Chapter 20
Chapter 20
T hey gagged her, bound her, blindfolded her, and stuffed her in the trunk. I’m going to die, was Maggie’s first thought, followed quickly by, No I’m not. She wasn’t a helpless victim; she was a highly trained federal agent. She had skills and knowledge they didn’t know she possessed, and it was time to use them to her advantage.
She tried to keep track of the turns they made along the road, but it was too disorienting. Panic clawed at her throat, but she resolutely pushed it away. If she gave in to fear, she would be lost. Her only hope was to use her brain to tap into the things she had learned in the academy.
The car came to a stop, the trunk was opened, and Maggie was hauled out. They ripped the blindfold off her, and she took a quick look around to make note of her surroundings, inhaling in surprise when she easily recognized the compound she’d just left. In fact, the party was still going on and growing louder.
She considered making a run for it, but quickly discarded the idea. The two guards who had taken her far outweighed her, and they were armed. She was half their size, bound, and disoriented. The odds weren’t in her favor.
They led her around the back of the house and through a basement garage. Inside the garage was a keypad. The bigger of the two men pressed in a code and another door opened. The fact that they had removed the blindfold and let her see the code didn’t bode well for her, but Maggie tried instead to focus on how best to make an escape, should the opportunity present itself. The hidden portion of the basement was a maze, but she forced herself to memorize turns and count steps in order to get herself back out again.
At last they stopped in front of a room and opened the door. The room looked very much like a windowless cell and, she noted, locked from the outside. The guards had been talking to each other the whole way, and the tone of their conversation made Maggie intensely uncomfortable. They dithered outside the cell, debating how much they could do to her before their bosses arrived. At last when she could take it no longer, she turned to face them and spoke in their language.
“If you touch me, they’ll kill you. They want me whole.”
She wasn’t certain if they believed her or if they were merely surprised to hear a blond American speak perfect Arabic. Either way, they gave her a hard shove inside and closed the door, remaining firmly on the opposite side. Maggie took a deep breath and tried to quell the quaking in her hands. She toured the room, and it didn’t take long. There was a single bed, more like a cot than an actual frame and mattress, and that was it. There were no windows to try and climb out, no pictures to break and use as a weapon, no chair to shove under the door. The bed was metal and had no weak spots to break apart. The mattress was a useless piece of fluff. She supposed she could tear the mattress apart and try to use the material as a garrote, but it would require brute strength to gain the advantage over even one of the huge guards, let alone two.
The guards worried her as much or more than the men who had ordered her detained. Her captors at least had a purpose. To the guards she was merely a tempting distraction. How much longer would her threat hold them off? And what if they asked their bosses if they could have her and they said yes? If, as she suspected, she had been brought forth as a punishment to Sam, then what better punishment would there be than letting the men have their way with her before they killed her? She had read enough daily briefings to know how things operated. Rape was a weapon wielded by the most brutal of men. If even half of what they suspected of Sam’s uncles was true, then allowing her to be brutalized would be merely a drop in the bucket of their crimes.
She alternated pacing and jumping to keep the blood flowing to her legs and brain. She had to stay sharp, had to stay focused, had to stay free of fear.
That plan evaporated when one of the uncles entered and stood staring at Maggie, silent and foreboding.
“Sit down,” he commanded at last, in Arabic.
She wondered if now was the time to make her stand. Could she reasonably overpower the uncle? And, if not, would it benefit her at all to disobey him?
“I know you can understand me. Stop pretending and sit.”
She sat, but slowly. There was no gain in being combative, just as there was no benefit in being a scared rabbit. Maybe there was a middle ground to be found—compliance without obsequiousness.
“Why were you at the party tonight?” he asked, still not bothering to switch to English.
“I was invited by the man I was with. He needed a date,” she replied, also in his language. At one time she was so fluent in Arabic she didn’t have to think. Now speaking it made her realize how rusty she had become. It was one thing to read it and another entirely to have a conversation.
He stared at her, his eyes cold and calculating. “I know my nephew’s former connection to you. What did he say to you?”
“Nothing,” Maggie said, touching her bruised cheek. “I was understandably upset about his disappearance from my life. I wanted him to tell me why he left. He refused. He was angry and distant, and then he smacked me.” She looked up, letting her eyes blaze into his with what she hoped passed for honesty. No matter what Sam had done, his life might be in her hands right now. She had to make sure she did her best for him.
“You have always been a weakness for him.”
“Why do you care?” Maggie demanded. “Because I’m not Saudi? Because I’m an American? Neither of those things mattered to Sam, or his parents.”
“His parents were weak,” the uncle said. “And they are not in charge of our family’s legacy.”
She frowned.
“I see you do not understand me, and that proves your unfitness to be near us.”
“Kidnapping me from my home seems extreme. Sam and I already broke up when he disappeared six years ago,” she said.
The uncle stared at her again, his dark eyes boring into her. “I know who you are, and I know who you work for. The only question now is how to get the most value from your presence.” Abruptly, he turned and left the room.
Maggie remained on the cot, shivering now. She was still wearing her pajamas, the ones Ridge had lovingly placed on her after he cut her out of her dress. The room was cold, but that had nothing to do with her shaking. They knew . If there was any doubt in her mind before about her fate, it was gone now. They would kill her, slowly and painfully after they tried to extract as much information as possible.
She was going to die. Despite all of her training and newly acquired knowledge, she was at their mercy. They outnumbered her, were larger, and armed. She had never felt so helpless, alone, or frustrated. Why had she let herself get taken in the first place? True, she had been sleeping peacefully when they burst in on her, but, in retrospect, she should have done something besides scream and kick and flail, all of which had been fruitless after they so easily bound and gagged her.
Her family came to mind, one by one, first her parents and then her siblings. Her death would be the hardest on Johnny whose emotions were pure and deep and close to the surface. Her parents would grieve, naturally, but they had three other children. Out of everyone in her life, the loss would doubtless hit Ridge the hardest. He would take it personally, probably blaming himself for leaving her alone, but how could he have known? Neither of them could have guessed the uncles would track her down and take her. It was a bold move that smacked of desperation, practically an act of war. They had taken an American agent captive, in America. And not even at an embassy; they had ripped her from her home and taken her to their compound.
Strangely, that thought heartened her. She was an American agent, and that had to mean something. Surely they wouldn’t leave her stranded. Ridge would never, even if the agency insisted on it. He would come for her, she was sure. Whether he would make it in time was another question. And doubtless they would be ready for him, with an arsenal of weapons and who knew what else at their disposal. The situation could very easily turn into a siege. They might all be killed.
Head in hands, she rocked back and forth, trying to maintain a shred of reason against the crushing press of fear. The thing she needed most right now was to keep her head and be ready, something easier said than done. She was exhausted, frightened, helpless, and confused. That was doubtless how they wanted her, and she refused to submit to their desires, if only out of stubbornness.
The door opened again. She sat up and pressed her back to the wall, trying hard to look defiant, though she knew she probably resembled a wounded bunny more than a brave warrior.
“Maggie,” Sam breathed. He sank to the cot beside her. She shrank away from him and his mouth opened in wounded surprise. “You think I’m going to hurt you?”
She pointed to her cheek.
His head dropped to his hands. “Why can’t you understand I must hurt you to protect you? Do you think I enjoyed that?”
“I don’t know what to think anymore,” she said.
Tentatively, he took her hand. She didn’t pull away. “I’m sorry, so very sorry about everything. I did the worst thing I could think of to keep you safe six years ago, and now I did the worst thing I could think of tonight to try and keep you safe again, and I failed. Who would have believed a twist of fate brought you to this party?” He frowned, dismayed. Either he had no idea she was an agent, or he was a better actor than she gave him credit for.
She let out a shaky breath. He eased closer and slipped his arm around her. She rested her head on his shoulder. Despite the dire situation, they sat in comfortable, easy silence. It might have been six years ago with no interruption in their relationship, if not for the fact that she was a bruised hostage and he was a possible terrorist and captor.
“I missed you,” he said. “Setting aside the attraction between us, you were my best friend, the closest thing to me on earth. I have never met anyone else like you, before or since. You were and still remain the best person I’ve ever known.”
“It’s hard to not feel like those words are hollow sentiment,” she said.
He shook his head. “I’m going to get you out of this.”
“How? They’ll kill you.”
“Yes, they will,” he declared. “I don’t care. I haven’t cared for a long time. You have no idea the misery of my existence. You said you’ve been alone and unable to love, but at least you’ve been alive. I’ve been a shadow, an echo of my former self. Gone is the innocent boy you knew. In his place is some kind of monster.”
“Sam, what have you done?” she asked.
“You wouldn’t, couldn’t possibly understand.”
“Try me,” she said.
“They killed my mother.”
She gasped. “Sam, no.” Sam’s mother had been beautiful, soft, and lovely. She had accepted Maggie like a daughter, not caring about their differing nationalities or religions. She and Sam had been close, extraordinarily so.
“This was after they threatened you, after I had to fake my death so they’d leave you alone. You were a weakness, a softness, and so was my mother. They wanted to remove temptation, to make me as hard as they are. They succeeded.”
“Why? What did they want you to do?” she asked.
“Mostly I’ve been their business liaison, but their business is brutal. I’ve seen things, done things…” he trailed off. “Lately, it’s…” he paused again. “I find I can’t speak the words to you. You are too pure, and you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
Maggie took a breath, hating to disillusion him further than he already was. “Sam, someone is coming for me.”
He blinked at her in confusion. “No one is coming, Maggie. I’m your only means of escape, but I swear I’ll get you out.”
“Someone is coming for me,” she repeated. “If you mean what you say, if you truly want me to be safe, you’ll help him.”
“Who is it?” he asked.
“The man I was with tonight.”
His brow wrinkled in confusion. “The loud cowboy?”
She nodded, trying to convey the truth with her eyes without having to say the words. She was not authorized to blow Ridge’s cover, or hers, based on the suspicion they might already know.
“Maggie?” he said. “What is going on?”
“I can’t tell you the details. Suffice it to say things aren’t always as they seem in both our worlds. But the man who is coming is good, and he’s coming to get me out.”
He blinked at her, shocked. “Who are you?”
“I’m the same person I’ve always been with a slightly different job,” she said.
“You…you’re not. Are you?”
“I can neither confirm nor deny anything,” she said, smiling slightly.
“Look at you,” he said, shaking his head, but he was smiling. “When I pictured you as the mother of my children, you were never holding a gun.”
“And when I pictured you as the father of my children, you never faked your own death to get out of diaper duty,” she said, and he laughed.
“Only you could make me laugh at a time like this,” he said, giving her shoulders a squeeze. “All right, I’m going to go keep an eye out for your coworker and try to devise a plan. He is only your coworker, yes? Please tell me you’re not married to another man.”
“I’m not married,” she assured him.
“Are you…is there someone in your life?” he asked.
“Tell you what, let’s get out of this alive, and then we can compare dating histories,” she said.
“You were always good at playing hard to get,” he said.
“Thanks, but right now I’m playing ‘trying hard to stay alive,’” she informed him.
“You will stay alive, I swear it,” he said. He stood, and she could see that he was simmering with rage.
“Sam, don’t be reckless. Don’t do anything unnecessarily crazy,” she said.
He gave a humorless chuckle. “Oh, Maggie. I have no idea what’s crazy anymore. My frame of reference is gone.” He pulled her up to stand in front of him. “For various reasons, this could be the last time we ever see each other. So I want you to know what I said earlier is true. You were my first love. I loved you deeply, and I continue to believe I love you still. When this is over, and if it ends favorably, I want to have a conversation about us, about the possibility of a future.”
She opened her mouth to respond, but he kissed her instead, a deep, intense kiss of longing. Maggie responded because there was still a part of her that longed for him in return, and it might be the last pleasant thing that happened to them before they both died. Now was not the time to say no to kisses.
He let her go and took a step back, as if to remove himself from the temptation of reaching for her again. He pulled a memory stick on a lanyard from beneath his shirt and gave it to her. “Don’t lose this. It’s what they’re willing to kill for. There are six guards in total, including the two standing outside this door, and they’re all armed with automatic weapons plus a leg holster. I’ll do what I can, but a lot is going to rest on your friend.” He kissed her forehead. “Good luck.”
“You, too.”
“I’m going to need it,” he said and, not allowing himself to look back, let himself out of the room.
Her anxiety now in full bloom, Maggie secured the lanyard around her own neck and resumed pacing, wondering how long it would be until the action began.