Chapter 28: David Vs Goliath

[Maddy’s POV]

The morning chill bites at my exposed skin as I stand on the platform at Beverly Station, watching the commuter rail pull away in a cloud of diesel exhaust. Early morning light casts long shadows across the concrete, painting everything in shades of gold and gray. The station is starting to fill back up with commuters, mostly women in sharp business attire heading into Boston for work, clutching coffee cups and checking their watches with practiced impatience.

Beside me, Lara shifts from foot to foot, her lanky frame practically vibrating with barely contained energy. She looks deceptively professional in her tailored black pantsuit. Only the maniacal gleam in her blue eyes betrays what she really is.

‘I hope to never be on the wrong end of Lara’s creepy look.’

“I went through the footage here,” Lara says, tapping at her tablet with long, elegant fingers. Her voice carries that unsettling singsong quality that always makes my skin crawl slightly. “No one got off this stop looking like Adam.”

I nod, scanning the platform methodically. We’ve been at this since 4 AM, working our way north along the commuter rail line. Caterina is beside herself, which means we’re all walking on eggshells.

“Let’s try asking around again,” I suggest, keeping my voice calm and measured despite the tension coiling in my stomach. If we don’t find Adam soon, Caterina might actually start putting bullets in people, starting with us.

An elderly woman catches my eye, perhaps in her seventies. She’s sitting on a bench, feeding crumbs to pigeons while waiting for the next train. Something about her alert eyes tells me she notices things.

I approach her with practiced ease, my posture deliberately relaxed, non-threatening. Years in this business have taught me how to appear harmless when needed.

“Ma’am,” I say, my voice warm and concerned as I pull out my phone with Adam’s photo displayed on the screen. “Have you seen this man? He’s my brother, and he’s missing. Our family is very worried.”

The lie flows easily from my lips.

The woman squints at the screen, then her face lights up with recognition. “Ah yes, he was riding the train yesterday!” she exclaims, nodding vigorously. “I thought it was funny because he was sitting with another young lad.”

My pulse quickens. “Did you see where he got off?”

“Salem,” she says with certainty, then adds with a frankness that only the elderly can get away with, “I remember wanting to see his ass clap as he got off the train.”

I sigh, ignoring the inappropriate comment. “Okay… thanks.”

I walk back to where Lara waits, her eyes following me with that unnerving intensity. “Salem,” I tell her, watching as she immediately pulls up the station on her tablet, fingers flying across the screen with practiced efficiency.

“I’ll get the surveillance footage,” she says, already tapping away. Her red hair catches the morning light, gleaming like fresh blood against the stark black of her suit. She works in silence for a moment, her face illuminated by the blue glow of the screen.

“Got it,” Lara announces, her voice lifting with that childlike excitement that always surfaces when she’s on the hunt. She turns the tablet toward me, the screen displaying grainy footage of Salem station.

She fast-forwards through footage of the platform, people moving at comical speeds, until she suddenly stops, freezing the frame. There’s Adam, clear as day, wearing those expensive sunglasses Caterina bought him and that weird blue hat he stole.

“Is that...” I lean closer, unable to believe what I’m seeing. The cap has white lettering across the front that reads, ‘PLEASE BE PATIENT WITH ME. I HAVE AUTISM.’

“Ugh…” I sigh again in pure pity for how stupid Adam is.

Lara lets out a high-pitched giggle that draws concerned glances from nearby commuters. “Oh my god, the hat he stole was an autism awareness hat! What a fucking adorable idiot!”

I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. “He’s making this too easy. Keep watching, see who he’s with.”

Lara continues the footage, and we watch as Adam walks beside another man with brown hair. They’re followed by two women who keep glancing at Adam with obvious suspicion.

“Freeze there,” I say, pointing at the screen. “Let’s get a clear shot of his companions. I’m going to fucking lose my mind if it turns out he got kidnapped after trying to escape.”

Lara obliges, capturing still images of the three people with Adam. “I’ll run facial recognition,” she says, already typing commands into the tablet. “Should have results in a few minutes.”

“Good. Let’s head to Salem in the meantime.” I pull out my phone to text Caterina our update.

As we walk toward the parking lot where our driver waits, Lara frowns and says, “Adam is kind of an idiot, right?”

I nod, unable to argue with her assessment. “He didn’t even delete his history on his phone, just left it for us to find. Then he put a bright blue hat on, making it even easier to track him down along with a literal duffle bag full of cash.”

We slide into the black Cadillac SUV, the leather seats cool against my skin despite the warm morning. Our driver, Niki, doesn’t even turn around, just nods once in acknowledgment when I say “Salem” and pulls smoothly onto the road.

Lara sits unnaturally still beside me, her usual fidgeting conspicuously absent. She stares out the window, her sharp profile outlined against the passing scenery, red hair falling in a perfect curtain against her black suit jacket. The tablet rests on her lap, facial recognition software still working to identify Adam’s companions.

“Maddy, can I ask you something?” Lara says suddenly, her voice lacking its usual manic edge.

I turn toward her, instantly on alert. A serious Lara is always cause for concern. “What’s up?”

She turns to face me, and I’m startled by the unfamiliar expression in her blue eyes, something almost like concern, an emotion I’ve never associated with Lara before.

“How bad is Cat going to hurt him when we find him?” she asks, her voice uncharacteristically soft.

The question hangs in the air between us, heavy with implications. I consider my answer carefully, weighing honesty against discretion.

“I don’t know,” I finally admit, my eyes fixed on the road ahead. “But I’ve seen her torture people for bothering her less than this.”

Lara frowns. It transforms her face, making her look almost normal for a moment, almost human.

“He’s just an innocent guy, Maddy,” she says, still using that strange, quiet voice. “Maybe we should just lie.”

I study her carefully, noting the unusual tension in her shoulders, the way her fingers grip the tablet too tightly. Something’s off. Lara never shows concern for targets. Quite the opposite. She typically vibrates with excitement at the prospect of inflicting pain.

A suspicion forms in my mind, cold and insidious. Perhaps she’s not concerned for Adam at all. Perhaps she wants him for herself. I’ve seen what Lara does to people when she gets them alone. Her particular brand of torture and rape makes even Caterina’s methods seem merciful by comparison.

The memory of our last “cleanup job” flashes through my mind, Lara humming cheerfully as she worked, her delicate hands moving with surgical precision as she systematically dismantled a man who had tried to cheat Caterina in a business deal. The sound of her laughter mixing with his screams still haunts my nightmares.

“Look, Lara,” I say carefully, keeping my voice level despite the chill creeping up my spine, “I sold my soul to Caterina a long time ago. If this is what she wants, then so be it.”

Lara sighs heavily. “Yeah, alright.”

“Whether or not we do this, Caterina would find Adam by the end of the week anyway. He’s fucked.”

“He never stood a chance, you know,” I continue, more to fill the silence than anything else. “From the moment he caught her eye. It was rigged from the start.”

Lara nods, her red hair swaying with the motion. “True,” she agrees, her voice flat and emotionless.

Suddenly, Lara sits up straight, her attention snapping back to the tablet as it emits a soft chime. The blue glow illuminates her face from below, giving her an otherworldly appearance as her eyes scan rapidly across the screen.

“What’s it say?” I ask, leaning closer to get a better look.

Lara’s lips curve into a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. “April and Gabby Harper,” she says, her voice regaining some of its usual singsong quality. Her fingers fly across the screen, pulling up additional information with practiced efficiency.

I watch as photographs appear on the screen, driver’s licenses, social media profiles, employment records. The sisters look ordinary enough, pretty in an understated way. Nothing about them screams, “Saving a man.”

“Hmm,” Lara muses, scrolling further through the information. “Looks like they live with another sister, June, and their mother, Candice.” She pulls up property records, her eyes gleaming with satisfaction. “And I’ve got an address. 47 Hancock Street, Salem.”

I lean back in my seat, processing this information. So Adam didn’t make it far after all. Just hopped off at Salem.

“Fuck. He really might have been kidnapped.” I say mostly to myself.

‘This really is so sad. He’s not cut out for this world at all.’

“Niki, I’ve got an address. I’m gonna send you the coordinates,” Lara says, already forwarding the information to the car’s navigation system.

Niki just nods, her eyes never leaving the road.

I pull out my phone, dreading the call I need to make. Caterina will be pleased we’ve found Adam so quickly, but her pleasure often manifests in ways that leave collateral damage. These Harper sisters and their mother have no idea what’s about to hit them.

‘We can’t just kill a family in broad daylight.’

“I’ll call Caterina and see what she wants to do,” I say, my finger hovering over her contact information.