by Lori Ryan
Chad leveled a steady gaze at Jack as he delivered the blow. “The FBI has seen this type of kidnapping in two other cities with the same M.O. in the last year. Human trafficking is likely the only reason to grab more than one woman at the same time.
“The FBI doesn’t expect a ransom call but they’ve set up traces at the other homes, just in case. I’ve got Sam here and she can trace any call that comes in here if we get one, but my friend thinks whoever grabbed the women has plans for them.” He paused, as if he were wishing he didn’t have to say more.
Suddenly, Jack couldn’t hear anything, couldn’t see anything. He was completely and totally blinded by his rage and he felt a sickening desperation. He had to find Kelly and bring her back safely.
He’d never before literally tasted hate and fear on his tongue as he struggled to just breathe, to keep going. All he could do now was to keep going, to hold on. He’d keep going until he found her.
The room was quiet for a few long seconds before Chad went on, the only sound was the wracking sobs of Kelly’s mom sitting on the couch.
Her resolve had finally broken when she heard Chad’s words. Jack couldn’t imagine the pain she felt at hearing that her daughter had been taken like this. He desperately wanted to take away that pain by bringing Kelly back to her mother’s arms.
“The FBI will likely be here shortly, but the reality is, you have the right to refuse their assistance. I recommend we work on our own instead of with the FBI. If we work with them we’re constrained by the law. We have a better shot at getting Kelly back if we aren’t restricted. I can use my contacts to find out everything the FBI knows and what they’re doing to find Kelly, so we still get a lot of the benefit of working with them, but we can move outside the law if we need to.”
Jack looked at Chad as an eerie calm moved through him and he silently vowed to get his wife back safely. “Good. That’s what we’ll do. Andrew, how much money have you liquidated so far?”
“Sixteen million, but Chad and I each have another seven million we can put in, and I can have another twelve million by liquidating some of our investments by tomorrow morning at seven o’clock. The rest is tied up and can’t be liquidated on short notice,” Andrew answered somberly.
“Okay,” Jack said as he turned back to Chad. “What’s our next move?”
“I’ve got Sam, one of my best hackers here already, Jack. She’s ready to trace any calls that come in. In the meantime, she’s watching chat rooms and cyber boards for any info on the sale angle. As soon as we get any information, I have a team ready to move on it. We’re also going to monitor incoming 911 calls to see if anything leads us to the location of the women. It’s a long shot, but someone might call in something suspicious and we’ll just check out any leads.”
Jack nodded, accepting Chad’s plan. Even with all the financial resources and experts at his disposal, he felt helpless. And he didn’t like that one bit.
Kelly watched the window as night fell. She had gone to check over and over, hoping to catch someone’s eye. She couldn’t call out for fear it would cause the men to come in to stop her. If they came in and saw the water flowing in the bathroom, they would know what she was up to and then she would have nothing.
The window was nailed shut, so no one would hear her screaming at the window anyway. She lay back down and tried to rest, to wait for whatever opportunity came next.
She pictured Jack, and tried to run through every memory of every moment she could remember with him in an effort to still the fear that ran like ice through her veins.
The door to the room opened suddenly, and Kelly couldn’t stop the cry that worked its way out of her taped mouth as she faced one of the men that had grabbed her. He still wore his ski mask, so she took that as a good sign that her death wasn’t a sure thing. If he wanted his identity hidden from her, there was still the possibility she’d get out of this alive.
The kidnapper grabbed her by one elbow and hauled her roughly to her feet, then dragged her, stumbling along on numb legs behind him, out into the apartment.
Kelly was stunned. Not only were the other three kidnappers standing in what appeared to be a vacant apartment, but four other women sat bound and gagged like her on the floor of the room.
Four sets of wide, terrified eyes looked at Kelly. As the kidnapper who had fetched her pushed her down to sit with the other women, another one grabbed the woman closest to the other side of the room and pulled her up.
Kelly watched in confusion as he cut the tape binding her wrists and ankles and scooped up a red dress off the couch, throwing it at the woman.
He shoved the woman with the dress ahead of him as they walked into what appeared to be a bathroom. When they came out several minutes later, the frightened woman was wearing the dress and they pushed her into a room down the hall. The men proceeded this way, through all of the women until it was Kelly’s turn.
She was given a black dress and brought into the bathroom where the kidnapper leered at her as she changed into the dress. He pointed to the toilet and Kelly had the feeling that it was not optional.
She was supposed to go to the bathroom and he was planning to watch. She had been holding her bladder for hours now, but she didn’t actually know if she could get herself to go with this man watching her.
She felt filthy standing there with his creepy eyes on her and she shivered as she lifted the skirt of the dress high enough to sit on the toilet and go.
When she was done, the man pushed her down the hall and they entered another bedroom in the apartment. Kelly was told to lie down on a bed in the room and pictures were taken of her. She began to have a very bad feeling that she hadn’t been taken for a ransom demand and this definitely didn’t seem to be related to Aunt Mabry’s vendetta against her.
Porn? Could they be planning to make the women strip for porn shots to sell?
Kelly’s mind raced as she tried to put the pieces together but with no food in her system and sheer terror racing like ice through her veins, her mind felt as if it were immersed in a fog and couldn’t function right.
The women were brought back out to the living area to sit on the floor where their legs and arms were taped up again.
At least, Kelly thought with relief, if they kept the women out here, there was less chance one of the kidnappers would spot the water flooding the bathroom in the other room.
She closed her eyes, unable to face the panic in the eyes of the other women sitting around her and again, she tried to picture Jack’s face, his arms around her, pulling her to safety.
Chapter 56
By eight-o’clock that night, no ransom call had come in. Sam had set up a computer to play 911 calls for Chad as they came into the system. They sat for hours listening, searching for any hint of the kidnappers’ whereabouts, but so far there was nothing.
Searching for something to do, Jack turned to check with Andrew on the status of the money.
“I’ve scheduled a few things for the morning. I’ve transferred my money into your account. Chad’s available funds are being transferred over to your account now,” Andrew answered.
Jack held his friend’s eye for a moment, and both men knew there was no need to thank Andrew for the money. No way a ‘thank you’ could, or would ever be enough.
“Boss,” Samantha said to Chad. Chad paused the playback of the 911 calls and turned to Sam. Jack felt as if everyone in the room was moving in slow motion.
He wanted to shake them, to scream and yell until they produced something to lead to Kelly, but he knew there was nothing more they could do. There wasn’t a damn lead in sight.
Sam spoke to Chad in a hushed voice, but they could all hear what she had to report. “I’ve got chatter on several sites. Five women for sale. Bidding starts tonight and ends in twenty-four hours. It’s them. There’s a market for everything nowadays. Sometimes it’s virgins or teens. They’re bragging that the women are high-class socialites who, um, need to be put in their place.”
Samantha winced as she said this last part, but she went on. “They said they have powerful, well-connected families so the risk in grabbing them was high, and they want top dollar for them. I can try to get us into the bidding, but it’s by invitation only so I’m not sure I can manage it in time.” Her eyes skittered over to Jack’s face as she talked, as if she wished she weren’t the one to have to report the news.
Jack’s jaw clenched so tightly he thought his teeth would crack as he listened to Sam. He made eye contact with Kelly’s dad who tried to hold Kelly’s mom together.
Chad nodded to Sam. “Keep working on it.”
He turned back to the computer and started up the 911 calls, and they all listened as calls came in reporting a lost child, kids tagging a building with graffiti, and a store alarm going off downtown.
Chad cursed under his breath and Jack’s shoulders dropped. He knew if they didn’t find a lead, their only hope would be to get into the auction and buy Kelly back. Since Jack doubted the sellers let anyone in they hadn’t dealt with in the past, it was a long shot at best, and he didn’t like long shots. He liked stacking the deck in his favor and going into things with more than one plan up his sleeve.
Suddenly, Kelly’s sister, Jessica jumped off the couch. “That’s it! That’s her. That’s Kelly.”
Everyone turned to her as they tried to understand what she was saying, what she meant.
“The water leak. The call that just came in about a water leak. The lady said there was a water leak from the third floor of her apartment building and that floor is empty, under construction. She couldn’t reach the landlord, and the floor is locked so she can’t get up there herself.”
They all stared at Jessica, not able to understand how a water leak could mean Kelly was at that apartment building.
Jessica gestured frantically at the computer in front of Chad. “That’s Kelly. Mom, Dad, you guys used to play us that safety video when we were kids.” She turned to her brothers now and urgently tried to get them to remember, to get everyone to understand that Kelly could have started the water leak.
“You guys remember it. The video with that safety guy wearing the cape. If you’re being held on a floor above the first level in a hotel or apartment, you turn the water on to try to flood the lower floor and draw someone up to help you. It’s her! It’s got to be her!” Jessica tried to get them to understand.
Jack looked at Chad, and the two men nodded at each other.
“We’ll check it out.” Jack said to Jesse. He gave a small nod to Kelly’s father, and then he and Chad left the room and ran out the door to Chad’s SUV. As Chad pulled from the driveway, he turned to Jack. “Climb over the back seat and pull up the rug in the back.”
He waited while Jack climbed into the back and lifted the rug. “See that ring? Pull up on it,” he instructed and Jack pulled up on the ring in the floorboard of the vehicle.
“You’re a little scary, Chad. I’m glad you’re on my side,” Jack said as he looked down into the hidden space.
Jack pulled out two bulletproof vests, a handgun for each of them, and extra magazines. He put on the vest, loaded the handguns, and shoved extra ammo into his pockets. He held onto Chad’s stuff until they pulled over down the block from the location of the reported water leak.
Chad eased the car to the side of the road and he and Jack got out. Chad took the vest and guns from Jack and put them on, then he checked his pockets for the extra clips.
“Listen, Jack. Even if we call the FBI right now, they can’t get a warrant on the little bit of information we have, so there’s no point in us calling them yet. We’ll go in and see what we see. If it looks like they’re there, we’ll call in the FBI for backup. If we’ve spotted the women, they won’t need a warrant.”
Chad tossed Jack a windbreaker and baseball cap he’d pulled out of the SUV and put a windbreaker on himself. “Put this on to cover the vest in case they spot us coming into the building. We’ll go in casually as if we’re visiting someone and get up to that third floor.”
They walked toward the building and pushed buzzers for apartments on the first and second floors. Within minutes, someone had buzzed them into the building, and they headed for the staircase at the back of the hall.
They climbed to the third floor and found a chain with a master lock on the stairwell door. The lock had been picked and the chain hung loose. They opened the door and could see drop cloths and saw horses from the construction cluttering the floor. It appeared that the construction was on hold as there wasn’t a sign of workmen or any noise coming from the apartments as they walked down the hall.
Jack and Chad walked quietly down the length of the hallway and listened for anything that might give them a clue as to the whereabouts of the women and the kidnappers.
As they approached apartment 307, Jack jerked his head toward the door to indicate to Chad that he heard something. They stopped and listened closely, then nodded at one another. They heard men. Several men in the apartment talking in hushed voices.
Jack’s gut told him Kelly was also in there.
They stood stock-still and listened intently for several minutes, and then looked at each other in silent communication as they backed out to the stairwell they had just come through.
Once there, Chad spoke in a hushed voice. “I count at least four in the room, maybe five. Since this floor should be empty, I can see if my friend at the FBI thinks this is enough to come in without a warrant. In reality, they have a complaint from the neighbor, so they should have a basis for at least sending a black-and-white to check out the complaint. I can probably get the FBI to escort that black-and-white. Not totally legit, but they might get away with it.”
“I can’t leave her in there, Chad. What if they’re.…” Jack couldn’t voice his concern, but he knew Chad would understand what was running through his head.
“No, Jack. If they’re planning to sell the women, they’ll have a hands-off policy. They need them healthy and uninjured. The women should be safe for the immediate future. If we go in without any backup, we could get the women hurt instead of helping them. I know you want in there, but we have to be smart about this, cousin. We’ll wait here and make sure they don’t leave with the women while we wait for law enforcement,” Chad reasoned.
Jack knew Chad was right, but it took all of his restraint to wait. He listened as Chad called his friend and relayed what they had found. He doubted the FBI would normally act under these circumstances, but Chad had a longtime friend in the agency who had come to rely on Chad’s instincts when they had served in the military together; those instincts were well-honed and reliable.
Chad hung up the phone and turned to Jack. “Eight minutes out. Let’s sit tight so we have a better chance to get the women out safely, Jack.”
Jack clenched his teeth and fists. It took all his control not to run down that hall and bust down the door to get to Kelly, but he knew Chad was right.
They needed to be careful and smart to get Kelly out safely—and that meant going against all his instincts.
Chapter 57
Kelly sat on the floor with the other women, arms and legs bound, hoping the water seeping through the floorboards to the ceiling of the apartment below would draw enough attention to their location to bring help. Or that Jack could somehow track her here before it was too late.
It had been hours since the men took the pictures in the bedroom, and the women hadn’t been moved. Several hours ago, Kelly had felt shooting pains in her legs but even those were gone now.
She couldn’t feel anything in them any longer. She knew even if she had the chance to run from her kidnappers, she wouldn’t be physically capable of moving much at this point.
The kidnappers had finally given the women bottled water to drink a few hours ago, but no food. They seemed to want them weak but unharmed so far.
Kelly watched as the men huddled around a computer and talked in hushed voices, and then she held her breath when one of the me
n went back into the bedroom that Kelly had been held in earlier in the day. Please, please, please. Don’t find the water leak.
Kelly breathed a silent sigh of relief as the kidnapper turned to leave the room without entering the bathroom, but that relief was cut short as he froze mid-turn. Rather than walk to the door, he turned back toward the room and seemed to study the floor around the bathroom.
That’s when Kelly saw it. The water was seeping out into the carpet around the bathroom doorway and had formed a darkened half-moon that gave away her secret.
The kidnapper threw open the door and saw the flooded bathroom. He stared at it for a few minutes, and she heard him curse as he put it all together and realized what she’d done.
“You bitch,” he spat out as he flew out of the bedroom and hauled Kelly up by her bound wrists. He cracked her cheekbone with the back of his hand, sending pain shooting through her face and down her neck.
She fell backward onto the floor and crumpled in a heap as the pain throbbed in her cheek and tears sprang to her eyes.
The other three men whirled to face them, and the largest one immediately stopped the fist that was poised to come down on her again.
“Knock it off! We need her in good shape for the auction. No one will buy her if she’s got bruises all over her.”
As Kelly heard the words, her brain struggled to process them, and she finally understood. The fear she had felt earlier was nothing compared to the gut-wrenching terror that washed through her and took hold now.
She began to tremble uncontrollably, and the other women all began to struggle as their fate dawned on all of them.
“Shut up!” The larger man yelled at the women before turning to the man who hit Kelly. “What the hell are you doing?”
