by Elle James
“I don’t know, but we need to get out of here before Pruett returns and catches us.”
“Where would he keep a little boy?”
“We don’t even know it’s Pruett who has him.”
“What about the girlfriend? Can your friend Declan find her?”
“I hope so. Let’s get out of here. This place gives me the creeps.”
“Me, too.” Riley climbed the stairs and had reached out to push the door wider when she heard a sound that made her blood run cold. The front doorknob rattled.
“Someone’s at the door.” Riley eased back, switched off the light and pulled the door almost all the way closed. The only light came from the gap between the bottom of the door and the floor.
Riley stepped down a step and bent to look through the gap.
As she suspected, someone was coming through the front door. All she could see was a pair of men’s leather shoes moving across the floor. The crisp tap of heels on wooden floors echoed off the walls.
The wearer of the shoes paused in the hallway. A rustle of fabric sounded, and a garment hit the floor. From what Riley could see, it was a jacket and was quickly snatched up.
The shoes moved toward the door behind which Riley and Mack stood.
Short of stumbling down the stairs in the dark, Riley could do nothing but freeze and pray the shoes didn’t stop.
She held her breath and waited, fully expecting the door to burst open and Pruett to call the police. Bunching her muscles, she prepared to launch herself up out of the basement and run like hell. Though what good that would do, she didn’t know. Pruett would recognize her, and she’d be charged with breaking and entering. What bothered her most was that Mack would be charged as well.
The shoes slowed on their way past the door but didn’t stop.
Riley listened as the footsteps passed the kitchen and moved on to the bedroom on the main level. Moments later, the sound of water rushing through the pipes gave her hope.
“He’s taking a shower.” Mack touched her arm. “If we want to leave, now would be the time.”
Riley eased the door open and stuck her head around the edge. The water rushing through the pipes suddenly stopped. Going out the back door would force them to pass the door to the main floor bedroom. Instead, Riley headed for the front door, opening it quietly and easing through the screen door.
Mack followed, closing the door carefully behind them.
Once she was out of the house, she walked down the steps as if she had just left a friend’s house and turned away from the side of the house with the master bedroom.
Mack fell in step beside her, took her hand and held it like a boyfriend going out with his girl for a stroll. After a block, they turned and doubled back on the next street, hurrying toward the parked truck.
As they approached the truck, a car whipped around the corner from the direction of Pruett’s house.
Riley grabbed the front of Mack’s shirt and pulled him into a tight embrace, rising on her toes to slam her mouth against his.
Taking his cue, he cupped the back of her head and turned her face away from the oncoming vehicle.
What started as a kiss to hide Riley’s face became something entirely different.
The car passed and turned the corner, disappearing around the houses on the next street. But Mack continued to kiss Riley, and Riley kissed him back.
She liked the way his lips were soft, but firm. Liked how hard his body was against her softer curves. Loved how he made her feel more feminine than any other man. She was familiar with every way to take a person down but was almost certain she’d struggle to overpower this man. And she liked that, too.
With one hand at the small of her back and the other buried in her hair, Mack brought her ever closer until there was no space between them. When he skimmed his tongue across the seam of her mouth, she opened eagerly, wanting to taste him, to caress him in that intimate way.
They might have gone on for a lot longer, but a car slowed in passing and a teen yelled, “Get a room!”
Riley backed away, her cheeks heating and her mouth throbbing from Mack’s kiss. “Was that Pruett?” she asked, her voice shaking. Her entire body trembled with her reaction to being so close to the marine.
“I don’t know. I think so.”
“We should try to catch up.” She stared up at him, her legs refusing to move.
Mack nodded. “We should. But I think he’s too far ahead.”
“Right.” Riley took a deep, steadying breath and climbed into the truck.
Mack got in beside her. “Tracy’s place?”
“Yeah.” She fumbled with her cell phone and keyed in the address.
They drove to her house in silence, neither looking across at the other. At least not blatantly. Riley watched Mack in her peripheral vision. He didn’t turn to face her once.
It took all of the thirty-minute ride for her heart to return to a regular pace and for her to talk herself down from the raging desire she’d felt in that one kiss. She wanted so much more.
By the time they reached Tracy’s apartment, dusk had settled over that corner of Virginia. Tracy’s apartment was completely dark from the outside.
Mack walked up to the door and knocked. If she answered, he’d make up a story or pretend he’d gotten the wrong apartment. Riley waited in the truck with the interior lights off. When no one came to the door, Riley joined Mack at the door and worked her magic with the file. They entered Tracy’s apartment and moved around using a penlight Riley kept in her purse. Unlike Steve Pruett’s place, Tracy’s was a disaster. Clothes littered the floor, dishes were piled in the sink and the bathroom looked like it hadn’t been cleaned since she moved in. Tracy wasn’t there, and neither was Toby.
Riley left Tracy’s place discouraged.
As they pulled out of the parking lot, a dark older-model SUV sprang out of a side street and slammed into the passenger side of Mack’s pickup.
Riley was flung sideways. The seat belt tightened across her chest, keeping her rooted to her seat though her head jerked hard on her neck.
The SUV backed up, the engine revved, and the tires spun up smoke as the vehicle came at them again.
At the last moment, Mack gunned the accelerator.
The SUV hit the bed of the pickup, spinning the entire vehicle ninety degrees to the right. When the SUV backed up to hit them again, they were nose to nose.
Mack shoved the gearshift into Reverse and spun the wheel, turning the passenger side of the truck away from the SUV and taking the brunt of the attack on the front left bumper.
The SUV hit hard. The driver’s side airbag deployed, shooting a bag and white dust into Mack’s face. The passenger side had been turned off, giving Riley a clear view of the vehicle coming at them yet again.
“Gun it!” she yelled, and grabbed the steering wheel, jerking it to the right.
Blinking the dust out of his eyes, Mack punched his foot to the floor, sending the truck into a spin.
The SUV clipped the back end and sped away.
Mack shoved the truck into Drive, but it limped forward, grinding to a stop.
“What the hell?” Mack jumped out and stared at the front bumper.
Riley got out and stood beside him, staring down at the fender bent all the way into the front wheel. The truck wasn’t going anywhere but up on a tow truck.
Whoever had hit them hadn’t had a license plate on the back of his vehicle. Nor had the lights been on. All Riley could say was that it was a dark SUV. Nothing really to go on. If it was the same person who had Toby, why would he want to kill them when Charlie was still alive? Nothing made sense.
Chapter Nine
Mack called Declan. Within twenty-five minutes, his friend arrived, picked them up and took them back to Charlie’s place, where her computer guy was working late, trying to find some connecti
on among Charlie, Tracy, Pruett, Moretti and Russia. With too many angles to pursue, the search could be endless.
“Why didn’t we go to my place?” Riley asked.
“Charlie didn’t think it would be safe,” Declan said. “She has a security system set up all around her estate. No one is getting in without her permission.”
“She isn’t actually calling you, is she?” Mack asked. “Cell phones can be hacked, and people could be listening in on her conversations. They’d know immediately she wasn’t in that bad shape.”
Declan grinned. “She passes all information through Gus and Mustang. The reports coming from her doctor to the press are that she’s in critical condition, not expected to live past the next twenty-four hours.”
“I’m surprised the hospital is letting her stay,” Riley said. “Is her doctor even allowed to practice in that hospital?”
“Money has a way of paving the way to breaking rules,” Declan said. “I think she’s promised to upgrade all the medical equipment in the emergency room and all of the operating rooms and build a new children’s wing.”
“I wish finding Toby was that easy.” Riley sat on a white sectional sofa in a large den with cathedral ceilings and windows from the floors to the twenty-foot ceilings. The house was situated on a little bit of a hill, surrounded by at least ten acres of lush landscaping. The lights of the city sparkled all around, close but not too close.
“I expected to hear from Toby’s kidnapper by now.” Riley scrubbed a hand through her hair. “With reports of Mrs. Halverson still showing she’s hanging on, I would have thought he’d threaten me again if I didn’t finish the job.”
“My mother told me never to borrow trouble.” Grace entered the room, her hair up in a towel, looking fresh and squeaky clean from a shower. “Hey, roommate. I’m sorry about Toby. I have some extra clothes in my suitcase if you’d like to get a shower and freshen up.”
Riley sighed. “I’d like to find my brother more than anything.”
“Yeah, but while you’re waiting, you might as well take advantage of that incredible shower.” Grace held out her hand.
Riley placed hers in her friend’s and let her draw her to her feet.
Mack stood as well and waited for the women to leave the room.
“What’s the scoop on Riley?” Declan asked.
Mack stiffened. “What do you mean?”
“I understand she’s Russian.” Declan shook his head. “You’d never know by her accent.”
“Because she was raised in America, not Russia.” Mack’s fists clenched. “She didn’t ask to be a spy.”
“But she was raised for that capacity?”
“Yes. But you can’t always pick your parents. What’s your point?”
Declan held up his hands. “No point. I just want to make sure you’re okay helping her. Charlie was pretty adamant about us helping Riley find her brother. I can’t believe Riley was sent to kill Charlie.”
“And she could have,” Mack said. “But she didn’t.”
Declan’s brow dipped, and his eyes narrowed. “You like the girl?”
“I didn’t say that. I just know she’s all about rescuing Toby. He’s the only family she has left. Hell, the kid’s only six.”
“Gotcha.” Declan draped an arm over Mack’s shoulder. “We’ll do everything we can to find him and bring him home.”
“I get the feeling we’re looking for the wrong person. Even if Pruett or the Tracy woman is involved, they had to have gotten information about Riley from her handler. That’s the guy who can make or break Riley in the end. What do we know about Russian agents in the area? Can we tap into the FBI or CIA? Does Charlie have any connections on that front?”
“She does. Or her husband did, and she does because of him. Come meet Jonah Spradlin. He worked with Mr. Halverson on a special project and still works for Charlie. He’s amazing with the internet and anything computer. And he’s prior military.”
“Marine?”
“No, but almost as good. He was in the navy.”
Mack followed Declan through the maze of rooms and corridors in the sprawling mansion. He stopped at a doorway with a hand scanner affixed to a panel near the doorknob.
Declan pressed his palm to the pad. A moment later a lock clicked, and the door swung open. He briefly glanced toward Mack. “Don’t worry, the entire team will be set up to enter the war room when Jonah can get around to it. Right now he’s busy working this case. He’s barely stopped to eat since he started.”
“Good to know someone is on it. We haven’t made much headway chasing people.”
“Jonah assures me he can find just about anything in the data.”
They descended stairs into a basement with a large table down the middle of the room, computer monitors lining one wall and a huge whiteboard across another wall.
A man sat in the far corner in front of an array of six large monitors. He bent over the keyboard, typing away, his attention on the monitor directly in front of him. Every so often, he’d glance to one of the other screens.
“Jonah, Mack’s here. You two should put your heads together on finding Toby. And when Riley gets down here, she might have even more insight into who might have her brother.”
The man at the keyboard held up a finger. “Hold on.” He keyed some more, stared at the monitor and frowned. “I might have something here.” Jonah turned to Mack. “Declan said you went by Pruett’s house?”
Mack nodded. “We did, but we didn’t find anything there. He came home while we were hiding in his basement, but we made it out before he caught us.”
Jonah held out his hand. “Which house did you go to?”
Mack frowned as he shook the computer guy’s hand. “What do you mean?”
“Real estate records show that he owns more than one.” Jonah released Mack’s hand and turned back to the monitor. He clicked a couple keys and brought up images of two houses.
Mack leaned over his shoulder and pointed to one. “We went to that one.”
Jonah pointed to the other. “He has this one on a lake in the next county. The bank has threatened to foreclose on it.”
“I don’t get it. The guy’s other house doesn’t appear too extravagant. What’s he spending his money on?”
“I looked into his bank records. He likes expensive cars and vacations. He’s been to Bora-Bora more than once in the past two years and to a high-end all-inclusive resort in the Caymans a number of times. And he doesn’t go alone.”
“Who is he taking?”
“I’m working on that. I couldn’t get that information from his bank records, but I’m tapping into the resort databases, hoping to get passport data from the rooms he secured.”
“Anything I can do to help?” Mack asked.
“You can go through his phone records and see if you find anything else. If you find a number he’s used in the past couple days more than once, you can enter it here.” Jonah pointed to another monitor. “It’ll bring up who it belongs to, unless it’s a blocked number. In that case, I’ll have to do a little more digging. Is there anyone else we should be looking at?”
“What about the nanny?” Declan asked.
“I’ve met Margaret Weems. She’s an older woman who seemed pretty upset that Toby was taken.”
“In a lot of abduction cases, the child is taken by someone close to the family, if not a family member,” Jonah pointed out. He made a note on a piece of paper. “Margaret Weems?”
“That’s her name,” Mack confirmed.
“I’ll check on her,” Jonah said. “In the meantime, you can get started on Pruett’s phone records.”
“I’m on it.” Mack pulled up a rolling chair, sat at a computer keyboard beside Jonah and immersed himself in sifting through data.
“I’ll see about getting some food brought down to you,”
Declan said.
Mack didn’t hear him leave. He was so focused on the numbers and looking up who they belonged to that he tuned out all else.
Until Riley entered the room and stood behind him, resting her hand on his shoulder. As he brought up the numbers, she commented when she recognized one.
“That’s Paul Robles, our project leader’s number,” she said. “The man has three kids of his own and two adopted from fostering. He doesn’t have time to kidnap another.”
Soon she pulled up a chair beside him and leaned over his arm to read the names on the screen.
Declan delivered sandwiches, which they ate while poring over the phone records of Pruett, Young and Tracy Gibson. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary for a team of aerospace professionals communicating on a group project.
After midnight, Riley laid her head on the desk, blinking hard to keep from falling asleep.
Mack fought fatigue until he finally gave up and rose from his chair. “Come on, let’s find a place to sleep.”
Riley yawned but didn’t lift her head from the desk. “I’m good right here.”
“You two get some rest.” Declan said. “I’m betting you’ve been going since last night.”
“Up for over thirty-six hours,” Mack confirmed.
When Riley didn’t rise, he bent and scooped her up in his arms.
“Hey, I can walk on my own,” she said, though her head lolled back, and she closed her eyes, snuggling into his chest. “But this is easier.”
Mack strode across the room and climbed the stairs.
Riley roused enough to open the door but closed her eyes again when Mack stepped through.
Declan met them in the living room. “There’s a room for each of you down the hall. Doesn’t matter which you take. First two doors on the right. I think Grace left some clothes for Riley in the first one. And one other thing.” Declan held out his hand. “Keep this on you, Riley. In case whoever set you up for this assignment decides to take you.” He placed a small metal disk in her hand.
“What is it?” she asked.
“A GPS tracking device,” Declan said. “We can follow where you go, should you get separated from Mack.”
