She walked into the master bedroom, noticing that the sheets were all twisted and the bed unmade. Turning into the bathroom, she reached for a washcloth and then turned the faucet on cold. After wetting the washcloth, she pressed it against her eyes, even as she felt tears trying to surface once more.
An image of the bank robbers invaded her thoughts. She had been so shocked to see the guns they held that she couldn’t remember much of anything else until Kel had refused to let them succeed. She stared at herself in the mirror and let herself analyze the day before. What would have happened had they not stopped at the bank? What would have happened if Kel hadn’t been there?
The outcome certainly would have been different, both for them and for everyone at the bank. The bank robber Kel had shot would still be alive, and he would have likely gotten away with who knows how much money. The customers would have been traumatized, certainly, but they probably would have been safe if they had done what the robbers had asked. Or would they?
Marilyn blew out a breath, reliving the moment when the one robber had aimed his gun at Kel. He looked like he was ready to shoot, ready to kill. If Kel hadn’t stepped forward, would everyone have really remained safe? Suddenly, Marilyn wasn’t so sure. She also found herself considering the odds that they had been in the bank at the exact time the robbery had been attempted. Had the Lord allowed this to happen so that she would see what her husband was capable of?
Hoping to wash away her doubts, she showered and changed, knowing that Kel would likely come home for lunch. She just didn’t know what she was going to say to him when he did arrive.
Through the open window, she heard something rustle in the bushes in the backyard. Kel must have decided to come home after physical therapy. Marilyn garnered her energy and made her way downstairs. She couldn’t stand this hollow feeling inside her anymore. One way or another, she had to face her husband.
She pulled the back door open before she thought to disengage the alarm. When it sounded, she turned toward the control panel, wondering why Kel hadn’t turned it off before he went outside. Instinctively, she stepped closer to the panel and punched in the access code. Then she heard rapid footsteps behind her and felt a hand grab her from behind.
Before she thought to struggle free, someone’s hand pressed a cloth firmly over her mouth. She whimpered as she tried to push the cloth away from her mouth. She felt the hand holding the cloth in place just as she took a breath. Then all she could think of was the sickly sweet smell and the tingling sensation that swept through her. Gasping once more, her eyelids became heavy, and slowly, she sank into the darkness.
35
Kel walked inside, went to deactivate the alarm, and noticed that Marilyn had already turned it off. He didn’t hear her on the main level, so he headed for the stairs and called out her name, “Marilyn?”
When she didn’t respond, he headed for her office first and then the bedroom. When he didn’t find her anywhere, he walked back into her office and looked out the window to see if she was in the backyard. He pushed open the window, and again he called her name. Again, there was no response.
Sliding the window closed once more, he considered where she could be. Her car was still in the garage, so he didn’t think she had gone out. Then again, she had been spending a lot of time with Riley lately.
He reached for the phone to call her, stopping when he noticed that her computer was on. He glanced over his shoulder, hesitated for a brief moment, and then he sat down in the office chair. He couldn’t help it. Kel knew that Marilyn didn’t want him reading her novel, but he needed to see if he could find a clue to what she was feeling, what he could do to make her understand.
He opened up the word processor and clicked on the button to display the most current files. Guessing that the most recent was Marilyn’s novel in progress, Kel clicked on the file only to discover that she had put a password on it.
A little surprised and hurt that she had taken such a precaution, Kel typed in a couple of passwords he had known her to use in the past. When those didn’t work, he typed in her birthday. Again, the password wasn’t accepted.
Kel rubbed his chin as he considered other possibilities. He typed in a few more variations of old passwords. Then he considered the password he used the most for his own files, that of his younger sister Maggie’s birthday. He typed Marilyn’s mom’s birthday, then tried reversing Marilyn’s birthday. It wasn’t until he typed in his own birthday that the file opened.
The corners of his mouth lifted. Then he started reading, quickly absorbed in the fictional world his wife had created.
* * *
Tristan stared at the computer screen in front of him, not sure exactly what he was looking at. Seth was usually the one on their squad who took care of any computer surveillance, but with him on leave, Tristan had been tasked with finishing up a project Seth had started. The data in front of him didn’t look right, and he wasn’t sure why.
The idea of trying to track down Kel’s residence seemed like such an odd thing to do when he knew exactly where his former commander lived. Still, if going through the process would help find Halim Karel, Tristan was willing to go through the motions.
He hacked his way into the credit card system the way Seth had taught him and then continued working through the checklist of other places to search. It wasn’t until he logged in to the security company’s system that he saw it. The alarm system at Kel’s house had been activated for a few seconds that morning. It had been brief—short-lived enough that the security company would not have checked in.
Marilyn or Kel had probably forgotten to turn it off when they got home that morning, but Tristan felt a sense of unease settle over him. Tristan stared at his monitor a moment longer before reaching for his phone. It wouldn’t hurt to be safe.
He dialed Kel’s cell phone number, a little surprised that it rang four times before Kel picked up with a simple hello.
“Hey, Kel. It’s Tristan,” he began. “I just wanted to make sure everything is okay at your house.”
“Yeah, why?”
“I was checking out your alarm system this morning and noticed that it had gone off for a few seconds,” Tristan said a little sheepishly. “I know someone probably just forgot to turn it off, but I thought I’d better check.”
“Let me call you right back.”
Tristan’s sense of unease doubled as he clicked off his phone and waited. Less than two minutes later, it rang again.
Kel didn’t mince words. “Is there any chance Marilyn is with Riley right now?”
“No,” Tristan told him. “Riley is teaching a class today.”
“Get everyone over to my house. Now.”
“Kel, what’s going on?”
“I don’t know, but Marilyn isn’t here.” Kel’s voice was clipped, but panic ran through it. “Her car is here. Her purse and cell phone are here, but there’s no sign of her.”
“Could she have gone out for a walk?”
“I doubt it. I’ve been home for almost an hour,” Kel said tensely. “I need you guys to come help me find her.”
“We’ll be right there,” Tristan promised.
* * *
Kel hung up the phone and started to search the house again. The garage door had been closed when he arrived home, but he hadn’t noticed that the front door was locked until after Tristan called. Nor had he realized that Marilyn’s purse and cell phone were still sitting neatly on the kitchen counter.
He had been deep into Marilyn’s story when Tristan had called, completely caught up in her land of make-believe. Now he wished he could go back there.
The panic rushing through him wasn’t an emotion he was accustomed to. Adrenaline and fear he could handle, but panic was an emotion he had been trained to defeat. An emotion that seemed to be winning right now.
Kel had gone out onto the deck after Tristan had called and had called out her name again. He had checked the front porch and the garage. Now he walked out on the back de
ck again. He would be embarrassed if his squad showed up only to find that Marilyn had been there the whole time and just hadn’t heard him or had chosen not to respond. He did a more thorough search of the backyard, but there was no sign of her.
Where could she be? Kel asked himself for the thousandth time. Constant prayers were running through his mind, prayers that Marilyn would walk through their door to prove his concerns unwarranted. No matter how hard he prayed, he couldn’t dismiss the two disturbing thoughts that continued to pop up. One was that she had left because of what had happened at the bank the day before. The other even more frightening possibility was that somehow Halim Karel had found his home. Surely, there had to be a third option. At least, Kel prayed there was.
He wanted to believe that she was just out for a walk like Tristan suggested, but he couldn’t picture it. Marilyn was a creature of habit. She always took her cell phone with her everywhere. And why would she have left through the back door?
“Kel?” Brent’s voice called out as the gate to the backyard swung open.
“I’m back here.” Kel put a hand on the deck railing. He couldn’t bring himself to look Brent in the eye, fighting back the tears stinging his own. “I don’t know where she is.”
“We’ll find her,” Brent insisted.
Kel took a deep breath and rubbed his temples. “I’m going to feel pretty stupid when she walks in here with a bunch of shopping bags.”
Brent walked up the steps, put a hand on Kel’s shoulder, and motioned to the door. “Have you found any clues as to where she might be?”
Kel shook his head as he walked through the back door into the kitchen. He pointed at the kitchen counter. “I don’t know where she would have gone without taking her cell phone.” Kel looked around the room, searching for any clues. “Her car is in the garage; her purse is still here.”
“Did you check the call history on her cell phone?”
Kel shook his head, annoyed that he hadn’t thought of it himself. He crossed to the counter and picked up her phone. After hitting a few buttons he looked back up at Brent. “Nothing. She hasn’t even used her phone since before we went to the bank yesterday.”
Quinn walked in from the garage. “There isn’t anything unusual out there, and her car is cold.”
“I just don’t get it. She should be here. Even her laptop is upstairs . . .” Kel trailed off, his mind wrapping around that detail for the first time. “Her laptop is upstairs,” he repeated.
Brent looked at him confused. “I’m not following you.”
“She takes that thing with her everywhere. It’s like a security blanket.” Kel turned and went onto the back deck to look around again, this time his mind searching for any sign of who might have been there besides his wife.
Quinn’s voice sounded behind him. “I’ll go talk to the neighbors. Someone may have seen something.”
“Take Jay with you,” Brent told him before following Kel outside once more. “Now what? Do you want me to call NCIS?” he asked, referring to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Kel looked down at the ground at the base of the steps. A couple of footprints were visible where the grass was thin, but he couldn’t tell if they were his, one of his friend's, or if they belonged to someone who had invaded his home. He looked up, stared out at the quiet water that edged his property, and blew out a breath. Then he nodded. “Call NCIS. I think I’m going to need all the help I can get.”
36
Special Agent Larry Steinert from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service looked around the living room, recognizing its barely lived-in feel. The couch looked new, the end table old, and the carpets appeared to have been cleaned recently. Added up, he guessed the Bennetts had just moved in. And, apparently, they were already having a spat about something if the missus had run off without a word.
Still, he had been the lucky one to take the call when some higher up had decided that the commander’s concern about his runaway wife was worth looking into. It was strange, he could admit to himself, that the woman had walked off without her purse or cell phone. Even stranger was the fact that a US Navy SEAL and his squad couldn’t find Mrs. Bennett themselves.
“Commander, I don’t know that there’s much we can do.” Larry typed a few observations into his Blackberry and looked up at Kel. “You said yourself that you saw your wife when you left the house at nine. That was only three hours ago. And you admit that she was upset about the bank robbery yesterday. There’s nothing here suggesting that she didn’t just go out for a walk to clear her head.”
Kel’s eyes hardened. “Are you saying you won’t help me?”
“I’m sorry, but, generally, we don’t investigate this kind of case until someone’s been missing for at least twenty-four hours.”
“I don’t think we can afford to wait twenty-four hours to start an investigation.” Kel’s voice was controlled, but a hint of fury mixed with panic hummed through his words. “My wife isn’t prone to leaving the house without taking her car, and I can’t think of a reason she would choose to go somewhere without her cell phone, even if she was just out for a walk.”
Larry’s eyebrows lifted. “You’re saying someone abducted her?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“Any idea who?”
“Halim Karel.”
“Who is this Mr. Karel? How do you know him?”
Kel’s jaw clenched for a moment. “I don’t know him. He knows me.”
Brent interrupted before Steinert could continue asking questions, “Before we continue with this, can you at least make sure that your boys at headquarters are set up to trace any calls that come into the commander’s phone?”
“What makes you think you’re going to hear from this Halim fellow?”
Kel spoke with conviction. “He’ll call. He wants something.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.” Kel’s eyes flashed with fury and impatience. “I guess he’ll tell me when he calls.”
“Tell you what. I’ll set everything up to track down anyone who calls you, if you’ll give me the rest of the story. I want to know why you’re so convinced Halim Karel has abducted your wife.”
Kel nodded. “Deal.”
* * *
She was living a dream, her dream. Her characters were living out the fantasy she had created on her little laptop, the hero looking so much like Kel, the heroine a prettier version of herself. And so much stronger. Isabella, as she was called in the fantasy, didn’t hide from danger. She didn’t fear the unknown. Isabella knew she could accomplish anything she set her mind to.
The sound of children’s laughter sounded outside, altering the dream. Groggy and still half asleep, Marilyn struggled to open her eyes. She tried to cover her eyes with her hand. Then she felt the metal bracelet and the resistance.
Her eyes flew open then, and she gasped. She was lying on a bed, one hand handcuffed to the brass headboard. She struggled unsuccessfully against the restraint, twisting her wrist one way and then the other.
One panicked breath followed another as she struggled, both against the handcuff and against the confusion. Where was she? Why was she here? And how did she get here? Questions tumbled over one another, but her brain wouldn’t slow down long enough for her to find the answers.
She vaguely remembered waking up late that morning. She remembered going downstairs and hearing Kel outside. Then reality crashed over her. It hadn’t been Kel in the backyard. Someone had grabbed her from behind. But why?
Then she remembered her conversation with Kel and her comment that no one would ever want to kidnap her. But someone had. Kel had been right. He had known she was in danger.
Several minutes passed before her panic eased enough to let her vision expand beyond the bed and the fact that she was chained to it. The room wasn’t terribly large. It was stylishly decorated with an underlying impersonal feel, as though no one really lived here. Someone’s guest room or a rental house, perhaps
?
There were plenty of rentals in the area, especially near the beaches. She shifted, trying to let logic surface through the underlying terror. She wondered how Kel would handle a situation like this. The only thing she could be sure of was that he would do everything he could to get free. She didn’t have his skills with picking locks, but maybe she could find something to help her escape or at least some clue about where she was.
Her eyes swept over the room. A plush chair was nestled in the corner, and an elegant mirror graced the wall above a cherry dresser. There was a matching table beside the bed, greenery spilling out of the brass urn situated on top of it.
Daylight streamed through the sheer white curtains that were drawn across a sliding glass door leading to a small balcony. She pushed up onto her knees so she could get a clearer view. She could see a fenced backyard with a small storage shed situated in the far corner.
When she heard children’s laughter again, she shifted as close to the door as she could, finally able to see the edge of a playground in the yard next door. Then her gaze shifted to the simple, one-story house with a sign. What had once apparently been a residence appeared to have been converted into a day care center.
Marilyn saw a couple of preschoolers run into her view. She leaned forward, but the handcuff kept her in place.
Then she heard the footsteps in the hall. A new wave of terror crashed over her as she scooted back on the bed, putting as much distance between herself and the bedroom door as she could. She held her breath and silently prayed for help as she heard the doorknob turn.
Then the door swung open, and she forced herself to look at her captor. He looked so . . . normal. The dark-haired man was dressed casually in a collared shirt and khaki pants. His eyes were direct, his presence commanding.
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