The Billionaire's Heart: The Complete Series (Romance, Contemporary Romance, Billionaire Romance, The Billionaire's Heart Book 7)

by Nancy Adams

  “Get John on the phone,”I said, “see if he's got any idea where they might have taken her. He isn’t a cop, and hopefully they don't know he's even there, so maybe he can get a lead. If we can find them, we can take them down.”

  He didn't even speak, but began dialing, and John answered n the first ring.

  “Hello?”

  “John,” I said, “it's Nate Simmons. We were wrong, it wasn't the store they were after. They've kidnapped Katelynn! A man called on her cell phone, I heard her voice begging me for help, and then the man told me that he wants two million in small bills by tonight, or he'll kill her. No cops, no feds; we've got to do this on our own. Can you make any guess where they would hold her?”

  I'll give John credit, he didn't even hesitate. “I can't say for sure, but I know a couple of places to check. I'm actually in the store right now, and Donna is late; everyone thinks Katelynn took the afternoon off sick, I guess they made her call in. How soon will you be here?”

  Mike interrupted. “I'll get accounting to gather the cash, which will take about an hour, and the jet will be fueled and ready by the time we get Nate and the money to the airport. He'll be coming alone, because they'll have someone watching to see how many get off the plane, I’m sure. I'm already thinking of how to get a team in secretly.”

  “Anything that looks like an influx of security people,” John said, “would set them off. Better if we do this ourselves. Nate's been a marine, and I can handle myself; we can't take any chances. Nate, I've got weapons, and I'll see what I can find out. Call me just before you land, not after. I'll tell you what I know then, if I haven't called you sooner, and then I'll keep track of where you go. Well get them, don't worry, and we'll get Katelynn back safely. Just remember that you can't agree to anything they say without hearing her voice, knowing she's still alive, no matter how tough they try to act. That will keep her breathing better than anything else.”

  “Okay, got it. Do what you can. I should be there by ten, your time there.”

  He hung up and I looked at Mike. “I've got to call Jim Burke, Katelynn's father. They can't make any fuss about her being missing.” I pulled my cell out and called Jim at his office. The receptionist answered.

  “Mr. Burke's office.”

  “Hi, this is Nate Simmons, and I need to speak to Mr. Burke. This is unrelated to the lawsuit, so I think he'll take my call.”

  She hesitated, then said, “One moment,” and I heard music. Jim came on a few seconds later.

  “Nate” Kelly said this is not about the lawsuit, right?

  I swallowed. “No, Sir, it's not.” I told him everything, and cautioned him not to let the word get out. He was furious, of course, but kept his cool. He said he would call his wife and tell her that Katelynn and I had decided to slip away secretly for a day or so, so that she wouldn't feel any urge to panic and call police.

  “Now,” he said after that, “where can we meet up? I'm going with you.”

  I knew he would want in, and I couldn't refuse him. “I can't take the chance of them seeing us together, so call this number,” I gave him John's, “explain who you are and get with him. John will be working with me on this, and they won't be watching him.”

  “Good. Let's get our girl back, Nate! Semper Fi!”

  “Semper Fi, Sir,” I said and we ended the call.

  Mike was on another line, getting the cash arranged. The accounting department downstairs maintained a substantial amount for the stores within our region, so it would only take about an hour to put it together, and I could be on the way to the airport.

  As we waited, John called back. “I've checked out the only places I can think of, Bennet's house and Patterson's clinic, and there's no sign of them anywhere around. Without getting cops involved, I don't know what else I can do for now. I'll find a spot out near the airport where I can watch when you come in; maybe I can spot whoever else they've got watching, and tail them, while they're tailing you. We're probably looking at a drop, so if I can watch and follow afterward, we have a chance to catch them.”

  “Good point,” I said, “but I want these people caught, no matter what it takes. They're not going to get away with this, and if they hurt her...” I couldn't finish the sentence, but I didn't need to. John and Mike understood completely.

  I was on the plane at four and we were in the air a few minutes later. It would be a four hour flight, with the route and plight plan we used, so I would arrive at ten PM Nebraska time. John Tarsikes and Jim Burke would be somewhere watching, as would the scout for the kidnappers; hopefully, they'd be able to spot the scout, and follow him or her once we made the drop. Somewhere during that time, I would find a way to join John and Jim, because I wanted to get my hands on the SOB that would threaten my Katelynn!

  The flight was uneventful, and we were on final approach when I called John's number. He answered immediately.

  “Nate, Jim is with me, but we've staked the airport out from two different angles. We're using two different cars, so we can keep changing up in following anyone we see, and we're in communication with each other via wireless headsets. As soon as you land, we'll be watching every possible angle. The green Malibu was there even before you called me. I didn't want to get near it, but with a high powered lens on my camera, I saw that the keys are on the tire as promised. Now, it's possible that the car is bugged, and that's how they'll know you're in, when you start it. Don't worry about it, when they call, just do what they tell you and we'll do our parts.”

  “Okay, I've got it. We can't miss, John. I want her back safely, tonight.”

  “So do we all, my friend, so do we all.” He ended the call, and the plane began its descent.

  Katelynn

  Chapter Fourteen

  If I Die Young

  * * * * *

  I had just finished talking to Nate when I heard a tap on the passenger window, and looked over to find Donna there, smiling at me. I managed to smile back, but the AC was on, so I had to roll down the window to say hi.

  As soon as I did, her hand seemed to magically produce a gun, a small silver-looking automatic, and her other hand reached in to unlock the door. She slid into the passenger seat, put her gun up to my temple and said, “Call the store, and say that I'm sick, and you’re going to be helping me out for today, so neither of us will be in. Do it, now!”

  I picked up my phone, and did as she said, while she kept the gun pressed tightly against the side of my forehead. I kept my tone light, and tried very hard not to let any of the fear I was feeling creep through. I guess it worked, because the woman who took the call told me to take good care of her, and they'd see me the next morning.

  When I ended the call, Donna said, “Put the car in gear and do exactly what I tell you, or I'll shoot. I don't want to, but this thing is falling apart, and I've got no choice, now.”

  I looked at her, and then put the car in reverse, backed out of my spot, and then turned and drove forward toward the exit.

  “Turn left,” she said, and I did. “Just keep going on this street until I tell you to turn, and remember this if you think about trying anything cute: the minute I started this, I knew that if I get caught, I'm dead, so I wont hesitate to take you with me. Got that?”

  I glanced at her, and then turned back to face the street. “Yes,” I said.

  She was jittery, and that scared me, because the gun was pointed at my chest and her finger was on the trigger. I've been around guns all my life, because my Dad has several, and I could tell that this one had its safety off; if she twitched wrong, I was dead.

  I drove for about three miles, and then she told me to take the next right turn. I did, and found myself heading out of the city on a back road, one that I'd been on a few times. It led to some older towns out in the countryside, and we passed through two or three of them before she told me to slow down and make another turn in an area with only a few houses sitting out by themselves.

  A moment later she had me pull into a garage attached to
the back of an old, empty house. As soon as the car was inside, a man stepped out of the shadows and pulled down the sliding door, cutting out all the light except for a bit that came in through a couple of dirty windows. He yanked my door open, and grabbed my arm, but he had to wait for me to unbuckle my seat belt before he could drag me out.

  “Hello, Darlin',” he said, “I'm Jerry Patterson, and I'll be your babysitter for tonight. Come on in the house and make yourself comfortable.”

  He pushed me ahead of him through a doorway, and we entered the house itself. There were no lights on in there, either, but there were a couple of skylights in the ceiling that let light in, and I saw some old furniture. He led me to a big wooden chair and made me sit down, then took my purse and phone from me and set them on the table beside me. A second later he produced a big roll of duct tape, and began taping me to that chair. My arms, legs and hands were all secured, and I couldn't move at all.

  When he was satisfied, he stood up and looked down at me, while Donna stood to one side with the gun still pointed at me.

  “Okay, Darlin', here's the deal. Your boyfriend was supposed to make a nice, quick little settlement with Donna, here, over him forcing her to have sex with him, and all, but he didn't play fair. Somehow, he and his buddies got wind of me being involved in this thing, and that means there isn't going to be any settlement at all. Now, I need money, and I don't really give a rat's patootie how I get it, so now he's gonna get the chance to prove how much he loves you! I saw that little show he put on for the TV cameras, about how he loves you so much, so we're gonna put that to he test and see if it's real, okay?”

  He and Donna went off into another room for a few minutes, and I tried every way I could to break free. I knew they had at least one gun, but I also knew that most kidnap victims die even if the ransom is paid, so I figured I should take any chance I could, but I couldn't even loosen my bonds. I finally gave up after a few minutes, and just sat there, praying for God to send me a miracle. The tears began falling, and I sobbed like a baby.

  That brought Jerry and Donna back into the room, and he slapped me across the face. “You're gonna have to be quiet, Darlin', not that making noise would do you much good. I bought four houses here to tear down, and there are no neighbors around to hear anything, but let's not take any chances, okay?”

  He picked up my phone from the table and started looking through my contacts. He found the one he was looking for, which I assumed correctly was Nate, and then smiled at me as he pressed the button to dial.

  “Now, when lover boy answers, you say hello real nice, okay?” He put it on speakerphone and I heard Nate's voice say, “Hey, Baby!”

  I screamed, “Nate, help me, I'm...” Jerry cut me off and took the phone off speaker.

  He told Nate, over and over, that if he didn't get exactly what he wanted, he would kill me. The whole time he was speaking, I could see Donna standing to my right, the gun held in her hand and pointed at my head. It dawned on me that that there was something in her that actually wanted to kill me, and I felt pure despair begin to settle in. There was no way I was going to get out of this alive, and I knew it.

  I heard the call end, but I was too much n shock to realize right away what it might mean; if they had Nate on the way with the money they demanded, they wouldn't need me, anymore. I resigned myself to dying, because I thought Donna would pull that trigger any second.

  Jerry tossed my phone into a metal bucket, and then squirted lighter fluid into it, a lot of it. He tossed in a match, and my phone melted down into nothing pretty fast. He looked at me, and then tapped my face.

  “Hey! You! Don't give up on us yet, Darlin', okay? Your boyfriend is playing nice, now, and if he keeps it up, you get to go home all safe and sound! Don't that sound nice?”

  I looked at him, trying to make myself believe it could be true, but I didn't know what to think. Didn't they say that if a victim sees her kidnapper's face, that seals her doom? I knew exactly who these two were, and could identify them easily in a lineup; that sounded like bad news to me.

  Donna moved closer, and actually lowered the gun. “Katelynn, don't worry! You're not gonna get hurt, I promise. This just has to go smoothly, so we've got to keep hold of you til we get the money. As soon as we get it, we'll tell them where to find you, and we'll be long gone by then.”

  Jerry nodded. “That's the plan, Darlin'. No muss, no fuss, as long as boyfriend plays by my rules! I think he will, don't you?”

  It suddenly hit me that they didn't have a clue what kind of man Nathanael Simmons really was; He was an ex-marine, he loved me fiercely, and I strongly suspected that he was doing whatever he had to do to make sure they would never have a chance to spend any of that money!

  Donna stepped away for a moment and came back with a bottle of water. “Here,” she said, “have a drink.” Since I heard the little snaps pop as she opened it, which meant it hadn't been opened before and probably wasn't poisoned, I accepted it, and drank thirstily. Crying dries you out pretty fast.

  Jerry called Donna into the other room again, and I sat there, praying for myself, for Nate, and for a miracle! I didn’t want to die at all, but especially not now, not when I was finally going to be with the man I loved!

  Ironically, one of my favorite songs was one called, “If I Die Young,” by the Band Perry. It talked about how a girl would want to be buried if she died while still young, and how she'd be missed, and I'd always thought it so sad, and yet so beautiful. Now, all I could think of was that I wanted to live!

  Several hours passed, and it got dark in the house. Now and then, Donna would give me water, and at one point she brought me a sandwich and even held it while I took bites of it, but when I asked to go to the bathroom, she just said I'd have to hold it. After that, I tried not to drink as much, but I was still miserable.

  Suddenly Jerry yelled, “He's here!” He came into the room I was in and took out another phone. Then dialed a number. He put it on speaker, and held it out to me.

  “Hello?” I heard in Nate's voice. Jerry shoved the phone closer to me, and I realized he wanted me to speak.

  “Hey, Baby,” I said weakly. “I'm here...”

  The phone was pulled away from me, but he didn't take it off speaker. “You got my money?”

  “Yes,” Nate said. “All of it, small bills no bigger than twenties, random serial numbers, not marked or recorded in anyway.”

  “Hey, hey,” Jerry said, “you're a smart man! You're in the car?”

  “Yes. I found the keys where you said, and it's running.”

  “Good. Look in the glove box, and you'll find a GPS. It's got a destination already programmed in. Follow its instructions, and when you get where it takes you, set the money out on the side of the road, then drive back the way you came. When I've got the money, I'll call back and give you the address where your girl is. She's safe and secure, and she'll be there and alive when you get to her. I'll already be long gone, so you won't need to worry about me. Oh, and that car is wired, which is how I knew you were there; if I hear any phone calls, the deal's off and she dies, and there's no sense in that, now, is there?”

  “None at all. I'm alone, and that's how it will stay, but I want you to know this: if anything happens to Katelynn, there is nowhere on earth you can hide from someone with the resources I've got available, and I will find you. And then I will make you wish you could die.”

  Jerry laughed. “Fair enough. You keep up your end of the bargain, and I'll keep up mine.” He ended the call, and that phone also got torched.

  Nathanael

  Chapter Fifteen

  A Time To Fight

  * * * * *

  I landed on schedule and went immediately to the car as the plane taxied around and took off again. I got the keys off the tire and started it, then sat there waiting. Somehow, the kidnapper would know I was there and would be calling.

  Sure enough, the phone rang only few minutes later, and I heard Katelynn's voice telling me she was okay.
The man came on, then, and told me to get a GPS out of the glove box, and follow its directions, and that he had the car wired for sound so that he'd know if I called anyone. I agreed, and he hung up as I started the GPS unit up. It's screen was blacked out, so I couldn't see where it was taking me in advance. I had to depend on the spoken directions.

  “Starting Route,” it said in that annoying female computer voice. “Turn left.”

  I followed the directions, but as I did so, I had my phone down in my lap. I had grown up in California, where it is against the law to text and drive, so I'd long ago practiced texting without looking. I used one thumb to type a message to John, knowing he'd relay it to Jim.

  Kidnappers gave GPS car wired for sound no phone calls following directions now heading west on hwy

  I had turned off the sounds on my phone so that it didn't beep as I typed, and it only vibrated as John responded. I glanced down to see that he only said OK.

  The directions took me away from the city, out into the surrounding countryside. I followed them carefully, turning onto different back roads as it told me to, and tried to see the cars that I knew were following but I didn't see anything behind me. I texted John.

  Are u there

  He replied almost instantly. Following at distance both here

  I relaxed a bit, but not much. If I couldn't see them, then hopefully no one else could, either, but that also meant that there was a chance I'd lose them. I prayed they could keep me in sight, and would see where I stopped to drop the money.

  I had been driving for almost an hour when the directions told me that I had reached my destination. I stopped the car right in the middle of the road, and got out, taking the duffel bag of money with me. As directed, I set it down on the edge of the road, and got back into the car. I made a U-turn and went back the way I’d come.