by Sandra Owens
She was whispering, which told him they were nearby. “Did you hear or see anything at all?”
“No. I don’t know what to do.”
It sounded like she was close to losing it. “I’ll find you, Gorgeous Girl. I swear it.”
“Tell her to keep her phone on her person,” Nate said.
“Did you hear Nate? Keep your phone on you.”
“I heard. I’m in the bathroom right now, but I have to go before one of them gets suspicious. I’m hiding my phone in my underwear, but I’m scared they’ll find it.”
Christ, he didn’t want her to disconnect, but she couldn’t get caught with the phone. “How long was the car ride?”
“I’m not sure. I can’t tell how long I was drugged. Maybe thirty, forty-five minutes.”
“Okay, that’s something. You have to hang up, baby.”
“I know, but I don’t want to.”
“Lauren, turn your ringer off,” Nate said.
“Right. I-I should’ve thought of doing that.”
She was crying now. “Listen to me, Lauren. Be smart. Be strong. I’m coming for you.”
“I believe you. That’s the only thing keeping me from falling apart. I-I’ll be s-strong.”
“Good girl. And Lauren?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you, Gorgeous Girl.” It wasn’t how he’d imagined telling her, but he knew better than anyone how easily things could go wrong. If nothing else, he wanted her to know that.
“I love you, too. So much. Someone’s coming down the hall. I have to go.”
And then she was gone. He slammed his fist down on the desk. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”
After turning off the ringtone, Lauren pushed the phone back into her panties, in the front this time. That was the least likely place they would notice it. She turned on the faucet, splashing cold water on her face.
Court had said he loved her. He couldn’t know what those words meant to her. She could take strength from them. She could be strong. He was coming for her, but until then, it was up to her to keep herself safe.
“Unlock the door, Lauren,” Peter said, pulling on the knob.
She squeezed her eyes shut, taking a deep breath. What would Court say in this situation? Something snarky. She inhaled air into her lungs one more time, and then opened the door. “Why? So you can watch me pee? Pervert.” She marched past him, back to the kitchen, taking a seat at the small breakfast table.
And Court would say what now? He’d have another wiseass comment. “I’m hungry. What’s for dinner? I was planning on pizza, but the two of you rudely nixed that idea. One of the rules of kidnapping someone is that you have to feed them.”
Vadim said something in Russian, causing Peter to laugh. At Peter’s reply, they both snorted a laugh.
“It’s rude to say things I can’t understand, you know? What’s so funny?” Pretending to be Court was kind of amazing. She was able to say things Lauren Montgomery wouldn’t dare.
It wasn’t that she was afraid for her life. Not yet, anyway. Stephan wanted her back, and Peter wouldn’t allow any harm to come to her. Her fear was Court not finding her or her not being able to escape and ending up on a plane to Russia. But she couldn’t think about that now. She had to be smart.
“He says you talk too much. He does not understand Stephan’s obsession with you. He believes his cousin is letting his”—Peter grabbed his crotch—“ do his thinking for him.”
“You’re disgusting, Peter.” She eyed Vadim. “You both are.”
“There is a Russian saying, The tongue will bring the chatterer no good,” Peter said. “You should consider the wisdom of that.”
She waved a dismissive hand. “Whatever.” Somehow, pretending to be Court had let her be herself. Until Stephan made an appearance, anyway. Then she would go back to being very afraid. “Peter, for Stephan’s sake, you need to put a stop to this. It’s not going to end well. Does he think I’ll just move back into his Coconut Grove mansion with him as if nothing happened? As if he hadn’t almost killed me?”
“That is not the plan.”
“Then what is”—she made air quotes—“the plan?” From reading the emails, she already knew, but she wanted to hear it straight from Peter.
“You will find out soon enough.”
Jerk. She’d never been fond of her brother-in-law, and he wasn’t improving her opinion of him with this stunt. She peered down at her toes, realizing for the first time that she was barefoot. At least she was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. The only reason she hadn’t put on her favorite nightclothes—boxer shorts and a soft cotton camisole—was because they’d been expecting a pizza delivery.
She wiggled her toes. “You could have let me get some shoes at least before you hauled me off. Against my will, I might add.”
The cousins had another conversation in Russian, which she assumed was more of the same, considering they were laughing as they stared at her. She didn’t bother asking for a translation because who needed to see Peter grab his crotch again?
Peter’s phone rang, interrupting their hilarity. He answered in English, listened a moment, then switched to Russian. Something he said seemed to get Vadim’s attention, and he stared intently at Peter.
She understood one word. Stephan. Her heart picked up speed, the fear she’d managed to tamp down earlier returning full force. God, she wished she knew what they were saying. After what seemed an intense conversation, Peter put his phone back into his pocket, looked at her for a moment, then picked up the keys to the car from a hook on the wall next to the garage door.
“I have to leave for a while. Vadim will stay. The alarm will be on, Lauren. Do not try anything foolish. Vadim is not as nice as I am.”
Lauren swallowed a snort. It was far from nice to kidnap a woman against her will. Even though she hated Peter more with each minute she spent in his company, there was a dangerous element to Vadim that she didn’t detect in her former brother-in-law. She did not want to be alone with Vadim, not that either one cared for her wishes, so she stayed quiet. But what had the conversation been about, and where was Peter going?
Be smart. Be strong, Court’s voice said in her head. He was trying to find her, and he might or he might not. One thing she knew, though, she wasn’t going to sit by and idly wait. She needed to try to escape. How to do that? In a movie she’d seen years ago, a woman had thrown hot water into her kidnapper’s face. Peter had only been gone for about ten minutes, but he could come back at any time, so if she was going to do it, it needed to be now.
“Is there any coffee in this damn house,” she said, going to the cabinets, opening doors. “Well, lookie here.” At seeing a can of instant coffee, she wrinkled her nose. Ugh. Who even drank that crap? She grabbed it and a cup. “You want some?” she asked, keeping her back to Vadim, afraid he’d see how much she wanted him to say yes.
“Yes, please.”
She let out a quiet breath. This had to work. After heating water in a saucepan, she filled two cups, then added two spoons of the coffee into each. “There’s not any cream or sugar. I hope you like it black.” She turned, a cup in each hand, and threw the hot liquid from both at Vadim, aiming for his face.
He bent over and clawed at his face as he yelled a slew of Russian words that didn’t sound so nice, but Lauren didn’t wait around for him to recover. She ran to the front door, and after fumbling with the locks, got it open. The alarm blared behind her as she ran down the street.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Got her,” Court shouted. He pushed away from the desk, going to his weapons wall.
“Where is she?” Alex asked, choosing his own weapons from Court’s collection.
“A house not thirty minutes from here. Where’s Nate?” He filled a pouch with grenades, smoke bombs, and extra ammunition. Whether he’d need all that, he didn’t know, but he believed in being prepared for every scenario.
“He got a phone call.”
Nate walked back into the room. “Bad n
ews. Stephan Kozlov was released a day early. A clerk anxious to start his vacation mistakenly put the wrong date on the paperwork.”
Court whipped around. “Tell me you’re joking.”
“Wish I was,” Nate said. “What’s happening?”
“I found her.”
Without asking more questions, Nate loaded up his body with weapons from Court’s stash. Christ, he loved his brothers. They were going rogue, yet neither one hesitated or attempted to tell him he needed to call it in and get approval from their bureau chief.
“How long ago?” Court asked.
Nate grabbed three pairs of night vision goggles. “Less than an hour.”
“We have to get to her before he does.” Stephan Kozlov would go straight for her. If he put one finger on her, he was going to be sorry. Dead sorry.
The house was set back from the street in a middle-income neighborhood. Court estimated each home was on a half-acre lot. He stood with his brothers—each of them dressed in dark clothing—at the edge of the densely landscaped backyard. All the trees and bushes would aid in their approach.
“I wish I knew which room she was in, but we don’t have time to reconnoiter,” he said. He did, however, have a little device very few citizens were aware of; it was used by the FBI and a few police departments to detect movement on the other side of a wall. The Range-R radar wouldn’t show a picture of what was happening inside, but it would tell them the placement of human bodies.
“Let’s get a little closer, see what this thing tells us.” He edged along the shrubberies, Nate and Alex following him. All the blinds were closed, but several rooms had lights showing at the edges of the windows. When they were within feet of the house, Court held up the Range-R.
“That can’t be right,” he said. “There’s only one person inside.” Did he have the wrong house?
Nate put his hand on Court’s shoulder. “There’ll be hell to pay if we crash in on a little old lady, scaring her into having a heart attack.”
Dammit. Lauren should be here, but what if it was one of the houses on either side they wanted? They couldn’t go around breaking into people’s homes, as much as he wanted to.
“I’m going to go knock on the door,” he said. “See what happens. Alex, keep an eye on the garage, make sure no one comes out there. Nate, you stay here, watch the back door.”
He headed off, Alex following him. Alex took a position near the garage, and Court continued on. As he approached the entrance, he paused. “Front door’s wide open,” he said into his mic.
“That’s not good,” Nate responded. “Alex, back him up. I’m going to break into the back.”
With Alex shadowing him—their guns drawn—Court eased up to the door. When they were about ten feet away, Vadim Popov came running out.
At seeing Court and Alex, he stumbled to a stop, his hand going to the back of his pants. As much as Court wanted to shoot the bastard, if he did, some neighbor would call the cops. That wouldn’t make their bureau chief happy at all, so he tackled the man before Popov could draw his gun.
Popov fought like a wild animal, but it was two against one, and he and Alex had the man subdued within seconds, his weapon confiscated. As they pulled him up, a car with two men inside slowed in front of the house, then sped off, tires burning rubber.
“Dammit,” Court said, watching the vehicle as it disappeared into the night. “That had to be the Kozlovs.” Had Lauren been in the car? Their SUV was parked a block away, too far to go get it and try to chase the bastards down.
He pressed his gun to Popov’s temple. “Where the hell is she?” Popov smirked. Court was rethinking his decision not to shoot the man when Nate walked out the front door.
“House is clear. Who’s this?” He walked up, looked Popov up and down, then said, “Vadim Popov, I presume. What happened to your face?”
Court inspected Popov’s face. It was red and blistering.
“The cyka, she throw the coffee at me. I need doctor.”
“Who’s cyka?” Was there a woman involved they didn’t know about?
Nate chuckled. “I think it’s a Russian curse word.”
Alex whipped out his phone, a moment later saying, “Translator says it means bitch.”
“Yes, the bitch did it.” Popov gingerly touched his face, wincing. “I demand a doctor.”
That’s my girl. Had she managed to get away then, or did Stephan have her? There hadn’t been anyone in the back of the car, unless they’d made her lie down on the backseat.
“Answer my question before I decide to just shoot you.” Court pressed the barrel of his gun hard against Popov’s head. “Where is Lauren Montgomery?” His phone buzzed. He shifted, putting his back to Alex. “See who that is.”
Alex pulled the phone out of Court’s back pocket. “It’s Lauren.” He held up the phone so Court could see her name on the screen.
“Take this scumbag.” He grabbed his cell from Alex. “Lauren?”
“I got away, Court.”
She was breathing heavily, as if she’d been running. “Where are you, baby?”
“I don’t know. I threw coffee in Vadim’s face and then I ran. I just kept running.”
“Okay, take a deep breath. Do you see any street signs?”
“No, I’m hiding under a bush in someone’s backyard. I think I ran for ten or so minutes.”
“Okay, listen. Stay where you are. We’re at the house and have Vadim in custody. But I think Peter and Stephan just drove by, so I don’t want you wandering around. Can you see the street from where you are?”
“Yes. But Stephan doesn’t get out until tomorrow.”
“I’ll explain after I find you, okay? I’m going to drive around until you see me. Do you know which direction you went?”
“Yes. Yes, I do. Toward the ocean.”
“Good. Real good, Gorgeous Girl. That helps. Don’t hang up.” He glanced at his brothers. “You got this, right?”
“Go get your girl,” Nate said. “Take her to my place. Alex and I will meet you there.”
Alex grabbed his arm. “Get Madison on your way up to Nate’s. I don’t like her being alone right now.”
“Will do.” Anxious to find Lauren, he stepped away, then he stopped, turning back to Popov. “You better hope she’s not hurt when I find her.”
Vadim spouted off something in Russian. Just from the sound of it, Court wanted to put a hurt on the man.
“Go,” Nate said, pulling Popov out of reach when Court stepped toward him. “You’ll need these.”
Court caught the car keys Nate tossed him. “What are you going to do with him, and how are you getting home?”
“Taylor or Rand,” Nate said. “One or the other will come get us and this piece of shit.”
That meant Rothmire would be hearing about this little situation before the night was over. “When you talk to the boss, try to talk him out of firing me.” He ran to their SUV. “You there, G.G.?”
“I’m here. Someone let a dog out next door. I think he knows I’m here. He’s barking like crazy.”
He rolled all his windows down. “That’s not a bad thing. Something for me to listen for. I have my hazard lights on. Don’t come out for anyone else.”
“I won’t.”
Since she’d said she thought she’d run for about ten minutes, he didn’t waste time driving along the first several streets. “Lauren, I should be getting close. When you see a black SUV with hazard lights blinking, it’s me.”
“Please hurry. I think the dog is trying to dig under the fence.”
Court heard the faint sound of a barking dog. “I’m close, baby. Watch the road.” He’d been driving in a grid, but at another bark from a dog, he turned a block short of where he’d intended to turn onto the next street. The barking got louder.
“Lauren, I’m close. Remember, don’t come out until you’re sure it’s me.”
“I see you! Court, I see you.”
He braked. “Did the car you see just stop
?”
“Yes. Oh God, yes.”
He shoved the SUV into park, then jumped out. Not sure where she was hiding, he stood in the middle of the road, his phone to his ear. “Come to me, baby.”
Out of the darkness a form ran to him. He opened his arms while willing his knees not to buckle in relief at finding her. She flew at him, her aim more true than a heat-sensing missile.
“Christ,” he murmured into her hair. “Christ, Lauren.” Any other words were beyond his ability to speak.
When she tried to climb up him, he slipped his arms under her knees, helping her. With her plastered against him, he took her to the SUV, then buckled her safely in. As he walked around the hood, he came to a stop and looked up at the night sky. He didn’t know if he believed there was a God. He hoped there was because his mother had, and he didn’t want her to be wrong.
So, just in case there was a supreme being looking down on them, he wanted to make sure one thing was understood between them. You take her away from me one more time, my response isn’t going to be pretty. You got that, God? God didn’t answer, but he hadn’t expected him to.
It took him thirty minutes—her holding his hand in a death grip as she stared out the window—to get back to his building. She didn’t seem to want to talk, so he didn’t pressure her. He had a lot of questions, though. Tons of them. But everything he needed to know could wait until she felt safe again. That was what he could do for her. That and keep her hand held securely in his.
Lauren wanted to tell Court to never let go of her hand. Ever. Something had happened to her as she’d curled into a fetal position under a bush, though, while a dog had done his best to tell the world where she’d been hiding. Now that she was safe, she couldn’t speak. Couldn’t tell him how afraid she had been that she would never see him again. That damn dog had stolen her voice. So she kept her hold on Court, and although she was looking out the window, her eyes weren’t seeing anything.
“Wha . . .” She cleared her throat. “What did you mean that Stephan drove by?”
“A clerk made a mistake in his release papers, letting him out a day early.”
