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  Mary put it out of her mind. “Everyone line up behind our line leader. We need to be quiet because there are other classes still in session. Okay?”

  “Yes, Miss Reilly.” the kids chorused.

  It was like herding cats to get them into line and out the door. They met up with the other three second grade classes in the hallway. There were excited giggles and lots of shushing on the part of the teachers and the students, but still no Ioann.

  Finally, just as they were loading onto the busses, Mary spotted Vlad striding across the parking lot with Ioann glued to his side. He approached with an almost glowering expression on his face.

  “I take it you’re here against your better judgment,” Mary suggested, trying not to feel hurt that he didn’t even seem glad to see her.

  “Ioann should be home where we have a legion of people to keep him safe. Bringing him into the open like this just because he doesn’t want to miss his field trip is ridiculous.”

  “No, it’s childhood.” Mary lightly touched Vlad’s arm. “He will be so thankful that you brought him. It’s important to him.”

  She finally got the ghost of a smile from him. “If you say so.”

  “I do.” She shooed Vlad and Ioann toward the bus. “Now get on so we can leave on time.”

  In no time they were bouncing off across the city toward the tiny spot of green park still surrounding Bunker Hill. There was a neighborhood build close in on the fringes of the monument now and the busses had to park in a line at the curb. Mary almost felt sorry for the residents as the big yellow busses dumped the over exuberant cargo on the sidewalk.

  Mary waved to another teacher and they started the process of herding children up the steps to the base of the monument. “Split them into groups,” Mary shouted to her fellow educator.

  “Will do!” came the reply.

  There was a certain strategy to splitting a bunch of wiggling, giggling second graders into four groups. They could have done them by class, but the idea was to let them bond a little between class groups to promote class cohesiveness. As Mary watched Vlad’s radar go absolutely haywire she realized the apparent chaos was absolutely taxing his ability to cope with stress. The man looked ready to pull out his hair.

  “Vlad!” she waved him over. “Keep Bianka and Ioann with my group.”

  He gave her a hard nod and kept one hand on Bianka, and one on Ioann. There was very little possibility that Bianka was actually in danger from the Man in Black, but she was Ioann’s best friend and he would be easier to handle with her around.

  “This is insanity,” Vlad told her sourly.

  Mary laughed. “Welcome to teaching.”

  “Okay!” One of the other teachers had an actual bullhorn. “Group A is going to climb the monument. Groups B, C, and D will each have their own activity.”

  Mary’s group A made a mad dash for the monument. There was an opening at the base and 294 steps to the top. Mary wisely put herself at the bottom and began ushering kids inside, admonishing them not to shove, run, push, or cut in front of their classmates.

  “They’re going to kill each other up there,” Vlad worried out loud.

  “Ha!” Mary shook her head. “After 294 narrow steps, we may have a few scrapes, but they’ll be too tired to make trouble. Besides, this thing has lasted for nearly two centuries. If a bunch of second graders can rip it down it was going to happen anyway.”

  VLAD GAZED AT Mary and felt an actual smile coming to his face despite the insane situation he found himself in. His brother was absolutely at risk for kidnapping and Vlad had brought him into the open where he could be snatched at any second.

  “Besides,” Mary continued. “You’re going up there with Ioann and Bianka, right?”

  Vlad realized where this was going and didn’t bother to hide his groan. “Really?”

  “Yup, you’re in charge, Mr. Sokolov.” She waggled her fingers at him. “Happy climbing.”

  Vlad inserted himself and his two young charges into the line of youngsters climbing the monument stairs. The surface of the steps was warped with smooth sections where thousands of feet had trod over the years. The railing was damp from water seeping into the building through the ancient seams in the stone.

  “Careful.” Vlad called to a child that slipped and had to use his hands to stay upright. “Everyone walk.”

  His voice carried up through the narrow monument and echoed back to him. The effect was eerie. A shiver of awareness made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Was there someone else in here with them? How would he even know? He could be climbing to meet an unknown foe at the top of this crazy narrow staircase with dozens of kids to protect from harm.

  Sweat beaded on Vlad’s forehead as he climbed. He felt himself speeding up and forced his brain to slow down. There was no point in rushing up there to nothing. Plus, Ioann and Bianka couldn’t climb all that fast.

  The two kids were completely oblivious to Vlad’s distress. They were stomping their way up the narrow track with a good deal of laughing and joking around. There was now a thin stream of children coming back down on the opposite side of the stairs, which made things even more complicated. The kids called back and forth to each other and their laughing drowned out everything else in the echoing, hollow space.

  Vlad climbed steadily, feeling his anxiety mounting with every step he counted. 195, 196, 197, he reached out and grabbed a little girl’s arm before she pitched herself down the stairs. She seemed unaware of her close call, pulling her arm from his grasp and giving him a dirty look. What was wrong with kids these days?

  200, 201, 202, Vlad wondered if they would ever get to the top. This was unmitigated torture. He split apart two fractious boys who were actually attempting to start a fight in the middle of one of the steepest sections yet. Why was it that children had no concept of mortality? Did they really believe they were untouchable?

  “Vlad!” Ioann pointed to a section of graffiti. “Check that out.”

  Vlad listened to Ioann and Bianka argue over what sort of person might leave their entire phone number in a public place. Vlad snorted. Obviously the two hadn’t spent much time in public restrooms.

  “We’re close,” Ioann said eagerly.

  Vlad felt every muscle in his body tense as they approached the last turn in the stairs on their way to the top. They mounted the remaining steps. There was an alcove at the top. Vlad could see it. Was there a swatch of black cloth visible up there?

  Something moved in the alcove. Vlad’s instincts roared to life and he lunged to the top of the steps. “Don’t move!” Vlad shouted.

  His voice echoed off the sharp edges of the stone structure. He saw a set of hands come up and felt victory. They were going to find Giovanni’s son Jonathan. Ioann would be safe. It was over.

  “I’m sorry. I’m sorry! Don’t hurt me.” A young man in jogging clothes stepped out of the alcove. His face was pale and he actually looked in danger of crying. “I come up here every day, but I was on my way down when the first wave of kids hit. I just ran back up here to stay out of the way. Can I leave? Please? I’m going to be late for work.”

  Vlad’s heightened awareness crashed and burned. His knees nearly buckled as the endorphins in his blood fizzled away. He gazed blankly at the man for several seconds before his intellect kicked in.

  Vlad gestured to the stairs. “Go on down, man. Sorry about that. We probably should have called a warning before we turned them loose huh?”

  “Yeah,” the guy said gratefully. “It was like a rave.”

  Relief made Vlad almost giddy. He watched the man start his trek back down the monument steps and broke up another scuffle between Mary’s students. Honestly it was like they multiplied when he turned his back. There were only thirty kids inside the narrow passage, but there could have been a million for all the space they took up.

  “Ioann, let’s head back down.” Vlad threw the order over his shoulder and got no answer. Turning around, he realized that Ioann and Bian
ka were gone. “Ioann?”

  A little girl tugged his arm. “Ioann and Bianka went back down the steps.”

  “You saw them?” Vlad demanded.

  “Yeah.” The little girl screwed up her face. “You don’t need to yell. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “I know. Sorry.”

  That was all the apology Vlad could afford. He bolted back down the steps. The trip down was almost worse. He stopped counting stairs because it made him crazy. He kept trying to listen for Ioann’s familiar voice in the echoing space, but there was too much other noise drifting around for him to be able to distinguish his brother’s voice.

  The going was slow. He kept having to dodge kids. Surely Mary’s group had already come up and was headed back down, yet it seemed like there were a thousand or more kids spilling across the steps. Half the time he couldn’t even decipher which direction they were going. It was like a seething mass of miniature humanity.

  “Ioann?” Vlad called. He had one more turn before he would be able to see the bottom.

  “Vlad!” Someone screamed his name. “Vlad!”

  The high pitched, frantic call made his blood curdle. Done being careful, he swung over the railing and let himself free fall the last few feet to the bottom. He spotted Bianka immediately. There were other kids, too, and another teacher.

  “What happened?” Vlad demanded, grabbing Bianka and squatting down to her level. “Where’s Ioann?”

  “He’s gone,” Bianka said, eyes wide with fear. “The man was waiting. He took Ioann.”

  “Where’s Miss Reilly?” Vlad realized that Mary was notably missing from the scene.

  “She tried to stop him.” Bianka was sobbing now. Her little face was pale and tear streaked. “Miss Reilly screamed and hit him, but the Man in Black just laughed. He took her too. He has them both.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Mary kept her arms around Ioann as they sped down some crazy path through the city only known to the driver of the van. He’d been so very bold. Mary didn’t understand. Weren’t kidnappers supposed to cover their faces or something? This guy didn’t seem to care that she and Ioann had gotten a good look at his bulbous nose, ruddy red cheeks, and raw-boned build.

  “Where are you taking us?” Mary demanded for what seemed like the millionth time.

  “Shut up.”

  Ioann huddled even closer. “He’s not very nice, is he?”

  “Nice people don’t kidnap women and children, kiddo,” she whispered back.

  They took a corner so fast Mary thought the van might actually be up on two wheels. She gripped a strap hanging from the side of the vehicle and held tight to keep them from rolling to the front.

  The ride seemed interminable. Mary couldn’t decide if they were taking this winding path in hopes of throwing off pursuit, or if they were truly traveling way out of the city. When they finally arrived at what was apparently their destination, Mary realized that she couldn’t hear any sounds of traffic. It was as if they were in the middle of nowhere.

  “Are we going to get out now?” Ioann’s little voice was near panic.

  “Hush,” Mary told him. “I don’t want you to talk. All right? Not at all. Just stay really quiet. I don’t know what’s happening, but we need to just go with it for now.”

  “I hear you whispering to the kid back there, stupid bitch,” the Man in Black snarled. He pointed his gun at her. “It don’t matter what that brat says. He’s still going to die.”

  Ioann whimpered and Mary hugged him tight. She wasn’t going to let this jerk kill Ioann or anyone else. She was tiny and she wasn’t that strong, but she was determined and that was what mattered. Right?

  The back door of the van flew open. “Get out!”

  The sudden light was blinding. Mary’s eyes burned briefly before her vision cleared enough for her to realize that they were literally in the middle of nowhere. She could see woods and dirt and trees with half their leaves gone in the cool fall air. Where had he brought them?

  “I said, get out!” The Man in Black grabbed her arm and dragged her and Ioann out of the van.

  Ioann stumbled over the uneven ground, his sneakers getting no traction on the damp earth. Mary grabbed him and hauled him up next to her. For a second grader he was a hefty kid. Keeping him close, she allowed the Man in Black to drag them away from the van.

  Oh. My. God!

  Mary’s heart leaped as she recognized the house where he was leading them. The old ramshackle place was a wild section of woods outside of Salem. They were only a few miles from where she’d grown up. She knew these woods. She’d played here as a girl. A thrill of hope made her tingle all over. She had to stay calm long enough to put together some sort of plan for escape. That was the only thing that mattered now.

  The Man in Black dragged Mary and Ioann up the front steps of the little house. He shoved the door open and Mary nearly gagged at the stench of moldy carpet and rotting wood. Obviously this was just the holding area. She could hear the sounds of someone else inside the house.”

  “Mister?” a young boy’s voice drifted out of a back room. “Mister? Can I go home now? Please?”

  “Is that Jonathan?” Ioann whispered.

  Mary nudged him and gave him a teachery look designed to make him be quiet. He was very likely right. If Jonathan Orsini was here, she needed to get both boys out. The Man in Black had taken their cell phones. If only there was some way for Mary to let Vlad know where they were. He was paranoid. He had to have put some kind of tracking device on Ioann, but there was no way Mary could count on a rescue from that quarter. She needed to stand on her own and make something happen or accept that she and Ioann were as good as dead.

  The Man in Black ushered them down a narrow hallway strewn with trash and into a back bedroom. Mary tried to recall the layout of this house. She’d been inside here once, with her aunts. The resident had been a very old woman. Mary had brought her apples one fall, but if memory served the old woman had been dead for years.

  “In you go.”

  Mary gasped as she and Ioann were shoved headfirst into the room. The door slammed closed behind them. There as no explanation or even a threat. The door just closed and left them in total darkness.

  “Miss Reilly?” Ioann’s little voice was filled with fear. He grabbed at her sweatshirt and hung on tight. “Please don’t leave me.”

  “Jonathan?” Mary whispered. “Are you in here?”

  “How do you know my name?” Despite the situation and his earlier cries for help, there was still a layer of mistrust in the voice of Jonathan Orsini. No doubt his father would be proud.

  “Jonathan, my name is Mary. This is Ioann. We’ve been kidnapped too,” Mary said patiently. Her heart was pounding and she was scared shitless. But she knew deep down that if she panicked, they were all going to die.

  “What are we going to do?” Jonathan wanted to know.

  Mary took a deep breath of the fetid air and tried to bolster her resolve. “We’re going to escape.”

  ***

  Vlad and six of the Sokolov men hauled ass through the streets of Boston. Behind them in another dark, tinted SUV were Giovanni Orsini and six of his men. Vlad’s stomach was in knots. He had stopped castigating himself nearly an hour ago. Self-condemnation served no purpose. Now he was consumed with the task of figuring out what had happened to Mary and Ioann.

  “Turn here,” Yuri ordered.

  Vlad swung the wheel wildly, the tires of his Yukon squealing as they careened around a corner. “Are we close?”

  Yuri cursed in Russian. “I’m trying to follow, but it’s like they’ve left the city.”

  Vlad glanced to the passenger seat. Yuri was holding an iPad in his hands, turning the damn thing as he tried to decipher where the blinking blue dot actually was. They were taking a gamble. It was a given that the Man in Black had taken Mary and Ioann’s cell phones. Giovanni had told them that Jonathan’s phone had seemed to disappear almost immediately after he’d been taken.
So far Ioann’s was still on. That was what they were using to track him, but the going was slow.

  Behind them, Giovanni and his men swerved through traffic to stay on Vlad’s tail. Anyone watching would have thought the two rival families were involved in a high-speed chase scenario. In fact, nobody would have believed they could be working together. It was amazing what worry for a child’s safety could do to grown men, even the blood thirsty ones.

  “Boss,” Aloysha called from the back. “Do we know what we’re going to do when we get there?”

  “Depends on where ‘there’ is,” Vlad said tersely. “We have enough men to storm a warehouse, but we’re nowhere near the harbor or the industrial parks.”

  “Where the hell are we going?” Yuri muttered. “Left. Left. Turn here!”

  Vlad swung the wheel again and they were suddenly flying through the town of Salem. His heart seized. Mary had grown up in Salem. Was she part of this somehow? Was his brother in danger because of her?

  “Where the hell are we?” someone else asked.

  “Salem,” Vlad said tersely. “Which way Yuri?”

  They flew past historical sights and the cemetery with its macabre collection of famous and infamous graves. Vlad shivered as he hoped that wasn’t an omen. Then Yuri started pointing toward what appeared to be a dead end road to nowhere.

  “Go!” Yuri shouted. “There. It’s right down that road.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.” Then Yuri started muttering a long, colorful string of Russian and Ukrainian words. “It’s gone. He must have realized it was on.”

  Vlad gripped the wheel so hard he was in danger of ripping it off the steering column. “Do you know where it is?”

  “Mostly,” Yuri admitted. Then he gestured to the wild, woody terrain. “Look at this! There cannot be much out here.”

  Vlad’s phone started ringing. He glanced down. It was Giovanni. Vlad thrust the phone in Yuri’s direction. “Tell him what you just told me.”

  “Da.” Yuri’s tone was on the sulky side. None of his men were pleased about working with the Orsinis. He couldn’t blame them, but he didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was finding Ioann. And Mary.