by Linzi Baxter
The hairs on the back of his neck rose. Ian knocked on the door, and it swung open. When he didn’t hear footsteps or noises, he shouted her name through the house. Nothing. He walked to each room and continued shouting her name. There was no answer. No one was at the house.
When he walked back into the master bedroom, he noticed her purse on the floor. He looked inside and found her phone. Something was wrong. He powered the phone back on, guessing her password on the first try. It was the date she’d bought the new house. A slew of messages appeared across her screen, all from him.
Ian scrolled through her contacts until found Ava’s number. Ava was Bella’s best friend and would know where she might have gone. His finger hesitated over her number for a second. Ian knew in his gut something was off. He pressed the button.
Ava answered on the second ring. “Hey, chicky. Are you already done with makeup sex?”
“Ava, this is Ian.”
“Is Bella okay?”
While Ian had the phone pressed to his ear, he continued to search the house in case he’d missed a clue. He couldn’t turn off the sick feeling in his stomach. “I don’t know. We had a fight yesterday, and when I came to her house to grovel, the front door was open, and her purse and phone were left behind. I have a feeling something happened.”
Ava covered the phone. Ian could hear muffled voices as she spoke to someone. Ava came back on the line. “Ethan and I are on our way over. Don’t do anything stupid.”
Ian clicked off the phone and sat on the chair in the living room. Horrible scenarios ran through his brain. His dream of Bella’s dead body on the floor came to the forefront. Tex had set up a program that would send Ian a text if Jake got out of jail. Ian hadn’t received a text from it yet. He sent a text to Tex just to make sure, and not more than a minute later, Tex replied and let him know Jake was in jail.
A ding on his phone alerted him with another text from Tex: What's going on?
Ian answered: Bella’s missing.
Tex called immediately, and Ian relayed the little information he had about how their fight and how he’d gone to apologize and found her house empty. Tex told him he would work to pull off images from cameras around the area to see if he could find anything. He had new facial-recognition software he could use to pinpoint her face in the San Antonio area.
During the conversation with Tex, Cole texted to see how Ian’s grovel had gone. Ian sent a quick text to update him, and Cole responded that he was on his way over.
It felt as if an hour passed before Ian heard the car doors slamming outside. He heard multiple cars, and the swarm of people that came through the door startled him. Ava was the first to enter, followed by her fiancé, Ethan, who worked for the FBI. Officer Max Anders followed behind Ethan. Cole brought up the rear.
Max ran his hand through his hair. “On the way over, I contacted the jail where Jake is locked up. Bella wouldn’t run away, and we can’t file a missing person’s report for another few hours.”
“I contacted one of my friends to hack into the street cameras,” Ian said. “Once he gets a hit, he plans to call.”
Helplessness washed over Ian. Was this how his fellow soldiers felt when his unit went missing? Twenty-six hours had passed since she’d walked out of the hotel. If someone had kidnapped her, they’d need to find her soon. Studies showed that most kidnapped victims were killed within the first twenty-four hours. If Ian hadn’t made Bella mad, she would have had her phone on her, and Tex could have tracked her.
“Stop beating yourself up,” Ava said. “We will find her.”
Before Ian could respond, his phone rang. It was Tex.
“You’re on speaker,” Ian said.
Tex went straight to the point. “My software picked her up on a private airstrip outside San Antonio. I traced the car backward, and it came from her house. They had shoved her in the trunk.”
“Who?”
He could hear the sound of fingers on a keyboard. “They have a tech person working for them. He buried the flight plan. I called Beth in to help, but it will take us both a while to dig through the trail. I’m running their faces now. Nothing has come up yet. Ian, these people have money. I think we need to cross-reference them against Mr. Ainsworth.”
Ethan stepped forward. “We have a few hours before the federal prison visiting hours end. Why not try to speak to Mr. Ainsworth?”
Tex said, “That’s a good idea. I know the warden of that prison. I’ll call and have them make sure you can see him. Also, did you look through the file I sent you?”
That fucking file was why they were in a predicament in the first place. If he hadn’t requested it, she would be in his arms. He would be cuddled up the couch with her right now instead of trying to figure out who’d kidnapped her.
“The file's on my phone. I never opened it. Fuck.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Bella saw the text yesterday. That’s why she left pissed off.”
Ethan let out a whistle. “She has a right to be mad. But we don’t have time to fix that issue. You go to the prison. Send Cole the file. When you're done at the prison, let’s meet at your house.”
They all had their assignments. Ian hoped his trip to the federal penitentiary would give him the answers he needed.
Mr. Ainsworth sat across from Ian in the interrogation room. Tex had pulled strings to get a private room and no guards. Ian wouldn’t leave until he had answers. Prison hadn’t been good to Mr. Ainsworth. The sides of his head had been shaven, and he looked to have lost weight, and if that wasn’t enough of a clue, the black eye was a clear indicator that he had an issue in prison. He had screwed over many high rollers with long reaches. Mr. Ainsworth wouldn’t make it more than a few months before someone took his life.
“Who would go after Bella?” Ian asked.
“I’ve got many enemies.”
The vague response made Ian’s temper rise. He didn’t have time to sit and play twenty questions. Ian leapt out of his chair and wrapped his hands around Mr. Ainsworth’s throat. The man’s hands were tied to the table, and he was unable to fight back. Ian gave an extra squeeze before he let go. The second Ian’s hands lifted, Mr. Ainsworth gasped for breath.
Ian towered over him. “Tell me who has a private plane man and a wife younger than him and who would take Bella.”
Mr. Ainsworth closed his eyes for a second. “My kids.”
“I need to know why and where would they take her.”
“I’ll tell you what you want, but I want to be transferred.”
“You’ll be lucky to live if you don’t tell me how to find her. Bella has been through shit because of you, and she worked her ass off.”
Ian held his breath, not sure if he would get the answer he needed.
“They probably found out about the offshore accounts if they raided my bunker. The accounts are in Bella’s name. My children would take her back to San Diego… I cooperated. Can you help me?”
Ian nodded and turned and left the room. If they found Bella in time, he would have Tex talk to the warden, but not before he made sure of Bella's safety. If he didn’t make it to her in time, he would come back and kill Mr. Ainsworth himself.
As he walked to the car, he dialed Cole. “I need you to book me a flight to San Diego.”
“No need. I have a plane standing by. Meet us at the airstrip.”
Ian would owe Cole big-time. If he had a plane, it belonged to his family, and Cole asking his family for something was a big deal.
His next call was to Wolf. They would need his help when they landed. Wolf was part of SEAL Team Six, stationed in San Diego.
Chapter 12
Bella’s head felt as if a band of drummers used it as a drum. She took inventory of her body: legs bound, hands bound, and muscles aching from her prolonged position. Bella had no clue how long she had been out.
Her last memory was when she’d tried to escape from the trunk. Her kidnappers had taken her to an airfield. No one would find her or know of her disa
ppearance until Monday. Bella hoped she would live long enough to see Monday. She didn’t understand what her kidnappers were after.
A sudden thirst came over her. She slowly opened her eyes to see her surroundings. The couple who’d kidnapped her sat in the leather airplane chairs across from her. Their heads were lowered, and they were in a deep discussion. With her kidnappers preoccupied in an argument, Bella looked around the plane to see if there was anyone else.
The airplane hit an air pocket, which caused Bella to jerk. The sudden movement sent pain through her body, and she let out a groan before she could stop herself. She stilled and hoped the kidnappers thought she was still asleep, but it didn’t work. She heard the heels of the woman click across the plane floor.
“We know you are awake, bitch.”
Bella slowly pried her eyes open. After she passed out, they must have injected her with a sleep aid. Her head felt cloudy.
The woman had her arms crossed, and she tapped her foot. Bella tried to say something, but her mouth was dry, and her throat was scratchy. She finally choked out the word “Water.” Nobody moved to get her any.
Finally, Ryan went to the cockpit and came back with a bottle of water. He opened it, and Bella immediately opened her mouth. Ryan only gave her enough to wet her mouth.
“Why did you kidnap me?
“Don’t play poor me. We know you have our father’s money.”
She blinked a couple of times and focused on their faces. Why hadn’t she seen it from the beginning? These were Mr. Ainsworth’s kids. They thought she’d been in on his scam. “What money?”
“Dear old Dad moved the money from all of the accounts to an offshore account in your name. We want you to transfer the money back to us. It’s ours, not yours.”
Tina and Ryan were spoiled brats. They’d never worked a day in their lives. Bella bet that without Daddy’s pipeline of money, they were about to run out of funds. But they’d come to the wrong person. Bella knew nothing about missing money. And if she’d had a bank account in the Cayman Islands, she would have turned the money over to the people Mr. Ainsworth had stolen from.
“Your dad didn’t give me any money. I have no clue about offshore accounts.”
With Bella’s hands tied behind her back, she couldn’t block the hit that came her way. The word terrified didn't begin to describe how she felt, being thirty thousand feet in the air with no clue where they were headed and knowing that two crazy spoiled kids wanted one thing from her, and when they got it, they would kill her. But she didn’t have an answer to what their dad had done.
“We are taking you back to San Diego.” The crazy lady paced the aisle of the plane. “We have a friend that can get any information we need out of someone. You will tell us how to access the accounts. We need that money.” She reached up and wiped her nose. Someone had a cocaine habit. Bella could only imagine that Mr. Ainsworth’s daughter had been doing cocaine and run out of money. She might have drug dealers knocking on the door, wanting money, and she wasn’t able to pay them back. Each scenario wasn’t good for Bella. And if they needed money so badly, why were they in a private plane?
“It doesn’t look like you need money. This plane ride can’t be cheap.”
“Let’s just say we have another party instr—”
When the crazy bitch elbowed Ryan in the gut, he groaned in pain. Bella could see the blood spread on his shirt from where she’d stabbed him. But she’d learned one thing before Tina had elbowed him: they owed money to a powerful person, and he’d funded her kidnapping. She really wished she knew why Mr. Ainsworth had put the money in her name and how she could retrieve the money. When she did, they would kill her anyway.
Ryan rubbed his side. “Why don’t you sleep the rest of the way? I don’t want to deal with you, and it seems you will not tell us what we want to know.” He pulled out a needle from his jacket.
“No. I won’t say a word.”
Her plea fell on deaf ears. As the needle entered her neck, her eyelids got heavy. She worked to keep herself awake. She didn’t want to fall asleep, but the drug took over and knocked her out.
Ian glanced around the Cole family private jet. He was grateful his friend had borrowed it. Cole and Ian could bring their guns along and not have to worry about TSA. Ethan and Max sat in a leather chairs across from him and Cole. Ian hadn’t expected them to come to San Diego, but they’d showed up at the airfield.
They were halfway through the three-hour flight from San Antonio to San Diego. He wished the pilot would put the plane in hyper speed. Bella’s kidnappers had an eight-hour head start. Ian had spoken with Matthew “Wolf” Steel when he left the prison. Wolf and a couple of men from his unit would meet him at the airport when he landed.
He already owed Wolf and his unit. They’d saved him from death in North Korea. It had been years since he’d spoken to Wolf. He wished they were meeting under better circumstances.
Ian could have sworn he heard a phone ring. Seconds later, the flight attendant walked out with a satellite phone. “Mr. Parker, you have a call.”
Ian clicked the speakerphone button. “Hello.”
“Ian, it’s Tex. I’ve patched Wolf in on the call. Wolf and I wanted to strategize while you were in the air so when you landed, we could hit the ground running.”
Ian was amazed with Tex. How had he managed to get the phone number to the sat phone on the plane? But he didn’t want Wolf and his men to get in trouble. This wasn't a government-sanctioned mission. They could put their lives and careers in jeopardy if they helped.
“Wolf… I appreciate everything. I called you when my emotions were high and desperate. I can’t have you risk getting in trouble.”
A growl came through the phone. “You are not forcing me to do anything. Answer one question: Do you love her?”
Ian had only started to see Bella in the last few weeks. Was what he felt love? Could a person fall that fast for someone? He didn’t care if others thought he’d fallen too fast. “Yes, I love her. I know it hasn’t been long, but I just know.”
“You don’t have to explain that to me. I fell for Caroline the second she sat down next to me on that stupid commercial flight where we both almost died because someone tried to hijack the plane. It might’ve been one of the worst and best flights of my life. Caroline is my everything. I know you wouldn’t have called unless you felt the same way. We will help you get your woman back.”
Ian's throat tightened with emotion. He knew the story of how Wolf and Caroline had met. She’d saved him when the ice in the drink didn’t smell right.
Tex cut in. “Now that we have that out of the way, Ryan and Tina—Mr. Ainsworth’s only kids—need money. Tina has a cocaine habit of a hundred thousand dollars a month.”
Cole let out a whistle.
Tex continued. “Ryan’s nose is clean, but he has a huge gambling problem. He owes money to the Mafia. According to financials, they are out of money, but someone funded their trip to San Antonio. It’s either the Italian mob or the Mexican drug cartel. Either way, it doesn’t look good.”
“So they needed Bella to retrieve the money? But when you moved it, did we put her in further danger?”
Ian had to get Bella before they turned her over to the Mafia or the cartel. Fuck. It could be both groups. Tex had pulled the offshore-account information earlier and discovered that it contained thirty million dollars. Tex’s magical program had transferred the money out of the account and into a shell company. Once Bella was safe, they would let the authorities know about the money.
“I made it look like the money was still there. I also pinpointed the house where they’re holding her in San Diego.”
The next hour would go by slowly. Ian wanted to bust the door down and go rescue Bella, guns blazing.
“What’s the address?”
Tex let out a sigh. “You aren’t a lone ranger. Wolf sent Benny and Dude to the house. They are set up to watch the perimeter. I have satellite setup on the house. These people ar
en’t messing around. I counted five armed guards around the house. We need to wait until dark so we’ll have extra cover.”
“What if they kill her?”
Wolf’s voice came through the phone. “I’ve read the report on your woman. She’s strong. Now, get your ass to San Diego so we can save her and have a beer. I’ll meet you at the airport, and we’ll gear up.”
Wolf and Tex clicked off the phone. Ian closed his eyes and sent a prayer. He didn’t know what he would do if he lost Bella. Hell, he’d just figured out he loved her, and he might lose her already. When he got her back, she would never leave his side again.
Cole leaned back in his chair. “Your woman sure knows how to get caught in a mess.”
“It’s not her fault,” Ian growled. How could she have known that her crazy boss had set her up?
Cole held up his hands. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way, but fuck, her boss screwed her over. Her first flip, she gets a crazy ex-homeowner, and now she’s kidnapped and handed over to the Mafia.”
Ian knew that what his friend had said was true. His nerves were on edge, and all he wanted was to wrap his arms around Bella.
Chapter 13
Ian watched the mansion through a pair of binoculars. He sat in a white van with Wolf, Dude, and Cole. Faulkner “Dude” Cooper was a member of Wolf’s team. Dude was always in control and was the team's explosives expert. Ian hoped they wouldn’t need Dude’s expertise that night.
Abe and Cookie, two more members of Wolf’s team, joined Max and Ethan in the SUV parked across the street. Abe had gotten his name because he was always honest. All SEALs could swim well, but Cookie could out swim anyone on the team. Ian felt comfortable working with Wolf’s team. Cole and Ian had worked with them a few times before the North Koreans had captured them.
The clock struck ten. It was time to go. Ian opened his door. Abe and Cookie jumped out of the SUV.
