Page 16 of One for the Road

But then, from the depths of the hamper, I heard a muffled voice:

“Uncle Grey?”

The guy glanced up, his wide eyes locking with mine. Recognition flashed in my brain. I broke his gaze and looked down at the tattoo on the back of his hand. He started to reach back toward his waistband, but I caught him in the chin with the butt of my piece. Bone cracked as his head snapped back. Before he could recover, I punched him hard in the gut with my other fist. He fell forward and collapsed, crumpling to the ground.

Just then, running footsteps clanged down the hall. I pivoted, ready to take aim and fire…

“Grey!”

Cal.

“It’s him!” I shouted. “The kids are in the hamper!”

Reaching behind Schipper, I yanked the gun from his waistband. He groaned, clutching his gut and wheezing loudly. I kicked him hard in the gut again, just for good measure, and then pushed him onto his stomach. I took off my belt to tie his hands behind him, and when I was sure he was secure and couldn’t try anything, I left him on the ground and stepped back a few paces. Then I called Trig.

“We got ‘em, brother. Schipper’s here with me and Cal. Dogson was involved, too. Levi’s got him outside at the loading dock.”

While I was talking, Cal had flung all the sheets and towels out of the hamper, revealing little Abigail and Chloe at the bottom. They were blinking and confused, but not hurt, and not scared.

“Thank God,” Cal breathed, pulling his daughters out, one by one. He gathered them into arms, squeezing them and whispering in their ears like he’d never be able to let them go.

“Where’s Santa?” Chloe whimpered. “Is he okay?” She pointed down at the ground. “Who’s that man?”

I placed my boot on the asshole’s head, putting just enough weight on it so he wouldn’t get any bright ideas to reply.

Santa’s fine, baby,” Cal answered her, struggling to keep the emotion out of his voice. He turned his daughter’s away from Schipper’s prone form. “Why did you girls leave with him, sweetheart?”

Abigail cut in. “He said you and Mommy said he could take us on an adventure.” Her lip started to quiver. “He said it would be okay!”

“Shhh, it’s okay, baby. It’s okay. Santa had to leave, though. He had, uh, some other stuff to do.”

“He told us to get into his basket!” Abigail protested, pointing at the hamper. “He was going to put presents in it too, and take us up on the roof!”

“The roof?” Cal frowned. “Why the roof?”

Chloe pointed skyward. “That’s where his sleigh is! With his reindeer! They’re waiting for us!”

Understanding dawned on Cal’s face. “Santa had to, uh, take off in his sleigh, babies. He said he was sorry, and asked you to tell your mommy hello from him at the concert. Let’s go do that, okay?”

“Okay!” Abigail said. Chloe nodded.

Just then, the coward security guy came running down the corridor with another guy in the same uniform. I pressed down a little harder on Schipper’s head with my boot.

“Looks like the calvary are here, just in time to save the day,” I quipped, working hard to keep the fury out of my voice, for the sake of the girls. “Cal, get your babies out of here. I’ll take care of the rest of this, and meet you back upstairs.”

7

GREY

When I got back up to Andi’s penthouse suite, Patch was wrapping Seton’s ankle with an Ace bandage. Wyatt and Kendall flanked their mom on the bed. They took turns clamoring for more info about what had happened, with a mixture of excitement and anxiety at the knowledge that their mom had been in danger.

Cal, for his part, was still getting the story from his own kids. Thankfully, Abigail and Chloe seemed entirely untraumatized. Apparently, they never saw “Santa” take off his outfit, so they had no idea the guy wheeling them in the hamper was the same person. According to Abigail, Santa told them Mom and Dad said it was okay for him to take them up to see his reindeer — which is how he convinced them to come with him without a struggle.

“He said the reindeer were in a secret place,” Abigail explained. “So we had to close our eyes and get in the basket so he could take us to his sleigh!”

When Cal was satisfied the girls were truly okay, he called Zoe over. “Zoe, can you take the girls back down to the party room to Eva and Cherish and the other kids.”

Zoe’s face was red and shiny from crying. “Do… do you trust me to do that?” she asked.