Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Leo
I haven’t experienced true fear in more years than I can count. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt anything deeply, and truth be told, I like it that way.
I’ve stared down death enough times that all I get from having a gun barrel pointed at my forehead is an adrenaline rush.
One day, I’ll have to atone for my sins, but today is not that day. If anything, I’m probably adding a few more years onto my sentence in hell if it really exists.
“Some fucking friend you are!” Shaw snarls, grabbing the arms of the chair the woman sits in. “Don’t you understand the buddy system?”
He’s already berated Avery for the better part of half an hour.
I get his frustration.
I’m living it, too, but that chick doesn’t know anything that will help us.
Hell, maybe she’s too young to understand how to be a decent friend.
That doesn’t excuse her actions, though.
It took her nine hours to meander back to the hotel after Saylor’s team determined she was missing.
Initially, Anderson and Daniels hoped Saylor would be found with her friend, and when Avery made it back to the hotel without their client, they finally got their asses in gear.
The thought makes my jaw clench, and I cut my eyes at the adjoining room.
Shaw and I had a few things to say to those incompetent assholes—most of which involved our fists.
I exhale and try to get ahold of the rage simmering in my gut.
Luckily, Ridge pulled us off them before we could do any permanent damage, and he took over their interrogation.
I’m going to have words with our boss, Easton. Just as soon as we secure Saylor and get her safely back to the US.
I’m genuinely fucking shocked that he isn’t here with us. The team that took over for me and Shaw has to be the most incompetent pair of assholes on Shadow Security’s payroll.
They didn’t even call it in when Avery made it back to the hotel without Saylor.
Anderson reached out to the senator, who instructed them to sit on the information while waiting for a ransom demand.
They should have known better.
Clients do dumb shit when someone they love is in danger.
That’s why they pay Shadow Security astronomical amounts of money to make the difficult calls for them.
If something happens to Saylor that she can’t come back from…
Well, let’s just say, Easton won’t have a chance to verbally rip them a new asshole before firing them.
Shaw and I will make sure we get to them first. I’m fairly sure that’s why Easton sent Ridge with us.
Ridge is here to be the neutral party.
Easton knows Shaw and I are compromised when it comes to Saylor.
Fucking hell.
It’s killing me to know she’s out there somewhere, scared out of her mind, and it’s been the better part of four days since she went missing.
The senator sat around, waiting for a ransom demand, for almost three days. He finally realized a call wasn’t coming and frantically called our boss.
We got lucky still being in Boston. It has an international airport with a nonstop flight to Amsterdam that we were able to jump on with only a forty-five-minute wait. From the time I took Easton’s call to the time we were boots on the ground in the Netherlands, only eleven hours had passed, but that doesn’t mean shit.
The first forty-eight hours of any investigation is the most crucial.
“I don’t know anything! I swear,” Avery says. “Check my phone. I showed the other guys. She texted me that she was coming back to the hotel. I sent a text twenty minutes later, asking if she got here safely…” She sobs. “She never responded, but I didn’t realize until I woke up the next morning. I’m just as worried as you are.”
“If I find out you were involved in this, I’ll kill you myself.” Shaw growls, and I stomp over, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him away from the crying woman. “We’ve got fucking nothing,” he snarls. “No idea where to start, and the trail is four days cold.”
“Give Calder some time to go through the security feeds,” I say, referencing the tech guy for Shadow Security. Easton handpicked Calder for his tech skills, and he’s the best in the business. He’s thorough as fuck because he hyper-focuses until he finds something.
“She could already be dead,” Shaw hisses, slapping out of my hold. “Do you know what they could be doing to her right this very second?”
My gut churns.
Yeah, I do.
And it fucking kills me.
* * *
Before
“You wake up in an unfamiliar room. You’re tied to a chair much like the one you’re in now. What’s your first step?” I ask, pacing in front of the chair I’ve got Saylor in.
“Do I know I’ve been kidnapped?” she asks in a humor-lined tone. She’s always so light and happy. I hate having to go over this shit, but the bottom line is that it could save her life one day.
“Your head is foggy. You know you were taken but not where you are geographically. You also don’t know who your assailants are.” I turn back to face her and quirk an eyebrow. “What do you do first?”
“Play dead?”
“Saylor,” I growl, taking a step toward her chair.
“Stay quiet and try not to move. Keep my eyes closed and listen.” She rolls her eyes so hard they practically get stuck in the back of her head. “Regulate my breathing and don’t panic. Try to determine if I’m alone or if there are others in the room. Listen for anyone talking or discussing what their plans are. If no one is speaking, keep an ear out for sounds like someone breathing.”
“How long do you wait before opening your eyes?”
“At least a few minutes. Even then, I shouldn’t make it obvious that I’m awake. If I can safely assess my surroundings, I should do that, but only if it doesn’t put me at risk.”
I nod, exhaling heavily. Her answer was textbook. She pays attention and memorizes the information, even if she gives me a hard time about it.
The goal is to have these sessions be for nothing. If she never has to use the knowledge, that’s a good thing, but if she ever does need it, I won’t be able to sleep at night unless I know she’s prepared.
“Your kidnapper has made contact. What do you do?” I ask, rubbing my hands together and giving her an expectant look.
“Answer their questions as calmly and clearly as possible.” She smiles, raises a hand, and ticks the steps off one by one. “Don’t beg. Don’t cry. Don’t be uncooperative. The more I agitate or antagonize them, the higher the chance they’ll torture me. Give them the number to Shadow Security’s kidnapping line. Assure them it’s monitored twenty-four hours a day and that the ransom demands will be paid.”
“What do you do if your kidnapper gets in your face?” I grab the arms of the chair Saylor sits in and block her in.
To make the kidnapping training realistic, the manual says I should tie her up and leave her blindfolded for at least fifteen minutes.
Saylor has anxiety, and it gets even worse when she’s in a confined space. I don’t want to cause a meltdown. I just need to ensure she understands the best ways to keep herself alive if the worst ever comes to pass.
She might not have much to do with her maternal side of the family, but they’re the kind of wealthy that makes kidnappers get ideas about how to make a quick payday.
I’ve heard from other mercenary companies that the children of movie stars, politicians, and the wealthy elite start realistic kidnapping training as early as seven or eight.
“We go over this every single month, Leo. Do you think I’ve magically forgotten?” She snorts, shaking her head.
I grab her jaw, pulling her face up toward mine. “Treat this like a joke, and we’ll go over it every week. I’m not fucking around. This is training to keep yourself alive.”
“Are they wearing a mask?” she asks in a sassy tone that betrays her annoyance as she smacks my hand away. “If not, I close my eyes and make sure they know I’m not looking at them. Calmly reassure the assailant that I haven’t seen anything and that I won’t talk. Then mention how my family will want all press of my disappearance squashed and remind them how much I’m worth as long as I’m unharmed.”
“Good.” I step back, trying to decide which scenario to go with this time. “Your captors left you alone to make the call. You think you can get out of your bindings, but you have no idea what’s on the other side of the door or what you might be walking into. Do you try to escape?”
“No.” Her head shakes dramatically. “The only time I take my escape into my own hands is if I’m sure I can get away. A failed attempt is more dangerous than staying put. If I anger them, there’s a chance they could seriously injure or even kill me in a burst of rage.”
“Is there an exception to that?” Even the thought sends a chill down my spine.
“If I hear them talking about how to kill me or if they’re actively trying to end my life…” She sighs. “Fight like hell. If I make it out, I should run and find a crowded building or flag down a car and use their phone.”
“You did great,” I acknowledge, offering her a high five. She always does well when we go over these drills, but it never quite feels like a win.
She grins and slaps my palm. “I swear you give yourself an ulcer over nothing. Hardly anyone even knows I’m related to the Radcliffes. I guess that’s the benefit of my mom taking my dad’s last name.”
I hold out a hand, and she takes it.
Pulling her out of the chair, I say, “We’ll all be happy if you never need to use that knowledge. Now, a bowl of chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream to celebrate a one hundred percent on your test?”
“Absolutely!” Saylor claps and nods, like we don’t do this after every run-through. She bumps her shoulder against my forearm as we take off for the kitchen. “I kinda like my last name. Do you think when I find a pack one day, they’ll let me keep it?” She laughs. “Would you change your last name to your omega’s, just to keep her happy?”
I shrug and toss my arm around her shoulder. “If the guy or guys you end up with won’t change their name to keep you happy, then they aren’t the ones for you. You understand?”
She laughs. “Got it, but I should probably focus on landing a boyfriend before I start daydreaming about marriage.”
I chuckle. “Yeah, steer away from bringing that up on the first date unless you want him to run the other direction.”
“Is it a good idea to take dating advice from the guy who never leaves the house, even on his nights off?” She snorts and skips out of my hold. “Maybe I should ask Shaw, but he’s as much of a homebody as you are.”
I frown.
Well, she’s not wrong about that.
Shaw and I basically never leave the house unless it’s work related. It’s been an embarrassing amount of time since I’ve gone out on a date. It just doesn’t seem right to dip out when Saylor’s here all by herself. Her dad and stepmother are gone constantly, and dating when we live on-site would be a mess of its own.
Sometimes I wonder if life is passing me by while I’m essentially married to my job, but at the same time, I’m still young. There will be time enough for all of that in a solid five or ten years.
* * *
The Present
My fists clench.
Saylor is too fucking sweet to be out there without anyone watching her back.
She could be experiencing any of the situations I tried to prep her for, or it could be none of them.
Knowing there hasn’t been a ransom call makes everything more nefarious. In a kidnapping for ransom, there’s something to be leveraged. If they want the payday, they know they need to keep the hostage alive.
I’m going to lose my fucking mind if we don’t get a break soon.