Chapter 15
“The team is in place,” Remy’s voice sounded in Simon’s ear as he and Lissette proceeded slowly, the BioEnergen facility in sight, the long pier where supplies had been brought in and product shipped out loomed ahead.
“Anton’s drone is in the air with the infrared camera engaged,” Remy reported.
“As Rafael and Landry reported, there are no wide perimeter guards. Our guys have moved quietly and quickly into place, ready to take down the exterior guards as soon as you and Lissette are inside. One concern we have is the presence of a large yacht sitting a mile away, with a helicopter perched on the deck. We’re trying to get a close-up of the registration decal to see who it belongs to. ”
“Let’s hope Holly isn’t on it,” Simon murmured. “We’re going in.”
Lissette guided the pirogue to the pier and cut the engine.
Simon tied the line to a ladder and held the craft steady as Lissette eased out onto the ladder and climbed up to the pier.
Simon followed. Once on the pier, he looked around. It was empty—no people, no guards to walk them into the building.
He pushed the empty glasses frame up on his nose and held out his arm.
Lissette hooked her hand through the crook of his elbow.
“If I say drop or get down,” he whispered, “don’t hesitate. Hit the floor immediately.”
Her hand tightened on his arm. “Holly’s lucky she has you. You two are perfect together.”
He didn’t respond. He’d gone into this assignment convinced curses, magic and luck were just a bunch of hooey. However, the more he was around Holly and her family, the more he realized magic might be real. Now, when he needed it most, he prayed it was real.
As they neared the building, he spotted the first sign of life in the two guards, dressed in black, sporting military-grade weapons, helmets and flack vests.
They held their weapons at the ready until Simon and Lissette were within fifteen feet of their positions. Then one of the men pointed his rifle at Simon.
The other called out. “Halt.”
Simon and Lissette stopped immediately.
“Identify yourselves.”
Simon spoke first. “I’m Dr. Bastian Gautier. This is my wife, Dr. Evangeline Gautier. We’re here for our daughter, Holly.”
The man holding them at gunpoint remained still. The other set his rifle against the wall and approached the fake Gautiers.
Simon tensed until he was close enough that he could see his face. Simon relaxed a little. This guard wasn’t one of the two men who’d attacked him earlier.
“You,” the guard pointed to Simon. “Hold your arms straight out from your sides.”
Simon did as instructed and held steady while the guard ran his hands over his shoulders and out to his wrists, then skimmed across his chest, under his arms, down his torso and all the way to his running shoes.
The guard straightened and moved to Lissette.
She immediately raised her arms out to her sides. The man ran his hands over her shoulders to her wrists, then across her chest.
She smacked his hands. “Excuse me!”
His eyes narrowed. “It’s this or we do a strip search. Your choice, lady.”
Lissette glared at him and raised her arms again. “You’d treat your mother this way?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said and continued his pat down, straightening after skimming over her left ankle, not bothering with the right one.
Simon released a quiet breath. They hadn’t found her knife. Not that it was much of a weapon. He hadn’t been completely sure what the guards would have done had they discovered it on her.
“Follow me,” a guard said and turned. He gave the other guard a brief nod as he passed him.
That guard retracted his rifle to the ready position and stood fast at the door.
Once inside the building, they were led down a short hallway with doors on either side and out into what appeared to be a warehouse.
“We wait here,” the guard said, coming to a halt in the middle of the cavernous space. Overhead lights were only partially lit, which thankfully left enough shadows that they might delay the moment of recognition a little longer.
“We came like they told us to,” Simon said, hoarsening his voice to sound older. He also hunched his shoulders a bit to disguise their width. “Where’s Holly?”
“Where’s our daughter?” Lissette demanded, her voice strident. She sounded like a worried mother.
“She’ll be released as soon as you’re on board our research vessel,” a voice said. A man stepped out of the shadows, dressed in tailored slacks, a black button-down shirt and a black blazer.
Simon recognized him as Marcus Solberg. Gunnar Reznik stood at his side. His heart skipped a beat, but Reznik’s expression wasn’t changing.
Simon hoped the dim lighting kept the fixer from recognizing him in his hastily assembled disguise.
“We aren’t going anywhere until she’s released,” Simon said, his gaze sweeping the warehouse, counting the guards positioned in a semicircle around them.
Five, plus Gunnar. Too many for Simon to take.
He’d have to stall long enough for Remy and his team to secure the exterior and breach the interior.
“How do we know she’s okay?” Lissette asked. “Show us proof of life.”
Marcus snorted. “We don’t have to do anything. You’re here. As a matter of fact, we don’t have to release your daughter. It might work more to our advantage to hold her until you unlock the file containing the formula for the bioenergy you were paid to produce.”
“We aren’t doing anything until you produce our daughter,” Simon said. They had to know she was in the building, not on the so-called research vessel.
Marcus’s mouth pressed into a thin line. “Fine.” He lifted his chin toward Gunnar. “Get the girl.”
Gunnar retreated through a door and reappeared, pushing Holly in front of him. As they neared Solberg, Gunnar gave her a hard shove, forcing her to her knees.
Simon steeled himself from reacting.
Lissette gasped. “Don’t you hurt my baby.”
Holly’s eyes narrowed and then widened for a flash as recognition dawned. “Mom, Dad,” she said, her voice shaky, “you shouldn’t have come.”
That’s my girl.
“We couldn’t leave you with these beasts,” Lissette said.
“You don’t abandon the ones you love,” Simon said, his gaze connecting with Holly’s.
In that moment, he understood the truth.
He was in love with this brave, beautiful woman.
It had happened so quickly, he hadn’t recognized it for what it was.
Seeing her being dragged away twice now had brought it home and made it so clear that he did not doubt what he felt.
He loved Holly Gautier...Hazard...whatever she wanted to call herself.
“Exterior secure. Entering now,” a voice whispered in Simon’s ear. He’d almost forgotten the earbud. And it hadn’t been part of the guard’s frisking.
Lissette glanced his way, having heard the same.
“You have your proof of life, now open the damned file,” Solberg said. “Jeffries, the laptop.”
Dr. Harlan Jeffries stepped forward, carrying a laptop.
“I’m sorry it’s come to this,” he said. “They threatened to hurt Celine if I didn’t help them complete the formula.
I tried, but you two did all the work. You’re the only people who can unlock the file.
The laptop wants a biometric password.” As he grew closer, his gaze met Simon’s. His eyes widened.
Simon had to say something before Dr. Jeffries blew their cover. “I’m sure you did the best you could,” he said, holding the other man’s wide gaze. “The file is locked with a retinal scan. It takes both of us to open it.”
Dr. Jeffries nodded but didn’t say a word.
“Then open it,” Solberg said, his impatience evident in his curt words and sneer. “We have buyers who expected delivery months ago.”
“Number of bogeys with you?” Remy’s voice asked in Simon’s ear.
Simon cleared his throat. “It took us six years of hard work to create the formula. We had to protect our work from being stolen or weaponized.”
Solberg snorted. “Fat lot of good that did you. Now, open the damned file.”
Jeffries’s hands shook as he held the laptop out in front of him.
“The retinal scanner only works if we get really close to the camera,” Simon said, reaching out to the device.
“We’re here,” Remy said softly into Simon’s ear.
“Be ready for when it opens,” Simon said, his gaze going briefly to Holly, where she knelt on the floor. “You’ll be amazed at what we’ve done.”
“We’d better be,” Solberg said. “Our customers are expecting big things.”
Jeffries moved closer.
Simon laid his hand on the keyboard and leaned closer. Then he pressed hard on the keyboard, flipping the laptop out of Jeffries’s hand. The doctor tried to recover it, but it was too late, and the device crashed to the floor.
At that moment, all hell broke loose in the warehouse. The sounds of booted feet, moving fast, echoed in the warehouse. Shots rang out. A couple of the guards fell to the floor.
“Get down,” Simon yelled and pushed Lissette to the floor.
Remy’s team moved in swiftly, weapons raised.
Holly kicked out, knocking Solberg off his feet.
Simon dove for Holly.
However, Gunnar reached her first, grabbed her by her hair and pressed the barrel of his gun to her temple.
Remy’s team surrounded them. The remaining guards shared stunned glances, froze, then slowly lowered their weapons.
This left only Solberg and Gunnar still standing, with Holly between them. Dr. Jeffries was already on the floor with his hands beside his head.
Holly tried to lean her head away. “That fucking hurts.” Suddenly, she spun and slammed her forehead into Gunnar’s.
He released his hold on her long enough for her to knee him in the groin and then throw herself to the side.
Simon stepped in and swung with all his strength, his fist connecting with Gunnar’s nose.
The man staggered backward, blood gushing, his eyes clouding with tears.
Simon hit him again, this time with an uppercut to the jaw. The man fell backward, landing flat on his back.
Simon grabbed the gun out of his hand and stood over the fixer.
Remy’s team had moved in to quickly subdue the other guards. Simon glanced around the space and noted Lissette moving behind Remy.
When Simon turned to Holly, his heart sank.
Solberg had an arm around her neck and a gun pointed at her temple. “If you want to see her alive again, I suggest you produce her parents. No more games.” He backed toward a doorway, his arm firmly around Holly’s neck. “For now, she comes with me.”
Her face was turning red, which set Simon’s blood pounding because he was holding her too tightly.
Then Holly went limp, the weight of her body dropping so fast it pulled Solberg off balance. To keep from falling over, he let go of Holly.
In a split second, Simon brought his hand up and fired.
Solberg’s eyes rounded. He clutched at his chest and fell to the ground, the gun skittering across the floor.
Holly lunged for it, turned and pointed it toward Simon. “Get down!” she yelled.
Simon dropped.
Holly fired.
When he turned, Simon found Gunnar teetering. The knife in his hand dropped, and then he folded like a rag doll and lay still.
A moan sounded from Solberg.
Holly went to him and pressed her hand to his chest. “I should let you die, but we need your testimony.”
Landry hurried to take over, applying pressure to Solberg’s wound.
Simon helped Holly to her feet and pulled her into his arms.
“I’m covered in blood,” she protested.
“As long as it’s not yours, I don’t care.” For a long moment, he held her, the rush of emotions so strong he didn’t trust his voice.
Remy clapped a hand on his shoulder. “We have an ambulance on the way. The Sheriff’s department has the research boat held up, and the Coast Guard’s on the way.”
Simon nodded, still holding Holly, an insane feeling overwhelming him that if he let go of her, she’d somehow die.
“Hey,” she said, patting his back. “I’m okay.”
“I know,” he said. He was the one who wasn’t okay.
She finally leaned back and cupped his cheeks in her hands. “You see? Your lucky rabbit’s foot saved the day—along with my grandmother’s gris-gris bag. We’re alive. My parents are alive, and we defeated the curse.”
He looked down into her eyes. “You’re absolutely right. My life is blessed with magic.”
She laughed. “What? A full reversal of the naysayer?”
He nodded. “I owe Johnny. He was right about the lucky rabbit’s foot. It brought me to you. It made me lucky in love.” He pressed a kiss to her lips. “That makes me the luckiest man alive.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tight. “I know it’s too soon, that things like this should take more time, but I don’t care. I love you, Simon.”
“I love you, too,” he said and sealed his words with a kiss.