“Did the police find those men?” Bethany asked, anxious for an update.
Griff shook his head. “No, they were long gone. They had it all timed just right.”
Disappointment bit deep. “How did they even know we were going to leave the house?”
“They probably didn’t. My guess is that they were waiting to see what our next move was and then they played off of that.”
It was like these guys had nothing better to do than to make Bethany and Griff miserable. They were putting some time and energy into it, and that bothered Bethany. Why would they do that unless they had something big planned?
A shiver captured her muscles.
Bethany sighed and looked around, trying to concentrate on the knowns instead of the unknowns. “Where is everyone?”
“Benjamin is outside. Colton and Elise are in Raleigh. Cassidy and Ty are up in Virginia Beach.”
“And Dez?”
“Apparently, Cassidy found someone up on Hatteras who used to work for NASA. He’s looking at the drone for us. Dez took it up to him.”
Bethany crossed her arms as a cold chill washed over her. One more thought lingered in her head, but she knew how her words might sound.
Still, her question was worth asking.
She cleared her throat. “I know this is going to sound crazy, but what’s the chance that this email that was sent to me through my job is somehow connected with all of this?”
A knot formed between Griff’s eyes. “I don’t see how this could be connected. You’re an associate editor for an engineering magazine. How would that interest the Savages?”
“You’re probably right. There’s just something about this that’s been bugging me.”
“There are a lot of unknowns right now.”
She couldn’t argue that.
“Remind me of something.” Griff stopped pacing and paused in front of her. “This job you’re working at now . . . it’s not the same one you worked at when we were married. Exactly what kind of engineering magazine is this again?”
“It’s mostly focused on the energy sector—people who work at energy companies, power plants, and contractors who work the grid.”
Griff’s face stiffened. “Good to know.”
What did that expression mean exactly? Did Bethany really want to know?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Griff’s thoughts rushed. The energy sector?
That was a known target for terrorist groups. He’d heard murmurings of such things. In fact, the Savages were known for stealing tantalum out in Africa. The element was used in so many electronic devices.
Without a ready supply of it, the prices for all electronics would be driven up. Many people believe that if someone could control that substance, they could effectively control the tech world.
What if all of the attacks that had happened overseas were just a smokescreen? Even the name of the Savages implied that they were barbarians. But what if that wasn’t the case at all?
What if these guys were actually highly sophisticated? What if they were trying to get to Ada and to Bethany’s parents as a means of getting to Bethany?
She worked for a publication that focused on engineering in the energy sector. Griff didn’t know exactly what the connection might be, but, through her job, she had connections with the people who ran the very power plants that distributed energy throughout the US.
Could Griff be onto something? He didn’t know. But it was worth giving some thought to. More puzzle pieces needed to fall in place before he could fully understand.
Griff’s phone dinged, and he looked down at the screen. It was a text message.
Guns are aimed at the house. No one inside is safe. Go outside with Bethany. Tell anyone, and everyone will die.
As Griff finished reading the message, he heard a pop and then a groan in the distance. His muscles tightened. What was going on?
He glanced around. Knew that Ada was napping in a bedroom. Saw CJ sitting at the kitchen table reading a book. Spotted Bethany staring out the window, the weight of the world on her shoulders.
This guy messaging him knew that Benjamin was outside. He knew that Griff was with Bethany.
But the last thing Griff wanted to do was to test this guy’s limits.
Almost as if the messenger could read his mind, his phone buzzed again. Griff looked down at the screen.
You have twenty seconds to get out the door before I shoot again.
His muscles wound even tighter. Shoot again?
Maybe Griff could just go outside alone. Leave Bethany out of this. See what happened.
He stood, knowing that time was ticking away. As he stepped toward the door, apprehension rippled through him.
“Where are you going?” Bethany looked up at him with wide, confused eyes.
“I need to take care of something.”
“What?”
He didn’t have time to explain things. “I’ll be back.”
Griff hoped he was telling the truth. He hoped that once he stepped out the door, that it wouldn’t be the point of no return. He wasn’t ready for things to end like this.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Griff’s hand circled the doorknob and he pulled it open. As he stepped into the darkness outside, apprehension filled him. Where was Benjamin?
And the other important question: where was the shooter?
Griff walked to the edge of the screened-in porch and glanced down. His pulse quickened when he saw Benjamin on the ground, holding his side.
Benjamin had been shot.
Griff’s gaze shot up, looking for gunmen.
He saw none.
But was that . . .
He glanced at the sky.
A drone buzzed there. An armed drone.
This was worse than he’d thought.
Griff started toward the stairs, desperate to help his friend. But before he could reach Benjamin, his phone buzzed again.
Bring Bethany or I’ll shoot again. You have ten seconds. Tell no one what’s going on.
Griff’s head pounded. He had no doubt that this shooter was serious. He had already put a bullet in Benjamin. His friend needed help.
As much as Griff wanted to leave Bethany out of this, he wasn’t sure that he could.
Anxiety churned in his gut, and he hated himself for having to make this choice. But everyone’s lives were at stake right now.
He opened the door again and cleared his throat before calling to Bethany. “Could you come here for a minute?”
As soon as the words left his lips, he hated himself for it.
Confusion flooded Bethany’s eyes as she stood. “Of course.”
Griff glanced at CJ. “Would you mind keeping an eye on Ada for a few minutes?”
CJ glanced down the hall to where Ada was sleeping. “I have to say she’s a bit of a handful, but I think I can handle it.”
Any other time, that would’ve gotten a smile out of Griff. But not today. Not knowing what he did.
Bethany stepped onto the screened-in porch, and Griff closed the door.
His heart pounded.
“What’s going on?” She looked up at him with those wide eyes that always got to him.
“I’m sorry, Bethany.” His voice cracked. There had to be another way . . .
“Sorry?” A knot formed between her eyebrows. “Sorry for what? What’s going on, Griff?”
His phone buzzed again.
Come down the steps and I’ll give you more directions. One wrong move and I’ll shoot. Everyone in the house will die.
Bethany glanced at the screen along with him and let out a gasp. “I don’t like this, Griff.”
“I don’t either.” Griff took her hand and led her down the stairs, wishing he never had to let go. That he could freeze this moment in time and not move forward. That he could save Bethany from whatever heartache might be waiting for them.
At the bottom of the steps, Bethany spotted Benjamin. She gasped, and they rushed toward h
im. He moaned as he lay on the ground.
“He’s been shot.” Bethany’s eyes skimmed the man as trembles claimed her.
Griff frowned as he knelt beside her next to Benjamin.
“The bullet skimmed the side of my abdomen.” Benjamin’s face scrunched with pain. “But I think I’ll be okay.”
Griff’s phone buzzed.
Walk down the lane. Do it quietly, and no one else will get hurt.
“I don’t like this, Griff.” Bethany’s voice quivered as she stared at the drone.
Griff rose to his feet, glancing down at Benjamin before saying, “Neither do I. But he’s left us with no other choice. I’m sorry I got you involved with this, Bethany.”
“It’s not your fault, Griff.”
He didn’t believe that. He knew the truth. He knew that all of this was his fault.
“Benjamin . . .” Griff said.
His friend’s face scrunched with pain, but his eyes went to the drone also. “I’ll be okay. Dez will be back in a minute. If you don’t do what they say, they’re going to kill all of us.”
His words were true. None of them had much choice here.
Finally, Griff nodded. “Hang on, friend. You’re going to be okay.”
“God needs to be with us all right now.”
Benjamin’s words haunted Griff as he and Bethany started down the dark lane. Griff heard the drone following behind. The sound made him keenly aware that if this person wanted to take them out, he could.
Griff lifted prayers. Not for himself. But for Bethany. For Ada.
All he’d ever wanted to do was to protect them. How had it all led to this?
Halfway down the lane, Griff heard a rustling in the brush. As he turned to see what it was, a masked man emerged from the marsh.
Griff pushed Bethany behind him, ready to face this man.
Before he could, a shock rushed through his muscles, taking him to the ground.
A Taser, he realized.
At once, Griff was rendered immobile.
He glanced back at Bethany just in time to see electricity running through her body as well.
A black bag was shoved over his head, and he heard tires on the gravel.
A car must have pulled up.
Someone—probably two people—lifted him. Pushed him into a small space.
The car trunk, he realized.
A moment later, another thump sounded. He felt something—someone—tumble into him. He heard a slight moan.
They’d put Bethany inside also, he realized.
Griff felt powerless to protect her, almost like he was riding a wave that was out of his control. And there was no feeling he hated more.
* * *
Bethany’s heart raced. The fear she felt was so vivid that it seemed to crawl across her skin and into her lungs until she could hardly breathe.
Ada . . .
Her daughter was all she could think about. Would Ada be okay? Now that they had Bethany and Griff, would these men leave her little girl alone? Or was this just a bluff to get Bethany and Griff away from her?
The last thing she wanted was for Ada to grow up without a mother or father. People had done it before, and they’d turned out okay. But it wasn’t what Bethany wanted for her daughter. Bethany wanted to be there for Ada as she grew up.
Bethany’s eyes were open. She thought they were, at least. The black bag over her head, combined with the dark space of the trunk, made it almost impossible to know for sure. She desperately wanted to see Griff. To talk to him.
She had never seen Griff helpless before. He was always strong, protective. Griff was the one who’d chased down a mugger who’d taken Bethany’s purse and put him in a chokehold until the police arrived.
Bethany wanted to reach out to him now, to touch him. She knew it was a bad idea, but she wanted it anyway. She craved human contact, something to let her know that things would be okay.
But would they?
She had no idea. She’d never been in a situation like this before. She would venture to say that most ordinary people hadn’t.
She tried to control her breathing, to control her emotions. Dear God, please help us. Please protect Ada. Give us wisdom to know how to handle the situation, whatever it might be.
The Taser still hadn’t worn off. Bethany had never felt something so violent before. It claimed her entire body, causing a sharp pain to capture all her muscles.
How long did these effects last? And where were they being taken right now?
Bethany felt the bumps on the road. She heard people murmuring in the front seat.
Were these the Savages? They were known for being brutal. Human life meant nothing to them. That meant they might go to great extremes in order to hurt Bethany and Griff.
A cry tried to escape, but it came out as more of a groan.
At least it was something, right?
She felt Griff twitch beside her. Maybe he was regaining the use of his limbs.
Maybe.
Just as the thought entered her mind, the car pulled to a stop.
Bethany braced herself for what was to come.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Some of the feeling returned to Griff’s limbs. But not enough to fight back. Not yet, at least.
Where were they?
He would guess that they’d only traveled about five minutes away from Cassidy and Ty’s house. There weren’t that many places they could get to that fast. Based on the way his body shifted and moved, Griff felt like they were traveling north on the island.
There wasn’t much to the north of the island from Ty’s house. The church was out this way. Lots of marsh land and eroding shoreline. But not much else.
Except the hotel site. There had been a lot of construction going on there . . .
So just what were these guys planning? And why did they have to involve Bethany?
His thoughts went back to Ada again. Had someone decided to grab her after he and Bethany had been abducted?
Anger burned through his blood at the thought.
The next moment, the car stopped, the trunk opened, and a whiff of balmy sea air filled the space.
Griff tried to move his arm, but it only came out as a spasm.
There were many things he could defend himself against, but a Taser was not one of them. No doubt these guys had known that.
Griff still couldn’t see anything because of the bag over his face.
The two men surrounded him on each side, practically dragging him away from the vehicle. Griff’s legs wouldn’t work. Instead, they scraped against the ground. He felt the sand at his feet, sand dotted with marsh grass and rocks.
Finally, they stopped. The bag was jerked from his face, and Griff tried to look around, to gather his surroundings.
Before he could, one of the masked men spoke. “We thought you might need a wake-up call.”
The feeling began returning to his limbs. As Griff glanced at Bethany beside him, she still looked immobilized as she lay on the ground. That was going to make any attempt at getting away harder.
“Is that what you call all of this?” Griff scowled at his captors. “A wake-up call?”
“You could say that. Only it hasn’t worked. We’ve always known you’re stubborn.”
“Why did you bring us here?” Griff glanced around. Saw some construction equipment and building materials. A chain-link fence surrounded the area. They were at the site of the hotel, he realized.
“So you could remember.”
“Remember what?”
“That’s for you to figure out.”
The men reached for him. Griff darted to his feet, ready to tackle his closest assailant. Before he could, they used the Taser again.
He lost all use of his muscles.
One of the men shoved him, and Griff found himself falling. He hit the packed sand below. Pain rippled through him.
The next moment, he heard another thump and a groan.
Bethany.
They�
�d tossed Bethany in beside him.
Anger burned through his veins.
“You have approximately eight minutes to get out before you’re buried alive,” the man called from overhead. “Otherwise, not only will you be dead, but so will your daughter.”
Ada? Had they grabbed Ada anyway, despite the fact that Griff had followed their instructions?
He couldn’t expect evil men to behave honestly. But pain at the thought of what might happen to Bethany and Ada ripped through his heart.
He had to get out of here. Had to save Bethany. Save Ada.
The men disappeared from above him. They were leaving them in here.
Why?
To be buried alive.
To remember.
But what did those things mean?
He wasn’t going to have much time to figure it out. Eight minutes to be precise.
Even less time than that, really, because of the effects of the Taser.
Griff studied Bethany a second. Saw the pain and fear on her face.
At least she was okay. She was alive. He needed to keep it that way.
He glanced around. They appeared to be in a huge hole in the sand. If he had to guess, the sides were at least twelve feet high. And they were steep. The walls appeared to be formed from packed sand.
He felt certain this was the hole that had been dug out for the hotel’s foundation and septic.
Just as he was trying to comprehend all of that, he heard an engine start.
He glanced over and saw some kind of shaft leading into the space.
Griff’s eyes widened when he saw sand begin pouring from it.
This was what the man had meant by being buried alive.
Griff had to gain use of his muscles again.
There was no time to waste.
* * *
Bethany saw the sand filling the hole, and her pulse quickened with panic. Granules splattered on her, scattering across her face. She squeezed her eyes shut as particles hit them.
Ripple Effect: Lantern Beach Blackout, Book 3 Page 11
