Page 49 of The Facilitator: Part 3
We drove in silence as far as we could, using the map, and then we parked.
“We’re not going by her route,” I said. I studied it and we worked out a different one. It was slightly longer but we’d still get to him within the hour we had. After that, Daniel could well get suspicious that Addison hadn’t called back.
I pulled the holster over my shoulder and slipped in the gun. Alex took the knife from the sheath to examine it. “I’ll hold on to this,” he whispered, and I nodded.
We trekked through the woods, coming upon the property to the rear. By that time, the sun had started to lower. Daniel wasn’t intelligent and if he was drugged up, I hoped he wouldn’t be acting smart. However, when Alex heard his son scream, he jumped forward.
“Not smart,” I whispered, grabbing him and wrestling him back to the ground. “Not smart,” I repeated.
He settled and we waited where we were. I raised the binoculars and scanned the area. The lodge was really secluded, which was great for him and us. I could see a beat-up, once-white car outside.
“First thing is to slash those tires,” Alex said, when I’d told him what I’d seen.
I couldn’t see any lights on and that worried me. If he’d been tipped off, he might sit in the dark to wait. An image jumped into my head of him holding Dominic and I quickly buried that.
“We need a diversion,” I said. “Something to draw him out or at least away from Dominic.”
“Mackenzie, I can’t sit here much longer. Let’s deal with the car first,” Alex said.
Before I could stop him, he crawled forward. By the way he moved, I would have thought he’d recently left the army. He used his forearms to drag himself. We got behind the car undetected, we hoped. While Alex slashed the rear driver’s side, I let the air out of the passenger side. It wasn’t enough just to lose the air in one tire; he’d drive on that wheel if he had to. We moved to the front. I was the one most exposed so I flattened myself and slid as far under the car as I could. I reached around to feel for the valve and managed to slide outbefore the car lowered too far. I hadn’t thought about that and it was only when I saw one side rock down that I realized my mistake.
We crawled forward until we were sitting with our backs to the cabin wall under a window. Alex looked around and then held his hand up to indicate I stay put. He scooted back to the driver’s side of the car and pulled off the already hanging side mirror. He cracked the housing to retrieve the glass. When he was back with me, he raised the mirror, angling it so he would look through the window.
I frowned at him. “Scouts,” he whispered. “I can’t see anyone but there is a Moses basket.”
I had no idea what a Moses basket was, but assumed it was something to do with the baby. We listened and for a while we couldn’t hear anything. That was until we heard his cell ring.
“Addison,” we heard, and we knew we needed to move immediately.
I slid to the door and Alex to the other side. Before we could do anything it opened. I pulled the gun from my holster and jumped up. I held it to Daniel’s temple. He’d walked straight into us. I could hear Addison call his name but he’d raised his arms. I snatched the phone from him hand and disconnected the call. When Dominic cried again, Alex punched Daniel one cleanshot to the temple and he crumpled to the floor. Alex ran in.
“He’s here. Oh fuck, he’s here,” he said, and his voice caught. I ran in to see him hugging his screaming child to his chest and sobbing.
I pulled my phone and dialed Lauren. “We have him,” I said when she answered. I could hear her tell Gabriella and the cry that followed from her.
“We made Addison ring, it was on the hour,” she said. “Did we do right?”
“You did perfect, it was the distraction we needed. Now you can call the police,” I said.
“I need to get him to the hospital,” Alex said, covering Dominic with a grubby blanket.
I nodded. As he walked out and stepped over a groggy Daniel, I pulled his arm to bring him to a halt.
“Can you get back to the car?” I asked, and he nodded his head. “If you are asked, when we got here Daniel was dead. Suicide, we think. Shot himself through the mouth. I’ll wait here for the police.
He stood and just stared at me. “Give me the gun, Mackenzie,” he said.
“Alex—”
“You have a record, I don’t. Just make sure there are no prints if you can. But if you can’t. I’ll have protection from the British government.”
I didn’t hand him the gun but when he handed me his son, I had no choice but to hand it over. I moved as quickly as I could out of the way. I turned just as Alex held Daniel’s head and forced the muzzle into his mouth. He pulled the trigger and didn’t blink. He left the gun on the deck and walked to me. I handed him his son.
“If I hadn’t done that, Mackenzie, I’d forever be looking over my shoulder and I can’t live like that.”
I nodded; I would have done the same. “He committed suicide when he realized we were there.” We both nodded.
I’d seen Alex beat the shit out of a man, and I knew he would have killed him. But to place a gun into a man’s mouth as such close range and pull the trigger, that took something else. I didn’t want to dwell on it. I grabbed the gun and cleaned it, then wrapped Daniel’s hand around it, careful to push his finger on to the trigger. I held his hand and faced the gun away and into the woods. I pushed on his finger, hoping a second shot would leave some form of residue on his hands. I had no idea if that was a Hollywood trick or real, of course.
