Nothing.
Footsteps sounded outside the door and he propelled himself away from the chair, back into his original spot, just as the door opened. A man wearing a ski mask stepped inside, checked on the general, then looked at Gavin. “Well, two out of three of you are here. Now, we wait for Sarah.”
“What do you want with Sarah?” Gavin scowled. “Who are you anyway?”
“Doesn’t matter. The less you know the better.”
Which meant he didn’t intend to kill them? Possibly. Doubtful. The voice was familiar, though. Think!
He walked over to Gavin and Gavin recognized the cell phone in his hand as his own. The man shook it at him. “Sit tight, Sarah will be joining us shortly.”
“You’re not the one who snatched me from the parking lot.”
“I had a little help.”
“What’s this all about?”
“I needed the general to get you here.”
Gavin narrowed his eyes, doing his best to ignore the fact that his hands were going numb. “I’m here. Now what?”
“Now, you get Sarah here.”
“Not a chance.”
“Definitely a chance.” His jaw tightened and his eyes flashed. “I had it all set up in Afghanistan and you ruined it. None of this would have happened if you’d just stayed away.”
Realization was a painful thing. “You set up her kidnapping.”
“And lost a ton of money on that because of you. I’d paid for it with money I didn’t have, but it was supposed to be fine, because once Sarah signed the papers, I would have made that back and more. So, this is all on you.”
“And you plan to get her here how?”
“Easy peasy.” He waved the phone again. “All it took was a text from you.”
Gavin laughed, the sound more pained than he would have liked. “She has 24/7 bodyguards. Good luck.” This man had been behind Sarah’s kidnapping. That had been no small feat to set up. That had taken power—and lots of it.
“She’ll find a way to slip away from them,” his captor was saying, “if she doesn’t want to see you die.”
“Me? What about her father? You don’t think she’d be concerned about him?”
“Not really. That’s why I needed you.”
Sarah’s phone buzzed and she glanced at the screen. “Gavin.”
“What?” Asher looked up.
She ignored him and read silently.
Hey, I’m following up on a lead at 11 Harrison Street. I’m almost finished. You want to meet me here and we’ll go grab something to eat?
Meet him there? Really? She almost typed yes, but then shook her head. He wouldn’t ask her to do that. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard. Then she typed,
Who is this?
Um . . . Gavin? You forget me already?
You’re not Gavin.
A pause. Three little dots to indicate someone typing a response. The dots disappeared. Then reappeared.
All right, then come alone to that address or the general and Gavin both die. How’s that?
A picture popped up and she gasped.
Gavin lay on the floor, tied up like a Thanksgiving turkey. Her father was still bound to the chair. They both looked unconscious.
What do you want?
“You, Sarah. It’s always been you. Be here within fifteen minutes or one of them dies. If I see a cop, they both die. And don’t be stupid and leave your phone behind. You’d better have it on you when you get here.”
Who are you?
A stupid text, but she had to try.
No answer.
Of course not.
In all caps, she typed,
I DON’T HAVE A CAR!
There’s one waiting for you in the handicapped spot just outside the emergency room. A black sedan. Keys are in it. I’m going to call and you keep your phone on so I can listen. Answer on the first ring or they die.
“Everything okay?” Asher asked.
She glanced up. “Yes.” She started to say something, then glanced at the camera on the wall. Could she chance warning Asher with a visual cue somehow?
Her brain clicked. She had to think through the fear that wanted to consume her. Not so much for herself, but for Gavin. And, if she was honest, her father. Maybe she didn’t hate him as much as she said she did. Or as much as she wanted to. Her phone buzzed. She stood. Asher did too.
“I’m going to the restroom,” she said and tapped the screen before it could ring again.
“I’ll check it out for you.”
Exactly what she thought he’d say. “Fine. I’ll just take this call while you do that.” She lifted the device to her ear. “Hold on one second.”
“I’m waiting.”
“I know.”
In the hallway, he followed her to the women’s restroom and knocked on the door. “Anyone in here?” No answer. He pulled the door open, then looked back at her. “Step just inside and keep your back to the wall while I take a look.”
With a glance at her watch, Sarah slipped inside the restroom. Asher started at the end and pushed open the first stall. Then the second. When he reached the fifth one, Sarah backed through the door and out into the hallway. With a grimace of regret, she turned and raced for the stairwell.
Just as she pushed the exit door open, she heard Asher’s frantic shout. Gritting her teeth, she refused to turn back. Maybe she was being incredibly stupid, but the one thing that kept her going was the fact that they were tracking Gavin’s truck. Whoever had taken him had taken his truck. But the person on the other end of the line didn’t know about the tracker. At the bottom of the stairs, she ran for the emergency department, dodging patients and other hospital staff while ignoring the dirty looks and yells to slow down.
She hit the door and pushed out onto the sidewalk. To the left were three cars in handicapped spaces. To the right were four. But only one black sedan. She raced to it and threw herself into the driver’s seat.
Sure enough, the keys were in the ignition, the engine running. She glanced at the dash clock. Time was ticking too fast. She took a fraction of a moment to jab the speakerphone button, then set the device in the cup holder. She put the car in reverse, backed out, and sped for the parking lot exit. “I’m on the way,” she said.
“Good. We’re waiting for you.”
“Can I hang up now?”
A laugh. “No.”
“Are they all right?”
“They’re still breathing, if that’s what you mean by all right.”
“You’re the man from the hospital. I recognize your voice.”
A pause.
“Kilgore’s an idiot,” the voice said. “He said you were too drugged up to remember anything.”
“Like you said, he’s an idiot. But that didn’t stop you from trying to kill me.”
“Not kill you, my dear. I very much need you alive.”
Sarah frowned, even as her heart beat in triple time and her blood surged through her veins. “Why?” Was there any way she could signal someone from her phone? Or—
She glanced in the rearview mirror and gasped, jerked the wheel to the right, then corrected. A woman sat in the backseat, her weapon aimed at Sarah’s head.
“What are you doing?” Sarah screeched.
“No speeding,” she said. “Slow down.”
Sarah released her foot from the gas. The car slowed in direct opposition to her racing pulse. “Nurse Donna. I knew you were mixed up in this. He said he wants me alive.”
“He does, but he wants you alive and alone.”
“Right.”
“Hand me your phone.”
Sarah complied.
Donna spoke into it. “We’ll be there in ten minutes.” A pause. “No, we haven’t been followed. By all appearances, she did exactly as instructed.” She fell silent, listening. “Yes, I understand.” She hung up. “Turn right at the next light, then left.”
“But the address he gave me is left.”
Donna snorted. “You d
on’t think he’d take a chance that you’d somehow get word to someone with that, do you?”
“Right.” Sarah followed the directions, wishing she had a weapon on her. Finally, she asked, “How’d you get mixed up in all of this?”
“I needed money and Dr. Kilgore knew it. When he asked me to help him with the patients, I agreed.”
“Even though it was hurting those patients?”
“There was always the possibility that it would help them. It was worth the risk. A lot of people are going to be helped because of this drug once the testing is done.”
“The FDA has to approve it. You were falsifying information.”
“It would be fine in the end. We were making progress. The drug was working, it just needed to be refined. Tweaked.”
“Tweaked?” Sarah clamped her lips on the scream that wanted to erupt, even as her fingers flexed around the wheel. “What about the people who’ve been hurt or died?”
“Nothing great comes without a price. Every drug trial is a risk. The participants knew that going in and they found it acceptable.”
“And they’ve all paid the price for it. With their lives. Like Brianne.”
No response.
“You remember Brianne now, right?”
“I remember her.”
“Why say she wasn’t there at the hospital? Why deny her existence?”
“Because she wasn’t supposed to be there. Or have the drug in her system. She never volunteered, but we gave her the drug anyway. It would have been fine, except someone let her family know she was there, and when they showed up, Dr. Kilgore had to do something. He said to act like she was never there. So we did.”
“He told Dr. Kilgore to take her off of it.” Sarah swallowed. “He knew she would kill herself if they quit giving it to her.”
Sarah shot her captor a quick look in the rearview mirror and the woman’s jaw went tight. “That was unfortunate.”
“That was murder—and you’re a part of it.”
Donna let out a low breath. “I’m not a part of it. I just follow orders.”
Sarah didn’t bother to laugh. If she truly believed that, then she was just plain stupid. “And my brother Dustin? How did he fit into this whole thing?” She shoved aside the wave of sorrow and focused on the road.
“He volunteered for the study.”
“He knew something hinky was going on and offered himself up as a lab rat in order to find out what it was.” Sarah couldn’t help the snap.
Once again, Donna fell silent until she had to give the next set of directions. Sarah followed them until she was finally instructed to turn into the parking lot of a facility she should know. Why did the name set off all kinds of alarm bells?
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR
Once their captor left, Gavin groaned and lay still, trying to catch his breath and work his hands. He needed to get out of the restraints—and fast.
Which meant he needed the general to wake up. Gavin rocked the chair once more and the man lifted his head.
“Is he gone?”
“You were faking?”
“Somewhat.” He grimaced. “Feel like I have a two-ton truck using my head as a shortcut to somewhere.”
“I know the feeling. He get you with chloroform to the face?”
“Yeah.”
“Who is it?”
“A man I thought I could trust.” His eyes flashed. “His name is Marshall McClain. He’s a former unit member and fraternity brother. And part owner in the company Marshbanks Labs. I’m one of the investors. A heavy investor. I knew he was working on something rather controversial, but I didn’t realize he was killing people.”
“The suicides.”
“I opened that package Dustin sent Sarah.”
“Yeah? Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Gavin scooted closer, jaw clenched against the bursts of pain. “If I can get behind you, can you feel your way around the knots and untie my hands?”
“They’re kind of numb, but I can try.”
While the man fumbled with the knots from his awkward position, Gavin closed his eyes and ducked his head against his chest. His muscles burned and his blood pounded.
Hurry, hurry.
The ropes tugged, loosened?
The general stopped. Grunted.
“Keep going, sir.”
“My blasted fingers won’t cooperate with me.”
“Make ’em.”
He huffed a soft laugh. “Right.”
“What does he want with Sarah?”
“Her money.”
Gavin frowned, trying to focus beyond his abused body’s protestation of the contorted position. “What money? You disinherited her.”
“Yeah, but I can re-inherit her. I’ve got control of the funds. Sort of.”
“Sort of?”
One knot slipped free and they both sucked in relieved breaths. The general went back to work, pulling almost frantically.
“Slow down, sir, feel your way.”
The man stopped. Took another gulp of air and resumed his tugging. “Yeah. Sort of. I have to sign off to relinquish the funds and she has to sign that she accepts them.”
“How much are we talking here?”
“A little over ten million.”
Gavin gasped.
And his hands fell free.
Pain pounded through them, into his fingers, palms, upper arms, everywhere. He shook them and glanced at the door. “Good job, sir.”
“Get your legs free before you work on me. At least we’ll have a chance if one of us can fight back.”
Gavin went to work on his legs, when the sound of a door slamming reached him. He hurried, pulling the ropes and digging into the first knot with his fingernails. “He did these better than my hands. Ten million?”
“Compliments of her mother’s mother from Texas, who liquidated her oil field, then invested the money very wisely.”
“I’d say.”
“She split the money evenly between the three kids. Dustin’s share will be divided between Sarah and Caden.”
“Do they know this?”
He hesitated. “No. Well, not the amount, just that they have some money coming to them.”
“And she gave you power over it?”
“My wife had power. Until her death. Then it went to me.”
“When were they supposed to get the money?”
“When they turned thirty—or when I deemed them mature enough to handle it.”
“I take it you haven’t deemed it yet.” Gavin gave a growl of frustration. “I can’t get this knot undone.”
Footsteps sounded outside the room and Gavin grabbed the rope and pulled it behind his back, hoping it would fool the man into believing he was still tied up.
“There’s one thing you need to know, Gavin.”
Uh-oh. “What’s that?”
“I’ve already signed the papers. All he needs is Sarah’s signature.”
Caden paced the hospital floor while waiting for news about Sarah. “Why did she run?”
Asher raked a hand over his head. “I don’t know. Someone got to her. Can you access her phone?”
Caden pursed his lips and willed his heart to stop threatening to rupture in his chest. If anything happened to Sarah . . . “I’d need a warrant for her—no I don’t. Hold on, hold on. I know her Apple ID and password.”
Asher frowned. “How do you know that?”
“I watched her type it in her phone one time. As long as she hasn’t changed it, we should be good.”
“You watched her one time. And you remember it?”
“I remember a lot of things. I need a computer.” The door opened and Heather walked in with her laptop. “Perfect timing.”
She raised a brow. “How’s that?”
He told her and she handed him the computer. “Fine, but I have something I need to discuss with you.”
“Feel free to talk while I see if I can get into Sarah’s text messages.” He logged Heather
off and said a quick prayer that Sarah hadn’t changed her login. Then started typing.
“So, here’s the deal,” Heather said. “I researched all of those little red dots on the map Dustin provided. Each place has a VA hospital and each one had at least one patient who has committed suicide in the last six months. While that may not seem like a lot overall, considering the number of vet suicides in the country, the thing that stood out with these is they all came from the same area of Afghanistan and from the same base as Sarah, Dustin, Helen, and Brianne.”
“All of them?” Caden looked up with a frown.
“Every last one of them.”
“Most of them died, but several actually survived their attempts. Not in great shape, but . . .” She shrugged.
“But they survived.”
“They did.”
“How?”
“Someone interrupted them or got them to a hospital ASAP to have their stomach pumped. One survived a car wreck but is a paraplegic, one is in a coma on a ventilator, a couple have gone back to their lives without any lasting visible trauma once the doctors were able to repair the damage.”
“No, Max said they wouldn’t be able to fight that until the drug was completely out of their system. So, how did they do that?”
“I have a theory about that, but I need to do some more investigating before I’ll know if I’m right or not.”
“What kind of theory?” He clicked. “Never mind. I’m in. Just got to wait for the messages to load.” Within seconds, they were on the screen in front of him. He scanned through them, then gave a sigh of disgust. “Well, we know why she snuck away and took off like she did.” He got on the phone and made a call to get someone to the address in the text, then hung up and leaned back.
Heather frowned. “Why aren’t you going?”
“She won’t be there.”
“Why not?”
“There’s no way they’d text the address they wanted her to go to.” He shook his head. “It was just a way to get her out of the building.”
But the security footage had shown her heading out of the building and getting into the dark sedan. He called Annie. “Hey,” he said when she answered. “What do you have on the sedan?”
Acceptable Risk Page 24
