Chapter 23

Jason's hand shook as he pulled out his phone. The officers had left fifteen minutes ago. Sheriff Marlin had instructed him to wait fifteen minutes before calling Brad and heading back to the estate to give the officers time to get in place like some low-end SWAT team. They were going to attempt sneaking up to the place, hoping that Jason would distract him enough when he arrived at the house for them to make the dash to the house unseen by the outside cameras that Jason was sure he'd seen.

Jason felt like the button wire he was wearing was ridiculously conspicuous, but in reality it was rather innocuous. The wire would alert the officers of when he'd arrived and had managed to sufficiently distract his boss and, hopefully, Sam from any monitors that might be in the house, probably in the study. They wanted to be sure Brad was in house as well as confirm that Devyn was safely out of harm's way, if possible, before entering the house.

He took a calming breath before he pressed the call button.

"Jason." Brad's voice sounded tight and controlled.

Shit. That didn't sound good, Jason thought.

"Hey, Brad, just wanted to let you know, I got your messages about the backpack. Sorry, didn't know Devyn had left it here, and I was on the phone with my friend James when you called."

"I see." Again, Brad sounded like he didn't quite believe him. "So, did you visit your dad?"

Jason's heart stopped for a moment, knowing that Brad was testing his lie. "No, actually. I went to the police station," he admitted.

"Really?" Brad's tone changed ever so slightly at his admission. "Why?"

"Well, I'd noticed he had bed sores the last couple times I've visited, so I wanted to report it to the police," Jason began. "Do you know how gross those can get? One of them on his ass was oozing--"

"Okay," Brad interrupted, and Jason smiled to himself. He had hoped that over-sharing would work in his favor. "Where are you now?"

"Oh, well, I'm turning on to Kendle Drive now, so I'm about maybe five more minutes away," Jason said easily, finding himself calming with the ease that the lies were flowing.

"Good, we'll see you then."

He shut off the phone and clutched the steering wheel. Sooner than he was really mentally prepared, he was pulling into the circular drive for the second time that day. He tried not to peer across the landscape searching for hints of the police staging their assault on the house.

He made sure to pull his car in front of the garage, blocking the exit of any cars like the sheriff had suggested. If anyone tried to run for a vehicle, Jason's Explorer would be in the way.

Jason grabbed the backpack from the passenger seat and jumped out of the car. He slung it over his shoulder casually, trying to forget that it had a couple thousand dollars in it, that he wasn't supposed to know about.

Sam yanked open the door as he reached it.

"Hey, Sam!" Jason smiled as he greeted the hulk, announcing his presence in the foyer. He tried to keep his eyes from trailing to the gun in the man's holster. "How's it going?"

"Where's the backpack?" Brad demanded as he came into the foyer.

Good, both men were here, out of the study. Hopefully, the police could move in without detection now.

"Sheesh, here," Jason scoffed as he tossed the backpack to the man. "You'd think the kid was anxious to do homework or something."

Ignoring him, Brad yanked open the pack, immediately finding the zipper of the small pocket inside.

"You okay, man?" Jason asked at the anxious look on Brad's face.

Brad Milburn's stance relaxed considerably when he noticed the money in the pocket of the backpack. He nodded to Sam, who took a step back away from Jason.

"Yes," Brad finally smiled slightly. "So you went to the police about your father, you said?"

"Yeah," Jason sighed as if he were weary already. "But they said they can't do much yet. They said it's hard to prove negligence like that, since there are so many people in and out and all that." He felt like he was rambling, but apparently Brad didn't seem to care too much.

"I'm sorry about that," Brad said absently. "We can have him moved to another facility."

Nelson Rainier appeared, and Brad passed the bag over to him silently.

"So," Jason asked casually, "are you, Nelson, and Sam working in the office still?" He hoped this would let the police know who was in the house.

"Yeah, I've got some contracts to go over," Brad said, as Nelson disappeared down the hall, and Jason just hoped he wasn't looking at any camera monitors; odds were, they didn't pay much attention to them since Brad seemed so confident in his domain.

Jason cast his eye down the hall toward the empty kitchen. "Where's Chris and Trent?"

Brad's eyes flicked to Sam, looking as if he'd suddenly remembered something. "Oh, Sam, you can let them in now."

Jason's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

He followed the hulk towards the kitchen as the man unlocked the garage door. Jason's eyes took in the mess of apples on the kitchen floor.

"What the hell happened in here?" Jason asked, but then froze. "Is that... blood?"

"Oh, shit," he heard Lyle gasp behind him, and he turned to see Trent looking pale.

Jason turned in surprise at seeing the stablehand, momentarily distracted. Then his eyes turned, searching for Chris, raking over Chris quickly, expecting to see some cut or something to explain the blood. "Did you--?"

"No, no," Brad was strolling into the kitchen. "It wasn't Chris. It was Devyn."

Jason's heart stopped. "Devyn..."

"He fell," Brad said simply, waving his hand at Chris and Trent, indicating for them to clean up the mess on the kitchen floor, while Sam handed them back their keys that had kept them locked out of the house during Brad's tirade.

"He fell?" Jason snapped. "He FELL? What again?"

Jason looked anxiously around the great room, almost expecting to see Devyn sprawled on the couches or on the floor somewhere.

Brad just shrugged, as he eyed Jason's reddening face.

"Where is he?" Jason demanded.

"Probably in his room," Brad said, pursing his lips.

Jason started to dart for the foyer, but Brad blocked his way, placing his hands on the counters to each side of him. He felt Sam's presence looming behind him.

"Maybe," Brad started slowly, his voice taking on a deadly tone, "maybe, if you had been here, instead of talking to the police, he wouldn't have fallen."

Jason stiffened. He knew that Brad now didn't trust him, even though he'd brought the bookbag back with the money. And he prayed for the police to rush in any second. How much longer would it take for them to be in fucking place?

"What did you do, Brad?" Jason asked tightly. "What happened to Devyn? If you hurt--"

Brad laughed suddenly and it seemed high-pitched and maniacal. "And what would you be able to do about it if I had?"

"Brad, please, let me--"

"Look around you, Jace. I have a full house here. I always have, always will," Brad grinned. "You're drawing dead."

Jason stared at the man in horror, but Brad just continued to laugh as he stepped back, turning towards the foyer. "What did you expect to happen going head-to-head with me? Get him out of here, Sam."

Jason felt a hand on his arm briefly, before it was yanked away. He gasped in surprised at the heavy thud behind him. Both he and Brad whipped around in shock, barely registering Lyle's arm around Sam's neck, Trent kicking his feet out from under him, and Chris grabbing the hand reaching for the gun.

"What--?!" Brad gasped, but the sound of the piercing alarm as doors crashed open and windows shattered cut him off.

"Police! Freeze!" voices yelled, seemingly from all directions.

Brad's face darkened, turning a furious shade of red as he turned to dart toward the front door but was stopped suddenly by three officers in the hallway.

"Stop! Don't move!" an officer's voice came from across the foyer, and Jason heard Nelson's cursing from the other side of the stairs.

Jason put his hands up, making sure the officers didn't mistake him for a suspect, as he glanced back to see Chris, Lyle and Trent doing the same. Chris was holding Sam's gun by the handle with two fingers, offering it to the nearest officer.

Sam took that moment to try to barrel past the men who'd stormed through the garage door but was promptly tackled and handcuffed.

Sheriff Marlin was stalking in, issuing orders as he watched with a smile as Brad Milburn was handcuffed.

Jason noticed that the officers were pushing his three saviors up against the counter, patting them down for weapons. "Sheriff! They're with me!"

Marlin nodded over to the officers, who released the three men. Jason noticed a trickle of blood dripping from Trent's lip and wondered briefly who had hit him.

"Chris. Trent. Lyle." Brad locked gazes with his former employees who had gathered behind Jason. "Jason. You guys are so dead. You hear me!"

"Let's go, Milburn," the officer, Gentry Jason thought his name was, shoved the man towards the door. "You have the right to remain silent--"

"Dead!"

"Which you are obviously not using," Gentry muttered, as he continued. "You have the right to an attorney--"

"Hey, Brad!" Jason called, finally letting himself smile as he realized that it was over, that Brad had lost. Gentry paused to let Brad turn to his voice. He thumbed over his shoulder at the three men standing with him. "Four of a kind beats a full house any day."

He heard the chuckles of officers around him as Brad sneered back.

"Hey, Marlin, there's blood on the steps here. I'm going--"

"Oh, shit! Devyn!" Jason darted forward, skidding around the banister. Two officers were already on the steps as he raced up behind them. When the officers paused at the top, deciding which way to go, Jason shoved past them to Devyn's door.

It was locked.