Another vehicle didn’t just happen. They’d have to find one.
Which meant that they’d stash the kids and Laney somewhere close by.
He tried the van door and found it unlocked. Laney’s cell phone lay on the floor. He left it there and put in another call to Andrews.
He gave the location of the van, his communication quick and to the point.
They didn’t have time to waste.
When he finished, he walked back to his vehicle. Jax, still in his bright orange vest, waited there, the equivalent of a homing beacon. “You want to work?” he asked the dog.
He was rewarded by an enthusiastic thump of the tail.
“Good. Me, too.” He lifted the dog out of the vehicle, ignoring the stabbing pain in his shoulder as he set him on the ground, then issued the command as he’d seen Laney do. He pointed to the van. “Jax, place!”
Jax leapt inside and immediately seemed to pick up on Laney’s scent, going right to her cell phone with a little whine, then pressing his nose in all the rear seats of the vehicle.
Finally, when it was apparent Laney was not in the van, Jax sat down beside her phone, looking sadly at Grayson.
“Where’s Laney?” Grayson asked.
At the sound of her name, Jax cocked his head. His ears perked up.
“Laney?” he repeated. He knew Jax was an air scent dog, not a tracking dog. He could only hope Jax understood what Grayson was asking him to do.
Jax barked and stood, tail wagging, tongue lolling. Grabbing Laney’s phone, Grayson put it up to Jax’s nose. When he was done sniffing, Grayson dropped the phone in his pocket. “Jax, go find Laney!”
Grayson didn’t have to tell him twice. Jax leapt from the van, put his nose to the ground, then to the wind, then back to the ground, and started across the street, heading straight toward a warehouse. Grayson could see the door had recent damage, as if someone had taken a crowbar and pried it open. Testing it, he found it unlocked. He drew his service revolver and stepped into the dark interior.
*
It was almost pitch black and a little cool in the storage room where Laney and the kids were waiting.
Laney pressed her ear to the door, trying to hear into the warehouse beyond their prison. She was pretty sure at least one of the bad guys was in the vicinity. The other had gone to find a new vehicle. He hadn’t been happy when the tire went flat.
Laney had the bruise on her cheek to prove it.
She couldn’t feel the pain of it. All she could feel was the panicked need to escape the room, to get the kids to safety, to make sure that Grayson was okay. She tried the door handle again. Locked. Still.
There had to be a way out. Had to be.
She turned back to the kids, felt something slap against her thigh, felt a moment of hope so pure and real that she nearly shouted with the excitement of it.
Her emergency penlight. She always carried it on searches. She yanked it from her cargo pocket and flashed it across the three huddled kids.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m going to find a way out of this.”
She hoped.
She shone the light on the floor and pointed it into the dark corners. Boxes lined the walls and took up most of the floor space. Trails of rat droppings and dust dotted the old tiles. There was only the one door, but maybe there was a vent she could shimmy through, some other way of escaping. She flashed the light onto the ceiling. Old 1970s panels threatened to fall out of the drop ceiling.
Perfect!
Laney knew that if she could get to the top of the wall and push up a tile, all that would separate her from whatever was next door would be more tiles. She thought about dropping straight into the warehouse, but she didn’t know where the kidnappers were. Four lives depended on her escaping without notice—including her own. She could climb over the support beam and drop into the next room. Ideally find an unlocked door there and move into the warehouse, where she’d find a way to smuggle the kids out.
She turned the light back in the direction of the kids.
They looked terrified, their faces streaked with grime, tears and, in some cases, a few bruises. Olivia was hugging a girl who looked much smaller and younger than she was. Laney recognized her from the Amber alerts and news stories surrounding her abduction. Eight-year-old Marissa James. The dark haired, slim boy standing beside them was eleven-year-old Adam Presley.
“I need you guys to help me move some of those boxes to the corner,” Laney whispered. “We need to stack them so I can climb up.”
She flashed the light so they could all see the area.
The kids moved quickly and more quietly than Laney expected.
Fear was a powerful motivator.
It didn’t take long to create a sturdy platform. “I’m going to climb through,” she whispered. “Once I make it to the other side, I’ll unlock the door.”
“Why can’t we all climb through?” Adam asked. “If you go and don’t come back—”
“I’ll come back.”
“But if you don’t,” Olivia whispered, “we’re stuck.”
“I will either open this door and get you out or come back through the ceiling. Either way, I’m not leaving anyone behind.” She meant it. And she hoped she could follow through.
If something happened, and she was killed…
It was a thought she couldn’t dwell on. God was in control. He saw. He knew. She had to believe that He’d act.
Laney said a quick prayer as she hoisted herself to the top of the storage room wall. She removed the drop ceiling tile, carefully handing it down to Adam. Using her penlight, she peered over the wall into an office space. It was empty. Pocketing her light, she started to formulate the best plan for lowering herself down to the next room.
The telltale sound of clicking of paws moving rapidly across the concrete floor grabbed her attention.
Could it be?
Had Grayson and Jax somehow found the warehouse?
And where was the kidnapper with the gun?
Her question was answered when the guy lumbered into the office, closing and locking the door behind him, then quietly peering through the blinds of a window that opened into the warehouse.
Jax was out there. Laney knew it, and she thought Grayson was with him. She hoped he was. She’d overheard one of the kidnappers say he’d shot him. If he was in the warehouse, he’d survived, but he was also a sitting duck. There were windows in the interior office wall that looked out into the warehouse. If Jax and Grayson walked by where the kidnapper could see them… Her blood grew cold at the thought.
She scrambled back down into the storage room.
“New plan,” she whispered to the kids. “The kidnapper is in the room next door. I’m heading into the warehouse. I’ll open the door when I get to the other side. When I do, everyone needs to leave single file and quietly. Hug the wall to the right, hold hands and stay together.”
Removing her boots so her drop to the floor would not be heard, she climbed through the open ceiling tile and sat on the top of the wall. It was a good eight-foot drop. She lowered herself until she was hanging by her hands, her socked feet dangling about three feet from the floor. Holding her breath, she prepared to let go.
*
Keeping to the edges of the open warehouse, Grayson followed Jax toward a row of offices. Jax looked up.
Grayson followed his gaze and saw a pair of legs dangling from an open panel in the ceiling.
Laney!
He rushed forward, touched her ankle.
She let out a bloodcurdling scream, and the silent warehouse suddenly turned to chaos. Kids screamed from the other side of a closed door. Distant footsteps pounded on old tile.
Grayson yanked hard enough to pull Laney down, catching her as she tumbled into his arms.
“Grayson!” she cried, throwing her arms around his neck. “I thought you were dead.”
“Not yet, but we both might be if we don’t get moving.”
“The ch
ildren!” She broke away and unlocked and opened a door.
Three kids emerged, all of them in various states of hysteria.
An office door opened. The kidnapper rushed toward them, gun in hand.
“Everyone down!” Grayson hollered.
Laney, the children and even Jax hit the floor, leaving the gunman an easy target. Grayson got off his shot first. The man went down. But there had been two men in the van earlier. Where was his accomplice?
Thundering footsteps were getting closer, and Jax growled, sensing danger before any of them could see it.
Grayson scooped up the smallest child in his left arm, wincing as she latched onto his wounded shoulder. There was cover of sorts near the edges of the warehouse, where the shadows were deepest and machinery crowded the floor.
“Come on!” he urged.
Laney grabbed the hands of the other two children and followed Grayson closely.
Somewhere in the distance, a door opened and closed. Feet tapped on concrete. Not one set of footsteps. Several. Grayson was maintaining radio silence, but he’d called the warehouse location in, and he knew the cavalry had arrived. He just had to keep the kids and Laney safe until Andrew’s men could take Conrad’s remaining thug down.
Hugging the shadows, he led them down a shelf-lined corridor, toward the emergency exit.
Behind them, a commotion ensued—shouts and gunshots as the remaining kidnapper met the cavalry.
Kicking open the emergency exit door, Grayson led them to the alley, where the flashing red and blue lights of the first responders were a welcoming sight.
They were met by police and paramedics, who took the children from their arms and ushered them to the safety of an ambulance.
Laney turned to Grayson, her eyes drawn to the blood dripping down his arm from his wounded shoulder.
“You’re hurt!” She motioned to a paramedic, who grabbed her bag and headed toward them.
“It’s not serious.”
But Laney insisted he push up his sleeve and allow the paramedic to take a look.
“You’ve got a nasty gash,” she said, removing a sterile pad and some gauze from her medical kit. “You need to have this properly cleaned and sutured. Looks like you’ve lost a considerable amount of blood, so I can’t clear you to drive yourself.”
Just then, Kent and two officers came out through the warehouse door, ushering the handcuffed kidnapper out into the alley and the waiting patrol car.
Kent jogged over to him as the paramedic finished field-dressing the wound and called for a gurney to be brought over. “Well, DeMarco, it looks like you’re a little worse for wear.”
“It’s just a flesh wound. I’ll be fine.” Especially now that he knew Laney and the children were safe.
A second paramedic wheeled over a gurney. “It’s time to go, sir.”
Grayson sighed. “It looks like we’re in for an ER visit,” he said, reaching his hand out to Laney.
“We?”
“If you think I’m leaving you here on your own, you can forget it.” He rubbed her palm with his thumb. “With your track record, that’s much too risky—I need a vacation before I allow you to pull me into the next case.”
Laney smiled, shaking her head. “I guess I had that coming.” Her green eyes filled with laughter as she followed along for the ride.
TWENTY-ONE
Almost two weeks later, thanks in part to the computer forensic work Arden had performed on both the FBI networks and Ethan Conrad’s personal computers and cell phone, there was enough physical and forensic evidence to get an indictment against Ethan and seventeen other accomplices. Charges spanned from murder to child trafficking. The previous night, Ethan, who had been stopped after crossing the border into Mexico and extradited to Maryland, had been charged with three counts of child abduction in Maryland, plus the thirteen others in Boston and California.
That was great news. Laney was glad Ethan was behind bars where he’d be unable to tear another family apart.
She smiled as she brushed her hair into a high ponytail and fingered the purple scar near her hairline. The staples had been removed, but it would be a while before the scar looked less raw and angry.
She didn’t care.
All that mattered was that Olivia and the other kids were safe, and that there was hope of more children being recovered.
That Grayson…
She smiled again, because thinking about him always made her do that.
He’d recovered from his gunshot wound.
It might take a little while longer for him to get over Ethan’s betrayal. Ethan’s computer logs had revealed that he’d also been part of a money-laundering scheme his stepson had discovered. When Rick had confronted him, Ethan had killed him. Fearing that Rick had revealed information to Grayson, Ethan made an attempt on Grayson’s life, too. His bullet had missed its mark and killed Andrea instead. Pinning the murders on two high-level gang members, he closed up the case while Grayson mourned his fiancée and friend, then continued, without missing a step, with his mentorship of Grayson.
It was a sad story that had come out in bits and pieces of forensic information—bank account records, phone records, the testimonies of some of Ethan’s coconspirators.
Since the children had been recovered, there had been a whirlwind of activity—interviews with the press, law enforcement, judges and a prosecutor. Between that and work, Laney barely had time to think, but when she did, she found herself thinking about Grayson. Obviously he’d spent some time thinking about her, too. He called or visited almost every day. He’d even made it to the ceremony that morning.
Laney glanced at Jax, smiling at the little medal attached to his collar. The FBI had honored Jax, Arden and Laney for their part in recovering the children.
“But you’re the only one who got a medal, Jax,” Laney said, walking out onto the porch and taking a seat on the swing. Jax padded along beside her and found a comfortable spot in the sunlight. They’d trained hard the day before, and they were both tired. It was worth it, though. Being out of retirement made Laney feel more alive than she’d felt in years.
A car drove toward the house, and Laney recognized it immediately. Grayson had said he’d stop by when he finished work for the day.
One thing she was learning about him—he always kept his word.
Jax stood as the car parked, excited to see his new friend.
Grayson jumped out, his black hair gleaming in the sunlight, his face soft with his feelings for her.
He walked up the steps and took both her hands in his. “I’ve been waiting to do this all day,” he said, pressing a sweet kiss to her lips.
She would have begged for more, but Jax nosed in between them, looking up with dark eyes and a silly grin.
“He looks great in his medal,” Grayson said with a grin.
“Yes.” She laughed. “He’s been strutting around shamelessly since they put it on him.”
“You, on the other hand,” he said, “don’t need a medal to look great. You’re beautiful in fuzzy dog sweaters and weird leggings, with staples in your head and bruises on your face. You’re beautiful out in the field with sunlight dappling your hair. And you’re beautiful here, with your hair up and your face scrubbed clean.”
“Grayson, I…”
“Don’t make me stop, Laney. I might chicken out. There’s something I want to tell you. I need to tell you. When I lost Andrea, I decided that was God’s way of showing me that my plans for a family had to take second place to my career. For the past ten years, I’ve dedicated myself to this purpose God had for me.” He touched her cheek, his fingers trailing down to her collar bone and resting there. “But something happened two weeks ago. It took a punch in the jaw from a pretty girl to bring me to my senses.”
Laney laughed. “Yeah, sorry about that, but in my defense, I was concussed.”
He smiled. “I had decided that because Andrea was taken from me, I wasn’t meant to have a wife and family—to ma
ke promises to a woman that I might not be able to keep. I convinced myself it was God’s plan for me to focus solely on my career, but the truth is, I was protecting myself from the possibility of finding someone and possibly losing them. I didn’t want to hurt again the way I’d hurt when I lost Andrea. Her death left a hole in my heart.”
“I’m so sorry, Grayson.”
“I don’t want you to be. I want you to know that you woke me up to the possibility that God might intend more for me. Everything happens according to plan, Laney, and meeting you, working together on this case, was all part of His plan.
“I can’t promise you happily-ever-after, because the future isn’t written in stone. But what I can promise you, Laney Kensington, is that if you take a chance on me, I will put your needs before my own, and I will protect you, and cherish you for the wondrously special and unique person that you are, for as long as I live.”
Looking into his ocean-blue eyes, she saw the sincerity in them. His faith and strength of character were a constant, steadfast testament to who Grayson DeMarco was. And she knew that she believed him and trusted him with all her heart. Something that she never thought possible. She felt a tear fall before she realized she was crying.
He gently whisked the tear away with the pad of his thumb. “Why are you crying? Have I said something, done something…”
She shook her head and smiled. “I’ve never believed in happily-ever-after, Grayson, and I wouldn’t believe anyone who offered it to me. But then again, I never used to believe in tears of joy, either, but you just wiped one off my cheek.”
He kissed her then, gently, pulling her into his arms, then resting his chin on her hair. “Who knows, Laney? Maybe one day we’ll both believe that happily-ever-after really is possible.”
“Truthfully,” she answered, “I think I already do.”
*
Keep reading for an excerpt from TRAIL OF EVIDENCE by Lynette Eason
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoyed Laney and Grayson’s story, Into Thin Air. This story is near to my heart for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, it is a story of faith and finding God’s purpose in our lives. Laney has fallen into the trap that many of us stumble into—she has learned to rely on herself rather than God and closed herself to the possibility that God really did have a plan for her.
Love Inspired Suspense May 2015 #2 Page 59
