by Lea Hart
“When Grady started to pull away, I had a friend mount some cameras on the streetlights. I’ve been watching Grady’s house for months. When I went back to my father’s house, I watched the tape.”
Adjusting her legs, Sara shrugged. “I’m impressed. That’s completely brilliant. In a creepy and demented way.”
“I have a gift. What can I say?” She lifted her hair over her shoulders and shrugged. “If only I had figured out how to make the most if it.”
“I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, especially since you have a gun pointed at me, but I see flashes of sanity. You haven’t completely given in to your demons.”
“Yeah, you’re not the first person to tell me that. If I take my medication, then I can control the voices in my head and my impulses. But I feel like a dull, lifeless version of myself, and I hate it.”
“Makes sense. So, has something like this happened before, or is Grady the only one?”
“It happened years ago when I was in college. That was my first visit to a hospital. It took a year, but I finally got the right cocktail of medicine, and I could function. I had six or seven good years.”
“And, then…Grady.” For a second, Sara felt a flash of sympathy for the woman in front of her. It would probably be over soon, but in this second, she totally could understand how difficult the struggle was for her. “You think that you can find a way back?”
“No. I kidnapped you out of a parking lot at gunpoint. I want Grady to suffer the way I suffered when he ended it. The last of my medication is wearing off, and I don’t plan on taking any more. I can’t return to my father’s house and live with him and a nurse trying to control me. I would rather die than go back.”
“So there is no good end to this.”
“No. You picked the wrong man to protect you. Unfortunately, the man you chose will probably end up getting you killed.”
Sara studied Angelina and realized the truth of her words. She might have had a couple of moments of sanity but it probably wasn’t going to happen again. “Thanks for telling me. It’s better than guessing.” She settled back into the chair and waited to see what Angelina’s next move was going to be. Whatever she chose to do, it probably wouldn’t include letting her survive.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
As Grady drove down the street, he noticed that Sara’s house was dark. Checking his watch, he saw that it was past seven. Where in the hell was she?
He pulled into his driveway and quickly parked. When he’d left this morning, they had talked about eating around seven-thirty and then watching The Bachelorette. It was the finale, and Sara was excited to see who the girl picked. As he crossed the yard, he thought back to the night he went over to apologize and realized she had him snagged from the start. The moment she opened her door and smiled, he was hooked. It didn’t take him weeks of dates to know who he would choose to spend the rest of his life with. As he stepped up to her door, a sharp feeling of unease skittered down his back. Pressing his hand against the key pad, he waited for the locks to disengage and the alarm to turn off. Once he heard the clear signal, he opened the door slowly. The house was dark and eerily quiet. He called out, “Sara, honey, where are you?”
Nothing. All that could be heard was the water dripping off the trees in the backyard. He moved quickly through the house and turned on lights. No one had broken in, and everything was as neat as usual. A sick dread filled his lungs as he checked the alarm panel to see what time she had left. It appeared that it was around two when she set the alarm. That was five hours ago, and a lot of bad shit could happen in five hours. Slipping his phone out of his pocket, he checked the location of the tracker that he had placed in her purse. He also had her phone linked to the SAI system and could find her that way. The app opened, and he waited for the blinking light to show up. Breathing evenly, he stomped down the rising fear. Seconds passed, which felt like hours, and the damn green light finally pinpointed her phone at the Publix market. Maybe she was picking up something for dinner. He pressed her number and waited for the call to connect. Six damn rings later, the call went to voice mail. He left a short message and then checked her location again. It hadn’t moved.
Something wasn’t right, and he knew Sara was in danger. Running out of the house, his boots pounded on the wood floor. He flew out the door. He speed-dialed Lucky in the Chicago office, and when she picked up, he barked Sara’s number into the phone. “Locate and bring up all data for the last twenty-four hours. Also call Sam in the Chicago FBI office. Hank knows him. Tell him Sara is missing. Have him call me.”
“Got it. Info will be sent to your phone.”
He threw open the door of his truck and climbed in. If the Outfit had been on the move, Sam would’ve given him a heads-up. Unless they hired a local to come and snatch Sara. But there would’ve been some chatter, and Sam would know about it. He barreled out of his driveway and headed toward the market. The streets were still slick from the earlier thunderstorm, and some of the intersections were still submerged in water. Maybe she had been in an accident and she was in the hospital? No way. Her purse wouldn’t be at the grocery store. He hit the speed dial on his phone and called Dane. If something had happened to Sara, then he was going to need a fireteam. Dane’s laughing voice answered, and Grady shouted into the phone, “Sara is missing.”
Dane’s laughter died as he responded, “Sitrep,” for situation report.
“Left the house around two. Not answering phone. Tracker is pinging at the Publix market. Lucky is working it from her end, and I had her call Sam for an update. No sign of struggle.”
“How far out?”
“Two clicks. Streets are flooded, so it’s taking fucking forever.”
“Report when you arrive. Getting suited up.”
“Call Lance and have him pull the images from the street cams around our house and the market. Once I get intel from Lucky, we can track her movements.”
“On it.”
Grady ended the call and turned on screeching wheels into the parking lot. He spotted Sara’s silver Prius in the middle of the lot. He pulled next to it and got out. He felt the hood and it was cold. Fuck. This wasn’t some quick trip to the market.
He slid out his phone and called Lucky. Before the first ring ended, she picked up the call. “No info yet. Give me a couple more minutes.”
“Can you pop the locks on her car? You have the info in the file I sent you.”
“Working on it.”
He ran toward the market and hoped like hell that by some miracle, Sara was inside. The doors slid open and he ran through the store, his boots squeaking loudly on the floor. It took him less than three minutes to run through the store and determine that Sara wasn’t there. He ran to the front and found the manager. “Have you seen this woman?” He pulled out his phone and showed the woman his screensaver. “She’s missing, and her phone is locating her here.”
The manager gave him a wary look, then glanced at the phone. “I came on at five, and I don’t recognize her. But we have a lot of customers, and I don’t see everyone who comes through.”
“Thanks.” He would have the security footage from the store and outside fairly quickly, so haranguing the woman wasn’t going to do him any good.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he answered Lucky’s call as he jogged outside. “Sitrep,” he barked into the phone.
“Trunk is open. No calls on the phone since around twelve, and that was to FBI Sam. Texts are only to you. By the way, you two are sickeningly sweet and mushy. I had no idea that you had a squishy lovey heart beating under that stone exterior of yours.”
“Not helping, Lucky.”
“Call you when I have the security tapes up.”
“Send them to Lance. Dane is putting together a fireteam, so we can go through them.”
“You may need more than four guys. There’s going to be a lot of tape to go through.”
He opened the trunk of Sara’s car, stepped back, and almost gagged. It was full o
f groceries that were starting to stink. Heat and humidity did that to food. “Fuck, her groceries are in the car, and they’ve been here a while.”
“Take a breath, Grady, and grab some of that cool calm that you’re so famous for. Look around and see if you can find her purse. The signal is coming from somewhere very close to you.”
“Okay. Try Sam again and have him call me.”
“On it.”
The parking lot lights were flicking on and off due to the storm, which was making it difficult to see anything. He ran over to the far corner of the lot and started scanning the area. Nothing. He passed Sara’s car and continued to move across the lot. In the far corner, he saw a lump of something. Running over, he realized that it was Sara’s bright pink purse. Heart stuttering, he picked it up and noticed the dark tracks that ran over the top. Someone must’ve run it over. Sliding the clasp open, he looked inside. Her phone, wallet and Kindle were inside. It wasn’t a robbery. Someone had gotten to her. And he had failed to keep her safe. On his knees, he said several prayers. He wasn’t a man who attended church, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t have a relationship with God. “Please protect her until I can get to her.”
His phone buzzing brought him out of his thoughts. “What do you have?”
Sammy yelled into the phone, “How the fuck did you let this happen?”
“Is the Outfit on the move? Is this their work?”
“We have no reason to believe it’s them. I had the analysts run through the last couple of hours of audio and camera feed, and it’s business as usual. We have a guy on the inside. But he’s a low-level enforcer, so it’s going to be hard to get intel right away. None of the usual suspects have gotten on a plane in the last twenty-four hours. And the men who would probably be assigned are all here in Chicago.”
“Unless they hired a contractor for wet work.”
“They don’t want her dead. They want the password so they can get their money and list back.”
“Then, they want her dead.”
“Probably. Fuck, I’m getting on a plane in two hours. I’m guessing you have Lucky working her magic with security tapes and whatever else you need. Keep me updated. I’ll see you sometime after midnight.”
Grady ran to his truck, climbed in, and called Dane. When the call connected, he started talking. “Sam has no confirmation that this is the Outfit. All the suspects are still in Chicago. It’s possible they hired a local.”
“I’m heading into the office, and Lance is going to meet me there, along with Trevor and Harris. Lucky confirmed that the tapes are on the server.”
“Start looking at the street cams after two. That’s when she left the house.”
“Got it. See you in a few.”
Grady ended the call and drove out of the parking lot. As he made his way onto the highway, he tried to keep his thoughts calm. He couldn’t lose his shit, because that wouldn’t help Sara. She needed him to use every ounce of experience that he had gained over fourteen years on the Teams.
Failure wasn’t an option. It never had been, and this was no exception.
***
Grady strode into the SAI offices. It was now nine, and his best guess was that Sara had been missing for at least six hours. For all he knew, she could be out of the country by now. Shaking his head, he loosened the thought. No, not going down that road.
Slamming through the door of command central, he saw Dane, Lance, and Harris sitting in front of computers, going through the feeds from the traffic cams. He’d always been grateful for his brothers, but never more so than in this minute. “Any luck?” he called out as he grabbed a seat.
Lance briefly glanced up. “I hate gray cars. They blend into everything. We’ve tracked her from the house through three errands. It doesn’t seem like anyone was tailing her.”
Dane sat on the other side of Harris and hadn’t said anything. His eyes were glued to the screen. Sitting back, he rubbed his head. “I’m looking at the tape from the market. I started with the feeds from inside the store. I haven’t picked up Sara yet.”
Harris popped his head up and shook it. “I’m on the outside cameras. Nothing yet.”
“I’ll look at the traffic cameras leading away from the market,” Grady stated. He logged in, pulled up the link for the feed and started going through it. They were damn lucky that Hank had been smart enough to hire one of the country’s best hackers. When he’d caught her trying to break into a secure site they had set up for a company that manufactured parts for the Trident subs, he did the smart thing and hired her. Gave her a reason to go straight and use her talents for good and not evil. The coms set up in the Chicago office reminded him of what he’d seen when he’d contracted with the CIA. They were that good.
“Got her!” Dane shouted. He zoomed in and picked up Sara exiting her car. “Entering the market at fifteen hundred.”
“Shit,” Lance barked. “A blue van has showed up three times. I missed it on the first two stops. There are not that many navy-blue cargo vans in the world.” He zoomed in on the image and wrote down the plate. Grabbing his phone, he called Lucky. “Hey, darlin’. Can you run a plate? I’m on the loop and I don’t want to stop. Okay, thanks. Owe you.”
“I’ll track the blue van on the cameras from the parking lot,” Harris called.
Grady got up and stood behind Dane as they tracked Sara through the market. His heart lurched, and he felt like he’d taken a knife to the chest. Seeing her happy and relaxed and knowing that she was in danger and he’d done nothing to prevent it made him sick. “I’m not seeing anyone following her or really noticing her,” he commented.
“Yeah, the same person is not showing up with her as we move through the frames,” Dane added.
“Got the blue van entering the parking lot. Whoever is driving it parked in the far corner,” Harris called out.
Seconds ticked by as they each watched the tape. Details were noted and patterns recognized. “Here we go. She’s about to check out,” Grady said to himself. “The person in the van should be getting out soon.”
Dane and Grady watched as Sara checked out and walked out of the market. Just as she was moving to her car, the wind started to whip around her. They could see her struggle with the shopping cart, and Grady swore she was never going to the market alone ever again. Hell, once he saved her, she was never going to be out of his sight. They watched the wind slam her trunk closed and then open again. To see her fight with the cart, the wind, and the groceries made Grady angry. She should’ve never been out there alone. The thunderstorm started the moment someone entered the frame as Sara was finishing up. Grady and Dane leaned forward simultaneously, and Dane slowed the loop. “If that’s a man, he’s small. It’s hard to tell, though,” Grady commented.
The person approaching Sara had dark pants, a dark jacket and a hat shoved low to cover the face. There was a gun in the person’s hand—that much was clear. Sara never saw the person coming. The storm had probably drowned out the sound of approaching footsteps. She never had a chance to defend herself before the person shoved the gun into her back. They watched the exchange, and Sara didn’t turn around for the first several moments of the conversation. Why hadn’t he taught her to disarm someone?
“She’s doing the right thing,” Dane said. “She doesn’t have the skills to go up against someone who has a gun.”
“Who the fuck is this?” Grady shouted.
They both watched as the person started to drag Sara away. As they passed under one of the lights in the parking lot, Sara’s face and her attacker’s were perfectly illuminated. Grady fell into the chair and let out a stream of curses. “Holy fuck! It’s Angelina who grabbed her.”
A phone rang, and Lance picked his up. “What did you come up with? Balcom Trucking is the registered owner. Okay, thanks.”
“That’s the trucking company that Angelina’s family owns,” Grady said quietly.
“Makes sense that she didn’t try to get away. Sara probably hedged her bets
because she knows how crazy Angelina is and figured she’d be shot if she tried to get away,” Dane said to the room.
“I’ll track the van for as far as I can, but it’s going to take time, and we probably don’t have that much of it,” Harris said, as he changed the feed that was coming into his computer.
“I’ll call Angelina’s father and get as much information as I can,” Grady said, as he walked out of the coms room.
“I’ll look up all the buildings that Balcom owns or leases, and then we can start clearing those,” Dane said, as his fingers started flying over the keys. “Lance, call Lucky and have her trace anything connected to Angelina. Maybe we can get a ping on her phone.”
“On it.”
Dane lifted the phone next to his computer and called Trevor. When the call was answered, Dane barked into the phone, “All hands on deck. Sara was snatched.” Grady heard Trevor curse as Dane ended the call. They would have the rest of the Team here within the hour. They were going to need every person available to bring Sara home safely.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Sara had finally been allowed to sit on the couch instead of the office chair. She also had managed to talk Angelina into securing her hands in front of her body as opposed to behind her back. There wasn’t a tactical reason that she could think of, but it was a lot more comfortable.
As far as she could tell, Angelina was in the grips of a losing battle with sanity. There would be moments where she could tell that Angelina was trying to make a rational decision, and then the other part of her psyche would take hold and she would start ranting. If Sarah hadn’t been scared out of her mind, she might’ve found it really fascinating. Ang had walked out of the office thirty minutes ago, and she wondered what she had been up to. Certainly nothing that boded well for Sara.
The sound of footsteps on the stairs alerted her that crazy Ang was back. When she burst through the door, Sara could tell that the lucid Ang had lost the battle with the crazy one. Would it be impolite to ask what her diagnosis was? It sure would be interesting to know what haunted her and caused her to behave so irrationally. “Do you have a plan for how this kidnapping is going to end?”
