Her eyes grew wide at the sight of the man who’d stared at her all through dinner. He strode toward her, his eyes blazing as if they were on fire. She turned to run, but before she could, he picked her up as if she weighed nothing, hoisted her over his shoulder and threw her in the backseat of the waiting car. She started to scream, but before she could, a cloth was stuffed in her mouth and secured with a band pulled tight around her face. He pushed her farther into the car and climbed in after her before the vehicle roared away.
She’d been tossed to the floor, and she could feel someone’s feet next to her face. She struggled to sit up, but a slap across the face sent her reeling to the floorboard. Before she could move, the man who’d thrown her into the car grabbed her hands, pulled them up and secured them in front of her with zip ties. Another slap knocked her head against the floor.
“That’s the start of payback for breaking my arm,” a sinister voice muttered. “I could have hit you harder with the other hand, but that arm is in a sling, thanks to you.”
Jessica’s breath froze in her throat and her stomach churned in fear. She didn’t have to see this man’s face. She knew who had spoken. Lee Tucker.
Unable to move or make a sound, she curled into a ball and huddled away from the feet and legs of the two men who sat in the seat. Hot tears ran down her cheeks and she wondered if Ryan had discovered she was missing yet.
She had no idea where they were taking her and wondered what awaited her when she arrived. All she could do was pray that somehow Ryan would find her.
Her legs began to cramp from the position she was in, and she tried to straighten them a bit. As she did, the side of her boot rubbed against the floorboard, and she almost gasped aloud. She had forgotten the GPS Ryan had given her this morning. In her haste to go to dinner with him, she hadn’t changed clothes.
The tiny transmitter still lay tucked in her boot. She lay very still and began to pray that Ryan would be able to trace her whereabouts.
* * *
Ryan was nearly drenched by the time he arrived at his car. He jumped inside and shook himself like a big dog after finding shelter from a rainstorm. Water ran down his neck from his hair and trickled over his back.
A cold chill attacked him, and he shivered as he started the car and turned on the heater to try to dry out. He allowed the engine to idle a bit so the interior of the car would be warm when Jessica climbed in, but after a few minutes, he put the car in gear and drove to the restaurant entrance.
He frowned as he pulled up to the awning and didn’t see her. Where was she? This was the place she’d been standing when he’d left to get the car. Maybe she’d forgotten something and had gone back inside to get it.
He slid the gearshift into Park but didn’t turn off the engine. He turned on the radio and found his favorite rock station and settled back to wait for her to come back outside. After several minutes, he frowned. Why hadn’t she returned?
With a sigh he turned off the engine, stepped out into the rain again and ran back inside the restaurant.
The hostess smiled when he entered. “Hello, sir. Did you forget something?”
He shook his head. “No, I’m looking for the young woman who was with me when I left. She was going to wait for me to bring the car around, but when I got to the awning, she was nowhere to be seen. Did she come back inside?”
The hostess shook her head. “I didn’t see her, but I’ve been busy seating some latecomers. She could have gone into the restroom while I was away from my station. Would you like me to check and see if she’s in there?”
“Would you, please? It’s not like her to disappear this way.”
The hostess smiled. “I’ll be right back.” The woman returned a few minutes later and shook her head. “I’m sorry. She’s not in there.”
He stared past her to the dining room. “Is it possible she could have gone back into the dining room?”
“I don’t think so, sir, but you’re welcome to look if you’d like.”
Ryan strode into the dining room and let his gaze drift over the tables filled with diners. Soft music filled the room, and the buzz of quiet conversations provided a serene atmosphere for dining.
The table where he and Jessica had sat was empty now. So was the table where the man who’d stared at Jessica all through dinner had sat. His heart lurched and he rushed back to the hostess.
She looked up from the menus she was rearranging. “Did you find your friend?”
“No,” he said, “but I wonder if you recall a man who ate alone at that table near the window. He had dark hair and was wearing a brown business suit.”
She thought for a moment before she nodded. “You mean the man with the scar on his face?”
Ryan frowned. “I don’t remember seeing a scar.”
“He had one, that’s for sure.” She traced a finger from her ear down to the corner of her lip. “From here to here. I started to seat him at another table near the back so I could even out the tables the waitresses were assigned to, but he objected and said he wanted that one by the window. I thought it was probably so that the side of his face with the scar was turned toward the window and wasn’t so noticeable.”
“No, it was so he could keep an eye on us,” Ryan whispered.
The hostess frowned. “I’m sorry. I didn’t understand what you said.”
“It’s not important,” he said. “Thank you for all your help.”
He rushed from the restaurant, stopped underneath the awning and raked his hand through his hair. “Where are you, Jessica?” he muttered.
“You lookin’ for that girl you was with?”
The voice from the darkness startled him, and he whirled to see who had spoken. His gaze lit on a ragged man curled up next to the building underneath the awning. A backpack lay next to him, and his clothes were wet. Ryan realized he had to be one of the numerous homeless people who roamed the streets of the city looking for a place to sleep each night.
He stepped closer to the man. “Yes. Did you see her?”
The man nodded. “I did. I saw that guy that took her, too.”
Ryan’s heart plummeted to the pit of his stomach. “Somebody took her?”
“Yeah. I seen you two come out. Then you went to get the car. Another car drove up, and this guy ran out of the restaurant, grabbed her and threw her in the car. They took off like they was being chased by dogs.”
Ryan was shaking so badly he could hardly stand still. “What kind of car was it?”
“A big one,” the man said.
Ryan groaned. “No, I mean, was it a two-door, a truck, a van? What?”
“It was one of those big ones that set up real high, and you climb up on a running board to get into.”
“An SUV?”
The man nodded. “Yeah. That’s what they call them. It was a black SUV.”
Ryan pulled out his wallet, grabbed all the bills he had and handed them to the man. “Thanks for helping me. Go get yourself a good meal tonight.”
The man nodded and gave Ryan a little salute. “I’ll do that. I hope you find your lady friend.”
“I do, too,” Ryan muttered before he ran back to the car.
Once inside, he pulled out his cell phone and said a quick prayer that Jessica had not removed the GPS tracker. He punched the app and sighed with relief when her signal popped up on the screen.
He started the car and pulled into traffic. He had no idea where they were taking her, but as long as they didn’t discover the tracker, he would be on their trail.
Then he’d decide how he was going to rescue her from whomever had taken her.
TWELVE
The car came to an abrupt halt, and Jessica lay still, barely daring to breathe. She had no idea where they were or even who had abducted her, with the exception of Lee
Tucker. As the car doors began to open and the men inside stepped out, she listened in hopes of catching a hint in the conversation of what they were planning and how it involved her.
She could hear low voices outside the vehicle, but so far she couldn’t determine how many there were. One of the voices rose in pitch as if the speaker had become angry, and she wondered if it was Lee Tucker.
After a few minutes, the conversation lulled, and one of the car’s back doors reopened. The person who’d opened it stood near her head, but she didn’t try to raise herself so she could see his face. Then suddenly, strong hands gripped her under the arms and pulled her out of the car. She landed in a rain puddle on the pavement with a thump, her head next to the back tire of the SUV.
“Where do you want me to take her?” the man who’d tossed her to the ground asked.
“Inside with the other one.”
Her heart leaped into her throat. The other one? Had they also taken Ryan captive? If so, there was no hope for them to escape. Her only chance had been that Ryan would come to her rescue.
The man bent down and dragged her to her feet. The rain had stopped, but the sky was overcast. She glanced around to try to determine where she was, but she didn’t recognize any landmarks.
She stood in what appeared to be a parking lot next to a large building that could have once been used as a warehouse. The sound of rolling water drifted across a low bluff in the distance, and she wondered if they were near the Mississippi River. There were no lights around the outside of the building, although she could see light shining through a few windows.
The man who’d pulled her to her feet shoved her toward the building, and she stumbled but regained her footing before she fell. She stared up into the face of the man who’d watched her in the restaurant. There, she’d caught sight of only his left profile, but now in the dim light, she could make out a scar that ran from the edge of his mouth to the tip of his right ear. It must have been a terrible knife injury to leave such a scar.
He pushed her again, and she staggered through the door and emerged into a huge room that at one time must have been the main floor of the warehouse. Several doors to what she assumed were small offices lined the wall, and he pointed to one about midway into the building.
She walked toward it and paused outside as he reached around her to unlock it. He opened the door and shoved her inside, relocking it before she could turn around. The room was pitch-black, but she could hear labored breathing coming from near the far wall.
She wanted to call out, but the gag in her mouth prevented that. She raised her bound hands up to her face and pulled at the gag until it slipped out of her mouth and dangled around her neck.
Next she leaned against the wall and tried to pull her hands apart. It took only a few seconds to determine that her abductor had tightened the zip ties as much as they could be. But it took several minutes of maneuvering her wrists to get the locking mechanism to move so that it was positioned directly between her two hands. Taking a big breath and holding her bound wrists in front of her, she lifted her arms above her head and brought them down in one quick motion into her stomach while flaring her elbows out like chicken wings. Just as she knew they would, the zip ties broke at their weakest point—the locking mechanism.
With the ties off her wrists, it took only a few seconds more to untie the band hanging around her neck. Once free of her restraints, she reached up and rubbed her cheek where she had received two blows. No doubt there would be bruises. That was if she was able to get out of here alive.
A rustling sound near the far wall reminded her she wasn’t alone, and she took a tentative step toward the movement. “Hello,” she said in a low voice. “Is there anybody here?”
“I’m here.” The words came out garbled and strained but somehow familiar.
She reached out to search for obstacles in her path as she took one hesitant step after another toward the wall. Her foot hit the edge of a chair, and she jerked to a halt. Her eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness, and she strained to make out the figure tied to the chair.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Jamie Spencer,” the voice answered. “Who are you?”
Jessica clamped her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming out loud and dropped to her knees beside the chair. “Jamie, it’s Jessica Knight,” she whispered. “What are you doing here?”
“Jessica? I’m glad to see you.” He paused a moment. “Or maybe I shouldn’t be. If you’re here, then that means you’re in as much trouble as I am.”
“I’m all right, but how about you? Are you hurt?”
“My head hurts where they hit me,” Jamie answered. “And my hands are numb from being tied to this chair.”
“Let me see if I can help with that.”
Jessica reached up to touch his forehead, and her hand came away sticky. From the feel of his wet skin, he’d lost a lot of blood. Might still be bleeding, for all she could tell here in the dark. She moved behind the chair and began to work at the ropes binding him. It took several minutes, but she was finally able to free him.
He pulled his arms in front of him and began to flex his fingers. “I wish I had something to tie around your head,” she said, “but the only thing I’ve got is the cloth they stuffed in my mouth. I don’t think it would be a good idea to use it.” She felt his head again, this time more thoroughly, and it didn’t feel as if any fresh blood was seeping out.
Jamie finished flexing his fingers and reached down to untie his feet, then pushed into a standing position. “That feels better.”
“I’m glad, but tell me what happened to you. Ryan has been worried to death because you hadn’t called.”
“I knew he would be, and I’m sorry about that. I was on my way home this afternoon and stopped at a deserted rest stop for a few minutes. This van drove up, and before I knew it, I’d been hit over the head and thrown inside. This is where they brought me. What about you?”
“They abducted me from a restaurant when Ryan went to the parking lot to get the car. I have no idea where we are, but I’m hopeful Ryan will be able to find us.”
She started to tell him about the GPS tracking device in her boot but thought better of it. There was no need to get his hopes up. After all, it might not even function properly or she might be out of range or something else could go wrong.
“Do you think he can?” Jamie asked.
“Let’s pray he does,” she replied. “But tell me what you’ve been investigating for the past few days. Ellie told us about your meeting with Gerald Price and that he was a private investigator working for the Harveys to dig into their son’s and daughter-in-law’s deaths.”
“When I saw that he’d been murdered, I decided to go talk to the two senate candidates. While I was at Senator Mitchum’s office, I overheard his chief of staff and another guy talking about Gerald and how they couldn’t afford for anything about the Harveys’ murders to be linked to them. I tried to slip away without their knowing I’d overheard, but they saw me. The guy talking to Mr. Stark chased me, but I got away.”
“Had you ever seen him before?”
Jamie shook his head. “I don’t know. I didn’t get a good look at him. But the next day when I got home after the convenience-store robbery, I got to thinking about what the robber had said about me sticking my nose in where it didn’t belong. That’s when I realized that guy at the store had intended to kill me. He would have, too, if it hadn’t been for you. I knew it had to be somehow related to what I’d overheard at Senator Mitchum’s office. That’s when I got the idea to go to Atlanta to see the Harveys.”
“How did your visit with them go?”
“I told them what I overheard at Senator Mitchum’s office, and they said that Cal and Susan were working on a story about a big drug organization that was active in the eastern part of the sta
te. Whoever was the head of it had partnered with some local police officers who helped them keep one step ahead of the law. They were just about to publish their story and name the head of the organization when they were killed. Their computers and all their research were taken from their home, and a gang member was accused of killing them. But the Harveys thought it was somebody up in the drug organization who had ordered the hits.”
“We learned some things about the case after you disappeared,” Jessica said.
“What kind of things?”
“Well, for one, we learned that the guy who robbed the convenience store is a hit man and that his DNA was found at the Harveys’ murder scene. He also broke into my apartment to kill me, but Ryan prevented that. On his way to jail, the police who were escorting him were killed, and he escaped. Ryan and I learned, too, that he has been seen at Senator Mitchum’s offices by someone other than you. So it stands to reason he’s working for the senator.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Jamie said.
“Why not?”
“Because the Harveys knew what county their son thought the drug organization had its headquarters and where he was concentrating his investigation. That’s where I went before I came home, and I found out some interesting facts.”
Jessica’s eyes had grown large. “Such as?”
“Such as it’s the home county of Chip Holder. When he was rescued from that terrorist group six years ago, he went back home but he never got a job. He started touring the country doing speaking engagements instead. I started researching how much he made. At first he charged high speaking fees, and people paid it. But after a while the public began to lose interest and he couldn’t book many appearances. The money he was making wasn’t enough to support the kind of lifestyle he’d started living. You should see his house. It has to be worth millions. The money for it had to come from somewhere. But there wasn’t any record of his earning enough for something like that.”
“How did he afford it?” Jessica asked.
“That’s what I wondered. So I talked to a lot of the old-timers in the community. Some of them were closemouthed, but a few liked talking to a reporter. They said he inherited a lot of money when his wife died.”
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