Kidnapped (COBRA Securities)

by Velvet Vaughn

  “Oh, but it is.” Her voice was flat, toneless. “She has protection. Did you know that? A whole slew of Secret Service agents. I snuck her away and now she’s gone. It is my fault.”

  Sawyer’s shoulders snapped back. Secret Service protection? Damn, that was big-time. Who was the girl? “Why does your sister need Secret Service protection?”

  “Our family. We come from a long line of politicians.”

  “What’s your last name?”

  “Duquesne.”

  Holy smokes. “As in—”

  “That’s us.”

  Wow. Sawyer staggered back a step, his mind reeling. Not just any family, but the biggest name in American politics. The Twenty-First Century Kennedys, as they’d been dubbed by the media. Shit just got real. “Do you think this is politically motivated?”

  She shrugged a narrow shoulder, her arms wrapped around her waist. “I don’t know.” She looked so lost, he had the overwhelming urge to gather her in his arms, tell her that he’d slay any dragons in her path.

  An SUV screeched to a stop and the driver’s side door flew open. Dan Bradley leaped out, looking frantic. “Come-on, we have to follow that truck.”

  Dan’s older brother Logan grabbed his shoulders. “Dan, it’s long gone. We won’t be able to find it. The police have been notified and they are out looking for it now.”

  Dan raked a hand through his hair. “I can’t just do nothing.” Dan echoed all their thoughts.

  “We need to pull ourselves together and get a plan in motion,” Luke Colton said, taking charge. “Peter ran to his room to check the tracking chip on his watch.”

  Right on cue, Peter pushed through the door with Ben Colton. Sawyer’s stomach dropped to his feet at the look on Peter’s face.

  “Did you get a read?” Dorian Demarchis asked hopefully.

  Peter nodded in misery as Ben held the watch aloft. “He left it poolside with his things.”

  “Oh, God.” Dante doubled over again. Dorian tried to console him, but he was in misery.

  “We need to let Taylor and the women know,” Logan said.

  “I called Olivia,” Alex Mylonas spoke up. “They’re on their way now.”

  “I sent Tyler to the room to work on hacking traffic camera feeds,” Peter told them. “We can at least get an idea of which way they’re headed.”

  “Are there even traffic lights in this town?” the woman next to him muttered. “It’s pretty small.”

  “I’m guessing not many, but if there are, Tyler and Peter will find them.”

  “Dante!”

  They all spun around at the outcry to see Taylor Costa running for her husband. She leapt into his arms. The other women followed launching themselves into their significant other’s embrace.

  Sawyer’s empty arms felt like lead weights.

  Wyatt Hollister hung up his phone with a curse. “I can’t get a helo. None available on the ground and it will take over an hour to get one here.” On top of being a fellow agent, the Aussie was a world-class pilot, able to fly practically anything with wings.

  “Let’s see what Tyler found out and set up a command post,” Luke said, as the sound of sirens grew louder.

  #

  “Who are you people?” Harlow asked the gorgeous blond man. The way they took charge made her feel marginally better. They clearly knew what they were doing.

  She needed to call her parents and tell them what happened, own up to her culpability. She’d broken the rules and Zoe was paying the price. They would be so furious with her but they’d have to get in line. She was furious with herself. Before she could do anything, she was being herded into the building with the group that seemed to multiply like bunnies. She gasped. The woman in front of her looked like Oscar winner Juliet LaRue. And no way! Was that Layla Brooks, the international singing superstar? She did a double-take at the man holding the door. It looked like TV star Reed “Abs of” Steele. Had she taken a tumble and hit her head? Fallen down a rabbit hole? She hoped so, and this was all a dream. She’d wake up and Zoe would be at her side. She’d get over the disappointment of the strong man beside her only being a figment of her imagination. Then the figment spoke, bursting her dream bubble.

  “We work for COBRA Securities. We’re all former law enforcement or military. We’ve dealt with several kidnappings before, so we know what we’re doing.”

  That phrase calmed her like nothing else. They were experts. They’d find Zoe. As she was being led to the elevator, she stopped. “My things…I need my phone.” So she could call her parents, basically signing her death warrant.

  The man took her arm in his strong grip. She really needed to find out his name, she just couldn’t dredge up the motivation to ask.

  “I’ll go with you. We’ll be right up,” he told the rest of the group.

  She looked at him and despite the fear and worry that consumed her, she couldn’t help but appreciate how beautiful he was. Tall. Muscular. Gorgeous. For some reason, this man made her feel safe. When he said they would get her sister back, she believed him.

  The park had completely cleared out. Parents had no doubt yanked their children to safety after hearing about Zoe’s kidnapping. She was a little surprised her belongings were still in place. She quickly gathered her and Zoe’s items and stuffed them into her bag. She was shocked no one had jacked her iPhone. She had four messages and two texts. Had the Secret Service discovered they were missing already? Most likely. Her picture was probably already tacked up on the post office wall under the Ten Most Wanted heading. She quickly scanned the texts, but they were junk mail. She had one voice mail. She cringed when her mother’s cultured, precise voice came on the line, but she was just setting up a time to meet for dinner. She stuffed the phone in the bag and glanced at the man. His guilty gaze shot up to meet hers and that’s when she realized she was wearing nothing but a skimpy red bikini.

  Crap. How embarrassing. She rummaged through the bag and found her cover-up, quickly pulling it on. She slid her feet into her Tory Burch sandals and forced a smile. “Ready.”

  He nodded and grasped her elbow to lead her away. Normally, she didn’t appreciate men being so domineering and alpha. She grew up with government agents and bodyguards always hovering and telling her what to do, so she balked at the high-handedness. But this man’s presence was giving her much-needed strength right now. “What’s your name?”

  “Sawyer. Sawyer Oldham.”

  “Thank you for helping me, Mr. Oldham. I don’t think I’d be able to function if you weren’t here.”

  “It’s Sawyer, and you’re welcome. We will find your sister and bring her home. Count on it.”

  When he said it, she had no doubt. “I need to notify my parents, the Secret Service.”

  He checked a text on his phone and then led her down a long, carpeted hallway. “You can call them and have them join us here.” He guided her inside a room and her jaw dropped open. Somehow, in a very short amount of time, his people had set up an extremely professional-looking command post. Men and women were talking on their phones and some tapping away at computers. Uniformed policemen were talking to a group of people. Everyone looked serious and competent.

  Sawyer guided her to a man typing furiously on a computer. “Peter, this is Harlow Duquesne. Her sister was the girl who was kidnapped.”

  The man gave her a shy smile and shook her hand. “I would say nice to meet you, but under the circumstances…” She squeezed his hand, acknowledging his comment.

  “Have you found anything?” Sawyer asked.

  “I just called Dante over.” The man who’d been upset outside walked over and Peter said, “We’ve pulled feeds from all of the traffic cameras in the area.”

  Harlow was truly surprised there was even one. The resort and golf course were world-class, but the town was a postage-stamp.

  “We were able to get pictures of the truck turning south on Highway 145.” He clicked a button and the truck came onto the screen. Harlow gasped. Her sister
was in there. The quality wasn’t great—you couldn’t see in the cab—but the small boy riding in the back was clearly visible. So was the object he threw out.

  “Is that a Styrofoam cup?”

  “He’s leaving a trail for us to follow,” a tall, dark-haired man said from behind them.

  “Damn kid,” Dante said gruffly. He rubbed a hand down his face. “Can you track it from there?”

  Peter shook his head. “It goes out of view and then there aren’t any other cameras to pick it up. I notified the state police of the direction, so they’ve got the route covered from both ends and everything in between.”

  Another tall, handsome man approached her. Good grief, all the men were stunning and the women were beautiful. What kind of company was this? Part time modeling agency?

  “Ms. Duquesne, my name is Logan Bradley. We’ve contacted the Secret Service and they’re on their way. We need all the information you can give us about your sister.”

  Harlow dropped into a chair, dreading the confrontation about to take place. The Secret Service would storm in, run roughshod over everyone, take over and basically rake her over the coals and leave her charred corpse to smolder and degenerate to ash. She shuddered as her gaze roved over the room. Activity buzzed around her. It was controlled chaos. She didn’t know these people, but her instincts told her she could trust them to find her sister.

  With a deep breath, she pulled out Zoe’s latest school picture and started talking.

  Chapter Three

  For the thousandth time, Kai wished he had his watch. Not only did he want to know how long they’d been travelling, but his dad would’ve been able to locate him by now.

  It seemed like they’d been driving for hours, but it was probably only thirty minutes or so. He forced down the fear that threatened to overwhelm him. He’d been through this before. No sense in panicking. He would figure out a way to get the girl to safety and call his dad. That’s assuming his dad would speak to him. Kai winced. He was going to be so pissed. And he hadn’t even taken into account his mom. Though Taylor hadn’t given birth to him, she was his mom in every way. She’d be so worried. He didn’t like upsetting them, but there was no way he would let the man get away with taking the girl—not when he could do something about it.

  He’d tried leaving a trail with the obscene amount of garbage in the back of the truck. The man apparently had a fast food obsession and he used his vehicle as a trash can. If nothing else, he was hoping a cop would see him littering and pull the truck over. Countless bags and Styrofoam cups had flown out, cluttering the road. No such luck. It was a long-shot to think the garbage would work like the breadcrumbs left by Hansel…or was it Gretel? He wasn’t too keen on fairy tales. But now that he thought about it, their breadcrumbs hadn’t worked either. He thought he remembered something about birds eating them. Great.

  He groaned when they hit a particularly rough bump and he slammed into the rusty truck bed. He was tired of getting banged up. The trash was gone, so any hope of a cop pulling them over died…but then, he doubted there were any cops on the dirt road they’d turned down a while ago. They hadn’t passed another vehicle since they left the highway, nor civilization, as far as he could tell. The overhead view showed a dense canopy of trees, so they were deep in the woods.

  Kai’s heart skipped a beat when the truck slowed. One last bump and then they lurched to a shuddering stop. Kai plastered himself against the cab, praying the man didn’t look back and see him. He’d mentally practiced several self-defense moves, but he didn’t know how effective he could be without shoes or heck, a shirt, but he was willing to try.

  Once the engine quieted, the girl’s shrieks filled the air. But she wasn’t screaming in fear, like he expected. She was cursing in anger, calling the man all kinds of names. Kai smiled. She had grit. And an impressive vocabulary. He waited for the truck door to slam before he chanced a look over the side. They were parked in front of a ramshackle cabin. A stack of wood piled high leaned against one side and there was an ax protruding from a stump. It would make a good weapon. Kai didn’t know if he had the guts to use the sharp blade on an actual person, but if the man was hurting the girl, he thought maybe he could.

  The man tossed the girl over his shoulder. A bag still covered her upper body and bound her arms. Like him, her legs and feet were bare. The man had a grip on her, preventing her from kicking out, which Kai bet she would’ve been doing. Even trussed up, she was thrashing around for all she was worth.

  The man ripped open the door and stomped inside. Kai only got a brief glimpse before the door slammed shut. The cabin was small. It didn’t look like it could have more than one or two rooms. He eased over the side of the truck and winced when he landed on a rock. He hurried over to the ax and worked it from its mooring, staggering when it broke free. It was heavier than it looked. He tested to see if he could swing it. “Same as a Louisville Slugger,” he mumbled to himself as the blade cut through the air. No sweat. He spotted a window and hurried over to peek inside. The man had tossed the girl on a bed and tied her legs to each end post.

  Kai swallowed down a massive wave of nausea. The man was a pedophile. He didn’t just kidnap the girl, he planned on raping her. His hand tightened on the weapon. Not if he could help it.

  The man worked one of the girl’s arms free and had it bound before she could react. Then he tied the other one. When he ripped the bag completely off, the girl’s face was bright red and she was screaming obscenities. “Let me go or I swear, I’ll channel my inner Gal Gadot and unleash Amazon warrior skills like you’ve never seen, you maggot.”

  Kai slapped a hand over his mouth and choked back a laugh. A Wonder Woman reference. Nice. You go, girl! He’d heard Kendall say that to Olivia once. It seemed fitting right now.

  The man ignored the girl’s taunt and gently brushed a strand of honey blond hair away from her face. The move stunned her silent and she recoiled. Kai’s nausea was back in full force. It was all he could do not to gag, but if he did, the man might hear him.

  “I have to move my truck,” the kidnapper told the girl. “I’ll only be gone for a little while. When I come back, we’ll get to know each other, have us some fun.” The girl paled.

  Kai crouched down behind the pile of wood. The man was leaving! He could cut the girl loose and they could be gone before he returned. He waited until he heard the truck crunch over sticks and leaves and disappear down the rutted path before he rounded the cabin. He peered around to be sure the vehicle was gone, then he tested the door. Locked. Looked like he’d be going in through the window.

  #

  Zoe Duquesne couldn’t believe she’d been kidnapped. Her parents had worried about that happening her whole life. They were politicians and by nature, most people disliked them for one reason or another. That’s why she had around-the-clock protection. Her whole family was in politics…except for her older sister, Harlow.

  All Zoe wanted to do was enjoy the water park. Her overly-protective bodyguards told her she couldn’t because they couldn’t secure the perimeter. Even if they had allowed her to swim, they would be standing around looking out of place in their suits and ties. Probably sunglasses too, no matter that they were inside. Other kids would be afraid to approach her. Parents would look at her like she was a pariah. She just wanted to be a normal kid.

  It hadn’t been hard to talk Harlow into helping her escape. Her older sister was a born rule-breaker. Zoe idolized her. But the one time she bucked the rules and crossed over to the wild side, she’d been punished. Kidnapped. Kidnapped!

  Her body racked with chills, despite the muggy weather. The man wasn’t an ordinary kidnapper. He didn’t grab her to extort money from her parents or force them to back this bill or that agenda. She’d bet her trust fund he had no idea who her family was, and how much trouble he would be in when she was found. She refused to think of any other alternative.

  She’d seen the look in his eye when he’d raked his gaze over her. Though she wore a bl
ue and green one-piece swimsuit, she’d felt naked. He planned on doing unspeakable things to her. She tugged on the bonds, the rope biting into her flesh as a tear leaked out. She was in deep trouble.

  Her parents had worried about her being abducted, so she’d taken martial arts classes since she was in first grade and she proudly possessed a black belt. But the man was bigger and stronger and he’d taken her by surprise. She hadn’t had the option to fight back.

  The knob rattled and her gaze flew to the door, her heartbeat thumping madly in her ears. The man just left. He couldn’t be back already. Her chest heaved and she fought the urge to throw up. Suddenly a shape launched through the window and Zoe screamed.

  Her eyes widened when she realized it wasn’t a hungry jungle cat or a starving bear, but a boy. Not any boy, but the cute one with dark hair that she’d seen at the water park. She’d laughed when a man tossed him in the pool and he’d come up sputtering. In fact, she’d been so engrossed in their exchange that she totally missed the man sneaking up behind her. Was this boy in on the kidnapping? Was he the diversion the man needed to grab her?

  The boy rushed to her side and she shrunk away as much as possible with all four limbs anchored to the bed. He jerked to an abrupt halt and held up his hands. “Oh, hey, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m getting you out of here before the man comes back. But we have to hurry.”

  “Aren’t you in on it with him?”

  “What? No!” A look of revulsion crossed his cute face. “I saw him grab you. I couldn’t stop him in time, so I jumped in the back of the truck to help you.”

  Zoe’s eyes rounded. “You did?” He wasn’t a co-kidnapper…he was her savior! Her pre-teen heart rolled over in her chest and she sighed. He was her hero.

  “We need to get you out of here,” the boy said, jarring her from her hearts and smiley faces daydream. The boy was working on the knots around her wrist. She couldn’t stop the gasp of pain when the ropes bit into her raw skin. She’d torn the flesh trying to work her hands free.