Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
Luc
T wo officers combed through her apartment while I stood outside, stock-still, and waited. Everything in me wanted to bust in there and do it myself, but I didn’t have specific training in collecting evidence of an abduction.
This part wasn’t our forte.
The recovery?
Literally part of the job description from over a decade of service.
Yes, we hunted down terrorist organizations and disposed of their leaders. But we also recovered kidnapped Americans all over the globe.
We wouldn’t have to go far, I hoped. The fact there was a regional airport ten minutes from Elise’s apartment made me twitchy, but we hadn’t confirmed she had been taken. Not yet. Maybe she’d gone for a run and accidentally left her phone and forgot to lock the door since she wasn’t going to be home? Maybe she’d gone with a different friend and?—
“You okay?” Bruce asked, hauling me into a hug I readily accepted, right as Kenny walked up and did the same thing right when Bruce released me. Stone stood stalwart behind him, eyes sliding over the stairwell and propped open door like they might provide answers.
“I don’t know. I keep thinking maybe she’s out with someone but… I don’t think so.”
Bruce’s hand patted my shoulder. “If your gut says something’s off, we don’t ignore it.”
Everyone agreed. How often had one of us had a feeling that proved to be mission-saving or even life-saving? More than occasionally, that was certain.
“Thanks. I hope I’m wrong. Maybe she’s?—”
“Found a smart watch, and we’ve got her phone here. No clear evidence of foul play, but the bed’s unmade and seems like enough people are concerned, we can start some paperwork,” an officer from Silver Ridge PD said, holding out Elise’s watch.
The sight of her watch confirmed it in my mind. She wouldn’t have run without it, nor would she have left without her phone. I couldn’t be certain about the unmade bed, but so far as I’d noticed, she tended to make the one we shared at my house if I was already up and out.
A sharp ache flared in my chest.
Bruce patted my back again but spoke to the officer, holding out his hand and flashing his toothpaste commercial smile, as we’d all come to call it.
“Mind if we get started?”
The officer accepted his handshake, and after one aggressive pump up and down, agreed. “Chief says you guys are good to go. Just keep us looped in if you find anything.”
“Will do, Officer. Thanks for getting here so quickly.” Bruce smiled again, then turned back to our small group as the two men left Elise’s apartment.
Left alone, he whipped out his phone but started talking to us. “We need to set up a CP. We’ll get Beast in, and I want you to?—”
My phone rang obnoxiously loudly with an unknown number. I’d taken it off silent so I wouldn’t risk missing Elise if she called, but this… this raised the hair on the back of my neck.
Bruce’s eyes narrowed, and Kenny stiffened. Stone’s energy crested and he huffed, then stepped up to the balcony of the open floor to look out at the parking lot.
“Go ahead,” Bruce said, already hanging up his call.
Kenny popped his phone up and hit record, then I answered the call on speaker.
“Who is this?” I asked, knowing this wasn’t another spam call.
“We have her. If you want her back, you follow our instructions.” The voice came out distorted so of course we couldn’t ID the person that way—at least not yet.
“What do you want?”
Despite the heartbeat rushing in my ears, I kept calm. The years of training, despite never touching me this close, had clicked into place.
“Twenty million dollars transferred to an account of our choice by the end of the day, or she’s dead.”
I grit my teeth, but Bruce gripped my shoulder to steady me, and I pressed on, knowing what we needed. “I need proof of life first. Put her on the phone.”
“Not about to do that, sorry.”
“How do I know she’s not already dead? I don’t know you.”
But clearly, they knew me well enough to know I could pay twenty million dollars’ worth of ransom without much struggle—at least if I had my trust. Maybe they assumed I’d simply ask my grandfather for it. Logistically, I wasn’t sure I could move that kind of money on such short notice even if Grand-père immediately released the trust to me, but them asking for it so far gave us the hint they likely didn’t know either.
“She’s not. Why would we kill her before we get what we want?”
Some swearing in the background had my ears perking up. Was it a group of kidnappers?
“I’ll need proof before this goes any further.”
We waited, all staring at the phone, my heart pounding out of my chest. We needed more from these fools, and this might be the way we got it.
“Fine. You’ll have your proof in the next hour. After that, all communication will come by text. If all goes well, you’ll have her back as soon as you get us the money.” The line disconnected.
We were all moving now, hustling down the stairs and to our respective vehicles, all heading toward the Saint offices. I called Aurelie on the way, letting her know she and Michele should get over to the resort and stay with my grandfather, and I’d update them when I could. She was freaked, but she’d almost been taken more than once over the years and understood the importance of staying calm and doing what needed to be done in a crisis. She’d also probably freak out when she ended the call with me, but I couldn’t think of that right now.
She would be safer with my grandfather, who’d traveled with his personal security team of three. When you were a billionaire, security wasn’t negotiable. Plus, I’d made sure he understood Saint was tapped out and couldn’t offer him security since we’d been booked for other people, though I doubted he would’ve deigned to use our services anyway. Well, maybe he would now, but prior to our reconciliation just hours ago, not a chance. He had a faithful crew, and I didn’t blame him for keeping them with him. I was grateful he had them tonight.
Within minutes, I pulled into the Saint parking lot to see Bruce jogging up the front steps, Stone close behind, and Kenny waiting for me.
“You okay?” he asked, concern etched in his brow.
“No.” It was all I could say.
“We’ll find her. We’ll get her back safe.” He hauled me into a hug, roughly slapping my back before releasing me. “We will.”
My phone buzzed, and once the image came through, Kenny and I bolted up the stairs, through the front door, and into the tech room we’d use as a command post.
“We’ve got a photo.”
My heart squeezed in a vise grip of worry as I finally stopped and looked at the image. Elise sat with red, tired eyes and dry lips, one wrist in a metal cuff, the skin around it bruised. Her left cheek was bright red, and the same eye looked like it might be starting to bruise. She wore a short-sleeved T-shirt and shorts that made me swear under my breath. “They took her from her bed, I’d bank on it.”
No way would she have been dressed like that unless she was in bed. She had sweatpants she’d change into the minute she got up, and it hadn’t only been when Aurelie and Michele were at the house.
Beast walked in and came straight at me, snatching the phone with one hand but resting a big paw on the back of my neck for a second before continuing farther into the room. In seconds, he had the photo sent to the Saint servers and was milling around for whatever information he could find.
“Amateurs for sure. I’ve got meta data.” He typed away, clicking and tapping through different screens. “They took it ten minutes ago. Can’t see the geo-tags but I bet we know someone who might. Can almost guarantee they didn’t know to scrub ’em.”
“On it,” Bruce said, pulling up the hardline phone we kept in the secure room and dialing.
More experienced kidnappers would’ve scrubbed any data associated with the photo. The fact that Beast could see a time stamp or anything else at all gave us good information. First, it told us whoever had called was likely in the same location as Elise was. Second, the presence of data meant we were dealing with, if not novices, at least not professionals. This should work in our favor, though it also could mean more danger for Elise.
My stomach clutched at the realization.
“East, my man. Hoping you can hook us up, or maybe Clover can if you’re not free. Cookie’s woman was taken. Need you to see what the kids left on the image.”
Bruce’s voice sounded deceptively calm, but that was his forte. In moments of crisis, he became utterly calm and capable. We all did, but right now, I could only appreciate his leadership and the casual way he called in a favor. Was it technically illegal for someone in the EMU to assist a civilian with information like this?
I wouldn’t worry about legalities. And if Bruce wasn’t concerned, if East or Clover were willing to do it, I’d take it.
All these details, all this training and resources, and they had to mean something. They had to give us the tools because if we didn’t get her back?—
I sucked in a gasping breath, the thought of losing her was worse than last night when I thought I’d been the cause. Because then, there’d been hope. I’d held out a sliver of possibility that she might just see my intentions. And more, that she might see through all our bandying of “for now” and she’d want forever. At least a shot at it.
This? This not knowing if I’d see her again, let alone get to love her the way I wanted?
Utter agony.
Would I have been better off never loving her and not knowing this fear? Damn, but it didn’t seem like it. Removing all worry and fear would also take away that unimaginable fount of love that just kept growing, and I didn’t think I’d want to.
There was no going back and smacking myself in the face to skip the denial I’d just conned myself into accepting for too long. Time to get her back, and then we’d deal with whatever came next.
Training kicked in when my heartrate spiked with anxiety and I calmed myself, grounding into the floor underneath me, the sights and scents and sounds around me.
“Send it. He’ll be ready.” Bruce set his phone down, and Beast tapped away, apparently sending the image to East.
This was good. More information there would help, plus any minute now, these idiots should be sending along how and where they expected me to drop twenty million dollars, which would give us more information.
We didn’t have much, but we’d get more. Everyone available was here or on the way in. This was what we did.
This is what we do.
I shut my eyes and breathed through the panic clawing at my ribs.
This is what we do.
This felt different than any K and R job we’d ever done, though. I’d cared when Jo had been taken—it’d felt personal then. But this?
This was a waking nightmare.
What if I didn’t get another chance to tell her I was so sorry for betraying her trust? That she deserved someone who respected her no matter what, whose actions reflected this even when they disagreed.
That I wanted more with her than I’d ever wanted with anyone. That I was terrified of loving her and losing her but that the possibility of never really having her to love in the first place hurt like hell anyway.
Or more to the larger, more unimaginable point, that I loved her so much I could hardly breathe without her knowing it?