulses and behave poorly.
“I’ve helped Erica plot a few novels.”
Her cheeky grin dragged a laugh out of Zack, and he hugged her.
“Hey!” Mason didn’t appreciate how quick his brothers were to touch his girlfriend.
Girlfriend?
Shit. He was in deep trouble if he was thinking in those terms. First breaking Dane’s nose, then getting his feathers ruffled because Zack gave her a friendly hug, and now silently staking a claim? What the hell was wrong with him? Hadn’t he literally just decided they were best apart?
“Snooze, you lose, pal,” Zack quipped.
“Whatever. Let’s get going. We only have half an hour before Christie’s next call. It might take us that long to get there. If she leaves in the meantime, we’re screwed.”
Mason led the way to the SUV, trying to regroup and shrug off his revelation.
By the time they arrived on the road behind the house in Wisteria Estates, Zack still had ten minutes before Christie was due to ring him.
Mason and Zack carefully walked the wooded lot as they’d discussed earlier. The backyard was wider than it was deep, which they decided could work in their favor.
Mason returned to give Shonda the all clear.
As they were heading back, he heard Zack yell, “No!” in the distance, and they took off at a run.
He gestured for them to stop, then pointed to his phone. “What I mean to say is, I don’t want anyone to die, Christie.”
Beside him, Shonda tensed, but other than stiffening, she didn’t react. And damn if Mason didn’t appreciate a levelheaded woman.
Zack’s frustration was high as he improvised, saying, “She’d planned to go to Florida today. She was leaving me. Wasn’t that what you wanted? Can’t you just let her go? What do I have to do to get you to let them both go unharmed?”
Whatever Christie replied triggered Zack’s terrified response. Never, in his entire life, had he been so shaken or pale.
Mason’s gnawing worry escalated to a very real fear. But following his initial reaction was fury. That crazy bitch had thrown his family into the fiery pits of hell, and he fully intended to end her reign of terror. End her if he had to.
“What do you mean?” Zack asked. The tremor in his voice gave him away.
Incapable of hearing the conversation playing out in real time, Mason remained laser-focused on him.
Feeling beside him, he gripped Shonda’s hand and wove his fingers with hers in a show of unity.
He preferred to believe they drew comfort from one another, and it wasn’t him being dependent on her calm presence beside him.
In his mind, the “what if” of how he would feel in Zack’s position played on repeat. What would he do if Shonda were in Erica’s place? Go insane. And he’d tear hell apart to get her back.
After another minute of conversation, Christie ended the call.
“She knows we’re here,” Zack stated flatly.
“How the fuck…?” Mason trailed off to examine their surroundings.
Despite being heavily wooded, the lot was sparse of vegetation. Winter in North Carolina created a barren landscape and didn’t allow the best concealment if one was viewing the empty area. But it was highly doubtful Christie could spot them at this distance. Which meant they’d missed something.
He released Shonda and retraced his steps, searching each tree trunk for a camouflaged cam.
And sonofabitch if he didn’t find one.
“There.”
“What is it?” Zack asked.
“A camera,” he replied in disgust. “Why the hell didn’t we consider that she’d have security measures in place?”
“She wants us to step into the backyard. And there’s no guarantee she won’t pull something or shoot us where we stand,” Zack said, expression grave.“I can’t ask you to take that risk.”
Before he uttered the last syllable, an explosion rocked the ground, and burning debris dropped mere feet in front of them.
“No!” Zack shouted, running for the house.
Mason tackled him right when he would have flung himself into the inferno. Years as a protective big brother had him instinctively covering Zack’s head and locking him within his embrace. If let free, he’d charge into the blaze and self-harm on a lost cause.
Zack was rabid in his grief, clawing and fighting to be free. Regardless of how fucking much the fist to Mason’s face hurt, he wasn’t letting him go.
“Jacob!” Zack screamed. “I’ve got to get to Jacob!”
Wrecked, Mason rocked Zack, praying his unrelenting embrace held.
Their devastation was complete.
Hours later, while Mason answered the lead detective’s questions for what felt like the hundredth time, he monitored Zack from the corner of his eye.
Perched on the step at the back of the rescue vehicle, his brother was a shell-shocked zombie, allowing the paramedics to treat his minor cuts and burns.
The police attempted to question him, but his dazed mind was reflected in his dead-eyed expression.
As if a power switch flipped him back to life, Zack dropped his blanket, climbed from the back of the rig, and stalked toward the pair of body bags. His hand was on the zipper of the closet when Bucky reached him. Though he tried to dissuade Zack, he was met with resistance.
“Excuse me.” Mason had stepped away from the detective, but stopped as Dane approached Zack.
He blew out a breath, confident their younger brother could reason with him.
Although he took persuading, Zack eventually climbed into Dane’s black SUV.
Mason stalked over and set the full force of his rage on Bucky.
“You find her, Buck,” he snarled. “I don’t care what you have to do, or who you have to rough up to do it, but you fucking find that black-hearted bitch.”
“Don’t you think we’ve been trying?” Bucky fired back.
“Not hard enough!” Mason snapped, pointing at the bodies.
“Not fucking hard enough! My n-nephew…” His voice broke.
“My nephew lies there. Proof of your department’s incompetence.
And don’t think for one second Christie’s done.
She’ll come after Zack next. If anything happens to him, I swear to God… ”
The threat was an implied promise, though Mason wasn’t dumb enough to verbalize how badly he wanted to tear the fucking world apart. But if Psycho Christie hurt his brother, all bets were off the table.