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As she climbed up, she saw him lift his chin in her direction just before she leapt with enough strength and height to make it to the next balcony.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Gennessey had worked a lot of cases with a lot of victims, but for the rest of her life, she would never forget the range of emotions playing across Autumn’s face. Her heart broke to see the fear, frustration, despair, anger, and worry — emotions Gennessey couldn’t erase because she felt a combination of them herself.
Autumn sat on a full size bed with her back to the balcony. She tensed and whimpered when she heard them break the lock and slip through the double doors. Gennessey hurried over to her and knelt on both knees in front of her. She placed her hands gently on either side of Autumn’s knees to both offer comfort and hold her still.
“Autumn, I need you to do exactly as I say without question. BB and I are going to check this out very carefully, so we can know what to do to get you out.”
Autumn started to shake her head and stopped. “They said there was no way for me to get out. You guys need to leave. Please.”
“I already told you it’s not going to happen. This is what BB and I do. We’ve been in worst situations than this and lived to tell about it. Trust us, okay? We’ve got you.”
Autumn closed her eyes and willed her breathing to slow. “I trust you, but I’m getting tired. I don’t know how much time we have before it…I’m sorry, Gennessey. I never thought any of this would happen.”
BB leaned down to whisper in Gennessey’s ear. “Keep her talking. I’m going to see what we’re up against.”
She nodded, and then she set her focus on Autumn, zoning out everything else. “Look at me. I want you to keep your eyes on me and nothing else. We’re going to talk and let BB do all the hard work, okay?”
“I’m scared to talk too much. In case I move and set off…” Autumn swallowed hard.
“Don’t think about it. Focus on me.” Gennessey waited until Autumn’s eyes locked with hers. “First of all, Cohen is fine. He’s in pain and worried about you, but he’s going to be fine. He’ll have some physical therapy in his future, but he’s damn lucky.”
Autumn closed her eyes as a single tear slid out of the corner. “It’s my fault.”
“Why would you say that? What happened?”
“It’s a long story.”
“We have a little time while BB figures this out.” Gennessey watched BB out of the corner of her eye as he stretched out on the floor to peer under the bed. When he rose, his face was grim, but she was careful to keep her expression neutral. “Tell me.”
“I don’t know where to start. I’m sure Cohen must have told you something about my upbringing.”
“Start at the beginning and just talk. I know you were adopted.”
Autumn sighed. “Yes, but I never had a desire to know anything about my birth parents. Mom and Dad always offered to petition to have the adoption records unsealed, but I never felt the need to do that. Then Cohen bought me one of those ancestry tests where you send in your DNA. I have to admit I was excited to find out the results. Cohen comes from such a big family, and I felt like for the first time, I could have some of that too.”
“But the results were inconclusive,” Gennessey prompted.
“Yes, that’s what my letter said, but then I got a phone call from Ryan. He’s my half-brother. I know what you’re thinking. I thought it might be a scam too. But he showed me his letter telling him there was a match. Because I had already submitted my information, they flagged me as a blood relative for him. He knew about me. Our father told him about me, but he didn’t know where to find me until he had a name.”
Much of the story set off warning bells in Gennessey’s mind, but she made a mental note to delve deeper into it later. “How did you meet him?”
“A couple of weeks ago, I met him in Charleston. I went to pick up some gifts for the wedding party, so it seemed like a good time to meet up in a neutral place. We talked for hours. It was nice to have someone to give me some insight into my background. We said goodbye and promised to stay in touch, but we made no definite plans for anything. Then he called me earlier in the week, asking questions about my safety and if I had noticed anyone strange lurking around town. He wouldn’t tell me why he was acting paranoid, but I pushed. That’s when he told me more about our dad. He’s a criminal in witness protection waiting to testify against some dangerous people — people he used to work for.”
“He didn’t tell you anything about your dad when you met up face-to-face?” Gennessey noticed BB step back on the balcony. He held up his cell phone, but she didn’t acknowledge his signal. She already figured he was sending pictures to their bomb expert, Isobel, and was updating the team on what was going on. She trusted him to handle it, so she returned to her job of keeping Autumn calm and distracted.
“Nothing like that. He told me how our birth dad had been with his mother off and on for a year before she broke it off because work was more important to him than she was. Then she found out she was pregnant. Ryan didn’t know about our birth dad’s existence until he turned eighteen. His mother kicked him out of the house because her new boyfriend wanted nothing to do with him, and she told him to go to work for his father.”
Autumn sniffed, and Gennessey gave her a moment to collect herself before she continued.
“Ryan went to work for his father?”
Autumn started to shake her head but stopped herself. “No. He wanted to make it on his own, but he wanted to know more about his father. He went to talk to him, asked him about siblings and about being a part of his life. He told Ryan about me, but he said he had no time for children. He essentially told Ryan to leave him alone. Ryan didn’t even know what our dad did for a living at first. Not until he made the news because of his arrest and his intent to testify.”
Gennessey smiled, hoping to put Autumn at ease. “You’re doing great. Tell me why Ryan thought your safety might be in jeopardy.”
“He said he was approached by two scary guys, and they kept asking him questions about our birth dad - where he was, did Ryan know how to get in touch with him, and that kind of thing. Ryan told them he didn’t know anything, and they finally believed him after they roughed him up a bit. He told me they knew about me too, but he was certain they didn’t know where to find me.”
