Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
“What the fuck?” Kevlar bit out, after he and his team were abruptly pulled out of an important meeting about a possible upcoming mission…to talk to the commander about something entirely different.
They’d all thought they were summoned about an emergency mission. And they were—but nothing at all like what they’d expected.
“I told that asshole Jamaica was a bad idea,” Kevlar bitched under his breath.
“Are the guys he went with okay?” Safe asked the commander.
“Yes. They don’t even know he’s missing yet. And apparently there’s a woman missing too.”
“This just keeps getting better and better,” MacGyver said dryly.
“There was a group of women there on vacation, and they all went tubing together. Flash and a woman named Kelli Colbert didn’t return. I’ve got a call into the hotel to talk to the men Flash was with now. ”
Kevlar’s gaze went to the phone in the middle of the table. He noticed the light flashing for the first time, indicating the connection was on hold. “That him?” he asked, nodding at the phone.
“Yes.”
The team wasn’t yet up to speed on what the hell was happening, but obviously it was imperative they talk to the people who were with Flash before he disappeared. He leaned forward and reached for the button that would reconnect the call, looking at the commander for permission.
The other man nodded.
As soon as Kevlar pressed the button, the commander said, “Hello?”
“Um…hello?” The man who responded sounded confused and worried. Probably wondering why he’d been summoned to whatever office he was currently sitting in by resort security.
“Is this Charles Hepworth?”
“Yes. Who is this?”
“This is Wade Gordon’s naval commander back in the States. I need to know what the hell happened today.”
Kevlar leaned forward, as if that could make the man on the other end of the phone give them the information they were after faster. He noticed his teammates all did the same thing.
“Um…I’m not sure what you mean?”
“When did you last see Mr. Gordon and Ms. Colbert?”
“Uh…when we were tubing. We got separated on the water, and we waited around for a while but they weren’t appearing. Flash is a Navy SEAL, so I wasn’t worried about hi m, but Kelli…she’s not built for the water, if you know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t know what you mean,” the commander said in a low tone. “Explain it to me.”
“Just that she’s not the best swimmer, apparently.
Doesn’t have the body for it. That’s what her cousin says.
I don’t remember who suggested it, but we all piled into one of the two vans to go back to the resort, leaving the other one for Flash and Kelli whenever they finally appeared.
Wait—why are you asking about them? They’re okay, right? ”
Kevlar wanted to roll his eyes. This Charles person wasn’t very quick on the uptake.
“No. They’ve been kidnapped.”
To everyone’s surprise, Charles laughed.
“That’s funny?” the commander barked.
“This is a joke, right? Flash is pissed at me for hanging out with the girls last night, so he’s getting back at me. He set up this elaborate prank and convinced Kelli to go along with it.”
“This is not a joke,” Kevlar said, not able to keep his mouth shut anymore. “My teammate is missing, along with Kelli Colbert, and you’re fucking laughing .”
There was silence on the other end of the line before Charles said a little uncertainly, “You’re not kidding?”
“No, we aren’t kidding. We need to know everything that was said when you and the rest of the group decided to leave the river to go back to the resort,” the commander ordered.
“Holy shit. Okay, I’ll tell you everything I can remember. Jesus…Nova’s gonna be so upset about her brother.”
As Kevlar and the rest of the team listened to Charles tell them how Flash and Kelli came to be left behind—because everyone was eager to get back to the resort to resume their drinking and flirting, apparently—it became clear that the entire group had been very lucky.
It was quite possible everyone had been targeted…
but because they were inconsiderate and horny, they’d actually lucked out.
For some reason, their driver brought them back to the resort, instead of to wherever Kelli and Flash were being held.
It was also obvious Charles was now extremely upset about the fact his brother-in-law-to-be was missing.
He wasn’t faking his agitation over the situation and was now almost tripping over his words, eager to tell the commander and Flash’s team anything and everything they wanted to know about the tubing trip.
Including descriptions of the men who’d driven them there, and then the ones who’d been waiting to take them back to the resort.
“Are they going to be okay?” Charles asked.
“If we have anything to say about it, yes,” the commander said.
“What do we do now?”
“You keep your asses at the resort. Do not leave the grounds again. The police are being called as we speak. Talk to them. Tell them everything you told me. Then get a flight back to the States as soon as the officers there say you’re cleared to leave.”
“Are we in danger too?” Charles asked, sounding as if he was in shock.
“We don’t know. But it’s better to get you back to the US as soon as possible.”
“Yeah. I need to get to Nova,” Charles said quietly, as if talking to himself .
The commander ended the call after briefly speaking with the security chief at the resort to make sure the police had been called, and that the groups Flash and Kelli had been with would be safe until they could get out of the country.
“I can’t believe Flash got kidnapped,” Smiley said, clearly pissed.
“Wait—if Hepworth didn’t even know, how did you find out about Flash?” MacGyver asked the commander.
“Because the kidnapper called my office to demand a ransom.”
Kevlar stared at his commander in disbelief. “He called you ? How did he know who you were?”
“No clue. But if Flash had his Navy ID on him—which we all know he probably did, because he’s a stickler for that kind of thing—it was probably taken.
The kidnapper obviously has some knowhow with computers, because he knew Flash was stationed here, and he called my office line. Not the general base number.”
“Has anyone called Tex? Can’t he just track him and we can go and pick him up?” Safe asked.
“He doesn’t have his tracker on him,” the commander said grimly.
“Fuck!”
“Damn it!”
“Didn’t he learn anything from the rest of us?”
Kevlar’s mind was spinning. He itched to get on a plane to Jamaica. To find his friend. It was one thing to be sent on a rescue mission for a stranger, or several strangers, but this was one of their own. Their brother. “Is he alive?”
The question seemed to hang heavy in the air.
The commander pressed his lips together. “I don’t know. I asked for proof of life, but the kidnapper said the only proof of life I’d get was when he got his money and Flash was released.”
“How much did he ask for?” Blink asked.
“Fifty thousand.”
Kevlar blinked in surprise. “That’s it?”
“Yes. But as you know, many Jamaicans live in extreme poverty. Fifty thousand dollars is more money than a lot of them can imagine making in a lifetime,” the commander said.
“And it’s an amount he probably thought he could get,” MacGyver added. “If he asked for ten million, he had to know he’d never get it.”
“So? What now? Are we paying it? Are we going to Jamaica? What?” Kevlar asked impatiently.
“We’re not paying it, but we’re going to string this guy along.
Give you six time to get to Jamaica. But if any of you get kidnapped, I’m going to be pissed,” their commander said.
“Their government has been made aware of the situation and we’ve all agreed to keep this hush-hush.
The last thing they want is word getting out that tourists are still being kidnapped.
The tourism industry has already taken a hit over there with the increase in violence. ”
“When do we leave?” Blink asked.
The commander looked at his watch. “Wheels up in three hours. Go home, kiss your women and kids, and meet back here at eighteen hundred.”
“I’ll stay here and call Tex,” Smiley volunteered.
“Since I’m the only single one. I’ll also research the area where Flash disappeared.
Get the lay of the land. He and this Kelli woman are being held somewhere , I’ll see if I can come up with possibilities.
And if they aren’t alive…” His voice trailed off.
“He’s alive,” Kevlar said, his voice thick with emotion.
“I don’t know what happened, but if a woman was taken with him, my guess is that he would’ve done everything they asked of him, just to keep her safe.
To bide his time. I’m guessing they’ve been stashed somewhere, and it’ll be up to us to find them.
No Tex. No trackers. Just some good old-fashioned detective work.
Which is fine—we’re more than hired muscle.
We’re smart. We can do this. We get our brother back. ”
“Hooyah!” all six of the other men yelled…their commander included.
“That’s it. Right there, don’t move,” Flash told Kelli.
They were kneeling on the metal floor of the bus and he was attempting to light the candle. Kelli was still terrified, but now that they had some sort of goal, something to do , she felt a little better.
Flash had taken apart the nonfunctioning radio and, while she couldn’t see him, she could hear him grunting, muttering under his breath, and swearing when something didn’t go the way he’d hoped.
He also gave her a running commentary of what he was doing while he was doing it, which she liked… since she couldn’t see him.