Dead in the Water

by Janice Kay Johnson - His Best Friend's Baby

Visit wasn’t quite what he had in mind, but even so, he might have slumped in relief if the headboard hadn’t been there for support. “Thank you,” he said huskily.

  She pressed her lips together. “But...then what?”

  He didn’t like to hear her sounding timid. That wasn’t Claire.

  “We haven’t known each other a week.”

  “I know.” She smiled weakly. “I shouldn’t have even asked that question.”

  “It was quite a week, though. We got to know each other in a way a lot of people never do.”

  She waited, her blue eyes fixed on him.

  “Then...I’m hoping you might consider relocating,” he admitted. “I can try for a transfer to Seattle, but we tend to get moved regularly. If necessary, I can leave the DEA. But I think I can get a promotion to more of a desk job. If I have you, I want to come home every night.”

  He was horrified to see tears clinging to her eyelashes. Before he could grovel for assuming too much, if that’s what was wrong, Claire flung herself at him. His arms reached out automatically and pulled her in close.

  “I was so afraid—” she wailed.

  He nuzzled her temple. Fine strands of her hair caught in his evening beard. “Of what?”

  “When you said we had to say goodbye—”

  “You thought I meant forever?”

  Her head bobbed. He felt some dampness against his throat.

  “I’ve never felt like this before.” He had to swallow in hopes of dislodging the lump in his throat. “It’s...nothing I expected. But despite what was going on, with you I’ve had moments of being happier than I’ve ever been in my life.”

  She lifted her head from his shoulder, blinking away the last of the tears.

  He hoped the last of them.

  “Once you find out how average I am, I’m afraid you’ll change your mind.”

  Adam laughed. She was afraid he’d change his mind?

  “Not happening,” he said with complete confidence.

  A smile trembled on her lips, warming him inside. “Okay.”

  Adam didn’t have much familiarity with exhilaration, but he understood what he was feeling. Cupping her cheek with one hand, he said, “Do we have a deal?”

  Now her smile could light the world. “Absolutely.”

  Too damn close to tears himself, he kissed her. Every time he could make love with her would help him survive the days or weeks he’d have to do without her. But after a moment he lifted his head so he could look at her. Just look. And he realized he’d have expected to anticipate apprehension sitting in his belly like a lump of lead until he could get to Seattle to see her...but he was pretty confident he wouldn’t have to suffer that much.

  Because he trusted her.

  He was laughing when he slid down in the bed and swung her up over him to sit astride. Her lips were curved, too, when they met his.

  * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Tracing a Kidnapper by Juno Rushdan.

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  Tracing a Kidnapper

  by Juno Rushdan

  Prologue

  Organized chaos. The only way to describe Corporate Family Day, Jackson thought.

  “Daddy,” Emma said, coming up to him and interrupting the chairman midsentence. “There’s a puppy. I want to go see it.”

  “Just a second, sweetheart.” Jackson patted his six-year-old on the shoulder.

  “She is so adorable, dressed in that little pantsuit,” the chairman said.

  Emma beamed. “I wanted to be twinsies with Daddy.” She looked at Jackson. “I have to hurry if I want to pet the puppy.”

  His assistant, Brittany Hall, had hired a magician and had mentioned an animal in the act, but he thought it was a bunny.

  “Please, Daddy.” Her blond curls framed her angelic face and her brown eyes sparkled with determination that’d one day serve her well. “It’s right over there.” She pointed to the atrium, but Jackson couldn’t see anything through the crowd. The space was jam-packed with two hundred Emerald Technology Corp employees along with their kids and spouses.

  “Patience. We’ll see it together. Go grab a bite to eat.” This day was already testing his multitasking skills in new ways; he didn’t need Emma having a hangry meltdown, too.

  With a deflated look that pinched something in his chest, she trudged over to the catered food on the table.

  The chairman cleared his throat, drawing Jackson’s attention. “As I was saying, our current stock prices reflect the fact that the board made an excellent decision with you.”

  “It was an honor to be chosen as CEO.” Jackson pulled on a smile. At the job, he gave one hundred percent, but when he was with Emma, she was his number-one priority. He hated making her wait.

  “There’s someone I’d like you to speak with.” The chairman gestured for a woman to come over. “Her son wants to meet you. A teenager who is a big admirer.”

  “Certainly.” Jackson turned to get Emma for introductions, but she was no longer at the table. He glanced around the room. “Emma?” Through a break in the crowd he caught a glimpse of the atrium. The magician was speaking with Brittany, but he didn’t see Emma. “Excuse me a moment. My little girl has wandered off.” He stepped away, searching the conference room, checked every chair, corner, even under the table.

  Jackson cut through the crowd into the atrium and looked for a gaggle of kids who’d be drawn to a cute puppy, but everyone was milling about, chatting. Unease churned in his gut.

  Brittany came up to him. “The band just arrived. Bouncy castle and face painters are outside in the courtyard. Plenty of arts and crafts Emma will love.”

  Jackson looked around past her. “Have you seen her? Is she in the courtyard?”

  “I just came from there. We haven’t opened it up to everyone yet. Maybe she’s eating.”

  “She’s not in the conference room. I think she took off to see a puppy. Does the magician have one?”

  Brittany shook her head. “Only a bunny for the show. I haven’t seen any other pets.”

  Cold dread swept through him, but he pushed it aside. He was surrounded by hardworking employees, good people who had their kids there. This was a safe place.

  “Take a look in the restroom,” he said, “and I’ll check with security at the front.”

  “Okay.” Brittany hurried down the hall.

  Jackson ran to the security desk. “Has Emma passed by here?” All the guards knew his daughter. Each one had complimented her on her outfit, which had made her grin with delight.

  “No, sir. She hasn’t come this way and she certainly hasn’t gone through the front door.”

  His mind raced as he hurried back into the atrium where the conference room was.

  “She wasn’t there,” Brittany said, rushing to him. “No one inside has seen her.”

  A sinking, hollow sensation spread in the pit of his stomach.

  Where are you, honey? Jackson clasped the back of his neck and rubbed the tension gathering there. “Everyone! I need your attention.” The crowd quieted. All eyes turned to him. “I can’t find my daughter, Emma. She’s six, blonde, wearing a blue pantsuit. Look around you. If you see her, call out.” She had to be here. He’d looked away from her for a minute. Thirty seconds. Less.

  Heads turned on a swivel. A murmur rippled through the crowd. Jackson waited and waited, clenching his jaw against the suffocating pressure building in his chest. The mutter of voices withered and died. Parents clutched their own young kids closer. Compassionate gazes found his as every nerve ending burned with
terrible certainty.

  No one had found Emma because she was gone.

  Jackson took out his cell phone and dialed 911.

  Chapter One

  “Stop whatever you’re doing.” Supervisory Special Agent Miguel Peters poked his head in Special Agent Madeline Striker’s small office. His designer suit and dark stubble gave him a deceptively suave air, but he was tough and no-nonsense. “I need to brief everyone now.”

  Without further elaboration, he strode down the hall, rounding everyone else up. The team’s communications liaison with the local police, Caitlyn Yang, was hot on his heels.

  Madeline logged off her computer, anticipating that one or more of them would be headed out the door once the emergency meeting was done. Sometimes the ops tempo was fast and furious, and they had to be ready at a moment’s notice. Grabbing a notepad and pen, she stood, facing fellow Special Agent Nicholas James, who’d stopped in her doorway.

  “I wonder what type of bomb just dropped,” Nick said.

  There was no telling. At the Behavioral Analysis Unit—BAU—they handled the gamut from serial

  killers, explosives, cybercrimes, fraud, counterterrorism to kidnapping—Madeline’s specialty.

  “No doubt the ugly kind.” The kind that kept her awake most nights and pushed her to work twelve-, sometimes sixteen-hour days, but there was no need to mention that.

  Being a part of the BAU took a toll on all of them. Though they each had their personal reasons for doing the job.

  Tall with an athletic build, Nick walked alongside her to the large conference room in the Bureau’s Seattle headquarters.

  Madeline entered the sleek boardroom, where Liam McDare, their tech guru, already had slides set up on the large digital screen for the briefing. Hands down, he was the best and quickest at research and compiling data.

  Flicking a glance at the oversize FBI logo on the wall, Madeline pulled out a leather chair next to Caitlyn as Dashiell West—Dash, as everyone called him—hustled inside the room, followed by David Dyson, the office intern and Nick’s protégé.

  “This is time sensitive.” Miguel spoke from the head of the table before everyone had a chance to sit. When Director Olivia Branson traveled, which was often, he filled in for her. “We have a child abduction case. An hour ago, the daughter of Jackson Rhodes, the new CEO for Emerald Technology Corp, was reported missing.”

  Madeline’s stomach clenched like a fist. Almost half a million children went missing every year, but landing this type of case got to her each time.

  Everyone’s attention flickered to her, but she focused on Miguel’s intense gaze. He tended to defer to the agent with the most relevant expertise for the investigation to take the lead once in the field.

  This one would be hers. It was something she dreaded but was also eager to tackle. She wouldn’t let him down. “What do we know so far?” she asked.

  Miguel gestured for Liam to start the slideshow. An image of a handsome man holding a little girl came up on the screen. “This is Emma Rhodes with her father. The girl was kidnapped at ETC’s annual Corporate Family Day event. She’s only six years old.”

  Madeline ignored the quick chill that sprinted up her spine as she stiffened in her seat.

  Six. The same age as her sister when she’d been kidnapped twenty-three years ago. Madeline had been eight. They’d gotten off the school bus and had stopped at the playground on their way home. One minute her sister had been there and the next she was gone.

  After an exhaustive search, she was never found. No suspects had been arrested. No closure for their family.

  Madeline looked up and met Nick’s gaze, his green eyes assessing her. He turned away as if he’d been caught staring.

  “Anything on the company’s surveillance feed?” Dash, the team’s cybercrimes specialist, asked.

  “Nada.” Miguel shook his head. “Every video camera that could’ve captured someone speaking with the girl or taking her was disabled.”

  “The timing of the abduction at the event,” Madeline said, thinking aloud, “and disabling the cameras indicates this was premeditated. Someone planned and waited for the right moment when no one would notice.”

  “How many people were at the event?” Nick asked.

  “It was loud, crowded and quite busy.” Caitlyn tucked a lock of long black hair behind an ear as she scrolled through her phone for an answer. Her point of contact with the local police texted her with information as soon as they received it, updating her in almost real time. “A hundred and fifteen employees and catering staff, but that number doesn’t include all the other kids or spouses.” She looked up from her phone. “No one can even say for certain if every employee was present.”

  Madeline made a note. “Any demands?”

  “None so far,” Miguel said.

  Not unusual in the early stages, but the first seventy-two hours were critical. As time went on there were fewer bread crumbs to follow. “What do we know about the parents?” Madeline asked.

  Most kids were taken by a noncustodial parent, a family member or acquaintance. It was very rare for it to be a stranger. That only happened in less than one percent of missing children cases, but in those instances, it was even more crucial for them to work fast because the child could be in imminent danger.

  Liam toggled to the next slide, bringing up a picture of Jackson in a polo shirt and shorts. Thick blond hair, blue eyes, tanned, the sculpted body of a Greek god with a face to match. Classically shaped features and a chiseled jaw. A haughty expression like he was prepared to conquer the world.

  “Born and raised in Seattle,” Miguel said, filling in the background information. “Business degree from Harvard. MBA from Wharton. He climbed the ranks quickly at Emerald Technology Corp and beat out stiff competition to be named CEO last month at thirty-four.”

  Madeline had gone to school at Yale and knew the type: an elitist golden boy born with a silver spoon in his mouth who never even had a bad hair day. WASP credentials came with lineage and the right connections. “Does he come from money? Have a trust fund?”

  Whether a kidnapper’s motive was money or notoriety, millionaires and high-profile executives proved to be tempting targets for abduction. Kidnapping insurance was a big deal for a reason.

  “Nope.” Liam advanced to an article on Jackson in Cascadia Business magazine. “According to this, he comes from a middle-income family. Received financial aid, student loans, and worked while in school to pay the rest of his tuition.”

  The same as Madeline. Ivy League institutions didn’t offer academic or athletic scholarships. Getting a degree felt like a full-time job, but the hard work paid lifelong dividends for the top-notch education.

  Taking a deep breath, she took another look at Jackson Rhodes. In the picture featured in the article he wore an impeccably tailored suit. His smile was bright and flawless, but this time she spotted the hint of sadness in his eyes. There was far more to him beneath the surface. “What about the mother? Do we know anything about their relationship? Hostile divorce? Nasty custody battle? Trouble of any sort? Or are they happily married?”

  “Francesca Hyltin-Rhodes is deceased,” Miguel said as Liam advanced to the next slide. “She was a principal ballerina in the Pacific Northwest Ballet company until she got sick. She died of cancer when Emma was two. Jackson has raised his daughter on his own for the past four years. The magazine article described him as a doting father.”

  How awful for a child to lose a parent so young. It must’ve been hard for Jackson to raise her alone. Despite the rough patches, Madeline’s parents were still together, and she couldn’t imagine her father trying to cope on his own when she had been little.

  Madeline stared at a photo of Francesca and Jackson, him standing behind her, with his arms wrapped around her, his hands resting on her pregnant belly. Beautiful. A picture-perfect couple. Emma favor
ed her father, but she had her mother’s eyes. “Other family members?”

  Liam shook his head. “There are no living relatives on either side.”

  “Abductions by strangers are the rarest type of cases of missing children, and even then,” Madeline said, “the kids are usually taken as the child is going to or from school. In this situation with a new executive who’s received a lot of recent media attention, I think the girl is alive and that the father will get ransom demands. Soon. The kidnapper targeted Emma Rhodes specifically for a reason.”

  Caitlyn’s cell phone buzzed. She picked it up, swiped through on her screen and looked at a message. “Madeline, you must be psychic. My point of contact with the police on-site said the father just received ransom demands. He must step down as CEO within twenty-four hours if he ever wants to see his daughter again.”

  Dash let out a low whistle that underscored the surprise etched on everyone’s face. “Maybe an ETC employee who isn’t too happy about Jackson’s promotion took the girl.”

  Miguel nodded as if thinking the same. “Or a rival at another company.”

  “Did the police say anything about the caller’s voice?” Madeline leaned back in her seat, drumming her fingers on the arm of the chair. “Male, female, the tone used?”

  “There wasn’t a call.” Caitlyn set her phone down. “The father received the demands via text.”

  Madeline froze. “Text?” Now, that was unusual.

  Jackson Rhodes wouldn’t have a cell number that was easy to obtain. Not that it would stop a determined person, but something about the kidnapper sending a text rather than making a call bothered her.

  “All right,” Miguel said. “Madeline, you’re the lead on this. I want everyone to head over to the scene and pitch in any way you can.”

  Everyone rose and gathered their things.

  “It’s good we didn’t have a Family Day here to bring your kids,” David said.

  “None of us have kids.” Miguel opened the conference room door. “We’re all married to this job. I’m not so sure if that’s a good thing or just plain sad.”