“Hey.” Ian’s voice snapped him out of it, as he placed a strong but comforting hand on Marco’s shoulder. The phone call with Dixon had evidently ended. “We’ll find them and get Harper back. It’s what we do, brother. You know that.”
Marco nodded, hoping beyond hope his friend spoke the truth.
Ten minutes later, they were still at a loss for where they should start looking. The good news was Devon and Darius had arrived at the scene, just as Kristen was being put into an ambulance. She was now awake, but shaken—and scared out of her mind that something might have happened to her unborn child. Devon was just as freaked, but Darius was keeping him in check. The Omega operative had also passed on that there was nothing more to add to the intel the rest of them had already been given.
Brody hung up his cell phone. “Her last known landlord says she skipped out on the rent over a year ago and he has no idea where she went. Everything that I can find with an address for her lists the one she had when working here or older. I’ve got nothing on her paying any utilities anywhere in a two-hundred-mile radius for over a year. It’s like she fell off the face of the earth.”
Several people were on laptops and phones, trying to track down Paula Leighton’s location. Marco’s frustration was mounting as he racked his brains trying to think where the bitch would have taken Harper. Trudy had tried to talk to him, but, no offense to the shrink, he wasn’t in the mood to calm down at the moment.
“Ian?”
They all turned toward the door where Colleen stood, pale and her eyes wide in alarm. Ian waved her into the conference room. “What is it?”
She took a step forward and pointed to the landline phone on the table. “S-she’s on the phone. Paula. She’s demanding to talk to Marco and said if he doesn’t get on the phone, she’ll kill Harper.”
Everyone froze. Then panic assailed Marco and he lunged across the table for the phone, but Trudy stopped him from picking it up. He glared at her. “What the fuck?”
“Easy, Marco. Take a deep breath before you talk to her. She’s psychotic and probably far from rational at this point. Don’t yell at her or threaten her. Forget trying to reason with her. Instead, play into whatever fantasy she’s in.”
He glanced at his teammates—with the exception of Brody, who’d run to his war-room to trace the call—meeting Ian’s gaze last. His boss nodded gravely. “Trudy’s right. Paula obsessed with you and probably thinks you two are soul-mates, so make her believe you think it, too. It might be the only way to get Harper back alive.”
Oh, God, help him. Could he do this? Could he convince a deranged woman he was in love with her when in truth he was in love with the woman he was trying to save? He closed his eyes and counted to five in his head before opening them again. “Okay, Trudy, you’re the shrink, so I’ll do it your way. I’m going to put her on speaker phone, so you can help me through this. Everyone else stay fucking quiet.”
Trudy took a seat at the table and pulled a pen and pad of paper closer to her. When she was ready, Marco cleared his voice, then stabbed the speaker button and connected the call. “DeAngelis.”
They could hear shuffling and the sound of traffic over the line, but no voices.
“Hello? Paula, is that you?”
“Of course, it’s me, lover. Who did you think it was?”
He winced at the purring in the woman’s voice. It was as if she was trying very hard to sound sexy, but instead, the tone only made his stomach churn. Swallowing hard, he tried to keep calm. “Well, you, since Colleen told me you were on the phone. I was...I was hoping you’d call.”
“Really?” She clearly hadn’t expected him to say that and sounded suspicious. “Why?”
Why? Because I want to track you down, throw you in a padded cell, and flush the key down a toilet. That is if I don’t kill you first. “I’ve been thinking about you since I saw you at Donovan’s a few weeks ago.”
Paula snorted. “Liar. You never thought about me as a real woman. I was just someone who answered the phones and brought you coffee without being asked.”
Wishing he could reach through the phone and strangle her, he tried to sound understanding and apologetic. “You’re right. I wasn’t seeing you as a woman. Back then, I thought of you as a co-worker and I would never get involved with a co-worker. But now that you no longer work here, it’s no longer an issue, right? I mean, Harper was just a one-night-stand that got out of hand.” He almost choked on the lie. “So, now there’s nothing stopping us from getting to know each other better, right?
“Oh yes, there is. This bitch is stopping us. But once she’s out of the picture, then we won’t have to worry about her anymore. You and I will take our baby and raise her together.”
Holy fuck, the woman gave new meaning to the word insane! “Is Harper with you right now?” Trudy waved a finger at him. He growled. “I mean, the bitch.”
“Yes, she is. We’re taking a lovely drive together, isn’t that right?”
A muffled scream came over the line, scaring the crap out of him. He leaned on his hands, closer to the phone as if he could zip through the line like electricity or something. “Paula! What are you doing? Where are you? If you hurt or kill her you’ll go to jail, and then we’ll never be together. I don’t want that to happen.” Bile rose in his throat and he forced it back down. “Paula, sweetheart. Tell me where you are. I’ll come there and tell Harper that it’s all over between us, and you and I will be taking care of the baby.”
“I’m not stupid, darling, and I have no intention of going to jail. Once you bring the baby to meet us, I’ll let her go, and our little family will go start over somewhere else, where she won’t be a distraction to you.”
God, he wanted to vomit. There was no way he was letting Mara within five miles of this whack-job. “What do we need the baby for? You know I’m not a fan of kids. It could be just you and me together.”
“And baby makes three,” Paula sing-songed. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of little Anna Marie. I think that’s a much better name than Mara, don’t you think?”
Seeing Trudy nod, he agreed, “Yeah, that’s a great name. I like it a lot.”
“Good. I’ll take care of her and you won’t have to do anything.”
He glanced at the digital clock on the wall. What the fuck was taking Brody so long? Boomer was standing in the hall, where Marco could see him, and would give the signal when they knew the call had been traced. “That…that sounds great. Where should I meet you?”
“Get the baby and start driving north on I-75. I’ll call your cell phone in a half hour and let you know what exit to take.”
Ian made a motion with his hand to draw out the call a little longer. Damn it, Brody, hurry the fuck up. “Just give me the directions now, in case either of us have cell phone trouble. And it’s going to take a little longer than a half hour for me to get on the road. I need to go pack a bag of clothes for both me and the baby.”
At the same time Boomer gave a thumbs up signal, Paula barked into the phone. “I’m not stupid, Marco.” It was apparent she didn’t trust him any more than he trusted her. “If I give you the address now, you’ll just send the rest of the team after me. That’s not going to happen. Take your truck. I put a tracking device on it months ago. Obviously, your precious team was too stupid to look for one. You better be on the road when I call you and I’ll know if you’re lying. If I see anyone else but you at the destination, I’ll kill the bitch, and then the brat the first chance I get.”
“All right,” he placated, trying to get her to ease up on the irrational rage. “Calm down, honey.” His lip curled in a sneer at the sweet nickname. “I’m leaving the office now. I’ll go get Mara...” Trudy’s flailed her arms at him. “I mean, A-Anna Marie, and I’ll be on my way...alone. Just me and the baby. I have a duffel with spare clothes in my truck, so that will do for now. Okay?”
The insane woman was purring again. “That’s perfect, lover. I’ll call you in thirty minutes.”
/> The call disconnected as Brody hurried into the room. “Got her, but she’s moving. Had to ping a bunch of cell towers to triangulate and figure out which way she was heading. She’s on I-75 going north, just north of Wesley Chapel. Any idea where she’s going?”
Marco shook his head in fear and frustration. “No. Anyone else?” No one in the room answered him. “Shit. Ian, there’s no way I’m taking Mara with me!”
His boss gave him a ‘well-duh’ look. “Didn’t think you would, ass-hat. But we need the baby’s car seat and blanket, a ten-pound barbell from the gym, a radio receiver, and some duct tape.”
What the fuck?
Ian ignored the looks of confusion and began barking orders. “Babs, get the chopper in the air. Start heading toward Paula’s current location and stand-by for the coordinates as soon as we get them. Abbott, time to impress me with those sniper skills, but, hopefully, they’re not needed. You’re in the chopper without a spotter. With Dev and Knight gone I need everyone else on the ground. Load up.” With quick nods, the two women rushed out the door, heading toward the helipad. “Boomer, you’re with the geek in the com-van. Mancini, McCabe, Foster, take one of the trucks and follow them. I’ll ride shotgun with Polo until we get close. Trudy, as much as I would like to have a shrink on this op, I’m not willing to risk having you there.” The psychologist nodded in understanding. She wasn’t trained for hostage negotiations. “All right, everyone gear up—weapons, vests, headsets, the works. Let’s move out.”
* * *
Laying across the backseat of the sedan, Harper twisted her hands behind her back, trying to slip out of the metal handcuffs on her wrists. It was no use—they were on too tight.
When she had first started coming around, about twenty minutes earlier, she thought she’d had one too many glasses of champagne the night before. It was the only thing which gave her such a wicked hangover and queasy stomach the next day. But as her throbbing head cleared, she found she was restrained with a gag in her mouth, and realized a hangover would be preferable to what she was going through now.
Covered by a blanket, she’d been able to wiggle enough for it to drop down from her face. Since her head was against the rear driver’s side door, she couldn’t tell who was in the seat in front of her, but when the female passenger turned to look at her, Harper had recognized her right away. Paula…something. Trident’s former secretary and the woman Marco and she had run into a few weeks ago at Donovan’s. Unable to ask what the hell was going on, she could only mumble, which had received a curt “Shut the fuck up” from Paula. Then Harper had to listen to the obviously insane woman talk to Marco on the phone. What she wouldn’t have given to hear his voice, if only for a moment. At one point in the conversation, Paula had turned around and pointed a gun at her. She hadn’t been able to hold back the involuntary scream, which had been muffled by the bandana stuffed in her mouth and tied around her head.
Now things were quiet again as they continued to drive at a high rate of speed. Paula had told Marco to drive north on I-75, so Harper assumed that was the road they were on. The question was, where the hell were they going?
“Get off at the next exit,” Paula ordered the driver.
A male voice responded, “Where are we going?”
Good question.
“Just fucking drive where I tell you to.”
After taking the off ramp, then making a right as instructed, the driver spoke again. “Why the fuck didn’t we just kill everyone back there? It would have been so much easier than tying everyone up.”
Paula growled. “I told you. If we killed any of them, Marco’s team would’ve come after me and I would never get my hands on that baby. Since they had her protected at the compound, I had to get Marco to bring her to me, since you couldn’t do it. Turn left here.”
“What’s so special about the fucking kid?”
“She’s Marco’s, and she should be mine…” She looked over her shoulder at Harper. “Not yours. You don’t deserve to have his baby, you slut.”
It was useless to try to tell the bitch to fuck off, so Harper glared at her instead. If only looks could kill.
Laughing at her captive’s predicament, Paula turned back toward the front and hit the resend button on her cell. When the call connected, she gave Marco the directions to what sounded like the middle of nowhere.
Harper felt around the seat and the space between it and the backrest, looking for anything she could stick into the slot where the handcuff key went. A few years ago, Nina and she had dared Marco to let them restrain him with his own cuffs, to see if he could escape. After he did it in less than two minutes with one of Nina’s bobby pins, he’d showed them how to jimmy the locking mechanism, using anything thin and handy, until it released. Both women had been able to free themselves, after several attempts, and now, Harper prayed she remembered how to do it.
Her fingers brushed against something foreign between the fabric cushions and it took her a moment to realize it was a plastic pen. Catching her fingernail on the clip after a few tries, she dragged it closer until she could grasp it. After pulling it out, she waited for her two kidnappers to start talking again, then snapped the pen in half. The inside plastic tube which held the ink was the perfect size for the keyhole. She was about to try to pick the lock when the vehicle turned onto an unpaved road and began to bounce with every dip and rock the tires hit. Harper tightened her grip on the makeshift tool, not wanting to drop it. She would have to wait until they stopped.
Paula pointed to something outside the windshield. “Pull in here and park next to that barn.”
“That’s a barn?” The driver sounded incredulous as he snorted. “It looks like it’s going to fall apart.”
“Did I ask your opinion, Lairson?”
“Where the fuck are we?” The vehicle stopped and the emergency stick, between the front two seats, was yanked. “Whose property is this?”
“I don’t know or care. All I know is it’s abandoned and there is no one around for miles.”
The engine shut off and both front doors opened. Moments later, the door by Harper’s head swung open and she got her first look at kidnapper number two, albeit upside down. He was a tall, skinny guy in his mid-twenties, she guessed. Sharp, angular facial features made him look gaunt and she wouldn’t be surprised to find out he was a drug addict. Grabbing her under her armpits, he dragged her out of the car until her feet hit the ground and she could stand. A quick glance around told her they were indeed in the middle of fucking nowhere on some old farm. What had once been a house, was now a pile of burnt rubble. The pastures and areas around the barn were overgrown with weeds. Lairson held her by the bicep and pulled her along as Paula led the way into the dilapidated barn with peeling red paint covering the outside. It was darker inside, and she was shoved to the floor in what used to be a horse’s stall. Taking inventory of what was around her, she spotted several loose two-by-fours a few feet away, which could be used as weapons, if she could free her hands.
Paula sat in a chair at a card table, which she must have brought in beforehand since it looked so out of place, then opened the laptop she’d been carrying. A mobile Wi-Fi adapter was plugged into one of the ports. Harper couldn’t see the screen, but she assumed the woman was looking at a map with a signal from the tracking device she’d said was on Marco’s truck.
“Good,” the crazy bitch announced. “He should be here in about a half hour. Once he gets here, and I make sure he has the baby, I’ll get in his truck. Your money is in a duffel bag in the trunk of the car. After we leave, kill the bitch.”
CHAPTER 23
Paula refreshed the web page for the tracking device. Everything was going according to plan and soon the man she loved would be all hers. She sneered at the whore on the ground in the stall. Lairson thought he was going to kill Harper, then take what he believed was a duffel bag full of money, and run. But Paula had other plans the worthless piece-of-shit didn’t know about—mainly the explosives she had set
up around the barn.
After their initial introduction, she’d bypassed using Lairson as a middleman with Rodgers, knowing she wanted a few more things from the bomber before she killed him. She’d had him make her several bombs, with C-4, which would blow when she turned on the remote in the pocket of her sweatshirt, and then flipped the first detonation switch. Neither Lairson nor Harper would be leaving here alive.
Under the pullover, around her waist, was also a belt of explosives—just in case Marco had any bright ideas about rescuing Harper. The second switch would send them into the afterlife together. If Paula couldn’t have him and his baby, then no one would.
Clicking on the laptop’s touch pad, she refreshed the screen once again, and the signal showed Marco’s truck was approaching the exit he needed to get off at. It was amazing what you could buy and learn via the internet these days. Getting the gun, tracker, C-4, and anything else she’d needed was a piece of cake. All that had been required was Wi-Fi service and some money, which she had thanks to her unsuspecting benefactor, who was now frozen solid in the freezer in his garage.
Reaching into her pocket, she pushed the black thumb switch on the back of the remote, turning it on so it would be ready if needed. It was only a matter of time now before she finally got what she wanted—to be Mrs. Paula DeAngelis. She giggled to herself. That had such nice ring to it.
* * *
“When you take the exit ramp, I’ll hop out and get in the van. Are you up for this?”
Marco nodded. “Yeah. I just hope your idea about the baby works.”
In the car seat behind him, they’d used the ten-pound barbell and wrapped two blankets around it to make it look like Mara was with him. If he had to pick the carrier up, it would appear to be the correct weight. Tucked into the fabric was the radio receiver. Brody would transmit a recording of a crying baby for effect. Marco wasn’t planning on letting Paula get close enough to see it was all a scam, but hopefully, it convinced her enough for him to get the upper hand. His biggest fear right now was it was too late to save Harper. He doubted an insane woman who’d already killed someone in cold blood would let her hostage go—especially since she saw Harper as competition.
Watching From The Shadows: Trident Security Book 5 Page 22
