by KD Jones
Oh God, she knew that voice. She turned around to come face to face with Vargas. She had to think quick. She plastered a fake smile on her face. “Hi, Gerald. It’s nice to see you again.”
He grabbed her arm and pulled her up alongside him as he dragged her through the lobby and out the front door. She started to scream for help, but he jammed something in her side and whispered to her.
“If you scream or fight me, I will shoot you and whoever comes to help you. Keep quiet if you want to live.”
She considered taking her chances and hoping that even if she was shot running away, the healers could fix her up, but Sam didn’t want to be the cause of someone else getting shot, maybe even Dom.
Dom was big and strong and tough, but theses two goons with Vargas looked mean and they had weapons. The idea of him hurt in any way kept her from trying to escape. She would find another way out.
When they got outside, she thought there might be an opportunity. Vargas’s driver opened the door and Vargas bent to get inside. One of the goons walked around the side of the shuttle, leaving the other guy standing behind her. She glanced at him and waited until he turned his head to look at something else. She pushed away, dashing out into the street. A few of the shuttles slowed and she was nearly hit, but she managed to get to the other side.
Running as fast as she could, she almost made it over another lane of traffic. Her mistake was looking back to see if anyone was chasing her. She tripped over something and fell to the ground. As she tried to get back up she was tackled from behind and had the wind knocked out of her as she landed on her stomach. The guy was too heavy to shove off of her. Rough hands turned her over.
“Let me go! Help! Someone help!” she screamed as she punched and shoved the man straddling her.
The man swung a huge first at her chin. Pain exploded on contact. Then everything went dark.
*****
Dom paced back and forth in the hotel suite. He had checked them out of the hotel and come back to help Sam pack, only Sam wasn’t there. He’d called her cell phone and she answered it, saying she was going to buy some things from the gift shop and would be back up shortly, but that had been almost an hour ago. He couldn’t help but feel like something was seriously wrong. He tried her phone again and again. Each time it went to voice mail. He texted, but there was no response. He had a terrible sense that something was wrong. Growing up on the streets, he had learned to trust his instincts, and when they told him there was danger, there usually was. Right now, his senses were telling him that something was seriously wrong.
He left the suite and took the elevator down to the lobby. The thing was moving at a normal speed, but to him it felt like it took forever. As soon as the doors to the lobby opened, he could see a crowd of people standing near the door. Hotel personnel were shuffling back and forth and the closer he got to the small crowd, the more that sense of wrongness grew.
Dom grabbed the arm of one of the employees rushing by him. “What’s going on?”
“Some of our guests saw a woman being abducted by three men right outside the hotel.”
“Did the woman have red hair?”
“I believe the witnesses said that she was red-haired. The IDJ are on their way right now.”
“How long ago did they take her?”
“I don’t know, maybe ten minutes ago.”
Fuck! He knew who had her and he was pretty sure he knew where Vargas was taking her. He let the employee go and went outside. There was a shuttle parked but still turned on and the driver was talking to the crowd a few feet away. He went to the driver’s side of the shuttle and got inside. He didn’t have time to ask the shuttle driver to take him somewhere and he needed to get there fast.
“Hey! That’s my shuttle taxi!” the driver yelled, chasing him for a few feet before giving up.
He reached for his phone and called Rachel, Rage’s mate. She used to be an IDJ agent.
“Hello?”
“Rachel, it’s Dom.”
“Hey, we got the message that you guys found the money. Are you heading back?”
“Sam’s been taken by Gerald Vargas.”
“What? When?”
“Probably about ten minutes ago.”
“Did you contact the IDJ?”
“The hotel staff did, but I couldn’t wait on them. I borrowed a shuttle and I’m on my way there now.”
“By borrowing—you mean stole?”
“I don’t have time to deal with details, she’s in danger!”
“Okay, fine. I’ll call my contacts with the IDJ and let them know who took her and they’ll meet you there. What kind of security does the guy have?”
“He’s on a cliff top and there’s a locked gate at the front. It was dark when we were there last night, but I imagine there are tons of cameras. Do you have a read on her from the chip implant?” All the GCFA crew and fighters were implanted with tracking chips that monitored their well-being but could also be used to track them in situations like this. It was a recommendation that Rachel had made after one of the fighters had been taken by a crazy person.
“I’m sorry, Dom, Samantha never had a chip implanted. She came on board as a freelance employee. Then you fired her, so we never scheduled a date for implementation.”
“Fuck!”
“Look, Dom, I’ve dealt with situations like this many times before. He’s not going to do anything to her until he gets what he wants from her. If she’s as smart as everyone says she is, she’ll stall him for a while. If she can buy us some time, then we can get the people in place to negotiate her release.”
Dom growled. “He’s not going to negotiate, Rachel, he’s going to kill her. She’s the only one with access to the account she transferred the money into. As soon as he gets that information from her, she’ll be useless.”
“If I asked you to wait for the IDJ to show up before you went in, would you?”
“I can’t, Rachel, I have to get to her. She’s more than an employee, more than a friend. I love her.” It was the second time that he admitted it to anyone, but it should have been Sam that he said it to.
“You’re emotionally involved, it’s going to impair your judgment and possibly get both of you killed.”
That was Rachel, she told it like it was without softening the blow. He respected that. “I’ll go in discreetly and try to locate her, but wait for the IDJ as long as I can before making my move to get her out.”
“Okay, that’s probably the best I’m going to get out of you. I understand your need to protect her. If it was Rage, I’d be rolling in with all guns blazing, too. I’m contacting the IDJ right now and I’ll send them your and Sam’s pictures so they know that you two are to be protected.”
“Thanks, Rachel.”
“Be careful, Dom. You have a lot of friends here that care about you.”
He knew that Nigel and Amelia would do anything for him, but he hadn’t realized how much the other members of the GCFA world had come to mean to him, and apparently him to them, until this moment. They’d become a family for him, the only family he ever had. It would mean nothing if he lost Sam, though.
“I’ll be careful.” He hung up the phone and punched the dashboard in frustration. He couldn’t lose her, he just couldn’t.
Chapter 17
Sam’s jaw hurt—bad. The pain wasn’t just in her jaw, now that she was aware of it; it went through her entire head. If felt like someone slammed her head against concrete over and over again. That asshole sure had a strong punch. If she got a chance, she would return the favor.
“Ah, I see you are finally waking up. Good, we can finally get to it.”
She knew that voice. Cracking open one eye to look around, she saw Vargas standing over her with his arms folded across his chest. “Is this is your way of convincing me to date you? Knocking me out and kidnapping me? I’m not into kinky with assholes.”
“I’m not going to play games with you, Samantha Porter. Yes, I know your name. I wanted to
do this in a civilized manner, offer you double whatever the GCFA was paying you, but then you ran, leaving me know choice but to change tactics.”
“You’ve got the wrong person.”
He shook his head. “My assistant ran a check on you. You have a doctorate in engineering and masters in both computer programming and code algorithms. You’re a genius among your colleagues. Such a person would have no trouble breaking into my secure bank account and transferring my money.”
The jig was up, he knew who she was, so she might as well come clean. “I know who you are, too, Gerald Edward Vargas. I did my own research. You are a certified public accountant who graduated eightieth in a class of a hundred and three. You worked for several businesses before getting a job with the GCFA five years ago. You had a couple of disciplinary notices filed against you and you were transferred three times before landing a position working for Clark Davidson. The GCFA already knows how the two of you concocted this embezzling scheme, stealing money and trying to place the blame on Nigel.”
“Well done.” Vargas didn’t look worried at all, which made her worry. She bit her lip and winced in pain. Sam was in deep shit.
“What do you want from me, Vargas?”
“You will transfer the money into a new account that only I will have access to.”
“What if I don’t?”
“You die.”
“What about your money? If I die, you’re screwed.”
“I have my IT guy flying back, he’ll do it for me. It’s just going to take a little time for him to get here. I’m not a very patient man. Do this, and I might let you live.”
Well, that didn’t sound very promising. Sam knew she would probably die, no matter what she did. She would just make sure he went down with her. “I need my computer, which is back at the hotel.”
Vargas smirked as he walked over to his desk and lifted her computer off of it. “Your computer.”
Fuck! “It’s going to take some time. I’m thirsty, could I have some water while I work? ”
“You have one hour, and you get water and food when you finish doing what I ask of you. Play your cards right, I might keep you as my—liaison.”
She felt sick to her stomach and didn’t bother to hide her disgust. He actually thought that she would want to be his lover? She would rather die than have him touch her. Sam knew that Dom would be looking for her and he would know immediately who had taken her. She just needed to buy time for him to get the IDJ there to rescue her.
“I’ll do what I can.” She reached for her computer.
“Very good.” Vargas motioned for his guards to leave the office. He sat at his desk and turned his back on her like she didn’t matter. He was a cocky son of a bitch who clearly needed to be brought down a few notches.
*****
Dom sat in the shuttle a few feet from the closed gate just out of view of the cameras. He had two choices. He could break through the gate and go in full force, which could result in Vargas escaping with Sam or even killing her. His second option was to sneak in and try to locate her without tipping off Vargas, waiting for a chance to open up so he could sneak her out, which was what he promised Rachel he would try to do.
He got out of the shuttle and walked the line of the gate. There was a space there that was further away from the cameras that he could try to climb. The question was whether the fence was hot or not. He picked up a rock and threw it at the metal. The rock bounced back without causing any sparks. He reached out and lightly touched the gate. There was no electrical current.
He snorted. Big mistake on Vargas’s part. He gripped the poles and started climbing. It didn’t take much effort to reach the top. He made sure when he hit the ground on the other side that he hadn’t activated any kind of alarm. He couldn’t detect anything, so he swiftly moved from one large item to the next, making his way up to the side of the large two story house.
The closer he got, the more he could see possible escape routes. The house sat on top of a cliff. Only one way on the property by land, but he noticed an air shuttle. He couldn’t let Vargas use that as a means to escape. He quickly went over to the air shuttle and opened the pilot’s side. He ripped wires out from underneath the shift. That took care of that means of transportation. He glanced at the ground car and frowned. Security was standing by it, looking at the gate. If he tried to get to the car, too, they would see him.
Continuing to make his way to the house, he used the bushes and trees to hide his movements. He finally reached the side and peered through the windows. The first few windows belonged to the ballroom that they had been in last night. He spotted a guard walking in and looking around. So far he had counted three guards, two outside and one inside. He had to get inside and find Sam.
Dom moved quickly past the next few windows. He stopped at the French doors to the ballroom and checked to see if they were locked. They were, but it was a simple lock on the door handles, nothing in the true frame of the doors. He looked for signs of security, but didn’t find anything. He gripped the handles and shoved with his shoulder as he turned the handles down hard. The lock gave easily under his strength.
He opened the door and moved swiftly inside, trying to stay as quiet as possible. The guard had come by about five minutes ago. From what Dom could remember, there were several other rooms nearby that he would probably inspect before making another round.
Walking to the entrance of the ballroom, he concentrated on using all his senses to the utmost, in a way he hadn’t since living on the street. These guards were human, so he could hear and scent them easily. To get to the office, he needed to go down the main hallway, take a left, and halfway down the next hallway, the office would be on the right. He was stronger than the human guards, but if there were many more guards than these, he would have a hard time getting to Sam before they were overcome.
Taking out a few was the best thing he could do, so he waited. Five minutes later, the same guard he had seen earlier entered the ballroom. While the man had his back to Dom, he covered his mouth with one hand, wrapped his arm around his neck and squeezed firmly, putting the man into a sleeper hold. The human didn’t stand a chance and soon gave way, sliding to the floor.
Dom removed the guard’s weapon and threw it in the trash. He had never liked weapons of any kind. He’d learned to be his own weapon on the streets fighting for survival. He rushed over to the front door and locked it. That would at least stall the rest of the outside guards. Then he turned to go down the hallway. He could hear footsteps of probably another guard that he was going to have to deal with.
*****
Sam shrugged, trying to get Vargas to stop hovering right over her shoulder. He would sometimes pick up a strand of her hair to play with, and it was giving her the creeps. She slapped his hand away. “Could you give me some room here?”
“You’re taking too long. Your hour is almost over.”
“I would be finished by now if you would just give me some space!”
He ignored her outburst. “Have you thought about my proposition for you?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not interested.”
“I could offer you twice what the GCFA is paying you.”
Sam narrowed her eyes. “Exactly what would you want me to do for that double pay?”
“You would be my personal assistant.”
She snorted. “You have a personal assistant.”
“Maybe I should be more clear, my private assistant. If you please me, I would give you anything you like.”
She was about to tell him where to stuff his offer when a loud crash sounded outside the office.
Vargas stomped over to the door jerking it open. “What the hell is going on?”
Three bodies came tumbling through the door, knocking Vargas to the ground. Sam stood to move out of the way and that’s when she was able to get a good look at the men fighting. One in particular she recognized immediately.
“Dom!”
Chapter 18
“Watch out!” she screamed at him.
He turned just at the exact moment that one of the guards swung at him. He ducked, then threw his own punch. The other guard grabbed his arms from behind, while the one in front started punching him.
“No, no!”
He watched as she reached for a lamp on the table and smashed it against the head of the guard in front of him. The man slumped down to the floor. She looked like she was about to go after the guy holding him from behind.
“Stay back, Sam!” He couldn’t let her get hurt.
She hesitated but did step back out of harm’s way. He had to make sure that she was safe. Using his feet he shoved up, breaking the other male’s hold on him. The guy sprang at him, trying to put him in a tight hold. They bumped into the couch, then knocked over the chair to the desk as they struggled.
Dom spared a moment of attention to make sure that Sam was still out of the way. Vargas, the cowardly little weasel, took the opportunity to grab Sam’s computer and sprinted out of the office.
“Oh no you don’t!” Sam yelled as she ran off after him.
Damn it! “Sam!” She should not be placing herself in danger. He had no more patience for this fight. He punched the security guard in the chest hard, knocking the wind out of him. Then he lifted the desk and slammed it into him, knocking the man down. He wasn’t moving anymore. Good enough. Dom took off in the direction that he had seen Sam go. He prayed he would get to her in time.
*****
Sam chased after Vargas as fast as she could. What the hell am I doing? It had been pure instinct to go after the guy. He had her computer! Granted, it was password-protected using her own specially designed security program, but it was the principle of the thing.
He burst through the front entrance, yelling at his remaining guards, who were in the middle of a very loud discussion with the IDJ agents standing on the other side of the gate. Fuck this! He had to leave now!
