Chapter Eighteen
“Don’t hurt her!” Bec yelled, but her words were strangled from the chokehold she was in.
“You should have thought about that before you decided to play games!” The ringleader yelled, red-hot anger tightening his arm around her neck.
She put her arms up in the “don’t shoot” position. “I’m sorry,” she croaked. “I’m scared.”
Iris sat in the computer chair, her arms up in the air, but they trembled so much they fell limply to her lap.
She shook violently, and tears fell down her cheeks as she locked eyes with Bec for a brief moment.
Bec could read the terror in them. She had to defuse the situation, but she had no idea how.
“Boss,” another guy said as he walked out of the lab. “There’s nothing in there.”
“Where’s the virus?” he asked, tightening his hold on Bec’s neck.
She couldn’t answer because black dots filled her vision and she struggled to breathe. She clawed at his arm until he finally released her enough for her to suck in air. “I destroyed it!”
Iris gasped from across the room and brought her trembling fingers to her lips, the fear in her eyes telling Bec she understood the pickle they were in.
“You did what?” he growled, dragging her backward toward the lab. “What about the vaccine?”
“I told you the vaccine isn’t finished! It’s in pieces and parts that need to be tested.
” That wasn’t true, but he didn’t appear to be the kind of guy to understand how vaccine research worked.
She had a vaccine, but it wasn’t proven yet.
The dose she had wasn’t enough to use, even if it was safe to use.
“Then you’ll get the pieces and parts,” he grunted. “You’re coming with us.”
“No!” Iris said, jumping to her feet.
A shot rang out, and Bec screamed as Iris went stock-still for a moment before dropping to the floor.
“You shot her!” Bec screamed, trying to run to Iris, the fear in her gut telling her in that moment that she was in love with her, but the animal kept hold of her.
“The shot went wide,” he said, laughter filling the room. “She’s being dramatic.”
“She has anxiety and PTSD from a kidnapping when she was a child,” Bec spat. “I need to check on her.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” he said, walking her toward the lab. “You’ll tell my men where to find the vaccine, and then you’ll come with us.”
Bec’s entire body froze at his words. “What do you want me for?” she asked with fake bravado. “I don’t know anything about what’s going on here. The government hired me to work on a vaccine and nothing else.”
“You were hired to work on a vaccine, but no one said anything about the government. My employer bought and paid for that virus and sent us to collect it.”
“It’s not here!” she exclaimed again as he tightened his arm around her neck.
“That’s okay. We have the next best thing—someone who can recreate it. If we can’t find Walter, at least we have you.”
A glance at Iris, still unmoving on the floor, told Bec what she had to do. “The vaccine is in the small freezer on the left of the hood. They’re marked V1 and V2. Put them in the small red cooler next to the freezer.”
It was a lie. There was no vaccine since she had turned off the freezer and let it thaw after she destroyed the viruses kept in a separate part of the lab. Thankfully, she had left the vials in the freezer until they had thawed. It would have been hard to keep this ruse up if she hadn’t done that.
The ringleader motioned for one of the men to do as she said, and once he returned with the cooler, they pulled her down the long hallway.
“Iris!” she screamed, clawing at the guy’s arm as she tried to free herself to run to her. “Iris! You have to wake up! Iris!”
As the door to the stairwell closed, the beautiful, vibrant woman remained crumbled in a ball, and Bec was afraid it was the last memory she’d ever have of her.
* * *
IRIS BLINKED SEVERAL times as she awoke, a fuzzy snout licking her cheek. Lucas’s PTSD dog, Haven, was nuzzling her with his nose when her eyes came open.
“Iris,” Cal said softly from where he knelt beside her. “We got your SOS.”
SOS? Had she activated her panic button? Why did she feel wrung out as though she’d run a marathon? That only happened after an intense panic attack. She sat up and glanced around, the lab coming into focus until the memory of Bec in that guy’s arms and the gun going off ran through her mind.
“No, no,” she cried, frantically searching the room as her heart rate went from normal to off the charts, and her limbs once again felt like lead.
Someone lifted her arms and wrapped them around Haven’s neck.
“Haven is safe,” Lucas said in a calm, even voice.
“No one can hurt you now. Take some deep breaths so you don’t pass out again,” he coached, and she tried to do what he said, but her chest was paralyzed by the thought that those men had taken Bec.
“Be-be,” she stuttered, trying to form the words and tell them what happened, but her panic made that impossible.
She couldn’t speak. Her heart felt like it was going to explode, and the dots in her vision were getting worse by the second.
Burying her face in Haven’s fur, she tried to breathe with him, but nothing was helping.
All she could hear was the gun going off and then the way Bec’s face filled with terror.
“I need to get to her.” Iris heard Selina’s voice, and she lifted her head to see Haven posturing to keep her safe.
“Haven, friend,” Lucas said, and the dog lowered himself back to the floor and looked up at her under his bushy eyebrows.
“Iris, open your mouth. I’m going to put this under your tongue.
It’s an extra dose of anxiety medication.
” Selina held a tablet, so Iris opened her mouth without thinking or questioning.
The tab went under her tongue, and she prayed it worked quickly.
She had to help Bec. “Are you hurt?” Selina asked, but Iris just shook her head. “Let’s get her into a chair.”
Cal and Lucas helped her into the desk chair, where Selina checked her blood pressure and pulse before handing her an ice pack to hold to the goose egg on her head. She must have hit it on the floor when she fainted.
“Did B-Bec activate her panic button?” Iris finally managed to ask.
“Not yet,” Cal said, squeezing her knee.
“Zac and Declan!” she exclaimed, trying to fight her way up, but Selina and Cal held her in the chair. “They’re tied up downstairs!”
“They’re fine,” Lucas said, moving Haven next to her and resting his head on her lap.
Then he put her hand on his head and encouraged her to pet him.
She did because his head was soft and warm, soothing her jangled nerves.
“They’re both nursing headaches from being knocked out but are otherwise okay.
They said they were jumped and never saw the guys coming. ”
“We didn’t, either,” Iris admitted. “We heard a loud bang, and those guys were here before I could get anyone to answer on the walkie-talkie.”
“Who are they?” Cal asked. She could tell he was trying to be patient with her, but it was hard for him.
She inhaled a deep breath as the antianxiety med started to lessen the adrenaline in her system and allowed her to think.
“We don’t know who they were. There were four of them, and they wore all black and had assault rifles.
They wanted us to let them into the lab to get the virus because they couldn’t reach Walter, and he missed their phone call or something like that.
” She waved her hand in the air in confusion before blowing out another breath.
“They were looking for Walter but couldn’t reach him, so they came here?” Cal asked, and she nodded.
“Yes. I think Bec was going to try and trap them in the lab, but the one guy who was mean grabbed her around the neck and wouldn’t let her go. He got meaner when the other guys couldn’t find the virus.”
“Where did it go?” Lucas asked in total confusion.
“Bec said she destroyed all the viruses. She must have done it while I searched Walter’s office for the computer.”
“What happened to make you pass out?” Selina asked, squeezing her shoulder.
“He shot her!” Iris exclaimed, tears running down her face as Haven whined and put his paw on her lap. “He shot her.”
Selina grasped her chin in her hand and shook it gently. “Iris. There’s no blood anywhere in the lab. Are you sure you saw him shoot her?”
With great difficulty, she met Selina’s gaze. Her eyes said she wasn’t lying. She paused, trying to sift through the fear to find the truth.
“The gun went off,” she insisted. “But I’m not sure where the bullet went, truthfully. I thought he shot her, and I passed out from a panic attack.”
Lucas stood and walked around the work area while they continued to talk to her.
“Without blood, it’s safe to say Bec wasn’t shot,” Cal said. “The question is, where is she?”
“They took her!” Iris moaned the words more than she said them. “Right before I passed out, they told her to get the parts of the vaccine that she had left because she was going with them.”
“Did they say why they wanted her to go with them?” Cal asked.
She shook her head. “No, but I can only assume it’s because they think she can either recreate the virus or get Walter to cooperate with them.”
“Boss,” Lucas called from behind her. “Found the bullet, but I don’t think this printer will print another day.”
“Oh, thank God,” Iris said, her shoulders slumping in relief. “We have to find her!”
“We will,” Cal assured her. “I’m holding out hope that she activates that panic button sooner rather than later. If only we knew how long she’s been gone.”
“Does it tell you what time I activated the panic button? I was probably conscious another five minutes before he fired off the shot.”
“Great thinking!” Cal said, grabbing his tablet and calling it up.
“She’s probably been gone thirty minutes, which seems like a lot of time, but in this part of the country, you can’t get far in thirty minutes.
That said, we don’t know what they’re driving, so until she hits that panic button, we have no choice but to wait. ”
“What? No!” Iris exclaimed, trying to stand but being forced back into her seat. “We can’t wait! We have to call the police. They can find her!”
“And what am I supposed to tell them?” Cal asked gently. “That a woman has been kidnapped, but we don’t know by who, what they look like, or what they’re driving? I’m confident that Bec will activate that SOS button as soon as possible. Do you know where she kept it?”
Iris’s cheeks heated before she answered. “I showed her how to hide it in her bra.”
“Good,” Selina said, patting her shoulder. “Less chance of anyone taking that when doing a body search.”
“I tried to remember what Cal taught us,” Iris agreed.
“If they tied her hands behind her back, then she might need to wait until she can convince them she needs the bathroom before she can activate it. Let’s be patient. If they took her and the vaccine, they want something from her, so they’re not going to hurt her.”
“I hope you’re righ—”
Cal’s tablet rang, and he glanced up at them. “Mina,” he said before he answered with their traditional greeting.
“I’ve got a bead on Walter,” she said without preamble. “His phone pinged at a cabin about thirty minutes from your location yesterday.”
“Yesterday? Had it been off before then?” Cal asked, and Mina nodded. “I wonder why he turned it back on.”
“For the call,” Iris said without hesitation. “Maybe the coverage isn’t good, and the call didn’t go through, but he had to know those guys were going to call.”
“I was thinking he was checking to see if the ransom had been paid early,” Mina said. “What call by what guys?”
Cal filled Mina in on what had happened and that Bec was taken.
“Send me the coordinates for the cabin. They’re likely gone, but on the off chance they’re still there, I need to check it out.
Keep an eye on Bec’s SOS button. If it goes off, notify me immediately, and I’ll change course.
Did you find a deed for the cabin? Do you know who owns it? ”
“Walter,” Mina answered without hesitating. “It appears he bought it last year around the same time he paid off all his other debts.”
“That’s not a coincidence,” Lucas said, to which Cal agreed. “What direction is the cabin? His house is only about thirty minutes from here, too.”
“It’s south of you instead of north like his house.”
“I predict we find Walter’s belongings there, but he’ll be long gone. Regardless, we’re on our way.”
“Ten-four,” Mina said. “But wait, Iris, do you know if Bec has her phone on her?”
“I don’t know,” Iris said, leaning forward. “Let me call it.”
“No!” Mina exclaimed, holding out her hand for calm. “If she has it and you call, that could alert them.” She held up her finger and typed on her computer before she spoke. “I’m running a check on it. It last pinged off a tower about ten miles from your facility. Hasn’t pinged since.”
“Coverage out here is extremely hit and miss,” Cal said.
“Or they took it from her and tossed it,” Iris said, her lips in a thin line. “Come on, baby, you gotta activate that panic button.”
“She will,” Selina promised, squeezing her shoulder while Cal and Mina finished their conversation.
“Selina, would you stay with Iris? I’ll let Zac and Declan know we’re heading to the cabin. Efren and Mack are doing patrol, so I’ll leave them here. Lucas will come with us.”
“I’m going, too,” Iris said, standing from the chair.
“That’s unnecessary,” Cal said, holding his hand out to her. “This is just a quick check to see if Walter is there. It’s probably a waste of time, but we can’t assume they’re already gone.”
“If he is there, I have a few words for him,” Iris said between gritted teeth. “He’s put Bec in danger and needs to answer for that!”
Cal held his hands out to her as though that would calm her.
Think again!
“Iris, it’s better for your health if you stay here with Selina.”
“I can’t sit here and do nothing!” she exclaimed. “I’ll stay in the car, but I want to go.”
Cal’s gaze darted to Selina, who shrugged her shoulder. “There’s little she can do here, and it might help her anxiety if she has something else to focus on.”
Cal sighed and put his hand on his hip. “Fine, but you stay in the SUV and do whatever I say without questioning me.”
Iris saluted him, which lifted his lips in a half smile before he turned on his heel and headed to the stairs. She offered Selina a grateful smile before she followed, praying that they would find Walter at that cabin and the woman she couldn’t wait to hold in her arms again.