Chapter 8
8
Landon watched as Noel rushed forward, kneeling in front of Pamela. She gripped Pamela’s trembling shoulders, her tone gentle yet insistent. “What do you mean they’re gone? Who’s gone? Tell me what happened.”
“T… Tad and Penny,” Pamela choked out, her voice breaking on their names.
Landon quickly joined them, his own urgency flaring. He gently moved Noel aside, his hands firmly gripping Pamela’s arms. With a steady, commanding tone, he demanded, “What happened?”
Pamela’s tear-streaked face tilted up to meet his intense gaze. “They... they went down to the beach with Horticia. They just wanted to play. I didn’t think it was dangerous.”
Landon’s mind raced. He knew Horticia was the housekeeper, a trusted Jamaican woman in her late twenties who worked at several high-end properties within the resort.
“Landon.” Noel’s soft voice tried to anchor him, her hand lightly brushing his arm in a silent plea for gentleness.
But there was no time. The situation required immediate action. He shook Pamela slightly, not enough to hurt but enough to bring her focus back. “What happened next?” he barked.
Pamela’s sobs deepened. “Horticia came back alone. She said... she said three men came out of the jungle with guns. They grabbed the kids and dragged them away. She tried to stop them, but they hit her. She came running back just before you arrived.”
“Where is she?” Landon demanded.
“Here... here, sir,” a timid voice answered.
Landon whipped around to see Horticia standing in the doorway, her eyes wide and a small cut above her brow. She was gently dabbing at the wound with a cloth.
Releasing Pamela, Landon strode toward Horticia. He pulled out his phone, already punching in a familiar number. “The kids are missing. Three men from the jungle took them about ten minutes ago,” he reported tersely to Sadie on the other end. “I need security footage and surveillance. Now.”
“On it,” Sadie responded crisply.
Turning back to Horticia, he drew in a calming breath, then let it out slowly. “Tell me everything that happened.”
Horticia nodded jerkily, her wide eyes darting around the room. “The children wanted to go to the beach?—”
“Didn’t they know we were coming?” Mike barked, his voice bouncing off the surrounding tile.
Horticia’s gaze shot over to Pamela, and her lips were pressed tightly together.
“Don’t look at her,” Landon growled. When her gaze shot back to him, he ordered, “Talk to me, and give me everything.”
“No. No, they didn’t know anyone was coming. Mrs. Fugate only told Roger and me. I was to take the children to the beach for a swim so she could deal with you?—”
“Shut up!” Pamela cried, her face morphing into rage. “My children are gone, and you’re talking about things you know nothing about!”
“If anything has happened to those kids…” Mike roared, stepping forward and jerking Pamela as his fingers wrapped around her upper arm.
Landon acted swiftly, prying Mike’s hand away from Pamela with controlled force. “Don’t you dare make this worse,” he warned, his voice dangerously low.
“What could be worse than this?” Mike spat. “You’re security! Go after them!”
“We need to know who took them, why, and where they are. Charging blindly into the jungle will only screw this up,” Landon shot back.
Landon stepped away from them and moved closer to Horticia. He pulled out his phone, hit the button for LSIMT, and said, “This is the housekeeper who was with the kids.” Then looking at her, he said, “Keep talking. Everything.”
“I don’t know. We were down on the beach. The storm is coming, and they wanted to see the waves. Tad went into the water only to his knees. Penny didn’t want to get in the water but walked along the beach for a little while, taking pictures with her phone.” She shook her head sharply. “No, that’s not right. I already had her beach towel out for her. Penny sat on the sand, and… I can’t remember!”
“Keep going. You’re doing fine. Tad was in the water. Penny was sitting on a towel. Where were you?”
Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. “Surely, you can’t think I had anything to do with this!”
Landon stared hard at her, and she could not hold his gaze. Her hands were in front of her, her fingers tightly clamped together. Her hair was pulled back in what had probably been a severe bun, but tendrils had fallen out and were sticking up, indicating that she had indeed run from the beach. Not wanting to have his witness lose her focus and fall into histrionics, he calmly said, “I don’t have any idea what happened right now. I just need you to give me the exact facts.”
She jerked her head up and down, then said, “I had set up a beach chair to sit in. I had only been seated next to Penny for a few minutes, and Tad was coming out of the water toward us. I looked at the time and knew we should go back to the house soon. I told Penny to put on her shoes. Tad dried his feet and did the same thing. He had just gotten his shoes on when movement to my right caught my eye. I watched as three men, all dressed in black, walked toward us. There were no houses that way, so I didn’t know where they’d come from. I thought it was strange that they were in long pants and long-sleeved shirts, but as they got closer, they pulled a scarf up over their lower faces.”
Her voice shook, and her hands clasped tighter together. “I saw one pull out a gun. I screamed, but they raced forward. One grabbed me and told me to be quiet. Another one grabbed Penny, and when Tad rushed forward to help, the other one caught him, too.”
“Where was Roger?” Pamela interrupted, her eyes wide.
“He was on the deck. He didn’t come down to the beach with us. But he heard us screaming and was coming down the steps as I came running up. He ran after them.”
“Where is he now?” Pamela screeched.
Landon twisted his head around and saw Jonathan standing at the doorway with their bags, his eyes wide. “Call the police?—”
Pamela cried, “No police. They’ll make it worse. If the kids have been kidnapped, I need to know what they want!”
Jonathan's face contorted. “I can call, sir, but with the storm coming, the police forces will be working to make sure people are safe. Resources are stretched thin.”
Landon shook his head. “Call them anyway just to report it. I want this on the record.”
Jonathan nodded and immediately dropped their bags to pull out his phone.
Looking up, Landon spied Noel as she walked over to a bank of windows, staring off to the east. She turned around, her eyes wide. “There’s nothing but jungle out there. It’s like this house is at the end of civilization, and there’s nothing but jungle!”
Speaking into his phone, Landon barked, “What have you got?”
“Working on pulling up satellite now to get the overall image,” Todd replied.
“I’ve gotten into the resort security, and I’m looking at the ones aimed down on the beach. It seems the one on the house they’re staying in was turned off.”
Whirling around, Landon glared at Pamela. “Why the fuck would you turn the security cameras off at the back of this house?”
Her eyes widened as she shook her head. “I didn’t! I didn’t!”
Mike wrapped his fingers around Pamela’s neck. “I should snap you right now, bitch.”
Landon whirled around and brought his arm down on Mike’s, forcing his grip away from Pamela. “I told you not to make this worse. We have a better chance of getting the kids back if we know who took them, why, and where they might be located.”
“Someone’s coming!” Noel cried out, racing toward the sliding glass door that led downward toward the beach.
Landon hustled to her side. Staggering up onto the back porch was a young man with blood running down his face.
“Is that Roger?” Noel threw open the door and started to step out.
Landon gently pulled her back and moved through the door. He recognized Roger from the photographs—tall, blond surfer looks. In his photograph, he had gleaming white teeth that one of his wealthy female companions had paid for. He now had a cut on his forehead and was staggering from the blow.
Roger weaved on his feet, and Landon wrapped his arm around the other man’s waist, taking his weight as they staggered inside the house.
“Roger! Oh my God, Roger!” Pamela cried as she rushed forward and helped him to a kitchen chair. Horticia was right behind with a wet cloth that she pressed to his forehead, her own forehead now with a bandage.
Looking between them, Landon noted their injuries were mirror opposites of each other. “I need you to talk to me. Tell me what happened.”
“I was outside… heard Horticia cry out. I ran to the beach and saw the kids being dragged into the jungle. Horticia was bleeding, but I told her to get into the house and let them know. I tried to run after the kids. I got hit and went down.”
“See to him,” Landon barked to Horticia, then stalked over to the door leading to the patio and stepped outside. Speaking to the Keepers, he said, “This was planned, but I don’t know who inside assisted.”
“Right,” Logan agreed. “They knew the kids would be on the beach right before you all showed up.”
“I have a resort security camera on the edge of their property to the west,” Sadie reported. “Can’t get a visual on the jungle side, but I can see the kids. The boy was at the edge of the water and the girl was putting on her shoes. Horticia packed up their beach towels. She keeps looking to the east… whether she hears something, sees something, or knows something is about to happen, only she can tell.”
He felt a hand on his arm and turned to see Noel standing nearby. Her face was pinched tight. With his free arm, he reached down and slid her hand into his. The simple touch was meant to offer comfort, but he found the warmth traveled up his arm. Shaking his head, he looked away from her worried face and continued. “I need everything you can get to me as soon as it comes in. The police will show up, but with the storm approaching, we can’t expect much from them.”
“Already on it,” Todd said. “You’ll get what we have.”
“I’m sending Cole down. He might not beat the storm, but he’ll get to Florida and then to Jamaica as soon as possible,” Logan said. “Devil and Frazier will be with him.”
“Good. I don’t want to waste time running through the jungle on a wild chase that won’t get me to the kids. I need to know who on the inside set this up.”
He heard Noel's gasp but gripped her hand tighter. He didn’t need her to give away anything she was overhearing, so he pulled her a little closer. To anyone on the inside, they would look like two people who were simply standing together overlooking the area toward the beach.
He noticed the beach was hidden from the house by the lush foliage planted along the path leading to the sand. “Who would want to orchestrate a kidnapping?”
Again, Noel’s body tightened, but she made no effort to move away. Against his typical protocol, Landon switched the call to speaker. “I have you on speaker now, and Noel Lennox is with me. We’re the only ones listening.”
She turned her wide-eyed gaze up to him but remained quiet.
“Okay,” Todd said. “We know Pamela. She’s out for money and probably wouldn’t stop at a charade of having someone take the kids just to get more out of Stan?—”
“No.”
He glanced down to see Noel still staring up at him. She shook her head. “It’s not Pamela.”
“What makes you say that?”
“She’s… distraught. It’s real. I don’t think… she’s not faking that emotion,” Noel explained.
“She brought her boyfriend here, and we have no idea what he’s up to.”
She pressed her lips thinly together and twisted her head to gaze toward the blue waters beyond the tree line. Nodding her head in jerks, she sighed. “Agreed, but I still don’t think she perpetrated the kidnapping of her kids, even for show. They would be traumatized.”
“You’ve dealt with moms who have done worse.”
She looked back at him, her gaze pulling him in. “I know. I can only tell you what I think of this situation.” Lowering her voice, she said, “I just don’t think it was Pamela.”
“What about the others?” he asked, surprised that the words left his lips.
“I don’t know… I don’t know enough about them to form an opinion,” she replied. Her face scrunched as though the words hurt to admit.
“Checking out everything we can,” Sadie cut in. “I’ll send it to you.”
“Heading to the beach,” he replied before disconnecting. His words were as much for Noel as for the Keepers.
He let go of her hand and said, “Stay here and see what you can find out. I’m heading to the beach before the police come. I want to check the prints in the sand before anyone comes who might destroy the evidence.”
“Are you going after them?”
He shook his head. “Not half-cocked. They could be anywhere, and we need the intel to make a plan. The goal is to get the kids back safely and quickly. Not run around aimlessly.”
She nodded with her gaze still pinned on him. And even though their bodies were no longer touching, he could still feel her palm resting against his. Clearing his throat, he turned and jogged down toward the beach.