Chapter 9 Ryan #2
He pulled out his phone and took a picture of the keys before picking them up.
Ryan’s head shot around, scanning the area with new urgency.
Why would Tessa’s keys be here in the grass?
Before he could process that question, Misty pulled out of his hand and bolted toward the thicket of trees behind the big oak tree, barking frantically.
Ryan ran after her, his injured side protesting the sudden movement, but he ignored the pain.
He froze when he saw what had made Misty stop.
A purse lay on the ground at the edge of the trees, its contents spilled across the grass and dirt. He recognized it immediately. It was brown leather with a distinctive brass clasp that was shaped like a horse’s head.
Tessa’s purse.
Ryan rushed forward, after taking pictures of them and the surround, he picked it up with shaking hands, stuffing the spilled contents back into it.
Beside the purse, partially hidden under a scattering of leaves, was a cloth.
Something about it made his skin crawl. After taking another picture, Ryan pulled a pen from his pocket and carefully lifted the fabric, holding it up to examine it.
Misty immediately started growling and barking at the cloth, her hackles raised, her teeth bared.
Ryan brought the cloth closer to his nose, then immediately jerked it away.
The smell was faint but unmistakable. It was a sweet, chemical scent, with an undertone that reminded him of the medical facilities he’d been in during his military service.
Chloroform or something similar. He’d been trained to recognize it, had seen it used in field operations.
The cold reality hit him like a physical blow.
Tessa had been taken.
Someone had grabbed her, used this cloth to knock her unconscious, and dragged her away from the park. While he’d been angry and hurt and storming off to get his truck fixed, someone had been attacking the woman he loved.
He stood abruptly, his hand already reaching for his phone. He had to call his father. Now. They had to find her. Every second counted.
Mitch answered after a few rings, his voice cheerful and relaxed in a way that made Ryan’s chest ache. “Hey, Ryan, did you get Misty? Did you find Tessa? Was she with Jake?”
“I’ve got Misty, but Tessa is not with Jake,” Ryan said, his voice dropping low as his eyes scanned the trees around him, looking for any sign of where they might have taken her. “She’s missing.”
“Did you say someone else was missing?” The young woman’s voice came from directly behind him, startling him so badly that he spun around with his hand instinctively going to his side where his weapon would normally be holstered. But he wasn’t in the field anymore, and he was unarmed.
A woman in her mid-twenties stood a few feet away, her eyes wide with concern. She wore a white lab coat over scrubs, and her dark hair was pulled back in a practical ponytail.
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly, holding up her hands in a placating gesture. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I saw you and your dog, and I heard what you said...”
“Ryan?” Mitch’s voice came through the phone, sharp with concern now. “What’s going on? Who’s there with you?”
Ryan ignored his father for a moment, his eyes narrowing as he studied the young woman.
“Can I help you with something?” he asked. He didn’t mean to be rude, but this woman had followed him into a wooded area in a park, and given what he’d just discovered, he wasn’t taking any chances.
“Look, I know who you are and who your father is,” the young woman said in a rush.
“I’m Haley Simons. Dr. Jackie Simons is my mother.
” She swallowed hard, her hands trembling slightly.
“She told me if anything ever happened to her and Sally Lane, I should find your father. She said he would know what to do.”
“Okay...” Ryan frowned, his mind trying to process the new information while also tracking that Tessa was missing and in danger.
“I saw you walking past with your dog, and I followed you,” Haley continued. “I’ve been trying to find your father all afternoon, but when I went to the address I had, no one was there.”
“Why were you wanting to find my father?” Ryan asked, though a sick feeling in his stomach told him he already knew the answer.
“Ryan, what is going on?” Mitch’s voice boomed from the phone receiver again, loud enough that Haley probably heard it.
Haley’s eyes filled with tears that she blinked back furiously.
“My mother has been missing the entire day,” she said, her words sending a cold shiver racing up Ryan’s spine. “I found her keys on the ground near her car in her doctor’s practice parking lot this morning. And there was a rag on the ground beside them. The same type of rag.”
She pointed at the cloth Ryan still held on the end of his pen.
Ryan’s blood turned to ice.
“Ryan?” Mitch’s voice boomed again. “Ryan, answer me right now. What’s happening?”
Ryan lifted the phone back to his ear, his eyes still locked on Haley Simons’s frightened face.
“Dad,” he said, his voice coming out steady despite the terror coursing through his veins. “It looks like Tessa and Dr. Simons have been kidnapped by the same person.”
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