His face was impossible to read. “Attacked by whom?”
“Two men. Others came in a car. I managed to get away.”
“And you didn’t call the police?”
“How could I? There would have been a thousand questions to answer. It was wrong, I know that. So I’m telling you now. These men spoke a language that sounded Slavic, Calan, and they were no ordinary burglars. Nicholas Draycott and his family—I think they could be in serious danger.” She pressed a hand against his chest. “You need to warn him.”
“I will.”
“Right now, Calan.”
“Fine. I’ll call him in a moment.”
“If something happens, I—I couldn’t forgive myself. And what happened with those men in uniform at the abbey could be connected.” She frowned. “I haven’t changed my mind about the viscount, but he has to know.”
Calan nodded.
“As for the rest, I need time to think. Nothing makes sense right now.”
“How do I figure into this time you need? Are you going to deny what just happened between us?” His hand cradled her jaw. “Because I won’t let you pass it off as simple sex. It was damned well more than that, and you know it.”
She trembled at that simple touch. She wanted him again, even while her mind whirled in a dozen directions. “No, it wasn’t just sex, and it certainly wasn’t simple.”
“So?”
“Someone very wise once told me to take things one day, even one hour at a time.” She traced the hard line of his jaw. “Remember?”
“Maybe I should keep my mouth shut,” he muttered.
“That same person also told me that the important things knock you off your feet and leave your world in turmoil.” She leaned her head against his chest, letting the heat of his body warm her fears. “So I’m moving as fast as I can. I’m trying to keep up while the ground is shifting under my feet. Give me time,” she whispered.
“I’ll try. But when I touch you—I want everything. And I want it forever.”
So did she, Kiera thought. She smiled, feeling his fingers smooth her hair. “I feel like a ruined piece of knitting. There are a dozen threads unraveling in my head right now.”
“You’re smart and you’re honest. You’ll do the right thing.” His lips moved over her cheek. “Just don’t take too long.” He glanced down at his watch and frowned. “I have to leave. Damn it.”
“I don’t suppose you can tell me why.”
“I’m afraid not.”
“Is it something to do with him?”
Calan nodded.
Kiera took a sharp breath. “Is he in danger?”
“Yes. You could be, too.”
“Me?” She laughed, shaking her head. “That’s crazy.”
“Is it?” Calan smoothed her cheek and tilted her face up to his. “It took me a few hours, but I saw the resemblance. Other people might have seen it, too.”
“But I don’t know anyone here.”
“Think about it, Kiera. There are dozens of guests and workers at the hotel where you stayed. Think of all the people you traveled with. You’ve been around hundreds of people in the last few days.”
The possibility struck her hard. “Are you saying that I need protection?”
“Hopefully, no. But I don’t want you to go back to the hotel. You can stay here, or you can go to the abbey with me.”
Her throat turned dry. “I’m not going there, not to meet him.” She pulled away, pacing the room. “Not today. Not tomorrow. I—I won’t be rushed or manipulated, Calan.”
“This is no trick to make you change your mind. You could be in danger. I need you to understand that.”
“But you won’t tell me why? I think I’m entitled to—” Something moved against her hip. Looking down, Kiera realized it was her sweater draped over the chair. When she reached into the pocket, she saw the light flashing on her cell phone. The unit was in silent mode, vibrating to indicate a call coming in.
She looked at the number and frowned.
“What is it?”
“My cell phone. It must be a mistake. I don’t recognize the number.” She shoved the phone back into her coat pocket. “So this has something to do with those men at the abbey last night?”
“Probably.”
“Then tell me—”
Her phone vibrated again. Impatiently, she pulled it out. It was the same unfamiliar number.
“Maybe you should answer it.” Calan leaned over her shoulder, glancing at the number. “It’s a London exchange.”
Kiera tapped a button. “Yes?”
Static rippled. “Is this Ms. Morissey? Kiera Morissey?”
“Who is this?”
“A friend. Someone who has something very important to you.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Then listen.” Rustling filled the line. Kiera heard the sound of sharp, panting breath.
“Hello?”
“Kee, is that you?”
Panic kicked at Kiera’s chest. She knew that breathless voice almost as well as her own. But what was her youngest sister doing in London? She sounded terrified. “Maddy? What are you doing in—”
“Enough. Now you see that we are most serious. So you will listen, Ms. Morissey. And then do just as I tell you. Is this understood?”
“But why—”
The phone jerked. She heard her sister cry out.
“No. Stop.”
“Now you will listen to me. Understood?”
“Y-yes.”
“You will drive to the car park near the old church in Winchelsea, overlooking the marsh. You will wait there. Is it understood?”
“Yes.” Kiera gripped the phone. “I’ll come. Just—don’t hurt her. Please just—”
The line went dead in her hands.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
SHE COULDN’T MOVE.
Horror squeezed down like a fist. Maddy was the youngest of Kiera’s sisters. Innocent and eternally optimistic, she had a special skill for music and could remember any sound, tone for tone. For the past six months she had been working in Paris. When Kiera had told her she was coming to Draycott Abbey, she had been totally opposed.
How had she gotten to London? Those men—
Kiera stared blindly at the phone. The caller had an accent just like the men who had attacked her at the abbey.
“Kiera, what’s wrong? You’re ghost-white.” Calan took the phone just as it would have fallen from her hand. “And who is Maddy?”
“M-my sister. Someone has taken her, Calan. I’ve got to go. They’re going to hurt her.” She grabbed her clothes and frantically began to dress. “I have to—”
He took her shoulders gently and turned her around to face him. “Tell me what has happened. I can help you.”
“There’s n-no time. They said—” Her voice broke.
He held out her blouse, his eyes very hard. “While you dress, tell me exactly what they said.”
“Maybe I should call the police. But they’ll hurt her, Calan.”
“Dress,” he said firmly. “There are people who can help, but I have to know everything.”
Kiera took a shaken breath as she gripped her blouse. With stiff fingers, she began to force the buttons closed. “They knew my name. They said they were very serious.” She stared out at the gray light, reciting from memory. “‘You will drive to the car park near the old church in Winchelsea, overlooking the marsh. You will wait there. Is it understood?’” She yanked on her shoes. “Why would they want Maddy?”
“We’re going to find out,” he said coldly.
“Wait.” Kiera spun around, staring at him. “She looks a lot like me,” Kiera whispered. “But even more like the picture in the library than I do. Do you think…”
“I think we will have to be very careful.” He slipped her coat around her shoulders, then reached down to the table. After fumbling a moment, he pressed her bag into her hands. “We will get your sister, Kiera. I know this part of Winchelsea. Th
e church stands in a very deserted area overlooking the marsh. It is a good place for people who do not want to be seen.”
“But surely the pastor or the church members—”
“The church has been closed for at least ten years. The windows are boarded up and there is scaffolding over the outside walls.”
“She needs her medicine, Calan. My sister had rheumatic heart disease. She has a bad valve, hypertension. Without her medicine—”
He pulled her to his chest and cradled her face gently. “We’ll get her back, Kiera. Believe this.” The absolute authority in his voice made her nod.
She believed him. She didn’t know how he would do it, but he would. “I’m ready.” She pulled her bag over her shoulder. “And—thank you. This isn’t really your problem.”
“Like hell it isn’t.” He kissed her hard, then released her. “I’ll tell you what I have in mind as we drive.”
“I DON’T LIKE the look of it.” They were parked above the beach. The rain had stopped, but the sky was dull with racing clouds.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
Gunmetal clouds veiled the distant marsh.
“No sign of a car or any tracks. That small gravel drive is the main road to the church. They must have taken another route.”
“I can’t see any gravel road.”
“I can,” he said flatly.
Below them sheep moved slowly, lighter gray against the predawn silence of water and sky.
“Are you sure that’s the right church?” She stared at the skeleton of stone with its single spire vanishing in the swift clouds.
“It’s the only one in ten kilometers,” he said grimly. “They chose an excellent location.” He took off his jacket, frowning. “I’m going down for a look.”
She started to open her door, her face determined.
“No. Stay here, Kiera.” He gripped her shoulder. “It’s absolutely crucial. Don’t follow me. Don’t leave the car. Don’t make any noise.” He dropped his sweater on the floor. “I need to know what we’re up against, and I’ll find out faster if I go alone. You have to trust me.”
“What if they call again?”
“Tell them you should be here in fifteen minutes. Tell them you’ve just passed Ashford.”
She didn’t answer, working through her choices. But she didn’t know the terrain. Even if she did, how could she fight a group of armed and desperate men?
“I need your promise, Kiera. Don’t leave the car.”
After long moments, she nodded. “Fine. Just hurry. But be careful, Calan. These men—they sounded very dangerous.”
“I can be very dangerous, too.”
He left his jacket beside him on the seat and then opened the door.
Wind gusted through a solitary row of willow trees. The tall grass shook.
And then the gray marsh swallowed him.
FIVE MINUTES PASSED.
Ten minutes.
Kiera’s gaze was locked on the distant church, watching for the slightest movement. But no one appeared in the indistinct landscape. Only the sheep ambled on, heads down, oblivious to the drama around them.
A movement caught her eye, down near one of the ditches on the far side of the marsh. A bird cried shrilly, exploding into the air.
A shadow—or maybe an animal—was reflected in the still water for a second. Then it vanished into the mist.
Another wolf?
“Impossible. Wolves aren’t ever seen in England now.” She closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose. The waiting was a torment, every second consumed with thoughts of Maddy and what could be happening to her.
How had they found her sister and what did they hope to gain with her abduction? If they hoped for an impressive ransom, they were out of luck. No one in their family had that kind of money.
But Nicholas Draycott does, the little voice whispered with icy clarity. And if the kidnappers knew that Kiera and Maddy were relatives…
She locked down her frantic thoughts. Imagining the worst was no help. If she caved in to fear, she would be no good for anything.
A sudden movement in her pocket made Kiera gasp. She realized her phone was vibrating. Her fingers were stiff, and she nearly dropped the phone before she found the button to receive the call. “Yes?”
“Where are you?” There was no introduction.
“I—I’m just north of the marsh.”
Silence. “What does the street sign say?”
Damn. She ran through Calan’s brief directions. “I can’t tell in this fog. I know there was a sign for Ashford a few minutes ago.”
He muttered something to someone out of range. The two spoke in a rough staccato. Kiera felt sweat on her palms but she bit back her questions.
“Ashford. So you will be here in ten minutes if you are fast. And you will be fast, Ms. Morissey?”
“Yes. Of course I will.”
“And you come alone. If not, then your sister will pay for your mistake.”
“I’m alone,” she said firmly.
“Ten minutes,” the man repeated.
The connection broke. As Kiera put away her phone, she scanned the bleak gray marsh. Where was Calan?
MADISON MORISSEY was shivering. It felt like an eternity since they’d taken her, another eternity since she’d been pushed into this cold van.
She was fighting panic, her knees drawn up tight to her chest. They had taken her coat and sweater when they’d grabbed her outside the hotel. They’d shoved a rag with some kind of chemical over her mouth, and she’d awakened gagged and masked, hands and feet bound, traveling inside a small van.
Her arms and legs ached, stiff with cold beneath heavy strapping tape. But cold was the least of her problems. They’d taken her bag with her medicine.
She should have taken her pills hours ago.
She forced down a wave of panic. At least she’d spoken to Kiera. Kiera would come and together they’d think of something. Kiera always thought fast on her feet.
Wincing, Maddy leaned back, resting her head against the cold metal of the van’s interior. She was relieved to be alone. The worst part had been hearing people nearby, knowing that they watched her, talking about her while her own vision was cut off beneath the cotton hood they’d thrown over her head.
She raised her head, cataloging every sound she could pick out, from the cry of passing birds to the low, sucking gulp of water nearby. They had been driving for hours. Sounds were her only clues to her location. She might need them to find her way later, if she and Kiera escaped.
No, when she and Kee escaped, she told herself flatly.
She focused on the noises outside the parked vehicle. A seabird sailed past, its keening cry echoing in the silence. Long grasses whispered with dry intensity in a gust of wind.
Sounds were Maddy’s job. No one remembered timbre and pitch with the clarity that Maddy did.
They were near a body of water. Someplace isolated, without passing people or the sound of cars. Not far from the sea, judging by the salt smell.
Once she heard a faint bell. A railway crossing?
Then there was only silence.
She shuddered, telling herself again that Kiera would come. Then they would find a way to escape.
She locked her hands and settled down to wait….
KIERA SAW the long grass flatten on the other side of a canal. Nothing else moved.
She stared at her watch.
She was expected at the church in two minutes. If she wasn’t there, they would hurt her sister. Anger swept over her. How had she gotten swept up in Nicholas Draycott’s problems? Again the Draycott family had brought pain to her and those she loved. She hated all of them.
She’d tell him that to his face once this was over.
Something struck the back of the car. She spun around, trying to see through the drifting layers of fog. Feathers. Small black feet. Just a bird.
She forced her body to relax. She had to make a choice, anticipating what lay ahead. She
couldn’t leave her sister’s fate to Calan.
Her phone vibrated where she gripped it in her sweating hand. She answered instantly. “Yes.”
“Ten minutes,” the cold voice said. “You are still not here.”
“I’m just over the hill. I see the church,” she said quickly. “I’m coming down now.”
She heard him cover the phone, heard the rustle of clothing and movement.
“Very well. Two minutes. Not a second more.”
Kiera shoved the phone into her jacket. Her hands shook as she turned on the motor, using Calan’s keys. She had no more time left. Her caller had been very clear. They would hurt her sister if she didn’t do exactly what he said.
Her heart pounded as she turned onto the little gravel road. Behind, somewhere in the fog, she imagined she heard the howl of a dog.
A DARK SHAPE GHOSTS through the tall grass.
Six meters away a man in camouflage crouches, watching the road leading down to the church. He smells like cigarettes and fear.
The animal moves on in silence, his body hidden.
Down the hill he hears furtive movements and circles closer. Two men here. Motionless. Waiting.
He smells gun oil and the tang of old cordite carried toward him on the wind. They are close to the road, weapons braced at their shoulders. Between them a third man lies unmoving. His body holds the smell of drying blood.
He passes on.
Minutes before, five men approached the church. Now only three are left, along with two more he has seen going in and out of the big building. He’s found a way through the marsh that will bring him unseen to the back of the church.
The Hunt stirs, filling his blood.
When a man emerges from the biggest truck, weapon over his back, the animal changes direction. The man opens the back of the truck, pulls out two canvas bags, and then moves around to the passenger door.
The animal follows, a black nightmare leaping from the fog. The rifle drops into the mud. Blood strikes the big tires.
The man falls, eyes open. He does not move.
The door to the church stands open. The animal raises his head, checking the smells carried on the wind, searching each one for signs of danger. Slowly he circles, stopping at the edge of the clearing.
Bound by Dreams Page 18
