by J. S. Scott
“I have money. Lots of it. I’ll give them anything they want,” I told him desperately.
“We can’t release the prisoners they want, Harper. They’re responsible for taking a lot of lives. Nobody has refused their demands yet, but they will.”
Blake’s voice was bleak, and since he was a US senator, I knew damn well he’d know what could and couldn’t be done. Selfishly, I didn’t give a damn who was released to get my sister back. But as an American, I couldn’t live with myself if that bargain was struck and those prisoners took more innocent lives.
“What was on the video? How was she?” I asked, pleading for any information I could get.
“I have it. You can see it yourself when we get to my place.”
“Is that where we’re going?”
“Yeah. I’d prefer to take you to Zane’s home because he has a damn fortress. He works with sensitive material and has a home lab. But I live a lot farther out because I wanted acreage. I couldn’t get in touch with Zane, and he and Ellie are away right now. So we’ll have to settle for my place. At least my home is fenced, and it has a gated entrance. Besides, I’m not sure anyone will even think about going out that far.”
“So we aren’t going to Marcus’s place?”
“No. It’s the first place the media will look. His work with recovering kidnapped victims just went public. Dani’s jailers mentioned his name in a warning not to come for her. The media will want to see if he’s involved.”
“So your whole family will find out about PRO?”
Blake nodded sharply. “Unfortunately, yes.”
“I don’t understand why they don’t already know. How could they not? They obviously cover for you two when you’ve had to cover for Marcus in the past.”
“We give them another reason,” Blake answered, giving no further information.
“Would the media dare to encroach on private property? The lodge has visiting guests, but the residences of the family are obviously private.”
“You’d be surprised,” Blake drawled. “Your sister is a journalist. You should understand a reporter’s drive to get a scoop.”
“But they won’t sneak into your property.”
“I wouldn’t bet on that. They know you’re here, or at least that you were. The media somehow got some information about your flight and your trip here to Rocky Springs. If they think you’re still around, they’ll try whatever they can to talk to you about your sister’s capture. I’m hoping between my mother and the rest of my family, they can lead them off our trail. I told them all I’d explain later, but to try to keep the media away with a pretty simple explanation.”
“How can they do that?”
“By telling them that Marcus left with you on his private aircraft.”
“What about you?”
He grinned. “I’m supposed to be on vacation. Hell, I’ve taken more fictional vacations since I started being Marcus than I’ve actually had in my entire life.”
My lips formed into a weak smile. Somehow, I didn’t see Senator Colter taking many breaks.
We drove much farther than I anticipated, not arriving at the gate of Blake’s home for at least fifteen or twenty minutes. “You weren’t kidding,” I observed. “This almost looks like a ranch.”
“It is,” he answered matter-of-factly. “Mostly cattle. I have a breeding operation.”
“You’re a rancher?” Okay, I was just a little bit surprised.
He opened his window and punched in a code to open the gate before he replied, “I think most real cattle operations would call me a breeder and this a hobby ranch. I don’t have enough acreage to really run cattle, and that’s never what I wanted to do. I’m more interested in producing new breeds.”
“I take it you didn’t major in political science in college,” I said.
He laughed and shook his head as he drove through the gate. “Hell, no. Going into politics wasn’t in my life plan. It just…happened. I couldn’t stand the little weasel who represented our district, so I ran for the House. After that, I was old enough to make a run for a Senate seat.”
“Do you like it?” I wondered aloud.
“Most of the time. At least I can be a voice for the people of Colorado.”
I could hear the commitment to doing the best he could as a public servant, and since he was a billionaire who could do most any damn thing he wanted, I couldn’t help but admire his dedication.
I crossed my arms over my chest as Blake navigated the long, twisting driveway. “What’s it like being an Independent with the political climate being so divided?”
“It’s hell,” he stated simply. “But I have an obligation to fight for the people of Colorado. Unlike many of my colleagues, I don’t give a damn about lobbyists. I’m there to do a job for the voters who trusted me enough to elect me.”
“That’s refreshing.” I didn’t mean the comment to be sarcastic in the least, and I hoped Blake didn’t take it that way. Honestly, very few representatives gave a damn about their constituents. They cared about gaining and retaining power in DC.
He shrugged. “I try to get out there and talk to as many people as possible, and get as many viewpoints as I can. I actually read scientific reports, and I try to think about future generations.”
“You really do care,” I stated, knowing there was admiration in my voice. Blake was a rare breed himself when it came to government officials.
“I’m not the only one who does,” he said modestly. “The problem is that we’re in the minority. I’m already wealthy, and I didn’t go to Washington for a power trip. I want to make life better for the people in my state, my country, and the world.”
“You almost make me wish I still lived here just so I could vote for you. You’re very persuasive, Senator,” I teased him.
He pulled his luxury SUV into the garage and killed the engine. He turned his head and caught my gaze. “I can think of things I need from you a lot more than your vote, Harper.”
The deep, guttural sound of his voice and his hypnotic stare sent a jolt of gut-wrenching desire through my body, making me realize I wanted a whole lot more from Blake than just his protection.
I wanted…
I needed…
“I’d give it to you anyway,” I told him, not sure I was talking about my vote anymore as I got lost in his gorgeous gray eyes.
His expression turned grim as he looked away and opened the car door, reaching in the backseat for my suitcase. “Come on. We’ll look at Dani’s video.”
“I want to see it,” I told him anxiously.
“I have it. I haven’t seen it yet. It was taken down from the Net almost immediately, but I have a private link.”
I scrambled out of the vehicle. “That’s how the reporters knew,” I guessed. “It was public for a time?”
“For a very short time, yes,” he confirmed.
Now everything made sense. If the video had gone public, reporters had obviously gone looking for me in California. When I wasn’t available there, somebody found out exactly where I’d traveled.
Damn, it was a little scary how easily a person could be tracked down like a prey animal.
I started moving when I realized Blake was waiting at the open door of the garage, anxious to see my sister’s face, even if it was only on a video.
Harper
Sadly, I didn’t have the chance to see Dani’s recording immediately. My brothers called me, one right after the other, all of them letting me know not to return to my home in California. My youngest brother, Jett, called me first, informing me that his place was surrounded by reporters, and that he was staying at another, lesser known residence he owned. While I was talking to Jett, my middle brother, Carter, beeped in to tell me the same thing.
My eldest sibling, Mason, called the moment I hung up the phone with Carter, relating th
e exact same scenario at his house.
Every one of us was being pursued by the media in different locations.
We’d traded information. My brothers, for all their wealth and power, hadn’t gotten a fix on Dani’s location.
My hopes were still pinned squarely on the success of Marcus’s team. Since Jett was the only one who knew what I’d done with Marcus, I’d talked to him the longest. I filled him in on the team’s progress, but let him know I hadn’t heard any news other than the fact that the group was already overseas tracking Dani.
All of my brothers had already seen the video of my sister, and every one of them warned me not to view it. When I asked them why, not a single one of them had given me a straight answer, so there was no way I was going to miss seeing my sister’s face and hearing her voice.
Blake had directed me to a lovely bedroom and dropped my bag inside while I was talking to my brothers, but I’d had very little time to admire the residence.
My main objective was to get more information on my sister, and the minute I’d finished all of my calls, I’d wandered around the house to find Blake.
It took me awhile to figure out that the home was a sprawling ranch style, and all of the bedrooms appeared to be in one very large wing. I wandered into a den, a formal living room, and then what appeared to be a large family room, and I still hadn’t seen any sign of Blake.
His house was impressive in size and contents, and I was pretty certain I’d want to see all of it if it wasn’t for the fact that I really needed to find its owner. After I’d passed through the enormous kitchen, I found an area with a home theater and an entrance to an indoor pool, which I bypassed.
I was getting frustrated when I finally found Blake in what looked like a large home office, the door open and the man I was seeking sitting behind his desk.
He looked at me when I entered, his eyes troubled.
“What’s wrong?” I asked in a nervous tone.
“Dani’s video. I’m not sure you really want to see it,” he replied grimly.
Hurrying to his side, I could see the video box on the computer screen, but the motion had been halted.
“My brothers tried to tell me the same thing. They’ve already viewed it. I need to see it,” I pleaded, resting a hand on his shoulder.
“She looks like she’s been beaten up, Harper. You need to be ready to deal with the fact that she isn’t being treated well.”
“Show me, Blake. I’m not a child. I want to see my sister,” I told him sternly.
Maybe it would be a shock, but I wasn’t running away from reality.
He clicked the arrow on the video, making it play.
The picture was grainy, and I didn’t understand the language that was voiced over the video, but I watched my sister intently, ignoring the foreign language to look at my sister as Blake increased the picture to a full-sized image.
Her face was bruised and swollen, and her long, beautiful hair that she complained about so often had been hacked off so short that the unseen kidnapper could barely get a hand into it to jerk her head toward the camera.
The video was simply foreign chatter, and the image of my sister being held by her short locks of hair to face the camera.
“Oh, Dani,” I murmured in shock, putting my hand to my mouth to keep a hopeless sob from exiting my lips.
I could still see a defiant look in her eyes, and I focused on that, trying to read what she was thinking as the kidnappers rattled on about what I assumed were their demands.
At the end, my sister twisted out of the man’s grip on her hair and shouted in English, “Don’t do it. Don’t let them go. They’ll kill me anyway.”
The brutal video ended when a fist flew and hit Dani forcefully in the face, knocking her out of the picture.
Blake’s office was completely silent after the last yell from one of the men holding my sister captive, probably the same guy who had silenced her.
I walked to the small sofa on the other side of the room and sat, my legs unable to hold me up any longer.
Stunned, I stared at the wall, wondering what in the hell my sister was enduring right now. “How did this happen? Who are the men and why are they brutalizing my sister?” I asked in a monotone voice, trying to separate my emotions from reason, knowing if I let myself go, I’d be swamped in a sea of fear and anxiety that I’d never get back under control.
“Guerilla fighters,” Blake answered bleakly. “From what they said, all we can gather is they’re acting alone in a small group right now to gain money and the return of some of the men they used to fight under. I don’t think they’re all that smart. We obviously pulled the plug on their group when we took the leaders. They’re desperate to get them back. They threatened to kill Dani if the military or Marcus’s rescue group tried anything.”
I put my hands to my face and rubbed them over my eyes. I was tired, and I hadn’t gotten much sleep since my sister had come up missing. I was exhausted, anxious, and so damn scared that I was having a hard time containing it.
“I don’t know what else to do,” I told Blake, feeling completely helpless to do anything to get my sister out of the hands of terrorists.
He came and sat beside me. “There is nothing more you can do right now, Harper. Believe me when I say we’re doing everything short of releasing those men to get your sister out of there.”
“I don’t even know why she was there.”
“I do,” Blake confessed as he rubbed my back soothingly. “Do you want to know why Dani is there right now?”
I looked up at him as tears streamed down my face. I nodded. “Tell me.”
“Two American missionaries approached the government yesterday, a husband and wife who had just returned from an assignment in Turkey. According to them, their child and two other teenagers decided to take a joy ride across the border. Your sister followed them, apparently trying to stop them. When it came to a choice between herself and them, Dani waved them back across the border and gave those kids time to escape before she was captured herself while she tried to outrun the kidnappers. She created a distraction.”
“Oh, God. That sounds like her,” I wailed, letting the heartbreaking sobs leave my body, giving me relief from the pain of knowing that my sister had actually sacrificed herself.
Blake took me in his arms and just held me, letting me release the stress that had been welling up inside me for so long. He spoke low and comforting next to my ear. “She had to have known she was going to be caught. The parents were so grateful that they couldn’t stay silent once their kid had told them what happened. They headed back stateside and went immediately to the government. Everybody knows your sister is a hero, but there’s only so much we can do.”
“So we wait,” I stated more calmly.
“If anybody can get her out, Marcus can,” Blake assured me. “He’s pulled off some pretty incredible rescues.”
“I know. Jett told me.”
“The government is working on the situation, too. They’ll do whatever they can.”
Somehow that didn’t make me feel much better. The government had failed me so far, but maybe now that they knew for sure that Dani had been taken, the results might be different.
“Is there any hope there?” I looked at him, my eyes beseeching him to be honest.
“I’ve called in every favor I’m owed in Washington, and I’ve asked every friend I have there to help.”
More tears leaked from my eyes as I told him in an unsteady voice, “Thank you.”
What else could I say to a man who was trying every resource he had to try to get my sister out of a hostile area alive?
“Not a big deal,” he discounted. “Your sister rescued three American kids.”
“Dani would never consider herself a hero. Didn’t you hear her say not to release any of the prisoners we’re holding?”
I nodded. “She understands them. There’s very few languages she can’t speak, and she spends a lot of time in the Middle East.”
“Damn,” Blake cursed. “Then she has to believe that they aren’t going to let her leave there alive.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of right now,” I confessed breathlessly.
I was so nervous I nearly jumped off the couch as Blake’s cell phone rang. I sat up and moved away from him so he could dig in his pocket and answer it.
I watched as his expression grew dim and he gave one-word answers on his end of the line.
Finally, he asked, “So you’re going in tomorrow?”
My eyes widened, and I was hoping like hell the call was about Dani. I held my breath, waiting until he hung up to release it. “Was it Marcus?”
Blake nodded. “He found the location. He just needs time to set up the plan.”
“Thank God,” I said, relief soaking into my body now that I knew somebody was on their way toward my sister’s prison. “Does the government know what he’s doing?”
Blake was silent for a moment before he answered. “Some of it.”
It was a cryptic answer, something I wasn’t used to with Blake. He’d handled things pretty honestly with me so far. “What does that mean?”
“That means you don’t know everything.”
“What?”
He let out a loud, masculine sigh of defeat. “I’m going to tell you something, but it’s a fact that nobody knows outside my family. Something I’d never tell anyone I didn’t trust.”
“I won’t say a word. I swear.” Anything Blake told me that was personal would go to my grave with me. “I’d never betray your confidence.”
“Marcus has other ties to the government. He does special operations for the CIA.”
“He’s a spy?” It was the last thing I expected to hear.
“He got into it years ago. He came across some sensitive information while he was doing business in another country. Marcus was a legitimate businessman, and he was just there checking on foreign interests. But he couldn’t ignore the danger to his own country, so he approached the head of the CIA. Eventually, he was recruited to gather information for the US while he was traveling. He’s been a special agent ever since.”
