“Don’t worry, I will,” Megan replied, forcing a smile she didn’t feel, and hoping Ian wouldn’t notice how tense she was. “I’ll come along in a few minutes.”
Once Ian and Daniel were gone, Megan watched the other workers carefully until there was a moment when they were all occupied with other matters and didn’t pay any attention to Megan or her activities. She checked to make sure her GPS device was still hidden around her ankle, was still powered, and then wandered away from the barn. She walked with purpose to barn 2, stall twenty-five. There she found a man holding a gun to Stephen’s head. Stephen was still bound and gagged, and he had a bruise surrounding his left eye.
“The idiot tried to get away, so we had to punish him for his foolishness,” the man said with a grim smile, and tipped his head briefly in mocking deference. “Ryan O’Reilly at your service, Miss Brady.” Two other burly men appeared on each side of Megan, each taking one of her arms in their powerful grip.
“You told me you’d let him go if I agreed to take his place,” Megan said, her mistrust evident in her voice.
“Oh, I will keep my promise.” Ryan took out a knife and cut Stephen’s bonds before removing the gag.
Stephen immediately tried to intervene. “Megan, you shouldn’t have come. I was here to protect you from them. I didn’t want them to get you, so I came instead. You’ve protected me since we were kids. It’s my turn to protect you.”
“Oh, Stephen. I could never let you do that,” Megan said, tears shining in her eyes. She faced Ryan. “Is he free to go?”
“First, I want to make sure you won’t give me any trouble.” Ryan signaled to someone standing behind Megan, who grasped her roughly from behind, immobilizing her. Megan then felt a needle prick her neck. She drifted into a drugged sleep.
Chapter 28
Ian and Daniel watched intently as Biscuit breezed around the track, seeming none the worse for his transatlantic travel. Daniel looked at his stopwatch and laughed in delight. Biscuit’s time for the mile and a quarter was the fastest he had ever run. Clearly, the conditioning work they had done in Kentucky worked wonders for the stallion’s stamina and his overall health. At this rate, Biscuit would be a shoo-in for the Triple Crown. The members of the British press that had made the effort to rise early to witness this first workout were eagerly calling their papers with the news.
It was a jubilant group who made their way back to the barns from the track, showing their relief at Biscuit’s performance. When they arrived back, Daniel called out for Megan. When Megan didn’t appear, Daniel approached one of Biscuit’s grooms. “Johnny, have you seen Megan?”
“Not recently, sir,” the man replied. “The last I saw her, she walking toward the second barn—over that way.” He indicated the second Doncaster track barn a few yards away.
Daniel frowned in concern. “How long ago was that?”
“It had to be at least fifteen to twenty minutes ago, sir,” the man replied, now clearly worried as well.
Daniel sought out Ian. “We have a problem,” Daniel said. “We can’t seem to locate Megan anywhere. Johnny here says she was last seen around barn number two fifteen or twenty minutes ago, but she hasn’t been seen since.”
Ian’s heart began to race. It wasn’t like Megan to just disappear, especially knowing the danger that lurked nearby. Ian quickly jogged over to where the groom had said Megan was last seen. At just that moment, Stephen Brady, beaten and bloody, staggered out of barn 2. As soon as Stephen saw Ian, he stumbled hastily toward him.
“They have Megan. O’Reilly has Megan,” Stephen choked out. “It’s all my fault. They tricked me and used me to lure Megan into a trap. She sacrificed herself so they would release me.”
“Oh my God, no!” Daniel exclaimed. “They can’t have my Megan. Why would she do this?”
Ian looked at Daniel, his fists clenched with his barely suppressed anger, “Because she did what you expect her, and trained her to do, Daniel: protect Stephen at all costs.”
“That’s not true. Yes, I expected her to take care of her brother, but I never asked her to risk her life for him.”
“No?” Ian responded. “When did you tell her that, exactly? When did you tell her there were limits on what she should risk to protect Stephen?”
Daniel shifted his weight, uncomfortable with what he knew to be the answer to Ian’s question. “She loves her brother. I could never tell her there were limits on that love. She would never have listened to me.”
“She might have if you’d done the telling properly. Stephen is a grown man and capable of making his own decisions. If he wants or needs help, he should be able to ask for it without having his sister sacrificing herself to continually protect him. He will never grow if he’s not allowed to make a mistake occasionally. That’s real love.”
“You have a point, Ian, but what are we going to do now?”
Stephen grasped Ian by the arm. “They drugged her and took her away in a van. Ryan O’Reilly wanted me to tell you that you’ll have to find her on your own. He’ll give you no clues.”
Ian looked optimistic. “We can use her GPS device to find her.”
“Thank God!” Daniel said. “Let’s get to it then.”
“Yes. I’ll get Roger on the phone and start tracking her signal. These bastards are not going to win, not if I have anything to say about it.”
Ian immediately dialed his cell phone and connected with Roger.
~ ~ ~
Megan woke from a drugged sleep to find herself sitting in a hard wooden chair, blindfolded and gagged, with her hands tied behind her back and her legs each tied to a chair leg. When she lifted her head slightly to ease the discomfort in her neck, she heard a man speak who was apparently standing before her about six feet away. “So, you’re finally awake. For a while I thought you might not make it. I must have misjudged the amount of sedative I needed to give you to knock you out. My sincere apologies.”
At this last statement, the speaker stopped masking the sarcasm in his voice, nor did he make any effort to disguise his voice.
Megan carefully moved her leg back and forth against the chair leg. She smiled to herself. The GPS device was still there. Hopefully Ian and her father, along with Roger and his team, were on their way to bring her back.
When Ian reported to Roger what had happened, Roger was livid. Ian hadn’t heard the kind of foul language Roger was spewing since his time in Afghanistan. How could Stephen, and then Megan, do something so stupid? Ian pointed out that the answer to that question was irrelevant at this point. The team got to work starting up the GPS tracking equipment.
It didn’t take long to locate Megan’s signal. She was imprisoned in a small building about sixteen kilometers or ten miles outside Doncaster, conveniently isolated away from any local village. The cottage itself was surrounded by open fields grown wild with neglect, and the only means of access by vehicle was a gravel driveway hidden from the road by a stand of large trees.
The only other wooded areas anywhere close to the cottage were more than forty-five meters, or fifty yards away from the cottage. “It could be an old-time hunting lodge or something of the sort,” Roger said. “O’Reilly certainly did his homework. We would never have found this place if it weren’t for the tracking device.”
Ian looked at Roger, grim determination in his voice. ” I want to take point on this, Roger. Let me lead the team that goes in to get Megan.”
Roger held up his hands in an attempt to stop Ian’s headlong rush into danger. “Ian, I know you’re concerned for Megan, but you know as well as I that we have to go about this in a calm and professional manner. The house Megan is being kept in is heavily guarded, and it might even be booby trapped. We can’t just rush in and overwhelm O’Reilly’s men. It could mean Megan’s life. I know you and Daniel don’t want to take that chance.�
�
Ian looked over at Daniel, who sighed in resignation and collapsed into a nearby chair. He looked at Ian and Roger, “Then let’s put together a plan. Let’s get my girl out of there.”
Roger looked to Ian. “Ian, you get your wish. You’re the only man I’d trust to plan the right rescue operation for Megan. Planning and strategy were your specialty when you were second in command of our team. I trust you to come up with the perfect plan for extracting Megan with minimal risk to everyone involved.”
Ian had never planned a mission more important than this one. The woman he loved, yes he could finally admit to himself he loved her, was in danger, and it was his responsibility, and his alone, to get her out safely. In truth, he hadn’t planned a combat or recovery operation since that fateful day in Afghanistan when Neil had been killed. If he accepted this task, Megan’s life would be in his hands. Even the thought of the awesome responsibility caused his heart to race and his body to tense. There was no other choice. He had to do this.
“Roger, the first thing we need is the architectural drawings for that cottage. I want to know how it’s laid out, so we can best ascertain where they’ll be keeping Megan. I also need to know if there are any other points of entry to the cottage besides the front door. I can’t adequately plan this operation until I have that information.”
“You’ll have it in an hour—less if I have anything to say about it,” Roger replied. He quickly turned to his IT specialist, a young, scruffy-looking American they all called Hutch.
Before Roger could even utter a sound, Hutch had already started punching his computer keyboard. “You’ll have it in minutes, boss,” Hutch assured Roger with confidence. He did.
Chapter 29
Megan’s captors had established a fairly consistent routine with her, releasing her from her restraints only for periodic breaks to relieve herself in a crude latrine outside the building where she was watched every moment. She was fed a basic meal consisting of protein bars and water. What little sleep she got was in a seated position in this very hard wooden chair, and her neck was invariably stiff when she awoke. She was a bit surprised that the men who held her didn’t seem interested in her sexually, although she knew that could change at any minute. She also hadn’t seen Ryan O’Reilly since Doncaster.
The men watching her didn’t appear to expect anyone to attempt to free her. Their attitudes, while cautious, weren’t tense or nervous. In fact, half the time, two of the three men would play cards while the other kept watch.
She watched their every movement to detect a weakness, but her restraints were always reattached competently, with no mistakes made. She also noticed that although the men had worked to keep their identities secret when she was first captured, they were now routinely without masks, and she could easily see their faces. They even called each other by name. The significance of this fact was not lost on Megan. If these men didn’t care that she could identify them, then it was quite likely they knew Megan would not be alive to identify them once she was no longer necessary for their purposes. She shuddered with the realization, and prayed that Ian, Roger, and the others were making plans to free her.
Chapter 30
It was two days before the St Leger Stakes race. Daniel, Stephen and the rest of Seabiscuit II’s team had been preparing him for the race as they would any other. They had explained Megan’s obvious absence by telling the press she had the flu, but they expected her to be well in time for the race.
Biscuit was worked every morning to the delight of the news media and racing fans, who appeared at the track at the crack of dawn to sit in the Doncaster grandstand to watch. Daniel had no reason to hide Biscuit’s prowess, and it was no secret that if Biscuit was running the race without restrictions, he would easily win.
The public nature of Biscuit’s impressive workouts also helped keep Megan alive and relevant. The more it looked as though Biscuit would win the race, the more the betting public would wager on him, making the O’Reillys’ bets against him that much more lucrative if he lost. To the people who watched, the workouts were a taste of the big event to come. To Daniel and Stephen, they were their only way to keep Megan alive.
While Daniel and Stephen worked Biscuit, Ian was working with Roger and his team to plan Megan’s rescue. The location O’Reilly had picked had both benefits and detriments that Ian had to consider when making his plan. Ian and Roger used a drone to scout the area away from detection by the men in the cabin. The remote location was beneficial in that no innocent bystanders would be involved. However, the lack of dense foliage near the structure made it difficult for a team of rescuers to approach without being detected. They would have to use a diversion to get close enough to engage Megan’s guards and ensure she survived the attempt.
The plans to the cottage did provide some room for optimism. The cottage had few windows, none to the rear of the property, and it had a back door, which didn’t appear to be extraordinarily fortified. A team approaching the cottage from the back would have a relatively easy time approaching the cottage from the rear, as long as the two perimeter guards were distracted.
There was a wooded area about half a mile away but within sight of the front of the cottage—the perfect location for a lookout and possibly a sniper. One of Davis’s men, Ronny Morgan, was a skilled marksman, a highly decorated sniper from the SAS, even though he was now retired. Ian decided to use Ronny as both sniper and lookout. Luckily, they had been able to locate a tree within the forest that had an elevated branch sturdy enough to support him.
When Ian apologized to Ronny for the uncomfortable perch, Ronnie replied, “No problem, mate. I’ve been in worse places. Besides, I’ll only have to be there a couple of hours at the most.” Ian positioned the man in the trees with a clear sight to the cabin’s front door as a failsafe in case their initial incursion failed.
~ ~ ~
Early in the morning the day before the race, the team’s preparations were complete. Ian had purposely left Stephen and Daniel out of the operation because they would be easily recognized by O’Reilly’s men and they needed to stay at the track and follow their usual routine with Biscuit so as not to raise suspicions. Neither of them liked the idea but ultimately had to agree Ian was right.
Six men traveled in two cars to a position in a clearing about a mile away from the cottage where Megan was being held. They checked their communication devices to ensure they were all in good working order, parked their cars, and then deployed to take their assigned positions around the perimeter of the building.
All were heavily armed and equipped with bulletproof vests. Two men, Roger being one of them, remained in civilian clothes while the others were dressed in camouflage, so they could more easily blend into their surroundings.
Roger and the smallest member of his team, a former Navy SEAL named Rich Masters, took their positions in the first car. Masters, because of his slight build and smaller stature, was dressed as a woman, impersonating Roger’s wife. The two were ostensibly driving through the country and had experienced car trouble. The plan was for them to approach the cabin and ask for help, engaging at least one—hopefully two—of the guards.
Ian was positioned with three men in the wooded area directly behind the cottage and would slip out while Roger and Rich distracted the O’Reilly men. While the guards were being distracted by Roger and Rich, Ian and his men would quietly pick the lock on the back door, enter the cabin, take out the third man, and rescue Megan. That was the plan. Unfortunately, as Ian knew from experience, even the best laid plans didn’t always work out the way you wanted them to.
Chapter 31
Megan had just awakened from her second night in the cottage when there was some commotion outside. Within minutes, Ryan O’Reilly arrived on the scene with two very strong-looking body guards. The first time Megan had seen Ryan, she had little time to actually look at him. This time, wit
hout the effects of the drug and with very little to distract her, she noticed right away that the men guarding Ryan deferred to him without question.
Ryan exuded confidence and was dressed impeccably. His suit was made of the finest materials, and not a hair on his head was out of place.
“So, how is our guest faring?” Ryan asked with a sneer.
“She hasn’t given us even a wee bit of trouble, boss,” replied the man Megan had identified as the leader of the men watching her. “We haven’t seen anyone else around either.”
“Good,” Ryan responded. “Let’s keep it that way.”
Ryan then looked at Megan. “Miss Brady, as we speak, a message is being sent to your father telling him that if Seabiscuit II doesn’t lose the St Leger Stakes tomorrow, you will be killed and your body disposed of where they will never find it.”
Megan forced herself to suppress the shudder of fear that instinctively came over her when she saw the icy, dispassionate glare Ryan flashed in her direction. There was no doubt in her mind this man would kill her without remorse, regardless of the outcome of the race tomorrow. Ryan would give the order to have her killed as easily as he would order his breakfast. The realization chilled her to the bone.
Ryan looked to one of his men. “Have you any word of Stafford? Is he helping the Bradys look for his lady love?” He motioned his head in Megan’s direction.
“No, boss. No word. I assume he’s with them, though. He’s been a constant companion to Miss Brady since before they went to America.”
“Good. I look forward to seeing him. I owe him for killing Mack and for Colin’s death as well. If he comes, I want to be the one to kill him. Tell the others.”
Racing Toward Love (Horses Heal Hearts Book 2) Page 19
