Chapter 44
Chapter Forty-Four
Dread plunged through Noah’s veins.
“Chase, could you send a squad car to my family’s house?” He rattled off the address.
“I’ll come there myself. But why? What’s going on?”
He got up, heading for the door to his room. “I hope I’m overreacting. But the executive director of the museum is here with Danica. I need to go check on her.”
“Yeah, do that. I’ll call this in and head your way. Any reason yet to think Danica’s in danger from Ms. Colter?”
Noah went out into the hall and jogged down the steps. “Only what you just told me. But I’d rather play it safe. We can ask Lindley to explain what happened with the video herself.” He ended the call.
“Dani?” he shouted.
There was no answer.
The house felt wrong. He couldn’t put his finger on it until he reached the library and saw that the doors were open, and no one was inside.
Cursing, Noah raced the other way through the house. He was starting to sweat.
He glanced at his phone, making sure she hadn’t written any further messages since they’d texted. Her last reply had been twenty minutes ago.
The back door stood open.
No. No, no, no.
“Danica! Can you hear me?” He ran through.
The sun was down, and the last remnants of the day’s light were fading. Insects chirped on the lawn. The patio was empty, and the yard was shadowed.
He tried calling Danica’s phone. It was off.
Heart in his throat, Noah opened his Bennett Security app again.
The motion sensors showed that someone had opened the door about ten minutes ago. Which was just a few minutes after he and Danica had been texting about Jason Gerrig and Valoris Security.
Why would she have left the house?
His mind was already grasping onto terrible possibilities.
He checked the video clips from the camera over his back door, and he went light-headed at what he saw: Danica, walking through with Lindley behind her.
Lindley had been aiming a gun at her back.
As he made a circuit of the exterior of the house, Noah held his phone to his ear. Max picked up.
“I was just about to call you,” Max said. “I just got off the phone with Valoris’s main office. They confirmed Jason Gerrig worked for them under his alias. But listen to this. It was Soren he worked for.”
Noah filed away this information for a later moment. “I have something more pressing. Danica is gone. Lindley Colter was here, and I think she’s involved in the kidnapping conspiracy.”
Max didn’t ask him to explain. Instead, he shifted immediately into operations mode. “Have you checked your cameras? Any idea which direction they could’ve gone?”
“The cameras picked them up as they left the house and got into Lindley’s car. They backed out heading south. That’s the way out of the neighborhood. It’s been ten minutes.”
Noah wasn’t panicking, but he could feel his anxiety pressing up from his stomach, ballooning in his chest.
How far could they have gone in ten minutes?
“I’m going to call the gatehouse at the entrance to the neighborhood,” Noah said. “I’ll see if Lindley’s car has passed through.” This part of the hills was highly secure, and they would’ve had to go past the gate to exit. Just like that work van the other day after the second kidnapping attempt.
“All right,” Max said. “Put me on hold and come right back.”
He did. The guy manning the gatehouse said no car matching that description had gone by. Noah told him to notify the police if one did.
Then he switched back to the other call.
“Max? The gatehouse said Lindley’s car hasn’t passed through. They must still be here in the neighborhood.”
And that meant there were only so many places they could be.
One location leaped to the top of the list.
His brain called up the information Max had shared, which had been processing in the back of Noah’s consciousness for the last couple of minutes.
Gerrig had worked for Soren.
Noah was going to find out what the hell Danica’s brother had to do with this.
“Okay,” Max said. “I sent a message to the bodyguards we have on duty. They’re about to head to your house.”
“But I can’t wait for them. I need to go to the Foster-Grants’.”
He knew how important it was to have his teammates backing him up. But this was Danica. What if a single moment could make a difference?
“Hold on. Just wait for the other guys. They’ll arrive soon.”
“You said Gerrig worked for Soren. Danica could be at her father’s house right now. If she’s not, then I’ll bet her family knows something. I’m going to pry it out of them.”
“Don’t go vigilante on me, Vandermeer. Don’t do something stupid.”
“Remember earlier this year, when you knew Lana was in trouble? Did you sit around waiting? Or did you get on the road and find the answers yourself?”
Max sighed. “I had my team with me when it counted. Just keep me apprised of your location and what’s going on. Be smart.”
“I’ll be whatever I have to be.”
Right now, Noah wasn’t a Bennett Security bodyguard protecting a client. And he certainly didn’t intend to answer to any governmental authority.
He was a man desperate to find the woman he loved. And he was going to do whatever it took to bring her home safe.