Forsaken Duty (Red Team #9)(39)

“How?” Owen asked.

“My first nanny, Bonnie, was friends with him. Through him, she had a house and funds set aside for her retirement from the Omni world. She offered it to me, but I was too afraid to go. And because I was, they took Augie.”

Owen shook his head. “Santo’s in deep with the Omnis. Leaving with Bonnie would not have saved Augie. They would have still found him through Santo. I’m glad you didn’t go with her.” He looked at Jax. “I’m taking Addy and Troy out of here,” Owen said.

“I think that’s a good idea.”

“I can’t go,” Addy said.

“Why?” Owen asked.

“Because this is where Augie spent his first six years. This is where he’ll come back, when he can.”

“I will find him and bring him to you,” Owen said. “But to do that, to focus on our son, I need to know you and Troy are safe—which you aren’t here. This place is open to any type of attack. You can start packing this afternoon. I’ll call my team in the morning.”

Addy’s face was pale, accentuating the shadows that were deepening under her eyes. “Where are you taking us?”

“To my team’s headquarters here in Wyoming, a short ride by helicopter.”





13





Addy slept fitfully that night. Was it the right thing that they’d decided to do? How would Augie find her if Owen didn’t find him first? Wendell had finally explained his new position regarding Owen and why he’d believed for so long that Owen was King, but it was hard for Addy to shift her thinking, especially when it came to Owen, whom she’d blamed for everything for so very long. Her world was one of changing loyalties and shadow truths.

She wanted so badly to believe he was the honorable man he’d always been, but time would tell who was right and who was wrong.

The door to her bedroom opened. She looked over to see her son come in the room. She was about to lift her covers so he could come and snuggle with her, but he went straight to the air mattress where Owen was sleeping.

“Mr. Tremaine,” her son said in a hoarse whisper. She held still, curious as to how Owen would react. “I didn’t see you outside.”

“That’s because I’m here.”

“Should I wake Mommy?”

“Why? More bad dreams?”

“I got scared. Will you cover me up?”

“What scared you?” Troy shook his head fast, as if to say the words would bring the monster into the room. Owen sighed. There was a scuffing noise as her son got settled on the air mattress. “Do you know what I am?”

“No, what are you?”

“I’m a monster slayer.”

“You kill them?”

“I eviscerate them.”

“What’s ‘eviscerate’?”

“I turn monsters to dust. None of them can exist where I am.”

“I like that.” Silence took over that area of her room, quiet and thick like a shadow, then her son started talking again. “Mommy usually only lets me in her room. You’re here a lot.”

“I have to be here.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s never good to be far from your heart.”

“You can’t be away from your heart. No one can. You can’t live without it, Mr. Tremaine.”

“My point exactly. Now, if you’re going to keep talking, you’ll have to go back to your own bed.”

“I can’t go back. The monster’s tapping at my window. I think it’s a banshee.”

“Ah. A banshee. Now there’s a sad creature if ever there was one. Can you imagine screaming for all eternity?”

Troy said nothing.

Addy could imagine that; she’d lived that eternity in the years before her settlement.

“How about if I go check out your room?”

“Do you kill banshees?”

“I kill all monsters. You wait here.”

Owen took his pistol and climbed over Troy. A quick check of Addy’s bed showed she was still fast asleep. He was glad they hadn’t awakened her. He walked barefoot into the hallway. Troy’s room was after his classroom. The light coming in from the big conservatory was an eerie gray. If he hadn’t learned to appreciate low-light conditions in the long years of his military service, he could see how it alone would make someone—especially a child—feel like things were waiting in the shadows.

In Troy’s room, it was even darker. The heavy floor to ceiling drapes were pulled over the window. He switched on the flashlight utility on his phone, then did a quick pass around the room. He knelt down and checked under the boy’s bed. It was at this point that he heard something at the door to the hallway. Heavy breathing. A small, white shape stood there.

Troy.

“I told you to stay in your mom’s room,” Owen said.

“But I wanted to see the banshee die.”

Owen gave the kid a half-smile. “There’s no banshee here.”

“You didn’t look in the closet.”

“Banshees are famous for floating outside windows. They don’t usually come inside. As long as you don’t open your window…”

“Mr. Tremaine,” Troy interrupted. “My closet.”