by Katie Knight
Jed made his way in there and saw the back door standing open. He rushed out to the street and saw tire marks near the curb and a pink bead from Nala’s braid and several splotches of blood. Stress and fear and anger threatened to pull him under. He’d tried so hard to keep everyone safe, tried to control everything. And he’d failed. Failed so badly that now everyone and everything he cared for was in danger.
“Hey, buddy.” Owen came up behind him and clapped him on the shoulder. “The house is clear. There’s no note or anything. I called the forensics team and my SAC and told them what’s up. I’m guessing that if Walker took them, then he’s probably got some end game in mind. We were as careful as we could be to keep our sting under wraps, but if he got wind, then he’ll be looking to escape. And mostly likely he’s told Steenman too. I’m sorry, man.”
“I don’t give a shit about Nathan Steenman or Kevin or anyone else. The only people I care about right now are Tess and Nala. I can’t lose them. Either of them. It’s my fault Kevin took them—that he even knew where to find them. I brought him here, early on. Before I suspected anything was odd about him. Even showed him Nala’s picture.” Jed scrubbed his hands over his face. “God, I’m such a fucking idiot. I’ve got to find them. I put them in this danger and it’s up to me to fix it. I don’t care what it takes. What strings you have to pull. I want in on this sting. I can help you. I know that warehouse like the back of my hand. If Steenman’s there, we’ll find him. Force him to tell us where to find Kevin, force him to confess.”
Owen gave a curt nod, and they walked back into the house as the wail of sirens approached. As local law enforcement swarmed the house and began to dust for prints, Jed’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out to find a text message. Not from Kevin as he’d hoped, but from his boss, Nathan Steenman.
Meet me at my cabin in three hours. Come alone, or you won’t like what you’ll find.
Jed hid the screen from Owen before he could see it, but his expression must’ve given him away.
“What?” Owen said, glancing down at the phone then back at Jed. “It was them, wasn’t it?”
“It was Steenman. He basically said if I don’t come alone, he’ll kill Nala.” Jed swallowed hard around the lump of anxiety in his throat. He’d done his best to keep his emotional distance from the little girl while still providing a good, nurturing home, tried to keep his heart out of the equation, but it was no use. He loved her. Loved her like his own child. There was no way he could give her up for adoption. He wanted Nala as his daughter now and forever. Once this was all over, he’d fill out the paperwork to make her his kid permanently. He would, if…
No. He couldn’t think like that. Nala and Tess were depending on him to find them, rescue them. He had to keep his shit together to get that done.
His phone chimed again, this time with an address that Jed assumed was for Steenman’s cabin. This time he wasn’t quick enough to hide it from Owen.
“There’s no way you’re going there by yourself, you know. Once a SEAL, always a SEAL. We’re a team. One for all and all for one. You might be a stubborn, controlling SOB, but you’re still my team leader and my friend. We’ll handle this together, understand?” He put his arm around Jed and led him back through the maze of police markers and technicians taking photos inside the house. “So, you love this girl, huh?”
“Nala? Hell yeah. Gonna adopt her as my own.” Jed glanced over and saw the open peanut butter jar on the counter. His heart ached for Tess. He hoped she was okay, hoped she wasn’t injured or scared or….
“No. I mean the nanny. What’s her name again?”
“Tess. Tess Frederick.” Jed closed his eyes and pictured her pretty face, her smile. “And yeah. I’m gonna keep her as my own too.”
“About time somebody tied you down.” Owen grinned. He’d gotten married around the same time Martin and Ayesha had, though Owen and his wife didn’t have any kids yet. The life of an FBI agent wasn’t exactly conducive to family life. Then again, Owen had made his marriage work, despite the dangers and risks. Perhaps, Jed could do the same.
Owen held up a finger as his own phone rang. Jed stood off to the side as the forensics team worked through his living room and his friend jogged a short distance away for some privacy. A few minutes later Owen returned. “That was my SAC. I explained to him what’s happening, and we’ve decided to move the sting operation to this cabin of Steenman’s. We’ll nail down the specifics, but for now text him back and tell him you’ll come. Alone. But make him an ultimatum. Tell him you’ll hand yourself over in exchange for the woman and kid. See if he takes the bait.”
Jed nodded and did as his friend asked. Didn’t take more than a few seconds for a confirmation to come through. He held up the screen for Owen to see.
Good. Three hours.
Don’t be late, or there might be another accident.
Thirty-One
Tess came to in stages. The first thing she was aware of was that her head throbbed and her mouth felt like cotton. She squinted her eyes open and peered around her, trying to puzzle out what had happened. The last thing she remembered was being at Jed’s house, making sandwiches for her and Nala.
The harder she concentrated, the more her head hurt, but she needed to remember.
There’d been a knock on the door. She’d answered, not found anyone or anything, then….
Full alertness slapped her hard, and she jerked upright from where she was slumped against the wall with her butt on the floor. Sitting up that fast was a mistake, she realized in hindsight, since the room went topsy-turvy around her, making her feel woozy again and sick to her stomach. She swallowed hard against the hot bile burning the back of her throat and stared at the leg of the chair nearby until the swirling stopped, breathing deep to keep from vomiting.
Somehow, a man had gotten into the house. Tall, blond hair. Flat, dead eyes. Evil grin. She had no doubt he’d been one of the men who’d tried to take Nala that day at the park, though she had a pretty good idea one of them was the Kevin that Jed had told her about.
Nala.
She slowly turned her head to glance to the side of her. Muffled sounds of crying gradually filtered in past the pounding of her pulse. There. Nala was sitting against the wall maybe three feet down from Tess. She looked terrified and tousled, but otherwise uninjured. Good. One of her braids, on the right-hand side, was missing the bright pink bead from the bottom. A brief flash of memory, like a poker to the temple, jabbed into Tess’s mind. The guy, their abductor, had grabbed Nala as she’d tried to run away. He’d pulled on her braid, tearing the bead away.
It must still be back at the house.
Jed would be so worried when he found them gone.
Jed.
Her chest squeezed and her heart ached with longing and regret. She loved him. Even if he’d never love her back, even if she’d never see him again, she loved him.
“T-tess,” Nala whispered, inching slightly closer to her. “A-are y-you a-awake?”
With effort, she glanced back at the little girl again and gave her a weak smile. “I’m here, honey.”
Even forming words hurt, the sound reverberating inside her battered skull like a ping-pong ball. She winced and pushed herself higher against the wall, careful not to turn her head for fear the dizziness would strike again. Every inch of her hurt. She raised a tentative hand to the side of her head and felt the lump there, the stickiness of drying blood and the painful bruising. Nothing seemed broken, thank goodness, and all her clothes were intact, so they hadn’t tried anything funny while she’d been out.
She looked around at their surroundings again, doing her best to take in the details. Jed would find them, of that she had no doubt. He’d find them, but he’d need help to put these bastards away. The more information she could give the cops about her abductors, the better.
The room where they were being held appeared to be some kind of living room, with rustic furniture and bare wood walls. No, not bare wood. Logs. A
cabin. She and Nala had apparently been moved to some kind of hunting lodge. The room was maybe twenty-by-twenty with hardwood floors. Various antique weapons and taxidermy heads decorated the walls. It was all very masculine, not a trace of feminine décor around. No lights were on and the curtains were drawn, making what little light seeped in cast long shadows across the floor. From the angle, she’d guess it was maybe late afternoon now. Given they’d been brought here by SUV, they couldn’t have travelled that far from Baltimore, so maybe Virginia? The woods surrounding the Blue Ridge Mountains? That setting fit the time frame at least.
Nala’s sobs grew a bit louder, and Tess reached out her hand to the girl. “Don’t be scared, sweetie. I’m here with you and we’ll get through this together. I promise. Jed will find us soon.”
“J-jed’s gonna be so m-mad,” Nala said between sniffles. She scooted closer to Tess. “I d-don’t want to d-die.”
“Oh, honey.” Tess wished she could turn and hold the girl, but her aching head and the fact that she’d not ascertained the location of their abductors yet made that move unwise. “We’re not going to die. Not if I can help it.”
“M-mommy and D-daddy d-didn’t think they’d d-die either.” Nala trembled beside Tess and she reached over with her free hand to place it atop the little girl’s head. “I-I’m s-scared to be a-alone.”
“Sweetie.” Tess’s heart broke at the fear in Nala’s voice. The same fear she’d experienced herself after Theo’s death. Fear of abandonment. Fear of the future. Fear of loss and grief and pain. Tess was so tired of being afraid. And yet, those fears hadn’t destroyed her as she’d thought they would. She’d gone on. She’d made a new life for herself, with Jed and Nala. She’d healed and grown stronger.
Realization dawned like a beacon in the night.
She wasn’t the same scared, exhausted, emotionally guarded woman she’d been the day she’d walked into Jed’s house for the interview. She’d grown to become a healthy, happy, vibrant person again. That was all because of Jed and the little girl beside her.
She’d be damned if she’d let a couple of men with some unknown vendetta take that away from her now. She’d worked too hard to get here.
Tess sighed and forced herself to focus on her surroundings again, listening intently. At first, she’d thought maybe she and Nala were alone in the cabin, but as she concentrated, she could hear the low murmur of voices coming from another room around the corner. Pale illumination streaked the floor there too. She couldn’t see much from where she sat, not with the enormous leather sofa blocking her view, but the deepness of the tones sounded decidedly male.
“Shhhh, sweetie,” she whispered to Nala, who was still crying softly against her shoulder. “Listen.”
Nala quieted and together they tuned into the conversation happening out of their sight.
“It’s done,” the first man said.
“Why the hell would you send him a text? They can trace that shit. How the fuck do you not know that?” This second voice Tess recognized as the guy from the house.
A shadow passed over the curtained window behind Tess, a figure with a rifle, judging by the outline. Okay. So there were at least three people here. Maybe more. They’d organized this then. Planned it. And their abductor wasn’t happy with the other man because he’d sent a text. A text to Jed? Her heart leapt.
This was good. If Jed suspected anything had happened to Nala, he’d move heaven and earth to get her back. Even if he didn’t love Tess, she knew he loved Nala more than life itself, whether he’d admit it or not. He’d come after them. He’d rescue them. All they had to do was wait and stay alive long enough for him to get here.
Wherever “here” was.
Outside, she heard the sound of rustling leaves and the pound of footsteps as the guard retreated from the window. No sounds of cars, no planes overhead. So the cabin must be somewhere remote then. Made sense, given it appeared to be used for hunting. She looked closer at the furnishings. Yes, they were rustic, but they were also leather and very well made. Expensive then. Shabby chic. Whoever owned this place had money.
Okay. She closed her eyes and ran through things like a detective in one of the mysteries she loved.
If Kevin Walker had abducted them and brought them here, that must mean that Jed and the FBI were close to putting the clues together as well. He’d looked dangerous at the house, threatened, cornered. But given the fact he wasn’t rich, then he wasn’t the mastermind behind all this. Kevin killed Nala’s parents as a hired hit. He’d most likely sabotaged the gas lines at Jed’s house and the drain plug on the boat as well, but why? What connected him to Jed, other than work?
Work. Could that be it? After all, Jed had said the FBI believed someone had been paid well to cut the brake lines on the Jacksons’ car. Money was a powerful motivator. No need for vengeance or emotional ties to the crime.
Footsteps near the doorway to the other room grew louder and Tess’s eyes snapped open. Nala tensed and she pulled the little girl tighter into her side. Jed wasn’t the only one who loved Nala. Tess would battle to the end for her too. They were like family now, a bit rough around the edges, but as close as any blood relations. They were a family of the heart.
Breath held, she waited for the men to continue speaking.
They stopped near the edge of the doorway, still out of Tess’s eyesight because of the stupid sofa. She didn’t want to chance moving now and alert them to the fact she was conscious, so she stayed still and held Nala tight, praying she’d sit quietly too.
“What’s done is done. That bastard Jackson talked. We didn’t take him out in time. We failed.”
Nala gave a tiny squeak before Tess could stop her. Thankfully, the men didn’t seem to notice.
“That’s not my fucking problem,” Kevin said, ever the sympathetic guy. Not.
“Shut up!” the first man snarled. There was a scuffle and what sounded like a body being slammed up against the wall. “The fact I’m paying you makes it your damned problem. My son Scott died a hero. That’s the truth. It was my mistake, my guidance system that killed him and those men. Not his error. I’ve paid for that mistake every day of my life since then. This ends on my terms. Mine. You interfere, you money-grubbing piece of shit, and I will end you so fast you won’t know what hit you. Understand? I texted him, told him to come alone, told him I’d let the girl and her nanny go if he turned himself over to me in their place. Once he gets here, we kill them all. That’s the plan. No evidence. Clean slate.”
“What about the FBI?” Kevin asked, his words sounding strained now as if his throat was constricted. Considering he was probably pinned to a wall, most likely with a hand around his throat, that was entirely possible. “Jed’s got a friend that works there. Heard him talking about it at work. He’s not stupid. He’ll have talked to that buddy of his about all this. How you gonna deal with that?”
“You think I don’t have agents in my pocket? SACs too? I’ve got all the money in the world. How do you think I’ve kept this quiet for so long?”
All the money in the world? My son? Scott?
Oh, God. Nathan Steenman. He was the mastermind behind all this.
She needed to tell Jed, needed to warn him, but there was no way she could. She had no phone, no way to escape, no means to contact him. All she could do was pray that he’d figured this out too, that the FBI was with him and coordinating a rescue, pray that they’d all survive this and be together on the other side.
Thirty-Two
“All units in position. Ready on go.”
The words crackled through the Bluetooth earpiece in Jed’s ear, ratcheting his tension higher. He and Owen were crouched in the bushes about thirty meters from the cabin. Insects buzzed around them and the sun was getting low in the sky. If they didn’t act soon, they’d lose the light and no one wanted this to go down at night.
The need to storm down the driveway and kick in the door to the cabin grew stronger with each passing minute, but Jed tamped it down,
biding his time. He was here to make sure Tess and Nala were rescued safely. Not that he didn’t trust Owen and the FBI, but his need for control wouldn’t allow him to leave any of this to chance.
Since receiving the text from Nathan Steenman earlier that afternoon, he’d spent his time coordinating things with Owen and his SAC as well as going over Steenman’s background and personality traits with the FBI profiler on the case. He’d known Nathan was a hard worker and career-focused, but until he’d gone over the reports on the guy, he’d never realized just how important reputation and public persona was to the guy. Together with the profiler, Jed had come up with a plan to use this trait against Steenman. Hopefully that would create enough of a distraction to allow Owen and his team to make their move. Then Jed could rescue Tess and Nala.
“Time to go in, buddy,” Owen said from beside him, clapping Jed on the back. “You ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” he said, double checking the wires taped to his body. Given the guards stationed around the cabin and the fact that Kevin Walker was not stupid enough to let him in there without a thorough pat-down, Jed didn’t bother with weapons. If things turned violent, he’d had enough hand-to-hand combat training in the SEALs to hold his own in a fight. Crouching, he headed over to where a gravel driveway cut through the dense trees and foliage of the Virginia foothills so he could walk in alone, as promised. He stopped halfway and glanced back over his shoulder at Owen, giving the guy a small smile. “See you on the other side.”
“Always.”
Jed straightened once he got to the driveway, making sure the guard patrolling the perimeter of the property spotted him. The guy aimed his rifle at Jed’s chest and motioned for him to approach slowly. He waved over another guard to do the pat-down, then escorted Jed to the front door of the cabin.
