Forever Bold

by Kathleen Brooks

  Jameson had had the airport in Lexington temporarily on hold as Ryan Parker and his FBI team raided it. There were no private or commercial jets with Keung or Ariana on them. Ryan had all the surrounding airports—large, small, or private—locked down until they were cleared.

  Jameson had taken a chance and headed toward New York or Washington, on I-64. Mo had sent teams of Rahmi guards in every direction on every road out of Keeneston and Lexington. They were all looking for Deming’s official SUV, but so far there had been no hits and the sun had set as Jameson merged onto I-81 North, heading into Pennsylvania. He’d made the call to try New York City over Washington after Val and Grant informed him that the Crusina embassy was business as usual.

  The phone rang and Jameson put it on speaker.

  “Do you have something, Kale?” Jameson asked. Dylan had been on the phone and told whomever he was talking with to hold on.

  “Maybe. I’ve had to filter through a lot of crap, but I think I found the assistant’s phone. I just traced it and it’s traveling northeast on I287 around New York City.”

  Jameson’s heart sped up. This was the first real break they’d had. Rahmi guards were checking in as far as Missouri, Chicago, Atlanta, and beyond. There’d been no signs of Keung or his SUV. They’d been driving blindly as Ahmed interrogated the entire Crusina contingent, as Mo tried to get hold of President Nikan, and as Kale did whatever it was that Kale did.

  “Can you listen in?” Abby asked her brother.

  “I’m working on it. The phone is heavily encrypted with technology I’m sure they stole.”

  “Are you sure?” Abby asked.

  “Yeah, pretty sure. I helped design it for the US government. Crusina has a history of stealing our technology. The trouble is, there were several of us working on sections of it so I never saw the whole piece. I wrote the tracking part. That’s how I hacked it. But the other parts of the code? It’ll take me a while.”

  “Some computer genius,” Abby muttered.

  “Genius, yes. The only genius in the world? No. There are a couple of others at my level,” Kale told them.

  “We’ll head that way,” Jameson said, not caring about the who’s who of computer geniuses. “They’re a couple of hours ahead of us. Keep me updated on where they’re going.”

  “I’m getting you a helicopter. Stop in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and meet it. I’ll text you the location,” Kale told him before hanging up.

  “This is it. We found her,” Jameson said, taking a calming breath. His whole body radiated with nerves preparing to fire at a moment’s notice. He accelerated to Kale level speeds as he wound his way through the massive eighteen-wheelers lining I-81.

  Deming’s assistant had ignored her complaints that she needed to go to the bathroom. He’d only stopped for gas and was on the way again. Ariana squeezed her legs together as she tried to stay focused on her surroundings. Then she felt the transition. They were on a bridge. She focused on the limited view she had of the night sky out the window. The signs passed too quickly to read them, but as they exited the bridge, one hanging over the opposite side caught her eye. Welcome to New Y was all she saw, but it was enough. She was crossing a bridge into New York City. What was she doing back in the city?

  Ariana had expected them to turn into the city, but they didn’t. They kept going on the interstate.

  “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

  Well, wherever she was going, she would discover it soon enough. She steadied her breath and went over her plan in her mind.

  The phone rang again as they flew through the night air over Pennsylvania. Jameson answered it, but it was hard to hear over the blades of the National Guard military helicopter. “Speak up, Kale!”

  “They’ve stopped.”

  “Where?”

  “1788 Haynes Point, Old Greenwich, Connecticut,” Kale yelled over the phone.

  “Thanks, Kale. Tell Mo and Dani.”

  Jameson hung up and gave the address to the pilot. It wouldn’t take them long to get there.

  “Forty minutes out,” Jameson yelled as he pulled up the address on his phone. “This is where she’s being held. I have some ideas on how to get inside.”

  Ariana’s breath caught her in lungs as the SUV came to a stop. The overhead light glowed as the assistant opened his door. Then he was at her head, grabbing her roughly under the arms, and dragging her out of the SUV.

  Ariana dropped to the ground, landing hard on her hip. Her bladder protested as pain shot down her legs. She’d tried to move them and flex the muscles during the long hours in the SUV, but when faced with standing up, her legs simply didn’t work. That wouldn’t stop her, though. When he grabbed her from behind to drag her inside, Ariana smashed her head into his jaw. He dropped her to the ground as he cursed and Ariana rolled toward the SUV. She had almost wedged herself underneath it when her ankles were grabbed and she was dragged back out.

  Ari struggled against his rough grasp until he shoved her forward and she dropped to her knees. She glanced up in surprise. This wasn’t where she was expecting to be taken. The property was large, the grounds perfectly manicured, and the house glowed warm and inviting.

  Ariana felt him grab her around her waist and gone were the questions as she tried to fight him. He ignored her attempts and tossed her over his shoulder. She was carried up a brick pathway, then inside the old mansion. Perfect marble flooring was all she could see before she was tossed onto a soft sofa. The walls were covered with old oil paintings and she could hear the sound of water outside.

  Ariana’s eyes widened in surprise as a man walked into the room. Her breath caught in shock as he smiled at her. “There’s my beautiful bride.”

  Jameson’s body was coiled tightly in anticipation. He willed the helicopter to fly faster and hardly waited for it to be set down before he leapt out. They were a mile from the location and they were going to hoof it the rest of the way in. Luckily, helicopter traffic was common in that area with rich people flying in and out of New York City.

  The second they were off the helicopter Jameson was locked and loaded, ready to go.

  “Wait,” Dylan said, stopping the group. “I don’t understand. I’m looking at the pictures of this place and I don’t see the boat entrance that you’re talking about.”

  “It’s there,” Jameson said, pointing to the map. “I told you, it’s a door behind the rock wall protecting the property from the water. It was originally used for servants to bring fresh caught clams and other seafood up to the house via an underground tunnel so they wouldn’t disturb the family playing croquet on the lawn. It’s also been used to sneak mistresses in and out of the place.”

  Dylan shook his head as he looked at the image on the screen. “I don’t see it. I think your intel is wrong. I don’t want us to get there and be screwed.”

  “I swear on my life it’s there,” Jameson bit out.

  “How do you know?” Nash asked calmly as he tugged the bulletproof jacket on over his utility vest, which was loaded up with more guns and knives than Jameson had ever seen one person carry.

  “Because it’s my house. I grew up there and used that tunnel to escape my parents’ insipid parties for years.”

  Jameson looked up and saw everyone staring at him.

  “Okay then. Now we know. Let’s go.” Porter handed the acid gun to Nash. “But you carry the slime gun of death.”

  30

  “If you’re a good little girl, I’ll take off the tape.”

  Ariana would have given him the finger if her arms weren’t numb and tied behind her back. Instead, she nodded calmly.

  She flinched in pain as the thick silver tape was ripped from her mouth taking several layers of skin with it. Ariana stretched her jaw and moved her mouth to try to stop the sting as her kidnapper sliced the tape holding her hands tied behind her back, but not her legs.

  “Do you have anything to say?”

  “I really need to go to the bathroom.”

  �
��We have a room right over here converted for your use,” Senator Duke said, stepping into the room. She motioned to the kidnapper then. “Keung, be a dear and take our guest to the restroom.”

  Ariana jerked back when he reached for her. “I’ll go myself, thank you.”

  Keung grabbed her arm hard and yanked her up to her feet. He shoved her forward and Ariana was knocked off balance. She fell, hitting her knees hard on the floor before being yanked back up. She had to hop to keep up with Keung’s grip on her arm, but then she was blissfully left alone in the small half bath. The first thing Ariana did after using the restroom was to take the tape off her legs. She looked around for a weapon, but there wasn’t anything but a plush towel and some luxury hand soap. Well, she’d just have to make a run for it.

  Ariana tiptoed to the door, pressed her ear against it, and when she heard nothing, she yanked it open and ran for all she was worth. Too bad it was only for three steps.

  “Is my bride getting cold feet?”

  “Bride? Screw you! I’ll never marry you,” Ariana yelled as she battled the man holding her. When he spun her around, she spat in his face. His eyes closed for a second and Ariana punched him in the face before Keung caught her hair in his fist and yanked hard. Her neck was left fully exposed and it felt as if it would be snapped.

  “It’s sweet you think you have a choice.”

  She was picked up and tossed onto the bed in the makeshift room that originally looked to be a sitting room. A long white wedding dress hung on the back of the door.

  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Senator Duke said, coming back into the room carrying a veil. “Let’s get a move on. You promised me if I helped you ruin Rahmi with the kidnapping that you’d get me the presidential election. I got you the girl. You get me that election.”

  Her supposed groom nodded. “I’ll have Rahmi at my bidding and you, Senator, will have your presidency. I’ll set my influencers on it now.”

  “Influencers?” Ari asked as it hit her. “You’re going to hack the election.”

  Ariana fought with everything she had as Keung tried to strip her. She punched, she kicked, and she clawed. Senator Duke rolled her eyes and pulled out a stun gun. A second later, Ariana lay with her eyes open, but completely paralyzed as she was stripped of her clothing. The wedding gown was pulled over her head and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

  “Sit her up at the table,” Senator Duke ordered.

  Keung taped her hands together in front of her and the silk ribbons from her bouquet and the long lace sleeves of her gown hid the bindings. He plopped her down on the elegant chair hard enough for her teeth to rattle. Ariana looked down at the beautiful flowers, the silk ribbons, and the lace gown and felt Senator Duke fix the veil to her head right as a flash went off to her side. Several side photos of her were taken just as Ariana began to regain enough strength to resist.

  “Stop struggling, baby girl. You’re all mine now.”

  Never! Ariana wanted to scream it, but then she felt the skirt lifted and the small jab of a needle before the skirt was lowered just before Keung placed shackles on each ankle and locked them in place.

  “What did you give me?” Ariana demanded, just before Keung slapped the tape over her mouth.

  “Just a little something to ease the bridal nerves for the ceremony and the consummation afterward. Don’t worry. You’ll still remember everything. You just won’t be able to move.”

  Ariana was dragged into a nearby room. She did her best to fight, but she began to feel herself floating away from her body. The room she entered was a beautiful sunroom overlooking the water. Mr. Duke stood with a Bible open, smiling under an arch of flowers in front of the windows. Keung took photographs of them from behind so they wouldn’t show the bindings or the tape across her mouth.

  Ariana tried to fight, but it was useless. His grip on her was unrelenting. While the medication might not take full effect for another fifteen minutes, the waves of relaxation Ari began to feel from the shot made it hard to fight.

  “We’re gathered here today for a very special wedding between two powerful families.”

  “That was great, dear,” Senator Duke said to her husband who was officiating. “Now, we’ll tape the vows. Wait, let me get the angle like this.”

  Ariana felt herself being pushed into position. She felt the tape yanked from her mouth, but words were hard to come by. Then saw the flash of a camera.

  She looked up into the cold, dark eyes of the man holding her. She’d wanted to marry Jameson more than anything but now . . . now she didn’t know what was going to happen. The man staring down at her promised only pain and suffering. A tear rolled down her cheek.

  “Beautiful picture,” Senator Duke said. “State your vows now.”

  Ariana closed her eyes. She thought of Jameson and their love as the empty promises of love, honor, and cherishing were spoken to her.

  Jameson found the door without needing to turn on a flashlight. It was hidden behind two large boulders. He used his key to unlock the door and yanked it open.

  “I have eyes on them,” Abby said from above them. “You’re not going to believe this. It’s a wedding. They’re in a glassed-in room on the right. I’ve set up a camera. We can keep an eye on them from my phone. Let’s move.”

  “Who’s having a wedding?” Porter asked as they moved into the sandy-bottomed tunnel.

  “Couldn’t tell. I saw a flower arch, the senator, and the back of a minister. I guess it could be a funeral,” Abby said, pulling out her weapon and checking it as they moved swiftly along the tunnel that ran under the backyard and up to the old root cellar off the kitchen.

  Jameson led the way as they approached in silence. He and Nash would head to the room where the wedding was via the kitchens. Porter would cover the front door, and then Dylan and Abby would circle through the front part of the house and come into the glass room through a sitting room.

  Jameson used military signals once they reached the root cellar. For once, he didn’t hear anyone in the kitchen. They had live-in staff, but when he looked at the camera feed on Abby’s phone, he didn’t see them or their cars in the staff parking to the side of the house.

  He motioned for them to move out. Dylan, Abby, and Porter peeled off to the left. Jameson and Nash crept through the kitchen and into the butler’s pantry where food was brought and set before being taken either into the dining room on the left or the living room to the right.

  Nash moved forward and slid an optical wire under the door. Jameson looked down at Nash’s phone for the live feed. Nash and he looked at the live feed and then looked up at each other. What the hell was going on?

  A second later, a text came through Jameson’s phone.

  Any means necessary to save my daughter.

  Nash looked at Jameson with worry. He shouldn’t worry. Jameson would kill anyone who tried to hurt Ariana, even his own parents.

  In position was the next text that came in from Porter. About a minute later, a similar text came in from Dylan.

  I’ll go in first, Jameson replied.

  Jameson looked down and rearranged some of his weapons before holding the door open just enough for Nash to crawl through. Jameson counted to twenty and then pushed the door open. “I’m sorry I’m late for the wedding. Tell me I haven’t missed the ‘I do’s.’”

  “Jameson! What are you doing here?” his mother asked surprised, her eyes sparking with anger at the interruption. She looked around and then smiled. “They’re already married and it was a beautiful ceremony.”

  “Then,” Jameson said as he smoothly stepped forward with a smile on his face, “let me be the first to offer my congratulations to the happy couple. To Mr. and Mrs. Nikan. Or should I say to President and First Lady Nikan?”

  Jameson kept his anger in check as he saw the dazed look on Ariana’s face. Even without her bound hands, she wouldn’t be able to fight much. She’d been drugged. Jameson saw her struggling to stay in the present. The way s
he tried to move. The way her eyes tried to focus and the small jerks of her body all told Jameson she was fighting.

  Keung raised a gun and President Viktor Nikan nodded. “I guess I should have sent in my RSVP,” Jameson said dryly. “One question before you kill me. Why are you kidnapping and forcing Ariana Ali Rahman into marriage? Aren’t you already married?”

  “My wife met a traitor’s end three years ago. I caught her helping a maid escape the palace. Instead of taking her punishment, she killed herself. It was very tragic. So, now I need a new wife. And as it’s the Ali Rahman family, and Ariana in particular, putting up road blocks to the trade agreement your mother and I wrote, I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone.”

  “Ah, yes, the bill that grants Crusina tariff-free trading with the United States and the ability to skip all matters of red tape to open its own financial institutions in the US,” Jameson said with a nod. “But wouldn’t it have been easier to kill Ariana than marry her? Or is that what the attack on her at her apartment was supposed to do?”

  “Rahmi was the main hurdle in passing this bill. They lobbied Congress and the president about those stupid human rights violations,” his mother spat, answering for Viktor. “So I came up with this plan and President Nikan was only too happy to go along with it.

  “See, by marrying Ariana, Rahmi will fall in line. We’ll share the wedding pictures and Senator and Mr. Duke will talk about the romantic wedding while I take my bride back to Crusina. I’ll hold her hostage for not only the passage of the trade agreement, but after I learned how close the Ali Rahman family is, I figured the king would be happy to share some of his oil with Crusina free of charge if I promise not to kill his beloved niece. I, in turn, will charge my people a premium for it. It’s a win-win. I get money from the US and from Rahmi. The attack at the apartment wasn’t to kill her. It was to bring her to me alive.”