by Gun Brooke
“I’m walking around the car and will try to get in on the other side,” Sabrina said aloud and hoped Darcy would hear her. Glancing back at Lacey, she saw the young woman was still struggling to push the door open.
Two strong hands gripped her shoulders so hard she felt bolts of fire rip down her arms. “I don’t think so,” a male voice said, his voice throaty and menacing. “You’re coming with me.” The unmistakable pain from the barrel of a gun being pressed against the base of her skull made Sabrina go rigid. Her mouth so dry it was impossible to speak, she merely nodded.
“Here.” The man behind her shoved Sabrina around the corner of the building, where a dark-blue van stood, the sliding door behind the passenger door open and its engine running. “Get in.”
“Let me go!” Angry and afraid, propelled forward by his rough hands, Sabrina landed once again on her hands and knees. This time the pain was so bad, she cried out.
Rapidly moving gloved fingers pulled cable ties around her wrists and ankles. She tried to kick the man who held her, but he was strong and fast. Shoving her farther in behind the only two seats in the van, he attached her hands with yet another cable tie around a metal loop on the dirty floor. Sabrina’s knees were bleeding profusely now, and she tried to move over on her side to take the pressure off them. As she did, she saw the man properly for the first time. He wore a pantyhose mask, and her sudden flashback made her nauseous.
The bare metal floor in the van chilled her through her clothes. Part of Sabrina wanted to close her eyes and go to that place where nothing could hurt her, but that wouldn’t do. She needed to keep talking, keep making sounds, in case Darcy miraculously heard what was being said in the van.
“Where are you taking me?” Sabrina’s voice shook as she struggled against the man’s hard hands.
“Shut up!” a gruff voice coming from the man now behind the wheel said as he gunned the engine and raced around the building. As far as Sabrina could tell, he turned west on the road leading away from the center of the town. He was driving slower now, probably not wanting to attract attention. Sabrina thought she could hear sirens, but they seemed very far away.
After a few minutes, the car slowed to a stop and the passenger door opened and another man jumped in. “Fuck, did you see that? Poof. I got them both.” This man’s voice sounded smoother, more well-modulated. Sabrina tried to place it, but she also needed to put energy into calming down and dealing with her overwhelming fear, which she simply couldn’t let invade her senses.
“Yeah, those were good shots,” the driver said. “Pity we couldn’t risk you putting them between their eyes. They might still buy it, but better if they don’t. They’re not cops, but there’ll still be a manhunt. And for what, really…guarding this bitch as if she’s a fucking rock star? Pathetic.”
“Speaking of. She conscious?” The younger-sounding man shifted, and Sabrina guessed he was trying to look at her. She stared back at him and saw he wore the same type of mask as the man at the wheel.
“Yes, unless she’s passed out from seeing me in this mask,” the first man said and snorted.
“Don’t think so.”
Sabrina spotted a familiar structure, a water tower, and realized exactly where they were. A popular shopping center was located close by. She disregarded the pain throbbing in her knees and scooted to the side of the van as far as her strapped-in arms could reach. Her bare feet couldn’t make too much noise against the inside panel, but she kept hammering her heels while screaming at the top of her lungs. Maybe someone would hear her.
“Fuck!” The man in the passenger seat vaulted into the back of the van and yanked Sabrina against him. Pressing her face into the dirty metal floor, he pulled out something from between the seats. Duct tape. Despite her best efforts, the man taped her mouth and wrapped it around her neck twice. For a frightening moment, he had hovered with tape over her eyes, but to Sabrina’s relief he decided against blindfolding her. The idea of having something so adhesive pressed against the thin skin of her eyelids—and then ripped off—made her tremble.
“Just relax, Sabrina,” the driver said. “We’re going to your favorite place in the world. You’ll be on your own turf, and as you wouldn’t let us in last time, we’re making sure this time, in a manner of speaking.”
The beach house. He had to mean the beach house. Sabrina closed her eyes hard, hoping Darcy had overheard this threat and connected the dots. Sabrina had told her everything, and Darcy had read Karimi’s reports. She was relieved that she, true to habit, always kept her keys in her coat pocket. She would open and let them in, but what these idiots might not realize was that, as soon as she didn’t push the close-and-lock button, a silent alarm would go to Karimi’s offices. If nobody had figured things out before then, that would do the trick.
The van shifted lanes, turned, and drove down what had to be the highway. The man sitting in the back with her kept her down with a knee in the small of her back. Silent tears from pain and anxiety ran down Sabrina’s cheeks, but she refused to make a single sound. If she started sobbing out loud, she feared she’d start crying in earnest, and that would make her nose become congested. She needed to be able to breathe, even if that meant inhaling the smells of grease, metal, and cigarettes. Always sensitive to motion sickness, Sabrina knew throwing up was another thing that could kill her, as her mouth was taped shut. She had never been this afraid before—not even that night fifteen years ago. What did these men want? Were they the ones she and Darcy had theorized about? Had Darcy called Karimi? And the cops? No, Lacey had called the cops.
The knee in her back hurt, and she tried to shift away from it. A hand gripped a fistful of her hair.
“Lie still. Don’t make a sound. Got it?”
Sabrina shuddered but managed to nod. She needed to pretend to cooperate. Buy some time. Time for Darcy to find her.
Or the cops. Would they believe what was going on this time?
Chapter Twenty
“Karimi! They’ve taken her. At least two men have Sabrina!” Yelling into her work cell phone, Darcy was already in her car where she kept her gear. “I was on the phone with her when it happened, but I just lost the connection. She’s in some vehicle, and I don’t dare call her back if they don’t know she has her cell with her. She might get a chance to dial my private cell again.”
“Good thinking. If they don’t realize it’s in the vehicle, I can start searching for it.”
“From what I heard, and unless I misunderstood, they’re on their way to her beach house. Not the first place we’d look right off the bat, but then again, we would look there eventually—so what can be their reason for taking her there?”
“God knows. Perhaps it’s a matter of intimidation? To prove to Sabrina that they can reach her anywhere, or maybe there’s something in the beach house they need.” Karimi murmured to someone in the background. “I’m dispatching two units, and we’ve also reported this as a kidnapping in progress to the police.”
Already on the ramp to the highway with Khan in the passenger seat next to her, Darcy overtook every car in front of her. “I’m on my way. I have Khan with me. Tell your guys and the police not to shoot him.” Glancing at her watch, Darcy saw it had been only three minutes since Sabrina had managed to call her. “I’ll let you know when I get there, Karimi. Got to focus on driving so I won’t end up in a ditch, okay?”
“Later. Backup is coming. Be safe, Darcy.”
“That’s the plan.”
As she drove through East Quay fast enough to risk a hefty fine if any of her former colleagues caught her, Darcy tried to harness her fear. Channeling it as fury usually worked better for her, but this time, so much was at stake. Sabrina. Darcy couldn’t think too much about how afraid her lover must be right this minute. And Darcy wasn’t there to keep her safe. After all their measures, Darcy’s worst fear had come true. Someone had taken the woman she loved. If they had harmed her, even the slightest, Darcy vowed she wouldn’t rest until she’d made the
se people pay.
Forty minutes later, Darcy put a small earpiece in her left ear. It was connected to her cell phone and smartwatch via Bluetooth, and now she redialed Karimi by tapping her watch. Her phone was in the small leather backpack she pulled on as Karimi answered at the other end.
“I’m at the beach house, Karimi. Can you hear me?” The house was dark, and the only sound Darcy could hear was the waves crashing against the shore. Careful to not take the car too close, she had driven to the side and turned off the ignition. Checking the gun belt with four extra clips and her Glock, she tucked it into her back holster. She motioned for Khan to follow her, slipped out of the car, and closed the door quietly.
“I hear you fine. My teams are ten minutes away. Not entirely certain how long it’ll take the police. Any movements?”
“None. It’s pitch-black here. I can’t spot any vehicles.”
“The silent alarm went off fifteen minutes ago. I have Sabrina’s surveillance on. The feed is only up on one of her monitors in the house, showing the driveway and the road, which means someone turned them off locally. Perhaps these idiots think this means we can’t view anything from this end. I suggest you circle in among the dunes and stay off the road. Once you’re under the house, they won’t be able to see you.”
“Any other alarms I should worry about?” Darcy shivered. The wind from the ocean was like ice against her skin, but she knew the tremors were mainly because of an onset of nerves. Tugging the zipper on her jacket all the way up to her neck, she moved among the dunes to the left of the road. Crouching to make sure she didn’t cast any moving shadows, she made her way to Sabrina’s seemingly empty house. True to his training, Khan gave no sounds as he shadowed her.
“They haven’t disengaged her motion-sensor lights around the base of the house,” Karimi said.
“Can you help with that?” Darcy stopped. “Wait. What the hell was that?” With another thirty-some yards to go, she spotted a quick flicker of light on the second floor. Darcy waited for a few moments to make sure nothing or nobody was going to light the place up, but everything remained as dark as before. “I saw a flicker from inside on the top floor. Not sure what that was.”
“Is it still there?”
“No.” As she and Khan reached the house and were soon underneath it, Darcy pulled out a small flashlight with a narrow beam. “I need to get in without making any noise. Any chance you can unlock the door remotely?”
“But of course, since nobody locked the deadbolt,” Karimi said calmly, and she faintly heard him tap on a keyboard. “There. You’re good to go.”
“I’m leaving Khan down here by the door, just out of sight. As I said, don’t let anyone shoot him.” Darcy pulled her weapon and disengaged the safety. Carefully, she pressed the door handle down and opened the door a fraction of an inch. If Mark D’Angelo was behind this, which she believed he was, he might have posted a guard at this level. Darcy knew she would get only one chance to neutralize him. Judging from outside, the area around the stairs at ground level was less than fifty square feet.
Hearing no reaction to her opening the door, Darcy waited for ten seconds, listening intently. Karimi was quiet at his end, which helped. Pushing the door open fast, but in a controlled manner, so it wouldn’t strike the wall behind it, Darcy let her Glock lead her but held it close to her to keep an unseen assailant from slamming it out of her hand.
Darcy motioned behind her for Khan to remain and keep guard with the signs Benny had taught her to use. The German shepherd gave a muted “off,” which was his way of telling her he understood.
As she had suspected, the narrow foyer was empty. It was dark, but a faint light from above, perhaps a night-light, made it possible for Darcy to make out the contours of the stairs. “I’m in,” she whispered and hoped Karimi could hear her, as there was no chance she dared to speak louder.
“Stay low,” she heard Karimi’s firm voice reply. “Backup from my teams is five minutes out.”
“Ten-four.” Darcy tried the first step and closed her eyes in relief when it didn’t creak or make any other noise. Her steps were soundless against the carpeted stair as she slowly made her way upstairs. She had only a rudimentary idea of the layout. The beach house had two floors, and Sabrina’s bedroom, study, and safe room with security monitors were on the top one. Darcy tried to picture what she’d observed from outside in the dark. It would be logical to assume that the living-room area and possibly the kitchen were located facing east, as Sabrina would want to be able to enjoy the view of the ocean.
“Fucking bitch! Tell me where you keep it, or—” A man’s angry voice came from the top floor.
“No.” Sabrina’s voice was calm. Too calm, but she was alive. Darcy held on to the hope they hadn’t hurt Sabrina but also had a sickening memory of Sabrina screaming in pain when they took her.
Darcy made a quick search of the first floor to be certain it was empty. When she had made sure and also memorized the layout of each room, she remained as far as she could from the stairs and whispered, “At least one man with Sabrina on the top floor. He wants her to give him something, but she refuses. My guess is it’s Mark D’Angelo.”
“Ten-four. Unless her life is in imminent danger, wait for backup, Darcy.” Karimi’s serious voice was clear. “You’re no use to her if you only hand them a second hostage.”
“I’m well aware, Karimi. No matter what D’Angelo has done, Sabrina must unknowingly have proof of it.”
A muted cry from the upper floor made Darcy jump and slide closer to the stairs, her back to the wall. “Listen,” she whispered.
“It doesn’t matter what you try to do here,” Sabrina said, her voice strained. “You can burn the place down, but all my work will still be on the company cloud server. On several, in fact. If you kill me, which must be the plan since you’ve taken off your masks, you will still go to jail, not only for embezzling, Mark, but for murder in the first degree. Life without parole, that’s what I predict for you. As for your friend over there, I don’t know what his cut in your scheme is, but I hope you pay him well for taking such a risk.”
Darcy gaped at how matter-of-fact Sabrina sounded. Either she was set on buying time, or she had resigned herself to her potential fate, which didn’t sound like her at all. Sabrina was a fighter, but did she have to try to persuade them to kill her?
“Don’t you worry. We know what we’re doing. You’re going to give us the code to your system, and my friend here is, by a fortunate happenstance, a computer whiz.”
“Oh, my God. It’s like watching a farce.” Sabrina groaned. “What the hell is wrong with you that makes it impossible for you to grasp what I’m saying? Some computer whiz you are over there. Should I guess your name perhaps? Charles Ivers?”
“Shut up, you bitch.” Another, higher, voice echoed down the stairs. “How the hell do you know?”
“Thank you for confirming my guess.” Sabrina snorted. “I’ve had the misfortune of meeting your brother Steve. Ah!” Something clattered to the floor.
“I said, shut up. No use fighting us,” Mark’s hoarser voice grunted. “Just shut the fuck up.”
Darcy’s stomach clenched so badly now, she had to swallow against the threatening bile.
“Jesus…oh, Jesus…” Suddenly Sabrina’s voice sounded younger and far from calm. “So it is you.”
“Fuck. She figured it out, Mark,” the higher voice called out. “Get on with that info you need. It’s time to get out of here.”
“Tell us the code to your system now, or we cut our losses as we cut your throat,” Mark D’Angelo roared.
“No!” A loud banging noise almost drowned out Sabrina’s scream.
“That’s it, Karimi, I’m going in.” Her weapon ready, Darcy ran up the stairs, doing her best to remain inaudible. As she reached the upper level of Sabrina’s house, she saw the light on in one of the rooms to the left. She moved along the wall in the dark hallway, careful not to nudge any of the paintings or lamp sco
nces. Reaching the door, she stood out of sight of the two men but saw Sabrina sitting taped to the computer chair at the desk. A large computer screen lit up her face, and Darcy clenched her jaws at the sight of Sabrina’s swollen lips, where remnants of duct tape were still visible in some places and had torn off the thin skin in others. It infuriated her to see some of the tape wound way too tight around Sabrina’s neck.
“One last time, bitch.” A handsome man that Darcy recognized appeared behind Sabrina. He took her by the throat and gripped the area around her larynx. “You’ve figured things out, but you can still choose which way you die. Agonizingly slow or quick and pain free.”
“You really need to pay attention. No matter what you do to me, you’re doomed. I won’t tell you since you’ll kill me anyway. I will fucking haunt you forever while you rot in prison.” Sabrina spat at him, looking so furious and afraid, Darcy knew this was it. She shifted slightly, wanting to know the exact position of the second guy, but her foot caught in the narrow rug that ran along the entire hallway. It didn’t make much of a sound but enough for Mark’s head to snap up.
“Someone’s in the house,” he said. “Check it out, Charlie.”
Darcy cursed herself. He was coming her way.
“Shit.” The man with the higher voice moved, and that was all Darcy needed.
She shifted her balance and kicked the half-open door in, staying low as she yelled, “Don’t move!” To her astonishment this guy looked like Ivers’s twin, but slightly older. She kept the gun on him and motioned for him to sit down in a chair close to the window. “Here,” she said. “Cuff yourself to the table. Careful to keep your hands where I can see them. And if you think I won’t shoot, you’re sorely mistaken.” Grimacing, the man who had to be Charles Ivers did as she said.
Glancing at Sabrina and Mark, she pulled her lips up and growled. “Let her go.” Her hand held the gun steady. “As in now, or you’re a dead man.”
