Ford Security

by Clara Kendrick

  “My sister and I were out shopping and when we were leaving, we were jumped by two men wearing all black. That guy… Chase, he, um, appeared out of nowhere and was able to save me, but the men dragged my sister into the black SUV.”

  “Can you give us more information about your sister?”

  “We look similar, same hair and eye color.” I bow my head. “She’s slightly taller than me. Married.”

  “We don’t need a physical description. We have photos.” Marcus peers over the computer screen briefly. “We’re sending those photos out to our contacts to see if anyone has any leads.”

  “How?” I cock my head and wet my lips. “How do you have pictures?”

  “Chase sent some photos from your house,” Anna says.

  “Right.” I nod as my feet begin tapping nervously on the concrete floor, creating a symphony of fear in the brief silence between questions.

  “Does your sister have any enemies? Anyone who’d have a reason to abduct her?”’

  “Not that I can think of.” I shake my head, trying to figure out if there’s anyone that could have done this, anyone that I’d know about, but all I can think about is the look on my sister’s face as a hand covered her mouth and dragged her backwards into a van. “Look, I don’t know much about any of this but it seems to me that this wasn’t something that was planned.”

  Marcus points to the diamond pendant hanging around my neck. “That diamond on your neck. Were you wearing that during the attack?”

  “Yes.” I clutch the diamond in my hand and close my eyes, and when I do, I swear I can feel my sister’s heartbeat from wherever she is. “My sister had just bought us matching pendants.”

  The two of them share a look. “That could have been reason enough for them to make their move.” Marcus begins clicking on his computer and though his eyes are clearly busy, he continues to ask questions. “You mentioned your sister was married earlier.”

  “Yeah, she got married to a mortgage broker about five years ago. Rick Young, perhaps you’ve heard of him?”

  “No.” He shakes his head. “So, I assume he has a lot of money. Would that be a correct statement?”

  “At least a few million.”

  Anna exhales and leans back in her chair. “Whether or not this was a planned kidnapping, it’s most likely that this has become something else. Whoever has taken your sister is going to realize the magnitude of her wealth, and when that happens, they’re going to probably demand an outrageous ransom.”

  “Her husband will pay it,” I stammer, seeing this as the one bright spot in this dark situation. Rick certainly has enough money to hand over whatever the kidnappers demand. “He’s not the friendliest man in the world, but he loves my sister more than anything in this world.” I lean across the table. “He’s out of town on business. Should we call him?”

  “At this point in time, we have every intention of leaving the police out of this. If her husband knows what’s going on, then we risk losing control of the situation and right now that’d be the worst case scenario. You see, these situations are very often extremely difficult, and whoever ends up coming out on top usually does so because they’re able to maintain control.”

  I lean back and cross my arms. My eyes shift from Anna to Marcus and then back to Anna. I swallow, the sickness in my stomach reaching a new fever pitch. “You have no intention of paying them, do you?”

  The two of them share a look again, this one more nervous than the last. Anna drags her open palm across her mouth before she can bring herself to look me in the eyes. “These situations are complicated, and while there’s no way of committing to a plan one way or the other, we’re not usually in the business of paying ransom. We…” She pushes her tongue against the inside of her cheek and cracks another warm smile. “We have other ways of handling these situations and take great pride in the fact that more often than not, we do get results.”

  “Right, well, those results don’t matter to me.” I cross my arms defiantly and avert my gaze. “My sister means the world to me and that’s all I care about.”

  “I understand your concerns—”

  “Do you?” I question, biting my tongue because there’s so many other things I could say right now. “I don’t know you from Adam. I don’t know any of you and whatever this is, all I know is that you’re not the actual police and I want to trust you, but—”

  “But what?” Chase questions, leaning against the doorframe. I hadn’t even noticed he had arrived, but it’s like he sucks all the oxygen out of the room—whatever’s left anyways. “If you want to trust us, it’s as simple as doing just that.” He takes a measured step forward, his muscular frame domineering over the three of us at the table. He carries a severe weight of authority in his stride that forces me to take notice. “You’re scared and I get that. If I were in your shoes, I would be too.”

  My eyes shift to the gun attached to his hip. Even though I grew up in a small town out east, I’ve always hated guns. They scare me. Just one tap against the trigger can put an end to a promising life.

  He’s a good guy though. A good guy with a gun, maybe that’s exactly what I need right now; someone like him to stand up to men like the ones who abducted my sister.

  “I’m just worried.” My lips quiver as I drop my head with a sigh and begin twiddling my fingers together underneath the table. “I’m sorry.”

  “You don’t need to be sorry,” Anna says, reaching across the way. “You’re a victim in all of this.”

  “Listen to her,” Chase says dryly. “She knows what she’s talking about.”

  My eyes lift to see Chase tapping on Marcus’ shoulder. Immediately following, the two of them leave the room and close the door behind them. When they’re gone, it’s just me, Anna, and the silence that threatens to choke me.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHASE

  “That poor girl,” I say under my breath as I follow Marcus out of the interrogation room and into the hallway. “She’s not cut out for this.”

  “Yeah, but who is?” He waits for the retina scanner to pass over his eyes before pulling the door open and holding it for me. “People like us? We’ve been around these things. People like her? It’s not the world she’s been living in.”

  “I know,” I mumble and close the door behind me. “Please tell me you were able to find something.”

  He cocks his head over his shoulder with a cocky grin. “Marcus Aiken always finds something, but we’ll see if it’s enough.”

  “Anything is enough.” I follow him to his desk and watch him as he unfolds his laptop and clicks it on. My eyes shift to the three monitors fixed to the table as they all flash on. “I’ll never understand all this technology crap.”

  “Yeah,” he chuckles, “I’m an invaluable member of the team.”

  His cockiness is rightfully earned. The guy is a total whiz and though he doesn’t exactly come from the same world the rest of us men do, he’s tough in different ways. The five of us—Domino, Luke, Zane, Zach, and myself—are physically strong. Marcus is mentally strong and though he’s very similar to Zach when it comes to the level of snark he’s capable of, he’s wise beyond his years.

  Twenty-two damn years old and he’s smarter than the rest of us combined.

  “So here’s the deal…” He spins in his chair to face me as I park my ass on the edge of the counter. “I was able to hack into the mall’s security system.” He turns his attention back to the monitors and clicks his way through a series of screens that steals my attention.

  I jump to my feet and circle so that I’m looking over his shoulder as he navigates his way through the camera feeds. “That’s them, right?” I question, pointing to a black SUV speeding out of the parking garage.

  “Astute observation.” He freezes the frame and zooms in on the license plate, then he cocks his head to look at me. “I ran the plates and that’s when I hit my first dead end. Those plates belong to one Elsa Charleston of Sacramento.” A photo ID of an
elderly woman pops up on the screen. “Either the plates were stolen or Mama Elsa has some explaining to do, so naturally I investigated this woman.”

  I lean back and stand up straight with my arms folded over each other. “What did you find out about this woman?”

  “She’s dead.”

  “Oh.”

  “Like I said,” he tilts his head sideways and cracks his neck, “this was the first of many dead ends.” He closes out the window with the elderly woman and resumes the security footage of the SUV leaving the garage. Once it disappears from sight, he pulls up footage of the same vehicle speeding down the street outside the mall. “Domino would have a fit if he knew I was hacking into city surveillance systems, but what doesn’t kill him will make him calmer.” He bats an eye at me. “So let’s keep this a secret between me and you, right?”

  “Affirmative.” I point back to the screen. “How long were you able to follow them?”

  “About three miles and seventeen minutes after they exited the garage, they pulled into another parking garage on Stetson Avenue.” He purses his lips and then turns back to me with a sigh. “And this is dead end number two.”

  “They never came out?”

  “This was over three hours ago so I’d wager that there’s either a dead body inside that garage or that they came out, albeit in a different car.”

  A dead body? That’s a little dark, and more than a little upsetting.

  “I’m going to go investigate, but in the meantime, I want you to keep your eye on the feeds and let me know if you see anything suspicious.”

  “I’ll keep an eye out, but what should I tell Domino if he checks in?”

  “Don’t worry about him.” I shake my head and check my watch. “I don’t think he’s coming in today.”

  “But if he does?” He spins around completely in the chair with his arms stretched out wide. “I’m basically a sitting duck hacking, illegally, into government systems at your request.”

  “You’ll figure something out.” I nudge him playfully with my elbow. “If he comes strolling out of that elevator, kill the power to the monitors and pretend that he almost caught you tugging away at yourself like the prepubescent teenager that you are.”

  “Okay, Daddy,” he scowls with a roll of his eyes.

  “Daddy?” I can’t help but to laugh. “First of all, don’t ever call me Daddy.” I begin to walk away. “And I’m not even forty yet.”

  # # #

  I check back in on Summer and Anna before I plan to slip out of the building. Standing behind the two-way glass, I watch as Anna continues to console Summer, all the while questioning her. It’s important that no stone is left unturned about Summer and Taylor’s lives. Even the smallest, seemingly inconsequential thing can be a key component in understanding why things happen and help figure out the best way to fix those things.

  There’s a look on Summer’s face, a look I’ve seen countless times before. It’s the same look they always seem to wear, one of exhaustion and fear. A look of uncertainty as their world unravels around them.

  She’s pale, beyond tired and probably hungry, but eating is the furthest thing from her mind. She’s wields the kind of next-door beauty and charm that’s capable of making the most hardened man’s heart race.

  My heart races when I see her, though whether that’s born out of lust or empathy, I’m not quite certain. The only thing I’m certain of is that it doesn’t matter. If I’m going to have her sister returned to her unharmed, I have to keep all personal shit out of it.

  I knock on the glass first, alerting Anna that I’m coming in before opening the door. “Can I have a word with Summer?”

  “Sure.” Anna glances quickly at Summer. “We’ve just about went over everything I can think of, but if I have any more questions, I’ll come back to you.” Anna collects a stack of papers into a pile and shuffles them into one arm. “You did good, Summer.”

  Anna exits the room, but leaves the door open behind her. When I hear the first steel door closing, I slide into the warm seat Anna left behind.

  “How are you holding up?”

  “I feel like I’m going to vomit,” she says quietly with a sigh as she sinks down into her seat. “I feel like the world is spinning faster and faster and I just want to jump off and go to sleep, but I can’t.”

  “We have a lead—”

  “Really?” She thrusts her body forward and narrows her eyes at me, dark orbs swimming with hope. “Did you find her?”

  “Not exactly, but Marcus was able to follow their tracks to a garage downtown and I’m hoping I’ll be able to find some clues there.”

  “You’re going there?” She clears her throat, wets her lips. “Alone?”

  “I can handle myself.”

  She nods her head slowly. “And what about me? Are you going to just leave me sitting in this hot room?”

  “Of course not,” I say, almost letting a chuckle slip out of my throat. It’s no time to joke, but I can’t help that she’s so damn cute. As if I would just leave her to sweat to death in this hot room. “I’m going to take you back to your room before I go.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You don’t need to thank me,” I say, holding the door open for her as she climbs out of her seat.

  She paces towards me and then stops right in front of me. She swallows a lump in her throat as her eyes tangle with mine. “Whoever you are, whatever you are, I’m going to say Thank You, and you’re going to accept it, understood?”

  “Yeah.” I chew into my bottom lip and give her a careful once-over with my eyes. She’s a timid woman for sure, but there’s a streak of authority running hot through her blood that piques my curiosity. “Would you like something to eat?”

  “I couldn’t eat if I wanted to.” She passes me and waits at the steel door for me to unlock it with my eyes. She watches me carefully as I stare into the retina scanner and cocks her head sideways. “Why do you so much security here? I mean, what exactly is it that you do?”

  I purse my lips in contemplation, trying to figure out where to draw the line between the truth and what she’s entitled to know. “Let’s just say that some of us have some enemies.”

  “Oh.” Her face turns a lighter shade of Casper. “Interesting.”

  “It’s nothing you need to worry about, I promise.” I push open the door and gesture for her to be on her way.

  She leads the way to her bedroom, taking the lead. It’s as if she’s already become accustomed to the layout of the basement level and she’s comfortable enough to venture out on her own.

  Except she doesn’t stop at her room. Instead she keeps walking towards the front of the floor, towards the elevator shaft.

  “Summer?” I question loudly and come to a stop right outside her bedroom door. She pivots to face me and slaps her hands against her hips. “Your room is over here.”

  “Yeah, I know.” She nods before turning back around and continuing to pace towards the elevator. She says something under her breath but I can’t make out what, either because she’s whispering or because I lost twenty percent of my hearing ability in the war.

  I race to her side right before she reaches the elevator. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  Without so much as looking at me, she states with a high level of confidence lobbied in her throat, “I’m going with you.”

  “Yeah. No.”

  “Really?” She arches one brow and exhales a hot burst of air. “Why not?”

  “Because it could be dangerous.”

  “You said you could handle yourself,” she points out, which yeah, I can but that’s not the point. “So what’s dangerous?”

  “I can handle myself and I can look after you, but it’ll be a lot quicker if—”

  “Could you just move over here?” She reaches forth and places a hand on each of my hips. I’m distracted by the touch of her demure hands against my body, but do as she says as she positions me so that I’m looking straight at her and straigh
t at the elevator.

  I basically tower over her. Being a six foot something monster myself, I estimate that she’s just a few short inches over the five foot threshold. Not the point.

  “As I was saying,” I continue, but I’m too distracted by the blue lights flashing overhead the elevator shaft to finish. It takes about two seconds to realize what is going on, and I only truly understand when I see her step into the open elevator with her back pressed against the concrete wall. “Did you just trick me?”

  “Trick you into standing in the exact right spot so that your eyes would be level with the scanner?” She cocks a half-grin, the kind of grin where she might think she’s in trouble and doesn’t want to make matters worse but still can’t help herself. “Yeah, real secure building you got here.”

  I lean forward, take a measured step so that I’m halfway in the elevator and halfway on solid ground. “Are you being sarcastic?”

  She crosses her arms defiantly. “I’m being impatient.”

  “I already told you that you’re not going.”

  “Really?” She cocks a brow. “That’s an interesting perspective considering the only way I’m not going is if you drag me out of here.”

  I narrow my eyes at her. She really doesn’t think I’ll do it, but she’d be wrong. I reach for her arm and drag her out of the elevator. She tries to fight me, tries to dig her feet into the metal plating beneath her feet, but she’s not strong enough to resist.

  “Let go of me,” she demands and when I do, she breaks away from me and shakes her wrist. “Was that necessary?”

  I contemplate the question, click my tongue against my cheek. “Yes.” I turn from here and enter into the elevator. I can practically feel the heat of her breath upon my back before I turn around and she’s standing right there. She reaches backwards and clicks the close elevator button with one finger and offers me a cocky smirk.

  And I think to myself, Yeah, I let you win.

  Truth be told, I’d love for her to come with me.