The Line: The Complete Series

by Nikki Rose

  Mason interrupted my rage with words that filled me with a sickening dread. “They aren’t looking for ransom.”

  My head spun his direction. The movement made me stumble to the side but I righted myself quickly. I thought for sure their motive was to make the Director pay a ransom. “Then what do they want?”

  Mason’s face turned hard as stone. “To make the Director suffer.”

  Those words were like a sucker punch to the gut. My footing faltered and I froze. I couldn’t breathe. It was like someone had sucked all the oxygen from the woods and my vision blurred for a moment before recovering.

  “Suffer, how?”

  “They’ve set up an online auction. The video is live streaming of her. We can still see that she’s safe for now and we can watch the bids coming in but they all use screen names.”

  “Then have Mikey shut down their servers to stop it.”

  “They say if we try to hack into their system to track them or stop the auction, they will kill her, live online.”

  “Shit.” I whirled around and punched a large oak nearby. The bark bit into my knuckles and made them bleed but I barely felt it through my rage. “I want to see her.”

  “Chris, I don’t think—” Hunter started but I didn’t care what he thought at that point. I wanted to see her. I needed to see her.

  “I want to fucking see her.” I roared. I’d never talked to him like that—ever. But my best friend knew I was hurting and didn’t even miss a beat. He pulled his phone from his pocket and unlocked the screen before handing it to me.

  I took the phone and the image in front of me ripped my heart from my chest. She was crying. Dry blood was caked on her lip from where it had been split open and her dark hair clung to her tear-soaked cheeks. Her whole body shook with the sobs that poured from her and the worst part was there was not a damn thing I could do about it.

  I wanted to reach out and wipe her tears away, to wrap her in my arms and keep her safe from everything but I couldn’t. I had no clue where she was but I’d find her. I had to.

  “Do we have any idea where this is?” As hard as it was, I pried my eyes from the screen and handed the phone back to Hunter.

  Mason spoke up. “We’ve had analysts scanning the video for any signs of where they could be but there’s been no luck. Our best bet is to follow their tracks and try to narrow down which way they’ve gone. We’ve got a bird ready to fly as soon as we find anything but the tree cover is too thick for them to see anything if it’s in this area.”

  I had Hunter pull up the feed on my phone and checked the live feed again. Caroline had stopped crying but was still trembling and sniffling. I needed to get to her. I had to find her, to make her safe again. If anything happened to her, I’d never forgive myself. She only ran off because of the terrible situation I’d gotten us into because I couldn’t keep my dick in my pants.

  But that wasn’t true. Not really. Yes, I was attracted to Caroline, but it was so much more than just sex. I cared for her. I wanted to be with her, to hold her, to take her out, to show her the world. I was so worried about throwing away my job which had become my whole life that I hadn’t realized I hadn’t truly been living.

  I followed behind Hunter and Mason, watching the screen as the bids came in. Twenty bids already. Twenty perverts looked to buy my beautiful Caroline so that they could do God knew what to her. The current bidding price blinked below the video feed. Fifty thousand dollars. Fifty-five thousand. Sixty thousand.

  I put the phone away again. I had to focus on getting to her. I picked up the pace, passing Hunter and Mason on the trail. “We’ve got to find her. Now. The bidding is already at sixty thousand dollars. Those greedy bastards aren’t going to wait much longer to get the money and sell her off to whatever perv wins.”

  “The longer they are online the better. Our analysts are trying to discreetly trace the live feed.”

  “Are you crazy? Those guys are smart. They could detect our analysts and kill Caroline like they said they would.”

  “The orders came directly from the Director.”

  “What was he thinking? These guys are about control and making the Director suffer, both of which will happen if he gives the order that kills his only daughter. Call Mikey and have all the analysts back off.”

  “Against the Director’s orders?”

  “Yes.”

  “They won’t just stop because you said so, Chris. Think things through.” Hunter interceded. Leave it to my best friend to be the voice of reason. That was normally my place but when it came to Caroline and her safety, I was anything but rational.

  “Then what would you have me do? He’s going to get her killed.”

  Hunter reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell again, and offered it to me. “Call him.”

  “Who?”

  “The Director. You think he’s making a mistake when it comes to Caroline? Tell him.”

  I’d always been the kind to follow the rules. Hunter was the one always pushing the boundaries. If someone drew a line, he was going to cross it but not me. I took the phone from his hand and dialed the Director’s private line.

  “Applegate.”

  “Sir, it’s Chris. You need to call off the analysts before you get Caroline killed.”

  “Chris? I thought I took you off this assignment.”

  “You did, but I’m not going to stop looking for Caroline no matter what. You need to stop the analysts now before her kidnappers catch on.”

  “Our analysts—”

  “Couldn’t find out the information on the hackers who broke into their secure network. And, now the men who have your daughter are just waiting for you to give them a reason to kill her over the live stream. They want to make you suffer. What better way than to have you watch as they kill Caroline for a call you made? Do you really want to be the reason your daughter dies?”

  “It’s our only chance to find her.” His voice broke and all his strength was zapped from his tone.

  “Sir, I promise you I will find her but you have got to call off the analysts. If they get any hint that someone is poking around their network, they said they would kill her and keep the stream going so you can watch. I won’t let that happen. We are on their trail now.”

  “Okay, I’ll send them the order now. And Chris?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Bring her home.”

  “Yes, sir.” I hung up the phone and passed it back to Hunter who was smiling at me with a knowing grin. “What?”

  “You love her.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You’re in love with Caroline.” And, damn it, he was right.

  We didn’t have to walk much farther before coming to a clearing in the woods where the footprints ended and tire tracks began.

  Mason pulled out his phone and called the other part of our team waiting on instructions. “We’ve got tire tracks leading out of the other side of the woods...yeah, get that bird in the sky. Look for two...make that three vehicles and send us transport out of here. Roger that.”

  While we waited, I stepped away from the others, took out my phone and made a call to our head of tech.

  “You've reached Mikey.”

  “Hey, Mikey I just wanted to double check that you got an order from the boss man to stop trying to snoop on the Russian’s live feed?”

  “Yeah, we pulled the plug on that just before you called. “

  “Good. The last thing we want is for Caroline to get hurt because they catch one of your guys. Did you find out anything that might be able to help us find her?”

  “No, unfortunately I never made it far into their network.”

  “I think we need to work on a plan B...”

  CHAPTER 26

  Caroline

  “Hello there, beauty. This couldn’t be more perfect. You are going to make us a pretty penny all the while getting the retribution we are owed by your father.” Petrov was wearing a mask for the camera so no one could see his f
ace as he crouched down next to me and cupped my chin.

  I turned my face away from his grasp but he grabbed me rougher the next time. His voice grew lower and more menacing as he stroked my cheek with the back of his hand. “Sixty-thousand dollars. That’s what you're going for right now. Can you imagine what a man will want to do to you to get sixty-thousand dollars’ worth? Let’s see if we can’t get them to bid a little higher still, hm? Maybe if we show them a little more of the goods.” He turned to speak to the camera for that last part.

  I tried not to react. I didn’t want him to know he was getting to me but I couldn’t control the panic coursing through my body. He took out a long knife from its sheath on his side and lightly dragged it down my neck, turning the blade so that it never cut but so that I could feel the cold steel against my overheated skin. I trembled but fought to be as still as possible, not wanting him to cut me.

  He dragged the back of the blade down my collar bone and between my cleavage where he hooked the blade around and slowly cut away the fabric of my black cotton tee until it hung open, exposing my soft pink, lace bra.

  “Beautiful, da?” He spoke again to the camera. All I could do was turn my face away in shame, knowing all those sickos were watching me.

  He reached back and fisted a handful of my hair, forcing me to face the camera. “Tell the nice men out there to bid for you. Tell them you can’t wait to meet your new owner and if they want that to be them, they’ll keep bidding.”

  I refused to say the words—not so much refused as was unable to even get those words to come out of my mouth. “Say it.” He barked and pulled my hair harder. I cried out and when I tried to say the words, they nearly choked me.

  “You stubborn suka.” He released my hair with a hard thrust, making my head sling forward and my arms pull on the bindings. The chair rocked on its front legs and I feared I would tumble over but it rocked back and he grabbed hold of the back of the chair before it flipped over. The sudden stop jolted me and my heart pounded even harder against my chest bone. Petrov rounded the chair so that the left side of his back was to the camera. He drew his hand back, and I cringed as he brought it down hard against my face. Once then again on the other side making my face sling from one side to the other.

  I sobbed ugly tears as the taste of blood filled my mouth. Once he walked away, I spit toward the ground, leaving a small red splatter. I wanted so badly to tell my dad and the others where I was, describe the house or give some clue to help them. But Petrov was monitoring the video feed the whole time. It was on a ten-minute delay which meant he could stop the message from going out before it went. Even if it did make it to them, not only would he be ready for them, he’d kill me long before they could ever get here.

  I glanced over at the screen Petrov had the men set up just for me to watch the bidding. One man always sat just off screen with me but they thought it was fun for me to watch men bidding, determining what my value might be. Misha was on duty, watching me while Petrov went back upstairs.

  He made me more nervous than the rest. From what I could tell, he was the loose cannon of the bunch. There was a fury in him bubbling just below the surface and I didn’t want to make him have any reason to release that on me. I made a point to be as still and quiet as I could be. Hoping he’d leave me alone or even better, doze off. But, he didn’t.

  “I’m bored.” His words were out of the blue and I tensed. “I bet our viewers are getting bored too. Their bidding has stalled at only sixty thousand dollars. Maybe you are not as desirable as the boss thinks?”

  I didn’t respond. He was baiting me. Trying to get a response out of me so he’d have a reason to do something about it. Misha stood and stalked over to me, keeping his face away from the camera. He walked behind me and I had to twist to get a glimpse of him tying something to one of the exposed metal beams overhead.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Making things a little more interesting.”

  I had no idea what that meant, but fear rose up inside my chest and throat, nearly suffocating me. He cut my hands loose and secured them in front of me before cutting my legs free from the chair.

  “What’s going on? What are you doing?” I flailed around, trying to make it harder for him to control me but he gripped me hard by the shoulders and forced me to stand.

  He kicked the chair out of the way, backing me up to where a rope hung down from the ceiling. Panic kicked up another notch as he lifted my bound wrists and secured the zip tie to the rope, leaving me standing on my tiptoes to keep from hurting my wrists.

  “Why don’t you dance for your audience? Let your future owner see what his money is paying for.”

  I stood there glaring at him, not moving and not responding. If he thought I was going to make his life easy, be a good little girl and do as I was told, he was poorly mistaken. He should have asked Chris about my ability to follow directions.

  The memory of Chris brought a bittersweet smile to my lips. I prayed that he had survived the blast. If we both made it out of this alive, I'd say to hell with worrying about what Chris might say if I told him how I really felt about him. I wouldn’t be so concerned about whether he would reject me or not. Life was too short not to say how you feel to those you love. Love. It was a strange realization but yes, I loved Chris.

  “I said dance, bludnitsa.”

  He lunged over to me, wrapping one arm around my waist and the other held a knife to my throat. I froze, not fighting, barely breathing.

  “Good, it seems I have your attention. Now, dance.”

  He ground his semi hard shaft against my ass, moving my hips to mimic a seductive dance. “That's right. Like that. Now, put on a show for all of us.”

  He motioned again toward the camera and walked away from me. I barely moved my hips. Slightly swaying with my hands still bound above my head.

  Misha grabbed hold of the other end of the rope which hung out of the camera's view and pulled, shortening my end of the rope and painfully lifting me off the ground by the zip ties which bit into my wrists.

  I cried out and flung my feet, hoping to find some footing but he kept me just out of reach of the floor. “Please, please put me down.”

  He dropped me down so fast, I fell to my knees and he sat in his metal chair. “Now, do as you are told and dance for all the men watching you.”

  I forced myself up from the ground and found my footing easier with the slack in the rope. I swayed my hips with a little more effort even though I was incredibly self-conscious. I didn't want him pulling the rope again.

  “Take off your clothes.”

  “What? No!” I scoffed at him in disgust.

  “Need a little motivation?” I tensed, readying myself for him to pull my wrists up again but he didn't.

  “Now, strip for the camera.”

  “Go to hell.”

  I braced again, sure he would be pulling me up again but he didn't, instead, he stalked over to me and untied the rope from my bound hands. I hoped that maybe he was getting bored and would let me go back to just sitting in the chair but I was very wrong.

  Misha wrapped the rope around my neck. I thrashed and fought with every ounce of energy I had left and then some but it was no use. He was too strong and I was still bound by the wrists.

  He slid the knot so that it fit snug around my neck, keeping the other end in his hand, then cut my wrists free.

  “Strip.” He commanded but I still stood still. He wouldn't kill me. Not without Petrov's permission and he'd never give his permission so easily.

  He tugged his end of the rope hard and the loop around my neck tightened. He pulled until my tiptoes could no longer touch the floor and all my weight swung from the rope at my throat.

  I forced a small breath through my restricted airways but just managed to make a horrible rasping sound. As my air ran out, I flailed helplessly in the air. My nails dug at the rope with no luck. Darkness encircled my vision, closing in slowly until finally I was falling fast, my legs cras
hing against the unforgiving concrete.

  On my hands and knees, I gasped for air, sucking painful breaths back into my lungs.

  “On your feet.” Misha’s harsh voice cut through the haze but my mind wasn't connecting to the rest of my body. “I said on your feet, shlyukha.” He slightly tugged at the rope and panic shot enough adrenaline into my veins that I was able to find the strength to stand up again. Just in time for his next command.

  “Strip.”

  I hesitated for a moment, but one glance at that rope in his hands and I knew what I had to do. I slowly peeled my shirt off my shoulders and let it flutter to the floor.

  When Lev came to relieve Misha of his post, I was grateful that he let me put my clothes back on, although he made me keep the rope tied around my neck while sitting once again in the metal chair in front of the camera. It was still better than what I'd been through with Misha.

  “You are lucky the buyers are watching your every move otherwise I am sure Misha would have taken it upon himself to take a small sample of the goods before they were sold,” his gaze roamed over my body as he spoke about me like I was a piece of merchandise. Then again, I suppose to those men, I was.

  CHAPTER 27

  Chris

  We could hear the black government issued SUV rumble over the dirt path well before we could actually see it. I took the front passenger seat while Hunter and Mason climbed in the back.

  “The bird picked up some thermal activity in an abandoned farm house not too far from here. Mikey said the records show the property to be owned by some redevelopment company no one has ever heard of. Looks like a front.”

  “That’s gotta be where they are holed up with Caroline. Step on it.”

  We raced down the highway without using our police lights or sirens. We didn’t want to give the Russians any notice we were coming and risk them rushing to their end game early. Hunter and Mason were speaking in low voices in the back. I glanced back and noticed their grave expressions.