Running Strong

by Christy Reece

  Raphael had no choice but to focus on the moment. If he thought about Giselle and Gio, about the trouble they might encounter, he wouldn’t be able to do what needed to be done. The man in front of him wasn’t trained, not like the other security people he’d spotted. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and the hand that held his gun was shaking. The weapon, however, was trained on Raphael, with the man’s finger hovering way too close to the trigger for his liking.

  Noah had told him once that he’d rather face a half-dozen trained mercenaries than one untrained idiot with a gun. Raphael could definitely see his reasons.

  “No one needs to get hurt.” Taking one step sideways, out of the path of a wayward bullet, Raphael said calmly, “You can put your gun down and just walk away.”

  “Can’t do that. I need this job. Cameras are down…I don’t know what’s going on, but I can’t get them back up. I’m screwed. I’ve got a feeling that catching you will go a long way in saving my job, though.”

  “You do realize that I could just shoot you.”

  “Not if I shoot you first.”

  He could almost feel sorry for the guy. His voice shook, and if his breathing got any faster, the man would likely pass out from hyperventilating. Problem was, he didn’t have time to let that happen.

  “What’s your name?” Raphael asked.

  “Owen Holcomb.”

  “Have you worked for the Fletchers for very long?”

  “Almost three years.”

  “Ever had to shoot anyone?”

  “No. I man the security cameras.”

  Yeah, that’s what he’d thought. The guy was an amateur. Taking a chance this wouldn’t backfire, Raphael slowly lowered his own weapon and placed it on a hallway table.

  Confusion furled in the guy’s forehead. “What are you doing?”

  “Giving up. Isn’t that what you want me to do?”

  “Well…yeah…sure. I just didn’t think you would without a fight.”

  “That gun looks pretty lethal. I’d rather not get shot.” Slowly moving his hands up as if to surrender, Raphael said, “So what now? I don’t imagine the Fletchers will thank you for scaring their guests by parading me in front of them.”

  Uncertainty flickered in Holcomb’s eyes. Quick as a snake, Raphael closed one hand over the gun, the other under the guy’s wrist and twisted hard, locking the man’s arm with the gun pointed downward. Twisting once more, he threw the man to the floor and grabbed the gun. Before the man knew what was happening, Raphael was on him, slamming his fist twice into his face. Holcomb’s eyes rolled back into his head, and he was out.

  Raphael took off down the hallway. That had taken less than two minutes, but it was more than he had wanted to spare. He said into his mic, “I’m coming out. Everyone secure?”

  “Gio is safe, but we’ve got a problem,” Thorne answered.

  “What?”

  “Giselle’s been taken.”

  ***

  Of all the things Daniel had planned to do at his spring party, it certainly wasn’t this. Heads were going to roll.

  He glanced over at Hugh, who was driving the car. “I still don’t understand how this happened. How did the girl even get onto the estate?”

  “You didn’t notice what she was wearing?”

  “No. Of course not.” Notice her clothing? He had been so shocked to see an unconscious Giselle in the trunk of Hugh’s Mercedes, he hadn’t bothered to look at anything as mundane as her apparel.

  “Her blond wig came off on the way to the car, but she’s wearing a servant’s uniform. My guess is she came in with the caterers.”

  Daniel could not get his head wrapped around the course of events. The girl was supposed to be dead. For at least a week, he’d been living under the impression that all the nasty business with his daughter-in-law and her lover was over. That’s what he had been told. When he finally got hold of Cato Cavendar, the man wouldn’t have a hair left on his head. Daniel would rip it out by the roots.

  “I don’t understand any of this. Where the hell is Cavendar?”

  “I don’t know. I tried calling him before I came and got you. Got his voice mail.”

  “What do you think we should do with her?”

  Surprising him, Hugh sent him a sly grin. “Don’t you worry about it. I can handle the situation.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Of course I’m going to worry about it. You’ve got an unconscious woman in the trunk of your car, and I’ve got one hundred and twenty-seven of the most influential people in the country at my home wondering where the hell their host is. How can I not worry?”

  “You’ll be back before they even know you’re gone.”

  “How’s that? Where are we taking her?”

  “My beach house.”

  “For what?”

  “I thought you might want to have a chat with her.”

  “You’re not making any sense. I don’t want to have a conversation with the woman. I just want her dead.”

  “And I’m going to help you with that.”

  “Help me, how?”

  The look Hugh sent him was easy to read. Daniel didn’t know if he’d ever been more shocked in his life. “You want the girl for yourself?”

  “Only for a short while. Then I’ll dispose of her. You don’t need to worry about any of it. I’ll take care of everything.”

  He knew Hugh had eclectic tastes when it came to relationships. Even in college, it had been whispered that his friend was a deviant. Daniel had never delved deeply into what that meant. Other than a few indiscreet moments at some frat parties where everyone was doing everything under the sun, he hadn’t witnessed Hugh doing anything abnormal.

  “Don’t look so shocked. I’m not going to cut her up into little pieces and feed her to my fish.”

  Though Hugh’s amusement was an attempt to lighten the mood, Daniel didn’t respond. Truth was, he wasn’t quite sure how he felt about this. Yes, the girl needed to die. And yes, he didn’t mind her suffering for a bit first. But this? It was unseemly, almost uncouth.

  “But she’s my daughter-in-law.”

  “No, she’s not. She’s an interloper who horned in on your family. If not for her, Danny would still be alive.”

  That was the unarguable truth. His son’s death was the girl’s fault.

  “If she hadn’t been snooping where she didn’t belong, she wouldn’t have overheard our conversation. When you threatened her, what did she do? She went to Danny and told him. Forcing you to make the toughest decision you’ve ever had to make. All because of her.”

  Daniel remembered that day as if it were only yesterday. Never had he seen his son so upset, and never had Daniel been so incensed. His son had actually called him a murderer, hurling insults at him as if he was disgusted. When he’d left the house, saying he would be back to take the girl and her son away, it was all Daniel had been able to do to keep from going to the girl and shooting her outright. Instead, he’d made a call to Cato Cavendar. The next day, they’d gotten the word that Danny had been killed in a car wreck.

  Clarissa didn’t know the truth. Though he did his best to share all his business decisions with her, this had been too personal. She had spoiled Danny and loved him dearly. He was quite certain she wouldn’t approve of his decision.

  Which brought him back to Hugh’s point. The girl was responsible for his son’s death. If she had abided by his warning, kept her mouth shut, none of this would even be necessary. She did deserve to suffer.

  “Thank you, my friend. As always, you’ve helped me to see things more clearly.”

  Shooting Daniel a mischievous grin, Hugh turned onto the two-lane drive that led to his beach house. “Happy to help.”

  Scrunched up in the tiny trunk of Hugh Rawlings’s sports car, Giselle lay still, barely breathing. She had heard everything. She wasn’t shocked that Daniel was responsible for his son’s death. She had suspected it, but without any kind
of evidence, proving it had seemed as hopeless as proving all the other vile things the Fletchers had done.

  Danny had planned to come back for them. She hadn’t believed in him and was sorry for that. They hadn’t had a good marriage, and she had lost faith in him, but she had never wanted to see him hurt. That was one more thing that Daniel Fletcher would pay for.

  Where were Gio and Raphael? The last thing she remembered was running down the sidewalk at the back of the house, toward the woods where an LCR operative would be waiting for them. She’d been holding Gio, and someone had pulled on her blouse. When she had turned to see a grinning Hugh Rawlings, she had wanted to scream. Before she could do anything, something had struck her. That was all she remembered. Mavis had been right behind her. Had the woman betrayed her after all? Had she been the one to knock her out? What had happened to Gio?

  And Raphael? Was he okay? The man with the gun had looked extremely nervous, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t shoot.

  She told herself things weren’t hopeless. First, other than a slight headache, she was healthy and strong. Second, the two men up front were older and not trained to kill. Yes, they were responsible for having people killed, but they didn’t get their own hands dirty. She was half their age and fully prepared to do whatever was necessary to survive. And third, she had a weapon. Rawlings hadn’t intended to kidnap anyone tonight. He had dumped her into the trunk without even considering that there might be tools there that she could use.

  These men didn’t have a chance. She had a child she adored and a man she loved waiting for her.

  She was a woman determined to win.

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Raphael stood in the hallway, leaning against the door of his hotel room. His son was inside the room talking with Samara. He had seen his mother knocked out and carried off. When Thorne had found him, he’d been hysterical, but the instant Raphael showed up, he had calmed.

  For the first time ever, Raphael had held his son in his arms. Hugging him close, he had promised that his mother would be with him soon, that she was all right. Never had he made a promise that he intended to keep more than this one. He would find Giselle, and she would be okay. This he swore.

  Rage filled him, and it was all he could do to contain his fury. Giselle was in the hands of evil, and they had no idea where she had been taken. Mavis Tenpenny, the nanny, claimed not to know. Her explanation that they had taken a different path than what Giselle had intended rang true. A security person had been headed their way, and they had veered down another path toward a wooded area at the back of the estate.

  Tenpenny’s explanation was sketchy after that. She claimed that Hugh Rawlings, Daniel Fletcher’s friend, had been on that path smoking a cigarette and had spotted them. He had knocked Giselle out and commanded Mavis return the boy to his room.

  The woman had ignored that order. Justin and Riley had caught her trying to put Gio into a car. They said it had been obvious that Gio hadn’t wanted to go. Gio had been kicking and screaming, putting up a hell of a fight.

  Whether the nanny was being truthful would have to be determined at another time. Their only focus now was finding Giselle. Where the hell had Rawlings taken her?

  They had researched Hugh Rawlings thoroughly. Knew he owned two houses under his own name and one other under an alias. All three homes were hours away from the Fletcher estate. Would he chance taking her that far, or did he have another place close-by that they didn’t know about?

  They did know a few things. When Rawlings’s vehicle left the estate, Daniel Fletcher was in the passenger seat. The security camera at the gatehouse ran on a separate system, and they had elected to not disable it. The video feed showed Rawlings and Fletcher driving down the winding drive, away from the house. Chances were good that Giselle had been with them, but the camera hadn’t revealed her whereabouts. Had she been in the backseat? The trunk? Was she alive? Unconscious? What did the men plan to do with her? And where the hell did they take her?

  “How’s Gio?”

  Raphael whirled around, striding toward Noah. “Anything?”

  “Not yet. We’ve got three analysts running down everything they can find on Hugh Rawlings. So far, we’ve come up with nothing more than what we already have.” He nodded toward the door Raphael had been leaning against. “How’s Gio doing?”

  “Amazing, considering he saw his mother get knocked out and carted away. He finally stopped crying when I told him Giselle was fine and will be with him soon. I hope to hell I didn’t lie.”

  “You didn’t. We’ll get her back safely.”

  “Cavendar cooperating?”

  “Yes and no. He hasn’t given us anything useful on Rawlings yet. Says he took all his orders from Fletcher. Says he knows of the man, but has never had dealings with him.”

  “And that’s bullshit. No way in hell a man that thorough doesn’t know everything about his boss, which should include intel on his best friend. The man’s lying.”

  “I agree. Whatever he knows, we’ll get. Riley and Justin are still questioning Ms. Tenpenny. She knows more than she’s giving us, too. I’m not sure if she’s involved up to her neck, or if she’s holding out for fear of reprisal from her employers. Intimidation seems to be the Fletchers’ MO when it comes to employee motivation.”

  Raphael shoved his fingers through his hair. “This is my fault. I should never have agreed to let Giselle go in with us.”

  “No. This isn’t your fault. From talking with Riley, Giselle was right on the money. Gio would not have gone with anyone else. He would’ve put up a protest and alerted the entire household.”

  “He would’ve come with me.”

  “Yes…possibly. What’s done is done. Our focus now is rescuing Giselle. Keep your mind on what needs to be done.”

  “I need to be doing something. Anything. I can’t just stand here twiddling my thumbs, waiting. God only knows what they’ve done to her.”

  Noah grabbed Raphael’s arm. “I need you to take a breath. When we get a location, I need you focused. Understand?”

  “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be focused.”

  “Raphael, listen to me. There’s no one who understands your fear better than I do. I was lucky that cooler heads talked me down before I could rush in and do something stupid.”

  Raphael took a breath. As much as that made sense, because Noah had definitely gone through something similar more than once, it was almost impossible for Raphael not to get in his car and just go. Yeah, he didn’t know where he’d be going, but—

  “What about Clarissa Fletcher? Can we question her?”

  “Not without tipping our hand. As soon as the party ends, the feds are moving on them. We go in now, chances are she’ll find a way to alert her husband and they’ll both disappear.”

  He didn’t like it, but it made sense. “And they won’t leave Giselle alive.”

  “No. She’s collateral damage they can’t afford.”

  “Okay. All right. I—”

  Noah’s cellphone chimed, and he put it on speaker before he said, “What do you have?”

  “Olivia just called. Cavendar caved. Says Rawlings has a beach house in Water Mill under another alias.”

  “That’s not far from East Hampton.”

  “Yes. I’ll text you the address.”

  His heart raced, his feet ready to fly out the door. “That’s got to be where they’d take her, right?”

  “Makes sense. Fletcher wouldn’t want to be far from home with his party still going on.”

  “There’s something else.” Angela’s voice held more than a tinge of worry. “Is Raphael there with you?”

  His blood going cold, Raphael met Noah’s eyes.

  “Yes, he’s here. What is it?”

  “Cavendar told us some other things about Rawlings that we didn’t know.”

  “What kind of things?”

  “Last year, an incident got out of control. Rawlings raped and murdered a young woman. Cavendar helped
him cover it up. He dumped the body. Made it look like the girl moved away.”

  “Let’s go.” Raphael started running.

  Noah followed him. “We’ll go together. Thorne and Fox will follow.”

  Raphael didn’t need more encouragement. Gio was safe with Samara. Now it was time to save Giselle. He’d be damned if he found his son only to lose the woman he loved.

  Evil had won too many times in the past. It did not get to win this time.

  Chapter Forty

  Lug wrench in hand, Giselle was ready for them. The instant the trunk lid opened, she sprang up and swung hard at the closest man—Hugh Rawlings. Didn’t matter who she hit first. The wrench slammed into his gut. He managed to utter an ugly grunt before collapsing to the ground, gasping and cursing fiercely.

  Giselle whirled around, ready to take on Fletcher. She stuttered to a halt. He was holding a gun in his hand, and the look on his face told her he would gladly use it.

  “Well, I do have to say, young lady, despite my antipathy for you, you are a resilient one, aren’t you?”

  “You’ll never get away with this, Daniel. Do you know the people you’re up against? No matter what you do to me, you’re finished.”

  Smug amusement in his eyes, he shook his head slowly. “Tsk-tsk. You always were a dramatic one. Never knew your place no matter how many times Clarissa and I tried to educate you.”

  “And your place will soon be in prison. You and your—” She turned to look down at Rawlings, but he was no longer there. Hard arms wrapped around her torso. Giselle lifted her legs, kicked back. At the same time, she jerked her head back. The crunch of Hugh Rawlings nose and the resounding vibrations of her heels against his shinbones were infinitely satisfying.

  His arms loosened again, and Giselle took a step forward. A fist swung toward her. She managed to sidestep it, but came to an abrupt halt when Daniel’s gun pressed into the center of her forehead.

  “Make one move…just one. Please.”

  Giselle didn’t move. Daniel Fletcher might not be a trained killer, but he would kill her. Of this she had no doubt. She would give him this round, but her fight was far from over.