Chapter 1
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Hayden Waterford frowned at his phone, as Mason remained silent on the other end.
Hayden looked around aimlessly, then muttered, “Right, international incidents. Good God, we are screwed on this. Nothing’s breaking.
Rubin’s got Tricia, but we still don’t know who’s ultimately pulling the strings.
After all, Tricia wasn’t the only college student to be taken, this time or previously, that we know of so far. ”
Mason agreed. “Remember Sam Hicks and Shirley Boston?”
“That’s right. Sam and Shirley were taken with Tricia. Sam had been badly beaten, her arm and her leg broken, but the kidnappers killed Shirley.”
“Sam’s recovering,” Mason noted, “but her father is suing the university. Shirley’s mother is part of that lawsuit as well. We’ll see how that works out, but those legal matters take time. Meanwhile get to New York City.”
“And how does this new woman fit in?”
“Apparently she knew Lena, Tesla’s assistant, and called her to raise questions about Arlene and another missing student, Cleo Thornton.
She may have been the first kidnap victim of this same group of traffickers, at least through this university.
So Lena told Tesla, and Tesla contacted me to say that this was coming down the pike to us.
While we have boots on the ground, Tesla is gonna do some research to find out more about Cleo.
Maybe poke her nose more visibly into the university.
I’ll leave that up to her. And, since you’ve just gotten off the related job and are familiar with the players—”
“What about the other team members?” he asked.
“Already en route. You’re the one who’s behind schedule.”
“Great,” he muttered, “that makes me even happier.”
“Of course it does,” Mason replied, a note of amusement churning through his tone. “As long as you realize why you’re going there, it’ll be pretty easy for you to catch up.”
“That part doesn’t sound great either.”
“Oh, it’s not so bad. Keep this young woman out of trouble and pick up Arlene—or the battle ax as you so eloquently described her—who is obviously involved in a bunch of issues here. So, it’s a twofold mission. Trent has the young woman’s file for you.”
“Does this extra party see herself as some amateur detective or something?” he asked wearily. “Why else would she even think about getting involved?”
“I don’t know,” Mason acknowledged. “You can sort that out when you get there.”
Hayden groaned. “She could be completely loopy. You know that, right?”
Mason’s tone hardened. “Loopy or not, she potentially comes with major consequences for us all if we fail to contain her. See that she stays out of trouble and doesn’t step into something she can’t get out of. Same goes for Arlene, who is not our run-of-the-mill criminal.”
Hayden knew Mason was right. “So we will pick up Arlene and also handle this other woman. Otherwise her father will be down our throats. And how will that likely come about? Will he invoke some personal army? What’s his deal?”
“That I can’t tell you,” Mason shared. “He’s known to be involved in all kinds of things, many that are generally shady. However, he seems to keep himself on this side of the law but just barely.”
Hayden heard a clear element of distaste in Mason’s tone. “So, nobody has anything criminally concrete against him then.”
“No. Plus he’s not a US citizen, but his daughter is. Her mother was American. Thus our worried informant appeared there in New York City, eagerly trying to track down your battle ax. Stop her from getting in trouble.” With that, Mason disconnected.
Hayden tossed his phone onto the seat cushion beside him and swore.
This time when he looked up at Rubin’s apartment—where he’d been sitting outside, watching the place—Hayden’s expression was anything but congenial, as it had been in the first go-round.
“Good timing for you, buddy,” he noted to no one in particular.
“I get to go chase after a battle ax who traffics kidnap victims, plus deal with some debutante who seems to think that she’s Nancy Drew or whatever her name was in that book series. ”
He shook his head and put the car in Drive, heading toward his own apartment, where he would pack up and head out. “Just what I need, … another babysitting gig.”
Hayden was already late to join the party. With the rest of his team already there, Hayden got even more pissed off. He was always playing catch-up, with the other guys ahead of him, something he did not appreciate.
So, when he landed in New York City some six hours later, he was tired and grumpy. Despite the fact that he’d napped a little on the flight, he needed a few hours of real sleep. That may or may not be in the cards, considering what Mason had told him about this job.
Still, Hayden would do what he needed to do.
If that meant chasing down Arlene and keeping Nancy Drew in line, then that’s what he would do.
As he got out of the airplane and walked across the tarmac, he saw Trent waving at him.
Hayden smiled, picked up his pace, and greeted him. “Hey, glad to see you.”
“Good to see you too. I hear Rubin is looking after Tricia for the next little while—”
“While we confirm that this old battle ax doesn’t get wind of where Tricia’s at,” Hayden noted, his tone sharp.
“Yeah, Tricia was supposed to be in New York City—except for her plans for Rubin. I heard something about that,” Trent teased, his grin a mile wide.
Hayden noted that Trent appeared rested and a little more chipper than usual. Out of the corner of Hayden’s eye, he noted the other members of his team joining them—Oakley, Julius, and Kane. With a head nod shared all around, they walked to the nearby hotel, where the team would stay.
Trent added, “Seems Rubin has it bad, and Tricia does too.”
Hayden nodded. “Just seeing the two of them together is pretty funny.”
“I’m glad you had a chance to see it. We were already heading over here, while you guys were heading to California.”
“Yep, that one was a bit of a wild chase,” he shared. “I’m just glad that we got Tricia out safely from her second kidnapping event because it was looking dodgy for a while. Now I hear I’ll be babysitting again.”
“Yeah, for some reason Mason put you on that one,” Trent noted, with a shrug. “Not sure why, but maybe you have the potential for the … golden touch, you know?”
“I don’t have any potential golden touch,” Hayden declared, with a headshake. “Maybe there’s some other reason.”
“We don’t get to question our elders,” Trent quipped. “Right?”
“I don’t know what elders you’re even talking about,” Hayden replied, with a sigh, “but that’s all right. So, have you picked her up, this Nancy Drew person? Have you questioned her or anything?”
Trent smirked at the nickname. “No, and no. She’s not really answering anybody’s phone calls. For all we know, she’s gone off the deep end and is tracking down the old battle ax on her own.”
Hayden stopped in his tracks and frowned at the whole team. “So has anybody had any contact with her? Any eyes on her? Do we even know if she’s okay?”
Trent shook his head. “Nope. We hoped you were incoming with some good news.”
“I don’t have any news at all,” he declared in frustration. “I literally just found out about this damn assignment not even seven hours ago.”
“Yeah, well, we aren’t much ahead of you, so we’ll all catch up together. … You are snappier than usual today. What’s up?”
“I haven’t slept in a while for one thing,” he shared. “I had been keeping an eye on Rubin’s place for the last couple days. So, nobody’s been briefed on this one then?” he asked them all.
Everybody shook their heads.
Hayden shared, “I got bare bones intel from Mason. So here we are. Gotta unearth our own info. So, first things first, we need to find our Nancy Drew.”
Trent tilted his head, grimacing. “That might not be as easy as we’re thinking. She’s a bit of a … wild card.”
“According to whom?”
“Her father.”
“So, her father already knows she’s involved?”
“Yeah, sounds as if he’s part of the reason why we’re here,” Trent indicated. “Chances are, he knows a lot more than we do right now. In his own words, get his daughter back. Oh, and out of trouble before she brings more chaos on us all.”
“Great,” Hayden muttered, staring off in the distance. “Even dear old dad’s worried.”
Trent gave him a one-arm shrug. “Maybe dear old dad is always worried. We can never assume that a parent is 100 percent correct, not even about their own daughter. Although daughters versus sons could be an interesting comparison.” Trent frowned at Hayden. “Do you have sisters?”
“Nope, sure don’t,” he stated, stifling a yawn. “I was an only child, and my parents died young.” He just left it at that.
Trent nodded. “I get it, but I do have sisters, and they are a law unto themselves—not necessarily in a good way.”
Hayden shook his head, sighing loudly. “In this case, it doesn’t matter what way she is. We just can’t have her creating some major incident, which appears to be what Mason’s concerned about.”
“Yeah, I heard her father’s some big shipping magnate. Therefore, he has lots of business contacts worldwide, though not sure what that’s got to do with us or some international incident.”
“My instructions were to get his daughter out of trouble, so that could literally be the issue, not letting the daughter’s escapades color the father’s reputation or whatever,” Hayden noted.
Trent shrugged. “Ours were to keep her away from the battle ax.”
“Is that what we’re all calling Arlene now?” Hayden asked.
Trent smirked in response.
Hayden had used the nickname on the spur of the moment, but that had now become code for everyone on his team when referencing Arlene. Hayden asked, “Okay, so does anybody know where the battle ax is?”
Trent spoke up. “She’s staying here at a nearby hotel. We have her location and will soon be en route to pick her up.” He barked out a laugh. “So, you’ll need to go after the troublesome daughter.”