“I will.”
Shit. What now? This was starting to get strange. Dylan knew the plan to leave early. Should he reach out to Maya?
No, it was too soon to consider him officially “missing.”
But he could call the firehouse. Between the fifteen of them, the volunteer firefighters had connections in all parts of the community.
He dialed Nate Prudhoe’s number and explained the situation.
“We’re on it,” Nate said right away. “I’ll get the word out to everyone. We have eyeballs everywhere in this town. We’ll find him.”
Darius hesitated to ask his next question. “I know he’s not the most popular kid on the block—”
“Forget about that,” Nate said forcefully. “He’s a kid in Lost Harbor and that makes him our responsibility. Besides, he’s been doing a good job with his community service. Putting up with a ration of shit, too. People are noticing. Don’t worry, Darius. We got this. You do your thing. Have you called Petal to the Metal? He could be out there.”
“Thanks, Nate. I’ll do that. Let me know the second—”
“Of course.” Already calling out instructions to someone, Nate hung up the phone.
Darius reached the driveway of the duplex, with the Sun Seeker poised for departure. The thought of the entire volunteer fire department fanning out to find Dylan moved him deeply.
What if he was wrong about the town? What if they would come to accept his son, with all his flaws and bad acts?
Never mind that, first he had to find the kid. Next step, Petal to the Metal.
Steeling himself, he called the farm’s landline. Kate answered. The sound of her voice made his gut twist.
“Hi Kate, it’s Darius. Have you or Emma seen Dylan today?”
“It’s eight thirty in the morning.” Judging by the extra huskiness in her voice, she hadn’t slept well either.
“Yeah. Can’t find him. Sorry to bother you, I’m sure he’ll turn up.”
“Wait.” A rustling sound came from the other end of the line, then she spoke again. “Sorry, I had the cable wrapped around me. Landlines are such ancient relics, you know? So what’s going on? You think Dylan’s missing?”
He almost smiled at the image of her wrapped in the phone line—except he was too worried to actually smile. “Yes,” he said simply.
“You’re worried?”
He couldn’t lie. “Yes. We were scheduled to leave this morning and—”
“Where are you?”
“Fairview Court, but—”
“I’m on my way.”
Before he could object, tell her there was no need, she hung up.
Wild joy flooded through him. Kate was coming. He was going to lay eyes on her again. She was going to be next to him, at his side, lending her smarts and her fire and her spirit to the situation and that meant…it meant everything.
He checked inside the Sun Seeker again, but found no sign that Dylan had been in there. A quick run-through of his apartment offered no clues either. Every moment that passed, his fear ratcheted up.
It was the tail end of bear season, after all. Dylan could have had a run-in with a grizzly. He could be in the woods somewhere, bleeding out, in shock, with no service, or unconscious. Maybe he’d run into a porcupine and had quills stuck everywhere. Maybe—
Kate pulled up outside the house in Emma’s old Saab and flew out of the car. The sight of her tall form, with all that long dark hair and her worried bright eyes, sent a jolt of longing right down to his bones. She wore blue jeans and a gray knit top that clung to her curves.
God, how he wanted her. Still, even after she’d dismissed their relationship as a fun “thing.”
“Any luck?” she asked, skidding to a stop next to him.
“No. It’s the strangest thing. We were supposed to leave this morning, but when I woke up he was gone. His stuff was all packed up and ready to go. He just…vanished.”
He filled her in on all the steps he’d taken to find the boy.
Kate listened closely, nodding at each point. “Okay, let’s go through this logically. You said he was gone when you woke up. Did anything unusual happen overnight?”
“I didn’t sleep well,” he admitted. “Haven’t for a few days.”
She made a face at that. He noticed that she too had dark circles under her eyes. His guess was right; she hadn’t been sleeping either.
“I finally fell asleep around three-thirty, I think. Slept hard after that.” He frowned as something came back to him. “There might have been a noise. I woke up a little, then figured it was a dream.”
“What sort of noise?”
He shrugged. “A thump, maybe? Not clear.”
“What was the dream you were having?”
In bits and snatches, it came back to him. “Someone was falling down the stairs and I was trying to catch them. You. You were falling down the stairs. I tried to catch you but you kept slipping through my arms.”
Her eyes widened and for a moment she looked as though she might cry. Then she took a step back and folded her arms across her chest. “Maybe you heard something on the stairs. Have you looked upstairs in my place?”
“I tapped on the door, but I don’t have the key. I didn’t get any answer when I knocked.”
“I’ll just run up and check inside. It’ll just take a second, I’ll be right back.”
His phone rang; Nate calling. “Okay. I’ll see what Nate has to say.”
She ran up the blue-painted stairs and slipped through her door.
After she disappeared, he felt strange, as if he’d looked at the sun too long. And now all the light in the world had vanished.
Chapter Thirty-Four
The second Kate stepped inside her door, a hand came over her mouth and someone manhandled her inside and shut the door behind her.
Terror froze her in place, her LA nightmares finally coming true. They’d finally snagged her, just when she’d stopped worrying.
“Damn, you’re a troublesome bitch,” the man growled in her ear. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting up here for you to show up?”
She twisted in his grip and managed to peer up at him. He looked familiar, but she couldn’t place him.
But the fact that she knew him from somewhere took some of the fear away. She tried to bite his hand, but he shifted to covering her mouth with his elbow.
“I have the kid tied up in the living room, so don’t get any fucked-up ideas. Do what I say or I’ll hurt him.”
He dragged her into the living room. She tried to make as much noise as she could with her feet, just in case Darius could hear from outside.
Which of course he couldn’t.
Dylan lay on his side on the rug, his hands tied behind his back, duct tape over his mouth. His eyes met Kate’s, and he shook his head a little. He looked calm enough, though pale.
The man drew a gun from the back of his pants and pointed it at Dylan.
“You gonna be quiet now? If you are, I’ll let you loose. If not, this kid’s going to get it.”
She nodded quickly, and he released her.
A knock sounded on the door. “Kate? Did you find him?” called Darius.
The man flicked the safety off the gun, which was still aimed at Dylan.
Damn it. If only she could yell for help, but she couldn’t take a chance on Dylan getting hurt.
“Say he’s not here. Say you’ll be out in a while. Exactly those words. Nothing fancy.”
She repeated his words exactly as commanded.
When Darius spoke again, she heard the coolness in his voice. He obviously thought she was abandoning the search. “All right then. Catch you later.”
His footsteps sounded on the outdoor stairs, and then he was gone. Along with any chance of outside help. She was on her own, with Dylan’s safety at stake.
She turned to the intruder. Salt-and-pepper hair, roughly good-looking features, avaricious eyes. He clicked the safety back on, but didn’t put the gun away.
“Who are you?” she demanded. “What do you—” Suddenly she recognized him. “You work for my father. You’re his servant. The one with the costume.”
“I wouldn’t put it exactly that way, but yeah, I work with your father.”
“God, I should have figured. One of his criminal buddies? You just made things so much worse for yourself. Assaulting a minor. Kidnapping. Assaulting me.”
In his smooth smirk, she recognized the smile of a con man. “Guess that makes your job that much harder.”
“My job? What are you talking about?” She gestured toward Dylan. “Obviously this has nothing to do with him. Just let the boy go and we can talk about what you want.”
“The boy got himself into this. He came after me when he should have minded his business. Didn’t even have his phone with him. Now he’s my insurance policy. He’s going to stay right where he is until we’re outta here.”
We? Why did this man keep talking as if they were in this together?
“This is absurd. If my dad wanted something why didn’t he just call me?” A possible answer occurred to her. “They’re monitoring his communications. So he sent you.”
“Stop talking like he’s in charge. He’s not.”
“Does he know you’re here?”
“Look, I’m not here to hurt you.”
Since he didn’t answer her question directly, she had to figure her father knew. And man, did that sting. Even if this intruder didn’t want to “hurt” her—he’d already done it.
“Why are you here?”
“You gave us no choice. We need more legal help.”
God, it was like being caught in quicksand and never being able to get out. This was the feeling that had driven her to emancipate herself, to go to law school, to change her path. Was it all hopeless? Every step she’d taken in life, erased?
She folded her arms across her chest. “I already told Frank I was done. No more legal help.”
“It’s not for him. He’s all set, not like the rest of us. You’ll get plenty out of the deal. Big bucks. Clients out your ass. I’m first, though.”
“You can’t make me represent you guys. That’s…coercion.”
“That’s real life. You don’t have a choice.” He indicated Dylan with his gun again.
He wouldn’t really hurt Dylan, would he? Frank wouldn’t do something like that, but she didn’t know this guy. She couldn’t take a chance.
She quickly ran through her options. No weapon. Dylan in danger. Her only advantage seemed to be that this man needed her alive. Needed her legal skills.
“What’s your name?” she asked him. “If I’m going to represent you, I’ll need that info.”
“Steve.”
Steve. It seemed like such an innocuous name for a hostage-taking criminal.
“Okay, Steve. Speaking as your potential lawyer, you need to let this boy go. You made a big mistake grabbing him. Everyone’s looking for him. The entire town of Lost Harbor is searching. His father is pacing the driveway out there, worried out of his mind. Did you know his father is the fire chief?”
“I know, I know,” Steve grumbled. “He told me. He wasn’t part of the plan, but now he is.”
“This so-called plan of yours, walk me through it?”
The word “so-called” made him give her the side-eye. “We’re going to leave together and you’re going to tell everyone your father is sick and needs you. As soon as we’re on a plane back to civilization, you’re going to call someone and tell them about this kid.”
“They’ll arrest you at the airport.”
“At least I’ll have my lawyer with me.” He offered that obnoxious con-man smirk again. “Take this.” He slid a dollar bill into her pocket. The contact made her skin crawl. “Can’t tell on me now, can you? Client privilege.”
Kate grimaced in disgust as the dollar bill crinkled in her pocket. “Did you see that on some TV show?”
“You trying to insult my intelligence?”
“The last time I saw you, you were wearing a bell boy uniform, so excuse me if I’m not sold on your scheme here.”
Fury twisted his face and for a terrifying moment she thought she’d gone too far. He still had a gun. He could still hurt Dylan. Or herself.
“But you got lucky,” she said quickly. “I’m actually Dylan’s lawyer too. We can work out a deal with him so he doesn’t file charges. Right, Dylan?”
From his spot on the rug, Dylan nodded his head. Steve walked toward him and stood over his prone body, his back to the sliding door that led to the deck with its spectacular view of Misty Bay. The bright sun blazed through the glass, making her blink.
And then something caught her eye. A figure rose slowly into view from below.
Darius. Crouched in some kind of big bucket at the end of a crane—like the kind on a fire engine.
Chapter Thirty-Five
As Darius gained enough height to see through the glass, Kate watched him assess the situation. His face hardened and he tapped something into his phone. Then he met her eyes and put a finger to his lips. Keep quiet. She got that message loud and clear. Then he gestured toward Steve and made a talking gesture with his hand.
Talk. Keep him distracted.
She swung her gaze back to Steve. He was no longer looking at Dylan. His attention was now focused on the rug.
Talk about the perfect distraction.
“Pretty naughty rug, isn’t it?” She laughed lightly. “It was a present from my grandmother. I claim no responsibility for it. I hope you don’t find it too embarrassing.”
He squinted at the naked entwined figures. “What am I looking at here?”
“I believe it’s a threesome,” she told him. “Best I can make out. And that over there…” She pointed to a voluptuous woman adorning the far corner of the carpet. “I think that’s a self-pleasuring situation.”
With an amused cackle, he scanned the rug. He stepped closer to it, searching greedily for more poses. She shot a quick warning glance at Dylan to make sure he didn’t do anything reckless while Darius was executing whatever his plan was.
She barely dared to glance toward the deck for fear she’d give herself away. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Darius swing himself out of the bucket onto the deck. Immediately it lowered back down and he stepped to the side of the glass door, out of sight. Then she saw his hand reach for the lock, holding some kind of jimmying tool.
Keep talking. She needed to cover any sounds he might make while he tried to pry open the door. Well, if there was one thing she knew how to do, it was spill a bunch of words.
“This rug is based on the Kama Sutra, as a matter of fact. Have you ever heard of it? It’s an ancient Sanskrit text from India devoted to sexual and emotional fulfillment. I looked it up after my grandmother gave it to me. There’s a lot more to it than sex, but that’s the part most people think of. I guess you can see why.”
He was riveted by the play of figures on the rug.
“You really should have picked a more appropriate place to put this poor kid. He’s a minor, you know. Hmm, I wonder if this would count as corrupting a minor? I’ll have to look into that. It could add extra charges, so we’ll have to come up with a strategy for that. Obviously, it helps that you didn’t know about the rug. Who could predict something like that? Oh, here’s something about our lawyer-client relationship. You’re going to have to tell me everything so I can represent you properly. Everything about my father, your connection with him, how you got here, how you got into my apartment, so on and so forth. The more I know, the more I can help you.”
The door slid open enough for Darius to slip through. Still holding the tool, he advanced toward Steve with murder in his eyes. Even though Steve had a gun and Darius only a jimmy, with that look Kate gave the advantage to the infuriated fire chief.
Steve wheeled around. He must have caught a glimpse of Darius’ reflection or a shift in the light. With a vicious snarl, he charged toward Darius, lifting hi
s gun arm as he went.
“Gun!” Kate shouted to warn Darius. She couldn’t see where it was at the moment, but she knew Steve still had it.
Her heart nearly stopped as the two men lunged at each other. Any second, the gun would go off, Darius would spin back, wounded, dead…
In the midst of his headlong dive into battle, Steve suddenly stumbled. He lurched to the side. Fighting to regain his balance, he staggered a step, then lost control and crashed onto the floor. On top of Dylan’s bound feet.
Amazingly, Dylan had managed to scoot down the rug and trip up Steve before he could get off a shot.
Darius pounced on Steve and slammed his gun-bearing hand to the floor. The gun skittered away. Kate chased after it and kicked it into the corner. She wanted nothing to do with the thing. Too many people in close quarters.
Instead she dropped down next to Dylan and carefully took the duct tape off his mouth. “Are you okay?”
He nodded and wetted his lips. “Hands?” he croaked.
She examined his wrists, which were wrapped in several layers of tape. His hands were going to be harder to free.
In the meantime, Darius turned Steve onto his stomach and tied his wrists behind his back using his own roll of duct tape.
“Don’t move a muscle.” His lethal tone left no doubt about his seriousness.
Steve didn’t say a word, which was so unlike him. Kate realized he’d been knocked out at some point. Maybe by his fall, maybe by Darius.
Leaving Steve where he was, Darius crouched across from her, at Dylan’s other side. Even from there, she felt the vibrating tension in his body. His eyes were absolutely wild. Filled with passion and fury and words about to burst out of him.
“I got this.” He drew out a Leatherman and sliced through the duct tape wrapped around Dylan’s wrists and ankles. “Are you all right, Dylan?”
“Yeah.”
Darius held his wrists, stroking gently to bring the blood back into them. “You tripped the motherfucker.”
“He was about to shoot you.”
“You did good. Real good. And you, Kate. Nice job on keeping him busy.”
“You can thank Emma and her rug for that.” Her voice sounded funny because all she could think about was how beautiful Darius was, how strong and wonderful and stern and caring and how she couldn’t bear to say goodbye to him ever again. “Besides, you’re the one who saved us. How did you know to come in here?”
Naughty All Night (Lost Harbor, Alaska Book 5) Page 24
