To carry a grudge like the one Ramsey suggested her mother had done for ten long years was almost beyond comprehension. Katy understood how the sting of her father’s betrayal and the humiliation of being the one left behind had worn on her mom’s psyche. But to hire a thug to destroy something which had meant so much to all of them… that hurt.
“You’ll never get away with this. Let me go, and I’ll make sure they know you didn’t hurt me,” Katy pleaded.
He stopped at her feet, a tall menacing silhouette in the darkness. “Yeah, let me think that over.”
He swooped down and smacked tape over her mouth. “No.”
“Quiet now, I need to think.” His finger traced a snaky line down from her cheek to the top of her breasts and Katy reared back and screamed, though the sound was no more than a muffled moan.
“C’mon now, is that any way to treat a future lover? I’ve seen how you rub all over that idiot contractor. Wait until you have a real man between your legs, then you’ll purr for sure.” He snickered and his teeth gleamed like those of a cobra.
He stood and moved to the other side of the room for a moment, returning with a length of rope in his hand. Katy thought he meant to kill her right then and closed her eyes to picture Ty. She had no wish for a murderer’s face to be the last thing she remembered. Instead, he reached behind her, hooked the rope around her cuffs, and then tied her to the crates.
“I have to go see a man about a car,” he said. “You stay here and be a good girl while I’m gone. I left you enough rope to stretch your legs, don’t make me regret it.”
He waited patiently for her agreeing nod. Then he rose, taking the flashlight with him, and made his way to the door. Katy watched in nervous anticipation. She hoped the police had somehow been notified and were even now awaiting their chance to capture her assailant. But no, he slipped through the door without any sound at all.
The ominous clicking of a lock and the near pitch-blackness set her teeth to chattering and a cold sweat formed all over her body. She counted down the minutes until she thought he was gone, desperate to move, but not enough to get shot.
Or worse.
The thought of his hands on her body roiled in her stomach. She wanted Ty and the safety of his strong arms. Yet at the same time she was fiercely glad he was nowhere near. It was bad enough her brother lay injured because of this madman. If he were to hurt Ty she couldn’t live with herself. Especially since it was due to her screwed up family Ramsey was in Tidal Falls at all.
Determination stiffened her backbone. Katy had never been a quitter and now was certainly not the time to give up without a fight. So even though every muscle in her body cried for rest, she pushed herself to her feet and tested the limits of her prison. The rope stopped about her body length from the door. So close. She gritted her teeth and dug in her heels, but the crates wouldn’t budge. Panic began to set in and she had to force herself to calm down. Think. Breathing from the narrow slit he’d left on her nose was difficult enough without adding hyperventilating to her list of problems.
Something scurried across the floor on the other side of the room and Katy shivered. She didn’t mind mice as long as they kept their distance, rats on the other hand… not so much. What she wouldn’t give to have Ty’s cat here right now. The humorous picture of a tiny kitten going up against a rat king, and winning, lightened some of the tension from her shoulders.
First thing she needed to do was figure out a way to cut the plastic cuff around her wrists so that she could untie the rope. Katy shuffled her way back to the crates and turned her back so she could search for a way in with her bound hands. Whatever was in there weighed a ton, so hopefully it could help her achieve her goal of escape. They were wooden, rough in texture. A splinter caught under her nail and she winced, but didn’t give up.
Finally, in the farthest corner, Katy felt something give way beneath her questing fingers. Adrenaline rushed through her system and gave her the necessary strength to ignore the tight binding digging into her wrists and grab the edge of the board. She yanked for all she was worth. At first nothing happened, but then with a squeal of old nails releasing their hold, the wood slowly gave way. Katy fell to her knees and grunted against the pain. She hung her head and sucked in great gasps of air into her starved lungs before rising.
Her questing hands found the hole she’d made in the box and gingerly moved inside, not sure what to expect. When she came up against the smooth touch of cool glass she thanked her lucky stars. Wine bottles. That explained the passageway. If these were bottles from the prohibition era they could be valuable. Unfortunately she needed to break one. Katy grasped the neck and through sheer perseverance managed to pull it free of the crate. Her fingers, slippery now from blood, lost their grip and the bottle crashed to the floor and smashed over the top her shoes.
Now came the fun part, dropping onto her knees in the dark without cutting herself from the glass. The pungent aroma of fermented fruit and yeast was enough to knock her socks off. She edged away from the smell first and then attempted to ease down to the floor, but in actuality flopped onto her side more like a beached whale. She lay there for a moment trying to recover, her cheek in the dirt and frustrated tears sliding down her dirty face, and then inch-wormed her way backward until her hands felt the first pieces. The thought of angling a sharp shard of glass anywhere near her wrist was daunting but she had no choice, it was the only option.
She searched for a chunk that wasn’t too long and unwieldy, ignoring the little pricks to her fingertips. When she had one that felt like it might work she twisted it upward and carefully sawed back and forth between her wrists. It was painstaking work and she kept shooting anxious glances at the door, realizing she was running on borrowed time. Finally, one end let go, and then the other.
She was free.
But, oh, the pain. Her arms, loosened from their enforced captivity, were swarmed by what felt like hundreds of bees. The pins and needles brought fresh tears rushing to the surface, and it was a good thing her mouth was still taped because she would most certainly have cried out her agony.
It took a few moments before Katy could move enough to work the knot in the rope. Good thing she had a brother in the army who insisted on sharing his knowledge. This time it was invaluable. As soon as she broke loose of that restraint, Katy grabbed the edge of the tape, and before she could second-guess herself, she ripped.
Ouch.
Sore fingers reached up and touched tender lips. After this was over she was booking a spa day.
Now to figure a way out.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Ty roared into town and drove straight toward the theatre. He could already see the rotating red and blue lights from a block away and started to shake. If anything had happened to Katy his life wouldn’t be worth living. He’d already wasted so much time on foolish pride.
“Please don’t let it be too late,” he whispered, and prayed someone was listening.
Jared’s truck sat kitty corner across the boulevard with its lights shining into the trees, the driver’s door wide open and the engine still running. Men in uniform swarmed the area like ants, some on the grounds, while others streamed in and out of the building. An ambulance and two fire trucks stood to the side, ready to take on casualties, while a yellow tape held a group of curious onlookers back. It was like a scene from a crime thriller, except this was all too real.
Ty threw his gear shifter into park, opened the door, and ran. Except then there were hands holding him back, ripping at his clothes and yelling his name. Someone tackled him from behind and sent Ty crashing to his knees.
He roared his agony, sure that it was over. He was too late.
She was gone.
“Ty, it’s me. C’mon, Ty, settle down. It’s Jared, buddy. I’m here. I’m here.” The voice kept repeating in his ear until he came back into his body and realized he lay face down on the ground with arms pinned behind his back. Someone—Jared—lay over top of him, crushing T
y with his weight, but he didn’t care. It didn’t matter, nothing mattered. Tears dripped down his face and wet the sidewalk under his cheek. The pain was indescribable. Almost as though someone had reached in, squeezed his heart, and then ripped it from his chest. Maybe he was dying. The thought gave him hope. He’d follow Katy any way he could—even into death—without regret.
“Ty, c’mon man, Katy needs you. Don’t do this to yourself.” Jared’s words were slow to penetrate, but when they finally got through Ty jerked, scraping his chin in the process. The sting sobered him up.
“Katy needs you.” Jared’s words reverberated in his head.
She’s alive. Desolation turned to hope.
Despair became anticipation.
He struggled to rise, filled with renewed strength. Desperate now to know where she was, and to verify for himself that she lived. “Let me up,” he rasped.
“I will, but first you have to promise to listen.” Jared applied just enough pressure on Ty’s back to hold him in place. “You ready?”
Anyone else and he would have come up swinging, but Ty knew his friend was just trying to help. “Yeah, I’m good.” Jared released his grip and both men rolled to their feet, chests heaving.
“Where is she, Jare?” Ty looked toward the ambulance but the doors were closed. When there was no immediate answer he swung an anxious gaze at the theatre where two men guarded the door.
“He still has her, doesn’t he?” It all made sense now, the amount of officers still on scene, the emergency vehicles, the air of expectancy everyone wore like a shield of armor.
Jared released a heavy sigh and ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, he does. They’re treating Kyle right now. He has a concussion and some lacerations, but otherwise he’s going to be okay. Jack questioned him, but never got much. The vase knocked him out and he doesn’t remember anything before it happened.”
“I need to get in there, see it for myself. You coming?” Ty was already in motion, taking the stairs up to the front door of the theatre in a controlled rush. He waved the guards impatiently out of his way, even as Jared cleared it from behind him.
“He’s with me, let him go.” Jared ordered. Then in an aside, “Of course I’m coming. How else am I going to keep you out of trouble?”
If this wasn’t so serious, Ty would have smiled at that. He’d lost track of the number of times he had to pull Jared’s ass out of the fire before he got burnt. The guy was a walking trouble magnet, but there was no better person to have watching your back and Ty knew it.
“Where did Jack get all the extra help, the National Guard?” He hadn’t seen so many different uniforms in… well, ever.
Jared caught up to him in the main entry. Men and women with white booties on their feet combed the area, some taking pictures, some with fingerprint kits making a mess of his new floor and walls. As if that mattered. Strange, the weird paths your mind takes to deal with shock.
“Funny guy. I phoned the chief and he called in some favors. We will get her back, Ty. I promised.”
Ty nodded, overwhelmed by the support. Jared had some friends in high places from his SEAL days, but this was something else. He clapped a grateful hand on Jared’s back. “Thanks, man. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you, but thanks.”
“Just name your first kid after me,” he joked. “Unless it’s a girl. Actually how do you feel about Geraldine?” Then he dropped the jokes and pointed to the admission counter against the far wall. “I found her purse there, untouched. Her cell phone was inside, so no tracing her that way.”
“Shit.” Did she leave the purse behind, or had her assailant? “What do we have on this guy?”
“I think I’ll let Jack share that news.” Jared nodded toward the gallery. “He’s in there, talking to Kyle and manning the search teams.”
Swallowing around the ball of anxiety threatening to escape, Ty strode toward the entry. Maybe once he had a better idea of who he was up against, he could form a plan of action. Right now it felt like he was wading in quicksand—and going down fast.
The gallery was a zoo. Like the front entry, men and women were combing the site of the explosion and the surrounding area. There were people searching the stage and the second floor galleries. Another group squatted in front of a guy sitting on a chair near the front, a pack—no doubt filled with ice—held to the back of his head. Kyle.
Long strides carried him swiftly to Katy’s brother. Filled with a sudden rage he made no effort to control, Ty reached through the throng, latched onto Kyle’s shirt, and heaved the injured man out of his seat. He pulled back his other arm, ready to drive the asshole in the face, but the watery, defeated eyes staring back at him were Katy’s. Silence reigned throughout the room as he stared into the battered face. His arm slowly dropped to his side. It was obvious Kyle was taking this every bit as hard as he was, harder even.
“Go ahead, hit me. It’s what I deserve.” He lowered his head and Ty could see the gash seeping along his hairline. “I let her down. Some protector.” Bitterness coated his voice and turned it sour.
The anger faded, leaving compassion in its wake. Ty tugged the younger man into an awkward hug. “It wasn’t your fault. Pull yourself together. We need you.” With a final slap on the back, he released him and turned to the others. “So, where is she?”
Jack threw the pen he’d been holding down on the blueprint he’d been crouched over on the floor. “This is your baby, you tell me.” He frowned in frustration. “We’ve been over every square inch of this place with a fine tooth comb, and got nothing. The cameras from across the street show the two of them entering after your crew vacated for the night,” he nodded at Kyle, “but no one left. The back door is still locked with a steel bar across it on the inside. I have to admit I’m baffled.”
He sat down and leaned back on his arms, stretching his legs in front of him with a tired grimace. “I’m getting too old for this shit.”
The others got back to work as Kyle, Jared, and Ty circled the papers on the floor. On closer inspection Ty noticed the discolored parchment of what looked to be the original plans for the building.
“Where did you find that?” He bent down to get a better look.
“Kyle called his father who had it in a safety deposit box here in town. He called the bank manager and approved its release.”
Ty glanced at Kyle. That had to be one tough phone call. Katy had mentioned the rift between father and son. The first conversation in years and it was to share grief. Knowing Kyle wouldn’t want his sympathy, Ty turned his focus on the older plans. Where the copy he’d been given for the restoration showed the extensive updates to the building’s structure, this one displayed a much different picture.
The original building, once a narrow three story hotel, had sat squarely in the middle of the town lot. He noticed the square footage now was easily double that amount, filling the space outside from front to back. Obviously, when modernizing the previous owners decided to build a shell around the exterior instead of ripping it all apart.
Something bothered him, but he couldn’t quite… wait. Ty checked again and sure enough, the interior dimensions were still the same.
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
The other three looked up inquiringly.
“What?” Jared and Kyle asked at the same time.
“Kyle, did your dad ever mention any hidden rooms, or flights of stairs?” Ty took the new copy Jack was looking at and placed it over top of the old one. Then he held the two of them over his head. The light streaming through the paper highlighted the different dimensions of the building, past and present. An air of expectancy took hold of the men. Ty hoped he was on to something here.
“Shit, would you look at that?” From Jared.
“Son-of-a-bitch,” Jack swore.
“No, not that I remember,” Kyle said, clearly surprised at the variations between the two prints. “Look.” He pointed to the faint outline of a second set of stairs. “There’s only one fligh
t up to the gallery. Where did that one go?”
As one they all rose and rushed for the stairs leading up to the second floor where the vase had fallen. Ty reached the top first, having taken the stairs three at a time, and startled a couple of officers taking snapshots of the explosion site. Their hands went straight to their firearms before they saw Jack following close behind, and relaxed.
“Search the walls,” Ty ordered. “Every square inch if we have to.” They fanned out and began a light tap-tapping in a crisscross pattern, searching for a hollow square that would prove Ty’s theory. He worried that the noise would alert Katy’s abductor, but there wasn’t time to carefully remove each panel until they found what they were looking for. The closer he came to Kyle working the next section of wall, the more desperate he became.
C’mon, it has to be here.
But it wasn’t.
They each went over their sectors a second, more thorough, time with the same depressing results. How could he have got this so wrong?
Kyle slid to the floor with a muffled thump, banging his head against the wall in defeat. “I can feel her fear, it’s driving me crazy, but at least I know she’s alive.” The “for now,” went without saying.
Jared had cocked his head and was listening, his brow furrowed. “Do that again,” he said, staring at Kyle.
“Do what?”
“The wall, behind your head. Hit it again,” Jared’s voice was a mixture of impatience and excitement.
Kyle looked at him like he had a screw loose, but turned and complied by smacking the area with the palm of his hand. There was a hollow sound but when he moved a few inches and did it again the thud of a beam could plainly be heard.
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