by R. D. Brady
“Do you think we could stop for milkshakes before the bookstore?” Danny asked.
Henry gave a little laugh. “I think-”
A prickling sensation rolled down Henry's neck. He whipped his head to the left.
A black pickup burst from behind the trees at the side of the road. It broadsided their SUV, flipping them over and over again.
CHAPTER 61
Henry shook his head, trying to stop the ringing in his ears. He pushed the air bags out of his way. The SUV was on its roof, the windshield a spider web of cracks.
Suspended upside down, blood rushed to his head. He pulled out his cell phone, but there was no signal. He wasn't surprised. This part of the road was notorious for spotty cell capability.
He looked over at Danny, who was looking dazed. “Danny?”
Danny grimaced, a cut on the side of his forehead. “I’m okay. What happened?”
The squealing of brakes cut off his reply. Through the windshield, Henry saw two trucks idling, four men exiting them. Twisting his neck to look behind them, he saw another two men getting out of a truck behind them.
“Henry?” Danny asked, fear in his voice.
“Stay here.” Henry punched at his seatbelt, releasing himself. He pulled on the handle, but the door was jammed. Throwing his shoulder into it, it flung open.
Henry stumbled out, quickly righting himself.
Four men stood looking at him, another two held back at the pickup behind him. They didn't speak. All wore baseball caps, flannel jackets and were, in a word, non-descript. Medium height, medium build, unremarkable features.
"Now," ordered one of the men.
A man in a Red Sox cap ran at him, throwing a front kick. Henry blocked the kick, jabbed the man in the face, followed by a cross to the stomach. He grabbed the man by the throat and threw him towards the ground. As the man hit the ground, another kicked at Henry’s back legs.
Henry leaped out of the way, snaking his arm around the second man’s neck, pulling him into a chokehold. “What do you want?”
The man didn’t respond.
“Henry!” Danny yelled.
Henry whipped around. Two men dragged Danny from the car. With a roar, Henry flung the man he was holding away.
Seeing Danny in danger unleashed something inside of Henry that he'd kept carefully locked away for years. The need to protect Danny overrode any other thought, any other emotion. Logic was gone. He was in pure predator mode. He leapt over the car, ten feet in the air and eight feet across.
The men holding Danny stopped to gape at his actions. Without hesitation, Henry aimed a front kick into one of the men’s chest, sending him flying. A crack told him at least one of the man's ribs had broken, if not his sternum. Wrapping his hand around the other man’s throat, he swung him like a rag doll before throwing him across the road.
Danny stared at Henry, his mouth hanging open.
Henry leaned down, grabbing Danny’s arms. “Danny, you need to run.”
“No. I’m not leaving you."
Henry could hear the men coming up behind them. “Now, Danny, run. Get help.” He turned Danny around, pushing him towards the woods.
Danny stumbled. Then, with one last look, he disappeared into the trees.
Henry turned just as a man pulled out a Taser. He leapt to the side, barely missing the prongs as they sprung towards him.
He swept the man’s legs from him and landed a punch to his face. The man’s head snapped back, his eyes rolling back into his head.
“Get the boy,” one of them yelled. Two men sprinted towards the trees.
Anger surged through Henry. “No!”
Leaping towards one of the men, he tackled him to the ground. With satisfaction, Henry felt and heard the bones in his face crunch. He slammed the man's head into the ground for good measure. The man screamed, clutching at his ruined face.
With a short burst of speed, he tackled the other man around the knees, dropping him to the ground. Kneeing the man in the middle of the back, Henry grabbed him by the hair, slamming his face into the ground three times.
Visions of the man hurting Danny raced through Henry’s mind. “You don’t get to touch him,” he growled, slamming the man’s head into the ground one last time and releasing him.
He turned to face the other men. A sting in his side sent pain shooting through him. He crashed to his knees. Reaching down, he yanked the prongs from the Taser out. The pain disappeared almost immediately. He stood, turning to the four men lined up behind him.
One pulled out a gun, but another yelled at him. “No guns. We need him unharmed.”
The men moved forward, slowly circling towards him. One shot a dart at him. Henry ducked out of the way at the last moment, avoiding it. But he walked right into another one. He pulled it out, but he could already feel the effects. His movements were growing sluggish, his thinking muddied.
He stumbled towards the men. I have to protect Danny. Another dart pierced his side.
He crashed to his knees and fell forward. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think.
“Okay men, let’s load him up,” was the last thing he heard before unconsciousness claimed him.
CHAPTER 62
Laney jogged down the main drive of the Chandler Estate, before turning onto the country road. Jake had just arrived back. He had a few leads he wanted to run down before they met up with Henry and Danny. It should give Laney just enough time for a quick run and shower.
She ran at her regular pace for two miles. She glanced at her watch and picked up the speed.
Five-minute mile, here I come, she challenged herself.
She flew down the road, focusing on her breathing, the cadence of her step. Up ahead, she saw the mile marker and managed to coax just a little more speed out of her body. A blur of dust trailed behind her.
She crossed the mile marker and glanced at her watch. Four minutes, fifty-seven seconds.
“Yes!” She threw her hands up in the air and did a little victory dance, with lots of deep breaths and a couple of bends at the waist. She might not be superhuman fast, but she was pretty damn fast. She sucked in a lungful of air. As long as I don’t have to run that fast for long.
Her breathing back under control, she turned around and headed back to the estate. In the back of her mind, all the Ecuador facts and mysteries swirled. She paid them no attention. She needed to ignore them for a little while. Right now, they were all jumbled together.
The estate appeared in the distance and she smiled, thinking of the afternoon to come. It would be nice to take a break from everything to spend time with her boys.
Movement in the field to her right had her turning her head. A small figure ran out of the woods towards the road.
She paused, putting her hand up to shield her eyes from the sun and squinted. Her heart hammered in her chest. Oh my God. Danny.
She sprinted across the road, vaulted over the divider, and into the field. Her legs pounded down the earth as she flew towards him. The closer she got, the more she could feel Danny's fear.
Her eyes scanned the field behind him. Henry. Where was Henry?
She put on a burst of speed to reach him. She dropped to the ground in front him, grabbing his arms. “Danny? What’s happened?”
Tears coursed down his cheeks, a small cut bled down the side of his face. His chest heaved. He struggled to get the words out, his sobs making him impossible to understand.
Finally, he took a breath. The words tumbled out, full of terror. “They took Henry.”
CHAPTER 63
Laney called security from the field. She grabbed Danny’s hand, running with him towards the road. Two security cars shot out from the estate. One raced ahead to the sight of the ambush. The other halted at the guardrail near them. A guard leaped over the rail, sprinting towards them.
When the security guard reached them, he grabbed Danny in his arms, and raced back to the car. Laney ran behind him, her mind a kaleidoscope of fear and questions. Who
’d taken Henry? Why? How had Danny escaped?
The guard all but threw Danny in the back of the car. Laney leaped in the front.
"Has Jake been told?" she asked as the guard pulled the jeep into a U-turn.
"Yeah. He's assembling a team for a search and rescue and taking point on the operation."
She nodded, glancing into the back of the car. Danny's tears had dried, but he continued to shake as he stared out the window.
Laney turned back to the guard. "Do you have a tablet in here?"
"In the glove compartment."
She opened it up and pulled out the tablet. Reaching over the seat, she handed it to Danny. He glanced up at her, his eyes wide. "See what you can find, Danny."
He nodded, grabbing the computer. His fingers flew over the device as they sped along the drive.
Pulling to a sharp stop at the front of the main building, Laney and Danny leaped from the car. Danny sprinted up the stairs. Laney was right behind him, taking them two at a time.
Danny raced ahead of her, throwing open the doors to Henry's office. He threw himself into a chair at the conference table, his eyes never leaving the screen of the tablet.
Laney stopped in the doorway. Jake was on the phone behind Henry’s desk. She caught his eyes. He shook his head and her heart dropped.
Danny pulled up to one of the monitors, still not talking. He even ignored Moxy, who’d placed her head in his lap.
Jake hung up the phone and walked over to her. With a glance to make sure Danny couldn't overhear, he spoke low. “We’ve tracked the trucks by street cams. But when our security reached them, they’d already been abandoned.” He lowered his voice with a quick glance at Danny. “These guys were professionals."
A shiver ran though her. She reached for Jake's hand. "And Henry could be anywhere.”
He squeezed her hand. "We'll get him back, Laney."
She nodded, but she couldn't help think of the similarity to the Ecuador group. Both were professional jobs, leaving little to no trace. "Jake, do you think there's any chance this is related to what happened in Ecuador?"
Jake turned to her and Laney knew he’d had the same thought. "I don't know, Laney. I really don't."
“I’ve got something,” Danny called from the table.
The screen above the conference table flickered to life and showed the road where Henry had been taken. She walked quickly over, Jake beside her.
“Is this happening right now?” Jake asked.
Danny shook his head. “No. It’s a recording.”
“There’s a security cam out there?” Laney asked.
Danny nodded. “I developed a new type of camera. I had prototypes strung along that street, to test how they worked in real world conditions. You would never know they were there unless you looked for them.”
His bottom lip trembled. He took a deep breath, steadying himself. The move pierced Laney's heart.
On the screen, Danny scrolled back, the images too blurry to make out. He stopped the tape twenty-five minutes before and let it play.
Two minutes later, Henry’s SUV entered the screen. She flinched as it was broadsided by the pickup, flipping it multiple times until it came to rest on its roof. Two other pickups pulled into view in front of the upended car. The one that had rammed them pulled in behind it.
She watched Henry shove open his door with such force it was ripped from its hinges.
Seconds later, Henry took out the first two men who moved on him with efficient moves. And then the fight changed. Two of the men grabbed Danny, pulling him from the car. Laney wanted to leap into the screen and kill them for touching him.
But she wasn’t needed, she realized with shock as Henry leaped over the car. Not over the hood, but the base. He must have jumped at least seven feet in the air and ten feet in distance. Laney felt her jaw drop. She couldn’t find any words.
“I thought I’d imagined that,” Danny whispered.
Laney looked at Jake who was staring at the screen with the same dumbfounded expression. On the screen, Henry moved with lightning-fast reflexes, taking out the two men who’d touched Danny. He moved equally fast taking down the men who tried to follow Danny as he ran for the woods. Finally, the men tranq’d Henry and he fell.
Laney’s heart ached at the image. It took four of the attackers to lift Henry into the pickup. Gathering up two of their own men who weren’t moving, they sped out of sight.
Laney grabbed onto the back of the chair. She turned it so she could sit before she collapsed. “Did that really just happen?”
She wasn’t sure if she was asking about Henry’s abduction or his skills. She knew about Henry's abilities. She’d seen them first hand in Montana, but seeing it again brought it all back. Henry was skilled beyond reason, beyond humanity. If she saw anyone else with those skills, she would be terrified.
But it was Henry. He was practically her brother and that was the most important, defining quality about him. But now all those memories came crashing back along with all the questions she still harbored. Who was Henry really? Was he a fallen angel? Was he something else?
"I don't understand how he did that." Danny's brow furrowed.
Laney knew he was trying to figure out a rational explanation for what he’d seen. She and Jake had never mentioned Henry's abilities to Danny and neither, apparently, had Henry.
A nagging thought stayed just out of her reach. “Danny, can you back up the recording? Slowly?”
He did and Laney stared at the screen, ignoring the fight. She focused on the periphery of the action. “There. Danny, can you focus in on that one guy over by the red pick up?”
Danny zoomed in and the man became clear. A baseball hat and sunglasses hid most of his face. He was dressed the same as his partners, but he had one extra accessory. “Is he holding a camera?”
Jake stepped closer. “Yeah. He’s taping the whole scene.”
Laney felt cold. “Somebody wanted to see that fight.”
CHAPTER 64
The next two hours were a whirlwind of activity. Jake and the Chandler estate’s security were on the phone pinning down operative locations, trying to firm up the search and rescue team.
They’d debated whether or not to call in law enforcement. Right now, they were holding off. Fact of the matter was, the feds had no legal grounds to get involved, and the Chandler Group had more extensive resources than the local police. So for now, it was just them.
“And if we need to go in and get him?” Laney had asked.
“I’ll ask for forgiveness from the feds later if I need to, but I won’t ask permission to save Henry,” Jake said
Laney knew what he meant. Law enforcement wasn’t going to be allowed in on this search. Not if Jake could avoid it.
Danny was locked in his office, creating algorithms to break the signal on Laney’s laptop. He was convinced Henry’s abduction was related to Ecuador.
Laney stayed in Henry’s office, out of everyone’s way. She had no role to play in this search. She felt useless. She paced along the windows that lined the back of the room. Jake and everybody else of importance was down at security, looking for any trace of Henry. So she was here alone, left with only her uncomfortable thoughts.
She stared out the back lawn. Henry’s abduction had to be related to the Shuar’s treasure. There couldn't be two incredible incidents, could there? Or was it just a huge coincidence? But if it was related, why take Henry? He’d never seen the treasure.
She sat down, closing her eyes, picturing the treasure. The map in the lagoon, the tunnel, the treasure space. The statues standing at attention along the walls, the sculptures, the books.
Shoving her awe aside, she focused on the find with objective eyes. Okay, okay. What does the collection tell us?
The find was proof of a highly advanced pre-diluvian society. They had a group of seven individuals who saved the knowledge of the society. They were capable of flight, maybe even space flight. They were educated. They had a writte
n language.
What the hell did any of that have to do with Henry? Why would they need the head of a think tank? Did they need his resources?
She shook her head. No, whoever this group was, they had tons of resources. Besides, no ransom call had come so far.
And why had they recorded the abduction? Someone who couldn't be there must have wanted to see it. But why? Laney pictured the truck slamming into Henry's SUV, it flipping. Henry fighting the men off and then . . .
And then when the men went after Danny, Henry revealed what he could do. Was that the point? To get Henry to reveal his abilities?
She moved over to Henry’s desk, sitting in his large chair, twirling herself back and forth as she tried to piece together the puzzles. “Okay, the Crespi collection and a superhuman. What do they have in common?”
Her phone interrupted her musing. She pulled it out. Yoni. “Hey Yoni.”
Yoni’s voice bounced through the line. “How’s my favorite redhead?”
Laney’s heart clenched. He didn’t know. She took a breath. “Not so good.” She explained about the attack on Henry and Danny.
“Son of a bitch. Who’s leading the search?”
“Jake and Kevin.”
“Good. They’ll find him, Laney.”
“I know,” she said, even though she had no confidence in the words. She cleared her throat. “Are you calling about Warren? Did you find anything?”
“Yeah. I found your boy’s daddy.”
Laney grabbed a pen and legal pad, pulling them into her lap. Thank God. A break. “Who was he?”
“Antonio Flourent.”
Laney scribbled down the name. “That name sounds familiar.”
“It should. He was the heir to his daddy’s company; Flourent, Inc.”
Laney sat straight up. “Holy crap.”
Flourent, Inc. was a worldwide corporation that dabbled in a bit of everything. The name was splashed across billboards, boats, race cars. She pushed her pad aside and googled the net worth. Her eyes grew wide at the amount of zeros on the screen. She let out a low whistle. “Wow. Now that’s rich.”
