by Amy Star
“She’s not here,” he said. He pulled up an app on his phone and waited, his brow furrowing as the program loaded.
“What’s that?”
“I gave her a locket with a tracking device in it.”
Gideon laughed. “You really were afraid of losing her, huh?”
“No. I was afraid of something happening to her.”
Gideon’s smile slipped off his face. “Do you see her on the map?”
“No, but it only has a range of about two miles, so we would have to get closer.”
“That’s a longshot.”
“I know, but it’s all we have. We don’t even know who took her.” Eli got back into the car and pulled up a second app, sending a signal to her phone and waiting for it to relay her location. “Damnit, the cellphone is off or dead. I can’t track that either. Not until it gets turned on.”
“Shouldn’t they be contacting you?”
“They, who? I don’t have any enemies in Dallas, and no one knows who I am anyway.”
Gideon looked at him as he drove back the way they’d come. “Are you sure about that?”
Grumbling, Eli called Jameson back. “Can you run a search check for me?”
“Parameters?”
“My information. See if anyone has searched me recently.”
“All aliases?”
“Yes.”
“It’s going to take a while. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Call me back.”
“What are you thinking?” Gideon asked when Eli hung up the phone, then went back to staring at the map where her locket would eventually show up if they were lucky.
“I’m thinking that our cover’s been blown.”
“Why do you think that? This job has been a breeze, and no one seems suspicious.”
“Exactly. We haven’t had any pushback, and we haven’t really found anything. This job has been really easy.”
Gideon nodded. “Almost too easy.”
“No close calls, an accommodating staff. Not one person batted an eye when we took their computers. No one asked to save files. Nothing.”
“We’ve been had. But how did they find Ava?”
Eli thought about it for a moment, then took his badge off his shirt and retrieved a knife from the glovebox. He carefully peeled the badge in two, revealing what was inside. “That doesn’t belong here,” he said, taking the tiny transmitter out and tossing it into a waterfilled ditch along the side of the road. “I can’t believe they were watching me.”
“From the beginning.”
“Yeah, that has me worried. What else do they know, and better yet, how did they figure it out?”
Eli’s phone rang. “What have you got, Jameson?”
“You’re not going to believe this. The searches originated in one location, belonging to a Matt Finley.”
“Finley?”
‘“Yes. And are you ready for more?”
“Matt Finley is the IT guy, and Mia Finley is his sister,” Eli guessed.
“Close. They’re married.”
“That doesn’t explain this level of expertise. She’s an administrative assistant, and he’s a computer guy.”
“I was getting to that. Matt and Mia Finley met overseas while they were deployed in the Middle East. They were both accused of extensive war crimes, but no charges ever stuck. They were finally discharged, and when they returned to the states, they got married and went into business for themselves. They work with large companies to ensure that their information is kept out of the wrong hands.”
Eli groaned. “So, they do what we do, but for the opposite team.”
“Exactly. They make sure that shady businesses don’t get caught.”
“Send me their address.”
“I already have.” Jameson was quiet for a moment. “Who’s with you?”
“Just Gideon.”
“You might need backup.”
“Are they human?”
“If you can call them that,” Jameson scoffed. “They are pure evil, and if they have Ava, you need to get to her now. They’re using her to flush you out, you can be sure of that.”
“Noted,” Eli said, looking at the location on the map. “But we’re only thirty minutes away from their house, and almost an hour from the safehouse. By the time we get there, Ava might not be alive.”
“I understand. Should I call the locals?”
“No,” Eli said. “We’ll handle it. I don’t want any collateral damage.”
He hung up on Jameson and turned to Gideon. “It’s going to get ugly,” he said.
“Understood.”
“It was my choice to bring her, so if you want to drop me at their house and go, I’ll understand.”
Gideon shook his head and laughed. “No way in hell am I letting you have all the fun.”
Eli chuckled. “You’re a good man. I know between you and Jameson, I’m leaving my business in capable hands.”
“Don’t worry about that now. Let’s get Ava back and serve justice to these monsters. The military courts couldn’t get them, but we will.”
“They won’t be expecting us, unless someone told them we left already.”
A slow grin spread across Gideon’s face. “Even if they’re expecting us, I doubt they’re expecting us.”
The men laughed, then the mood turned serious as Gideon drove and Eli gave him directions while they formulated a plan. They only had one shot at this, and they had no idea what they were walking into. With two highly trained military specialists keeping Ava hostage, there was no way to know. They would have to play it by ear and hope that Ava lived long enough for them to rescue her.
We’re coming, Baby, Eli thought. Just stay strong and everything will be alright.
Ava awoke with a start, her arms and legs numb and her head drooping to the side. She blinked, shocked to see the once frantic blonde woman in front of her smiling. She looked so calm and serene, and Ava’s muddled brain cells were struggling to make sense of the scene before her. Her eyes lowered, and she saw that she was strapped to the chair. She pulled against the bindings, but she couldn’t move her hands or her feet. Too scattered by two hits from the stun gun to for a coherent sentence she grunted angrily as a tear slid down her face.
The woman came closer, and Ava glared at her. The woman’s smile was frightening, but Ava held the woman’s gaze. When the woman laughed and roughly patted Ava on the cheek, it was all she could do to keep herself from headbutting her right in the face.
“Oh good, you’re awake,” the woman said. “That was quite a nap. I was a little bit afraid you would give birth before you woke up.”
There was a light chuckle from a man nearby, but when Ava tried to turn her head in that direction, the world spun, and she fought to remain conscious.
“Don’t move too fast,” the man said, his voice dripping with disdain. “You have that sweet baby to protect.”
The woman sauntered back into Ava’s line of sight with a look of mock concern on her face. “You’re not the only one protecting your interests. Did you know that your husband is responsible for the collapse of several businesses? All to keep them from ‘cheating the system’.” She held her fingers up in air quotes. “As if everyone doesn’t cheat the system. And who does it hurt? Certainly not the government.” She leaned forward and dug one nail into Ava’s chin, forcing her to look up. “You don’t honestly think the little guy gets a cut of that money, do you?”
Ava’s head was still spinning, but the pain of the nail digging into her skin brought new clarity. She let her eyes droop a little as if she were about to pass out again, then winced when she jammed her nail deeper into the skin.
“Wake up!” the woman yelled, shaking Ava’s shoulders.
“Be easy, Mia. You don’t want to damage her before her knight in shining armor comes to rescue her.”
Mia laughed. “That’s going to be awhile. He doesn’t know where she is.” She looked at her watch and smiled. “By now, he should b
e home from work and discover that you’re not home.” She made an exaggerated sad face. “That’s going to break his heart. Maybe we should’ve left him a note.”
“I already did,” Ava said, still letting her eyelids flutter closed every few seconds while she opened her other senses to her surroundings. “He thinks I left for Philly.”
Mia laughed. “That’s funny. I had you pegged as a mid-west kind of girl. South Dakota, Iowa,” Mia paused, running her finger down Ava’s throat and leaving a red mark behind. “Nebraska.”
She drew the word out so long, Ava knew the woman knew exactly who she was and where she was from. A shudder went through her body before she could stop herself.
Mia laughed, the sound sending another chill down her spine. “Looks like you finally get it. This isn’t going to end when your knight in shining armor shows up and tries to rescue you. I know where you live, I know what you do.” She paused, grabbing Ava’s jaw in her cold hand and yanking her head roughly. She moved closer until she was only a few inches from Ava’s face. “And I know where Zoey lives.”
Ava took a deep breath, looked Mia in the eye and spoke slowly. “I have to go to the bathroom.”
Mia blinked, clearly confused when Ava didn’t beg for her friend’s life. “Did you hear me?” she asked, eyes narrowing. “Your friend is in danger unless you cooperate.”
“I’m four months pregnant. I need to go to the bathroom or I’m going to go right here. Your choice.”
Mia looked at the man across the room. “Matt, I think you gave her too much juice. She’s clearly lost her marbles.”
“I heard what you said,” Ava said, keeping her voice calm even though she wanted to scream. “I need to use the restroom. Surely you have one in this lovely home of yours.”
“Is that a joke?” Mia sneered. “This isn’t a house, it’s an old barn.”
Ava shrugged her shoulders as far as she could with her hands and arms tied to the chair she was sitting in. “One man’s hovel is another man’s mansion.”
“Do you think you’re funny?” Ava asked, pulling a knife from her pocket and flipping the blade out. “What if I end this right here?”
“Then you lose your leverage.”
“I still have Zoey.”
“Eli doesn’t care about Zoey. He only cares about his child.”
Mia ran the blade down Ava’s cheek, down her neck and arms. The cold blade sent shivers through her body, and when Mia saw the goosebumps break out over her skin, she laughed. “Not so tough now, are you?”
Mia pulled the knife upward, and Ava flinched, but the blade sliced away the ropes. She made quick work of releasing Ava’s legs, then released her right arm. “Don’t try anything funny,” Mia said.
“My hands and legs are asleep. I’ll probably need you to wipe my ass at the rate I’m going.”
There was snickering from the corner of the room. Mia shot Matt a glare that would have stopped a charging elephant, but Matt still took a moment to compose himself. Ava moved her toes inside her shoes, grateful she’d worn sneakers. The pins and needles sensation was painful, but she held herself together, still sitting in the chair while Mia tormented her.
“Can’t you get up?” Mia taunted. “How are you going to last another five months if you’re this useless already?”
“I would be fine if you hadn’t stunned me. You could’ve just asked me to come with you.”
Mia looked surprised. “Would you have come?”
“No, but you still could’ve asked. I thought the people in the South were polite.”
Mia’s eyes flashed with rage, and as she rushed forward angrily, Ava willed herself to remain calm. When Mia was inches from her face and breathing heavily, Ava knew she had her. Before Mia could say a word, Ava slammed her face into the woman’s nose, a satisfying crack preceding the rush of blood that poured from her face. Ava was on her feet as Mia stumbled backwards, clutching her nose with both hands. Ava used her shoulder, shoving into Mia and using the woman’s momentum to push her off her feet and onto the hard dirt floor. The knife tumbled from her hand, and Ava managed to bend down and swipe it from the ground midstride, running out the back of the barn an into the night.
She headed straight for the cover of the tree line in the distance, still numb feet flopping awkwardly with each step, but she managed to stay upright. She heard Matt yell to Mia before the barn door slammed shut, and she knew he was rushing to her aid, his feelings for her too strong to ignore that she was in pain in that instant.
Then the door slammed and somehow Mia’s angry voice carried through one of the narrow windows, echoing in the night. “Go after her, you moron! Don’t let her get away!”
She said a silent prayer that she would make it to the tree line before Matt came out of the barn and saw her. Without a few moments to get into the trees and out of sight, she was a sitting duck. She only had a hundred feet to go.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“There it is,” Eli said, pointing at the modestly sized house just off the road. “I don’t see any lights on in the house.”
“There’s still a little daylight left, and maybe they’re in the back of the house.”
But Eli was already shaking his head, looking at the app that was tracking her locket and trying not to panic. “She’s not here.”
“Alright, but we’re here, and maybe there’s something here that can help us figure out where she is.”
“Five minutes. If we don’t find anything by then, we need to move on.”
“To where?”
“McBride’s house if we have to. I’m sure he knows how to get ahold of the people he hired. He’s in on this.”
“Or he told them to do whatever they needed to, to get the job done, and he washed his hands of it.”
“You’d be surprised how quickly men like him can figure something out when his life hangs in the balance.”
Gideon didn’t respond, but Eli knew that he understood.
They parked in front of the house, walking to the front door like they belonged there, Eli’s skill with the lockpick set so quick that to someone across the street or even next door, it would look like he had a key.
They swept the house to confirm it was empty, then they went to work, methodically going through each room, looking for anything that would tell them where Matt and Mia had taken Ava.
“There’s nothing,” Gideon said.
“I didn’t find anything either. This house is so sterile. No family pictures, decorated like it’s straight off the page of a magazine, but completely impersonal.”
“Except this picture,” Gideon said.
“I think that’s a print.”
“No, it’s a picture.”
Surprised, Eli crossed the room to take a closer look at the picture of a teenaged girl on a horse, standing in front of a large barn. When he got closer, he knew that Gideon was right. It was definitely Mia. “Was there a barn in the back?”
“No. The property is only an acre. We would’ve seen a barn that big.”
Eli already had his phone out, dialing Jameson and hoping that this was the break they needed. “Can you run a search for me?” He laid out the search criteria, then added, “Look under properties previously owned by Mia’s family about ten years ago.”
“Got it,” Jameson said. “It was repossessed by the bank for missing one payment and sat abandoned since then. It was recently purchased by a Mia Lamont.”
“That’s got to be it,” Eli said.
“Already sent the address to your phones. And a little something extra I dug up.”
“Thanks, Jameson,” Eli said, then hung up the phone.
Eli and Gideon raced out of the house and sped away, heading east toward the old cattle ranch that had been abandoned for more than a decade.
“It’s almost an hour away,” Eli groaned as he read the GPS on his phone.
“It’ll be dark by then,” Gideon said. “We’ll have the upper hand.”
“You sound ridic
ulously optimistic.”
Gideon turned, flashing a wide grin. “Of course, I do. This is true love. It’s all gonna work out.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Ava reached the tree line just as the light spilled out from the open barn door across the field. She crouched down, watching Matt as he stood in the shadows, waiting for his eyes to adjust. She kept her eyes on him as she moved farther into the wooded area, putting as many trees between herself and them as she could.
She forced herself to breathe slowly and quietly, her racing heart calming a little with each step. Matt searched the surrounding area, but it was too dark, and the thick stalks of Johnson Grass had bounced right back into place behind Ava as she fled. He had no way of tracking her, and more than four football fields of wooded area stretched across one side of the huge pasture. He didn’t know where to start, which meant that Ava had a chance.
Confident that she was far enough into the trees to be out of sight, she watched him turn toward the road and head that way before she moved. He obviously thought she would head for the road, and presumably a house with people to rescue her. But they’d underestimated Ava, and she knew from the thick spray of stars already appearing in the sky that they were nowhere near civilization, and the possibility of running into another person before she was caught was pretty slim. He was thinking like a man chasing a city girl, and Ava was all country.
She didn’t run, too afraid to risk twisting her ankle or falling and getting hurt. She was still light on her feet, but her waist grew thicker every day, and she wasn’t sure she would last long if she ran the whole way.
She used Polaris to guide her and keep her from accidentally circling back toward the barn. As long as the barn was behind her, she didn’t care where she ended up. She would figure it out by daylight. Maybe Eli will find me by then, she thought, but she pushed the little voice of hope out of her mind. She’d written him a goodbye note, forbidding him from ever contacting her again. Then Mia and Matt had taken the Q3 and ditched it somewhere, making it look like she’d left. There was no reason for him to believe otherwise, and he had no reason to assume she would use his credit card again because she had her own money.